Hello

Hello!

I've been busily colouring in some new images for the Whimsy Stamps May release (next week, can't wait to share them with you), so for this post I thought I would take a break from the gloriously cute images and go all grown up on you, with a card made purely with Whimsy dies (apart from that teeny sentiment) 

This card was inspired by a card from Laura Bassen. You can find the original card on Laura's blog here. As I mentioned before on my Saturday Spotlight on Laura, (if you missed that you can find it here), not only does she make the most fabulous cards, her personality totally shines through in her YouTube videos. She's so FUN! She really makes me laugh and you can totally see her joy in crafting and in life on general, I just love her sunny and slightly loopy persona.

Anyhooooo.... on with today's card. When I saw Laura's card I immediately thought of the honeycomb pattern die from Whimsy Stamps and I thought it would be fun to use the same technique as Laura used with her Puncinella die. Note that I am thinking 'Punchinella' in a strong Italian accent.....go watch Laura's video on this and you'll see why lol!

I didn't add too much more to the card once the little hexagons were in place other then a little Hello sentiment, heat embossed in white on the aqua card I used behind my top layer, a little off cut strip of my blended card, a couple of skinny strips of my aqua card and a few sequins to finish.

I think it kind of looks a bit like DNA structure lol

Items Used

Smooth White Cardstock
Blue Lustre Cardstock
Watercolour Paper
Distress Ink Pads - Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough
Whimsy Hand Stitched Nested Rectangle Dies
Whimsy Honeycomb Pattern Die
Whimsy Stamps Happy Sayings Stamp Set
Versamark Ink
White Embossing Powder

That's all from me today, but I'll see you again soon. 

Thanks for dropping by!

Whimsy Stamps - Christmas Snowflakes

Hello!! It's time for the September Whimsy Stamps release and my goodness do we have some lushness to share with you, just don't blame me if your purses are a little lighter by the end of this week....just saying.....

Today is a very unusual card from me....well unusual for me that is in that not only is this card pretty CAS, but it also doesn't have an image. Here I've just used cardstock, papers, dies and an enamel dot....I know shocking right?!

But I have been looking for a way to make some, I won't say mass produced but at least something I can maybe make subtle changes to but still stick to a design that I can produce quickly, to make Christmas cards. I found a lot of cards on Pinterest that have stirred my creativity and I'll have several snowflake themed cards just using dies a sentiment and not much else in the coming weeks.

For today's card I used the fabulous Snowflakes Dies, the Winter Wishes 6 x 6 pad and the Winter Wishes Glittery Enamel Dots.

I also used a sentiment from an older stamp set called Simple Holidays, sadly this is sold out currently.
I really enjoyed making this and will be making a whole range of different cards using dies and sentiments with no images, so look out for those in weeks to come.

I'll be back tomorrow with more goodies from the release.

Don't forget about my giveaway here, you have until 4th October to enter.

Happily Ever After - Again at Dies to Die for

Happy Friday everyone! It's Linda here.  If you're in the UK I hope you're looking forward to a lovely long 3 day weekend, so glad I no longer have to work bank holidays like a few years back.

Today I'm showing a wedding card that I made at the request of my daughter's friend, using Tiddly Inks' Happily Ever After ...and yes I know I've used this a few times now, but I actually don't have many 'wedding' or couple stamps and this stamp is on of my favourite images ever.

I used some lovely Pion Papers from the Flower Frame collection. I also paper pieced the brides Dress. All papers were edged with Distress Ink and then hand stitched.

I coloured the stamp with distress inks (apart from a couple of Copics on the paper pieced dress), this is my first try at a slightly darker skin tone with DIs, I don't think it came out too bad, I was concentrating oon it so much I forgot to go back and add some shading to the lighter skinned groom lol.

 I finished her dress with a glue pen and some glamour dust to simulate sequins and beads.
Skin Groom: Tattered Rose
Skin Bride: Tattered Rose, Vintage Photo
Hair Bride: Burlap, Walnut Stain, Broken Twigs, Black Soot
Hair Groom: Antique Linen, Brushed Coudroy, Walnut Stain
Clothing Groom: Pumice Stone, Black Soot
Clothing Bride: W1, W3 and W5 Copics on paper piecing

I mounted the couple on a couple of Pierced Oval frames and slipped a couple of Heart Doily die cuts behind it. Can you spot the little love bird charm nestling beneath the flowers at the top right? I used one of the Fairy Tale Dreams sentiments and the matching die. The flowers are a mixture from Wild Orchid Crafts and The Ribbon Girl.

The white lace is from The Ribbon Girl and that pink lace is from Live and Love Crafts, not sure if they still do it.  The totally gorgeous butterflies with the wonderful sentiment are by Kay Fatula from Karla's Kreative Korner.

