Summer or Autumn?

Evening all

For those of you based in the UK I’m sure you can relate to my pondering of whether it is still summer or are we now hitting Autumn early? We’ve had some lovely hot sunny days this week but the mornings and evenings are cold and the leaves are falling off the trees in abundance. 

I’m enjoying the autumnal colour challenges and the colour scheme for this card came from CAS Colours & Sketches challenge #388.

For this card I have die cut and layered many pieces of the top of the Gemini tree die (see right of photo) in the green colours specified by the challenge to make an autumnal wreath. I backed the wreath with a suitably coloured patterned paper and stamped the sentiment directly onto it with Lawn Fawn ink.

Whilst I was making this card I remembered that the current Twofer Card Challenge theme is trees so I created a second card using the same die.

This time I just cut two trees (thankfully!) and offset them before attaching to a piece of autumn leaf card that I have up cycled from a monthly snack delivery pack. I added two offset chairs below the tree and this time I was able to add another colour since I’m not entering this one into the same colour challenge. I didn’t add a sentiment to this card as I didn’t feel it needed it, but of course one could be added later if necessary.

Here’s a shot of the two cards together as required for the Twofer challenge #31. 

And last but definitely not least, Uniko have just published their latest challenge #61 and it’s a lovely ‘Anything Goes’ challenge with an optional twist of ‘Thanks’ which helped me select the sentiment for the first card!

Thanks for visiting.

Love Steph x

Color My Heart Color Dare #412

Morning all

Here we are back again with another fabulous challenge from Color My Heart Color Dare, challenge #412. The colours for this challenge scream autumn and with the weather turning colder in the UK I’m sure there will be no lack of inspiration outside your window! 

I decided to combine my colours with a very important birthday card for my niece who turned 18 in early September. 

I had the Gemini die set lying around on my craft table and thought it would make a perfect 18th birthday card. To make it a little more special I took advantage of the option to use gold card and I made it into a shaker card. 

I started off by cutting the glass outline from gold glitter card and added a piece of acetate to the back. I followed the outline of the aperture and placed foam pads all around with no gaps. I then cut a sundance card inner to be the liquid in the glass and added a slightly larger piece of French vanilla card to be the backing of the shaker element. Before sealing to the foam pads I added some gold and canary coloured flower sequins into the shaker.

It took me a while to decide what colour to make the main background but since I’m having a bit of a Deco phase the black just stood out better than the rest but to tone it down a little I layered it onto sundance card. 

I cut the fruit wedges from the various colours of card available to the challenge and added them to the glass and card front before cutting the sentiment from gold and black, offset layering and adding across the stem of the glass.

Please do pop over to the challenge and see the rest of the design teams wonderful work and hopefully be inspired to join in. 😁

Much love

Steph xchallenge

All that sparkles...

Morning all

Well you would have though that with the children going back to school I would be posting more to the blog but the opposite has indeed happened! I'm certainly doing more craft but those precious six hours they are at school for seems to evaporate (a bit like the weekends!) and I'm not finding time to update the blog. So today I'm having an 'admin' day and the laptop is out rather than the Big Shot.  

As it's September my mind has turned to Christmas. Yes, I am indeed one of those awful people who start Christmas shopping in Sept! I fact this year I think my mind has been in Christmas mode since 'Christmas in July' was upon us, at least from a card making perspective. So the Christmas cards will be sorted this year but will we be able to actually spend the festive season with loved ones? Who knows??

Today's Christmas cards are all about sparkle! I wanted to maximise the amount of glitter but I really, really hate actual glitter which seems to find it's way everywhere. To get around this I use glitter card but I've only got silver and gold in my stash at the moment. I wanted at least three colours for this card so I made my own glitter card by using glitter washi tape and laying it across card before die cutting. It's amazing how well it has worked! I have tried colouring glitter card with alcohol markers previously but I've never achieved a very good look this way. 

For these cards I used a die set that came with issue 31 of Die Cutting Essentials magazine. I cut it from silver glitter card and then the pink and teal glitter 'card' that I created from washi tape. After lots of patient paper piecing I had three large glittery snowflakes. 

With the teal snowflake I created a diagonal easel card base and layered up with more glitter card. For the easel stopper I cut smaller snowflakes from all three colours and layered them for impact.

The great thing is that once you have all the bits cut and paper pieced its pretty quick to make a further two cards. For both the silver and pink snowflakes I layered them onto circular card bases.

I will be entering the easel card into the following challenges as they are both 'everything goes as long as it's Christmas'.

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #506

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #78

Much love

Steph x

Color My Heart Color Dare #410

Morning all

I am thrilled to announce that I have joined the Design Team of Color My Heart Color Dare, a weekly craft challenge. As the name suggests it’s a challenge all about colour (sorry had to revert to the UK spelling!!) but it has some fantastic twists so please do go check it out here. 

My first challenge as part of the DT is challenge #410 which calls for red, white and blue. 

All three colours must be used but you can also add in black, gold, silver and neutral colours. Neutrals are detailed in the rules section of the challenge blog but for reference here they are white, cream, black, grey, Kraft and brown(s).

