Canvas #2

I can see myself really getting into doing these!! In fact, I already have another two on the go...!!

This one is for my Mum. My original plan was to do a 'bird' theme canvas but it sort of evolved when I realised that my bird images are all totally different styles and wouldn't look right together. Mum loves her garden, so I thought a garden type theme would also work well for her - and suited the things I had a bit better!!!

Again, this is a canvas board, which I inked up in a bunch of blues and greens (mostly distress inks). I stamped the grass and flowers image in a dark green distress stain, which I blotted afterwards and gave a totally different look - it lifted all the blue which I wasn't expecting, but which worked really nicely and gave a more subtle yellow sort of colour. I also stamped the tree image (and an extra bit of grass under the tree as the first stamp didn't reach across the whole canvas!). I then made a mask of the bottom half and images, and stamped the music notation. Of course, when you want a lovely crisp image, you end up with a bit where the ink doesn't take - typical! I then sealed the whole thing with clear embossing powder.

Once that was done, the rest came together so quickly! I used a butterfly I'd made previously (double sided foam die cut into a butterfly and then mother of pearl transfer foil on the sticky bit), with a square blue gem added because my Mum just loooooves blue and can't get enough of it! A few flowers with added bling which were added either direct to the canvas or on 3d pads. Four stamped birds on vellum, stuck down with double sided tape. Then, to finish, a die cut rectangle of vellum, stamped and embossed with sparkly embossing powder. The bow is part of a set of earrings I was given for crafting purposes, which I've cut down to get the best bit and then stuck on top. And lastly, a bird stamped, fussy cut and popped up on dimensionals.

I'm pleased with how it turned out, can't wait to give it to Mum now! I hope she'll love it!

I'd love to know what you think. And I'd also love to know where you think the focal point is and where the eye is drawn - I'm fascinated by the idea of "movement" in designs but I'm often not sure why I'm drawn to something, and so I'm trying to educate myself!!!

Entering into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Hey girl
The Pink Elephant - Summer
The Stamp Man Challenge - Summer colours (anything goes)
Allsorts challenge - distressing

Wedding card

A friend of mine asked me to make her a wedding card to give to a couple getting married tonight. I don't often give cards away as I find it a bit.. stressful!! I worry that people won't like them enough to give them away if that makes sense! So I made a pile of different ideas, trying to go for every style I could think of!

This was the one she picked - and it's the one I would have picked too so she obviously has good taste! (typically, the pic hasn't come out very well and I no longer have the card - but you get the idea anyway!)

Very simple to make, I think it's pretty and elegant, and almost totally carried by the gorgeous DP.

The vows script is a new stamp I bought from a tabletop sale last weekend, which was a bargain.. got loads of great new stamps which I've been happily inking, and they barely cost me anything.. lovely stuff :)

Thanks for popping by..

Trying something new - my first canvas!

I decided to try something a bit different, as I've got plenty of cards to keep me going for a bit... Saw this idea on Hels' blog, mini canvases decorated... and thought I'd give it a go!

I decided to use canvas board instead of proper canvases.. they were cheaper (for a first attempt!) and the size was better for what I was looking for... tho I'm still thinking about how to make it hangable.. going to have to visit a hardware store methinks! Any tips gratefully received!

This is a canvas for a friends' birthday. We work together, and I've never known someone to drink so much tea.. so I know this will give her a giggle! Purple is also her favourite colour.

So, I started by covering the canvas in three coats of gesso.. wasn't really sure how many to use, so figured three seemed like a lucky number. It did seem to work, but it was still tacky this morning after leaving it overnight to dry... so perhaps I'll try two coats next time ;)

I then blended pink and purple distress inks over the top.. it is lovely to do, much easier than on card as the inks really move around and don't get absorbed. I then overstamped with some purple chicken wire in the middle (mostly behind the sentiment), and some script in white at the top and bottom of the board. I left it a couple of hours to dry but it was still very tacky and the inks weren't really drying so I dumped a load of clear embossing powder on and sealed the whole thing with that.. worked a treat, and it's lovely and shiny too.

