Today I thought I'd share this little Thank You card with you.  I made it to send to a lovely crafting pal to thank her for her warm hospitality and the opportunity to spend time crafting with pals.

I used a scalloped edge C6 base card, Distress inks, a Memory Box stencil and a set of 'splodges' stamps by Visible Image.

Using the stencil I applied various colours of DI onto the card. I diecut a layer and added DI around the edges and stamped the sentiment (using a very old wood mounted stamp which doesn't have the manufacturer's name anywhere). 

I then laid the shaped layer in place over the background and stamped the splodges, going over the edge to give the illusion of an actual ink splat dripping over the edge of the shaped layer onto the background.

Finally I attached the shaped layer using PinFlair Glue to raise it up a little from the background.

I'm quite pleased with the finished card and can't wait to play with the other stencils I've recently acquired.

Thanks for dropping by to check out my project today, hope you enjoyed your visit.

Have a great day, whatever you have planned.

A Couple of Thank Yous

Happy Wednesday Folks, got anything exciting on your Agendas for today ?  My Craftroom sort out continues, slowly but surely and I do plan to fit in a little crafting during the day in between the necessary chores that have to be done - as a reward for finishing the things I don't really want to spend my time on ! 

This evening I shall be creating a Christmas card during my regular weekly get together with crafting pals - we've decided to try and make at least one card each time we meet and are taking it in turns to choose a theme/set of stamps/materials for us all to use, so it should be fun to see how different everyone's card turns out. 

The project I'm sharing with you today is a couple of Thank You cards I made recently.  They are a very similar design to the Starburst Birthday card I shared a couple of days ago.

 

 

Both were created in the same way, various inks brushed onto the centre of the base card using Inkyliscious brushes, then the star image from the set of  Creative Expressions Urban Beats stamp set stamped over the top with the darkest ink. 

For the purple version I used Distress Inks in Milled Lavender, Dusty Concorde and Ripe Persimmon and for the green card Stampin' Up! inks in Pistachio Pudding and Pear Pizzazz.

I used the Joanna Sheen Starburst die and silver mirror card for the purple version and gold for the green one, to cut out the starburst topper. 

A simple design but I was very pleased with how it turned out, hence using it for a small batch of cards.

Thanks for visiting, hope you enjoyed today's project.

Star Burst Birthday Wishes

Happy Monday dear Bloggers how are you doing today ?  Good I hope. 

Today I have a card to share with you, this is one I made for a pal who has her birthday today

Happy Birthday Jan

 

 

To create this card I used some newly acquired stash -

*  Creative Expressions, Urban Beats stamp set
*  Stampin' Up! inks in Pistachio Pudding and Pear Pizzazz
*  Joanna Sheen 'Starburst' die
*  Clear Wink of Stella Pen

I applied the inks direct to the card, using an Inkyliscious brush, in a random manner, firstly the Pistachio then Pear over it.  I then stamped the stars image from the stamp set using Pear Pizzazz ink over the top.

To create the star flourish I used a scrap of SU! Pear Pizzazz cardstock and the Joanna Sheen die, then adhered it over the stamped image, scattering the stars over the design.  I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment using the Pear Pizzazz ink on to a scrap of white card, then fussy cut it out and adhered using Pin Flair glue to give it a little dimension.

Finally I applied Clear Wink of Stella pen over the individual letters on the sentiment and all over the diecut pieces to make them twinkle a bit.

Here's a close up shot showing the twinkle a little more clearly

I am loving the effect of the Wink of Stella pens right now. 

Thanks for visiting today, hope you enjoyed today's project.

Two Turtle Doves... and a Robin in a Pear Tree ? !!

Morning Folks.  Intrigued by my Post title ?  Well then, I'd better explain myself.

I recently bought a lovely set of  stamp and matching dies by Poppy Stamps, which I think is meant to be a Partridge in a Pear Tree.  Now, I'm a little ornithologically challenged and wasn't sure what a partridge looks like, so here's a batch of cards I made.....

 

 

I coloured some of the birds as Robins, plus a few as Red Cardinals - these are to send to friends and family in the USA as I believe they don't have robins over there (please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong !).

