Ombré Glitter Blooms

Hi everyone, today I’d like to share a set of ATC’s I made. I first started making ATC’s two years ago, and initially I made them to trade online through eg. Facebook groups. I then started joining in one or two themed swaps in crafting FB groups, eg. Visible Image and Tracy Evans, and as time went on I found that without the “prompt” of a theme my creative mojo stalled so I haven’t really been making any ATC’s “just because”. However I recently bought a gorgeous little pad of ombré glitter card from the Crafter’s Companion shop, and this inspired me to create a new series that I have called Ombré Glitter Blooms.

First I die cut a variety of flower stems from a sheet of the pink/green glitter card, placing the flower heads in the pink area, graduating towards a green stem. I created graduated smoosh backgrounds on stamping card with pink and green Distress Oxide inks, then stamped and heat embossed my background design in white, ensuring that the green area was at the top of each stamped piece. I cut the stamped pieces to 3.25” x 2.25” and added with silver Posca pen. I matted these onto 3.5” x 2.5” pieces of glitter card which were cut to graduate from pink to  green, thus reversing the colour direction of the stamped layer. I attached a die cut flower or 2 to each ATC, which again reversed the direction of the ombré shading. Finally I stamped the wording onto separate card, cut out, edged with silver and attached.

Here are some closeups.

Stamps: AALL & Create #302 Going Postal; Woodware Blooming;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Kitsch Flamingo, Cracked Pistachio); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Versamark; WOW Ultra fine opaque white embossing powder; Posca pen (silver);

Papers: Crafter’s Companion card pad - Ombré Glitter;

Tools: floral dies (unbranded).

Challenges I would like to enter:

Beautiful Blossoms #16 - Anything Floral Goes (4th entry)

Crafty Gals’ Corner #254 - Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Dragonfly Dreams (April) - Use a Die (3rd entry)

My Time to Craft #532 - Die-Cuts (2nd entry)

Outlawz (April) - Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone (2nd entry)

Simon Says (Wednesday) - Anything Goes

Stamping  Sensations (April) - Spring Mood Board (3rd entry)

(I have been inspired by the pink and green colours and the flowers)

Unicorn #97 - Use Dies (3rd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #645/646 - Anything Goes 

I’m hoping to make some more ATC’s in the near future so I can have a go at trading again ..it’s such fun when an envelope drops through the letterbox from some far flung place!

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Smile!

Hi everyone, I’ve not had much time to craft the past few days so here’s a quick CAS spring card I made for the Country View Crafts FB challenge.

I cut a 5” square of stamping card and stamped the Daisy image. I coloured it with Zig pens and highlighted with white Posca pen, then added a watercolour wash around the image with a Zig pen roughly blended out with a water brush. I added a few gold Posca spatters and a stamped sentiment, then matted onto fuchsia pink pearlescent card stock and a card blank - job done!

Stamps: Visible Image Daisy Grunge;

Media: Versafine Clair (Nocturne); Kuretake Zig Clean Colour watercolour pens; Posca pens (white, gold).

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (April) - Anything Goes with option Splash of Colour (2nd entry)

AAA Challenge #263 - Anything CAS Goes

Beautiful Blossoms #16 - Anything Floral Goes (3rd entry)

Card Concept #206 - April Flowers

CAS On Friday #281 - Spring

Country View Crafts FB Challenge (April) - Flower Power (3rd entry)

Crafter’s Cafe #307 - CAS

Creative Inspirations (April) - The Season of Spring (3rd entry)

Double Trouble #164 - CAS

Krafty Chicks #712 - CAS - TOP PICK

Path of Positivity #120 - Anything Positive Goes 

Simply Clean and Simple (April) - Anything Goes CAS (2nd entry)

We Love 2 Create #3 - Anything Mixed Media Goes

We Love Stamping (April) - Spring (3rd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #643/644 - Anything Goes (6th entry)

Worldwide Crafters and Colourists #16 - Anything Goes

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Lily of the Valley

Hi everyone, today I would like to share a card I made using a beautiful stamp and die set I won a couple of weeks ago over at the Snippets Playground, and also show you my recent attempt to get a grip of my coloured card snippets.

