Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Sparkle and Shine

Hi there,

It is almost Wednesday already which means it is time to share my entry for this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  This week's theme was 'Sparkle and Shine' showcasing Pretty Pink Posh products if you have them.  Unfortunately I do not, so I just went with what I've got in my stash!

I decided to make this card to send to one of my dear friends who is going to be 31 tomorrow.  We used to go to school together, and I cannot believe how quickly that time has gone.  I do not feel 31 and I am pretty sure she does not either!

I used my Clearly Besotted 'Make a Wish' dies to cut out the balloons from GSilk Luxury Glitter paper.  This paper is fantastic - comes in all sorts of different colours and the glitter doesn't rub off. It's beautiful!  The sentiment stamp is from Simon Says Stamp.

See you soon with another card!  Am excited to see what next week's theme will be.

I also need to get working on sending my cards to Kristina Werner's Mail Call - think I have missed July's one by now, so August it is!

Love Hannah x

Supplies Used:
Supplies list to follow shortly

Distress Ink Watercolour Hello

This is one of favourite all time dies from Simon Says Stamp.  I used embossing paste to create a textured background and cut the die out from several layers of card to create a raised die cut.  I used my palate knife to give the embossing paste a textured look rather than a smooth one to add a bit of interest. 

To create the water colour look, I added distress ink to a wet piece of water colour paper.  Once it was dry, I ran it through my Cuttlebug and stuck the die cut onto three other pieces of white card stock.

I have already given this card to a friend, but if I was to make it again, I think I would die cut some small hearts from the same water colour paper and add them as embellishments with the pearls.

Love Hannah x

Supplies Used:
Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste - White
6x4 white cardstock
Sticker Mania Pearl Embellishments
Simon Says Stamp Big Hello Die
Memory Box Disperse Stencil
Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Salty Ocean
Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Peacock Feathers
Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Tumbled Glass
Ranger Glossy Accents
XCut Corner Rounder

Cheeky Monkeys

I was just looking through my photos and thought I was share this picture of some cards I made back in May for Henry's cousins' birthdays.

Unfortunately, I removed the stamps from their packaging such a long time ago that I am unable to tell you who made them (sorry! I will continue to look online and let you know if I find them).  I coloured the images using Promarkers, and the sentiment stamp is from Simon Says Stamp.

If you have any questions about these cards, please leave me a comment below.

Love Hannah x

Tropical Hello Card

After finally getting Henry into bed I have crept downstairs to play with my new Distress Inks. Yay! Having watched some of my favourite card makers (Jennifer McGuire, Laura Sterckx and Kristina Werner) do amazing things with them, I wanted to give water colouring a go.  I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed using them and how easy they were to use!

I absolutely LOVE the colour of Picked Raspberry, I think it might be my favourite!  What Distress Ink colours do you like?

Love Hannah x

Supplies Used:
4x4 Orange Bazzill Cardstock
Watercolour paper
WOW Opaque White Embossing Powder
Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Ripe Persimmon
Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Salty Ocean
Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry
Time Holtz Distress Ink - Squeezed Lemonade
Tsukineko Brilliance Galaxy Gold Dew Drop Ink
Clearly Besotted Stamps - Many Messages
Stampin' Up Stamps - Secret Garden
Gold Sequins
Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Pen

Lawnscaping Challenge No.110 - Colour

You know some days when you are crafting and nothing ever goes right? Well, I've had one of those days. Sigh.

I enjoyed entering the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Blog so  much, I found another challenge to enter.  The Lawnscaping Challenge this week is 'Colours of the Rainbow' (it should actually read 'color' but I can't bring myself to use the American spelling, haha).

My first idea was to stamp rainbow-coloured hearts all over a white background and die cut my sentiment from it.  I was just about to load the cardstock into my Cuttlebug when I noticed I had smudged the ink with my finger.  The only way I could salvage my work was to cut the piece in half - and my die didn't fit. Grrrr.

I started again and blended a rainbow of Distress Inks to another piece of card.  I was going to die cut my word and heat emboss the rest of the sentiment this time.  I managed to smudge the ink again, and ended up with dark finger print in a light colour! Argh! More trimming commenced and then I totally ruined all my blending with my heat embossing.  I find black very difficult to emboss with - next time I will just stamp with black ink!  Out of stubbornness, I die cut my sentiment anyway to see if there was any way I could salvage what I had done.

