Sunset Sympathy

I made this sympathy card as I wanted to play along with the "Special Thoughts" challenge over at Daring Cardmakers. I was also inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch and the Bling It On challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

I created the background by blending Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Candied Apple, Seedless Preserves and Black Soot Distress Oxides and splattered with water. I inked the flowers using the Bloom Silhouettes stencil in Black Soot. I added the beautiful sentiment from Lotus Love onto purple card and matted onto red card. It says "When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure". Last, I added a few sequins for a bit of bling.

Stamps: STAMPlorations Lotus Love
Stencil: ARTplorations Bloom Silhouettes
Ink: Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Candied Apple, Seedless Preserves and Black Soot Distress Oxides, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black

Twofer Feathers

Have you already played along with the most fun new challenge in craft-land, Darnell's Twofer challenge? If not, you may want to check it out! I'm not quite sure how Darnell finds the time to run a very active blog, leave the best comments in Blog-land and now also run her own challenge. Darnell, do you ever sleep? And everyone in the DT are crafty names you are sure to recognize, all super talented crafters, so it was a joy to pop over to see the inspiration for the first challenge. Anyhow, I love the idea of the twofer challenge - to use the same stamp/die to make two different cards for two different occasions. You might as well, when you have your stamps/dies out. The theme of the first Twofer challenge is Feathers.

I decided to do a sympathy card and a birthday card. The first one is a bit of a mixed media CAS one, with some cling wrap inking in blue in the background and added brown ink splatters. The background was created using Distress Inks which give a more translucent look than Oxides (I tried the Oxides first but didn't like the look for this, hence justifying owning both Distress Inks and Oxides - the right tool for the right place). The feathers are stamped, heat embossed and fussy cut. The layout for this card was inspired by Freshly Made Sketches and the colours by Color Throwdown.

My second card is a celebration of the new Distress Oxides I very recently received and many of them are NBUS. I inked up the feathers in rainbow colours and stamped away to my heart's content. The card I used is a slightly shimmery white card, it's really smooth so it took much longer than usual for the inks to dry. Luckily I didn't smudge them too much. I just added a very simple sentimen with white heat embossing and some die cut stitching around the edges. I'm linking this up over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is Birds of a Feather and Just Add Ink where the theme is Something new (the Distress Oxides) and they also have a fun blog hop.

Card: light grey card, white shimmer card, scraps of light blue, light brown and black card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Trendy Feathers 2 (out of stock), Blossom Overture
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Distress Oxides, Distress Ink Broken China, Vintage Photo
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Border dies, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder, sequins from my stash

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes.

Radiant Roses

I have waited for this for a long time. Finally time for my summer leave - although summer is already fading fast. Two whole weeks of no work! And of course, I'm coming down with a cold. Oh well, less gardening and more crafting. But we do have apple and pear trees heavy with fruit so I there will be a lot of jamming and stewing in this house over the next few days.

Anyhow, I did spend the whole morning in the craft room today. This card was inspired by the colours over at Color Throwdown and the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch. I'm also linking up with the "Add text" theme over at House of Cards and the Stamp It theme at both Simon Says Stamp Monday and Wednesday Challenge.

Card: Neenah Solar White, Stampin' Up Basic Black
Stamps: STAMPlorations In Bloom: Radiant Roses, Lotus Love
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black, Copics
Other: Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle, Signo white gel pen

STAMPlorations discount code: If you want to save 20% when shopping at the STAMPlorations store you can use the code STAMPGIRLKAROLA at checkout. The discount applies to all normal priced and discounted stamps, stencils and dies. The code cannot be combined with other discount codes. 

So Sorry for the Loss of Your Furry Friend

 A friend recently lost her furry friend, so I thought I would make her a card. I thought I should try my lettering on the card. It didn't quite turn out as good as I had pictured in my mind, but it's a start. I created the background using yellow, orange and red Brushos, inspired by the colour challenge over at Sunday Stamps. I'm also linking up over at CAS on Friday where the theme is One Layer Wonder.

I also added a little sentiment inside the card.