Last year I bought a 12” square paper holder from Crafter’s Companion which has proven a very neat way of holding my complete sheets of 12x12 card and paper, but sad to say my snippets were inelegantly leaned up against it in a carrier bag in the corner of my craft space! I had reached the stage where I couldn’t find a particular colour card snippet when required so I needed to do something … but said paper holder is now no longer available from CC - and seems to be out of stock almost everywhere - waah! Last week however I managed to track one down with another stockist and also bought the coordinating divider pockets which weirdly are still available from CC … so after a happy hour of sifting and sorting I now have all my card snippets organised by colour family - yippee!! My only complaint is that the labels for the dividers don’t stick, but I can see what’s what and just need to lift one divider pocket out of the bag to look for a given colour card - result!

The first snippet I found and brought into play was a large green one for the frame on my card … here it is.

I cut a piece of white stamping card and created an inky background with smooshed Distress Oxide inks and a little background stamping from an AALL & Create set. I then stamped the flower onto a separate snippet of white card, coloured with Zig pens and Spectrum Noir sparkle pen, and die cut out.

I die cut the stitched frame from my green card snippet, stamped and die cut the tag from a separate white snippet, then assembled the card onto a 7” x 5” card blank.

Stamps: Crafter’s Companion stamp & die set May - Lily of the Valley; AALL & Create #623 Elegant Spring Florals;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Warm Breeze); Kuretake Zig Clean Colour watercolour pens; Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear);

Tools: CC stamp and die set as above; Hunkydory Moonstone Duo-Stitched Rectangle dies.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Beautiful Blossoms #16 - Anything Floral Goes (2nd entry)

Creative Knockouts #519 - Spring Is In the Air (3rd entry)

Dragonfly Dreams (April) - Use a Die (2nd entry)

My Time to Craft #532 - Die-Cuts

Simon Says (Monday) - Make Your Own Background (5th entry)

Snippets Playground #478 - Use Snippets

Unicorn #97 - Use Dies (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #643/644 - Anything Goes (5th entry)

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Winter Magic

Hi everyone, today I’ve moved from one extreme to the other … my previous post was filled with sunny colours and spring flowers and bees … so today’s share is a Christmas card in cool wintry hues! As happens every year I’m not exactly on track with my Christmas makes, so I thought I’d better sneak one in whilst I was in the mood!! 

I cut a square of stamping card and used circle and hill masks to create my background snowy hills and sky with blended Della Blue Elements ink. I then stamped the pheasant in Nocturne, and the trees in 1st/2nd generation Twilight Versafine Clair. I then removed the mask and stamped the pinecone branches around the edge of the circle and mini pinecones in the bottom corner. I highlighted the scene with my clear Sakura Stardust pen, added some white Posca snow to the fence and trees and Spectrum Noir sparkle pen to the snow drifts, then stamped the sentiment and added some Posca snowfall to that too. 

I still felt it needed something more, so I replaced the mask and stamped background Christmas wording using Elements ink (my VFC shades of blue weren’t quite right … oh how I want a few of the new VFC colours if they ever come back into stock anywhere !!). Finally I added some Posca dots of falling snow and matted the finished piece onto dark blue card stock and a 6” square card blank. 

Here’s an angled pic to show some of the sparkle.

Stamps: Lavinia Pheasant, Small Pine Trees, Fir Cone Branch, Mini Pine Cone, Winter Magic,  Christmas Greetings;

Media: Lavinia Elements ink (Della Blue); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Twilight); Sakura Stardust pen (clear); Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear); Posca pen (white);

Tools: Press To Impress circle mask; Lavinia Mini Hills masks.

