Throwback Thursday

Hello!

I hope you are having a great day-the sun is shining and it is nearly the weekend,yay!

Todays card is made using the incredibly cute Sugar Pea Designs Love you Bunches. This is not my normal style of card,so I am on new territory here! But I just love this stamp,its so cute. I dont think there is a single little girl that has never thrust a bunch of 'weeds' into their mothers hands at some point <3

I used Avery Elle Simply Said Hello die . The image is watercoloured using Distress inks.

I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed something new!

Lou x

Bubbly Congrats!

Kate is recuperating today so I'm filling in and I've made a quick congrats card for a friend who just qualified as an accountant and I thought the perfect thing to show off the great Congratulations word die from Paper Smooches was one of our new stencils......

I opted for the Bubble Confetti stencil as it felt celebratory and I used a variety of distress inks and tried to make some softer than others for that bokeh effect that was so trendy a while ago (I'm always behind the trends!).  This is the first time I've used this brand of stencils, and I have to say they are superb, a really thick mylar so they would be great for paste and paint as well as ink, and will be very long lasting (unlike some of the cheaper ones which crunch the first time you use them - yeah ask me how I know that!!!)

I die cut the word congratulations using the really gorgeous Paper Smooches die from some thick gold card and added a few colour co-ordinated sequins to finish.

Design Team Vacancy

 
Would you like to join our Design Team?

Sadly, due to a lack of time Tracy has decided to step down so we have a vacancy for one person to join our little team.

Applicants need:

• A love of US craft products
• An active blog and the ability to take clear photographs
• A facebook account (DT communications are done via a private group so this is essential)
• The ability to create one personal project per week, plus one challenge project per month and to comment and vote on challenge entries

No previous Design Team experience is necessary - you just need enthusiasm - we'll guide you through the rest.


If this sounds like you then send an email including a direct link to a post on your blog which illustrates your crafting style and a few sentences on why you think you'd make a good Design Team Member.


Deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday 8th August.

Looking forward to receiving your applications.

Pretty Rain!

Happy Tuesday! 

Hope you're all ok- and not hiding from pretty rain like this little bunny. I thought I'd give the 'line-less' trend a go- simply stamping in a light colour and colouring up the edges so there doesn't appear to be any stamped edges. I chose a light Memento colour (Sahara Sand, I think) & got shading with my Copics.

The set is called Hello Baby

and I've also enlisted the help of the matching dies- which were perfect for cutting out the metal for the umbrella

Thankfully, there's plenty of sets..at the moment.. but always best to 'hop' ahead of the stampede!! (he he- a little mixing of metaphors for you!)

Hoping you have a bright sunshiney day- but failing that, a gorgeous shiny umbrella would be the perfect style ticket to ward off the drops!!

See you next Tuesday!

Keren xx

Challenge 4 Winners

Sorry it's taken so long to announce the winners of the latest challenge - we've all been very busy with the start of the holidays, but finally all the votes are in and our winner is.......

Natty!   She did a great job on this challenge that saw many of you running for the hills rather than look back at your own blogs!  Nat took elements from her original card like birds, paper layers, speech bubbles and a bow and turned it into something stunning!   Here's the original so you can see what we mean.

Congrats Natty - you get the £15 to spend in store!

We did also choose 3 runners up who did some fabulous projects too - do take your winners badge now won't you.

Anita

 Karin

Katie

 

Thanks to everyone who braved this challenge - you all did fabulous cards!   We'll be back again on the 1st August with a new challenge and this time we have an easier colour challenge for you all!

Sixty Years Young!!

Good morning, hope you all had a fabulous weekend.... loving the sunshine but a good watering for the garden and allotment is in order now, time for a rain dance I think :0)

I'll spare you the details on that and instead, move swiftly onto my card today which is for my Brother-in-Law who turns Sixty at the end of this week and has decided to run a half Marathon to mark the occasion!!!

I reached for the Paper Smooches 'Hope' stamp set because although it has some amazing and encouraging sentiments for loved ones battling cancer it also contains this running shoe which can be used for any other type of card. 

I stamped it twice and coloured them both with Promarkers before cutting them out... you could even thread your own laces with twine to add extra dimension. To customize the sentiment I used Lawn Fawns Harold's ABC's to write Years Young.... I wanted the panel to look like the 'runner number' attached to a running vest so I used some safety pin dies from MFT. 

It's a great set... look at that boxing glove too, another image that can be used for a sporty card!!

                                                         

As always on a Monday, I'm reminding you to check out the new challenge at the Paper Smooches Sparks blog....it's a sketch this week and the DT have have some fab inspiration cards to show you :0)

Jenny x

Anniversary Flamingos

My card today is VERY pink, which is not really very me, but I am quite pleased with how it turned out - lots of bling and romance.