So without further ado, here is my card:

When I first saw the theme for challenge #410 I was inspired by a tunic I recently purchased!! It’s funny where we get our ideas from but this tunic has a red and white pattern with a really striking blue embroidery on top. 

To create the background I took one of the smaller stamps from the Uniko Marvellous Mehndi set and stamped it randomly onto a red piece of card with versamark ink. I then sprinkled with WOW! brilliant white embossing powder and set with a heat gun. 

The rest of the stamps are from a set I received with a magazine subscription here in the UK but they are part of the Ranger Wendy Vecchi design range. I repeatedly stamped the herringbone in blue to create two longer pieces and attached to the red panel as shown. I then stamped two of the flowers in blue and coloured in using a slightly lighter blue alcohol marker. Using the same marker I created a light blue panel and stamped the sentiment on top in the darker blue ink. I attached both the fussy cut flowers and sentiment using foam pads.

So now that you’ve got this far, please do come join us and enter your red, white and blue card for challenge #410 at Color My Heart. 

Good luck!

Steph x

Something a little different - Up-cycled Suitcase

Morning all

It’s a quiet one here. I think the children are making the most of the last lie in before they go back to school tomorrow. Either that or the very long walk I took them on yesterday has completely wiped them out!

I’ve finally been back in the craft room but not for card making. About three years ago I rescued an old wooden suitcase or travellers box from a bonfire. I spotted it on a pile that was being set up for a community event and it was just too good to burn. I figured no one would miss it as they had thrown it on the bonfire. So for the last two days I’ve been up-cycling it.

Here’s the before photo:

I removed the old hard leather from the corners and removed the tacks and screws where possible. Others I just had to hammer further in to get rid of the sharpness. Out came a power tool and I sanded the whole thing down and painted with grey paint we had left over from painting the shed! I found some black metal paint which was ideal for the handle. 

Stage one photo:

Looking much better already! 

Following this I decorated the top with some left over wallpaper (literally never throw anything away!!) and then I set about making new corner details. Now I didn’t have any leather so I decided to use black card die cut into a circle, embossed it and used gilding wax to give it a leather or even metal look. This worked really well so I also added some ‘straps’ to make it look like you could fasten the case. In true crafter style, this last portion of the work took me the longest...😂

And the finished product:

I’m really pleased with how it turned out and glad I was able to save it from being burnt on the bonfire. It’s going to be used to store the girls keepsakes and also as a TV stand in our guest room as we need something low with it being the attic room. 

Hope you like it too and thanks for visiting. 

Steph x

Anyone seen my mojo?

Morning all

I’m just popping by with an apology for the lack of posts recently. I’ve completely lost my mojo and don’t even fancy stepping into the craft room at the moment.

I have however, regressed back about 8 years and started doing cross stitch again which I am really enjoying so there will no doubt be some cards made incorporating those soon. I’m having a Christmas phase, probably because the weather has gone so cold and autumnal in the UK recently.

Anyway, once the children are back at school I may be able to clear my head and find that mojo! I’ve even got a new die cutting machine to play with so that has to be an incentive.

Also, look out for a very super post at the end of the week, I’ve joined a Design Team and I’m very excited about it! That’s definitely going to pull me out of my lull. 

So for now, here’s a card I made before the mojo went missing...it’s likely with the other half of the odd socks which mysteriously disappear...or in that hiding place for ‘very important things’, if only I could remember where that was...

Much love

Steph x

Naughty Nutcracker!

Hi all

Sorry for the absence of posts over the last few days. I haven’t found much time to get into the craft room as I’m busy getting things ready for school starting back next week. What started off as checking what fits, ordering more of what doesn’t and making sure names are on everything, in triplicate (!) soon turned into ‘let’s have a clear out’. So of course it took much longer than anticipated at the start of the process!

I did however manage to get a couple of cards made using my naughty nutcracker stamp (from Woodward). And why is he naughty? Because he just happened to appear in my shopping basket which was nothing to do with me of course...🤔

I have heat embossed one of the nutcracker soldiers in black powder and one in plum powder and coloured in with my alcohol markers. I have even made envelopes for these cards as they are not a regular size. First time ever making envelopes so I’m pretty pleased with how they turned out, even if it did take a while to do!

Well it’s been a dismal day here today and really feels like autumn is ready to start so we might be rushing our way into winter...best get some more Christmas cards done!

Catch up soon

Steph x

Back to Christmas!

Hi again! 

Well I thought I’d better crack on with some Christmas cards because once September hits the year seems to evaporate and before you realise it you should have written and posted those cards (at great expense!). What I tend to do each year is make a variety of cards some of which I like to be one layer for postal purposes.

These cards were made so easy because of the fabulous stamp design from Woodware. It is called Peaceful Night and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it! I also bought the Nutcracker stamp but more on that another day. 😉

I wanted a really nice dark card blank so I made my own from heavyweight dark blue card stock. These are slightly narrower than DL size because I wanted to get two out of one piece of A4 card.

