Big Hugs

I've got a couple of cards to share today using one of the brand new sets from Winnie and Walter which is just beyond cute!   The set is called Big Hugs but it can be used for lots more than just hugs cards.

Firstly, we have a family birthday this weekend so I used it to make the perfect card for a 2 year old and it was easy to put together with the new alphabet and numbers set also from Winnie and Walter which is perfect for statement sentiments where bold letters is the key.

I simply stamped the ellies onto copic colouring card and coloured them in two different ranges of grey (neutral and toner) and the stamped the words and numbers so they were standing on the word and juggling the number between them.  Super quick and cute for any ages.   I used MFT's stitched basic edges dies to add a little interest to the panel and popped into the card with a couple of scraps of paper.

For the second card I selected another elephant (I do love an ellie) but this one with the monkey is just adorable and this time I did want a card to send to someone we're thinking of them.

This time I coloured them with polychromos pencils and fussy cut them out (dies are available but currently they are only available direct from Winnie and Walter)  I then created a soft background on my card base using MFT inks which I find work brilliantly for ink blending techniques.  I used Blue Yonder and Blu Raspberry and blended over a post-it note to keep the bottom clean white.  A fun scrap of paper to sit them on and a sentiment from the same set to finish makes for a really easy card.

NEWS FROM THE STORE

• Winnie and Walter's new release is now live in store along with the Christmas release that we missed in December.
• MFT will be in store as usual on Wednesday morning.
• Avery Elle's major release is available on Thursday and we have ours so will be live when they are.  There are some fabulous products in the range this time and they will be sharing projects with them on their blog from tomorrow.
• Wplus9 are not having a release this month - it has been pushed back to March as they are getting a large restock delivery this month so hopefully we will be able to grab the items that have been out of stock for a while instead.
• We are still waiting for Altenew, Neat & Tangled and Lil' Inker Designs to ship.

Sending Smooches

Hey stampers, Anni here!
Valentine's Day is ahead! I am not celebrating Valentine's Day but I think you should your friends and loved ones know how important they are to you - all year round! And what would be better for that than a handmade card!

I started by stamping this super cute skunk and A LOT of hearts from the set Stinkin Cute by Lawn Fawn. For the colouring I chose a colour scheme that's traditional for Valentine's Day: violett, pinl and coral. I used alcohol markers and added some highlights with a white gel pen.

After a lot of fussy cuttig (there are coordinating dies available, too) I looked for a sentiment that would go with my image. I thought Sending Smooches was great in size and meaning. It is part of the awesome set Smooches by Paper Smooches (a lot of smooches going on here ;) ).
I stamped the Smooches onto the panel. The word sending I heat embossed on a stripe of white cardstock that I stained with an ink pad.
The same ink I used for my background. I ink blended a violet and a coral ink and stamped some tiny hearts (again from the set Stinkin' Cute) in the same colors.
To create a ground I masked off an area on the bottom with a masking tape.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.

   

Layer your dies for less!

Hi everybody,

Jill here, and this week, I'm trying to create some faux die layering...

...for a whole lot less cash than layering dies cost!

Using Mama Elephant and Lawn Fawn loveliness.

I'm sure we've all seen the very beautiful layering dies featured in a certain Queen of papercraft, Jennifer Mcguire's 'Favourite's of 2016' a while back.  Yes they looked stunning, if not a little limited, but holy macaroni...HOW MUCH??!!!  I did love the layered look they created however, so had an idea to try and make something similar with my own supplies.

I started by cutting three separate panels of card in the colours I wanted to use all to the same size.  I then created a stencil from a piece of extra sturdy card, cut to the same size, by drawing a grid onto it and cutting the largest heart from Lawn Fawns 'Heart Dies', symmetrically across it in the design I desired.  I then used this stencil over the piece of each panel, to know where the next size down heart should be placed to be cut, (does that make sense?  I really should have took progress photos :/ ).

Once all my hearts were cut onto each layer, in descending order, I adhered my panels together so that they 'layered' over each other, creating this design.  I really love how it worked out, it may not be perfect, but it also didn't cost 4 million gazillion pounds like the ones I referred to do!

My card is intended to be for those single friends who can sometimes feel a little left out at Valentine's day so  I cut Mama Elephant's 'Friend' die from black card backed with black foam, and completed my sentiment using Mama Elephant's Friend Indeed set which I stamped onto vellum in black pigment ink, and clear heat embossed.

I added a scattering of gold sequins and mounted my piece onto a pool card base as I thought it made the colours really 'pop' brightly.  Go bright or go home, right?  And that was that.

I'm really happy with how this turned out, and can't wait to see what other sets I have in my stash that will layer nicely...without breaking the bank!