Challenges I would like to enter:

12 Months of Christmas #109 - Anything Christmas Goes

ABC Christmas Challenge - I Is For Inky

Alphabet Challenge - B is for Birds

Christmas Craft Creations (April) - Non-Traditional Colours

C.R.A.F.T. #716 - Christmas

FarmQuest Country Christmas #7 - Anything Country Christmas Goes

FarmQuest General Store #15 - Anything Farm or Country Goes

Festive Fridays (April) - Christmas (2nd entry)

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #161 - Anything Christmas Goes

Make My Monday #223 - Nat. picture of a Bird - TOP 3

My Time to Craft Christmas #84 - Non-Traditional Christmas Colours

Simon Says (Monday) - Make Your Own Background (4th entry) - DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT

Sparkles Christmas #159 - Non-Traditional Colours

Word Art Wednesday #643/644 - Anything Goes (4th entry)

Hope you’re having a nice weekend, whatever you’re doing. Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Mellow Yellow

Hi everyone, this month’s ATC swap in the Visible Image FB group has a theme of Mellow Yellow - to make a monochrome yellow ATC using only Visible Image stamps, stencils and/or dies. As usual I also made a co-ordinating card to send to my swap partner.

I’ve made a number of daffodil and tulip cards recently so I wanted to go in a different direction - I decided to use my newish daisy stamp and add some bees. I also wanted to give the card a slightly more grungy vibe rather than too “pretty pretty” as my swap partner this month is male. Here they are.

First the ATC …

I cut a piece of stamping card slightly smaller than a standard ATC, and stamped the grunge daisy to one side. I then masked the daisy and created a smoosh Distress Oxide background applied with acetate, and added background honeycomb stamping using Versafine Clair in Cheerful. I coloured the centre of the daisy with Posca sparkle pens and the petals with clear Spectrum Noir sparkle pen, then added dots to the centre with white Posca and black fineliner. I stamped the bee onto separate card, coloured with Posca sparkle pen and the wings with my Spectrum Noir pen, then fussy cut and attached - I do have the coordinating dies but didn’t want a white border on the bees for this project. I stamped the sentiment and spatters in black, added some white Posca highlights, then some black doodling. Finally I added some yellow sparkle Posca spatters, and when dry matted onto a black and yellow border.

Stamps: Visible Image Daisy Grunge, Bee Happy;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Cheerful); Posca sparkle pens (yellow, orange); Spectrum Nour sparkle pen (clear); Posca pen (white); fine liner pen (black).

Challenges I would like to enter:

Crafty Gals #254 - Anything Goes 

Creative Inspirations (April) - The Season of Spring (2nd entry)

Creative Knockouts #519 - Spring Is In the Air (2nd entry)

Four Seasons (April) - Anything Goes Spring with optional Mood Board

(I have been inspired by the daisies)

Outlawz (April) - Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone 

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2415 - Anything Goes

Sisterhood of Crafters - Showers or Flowers (2nd entry)

Word Art Wednesday #643/644 - Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Here is the co-ordinating card.

This used largely the same method and supplies as the ATC on a larger scale, stamping the whole daisy onto the card and adding two larger bees from the same stamp set.

Both of these are actually pretty sparkly but I can’t capture that on the photos at all!

Challenges I would like to enter:

613 Avenue Create (April) - Anything Goes with option Splash of Colour

Addicted to Stamps and More #466 - Make Your Mark

Allsorts #776 - Spring (2nd entry)

Beautiful Blossoms #16 - Anything Floral Goes

Card Concept #206 - April Flowers  (daisies) 2nd entry)

Country View Crafts FB Challenge (April) - Flower Power

Simon Says (Monday) - Make Your Own Background (3rd entry)

Stamping  Sensations (April) - Spring Mood Board (2nd entry)

(I have been inspired by the daisy)

We Love Stamping (April) - Spring (2nd entry)

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

I Spy With My Little Eye #14

Hi everyone, Easter has been and gone, April is here with the promise of spring and it’s the third Wednesday in the month again, so it’s time for a new I Spy With My Little Eye... challenge over at Ellibelle's Corner.  Thanks so much to everyone who joined in last time … please do check over on Ellie’s blog to see if you are one of our top picks. 

I have chosen the challenge theme this month, and it is

I Spy With My Little Eye 

*** Something With Wings ***

Plenty of options there including birds, butterflies, dragonflies, fairies, angels or even aeroplanes!  … so we do hope you will join in. Please do pop over to Ellie's blog to see her fab creation and link up your entries here. 

We also have two guest designers joining us this month - Steph and  Liz - so please click on their names to visit their blogs and see their fabulous interpretations of the theme. 

