Thinking of you today and every day

I have been a bit sidetracked in the craft room of late, but sadly, I was in need of a sympathy card to give to my sister.  Her mother-in-law, who turned 90 in February this year, passed away on Saturday night.

 

 

This is an Altenew stamp & die set - Wild Flora - flowers were stamped with Versafine Onyx Black and heat embossed with Zing Clear embossing powder.  I hand painted the flower & leaves using Altenew Inks.

 

I recently purchased some stencils and blending brushes from Amazon and was keen to have a bit of a play.

 

I made the background using one of the stencils with a blending brush and lightly blended using Altenew Ink in the centre.  When mounting the background onto the matt, I thought it got a little lost, so I ink blended the edges as well, and added a few splatters.  I then stamped the sentiment directly onto the background.  

 

The background & matting were cut using Waffle Flower A6 layer dies and layered onto an A6 300 gsm White Cardbase.  

 

I layered the background onto the purple matting, then layered the purple matting onto the white cardbase.  The flowers were then positioned on the front in a pleasing manner with foam tabs to add dimension.

 

Linking this card with a few challenges

 

TicTacToe #272 (centre column - layers /Free/ Floral/foliage

 

Just Add Ink #754 - Choose Two - DieCut-Flower-Ribbon - I chose DieCut/Flower

 

Just Us Girls #778 - Die Week - Layers - I used several dies to make up multiple layers

 

 

Cut it Up #331 - anything goes (with a die)

 

 

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.

Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Happy Birthday

A birthday card today, inspired by a sketch on Freshly Made Sketches and Colour selection from Just Add Ink

 

 

 

I used my own handmade circle stencil, made with Spellbinders Circle dies & acetate, to make the 'bubbles' using blending brushes on a white 210gsm cardfront.

 

'Happy Birthday' from MFT 'Adorable Elephants' stamped directly to the cardfront in Black, trimmed to suit with a blue border added to define the edge.  Cardfront was then added to 300gsm cardbase using 3D foam.  

 

Two cocktail glasses & umbrellas from Sugar Pea Stamps 'Cheers to You' were stamped, die-cut & coloured in with Copics then layered onto the cardfront with 3D foam ... and a finishing touch of Kindy Glitz/Stickles & bling.

 

I used Distress Inks - Twisted Citron, Tumbled Glass & Mustard Seed - they are the closest to the Just Add Ink colours I have.

 

 

I am quite pleased with this card - I hope you like it too!

 

**UPDATED**  Oooh - My card was chosen Princess of Clean by Judy for Freshly Made Sketches!

 

 

Linking With the following challenges:

Freshly Made Sketches #587

Just Add Ink #654

Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes with Dies

 

ITEMS USED

Stamps/Dies:  MFT Adorable Elephants, Sugar Pea Stamps & Dies

Inks: Distress Inks

Tools:  Cuttlebug, Handmade Stencil, Blending brushes

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.

Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Happy Easter

I felt like doing some foiling and Copic colouring today.

 

 

I love this 'easter tree' digi stamp from LOTV - my Sister-in-law has an 'easter egg tree' ornament that she puts on display each year - so that is who I am going to give this card to.

 

I printed digi stamp and the sentiment 'Happy Easter' using a font called 'Tinker Toy' with the Laser Printer. The sentiment was foiled in Gold and the digi stamp was foiled in Green.

 

I then coloured the image with some lovely pastel shades using my Copic Markers.

 

 

The cardfront was trimmed down to fit on a DL sized cardbase, and a final touch of bling added.

 

I really like the simplicity of this one - nice and easy to put in the mail too!

 

I have been inspired by quite a few challenges for this card.  

 

The As You Like It challenge asks us to nominate what is our fave - People or Animals.  I think it has to be Animals .... hands down!  They are such fun to colour in!

Several other challenges have Easter as the theme and these have influenced my colour choices.

   

 

Linking With the following challenges:

Inspired by #231 - Eggs

Sweet Stampin - Easter

As You Like It - People or Animals

Double D Challenges - Easter

Just Add Ink - #646 - Photo inspiration

ITEMS USED

Stamps/Dies:  LOTV Digi Stamp 'easter tree'

Inks:  Copic Markers

Tools: Laser Printer, Mini Minc, fancy rotary blade/cutting matt

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.

Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

With Sympathy

Sympathy cards are always hard to make, but sometimes, the challenge blogs can help with inspiration.

One of my camera club friends, Donna, passed away unexpectedly ..... she was only 64.  I needed a card for her partner & soulmate Michael.  Donna had a wonderful laugh, always greeted everyone with a smile and will be sorely missed.

I experimented a little bit with this card.  I used a Spellbinders Die as a stencil - not the die cut, the actual metal die.  I quite like how the slight overflow on the edge of the die creates a white frame without adding extra layers.  I also kind of like that the blue looks like sky with the dandelions blowing in the breeze :)  so it fits with the Just Add Ink challenge of Day/Silhouette.

Linking with:

Addicted to CAS: #232 - Sympathy

Happy Little Stampers October Stencil Challenge

Just Add Ink #627 - pick 2 - Day/Night/Silhouette

Less is More #476 - use a stencil

Cardstock:  Leathergrain 300gsm cardstock.  

Background:  Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Chipped Sapphire, Wilted Violet blended with brushes.

Dies:  Spellbinders Deckled Edge  

Stamps:  Dandelion stamped in Versafine Onyx Black & heat embossed with clear embossing.  With Sympathy Ultimate Crafts Ooh La La - Happy Lives stamped with StazOn black.

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.

Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Happy Birthday

I created a fun shaker card for the niece's birthday.

First up I made up a handmade background - with inking/smooshing and blotting - I think it has become my favourite technique this year - such a versatile technique being able to chose particular colours; some of which were chosen from the Just Add Ink #625 Inspiration Photo.

I then used one of my big balloon dies and cut out from the card front & the front layer of the card base.

Acetate was placed on the front, added 3d foam around the aperture and placed some gems and sprinkles in the well of the shaker section.  I added acetate to the back of the card front and placed over the top of the card base.

Sentiment 'happy birthday' stamped & die cut 3 times then layered together before being placed over the balloon.  A nice gold ribbon to add the final touch.

I forgot that the verse would show through the card, so I added a verse on the back :)  

I am having a lot of fun with figuring out the best way to make shaker cards .... some ways are more successful than others.

Linking with:

AAA Birthday Challenges - #42 A Favourite technique

Happy Little Stampers October Challenge - Anything Goes with Dies

Just Add Ink - #626 - Photo inspiration - colours of flowers

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.

Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Happy Birthday Gorgeous!

Another birthday card, this one for my Sister-in-law, Rosa :)

My goto layout for a card recently :)  Loving the paper piecing in these Stampin Up Stamps.

Linking this card with:

Seize the Birthday Challenge: Sparkle & Shine (bling & Green pearl cardstock)

Dream Valley Challenge:  Lots of layers  

Just Add Ink:  Add an 'S'  (squares, sketch, stampin up, stamps, sparkle & shine)

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.
Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.