Cards For Kids….

Our challenge this week at Sentimental Sundays is to create ‘Cards for Kids’, and make sure to include a sentiment! We are sponsored by Digital Delights by Louby Lou. They kindly provided the design team with images and I used this super cute Humpty Dumpty image for my card. I embossed some Core’dinations to make it look like he was sitting on a wall and inked up a sky behind him. I hope he doesn’t fall!!

Make sure you check out the rest of the DT’s fantastic creations and then share your work with us too!!

Flying by….

There is a fantastic new sketch up at Skipping Stones this week. I have been so busy but the sketch was so CAS and lovely I had to give myself some time out and plat along!

I moved the flower elements (after turning them into birds) so that they were at an angle. I then replaced the sentiment with a ribbon and went with a sentiment on the inside only. You would imagine with such a simple sketch I would have been able to follow it to the letter….I have never been good at doing what I am told though ;p

Flying by….

Does it look like the hot air balloons are pulling along the congratulations banner? I do hope so because that’s what I was aiming for. This was one of those cards that looks fantastic when you picture it in your hear. In real life it just doesn’t look as fab as you thought :/ I do however LOVE the hot air balloon stamp from 100 Proof Press. Again its so beautifully detailed and stamps beautifully. I coated the balloon in glossy accents to give some dimension and shine.

I hand cut the banner and created little ropes from some seam binding scraps. Then I sat and stared at it for a while. What is missing from it?? I then gave up and took a photo and am posting it to get it out of my system!

I am entering this to the Black and Blue challenge over at Cards for Men. Men like hot air balloons right?

Uber CAS….

One of the definitions I found of clean and simple cards (CAS): ‘A clean and simple card has limited layers and sometimes just a card base. It leaves a lot of “open space”. It uses little or no embellishments. CAS cards should be easy and quick.’

I think I managed to comply with the definition of CAS

Good to the last drop….

There is another superb sketch by Lea Lawson over at Skipping Stone designs again this week – check it out here. I am really loving their sketches and am having great fun challenging myself to use the one SSD stamp set I have in various ways on the sketches! I had great fun with this one this morning….

This was also my first ever try at paper piecing – the cardboard sleeves on the take away coffee cups just in case you didnt notice. Not the most elaborate paper piecing in the world but after cutting out 4 coffee cups and their sleeves it was as fancy as I was getting this morning! Because of the paper piecing this also qualifies for entry to the Moxie Fab World paper piecing challenge, once I am not too embarrassed to enter it in it!!

Quoth the raven….

Well I cant quote the raven on this one because I shall be using him forever, not nevermore!! I love the work of Poe so when I won this LaBlanche raven stamp from Cards n Scraps I was so delighted. I am using him in a work on progress that I cant wait to get done and reveal. The raven is just perfect for the project , and even though others may find him creepy, I love him! This tag was just me trying him out and seeing what he looks like. I embossed him onto the tag and over stamped a script stamp all around him. I stamped the script stamp off onto some scrap paper first so I could have it faded looking. I stamped some cogs using some stamps I made myself from the cogs Tim Holtz die and added a paper flower with a cog in the center just for a bit extra steampunk-ish-ness! (apologies about making up a word there but I am sure you all understand!)

Show some embossing..

The challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and Show is to show some embossing. I made a quite masculine card and embossed the background with the TH brick embossing folder. I then used an old vintage envelop to hold a tag – which I also embossed with another TH folder. I had great fun inking everything up to make it look grungy and vintagey to match the envelope. The envelope I did nothing to, it is exactly as I got it. The ticket is also an original vintage ticket.

Here is a shot of the tag too:

Ooh – la – la!!

Two cards today, again using those pesky scraps from my desk. It doesn’t seem to matter how much I use them I can never seem to finish them all!! The fist card was super fast, a Kraft card base, a scrap of red card that I edged with my doily edge punch and topped with some ribbon. Stamped the sentiment and popped the heart doily on top. Took literally 2 minutes to put together.

This card took a bit longer. I drew out the shape and folded the red card stock and cut the shape out. It took a while to get it all even looking and kept it very simple then just stamped the sentiment and made a tiny white bow with my bow easy (love that tool!) and added the little red prima flower.

Ooh la la ma cherie, a hot lips valentines card ;p  I love the sentiments in the stamp set I used, its the Sizzix France set. One of the bargains I got in the Sizzix sale – €1.99 for the set and I have used it a lot already!! The text has come out a bit strange in the photos, not in focus for some reason, hmmm. My hubby took the photos for me so I could just blame him. But then he was nice enough to take the pictures for me so I cant really complain can I?! Thank you J

PS: Katie – the lips card is for you – mwah!! ;p

Framed hearts….

Take a cheap plain wooden Ikea frame (€1.99 for a 3 pack), a tester pot of paint, paper scraps and some dies and stamps and what do you get? A very happy Nicole as I got to use up more scraps and ‘scraps’ of paint also I painted the frame the pretty aqua blue colour and stamped the butterfiles on it with a’pearl’ paint dabber. When dry I added a coat of Distress Crackle glaze. For the inside of the frame I used a scrap of turquoise and stamped a script stamp on it again using the pearl paint dabber. I then die cut the hearts and layered them together. They also got a coat of the distress crackle. I left the central swirl of the heart unstuck so that it would hold a passport photo.

Here is an example of them holding a ‘passport’ photo. I promise it is passport size. The only actual photos I could find when I went to photograph this was of me at the age of 16, it was much too depressing to put into the frame ;p

I am going to enter this over at Simon Says stamp and show as the colours really bring me straight back to my childhood. I adore the colour blue and any shade and variation of it. This colour reminds me of the first time I was allowed to pick a colour to paint my bedroom. I think I need to paint some rooms blue in my house now! Thanks for stopping by and have a happy Friday

Emboss resist..

For my Sentimental Sundays Colour challenge post please click here.

This weeks Say it With over at Annabelle stamps is so Say it with Emboss resist. I love this technique and loved playing with this one and getting all inky

I embossed my grass stamp using Forest Moss distress ink and then clear embossing powder. I then used my inks to add some simple colour. Pop on a sentiment and made myself leave it at that. Nice and clean and simple and great inky fun to do!!

PS: Keeping on my emerging scrap usage theme from this week – this card was made using all scraps again!!