Luckily, the die cut worked, and with a little adaptation, this is what I ended up with!

I added a bit of my clear Wink of Stella pens to the love hearts which add some really subtle sparkle. The word dies are both from Simon Says Stamp and the heart dies are from Lawn Fawn.

If I was feeling brave I might have stencilled the background, added some rainbow ink splatters or added some white dashed lines, but after the amount of attempts it took to get here, I daren't!

I'm pretty pleased, and thought this would work quite well as a masculine card.  I think I am going to give it to my teenage brother who gets his GCSE exam results in a couple of weeks!

Love Hannah x

Supplies Used:
Black Card Stock 4x4
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mini - Picked Raspberry
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mini - Ripe Persimmon
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mini - Squeezed Lemonade
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mini - Peacock Feathers
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mini - Salty Ocean
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mini - Seedless Preserve
Simon Says Stamp Brilliant and Strong Die
Simon Says Stamp Be Die
Lawn Fawn #LF492 Heart Die
Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Pen

Another Cath Kidston / Vintage Inspired Rose Card

Just thought I would quickly pop in with another Cath Kidston / Vintage Inspired card... as you can see, it is very similar to the card I made here.  I used different colours, and used a vellum banner instead of a die cut panel.

I used a clear adhesive tape to stick down the vellum but I'm still not entirely happy with the way it turned out.  How do you adhere vellum?

Love Hannah x

Supplies Used:
Papermania 5"x7" 300gsm kraft card blanks
Clearly Besotted Stamps - Bridal Bouquet
VersaMagic Chalk Ink - Thatched Straw
VersaMagic Chalk Ink - Mango Madness
VersaMagic Chalk Ink - Aloe Vera
Inkadinkadoo Stamps - Happy Days
Pilot White Gel Pen
Woodware Vellum 180gsm
Paper Pen - Opal
Wow Embossing Powder - Opaque Bright White
Heidi Swapp Large Polka Dot Spray Stencil

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Get in Shape

This is my entry for the SSS Wednesday Challenge Blog.  This week the challenge is "Get in Shape" (showcasing Lawn Fawn products) - meaning no square or rectangular cards allowed!

This card is a first for me for three reasons:

a) I always make square or rectangular cards, so a shaped card is a real novelty
b) I have never entered a challenge blog, so I really enjoyed stretching my creative muscles
c) I haven't used this particular stamp set before despite having it in my stash for ages!

Anyway, this is what I came up with:

What do you think?  I think this would also look quite pretty in pastel colours too.

Love Hannah x

Ps. Thought I'd share this picture of Henry "helping" me stick on my embellishments with Glossy Accents - luckily the lid was still on!

Supplies Used:
Sizzix Hexagonal Dies
White card stock
Lawn Fawn Flutter By Stamp Set
WOW White Opaque Embossing Powder
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mini - Peacock Feathers
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mini - Salty Ocean
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mini - Picked Raspberry
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Mini - Ripe Persimmon
Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Pen
Viva Paper Pen - Opal

Cath Kidston / Vintage Inspired Rose Card

Our neighbour recently asked me to make her wedding acceptance card for a friend who loves Cath Kidston and vintage style.  This is what I came up with:

I was really pleased with how this turned out, but if anyone has any tips on how to secure vellum to a card without the adhesive showing through, please do let me know! I cheated this time by using embellishments to cover the glue.

If you have any questions or comments, please do comment below.

Love Hannah x

Supplies Used:
Papermania 5"x7" 300gsm kraft card blanks
Clearly Besotted Stamps - Bridal Bouquet
Clearly Besotted Stamps - Sweet Little Sentiments
Clearly Besotted Decorative Mat Die
VersaMagic Chalk Ink - Pink Petunia
VersaMagic Chalk Ink - Malted Mauve
VersaMagic Chalk Ink - Aloe Vera
Pilot White Gel Pen
Woodware Vellum 180gsm
Paper Pen - Opal
Wow Embossing Powder - Opaque Bright White
Heidi Swapp Large Polka Dot Spray Stencil

Be a Flamingo...

I used my Cameo Silhouette to create this frame and bag for Henry's nursery teacher to thank her for all her hard work this year.  I wanted to make her something special and I know this particular quote is her favourite.  What do you think?

If you have any questions or comments, please do comment below.

Love Hannah x