Thank You

Morning all. I’m trying to make some thank you cards ready to send out after Christmas.

This is clean design, that uses a frame of patterned paper with the stamping done directly on the card base.

Supplies:

• A Few of My Favourite Things Kit (Patterned Paper and Gems)
• Sentiments Stamp Set 
• Adirondack ‘Stream’ Inkpad

 

Thanks for stopping by

Lisa

Clean & Simple…for a Man!

Morning all. I’m in a real Christmas card making phase at the moment as I love to get them made ahead of time but I also like to keep my stash of birthday cards topped up, so that is what I have made to show you today.

I have had a few family members in need of last minute masculine cards so I let them pick from my stash, but I needed to make a few more to replace them. I turned to some of Sarah’s lovely bright and bold 12x12 paper and sentiment stamps to create a CAS card.

Supplies:

• A Few of My Favourite Things Kit 
• Sentiments Stamp Set 
• Archival Jet Black Inkpad
• Memento Cottage Ivy Inkpad
• Glitter Glue
• Double Sided Tape and Foam Pads

Step by Step:

1. Cut a piece of patterned paper slightly narrower than your card and fix to the card with foam pads.
2. Cut a piece of smooth white stamping card 2cm narrower than the patterned paper. Stamp 4 sentiments using green in the middle of the card and stamp Happy Birthday using black ink just below.
3. Stamp three stars using green ink in the top left corner and repeat in the bottom right. Fix to the centre of the card using double sided tape.
4. Decorate the stars with glitter glue.

Thanks for stopping by

Lisa

Trick or Treat

Morning all.

I’m not usually a big fan of Halloween, but since having children we do celebrate it a little more. So I made this banner to hang up:

The pennants were cut by hand and embellished with papers and images from Sarah’s Spook Street Digi Kit.

Supplies:

• Spook Street Digi Kit
• Kraft, Green, Purple & White Card
• Archival ‘Jet Black’ Inkpad
• Derwent Pencils
• White and Black Fine Line Pens
• Glitter Glue

Thanks for stopping by

Lisa

You’re Really Tweet

Morning all. Lisa here and I have a birthday card to share with you today.

Supplies:

• C6 Card Blank
• Journal Cards from A Few of My Favourite Things Kit
• Black and Red Alcohol Markers
• Tweet Tweet Stamp Set
• Crackle Background Stamp
• Sentiments Stamp Set
• Archival ‘Jet Black’ Inkpad
• Adirondack ‘Stream’ and ‘Cranberry’ Inkpads
• Gold Shimmer Spray
• Sequins

Thanks for stopping by

Lisa

Altered Clipboard

Morning all. Hope the weather is good where you are. I’m hoping it’s gorgeous and sunny in Cornwall as that’s where I will be when you read this post, enjoying a nice little holiday :-)

We have a fabulous challenge of Favourite Things this month (click the button on the right to go and read all about it). For me I find it so very hard to chose favourites of anything as I’m such a ditherer, but I have a bit of a thing for the colour grey at the moment so I combined that with another fave of mine….making to do lists and used Sarah’s fabulous AFOMFT kit papers to decorate this clipboard.

I have put off decorating this for quite a while as I knew I would get carried away and want to embellish it which would end up making it vey impractical to use. Sarah’s papers are so pretty and perfect for this as it looked fabulous without the need to add anything else.

The clipboard was painted with several coats of yellow acrylic paint and then sanded at the edges and inked with Weathered wood Distress Ink. The papers were stuck to the clipboard with PVA Glue. Lastly adding the ribbon right around the clipboard using Hi-Tac tape and tying a bow at the top.

Supplies:

• A Few of My Favourite Things Kit (Ribbon and Paper)
• MDF Clipboard (a bargain from a Pound Shop, think it was supposed to be a bingo board)
• Yellow Acrylic Paint
• Glitter Glue
• PVA Glue
• Hi-Tac Tape

Thanks for stopping by

Lisa

Countdown to Christmas

Morning all. I know we’re in the middle of a really hot spell here in the UK but already my thoughts are turning to Christmas cards! Well what can I say… I like to be organized,

I make special cards for the important family and friends in my life but I also like to have a stack of simple (what I call production line) cards on hand for distant relatives and my Hubbies work colleagues.

