After a glorious day of sunshine, I'm finally in my pj's and ready to settle down for the evening. Dave has been breaking up the concrete paths all day (we have to replace them all) so our place looks like a bomb-site. On the good side I've found 16 of my peonies have started popping up so hopefully I get more than one flower this year!!
I've purchased so many new stamps and dies of late, and I'm slowly making my way through them and loving every single image. I also purchased my very first digital images a few months ago from Alex Syberia Design on Etsy. If you haven't seen her Etsy store I really suggest you have a look. I got four floral images which are so beautiful. It took a bit of fiddling around for my husband to get them to print but was so worth it. This is the first of my cards:
This is such an incredible image, Alex certainly knows whats she doing when drawing flowers and it was lovely to colour. As you can imagine this was pretty simple to put together. I coloured the image with my Altenew Artist Markers, pushing myself to try floral colours in anything but yellow or pink. Once I was happy I trimmed down the edges a little. I adhered a panel of black CS to the card front and then popped up the flowers on a piece of black foam. All I had to do then was add some Neat and Tangled sequins. All I have to do now is work out how to print them on to watercolour CS so I can paint away to my hearts content....
I'm trying to type this while my husband is sitting in the same room watching a stand up comic on his phone with his headphones on. I can't hear any of the jokes but he is laughing so hard and loud. I want to do some colouring now so might have to set myself up in bed for a bit of quiet time. It must be funny though, will ask him who the comedian is so I can watch another day when I need a pick me up!! Take care Shona
Hello there!! Its an absolutely stunning Saturday morning here. The sun is so hot already and there is a very slight breeze. Nice to have no frost and think I'll be in shorts by lunchtime!! Spring has definitely sprung early!
The new Uniquely Creative - August Stamp and Colour Kit is so fabulous with a 'Fairytale Wishes' theme. Perfect for all your little Prince and Princesses. For this card I used one of the 'add-on' stamp sets and some Uniquely Creative dies to create a background:
I love how the background came together, not something I've done before but a great way to use my nesting dies.
Firstly I stamped the unicorn and stars from the 'Fairytale Princess' stamp set on white CS with Gina K Amalgam black ink. I then coloured with my Altenew Artist Markers and fussy cut out.
For the background. I used the 'Cross-stitch Circle Frame Dies' from white CS and some Blue CS which came with the kit. I glued the two blue larger ones to the card front first with Gina K Connect Glue and worked my way back to each corner from there.
I added the Unicorn and stars on foam tape and gave them some sparkle with a Uniquely Creative Clear Sparkle Brush. For the sentiment (from the same stamp set) I stamped it with Versafine Onyx black ink 2x and then clear heat embossed on white CS. I backed it with some silver glitter CS and black CS and then popped on foam tape.
I'm off outside to enjoy the sunshine. Phoebe and I will walk up the Wither Hills today for some exercise and we always have a good talk. Also need to finish off shopping for Father's Day tomorrow. Enjoy your weekend when it finally arrives!
Hello there!! Hope you've had a fantastic week. I've been able to garden every day this week and the sun has been shining, so I'm incredibly happy. I've even managed a bit of card making and colouring here and there, so that's even better.
I finished off the second of the Diamond Art Kits I purchased while in Auckland last month and I loved doing them so much, I've just bought two more. It's so relaxing and repetitive but in a good way (if that makes sense....). Going to try and find some frames for them this weekend and will show you what they look like soon.
I wanted to let you know that I'm up on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog today with this colourful little number:
It took a while to stamp but thank goodness for my MISTI. All the details are on the blog. And I used two products that are part of the Retirement Sale that's on at the moment. There is 25% off and if you use my special code as well, you could save 40%!!
Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you back here very soon!!
Hi there!! Hope your week is going well and you've managed to fit in a bit of crafting here and there. I've been on holiday this week (well, when I say holiday I mean I've been house-painting instead of gardening....) and it was a good choice because its poured with rain all week. Yesterday (Friday) was finally a gorgeous, sunny day until suddenly at 4pm we had a massive hail storm. It was incredible and lasted for nearly 30 minutes. I was so excited I completely forgot about my washing on the line!!
