Happy Anniversary ...

.... Morning! It's a beautiful morning today with bright sunshine, but still a chill wind. We had some much needed rain last night and hopefully tonight too - Mum's garden needs all the water it can get!! I've made an anniversary card today - my uncle and aunt celebrate 55 years this weekend. So, mum wanted me to do her a card to send:

Stamps: Michael Powell - Church; Stampin' Up! - Teeny Tiny Wishes; Uniko - All Occasions Sentiments #1
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
Dies: Die-namics - Stitched Trad Tags Stax #6, Trad Tags Stax #7
Accessories: White Card; SU Card - Strawberry Slush; Copic Markers; Clear Embossing Powder

I'm submitting this card to Colour Throwdown - CTD#587 and to MFT Wednesday Sketch Club - MFTWSC#483.

I've had this stamp for years - it's based on a counted cross stitch design by Michael Powell, sadly both are long discontinued. However, I think it's perfect for an anniversary card. I stamped the image on white card, coloured it with Copic markers, stamped and heat embossed with clear powder. I used a stitch edged tag to cut out the image and used the matching plain tags to cut out a coloured mat layer. I finished the front by adding a simple sentiment. On the inside, I cut another mat layer of pink card and added a bold greeting - loads of space for mum's message. The card is in the post and on its way.

That's all for today - see you soon.

Sweet Birthday Wishes ....

.... Morning!  I hope everyone got through Storm Ciara safely.  We were quite lucky to only have heavy rain and strong winds yesterday morning; the afternoon and evening were much kinder to us.  Anyway, I got to play again in the evening and with some new stamps that I got yesterday from Seven Hills Crafts.  Here's my card - very clean and simple:

Stamps: The Stamping Village - Happy Birthday; Lil' Inkers - Rainbow & Clouds Sentiments; Waltzingmouse Stamps - Pinstripe Background
Inks: Gina K - Dusty Rose; Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Die-namics - Stitched Tag-Corner Rectangles #4
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Poppy Parade; Sakura Stardust Pen; Clear Embossing Powder; Copic Marker

I'm submitting this card to MFT Wednesday Sketch Club - MFTWSC#475, Seize the Birthday - STB#182, The Paper Players - PP#477, and Just Us Girls - JUGS#522.

I used two of my oldest stamps and one of my newest stamps on this card.  The pinstripe background is from WMS and the sentiment inside from Lil' Inkers, both now sadly closed.  I stamped the background on a large panel and cut a piece for the bottom of this card (you'll see the other piece later this week). The image is from the Happy Birthday stamp set from The Stamping Village - love this cute bug! I stamped it in Versafine, clear heat embossed and then coloured the image with a glitter pen. I cut it out with a stitched edge die and adhered it to the card with dimensional tape.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of bright red card and on the white panel added a sentiment and another little ladybug.

Today I'm off to my local craft group - first time for a couple of weeks.  I'm taking the little scrapbook that I've been working on - hopefully, I'll get it finished this week and share photos later.  Have a good day and see you soon.

Summer Succulents ....

... Hello again! I'm back with a summer succulent birthday card. I got the inspiration for this card from a few challenges: Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge - HLSCAS#06, Addicted to Stamps and More! - ATSM#294 inspiration photo, and from MFT Wednesday Sketch challenge - MFTWSC#388. This is my card:

Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Smile, Perfectly Succulent
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Die-namics - Traditional Tags Stax #7, Stitched Trad Tags Stax #6
Accessories: White Lustre Card; BoBunny DP - Garden Party; Copic Markers; Clear Embossing Powder; Wink of Stella - Clear; Doodlebug - Green Enamel Dots; SU Card - Crumb Cake

I got these new stamps from HLS a while ago, but it's only since I tidied up my craft room that I found them again 😄 I started by cutting a couple of tags - one from design paper and one plain white card and glueing them together to give a little border on the tag. I stamped the succulents on the plain white card, coloured them with Copic markers, put them back in the MISTI, restamped with Versafine ink and heat embossed with clear powder. I used my Scan'n'Cut to cut out the images. I stamped the words 'it's your birthday' several times along a strip of kraft card, embossed it and cut it into a banner. I stamped the large word 'smile' at the top of the tag and embossed it with clear powder. I attached the tag to the card, added the banner and then adhered the succulents, using dimensional pads on a couple of the pots. I finished the front by adding some enamel dots. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of a coordinating sheet of design paper and on the white panel added a simple greeting and another succulent.

