Embossed & Blended birthday

Hello again friends.  I hope you're having a great Sunday - the weather here has been awful today, we've had torrential rain on and off all day.  Well we've had a very eventful few weeks since I blogged last.  Hubby's Covid test came back positive, I became unwell and had a positive result too and then our eldest son tested positive also.  The only one un-affected (or at least not showing systems) was our youngest son so he must be made of strong stuff.  Luckily my husband had a relatively mild dose; he is overweight and has high blood pressure so I was worried about him but thankfully he was ok.  Myself and my son had it a little worse and it felt like a bad dose of flu; heachache, temperature, aching all over, generally feeling yucky but we did have the extended wiped out feeling and just a simple shower left us worn out.  I am happy to report that we are all feeling much better now and back at work.

Anyway enough of my waffling let's get to the reason that you are here - a card!  It was one of the lovely girls on my Design Teams birthday this week so this is the card I sent her. 

close up of the card:

close up of the sentiment:

I began by stamping the large background stamp onto a white card panel using Versamark ink, sprinkled it with white fine detail embossing powder and heat set it with my heat tool.  I then used 3 colours of distress oxide inks and blender brushes until I was happy with the blend.  I stamped and cut out the sentiment and added this to a circle of vellum with foam tape; this was then added to the card with liquid glue.  I then added the panel onto a white card blank and the finishing touch was a few sequins in matching colours.  

I'd like to add this card into the following challenges:

Allsorts challenge - celebration time

Little Red Wagon challenge - things beginning with B (birthday, balloon)

Crafty Friends challenge - embossing 

Cute Card Thursday challenge - stamping

Krafty Chicks challenge - all occasions

Mix It Up challenge - anything goes option distressing

The Crafty Cafe challenge - use some pink

Seizure the Birthday challenge - texture (embossed background)

Chocolate Baroque challenge - anything goes

Now I'm feeling back to 'normal' again I'll hopefully be back to blogging a little more often.  We are currently in a fire-break lockdown for 2 weeks in Wales so nothing much else to do except craft lol!  Enjoy the rest of your evening and take care of yourselves.

Card ingredients:

Uniko Stamps - block party birthday

Distress Oxide Inks in spun sugar, picked raspberry and wilted violet

Stampin' Up vellum

Waffle Flower Crafts - essential sentiments stamp set & matching die

Little Things by Lucy's Cards - passion flower sequin mix

Gina K designs - layering weight card stock

Taylored Expressions - blender brushes

Floral wreath card

Hello again friends.  I hope your Monday has gone better for you than mine.  My husband has been unwell since yesterday and went for a Covid test this morning so this means I have to stay home from work until he has his result - fingers crossed it will be back tomorrow and negative, otherwise we will all have to self isolate for 14 days!!  The trouble is flu is so similar to Covid that without a test you cannot be 100% sure can you? 

On a brighter note I have another card to share with you that I made for another of my lovely Design Team.  It has an autumnal feel due to the colours but it was for her birthday.

Here is the card:

a close up of the image:

I began by stamping the gorgeous image onto a white card panel and coloured it with Promarkers, I also added a small sentiment into the centre.  This panel was then layered onto green and orange card before adding to my white card blank.  I decided to add a small die-cut butterfly and a few sequins for interest.  The finishing touch was some sparkle onto the flowers and butterfly.  A really clean and simple card once again but the image is so pretty I didn't think it needed anything else. 

I would like to enter my card into these challenges:

Sweet Stampers challenge - things with wings

Chocolate Baroque challenge - wings with anything goes option

Allsorts challenge - autumn colours

Little Red Wagon challenge - celebrate

Dragonfly Dreams challenge - happy birthday

Crafty Friends challenge - autumn colours

Inspired by challenge - colors of fall (I hope it's ok I didn't use the sketch)

So hopefully I'll see you again in a couple of days with good news!  Take care of yourselves and stay safe. 

Love and hugs, 

Card ingredients:

Funky Fossil Designs - blooming birthday stamp set

Promarkers

Uniko Stamps - birthday wishes (for sentiment)

Heffy Doodle - white card

green & orange card from stash

Nuvo Aqua shimmer pen - glitter gloss

Little Things from Lucy's card - just peachy sequins

Studio Katia - dazzling celery fusion sequins

Versafine onyx black ink

Memento tuxedo black ink

Happy Bear-thday!

Hello again friends, I'm trying to turn over a new leaf and actually blog the cards I make lol!  I made a card for this week's MFT sketch challenge and thought I would try and enter it before the challenge ends (which is normally what I do).  I made this card for one of my lovely DT ladies whose birthday is today.  

