Tuesday 31 October 2017

Merry Little Christmas!

Happy Halloween... I have my cauldron of sweeties and decorations at the ready.  Every year we have an abundance of little monsters and witches, all excited, dressed up in their spooky finery and I absolutely love seeing their faces as they squeal 'Trick or Treat' - innocence is priceless :)

So after all my Halloween/Birthday cards of late, I've moved onto Christmas cards.  I have to admit I had a loss of mojo for this card, I think I'm still in my All Hallows mood.



I used Tim Holtz poinsettia and reindeer die as the main focal points and I did, very reluctantly I might add, cut into my First Edition Wild at Heart paper pad for the poinsettia.  I used a sheet of old music paper for the reindeer but matted onto 2 lots of kraft cardstock because its really flimsy paper.  Added some Stickles and some teeny tiny die cut stars to finish.



Challenge Links...

Jingle Belles - Christmas/Animals
Allsorts - Christmas Creatures
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes Christmas 

Supplies:  First Edition Wild at Heart patterned paper, TH tattered poinsettia and reindeer die, MB forest border die, unbranded circle and little stars die, Stickles, TH Distress ink in vintage photo and tea dye, unbranded sentiment stamp.


Tuesday 24 October 2017

Frankly!

This card and die caused me a little confusion at first as I wanted a 7x5" card but the die was too small, I thought I could align it back up but then it looked all odd so I had to settle for 6x6 and when my plans are scuppered I loose my concentration and momentum.


After settling on a 6x6 card and after filling a bin with failed attempts, it came together fairly quickly excluding the 2 hour practise session lol.  The slowest part was colouring the ghost, mummy and Frank.  I've made this card for my youngest son to give my husband and the sentiment reflects that as a step-dad - he's the best.

Challenge Links...

Less is More - Monsters
Cupcake Inspirations - Ghosts/Ghouls

Supplies:  6x6" card base, white linen cardstock, Dream Street orange patterned paper, unbranded die, Sugar Pea Designs clear stamps and sentiment.

Saturday 21 October 2017

A Frightful Birthday

I've finally got around to starting and finishing my husbands birthday card with a sprinkling of Halloween for the 31st October.


I absolutely couldn't resist this set of stamps from Sugar Pea Designs as soon as I saw the sweet little ghost, that face is so darn cute and I knew instantly he was destined for this special birthday card.

I did a bit of matting and layering then embossed a cobweb onto plain white cardstock after inking up the folder with pearlescent silver.  Every embossed line has been retraced with a Sakura clear glitter pen to make it catch the light and glisten.  I stamped and fussy the little ghost out and popped him on 3D foam, offset from the cobweb.


I think you can just about see the sparkle of the cobweb on the photo.  I inked the 'Husband' stamp in black at first but had a change of heart and inked half in black and orange and did the sentiment (which I think is cool) in black so it flows.  I added a little black bat and its all ready to be received.

Challenge Links...

Crafty Calendar - Halloween
Allsorts - Halloween

Supplies:  White/black cardstock, Sugar Pea Designs/Clearly Besotted stamps, Tim Holtz Hocus Pocus EF/bat die/cobweb, unbranded stitched circle die, Sakura clear glitter gel pen.

Saturday 14 October 2017

A Wicked Birthday!

Its my brother-in-laws birthday on the 31st October - yup he was born on Halloween but it gets better, he's my husbands twin brother... how cool is that? 

This year I've decided to create a birthday card for both of them with a twist of Halloween so the challenge was, to make sure the theme didn't detract from the fact it is his birthday afterall.



I knew I wanted to use the Penny Black cat on a pumpkin stamp and kept it pretty simple in design.  I started by die cutting a circle as a template for the bright creepy moon using a mix of red, yellow and orange inks.  Stamped the cat and added in some die cut clouds and bats in black bazzill.  The base cardstock has been inked with a pretty much dried out ink pad to give it an illusion of mist or soot - as I prefer to call it lol.



The cat/pumpkin do have a shimmery finish but unfortunately its too subtle for the camera to capture.  The 'Brother' is from Clearly Besotted together with the die and the sentiment I made in Word with two different fonts/sizes and colours.  

Challenge Links:-

Double D - Fright Night
Crafty Calendar - Halloween
Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes
Sweet Stampers - #12 Autumn/Halloween

Supplies:- Sheena's stamping card, Bazzill black cardstock, Penny Black rubber stamp, MB cloud die, Tim Holtz Hocus Pocus combo (bats), Clearly Bessotted Brother stamp/die, Dew drops ink Red/Yellow and Whispers orange ink.

Tuesday 10 October 2017

Favourite Flower

Over at The Flower Challenge blog they are celebrating their 1st birthday so Happy Birthday to everyone involved.  As a nice birthday treat they are offering lots of lovely prizes so why not pop over and take part showcasing your favourite flower.  If I'm lucky enough to win, I'd like to pick the Dies to Die For prize.

Onto my card and it could only be the gorgeous Echinacea, I love the varying colours and the way they stand proud in the garden during Summer - well, lets say during the months its supposed to be Summer!



I decided to do a no-line watercolouring image this time and after a little practise piece first I'm quite pleased with the results.  I used Gansai Tambi in various reds, pinks and oranges for the petals, I must admit I like having an artist license and not being so restricted to staying in the lines.


Me being me, I couldn't resist adding a few splatters in chilli red... and yes I still smile every time I flick the brush - what is wrong with me, I'm middle aged for goodness sake lol.

I cut the 'hello' from an unbranded die and added a few pearls in varying sizes to match the colours of the flower.

Challenges:-

The Flower Challenge - Favourite Flower
Less is More - Hot & Spicy Colours












Supplies: TH Echinacea stamp and tea dye Distress ink, Gansai Tambi watercolours, Inktense, unbranded stitched circle and 'hello' die, Queen & Co and Kaiser Craft pearls

Saturday 7 October 2017

ROAR-some

Todays card is another one for my boys, this time from the youngest to his big brother who turns 21 next month - no idea where those years went!

We're not a family that goes for very sloppy sentiments, we prefer a bit of cheek - you know something that makes you smile so onto my card...


I wanted to make a point that my eldest son was getting older, not that 21 is old but its much older if you're only just 16 so out came the BG Archaic range to stamp the T-Rex in a mix of browns and greens, not really visible on the photo but he is shaded a muddy dinosaur mix.  I die cut a circle twice, once in white and again from a snippet of Archaic patterned paper and matted them onto the card front. I stamped the 'brother' in pearlescent orange then die cut out.  


The sentiment was made in Word and the balloon is a clipart image that I added a line too for the string then fussy cut out, added some 'seen better days' Glossy Accents and made it look like the very ferocious & unaware dinosaur had a balloon attached to his tail, little things amuse me!  

Challenges:-

Pixies Playground - Use snippets
Always Fun Challenges - Dies & Punches
Daisy Chain Challenges - Happy Birthday

Supplies: 5x7" white card base, white linen cardstock, circle dies (unbranded), Clearly Besotted 'Brother' stamp and die, BG Archaic patterned paper/clear stamps, Brilliance ink pads in Cocoa Bean, Pearlescent Ivy and Rust and Glossy Accents.