Hollyhocks for mum

Good Morning everyone

Today Im sharing the card I made for my mum for Mothering Sunday.  I used metallic flakes, printed acetate and my very old well loved hollyhock die to make a DL card for her.  Nightmare to take photos of though with all the shimmer and shine!

DL (8x4") white linen cardbase which i lightly inked the edged with cracked pistachio and tumbled glass distress inks.  I die cut a lacy panel from white linen card and added to the front.

I adhered a sheet of double side adhesive to white card and on the other side rubbed in the metallic flakes and then die cut them with the hollyhock die.  I die cut foliage from pale blue and pearl teal cardstock.

I have packs of 'clear prints' from stamperia which is very very heavy weight acetate with beautiful printed images, so I die cut a jar from one fo them.  Now this acetate is so thick the die doesn't cut right through but enough that i could then finish cutting it with scissors and get a clean edge.  I added this to the card front with pinflair glue gel and then got arranging the flowers and foliage. 

I added a torn scrap of green paper under the jar to 'ground' it

Side view of the dimension.  I added curve to the hollyhocks with a ball tool

The acetate jar has a lovely shine which adds interest and another texture.  I debated where to put a sentiment but decided against it, I know mum will have this on display for months so doesn't really need a sentiment on the front. 

Here you can really see the colours better, the metallic fakes really are shimmery and gorgeous but I do so hate them! lol

No matter how hard I try every time Ive used guilding flakes or metallic flakes they go everywhere and stick to everything - for weeks afterwards they turn up somewhere, for days the cats had red speckled fur - one even had a red sparkly nose for a few days,  the hoover has a lovely coating of them where they stuck to the warmth of the outside plastic areas.  So I did use the whole pot up in one go adding to adhesive sheets to get it over with - I still have them to use.  I was give the pot as a Christmas present and the effect if beautiful with the different colours in them but yep a product I still Hate to use😒

Items Used

Cosmic shimmer metallic flakes

Stamperia clear prints

Impression Obsession hollyhock die

Jar & foliage dies

Various printed papers 

Distress Inks - tumbled glass, cracked pistachio

Thank you for stopping by once again.  I hope you all have a great week. Emma

Id love to enter the following

https://www.simplyellibelle.com/2025/03/ellibelles-garden-party-no-1-anything.html

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https://mytimetocraftchallenge.blogspot.com/2025/03/mttc-556-theme-is-celebrate-someone.html

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https://beautifulblossomschallenge.blogspot.com/2025/03/beautiful-blossoms-challenge-anything.html #2

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https://dragonflydreamschallenges.blogspot.com/2025/03/march-challenge-gardening.html

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Kirsty's 40th Birthday

Good Morning everyone

Today Im sharing 2 cards I made for my Sister-in-laws 40th birthday.  This sis-in-law is hard to craft for as she doesn't really have any hobbies, interests or fav colours and with my mojo still being very sporadic these were hard going😀

6.5.5" card.  I made the fold with 2 sheets of white card.  I picked 3 patterned papers with a yellow and teal theme and on the front matted the floral paper onto the green one and added to the front.  I die cut the birthday sentiment from a yellow gold mirror card and white card, off set and adhered to a larger circle die cut from the teal paper.  

Flower die cut from yellow paper I used on the inside and a large glittery gemstone added to finish.

On the inside, i covered all the outside panels with this lovely yellowy orange floral paper and the pop out sections with the teal paper.  

Not having large number dies, I printed out a large 40 from my computer onto card, cut it out and used as a template to then cut the 40 from the gold mirror card and white card.

Here you can see i used the same paper as on the front for the side panels of the pop out book sections.

After adding the numbers, I decided they didn't look great - being hand cut, but also all the plain mirror was a bit too stark.  If i had thought about it before sticking them in I would have run them through an embossing folder.  I finally decided to use a small embossing ball tool and doodle a little swirl and dot pattern over the mirror card which made a big difference.  I also ran a large ball tool around all the edges which softened them and made them not look so wonky and 'hand cut'

and the back of the card - I added a white die cut circle to write the greeting in after using the same papers i used to decorate the front.  

and onto the 2nd card I made for her

A5 white card base which i die cut using my nesting dies. I cut a piece of black and white patterned paper with the next size down and adhered.  I die cut 2 champagne glasses from a silver rainbow glitter card, I adhered with glue gel to the front and added a white die cut 4 & 0 to the glasses.

I added little strips of the glitter card across the top and bottom and a white die cut sentiment to finish.  Very simple but mojo was in hiding!

