Inspired by Jennifer McGuire!

I love watching Jennifer McGuire's YouTube videos and always get inspired but usually I'm too busy to actually follow through and try out her techniques.  However as I have been home recently I managed to get one done - yay! go me 😃  I am a little behind the times as this technique, which she calls 'a split card technique', was back in the middle of May, but hey, better late than never!!

Here is my take on her technique:

I used flowers from My Favorite Things called 'flashy florals' (sadly seem to no longer be available) and stamped them with Altenew inks.  I then die cut them with the matching die-namics.  The sentiments are from Altenew 'beautiful day' stamp set.  I added a black strip of card stock and black gems from the 'jewels - ebony mix' from Little Things from Lucy's Cards.  It was a fun way to create 2 cards from one panel and I will have to try it again with different stamp sets.  Check out the link above to watch Jennifer's video and to see how she makes it look so easy!

I hope you had a good Monday - I went back to work today which was hard but it had to be done.  I felt that the longer I stayed off from work the more difficult it would be to go back.  I'm sure things will get easier in time.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Take care and huge hugs, 

Card for grandmother

Happy Saturday everyone.  I hope the weather hasn't been too bad for you all today.  Last night it was torrential rain here but thankfully it's dried up today.  At least no-one had to water their plants here this morning. 

I'm back to share a card I made for my boys to give to their grandmother for her birthday (back in April).  I'm playing catch up so expect to see lots of cards soon. 

close up 

I ink blended my background with distress oxide inks and then used a gorgeous Simon Says Stamp 'outline floral frame' die which I cut from white card stock and placed over the top.  I added water droplets to the ink blended panel as I really like the effect.  I used Clearly Besotted 'butterfly duo die collection' dies (which sadly no longer appear to be available) and die cut the top layer with white card stock and the bottom layer with more of the ink blended card and added them with Nuvo deluxe glue to my background.  The sentiment is also Clearly Besotted Stamps from the 'happy birthday all' stamp set (which again I sadly can't find on the website).  I was really happy with this card and will definitely make more in different colours when I get a chance. 

I'm going to add this card into the simonsayschallenge over on Instagram for their June 'ink blending' challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and take care.

Dies to Die For card swap

The lovely Tracy at Dies to Die For (along with Sue Hastead) recently ran a card swap on the Dies to Die For and Friends Facebook page and I took the plunge and joined in.  As the brief was 'brighten someone's day' I made this colourful and cheerful card for my swap buddy Kim.

here's a closer look:

I started by ink blending the background with Distress Oxide ink pads using the amazing Taylored Expressions blender brushes and added some water droplets for a blotchy effect.  I stamped the Taylored Expressions 'grid background' with versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder over the top of the ink blended background.  I die cut the MFT 'big hello' out of black card stock and stamped the cute bear from the MFT 'bitty bears' stamp set and coloured him with my promarkers.  The smaller sentiment is from the same stamp set which I also white heat embossed onto black card stock.  I finished my card with some 'crystal collection - over the rainbow' embellishments from Little Things from Lucy's Cards which are beautiful in real life. 

I can't believe it is Friday again tomorrow; this week has flown by.

Thanks for looking and take care. 

Hugs, 

Paper Smooches birthday card

Good Morning friends.  Today I'm here after a long break to actually share a card!! 

A lot has happened since I was here last - sadly my dad passed away on 23rd March and as it was just as lockdown came into effect it has proved to be a very stressful and unusual time.  We did the best we could but it wasn't the funeral he deserved; only 10 family could attend and the crematorium was eerily quiet. I have to say that my parent's neighbours were fantastic and stood on their doorsteps and paid their respects as the hearse went down the street, which was extremely emotional.  It's been almost 3 months now but it really only seems like yesterday.  It will be his 85th birthday tomorrow so that will be the first difficult milestone we have to get through but my mother, sister and myself are all supporting each other and we will have a cry and talk about our memories of him and the day will go by.  Life goes on but we never forget 💔

To keep myself busy I've been trying to craft and as I had some birthdays coming up it was the perfect way to take my mind off my dad and everything else that has been going on at the moment. 

I made this card for a lovely crafting friend using Paper Smooches 'blossoming buds' stamp set.  I stamped the flower arrangement twice, coloured them with my Promarkers and fussy cut them out. I made my own circle card base by die cutting 2 circle dies from an old Quickcutz/Lifestyle nesting circles set and glued them together.  The smaller circle and scalloped circle were cut with spellbinders dies.  The sentiment is also from the stamp set and to finish off I added a few 'over the rainbow - crystal collection' gems from Little Things from Lucy's Cards.  I even decorated the inside and made my own envelope from some very old 12x12 paper from my stash.

Sorry for the poor photographs - it's still not my strongest point - but I keep trying different ways and maybe one day I will find something that works for me!

Anyway I am going to enter this card into the current Paper Smooches challenge 'flowers'.  

It's been so long since I've entered a challenge I'm not even 100% sure I remember how to do it lol!

If you have made it this far, thank you for sticking with me and have a great day.  I will hopefully be back again soon with another card I've made during lockdown. 

Take care and lots of love,

Anniversary card

Hello friends; I thought I would try to get back into blogging again as although I love Instagram and Facebook for showing my cards you can't really give too much detail about what products you've used etc.

I have a quick anniversary card I made for my sister-in-law & brother-in-law.  I used My Favorite Things stamps called 'Raving Raccoons' that I bought from Dies to Die For.  I coloured the cute images with my promarkers and used the matching dies to cut them out.  I also used an older MFT die called 'insert it - instaframe' which appears to be discontinued as I can't find it in the MFT store and ink blended the small square behind the raccoons with my distress oxide inks with my awesome Taylored Expressions blending brushes.  The scalloped panel is W Plus 9 from the 'sunshine layers' die set and the happy anniversary sentiment is Taylored Expressions from the 'simple strips background' stamp and die set.  The main sentiment was created with Clearly Besotted 'happy birthday all' which is perfect for all your family members.

Here is a close up of the images:

Let me know if you have any questions or if you feel there is a way to make my posts more interesting or informative.  I am very rusty after being away from blogging for so long so any advice would be appreciated. 

I hope you're having a great week so far.  Hopefully I can blog more regularly from now on, even if it's only once or twice a week.

Enjoy the rest of your week and until next time, take care and lots of love.

Just checking in

Hello everyone.  I'm sure you've forgotten all about me after such a long break.  I hope you are all keeping well. 

Surprise, surprise I am venturing back into the world of blogging, albeit slowly.  I don't have anything to share at the moment but I am creating and colouring behind the scenes and will be back with you very soon. 

Enjoy the last bit of your Bank Holiday weekend.  I hope you haven't been affected but the bad storms, we've been relatively lucky here in South Wales, just a bit of rain but it's glorious here today. 

I hope I'm not talking to myself haha!

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