Simon Says Stamp blog challenge...

Hi everyone,

A quick post to share a card I made for the wonderful, Simon Say Stamp Wednesday challenge, which this week is - Keep it clean and simple.

And here you go...

I used Hero Arts 'tiny flags' background stamp (the newest addition to my Hero Arts collection...and I just cannot put it down!), stamped in Versamark ink and covered in a variety of shades of blue (and a little smidge of silver) embossing powder which i randomly sprinkled all over to create this kind of 'ombre' effect.  I then die cut Lawn Fawn's 'scripty hello' die a few times so I could build it up to make it 'pop' a little more, and 'in-layed' it along a 'French navy' coloured banner.  I then embellished with some gorgeous pool coloured enamel dots and There you have it.

I've gotta be honest, I just love how it came out, it's kind of 'juicy'.  I really hope you like it, please feel free to leave a comment xxx

Simon says...keep it clean nad simple

Hi everyone,

I want to share a card I have made for the awesome Simon Says Stamp Wednesday blog challenge,

The challenge this week was to 'keep it clean and simple' with optional extra to use one layer, and they were 'showcasing' hero arts products...well, who doesn't love hero arts, right?  One of my absolute all time favourites!

So, here's what I came up with...

I am in love with watercolours at the momet, and treat myself to a gorgeous Pebeo half pan set which I used for this card.

I used Hero Arts 'Tiny flags' background stamp which I stamped and heat embossed in clear powder.  I then chose a selection of colours from my set, which I thought would go well together, and washed each colour across the card in a equal measures.  Once completely dry, I ironed off the embossing powder to create a flat 'batik' effect.  I then used Paper smooches 'pretty phrases' (which I love and use all the time) to stamp my sentimentint, and embellished with a simple grey enamel dot.

I really like how this card came out and think it could work really well as an, ever daunting, masculine card.

I really hope you like it, please feel free to leave a comment xxx

Sweet, neat & tangled...

Hi everyone,

One of my new favourite things on this planet is Neat and tangled stamps.  They are just so brilliant, the designs tick all my boxes, especially the large sentiments.  I just love 'em and have been lucky enough to grab myself some, (these beauts sell out, fast!), of my favourites, (obviously I would like need them all at some point when my bank balance allows).

So, i decided to have a crack at the little tangles blog challenge, which this week is 'mini cards' ... how cute??!!  

So, I'm not gonna lie, I am still obsessed with watercolour.  I normally get bored of a 'trend' pretty quickly, but I just cannot get enough of this technique.  I guess it's because the results are so different every time.  I also think these stamps are crying out to be used in this way as they are so striking, they really do stand alone without need to add much else to your design!

So here is take on the challenge...

My mini cards are 3"x4" and I really like how they turned out.

I used watercolour card to stamp each sentiment on (I used 'My favourite', 'dreams', and 'hope anchors') and heat embossed in clear powder.  I then watercoloured my backgrounds in 3 different colourways using distress inks which I 'misted' on my craft sheet, and pulling my card through the ink (I used 'peacock feathers', 'picked raspberry', and 'seedless preserve', all mixed with 'mustard seed').  Once the backgrounds were completely dry, I 'ironed' the embossing powder off, leaving a lovely flat 'batik' kind of effect (*tips hat to the master/card making goddess/craft crush...Jennifer Mcguire*).  I used a little black card to mat onto my card base, and that is that - as I said before, these stamps speak for themselves so I really didn't want to add anything extra.

I did do another set in the same manner, but mixed all the colours together on each card - they came out like this

I love both sets to be honest, I hope you do too.

Please feel free to leave a comment xxx

shine bright like a diamond...

Hi everyone,

How was your bank holiday weekend?  Mine has been a delight :)  I normally have to work (sadly been a pub manager means working when everyone else is off having fun!), but it worked out I was off this time! Woo hoo!! And what better way to spend it than crafting?  Soooo, I thought I'd share a fun card I made, and as pretty much half my stamp collection is from make the day special, I thought I'd submit one more piece in their first ever blog challenge which you can find here -  http://makethedayspecialcards.blogspot.co.uk/p/challenges.html 

I used the AMAZING neat & tangled - 'Sparkle and shine' stamp set, i just cannot get enough of neat & tangled stamps, their designs tick all my boxes and are just so versatile.  LOVE LOVE LOVE them!

