Steggy, Dippy and Terry

Its the first inking of these cutie patootie dinosaurs from Clearly Besotted called You Rock and I decided to use the new sketch at Fusion which I've flipped.

I stamped the group of stones twice, masked them off so I could place Dippy behind enjoying the view.  Steggy and Terry I fussy cut out and placed on foam to add a bit of perspective.  All of them have been coloured using alcohol markers.

The sentiment is also part of the set just stamped in Versamark onto black cardstock and heat embossed in white.  There is some very subtle blue inking behind the cuties... so subtle it doesn't really show and I matted some more black cardstock behind as per the sketch and considered it done.

Challenge Links...

Fusion - Pink Phone/Sketch (I chose the sketch)
Addicted to Stamps & More - CAS
Papercraft - CAS 

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

Steggy, Dippy and Terry

Sending Happy Mail

Todays card features this little fur ball of mischief, Newton.

I've used the sketch from Inky Paws and once again I've used artistic license by using the image, sentiment and the clouds in place of the squares, I've also rotated it.  Newton has been coloured with alcohol markers and a little bit of wink of stella has been added to the mail box.  The clouds are MB and have had a tiny amount of ink added for definition.  The sentiment is from the same set and just white heat embossed onto black cardstock and cut into a fishtail tag.  I hand stitched the swirls and added a little Sizzix envelope complete with a heart brad in place of the bow on the sketch.

Challenge Links...

Inky Paws - Sketch

Sweet Stampers - Too Cute

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

Sending Happy Mail

You, Me & the Sea

I loved making this card, it evokes thoughts of a beautiful remote beach and it came together really quickly once I'd got the colours right for the layering stamps.

Reluctantly one of the challenges I'm entering is Fusion and I kind of took artist licence for the sketch so I'm not sure how it will fair, but I'll give it a go.  

I choose to use Hero Arts seahorse layering stamps and matching dies together with the sentiment which is serene.  I made the background with ink, blowing through a straw to create the seaweed.  Instead of using a circle like on the sketch, I went with the cluster of stamped/die cut images but they are a little off centre.  I used a stripe of burlap and anchored with staples, they are so useful and so much more than an ordinary staple.

To finish off I added a few bubbles and just pulled the edges of the burlap to give it a washed-up beach feel.

Challenge Links...

Fusion - Sketch (and taken blue from the lampshade on the inspirational photo)
Lets Craft and Create - Anything Goes
Papercraft - BINGO (die cut/text/little stamps - bubbles)
HLS - Anything Goes with dies
Crafty Cardmakers - Water 
Pixie's Playground - Snippets (all the dies are from scraps of stamping card)

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

You, Me & the Sea

All About the Cats!

I noticed this week that the challenge over at Twofer is all about pets, well it would be rude of me not to enter such a wonderful theme.

I kept my cards simple as making one in a day is a massive challenge for me let alone two and my first is a Halloween card and is pretty self-explanatory.  I used a Tim Holtz die and embossing folder, it doesn't show but the cobweb is all sparkly and we all know how difficult that is to photograph (imagination required).  The sentiment is from Sugar Pea Designs.

OK my second took a little longer than the first and I decided on a shaker card.  It was pretty hard to find a way of not making the cat look Halloweenified in card number two so I went with a love theme and I think it works.  I did contemplate cutting his legs off and have him sitting on a wall but that idea got binned pretty darn quick when I couldn't make him or the wall behave in a way I was happy with.

Now please don't be fooled by this angelic looking cat... this is Loki whose a rescue cat and he's three years old and I can promise you, he's the devil himself in a fur coat.  When he's good (rarely) he's gorgeous and when he's bad (daily) - he's horrid :)

Challenge Links...

Twofer - Pets 

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

All About the Cats!

Japanese

I'm normally a flowers or cute animal kind of crafter so this is something a little different.

Challenge number 4 over at The Library is Memoirs of a Geisha and I decided to use the colours from the book cover and took inspiration from the fact Geisha girls are Japanese.  I die cut a circle and stencilled what was supposed to be a sun but while sponging away it dawned on me that I could incorporate the flag.  I stamped a tree from a set called Wild Trees by Stampology - I think is passes as being a little oriental looking.

The Japanese symbol is me making my mark on the card, I found an image online and set about hand drawing it in pencil, tidied it up with a ruler and fine liner pen, then in-filled with black sharpie and it simply means tree.  The lines have also been hand drawn in pencil first with lots of erasing until I'd got the placement balanced, then made permanent with a sharpie again.

Challenge Links...

The Library - Memoirs of a Geisha
Penny Black & More - black and white with one other colour
Addicted to Stamps - Make your Mark (the symbol/lines/stencilling)

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

Japanese

Beautiful

There is something about the colour yellow that just uplifts your mood and if you think about it all the nice things in this world are yellow, its such a happy colour even in the deluge of rain that Mother Nature has lovingly bestowed upon us!

I've made this with the Time Out challenge in mind and took inspiration from the beautiful floral arrangement and the gold cutlery... rather posh, gold :)

I started by just stencilling some pearlescent brilliance gold down the one side direct to the card base.  I stamped the flowers and embossed in white and coloured with alcohol markers, then fussy cut out with my huge dressmaker scissors - can't use those fiddly tiny ones, they squash and annoy my fingers!

The 'beautiful' has been die cut once out of non-shed green glitter card and two other times from plain cardstock then layered together to add dimension.

To finish I added a couple of pearls and a strip of gold glitter card down the spine edge.

Happy Paddling, if you're here in the UK ;)

Challenge Links...

Time Out - Inspiration Photo
Always Fun - Anything Goes
Elliebelle's Crafty Wednesday - Say it with Flowers
Craft Rocket - Flowers

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

Beautiful

Newton's Happy Birthday

Oh dear, sometimes cards just misbehave and todays card has taken me two days to complete.  Yesterday it ended up being deconstructed which ripped the cardstock I'd spent ages colouring... so I decided to step away before I ruined the image.

Onto a new day and I finished the card this morning with ease, I was obviously not in the right frame of mind to craft yesterday - which happens.

I had no choice but to die cut the image to remove the paper tears I'd inflicted the previous day and was coloured using a mix of alcohol markers and pencils.  I added a strip of vellum and because I love sewing on my cards, I added some streamers in yellow and red together with a few gems.  The sentiment is Lawn Fawn embossed in white and for someone who primarily uses white cards, making it in black was a refreshing change and one that I like... alot :)

Challenge Links...

Inky Paws - Birthday
Love to Craft - Anything Goes
Double D - Twine (I used MM bright twine for the streamers)
Addicted to Stamps - Anything Goes
Always Fun - Happy Birthday

Share:facebook - twitter - pinterest

Newton's Happy Birthday