Best Wishes

Here’s my last July showcase card for the Whimsy Stamps release.  You can find all the new products here. 

I’ve used two clear sets on my card – the fabulous FA Doodles which I used to stamp the black hand drawn lines around the border of the card as well as the sentiment which is from the Simple Sentiments set.

I used a little glass bottle that I filled with rhinestones for the centre of the resin frame.

And of course there’s oodles of Foamiran flowers – the turquoise and buttery yellow flowers are made from the Peony Flower Die Set.  I was so thrilled with how the roses turned out, given that the set wasn’t designed with roses in mind.  I love that I can get more than one type of flower from the die set, I do like value for money lol.

I finished the card off with some polystyrene balls and rhinestone flatbacks along with some waxed cord and distressed organza ribbon.

I do love this colour combo – and not a hint of pink either!

Summer Blooms

I’m back with my second card for the new Whimsy Stamps release, this one features the clear Summer Blooms stamp and also the Simple Sentiments stamp sets.  You can find all the new products here

I used one of the elements from the stamp set as my focal point as it fitted on the tag beautifully and it was so easy to colour too.

I finished the card off with some mulberry flowers and a sentiment

Back tomorrow with my last July showcase card

Teddy Birthday Presents

It's release time at Whimsy Stamps and the new July rubber and clear goodies are out.  You an see the entire release here.

For my first July release card I’m showcasing the super adorable Teddy Birthday Presents and the Clearly Simple Sentiments set. Love this sweet little teddy ♥

I coloured the stamp with copic markers:

Teddy: W5, 3, 1, 0, 00
Presents: R59, 56, 85; R85, 83, 81; YG67, 63, 61, G20

I’m still in Foamiran mania so made all the flowers.  The large frilly flower is made using the Peony Flower Die Set.

I used a paper pad that I picked up from The Range – Mix & Match Pink Highlights by Craft Sensations.  I think it was £3 or £4 for a 12 x 12 pad and is such a bargain because the quality is exceptional.  I love a bargain!

Back tomorrow with another new release card

Handmade roses

When I designed my Peony flower die set I wanted to be able to do more than just make a peony.  So far I’ve made blossoms, buds and frilly flowers as well as quick and easy roses but hadn’t mastered a “real” looking rose.  I'm rather pleased with my first attempt - and wouldn't have had the confidence to do this without having done Ewa Constancja's workshop. 

Sooo, I had a play yesterday and made this little set using just the middle and largest sized dies from the set.  I hand cut the calyx from a small square of 0.6mm olive foamiran and made the roses from white silk foamiran which I coloured with Mungyo Artists Soft Pastels.  These were perfect because I scribbled two of the teal shades onto a piece of card and blended the colour on there to get the exact shade I wanted to match my papers (cuz I’m anal like that lol).  I used a damp wet wipe to apply the colour.  

Apologies for the photo, I just snapped it with my phone.

First DT post for Love to Craft and Create

I’m doing some guest designing for Love to Craft and Create for the next few months, and here’s the first card done for the Love to Craft and Create blog.

I’ve used the most delectable UKH Gallery Mademoiselle paper pad -  so pretty ♥

I made the flowers from white 0.6mm Foamiran which I coloured with oil pastels.  Honestly, if you haven’t tried the 0.6mm foamiran I urge you to do so.  It’s in a league of it’s own and is so easy to work with and shapes beautifully.  I used the Craft Passion Flowers set -06 for the peach flowers and the Craft Passion Flowers set - 03 for the small white flowers.  They are so sweet and fill in all the gaps .  I used three different stamens in the flowers - Flower Plastic Stamens - Green II for the small peach flowers, Butter Yellow Matt Heart Stamens for the large flower and 1mm White Pearl Stamens for the white flowers

I used the Scrapiniec Royal Coat of Arms 2 chipboard for the layer under the flowers and finished off with some pearls and scrunched seam binding.

Love how this card turned out, and peach makes such a lovely change from my usual PINK!!!

I’ll be back on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with cards for the Whimsy Stamps July release.

Have a fab week xo

Penguin loves his kittens

The winner of the border die is in the post below.

Okay, so I’ve officially found my all time favourite stamp – Penguin loves his kittens digi stamp drawn by Crissy Armstrong for Whimsy Stamps.  I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun colouring an image as I did this little sweetie.  Love love love it!

I’ve gone digi with the sentiment too, from the Vintage Sentiments that I designed for Whimsy a while back.  I cropped the sentiments I wanted in Word, spaced them so I could die cut them as I needed them and voila!  A canny little tag for my card – and doesn’t the sentiment fit with that lil’ penguin hugging his kitty lol/

I used my beloved copic markers to colour up the stamp -

Penguin: C9, 7, 5, 3; W1, 0, 00; R20, 00; YR24, 21, 31, 30
Kitties: W5, 3, 1, 0, 00; R20, 00
Bows: R85, 83, 81
Grass: YG67, 63, 61, G20
And some light blue prismacolor pencil for the shading around the penguin.

