Sparkle and shine!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It seems we have entered the sparkling season and here at The Flower Challenge we have responded with a glittering new challenge!

 

 

Why not have a bit of fun, get out all your shimmer 'n' shine crafting supplies and join us with your own sparkly floral creation :) Here's what I came up with:

Yes I know, it's not the sparkliest card ever, but it's pretty sparkly for someone who doesn't really do sparkle!! I started with the background sponging distress oxide inks over a white panel, spritzing with water and drying off with a heat gun. I added detail at the bottom with Funky Fossil's Brick Wall stencil and lightened some areas of the top with some white kraft ink, then dried everything off again.

 

The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Hope and Peace, stamped in versamark ink and heat embossed in gold. I added a liberal splattering of snow with a white acrylic paint men and then trimmed the panel with a Crimped Frame die from The Greetery. 

 

The star of the show is the poinsettia, a re-release from Uniko - Pure Florals Poinsettia. I stamped on a scrap of white card using versamark ink and heat embossed in gold. The petals were coloured with a red Arteza watercolour brush pen which gives a lovely velvety look which contrasts nicely with the gold detail. I fussy cut the poinsettia, popped it up on dimensional pads and embellished with some sparkly- yes sparkly! - gems which I coloured with various alcohol markers.

Ok, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Flower Challenge blog and check out the gorgeous sparkly samples my team mates have made to inspire you. When you're ready to share your own creation, you can use the blue Linky button at the bottom of the post. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

There's an optional winter theme at both Stamping Sensations and We Love Stamping this month so I'll link this wintery card up there; Brenda has chosen Winter Flowers and Fauna as her theme at Allsorts so I'm playing along there too; Triple B have a lovely red themed inspiration board and I'm joining in with my red poinsettia; and last but not least, Jo has her annual If it's Christmassy, Link it Up challenge at Christmas Kickstart - and it's been far too long since I popped by!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

December is a busy month and I am still learning how to get involved in everything and remain stress free and enjoy the season! Anyone else?! Of course I have a pair of golden treasures to keep me grounded and make sure I get plenty of fresh air - not to mention plenty of time washing, drying and grooming those fluffy coats! The days of nice, frosty winters appears to be over and we are up to our necks in mud again... happy days!

I'll be back tomorrow with another Christmas card. Do come and see!

Sending hugs,

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I've been using up some more snippets today in my quest to get some more Christmas cards made. 

 

 

This panel of designer paper from UK store The Works was a left over piece. It was tall enough to fit an A6 card front but not wide enough, but I thought it would make a nice vertical panel with white margins either side. At first I couldn't figure out where a sentiment would work but then I realised that if I turned the snippet upside down; then the main 'star' would be in a better place for a scene and the sentiment could go at the top!

 

 

I tore a sticky note, held it in place over the designer paper and sponged in a hill just below the star using black ink. To emphasise it, I sponged a tiny bit of white craft ink above the hill line. The shepherd and a sheep were die cut from white snippets using a nativity set from Gemini. I cut a couple of extra sheep, so my shepherd could be watching a flock by night rather than just the one! They were coloured with markers and attached to the panel, with the shepherd and one of the sheep popped up on dimensional pads.

 

The sentiment is from Hope and Peace by Stampin' Up, stamped on the DSP with versamark and heat embossed in white. Finally, the panel was glued to a card base.

CHALLENGES

I used a left over snippet of designer paper and some snippets of white card for this card so I'm off to The Snippets Playground with it in my satchel; I'm also joining in with Try it on Tuesday where the theme is Traditional Christmas;  The optional theme at Happy Little Stampers Christmas is Festive Animals - as it is also at Double D, so I'm linking up there too.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I have taken Lulu to a fenced off wooded area which runs alongside a field which is home to sheep for much of the year. She hasn't come across sheep before and predictably she was quite excited by the them, possibly thinking they were some kind of weird dogs! This was where Eva had her 'Leave It!' training with sheep and I hope it works as well for Lulu! Naturally I would never let her off lead in a field with sheep in it but you have to train for all eventualities. Once, when Eva was a pup, we were walking on a familiar path and found that a couple of ewes had escaped from their field. Thanks to her training, Eva was able to cope well with what could have been a difficult situation.

