Passion for Promarkers

The colours to be used at Passion for Promarkers this week are "Ruby and Gold with the added twist if jewels and gems".

This card is I admit, very similar to one you may have seen before, but it is different, just a style I like and find I return to ........ at least it's not Agapanthus Cluster yet again ! Seems every time I use my new promarkers I find out something new about them. When I do this block background using Hero 2545 I usually use either Marvy pens or distress ink then spritz it to give the watery effect I like to achieve. So as I wasn't sure if this would count as another colour, I decided to see how it would work with promarkers and it did ........ instead of adding the colour to the stamp first, I spritzed it with water first then randomly added gold promarker into the water, stamped quickly onto linen cardstock and hey presto - it worked !

My main image Penny Black 3815J was stamped over the background with versafine sepia and embossed with detail clear, then coloured in with the two permitted colours and diamond glazed.

To achieve the scallops round the edge I used a acetate template cut on Cricut plantin schoolbook and chalked. The vellum was punched with Martha Steward doily lace, ribbon added and a stick pin using beads etc., from Spellbound. Finally, liquid pearls and some gems to embellish.

Rosie Dees challenge

This week saw the announcement of the new DT team at Rosie Dees challenge, to which I was luck enough to have been selected. Doo go check them out and have a go.

My DT card takes on a slightly vintage look although that was not the intention originally ....... I coloured the butterfly with Twinkling H2o's and it sort of went from there. The image is from Artful Stamper 11785m it's a stamp I've had for years, so not sure if it's still available, but the swirls are spot on for the current crafting trends. The image was stamped twice onto ivory linen cardstock using Versafine sepia and clear embossing powder. I tore down a section round the butterfly and distressed the edges then overlaid as a spotlight matching the swirls. I roughed up the edges of the main piece, ran versamark along them and dipped into detail gold embossing powder.

The leaves were cut from Cricut Storybook, the flowers are from a punch and all were coloured with the same Twinkling H2o's, then overstamped with Hero H2365 to add a but of dimension, then pearls added to the centres. The greeting is Woodware FRCL128. Finally, I added some ribbon and a small stick pin with matching pearls from Spellbound.

Inspirational Card Sketchers, ABC and Creative Card Crew challenges

Were spoilt again at ICS this week with another of Dawn's fabby sketches. I have also combined this with ABC's them of "Two Tone - just two colours" and CCC's theme of "Whatever the weather" and for my card it's definately sunny.

I haven't used this stamp for ages, it's from the Artful Stamper -881A and I have gone for one of my favourite colour combos, green and lilac. My background has been Glimmer Misted with lily pad and timeless lilac with an overspray of pearl. Image is stamped with versafine back and embossed with iridescent - this was actually by mistake - I got out the wrong box ........ I know, the moral here is that you the label before you start, in an ideal world and all that with plenty of time...... but I actually quite like the softer effect.

I coloured he image with a wash using Sakura pens and added glitter here and there and gems to decorate. The roses are from a stock pile I stamped last week ready for colouring using a little Magenta rose (Tilda range) which I painted with Brilliance lilac and thyme, covered with detail clear whilst still wet and heat embossed. The leaves and swirl were cut on Cricut storybook, inked with the same Brilliance pads and heat embossed with detail clear.

I ran the top section of the card through the Cuttlebug using Swiss dots folder, DP is My Minds Eye - absolutely yummy this one, green with hues of lilac so perfect here. Finally a stick pin, perhaps a bit OTT, but quite like the finished article.

ABC challenge

Now some of you will say I've made this one before, so what's new. Truth is, it is very similar to some I've made in the past, but when I saw the theme for the ABC challenge this week which is "S for Summer", I knew exactly what I wanted to make - simplicity in pinks, greens and roses which to me epitomise an English Summer ........ well apart from the rain that is.

My main image is Penny Black 3815J stamped in versafine black and embossed with detail clear. The background has been stamped with a Hero block stamp H2545, inked only in places with Hero blossom ink, spritzed with water then stamped to achieve a patchy background. Coloured with Marvy pens and diamond glazed. The pink mat was run through the Cuttlebug using Swiss dots.

I chalked all round the edges of the card using a piece of acetate cut as a scalloped border on Cricut Plantin. Made the stick pin up with beads and accessories from Spellbound Bead (link on my sidebar), added some ribbon and dots along the scallops using Liquid Pearls.

