Fairy Fiona

It's time for the August release at Whimsy Stamps....hasn't that come around fast, I can't believe the speed at which the year is going by.

Monday saw the start of the Whimsy August 2016 Release Party over in our 

Whimsy Stamps and Inspirations Facebook group.

The Whimsy DT will be sharing sneak peeks at the new products releasing today, so pop across and join us for games, fun, and a chance to win Whimsy prizes.

To join our release party event, just pop over to the Whimsy group any time during the week from Monday, August 8th through Friday, August 12th.

The August release is full of wonderful new images I was really torn between what to colour up first.

In the end I decided to go with a fairy, (always a good choice right?) and I decided that she needed pink hair because......well because why not? 

If I was a fairy I would totally have pink hair....or maybe violet..or aqua...

Alright enough with the daydreaming, let's see the card. This is Fairy Fiona from the Art by Mi Ran collection.

I decided that her pink hair would look lovely with Maja Design's Enjoying Outdoors papers. Yes that's right, I broke my own golden rule and started colouring her before I chose my papers, but honestly, I did know that I had papers which would match.

I glittered her wings with Glamour Dust, but I burnished a lot of it off with my fingertip, because I wanted the subtle colour of her wings to show thorough the sparkle.  Of course that means it doesn't show up so well on camera...can't win them all I guess.

Distress Ink markers used were:

Vintage Photo, Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Milled Lavender, Blueprint Sketch, Shabby Shutters.

That's all from me today but I'll have more inspiration from the new release later in the week.

Enjoy your day!

Whimsy July Release - Art by Mi Ran - Birthday Bridget

Hello everyone! I'm back today with the 2nd of my makes for the Whimsy Stamps July Release.  This time I coloured up a stamp from the Art by Mi Ran Collection called Birthday Bridget.

Isn't that cake hat fun?! She's a perfect stamp for birthday cards with the hat and the candle, and such fun to colour. I coloured her up with my Distress Ink markers and used some lovely bright pastel colours again, I'm loving these at the moment, maybe I'm channelling my inner wish for some summer weather lol.

I fussy cut the image and popped her up on some 3 mm foam tape for dimension and to make her 'pop'.

I just used 2 different sheets of design paper for this card, layering and alternating my die cut shapes, and I picked out the same 2 colours for my flowers.

No ribbon or lace today, just some lovely soft gathered trim, accented with a few flat back gems I coloured with Copics to match my papers.

I hope you like my make for today, don't forget to check out the FaceBook page as there is a rather fabulous contest going where you could win a place on the Whimsy Craft Retreat in September. Also check out our FaceBook Inspirations Group where we are sharing all the new release makes and having some fun games with prizes.

That's it from me for today, but I have lots more to share with you in the coming days, so stay tuned!

Mr & Mrs

Helloooooooo!

It's me again...well I guess that's obvious as it's my blog, duh!

I have another wedding card to share with you today. Goodness I seem to have made a lot of Wedding  cards so far this year.

Originally I was going to make an oval shaker card with this, but I couldn't quite get it to look how I imagined it in my head, so I changed my mind at the last minute lol!

 I used this delightful stamp from the Art by MiRan collection, called Wedding Day.

I coloured it up with my distress ink markers to match some lovely vintage style papers and added a chipboard sentiment which I darkened with a little Walnut Stain distress ink.

The top layer is two strips of design paper individually stitched, but I'm thinking I may as well have saved time and gone with one square piece as you can barely even see the gap with everything on top.

Papers and embellishments from The Ribbon Girl are listed below.

Lemoncraft House of Roses Paper
48 mm Madeleine Lace
Cheesecloth

Chipboard 'Mr & Mrs'
16 mm Sheer Ruffle Edge Ribbon
Cream Top Stitch Thread
Ivory Rolled Roses
Pink Two Tone Rosebuds
6 mm S/A Pearl Hearts Ivory

This card is for sale in my Etsy store, just click on the icon below

Well that's all from me today, but I'll be back soon with more inspiration.

Whimsy Stamps June Release 2016 - Meredith the Mermaid

Hello! I'm so excited to be bringing you a little something from Day 1 of Whimsy Stamps new rubber release for June!

There are so many lovely new images to choose from, but today I'm kicking off with
Mermaid Meredith,
isn't she just gorgeous?!

I went for some bright colours for this one and you see those lovely papers and enamel dots? Well they are part of the new release.

You can find all the new products here.

