I’ve not entered into this challenge very often, actually probably only once or twice, but after seeing Barbara Campbell’s DT entry I was really intrigued with the idea. I thought about it for a few days – I read so much it is hard to pick a book – but found an old book on my shelf that I loved and decided to use it as inspiration.

The story is set in India and except for the elephant and moon stamps, I had nothing else that would work for a background similar to what was in my head. After searching the Internet I found a free photo image by Tiago Rosado on Unsplash. My hubby was kind enough to play with it so that it looked more like an evening image and to resize it so I could use it. Original is very brightly coloured and I wanted everything to be muted. The archway is very similar to the one on my book cover and I added a few additional highlights using a pencil. Truthfully, I’m not sure if using a photo is within the realm of challenge rules, but I decided to go with it anyway.

The elephant is from a Hero Arts kit, the moon is from an older set by Altenew cut with a Hero Arts infinity circle die and I used Squeezed Lemonade and Lost Shadow inks for the moon and mainly pencils for the elephant. Originally I tried to stamp the moon directly onto the photo image after I had masked off the arch, but I couldn’t get a good impression over the printed image. I decided to make a separate layer of the moon and fussy cut around the arch so I could push it partially behind as you see here. This worked better than I expected. I used some foam tape behind the elephant for a bit of dimension and I’m quite happy with how it has turned out. I’m uncertain about a sentiment so will decide on that when I use the card.

I think I’ve managed to capture the essence of the book with this card and hope you agree. Thanks for stopping by.

For quite a while now I have been wanting to try a lattice style card, but other things got in the way. Finally today I sat down to make one and this is what I came up with. As You See It wants a summertime style card and what we like most about summer and I thought travel was a good choice. We don’t camp although we do go boating and we love to travel when we can. Then JUG’s is asking us to CASE a designer and I chose Lisa E’s Trellis card but did mine as a cross over style lattice.

The camper, sun and cloud are Doodle Pops Stickers that came in a mystery box sometime ago. The bird is a left over from a Sizzix die cut that I sponged gently with left over inks and the circle die cuts are also left overs from other projects. I chose not add a sentiment for now but when I do it will be behind the circles.

This wasn’t a difficult card once I understood how it went together, but it does require a little bit of fiddling to get things right. I’m quite happy with the end result and may do a few more like this when I have the time. I really need to clean my craft room as it is pretty messy and I’m not finding things easily. That is a sure sign I need to tidy up.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone is staying safe considering the temperatures in some places.

For a while now I have been wishing to try another Natasha Foote technique she calls ribbon weaving. In actual fact there is no weaving involved as one is laying down satin ribbon over an adhesive backed piece of CS. I chose the ribbons you see here and an embossing folder called Brocade from Craft Concepts. When the ribbons were done I ran it through with the folder after I had trimmed down the panel to get clean edges. I added the thin white frame cut with Hero Arts Infinity dies to give it a more finished look and then glued it all to the card front. The word die is a new to me die from MFT and I used the same CS colour to tie things together nicely. A few small embellishments and it was complete. I will say that gluing the sentiment and embellishments over ribbon is more challenging and I had to try twice to get the words to stick properly. I quite like how it turned out and as I have quite a bit of satin type ribbon that I don’t use much I may use it now for a few more in a similar style.

Thanks for stopping by, it is always appreciated.

At Cardz 4 Galz the current challenge is something with a P and I chose poppies. The stamps are from an incentive set by GKD and I stamped the poppies onto some watercolour paper using Versamark. I stamped the sentiment on a white scrap piece and heat embossed both in silver. The die set is from Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 6 and I used the largest one to die cut the panel and a smaller one for the sentiment. To get the border around the image piece I traced around the outside of the die, fussy cut and then inked the edges with Black soot. I water coloured the flowers using Barn door ink and added the background with Twisted Citron. I also sprayed a bit of Lindy’s Starburst on top for some spatter. As I began to assemble the pieces I realized that the card front needed a bit of something so using the same stamp and some Hickory Smoke I randomly stamped around the card not worrying about getting defined lines. I found a small ladybug button in my stash and cut off the back part so I could glue it flat but I see on the photo that it doesn’t show nicely. In reality it looks pretty. I am out of red embellishments but managed to find a few so they were added as well.

I’m quite pleased with the end result and it will go to someone who truly inspires me eventually. Thanks for spending time with me it is appreciated.

One of my friends often haunts flea markets and garage sales. Recently she found a few early dies by Sizzix and she promptly purchased them so she could give them to me. I know they are very early ones because they have a layer of felt over the plates which they don’t do anymore. Anyway this little Santa and sack are one of the die sets. As you can see today I tested out the dies and put them together. Then I had to decide how to use the result. After playing around a bit I decided to use a stencil by Warm Wishes and added the background. I also added a little Perfect Pearls using a water brush so there was some shine. An unbranded village set gave me the snowy slope which I shaded just a little with the sponge. The sentiment is from a Divinity Designs set and is used a lot especially when I want something very small. I added some Cosmic Shimmer fluffy stuff to the Santa and some tiny stars to the sack and sky.

Some of these gifted dies are the long narrow kind and I no longer have the plates for that size die so I don’t get an entire cut although they can still be used.