Stamped four images (some in distress and some in archival) from the tea set from here, and coloured in various distress inks, fussy cut and stuck down. I really love the tea sentiment, would use it on everything I made if I could!!

The sentiment was stamped and coloured then popped up on a faux chipboard shape made by stacking die cuts (tip picked up from Vicky's blog), and then embossed the edges in silver for a bit more shine.

Tied a ribbon in the lace, and stuck it down.. the flower at the bottom is created from three different shop bought flowers, metal one as the middle layer. There is also a frame shape cut out of an aluminium can stuck at the back behind the cup.

And that was about it!

I've already started on the next one. They're not really a style I'm particularly comfortable with so it's great to try some new things and just see what happens! I'm planning to make one for my sister with a butterfly theme, one for my mum with a birds theme, and I like the idea of making a couple for the flat - perhaps a "bathroom" plaque with rubber ducks and bubbles... or a "kitchen" plaque with food and stuff on.. you get the gist. We'll see!

So I'm entering this for a few challenges...

Hels' Sunday Stampers - Embellishments
Anything Goes Challenge - Lavender and Lace
Saturday Challenge - Food and Drink
Stamp Man - Anything Goes - Summer Colours
Totally Papercrafts - Lots of Layers

More blue, more framing

Another blue entry for the Addicted to Stamps challenge.

Very similar to this card I posted last week, for the Moxie Fab love challenge. This one has been made 100% specially for my mum with her favourite colours and favourite images. She's really unwell and I can't stand not being close to her (she lives about 90 miles away). I go to see her as often as I can, but when it's not possible, the best I can do is let her know I'm always thinking of her.

Inky background created with all kinds of different blue inks and sponges. The stars are one corner stamp, and I used a stamp positioner to turn it into a frame. I quite like how it gives an uneven shape.


Here's another picture, to show the shiny shine! Love silver embossing - and so does my Mum!

And here's a pic of the inside.It's not stuck down in this pic, as I wrote a soppy message in silver pen before sticking it down, but didn't feel I needed to share that with you all ;)

Thanks for stopping by.

Bon voyage

A quick post, with a quick card made for a friend who is off travelling.

Entering into the "Blue" challenge at Addicted to Stamps. I've got another entry to post tomorrow too, blue is one of my favourite colours to use!

Thanks for visiting, would love to know what you think.

Moxie Fab - love challenge

Another entry to the Moxie Fab challenges... there are so many awesome challenges going on over there at the moment! This card is for the love challenge.

I started off with a background created with a pile of distress inks.. can't remember the colours but if you want to know then please feel free to ask. I picked those colours because I think this is a really warm and comforting colour combination, just perfect for a love card.

I then decided I wanted to add copper and gold embossing powder, for a sort of autumnal feel. Foliage seemed a sensible way to go, and so I went for edges and left the space in the middle for the sentiment. If you look closer there are some foliage images which are unembossed because i liked the subtle look of the embossing ink.

The stamps are all from the Papermania Bird Song set which I recently acquired in a sale.  The birds were embossed with fired brick distress powder on to vellum, and stuck on. The top one looks a bit odd because of the shine - it looks much more solid in real life but I couldn't get a pic which showed that as matt and the gold and copper as shiny!

Finally, I created a black card blank and stuck the panel on top. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out :)

Also entering into the following challenges:
Try It On Tuesday - Anything Goes
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Depth of Distress
Craft Your Passion - Things with Wings

Moxie Fab birthday challenge

A birthday card today, made to bump up my collection (birthday cards are always good to have on hand!) and with the Moxie Fab stamping challenge - birthdays in mind.

The flower stamp is a V&A stamp - really love their images, such gorgeous florals. I've stamped in white ink on to a black base, and added some punched flowers with some bling. The ribbon is recycled from some packaging.

I'm also entering this for the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps - Bingo challenge (stamp, free, flowers)

Allsorts challenge - In Bloom

Moving Along With The Times - Happy Birthday

Moxie Fab - congratulations

Today's card is for the Moxie Fab congratulations challenge. Make a congrats card, with stamping as the main feature.