The Uniquely Creative - August 'Stamp and Colour' Kit is available now and its fantastic! Its called 'Fairytale Wishes' and comes with the cutest stamp set, matching dies and beautiful patterned papers. You can also buy many 'add-on' stamps and dies to create all sorts of 'fairytale' scenes on your projects. I used one of the 'add-on' stamp sets which I thought would go perfectly with rainbow colours:
This stamp set has such cute images and I had so much fun colouring them all in. Will share some more cards with them soon. I started off by stamping the fairy from the 'Fairytale Princesses' stamp set with Gina K Amalgam black ink on white CS and colouring with my Altenew Artist Markers. This set does come with matching dies but they didn't arrive in time to use on this card. I fussy cut the fairy and added pieces of foam tape to the back. After cutting a panel of white CS the same size as the card front, I die-cut a window using the 'Cross-stitch Nesting Oval Dies'. I placed it over the card front and created a very light pencil line inside the oval so I knew where it would sit. I grabbed an array of Distress Inks and using a mini-blending tool and washi tape, created coloured strips starting from the top middle of the card. Once the ink had dried I gold heat embossed the sentiment from the same stamp set.
All I had to do then was pop the oval frame up on foam tape, put the fairy in the middle and add a few coloured dots which come with the kit. I have so many other cards from this kit to share with you and two of them will have tutorials on the Uniquely Creative Blog. Can't wait for you to see them!! Take care Shona
Hi everybody!! So glad you can't see me at the moment as I'm covered in paint. Unfortunately its wall paint not watercolour. I took this week off so I could paint my daughters room. Its been a huge mission and now I have to do a few touch-ups because the painters tape I used has now removed paint all along the door frames etc (you can imagine the language that was used......) but it looks great from afar!!
For the current TIME OUT challenge its all about being 'Fashionable', which is quite funny for me as I'm the least 'fashionable' person around!! I'm either in old gardening clothes, painting clothes, jean's and sweatshirts or pjs. And my hair is always up in a very messy bun. I desperately need help in the fashion department!!
Our Sponsor for this challenge is Stamplorations and they are giving a $25 gift voucher to the winner...yippee!!
For my card I used one of my favourite Stamplorations stamp sets and a sentiment that I can actually relate too:
As you can image this was pretty easy to put together and I had great fun colouring all of these images in!! And I do love buying shoes, especially Converse in different colours.
Using my MISTI I stamped the boots from Stamplorations 'A Girl and her Shoes' with Gina K Amalgam black ink across the card front and coloured with Altenew Artist Markers. I then white heat embossed the sentiment (from the same set) on black CS, backed with white CS and popped up on foam tape, along with some Neat and Tangled sequins.
You have until Wednesday 28th August to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge and if your needing any ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our amazing Guest Designer Jenny of My Paper Epiphany have created to inspire you. Look forward to seeing your projects in the Gallery!!
Hi everyone!! Hopefully your having warmer weather than I am while typing this post. Its absolutely freezing in my little craft corner and I'm starting to lose feeling in my fingers!!
I've got a card to share which is my second CAS-ual Fridays Stamps card for the month of August. You get me 3x this month, so I hope your not sick of me yet!!
For this card I wanted to try using a stamp set differently. Not having a massive craft shopping budget I love to find ways to stretch the usage of my stamps and dies:
Why don't I use yellow more often? One of my closest friends is obsessed with yellow, so this one is for her!!
I started off by cutting a panel of yellow CS and adhering to the card front. I then die-cut two circles of white CS using the 'Ornament Tag Fri-dies'. I then grabbed the hot-air balloon image from the 'Floating' stamp set, masked the strings with washi tape and stamped with Versamark ink. I was then able to heat emboss with WOW Embossing Powder 'Pastel Glacier Mint'. These were popped on the card front with foam tape.
I die-cut the 'friend' from the 'Sweet Friend Fri-dies' 3x from black CS, glued them together and then to the card front. I also added lashings of Glossy Accents. I then white heat embossed the sentiment from 'Somebunny' and glue to the card, along with Neat and Tangled sequins.
I hope this has given you some ideas how how to stretch other stamp sets you have. And if your tempted to purchase any of the products I used, don't forget to use my special code to save yourself some money!!
Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope when the weekend finally rolls around for you, its filled with sunshine and lots of fun!
Hi everybody, its halfway thru August already, which means we're at the halfway point for our current theme at The Flower Challenge!!
