Happy Tuesday and 52 Cards Challenge - Week 12

Isn't the weather wonderful? Spring has truly sprung, the burst of colour from spring blooms, the shock of pink from the cherry and almond trees, green grass and the dawn chorus, it has to be my favourite season!

Without further ado, here is my entry for this week's 52 cards challenge;

and here is the inspiration image

Now, I am going to admit to cheating a little with this challenge, the card was already in process, all the pieces were ready, it just hadn't been assembled, plus it kinda goes with the orange and the yellow in the inspiration picture.

This is a card for my mother-in-law, whilst I like the colours I am not too happy with the Coming Up Roses stamping, I just can't seem to find the right balance with it. I bought the gathered fabric ribbon on sale, it was the only colour they had that I liked, after using it on this card I knew I needed some more and luckily when I went back they also had it in white, it adds such a soft feminine touch.

Speaking of spring, I thought I would share some of my favourite spring photographs from my hometown.

Happy Tuesday, I hope spring has sprung in your neck of the woods!

Ang x

52 Cards Challenge 2014 - Week 9/Taking Inspiration..

For the 52 Cards Challenge this week Nat has chosen the following picture of a beautifully decorated cake as our inspiration.

Elements to be inspired by in this pic:

• Colours - white/mint/pink/gold 
• Embossing 
• Doilies
• Ruffles/pleating
• Ribbon
• Fancy buttons/brads
• Pearls 
• Dimensional flowers

All of these elements spoke to me and said 'Mothers Day Card' (Mothers Day in the UK is on Sunday the 30th of March) I had also been reading one of my favourite blogs by a wonderful Polish cardmaker,  Dorota_MK who makes the most stunningly beautiful cards, tags and projects, I decided that I would also make the card inspired by her style, taking elements from a number of her recent projects and this is what I came up with!

To me that equated to lots of layers and little details like the distressed edges, the vellum doily, the gold glitter swirls, sigh, I really enjoyed making this. It's not my usual style but I loved using some of the pretty embellishments I have accumulated over the years and my silhouette certainly got a workout with the swirls, feathers and rose. I wish I had as much time to devote to every card as I did on this. I think my mum is going to love it!

I need to plan something similar for my Mother-In-Law so watch this space! I am also having fun with Chalkboard products that I hope to share later in the week.

Thanks for reading,

Ang.

52 Cards Challenge 2014 - Week 7

Just popping in to share my card for this week's 52 Cards Challenge.

Card - Bazzill. Watercolour Paper - Winsor and Newton. Stamps - PTI.

Embossing Powder - Stewart Superior. Ink - Ranger, PTI, Memento.

This is my take on one of my favorite techniques by Betsy Veldman. Very soft and really relaxing to create too, I just love the Larkspur stamp set.

Thanks for looking,

Ang.

Happy Mother's Day

They can go by many different titles in their life, nursemaid, chef, teacher, taxi driver, cleaner, supporter, friend, but, most commonly known as Mum.

It's that time of year where we celebrate those wonderful women who brought us into this world, or to give thanks to those special women in your life who have been there for you whenever you have needed them.

Mother's Day is celebrated in the UK and Ireland on Sunday March the 10th. Originally Mothering Sunday had it's roots in the church, however by the mid 1930's the custom had largely declined in the UK and Europe. During WWII US soldiers re-introduced the holiday to the UK and by the 1950's it had a resurgence of popularity and was celebrated on the fourth Sunday during Lent to bring it in line with the centuries old tradition of Mothering Sunday.

In the USA, Canada, Australia and in many other countries Mother's Day is celebrated on May 12th 2013. If you are interested in learning more, why not have a look here.

Without further ado, here are the cards I have created for those special women.

This card for my Mum was created in part for a challenge earlier this year, for more details, hop on over to the original blog post here. Along with the card I also made this pretty pouch to contain it;

 

 

The next two cards are newer creations.

 

This one is for my Nanna using Papertrey Ink's Spring Friendship Fillers and coloured with Promarkers.

 

This is for my Mother In Law using Papertrey Ink Year of Flowers Morning Glories, I stamped them on vellum and lightly coloured them with Promarkers, when the card is opened for display it gives a subtle stained glass effect.

I had best be off, I need to find that perfect present to go with the cards!

