Summertime

Hi everyone.  I thought I'd amaze you all by not leaving it too long this time before showing you another card!!

This is one that I made a little while back using a cute stamp by Penny Black along with some swirls and wording from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet. Thought this would be quite an appropriate card to load up as the sunflowers are just beginning to come out now even with the distinct lack of sunshine that we've been having recently!!

The image was coloured using Copic markers, (What else - lol!!) and the background stamping was done using a Versamark inkpad and Crystal embossing powder.

Penny Black stamp and Prima flowers from The Glitter Pot.

Fancy Flourish stamp sheet from The Glitter Pot or The Stamp Man.

Don't forget that if you fancy picking up a bargain to check out The Craft Barn's half price Summer Sale!!

I'd like to enter this card into the Flower Power challenge at the Penny Black at Allsorts Challenge blog and also into the Allsorts Free and Easy Challenge Week 112.

Having Fun?

Hi everyone.  First of all many thanks to those of you who left me such lovely comments on my last post - I truly appreciate each and every one of them so THANK YOU!!

Today I thought I'd share a card with you using one of my favourite clear stamp sets by Penny Black called Make A Wish.  There are quite a lot of stamps in this set and they all interact with one another really well.  For the background swirls and the 'best friends' wording I used my Fancy Flourish stamp sheet.  The paper is from my stash and is an old Basic Grey one from the Kioshi collection.  I distressed around the edges of some of the panels using a brown inkpad.

I used three separate stamps to create my focal panel which I stamped with a black Memento inkpad onto Craftwork Cards smooth Digital White cardstock and coloured using Copic makers.

Here's a closer look at the colouring for you.  Hope you like it!

I'd like to enter this into the Teddy Bear's Picnic challenge over on the Allsorts Challenge Blog. (After all with all the fun these cuties are having they must have packed their picnic basket - it's just not in view!! LOL!!)

All products used came from The Glitter Pot.  Talking of which don't forget that it is their Spring Spectacular weekend coming up next weekend on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th May and then the weekend after it is The Craft Barn's June Extravaganza weekend (Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th June) and this time they have 24 demonstrators to show you lots of different techniques and products.  Most definitely a date for your diaries!!  Click here to find out more about the Extravaganza. Unfortunately, much to my chagrin, this time around I am unable to be at either event but I know that they will be super weekends!!

Best Friend

Hi everyone.  I'm afraid I am still struggling, so hence me not posting very regularly at the moment.  Luckily I do still have some cards to show you  that I made last year and just haven't yet posted up, so here is one of those cards!

I originally made this for a demo at The Glitter Pot using some very pretty double sided background paper and the Kira With Kitten stamp by Wild Rose Studio.  (I'm afraid that it has been so long that I can't remember whose paper this is but it did come from The Glitter Pot!)  The best friend wording came from my Funky Flourishes stamp sheet.

I stamped Kira with black Memento ink and coloured her using Copic markers - can't remember the colours!!

Here's a closer look at the colouring for you.

All materials used on this card came from The Glitter Pot and talking of this fabulous shop reminds me to tell you that in just over a months time they will be hosting their Spring Spectacular weekend on May 28th and 29th.  You can find out more about it here.

Then the weekend after that it is The Craft Barn's June Extravaganza which is always a fantastic weekend with loads of demonstrators.  Click here to see the line up and find out all about it!!  With both of these fantastic events looming I'm going to start saving now!!

Shaped Card

Morning everyone.  Today I thought I'd share a card with you that I made using the Grand Nestabilities Labels One die and the Grand Calibur machine. (I must say that I am soooooooo pleased that I went ahead and bought the Grand Calibur!!  The only drawback is that it doesn't take thick dies but as I don't tend to use these very much anyway it isn't really a drawback for me.)

For this card I used the largest Labels One Grand die and then folded it in half to achieve my base card.  I was then able to emboss the top two thirds of the card using the Cuttlebug's Daisy Pattern folder by opening the card out flat and positioning the folder exactly where I wanted it and running it through the Grand Calibur - you just cannot do this with the Cuttlbug machine as it is too small.