This card is a simple patchwork of patterned paper squares, mounted onto Kraft card, with a sentiment and one embellishment.

It’s a great design when pushed for time as you can create a lot of cards just from printing a few sheets of patterned papers.

Supplies:

• Most Wonderful Time Digi Kit
• Kraft Card
• Pearlescent White Card
• Sentiment Stamp
• Archival ‘Jet Black’ Inkpad
• Wooden snowflake embellishment
• Silver Gem

 

Thanks for stopping by

Lisa

Celebrate Family

Morning all. Lisa here to share some inspiration. Unfortunately my Little Princess has been poorly so in lieu of a new creation I thought I would give you a closer look at my challenge piece…

For once it isn’t a card! It uses a fabulous stamp set designed by our very own Jaine Drake. The stamps are called Tweet Tweet and can be found here in Sarah’s Shop.

As I said before it’s not a card and I’m not quite sure what it is but I was playing with the stamps and had my watercolour paints out and this just kinda happened. I’m not into journaling or anything like that but I think I may pop this into a little folder and maybe add to it now and then, when the mood strikes.

I stamped everything in waterproof ink onto watercolour card. The central square included some masking as the coloured panel is all one piece. Here is a close up picture…

The colour has been added using watercolour pans and a water brush and I’ve also sponged some of the paint through one of Sarah’s stencils. The details have been added with a WoS brush pen, a ProMarker and a silver gel pen.

Supplies:

• Tweet Tweet stamp set by Jaine Drake
• Paints: Water colour pans
• Inks: Archival ‘Jet Black’
• Embellishments: Dymo Label Maker, Silver Gel Pen, Calligraphy Pen and clock embellishment from one of Sarah’s A Few of My Favourite Things kits

Thanks for stopping by

Lisa

The Sun has got his hat on…

Hip hip hip hooray!

Morning all! If you are in the UK I hope you are enjoying all this hot weather we have been having. I am, as the kids and I have been outside playing and tending to our vegetable plants…but it sure has put a stop to any crafting.

Talking of the Sunshine our theme for this months challenge is Summer Brights. I thought I would show that you don’t need to cut into a precious 12x12 page to make a card this one uses a couple of journaling cards to make the background:

Here’s what I used:

• A Few of My Favourite Things Kit (patterned papers, heart embellishment and stamps)
• Sentiments Stamps
• Scrap of lace
• Rosebud and Danube Blue Memento Inkpads
• Wink of Stella Clear Brush Pen
• Black Fine line Pen.

If you fancy joining in with our challenge you have until Saturday 28th to join in.

Thanks for stopping by

Lisa

Confession Time

Morning All. 

It's Lisa here and I have a confession! I made a Father's Day card for my Dad, another for my Father in Law but I completely forgot to make one for the children to give Hubby. As you read this we are away visiting friends and will be for the rest of the weekend so I needed to make a card quickly. 

In a hurry I turned to Sarah's fabulous papers from the A Few of My Favourite Things kit. The papers are so gorgeous you really don't need a lot else to make a great card.

You can tell I was rushing as really the sentiment should read 'Daddy' (my children are only 4 and 1) but by the time I realised I had already stuck the letters on :-( I'm sure Hubby won't mind though as he will be more pleased with my eldest's writing on the inside.

The small star stamp is from one of the exclusive stamps included each month in the A Few of My Favourite Things kits.

Here's what I used:

• A Few of My Favourite Things Kit

• 'Stream' Adirondack Inkpad
• 6" Square White Card Blank

• Wink of Stella Clear Brush Pen
• Viva Decor Pearl Pen Black
• Alphabet and Star Dies

Thanks for stopping by

Lisa

Lemon Butterflies

Morning All. It's Lisa here today and I have made a birthday card using the April A Few of My Favourite Things kit.

A little while back I was lucky enough to play with some cork sheets for a magazine commission, it was fabulous and really versatile, so I was more than a little bit excited to see some in the kit. Here I have used it to stamp and colour on...

I love the texture the cork adds to CAS layout.

The butterfly was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with ProMarkers. 