Trying to show how beautiful the glitter card is in real life, it is silver but when the light hits it at certain angles you get a rainbow of colours.  No idea where it came from as i was given it years ago - so about time i used it! lol  Unfortunately it sheds glitter which i do not like - I don't use glitter for that reason - its like sand and gets everywhere.

Items Used:

Spellbinder dies - aster flower

Memory box dies - champagne glass, numerals

Elizabeth crafts birthday sentiment die

? nesting dies, circle birthday sentiment die ?

Patterned papers - various pads from the works

Thank you all for stopping by once again. Emma

Id love to enter card 1 into:

   

https://beautifulblossomschallenge.blogspot.com/2025/03/beautiful-blossoms-challenge-anything.html

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https://girlzcreativecrafts.blogspot.com/2025/03/challenge-54-layer-it-up-dt-call.html

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https://secretstamper.com/2025/03/creative-creases-challenge-101/

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https://theoutlawzchallenges-monday.blogspot.com/2025/03/march-3rd-monday-greetings-with.html

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https://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/2025/03/challenge-819.html

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WLS March#2 - Hello Spring

Good Morning everyone

Gosh where does time go to, half way through March so time for more inspiration over atWe Love Stamping where the theme is

SPRING 

or if thats not for you we always have the anything goes option as long as you use stamps - physical or digital

In the January Sales I got this lovely tulip collage effect stamp from Studio light which i thought would be ideal for my easter/spring cards this year.  Ive also raided the scrap draw and used alot of paper offcuts up - using thin strips left over from making envelopes for the backgrounds & smaller pieces to paper piece the flowers.

I made 15 variations - they are also totally flat which is very rare for me, so easy posting

DL (8x4") Kraft card base with rounded corners.  I stamped the image in black onto soft toned patterned paper and die cut with lacy DL nesting dies, I watercoloured the leaves, stems & bulb with inktense pencils, also adding a little grey shadow around the flowers to give a little extra depth. I stamped the flowers again onto different papers, cut out just the flower heads and paper pieced flat onto the base image. 

I die cut another piece of patterned paper with one of the lacy nesting dies - actually I only die cut the end sections, cut off and adhered to the card front - great way to use up small pieces of paper & add interest to my layout - the cut edges are hidden behind the topper panel. 

I stamped the love spring sentiment from clearly besotted stamps onto scrap of kraft card, cut to size and adhered to the front.  I added green stickles glitter glue to the centre of the smaller flowers for a little bling to finish.

 

and the inside - again i raided the scrap paper drawer - very satisfying to have used up so many off cuts and little snippets.  I die cut a pale paper with the same lacy DL nesting die used on the front, stamped another clearly besotted sentiment stamp in black and a chocolate baroque tulip stamp in grey.

Version 2 - Ive yet to see turquoise tulips but who knows one day! lol

The sentiment quote is lovely and so true

'The first blooms of spring always make my heart sing' 

It is a magical time of year when everything is awakening.  Had my first hedgehogs out of hibernation last week and another 2 joined them this week...well thats only the ones I have seen in the porch eating their dinners...well breakfast I guess as they come just on dusk.

Version 3 - sorry for the not great photos - had a nightmare taking the photos

and another version😀

Items Used:

Studio light stamp #394

Chocolate Baroque stamp (tulip) 'spring is in the air'

Clearly Besotted stamps (CBSSE208) 'Seasonal sentiment'

DL nesting dies

Various patterned papers

Derwent Inktense pencils

Ranger stickles 'lime'

CraftUK ltd kraft card

We have these beautiful pennyblack stamps as prizes this month so do hop over to We Love Stamping  to join in and see what the rest of the DT came up with.

Thank you all for stopping by once again and all your amazing comments which i always appreciate. Emmax

Id love to enter 1st card in the following:

https://2sistersontheblog.blogspot.com/2025/03/challenge-95.html

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https://paper-rocks-scissors.blogspot.com/2025/03/march-2-challenge.html - used lots of paper and used scissors to fussy cut the flowers to paper piece

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https://thefourseasonschallenge.blogspot.com/2025/03/spring-season-march-2025.html

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https://lovethoseprettypapers.blogspot.com/2025/03/atg-using-pretty-patterned-paper-march.html #2 papers used for the topper panel and paper piecing 

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https://creativecraftinguncles.blogspot.com/2025/03/63-spring-and-or-easter.html

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https://pixiessnippetsplayground.blogspot.com/2025/03/challenge-502.html - everything apart from the kraft card is a snippet and scrap

 

Goat birthday

Good Morning everyone

I made this card for my mum to give dad for his birthday.  Its using this goat stamp from aall&create - his horns are magnificent and he actually looks very much like my dads ram(sheep) 'Duncan' 

A6 (4x6") white card base.  I first stamped the image  three times onto white with blue ink and watercoloured 2 of the goats with distress inks and cut out

I found this old paper pad in my stash that matched the colours id coloured the image perfectly.  I added a yellow tone paper to the base and added a little stripe of the red & blue paper across the middle having matted onto white.