I stamped my image and sentiment on acetate (although it doesn't show up too great on the photo) with stazon ink, then coloured the bulb from behind using Luminarte - h20 paints and a white acrylic paint to give it more dimension.  I then sandwiched this in between some My minds eye patterned paper, which I had die cut an apperture from using Lawn fawn's - 'stitched journalling card' die.  I used the line of stars from the same die set to give some extra detail, and embellsihed with some nice bright juicy looking sequins!

I really hope you like it, I would love to read your comments xxx

More Mama Elephant love...

So, I just wanted to share another card I have made for the Mama Elephant blog challenge.  I admit it - my "name is Jill Neary and I am a cute stamp addict", and they don't come much cuter or sweeter than Mama Elephant stamps.  

The challenge this month is a 'picture inspiration challenge', so first of all here's the picture...

...and here's what I came up with...

I took inspiration from the clean, calmness of the picture and decided to use acetate as my card base to mirror the texture of the bottles.

Using the Mama Elephant 'love quotes' set, I stamped my sentiment in clear embossing powder and 'washed' over using tumbled glass, broken china, and salty ocean distress inks as watercolours.  Once this was completely dry, I ironed the embossing powder off (my current favourite technique - I just love how it leaves you with with beautiful, clean, sleek, one dimensional layer).  I then created my card base using acetate and attached my 'inner card' using clear tape at the back so it would not be visible.  I then embellished with a few sequins and clear dew drops, and that was it.

I wanted to keep this card as clean and crisp as possible to represent my take on the picture challenge.

I hope you like it, I would love to read your comments xxx

Make the day special blog challenge...

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to share another card I have made for the Make the day special blog challenge for April.  If you have ever visited my blog before you will know how much I love this online shop...well they only just went and got one better (!!!) ...seriously, they have just added 'Neat & tangled' stamps to their, already amazing, supply list!!!  Good news for my collection - bad news for my bank account.

It is their first blog challenge so the rules are simple - anything goes :) woop woop!!

So, my current favourite things in this world ...Make the day special, Neat & tangled, watercolour and sequins...and here you go...

I stamped the background, using the Neat & Tangled 'Hope anchors' in clear embossing powder and 'watercoloured' the card using various distress inks (if memory serves correct I used picked raspberry, peacock feathers, spiced marmalade & seedless preserve).  Then, once the background had dried, I ironed (yes, ironed - not a word I use too often) the embossing powder off - a technique I learnt recently from a Jennifer Mcguire video (another of my favourite things in this world :),  I then embellished very simply with a few sequins and there you have it.

I really hope you like, I would love to read your comments xxx

the beautiful mama elephant...

Hi everyone,

A quick post to share a card I made today to enter in the April Mama Elephant blog challenge.

I love mama elephant stamps, they are just sooooo cute.  I simply can't resist them and now have quite a collection!  Each set I see swiftly becomes a 'need not want' kind of situation :)

The 'challenge' this month is a 'photo inspiration challenge' and the prize is.....wait for it....."a spot on the ME Challenge Team for a 6 month term"!!! Aaaaargh!!!  Can you imagine???!!!!  Now that is what I call a prize!

So here's the inspiration photo...

My instant reaction was 'clean', 'serene' and 'calm', and here's where it took me...

I apologise for the not so great photography on this post, the face of the card is acetate and my oh my...what a nigthmare that is to photograph well!  Nevermind, gotta try eh?  

The stamps are from the 'love quotes' set which are made up of the sweetest sentiments ever!!!  They are all so lovely it took me almost as long to choose which one to use as it did to make the card!

So, I stamped the speach bubble and the sentiment on acetate in stazon ink, then painted from behind using creative expressions chalk paints (a new obsession - they are amazing!), to really make the words 'pop'.  I wanted to keep it clean and simple so simply mounted this panel into an aperture I made in some patterned cardstock and embellished with a few enamel and glitter dots, and a small tag of american crafts ribbon.  I also mounted a small amount of the same patterned paper on the inside of the card just to help the painted sentiment stand out even more.

I really like the end result.  It really fits the look I was aiming for.

I hope you like it, wish me luck (eeeek).  I would love to read your thoughts so please leave a comment xxx

You are so loved...

