End of Summer?

I did this card a little while ago and meant to post but forgot!!
I think it marks the end of Summer for us here in N. Ireland - long gone are the sunny days that were few and far between! It is pouring down as I write and there are huge puddles everywhere which my 6 yr old son demands I drive through!

I opted for my Prismacolor pencils for this one just to give my Copics a rest. Hehe!
It is soft and subtle and the light coming through the trees was my white pencil.

This stamp is "Perfect Summer's Day" a Thomas Kinkade image from Cornish Heritage Farms.
The backgrounder is theirs too and one of my favs. I inked it with Jumbo Java.
I finished with some little Prima flowers, stickle and a ribbon tab.

Other supplies: Oval punch from SU, eyelet.

Pink cat Christmas

The starting point for this card was the lovely starry paper by Flair designs and a Fiskars snowflake border punch. This image is one of my favs from Pink Cat Studio and is from a set called "Lily & Tweet".

I wanted to limit the colours I used to colour the image and stuck with reds, tans and a little green to add an accent. I'm not at my desk right now but I think I used the following Copic colours. It's very tempting to use lots of colours but I often find the best results are from a limited palette.

Copics: Skin White, Brick beige, pale sepia, cardinal red, cadmium red, olive, black and cool shadow.
It is very subtle but I did airbrush some cool shadow copic around the main panel.

Accessories: Airbrush system. Snowflake punches by EK success and Dovecraft. Ribbon by Mayarts. Liquid applique and my "couldn't be without" white inkssentials pen for highlights from Ranger.
The sentiment inside is from the same unmounted stamp set.

Here's a little pic of a bonus project. Same image but applied to a candle and glittered to death!

Holly-Day House

I hope you like this as much as I do. This is a new one from the Tom Allen Friendly Kritters range at Cornish Heritage Farms, "Holly-Day House". It is a dream to colour and a perfect excuse to crack open my new long rectangle nestabilities.
The sentiment is by CHF too and I think it would work with quite a few stamps I own.

The gorgeous sparkly paper is from DCWV, 'butterfly' 8 x 8 book but I thought it looked quite Christmassy.

I apologise now for the number of photos but I'm trying to improve my v. basic photographic skills and I'm sure there are a few like me!
I've photographed the main card indoors and outdoors - which looks best? I'm leaning towards the dark one.

Do you see that little motif in the corner? Well, I thought it looked a little bare so I got my Copic multiliner and drew my own little holly and pine sprig and added a bauble too! V. proud if I do say so myself! :o)



Now you've seen it from all angles - I've been admiring photos in this style on other blogs and wanted to give it a try.

Other accessories : Dewdrops, crystal stickles, copics, nestabilities.

Check this card out by Julie Campbell using the same stamp. WOW! You can tell it is one of her favs too.
Or this is another fantastic one by Kristine Reynolds. I love the snowy roof and the hanging sign!

Sleepy Santa!

I don't own v. many Stamps Happen stamps but a friend stamped this out for me and it was really fun to colour. I didn't use my Copics! Shock, horror!! I used my Marvy pens and water brush for this one and it was nice using my old supplies again.

Don't look too closely at his mouth, you'd think he stained his beard whilst eating tomato soup!!
I stamped the image twice and popped the middle square up on dimensionals for a little more depth.

This great sentiment is one of many from a sheet "Christmas Expressions" from the Mona Lisa range at Cornish Heritage Farms.

Some Mayarts stripey grosgrain and stickle and it was done.

A cuppa with Riley!

This one was for last week's sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers, SC192 hosted by Roxie.
This cute little moose Riley doesn't usually have clothes but I made her some nice frilly pyjamas so she looked extra cosy having her cuppa. I drew the jammies with my copic multiliner and copics to colour. I love the ice cream coloured papers and ribbons by A muse.
The stamp is actually called "Coffee Riley" from Hanna Stamps.

Oval and scalloped oval nestabilities.
Cuttlebug embossing border, dots.
Sentiment from MFT coffee set.
Ribbons, yellow twinkle sticklers and yellow and pink dotty paper from A muse.
Photo corner punch from A muse.

This pic shows up her sparkly yellow gem necklace and cupcake topping and of course those white highlights I love to add!

All for Riley's Wedding!

I know the tune is Mairi's wedding but I tweaked it a little for Riley.
If you don't know the song, the chorus goes like this.

"Step we gaily on we go,
heel and heel
and toe for toe
arm and arm
and row and row
all for Mairi's wedding."

I've had this cute stamp a while and finally inked it up - what took me so long??!!
I think I had weddings in mind as my husband's friend is getting married today and my niece is her friend's bridesmaid today. I couldn't just make a card so I did a little keepsake candle to match. We celebrate our 13th anniversary on the 9th Sep so it must be a popular month!

The stamp is by Hanna Stamps, Riley range and comes wood mounted. I coloured both the candle and the card with Copics. (see final pic for colours used).
Cuttlebug folder (swiss dots) on Lasting impressions cool blue shiny paper. (perfect for dry embossing and especially good for snow scenes).
Nestabilities used again of course!
Stickles, ribbon and heart charm to finish.

I had a candle class recently and one lady made a similar candle and put the bride and groom's names and a little pair of rings on the back which was gorgeous.


Wouldn't this make a nice little gift set for a child to present to the happy couple?

Scrap attack!

Elements of this card have been languishing on my desk for months and I've finally put them to good use. The scalloped oval was actually used as a template for me to airbrush clouds on another card and was destined for the bin. The image was stamped and coloured with Copics but then suffered an ink blob resulting in the flowerpot having to be cut out!

I airbrushed the oval with a few more colour tones and raised the image to make it pop.
The background stamp is canvas from Cornish Heritage Farms.
The sentiment is from another MFT set.
Cuttlebug embossing folder, Swiss dots.
Ribbons from A muse.

I like how the spots on the vase look glossy but this was achieved by colouring and no need to add diamond glaze. A simple little card made up of crafting rejects!
What do you do with your scraps?

A pink NOEL. (last one I promise!!)

I apologise now if I'm boring you with Christmas cards but this is my last from this creative batch! I promise!
It's not quite apparent from the pic but there are 6 little square panels for the background, all created with Rubber Stamp Tapestry's NOEL set, using Versacolor split pea and opera pink.
I used my new long rectangle nestabilites for the panel and added a little ribbon detail tying all the colours together.
I inked the NOEL stamp with split pea and added a little pink to both sides for the two tone effect. A touch of black always adds a little drama and contrast.


I have a non- Christmas card for tomorrow using up my craft desk scraps.