Archie is 2

Yesterday, 20th April,  was my little grandson Archie's second birthday.... With the blink of an eye.... he is two .... but if you ask him he tells you he is six!  Or at least that's what he told us when we spoke with him!  It only seems like yesterday he was born.  His Mummy and Daddy take him to the zoo regularly and that's where they went yesterday.    So of course Nanny had to make him a zoo card for his birthday.

I found a DCWV Safari Paper pack in my stash and the perfect paper for the box card.  I stamped the animals and used my scanner to flip and print so I got matching pairs..  My Scan'N'Cut came in handy to cut them all out. 

His Mummy made him a train cake with zoo animal candles....with some help from Archie.....

Can't wait till I get to give him a big hug in July when we are visiting on our way to Ireland.  

Stamped and Stencilled backgrounds

I have another couple of card for my AECP classes.... First a card for Celebration: Stencil Techniques.   I LOVED this class.  There was so much inspiration from Laurel Beard.  She is the funniest, happiest of tutors.  I really got so many great ideas.  I had so many ideas floating around in my head... but was very inspired by Laurel's use of inks to colour up embossing paste. 

My background was made by mixing embossing paste with Parrot ink.  I used Altenew Layered Medallion B stencil and spread the paste through it.  Once it dried I added it to a pale green layer and then onto the dark grey card.  I took the Parrot from the Parrot Paradise stamp set.  I used Zig Markers to colour the parrot and then fussy cut and used some 3M mounting tape to pop it up.    The sentiment was white embossed onto the grey card.    I learned so many great techniques to use with stencils in this class.  I can totally recommend it. 

And my second card is for Clean and Simple Boutique Cards - I chose the Stamped Background lesson and was totally inspired by both Jennifer Rzasa and Yana Smakula.  I have already shared this background but here it is again.

I learnt that even a CAS card can be full of beautiful colour.  Jennifer is a great tutor as well.  Each of the classes is inspiring and really good value for money. 

Two more cards ticked off - I'm having great fun doing  the AECP class. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Peony Bouquet

It's my day to share over at Die Cut Divas....and what fun I've had making my card. Our sponsor is Altenew.... what a coup! I have SOOOO many of their beautiful stamps and just love using their layering florals. 

They have generously offered at $30 gift voucher....

 I was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest by Yana Smakula. Yana is a designer for the Altenew team and is extremely talented. I used her design with some changes I used different colours. My big flower is from Peony Bouquet set and the smaller ones are from Beautiful Day set. Altenew have dies that match many of their sets and both the sets I used have them. I used the dies to cut all the flowers and leaves apart of the berries (I lost the die to match them so had to fussy cut) I used a Spellbinders die(Ironworks) to cut my medallion behind my bouquet out of silver mirror card. The sentiment is from a newer Altenew set called Sincere Greetings and has been embossed with some silver powder. All the inks I have used are Altenew as well. I love the way the inks come in sets that co-ordinate and make it easy to layer the florals. 

So if you want a chance to win $30 to spend at Altenew's store, do come and join us at Die Cut Divas. It's an Anything Goes challenge. 

Thanks for visiting today.

Let it Shine....

I have been making A LOT of floral cards lately - with the amazing Altenew stamps and inks.  Last night I made this one for the Altenew Educator Certification - from the Let it Shine class

 I loved this class.  It is all about making your cards shine with use of embossing powder, foil, sparkle pens to paint with.  For my card I used the Altenew Peony Scroll for my main flower and the leaves and the smaller ones from Peony Bouquet.  I used Altenew Rose Gold Embossing powder to make my flowers and leave, then smooshed Altenew orange and green inks onto my block and used a Wink of Stella clear sparkle pen to watercolour them.  Boy does this make them shimmer and shine. I hand trimmed them all and arrange on the card.  I used some Freebie Shabby Chic paper for my background, die cut an oval with a Simon Says Stamp die.  I used the same Rose Gold powder to emboss the Hello from Flower Arrangement stamp set onto some heavy weight vellum and fussy cut.  I added the sentiment with some brown Altenew ink to continue the shabby chic look.

