Fusion - Sweet Orange Blossoms

Welcome to another Fusion challenge!

 I hope you can play along - you can visit the Fusion challenge blog HERE.

 Thanks for visiting :)

Dry embossing on vellum

I tried a technique today that I've never done before - dry embossing onto vellum using a stylus.  Dawn Woleslagle showed this technique in the current Online Card Class, and I just had to give it a go.

I coloured the back side of the vellum with a few Copic markers (a technique I have used before!). I then attached the vellum panel to a blue card base, but left it free on the right side - so it's like there's an extra flap on the front of the card.
The image and the sentiment are from Stampin' Up. 

Thanks for visiting :)

OCC: Clear and Sheer Day 1

It's time for another Online Card Class! YAY!! I managed to steal half an hour from my day, because I was DETERMINED to make a card for class today!

I CASED the card made by Kristina Werner in today's class - I used some Gansai Tambi watercolours to colour a piece of watercolour cardstock, then cut it with two dies - a butterfly from My Favorite Things (flutter of butterflies lacy) and the Berry Sprig die from Poppy Stamps. I added the sentiment from Gina K "Lots of Lines", white heat embossed onto some vellum. I finished with a slick of Wink of Stella on the butterfly.

Thanks for visiting :)

Blue sympathy card

I had the need to make another sympathy card this week. Having no mojo for cardmaking, I did what I often do - I took some inspiration from my amazingly talented friend on the other side of the world, Kelly Latevola. Check out the card that inspired me HERE.

The flowers are from Altenew's "Persian Motifs", and the sentiment is from "Lots to Say" by Reverse Confetti.

 Thanks for visiting.

Baby love at A Blog Named Hero

I have a post over at A Blog Named Hero today - here's a sneak peek:

Thanks for visiting :)

Butterflies at A Blog Named Hero

I have a post over at A Blog Named Hero today, using stamps from Newton's Nook - here's a sneak peek ;)

Thanks for visiting :)

Favourite background stamp

I have just started going through my stamps to decide which ones need to go to a new home, which ones I probably need to hold on to for a little longer, and which ones will never, ever leave my stash. This Hero Arts background stamp, "Flower Dot Pattern" is very firmly in the third category!

 Thanks for visiting :)

Fusion - April Showers

Welcome to a new Fusion challenge!

 I wanted to make the rainbow fade away to nothing - because that's what rainbows usually look like!

Can you see how I tried to follow the sketch and the photo?  I took a bit of liberty with the sketch, but I tried!

Make sure you check out the Fusion challenge blog, and link up your own creation.

Thanks for visiting :)

One stamp, three ways: part 3

Welcome to part three of my self-imposed challenge to use the Leaves background stamp from Simon Says Stamp to achieve three different looks.

For the third look, I stamped in Versamark and then white embossed the image. I then painted Distress Ink in Worn Lipstick, Wilted Violet and Blueprint Sketch.

 I added a layer of glitzy glitter cardstock from DCWV to the patterned panel, a sentiment from Wplus9, and some sequins and enamel dots to finish the card.

I'll be sharing this at CASology - their theme is "Pink"

  Thanks for visiting :)

One stamp, three ways: part 2

If you read my blog post yesterday, or saw my Instagram post on Sunday, you would have seen this:

For the middle image, I inked up the Leaves Background stamp from Simon Says stamp with about 5 different green and blue Distress Inks, then spritzed the stamp with water and stamped onto watercolour paper. This is the card I made with this piece:

The sentiment from Avery Elle is stamped in Versafine Onyx Black then embossed with clear embossing powder onto vellum.  For the butterfly, I adhered some white cardstock to a piece of white funfoam, then die-cut this with a butterfly die from My Favourite Things. A sprinkling of sequins from Pretty Pink Posh was the finishing touch.

I'll be sharing this card at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog, for their 7th birthday challenge!

 Thanks for visiting :)

One stamp, three ways

Just the other day, I stamped the "leaves background" stamp from Simon Says Stamp onto some watercolour paper - I wanted to see what different looks I could get from the one background stamp.

 This is the first card I made:

Nothing too complicated here - I stamped in Versamark and then embossed using gold glitter finish embossing powder from Zing. I added a bit of shiny gold cardstock as a border, and a sentiment from Reverse Confetti. I had planned to add some colour to the pattern, but I liked the gold on white look as it was!

 I'll be back soon with the other two cards I made.

Thanks for visiting :)

PS for the more observant among you, you might have noticed that I didn't add my usual signature at the bottom of my photographs - my photo editing software is not cooperating with me today, and I don't know why!

Pink and purple sympathy

I have needed to make a few sympathy cards in the past 2 weeks - to me, they are the most difficult of cards to make.  When I made this one, I actually made three cards almost the same as each other. 

I used Worn Lipstick and Shaded Lilac Distress Inks, watercoloured over some white embossed autumn leaves.  The sentiment is from Reverse Confetti.

Here are the other two cards - I added some Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink to these ones.

I will be sharing this card at the Just Add Ink challenge blog for their Sympathy theme.

Thanks for visiting.

Zendoodle birthday card

I saw a video a few weeks ago about zendoodles.  The idea is to draw a straight-edged shape, like a triangle or a trapezium, and then draw a spiral of similar shapes inside the first one.  When you draw a heap of these shapes next to each other, you get some pretty cool patterns appearing!

I added a sentiment from Hero Arts, and coloured my hand-drawn pattern with some Copics. I finished with a coat of Wink of Stella.

I'll be sharing this card at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog, for their 7th birthday challenge!

I'll also be sharing this card at Less is More for their One Layer Card challenge - Geometric.

Thanks for visiting :)

Sympathy card in autumn colours

This card is an amalgam of techniques - a watercolour technique from Dawn Woleslagle in the latest Online Card Class, and a quick cheat on the technique that I saw Kelly Latevola use recently. I made this card for a friend whose father recently passed away.

The leaves are from a discontinued Stampin' Up set, and the sentiment is from Reverse Confetti. 

I'll be sharing this card at Just Add Ink challenge #306 - Sympathy. 

 Thanks for visiting :)

Happy birthday to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge!

One of my favourite challenges, the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, is turning 7 this week, and is hosting a birthday-themed challenge!

I used my favourite stamp set from Simon Says Stamp, "Big Scripty Greetings".

Thanks for visiting! :)

Butterfly birthday card for Stella

This card looks absolutely nothing like I envisaged it would look like before I started! I made it for my friend Stella, whose birthday is today - happy birthday, Stella!

I made a video to show you the process, and to explain how it was that this card resisted my efforts to make it!  This 9 minute video actually started life being longer than an hour! Seriously!

I hope you enjoyed - thanks for visiting :)

A CAS card at A Blog Named Hero

I have a Clean and Simple card over at A Blog Named Hero today - here's a sneak peek

Thanks for visiting :)

Clean and simple butterflies

I recently received this "Beautiful Wings" stamp set from Newton's Nook - I thought I would use it to create some clean and simple cards.

I used the "Messages with Flourish" sentiment set from Hero Arts, and added some butterflies using various Hero Arts shadow inks. A few scattered sequins to finish - very quick and simple.

I decided not to stop at one card - I made three with the same stamps :)

Thanks for visiting :)