Thinking of you

Here is the last of my sympathy cards made for family members of my friend Gavin  (see my previous two posts).

 

This card is for Jenny, Gavin's partner.

 

Background was made by 'spattering' several different inks, then mounted onto cardbase.  Flowers & leaves were stamped in black & clear embossed and watercoloured.  Extra layers of die cuts were added for dimension.

 

Sentiment was heat embossed in gold on a strip of vellum.

Flowers were arranged and added to cardfront in layers.

 

I am loving playing with my Altenew stamps #Altenew

 

Linking With the following challenges:

The Flower Challenge #84 - use a die

Happy Little Stampers - September - anything goes with dies

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge - Anything goes with flowers

ITEMS USED

Altenew Stamps & Dies - Build-a-flower Anemone Coronaria, inks, Clear Embossing

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.

Sympathy Card

Hi everyone, thanks for stopping by and reading my latest post!

I have needed a few Sympathy cards of late ...... such a sad time for some of my friends and their families.  Over the next day or so, I will be sharing some of the sympathy cards I have made.

 

One of my friends I have known since about 1975, Gavin, recently passed away.  It was a bit of a shock, as he was only 66, but he had been experiencing some health issues of late.  

 

This card will be for his brother, Stephen.  Stephen was the person who introduced my husband to me, and Gavin was the person who pushed us to go on a few dates!  Thank you Stephen & Gavin, we have now been married 42 years and counting!

 

For me, the loss of an old friend hurts, but knowing he is no longer in pain is a source of comfort.

 

 

Stampin Up Heartfelt Thanks - my fave 2-step stamp set.  I have had this set for quite a while now (since 2015!  which goes to show the quality of the stamps!)

Background flowers were stamped randomly with VersaMark, then clear embossed.  Background was trimmed then attached to cardbase.  2-step Flower images were stamped onto white card front, using a 'The Stamping Buddy' to align images, trimmed and edges were distressed.  Card front was layered onto black cardstock, ribbon wrapped around cardfront, then cardfront was attached to background.  

 

'The Stamping Buddy' is another tool I have had for many years.  I remember thinking it was a bit on the 'expensive' side when I first bought it, but it has been the perfect tool for aligning wooden stamps, especially my collection of 2-step stamps from Stampin Up.

Linking With the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More 'any occasion'

All Sorts Challenge #745 Anything Goes

ITEMS USED

Stampin Up Heartfelt Thanks, The Stamping Buddy, Stampin Up Ink, Stazon Ink, Clear Embossing Powder, VersaMark, Edge distressing tool

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.

Thinking of You ......

Hi everyone, thanks for stopping by and reading my latest post!

I have needed a few Sympathy cards of late ...... such a sad time for some of my friends and their families.  Over the next day or so, I will be sharing some of the sympathy cards I have made.

 

One of my friends I have known since about 1975, Gavin, recently passed away.  It was a bit of a shock, as he was only 66, but he had been experiencing some health issues of late.  

 

This card will be for his ex-wife, Deb.  Even though they were no longer married, they remained on good terms.

 

For me, the loss of an old friend hurts, but knowing he is no longer in pain is a source of comfort.

 

Altenew Build-a-flower Coneflower images were stamped in layers, with the outline being stamped with Versafine and heat embossed with clear, then die cut with matching dies.  Using my Couture Creations Stamping Platform really helped with aligning the images.

 

Background was made by masking off the outer edge of cardfront and using a blending brush.  Water droplets were splattered to create some texture.  

Stampin Up 'Thinking of You' sentiment stamped directly onto cardfront with Versafine Onyx Black.

Cardfront was then trimmed and mounted onto cardbase using 3D foam tape.

Flowers were attached to cardfront with 3D foam squares. 

 

I am loving using these #Altenew stamps & dies

 

Linking With the following challenges:

The Flower Challenge #84 Use a Die

Creative Knockouts #502 anything goes

Cardz4Galz #207  Leaves

Tic Tac Toe #225  Diagonal top left to bottom right

ITEMS USED

Altenew Build-a-flower Coneflower Stamps & Dies, Inks, VersaFine Onyx Black, Clear Emboss Power, Stampin Up 'Thinking of You' stamp, Couture Creations Stamping Platform

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 21st Birthday

The nephew Liam celebrates his 21st birthday!  Where does the time go?

