Happy Anniversary

Good morning all.

A little change today...I'm sharing the anniversary card made for my sister and her husband who celebrate their 2nd Anniversary today.

Images from Unity Stamps; anniversary die from Cheery Lynn Designs; Happy from Whimsy Stamps. Square dies from Spellbinders.

Challenges entered:

Crafting by Designs - anything goes

Crafty Gals Corner - anything goes

Inspiration Destination - anything goes

The Crafty Addicts - anything goes celebration

Anniversary Wishes

Good morning all.

We spent a lovely day with my Aunt and Uncle yesterday.....a morning catching up, lunch in Paignton then hubby and I had a brisk walk with my Uncle to Sharkham Point - 4 miles in under an hour with my Uncle setting the pace at nearly 87 year old! Looking forward to spending some more quality time with them over the next two weeks.

An anniversary card to share today made for my niece and her husband who celebrate their first anniversary later this week.

Kraft card base; die from Memory Box; hearts stamp from Unity; sentiment stamps from Imagination Crafts; paper from Nitwits and sequins from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - anything goes make it floral

Simply Papercraft - anything goes

Sister Act Card Challenge - anything goes

Crafty Time - punches or dies

Sparkles Forum - vintage/shabby chic

The Sisters of Craft - anything goes

Scrap and Craft - celebration

Work in Progress

Good morning all.

Gosh it's been a tad windy around here, luckily no damage and yesterday was quite nice otherwise.

Sharing my Card Chain Challenge make for May today. Checkout the link if you'd like to join in, still time to link up for the June challenge. This card went to the lovely Deborah herself.

Background stamp and sentiment are from Unity Stamps, border stamp is from Visible Image and was a magazine freebie. Pearls and raffia from my stash.

I received this card from the lovely Janet in Mauritius.

Challenges entered:

Loves Rubber Stamps - anything goes

Papertake Weekly - anything goes

Dream Valley Challenges - anything goes

Allsorts - vintage

Simply Create Too - keep it simple

Sister Act Card Challenge - anything goes

Unity Stamps - FWF

Happy Birthday...again!

Good morning all.

Hope you're enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend despite the weather. The forecast is good here today so going to make the most of it.

Today's card is very similar to Saturday's one.

Stamps from Unity Stamps and sentiment die and stamp from Whimsy Stamps. Nail heads from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Less is More - use opposite colours on the colour wheel

Inkspirational - space

CASual Friday - birthday  and colours

Happy Little Stampers - dies/punches

Simon says Stamp - anything goes

Happy Birthday

Good morning all.

A quick card from me today. I've not done a lot of crafting this week...been trying to sort out holidays!

Background stamp is from Unity Stamps, sentiment die and stamp from Whimsy Stamps. Cord and gems from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Unity Stamps - Friends with Flair

Brown Sugar - anything goes

Polka Doodles - anything but square

Sister Act Card Challenge - anything goes

That's Crafty - keep it simple

Simon says Stamp Monday - anything goes

Simon says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes

Forever our Story

Good morning all.

Well the good weather seems to have broken for the time being, we had rain last night with more forecast...never mind I'm sure the garden needs it!!

Chores all done yesterday and managed a little play last night.

7" base card with matting layers cut with square nesties. Stamps are all from Unity Stamps. Butterfly has been stamped with flitterglu and I then applied some Lancashire Rose flakes before shading with DI in Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers and Cracked Pistachio finishing with some pearl metallic wax to give it some sheen then fussy cutting. Sentiment was stamped in memento and heat embossed with clear EP.  Sequins were added to finish.

Not sure about the butterfly and may re-do it again. I think this will end up as an anniversary card for hubby...I'm a little previous as it's not until September!

Challenges entered:

Friends with Flair - link up party

CAS(E) this Sketch #20

Uniko Studio - things with wings

Crafty Catz - things with wings

QKR Stampede - guy card

Sister Act Card Challenge - anything goes

That's Crafty - keep it simple

Aud Sentiments - things with wings and a sentiment

Addicted to Stamps and More - anything goes

Simon Says Stamp - CAS

Wake Your Soul

Good morning all.

Well our week of sunny weather looks set to end...it's been quite windy here yesterday evening and rain is forecast for today. Eldest requested a haircut yesterday (his first in about six months), he'll be regretting it now!! He's up in Inverness with some mates for the weekend...three of them set off in a little hatchback with two bikes, 3 skateboards and assorted luggage in beside them!!