This month its all about using your favourite flower. And with SO MANY floral stamps and dies on the market today, I'm sure you'll find many of your favourites to use in one form or another.
Our Sponsor for this challenge is Clearly Besotted and they are giving a gift card to the winner. They have so many gorgeous floral images, along with many other stamps and dies, so its a fabulous prize!
For this card I went with one of my favourite flowers for Spring - Cherry Blossoms. I have two big trees in my garden that have double flowers and we have many streets around town that are lined both sides with flowering cherry tree's, so as you drive down its like being in a pretty pink blizzard. Spring is just around the corner for us in NZ so thought I would get a jump on the blossoms:
Recently Ellen Hutson had a sale on all her stamps, so I threw caution to the wind and grabbed some sets that I'd had been wanting for years, including the two I used on this card. I've always loved everything 'Japanese'. I decorated my bedroom when I was a kid with bamboo from a local park that my Dad helped me to cut down/borrow (there was tonnes, they never noticed). I love watching anything to do with Japanese gardens and videos where they make things like baskets, fabric etc. I feel a real connection to it and hope to visit one day!!
I started off by stamping the blossom (from Ellen Hutson 'Mondo Sakura') with Versafine ink on a panel of watercolour CS and immediately clear heat embossing. I then used my Distress Inks to watercolour the flowers and around the image. When dry I adhered to the panel to the card front.
The little Japanese woman (from Ellen Hutson 'So Matcha') was stamped with Gina K Amalgam black ink on white CS and coloured using Altenew Artist Markers. I fussy cut her out and popped on foam tape. The sentiment (from the same EH stamp set) was white heat embossed on black CS and put on foam tape, along with some Neat and Tangled sequins.
You have until Saturday 25th August to link your projects to The Flower Challenge and if your looking for more ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have created for you. Look forward to seeing you in the Gallery!
Hi there, hope your week is going swimmingly and your weather isn't too horrible and cold. I'm popping in today to remind you about our current theme at TIME OUT Challenges.
Its all about 'Relaxation' which is something I wish I could master....even when I've got nothing to do I can't just sit down and relax, although I dream about it when I'm racing around!!! You also have the option of a 'one-layer card' which is always a fun challenge too.
Our Sponsor for this challenge is Newton's Nook and they are giving a $25 credit to their store to one of the entries who opted to use the one-layer option. How fabulous!!
I only own one stamp set from Newton's Nook and funnily enough its called 'Summer Vacation' which had the perfect images for this challenge theme:
This was so much fun to put together, trying to work out how to make a chest of drawers and what 'wallpaper' pattern to go with. I don't really make scenes on my cards very often but when I do, I absolutely love it! And I love watching fish tanks, its so relaxing for me and I wish I could have a whole wall full of fish. And I thought having a tank under the floor so it was see-thru would be so cool too!!
I started off by stamping the image with Gina K Amalgam black ink on white CS, colouring with my Altenew Artist Markers and fussy cutting out. I went thru my stash over 6x6 paper pads and found this one from Moda Scrap 'Let your Soul Bloom' which was perfect for wallpaper, so adhered it to the card front.
For the drawers I cut a piece of wood veneer paper and drew lines with a black gel pen. I popped it on some foam tape and glued on some Studio Katia 'Silver Pearls' for the drawer handles. I then put Newton on some foam tape as well, so it was sitting on top. I then added Glossy Accents to the water in the fish bowl and his goggles.
To finish off I white heat embossed the sentiment (from the same stamp set) on black CS, backed it with some white CS (like a picture frame) and put on foam tape, along with some Neat and Tangled sequins.
You have until Wednesday 14th August to link your projects to the TIME OUT challenge and if your needing any card ideas, pop over to the blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our talented Guest Designer Marieke have created to inspire you. Looking forward to all your 'relaxing' projects in the Gallery!
Hi there!! Another month has zoomed on by and its time for a new theme at The Flowe Challenge.
This month its all about using your favourite flower. Being a gardener I have so many flowers I love and there are so many floral stamps/dies and stencils these days I bet you will find it hard to choose as well!!
We also have a Sponsor for this challenge Clearly Besotted and they are giving a gift card to the winner. How fabulous is that!!
