Platypus Unicorn

I am so pleased Clearly Besotted is back and also that they have made their images slightly larger, they fill the card so much better this size and long may this continue.

I had a blast making this card, it was more time consuming and messy than expected but overall I'm not unhappy with how it turned out. Of course if I had my time over again I wouldn't inadvertently mix the picked raspberry and seedless preserves blending tools but if I hadn't pointed it out you probably wouldn't have noticed lol.

Ingredients
Image: "Platypus at Play" Clearly Besotted
Sentiment: "unicorn" Woodware
Inks: candied apple, festive berries, carved pumpkin,  fossilised amber, squeezed lemonade, twisted citroen, mowed lawn, peacock feathers, salty ocean, wilted violet, seedless preserves, picked raspberry all Distress inks
Background: "radiating rays" stencil from MFT
Dies: A2 stitched rectangle stax and wonky stitched circle all from MFT

Copics
Platypus - E30, 31, 34
Bill - E49, 59, 57, 35
Mane - R24, 29, YR04, 09, Y13, 35, YR03, 25, 17, B24, 26, V15, 17

Rockin' Doggie

Before Birdie Brown designed for MFT she had an Etsy digistamp store and I bought quite a few images from her, the store closed a long time ago but her images are too cute not to use, so I am going to apologise in advance that this image is no longer available. I keep hoping that it is one that gets made into an MFT set but no sign so far.

Another simple card and along the same design principle as the silhouette cards I showed earlier this month, I had a bit of a run of blending inks in almost the same place so there might be more cards later on, of course that is if they ever get made into cards as I am notorious for not using everything I create and/or colour lol.

Ingredients
Image: "rockin" Doggie" Birdie Brown Digi Stamp
Sentiment: "a little sentimental" Clearly Besotted
Inks: "candied apple" and "fossilised amber" Distress oxides
Background: "music" Kaisercraft
Dies: A2 stitched rectangle stax from MFT

Making Cards - Best Friends

As soon as I saw the stamps from Making cards I knew the card I wanted to make and who it was going to be for, of course it has still taken about four weeks maybe more to actually get made but at least it has been used lol.

Fairly simple card as I wanted the image to be the star of the show and hopefully that was achieved.

Ingredients
Image and Sentiment : "making cards magazine"
Dies : A2 stitched rectangles from MFT
Card : "raspberry" lime tree crafts

Copics
Skin - E13,11,00, 000
Hair - E30, 31, 34, 35, 57, 59
Dresses - RV69, 19, 17, N9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3
Wine - R01

Silhouette Cards a la Jennifer McGuire Version 3

Third and final version for now anyway, I apologise if you thought this was going to be a animal or a person, its not its just flowers again, but if its any consolation its my favourite one of the batch.

Ingredients
Image: "just darling" Clearly Besotted
Sentiment: "geometric 1" Clearly Besotted
Inks: "wilted violet" and "picked raspberry" distress oxides
Dies: A2 stitched rectangle stax from MFT
Card: "red" Recollection from Michaels

Silhouette Cards a la Jennifer McGuire Version 2

The Second version of the Silhouette cards and made at the same time as version 1 but this time I used butterflies rather than flowers. I am sure this would work equally well with maybe a person stamp or an animal and I might need to try that soon.

I am still trying to continue the multiple cards in one style/sitting and so far so good, I don't always manage it but when I do I feel accomplished so I know this is the way to remove stress for me.

Ingredients
Image: "elegant butterflies " Clearly Besotted
Sentiment: "simply quilled" Clearly Besotted
Inks: "salty ocean", "twisted citroen" and "peacock feathers" distress oxides
Dies: A2 stitched rectangle stax from MFT

Silhouette Cards a la Jennifer McGuire Version 1

Quite a while ago Jennifer McGuire showed a technique where she used outline stamps to create silhouettes and I was intrigued. I thought about making the cards when I saw the video but other more urgent makes got in the way so it has taken over six months to get around to this and I am disappointed in myself as it is such a quick, easy and effective design to replicate.

I blended the inks before stamping the images, in hindsight I should have stamped them first like JM did but I thought it looked more work lol. Once I stamped the images in versa fine I waited until the ink was dry then coloured with a sharpie, it took three coats over the inks and its not perfect but it still looks good.

I will definitely be doing this again, in fact I might try it with images that aren't flowers lol.

Ingredients
Image: "take good care" Clearly Besotted
Sentiment: "sweet little sentiments" Clearly Besotted
Inks: "wilted violet" and "picked raspberry" distress oxides
Dies: A2 stitched rectangle stax from MFT
Card: "purple" Limetree

Lili of the Valley Number Bears Version 2

This is probably the brightest of the batch makes and matches the personality of the recipient perfectly. Of course I wish I had put their names on these but there is always next year.

You will have probably noticed that this card is different to the first version, that was a Eclipse card but this little ones name was too long to fit on the card so I decided to just colour and mount it instead. After this one they all follow the same pattern as all the other names were too big. Maybe I need more alphabet dies....

Ingredients
Image: "number bear" Lili of the Valley Digistamp
Dies: XXL stitched square from Crealies
Card: "raspberry fizz" Papertrey Ink

Copics
Bear - E47, 44, 43, 42, 41, 40
Ground - W4, 2
Number - RV09, 06, 04, 17, 19

Altenew Flowers

I am a huge fan of the layered flowers from Altenew, especially once they introduced the outlines which meant they could be coloured as well as stamped.

I am shocked but not surprised that I have had both of these sets for a while and they have been barely used, and by barely I mean the peony has never been used. I am so bad for this, buying and not using that I am almost tempted to inflict a stash buying ban but I know that only makes me worse lol.

Maybe I need to start "shopping my stash" I mean I liked the stuff enough to buy it so surely I like it enough to actually use it. That might be a challenge to myself, see how long I can shop my stash for.

Ingredients
Images: "beautiful day" and "peony bouquet" both Altenew
Inks: "citrus burst, fresh lemon, maple yellow and honey drizzle" from the Pocketful of Sunshine set       " frayed leaf and forest glades" from the Green Fields set " soft lilac, lavender fields, deep iris, midnight violet" from the Shades of Purple and "bamboo, olive" from the Tropical Forest set all from Altenew
Sentiment: "happy everything" clearly besotted and number dies (unbranded)
Cardstock: Michaels 65lb white and "amethyst allure" from Papertrey Ink

Heart and Sole

This set is so perfect for all the runners in our lives, ok I only know about three but still its uber cute lol.

My original idea was to have the shoe look like it was running through grass and mud but that didn't look very pretty on the card so I thought lets go abstract instead lol. I am happy with the result and I hope the recipient likes it too.

Ingredients
Image and Sentiment: "heart and sole" Papertrey ink
Inks: "picked raspberry" and "wilted violet" both Distress Oxides
Stencil: "splatters" Tim Holtz
Dies: "a2 stitched stax 2 and a2 stax 1" both MFT

April Fool

Now I could have posted a random weird card or even posted a mixed media piece but instead I thought I would just say "pinch, punch first of the month...no returns" lol

Enjoy your April Fools day and I hope you don't get caught out.