Pink themed cards.

I played around with this card for a while, trying the wings out in white and silver, finally opting for silver. The scalloped ovals are from my nestability dies. The wings are part of the DRESS UP LILY set by Pink Cat Studios. I finally cut and EZ mounted this set yesterday so watch out for more samples soon.

This background "climbing florals" is one of my all time favourites from Cornish Heritage Farms and worked well here in the faintest of pinks.
The sentiment is from an obsolete set by PSX.
Ribbon by Mayarts.
Dewdrop.

I'm not sure if this is an angel or fairy but I liked using the yellow tones with the pink and Mayarts had the perfect 2 tone ribbon to co-ordinate.
I embossed the image with clear embossing powder on white smooth cardstock and then sponged yellow and pink inks together (from Adirondack). The sentiment is a partial stamp of the sentiment in the card above.
The card is by A muse.

I needed another sympathy card and I really love this image from Fancy Pants and it is super fast to put together. The sentiment is from Cornish Heritage Farms but I think the font suits the flourish. Ribbon by Mayarts.

I think it is pretty amazing that I have made three cards and I haven't used my Copics on a single one!!!! I think I've yet to make a card without ribbon so I may have to challenge myself!

Scoreboard background.

To create a diamond patterned background I used my M& F scoreboard by Coppernob but any scoreboard will do. I simply lined up, corner to corner and scored and then scored all the way across at equal intervals. Turn card around and do the same on the opposite diagonal.


For this card I used a selection of stamps by Cornish Heritage Farms. I used the sentiment, tag and small flower from the "Tag! You're it!" set by Kim Hughes and Daisy Jar.

I stamped and coloured the Daisy jar with copics and cut around a few of the prominent daisies with my craft knife. I then layered this onto orange cardstock and also used dimensional foam to raise the petals up slightly. (Don't look too closely at the raggedy edges of my cutting - my excuse is that my blade needed changing on my knife!)

I finished off the background by adding white flower motifs in the centre of each scored diamond.
It isn't very clear but I did airbrush pale blue copics around the daisy image.

Finished off with some Amuse ribbon.

Billy the superhero!

This cute little guy is part of the "BILLY" set by Pink Cat Studio. The "superdog" and sentiment is from the same set and it's great value for money!
If you're in the UK, I have a selection of Pink Cat Studio's stamps in stock.

Click HERE to see the other images of Billy included in this set.


I started by using a scalloped circle nestability to create a template. I then used my Copic airbrush with a yellow marker to create the background. I bought this system months ago and I think I was just too scared of it! Suffice to say that I have now used up the entire air can and I've been asking my hubby to buy me an air compressor!!!

This is what it looks like for those who are new to Copic accessories.

I then used a black Copic pen to add dots around the scalloped outline, followed by a solid black line to make it pop out. I also hand drew the little paw prints!
All of it is coloured with Copics and some red stickle for the cape. I used Stampin up circle punches to mount the sentiment and turned it into a balloon just by adding a black pen line to Billy's hand.

I'll be back with more airbrushing when I get my compressor!!!

Sympathy cards

No one enjoys making sympathy cards and it is difficult getting it just right and conveying your sentiment in a heartfelt way.

A few days ago, my sister's friend's baby grand daughter died during her birth and her mother is still seriously ill. There was an overwhelming sense of sadness as I made these cards and I visited various online sources and viewed poems and sentiments regarding the loss of a child which had me weeping.
I decided against the long sentiments and kept it simple to allow for a handwritten message inside.

I didn't want the card to be dark and sombre so I decided to use red/green/white.
The flower is from Gina K designs and as I didn't have her sentiment "wishing you comfort & peace", I used my Karen Foster snap stamps to recreate it.
The backgrounder of large polka dots is from Cornish Heritage Farms.
This was a lily stamp by Hero Arts which I sponged with Ranger Adirondack "lemonade" ink and coloured with copics. The sentiment is from Gina K designs. Ribbon by Mayarts.




I wanted this final card to be softer and acknowledge the birth and passing of their baby girl. I avoided traditional baby images and went for simple pink and white flowers. The sentiment is from a discontinued set by PSX.

Sweet Lily!

Pink Cat Studio have some great stamp designs, including this one "Lily & Tweet". They are supplied as a sheet of grey rubber which you can mount on EZ mount or similar foam and cut out. The stamp then just clings to an acrylic block.

I store mine on laminated sheets in a file binder. I think this set is so versatile but check out their site for other great sets such as "Billy" and "Tweet".

(Mill House Crafts has a selection of Pink Cat Studio stamps in stock)

I loved colouring this image with copics and of course it needed some glittering up and a little liquid pearls for earrings and birdie necklace. It isn't the best photo ever but you get the idea.

