Papertrey Ink Birthday Card

Hello everyone,

I'm sorry I haven't been round to visit for a while but I've been under the weather for a week now and haven't had the energy to do much. I'm lucky that I had scheduled the last 2 posts before I got the virus and I had made this card a couple of weeks ago for the blog hop, so I'm good to go for today.

It's time for the PTI blog hop, and this time Nichole asked us to get some inspiration from this homespun picture

I took inspiration from the banner, the bird, the colours and from the little prints on the banner to come up with this bright and cheery card:-

I used the double ended banner dies to create the banner in the three colours and stamped them with the same colour ink using the Bitty Background stamps in gingham, dots and flowers.

The sentiment is from  Movers and Shakers Sentiments, and the birds are from Little Bitty Birds. I impressed the panel with the Canvas Impression Plate and cut a frame from aqua mist card, which was then matted onto red card. A light coating of Wink of Stella glitter finished it off.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's interpretation of this, but that's all from me today.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs from a distance so you don't catch this virus!

Carol x

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge Christmas Card

Hello everyone and welcome to another challenge over at Holly Jolly Christmas. This time the challenge is 

   Deck the Halls

and there are Digi Stamp prizes from the Stamping Boutique and QKR up for grabs.

I used a stamp from The Stamping Boutique called Hippie Christmas on my card and came up with this:-

I cut a piece of red card for my card front and cut an aperture in it with a Nestibilites Labels die. I then stamped and embossed the sentiments before running it through my Ebosser with the PTI Canvas Impression plate to give it some texture. I added some baker's twine and a bow with some Card Candi in the centre, and then sandwiched the image  between the red card and the white base card. The image was colored very simply with Copics and I added some glitter to the hat and snowflakes.

I love this fun image with the tree on top of the caravan with all the lights dripping down! One of my friends had an orange VW Beetle back in the day, and I can remember lots of fun trips in it - even though he tended to be a bit of a boy racer and go too fast.

Why not join in with us this time and start stashing away your cards for Christmas. You can see more inspiration over on the Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge Blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x

   

Silhouette Cameo Wedding Card

                                                                                                                                                                               

Hello everyone, 

If you are here for the new challenge for Holly Jolly Christmas, please scroll down.

It's the time for another challenge over at

Ch# 15 Print N Cut

Begins: Tuesday, July 1

Ends: Thursday, July 31

A blog dedicated to the Silhouette Cutting Machines.

You MUST use a Silhouette somehow in your project.

Sponsor this month is:

My Crafting Channel

Silhouette Printable Cotton Canvas

I decided to try my first print and cut for yet another wedding card - love must be in the air because we have needed so many this year! I used the Cake and Gifts cut from the Silhouette Store and made this card

I cut 2 of the cakes, fussy cut some of the flowers and shaped them before sticking then back on top of the flat ones. I used some glitter to emphasise  the cake frosting and then layered it up using My Favorite Things dies.

 I cut three little tags and stamped messages to make up the sentiment, and then I grouped them together with this lovely wedding brad.

Sadly the next Silhouette Challenge in August will be my  last one because it is changing to a linky party but I have really enjoyed the opportunity of being on the Design Team because it has helped me get to know my Cameo.

Thanks for stopping by and why not head in over to see what the DT has created for your inspiration and link up today.

Click HERE

Hugs
Carol x

Avery Elle birthday card

Hello everyone, and a very warm welcome to Donna from the Crafty Colonel blog who has joined us as a new follower. Donna is on a number of Design Teams and enjoys waterclouring and making scrapbooks as well as cards. She makes a ton of cards for Operation Write Home and I'm sure you will get lots of inspiration from her blog.

I'm sorry to have been absent for so long but I am still in the throes of reorganizing my craft storage and the weather has been too nice to spend it cooped up inside, so I have been playing hooky. I am more than halfway through and have purged enormous amounts of patterned paper and other craft items that I'm pretty sure I will never use again. Of course now I have got rid of it you can guarantee that I will soon need just the item I have disposed of. At least I will know what I've got and where to find it now though, so it will be well worth the work, and I have learned a valuable lesson about using new stuff when I get it rather than hoarding it for some special project that remains only in my imagination!

