Udderly Awesome

I discovered there is a son and daughter appreciation day on 11th August so as I have a son who I love and am thankful for as he was born at 26 weeks and was given 1/2 % chance of survival I thought I'd give him a card to celebrate him, as now he's in his 20's hugs aren't always cool.

I have this Penny black stamp I think is just such fun and when my son was little one his first attachment was to a black and white checked squeaky cow a friend bought him as a welcome to the world gift. She travelled everywhere for many years ,Greece ,the USA and all over the UK. We once lost her in a supermarket and had to go back in the evening as Daisy the cow hadn't been missed till then and he wouldn't go to bed without her.

There is little colouring to do on this cow and as my son can only see limited colours I stuck to one he says he can see red.

I kept to a limited palette and decided to make it a fun card with a pun using sissix die cut letters which I layered on black slightly offset to create a shadow.

Hope he likes it ,almost makes me want to give it him now instead of waiting till August 11th.

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

Tuesday throwdown - Black white and 1 other colour

CASology - balloons

Pennyblack and more- for the boys

Simon says - anything goes

Kraftin Kimme wonderful wednesday - anything goes

Craftaholics R us- anything goes

As you like it - favourite colour duo

(don't really have a favourite but love these together so guess they are my favourites of the moment)

Tropical brights

I  combined stamps and die cuts for this CAS card and I love how it turned out. 

I used a hibiscus flower from memory box which I cut in white card and coloured using promarkers amd finished with 3 wee gems on the stamen for added sparkle, my token gesture for girlie.

For the base of my flower I used some Uniko stamps , my first attempt at layering stamps which I did by eye  not sure I got it perfect but love the result. I used 2 green versa inks and created a square which I then fussy cut out. I added the flower to the centre and then attached it to a white base card.

I decided to make my square into a diamond as it just looked better ,well I thought so anyway.Think it will make a nice girlie birthday card or might be in the running for a sister's day card.

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

Passion for promarkers -bright colours

CASology - diamond

Case this sketch - layout

Cute card Thursday - summer colours

Penny's - anything goes

Uniko -flowers

Parent appreciation day

I found  a website that lists many different national and international celebration days whilst looking for the date of brothers day as I know when sister's day is  and wanted to celebrate my brother too.

I found that as well as being vanilla ice cream appreciation day it is also parent appreciation day today so thought I'd make my parents a card, it worked out even better as they were coming for dinner too.

I decided on a simple design and play at the same time too, I stamped some small butterflies in versamark and heat embossed them with white embossing powder. I them used spectrum noir aqua pens and water coloured in blue over the whole area.

I then mounted this when dry onto dark blue card.

I added 2 areas to a white base card top and bottom but decided to put a angle on both. I added a handwritten sentiment (though I don't like my hand writing for doing this.)

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

CAS watercolour - butterfly

HLS watercolour - blue/ anything goes

Addicted to stamps and more - anything goes

Lemon shortbread - anything goes

country view - things with wings

Incoming,,,

I don't know about other countries but here in the UK many coastal towns have a problem with seagulls who often take it upon themselves to dive bomb people especially if they have any kind of food they can steal , easy pickings I guess.

I recently bought some seagull dies from Joanna Sheen  and decided to make a sea scene but the thought of squawking and dive bombing seagulls took over after spending a weekend in Bristol and being woken each morning by seagulls.

I startred by cutting out the seagulls and colouring them with promarkers along with the wooden poles and chains that came with the beachfront seagull die I also recently bought. I cut some stitched rectangles and on the smallest rectangle I used a poppystamp cloud die to cut some card that I used to chalk over the edges and created a cloud filled sky. I mounted the cloud rectangle to the 2nd rectangle and mounted both onto a white base card. 

I stuck the beach front seagulls to the bottom of the rectangles  towards the edge of the card. I added the flying seagulls to the sky and of scattering of seagulls around the base of the card. I finished the

card with a peel off  harpy birthday sentiment as I thought it would make a great guys birthday card and we have a family friends birthday coming up next month.

