Tropical best fishes

I love this Aurora wings fish its part of a set of two but I decided I was only going to use this one alone for my card.  I decided to make this card . I coloured my fish with promarkers and then fussy cut it out. For extra shine I covered my image in pva glue and left it to dry.

My background was white card covered with distress inks and water drops added and dried just for a more watery effect.

I treated myself to some new dies and these fab hibiscus dies are such fun. I used both the hibiscus and happy hibiscus dies and fancy blossom dies. I cut several flowers of each size out in dark pink card and the stamens in yellow card. 

The leaves I cut from white card and coloured with promarkers. I used promarkers to add definition to the petals using a darker pink and then slightly lighter pink to blend all together,I coloured the flower centres with orange. The stamens I added pink dots to for the pollen.

The promarkers also softened the card which made it easier to shape the petals using a ball tool on the reverse of the flowers.

 

I attached flowers and leaves to each corner of my background base, but decided it still needed something. I used a Dienamics swirl die again cut in white card and coloured with promarker. I didn't use the whole swirl but cut small sections and stuck them in place just sticking out from beneath the flowers and leaves.

I then positioned and stuck my dried fish to the centre of my card. I pondered about where to put my sentiment. I had already decided to use a 5  by 7 card base which allowed a nice white border around my little fishy scene and allowed the flowers to overhang my background without getting squashed in an envelope. I went with this tiny sentiment from a mini set from Lily of the valley, sends good wishes but doesn't detract from the rest of the card.

I was really pleased with how my card turned out and love the flowers they really worked just how I hoped.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Always playing with paper - flowers,bright,watercolour,birthday and square

(I chose brights ,flowers and birthday)

A gem of a challenge - summer colours

Allsorts - flower power

Make my monday - summer brights

Addicted to stamps - summer and beaches

Addicted to stamps and more - holiday

LMMC - anything goes

cute card thursday - anything goes

Better with Wine?

Art Impressions does some fun stamps but have to admit sometimes I wonder if a recipient might get a little offended so guess you really have to know the person you are sending to really well and be careful with the sentiment you choose.

This group of ladies I have adorned on a card for my sister in law and am hoping she sees the funny side, many of the pictures she has posted of her are out with friends and shall we say well lubricated with lack of inhibition juice of one kind or another.

I coloured the image with promarkers and fussy cut it out.

The layout is from Kraftin Kimme monthly sketch for June ,well my interpretation. I used a memory box happy birthday sentiment die and cut it in pale blue pearl card and laid this as a banner across my backing paper which is that old I've lost the front cover to the paper book so many appologies to the designer for credit. I used a stitched circle die from outside studio for my sentiment and as I wanted it to fit behind the happy birthday without blocking the patterned paper from showing through I trimmed it a little. The sentiment comes with the AI stamp set along with a couple of others too.

I also tucked my fussy cut image behind the happy birthday and for quite a simple layout I love how it turned out and its girly for me but guess the colours have a bit to do with that too. 

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Kraftin Kimme- circles

Crafting when we can - use an image

Creative inspirations -dots and or stripes

Kraftin kimme -anything goes using June sketch

I love promarkers- special occassion

Deep ocean -lots of layers

Creative Knockouts -for the girls

Time out challenges - celebrations optional one layer

Anniversary neutrals

I've had this stamp forever its part of a cube think its by Judikins but can't actually remember . I decided it was time to ink it up and I wanted to make it the focal point rather than just a filler so I inked it up with cocoa versa ink I tried adding clear embossing powder but discovered I wasn't really quick enough as the ink dried without any of the powders sticking so that went out the window. In stead I used a water brush pen and added some more ink to create shaping before fussy cutting the 3 leaves out.

I decided to keep the rest of the card really simple and I used a white base card. I used a wood pattern embossing folder to emboss the base card front. I cut 2 squares of white card one slightly larger than the other , I then rounded the corners with a corner punch.. The larger square I used the same cocoa ink and covered the edges so the mat completely compliments  my leaves.

The hardest part of this card was arranging the leaves to get the look I wanted but I think I managed that, I finished my card with a stamped sentiment again in cocoa, think I slipped a bit as I can see  an edge. Its all very neutral and soft .

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Simon says -anything goes

Little red wagon -3 of a kind

Crafty gals corner -anything goes

Brown sugar -anything goes

Sweet stampin' - lots of layers (hope 3 counts as lots)

Summer wishes

I  have quite a few family birthdays this summer so thought I'd make a start and as the weather is so grotty today dull cool and rainy , typical UK summer weather .

