HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS - WATERCOLOUR BRIGHT

Welcome back to another challenge at Happy Little Stampers Watercolour.  We have the added option of something Bright and this lead me to realise I really don't do bright very often.  Even all my inks are muted and rarely bright.  However I had a go with the Tim Holtz colours I had to try and make a nice bright card.  I think it was brighter in real life lol!

I started with a stencil from Visible Image stamps of the lovely flower burst and used Tim Holtz Spiced Marmalade and Twisted Citron for the background.  The sentiment is also from Visible Image.  The sunflower is by Tracy Evans and I used some of her stamps for the background stamping also.  

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Little Red Wagon - Warm colours 

Double D challenge - Flowers 

The sisterhood of crafters - birds 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS CC415

We have a lovely soft colour palette for you this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  My card uses a new stamp by Francoise Read for Woodware Craft Collection called Three Butterflies.  I used three of the colours for the butterflies and kept the Petal Pink for a soft water coloured background.  I added the sentiment from a set from Colorado Craft Company called Olive Branch and popped it on dimensionals and added a co-ordinating bead to finish it off.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Love to Craft - AG 

Crafting Happiness - AG 

CHRISTMAS CRAFT CREATIONS - NO STAMPING

Well I  must admit I found this challenge tricky.  Our challenge this month at Christmas Craft Creations is No Stamping!!! It took me a while to get a card I was happy with.  

I started off with a dots embossing folder and used some red cardstock for the background.  I then found another lovely Christmas words embossing folder in my stash and used the kraft paper for this one.  I had some wonderful Silent Night Christmas sheet music which I had downloaded from Shawn Petite where she gives us free downloads. 

 I used a Tim Holtz Wreath and cut it out of the notes part of the music.  The title was also part of it which really helped with the whole non-stamping part.  I added some red dots and the bow and finished with some white splatters. 

I'm adding this into the following :

Everybody Art - Die Cut 

The Holly and Ivy - AG Christmas 

52CCT - Music 

Jingle Bells Rock - No Stamping 

Delighted to have had my card chosen in the following challenges - and to think I very nearly threw it in the bin! 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS - IC414

I hope you are inspired by our beautiful mood board this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  I was drawn to those lovely pink flowers which look like Gerberas to me and I had those at my wedding some ahem 38 years ago lol! 

I started my card by using a stencil I found in my stash which I've never even inked up before.  Over on my Facebook Group the challenge this month is to use something from your stash that has never seen the light of day and then I found this.  It is from Creative Expressions.  I used Tim Holtz Peacock Feathers in Distress Oxide to create the background. 

The stamp is from Visible Image and is called Break Free.  I stamped it on to some card and then cut it out.  I coloured it with Distress Oxides and added some Tim Holtz Distress Icicle paste to make the glass shine.  I also stamped the flower on to a separate piece and cut it out and layered it to give it a bit of dimension.  One of the sentiments is from the set the other is from a Tracy Evans stamp set. I added some glass beads to add to the sparkle.

We are desperate here in the UK to get some warm sunny weather so I really wish summer would Break Free!

CREATIVE ARTISTE MIXED MEDIA - ANYTHING GOES

Well hello there - today is my birthday.  I'm not telling you how old but the years are creeping up on me.  I had lots of lovely new crafty things to play with which I will be able to use in my Mixed Media makings.

Welcome to another month of Mixed Media loveliness from Creative Artiste Mixed Media.  Another 5" x 7" canvas from me today.  I was inspired by an old video of Tracy Evans which I found on You Tube and I happened to have the stamp set she was using which is called Plant Your Dreams and has this wonderful wonky pear as she calls it.  This was a new technique for me and I just had to have a go.  I'll be doing a lot more of these as it was such fun.

I started by covering my canvas with gesso to prepare it for all I was going to throw at it.  I get these little canvases from The Works here in the UK and they are such a good price and they are fast becoming my favourite thing to make.  

