Summer Birthday

While I was searching the LOTV website recently looking for the baby stamp that I used in my last post I spotted this one as well and thought it would make a nice summery birthday card.
I stamped it onto a snippet of white card with Memento black ink and coloured it with Promarkers. Then I used the largest of the Exquisite Circles dies from Spellbinders Majestic Elements to cut it out and added a little blue ink to the edges. The backing paper is is from the LOTV Bonnets and Bowties pad that came free with a recent magazine. I cut it to fit on the front of a 6" square card. I used a snippet of red card to cut a square mat using the largest die from the Marvelous Squares set. When you use this die you get a nice  square with shaped corners and pinprick holes all round the edge, but it also embosses an edge outside of the die which if you cut round carefully makes an attractive frame. I did this and fixed it to the front of the card with narrow DS tape. I stuck the stamped image to the red mat and then I made a little tag for the birthday greeting by using the smallest die from the Card Creator set, also from Spellbinders, using white card, and stamping the greeting with Brilliance rocket red ink. I drew round the outside of the die onto red card and cut it out by hand to make a narrow border. I used a tiny red brad to attach this to the edge of the stamped and mounted image, and used thin foam tape to fix this to the card.
I am going to enter this at Sugar Creek Hollow where the challenge is Eat and Drink,
and at Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge where it is Butterfly Bingo, I have used DieCut, Butterfly and Designer Paper and of course as I have used several snippets I am scurrying over to Pixies Playground again.
 Thank you all so much for dropping by, and  for your comments which are all really appreciated.                                  

A Good News Day

Good news day because our second little great granddaughter, Kaycie was born in the early hours of this morning. In spite of being 3 weeks early we knew her birth was imminent and that she was a girl so I had time to make this card in readiness.
I stamped the LOTV image with Memento black ink and coloured it with Promarkers. I used a Spellbinders scalloped circle die to cut it out, and the largest die from the Majestic Elements set (also Spellbinders) to cut the pink mat. I used a 6" square card and cut matching pink card to almost cover the front. Onto this I stuck panels of two LOTV papers from their Bonnets and Bowties collection which I got free with Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine. I wrapped lace and pink gingham ribbon around the whole panel before fixing to the card. I mounted the matted image with foam tape over the ribbon and stamped Congratulations, ( I'm not sure what make that stamp is).Then I added a bow, a charm and a little pink teddy which has been in my stash for years,left over from a scrapbook project.
As I used a piece of card from the white snippets box for the stamping I can take this to the Pixies Playground. The other pixies are all a very talented and fun loving bunch why don't you pop in and take a look, you only need to use at least one little snippet on your project to get through the gate.
I'll be back soon as I have some other cards to show you.
Thank you for taking the time to visit my corner of blogland and for your comments, they make me happy.

A Pair Of Candles.

Well it is the 25th of May today which means that it is Rudolph Day again at Sarn's blog Stamping For Pleasure. It is a great way of getting a head start with making christmas cards as Sarn requires that you make at least two christmas themed projects  each month. They can be different or both the same as mine are this time.
I have used the largest die in my Spellbinders Cardmaker set again for these, cut from white stamping card. I used two stamps to print straight onto the cut out . I am sorry but I can't tell the make of the word stamp, it is one I've had for ages and I think it was originally on a wooden block which I removed and remounted it on EZ mount, and I can't remember where it came from. Anyway I stamped the words first in an attempt to get it straight with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. I think the candle stamp is Hero Arts, but again I'm not entirely sure as it another one that I have had for a very long time. I inked the stamp with several colours of Distress Ink and after stamping I used a water brush to draw some of the colour into the image and also to add a few touches more of colour here and there. The colours I used are Antique Linen,Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, Festive Berries, Forest Moss and Gathered Twigs. Next I threaded the ribbon through the slots in the die cut and added a bow.I cut a piece of red card to fit the front of an A6 white base card and stuck all the layers
together. As you can see I used different ribbon on the second one so that they weren't quite exactly the same.
 I  enjoyed making these as I got to use two stamps that I really like but which have been neglected for too long.
Thank you for taking a look and for you comments which make me happy.

A Happy Day

First of all I must apologise for not being around much for a few weeks. I had a lovely week in Spain with my sister, but since I came home I been somewhat lacking in inspiration and motivation. My computer is not working very well at present either which hampers my ability to visit blogs and comment as often as I would like.
On the right here, is a photo of my Grandson looking very smart in his dress uniform, and his pretty bride on their wedding day a couple of weeks ago. It was a lovely day of celebration for all the family, and below is the card that I made for them.

I made it green as that was the chosen colour scheme for the wedding. The green backing paper was printed from an Artylicious CD, Season's Greetings and trimmed to fit the front of a 6" square white base card. The silver speckled white panel is cut from a snippet left over from christmas using a Spellbinders Cardmaker die, and threaded with green ribbon before fixing to the card. The heart shape is also cut from a snippet of white card with a Spellbinder die and stamped with a Crafty Individuals flourish using Versamark ink and coloured with a green Pan Pastel. The bride and groom image was printed on the computer as I didn't have a suitable stamp. It was a black and white outline image found on Google images and after printing I added a little colour with Promarkers and a gold gel pen and carefully cut it out and glued it over the heart. The large rose is from my stash and the little ones I made using a Britania die and and snippets of the green background paper, coloured on the reverse with a cream Promarker.The leaves are cut from small snippets of green card with a Sissix die. To finish the card I added a green bow and some tiny green gemstones, and a touch of  Diamond Sitckles on the roses.
As I have used up some snippets I will take this over to Pixies Playground and see what the other playmates have been up to while I've been away.
I am also entering at Stamping Royalty - Weddings
                    and at Crafting With Dragonflies - Celebration
                    and at Paperminutes - Wedding
Thank you all who come to look and for your comments which are really appreciated.

