warm wishes

 hello stampers!

I'm joining in today with a couple of challenges. The talented team at freshlymadesketches have a simple sketch which suits my CAS taste, justusgirls has a terrific mood board where I took inspiration from the berry branch and the little house, and the prompt at inkspirational is 'snow'. 

The background was a lovely panel of ink smooshed card in my stash that I thought was perfect for a wintry sky. I die cut the circles into a front panel of white card. The trees and berry branch were die cut and edged with white gelly roll pen for snow. The little houses were die cut from card stamped several times with a couple of colours. The sentiment was stamped in the same brown and die cut.

I thought the little scene was so sweet with just glimpses through the circle cutouts! Thanks so much for stopping by!

      

• dies: Sizzix arctic bear (houses), Gummiapan trees, berry branch, sentiment, Hero Arts infinity circles
• stamps: Darkroom Door woodgrain texture stamp, MFT Cool Day (sentiment)
• inks: rustic wilderness, salty ocean, wild honey, vintage photo, ground espresso

sending hugs

 hello stampers!

I'm joining in today with the talented team at inkspirational where they have a mood board challenge. I love a mood board as it gives you so many directions to go, and this board is beautiful! I was inspired by the wooden planks, the butterfly, sunflowers and the colours.

I used some design paper for the background which had a wooden plank print then ink blended over the top, using a damp cloth to wipe some ink in places and make it look a bit grungy. The edges were blended with black. The die cut elements  were die cut, then watercoloured using the inspiration colours, with some popped up on foam tape for dimension. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

• dies: Spellbinders A2 mating basics, Tim Holtz brushstroke butterflies, Gummiapan gerberas, mini flowers, Alexandra Renke frame rectangle, slide frame vertical
• inks: tumbled glass, salty ocean, lost shadow, carved pumpkin, wild honey, vintage photo, ground espresso, black soot distress oxides
• stamp: Altenew beautiful day

old enough

 hello stampers!

Today I'm joining in with the talented team at inkspirational where the theme this challenge is for a CAS card with the optional twist of using an animal. Right up my alley!

I began by stamping some curly looking wool in different colours then stamped the sheep twice and fussy cut them. The curly wool pieces were paper pieced onto the stamping. I used an inked leftover panel to die cut the wooden tub. The background was stencilled with neutral ink on a neutral card panel then die cut with a stitched rectangle. Tim Holtz sentiment was cut out and assembled on a die cut stitched rectangle.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

• stamps: MFT ewe are the best, Darkroom Door woodgrain texture 
• dies: Paper Rose stitched rectangles, Gummiapan wooden tub
• stencil: Paper Rose small drops
• inks: antique linen, salvaged patina, shaded lilac, bundled sage distress oxides

no prob-lama

 hello stampers!

I'm joining in today with the mood board challenge at inkspirational. Such a gorgeous selection of colours, shapes and inspiration - the team have chosen a terrific mood board! I was reminded of those decorated llamas in Mexico and Peru, and it just so happens I have a llama stamp and die ;)

I used a stencil to ink the background, taking inspiration from the chevrons on the mood board. Then I ran it through an embossing folder for texture. The llamas were stamped, clear heat embossed then watercoloured, same with the cacti. I die cut many little flowers and leaves from different inked panels to make the llama decorations. The sentiments were stamped, clear heat embossed and die cut into a banner.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

• dies: Gummiapan llama, grass, MFT itty bitty strips, Spellbinders mini blooms and sprigs, Gummiapan flowers
• stamps: Stampabilities trendsetter, Gummiapan llama, sentiment, Stampendous birthday splash sentiment
• embossing folder: Kaisercraft mountains
• stencil: Scrapmatts ST5080
• inks: mowed lawn, twisted citron, wild honey, salvaged patina, mustard seed, barn door, wilted violet, picked raspberry, ground espresso, peacock feathers distress oxides

happy birthday

 hello crafters!

I saw the challenge at inkspirational this week and thought of one of the few embossing folders I have called 'woodland'. Perfect!

I used the technique where some ink is brayered onto one side of the folder and then it's run through to emboss the card - I did this twice with different coloured inks. Unfortunately for me, the second time I ran it through, I snapped the folder  :(  Has anyone else had this happen? what a pain. Maybe it was getting a bit old and brittle. Anyway, I may be on the hunt for a new one *sigh*

I had planned on running it through 3 times with different inks, but ended up adding the third colour with some ink smooshed die cuts instead. I love how the different colours add so much dimension to the embossing.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

• dies: Paper Rose little foliage, Gummiapan butterflies, Spellbinders A2 matting basics
• embossing folder: SU woodland
• stamp: Gummiapan happy birthday
• inks: chipped sapphire, salvaged patina, wild honey distress oxides

you're one of a kind

 hello stampers!

I'm joining in today with the team at inkspirational where the challenge asks for us to use a stencil, with an optional twist of using paste. I'll also post it to the justusgirls challenge where they also are challenging us to use a stencil! I wanted to use a new to me die so chose a tree trunk stencil which would coordinate.

The background was ink smooshed with distress oxide inks, let dry then the paste applied through the stencil. I used home made embossing paste which is white, but interestingly, it draws up the colour from the ink underneath making the paste a more subtle shade of the background - perfect! The paste gives so much dimension and interest.

The leaves were die cut from a separate ink smooshed panel, as well as the lizard. I used an offcut from the main panel for the sentiment background. The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed in white.

Love this little lizard! Thanks so much for stopping by.