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

QKR stampede - up,up and away

cards und more - holiday/summer

Stempelgarten - anything that flies

Aurora wings - fur and feathers

Fairytale challenges - at the coast

Kitty Bee - colour challenge

Everybody Art - summer/tropical

I love promarkers - anything goes

summertime birthday blooms

Another summer birthday card, and as many of you probably know if you visit my blog I don't do girly girly cards so this flower die is a step up for me. I have some girly stamps and that's generally how I make a girly car and though I have tried to add flowers and ribbons to make more girly I always feel the end product looks a bit like a badly travelled pizza. 

I started with a distress ink background I'm slowly getting the hang I think and decided on blues and greens for my colours in a gradient style.

I then added some white die cut flowers  antillles  floral stem from memory box, they do have a bordr die but I only have the stem but decided to make a border of my own. I cut the stem 3 times and laid them across the base of my background., which I had trimmed to fit onto a white base card leaving a small border. 

For the sentiment I stamped in versamark and embossed with white powder on vellum and cut it to fit across the bottom of the card with the sentiment to one side. I finished by adding some blue  and green rain drop gems . For me a girly card.

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

Craft rocket -anything goes

creative inspirations - anything goes

My time to craft -in the garden

crafting with friends - florals

Creatalicious - anything goes optional summer

A bit more time to craft - anything goes

crafty creations -anything goes

A new use for wallpaper samples

Don't you just love a bit of sparkle , well I think my hubby thinks I'm part magpie as I'm drawn to sparkle but when it comes to jewellery it has to be of the high end quality and unfortunately for my husband that tends to be expensive but that doesn't mean I'm not choosy as I only have a select few pieces  that I truly cherish.

When it comes to cards that's a different matter and I'm all fr some bargain sparkle so when shopping for wallpaper in a certain DIY store that has a 2 letter name with an and in the middle I found this fab wallpaper and decided to bring home a sample. For those who are pink lovers they also had it in pink. It's glitter paper and has some great shine but as it's  wallpaper there is no shed. In my book that makes it perfect. I did think about buying a full roll but if I did I think it would last me forever.

Anyway the card I have to share with you is a square card and I cut a slightly smaller square of white card for the top layer of my card. I used a Martha Stewart snowflake punch and created a grid of 9 snowflakes. I cut a piece of wallpaper just big enough to fit behind the snowflake layer and then mounted on my base card. I am so happy with this card and the wallpaper too.

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

Little red wagon - Christmas in July

Star in my pocket - Christmas in July

CRAFT - Christmas in July

Cardz 4 Galz - Christmas or winter

HLS Christmas -anything goes optional die cuts

cardz 4 guys - Christmas in July

CAsSual Fridays - Christmas in July

Flowers for a guy?

I had another play with my distress inks , I made the background in colours I would go to for a guy and love how it turned out. I decided I would used the same blue ink to actually stamp some flower silhouettes using wildflower stamps from the darkroom. which I then embossed with clear embossing powder. I sprinkled really quickly as I didn't know how long it would stay wet for, as it happened it was a bit hit and miss but I don't know enough about distress ink to know if this is how they should work to give a distressed look. Either way I think they look ok.

I mounted the image onto a co-ordinating brown card mat  and then both layers onto a white base card leaving a white border.

The sentiment was again a darkroom sentiment of happy birthday stamped onto vellum  again using the same blue distress ink and clear embossing powder ,then matted onto brown card again and placed on the central area of the image near the bottom. 

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

Just us girls - blending

crafty card makers - tic tac toe

(embossing,stamp or digi, summer)

stamping sensations - anything goes with flowers

creative with stamps - celebrate

flower power - embossing wet or dry

Penny's -anything goes

come and get it -make your own background

Simon says-distress

Twinkling flowers all in a row

I do like this technique of stacking die cuts atop each other. My first card you can find here and I explain a little more. For this card I used another poppy stamps die well its likely to be poppy stamps or memory box as they are the majority of dies I own in what I'm sure is quite a small collection (but it will grow).