Next I stamped a piece of teal bazzill cardstock using one of my flourish stamps (Fancy Flourishes) then used that same size Labels One die to cut it. I trimmed it down and stuck it to the base of the card and used one of the shaped bits (left over from die-cutting the panel) for the top of the card. 

The wording was stamped with black ink (taken from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet).  The girl is by Wild Rose Studio (Ava with Present) and was stamped with black Memento and coloured with Copics.

All materials used came from The Glitter Pot including the Grand Calibur.  Hope you like it!!

The Stamp Man Curls 'n' Swirls Challenge

Hi everyone.  Today is the start of a brand new challenge over on The Stamp Man's Challenge Blog and this time around we would like to see entries incorporating Curls 'n' Swirls!  I've got to admit that this is right up my street as I love all the swirly elements and stamps that are around at the moment!

This is a book that I did earlier this year to store some of my Nesties in using both my Funky Flowers (Aspects of Design No.56) and my Fancy Flourishes (Aspects of Design No.58) un-mounted stamp sheets along with the Cuttlebug Stylized Flower embossing folder which is just full of swirly bits! (All available from The Stamp Man.) As you can see I punched out some extra swirls too in order to embellish it further.

For the main flower panel I built up an arrangement of flowers, leaves and swirly bits using some of the elements from the Funky Flowers stamp sheet and then watercoloured them using Sakura Stardust pens which gives them such a delicate look as well as adding some gorgeous shimmer!  Then using a light blue chalk inkpad I stamped one of the flourishes (from the Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet) around the flowers then used a silver inkpad and Stardust embossing powder around the edges of the panel.

For the inside of the book I cut up some magnetic sheets and stuck them either side of some square bits of mountboard. To separate the pages of the magnetic sheets I added some sheets of plasma and stuck pieces of DP on the bottom of the plasma to make pockets.  I then bound it altogether using the Bind It All machine.

Then as you can see I photocopied part of the front of the matching Nestabilities leaflet and popped it into the pocket.

Hope you like it and that you will play along with the Curls 'n' Swirls Challenge. Don't forget to hop on over to The Stamp Man's Challenge blog to see all the other gorgeous creations that the rest of the DT have made!

Have a great weekend everyone!

(NB The magnetic sheets and Sakura Stardust pens are not listed on The Stamp Man's website but they can be purchased from The Stamp Man's bricks and mortar shop/unit.) 

New Classes at The Glitter Pot and A Card.

Hi everyone.  As some of you already know I have been taking a bit of time off recently from teaching but all being well I will be back teaching at The Glitter Pot next month.  I have added a new page to my blog where you can find out where I'll be teaching and demoing.  Haven't loaded up too much as yet but you can click here to see or simply click on Classes/Demos under my header.  As from now my classes will be limited to a maximum of 6 people at The Glitter Pot which I hope will benefit everyone more so if anyone fancies booking on it'll be great to see you!

Now as some of you may remember near the end of last year I bought the Grand Calibur die-cutting machine.  Haven't really 'played around with it too much yet but here is one of the cards that I did create with it towards the end of last year in order to try it out!  I must say that I was REALLY pleased with the machine as it cut through the two layers (A4 folded in half) really easily and enabled me to make this shaped card using the Grand Labels 1 Nestabilities die.

Now the Grand Calibur only takes thin metal dies but I did find that with a little bit of trial and error that I was able to emboss my Daisy Pattern with it too by using one of my plates from my Cuttlebug along with the Grand Calibur plates.  This means that I am able now able to emboss far bigger panels of cardstock which I was very pleased with!

Anyway back to the card.............I used one of my flourish stamps (Aspects of Design No.58 Fancy Flourishes) for the base panel and used the Daisy Pattern embossing folder for the top panel.  The wording was also from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet.

I stamped Phoebe With Dove onto smooth white cardstock with black Memento ink and coloured her with Copic markers before glittering her wings etc... with Stardust glitter glue.

All these products came from The Glitter Pot.

Copics used:
Skin - E11, E00, E000 and R20
Hair - E35, YR23 and E50
Eyes - BG13 and BG10
Flower - Y00, RV95 and RV91
Dress - C3, C1 and C00
Dress trim, shrug and headband - C7, C5, C3 and Clear Spica
Bow and heart - RV95 and RV91
Wings and fur - BG18, BG13 and BG10
Dove - C7 (beak), C1(feathers) and RV91 (cheeks)

A Couple of Challenges!!