Allsorts Challenge 5

What a great week we have had at Allsorts this week, a huge number of entries so thanks so much to all who took part and congrats the the winner of the Pink and White challenge.

This weeks theme has been chose by Gro who would like you to use triangles on your project, a little bit different you will all agree and should get your creative juices flowing.

For my DT card I have used Magenta 29110R - Floral Background which I stamped and embossed three times using versafine black and detail clear powder. I cut out the centre sections from two of the images, cut two into quarters and two in half, giving me different sized triangles. I have used just two colours of Sakura pens and coloured alternate triangles in a single colour, lightly inked the edges to give a shadow effect, and reassembled four of the smaller pieces onto each section of the main image and placed three of larger sections down the side.

Gems have been added to the centres of the flowers and I made up a stick pin in coordinating colours and tied with ribbon.

Penny Black challenge 51

Well everyone, It's another gorgeous day and putting my mind to setting up the new laptop is not too appealing. So, as the children are already in the pool swimming and the older ones expecting a barbie, I'm combining this weeks Penny Black challenge which is a great sketch from Domi and Secret Crafter challenge which is the super combination of "Pink, Turquoise and a hint of brown".

My main image is Penny Black 3874K and I have also used 3940F down the side. Both are stamped in versafine sepia and the flowers have also been heat embossed with detail clear. Ovals cut on the Cuttlebug with nesties and scallop strip cut on the Cricit Plantin Schoolbook. I have replaced the bottom flowers from the sketch with a bow and stick pin (spellboubd bead) - hope the two for two amendment is OK. DP's are My Minds Eye.

My card has been photographed amongst the kolkwitzia which has an abundance of pink flowers that I thought matched my card so well.

Stamptacular challenge 7

The theme this week at Stamptacular Sunday challenge is Pink, Green and Brown which is a really nice combination to work with and I've kept my card fairly simple.

I started with Glimmer Mists pink bubblegum, creme de cocoa and pearl to create a background for my stamped image which is Magenta 09236N stamped with versafine sepia and clear embossing powder. Edges were distressed with TH linen. The DP is My Minds Eye and the scallop borders using my new Fiskars punch (like half the Country still waiting on some MS ones). I added some gems and a stick pin (Spellbound) tied with some yummy new raspberry and brown ribbon.

Penny Black challenge 48

Black and white + 1 other is the theme over at Penny Black this week. I had a mind to do something with some new copper and black leafing foil, so my '+1' is of course copper.

I have kept the card pretty simple as I felt the leafing gives interest. The image is PB2827K which I had from Stampalot for a class a few weeks back - I realise there may seem to be a pattern emerging here as my earlier post also has birds and is monochrome - pure coincidence, or otherwise it reflects my mood today !

The image is stamped onto acetate with stayzon white, run through the Xyron and the leafing stuck to the reverse. Matted on to black and white cardstock and a mock stitch edging done with Inkssentials opaque white. The card edge looked a bit plain so used one of the the Cuttlebug border folders, coloured the flowers with copper H2o, agged gems, a bow made from some gorgeous spotty organza ribbon and I couldn't resist another stick pin made up with beads and pins from Spellbound.

Special birthday card

Been asked to make a special card for a lovely lady called Lyn who works at the nursing home which cared for my dear Dad right up till his death at Christmas.

I make them lots of cards for residents and fund raising days, my way of saying that you for all their love and care during the three years Dad lived there. Lyn loves decoupage and lilac is her favourite colour and as I want to make this a bit special thought a stick pin made up in matching beads would add that extra touch.

The main image is PB 3865K which lends itself well to decoupage, stamped and embossed simply in black and detail clear and the decoupage layer stamped onto Sandylion DP, diamond glazed and green stickes added to the centre of flowers whilst DP is still wet. The bottom section is My Minds Eye DP which I also used for the '50' cut on Cricut Storybook. I also decorated the envelope with a greeting and off stamped the floral image as well.

Three into one does go

I've eventually managed to combine three challenges into one (only because I've been shopping and have new goodies I'm desperate to get time to play with). And.... to share some of our lovely weather and garden, my main photo was taken amongst the lilacs.

The three challenges are Stamp Something where we have been asked to "CASE one of Cindy's fabulous creations as inspiration for your own card". I've opted for the one you will find here where the theme was yellow, green and blue and it is also my DT call. The second challenge is the Secret Crafter with the theme "FLOWERS" and finally the Penny Black challenge where the theme is "Shapes - include at least three different shapes, excluding card and backing paper".

