I'm Nuts and Bolts About You ........

Inspired by a few challenges today to make this card......

I smooshed, sprayed and played with my Brusho's for the background.

The cute robot stamps by Clearly Besotted have been stamped and their hearts coloured in red

 with glossy accents on them....the other hearts have been die cut out of the Brusho background, 

hi-lighted with silver embossing powder and popped back and off-set slightly.

The sentiment and the nuts and bolts have also been stamped.

I have edged the matting layers with silver embossing powder 

and popped the front one up onto foam.

Crafty Hugs x

Fun Challenges.....

Addicted to CAS - Code word Red

AAA Cards-Love Me Like You Do - CAS

Stamplorations - CAS with the option of Silver

I wanted to join in this time with the option of the silver

Fantasy Stampers - Theme-Love is in the Air

Happy

Inspired today by a Spotlight Project from Stamplorations...

Cornelia's Burning Question: Are You Foiling Yet?

Here is her card.......

Cornelia used Rolls of Foil, ordinary glue and a stamp for her card.....

I have used Mega Flakes/Mica Flakes many times before, with special glue but 

I have quite a few rolls of foil that I have never used.

I wanted to try out these foils and to try ordinary glue as well.

Some of my foils also said they required a heat machine or heat tool.

I thought I would try some ideas out.

This is my take and inspiration from her card.....

I wanted to try using glue and a stencil and not a stamp.

Some glues where too runny and leaked under the stencil and some glues dried too quickly.

Eventually, an old thick glue worked and I got all my foils to work, 

even the ones that required heat to activate them.

Yes, you can use the mega flakes and special glue which stays tacky, 

(this will always be a favourite of mine), or heat embossing to get pretty much the same effect but....

This is another idea to use up glue and foils already in your stash, which I thought wouldn't work.

The difference, I thought was by using a continuous sheet of foil you got a slightly

different look than using the flakes. I found my stencil washed up easily too.

Thanks to Cornelia and her spotlight project that encouraged me to try this out, so thank you.

The sentiment on my card is stamped and heat embossed with gold glitter embossing powder.

I was fussing over which sentiment to use when Mr Posty delivered a parcel from America, 

with my new stamps and stencils in it, so I used the Big Greetings Stamp...Happy....

Another play day today...learning all the time x

Crafty Hugs x

Challenges.....

Stamplorations-Spotlight Project Showcase

Stamplorations-Never Ending-Anything Goes-Using their Products

A Wish......

I've had these gorgeous stamps in my stash for awhile, so decided to use them today...

This is the card I made with them

I restricted my colour palette and used distress inks for the outer blending and Brusho's 

and gold embossing for the flower.

All the black ink has been embossed with clear embossing powder.

I added a few splats with gold paint, sequins and seed beads to finish.

The stamps are by Stampinback.

I was inspired by their January challenge - A Wish

and

Rubber Dance January Challenge - Stamping-Black and White and Your Choice of 3rd Colour

This inspired me to use Black and White and my third colour of Deep Pink.

Lots of Stamping on my project.

and

Make My Monday Challenge - Newest or Most favourite Stamp

I have gone with these New Stamps.

Great to use these stamps at last.

Crafty Hugs x

First Master Board

The inspiration to make my First Master Board came from Eileen's crafty Zone.

The videos are good and easy to follow.

However.... when I finished it I couldn't cut it up, so I made it into a canvas to keep.

I'll make some-more to cut up next week, as I really enjoyed making it.

I used White Gesso and embossing paste, with the stencils to provide a resist technique

and used distress inks for the colour.

There are quite a few layers of stenciling and stamping.

I hi-lighted the flowers with a white pen 

and finished off with a gold pen and a few sequins.

I had a lot of fun and got messy and can't wait to make some-more.

Crafty Hugs x

Fun Challenges......

Designs By Ryn-January Challenge-Anything Goes
I have used mostly Ryn Stencils and Stamps for this canvas
Update-Lucky January Winner-Thank you so much, absolutely delighted x

Stamplorations - Mixed Media Challenge-Anything goes...
anything but a card and using  a stencil

De-Stempelwinkel Stampers - Flora and Fauna
I have used mostly Ryn Stencils and Stamps for this canvas






Frilly and Funky - Enjoy Your Embossing
Embossing paste and gesso and stencils

You are Beautiful

Today's' card is a Silhouette.....

I sprayed card stock with a couple of colours that had mica in them.