I love these Itty bitty bees from memory box, I find it quite therapeutic to sit and make a whole swarm, I also have some lady birds and they are just as fun too.

I cut them from white card and colour the various bits and add stickles to the wings before putting the parts together. 

I used some of the out cuts from a poppystamps happy birthday background die and apart from the colour in my bumblebee I decided to go for white on white.

I used another Poppy stamps die this bountiful sunflower again cut in white card I love all the details on this flower. I decided to add some summer sunshine or I guess it could be an early evening moon by adding an open studio circle . I hope it suggests that the light from the full moon or sunshine is glinting on the bee and that's why you can see its colour.

I hope that whichever family member I send this to has the same feeling of a late summer evening , warm and balmy just like this card makes me feel. I think it helps  that even though it's dull outside I seem to have got the feel of sunshine with the light shining behind my card.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Oddball -anything goes 'spread your wings'

a bit more time to craft - anything goes

Memory box-birthday celebrations

Addicted to CAS - white on white

Shopping our stash - lazy summer days

The paper shelter - summer birthday

Wood working Dad

My son wanted a father's day card for his Dad and asked if I could make him one. His Dad has recently being doing some woodwork construction , he's made my son's cat an outdoor cat tree, a really nice big bird table and two bin storage as well as built my son 2 decking areas and a large pergola so my son thought something wood worky would fit the bill.

I had been looking at the workshop border from memory box so it seemed the perfect push to move it to the top of my wish list and treat myself to.

It is such a fun die I cut it  several times ,one in matt silver, one mirri silver card and then the tools with handles that are normally different to plain metal in neon green and yellow. 

I layered the matt silver behind the mirri silver card but for the saw I trimmed away the mirri silver so the matt silver showed behind.I also very slightly off set the silver mirri card to give a shadow effect. I then added the green and yellow handles to the various tools. 

I created my background using an embossing folder  which I covered the raised area with brown ink before embossing on to brown card different shade of course. I cut this down slightly so it left a small white border when attached to a white A5 base card.

The workshop border I stuck across the centre of the card  making a landscape card. 

I finished the card with a sentiment of course using an outcut from a poppystamps die happy birthday background. I attached the white letters using glue and to give the appearance that they were nailed there I used a silver gel pen to put dots to represent nails in appropriate places.

Therest of the sentiment I used a stamp and embossed onto pearl brown card. I originally tried heat embossing on the matt silver card but found that when I applied heat to the card it separated the plastic covering so I had to find an alternative. I stamed in vera mark and embossed with copper embossing powder. I again used the silver gel pen to add 'nails to the corners.

Have to say I was really pleased how the card turned out and both my son and hubby were also really liked the design too.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges;-

Dies R us- celebrations

crafting with friends-anything goes

613 Ave.create -anything goes optional embossing folder stamping

Scrappyland - embossing

creative knockouts -for the boys

that's crafty -keep it simple

Snorkelling Paradise

 I was lucky enough to win this fab collage die in one of the memory box blogs blitz earlier this year and it really is such a fun die to work with. I cut the die on white card using a rectangle off cut to create a panel that would fit onto an 5 card with a couple of borders. I then used distress inks to  a piece of white card A5 size and used distress inks to create a  colour the outer surround of the collage using greens and blues so it would be slightly darker than the base I intended creating. The fish and weeds on the collage I coloured with promarkers. Don't you just love the bubble effect. My intention was to create a window effect as though looking into or out of a cave couldn't decide which it would be.

I then took another offcut of white card and marked the edges of the collage window lightly with pencil. I then again used distress inks and using the bits that pop out of the collage as a stencil I colored some fish on my base. I then coloured the 'water' with blue distress inks and layered this behind my collage. This layer not only formed my background but also a matting layer so 2 jobs done in one.

The card base I again used white card and a fiskars embossing board of waves to add texture and dimension and tie in with the collage too. I layered my images onto the card and added a friendly crab to finish off. My card was coloured with Promarkers and then covered in pva glue to give a shiny effect. I only used pva as my glossy accents seems to have dried up.

I love how it turned out and think it will make a great birthday card for my step brother next month as not only is it summery but has a crab on which is his star sign Cancer (only just thought of that).

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Daring card makers -inspired by the sea

Do-Al(l) -Kreative -early summer

crazy 4 challenges - use water

glitter n sparkle -anything goes

creative fingers -anything goes

Penny's -anything goes

Creatalicious- anything goes optional dies/punches

Just us girls -summer vacation photo week

A weed or not a weed that is the question?

Anyone who knows me knows I love daisies , I love all flowers but I do have favourites just like everyone else and daisies are top of my list. I believe in a quote I think from Eeyore  that 'weeds are flowers too' and for me a weed is just a flower in the wrong place and in my garden I do have rather a lot of those at present.