I'm taking this card back to the UK with me at the end of the week. It's Ben's dad's 60th birthday at the end of June and I'm sending this to him. I'll be making a special card for Ben to send to his dad too. I'm safe to share it on here as Kim won't see the card!!

That's all for now - see you again soon.

Good Luck ....

.... Good afternoon from a beautifully sunny, but very cold, Northville. I've had a fun morning playing in my craft room. It's St Patrick's Day today and in honour of the day, I've used a very old stamp set called Celtic Heritage to make a Good Luck card:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps - Celtic Heritage; Uniko - Simply Said
Inks: Gina K - Jelly Bean Green, Christmas Pine
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Garden Green; WRMemory Keepers DP - Travel Light; SU Punches

This is a 4 bar size card - so a bit smaller than my usual. I started by stamping a lucky four leaf clover (with a hint of Celtic design) on a white circle and layered it on a scalloped dark green circle. I cut a panel of dark green card onto which I adhered some pretty patterned paper from my stash. I attached the panel to the card and added the clover panel on top. I finished the front by stamping a simple 'good luck' sentiment using words from two different stamp sets. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of the patterned paper and on the white panel added some more Celtic design elements, but left it blank for my own message. I'm submitting this card to CAS-ual Fridays Challenge - CFC#195 where they want to see greens, and also to MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge - MFTWSC#376.

A few weeks ago I sold a load of my old stamps at the annual yard sale at Scrappy Chic. It was both very sad and lots of fun going through my stash. I parted with many old wood mounted stamps that I've had for years and made room for new stuff. In the process, I rediscovered some of my old favourites - this being one! The stamp set came from Waltzingmouse Stamps (sadly now closed) that was owned by Claire Brennan. While Claire doesn't have her own company anymore, you can still get Claire's stamps from Gina K. It was so nice to rediscover some old favourites and you're probably going to see more old sets soon.

As a result of recycling so much of my stash, I have to update my catalogue system and I'm going to take the opportunity to set up an electronic catalogue too. I'm going to use the Evernote system - I've been watching an excellent video about the system by Kat Driggers - as I'll be able to see all my stash on my PC, phone and tablet! It's going to take a while, but I think it'll be worth it.

That's all for now - enjoy your weekend!

Uniko - Life Is A Song, Background Blocks Equaliser, and Equaliser Stencil ...

... Hi! We're on day four of our Uniko Introductions. Today we have two more stamps sets and a stencil; they have a distinctly musical theme! I've made two cards; here's the first:

Stamps: Uniko - Background Blocks Equaliser, Reach for the Stars, Life is a Song
Inks: Gina K - Charcoal Brown, Wild Wisteria, Lovely Lavender, Kraft; Distress Oxide - Antique Linen
Dies: Die-namics - Double Stitched Circle Stax #4
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Early Espresso; Clear Embossing Powder

I've used the sketch from MFT Wednesday Sketch Club - MFTWSC#373 for the layout of my card, and the colours are from Colour Throwdown - CTD#481. I started by stamping the equaliser image on white card and heat embossing with clear powder. I added colour to the image using a water brush and squishing the ink on an acrylic block. Once finished I used a stitched edge die to cut out the circle. I cut a panel of brown card and attached it to the front of the card. I stamped some of the musical notation stamps on a strip of brown card and adhered that over the top of the circle. I finished the front by stamping a greeting. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of brown card and created a fun greeting in the middle of the white panel.

Next, is a one layer card - it is very quick and easy to make:

This was such fun to make! I taped the stencil to a square card, making sure to mask any areas that I didn't want inking. Then I spritzed on some of my new Dylusions Shimmer sprays - you can't see the shimmer in the photo above, but I've taken a detail shot which shows it nicely! I've based the colours on this week's CAS Colours & Sketches challenge - CASC&S#260, although I think it might not be CAS enough!! Once the inks dried, I stamped the greeting in bold black. On the inside, I cut a mat layer of deep pink card and on the white panel added a greeting and musical notation. I'm submitting this to Simon Says Wednesday challenge - SSWC#2102, where they want us to make our own background.

