Merry Christmas Reindeer

Hello again, just popping by to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas indeed. I made this card to give to my sister for Christmas. Like my last post, it's just stamping and no colouring, and I think for Christmas cards in future this might be the way to go as they take very little time indeed.

I used a free gift from a recent issue of Papercraft Essentials as well as a new colour of Versa Magic Chalk ink I purchased on a trip to Samuel Taylors. I do love this ink as well as the colours - they stamp very well, you just have to leave it to dry for a while to avoid smudging it.

  I started with a stitched panel cut using my largest SSS rectangle. I then stamped the reindeer image in Turquoise Gem. I stamped the bow in Red Magic on a piece of spare card stock and fussy cut it and glued it to the reindeer. I stamped the sentiment (CB Sweet Little Sentiments) in red again underneath and adhered the panel to a turquoise A2 card base.

  I felt it was lacking bling, so I used my Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen on the antlers.

[Supplies: Papercraft Essentials issue 125; Versa Magic Chalk Inks - Turquoise Gem and Red Magic; Simon Says Stamp Shapes with Stitches - Rectangles; Neenah Classic Crest 110lb; Turquoise card stock; Clearly Besotted Sweet Little Sentiments;Spectrum Noir Sparkle Clear]

That's all folks, I'm off to play with my new crafty toys or veg in front of the telly with more chocolates than are good for me, whilst the kiddies cause chaos all over the house with new things. 

Have a good one - eat, drink and be merry!

It's a boy!

Hello, crafty friends. I don't know about you, but I can't believe it's July already. June was quite a crafty month with the Daily Marker 30 Day 2. I'm sad it's over, because I had so much fun learning new things, but all good things must come to an end, and it's time I started turning all that colouring into cards! 

Over on Instagram (it's lovely, really lovely, so much inspiration and friendly crafters!) I shared some colouring linked to a baby a friend was expecting. I hedged my bets and did two lots, one in pink and one in blue. I'm not usually quite so generic, but sometimes inspiration is lacking! Anyway, it turned out to be a boy, by the name of George, so blue it is!

I stuck with simple and decided to make a shaker too - any chance to get those Lucy Abram's shaker mixes out!

Supplies: White Card Blank (14.75x14.75cm); ME Up And Away Stamps and Dies; Papermania 6x6 Papers Capsule Collection; Memento Tuxedo Black; VersaMagic Dew Drop Night Sky; Derwent Artists Pencils; Caran D'Ache Metallic Pencils; LF Large Stitched Square Lawn Cuts; Acetate; Double-sided Tape; Red tape; Adhesive backed Fun Foam; CB Sweet Little Sentiments; Lucy's Little Things Shaker Sequin selection Glacier; Joe and Flo Baker's Twine; Sellotape Double Sided Sticky Foam Pads; Ranger Multi Medium Matte; Bazzill Cardshoppe - blue; VersaMagic Dew Drop Aspen Mist

I started by die cutting a square of blue Bazzill Cardshoppe using two of the LF large stitched square lawn cuts to make a frame. I then attached a piece of acetate to the back of the square aperture to start the shaker section. I then hand cut a piece of adhesive backed fun foam to match the size of the frame, and stuck it down on the back of my blue card. Face down on my craft mat I then filled the shaker section with lots of Lucy's lovely sequins and things. 

I then attached some very sticky red tape to the back of the fun foam, positioned it face down on my craft mat and attached the card base on the top. I'm getting better at this the more I do and this one is not too squint!

I then attached some baker's twine to the back of the balloons and then to the monkey's hand. Then, with double sided sticky foam pads, attached them to the card front as shown.

The sentiment is stamped in Aspen Mist and attached with sticky foam pads. The additional sequins started by covering a slight smudge, but I added a few more so it wasn't quite so obvious! They are stuck on with the Multe Medium Matte.

Hope you survived the mid week heat wave - that'll be summer over now in the UK, we've already had torrential rain today!

Do enjoy your weekend, whatever the weather. Thanks, as always, for reading :)

Ranger Dye Ink

Hello there. I posted a picture of two new Ranger Dye Ink pads on Instagram and was asked for my thoughts about them, so I thought I'd do a little blog post.

One thing I have found difficult as a new stamper/card maker is deciding on which inks to buy. There are several different brands and types that look good from blog posts, but I haven't been able to decide, partly due to cost. 