Here's what I used:

• A Few of My Favourite Things Kit

• Sentiments Stamps
• Butterfly Stamps

• 'Jet Black' Archival Inkpad
• 'Tuxedo Black' Memento Inkpad
• ProMarkers: Gold, Canary and Tulip Yellow

• 5" Square Kraft Card Blank

• Wink of Stella Clear Brush Pen
• Viva Decor Pearl Pen Black
• Pearl Beads

Thanks for stopping by

Lisa

Bold Butterflies

Morning All. It's Lisa here today and I thought I would share a bit more detail on my project I created for this months Challenge theme, which is Stitching. The challenge is open until midnight on Sunday so why not have a crafty weekend and show us what you create.

I have been having a little play with the A Few of My Favourite Things Kit again. This bold paper was from January's kit and I've hand stitched the edge as my sewing machine broke just before I made this. Oh well, my hand stitching is neater than my machine stitching anyway! Here is my card...

I've added a shimmer to the patterned paper with a Wink of Stella pen and stamped butterflies to each spot. My embellishments were made with UTEE and a Melt Pot.

The large butterflies have been stamped off the edge of the central panel. I used the Wink of Stella Pen to drag the ink and give them a watercolour look.

Here's what I used:

• A Few of My Favourite Things Kit

• Sentiments Stamps
• Butterfly Stamps

• 'Denim' Adirondack Ink pad

• White Square Card Blank

• UTEE Embellishments (Heart and Enamel Dots)

• Wink of Stella Clear Brush Pen, Embroidery Thread and Needle and a round corner punch

Thanks for stopping by

Lisa

Elegant Birthday

I have been having a little play with last months A Few of My Favourite Things Kit. My usual style is quite cutesy so I thought I would aim for an elegant card...

I've also used some ribbon and pearls from my stash and some embellishment left over from previous kits.

Here's what I used:

• A Few of My Favourite Things Kit

• Sentiments Stamps

• 'Walnut Stain' and 'Tea Dye' Distress Ink

• White Square Card Blank

• 1 inch Circle Punch

• Mini Stapler, Picket Fence Distress Stain, Viva Decor Pearl Pen, Ribbon and Pearl String

Thanks for stopping by

Lisa

A Little Bird Told Me...

...there is a new challenge in progress for March. The theme is 'Speech Bubbles' and I thought I would show my creation in a little more detail.

You might think from the name that Sarah's digi kit 'Be Mine' is a Valentine's kit but I wanted to show how lovely the colours and papers work for other occasions as well.

Here's what you'll need:

• Be Mine Digi Kit

• Sentiments Stamps

• Adirondack 'Stream' inkpad

• C6 Kraft card blank

• Cream Card

• Speech Bubble Die

• Bakers Twine, Glitter Glue, Glossy Accents, Warm Grey 1 ProMarker and a Clear Wink of Stella Brush Pen

Step by Step:

1. On Microsoft Word resize the bubble and chevron paper from the 'Be Mine' digi kit to 9.5cm by 13.5cm and the bird embellishment to 7cm tall and print onto white paper. 
2. Cut the bubble paper out and ink the edges with turquoise ink. Mat onto cream card, ink the edges and fix to the card blank with double sided tape. Stamp sentiment along the top edge.
3. Cut the chevron paper into a 10cm by 7cm fishtail and ink the edges. Mat onto cream card, ink the edges and wrap with bakers twine. Fix to the card blank with 3D foam pads.
4. Cut out the bird and attach to the card blank using double sided tape. Add shading with a ProMarker and a glitter pen and add Glossy Accents to the eye. Fix to the card blank using foam pads.
5. Die cut a speech bubble four times from cream card and glue together. Once dry stamp the sentiment on and fix to the card with 3D foam pads.

Thanks for stopping by
Lisa

Clean & Simple Chevrons

Hi it's Lisa here and I've been playing with the 12x12 papers from January's A Few of My Favourite Things Kit.

Now don't get me wrong...I Love Love Love Sarah's papers but now they are 12x12 I sometimes struggle to get the larger patterns to work on a card as I usually make 6x6 cards or smaller! One option would be to take a little look at Sarah's fabulous selection of Digi Kit/Papers, as they can easily be reduced to a 6x6 format and the pattern shrinks too. However, I wanted to challenge myself to make a card using the largest pattern from the January Kit and make it work on a C6 card (10.5cm x 14cm).