 From the uncoloured image i die cut with a rectangle frame die.  I added the frame to the card front with 2mm foam tape and adhered the goat image flat into the middle.  I then decoupaged the coloured goat on top with glue gel so it looks like he is bursting out of the frame.

Sentiment added to finish

Showing it side on

Items Used:

aall&create stamp #619 'Mountain goat'

Very old kanban paper pad (13+ yrs)

Distress inks ' wild honey, vintage photo, aged mahogany, tumbled glass, evergreen bough'

Versafine clair ink 'medieval blue'

MFT frame & nesting dies

birthday die

aall&create stencil #167 'organic orbs'

Altenew stencil 'leaf burst'

Thank you all for stopping by once again. Hugs Emmax

Id love to enter into the following

https://neglectedstuff.blogspot.com/2025/03/neglected-stuff-march-2025-challenge.html - the paper used is 13+ years old, frame die 4+ yrs.

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https://aaabirthday.blogspot.com/2025/03/game-71-masculine.html

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https://craftyanimals.blogspot.com/2025/03/challenge-92.html

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https://daisychainchallenge.blogspot.com/2025/03/challenge-94-animals.html

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https://unicornchallenge.blogspot.com/2025/03/challenge-107-boysmen.html

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https://lovethoseprettypapers.blogspot.com/2025/03/atg-using-pretty-patterned-paper-march.html

 

Creative Artist March - Bee Awesome

Good Morning everyone

Its time for a new challenge over at Creative Artist Mixed media blog where its anything goes with mixed media

Ive decorated a little mdf hexagon and gone with a summery bee theme...I did see a couple of honey bees out this week in my garden so things are beginning to warm up for them.

Approx Size 6x6"

See below for how i did the background.  My bees were stamped onto white card and the wings onto white vellum.  I watercoloured the bees bodies and cut out, i cut out the wings from the vellum and adhered below the bodies to hide the glue.  I curved their bodies and adhered into place with pinflair glue gel to give them a 3d appearance - leaving the wings free

Stamped sentiment onto white card and matted onto black, after alot of arranging and trying out i decided it fitted best in this corner and trimmed the edge to fit the edge of the hexagon.

I first added texture paste through a hexagon stencil, once dried i added acrylic paints - yellow, green & fuchsia pink. 

Once dry I dried brushed on white gesso

and then a light layer of fuchsia pink cadence dora paint which has amazing shimmer to it.  Im trying to step away from always using my gold tone finish.  I went with pink as a good contrast to the yellow of my bee

I had some scraps of mirror card that i had coloured with green and pink alcohol inks which fitted the tone here perfectly - but a real nightmare to take a decent photo of mirror card - trust me in real life it is lovely and bright!  I stamped the little honeycomb stamp onto it with black stazon ink, cut out and adhered. They catch the light adding another texture & dimension to the finished project.

I used a grey inktense pencil and added shadow around the hexagons on the background to really make them stand out.

'Bee Awesome' stamped onto white, cut out, matted onto black and added after working out best placement with the bees - this took longer than it might have!  

When trying to work on layouts i will often adhered it all with a little repositionable tape on the back and stand it up on my desk so I can keep looking at it - this is especially good when something isn't quite working.....when the answer finally arrives and usually it is only a little thing that can take a project from not working to Yes thats it! 

Items Used:

Pink Ink stamps  - 'queen bee'

Chocolate Baroque stamps - 'honey bee'

funky fossil mdf hexagon

funky fossil hexagon stencil

texture paste

Cadence dora paint

pebeo acrylic paint

papermania white vellum

silver mirror card

alcohol inks - pink & green

Do hop over to Creative Artist Mixed Media to see what the rest of the DT has created and to join in

My brother took our mum & I to 'The lost gardens of Heligan' this week, it was a beautiful spring day and quite a few bees were out among the spring flowers and with all the birds chirping it was lovely.  If you are ever in Cornwall its definitely worth a visit.     

Thank you all for stopping by once again.  Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://stencilfun.blogspot.com/2025/03/march-2025-stencil-fun-challenge.html

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https://2craftycrittercrazies.blogspot.com/2025/03/challenge-96-anything-goes-featured.html

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https://mixitupchallenge.blogspot.com/2025/03/miucb-76-anything-goes-optional-layers.html

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https://theoutlawzchallenges-saturday.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-outlawz-anything-goes-in-card-free.html

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https://www.stampingsensations.uk/2025/03/march.html

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