All the colours of the rainbow

This is a simple card I have made using another of the LC Designs dinkies stamps which are on offer. I thought all those Butterflies called out for lots of colour and I used just about every one of my pens to colour them in. I don't like Butterflies or Moths and as Butterflies are so popular in crafting I see them as scary or not scary, I cant even use a Butterfly that I think of as scary but as you can see these are definitely not scary.

what I used:

LC Designs Dinkies Butterfly Tree stamp - £2 or on offer 4 for £6

LC Designs Dinkies Text Sending Smiles - £2 or 6 for £10

Lilly of the Valley stitch stamp set

Tonic heart punch

small hole punch (to make dots on sentiment tag)

red linen card

various satin paper scraps from stash (to make hearts)

pink embroidery thread

 

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I bought an air bed a week ago because my sister is coming to stay and I was dreading inflating it as I had read lots of horror stories about air beds not inflating properly and being lumpy and I didn't want to have to send it back, my usual worrying about something before it happens. I thought I had better inflate it and guess what it worked just fine. It only took about 30 seconds and it is so comfy, panic over. I am going into town to get some bedding for it today but that will be a nice shopping trip, just a shame there are no craft shops in town. I do hope you have a good day whatever you are doing.

 

Pinterest interest

Hello there, this is a card which I made a few days ago and put on Pinterest but didn't get around to writing it up on here and I have had quite a few saves on Pinterest so it seems to be a popular one. I just love Pinterest as a source of ideas and I get quite a lot of inspiration from it when I`m having crafters block. This card features a LC Designs dinkie stamp which is still on offer at the moment and also a Creative Expressions die which comes in three parts, I have used the Holly die but there is also a Poinsettia die which I have used just as a flower on another card in the past (a very useful die).

 

what I used:

LC Designs DinkieRow  Robbin stamp - £2 or on offer 4 for £6

Sue Wilson Poinsettia and Holly Gemini die

Inkylicious greeting stamp

Opal Liquid Perls

Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Jewels - Iced Snow

red raffia twine and embellishments from my stash

 

I made the hessian hearts by sticking a piece of hessian to a piece of fairly thick white card, when the glue had completely dried I punched out the hearts and then painted over the top of the hearts with clear nail polish to stop the hessian from fraying away.

 

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Well it was so hot yesterday but Stu and me managed to get the raised beds filled with soil but I didn't bother going to collect the horse manure as the soil filled the beds, I think I will give it time to settle down and then put the manure on. We have to put some plastic sheeting over the beds so that R&R (the cats) don't use it as a big litter box, I don't want that kind of manure going in there. Stu has got some tomatoes already from the plants that he just planted for fun around the garden and I think we will be having them in a salad tonight as it is looking like another hot day today. I`m doing my half day in the Lincolnshire Cat Trust shop this afternoon so I cant wait to see if they have any bargains and meet the lovely people who come to the shop. I hope you have a good day whatever you decide to do with it.



 

 

 

Leftovers cat tag

Hello there crafty peeps, today I am sharing with you a quick and easy little tag I made a while ago but I had to sit on it as the stamp set has only just been launched. I said in a previous blog that I wanted to make more tags as it is a good way to use up left over scraps and this tag is entirely made from scraps from my craft stash.

 

what I used:

LC Designs Purrfect Combination stamp set - £6 or on offer at £5

LC Designs Dinkie Text Sending Smiles - £2 or on offer 6 for £10

Imagination Crafts stencil template

Tim Holtz distress inks - Shabby Shutters & Mowed Lawn

circle die & slightly lager scalloped circle die

various flower punches

papers, gems and ribbons from craft stash

 

I made the template background ages ago for a card and then didn't use it so it has been in my craft stash and I finally found a use for it, hurrah because it is lovely. I really must start using more templates as they are so much fun to work with and I just love it when you lift the mask and a lovely pattern is revealed.

 

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I really want to do some crafting but the sun is shining and I must go out and do a bit of gardening as we are making some raised beds so that we can grow our own veggies next year. Stu has already made the beds so he needs me to fill them with soil and manure (think I`ll need a bath after that lot). I hope you have a very productive day whatever you do and I hope I have a bit of time left for crafting later on.

 

 

 

 

Green is my favourite colour

Today I can finally share a card that I made quite a few weeks ago but the stamps have only just been launched today so I had to keep it under wraps. If you remember I got some Brushos and had a bit of a disaster with my first attempt at using them but this background was what happened on my second attempt, it turns out I was using them all wrong and so I am lucky that I managed to salvage this background and use it to some effect for this card. I love this new stamp set from LC Designs, well it has cats so that's all it takes to make me happy and I really like the vibrant green colour that the Brushos have made. To launch the stamp set it is being offered at an amazing price of £5 instead of its usual £6 and I have put the official flyer at the bottom of this post so you can see what great value it is.

what I used:

LC Designs The Purrfect Combination stamp set - £6 or on offer for £5

Brushos - lime green & olive green

yellow pastel chalk

6" x 6" base card

lime green linen card

black mat card

mottled green paper from stash

teal satin ribbon from stash

I made the background first by putting the lime green and olive green brushos onto card and spritzing it with water (I put far too much brusho and water onto the card and I ended up having to dab at the brusho with a wet wipe as it just clumped together).

When the background was dry I stamped the tree image and then I cut the image topper down to size. I had some clear white card showing in places and so I lightly coloured this in using the yellow pastel chalk.

The rest of the card is simply mat and layering and the sentiment is part of the stamp set and is just purrfect for this card

Ribbons make a world of difference

Hello everyone, I am sharing with you another Christmas card made using one of the LC Designs dinkie stamps which are on offer at the moment and this card shows you that even though the stamp is small you don't have to make a small card with it. Small stamps are definitely useful because you can make a large  card like this but then the stamp is small enough to use on a tag too. I am always looking at ribbons in shops, at markets and every now and then Brenda Exeter has a FB ribbon sale which I simply can`t resist so I think its fair to say I am hooked on ribbons and always like to put bows or ribbon on a card if I can. With this card I think the ribbons make it, especially the sheer/sparkly ribbon which I bought at one of Brendas sales.

 

what I used:

LC Designs Dinkies Bauble Hedgehogs stamp - £2 or 4 for £6 on offer

opal Liquid Pearls

gold Liquid Pearls

green Stickles

sheer/sparkley ribbon 1 1/2" wide

blue gingham ribbon and sentiment from stash

 

I cut a piece of card 3 3/4" x 6 3/4" and stamped the image on the bottom right of the card.

I masked the Hedgehogs, the star and 11/2" from the left of the card, then I shaded the image background using pastel chalks going from dark at the top to light at the bottom.

I removed the masks, coloured the image and used the Stickles and Liquid Pearls to colour the star, tree and snow (I added more snow dots than were stamped further up the card).

I wrapped the sheer/sparkles ribbon over the left side of the card and secured it at the back.

The topper is now finished apart from the bow and sentiment and ready to mat and layer onto your base card which in this case is 4 1/4" x 7 3/10".

 

Securing sheer ribbon is always a problem as glue and tape always show or even worse turn yellow so I thought making a topper was the best way of doing this but if you have a product that works for you please tell me about it.

A few days ago I had another parcel of Brendas lovely ribbons arrive and I am just itching to start using them (when I`ve stopped stroking them).

 

 

 

 

 

Making time for Christmas

Hello lovely people, I have been really busy this week what with trying to keep on top of the gardening and housework and then watching the Olympics and reading a book which has hooked me. Summer really is a busy time of the year and I can hear the farmers cutting the hay and harvesting in the fields around me so I guess they are far busier than me. My crafting took a back seat for a while but I managed to make this Christmas card on Monday using one of the LC Designs dinkies which are on offer (4 dinkie stamps for £6) and although I would not normally use a nativity scene on one of my cards I am quite happy with how this one has turned out.

 

what I used:

LC Designs Dinkies Nativity Stamp  - £2 or £6 for 4 on offer

LC Designs Dinkies Text Merry Christmas - £2

LC Designs Dinkies - landscape plain edge craft cards and envelopes - £1.99 for 20

NitWit Frosty Christmas paper pad

Creative Expressions Sue Wilsosn Festive Collection Poinsettia Additions dies

Tim Holts Walnut Stain distress ink

hessian and embellishments from my stash

 

I stamped the nativity image with Tim Holts Walnut Stain distress ink and then used a water brush to drag the ink onto the image to help shade it. I used various other shades of brown distress inks to add further detail and finally I used scattered straw distress ink to shade the floor. I coloured Marys head dress blue to match the NitWit paper but also I think that blue is used in classical paintings to symbolise purity and so is associated with Mary.

 

I love the Poinsettia dies and this is the first time I have used them but I think you will be seeing a lot more of them on my Christmas cards, a definite must have buy. 

 

 

A special friend deserves a special card

Its my best friends Birthday today so I had been planning her card for quite a while, for instance she loves her caravan so I wanted to include one on the card. I knew straight away when I saw this digi stamp from Lili of the Valley that I had to have it for Paulas card so then there was just the colour scheme to sort out and I got inspiration for that when I saw these NitWit papers which I downloaded and printed off (the colour of the papers should have been more lilac but I think my printer must be running out of blue ink because it printed these papers more maroon but that's OK they still look good, no mistakes in crafting.

what I used:

LOTV off in the caravan digi stamp

NitWit Lady Folk digi papers (uniquely coloured by my printer)

Marianne Designs LR0271 swirly leaf die

Happy Birthday die

flowers and ribbon/lace from my stash

 

 Ive just received a lovely text from my friend to thank me for the card so I`m glad to say she likes it.

I`m glad I got this off my chest

Hello crafty friends, I`m sharing a card today that I`ve been itching to make for well over a week now but other commitments got in the way however because of a mechanical malfunction with the hedge cutter yesterday (it broke) I had free time and shot off to my craft room with a big grin on my face. You may remember a few weeks ago I had a play with my newly bought Brushos and the result was less than impressive but I managed to catch Lesley Wharton on TV demonstrating them and I had been doing it all wrong and using far too much paint and water. This fantastically colourful background paper is what happened when I used the Brushos how Lesley had shown and I have to say I now love them and cant wait to play with them again (I think Lesley is on TV on Friday with what looks like metallic Brushos or a metallic finish to the artwork so I will have to try and remember to watch). The stamps arrived over a week ago and I knew exactly the card I wanted to make with them and this is it. I love it when a plan comes together - who was it used to say that?

what I used:

Tim Holtz Crazy Birds stamp and stencil set

Brusho Crystal Colours - Sandstone,Yellow Ochre, Rose Red

Tim Holtz Distress Inks

 

I used the square stencil which came with the stamps and distress ink to make a background pattern on some plum coloured paper.

The crazy bird I just stamped and coloured using distress inks and cut around the image.

The balloon I drew myself and shaded it to look like the shading on the bird, this was easy as the crazy birds are all quirky and so whatever the balloon had looked like it would have worked. I cut around the balloon as I did with the bird.

I used black embroidery thread for the balloon string.

 

The technique that I saw on TV for using the Brushos was to put a hole in the top of the individual Brusho pots using a notice board pin and keep this pin in place when not in use. This hole makes the pot like a salt shaker and the colours are shaken onto white card (not too much colour as you can always go back and add more when the card is dry) and then spritz with water. My first attempts were flooded with water and this made the colours all run into each other and make a muddy mess so try not to over water the paper as you can always go back and add more water or more paint when the paper is dry.

 

I love this colourful quirky card and I am already thinking that I will turn the birds into Robbins and use them on some quirky Christmas cards so watch this space.......

 

 

Olynpic gold is the colour of the day

I don't normally like sport but I have enjoyed watching the Olympics since it began on Friday and yesterday GB got its first gold medal and I think this must have been on my mind when I made this card later on in the day as I have given our little doggie two gold baubles which I think look like gold medals (he probably won them for looking cute). I was rummaging around in a cupboard looking for something else entirely when I found my peel offs which I haven't used for years (can`t even remember the last card I made using them) so they are making an appearance here on this card.
The doggie is a new dinkie stamp from LC Designs, I cut around him for this card and he isn't too difficult to cut out. The worded paper and the base card are by LC Designs also but they are not on sale yet (sneak peek) but keep looking on their shop page because I`m sure they will be out soon.

 

what I used:

LC Designs dinkie Scottie stamp - £2 or on offer 4 stamps for £6

LC Designs Christmas sentiments paper - soon to be on sale

LC Designs large scalloped landscape card - soon to be on sale

7 1/2" scalloped circle die

snowflake embossing folder

gold peel offs

embellishments from my crafty stash

 

 

 

Wow 4 stamps for £6

Just a quick post to let you all know that LC Designs have some new sets of dinkie stamps in stock and on sale. I used one of these stamps in a card I put on this post earlier today so if you wanted to make that particular card this would be a great time to take advantage of this offer which is all 4 stamps for £6  -  wow 4 stamps for £6.

 

 

Something I rustled up before breakfast

I know it`s been a few days since my last blog but I have been busy making samples for a new stamp set from LC Designs, I can not share them with you until their launch and I`m not sure when that  is but I love the stamps and can`t wait to show them to you. However this morning at silly O clock I was busy making this little card sample which I can share. I find that I quite often get inspiration as soon as I wake up and I have to go and craft usually before I even have breakfast or a cuppa. When do you find you are most creative and what kind of things inspire you?

 

what I used:

LC Designs Dinkies Robin Birdhouse stamp - £2 per stamp

LC Designs Elegant Landscape Cards Craft - £1.99 for 10 cards + envelopes

LC Designs Dinkies Text Happy Christmas - £2 for 3 texts

Papermania Traditional Christmas paper pack

small holly die

Liquid Pearls - White Opal

 

I still think that when I make a Christmas card in summer I am in summer mode and I use colours that I wouldn't dream of using in winter and this card is another case in point because I would`nt have painted the little bird house pink in winter, but I do think it works.