Something with wings...

Hi,

Hope you are having a good weekend.

I am relaxing, working (boo) and watching the last games of the World Cup.

I loved the title of the I Love Promakers challenge #227 this week - 'Something with wings' it made me smile and as luck would have it, I have just finished making a whole batch of cards that feature wings!!

I made the main card and 3 others for my Ma, I am making cards for her to take to work for their birthdays..there have been some quibbles over what kind to buy :) I thought I'd solve that for her...

Anyway..I got the stamps free via Pinterest, I am not normally a fan of fairies or these kind of fantasy images, but I loved these.

They were fun to work with, I really enjoyed colouring them and then turning them into cards.

The main card is my favourite and the one I am entering into the challenge. I used a journaling card from a set by Lunch Box Love - I got a few on sale at Michael's, the sentiment was a freebie from a magazine, glitter glue on her wings and the Promarkers are :
Dress - Peony / Cerise
Butterflies - Peony / Island Lagoon
Skin - Ivory / Pale Pink
Wings - Daffodil Bloom / Fresh Meadow / Pink Mittens / Morning Mist
Hair - Ginger
Flowers - Cerise

Here are 2 of the other cards - also coloured with Promarkers.

Blue/Green Fairy

Yellow Fairy

For both I used Recollections papers, glitterglue on the wings, all other items from my stash.

Do you love my new bargain card stand that I got last night at TJ Maxx - I love it!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Cx

Inchies...

Hi,

Happy Friday.

This post is the last one from my 2 days of fun at my desk last weekend.

A while back I posted this beauty onto a Pinterest board of mine -

Inchies card from Ellen Hutson blog c.2011

It's actually quite an old make, but I love it and thought I'd dig through my scrap box and make a few variations of it.

I stuck with a colour theme for each card and the main photo today is 'brown'.

I decided as I don't have an inch square punch, that I would use my scalloped 11/4 inch punch. All the inchies are cut from scraps and all the embellishments on the squares were either already punched (butterflies from JT's punch) or laying around on my desk waiting to be used.. The happy sentiment was cut a while back with my Silhouette and has been languishing on my desk..

Here are the Pink and Green versions.

Green Inchies card

I decided to stamp the sentiment for the green card..not my best idea ever, but it kind of works! The heart is left over from the watercolour punch outs that I did using an 'oops'. The sentiment stamp is by SSS and from the July card kit, the enamel hearts are from My Minds Eye.

Pink Inchies card

The pink card is already earmarked for someone. The big blingy heart is from JT and once again uses one of the butterflies she punched for me.

All the patterned papers I used are by American Crafts and Recollections by Michaels, all plain papers are just from my stash.

This is so simple to do and putting a big die cut word really makes the cards pop.

Have a great weekend.

Cx

See it...want it...

Hi,

Recently I was having a nose around Amber's blog - Damask Love. I really like her work and she has taught me a lot!

She used these lovely Dahlia dies by SSS

I decided I had to have them and ordered them, they turned up on Saturday morning, so I settled down to play..

I followed Amber's post and made the main photo and these cards.

I love them and working with Gelatos is such fun. The delicate die is a bit fiddly, but worth the effort. I also used my Xyron here, for getting adhesive onto the back of the delicate Dahlia..making them much easier to stick down.

Cx

WOYWW #266...IT IS SO HOT..

Hi,

First of all let me start by wishing Julia our wonderful WOYWW leader a Happy 50th Birthday..

If you don't know what WOYWW is then pop over to Julia's blog Stamping Ground and join the weekly global desk nose.

My desk is a bit random today...headphones as I was listening to music whilst working at my desk. You can also see a finished card, a set of AI stamps and a colour wheel - to help me with watercolours.

It is so HOT right now in NYC that I am struggling to sleep, so my craft output is through the roof! I have managed to complete several of the items that I had mentioned in last weeks WOYWW post, this makes me very happy and slightly less cray cray!!

Before I go and stick my head in the freezer, here's a little card for you -

Die Cut Thank You

I made a whole set of these cards - the die cuts were bought on sale at Michaels.

Cx

Watercolours + Sentiment dies..

Hi,

I have been seeing lots of lovely cards around that use watercolours and sentiment dies. I have been playing with watercolours lately with varying results.

So I decided to invest a bit of time this weekend learning some 'how to watercolour' tricks.

I have learnt 3 key things -

1 - it's a good idea to wet your paper before you paint, it helps you put the paint on lighter and more evenly
2 - have multiple pots of water - keep at least one clean for wetting your paper
3 - don't be afraid to practice..if your 'image' comes out weird, use small punches to create little watercoloured items - the card below is an example of this.

Watercolour hearts

My main card is one of 3 using the SSS congrats sentiment die. I tried out 2 different watercoloured backgrounds and I think they look fab. Here are the other 2 cards.

Watercolour Pink Congrats

Watercolour Swirly Congrats

The next set was my attempt to blend colours - varying levels of success, but I am happy with the end results. The hello is also a die by SSS.

Watercolour multi hello

Watercolour multi tones hello

I used an angled watercolour brush, pearlescent paints by Artists Loft (from Michaels for $4.99), Strathmore mixed media paper and all the other papers are by Recollections at Michaels.

Inspiration, techniques and tips came from CMA Tam Hess Jennifer McGuire and Jen Rzasa and Pinterest! Big thanks to Tam and Jen's for making things less scary for me..

These cards are totally CAS. Hubby loved them, which is high praise indeed!!

Cx