Spring Mid month WLSC

  Hi Everyone, my DT card today is for We Love Stamping. This month, we would love to see your cards with the theme SPRING.

My birthday being in Spring, I love the season, to see the bulbs coming up, the leaves on the trees in their lime green (mostly) appearing, just lovely, and the sun coming out for longer, apart from the rain that is!

Anyhow, my card today has a hyacinth, we had some come and go in the garden, such joy to see them and enjoy the delicious perfume.

I embossed and coloured the background hyacinth, then die cut a frame to 3D over it. I don't have DL size dies, so I used the double cutting technique to get the die size to fit. Then stamped the sentiment with the DI to match the flower, and clear embossed it. The hyacinth was stamped and coloured in the same colours as the embossed hyacinth. I quite liked this card, but it was too thick to post, however our neighbour had her birthday a few days after I made it, and it went to her.

Hyacinth embossing folder - Lisa Horton, mag freebie

sentiment - Stamps By Me

hyacinth stamp - Pink Fresh, mag freebie 

frame dies - Craft Making Magic

inks - Distress Inks, twisted citron, mowed lawn, kitsch flamingo, picked raspberry.

 

 

Three prizes from AALL and Create, 1) Key Botanicals 2) See you Soon and 3) Hexagon stencil with Delicate Wings stamp

 

 

Don't forget, we will now require At least one stamped element on the front of all entries. Those of you like us, who love to stamp, we would still love you to enter your fully stamped entry.

 

I just want to add, THANK YOU, for the lovely messages and support from you lovely ladies, through this difficult time we are having, it really is so kind of you all, and much appreciated. I realise that many of you are going through difficult times too, many more serious than mine, and I hope you your coping mechanism is better than mine, at this time. I suppose I'm what many people will call a wimp at the moment. God give you strength to carry the load you have. I pray he helps us too. 

 

Reading some lovely words on this challenge, helps too.

Word Art Wednesday ATG #643-644 * 

 

CAS

 Hi Everyone, apologies for not being around, I haven't been on the 'puter, due to something happening that put me completely out of kilter, nothing serious, but it has thrown me completely, I've got no motivation at all. I hope I'll be able to get to visit you all, sooner rather than later. 

At least I am being pushed into making cards for family members, but thinking of things to do is hard. Anyhow, I have a card today for my nephew. I cased a card from Hannelie and now can't find it.  As you can see, it's very simplistic. I kept off the layers, as he and my niece live in Belgium, and thought of postage costs, being the meany I am!

I bought some stencils, a pack of 30, and they are really great, only 125mm in size, but for patches of stencilling just perfect.  I stamped the car and made a mask, then using the stencils I blended the colours, removed the mask, stamped the sentiment, and it was done, so quick and easy, to get into the post double quick.

stamps - Magazine freebies SC&P 

stencils - Amazon

inks - Distress Inks, blueprint sketch, evergreen bough, twisted Citron

Spring Time WLSC

  Hi Everyone, my DT card today is for We Love Stamping. This month, we would love to see your cards with the theme SPRING.

 

Mojo was lacking for me and has been for weeks, but after looking through my stamps I found this and thought him cute. I stamped the chick, then die cut him and coloured him, I then added another die cut layer for him and inked it. Next came the butterfly stamped and coloured, the sentiment was next. I stamped it in the same pink of the inked layer and embossed it. 

From there I was stumped, I went through my files looking for Spring paper and found this one, which went with the pink beautifully. After playing with the images a few times, I thought they needed something else, but what? My mind went into overtime and I thought Spring Time? Out came the clock die, I wiped green ink over it, then added the paper to yellow card and layered the elements, all attached to the base card. Seems my mind was in time motion, with my cards this month!

stamps - Uniko

inks - Distress Oxide, mowed lawn, kitsch flamingo, stormy sky, squeezed lemonade, carved pumpkin 

paper - I don't know, I have had it since 2005

rectangle dies - Tonic

clock die - Amazon

 

Three prizes from AALL and Create, 1) Key Botanicals 2) See you Soon and 3) Hexagon stencil with Delicate Wings stamp

 

 

Don't forget, we will now require At least one stamped element on the front of each entry. Those of you like us, who love to stamp, we would still love you to enter your fully stamped entry.

