It's Sketch Time

Good morning,

It's Saturday morning again and this week over at Simply Stampin we have another fab sketch challenge for you to join in with.

For my card this week I have used a Simply Scrappin' kit, they don't have to be just used for scrapbook layouts, you can use them in your other projects too! If you're thinking that isn't in my catalogue go get it and turn to pages 100-101 there are 4 to choose from, but I have used Country Club.

I have teamed my scrappin' kit with the Sail Away a la carte stamp, and I've paper pieced the sails with the same paper as the background. All the extra elements on the card (except the jumbo eyelets) are from the scrappin' kit!

If you haven't joined in with the challenge yet, why not give it a try with week, and don't forget you don't have to have a blog to enter just email your entry to the challenge email address! I'd love to see what you can do with the sketch!

Happy stampin'

Simply Stampin' Colour Challenge

Good morning,

wow, we had some fab entries for last weeks Simply Stampin' challenge, you really did pull it out the bag ladies!

This week we have a great colour combo for the men in your life! Although it would work equally well for the ladies too.

I have another commissioned card to share with you this week, and I thought it was a great excuse to break out my Forever Young set, which I am ashamed to say had not seen ink yet?!

I went for the distressed feel with this card, and pulled out my spritzing tool, and tore away the edges.

I can't wait to see what you come up with for these colours, don't you just love what the rest of the DT came up with? Don't forget to give them some love, we all love hearing your comments!

Hope to see you over at the challenge, xx

Simply Stampin' Colour Challenge

Good Morning,

A big thank you to everyone who entered the sketch challenge last week, it was my turn to choose the Top 3, and you guys certainly made it a difficult job! Hope on over to the Simply Stampin' Challenge to see if you're on it.

This week its a colour combo, and if like me you seem to have made mostly Christmas cards lately this colour combo may get you thinking outside the Christmas box.

I am definitely loving this bright combination, and it also gave me an excuse to ink up a set that I bought but haven't used yet, (what with all the Christmas preparation) it's called Everything Eleanor and it is beautiful!!

I started with a Concord Crush base, then stamped the flourish from the set in Lucky Limeade onto Whisper White CS, I then inked the edges of this panel with Melon Mambo and adhered. Next I stamped the main banner shaped in Concord Crash, and stamped the sentiment (one of the retired hostess sets from last year, Afterthoughts) in Whisper White ink (hopefully you can see it if you look closely) before cutting out. I added Jumbo Eyelets to each end so I could thread the beautiful Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon through. Finally I added some stamped flowers and finished then off with sparkly Glimmer Brads!

Can't wait to visit you and see what you come up with using these beautiful colours, xx

A Freshly Made Card

Hello again,

My day is panning out quite well this is my second post for today, and I'm back with a card for a challenge that is new to me, it's called Freshly Made Sketches. Each Wednesday a new sketch is uploaded for us to play along with , this is a fairly new challenge, I'm joining in with week 4, so I'm sure they'd love you to stop by and join in.

The sketch features a tag, I don't put tags on my cards very often but I always like the effect when I do. Here's what I came up with.

A non-crafter may think that all the elements of a card like this are already printed and you just cut and stick, but I really enjoy starting with a plain white piece of paper and ending up with something pretty, which is just what I did with this tag. I decided to leave the image uncoloured, as there was quit a lot of detail in the background. I'm so sad that Bella Toile will be gone forever after Friday, boo hoo.

See you again soon, I hope. xx

Colour Q Sail Away

Hi!

I wanted to play along with a couple of challenges, a colour combo from Colour Q and a sketch from Simply Stampin. When I first saw the colours I wasn't quite sure how I was going to put them all together, I was fine with the green blue and grey, it was the red that threw me.

However when I popped over to check out this weeks challenge at Simply stampin they had a great sketch and I knew that the strips along the bottom would be a great way to use all the colours!

I have changed the sketch just a little bit, I wanted to make a masculine card and I wasn't sure about the scallop trim along the bottom of the image panel so instead I've added a little row of jumbo eyelets.
I can't believe that I haven't used this stamp before, I've had it for ages!

Now it's seen ink once I'm sure I'll be reaching for it more often, I've seen it used in so many different ways!

See you again soon, xx

Distressed Nature

Hello,

No I haven't been out bothering birds and butterflies, I'm sure my cat Salem is doing enough of that for the whole road! At our old house we only had paving, no grass so you didn't really see butterflies around much and he thinks that they are amazing.

I made a distressed anniversary card a couple of weeks ago and I enjoyed the process so much that I decided to give it another go with the Nature Walk stamp set. Now I know at the weekend I said I would try and use DSP in every card until the new catalogue launch, but for this card I made my own DSP form the row of eggs. That is one one the many fabulous things about Stampin' up! The stamp sets are put together so that you needn't use loads of extras if you don't want to.

I love the rough edges, and spritzing, it's so much fun to do! I tried to keep this card free from gems and pearls so it could be used for a masculine card if needed, but I thought a little ribbon would be ok as it is grey ribbon!

See you again soon, I hope. xx

Father's Day

Good afternoon,

I know I'm a little early but I was asked to make a Father's Day card with the male cards earlier this month, so I wanted to show you that the Nursery Suite papers can also be used for masculine cards.

This gorgeous striped paper comes in the pack and you wouldn't know that it had come from a nursery themed pack by looking at it. I have teamed the patterned paper with Chocolate Chip CS for the base and Baja Breeze scalloped detailing at the top of the stripes. The jumbo eyelets and linen thread embellish without being girly. Simple but effective.

Who knew a nursery pack could be so versatile?!

Happy crafting   xx

Why Are Men's Card's So Hard??

Hi there,

As you may remember from the beginning of last week, I have been working on some masculine cards that I was asked to make for my sister's friend.

I was asked to make 3 or 4 cards that could be sent instead of just writing a letter to her partner who is serving in Afghanistan, because of this they had to be blank and for no specific occasion. The added twist is that she didn't want cars, or bikes on them.

This got my brain working overtime, when ever I think of making a men's card I immediately think of my motorcycle stamp, or the retired Loads of Love pickup truck stamp. I trawled through my stamps and decided on stars (which you can see here), beer and football.

I'm also trying to use up some of my retired stash, so I pulled out my retired papers stash from last years mini and picked some suitable for male cards, and voila!

I think that the hardest thing about men's cards is resisting the urge to put rhinestones, glitter, ribbon and bows on them, but I have the answer, Jumbo Eyelets and card stock strips instead of ribbon!

Please pop back soon for more masculine ideas!
xx