Bossing it at Try It On Tuesday!

This time the TRY IT ON TUESDAY challenge theme is 'EMBOSSING - WET OR DRY'.

I love this embossing folder from Altenew and the monochrome look was an accident really.

At first I intended to colour the debossed flowers then do the blackout embossing technique, but I was playing around with the black ink first and just swiped it over the debossed side to see what it looked like!

I was a little unsure at first - I thought maybe it was a bit too much/overpowering so I left it on the desk for a couple of days whilst I worked out if I could do anything with it, like maybe cut it into panels etc.

3 days later and I decided each time I looked at it I liked it a bit more than the previous time! 
I think it's the 'drama' of the stark black and white that has appealed to me so it was simply mounted onto black card and a white snippet strip added to the bottom.

I am undecided if I will add a message - I have a simple 'BLOOM' stamp which I may use (white embossing on the black in the top left) or I may simply leave it as it is!

I'd love to know what you think of this card? Like it? Love it? Loathe it?!
Thanks for looking and hope you will join us at TIOT with your embossed make! x
Also sharing at 
CYHTP - A/Goes
Mix It Up #85 - Embossing

Monochrome

I've continued making Christmas cards! I think because I wasn't rushed this year it has made it something I've enjoyed so have decided to not put away the Christmas stamps. I am going to keep a few makes out - just in case there's anyone I have forgotten!

I like monochrome but usually add a pop of colour - when I finished this card though, I liked it just as it was, so the idea of coloured stars on the top of the front line of trees was discarded.
A simple to do card with some second and third generation stamping. I added some well watered down Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide under the trees and under the deer for some shading and smudged a white Posca pen over the top of it.
A liberal spattering of the Posca pen to finish it off.

We have this morning put up the Christmas Tree! This is nothing unusual for us as we always wait till the week before - it's not that I am a complete Bah Humbug person (!) but to be honest I have never been any different - I get sick of looking at it if it goes up too soon!
Waiting for it to go a little darker then as always I will take a pic for our yearly album - which this year is a little sparse as we've not been anywhere - and I don't want a pic of the front of Aldi or Tesco in there!

Thanks for calling in today. Hope all is well in your part of blogland. xx
Sharing over at
MTTC - Monochrome
Alphabet - S for Snow Scene
Fezziwigs - Last Minute Christmas
Crimbo Crackers - Anything Christmas Goes
Sweet Stampin - Last Minute Christmas

Twofer Flowers

You can tell the weather changed here over the weekend as I spent a lot of time in the craftie space so have more shares today!

The Twofer Challenge has the prompt of 'Flowers'.  I am a bit of a flower nut when it comes to stamp buying so I had a big problem deciding which flower stamp to use.

In the end I opted to just use a flower head stamp set for these 2 cards.

Both cards used up some oddments too.
I had this slate grey panel left over from another card.

I spent a little while stamping some different grey ink shades onto another scrap to try and get a good match without it being too wishy washy.
I ended up using Altenew Silver Stone.

Randomly stamped the larger of the 2 flower heads on the panel and mounted it onto the white base.

Small odd pieces of grey and white used to die cut the sentiment, which I popped up with foam pads and added the word 'Happy' underneath.

Finished with the 3 grey enamel dots. The sentiment inside says ' Enjoy Your Day'

The second card is a re-make of one done a little while ago.
This time ivory linen cardstock used as a base.

Stamped the flower heads onto an offcut of watercolour card.

Coloured them using my Waterbrush pens and fussy cut.
The two vases are from an old Clearly Besotted Flower Arrangements set.
Die cut and shaded from another scrap!

I had a small panel left of the linen card so I simply cut it freehand into a curved shape. This cardstock does not like lots of water particularly on the textured side so I used the smooth side!

Used a brick embossing folder to give some background texture before putting it all together.

I have left this card blank of any sentiment both outside and in - I have a feeling I may well be using it as a Sympathy card very soon.

I am also linking to
MAWTT -  Flowers (2nd card)
MMM - Tone on Tone (1st card)
Flower Challenge - Monochrome (1st card)
Snippets Playground  - (2nd card)

Pink

Another Christmas/Winter themed card to share today.

I am trying very hard to use up my coloured cardstock - in reality I am never going to even make a dent in it, but like to kid myself that I am being very good 😇and I am making inroads into the paper mountain.
I have rather a lot of pearlised card in pastel shades.   Hardly Used.    Ever.
Took a pink piece out and was going to make a baby card.    Ended up with this.

