Another Sketchy Floral Card

I've made myself some time to play along in a couple of challenges.  Here's another Sketchy Floral card I made during my MISTI stamping frenzy, a yellow version this time.  I love how the image lends itself to this style of colouring :)

I'm entering this into Muse, where Tracey has provided this inspiration:

I'm also playing along at Watercooler Wednesday All About Occasions

I'm over on the STAMPlorations blog tonight with a card inspired by bullet journals.  Here's a peek:

Pop on over and take a look!

Purple Poppies

You learn some interesting and unexpected things in the line of cardmaking.  I wanted to play along with this week's Muse, and also with this week's FUSION:

Tracey McNeely for Muse

I already had my Clearly Besotted Brushed Poppies stamp set out on the desk (granted, it was under a pile of gelli prints, background papers, half-completed cards, etc., but it was out on the desk) because I wanted to try some poppy cards in colours other than red.  So I turned to my friend Google and searched "purple poppies".

In the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand the red poppy has been used since 1921 as the symbol of remembrance and hope to commemorate soldiers killed in conflict since 1914, and is worn in the days leading up to Remembrance Sunday (nearest to 11 November).

There is also a white poppy which, depending on your point of view, is either a political protest against war, or is worn alongside the red poppy as a lasting message of peace.

I was surprised to learn that the purple poppy was adopted in 2006 by Animal Aid to remember the animal victims of war, and again is either a political protest or worn alongside the red/white poppy to remember animals that lost their lives in service to their country.

The other thing I learned is that, while there certainly are purple poppies, they are often confused with purple anemones, which are a different family.

So here is my non-political, non-anenome, purple poppy card.  I think I'll try pink next.  Or orange.

I'm also entering it into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Go After Your Dreams

When I saw Vicki's Muse card, I had to play along!  Vicki's used one of the images from my Bee's Knees Small Birds stamp set in her card, so I thought I'd use one of the other images.

Vicki's Muse card

You can really colour outside the lines with these images, it all adds to the looseness of the design.  I stamped the puffin image onto a white card panel in Versafine Onyx Black, and coloured it with Ripe Persimmon, Wild Honey and Black Soot Distress Inks.  I stamped a sentiment from the new Noteworthy set in black and orange. On the base card and the panel, I used the same colours and stamps from the Mixed Media Grunge set which is the April set for the STAMP club.

So.  If you flip Vicki's card you can pretty much see the similarities.

I'm also entering this into Virginia's View - Layers.  The top panel is a separate layer, and then there's washi tape as a layer.

A Twofer And A Show & Tell

I meant to post one of the cards below yesterday, but I got sidetracked, so you've got two cards today.  But first, my Show & Tell.  

One of my birthday presents was a Take & Make session at a glass fusion workshop.  I went on the workshop last weekend and chose to make four coasters.  Most of the other students were creating recognisable images (flowers, snowmen, angels, trees, Christmassy stuff) but I just wanted to do random/abstract.  Having got the four coasters ready for firing (or whatever), I had some time to spare so I also made a bowl.  To keep conkers in.  Because conkers are supposed to keep spiders out of the house.  (One spider didn't get the message... maybe I need to refresh the conkers.)  Anyway, yesterday, I went to collect my masterpieces...

I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

Here's a before shot of the bowl.

So, here's card No. 1.

I'm entering this into Festive Friday.  I don't think I've ever entered this challenge before, probably because I don't usually start my Christmas cards till mid-late-November ;)

Here's card No. 2.  The patterned trees are made by creating patterns on a Gelli Plate, then once it's DRY(!!!), pressing sticky tape down over the pattern, burnishing and lifting it off.  The bonus is a clean Gelli Plate - yay!  Then you just die-cut shapes out of the strip.  I saw the video on the Gelli Plate website, but it was Jenny's butterfly that prompted me to have a go.

I'm entering this into Muse, where Therese has provided this lovely inspiration.  Suddenly one tree is a whole forest.

Also entering it into Inkspirational - Shine

Artist Trading Post - Stencil Mania.  (I used a stencil to make the pink dots.)

Less Is More - More Than One Tree

Come back tomorrow for a fabulous blog hop!

New Poppy Stamps

I didn't intend to buy any more poppy stamps, especially because I've been enjoying freestyle watercolouring poppies lately.  I blame it on Monika ;)  We met up at the HSNW show at Port Sunlight on Saturday, and were comparing purchases, and she'd bought the Clearly Besotted set.  And you know what it's like, somebody buys something, then you need it.

It's a three part image, and I'm betting when it goes on sale on the Clearly Besotted blog tonight, it will be the first set to sell out.