Card: 350 gsm Daler&Rowney watercolour paper
Ink and colouring: Brushos, Versamark pen, Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Hard
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters at the Dog Park
Other: Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder

One Layer Sympathy card

Greetings from a very bright craft room. When I came into the craft room this morning the beautiful morning sun really highlighted how disgustingly dirty my windows were. And I say *were* as instead of doing what I have been doing for so many mornings previously I didn't ignore them this time, but grabbed a microfibre cloth and bucket and actually cleaned them. Inside and out. So now I'm confused by the bright light.

I did manage a bit of CAS crafting despite almost being blinded by daylight. I used the ARTplorations Christmas Reindeer stencil and inked Distress Ink through the stencil inspired by the red, orange and yellow theme over at One Layer Simplicity Challenge. I was also inspired by the masking theme over at AAA Cards and the Support theme over at CASology. I stamped a treeline at the bottom of the masked image and spritzed some water for a more distressed look. Last, I stamped the beautiful sentiment from Lotus Love as I thought I would make this a non-Christmas card.

Card: 300 gsm white hammered card

Stamps: STAMPlorations Lotus Love, Vignette Tree Silhouettes

Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Festive Berries

Other: ARTplorations Christmas Reindeer

May STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Mid-month inspiration

Welcome back to our mid-month reminder of the STAMPlorations CAS challenge. Our optional colour twist this month is one of my favourites, magenta. You don't have to use the colour twist if you don't want to and you don't have to use STAMPlorations products but if you have them we always love to see what you do with them. All we ask is that you create a CAS card, add the below challenge graphic to your post and link up to our challenge over on the STAMPlorations blog. You can link up three times, and there is still two weeks to join us to win prizes, get inspired and inspire others.

Today's card is a perfect example of how one stamp set, a few inks and some white card is more than enough to create gorgeous cards which are really easy to customise for any occasion. Seeing all the immensely talented designers out in the blogosphere can sometimes be really intimidating, but it's all about finding the right no-fail techniques. I know I'm cheating slightly as I used sentiments from another set, but the Tree Sihouettes set also has some lovely sentiments. Further, sentiments are easy to print if you don't have the right stamps, or you can even write them if your handwriting is less atrocious than mine! For this card, I started by masking off the right and left sides with some masking paper (I use any leftover papers, old envelopes, anything I can find to avoid having to use "clean" paper) and washi tape. Then I picked a few pretty colours of Distress Ink and sponged it with a foam pad (you can also use small make-up sponges which are super cheap, they work just as well!). Then I took watercolour brush and splashed some water onto the ink to create the water splotches. Then I stamped the gorgeous tree silhouettes and the sentiment in Onyx Black which is the blackest of black. Last, I picked up some purple Distress Ink on my watercolour brush with lots of water and tapped the brush with a pen to create the fine splatters for a bit of added interest. Really simple and easy, and you can use any inks you have and any stamps and sentiments you like! 

Card: 300 gsm textured card
Stamps: STAMPloratios Vignette: Tree Silhouettes, Blossom Overture
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Abandoned Coral, Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire, Seedless Preserves, Wilted Violet, Worn Lipstick

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.

Sympathy at sunset

I have absolutely no idea what is going on with me lately. I am usually up no later than seven in the morning, often I even wake up at six and can't go back to sleep. This weekend I slept to 8:30 yesterday and nine today! It's really weird, I feel like I have slept away half the day. But I guess my body needs it for some reason or other, I'm suspecting I'm fighting off a bug or something as my colleagues have all had a nasty autumn cold, so I'm thinking I will take it as easy as my body wants and hopefully stay healthy. On another revelation, I think I have worked out the comings and goings of Mr Mojo. Last week I didn't go to the gym at all (I know, bad bad me) and I've had a very creative Saturday. The week before, I went to the gym, and was hardly able to create at all. I see a pattern forming here. Clearly the gym is detrimental to my crafting Mojo!