All colours are distress inks... the dragonfly stamp is one of my favourite EVER.

The sentiment looks wonky in the pic.. very annoying. It isn't, it's just the angle of the photo... which in turn is because there is NO LIGHT around at the moment, just huge looming grey clouds. Not that I mind that much, more time for crafting and acting the hermit crab!

'Hello'

This card was inspired in a roundabout way by Julia's card which was a very deserving win at the Stamp Man! Julia made her amazing card using metal tape. I am desperate to get some (look at Julia's blog and you too will need some in your life!), but things have been so hectic that I just haven't gotten round to it. In a vain hope that hubby might have some, I rifled through his toolbox. No metal tape.. but lots of bright coloured electrical tape..

And this was the outcome! It's lovely stuff to work with - really stretchy and flexible, and not too sticky so easy to get into the right position.

Still need to get some metal tape, the possibilities are endless!!!

Entering this into the Pan Pastels - Anything Goes challenge.

LIM - paper piecing

Ooooh I love a bit of paper piecing!

This one is for the Less Is More - paper piecing challenge.

Also entering for Craft Your Passion - things with wings.

LIM - more shinies

Here's another shiny which I made a while back, but haven't gotten round to posting.

This was inspired by this card by Ardyth. If you're not familiar with her blog, you need to check it out!!

This card is not my usual style - I'm really not into big shows of bling, but I loved Ardyth's version and I've got loads of these little flower blings that I wasn't sure what to do with. I'm pretty pleased with this one because the square was created with one straight line stamp which I lined up by eye and managed to get right first time... miracles do happen, once in a while!!

All stamping has been clear embossed so is a little shinier in real life!

This is my second entry into the Less Is More - Something Shiny challenge. Click here to see my first entry.

Thanks for stopping by, would love to know your thoughts!

LIM Something shiny

I'm here with my first entry for this weeks Less Is More - Something Shiny. I feel pretty sure I will be back, as I can't get enough of shiny things!

This card is one I made ages ago... and then messed up by smudging the ink of the sentiment which was stamped directly on to the card.

original SMUDGY version :(

Soooo annoying! I decided this challenge was perfect for reviving it - baby's are the ultimate "something shiny" after all, and there are plenty of shinies on the card itself... the cardstock, metallic pen, glittery embossing powder... and a little shiny spot for an elephant eye.

Close-up of the glittery sentiment..

Banner coloured in shiny metallic pen, and sentiment embossed with glittery embossing powder.

I am really loving making baby cards! Just need a few more people to have them now.. lol.

Got loads of cards to share over the next couple of days, if I have time! And I'm hoping to make more for this challenge too :) Looking forward to seeing the other entries!

Less Is More - flourish

Here's my entry for this week's Less Is More challenge - one layer with a flourish.

Really tricky to get a good picture of the shimmer!!

The copper coloured ink is a dovecraft pigment ink. If any of you own these, then you will know what a royal pain in the backside they are! I call them my 'toxic' inks because they never dry and they stain EVERYTHING. They have a really greasy texture to them. They're great for use with embossing powders though, because they're soooooo wet and juicy that they grab all the powder!

After several hours soaking in hot water and fairy liquid, that flourish embossing folder is almost back to normal colour... although it's still very shimmery!

Love you to the moon

Here is a card I've made for a friend. She's sending it to her Mum.

The black sheet is popped up on dimensionals, which hasn't shown up at all on the pic!

Entered for Try It On Tuesday - Anything Goes

I've seen so many gorgeous creations out there in blogland of late. Really looking forward to trying some of the ideas you've all been giving me - so thanks for continually giving me the opportunity to see what you've been working on!

Embossed pirates

Another quick share tonight of this lovely little number...

My brother has said he would like some of my cards to give away, so I am going to make some kids cards for him to give to his son's friends. They live in Switzerland,so best to leave them without sentiments - as I don't have any German ones!!