Sending hugs,

Misty Mountains

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I have taken over the coffee table and it is laden with Christmas crafting goodies! It just means I can dip in and make a card whenever I have a spare minute. This is my latest effort: 

 

 

This card happened because I had this beautiful 'Go tell it on the Mountain' sentiment from He is Born by Penny Black, and it occured to me to pair it with actual mountains!

 

 

First I masked off the edges of a white card panel with low tack tape ready to create the scene. I used purple ink to stamp the mountains from Stampin' Up's retired Snowfront, then covered them using a sticky note mask and sponged in a sky using a blend of blue and purple inks. There are lots of pine trees in the set and I used them to create a wooded area using second and third generation stamping to give a misty look.

 

Once the scene was complete, I stamped the sentiment in versamark ink and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. The panel was matted onto card was finished with my trusty Posca white acrylic paint pen which I used to add snow and ice to the scene.

CHALLENGES

Joanne's theme at As You See It is Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year. What makes it wonderful for me? It's the birth of Jesus, the most extraordinary event ever! I'm also linking this card up at Stamping Sensations where the theme is Getting Ready For Christmas.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

My darling golden girls are getting on like a house on fire. Every morning, while I get up and get ready, they play a rousing game of Bring The Bison Down and Bitey Face together, and I love the way they take it in turns to be the Hunter and the Prey. When I'm ready, we go out on the fields together and romp about and chase the crows and have a good sniff in the hedges before returning to do some sensible training and have breakfast.

 

 

Here they are on the field this morning, tails up and as happy as the day is long! What a joy they are!

Sending hugs,

The stars are brightly shining

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I thought I'd have heaps of time to craft now that I'm hunkering down with my golden girls and letting Lulu relax, feel safe and really learn about the life of a dog in our family. But it's like having a young pup again and we're doing lots of stress-busting walking, so I'm only crafting in short bursts! Today I managed to complete this simple Christmas card:

 

I found the starry sky paper pad in The Works about a month ago and thought it would make great Christmas card backgrounds. It's 6"x6" so I fell at the first hurdle as I'd selected a slimline card base! But I cut two short pieces the same width and joined them in the centre, mounting that on two vertical strips of fabulous gold washi tape that came in a prize I was lucky enough to win at ABC Christmas Challenge - thank you ladies!

 

To conceal the join, I cut a musical stave using The Greetery's Noted die set and, before attaching it to the card front, stamped the sentiments in Versamark and heat embossing them in gold. The 'Oh holy night' part is from Reverse Confetti's Greatest Gift of All, and the lovely curvy line from the song under the musical stave is from The Greetery's Sing a Song of Christmas. I finished the card with a little star punched out of gold foil card.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at ABC Christmas where V is for Vertical and U is for Use it Up - and I did use up a snippet of white card stock and a tiny piece of gold foil card! I'm also joining in with Rudolph Days, where each month on the 25th we make a festive card for the stash; and am choosing the Anything Goes option at Peace on Earth Christmas and Happy Little Stampers Christmas.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

No time to stay and chat as it's late and I'm off out into the real life starry night with two golden girls before bed!

Sending hugs,

Just keep swimming

Hello, crafting friends!

 

After a long walk on Saturday morning with Eva and her spaniel pal, I thought the rest of the morning would be good for ignoring the chores and instead having a catch up with some challenges that have caught my eye this week! Please don't judge! 

 

So this card was started by cutting a panel and taping an arch die cut upside down onto it. I then positioned Uniko's Tiger Print stencil over the top of that and sponged blue ink into it. The stencil was taken away but before removing the arch mask, I sponged more blue ink over the top of the stenciling. I wanted it to look like swirling ocean waves.

