HIGH TIDE AND TIMELESS TEXTURES - GDP174

I'm joining in with the Global Design Project this week with a card made with SU High Tide.



I inked the white card stock with Bermuda Bay using Timeless Textures - such a versatile set.  I used some retired DSP Naturally Eclectic as the background for the oval and for the strip of paper underneath.  The lighthouse was inked in Bermuda Bay and Island Indigo - with Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Night of Navy and Crushed Curry for the remainder of the inks for the scene.

A touch of rainbow ribbon and some Wink of Stella finishes off the card.  The sentiment is from another retired set Yay You - I use this set a lot for its fab  sentiments.  Over at my Facebook group The Joy of Sets we champion all things Stampin Up both current and retired so you will often find me using retired sets.  



 

MAD CAT LADY

I'm known as a bit of a mad cat lady- as well as having three of my own I also volunteer for our local Cats Protection and have two cats in pens in my gardens waiting for their forever homes. It's very cold here in the UK at the moment but the cats are all tucked up with heaters which is more than I can say for poor hubby who is working out in this cold.  One of the little stocking gifts he got me for Christmas was a sign saying I was normal three cats ago!  

So why am I going on about cats?  It's because I'm joining in with Retro Rubber's Challenge today which is Valentines with Ribbons and I've chosen to use an old set from Clearly Besotted which came out in 2017 which is called Fluffy Furball. It has such lovely cute cat images but it really came into its own when I used the sentiment also from Clearly Besotted which has such great sayings in the set Say It's Love.

I used a piece of Bo Bunny paper for the background and sponged the edges as well as the edges of the cardstock.  I used a heart stitched framelit for the shame and used some SU colours to colour in the little kitty.  A touch of burlap ribbon and some embellishments finished off this cute little card.




 

BUSY TUESDAY!

My blog today is like buses - wait for a while and all three come at once! Three posts in one day!  As well as the challenges for the Design Team I'm on I wanted to join in with Just Add Ink's before it closes later today. 

I took my inspiration from their picture and used soft colours on my images.

I love these hares and the flowers - they were from a set I unearthed when I recently had a re-organisation of my craft room - sadly I don't have the make but the set also includes a fox and a bird.  They have a folk art look to them I think.  I've used all Stampin Up colours and some retired SU Washi Tape.  I've suddenly re-found the love of Washi and seem to be using it a lot lately. The sentiment is from the same stamp set.

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS - IC307 - ATC'S

We have this gorgeous imagery for our challenge this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments

I was making some ATC's for my Facebook Group Joy of Sets where we are doing an ATC swap and decided they were perfect for this challenge - it also makes a nice change to see something other than a card. I've used a lot of old stamps from Stampin Up and Clearly Besotted as well as some I've no idea where they came from.  #usewhatyouhave I think is the new buzz word around the crafting world.  I kept the colours to pinks and purples as purple isn't a colour I usually use.

In case you are not familiar with ATC's - it stands for Artist Trading Cards and they are quite a phenomenon with people swapping and keeping them for years. I first started making them about 15 years ago.  They are small in stature but big in art and impression.  They are only 2.5" x 3.5" and the challenge is to make art out of something that small.  They can be addictive though.

I look forward to seeing what you all make this week.



      

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY - #TSOT393 - SKETCH WITH OPTION OF TINY THINGS

We have a Sketch for you this week at TSOT with the added option of Tiny Things.

I liked the idea of using tiny things and had these cute little penguins from Clearly Besotted from their Penguin Planner set. I chose to use all the little penguins who looked as though they were giving something.  There are 20 little penguins in the set to choose from.

I cut the squares out with an old Creative Memories square punch I had and used some SU DSP and cardstock to provide the layers.  The little banner is also from Clearly Besotted and comes with a matching die cut.  The little pearls are were ones I had in my stash.  #usewhatyouhave 


 

MONDAY'S MUSINGS

It's a very chilly Monday morning here in the UK - but the sun is shining and it's so much nicer than grey wet days.  I've been busy over the weekend re-siting my craft from from an upstairs room to a downstairs room.  It took both days over the weekend to get it all sorted - and quite stressful really.  The scary thing is my house is on the market for sale - I have no idea how long it will take to get ready for a house move if just moving my crafting stuff took two days-Gulp!

