Hello There Little One

Hi there crafty peeps!!

I've been crafting a lot lately, but not had the old blogging-bug much. Its hard when it feels like I'm talking to no-one! I never know what to type lol.

Anyhoo, I made a card using the delightful new set from Neat and Tangled, Party On!

I used it on the card I made for the Neat and Tangled Design Team reunion, which you can see HERE, and I canNOT stop using it.

For my card today, I bent the giraffes neck a little, while t was on my acrylic block, and positioned it so it looked like it was peering down at the little bird.  I thought it would be a fun way to make a welcome-baby style of card.

The images are coloured with copics. The background was done with Holbein watercolours, the sentiment is a combo of Simon Says Stamp, and Concord & 9th.  That lovely little background is heat embossed with clear powder, and is from an older Avery Elle set.

I hope you like it! I'll be back with more soon

Linda xo

I'm Always Here For You

Hi friends!

I'm about to slip off to bed at the ridiculously early time of 9:30, but I wanted to share this card quickly.

I die from the cuteness. Almost literally.

This is the new Abby's Spring Showers stamp set from Simon Says Stamp.

I used Pool layering paper for the base and Envelope Pattern background stamp from Hero Arts.  The sentiment is from an older Hero Arts set too.  The puddle is stamped in Wplus9 Fairy Dust Ink.

I tried this 'half' copic colouring style recently and I LOVE it. It's kinda retro, reminds me of old story books I had as a kid.

Ok that's it for me, that's all the words I can manage today!

See you soon :)

Linda x

Simon Says Stamp MARCH kit

Hello there!!

Sorry it's been a week (or more *cough*), I've been CRAY-CRAY busy with the A Blog Named Hero Challenge/videos etc etc. I promise I'll be better in the future :)

Here is a card I made using my Simon Says Stamp March Card kit :) It's just gorgeous this kit!! YUM YUM!

I was feeling artsy and collage-y, so that's what I went with.

Here's a closeup

and another , coz I love that little acetate filmstrip .

Not too many extras on top of the kit with this one! For the background (the aqua cardbase) I used Jenny Bowlin Speckled Egg and stamped the larger floral-collagey image repeatedly, to give a nice tone on tone effect. 

Faux stitching I used a white gel pen, for the arrows on the right hand side, I used Colorbox fluid chalk ink. 

Here are the products:

InLinkz.com

NB I used Aqua embossing powder, but Simon Says didn't have any to make a link out of :)

That's it from me today! I'll be back soon xoxoxo

Linda x

Simon Says Stamp February Card kit

yes, you read that title correctly, FEBRUARY card kit :) I ordered this the MINUTE I saw it (January 10th to be exact), it was shipped soon after...and it arrived mid-March. I'm fairly sure there was someone at my local post office holding it ransom for 5 weeks. bastards :)

For a full look at what's in the kit, check out my darling Mary Dawn's video about it HERE. She goes through it piece by piece.

I decided to do some love-themed layouts, and try my hand at smaller sized layouts at that. 8.5 x 11...it's a first for me!  I used only what was in the kits, barring a COUPLE of extras (which I'll note under the layouts)

**warning: the lighting in these photos is NOT terribly great! sorry!**

Here is layout number one:

 extras: Tim Holtz tiny paperclip, Colorbox white ink, date stamp, twine, notebook edger punch, hexagon die, vellum (for butterfly on the right)

 The ONLY additionals for this one are the Tim Holtz tab edger die, tiny stapler, Hero Arts Soft Pink shadow ink

Additionals: Ali Edwards Technique Tuesday Love always Wins stamps (unseen here, on the journalling card which is inside the vellum envelope), American Crafts LAX thickers, doilies (both), white gel pen for faux stitching.


Well I hope you like! I thought it would be fun to show the card kits work for something OTHER than cards (and don't necessarily have to be for Valentines day even when the kits are geared that way)

I'll be back soon!



Linda xx

PS Don't forget to check out the Celebration week over at A Blog Named Hero--it's going amazingly well and we have some astonishingly pretty cards to share! Plus there are prizes for commenting :)

Final week of GD at Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog.

Hello sweet friends,

I'm here with a bit of a bittersweet post today, it's my final week as Guest Designer over at the wonderful Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog.  I've had such a lovely time being a part of the team, its honestly been a dream come true. I am still finding it hard to believe that they invited me!