 

I made a card using his favourite football team colours - black, white & teal (Port Power)

 

For the Cardfront, Bubbles were stenciled using my home-made stencil with Spellbinders Circle Dies and randomly placed & coloured using blending brushes with Blue, Grey & Black Distress Inks.  The outer border was coloured with Copics.

Sugar Pea 'Champagne bottle & glasses' were stamped & die cut, then coloured in with Copics and highlighted with Kindy Glitz & Dimensional Magic, Extra bubble blended & handrwitten '21' added to the cardfront with 3D foam dots.  

 

Honey Bee 'Bitty Buzzwords' Sentiment 'happy' stamped directly onto front of card, 'birthday' die cut from black cardstock, mounted onto white shadow, then added to the cardfront with 3D foam dots.

 

Gems added for a final touch of bling!

 

Inside the card I made a pocket for some money - stamped with VersaMark.

 

Linking With the following challenges:

 

Happy Little Stampers - July - Anything Goes with Dies

My Time to Craft! #513 Shades of Blue (not sure this REALLY fits, but will include the link anyway)

Inkspirational #295 - Use Stencils

Color My Heart Color Dare #559 (used blue, orange, yellow, green)

UPDATED:  Emerald Winner in Color My Heart Color Dare #559

 

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.

Enjoy .....

Your retirement!

 

 

 

My friend Mandy & her husband have decided to retire and I thought the occasion worthy of a card!  They ran Blue Edge Crafts for 23 years and I have been a customer for at least 20+ years.  We became friends over that time.  Apart from our love of papercrafts, we also shared an interest in quilting although, I confess, I haven't touched my sewing machine of late.  

 

I am a member of a Facebook Group, World of Creative Crafty Challenges and this month, I was asked to be a Guest Designer by Kerry, who is also a friend I made through Blue Edge Crafts :)  Knowing I wanted a retirement card, an idea was brewing ....... I knew I wanted something fun and light hearted.

 

Some NBUS .....I have had the Car & Road (unbranded) dies for quite a while now - I got them for some children's cards but never got around to using them.  The same with the stamp set 'Islandia' from Creative PL - I have had it for so long, I can't remember where I or when I got it.  The packaging says it was made for Aldi Stores, so that makes me think I got it on one of my trips to an Op Shop, as I haven't ever been to an Aldi Store.

 

The background sky was blended using Distress Inks in 2 different blues, the sun & palm trees were stamped directly onto cardbase.  Inspiration Station Challenge inspired me to use Orange for the sun.  The Road was cut twice out of grey, then the green layer was cut and strategically placed.  

 

All of the small die cut items were cut from left-over scraps (SNIPPETS) which shows that it is good to never throw away your off-cuts!

Sentiment 'enjoy' from Honey Bee 'Bitty Buzz Words' die cut & layered, then placed on front of card with foam dots.

The car was cut out of Blue cardstock 3 times and layered together.  Blue is Mandy's favourite colour!  Wheels were cut from Black 3 times & layered together, with a gel pen detail in silver for hub caps.  

I love this little car...  My first car was a 1960 VW Beetle 💗 and I love the way this card turned out!

 

Linking With the following challenges: 

 

Time Out #241
Cut it Up Challenge #281
Shopping Our Stash SOS499
Inspiration Station #50
NBUS #51
Snippets Playground #457
 

ITEMS USED

Stamps/Dies:  Creative PL 'Islandia', Honey Bee Bitty Buzzwords, Car & Road Border Dies (Unbranded)

Inks: Distress Inks, Memento Tuxedo Black

Tools:  Cuttlebug, Blending Brushes

And one more photo to finish off :)

Here we are in 2014 at our QLD Craft Mad retreat
Front Row:  Mandy, Jan, Kerry
Back Row:  Me, Therese, Ruth, Kaye, Tracey

Our Craft Mad retreat in QLD was the highlight of my year
and I loved every minute of it!

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.