Friendly Flowers!

It seems to be a sad reality of late that I am needing to send a lot more sympathy and condolence cards 😢 and as my stash of these is becoming rapidly depleted,  I needed to add a couple of new ones. 

I wanted to keep these fairly flat so that they could just be popped into the mailbox at a moment's notice with standard rate stamps, which I always try to have on hand, thus avoiding any last minute trips to the Post Office for additional postage because they are too thick or heavy.   I wanted to use a larger stamped image that I could color and add as a flat layer to a plain card base and the new Friendly Flowers stamp set from this month's Simon Says Stamp card kit was perfect.

Friendly Flowers

I began by adding a narrow gold foiled border onto a piece of cream cardstock using my Cricut Maker  and then I stamped the large flower image with Versamark ink and heat embossed with the cream embossing powder, also included in the kit.   I colored the image with my Promarker alcohol markers and then added a sentiment, this time embossing with matte gold.   I matte a piece of pale pink patterned paper onto a cream notecard (both also from the card kit) for the base, but then decided that it needed just a little dimension, so cut out the middle section of the colored layer and popped it up slightly on a thin double sided foam tape which I liked much better.  Finally, I added a few sequins, which lay much flatter than crystals, using a dot of art glitter glue.  

I usually only stamp and color onto white cardstock, so this was a first for me.  I like the finished result and think the cream card definitely gives it a soft vintage look.  Of course I then had to make another one on white card this time so that I could make a comparison 😊 

Two slightly different looks but using the same stamp set and the same color markers.  I think on balance, I prefer the white one.  What do you think?  Which one is your favorite? 

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Stay safe!

Bev x

Life's a Beach!

Hi Friends!

Thought I would share another card with you today made from the new Crafters Companion Staycation stamp and die sets, available only on HSN for now I think (although I believe they are currently sold out!) Love these cute images so much!  

This card was made using the Life's a Beach set.  Equally as gorgeous as the Happy Camper set I used in my card yesterday.

This time I used started by stamping the cliffs and pier background onto a piece of Neenah Smooth white cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  Using my Promarker alcohol pens I colored the images to create a background scene.  In the foreground I used sections of white card that I had colored with Distress Inks and blended to resemble a sandy beach, randomly shaped at the top and then adhered to the background piece (I like to use Art Glitter glue to make sure it is securely glued on).

Next I stamped the two sentiments, also included in the set,  onto the finished background and matted onto a piece of matte gold metallic card and then onto a piece of patterned paper, before glueing onto a 5" x 7" white card blank.

I decided to use the beach hut,  the chair and the sun umbrella to complete my scene and stamped these also with Memento Black ink and cut them out on my Gemini machine using the matching dies.  I colored them with Promarker alcohol pens and mounted onto some 3D foam tape before adding to my beach scene.

There are so many cute stamps in these sets that you could make so many cards from each and no two need be the same!  

Thanks for visiting!

Bev x

Hello Campers!

Hi Friends!

My new Crafters Companion Staycation stamp and die sets arrived today from HSN and I couldn't wait to try them out - they are so CUTE!  

Each set includes lots of cute stamps with the matching dies to allow you to create and build up a scene  on your card.  This card is made from the set called  'Happy Camper'.  

I stamped each image onto smooth white cardstock (I use Neenah Classic Crest Solar White) using Memento Tuxedo Black ink (as I will be using alcohol markers to color them), cut them out on my Gemini machine using the matching dies and then colored them with my Promarker alcohol markers.  For the background, I used a simple watercolor wash that I created last week when I was playing with my new paints 😃.  I mounted the images onto some foam tape and positioned on the background and then stuck it down onto a white 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card blank.

The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions - Simple Strips Background, stamped with Versamark ink onto black cardstock and heat embossed with white embossing powder.

Love it!  So effective and came together really quickly.   I will definitely be making more of these!  

Can't wait to try out the other set now!  Will be sure to share the results when I do.  I believe they are currently sold out so really glad I got them when I did (although now wishing I had bought all the sets!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Bev x

Congrats Grad!

Well, what a strange time it has been of late!  I hope you are all staying safe and well and finding ways to keep yourselves occupied during this time of uncertainty.   Right now,  looking after our mental health is just as important as looking after our physical health and whilst we are all under various stages of lockdown/stay at home orders, what better way than to lose yourself in a few hours of crafting!