Here is my card:

close up of image:

I began by masking off a small strip of my card blank and ink blending with my distress oxide inks and blender brushes.  Once completed I added some water droplets (although one turned out a little bit larger than the rest!) and dabbed with a piece of kitchen towel.  I stamped and coloured the cute bear image and fussy cut him out.  I then die cut a spellbinders decorative circle from pink card and a plain circle from white card.  I adhered these together with liquid glue and added foam squares to the bear before adding to the circles.  I stamped the sentiment below and called my card done.  A very cute (and very pink) card.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

MFT sketch challenge - sketch 508

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - animal antics

Inkspirational challenge - day 

Krafty Chicks challenge - all occasions

Daisy Chain challenge - CAS

Little Red Wagon challenge - celebrate

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and stay safe.

Hugs, 

Card ingredients:

MFT - beary special birthday

Distress oxide - picked raspberry

Spellbinders - picot edge circles

Spellbinders - standard circles large

Promarkers

Versafine onyx black ink

Memento tuxedo black ink

Signo uni-ball white gel pen

Taylored Expressions blender brushes

Sympathy card

Happy Friday friends.  I hope you're having a good day and looking forward to the weekend.  We are currently in local lockdown in my part of South Wales so although on a day to day basis things are pretty much the same we cannot leave our county for the time being.  It's still a very worrying and stressful time isn't it.  Fingers crossed the minority will now listen and things can return to 'normal' soon. 

Today I have a sympathy card that I made a little while ago for a friend who lost her husband but didn't have chance to share with you.  It's fairly clean and simple but I have to say I love it.  

Here is my card:

close up of the card:

I began by taking a white card panel and using a stencil and distress inks I lightly inked the lower left corner of the panel.  I choose a simple floral image and stamped it over the stencilling in black ink and added a sentiment above.  I layered the white panel onto a black and green panel and added this to a white card blank.  I didn't add any embellishments as I loved it as it was and didn't want to spoilt it.  As my card was 5 x 7 in size I used my We R Memory Keepers envelope punch board and made my own envelope.

I am going to enter this card into the following challenges:

CCC Digi Creations challenge - monochrome

Krafty Chicks challenge - all occasions

Daisy Chain challenge - CAS

I hope you have a great weekend.  Stay safe everyone. 

Hugs, 

Card ingredients:

Studio Calico - sympathy set

Clearly Besotted - fancy sayings (for sentiment)

icraft 4x8 stencil #8525

Distress oxide inks in twisted citron & shabby shutters

Versafine onyx black ink

cardstock from my stash

We R Memory Keepers - envelope punch board

Colour Spectrum 12x12 paper pad (brights) for envelope

Sloth happy birthday

A colleague at work recently celebrated her birthday and she is obsessed with sloths.  I remembered I had this fun stamp set from Tracey Hey which would be so perfect for her.  

This is the card I made:

I made a matching envelope:

close up of the card:

I also decorated the inside:

I began by stamping the fun image with memento tuxedo black ink and coloured the image with Promarkers.  I cut the panel and added a chocolate brown layer behind it to frame the image.  I made a kraft card blank and attached a piece of patterned paper with liquid glue.  I then attached my coloured panel onto this with foam tape.  I finished by adding some sequins for a bit of bling.  For the inside I used the same chocolate card and added the left over pieces of patterned paper to the edges and stamped a sentiment in the centre.  Simple but I think it ties everything together to use elements from the front of my card on the inside.  

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - frame it

Crafty Hazelnuts's Patterned Paper challenge - use patterned paper

Allsorts challenge - I love.... challenge (I love colouring, cute images and making my own envelopes)

Simon Says Stamp IG monthly challenge - put a stamp on it

I hope you are all keeping well.  The news is full of talk that there may be another lockdown soon; I really hope it doesn't happen this time.  Let's hope everyone complies with wearing their masks and social distancing before it gets that far.  