As I know my nephew loves pirates, I figure his friends are probably into them too... but I'm pretty sure a boy of any age would like this one :) The flags are made with distress embossing powder so have a lovely texture to them, and three of them are popped up on dimensionals (which you totally can't see in the pic!)

Thanks for popping by, would love to know your thoughts :)

Entering for the following challenges:
Allsorts - By the seaside
Saturday challenge - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
The Pink Elephant - Vibrant colours
Try it on Tuesday - Anything Goes

Fathers day cards

Before I start this post, just want to say a big thanks for your opinions about cards for my brother! I've decided to go with this one and to send the second card from this post to my father-in-law for fathers day.

I've enjoyed making a few other fathers day makes...

I'm giving these to friends to give to their daddies! I am loving this style at the moment :) really enjoyable (and messy!) to make. Would love to hear your thoughts :)

Entered into the Stamp Man challenge - Make It For A Man.

Quick and easy baby cards

I have come to a conclusion... I have far too many cards. I need to get rid of them! I'll send some over to St Lukes (if you're not joining in this challenge, give them a try - great challenges, a month between each so loads of time to enter, and if you send your cards in then it's for a great cause). I send a lot to friends and family, but there are still too many! I've tried to persuade my family that they want them.. we'll see! With this in mind, I figured that I should try to make 'useful' cards for a while... ones that have a purpose that makes them easy to send!

My card stash has a lack of baby cards, so I figured I'd make some... and ended up with 4. So quick and easy, lots of fun to make and I think they're cute.

(just noticed the pink one is stamped a lot higher!! They were done by eye rather than with any particular measurements).

It's nice to use some of these card blanks too... I bought them really cheap, and when I've tried to use them I find them very garish! They work well with this sort of clean, simple layout though - which I'm really glad of. Not sure what I'll use the "sick" colour one for though... it's not shown here, but there's really no other way to describe the colour. Ha!

Hope you're all enjoying the start of your jubilee weekend.. I'm spending the whole day crafting - bliss!

Entering into the following challenges:
Craft Your Passion - for a baby
Secret Crafter - anything goes

Less Is More shaped card

Back with a share for Less Is More.. they are looking for a shaped card this time. Here's my entry...

Love that cute little guy poking his head through.

Would love to hear your thoughts. Off to have a little browse through the other LIM entries now, I'm sure there will be some brilliant ones!

Challenges: Less Is More - shaped card

Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Stars (and/or moon)

Come and Get It Challenges - Window cards

Choc, Coffee & Cards Challenge - For the boys

More male birthday cards

As promised, here are the other two possibilities for my brother's birthday... similar theme (sort of!) but very different type of card. As these are both one layer, I'll be entering them into the St Luke's Charity Challenge (still a few days to go!)

This was the first one I made.. A midsection created with score lines and masked off with scrap paper. TH masks and some inks sponged on. I liked it... but thought perhaps it would be improved with a bit more 'depth' in the background like so..

With masks in place, script stamped in picket fence distress stain and then the same inks sponged on (with a bit less of the vibrant blue as I wasn't so sure about it!)

I have deliberately left the sentiment off the second version, in case I don't want to use it as a birthday card. And I really can't decide which I prefer, I think that I like them both!

So I need your help to decide which to send! The card from yesterday's post, the top one or the bottom one from this post! Mum's vote is yesterday's share. I'm really torn!

Whatever I send, this is definitely a technique I'll be doing again - I only recently got myself some sponges and some ink duster brushes, and I have loved playing with them! Such different effects! And so QUICK to make! I'll definitely be making some of these to send off to St Luke's with my next load!


Challenges are pretty much the same as yesterdays...
Try It On Tuesday - Fathers day (cards for men or boys)
Simon Says Stamp - Cards for a special man or fathers day
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards - For men
And of course St Luke's Charity Challenge - One Layer Month

How old??

Here is a card I've made with my brother's birthday in mind... though I've made some others which are also contenders, so I'm not sure which one to send as yet! I will share the others tomorrow and would love to know which one you think I should send!