Everything I used is linked below so be sure to have a peek.

see you next week..

Jillx

February Challenge - Week 1

Hi Guys

Sorry we're running a day late on the challenge - the end of January is always a busy time but we'll make sure we add on time at the end so you still have the same time to play this month.   Our challenge this month is a colour challenge and this month I've gone with my personal "go to schemes"   As I'm sure you've guessed - teals and turquoise feature in lots of my makes along with lime greens (just like the logo) but one of my favourite options for card making is greys and yellows so hopefully you will find something that you can work with too.

You must use at least 3 shades from one of the options above AND use at least one product from the range we sell in store to be eligible for the £15 prize.  New projects only - no back linking.

Jenny
I decided to use the right hand palette and ink up the Kitschy Kitchen set from MFT and add my own sentiment using Mama Elephants Bella letters.

Kate
I used the Flamingo together stamp set from Lawn Fawn. with puffy cloud borders to make my background.

Tara
I went with the greys and yellows and used Bedside Comfort dies and Deepest Sympathy stamps with some scraps from my ever growing paper scraps box! [I should have put the tray at a different angle but lets just ignore the fact that everything is falling off it!   Didn't spot it til I finished with the sentiment lol!]

You have until 10pm on Saturday 25th February to play along this month.  Link up to the challenges page here

Gal Pals

Hi, Tara here today, filling in for Lydia who will be back next week now her crazy show schedule has calmed down a little.

I have a couple of friends with birthdays on Valentines day, so I knew I had to have the new "GALentines Girls" stamp by Stamping Bella as we always make sure we do something girly around their birthdays.  For my first play with it I wanted to do some pencil colouring on kraft so I went with a one layer card and made my own drink themed background using sentiments from Clink by Reverse Confetti.

There really isn't much to say on technique - I just stamped the girls, stamped them again onto a strip of post-it tape to mask them off and then set to stamping all the sentiments using a pale brown ink from the Altenew's Coffee Break set

I'll be back this afternoon to kick off our new challenge and then I'll see you Sunday for my regular round-up post.

Tara

January Challenge Winners

I'm a day late announcing the winners of our January challenge so the new challenge will start tomorrow.

We had lots of amazing entries for our sketch last month - one of the highest number of players we've had - so we found it nearly impossible to pick the winners.  So this month we have a winner and 5 runners up!

Our overall winner this month was Caroline with her brilliant Llama entry.  We love how she intrepreted the sketch and her gorgeous inky backdrop.

Drop me a line Caroline and I'll send out your voucher.

Our runners up in no particular order were:

Natalies super Superbella!  We loved the use of vibrant papers to create the perfect backdrop to showcase the main image.

This gorgeous water-coloured backdrop from Papirhaven really caught our eye too and we really liked the use of vellum to make the sentiment the focus.

 

Hannah's cheeky gnome peeking out of his little pocket was also too cute to pass by!

 Sonja's jolly red Santa is the perfect focal point on her CAS card and the dies are a really fun way to interpret the sketch.

Maryam's little woodland scene with lots of clever masking was also really eye catching and we loved how calm and serene it made us feel.

Do take your winners badge for your blogs and remember to pop back tomorrow to check out our new challenge - we have colours for you to play with this month and I've selected some of my own favourite combos so I hope you're going to like them as much as I do!

Ombre floral extravaganza with My Favorite Things

Hi everyone, it's Esther here with a card that's filled with flowers! Yes, this was a labour of love to make but I think the finished effect is worth it.

The card is made from a panel inked into pink and peach ombre from which I then die cut a frame using the largest Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Frames. I also die cut another 5 frames from plain white card.

I then die cut the word "hugs" from the middle of the panel using My Favorite Things Big Hugs. I also die cut another 5 "hugs" from plain white card.

The frames, panel and "hugs" were all layered up onto a card base.

The time consuming bit comes next... I inked several scrap panels of card into the same pink and peach ombre and let them dry. I then die cut multiple copies of two of the My Favorite Things Stitched Flowers, making sure I had enough in just pink and just peach to fill the wider top and bottom strips of the card.

Each flower was then shaped to lift the petals with a ball tool on a foam mat.

I then arranged them loose on the card to check the placement and colour gradation was correct, before gluing them each down using tweezers and wet glue.

I love that the flowers on top match the ombre shading of the base layer!

Finally, I stamped and heat embossed a sentiment from My Favorite Things Snuggle Bunnies onto black card, trimmed it to size and popped it over the bottom of the "hugs" letters. You could use any sentiment you like, though.

That's it for today folks - have a great week and I'll see you again next Wednesday :)