Special Day Today...

Hi All,

Nicole here today with a fun project for you using some journaling cards. I love all the cards in the kits but I don't actually do any journaling or documenting. So I love to use the cards on other craft projects instead. For this card I used two of the journaling cards to create a birthday card. You can see the cards I used here in the Sarah Hurley kits. I used a large 4" x 6" card for by card background and then a 3" x 4" card for the panel on the front.

The small card had the word today on it. So I took some stamps from the Sentiments Stamp Set and placed them above and below the word Today.

I stamped these in embossing ink and embossed with white powder.

I then used the Triangle stencil from Sarah Hurley to add a bit more interest. I used peacock feathers ink for this.

 I love this random triangle stencil and the fun pattern it gives the card.

I used the tiny star in the sentiment set to stamp into the middle of all the circles on the background journaling card.

I then added a thin grey strip of paper to either side of the small card to ground it in place.

Here is the finished card, fun and bright and cheery!

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you get inspired to get using those unused journaling cards up!

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

Pencils, stamps.......and Peace

Hi there, Claire back with you today, with a little insight as to how I created my cards to welcome in the challenge this month.

Grabbing time during the school holidays to craft is tricky, but these little 4x4 inch cards take no time at all, and I was fortunate to have an hour to myself today when all the boys decided to go out and run errands.

I admire those who can draw, and I love that sketchy look that some can create on their cards by either drawing their own focal point, or  being able to colour with pencils in a sophisticated non-child like way.

I however am no artist, but I think I can sort of manage with watercolour pencils and a waterbrush.

So I hope that I can encourage those of you out there who think the same way.....have a go, at this technique and see what you can come up with.

I will talk you through how I created this second set of cards.

1) The backgrounds are created by using watercolour pencils and a waterbrush onto small pieces (3x3") of watercolour paper.
I chose 4 colours, to use across the set, and used 3 colours on each card. 'Scribble' the colours across the watercolour paper. This first layer I laid down lightly because I wanted a subtle colour, and I know my pencils really intensify when I add water.

2) Take the water brush and go over the pencil lines and you will see the colour pop. Continue adding water and moving the colours about until you are happy with how it looks.

3) I'm a little bit obsessed with Sarah's new Zentangle stamps at the minute, and reach for them each time I sit at my desk. I stamped them also onto watercolour card with momento ink (London fog).
To colour them I applied the lighter shades directly to the image iteslf. But because the blues and teals are so intense, and I lack the confidence in controlling the colour, I took an off cut of paper and used it as a palette. By adding water you can pick up the colour from one place and take it to another ie. the image you want to colour. This then meant that the blue on the images was able to blend better with the paler colours.

4) When all layers and images on the watercolour paper are dry you can layer them onto the base card, and finish off with a sentiment and embellishments of your choice.

I didn't want to go traditional, and thought these little cards were perfect to showcase some of the thoughts and words that Sarah has running through her stamp sets.
Here is a list of the stamp sets I have used, and the links to each of them in the shop.
Zendoodle Nature Stamp Set
Butterflies Stamp Set
Dream a Little Dream Girl Stamp Set


To create my challenge cards, right at the top of the page, all I done was draw the patterns and apply the initial pencil lines onto the watercolour card, before going in with the water brush.
Hopefully you will have been inspired to have a go.

CHALLENGE 95 - FAVOURITE THINGS

JAINE

Wow when I was asked to host the challenge 'Favourite things' I had no idea what a dilemma that would pose. I have so many favourite things it was so hard to choose just one to showcase so the only way to show you just a few of them is to make a project which includes one or two.

I adore making mini albums, especially from recycled or unusual things, so here's a mini made with paper bags. I've stamped and embossed the front panel with the Fancy Deco Lattice stamp one of my favourite backgrounds. I had to get inky with some spray ink and I love love washi tape so what better than to make my own. Later in in the month I'll be showing you how I made that.

Anyway, here the team show you their favourite things.  Link up below to show us your favourites and don't forget if you use a Sarah Hurley product in your entry you can win an extra special prize.


Elaine

I made a necklace using printable shrink plastic and the Curio set with my jewellery stash

Nicole

One of my favourite things is to use up paper scraps. I love nothing more than being able to get rid of all those left over bits and pieces. I often leave them in a corner of my desk for a while to be able to grab them and use them up as inspiration strikes! On my card below everything was a scrap on my desk. I used a sentiment stamp set from Sarah Hurley and the paper in behind the die cut hearts is from her paper range also.

Ria

I love card making and it makes me happy whenever I can incorporate my other craft favorite which is sewing. For this month's challenge, I added a favorite craft material I used in sewing which is felt. Sarah's felt flower is just pretty and I have to add it as my embellishment. The pinks and blues are my favorite colors + die cuts which I all incorporate in this month's challenge. I used a combination of different paper kits: April kit-Happy, July kit-All at Sea, and Be Mine kit. The felt is from St Marks add on kit.    

