SHC - Sunny Days Ahead

.... Morning! It's time for my weekly Seven Hills Craft blog post. Today I've another encouragement card to share with you - I need a lot of these right now. 

Stamps: Concord & 9th - Painted Shapes, Bold Butterflies, Rain or Shine, Good Vibes Turnabout

Inks: Memento - Angel Pink, Rose Bud, Rhubarb Stalk; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Dies: C&9 - Positively Stitched Card Front Die

Accessories: White Card; SU Card - Rich Razzleberry

I'm submitting this card to Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies - HLSAGD#06, also to Addicted to Stamps and More! - ATSM#431, and finally to Never-Before-Used-Schtuff - NBUS#39 - it's the first time I've used the stitched die plate.

I started by cutting a piece of white card to 5½" × 4¼". I placed the panel in my MISTI and stamped some fun shapes in shades of pink ink. I then added a few extra flower stamps, along with some positive symbols in darker pink. I stamped a greeting, in a fun font, in black in the centre of the panel. To add some more interest to the piece, I used the Positively Stitched card front die to cut lots of little stitched pluses over the front. I trimmed the panel down to 5⅛" × 3⅞" and layered it onto a piece of dark pink card and adhered it to the front of an A2 side-opening notecard. Inside, I cut a mat layer of dark pink card. On the white panel I added a simple greeting and then decorated the inside to match the front of the card.

I think this card will be going to my mum. She's recovering well from the radiotherapy, but still tries to push herself a bit to hard. 

Yesterday was a glorious day here in North Wales, so Jonathan took the day off work and took us all to Bodnant Gardens. It was just fabulous. I pushed my around - but she got up and walked about too - and when we went into the rose garden, the fragrance was just so beautiful. We didn't manage to walk far, but it was a lovely morning. Here are a couple of photos from our walk:

That's all from me today. See you again soon.

SHC - Keep Positive

.... Morning! I'm here with my weekly Seven Hills Craft blog post - I've swapped with Tara for a while. Today I've got an encouragement card to share with you:

Stamps: Altenew - Bad Days Happen; Concord & 9th - Bold Butterflies, Painted Sayings

Inks: Gina K - Wild Dandelion, Tangerine Twist, Warm Cocoa, Red Velvet; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Dies: C&9 - Positively Cut Card Front Die, Bold Butterflies

Accessories: White Card; Card Scraps from Stash

I'm submitting this card to Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies - HLSAGD#06.

This was fun to make. It took a while, but is so worth it. I used the Positively Cut card front die to die cut the crosses from an A2 piece of white card. I then found a rainbow of card scraps and cut out lots of little crosses. I adhered the die cut white panel onto the front of an A2 note card and used the in-laid die cut technique to replace the crosses in a rainbow pattern. I stamped the sentiment on white card, fussy cut it out and adhered it to the card with dimensional pads. I finished the front with a tiny die cut butterfly. Inside the card, I cut a mat layer of purple card and on the white panel added another encouragement greeting along with another butterfly.

As you know, my mum and I were diagnosed with breast cancer last year and we're both going through treatment now. We're both doing well. I heard from my sister-in-law earlier this week, she had a mammogram recently and she too has been diagnosed with breast cancer. I know exactly how she's feeling right now, so I thought a bright, positive card would help.

That's all for today. See you again soon.

SHC - Birthday Wreaths

.... Good Morning!! I can hardly believe it's already 1st June!! Time is flying by. It does mean, however, that it's time for my weekly Seven Hills Craft blog post. This week I've got three birthday cards to share with you. I've been doing the Spring Card Camp from Online Card Classes, and these cards are based on Laura Bassen's wreath technique. I'll start with the large square card:

Stamps: Altenew - Hello Sunshine, Beautiful Inside; C&9 - All the Birthdays

Inks: Gina K - Wild Dandelion, Key Lime, Sea Glass, Powder Blue, Lovely Lavender, Innocent Pink, Lipstick, Peach Bellini, Slate; Versafine - Onyx Black

Accessories: White & Black Card; Clear Embossing Powder

I'm submitting this card to The Paper Players - PP#593 where they have a tic-tac-toe grid - I've picked the diagonal - birthday, floral & circle. I'm also playing along with Fusion Card Challenge - FUSION#1122 - I've used the rainbow colours from the photo.

For all my cards I used my MISTI stamp position, although Laura says you can do this technique with blocks!! I cut a piece of white card 5¼" and drew diagonal, horizontal and vertical pencil lines on the card - with all lines crossing in the centre. I placed the card into the MISTI and put my first flower image on the top most vertical pencil line and stamped in yellow ink. I turned the card 90° and repeated the process, and continued until I had the horizontal and vertical flowers stamps. I returned the card to the MISTI with the yellow flower at the top, repositioned the flower image onto the diagonal pencil line between the yellow and teal flowers and stamped in lime green. I repeated the process above until I have a complete wreath. I repeated the process to add some more smaller star flowers. Next, I stamped a bold 'happy' in dark grey ink. I heat set all the ink before stamping the scripty 'birthday' in Versafine ink and heat embossing with clear powder. I adhered the finished panel to a black mat layer and added the whole lot to the front of a 5¾" square white card. Inside, I cut a mat layer of black card. On the white panel I created a birthday greeting and finished by adding a couple of flowers.

My next card has a more masculine feel:

Stamps: Altenew - Parrot Paradise, Happy Dreams, Floral Sprig, Beautiful Inside

Inks: Gina K - Prickly Pear, Honey Mustard, Jelly Bean Green, Fresh Asparagus, Blue Lagoon; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Accessories: White & Black Card

I'm submitting this card to Seize the Birthday - STB#239 - I'm playing along with the Anything Goes option.

I used the same technique as outline above, but this time I made an A2 side-opening card. I cut the white card to 3¼" × 4½", drew in the pencil lines and then picked leaves and darker colours for a masculine feel. I finished the front with a birthday greeting in black - love this font. I layered the panel onto a black mat and added to the front of the card. Inside, I cut a mat layer of black card and on the white panel stamped a birthday greeting and another fun leaf.

My final card is another rainbow card:

Stamps: Altenew - Beautiful Inside; C&9 - All the Birthdays, Lucky

Inks: Gina K - Wild Dandelion, Key Lime, Sea Glass, Powder Blue, Lovely Lavender, Innocent Pink, Lipstick, Sweet Mango; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Accessories: White & Black Card

I'm submitting this card to Less Is More - LIM#465 where they have a rainbow colour challenge.

I used the same technique as outline above. I kept this card reasonably simple - I picked a group of stars, stamped them in rainbow order and finished with a bold black birthday greeting. As before, inside has a black mat layer and a greeting and decoration on the white panel.

For me June is a busy birthday month and I realised that I'm almost out of birthday cards in my stash, so it's been good to make a few. I still need more!! That's all for today. See you again soon.