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