Enjoy the lovely weather but remember to stay safe. 

card ingredients:

Tracey Hey Alpaca Pals - rocking the wreath stamp set

Crafter's Companion - Neenah desert storm card

Chocolate card from stash

Studio Katia - dazzling celery fusion sequins

Little Things from Lucy's Cards - just peachy sequins

MME 'now & then' - Izzy 6x6 paper pad

Memento Tuxedo black ink pad

Versafine Onyx black ink pad (for sentiments)

We R Memory Keepers - envelope punch board

Promarkers:

forest green, bright green, leaf green, lime zest

orange, mango, soft peach

burnt sienna, cinnamon, caramel, sandstone

Heart shaped card

Lsst week my sister-in-law and brother-in-law celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary and this is the card I made for them.  I decided to make a heart shaped card (for obvious reasons) although I did have to straighten the point a little to enable the card to stand up.  

close up of the card:

I also made an envelope to match:

I began by die cutting 2 large hearts and scored one heart about half an inch from the top and glued the 2 hearts together.  I decided to go for a one-layer card so stamped the cute hedgie image and then masked them off so that I could stencil some clouds behind them and also stamp some random hearts (I was following last week's MFT sketch 504 challenge but left it too late to enter!!).  I coloured the image with Promarkers.  I added a large sentiment across the middle of the card and then added 'sister' and 'brother-in-law' to the balloons.  I think it turned out really cute and something a little different.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Penny Black Saturday challenge - anything goes (option fave colours)

Sweet Stampin' challenge - anything but a birthday card

Sweet Stampers challenge - outdoor fun

Allsorts challenge - hand coloured image

Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - use your favourite stamp (for love/anniversary cards this is my go-to stamp)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - stamp it in Stamptember 

Simon Says Stamp IG challenge - put a stamp on it

Krafty Chicks challenge - stamp act

I hope that returning to school/college went well for all your children (and teachers in the family).  Although the number of cases is increasing, thankfully the deaths are remaining low so let's hope that the second spike doesn't happen.  My son is working from home and has only left the house once since lockdown and he is still really nervous about going out.  I think it's the fear of the unknown as well isn't it.  

I hope you all have a great week and continue to stay safe and well.  

Card ingredients:

Penny Black - hedgehog kisses

Promarkers

MFT - make a wish (for the hearts)

MFT - mini cloud stencil

Distress oxide ink - tumbled glass

Heffy Doodle - everyday sentiment duos (for anniversary sentiment)

Clearly Besotted stamps - friends & family 

Presscut - heart nesting dies

Inkadinkado - stamping mask paper

Versafine onyx black ink

Memento tuxedo black ink

Distress ink mini - barn door (for hearts)

My sister's birthday card

Happy September friends.  I don't know what happened to last week - it went by in a blur.  I was home from work on annual leave from Wednesday on but I still don't know where it went even though I had more time to craft and chill out lol!  It was my sister's birthday last week so I thought I would share the card (and matching envelope) I made for her.  

Close up of the card:

Card & envelope together:

I stamped the gorgeous image onto a white card panel and coloured it with Promarkers.  I stamped the sentiments (which are from 2 different sets) in Versafine onyx black ink and matted this onto a green panel.  I then added this to my card front (which was 7x5 in size) with foam tape.  I finished off with a few sequins for some bling.  I made the envelope with the same green cardstock and stamped the image again using Versafine Clair morning mist ink and coloured them with pencils for a softer look.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Penny Black and More challenge - say it with flowers

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - anything goes

Krafty Chicks challenge - all occasions

I will try and be a bit more organised this week and share another card in the next few days.  Have a wonderful week and if your children/young adults are going back to school and university I'm sending you my love.  It's a stressful time normally but everything is that little bit 'extra' at the moment isn't it. 

Take care and stay safe.

card ingredients:

Taylored Expressions - doodle flowers background

Ranger - Letter it - birthday (for large HB sentiment)

Clearly Besotted Stamps - happy birthday all (for the smaller sentiment)

Promarkers

Little Things by Lucy's Card - sprinkles: crystal circles

Heffy Doodle - white cardstock

green card stock from stash

Versafine onyx black ink pad for sentiments

Memento tuxedo black ink pad for floral image

envelope ingredients:

green card stock from stash

We R Memory Keepers - envelope punch board 

Taylored Expressions - doodle flowers background

Versafine Clair morning mist ink pad

Spectrum Noir 'essentials' coloured pencils 

50th birthday card

A friend in work recently celebrated her 50th birthday so I made her a happy and bright card to celebrate.  I decided to make a cocktail themed card as she was going away with friends so it seemed very apt.

Here is my card:

I began by stamping the fantastic glass images and die cut them out with the matching dies.  The umbrella, stirrer and orange were also separate images but again had matching dies.  I added some Nuvo aqua shimmer pen to the drinks and they really shine in real life.  I added the die cut drinks to a white panel and stamped the 50 cheers alongside.  This was then added to a piece of patterned paper and attached to my card base.  I stamped a secondary sentiment below the white panel.  I didn't think the card needed any embellishments so left it as it was.  