Embossing TMR

 Hi Everyone, my DT card today is for 

 OH! So much that I could have done, but ended up with simple embossing. First I printed out on 160gsm a vintage paper, I've had for an age. I then embossed it with an old ef and wiped a DO ink over it.  It was cut to size and placed on brown card, that was also cut to size. The next thing, I found a frame in my files, that I thought was quite vintage, in shape, so I cut two out with my Silhouette then embossed the top layer, but left it without ink etc. 

The quote was printed out in brown ink and placed behind the frame. A piece of the embossed paper left over, that I had embossed on the wrong side, duh! had a complete watch face on it, so I fussy 😒cut it, and wiped the ink over, then placed it at the bottom of the frame. 

vintage paper - Billie Irene at Digital Scrapbook

embossing folder - Embossalicious, Clocks

ink - Distress Oxide, gathered twigs, vintage photo

frame - Aimee Harrison Designs (June 2022)

verse, mixture of words from the web

Llama birthday CCC

 

    Hi Everyone, my DT cards today is for -

Critter Crazy

 Anything Goes but they MUST feature a critter as the main focus 

Whether Furry, Feathered, Fantasy, Fairytale, 

Scaly, or Insect, there must be a critter.

 

I have so many animal digi stamps, that I decided to trawl them and came across this wonderful Llama. I printed her and the sentiment, borrowed from the web. Next, I coloured her with markers and decided to extend the image with stencils and add clouds and extra flowers. They didn't look right, so I added some strokes, with a fine black pen, to the stencilling to copy the image. 

After I was happy with the image, I die cut it out and added it to the base card. Simple, but I'm pleased, and it will go to a friend. 

Llama - Elizabeth Dulemba

stencil - Funky Fossil

markers - Spectrum Noir

inks - Distress Oxide

fine pen - Uni Pin

die - Sue Wilson Noble Square die  

 Have you got an animal, you haven't seen in a while? Hope to see you at the Critter Crazy Challenge.

Crafty Animals Challenge #82

 

Word Art Wednesday ATG 

Trainers birthday card

 Hi everyone, a card today, for another nephew, it's lovely having a large family. Anyhow, as he is also a runner, most are now, in the family. I cased a card I did here.

 I cut the circle dies, then inked the bottom one with DI, I cut the clock die and also used DO to wipe over it. The trainers were stamped and fussy cut, I hate doing that, as I'm not good at it, then coloured with DI's. I didn't have what I wanted as a sentiment, so generated it in Photoshop, using 3 different fonts, the front is Amienne. The sentiment was printed and die cut then 3D'd onto the card.

The insert fonts are Amienne for the first and last words, "happiest" is the font Blackjack, and the swashes on the front and back of "happiest" is Alterlight Swashes, that I added. I found some free trainer images on the web to add a little something inside. The sentiment on the front was printed and die cut and 3D'd.

circle dies - lost packaging (very old)

clock die - Amazon, (an old one) 

sneakers - Magazine freebies

ink - Distress Inks. blueprint sketch, scorched timber

 

 

the simple insert

Feminine mid month WLSC

 Hi Everyone, my DT card today is for We Love Stamping. This month, we would love to see your cards with the theme Feminine.

 

I saw a colour combination, that had me wanting to use it, so here it is. I had a looky through my stamps for something feminine, what's more feminine than flowers? So I included them, in the design that I thought would be better on a DL card. 

Next, I blended the colours with DO's on a piece of card to layer on the base card. The sentiments were then stamped, I decided to make the shine sentiment be white with sparkle, but it ruined the clarity. I stamped it again with Stazon on top of the white glitter, it worked, giving the black a glow outside the letters. A save, thankfully.

I stamped the bulbs and flowers, then fussy cut them out ugh! (you know I hate fussy cutting). I coloured them in matching DI's. They were added to the blended card and I drew a line to "hang" them onto the white sentiment.

I was colouring the stamps, when I accidentally dropped water onto the background, so I just added more.

stamps - Sheena

 inks - Distress Oxide, pine needles, lucky clover, twisted citron, squeezed lemonade

 

 

 

This months lovely prizes are from 

Lavinia stamps two prizes: 1)Small Pines, Christmas Joy and Eve, 2) Fairy Chain

 

 

Don't forget, we will now require At least one stamped element on entries. Those of you like us, who love to stamp, we would still love you to enter your fully stamped entry.

