Splash!

Hello and welcome to my blog today!  Thank you so much for visiting me - I appreciate it so much!
I called this post 'Splash' cause that is what this awesome Visible Image stamp makes me think of and I have made three cards with it using similar backgrounds but different, all important, words - I just got carried away!  Here they are:

These are the most important words ever!  They come with the stamp:

These words I think are so cool (also come with the stamp).  I see them as saying, do what you want with no worries about tomorrow - just enjoy yourself!  My husband however thought they sounded like doom and gloom that tomorrow is never going to come!  We did have a laugh about it!  I like my interpretation best and I am sure that is what is meant!!!

This last one has words from a Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous set,, Good Thoughts, and I love these words too!

The backgrounds are all made the same - in fact I did two A4 sheets so I had plenty for all the cards and words and some left over.  I used watercolour card and blended Mermaid Lagoon, Wilted Violet and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks over the whole sheet before adding drops of water for texture, spritzed with Abominable Snowman Glimmer Mist then dried.  I used a script stamp and a texture stamp to add some detail in the same inks, then cut the card down, edged with Mermaid Loagoon ink and stamped the image using black Versafine and my Misti stamping tool.  It took lots of impressions on the textured watercolour card to get a perfect silhouette - I couldn't have got it on this particular card without the Misti.  It would have been fine with a clear block on regular stamping card as Visible Image stamps are excellent quality! The words were stamped on bits of leftover card and I edged everything using a thin black marker then glued the words on and added the panels to black square base cards.  I embellished with clear sequins on the first two using Multi Medium Matt and on the third one I added little raindrops cut from blue inked watercolour card using Memory Box die A Little Rain.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

A Vintage Journey - Words that are Special
That's Crafty - Just Words (the words are most important on my cards so I hope that counts!)
Bizzy Becs - Anything Goes

All are fab challenges - worth a peek!

Thank you for popping by and have a fabulous weekend!  Take care! Christine xxx

Valentine's Day!

It's Valentines's Day today!  If you celebrate - have a lovely day and if you don't, have a lovely day! Its not everyone's cup of tea and for some its a sad day or a day full of memories, It makes some people cross!  Whichever it is for you - have the best day you can!  I love (excuse the pun) it!  I can tell Darren (my husband) I love him even more than I do every day anyway!  I know, I am a big softie!  Here is his card:

I started with the main image which is a Crafter's Companion Moonbeam Meadow rubber stamp from the Hugs and kisses set - I just love it!  I stamped it on a scrap of white card in black Versafine and embossed with clear powder then coloured with Promarkers and added a touch of Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen.  Its cut out using Spellbinders Labels Eighteen (which I won from Pixies Snippets Playground last year, thank you Di!).  The large hearts are cut from a piece of leftover inked card from a previous project using dies that were free with a magazine, and the small red hearts were left over from a previous project.  The background stamping is done using two stamps from Avery Elle clear stamp set Lots of Love - stamped in Versamark and embossed with clear powder.  I trimmed the blue card with one of the Stitched Basic E dies from My Favourite Things and glued it to the card base then added the three hearts which are under the main image after working out placement, then popped the image up on foam tape for dimension.  The sentiment is from JustRite clear stamp set Doodled Birds (I love the sentiment so much) its embossed on snippets of the blue card with Veramark and white detail embossing powder.  After I had glued the sentiment to my card, I added the last two blue hearts and all the little red hearts to go with the red roses.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Stamping Sensations - Animal Magic.
Penny Black and More - Use your Favourite Stamp (I have lots - this is one of them!).
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets.
That's Crafty - I Heart You.
Allsorts Challenge - Hearts and/or Flowers

There is so much fun to be had by entering challenges and loads of inspiration to be found too!

I haven't been around this last week as I have been staying with my Daughter - lots of cuddles from the two Granddaughters which was lovely!  I will be popping around blogland this week for a catch up!

Thank you so much for visiting me, I really appreciate it!
Take care! Christine xxx

Sarah's Birthday Card - Orange and Pink!

