Hobby Art Shore Scenes card

Hello friends! I hope you've had a good week and are ready for the weekend. I really don't know why I still look forward to weekends when I'm fortunate enough to be retired but it pleases me to have some days in the week that are different, and I don't feel guilty if I abandon the jobs I started in the week.

I'm still chasing my mojo around and it is a very elusive creature these days, but I did sit down to play for the first time at the CAS Mix it up Challenge.  I love CAS designs and this challenge asks you to include other media in the design. This time the theme is to use watercolour and a beach theme.

I came up with this card using Hobby Art Shore Scenes stamp set. 

This is a scene builder stamp set that I bought after seeing Jenny Mayes use it at the Port Sunlight Craft Show and it has been sitting in my NBUS pile ever since. It turns out that scene building isn't as easy as Jenny made it look lol! 

 

Anyway, I had a go and used watered down Distress Inks as my watercolour medium, and added a bit of Hero Arts sand embossing powder on the beach. I raised a white panel over the scene using an MFT die that I thought reminded me of a porthole if you closed an eye and squinted, and I embossed the card with a PTI impression plate to add a bit of texture.

I'd like to play along at

CAS Mix Up Challenge - August watercolour

NBUS Challenge #17

Inspired By Challenge - Punny sentiments

Make my Monday Challenge #129 - on the beach

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great weekend.

Hugs

Carol x

My Favorite Things Rainbow of Happiness encouragement card

Hello everyone and I hope you and your family are all doing well during this very strange time. I'm happy to report that we are fine and adjusting to the new shape of our day. Because we cannot just pop out to a shop at present, I have been very sure not to waste any food so I have been cooking and baking more than I would normally. Now I seldom bake these days so my skills are very rusty, but we had some carrots that needed using up and I decided to make a carrot cake. Everything went well until it came to making the cream cheese frosting. That frosting just wouldn't thicken even after being left for several hours in the fridge, so I had to go for it and pour it over the cake. The icing ran off the cake, down the sides and all over my worktop but my hubby wouldn't let me throw it away. He scraped it all up, put it in a jug, poured it like cream over his slice of cake and declared it to be the best carrot cake ever. I knew there was a reason I love that man!

We are starting a new challenge over at ATSM today and this time we have our Clean and Simple challenge for you.

On my daily walk, I have been so cheered by all the rainbow pictures that children have been putting in their windows, that I decided to use the theme for my card.

I used a rainbow die from My Favorite Things and cut the die using several colours of card so I could make 6 rainbows with the colours in a different order.

The sentiment is from the MFT Rainbow of Happiness stamp set and the clouds (which I glittered) came from a Sara's Signature set by Crafter's Companion.

I made several of these cards and plan to send them out to friends who need cheering up during our lockdown.

You'll find lots of inspiration over on the ATSM blog, and it would be great if you could join us this time.

Hugs
Carol x

Hero Arts and Papertrey Ink Valentine card

Hello there, and Happy Valentine's Day to you. We have a CAS week over at Addicted to Stamps and More, so I couldn't resist making another Valentine card.

 

1)Die cut a heart out of white card, and a tiny heart from red card.

2) Stamp a little cupcake on the heart and colour it in. Stick the tiny red heart in the top right of the white heart.

3) Die cut a rectangle shape and stamp the happy Valentine's Day (from PTI 2010 Love Tags) in Versamark ink before embossing it with white detail embossing powder.

5) Adhere the red rectangle to the base card and stamp the sentiment (from Hero Arts Friendship Messages) beneath it. Finish off by adding glossy accents to the cupcake and tiny heart.

This CAS design could be adapted to any occasion and can be whipped up in no time.

As always, there is lots of inspiration from the team over on the ATSM blog, and it would be great if you visited before deciding to join us this time.

I'd like to play at

CASology # 287 - together

Die Cuttin' Divas # 356 - Valentines Day

Tuesday Throwdown #379 - Sweets for my Sweet

Cupcake Inspirations Challenge 439 -
 



Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs
Carol x

Paper Smooches A Blessed Christmas card

Hello everyone, and a warm welcome to this week's Christmas card challenge where the theme is anything goes. 

I used the Paper Smooches A Blessed Christmas stamp set for my CAS card, and I stamped the village scene in black ink before using distress inks to create the sky. The sentiments are from the same set, and I stamped the stars with versamark ink and silver embossing powder for some sparkle.

I wanted to add some interest to the panel so I played around with one of the Papertrey Ink Half and Half dies to create the layered brackets which framed the image and helped it to pop. You must be bored with seeing it by now but I also used my trusty PTI Canvas and Linen impression plate to give the white panel some texture.

Why not pop over to the Christmas Card Challenge blog to see some great inspiration from our team, and join in with us this week.

I'd like to play along with

Paper Smooches Sparks challenge - anything goes

Addicted to Stamps and More - holiday

Holly Jolly Christmas challenge - frame it

Thanks for stopping by,

Hugs

Carol x

Papertrey Ink and Sweet n Sassy Butterfly card

Wow - two posts in one day don't happen for me too often! If you are looking for the Simply Create Too post, please scroll down.

