people

 hello stampers!

I was feeling a bit snarky today (you understand!) so duly turned to the sisterhood as I knew they would appreciate it. Their challenge for this month is: D is for die cuts. Right up my alley!

The background was watercoloured then the same colour was ink smooshed onto a separate panel,  with the icebergs die cut from that. The igloo was die cut and then again from black to use the negative piece. Mr bear was die cut 3 times and stacked to give him the focus. Fiskars texture plates were used for the embossing. Sentiment from Tim Holtz.

Thanks for stopping by - I appreciate it!

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

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

   

cupcake

 hello lovely stampers!

It's a rainy, stormy day today which gave me crafty time :) so I'm joining in with a couple of challenges. Timeout challenge #260 has a 'striped' theme and the paper players have a tictactoe challenge. I chose the right column of ribbon, embossing, pastels.

I wanted a subtle background so inked up a few little stamps in soft colours. I've recently got a few of the teensy tiniest stamps from Gummiapan which you can see top right, going downwards. The sentiment is also from Gummiapan which makes me giggle! The icing was die cut from ink blended card then the outer part was clear heat embossed for shine. The cupcake was die cut from pastel pink card stencilled with darker pink stripes.

Since a few of the stamps are new, I'm also posting this to Darnell's fabulous blog, NBUS. Sending hugs, Darnell, hope you're well! 

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

• dies: Paper Rose cupcake, Memory Box mini butterflies
• stamps: Gummiapan hello, surprise, enjoy the little things, sentiment, Kaisercraft script, MFT take shape
• stencil: MFT radiating rays
• inks: picked raspberry, spun sugar, ground espresso, lost shadow distress oxides

     

happy birthday

  hello lovely crafters!

I'm playing along with a couple of challenges today - inspired by the latest sketch at freshlymadesketches #fms605 and used the colours from the colorthrowdown #ctd762. 

I used a cutout from some packaging that I thought looked like tree rings, and began with that! The leaves were die cut from ink smooshed card and backed with rust coloured card. The acorns were die cut from Kraft then lightly watercoloured to give them an interesting colour. The sentiment was stamped then clear heat embossed. Thanks for stopping by today!

• dies: gummiapan acorn and oak leaf, MFT infinity circles
• inks: candied apple, vintage photo distress oxides

just for you

 hello stampers!

I'm joining in with this week at just us girls where the challenge #681 is to make a CAS card with a silhouette. 

The background was watercolored using wilted violet distress oxide ink - all the lovely pinks come out of the purple colour! The leaves and flowers were stamped using Lavinia stamps foliage stamps with chipped sapphire and squeezed lemonade distress oxides with a little unicorn white ink. The moon was shaded with lost shadow distress oxide. The fairy from paper rose was die cut and adhered with foam squares. The sentiment from Honeybee stamps was inked with wilted violet distress oxide, and the panel was finished off with chipped sapphire and black soot inking around the edge, and a few dew drops.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

happy birthday

 hello crafty stampers!

I'm playing along today with the latest challenge at tictactoe #206. Elizabeth has put together a terrific board and I couldn't resist! I chose the diagonal down: flowers, yellow, gems. I also notice the challenge at the paper players is a tictactoe this week as well! I'm entering their challenge also and choosing bottom diagonal up: sparkle, die cut, embossing.

I began by ink smooshing a card panel with scattered straw distress oxide ink and letting it dry. This formed the lovely yellow background. Several mark stamps were used in both scattered straw distress oxide and also white heat embossed for a bit of shine. Then layers of die cuts were assembled, and the panel was finished with some sparkly dew drop gems.

Thanks so much for stopping by and spending some time with me today!

 

• inks: scattered straw, mustard seed, carved pumpkin distress oxide inks
• dies: gummiapan happy birthday circle, gummiapan flowers, gummiapan hearty twig, paper rose little vases, paper rose flying birds, MFT fab foliage, altenew burlap texture die, hero arts infinity circles
• stamps: MFT take shape, lavinia stamps mini dots

 

happy birthday

 hello stampers!

I'm joining in today with the terrific challenge at tictactoe #tttc201. I chose to use the diagonal: gems, embossing, butterfly.

The trees were embossed using SU woodland embossing folder, then I gently ink blended with mowed lawn and twisted citron distress oxide inks. I made sure to leave a lighter section in the centre to look like sunlight shining into the woodland. Another card panel was embossed using SU subtle embossing folder, cut a little larger than the inked panel and adhered under the inked panel.

The butterfly was die cut using Sizzix brushstroke butterflies with the fancy sections die cut from ink smooshed card scraps, and adhered with foam squares. Three gems were adhered to the butterfly body. The sentiment is from Gummiapan.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

get well soon

 hello stampers!

I'm joining in today with a couple of challenges: the paper players has a CAS theme with 'get well', and the current tictactoe challenge #197. I followed the left column down CAS, stencil, flowers.

I began by die cutting the letters from patterned paper using MFT bitty banner die set, adhered them to a black card panel and fussy cut the sentiment.  I used darkroom door small circle stencil, overlaid craft giraffe circle stencil ST1026 and gently ink blended across the centre of the larger circle. Then the circle shape was stamped with various stamps from paper rose solid flowers and leaves stamp set. I matched the colours in the paper with the ink colours. Tiny hearts, circles, and stars were die cut and adhered, around the adhered sentiment. Lastly the panel was backed with a red panel, then adhered to the card base.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

*Edit: Thanks so much to the team at tictactoe challenge for picking my card as the weekly designer's choice! And also to Joanne at the paper players for choosing my card as her fave. I'm thrilled!

 

a little birdie

 hello crafters!

I'm joining in today with the talented team at the paper players where they have a colour challenge this week: balmy blue, crumb cake, petal pink, so saffron.

I used a darkroom door small circle stencil to mask off a circle then used MFT rolling clouds stencil to lightly blend balmy blue ink. The birdhouse was die cut using paper rose birdhouses die set from crumb cake card, then I used darkroom door woodgrain texture stamp to stamp with crumb cake ink over the birdhouse. The roof was die cut from a scrap of pale yellow card. The bird was die cut from the same paper rose set from petal pink card, and popped up on a tiny foam square for dimension. The sentiment from Gummiapan was stamped using crumb cake ink, adhered to the panel and tied with some twine.  Finally the panel was adhered to a crumb cake card base.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!