Muse Christmas Tag

This week's Muse on Christmas Visions is Cornelia Wenokor who has produced this lovely tag.  I really liked the effect created by using vellum for the top tag and I tried to replicate this in my card. I embossed the sentiment onto the vellum and then clear embossed the snowflakes onto the card, inked it with distress ink and then ironed the embossing off.  I then attached the tags to a linen card.

 

 

Materials used:-

 

Tag die - Lawn Fawn Stitched Party Banners

Sentiment - an old stamp I got from Lakeland

Snowflakes - Uniko Studio "Stunning Snowflakes"

Distress ink - Salty Ocean

Vellum and baker's twine

 

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.  Margaret



Less is More - books

I haven't taken part in the Less is More challenges recently due to lack of time but I was keen to try this week's one as the theme is "books and literature".   I wanted to use the Graphic 45 stamp of a little girl reading as she looks so engrossed in her book. I have tried to keep the design clean and simple but still have a vintage feel.

Materials used:-
Stamps - Graphic 45 "Schooldays" set
Script stamp - Hero Arts "old letter writing"
Sentiment - Uniko Studio Fontiments Birthday
Inks - Archival Sepia and Versafine Onyx Black

Thanks for visiting my blog - now pop over to LIM to see what the other participants have created.

Peace, love and yoga

I haven't had much time for crafting recently,  but when I saw the this month's One Layer Simplicity Challenge I immediately had an idea for a card.  Yoga is one of my hobbies and so I felt the lotus flower was appropriate for this card.

Materials used:-

Mask - the Crafter's Workshop Balzer Designs
Distress ink - picked raspberry
Sentiment - Penny Black "love and yoga" set

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.  Margaret

Just a note

Marilyn is the Guest Muse this week for Muse Challenge 180 and she has created this lovely card.

 

I liked the foliage stamps she used and the white embossing which really stands out against the background.  I decided to change the colour scheme to blues and greens but used the same technique as Marilyn putting distress inks onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and stamping with this.  I love the texture this creates! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Materials used:-

Distress inks - peacock feathers, broken china, cracked pistachio and mermaid lagoon

Ranger cool graphite ink and Wendy Vecchi archival in in watering can

White embossing powder

Foliage stamp - from Chocolate Baroque Wild Meadow set

Sentiment - Dawn Bibby

 

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate all your comments.  Margaret

Muse deer

I've been away on holiday for a few weeks so it's lovely to get back to crafting.  When I saw Cornelia Wenokor's card on Muse Christmas Visions this week I was inspired to try something similar.  I liked the layout of Cornelia's card with the trees and the deer and I liked her choice of colours.  I have to admit that I had various attempts using different inks before I was happy with my card.  I used a Ranger ink for the trees which is waterproof so I could then colour the sky with distress inks. 

Taking part in this challenge is a great way to build up your stock of Christmas cards and saves any stress later in the year!

Materials used:-
Deer die - Cottage Cutz Deer set
Inks - Ranger cool graphite and DI dusty concord
Tree stamp - Tim Holtz tree line set
Sentiment - Creative Stamping magazine
Tim Holtz Coredinations card for mounting

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.  Margaret

Just to say

Anita Bowden has created a lovely silhouette card for this week's Muse challenge. I really liked the blended distress inked background, the black flowers and the way the card was mounted on black card. Instead of using a stencil for the flowers I stamped them.

Materials used:-

Distress inks - mustard seed, spiced marmalade and ripe persimmon
Woodware grasses clear stamp - versafine black onyx ink
Sentiment - Lili of the Valley block sentiments

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.  Now pop over to Muse to see what the other participants have created.

Christmas bauble

This week's muse at Muse Christmas Visions is Marianne who has created this lovely card to inspire us.  I took my inspiration from the shape of the bauble, the colour and the little stamps used to decorate it.  I used a mask to create the bauble shape and then decorated it with little stamps and a few gems.  This is a very quick and easy card to make!

 

I am also going to enter my card into this week's Less is More Challenge which is to make a card based on the colours of your kitchen.  The blues I used in the bauble are the same colours as the wallpaper in my kitchen.

