With Sympathy

I liked the sketch at Sketch Saturday, but as if one sketch wasn’t enough, I decided to add an extra element by challenging myself to make a one layer card. Almost a challenge too far – this was my third attempt!

I started by stamping the Hero Arts Delicate Blossoms stamp in Versafine Onyx Black, then painting on Pebeo masking fluid over the flowers. Using a Spellbinders die to cut an oval mask, I inked the card using Distress Ink in Dusty Concord, then I rubbed off the masking fluid to reveal the white flowers. The Clearly Besotted greeting, from the Brushed Greetings 2 set, finished off the card nicely. And at least I stamped it straight on my final attempt . . . .

CAS Mix Up

My missing mojo is slowly returning although sadly the work-related stress isn’t going anywhere. Still, this is one of three cards I’ve enjoyed making today. The inspiration for it was a card by the super-talented Loll Thompson, not realising that she had made it as an example for this month’s CAS Mix Up challenge.  What is it they say? “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”? But it’s with a little trepidation that I’m entering my card into the challenge as it’s a little too close to her inspiration for comfort!

I didn’t have any plain tissue paper to water colour, but I did have pink tissue paper which I scrumpled up, glued to cardstock with Mod Podge then heat embossed with Wow! silver embossing powder.

I then made the frame with dies by M & C Boutique which were a bargain (£5!) in The Works. I masked off an area the size of the frame then stamped the script (by Inkylicious) in Hero Arts Unicorn ink. The feather was die cut from the “offcut” middle of the frame then shaped a little & adhered with dimensional adhesive.

I used by own home made stamping tool (which is a variation of this one) to stamp the greeting (by Clearly Besotted) but then realised that everything was on the right hand side and the card didn’t look balanced, so I added a little bling to fill the gap.

Techniques: tissue paper, heat embossing, stamping, die cutting.

Missing Mojo

Like many people who craft, it is my antidote to stress. But sometimes even card making isn’t enough, and my mojo goes awol. Such has been the situation for the last month. Although I’ve made a few cards, getting started on them has been a struggle. When that happens I turn to challenges & YouTube videos to spark my creativity again.

One such challenge is the one at Die Cutting Divas where the theme of challenge 323 is Wedding/Anniversary. A recent Ebay purchase of a few sets of Hero Arts Stamp & Cut stamps included the one I’ve used above, Congrats.

It’s my brother & sister-in-law’s 35th wedding anniversary soon so I used a mix of Distress Inks to create the background, which was cut with a stitched square die. Then I die cut the Congrats die several times in white and also from the background. I layered up 3 white die cuts then added the coloured one on top, offsetting it slightly.  The “on your anniversary” was a combination of stamps from other sets, stamped in Versamark then in Distress Ink to match the background. I then embossed it in clear embossing powder.

To keep the overall look simple, I stamped a few hearts from one of the other Hero Arts sets & embossed them in white.

CAS Watercolour

I came across a new (to me at least) watercolour challenge blog called CAS watercolour. As that’s one of my favourite colouring mediums, coupled with my favourite card-making style, I decided to enter this month’s challenge. This card is one I made earlier this month but hadn’t got around to featuring on my blog.

The flower image is by Clearly Besotted, painted in Windsor & Newton half-pan paints. The greeting stamp, embossed in Hero Arts embossing powder, and birthday die are also by Clearly Besotted. The number diecuts are by Die’sire, finished with Anita’s Clear Gloss. I kept the finished card simple with a few pearls.

Deepest Sympathy

We received the shocking, sad news today that a man we have known for years has suddenly passed away. Our families’ lives have been loosely intertwined for over 50 years – his family was at school with mine, my son has been friends with his younger son from early childhood. So it was with heavy heart that I made this card for his family, particularly his widow who is a friend. The inspiration for this was challenge no 157 over at Muse, I really liked the way the sentiment filled the gap. I am also going to enter this in the Flower Power challenge at Stamping Sensations.

The flowers are by Altenew, coloured with Zig Clean Colour pens. The stamped greeting is by Hero Arts and the diecut “sympathy” is a new purchase from Clearly Besotted – I didn’t think I’d be using it quite this soon.