I coloured the stamped wreath and bird image using ProMarkers before cutting out using the matching dies.  I then cut squares of white card and stamped a large snowflake image in the centre(huge apologies but I can't remember which stamp it was, if I come across it again I'll amend this post with the manufacturer details) and attached the wreath diecut over the top.  I then attached these layers over a very slightly larger mat cut from SU! Cherry Cobbler cardstock, to give a thin red line around the image layer.

Finally, I added the sentiment at the bottom using a Clarity stamp and SU! Cherry Cobbler ink.  I haven't added any glitter or Stickles to this batch of cards - I know that's unusual for me as I do so love a bit of bling - but I just didn't feel the design needed it.  What do you think ?  Should I add some bling or not ?

Thanks for dropping by today, great to 'see' you.  Have a wonderful day !

Happy 87th Birthday Dad !

As my title says, today my amazing Dad is 87 years young.  This year I am Blessed to have him here staying with me so I can celebrate with him.  Have an awesome day Dad x

I made this card especially for him - it says just how I feel about him.

I used some digi images from Rebecca B's blog and fussy cut out each word before attaching using foam pads.  The letters were in a bag of alphabet chipboard cut outs, I've used quite a lot of them in my Smash Books, but found the appropriate letters to spell DAD still in the bag.

That's it, simple but I like it - hope Dad does too !  We are heading out to his favourite restaurant this evening for a birthday celebration meal.

Celebrate !

Just a quick post from me today, I'm sharing a Clean and Simple (CAS) design on a card I made for a pal recently.  He no longer lives in the UK, so I didn't want to add many layers or embellishments so that it would be flat to go through the postal system - and be a little cheaper to post too being lighter !

 

I used a C6 basecard, a stamp from a set by Stampin'Up! - it was a freebie during their recent Sale-abrations promotion - and this old phonebox image is one of my favourite from the set.  I also love the Celebrate sentiment stamp.   This set of stamps is perfect for creating those often hard to make men's cards and I'm so glad I managed to get it whilst it was still available.

 

Firstly I stamped the phonebox image on to a scrap of white cardstock using SU! Cherry Cobbler ink, then dragged the inkpad around the edges of the stamped layer to give just a hint of a border before attaching to the base card.  Finally I stamped the sentiment using the CC ink.

 

Job Done and this card was despatched on it's journey to warm and sunny climes !

 

Thanks for popping by to check today's project, hope you like it.

Happy New Home

Morning Folks.  Today's project is a New Home card I created to send to a lovely on-line crafting pal who finally moved into her new home after a long and stressful time spent waiting for all the necessary legal stuff to be completed.  I'm sure she's now settling in nicely and I hear that she will actually have a dedicated craftroom, how fabulous !

Here's the card I created to send to her

To create the background I used one of my current fave ways to use Distress Inks.  Applying the ink pad direct to the card and dragging, this creates a great effect which I love.  I used Mustard Seed and Mown Lawn, over stamping the border onto the green area with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

I've used stamps I recently acquired from The Artistic Stamper, I love these quirky little houses and the sentiment was just perfect.  I love how the border stamp works well to create the impression of flowers in the garden.  I used Copics to add a few touches of colour to the houses, cut out the stamped design and attached to the background using foam pads.  After cutting around the sentiment layer, I dragged the Mown Lawn ink pad around the edges to soften them a little.

Hope you enjoyed your visit today, it's great to have your company for a few moments, let me know what you think of my creations, I love hearing how people feel about my work.  Have a Great Day, whatever you have planned.

Purple Haze...

Happy Monday Folks, today is a lovely crafting pal's Birthday and I do hope the Purple Princess has a great day in store - Happy Birthday Matey !

Of course, I had to include some purple in the card I created for her so here it is

I know that Kathy loves the Clean and Simple (CAS) style of design and she is also very fond of the Paper Artsy JOFY stamps designed by Jo Firth-Young which both she and I acquired recently.  I hope I've achieved a design that 'ticks all her boxes' with my card.

The background panel was created using Mustard Seed and Seedless Preserves Distress Inks, applied using a blending mat and Inkyliscious brushes, then layered over a slightly larger scrap of cardstock matching the colour of the ink.  I then stamped the yummy JOFY image in the centre of the panel using black Memento ink before colouring the 'flowers' using Copics.  The sentiment is from the Inkadinkado set I love (and have used a lot lately !) these words are amongst my fave, this was also stamped using Memento Black. 

