Bitty Circles

I've got a couple of cards today using Bitty Burst from Concord and 9th - I love this set for creating easy backgrounds and it's a very forgiving mini-turnabout so you can use it with or without a stamping platform (you can actually use all the turnabouts without a platform - its just easier to get good results with one). 

I decided to stamp it entirely in blues so used 4 shades and to me that looked a lot like when you get circles of insects on water so I thought it would be a good background for some dragonflies - we've had some stunning ones in our new garden this summer now we're on the edge of the countryside.  So I inked up MFT's Fluttering Friends and set about painting them with my cosmic shimmer paints to get that real dragonfly shimmer.

Once dry I cut them with the co-ordinating dies and used foam tape to pop them over the "water".   I added a simple circular sentiment to the centre using  Reverse Confetti's Circle Wishes.

Whilst I had it out I did a similar background in greens and blues to emphasise a central sentiment - this time from Neat and Tangled.  The Celebrate You die has two parts so I decided to go for double glitter to really make it pop - the background is graphite glittler, the words silver both from Concord and 9th's Neutrals Glitter pack.  It's really easy to layer up and then once mounted on the card the bitty burst becomes confetti and would work with lots of word dies!

That's all from me today - Taheerah will be here tomorrow and I'll be back on Sunday.

Tara

Metallic Florals, Challenges and a new Community Group

Good morning - hope you're all having a fabulous start to your Easter weekend.  I'm here today as Jill is taking a little break for a few weeks as she has a lot going on at home.  She'll be back in May and the DT past and present will be here on Fridays whilst she's away.

I'm kicking things off with a floral card as we are launching our new challenge this weekend which is all about florals too.  The challenges now have a new home though - in our brand new Facebook Group which is just for our customers (you will be prompted for an order number when you join)  Our group is called SHC VIPs and as well as being the home for challenges where it will be easier for non-bloggers to add their images as all you need to do is add a picture to that month's album, there will be a chance to share your makes, hints and tips and ask questions about crafty issues you may be struggling with.  We hope it will be a fun community as it grows over the coming months so do join us there.

So April's challenge (we're starting early!) is a nice easy one - just show us your favourite florals - stamped, die cut, stencilled - whatever takes your fancy.  As always we ask that the focal images are products we sell in store and we'll pick our favourite project after the challenge ends on 30th April to win a £20 voucher to spend in store.

I decided to play with something new as I was so excited to see it when  the Wplus9 release arrived that I know it will be a firm favourite!   So here's my bold metallic floral using the Tossed Floral Background.

I die cut it from 300gsm white card and then used 3 embossing powders to get an ombre metallic effect using from left to right, Hero Arts Copper,  Hero Arts Gold and AlteNew Rose Gold powders.  I decided to mount it onto a black panel for added drama and then used a black die cut circular sentiment using Circle Wishes from Reverse Confetti.  I used the same powders to create an ombre effect from top to bottom this time.

I'll be back on Sunday with my usual post and run down of the week ahead.

Tara