Less is More - Spring Flower(s)

The current challenge over at Less is More is one layer, with the theme of Spring Flowers. I chose a single tulip:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank, tent style

- masked off a strip across the centre of the card and just daubed SU 'Daffodil Delight' ink using a make up sponge to give a mottled effect

- the stamp is one of the very first ones I ever bought, it's from a set of five, with no name, and they were a real novelty at the time as they're clear stamps already mounted onto acrylic blocks. Sigh, the fact that they don't stamp brilliantly is a shame - perhaps they were just a tad before their time. However, I used SU 'Old Olive' to stamp the image and a 'Ruby' Pro Marker to colour in the head of the tulip

- then to finish off I just added a couple of score lines above and below the yellow stripe using the trick of scoring on the right side and then flipping the card over and following the same lines to raise the lines on the right side. I did giggle here, another lovely bloggy friend used this trick recently and said they'd spotted it elsewhere - I jumped in and squealed what a good idea. Then subsequently realised it was probably me that had done it 'cos that's always how I score when I want to follow a line on the front of a card :) Just make sure you don't press too hard when you flip it over for fear of ripping the card

- of course the Pro Marker did bleed through the card so I just backed the inside with a slightly smaller square of white card. Chrissie assured me ages ago that it still counts as one layer :)

The background reminds me of rag-rolling - anyone else remember when that was all the rage and we rag-rolled, stippled and stencilled walls like there was no tomorrow?


Di
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Pixies Snippets Playground - Week 115

Wahoo, Spring seems to be just around the corner girls!

This is my snippets card this week:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- Penny Black '...For Everything' stamp, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad and coloured with Pro Markers. Ha, I just spotted that I'd forgotten to colour the daffodil stem 'cos I needed to use a fine tipped marker - it's done now though, honest!

- die cut the image using a Nesties circle then mounted the image onto a slightly bigger hand cut circle, using SU 'Certainly Celery' card stock snippet

- die cut the doily from a white snippet using Cheery Lyn's 'French Pastry' die

- the gingham papers are mostly snippets from the Wild Rose Studios 'Gorgeous Ginghams' paper pack, some are mounted onto snippets of SU's 'Certainly Celery' card stock

- the sentiment is also Penny Black - guess what, it's called 'Think Spring', stamped in Memento 'Tuxedo Black' then die cut using a Marianne Creatables label die from the LR0154 set

- pink bow and a few pink pearls added, plus a few pearls on one corner of the card

- teeny little silk daffodil heads, which I bought years ago - stuck on using the glue gun - they sure didn't wanna play nicely at first!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Penny Black and More - March - 'So sweet'

Crafting For All Seasons - 'Spring into Spring'

Now for the weekly picks:

 

I have to say, this fabulous card made by Sue P really HAS to be the star of the week. I love, love, love it!

Sigh, as soon as I spotted this card made by Bonnie, I rushed off and spent some pocket money on the fabulous die - what an elegant card!

This beautifully decorated heart made by Patricia is beautiful isn't it? The heart came from Primark and the flowers were made from snippets of course.


Apart from this being a fabulous card, made by Pat, isn't it a great idea to use the shapes from the 'Tied Together' folder for the letters - very clever.

Fabulous Easter egg card, made by Jenny H - I have all the ingredients here and think this is such a fabulous design, that's my Easter cards sorted so thank you Jenny for the inspiration!

And another brilliant Mothering Sunday or Easter idea, made by Andrea. I totally adore this basket :)

I thought we'd end with a giggle today - Sue J made this fantastic card, gotta love that expression and so many snippets used as well!

As always, I could just keep showing more and more - but am writing this on Saturday before racing out to do the weekly shop etc. 'cos I'm driving up to Oxford for the day tomorrow. But, six or seven is the average number of snippets makes I pick so I ain't done too bad in the time available.

And let's say hello to some new Playmates, three 'newbies' this week- wahoo!

Nicky, who did make me smile - she's been watching from the sidelines and finally I nudged her hard enough to join in :) Great card and I do love those dies!

Hazel (kbrandy4) hopped in with this beautiful Tilda card. Has anyone noticed how popular those fabulous Spellbinders 'Floral Oval' dies are?

I love the unusual design of this card, made by Natasha - it almost reminds me of a laced up bodice. Err, they were WELL before my time I should add!


Welcome to you all, hope to see you again soon! Anyone else possibly 'lurking in the bushes', peeping over the fence, or whatever - please do join in. Everyone is super-friendly!

OK, so the prize from last week, a selection of unmounted stamps, was won by:

Pippa

Well done Pippa! If you drop me your address I'll post the stamps off to you this week (di_wray@hotmail.com).

And the prize for this coming week, to celebrate the 'whiff of Spring' here in the UK is:

Duplicates of both those Penny Black stamps I used today - just in time for Mothering Sunday over here. And of course Easter.

As usual, the snippets challenge will run for one week and the Playground gates will close at 11am UK time on Saturday 15th March and will open again at midnight UK time on the same day. Maximum of three entries and please say 'No thank you' in a comment if you wish to still play but not be the winner of the prize. Do also say if you're only interested in part of the prize as I can then do a further draw for the remainder.

Please NEVER be afraid to say you're just playing for fun - it doesn't offend me at all, and the Playground is first and foremost for us to have fun, the prizes are just a thank you for playing :)

Mr Linky is below - please let me know if you have any problems linking, I can sort it out for you quite quickly and am always happy to do so.

Have a great week - don't overdo the gardening/Spring cleaning!

