Making a Splash on an inky sea.

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week, I'm making a sweet birthday splash...

...using My Favourite Thing's adorable, 'Soak up the fun'.

I started by stamping out and colouring these cheeky little monkeys in their cute little banana boat using Zig Clean Colour Pens then fussy-cut, using a scalpel to get to the inner parts.  The 'Soak The Fun' set these fun guys are from is so brilliant, absolutely jam packed with adorable critters and creatures!  I then moved on to creating my background.  I knew I wanted them bobbing about on the sea, but I don't have any wave stamps or dies in my stash, so instead, I cut the cloud border from Mama Elephant's Landscape Trio Creative Cuts from some thick card, turned it upside down to use as a mask, and softly blended a few different blues to create a nice wavey background, adding a few flicks and splashes of ink for extra interest.

I loved how my background turned out but wanted my boat to be behind a wave as oppose to just sitting on top, I also, however, wanted to keep as few layers as possible, so instead of adding extra bulk, I simply cut around one of the waves with a scalpel, and slotted my little monkey filled fun boat behind :)

My sentiment is stamped directly onto my card front in black ink and clear embossed.  I then added a couple of cute balloons to give a little extra oomph and an added pop of colour.  My balloons are from My Favourite Thing's Somebunny set, stamped out, coloured using Zig's, and fussy-cut.  I then added string from the monkeys to the balloons just for a little added cute.

I'm really happy with how this card came out, and think these little monkeys are cute enough to put a smile on anyone's face and fun enough to make a splash on anyone's birthday!

As always, everything I used is linked below so be sure to have a peek.

See you next week.

Jillx

Spreading a little lunar love.

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week I've got some sweet little Lunar Animals...

...spreading a little love from My Favourite Things Peek-a-boo Windows Dienamic.

I have eyed this die up for soooo long, but wasn't sure I 'needed' it, (I've been trying to be a good girl...to avail), but eventually bit the bullet and treat myself...and now I can't put it down!  It is so simple yet so effective, I absolutely love it and can see me getting so much use from it!  Awesome buy :)

I started by cutting the fabulous Peek-a-boo die and doing a little ink blending on the back card in the areas which would 'peek' through.  I then took the adorable, and one of my all time favourites, Mama Elephant's Lunar Animals and stamped out onto some watercolour card.  I coloured all my images using Zig Real Brush Clean Colour Pens and fussy cut, leaving a neat white border.  I then placed my little Lunar Animals behind the Peek-a-boo die and adhered in place.  

My sentiment and little speech bubbles are from Mama Elephant's Everyday Greetings and are stamped in pale grey ink to keep the card light and bright.  I finished by adding a little heart balloon from Lawn Fawn's Hello Sunshine which is stamped using Zig Pens, and to which I added a piece of thread as the balloon string for a little added cuteness.

 I adhered my top panel over my background using foam tape to add some nice dimension and finished by adding a cute enamel heart.

I really hope you like it.  As always, everything I used is linked below.

See you next week.

Jillx

An Old Favourite

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week, I'm playing with an old favourite...

...'My Favorite' from Neat and Tangled to be precise.

I remember the first time i ever set eyes on this stamp, I fell in love with it instantly.  I'm a sucker for a large sentiment stamp and go weak at the knees for a cool font so this ticks all my boxes!

I made this as an anniversary card but the sentiment works for any loved one, family or friends, it's just fun, quirky and something a little different.

I started by stamping out Altenew's Tiny Hearts across the top 3/4 of my panel and clear heat embossed, then stamped 'My Favorite' over the top in black ink and covered that in clear embossing powder also.  I then did a gentle purple ink blend around my sentiment to show off the tiny hearts, and added a light hint of yellow at the bottom to make the colours pop.

I then took these two adorable little birdies from Lawn Fawn's Hello Sunshine and stamped them out twice; once on my actual panel and once on a separate piece of card.  I then coloured them by ink blending over the top on the separate piece of card, cut out their little bodies, and added over top of the images on my card uisng foam tape.

I coloured another piece of card in bright pink ink and cut a bunch of Lawn Fawn's 'Hearts Dies' from it.  I knew I wanted to use one of the hearts as a balloon for my two birdies to be holding, but I also wanted some to embellish with.

I took the largest heart I had cut and laid it over where I would like it to lie on my card.  I then used my stamping tool to stamp over the heart so that, when added back to the card, it would have the right part of the stamp on it and the whole sentiment would still be legible.  Like I say, I used a stamp tool but you can just as easily stamp out a spare image on some scrap paper, place your element over the corresponding place then over stamp onto that...if that makes sense :/

I added my little heart back in place with some foam tape and added a little black thread as the balloon string, then embellished with the rest of the hearts I had cut.

I really hope you like it.  I forgot how truly gorgeous this stamp is so really enjoyed re-visiting it.

As always, everything I have used is linked below.

See you next week.

Jill

In-Lay Loveliness.

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week, I've got a whole load of in-lay loveliness for you...

...featuring a little of Paper Smooches newest release!

I'm a sucker for anything small and cutesy, so fell for the Leaves Die 2 from Paper Smooches latest release as soon as I set eyes on it.  It can, however, be hard to know how to use smaller items, so I thought I'd make a card attempting to use them as a main feature.

I thought the lovely little leaves would look really sweet across a background so decided to in-lay them over an entire panel to make a real feature of them.

I started with a piece of white card and simply started cutting a load of the leaves from it.  When you first get the dies they are connected together with tiny bits of metal, it was much easier to keep them together to cut the bulk with, then, when space was limited, I snipped them apart and fit the individual leaves to cut from the smaller spaces.  I kept a piece of low tack tape by my side to store all my die-cut pieces on.  I then took a piece of green card and cut the same amount of leaves from it.  Then came the fun part, piecing it all back together!  The shapes are actually incredibly simple so it didn't take long at all, and I taped some sticky tape behind my panel to keep all my in-laid pieces in place.

I loved how my panel looked and wanted to keep with the same vibe for the rest of my card, so took Paper Smooches Roses Die and repeated the exact process, this time using red card for my rose.

My sentiment is Lawn Fawn's Scripty Thanks which I cut from black card and covered in a few layers of clear embossing powder to give it a nice rounded 3D effect.

I anchored my rose and sentiment with a tie of twine around my card and added a sweet little bow to finish off my design.

I really hope you like it and it helps you out with ideas on how to use our lovely little dies :)

As always, everything I used is linked below.

See you next week.

Jillx