Birthday Greens

... Good afternoon! I've been playing in my craft room and made this fun masculine birthday card:

Stamps: Concord & 9th/Kristina Werner - Just Talking

Inks: Gina KCW - Just Talking

Accessories: White Card; GK Card - Applemint; C&9/KW Stencils - Layering Lattice, Just Talking

I'm submitting this card to the following challenges:

The Card Concept - CC#224 - shades of green

Stencil Fun Challenge - SFC#0226 - to use stencils and optional to make a background - done

Cardz 4 Guyz - C4G#383 - monochromatic colours

Seize the Birthday - STB#320 - I've gone for Anything Goes for a birthday

This card came together so quickly - thank you very much Kristina. I got the new Layering Lattice stencils last week and they make backgrounds so quickly. I simply picked the pattern and colours I wanted to use and inked directly onto an A2 note card. I finished the front by adding a simple message in a word bubble - I stamped the greeting on green card, die cut it and added a touch of darker ink around the edge. I layered it onto the matching shadow layer. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of pale green card and added a birthday greeting on the white panel. To add emphasis to the greeting, I inked through the matching word bubble stencil in pale green ink. 

This is a much needed card for my stash - I used up most of my cards last year! 

That's all for today. I'm off to make dinner and then settle down for some more from the Winter Olympics. See you soon.

Happy Easter ...

.... Morning! Here in the UK we have a four day weekend for Easter. Good Friday turned out to be a beautiful day - much warmer than expected with lots of sunshine. However, the forecast is not good for the rest of the weekend! And tomorrow is expected to be very cold!! However, I've an Easter card to share with you. This one is for my mum:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps - Nestie Eggs (now sadly discontinued); Clearly Besotted - Sweet Little Sentiments

Inks: Gina K - Peach Bellini, Sweet Mango, Coral Reef, Apple Mint, Stormy Sky

Dies: Spellbinders - Cross Collection (S4-265)

Accessories: White Card

I'm submitting this card to The Card Concept - CC#152. They have an inspiration photo for the challenge and I've taken the colours, the eggs, and the message 'He is risen'. My card is very much in the clean and simple style.

I've used my Easter egg stamps from Waltzingmouse Stamps for this card. I used the large egg on the front, stamping it first in soft peach, adding some subtle orange and then a deep coral at the bottom of the egg. I use a simple script greeting in grey. I die cut a cross in white card; the die has a lovely pattern and I inked over with a soft green ink. I used dimensional pads to attach the cross. On the inside, I kept things very simple. I stamped the egg outline image in shades of peach to match the front and added the 'He is risen' message in the middle in soft green and grey.

I'm not at all religious, but Mum is and I'm sure she'll appreciate this card. Anyway, that's all from me today. Take care and have a Happy Easter.

SHC - Floral Birthdays ...

.... Morning! I'm here with my Seven Hills Craft blog post. In a change from my recent Christmas cards, I'm sharing a couple of much needed birthday cards. For me, January is a very busy month for family and friends birthdays. There are nine in all - yes, nine!! Here's my first card:

Stamps: Concord & 9th - In Bloom, All the Birthdays

Inks: Versamark; Delicata - Golden Glitz; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Dies: Concord & 9th - In Bloom; Die-namics - A2 Stitched Rectangles Set 2 #7

Accessories: White Card; Lawn Fawn - Gold Embossing Powder; Gold Shimmer Vellum; SU Card - Basic Black

I'm submitting this card to The Card Concept - CC#145. The inspiration photo contains elegant candles and patterns in black, white and gold and I've used that on this card. It's a clean, layered and elegant card.

I started by stamping the leaves and flowers on black card with Versamark ink. I heat embossed with gold powder and used the matching die to cut out the images. I stamped a simple birthday greeting on black card, heat embossed with gold powder and used a banner die to cut it out. I used a stitched edge rectangle die to cut a piece of gold shimmer vellum which I adhered to the card. I added the flowers, leaves and greeting flat to the card to make it easy to post. 

On the inside, I cut a piece of the gold vellum for the mat layer, and on the white panel stamped a bold birthday greeting using a two-step stamp. I finished with a tiny gold flower in the top corner of the panel. My next card used all the parts of the In Bloom release:

Stamps: Concord & 9th - In Bloom, All the Birthdays

Inks: Versamark; Gina K - Innocent Pink, Dusty Rose, Bubblegum Pink; Stampin' Up! - Mint Macaron

Dies: Concord & 9th - In Bloom

Accessories: White Card; Silver Mirri Card; Silver Design Paper; Silver Embossing Powder; Concord & 9th - In Bloom Stencils; Cosmic Shimmer - Silver Mist

I'm submitting this card to Darnell's super challenge blog - Never-Before-Used-Schtuff - NBUS#21. That's certainly the case with this card as the set is absolutely brand new!!