That's it, clean simple and hopefully colours that PP will love.

Thanks for popping in to check out today's project, hope you've enjoyed your visit.

Happy Birthday For Yesterday....

Happy Friday folks, hope you're having a good one.  Yesterday was the birthday of one of my lovely crafting pals and here's the card I made for her.

For my design I used these fabulous words which were a digi freebie I downloaded from a great blog - check it out here.  Rebecca posts lots of freebies and asks only that anyone using them includes a link to her blog for anyone to download and not share the digis with anyone else.  If you are into Scrapbooking or Smashbooking, there are some fantastic designs available on her blog as well as for cardmaking.  The newest artwork on the blog also includes a Silhouette cutting file for those lucky enough to have one of those fabby machines. 

I cut out each word by hand, leaving a white border, and attached them to the base card using foam pads.  The sentiment is from a set of stamps by Inkadinkado - one that I turn to quite often in fact - stamped using SU! Midnight Muse ink. 

That's it, nice and simple but I was really pleased with the finished card.   Hope you had a wonderful Birthday yesterday Lauren, I'm sure I'll be hearing all about it very soon !

Thanks for popping by to check out my project today, hope you enjoyed your visit. 

Happy Birthday Cherry

Wishing my crafting pal Cherry a very Happy Birthday today, hope you have a great day Sweetie.

Here's the card I made for her......

 

I utilised my new fav technique - Distress Inks direct to paper - dragging the lighter colour of ink pad along the basecard in one direction then a darker ink in the opposit direction, merging the two colours where they meet.  Using this fabby Kaiserkraft image I then overstamped with Black Archival ink.  Finally, the sentiment from a set by Stampin' Up! stamped vertically at the side fnishes off the design.

 

Simple, effective and I do hope Cherry liked it.

 

Thanks for visiting today, leave me a comment and let me know what you think of this technique if you have time.

Happy Bird-Day

Happy Tuesday Bloggers, mine has dawned bright, sunny but a tad chilly, I hope the weather in your location is kind to you today too.  I was up bright and early this morning and as I've been away from home for a few days, there was a large pile of laundry building up.  One load is washed and hung out on the line already and I'm hoping it proves to be a good drying day. although I'm not looking forward to the resultant ironing that will be required !

 

Whilst away from home I was really missing my crafting, although I did manage to do a little knitting - well those who know me understand that I can't survive without something craft-related with me wherever I go.  I had a nice break away but was more than happy to get back to my stash and do a little cardmaking (and sewing) again.

 

This little card was created using a stamp I bought recently and is one of the DoCrafts Urban range of stamps.  It's a cute bird but quite large - the base card is 5 x 5 inches to give you some idea of the size of the image.

 

I stamped the bird onto the base card and again on some patterned paper, then I inked just the wing area of the image and stamped onto a scrap of coloured cardstock.  After cutting out the body of the bird stamped onto the paper I attached it over the stamped image on the base card.  I do like the faux stitching around the edges of the image and if you are a stitcher, it would be really easy to create a template for applique using the stamp.

 

To finish off the design I added touches of Stardust Stickles and stamped a sentiment (from a SU! set) vertically in the bottom righthand corner.

 

Thanks for popping by to check out today's project, hope you like it. I'll be working my way around the blogs I visit regularly to catch up on posts I've missed whilst having no internet access, during the next couple of days hopefully. 

Purpliscious Thank You !

Today's project is the Thank You card I created to send to my pal the Purple Princess.  I loved the stamp she gave me as a birthday gift recently and wanted to use it on the TY card for her.

 

My card should have arrived at it's desination by now, so this post hopefully won't spoil the surprise, I hope you liked it Matey, I'm sure you'll approve of the colours I used !



Again I used one of my favourite techniques using Distress Inks direct-to-paper, this time with a twist.  Rather than pressing the ink pad on to the base card I dragged it along a piece of card, using two different colours dragged from opposite sides and merging together at the join.  I then used the fabulous Kaiserkraft stamp Kathy gave me to overstamp the colour block using black Archival Ink. 

Finally I dragged the DI around the edge of the image layer and stamped the sentiment from a set of stamps by SU!

