C4Glz - Happy Birthday ....

... Hello, good morning! It's time for our new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz - C4Glz#124 and we want to see your feminine cards with a STEAMPUNK theme. If you're not sure what steampunk is, then hopefully this definition will be of assistance:

a genre of science fiction that has a historical setting and typically features steam-powered machinery rather than advanced technology.

"if you like steampunk, this is a great book for you"

• a style of design and fashion that combines historical elements with anachronistic technological features inspired by science fiction.

  "the essence of steampunk is homage to vintage fashion with a modern, sassy twist"

I've made a birthday card:

Stamps: Kanban - Jasper, Viviene; Dawn Bibby - Flower Patch; MFT - Sassy Pants Birthday Greetings 2
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Gina K - Jet Black Amalgam, Dusty Pink
Dies: Cheery Lynn - Gears (B340)
Accessories: White Card; Kanban DP - Mechania; Clear Embossing Powder; Rose, Copper, Nickel and Pink Satin Finish Mirri Card; Copic Markers

I had lots of fun making this card and it's quite different to my usual style. I started by stamping the steampunk outfit on white card. I coloured the image with Copic markers, put it back in the MISTI and restamped with Versafine ink and heat embossed with clear powder. I then carefully cut it out leaving a slight border all round. I did the same for the dress stand. I die cut lots of different gears using some of my satin mirri card scraps. I have a very old pad of Kanban design papers that work perfectly for the steampunk theme. I cut a panel of the rivet paper for the bottom mat layer and some lovely ruby brocade effect paper for the next layer. I adhered the gears around the edge of the card and used dimensional pads to attach the dress. I finished the front with a simple greeting stamped on the rivet paper, and added a few gears here too. On the inside, I used more of the rivet paper for a mat layer and on the white panel I added a snarky, but fun, birthday greeting and added some pink gears along with a crown.

That's all from me, do visit our blog to see more inspiration from the rest of the team. I look forward to seeing your steampunk creations! Bye for now.

SHC - Shine Like a Diamond ....

... Good morning! I hope everyone is well and coping with all the changes in lockdown regulations. Here in Wales, we still have to stay at home - but that might change next week! So I've been making good use of all my at-home time. I got a new stamp set from Altenew - Shine Like a Diamond - it's fabulous and I've stamped so many different backgrounds with it. Here's my first card:

Stamps: Altenew - Shine Like a Diamond
Inks: Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Card; SU Card - Basic Black; Tim Holtz Water colour Card; Zig Clean Colour Brushes; Clear and White Embossing Powder; Vellum; Gems

I'm submitting this card to Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge - HLSWC#06 where it's anything goes with the option of layers, done!

I stamped the large geometric background on white watercolour card using Versamark and heat embossed with white powder. I then covered the image with plain water and added a rainbow of colours to create the gradient background. Once dry, I cut the panel to size. On a strip of vellum I stamped the greeting in black Versafine ink and heat embossed with a clear powder. I wrapped the vellum strip around the rainbow panel and adhered the whole lot to a black mat panel, and attached it to a card. I finished the front by adding some gems. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of black card and on the white panel I stamped a greeting which completed the sentiment. I also added a strip of the watercolour card.

My next card is being submitted to Inkspirational - INK#215 where they have a photo for inspiration. I took the colours yellow and grey for my card.

Stamps: Altenew - Shine Like a Diamond; Concord & 9th - Shine On
Inks: Versamark; Gina K - Jet Black Amalgam, Wild Dandelion, Lemon Drop
Dies: C&9 - Shine On
Accessories: White Card; SU Card - Grey Granite, Basic Grey, Crushed Curry; Silver Embossing Powder; Vellum; Nuvo - Clear Aquashimmer Brush; Copic Markers; Sakura Stardust Pen; Glossy Accents

I used my MISTI for this card. I stamped the background image in pale grey ink, took it out and coloured with Copic markers and a Sakura Stardust glitter pen. I repositioned the image, stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with silver powder. I cut the panel to fit a side opening 5½" x 4¼ grey card. I made the 'shine' embellishment by adhering two of the diecut shine words, covered with shimmer and glossy accents and layered them onto the vellum shadow. I attached it to the front of the card and finished with a simple sentiment on a white strip. On the inside, I cut another white panel onto which I stamped a greeting and some diamond shapes.

