Strongman Birthday

 Hi all!  Can you believe that tomorrow begins July, this year has flown in!  I have a wee quickie card this evening with an old MFT set and a sentiment I'd diecut an age ago and never used...

I added a faint bit of stencilling to the BG and then cut this little strip of stars with a die from Simply Graphic.  Strongman dude popped up on foam pads.  Since taking the pic, I've added glitter to his 'tache and gloss to the weights.

CASology #392 - strength

Simon Says Stamp Monday - red, white, blue

Make My Monday #151 - cats or dogs (.... at least I think this dude is a cat!?)

Big Wishes

 Hi All!  Happy Sunday!  We've had the loveliest sunny day today and more due for most of the week yippee, unfortunately I'll be working away looking out at it Boo!  Maybe I should relocate my laptop to the garden 😉

I bought this swirly stamp from Simply Graphic a couple of months ago and have been waiting for inspiration to strike, thankfully the sketch from AAA Cards did the trick!

I masked off my stamp, embossed in white and then inked up the background.  My whale is an oldie from MFT - I sometimes struggle with MFTs sentiments so used this one from another set.  It didn't look 'finished' until I added the grey semicircle, I guess that's the rule of '3' for you!  (though I'm not 100% positive that's the right spot for my sentiment)

Sketch from AAA Cards #193 

Sea/ whale theme from The Card Concept #158, and the colour from the inside of the mug was the exact match to my new ink pad 😁

Addicted to Stamps #408 - birthday

A sparkly new home

 Hi all!  Just a wee quickie card from me this evening.  Well, when I say 'quick' this was version #3 before it satisfied me, so there was nothing quick about it really! 

I won these stamps an eon ago from Taylored Expressions - they belong to a set with a big tree die that never cut right on my slightly warped Cuttlebug plates, so I never actually used the stamps before! 

The sentiment is from an old Simon Says Stamp set - if I was making this again I would centre the words more over the house.  Gloss and glitter added to the red heart and house.

Oh, and just to share, here's the duds that hit the recycling pile ...

As You Like It - favourite tip - I love to use gloss+glitter on my cards and use a little cocktail stick to sprinkle the glitter into the gloss.  It's a great way to limit escaped sparkle as you're only really aiming it at the wet gloss, the little bit of excess can just be brushed off when dry. 

Allsorts #629 - anything goes

Addicted to CAS #200 - sun

Card for Aunt Jean

 Hi All!  I'm still struggling with my mojo but needed to make a card for my Auntie and also wanted to make a card for Pixie's Snippets Playground challenge as it's a Ruby's Memory one - more details below.  I was lucky to get some new crafty goodies for my birthday so it was a good excuse to get them inky.  This is a new-to-me brand, Honey Doo Crafts - I wasn't sure what colour to do it so I went for the lot and just coloured it to match this scrap of fancy DP...

I added gloss to the cherry, glitter to the little sweetie balls, and sparkle to the icing, and a few inky splatters to the background.

Layout from Freshly Made Sketches #490 (though now I look at it again maybe my image is a tad too big!)

Crafty Hazelnuts patterned paper challenge June 2021

Word Art Wednesday #495-496 anything goes

Pixies Snippets Playground challenge #405 - every 3rd challenge the lovely Di hosts it in memory of our beloved Ruby, I can hardly believe she is gone 6 months now!  She is thought of and missed every day.  Di makes a donation to USPCA for this challenge as it's thanks to them Ruby came into our lives and the lovely playmates donate a prize - Val and Viv have fab goodies up for grabs and all you have to do to play along is to use up one of those scraps of paper on your desk!

I've had a busy week off work, managed to get out to an actual restaurant for my birthday lunch, got some gardening done and pots and baskets planted, started painting the fence, and a wee outing on the train with mum to Portrush.  The water was lovely but sooooo cold, we braved a paddle and I don't know how anyone goes swimming in the Atlantic Ocean without having instant heart failure!! (If you zoom in you might see the pile of surfers, the waves were fab!)

Just chicken in!

 Hi all!  Hope you're all well.  I'm delighted to say I got my 2nd jab on Friday and no side effects, just a bit of a sore arm so no big complaints from me.    I'm on the countdown to a week off work, bet it will be the longest week waiting for it! No trips abroad for me this year, I couldn't be annoyed with the hassle, I'm happy enough with a few day trips and lunch out!

Anyway, my card his evening uses my fun chickens from Gerda Steiner...

Don't you love it when you find some paper that matches your colouring perfectly!  Sometimes it's the little things in life make you happy 😉. Chooks coloured with watercolour pencils and gloss/glitter added to their red bits. 

• Addicted to Stamps #406 make your mark
• As You Like It - CAS or fully fancy - I'm definitely a CAS girl, I envy folk who can add loads of layers and embellishments but it's totally beyond me! 
• Less is More #444 Your favourite technique - it took me a while to appreciate stencils but I love them now
• Gerda Steiner SYD challenge - June 2021

Aunt Renee's birthday card

 Hi All!  I'm not sure why my card this evening hasn't photographed well, must be the shock of having sunshine outside!!  We've had the most glorious few days, filled with sunny sunshine and blue skies.  It is so good to see it, hopefully it hangs around for a couple of weeks for my week's holiday so I get a chance to enjoy it, instead of working away at my laptop looking out at it!

So this is my card for my Aunt, using an oldie from Concorde & 9th. 

Make my Monday #149  floral birthday

Papercraft Challenge #70.  Anything goes