Both Kathy and I are great fans of the CAS style of card, so I'm hoping that as I'm so pleased with how it turned out, she will like it too.

Thanks for visiting today to check out my project.

Gorgeous Hand Carved Stamp

A lovely crafting pal Clare gave me a fabulous gift for my recent birthday - a stamp she had carved herself, how fabulous is that !  She also created a gorgeous card for me using the stamp and I decided I wanted to honour her gift by using it on the Thank You card I made for her.

 

It is such a special gift to have a stamp hand made especially for you and which no-one else will have, thank you so much Clare, I know I will be using this so much in the future.

 

For my card I opted to use one of my favourite techniques, Distress Inks direct-to-paper and I know that Clare loves bright pink, so used Picked Raspberry DI for the design.

 

This time, rather than pressing the ink pad direct to the base card, I dragged the ink pad along a piece of cardstock, which gave me a great effect.  I then selected a section of the inked card and cropped it to use as a layer.  I inked up the lovely stamp with black Archival Ink and stamped over the DI panel, then dragged the DI around the edge to give just a very subtle coloured edge.  Finally I stamped a sentiment from a set of SU! stamps.

 

Hopefully Clare will have received my card by now, so I'm not spoiling the surprise for her, I hope she liked what I did with her stamp.  She has also been struck down by what sounds like the same virus that hit me - well we were together in Hereford for our Craftathon crafting session and both of us (and a couple of other attendees) became ill straight after.  I'm guessing we all picked up this nasty virus at some time during the weekend.  So my TY card is also sent as a bit of a 'Get Well Soon' greeting too.

 

Thanks for dropping by today, hope you enjoyed your visit.

The Perfect Blend

Happy Saturday Blogging pals, hope you have a nice weekend in prospect.  I'm hoping to fit in crafting time around the dreaded chores myself as I need to catch up and get some birthday cards made and I have a couple of quilting/sewing projects on the go.  Wish me luck !

Today's project is a CAS style card which I'm entering for the current CAS-ology challenge.  The Cue Card for this week is DRINK and one of my favourite drinks is Coffee.

I used a set of stamps and matching dies from Lil' Inkers to create the coffee cup and wrap, stamping the wrap image onto some SU! Lucky Limeade cardstock before cutting out with the die.  I stamped the lid a second time on a scrap of the LL card then cut out part of the image by hand to add a band of colour on the lid.

There's a touch of Glossy Accents on the heart for dimension.  I rounded the cup and lid slightly with my fingers and attached using Pinflair Glue, putting more down the centre to raise it up and give a 3D effect, rather than adding the flat image.

Using a set of Framelits from SU!  I cut a layer from Early Espresso and a smaller layer from Crumb Cake cardstock and stacked them up under the coffee cup image.

On the basecard I stamped the coffee stain image from Queen Kat Designs using Memento Rich Cocoa ink.  I love this stamp as I think it's so realistic looking.  Finally I stamped the lovely sentiment from the Lil' Inkers set in the bottom righthand corner using the Rich Cocoa ink.

That's it, clean and simples !

Thanks for visiting and checking out today's project.

A Long Tall Birdie Told Me......

Good day dear bloggers, are you managing to stay warm and safe during this wintery weather ?  I do hope so.

Today's project is a 'just a note to say' card created in the clean and simple style I love so much.  As I write, this one is winging it's way to a lovely crafting pal, along with a couple of fabric digi camera cases I've made for her.  I'll share a pic of the cases once I know they've arrived safely.

I used the set of stamps by Dylusions which includes this fabulous birdie, the whole set is just so gorgeous and versatile, I love it and it has to be one of my favourites at the moment.  I stamped this fine chap directly on to the base card and added a little colour using my Copics.  Stamped the sentiment bottom right and the design was complete - perfick ! 

I hope my pal likes it when it arrives.  I used the same set of stamps to create a 60th birthday card I needed to make, I'll be sharing that one with you next thursday as I used next week's theme for the Cute Card Thursday challenge for my design which will be my DT card for next week. 

Challenge #86 over on the CAS-ual Fridays blog has the theme 'Long and Short', so as my card has a long side and a short side and has a long image (bird) and a short image (sentiment) I'm entering my card for their challenge - wish me luck !