We managed to get booked up for next week so we're off on Tuesday for a few days...the cottage is actually in Lancashire but we'll be visiting relatives in and around Kendal whilst there. We were going to take the dog but decided to leave her at home with the  boys this time.

Managed to fit in a little bit of journalling last night, this is the result...my pages for April

The stamps are all from the April SMAK kit from Unity Stamps which arrived earlier this week. Background was made on my Gelli plate with acrylic paints. Stamping is a mix of DI and Archival. The bird was stamped and heat embossed on tissue and applied with gel medium.

Challenges entered:

Friends with Flair at Unity

Simon Says - A is for April

Live Life Fully

Good morning all.

Yesterday was best described as dreich! I spent the day doing chores then had an evening crafting. Today I need to get some shopping in and I've got to take Lora down home for some maths tuition from my nephew's wife.

One of the bits I did last night was a journal page for March.

Pages were coated in gesso using a credit card and once dry I added some mint Fresco Finish paint again with a credit card. The stamps are all from Unity Stamps and came from various SMAK kits, stamped with DI inks and black archival.

Challenges entered:

Friends with Flair link up

Unity {be inspired} Challenge - colours

What makes you Different

Good afternoon all.

Domestic Goddess hat has been dispensed with for today and I'm having five minutes before I need to start cooking! Another glorious spring day here, just hope it lasts all weekend.

A second post from me today...running out of month to enter some challenges!

This is a small canvas, painted first with gesso then, using a brayer I layered opaque and translucent Fresco Finish paints in various shades of blue, adding a layer of gesso between each colour. I used Grunge Paste for the first time with a stencil from Memory Box and painted over it once dry with the darkest shade of paint. The NBUS stamps are from Unity Stamps...stamped onto tissue paper and added to the canvas with gel medium. I used a versamark pen and various EP's to add colour to the flowers and leaves, then painted the rest with Fresco Finish paints.

This is my first attempt at this type of image on a canvas and I'm quite pleased how it turned out...but there is room for improvement! Not sure whether to add anything else or leave it be...

Challenges entered:

Inkspirational Challenge - she art

Unity Stamps - Friends with Flair

Darnell's NBUS challenge- #4

Stamp Artic - use stamps

STAMPlorations - stamps & stencils

Happy Everything

Good morning all.

A quick scale and polish yesterday at the dentist...then a see you in six months! Unfortunately Mrs Officious was working and wouldn't divulge whether the boys had any appointments which they might miss whilst travelling so I guess hubby will have to ring up and change his name!

A quick card for today, the theme at Less is More this week is "Yellow and Green".

Background stamps are from Unity Stamps and I've used various shades of Memento inks. "Happy" die and "everything" sentiment are from Whimsy Stamps. Die has been cut twice from waste card and once from the base, after layering them all up they've been inlaid back into the base card. Stitched die is from Spellbinders. I've added a few gems to finish.

Challenges entered:

Less is More - yellow and green

QKR Stampede - bring on the green

Whimsy Inspiration Challenges - use a sentiment

Addicted to Stamps and more - CAS

Sweet Stampin' - green

Me & You

Good morning all.

Another lovely day yesterday weatherwise...just not very productive! Every time I set off to do something I was interrupted by something or someone else!! Did manage a little time in the craft room but need to go back today and finish what I was doing....trying to get all my March DT work done so I can concentrate on playing.

Scraping in at the last minute with my February page journal!

Pages were roughly painted with gesso then I used aquatints to paint. I then went looking for my heart stencil only to discover I don't actually own one! We'll have to do something about that me thinks!

Stamps are mainly from Unity Stamps with the little background features from a Penny Black set, stamped in love letter memento, black archival and picked raspberry DI. Pink hearts are dies are from Memory Box. You die is from Simon says Stamp. I finished the pages by misting them with water then letting some of the drops run...not sure this shows up very well on the photo though.

Challenges entered:

Unruly Paperarts - heartfelt

Country View Challenges - drips and drops

Inspiration Journal - February

Spectrum Noir - red

Simon Says Stamp Monday - anything goes

That's Crafty - be my Valentine

Artistic Stamper - love

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - think pink

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes

Making Moments Matter

Good morning all.

Making a little bit of headway with my journal and finally managed to do the front pages.