I have been using two black dye inks (Memento Tuxedo Black and Ranger Archival Jet Black), and several VersaMagic Dew Drop chalk inks for a while. The latter I really like, but I wanted to try more colours with dye inks, and I went with Memento dew drops as they are a manageable price for me at the moment. I wasn't terribly keen on the results and felt it may be down to my lack of experience as a stamper.

I had seen Jennifer McGuire's video on inks for beginner stampers, and I liked the look of the Ranger Dye inks. On an unexpected trip to my local craft shop on Sunday afternoon I noticed they had them in and so I bought two as a trial.

I haven't used them on a card yet, but I did do a bit of comparison stamping with my Mementos and you can really tell the difference. The stamps are Clearly Besotted Mrs & Mrs and Bookworm sets. My apologies for the picture quality, I still need to get a decent camera sorted.

The images stamped with the Ranger Dye are clear and crisp, with minimal blotchiness and missing spots, compared to the Mementos. The colours too are sharp, bright and vibrant, which is what I like about them. They also feel much smoother on the card and they definitely make it very easy to get very good quality results as a beginner. The other interesting thing is they smell much nicer than the Mementos. I have no idea why, but for me that makes a difference too!

I shall keep the Mementos and see if I continue to use them as I like to have a variety of colours, but the Ranger Dye Inks have really impressed a novice and I shall be investing over the next few months in more colours from the range.

Thanks for reading! Please do leave me a comment if you have any other ink suggestions :)

With sympathy

I was really quite saddened to hear of the sudden death of Jonathan Crombie, who played Gilbert Blythe in the Anne of Green Gables mini series I loved. It was a big part of my early teens and me and my sisters watched it whenever we could. That and a difficult day on Friday, has left me in a little bit of a somber mood, so I made a very simple sympathy card.

I'd also like to enter it into challenge #119 over at CAS(E) This Sketch. The cards up there are so good, but hey ho, I like to give things a go!

I started with a white card blank and simply stamped the rose in Memento Lady Bug, the little leaves under the rose in Versa Magic Hint of Pesto and the stem in Memento Cottage Ivy. The stamp is the free set from Simply Cards and Papercraft issue 133. Honestly, I've used this so often, I wonder why I buy stamps at all? I then coloured them in with my Derwent Artists pencils. I never realised how much I enjoy colouring. It is so therapeutic.

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted Sweet little sentiments set stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black onto some red paper and cut out with my Clearly Besotted Long Flag die.

Thanks for reading. I hope your day has been good. The sunshine came along here this afternoon so we had a play in the garden.

I like big books...

I bought a few nice things in the March release from Clearly Besotted Stamps. I do so love their style! The Bookworm Additions I had to have because I'm a librarian by profession and have lots of librarian and also book loving friends who will appreciate this... if only for the pun on the flag!

I have some Kraft card I bought a few weeks ago as I kept seeing it mentioned in various magazines and blogs. I'm not entirely sure I like it, but I'm willing to give it a go. I also hadn't used any lovely Bazzill for a while, so I grabbed some of my browns as I thought it would go with the Kraft. Who knew I'd like brown so much?

I started by stamping one of the books from the Bookworms set using my old favourite, Memento Tuxedo Black and colouring it in with my Derwent pencils with a bit of metallic from my new Caran D'Ache set. I stamped the two bookworms (one from the main set, the other from additions), plus the flag with my Versa Magic Dew Drops - Hint of Pesto, Aloe Vera, Perfect Plumeria - and then die cut them out.

I took some Bazzill card stock and cut to size to layer on the Kraft. I then die cut a circle using my Nestabilities Circles, from the top piece. It is just wide enough to show the bookcase behind it. I glued the bookcase to the back card, then stuck the bookworms to the back of the top piece of card, so they'd be in front of the books (they are a bit cheeky those bookworms!). I then attached the top piece with foam tape to add a bit of dimension. The banner I also adhered with foam pads.

It makes me laugh and I hope it does you too! Thanks for reading :)

Monkey baby

A friend had baby no. 2 last week. Another little boy. Time for a card! I've been thinking about it for the past week and decided I'd incorporate it into the Tic Tac Toe challenge from Make The Day Special. I've chosen the diagonal Metal/Metallics-Circles-Stripes. It actually turned out pretty much how I envisaged it which is a first!