I needed a birthday card for a 6yr old girl and these gorgeous dotty notecards by A muse just came into stock with matching ribbon and they provided the perfect speedy card.

The dotty notecards are packed in 10's with envelopes and come in many colours, including pink, green, blue, brown, orange, lilac........ (They sold out the day they arrived and more are on the way).

Fabriano daisy jar

I treated myself to some beautiful Italian Fabriano notecards and envelopes and I think they are perfect for simple images like this.
This is "daisy jar" from Cornish Heritage Farms, coloured with copics. The sentiment is from a Kim Hughes set by Cornish Heritage Farms as well. The jar is coated with Judikins Diamond glaze and a little on the flower centres too.
The ribbon is another new one from A muse.

Animal challenge!

Yesterday, My Favorite Things had a designer challenge of using animals in any card or project and as I had a little time on my hands (Bliss!), I decided to ignore my mountain of ironing and stamp. All of them are on the simpler side but I really enjoyed doing them and they are easy for a beginner to attempt.



This image is "Helpful chipmunks" from the Friendly Kritters range by Cornish Heritage Farms and I coloured it with Copics and used liquid pearls and stickles to accent the flowers. The little leaf in pink and the sentiment are by My Favorite Things.
The plain pink grosgrain is from Stampin' up and the stitched grosgrain is from A muse and I only received it yesterday and couldn't wait to use it.
Accessories: Nestability oval scallop die and corner rounder from Stampin' up.
(If you are in the UK and need any SU product, please contact me and I'll pass on my friend Judith's details as she has been demoing now since November). Their punches are the best!!!

This is a simple masking technique card. The stamps are from "It's a jungle" by My Favorite Things and the ribbon (another new one!!!!) from A muse.
I started by stamping the giraffe on the card and then again onto a post it (or eclipse tape if you have it). Cut out the giraffe from the post it and place it over the main image.
I then sponged the background with Ranger willow ink.
If you have an solid oval stamp for a shadow, this is the time to place it over the giraffe's feet to form a shadow and stop the giraffe from looking as though he is floating in mid air. :)

I actually hand drew the shadow using Copic, cool shadow but at my class last night we used an Stampin up oval punch to create a template and used that to create an oval shadow.

Once all the backgrounds were in place, I removed the mask and used cream, pale sepia and sepia Copics to colour the giraffe.

I think this is my favourite but maybe it's because these penguins are so cute. They are from the "Winter blast" set by My Favorite Things. I was inspired by my new dotty notecards from A muse and simply added a piece of white card to create a snowy slope. The dots look perfect as little snow flakes. As the stamps are clear it was easy to place them exactly.
I used my black and orange copics to colour the penguins and Sakura white souffle pen for their tummies and eyes. Crystal stickles as an accent.
The sentiment is from the same set but didn't fit my standard Stampin up "window word" punch so I cut a longer strip of white card and fed it into the punch (hold upside down) and punched one end. I then stamped the sentiment and fed the other end of the long strip into the punch and punched where the sentiment ended. This is a perfect way of shortening or lengthening the punch for those different sized sentiments.

Thomas Kinkade ~ now the copics.......

I'm sure you thought I'd forgotten about the copics version of Thomas Kinkade's "Make a wish cottage"........... Well, I had the image finished but hadn't chosen any designer paper or card layout until today.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to show you how different an image can look depending on where the photograph is taken, lighting etc.

The designer paper and "hope" tage is from 12 x 12 pad by Brenda Walton for K&Co, called Neopolitan. Velvet ric rac by Mayarts.

This one was outside in the morning sun (we're having a great few days of sunny weather here in N.Ireland!!!)

This was inside with artificial light directed towards it.

This was also inside but with natural daylight.

It's amazing how different the colours can appear depending on what time of day and location you choose to photograph it in.

I was feeling lazy and didn't want to change the thread in my Janome mini from white to brown so I reverted to "faux stitching" and a brown staedtler fine liner in brown.



This is a close up of the main image coloured in copics and I highlighted the windows with Judikins diamond glaze and added Sakura white souffle pen for white highlights.

Make a wish cottage ~ Thomas Kinkade

I coloured this image some time ago and finally decided to mount it onto a card!!
The stamp is "Make a wish cottage" from the Thomas Kinkade range by Cornish Heritage Farms.
This was coloured using Prismacolor pencils but I coloured the same image using Copics so check back in the next few days to see the same stamp but coloured with Copics and mounted differently.
The designer paper is Fancy Pants and I used turqoise, burgundy and lime stickles to highlight parts of the paper.
The gold ruffled edge ribbon is from Mayarts.

The ways to use it challenge on splitcoaststampers this week, WT164, was to incorporate ruffles so I hope this ribbon fits the bill!