Mellow Yellow

With Summer just around the corner I felt it was time to coax the sun out of its hiding place behind the clouds with a splash of yellow. The folks down at Crafty Boots Challenges are clearly on my wavelength as they've made it their challenge to use yellow this week too! I chose to team the yellow with Kraft and white, as inspired by the OCC Colour Trifecta challenge. I think it gives a really fresh look.

I also added some faux stitching with a white gel pen, as inspired by Crafty Ann's Challenge #64. To make it look more realistic I added a black dot at the beginning and end of each 'stitch'.

The flower is made by stamping one of the petals from the Stampin' Up! Pick-a-Petal set in Daffodil Delight onto white card and mounting them on dimensionals. I've added a black centre made from a simple circle punch. The background is the retired SU Friendly background stamp, stamped in Daffodil Delight again. All of the Kraft sections are SU Crumb Cake, raised using dimensionals to create depth. I've added a couple of strips of SU patterned paper to tie in with the spotty flower. The sentiment is from Afterthoughts, with more of the friendly background, cut out using the Decorative Label Punch.

I usually tend to forget about decorating the inside of my cards, so I've been making an effort lately to make the insides as pretty as the outside. I've repeated the petal stamp and added a sentiment from the Cheer and Wishes retired set. A pretty flower from Baroque Motifs adds a lovely touch...as well as covering up a mark I accidentally made while stamping the sentiment ;) I decorated the envelope in the same way for a lovely finishing touch.

'Cracking Up' Class Update

I loved this Papercraft Session as everyone was able to make the projects right from start to finish due to it being a smaller group than usual.  I'd deliberately brought a selection of stamps and colours for everyone to choose from and it was great seeing everyone's take on the design.

For the main image there was a choice between Young Vermillion (as used on my card shown) and the Pear image from Faith in Nature.

The background was stamped using the small flower from the Baroque Motifs set in Chocolate Chip ink. All the flowers are the same ink but I've given them a different look by stamping the images several times before re-inking, resulting in a lighter shade each time. I used Baja Breeze cardstock for the base and Chocolate Chip card punched with the Lace Ribbon Border Punch. See that ribbon? I love the pretty scalloped edge and those funky dots. The best thing is it's available in 10 different colours!

The mosaic itself was made by firstly stamping the image and watercolouring it using an AquaPainter brush. Once dried, the image is then overstamped with Versamark using an acrylic block covered with offcuts of foam mounted rubber. Clear embossing powder is added and heated with a heat gun. Finally, a dark ink is applied all over using a sponge dauber and then wiped off with a paper towel. The ink is left in the spaces between each embossed section, giving the mosaic effect.

Here you can see what my lovely ladies made with the materials. I love how the Whisper White looks on both the Cherry Cobbler and Island Indigo cardstock.

Last Chance Blog Hop

Hello to anyone arriving here from Theresa's Blog. I hope you're enjoying the Blog Hop so far!

I was gutted to learn that the gorgeous 'Bella Toile' background stamp was retiring this year so I simply had to give it a final farewell in the blog hop. I've stamped it in Perfect Plum on Melon Mambo cardstock and layered it onto Perfect Plum cardstock. The main image is the uber cute deer from 'Forest Friends' and a sentiment from the Hostess set 'Afterthoughts'. This is framed with Bashful Blue card.



I've used the kissing technique to transfer the Bella Toile pattern onto the 'Flower Accent' stamp (another fave sadly retiring). I've then cut it out and set it off with one of the stunning brads from the 'Hodgepodge Hardware' kit.

See what I mean? So many stunning sets are retiring, but the good news is that they're still available - while stocks last-  until 30th September. To order just e-mail me.

Next on your Blog Hop journey is the talented Val's blog.

Sneaky peek at... Breakfast at Tiffany's

There are some things in life that never fail to make me smile. One of them is the 1961 film, Breakfast at Tiffany's, starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard. As strange as it may sound, I bought the film on video (showing my age now) before I'd even watched it, because I just knew I would love it. Soon after, I read the novella by Truman Capote and loved that too (it's a better story, but the film has Audrey so it wins hands down).

Back in 2003 I was lucky enough to go to New York and visit Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue. Of course it's nothing like the one in the film, but Holly Golightly was right when she said "The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there."

This week's Papercraft Session pays homage to that film with a double 'pillow box' gift box, reminiscent of the Jeweller's iconic packaging, a simple but dramatic 'Little Black Dress' card (like the one Holly wears whilst eating her breakfast at Tiffany's) and an embossed vellum card, featuring the exclusive Stampin' Up! embossing folder 'Manhattan Flower'.

Under The Sea

A while ago I mentioned that I had a lot of cards to make soon. Well, that time has arrived and I've got a few under my belt already but there's still a lot to go. This one is for my Brother-in-law's birthday and I'd been dying to use these cheeky sea critters for a while now. They're digistamps from Digi My World.

I decided to use a 'less is more' approach with it being a male card, and then I saw that the theme for this week's challenge down at Less is More is 'Things that move' - perfect! The layout was based on two other challenges I'd seen, Tiddly Inks challenge #62 - Inch my way along and Allsorts Challenge #117 - You've been framed.

 

I coloured the images with my trusty promarkers and framed them up using basic black cardstock. Then I simply popped the frame up on stampin' dimensionals onto a basic grey card and added a sentiment from the 'Afterthoughts' Hostess set.

Inspirational and Funky challenge

Just time to show you a birthday card I made for my good friend B.

I based it on the sketch given in the Inspirational Card Sketches Challenge #127 blog post.

I've also incorporated some faux stitching, inspired by the ladies down at Fab 'n' Funky challenges and their Stitch in time Challenge (#86).

The main image is a digistamp by Kenny K which I've coloured using Promarkers. The main card is SU! Old Olive and I've used a piece of the Perfect Plum Designer Series Paper stack on the left of the card. The smaller panels are just patterned papers from my stash, backed with Perfect Plum cardstock. The sentiment is from the Hostess set 'Afterthoughts' by Stampin' Up!

Yummy yummy colours!

It's now nearly 11pm and I've just finished a card for my Sister-in-Law's birthday. Why am I up crafting so late? Simple - the Play Date Cafe had the most yummy colours in their challenge this week and I couldn't resist entering! 

This is my entry for both the Play Date Cafe Challenge #93 and also the Sketch Saturday - Week 167 challenge, who gave this sketch as the inspiration this week...

I've used Regal Rose, Pear Pizazz and Poppy Parade CS, and some beautiful Stampin' Up! rhinestones to add some bling. The sentiment is from the Hostess set 'Afterthoughts' and the digi image is from Pink Cat Designs. The tiny tags in the bottom right corner feature sentiments from the retired US set 'Little Bit of Everything' and I've punched them out using the Jewellery Tag punch.

Sorry I'm not saying more but I can barely keep my eyes open! Night night all!