Di (and a wave from Parsnip)
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Autumn trees

I whipped up four little cards to enclose with Playground prizes the other day:

I used:

- 4" x 4" square white 'linen' card blanks

- snippets of white card to stamp on

- a lovely little tree stamp by Stampabilities called 'Basic Tree', stamped using Versafine 'Vintage Sepia' ink pad and the leaves coloured with Whispers pens

- sentiment is from the Stampendous set called 'Happy Messages', stamped using SU's 'Old Olive' ink pad

The stamp was a lovely surprise gift from a dear blogging friend - thank you again honey! These were so therapeutic to make, I like easy colouring :)

Di
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Making a scene

....not by throwing myself on the floor, drumming my heels and screaming - just playing round with inks and stamps :)

I used:

- 6" x 6" square black card blank

- a piece of Clarity white coated/silk card stock

- masked off the sun with a circle punched into a Post-it

- home made cloud template just moved around whilst using Adirondack 'Cloudy Blue' ink pad and a Clarity stencil brush

- then removed the Post-it circle and protected the clouds with the rest of the Post-it positioning the punched out circle over the 'sun' which was then coloured using Adirondack 'Peach Bellini' ink pad and stencil brush

- swooshed a mix of Adirondack 'Salmon' and 'Terra cotta' along the bottom of the piece of card

- the bulrushes and birds are from a set by Inkylicious called 'Bullrush' (sic), stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black'. I added some 'grass' using the very edge of a Flonzcraft stamp

- the image was then die cut using a MFT die from their 'Rounded banners' set

- sentiment is LOTV, stamped onto a scrap of Clarity card which had been swooshed over with Adirondack 'Terra Cotta' ink pad - then it was die cut using a round Nesties die

- added a couple of strips of black and white striped washi tape

Quite like the result although need loads more practice - it's a bit like looking through an archway :)

Di
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Technique Time Tuesday - Caught in Crystal

There's a new challenge for March over at Technique Time Tuesday, the technique was chosen by our very own Karen P and there's also a video to show you how. Couldn't wait to have a play and this is what I made:

 This is a (blurry) close-up so you can see the delicate sparkles

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- the background was done using a Kanban stamp (looks a bit like those lacy stockings/tights from many years ago), stamped in Memento 'Elderberry' onto a piece of white card and set aside

- the foreground was made by using a piece of acetate, same size as the background, black Stayzon ink pad and  foliage from SU's 'Just Believe' stamp set plus a butterfly from SU's 'Bloomin' Marvellous' set

- the 'trickery' is to then turn the acetate over (blot it or make sure it's dry first), scribble Glossy Accents or similar all over the back, splodge some re-inker here and there (I used Time Holtz 'Tumbled Glass') and then sprinkle all over with sparkle - Cosmic Shimmer 'Diamond Sprinkles' was my weapon of choice

- the next step is to press a piece of white tissue paper over the back of the acetate and the Glossy Accents should make it stick and I think it should also seep through a bit so you can then adhere it to the card background you stamped and set aside. Stick? Not likely! I suspect I'm working too slow but no way was I gonna give up so I just covered the back of the acetate with a piece of clear double sided adhesive sheet, peeled the other side off, stuck it to the backing and it worked brilliantly

- trimmed the image and popped it onto turquoise and elderberry coloured snippets of card - phew, that was the topper all ready at least!

- then I did some 1st and 2nd generation stamping around the white card blank with a little set of leaves from the SU 'Bloomin' Marvellous' set, using Memento 'Elderberry' ink again

- little strip of spotty turquoise ribbon across the card, topped with a bow and a black button with some embroidery thread knotted through the holes

- sentiment used a stamp from the SU 'Just Believe' set and 2nd generation Memento 'Elderberry' ink

- two SU punches ('Word Window' for the sentiment and 'Modern Label' plus a snippet of elderberry card

Little tip, I used the bow maker for the bow and when it was sat on the strip of ribbon it wasn't going to look right so I just tied a little piece of thread round the strip of ribbon to pinch it in right where the bow would be stuck.

Oh, you might wonder why not just go straight to the double sided sticky - the scribbled Glossy Accents does disperse the sparkle when you apply it rather than a solid coating - pretty too.

Then I went and had a lie down before clearing everything away!

This card also qualifies for Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge 'cos I used a butterfly, bow and a button :) Wahoo, my second one for this fortnight Mrs A! Remember the challenge runs until next Wednesday so why not join in? 

Di
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Teddy lugging Christmas gifts

Sometimes I just can't think of a post title - today is one such example :( I made this card for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge 166 where this week we have to use ribbon, twine, fibres etc. I chose ribbon - no surprise there then:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square card blank made using SU's 'Real Red' card stock

- the image is an upcycled whole front of a little Christmas card we were sent in 2013

- SU's 'Crumb Cake' card stock to back the image and also underneath the embossed backing

- embossed backing was made using SU's 'Square Latttice' embossing folder and SU 'Real Red' card stock

- ribbon from the ribbon box

- card candi in a couple of the corners

That makes two March Christmas cards done from my monthly target of 12 per month. Better up the game I think - batch baking is on the cards. Get it, on the cards?!

Di
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Less is More - Yellow and Green

The current challenge over at Less is More is to use Yellow and Green. Spring came to mind but then I opted for yellow Summer roses using a favourite stamp:

I used:

- 5" x 7" white tent fold card blank

- Penny Black 'Love Blush' stamp, stamped with Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad and coloured with Whispers pens and die cut using a Nesties 'Floral Oval' die

- the sentiment is by SU from the 'Sincere Salutations' set, stamped using SU's 'old Olive' ink pad

- green backing paper is from LOTV's 'Woodland Wishes' paper pad

It isn't quite as Less is More as I'd have liked but at least I didn't paper piece the petals and leaves like I often do when using this much loved stamp :)

Thank you so much for the lovely comments yesterday about Sue, I gave myself a good talking to and my selfish 'pity party' is over. Forward march! 

Di
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