The die cut 'You' sentiment has been in-laid into the sprayed background.

The die cut leaves have also been in-laid and have glossy accents added to them.

The rest of the sentiment has been stamped and heat embossed.

I liked how the leaves where super glossy, the 'you' matte and the 'beautiful' slightly shiny.

I layered the coloured panel onto black card and edged it with gold glitter and glue,

finishing off with a few sequins.

I was inspired by three challenges when I made this card....

Simply Less is More - Recipe challenge-Silhouette

CASology - Adore

Tuesday Taggers - Try it on Tuesday Challenge-Silhouette

Crafty Hugs x

Hello.......

Update...Winner of the CASEplorations challenge with this notebook cover-Thank you x
I've made a cover for my notebook, that I keep crafting notes in.....

 I have CASed Laura's card.....

I enjoyed the inspiration, from Laura 

for blending the coloured embossing pastes onto the stencil.

I did the same technique on the left hand side of the cover.

The link will take you to her blog for more information on how she did this....HERE

On the right hand side I blended the distress inks onto the card, 

then put white semi-opaque embossing paste through the stencil, 

so that the paste absorbed some of the distress inks.

I fussy cut a leaf, edged it in black and popped on the die cut embossed sentiment.

The leaf has been popped onto foam for dimension.

There is thread at the back of the sentiment, like Laura's.

I finished with a few sequins and attached it to the front of my note book.

I enjoyed CASEing Laura's card and learnt lots along the way.

Crafty Hugs x

Challenges...........

Stamplorations - CASEplorations-CASEing Laura's Card

Stamplorations - ARTplorations-Mixed Media Challenge-Anything but a card and using a Stencil

Stamplorations - Never ending-Anything Goes using stamps/stencil from Stamplorations

Happy Little Stampers - Mixed Media-Use a stencil

Winter Wonderland

 Here is today's card.......

Tranquil scene maybe in my card 

but I am thinking about the awful snow others are getting x

The theme is Winter Time and Winter Wonderland.

I penciled in the scene and then stamped trees and bushes.

I lightly water-coloured the background 

and colour-washed all over it with white acrylic paint.

I used white glue to add texture.

I used a stencil and glitter embossing paste to add falling snow to the top of the card.

The sentiment has been stamped in grey for softness.

I finished off with a die cut branch, heat embossed in white and a white sequin.

I wanted the card scene to be soft, calm and textural.

Crafty Hugs x

Challenges that inspired my card.........

Double D Challenges - Brrrrr! Winter Time Theme-using the inspiration tile below

I was inspired by the falling snow, whiteness of the snow, the trees and tree branch.

AAA Cards - Winter Wonderland

Jenny's card also inspired me-Thank you

Mixed Media Mojo - Winter with a twist of glitter
Water-colouring, colour wash, stamping, stenciling, embossing paste, die cut and heat embossing.

Happy Birthday

A card with Brusho's from my play day yesterday

The background is a couple of different colours of Brusho's, smooshed around.

I usually wet the card and pop the Brusho's on or Brusho's first then spray with water

but I tried smooshing with them this time on a craft mat.

I have used the HLS Fun Birthday sentiments and Mix Mash stamp sets.

You can never have enough sentiment stamps.

The stamps are all separate, so I popped some of them onto an acrylic block 

and stamped in Dark blue ink.

I then swapped them across and re-stamped in Brown ink.

The circles have been stamped with inks and the white ones heat embossed.

Finished off with sequins. I have only recently started to use sequins and I am loving them!

Such a huge selection of colours and suitable for a boys/mans card too, which surprised me.

I've kept the card to one layer, left open space and used minimal embellishments....CAS

I've CASE'd the designer card as the water colour background against the bold sentiment inspired me.

Crafty Hugs x

Challenges......

Happy Little Stampers - CAS challenge-Smooshing

Happy Little Stampers - CASE the Designer Challenge

Happy Little Stampers - Ongoing and anything goes using HLS stamps

Addicted to Stamps and More - Make Your Mark

Cardz4guyz - Blue is the Colour

Blue Flower...

I had fun yesterday playing with modelling and embossing pastes.

Here is my card

I blended blue distress inks through the flower stencil 

and then  used semi opaque, white modelling paste over the top.

The blues from the distress inks reactivated with the paste 

and produced a really pretty milky effect..

After it had dried I put on a little more paste on the edges to get the white back a little.