I am back with my third post this week!  I will be quiet again for a while after this cause I am off to stay at my Daughter, Sarah's, on Saturday and will be there for nearly a week.  Lots of cuddles with my gorgeous Granddaughters Freya and Millie - collectively known as Frillie!  Sarah's idea!

Its Sarah's birthday tomorrow, here is her card.  She won't be looking at my blog!

I started with Wild Honey, Dried Marigold, Picked Raspberry and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks which I smooshed on my craft sheet and spritzed with water.  I pressed a piece of watercolour card into the wet ink, dried it then dabbed it into more of the ink for interest and also added drops of water which I dabbed off with kitchen roll.  I made another couple of pieces the same so I had one for an insert and one for the sentiment and flowers.

On the background piece I stencilled some swirls with a couple of the inks and stamped an interesting script stamp from Paperartsy HP1306EZ (never used before) which adds more interest to the background.  I thought the swirls would go with the swirls on the sentiment.  I then used my dotty stencil to add some texture paste circles and left to dry overnight.  'Daughter' is a Papermania Typography Stamp (never before used) which I stamped on a piece of my inked watercolour card in Versamark ink and embossed with detail white powder and coloured in with pink, orange and green Promarkers.  'Special' is stamped with Habenero Versafine (never used before) using My Favourite Things Label Maker Sentiments.  The flowers are cut using Crysanthemum Strip die by Cheery Lynn and I Wink of Stella'd them and attached them with brads.  I also used Wink of Stella on the sentiment and the background swirls then added the sequins with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

PaperArtsy - Pink and Orange - I got my inspiration from Tracey's tags which were shown on the challenge post - thank you Tracey!

Darnell's NBUS 10 Challenge - Never Before Used Schtuff - Mine are the Paperartsy script stamp, the Daughter stamp and the Habernero ink.  There is an option to use bubblewrap - I didn't but my circles of paste look like bubblewrap???

That's Crafty - Round and round.

All these are fabulous challenges that give so much inspiration!  Thank you!

Thank you so much for visiting me, I really appreciate it!  Take care. Christine xxx

Brusho Snowmen!

Hi there!  I am back again with another Christmas card - Yay, another one for the box!

Now this really was a simple card to make! The absolutely gorgeous die is Let It Snow by Sizzix (used for the first time) and I cut it from a left over piece of card from one of my white scrap drawers. The background was originally an A4 sheet of card that had been given the Brusho treatment - I can't remember the colours I am afraid but the gold is actually Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Powder in Rich Gold. Luckily I had a piece left!  I cut the eyes and noses of the snowmen from little snippets of left over card and glued them in place - it would have been simpler just to colour the white pieces that were already cut with Promarkers but I didn't think of that!  I glued the die cut on the Brusho panel, glued that to my white card base and it was done!  I told you it was simple!  I absolutely love the white on the rich background and was so pleased how the card turned out!

I would like to enter the following challenges:

January 2017 Rudolph Days Challenge - Anything Christmas,
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Use Snippets - everything on this card is snippits!
Darnell's NBUS Challenge - My Never Before Used Schtuff is the fab die.
Bizzy Becs - Anything Goes.
Christmas Cards All Year Round - Add Snowflakes.

All awesome challenges!

Thank you so much for visiting me - I will be popping round Blogland tomorrow, I have visited a few lovely people today but have more to do!  Take care!  Christine xxx

Grungy Circles

Yet again apologies for my lack of posts and visits,  I am finding it a bit difficult keeping up at the moment!  I will keep trying though.  A grungy card today for a guy.

The colours are all Distress Inks - Mustard Seed, Wilted Violet, Dusty Concord, Lucky Clover and Broken China.  I used various circle stencils and inked through with finger daubers and a dry baby wipe cause I didn't have enough daubers!  When I had the pattern I liked, I spritzed with water then dabbed with kitchen roll so the ink was a little more muted then used two different sizes of bubble wrap to stamp some extra interest using some of the inks.  Then I gave a light spritz with Abominable Snowman Glimmer Mist for a little shimmer.  The sentiment came from a newly inked clear stamp set by My Favorite Things - Label Maker Sentiments - stamped in black Versafine then cut out and adhered to the card panel.  I edged the panel with Wilted Violet Distress Ink then added to a black card base.

