Thinking of You

I still think these cards are the most difficult to make, you want to let the family know you are thinking of them but it isn't easy to make them when you are upset. This is also the one type of card I don't keep on hand and I'm not sure I want to.

Anyway the card is a simple construction, I masked the area, stamped a leaf branch from a stampin up set, white embossed and then used my distress inks to colour the background. After this was dry I used liquid platinum to heat emboss the sentiment.

Ingredients
Stamps: "hope blooms" and "curly cute" both Stampin Up
Inks:"cracked pistachio" and "peacock feathers" both Distress inks
Embossing Powders: "white" stampendous. "liquid platinum" Ranger
Dies: Blueprints 15 from MFT

Me to You Bear

I saw this set in the clearance section of "the Range" and it contained three separate sheets of clear stamps, three pigment inks, two acrylic blocks and some cards and envelopes for the bargain price of £7.49.  Now I haven't made a card with this bear in quite a long time and now I have more colics I throughly enjoyed colouring her, the Tonal markers match much better than the Cool ones. 

Ingredients
Image:"me to you bear" from a large set by Papermania
Paper: "Happy Day" MME
Card: "pink set" from craft work
Dies: crealies stitched circle, spellbinders scalloped circle, blueprints 2 and 13 by MFT

Copics
Bear - B02, 00, T5, 4, 2, 0
T-shirt - R85, 83, 81, RV34, B02, 00

Soda Pop

I've combined three card designs from the mft design team for this card, I had an idea and for once it looks almost exactly as I pictured it.

I cut two bottles one from copic friendly card and one from acetate, I thought it would look like a real bottle that way, problem was the acetate wouldn't lay flat do it does have a bit of glue on the bottom of the bottle hopefully it's not too visible.

I was looking for some silver/foil card n my stash but I couldn't find any so I used the delicata with the tim holtz blending tool and it has a gorgeous shimmer in real life.

Ingredients
Image: "soda pop" Mft stamps
Card: "real red" stampin up
Dies: stitched circle stax, vertical stripes and horizontal stripes, blueprints 1 and 2 and bottle caps all from MFT
Stencil: "concentric circle grid" from mft with delicata silver ink

Copics
Coke: E49, 79, 77, 74

Woohoo You Passed

A family friend recently passed her driving test, she has been wanting this for quite some time so I wanted to wish her congratulations and happy motoring.

Ingredients
Image: "zoe" Digistamp Boutique
Papers: "oh contrary" MME from Michelle
Card: "kraft" from Recollections
Dies: labels, blueprints 1 and 2 all mft

Copics
Skin - E000, 00, 11, R20
Hair - E55, 57, 59
Top - YG17, 13
Car - R35, 14, N2, 5, 7, Y11, 35
Ground - W3, 1

Dapper Dan Suit and Tie

My cousin recently started his first job and he has to wear a suit and tie so I thought the mft set was perfect to make him a congratulations card.

This die set from MFT is perfect for creating suit cards, I definitely need to use it more. There isn't much to say about the card except that I had fun making it and sometimes that is enough lol.

Ingredients
Dies: Blueprints 1 and 2, suit and die all mft
Card: Michaels 110lb white and "basic grey" from Stampin Up
Paper: "heritage press" Papermania
Sentiment: "big greetings" Mft
Background stamp: "pinstripe" from MFT stamped in Versamark.

Some Odd Girl Weekend Kaylee

I bet you are thinking oh no not that paper pad again, but it had to be done, its a perfect colour combo and so easy to use, I might even invest in the full pack (the free with magazine pack is almost gone!!!!)

Ingredients
Image: "weekend kaylee" Some Odd Girl
Papers: "Isabellina" BoBunny
Card: "basic grey" stampin up
Dies : blueprints 1 and 2, scalloped edges, vertical stripes and circle stax all from MFT and scalloped circles from Spellbinders.

Copics
Skin - R20, E000, 00, 11
Hair - E55, 57, 59, 49
Trousers - N7, 5, 4
Top - R85, 83, 81, RV34. N3, 1

Perfect Pearls Butterfly

I bought these perfect pearls on one of my first visits to Michaels in Florida, so about ten years ago and I have just used them, shame on me. I wanted to try gilding flakes but as I don't have any I went with something sparkly and slightly, only slightly less messy.

In real life it glows far more than the photo and the black card looks considerably darker but even on the photo you can see how the colours pop.