Cake boxes

 Hello Everyone, it was my birthday on Saturday, too near to that big 80, where did the time go? On a shopping trip, to a store, a few miles away, after a couple of years of not visiting. I saw packs of prepacked, 6 small chocolate chip muffins, just a mouthful size, for a £1.00, that I thought would go well for a birthday gift from me for my walking group. A sort of slice of my birthday cake for them. 

Of course, I go to my Silhouette for cutting, but I had to hunt in my files for a box to fit, I couldn't find something suitable, so decided to make a design fit. It didn't take long. A paper pad bought recently, although, I told myself I wasn't going to buy anything this year. I HAD too, it was so pretty and only £2.99 for 24 sheets of double sided paper 250gsm. A bargain!

Anyhow, the box and the different shaped lid, which was narrow at the back and dipped to the front, a lovely shape, were cut and glued together. The cake inserted, and then I thought I would add a little something to the lid. I die cut a flower and coloured it with markers. Attached to the top, all done. None of them are crafters, so I hope they like them. I will give them to the group tomorrow, great with a cuppa and chat after our walk. 

I want to thank the ladies who sent me beautiful birthday cards, I'm so happy you thought of me. Thank you. 

choc chip muffins - Asda

template -  Simply Cards & Papercraft #250

paper pad - Craft Sensations Romantic Florals

die - Tattered Lace

markers - Spectrum Noir

Here are the templates, such a pretty shaped lid. I hope I've not done wrong in putting them here, they are freebies, from Simply Cards & Papercraft #250 on the website. Perhaps you can size them to suit too?

 

Onto comments on Blogs. I was in the middle of commenting, OK, I was a bit behind as some of you know, but, after quite a number of comments, I got a message saying - I had come to the end of my allowance for that day. Or  words to that effect. Anyone else come across it?

Vegetables TMR

 Hi Everyone, my card today is for the

Mojo has been lacking this year, I have umming an ahing over this theme for a while, then! I saw a card in my ideas files, that I had saved to be able to case, by Aimes, problem over. I even told her in my comments I would case it.

Anyhow, on to what I did. This vegetable digital stamp, has been in my files from 2022. I cut and printed it, and the sentiment, with my digital die cutter. I then coloured it with markers, I didn't have enough reds, but I think it came out ok. I still wasn't sure what to do, so went looking for a paper background, nothing in my paper pads, then came across the perfect thing, a dp sheet of vegetables. It was printed it and I used it as a backing for the coloured image. The paper was added to the base card and the vegetables were 3D'd onto it, as was the sentiment.

 

For the insert, I found more images in my files and added a lemon, cherry and olive to the glass, then added a shadow effect for the glass. I added the sentiment and printed it out. Card done. 

 

veg digital stamp - Ruscht free vegetable stamp

markers - Spectrum Noir

digi die cutter - Silhouette

background paper - Marisa Lerin Digital Scrapbooking

glass, olive, cherry, lemon - Marisa Lerin

 "problem" font - Zowie

quote font - Sugar Hut

 

inside is the answer to the problem?

 

If you're lacking masculine card ideas, the DT have plenty, hope to see you in the challenge. 

FarmQuest General Store Challenge

I was kindly asked to also enter -

FarmQuest HomeStyle Kitchen 

Feminine WLSC

  Hi Everyone, my DT card today is for We Love Stamping. This month we would love to see your cards with the theme Feminine.

 

 I decided on a laugh today, I had downloaded a background stamp image, that I thought could work, I printed it out, and it was paler than I thought it would be, mmm, what to do? Well, I went to my inks and had inks to match the colour, so that's what I worked with. I could have printed it again, but thought I would try the colours.

 

Anyhow, I added stamped hearts, in a semi circle, to the left of where I intended the image would be. The old woman was stamped and coloured with DI's in shades to match the background. I stamped the sentiment in the same colour and even found a ribbon to match. They were all added to the printed and stamped background, and it was attached to the base card with 3D pads. The colours quite different for me.

