An itch to craft!

*blows dust off blog* Hello everyone! It's been such a long time since I last posted, but I've been really busy with university work :(. Now I'm in my final year the work is really building up so my focus is on that, but recently I've made a couple of cards and it's great because it helps me de-stress! And for my birthday I treated myself to some new paper and stamps!

Here's my first card I have to show you....

The Distress Inks I used were: Broken China for the background, and Brushed Corduroy and Tea Dye for the 'steam punk' stamps tucked under the frame. I also smudged Brushed Corduroy onto the white frame to highlight it.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Make It Monday - Anything Goes
Crafts and Me - Keep it Simple

My second card I have to show you is a Christmas card! Only the second I've made so far but I have plenty of time *hmm*

I made this card using an Enchanted Christmas (by papermania) decoupage Christmas fairy, matching backing paper, sentiment and sticker border. The border and blue backing paper is sparkly already, but I used my Icicle Stickles on the fairy's wings, around the sentiment and on the top of the Christmas tree because you can never have too much sparkle!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Creatalicious Challenges - Christmas with Sparkles
Crimbo Crackers - Make it Sparkle
Sweet Stamps - Non Traditional Christmas Colours
Paper Pretties - Non Traditional Christmas Colours

Thank you for looking, and I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend! I need to catch up with replying to comments so I'll be doing that later while watching X Factor! I look forward to seeing everyone else's creations x

Clean and Simple Butterfly Card

I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted! I had a look around different challenge blogs this morning and picked out a couple I fancied making a card for. I wanted to use watercolour pencils because it's a technique I've never tried before, and this is the end result!

It took me ages to make sure the squares were all the right distance apart, but it was worth it. I used an Inkadinkadoo inchie stamp from a spring stamp set, and stamped the image out three times in tuxedo black Memento ink. Then I used watercolour pencils to colour the two halves of the inchie stamp, and then using water I blended the colours slightly. Here's a close up.

I thought that the card needed something else so used a sentiment stamp on the bottom left, but I'm not sure whether I should have left it blank!

I'm entering this card into the following competitions:

Less is More - Three Previous Challenges (week 4 - 3 squares, week 16 - butterfly/butterflies and week 3 - spring)

Flutter by Wednesdays - Anything Goes

Thanks for looking, and I hope you're enjoying your bank holiday weekend!

Masculine 'Playing Card' Card!

My boyfriend left a pack of playing cards round my house and challenged me to make him a card using them! He loves anything card/magic related so I knew that if I got it right he would love it! So here it is, it is possibly my favourite card I've ever made...

I glued gold card onto a white card blank, and used Walnut Stain Distress Ink on the edges of the brown paper before layering it on top. I distressed the edges of the playing cards with a pair of scissors (after debating whether or not to crumple them too), and used the same ink on the edges and over the surface.  I used 3d foam tape to raise the Ace of Hearts from the other cards and make it stand out. I then used Papermania Capsule alphabet stickers to spell out 'love' on purple paper, and then distressed the edges with scissors and used Walnut Stain ink again to give a more distressed look. Lastly I layered this on gold card and crumpled the edges of the purple paper (I didn't glue right to the edge to make this possible). Here are some close ups!

I'm going to enter this card into the following challenges:
Cards For Men - Anything goes
One Stitch at a Time - Anything goes
Sparkles Forum - One for the boys
Charisma Cardz - Distressing
Dream Valley Challenges - Distressing

Thanks for looking, have a nice day! :)

"Less is More" card

I've got serious post holiday blues but thankfully the sun was out today! I made this card for the "Less is More" challenge, which I've been wanting to do for a while but hadn't plucked up the courage! I'm not sure whether my card was a success or not, but I enjoyed making it which is the most important thing.

The requirements for the challenge were: one layer, and had to include ink. I decided to use a technique I'd never done before, which was to use a paintbrush to pick up lots of Distress Ink onto my work surface, then spritzed it twice with water mixed with some gold Perfect Pearls, and then used brush strokes to apply it to the card. The Distress Inks I used were Brushed Corduroy and Tattered Rose. Then I stamped a Laura Ashley flower stamp in chalk brown ink, and without re-inking it I stamped it again to create a 'ghost' of the image beside it. Lastly I used the same ink to stamp the Happy Birthday sentiment, and voila! A clean and simple card which I hope you like. Thanks for looking! Leave me a comment and I'll pop over to your blog and leave you a comment too :)

Holiday!

I will be in Sharm el Sheikh from tomorrow morning until the 10th so I won't be able to write anything until I get back! I hope you're all enjoying your summer and the beautiful weather, and I just wanted to say thank you for following me and leaving me lovely comments! I really appreciate it. See you in a week! xxx

Masculine Summer Card

Hello! Today I'd like to show you a card I made for my boyfriend, and as he gave me a pack of Tim Holtz Adage Tickets I decided I'd use two of them on the card!

Apologies for the terrible picture! My desk was a mess and I took this picture in a hurry.

The blue stripey Dovecraft paper and the sandy paper make me think of a sunny beach! I started by layering the sandy paper and the stripey paper, and then passing ribbon around the front of the card and glueing it beneath the green corrugated card. I stamped the tree and bird stamp (from this stamp set) onto white card stock and coloured it in with Promarkers. Then I inked around the image with Old Paper Distress Ink and stuck it onto the green card at an angle. I smudged the same ink onto the adage tickets, and then layered them with double sided sellotape, and finished the card by sticking down some vintage buttons! I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Stamp Something - Summer fun
PaperPlay - In the garden
Divas By Design - Summer (second entry)
Polkadoodle - In an english country garden
Creative Inspirations - Summertime
Craft Your Days Away - Summer (second entry)
Come and Get It - Anything Goes

I hope you like this card, I really enjoyed making it!

Small Distressed Butterfly Card

Hello everyone! I've made a tiny (about 10cmx10cm) card with a vintage butterfly theme which I'd like to enter into the following challenges:

2 Sisters Challenge - Anything goes
Divas By Design Challenge - Summer theme
Crafty Cardmakers - Butterflies

OK so here's my tiny tiny card! (Which looks quite large in the picture!)

The backing paper is by K&Co (I love K&Co papers!), and after sticking this down I distressed the edges with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink. I cut two elements from another paper in the same stack and distressed the edges with a pair of scissors. Then I crumpled them both and using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink I inked the edges and over the creases. I layered them on the card and then realising I'd inked the butterfly a bit too heavily, I used blue and purple Promarkers to make the butterfly more noticeable! Then I used a gold wavy peel off and three gold peel off leaves to finish it off, and filled in the leaves with Black Diamond Stickles!

Now I'm off to make fairy cakes with my best friend! Have a nice day!