I've been missing creating though, so I sat down today to mess up all my good work and made my first card for the Make the Day Special Challenge #4 which asks us to take a card from the first year we blogged and CASE it.

It turns out that I started blogging in April 2010 and it certainly doesn't feel like I've been at if for more than 4 years because I still feel I'm learning so much. They asked us to show the card we are CASEING and I decided to use this card from June 2010.

I was surprised to see this card because it is very close to my current style and I mistakenly thought that I had 'evolved'! I decided to take inspiration from the central matted panel and from the upright part of the trees that are like stripes. One of the things I have learned since 2010 is to be a bit more adventurous with colour so I wanted to add colour in my new card. I used the Avery Elle Brushed set that had not yet seen ink and came up with this brighter one.

I just stamped the smaller brushstrokes with the different colours and overstamped the happy birthday greeting. This panel was passed through my Ebosser with the PTI canvas impression plate to add some texture before being matted onto the pink card. I then used a tiny tag from Papertrey Ink and stamped the 'wish big' and bow to go in the top corner after I tied it with some twine. The panel was raised from the base card with pop dots to give some dimension, and I finished it off with a few little hearts which I coated with some Wink of Stella glitter.

In case any of you who live in the UK have not yet discovered Make the Day Special, they are a small company that brings lots of American stamps over here and makes them accessible to us without the costly postage and import duties that are involved in buying them direct from the Companies themselves. If they don't have what you need in stock they will try to get it for you and I recommend that you try them.

I got my colours from this inspiration picture

over at Curtain Call, so I'd like to wish them Happy 1st Anniversary by joining in with them for the first time.

And finally, as the current challenge over at 

Seize the Birthday

is to add twine or string, and I didn't feel my card was complete without some, I really want to play along with them.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Card for Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to two people who are joining us as followers this week. First is Solange of Isbaha's home. Solange is a great scrapbooker and also makes cards, minibooks and other scrummy stuff. She is a member of some Design Teams and you can find some great tutorials on her blog. Our other new friend is Aussie Annie of The Journey is the Start. Annie is a very talented card maker who is on several Design Teams, and she has amazing colouring skills. You are both very welcome.

Today is the start of another new challenge over at The Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge and this time the theme is Christmas Critters, hosted for us by Linda of the Stamper's Touch.

Our sponsors this time are Di's Digis and Oakpond Creations

I chose an image called Christmas Robins from Di's Digis and came up with this card

I printed the image onto white cardstock and coloured it with Copic markers. The sentiment is from Naughty or Nice by Casual Fridays and after stamping it I added a snowflake background stamp from Papertrey Ink in pale blue ink. The panel was then passed through my Ebosser with the PTI Canvas Impression plate to add a little texture, and lots of glitter was added for the snow and hat trims to give us some sparkle. I used some blue dotty ribbon and blue card for matting, and then raised it on the base card with some foam squares.

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges

Festive Friday - inspiration photo - I was inspired to use ribbon and red.

52 Christmas Card Throwdown using the first sentiment prompt

Christmas Cards All Year Round - non traditional colours

Jingle Belles - use stash at least a year old - I used my canvas impression plate, ribbon, snowflake stamp and glitter.

Sparkles Christmas Challenge - a winter scene

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and sorry for myself today. I have been thinking about reorganising how I store my stamps for quite a while now and I've decided to go with the Avery Elle stamp pockets and put them in  storage bins. Sadly, in order to make space for the bins, I've got to reorganise all my other storage and I made the mistake of pulling everything out so I could go through it and see what I would like to get rid of. Well I am now in the middle of a chaotic mountain of mess and it will only get worse before it gets better! I cleared a little space in front of the computer to write this post but I better get back to it now :~( If I don't report back in a few days, send out the rescue team!

