Birthday Wishes ....

...  Good afternoon - I'm back with a very feminine birthday card.  I got my new Waltzingmouse Stamps delivered at the weekend and I just love these wonderful old fashioned roses.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Old Country Roses, Big Day - Today
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Calypso Coral, Tangerine Tango, Blushing Bride, Island Indigo, Pistachio Pudding, Wild Wasabi, Old Olive
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Island Indigo; Wink of Stella - Clear

I used a few challenges in the making of this card:

• Colour Q - cQc#270
• CAS(E) this Sketch - #102
• Just us Girls - JUGS#270

I turned the sketch upside as it worked better for my card in this orientation.  I really like the colours from Colour Q and thought they'd make fabulous roses.  The word cue at Just Us Girls is sparkle, and while it's hard to see in the photo above, all the roses have a dusting of sparkle from my Wink of Stella clear brush.  I made the card base from deep turquoise.  I cut white panels, temporarily stuck them together and then stamped the roses.  They are a three-step stamp and line up really easily.  I masked off the roses and then added some leaves.  I stamped the sentiment to match the card base.  I separated the white panels and layered the smaller white panel onto turquoise card to give this lovely offset effect.  On the inside of the card I stamped a simple greeting and another smaller bunch of roses.

Below is a close up of the roses - you can just about see the sparkle - it does show up more in real life!!!

We had a really fun weekend.  The company had a box at the Detroit Lions game - it was such fun.  It's always great to get together with other members of the team, and it was super to be able to watch the match.  I hadn't realised that Ford Field was a covered stadium, so it was an unexpected surprise to be warm while watching.  To the home crowd's delight the Lions beat Tampa Bay Buccaneers 34-17. 

That's all for now - I've got a few more cards to make and some housework to do - what shall I start with ? :) :)  See you soon.

WMSFC - Colours ....

..... Hello, sorry this post is a bit late, I'm not feeling very well.  It's time for our new challenge at Waltzingmouse Fanatics - we have colours for you.  For the next couple of weeks we'd like you to use our colours on your creation - you MUST USE AT LEAST THREE colours; I managed to use five on my card:

Stamps: Folk Art Medallion, Big Day - Today
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Perfect Plum, Crumb Cake; Archival - Jet Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Bermuda Bay, Pool Party

I have to say that inspiration for this card goes to Kathy (Cherwell Leys Alpacas); her card last week reminded me of the fabulous Folk Art Medallion stamps, so I thought I'd play!  I cut a couple of mat layers in dark and light aqua and on the white panel I stamped the medallion in the centre.  It is so easy and lots of fun to stamp the medallion in colours - it looks so different each time!  I decided not to put a sentiment on the front of the card as I want the medallion to take centre stage.  On the inside I cut a mat of dark aqua, stamped an elegant birthday sentiment in the middle and finished by adding a few smaller medallions.

Just a few reminders about our challenge - you MUST use at least ONE WALTZINGMOUSE IMAGE, SENTIMENT OR DIGI on your project.  If you don't have any stamps - Claire has super selection of free images, sentiments and cut files - check it out here.  You have until Thursday 7th August 5.00pm BST (Noon EDT) to enter your project.  I'm really looking forward to seeing your project with our colours.  That's all for now! Bye!!

WMSFC - Sketch ....

....  Good morning everyone!  Tara and I were delighted to see so many gorgeous submissions to our Anything Goes challenge, we hope to see just as many to our new challenge. For the next couple of weeks at Waltzingmouse Fanatics, we'd like you to base your projects on our sketch. Here's my take:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Two Step Sprig, Big Day-Today, Large Doily
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Poppy Parade, More Mustard, Coastal Cabana, Island Indigo; Archival - Jet Black; Versamark
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Island Indigo; Vellum; Clear Embossing Powder; Copic Marker

I've used the colours from Colour Q - cQc#249 - it's been a while since I joined in with this challenge and I'm glad to play along with these wonderful colours.  I stamped the solid leaves in pale aqua directly on the card base and then added the leaf veins with dark teal.  I inked the doily first with Versamark and then pale aqua, stamped onto vellum and heat embossed the image with clear powder.  Then I fussy cut it out - it's actually really easy to do.  I ran the doily through the Xyron to make it self-adhesive and adhered it to the card.  To create the flowers I inked up the solid image and stamped the second generation impression then added the shadows in the same colour with the first generation impression.  After stamping the centre of the flowers I added a little more colour with a Copic marker.  There are no matching dies to these flowers, but they are very easy to cut out.  I attached the large flowers directly to the card and attached the smaller ones with dimensional gel.  I finished the front with an elegant flourish sentiment.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of dark aqua and on the white panel added some leaves and finished off with a small flower.

For more inspiration using the sketch - do check out Tara's card - it's fabulous!  We would love to see your creations based on the sketch.  Our only rule is that you use AT LEAST ONE Waltzingmouse image, sentiment or digi.  You've got plenty of time to join in the fun - the challenge runs until Thursday 24th July, 6.00pm BST (1.00pm EDT).

I've been a bit quiet on the blog lately, I have finally started to edit photos from various photo shoots.  I hope to get a few photos on the blog next week - I think they are all perfectly safe - any that aren't you'll be able to see on Flickr.  We are all off to another photo shoot today - an afternoon in the sun at the pool - should be great fun.  See you soon.

WMSFC - Theme ...