 

 stamp image and sentiment - "Never too old to laugh" by Art Impressions

heart stamps -  Craft Making Magic magazine freebies

inks - Distress Inks, milled lavender, shaded lilac, seedless preserve, dusty concord, tattered rose, tea dye.

die - Craft Making Magic

ribbon - Papermania

 

 

This months lovely prizes are from 

Lavinia stamps two prizes: 1)Small Pines, Christmas Joy and Eve, 2) Fairy Chain

 

 

Don't forget, we will now require At least one stamped element on entries. Those of you like us, who love to stamp, we would still love you to enter your fully stamped entry.

Red Dragon CCC

  Hi Everyone, my DT cards today is for -

Critter Crazy

 

 Anything Goes but they MUST feature a critter as the main focus 

Whether Furry, Feathered, Fantasy, Fairytale, 

Scaly, or Insect, there must be a critter.

 

It's St David's Day, the Patron Saint of Wales. You should know by now, that I usually have a special post to wish you all -

Happy St David's Day 

This year I have a card. Looking through my files I came across an Iris folding pattern of a Dragon I had forgotten about, well I HAD to make it, didn't I?

I used tissue paper, something I hadn't used before for iris folding, and it was much easier and flatter to use, in fact, finished, it's not much thicker than a 3D dimensional.

First thing I did was to take the free pattern, link below, into my Silhouette and cut the dragon image and print the pattern. I followed the pattern with the tissue paper, then stencilled the grass hill and clouds. I didn't have an acrylic block to add the small tree stamp, so used the top of an embossing powder container, trouble was I couldn't see if it was straight. However, I liked the quirky angle, as I felt the dragon was fun and could take the quirky.  Next, I attached the finished piece to the base card. Then I added wobbly eyes and drew the nostrils with a fine line pen, as per the pattern, thanks to Sarah, the pattern maker for the idea.

So here is my fun 

Red Dragon of Wales. Y Ddraig Goch

 

  Dragon pattern, others available - Craft With Sarah

tissue paper - The Range

stencil - Funky fossil

tree stamp - Chocolate Baroque

ink - Distress Oxide, tumbled glass, mowed lawn, rustic wilderness

eyes - stash 

A little information.

 Why does Wales have a red dragon?

It is considered that the Welsh kings of Aberffraw first adopted the dragon in the early fifth century in order to symbolise their power and authority, after the Romans withdrew from Britain. Later, around the seventh century, it became known as the Red Dragon of Cadwaladr, king of Gwynedd from 655 to 682.

 

 

Besides all this, I have a problem. I am commenting on cards and the comment is not coming up on the blog, when I visit next time and check back. Anyone else having this problem?

Daffodil birthday & garden

Hello everyone, what a week we have had, no I'll correct that, what weeks we have had, just 2 days dry in the last 2 weeks, it's been rain and more rain, it seems for months. I wonder if we will have a dry summer? Look out, you have been warned quite a few photos to follow.

The garden it is sodden, even just stepping on it feels like a bog. As for the lawn, I think we will have to scythe it to begin with, it's so high. Now's your time to flick to my card 😉

a 2 inch deep puddle on the patio after a morning of rain.

sodden garden but the pink Hellebore doesn't mind, it's by the wall!

Crocus, lashed by the rain

White Hellebore

a lonely Hyacinth

the water is like this all around the lawn

Bergenia shiny with the rain

white heather doing well

pink Heather also doing well

Daphne, a new shrub, not sure if it's happy where it is

a good show of Camellia

Crocus and Tete a Tete daffodils

It's not even March, and we have wonderful bright and sunny daffodils in the front garden, with lots of other blooms too. I am posting a daffodil card! I have a friend who has been through a lot with her husband being ill, so I thought a sunny card is needed for her birthday. 

Anyhow, I had the daffodil wreath in my files, I print and cut it out twice with my silhouette, glued it together and attached it to the base card. Next I stamped and die cut a sentiment. The main daffodils and leaves were then die cut, out of coloured card, and attached to the wreath.

daffodil wreath - Creativefabrica

daffodil dies - Altenew Mag freebie at SCP

daffodil colour card - printed from Altenew bonus buy, at Simply Cards and Paper craft. 

sentiment die - Card Making Magic 

sentiment stamp - Magazine freebie 

Silhouette Cameo

 insert - images Creativefabrica

 

 

I hope you've had more sun than us, thank goodness for the Daffodils.