I used the brighton flower border not sure if it works as well as less intricate dies but I think I made it work. This time I cut 5 in white card and coloured the edges of 4 and one completely using promarkers before gluing and stacking them, I used one of the negatives to keep the shape so it didn't go awry too much. Once dry I stuck straight onto a white base card landscape.

Once that had dried I went over it all with pva glue as I wanted to make it glossy and discovered my glossy accents had become solid and stuck the lid tight so when I tried to turn the bottle top off it split and hence ended up in the bin. I know I could have waited till I got some more but I decided to improvise and it worked quite well I think.

I finished my card with some pretty little gems for extra sparkle. Not sure what sentiment to add as I do have some girly birthdays coming up next month but its also sisters day on the first Sunday in august and I think it would make a pretty cool sisters day card too.

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

crafty galz corner - anything goes

Addicted to stamps and more- CAS

Daisy chain challenge - floral

Passion for promarkers -anything goes

Kitty Bee -girly cards

Pearly sparkles - girlie

Unstampables - everyday is special

twist lots of colour

Poppystamps challenge - just bling it

Right back to my die selection to see what other dies I can stack ,its pretty addictive and love the results too.

just a note to....

I found this technique whilst watching a Jenifer McGuire you tube video I stumbled across on a link from a link you get the idea . I don't have the dies she was using and actually can't remember which brand she used but I loved how her card turned out so decided to have a play and think its a technique I will be using over and over.

This card I made using a selection of poppy-stamps cat dies , I chose 3 different ones and cut 4 of each in white card and one of each in black glossy card.

I then simply glued them all together in stacks 4 white topped with one black so I ended up with 3 thick cats. I was going to colour the edges with black pen but decided I quite liked the white edge it sort of adds different dimension.

I decided to use the Tuesday morning sketches layout and that I would keep it monochrome too, I decided to add a just a note sentiment from Uniko as then I could use the card for a variety of occasions by adding whatever inside,it could be 'just a note' to wish you happy birthday, or to wish you get well, or to wish you good luck,or  to say hello. Endless possibilities and the cats could be equally for boy or girl of any age too although the colours I think might be a little more masculine.

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

City crafter -Black and white

Tuesday morning sketchers - and use a die

Show us your pussies - furrything goes

The male room - add texture

Jo's scrap shack - anything goes

HLS die challenge -anything goes

Neutral celebrations

The challenge over at outside the box is to celebrate neutral colours, now I love my white on white  but when it comes to colour I'm a bit more in your face kinda girl, with the odd exception as baby cards I think should be white on white or pastels, a bit like I think young babies should be dressed in ,but that's just my opinion. (Something my hubby and I disagreed on greatly when our son was a baby many moons ago)

Anyway I do like a challenge so decided I would have a play and use some neutrals as well as having a go at one of the techniques Dave from outside the box posted in a video though think I definitely need more practice with inlaying my die cuts, perhaps I should have started with a simpler die?

I chose my colour which took me a considerable amount of time though with just neutrals I wouldn't have expected it to. I decided on a white base card, white die cuts and cream out cut not sure what to call it and black and I suppose grey for my colours.

I used the chrysanthemum corner and cut 2 i white removing all the little bits petals and stuff. I then took a piece of cream card the same size as my card and cut 2 more corners from it, this time keeping the waste and saving the die- cuts for another day.

I used black soot distress ink and black pearl gilding chalk to create my coloured areas. I did try using other inks in greys ,silver ,black and white but it just didn't work too well and looked yucky don't know how else to describe the result so fresh card and just distress ink and chalk.

I then added one of the corners over one of the coloured aresa sticking with glue, these swirls were fidly and I did struggle with them especially when I added the cream outcut next and found one of the swirls was so not where it should be. Finally I added the 2nd corner. I know its not perfect but don't think its too noticable well hopefully anyway. Perhaps I should send it to a man and then my misalignment will definitely not be noticed unless pointed out (sorry guys but most just don't see whats in front of them sometimes though there are exceptions).

I finished my card with a poppystamps die cut celebrate in a matt silver grey paper  which I thought blended quite well.

