boo

 hello crafty stampers!

I did a card today using the word theme from the lovely people at Just Us Girls challenge #604: Halloween

Since I have very few halloween stamps (it's not really a big occasion here) I used one of my favourite pussycat dies and made him black. Voilà!

I started by blending the sky in distress oxides, using a circle mask to create the full moon. I die cut the pussycat using Paper Rose Walking Cat die and shaped the black ground from black card. The tree from Altenew Under the Cherry Blossom Tree was stamped in Memento Tuxedo black and the spiders from a very old 2nd hand stampin up set were stamped in the tree. The sentiment was made using Darkroom Door Alphabet Medley and stamped onto a strip of Pumpkin Pie card and adhered with foam squares for dimension.

I love the sky colours - so very spooky!

Thanks for stopping by!

thank you

 hello crafty stampers!

I have a card today I made for the Just Us Girls challenge #603 Photo week.

I haven't entered a challenge using a photo as inspiration but there's always a first time! Such a beautiful photo - how I wish I could grow armfuls of flowers like this! I found so much to draw inspiration from in the photo, I went round in circles and found myself with too much going on and too many ideas. Crazy! So I decided to go CAS - when in doubt, simplify!

I began (this version 😉) by making scratchy marks on kraft card with green, brown and white inks. The kraft was then cut into strips and randomly glued back together to get the 'shabby shutter' look. Then I watercoloured 2 pages - 1 in green and 1 in pink and purple using distress oxide inks. I used Altenew Beautiful Day and stamped the leaves and the flower images, then die cut them with the coordinating dies.  I trimmed the flower image to cut out the leaf parts. The images are glued and the top ones popped up on foam squares. The sentiment from Altenew Mini Daisy stamp was stamped directly on the card front.

Thanks for stopping by!

ugly

 hello crafty stampers!

Let me tell you about my cat. Sox is a magnificent Siberian, ginger and cream striped. He is a fierce hunter (in his mind), a loyal friend (when he wants to be), a lap warmer (whether you want him or not) and definitely the boss of the house. Love him dearly 😍 My husband says in my eyes he can do no wrong, which is pretty much right, even when he's scratching up the sofa or meowing at 4 in the morning.  What can I say?

Today I made a card with him in mind. The lovely sisters at the sisterhood of snarky stampers have a new challenge: SOSS #194 U is for Ugly. Wow, a glimpse into Edna's real life?

Now don't go making assumptions here, it's not my cat that's ugly. 😇

The background was stencilled using Altenew Foliage stencil with Altenew inks, slightly offset between inking. The edge was inked and there may have also been some random stamping of dots around the perimeter. The sentiment was printed from the internet, and inked around the edges also. Stamps are no name and to be honest, not that good, so I think I'll be sticking to proper stamp brands from now on.

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

thoughts

 hello again stampers!

I'm on a roll and onto the second card challenge for today - the rain is not easing up, so I'm taking advantage of some free time!

I found an interesting challenge at As You See it yesterday where you had to complete a card in under 10 minutes AND make it funny! Oh okay...

I had an idea for a card, based on a sentiment I had picked out but I had no idea how long it would take, I mean, how long is a piece of string? so I planned it out, got out the inks and supplies, began the timer and started with the first step - ink blending... Well that probably was my undoing.  I stopped the clock after 11 minutes with blurry stamping and still having not done the sentiment.  Doh!

Okay let's rethink this... I simplified the ink blending, making it only 2 colours, carefully cleaned off the stamps and made sure I didn't overink, decided not to cut down the panel but just adhere it to the card base. 2nd try was a success!

The stamps are from Darkroom Door Under the Sea, and the sentiment is a Tim Holtz Big Talk sticker. I stopped the timer at 9:22:03 but the distress oxide ink was still wet. I guess that still counts?

Great challenge! I'll be joining in more in the future for sure.

Thanks for stopping by!

hugs

 hello stampers!

It's raining today so I've spent a lovely morning in the craft room, enjoying the escape from weeding the garden! I made a card for 2 challenges which is the first time I've entered more than 1 challenge at a time - my skills must be coming along, albeit at a snail's pace 😉

It's colour week at Just Us Girls 

and the good people at AAA Cards have a no layers challenge

I have been wanting to use a recently acquired stamp from Darkroom Door so took the opportunity today.

I began by blending distress oxide inks in yellow, orange and red using a rectangle stencil. Then stamped the main sentiment from Darkroom Door Friends, masking off the first word and substituting the word 'hugs' using letters from Darkroom Door Alphabet Medley.  

I always get a little nervous with a 1 layer card - if I mess up, it's a full do-over: something I am not fond of doing as my brain moves onto the next idea. But simplicity is key - I am learning.

Thanks for stopping by!