Hi everyone,

just wanted to share a cute and simple card I made for the April challenge over at make the day special.  It is the most amazing online shop selling rare and hard to get stamps from the USA.  I LOVE IT!  Can't say the same for my bank balance but, meh, enjoy it while you can I say (to myself.  all the time.  I kinda have to.  It's that or admit I've got a problem haha).

I used Mama elephant's 'love from above'...soooo cute.  See, this is the problem, how can you look at a stamp set like this and not need to have it in your life!  I just have no will power to say no!

So here it is...

                       

I coloured the little cherub in using distress inks as watercolours.  I can't tell you how obssessed with this technique I am at the moment.  I think it's great how we fall back in love with techniques and effects, you get to have fun with them all over again...and again :)

So a very simple card, watercoloured image with a little tag of ribbon and a few punched out hearts.

Hope you like it, please feel free to leave a comment.

light as a feather...

Hi everyone,

Well today I thought I'd combine a few of my favourite things...watercolour, feathers, and Wplus9 stamps, and all for the love of another one of my favourite things, online shop make the day special and their blog challenge for April.

It's an 'anything goes' challenge, which I love as it means you just get to have fun.  

I am obsessed with creating a watercolour effect at the minute (think it might have something to do with spring being in the air), and thought it would work perfect with this 'fanciful feathers' stamp set from Wplus9.  So here it is...a very simple card made by 'misting' distress inks to create this lovely watercolour effect.  I hope you like it :)

 

I would love to hear your comments x

make the day special...

Well, one of my favourites ever ever of all time ... make the day special, are now starting to hold weekly challenges which I am rather excited about.  I love playing along with blog challenges as it allows me to just have some fun, which is surely what it's all about, yes?  So for the first challenge, it is literally 'anything goes'.  The only rules are that you have to use stamps they supply ... which really isn't that hard for me as I may, or may not, spend far too much in their online shop :/ ...oopsy.

So I did a few different cards with recently purchased stamps, and will upload them all ... but here's my first entry ...

It's such a simple card but I think it came out pretty cute.

The background is distress inks, 'misted' on my craft mat & my card 'smooshed' through the puddle to create this lovely watercolour effect.  I then stamped my images using 'Lawn fawn - oh happy day' stamp set (soooooooo cute).

I wanted to keep it very simple, so instead of adding more colour to my images - i took it out.  I did this by 'blotting' the images with water & kitchen paper to remove the background colours. I love this effect, just so simple but effective.

The sun was stamped using more distress ink but that, again, had been misted to create a watercolour effect.  A little matting & layering onto kraft card & there you have it.

Sweet & simple, I hope you agree :)

A sprinkle of imagination...

Hello,

How is everyone?  I'm doing great, despite the grim weather we have been having 'up north'!  It seems the rest of the U.K was enjoying the first flutters of spring whilst we were shrouded in a wet grey nasty fog!  Nevermind...perfect excuse to sit indoors and get messy with some inks eh?

I recentley discovered  an amazing online craft supply shop called a sprinkle of imagination.  I couldn't believe I hadn't heard of them before!  Amazing shop with amazing brands and products on offer, right up my alley!  In anycase, I did the first thing anybody in this day and age would do...& 'liked' them on facebook haha.  The even better news is they have regular challenges for folk to play along with, and I do love a good challenge.  

So I got stuck straight in with my first play along, which happened to be a colour challenge, and can be found here - a sprinkle of colour      

 ...and here is the palette...

                                       

beautiful clours to work with I'm sure you'll agree.

And here's what I came up with...

...and I made it with these supplies...

I created my background using distress inks (in seedless preserve, bundled sage and shabby shutters), rubbing each colour on my craft sheet, misting with water, and pulling my card through. It creates a gorgeous 'watercolour' effect which I just love.  

I used Indigo Blu's 'Summer Lovin' as my main stamped image.  I pulled out the colour from the parts I wanted to stand out more by adding water and dabbing with kitchen paper.  I then de-coupaged a few of the flowers and painted them using distress inks (seedless preserve, shabby shutters & fired brick) as watercolours once agian.

I used a sentiment from Sam Poole's 'Art sayings', cut up, inked using distess inks again, and added to the front using foam pads for dimension.

I hope you like it.  Please feel free to leave a comment :)