I specifically wanted to use both a particular fairy (Lavinia “Sky”) and tree stamp which were kindly gifted to me by a dear bloggy friend during a destash (she knows who she is❤️), also because the fairy stamp includes a bird as well for extra challenge brownie points!! I decided to incorporate both of these into a spring scene - here it is.

I cut a 14.5cm square of stamping card and masked a square, then created the hills and sky using acetate masks and blended Elements and Distress inks. I removed the mask and stamped  Sky in one corner, then positioned paper copies of my mini hill masks so I could stamp the trees on the hillsides. I added leaves to one of the trees and blossom to the background copse using the tiny blossom stamps in the Lavinia set “Spring Trees”, inked with Distress Oxide inks. I then masked the bottom of the inked panel and stamped two rows of bluebells using lilac and blue DOX to add depth, then added a few bluebell tips to the hillsides. I shaded the sun with yellow DOX and coloured Sky’s wings with Zig pens and Spectrum Noir sparkle pen, then added some gel pen highlights to the scene. Finally I stamped the birds, added white pencil highlights to the fairy and birds, added a stamped sentiment and matted onto a black frame and card blank.

I’m absolutely in love with this fairy and would doubtless have bought her eventually if I hadn’t been the lucky recipient of a destash gift … in fact I did already own her, but in a different guise!! (Yes I really do have fairies at the bottom of the garden!!)

Stamps: Lavinia Sky, Skeleton Tree Scene, Spring Trees, Bluebells, Bird Collection, Birds; Visible Image Birthday Wishes; tree on left - unknown (gift);

Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Olive, Lime Punch, Della Blue); Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Tumbled Glass); Distress Oxide inks (Bundled Sage, Mowed Lawn, Spun Sugar, Kitsch Flamingo, Shaded Lilac, Blueprint Sketch, Squeezed Lemonade); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Pinecone, Acorn); Kuretake Zig Clean Colour watercolour pens; Sakura Sparkle pen (yellow);  Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen (clear); Stabilo All pencil (white); gel pen (white);

Tools: Lavinia Acetate Mini Hills masks; Lavinia Acetate Circle masks; Press To Impress square mask.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #776 - Spring 

Card Concept #206 - April Flowers (bluebells)

Creative Inspirations (April) - The Season of Spring

Creative Knockouts #519 - Spring Is In the Air

Dream Valley #314 - Make It Female

Fab ‘n’ Funky #593 - Add a Sentiment (2nd entry)

Festive Fridays (April) - Spring Is In the Air

Four Seasons (April) - Anything Goes Spring

Heart’s Quest Celebrations of Love #4 - Birthday (2nd entry)

Heart’s Quest Fantasy Challenge #4 - Anything Fantasy Goes

Papercraft #105 - Fairies and Other Mystical Beings

Simon Says (Monday) - Make Your Own Background (2nd entry)

Stamping  Sensations (April) - Spring Mood Board 

(I have been inspired by the pink blossom and green fields)

We Love Stamping (April) - Spring

Word Art Wednesday #643/644 - Anything Goes 

(2nd entry)

The I Spy challenge will end on the Sunday before the next challenge starts at 23:59 US Central Time - so this time that is Sunday May 12th, and the next challenge will begin on Wednesday May  15th.

Take care, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Pastel floral

Hi everyone, today I would like to share a floral card, the first I have made using an AALL & Create set I have wanted for a while and finally bought in the A&C Easter sale.

I cut a piece of stamping card 6.5” x 4.5” and created a smoosh background with green and lilac Distress Oxide inks. I stamped the focal flower, then stamped again onto separate card, coloured the flower head with Zig markers and Spectrum Noir sparkle pen, then fussy cut out. I added some soft lilac stencilling and background circle stamping in grey, then stamped the birdie in the bottom right corner and added some white Posca spatters. I die cut a grungy circle frame from my new “Heart Nook” set using aqua mirri card and attached, then attached the coloured flower head using silicone glue for dimension and scrunched silver thread.