Anyway one good thing about having a sort out is the things you find which for me was a stamp set I'd never inked - I can't even remember where I got it and it hasn't got a name on it but it's such a lovely set that I thought I'd have a play.  It has main images of a bird, hare and a fox and I chose to use the bird for my card.

I'm playing along with The Paper Players PP426 and using their sketch.



I used some Stampin Up Card stock for my base and the papers are from Kaisercraft Take Note.  The bird was coloured in with SU In-Colours from 2016 I think - they weren't my favourite colours but they do look quite good on this bird.  I used some Spectrum Noir over parts of the bird to give it a bit of sparkle.  I'm going to be having another play with this set.

 

SWEET STAMPIN - HAIL TO BURNS NIGHT

A lovely theme for our Sweet Stampin challenge this week - Hail to Burns Night. Well, my maiden name was Wilson and my paternal grandfather was Scottish so this should have been easy for me?  Nope!  Trawling through all my old stamp sets there wasn't one I had with a Scottish connection - Welsh yes but not Scottish - so I started to think outside the box.

One of the die cuts I got from a local little shop at Christmas had this gorgeous Stag in it.  I decided to use some of the lovely tartan paper from Festive Chalkboard paper pad to layer behind the stag.

I layered it onto some Night of Navy card stock from SU and added a sentiment at the top and an extra piece of the tartan paper at the bottom with a banner.  The Happy Birthday is from Clearly Besotted and the sentiment on the banner is from SU Feather Together.   I have a person in mind that this card is going to and it will suit him down to the ground.

I look forward to seeing your take on this theme.  Thanks for popping by and leaving a comment - I love to hear from you.



 

RETRO RUBBER - BLACK AND WHITE - #RRCB102

I'm playing along with Retro Rubber today - their challenge is Black and White 





It just so happens that on my Facebook Group The Joy of Sets I have set up a Technique Challenge album and our first challenge was Black and White.  I have used an old Stampin Up set here called In this World and have used the image of the grid and the butterfly.

I don't actually have any black card stock in my stash so I improvised by adding a white layer and adding some Washi Tape at the top and the bottom.  The butterflies were cut with an old SU punch out of some Designer Series Paper which has black on it and I've added a few black embellishments.  The sentiment was one from my stash of stamps.  I thought this looked rather a sombre card.  I don't often use black so this really took me out of my comfort zone.

I'm also adding this into a new challenge I've found called Little Red Wagon which is asking for Washi Tape.

 

SUOC CHALLENGE - BIRTHDAYS

Our challenge this week at Stampin Up Only challenge is birthdays.  On my Facebook Group The Joy of Sets we have a birthday group - members add their names and addresses and look forward to gorgeous hand made cards from people they only have 'met' on line and who could be from any  part of the world - our members hail from the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand as well as many other parts of Europe and the rest of the world.  There is nothing more exciting than seeing a card pop through your door.  We also have a general RAK (Random Act of Kindness) group so you could be lucky and receive lots of cards.

So why am I telling you all this -mainly because I send out birthday cards for the group and with postage costs in the UK more expensive if the card has embellishments on it I'm learning ways to make one layer cards for posting.

My card today has used Dandelion Wishes - it's nice to put the Christmas stamps away for a while and rediscover old favourites.  With one layer in mind I masked off part of my white card stock.  I inked it up with Soft Suede and an old SU colour Really Rust using a sponge.  I then added one of the stamps from Timeless Textures - the little dot ones in Soft Suede.  The Dandelions were inked in Rich Razzleberry as well as the sentiment which is from Beautiful You.  Some enamel dots were added to the centre of the dandelions - I don't think these will cause too much problems with the post.  A touch of Wink of Stella on the ends of the dandelions gives the card a bit of sparkle.

I look forward to seeing all your ideas for Birthdays and seeing what sets you have used.  