What inspired me with this class..... the reminder of how embossing can make your card really pop.  It's one of the first things I learnt as new stamper and even today, I still get that magical feeling when I watch the powder melt and shine.   It was very hard to chose just one technique from this class.... I really loved the use of double sided tape and foil to give your card shine but just couldn't incorporate this into my design.  That technique is one I really am going to use some time soon.  

Well, I had started this post at 9.15pm last night when suddenly we lost power.... It was a very stormy night... torrential rain and cyclone strength winds.  Lots of trees down and damage with roofs being blown off and windows blown in.   There are still parts of Auckland  with out power.  We got our back about 8.30 today - about an hour after we left for work!  So it was cold brekkie and no cuppa tea this morning. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Two cards from one background.

Recently I saw Yana Samkula do a video where she took one large sheet of card stock and stamped flowers as a background and then trimmed it into four panels.  I CASE'd Yana's background  but stamped it onto an A5 (half a large sheet) and cut it into two.  I used Altenew stamps and inks and made two cards.

Here's the first one.  I trimmed the panel and added to some dark grey base card .  I stamped the large sentiment  and added it to my base.  I thought it looked a little stark so I diluted some Nuvo drops and splattered them over the entire card. 

and onto number two:

I added my sentiment directly onto the card panel.  I love the way the background shines through the open part of the sentiment.  This time I backed the panel with black card stock.   This time I just added the Nuvo drops as they are meant to be used.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Sweet Rose Bouquet...

I'm loving my Altenew stamps at the moment..... and a number of new sets have arrived over the last month or so, due to winning some gift vouchers and buying some stuff too.   I ordered two sets through Krafters Kart that arrived yesterday.... so with some time to play this afternoon, I broke out the Sweet Rose Bouquet set. 

It is a lovely layering set, but boy was it difficult to layer.... I didn't do too bad.   My card isn't exactly as how I planned.  The gold side was supposed to be on the left hand side, the flowers at the top and the sentiment at the bottom.... however as I went to stamp the greeting I did it upside down..... so I simply flipped the card and got it finished.    A few Nuvo drops to embellish and a thin stripe of pink card and I was happy with the result.

I'm entering this into the Happy Birthday challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.
And the "Throw on the Flowers" challenge at Star Stampz Challenge

The Colour Purple

Purple is my favourite colour and our Challenge at Southern Girls Challenge Blog is to use your favourite colour/s.    Our sponsors this time round are:

                                        


I have  used a cute image from A Day for Daisies - called Breeze in Spring

  I printed off the image and added the frame and purple shading before colouring with my pencils.  Sentiment was embossed to give it a pop.  Added to a purple card and finished with some purple stickles.  Love me some Purple!

Thanks for stopping by.  We would love you to join us at Southern Girls...

Altenew and Die Cut Divas....

I'm happy to tell you that Die Cut Divas have a new sponsor----  Yes Altenew is sponsoring us this month.  They are providing a $30 gift voucher.... how awesome is that!  And it's a  great "ANYTHING GOES" challenge. 

 

Altenew’s Mini Blossom Die Cutting Machine is the compact and portable must-have tool for your craft room! It is designed to work with Altenew dies (sold separately) and other wafer-thin metal dies. It can be used to quickly and easily die cut a variety of materials, including cardstock and Altenew specialty papers, and will help you add texture and dimension to your projects. The elegant and clean design will look wonderful on your craft desk, secured on its stable base with suction feet.

Machine size: 6" x 4 1/2" plus handle.” Cutting plate size: 3" x 6 1/4" Product weight: 2 lb 3 oz

Check here to order Altenew's Mini Blossom Die Cutting Machine.

We'd love if you used Altenew's products but it is not at all necessary.  

I have used a slightly older Altenew stamp from a set call "Best Mom"  

I have used my ScanNCut to cut out the flower.  I forgot to add a border so my cut was very close to the each.   My background is some of the new Washi Tape available at Altenew.  

So we would love to have you join us at Die Cut Divas this month and have a chance at winning the $30 voucher.