Sunny Sunday cards...

A little bit late in the day for my card but it's been stinking hot here and the last thing I've felt like doing is crafting!!

I've made a couple of cards using a stamp from Unity's kit "The Right Words" but coloured the stamp in two different ways:

I hope that you're enjoying the weather wherever you are?!

Thanks for visiting

Jo xx

The secret......

A bit late with this week's card as it's my first bit of crafting this week due to our school summer fayre!

I've used one of my favourite co-ordinating colour schemes of orange and turquoise and dug out my embossing folders.

The sentiment is from Unity's "The Right Words" store kit and stamped using Versamagic chalk ink on to Coredinations cardstock with the heart shaded in with a pastel pencil. 

I hope you're all having a lovely weekend and as always, thanks for visiting!

Jo

Watercolours

I've been busy this week helping to organise our school fair that's happening next week so only had time to make a quick card (well, two quick cards) today.

I've dragged out my neglected Marvy pens and used them to ink up the flower stamp from Unity's Moment's In Bloom kit before spritzing with water and stamping on to watercolour paper.

I also used the pens to ink the sentiment stamps from Unity's The Right Words and Life Becoming but stamped these without spritzing.

As always, thanks for visiting

Jo

Behind the mask

Today I've been playing with some masking tape and chalk inks to make a couple of Unity cards.

I used the Christy Tomlinson Urban Chevron stamp for the card on the left and the sentiment on the right card is from the Bold Insight store kit.

I've then added stickers and a die-cut to embellish.

Now I'm off to try some more masking and inking.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and, as always, thanks for visiting!

Jo

Pencils on Kraft

Hello, it's Jo again but this time I thought I'd try something different from my usual and go for a Clean and Simple (CAS) card.

I stamped the flowers from Unity's Quiet Essence kit on to kraft cardstock using brown Memento ink and then coloured the image using Prismacolor pencils.

The sentiment from Unity's "A Mother's Love" kit was then stamped, again using the Memento ink.

Thanks for visiting

Jo xx

Alcohol ink and Unity

Better late than never, but I've been busy enjoying the lack of rain with the kids!!

Today I've been playing with my neglected alcohol inks and some Unity stamps to make a couple of cards. Both of them use the same technique:

1. stamp on to glossy cardstock using Versamark ink
2. emboss the stamped image using clear embossing powder
3. add alcohol ink over the image and blend until happy with results
4. place piece of clean paper over the image and heat with an iron until the embossing powder comes off on to clean paper and leaves image on alcohol ink background

My first card uses the Urban Chevron stamp by Christy Tomlinson:

I added a sentiment cut on the Craft Robo and a Prima flower centre.

My second card uses Bella Doilies:

To this one I added a Kaisercraft rub-on sentiment.

As always, thanks for visiting!!

Jo xx

Butterfly and paint

I'm back using the Flourishes - Butterfly Moments stamps for my card this week.

I used Kraft cardstock and dry-brushed acrylic paint around the edges and at the bottom before stamping the sentiment from the Flourishes set.

I then added a printed die-cut and some premade flowers:

As always, thanks for visiting!

Jo x

Thank You Kindly

It's no secret that, at the end of a scrapbooking, I like to use up all of the little leftovers lying around on my desk in a quick card making session. It's much more fun to use your scraps than to tidy them all away, but it can be difficult to make projects that look pretty and professional. 

I find that the combination of scraps, sewing and stamping always seems to work for me. Somehow the addition of some machine stitching and some quality sentiments make the use of scraps look purposeful. And I'm always left with cards that any of my friends would be happy to find in their mail.

I love the beautiful fonts from the Layers Of Color Sent With Love Set (which just happens to be on sale!) The gorgeous scrolling makes a simply stamped sentiment look fantastic, so I've used two of the main sentiments to finish off these simple, little cards. 

Hey, Hey, Hey!

I know, I'm always featuring cards that use greetings like 'Hello', 'Hey' or 'Hi', but really, I don't know that many people who happen to be getting married, or have just had a baby! These more generic greetings are perfect for just reminding someone that I care about them - and I send them all the time. Just because.

I'm currently in love with the Samantha Walker Blossom Stackers - I simply cannot get enough of the amazing circular and doily style images. I've used two of the larger images on this card - cutting them by hand and 'stacking' them with some dimensional tape.

The cute 'Hey' sentiment from Boob Tubes by Paper Smooches, is also one of my favourites and, surprisingly, seems to work well with some of the more intricate doilies in the Blossom Stackers set. 

It just goes to show that combining your stamps successfully is all about playing around with colours and styles. So get out your stamps and your inks - and start messing.

Doilies

I've used the Unity set Bella Doilies to make a background for today's card.

 I stamped with black ink on to white card and then used Marvy pens to colour in various parts of the doilies.

Materials used:

white cardstock, Unity stamps (as above), black Versafine ink, Marvy pens

Scenic Route sticker

Kaisercraft rhinestones.

Thanks for visiting!

Jo xx

Butterflies and Doilies

I've used stamps by 2 different manufacturers to make my card today - Butterfly Moments by Flourishes and Bella Doilies by Unity Stamps.

I used one of the fab Doily stamps on the background paper inked with Versamark ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder.

I stamped the sentiment from the butterfly set on to paper I'd cut with with a Nestabilities die. The two butterflies were stamped on to patterned paper and then cut out before being stuck on the card:

Materials used:

Kraft cardstock, Prima papers

Unity and Flourishes stamps (as above), Ranger sepia Archival ink

Kaisercraft rhinestones

Nestabilities dies

Thanks for visiting!

