It's Purple Really

This week my friend Linda challenged me to make a card using the emboss resist technique. It's been a bit of a hectic week so I only got around to making my card today.

I just love this technique - nothing like doing a bit of embossing and then getting inky!

Unfortunately my camera seems to be having a problem distinguishing purple from blue today so even though my card is very purple having used shaded lilac and dusty concord distress inks, my card and tag look more blue in the photos.

I started by clear embossing snowflakes from a number of Hero Arts sets (will add names tomorrow) on white card. After applying the distress inks I sprinkled water on the panel using Tim Holtz's Splatter Brush which Linda recently gave me - thanks again, Linda:) Once the panel was panel was dry I adhered it to a card base, added the embossed sentiment and finished it off with some gems.

I repeated the process on a tag I had die cut.

Another two items ready to go into my stash for Christmas.

Critter Christmas

Oh where did that weekend go?! Just before I head to work I want to set another Christmas card challenge for my friend Linda. This week I’m going with Critter\s Christmas so the card should have any type of animal\s on it.

For my card and tag I inked up a funny reindeer image from Art Impressions. As soon as I spotted the reindeer with the wobbly bottom I had to get it – I know some of my family and friends will get a laugh out of that fella when they see him on their Christmas cards.

Stamp – Jingle Set (Art Impressions)
Embossing Folder – Snowflake Scroll (Darice)

After stamping, colouring and cutting out the reindeer I adhered him to a card panel that had been embossed and stamped with the sentiment. Then I cut out and coloured an extra bottom which shakes as it’s been adhered to the larger image with an action wobble.

I had to add a little sparkle so out came diamond stickles to go on the bells.

Next up I made a matching tag. Even reindeer are taking selfies now:)

Stamp – Jingle Set (Art Impressions)
Dies - Film & Polaroid – (Greeting Farm) and Romantic Rectangles 2 (Spellbinders)

Linda has already set her challenge here - it's a good one and one of my favourite techniques!

Linda's One Layer Challenge

Earlier in the week my friend Linda set a challenge to make a one layer Christmas card. I rarely make one layer cards but it was fun, and I have to admit a little challenging, to give it a go. Midweek I was in the process of making a card and as there was a lot of colouring left to do on it I brought it into work on Friday to finish it at lunchtime. Then what did I do - left it in work by mistake! So this morning I started again from scratch using the same images but made a less "busy" card which I think I prefer to the one that's still sitting in my drawer in work.

I started by heat embossing the sentiment in gold and then stamped a mix of images on part of the card. After that I used Promarkers to colour the flowers and pine cones. I wish I was brave enough to try a bit of splattering but after dropping an inky block and messing up what was my first attempt at this morning's card, I left the card as it was.

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Color Layering Dimensional Bird, Very Merry Christmas and Build a Wreath by Lia

To finish I just added diamond stickles to the flower centres - hopefully it's okay to do that on one layer cards!

Next up was the matching tag which I think I'll redo as I wrinkled it a bit when trying to flatten it after it got a little warped from heat embossing. Lol it has been a day for stampy mishaps so I think I'll try my hand at something else today!

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Color Layering Dimensional Bird, Very Merry Christmas and Build a Wreath by Lia

Not a Christmas Image

It's time again to challenge my friend Linda to make a Christmas card and this time I'm going with the theme of making a card on which the main image is not a Christmas related one.

This week I've made a card for a friend who is mad into golf. I think she'd play golf on Christmas Day except for the fact that her club is closed! For my main image I used a fun golf martini stamp from a set Linda gave me recently - thanks again Linda! The image was coloured with Promarkers and I added a sprig of holly for a festive feel.

Stamps: Fore Retirement - Impression Obsession, Woodland Wreaths (sentiment) - WPlus9 & Christmas Characters (holly) - Inkadinkado
Die: Elegant Ovals (Spellbinders)

The top part of the glass and the flag are popped up on foam pads for extra dimension and I added a layer of Glossy Accents to the glass.

For a matching tag I treated the die cut golf ball as if it were a Christmas pudding by topping it with a sprig of holly.

Dies: Golf Ball and Tee - Taylored Expressions & Nesting Gift Tags (Docrafts Xcut)
Stamp: Christmas Characters (holly) - Inkadinkado

Linda has already set me a challenge for this week. You can see it here. Oh I think her challenge is the most difficult type of card for me to make - hope I can come up with something that's even semi okay!!

Lavender Sachets

Now that lavender is in full bloom here, except in my garden where it seems to be a bit behind this year, my sister gave me two big bunches from her garden which I am currently drying out on trays covered with tissue paper.

I still have some dried lavender in a jar which came from both of our gardens last year so I decided to make lavender sachets using some pretty felt die cuts my friend Linda gave me recently. You can see gorgeous sachets that Linda made here and pick up some great tips from her too.

These Simon Says Stamp dies have gone straight to the top of my shopping list - thanks for enabling me, yet again, Linda;) The first sachet was made for my sister so she could enjoy the glorious scent of lavender from her garden year round.

