Birthday Butterflies

I love butterflies on cards and todays challenge at SCS - Ways to Do It - was a Garden Theme but without any flowers.
For my background paper I first stamped French Script from IndigoBlu on white card  with Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder. Then I sponged with Ranger Distress Inks - Victorian Velvet, Bundled Sage and Memento Teal Zeal.  The border punch is from EK.  The butterflies were cut from previously sponged scraps using SU! butterfly punch. The sentiment from GKD Elegant Florals was stamped onto white card and cut out on my Big Shot using a Spellbinders die. This was edged with some more Victorian Velvet. Some rhinestones and white baker's twine to embellish and then mounted onto turquoise  with dimensionals then white card stock .

Challenges entered:
SCS Ways to Do It WT428
Make it Monday #141

Kathy

If all else fails - eat chocolate

I was thrilled this week to be a winner of  'For Your Inspiration' Challenge and can now display their 'Lovely Lotus' Blinkie!   Thanks so much to Stephanie and all the team for choosing this card:

                                       Kathy

If all else fails - eat chocolate

Poppies

I received this new release from IndigoBlu this week - Wild Flowers - absolutely gorgeous.
I can see a great many possibilities for this stamp. I couldn't wait to get started!

The challenge on IndigoBlu this month is 'backgrounds' and as I wanted to use this stamp I decided a very plain background would be best to show off these beautiful flowers.  Out comes the ScorPal and a diamond background created with gems added to the bottom row.  I used Copic pens to colour the image which was then mounted on black card.  I used a Fiskars Corner Punch on nearly all the corners.  The SU!  tag was stamped with Happy Birthday from GKD and faux stitching added.  A small heart gem secured the tag. Unfortunately I had to crop my image as a fingermark appeared out of nowhere!!!????  Never mind eh! Just goes to show you can use a partial image and still get great results.:)

Challenges entered:

Through the Craft Room Door wk 20-27

IndigoBlu Challenge 4 - Backgrounds Galore

SCS Inspiration Challenge IC389 

SCS CAS That Smells Great CAS221 

SCS Free for All - Chomp F4A169

Make it Monday #141

Country View Crafts #3

Have great day!

Kathy

If all else fails - eat chocolate

the earth laughs in flowers - e.e.cummings

For SplitCoastStampers sketch SC436  and For Your Inspiration Challenges #46

Details to be added soon.

Kathy

If all else fails - eat chocolate

More Pink!

I'm not really a pinky person but I thought these stamps from Gina K Designs - Hello Sunshine - would be perfect for some pink challenges.
For this first one I stamped the chair, brolly and sun with Memento Tuxedo Black and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I coloured with Copic RV06 and added some shine using Diamond Glaze. The waves at the bottom were dry embossed using the Simply Scored Embossing Plate from SU!  I then mounted on black and white card having first used Fiskars corner punch. Cute huh?
This card was entered in the SplitCoastStampers CAS 220 challenge - no sentiment.

I added the two sentiments Relax and Enjoy from Hello Sunshine for this next card.
Challenges entered:

Stamp TV Monday Challenge - Give me some pop!
Crafting for all Seasons #52 Think Pink
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes #20
Make it Monday 

Enjoy the rest of your day and thanks for coming by

 Kathy

If all else fails - eat chocolate

Pink

Stamped small flower from Secret Garden - SU! using Weathered Wood, Victorian Velvet and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks. This was then embossed with SU!s Honeycomb ef.

The grey and white spotted  DP is from Pink Pettycoat  from which the butterfly and banner were cut. The sentiment is from SU! Bloomin' Marvellous.

This is entered into the following Challenges:

SplitCoastStampers Colour Challenge -  CC425
Crafting for All Seasons - #52 Think Pink
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes  #20

 
Kathy

If all else fails - eat chocolate

White Challenge

For these challenges I chose to colour my Santa Rosa Border stamp on white card with Versamark and white EP.  I used Copic Pens to colour. The sentiment from GKD Hello Sunshine was stamped in Distress ink Peacock Feathers and Memento Tuxedo Black. Then I used a Fiskars border punch and corner punch on the white card and this then mounted on turquoise card. A bow made from baker's twine and diamond gems were the finishing touches.

This card was entered into the following Challenges:

Make it Monday

SCS CC426 

JUGS #188

Kathy

If all else fails - eat chocolate

Landscape

Today I tried another blending technique using Colorbox Stylus tool with white oval sponge tips, glossy paper, distress inks and following these great tutorials from Stampscapes 
The stylus tool is wonderfully ergonomic but I found the oval sponge tips don't last too long if you use too much pressure on the ink pads. ie the pads need to be nice and juicy! I used ScorePal to add interest to the top corners and along each side of the sentiment.
Anyway this is my fourth attempt and I feel quite pleased with the result.
I am entering this in the Colour Challenge on SCS  ,  For your Inspiration #45 , Make it Monday and Paper Crafting Journey

The inspiration being this photo - very moody!

