Left-over Rainbows

Just a quick post today. I'm suffering from back to work blues, not to mention the back to gym aches and pains and back on the diet hunger pains. Can you tell how much I enjoy my life right now? I thought I would make a really colourful card to counter the gloominess. I die cut some Lawn Fawn paper for a rainbow a while ago and that left me with a huge amount of left-over die cuts so I thought I should make use of them. I was inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch. I'm also linking up with Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes With a Die. 

Card: 300 gsm white card, Stampin' Up Soft Sky card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Scripty Sayings
Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Meadow, Let's Polka in the Dark, Let's Polka
Ink: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black
Other: Lawn Fawn Puffy Cloud Border die, Rainbow die, Stitched Rectangle dies, adhesive rhinestones from my stash

BYOB - Bring Your Own Bone

 

I'm suffering from severe post-holiday depression. I've only been away from work since Tuesday but it seems like a month. It's been such a wonderful few days in good company, not to mention wonderful weather (apart from today). Now I have to deal with going back to my overflowing inbox and all the problems I have pushed out of my mind, not to mention getting back to the diet and exercise regime. How I wish I would win the lottery and never have to go back to work again. 

Today I have spent most of the day in the craft room, creating and stuffing my face with sweets. I had so much fun making this card, which was inspired by the H is for Hounds challenge over at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers. I was also inspired by the fun Punny Time challenge over at Lawnscaping (this is my second card for this challenge). I'm also linking up with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where the theme is Make for the Border as I used quite a number of border dies on this card, not to mention adding the scalloped border behind the scene and with Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge where the theme is Summer Fun.

I got out my Gansai Tambi watercolours and started by colouring bits of watercolour paper for the background die cuts - blues for the sky, yellows for the sun, reds and oranges for the tree border and a darker and lighter green for the two grassy backgrounds. After the backgrounds dried I die cut pieces using the Lawn Fawn Forest border, Stitched hillside borders, Grassy borders and Stitched rectangle dies. I also die cut the sun and cloud using Spring Showers dies. Next, I stamped the dogs and accessories in Versafine Onyx Black, coloured using watercolours and die cut with the matching dies. I also stamped and die cut the letters for the sentiment in Stampin' Up inks. Last, I die cut a piece of Perfectly Plaid in colours matching the scene using a Scalloped rectangle die and stamped the sentiment inside the card.

Card: 300 gsm linen textured card, 190 gsm watercolour paper

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters at the Dog Park and matching dies, Owen's ABCs and matching dies, Party Animal and matching dies, Clare's ABCs

Ink and colouring: Versafine Onyx Black, Stampin' Up Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Pear Pizzazz, Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolours

Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, Scalloped Rectangle dies, Forest border die, Stitched Hillside die, Grassy border die, Spring Showers die

Celebrate in All the Colours of the Rainbow

Today's card is inspired by The Mixed Media Card Challenge where the theme is Rainbow (I chose not to go with the optional twist which is dragonfly). I'm hoping Shery and the DT think my card is mixed media enough to qualify: I've used acrylic paints for the background, die cutting and faux stitching, inking using Distress inks and finishing using glitter (Ice Stickles). I'm also linking up with AAA Cards where the theme is blending, Shopping Our Stash where the theme is What's the Good Word (use word dies) and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is Make For the Border (add interest around the borders). 

This card was actually put together from bits and bobs in my unfinished projects box. The background is one of the last ones I got left from a bunch of rainbow backgrounds I made using Distress Paints, and have been using on various (or should I say copious) cards in the last year or so. The sentiments are all cut out from another leftover piece of rainbow card I made using Distress Inks for some other project but it was too pretty to throw away even the leftover scraps. All I did was die cut the pieces and assemble, finishing up with some Ice Stickles on the sentiments. 

Card: 300 gsm white linen textured card, 300 gsm white smooth card, Stampin' Up black card
Inks: Distress Inks and Distress Paints
Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle, Celebrate Word Die
Other: Ranger Ice Stickles

We Flamin-go Together

I've been enjoying a wonderful week with BFF who came for a visit with her gentleman caller. We have been going around Cambridge, we went to see Audley End (it was amazing!) and spent yesterday in London. We ate fish and chips, had afternoon tea and made pizzas in the BBQ. I also clocked almost 60,000 steps in three days so now my feet are a bit sore. But that's a good excuse to spend a lazy day in the craft room. 