After painting the pages with gesso I stuck a few strips of torn paper and some washi tape on the right hand side. Textured paste was used on the sunrise stencil from Splodgeaway, after drying I coated both pages with gesso again. I used DI to ink the pages (tumbled glass and squeezed lemonade). Background stamps are from various sets and stamped with either peacock feathers DI or black archival ink. The three main sentiments are from Unity Stamps and have been stamped onto tissue paper. Celebrate is a die from Couture Creations. Numbers and hash are from Jellibean.

Under the numbers I've added some tissue printed with some Happy New Year music.

Challenges entered:

Unity Stamps - colour inspiration

Frosted Designs - get messy x 2

Our Creative Corner - tic tac toe (paints, stamps and stencils)

Simon Says Stamp - anything goes

Sweet Stamps - anything but a card

Simon Says Wednesday - add a little texture

Craft Stamper - take it make it stencils

Enjoy, Smile & Love

Good morning all.

It's been a beautiful weekend, lets hope the nice weather continues. Hubby popped a dozen pink roses in the trolley yesterday when we were out grocery shopping...the old romantic!

 It's one layer week at Less is More this week, theme of love...eek! Here is my offering:

Stamps are all from Unity Stamps. The red heart image has been stamped in red memento then heat embossed with clear EP, the image has then been masked off and the pink hearts have been stamped, then the sentiment. Frame has been embossed with a grand nestie. I've added a pink sequin to the smile to finish off.

Challenges entered:

Less is More - one layer, love

Addicted to Stamps - embossing heat or dry

Addicted to CAS - masking

CASology - love

CMCC - challenge #58

I'll be back later with a guest design card for STAMPlorations.

Pink and Grey

Good morning all.

We had a bright and beautiful one yesterday again. Lots of little jobs done and a casserole in the oven then I had some time to craft.

Another Anniversary card to share today. The ladies over at Less is More are celebrating their 4th Anniversary...can you believe it? Congratulations to you all, hope you have many more :)

The challenge is a colour one of pink and grey.

Pink base card matted with a grey layer on foam tape then a white. Background stamp is from Unity Stamps, stamped with tattered rose DI. Die is from Memory Box.....cut twice, once with pink card and once with a double layer of grey card so I ended with a solid die cut to piece the other two back onto. This made the die very sturdy and gave it some dimension on the card without using foam pads.

At this point I realised how lacking I was in Anniversary stamps/dies...with love was a magazine freebie and Happy Anniversary is from a decoupage stamp set from Imagination Crafts. A few sequins from Pretty Pink Posh were added to finish off.

Challenges entered:

Less is More - pink and grey

Stamplorations - stamps and hearts

Happy Stamper - sketch

Artistic Stampers - love

Simon says Stamp - pink and red

Live Your Dreams

Good morning all.

Another gloriously sunny day here yesterday. We took a trip to Edinburgh to see if Lora's new glasses were in...after two weeks there was no sign of  them and no one knew why so we're waiting for a phone call today to find out what is happening. Meanwhile we have to hope the sellotape holds! The place was heaving...all the eateries were full and no one has any money! Did have a swift tour around Hobbycraft...it would have been rude not to and got a couple of magazines which had nice freebies and a few other bits and bobs but can't say anything really grabbed me.

Sharing the commissioned card I finished on Saturday.

Various sentiment stamps from Visible Image were stamped and heat embossed with white detail ink then using one of the new 8x8 embossing folders from Crafter's Companion I embossed the card. Card was inked with distressed inks which I then softened with gesso. Dots were stencilled with texture paste. More sentiment stamps were stamped onto tissue and adhered with matte gel. Various small background stamps were stamped in the DI and black archival ink. Frame and number dies are from Spellbinders, happy birthday stamp and banner die are from Clearly Besotted. 

Pages 2, 3 and 4 are made using the same embossing folder and inks but I've inked the folders before embossing. Stamps are from Stampers Anonymous, Lavinia Stamps, Bo Bunny and Unity Stamps...some have been stamped and heat embossed before the embossing was done, others are stamped on tissue and adhered as above, the rest are stamped in black archival or the same DI used on the card.

Very over the top but my cousin wanted something special for her daughter.

Challenges entered:

Open Minded Crafting - no pink, no red

Our Creative Corner - tic tac toe (EP, stencils and mediums)

Craft for the Craic - birthday or anniversary

Crafty Catz - birthdays

Crafter's Cafe - birthday

Simon says Stamp - bright and beautiful

Loves Rubber Stamps - anything goes

Not Just Cards - anything goes

Visible Image - Show and Tell February