 

JOY OF SETS BLOG HOP - EASEL FOLD CARD

Happy New Year everyone and welcome to a new Blog Hop from Joy of Sets members for 2019.  For those of you that don't know Joy of Sets - it is a facebook group I set up in 2017 when  I was a Stampin Up Demonstrator to be able to showcase retired stamps as well as current stamps from the SU range.  I am no longer a Demonstrator but the group is for all who love Stampin Up and as we have grown we have included a lot of other stamp companies that we love to ink.  If you would like to join the Facebook Group click on the logo above.

Our Blog Hop has been organised this month by Andrea Parr who has taken over from me and made the Blog Hop her own baby.  And what a great job she has done with lots of lovely inspiration for you all.

Her theme this month was Easel Fold card with a slight difference of using a free product.  I used some stamps I got free with a magazine.

My card is an Easel Box card which was inspired by someone on You Tube who didn't give her name or her blog which is a shame.  I used Stampin Up Soft Sky for the base card stock and some retired DSP Naturally Eclectic.  I love the colours in these papers.

 The box was made first with its little drawer so you can add some goodies  I've used a retired Antique Brad from SU for the drawer handle.  The ribbon is some retired SU.

The card is then made and clued to the top of the box - the stamps were free from a craft magazine and were small enough to use on this little box.  The buttons help to weigh it down so it stays and the little button above the Happy Birthday acts as the stop for the easel card.

For more inspiration for easel cards pop along to Andrea Parr next.

Click on the Previous button to be taken back to Vicki Milyard's blog

 

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY #391

We have a double challenge for you today at Try Stampin on Tuesday

Use the Technique of Mixing up your Fonts and/ or using the sketch.  I chose to try both.

I started off with some Whisper White card stock from SU and masked off a centre panel.  I then used two Tim Holtz Distress inks - Bundled Sage and Picked Raspberry and Soft Sky from SU and sponged them onto the white card.  The set I've used is an old retired SU set called Fresh Vintage which I haven't used in such a long time - it always seems strange now using wooden stamps instead of the cling or rubber - do you find that?  In fact in some ways it's much easier - I didn't need to hunt for a block.  I used Versamark to stamp the medallion type stamp and then used some of SU's copper embossing powder which really makes it stand out against the pale inks.

I actually cheated with mixing up my fonts and used another retired SU set called Yay You.  This sentiment was already in this set - all mixed up - all I did was cut it up into three different parts.  I added it to a piece of Soft Sky card stock which had been cut using a stitched framelit.  The little flowers are also from the same stamp set - I embossed them in the Bronze onto some dark red card stock and cut them out and added them with dimensionals.

 I look forward to seeing how you interpret the challenge and whether you go for both options.



 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS -COLOUR CHALLENGE #306

We have a colour challenge  for you today at Hand Stamped Sentiments

My card today uses a stamp set I won on a blog challenge - from Reverse Confetti called Bebe Bunny.  This is not the type of image I usually go for but I thought I'd have a go outside of my comfort zone and try something different. 

The paper used for the background of the card is some I had in my stash.  The pearlised doily is from Stampin Up.  I used a heart stitched die cut to cut out the heart and added the sentiment in Fresh Fig.  The little bunny has been cut out and inked in SU Inks - Retired Going Gray, Petal Pink, Mossy Meadow and Fresh Fig with a touch of More Mustard for her shoes.    The little button is also from my stash.

 

SWEET STAMPIN CHALLENGE - ANNIVERSARIES

Our challenge over at Sweet Stampin in this week is Anniversaries - I have a gorgeous little set I got from Clearly Besotted with these little umbrellas and a perfect sentiment for an anniversary.  Hubby and I will be celebrating 34 years married this year - where does the time go?  It makes me feel as old as my parents!

The set is called April Showers Again.  I used some SU Pool Party card stock for the base and Wild Wasabi for the umbrella.  The hearts are from a retired SU set called Yay You and one I haven't seen an awful lot done with .  There is some Spectrum Noir sparkle pen on the umbrella and the hearts to give it a bit of sparkle and a sparkle embellishment on top of the umbrella.  A little bit of twine finishes off the card.