I also used Whimsy's Hand Stitched Nested Rectangle Dies

I coloured her with my distress ink markers to match the fab papers, giving her 2 tone hair and tail.

The cute sea themed embellishments are actually charms, I just cut the loop off carefully with a pair of heavy duty wire cutters.

A close up pic to show the sparkle (wink of stella) on the tail, it's much more sparkly in real life!

The charms, ribbons, cheesecloth and aqua roses are all available from The Ribbon Girl.

I hope you like my inspiration today, don't forget to visit the blog and leave my teamies some love!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

7 Kids College Fund #153
Addicted to Stamps #197
The Paper Shelter #252

This card is for sale in my Etsy store, just click on the icon below.

See you next time!

Whimsy April Release Day 2 - Oceanna

Hi everyone, I'm back again with day 2 of Whimsy Stamps' April release and this time I made a card with this uber pretty mermaid called Oceanna from the Art by MiRan collection . Oh I had soooooo much fun making this.

I have to confess that I really love my make here, love that 2 tone tail and her hair.I coloured her with my distress ink markers, and I've listed the colours below for you.

Vintage Photo, Antique Linen, Walnut Stain, Twisted Citron, , Peacock Feathers, Wilted Violet, Dusty Concord

I used some old papers from my stash, I thought the colours and patterns were just perfect.

I cut a little mound to sit her on using one of the dies from Whimsy's Stitched Border Die Trio. I added some little sea creatures too.

.

I added lots of Wink of Stella to the mermaid's tail and the sea horses, and I finally managed (with much twisting and turning of card, lights and camera), to pick up some of the sparkle in a photo!

Finally I added the following embellishments from The Ribbon Girl.

Shabby White Ruffled Ribbon

Spring Green Sugar Sprinkles Sheer Ribbon

Purple/Violet Rolled Ribbon Roses

Apple Blossom Mixed Pastels
Aqua Wild Rose

Cheesecloth

Beaded Berries Lilac/Purple/White

5 mm Mixed Pearls Sea Charm S/A

3 mm Mixed Pearls Sea Charm S/A

I'm adding this card to the following challenges:

Pennys Challenge  #273

This card is for sale in my Etsy store, just click on the button below.



Have a FINtastic day! (sorry couldn't resist the pun) :) xx

Art by MiRan - Celebrating Your Day

Hi everyone! I hope you're all having a wonderful start to your weekend.
I'm currently editing my next Distress Ink Tutorial, 'Adding Texture and Dimension to Hair' so I should have that ready for you this weekend, but in the meantime I have a new card to share with you today made with some lovely embellishments from The Ribbon Girl.

This cutie is called Celebrating Your Day. She's a digi from Art by MiRan and you can find her here.

I coloured her with my distress ink markers in bright and happy colours to match this lovely paper from Maja Design. Love her with pink hair!



Speaking of Maja Design, have you seen that The Ribbon Girl have started stocking their papers? Oh my goodness, now I can get my papers when I order my flower, ribbon, lace, charms, pearls etc. I just love being able to get all my pretties in one place!

This card actually uses 12 x 12 papers from the Coffee in the Arbour collection, because I still have these in my stash, but you can buy the 6 x 6 papers from the shop, and there's not much difference, except the patterns are a little smaller which actually suits cards a bit better, so I have linked the collection in the shop below for you.

I layered her with a few die cuts and used the left over squares from the view finder die cut to make these little scrabble tiles that read happy. I used some beautiful embellishments (listed below) from The Ribbon Girl to finish off my card.

Pink 20 mm Open Rose

Apple Blossom Mixed Pastels

Tulip Flowers Baby Pink

Rose Leaves

38 mm Charlotte Elizabeth Vintage Style Lace

Deep Pink 10 mm Velvet Ric Rac

23 mm Fuchsia Pink/White Spot Organza Ribbon 
Maja Design Coffee in the Arbour Paper Stack

That's all from me today but I'll be back with you soon.

Happy crafting! :) xx

Whimsy Stamps February 2016 Release Day 2

Hi everyone and welcome to day 2 of Whimsy Stamps' February release.

Today I'm showcasing one of the new images drawn by the talented Mi Ran Jung for Whimsy's
Art by MiRan Collection.

This lovely is called Calantha, isn't she gorgeous?
I paired her with some sumptuous papers from Maja Design's Enjoying Outdoors collection.

I coloured her with my distress inks.
Colours used:
Vintage Photo, Antique Linen, Walnut Stain, Shaded Lilac, Seedless Preserves, Picked Raspberry, Forest Moss.

