Be my Valentine

Hi there, it's my day to share a card for the January challenge at Die Cut Divas,

 We have an awesome new sponsor, none other than Lawn Fawn!

The challenge is Valentines - make a project for Valentine's Day

And the prize - Lawn Fawn is providing a $25 gift card.

I picked up a cute Lawn Fawn die set just before Christmas.   So here's what I did 

The die set "Candy Hearts" is super cute.   I die cut the sentiment dies in different tones and shades of purple.  I die cut the plain layer with white card and the the IOU from red so I could layer in the red heart.  I found some pretty patterned paper and used another shade of purple for the lower part of the card.   I used a sentiment from a Clearly Besotted stamp set.  I decided it needed a little something more so die cut a Spellbinder's edge die and added some gems along the top.  

We would love to have you join us at Die Cut Divas. 

Halloween at Sweet Stampin' Challenge.

 Hi peeps.  Time for a new challenge at Sweet Stampin' Challenge and our theme is Halloween or Halloween Colours.   

I don't normally do Halloween cards but I remembered having a The Greeting Farm stamp set called Sweet & Toxic -and a Clearly Besotted set that had a Halloween sentiment. 

I stamped the girl and then used some very old H2O paints.  I found then at the back of one of my drawers and after having to get Hubby to open one of the little pottles (involved a pair of pliers and a vice-grip) I found they were still good to go!  In real life she is really shimmery.  I printed off the paper - a Shery K digi image I purchased such a long time ago.  The sentiment was stamped and trimmed out and layered onto some purple card.  

Do come and join us at Sweet Stampin' Challenge.

Make a Background at Sweet Stampin' Challenge.

Well my friends... this post is coming to you LATE!  Yes I completely lost the plot and forgot to post... well even make a card for this challenge... Bad Designer team member!!! I thought I still had a week to go...saw the post from Sweet Stampin' Challenge pop up on my blogger feed and thought Oh C**p!  So there I was at 10.pm last night riffling through my stash for a background I had made and could make up into a card ASAP!

Here's what the result was

 My background was made last year when I was doing a Gelli plate class - I used Altenew inks to make a print by stamping on the plate with the leave stamp and then stamping off with the leaves onto another sheet of paper.  That is what this is - the off stamping.  I trimmed up the panel and used some Magenta Altenew ink to add a glow around the edge using a blending brush.  I stamped a sentiment from my new Clearly Besotted Say Something set which I matted with some dark pink card.  Added a few dusky pink sequins and hey presto and card done in 10 mins.

So do come and join us at Sweet Stampin' Challenge with a project where you make your own background.

Don't ya just love.....

when you get an awesome set of stamps free with a magazine...
this week I got two magazines with awesome stamps... Cardmaking and Papercraft had some lovely stamps that matched a Spellbinders circle die (still have to ink these up) and Simply Cards & Papercraft has a Clearly Besotted stamp set.   The Clearly Besotted set has some Fuchsias, a jar, some butterflies, a rose and three lovely sentiments.  It is a mixture of stamps from a number of sets available from Clearly Besotted.

Anyway, this set really got me excited.. I just had to start creating.  I CASE'd a couple of the cards from the magazine

First up is using the Rose from the set

I used the basic design - changing my background to PP rather than plain colour.  I also used a Heart shaped doily and some cream cotton thread.  I coloured my roses with Copics and fussy cut using some foam tape to add dimension to the roses.

Entering this into the Layering and Dimension Challenge at Virginia's View 

Next I used the Fuchsias

Once again, I followed the design from the magazine.  Stamped and coloured with Copics and then fussy cutting.  I decided to add a Mother's Day sentiment to change it up.   Slightly misjudged the placement of my sentiment.  Should be a bit lower on the card.

And then today, I used some watercolour paper and distress inks to colour up the Fuchsias

I stamped the leaves with Peeled Paint and used an aqua brush to move the ink around.  Once it dried, I went round the edge with a black fine line pen.  On another piece of watercolour paper I stamped and used Picked Raspberry and Dusty Concord distress inks to colour the Fuchsias and fussy cut.  The sentiment is from the set.  Finished with some sequins.

I'm entering this post to Simon Says Stamp - Spring flowers challenge.