I struggle with cards for my brothers. Not only do they need to be 'male' cards, I also don't know that much about what they like to do!!! I end up going for the same theme each year - so I decided to try something very different this time. This particular brother lives overseas, so I started thinking about using a map. On top of that, I stuck a Tim Holtz compass mask which I've barely used and wanted to try. I swiped Picket Fence Distress Stain all over the map, as a sort of 'base' and then splodged on colours using blue and brownish Distress stains. I then hummed and haa-ed for a bit before my husband suggested I dry emboss a frame around the outside - which worked sooo well and made it look totally different. I swiped some blue ink over the embossed frame to make it a little clearer. All I had to do then was mat it on black, add a sentiment and tie a bit of bakers twine around it :)

I'm pretty pleased with how it turns out - I always feel excited when something that isn't fairly CAS works out well, as I do tend to err towards CAS styles!

Entered into the following challenges:
Try It On Tuesday - Fathers day (cards for men or boys)
Simon Says Stamp - Cards for a special man or fathers day
Pan Pastel Challenge - Pastels
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards - For men

As always, I'd love to know what you think! Thanks for visiting x

Time for Tea

Today's share is something totally different. No more one layer cards for me!

I enjoyed doing this one.. It's the first one I have really 'coloured in' and I did the colouring with a water brush and distress inks/stains. I have no interest in the detailed colouring that people do with things like promarkers, and I really don't like all the cutesy stamps with children playing (especially those Tilda stamps - they look like cabbage patch dolls, grim!), so I didn't ever see myself going for the whole 'colouring in' stuff! But I did quite enjoy doing this. You can tell I need a bit of practice!!!

One layer card #2

Thanks for your lovely comments on yesterday's One Layer share...

Todays share is the same basic layout (and some of the same stamp sets), with just a little tweak..

I love the flower image on this one.

The background stamp doesn't show up too well - it's lots of flower names (a really lovely background stamp which cost £1 - even better!)

Again, I'm entering into the St Lukes and Less Is More one layer challenges.

I doubt I'll get a chance to make any more this week, bit gutted as I so enjoyed doing them!

Thanks for visiting :)

One layer cards

The Less Is More and St Luke's Challenges are asking for one layer cards... here's my first entry.. I've another (similar) to share tomorrow.

I always find the 'ideas' part the hardest when making cards (I'm sure I'm not the only one!). Once I've got an idea, I'm away! It's harder on one layer cards, because you can't move things around the add or remove things. But once I'd picked my three stamps, loads of ideas popped into my head!

What do you think?

Challenges:
Less Is More - One layer with three stamps
St Luke's Charity Challenge - One layer

Demo day

Today has been fab. The weather's been beautiful; my lovely man has been lovely as ever; and I've had loads of lovely crafting time.

My local stamp shop, Stamp Addicts in Kempston, had a demo day which I popped along to. The demos were great - Hels Sheridan was there with her awesome tags - I was so surprised by how different they look in the flesh.. they've got so much more dimension than you can see in the pics! I picked up some great tips from her.  There was someone there demo-ing Pan Pastels, and someone demo-ing for Stix2, and I got some great ideas from her which I've been trying out today.. tho they haven't made it on to today's card!

I left the shop with some new toys... some ink dusters, a water brush, some sponges... and after a day of playing with them - seriously, how have I been managing without these things! I also picked up some Picket Fence distress stain after seeing the amazing things Hels does with it, and I am already in love.

Anyway, enough jabbering. Today's card uses a bunch of my new stuff and I've attempted a style I'm not too comfortable with (but just love to look at)!!

The sentiment is a vellum sheet which I have had for ages, not sure where it came from, inside a ticket die frame which I've distress inked, stained, embossed and stamped. The flower is made up of a large one from a shop-bought set, a sizzix die, and two punches - a flower one and an icicle for the middle. There's also a silver washer thrown in there for good measure. Each part of the flower has been attacked with an array of Ranger stuff. and a bit of silver for a shimmery finish (which you can't see at all on the photo). A little bit of bakers twine to 'ground' the flower. The background is a piece of white cardstock with a V&A design stamped on using my new Picket Fence stain, then distress inks blended on using the duster brushes and a water brush to bring the Picket Fence back up so it's not overpowered by the inks. I've overstamped a couple of times with a script stamp.

