Happy Dog

Hi all :)

I'm back today to show you another make of mine,  This card came about after I had made two family birthday cards using circles and alphabets - I had left over distressed water colour circles and wanted to use them up.  I looked through my fav stamp sets and chose the Paws for a Cause stamp & die set from Paper Smooches along with their Lucky dog sentiments - I decided to make a card for my favourite dog rescue centre. 

I hope you like?

I had fun putting this together!

Hope you're having fun in your crafty world?

Paper Smooches Sparks -  Anything goesWK 1 challenge

See you soon,

Mandy ;)

I would like to enter my card into the following challenge(s)

papersmoochessparks - anything-goes-wk1-challenge

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Paper Smooches sentiments & Pause for a cause stamps,  

Pink for a Princess!

 Good Morning to you! Thanks for popping by to visit my little ol' blog!

I have been playing with my MFT stamp set 'BIG Birthday Wishes' - I really love this little 3 x 4 stamp set.  (I'm not sure if it can still be purchased as I can't find it on the actual MFT site)I have lots of little Nieces' so this stamp set will be used quite a lot! The card I have made today is for a little Princess Diva Niece...who will be 7 years old next week!

I created a little shaker card for her and used her favourite colour PINK! I did a little paper-piercing with the balloons and top and coloured in her legs to make it look like she had leggings on! Wink of Stella added to  the stars & hearts - just wished it showed up in photos!

I hope you like?

Tomorrow I will be back with a card using Paper Smooches 'Paws for a Cause' stamp & die set.

Until then...

Mandy :)

Big Birthday Wishes stamp Crafter's Companion stars die Crafter's Companion heart die Little Numbers die-namics wink of Stella

Happy Saturday to you! I hope you have a lovely weekend!

Here's my card for the Stampnation Virtual Retreat challenge 3 - we had to choose at least four of the following items to use on a card:

Tags

Sequins

Stencils

Background Stamps

Embossing

Something New

For my card, I chose to use a background stamp by Hero Arts, I embossed & used sequins on the flower on my card - then I used 'Something New'...my (new to me) Ranger's Liquid Platinum embossing powder! (I had a hard job finding this to purchase but thankfully I found a UK supplier) Oh, this powder when embossed is yummy beyond words....my card is SUPER shiny!!

The picture doesn't do it justice at all!

Hope you like?

I will be back again tomorrow with another card...lol

Until then,

Take care,

Mandy :)

To be Square!

Good Morning! I hope today is a good one for you.  The weather here, in the South East, is on the turn! we've had some beautiful weather of late but now it's all change for the weekend...dull & dreary by the looks of it!  Oh well, I may just have to shut myself away crafting...such a chore...LOL

So, onto today's card, well two cards.  I created these two simple masculine cards and I loved how they turned out.  Like most of us crafters' we have lots of scraps left over - and I DISLIKE throwing any paper/card away if there is still a use for it, so I decided to cut little 4 x 4 squares and arrange them as you can see.  I loved the blues with hint of yellow and was chuffed at how the cards turned out.  The first one is a 8 x 8 card and the second was in an A2 card.  Both so simple to create!

I hope you like?  Tomorrow (as I am on a roll with this blogging lark), I will be posting another Stampnation challenge card.

Until then...

See you soon,

Mandy :)

Destination unknown....

Good Afternoon, Crafty Peeps!

I am sure having fun over at Stampnation with their Virtual Retreat Challenges - it's really 'pushed' me into creating more and more! This place is full of inspiration from crafty creators! A great virtual community to be amongst.

This card below is for the 2nd challenge - Transportation/travel related.  I only had one travel-y type stamp and it's from Kanban.  I do love this stamp so it was a pleasure to create with.

I enjoyed watercolouring the image with Tim Holtz's Distress Inks.

So, I hope you like it? I plan on being back soon with another creation for the challenge!

See you soon....

Mandy :)

Poppy delight!

Afternoon Crafters!

Hope all is well with you?

Today I have a card to show you that is my first challenge card for Stampnation - I'm sure many of you have heard of it? If not, pop on over to find out what's to offer - I am loving it - I joined recently and have been spending time viewing fab creators creations!  There is help on hand if you need it, from basic to advanced....it's a really lovely online community and it's created by a lovely lady called Catherine Pooler..it's so worth a visit!

Anyhoo...there is a Stampnation Virual Retreat going on, and I am joining in!  This card below is my first card EVER to post on there and I have since made another two for the challenge!

I so love this poppy stamp set by Sheena Douglass.

I certainly had fun creating this!

I hope you like?

I will hopefully be back again soon with another card,

Until then....

Mandy :)

Clearly bright!

Good afternoon, Peeps!

Hope you're all doing well today?

I'm back with a card I've created using the Clearly besotted Heartfelt thanks sentiment & a dragonfly & butterfly die.

I had a fab time creating, inking, wink of stella-ing....

Here's my card...

Hope you likey?

Thanks for dropping by...

Until next time, 

Mandy

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Items used:

Tim Holtz Distess Ink: Spiced Marmalade, fired brick & Seedless preserve.

