Merry Christmas!

Hello

I'm feeling the pressure a little with only days to go to Christmas! I'm not sure about everyone else but the days just seem to disappear so quickly but then I guess the entire year has been that way!
Thought I would share some more Christmas cards with foil.

For both of these I watercoloured lightly on Neenah cardstock then sprayed lightly with Shimmer Spritz.  When dry I printed a Hero Arts sentiment from the Silhouette Design store with my laser printer & foiled with Deco Foil Silver Stars which has a pretty holographic effect. The second card didn't photograph as well but the close up shows the foil nicely.

I backed these with American Crafts Pow Glitter paper & added some PPP Iridescent Mini stars to the second.
I am entering these into Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Make it Sparkle

I hope everyone has a very happy & safe Christmas. May the New year bring peace & togetherness for all!

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit!

More Christmas cards

Hello

Some more foiled Christmas cards similar to last post using another Hero Arts digital image from the Silhouette store.

The sentiment is the same as last post (Catherine font - Hungry JPEG). I filled in the outline leaves & stars with stickles for some pretty sparkle.

I am entering these into Inkspirational Challenge # 123 Designers Choice - CAS with Sparkle

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

Christmas cards at last!

Hello

Over the last few weeks I have been working on my Christmas cards. I was feeling a bit panicky as I only made a couple throughout the year & with my back problems I wasn't quite sure how I was going to do it. The thought of having to buy them made me shudder! So I thought long & hard about what would be the easiest approach as doing lots of colouring & stamping wasn't really going to be an option so finally I decided to go with foiling. I've been playing around with foil backgrounds throughout the year to test which cardstock works the best with the icraft deco foil plus I don't own a Minc just a 10 year old laminator. I narrowed the cardstock down to Neenah Solar White which is quite hard to get here in Australia so I tend to treat my stash like gold! However the results with the laminator have been the most consistent in giving a  beautiful smooth finish to the foil.
I have to tell you it was so much fun I could have foiled everything in sight!

Mass production is not my thing normally but I chose several designs using my Silhouette Design Studio software & printed on my laser printer. The tree above is a Hero Arts design from the Silhouette store & the sentiment was done using Catherine font which I got as a free font from The Hungry Jpeg. I used several different colours of foil using a CAS design, die-cut with a stitched rectangle & mounted the pieces on coordinating metallic card. I finished with some Stardust stickles scattered throughout the tree.

Like everyone else I had huge issues trying to photograph the foil & the sparkle of the Stickles but hopefully the close-up gives you a better idea. They are actually much prettier IRL.
A simple design, easy to do & at least I now have Christmas cards without the stress!
I thought I would enter these into Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Also entering Inkspirational Challenge # 123 Designers Choice - CAS with Sparkle

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

Wishing

Hello

It's certainly been a while since my last post. Not intended but life just gets in the way some times. I haven't been totally slack though as I have been busy making Christmas cards but more of that in another post.
Today's card is for The Flower Challenge # 2 -

I pulled out a MFT set that I hadn't played with for a while & made a couple of cards. This was my favourite of the two. I used Distress Markers to colour the stamps & stamped onto watercolour paper that had been spritzed with water. I pulled out some of the colour with a wet paint brush to create a soft background & also added a little extra distress ink to the flowers for a bit more colour. A little black Stickles was added to the flower centres & then finished with a SSS die cut & stamped sentiment.

Thanks so much for tasking the time to visit.

Thinking of you

Hello

I have another card for The Flower Challenge - Anything Goes

I used Stampendous Poppy Fields & Zigs for colouring. I cut the flower panel down and framed with MFT Stitched Square Scallop Frames. Distress inks were used for the watercolour background. Some yellow Stickles for the flower centres & a sentiment from Altenew Thinking of You set.

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

Floral Christmas

Ok, so I've failed dismally so far this year in the Christmas card department. I think this is only the second one I've made so far. This originally wasn't even meant to be one.