Audley End

There were some ridiculously large trees on the estate.

Afternoon tea at Peacocks in Ely.

Today's card is inspired by the flamingo theme over at Curtain Call. Flamingos seem to be very much in this season, and who am I to argue. The Lawn Fawn flamingos always make me so happy! I was also inspired by the sketch over at RetroSketches and the Raspberry Pink + Lime Green colour combo over at Daring Cardmakers. Last but not least I was inspired by the Punny Time theme over at Lawnscaping. 

Card: 300 gsm white card, Neenah Solar white card

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Flamingo Together and matching dies

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black and Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics

Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Meadow

Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Frames and Stitched Hillside Borders dies

August STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Mid-month inspiration

Welcome to our August mid-month reminder for the STAMPlorations August CAS challenge. Thank you for those of you who have already linked up, your creations are amazing. And there is still a few weeks to join us with our gold challenge for a chance to win a gift card to the STAMPlorations store. The ladies of the DT have got together to showcase some amazing STAMPlorations products and inspire you.

I went super CAS for my card, trying to create a design which would be really easy to mass produce for my Christmas cards this year. I know it's only mid-August, but trust me, December will be sneaking up on us quicker that we think so it's about time to get started. So I stamped the Framed Christmas: Peace Love Joy in Versamark along with a sentiment from Christmas Flower and heat embossed everything in gold. Then I grabbed my Gansai Tambi watercolours and coloured the image. Really quick and easy, perfect for mass-producing. I did create a batch of smaller 10x10cm cards using the same design so that's at least half of my Christmas cards for work all sorted out!

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
CASology - Dream (I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, inspiring me to do a Christmas card)
Just Us Girls - Watercolour (my 2nd entry for this challenge)
Winter Wonderland - Use gold/silver and/or use embossed background

Card: White 300 gsm hammered card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Framed Christmas: Peace Love Joy and Christmas Flower

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Gansai Tambi watercolours

Other: Gold embossing powder

Spritzed Snowflakes

Two blog posts in two days! I'm clearly trying to overcompensate for my absence, but also I want to make the deadline for this week's ColourQ which is imminent.

I was inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch and the colours over at ColourQ. I was also inspired by the current theme over at CAS Mixup which is Stamp+spray+your choice, but then I realised when I had finished the card that I hadn't actually used any stamping at all! Oh well, at least I got inspired to pick up my spritzer and have some fun, which is the main thing. I actually had so much fun I couldn't resist creating another card with the same theme but slightly different, using the positive die cuts instead of using die cuts as masks as I did for the first card. I also got out my very neglected stash of washi tape which was fun, I can't remember the last time I used washi tape on a card (I only seem to use it to stick my dies to any stamped images when die cutting). I'm also linking up with Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge where the theme is masking (first card), HLS Christmas challenge where the theme is snowflakes (second card) and HLS Anything Goes with Dies (second card). Last but not least I'm playing along with Time Out where the theme is Holiday and the optional twist is no stamping and with Crimbo Crackers where the theme is Blue Christmas.

Card: White 300 gsm linen textured card, silver grey card from my stash, scrap of black card, turquoise shimmer paper, 300 gsm watercolour paper
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Salty Ocean
Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes, Merry Christmas Border die, Stitched Rectangle die
Other: Perfect Pearls blue powder, washi tape from my stash

Wild Card

Just a super quick post today - as it's been (fitting to the theme) a wildly crazy day. The house is finally clean from top to toe, the garden has had a trim and the guest room is all done and waiting for guests. And I got through my 21 point to-do list for today (although I skipped the run in favour of crafting this time). Just one more day of work and then four blissful days of annual leave!!

Today's card was inspired by the fun sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches as well as the colours over at Color Throwdown. In addition, I was inspired by the "Let's Go Wild" theme over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, the watercolour theme over at Just Us Girls and the Animal Kingdom challenge over at Unicorn Challenges.