Creative die - dragonfly

Memory box  die - dancing butterflies

Clearly Besotted Sentiment stamp -  Heartfelt thanks

Wink of Stella - clear

Fun foam

Tombow - Mono Multi liquid glue

March Sketch for Paper Smooches

I know, I know, two posts in one day, then nothing for A G E S! So without further ado, here is my card to share with you - I want to include it in the Paper Smooches challenge blog - so I followed the sketch from Paper Smooches Sparks. 

I will fill in products used a bit later.

I would like to add my card into the following challenge(s)

Papersmooches challenge blog - March Sketch

Thanks for dropping by!

Until next time,

Mandy

BIG birthday wishes!

Good Morning!

I've had a play today using a stamp set from My Favorite Things! AND, for the first time, followed a sketch challenge over at the MFT blog! I'm not totally sure what I am doing, and if I should follow exactly what the sketch shows or create and interpretation of it..anyhoo...I followed it and took my own mini twist on it LOL

Here it is, my little creation!

I enjoyed stamping, die cutting and trying my best to choose the colour palette...it's a lovely little stamp set to use.

I will list products used down below.

Thanks for popping by,

I would like to enter this card into the following Challenge(s)

My Favorite Things - Sketch Challenge 221

Until next time....

Mandy

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Products used:

Stamp set - My Favourite Things, butterflies - Memory Box, dancing butterflies die, Wink of Stella - clear. White card stock from stash. Card base cut using Spellbinders A2 curved matting basics die, Stitched die - Paper Smooches 'Wise Dies - stitched. Papers - Avery Elle - 6 x 6 everyday collection. Adhesive - Tonic Funky tape runner & Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue.  Pens - Promarkers/

Belated Wishes

Good Morning!

I hope this post finds you all well ;)

I've had a little play around with my new Lawn Fawn 'Year Two' clear stamps.  I am still new to stamping & inking and getting the 'feel' of my inks and stamps but came up with this little A2 (US) size card!  The inks I used were Tim Holtz's Distress inks as they were in reach! I hadn't planned to make this card when I made it - postie had dropped the crafty goods off & it was a case of opening the stamps and thinking ..Ooooh, I have a belated card to make.....hence, stamps were out, inks reached for and away I went....hehe.... I had fun playing, I know there are bits of the presents not stamped enough but believe me, I am taking note of my errors lol  The main thing is, I had fun! If you didn't know already, these little stamp sets have their own matching dies! They are so handy to have.  As much as I enjoy fussy cutting, sometimes my hands do not, so having these dies is so much easier for me! 

I decided to to play around with my own background using the small present stamp - I randomly stamped away till I got the desired look I was after.  I then decided I needed to stamp something in between the presents and that's where they little heart came in (I can't remember where the heart stamp came from, sorry!).  So, once all the stamping and die cutting was done, I then coloured the little blue inked presents in, using  the 'Cool Aqua' promarker pen.  I decided to leave the yellow presents as they were.  I did then decide to go over all the presents with my Clear Wink of Stella brush, just to give them a subtle sparkle! The little tortoise & his hat were coloured in using my Promarker pens, along with the single present.  By now, I  had the idea that I would have some balloons drifting over the tortoise, carrying the little present - so, I found my balloon die (Frantic Stamper), die cut the balloons and string out and then coloured them with the same colours used for the tortoise itself. So, once everything coloured I then played around with positioning of the little fella and the balloons.  Now, having played around, I kept coming back to the same issue, I needed something resembling ground ...I don't possess the dies that cut out the ground slopes etc (watch this space ...lol) but what I did have was some Spellbinders curved borders Two, so I played around with them to try and get a curved border effect from my grass ground.  It kinda worked lol When I was happy with how it came out I then coloured the ground using the Pine Promarker pen. Having put everything together, I then needed a sentiment, so I stamped the HAPPY text and cut it out.  I wanted just the 'happy' on the front and for the inside, I stamped the 'belated birthday'.

So, there you have it!  I've had a few days to look at this card and as much as I like the colours used & all the stamps - I just wished I'd spent a bit more time playing with the positioning of the balloons and hanging present :/ BUT, as it's a learning process for me, I know, looking back I will see the error of my ways LOL

Anyway, here it is:

So, I hope you like!

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge(s):

Simon says stamp ~ wednesday challenge ~ Anything goes

That's it for now,

See you soon!

Mandy :)

Items used: Stamps & Dies: Lawn Fawn Photopolymer clear stamps ' Year Two' & coordinating dies. Tim Holtz mini Distress Inks, Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed, Salty Ocean. Promarkers: Olive Green,Yellow, Pine, Azure, Cool Aqua. Balloon Die: Frantic Stamper die - Helium Balloons (set of 4 dies).  Curved borders: Spellbinders curved borders Two. Wink of Stella, clear shimmer.

Have a 'Hoot' of a day!

Good Evening, all :)

Dropping in to showcase another card that I put together.  This was created for my Sister's birthday - she loves owls & it was such a pleasure (& distraction) making this for her. (I lost my 13 year old pooch last Saturday - I knew it was coming but didn't expect it this quick.  I am devastated beyond words, I miss her presence so much,  Her and our cats have been my constant companions through everyday life & it's goings on...I know you animal lovers will understand how hard this is... :((( 

Bonnie 2002 -2015

She will never be forgotten!

