June WLS #1 - close to nature

Good Morning everyone

Time for a new challenge over at We Love Stamping with the theme this month 

CLOSE TO NATURE

or we have the anything goes option as long as you use stamping

Its not often I buy a craft magazine these days but did recently for lots of hospital visits.  It came with this set of beautiful floral and foliage stamps which Ive used to make my background design

Card size approx 8x8"  - Made by die cutting 2 of the largest fancy circle dies from white card and scoring about an inch down on one and adhered to the back of the unscored one which gives a hinge.  This also means you get the whole of the shape as the card front and its not missing a section where the spine would be.

 I die cut a piece of smooth white card to size and then stamped the images with different colours of versafine clair inks all over it.  I then die cut it into frames using the nesting dies, I skipped one layer so that they were wider frames.  I die cut a piece of pinky purple mirror card and adhered the largest outside frame with 2mm foam tape, then the next size frame with 1mm foam tape, then the next layer I adhered flat and then the smallest middle layer I adhered with 2mm foam tape again - making sure to line up the pattern. 

I die cut the sentiment from pearl teal card and adhered to a white die cut panel and added to the front.  I then die cut 2 layered butterflies with the pinky mirror & teal pearl card and added to finish. 

Showing it stood up side on, to help it stand nicely I cut a small sliver off the bottom of the back panel.  You can see the layers better here, the mirror card does just show through and catches the light.  I quite often layer cards like this just for interest and fun - it works equally well using patterned paper.

As usual taking photos of mirror card a nightmare, it is a beautiful purply pink.  Using the teal ink and card helps break up the colour.....normally im allergic to pink😁

The inside of my card.  I die cut cut paper in co-ordinating colours to the front, on the blue one I stamped some of the images to tie it in with the front. 

Items Used:

Stamps from 'simply cards & papercraft' magazine issue 268

Creative Expressions Sue Wilson sentiment die

Creative Craft Products 'large stretch label' (circle dies)

Butterfly dies

Versafine Clair inks 'warm breeze' 'purple delight' 'monarch' & 'glamorous'

Craft Consortium mirror card 'lilac'

Jellybean teal pearlised card

CraftUk ltd smooth white A4 card

We have this beautiful stamp as the prize this month supplied by Buddly Crafts - a fabulous online craft store, well worth a visit.

so do hop over to

 We love stamping

to join in and see what the rest of the DT came up with for our CLOSE TO NATURE theme

Thank you all for stopping by once again. Ive had a quiet week, snoozing and crafting - just what the doctor ordered so feeling much more human now😁  Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://www.simplyellibelle.com/2025/05/i-spy-with-my-little-eye-at-least-one.html

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https://www.simplyellibelle.com/search/label/Ellibelle%27s%20Garden%20Party

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https://craftygalscornerchallenges.blogspot.com/2025/05/challenge-267-fill-in-blank-fancy.html -

  Fancy shaped card

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https://thesisterhoodofcrafters.blogspot.com/2025/05/51425-flowers.html

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https://cutitupchallenges.blogspot.com/2025/05/cut-it-up-challenge-331-anything-goes.html

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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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A Partridge in a pear tree

Good Morning everyone

My first Christmas cards this year using this fab partridge in a pear tree die from crafters companion. 

approx size 6x6"

I had this matt metallic silver card for nearly 15 years so decided it was time i did something with it - So i coloured it with my alcohol inks in shades of blue and green - this totally transformed it into something i liked.  I then cut the partridge die from this card.  

From cream pearlised card (another one that needs using up!!) i die cut my base card and a smaller frame.  As the partridge die cut is square, I adhered the frame over it and then cut off the excess at the corners and then added to the base card.

I die cut just the partridge part of the die again, added more colour and detail with alcohol markers so that it stands out and then decoupaged it onto the base image.  I added green alcohol marker over the pears in the background and then covered them with stickles glitter glue.

Stamped sentiment and added top and bottom of the frame to finish.

When the light hits it it comes to life with the metallic which still shines through the alcohol inks

Items Used:

Crafters companion die - 12 days of Christmas range 'Pretty Partridge' 

nesting die set

Tim Holtz Alcohol inks

Alcohol markers

Ranger stickles 'crystal'

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

Id love to enter the following:

https://cutitupchallenges.blogspot.com/2024/10/cut-it-up-challenge-314-inspired-by-song.html - 12 days of Christmas song

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https://kraftychickschallenge.blogspot.com/2024/10/krafty-chicks-challenge-737-

christmas.html

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https://12monthsofchristmaslinkup.blogspot.com/2024/10/challenge-115-anything-goes-christmas.html

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https://dd-tripleb.blogspot.com/2024/10/october-2024-challenge.html

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https://creativeinspirationchallenges.blogspot.com/2024/10/creative-inspiration-challenges-19.html

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https://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.com/2024/10/challenge-602-fur-or-feathers.html

 

Mothers Day

Good Morning everyone

Today is the card i made for my mum for Mothers day yesterday

A5 in size.   I first die cut the poppy die from silver mirror card and then coloured them with alcohol markers in green, orange & red.

I made my white card blank using the largest nesting die.  I then took another piece of white card and embossed with the 3D lace embossing folder, i did the letter press technique and inked one side on the folder with tumbled glass and cracked pistachio distress inks and then run through my machine.  Doesn't show up well in the photo and more noticeable in real life but its gives a subtle background colour. 

