Lots of Layers Birthday Wishes

It's been a while since I have posted anything as unfortunately, I have had to have a break from crafting, so have some catching up to do. We are already venturing into September and it's also the start of our blog challenge at Let's Craft & Create with a theme of Lots of Layers. As with all our challenges, they are also ATG.

For my 7x7 inch card I decided to use the design papers from the Dreamees Aquamarine pad. I know I am biased when it comes to Dreamee products, as I love using their products but there are so many gorgeous double-sided paper pads, it's difficult to have just one favourite but really easy to make a card, even if you just use the paper pad alone.

I used a few of my Tattered Lace square shaped dies to build up the layers, using the Timber Boutique script die with my silver dinky inky to add interest and highlight the layers.

I used the Tattered Lace Vintage Tag die and layered it up with flowers using the same paper pad and the Dreamees Fancy Floret flower dies along with the smaller dies from the delicate florals in navy cardstock.

Using my Ultimate Pro by Crafters Companion I made a handbag box. I have had this since they first came out and still use it all the time for my box/envelope making. The box has been decorated with matching papers and I've used one of the flowers from the Delicate florals die set by The Dreamees. 

The sentiment is from one of my  Dreamee stamp sets and I have found a fab little haberdashery shop that sells lots of remnants of ribbons. Just what you need for projects like this and this ribbon was a great example of what I had found in the little shop.

To finish off, I used one of the design sheets inside my card along with one of the Dreamees Recipe sentiments. This card was for a friend's birthday over the summer.

The rest of our design team have also been making some lovely projects this month, along with so many great crafters on our blog every month. It's always lovely to see the inspiration everyone shares. Please use the link below to take you to the blog challenge and thanks for the visit.

Happy Crafting

Wild Wishes

It's been a while since I have posted anything as unfortunately, I have had a break from crafting, so have some catching up to do. September is here already and it's the start of our blog challenge at Daisy Chains with a wildlife theme. As with all our challenges, they are also ATG.

Over the summer break, I did visit the zoo, one of my favourite places as there is always so much to see and always something new each time I go. So I thought I would make a birthday card using some safari fat quarters that I had been given which are just the perfect size for cards.

I chose the zebra and created a small aperture card with a little wadding to pad out the fat quarter, which was to form the topper on my card.

I used some zebra print backing paper from my stash and some tropical leaves with I downloaded online and inked the edges with one of my dinky inkies in crocodile. These did take me quite a while to cut out as I didn't have any die cuts but I'm a pretty slow crafter these days anyway so what was leftover I will keep for another project, which will be really handy.

I  used an off white 6 x 6-inch deckle edge card blank to match the aperture topper and found my label printer (which I wish that I had found ages ago!) to create the sentiment.

The rest of our design team have also been making some lovely projects this month, along with so many great crafters on our blog every month. It's always lovely to see the inspiration everyone shares. Please use the link below to take you to the blog challenge and thanks for the visit.

Happy crafting

Woodland Wonders Birthday

Another birthday card to share today and I really enjoyed making this one with these wildlife wonders that  I carried the scene into the inside of the card.

It's also the start of our blog challenge at Let's Craft & Create and the theme for this month's challenge is to use your punches/dies in your project. As with all our challenges, they are also ATG. 

I have been finding 7 x7" cards a better size card for me to work with when I have to think about sending it in the post as I know that I can make an envelope using my 12x12" card, which just makes it a lot easier.

I used my Dreamees chalk dinky inkies to create the background on the white stamping card base and the cloud stencil from the Dreamees Treasured Stencils set with structure paste.

I die cut the Dreamees Essential Tree die from a piece of their chocolate card that I had leftover from another project and the little flowers from red card. This die set also comes with tiny leaves and little autumn leaves, to cover all the seasons.

The Heartfelt Hedgehogs is another favourite stamp set of mine, retired now and these adorable critters have been stamped onto some Neenah desert storm card that I found, now that was a lucky find!

The young lad I made this card for loves his animals and I have made him a few animal cards in the past and my Dreamees stamps have always been perfect for these cards.

I felt that there was more that I could add and make this birthday card into a picture card. so added the stamps from the Dreamees retired Winter Woodland set. It has the most adorable owl and the squirrel reminded me of the one that visits my garden and hangs upside down on my bird feeder to get the sunflower seeds out..... The same squirrel that has chewed all the features of my wicker owl's face and left it with just a wonky eye ha ha.

I have coloured all these in with promarkers. I needed a tree for the squirrel to throw the acorns down at the owl so used one of the stamps from another retired stamp set Mischievous Monkeys.

A lovely blogger by the name of  Mamawcindy commented about trying to make use of stamps that she had forgotten about and had started making cards with again.  I have been trying to do the same. New products come out all the time as crafting styles, ideas, and inspiration flows and changes, which are difficult to resist at times but I do actually stop and think if I really need it.

Our design team have also been busy this month with projects of their own and there is always lots of fabulous inspiration shared by the crafters on our blog too. If you are interested,  there is a prize for the winning entry, following our theme, and a badge for your blog for the top 3 runners up. Just click on the link below which will take you to our blog challenge. 

Happy Crafting

Cute Bun Birthday Wishes

I have been doing more stamping lately and realised that I hadn't shared some cards that I had made last month, so thought I would start with this one.

Our blog challenge at Daisy Chains this month is running a dies/stencil theme and as with all our challenges they are ATG. My card for our challenge this month has an even mix of both.

On a 7 x7" white card base I added a pale blue mirri card layer and then on the white stamping card topper I used the Dreamees sparkle dinky inkie in periwinkle for the base colour and then a mix of their colours through one of their circle stencils from their Treasured Stencils set.