Claire S

For this challenge I decided I wanted to use my favourite colour - hot pink, a photo of my favourite Summer shoes and the title of one of my favourite Summer songs...

I used papers from a selection of Sarah's A Few Of My Favourite Things Kits, the photo is an Instagram print from Printed.com and added a selection of yellow brads from my own stash.

Sharon

Like Nicole, I love making the most of paper scraps. I also love my filofax which has become very dated and looks nothing like the fancy ones I see on Instagram every day. So I found the perfect solution! While waiting for my new academic diary refills to arrive I made new divider pages from paper scraps from my kits with washi tape and my label maker.Wow what a difference it's made! Excuse the photo quality- my camera's still not working and my phone isn't the best for bright colours.

Claire

I have used my favourite colours, shades of blue and teal to create a set of 4x4" mini notelets. The Backgrounds are watercolour pencils overstamped with a little sequin detail stamp from one of Sarah's previous AFOMFT kits (which is where I have collected the embellishments from too over the months). 

The sentiment stamps are also available from Sarah's shop.

Clare

For this challenge I wanted to make a card using my most used stamp range....Doodle Dolls. Here I have used stamps from the Princess set. I am also a huge fan of Sarah's AFOMFT monthly kits.

Lisa

Like Jaine I was in a real dilemma as I have so many favourite things. But then I settled on idea....one of my favourite things is to make 'To-do' lists so I thought I would combine that with one of my favourite colour combos of lemon and grey and alter a little clipboard to use as a list holder. The papers are from one of of the AFOMFT kits.

Carol

I made my PL page for February using AFOMFT Kits, Sarah's files from the Silhouette Store and Sarah's Stamps those three are among my favourite things, as are the items I have put on my page.

An InLinkz Link-up

A simple water colour card.

Today I'm sharing with you this water colour effect card which is created pretty simply using only spray inks.

I chose to use this huge butterfly as it has a large surface area. Stamps with a larger surface are better for this to work properly.  

Spray the stamp while it's on the block with your chosen colour of ink. Don't hold the spray too close otherwise it'll result in too much ink puddling. It might stain your stamp afterwards but that won't do any harm.

Stamp down onto some water colour paper. The result won't be perfect but you're not aiming for perfection anyway.

Let it dry or dry it with a heat tool, then spray some ink into a mixing tray. Use a paintbrush dipped in water to paint the colour into the background. I watered the ink down a bit to make the colour a bit less bright.

Flick on a few ink spots and you're done.

Have fun with your inks, you can do so much more than just spray with them.

Jaine x

Making envelopes

Hi everyone!

It's Sharon here and I'd like to spread my love of snail mail. I've always had a thing for writing letters and what could be better than receiving a letter that isn't a bill. But of course, to get a letter you have to send one!

I've recently started making my own envelopes so I thought I'd post one here. Please excuse the quality of the photos-my camera's taking an unscheduled break and I've had to use my phone!

First of all I chose my paper from one of my A Few of my Favourite Things kits, cut it to the size I wanted (7.5 by 7.5 inches) and used my scoreboard envelope guide to score the lines.

Next I cut away the little half squares that form on the edges where the score lines cross.

You don't have to round the corner edges but I think it gives a nicer finish so out came my favourite corner rounder!

Then I folded up the sides and and scored them to bend them into place!

I completely forgot to take photos of the doodle doll I made to decorate the envelope. First of all I made a collage of used stamps and stamped my lovely Wish Upon a Star girl onto it. Then I cut out the dress and the wings. I stamped her again on plain card and stuck the dress and wings onto her. I coloured her face, hair and shoes with promarkers but you can see the slight mess I made of her hair as I'd got a bit of medium on her when I stuck her to the envelope and the marker wouldn't work over it. Note to self-colour before sticking next time!

I can only think of one person to send her to!

I love making my own envelopes as I think it gives a lovely personal touch to my mail and I'd love to see what you do with yours!

Zendoodle Brooch.

Hiya, it's Carol here and it's Friday *happy dance*.  For my post today I used the fabulous new Zendoodle Fashion Stamps and made a love heart brooch. I actually remembered to take lots of photos too!

First pick which stamp you would like to use, I picket the heart as it is a lovely stamp and embosses beautifully, and ink it up with Perfect Medium Ink Pad. 

Cover with white embossing powder and use your heat tool.

Cut the heart out, and cover with the Perfect Medium Ink, the sprinkle UTEE over it, remove the excess and use your heat tool. 

You should be left with a beautiful glossy finish like below. Repeat the step above to  make it extra thick and shiny.

 

I then applied a brooch pin to the back of the heart, so I can use it to add a nice monochrome heart to a bright jacket.

I just love the sheen on this, and I love the detailing in the heart stamp.

I used my Sully bear to model the brooch, as I have been up from 5.30am and really didn't want to frighten you with a selfie lol.

Thanks for popping by today, remember and pop by in a few days for our new challenge.