Monday and here comes another week ....

Morning readers,

Hope you all had a nice weekend (and Fathers Day) despite the weather's best attempts to ruin your plans! We had a lovely meal out, with my brother and sister-in-law .... sadly marred by poor service but I'm calling the evening a great success otherwise!

Had to make a card to help some friends celebrate their Golden Wedding Anniversary ... bit of a milestone. They were having a party on Saturday but we had already booked an evening with family so couldn't make it - still, hoping the party went really well. My card? Well, my friend loves pink and there HAD to be gold so ..... I put away my little chevron stamp (seen on pretty much ALL of last week's makes!) and reached for my foil .....

My card

And a closer view of the foiling

And a view of the inked, stamped and gluesticked panel

 

The front, back and inside of my card along with the front and back of my envelope

Materials used:

• White A2/C6, 250gsm, card and matching sized envelope
• Two pieces of white card cut to fit
• One piece of gold pearlescent card, cut to mat
• Snippets of card in white and deep brown, for my image sentiment
• On the smaller piece of white card I applied Distress Ink in picked raspberry using a mini blending tool, adding just a little wilted violet around the outer edges
• Using a Studio Light image (from grunge collection #5) stamped using Memento rosebud ink, I stamped all over the panel
• Carabelle heart stencil (flight of hearts MA60051) placed over the inked panel and a glue stick liberally applied and burnished through the stencil - using the trusty fingers! After removing the stencil I applied sheet gold foil, burnishing firmly with the same (now clean) trusty finger!, before leaving for a few hours to "cure"
• Avery Elle sentiment (ST-18-07) stamped on to a snippet of white card using Versafine Clair nocturne ink before cutting in to a banner shape and mounting on to the deep brown matting layer

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. Aloha Friday - challenge No. 145 - CONGRATULATIONS
2. Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday challenge - WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
3. Aud Sentiments - challenge No. 229 - ANYTHING GOES + A SENTIMENT
4. Penny's Paper Crafty - challenge No. 434 - ANYTHING GOES
5. Stamplorations - June challenge - MIXED MEDIA - MUST use a stencil ... used inks, dies, stencils/foiling and stamping

Saturday - weekend Woo Hoo!

Morning readers,

Oh My Gosh!! What a soggy old week? You had rain pretty much all day every day? We have - think I might be ordering a snorkel and flippers from Amazon, at this rate. I feel so sorry for those in low lying areas which might be flooding this week - take care peeps.

Me? Well, I've been using the time to hit the ToC (that's Table of Craftiness!) ......

My Card

 

The front, back and inside of my card along with the front and back of my envelope

Materials used:

• White A2/C6, 250 gsm, card and matching sized envelope
• Two pieces of white card cut to fit
• One piece of textured light blue card, cut to mat
• Creative Expressions "dream" image (from CEC851 - Inspiring Edges) stamped using Versafine Clair purple delight ink
• MFT sentiment (from CS-274-"Anything but basic birthday") and splatter (from DC-52-"Abstract Art") along with chevron (from Creative Expressions set used above) stamped using the central colour from the Kaleidacolour palette "Denim" but stamped off once as the denim colour was too dark for a "first impression" image.

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. Simply Less Is More - challenge No. 397 - COLOUR CHALLENGE .. see below - this is my 2nd entry, trying to make up for missing the last challenge!
2. Seize The Birthday - challenge No. 167 - ANYTHING (Birthday) GOES
3. CardzTV - June 7th challenge - ANYTHING GOES
4. Creative Fingers - challenge No. 166 - ANYTHING GOES
5. Cute Card Thursday - challenge No. 586 - ANYTHING GOES

  

Friday and it's ALMOST the weekend

Morning readers,

I'm busy making a concerted effort to use up some of the dozens (more like hundreds!) of snippets I've accumulated over time - we crafters do do hate waste! Almost as much as we hate copyright theft - I was so disappointed to go in to a trusted retail outlet and buy the stamp set used below - only to discover it to be a cheap knock off of "Beautiful You" - S.U.'s stamp set - I haven't been back to that store since, nor do I have plans to since I'm not the only one to fall foul of their less than ethical business model.

My Artist Trading Card

Materials used:

• ATC blank
• Snippets of card in black, white, bronze and red DCWV (textured and glittered - but it's so small I don't remember which stack it's from)
• WRMK nesting rectangle dies to cut the nesting layers
• Memento ladybug ink brushed over the white panel and then again through a That Special Touch stencil (Distressed Dots)
• S.U. knock off, stamped using Memento tuxedo black ink and die cut before colouring with alcohol inks

Woo Hoo, I'm calling this a result - FOUR snippets in one go!

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. Pammie's Inky Pinkies - challenge No. 1923 - ANYTHING GOES
2. Crafting From The Heart - challenge No. 245 - ANYTHING GOES
3. Crafty Creations - challenge No. 392 - ANYTHING GOES
4. Crafty Addicts Challenge - challenge No. 61 (June) - ANYTHING GOES
5. Happy Little Stampers - June challenge - ANYTHING GOES WITH DIES (4 nesting dies used + The lady with umbrella die cut)

And now for a CAS card

My card

 

The front, back and inside of my card along with the front and back of my envelope

Materials used:

• White A2/C6, 250gsm, card and matching sized envelope
• Two pieces of white card cut to fit
• One 8" x 8" piece of DCWV textured hot pink card, the snippet left was used for my image panel
• Snippet of white card, for my image and sentiment
• Using an Aldi stencil brush I applied Memento tangelo ink to my white snippet, overlaying my Distressed Dots stencil (That Special Touch) and applying a second application of ink
• Hero Arts scribbled circle (from AC026 - "Brush Strokes") stamped using the tangelo ink
• Kaisercraft leaves (from Botanica) image stamped using Memento rosebud ink
• Chapel Road sentiment (from Vertical Greetings) stamped using Versafine Clair nocturne ink
• Diamond stickles used to highlight the stems