Once the gesso was dry I used an Aallandcreate Stencil called Bloomed Roses and added some Daler Rowney texture paste over it in the bottom left corner.  In the top corners I used an old dot stencil from Tim Holtz and used Cosmic Shimmer Antique Sand Paste by Sam Poole in Moss Blanket.  I adore this colour and these pastes.  I love the muted tones they give.  I added an extra touch to the chipboard no 1 I found in my stash after I had covered it in black ink.

I used some strips of paper I had made from a gel press background to sit the pear on  The pear is then stamped and sculpted with extra Texture Paste.  I'm sure lots of you have done this but this was my first time and I loved doing it. Before it dried I added a chinese coin embellishment from my stash.   I was very patient and left it overnight to dry to ensure it was completely dry and sturdy.   I added some extra inks and colours to the background and some stamping.  Another of the stamps from Tracy's set was the little seal - I stamped it and also cut one out and added Sepia Accents gloss medium to it to make it look more like a seal.  I added some of the words from the set to some calico.  The little tag was made from two sets and I added a Tim Holtz clip.  I also added some bits of Aallandcreate Washi Tape.

My final bit was adding some Pebeo gilding wax in gold.  This was a new thing to me and I had seen Tracy use it - good old Amazon had some in stock.  I added it to my pear, the little seal, the little cip, a touch on the chipboard and some round the edges.  I could have gone to town adding it but decided less is more lol!  

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Stamping Sensations - AG 

We Love 2 Create - AG 

We Love Stamping - AG - in the garden 

The Outlawz Challenge - Embellishments - no cards 

As You See It - new to me was the Pebeo gilding wax 

Beyond the Blue - stencil paste 

Tuesday Taggers - Use a stencil - I used two different stencils on the background 

Pearly Sparkles - anything but a card 

Crafting from the Heart - No Cards

Love to Craft - AG

THE MALE ROOM CHALLENGE - ANIMALS

Welcome to another challenge over at The Male Room with our theme of animals.  We have a menagerie here with two cats, one senior English Springer Spaniel and a whirling dervish of a Sprocker puppy aged 9 weeks.  Wow they take up a lot of time - luckily he still sleeps quite a bit during the day and has one of his beds by my feet in my craft room.  The old boy isn't too far from him but he's still not sure whether he likes him yet or not.  The cats are not happy so they were on my mind when I chose one of Tim Holtz's snarky cats for my card.  

I started off by using a Tim Holtz stencil and added some Distress Oxide Ink in Frayed Burlap to give the idea of some of the spilt beer.  I cut out the cat and coloured him in with Distress Inks.  The little bottle is from another Snarky cat set - it should say milk but I changed the words a bit to go with the sentiment.

I added some extra background stamping and splatters to finish off the card. 

I'm adding this into the following:

Crafty Animals - Include an animal

Alphabet Challenge - C is for Cat

Crazy for Cats - Cat theme

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS - SC413

Welcome back to another challenge from Hand Stamped Sentiments with our sketch for you this week.

Over on my Facebook group the Joy of Sets our challenge this month is to use something in your stash you have never used.  With this in mind I decided to use this little stamp and matching die from Anita Jeram and Colorado Craft Company.  It's called Watering Can mini. 

 I simply coloured the image in with Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  I stencilled the flowers in the background with Bundled Sage and a very light dusting of Lumberjack Plaid.  I added some Washi Tape from Aallandcreate which was in my stash and which I also haven't used yet.

ONCE UPON A TIME - MAY CHALLENGE - ONE LOVE

Welcome to another challenge at Once Upon a Time where we challenge you to take a book title and be inspired. I loved the bright colours on this cover and brights are not really a colour palette I often work with.  

I cut out the letters ONE from some Tim Holtz die cuts and I had a die cut with the word love on it which was just perfect.   I kept the CAS feel to the card by adding some birds and sentiments from Clearly Besotted.  The tiny birds are from Casio stamps.