Meslyn Blog Candy and Challenge reminder

Hi everyone, just a quick reminder to hop by the Making it with Meslyn Challenge Blog where there is blog candy on offer, and also for our April challenge - thats TWO chances of wining some lovely craft goodies!

LOTV Sunflower bear

oh the weather was is glorious again today, you can just imagine that its summer already, and so good to feel the sun on your face!

So to celebrate here's a card with warm yellows and browns and with my new set of Nesties (thanks Marina for putting them under my nose I have used them lots of times already!)

This cute little stamp is from Lili of the Valley and the sentiment is from a stampin up set called Curvy Verses.
The image was coloured with twinkling H2O's and I combined oval and label nestabilities for the sentiment bit - I like the look of that as its a bit different.

Have a Happy Easter everyone and the enjoy the sunshine!

Forever Friends Oranges and browns

juts one little card to share today with one of my favourite characters, and this little bear is wonderful to use to experiment and practice shading techniques with too!

I coloured him with twinkling H2O's, and the papers were from a mixed dDoccrafts CD free with the latest paper craft inspirations CD - Issue 85.. it has a mixture of FF, daisy and dandelion and country companions and other recent characters on it and its called a Favourites edition.

the cream, orange and brown colour combo came out well as its nice and warm and added little gold gems to his party hat too to make it twinkle a bit more!

this one is a simple layout and its nice just to take a step back from lots of embellishing and multiple layers and do a quick and easy card once in a while - good for building up a birthday box

Some more Penny Black and Elizabeth Bell..

Have three cards to share today, and the first is one I made from a stamp from Funky Kits from the SugarNellie Range 2008 and its called Flowers, designed by Elizabeth Bell.

Yes its a girly card but not in very girly colours, I wanted to do something different!

Martha Stewart Punch was used on this one and a cuttlebug embossing folder too.

The edges have been inked with colorbox chalk ink pad and the image coloured with twinkling H2O's again.

the next card is made with a Penny Black Stamp, and can honestly say I LOVE this stamp and have used it several times, and its one of the very first stamps I ever bought!

this card is suitable for a man or the woman and the paw print card stock I have had for ages in the stash cupboard and is from PayperBox if I remember .. roll on when they bring out some more!! 

You might not be able to see but the picture has white paw prints and they aren't embossed onto the card, they are punched into the black card, but by adding a white insert, which is great for writing messages on (unless you use a silver or white pen to write with!!) you also get the white insert shine through to highlight the punched bits..

and the last one is another Penny Black bunny one in very soft shades and I used the partial cuttlebug embossing on this one too, which technique is fabulous for getting more out of your embossing folders.

The bunny is coloured with twinkling H2O's and I added stickles to his ears and tail.

The sentiment is from Lili of the Valley.

thanks for looking and I will be back with some more soon!

more yellow and green but with a cat this time!

 As promised this week I am showing you a Penny Black card. Its no secret that I love cats and I love these stamps sooo much!

In keeping with spring colours, theres lots of yellow and green too and I used a punch around the page border and corner Martha Stewart punch set.

The colouring is done with twinkling H2O's and because the colours are light it doesnt show up in the photo very well, but in reality they are nice and glittery!

thanks for looking

anyone for ice cream?

oops and the picture looks a bit lopsided... 

so onto toady's card then, and it was one which was meant to be for a sketch challenge but too late so never mind as I still liked the colours and the layout on this one.

There was lots of inking but with chalk inks and embossing as well. the papers are from papermania from last year (I think its called Sweet Nothings, but don't quote me on that as I lost the packet it came in) and I used a Tina Wenke Stamp and added loads of stickles after I coloured the image with twinkling H2O's

 

.. also wanted to try something different with adding the sentiment and instead of place it on top of the card or on a tag or label shape, I layered the paper over the sentiment so it shows through an aperture and is a little different.. might do that again sometime soon.

hope you liked this one and its the cutest little stamp too!

talk about getting more from nestability dies..

a handy little tip I am sure some of you may already know about, but for those who don't..

Some of the nestability dies have designs which aren't too intricate to trace around, like the labels one I used in this card.

So, by tracing either inside or outside the die with a sharp pencil to get a thin cutting line and cut out the shape, you can come up with even more nested shapes / graduated (is that the right word?!) shapes from your existing dies - brilliant!

The stamp I used in this card is one of Tina Wenke's newest ones and the colour used to colour her dress with Twinkling H2O's is called northern lights - isn't it just so luminous!?

I also used the following materials:

• Personal Impressions Happy Birthday stamp
• Martha Stewart Leaf Punch
• Craft Creations light turquoise gingham papers
• EK success flower punch
• card candy
• Cuttlebug embossing folder on the punched flowers which matches the gingham paper and comes from a set called simply charmed.

that's all for today, will be back with more soon.