 

In the upside down arch shape, I coloured a sky and sea with more sponged ink and some coloured pencils. I stamped a fish from Clearly Besotted's Under the Sea on a snippet of white paper, coloured it with coloured pencils and fussy cut it. The sentiment is from MFT's You're Fin-tastic, stamped in dark blue ink and heat embossed and the fish was popped up on a dimensional pad next to it. The panel was glued onto a yellow mat, attached to a card base and the card finished with some lovely shiny enamel dots for a bit of extra detail :)

CHALLENGES

Jen Mitchell's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches intrigued me and I had to join in there; The inspiration photo at Inspired By dictated the theme, along with Allsorts where Brenda's challenge is All (Real) Creatures Great and Small; I'm also playing along with Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where Anything Goes.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

When Eva found out the title of this post, she assured me that she has every intention of keeping on swimming!

 

I think she's enjoying her summer!

Sending hugs,

After the flood

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Happy Saturday and welcome to a new challenge at Addicted to CAS! Nancy has chosen the code word for this coming fortnight:

 

Everyone likes the colours of the rainbow don't they! I've based my card on the actual rainbow. In the story of Noah in the Bible, it appears after a cataclysmic flood and is a sign of God's promise that the world will never again be destroyed by flood.

 

My rainbow was made by tracing around the tops of The Greetery's Nesting Arch dies. I coloured it with coloured pencils and partially covered it with storm cloud cut from a snippet of grey card with one of Lawn Fawn's Puffy Cloud border dies. I added a sentiment from MFT's All Occasion Sentiments, stamped in red ink on an offcut of vellum, heat embossed with clear embossing powder and trimmed with sharp paper snips. The card was finished with bright enamel dots to pick out some of the rainbow colours.

 

Okay, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS challenge blog and check out all the fabulous cards my team mates have made to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the end of the post and you can use it to share your own creation. Don't forget we are a clean and simple challenge so do make sure you include plenty of clear space when you design your card. We can't wait to see what you make!

 

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Happy Little Stampers Die Challenge, where Anything Using Dies Goes; Also the Snippets Playground, where we go to share cards using our snippets and there are amazing prizes to be won too!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

My eldest son is staying with us at the moment. He wandered in the other day and my husband asked how he was. "Just ticking along?" he enquired. My son assured him that he was ticking along nicely thank you. This exchange made me laugh. "You're like a little clock aren't you," I teased. "What do you mean?" asked my son. "Only right twice a day?!"

Sending hugs,

Rose Gold

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's lovely to be back with the Tic Tac Toe Challenge today. Betty has come up with this fun board to spark your creativity:

 

 

I'm obviously missing the Christmas sparkle, so I chose the middle row, Floral/Free/Sparkle, to make a feminine birthday card full of shimmer and shine!

 

 

I started by stamping Uniko's Pin Stripe background directly onto a thick card base and heat embossing with gold embossing powder. I topped it with a piece of gold glimmer paper, trimmed to the same width but half the height, with the bottom corners curved with a corner rounder. The roses, from WPlus9's Modern Roses stamp set, were stamped, coloured with pink coloured pencils and fussy cut.

 

The card was put together collage-style, with a gold-embossed sentiment label from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks, and some pale pink sequins for even more sparkle!

So now it's over to you! What column or row grabs your attention this week? Or will you opt for one of the diagonals? Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge site and take a look at my team mates' wonderful samples. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to share your own creation with us. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I was inspired by the colours at Color Hues so I'm linking up there; I'm also joining in at Stamping Sensations where the challenge is to Add Sparkle.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Not only has the river burst its banks but it has continued to rain and today I couldn't get to our favourite spot by the river. I popped the dogs back in the Dogmobile and drove to a different access point further up river, but it was all flooded up there too. So I took the dogs on a walk across the higher fields that is usually quite boring; not today though!

 

 

The walk was transformed by streams and pools that had formed and Eva and Murph the spaniel ran and swam and chased each other and careered about like kids on a day out at Waterworld!! Can you see the joy on my water baby's face?!