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. EllieBelles - June challenge - SUMMER SCENES/TREATS or COLOURS - I went with colours
2. Water Cooler Wednesday - challenge No. 225 - ALL ABOUT OCCASIONS
3. Through The Craft Room Door - June 11th challenge - ANYTHING GOES
4. Shopping Our Stash - challenge No. 397 - STENCIL ME THIS
5. Dream Valley Challenges - challenge No. 204 - SUMMER COLOURS

Woo Hoo, one of my Artist Trading Cards was picked as a May favourite over at Happy Little Stampers, my thanks to Kylie and her fab Design Team

  

It's the 50th wedding anniversary of friends today so please join me in wishing Wynneth and Mr Tom a very

Wonderful Wednesday

Morning readers,

Not sure what reminded me this week but I've been consciously making an effort to use up some of those pesky snippets - they soon build up and get out of hand otherwise and that's where my box of snippets was at!

To that end ...... I found myself with some black, silver and striped snippets and just look what they turned in to ....... I decided to use the "Black Ice" technique since it's been a while .. And, whilst there's no sentiment on the front of the card (no room) it's definitely a birthday card with snarky humour since everywhere else says "you're not getting old, You're getting more awesome"!

My card

 

The front, back and inside of my card along with the front and back of my envelope

The snippets which formed my card

And the texture of the "Black Ice" technique

Materials used:

• White A2/C6, 250gsm, card and matching sized envelope
• Two pieces of white card cut to fit
• One piece of black card, cut to mat
• Snippets of card in black, black/grey/white striped and silver mirri 
• Using Ranger Archival I gently  "swiped" top to bottom and then again bottom to top, to grunge up the surface of the silver mirri card, I then used the same ink to stamp the Tim Holtz Artistry "vintage car" image - and applied heat to thoroughly dry the ink
• Once I was happy the ink was smudge proof I lightly "swiped" Versamark embossing ink top to bottom and bottom to top, liberally applied clear embossing powder (tapping off the excess) and heat set - it gives a lovely textured finish
• For the inside, reverse and envelope I added the car image and sentiment (MFT CS-274 "Anything but basic Birthday") stamped using Versafine Clair nocturne ink - to make it a masculine birthday card

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. Crafty Friends Challenge - challenge No. 111 - MEN/BOYS
2. CraftyCatz - challenge No. 465 - ANYTHING GOES + (optional twist) BIRTHDAY
3. Aloha Friday - challenge No. 144 - CARDS FOR GUYS
4. Through The Purple Haze - challenge No. 157 - THE GUYS HAVE IT
5. Crafty Girls Corner - challenge No. 193 - YOU'RE THE MAN

I also discovered I was a winner over at Dream Valley Challenges for my entry to challenge #203 - see my card below, thanks so much peeps. I appear to be in my "masculine make" phase right now!

  

Ok .. so, some of you may be unfamiliar with the Black Ice technique I used today ... here's a YouTube video on the topic

Monday again!

Morning readers,

I trust you all had a good weekend, despite storm Miguel's best efforts with the weather, we got (mostly) gusty winds. Never mind though, it gave me the chance to hit the ToC (that's Table of Craftiness) ... I started working on a swap project I have coming up imminently. That project (IMHO) worked out pretty well and I really liked the combination of stamps and colours and wondered how it would work on a card ... I had to make a couple of minor adjustments as the scale of some of the stamps used on the swap project wouldn't have worked on the card below but ... I think this turned out pretty well too - what do you think?

My card

 

The front, back and inside of my card along with the front and back of my envelope

Materials used:

• White A2/C6, 250gsm, card and matching sized envelope
• Two pieces of white card cut to fit
• One piece of textured turquoise card, cut to mat
• Stamp sets used: Hero Arts AC026 "Brush Strokes", PRS "DIY Stamp Set", Creative Expressions CEC851 "Inspiring Edges" and MFT sentiment CS-274 "Anything but basic Birthday"
• Inks used: Memento dandelion, tangelo, rosebud, Bahama blue and Versafine Clair nocturne

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. CraftyCatz - challenge No. 465 - ANYTHING GOES + (used) OPTIONAL TWIST OF BIRTHDAY
2. Seize The Birthday - challenge No. 167 - ANYTHING (Birthday) GOES
3. Addicted To Stamps - challenge No. 344 - CAS (Clean And Simple)
4. Water Cooler Wednesday - challenge No. 224 - FEMININE ANYTHING GOES

  

Been a while since I've posted two projects in one post, and, whilst I had some of the images on blocks ..... I wondered what else I could do with them.... so, I grabbed some snippets -

And started work .... ATC's lend themselves to using up snippets, frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't why they became so darned popular!!!!

My Artist Trading Card

And a closer view of the details

Materials used:

• ATC blank
• Snippets of card in black, white, Costco double sided and masculine striped
• Using nesting circle dies I cut circles from the Costco and white card
• Hero Arts circle (from AC026 "Brushstrokes") stamped using Memento London fog ink
• Carabelle image (from SA60173), Stamplorations sentiment (from Noteworthy) and chevron image (from Creative Expressions "Inspiring Edges" - CEC851) stamped using Versafine Clair nocturne ink

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. Pixie's Crafty Workshop - challenge No. 354 - USE SNIPPETS
2. Crafty Friends - challenge No. 111 - MEN/BOYS
3. Krafty Chicks - challenge No. 458 - DIE CUTS
4. Through The Purple Haze - challenge No. 157 - THE GUYS HAVE IT
5. Happy Little Stampers - June challenge - ANYTHING GOES WITH DIES