Sarah & Steve

Sarah & Steve are getting married - Sarah is my ex-sister in law and is the sister I never had, we've shared ups and downs, and I'm really pleased that she's getting remarried.  As its a second wedding and they have grown up children I wanted to do something different.  Sarah loves purples, and we sent her some roses for the garden as a wedding present, including one which is lilac (Special Event - not only a good colour, but an appropriate name).

The Purple is SU Wisteria Wonder, with a little Concord Crush & some glitter to highlight the butterflies.  My DH did ask why it was a grey card, but he's not great at colours, and it really is a nice subtle lilac/purple. The butterflies are stuck down the middle, so the wings look like they are flying off the card.  The die is Celtic Heart Cheery Lynn, which looks lovely and so much better in real life.  I tried white on neutral colours, but it didn't do the heart justice.  

Its been my first full week at work for a few weeks - youngest daughter has been having university visits, and we've been on tour - not quite John O'Groats to Lands End - we did Perthshire to Cornwall... but pleased to say she's got offered a place at her favourite.  And eldest daughter is home for Easter.  So all is well in our house.  

Am entering this in http://www.samueltaylors.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/march-challenge.html - which is butterflies -  its the end of March, just completed and photographed in time!

Mothering Sunday

Happy Mothering Sunday to my Mum - this is the card I made for her.  One of the reasons I started making cards was I could never find quite what I wanted in the shops - my Mum is most instant it is Mothering Sunday and not Mother's Day.  So this ones for you, Mum xx.

The sentiment was made on the computer, and I was quite pleased that I got the colour to match the pool party ink/card. The stamp used is SU - Precious Butterflies.   I used the same idea, with more butterflies for a slightly different card (as there are lots of March birthdays, and I had such fun spritzing the background)!

I am entering this into the Samuel Taylor March Callenge - butterflies http://samueltaylors.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/march-challenge.html

Less is More 59 - Masking

This weeks Less is more is masking.

Today's challenge uses one of my favourite techniques - masking of top and bottom of the card - this seems especially suited to masculine cards, don't you think?  I have used a Unity stamp of a car.  In our family we love cars, and it was so hard to find a nice stamp of a car - this one came in a set with other masculine images.  I used a post-it pad to mask the car and sponged a background.  I used a marker to add a thin line just above and below the masked area to add a bit of definition. The sentiment is SU Curly Cute. The colours are SU: Night of Navy, Bashfull Blue and Lucky Limeade.

A second card (I said this was a favourite technique!)  In this one I used a post-it pad to mask of a square and blended some distress inks to make a neutral colour border.  I then stamped a variety of leaves from SU French foliage   The sentiment is from Penny Black - and I've only inked part of the stamp.  The leaves are in Sahara sand, Always artichoke and the yellow/red is from a big and Juicy inkpad - Mountain meadow.

My daughter is attending university interviews at the moment - last week was Edinburgh, so no time to play with crafts.  This Monday its Falmouth, a bit nearer home - but still 3 or 4 hours drive!

Think Spring, lets see some flowers!

Today's card is a one layer card and uses one of my favourite stamps - Agapanthus Cluster from Stampendous.  The background is using Distress Inks in pinks and blues (the butterfly was coloured with one of the distress inks, and edged with the same colour ink as the flowers - with the addition of a clear stickles to add some sparkle!).

 I am entering it into the Kaboodle Doodles - think spring, lets see some flowers challenge.

Week 57 - Less is More - Neutrals

Having been following, and sometimes playing along with Less is More challenges (http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com), my first blog post is:

This uses a memory box die, mounted on some cream hammered card which has been sponged with a tiny bit of colour. And unusually for me there is no stamping involved.