Anyway I remember mum having some Michaelmus daies in her garden as a child they just looked like purple daisies so when out with mum one day whilst waiting for a tram I saw some growing on waste ground I wandered over and pulled one up just one sinlge daisy. Mum said it would die before we got home but when home I put the wilted flower in water and the following day it had sprung back to life nd I planted it. That was aboyt 15 years ago and now I have lots of daisies in places I don't want them but I keep pulling them up before they go to seed and still they come . A few is ok but not sure I like it when they take over.

Michaelmas daisies not only make me think of my childhood but summer too so my CAS card was designed with that in mind.

I used a daisy stamp and masking  created a strip of flowers., which I coloured with promarkers. They are a little more purple than the daisies I have in my garden but I love the richness of that deep colour. I then cut the strip so some of the petals were trimmed and mounted on some green mirri card to give a border. I finished the card by adding to a white base card.

No sentiment as yet as it could be birthday , thank you  or even a get well card and I could add a peel off or a mini tag so the card could go landscape or portrait depending on the sentiment position but I think I like it landscape for a change.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Noor design UK -summer

Colour crazy -anything goes

Addicted to stamps - flowers

create and makes -anything goes optional use yellow

Addicted to stamps and more - anything goes

flower power challenge - anything goes

It's no great Diorama

In fact it's quite cute and dinky well I think so. I was inspired by Olga from Poppystamps design team as she made a diorama along with so many other fab projects which although could be cards are like little landscape masterpieces in card and paper. 

I decided to have a play with some of my dies as I am loving learning and trying new techniques combining with and without stamps and this is what I came up with. 

I cut 3 stitched rectangle frames from white card , and cut some strips that I scored to concertina for the sides which can fold so if I wanted the diorama could fold flat in an envelope for posting. I created my different scenes on each of the frames. The foreground I used a grass die , some baby bunnies and butterflies. 

 Behind the bunnies I added green vellum and added a meadow and added a mum and baby deer. 

 The second frame I added a second meadow a little taller and two more deer one a stag with antlers so now I had a big happy family. 

 I used green vellum for the meadows as this allows light to pass through but you could do each layer with just white card if you wanted to.

On the back of the final frame I added green vellum cut with a cloud die to form a tree line then a  full rectangle of white vellum and created my sky scene using birds and  a hot air balloon.

Here you can see all 3 layers , I took the photo on a slight angle tp show this.

Here you can see the diorama with the light behind it, only sunlight but you could use artificial light of some kind too.

I would like to enter this project into the following challenges:-

Allsorts -use 2 or more dies

HLS - anything goes with dies

city crafter - frame it

TTCRD - anything goes

Deep Ocean challenges - dies,chipboard and punches

Bold and bright summer birthday

I love bright colours so summer is my favourite season ,well actually I love each season for different reasons but I'm a sunshine girl so when we get them fleetingly in the UK usually a hot summers day is my ideal. In my ideal world everyday would be warm and sunny and we could have rain after 10 pm and all done by  5 am that way everything would be perfect well I can dream.

I tend to have more male cards to make in my family though the first couple of weeks in august are girly birthdays which I often struggle a bit with but hey ho, so male birthdays are my comfort zone  and normally I find if I talk to my hubby that guys tend to prefer dull drab subdued colours , like most men would choose to wear grungy colours. I know in summer they throw that out the window and if on holiday go nuts and wear things they wouldn't normally be seen dead in , I love people watching when on vacation especially men's fashion, sorry I digress. My son is a little different in his colour choices as he is partially colour blind and can only see the red end of the spectrum. Anyway I decided to use some bright summer colours for my birthday card and as the guy in question will be on vacation for his birthday I think it will be perfect.

It was quick and easy to make once I had decided what to do, I used a poppy stamps die ,love this its so versatile, actually I had used the out cuts on two of my fathers day cards and have saved the others for later use. I cut it in white card and pushed out the letters to leave blank spaces. I then used a selection of promarkers and simply coloured in bands across the card rainbow style over lapping slightly so they all blended into one another. I then used some black glossy card to make a card base and simply stuck the die to the front it fits perfectly leaving a tiny black border. Haven't added an insert but will use a silver pen to write my message  but you could add a paper insert if you wanted so you could use ordinary pen. 

