Winter Wishes

Yay, it's blog hop day!

Hello, here for the Lawn Fawn blog hop? (you should have come from Bev's Happy Dance.  If you're a bit lost, or want to know what on earth I'm talking about you can return to Lawnscaping here to find out all the details and the prizes on offer)

Hope you've got a comfy seat and a cup of something warm, if you've made it this far you're doing well, you're half way through!  I'll try and keep my post short ....

I used Lawn Fawn's Frosties stamp set

to make the cascading snowflakes down the card background, these were heat embossed in white, and then sponged over with light blue, pink and violet inks.

I typed my sentiment on the computer then used Photoshop to bend and angle the text which I put inside a white frame.  Next I added a colour gradient background in similar colours to the inks I'd used.  Then, the fun part - I printed onto white card and fussy cut away all of the background leaving just the text and frame which I stuck over the snowflake background.  I was a bit worried that I'd lost the dots over the letter i's so added some sequins to replace them, then, 'cos I like sequins stuck on a few more!  And ta daaaah, one winter card in softly muted wintery colours, hope you like it!

That's it, I'm done, don't forget to leave me a comment to say you've stopped by, and your next stop on the hop is Tamara.  Thanks for visiting!

Partially Pieced

Today's challenge at 365 Cards is to use paper piecing for part of a stamped image.
I'd been itching to use this guitar stamp since I won it on ebay recently.  I sponged the background in a few shades of blue and grey and stamped the music notes, fussy cut the guitar and swirls on white paper, then fussy cut the stamped guitar on polka dot paper.  Added the sequins and sentiment, then spent a little while trying to photograph it and get my sequins to shine!

Am also entering this into Papertakes Anything Goes challenge.

Simply gifted

Hello, wanna come and play at 365 Cards today?  The challenge is to make a card and include a present or gift on it.
I was initially a bit stuck for ideas, but when I got started I thought of more and more things to add.
So, I started with a square of patterned paper, then overlaid a smaller square of white card with a rectangle cut from the middle to make my gift.  Next I added my ribbon bow thing (I'm sure it's got a proper name but I can't think of it right now ...) I started with a glue dot on a piece of its backing paper and folded and glued down loops of the ribbon, then finished it with a pink gem.  After adding the length of ribbon around my gift, and the (8) sequins, I figured it needed a gift tag too and was delighted to find my teeny tiny tag punch, and even more delighted to find a stamp set with 'for you' small enough to fit on it!
I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment, then added a shadow to it by stamping again without re-inking just next to it.

I'm also entering this into
CAS-ual Fridays - Create with 8
CASology - Shop
Inkspirational - Anything Goes

Polka Dot background card

I downloaded the free digi stamps from Paper Smooches recently (they're available here) and have been rather keen to use them, so thought I'd enter their colour challenge this week

I've combined this with Lawnscaping's polka dot challenge too













I printed the owl and squirrel along with the sentiment (the font is a free download from here), then painted and fussy cut the critters out.  I hand drew (well, with a circle template) the polka dot background for the greeting before applying some watercolour.  I chopped the squirrel up a bit (no animals were harmed in the making of this card, honest) before sticking him and the owl on.

CAS pink flowers

This week at 365 Cards we've been setting our challenges on beautiful backgrounds, and today I get to join in with a white background card.

I took my inspiration from the Runway Inspired Challenge #48

I drew out an elipse shape and stamped my sentiment inside, then stamped (with a bit of careful masking) eight flowers around the edge.  All the stamping was done in grey then I went over some of it with a black pen.  The flowers were watercoloured with a light pink wash and a few pearls and gems added to finish it off.

Dare I say it, but for a CAS card I'm actually quite pleased with it  :-)

I'm also entering this into CAS-ual Fridays' Create with 8 challenge

Stamp and Stitch Chalkboard Cake Card

Today over at 365 Cards the challenge is to use two techniques - stamping and stitching

I used the chalkboard technique for the focus of the card and framed it by stamping some planks on brown packaging paper which I've sponged over with white and grey inks.  These were fussy cut out and then cut to length to make a rectangular frame.
This was mounted onto some plain red paper and then onto the patterned background paper.  I've done some faux cross-stitching to join the two red layers.
I stamped, water-coloured and fussy cut the leaves and cup cakes.
All finished off with a big spotty ribbon and a touch of gold glitter.

I'm entering this into The Shabby Tea Rooms Challenge #192 Holiday Baking

Pretty Printing Anniversary Card

Hello, welcome back and thank you to everyone who left me such lovely comments last week.

Today's challenge at 365 Cards is Pretty Printing - hand write your own sentiment, and make sure it's at least three words long.

I love sets of alphabet stamps so that I can print my own personal message on a card but handwriting a sentiment is a bit scary.  Still, in for a penny!

Last year I went to a big craft show and bought a set of foils and a glue pen.  Well, actually, I bought the big pack because the lady demonstrating it made it look so easy and I thought it would look really great on a card.  This is the second time I've used it and I haven't quite got the knack yet, hence it's all a bit bumpy!  And I have a bit of a confession.  I was concentrating so hard on making the letters look pretty that I made a bit of a spelling mistake.  Doh.  You're looking at version 2!

I found some pale blue background paper and wrote my sentiment with the glue pen.  Then waited a g e s for it to dry before rubbing over a dark brown glossy foil.  Meanwhile I die cut my flowers out of the Colour Q pallette and stamped my leaves before fussy cutting them.  I love the Runway picture with the flowers over the model's shoulders and the stripes at the bottom so thought I would add a few stripes of my own to the card.  Finished it off with the buttons, twine and glitter brads.

I'm entering this card into
Lawnscaping Challenge #69 Let a sentiment stand out
Runway Inspired Challenge #47 Alberta Ferretti

Colour Q #214

and
The Daring Cardmakers - All the other reasons