No excuses except
1. The stamp was out on the desk as I had used it for something else
and
2. I was inspired by a card seen some years ago on the talented Birgit's blog

This has to go down as one of the quickest cards I have made.
Stamped then embossed the trees in Silver EP onto watercolour card. The stamp is actually quite a big one so I cut off a bit from the top.
I used Victorian Velvet DI as it was the nearest pink shade to the base card and whilst waiting for it to dry I stamped the sentiment (From SU) and silver embossed.
When my watercolour panel was dry, I dotted some sparkly stuff all over it then attached it to the base card. Finished!
I've left the stamp out on the desk. I've left the pearlised card out on the desk too. Might as well batch make a load for Christmas in different shades - I can carry on believeing in that one day I will get to the bottom of the paper pile😏😉!
Linking up to
Allsorts - Christmas
CASual Fridays - Pink and Grey (second entry)
52CCT - Silver (hoping there is enough silver on this card!)
Mono Magic - Pink
Creations in Pink - A/Goes
MLCC- A/Christmas
Jingle Belles - Deck the Halls in Pink

We are off to warmer climes tomorrow😎😎 for a short break to stay with some friends. Have a great week and will catch up with you all when I come back! x

April snow!

Was a lovely morning then suddenly at about 6pm it began to ..... SNOW!!! Can't believe it - it's the Club's SUMMER Opening Day tomorrow and we had snow tonight! Thankfully it didn't stick but I wish Spring would hurry up and show it's face.

I am a bit of a 'lurker' at a challenge blog called 'The Card Concept'. I love the inspiration given by the DT who have a diverse range of styles and limitless ideas!

I have occasionally entered their challenges - this week I wanted to enter 'cos not only is it their 2nd Birthday but also because I really liked the photo!

So keeping the music script and the blingy in my mind I set to and made a card based on another I had made as a commission for a friend some time ago to give to a pianist friend who was going through a bad time.

The stamp set is I think by Hero Arts and I have had it for years!
Just kept clean lines and sufficient white space to satisfy the CAS look I think.
 I used white linen card for the base and the blingy is from my stash.
The original photo is here and hope I have done it justice!

As I used up odd bits for the stamped large spotty circle and the smaller script circle and a larger off cut for the music paper I am sneaking into the Playground after lights out and seeing if there's any mischief I can get up to then blame someone else!

It's been nice having this time at home recently. I had forgotten how therapeutic it is sitting here cutting up bits of paper and opening ink pads!

Am making up for the summer months and me being absent again by posting as often as I can now!
Thanks for looking today! x  

Blues

Everywhere here stark white this morning! Quite a lot of snow last night and it's still here!
A 'Man' card to share today as the 'man' stash is really low so made a couple of train/boat/plane themed ones this week for the card box.

A blue colour scheme for this one as the ship's wheel background paper I have had for a long time and never used.
The other paper was just an odd leftover bit but was big enough to use to cut a circle and a couple of banners.

The stamp was inked with Versafine Majestic Blue and I lightly sponged round the edge of the white card before distressing and layering onto the blue base.   

The charm secured with some blue/white twine and the sentiment stamp just tucked behind.

Challenges -
Fantasy Stampers - All About the Boys
Just Us Girls - Light/Dark Blue and White
Sparkles Monthly - January Blues (Monochromatic)
Glitter n Sparkle - Mono
Craft for the Craic - January Blues

Used up a few bits too so over to the Playground with my woolly hat and furry boots to make a snowman!
Have a great day whatever you're doing. x

2016!

Happy New Year to everyone!
Here's my first post of 2016 - thank you to everyone who followed me in 2015 and I hope you will come visit me often in 2016!
I have had a very quiet Christmas and New Year - and I managed to make a few cards. Most have been CAS and some have been inspired by blogging friends and of course Pinterest! But as it's the first day of a new year instead of CAS I have chosen this to share -

Once I'd finished I thought  maybe it was a bit sad considering this is the start of a new year! There he is standing in the rain gazing longingly at an image of the woman he loves - this movie star beauty who he captured on his camera before she became famous and then when she was lured to the silver screen she upped and left him  -- Or maybe that's just my over active imagination......... LOL!

So back to the card -
Basic cream card. Background paper is a piece I found in a drawer and used it because it was the right colour!
I printed the Photographic Studio image onto cream card then stamped the 'Movie Star' words on the top, added a metal diamond shaped brad in the centre and rubbed some Walnut Stain DI onto a clock hand (which was something else I found in a drawer!) and secured it with another brad.

I know Umbrella Man has been about for a long time but it was one that I  didn't own so was pleased to unwrap it at Christmas! The film strip die cut and Umbrella Man were cut from textured black card. Quite pleased with it close up as it has a nice subtle sheen to it.