I have a tie for my favourite flower. I adore David Austin roses but I also love peonies. I haven't had much luck growing them myself. I have around 11 plants and only seem to get one peony flower each year. Over the past two months I've been given another 8 plants so fingers crossed they will all eventually flower as they mature. I decided to use a stamp that included peonies and coloured it yellow like 'Graham Thomas', a favourite David Austin rose:
This is such an amazing stamp image and wonderul for colouring too. Will definitely be using it again!!
I started by stamping the MFT Stamps 'Fresh Cut Flowers' image with Versamark ink on Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS and white heat embossing. I then used my Distress Inks and Zig Real Colour Brush Markers to watercolour it, trying to add as much depth as I could. Once it was dry I die-cut the panel with a waffle-edged die from MFT Stamps 'Blueprints 27' and adhered to the card front. To keep it simple I white heat embossed the sentiment (from MFT Stamps 'Birthday Bears') on a strip of black CS, popped it on foam tape and glued on some Neat and Tangled sequins for a bit of shine.
You have until Sunday August 25th to link your project to The Flower Challenge and we will be back on the 15th with some more card designs to inspire you. Looking forward to finding out what your favourite flowers are in the Gallery!!
Its an absolutely gorgeous Sunday morning here. Sun is shining, hardly any wind and the kids want to walk down to check out the new park, so I'm extremely happy. Will also stop and play basketball with Max so he's ready for his game tomorrow after school.
The current Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge is 'Bright and Cheerful' and what could be more cheerful than rainbow colours and a sloth eating a giant donut:
As you all know I absolutely love Dunkin Donuts and how I wish they made them this big!!!
I used products from the Uniquely Creative - May Mini 'Stamp and Colour' Kit for this card. The kit comes with a 'Sprinkles' stencil which I put over the card front and randomly blended with Distress Inks. I then stamped the sloth with Gina K Amalgam black ink on white CS, coloured with Altenew Artist Markers and die-cut with the matching die. I popped him up on foam tape and added Glossy Accents to the pink donut icing to make it look more real. The sentiment strip was put on foam tape, along with some 'Rainbow' Enamel Dots.
I got glammed up last night to attend the Registered Master Builders Awards night. So many people, only person I knew well was my husband. Lots of drunk men who only talked about building, plumbing etc. Thank goodness for my phone and Instagram!! It was incredible seeing all the beautiful houses though and lots of worthy winners. Was glad to get my heels off and into my pjs when I got home!!
I gotta say it....I love Mood Boards!! I don't know what it is about them but all the different photos with something for every idea you have just gets me excited. And when I came across the Mood Board for the current Create a Smile Challenge I had to make sure I joined in!
The flowers immediately caught my eye and I wondered if I could combine the dark purple/pink with the orange/yellow on one flower. Unfortunately I don't own many Create a Smile stamps but I thought I could make it work:
I have to be honest and say that I struggled with the design part of this card, so I went back to a previous Create a Smile challenges and found this sketch from earlier in July, which helped me immensely. My mojo for ideas seems to be lacking at present, which is so frustrating!!
I started off by stamping the big flower from Create a Smile 'Botanical Love' with Waffle Flower 'Safe Choice' ink over the card front. I then stamped the fuchsia (from the same stamp set) on Strathmore Bristol Smooth CS a few times with Versafine black ink and immediately heat embossed with clear embossing powder. Using yellow, pink and orange Zig Real Color Brush pens I started with adding lots of pink. I then put the orange on top and pushed towards the ends of the petal, adding a touch of yellow on the ends. Once they had dried I fussy cut them out and popped on foam tape.
For the sentiment (from Create a Smile 'Bad Day') I white heat embossed it on black CS, fussy cut around it and put on foam tape along with some Neat and Tangled sequins.
Its a gorgeous sunny day here and I've been outside Winter spraying my pruned roses and peach trees. Phoebe and I are off to town soon to buy some clothes and I'm trying to find more things to jazz up my photos. I'm also going to pick up a rose bush from a friend who doesn't want it anymore. I don't really have anywhere to put it but will always make a free rose bush work!!
Its finally Friday night for us here in New Zealand and what a strange week its been. The weather has been crazy with hot sun one day, pouring with rain the next and then so cold its been snowing just out of town....no wonder everyone is coming down with colds and flu's (except me thank goodness!). I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow morning but also know I've got lots of jobs to get done that I didn't do last weekend, so not much time to relax.....I just have to make sure I have time to make some cards!!
