HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS - #IC373

We have such a gorgeous inspiration board for you this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  I just adore all these colours and Autumn is my favourite time of the year. 

 I used a set from my stash called Mug Hugs from Sunny Studio for the mugs.  I started off by masking off the background card and adding a leaf stencil in SU Cinnamon Cider ink.  I stamped the mugs and cut them out and added them to the top using marker pens to colour them in.  I added the sentiment from the same set in the middle.  There are some glossy accents on the heart on the one mug.

Today is my 36th Wedding Anniversary - in 4 days time my daughter gets married and three days after that I have a big house move from England back home to Wales.  This move has been nearly 9 months in the making with three sales falling at the last hurdle so I'm really hopeful this one makes it as I've been living out of boxes for 6 months and have limited craft stuff.  It will be like Christmas when I eventually get to open all my boxes.

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY - #TSOT524

Optional Theme - patterned paper/dsp

Welcome to another week's sketch at Try Stampin on Tuesday.  I'm in the middle of moving home, plus my daughter's wedding in two weeks with the move the next day so time is short in my household at the moment and most of my crafting stuff has been in boxes for a long time.  So very quick posts from me over the next month or so til I get settled and internet gets switched on.

I've used some gorgeous papers from a pack from Pretty Papers called Rose Gold Memories.  The little bird is from a Clearly Besotted set with the cute sentiment which comes with the set.  I coloured him in with a touch of Distress Ink. I've added some strips of red washi tape between all the papers. 

JOURNAL PAGE

My new obsession over the past few months has been journalling.  Inspired by Shawn Petite to actually think I could play with paint I've found it very helpful over the last six months during the frustration of a house move that just hasn't happened.  It has been such a help during sleepless nights to come and put something down on paper and I found it much more satisfying than just making cards.

I recently purchased some of Shawn Petite's stencils and when they arrived they had a lovely little card with them with this quote on it - I wanted to turn it into an art journal page and came up with this during a sleepless night.

The background has been made with a Tim Holtz stencil - one of my favourites the mosaic - and some textured paste.  I used Distress Inks for the background and various stencils and stamps from my stash.  

The heart stamp is one of my favourites from Visibile Image called Follow your Heart and I love using it not just for the obvious valentine's cards.    The heart beat, top right, and the little heart, bottom left, are also part of the same set. The heart in the middle was stamped onto tissue paper and added with some Matte Medium.  I cut out the words from Shawn's card and added them to the piece.  

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Path of Positivity - Quiet Time - my quiet time helps my creativity

More Mixed Media - AG 

Simon Says Stamp - Monday -Stamp it 

Use Your Stuff - AG 

Sir Stamp a Lot - favourite stamp

We love 2 create - AG mixed media

CHRISTMAS IN SEPTEMBER!!!

It's never too early to make a start on Christmas cards.  My card today has been inspired by two challenges - Global Design Project sketch#gdp308  and As You See It challenge #258 Up In The Air.

I took the inspiration for my colours from the snowflake washi tape I had in my stash.  I used Versafine Clair in Warm Breeze and Stampin Up Cherry Cobbler for my snowflakes.  The snowflakes stamps are from Winter Flowers and Foliage from Creative Expressions.

I masked off the area as per the sketch for the GDP and used a sentiment from Anita Jeram Snow Happy set.  I layered it onto some SU card stock and added some SU Dazzling Diamonds for some of the snowflakes.

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS CC#372

A lovely colour combination to inspire you this week from Hand Stamped Sentiments.  Cinnamon Cider is one of my favourite colours at the moment.  It is so versatile and can be a dark or light shade depending on how you use it and a great one for Autumn cards.

I used it here as the background on Kraft cardstock and it came out quite dark.  I used the Stampin Up Drybrush stamp - I love that stamp for backgrounds.  My main image is from Saleabration called Feels Like Home and I've used the other colours in the combination to colour only parts of the stamp.

A touch of pearls and some satin SU ribbon under the sentiment finishes off the card. 

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes

Our challenge this month at 613 Avenue Create is Anything Goes but with the added twist of School Days for those who fancy the twist.  I chose to stick with the Anything Goes theme as I have nothing in my stash for back to school. It's a long time now since my two were in school and it's so long ago I don't even know when schools are in or out.  In the UK our kids don't go back until September anyway.

For my card I started with a background I had created which was sitting in my stash.  I used a stencil for the leaves and some distress inks and water to give a mottled effect.