Stamps: Uniko -All Occasion Sentiments #1, Life Is A Song
Inks: Gina K - Peach Bellini, Blue Raspberry; Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Raspberry Ripple
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Raspberry Ripple; Dylusions Shimmer Sprays - London Blue, Tangerine Dream, Bubblegum Pink

Thanks so much for stopping by to see my cards. Don't forget to visit the Uniko blog to see much more from the rest of the Design Team. The release schedule is:

Introductions: 23rd - 27th February

RELEASE DAY: Wednesday 28th February, 9.00am GMT. Join us for our traditional Design Team Blog Hop and Giveaway!

See you again tomorrow!

52CCT - Theme ....

.... Hello!! We have a lovely theme for you this week at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT46-16. Gill wants us to make cards for an OLD FASHIONED CHRISTMAS. Once again, I've gone slightly mad and made a total of 4 cards! Here they are:

Stamps: Uniko - Simply Said Christmas, Stunning Snowflakes; Waltzingmouse - Woodgrain
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Baked Brown Sugar; Delicata - Golden Glitz
Dies: Lil Inkers - Stitched Rectangles #4 & #5
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Baked Brown Sugar; SU DP - Pool Party; Kaisercraft DP - 12 x 12 Frosted Collection Arctic; Burlap; Gold Satin Card; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear

I used the colours from City Crafter Challenge Blog - CCCB#338 where they want us to make a Christmas card using beach colours. From their inspiration photo I've used a wood grain finish, some burlap, gold and shades of aqua and pale green. The main image comes from a piece of 12" x 12" vintage theme Christmas paper. I coloured selected parts with Copic markers and added some sparkle too. I layered the image on aqua design paper, some frayed burlap and then on satin gold card. I then adhered the whole panel to the front of a card which I had stamped with a wood grain finish. On the inside I cut a mat layer from aqua design paper and on the white panel added a greeting and some snowflakes.

The large sheet of design paper contained lots of smaller images and I used another on my next card:

Stamps: Uniko - Simply Said Christmas
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Cream Lustre Card; SU DP - Season of Style; Kaisercraft DP - 12 x 12 Frosted Collection Arctic; Copics; Stick It Adhesive; Gold Satin Mirri Card

I really like the vintage Santa and the old style font for the words. I used the inspiration photo from Addicted to Stamps and More! - ATSM#220 for the use of colours. The layout of the card is based on this week's sketch from MFT Wednesday Sketch Club - MFTWSC#307. I used my Copics to add some colour to the image and then placed it on some Stick It - a double sided sheet of adhesive. I removed the top layer and poured on some extra fine crystal glitter which I buffed into the surface. I then layered the image on some gold satin card. I used the border strip to add the sentiment. On the inside I cut a mat layer from design paper and added a simple greeting to the cream panel. This card is very clean and simple.

My card is also quick and simple, but not so clean and simple!!

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Compliments of the Season II
Inks: Delicata - Golden Glitz
Accessories: Cream Lustre Card; Anita's Classic Gold Christmas Vellum; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear; Kaisercraft - 12 x 12 DP

I decided to frame this simple strip of vintage images with gorgeous gold vellum. I cut the vellum slightly smaller than the card and attached it with double sided tape in the centre. Then I adhered the images over the top. I added a touch of colour and sparkle to the foliage. On the inside I cut some more vellum for the mat layer and on the cream panel stamped a simple and elegant greeting.

My last card features some old fashioned Christmas advertisements:

Stamps: Uniko - Winter Foliage, Most Wonderful
Inks: SU - Old Olive, Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso
Accessories: Cream Lustre Card; SU Card - Old Olive; SU DP - Old Olive; Kaisercraft - 12 x 12 DP; Copics; Wink of Stella - Clear

I added a touch of colour and sparkle to the vintage images and then layered them on some green design paper and lightly inked the edges with brown ink. I stamped some pine branches and a pine cone on the card. On the inside I cut a mat layer of green card and added a greeting and more pine branches to the cream panel.

I am really pleased to have made another four cards for my stash. Here's a photo of all four together:

I still have plenty of vintage images left from the design paper and will make some more during the week!  For more inspiration with Old Fashioned Christmas cards - do visit our blog to see more from the team.  I'm off to a fun craft class at Stampeddler this morning - making more Christmas cards!!! Have a fun weekend and see you soon.