The paper is from the First Edition Pretty Posy pad – The Range were doing 2 FE pads for £10 on the weekend …. guess who filled her boots

Back on Sunday with my first card for my GDT  spot with Love to Craft and Create.

Border Die Winner

Wow, you all loved the trellis border die!  The winner of the die is

sabine matagne

Congratulations Sabine, please email me with your address so I can post your prize off to you.

Border Die Candy

THIS CANDY DRAW IS NOW CLOSED

I’ve got this border die to give away today (I loved it so much I bought it twice!)

It’s the die I used on this card

As always, I’ll post worldwide so entry is open to all.  Just leave a comment below and I’ll draw a winner during the week.

Foamiran has hit the USA

For all my US followers that have been desperate to get their hands on Foamiran ….. Whimsy Stamps listened!!!  You can now get the fabulous 0.6mm Foamiran along with tools and stamens from them on their Foamiran page

Hitting the picture below will take you right there

The one in the video

Here’s a closer look at the card that featured in my Frilly Foamiran Flowers video I posted at the weekend. 

 

I used my Peony Flower Die set to make the frilly flower, Craft Passion Flowers Set 03 for the sweet little pink and pale pink flowers, Rosy Owl flower dies for the little white blossoms and buds, Sizzix Thinlits 661012 for the white leaves, Poppystamps Monterey Vine for the stitched green leaves, Prima doily die, Memory Box Butterflies and also the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die for the large daisy.  I made the centre of the daisy by gluing fine Flowersoft to a small button.

The sentiment is from the Vintage Sentiments digi set from Whimsy Stamps.

I used the 0.8mm Light Pink Foamiran and also the 0.8mm White Foamiran, the pearl stamens and matt green stamens are from Love to Craft and Create, as is the  pink paper which is from the Lemoncraft Dreamy Mornings – Touch of the Sun paper.  The green woody paper is from my stash. 

I love how this card turned out – I tend to shy away from bold colours but really love the pop the deep pink flowers give the card.

I finished off the flower spray with some waxed cord to soften the look a bit.

Foamiran Workshops in Nottingham

Oh my goodness, I am so so SO excited!  Ewa Constancja is coming back to the UK on 19-20th August to do three Foamiran workshops!  I was lucky enough to do her workshops last month in Nottingham and never, even if I watched You Tube videos for years, could I learn as much as I did in the day she taught us.  

I'm thinking places are going to go quick so if you want to be one of the lucky ones then get yourself across to the Foamiran Flowers Tips group on Facebook to get all the details.

The venue is literally a couple minutes off the motorway so really easy to get to.  Not even I got lost lol.

Foamiran Flower Video Tutorial

Woo, go me!  I managed to get another video tutorial done, this one is making the frilly flowers that I made on the last couple of cards.

You can see the video here

Shabby Happy Wishes

I’m still in my happy shabby zone …. I love love love this style of card making, it suits my more is more to a T lol.  I made some more Foamiran flowers using the Peony Flower Die set from Whimsy Stamps, and decided to use die cuts for the sentiment for a change.  I used “happy” from the Word Die Set – Smiles, Happy and Celebrate and “wishes” from the Word Die Set – Birthday, Wishes and Magical.   I also used the In Stitches stamp set around the top layer, which I heat embossed with White super fine embossing powder.

I’m doing a Guest Design spot for Love to Craft and Create.  They have the 0.6mm foamiran in which is sublime to work with.  It’s a lot more delicate and takes less manipulation.  I used the 0.6mm white Foamiran which I then coloured with oil pastels to get the soft peach colour.  The dark peach flowers are made from 0.8mm dark coral foamiran, which I die cut using a Rosy Owl die set.  I used these stamens for the centres of the small flowers – white stamens, mint stamens, glass stamens, pearl stamens (large flower). The papers are from two Lemoncraft packs – Heart Painted (peach) and Just Love Me (Ivory).

I stamped a background stamp onto the leaves (also from the Peony set) after die cutting to add a bit of texture to the leaves.

I gave the seam binding a good old crinkle!

And finished off the inside as always

Birthday Wishes

Back to my shabby cards with this one today, not my usual colour combo but I absolutely love it!

 

I made the flowers from Foamiran using my Peony Flower Die set as well as a Rosy Dot set for the little flowers and a set of daisies.  I really do love making my own flowers, they’re so very easy to make and don’t take long either.