We had our carpet cleaned this morning which meant that I didn't/couldn't do much housework, hence getting into the craft room (carpet there not included in the cleaning) to play this afternoon.  Luckily it was nice and sunny so I could have all the doors and windows open to aid with the drying process.

Off to play some more.  Take care and have an awesome weekend.

Use a Die Cut... new challenge at Creative Craft Cottage

Yes, the latest challenge at Creative Craft Cottage is up and it's right up my alley... use a die cut on your card.   As you know I have a TON of dies and just love using die cuts on my cards.

We have two sponsors this fortnight...
   

I used an image from Lemon Shortbread for my card

         
I started by making my base card.  I used a Clearly Besotted leaf stamp to make a patterned background.  I put the image in a Word document and cropped it.  Once I coloured it, I use a Spellbinder to cut the oval and then the  Floral Oval in purple.  I did a little paper piecing on my image to make her hairband and bow.  I added a Cherry Lynn bow die in the same PP.  Finished with some large pearls.  I haven't added a sentiment... that will go inside when I decided who and when to send it. 

So if you love using die cuts on your cards and projects, do hop over and join us at Creative Craft Cottage.        

A touch of Green and a Tag Card

Two cards to share today.  I am FINALLY feeling better- still got a cough but coping with that as I managed to sleep all night with out coughing.

My first card today is for the Addicted to CAS challenge - cue word GREEN

I've been seeing the Bokeh technique a bit lately and thought to try it with some new Cracked Pistachio Distress ink, Spun Sugar and Shaded Lilac.  Made a template with some die cut circles on acetate and used my Frost White Colorbox ink to sponge over top.  IRL it does look stunning but not so clear in the photo.  My sentiment is from Kaisercraft and finished with some punched butterflies (Martha Stewart) and some 4mm clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

My second card was inspired by Gayatri who is the inspiration at Tag You're It! challenge blog this time round.

 

Isn't this a gorgeous card.  I was taken by the different elements - the cut out and off skewed tag, the flower design and colours.  Here's my take on the card

I used leaves from a Clearly Besotted set in Peeled Paint distress ink, then used a couple of little flower stamps from a Hero Arts set in Picked Raspberry ink.  The sentiment is from another Clearly Besotted set.  My die cut is from Pretty Pink Posh and I finished with some Pretty Pink Posh sequins.

Thanks for stopping by.  We are in watch mode as the weather is expected to get a bit windy tonight with the passing of Cyclone Pam off the coast.  It's been a dull sort of day so far.  Ideal for being in my craft room.   Take care all.

Who inspires You???????????

For me today it was a card from Joy Taylor (here is her card)
What inspired me?
- the design
- the watercolouring

I was home sick today - a very heavy head cold and after having a sleep in the morning, I decided to play a bit.

I white embossed some flowers from Clearly Besotted onto some ranger watercolour card.  Once it was all embossed I added water and some Distress Inks in Seedless Preserves and Peeled Paint.  The sentiment is from a Hero Art set.  Finished with some enamel dots. 

I'm entering this into the following challenges
Simon Says Stamp -Girly
Virginia's View - All things Embossed

Feeling really rotten now... sitting shivering and coughing and sneezing... so a few more blogs to check out, then off for an early night. Thanks for stopping by.

CASE Study #207

I saw the inspiration photo for this latest challenge over at CASE Study  and was so inspired.

 

Isn't this just the prettiest, elegant looking card.   I knew that the new stamps I got from Tiffany would be prefect.  One of the sets she sent me was a floral one by Clearly Besotted.  This is the first time I've used this company's stamps and I have to say I am impressed with them.

I white embossed the flower a number of times onto some vellum that I had die cut with a Lil' Inkers die.  I then turned over the piece and used Copics to colour. This way, the white embossing doesn't get discoloured.  I clear embossed the black sentiment from another Clearly Besotted set.  Added some clear Pretty Pink Posh sequins and a few gems.   Adding this to the Stamp It and Blog it at Simon Says Stamp to celebrate STAMPtember. 

The mojo has been on holiday for a few days but the new goodies from Tiffany really got me going.  I got another card done tonight as well.  This one used a Hero Arts stencil and the Simon Says Ink that was in Tiffany's box

 

The inks colours are Cotton Candy and Mint.  I used a Kaisercraft sentiment white embossed onto black card. The green enamel dots were also in the goodies from Tiffany.  

Looking forward to the weekend so I can get some more play time.