Sandy

 
Sometimes a card never turns out as well as it looks in your head - and this was one of them - Hey Ho!

This Sizzix embossing folder is an old one but it is one of my most well used.

(If you have a look HERE I used it with alco inks and embossing powder.)

The reverse side of the folder for some reason reminded me of the random way the sea fans out when running to the shoreline - Which is a bit odd and shows how my mind works considering it's supposed to be a folder depicting shattered glass!

But undeterred I carried on with my 'vision' - 😄 and despite now looking at it for a few days am still not sure if it works or not......

Some ink blending in shades varying from the Salty Ocean blue to the Scattered Straw sand and I stamped and fussy cut a little starfish and a shell.

The sentiment may be from Penny Black (not sure!)

Despite it not looking how I imagined it (!) I am still going to link up at

CYHTP - Beach
Let's Squash It - Keep it Simple
Inkspirational - Photo prompt
Thanks for looking - appreciate you coming to visit and if you have left a comment than you again! x

PS - If you are visiting from the CAS Facebook group to see the Vellum card please scroll down to the previous post!

Vellum Reverse Stamping

Whilst it has been too hot to do anything (well too hot for me anyway) I took my fan, positioned it 2 inches away and sat at the craftie space desk!

I have been meaning to have a go at this technique and this week Chrissie gave me the nudge that I needed!

It's a technique which has endless possibilities using different colours and stamps and creates really pretty effects - it's not complicated either - so my type of technique......😄

White heat emboss one side of the vellum with whatever stamp you like - I used two single leaf stamps here.

Once the embossing has cooled, turn it over and using the same stamp(s) pick a colour and simply stamp again.

I took a bit of a risk and used Distress Oxide for my reverse stamping (Barn Door) but I did let it dry overnight before assembling it behind the frames.
I heaved a huge sigh of relief when it didn't smudge and had dried completely.

I used linen textured card throughout but it doesn't show up in the pic!

Chrissie has done a video tutorial and you will see her step by step and her lovely finished examples here -
Fabulous Vellum Backgrounds 

Thanks for looking!

I shall be doing more of this reverse stamping on vellum I think!

Christmas in July

I've managed to ignore the roasting temperatures and pretend that it's cold and snowy whilst doing this month's card for CAS Christmas!

The challenge theme is 'Santa'.

I have just 3 Santa stamps and this is one of them - it was a freebie many moons ago and I think it's likely this is the first time it's seen ink.
Santa and his reindeer actually have a large moon round them but I didn't want the moon that big so carefully removed the ink before stamping.
Ink blended background using a coin for my moon mask.                           
The snow drifts were done using a mask and Shaded Lilac ink.

Other stamps are Lavinia (Bunny), Inkylicious (Large Tree) and Cardio (small trees and twigs).
Sentiment is another mag freebie.

Another card for the Christmas Box!

There's a few other Christmas themed challenges about so am linking up at -

HLS CAS - Christmas
MIUCB - A/Goes option of CAS
Sweet Stampers - Christmas In July
ABC Christmas - O is for Old (my Santa and sentiment stamps)

Thanks for looking! x

      

CAS Mix Up Mid Month Reminder

Linda chose 'Things With Wings' for her theme for this month's watercolour challenge at CAS Mix Up.

Our friends recently celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary and I made this for them using a new Penny Black stamp set called 'How Sweet'.
A golden anniversary calls for gold embossing doesn't it?! And of course the flower had to be yellow!
The little hearts above my two love birds are from a really old set - but they didn't let me down and stamped and embossed beautifully.

Thanks for stopping by - hoping you will join us us this month - please pop over to the challenge blog and see whatthe rest of the DT have created! x

 

Magical

I was delighted to have been asked to contribute as a Guest Designer at Try It On Tuesday for their new challenge.

The challenge is set fortnightly and this time the theme is 'MAKE IT MAGICAL'.
My card is made using stamps from Lavinia and Inkylicious.

The background was blended using Stormy Sky at the bottom then graduating to Shaded Lilac for the 'hills'.

My sky was a mix of Spun Sugar and Shaded Lilac.

I resisted the temptation to keep adding flora and fauna in the blank space on the card as I didn't want to detract from our little man who was out for a stroll in his woodland home when he discovered this spotty flower - as with all naughty and curious boys he couldn't resist poking it with his finger!
 
The spots were dotted with a Posca pen and the fairy words stamped at the sides using Shaded Lilac DI.
I finished off with a few tiny white spatters concentrated towards the bottom of the card.

Thanks to the talented ladies at TIOT for having me and I hope you like my card!
Am sure they would love to see your magical creations in their link up too! x

Just Beachy!

I made something similar to this some time ago as a thank you to a friend who had given us the use of their beautiful lodge down on the South coast for a few days break.

Whilst having a sort out I found this square shadow box so I replicated the scene only on a much smaller scale. The scene measures just 3".

It was a project that I enjoyed doing although I am fast running out of wall space - I have a tiny spot in the downstairs cloakroom for this!

Heavy watercolour card for the background as I wanted some texture and some loose watercolouring.

The boat was in a box of bits - at some point it came from a laser cut sheet I think - that long ago I've forgotten. It was a little tatty but once glued it looked OK!

The 'sand' is in fact sandpaper ( dear husband won't notice that a little scrap has gone from his tool box!).

I sponged some Gesso along the torn edge to try and replicate foam (not sure I managed it) as the waves reach the beach

The shells are really small but I collect a few every time we go to a beach - I am actually quite fascinated by sea shells - I love the tactile feel of them and the array of colours.
These were from a trip to one of my fave beaches in the North of Scotland at Lossiemouth.
The 'rope' is a tiny scrap of string.

The outside of the box was given a wash of gesso and some light brushing of Weathered Wood randomly.

Linking up at
TIOT _ Here comes Summer

I hope the sun is shining in your part of blogland! x

CAS Mix Up July Challenge

 We have a new challenge today at CAS MIX UP set by Linda. This month is Watercolour month and Linda has set the theme of 'Things with Wings'.

I have been playing about a little with Brushos - I am not confident using them as I am a little too heavy handed and the card usually ends up swimming with blob pools!

But here's my card for our challenge -
Green shades are not colours I use often, maybe I was inspired by all the green in the garden!

Brushos applied first then once the card had dried I stamped the background with some grungy stamps which I have had for ever, then stamped the 2 butterflies direct onto the card for placement.

The 2 butterflies were from different sets - and remember I mentioned about blob pools?

Well my first attempt ended up very blobby and was still blobby when I stamped and fussy cut the butterflies so I smooshed them through the wet bits and then stuck them on top of the stamped ones!

Hope you can join us this month - the rest of the DT have some fabulous makes to inspire you over on the blog!
Watercolour, Wings and keep your make CAS - that's all you need to do and I am looking forward to seeing your creations! x