Time Out Guest Designer

Some time ago I was fortunate enough to have a card selected as the winner at Time Out Challenge and I was subsequently invited to do a Guest Designer Spot and here it is!

The theme of the challenge this time is NEW

Anyone who knows me, knows that my card style is Clean And Simple, although the kinds of technique I use tend to be somewhat eclectic. Having said that a real favourite of mine is using dies... I must have thousands of them and yet I still seem to be acquiring more. The one by Memory Box used here is getting its first outing and so that is my NEW thing for this challenge. I used it in a different orientation to that on the packet, because I wanted to put the sentiment in that particular corner. The background was made by smooshing some card into a little Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink and water on my glass mat and just dabbing with a paper towel. (It's supposed to look a little like sky!)

I don't remember the make of the sentiment, although I have a feeling that that may be Memory Box too!. The berries were made from pearls which I had coloured with a Copic marker.

This challenge is being sponsored by Uniko, so with a stamp set of your choice, plus a chance to be a Guest Designer for the winner, that's a really good reason to join in the fun as their products are awesome.

I don't do New Year's resolutions any more, but my husband and I have both returned to Slimming World as lockdown inactivity has taken its toll. SO far I have lost 10lbs, so we are heading in the right direction!

 

Just for you

Today's card echoes the colours in the inspiration photograph at The Card Concept

I love the soft muted colours of sand, sky and sea. I chose to use them for colouring these fabulous flowers from Simply Graphic.

I scribbled with some watercolour pencils onto watercolour paper and spritzed very generously with water, The colours moved and spread beautifully and when dry I selected areas from the paper to die-cut. The backdrop is from a Reverse Confetti die and I also cut a small area of the splatters at the edge of the paper for the square.

 

Bee birthday

It's always exciting to see what the challenge is going to be each month at CAS Mix Up. This month the topic has been chosen by Viv, whom I have 'known' for many years since becoming acquainted at 'Less is More'. She produces amazing work which never fails to inspire.

As you may see from the prompt, watercolour must rate really highly in the cards. All the colouring in my card used watercolour techniques. 

I began by stamping some patches of Distress Oxide ink using an acrylic block, then spritzing with water to diffuse the colour. I then over-stamped with a grunge splatter stamp with the same ink, adding a little water in the process. 

I coloured the honeycomb by dragging the ink pad over it and then once more spritzing with water. I cut the infill parts of the bee from some card that I had stamped with the ink pad and then wetted.

I decided to add an extra layer to the wings by cutting in white card and using some Black Soot Distress Oxide ink to drag some colour over them with a rough paste brush. It brought out some of the veining.

I had to put the card under a heavy weight to try to flatten it out somewhat as it had become rather bent with all the spritzing.

I made the sentiment panel in Word, drawing a text box and filling it with black and then writing the sentiment using white. Once printed and die cut I gave it a couple of layers of clear embossing to intensify the colour.

 

Butterfly birthday

I have rather greenish tips to the end of my fingers, after having a lovely play making this card. I die cut the memory box butterfly and inked it with some Twisted Citron Distress Ink, then after spritzing both the cardstock and the butterfly, I used one to make prints on the other. After I had finished, the butterfly was quite a deep shade, so I decided that the colour was a little too far removed from the backdrop to be used as an embellishment, so I cut another butterfly and und gently coloured that with more ink and water.

I used the sketch from Fab Friday

and the technique from CAS Mix Up

Where they are celebrating their 5th Birthday.

Our new kitchen is progressing apace, however there have been a couple of snags but the boss man says all will be sorted... and I have every faith in him, he installed our last kitchen over twenty years ago and that has been great.

Outside the Box - Beautiful backgrounds

I think that the background made with this gorgeous Memory Box Butterfly is rather beautiful!

Stay safe everyone!

Thinking of you

Here's another attempt for the challenge at CAS Mix Up to print using die cuts.

Congrats and many thanks again on your special celebration, it's quite a milestone!

Here I used some either Poppy Stamps or Memory Box leaf dies  (not exactly sure which). I slopped a little Peeled Paint  and |Forest Moss Distress Oxide Inks onto the cuts, and spritzed both  the paper and the die cuts with water before taking a print.

The panel was cut with an MFT fishtail die, cut part way from both ends to make it rectangular rather than have the pennant shape. The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

Addicted to Stamps and more Die-cuts Stencils

Sending Smiles

The gals over at CAS Mix UP are celebrating their 5th Birthday! It's quite an achievement and the tremendous time and energy which goes into running such an enterprise does not go unnoticed. Thank you all so much.

The challenge this time is to print using die-cuts. 

I have been wanting this shade of Distress Oxide ink for quite some time and this Speckled Egg pad arrived yesterday. I decided to make a stamp from some Funky Foam, using a Memory Box butterfly die.

I used a cut out from the die to make the background, adding colour with a blending brush and spritzing with water. I inked my 'stamp' with Distress Oxide ink and then spritzed that with water before stamping, then misted the whole thing with water after stamping. The splatters were from an old SU stamp. The tiny butterflies were die cut from some unsuccessful attempts at the background butterflies.