 

 

 

Materials used:-

 

Mask - Stamps Away

Snowflakes - Stamps Away Winter Set (Montage)

Sentiment - Creative Stamping Magazine issue 27 Woodland Christmas

Distress inks - broken china and salty ocean applied with an Inkylicious blending tool

Archival ink - cobalt

Sequins and bow from stash

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.  Margaret

Muse flowers

Tracey McNeely has created a lovely card using watercolours for this week's Muse challenge.

I liked the stitched border and the watercoloured effect of her card and tried to recreate this in my card.  I'm not sure about whether I should add some splatters - I like the clean and simple look. 

Materials used:-
Stamps -  Jofy 14
Stitched border - Lil'inker designs
Distress inks
Adler Rowney Aquafine smooth watercolour card

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.  Margaret

Sailing

This week's challenge on Less is More is to make a one layer card on the theme of "At Sea".  As I live on an island, I love anything to do with the sea and have lots of nautical stamps.  I particularly like the Hobby Art ones which you can use to create scenes.  I used smooth watercolour card and distress inks and markers to create my card. I stamped the rope border first which I masked with Frisket film before stamping and colouring the scene.

 

 

I am also entering this card into the following challenges:-

 

Shopping our Stash #252 - Sounds of the Sea

Just Add Ink#311 - masking



 

Materials used:-

Rope border - Clarity Stamps

Hobby Art "Coastal Wildlife" set

Inkylicious grass stamp from "Essential Grasses"

Sentiment - Stampin Up "Sheltering Tree" set

Inks - distress inks and markers; Archival Wendy Vecchi potting soil

Watercolour card - Daler Rowney (smooth)

Frisket film for masking the rope border

 

Thanks for visiting my blog - now pop over to Less is More and see how the other participants interpreted this theme.  Margaret

 



More deer!

I have been using this lovely die quite a lot recently as I'm trying to get ahead with my Christmas cards. As Happy Little Stampers now have a die challenge I thought I'd enter this card.  I watercoloured the background which I think sets off the glittery deer quite well.

Materials used :-

Reindeer die - deer set from Cottage Cutz
Sentiment die - Sizzix Tim Holtz Holiday Words Script
White glitter card
Watercolour paints - Kuretake Gansai Tambi

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.

Believe

This week's challenge on Merry Monday is to use woodgrain, kraft and white. I love the combination of kraft and white card for Christmas cards so I was keen to play along this week.  The Merry Monday design team have come up with some lovely cards to inspire us so do visit their blog.

Materials used:-

Penny Black die "into the woods"
Snowflakes - Lawn Fawn stitched snowflakes
Deer - Cottage Cutz die
Hillside - Lawn Fawn stitched hillside borders
Sentiment - Penny Black holiday snippets
Embossing folder - Craft Concept wood grain
DI vintage photo

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments. Margaret

Reindeer noel

Kimberly Wiener is this week's muse on Muse Christmas Visions and she has created a lovely CAS card.  I have a reindeer die but unfortunately no silver glitter card so I had to create a coloured background as my reindeer didn't show up against white card.  I tried to recreate the simplicity of Kimberly's design with one reindeer and a sentiment.  I also mounted the panel on darker card.

 Materials used:-

Reindeer die - deer set from Cottage Cutz
Sentiment die - Sizzix Tim Holtz Holiday Words Script
White glitter card
Watercolour paints - Kuretake Gansai Tambi

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.

Sympathy card

This week's colour challenge on Less is More is to make a card with lots of

White space but not  WHITE 
 

I had difficulty coming up with an idea for this as I don't often use coloured backgrounds.  Having used this American Crafts card for another challenge I realised it would work well as a background - unfortunately the photo does not do justice to the colour which is more turquoise in real life.  I tried to keep the card CAS but added some interest by machine stitching around the panel.

Materials used:-
Die - Lifestyle crafts flowers
Background stamps - Clarity stamps aliums
Sentiment - Woodware
Inks - archival aquamarine and Colorbox celadon
American crafts coloured card

I am also entering this card into CAS on Sunday where challenge #80 is flowers.

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.  Margaret

Muse best wishes

This week's Muse is Michele Ferguson who makes the most beautiful CAS cards.  I was inspired by the layout of the Muse card and the placement of the embellishment.  I die cut the alium twice to give it a little bit more dimension.

Materials used:-
Clarity stamps - Aliums
Sentiment - Chocolate Baroque Mackintosh sentiments
American Crafts coloured card
Dies - Lifestyle crafts flowers and Dienamics pierced rectangles
Ink - colorbox Cats Eyes celandon

I am also entering this card into CAS on Sunday where challenge #80 is flowers.