I stamped around the edges of the layer with the In Stitches set.  I made a bit of a whoopsie when heat embossing the stenciled bird cage, I didn’t realise the stitching stamp ink hadn’t dried so it caught some of the white embossing powder.  I LOVE it!  That sure was a happy accident

I finished off with a sentiment from the Lovely Lavender stamp set.

The bird cage mask is from Imagination and the paper and little clear glass beads are from 13@rts. 

Foamiran Flower Workshop with Love to Craft and Create

I went down to Nottingham on Saturday to take part in the workshop put on by the lovely Monika from Love to Craft and Create.  Ewa Constancja delivered the most amazing workshops, and I'm still pinching myself that I managed to get a place on both workshops (even though I still have blistered fingers from manipulating the foam lol)

Saturday truly was the best day ever, I learned techniques and tips that even if I sat and watched You Tube videos for 100 years I would never ever have picked up the knowledge Ewa shared with us.  A huge thanks to Ewa and also to Monika who ran around after us as well as translating from Polish to English - you are both total superstars!!

Here's what I made from the morning class.  My mind was blown at just how much I achieved in a day. 

Monika is going to be arranging more workshops - I told her to book me on them regardless of what the workshop entails.  It was just that good and worth every penny and every mile I travelled to get there and back (320 miles actually)

Puppy and present

Five cards in three days – I need to go lie down in a dark room lol.  This is my last card for the week, showcasing the sper cute Puppy and Present which is part of the Whimsy Stamps June release along with another of the fab sentiments from the Polka Dot Fun stamp set.

I’m still crazy for all things Foamiran so I made the flowers … the large flower is made using the Peony Flower Die Set that was released last month.

Love this little puppy, and went for a vintagey colour scheme for this one.

Copic colours used:

Puppy – W5, E43, 42, 41, 40, W0, W00
Present & Balloon- BG75, 73, 70; R85, 81; RV000

A closer look at the flowers, along with the Peony Flower die I used a daisy set and a Rosy Dot set.

Have a fab weekend.  I’m off down to Nottingham for a Foamiran Flower Course organised by Love to Craft and Create via their Facebook group Foamiran Flowers & Tips and I’m. SOOO. Darn. Excited!!!

Whimsy Stamps release–day 2

I’ve two more cards featuring products from this month’s Whimsy Stamps release.

First up is a *couch* pink card for a change …. not!  The stamp set I used for the sentiment is Thank You Friend, which I;ve teamed with some Foamiran flowers made using the Peony Flower die set that was released last month as well as another daisy.

Gotta love me some pink prettiness.

My second card I’ve made using the Paws to Remember stamp set.  I’m not a fan of making sympathy cards – I live in denial!!  They just don’t sit right with me so I made a thank you shaker card instead.  I love when a stamp set is versatile enough that it can be used for more than it was designed for.  The sentiment is also from the Thank You Friend set.

I’ve another card tomorrow, and yep … it’s got a touch of pink on it! 

Life’s a Beach–Whimsy Stamps June Release

The Whimsy Stamps June 2017 release party has started over on the Whimsy Stamps and Inspirations Facebook group. Pop across to join in with games, fun, and a chance to win Whimsy prizes too.

We are releasing new red rubber images, clear stamp sets and dies.  Everything is available here, so do pop across to see all of the new stamping goodness.

I've two cards to share today showcasing some of the delectable new goodies - one for the boys and of course one soft and girly (gotta have my pink and flowers lol)

I’ve made a fun card for the boys using the fabulous new Life’s a Beach stamp set from the new release – more penguin goodness, and the sentiments that come with the set are pretty special too!!  

I dug out another My Mind’s Eye pad, these are so perfect for summery boys cards I think.  And there’s not a flower in sight!  I finished off the card with a little handmade pinwheel instead and added some It’s a Party Enamel Dots and machine stitching together with the fence die and circle frame for some added interest (gotta make up for the flower withdrawals lol)

The copic colours I used on this cutie are

Penguin: C9, 7, 5, 3, 1, 0, 00; YR24, 21, 31, 30; R20, 30
Scarf: R46, 27, 14,12
Skateboard: BG75, 72, 70

My second card is a bit on the different side (for me at least) in that I made my own background paper using distress inks and the fab Polka Dot Fun clear stamp set, and this is another card I loved making and was delighted with the result.  

I heat embossed the polka dots then rubbed over different coloured distress inks using ink dusters and whilst I had the embossing powder out I heat embossed a butterfly from the Lovely Lavender stamp set.  I finished the card off with some handmade Foamiran flowers using the Peony Flower die set as well as some other flower dies I have in my stash.  

I used the Hand Stitched Nested Rectangles for the stamped layer and the sentiment is the Happy Sayings die and stamp sets.

Love how the daisy turned out – this was done using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die.

I'll be back tomorrow with two more cards.