The butterflies and sentiment have been stamped with Dark Blue archival ink.

The card has been lightly splattered with the same blue distress ink from the flower

and finished off with three sequins to match.

All on one layer with minimum embellishments.

Crafty Hugs x

Challenges.....

One Layer Challenge   - The Sky's The Limit

Stamps and Stencils -  Oh So Blue

Use Primarily Blue, mixed media with some stamping and/or stenciling

Stamplorations - On going challenge-Anything goes

Happy Flowers Stencil

Butterfly Challenge - I is for inking

Stamplorations - CAS-Anything Goes
Stamplorations - Theme and Sketch
I have gone with the theme of Stamps and CAS

Kissing Technique ......

Update...I got Showcased with this card...Thrilled and Delighted, thank you very much
Simply Less is More challenge this week is The Kissing Technique which was new to me.

It was suggested that the solid image should be on a lighter colour 

and the decorative image a darker one.

I hunted and pulled out lots of solid and decorative stamps until I found ones that worked.

No easy task but I was determined to enter the challenge and try this new to me technique.

I hadn't done much stamping with pigment inks and I found they took ages to dry, 

if indeed they dried at all!

Of course, just to complicate it a little more I wanted the image to be on black card 

and found the pigment inks left a very chalky finish to them and was smudging....hours later!

Just some of my trials, there was a whole lot more!

It's hard to see the two colours in the photo but they are there.

I did the hat again, cut it out and popped onto foam for dimension.

The sentiment has been embossed in white EP.

I hi-lighted parts of the lady with a white pigment ink pen.

I finished the card off with a string of coordinating crystals around her neck for a little bling.

I did wonder why we did this technique, as there are lots of other ways to achieve the effect (so I thought) but then realised, if you can get the right stamps and the right combination of colours it is such a great way to get the pattern onto the stamped image without masking, fussy cutting, die cutting etc. and I would have really struggled to get the detail onto this stamp quite so well.

I think it is such a clever technique but who knew 

a relatively easy technique would be so hard to accomplish?

Even though it took an inordinate amount of time I shall do this technique again 

but not just yet as I need to recover!

Crafty Hugs x

Challenge......

Simply Less is more - Kissing Technique

Hi There!

Absolutely delighted to be an honorable Mention at CASology for this card
Thank you so much x
And
Highlighted at The Mixed Media Challenge for January-Thank you so very much x
I have been catching up with programs that I downloaded over the festive period, 

whilst I was away and the inspiration for this card came from a  really delightful documentary 

on Penguins and in particular a baby penguin that was filmed from the egg to going it alone.

CASology challenge this week is 'Open' and I thought of my Penguin documentary!

I have incorporated the sketch and the theme

of CAS and stamps from the Stamplorations Challenge.

The Mixed Media Challenge is Beginnings so that was perfect too.

I sprinkled brusho's into the corner of my card, lightly sprayed with water 

and when dry stamped the cute chic stamp.

The egg has been cut from an oval die, fussy cut and embellished with Mega Flakes in gold.

The sentiment has been die cut and layered up.

A little early for Easter but that never occurred to me until after it was finished!

Crafty Hugs x

Challenges......

CASology - 'Open'

Stamplorations-Theme and Sketch - Sketch and theme
Stamplorations CAS challenge - Anything CAS goes

The mixed media challenge - Beginnings

Brusho's, Mega Flakes and stamping

Forget Me Not

I wanted to support a new challenge 

Double "D" Challenge that has the theme of Forget Me Not.

There is some really pretty inspiration from the Design Team,

 if you've time take a look.

Absolutely thrilled and delighted to have been chosen as the winner 
at the Double "D" challenge for this card...
Thank you so much x

This is my card...........

I sprayed card with several different shades of blue and punched out the tiny 'forget me Nots'.

I have used perfect pearls for the centers.

I have used an Avery Elle sentiment die for the the 'You', which has been inlaid to the card.

The mini frames are a Memory Box die that I popped paint and layers onto.

The Beautiful sentiment has been stamped using archival watering can grey.

I have used a stitched rectangle die by MFT and layered onto more linen card.

I am also entering The Seven Hills Colour Challenge

Hope you like it?

Crafty Hugs x

Challenges I am entering........

Double "d" challenges - Forget Me Not

Seven Hills Craft Blog - Colour challenge

(formally Make The Day Special)

Choose  at least three colours and use at least one of their products

I have used dies by Avery Elle and MFT