Card Chain Challenge April Reveal

 I was next in the link to my good blogging friend Hilary for the April Card Chain so my make went to her this time.
I received a lovely card from Gail in Canada who was the link below me - so thank you again Gail!
After being inspired by another of my blogging friends, here's my card for Hilary -

I did my usual and selected the Colour option from the long list of things to choose from.

Started by inking the background in Shaded Lilac Oxide.
Once dry I gave it a bit of a Bokeh effect with a home made circle stencil and Brilliance Moonlight White ink.

The foliage (which could be Queen Anne's Lace or maybe not!) from Rare Earth was second generation stamped with Versafine Shady Lane ink. It has actually shown up as a little on the grey side in the pic but it is green - honest!

Once everything was dry I had a bit of fun (???😲) with some silver gilding flakes! It was only when I opened the jar lid I remembered why I use them rarely....

Dabbed on some tiny dots of Cosmic Shimmer glue to the heads and added the flakes - (being careful not to breathe/cough/open any windows whilst the jar was open!) 

I was actually quite pleased with the end result and think the pic really doesn't do it justice -  although I couldn't admire it for long as it took me a while to tidy up tiny pieces of silver flakes!

Happy Crafting! x

Bright

It has been a wet and cold week so I have spent some time in the craft space making inky and catching up with a few orders. (Not that I needed an excuse!)

This card came together with the addition of a scrap of card cut with a curved stitched die!

I blended a variety of red/yellow/orange Distress Inks and then applied the Bokeh technique using a home made stencil.

I added a strip of bright orange card to the die cut to split the card and popped on a die cut sentiment and a couple of sequins to finish.

Sharing over at

Daisy Chain - No designer Paper

MIUCB - A/Goes plus technique (Bokeh)

Stinkn'Inkers - I see Spots

Sisterhood of Crafters - Ink it Up

Am hoping that the forecast for a nice day tomorrow is right as it would be lovely just to be able to take a cuppa outside for half an hour and look at blue sky instead of a grey wet and miserable landscape. (And give my poor drowned pots and containers some TLC without it feeling like it's November instead of July!)

Have a great weekend whatever you're all doing and thanks for taking the time to stop by today. 

I am on countdown to the visit to the hairdressers on Monday! x

May Mid Month reminder - Stamping Sensations

Here is my little nudge to remind you of our May Challenge at Stamping Sensations!

Chocolate Baroque are our sponsors - and who wouldn't want to win some stash from them???!

I again used the Honey Bee stamp set and my Honeycomb embossing folder (and if you missed the first post about this challenge it is HERE).
I really do like this stamp set!

So after a little bit fussier with the last one, this time I went for CAS.

The flower and bees were stamped, watercoloured and fussy cut.

I added some Glossy accents to the bees wings and they really do look transparent now on the card!

The background was inked with Fossilized Amber, Wild Honey and Squeezed Lemonade and I applied the Bokeh technique of sponging over it with a circle stencil and white pigment ink.

Another piece of cord to secure the cute sentiment and done!

Guest Designer at CAS on Friday

(if you are visiting to see my card for CAS Stencil, please scroll down to the next post!)

I was delighted to be asked to join the CAS on Friday team this week as their Guest Designer.

The theme for this challenge is 'Baby'.

I don't have call to make a lot of Baby cards and coupled with having to make it CAS was, I confess, a bit of a challenge!

I thought a bubble or bokeh effect might work well whilst keeping the card CAS so chose a Pink and Grey colourway for the Bokeh circles.

I used a stencil I made myself from some acetate for another project and  just used the smallest circle.

The pink colour is Spun Sugar and the Grey is a Metallic Silver (which really doesn't show up very well in the pic- but has a really pretty subtle shimmer to it in real life.)

Did a few ink splatters with the Spun Sugar ink.

I stamped our little elephant (from Lawn Fawn) in the same silver ink and clear embossed then coloured her in, before cutting her out with a stitched circle die.

The teeny heart is from the same set and the sentiment is LOTV.

The very talented design team have made some wonderful examples this week - I am honoured to be in such talented company! 

Sharing my little baby card over at
Creative Moments - A/Goes 
AAA - 1 image

CAS Mix up - Mid month reminder

It's middle of the month and time for a reminder for the CAS Mix Up challenge.
Was so proud to have been asked to be guest designer this month and I have enjoyed revisiting the long forgotten technique of Bokeh. (be warned - there are more made yet to share!)

For my mid month post I have gone for coloured Bokeh instead of the usual white on a darker inked background as I did for my first post here

I used a stencil I made myself from acetate and circle dies and selected 3 shades of ink in soft pastel colours.
Inking then commenced!
When done I cut it out with a wavy stitched die.

The sentiment is a Technique Tuesday die and stamp and I finished my card front with a flower die before layering it onto the base card.

 Still time to have a go and join us - and lots of inspiration to be had over at the blog!

I am sharing this with -
Alphabet Challenge-  Use stitching (my frame die)
Crafty Calendar - Make it Flowery
CAS on Friday - Flowers
HLS January - A/G with Dies
Crafters Castle - A/G + Fun Technique

Guest Designer at CAS Mix Up!

Super excited to have been invited to be the Guest Designer over at CAS Mix Up this month after winning the November challenge, although I did have to think a bit as the technique is one I haven't done for a long time!

But as I started to do my Bokeh background I wondered why I had hadn't done these backgrounds on more things!
Bokeh is a simple technique really - so there is no excuse for me not doing it more often! And you can use a variety of mediums to create the effect.

I used Distress Inks in shades of Cracked Pistachio, Mermaid Lagoon and Stormy Sky for my background and a White pigment ink for the circles.

Originally I was going to make my own circle stencil but then I remembered I had this one by Inkylicious called 'Bubbles'.

I had no idea what I was going to do until I finished the background and then the card just came together.

The colours which are amongst my fave DI's just reminded me of the sea so Miss Mermaid seemed to be appropriate!
She is from a freebie stamp set which I have had for ages and never used.

I stamped her sat on her rocks twice onto white card and fussy cut. I had to extend the rocks as they weren't big enough to cover the whole of the card base!
I coloured her with the same Distress Inks mixed with a bit of Golden Malachite and Tropic Blue Cosmic Shimmer Powders - her tail is lovely and shimmery! 

Popped her rock seat on small foam pads, slid the background in behind then sat her back on top.
Finished off with a couple of Dew Drops and a sentiment from the same set which I rather liked.

There it is - my GD card - Bokeh, Stamping and my choice was watercolouring!
There are plenty of Bokeh tutorials on You Tube if you've never tried it - and it would be lovely if you could join in - you can see some wonderful examples from the talented lot on the Mix Up DT over on the blog.
Happy Crafting and Happy New Year!x