Aurora on a Monoprinted Background

So where has the last two years gone! There have been huge changes for all our family. We have moved away from Lancashire and back to Norfolk, close to the coast. My mum is now living with us and I have a new job working in a secondary school fifteen minutes away. Instead of volunteering with Guides, I am now working with Rainbows - very different! Our children too have all had big lifestyle changes including making us grandparents for the first time!

Now that my craft space and other things are reasonably sorted, I can finally give myself some creative time again! And in these strange times we are currently going through with Coronavirus sweeping across the world and taking many lives with it, it's nice to find some sanctuary away from the news and making the most of time spent at home. So many well-known crafters are giving up their time to keep us entertained and educated through facebook live videos, there is no shortage of inspiration and I thank everyone who is finding some way of doing their bit to keep our creative community going!

I have decided to resurrect my blog as a reference point for my creative makes and have vowed to post more on other social media platforms too! So now that her birthday has past I can share a card that I made in the last week for Kes.

I created the background on my Gel Press using Brushos. I scrunched up some paper and used it with Distress Inks to add some texture especially around the edges. The main image and the blossoms are stamped in black and coloured with inks; the ivy and the thistles are stamped in grey. I added a masked moon with some sparkle around it as well as on the fairy wings and falling from the flowers (though it doesn't show up well in the photo).

Supplies Used:
Brushos: Lime Green, Turquoise, Violet & Yellow
Distress Inkpads: Dusty Concord & Peeled Paint
Lavinia Stamps: Aurora, Small Trailing Ivy, Star Blossom & Thistles
Versafine Inkpads: Onyx Black & Smokey Gray
Snippets: Sakura Gelly Roll pen (Clear Star)

Stay safe and well
Stef x

CC&S #118: Monochromatic Shades Of Green

I've not been very well this week, flu, even though I had a flu jab back in October - hey ho!

This month's challenges at CAS Colours and Sketches are being hosted by Louise and for her first colour challenge she has chosen three shades of green. I thought I would make a card for my daughter, Katie's, birthday who will be 23 on 1st April!

The squares started out as a piece of my favourite white linen cardstock. I stamped various leaves with Versamark, clear embossed, then sponged and blended inks in three shades of green. This was then spritzed with water and left to dry. I sponged the same inks onto a spare piece of cardstock and die-cut the base of the dragonfly. I used the dragonfly stamp on vellum with Versamark and white EP, die-cut and glued just the bodies together, finishing with three small gems. I printed the sentiment straight onto the card blank and then assembled the layout, raising the dragonfly slightly with thin foam pads.

Close-up of dragonfly's wings

I would also like to enter my card into the following challenge:
Less is More: Week #217 Combine any three previous Less is More challenges
The three challenges I am combining are:
Week #04: Sketch or Recipe - 3 squares
Week #15: One Layer - Embossing
Week # 89: One Layer - Wings
The DT stated that 'Should you choose a challenge which happened to be a One Layer card in the original challenge, there is no necessity to make it one layer for this challenge, unless you particularly wish to do so'.

As it also fits the criteria of a couple of other challenges, I would also like to enter my card into:
CASology: Week #140 where this week's cue card is 'Spring'

and Seize the Birthday, a new challenge for me, where this week's birthday theme is 'Anything Goes' (with no toppings)!

Supplies used:
Stamp set: Leaf decor stamps (Clear Choice)
Die & stamp set: Dragonfly (Creative Dies) - free with Simply Cards and Papercraft #134
Ink pads: Bundled Sage & Peeled Paint (TH Distress); New Sprout (Memento)
Shimmer dots: Pearlescent black/green (Papermania)
Snippets: White linen cardstock, Clear and White EP 

I'm rather pleased with this one and will definitely make a couple more with the leftover pieces. I'm glad as it's for a special birthday and I hope Katie likes it too!

Stef x

Less is More 166

Today I have made a card for no other reason than I was inspired by this week's challenge on Less is More, a colour challenge 'A Touch Of Turquoise' (my favourite colour!). The stamp is one of my first ever stamps from Papermania, which I have stamped on hammered cardstock and cut out. The centre of the flower is filled with seed beads and I have used my ink dusters to create a delicate mist of turquoise ink around the flower. The card is finished with a stamped sentiment (again one that I have had for ages) and a tiny turquoise butterfly. I hope I've managed to convey the 'touch of' message and can't wait to join in again!

I have entered this card into:

Less is More Colour Week 166: A Touch Of Turquoise

Thanks for visiting!

Stef

Thistles and Wild Flowers

I've been playing around with stencils and paste and made this card for my friend Tracy's birthday. The background was made using textured paper coloured with Pan Pastels. The stamped thistles are from one of my favourite companies Lavinia Stamps with Distress inks. The paste is a pearlescent one from Dreamweaver used with a Sweet Poppy stencil (designed by Tracey from Lavinia Stamps) called 'Wild Flowers'. Inspiration for the shape came from this weeks 'Less is More' challenge.

I would like to enter it into the following challenges:
Lavinia Stamps Challenge #3: Add Something Pink
Less Is More Lucky Dip Week 165: Round and Round

Thanks for looking!
Stef

Katie's Birthday

This is the diamond folded card I made for my daughter Katie’s 17th birthday last week. It matches the colours of her newly painted bedroom. I had to wait until after the event to show it on my blog in case she peeked!



And another view without the ribbon.

Supplies:
Papers: BasicGrey Euphoria & Papermania
Alphabet Stickers: BasicGrey EuphoriaFlowers, Brads and Gems: Papermania
Ribbon: Anita’s

More makes using felt flowers

I don’t get as much time as I would like to craft so I often make things in series as it saves me time. Following on from last week’s BasicGrey challenge I stitched two more felt flowers and made another similar card for my friend Lorraine’s birthday which I also entered into Clare Curd’s weekly craft challenge on DoCrafts where the theme was ‘All Stitched Up’.



I also made a 4” x 4” fat page with a flower theme for a Crafts Beautiful forum swap. This was the first one of these I have made and I really enjoyed doing it. The swap will be ongoing so after a few months everyone that has signed up will each end up with a fat page book.


Supplies:
Papers: BasicGrey Two Scoops
Flower punch: XCut
Felt ribbon, Button & Gems: Papermania

BasicGrey Challenge

This is a week of firsts for me. First my blog and now my first blog challenge. This week’s BasicGrey challenge is ‘Textured Creations’. I must admit to being inspired by one of the DT’s projects and using Anthea’s project as a starting point I have created my own textured card. The patterned square has been stitched, the dotted layer has been ribbled, the vertical strip has been embossed (though it doesn’t really show in the photo) and matted and the greetings strip has been printed using my computer and stapled. I traced the flower from the patterned paper and made a template for the felt flowers which have been layered, stitched and finished with a button. I love the way the colours and textures have worked together, but then you can’t go wrong using my fave BasicGrey papers can you? I’m going to send it to my friend Alison whose birthday is next week.

Supplies:
Papers: BasicGrey Two Scoops
Button and Gems: Papermania