I've had these flowers sitting on my desk partially coloured for about a year. Yes, you heard right! For some reason I just kept shuffling them to the bottom of the pile. Nothing particularly challenging about the image except it was partially coloured & I wasn't very happy with the outcome. So determined to clear my desk of *ahem* rubbish (the polite word) I decided to get it out of the way once & for all. I started to go with a loose, outside the line watercolour look but wasn't happy with the outcome so blended out the colours to a soft background instead. A few splatters in matching colours & then all I could think of was how Christmassy it looked. So I added a Christmas greeting, some sequins & there you have it!

I was thrilled to see a new challenge devoted to floral images - The Flower Challenge 

So I have entered this into their very first Challenge - Anything Goes.

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

Birthday shaker

Hello

Another card from partly finished bits & pieces I had lying around.

The MFT Birthday Background had been sitting on my desk for a while so I cut a stitched circle and created a shaker with SSS Happy Birthday Circle die cut from an ink blended scrap. The only item I made especially for this card was the flower using SSS Artful Flowers embossed in white & watercoloured with distress inks. The Paper Smooches vellum leaves & Altenew word were already in my stash.
I am entering this into SSS Wednesday Challenge just in time!

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

It's been a while...

Yes it has! It started with my DH & I both coming down with a very nasty flu virus within 24 hours of each other. Three weeks later I was still trying to shake it off. During this time we were also away for a week for our 33rd wedding anniversary. A cabin set in rainforest on the side of a hill overlooking a gorgeous lake. Blissfully quiet & so pretty! It was a great place to recuperate.
The day I arrived home was a different matter though. We had been in the house for about half an hour when my back problem flared up and eight hours later after my home meds wouldn't work I was in the hospital ER for morphine. A week later it flared again, then another week later again. Both times I was able to control with strong meds which leave me pretty useless. So the end result of so many recurrences is that I am a little restricted to what I can do. I can't sit at my craft desk or computer for very long which is very frustrating. I dabble but to create a card from start to finish is out of the question at the moment so I am utilising the time to complete partly finished projects.
Anyway the card I have today is made with an Wplus9 image I stamped with distress inks probably 6 months ago!

I matched it with a background I found in my stash which I had watercoloured a fair while ago too. Some gold card for a fine edge and a gold embossed sentiment to complete. I couldn't resist adding some pretty yellow sequins although in the photo some of them look green & a little Wink of Stella to the flower centers.
I thought I would enter this into The Card Concept Challenge #58

I thought the colours were a good match & I'm going with mixed media for the watercolouring & embossing.

Just a quick pic of the view looking out from our deck at the rainforest cabin

This is the walkway up the mountain

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

Bling overload!

Hello

This little number is definitely a bit out there on the sparkle scale lol!

I used some of my stash of mixed media paper sprayed with yellow, pink & orange Dylusions. There is also a very pretty fine mist of Tsukineko Sparkle Shimmer spritz over the top as well but unfortunately I couldn't get it to show in the photograph.
I stamped & embossed the small & large sparkle from Winnie & Walter's Sparkle set, one over the top of the other before finishing with some of the smaller stars all using Zing Gold embossing powder. A glittery die-cut 'happy' & some rhinestones and it's done!

I am entering this into Winnie & Walter's Rerun # 12 - Sparkle literally just in time!

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

More for the birthday stash

Hello

Today I'm sharing a card made with Stampendous Poppy Fields.

This is such a sweet image & has numerous possibilities for colouring. I stamped in Ranger Archival Jet Black &  watercoloured with distress inks.The colours I chose wouldn't normally be associated with poppies but I love the vibrancy of the Picked Raspberry & Wilted Violet Distress inks together. The flower centres were coloured with Wild Honey Distress ink & then Ranger Yellow Stickles was applied over the top.
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I am entering into the following challenges -

Cupcake Inspirations #368

Addicted to Stamps & More # 204 - Clean & Simple

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

Beautiful Day

Hello

We are having the most gorgeous weather here at the moment. Beautiful sunny days & mild nights although from today the temperature starts to climb to the high 20'sC for about a week which is a little bizarre as we are in the middle of winter. I'll have to dig out my shorts & t-shirts again!
Today's card took several days to make as I haven't been able to sit & colour for long periods. Probably not a bad thing as it slowly evolved into something completely different to what I set out to do & I think I'm much happier with the outcome.

