Hello 2015

Greetings to you all- and a somewhat belated Happy New Year!  2015 already, good grief-how the years are flying by!  I'm not sure where January has gone but it's definitely time for me to get blogging.  While I await the arrival of a new art journal and some essential art supplies, it will be cards that I shall be posting about.  So, without further ado, here is the first blog post of the year:

I have recently treated myself to some toppers and papers from Lelli-Bot Crafts.  Using toppers is a departure from my usual card making so I found it quite challenging at first-but I'm pretty hooked now!  Here is a 7x7 card featuring a topper from the 'Gothic Grunge' collection as the central image.

Seeing as I don't feel like I have actually crafted if I don't have any ink on me, I added a touch of colour around the edge of the monochrome topper so that it blended with the background, I used the same ink as I used to make the backing paper.
I used:
Lelli-Bot Crafts- Gothic grunge topper
                            Distressed paper
                            Brick wall paper

Distress inks- Dusty Concord
                       Black Soot
                       Weathered Wood

Flying birds stamp by Visible Image
White pearl Wow! Embossing powder
Eggplant Adirondack ink

Doily, grey shimmer card, silver card, gems and ribbon are from my stash.

I had fun creating this, I hope you have enjoyed seeing it-please do let me know what you think.
Until next time, Happy Crafting :)
xx

Up, up and away...

Greetings to you all, I hope you are well.
Apologies for the quiet recently but I have been unwell, I am currently typing this very slowly as I can only see out of one eye due to having an infection that has sealed my left eye shut with all the swelling :/
Today's post took me almost a whole day to put together-everything takes longer when you are not your best, doesn't it?
Well, I have been wanting this stencil for ages-ever since I saw it at a show and I was so excited when I finally bought it!

Hot Air Balloon stencil- Imagination Crafts
Sparkle in Copper, Sand and Brown- Glitz Craft
Up, up and away stamp- Dreamees
Gems, charm and ribbon from my stash.

This design is a fun one to put together-I was a bit hesitant with the guillotine at first as it's such a lovely image!
I figure this card could be used to send to someone who just graduated, or got a promotion,  someone moving house, or leaving work/retiring. There are many uses for this and I like versatility ;)

I hope you like it as much as I liked making it!  Let me know what you think, and until next time-Happy Crafting xx

Challenges Entered:
Imagination Crafts- Anything Goes
HIding in my Craftroom- Fall Colours
Brown Sugar- Anything Goes
Crafty Catz- Anything Goes
Sister Act Card Challenge- Anything Goes

Christmas Again!

Greetings to you all, I hope you are well.
Today it's Christmas cards again!
I have made a lot of these, in different colours, with different charms and ribbon. I did blog a different version of these last year (if anyone remembers!!)

I die cut lots and lots of letters!
I think these cards are really effective-let me know what you think!

I used:
Memory box typewriter letters
Martha Stewart Snowflake punch
Card, ribbon, paper and charms from my stash!

Gluing the letters on was the trickiest part of making this card-Top Tip: put the glue on the back of your hand and pass the die cuts across it-that way you don't end up with loads of glue on your card, practically obscuring your die cut!  (Thanks to Cheremane for that tip xx)

I hope you like this card-I had a lot of fun creating it :)

Challenges Entered:
Inspiration Destination- Anything Goes
Paper Creators- Use a Charm
Crafting at the Weekend- Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by, until next time-Happy Crafting!
xx

For a Friend

Greetings to you all, I hope you are well.
Today a break from Christmas for you all! The inspiration behind my previous post.
I made this card for my good friend and fellow crafter and I loved it so much that I am making another!! (Well, I am blessed to have more than one friend so why not?!)

I like inking-to me, it's not crafting unless you get ink on yourself!! So this card uses lots of ink!!
It's incredibly bright and colourful (a bit of a departure from my usual colours!) but it's an upbeat sentiment being used and I thought it warranted a rainbow accompaniment :)

I used:
Friends are like Stars stamp by Inkylicious
Stars, Stars 1 and Star Cluster stamps by Lavinia Stamps
Versafine Onyx Black Ink

Distress inks in: Mustard Seed, Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Festive Berries, Mowed Lawn and Seedless Preserves
White card blank, black card, metallic gold card and black ribbon from my stash!

The various distress inks were applied and then splashed with water to give a multi tonal effect, once dried with a heat gun, the stars and sentiment were stamped, the backing was then mounted and layered onto the card, as were the sentiment and ribbon, before adding the bow to finish it off.

I hope you like this card-I had a lot of fun creating it :)

Challenges Entered:
FairytaleStamper- Use Flower or Ribbon
Crafting When we Can- No Designer Papers
Crafting at the Weekend- Anything Goes


Thanks for stopping by, until next time-Happy Crafting!
xx