Iris

Another Technique Tuesday stamp arrived for me earlier this week! Love getting these little envies with goodies in - and having the time to use them!

I didn't use the die that comes with the stamp as I wanted to move a couple of the leaves about and after stamping, I fussy cut - which was quite easy to do.

For the background, I used Peeled Paint DI at the bottom, then graduated Mustard Seed and Fossilized Amber before finishing with Shaded Lilac Oxide.
A few Lilac spatters (once again more on the craft mat than on the card....)

The flower was painted in the same shades and I added some teeny blobs of Gold Liquid Pearls.
I wanted to make the bottom of the card a little different and tuck the flower in rather than just having it on top so hence the use of the scallop die.
I stamped a few grasses for the base of the flower to give it a bit more depth.
The sentiment also part of the same set.

Sharing over at
Addicted 2 Stamps - CAS
Everybody Art - Flower
House that Stamps Built - A/Goes
House of Cards - Flower Corner

Shopping, a little bit of ironing then an afternoon in the craft space - it's quite grey and cool here and the wind is howling - not that I need an excuse! Thanks for visiting and have a great day whatever you're doing! x

A Snippets Card

Pixies Snippets Playground has me this week to show what I have done using those odd left over bits of card - let's face it, we all have them and the challenge run by Di, is a fortnightly way of getting us to try and lower the scrap mountain!
If you have come across to visit from the Playground it's lovely to see you and hope you will come back soon.

My card uses a stamp called Cosmos from one of my fave companies - Technique Tuesday.  (Long admired the cards made by Birgit and some of her creations are made with stamps from TT - which got me started!)

Recently I have been practicing watercolour backgrounds so I now have odd bits of watercolour cardstock to add to the ordinary cardstock pile!
Stamped and heat embossed in white onto a scrap of watercolour card and coloured the flower heads with Peacock Feathers DO before fussy cutting.  

Used another oddment of watercolour card cut into a square and stamped and embossed the Cosmos flowers again. 

I then washed part of it with the same ink using lots of water to dilute the colour to create my background and positioned the stitched die frame (another leftover) over it.

The flower heads were popped up with foam pads.

The stitched rectangular piece was just another odd bit on the desk so I ran round it with a stitched die and used it! 

Finished it off with some liquid pearls in the centre of the flowers and a couple of bits of bling. 

Hope you like my make for the Playground this week and that you will come along and join us!

Sailing

It's certainly sailing weather here today - I think Spring may finally be here in my little part of the world - we have glorious blue sky and warm sunshine.
I have had friends with me for a few days and the house is really quiet now they've gone home! One of them remarked that my poor husband must think he has now gone deaf! 

Used a stamp set purchased a little while ago that has never seen ink until now.
This was a simple card really.

Done on watercolour card and after stamping the lighthouse and boat, I simply masked and then sponged and painted.
I used Distress Inks - Salty Ocean for the sea, Tumbled Glass for the sky and Squeezed Lemonade for the sun, then watercoloured the cliffs, grass and boat with watercolour paints.
Some birds and the sentiment (which I really like!) and job done!

This has now been put in the 'man stash' section of my card box. 
It didn't take too long to do either - I never do enough male themed cards and need to improve this!


Sharing over at
Cardz 4 Guyz - Travel/Transport
Crafty Sentiment Designs - Only For Boys
SOS - Masculine
Crafty Cardmakers - Water
Watercooler Wednesday - Masculine

Hoping that you too have the lovely weather we have - and thank you for visiting me today! x

Blossom

Carrying on practising my backgrounds - am trying to convince myself that I do not need a mountain of paper to make nice cards.
I have so much patterned paper some of it is so old I cannot remember where/when I bought it and looking at the cards I have made in the last few months I have used probably 4 small pieces of it. The time has come I think to get rid - if I could only find a home for it!

For a long time I have wanted to subscribe to Technique Tuesday's 'Greenhouse Stamp Society' but as I have been away so much over the last 3 years there seemed little point - until now!
Although I still have some travelling this year it is not as intense as it has been so I took the plunge. It's nice to have something to look forward to arriving in the post every month and I have subscribed for both stamp and the matching dies.

This stamp is the March release called Cherry Blossom and I love it! I made a couple of cards with it and am sharing the first one which was just a basic design - but am pleased with how it turned out.

Stamped and heat embossed in white, then painted with DI's. I added a teeny bit of liquid pearls to the stamens of each blossom.
The circle frame was a left over!
I took some watercolour card and splashed/smooshed a bit of Spun Sugar on it and tucked it behind the die cut circle.
The sentiment is from the same set, cut from watercolour card and painted.
A few teeny pale green pearls and done!