The Dreamees stamp Cute bun was coloured with promarkers and I added the square frame from their Loops & Lace die collection, inking the frame to match the background. Another one of my favourite character stamp sets, I have quite a few favourites. I stamp with what I love and it's as simple as that really.

I also used the Dreamees Fancy Florets flower duo stamp/dies. These were coloured with periwinkle, watermelon and lemon drizzle sparkle dinky inkies and finished off with gold pearls. I love the sparkle from these inks. A great shimmer, never overpowering. 

My birthday card was for a little girl growing up fast. I have been making a conscious effort to make more use of stamps in my stash. When you make cards for family and friends, you find that you need something different each year and at the moment I'm in a stamping phase.

The rest of our design team have also been making some lovely projects this month, along with so many great crafters on our blog every month. It's always lovely to see the inspiration everyone shares. Please use the link below to take you to the blog challenge and thanks for the visit.

Happy Crafting

Create an Eden Journal Page

Following on from the brush art mdf, I have created a journal page also using the mdf brush from the Dreamees embellishment sheet.

Inspired by a lot of paintbrush art I wanted to recreate my own page using one of the Dreamees paper pad, Sweet as Strawberries, as I thought it was perfect for what I wanted to create.

With my love of gardening and my strawberries beginning to ripen with all this sunshine, the idea in my head I wanted to create was a zest of flavour from the harvest of fruit. I think crafting and gardening are very similar, as in the way that they both continue to change and evolve. So, (if you are not already confused) the paintbrush represents the "painting your garden of Eden".

I used the Dreamees 8 x 8 Sweet as Strawberries paper pad to created the layers for my journal page. One of the design papers had lots of small strawberries, which made them ideal for the explosion of fruit.

They did take quite a while to cut out but I did have the precision scissors that I rely on to do the job and with a little shaping with a ball tool and a touch of glossy accent, they came alive. Just before the glossy accent set, I pricked the strawberries with my pokey tool to mimic the strawberry seeds.

I added structure paste to some Dreamees crocodile sparkle dinky inkie reinker to create the paint on the end of the paintbrush and the streak of paint.

For the brush head, I added raffia/jute ribbon and then created a panel for the paintbrush using cardboard. This was then painted silver with my Dreamees silver dinky inkie reinker. I covered the handle of the brush with some textured paper from my stash.

I was really stuck with the wording for my page, to begin with. Having an idea in your head is one thing but adding wording to match that makes sense, doesn't always follow.

So, I used the end part of one of the Dreamees sentiments "grow a happy life" and added the first part using alphabet stamps and cutting them out so that they looked as if they fit together.

I wasn't entirely sure where I was going with this when I started but I am happy with the outcome.

If I had thought about it, I would have added pictures of my strawberries which I have grown in hanging baskets this year. The baskets themselves look a wreck, as our resident nesting blackbird has decided to pull the basket liners apart,  to use to line her own nest.

Well, I did say my garden was wildlife friendly....

Have a great day whatever you have planned

Happy Crafting

Brush Art

I was inspired by a lot of the paintbrush art that is about at the moment and as I had a paintbrush mdf embellishment sheet by the Dreamees, I thought that I would attempt to create my interpretation in a smaller form.

These 2mm mdf paintbrush embellishment sheets are really easy to store away until you need to use them and also prevent smaller elements from getting broken, as well as making it easier to colour whilst in the carrier sheet.  The paintbrushes are about 12.5cm tall.

To recreate the brush head, I used raffia/jute ribbon and added a panel to the brush which I created out of cardboard, then painted with a little Dreamees silver dinky inkies reinker.

For the splash of paint on the end of the brush, I mixed a little strawberry fields sparkle dinky inkie with some structure paste.  I used some mini scrabble letters from my stash to embellish. I saved all the letters from an old travel game.....as, like always, think these things might come in handy in my crafting.

I added a slender paintbrush and glitter bottle using gel medium to stick them down as it gives a clear strong bond, especially on mixed media surfaces.  The 'Inspire' wording was also from one of my Dreamees embellishment sheets and mixed a little structure paste with my dinky inkies to get a textured topping on the letters, not forgetting a little drip on the button that I used for the 'i'. Another really handy mdf embellishment sheet they have are the faux bulldog clips; which I have painted and added to the base of the brush.

I covered the handle of my brush in some remnants of glitter paper that I had and really liked the colourways. The mdf brushes are light enough to add to a card if you just wanted to paint or just add your papers to them too.

I am enjoying making smaller projects, perhaps as my crafting pace has had to slow down to a crawl now at times, as long as I feel inspired to create something, no matter what it is then I will keep going.

Have a great day, whatever you have planned

Happy Crafting

Go fly a kite

Today I am sharing two inspirational cards that I have made using the digi stamps from this month's progressive monthly digi stamp challenge from Imagine that digistamp.

As I took part in last month's challenge  I was sent this month's digi kit; Go fly a Kite, to use in this month's challenge. As I am not a colourist, I tend to choose the pre-coloured option and decoupage areas to add dimension where I choose to.

I think these digi stamps are really cute and like the inspirational sentiments. After just over a year of being in and out of lockdown, sending cards to say hi, how are you? seems to be on the increase again which is a great thing. 

It really doesn't cost a lot to put a smile on someone's face to show that you are thinking of them. It just takes a little more time out of your day to do something thoughtful for someone else, no matter how small, that could make a world of difference to them.

I used some papers from my stash and a little silver thread for my kites.  I remember flying kites when I was little, running what seemed like a half marathon to get the kite off the ground and then hanging on for dear life as it shot off like a catherine wheel in all directions...

Why not check out the Imagine that digistamp blog challenge and the inspiration from the other crafters that have joined in too. 

Have a great start to your week and enjoy your day whatever you have planned.

Happy Crafting.