I started by stamping the balloons from the Up and Away Mama Elephant set onto a piece of white card using Memento Tuxedo Black. I coloured the balloons in with my new metallic pencils from Caran D'Ache. I love them and have to use them again soon! I cut them out (I need to get the dies to go with this set) and attached them with foam pads to the stamp on the card blank. I stamped the monkey onto the card blank holding the balloon strings and coloured him in with my Derwent Artists Pencils.

Now, the tricky bit was the tail and the little blue bundle. I used a cut out balloon to create a stencil of the bundle and cut it out of white paper then inked it up with in Aspen Mist. I got some blue and white twine and tied it round the neck of the bundle. I then stamped the monkey's tail onto some white card, coloured it in and then cut it out - that was hard! I then threaded the twine through the tail and stuck it onto the monkey and a foam pad under the bundle. Think it works well!

The jungle is the free Clearly Besotted fuschia stamp from Simply Cards and Papercraft issue 133 and stamped multiple times in Hint of Pesto. The sentiment is also from Clearly Besotted (yes I am!) and their Sweet Little Sentiments set.

I added the stripes from my Pebbles basics set down the side because I needed stripes for the challenge.

Thanks so much for reading. Please feel free to leave me a comment. I love hearing from you. I hope you've had a great Easter weekend. 

Another engagement!

This time my older sister, which is really lovely, although I rather hope she's not reading this because I haven't sent it yet! If she is - it'll be with you next week :)

As usual it's a white card blank. I'm favouring tent fold at the moment. I cut a piece of my new Papermania 6x6 smooth coloured card slightly smaller than the card base. I chose purple because of the fuschias. The stamps are from the free Clearly Besotted set from Simply Cards and Papercraft issue 133, and the inspiration for the card came from there as well as from Vixx Handmade Cards. 

The leaves are stamped in Versa Magic DewDrop Hint of Pesto and then fussy cut. The buds and flowers stamped in Jet Black Ranger Archival Ink onto water colour paper. I then took the opportunity to use my new Caran D'Ache Prismallo Aquarelles that I bought on holiday. I like them, and I'll practice a bit more with them. After the vibrancy of the Inktense pencils, these were different to work with. I fussy cut the fuschias out too and attached them all with foam pads to the card front.

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted's Mr & Mrs set. I rounded the corners of the card top with the reverse punch on my WRMK Envelope Punch Board and attached it with foam tape.

Thanks for reading and I'm hoping my sister likes it!

Sweet...

It's not usual I get crafting done during the day except when baby naps AND 4 year old is at nursery, but I managed it today!

We've had a few happy family events lately, one of which is a new baby for a cousin across the Atlantic. I used the opportunity to make a card and had a play with those free Clearly Besotted stamps I got from Simply Cards and Papercraft 133 and did some masking for the first time.

It's not what I'd call a typical baby card, so on the inside I stamped new baby from the Sweet Little Sentiments set.

I used a card blank and covered it with some pink spotty (yes it was a girl!) backing card from my Pebbles basics. I stamped the jar in Memento Tuxedo Black and then did a few masks of the sweet and stamped away with a selection of VersaMagic DewDrops in pastel shades. I made a mask for the 'Hope your day is as Sweet as you are' sentiment and blocked out everything but the 'Sweet'. The card topper is mounted using foam tape.

Husband was rather impressed and I have to say I thought it wasn't bad for a first attempt at some masking.

Thanks for reading. Hope your weekend has been crafty too!

Ruby Anniversary

Back from Switzerland in one piece and with a commission! My friend really likes my cards, so she asked me if I could do one for her Mum and Dad's ruby wedding anniversary. After many false starts - I just couldn't get the stamping right - this is what I came up with:

I bought some nice card today in Hobbycraft. It's Papermania Capsule 6x6 smooth cardstock and I love all the different colours. I used a supposedly 6x6 card blank (it is in actual fact 14.75x14.75cm), so I'm a bit annoyed I had to trim one of the red cards to cover the card front. The decoration was done on a 14x14cm piece of white card. The butterflies are from Tattered Lace Vine Die I got as a Christmas present die cut from another piece of red card. The decoration is from the Clearly Besotted Mr & Mrs set using Versa Magic Dew Drop Red Magic with the statement in Memento Tuxedo Black. I added a strip of red velvet ribbon I had in my stash from Christmas card making.

It's been so nice to have been asked. Who knows, there may be more!

Thanks for reading :)