I'm looking forward to a grand day out tomorrow at the Craft4Crafters show at Exeter Westpoint with three crafting pals, if any of you are planning to be there, let me know, it would be cool to meet any of my Readers/Followers.  So tomorrow there is likely to be just new stash acquisition and very little actual crafting done I think !  Although I don't have much on my shopping/wish list at the moment - some inks, a couple of 12x12 storage boxes and I may be tempted into buying another set of Dylusions stamps perhaps - I'm sure once I get there I'll find all sorts of things I never knew I needed but just HAVE to have !

A short and sweet post from me today, I'm busy finishing off a knitting project for another pal which I'd like to get posted out in the next couple of days.  I've also got a growing list of patchwork/quilting projects and another knitting project I've been asked to make for friends - no rest for the wicked I guess.

Take care and keep on crafting !

Simply For You

The weather here in my part of Cornwall is cold, but luckily we have missed the worst of the snowy weather that many parts of the UK are suffering right now.  Watching the weather forecast earlier this evening I see that we are to have one of the coldest temperatures in the UK overnight, so no doubt we'll have icy and slippy roads here tonight and early tomorrow.  I hope that any of you who are suffering the worst of the weather are managing to stay warm and safe indoors and don't have to venture out into the cold.

Now for today's project I have a little card to share with you.

All of us, I think, need a little stock of those 'just because' cards and in my book the CAS (Clean and Simple) style is perfect for this type of card.  I've made this little square card to send to a friend I used to meet up with regularly for lunch but who moved to another part of the UK just before christmas.   Just want to say "Hi ! thinking of you and hoping you're settled into your new home". 

Last week a lovely friend gave me a set of Stampin Up! stamps she'd somehow managed to 'accidentally' buy twice - how lucky am I ?  It's a set of stamps that has been retired so is no longer available, which is a shame as the images are very sweet and will work for many occasions.

I have a little stock of 4x4 inch cards and envelopes which is a great size for this type of card.  I first stamped the image onto a piece of white cardstock which I cut out using a nestie die then attached this over a layer cut from 'Not Quite Navy' SU! cardstock with the next size up die from the set.  I attached this 'topper' to the base card and stamped the sentiment just underneath.  Simples !

As I used a Stampin' Up! set of stamps which is new to me and a set of nestie dies which I hadn't used before, my card fits the current challenge #62 over on the SUO (Stampin'Up! Only) blog I think as the theme is "New Toys".  SU! don't sell dies the same shape as those I used and the SU! dies I've bought so far aren't the right shape, so I'm hoping the card will still meet their criteria. 

Wish me luck with my entry !

Thank You - With Flowers

I hope that all those who went back to work for the first time yesterday after the christmas break didn't find it too difficult to settle back in. 

It's the time of year when most of us will be sending out 'Thank You' cards and my project today is a card I made to send out to say thanks for a lovely christmas gift from a pal.  

 

I thought I'd try out a technique I haven't used before, freehand drawing an outline border around the stamped image and incorporating a written sentiment as part of the frame at the bottom.  I think I need to practice this technique a little more and improve my handwriting a fair bit, but I'm quite pleased with the finished card.   I do love the Clean and Simple (CAS) style of design as it can look very stylish and elegant for any occasion.

 

The flower image is from a set of stamps by Dylusions, stamped with black Memento onto the base card and a little colour added using the new limited edition Winter set of Promarkers.  The colours are lovely soft and muted shades and I really like this set.  



Thanks for taking the time to drop by to see my project today, I do appreciate it and I'd love to hear what you think of my creations.

Blue Christmas ?

I can't believe it's wednesday again already, my how this week is flying by ! 

I'm sharing another batch of christmas cards I've created this week.  When I printed out my list of friends and family to send cards to I realised I needed to make quite a few more to add to those I'd already finished.

For this year I've made lots of my cards in the Clean and Simple (CAS) style for a couple of reasons.

1. I really enjoy working in the CAS style and

2. they are lighter and flatter to send through the post when they are winging their way to various parts of the world.

I used the SU! Four Seasons Hostess stamp set and Baja Breez ink to stamp the Winter Season image from the set.  I then cut the stamped image out using a set of nestie scalloped circle dies.  I added this over a slightly larger layer, cut using the next size larger die in the set, from Baja Breeze cardstock.

