2015 Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.

Hello and welcome! Today is National Coffee Day in the USA and the Coffee Loving Papercrafters are having a Blog Hop to celebrate. Although I'm usually a tea drinking Brit, I couldn't resist joining in with the fun! There are an amazing 42 sponsors for this hop, with lots of lovely prizes, so you may like to start at the Coffee Loving Cardmakers blog here. You will also find full details of how to take part and links to all of the inspiring artwork there.

Here is my first card for the hop. As always you can click on the photos to get a clearer view. I got carried away and actually made two similar easel cards in different colourways, but I think that this blue one is my favourite. My second card (below) uses the same supplies, but with a khaki coloured card base and I adhered the image and sentiment at a jaunty angle.

The pretty autumnal backing papers are from the "Enchantment" NitWit collection by Mary Fran for Lili of the Valley. The main image is stamped with "Monster Morning" by Whipper Snapper Designs Inc and was coloured with Copic Ciao markers. The sentiment and cute coffee beans are from the "Coffee Set" stamps by Waltzingmouse Stamps and I used Memento Rich Cocoa dye ink. Spellbinders "Leafy Squares" dies were used to mount the image and sentiment blocks. Finally I added a strip of white card inside so that there is space to write a message and I finished off with a couple of Fall Leaves Wood Veneer ornaments by Lawn Fawn, to act as stoppers for my easels (see below).

Both cards fold flat for mailing but I think that the easel style adds a little something extra! I have used quite masculine colours here, but it would be very easy to switch out the colours to make a more feminine version.

Thanks for visiting and enjoy the rest of the hop!

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

A Big Squishy Hug

Hello. Today I'm sharing a card that I made to cheer up a dear friend. I used her favourite colours and a lovely stamp that she had given me a while ago. It's called "A Little Hug" by Leanne Ellis for Sugar Nellie and I think it's really sweet!

I coloured the image with Copic Ciao markers and fussy cut extra images of the bird, rose and rabbit to layer up with clear foam pads. You can see the dimension that this added in the close - up photo below. The sentiment is from the "Gift Card It" stamp set by Waltzingmouse stamps and was just perfect to go with the main image! 

Thanks for looking!

Lynn

Waltzingmouse Stamps June PJ Party - Challenge 1: Can It / Pickle It.

Waltzingmouse Stamps are hosting their June Pajama party at the moment, with four challenges to take part in. You can check out all the details over on the WMS blog here.

I have chosen to make a shaker card for the first challenge "Can It / Pickle It". I used the WMS large Chevron background stamp, the jar stamp from "Candy Jar Christmas Fillers", the lid and sentiment stamps from "Jar Fillers - Jam Packed" and some of the lovely new WMS "Peaches and Dream" sequin shaker mix.

I started with a 5" square peach coloured card blank and added a layer of cream / gold card before adding a square of peach coloured paper stamped with the chevron pattern using PTI Melon Berry ink. The sentiment was stamped onto a small stitched fishtail banner cut with a Die-namics die and added with foam tape. I used some of the cream / gold card to stamp two jars, cut an aperture in one and added a layer of acetate to make the window. I added some of the shaker mix and sandwiched the two jars together using clear foam tape. The jar lid cover was cut from patterned paper and I added a little bakers twine to embellish. The photo doesn't really do it justice as it looks much prettier in real life!

Thanks for looking,

Lynn

Cure for the Monday blues # 46 - Rise & Shine!

Hello there! I have been having trouble with our internet connection this week and haven't been able to post on my blog for what seems like ages! I've made a card for the Cure for the Monday Blues challenge # 46 - Rise & Shine! You can find all the details on Taheerah's blog here . The inspiration photo this week has a monochrome palette with a pop of yellow here and there.

I decided to focus on the yellow pillow with clouds and the sweet little bird - and here's what I came up with.

I started with a white card blank and added a layer of Papertrey's Soft Stone card followed by a layer of Lemon Tart card. Then I diecut several white clouds using my Memory Box Marshmallow Clouds dies, stuck them to the yellow card and trimmed the edges. The cute bird and sentiment are both from Waltzingmouse Stamps Sewing Box Hugs stamp set. I used Memento Tuxedo Black dye ink to stamp the bird three times onto Soft Stone and Lemon Tart bitty dots papers, cut them out and layered them up with clear foam tape. That's it - so CAS for me, LOL!

Thanks for reading and for your kind comments,

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 

Waltzingmouse Stamps November Pajama Party - Challenge 1, Scandi Tags

This is my third post today - please scroll down for my two Runway Inspired Challenge posts.

I am back this evening to join in with the Waltzingmouse November Pajama party. You can find all the details here

The first challenge is to create tags with a Scandinavian theme. I decided to make three tags in different colours, all using the Waltzingmouse Nordic Winter stamp set and Fresh Snow pigment ink. 

To each tag I added a white snowflake, which I had cut from the WMS Snowflake Three die and I embellished them with coloured gems in the centres to match the colour of the tags. Finally I added some white textured ribbon and a matching button (fastened with WMS button twine) to each tag. I am really happy with how these turned out - I hope that you like them too!