Sending hugs,

Hugs and farewell

Hello, crafting friends,

 

Today, I'm joining with many other crafters in Blogland to Pay tribute to one of our own, Lindsey, who died recently. She inspired so many of us through her work on many challenge design teams and I loved the warm and witty comments she left. She had already chosen her colour palette at Color Hues and the team there, and their sister challenge Seize the Birthday, are honouring their friend this challenge.

 

Blue and purple were the colours she chose and I've made a flowery card as she loved a floral. I used one of Uniko's large floral stencils, and sponged two shades of purple ink into it. Once that stencil was removed, I was able to position Funky Fossil's Brick Wall stencil over the top and stencil a fade-out wall effect in pale blue ink. The panel was trimmed to size with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle.

The sentiment is meant as a farewell to Lindsey herself and a comfort to her friends. I stamped it in versamark ink, then heat embossed it in gold before cutting it out and attaching it to the crysanthemum. The panel was then mounted onto a card base and I added a few mismatched sequins to tie the colours together.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with Color Hues which is running this tribute; I'm also joining in at Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge, which was another challenge Lindsey designed for.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I have some workmen in my garden today and this is the face of a golden retriever who isn't allowed to join in with all their jolly 'games'.

Poor baby. She just can't understand that they didn't come round to entertain her!

 

Sending hugs,

The Return of the Merry Snowflakes

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Last week I posted THIS snowflake card. The colour combination was inspired by Nancy's palette at CAS Colours and Sketches but I felt my card wasn't clean and simple enough for that challenge. So I made another one today :)

 

This one uses the same snowflakes (from Dies by Chloe) and stars (from the retired Stampin' Up Twinkle punch) but there's no stenciling, I used only one of the Nordic Frames (from the Greetery) and the sentiment is much smaller.

 

I heat embossed the sentiment in silver, cut it out with the small frame die, and attached it to a card base. The snowflakes and stars were arranged above and below the sentiment and I added a few drops of silver liquid pearls to link them.

CHALLENGES

Just squeaking in at CAS Colours and Sketches colour challenge *waves to my former teamies there* ; I'm also linking up with Perfectly CAS where the current challenge is Festive - and as always we are asked to use up to a third of the card front.

 

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Today's card would make a perfect note card for this weather if only I had a sentiment that said 'Sending Cooling Wishes'! After I press send on this post, I'm off to the supermarkety; I don't actually need anything - I just want to hang out in the freezer aisle!

Sending hugs,

Merry snowflakes

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I've been wanting to join in with the Christmas theme at The Snippets Playground for over a week now. A rummage through my snippets box brought no lightbulb moment but I finally got out the folders containing my offcuts of card instead!

I made a background on the flip side of a ruined card base, using the Snow Flurry stencil from Funky Fossil and some dark purple ink. Then I set to work cutting snowflakes with my favourite Dies by Chloe snowflake dies. These are great because you really can use tiny little snippets! I cut some stars out of the fragments too using the retired Twinkle punch from Stampin' Up.

 

The panel was cut out using one of The Greetery's Nordic Frame dies. I cut a smaller panel out of the panel with the smallest Nordic Frame die then inlaid it again for a bulk free look. Once the panel was attached to a card base, I topped the inlay with a bold sentiment from The Greetery's Snowflake Soirée, stamped in versamark, heat embossed in silver and fussy cut. And then it was just a matter of arranging the die snowflakes and stars over the stenciled background and adding a few silver accents with silver liquid pearls.

CHALLENGES

So I'm finally turning up at the Snippets Playground with my homework (Sorry I'm late Miss Sarn!); The challenge chosen by Lynda at ABC Christmas is N is for New, O is for Old. I've gone for old stash - the newest thing on my card is the Nordic Frame dies which were released 2 or 3 years ago now; At Sparkles Christmas, Helen is challenging us to use the Sentiment as the main Focus so I'm linking up there too.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It hasn't rained for ages here, so instead of lush green grass we have hay, and there's certainly not a snowflake to be seen...

 

 ... unless you count my very own Special Snowflake of course!

Sending hugs,