Rose and weathered wood

Well, I'm back from Finland, I can't believe we are at the end of the Easter holidays. I can't face the thought of going back to work tomorrow, the silver lining is that it's just a four day week to ease us back into it all. I have spent the day sorting some of my inks into my new crafting desk drawers, which was great fun. I had a bit of trouble flexing my crafty muscles, but I managed to get a card done in the end. 

I started by masking off the area I wanted to stencil, and stencilled through the STAMPlorations Weathered Wood stencil using Stampin' Up Crumb Cake and Baked Brown Sugar inks. Then I stamped the rose from the Blossom Overture stamp set using Versafine and coloured using Gansai Tambi watercolours. After fussycutting the rose, I stamped a sentiment from the set onto vellum. Last, I die cut a banner using a Lawn Fawn die from Let's Polka in the Dark red polka dot paper.

My card was inspired by the colours over at ColourQ and the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch. I coloured the flower with red and pink, the pink doesn't show very well on the photo unfortunately. I was also inspired by the lovely floral image on the wooden table from Inspired by All the Little Things. Furthermore, I was also inspired by the Stencil theme over at both AAA Cards and CAS on Sunday. 

Card: 300 gsm white textured card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum, 190 gsm watercolour paper

Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Overture

Ink and colouring: Versafine, Stampin' Up Baked Brown Sugar, Crumb Cake, Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolours

Other: STAMPlorations Weathered Wood stencil, Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Dark paper and Tag You're It die

March STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Mid-month inspiration

 

The mid-month reminder for our monthly CAS challenge over at STAMPlorations always stops me in my tracks. I can't believe how quickly the month is passing by. I hope you have had a chance to craft and maybe play along with our challenge already? If not, there is still plenty of time to join us for our Anything Goes with an optional twist of yellow challenge. The fantastic and very creative DT have a new bunch of cards to show you and inspire you with if you need a bit of help to kick-start the good old mojo. Don't forget that the winner will be rewarded with a $15 gift card to the fabulous STAMPlorations store ($10 if not using STAMPlorations products in your submission). 

I started by stamping the lovely Narcissus Large in Scattered straw Distress ink, and painted it with my lovely Gansai Tambi watercolours. I finally got a chance to use my brand new ultra fine Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable Watercolour brush. So worth every penny! After finishing the flowers I added some green and turquoise around the flowers, and splattered really fine splashes of colour on the background. Last, I created the sentiment by spelling out "Easter" using the gorgeous Sketchy Alphabet and added a "Happy" from Blossom Overture. Whoever says you have to have lots of stash to create a card? All you need are a few stamps and some watercolours. And maybe a ridiculously expensive brush or two...

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
AAA Cards - Easter
Unicorn Challenge - CAS (My third entry for the challenge)
Deep Ocean Challenge - Easter
Try it on Tuesday - Nature
Artistic Inspirations - Anything goes with an optional twist of Easter

Card: 300 gsm textured card 
Stamps: STAMPlorations Narcissus Large, Sketchy Alphabet, Blossom Overture 
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Scattered Straw, Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolours 

Disclaimer: I have received some STAMPlorations products for free in exchange for creating cards for the challenge. All opinions however are completely my own. As you can see by browsing my blog, I have been using STAMPlorations products (which I bought myself) way before my time on the DT and I wouldn't recommend them unless I absolutely loved them myself.

February STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Anything Goes with Red

It's the first Thursday of the month, and you all know what that means, don't you? It means there is a new challenge over at the STAMPlorations CAS challenge blog. Thank you to everyone who played along with the first ever CAS challenge, there were so many amazingly gorgeous cards. 

Our CAS challenge is always Anything Goes, but every month there is an optional colour twist which this month is Red (perfect for all those Valentine's day cards, right?). You don't have to use STAMPlorations products to play along, but if you have them we would love to see them. And the best bit, every month a random winner will receive a $10 gift card to the STAMPlorations shop, ($15 gift card if using STAMPlorations products).

For my February card, I wanted to create a Valentine's day card for a friend. I created a stunning background very easily by sponging Tim Holtz Distress Inks through the STAMPlorations Old Rose Prints stencil. I used darker red in the middle of the roses, and lighter pinks around the edges. For the central vellum panel, I stamped the beautiful rose from the Blossom Overture stamp set and a sentiment from the Bloom Sketches stamp set in Versamark, and then heat embossed both in white powder. I coloured the rose on the reverse side of the vellum using bright red and green Copics giving it that stained glass look. Then I used special micro glue dots designed for adhering vellum to attach the smaller panel in an invisible way to the background.  