Lynn.

Runway Inspired Challenge # 71 - In Memory of Oscar de la Renta (part 2)

This is my second post today and is the second part of my entry for the Runway Inspired Challenge in memory of the designer Oscar de la Renta who died recently. You can find all the details on the Runway Inspired Challenge blog here .

I chose the photo below as my inspiration,  as did Taheerah - *Fill Your Paper With The Breathings of Your {Heart}*.

I used the same Wendy Vecchi stamp from the Art Colors Life stamp set as previously, together with the same three Distress ink markers (Mowed Lawn, Fired Brick and Squeezed Lemonade). However this time I coloured the stamp with the markers then spritzed it with a fine mist of water before stamping it onto some Bockingford Watercolour paper. This gave a lovely mottled look to my background, which I then layered onto a panel of green card and a 6" square white card blank. 

The photo below shows the background stamping, which looked really pale and pretty.

I then repeated the process, but this time I wet the Watercolour paper before stamping, which gave a really mottled look. I thought that the green looked a little like the branches of a Christmas tree with red and yellow lights on it, so I used this paper to cut out two tree shapes using Dee's Distinctively Christmas Tree Silhouette and Christmas Tree No 3 dies.

Using a damp paintbrush I added a little more distress ink in places where it was pale, until I had a more even coverage. Here you can see the two trees before I layered them onto my card using clear foam tape for dimension.

Again I stamped the sentiment, from Waltzingmouse Stamps Vintage Ornaments set in Memento Tuxedo Black dye ink and my card was complete. Two totally different cards using the same stamps and inks, but different techniques! I think that this watercoloured one is my favourite of the two. I hope you like them. Thanks for looking.

Lynn

Runway Inspired Challenge # 71 - In Memory of Oscar de la Renta (part 1)

This week I decided to play along with the Runway Inspired Challenge in memory of the designer Oscar de la Renta who died recently. You can find all the details on the Runway Inspired Challenge blog here . This time there were a number of inspiration photos to choose from, as each member of the Design Team had selected an item of clothing from the Spring 2015 collection to feature. 

I really liked this dress, which was chosen by Taheerah - *Fill Your Paper With The Breathings of Your {Heart}*

Taheerah made a gorgeous card (in fact she made two) - do check out the blog to see her lovely work!

Not to be outdone, I decided to make two cards as well. In actual fact I selected a large background stamp from Wendy Vecchi's Art Colors Life stamp set, together with Distress ink markers (Mowed Lawn, Fired Brick and Squeezed Lemonade) and tried two different techniques. I liked them both, hence the two cards!

Below is the first one, with a trio of layered Christmas trees.

I inked the stamp up using the Distress markers and stamped directly onto a 6" square white card blank.

I also stamped the same image onto a separate piece of white card and used this to die cut my trees with the Dee's Distinctively Christmas Stacker Tree dies. I also cut matching trees from bright green card and layered them all up with double sided tape.

Finally I stamped the sentiment, from Waltzingmouse Stamps Vintage Ornaments set in Memento Tuxedo Black dye ink. I shall be back soon with my second card. Thanks for looking.

Lynn

Cure For The Monday Blues # 33

I am joining in with Taheerah's Cure for the Monday Blues challenge no 33 this week - you can find all the details here. There is a lovely Autumnal inspiration photo with lots of berries this week.

My card features the lovely Stampendous Snowbird stamp which I stamped onto watercolour paper using Tree Branch Archival ink then watercoloured with Memento dye inks. I used Toffee Crunch, Canteloupe, Morocco and Lady Bug. I edged the panel with the Morocco ink and added it to my A5 card base with double sided tape. 

The background was stamped with a small leaf and berry sprig stamp from Waltzingmouse Stamps Paris Nouveau stamp set and the same Memento dye inks. The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse stamps Complements of the Season set and was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black. 

Below you can see the finished background. It took ages to do as the stamp was inked up each time with  Memento markers, but I am really pleased with the end result as I think it looks really effective. I shall certainly be trying this technique again.

Thanks for looking.

Lynn

Cupcakes galore and Happy Stampers at Port Sunlight.

I was lucky enough to be able to go to the Happy Stampers show at Port Sunlight on Saturday. I was really excited as I hadn't been to a show for ages and was missing seeing all my friends. An added bonus was the fact that Waltzingmouse Stamps were exhibiting there for the first time and I was looking forward to meeting the owner, Claire Brennan. I was also thrilled that my good friend Penny was able to attend for the first time, as she had recently moved up to the north west from the south coast and I hadn't seen her for about four years. Apologies for the large number of photos in this post, but I have lots to show you!

The day before (and inspired by the Great British Bake Off), I decided to make some cakes to take with me as gifts. I started by making a batch of carrot and walnut cakes with cream cheese frosting.

Then I made a big batch of toffee and date cupcakes, which were topped with buttercream, chocolate crunchies and Thornton's fudge.