I decorated the inside with more of the same papers, the piece with the flower frame makes a lovely place to write a message.

Items used from the store:

Tiddly Inks Happily Ever After Stamp

Pion Flower Frames Convallaria

Pion Flower Frames Rosa

MFT Pierced Ovals Stax

La-La Land Crafts Heart Doily Die

Whimsy Fairy Tale Dreams Sentiments

Whimsy Crown Die

Looped Pink Ribbon

Love Birds Charm
Walnut Stain Distress Ink

I'm entering this card in the Tiddly Inks Challenge #139 - Anything Goes

Well that's it from me for today, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  I'll be back on Monday with my last post for the La-La Land Crafts Monday DT, but I'm not leaving them completely as I'm staying on for the Club DT (more of that on Tuesday!) and should be rejoining Team Monday in the new year, and I'll still post a project for them from time to time when I have a spare moment.

I'm in the middle of making several projects currently, but I hope to find the time to visit some of your blogs this weekend, I've been so busy I've been neglecting you a bit it should ease up a bit once my holiday is done though and then I'll have a bit more time to visit.

Bye for now! : ) x x

Outlaw Luka - Tags and/or Tickets at La-La Land Crafts

Happy Monday everyone, I'm back to work today, so as usual this is a scheduled post and as this goes live I'll be sitting through a day long induction for my not so new job. Finally  my agency days are over and I'll be permanently employed in the post I've been working in  and that means sitting through an induction to tell me how to do all the things I've been doing for the last 2 years! lol.  Still it means all the benefits of permanent employment, so I won't knock it  : )

Anyhoo......today over at La-La Land our theme is Tags and/or Tickets.  I used to use tags on my cards quite a lot back in the day, but I rarely do now, however I do use tickets quite a bit.

La-La Land Crafts items used:

Outlaw Luka

Steampunk Border Die
Steampunk Heart Cogs
Wings Set

I chose to use Outlaw Luka this time as I had a couple of ticket sentiments I thought would suit him really well and also I have a card to make for a friend's birthday in September and I thought this would be perfect for him as he rides a bike.

I used some Teresa Collins papers, Hello My Name Is,  I really like the writing and patterns on this and think it goes very well with the whole feel of the card.  

I coloured Outlaw Luka with my Copics to match the papers.

Copics:

Skin: E04. E11, E21, E00, E000, R20

Hair: W9, W7. W5, W3

Clothing: W7, W5, W3 W1, B99, B97, B95, B93

B91.

Bike: W9, W7, W5, W3, W1, W0, R59, R46, R35

I used the Wings Set to make my version of a motorbike emblem, I think it looks kind of cool. I used the Steampunk Border die to edge one of the layers, and also the top of the card and added a little bike charm.

The ticket sentiments are from a Whimsy set The Fun Life Tickets 2 and they are cut with the matching die.

I added some Steampunk Heart Cogs around the circle and finished off with some matching Hello My Name is Enamel Dots and Shapes

Finally I decorated the inside quite simply with a sheet from the pad and a couple of bits cut out from other sheets, including this ticket which reads 'Don't Forget You Are Awesome'.

That's all from me for today, but if you pop across to the blog you can see the rest of Team Monday's makes which are also Awesome and don't forget you can also join the fun in our Facebook group here.

I'll be back on Friday with some more Dies to Die for inspiration, until then, have fun! : ) x x

Nurse Nightingale

Good morning!  Well Tuesday has rolled around again and I'm here with my regular Dies to Die for post and my 4th card of the week *phew!*

I needed to make a card for a friend at work who was leaving clinical teaching to go back into nursing.  I thought that Nurse Nightingale was perfect for this.  Sadly she's now out of stock, but the good news if you're a Kraftin' Kimmie fan, is that all Kraftin' Kimmie stamps in the store are all on sale and most are around half price!  Grab a bargain while they're still in stock!

I coloured her in Copics and I'm sorry that I don't have the colours today, I was rushing so much to get this card done in time that I didn't have a chance to note them down. I paired her with the gorgeous Shoreline Treasures collection by Pion Design. These papers are so lovely and you can use many of them for more than just seaside or summer themes. I paired the Pion paper with some Kraft.

I've distressed all the edges of my paper and inked with DI in Walnut Stain and hand stitched as always with top stitch thread.

I fussy cut her out and popped her up on foam tape on a couple of sheets cut with a Die-namics Notebook Paper die. On top of that I've cut a couple of little banners with the smallest sizes of the Die-namics Jumbo Fishtail Banner die. The sentiment is from the Everyday Mini Postage Stamps sentiments by Whimsy and cut with the matching die.