Hi everyone.  I have two cards to share with you this time as I thought I'd play along with a couple of challenges before the time is up!

Now as some of you already know my Mum loves to do quilling but she never actually does anything with the pieces she makes up.  Ages ago I did promise her that I would have a go at making some cards up for her if she quilled some snowflakes.  I had no idea that she would then go absolutely beserk and quill an enormous amount!!!  I ended up making 9 cards for her using her quilled snowflakes - each of them based on the same layout but all slightly different.  I will show you the rest of them next week as all the snowflakes that she quilled were individual and no two were the same. (She did actually quill a whole lot more than 9 so I have some more cards to do for her when time allows.)  I thought it might be fun though to enter our shared card into the current Sir Stampalot challenge - A Winters Tale.

So without further ado here's the card I've chosen to submit for this challenge!  I created the background using the Papermania snowflake embossing folder along with an Inkadinkado Winter Trails stamp set, Silver inkpad and Stardust embossing powder.  The 'winter' wording came from a rather old Impression Obsession wording stamp set.

Here's a closer look at Mum's marvellous snowflake that she did out of strips of white paper.  As you can see I simply stuck the snowflake onto nestabilities die-cuts before sticking it to the main card.

Onto the second card and I would like to enter this into the Penny Black at Allsorts challenge - All You Need Is Love.  Ok I realise that this isn't a traditional lovey dovey stamp but it is VERY sweet and they do look as if they are almost kissing so I think this counts - lol!!  This particular stamp is called Hedgy Gift which I coloured using Copic markers.  The flourishes and wording came from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet and the lacey edging was done with the Doily Lace Martha Stewart punch.

Here's a closer look at the colouring for you.  Can't remember the colours off-hand that I used but I'll see if I can find my notes and edit this later for you!

I'll be back on Friday with The Stamp Man's latest challenge so hopefully see you then!

A Mammoth Post!!

Hi guys!  I cannot believe how quick the time has flown past since Christmas and also that this is my first post for 2011!!  Oops!!  Have you missed me????

To make up for being absent for so long this is going to be quite a long post so I hope you are comfortable!  I'm afraid that I never did get around to loading up all those Christmas cards that I made last year so I have saved them and will load them up later on this year once we all start thinking about Christmas again.

Today I thought I'd share a 'special' card with you that I made last year for my Mum's birthday using the adorable 'Sisters' stamp by Belles'n'Whistles.  When I see this stamp it reminds me of stories that Mum has told me about her and her big sister so I thought it quite appropriate!  The card itself is quite large at 20x20cm so I was able to fit quite a bit onto it!  The pretty background paper was from the Kioshi collection by Basic Grey.  The wording stamps are from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet apart from the letters spelling out 'MUM' which came from a clear Hero Arts stamp sheet.  The lovely delicate flourish stamp that I've used around the main card and the Sisters panel is one of my favourite flourish stamps of all time by Penny Black called Scrolling Along.

As you can see I chose to add some interest to the main card using two Martha Stewart punches - Garden Trellis and Doily Lace Trim along with some Prima flowers from the E Line range, some pearl sprays from my own stash, punched out daisies, self-adhesive pearls, brads and spacers.

I stamped my main image using black Versafine ink onto watercolour card and used Distress inkpads to colour in my image,to stamp my wording with and the Scrolling Along flourish.  Lots of Diamond and Platinum glitter glue was then added to the card to make it sparkle!

As this was a special card for a 'special Mum' I chose to decorate the inside of the card too.  This is a picture of the whole of the inside of the card before I wrote in it.  As you can see I used the same papers as for the front of the card as well as some light green Bazzill card and used my Labels Nine Nestabilities dies for my centre panels.

Here's a closer look at the left side of the inner card.  You can see that I decorated the plain green panel by stamping it with the Scrolling Along stamp using a pale green inkpad and then used a darker green inkpad to stamp it again along the top and bottom.  I used another of my Martha Stewart punches - Floral Vine to provide some decoration along with some punched out squares, self-adhesive pearls and nailheads and of course lots of glitter glue!

