Ahoy there!

This is a card that I was asked to make for a colleagues granddaughter who is in the sea cadets.

I used a lili of the valley image coloured in copics and a memory box die to give the idea of waves. The sentiment was from Joanna Sheen and I used the matching alphabet to add the name as requested. Can't remember the make of the anchor dies, possibly Marianne, but they finished off the corners nicely.

I had a lovely surprise when I looked on the Stamping Sensatioms Challenge blog to discover that my   Hang in there card was one of their top 3 picks! I guess everyone loves an owl or two at the moment!

Winter weather ATCs

I'm sharing with you today the two ATCs I made for the craft telly forum ATC swap. The theme was "winter weather". In hindsight I should have chosen something with umbrellas and welly boots given the weather we had, but I went with the traditional view of winter. I had great fun staining my fingers blue playing with a blending mat, blending tool and my distress reinkers. I used cosmic shimmer polar white paste through Simon says stamps falling snow folder and then added some layered die cut snowflakes (joy dies??) in mirridazzle. A couple of bits of bling and job done.

Another sympathy card

It's not been a great start to the new year, this is the second sympathy card I've had to make this year for someone who has lost her husband.  I used a lili of the valley stamp and coloured it in with my spectrum pencils. The blue looks a bit dark on the left hand side and I've taken some of the colour off with a rubber since photographing the card. The sentiment is from the same set as the other sympathy card I posted. I can't claim to be deeply religious but I know the recipient finds her faith a comfort and so I thought it appropriate. I used the tattered lace rectangles and pearl rectangles as they were still on the table and mounted the image on 1mm foam tape to add a little definition. I used the left over scraps of stamping card and purple card from the previous sympathy card and so I think I might take this card over to Snippets playground as I need a go on the swings to cheer me up!

Poppy Birthday

So this is the finished poppy birthday card. Mum won't be pleased as it will be a large letter stamp as it's 8x8, and so I added a bit of dimension to it too.

I'd stamped the poppies in archival ink, tried distress ink which although I preferred the vibrancy I preferred the crisp image with archival inks. I'll just have to buy a brighter red than red geranium. I had experimented with adding iridescent medium over the poppies which adds a silver shimmer, but I felt it knocked back the vibrancy of the red even more. I trimmed the image with tattered lace essential rectangles and backed it with red card and the tattered lace pearl rectangles. I matted and layer up the red and white background layers with some 1mm foam tape and added a strip of red ribbon with red liner tape. The sentiment is from lili of the valley and I used spellbinders ovals and scalloped oval nesties and foam tape to add it to the card. A quick bow on the ribbon stuck on with glue gel and job done.

With Sympathy

Apologies for the rubbish photo, it was taken at 6.30 in the kitchen with a bulb missing out of the light fitting! I had to photograph it on the kitchen table as my usual photography space (top of the cooker) has a spag bol in progress.

I found out today that my boss's dog had passed away last week, so I wanted to whip up a quick card to let her know I'm thinking of her. I struggled to find dog stamps that weren't too happy looking, but eventually found these that were a freebie with a craft magazine some time ago. I used Simon Says stamp stitched rectangles and the sentiment stamp I think is Kaisercraft. The frame is actually more of a dark purple than it looks in the pic. Right spag bol calls!

What's on your workdesk Wednesday

I'm joining the lovely Julia for what's on your workdesk Wednesday again this week. Evident on my desk is my black Sizzix stamping mat covered with some copier paper to protect it along with some post it notes I was masking with. Just above it are the fruits of my labour(!) the poppies stamped with two clearly besotted stamp sets (yes, I have a slight addiction to them). Mum saw a thinking if you card I'd made with them and asked me to make a birthday card for my Aunt who loves poppies, so I've been experimenting. The pearly looking bottle next to the stamping mat contains iridescent medium which I was playing with adding to the poppies. You might just be able to make out a couple of stamped and coloured images in front of the TV that are waiting to be made into cards and a bit of the usual chaos that seems to follow me about! Hope you all have a creative Wednesday.

Yet more owls!

I hadn't realised that I had an owl addiction until now! I remembered that I hadn't shared with you the card I made for the November craft telly card swap. The theme was autumn. I know it's winter now but the wind whistling round the house reminded me of this card!

I used the tattered lace pop up box die as a base and embossed the panels with the freebie wood grain folder that came with the Crafters Companion magazine. The branch die is from io and the owls and fox are cottage cuts dies. I used a mix of papermania cardstock and coredinations and a Tim Holtz foliage die for the leaves. I used the Simon says stamp falling snow stencil and creative expressions polar white sparkle paste for the night sky. As ever the only clear space in the house to photograph it was on top of the cooker...

Hope you all stay safe and warm today.