The theme for this weeks Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge is 'Anything Goes' and I thought it would be a good chance to share with you one of the cards I made to take with me to the craft fair two weeks ago for Uniquely Creative:
Sloth's are just so adorable and I can't stop watching YouTube videos about them, especially when they are little babies. I would so love to have one of my own!! I stamped the sloth from the Uniquely Creative 'Sloth Pals' stamp set using Gina K Amalgam black ink on white CS. I coloured him with my Altenew Artist Markers and then die-cut with the matching dies. For the background I die-cut the Uniquely Creative 'Stitch Cloud Border' dies 10x from white CS. I then grabbed a rainbow of Distress Ink colours and used my mini-blending tool to colour each one. To put it together I actually arranged them on my table colour side up so I could make sure the cloud shapes were alternated and the spacing was right. I then added a strip of washi tape over top of them all. I added a piece of Rosie's Adhesive Sheet to the card front, picked up the clouds by the washi tape and pressed them on the card. All I had to do then was trim off any over-hang. To create the frame I cut a piece of white CS the same size as the card front and then die-cut one of the Uniquely Creative 'Cross-stitch Rectangle' dies from the middle. I then added double-sided tape to the back of it and pressed over the clouds. I added the sloth on some foam tape as well as the sentiment strip that comes with the 'Sloth Pals Mini Kit'. I didn't think I would use pre-printed strips but they are so handy!! To finish it off I added some Uniquely Creative 'Rainbow Enamel Dots'. Its only 9pm but I'm already ready for bed. I spent five hours today weeding and pruning roses with such strong, cold winds. I was exhausted when I got home. I had great plans to make some cards tonight but think I'll curl up in bed with my electric blanket and carry on reading 'Becoming by Michelle Obama'. Its so good, I can see why so many people liked it! Take care Shona
Hi everyone and welcome to August!! I can't believe we are past half-way for 2019. Is it just me or does it feel like we just had Christmas??? I really need to get a wriggle on with my Christmas cards, hence my cards for this post!
I'm up on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog today with these cards, using a bit of alcohol ink and showing a new way to use one of the new cover dies. Hope you can pop on over to have a look!!
Its been such a cold day, I've been quite glad that I've had to stay home with Max. His health is always bad around Winter and every year I think he will grow out of it (considering he looks like a rugby player and is nearly as tall as my husband....and he's only 12yrs old) but its beaten him down again. He had the flu for two weeks, went back to school last Monday but last night started saying he felt strange and went to bed very early. He still had a headache this morning and I realised he had hives all over his thighs, which means he's fighting a virus....so here we go again!!
So I've spent the day catching up on emails, commenting, cleaning out drawers and even went thru all my craft stuff and arranged four piles of papers/stamps/inks etc I don't use anymore and will drop them at a second-hand store tomorrow for them to do whatever they want with them. It will make someone's day I'm sure!!
I even managed to put together another 'pug' card from the same stamp set I shared the other day. And this one is on its way around the world to a very special lady for her birthday:
I love how this little guy fits in the cup, would love a little dog this size but I'd probably lose it or our Golden Retriever Bella would sit on it!!
I started off by stamping the pug from the Funky Fossil Designs 'Pugs and Hugs' with Gina K Amalgam black ink on white CS, colouring with Altenew Artist Markers and fussy cutting out.
Using circle dies from Couture Creations I die-cut the larger one from black CS and adhered to the card front. I then cut a smaller one from white CS. Using inks from Altenew and Waffle Flower I stamped the coffee bean from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps 'Peace Love and Coffee' all over the die-cut and put on foam tape. I put the pug on foam tape too, along with the white heat embossed sentiment (from the same 'Pugs and Hugs' stamp set). And finished off with sequins from Neat and Tangled.
I'm linking this to the Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge where their theme is 'Anything Goes'. This is my first entry and hopefully I'll have a chance to enter a few more times.
I'm off to whip up some Butter Chicken before my family start eating the furniture. Can't wait for the weekend to come around and hopefully I'll be off gardening tomorrow as I'm so behind. Although by the look of Max its not looking good......
