Birthday wishes .....

.... Hi all - it's been another gorgeous day here in Northville and it looks like staying for a while.  I've made a birthday card for one of my friends in the UK.  I was having a really hard time thinking what to make - my mojo seems to have decided to take a holiday all of its own!!!  However, when I saw the colours from this week's Colour Q - cQc154 challenge I knew what I wanted to do.  I used this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - WMSC114 (designed by Anya Schrier) for the layout.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Asian Garden
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Bravo Burgundy, So Saffron, Calypso Carol (substitute for Cameo Coral)
Spellbinders:  Lacey Circles (S4-293) #5
Accessories:  SU Ribbon (Old Olive); Dreamweaver Stencil LL3024, Card from stash

I really like this set, but for some reason don't use it very often, however it goes perfectly with this big sakura stencil.  I used So Saffron for the background pattern and wrapped ribbon around it before attaching to the card base.  I ran both the stencil and Spellbinder die through my bug and while the stencil was in place I inked the centre of the flower and used coral round the edge.  Next I stamped lots of little sakura flowers and cut them out.  I finished off with a simple birthday sentiment.

That's all for now.  See you soon.

Back in black .....

..... Good morning all - I hope you all had a super weekend.  It's been just glorious here in Northville - wall to wall blue skies, bright sunshine and hot!!  In my Saturday post I mentioned that I was attending a craft class at Stampeddler (my local shop).  The class was called "Molten Magic with Metallic FX" and it was taught by Lynell Harlow - owner and designer of Dreamweaver Stencils.

I have used Dreamweaver stencils with their embossing paste before, but I have to admit that I've not been entirely successful.  So having a class with the Lynell was an opportunity I couldn't miss.  Lynell demonstrated the application technique used with the embossing paste and then showed us how using a heat gun to speed up drying affected the powders and paste.  It was like magic and really did look like molten magic.

One of the pieces we made used black card as the base and this beautiful daisy pattern stencil.  This week's challenge at CAS-ual Fridays - CFC62 is to make a clean and simple design with a black card base.  I'm so pleased that I've been able to use some of the pieces made in my class - I actually made two cards, here's the first.

Stamps:  Hobby Art - Happy Birthday GR1853C
Inks: Versamark
Stencil: Dreamweaver - Daisy Background LX7014 (provided at the class)
Accessories:  Metallic FX mica powders (provided at the class); Gold card, Gold embossing powder and card from stash

The daisy stencil is very large and I cut it down and mounted it onto some gold card to make my card.  The finished image has a lovely texture and really pretty shimmer.  I decided to add a simple sentiment which I stamped in Versamark and then embossed with gold powder.  Clean, simple and, I think, elegant.

Below is a close up picture of the finished image - you can see the lovely bubbly texture that you get when you heat up the paste.  And here's a picture of Lynell demonstrating and finally, the graphic for this week's challenge.

That's all for now.  Kathryn starts her Summer Theatre Day Camp today at The Marquis Theatre in Northville.  The camp runs for two weeks and she has very full days starting at 8.30am and finishing at 3.00pm.  They do singing, dancing, acting, improvisation, games, stage movement, and get to put on a show for family at friends at the end of the two weeks.  Kathryn is really looking forward to it.  I'll be back later today with the other card that I made from the daisy stencil.  See you soon.