Snippet flowers

 Hello lovely crafters and I hope you are making the best of this holiday time and enjoying the little things!

Today I am sharing my Snippets card so I can join in with Pixie's Christmas draw. Lovely Di is offering a bumper stash of prizes to playground friends who use scraps and snippets on their cards. She must be knee deep in lists and notes to keep an eye on who is joining in as well as what's going on in the playground. 

I always reach for snippets first now and also the smallest one which will do for the job, which is daft really. 

This is a card I started a while ago which got shoved in my ever increasing pile of stuff. I'd made the basic card and added the flowers and leaves but it was a bit dull. 

Of course, what it needed was a butterfly and yellow was the perfect colour to give the card a lift. I also added a couple of yellow flowers. 

The leaves are cut from inked paper and the flowers and butterfly coloured with pencils and blended with oil. All snippets, of course. I think the backing paper is also a snippet but if not it's part of very old stash which I am also happy to use. 

I'm pleased with the yellow. Shame there is no butterfly challenge this week. Mrs A has diversified into Spot the Difference and the game is running here for current followers. 

Here are the challenges I'm joining in with:

Pixie's Snippets Playground Christmas Challenge

Crafty Hazelnut's patterned paper challenge

Job for the inbetweeny time is to tidy desk and deal with that pile of discarded die cuts, inky papers, part made cards and scraps of paper for a new. Tidy up and put away ready for a new year and keep it that way 🤣😂🤣

Thanks for visiting, enjoy some time off and hopefully a bit of crafting. x

Smooshing fun

 Hello lovely crafters. 

I've worked on getting this card finished so I could join in with Mrs A's Butterfly challenge. 

A few weeks ago I had a stamping session where I used this watercolour canvas and smooshed ink on and then stamped in black when it was all dry. It did take a while to dry properly, I should say. 

So this is my card. The canvas panel is mounted on purple with a pink swirl stamped onto the base card. I think the pink swirl is a bit too bright and I perhaps should have stamped off first for a lighter look. What do you think?

I used an acrylic block to stamp the watery colour onto the canvas. 

The current butterfly challenge is:

I haven't used any fancy folds but I have used French Pink, Fabric ( I hope it counts) and a butterfly. 

Krafty Chicks Challenge #534 (CAS Clean and Simple)

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Watercolour Christmas

 Hello lovely crafters. I hope everyone is well and still smiling. 

I like a traditional Christmas card and that is what I've created today. 

I used a NBUS fir branch stamp and tried out a new (to me) technique. I'm sure I've seen it on a blog or on You Tube but I have no idea where. I doubt I've invented it. 😄

Now being the proud owner of a stamp platform (I'm always late to the party) I put in a piece of  creamy watercolour paper and placed the branch at the top. 

Then I inked the stamp by tapping with Espresso and Mowed Lawn ink pads. One was easier than the other, being a mini stamp pad but I just used the corner of the large one on the fir cone. 

Then I stamped, then misted the stamp with water and stamped again in the same place. Voila!

I've always been a fan of water colour and am excited to get that effect without any artistic ability. 

Obviously, I moved the stamp down the card, inking and misting as I went.

One note: when I tried this out and attempted to make a wreath, the lid became very wet and the stamp started to slide around. Stamping all the ink and then all the water would work for a wreath but for this one I dried it off as I moved it down the card. 

I toyed with some sparkle but they didn't look right and, to be honest, it doesn't really need it. I do like a bit of sparkle though. 

So I'm joining in with the following challenges:

CAS Mix Up November Watercolour Challenge

NBUS Challenge #20

I've realised I can pop in again to Pixie's Snippets Playground - due to an extension of the deadline. 

I used two large snippets. Yeay!

Thank you for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Starry Twofer

 Helloo lovely crafters. 

I've amazed myself by making two cards, which both went to plan, and in plenty of time to enter:

I like to enter this but, in spite of the long window for entries, I often miss the deadline. Two different cards using the same stamp, die or stencil, for two different occasions. (This month only we are allowed to make two holiday cards).

I picked a die which I've had for a little while but not used as often as I should have. 

For the first card I made a watery Brusho square using only Ultramarine ink. I used the star die to cut away part of the card front and fixed the blue panel inside. I knew I had a starry sentiment somewhere so fished it out and it was perfect. 

I used a few of the cut out stars, coloured them with the same ink and fiddled about covering them in Glossy Accents. Messy but fun. 

Card two. I wanted to use Vellum 

1. as I have it in my stash and don't use it and 

2. so I could join in with 

It came upon a Midnight clear - a holiday card with a see through element. 

This card is not pink, as it looks here! It is vellum over silver. In fact part of a silver, saved envelope glued over a card. The vellum is embossed with the sentiment and then trimmed with the same star border.