The fairy stamp is from Lavinia Stamps and she is called Seren, which means star in Welsh.  I used VersaFine Clair ink in Acorn for all the stamping to give the monochrome effect - adding a touch of bright yellow marker pen for the lantern.  The Believe washi tape is from Aall&Create.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Use your stuff - AG 

Inspiration Station - using the lantern to see your way down the road 

The Fairy and the Unicorn - AG as long as it's magical

Lavinia Stamps - Use Leaves - Leaf background stencil 

SPARKLES CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE - ALL ABOUT STOCKINGS

We are all about the Christmas Stockings here at Sparkles this month.

I remembered I had this lovely embossing folder with stockings on it so wanted to use that for my card and keep it a CAS (Clean and Simple) Card.  I had a little stocking die in my stash and used it to hang the stockings from some red and white twine.  The little sentiment is from Clearly Besotted and is just perfect for this card.

TOTALLY TOADSTOOLS

I love toadstool stamps and have been looking for a really good set for a long time.  When I saw this new release from Visible Image stamps I was right on it.

I've used a Visible Image stencil here too for the background using Distress Oxide in Brushed Corduroy and Peeled Paint for the edges.  I stamped the toadstools in Versafine Claire in Nocturne and used coloured markers to colour them in.  The green for the grass is Versafine Clair in Shady Lane.  The card was inspired by one of the DT card's for the new release. 

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Global Design Project #gdp307 - Thank You

Addicted To Cas - Nature

Crafting Happiness - AG 

Get Creative - AG 

Crazy 4 Challenges -Farmer's Market - if they were mushrooms! 

Less is More - Spots

Just Add Ink - N for Nature

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - AG 

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY - #TSOT 522

Anniversary

Our challenge this week at Try Stampin on Tuesday includes this great sketch with the added prompt of Anniversary.  It's my wedding anniversary next month - 36 years with my hubby.  Three days later our daughter gets married and then we move house - well actually move country - from England to Wales!  Lots going on in our household over the next month or so.

My card uses a Stampin Up Mask for the background with some Tim Holtz Speckled Egg.  I used some old SU cardtstock for the bands and ran them through the Painted Texture Embossing folder from SU.  The flowers is an old set by Clearly Besotted - I do like stamps with jars of flowers.  The sentiments are from my stash and I added a few little heart gems.

SWEET STAMPIN - LOTS OF LAYERS

LOTS OF LAYERS 

Our challenge at Sweet Stampin this week is Lots of Layers.  I wanted to create my own background papers for my layers - I used an old SU stamp and some Tim Holtz Distress Ink and stamped over the layers - I added SU Night of Navy Cardstock behind each layer.  The butterfly was added from my stash.  A very simple card which gives a great effect.  A little addition of some fine linen thread finished off the card.

CHRISTMAS HOLLY

I'm playing with a new stamp set for me today from Creative Expressions called Winter Flowers and Foliage.  I realised I had a distinct lack of these type of stamps in my stash and this set fitted the bill for me.  I must check out whether they have matching dies as I'm not great at fussy cutting.

My card today takes inspiration from the sketch at Global Design Project #GDP306.

I used the cutting dies from Spellbinders which cut out the lovely shapes and outline.  I stamped the holly in the middle of the small one using Versafine Clair in Nocturne.  I used some Mont Marte art markers to colour in the leaves and berries and a touch of white gel pen.  I cut out some extra holly leaves and popped on dimensionals.  The sentiment is an old one from my stash.

I'm adding this into the following challenges

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - AG

Addicted to stamps - Christmas 

Crafty Creations - AG 

the Holly and Ivy - AG 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS - #SC371

Here's our sketch for you this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  I used a new stencil I've just purchased from Creative Expressions which is the gorgeous butterflies.  I cut out a circle and stencilled the butterfly over it and the base layer card.  I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks in a mixture of Peacock Feathers and Mermaid Lagoon.

I had an old piece of SU DSP with the black and white butterflies and sponged the butterflies with the same inks.  The small butterfly is from Wendy Vecchi and the sentiment is from Visible Image.  I added a touch of Dazzlign Diamonds to the main butterfly.

INSPIRED BY.....

I was inspired by the new challenges over at Inspired By and thought I'd try and have a go at the Christmas one.  It feels like winter here in the UK anyway with dark skies and rain and I even had to put the heating on yesterday!