My last two cards have a Christmas theme:

Stamps: Altenew - Shine Like a Diamond, Majestic Mistletoe; Concord & 9th - Joyful Noel
Inks: Kaleidacolor - Fruitcake; Gina K - Jet Black Amalgam, Sandy Beach
Dies: C&9 - Joyful Noel
Accessories: White Card; SU Card - Basic Black

I'm submitting the Noel card to Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge - HLSXMAS#06 where it's Anything Goes, and the Joy card to Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies - HLSAGD#06.

I stamped the geometric background using Kaleidacolor's Fruitcake pad - I think this works perfectly for festive cards. I used Concord & 9th's Joyful Noel dies to cut out the wreath and letters, and used them to make both cards. The background of the Noel card was made using the text image from Joyful Noel, while the leaves on the Joy card came from Majestic Mistletoe. I kept the inside of each card reasonably simple:

Thanks so much for sticking around to the end of the post. That's all from me today. Take care and I'll see you soon.

C24C - Season's Greetings ...

... Good morning! Can you believe that we're already half-way through June? Me neither!! Anyway, it being the 15th means that it's time for our new challenge at Christmas 24 Challenge - C24C#12. We have a sketch for to use on your Christmas cards. Here's my take:

Stamps: Altenew - Bells & Bows; MFT - Bitty Holiday Wishes
Inks: Gina K - Jet Black Amalgam, Lovely Lavender, Wild Wisteria, Innocent Pink, Dusty Rose, Passionate Pink; Stampin' Up! - Highland Heather
Dies: Altenew - Bells & Bows; Die-namics - Stitched Fishtail Flags Stax #1
Accessories: Cream Lustre Card; Anita's Vellum - Classic Gold Christmas

I'm submitting this card to a couple of challenges - Addicted to Stamps and More! - ATSM#393 where the theme is Holiday, and to 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT22-20 where they have these fabulous colours.

I love these cute layered bows from Altenew, they are so easy to stamp. I used cream cardstock as I think it works beautifully with these colours. I stamped the large bow using shades of purple and the two smaller one with shades of pink, and cut out the images with the matching dies. I found some gold festive vellum in my stash and cut a panel to go on the front of the card. I adhered the top bow and sentiment banner flat to the card, and used dimensional pads to add the large bow and the smaller bottom bow. On the inside, I cut another panel of vellum and on the cream card stamped a festive greeting and another little purple bow.

That's all from me for now. Do have a go at using this sketch for your Christmas cards and visit our blog to see more inspirational cards from the rest of the design team. See you soon.

SHC - Happy Birthday ...

... Morning! I've not been about much lately, busy doing a Welsh course (which is melting my brain) and several online classes with Dyan Reaveley. I'm here this morning with my card for Seven Hills Craft blog. I've made a masculine birthday card - it's clean, simple and graphic:

Stamps: Altenew - Trigonometry, Halftone Stars
Inks: Gina K - Blue Raspberry, Lucky Clover, Jet Black Amalgam
Accessories: White Card; Black Marker Pens

I'm submitting this card to Less is More - LIM#421 where the cue word is Borders, and to Dare 2B Artzy - D2BA#06 where they want to see Masculine cards.

This is reasonably easy to make, but it really helps if you have a stamp positioner. I used my MISTI. I have a clear grid overlay which I placed over my card base, positioned the stacked triangle image approximately in the centre and stamped to make sure that I had the image on the edge of my card. I removed the overlay and stamped the first triangle. I put the card and overlay back in the MISTI, moved the card so that the edge of the stamped triangle lined up with the image on the overlay, removed the overlay and stamped the triangle again. I did this until all the blue triangles were stamped. I used the same process to stamp the green dotty triangles. After stamping the border, I finished it off by adding a black border. I used a ruler and two black markers. I used the thicker marker to do the outside lines and the fine marker for the two inner lines. I finished the front with a simple sentiment. On the inside, I used a fancy font for the birthday greeting, as I like the contrast with the crisp geometric images. I also added a few little triangles.

That's all from me today. Hopefully, I'll be back on the blog soon, but I've got a bit of work to catch up with from my class with Dyan. See you soon.

Creative Chaos ....