You can find more inspiration from the talented DT over on the STAMPlorations CAS challenge blog. And then it's over to you to show us what you have created, you have until the last day of the month to link up, and it's up to three entries per person.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes with a twist of valentine
Naughty or Nice Challenges - See red
Dream Valley Challenges - Valentine's day
Unicorn Challenge - Lots of Love 
Crafting By Design - Anything Goes
Creative Moments - Anything goes with twist of romance/love

Card: White 250 gsm card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum
Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Overture and Bloom Sketches
Stencils: STAMPlorations Old Rose Prints
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks Festive Berries, Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Worn Lipstick, Tsukineko Versamark
Colouring: Copics R29, R89, YG13, YG17
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder

Disclaimer: I have received some STAMPlorations products for free in exchange for creating cards for the challenge. All opinions however are completely my own. As you can see by browsing my blog, I have been using STAMPlorations products (which I bought myself) way before my time on the DT and I wouldn't recommend them unless I absolutely loved them myself.

Deepti Popped - blog hop

Today we are having a special blog hop to welcome another STAMPbaby! Deepti has had a precious baby boy and we all want to send lots of love and congratulations to her and her family. You can join the hop on the here and link up your card if you want to join us in wishing Deepti all the best, or just to hop along to see what the talented STAMPlorations ladies have created.

For my card I started by watercolouring through the STAMPlorations Retro Circles stencil using Tim Holtz distress inks in Chipped Sapphire, Blueprint Sketch, Broken China and Tumbled Glass to create an ombre effect. Then I die cut the panel using a stitched rectangle die. I stamped the rose from the Blossom Overture set on Neenah Solar card, coloured using Copics and fussy cut it. Note to self, this is not the stamp you want to fussy cut as it's rather intricate, but I got there in the end. After attaching the rose I finished the card by stamping a sentiment from the same stamp set in Memento black ink and attached the panel onto white card.

I am linking up my card with the following challenges:
Just Add Ink - Just Add Nature
Sketchy Colours - Blue, Green, White
Just Us Girls - Tic Tac Toe (Flowers, Stamps, Die cuts)
Addicted to Stamps - Anything Goes
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes

Card: 300 gsm textured card, 190 gsm watercolour card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Overture
Stencils: STAMPlorations Retro Circles
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Blueprint Sketch, Broken China, Chipped Sapphire and Tumbled Glass. Colouring Copics YG11, YG13, YG17, B00, B04, B06, B29
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies



  

Birthday card for Grandma

Hi all, did you make it through Christmas all right? I'm feeling very lucky in being able to take time off work, and I'm still at home, enjoying those days when you have managed to get rid of all your guests (as wonderful as they were) and you have the fridge full of leftovers. What else is a girl to do but craft and spend some quality time with the sofa and a good book? And of course hang out with Gary, the new love of my life. He is such a good little chap, and I have to say I really enjoy our time together. He lives right next to my crafting desk, so I feel like I always have company when I craft, even though he mostly likes to keep tucked away in one of his many hides during daytime.

Anyhow, my Grandma is turning 91 soon, which I find is quite a respectable achievement. So I thought it would warrant a very special card. I was inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch. I die cut the letters for the words Happy Birthday Grandma in Finnish (how lucky it's much shorter in Finnish than English, otherwise I would have needed a giant card!!). I also die cut the front and middle panels using a stitched rectangle die. Then I stamped the rose from STAMPlorations Blossom Overture and coloured with Copics. I attached the layers, and finished by adding some Ice Stickles.

I would also like to link up with the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Make It Sparkle
Allsorts - Anything But Christmas
Inkspirational - Bah Humbug, Anything But Christmas
Card and Scrap - Anything Goes 
Creative Craft Cottage - Add some sparkle

Card: 300 gsm white card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Overture
Dies: Lawn Fawn Cole's ABCs, Stitched Rectangle Dies
Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Dark
Inks and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics R43, R24, R27, R29, R89, YG11, YG13, YG17
Other: Ranger Ice Stickles