Stamps: Cove, clouds, ripples and branches from Stampscape,  Heron - Follow Your Dreams and sentiment - Hello Sunshine from Gina K Designs,  Bullrushes - Meadow breeze -Inkylicious.

Kathy

If all else fails - eat chocolate

Blog Candy up for grabs!

 Pop across to Joanna Sheen's Blog  for a chance to win this fabulous stamp set - Vintage Floral- Thinking of You

 

Kathy

If all else fails - eat chocolate

Acetate and Tissue

I love this technique!! I followed the instructions given in the tutorial over at SCS.
It's messy so I did remember to wear some household gloves!
I wanted to try this technique and a solid image needs to be used.
Flowers from Hello Sunshine (Gina K Designs) stamped with StazOn Jet Black on piece of acetate sheet. Diamond Glaze and Rangers Reinkers used on the reverse side and blended; sprinkled with some diamond dust; tissue paper laid across the glue and gently tapped over to adhere. Mounted on deep blue card.(Spellbinders large ovals and scalloped ovals). Script dp was stamped with the same flower in Lulu Lavender and heat embossed (but can't be seen very well on the photo!). Mauve ribbon and pearls added.

 These next two were done the same way.

Kathy

If all else fails - eat chocolate

Spring At Last!

The sun is shining and I really think Spring has finally sprung!

It's a while since I have been able to indulge my hobby but yesterday I was able to find some me time :)
This card  is for a friend who has been there for me.
I am entering this card in the StampTV challenge this week ; the theme being threes. I used flowers and sentiment from Gina K Design sets Dogwood and Butterfly and Hello Sunshine. I fussy cut the flowers and added some buttons. The papers are from Pink Petticoat.

Short and sweet today; hope you are having a good day,

Kathy

If all else fails - eat chocolate

Name Day Card

This week it is one of my Granddaughter's Name Day so have decided to use my Copics for this one.  Copics are such a fun medium to work with - I love them!

I down loaded the image, Donna,  from Tiddly Inks - She is so cute! However I'm not keen on images without proper faces so I deleted the eyes on Photoshop and added a face myself with a Sakura Pigma Archival Ink.  The umbrella was paper pieced using a co-ordinating colour to the background paper - both from Pink Petticoat.  The flowers I fussy cut after stamping the flower from Bloomin' Marvellous - SU with Distress Inks. The bg paper was scored diagonally and edged with the border - Finishing Touches from SU.  Blue pearls, silver Stickles and white baker's twine give the finishing touches.

I have entered this card in this weeks Colour Challenge ( red, yellow and Blue ) at SCS,  at The Ribbon Carousel, at Joanna Sheen at A Little Bit Crafty and at Crafting for all Seasons

I hope you have enjoyed my fun card today and thanks for coming by.

Kathy

If all else fails - eat chocolate

Soft and creamy

This weeks challenge at JUGS was to use this photo for inspiration . I love these colours which remind me of soft creamy roses and summer - I wish!

We have snow AGAIN here this weekend. It's end of March for goodness sake!  I need to plant out my seeds LOL!

This was also entered into two challenges at Split Coast Stampers.

This week I downloaded some lovely soft prints from Liz Armstrong' s Pink Petticoat - the blog of Simply Creative - so decided to use them today. I don't often use paper on my cards but these are really soft and there are some gorgeous new colours. What I particularly like about these prints is that you can download the patterns with either a cream or a white background.

I stamped some cream card with Anita's Roses using Ranger's Distress Ink - Tea Dye and layered with Sweet Apricot solid shade. I used  Little Polka Dots as another layer over the Totally Tangerine base card. The sentiment was stamped on a banner. A ScorPal was used to add diagonal score lines to one corner and three gems to finish.

I hope you like this card; I certainly enjoyed making it today.

Have a great week!

Busy Day

Several cards to add today. This one I did a few weeks ago using this gorgeous flower from the Stampin'Up set called  Bloomin' with Kindness.

These I made today casing a card from StampTV by Gina K. I used stamps from various sets. I scored three lines on three sides and between the image and sentiment for four of the cards
and for the blue humming bird card I did a little paper piercing on three of the corners and rounded off the fourth. I'm just lovin' the ScorPal. This sort of detail can really finish off a card - same with the piercing - I must use these two types of embellishment more often. To me, they turn a ummmm? nice card into one with the WOW factor!
 I love these CAS cards and hope you do too!
I have entered the Blue Butterfly and Blue Hummingbird cards into the Madewell Challenge on Split  Coast Stampers this week.

