Love and Fishes Birthday Card

Hi guys,

Well, I'm back for the third time this week with a card I made for the Lawnscaping challenge #99: clean and simple. As a lover of all things brightly coloured, I'm not a natural CAS girl but I love giving it a go. Living on the coast, I love a good sea-themed stamp set and the Lawn Fawn Critters in the Sea set is one of the best. I decided to use it for this CAS birthday card. Thanks for stopping by to take a look xx

I started with a card base made from Neenah Solar White 110lb Cardstock. I adhered a piece of raindrop patterned paper from a Dear Lizzy Daydreamer 6x6 paper pad to the front. Next I took another piece of solar white cardstock and die cut a wave edge using one of the Making Waves dies by My Favourite Things. I then adhered this to my card with foam tape.

I then stamped images from the Lawn Fawn Critters in the Sea stamp set onto more solar white cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. I coloured the images with Spectrum Noir pencils. I blended out the colouring with blending solution and paper stumps and then fussy cut the images. I adhered them to my card with foam squares. I finished the fish with my Wink of Stella glitter pen and a coat of Ranger Glossy Accents.

I created the sentiment using my typewriter and adhered it to the card with more foam squares. I finished my card with a small enamel heart from Doodlebug.

Click the image below to go to the blog post for the challenge to see all the other entries and awesome inspiration from the design team:

Happier Than a Pig in Poop Card

Hello everyone,

So this week I've taken the plunge and gone for a more professional look to my photographs. Rather than taking the photo on a shelf in my craft room (and having to rely on the pretty dismal British weather to provide enough light!) I bought daylight lamps and made a light defuser box. I'm really pleased with the improvement in image quality so far and I'm sure I will achieve even better results with a bit more practice. Anyway, I hope you like the card and that you're able to see what I've been up to that little bit clearer now.

My card base was cut from a peice of Neenah Desert Storm cardstock. Next I layered a peice of pink heart patterned paper from the Dear Lizzy Daydreamer collection 6x6 paper pad. I used a thin strip of coordinating paper from the same collection to die cut a scalloped edge which I adhered to the top of the first peice of patterned paper. I used a Paper Smooches scalloped edge die from the Borders 2 set. 

Next I trimmed a small piece of Ranger Watercolour paper and die cut the top edge with the notebook paper edge die, also from the Paper Smooches Borders 2 set. I wanted to create a messy watercolour background to make it look ike the pig had been splashing around. I did this using Vintage Photo Distress Ink and plenty of water. I dried the backgrond with my heat gun and adhered it ti the card using foam tape, to create dimension. 

I stamped the happy little pig image from the Green Acres stamp set by Paper Smooches, twice onto patterned paper using Hero Arts Mid-tone ink in Cup O' Joe. I then fussy cut the images and paper peiced them, using the second image to add dimension to his nose. I adhered the images to the background using foam tape.

Next I trimmed a strip pf wood grain patterened paper from my stash and die cut he top edge once again with a die from the Borders 2 set. I used the stamp edge die to create the look of fencing. I then die cut three small hearts from the patterened paper using the Simon Says Stamp Mini Hearts die. I adhered the patterened paper to the card with foam tape.

The word "happier" was die cut using my Cricut Explore and adhered to the card using silicone glue. The remainder of the sentiment was stamped using a "create your own" label stamp from staples. I really love the tiny font and how I can quickly and esily create any sentiment I like.

I completed the card using several pink sequins from the Neat & Tangled Spring Mix sequins. I also used a couple of 4mm Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

Clicking on the image below will take you to the Paper Smooches Sparks August Anything Goes challenge:

And clicking on the image below will take you to the fabulous Paper Smooches website:

Cheer Up Grumpasaurus Card

Hey Guys,

I made this card for my Vicar who has been a bit sad recently. I really love the sentiment from the Paper Smooches Cuteasaurus stamp set and I thought it would be perfect for this card. I wanted to enter the card into this weeks Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge and the design is inspired by their photo.