On to more interesting things, like today's card. When I saw this week's colours over at Color Throwdown, I just knew I had to play along. I also liked the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch, and I thought it would be a great idea to combine them into one. I was also inspired by the beautiful multi-colour sponging in the inspiration card from Time Out Challenges. I'm also linking up over at House of Cards where the theme is Stitch It Up, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is Die Crazy, The Artistic Stamper where the theme is Things With Wings and Craft and Smash where the theme is clouds.

I started creating the sunset image, and although I wasn't planning specifically to make a sympathy card, that's what it turned out to be. I don't have a very good selection of sympathy sentiments, but luckily I had just received an order from STAMPlorations containing the Lotus Love set which had a sentiment that fit the card perfectly. I created the sky using masks I die cut using the Lawn Fawn Puffy Cloud Borders and Tim Holtz distress inks. For the grass, I used the Lawn Fawn Grassy border die. The flowers are stencilled in black distress ink through the STAMPlorations Some Birds stencils. I die cut the panel using Lawn Fawn Stitched rectangle dies and heat embossed the sentiment in white. Last, I added a few sequins inspired by the sketch. The panel is adhered using foam tape onto hammered white cardstock.

Card: Hammered white 300 gsm card, white 250 gsm card, black paper
Ink: Tim Holtz distress inks Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot
Stamps: STAMPlorations Dee's Artsy Impressions Lotus Love
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, Puffy Cloud border dies, Grassy Border die, STAMPlorations Some Birds stencil, Papermania Seafoam white embossing powder, sequins from my stash

Sympathy card

I made this sympathy card a while ago, but I thought it's appropriate to publish now as it's quite wintery - those intricate flowers almost look like snowflake, don't they?

I don't usually stock sympathy cards, they just seem too depressing. But then all of a sudden you need one right then and there... This card is very quick and simple to create, just some kraft cardstock with white, heat embossed florals from Stampin' Up Mixed Bunch. I printed the sentiment onto vellum, and matted everything onto black cardstock. With a different colour choice for the sentiment and matting cardstock, this could almost be a Christmas card or wintery birthday card as well.

I'm entering the card in the following challenges:
CCEE Stampers - Sympathy card
ABC Challenge - A is for Anything Goes
Card and Scrap - Use a stamp
LadyBug Crafts - Say it with flowers
Clear it Out - Anything Goes
Top Tip Tuesday - Keep it Simple

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, coloured 240 gsm kraft card black, kraft card
Stamps: Stampin' Up Mixed bunch
Inks: Tsukineko Versamark
Other: Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder

With sympathy

In a very brief time two people I knew passed away. One was family and the other was a neighbour. I have been very lucky and experienced very little loss of my nearest and dearest and although neither of the recent losses were very close to me, it's still a reminder of how fleeting life is. Our neighbour had just come home from a holiday with a friend, and never made it from the taxi on his driveway in to the house before he passed away. That makes you think, and be very grateful for every day you get with the people you love. It has also made me think a lot about being so far from my family. Living in another country from most of your family does make you think about how you would deal with a serious illness or accident in the family. Would I have to move back home? Leave my home and my job? Things you hope you will never have to deal with but who knows what curve balls this life has to throw.

This card is for my Mum's cousin with sympathies on her loss. It was inspired by The Challenge. I sprayed some watercolour paper with Perfect Pearls and stamped in grey ink, first on the wet paper getting more of a watercolour effect and then waiting until the paper had dried a bit for a stronger grey colour. Unfortunately the beautiful shimmer from the perfect pears doesn't show very well on the card, although I tried to get the sun to catch the shimmer. The background is clear heat embossing on black cardstock. I like the subtle effect.

Card: Leonardo Stationery 300 gsm white card, Dale & Rowney 300 gsm Aquafine Watercolour paper, black cardstock from my stash, shimmery silver cardstock from my stash

Ink: Versamark, Stampin' Up Basic Gray

Stamp: Hero Arts Flourish Background, Hobbycraft Thistle

Other: Perfect Pearls, Ranger Fine Clear Embossing powder, Tim Holtz Alterations Vintage lace die, Papermania adhesive gems Capsule Heather, white ribbon from my stash