Hello everyone,

Well three months really whizzed by and it is time for my last post as Guest Designer over at the Fairy tale challenge blog. I'd like to thank Bianca for having me and making everything so easy. It has been great fun, and that continues this week because we have been asked to create a card using feathers or wings. The challenge is being sponsored by 

Sweet n Sassy Stamps

and there is a great prize for the winner. I chose to use a digi stamp from the Everyday Miracles set and came up with this card.

I enlarged the one of the butterflies in the set and fussy cut it before colouring it with and alcohol pens. Once the ink was dry, I painted it with 2 coats of Wink of Stella glitter and shaped the butterfly round a pencil to give it some movement. I used Papertrey Ink Lemon Tart card as a base and die cut one of their Boutique Border Birthday dies and stamped it with the coordinating stamp in orange zest ink, before stamping a sentiment from the Butterfly Dreams stamp set. I put a panel of the lemon card through my Ebosser with the Canvas and Linen Impression plate and added a strip of card which I stamped with the stripey stamp from Candy Canes. I really like to have a couple of cards in my stash that can be made into a card for several occasions. This one would be ideal for graduation, other examination success, and even new job, with the addition of another sentiment inside.

Why not pop over to the  Fairy tale challenge blog to see all the inspiration the Design Team have for you, and join in with the challenge.


Thanks again Bianca, and thanks to you for stopping by. Have a great weekend.


I'd like to play along with

Fab n Funky challenge- flora and fauna

Freshly Made Sketches
















Make My Monday challenge - things with wings



Hugs
Carol x

Simon Says Stamp and Clearly Besotted wedding card

Hello everyone,

I was lucky enough to have one of my cards picked as winner on the CASology challenge last week and they have asked me to guest design for them this week, which I am thrilled to do.

The cue card this time is 

and the challenge is being sponsored by 

so there just might be a prize on offer!

I came up with this card

I started by taking a piece of white card and I stamped it with the MFT Garden Flourish background stamp in Versamark ink and embossed it with Wow Silver Pearl powder. This gave me a damask look like you get on some wedding gowns

I cut this with the Heart Parade Die from SSS and also cut it in red card and silver star card. I took the red outline and inserted some of each of the hearts to make up the heart panel, and raised it on foam tape to attach to the card. The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted Love Blossoms and I stamped and embossed this with silver embossing powder which shines beautifully IRL

A mat of the silver card and a tiny red heart above the i finished it off.

Why not pop over to the CASology Challenge Blog to see what inspiration the team has for you this week, and join in. 

I'd like to play along with

Open Minded Crafting Fun challenge - wedding/anniversary

Addicted to Stamps and More - CAS

Sweet Stampin' - CAS

Thanks again Melissa for inviting me to be your GD this week, and thank you for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x

Clearly Besotted Little Pudding Christmas card

Hello everyone, another week has rushed by and it is time for another challenge at Christmas Card Challenges. This time we are asking for a project without the use of patterned papers, and this is what I came up with:-

For this card I turned to my lovely but yet unused Clearly Besotted Little Pudding stamp and die set. I die cut and stamped 5 of the smaller puddings and then die cut and stamped the holly leaves. I stamped and embossed the berries before curling the leaves a little to give some dimension and adding them to the puddings. I made another split curve card base which I am loving at the moment, and added the puddings along the curve on foam tape. I finished off this very simple design by adding the greeting from CB Most Wonderful, which I curved on my block to follow the shape of the card.

Why not pop over to the Christmas Card Challenges blog to see all the inspiration from my talented team mates and join in with us this week. The theme is just for fun, so if you don't want to make a card without patterned papers, you can still link up and we'd love to see your creations.


I'd like to play along with




Happy Little Stampers - die cuts



Merry Monday - use wet or dry embossing





Addicted to Stamps and More - holiday




Allsorts Challenge - use at least three die cuts


Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Hugs
Carol x

WPlus 9 'Unforgettable' birthday card

Hello everyone,  and a specially warm welcome to some new friends who are joining as followers this week. Granmargaret of Granmargaret's cards n stuff  lives down under in Australia and must be one of the busiest crafter/bloggers around because she is currently on seven design teams! I don't know how you do that  Granmargaret,  and keep up your fantastic standard with such a variety of styles. Sue of Tanglemouse cards is much closer to me in rural Gloucestershire, and she she is on a couple of design teams, including the one for the wonderful Lily of the Valley stamps. I adore LOTV images and Sue makes wonderful cards with them - plus her colouring is awesome. Kathe of Kitty's Grandmother handmade Blog loves needlework of all kinds and you will find wonderful examples of crochet, knitting and quilting amongst other things on her blog. Kathe even has instructions on how to make some of her amazing creations. Jill has also joined us but I couldn't trace a link to a blog Jill, so if you do have a blog, please let me know the address so we can come to see you. I do hope you will pop over to say hello to these new friends.

I wanted to play along with  Addicted CAS this week because I have a cute new stamp set from WPlus 9 called Unforgettable that has the cutest little elephant, and I came up- with this card

The sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamps Wishing die and stamps and the paper is from my stash.