I realised that I really don't have very many Christmas foliage type cards or dies so had a hunt in my stash - most of it is in boxes ready for moving but I managed to come up with something which I think fits their sketch and the Christmas image.

I started off by using a Sunny Studio stamp from their Holiday Style set which is the lovely fir branch - I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Iced Spruce and Evergreen Bough and stamped it in a circle.  I used the Tim Holtz Wreath Die and some Holly dies from Mixed Media Christmas to create the holly wreath and the foliage behind.  The candy canes came from another Sunny Studio set called Mug Hugs which I cut out and tucked behind the bow, which I covered in Dazzling Diamonds. I added jewels as holly berries.

I added a Tim Holtz stencil with the Christmas Foliage in Peeled Paint and added an old sentiment stamp from my stash.  I layered it onto some kraft cardstock, 

I'm also adding this into the following challenges:

Merry Little Christmas - AG 

Addicted to stamps #142 - Christmas 

The sisterhood of crafters - use leaves 

Watercooler Challenges - Occasion

The Holly & Ivy Xmas - AG 

christmas Kickstart - Photo Inspiration

SirStampALot - Celebrate Christmas 

Excited to say my card was chosen as a Top Sister for The Sisterhood of Crafters 

My card was chosen in the top 3 at Addicted to Stamps

FEELS LIKE HOME 2

Maybe it's because I've been in limbo the last six months waiting to move house - surrounded by boxes with most of my crafting stuff packed away and getting very frustrated with it all but this new set from Stampin Up is featuring in a lot of my projects at the moment.

I've used the colours from Global Design Project for this card - I started by making an inky background with the three colours then stamped the image on top.  I used a water colour brush to add some extra colours into the actual image and then cut it out with a Spellbinders Frame.  The colours seem to have come out somewhat darker on my phone than in real life.

The sentiment is from the same set cut out with a Tim Holtz tag die and I added some old SU ribbon.  I used Versamark on the background card stock to add the flower stamp.

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY #TSOT520

Here's our challenge for you this week at Try Stampin On Tuesday.  You have options to just use the technique or getting inky - using our sketch or combining both challenges.

I love getting inky so I was up for the whole ink splatter technique.  I used a stencil from Visible Image with the gorgeous butterfly.  It helped as the butterfly's wingers taper into those lovely inky dots. I added extra ink splatters with Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  The sentiment is from a Visible Image stamp set called Free Your Imagination stamped with VersaFine Clair ink in Warm Breeze.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Crafting Happiness - AG 

Pammies Inky Pinky - AG

Get Creative - AG 

FEELS LIKE HOME

I love this new set I got from Stampin Up - it's a great one for colouring and I've used it a lot recently on a few cards- some I can't show yet.  This one I can though as I took my inspiration for the colours from the Just Add Ink challenge.

I used VersaFine Clair ink in Warm Breeze to stamp the image.  I coloured it some of it in with Stampin Up Cinnamon Cider - one of my new favourite colours especially for the Autumn.  I only coloured in a few parts of the image and then tore the edges and edged it in some more of the CC ink.  I cut out the sentiment with a Tim Holtz tag die and added an old SU heart embellishment.  I used the Painted Texture Embossing Folder by SU for the background and lightly coloured it with the Cinnamon Cider and edged it with the VersaFine Clair.  I layered it all onto some SU Black Cardstock.

I'm adding this into the following challenges -

Simon Says Stamp Monday - use Dry Emboss - background embossing folder 

Dream Valley Challenge - Emboss

Creative Crafters - AG 

World Wide Open Design Team - AG

Inkspirational - Journey

 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS #IC370

A great mood board for you this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  I chose to use the butterflies top right for my card.  

I used a new stamp set for me from Creative Expressions called Butterfly Splash - a great set with 9 butterfly stamps on it, some greenery and two great ink splodge stamps lol!  I started off the card by using the greenery stamp at the bottom, the lavender stalks are from Tim Holtz wildflowers stamp set.  I stamped the butterflies in Versafine Clair inks.  I then used various pastels from the new Stampin Up pastel set to cover the whole image.  I went over the pastels with Tim Holtz Distress Glaze.  The colours seem to show up better in real life - whereas here they look a bit muted.

The happy birthday stamp and matching die cut is from a Clearly Besotted stamp.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Path of Positivity - Enjoy Nature

Stamping Sensations - Celebration