I used the fabulous pair of flamingos from the Flirty Flamingos set from Newton's Nook - flamingos are the next big trend in paper crafting apparently so I expect we will be seeing them in many guises over the coming months.   For the background I went to town with sequins in 3 forms - stamped, die cut and real.  The stamped ones are done using Big Bang Bling by Winnie and Walter, and I decided to use them mostly because I wanted to play with the new shadow inks as I was desperate to try out "ultra pink" which is the lovely bright pink I've used to match the copic coloured image.  The die cut sequins are by Lil Inkers and this die is currently out of stock but will be back in August.  The sentiment is from Avery Elle's So Happy set which is packed full of useful sentiments in such a gorgeous font - it's one of my favourites.

Before I go - a little shop news:

The latest release from Mama Elephant, and restocks from the last one, are now live in store along with the ever popular landscape trio dies. 

We have the new release from Lil Inkers ready to go as soon as it's live it the USA tomorrow too so lots of excitement going on here this week!  

We have a big box coming from Neat and Tangled too and that should be here in a few days.

We will be ordering the new Lawn Fawn release today - it's such a lovely collection!  Don't worry - we'll be making a BIG order!!!

Have a great week - I'll see you next Sunday.
Tara

Be happy, be bright

Hi! A wee change from me being hooked on Winnie and Walter!  And only using one set Avery Elle So Happy.  I love these flowers and the sentiments - just great! Lots of lovely messages - and some a bit different from normal.  And yet another fabby font! 

I hope you like it! 

Tracyx

Shellabrate!!!

Hello and happy Friday! I hope the weather is as glorious where you are as it is here in North East Wales :) It is so lovely that the wee ones can play out in the garden in the summer holidays .. a sprinkler, bubbles and an ice-cream is all that's needed to keep my little entertained and it makes me so happy to see their joy enjoying the little things.

Today I'm sharing a card using a couple of Lawn Fawn sets and dies....

*Cut a piece of watercolour card and create a splotchy watercolour background using Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean.
*Using watercolour paints create the sand and seaweed fro the ocean floor.
*Stamp sea dwelling critters from Lawn Fawn 'Critters From The Sea' and Lawn Fawn 'Life Is Good' with Archival Black ink.
*Paint the creatures with watercolours and using a shell stamp from 'Life Is Good' paint with water colour onto the stamp and then use to get this cool effect. Do the same with the bubble stamp to add more texture and layers to the background. 
*On to some vellum use Clark's ABCs to create the fun sentiment and die cut this with Speech Bubble Border and then attach this to the card by folding the edges around the back of the card layer and gluing at the back.

Love the look of watercolours on this as I believe they are perfectly suited to under water scenes. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs Lydia xxx




      

Throwback Thursday

Hello!

Todays card is a wedding card I made for a friends wedding. Wedding cards can be tricky to not make them all about the bride,to add a bit of masculinity to them for the groom too,so I hope I got this balance right. I used WPlus9 Fanciful Feathers and dies. The sentiment is Paper Smooches We Connect,out of stock at the moment,but there are loads of alternatives in stock,have a browse.

One feather is feminine,the other masculine. Heres a closer look

Hope you like it! 

There is a new challenge just around the corner,and as always a £15 store credit for the winner-keep checking in for the details,its going to be a gorgeous one!

Lou x

Best friends

 Hello.

Its the last day of term today and i am so ready for the summer holidays.

My daughter has had me busy making best friend cards.

I kept it simple with one design but change the stamps.

 I had to use these bunnies from Mama elephant.

And the Pandas 

All the papers used are from Lawn fawn

My daughter wanted me to use her friends favourite colours.

Then one boy card so i used super from Paper smooches.

And coloured with copics.

Thanks for looking.

Happy Colours!

I have a necklace which is just lots of buttons attached together and I call it my happy necklace.

So bright and sunny, I'm always asked if I've made it and where I got it from. Wearing it just makes me feel happy!

These colours on the card are like that. How could you not smile when surrounded by the rainbow of tones?!

I've just used two Paper Smooches sets (Design Motifs & Cyber Cafe) and the squiggle stamp is from Newton's Nook (Love a La Carte). Mixing and matching is the best way of getting an unique look

I decided the stripes were too heavy & so cut up the card to create a tag..

I should have left well alone!!

Have you ever wished you'd left things as they were?!!

Well, I'll see you next week.. I've still some teachers cards to finish- we've not broken up from school yet!

Keren xx