Its's not quite the method indicated on the challenge blog but I think it probably still qualifies as water did come into the process quite a bit!

At the moment our kitchen is undergoing some plastering as part of the renovation and the internet is offline whilst he works around the outlets. However  just yesterday I discovered how to use my computer using the wifi from my phone! There's life in the old girl yet!

WOYWW 601

Last weekend, it was good to see the animated faces of the crafters who look in on Julia's WOYWW  blog hop each week.

This week I'm not sharing a desk but just a bunch of Christmas do dahs from my home!

The tree is now on its 45th Christmas. My husband arrived home with it on the top of the car when we lived in Alexandria, Virginia in 1976. It stayed with us there for three years and then came home to Hampshire, where we have lived ever since. I did have one emergency call when I was teaching back in the 1980's, from our cleaning lady who was worried to death as the top half of the tree had collapsed over onto the floor. The central support of the tree is made up of two poles, which fitted together with a tube a bit like a toilet roll middle but made from tough cardboard. Over the years this had deteriorated and unraveled, so I took a quick trip to the hardware store and was given a little aluminium tube which fitted perfectly and has been used ever since. This year I had to give a little first aid to the  sections of bark, made from plastic, which separate the roundels of branches, but it's good to go for a few more years. The real question is how much longer I'll be able to scramble up into the loft to get it out and away again each year.

Since retiring we have loved to travel and I like to try to bring home tree decorations from places we have visited. 

 

Snowshoes from Quebec City

Mask from Venice

Emu from Australia

Cotton Flower angel from Georgia

Eagle from Alaska

This is our Christmas Nativity from Germany. The heat from the lit candles causes the windmill blades to rotate, so the characters move around too!. The trick is angling the blades so that they actually go forwards rather than backwards! 

Today I'll leave you with another watercolour of yet another Jack Russell.

Take care and stay safe everyone!

 

WOYWW #600

Today is a very special WOYWW as it's the 600th occasion on which such desks have been shared. 

Congratulations to Julia, for  her idea, time and care taken in spreading comradeship throughout the world... and thank you!

Head over to the Stamping Ground otherwise known as WOYWW HQ to join in the celebrations!

Well done Julia and I hope you enjoy your surprises co-ordinated by the fabulous LLJ!

 

I have actually had a bit of a tidy up, which is a rare occurrence for me. I can actually see a bit of my glass mat!

Today you can see the Christmas cards I made for my husband (who is the chairman of our choir) to send to the Vice-Presidents of the society. These include, the Bishop of Portsmouth, the previous conductor Jonathan Willcocks and and long serving previous Chairman, who happens to be a woman. Every year I have made white on white cards and this is no exception.

You can see that my supply of Distress Oxide inks is gradually increasing. I stamp a little of each colour that I have onto a chart to use as reference for whenever I need to choose a shade for whatever project. There is also a new pack of dies which I have just bought. They are empty leaves from Sizzix and I think they are really fab!

I somehow managed to miss last week's WOYWW, I didn't actually remember until Thursday, but in these strange times it's difficult to remember what day it is sometimes! Some people asked to see some more of my attempts at watercolours, well here is a salmon I did on my cruise From Japan to Canada.

At least it looks like a fish!

Well have a good day everyone and once more many thanks to Julia!

 

Happy Anniversary

Many years ago we discovered that some friends of ours had their wedding anniversary 2 days after ours. They have been married for many more years than we have, but for the last thirty odd years we have been going out together for a meal in celebration. Sometimes it would be the only occasion in the whole year that we would see each other (with loads to catch up on) but we would always make a date near to our anniversaries for our get together. This year we may not manage it... with Covid, advancing age and some health issues, things may not work out, but I've made their card in readiness for next month!

The die I used here is a new one from Memory Box, I love the delicate piercings. I decided to watercolour each petal and added a Memory Box butterfly and simple sentiment from Sugar Pea Designs.

I'm adding this to the challenge at CAS Mix Up.

I played around for ages wondering how to use the die cut, once I'd cut it. I tried all sorts of stuff in the aperture but nothing worked until I finally decided to simply let the sentiment straddle the aperture, balanced by the addition of the butterfly, which is also strategically placed to cover a tiny tiny drop of out of place paint!

 

WOYWW #598

 

Good morning all!

Last Wednesday somehow escaped me and it was Thursday before I realised that I had missed WOYWW! Brain cells are not what they once were!

Hey Ho! Anyway this is how my desk looks today after playing around with some watercolours. I thought I'd try my hand at painting a wreath, but I think I need a few more views of tutorials on You Tube! I also started to try to hand paint in some of the leaves on a new die I just got from SSS. Not sure how that one will go forward but we'll see! 

I have attended watercolour classes on board Cunard ships. They are held on sea days and are a perfect way to spend a morning!  I loved the last one we went on and as it was from Japan to Vancouver... there were quite a few sea days! The teacher was really helpful and I met some really great, like minded people. One such was a lovely lady with whom we shared our dining table. She was telling me all about her Jack Russell dog  of whom she was immensely fond as she lived alone. I thought I would have a go at painting a picture of him and this was my attempt. Couldn't manage the whole body so just did the head!