I'd like to play along with

Addicted CAS - cute



Little Red Wagon - use an animal



Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - happy birthday



Seize the Birthday - anything goes




Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again soon.


Hugs
Carol x

Papertrey Ink and Clearly Besotted birthday card

Hello everyone, and a warm welcome to Susie from Fold in the Flour blog who is a recent new follower. Susie has the most scrumptious blog, sharing recipes and mouthwatering pictures of her cakes, and she is about to follow her dreams by opening a coffee and cake shop. Good luck Susie! A warm hello also to Jennifer who is a recent new follower but sadly I cannot find a link to a blog to introduce her to you. There have also been some new friends joining us via Bloglovin but I don't know how to link to them, so if anyone could point me in the right direction, I'd be very grateful.

Well it is time for a new challenge over at Simply Create Too and this time we are asking you to make a card or project with a Mother's Day theme, or indeed any card for a female.

As my Mum passed away when I was only 18, I have no need of a Mother's Day card, so I came up with this card

 I used a pretty flower from my new Clearly Besotted Winter Blooms stamp and die set, and coloured it with Copic markers.

The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink Birthday Bash and I love the mix of fonts on it. The tiny dots I added around the sentiment are little bits of waste from when I make die cuts. I pop them in a little baggie and bring them out when I think a card needs a little something other than sequins or pearls. I took my colours from the lovely striped paper which is also from PTI, as is the Canvas Impression plate that I used to give the panel some texture.

I hope you will join us with his challenge and pop over to the Simply Create Too Challenge  to see what my lovely team mates have come up with.

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges

Addicted to Stamps and More - Make your mark.

CASOLOGY - use NBUS

and The Card Concept Challenge is having a 1st Anniversary - the perfect time for me to play for the first time under the CAS style.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x

Clearly Besotted CAS Christmas card

Hello everyone,

Only eleven sleeps to Christmas Day and I'm sure that, like me, you are busy with all the preparations so I'll keep this short and sweet. We are on to week to over at Christmas Card Challenge 

                

and this time we are asking you to make a Clean and Simple card. I came up with this one

I used my new Clearly Besotted Ornamental Style stamps and dies and the sentiment is from their Most Wonderful set. I chose non traditional colours for this and I quite like how they go together.

Why not join us this week and if you click on the DT names below you will find lots of wonderful inspiration.

                             Alanna     Donna     Gail    Heather     Jessica     JoAnn     Lisa
                                     Margo     Marsha     Monica     Shirley Anne     Tenia

Thanks for stopping by.


Hugs
Carol x

Papertrey Ink and Simon Says Stamps CAS birthday card

Hello everyone,

I'm sitting here with lovely sunshine pouring through the window after several very wet and gray days, so I'm a happy bunny today. It's a long time since I played along over at Addicted to CAS, and as I have lots of NBUS stencils, I wanted to jump in because the code-word this time is Stencil.

 I stamped and embossed the sentiment from Papertrey ink and then used a stencil from Simon Says stamps to scatter the stars around it. I used a white texture paste first and let it dry, and then put the stencil back on and coloured the stars with blue ink. It took quite a while to do this because I was only using little portions of the stencil and I didn't want it to smudge the ones I'd already done. The stars looked nice but were a little muted and called out for some bling, so I finished them by overlaying them with some glitter.

I got the idea for tilting the stars this way from the current sketch over at

Clean and Simple Stamping

I'd also like to enter this into 

CAS on Sunday - emboss it

Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge - O is for overlaying colour and sparkle onto the stars

Seize the Birthday - anything goes

Virginia's View Challenge - CAS

Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy your week.

Hugs

Carol x

Clearly Besotted card

Hello everyone,

We have been having some wet and windy weather around here, but it is settling down a little now. It gave me some time to get on with class so I'd like to share another card  made for the Online Card Class Stretch Your Stamps 2. I'm cheating a little because I'm still playing catch up but I decided to go straight to Day 7 and catch up with the others as I can. Day 7 was all about using graphic images on a card and as I had the Clearly Besotted Geometric Style 2 stamp set sitting in my basket of 'not yet used stuff', I though it was the ideal time to show it some ink.

I used some Papertrey Ink in Summer Sunrise, Hibiscus Burst and Aqua Mist to colour the diamond shapes and I lined them up in pairs on my block to stamp them in lines. The sentiment is from the PTI Happy For You stamp set and I stamped this in black. I wanted to keep the graphic feel of the card so I layered it onto some black card and set the panel off to the right on some foam tape. Some flower sequins in the same colours softened the look and finished it off.

What I learned

It is really hard to line up small shapes and stamp them in straight lines - even with clear stamps. Don't ask how many attempts ended up in the recycling bin lol!

Layering the sentiment over part of the image is a really nice look.

Adding the black card really framed the panel and gave it a more finished look.

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges

Muse card Challenge - I was inspired to try the black frame, have a white card base and keep the image to the right.

Ladybug Crafts Challenge - CAS

Crafting When We Can - Use bright Colours

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs
Carol x

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