Ingredients
Image: "swallowtail butterfly" Stampin up
Card: from snippet draw
Dies: blueprints 2 and 13
Sentiment: "keep it simple: birthday" paper trey ink
Perfect Pearls: "rose gold" and "gold"

HB2U Licence Plate

This card was made with offcuts and leftovers and came together rather quickly, I was clearing my desk and decided to use the stuff on it before putting it away, this worked really well and I had loads of ideas of course it didn't help clean the desk lol.

Ingredients
Image: Licence plate stamps and dies from MFT, stamped in "gumdrop green" and "nightshift blue" both MFT
Paper: "cold avocado soup" Jillibean Soup
Card: Cream linen from stash, "nightshift blue" from MFT
Dies: Blueprints 2 and 13
Stamps: "chevron" background from Heidi Swapp

Kraft Butterfly

I have been watching a lot of videos with colouring on kraft and decided to give it a try, next time I will go with a more open design but I still think its pretty effective. I used a white pencil to give a slight shadow and it seems to work.

Ingredients
Image: "swallowtail" Stampin Up
Card: "kraft" recollections
Dies: blueprints 20 and 13
Sentiment: "free set" Clearly Besotted
Pencils: Blend able from WHSmith

A Second Quilted Square

Some new ladies have recently joined the Bristol play day group and I needed another birthday card quickly, I still had a little pot of the leftover quilt pieces so I decided to make another one, these are so much fun to put together, I might even use the remaining pieces to make another two lol.

Ingredients
Dies: square crealies and "quilt square cover-up", "flags tax" and "vintage buttons" all by mft
Papers : "quite contrary" MME from Michelle
Card: "whip cream"  and "pink lemonade" by MFT and "kraft" from Recollections at Michaels
Sentiment: "keep it simple: happy birthday" from Papertrey ink with "kraft" ink also from Papertrey ink

Blush Becky - The Greeting Farm

My good friend Kay has again provided this sketch and it really kickstarted my mojo, I have been christmas card making for a while and sometimes that sucks all my energy especially as time races by and the cards I need to make seems to multiply.

I saw this image on "a thousand sheet of paper" blog and I just had to buy her and for once I coloured her straight away and she was even made into a card the same night. Now I didn't colour her today or even yesterday but way back in October but it has taken me this long to upload her lol.

Ingredients
Image: "blush becky" The Greeting Farm
Papers: "sweet paris" Dovecraft
Card: "basic grey" Stampin Up
Dies: Circle stax, blueprints 1 and 2 and horizontal stripes all MFT, scalloped circle from Spellbinders
Sentiment: "keep it simple: birthdays" Papertrey Ink
Embossing Powder: "cherry" from SparklenSprinkle

Copics
Skin - R20, E11, 00, 000
Hair - E35, 34, 33, 31, 30
Dress - YG91, G43, 40, R85, RV34, R83, 81, 30

Birthday Cake Peep

Yet another of the cute peep stamps from Stamping Bella has been used, I think there are only a few left that I haven't used and I am hoping to remedy that soon. Then I might have to move on to another section of my stamp storage and start using those. I am finding its an excellent way to ensure you use all the stuff you have or to decide that it is time that the stuff went to live with someone else.

I went through a stage a few months ago of using this paper pad on every card and I am glad I did because once I decided it was going to be chocolate cake I knew I had a paper pad that would go. I am a very visual person and I tend to remember I have something if I have used it previously, which is why my stamp method of inking unused stamps might just remind me what exactly I have got, although to be fair making a card is a better reminder than just stamping and colouring an image.

Ingredients
Image: "birthday cake peep" Stamping Bella
Sentiment: "happy bears" LOTV
Card: "dark chocolate" Papertrey Ink
Paper: "sweet owl" First edition
Dies: scalloped circle from spellbinders, circle stax, blueprints 2 and 13 all mft and decorative edges from clearly besotted

Copics
Skin - E000, 00, 11
Hair - E55, 57, 59
Dress - RV34, R83, 81
Cake - E29 27, 25 23, YR07,Y35, T4, 2, 0, YG93, 95, RV34, R83, 81

Happy New Year

Its the first of January and a brand new year, full of opportunities and surprises. For some it will mean setting resolutions but not here, I never stick to them so I have decided not to make any. I did challenge myself last year to post to my blog more regularly and I hope to continue that trend this year. I am also hoping to use up some of my considerable stash but we shall see how long that lasts.

Anyway enough waffling, "Happy New Year Everyone"

Thanks for looking
Amanda XX