Take care
Ang x

Make it Monday #100 Part 1

It is Papertrey Ink's one hundreth Make it Monday and in honour of this they are giving away a $100 gift certificate to the winner, that will buy quite a few stamps! This week it is how to package cards with oversized embellishments. I recently made a Mother's Day card for my lovely Mum (Mother's Day in the UK is on Sunday the 10th of March) and I used a number of foam pads to add depth to my card and had trouble fitting it in a normal envelope, so I created this pretty pouch.

 

I sewed pink felt and vellum together to make the pouch, stamped the front using a dot from PTI Daydreamer set using PTI Fresh Snow Ink, always make sure to heat set pigment ink on vellum as it takes forever to dry. I then embellished it with a pink vellum doily using the Parisian Doily Die, felt leaves die cut using one of the dies from Turning a New Leaf topped with some In Bloom flowers coloured with Promarkers.

 

 

 

I'll be back again with another take on MIM, Thanks for looking!

Ang x

100th Post Prize Giveaway and 52 Cards Challenge Week 14

Hello! When I started this blog I did wonder if it would be a passing fad and I would lose interest but I love sharing what I make with family, friends and visitors and it has really helped me boost my creativity!

I am happy to celebrate my 100th post! and to celebrate I am pleased to have a blog candy giveaway filled with some of my favourite things and there are 3 prizes :)

Prize number one

Fiskars Threading Water Punch
Hero Arts Clear Design Everyday Sayings CL342
Hero Arts Clings Hearts Trio CG160
5 packs of Studio G clear stamps and stamping block
1 Studio G wooden stamp
6 bottles of Tim Holtz Distress Stickles
2 packs of American Crafts Gem set brads
4 Promarkers
1 Sizzix Sizzlet Flourish Die
1 pack of flat back multicoloured pearls
1 bottle of turquoise glitter glue
1 set of flower earrings (just remove the backs!)
1 peach cabochon bracelet (easily separated)

Prize number two

Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly trio punch

Prize number three

Inkadinkado Paperwork Greetings Clear Stamps 97614

All you need to do to enter is:

1 - Be signed up to follow my blog if you aren't already;
2 - Leave a comment on this post :)

Entries are open until 23:59pm GMT on Monday 25th April and I will draw the winner using a random number generator on my birthday Tuesday 26th of April.
Now, on to this week's card challenge. This week's prompts are:

Blue, Stamping, Circles

I needed to make my Mother's Day card and decided to use the prompts for this week. I wouldn't normally have gone with a blue colourway but I was really happy with how it turned out. I decided to use 2 out of the 3 prompts.

On a recent trip to the US I bought some Faber Castell Gelatos and they are just fab to work with. Solid sticks of colour in a lipstick style tube, you just lightly mist your stamp with water and run the gelatos over the stamp and stamp. They give a lovely watercolour look and you can stretch the colour out further using a water pen brush or add more colour by taking a damp brush directly to the gelato and painting on the stamp. I just love them!

I had bought my mum a necklace for Mother's Day but wasn't keen on the box so I made a matching gift box and tag to put it all in and finished off with stamping on the envelope. If you would like to make a gift box take a look at my easy tutorial here.

Supplies used: Hero Arts Botanical Etchings Hydrangea stamp, Papertrey Ink Sentiment, Faber-Castell Gelatos, Bo Bunny Double Dot cardstock, American Crafts Cardstock

Have a happy week and thank you so much for reading :)

PS - All of the challenges so far can now be found under the 52 Cards Challenge page under the header.

Mother's Day Part One

I was inspired by a card in a recent Cards magazine which showed a white embossed damask print which I thought looked so pretty. I decided to give it a go myself but I'm not thrilled with the end result. I think it is missing some stamping at the top and the embossing powder I managed to find didn't give a nice thick white finish like I wanted. I like the flower decoration and my Martha Stewart punched edge but it just doesn't 'do it' for me, however I hope my MIL likes it.


I hope to be back with a part 2 with the card I am making for my mum. Do you have a card you have made that you can share? I'd love to see it!

Mother's Day Card

So I had an idea in my head that involved blue and cream toile and lots of cream organza ribbon, but I just couldn't translate the idea to the card (it would have helped if I had the toile paper I dreamed in my head) I could see it when I thought about it but it was all a little blurry so I couldn't fixate on the exact design - I get that a lot, either old age or a lack of creativity!

This is what I eventually ended up making, not quite what I had in mind but it does feature the ubiquitous swirl die!

I also embellished a little shopping list pad to go with the card.

I think tomorrow should be scrapbooking day, I've exhausted all my card making abilities for now!