Thanks for popping in to look and I hope you are having a decent week.

Using Hexagon dies I cut three shapes with one being slightly larger than the other two. Using some stamps from a GKD set called Mandala Maker, I stamped onto each shape and then coloured them in using watercolour pencils and a Sakura Glaze black pen. I went around the edge of each shape with an alcohol black pen and glued them to the card front as you see. I added 2 strips of leftover dry embossed CS leaving enough space to add the sentiment which is from a SSS preprinted set.

This card was inspired by several made by Deborah as well as the guest designer at JUG’s. I’m quite happy with the result and the stamped shapes remind me of eyes in a funny kind of way.

Thanks for stopping by, it is appreciated.

With the nautical theme at CYHTP, the travel theme at Inkspirational and an anything goes birthday at https://stencilfun.blogspot.com/ this card works for all 3 challenges. I can’t say it was planned that way initially but it evolved into this.

The EB is an older one from Couture Creations, the stencil and stamp are from Hero Arts and my sentiment is computer generated as I didn’t have what I wanted in my stash. First I did the embossing on a piece of watercolour CS and then I cut it down so it wouldn’t be too big although it is still bigger than a A2 card. I thought I could create a scene in the center but wasn’t sure exactly how until I remembered this stencil. I masked off all the embossed areas and then placed the stencil and sponged through it using inks that were still on the sponges. Then I stamped the sailboat several times to get a decent impression. The seagulls are from Inspired by Stamping and I use this little stamp a lot. I went over the porthole screws with some silver and also did the outer edge the same way. The little screws in each corner had silver added on top of the ink as masking them off was way too fiddly to do. After adding the entire panel to a card front made from Bristol CS I considered it finished.

I’m actually quite pleased with the end result and it is a good way to use this particular folder too. We may see some rain according to the forecast and by the look of the sky it could be an accurate one. We pray for some as it would help things a lot right now.

Thanks for taking a look, it is appreciated.

The hummingbirds feeding at our feeders are an endless source of amusement and fascination. So much so, that I’ve been researching more about the birds. Cornell has some really interesting information and earlier this week I was reading about their feathers and how they make them iridescent. They are amazing little birds and because I have feathers on my mind the challenge at As You See It ensured that I would use feathers somehow in my design. This is what I came up with. I think I’ve managed the colours and I discovered that even though my Inka Gold paste have become dry, if I scrape them and add a bit of water they can still be used. Initially I used some scrap watercolour CS and I sprayed it with a combination of blue and red mica stains. While I liked the result and shine, it didn’t feel quite right so this is where I used the Inka Gold pastes over the top to get a more intense colour. I used dies from Spellbinders to cut them out. The wood grain piece is a wood grain card stock that I went over with some gray and then added it to the Kraft card front. Feathers were popped up with foam tape. Sentiment is from a GKD set and considering the hummingbirds it seemed perfect for the card. I’ve left it pretty CAS but think it needs some bling? What do you think?

I hope you are not suffering in the excessive heat that is portrayed on the evening news. It is hot here, but still not as bad as other places. Thanks for stopping by, it is appreciated.

All these tiny stamps came from a Hero Arts set called Bubble Bath, which I’ve only used once before. The first time I used them I didn’t have the dies, but purchased them later. Noticed today that one of the dies is faulty so will have to see if they can replace it.

I made my own stencil using a window die which I cut down to six apertures. I sponged Tattered Rose and Spun sugar initially but added a small amount of Victorian Velvet in a few places. I spritzed it with water and laid a stencil over the top pressing it down. I had hoped to get a bit of texture but it didn’t quite work as planned. I stamped all the tiny images onto the cut outs from the window, coloured them using pencils and Sakura Glaze and the die cut them. Once cut they were glued to the squares. As the flower die is the one that is faulty I stamped the flower here and there directly to the panel and coloured in with glaze pens. Once the panel was ready I added it to card front and then added the frame on top. I’m not sure about the end result but most likely it will grow on me as so often happens. My cleaning lady thought it was cute as did my hubby.

Thanks for taking a look and I hope your day is going well. It is so hot here that being outside is exhausting, but it is drying my laundry really fast.

An old boyfriend, who has remained in my life and is a good friend to both my hubby and I, has a birthday coming up. He is a classical guitarist as well as a doctor and I usually try to make him something related to music. This card is what I came up with for him and it fits the challenge at Make My Monday, #205 An Aperture Card so it will be entered there.

Using an unbranded guitar die, I cut all the pieces and assembled the guitar. Quite fiddly to do, but the end result makes it worth it. I have a sheet music stamp but no idea who made it and it is an older rubber stamp so I used this to create the PP behind the aperture. The die used to cut the opening is another I can’t remember the brand of, but I know one of my stamp buddies has the same die so perhaps she can tell me. I also used the corner dies made by Cherry Lynn Designs. Sentiment is from Hampton Arts and I added a second one inside from the same set. The inspiration for the design came from a Pinterest post, but there was no info with it so I can’t add anything more on it. I popped up the die cut panel and added the guitar as you see.

I’m quite pleased with the result although using black pieces on the guitar means they disappear in the photo. It was fun to create. Many thanks for spending your valuable time with me, it is appreciated.