I gave her a bit of a muted slightly vintage look. Her wings and scarf are liberally brushed with my new Wink of Stella brush pen and look so sparkly and shimmery in real life, but as usual it doesn't show up in the photos....shame. I chose a darker colour for the background to make it more of a twilight sky.

I kept the embellishments fairly simple, satin ribbon,,  pearl and diamante embellishment , cherry blossoms, and some self adhesive pearls.  I decorated the inside with papers and shapes to coordinate with the front.

Do you remember these sweet images drawn by Sylvia that I used at Christmas Time?

Jenny

and 

Little Helper

Both of these adorable images are now available in rubber from Whimsy Stamps as part of their Wee Stamps Collection.

How cool is that?

Well that's all from me today, don't forget to drop by the Whimsy blog to see the rest of the teams makes with the new stamps.

See you soon! :) xx

Art by Mi Ran - Angel of Hearts

Hi everyone, this is a scheduled post as it's my birthday today, so obviously I'm not blogging lol.

We have new challenge over at Deep Ocean Challenge Blog and this time it's

'Hearts'

Just right for Valentine's week no?

I fell in love with this digi called Angel of Hearts from Art by Mi Ran a while ago and I was so pleased to have the opportunity to use it. It was an absolute joy to colour! I printed her out fairly large as I really wanted the focus of the card to be her, and coloured her with my Distress Ink markers.

This image took me around 2 hours to colour as I really took my time with her as I wanted her to be perfect and I'm really pleased with the result. I fussy cut her out and popped her up on some foam tape. I did have to lose one small heart that wasn't 'attached' to th eimage, I originally meant to cut that separately and add it back on the card, but it want missing somewhere, so I hope Mi Ran doesn't mind.

DI Colours used:

Vintage Photo, Antique Linen. Walnut Stain, Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Aged Mahogany, Fired Brick, 

I knew I wanted my card to echo the image, with lots of hearts, so I decided to use 2 sets of nesties dies that I've owned for a few years now, hearts and scalloped hearts. I cut the scalloped hearts from some plain coloured card stock in a few different shades to match my chosen design paper.

I used an old 6 x 6 Whimsy paper pack Romance from my drawer, it's been in there a long while, I'm a bit of a paper hoarder lol. I wanted to use as many of the designs as I could, so the different size hearts were great for that. 

To round off the design I used the Scripted Love Word Die from Whimsy Stamps. I cut this out 3 times in grey card stock, and glued them one on top of the other so that it resembled chipboard in thickness, covered it in glitter and placed it in the lower corner of my card.

I kept embellishment to a minimum as the card was already quite 'busy', so no lace, ribbon or flowers today, just a few enamel dots and some Tim Holtz Distress Glitter Dust in Vintage Platinum (love that colour!) on the wings and die cut word. As usual the sparkle doesn't show up well on camera, but I can tell you it looks delicious in the flesh.

I do hope you can join us, there is a lovely prize to be won from our sponsor, and don't forget to check out the stunning makes from the rest of the team.

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

Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes/Twist of Valentine Design Team Favourite
Craft Your Passion - #298 Anything Goes
Crafty Cardmakers - Love, Love, Love Top 5
Dream Valley Challenges - Valentine's Day
Get Creative Challenges - Must Include Hearts
Where the Heart is - Love
Live & Love Crafts - Love is in the Air

I'll be back tomorrow with the first of my projects for Whimsy's February release, bye for now! :) xx

Art by MiRan Winter Princess - Winter Wonderland at Deep Ocean Challenge

Hi everyone, I'm running a bit late with my card for Deep Ocean's new challenge

Winter Wonderland

It was a hard choice as to what stamp to use, but in the end I plumped for Art by MiRan's beautiful

Winter Princess from Whimsy Stamps.

I coloured her with distress ink markers - Vintage Photo, Spun Sugar, Blueprint Sketch, Shaded Lilac, Hickory Smoke, Tumbled Glass.

I outlined her hair and some of the detailing with my Sakura pen in Clear Star and added lots of Glamour Dust to the snowflakes.

I matched her to some pretty papers from Maja Design and cut the base and the die cut snowflakes and snowflake border from Opalescent card, a bit hard to see in the photos but lovely in real life.

The lace, rolled roses, berries, stamens and gems are all from

The Ribbon Girl

Well that's all from me today, do pop over to the blog to see all my team mates gorgeous makes and join the fun,

and we are are honoured to be sponsored by our new sponsor...

with this fab prize 

I'll be back with you all later in the week.