Christmas Joy

This is a card that I made for the Christmas card group on the Chocolate Baroque community site where a small group of us encourage each other to make at least one Christmas card each month in order to get a head start before the "busy season / panic station " is upon us. We work to a suggested  theme and for April it was a sentiment or text. For my sentiment I chose this large Joy stamp from a Chocolate Baroque set of clear large Christmas Greetings which can also be bought individually. The poinsettia frame is also CB from a set of rubber stamps called Christmas Creatures, so called because it also has images of birds and animals in it. This frame stamp actually has a little church scene in it, but I masked it off with tape before inking it so as to make room to stamp the sentiment. I stamped the frame complete with flower with Versamark ink onto ivory card, remembering to remove the masking tape before stamping, and then embossed using WOW pale gold EP. I then carefully stamped the word inside the frame and embossed in the same way. Next I trimmed it fairly close to the image and edged it with a gold Krylon pen. Next I looked in the snippets box for green and red card to mat it onto. I also found some smaller snippets and stamped the whole poinsettia onto green card twice and just the flower part onto red card twice using versamark ink and embossing with WOW clear powder. I then fussy cut them all out and stuck the red ones on top of the green with Cosmic Shimmer glue, and added some yellow stickles dots to the centres. I cut my Base card from an A4 sheet of ivory card and intended it to be 5"x 7", I trimmed the bottom but forgot to trim the side so it ended up 6" x 7" instead so now I will have to make a custom sized envelope for it as I didn't realise what I'd done until after I had fixed the matted panel in place. The stripy ribbon I used has got nice gold threads running through it but they seem to have disappeared in the photo. I finished the card by sticking one flower over the gold one on the frame and the other on the ribbon.
Because of all the snippets I used I am going to pop over to Pixies Playground with it and see what's happening, there is usually some sort of mischief going on among the other playmates.
Thank you all for looking and for your comments which I really appreciate.

April Rudolph Day

It has been a little while since I posted a blog because I have been visiting my sister, Kate, in spain and enjoying some lovely warm sunshine. Before I went away I managed to make all the birthday cards I needed this month, and to make and post off all the swaps that I regularly take part in. I didn't have time to make my Rudolph Day cards though, but as I was due to return on the 24th I hoped I would be able to do them then. However while I was at Kate's she suggested I might like to make one while I was there and this is what I made. First I selected this lovely holly spray stamp by Posh Impressions from her extensive range of Christmas stamps, and stamped it on white paper with a green Memento ink pad, ( I'm sorry I don't remember which shade ).I coloured it with Copic Markers and then cut it out using a die from Spellbinders Decorative Labels 8, and then mounted it onto a snippet of dark green card. I cut and folded an A6 side opening card with the fold on the short edge, and added the stamped panel and the greeting which is a See D's stamp. When I got home I could see that I had smudged some glue on the corners of the die cut so I went all round the fancy edge with Starlight Stickles which covered the glue and added a bit of festive bling and I also added the red gem stones.

Another evening Kate asked me if I would like to try out her Pan Pastels, and I said yes please because I have wanted to get some for a while but I was  reluctant to splash out on them without trying them first.I cut a sheet of A4 paper into four and set about playing. I ended up with some pretty and usable backgrounds. This one I did intending it to be Christmassy  colours, it is a bit pale really but I decided to go ahead and use a Christmas stamp on it anyway. I believe this is an Indigo Blu stamp, again from one of Kates bulging stamp files, and stamped with Memento black ink. I brought it home with me like that and then last night I trimmed it down a bit  and using my Sakura sparkle pens added a little colour to the swirl and baubles. I highlighted the snowflakes with a white gel pen and Diamond stickles. The greeting is a Chocolate Baroque clear stamp.I fixed the whole thing to a piece of red glitter card and then to a top folded white A6 card.So that is how I spent two happy evenings with Kate in her craft room and with Arwin occupying 'her space on the work desk'. Those of you who follow Kate's blog Manualidades por mi  will know all about Arwin.                                                                 So now I am going to link this to  Rudolph Day at Sarn's blog Stamping For Pleasure.
Thank you for visiting my blog and for comments which I really appreciate. I will try and catch up with some commenting at the weekend.
Jean                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                     

Spring At Last

Spring at Last is the title of the current Butterfly Spot challenge and Mrs. A. wants to see some yellow, as well as a butterfly of two of course. I started by stamping the postcard image from Inkylicious with rich cocoa Memento ink and colouring it with ColourSoft pencils. I then tore around it and added shading with Distress inks in old paper, antique linen, tea dye and vintage photo. I used pale yellow pearlescent card and Spellbinders Marvelous Squares for the die cuts. The backing paper is some that I was given  and I trimmed it to fit the front of a 5.5" square card. It looks more green IRL but the weather is very dull here today and I couldn't get a very good representation of the colour. In the end I took this with a flash and it is the best I could manage. The paper was quite plain so I randomly stamped some  script and a small swirl, with bundled sage Distress ink. The lace down the side is an ivory coloured rub down. I layered the squares and stamped image, and then cut the filigree butterfly from the same pearl card using a Memory Box die, and the solid one with the matching die from a snippet of coppery brown pearl card. This is mounted on the card with foam pads to add dimension, and has some tiny pearls on the body.
I am also entering this at Stamping Sensations - Use Punches Or Dies
                                    Pixie's Snippets Playground - use up at least one snippet, mine is the base butterfly and I also used a snippet of card for the stamping.
Thank you to all who come and visit and for you lovely comments which are all really appreciated.