For this card I used the large floral image. I used my MISTI to stamp the image in pale grey onto a large piece of white card. I removed the stamped image and placed the flower stencil, from In Bloom Stencils, over the image and used several shades of pink ink to colour the flowers. I switched to the leaf stencil and used green ink for the leaves. I replaced the coloured panel in the MIST, stamped the image again in Versamark ink and heat embossed with silver powder. I find doing this gives cleaner image. The In Bloom stencil pack also contains a mask that can be placed over the coloured image. I used it here and added some silver splatter to the background. I finished the front with a simple birthday banner attached with dimensional pads. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of silver design paper, and on the white panel stamped a large birthday greeting in green to match the leaves, and another flower in pink.

That's all from me today. Thanks for stopping by. I really do appreciate the time you take and all comments left. See you again soon.

SHC - Autumnal Feathers ...

.... Morning. I'm here with my weekly post for Seven Hills Craft Blog. I've made a couple of cards for my kids. I've been sending cards to Ben for a long time and now I'm adding a card for Kat. These are the cards I made for them this week:

Stamps: Altenew - Golden Feather; MFT - Brush Splatter Background, Greetings & Salutaions

Inks: Gina K - Coral Reef, Peach Bellini, Sweet Corn, Blue Raspberry, Innocent Pink, Blue Denim; Stampin' Up! - Grey Granite, Balmy Blue

Dies: Altenew - Golden Feather; Lil Inkers - Long & Skinny Stitched Rectangles

Accessories: White Card

The card on the left is for Kat - I've gone with a softer colour palette, and the tall skinny card is for Ben. I started by stamping the background splatter image on white card, I used grey and yellow for the tall thin card, and peach for the other one. I cut out some panel with a stitch edge die and cut the panels to fit the card, so the stitch detail is at the top and bottom of each piece. I adhered them flat to the card. Then I stamped the layered feathers. For Ben's card I used the clean, simple feather with no flourishes and stamped the outline in dark blue and added the details with a softer blue. For Kat's card I used the softer feathers. I used the matching dies to cut the feathers out. I adhered them to the card and then finished each card with a simple greeting.  For Kat, it was simple 'Hello, Hi' greeting, and for Ben, who struggles, it was an 'It's Okay' message. The insides are blank for my messages.

I'm submitting Kat's card to The Card Concept - CC#140 where they have a lovely image of patterned leaves. I've interpreted this to be feathers with pretty patterns. I've made a clean, layered card. I used the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch! - CTS#391 for the layout. For Ben's long, thin card, I used the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch and the colours are from Fab Friday - FabF#198.

That's all from me for today. See you tomorrow with my card for Christmas 24 Challenge. Bye!!

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.

Season's Greetings ....

... Morning! I had a good day yesterday and made another Christmas card for my stash - I will NOT be purchasing boxed cards again this year 😁.  Here it is:

Stamps: Concord &9th - Snowflakes Turnabout, Christmas Cottage, Petals & Pallets; Stamplorations - Yuletide Deer
Inks: Gina K - Black Onyx, Soft Stone, Kraft; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Real Red; Copic Markers; Clear Embossing Powder

I'm submitting this card to several challenges - 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT05-20, where I used their sketch, The Card Concept - CC#127, where they have a lovely inspiration photo, Jingle Belles - JB:20:03, where they wanted to see three of something, and finally to Colour Throwdown - CTD#578, such lovely colours.

I started by stamping the lovely stag head three times on white card, coloured them all with Copic markers, put them back into the MISTI, restamped with Versafine ink and heat embossed with clear poweder. I then carefully fussy cut them out.  I stamped the two log planks using a mixture of kraft and grey ink to give a softly weathered look.  I added some snowflakes to the background, and then stamped the greeting.  I finished the front by adhering the two side stag heads flat to the card, and the centrally one with dimensional pads.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of bright red card and on the white panel added a bold greeting and another gorgeous stag head.

That's all for now.  I've got a reasonably busy day ahead - part of which includes attending my local craft group.  See you soon.

Clocks Birthday ...

... Hello again!  I'm on a bit of a roll - long may it continue.  I'm here with another, much needed, birthday card for my stash.  This one has a bit more of a vintage feel:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Hands of Time; MFT - Bitty Birthday Wishes, Sassy Pants Birthday Greetings
Inks: Gina K - Soft Stone, Slate, Kraft, Whisper
Dies: Die-namics - Circles Set 1 - #6, Skinny Strips
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Gina K Card - Slate

I got the idea for this card from the graphic on the new Card Concept - CC#126 challenge, I used the colours from Sunday Stamps Challenge - SSC#221 and the layout is based on the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#417.

I like the vintage style clock face and found this old stamp set from Papertrey Ink.  I used various stamps to create the soft background.  I stamped the clock face, added the hands and used a circle die to cut it out.  I stamped a clean, simple birthday sentiment and a clean, grey panel.  I used dimensional pads to adhere the birthday sentiment. 

On the inside I cut a mat layer of dark grey card and on the white panel stamps another of the clock faces (very subtle) and added a fun sentiment. Once again the photos have come out a bit dark.  I think I'm going to treat myself to a small portable light studio. 

It's turning out to be a fabulous day here in Northop Hall - the sun is shining, the skies are blue, there's virtually no wind; it's a lovely winter's day.  See you soon.