Have fun!

Whimsy Stamps Jan Release - Murali

Hello everyone, it's a very exciting day today because it's day 2 of the new release over at 

Whimsy Stamps

and today I get to showcase this beautiful new stamp from the Art by Mi Ran collection, called
Murali.

Isn't she gorgeous? 

I was super happy to get this stamp to colour up, and I decided to match her to the colours on a beautiful butterfly embellishment I had in my stash, I thought the sentiment on the wings was so perfect for this image. So I coloured her up in shades of Purple and Turquoise. 

I used my distress ink markers and finding the right shades was no problem at all, I used the following:

Vintage Photo, Victorian Velvet, Shaded Lilac, Blueprint Sketch, Tumbled Glass and Mermaid Lagoon.

Unfortunately matching papers was not so simple. Normally I colour my image to match my papers, but I wanted to  use the butterfly and I had no papers that had both Turquoise and Purple/Lilac. 

So I found some lilac Maja Design paper and then stamped a pattern on the plain purple card, with embossing ink, sprinkled with white embossing powder and TaDa! I'd made some embossed patterned card stock.

Because of all the butterflies, I really did not want to fussy cut her, but then I didn't want to lose any of the image either, so I used the Out of the Frame or Out of the Box technique to die cut her with a Spellbinders Nestabilities circle frame.

I outlined some details of the flute and the butterflies with my Sakura Silver Star Gel Pen and then added plenty of glamour dust to the wings for sparkle.

Some lace, seam binding and flowers and some lovely deep turquoise satin ribbon which I tied into a double bow to echo the shape of the butterflies was just what I needed to finish her.

You can find the ribbon, seam binding and lace at The Ribbon Girl.

To celebrate our new release we want to give our fans some chances to win Whimsy cash! We will be selecting 3 random winners and posting their names on the Whimsy Blog, January 18th at noon ET. Each of those lucky winners will receive a $25 Whimsy Store Gift Voucher.

There are 8 ways you can enter for a chance to win and the best part is you can do only one or two of these or even all eight, totally up to you! The more you do, the more chances you have to enter! So follow the link to the Whimsy Blog to find out what to do....

Thanks so much for joining in the fun with our January 2016 Whimsy Stamps Release!

Bye for now! :) xx

Sweet Saraleigh - GDT for Whimsy December Blog Hop Day 2

*Please scroll down for my La-La Land Club post*

Welcome to Day 2 of the Whimsy Stamps ...
December 2014 Release

Longer ago now than I can actually remember, the very sweet Denise Lynn from Whimsy Stamps asked me if I would like to guest for them once again. Of course I said yes!

So I am thrilled to join Whimsy Stamps as a guest designer this week to help showcase their December release!

This week Whimsy is releasing 10 *BRAND NEW* red rubber stamps/stamp sets and 4 *BRAND NEW* coordinating die/die sets, and they will be available to buy from the Whimsy Stamps store and selected Whimsy Stamps retailers TOMORROW.

Whimsy is thrilled to welcome Lizzy Smith, Linda Levoir (me!), Pauline Yates and Crissy Armstrong as Guest Designers for this release.

Today we are excited to show you the brand new Wee Stamps and Mi Ran Designs stamps. For a full reveal of these stamps, hop on over to the Whimsy blog!

For today's project, I got to play with Sweet Saraleigh, drawn by the lovely and talented Mi Ran Jung, aren't I lucky, she's sooooo pretty.

I went full on cupid for this and coloured her with distress markers for a beautiful soft effect which I thought really suited her.

I slathered her wings with lots of Glamour Dust.  The sentiment is also from Whimsy Stamps and is cut with a coordinating die which comes with a special guide that helps you match the die to the stamp perfectly! 

This is the stamp I used

You can find these products in the Whimsy Store and if you live in the UK or Europe, you can get them at Dies to Die for.

PRIZE ALERT ... We have hidden a fabulous prize of a $15 GIFT CERTIFICATE at one of the stops on today’s hop! We will draw the lucky winner from the comments left on today’s design team posts (listed below), so be sure to visit everyone and leave a comment at every stop to be entered into the draw.

Bev Rochester
Linda Levoir (GDT) - ME!
Shelby Thomas
Danni Bindel
Iris Wiechmann

Be sure to visit the Whimsy blog again tomorrow for the release day grand hop!

Thanks so much for visiting today. Happy hopping! I'll be back again tomorrow! :) xx