The card base is a Pebbles notecard from their Garden Party Collection. I then die cut a piece of vellum using the scalloped edge frame from the Mama Elephant Femme Frames set. Next I used the inner frame from the same set to create a stitched rectangle of Neenah Solar White cradstock. I stamped the Hero Arts Galaxy wood block stamp with Stampin' Up Smokey Slate ink onto this. I then used a piece of woodgrain paper from the Dear Lizzy Daydreamer 6x6 paper pad and die cut it into to a speech bubble using the Mama Elephant Speech Trio dies. I die cut some tiny heart shaped windows into it using  Simon Says Stamp Mini Heart Set Craft dies and stamped the sentiment from the Paper Smooches Cuteasaurus stamp set in Hero Arts Charcoal ink. The dinosaur images are from the same Paper Smooches set as the sentiment and i stamped and paperpieced them using more 6x6 paper from the Dear Lizzy Daydreamer collection. The flowers that the dino on the right is holding are tiny images from the the Mama Elephant Honey Bunny stamp set which I painstakingly stamped and cut from scraps of pink patterned paper - good job I enjoy fussy cutting! I adered each of the layers with foam tape to create dimension and completed the card with twine from my stash and 4mm and 6mm Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

I tried to take as much inspiration from the Paper Smooches photo as possible. The colour scheme of pale pink, pale aqua, white and grey is taken from it. I also used pink flowers and woodgrain inspiried by the wooden paintbrushes. The sparkling clear sequins were inspired by the glass jars and bottles.

Below is the photo that inspired my card. Click on it to go straight to the challenge post on the Paper Smooches Sparks website:

Clicking on the Paper Smooches badge below will take you straight to their website where you can buy all their awesome stamps and dies:

Under the Sea Pop-Up Card

Hi Guys! 

So, my card this week is another pop-up (definately my favourites to make!) and I decided to go for an under the sea theme. My inspiration for the card was the Make the Day Special challenge for the Month of August. I used the blues, reds and oranges from colour pallete A as the basis for my design.

Firstly I started with a Papermania white note card. For the inside of the card, I adhered patterned paper from the Basic Grey Fresh Cuts 6x6 paper pad - one had a wave design and the other was a coordinating blue watercolour pattern. The layers for my pop-up design were created using acetate. I used Spectrum Noir pens in several shades of blue and aqua to create a wavy pattern on the acetate, and then I drew small circles onto this with the blender pen to create the look of bubbles. Lastly I flicked white ink over the acetate to create the look of more bubbles. I used the the Mama Elephant Lanscape Trio die to die cut three layers of acetate at different heights. Next, I stamped images from the Paper Smooches Surf and Turf stamp set onto Neenah Solar White card stock with `memento Tuxedo Black ink. I coloured the images using Spectrum Noir pencils and blendinh soluion and added freckles with a Uniball white gel pen. I fussy cut the imges and adhered them to the acetate layers using silicone glue for extra dimension. I cut sea weed from a peice of green chevron paper from the Dear Lizzy Daydreamer 6x6 pad and adhered this to the acetate, also with silicone glue. Next, I used red line tape to adhere the acetate to the card. I added sequins from my stash and a sentiment, also from the Surf and Turf stamp set and the inside of my card was complete.

These pictures shows the layers of acetate in my design. The pop-up mechanism is created using small peices of acetate as spacers between one layer of acetate and the next, meaning that when you open the card the layers pop-up too.

I kept the front of my card simple, as I always do with my pop-up designs. I used a piece of watercolour paper and Tim Holtz distress inks in Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers to create the watercolour effect in the corner. The sentiment is from the Surf and Turf stamp set by Paper Smooches. I used Versafine ink to stamp it onto Neenah Solar White card stock. The whale image was also from the Surf and Turf stamp set and I coloured it with Spectrum Noir pencils and blending fluid. I adhered the sentiment and image over the watercolour using foam pads to create dimension. Finally I added a couple of sequines from my stash to complete the look. 

I would like to take part in the Make the Day Speacial August challenge (colour scheme A):

Washing Line Birthday Card

I really love how pretty and feminine this card I made for a close girlfriend, turned out to be. The card base is a 6x6 kraft card from Hobbycraft. For the background to my card I used blue-grey paper from a DoCraft Home to Nest decoupage Kit, overlayed with photo-real grass paper from Kaisercraft. The rainbow border at the bottom of the card uses paper from the Cosmo Cricket Summer Love mini deck, punched with a Tonic Simplicity Dotty Border punch. The clothing and 'happy' word were cut on my Cricut Explore using the First Few Years cartridge. I cut 'Birthday' using the font from the Noah's ABC Animals cartridge. I used various patterned paper scraps from my stash including paper from Maggie Holmes and Dear Lizzy collections. I strung a peice of pink bakers twine from the Dovecraft Riverbank Revels collection, across the front of the card and clipped the clothes to it using mini clothes pegs from Hobbycraft. Finally, I created a hand-drawn border using my Uniball white gel pen.