I stamped the Belles 'n' Whistles Tea Time stamp into the Labels Nine die-cut and watercoloured the image using Distress inkpads.  Then I popped the corresponding Nestabilities back over the die cut and used my blending tool  along with a Bundled Sage Distress inkpad to softly ink around the edges of the die cut.

I also did this for this panel too which I then wrote in afterwards.  The wording used on these inner pages of the card came from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet.

I'd like to enter this card into the current Belles 'n' Whistles challenge Anything But Winter.

So are you still with me?  I did warn you that it was going to be a loooooooong post!!  I did make a box for this card to go in which I decorated too but I never got around to taking a photo of it.

I hope you liked this card - Mum did!  I'll try and do another post soon!!  Meanwhile a Happy New Year to you all.

Allsorts Bingo Challenge

Today I thought I'd enter one of my cards into the Lets Play Bingo Challenge over on the Allsorts Challenge Blog.  This is one that I made for The Craft Barn's June Extravaganza Weekend using the Sisters stamp by Belles and Whistles along with flourishes and wording from my own Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet. From the Bingo selection I have chosen Pearls, Mist/Stickles and Ribbon.

I have used two of my Martha Stewart punches on this too - Floral Vine and Monarch Butterfly as well as a Stormy Sky Distress inkpad for all the blue stamping.

For my main image I stamped onto watercolour card with black Versafine and watercoloured my image using Distress inkpads and a water brush. The inkpads I used were Spun Sugar, Stormy Sky, Bundled Sage, Shabby Shutters, Mustard Seed, Brushed Corduroy, Antique Linen and Tattered Rose.

Here's a closer look at my watercolouring attempt!  I definitely still prefer my Copics but I guess it is good to try and master other stuff too!

To finish off the card I sprayed it with a pearl glimmer mist and then added touches of glitter glue which doesn't show up very well from these photos but trust me it is there!!

All products used came from The Craft Barn.

Talking of challenges - today is the start of a brand new challenge over on The Stamp Man's Challenge Blog so you may like to head on over there and see what they've got in store for you this time!!

Have a great weekend and for those of you who are booked onto my classes tomorrow, I'll see you VERY soon!!  By the way, talking of classes I have updated My Event Diary in my sidebar to include the dates and details for my November and December classes.

Everything Goes

Morning guys.  Today I thought I'd enter the current Belles and Whistles challenge of Everything Goes.  The only rule is to use a Belles 'n' Whistles stamp in your creation so that's easy for me then considering how many of these cuties I have accumulated recently!

For this card I chose to use the Tea Time stamp by Belles 'n' Whistles.  Every time I see this stamp it makes me quite envious as I would love to be sat outside just kicking back whilst having a cup of tea and a biscuit!

In a way this stamp reminds me of when I was younger as my Mum took a picture of me of when I was about 4 years old, sat on a sun lounger with a big straw hat on (to protect me from the sun), eating my marmite sandwiches!

Anyway I am digressing..................back to the card!  The background papers are by Bo Bunny, the wording is from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet and the image was cut using a Labels Three Nestabilities die.

I stamped the main image onto Craftwork Cards Digital Smooth cardstock (which is just excellent to use with your Copics) in Tuxedo Black Memento ink and then coloured her using Copics. (I don't currently have the list of Copic colours with me but if I find some time I'll edit this later to include them.)  You might also just be able to distinguish that I add a slight shadow around the girl using a light blue Copic (B60), just to give a hint of sky around her.

All the products used on this card (apart from the Digital cardstock) are from The Craft Barn.

The Stamp Man's Second Challenge

Hi everyone. Today is the start of The Stamp Man's 2nd Challenge which is Take Two Colours. As you can see from my card I opted for some nice bright colours of purple and green which I thought would make a nice fresh looking card. 

For the background I used the Cuttlebug Stylized Flowers embossing folder and some plain vellum. After I'd embossed it I coloured the reverse side of the vellum with some markers in order to pick out the detail of the embossing.

For the main panel I used one of my stamps from the Funky Flowers stamp sheet and coloured this using Coloursoft pencils and Sansador in order to give it a soft muted feel.  I then took one of the flourishes from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet and stamped and embossed around the flowers using Versamark and Crystal embossing powder.