Why not pop over to the Holly Jolly Chjristmas Challenge blog and see all the inspirations from my talented Design Teamies.

Thanks for stopping by

Hugs

Carol x

Glass Etching for Silhouette Challenges

Hello everyone,

How did Friday come round so quickly again? I am ready for another weekend though and especially as this one will include the Wimbledon Finals when we will be glued to our tv with a glass of Pimms and some strawberries and cream!

Over at Silhouette Challenges we are having a special challenge to use etching cream:-

"Special Challenge - Glass Etching" over at

"Special Challenge Glass Etching"
Begins: Saturday July 5
Ends: Sunday, July 20

A blog dedicated to the Silhouette Cutting Machines.

You MUST use a Silhouette somehow in your project.

This is in addition to our regular monthly challenge.

DT members were not required to participate.

We have 8 participating.

Sponsor is:

My Crafting Channel

Winner will receive:

Silhouette Cameo Replacement Cutting Mat

Winners for any challenge is announced on the Winners page on the 3rd day of the following month after a challenge ends.

If you have never used the Silhouette for glass etching here is a how to video.

I  had never tried anything like this before but was happy to step out of my comfort zone and have a go.  For my first experiment I decided to use a flat glass jar and a very simple tulip shape cut from vinyl with my Silhouette Cameo, to make a little tea light holder to hang in a tree. I used etch all cream and left the cream on for 20 minutes before washing it off. I was so excited to have a proper 'reveal' and see that the shape had been etched perfectly! Sorry for the quality of the pictures today but I found it so hard to get good photos of glass.

For my proper try I used a nicely shaped vase from my present drawer. This time I used a more complicated dandelion design from the Silhouette Store, sized it on the mat and then cut it out of copier paper to ensure I liked the look of it on the vase before I cut it from vinyl. It was trickier to apply the vinyl to the curved glass but 20 minutes later, I washed the etch all off and this was the result.

 I was so pleased with how easy it will be to personalise items for people and wanted to start etching everything in sight! These pieces were created using the negative space from the vinyl and it gave me the idea to use positive shapes on a couple of glasses and try a frosting spray with them. I cut some tiny butterflies and dragonflies from vinyl, stuck them on some glasses and masked off the top of each glass with some masking tape. I then took everything outside and sprayed three thin coats of frosting spray, letting each coat dry before adding the next one. I could probably have added an extra coat but I was too impatient and when it had dried, I removed the vinyl and had some frosted glasses

which would make a nice present with a bottle of champagne, and could be personalised by adding names or dates to the glasses depending on the occasion.

Well I thoroughly enjoyed this challenge and would encourage you to head on over and see what the Design Team came up with.

What are you waiting for? Step outside your comfort zone and join in the fun.

Link up your projects below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy Birthday Darnell!!!

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to Jo of My Crafting Corner who is joining us as a new follower this week. Jo is on several design teams and shares lots of crafts including cards, jewelry and home decor, so a visit to her blog will leave you with lots of inspiration.

I'm sorry I've not been round  for a while but we went away last week and although I scheduled a few posts while I was away, I didn't get round to visiting. We had a lovely time in Northumberland and Scotland, and the weather was very kind to us, but  I was really pleased to get back into my craft room today to make birthday card for my bloggy friend Darnell. I'm really sorry Darnell but my real card will be late arriving because of my holiday but I hope this one will tide you over until then.

Darnell will be pleased that I inked up some NBUS for this card - Summer Sweetness from Papertrey Ink. I think you call these popsicles in the US but to us Brits they will always be ice lollies, and I gave Darnell 3 to keep her cool in the hot summer sun. I cut the panel with one of the Custom Dies from Avery Elle (NBUS)  and embossed the Paper Smooches Happy Birthday sentiment with white EP.

I'd like to enter this into the


Addicted to Stamps Challenge - anything goes



Seize the Birthday Challenge - anything goes



Addicted to CAS - 'Sun' and ice lollies are made for sunny days!

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day Darnell.

Hugs

Carol x