I am going to enter my card into the following challenges:

Cute Card Thursday - bright colours

Sweet Stampin challenge - favourite colour combo (I love soft pastel colours)

Crafty Hazelnut's Paper challenge - August 2020 (use patterned paper)

Allsorts challenge - summer fun

Craft Rocket challenges - birthday

I hope you've had a good start to the week and the weather has improved.  It's showery here but still very humid so not an ideal combination!  

Enjoy the rest of your week and take care.

Card ingredients:

Clearly Besotted Stamps - raise a glass (I have the older version)

Clearly Besotted Stamps - basic numbers

MFT - beary special birthday (for the sentiment)

Versafine onyx black ink

Nuvo aqua shimmer glitter gloss pen

Papermania spots & stripes - pastels 8x8 pad

MFT summer school 2020 day 5

Hi again friends.  I've managed to play catch-up and I'm finally graduating from MFT summer school 2020 with my contribution to Day 5.  I've never participated before but I've had lots of fun making my cards this week and it has been great to challenge myself using techniques I've not tried before.  

Here is my final card for the MFT summer school and today's theme is all about white space. 

"The idea of white space doesn’t refer to a primarily white card (though often, as is the case with today’s project, this is true) but rather, the idea of leaving a significant portion of your design open, free from embellishment, allowing your focal point to truly shine".

Here is my card for today:

close up of my card:

I stamped the adorable images using Memento tuxedo black ink onto a white card panel.  I fussy cut some post it notes and masked off the images before blending squeezed lemonade distress oxide ink over the panel.  I removed the masks and then coloured my images with Promarkers.  The colour choices were inspired by this week's MFT colour challenge 147 and the layout was inspired by this week's MFT sketch challenge 502.  The sentiment was stamped with Hero Arts soft brown shadow ink and the only thing I added was some Nuvo shimmer pen to the balloon.  I did find it quite hard to leave it without embellishments but I think it turned out super cute.  

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my summer school projects and appreciate you stopping by.   

I am entering my card into the following challenges: 

MFT Summer School Day 5 - white space

MFT sketch challenge 502 (which I rotated):

MFT colour challenge 147:

I hope the storms haven't been too bad where you are; we had some thunder and lightening here last night and a few brisk rain showers but it really hasn't been as bad as some parts of the country.  My thoughts go out to everyone struggling with power outages and flood damage and especially the people who lost their lives in the train derailment in Scotland; so tragic.  

Take care and stay safe.

 

Card ingredients:

MFT - birthday buds stamp set

Squeezed lemonade distress oxide ink

TE blender brush

Nuvo Aqua shimmer glitter gloss pen

Hero Arts soft brown shadow ink

Signo uni-ball white gel pen

MFT summer school - day 4

Hi friends, I bet you are getting fed up of seeing posts from me this week - it's all or nothing over here isn't it lol 😂

Here is the next card for the MFT summer school 2020 and day 4 is all about ombre.  

"Ombré is a time-tested technique that still somehow manages to feel both modern and innovative. There are a number of ways to add an ombré effect to your cards — from simple die-cut shapes and sentiments to full panels. Opt for a clean and simple single hue or fade from one tone into another for more dramatic appeal".

I choose to opt for a single hue background from dark green to light green.  Here is my card:

close up of my card:

I began by stamping the MFT Fine Chevron background stamp using 3 mini ink cubes in greens, starting with my lightest at the bottom and working up to the darkest.  I then stamped the super cute images from the MFT Let's Stick Together stamp set and coloured them with Promarkers.  Unfortunately I don't have the matching dies for this set so fussy cut them out.  I stamped a matching sentiment from the set in Versafine onyx black ink and cut it out with my Tim Holtz guillotine.  I decided that I didn't want to cover the background too much so die cut a vellum circle so that my images had a focal point to sit on and I added the images with liquid glue onto this circle.  This was then added onto the background with liquid glue.  I added the ombre background panel onto a green card base with foam tape and also added the sentiment strip with foam tape.  The finishing touch was a few gorgeous crystal circles and some white highlights on my images using a white gel pen. 

I'm really happy with this card and although I'm not a big green fan I think it looks super cute.  

Just one more day to go so I'll try and get my card done tonight ready to share with you tomorrow.  

Enjoy the rest of your evening and take care.  

Lots of love,

Card ingredients:

MFT - Let's stick together stamp set

MFT - Fine chevron background stamp

Altenew Green Fields mini ink cube set

Versafine onyx black ink pad

Promarkers

Stampin' Up cardstock vellum 

Stampin' Up green card from Bold Brights pack

Little Things from Lucy's Cards - Sprinkles - crystal circles

Signo broad uni-ball white pen