The birthday wording is from my Funky Frames stamp sheet.

I really hope you like the card and fancy having a go at submitting a card of your own into our challenge. Click here to go and visit the Challenge blog and find out what you need to do to enter.

Enjoy your weekend!

The Stamp Man's First Fortnightly Challenge

Hi everyone.  Today is the start of The Stamp Man's new Fortnightly Challenges over on their new Challenge Blog. Click here to head on over and find out what you need to do to enter and don't forget to read the few rules that we have whilst you are there.

The first theme to get us up and running is Anything Goes which means that you can make anything you like!

Here's what I came up with for this challenge.  First of all I used my Nestabilities Blossom die to get my centre piece and then stamped components from my Funky Flowers stamp sheet to make up my own arrangement within the die-cut - just like I showed how to do in the May 2010 issue of Craft Stamper.  The beige background papers were stamped with two Hero Arts cling stamps (Flowing Flowers and Leaves and Reversed Flowers and Leaves) and a Distress Inkpad in Antique Linen. I then stamped over this using my fine flourish from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet and Walnut Stain Distress inkpad.

The brown swirls and squares were punched out of brown Bazzill card using a medium square punch from Woodware and an EK Success Flourish punch from The Hobby House.

I coloured my main image using Sakura Stardust pens and a water brush which gives a lovely soft shimmer to them. Once I'd done this I took the dotty stamp from the Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet and a light green inkpad and stamped all around the edge of the die-cut to give the speckled effect. I then used this same inkpad to stamp the leafy flourish from the Flourish stamp sheet at the base of the flower stems to add a subtle background.

I hope you like it and that you now feel inspired to join us for our Anything Goes Challenge!

A House In The Country

Hi guys.  I had fully intended to post earlier than this but you know the story by now about how time flies etc...!!  As you know a few days ago I was talking about making Dad his Father's Day card - well this is what I finally came up with!  My Dad was born in the country and grew up there and only moved away when he married my Mum - he has always dreamt of returning to the country but unfortunately the price of houses in the middle of nowhere are out of his monetary reach so I decided to recreate a house in the country for him for his Father's Day card this year!

As I mentioned previously I always struggle with mens cards as not only do I find subject matter hard to find but I also have to resist on 'prettying' them up.  However this year I think I rose to the challenge as I didn't even apply any glitter glue - although I did want to!!

For the background of the card I used some scenic stamps by Stampscapes which I stamped using Frayed Burlap Distress ink onto green Bazzill card.  I have got loads of these stamps in my stamp collection which I absolutely love but it has been quite a few years now since I have played with them.  The detail on these stamps is just amazing and the way these stamps join seamlessly together is fantastic.  For those of you who have never come across these stamps before they are sold in the UK by Serendipity. Click here to go view their website.  The quality and detail of the stamps is outstanding.  After using them for the background on Dad's card it has made me want to start using them again to create proper scenes - I just need to find some time to play!!

Anyway here is a closer look at the bottom right corner of the card.  Because of the texture of the Bazzill card and the fine detail of the stamps - it gave a patchy effect which I actually found perfect for this type of background as I really didn't want a solid look for this. (I also decorated the inside of the card too with these stamps but I'm afraid I got carried away and wrote in it before I photographed it so I'm afraid I can't show you the inside!!)

For the main panel I chose to use stamps by Art Impressions (availabe from my good friends at Sir Stampalot) which is yet another stamp company that I love but rarely have time to play around with now!  (For those of you who have got my Basics and Beyond DVD I used the same techniques to create this panel as I showed in the last section of the DVD where you ink up the stamps using water based pens and stamp them out several times fading out the ink.)  For the house and fence I actually used a dark grey pen to colour the stamp and then watercoloured the images by scribbling the pens onto a palette and picking up the colours with a damp paintbrush.  The wording was taken from my Fancy Flourish stamp sheet. (Available from The Craft Barn.)

Here's a closer look at the main panel so that you can see the detail a bit clearer.  Making these sort of cards where you are using lots of different stamps to create a scene or a picture really appeals to me as this is when stamping starts to become more of an art form although it's a bit scary as well when you haven't done it for a while!!