I stamped the 'Movie Star' Image onto cream card  (I have had this rubber backed stamp for a long time and have no idea now which company it was from),  then positioned the die cut film strip over it so that only her face showed. Coloured her lips red! (Kiss Kiss!!!!)
The tickets are of course from Graphic 45 and to finish it off I punched out some sparkly silver stars and added some black blingy gems to the middles.


Challenges - Crafters Cafe (Square Cards),  Paper Creators Crafts (Anything Goes), ABC Challenge (Y for Your Choice), WWODTC (Anything Goes),  Crafts Galore Encore (Anything Goes), Dies R Us (Something New ).

The sparkly stars and black card were left over bits so am popping across to the Playground to see if there's anyone still asleep after last nights very very late party!
Thanks for sharing a little of the first day of 2016 with me. Have a great day whatever you're doing! x

A little bit of Mono

Had a bit of a scrabble round in the off cuts box and found some pieces that I think worked well together - this originally was going to be a 'man' card because of the mono colour scheme but somewhere along the way I started adding odd bits to it!
I think I had the inspiration picture from Pixels & Paper  in my head hence the addition of the Eiffel Tower instead of a vintage car or bicycle! Who can resist Paris?

All papers layered onto black cardstock.
I stamped the Eiffel Tower using Versafine Smoky Gray and cut it out.
Layered it onto a stamped background - the border stamp is a wood backed one, years old that I picked up in a bargain bin somewhere and the script stamp is another old one - used London Fog ink for these.
The ribbon is from a challenge win about 3 years ago and I just threaded some Bakers Twine through the old button before tying it onto the ribbon.

Looking at this button (another from 'Mum's Box'), I think this came off one of Mum's jersey jackets - it's quite detailed with it's silver filigree style centre - and I still have 6 more left!
 This was a definite 'use up some of that stuff' card.

Other Challenges -
Fantastic Tuesday - Add twine
RRR - Buttons and Bows
Party Time Tuesday - Anything Goes
CFTH - Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamps & More - Anything Goes
Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting - Hope all is well in your world. xx

Penny Farthing - Vintage Stamping DT Post

Just another 3 days to go before I am unleashed back in the craft room! Actually it's likely to be at least 4 as I have a mound of paperwork to do for forthcoming AGM's and other meetings but still am sure I'll squeeze in a little bit of inky stuff!

-
got a stamp set of vintage transport images from Flonzcraft, all which are great for male themed cards - airplanes, trains, balloons, ships and the like. I had a bit of an inking session with all the stamps using different ink colours and then just made them up into cards, using up scraps of card on the way so am also calling in at the Snippets Playground this week too.

 And this time our challenge over at Vintage Stamping is a colour choice - you can use one or ALL of the following colours! Green, Orange, Black, Purple, Red - which of course 'scream' Halloween but I don't do Halloween so my offering is - as with most of my 'Cards for Men' - a CAS one. (Yes I know ANOTHER CAS and a basic card but it  pads out the numbers in the box which really are very low at the mo!  )

Having stamped the image in Forest Green Stazon,  I cut it out with a circle die then layered it onto another circle cut from dark green cardstock.
I embossed a piece of white card (the folder I think is from the Oriental Cuttlebug set) then layered it over the same green.
Cut out two banner shapes from oddments of paper and finished off with a scrap of green grossgrain ribbon and a button!

Challenges -
Addicted to Stamps - White plus one
STAMPlorations - Stamp and Embossing
C.R.A.F.T. - Embossing
Crafty Ribbons - Buttons and Ribbon
Crafting when we can - No Designer paper

Have a great day whatever you're doing. x

Feeling Blue!

Yet another post done before the holiday - (edit) am now desperate to get back into the craftie space to make messy ..... 

Before I came away I needed a card in a hurry but didn't want to settle for all white - so opted for Blue instead! I seem to have made a lot of 'quick cards' recently and they're all basically CAS - I shall be embellie crazy when I next get chance!

Started with navy blue cardstock then layered some striped, then polka dot paper.

The flower was stamped with Versafine Majestic Blue then fussy cut. I dabbed a bit of Glossy Accents in the centre.
Once dry I stuck it with a 3D pad onto a tiny square scrap of embossed white card which was laying about on the desk! (Waste not want not!).
Sentiment stamped with the same ink and a couple of dark blue pearls to finish.

Quite a 'severe' card I think - but it works with the straight lines and monochrome colours?
I also needed to post it  -didn't want it too thick but wanted it to have SOME dimension so hope it achieves the objective!