I am quite happy with my first attempt and neutrals do look OK, the white and cream reminds me of my childhood and a tablecloth my granny had but will definitely be trying the inlay technique again but perhaps with brighter colours next time.

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

Outside the box - noteworthy neutrals

Just us girls -celebrate

Dies R us- layers

Lemon Shortbread - anything goes

Kraftin Kimme wednesday challenge -anything goes

ScappyLand -anything goes

Crafty creations - anything goes

Frostyville 2 ways

I don't normally make Christmas cards in summer, to me it should be dark and dismal and cool when making Christmas cards but hey there have been a few of our summer days that have fir the bill and felt more like November than it did June over the last couple of weeks  so Christmas cards why not.

Most of my dies seem to be memory box and poppystamp dies (these companies just because that's what I've got but I'm sure other company dies also allow)and I found are ideal for quick and easy but fab cards for mass production.

I used white base cards and for both these examples and used the memory box frostyville border die cut in white card.

My first card I used 2 die cuts and turned my card landscape adding one die to the top and one die cut to the bottom edge of the  card. I finished this card with a Britannia die cut seasons greetings sentiment cut in red mirricard and its done. 

My second card again used the frostyville border but this time my base card is portrait and the border is attached at the fold. I again used the same Britania sentiment this time in green mirricard. 

I also used a bauble die not sure of its name will add when I get chance. I cut two ,one white and one red mirricard and inlaid one another and then added a spellbinders poinsettia cut in white with some liquid pearls for the centre.

Again quite simple and clean looking.

I would like to enter these cards into the following challenges;-

613 Ave create -anything goes optional twist monochrome

(well one fits the optional challenge)

My time to craft -Christmas in July

Christmas card challenge - anything Christmas or photo inspiration

Unicorn challenges -Christmas in July

Get creative -CAS

Simple starry wishes

Another guy light weight card for my mum in law and ex pat friends in Tenerife. This time white base card and again a paper matt , this time in navy blue and I also cut the britania 'happy birthday ' sentiment from the same paper. I used . 

I took a piece of white card again slightly smaller than my navy matt and used memory box starlit breeze die to cut vertically up one side so if gave a fancy border pattern to the card. I could have just added a piece of red mirri card beneath this panel but trying to keep the weight of the card down I cut the die again in red mirri card and inlaid the stars and dots. I had also cut the happy birthday into this card and inlaid the navy cut so the card remained as one layer , and as the centre of the matt had been removed so as to keep the card light weight it becomes virtually a one layer card.

Very clean and simple but perfect for a guy and airmail post too.

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

Creatalicious - red ,white and blue / anything goes

less is more - colours of your country's flag

cards in envy -red ,white and blue

Shopping our stash -flag day

Brilliance positive and negative birthday wishes

My mum in law lives in Tenerife whereas we live in the UK  and unlike here in the UK greeting cards are apparently hard to come by and when you do they are rather expensive . 

We were going over on holiday and she asked if I could make some light weight cards that could be sold through their weekly meeting of expats  and preferably could they be for men and anniversarries so I set to work.

I started with this fab poppystamps die I just love it not only can it work for both guys and girls depending on how you colour it but you can use the words from within it to create the negative to the positive or even inlay the words if you cut 2 in different colours or even several colours to make multi-colour inlays.

I coloured my card first with brilliance dies in a band pattern as I thought it might be a little difficult colouring the letters individually once cut. The fiddly bit was getting glue on the individual letters and pushing them out of the die onto a white base card to create the second design. In hind sight I should have waited until I bought some double sided sticky sheet as it would have made this process a lot cleaner I think , something to try next time.

I was so pleased with how they turned out I decided to do some more in other colours, so the glue bit can't have been that bad.

I would like to enter these cards into the following challenges;-

AAA -words take centre stage

CASual fridays - tic tac toe
(I chose stripes,no embellishment and texture

crafty friends - man/boy

HLS CAS -birthdays

A bit more time to craft - anything goes

cards galore encore - anything goes