Anyway I hope you like it - it's a bit different to anything else I've posted for a while I know, but sometimes it is nice to return to things you haven't done for a while!!  It is actually a year since I have picked up any Art Impressions stamps and probably about 5 years since I've done any sort of work at all with the Stampscapes range but bizarrely I still rate them among my favourites - strange eh??

Just Dropping By.......

Morning everyone.  Have spent the last couple of days trying to catch up with stuff and am getting there now.  I still have all my cards to load up from last weekend so until I've done that I thought I'd continue showing you the cards I did for The Glitter Pot's Spring Spectacular weekend.

This card was made from the Penny Black Make A Wish clear stamp set - the one that I ended up having to have myself!  I truly LOVE this set!  The mice were stamped using Tuxedo Black Memento ink and coloured using Copic markers.  The background paper is by Basic Grey and is from the Kioshi collection which is just gorgeous!  The swirls and wording came from my Funky Flourishes stamp sheet.  All of which can be purchased from The Glitter Pot.

Here's a closer look at the mice panel for you. The mice on the blackberry stalk is one stamp and then the mice floating down - one with a daisy head; the other with a dandelion head are separate stamps from the stamp sheet, which being clear allowed me to stamp them exactly where I wanted them. The soft background around the mice was also done using Copic markers and I do have a class coming up at The Glitter Pot showing you how to do this on Saturday 10th July.  In the morning we will be using this particular stamp sheet and I will show you how to colour these cute little mice and add a soft dotty  background to them (like this one) using the Copic markers and in the afternoon we will be using Copics again along with the Milton and Milly characters from Wild Rose Studio. Click here for more details.

Getting back to this card I also used the Clear Copic Spica pen on the dandelion heads but I don't think I got the light right for you to see the wonderful shimmer!

Apple PIckin'

Morning everyone.  As you know I was at The Glitter Pot this last weekend and this is one of my sample cards that I had on display there.  The main image is by Penny Black and is called Hedgy Gift and the swirls and wording are from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet. The colouring was done using my fave markers of the moment (Copics) and the stamping of the wording and flourishes was achieved using the Bundled Sage Distress inkpad. (Just LOVE this colour!)  The paper is the reverse side of one of the new Basic Grey papers from the Kioshi collection.

Here's a closer look at the hedgehog panel so that you can see the colouring a little better.  I didn't get the light right when I took this but I added the Clear Spica pen over the top of the apples for some subtle shimmer. Love this pen as it doesn't detract at all from all the colouring and shading you've already done but still adds a gorgeous shimmer when it hits the light. The clear Sakura Stardust pen is just a little too opaque for this for my liking which is why I opt for the Copic Spica when going over shaded colouring.

Anyway hope you like the card!

So I think we can probably guess that I probably at least bought one thing this weekend but just how good or bad do you think I was then????

Zesty Flowers

Well guys, I must say that I am truly touched by your faith in me regarding my last post!!  Unfortunately you were all right and I did indeed succumb to one or two (!) things whilst I was at Stamp Addicts.  I have taken a photo but haven't had chance to upload it as yet but I will endeavour to do so in the next few days.  I will truly end up skint at this rate!!  I am hoping that I can do better this weekend at The Glitter Pot!!

So today as I haven't got my 'shopping photos' ready for you yet I thought I'd share a card that we did some while ago now for one of my Glitter Pot classes using my Funky Frames stamp sheet.  This was a more advanced class using Distress Inks as all of the card was made using stamps and inks.  I love to do this but I must admit that more recently I have taken to using pretty background papers quite a lot purely because it is so much quicker!!  However there is always something deeply satisfying about making your own papers and of course by using some of the same colours of Distress Inks to colour with that you've used to make the background means that your imagery will automatically tone in with the rest of your card!

The swirls that you can see on the card itself were taken from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet and the wording came from the Funky Frames sheet.  I hope you like it!  With all the lovely sunshine we have been having I thought that the fresh, zesty colours of this card would be most appropriate.  I do hope that wherever you are that you too are enjoying some lovely weather.