Challenges -
Time Out - Stamping (optional Twist apples - which -obviously!-I didn't use)
That's Crafty - Keep It Simple
Crafty Calendar - Bingo (Flower, Sentiment, Blue)
Inspiration Destination - Anything Goes
ABC - U for Unique (Anything Goes)
Anything Goes With a Twist - Anything Goes


Only thing with holidays is there's - lots of lazing about, eating out with friends, more eating as OH cooks on the Barbie and of course the odd glass or two of vino! Which adds up to diet and detox when I get home at the end of next week!!
Thanks for taking the time to call in - have a great day! x

Mortar Board!

A quick share of a card I have just handed to my next door neighbour to give to her daughter on Saturday.
The proud parents will be at Edinburgh University watching their eldest graduate having performed exceptionally well and obtained her  degree in Veterinary Medicine and Science. So well done to Katie!

The background script stamp is from Indigo Blu (I think) and the 'Congratulations' sentiment was a freebie from a magazine.
Stamped both in versafine black then mounted onto black cardstock.

The mortar board was made from black card which is slightly corrugated so has a 'ripple' fabric effect - looks quite good in real life even though I do say so myself!

I made the tassel from some embroidery thread and the polka dot ribbon was recycled from a card I received for my own birthday!
Made a little 'diploma', tied it with twine and secured to another piece of the same black card.

I found a free sentiment some time ago perfect for Graduation cards from desert diva - it reads -
 "Ending? This is only the beginning!"
 - Perfect!

Challenges -
Cards Galore Encore - Use a Stamp
Less is More - recycle
Imagination Crafts - Anything Goes
Fantastic Tuesday - Anything Goes
Crafty Sentiment - No patterned paper
Tuesday Throwdown - Anything Goes

Been a warm, humid day here today - got all my washing dry... trouble is now I have to do the ironing!!!
Thanks for stopping by! x

Black & White - Crafty Cardmakers DT

Been a few changes over at Crafty Cardmakers and More for 2014 - a new title, new teams and different types of challenges as we're also adding some Mixed Media themes! 

For our team's first challenge of 2014 Kim has chosen the theme 'BLACK & WHITE' - no other colours except flesh colours for people.

This colour combo just makes me think of silent movies!
So a movie inspired card is my DT offering for Kim's challenge and I combined digi stamps with a 'real' one to achieve the effect that I wanted!

The papers are old stuff from my stash so I have no idea who's they are.
The image is an old stamp which I have had for years and rarely used. (It was in the 'shall I get rid of ?' drawer!)

Stamped onto bright white card and matted onto black before mounting it onto the base. I popped a teeny bit of red ink onto her lips and I hope I will be forgiven- well you can't have a movie star without cherry lips can you?????

The film reel and clapper board were free digi stamps some time back. Raised these also with 3d foam pads and some film strip acetate stuck behind (have no more of this left so that's the end of my movie career....!!)

The stars and sentiment were all PC printed and I finished it off with some black sequins, a black organza bow and some white pearls.

The inside is decorated with the same papers and another star.

I am quite disappointed with the quality of this pic as the colour isn't as sharp as it should be - think I should have asked Santa for a new camera?
 I hope you can come and join us this month - our sponsors are Woodware and Di's Digi Stamps.

 Other Challenges -
Sentimental Sundays - More than 3 layers
Hobbycutz - Lots of Layers
OSAAT - Use a digi
Scribble & Scrap - Anything Goes
Challenges 4 Everybody- Anything Goes
Digi Galore - Monochrome
Craft Your Passion - Face the Music (Movie Star by Harpo - really showing my age now!!)
My Sheri Crafts - Use a Digi
Fussy and Fancy - Monochromatic

Thanks for taking the time to look at today's creation - have a wonderful day whatever you're doing! x

Scraps!

We've had some wild storms over the last 24 hours - weird weather - in between the torrential downpours and thunder/lightning, we sat outside and did the crossword!! It's raining quite heavily again now so it gave me a perfect excuse to have a little 'fiddle' with some odd bits laying about on the desk and make a quick CAS card!

Base card is Ivory Linen and the stamp is an old one!

The script paper is from a Papermania pad and I edged it with some scraps of black card cut with a scalloped punch.

An off cut of some cream vintage cotton lace was wrapped round the middle.

The tatty flower is just all bits of papers from the same paper pad. Cut it with different sizes of nesties circles, tattered the edges a bit, sprayed with some water and scrunched up. Once dryish put them all together with a brad.

The leaves and foliage were also punched from odd bits of paper and I just finished it off with some black pearls.

(There appears to be a small mark on the left - must have been on the camera cos it ain't on the card! My mucky fingers on the lens no doubt!)

Challenges -
Cuttin' and Stampin' - CAS
ABC - Use Scraps
Lady Annes - Monochrome
Card Making Mama's - Monchrome
Fashionable Stamping - Use Script

and although it's a bit wet for the Playground, have donned my wellies and am going to go splash in the puddles! x