This afternoon, I disappeared into the Crafty Cowshed to make a card for our son, who will be graduating from High School this coming week - albeit via a 'Drive In' ceremony!  I had made him a card a week or so ago, but wasn't really that enamored with it, and whilst looking for inspiration over my morning coffee came across this super cute digi stamp from KLM Designs and knew I had to use it!

As I am hopeless at fussy cutting, I uploaded the digi into the Cricut Design Space app as a Print then Cut image, resized it to fit a 5.5" square card, sent it to my printer and then had my Cricut Maker cut it out for me ... much easier!  I used Promarker alcohol ink markers to color it in and mounted it on a stenciled background, using a cloud template from Simon Says Stamp and some distress ink, on which I had previously printed my sentiment.  The 2020 image also came from the Cricut Design Space library.  I added a mat in gold mirror card and mounted to a white 5.5" square card.

Of course, like most 18 year old boys, he will probably give it the cursory once over,  mutter a quick "thanks" and never give it a second glance! 😆

Hope you have a go at something crafty this week - it really is a great anxiety buster!

Stay safe friends!

Bev x

Gamer Boy!

It’s our youngest’s birthday tomorrow and so this week I began the dreaded search for inspiration for a male themed card!  Why are they so hard?!  Anyway, happened upon this digi image from Mo’s Digital Pencil which was just perfect for him.  I colored the image with Promarker alcohol markers and matted on some tech themed patterned papers that i have had in my stash for ever. 

Hope he likes it ... although if previous form is anything to go by he will give it a cursory glance, say “oh thanks” and that will be that!  😂. Boys!

Color Therapy ... !

Hands up those who loved 'colouring in' as a child?  Thought so ... me too!  I remember that sense of utter joy when I received a brand new set of felt tips, all juicy and rich, or some new coloring pencils ...  I can still recall the year I received a big tin of Caran d'Ache pencils in my Christmas stocking (well, actually it was a pillow case).  I can see them now,  all lined up in rainbow formation with pristine points, just begging for a colouring book (which Santa had also thoughtfully included!).

I haven't changed much and to this day am still a sucker for any kind of beautiful stationery ... from colorful pens - markers, watercolors, chalk or even sparkly glitter ones - to pretty notebooks and journals.   The other day I came across an article on the therapeutic qualities of coloring and how it is increasing in popularity amongst adults as a form of relaxation and stress relief, improving motor skills and increasing creativity (see link Health benefits of Coloring In).

I have never really stopped 'coloring in' and often use a hand colored image as the main focal point of a card or scrapbook page or sometimes just like to color for the sheer pleasure of it!  I have noticed that there are many Adult colouring books appearing in shops and online just lately (if you go to Amazon and search for  'adult coloring books', you will find pages of them!).  However, you can also find hundreds of free ones available for you to download and print off yourself, if you search for 'free adult coloring pages' via Google or on Pinterest.  As the football season is upon us once again, and Sunday night football monopolizes the TV, last night I decided to do just that and found this lovely owl.

I downloaded it and printed it off on some smooth white card and then colored it in with my Promarker alcohol ink pens - these are quite expensive (a present from Santa a couple of years ago!) but beautiful to color with and don't leave any 'coloring lines' like traditional markers.  They also have a fine tip at one end and a chisel tip at the other which makes coloring large areas much quicker.

I often get stuck choosing color schemes for my colored images, and so tend to use sites like Design Seeds for inspiration (they are also great for deciding on decorating color schemes!).  I loved the colors used in this one from houzz.com (which I found on trusty Pinterest) so selected the closest colours from the pens I had, in this case Forest Green, Leaf Green, Pastel Beige, and three pens from the Cool Grey set - 3, 4 & 5.

When I had finished coloring my ow1, I cut her out, matted her onto some plain green card, gave her some googly eyes and a sparkly silver bow and turned her into an easel card using a large white circular card blank I had in my stash.  I used my Cricut explore to print the sentiment and then cut the  label which I mounted on foam tape to act as the 'stopper'.

Why not have a go yourself and rekindle that love of coloring!  Just find yourself a free image,  grab yourself a set of pens/pencils/chalks/pastels ... whatever you like ... and get coloring!

(While you are at it,  type Zentangle into your search engine and have a look at those too ... you will be amazed at how much fun you can have with a piece of paper and a black pen ... plus you can color them in afterwards!  It's addictive!).