Christmas is on it's way!

 Good morning, I know we are in the middle of a heatwave and I hope everyone is keeping healthy during it.....

BUT.....

It's July which means it's less than 6 months until Christmas and as a crafter I need to start designing my cards and promoting Christmas products. 

My card today showcases Maker Forte products so read on for inspiration.

I have used Modern Christmas Watercolors Stamp Set as the main focus of my card, this stamp set has some gorgeous winter stamps. I started with the pine branch. Using Iced Spruce Distress Ink and stamped it randomly on watercolor cardstock. This gave me a background without the need for pre-printed paper.

While the ink was drying on this I stamped the wreath onto the same cardstock. I used British Racing Green Ink, this is a water reactive ink, parts of the wreath are just outlined so using water and a paint brush I pulled the stamped ink out coloring in the holly.

Once this was dry I fussy cut it from the card. I am not a lover of fussy cutting but this image was so easy to cut around.

My card needed a pop of color and as it's a Christmas card red was the perfect color. I cut a red mat 1/8in smaller than an A7 cardbase and trimmed my image so it was 1/4in smaller than my base. This is my favorite size for matting.

I added the mats to my card base and moved on to a sentiment. For this I used Easy Winter Watercolor Scenes stamp set. It has a Merry Christmas that is perfect size for my card. I used the red cardstock for this. after prepping the card with an Anti-Static Pad I stamped using Clear Embossing Glue. This was the heat embossed using Meteor Shower Embossing Powder. Once this was set I again fussy cut so it would fit my card.

I added both the wreath and sentiment to my card using Foam Squares. This gave dimension to my card and, by lifting the images, they didn't get lost in the stamped pattern below them.

The design still needed some thing and as I had used red for the mat I decided some red on the wreath would pull it all together. Roller Skate Crown Jewel Gems were perfect. I added them with Maker's Magic Glue which is great for small objects. 

Finally I tied a bow from some red ribbon and added this to the top of the wreath.

Thank you for taking time to read my post, stay safe in the heat and happy crafting!

Flowery Critters

 Hello, It's almost the holiday weekend and we are going to spend it with family. All but one of the pups went to their new homes - I will be blogging about the babies next month so watch this space!

My post today is show casing a cute card designed using Maker Forte products. 

Rather than a full post I have recorded a You Tube video, this explains what used to make the card and the process I have followed to complete it:

Here is a list of products I used:

Grovehill Farm Stamp Set

Eclipse Black Ink

Spring Has Sprung Simple Sayings

Simply Stated Dies

Easy Foil Precut Parchment Pockets

Stormy Speciality Cardstock

Top Folding A2 card base

Makers Magic Crystal Clear

Lemon Crown Jewels 

Thank you for taking time to read my blog post.

Mother's Day Blessings

Good morning! The weather is really messing with us here. Saturday it was 77F today it's been snowing and is forecast to drop into the 20s overnight! We are currently waiting for Sassy to have her pups, she's due any day now so we can't go anywhere even if the weather was better!

My post today is in celebration of all the Bonus mom's out there, I have one here who is always there for me to chat with! I have used Maker Forte products for this card starting with Motherhood Is A Blessing Stamp Set.

I started as always by collecting my supplies I used very little for this card. The gorgeous frame that is the main component of the stamp set doesn't need much more than a bit of color.

My design started by me stamping the frame on to some Bristol Vellum Card. This has a tooth to it which is needed with colored pencils. The ink color I chose for this was Memento London Fog because I didn't want black outlines on my flowers.for my sentiments.for my sentiments.

I stamped towards the bottom right of the card as I wanted plenty of white space on the card and room for my sentiments.

Once I had stamped the frame I used colored pencils in yellow and purple to color the flowers and of course green for the leaves. I decided to define the diamond of the frame with black fine liner. My thought was it would stand out from the flowers but I didn't want a thick line. This was where I made a mistake! I drew through the flower that goes over the frame. Luckily I was able to remove it with a sand eraser and I was able to disguise what was remaining with another layer of yellow pencil.

I used the Best Bonus Mom Ever sentiment on the card. I love this wording! This stamp is the only set I have seen with this wording. Being a Brit living in the US I have a bonus US mom for whom I am truly grateful.

This and the sentiment I placed in the frame were both stamped using Remarkable Eclipse Black Ink. I wanted them to stand out from the card and I think black ink does this. I did have to stamp a few times as the texture of the card left gaps - Hooray for my MISTI!

Once I had finished the stamping I started to build the card. Pulling the green color from the colored I chose a mat to coordinate. I used Welsh Dragon Solid Cardstock for my mat and an A2 Top Folding Card Base.

I cut my mat so it was 1/4in narrower than my base but the same length which left a slight white edge up both sides. Making sure this was central I used wet glue to fix it in place. My image was 1/4in narrower than my mat and I fixed this in place with foam tape. This gave dimension to my card. 

Finally I added some bling with Lemon Crown Jewels. I adhered these in place with Makers Magic Crystal Clear glue. Have you seen the Makers Magic Rings? These little pink heart rings hold glue and you can dip the Micro Brush Applicators in to it getting just the right amount for sticking little gems down.

I hope this has given you some inspiration for your Mother's Day cards whether it's for your real mom or your bonus mom.

Oh and Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms and Mums!