How Beautiful You Are

 Good morning! Fall has finally arrived, the maple tree in the yard is starting to turn to stunning colors it gives us this time of year

My post today is using another of the gorgeous new release digi stamps from Sunshine Bee at The Little Paper Tree. I have done something different with it this time, it started as an experiment and ended up better than I expected.

I started by taking the Autumn Wreath - Circle into my Silhouette software. This automatically traced the image. Then switching my blade to my Foil Quill I adjusted the settings so it would sketch. I laid my stamping card onto my cutting mat and secured rose gold foil over the top, hit send and let my machine do it's magic.

I repeated this for the Beautiful Sentiment. Leaving my card on the mat I switched the foil to green and added the sentiment to the center of the circle. I colored the images using Copic markers and fine liners. I matted an A7 card base with pink cardstock ready for my image. I wanted to add a ribbon slider but didn't have a coordinating one so I colored the silver heart one with an orange Copic marker. This was slid on to ribbon that coordinated with the pink card and was added under my image before I adhered it to my card.

Finally I added a few pink water droplets to the flower centers and around my ribbon slider.

If you love this image it is part of the new release of Sunshine and Bee Designs there are some other floral designs as well as the cute Halloween ones I shared last week.

 

Thank you for stopping by.

Wedding bells are ringing

 Good afternoon, hope everyone is safe and well. We are now fully vaccinated and hoping to enjoy a bit more freedom. 

Talking of which we are so excited to be planning a wedding. Our son, James, gets married in the summer and we are so happy he chose to hold it here at our home. 

This has also given me more crafting time I have just complete the invites for the occasion. They didn't come without problems my die cutter decided it was too old to cope and my printer was haunted and started ghost printing. 

New equipment was installed in the craft room and I was good to go! 

James of course is from England and Liz is from here in the US so I decided to  make the invitations from cardstock from the 2 different countries. The cream pearl cardstock I brought with me when we moved and the purple was bought here.

I die cut the front panel and an inner pocket using the cream cardstock and Crafter's Companion dies. 

The card bases were cut to size and adhered so I had a card with a double fold. I used the edger die from the die set to cut the front flap so the lattice piece would fit perfectly over it.

Ribbon was added to the lattice piece and it was adhered on the card base. 

Inside I added the lattice pocket and matted the center with a lilac card stock

A separate piece of lilac cardstock was cut to fit in the pocket.

I then typed up the details of the wedding and  RSVP information, these were cut to size and added to the lilac panels.

Finally I added a chocolate box bow and a tiny cream rose to the front of each card.

I needed something to put them all in so I repurposed a shoe box, I covered it in cardstock and added decoration to match the front of the invite. Inside the lid  I matted it with the wedding details. This way they have a box to keep memories of their special day

I didn't get to take a great photo but this is the outside lid.

I have more crafts related to the wedding to do and will share them as the time gets nearer!

Thanks for reading and if you love what you see please let me know in the comments.

New Beginnings

 Good evening! Hope everyone is keeping safe and well. Winter is upon us. We have had temps below freezing all week and the snow is hanging around.

My post today is to show a project made for the House Mouse challenge, their optional theme this time is New Beginnings and what is more new than a new baby:

This card is made in layers I used an A7 card base and an A2 one. I cut 3/4 in from the front of the A7 card and matted the front and inside with teal card stock and design paper, a length of ribbon was glued to the center of the card under the inside layers. I stamped the super cute image onto stamping card and colored it with Copic markers. The edges were then inked with distress oxide to coordinate with A7 card. I then took the A2 card base and turned it around so it opened from the left. I matted the inside with the same cardstock and design paper. I then glued a length of ribbon to the back of this and then the card base was glued inside the A7 base:

I wrapped the ribbon around the front of the A2 card and glued my stamp card in place. This gave me a card that opens in multiple layers from opposite sides.

Finally I added a matted sentiment to the inside.

The ribbon then ties at one side to keep it all together.

As I said previously I am entering this card into the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge

Thanks for stopping by and if you love what you see please let me know in the comments.

Santa's Favorite Gift Tags

Good Morning! It is white over here, it snowed at the weekend and because it's so cold it's hanging around.

I'm here today with inspiration for the gifts you are going to be giving during the holidays. Each gift needs a cute tag to go with it and I am going to share 4 with you using Santa's Favorite Digital Stamp Set:

The first 2 have the adorable Santa's Favorite penguins - the little guy fishing and my favorite the penguin in eye glasses:

 

I die cut some tags and mats for my little guys. The penguins were fussy cut with my scan n cut and colored with alcohol markers. I couldn't resist giving one little guy candy cane glasses. I used crystal glaze on the glasses and the other little guy's proud catch! Foam tape was used to adhere them to the tags and some bows and ribbons completed the design.

My second set of tags used the same Santa's Favorite digital set, the remaining penguin is skiing and I decorated a tree for him.

 

Both images were colored with alcohol markers and added to the tags with foam tape. I then added snow writer to the edge of the tree layers and decorated it with red ornaments and of course a star at the top! My little skier had glitter added to his hat pompom and glaze to make his eyes shine. again ribbon and bows completed the tags.

