WLS Aug#2 - Summer blooms

Good Morning everyone

Time for some mid month inspiration over at We Love Stamping where the theme is 

SUMMER BLOSSOMS

or if thats not for you we always have the anything stamping goes option and always a prize for the lucky winner

A5 white card blank

I first stamped the flowers and foliage onto smooth white card, coloured with alcohol markers & cut out.  I stamped the flowers with teal ink and the foliage with green ink so much softer than black.  I then found a suitable patterned paper in my stash - this blue felt like a summers sky to me but to soften it down a bit i stencilled a pattern with a blue tone white and where i wanted the acetate vase i dry brushed on the blue white to both help the vase stand out more but also the effect you get when looking through glass vase filled with water - it softens and blurs what you can see it.

I matted the paper onto fuchsia pink holographic card and lilac pearl card picking up on the colours in my flowers and then the card base, rounding all the corners as i went - the rounded corners pick up on the bulbous flowers.

I then got arranging the flowers, some adhered flat and others with pinflair glue gel, to make it more realistic i cut the heads off some stems and added back at different angles so that you haven't got them all going the same way...this makes one single flower stamp much more versatile and no one would ever know.  As i wanted some of the stems to be longer and look better in the vase i stamped more stems, cut out and hid the joins behind others and where the sentiment would go - this again makes it much more realistic. 

I added the acetate vase with pinflair glue gel adding it behind where i put the sentiment and some of the flowers.  Sentiment die cut from more pink holographic, lilac pearl & white card and adhered with glue gel.

I don't often colour with alcohol markers as don't have the patience but here i stamped with coloured versafine clair inks and just coloured straight over the top and outside the lines with my marker pens so super simple.  As the stems are so fine i have cut outside the lines to make them studier and hold up better.

This just shows the difference the light stencilling with the ice blue chalk paint made - on the right is the paper as it came, on the left with the stencilling, it just softens it so that it really allows my flowers to stand out.

Items Used:

Paperartsy stamps 'JOFY14', 'JOFY11', Kay Carley 'EKC03'

?Sentiment die?

Studio Light Stencil 'Jenine's Mindful collection' 'Wallpaper pattern'

Andy Skinner chalk paint 'Ice blue'

12x12 Paper from the works

Acetate PET vase

Pink Holographic card from Aldi

Versafine Clair Ink 'warm breeze' 'green oasis'

Alcohol Markers

We have a fabulous pennyblack prize this month from buddlycrafts so hop over to We Love Stamping to join in and be in with a chance of winning

Thank you all for stopping by once again.  Its scary how fast the weeks and months are passing and already the summer holidays are flying by. I hope you all enjoy the rest of August. Emma

Id love to enter the following:

https://beautifulblossomschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/08/beautiful-blossoms-challenge-anything.html

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https://neglectedstuff.blogspot.com/2026/08/neglected-stuff-august-2026-challenge.html - well over 2yrs since used the flower stamps and acetate vases

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https://www.simplyellibelle.com/2026/08/ellibelles-garden-party-no-18-anything.html

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https://craftygalscornerchallenges.blogspot.com/2026/08/challenge-279-anything-goes-woptional.html

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https://paper-rocks-scissors.blogspot.com/2026/08/august-19-challenge.html - used paper for the backround and scissors to cut out all the flowers and foliage

 

WLS July#2 - summertime

Good Morning everyone

Time for some mid month inspiration for We Love Stamping where the theme this month is 

SUMMERTIME

Or we also have the anything goes option as long as you use stamps

Here in England we have alot of old houses and stately homes run by the national trust or English Heritage and lots of people like to visit them for a day out in the summer as they often also have very large gardens to explore as well as enjoy the historic house, some even like to take a picnic and make a day of it.  So my card today is loosely based on this summer outing.

Ive used window/door stamp set from Katzelkraft stamped in grey and die cut into an arch to give the feel of an oldie worldie home, looking at it from the garden through the flowers.  All stamped in grey with soft watercolour colouring onto cream linen card.  I think it ended up with the vibe of the end of a long hot summer when everything feels tardy and bleached out😁

Approx size 5x7"

I stamped the window onto cream linen card in grey versafine clair ink and die cut into an arch.  I added some text stamping in grey around the panel to add texture and feel of stone walls and then softly watercoloured with distress inks.  Lightly inked the edges in grey and matted onto cardbase die cut from more cream linen.

I then stamped the flowers in grey, watercoloured with distress inks, cut out and got arranging.  To make the flowers look more natural I cut the heads of some and glued back on the stems at different angles so that they weren't all facing the same way.  Stamped the quote onto more cream linen and added among the flowers.

Just a close up of the flowers, i added shape to the heads and adhered with pinflair glue gel for dimension which also made it easier to tuck the quote inbetween them.

Version 2 using a different door stamp from the set

Items Used:

Katzelkraft stamps 'les portes'

Katzelkraft stamps 'carpe diem quotes'

aall&create stamps #851 'rise & shine'

Distress Inks - cracked pistachio, evergreen bough, shaded lilac, iced spruce, dried marigold, wild honey, ripe persimmon, 

Versafine Clair Ink 'Morning mist'

Crealies XL arch dies

CraftUk Ltd cream linen card

We have this lovely prize from Lavinia for the lucky winner so hop over to We Love Stamping to join in with your stamped makes and be in with a chance of winning

I hope you are all coping ok with the heat here in the UK, just not use to it are we, my MS hates it so Im hibernating in front of the fans.  The farms are getting desperate for some rain now, I expect when it does start raining it won't know when to stop!  Keep cool everyone and carry on crafting. Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://thesisterhoodofcrafters.blogspot.com/2026/07/july-2026-flowers-challenge.html

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https://beautifulblossomschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/07/beautiful-blossoms-challenge-anything.html

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https://neglectedstuff.blogspot.com/2026/07/neglected-july-2026-challenge.html - haven't used all 3 sets of stamps for years

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https://mixitupchallenge.blogspot.com/2026/07/miucb-84-anything-goes-optional-shape.html

 

Oranges & Lemons

Good  Morning everyone

I treated myself to this lovely oranges & Lemon stamp set from Studio light as i don't have anything like them in my stash and saw it in a sale.  Nice to go with a fruity theme in the summer

A6 white cardblank.  I stamped the orange image onto white card and die cut with Xstitch banner die which id decided to use on its side.  I watercoloured with inktense pencils, adding a light wash of the blue just around the image and stamped the 'sunshine is the best medicine' sentiment in the bottom corner.  