The vellum is folded over the top and fixed using double sided tape on the back so it doesn't show. I found the silver cord in my exploding ribbon box so it helps hold the vellum in place as well as looking cute. 

I did have a quick look on You Tube for inspiration with Vellum and ended up with this very elegant card. It is a bit fragile, especially the cut edge but I will persevere with trying to use it.

So I managed two cards for two different occasions. I'm not sure what the first one is for but hopefully someone soon will need encouragement or a pat on the back.

Thank you for visiting, enjoy your day. x

A bit of pink

 Hello lovely crafters!

Here I am with another Christmas Card to join in with CAS Christmas Card Challenge Non Traditional Colours.  You can't go wrong with pink.

I started by making the bauble. It's stamped and embossed in bronze and then coloured with inks. When it was dry I clear embossed over the whole thing using Versamark and clear embossing powder. I completely forgot that I'd intended to add a little glitter. 

I used an embossed panel to mount it on which I thought matched the swirls on the bauble. 
I was about to go in with black in for the border then at the last minute reached for pink instead and I do like it. 

What do you think? You can't have enough pink?

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Daisy, daisy

 Hi everyone, I hope you are bearing up, smiling and stamping.

Here is a card I made with a flower die I just couldn't resist. It turned out to be fiddly and annoying to use so that will teach me to buy cheap dies, or will it? No, it'll be just the same the next time I see one I just have to have!

It is very pretty and I do love a daisy flower. I cut out all the flowers from white (snippets, of course) and just touched the edges with a pink ink pad. Coloured Candi circles finish off the flowers. 

One of the reasons for buying this was the lovely, realistic leaves included. These were cut from white and coloured. I think I'll use them a lot. 

The pink spotty paper makes the perfect background to attach it all to. 

I'm paying a long overdue visit to Pixie's Snippets Playground, It's all made from snippets, possibly even the spotty background but I can't quite remember. 

I'm also linking to a couple more challenges:

Watercooler Wednesday:

A bit more time to craft

Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper challenge

Now I've just bought some Christmas stamps so I'd better get on and make something Christmassy. 

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. 

x

Two turtle doves

 Hello everyone. 

I'm am far behind my usual Christmas Card total so I wanted to join in with

The theme is birds, as you see. I didn't have a Christmas bird I like the look of so I improvised. That's the point of challenges though, isn't it? I'm sure turtle doves look just like this!

These are a pair of bird stamps which came with Creative Stamping magazine, possibly last year or the year before. 

Always with an eye for a bargain and looking for new ideas, I was shopping recently and came across a pad of 'canvas' sheets for water colouring and as they were very cheap, (BandM if you are in the UK) I bought one. This was my first try of it and I like it very much. It's a pale cream colour which is always good and has lovely texture.  

I started by inking a bit of the background with watery teal ink then stamped the birds over that. I had two more stamped and I coloured and cut out the bodies and then the wings as a third layer. 

The words are stamped with a set of individual peg letter stamps. 

The final touch was a bit of brown inking to ground them which really did finish it off. 

I wanted to add another little something but wasn't sure what. Let me know if you have any ideas. 

I just need to make the other eleven days of Christmas now... Food for thought. 

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Snippet tidy up

Hello Everyone. 

Recently I had a bit of a sort out in my craft corner. You know that pile of bits and pieces of half made cards and abandoned projects? It's not just me who has that is it?

These 3 cards were all made from things I'd given up on because I didn't like or didn't know what to do with. The card bases are also failed projects. I have plenty of those. 

So I set to and  made all these cards from scraps and snippets lying around. Yeay for me and I can pop into Pixie's Snippets Playground and show them off. 

The first two are Christmas cards to add to my (not very large) pile.

I know I made this first one a very long time ago. I'd heat embossed the holly then painted over with Brushos and ironed off the embossing. Love those berries. I remembered that I had a sheet of push out sentiments from who knows where so this is two of them glued together to give a little more dimension. 

This was a similar idea. I embossed the snowflakes and added Brushos, I wasn't happy with it at the time but not enough to throw it away! Another sentiment and a snowflake found in my box of bits. 

This last one was gold embossing painted over with aqua and orange inks. Again I didn't like it! Now I do so it's popped onto kraft card with a few gems added for sparkle. 

So that was a good afternoons work. Also a good idea when you are not feeling very creative but want to make something. Since I made these another little pile has started to form!

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Flower power

Hello everyone, though I've been very busy I've found time to make a few cards but not time to post any of them. I'm really excited by this card so wanted to share it. The colours are very vibrant and fun. 

It's made from 2 large snippets (in fact left overs from failed projects). I started with a blank square and started to stamp the flowers and leaves in black Versamark. 

I coloured a few and then added more as I went along. 

The reason I'm so pleased is that I managed to blend the colours of the pencils and get a look I'm very happy with. I've never taken the time to learn to colour well and don't think I have the patience for it. I've learnt to blend with baby oil and a blending stump and love the effect. 