The inside is decorated with the same paper range to complement the front...as you can see I wrote my message before remembering to take pics oops.

The wings at the top of the card are cut with the La-La Land Craft's Wings Set

Flowers, lace, ribbon and cheesecloth are all from The Ribbon Girl, the decoration on the bow is from The Handcrafted Card Company.

Well that's all from me today, I'll be back tomorrow with my 5th and final card for the week. Until then, have fun crafting! : ) x x

Anya Celebrates at Dies to Die for

Happy Tuesday.  I'm here again with my Dies to Die for inspiration post and today I'm using my first ever CC Designs stamp.  I have to say that this was sooooo much fun to colour, so it won't be my last.

I coloured up Anya Celebrates in Copics and paper pieced her clothing, I'm becoming a bit of a paper piecing freak lately lol, but it is a wonderful way of adding patterns.

I used some of the wonderful papers from Maja Design's latest collection, aren't they yummy?  I inked and hand stitched them as always.

The centre piece is made with my newest buy, a wonderful Joy Crafts die, I already have the border and large butterfly die that matches this lol, but this is wonderful for focally framing a sentiment.

I used a piece of border strip, a snippet of lace, a bow some bling and a few flowers to finish off.

Items Used 

Stamp: Anya Celebrates

Die: Around with Butterflies

Sentiment: Film Strip Sentiments

Paper:  Maja Design - Coffee in the Arbour

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Distress Ink - Walnut Stain

Well that's all from me today, I'll see you again on Sunday with my Totally Tilda post.  Until then, have fun! 

Tilda with Maggie the Monkey at Totally Tilda

*If you're looking for my blog candy you will find it here*

Good morning everyone, I hope you're all having a super Sunday and a wonderful weekend.  I'm feeling much more relaxed today, last week was quite stressful as I had to prepare for a job interview.....for the job I've been doing for almost 2 years.  If that sounds a bit weird, I'll explain.  I came into the job as agency staff and they finally got the go ahead to advertise the job externally (agency staff can't apply for internal jobs), so then I had to apply for my job and attend an interview up against all the others (internal and external) that applied, it was a very strange situation, but I'm pleased to say that not only did I get the post, I was told afterwards that I aced the interview and was placed far ahead of the others based on my interview performance, so now I can relax and just wait for all the paperwork to go through and I'll be in permanent employment with a proper pension and benefits yay!

But back to the reason  I'm here today, which is to share my creation for Totally Tilda. We have a new challenge up on the blog today and one that I love, it's Tilda holding an Animal, Bird or Butterfly.

I had a birthday card to make for someone special, and unfortunately they will see this before they receive it, but I just couldn't get far enough ahead on my makes to allow for postage.  Also ideally the animal would have been a cat and not a monkey, but I didn't have a Tilda with a cat, so a monkey it has to be! I did manage to make the card in her favourite colours though! This is Tilda with Maggie the Monkey, isn't she just the cutest?

I used papers from the Shoreline Treasures collection by Pion, love the subtle muted colours of these, inked the edges in Walnut Stain distress ink and hand stitched as usual with Top Stitch thread. There's a tutorial on how I do this if you scroll down to my previous post. I also popped a little cheesecloth behind my layers to soften the look.

I coloured Tilda in Copics for this card, I went a little darker with the skin to give her a sunkissed look.

Skin: E000, E00, E21, E11, R20, R11

Hair: E30, E31, E33, E35

Clothes: E51, E53 (and paper pieced) B91, B93 (hair bow)

Monkey: B000, B00, B12, B14, B91, B93, E50, E51, E53, R12

I added some cream lace, cream tulle, pale blue satin ribbon, narrow ivory satin ribbon,  narrow blue velvet ribbon and various WOC flowers. I added a few ivory pearls in 3 sizes. Up on the left hand side I used the Cherry Blossom Branch die from La-La Land Crafts.

The lovely embellishment on the bow is from the Handcrafted Card Company. The Mini Postage Stamp sentiment is from Whimsy as is the matching Mini Postage Die.

Finally I decorated the inside to complement the front, using matching paper and postcard from the same collection. The sentiment inside is from the Life Stuff Sentiments by Impression Obsession.

Do pop across to the challenge blog to see the rest of the team's makes, lots of different styles to choose from and all of them gorgeous.  Our sponsor this week is 

Simon Says Stamp and they're offering our winner a wonderful prize of

So do get your entries in, we can't wait to see your creations.

Well that's all from me for today, enjoy the rest of our weekend and I'll be back tomorrow with my scheduled GDT post for La-La Land Crafts. 

Happy crafting! : ) x x