STAMPIN UP ONLY CHALLENGE SUOC214 WINTER - NEW DESIGN TEAM MEMBER

2019 is starting off with a bang for me - I'm delighted to have been asked to join the Stampin Up Only challenge blog.  Although I am no longer a Stampin Up Demonstrator I still feel the love for the stamps, especially the retired ones which was why I set up my very popular Joy of Sets Facebook Group where we enjoy still using retired product.

The theme for the first challenge of 2019 is Winter.

I used the wonderful Winter Woods for this card - I loved this set as I will be able to use it not just for Christmas cards - trees stamps are just so versatile.

I started off with a piece of retired DSP from the Naturally Eclectic set.  I then used the same colour of the Night of Navy to sponge my background for the trees.  I also used an old retired colour Bordering Blue and a touch of Crushed Curry just to give it a dimension of light and a wintery feel.    I added the birds from High Tide and the sentiment is from Thankful Thoughts.  I used a retired punch and inked it in the Night of Navy.  A touch of Crushed Curry twine for the bow and some Wink of Stella over the branches of the trees finishes off the card.






 

NEW CHALLENGE BLOG - JOY OF SETS TIC TAC TOE CHALLENGE #josttt001

I'm delighted to offer you a new Challenge Blog - The Joy of Sets Tic Tac Toe Challenge Blog. Joy of Sets is my Facebook Group which started in 2017 out of my wish to continue using my old Stampin Up sets once they retired.  As a frustrated Demo at the time I disliked the way the old sets were discarded and we never got a chance to re-use them.  I'm no longer a Demo with Stampin Up but the Facebook group has continued to go from strength to strength.

It seemed fitting that we started our own Challenge Blog.  It will run monthly to start and we have decided on a Tic Tac Toe theme as this gives us a wide option of inspiration for all sorts of projects.

Our first one was designed by myself and each month one team member of our very talented Design Team will choose their own boxes.

Our Design Team hail from all around the world showing what a diverse group of members Joy of Sets is.

Here is our first challenge 

My card uses a delightful set from Clearly Besotted called Simply Scrumptious which also comes with a matching die set.  I've used the middle row of the tic tac toe - Birthday, Circle, Floral.  The inks used are Stampin Up as is the Designer Series Paper for the background.  

I hope you will have fun playing along with us and visiting our Design Team to see their take on the grid.





 

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND A NEW DESIGN TEAM

Happy New Year everyone - I hope 2019 is a peaceful year for you all.

I am starting the New Year off with another new Challenge Blog - I'm delighted to have been included on the Design Team for Sparkles Christmas Challenge which means I get to make Christmas cards all year round - woohoo.  I don't have to put my Christmas stamps away in mothballs til the end of the year.

Our first challenge for January 2019 is sparkles.

I've used a gorgeous set from Gina K Designs and Simon Says Stamp called Season of Joy - it was my go-to set this Christmas as it has everything I love - snowflakes, reindeer, those lovely mugs  and great sentiments.

I started off with using the two sizes of snowflakes from the set and inking them in Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass.  The mugs and the bauble were coloured in with Spectrum Noir pencils and I went over the writing with a white Gelly Roll pen.  I mounted this on to some silver glitter paper and embossed the sentiment in white embossing powder.  I added some liquid pearls and a touch  of Spectrum Noir glitter pen over the snowflakes and the images. 



 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS #305

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Welcome back to another year of challenges from Hand Stamped Sentiments. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas time and are ready to get crafting again.  We are starting off with a sketch for you.

I've used a lovely new set from Clearly Besotted stamps for my card - It's called Simply Scrumptious and even has the die cuts to match.  I used some papers from My Mind's Eye Memorable collection for the circle and the matching papers behind.  The wreath was inked with SU Wild Wasabi and I use the die cut to cut it out.  The Strawberries were inked with Tim Holtz Picked Raspberry Distress Ink and Wild Wasabi for the tops of the strawberries.  I added a touch of Spectrum Noir glitter pen for the strawberries and some red rhinestones as I'm still in Christmas sparkle mode!!!

The sentiment is from the same set and I simply embossed it in White Embossing powder from Ranger.

I look forward to seeing what you do with this sketch and what stamps will be used now that Christmas has passed.