Hi everybody. Its been an absolutely crazy week here, hope yours has been more mundane than mine!
After Max started coming down with the flu Friday night, it really hit him hard and he's been off school all week. The funny thing is he will finally be getting better just in time for his two week school holidays. We finally got our concrete path's poured on Wednesday, which meant I had to spend the afternoon at my Mum's with our dog Bella so she didn't walk on the concrete. The house painter started this week, well he managed one day before having to miss the last two because of the concreting. I haven't been gardening all week and won't be tomorrow either, as Max is still to sick to go back to school and I have the plumber coming for our blocked kitchen sink AND the SKY TV guy coming to fix it again after fixing it three weeks ago. I tell you, I need a holiday!!!!
I've also given up on the whole laminator debacle. I purchased a cheap one last Wednesday and everything got jammed in it, so took it back and got another one on Friday and it did the same thing. I thought maybe it was something to do with the pouches so took them back on Sunday but they worked fine in their machine. So yesterday (Wednesday) I took the machine back again and tried it in the shop before I left. They put two pouches thru and both were perfect. I tried it this morning, it jammed. Two were fine then it jammed again. I don't have the energy to take it back again, so frustrating but will just live with it!
Thank you for letting me rant, will now finally get to my card!! The theme for this weeks Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge is 'Anything Goes'. I finally tried out a technique with my laminator that I saw on Jennifer McGuires YouTube Channel and put together with my new Mama Elephant goodies:
If you haven't watched Jennifer's video, I really encourage you to take a look. Its all about putting pouches through with embossing powder, glitter etc and sealing them in the plastic. This is the whole reason I bought a laminator!!
I started off by stamping the images from the Mama Elephant 'Fuzzy Hugs' stamp set with Gina K Amalgam Black ink on white CS, colouring with Altenew Artist Markers and fussy cutting out. I then die-cut the Mama Elephant 'Winter Forest Cover Die' twice from white CS and twice from dark grey CS and gluing same colours together for some dimension.
On each card front I blended some Distress Ink 'Salty Ocean' to create the sky. I added some white embossing powder to one pouch and put thru the laminator and cut two panels to glue behind the forest dies. These were then adhered to the card fronts. All I had to do then was pop the images on foam tape and stamp the sentiments (from the same ME set) on white CS, back with black CS and put on foam tape as well. To finish off I glued on some Studio Katia Pearls in 'Arctic Breeze' and 'Prismatic Sky'.
This is such a cool technique and there are so many different things you could put in the pouches. Hoping to play around with a few ideas this weekend. I'm off to bed to relax and catch up on the rest of Jennifer's videos. Wonder what she will have me buying next???.....
Take care
Shona
Hi everyone!! I'm on Day 4 of no gardening and my fingers are itching to get some dirt on them. On Friday we were going to have the concrete poured for our pathways. Because I can't keep our dog Bella inside all day (and she would have to walk on the path to get to the grass), I was going to take her to my Mum's place and stay with her there for the day (she doesn't have good fencing and worried she will jump over it if I'm not there). Unfortunately they said they couldn't do it so it it was moved to today. Then this morning they called to say half the guys are away sick, so now its going to be Wednesday.
So now I've missed two days of gardening but it worked out well today because Max is very sick with the flu. He came down with it Friday night and was in bed all weekend (even though he had the flu jab). He won't be going to school tomorrow either, fingers crossed he will be better by Wednesday but I'm not sure that will happen. So may be another few days till I can garden again....oh well, that's just how the cookie crumbles!!
It has given me a lot of time to do some much needed housework and play with some of my new stamp sets. I've been colouring up a storm getting ready for October and ALOT of Halloween cards, so prepare to be inundated with scariness! Was also able to put these two cards together yesterday with a set sent to me by my friend Coni:
These images are from the Concord and 9th 'Winter Wear' stamp set and I'm so in love with it. Love how the faces look like they are smiling (even though you can't see their mouths) and there are so many ways you can put them together.
I started off by stamping the girls on white CS using Gina K Amalgam black ink, colouring with my Altenew Artist Markers and fussy cutting out. I didn't have any colour combo in mind, just went with colours that I like.
I wanted to create backgrounds that would compliment the colours, so grabbed some Catherine Pooler and Waffle Flower ink pads in similar tones. For this card I stamped the C9 'Marble Turnabout' stamp using four colours on white CS. I then die-cut the middle of it with a Uniquely Creative Cross-Stitched Oval' die and put on some white foam. I popped the woman on some foam tape (gluing her glove in the place) and glued on some sequins from Neat and Tangled. The sentiment (from C9 'Wreath Turnabout' stamp set) was white heat embossed on black CS and glued in place, along with some foam tape to hold the end up.
For this card I used the C9 'Wreath Turnabout' stamp on the card front, with the same ink colours. I popped the woman on foam tape and stamped the sentiment (from the C9 'Winter Wear' stamp set) in Waffle Flower 'Like a Pro!'. I then glued on some Neat and Tangled sequins.
Hoping to make some more cards using this stamp set to send to my friends on the other side of the world who are heading into Winter. I'm surrounded by Spring blossoms at the moment on all my fruit tree's, hoping the bee's are doing their job so I'm overwhelmed with peaches and nectarines next year.
Take care
Shona
Hi everybody!! I've had a busy few weeks getting myself organised with products, cards and watermarks and today I get to tell you all about it!!
My friend Sarah owns Funky Fossil Designs. She was originally selling stencils only but a few months ago she collaborated with an artist to start selling stamp sets. I fell in love with them and have shared lots of cards with you from each release. Well, she emailed me a few weeks ago to say she was putting together a small Design Team and invited me to join.....how could I say no!! I'm honoured and excited to be a part of this amazing team and can't wait to share even more of her products with you!
For this announcement we all decided to share a few cards with you. I recently received some of the latest release stamps and stencils, so wanted to use them straight away:
This card uses images from the new 'Woodland Wishes' stamp set. I stamped the fox and the trees (x4) using Gina K Amalgam Black ink on white CS, coloured with my Altenew Artist Markers and fussy cut out. I blended Distress Ink 'Salty Ocean' on the card front for the sky and then adhered the tree's, trying not to cover up any of the branches. To make the fox stand out I die-cut a piece of plaint vellum using a Couture Creations circle die, glued it to the card front and put the fox on foam tape. I then finished off with a white heat embossed sentiment (also on foam tape) and a few Studio Katia 'Arctic Breeze' Pearls.
For this card I put the 'Elegant Tree' stencil over the card front and blended Waffle Flower 'Happy Go Lucky' over top. With it still in place I used a palette knife to spread over Nuvo Glimmer Paste in 'Moonstone'. While this dried I stamped the angel from the 'Folksy Christmas' stamp set with Gina K Amalgam Black ink on white CS. I coloured her with Altenew Artist Markers and then fussy cut out, making sure to keep her 'halo' attached. I popped her up on foam tape, along with the white heat embossed sentiment, and finished off with some Neat and Tangled sequins.
Sarah is celebrating this announcement even more by giving us all a Discount Code to share with you. Mine is FFSHONA15 and will give you 15% off your purchase from now until midnight Monday 23rd September!!
It takes a lot of courage to set up a craft business that's up against so many other larger craft companies. I really admire Sarah for doing this and doing something that she loves. I'm so excited to be a part of all this and if you pop over to the Funky Fossil Blog you can read about the other incredible card makers in the team.
Thanks so much for stopping by and I'm looking forward to sharing more with you!
Take care
Shona