I then used the nesting dies and using every other size die to cut the embossed panel into frames.  I adhered the largest outside frame to the card front with 6mm of foam tape, the next size down with 4mm of foam tape and the next size down with 2mm, i then added the smallest piece flat in the middle. This card was hand delivered so i could put as much foam tape & dimension as i liked on it.  Its just a way of adding interest to what is essentially a very simple card. 

I then arranged the mirror card poppies, using 3 of them and cutting up the various stems/flowers to alter them and build them up, i tucked the ends into the frames so it looks like they are growing out of it. 

Stamped sentiment to finish

You can really see the colour on the poppies here, when the light hits the mirror card them really do shimmer and shine. 

Items Used:

Crafters companion 3D embossing folder 'ornate lace'

XL Nesting dies

Pennyblack poppy die

Clearly besotted sentiment stamp

Silver mirror card

Alcohol Markers

CraftUK ltd smooth white cardstock

Distress Inks ' tumbled glass & cracked pistachio'

Thank you all for stopping by.  I hope you have a good week.  Hugs Emmaxx

Id love to enter the following:

https://creativefriday.blogspot.com/2024/03/creative-friday-354-embossing.html

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https://craftrocketchallenges.blogspot.com/2024/03/challenge-112-for-girls.html

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https://beautifulblossomschallenge.blogspot.com/2024/02/beautiful-blossoms-challenge-anything.html

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https://cyhtp.blogspot.com/2024/03/march-9th-2024-anything-goes-with-twist.html

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Crocus for mum

Good Morning everyone

Today im sharing the card Ive made for my mum for Mother's day

Approx size 7x7" I first die cut my cardbase using these fab inverted corner dies and then cut a smaller layer from cardstock coloured with brusho's, from this brusho piece i die cut the memory box circle burst from the middle, i added rose gold mirror card behind this aperture and attached the panel to the base card.  I then die cut 2 frames using the same shape dies and white cardstock, one i adhered flat to the base card and one i added with 2mm foam tape.......I ended up with the smaller inner frame which i added flat as after die cutting my frame I felt the aperture was too big.

I then stamped lots of the Chocolate baroque crocus stamps and watercoloured with distress inks, added some detail with posca pens and then cut them out.  I then got building up the arrangement with glue gel, tucking them behind the frame.  I then added a big bee that i had left over from previous project but it was the ideal touch as mum & I were watching the bees on her crocus the other day. 

Computer printed sentiment die cut into a circle to finish.

Just a close up, this lovely rose gold mirror card is from Crafters companion and the memory box circle burst die is still one of my most used and ive had it about 10yrs now. 

Items Used:

Chocolate Baroque stamps 'spring is in the air' & 'honey bee'

Memory box dies 'circle burst'

Circle & Inverted square dies

Brusho's - turquoise,lime

Distress inks - wild honey, vintage photo, evergreen bough, seedless preserve, shaded lilac

Posca pens - white, lemon, lilac

 Thank you all for popping by once again.  I hope you enjoy the rest of the week and then weekend.  Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

http://craftrocketchallenges.blogspot.com/2023/03/challenge-101-for-girls.html

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http://cinspirations.blogspot.com/2023/03/march-challenge-spring-blooms.html

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https://beautifulblossomschallenge.blogspot.com/2023/03/beautiful-blossoms-floral-challenge-3.html

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https://creativecraftinguncles.blogspot.com/2023/03/39-spring-and-or-easter.html

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http://sweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2023/03/sweet-stampin-spring.html

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Oh Christmas Tree

Good Morning everyone

Today is a couple of Christmas cards using alcohol ink coloured mirror card and a glitter texture paste stencilled background which is very hard to capture in the photos😀

White linen card base.  I took a piece of white card and lavinia pods stencil with stamperia artic ice texture paste and put to one side to dry.  On gold mirror card i added various green alcohol inks.  Once both were dry i cut the icy background to fit my base card and added little piece of green mirror card behind top and bottom and adhered to base.  I die cut a wonky stitched square from green mirror card and a larger white linen card, i mounted both on the card front, along with another little offcut of of the green to the top to just help break up all the white.   I die cut a little tree from white and added to the green square.

Stamped sentiment die cut into a stitched circle adhered to the top left corner.  Green glitter dots to embellish to finish.

I think you can just make out the icy stencilled background, it really does sparkle in the light

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and version 2, blue & purple alcohol inks onto silver mirror card.  I used a snowflake stencil and added the arctic ice direct to the card front.  Once dry i added a white die cut square and smaller square die cut from the blue inked silver mirror card. I added thin slivers of the blue mirror top and bottom. Stamped sentiment added with foam tape, i used a hole punch on off cuts of the mirror card to make little faux gems to finish.

I think you can just make out the snowflakes in the background and how the light really plays on the alcohol inked mirror card

Items Used:

Tree die - very old magazine freebie

Wonky stitched square dies

Stitched circle die

Tim Holt alcohol inks in blues and greens

Stamperia artic ice texture paste

Lavinia stencil 'pods'

Funky Fossil stencil ' snowflakes'

Clearly besotted sentiment stamp

LOTV sentiment stamp

CraftUK ltd white linen cardstock

Ranger stickles - lime

Thank you all for stopping by.  Emmax

Id love to enter my first card in the following:

https://christmaskickstartchallenge.blogspot.com/2022/11/challenge-68-trees-trees-trees.html

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https://52cct.blogspot.com/2022/11/november-stash-challenge-dt-call.html

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http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/2022/11/one-word-prompt-shine.html - My mirror card is shiny as well as the icy texture paste background

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https://thesisterhoodofcrafters.blogspot.com/2022/11/anything-christmas-or-winter.html

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