I think it's ok... I'm still not sure about this style! My attempts always seem to lack embellishments, but if I try to put them on there it looks crap! I spent at least 10 minutes trying to put a gorgeous Mother of Pearl butterfly on there with no success!

All critique gladly received :) and I would definitely go along to another demo day, so many great ideas!

Challenges:
Crafts 4 Eternity - Colour challenge
Craft Your Passion - Distressed edges
Crafters Companion - Here Comes Summer
Sweet Stampin - Flower Power
The Stamp Man - Favourite Technique - anything with my new water brush!

Why re-invent the wheel??

Today's card has been 100% copied (or CASEd if you like) from something I saw here online. I loved it, and thought - why reinvent the wheel? I love pretty much of all of the card designs on that pinterest site, to be honest!

This one will be going in a box ready for my 8 year old brother-in-laws birthday later in the year. I may make one the same for my nephew, and I'm thinking about how to make it a bit more girly for some of the little girls in my life!

I'm not going to enter it into any challenges, because I don't truly think I can claim this to be 'my work'. Huge kudos to whoever made this first, I know i've seen loads of versions of it around the internet :)

Obliteration room

A friend of mine sent me this link yesterday. Wow.

I had been looking for inspiration for a friends birthday card.. and this was it.

Spots made using cotton buds and the ends of wooden kebab sticks.
ETA: I've entered this one into the CAS-ual Fridays Birthday challenge - thanks for the heads up, Tara!

This one is based on last weeks Less Is More sketch again... which I am going to come back to time and time again, I'm sure!

Also, some exciting news.. I made the top 5 in the Allsorts Challenge with my pirate shaker card from the last post... my excitement was only slightly dimmed when I realised there were only 18 entrants ;)

Hope you all have a lovely bank holiday weekend. I just need to finish packing my things, and I'm off for the weekend!

Less Is More - Shaker card

I have often looked at the Less Is More challenges, and very rarely I've joined in despite loving a lot of the challenges. When I saw this weeks challenge... to be honest, I didn't like it. I thought the sketch was dull and that no-one would be able to make a card that was anything more than 'nice' with it. Then I saw this card on Lynne's blog and was blown away by it. Something about her use of dimension in such a simple sketch struck a chord with me.

She inspired me to make this one...

This card is a shaker card - with gold glitter and gold stars which you can't see well in the picture, but which give a very satisfying 'shake' noise and look lovely and sparkly. The frame was inked with distress stains and the sentiment stamped using markers direct to stamp, but the stamp was lightly inked with black first so if you look closely, the sentiment has some outlining which helps with the overall theme I think!

I am entering into the Less Is More sketch challenge

St Luke's Charity Challenge - Bling

Allsorts Challenge - Shaker card

Simon Says Stamp - Anything goes

I would love to know what you think of it!

Music/film inspired man-card

A friend of mine is currently applying to the RAF. As you may be aware, there are lots of step.. interviews, fitness tests, medicals, etc. He's now through to the final stages of interview. To help with the good vibes (he will be so gutted if he doesn't get through), I decided I would make him a card.. that way he HAS to get through the interviews, right??

He's a huge music and film fan, so I wanted to create something that reflected that... and this is what I ended up with :)

Music stamp very lightly stamped directly on the card base, then a snippet from last weeks music cards used to create a border through the middle of the card. The ticket is a stamp from a table top sale at a local craft shop, which I love - though I am struggling to think of ways in which to use it, so will have to keep thinking on it! I cut out the centre of the stamped image and stuck another piece of cardstock underneath with "well done@" (a freebie stamp from a magazine) repeat stamped. I ran a bronze ink pad around the edges of everything - it gives a lovely, but very subtle, vintagey shimmer, and the shimmer spreads across the card really easily without the colour moving. Does that make sense? So the whole card has a slight shine to it, without any actual colour except on the edges. It is certainly not an ink pad to use for clean cards though, as it's impossible not to spread the shimmer everywhere!