Thank you for stopping by. I will be back during the month with more inspiration from Joy Clair. Also my teamies will be sharing with you over on the Joy Clair Facebook Group.

Marigolds and Echinacea

Good afternoon, weather is miserable today, we've had rain snow and then a mix of both it's wet, cold and dull!

So I thought I'd brighten things up with some cheery flowers. I have used Susan's Garden dies again to make Marigolds and Echinacea flowers:

What I Did:

I Started with an 8x8in card base and matted this with a coral colored card. I then cut a second layer in a very pale peach cardstock and die cut a pattern into the top left of this using a plate die. This was adhered to my card base an put to one side while I made the flowers.

I Die cut the Marigold flowers from yellow cardstock and colored them with alcohol markers to give the deep red that the real flowers have. I die cut the stem and leaves from green cardstock and shaded these with a darker green ink to give a realistic affect. Both were shaped using flower building tools. I then Die cut the Echinacea flower from white cardstock, cutting an extra of the smaller flower head. I colored 2 of the petal shapes with an peach alcohol marker so it complemented my card base and the marigolds. The 3rd petal shape was part colored with the same color but then green added to the center of it. All of these were then shaped with my flower building tools

I started my flower arrangement by gluing the stems in place before building up the flowers. The marigold petals were layered to give a full flower and center tiny petals filled them completely. The Echinacea were layered and the center filled with tiny brown flower shapes to form a cone  just like the real flower (Echinacea are often better known as Cone Flowers). I added some fake pollen to this to give it the fluffy texture that they have. The bud was made by bringing all the petals together and gently rolling the middle. This was then added to the bud stem.

I added leaves to both types of flowers and set aside to dry.

The sentiment was die cut using the same card I matted my card with, I added Stick It die adhesive to this before running through my die cutter so I could adhere it without any glue visible.

I finished the card with some Nuvo drops and a bow which both coordinated perfectly with the colors I had used.

What I Used:

Susan's Garden Notes: Elizabeth Crafts Marigold Dies

Susan's Garden Notes: Elizabeth Crafts Flower Shaping Tool Kit

Susan's Garden Club: Tonic Echinacea Dies

Susan's Garden Club: Tonic Stems and Ladybug Dies

Susan's Garden Club: Tonic Pollen

Top Flight: White Cardstock (for flowers)

Core'Dinations Green and Yellow Cardstock

Copic Markers

Tim Holtz: Distress Ink

Crafts UK: White 8x8in Card Base

Coral Cardstock: Unknown

Pale Peach Cardstock: Unknown

Crafter's Companion: Grand Swirls Plate Die

Crafter's Companion: Expressions Inner Page Die Beautiful

American Crafts: Ribbon: 

Tonic: Nuvo Drops Bubblegum Blush

Thank you for stopping by, and if you like what you see please let me know by leaving some love in the comments

Welcome Baby

Good morning! another week is starting and this year is flying by.

I'm sure that a colleague of my husband is looking forward to what this year brings. She is due to have a baby girl in the next month and I have made this cute card to go with the gift we have bought for her:

Isn't this elephant just the cutest? She is from Lili of the Valley and is called Blowing Bubbles , she is available as a digital and rubber stamp. 

I used the digital so I could resize her for my project. I colored the image with alcohol markers adding colored pencil to darken my shading.

Once colored I die cut the image using Gina Marie's Oval Scalloped Frame dies. These cut the image and a frame around it. I the colored the white section of the frame blue so it would stand out against my patterned background paper. 

The paper is from a collection which was also sold by Lili of the Valley but is no longer available. I added the pink It's a girl ribbon from my stash and a couple of stamped baby tags again from Lili of the Valley.

Thanks for stopping by and if you like what you see it's always nice to know by leaving me a comment.

Be Mine, Valentine

Good morning, we are under a few inches of snow again and it's said to last for much of the month so I'm keeping warm and hibernating in my craft room.

Valentine's Day is only a week away so I thought I would share a bit of my love with you all using some cute stamps from SumMore fun:

I chose a scalloped edge card base and stamped it all over with the Conversation Heart Stamp set.

I used a number of colors trying to keep them pastel shades like the candy. I then stamped the Be Mine, Valentine sentiment onto a separate piece of white card, I rounded the corners of this and matted it onto a piece of coordinating pink card.  

This was then added to the center of my card using foam squares. Lastly I added some pink ribbon and bow to the top of the card.

As hearts are the main focus of the current moodboard challenge this design fits right in with it. Head on over to the SumMore Fun blog to check out how to play and what you can win!

Thank you for stopping by, If you are looking for more inspiration check out my teamies cards on the Blog, FaceBook, Instagram and Pinterest.

Time is flying - It's Scrapper's Delights mid-month reminder

It's the middle of January already??? Wow where is time going? 

This means it's the mid month reminder about the Scrapper's Delights challenge it's also the 3,000 members celebration over on the Facebook page and super heroes are abundant there so call and by and see what excitement is happening .

So today I'm showcasing one of Scrapper's delights Fairies - It only being a month away from Valentine's Day I thought I'd color up the Love Fairy 3:

Isn't she the sweetest!!

