Watercolour Seahorse

(Catchupmageddon Post). Another chance to play around with my Gansai Tambi Watercolours but this time I was trying to paint some seahorses and an underwater scene!

I had several attempts at each part of this scene, background, seahorse 1 & 2 and the shell. I then selected the best of them to fussy cut and create the card.

Because this was a 30th  Anniversary card I added a pearl to the shell. I tried attaching the greeting using staples, I love how it looks when other people do it but I'm not sure it looked great with this card. Font is Coneria Script.

I wasn't happy with this card but didn't really know what was wrong or how to fix it at the time. Now I look at it and see lots of ways to improve it, hindsight is a great thing!

Bit of a kit!

Needed a speedy anniversary card for a customer so cracked out a docrafts kit I had in the stash! It is an A5 decoupage kit from Docrafts called Bellisima-Cupcakes.

I haven't made a kit card for a long time, but really enjoyed making this. I actually used every single part in the kit aswell as the images on the packaging! Waste not want not! :) Not used to making things in pastels, so this was a complete change from the norm! :)

Added some stickles and some sakura shimmer pen :)

Bicycle love.

Card inspired by this card - found on Pinterest and from http://bigganed.blogspot.co.uk.

Another commissioned anniversary card, for cyclists - so I adapted the inspiration card to include 2 bikes and used the dies that I had to achieve a similar look.

Hearts from Spellbinders Nesties - Classic Hearts.
Bikes from Marianne Creatables CR0394
Birch trees from IO Dies 079-U
Landscape using Joy Mery's Christmas Tree Border as a mask.

Distress Inks are Stormy Sky and Seedless Preserves blended.

Quick drive by die review!

• All my Nesties dies work with one run through the cuttlebug, I've had them forever, and they cut perfectly.
• The Birch Trees from IO are quite intricate and took two passes through the cuttlebug to pop out cleanly. I was cutting card though, they would only require one cut normally. This die is almost new and cut really well.
• The Landscape die I used as a mask from Joy cut perfectly first time. It's almost new and was impressively precise and immediate.
• The Bikes from Marianne are also new, and one took 12 passes through the cuttlebug (with extra paper to tighten the process) and some scissor work after, the other took 14 passes. It is a fiddly design and I was cutting card but I think it's not a good start for a new die!

Anniversary Card for Gardeners

Another commission card, this time an anniversary card for two people who enjoy gardening.

From a distance I now realise it looks rather like a rattle! Or a bauble! However, it was meant to be a ring of garden images with the greeting in the middle!

Background is  blended Shaded Lilac and Bundled Sage Distress Inks, with flicked Wilted Violet and Lucky Clover and a final splosh of Cosmic Shimmer Golden Mint to add some sparkle! :)

The images are stamped with Brushed Corduroy, Shaded Lilac and Bundled Sage Distress Inks.

Stamps are from Buzzcraft Oliver's Orchard Characters and Captions No.485, Hunkydory Flutterbye Garden and Rose Garden by Clear Impressions. Also a freebie magazine set that I have now lost the details for! (oops!)

The font is Delinquente Demo.

Silver Wedding Anniversary Commission - Part 2.

This is the second card I made for my recent 25th Anniversary Card order. I had purchased the laser cut tree at the Midland Motorcycle Museum Craft Fair in our last shopping escapade, and I thought it went really well on a kraft card base stock.

I used a Joy die to take clouds out from the background paper, and then used the cut-outs to make another layer of clouds. The two birds were painted silver. The dates were supplied by my customer to feature on the card. Font is "Boys R Gross".

Close up of the birds, and the laser cut tree.

Silver Wedding Anniversary Commission Part 1.

I've recently had a commission for three silver wedding anniversary cards, so I am scheduling this post to go up a week after their anniversary.

This is the first card I made, using the Creative Expression "Delicate Garden Frame" die by Sue Wilson. It cuts excellently and I am very impressed.  Individual flower and butterfly come with the set.

Had a rethink afterwards and decided to colour the number to be silver too, and far prefered it. I just used silver acrylic paint in the end, and on the thickers stickers, it looked like it had some nice texture.

Background paper was actually recycled packaging from some cosmetics that I liked and saved. Numbers were thicker stickers. Gems and ribbon from stash.

New Much Love Collection

I've just uploaded onto Etsy and in the Facebook Group half of the new "Much Love" Collection! These four images are on sale and will be joined by the other half of the collection next week I hope :) They are all themed around Valentine's Day, Mothering Sunday, Aniversaries, etc.

 Puddles of Kitty Love

 

Geranium Love

 Purrfect Mum

 

Tail of Two Kitties

Autumn Anniversary Part 2.

This post is a sister post to one I made on the 11th Sept - Here!
I had to wait for their anniversary to pass, as I didn't want them to spot the card before I gave it to them!  :)

So the Autumnal colour inspiration came from a challenge on the "our Crafty Corner" blog... and I made two anniversary cards, this is the second.
This one though features "mice with balloons" a stamp by Wild Rose Studio (CL285)

Mice - Wild Rose Studio CL285 "Mice with Balloons"
Banners- Happy Day Clear Stamps (Magazine freebie)
The Doily stamp is from the Papermania Urban Stamps collection.
The Alphabet Set I used for the letters is from Studio G, set VS4191
Distress Inks - Squeezed Lemon, Ripe Persimmon and Spiced Marmalade.
Image coloured with copics.

Minnie Easel Card

It's nice to use a Disney image occasionally, even though there are fairly rigid rules on selling them! So, this is not for sale folks. :)

Hand drawn main image coloured with Copics.
Waltograph font.
Flowers from Wild Orchid and Hobbycraft.

Autumnal Anniversary

Taking Inspiration from the Challenge on Our Crafty Corner this week and made a couple of anniversary cards. Will have to post the other one when the event has passed but think I can get away with showing this one straight away!

So using an autumnal palette - Distress Inks - Squeezed Lemon, Ripe Persimmon and Spiced Marmalade, I washed over a white embossed doily pattern, stamped directly onto the cardstock. I also coloured heat embossed bunting ( some with initials) to add to the top corner. And then coloured in the owls with copics to match the colour scheme.

The owls are Bobunny Love Birds (SLB887) and I added them a branch to sit on.
The banners are all from a set of stamps called "Happy Day Clear Stamps" that were recently free on one of the craft mags.(Which one?? I can't remember...)
The Doily stamp is from the Papermania Urban Stamps collection.
The Alphabet Set I used for the letters is from Studio G, set VS4191

Card entered into : http://our-crafty-corner.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/challenge-1.html

98778 Butterfly Heart

I've been using my Butterfly Heart (98778) die from Memory Box again, it makes such a simple but classy anniversary card I can't resist it! It also cuts extremely well, cleanly and there are no fiddly bits to push out afterwards!

I've used it for silver, pearl (see below) and ruby anniversaries so far but think it would make a lovely wedding or valentine card. Next time I want to have a go at a multi-coloured version which involves a bit of cutting out, but having seen some of the effects via pinterest I am really impressed.

Apparently the Memory Box Cupid Heart Die 98281 works well with it too.

Thank you Helen for buying me this butterfly heart goodness. :)