I stamped and heat embossed the birthday sentiment, cut out and attached, then matted the finished panel onto a black border and 7” x 5” card blank. Finally I added a few dew drop gems - something I have wanted for ages but not seen any small packs but finally found some last week in the Crafter’s Companion shop!!

Here’s an angled pic to show the sparkly flower.

Stamps: AALL& Create #924 Flower Trio, #531 Textured Florals; Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE4 New Beginnings; sentiment - Text{ures} by Lou Collins “Typography”;

Media: Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks (Shaded Lilac, Cracked Pistachio); Versafine Clair (Nocturne, Morning Mist); Kuretake Zig Clean Colour watercolour pens; WOW white detail embossing powder; Spectrum Noir sparkle pen (clear); Posca pen (white);

Tools: AALL & Create die #35 Heartnook; Darkroom Door stencil - Diamonds;

Other: Crafter’s Companion dewdrop gems.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Addicted to Stamps and More #465 - Die Cuts and/or Stencils

As You Like It - Favourite Cute or Floral (and why) (2nd entry)

(Floral all the way for me … so many colours and varieties, suitable for all occasions)

Craft Rocket #113 - Layer It Up

Crazy Is Our Fame, Stencils Are Our Game (April) - Use a Stencil with option Spring Flowers

Dragonfly Dreams (April) - Use a Die

Everybody Art #555 - Numbers (2nd entry)

Fab ‘n’ Funky #593 - Add a Sentiment

Heart’s Quest Celebrations of Love #4 - Birthday

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie #191 - Happy Birthday

Simon Says (Monday) - Make Your Own Background

Sisterhood of Crafters - Showers or Flowers

Triple B (April) - Birds, Butterflies and/or Blooms (2nd entry)

Unicorn #97 - Use Dies

Word Art Wednesday # 643/644 - Anything Goes

That’s my lot for today - take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,

Tag It!

Hi everyone, this month’s ATC swap theme in the Tracy Evans FB group is Tag It - ie. incorporate a tag onto each ATC. The tag could be a stamp, die or even hand cut …. however I happen to own one Tracy tag stamp which is an ideal size for use on ATC’s and which has never been inked up until now, so that was always going to be the centrepiece of my design. 

I stamped the tag 4 times onto cream stamping card and  cut out, then stamped my flowers onto each one. I stamped the flowers again onto separate cream card, coloured the flower heads with distress watercolor pencils then fussy cut and attached to the tags after I had distressed the edges of the tags with Scorched Timber Distress Oxide. I cut 4 pieces of kraft card stock each 3.5” x 2.5” and added background stamping using parts of stamps, then blended more Scorched Timber DOX round the edges before attaching the tag. I stamped and cut out the pen nib 4 times, coloured with watered down DOX then attached. I finished by adding a twine bow to each tag (using twine from Tracy’s stamp packaging😀), white gel pen highlights to the flowers and Glossy Accents to the pen nibs.

Here’s a closeup of the individual ATC’s.

Stamps: AALL & Create #984 Tag O Tag, #904 Flower Journey, #908 Quill Ends, #449 Through the Meadows (background);

Media: Versafine Clair (Pinecone); Tim Holtz Distress watercolor pencils (Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door, Fired Brick, Picked Raspberry, Villainous Potion); Distress Oxide inks (Scorched Timber, Antique Linen); gel pen (white); Glossy Accents.

Challenges I would like to enter:

As You Like It - Favourite Cute or Floral (and why)

(I just love all flowers as they are so pretty and versatile for cardmaking)

Beautiful Blossoms #15 - Anything Floral Goes (6th entry)

Country View Crafts FB Challenge (April) - Flower Power (2nd entry - entered later when I realised this fits the challenge)

Double Trouble #163 - Let’s Get Krafty

Everybody Art #555 - Numbers

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies #2414 - Anything Goes

Sheepski #85 - Anything Goes

Tracy Evans FB Challenge (March/April) - Vintage (4th entry)

Triple B (April) - Birds, Butterflies and/or Blooms

We Love 2 Create #3 2024 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday #641/642 - Anything Goes

These are now packaged up and ready to go … all I need now is a respite in the appalling rain so I can venture out to the post box!

Take care and thanks for visiting.

Hugs,