I'm entering this into AAA Cards - Watercolour

and Muse, where the inspiration this week comes from Kimberly:

Gotta go, Downton's coming on soon :)

Chevron Birthday

I've finally broken open my Winnie & Walter V for cheVron set to play along with a few challenges.

The first one is Time Out, where the challenge is to case this lovely card by the even lovelier Anita, with a twist.

I don't mean that Anita has a twist. (She may well have a twist on a Friday night, bopping along to the radio in the kitchen with a glass of vin rouge.)  No, we put a twist on our case.  I twisted mine by 90 degrees.  Then I stretched it to the edge.  Because I'm also playing along with:

Muse - it's the chevrons that did it for me :)

A stretch too far, do you think?

I'm also joining in with Simon Says Monday Challenge - Anything Goes.

And Winnie & Walter Join In To Win.

More Roses

Another quick post in between DH's birthday festivities (he's watching the footy ;).  Playing along with Muse - here's Therese's inspiration card:

And also playing along with Fusion photo:

I used my open line roses stamp (the same one I used on this card) together with a solid stamp that I made to co-ordinate.  I stamped the solid image first with Picket Fence Distress Stain, then overstamped it with the line image in black.  I used a Dymo tape for the sentiment.

Butterfly and Blogger

Got this fabulous butterfly from Uniko Studio Challenge, just as Beverley from Uniko was guest designing at Muse with this card, so I had to play along :)

I stamped the image off the edge, and sloshed and splattered some Distress Inks (Barn Door, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire).  I blatantly stole CASEd the partial frame idea from Cornelia, adding dots every time the lines intersected, to reflect the dots in the butterfly image.  I deliberately left the card flattened out while I splattered so that it would continue onto the back.  The sentiment is from Winnie & Walter The Big, The Bold and The Happy.

I'm playing along with Less Is More, where the theme is Watercolour

One Layer Simplicity, where the theme is I've Been Framed

and City Crafter, where the theme is Red, White and Blue

Anyone else having problems with Blogger feed?  It's decided to only show one post in my reader.  Not one post per blog I follow - ONE. SINGLE. SOLITARY. POST.  Whichever blog post is the most recent.  Apparently it's a bug known to Blogger but there's no sign of a fix yet.  How's a girl to cope?  Until yesterday, I was very happy with getting my posts through Blogger, but I can't cope without you all, so I'm now stalking you by Bloglovin until normal service is resumed at Blogger - if ever!

Happy Hibiscus

A card without splatter - whatever next?  I'm playing along with Muse, where Vicki has provided this fabulous inspiration card:

And it ties in nicely with the current challenge at Fusion.  Look at that fabulous rose garland!

Here's what I came up with:

I inked the Penny Black Hibiscus stamp up with a mixture of Memento and Distress Inks and stamped the images onto the card, then overstamped with the sentiment (Papertrey Wet Paint).  Tied a ribbon bow around the panel, matted and mounted - done!

A Twofer And A Video On Waxing

A couple of cards for you today.  This first one was inspired by Marion's card at Muse:

And by this photo at Winnie & Walter's Playdate No. 1 challenge.  I followed the colours of the clothing and interlocked the hellos to mimic the way that the family is interlocked.  I know the bokeh is part of the frame, but I wanted it to be represented in my card anyway.

I'm also entering it into the current FUSION challenge, where I've just used the sketch:-

Stamps:  Winnie & Walter: The Big The Bold and The Happy; STAMPlorations Vignette Retro Mod Shapes (circle)

********

And for my next trick, I've made a video for you.  I did a stall at a pop-up cafe in the village yesterday.  I wanted to take some encaustic wax cards to sell but needed to make a new batch.  When I posted some wax cards on my blog at the beginning of the year, some of you had asked for a tutorial, so I thought I may as well video the process while I was making this new batch.  (Don't worry, the video is less than 3 minutes long - I speeded/sped? it up.  Whatever, it's quick.)

The bad news is that there were only 12 customers all morning.  The good news is I sold a wax card and a framed wax picture, and the organiser has asked me to try for the village fair later in the year.

Here's the card that's featured in the video:

I'm entering it into the challenge at Clearly Besotted - In Flight (see the little birds?).  Sentiment from the Fabulous Fuchsias set.

To be honest, I'm in a quandary about this.  I've always thought of wax cards as separate from stamped cards and therefore they don't "fit" into blog challenges.  But are they any different from, say, watercoloured cards or paper-pieced cards or stencilled cards?

Congrats!

Ultra-quickie!! Sliding in as the door closes on Keep It Simple Things with Wings

Also entering Muse - here's Vicki's inspiration card:

Using Dynamic Duos colours:

And also entering Unscripted Sketches

Bye!