I packed a tin full of cakes to give to the lovely ladies of the Happy Stampers club, in appreciation of all their hard work (as volunteers) in organising the show at Port Sunlight twice a year. The labels were made with Waltzingmouse stamps from the Rescue Remedies set stamped with Memento dye inks and cut with Spellbinders Labels Four dies.

The photo below shows the reverse of the labels. I used Waltzingmouse Stamps - Country Labels 4, a sentiment from Tag Collection 1, the smallest cupcake from Frame It and the question from the Eat Cake set. The tops of the tags were completed with the addition of pairs of tiny grommets cut from the folding tag die set by Waltzingmouse Cutting Edge Dies. My lovely personalised tree stamp was a birthday gift from my daughter Jessica and was made by My Rubber Stamp in Texas, USA.

I had bought some pretty cake boxes from Morrisons supermarket. Each held four cakes and I tied them up with plum and pink organza ribbon and made the co-ordinating tags as above.

I hardly slept that night, but I was up bright and early to set off to Port Sunlight. I travelled by tram and bus to Manchester then a train to Liverpool, followed by a second train to the pretty village of Port Sunlight. Even the railway station below looked pretty!

The village of Port Sunlight was built by the philanthropist William Hesketh Lever (later Viscount Leverhulme) at the end of the 19th century in order to house workers from the nearby Lever Brothers soap factory (now the global company Unilever). Over thirty architects were employed to build the model village, resulting in buildings that were both beautiful and unique. The half timbered building below is used as the local tea rooms and is directly opposite the railway station.

The red brick building below has an unusual octagonal shaped tower and is situated to the far end of the road at the right of the photo above. 

Opposite, this lovely building has plenty of character, with leaded windows and black pebbles inset in rendered panels between the stonework. The surrounding hydrangeas looked beautiful too. 

This row of half timbered houses leads down towards Bolton Road, where Hulme Hall (the historical venue for the stamping show) is located. Unfortunately in my excitement to meet up with Penny and go inside I forgot to take any photos of Hulme Hall itself.

Once inside I distributed cupcakes to the Happy Stampers, a box to Jill and Sarah at The Stamp Man and a box to Claire and Sandie at Waltzingmouse Stamps. Now I had room in my bag to shop!

The photo below is of the lovely Claire from Waltzingmouse stamps and myself, which Penny kindly took for me. (This one is especially for you Jeanne)! Then I put my camera away and promptly forgot all about taking any more photos as we were so busy catching up, chatting and of course shopping!

I had the best time ever and really enjoyed the company, talking stamping all day and acquiring lots of new and interesting products to add to my stash! All the artwork samples were outstanding and there were plenty of demos to watch too. We loved what Sarah Anderson was doing with the Frantage kits at The Stamp Man and Penny and I bought a set each so that we can try it at home ourselves.

The rest of the photos below show my crafty haul from the show (there are quite a few of them, but please don't tell my husband)! First we have four packs of A4 pearlescent card, an 8" square Christmas paper collection, Graphic 45's 12" Twelve days of Christmas paper pad (at a bargain price) and four of the gorgeous Lili of the Valley NitWit collection pads.

These are the dies (Lawn Fawn, Impression Obsession and Spellbinders), alphabet stencil (Tim Holtz) and tree skyline mask (Clarity) that I bought. 

Below are a set of transport stamps and matching dies from Clearly Besotted - our eldest Grandson will love these as he is fascinated by planes and helicopters. The pack of ribbons was a freebie form Clearly Besotted too. On the right are the Zigzag background and Splat That stamps which I bought from Waltzingmouse. Claire added a lolly and some love hearts to my bag - you've got to love free sweeties!

Those of you who know me well will also know that I love Waltzingmouse stamps very much - so you may be thinking that I was very restrained in only buying two stamps from there. However, you would be wrong, as I have to confess to placing an order for the new releases just last Sunday and they arrived on Tuesday - see below! 

Other stamping purchases included the new Merry Christmas stamp and Chocolate gilding flakes from Kay at Indigo Blu, a JustRite Butterfly vines background stamp which I had been coveting since it was released and a very large and deeply textured Impression Obsession seashell and starfish background stamp. 

Our next visit was to Lavinia stamps where I bought two packs of SceneScapes background cards and two very detailed stamps. I can't wait to use the tree branch stamp together with the new squirrel dies for an autumnal card!

We both bought a spray to assist with die cutting intricate shapes (I hope it works). I also got a new Archival inkpad, a Gelatos set (reduced) and the Frantage encrusted jewel kit that I mentioned earlier.

Finally, I visited Paper Artsy just before the show closed and added to my collection of Fresco paints and Treasure Gold waxes - Spanish Topaz (top), White Fire (middle) and limited edition Lilac (bottom). The stamp and swivel clip were freebies from Mark and Leandra :) 

I suspect that I shall be on a stash ban for the foreseeable future, but I have plenty of new goodies to play work with and I am inspired to start creating again as soon as possible. If you have managed to read this far - thank you very much! 

Lynn