   

• dies: Poppystamps whittle lizard, Gummiapan oak leaf
• stencil: Gummiapan no. 55
• stamp: Gummiapan sentiment

you've got this

 hello lovely crafters!

I'm joining in today with the talented team at inkspirational where they have a mood board this challenge. I love the colours on the board, so I went with them and used a nautical theme. I also used circle shapes from the board which (in keeping with the nautical theme) reminded me of looking through portholes!

The sea was gently watercoloured and the sky ink blended. Some little clouds and a mountain were die cut and adhered. I die cut some circles out of another panel and laid the panel over the top of the inked piece with foam tape for dimension. The little sailboats were die cut from white then paper pieced over the top with card in the board colours, with one sailboat sail being made from tiny die cut strips of coloured card. Lastly they were adhered with foam squares. The sentiment was shaped and stamped in an arc to mimic the circle.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

• dies: Gummiapan sailboat, MFT petite clouds, icebergs
• stamps: Altenew sentiment strips

enjoy the little things

 hello lovely stampers!

I'm joining in today with the talented team at inkspirational where the word prompt is 'frame'. They would like to see something in any sort of frame on your card. Easy eh?

The first thought I had was those movie or photograph film strips but the only die I have is a single frame so I put 3 together in a column. Die cutting them from black makes it so dramatic, I had to fill the frames with gorgeous colours.

Pretty much every coloured piece was die cut from ink smooshed or ink blended card - I always have rather a large collection and I rarely throw out any scraps ;)  Given the dark frames, I chose the brightest colours and then created the little ocean scenes. Love the little seahorse tail coiled around the seaweed :)  The sentiment was stamped and die cut, then offset with a black die cut and popped up on foam squares.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

• dies: Gummiapan shells, seahorse, crab, jellyfish, starfish, sentiment banner, Paper Rose tiny foliage, Alexandra Renke film strip
• inks: all distress oxides
• stamps: Gummiapan sentiment

autumn leaves

 hello crafters!

I'm playing along today with the latest Inkspirational challenge where the theme is the 'spotlight technique'.  It's been a while since I used this technique on a card, but I do love the results. 

I used an unbranded tree die, cut in white, then again for just the central part from an ink smooshed panel. This piece I then proceeded to stamp randomly with red, orange and yellow tiny spots and splashes. The trunks were ink blended brown. This was adhered to a stitched die cut panel that was watercoloured in blue, and I added some ink blending in green and a tiny ink smooshed birdie to finish off the spotlighted colour panel. Lastly, stamped and die cut the Gummiapan sentiment.

It's late Autumn here atm, and seeing the trees in a blaze of riotous colour is truly a beautiful sight. Thanks so much for stopping by.

so glad

 hello crafters!

I've got some time today so decided to enter a few challenges. Luckily, I was able to combine 3 into 1 card. Timeout has an interesting challenge to use alphabet magnet letters; which I remember were so much fun! Inkspirational has a 'seasonal' theme and the snarky sisters have O is for Outside this month. Phew!

Die cutting the letters was the easy part but my goodness there were a lot to watercolour! The background panel was brayered with green from the bottom up and blue from the top down. Then random stamps were stamped in white and white heat embossed. Some of the letters got a bit of bling with a white jelly roll pen.

Love this sentiment -  Thanks for stopping by today!

      

• stamps: Lavinia mini seed head, butterfly, Globleland dandelion
• dies: MFT bitty banner
• inks: kitsch flamingo, mowed lawn, salty ocean, tumbled glass, bundled sage, mustard seed, candied apple, twisted citron, squeezed lemonade, carved pumpkin, wilted violet distress oxides

six month vacation

 hello crafters!

I'm joining in the challenge at Inkspirational this week where they have a mood board full of lovely pastel colours. I'm not sure why, but my mind went to laundry hanging on the washing line... well, in a round about way.

I found a panel of watercolour in my stash of inked panels, which contained lots of lovely pastels and thought it would look so pretty as the washing die cut. The sentiment backing and the birdies were also cut from the panel. The sky was stencilled, and the grass was simply torn to create a rough edge, but then I used the back side where you couldn't see the really rough part. The sentiment is a Tim Holtz small talk sticker which I thought perfectly echoed my musings on washing days ;) 

Since I haven't used the washing line die before, I'm also posting this to Darnell's fabulous blog, NBUS. Thanks so much for stopping by!

   


• dies: Gummiapan washing line, birdies, MFT trees, bitty banner
• stencil: MFT rolling clouds

forecast

 hello crafters!

I'm joining in today with two challenges - snarkystampers challenge #249 F is for Fold It, and Inkspirational Challenge "Fold".

I don't make fun fold cards often. Well that's not true - this would be the first. Sorry not sorry. After watching several YouTube vids to get the gist, I decided on a z-fold card thinking "I got this". 

Four days and several iterations later, I managed to actually finish the card.  And no-one told me they are a nightmare to photograph cos they just don't want to stay flat.  Now I need to lie down...

The background was watercoloured with distress oxide ink then sprinkled with water, white splatters and stamped with tiny white snowflakes. The snowman die had his first outing and his nose was paper pieced, scarf and beanie die cut from ink smooshed card. 

I love these tiny house dies and couldn't resist adding them, complete with 'illuminated' windows and snowy roof! The sentiment is a Tim Holtz small talk sticker which I thought was perfect for a snowman who no doubt naps all the time... made me giggle.

Thanks for stopping by today!

   

• dies: Gummiapan snowman, trees, mini houses, MFT clouds
• stamps: MFT cool day