The stars were cut from snippets of something that didn't work as hoped. They are a piece of card stock coated in distress crackle paint - antiqued bronze I think. The crackle paint was £1 a pot at Christmas, because they're a bit dried up.. bit of water in there makes it runny again though, and it still crackles so it's all good!!

I'm going to join in the fun on the Snippets Playground... everything except the card blank came from the snippets pot.

Other challenges:
Simon Says Stamp - Anything goes
The Stamp Man - Distressed or shabby chic
Try It On Tuesday - Anything goes with a twist... something available from the Craft Barn. The little stars were made using this punch.

Now just need to wait to hear whether I can send it, or not!

More music note backgrounds

Before I share these cards, I want to put a bit of context to my slightly OTT use of the music background stamp over the past few days. I do all my crafting on a tiny budget, as I'm desperately trying to save to buy a house (a seemingly impossible task!), so everything I buy has been thoroughly considered in terms of its' value. I rarely spend more than a few £ on a stamp, and lots of my stamps are preloved from table top sales and such like. This music note stamp set me back £15 (which I know a lot of crafters won't consider to be much at all!) and I thought about it for SUCH a long time before finally caving in. As a result, I now feel that I simply have to get the best value out of it, so sat down to REALLY use it a few days ago. Hence all the music backgrounds. I have been on the hunt for a script background at a reasonable price, and I think I am resigned to having to spend the same again! If anyone sees one in a sale, I'd love to know!

Anyway, enough waffling. In yesterday's post using my music background stamp, I mentioned that I also had bright blue and hot pink backgrounds stamped and waiting for some inspiration.. Well here they are :)

Stuck to a nice simple layout for the blue one...

And something altogether more girly and frilly for the pink one! I've taken the pic at a funny angle so that you can see the shine on the frame - clear embossing. It looks so deep and rich in real life, with a real texture to it. I have been trying to incorporate more ribbons into my cards, because it's something I'm not great at! They always look so messy, I have to tie and re-tie them a million times before I'm happy with them!

I've entered the pink one for the Pan Pastels challenge - Add a Flower and the Fashionable Stamping challenge - embossing.

Thanks for looking, I'd love to know what you think of them.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I have made my first Christmas cards of the year... though I wasn't intending on starting this early! I had stamped a music background in hot pink and bright blue, and thought I'd do one in copper whilst I was at it... and these cards were born! The pink and blue backgrounds are sitting, awaiting further inspiration....

I'm quite pleased with the ribbon.. it was very fiddly and threatened to just completely not work... but I think it's turned out ok! The flowers are covered with puff embossing powder.. really odd stuff!

The embroidery floss on this one was really fiddly too.. but again, I like the outcome. The cut out in the middle is a really shimmery paper, although I don't think that comes across in the picture!

Now I just have to store them safely until Christmas... I'm all out of those little card bags, so shopping is needed! I also need to replace my paper cutter, which is blunt... so a craft shop will be happening :)

Hope you're all enjoying your wet weekend.

ETA: I've entered both of these cards into the Moving Along With The Times - Christmas challenge.

horrible ugly card - yuck!

Well, tonight i have made the world's ugliest card, which I am not justifying with a picture! The colours looked awful together, the ink ran, it was all squashed up and horrible... It's the first time I've made something that I've REALLY hated, and now I feel like having a sulk.. how very grown up of me!!!

Never mind, can't make them perfect everytime I guess! Try again tomorrow.

Hope you're all having a better day than me!

Layouts

Once you find a layout you like, might as well stick with it eh???

The second one was originally made with last week's Less Is More - three shades of green in mind... but there was so little green that I decided not to bother entering it!

And another style I've been enjoying... is it obvious that I just got a circle punch???

Hope you're all well! Welcome to my newest follower :)
M x