I have finally caved and bought some Distress Oxide inks... now I wonder why I resisted for so long, I really like them. I dabbed a little onto my glass mat to use as a palette, I think they work really well in so many ways. All I need to do now is to build up my range of colours and find somewhere to store them!

Have a good day everyone and stay safe.

WHy not join in the fun and share how your craft space looks with Julia and the rest of the WOYYWers in her Stamping Ground!

Merry Christmas to you

For ages I had thought that Distress Oxide inks were probably just a bit of a fad and what did I need them for when I had just about all the shades of Distress Ink! Anyway eventually I caved after seeing SO many people using them and now I can't imagine why I haven't been using them for ages! I didn't realise how well they stamped (knowing how hit and miss regular Distress inks are for stamping), how well they can be used as a painting medium, what great depth of colour you get from them and how well they blend. SO far I have invested in about a dozen, but I have a way to go to get the colours I would like. Then there is the problem of where to keep them!

Getting around to this card, I stamped the green panel with Versamark then just left it to dry.

After stamping the mistletoe onto some white card using Bundled Sage DO ink, I dabbed some more onto my glass, together a couple of dabs of Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint Distress Oxide inks. Then with my water brush, I used these shades to colour the leaves. For the berries, I used some Pumice Stone DO ink watered down considerably, and applied just to one side of each berry to the appearance of dimension.

To finish off the card I added some Nuvo Crystal Glaze to the berries and some clear Wink of Stella to the leaves. I did drag a gold ink pad along the edge to the green panel before adhering it to the card.

The stamps are from Memory Box Merry and Bright Mistletoe set.

I made this card with the challenge at CAS Mix Up in mind, which this time is a watercolour challenge.

There are a few 'off the edges' to choose from here.

Stay safe and well everyone!

Bunnies

When I saw the challenge at CAS on Friday, I immediately thought of Lili of the Valley images... their bunnies are so cute!

I stamped the image onto watercolour paper using Memento London Fog ink. I added colour with watercolour pencils and blended gently with a waterbrush.

The sentiment is from Sugar Pea Designs.
Addicted to CAS

Today is the first day of rain that we have had for some time. We are lucky that since staying at home, we have been able to spend

time in the garden or have short walks around some of the local pathways. When our area was developed, the council decided to include lots of walkways between the various groups of houses.

They make for very pleasant walks. People are very courteous when passing each other and make sure that social distancing is observed, but always exchange a friendly greeting.

Stay safe everyone!

No Stamping

I just found yet another challenge which intrigued me! It's called Just Add Ink and this week the challenge is make a project with NO STAMPING

SO this is what I made. I cut the butterfly from a piece of  card coloured with watercolours. Actually it was cut from a previous failed card but I thought the colours too nice to simply chuck. I managed to get the black part to line up with the body and simply added a little more with a marker. The panel was cut with a Sizzix die and a bit of smooshed card from my 'too good to throw away drawer' which was in keeping with the colours of the butterfly was placed behind this die cut. All that was left to do was add a die cut sentiment which I layered for a little extra strength. Sometimes it pays to be a bit of a squirrel.

It's your day

Here is a card for the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches

The butterfly in the sketch reminded me of these images from Stamplorations, which until now had remained unused, but I think they are really fun. I coloured the wings with wet on wet watercolour and added a few  NUVO crystal drops once the paint was dry.

The background die cut is from Sizzix and the sentiment from Alley Way stamps.

Yesterday was my birthday and today is my son's... 43 years ago he was the best belated birthday present I ever had!

He looks a little different today... maybe not quite as much hair!

Watercolour Tilley

My son has a birthday approaching and I never know what to get him. This time he gave me a hint. For many years he has had a Tilley hat, to which he is enormously attached. Although it looks a though it is on its last legs he wants to keep it. (It could be exchanged for a new one as they have a lifetime guarantee, but he's just too sentimental about his old one to lose it.) SO his present this time is a spanking new one... just the same model as the old one, but more presentable! So for his card I decided to do an image of his hat. I drew this one and watercoloured it ... I think it looks reasonably like the real thing!

The theme at Addicted to CAS is Heat so this image is definitely for that!

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted

Watercolour

I really enjoyed the watercolour classes on my recent Cunard cruise. Here I used a technique which I learned there. It was to make a background wash, by having the paper at an angle and drawing the fairly wet brush across, using the drip line of one row to begin the next one. I changed from using Intense blue to Ultramarine, gradually adding more and more water to give the Ombre look, which is the challenge this time at CAS Mix Up.

I die cut the Sizzix 'Peace' sentiment and layered it three times to give some additional dimension. The star is a triple layered die cut from Memory Box and the the 'ON EARTH' part of the sentiment was stamped and embossed in silver  from a Papertrey Ink stamp set. A few gems finished the card.

It's also for the CAS Watercolour challenge which this time has the theme SOMETHING BLUE.

CASology Calm