Dies - Plush Blooming Heart & Plush Charmed Heart (Simon Says Stamp)

I popped the heart in a little cellophane bag and die cut and folded over the larger oval die to use as a topper.

Dies - Plush Blooming Heart & Plush Charmed Heart (Simon Says Stamp) and Elegant Ovals Nestabilities (Spellbinders
Stamp - Sew Artsy (Hero Arts)

The other sachet is for my Mam. Next up I think I'll make one for myself and get an order in with Simon Says Stamp:)

Dies - Plush Blooming Heart & Plush Charmed Heart (Simon Says Stamp)

Linda's Snowflakes and Dry Embossing Challenge

As I'm off work for a few days I was able to get straight into making a Christmas card for the challenge set yesterday by my friend Linda - a card with snowflakes and dry embossing.

I started by applying distress inks (faded jeans, broken china & tumbled glass) to a piece of white card, spritzed it with water and then embossed it using a gorgeous folder that Linda gave me when we met on holidays recently - thanks again, Linda! The pretty snowflake dies Kristina Werner designed for Simon Says Stamp are my favourites so I just had to add one of them to my card too.

Embossing folder - Snowflake Scroll (Darice)
Die - Kate Snowflake (Simon Says Stamp)
Stamp - Very Merry Christmas (Hero Arts)

The snowflake was die cut from white card and a layer of diamond stickles and a gem applied for some sparkle.

Next up I made a matching gift tag with pretty much the same supplies.

Dies - Kate Snowflake (Simon Says Stamp) & Lacey Squares (Spellbinders)

It's great to have another card and tag to put into my bundle for Christmas. Linda, thanks again for the fun challenge and helping me be better prepared for Christmas this year!

CAS Christmas

It's time again to set a Christmas card challenge for my friend Linda and this week it's going to be a CAS Christmas card. I have to say CAS cards are definitely a challenge for me but I thought I'd give it a go anyway this week. I see Linda has already posted a challenge for me here on her blog - can't wait to make a start on something!

After die cutting a window and stamping a sentiment on a panel of white card, I added a little elf peeking out of the window. I adhered an embossed circle to the card base before attaching the panel with foam pads. To finish I applied stickles to the trim and bobble on the elf's hat. It was such a quick and easy card to make especially as I had the elf image already coloured with Promarkers and ready to go on a card.

Stamps - Santa's Elves Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts) & Woodland Wreaths (WPlus9)
Die - Nestabilities Circles (Spellbinders)
Embossing folder - Cuttlebug Lace Tree (Provo Craft)

For my matching tag I used another elf image from the same Hero Arts set and sandwiched baker's twine between the embossed circle and a backing circle.

Stamp - Santa's Elves Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts)
Die - Nestabilities Circles (Spellbinders)
Embossing folder - Cuttlebug Lace Tree (Provo Craft)

If you'd like to join in on Linda's challenge and/or mine we'd love you to add a link to your card on either of our blogs.

Kathy's 30 Day Coloring Challenge

Welcome to The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge Blog Hop. Kathy Racoosin from The Daily Marker loves to colour and she is hosting her fifth 30 DAY COLORING CHALLENGE. The premise of the challenge is to colour something everyday even if it’s for just five minutes. It doesn’t matter what you colour or what medium you use. It's such a fun challenge and a brilliant way to make sure that you take a relaxing break for yourself during the day.

Even if you can't get to colour every day you can join in at any time while the challenge is on. You will find that Kathy encourages you along the way to stretch your creativity a little bit more and to feel successful with your colouring. You will learn so much from Kathy and pick up lots of tips and techniques. More details on the challenge can be found in Kathy's blog post here and in Kathy's video here.

I first got to know Kathy through the Hero Arts group on Flickr and from the start she has amazed me with her sheer creativity and fabulous colouring skills. Today Kathy has assembled a blog hop to give your creativity a jump start. Along the hop you'll meet Hero Arts artists, friends and Hostesses.

You should have arrived here from the blog of my very talented friend Linda - can't wait to see what she has coloured and created! A full list of all the blogs on the hop can be found here on Kathy's blog. At the end of the hop you will find a fantastic GIVEAWAY from my favourite company Hero Arts - two shopping sprees of $25.00 each! Winners will be randomly picked from the blog comments of the blog hop - good luck! I have comment moderator switched on so please don't worry if your comment doesn't appear immediately.

Often when I stamp an image for a card I stamp off a few extras for the future in case I need to make a card in a hurry. I have a drawer full of these stamped images ready to go. For when I'm out and about I also keep some stamped images in one container and in another container I have images that I've fully cut out and are ready to colour along with others that have just been coloured. It makes it easy to grab some things when I have the opportunity to cut out or colour. Often when I'm sitting in my car waiting for my kids to come out of school I'll be cutting out and/or colouring. It's amazing how much you can get done when you're just waiting around!

From the time I got Hero Arts Spice Market Large Petal Background I've had great fun colouring it and have used it again and again on cards. Below is a card I posted a while ago which shows what the full image looks like on a kraft base and coloured with pencils.