Making it with Meslyn April DT Challenge

Well this last month has come around quickly, and Easter is even closer, where did the days go???

April fool's day was here today and along with it April showers - its been howling gales and driving rain to mark the start of the month, lets just hope it goes away soon and we have some sun again.

Onto this month's Making it with Meslyn Challenge, which is to make a card along the theme of Little April Showers - a water theme + blue.

I havent done any get well cards or something along those lines for while, and have wanted to use this Stampavie / Rachelle Anne Miller Stamp for ages - its called Giving Shelter and is soo dainty and sweet awhhhhh.Plus I love blue and white so much, I decided to make a get well card with a mixture of complimentary blue and orange colours and some other warm ones:

the punching is done with an EK Success Swiss Cheese deep edger punch.

here is a good photo of the cuttlebug partial embossing, inking and the nestability fany tags and flourish accent dies which I used together to make the sentiment tag (words computer generated).
the colouring was done with twinkling H2O's..

 

Thanks for looking and hope you can pop over and take part in this month's challenge!

Scrapbooking and Cardmaking and meeting new friends

I have three cards to share with you today, which we made during a crop Jean and I held.  We had a fabulous day and can honestly say we all have new friends made too!

~thanks ladies for making it really special and Jean for a stunning scrapbook layout which you can see on the Crafty Gal's Blog~

the first card to share is a Magnolia Tilda Wedding card, made with:

• Magnolia wedding stamp
• the sentiment was from a Whiff of Joy mini set of sentiments 

 

• the bridge was made using a Quickutz cookie cutter die called Spooky Scroll
• the leaves from a Quickutz die called Vine

• and the flowers from the 2x2 cuttlebug set called Asterisks

The corner punch is from EK success and the first time I have used it - fabulous punch as the hearts pop up and the silver layer underneath shines through really well.

• the label is from a spellbinders set of tags
• the card is
• coloured with twinkling H2O's

This next card card is suitable for Easter and Spring and great to send to family or friends.



I was delighted when I heard that Donna from Bearly Mine (gorgeous papers) and Tracey from Fred She Said (Digi Images with lots of different flowers and other themes too) collaborated in making matching decoupage / digi images and papers!
note: I have permission from Donna and Tracey to use a limited number of their digi prints in the workshop.
You can purchase the Daffodil set here, and the Bearly Mine papers here.
The card we made had lots of layering (we decoupaged the flower) and a bit of distressing round the edges, in spring like fresh yellows and greens - see a closeup of the papers and nestabilit layering below.

 

The sentiment is one I have loved for a long time (its only part of the poem by William Wordsworth, so google it if you want to read the rest, as it just says spring all over to me)


The last one to share to day is boxed shoe card we made from Coppernob's Toe Tapper Elegant Slipper templates (well I changed them a bit to round the toe on the sole of the shoe shape)
- the possibilities are endless with these templates.



 ...we made the slipper and added a strap; used gingham papers and made our own scrunched flower (closeup below) and for the centres, used home made dew drops made with a glue gun and these were coloured with alcohol inks



you can also see in the pictures if you look carefully, what we did with partial cuttlebug embossing and making the most of nestability shapes in creating extra layers using the outside shape of the die..

• the flowers were made with EK success flower punches
• the embossing folder is a cuttlebug one suitable for men's cards too and teams up well with any chequered or gingham designs - from a set called simply charmed
• and the gingham paper was inked with red ink before being glued to the white shapes to make it 'pop'

I hope everyone enjoyed these projects, and if you have any questions about where I sourced the materials or about any of the techniques, just email me on the address in the sidebar.

Our next combined workshop is Sunday 15th May and if you would like to attend please send me an email or click here for more info.

Here is the fantastic LO which Jean did with us yesterday:

I will be back over the next few days with some more coloured and punched cards made with some of our most favourite stamp companies - Tina Wenke, Penny Black and Forever Friends!

Di's Digi Tally Ho Mens card

Just a quick post to show the card I made for my Dad who is a car and lorry man! So I had to use the digi from Di's Digi Dowloads called Tally Ho and if you click on the heading for this post it will take you to the website where you can purchse the digi stamp - its just perfect - Di he is so cute with the goggles and all, and I dont know if it will show in the photo but I used glossy accents on the goggles.

The sky has been done with a dauber and colorbox chalk ink and is not layered right up against the brown frame, so can see the shadow around the bear's head from the layering. 

Sorry it was too dark to take a side view before I had to envelope this one and post it!!

a bit of embsossing and a Martha Stewart embossing punch and I was happy with it after i added the foam quickutz lettering in white.

The image was coloured with twinkling H2O's.