It didn't really take too long and, of course, it's a relaxing thing to do. Starting with the lightest colour on each I added darker colours on each petal or leaf and blended to two together. I did use similar colours which helped. 

After I'd got enough flowers and leaves I shaded the whole background in blue adding darker blue around the flowers and leaves with gives extra depth. 

The stamps are Rainbow Designs and I used Prismacolour pencils. 

I can hop over to Pixie's Snippets Playground as I've used snippets. Large ones too and I didn't create any new ones. 

Circle die - twice

It's a very wet day here today (much needed for the plants) so perfect for blogging a couple of cards. It's so wet you have to change your trousers when you come in! I'm on my third pair. 

These cards are made for:

I used a die I bought once on without much thought and have only used a few times. So I've used it here as a die and also as a stencil. 

First card:

I inked with teal and a little purple and then spritzed with water to give a little texture. I then die cut the circles twice and captured all the little bits in two small dishes. 

Swapping them over I replaced the die cuts in the opposite positions and popped all the little bits back in. Not putting them back where they came from adds to the subtle colour variation. (Oh, I also added an extra die cut on the back to raise them slightly). 

I made it with the die cuts horizontal but then changed my mind. Then I remembered this word stamp which I think fits well. 

Husband and son both have birthdays coming up so this might work for either one. 

Second card:

This inking is green! I hope you can see it on your screen. 

I used a die cut as a stencil with green ink. Then stamped little flowers, in purple,  in each of the circles using an old Stamplorations set. I stamped one more and cut it out and glossied it up. Stamping the words from the same stamp set I added the final flower just above. 

Thank you for visiting, enjoy your day. x

New dies

So I bought some new dies! After a few weeks of not going anywhere or buying anything I thought perhaps I'd saved a few pounds so I'd treat myself to some little foliage dies I'd seen. Then I saw some cute little flower dies so I bought them too. As you do. 

I thought they'd be perfect for Mrs A's Butterfly challenge for their first outing. 

I did a little stencilled background and used a strip of paper down one side. Then cut and coloured the leaves flowers and butterflies with Pro Markers. The butterflies are from a different die set. I  added a tiny gem in the centre of each flower and drew on the butterfly antennae. 

I like it and can't wait to go and cut out some more flowers, it's a big set with lots of options for layering and using in different ways. They are perfect for adding finishing touches to cards and, of course, using up snippets.  The sets are both Tattered Lace - Leaf Branches and Flower Shop Collection.

So I'm in time to join in with 

I've used blue, light orange and yellow and a butterfly and my choice which is die cutting. 

I can also hop over to Pixie's Snippets Playground though I may sit in the shade and paddle in the duck pond rather than running around while it's so hot. All the die cuts are made from snippets, of course.

After my trouble with loading photos onto here last week, I tried again in the week. Did exactly the same as I always do (crop and resize) and they loaded perfectly. So I posted them only to find that the challenge I was entering had just closed. Ho hum. 

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Flowers and more flowers.

I've finally got round to sharing some cards that I've made and Blogger looks completely different. I suppose that is old news to everyone else. 

I've had trouble all the way with this, taking photos and then uploading them. Can anyone tell me why I kept getting an 'Error Occured' message when trying to upload? The colours also look a little washed compare to real life. 

Some of you know that flowers are my life, I grow and sell them here and am a little obsessed. I love stamping them too and I have a new flowery stamp set to try out. 

Three for the price of two today. 

Love this! Imagine slightly warmer colours against the orange. I love the colour combination. 

I made the first card by masking a circle and sponging yellow and orange ink in the centre. I stamped and coloured a selection of flowers from a couple of sets. I coloured them using pencils and blended the colour using a blending stump and oil. 

I've never taken the time to learn colouring properly but always wanted to get that blended look. I've been watching some of Gina K's live You Tube sessions and on one she showed how to blend colours really easily. I'm so pleased I managed to do it. 

I stamped the leaves directly onto the card and remembered to stamp the words before gluing down the flowers. I still managed to get one almost covering the words by not paying attention. 

A little Wink of Stella and some gems finished it off. 

I made the second card by stamping the flowers onto patterned paper and cutting out. I fluffed stamping the sentiment so added the circle and really didn't like the look of the card. Having glued it all down and come back the next day, of course it looks fine!

I made a third card though with some more of the same flowers which I'd already cut out. I stencilled a narrow border down the left and then added the flowers. I played around with leaves but it looked better without. It did need something though so I bravely added some ink splatters. I love the look of them but it could so easily ruin a card. I got away with it though!

I'd like to join in with:

I've used new flower, leaf and sentiment stamps

Say it with Flowers

Pixie's Snippets Playground

I've used snippets for the flowers. 

It's been such a trial to get this posted that I have to go and lie down but will be back for blog hopping tomorrow!

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x