... Good afternoon! Have you been enjoying the rain? I've had to be careful when I go out for a walk, got soaked on Wednesday, but I've managed to go out between the showers. The garden is looking lush!! Anyway, I spent this morning playing with a few challenges and this is the card I made:

Stamps: Visible Image - Random Acts of Kindness, Creative Chaos
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Gina K - Key Lime, Jelly Bean Green, Jet Black Amalgam
Accessories: White Card; Visible Image Stencil - Two Tone; Copic Markers; Clear Embossing Powder; Nuvo - Clear Aqua Shimmer Brush

I'm submitting this card to The Card Concept - CC#136 where they want Bright Flowers, Colour Throwdown - CTD#596 - those gorgeous bright colours, and CAS(E) this Sketch! - CTS#375.

I masked off a rectangle on the card and applied two shades of green ink through a dotty stencil. After removing the masking tape I stamped the stem of one flower directly on the card and heat embossed with clear powder. I put the card back in my MISTI and stamped the flower head and heat embossed. I finished the front by stamping the sentiment directly over the flower and embossing. I stamped the flower again on scrap white card, coloured it with Copic markers, restamped and heat embossed with clear powder. I carefully cut it out and used dimensional pads to attach it to the card. I also added a lot of shimmer to the flower. On the inside I kept it simple with a tiny flower.

I took a close up photo of the flower to show the sparkle, and you can see it in this photo - the sun came out and it sparkled!!

That's all from me today, the sun has come back out and I'm going to grab the chance of another walk before the rain comes back. See you again soon.

C4Glz - Stay Up ....

... Hello! I hope everyone is okay and enjoying the cooler weather!! It's time for our new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz - C4Glz#123. For the next couple of weeks we want your cards to feature more than one fold - you can go as mad as you like, but I've simply added one extra fold to create a Z-fold card:

Stamps: Concord & 9th - Polka Dot Turnabout, Cozy Up
Inks: Gina K - Kraft, Sea Glass, Dark Chocolate; Stampin' Up! - Pear Pizzazz
Dies: Concord & 9th - Cozy Up
Accessories: Cream Lustre Card; Copic Markers

Here's a side view of the card where you can easily see the Z-fold effect. I have to thank Jennifer McGuire for the inspiration for this card.

I'm submitting this card to CAS Colours & Sketches - CASC&S#373 - just love the colours they've picked for this week.

I penciled a line down the centre of the card front and positioned the heart die and did a partial die cut (see Jennifer's video). I rubbed out the pencil line and then scored above and below the die cut heart and folded back to create the z-fold. I put the card into my MISTI and stamped the log heart, which I then covered with a heart mask. I used the polka dot turnabout stamp to create the background on the inside of the card and on the front. I removed the mask and stamped the greeting using a dark brown ink. I die cut a cream heart which I put on the inside of the card to add my greeting. I finished the front of the card by adding a couple of coffee mugs, coloured to match.

Don't forget to visit our blog to see more inspiration cards from the rest of the team. I look forward to visiting you soon to see what you create. Have fun and bye for now.

SHC - Happy Father's Day ...

.. Hello! I hope everyone is well and safe. I'm here today with my post for Seven Hills Craft blog - I've made a fun Father's Day card:

Stamps: Lawn Fawn - Simply Celebrate, Science of Love, Celebration Scripty Sentiments
Inks: Gina K - Jet Black Amalgam, Tranquil Teal, Ocean Mist, Christmas Pine, Lucky Clover; Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Law Fawn - Simply Celebrate
Accessories: Cream Card; Gina K Card - Tranquil Teal; Clear Embossing Powder; Copic Markers

I'm submitting this card to Cardz 4 Guyz - C4G#246 who, as luck would have it, have Father's Day as their theme!!

At Kat's request I made this card for her to give to her dad on Father's Day. In case you've forgotten, that's on Sunday 21 June. Simply Celebrate is one of my favourite Lawn Fawn stamps sets as it's just so versatile. I think the balloons and stars are simple, fun image and can be customised so many different ways. I stamped the images 4 times, coloured with Copic markers, restamped and heat embossed with clear powder. I used the matching dies to cut out the images. I used my MISTI to position the greeting and stamped it in Versafine black ink and embossed it. For a change I used cream cardstock - I like the soft, warm look with all these shades of green and teal. I layered the cream panel on teal card, added them to the front of the card base and used dimensional pads to attach the balloons and stars. On the inside, I cut a teal mat layer and on the cream panel I created a sentiment.

I found the words in another Lawn Fawn stamp set and used them along with some cute little hearts. Kat is very pleased with this card and it's now sitting on my desk ready to give to Jonathan on 21 June.

That's all for now. Take care - see you soon.