<3~~~~~~~~~~~~<3

On to my card...

first, I stamped my image onto some water coloured card, plus another piece of paper to make a mask.  I then placed the mask over my stamped image and then proceeded to water colour my background.  I used my water colour paints for this, blue, green & purple was my colour choice. Once background was finished, I heat dried it (impatient) and then proceeded to colour my stamped image. (List of colours used will be down below).  On finishing colouring, I wasn't too happy & thought the owl looked far too lonely, plonked bang in the middle of my background - so I found another stamp which had a stem & leaves on.  I masked up Mr owl and then stamped to the left of the branch, and stamped more of the leaves onto seperate water coloured paper. After removing the mask, I then coloured the leaves in with Promarkers (again, colours will be listed below) plus the  other stamped leaves. Once I was happy with the colouring, I decided to decoupage some of the leaves.  I also decided to add leaves where I felt they were needed.  I was quite happy how it turned out.  I then chose my sentiment stamps, in this case, two separate stamps - the main sentiment and then the word 'sister'. I quite liked where I decided to stamp the sentiment but on looking at the whole picture, I felt something else was needed at the top - this is where the clouds come in.  I found an embossing folder that had clouds on, so, reaching for some white card stock I proceeded to emboss and cut out.  On placing the clouds at the top of the card I felt better about the card.  In fact, I really liked how it turned out! Like I said above, it was a good distraction! To finally finish, I added glossy accents to the Owls eyes and little dots on it's chest.

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I'd like to say a big THANK YOU for visiting my blog on my last post! I hope you will continue to pop back here to see what I get up to :)

See you then,

Mandy :)

I would like to add my card into the following challenge(s)

Simonsaysstamp ~ weds challenge ~ anything goes

ITEMS USED:

Promarkers: OWL: Cocoa, Henna, Cinnamon & sandstone.  Leaves; leaf green, Pear green, Olive green. OWL Stamp , Leaf & stem stamp & Sentiment stamp by clearly besotted stamps (free with Simply cards & papercraft magazine) 'SISTER stamp, To stamp owl & sentiments, Background - unbranded water colour paints from stash. Embossing folder: free from Simply cards & papercraft magazine. Glossy Accents

Birthday Meows!

Good Morning, All :)

On to today's card....

A little bit of stamping,

A little bit of colouring,

A little bit of embossing...

And,

A little bit of die cutting,

along with

A little use of washi tape

A little use of twine

all together produced  on 

Kraft card resulting in

my

Little card for today!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Mandy :)

Items I Used: kraft card, cat stamp, text stamps, heart die, star die, 'Happy' word die, Chevron washi tape, Twine, Embossing Powder 

Pens

Welcome to my new blog!

Hello! 

Welcome to my new blog! 

I am wanting to learn more about stamping, using inks and other mediums, as opposed to just using card kits for my card making. I still love using the kits I have & I will be showcasing them off at my other blog, Crafty Cat Designs. Of course, along with learning stamping techniques I will be incorporating dies too.  I just love the new wordy dies that are available - I so need to build up on those!

The cards I have today to show you are just a few of the 'Thank you' cards I made for friends & family that were gifted to me at Christmas! I think there were 15 or so cards that I made. They were repeat designs of the ones showing below. My inspiration for these designs comes from some wonderfully talented designers; Kristina Werner & Jennifer Maguire.

Having wanted to make the cards quickly so as people would receive them quite close to post Christmas,  Luckily for me, I found some patterned A2 (US) sized cards ready to use,  That helped big time! SO, I die cut the 'Thanks' scripty die from Lawn Fawn, I cut 40 of these! I wanted to add three layers per word, for more dimension when on the card.  I then, when all three were stuck together, (fiddly but worth it), embossed the top of each word with WOW clear embossing powder for a shiny finish! five sets of the die cut words were coloured with a brown Promarker pen & then clear embossed.  I then found some heart shape dies (in my stash) I apologise because I can not recall who the dies were made by (and the die I no longer have), I positioned them on to the card to see where I wanted them & to make sure the 'Thanks' die cuts would fit on the top of them without going off the card.  Before I stuck them down, each heart was stamped with the ' so much' stamp from Jennifer Ellory (it was a free stamp from a magazine, along with her vintage floral flower papers). I positioned the 'Thanks' die back on the heart first so I knew where to stamp. Once all were stamped, the hearts were adhered to the card blanks before adhering the 'Thanks' on to the hearts.  I then took a brown thin nibbed pen to draw dashes inside the heart.  I also did this with the other hearts with a white uniball pen (which isn't showing up in the pics).  So for pretty simple cards, the longest part was the die cutting as using one die alone forty odd times was a little time consuming!  All in all, I was really pleased with the cards. 

The recipients have all received there cards now & complimented me on them!  Happy I made them, happy they liked them :)

                                                                     That's all for now!

                                                                       See you soon,

                                                                            Mandy

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