Joining in at -
A2S&M - Make your Mark
Ellibelle's  Crafty Wed - Flowers + Sentiment
PDE - Flowers

I have a full house for the next few days - some friends coming to stay till the middle of next week and am looking forward to a bit of girly gossip and no doubt some shopping!
Have a great weekend and thanks for the visit! x

Still Life

Irt's been a beautiful 2 days here. We've had some nice sunshine and thankfully it's been a little warmer. It's such a change from grey damp and dreary.  A couple of visits to a garden centre and home with some spring flowers, (now all planted up in their pots) has cheered me up a bit!

I have also found some time to do a few more cards for the stash.
Some of them have been a bit of an experiment - some have turned out as a disaster but others have been OK.

I have a whole file of 'Inspiration' and this is my take on one of those cards I saved. 

I think I should have put some shading behind to make the design have a bit more depth but practice makes perfect (or in my case practice will make something passable - eventually!).
I used Hickory Smoke  and Pumice Stone for the background.

I die cut the 3 vases from watercolour card and coloured with Distress Inks.
I stamped the leaves (from a freebie set) on the front one and then used glossy accents over the vase. The other two were just left after painting. I used foam pads to stand the vases out from the background.

Although it doesn't show very well in the pic, the front one has a lovely glossy finish and really stands out.
The tiny branches are an old stamp from Chocolate Baroque (I think) and I used some Liquid Pearls to make tiny white berries.
Sentiment and vase dies are from MFT.

I have long been an admire of the awesome Birgit. I love her CAS but so detailed style and the way she combines different elements effortlessly. She has inspired me to keep trying with small watercolour backgrounds and add different elements to the focal point of the card. 
My 3 vases are not quite as good as Birgit's but it will do for me!
Sharing at -
Simply Create Too - Use Die Cuts
Creative with Stamps - CAS and Sentiment
Die Cut Divas - A/Goes
Allsorts - Square
Crafter's Castle - A/Goes

Hoping the sun is shining wherever you are - thanks for calling by and if you've left me a comment, thank you! x

Asian Inspired

I notice that Oriental themed stamps seem to be making a little bit of a comeback just recently. At one time they were immensely popular and now are undergoing a bit of a revival.
I remembered my little stash of embossing folders and stamps which have been neglected for a while so I have made some giving the old stuff an airing.

Will post the others as and when - but here's the last one I did yesterday ('cos it didn't stop raining here), and it just used up the leftovers from the days crafty sesh!
Quick, simple and I like it!

Chinese script on vellum. The branches cut from a bigger die in black pearly card and the flowers also from the same die set.
The 'vase' was a sentiment die with an oval centre - just snipped it off! I added a little bit of gold embossing powder to give it some texture.
And that's it.

It's a stunningly lovely spring day here (finally) - we have blue sky and sunshine - although still not very warm it is lovely to see the sun!
Sharing my little oriental make over at -
S+F=C -  CAS
Use Your Stuff - Spring
P B & More - Black/White plus 1 (hoping that the teeny bit of embossing doesn't count as another colour!)
SOS - Black/White + 1 (ditto about the embossing)
Library Challenge - Memoirs of a Geisha (stunning black/white/red cover too)

Thanks for visiting - have a great day! x

Stamping Sensations April Challenge

Our challenge at Stamping Sensations for April is 'One for the Girls'.

We are sponsored by Be Creative who are offering a whopping £25 prize to spend in their store - but remember you MUST follow our challenge rules to be eligible for the prize!
Although the challenge theme sounds simple, we do have some basic rules that we ask you to follow. This makes it fair to everyone who submits an entry! Please read our rules over on the blog.

I opted for a CAS card this month, done on a linen textured card base and using up some small pieces for the flowers.
(A visit to the Playground beckons!)

I love this layering set from Altenew called Peony Bouquet, although I didn't use all the layers for this card.

Treated myself to a set of 4 Hero Arts inks in lovely shades of green -  not a colour I use a lot of normally but I really like how this turned out.

The outline stamp was inked in 'Antigua'.
Then used two more of the layering stamps in 'Tide Pool' and 'Mint Julep'.
All fussy cut (not rich enough to buy the dies!).

Happily I managed to find a scrap of paper which matched perfectly so used that as a mat behind the stitched rectangle die.

Sentiment from Technique Tuesday inked in 'Tide Pool' and a couple of Dew Drops.

Please see what my teamies have delivered up this month to inspire you!

Crafty  Creations - A/Goes
Sisterhood of Crafters - Spring
Crafty Gals - A/Goes
Happy Crafting!