I heat embossed the stamp and sentiment with WOW! gold embossing powder and painted it with Gansai Tambi Starry Colors metallic watercolour paints. Now I have to remember to make the envelopes!

I’ve just had a google of Christmas card challenges and two popped up that I have not previously entered so I will be entering and supporting these challenges as follows: 

The Holly and the Ivy Christmas challenge number 77

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas challenge number 503

Thanks for visiting ☺️

Steph

Perfect For Masculine Makes

 Morning all

It was a real struggle to push myself out of bed and go for a run this morning but as I haven’t been for one since last Monday I thought I’d better make the effort! I also find post run a good time to update my blog, providing I’m quick enough to do it before the children wake up.

Today I’m sharing another masculine make for which I have used Uniko Explosion! stamp set. I really do find this the perfect stamp set for making masculine cards (and it’s also good for female grunge style cards). I like the retro ‘batman and robin’ comic strip feel you can achieve with it too.

So here I’ve embossed a square of white stamping card with Stampin Up! Sizzix Brick Wall embossing folder. I have inked Squeezed Lemonade and Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxides through Creative Expressions Mini Splattered stencil onto the brick panel. The red ‘splatter’ is a die cut using Sizzix Thinlits Scribble & Splat die set which I have simply mat onto the panel. I stamped the yellow explosion and sentiments from the Uniko set using the same Distress Oxides and fussy cut them before adding with foam pads and matting on the sentiments. I then layered the panel onto red and blue card sticking with my primary colours for impact. The blue card is actually white card inked with Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide so that it matches exactly. 

As The Male Room are celebrating their 7th birthday I’m entering this card and wishing them many happy returns (again!). 

Well I didn’t make it the whole way through the post before the children woke up so I’d better go and make their breakfast!

See you again soon!

Steph x

Birds and Big Shots!

 Morning all

I’ve had a couple of days of not making it into the craft room due to building a chicken pen. This keeping chickens malarkey is getting expensive! The chickens are about 10 weeks old now and we have a coop for them but their ‘pen’ is currently a makeshift post and netting sort of affair which they regularly get out of. So now we have this cage like pen for them but don’t worry, it is massive and they will have plenty of room!

So with the chickens in mind I’m sharing a bird card today that I started making about six years ago...I kid you not. The bird on this card was inspired by one of the first craft magazines I read and I immediately went out and bought the stamp. It’s probably around that time I realised cardmaking might be an expensive hobby. 😂 So my little birdie has been gathering dust for six years and a couple of weeks ago I thought it was probably time to use him on a card.

Now talking of expensive crafting...I’ve been fawning over the big shot foldaway since it was launched and I was in need of a new die cutting machine at the time but I felt it was out of my price bracket so I got the good old regular big shot. Now I’m debating about treating myself to the foldaway as I have some gift vouchers to spend. Does anyone out there have it and would recommend? Also do I really need another machine???...

Thanks for your advice!

Steph x

Hot, hot, HOT!

Hi all

It’s far too hot for me this week. No one sleeps well in this heat and tempers are frayed. The girls are arguing because they are fed up of lockdown, each other and this heat. I’ve completely lost my mojo so I’ve turned to sketch challenges for inspiration. 

I’ve used the current sketch from CAS(E) this sketch! to create this card. 

I’m trying to incorporate more patterned papers into my cards and despite this looking ‘fussy’ it really is a clean and simple card as all I’ve added is two die cut envelopes, a heat embossed sentiment ‘note’ and some enamel embellishments.

Right I’d best go find that mojo...or at least muck around in the craft room for a bit and pretend I’ve done something productive! 

See you soon!

Steph x

And the winners are...

 Good morning all

Thank you for following my blog and in some cases my Instagram and Facebook pages also. 😄

You are all very welcome and I hope you enjoy following my card making journey.

Now for the important bit...the winners selected randomly this morning using random.org are:

1. prpetron@xxxx.com        You have won the Tattered Lace Japanese Lady Die

2. Suklin Gardiner                You have won the Apple Blossom Stamp Set and Sue Wilson Die

3. jackie_gray@xxxx.com    You have won the Clearly Besotted Stamp Set

If you could all please email me with your postal address and I will arrange to get these sent out as soon as possible. My email is stephmortimer4@gmail.com.

Thank you and congratulations!

Steph x

Happy birthday Mum

Hi all

It’s my Mums birthday today and I have made her a set of cards in a coordinating box. I thought this might be useful since my parents aren’t going out to the shops currently. I used a lovely card making set which came with an issue of Papercraft Essentials. 

I don’t usually like the card kits and these cards are definitely different to my usual style but I really enjoyed making them and layering up the beautiful papers. In fact I’ve started making a lot more layered cards thanks to these. I am determined to use up my large stash of patterned paper!! 😂

What I also found with these was how quick they are to make when you don’t have to do any stamping or colouring.

Well better dash, we are off to visit my Mum to wish her a happy birthday (socially distanced of course) and the girls have baked her some Smarties cookies...which I guarantee will be eaten by my Dad!! 

See you again soon

Steph x