.... Hi again!  I'm back with our new challenge for Waltzingmouse Fanatics.  This time we have a theme for you to play with.  Typography is a hot trend at the moment, and Claire's stamps contain some of the most wonderful sentiments and in lots of pretty fonts.  We would like your project to contain sentiments from AT LEAST TWO different sets of stamps.  I've made a thank you card - with lots of thanks!!

Stamps: WMS - Fine Feathers, Charm Squares, Funky Feathers, Teeny Trees, Big Day-Today, Asian Gardens, Victorian Frippery, Ocean Bound, Country Labels 4, Say It Loud
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Primrose Petals, Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, River Rock, Basic Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - River Rock; SU Ribbon - Calypso Coral; SU DP - River Rock

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches - FMS#130 and the colours from Colour Q - cQc#235.  I cut a small panel of white card and then laid out all the thank you stamps to work out the best pattern pressed down my Fiskars stamp holder to keep them in the same position.  I did try to use my markers to colour the sentiments, but it wasn't very nice, so I stamped this in stages.  I used masking tape to cover some stamps inked up and then stamped, and repeated with all the colours.  I finished the front with a mock button and a ribbon.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of design paper and added a simple sentiment in the corner, leaving me enough space for a message.

For more inspiration with our texty theme, don't forget to check out Tara's card.  As always you can make any project you like, but you MUST use at least TWO sentiments from different WMS sets.  The deadline for submission is Thursday 17th April, 5.00pm (Noon EDT).  Looking forward to seeing what you make!  Have a good weekend.

Birthday card ....

.... Good afternoon!  I do hope you're all having a good day - I've had fun playing in my craft room making cards for various design team challenges and this very clean, simple and, I think, elegant, birthday card.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Funky Feathers, Big Day - Today
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Bermuda Bay, Perfect Plum; Memento - Danube Blue
Dies: WMS Dies - Funky Feathers
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Masking paper; Baker's Twine

I used the colours from Colour Throwdown - CTD#284; they are just gorgeous and so rich.  The theme for birthday cards is from Card Concept - CC#6 and the technique of stencilling from this week's Less is More - LIM#163 challenge.  I die cut a couple of feathers from masking paper, attached them to the card and simply sponged colour off the stencil onto the card.  Then I inked up this pretty feather in three colours, cut it out with the matching die, added some twine and adhered it to the card with dimensional tape.  I finished with a clean, simple birthday sentiment, which is straight despite the photo!!  I've left the inside blank.

I've been taking part in the Clean & Simple Card Making.  The emphasis is on one-layer cards with lots of techniques.  This is not quite one layer, but it is very clean and simple.  I'm really pleased how it turned out.

On Wednesday I mentioned warmer temperatures and melting snow.  Today has been gorgeous, not quite as warm as Wednesday, but much brighter and the snow is still melting.

I can see grass (albeit a bit brown still) and my plants are finally appearing from under the snow!  That's all for now.  Do drop by tomorrow for our new challenges at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown and Waltzingmouse Fanatics!  See you soon.

One for the stash ...

.....  Morning all!  Just a quick post showing a card that I made with the left over bits from my Waltzingmouse Fanatics post.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Big Day - Today
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black
Dies: Memory Box - Chloe Stem
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU - Basic Black; WMS Digital Paper - Celtic Lunettes

I had a sheet of grey digital paper left after I'd made my WMSFC cards.  I adhered the paper to some scrap white card and then die cut the flower.  I attached the grey layer to a mat of black card, cut another flower in black and then in-laid the black flower.  I finished the front with an elegant, but simple sentiment.  On the inside I cut a mat layer in black and adhered the grey flower to the white panel.  I left the inside blank.  This one is for my stash.

That's all for now folks!  See you later!

WMSFC - Sketch .....

.... Hello again!  It's time for our new challenge at Waltzingmouse Fanatics.  This time we have a sketch for you to play with - I liked it so much that I actually made three cards!!!!  Here they are:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Folk Art Medallion, Frame It, Say It Loud; Uniko Studio - All Occasion Sentiments #3
Inks: Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black; Memento - Grey Flannel
Dies: Memory Box - Forget Me Knot Stem, Prim Poppy, Chloe Stem; Die-namics - Fishtail Flags Stax # 3 & 4
Accessories: WMS Digital Papers - Celtic Lunettes; White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Basic Black; White Embossing Powder

I think this sketch is lots of fun and I decided to focus on WMS digital papers.  I printed several sheets of the Celtic Lunettes pattern in grey, blue and pink, sized just a bit bigger than the card base.  I also printed off several copies of the sketch to use as a template.  I trimmed all the papers to size and then used temporary adhesive to stick the sketch pattern over the top of the design paper and cut the panels.  Using this method to cut the panels means that the lunette patterns line up.  Ask me how I know this?  Well the first card was a mess with misaligned patterns all over the place!!!  I used  dies to cut out the flowers and banners.  I inked up the sentiments in Versamark and heat embossed with white powder.  I turned the last card to make it horizontal - that's because I needed to cover up the point which was a bit messy on this card!  Here are photos of the inside of each card.

For more inspiration with this sketch - check out Tara's card.  I'm really looking forward to seeing what you create with this sketch.  As always, you can make a card, scrapbook page, or 3D project, but whatever you make must include at least one Waltzingmouse image or sentiment.  You've got plenty of time to play along, the deadline for submission is Thursday 6th February 5.00pm GMT (that's Noon EDT for those of us in the States).   That's all for now, see you soon.