Pink Butterflies

So then guys what do you think to my 'new look' to my blog?  My great friend Isabelle has been busy beavering away to create this for me and personally I think she has done a fantastic job especially as 'lilac' really isn't her colour! Lol!!  She took her inspiration for the blog background from two cards that I sent to her featuring the Sarah Kay and Whiff Of Joy girl images that you can see and I am absolutely 'wowed' with what she has created!!  What do you think??  I am sure that after all her hard work Isabelle would love to hear your comments!!  There are still a few little tweaks to be made so bear in mind that this is work in progress!!

Anyway onto the card that I have to share with you today.  Not one of my better efforts I'm afraid as I was really pushed for time when I made this!!  Also the materials that I was allowed to work with were really limited as this was done for one of The Stamp Man's TV shows.  I don't know about you but I am never entirely happy with cards I produce when I have to work within a very restricted materials list and always feel that they are rather basic looking but maybe that is just me!!

A lot of you by now will no doubt recognise the imagery! The main image is from my Funky Frames stamp sheet and the wording and flourishes are from my Fancy Flourish stamp sheet both of which can of course be purchased from The Stamp Man.

Citrus Flowers

What a lovely sunshiney morning we have got today on the south east coast of the UK.  So as the sun is out I thought a nice, fresh card would be most appropriate!!  This is a card that we did at The Glitter Pot a little while ago using my Funky Frames stamp sheet for the main image and the Fancy Flourish stamp sheet for the background and wording along with distress inkpads. 

By using inkpads both to create your backgrounds and to colour your main imagery it means you won't have any problems with the getting a colour match!

Distress inkpads used:
Dried Marigold
Spiced Marmalade
Scattered Straw
Mustard Seed
Shabby Shutters
Peeled Paint

The Other Half!

Hi everyone.  I hope that you all had a good weekend.  We have got lovely bright sunshine here today which is very welcome!  Well as promised here is the other half of Mum's Mother's Day card.  Yesterday I showed you the first side of it.  Well this is now the reverse side.

As you can see I kept the colour scheme the same on this side.  Instead of using the Blossom Nestabilities die I chose to use Labels Three for this side but I kept the rest of the elements the same so that it would correspond seamlessly with the other side. 

Here's a close up of the first panel on this side. Once again I used stamps from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet to create the backgrounds and then stamped elements from my Funky Flowers stamp sheet onto the die-cut and also some extra corresponding flower heads which I used for embellishments. I used my Floral Lace Martha Stewart punch to add some interest to the background panel. (Just love this punch!!  Well I would really wouldn't I as it is daisies!!)

Here's a closer look at that central panel. Once again I used light coloured Copics to colour the flowers and leaves and then added corresponding colours of Sakura Stardust pens over the top which I softened using a water brush. You'll see that I lightly stamped around the flowers as well using one of my flourishes and a light blue inkpad just to take away the starkness of the white background.

Onto the middle panel now. The layout for this I kept quite similar to the layout on the other side as this kept it balanced. Again the stamped wording was taken from my Fancy Flourishes stamp sheet and the cut out letters were from the Cuttlebug Curls 'n' Swirls alphabet set.  As you can see I stamped three flower heads from my Funky Flowers stamp sheet and cut them out and layered them over my new sprig punch that I bought from The Hobby House. (Just love this punch already and I know that it is going to get a lot of use!  You can't tell very well from this photo but the bottom part of this panel lifts up and that is where I wrote my greeting to Mum.

Onto the last panel now which I stamped using the same flourish stamps and used the same shades of Bazzill card as for the first panel, but altered the layout slightly.  As you can see I used my Floral Lace Martha Stewart punch again as well. Plus I used some cut out flower heads too to act as embellishments just like I did for the first panel in order to keep it all matching.

And here is a close up of that centre panel where you can see I stamped the centre flower head first and masked it so that I could then stamp the other flower heads either side of it.  I then drew in some stems with a fine black pen and stamped the leaves either side of them.  I've got to say that I had great fun using the different elements off of the Funky Flowers stamp sheet and ended up making far more panels than I needed as I just couldn't stop!  Still they will come in handy for some other cards!

Once again all the materials I used on this card came from The Craft Barn apart from that sprig punch which came from The Hobby House.  If any of you have already got these stamp sheets I hope that it has given you some ideas!