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges;-

Glitter and sparkle -bright colours

poppystamps challenge -rainbow wishes

scrappyland - anything goes

crafty creations -anything goes

the corrosive challenge - anything goes

the crafty addicts -summer colours

cards in envy - you're the man

use your stuff - warm summer colours

Hey Dude

My step brother has a big birthday coming up and will be celebrating whilst away on holiday so thought I best get his card done ahead of time so it can be sneaked along with my niece. This image was a freebie but can't for the likes of remember who it is by (sorry) but somehow reminded me of my step brother. Think its more the hands position when he gets dancing at family parties hope he sees the funny side.

 

I coloured him with promarkers in the loudest way I could well it will be their summer holiday with hopefully loads of sunshine.I then fussy cut him out. My base for him I made with some of my new distress inks its a bit patchy as I am very much still a novice and haven't quite mastered the blending milaki yet but once my man was positioned it looked ok. 

The sentiment is from a mix of dies , a happy birthday background die from poppystamps and a sissix die for the 'Dude'. The 50 is a peel-off coloured with the same promarker, think I ought to put some number dies on my wish list too. I used Dude not because I'm hip or talk like that but to put brother on my card as I normally would just didn't feel right with the image. I decided to tilt all the characters slightly as I wanted to give the feeling of movement as my guy walks across the beach, maybe he has his hand up to stop him walking into stuff as he obviously needs a haircut doesn't he?

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

crafty creations -anything goes

As you like it -favourite kind of card to make

(birthdays as you can personalise them and they will always be different from any of the rest)

Craft Rocket - for men/boys

Dies R us -masculine

Pearly Sparkles -masculine

Simon says wednesday challenge -anything goes

4 crafty chicks -birthdays

Everybody Art -anything goes

Die cuttin divas - anything goes

Art Impressions -white space is nice space

creative fingers -anything goes

A gem of a challenge -any male image

Caught a bug?

I found inspiration in my husband ,well from the fact I over heard him telling a colleague on the phone he had a bad cough chesty thing again . I suspected as he was also complaining of itchy eyes that in reality he had hayfever but hey ho sorry guys all I can say is 'man flu'.

Anyway I decided to make a get well sort of card and went along with the'caught a bug ' idea and as I was sat at my desk looking at the garden I remembered how as kids we would go bug and butterfly hunting and come home with jars of bugs that after all parents had seen were set free once more.

I have some fab ladybug dies I just love 'em think they are poppystamps but might be memory box so took one of them from my ready made supply. I tend to make a whole bunch at a time ,it's very therapeutic and stuck it on a leaf sprig not sure what die might be joy .

The jar I cut from vellum and simply drew free hand then cut out as with the lid too.

I drew 2 black parallel lines on my white base card for a shelf an put my jar on it.I then hand wrote my sentiment.

I finished my card with some more hand-drawing stitching around the edges and card done. The jar is only stuck down the sides with double sided tape and the bug with a sticky pad so when the jar is over it it bows slightly giving dimension and the sunshine was kind to me when taking the photo and cast a shadow which shows it quite well.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

CASology - medicine

crafting when we can - black white and a splash of colour

tuesday throwdown - stitching

Paperminutes- red

cute card thursday - bugs/butterflies

Daisy doodle journal

I bought a notebook that I thought I might use as a journal, I already have one and am using it to write my weekly thoughts and progress about my weight loss journey. I love the kraft cover but wanted to brighten it up and personalise it a little.

I used a forever friends stamp that is holding a bunch of daisies one of my favourite flowers. I stamped in versamark ink and embossed with white powder. I then used a small daisy stamp not sure what brand but decided to do a little masking and form an overlapping chain , again stamped and embossed in white powder. The versa,ark ink smudged in places with the masking but I think it gives it a little character.

I coloured both images with pencil crayons and loved the soft effect they give . Now I have a new journal ready for when I fill the existing  one.

I would like to enter this project into the following challenges:-

Creative inspirations - your favourite things

Addicted to stamps and more - CAS

Addicted to stamps - animals

CAS on Sunday - repetition pattern

Artistic Inspirations - anything goes optional flowers

Ship Ahoy

I've had this cute LOTV image coloured in for ages but just haven't gotten around to making it up into a card. I coloured it with a mix of promarkers and sakura gel pens and then fussy cut the image /die cut in a simple circle.

I decided I wanted to keep the card clean and simple in design and found the perfect layout in the challenge at the paper players. I used a piece of card that was the out-cut from an aperture card that was part of a kit I bought when I first started crafting from QVC think it was a kanban kit but not sure.

I finished the card using some washi tape that I bought when they first became a trend but have never used so I finally broke into the stash.I finished my card with a peel off sentiment.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

The paper players - layout

AAA cards - Birthday

I love promarkers - superhero/for a child

come and get it - nautical