Jo xx

A card and tag

I've been playing again with the fab Tattered Chicken Wire stamp by Christy Tomlinson for Unity stamps. As the shop is currently undergoing some changes I can't leave a full link to it but when the shop is ready you should be able to find it here.

For the card I masked off some of the stamp and onlu used about half the width of it to stamp across the cardstock. I then added a sticker and rub-on...nice and simple!

For the tag I stamped across the whole background and then used some gauze, printed chipboard and ribbon to embellish:

Thanks for visiting!!

Jo xx

Dream Big

Today I'm using the gorgeous Unity/Webster's Pages Itty Bitty stamp "Dream Big" available in the shop here to  make my card.

I stamped the butterflies on to a pale pink patterned paper and then coloured them with Prismacolor pencils blended with Sansodor. I then cut them out and stuck them to the felt frame. I stamped the sentiment on to a die-cut tab before sticking it under the backing paper.

Materials used:

American Crafts cardstock

Pink Paislee papers

Unity stamp (as above), black Archival ink, Prismacolor pencils, Sansodor

Joy Crafts flourish die-cut, Die-namics die-cut

die-cut felt frame.

Thanks for visiting

Jo xx

A Little 'Hi!'

I'm a huge fan of sending a little traditional mail every now and then and what's nicer than receiving a handmade card - especially when it's not for a special occasion? That means someone thinks you're special, right?

And luckily for me, my favourite stamps, from Lawn Fawn's Summer 2011 Release, are full of cute phrases and short sentiments, perfect for a general greeting.

I've made this card using the ticket and balloons from Admit One, a cute flower from Blissful Botanicals and a dinky sentiment from Cruising Through Life.

Why not have an afternoon creating some cards so that you have a little stock on hand? And a bit of ink on your fingers?

Embossing in white

I have a couple of quick cards to show you today using the tree stamp from Unity's kit Adventure in Happiness which is available in the shop here in limited quantities at a fab price!!

I stamped the tree using white ink and then heat embossed it using WOW embossing powder for the card on the left and a plain white powder for the card on the right. I then added some shading using Prismacolor pencils before adding a rub-on sentiment....hey presto - quick cards!!!

Materials used:

Bazzill cardstock

Unity stamp (as above), white Versacolor ink, WOW embossing powder

Prismacolor pencils

Basic Grey rub-ons

Thanks for visiting!
Jo xx

A Baby is......

For a change today I decided to stamp on fabric to make my card.

 I inked the sentiment stamp from Unity's store kit "The Right Words" available in the shop here using my Faber Castell big brush pens and then stamped straight on to the pink gingham fabric. I then sewed around this before fraying the edges and then stuck it on to a thick piece of card as a backing before adding it to the card.

The flower was made from organza and then I added a button to the centre.

Materials used:

American Crafts cardstock

Unity stamp (as above), Faber Castell big brush marker

fabrics, pleated ribbon, organza

Dress me Up button, vintage flower button.

As always, thanks for visiting!!

Jo xx

Born to fly

Have you seen all the gorgeous new Christy Tomlinson stamps available in the shop? They're fab for art journalling but also useful for cards and layouts.

I have the fab "tattered chicken wire" stamp which reminded me of the shape of honeycomb so I decided to use it to make a "bee" themed card.

I used Prismacolor pencils blended with Sansodor to make a background coloured panel and then stamped with the chicken wire stamp over the top of this panel using distress ink. I masked off some of the stamp as I didn't want to use the whole width of it.

I then stamped the sentiment (from Unity's "Life Becoming" kit available here) using Versafine ink before adding a K & Co vellum bee.

Materials used:

Papermill cardstock

Unity / Christy Tomlinson stamps (as above), Prismacolor pencils, Ranger distress ink, Versafine sepia ink

K & Co vellum die-cut

Thanks for visiting and don't forget to check out the shop as we've recently had new stock including Paper Smooches and Flourishes!!

Jo xx

Mother's Day

Yes, it's nearly that time again....Mother's Day (here in the UK) is next weekend so I've been busy making the first of 2 cards that I need...this one being for my lovely mother-in-law who loves all things butterflies.

I used the Unity store kit "A Mother's Love" available in the shop here. The frame stamp was inked using Faber Castell big brush pens toa llow the patterned paper to show through the ink and then the sentiment was stamped using Versafine black ink:

Materials used:
Kraft cardstock, MME papers
Unity stamps (as above), Faber Castell brush pens, Versafine black ink
Prima flower
lace, vintage button

Now for some great news......Emily and baby Ivy are now back home and doing well but please remember that orders may still take longer than usual to arrive.

Jo xx

Songbird

My card today uses a stamp from the Unity kit "Brave Girl" available at a special price in the shop here.


I layered lots of My Mind's Eye papers and stamped the bird image from the kit on to another piece of patterned paper before layering it on lace and adding a ribbon trim.

The sentiment is one from an old Unity kit of the month.

Materials used:

Papermill cardstock, My Mind's Eye papers,

Unity stamps (as above), black Versafine ink

lace, ruffled ribbon

HOTP buttons, twine

As always, thanks for visiting!

Jo xx

Bold Insight

Today's card uses a stamp from the Unity store kit "Bold Insight" available in the shop here.

I used alcohol inks on glossy cardstock to make the background before using black Archival ink to stamp the image:

Materials used:

Papermill cardstock, SEI Claire paper

Unity stamp (as above), Ranger alcohol inks, black Archival ink

Doodlebug frills cardstock, Around the Block corner brad, Dovecraft brad.

As always, thanks for visiting and don't forget to enter the draw for blog candy if you haven't already!!!

Jo xx