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 - Shades of Blue .....

... Good morning! I'm here with my weekly Seven Hills Craft blog post. For a change I've only got one card to share with you today. It's a one layer, clean and simple card.

Stamps: Concord & 9th - Painted Shapes; Altenew - Friends Forever

Inks: Gina K - Powder Blue, Blue Raspberry, Blue Denim; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Accessories: White Card; Black Marker Pen

I was inspired to make this card by a couple of challenges - Less is More - LIM#449 where they want us to use Shades of Blue, and AAA Cards - AAA#196 where they want us to decorate two quarters with the option of our favourite colour.

This card is really easy to make. I worked out the centre of side and used them to mask off the card. I stamped the chevron stamp in three shades of blue ink in the top left-hand corner. I removed the masking tape, repositioned it and then stamped the same image in the bottom right-hand corner. I used a black marker pen and ruler to draw the lines to mark off the quarters. I finished the front by adding a simple greeting in black ink. Inside the card, I simply stamped a line of dots at the top of the card (I slipped a bit), and some more chevrons at the bottom. There's lots of space for my message.

I'm very pleased how this card turned out. It's so easy to make that I might make a set and send them to Ben, along with some greetings that he can add as he wants. 

After a rather wet and cool weekend, we've had some lovely sunny days here. Looks like summer might stick around for a while longer. Mum has been busy in her garden - it looks fab. Kat has been packing her bags as she's going back to Nottingham soon for her second year at university. That's all from me today. See you again soon.

SHC - Quick and Easy Cards ...

.... Morning!! I'm here with my regular weekly post for Seven Hills Craft Blog. This week I've got several one-layer cards to share. I made all six cards in under an hour. I'll start with one of the larger (4½" × 6¼") cards:

Stamps: Concord & 9th - Painted Shapes, Painted Sayings

Inks: Versafine Clair - Cheerful, Summertime, Tulip Red, Charming Pink, Purple Delight, Nocture

Accessories: White Card

This card is super easy to make. I used the hexagon stamp (which has a slightly distressed image) and stamped (freehand) from the yellow to the purple. I added one of the bold sentiments from Painted Saying and on the inside I finished the message, and added a few more hexagons. So quick, so easy.

The next three cards are all stamped on cream cardstock (I've got a lot to use up) - two portrait and one landscape:

Stamps: Concord & 9th - Painted Shapes, Painted Sayings

Inks: Kaleidacolor - Desert Heat, Gina K - Soft Stone, Stormy Sky; Distress Oxide - Mustard Seed, Gina K - Wild Dandelion, Sweet Mango, Coral Reef; Distress Oxide - Crushed Olive, Memento - Bamboo Leaves, Cottage Ivy

Accessories: Cream Card

I really like the painted shapes stamps - I've done them here in bold colours, but they could equally well work in lighter shades. The sentiments are fun and look fabulous stamped in colour. I've left the insides blank for my messages. I suspect that some of these will end up going to Kat at university. I was having such fun, that I thought I'd have a go at using the same stamps to make a couple of Christmas cards:

Stamps: Concord & 9th - Painted Shapes, Painted Sayings, All the Merrys

Inks: Gina K - Whisper Amalgam, Versafine Clair - Tulip Red, Green Oasis, Nocturne

Accessories: White Card

I used the larger white cards here. On the portrait card I stamped the rectangle painted shape in a very soft grey and then used the two part Merry Christmas sentiment in the centre of the card. I kept to a simple and traditional red and green colour scheme. I used the tiny snowflake (confetti) stamp to add some texture. The landscape card is even more clean and simple. However, for this card I did use my stamp positioner to make sure that the stamped border was straight! I finished the front with a simple greeting. The insides are blank.

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