Thanks for passing my way today.

Large Butterfly from Dogwood and Butterfly - Gina KDesigns
Small Butterflies from Purrr-fectly Delightful - Gina K Designs
Flora from Meadow Breeze - Inkylicious
Hummingbird from Bloomin' Marvelous - Stampin' Up 
Happy Birthday from Hello Sunshine, Thinking of you and Smiling, Our sincerest Condolences... all from Gina K Designs
Warmest Wishes from Bloomin' with Kindness - Stampin up
All Inks used - Rangers Distress Inks.

Frame Light to Dark

This is the card I entered for the Frame challenge on Less is More and for the Light to Dark Challenge on SCS.

I love the illusion the cut of the card stock creates.
The flower was stamped first on ivory card stock and then masked so the leaves could be stamped behind.  A sentiment was stamped directly onto the card.  A scored frame was drawn around the image. The kraft triangles were cut and adhered to the chocolate card stock and the image was popped up using dimensionals.  Added a bit of bling and mounted on ivory card base.

Kraft, ivory and chocolate card stock, stamps from Stampin' Up - Fabulous Florets and Blooming with Kindness, Ranger's Distress Ink - Walnut Stain,  ScorPal,  bling from stash. SU Tombo Liquid Glue and Diamond Glaze.

Hope you enjoy this card  - it was fun to make - have a lovely day!

Spring Bling Blues

I have combined several challenges this week into one card. The SCS colour challenge was to use pale blue, mid green and yellow; Just Us Girls to use a negative die; Country View Crafts to make a Spring card and Stamp TV - Spring and Bling.
For this card I used ivory card stock which I stamped with my main image then using Weathered Wood distress ink I made a background with the stamped off image. I used an embossing folder -In Stitches - to create  more dimension. The negative die technique enabled me to remove part of the card to the left of the image. I used an edgelit with blue card to make a border. The image is coloured with Copic Inks and the butterflies stamped with Broken China distress ink.
I coloured my image again on scratch card -  fussy cut and attached with glue dots.  Happy Birthday was stamped and embossed; blue and yellow pearls and a blue ribbon attached. The yellow, blue and ivory mats were attached to the card using dimensionals.

Spell Binders A 2 Template, Memento Tuxedo Black, Clear Embossing Powder

Craft Concepts E F  - In Stitches, Weathered Wood Distress Ink,  Copic Pens,

Big Shot Edgelits - Finishing Touches, Stamps: Dogwood and Butterfly, Purrr-fectly Delightful 

- both GKD, yellow,blue and ivory card stock, Anita's Pearls, pale blue grosgrain ribbon,

liquid glue, glue dots and dimensionals.

Have a great day and thank you for coming by.

JUGS and SCS Challenge

Still feeling quite poorly but managed to make this card today for the JUGS and SCS Challenges. I used this sketch  from JUGS and combined it with the Inspiration Challenge IC378 Decoylab for SCS. I  left the central image in place but turned the rest of the card through 90 degrees.

I used Memento Ink pads for the sponging technique, a Darice Reptile embossing folder for the kraft strip. The stamps are from GKD Wild About You by Theresa Momber.
For the "Beyond the Border" technique I cut out part of the tree before putting the image layer through my Big Shot with a Spellbinders Classic Squares Nestability.

Hopefully will be back with more cards after the weekend.
Enjoy your day -it only comes but once :)

Designs by Lucinda, SCS and JUGS

The story of Lucinda and how she rose from destitution is truly remarkable and that is subject of  the Inspirational Challenge on SCS.
I love the colours of these Art Deco Pins and used these for my card.
I stamped the flowers on water colour paper with Versamark, heat embossed with white ep then water coloured the flowers by soaking the  paper, dotting with distress inks and allowing the colours to run and merge. I  fussy cut the flowers and popped them up for dimension on the dp that I had made using the rubber band brayer technique. For this I heat embossed using silver embossing powder and then sponged with various blue and green memento inks. I layered on navy and white card.
I have also entered this in the JUGS challenge this week which uses this photo for our inspiration.

Thanks for looking - enjoy the rest of your weekend x

There's Always One -

One of the challenges this week at SCS is to make a funny card for a man.
I chose this card which I made a little while ago as I had never used it before to enter a challenge on SCS.
In a group there is always one awkward one right?! If there is a wrong way to do something then there's always one who will find it - I'm a bit like that. - LOL.

Products used:
Wild about You Stamps from GKD
Versafine Black Onyx Ink
Memento Inks
Daubers
Clear EP
Paper and Card from stash
Darice Reptile embossing folder

Hope you enjoyed my fun card. Mind how you go now!

My Valentine

I cased Catherine Pooler's Negative Space card

to make a Valentine for my husband this year.