Fancy Frames

Hi, Sarah here with a quick card made using Paper Smooches Fancy Frames stamp set.  I thought it would be a fun way to frame a sentiment but then I got a bit carried away and covered the whole card front :)

 

I stamped the frames in a range of Mama Elephant inks and filled them with a variety of hello based sentiments from Mama Elephant, Paper Smooches and Hero Arts.  This was a quick and simple design to make and I can imagine filling it with a range of sentiments for different occasions including thanks and happy birthday.  There are so many fun fonts out there that it is good to use a number of sentiments on the same card!

There are lots of new goodies arriving at Make the Day Special on a daily basis so make sure you stop by to see what is new in.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Sarah x

          

  

Furry Friends

Hello.

Today I have two cards to share using the super cute set "Furry Friends" from Avery Elle.

I used this sweet little puppy with black soot distress ink and using a water brush pulled the colour from the stamped image.

This is a really simple but effective way to colour. 

I then only added some pink onto the cheeks.

This time i used the smiling cat and coloured her with copics.

The bed is patterned paper.

I used the brushed stamp set to make the background using the new Linen pigment ink.

I like that the cards are clean and simple but with little details

Click the pictures to go to the products.

Thanks for looking.

Distressed Flowers!

Hi there! 

I'm ushering in spring (not that outside is any different temperature-wise!) with a bevy of blooms courtesy of Lawn Fawn 

Really simple to create- just two colours of distress inks per flower and then sprayed with water to add a lighter colour and texture.

I've then cut out around the stacked blooms to give a different edge and accentuate the flowers.

I've added navy stripes and some Glossy Accents on top of the strips and flowers 

It's a little over the top- but hey, you can't have too many flowers can you?!

It you're looking for another way of using this set- why not watercolour them rather than use distress inks? 

See you next week

Keren xx

February Challenge Winners

Sorry we're late with our winners but February was a little hectic and I'm still playing catch up.   So without further ado, it's time to announce the winners of our challenge from last month.

There were some fabby interpretations of the sketch but a few did really stand out and as a Design Team we all pretty much agree that the standout winner, and therefore the recipient of the £15 prize this time was "Being Fifi" with this super cute super hero card!

The choice of the star to replace the heart in the sketch suits the scene perfectly and really makes the whole design pop!  Great work.

Our runners up, in order of entry were:

No 4 - Claire - with her whole lotta love card.  The choice of papers gave this a real homely feel and the details draw the eye in.  

and No 8 - Bridget with her exercise in inking excellent - lots of detail, texture and bang on trend gold bling!

Do take your winners badge for your blogs - and don't forget to play in our new colour challenge this month for another chance to win!

A Super Birthday

It was my Brothers birthday yesterday and I was sooo happy to be able to use the new Avery Elle stamp set called Super for his card. 

I can't say we were the biggest comic fans when growing up but there's something about the bright halftone patterns that draw me in as well as the sketched line artwork... this new set from Avery Elle has got it spot on and has matching dies too :)

 I've used some paper-piecing for the sky and clouds ( I wish one of the stamp companies would come out with a decent sized half-tone background stamp). To extend the clouds I repeated the stamping across the paper and trimmed out. The skyline is stamped twice on patterned paper and cut out using the matching die...off-setting them adds to the comic sketch feel :)

You can see from this photo how the scene bows out from the card front for some dimension.
The searchlight is made from two layers of yellow vellum, the bottom layer having been cut into a circle to give shape to the beam. I found that the new Stick it adhesive sheets are invisible for adhering vellum.... I backed one of the vellum layers with a piece of stick it and cut the lightbeam out before turning the die 180° and running it back through the bigshot to cut the circle shape.

To personalise my card I used Lawn Fawn's Harrolds ABC's which I think is a very close match to the comic book font you commonly see :)
            

I reckon this set would be great to mix with the tiny heroes from Mame Elephant and definitely a perfect backdrop for the hero in the Paper Smooches set called Super

Over at the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge blog its an Anything Goes Week so it would be great to see you playing along, go check out the DT inspiration and details of how to play :)

Jenny x

March Challenge - Week 1

We're running a little behind this month so will announce the winner from our February sketch challenge in a day or two but I don't want to delay the start of our new challenge.

This month we're playing with colour again - as we know colours are sometimes difficult, we give you the choice of 3 palettes each month and ask that you just use a minimum of 3 colours from the one you select.  This month we have opted for 3 different takes on soft spring hues so just chose from sea, egg or florals and make something using at least one product we sell in the store.

Jenny
using Critters in the Past

Sarah

Using Mama Elephant's Honey Bunny and Lawn Fawn Polaroid die.

Tara
Using Squared Die and Freestyle Florals

As usual there is a £15 voucher to spend in store for the winner and you have until 10pm on Sunday 22nd March to link it up on our challenge page

Welcome to the Jungle....

Are you all singing the Guns 'n Roses or is that just me?  If you're not a child of the 80s and that reference is lost on you, no matter, as the Jungle we're interested in today is the one that Lawn Fawn have brought us with their great new stamp set Critters in the Jungle and I have a couple of cards today to show how versatile it is.

Firstly I went bananas with bananas to make this monkey shaker card.

Instead of the traditional beads and sequins I stamped out a dozen bunches of bananas and used the matching die to cut them all out - these became my shaker pieces.  I stamped the vine and leaves using a green ink and hung the monkey from it on top of the acetate holding all my pieces in.  I used the Lawn Fawn stitched circles just as they were handy to make my frame and used stick it glue with fun foam to make the holder for the shaker pieces.  The little parrot adds a cute pop of colour.  I left it sentiment free but I think it would make a great kids card - just add the age in the white space at the top.

Seeing as elephants seem to be flavour of the month (the Wplus9 version is on its way back as we speak and I will be re-ordering Ellie from Avery Elle this week) I thought I'd highlight this little fella too.....

This was a much quicker make - a jungle background provided by the curvy leaves embossing folder from Elizabeth Craft Designs - these are in the new section as I found 7 designs I had missed off the website when they arrived last year!   I thought I'd do a funny twist on the old saying, as I'm sure some elephants do forget sometimes.   The sentiment is from Handwritten Notes by Avery Elle.  I added a little balloon and string using the ever-so useful stick-it to make them so much easier to glue down.

NEWS FROM THE STORE:

The latest release and restocks from Reverse Confetti will be in store by Tuesday.

Restocks from Wplus9 is in transit using our faster shipping method so will hopefully be in store by mid-week.

I have re-ordered from Lawn Fawn for all the items that sold out but I am waiting for them to confirm it is ready to ship - once they are ready I will get it with the faster shipper and it will be here in a couple of days.

The Altenew release has been delayed (even though it is showing on their store now) and they hope to be able to ship to me this week.  Again I will use the fast shipping method as soon as I get the nod that it is ready to go.

Our new challenge starts this afternoon so do come back and play along!

Catch you next week
Tara
x