The sentiment is from a Marianne's stamp set stamped with the same ink and I added touches of Stardust Stickles on the snowflakes and on the hat of the bird in the centre of the image for a bit of christmas sparkle. 

Thanks for visiting today, I do appreciate you taking the time to check out my projects.

A Murder of Crows ?

I love that groups of certain things have such great names. A group of birds is usually thought of as a 'flock' however, a group of Crows is known as a 'Murder' of crows - isn't that fabulous !  I've added a list of the collective names for other species of bird at the bottom, in case you're interested.

Today's project is another batch of Christmas cards, these I'm also taking along to try and sell at the Christmas Fayre at a local nursing home next saturday.   The reason for the title of today's post is that I used this fabulous stamp from Sparkle and Sprinkle - crows in santa hats - I love it.

Once again I've used a Clean and Simple (CAS) approach as they're cheaper/lighter to post - it's great that the cheapest postage is sufficient when I need to send out so many cards at this time of year, so CAS is perfect.

I stamped the row of crows with the sentiment underneath on to white cardstock and coloured just the santa hats in red using my Copics.  I then layered this up on a slightly larger mat of Stampin'Up! Cherry Cobbler cardstock.  I added this to a simple white C6 size base card and my design was complete !  I love the simple elegance of the design.

Thanks for dropping by to check out my project today, hope you've had fun.


Just for fun, here's a list of other great names for groups of different species of bird.

A bevy of quail
A bouquet of pheasants [when flushed]
A brood of hens
A building of rooks
A cast of hawks [or falcons]
A charm of finches
A colony of penguins
A company of parrots
A congregation of plovers
A cover of coots
A covey of partridges [or grouse or ptarmigans]
A deceit of lapwings
A descent of woodpeckers
A dissimulation of birds
A dole of doves
An exaltation of larks
A fall of woodcocks
A flight of swallows [or doves, goshawks, or cormorants]
A gaggle of geese [wild or domesticated]
A host of sparrows
A kettle of hawks [riding a thermal]
A murmuration of starlings
A murder of crows
A muster of storks
A nye of pheasants [on the ground]
An ostentation of peacocks
A paddling of ducks [on the water]
A parliament of owls
A party of jays
A peep of chickens
A pitying of turtledoves
A raft of ducks
A rafter of turkeys
A siege of herons
A skein of geese [in flight]
A sord of mallards
A spring of teal
A tidings of magpies
A trip of dotterel
An unkindness of ravens
A watch of nightingales
A wedge of swans [or geese, flying in a "V"]
A wisp of snipe

Is a bird in the hand worth two on a card ?

 

It's my Nephew's 30th birthday today - Happy Birthday Iain.  He's celebrating during a holiday down in Cornwall so I won't be seeing him on his special day this year.  I wanted to make a card for him that was a bit 'different'.  Cards for men are always difficult I find and I didn't want to use the usual 'male' images - football, cars, beer etc, nor did I want to make a typical 'number birthday' card for his spcial day.

I was inspired by some work I saw during a recent trip to the Birds in the Barn craft shop in Essex with my lovely crafting buddy Lauren.  This shop is a veritable 'Aladdin's Cave' of craft and I could easily have spent the whole day in there mooching around and dropping the odd thing or ten into my basket.  There is a Garden Centre in the same location and they offer the most splendid cheese scones in their restaurant which I just had to try - they came highly recommended by Lauren and another of my crafting buddies Kathy so it would have been just plain rude not to have tried them !  My pals were not wrong, the scones were delish. 

Anyway, I digress, in the BitB shop a couple of sets of Dylusions stamps, which I'd been lusting over for a while, just happened to drop into my basket, one of which included the splendid bird images I've used on today's card. 

Firstly, I used a couple of colours of Dylusions Ink to spray/splatter/drip randomly onto the base card, then overstamped the two birds at the bottom using Tuxedo Black Memento ink.  I used one of the flowers from the set as a 'sun' stamped over a splash of bright yellow ink at the top. 

It's a very simple design but I am really pleased with it and may well be experimenting with similar designs using other inks and more of the stamps from this set.  I'm loving the more Clean and Simple (CAS) designs recently, although I do still love to colour my stamped images too !

Thanks for calling in to check my project today, hope you've enjoyed your visit - I do hope you'll come back again real soon.