Orla The Owl!

Hello from a rainy Bournemouth!  Its so nice of you to visit my blog, I really appreciate it!  I made today's card especially for my fabulous big brother, Lloyd's birthday - he is seventy today!  Happy Birthday Lloyd!  I spoke to him this morning and he enjoys his big birthdays as much as I do.  I will be 60 next month so I am already looking forward to my biggie too!

Its the first time I have used this fabulous stamp set by Hobbyart called Orla Owl - its a fab set with lots of extras to go with the stunning owl stamp.  Orla is stamped on watercolour card with onyx black Versafine and embossed with clear powder then I watercoloured the image with various Distress Inks and Distress Markers.  I fussy cut the image out and edged with a black marker to hide the white edges.  The moon from the set is stamped on yellow card with Golden Glitz Delicata ink and fussy cut out.  The fence posts, also from the set, were stamped using Coffee Archival then watercoloured with Distress inks and again cut out and edged with a brown marker.

For the background I used Brushos.  I am pretty sure it was Cobolt Blue for the sky and Light Brown for the land.  I used watercolour card and, to give me more control, I spritzed with water first then tapped on the Brushos so I could see exactly when to stop.  When the panel was completely dry, I stamped one of the ferns from the set in Vintage Sepia Versafine using first, second and third generation stamping for depth.  I edged the whole panel with a brown Distress Ink, I can't remember which one.  The moon was adhered first then, as shown by Jenny Mayes on Hochanda. I used a large embossing tool from the back of Orla's wings to stretch the fibres then used glue gel to give the wings shape and flat glue for the rest of Orla.  Its looks cool in real life but you can't see it so well in the photo.  I used some string for the fence, sticking it to the reverse of the piece with tape then adding the posts with foam tape pieces. I then used foam tape to adhere the whole piece to a black card base. This card was a bit adventurous for me!  I am pleased to say, Lloyd liked it!  Yay! So did my lovely Sister in Law, Margery, and she is a proper artist!

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Penny Black and More - For the Boys
Country View Challenges - Things with Wings
Pixie's Snippet's Playground - Use Snippets - mine were the yellow card for the moon and the watercolour card for the fence posts.
Bizzy Becs - Anything Goes.
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

I love all these challenges, they give so much inspiration and fun!

Thank you again for stopping by.  Take care.  Christine xxx

July 2017 Rudolph Days

Hello there!  Thank you so much for visiting me, I am so grateful!  Its time for the monthly Rudolph Days Challenge - I haven't joined in for a couple of months but have made it this time! Yay!

The super cute reindeer is from Holly Jolly stamp set by Echo Park that I won from the Rudolph Day's challenge last time I joined in, thank you so much Mo!  Its a gorgeous set filled with sweet images - I actually made seven cards using the reindeer, a Christmas tree and Santa and his sleigh but I came to add the photo's and they were all a little blurry except this one, sorry!  They are all pretty much the same though.  The image is stamped in onyx black Versafine - as its a silhouette stamp, I used my Misti so I could stamp it a couple of times to make sure the image was really solid black. The background is watercolour card previously inked with Distress Inks then sprayed with Glimmer Mist (the colours look nicer in real life) - I did two whole A4 sheets and used them for all my cards and still have some over for more. The pretty die cut circle is from The Works and I added dries white glue and glitter for sparkle along with a little gem for his eye.  The Merry Christmas is die cut from the same A4 watercolour inked card using Spellbinders Holiday die set, and the card base was sprayed lightly with Glimmer Mist too. There is a gorgeously cute Santa on the stamp set that I hope to use soon along with some other fab images - I was so lucky to have won the lovely set!

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Scrappy Mo's Rudolph Day's Challenge - Anything goes as long as its Christmas.
Christmas Cards All Year Round - Anything goes as long as its Christmas.
Bizzy Becs - Anything Goes.

Brilliant Challenges!

We had a lovely day today - My daughter, son-in-law and our two little granddaughters came to visit!  Its always such fun to see them all.  I hope you had a lovely day too!

Thank you again for visiting me!  Take care.  Christine xxx

Aqua Background with Orange Butterflies!

Hello, thank you for visiting me.  This is the quickest post ever as I want to enter the Paperartsy challenge which is Aqua and I only have a short while before it closes!

The background is made smooshing Broken China Distress Oxide on my craft sheet, spritzing with water then dragging watercolour card through it.  I added drops of water then dried with a heat gun then dabbed it in remaining ink.  When dry I stencilled through Foiled Again mini stencil by Stamplorations with Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink then gave a spritz with Abominable Snowman Glimmer Mist.  When dry I added all the stamping in black Versafine using the PaperArtsy stamp set EKC02.  The butterflies are cut from a piece of watercolour card coloured with Spiced Marmalade and Ripe Persimmon Distress Inks and water using the smallest die from Sizzix Vintage Butterfly Bigz Die.  I then ran the butterflies through an embossing folder - it came free with a magazine years ago.  The sentiment is cut using a Spellbinder die from Sentiments Three.  The final touch was Orange Peel and Eucalyptus Stickles.  I used an orange mat and a black card base.  I made it so last minute, the Stickles is still wet!

I would like to enter the follow challenges:

PaperArtsy - Aqua - I was inspired by Claire Snowdon's post Here - Claire's stencilled background sung to me and the added butterflies and flowers!
Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge - Matching Pairs and/or the colour Orange Peel
Country View Challenges - Things With Wings
Stamping Sensations - Anything with Flowers - in my haste to post this I forgot to link up to this challenge!  Luckily I remembered before it ran out!  Its one of the ones I had made it for - silly me!

These are all fabulous Challenges!

Thank you again for visiting me, I must dash! Please excuse any errors!  Take care.  Christine xxx

Embossed Resist Clean and Simple Card!

Hello from a sunny Bournemouth!  Its so lovely that you have stopped by to visit, thank you so much!  A clean and simple card today.

I am also taking part in the STAMPlorations 4th Birthday celebrations - they are such an awesome company selling amazing stamps, dies and stencils.   Here are the details of their wonderful celebrations.

  I have to add a link to my wishlist here on my blog to join in the celebrations, so here is My STAMPlorations Wishlist,  If you create an account and then a wishlist, link it up on STAMPlorations Blog - you could win lots of prizes!  Time is running out though, I have left it late but you still have time! Hop Over and read all about it! Shery who owns the company is so generous and the blog is just fantastic!  The Design Team is inspirational!

Here is my card:

I masked  off the edges of my card blank, went over with my anti-static pouch and stamped the background image with the gorgeous Inkydoodles leaf  background stamp using Versamark then embossed with white detail powder..  I then blended colour onto the embossed area using Distress Oxide inks, spritzed with Abominable Snowman Glimmer Mist then dabbed with a paper towel and removed the masking tape.   To finish I simply added a Sizzix embosslits butterfly and the fabulous Stamplorations Smile die cut, both cut using snippets of black card.  I just added a little pearl to the butterfly and it was done!

I would like to enter the following  challenges:

That's Crafty - Keep it Simple
Try it on Tuesday - Letters or Numbers or Both
Pixie's Snippet's Playground - Use Snippets
Country View Challenges - Things with Wings
Casology - Fly

All of these are awesome, inspirational blogs!

Thank you again for visiting!  Take care. Christine xxx