Silly!

Life hasn’t allowed me much time for crafting just lately, I’m hoping that normal service will be resumed eventually! But it’s a young relative’s second birthday today and this was the card I made for him:

It’s coloured with Promarkers and looks simple, but it took quite a bit of masking (using Pebeo Drawing Gum) and four attempts before I got it right! The cue card over at CASology this week is “Silly”, and although that isn’t something I normally do I thought this card might fit the bill. The number stamp is by Papermania, and the monkeys are from a very old set by (I think) Hero Arts. As the challenge over at 4 Crafty Chicks this week is Masking, I’m going to enter it over there, too.

Quick Review: Zig Clean Colour on Kraft

Zig Clean Colour pens are all the rage at the moment, but I’ve seen very few reviews by amateurs. I decided to buy just a couple to test them before deciding whether to add them to my birthday list. I bought Peach Pink and Sugared Almond Pink as they don’t appear in any of the larger sets, and they looked like they’d match each other. I decided to try them out on Neenah Desert Storm kraft card – many colouring mediums get “lost” on kraft and I’ve never seen anyone else use Zig pens on kraft.

And my verdict? I absolutely LOVE these pens, which allow for really finely detailed painting with ease. These are most definitely going to be at the top of my list! I stamped the Hero Arts Delicate Blossoms image and embossed it with Wow! detail white embossing powder then spent a stress-busting hour colouring. This is the result:

The colours blend beautifully, and even the pale colour holds its own against the kraft (although, as ever, it doesn’t show too well in the photos).  I finished the card off with a die-cut fishtail flag (by Sizzix), a stamped greeting by Clearly Besotted and a little bit of bling. As it fits with the latest challenge over at Stamping Sensations (Anything goes with a stamp and a die) I’m going to make this my third & last entry over there.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Background Check – Homework!

Well this week certainly hasn’t turned out as planned! On Friday we were due to fly out to Lisbon for our family holiday, but unfortunately my husband was taken ill & we had to cancel 36 hours before we were due to fly. To say I was gutted would be a huge understatement, as I’d also planned a 16th birthday surprise for our son who would have celebrated his birthday out there. Instead we’re stuck at home and my poor husband is still ill, being looked after by Nurse Helen!

To stop myself moping around I decided to sign up for the online card class “Background Check”, and this card is my first finished “homework”:

It’s to congratulate our nephew who has just got a promotion at work. The inks I’ve used are Hero Arts Neon, and the background die (stamped with Versamark) is a border one by Kaisercraft called Checker Plate.  The “To You” is by Anna Marie Designs, stamped in black Stazon. The word die is by Clearly Besotted and it’s inlaid into the card, into which a star has been diecut then the gap filled with acetate. I hope you can see that better in the picture below:

I’ve just realised this qualifies for this month’s challenge over at Stamping Sensations where the theme is Anything Goes and you must use a stamp and a die.

Techno Gadgets

A crafty friend and I visited the Sincerely Yours show over at Wrexham yesterday and one of my new purchases was a set of dies by Robert Addams called Techno Gadgets. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be used a lot & I wasn’t wrong! One of my nephews celebrates his birthday this week so it seemed like the ideal opportunity to give it a try.

The colour inspiration came from the patterned papers which are from the Cut & Paste range by Jen Allyson for My Mind’s Eye, I thought the symbols matched the gadget theme quite well. The red card is from my stash & I also cut the gadgets in silver paper, too, sticking the tiny buttons etc in place with glue pen. The greeting, stamped in Brilliance Pearlescent Poppy ink, is by Hero Arts.

CAS Vellum

The challenge over at Addicted to CAS is vellum, and for once I knew immediately what I wanted to do but it took 3 attempts before I achieved it!

I started off by stamping the Hero Arts flower in Versafine Onyx Black, then heat embossing it with Wow clear embossing powder. I coloured it on the back with Promarkers in Spring Lilac & Peony, then added clear Wink of Stella to the circles on the front. The greeting by Flowersoft was also heat embossed. The difficulty came when trying to adhere the vellum to the card, and I eventually achieved this with some Woodware Miracle Adhesive Film, although I think that may eventually come unstuck too!