I have used two PB stamps 3948K and 2695J. The first has been repeat stamped and just the last two lines of the sentiment, both with majestic blue versafine and detail clear emboss onto pale yellow bazzil. The flowers have been highlighted with green stickles, green and blue ribbon tied across and a stick pin made with blue green and yellow beads, a button and finally three Swarovski crystals - they only go on very special cards.

Please also check out this post and help me raise funds for MS.

Friday Sketchers 50 and Cute Card Thursday 58

Good Morning everyone, it's a beautiful day here in the Fens, hope it's as good where you are and lets hope it lasts for the weekend !

I was up with the birds today and already completed my first card combining two challenges: Friday Sketchers who have a lovely sketch by Beatrix which is right up my street and Cute card Thursday which is entitled Mirror Mirror. And to share the lovely morning with you all I took my card into the garden and photographed it next to a Cytisus which is just bursting into an abundance of yellow flowers.

My main image is a brand new stamp (yesterdays jolly to Stampalot) Magenta 26032P. It has so many possibilities, but that's for another day and here I have kept it very simple stamping with versamark and embossing with detail gold on a background sprayed with GM's (gold and patina) onto a glossy card. DP's are My Minds Eye and the stick pin made up with beads, pin etc., from Spellboundbead. Pin, gold embossing and gold mirri card for the 'Mirror' element. Sentiment is Woodware FRCL28.

Sketch and Stash Challenge 8

My second card today is for the Sketch and Stash challenge 8. The background for the main image has been sprayed with GM's lemon zest, key lime, honey dew mist, oversprayed with iridescent gold and the edges distressed with TH peeled paint. The main stamp and spotlight is Magenta P0542 using versafine back and detail clear emboss and the corner flourish Hero F4514 from Stampalot.

The gorgeous green paper is a new Best Creations design and the stick pin has been made up in coordinating colours with materials from Spellbound also new goodies.

The colours on the card are quite a vivid green but the light is so bad today getting a good image has been almost impossible.

Penny Black Challenge week 43

The challenge for Penny Black Challenge this week is "Easter" so I thought I would go with yellow as my main colour using this glittery piece of paper I found in my stash. The background for the stamped images has been sprayed with Glimmer Mists lemon zest, patina and iridescent gold. The stamp is Penny Black 3865K from Sir Stampalot stamped twice with versafine back and detail clear embossing powder, coloured with marvy and sakura pens. The decoupaged element has been diamond glazed and stickles added in the centre whilst still wet. Mount and scallop edge cut on the Cricut using Storybook and Plantin Schoolbook. The hatpin made up with pin and beads from (Spellbound).

Pretty in pink and Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge

I have received so many messaged from both sides of 'the pond' about the hatpin card I posted yesterday, I thought I'd better do another one and also show a close up of the pin itself. This one has more of the yummy new paper from My Minds Eye, a background block stamp from Hero H2545 (think it may be disscontinued) and Penny Black 3815J. I used Hero blossom but only partially inked up the stamp and spritzed with water before stamping. The roses were stamped with versafine black and clear emboss and coloured with Marvy le Plumes and given a coat of diamond glaze. Hatpin threaded with coordinating beades and some ribbon. Corners cut on Cricut Jasmine and flower border on Storybook. Stamping products from
http://www.sirstampalot.co.uk/ and hatpin made with products from http://www.spellboundbead.co.uk/. Also used this one for the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge

Gorgeous new Kaiser papers

I've been itching to use some of the lovely new Kaiser papers which are double sided. I have only used a small amount on this card, the spotty side for the border which I cut on Cricut Plantin Schoolbook and shadowed with coordinating bazzil and the reverse to stamp the image - Magenta 09236N (Bachelors Button). I inked with Versafine majectic blue and embossed with detail clear. The card itself is stamped with Hero F5042 in Hero Pool ink. The aperture was cut directly into the card using nesties and a smaller oval cut on blue bazzil was laid inside the card. Gems and a bow added and a hatpin embelishment made with some new goodies. With the exception of the hatpin, everything available from http://www.sirstampalot.co.uk/. All items used for the hatpin can be purchsed very reasonably from http://www.spellboundbead.co.uk/