I'd like to say a very big thank you to all the girls on the team, Lols for organising us all and being such sweet support when I emailed her, having a bit of an I'm-not-good-enough moment and of course, to Heidi and all the team at Simon Says Stamp for bringing us the amazing store that this blog is dedicated to!

So this week's challenge is ANYTHING GOES, highlighting the amazing company My Minds Eye.

thanks to our fantabulous sponsors

So here is my card:

There are lots of little details on this card. If my sewing machine was working I'd have done some stitching too, but unfortunately my poor baby is broken and in need of a servicing. 

Here's the how-to:

Take some white cardstock and cut to size (8" x 11"), scoring down the centre to make a 5.5" x 4" card.

Trim a piece of orange MME paper 3.5"wide by the length of the card and punch the side using a scallop border punch.

Cut a piece of the blue dotted MME paper slightly smaller than the orange paper and adhere them together, then adhere onto the card front.

Use a Tim Holtz Tab die to diecut a piece of the script MME paper, round of the corners with a corner chomper. 

Take a 2.25" x 4.75 " piece of white cardstock and round the edges with a corner chomper. 

Use your Memento Markers to colour in the image on the Hero Arts Wild Flowers stamp (colour directly onto the rubber). 

**You don't need to be gentle or precise, nor do you need to worry about muddying the colours of the markers if you colour over a section that has already got ink on it.**

Huff (blow warm air) onto the stamp to re-moisten, then stamp onto the white cardstock. Press down firmly to make sure you get a good impression.

Add a little Antique Linen Distress Ink to the edges of the image, to give a nice antique distressed look. (this also helps to make the stamped image look 'right'.  With very crisp white cardstock behind it, it can look a little pale/poorly stamped. The distressed edging ties it all together nicely.)

Attach this stamped piece to the 'tabbed' piece, then adhere onto the main card. Add a Tim Holtz tiny paper clip to the top. 

For the sentiment, take the Hero Arts Good Friends cling stamp. Using sticky tape (cellotape), cover the area around the sentiment you want to use. Carefully ink up the sentiment with the corner/edge of the ink pad. When you've got good ink coverage over the sentiment you want to use, remove the sticky tape from around it, which will remove any excess ink from the words you don't want to stamp. (I hope that makes sense!)

Stamp onto a strip of white cardstock, ' banner' cut the ends and adhere using dimensional adhesives!

Tie jute twine through three blue buttons and adhere onto the card. Finished!

It really looks like a lot, but it's not. trim some paper, adhere it all together, colour on a stamp, stamp, then adhere. Embellish :)

Well I hope you like it!

Be sure to join in the challenge for the chance to win

Just think--that could be $50 towards more My Minds Eye paper!! lol.

Now be sure to pop on over to the blog with me to see what the rest of the design team has made!

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments and support in my GD role :) I've loved every minute of it.

Take care and I'll speak to you soon!

*hugs*

Linda xxx

Here are the products I used to make this card, to purchase, just click the picture!

InLinkz.com

Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog Guest Designer Week 4!!! Recipe

WOW how has it been almost a week since I last blogged?! It's been super busy around here!

So todays card is NOT the one I was going to be sharing with you, so I'll be bringing you another card very soon as I have an extra!

I'm very happy and honoured to be bringing you my fourth project for the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog Guest Designer position.

Todays challenge over at the fantabulous Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog is to use 3 patterned papers!!

Our amazing sponsors as always are the wonderful Simon Says Stamp--be sure to pop over there as soon as you're finished looking here and do some shopping :)

On to the card!

I thought I'd make something to 'match' the style of most of the design team. This layered type of card is really popular in England and Europe and its so sweet, but something I've never really tried before.

I wont go into details of how the card was made as I think it's pretty self explanatory.

Heres a closeup

Now be sure to pop over to the main challenge blog with me and check out what the rest of the Design Team has made--Its sure to be amazing as always!

Dont forget to join us in the challenge this week for a chance to win a

Yes and please!!

Something very different for me today--I hope you like it!!

I'll be back VERY soon with another card (I've got plenty sitting on my desk just waiting to be shared!)

Talk to you soon--thanks so much for stopping by and all the sweet comments, it means so much to me!

*hugs*

Linda xx

InLinkz.com