Thanks for visiting!   Margaret

Stencilled Christmas Tree

Maria Fischer (reislingmama) has produced a very graphic design to inspire us this week at Muse Christmas Visions. I was inspired by the circles used to create the tree and the background paper.

I used a stencil to apply texture paste for the circles.  The designer paper is from a Maya Design pack which has lots of lovely vintage designs but I chose a more graphic one for the background of this card.


Materials used:-
Stencil - Balzer Designs
Cosmic shimmer texture paste - gold pearl
DP Maja Design - A Gift for You

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments. Margaret

 

I am also entering this card into the following challenges:-
AAA cards - Game 61 Stencil
Merry Monday - make a card based on a Christmas carol - my one is "Oh Christmas Tree

Polka dots

The Less is More challenge this week is polka dots. As I've started making my Christmas cards I thought I would use this lovely stamp and punch set from Stampin Up. I embossed the dots in gold but kept the card clean and simple. 

I am also entering this card into challenge #311 on The Cat's Pajamas' blog where you have to use one or more dies.

Materials used:-
Stampin Up Festival of Trees stamps and punch
Sentiment - Scenic stamps from Papercraft Inspirations Magazine issue 143
Archival ink - Wendy Vecci fern green
Gold embossing powder
Lawn Fawn stitched hillside borders; large stitched rectangle stackables

Thanks for visiting my blog - now pop over to LIM to see what the other participants have created. Margaret

What's outside your window?

There is a very interesting challenge on Less is More this week.  Mandi and her team want us to think about what's outside our windows.  Although I live on an island I don't have a view of the sea so my view is an imaginary one! This theme needed a watercolour effect so I coloured the scene with distress markers. I made my own card to get it the size I wanted.

I'm also going to enter this card into Addicted to Stamps and More challenge #186 - Anything goes

Materials used:-
Stamp - Sheena Douglass "Peaceful Lakeside" (partly stamped)
Sentiment - Stampin Up "Sheltering Tree"
Distress markers - various
Archival ink - Wendy Vecci Potting Soil
Watercolour card - Westminster Bockingford

Thanks for visiting my blog - now hop over to LIM and see what the other participants could see from their windows.

Joy to the world

I really like silhouette Christmas cards so I was delighted to see Cornelia Wenokor's card on Muse Christmas Visions this week.  I was inspired by the ombre effect she created and tried to replicate this by blending distress inks.  I also liked the moon and the stars.

I am also going to enter this card into the Merry Monday Christmas challenge #197 which is entitled "Take me to the church"!  There are quite a few churches on my card.

           



















Materials used:-
Stamps - Winter Wonderland set from Simply Cards and Papercraft issue 142
Distress inks - shaded lilac, dusty concord, picked raspberry, ripe persimmon, mustard seed
Stars cut out with Paper Smooches dies
Glitter paper from stash

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments. Margaret

Don't lose hope

It's the one layer challenge this week on Less is More and Mandi and her team want to see the sentiment taking centre stage on our cards. I found this quite challenging - which sentiment stamp to choose? How much decoration to add? Finally I decided to mask and ink an area and added some stars using texture paste - this is the first time I've used this and was pleased with the result.

Materials used:-
Sentiment stamp - Lili of the valley Life's Journey set
Star stencil - Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine
Cosmic shimmer texture paste - gold pearl
DI - broken china and peacock feathers

Thanks for visiting - Margaret

Reindeer

The challenge on the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge this week is to create a card using black, white, silver/grey.  I kept my card clean and simple adding a few sequins to provide some sparkle.

Materials used:-

Reindeer stamp - Creative Stamping issue 27
Sentiment - Stampin Up Sassy Salutations
Pearl silver embossing powder - Papercraft
Sequins - Little Things from Lucy's Cards
Card and vellum from stash

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.  Margaret

Muse sunflowers

This week's Muse is Anita Bowden who has created a lovely card to inspire us.  I really liked the way the sentiment stood out and tried to emulate this. I had difficulty finding a suitable flower stamp until I remembered I had this sunflower one which creates beautiful backgrounds. I stamped the sentiment and then masked it before stamping the flowers with 3 colours of distress inks. Finally I mounted the panel on foam tape and attached it to the card base.