Stamps - Spice Market Large Petal Background & Type (Hero Arts)

This time I wanted a brighter look so stamped part of the image on a scrap of white card and coloured with Promarkers. After cutting out the piece I adhered it to the top of the card. The sentiment was die cut three times and layered.

Stamp - Spice Market Large Petal Background (Hero Arts)
Dies - Thanks Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts)

Well after making that card it seems like I was bitten by the colouring bug and went on to stamp the image again using up more card scraps.

I went with cool blues and greens for the first card

Stamps - Spice Market Large Petal Background & It's Your Day (Hero Arts)
Die - Pierced Rectange Frames (My Favorite Things)

and then used a mix of warm colours for the second.

Stamps - Spice Market Large Petal Background & It's Your Day (Hero Arts)
Die - Pierced Rectange Frames (My Favorite Things)

I have to say I really enjoyed taking some time to lose myself completely in colouring and would encourage you to do the same and join in on Kathy's The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge if you haven't already done so.

Now it's time to pop over to the next stop on the hop where you'll be visiting the very creative Cheiron. Enjoy the rest of the hop and I'm looking forward to going hopping too!

Linda's Christmas Tree Challenge

The other day my friend Linda set a challenge to make a Christmas card with a tree on it. You'll find the challenge and Linda's gorgeous Christmas card with a tree here on her blog.

To start I embossed a panel of kraft card and after adhering it to the card base added baker's twine borders - just love using red and white baker's twine on Christmas cards! I wanted to use Lawn Fawn's super cute Trim the Tree set so after a little stamping, colouring and cutting had a decorated tree to add to the card. I've added stickles to the star and Glossy Accents to the lights but, unfortunately, with the overcast conditions here didn't manage to pick up the sparkle and shine in my photo.

Stamp set - Trim the Tree (Lawn Fawn)
Embossing Folder - Snowflakes (Cuttlebug)

While I had my supplies out I also made a matching gift tag.

Stamp set - Trim the Tree (Lawn Fawn)

I'm happy to have added two cards and tags to my stash for Christmas and since Linda and I are going to set each other Christmas card challenges each week in July and August I should have a nice little pile of cards and tags by September.

Out of Season Quilts

I haven't posted in quite a while as a lot of my spare time over the past few months was spent making table decorations and tags for favours for a charity fund raiser which was held last month. We also had a lovely holiday in Florida in June and I enjoyed spending some of it with my friend Linda and also got to meet up with my friend Kelli who I worked with years ago when I lived in Florida. I haven't seen Kelli in 22 years but it felt like only yesterday when it came to chatting with each other. The whole family enjoyed the holiday and I have to admit a lot of crafty shopping took place:) My goodness the crafty shops were amazing, so big and so well stocked - I must have been grinning from ear to ear and didn't know where to look first! In all the excitement I forgot to take photos inside the shops but we went to JoAnn, Michaels and a wonderful shop in Lakeland called Violette's Scrapbook Store with room after room of tempting goodies. They had a fantastic room for classes and I saw some brilliant projects on display for upcoming classes. It really is a must place to visit if you are in the area, just wish I lived a bit nearer to it!

Anyway enough about shopping, now onto making! My friend Linda is an avid participant in the Merry Monday Challenges and creates a card for nearly every one of the challenges set each week throughout the year. It's such a great way of building up a stash of Christmas cards and I keep meaning to join in on the fun, but of course nearly every week time just runs away on me too quickly. The Merry Makers are taking a well earned break during July and August so in those months Linda and I are going to set weekly challenges for each other so she keeps up with making her Christmas cards and I get a start on making mine. If you would like to join in with Linda and me for either or both of the challenges set, we'd love to see your cards - just leave a link in the comments section on Linda's blog or here so we can find your card/s.

So Linda, it's challenge time and the theme I picked for this week is "A Cosy Quilt for Christmas". Not only do I absolutely love quilts but Linda gave me an amazing package of goodies in Florida and included MFT quilt dies that I absolutely love and can't stop using - thanks again, Linda!

Dies - Die-namics Diagonal Quilt Square Cover-Up (My Favorite Things) & Mini Snowflakes (Lawn Fawn)
Stamp - Very Merry Christmas (Hero Arts)

As Christmas draws closer I always seem to be in a rush to make tags as well as cards so for our weekly summer challenges I'm going to try to make a tag to match the challenge card. Lol I'll probably be doing well to make two Christmas cards each week so we'll see how it goes with the tags:)

Dies - Quilt Cuts 2 (WPlus9), Die-namics Pierced Rectangle Frames (My Favorite Things) & Mini Snowflakes (Lawn Fawn)
Stamp - Woodland Wreaths (Wplus9)

While I'm showing you a Christmas card and tag in July, why not a St Patrick's Day card in July too! This is the card I sent to Linda way back in March and never got around to blogging.

Dies - Quilt Cuts 2 (WPlus9) & Shamrock (Impression Obsession)
Stamp - Celebrate Everyday (Hero Arts)

I'm delighted to see Linda has posted her challenge, you can find it here over on her blog. It's a great one and I can't wait to get started on it!

Happy 4th of July to all those who are celebrating! We have our own celebrations going on here with our older son's birthday today:)