The main flowers & leaves are from Altenew Peony Bouquet and were watercoloured with distress inks. The tiny flowers are from Altenew Beautiful Day as is the sentiment and vellum flower sprig. The tiny flowers were coloured with Kuretake Gansai yellow gold watercolour which is such a gorgeous sparkly gold. The sentiment and flower sprig were heat embossed with AC Zing Gold embossing powder. I know the sprig is a little hard to see in the photo but it is quite pretty in real life. A strip of glitter tape down the side & some small rhinestones for the tiny flower centres before carefully adhering the vellum with Multi Medium Matte by hiding it under the words & a couple of flowers. 

I am entering this into Altenew July Inspiration Challenge - Weddings

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

It's your Special Day

I actually finished this card a few weeks ago but never got around to posting.

I love this WPlus9 Beautiful Bouquets Dahlias so much. When I was looking to order it I was a little worried it might be a bit restrictive but what I love most is that it is such a gorgeous arrangement & makes for a quick & easy card. There's no worrying about how to arrange the leaves & flowers, no masking, it's all done for you. No matter which way you turn it or position the arrangement it always looks great! Basically stamp,then colour & you can't go wrong.
I chose a larger square card as I wanted lots of white around the flowers for a nice crisp look. The image was stamped & embossed with Wow Opaque Bright White & coloured with Zig markers. I coloured around the arrangement in a soft grey/blue but unfortunately it doesn't show very well in the photo. I finished with a Penny Black sentiment & a few coloured PPP sequins.

I am entering this into CAS Mix up July - Stamping, Markers & my choice - heat embossing.

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

'Tis the season

Yep, it"s been a while since I posted. Had been dabbling a little trying to find some creativity & then got hit with a cold passed on by my DH. I rarely get colds or flu but this one made up for that in a big way so any chance of creativity went out with the piles of tissues! Just when things started to turn the corner & I was getting back into finishing some cards my back decided to throw one of its tantrums leaving me bombed out on meds on the couch for most of this week. So much fun, NOT!
Anyway somewhere in all that chaos I did manage to get this card done.

This is my first Christmas card so far this year. Last year by this time I had already completed enough cards to send but since Christmas last year was a bit of  tough time for us in so many ways I've had a hard time moving past that to focus on making more.
The deer was cut on my Silhouette with an image from the Silhouette store using some mixed media paper I had smooshed with Candied Apple Distress Reinker & Inka Gold which was spritzed with water. I cut the deer twice more from red cardstock & stacked.

Very pretty up close but a little hard to photograph so hopefully the second picture shows it a bit clearer. The PTI Stars were stamped with Delicata Gold ink & then I finished with a PTI sentiment stamped in Versafine Onyx Black.
So one Christmas card down & dozens more to go!
I am entering this into Inkspirational Challenge #112 Anything Goes with Red

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

Hugs

Hello


A quick post today to share a card that I made for the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge 364

I used the daisy & some leaves from Winnie & Walter's In Bloom: Addies Garden. I stamped one flower then masked before stamping the other and then masked both to stamp the leaves. Flowers & leaves were coloured with Zigs and I used some Black Diamond Stickles in the flower centers for a little shimmer & dimension. The word is a digital element from Winnie & Walter cut twice on my Silhouette and stacked before adding Wink of Stella. Finished with a coat of Glossy Accents.
Also entering this into Inkspirational Challenge 111 - Masking

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. We are once again in for some wild, wet weather but on the up side my daughter flies in this afternoon for a couple of days so I'm off to finish preparations.

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit.