Tuesday 29 March 2016

Stencilling fun

It's been a while since I turned my fingers blue, so I thought I'd get my stencils and chalks out for a change ;)

My first card uses this 'cute' snail (if there is such a thing, yeuch, the real ones give me the heebe jeebies) from Eat Cake Graphics ...
5002-D Speedy snail delivers the mail
Coloured with watercolour pencils, clear gloss added to his snail, Spectrum Noir sparkle to the envelope, and then some googly eyes for good measure.  Stencil from Creative Expressions.
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My second card uses a Simon Says stencil and an older High Hopes pelican stamp.  Coloured with watercolour pencils, clear gloss added to his eyes and the rope.  I was too lazy to get up and get my copic markers, and tried to do the dotty effect round my image with my watercolours but it didn't quite work out, wish I'd left it well alone.
Washi tape along the bottom and Lawn Fawn cloud die to the top.

Sunday 27 March 2016

On the Cat Walk

This card was inspired by this week's Featured Stamper over at Splitcoast .... HERE's Jenn's original.

As you can see I used the same type of image, but mine is from Eat Cake Graphics:
1163-I Betty and Tigger
Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear gloss added to her rucksack, and glitter to the cat's collar.
I always feel like I should get bonus points for using washi tape ... it's on my list of 'why did I buy this?' stuff ;)

April Calendar

Happy Easter!  We had a beautiful day today of sunshine with lots of showers, and a gorgeous dinner of roast lamb and lemon cheesecake a la Jamie Oliver .... delish even if I do say so myself!  ;)

And the clocks changed last night, so we're into the brighter evenings at last. Hurray!!!
So it's almost April, and I've impressed myself with being early with all my calendar pages for Mum this year (yes I know that's only 4 months LOL)
This one uses an older stamp from High Hopes - coloured with watercolour pencils; clear gloss added to his beak, and glitter to the band on the umbrella.  I watercoloured my BG with a couple of different blues and some purple, and then used the splatter brush from Tim Holtz to add darker blue splashes.  Lawn Fawn cloud dies.  I also added some tiny bling to the spokes of the umbrella.

Saturday 26 March 2016

Sympathy flowers

I've run out of sympathy cards yet again, and it's been a while since I used this one from Lili of the Valley.  Do you get yellow hygrangeas?  I think I've only ever seen blue or pink ones?  Ah well, it's my card and I'll have my flowers yellow if I want ;)

Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Dienamics wonky stitched circle die.

Lost the plot ;)

Happy Easter!   I was positive I'd made enough Easter cards, posted a load, and then when I got home I was one short all of a sudden!  I knew I'd definitely made enough, so where did it go?  After a lot of hunting and searching, I've come to the conclusion that I've sent someone two cards LOL ... at this point I'll refer you to the 2nd card in this post ;)

Anyway this is most definitely the last Easter card!
As you know by now, my bunny is from Eat Cake Graphics ...
5050-F Flopsy Bunny's got an egg
Coloured with watercolour pencils, and Spectrum Noir sparkle added to the egg.  I splattered my BG with pink watercolour.  Some mini sequins from Taylored Expressions.

Tuesday 22 March 2016

A two-fer the price of one

I've no sympathy cards in my stash, and I'd loved Tracey's beautiful card over at the Muse challenge #158 so I thought I'd have a go.

For my first card I had a play with my new heat tool, the last one went to the craft room in the sky a while ago.   I don't think this image is quite striking enough to carry off this look, but the grey colouring in the background helps a bit.  I also think it would have been better with the sentiment stamped in grey.

So I had another go, and this time stamped my image in black ink.  I coloured my flowers with watercolour pencils, and tried to copy Tracey's two-toned flowers.  I like the effect, but still think this card is a bit boring.  I tried to jazz it up a bit by adding Spectrum Noir sparkle to the flowers and clear gloss to the jar.

Ah well, it's another 2 cards for my stash ;)

Try Stampin On Tuesday DT card

Here's the new sketch for the Try Stampin on Tuesday challenge #263, and there's an optional theme of 'Easter'.  Hope you'll play along too :)
.... you can either add your card to the blog or to their Facebook page.

I think this is my last Easter make, and of course I've used my Eat Cake Graphics bunny again ...
5050-F Flopsy Bunny's got an egg
Coloured with watercolour pencils and Spectrum Noir sparkle added to the eggs.

Sunday 20 March 2016

Almost the last Easter Bunny!

Just had to share this photo of wee Rubydoo enjoying the sunshine today :)  Our back garden definitely felt like spring, I got loads of tidying up done, so I'm in need of a steep in a hot bath for those sore muscles.  Ruby didn't help any, we need to teach her to do the weeding instead of lying snoozing in the sun.  Lazy cat.  ;)

Anyway, on to my cards.  I'm almost finished my Easter cards, think I've one more to do ... flying close to the wire as usual!



Again I've used my Eat Cake Graphics bunny  ...
5050-F Flopsy Bunny's got an egg
Coloured with watercolour pencils.  I also coloured up some scraps as I didn't have any pale yellow or lilac in my stash.  Clear gloss and glitter added to the egg and to the 'happy'.  Dienamics wonky stitched circle die.  Old button mini embossing folder from stash.

Card 2 uses this cutie from Stamping Bella.  She's one of those stamps that it's just a pleasure to colour!  I added clear gloss to her crown and shoes; Spectrum Noir sparkle to her ribbon and the icing on the cake; and stickles to the jam in the cake.


Saturday 19 March 2016

Easter Bunny and a Crazy Lady

I can't believe it's Spring Equinox tomorrow and Easter next weekend already ... I'm still not finished my Easter cards so there'll be a few more outings for my bunny yet!

My stamp is from Eat Cake Graphics ...
5050-F Flopsy Bunny's got an egg
Coloured with watercolour pencils.
My DP is oooooooold stuff from my stash, I always to struggle to use it even though it's so pretty, which is probably why there's still quite a bit of it left even after quite a few years!
Paper pieced egg.  Bling and sequins from stash.

My second card uses a really old stamp from Stampin Up that I came across in my stash.  Not sure if I'd want someone to send this to me with that sentiment ... though I guess it might be good for a belated birthday card, or maybe a 'welcome to the menopause' LOL ;)

Image coloured with watercolour pencils; clear gloss added to her eyes and Spectrum Noir clear sparkle to her shirt.
Dienamics wonky stitched circles and embroidered frame dies.

Thursday 17 March 2016

Birthday Critters

I feel like I'm cooking with gas this weather ... isn't it great when your mojo co-operates, it definitely makes card making so much easier and quicker!

I used this image so I could have another play with my new skin and hair tone watercolour pencils from Prima.  I love how her hair turned out, but I think I need to be braver and go darker with the skin tones ... she's obviously had a wet winter like me and is in dire need of a bit of a tan ;)

I've used up some pretty scrapsthat have been knocking round my stash for ages, Hurrah.  It still needed a wee something so out came my Taylored Expressions sequins again and it looked so much better.
Simon Says Stamp birthday dies.  

Starry Birthday

I enjoyed making the last girlie card, so had another go at a masculine version using the same layout.

For this one I've used my Dienamics Stitched stars dies and added some bling ... I may have overdone it on the bling ;)  Doodled some stitched lines, and that was it!  Job done.

Belated Birthday flowers

Happy St Patrick's Day!  We had the most beautiful blue skies and wall to wall sunshine today, so it was a great day for all the St Patrick's Day parades.  Didn't go to any myself ... couldn't be annoyed with the parking and the crowds!

Anyway, I've been trying to challenge myself more with sketches that I would find difficult, so I had a go at this week's Muse challenge with Anita's gorgeous card (right)

I used my Power Poppy stamps and my one and only coloured ink pad.  For a bit of extra interest I added a few sequins from my Taylored Expressions mix and also added some Spectrum Noir sparkle to the flowers and leaves.  I love how this turned out!

Wednesday 16 March 2016

Easter Bunnies

Hurrah for St Patrick's Day  - note to my American friends .... it's Patrick or Paddy NOT Patty! ;)  We get a free day off work tomorrow, and then I thought it would be a shame to have to go in for Friday so booked it off too, so a nice looooooong weekend for me :)

We don't really do St Patrick's Day cards here, so I thought I'd get a shift on with my Easter cards.  This year's image of choice is this cute bunny from Eat Cake Graphics:
5050-F Flopsy bunny's got an egg

Card 1:
Image coloured with watercolour pencils, and Spectrum Noir clear sparkle added to the egg.  I'm loving these bitty sequins from Taylored Expressions, might have to get another set next time I'm on a spending spree ;)
Simon Says Stamp 'happy' die.  Washi tape from stash.  Doodled border.

Card2:
Wow, I haven't used my washi tape in such a long time, and here's 2 in the one night another using it!!
Image again coloured with watercolours and sparkle added to egg.  I've chalked some clouds in the BG but they don't really show up in my pic.  Lawn Fawn cloud and sun dies.

Monday 14 March 2016

Just having a play ...

I was very lucky recently to win a voucher for Crafts U Love from the Penny Black and More challenge.  So I picked a set of skin and hair tone watercolour pencils from Prima.  I think it turned out OK, maybe they need a wee touch of sunshine as they're a bit pale!  Need more practice me thinks ;)

Image coloured with watercolour pencils.  Clear gloss and glitter added to the frills on their dresses.  Red dress and wine bottle paper peiced.  I hadn't intended to add the swirls, but I managed to rip the notebook edge when I was pulling off the die and needed a cover up!

Oh, and I also got some of these little tiny sequin mix from Taylored Expressions with my voucher, I think I'm gonna LOVE these :)

Sunday 13 March 2016

Christmas and Kitty Walks

We had a lovely Spring day today, no sunshine but at least it's not raining LOL!  Got some of my borders weeded and some of the pots sorted, so it looks a bit more respectable now!
And what else would I be making on a nice Spring day, other than a Christmas card ;)  I've seen a few in blogland and my resolution to make one a week has gone to the dogs.
This one was inspired by this week's featured stamper over at Splitcoast - here's Julie's original.  For my die cut shape, I cut a rectangle and then used my Paper Smooches stitched lines dies to edge it off and to create the wonky edge.  My snowman is from Eat Cake Graphics and featured on quite a few of my cards last year ...
1193-J Snowman (assembled)
Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Spectrum Noir sparkle added to his hat and scarf, and clear gloss to his nose and buttons.  Paper Smooches snowflakes dies.  Purple gems from stash.  I'm on the lookout for some new Christmas sentiment stamps, so I'll add it at a later date.

My cards definitely seem to be getting more CAS these days!  This one didn't photgraph very well - my green is a much nicer darker green than it looks here, and my sky was darker too - I'd watercoloured a touch round my images and then chalked in some clouds, but they didn't show up in my photo grrr :(
This image is another cutie from Eat Cake Graphics ...

Saturday 12 March 2016

2 dogs and a sheep

Evening crafters!  Hope you're having a good weekend.  We ended up going for a scoot up the coast to Carnlough!  There's nothing nicer than fish'n chips at the seaside!  Wee Rubydoo is pooped after the excitement, she's lying here snoring her head off :)

I decided not to use a sentiment on my card and that 'bark' would be enough.
Stamps from Eat Cake Graphics...
3046-K Optimism (MMM Dogs)
8041-C Bark (text)
Coloured with watercolour pencils.  Spectrum Noir sparkle added to their collars and little pink jumper, and then clear gloss over the top of the sparkle.

My second card is a super quick CAS one ... though when you cost in the time I spent looking for the stamp I originally wanted to use, it maybe wasn't so quick after all!  Anyway, in my search I came across this cute little sheepie that I don't think I've ever inked.  
Not sure of the maker of the sheep, but the frame round the sheep is from Stamps by Judith - I managed to stamp my frame wonky, but sure that's noting new anyway ;)

I watercoloured the bg behind the sheep, and then splattered the green on my base too.  
Spectrum Noir sparkle added to the fleece, and then clear gloss to the head and hooves.  Bit of bling from my stash, a doodled border to match my frame and that's it!