More Glorious Butterflies

Hello there,

How's your weekend going? Good I hope.  It's a Bank Holiday here in the UK, so an extra day off for lots of workers tomorrow.  It won't be long now before the kids are back at school will it.  I always think that's Autumn follows very shortly after that.

As the title of this blog post states, I'm here today to share with you a few more of my Crafty Individuals samples featuring one of their very latest very beautiful butterfly stamps:

Both cards feature CI-519 (Floral Explosion) by Crafty Individuals but they look completely different don't they.  I hope to be back with you later on in the week to share my remaining samples with you.  All four new butterfly stamps are currently on offer on the CI web site, in case you fancy treating yourselves.  

I'll leave you now to enjoy the rest of your weekend and I hope that it's a happy one! x

Peaceful Easy Feeling

Hello there on this lovely sunny Friday afternoon.

It's been a busy day for me so far as I've spent all morning gardening.  I can't believe how much things have grown over the last two or three weeks.  I guess it must be the mixture of sunshine and rain.  I don't usually let it go so far but my back has finally stopped being painful after the fall that I had a while ago and it's been the first time that I've felt up to doing it.  All done now though, so time to catch up with a bit of blogging.  

I've been making a few cards lately to top up my stash and this is one of them.  I have to admit that I haven't used this Sheena Douglass stamp in ages but it's a great stamp for masculine cards,  It's quite a simple card but I didn't feel that it needed any more.  The mountains are a stamp by Inkylicious:

That's all from me for today but I hope to be back with you on Sunday with a couple more of my  samples from the last Crafty Individuals shows on Hochanda.  

Wishing you all a very happy and colourful weekend x 

I would like to add this card to the following challenges:

Craft Stamper - TIMI August

Mid Month Inspiration - August 19

Hello there,

It's time for some mid month inspiration at Stamping Sensations where our theme this time is:

'Things With Wings'  

I stamped the lightbulb which is by Inkylicious and then stamped and fussy cut out the moth by Visible Image.  I added a yellow glow around the bulb and then blended some pink Distress Oxide to cover the white card in the background.  I then used various flower stamps by Stacey Barras before water colouring them with Spectrum Aqua pens.  I really like the finished card and it's something a little different to my usual style.  I also found it quite therapeutic colouring the roses.

Take care and be happy x

Poppy Power

Hello there on this Monday morning,

I'm here today to share a card with you using a gorgeous Woodware poppy stamp that I won in the July challenge over at the Penny Black and More challenge.  I received it through the post on Saturday and couldn't wait to ink it up:

I used Brushos to create my background and then stamped the poppies using VersaFine Clair.  After heat embossing, I used the Brushos again to paint the poppies.  As it's an A6 stamp, I used a few stamps by Crafty Individuals as fillers around the edge.  Finally, I blended some Cranberry Adirondack ink around the edge of my card.  Designed by Francoise Read, it's such a beautiful stamp and I think that I will make a few more using different colours to top up my card stash.

I hope to be back with you later in the week to share another care or two but until then, I hope the sun shines for you wherever you are x

I would like to add this card to the following challenges:

The Artistic Stamper - Anything Goes
Craft Stamper TIMI August - Anything goes
The Flower Challenge - Use Your Favourite Flower

CAS Butterfly

Hello there,

Well it's almost the weekend again and I can't believe just how quickly the weeks and months are passing by.  Whatever you're all getting up to, I hope that it's a happy time for you.

Now I know that CAS isn't usually my style but I've quite enjoyed making a few CAS cards recently and they're been really well received, much to my surprise.  Here's the card that I'd like to share with you today:

The Tim Holtz butterfly was stamped in VersaFine Clair Nocturn, heat embossed and then water coloured using Distress inks and Koh-I-Noor paints.  The sentiment stamps are by Lindsay Mason.

Only a short one from me today, so have a great weekend x

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

CAS Watercolour August Challenge - Colourful Butterflies
Less Is More - Tangerine, Aqua and White

All About Butterflies

Hello there,

I'd like to share with you a couple of the samples that I made for Crafty Individuals shows on Hochanda earlier this week.  They had four brand new stamps this time around all featuring beautiful butterflies and here are my cards:

Brusho background 

The background was made using Distress Oxides and VersaFine Clair

As you can probably see, I'm loving my pinks on these two cards :)

I'd like to enter the first card into the following challenges:

Moo-Mania - Butterflies

 
I'd like to enter my second card into the following challenges:

The Artistic Stamper - Anything Goes

Wish You Were Here

Hello there,

I was really pleased a few weeks ago when I was asked if I would like to be a GD for the 'Try It On Tuesday' challenge.  This is one of my favourite challenges and I always like to enter whenever I have the time.  They have a very talented bunch of ladies on their DT, so why not pop over and see what fabulous makes they've done for this latest challenge.  Here's the card that I've made:

I started by stamping with VersaFine Clair Nocturn and then heat embossing the palm trees and the lady to avoid any smudges during the colouring process.  I masked off the sea and then used my Ink Dusters to colour the sky.  I used a small circle stencil to create the setting sun.  Next, I masked off the sky and coloured the sea in the same way.  I then used a paint brush with a little more colour to give it some movement.  I also used my inks to water colour the lady on the beach.  Finally, I used some Fluffy Puffy stuff to make the sea foam look a little more realistic and added a few strokes with a white gel pen to represent the waves.

The lady stamp, rocks and sentiment stamps were free with Creative Stamping magazine and the palm trees are by Crafty Individuals.

A big thank you to the fabulous DT at TIOT for asking me to GD for this month's challenge x 

I'd like to add this car into the following challenges:

TIME OUT Challenge - Relaxation

Things With Wings

Hello there my lovely craft friends,

It's time for a new challenge again at Stamping Sensations and our theme this time is:

'Things With Wings'

If you remember,  back in the Spring, Crafty Individuals brought out some new stamps by Maria Kitano.  I have to say that I fell in love with these stamps as soon as they dropped through my post box but this Bluebird was my favourite.  It just looks so lifelike and it can be used for so many different occasions.  I also love that you can use any colours that you choose to and it always looks fabulous.

I started by using a yellow Distress Oxide ink and a little glycerine which I applied with a blending tool.  I stamped and heat embossed the image with VersaFine Clair and then coloured it with various inks and Koh-I-Noor water colours. I used another CI background stamp (CI-430) with Distress Blueprint Sketch which I spritz with water before stamping.  I also used the same ink to blend around the edge of my card.  I think this colour works beautifully with the yellow ink.  Finally, I finished with a sentiment from Chocolate Baroque.

Before I leave you today, I'd just like to give you a quick reminder that the lovely Jean Hardy will be on Hochanda tomorrow at 4pm and again on Tuesday at 10am.  As usual, she'll be joined by the fabulous Lesley Wharton from Chocolate baroque.  There are some super new butterfly stamps and great demos, so be sure to tune in.  If you can't make the shows, then you can always use the catch up on Hochanda to watch them later.  That's all from me for today and I'll be back with you again on Tuesday.

Take care of yourselves and have a lovely day x