Materials used:-
Sunflower stamp - Creative Stamping magazine issue 19
Sentiment - Stampin Up Sassy Salutations
DI - mustard seed, ripe persimmon, carved pumpkin

Thanks for visiting - I really appreciate your comments! Margaret

Holly card

This is my first Christmas card of 2016! I was inspired by Chriss Blagrave's lovely CAS card on Muse Christmas Visions. I liked the layout with the holly at the bottom of the card and the sentiment above it. I also liked the embossing.  I applied some gilding wax to the embossed panel and mounted it on some copper card to provide some definition. This is certainly a very clean and simple card!

 

The Muse card

Materials used:-
Embossing folder and stamp from Simply Homemade Magazine issue 48
Treasure gold gilding wax
Embossing powder - Stampendous copper

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.  Margaret

Wire butterfly

The challenge on Less is More this week is to use some wire on your card.  This challenge nearly stumped me until I remembered I had some wire embellishments in my stash.  I created a background with distress inks and a new stamp and mask set from PaperArtsy - I hadn't used this before so it qualifies as an NBUS for Darnell's challenge.  For those of you who don't know what NBUS pop over to Darnell's blog - she has a wonderful way with words!

Materials used:-
Distress inks - cracked pistachio, twisted citron
Stamps and mask - PaperArtsy Sara Naumann set
Die-namics pierced rectangles dies
Wire butterfly from stash

Thanks for visiting my blog - I love to read your comments! Margaret

Congratulations!

This week's challenge on Less is More is to make a card with texture. I used one of Tim Holtz' embossing folders for this card, highlighting the words by brushing on some distress ink. I then embossed the sentiment on vellum - I like this effect. Finally I attached the panel to a linen card.

I am also entering this card into CASology challenge where the cue card is distress - I used distress ink to highlight the words.

Materials used:-
Sissix embossing folder - Tim Holtz alterations
DI - picked raspberry applied with an Inkylicious ink blending brush
Sentiment - Stampin Up "Sassy Salutations"
Pearl silver embossing powder
Linen card

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments! Margaret

Butterfly hello

This week's challenge on Less is More is to make a one layer card and include a stem on it.  As I have lots of flower stamps I thought this would be easy. I wanted to use a new Stampin Up set but it took lots of attempts to get something I was reasonably happy with.  Although I like the water colour effect, I feel the proportions are not quite right. 

I am also going to enter this card into the Addicted to CAS challenge where the code word is bloom.

Materials used:-
Stampin Up Garden Bloom set
Sentiment - Stampin Up Four You
Inks - versa color bamboo, green tea, boysenberry, grape

Thanks for visiting my blog!

More butterflies!

This month's CAS challenge on Happy Little Stampers is to use an embossing folder for stamping.  This is a technique I have never tried before and I quite like the result - although you do not have much control over how it will turn out!  If you want to find out more about the technique pop over to the Happy Little Stampers blog.

Materials used:-
Embossing folder - Craft Concepts "wings" sprayed with distress spray stain in broken china
Sentiment - Penny Black snippets inked with Versafine Onyx black ink
Dies - Die-Namics pierced rectangles

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate all your comments.  Margaret

Friend

The One Layer Simplicity Challenge this month is to make a one layer card containing the word "friend".  I made this card for a good friend who loves butterflies and the colour purple!

Materials used:-

Butterfly stamps - Martha Stewart

Sentiment - Chocolate Baroque Mackintosh Sentiments

Distress inks - dusty concord and milled lavender applied with an Inklicious ink duster

Versacolor - grape

Thanks for visiting my blog!  I really appreciate your comments - Margaret

Thinking of you

I am delighted to be back after a break of a few months - I've been very busy recently and not had any time to take part in challenges.  However when I saw that Jenni was the guest designer on Muse this week I decided to take part.  I really like Jenni's clean and simple style and so my card is nearly a CASE of her Muse card.  I liked her use of the die cut flower and the subtle background text - see her card below. I used pearl silver embossing powder on my card which unfortunately doesn't show up very well in the photo. 

Materials used:-
Hero Arts stamps and matching dies
Hero Arts script stamp "Old letter writing"
Archival ink - watering can and distress ink - tattered rose
Pearl silver embossing powder

Thanks for visiting my blog - I really appreciate your comments.  Margaret