Here is my card using Sentiments Stamps and the Black and White Chevron Paper:

CAS Birthday Card

Here's what you'll need:

• A Few of My Favourite Things January Kit
• Sentiments Stamps
• Various grey, blue and black inkpads
• C6 white card blank
• White Card
• Star Punch
• Glitter Glue

Step by Step:

1. Take an 8cm by 14cm piece of white card, mask the top third and stamp the remainder with various stamps from the Sentiments Stamp set. Remove mask and leave to dry.
2. Attach this to two strips of the Black and White Chevron Paper and attach to the card blank using foam pads.
3. Punch a star from some blue card. I used one of the journalling cards from January's kit, it has a heart pattern so I punch around a heart. Attach it using a foam dot and add some glitter glue to the heart. 

Close up of the Star

Don't forget to stop by tomorrow for more inspiration...I have had a sneaky peak at tomorrow's post and it's just Bee-autiful!!

Thanks for stopping by and keep coming back for more inspiration from the fabulous Hurley Girlies!

Lisa

Faux Letterpress Background

Hi it's Lisa here and I've been playing about with the Chevron Stripe Mask again.

This is another way to create a textured background using both heat and dry embossing and is a sort of Faux Letterpress technique...

Completed Card

Here's what you'll need:

• Chevron Stripe Mask
• Sentiments Stamps
• Gold, Red and Black Inkpad
• Clear Sparkle and Red Sparkle Embossing Powder
• Viva Decor Pearl Pen
• Kraft and Red Card
• Die Cutting Machine

Step by Step:

1. Ink the mask with gold ink, making sure it is completely covered. Take a 14cm square piece of white card and place carefully onto the mask, securing with some low tack tape. Run through your die cutting machine to emboss and print the ink. I used a Cuttlebug and the sandwich was as follows A plate, B plate, mask, card, embossing mat, 2 card shims and a B plate. Carefully remove the mask. Cover with clear sparkle embossing powder and heat emboss. Mat onto red card and fix to your card base.
2. Take a strip of white card and stamp a border using the heart stamp (from Sentiments Stamps). Trim leaving a small white border, mat onto Kraft card and fix to the card blank and 
3. Create a fishtail on a strip of white card. Mat onto red card and fix to the card blank. Stamp the 'I Love You' (from Sentiments Stamps) onto Kraft card. Tear ends and fix to card.
4. Decorate with pearls.

Close-up of the de-bossed heat embossing!!!

Don't forget to stop by tomorrow for the start of our February Challenge as there are some fabulous projects to see.

Thanks for stopping by and come back soon for more inspiration from the fabulous Hurley Girlies!

Lisa

Embossed Background

Hi it's Lisa here with my first inspiration post on the new look blog.

We have already shown you a couple of posts on ways to create texture using masks, one from Jaine here and one from Jess here. I wanted to try and show that you don't always need to get messy (although sometimes that is fun!) to create a cool background.

Completed Card

Here's what you'll need:

• Chevron Stripe Mask
• Sentiments Stamps
• Yellow, Orange and Black Inkpads
• Stickles Glitter Glue and Viva Decor Pearl Pen
• White and Orange Card
• Die Cutting Machine

Step by Step:

1. Take a 14cm square of white card and place onto the mask, securing with some low tack tape. Run through your die cutting machine to emboss. I used a Cuttlebug and the sandwich was as follows A plate, B plate, mask, card, embossing mat, 2 card shims and a B plate.
2. With the mask still in place use a stencil brush to apply the ink. Remove the mask and mat onto orange card. Fix to your card base.
3. Take a strip of white card and stamp with various sentiment stamps. Mat on orange card and fix to the card base.
4. Stamp 'Surprise' onto a thin strip of white card and trim ends into fishtails (I used a square punch for this). Fix to card base using 3D foam pads.
5. Decorate with pearls and glitter glue.

A close up of the embossing.

I'm not sure that the camera has truly picked up the texture but it looks lovely in real life and makes you want to stroke it (sad as that sounds!).

Hope you are inspired to try something different with your masks and if you give this a go leave a link to your project in the comments below as I would love to pop by and take a look...nosey? me? ;-)

Thanks for stopping by and come back soon for more inspiration from the fabulous Hurley Girlies!

Lisa