Card: 300 gsm white linen textured card, 190 gsm watercolour paper

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters on the Savanna and matching dies, Claire's ABCs, Owen's ABCs and matching dies

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mowed Lawn, Twisted Citron, Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Mustard Seed, Ground Espresso, Hickory Smoke, Black Soot, Stampin' Up Soft Sky

Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Meadow

Dies: Lawn Fawn Spring Showers, Grassy Border, Banners

Dare * Shine * Inspire * Sparkle

Long time no craft! To be honest, lately the only time I have managed to spend in the craft room has been to give it a deep clean, which it was in desperate need of. You know the real grown-up type of cleaning where you vacuum behind all the furniture, along the ceiling to remove any cobwebs, dust off the windowsill and all the shelves... In fact, our whole house has been in need of a deep clean which is why there has been no crafting. And we managed to get some DYI done as well - I've been meaning to add some wallpaper in our guest room and finally in preparation for a visit from Best Friend next week we managed to get the wallpaper up. Tomorrow we still need to add some beading to cover up the very ugly edges but other than that I feel like tomorrow I should be able to craft a bit, prepare some food for next week and do a few final small cleaning things. 

In the meanwhile, and also just in case I don't manage to craft tomorrow after all I thought I would show you a card I made a while ago when I was playing with a stencil and some distress inks. I inked through the ARTplorations Art Splatters stencil in Mustard Seed, Mermaid Lagoon and Abandoned Coral distress ink. Then I used an embossing buddy over the front of the card to make sure the embossing powder would only stick where I wanted it to. I stamped the sentiment using STAMPlorations Art Marks and heat embossed in gold.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge - Masking
One Layer Simplicity Challenge - August Art
Less is More - One Layer
My Time to Craft - Embossing 

Card: 300 gsm white card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Art Marks
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress ink in Mustard Seed, Mermaid Lagoon, Abandoned Coral, Tsukineko Versamark
Stencil: ARTplorations Art Splatters
Other: gold embossing powder from my stash

August STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Anything Goes with Gold

It's yet another first Thursday of a new month - we are moving to that magical time when summer starts to slowly turn to autumn. The nights are getting darker, the moon is huge and gardens are full of wonderful produce. And of course we have a new CAS challenge over at the STAMPlorations blog. For August we have an optional colour twist of gold. And the STAMPlorations store is full of wonderful new products including the awesome CUTplorations dies. By playing along with our challenge one randomly drawn participant will win a $10 gift card to the STAMPlorations shop (or $15 if you use STAMPlorations products).

For my card I started by inking a background using Distress Inks in Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Wilted Violet, Seedless Preserves and Chipped Sapphire. After blending the inks I splattered the background with water. After the background had dried I inked black Distress Ink through the Bloom Silhouettes ARTplorations stencil. Then I die cut the sentiment from gold mirri card using the new CUTplorations Amazing Word Die and completed the sentiment using a stamp from the Hashtag Authentic stamp set.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Shopping Our Stash - Silhouettes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Fabulous Florals
Inky Chicks - 5 or more flowers
The Crafter's Cafe - Flowers

Card: White 300 gsm hammered card, gold mirri card
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks Black Soot, Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Wilted Violet, Seedless Preserves and Chipped Sapphire
Stamps: STAMPlorations Hashtag Authentic
Stencils: ARTplorations Bloom Silhouettes
Dies: CUTplorations Amazing Word Die

National Colouring Book Day

Did you know that it's National Colouring Book Day today? In honour of this, I am playing along with the colouring event over at STAMPlorations. Did you know that the wonderful Shery of STAMPlorations has just published a gorgeous Color Blooms colouring book which you can find here? And even better, if you hop over to STAMPlorations you can download a free page from the book to print and colour right now! And that's still not all - by linking up a picture of your coloured page you can win a copy of the colouring book. How awesome is that?

I started by printing the colouring page onto watercolour card. I then die cut a part of the page using the CUTplorations stitched die and watercoloured the flowers using Tim Holtz Distress ink (using very little water as my printer ink doesn't seem to be very waterproof). After the panel dried I inked around the edges in Ground Espresso using a foam applicator. I adhered the front panel onto a mat of Chocolate Chip card. I die cut the happy from the same card, and die cut a banner from Blushing Bride and stamped the word birthday from the Blossom Overture stamp set. After attaching everything to some white card I added a bit of Ice Stickles to the sentiment for that finishing touch. 

I'm linking up with the following challenges: 
Just Add Ink - colour challenge
Just Us Girls - Anything Girly
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Celebrate
Allsorts - A touch of sparkle

Card: 300 gsm white linen textured card, Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip and Blushing Bride card, 300 gsm watercolour paper
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Ground Espresso
Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Overture
Dies: CUTplorations Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle, Happy Word Die, Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners 
Other: Ranger Ice Stickles