You're Sew Special.

Hello again! I'm sorry about the sporadic blogging, but my daughter Jessica is at home for the summer and I have been enjoying some family time before she goes back to University in Kent. 

I have recently made a couple of cards though - this time using the lovely "Sew Special" stamps from Clearly Besotted. 

I started by making a patchwork panel for the background, using several different colours of Core'dinations card stock from the Whitewash collection which I die cut with Papertrey Ink's "Happy Hexagons" coverplate, then embossed with a variety of embossing folders, before sanding. If you're interested you can see how I did this by referring to my earlier post here: http://thehardystamper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/coordinations-hard-core-crop-challenges.html 

The sentiment was stamped onto a Stitched Fishtail Flag (cut with a Die-namics die) using Memento Teal Zeal dye ink. I also used the same ink and card to stamp the dress form and tape measure, which I then fussy cut and added with foam pads. The buttons, needle and cotton reel were cut from scraps of Core'dinations card using Spellbinders dies and a little bakers twine and a charm were all I needed to finish off. 

The photo below is a close - up showing the details and texture. I love that cute little Clearly Besotted tape measure stamp!

My second card was made the same way, but in different colours and with a slightly different sentiment.

Again the close - up below shows much more detail. These are really tactile cards in real life - I wish you could all stroke them!

The first card has already made it's way to it's new home with a friend in Surrey and I think that the second one is still en route to another friend in the USA. Thanks for looking.

Lynn

Camellia Birthday Card

Good evening! Here I have a variation on last week's Camellia card - this time for a friend's birthday.

I coloured the Waltzingmouse Camellia flower pink this time and used a different flower head for the background stamping. The sentiment was taken from another Waltzingmouse stamp set, Fancy Phrases, and was stamped onto a narrow stitched fishtail flag (again by Die-namics for My Favourite Things). The finishing touch was a row of three dark pink gems (although they look a bit red on this photo).

Thanks for looking,

Lynn

Waltzingmouse Camellias

Good evening! I have another card to share with you today, this time using the lovely Camellia stamp set from Waltzingmouse stamps.

I started with a six inch square white card blank and stamped one of the smaller flowers repeatedly using Memento Gray Flannel ink. The sentiment was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto a stitched jumbo fishtail banner which I cut using a Die-namics die from My Favourite Things - I then added this to the card with foam pads. The large camellia flower head, bud, leaves and stem were all stamped separately in the black ink onto smooth white card, coloured with Inktense pencils then blended with a wet paintbrush. I was lucky enough to receive the Inktense pencils as a gift from a friend - thank you Penny, they are lovely and vibrant!

I fussy cut everything out and shaped the leaves and petals. It's difficult to see in the photo, but I coated the leaves with Glossy Accents, before leaving them to dry overnight. The camellia spray was assembled using clear foam pads and for the final touch I added three small red gems.

This card is now winging it's way to a dear friend in Somerset - I hope she will like it!

Thanks for looking,

Lynn

Spring Coffee Lovers Bloghop

Today I am joining in with the Spring Coffee Lovers Bloghop which has been organised by Amy Tsuruta for the coffee loving cardmakers group. You can find all the details and other entries here. We were asked to make a card with the theme of Coffee, Tea or Cocoa and a Spring feel to it. I chose to go with tea, since I have more stamps and dies that are tea related than coffee ones. Here is my entry.

I used a 5" x 7" white landscape card blank and added some pretty patterned paper from Graphic 45's Botanical Tea collection. Where the papers joined I covered the seam with some Spring Rain Papertrey card which I had diecut with a Cottage Cutz "Tea Time Border" die. I used some of Ken Oliver's Stick It adhesive before I cut the border and I can highly recommend it as it saves so much fiddling about with glue and is really secure. 

The fancy teapot, cups and saucers and teaspoons were all cut and stamped with My Favourite Things Die-namics "Always Time For Tea" stamp and die set and more of the Graphic 45 Botanical Tea papers. They were added to the card with some clear foam tape for added dimension. Finally the sentiment, also from the same MFT stamp set, was added (appropriately) in Espresso Truffle Memento dye ink.

I decided to make a second card, which was almost identical to the first, apart from the design and position of the tea set. I wanted to ensure that the text on the background paper was visible on each card since it is a quote about tea and friendship and ties in nicely with my chosen sentiment.

There are already over 400 entries in this blog hop - that's an awful lot of beautiful inspiration! Thank you for taking the time to read this far! 

Lynn

Cure For The Monday Blues # 44

I decided to play along with Taheerah's Cure for the Monday Blues again this week as I liked the inspiration photo and had an idea for my own interpretation of it. You can find all the details on Taheerah's blog here.

The inspiration photo is an eclectic pinboard collection, but my eyes were drawn to the "notes" pinned at the top right. So here is my offering for this week. Sorry about all the dots before your eyes, but I decided to photograph my card against my lovely new polka dot tablecloth!

I started with a 6" square white card blank and some Core'dinations Whitewash card that had a black core. I embossed this with a Spellbinders embossing folder and sanded it back to reveal the black core "holes" for my faux pinboard, then I set about making my "notices". The small notepaper stamp is by Mama Elephant from their "Type It" set - thanks to my good friend Penny for the loan of these lovely stamps! I used Memento Dandelion dye ink and a small scalloped border stamp from a set called "Always Time For Tea" by Die-namics to make my yellow patterned paper. All other stamps used are from Waltzingmouse stamps. I found that the small "bars" type stamp from "Free Spirit Boy" was perfect to make the marks on the top note and the middle sized heart from "Sweethearts" was just right for the one in the centre. A couple of colourful brads were ideal for the pins (and I have loads of neglected brads just waiting to be used up)!

The bottom note was a bit more problematical as I couldn't find a tiny horse stamp anywhere - so I adapted the little reindeer from "Nordic Winter" and just didn't ink up his antlers. The lovely scripty hello sentiment from the "Happy Hello Thanks" set was just the job though. I used a resist technique, stamping it in Versamark ink and clear embossing it, then I used a Tuxedo Black Memento marker pen to draw the speech bubble and colour it in, before ironing off the embossing between two sheets of copy paper. A little pink washi tape was used to mimic that in the top photo. The final touch was a bow tied from thick black thread - I liked the effect of the loops as there were also several in the inspiration photo. I'm really pleased with the finished result!

Thanks for looking,

Lynn