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Darnell's NBUS Challenge - Never Before Used Schtuff (mine is the sentiment stamp set) and I have followed the optional theme of 'bubble wrap'.
That's Crafty - Round and Round.
A Vintage Journey - Going Round in Circles.
Bizzy Becs - Anything Goes.

These are all fabulous challenges!

Thank you so much for visiting me, I appreciate it so very much!  Have a good week and
take care! Christine xxx

Kraft Card Christmas Tree

Hello!  Thank you for visiting me and I am sorry I haven't been around much again lately. Another Christmas card ready for this year.  I intend to have them all done ahead of time this year!  At least I am going to try!

Hmm, it hasn't photographed very well and I haven't time to take another pic as I am running close to the wire on one of the challenges - sorry!  The fabulous Christmas tree stamp is Ickle Christmas Tree from IndigoBlu (never used before) - the snow around the tree is part of the stamp.  I stamped it on Kraft card with Hero Arts white pigment ink then when dry, added extra whiteness with white Fabre Castel Polychromo pencil - my only Polychromo!  I also used it to add snow to my Kraft card base.  The baubles are coloured with a red coloured pencil from the floral set by Spectrum Noir and I Wink of Stella'd them.  I used a small paintbrush to apply Frosted Lace Stickles to the tree and the snow for a delicate sparkle, which doesn't show in the picture unfortunately!  The main image and the red mat are cut using Spellbinders Labels 26 and the sentiment is cut using a die from the Spellbinders Holiday word set. I used my Grand Calibre for the die cutting. This is quite different from my usual style of Christmas card but I enjoyed having a go at something different!

I would like to join in with the following awesome challenges:

IndigoBlu - Snow, Snow, Snow.
Darnell's Blog Birthaversary Surprise NBUS - Use Never Before Use Sctuff and as an extra - use coloured pencils on Kraft card - the tree is my NBUS.
Pixies Snippets Playground - Use snippets - mine are all the red paper which are from my bits box.
Cuttlebug Mania - Winter Wonderland.
Creative Carte Blanche - Baby Its Cold Outside.

Sorry again for not being around much and sorry this is a very rushed post!  Thank you so much for bearing with me, I do appreciate it!
Take care and have a lovely weekend.  Christine xxx

Jade and Jewels for Butterfly Challenge!

I was very fortunate recently to win Mrs A's fabulous Butterfly Challenge and as well as winning a fabulous package of gorgeous butterfly goodies, thank you Mrs A, I also was invited to be a Guest Designer for the new challenge, Jade and Jewels. I am very honoured indeed!  Here is my card!

I looked up the colour 'Jade' and it covers a wide spectrum of blues and greens so I went more for the green side of things.  The background is Lucky Clover and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Inks swiped on my craft sheet, spritzed with water then I dragged watercolour card through it and dried with a heat gun.  Used my hand to add droplets of water over the background, dabbed with kitchen roll then dried again. Stamped some script lightly with the same green ink and finally spritzed the whole background with Glimmer Mist for shimmer.

The butterfly is cut from black textured card using a Die Versions die called Butterfly Kisses.  I think its an old one - I got it from Ebay, it has a foam backing that I had to apply before I used it.  I glued it to the background along with the 'Happy Birthday' which is a die by Presscut.  The sparkly jewels are gorgeous in real life - they are from Papermania and are actually Shimmer Dome Stickers and are just what I think the colour 'Jade' should be.  Here is a closeup of the ones on the butterfly body.  The jewels are a much richer colour in real life!

Thank you again Mrs A for letting me Guest Design for this challenge.

I would like to enter the following fabulous challenges:

That's Crafty - Anything Goes
Bizzy Becs - Anything Goes

Thank you so much for visiting me, I really appreciate it!  Take Care.  Christine xxx