I have colored the image with Copic markers and enhanced the shading with Polychromo pencils, to make the hearts pop I added glossy accents.I then matted both the image and some coordinating design papers with red card. I used white card to make my 5x7 inch base and layered mt mats onto this - adding pink ribbon to the side. I then die cut the word love and placed this across the corner of my image. A pink bow on the ribbon just balanced the card. 

Ingredients:

Scrapper's delights digital stamp - Love Fairy 3

Spectrum Noir Ultra smooth card stock

Copic Markers

Polychromo pencils

Red Card

White card for base

Head on over to the Scrapper's Delights Store to see all of their images.

Don't forget to enter the monthly challenge you may win!

Why not stop by the Scrapper's Delight Facebook page for regular news on and inspiration from my Teamies and keep your eyes peeled on my blog for new releases from them!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge - #398 Wings on Things
Brown Sugar Challenges -#233 Anything Goes
Crafting with Friends - #34 Anything Goes
Morgan's Art World -#1 Anything Goes

Oh how Tweet!!!!

Good afternoon from a hot Michigan. School is out for the summer and my days are taken up entertaining our 2 kids - well stopping them from fighting!!!!!

It's the one day fae giveaway over at Faery Ink and WOW is it a cutie this time

Meet Fable and Tweets

Isn't she adorable and little Tweets is just so snuggly looking

I have chosen to use colors I don't usually go for in my card design

The photo doesn't really show how bright the colors are it is a very summery design!

 I used alcohol markers to color her and added detail to her hair with a fine liner. 

I chose some design papers from my stash and die cut 2 of these and my image using a stitched die. The third paper was matted with green card and adhered to my 7x5in card base, adding the bright yellow ribbon in between the layers. 

I then stacked my die-cut design papers and image on to my card.

I added a bow in the same ribbon and some coordinating enamel dots just to balance the design.

Ingredients used:

Fable and Tweets Faery Ink Digital Stamp

Spectrum Noir Ultra Smooth Cardstock

Spectrum Noir Markers

Copic Markers

Green Card

Enamel Dots

Ribbon from my stash

Design Papers from my stash

I hope that this has given you some ideas of what you can do with this adorable couple. They are available for free on the Faery Ink website for 24 hours only. If you miss them they will be available to purchase in the store after this time

For more Faery Ink inspiration check out our Facebook page where my teamies also hang out and post their designs as well as other fans of Faery Ink

Thank you for stopping by and if you like what you see please leave some love in the comments

Ready for the ball

Good morning, as Christmas draws ever nearer the Christmas parties start happening and what a great time to get dressed up in all your finest!

That's exactly what Victoria from Jiggery Makery has done. Dressed in all her finery she just waiting for her date to arrive.........

She has been colored using Spectrum Noirs and a few Spectrum Aqua pens and the colors are at the bottom of my post.

I matted her onto some black card and some digital design paper from Little Treasures. I added a red organza ribbon tied in a double bow and a few black pearls for embellishment,

You can find Victoria over at Jiggery Makery's Etsy shop

For more inspiration why not check out the designs created by the rest of my teamies over at the Jiggery Makery Facebook page

 Here's the Spectrum Noir and Aqua colors I used:

Skin: TN1,2,3 FS3 CR3

Dress and gloves: DR1,6,7 IG3,5,7,9 plus blender

Hair: GB1,2,8,10 plus Sepia

pearls: Black and a white fineliner

Lips: Scarlet and white fineliner

Eyes: Kingfisher and Black

I will be entering this card into the following challenges:

Crafting By Designs - Anything Goes
The Crafty Addicts - Anything Goes
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Craft-Dee Bowz - Anything goes with a bow
Crafting from the Heart -Anything Goes
Craft your Passion - Anything Goes
Paper Nest Dolls -Anything Goes
Creative Moments -Anything Goes
Lemon Shortbread - Anything Goes

Something to be thankful for

Good morning,  I have a story behind my showcase card today - We are due to get new neighbors a single mom and her 2 daughters, they were supposed to move in last weekend however due to things outside of her control the sale of her house is taking longer than she expected and the move hasn't happened. She has packed up her belongings and is worried that she won't be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with her little girls as they are living with next to no cooking utensils or furniture.

We have great neighbors and they are always doing things to help out so I decided so pay this forward and have invited our soon to be neighbors for Thanksgiving dinner.

 

What better way to invite them than using So Suzy Stamps for an invitation:

 

 

I have used the Pumpkin Swirl stamp which I have colored with my Spectrum Noir Markers I added some color to the swirls to make them blend in with the image. I typed and printed the wording on my pc. I then used orange sheer ribbon across the top of the image card and rounded the corners so it would blend better with the scalloped card blank I used. I matted this onto some brown card and added some Lawn Fawn orange enamel dots. A very simple design but I think it turned out very pretty!

 

Thanks for stopping by and before you leave check out the challenge at So Suzy's blog and enter our challenge. If you don't have a blog - don't worry you can enter over at our Facebook group

 

For more inspiration why not check So Suzy out on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and  Flickr so go check us out!!