I stamped the image a 2nd time, coloured and cut out the oranges and flowers to decoupage onto the base image

I coloured up 2 smaller banner die cuts with the same colour inktense pencils i used for the image, so one with the oranges and one with the greens.  As these are nesting banner dies they weren't long enough for what i wanted so i cut them in half and added behind my topper in descending size and added to the card front with foam tape.

Just a close up

version 2

approx 5x7" in size.   I stamped & coloured the image and die cut into shape, I stamped the its summertime sentiment in black in the bottom right corner.   I then multi-generation stamped 'its summertime' & 'fun in the sun' over the background with grey ink.  Once again i stamped extra to decoupage the oranges, flowers & a couple of the leaves.

Made a cardblank from white card and dry embossed with a swirl embossing folder.   I found the next size up die from my topper was too big on this occasion so drew around the inside of it onto white card and cut out with scissors, this i then coloured with the same inktense pencils i used on the image.  

and onto the lemons

2nd stamp in the set.  

card 6x4"  I stamped the image onto white card and die cut into a Xstitch tag and watercoloured with inktense pencils, decoupaged the lemons and flowers and stamped the 'easy peasy lemon squeezy' sentiment from the set with grey ink over the background.

Matted onto green and yellow card and then a white base card, using my guillotine to cut the top corners to match the tag 

and version 2

Made the same way just using a different tag shape.  After matting onto yellow i punched a hole and added green, yellow and orange ribbons tied together with a little orange twine. I then mounted onto the shaped base card with 2mm foam tape

So far this summer we haven't had too much orange & lemon growing weather in Cornwall, hopefully we get an Indian summer and lovely September😀

Items Used:

Studio Light stamp set #427 'lemon squeezy' 

Clearly besotted 'seasonal sentiments' stamp set

Various tag dies

Derwent Inktense pencils

Swirl embossing folder

CraftUk Ltd white card

Yellow & Green card

Thank you all for popping by and all your comments which i really do appreciate.  Emmax

Id love to enter the first card:

https://www.simplyellibelle.com/2024/07/i-spy-with-my-little-eye-summertime.html

  

https://inspirationstationchallenge.blogspot.com/2024/08/inspiration-station-august-2024.html

Inspired by the oranges and lemons

https://creataliciouschallenges.blogspot.com/2024/07/challenge-279-anything-goes-with.html

https://farmquesthomestylekitchenchallenges.blogspot.com/2024/08/fqhskcb-8-anything-food-related-goes.html

https://thefourseasonschallenge.blogspot.com/2024/08/august-2024-anything-goes-summer.html

https://www.stampingsensations.uk/2024/08/august-challenge.html

https://timeoutchallenges.blogspot.com/2024/08/challenge-269-ibw-its-always-summer.html

 

Hollyhocks

Good Morning everyone

Today is a summery DL card using one of my most used dies - these lovely hollyhocks from Impression Obsession 

 I die cut the hollyhocks from inked card scraps left over from making these cards

DL card (approx 4x8")   I inked the edges of the card with pink & yellow distress inks and that matted a white die cut on top.

I die cut lots of hollyhocks, these dies are great as can use the smallest strips of cardstock so ideal for left over snippets. The pieces that aren't big enough to cut the whole flower stem from are ideal to build up a bouquet by tucking in the top behind everything else.  I die cut foliage from green cardstock which again was scraps. Jar die cut from piece of blue paper in my bit box and a bow die cut from yellow inked cardstock.

I curved the jar and added with glue gel so that the top is unstuck for me to tuck the flowers and foliage into.  I then got building my  arrangement.  Sentiment stamped onto die cut tag to finish.

Just a close up, i had added shape to the hollyhocks with a ball tool and adhered the front ones with pinflair glue gel.  The photos don't pick it up but the pink is shimmery when the light hits it.

Hopefully we soon get some proper summer weather, although we have had a couple of nice days this week

Items Used:

IO hollyhock die

Foliage & Jar dies

Distress Inks - 'squeezed lemonade, riper persimmon, picked raspberry'

Dylusions simmer spray 'bubblegum pink'

Brusho powder 'yellow'

CraftUk ltd white linen card

Had this mummy hedgehog with 3 hoglets turn up this week, we have at least another 2 babies as well which is lovely....there is actually a food bowl under them😀    

  I hope you have a good week. Emma

Id love to enter the following:

https://www.simplyellibelle.com/2024/06/i-spy-with-my-little-eye-something.html - Something blooming lovely

https://unicornchallenge.blogspot.com/2024/07/challenge-100-not-square.html

https://thecraftingchallenge.blogspot.com/2024/07/flowers.html

https://thefourseasonschallenge.blogspot.com/2024/07/summer-season-july-2024-

challenge.html

https://dd-tripleb.blogspot.com/2024/07/triple-b-july-2024-challenge.html

https://pixiessnippetsplayground.blogspot.com/2024/07/challenge-484.html - My snippets were used for the hollyhocks and foliage

 

Yellow & Pink

Good Morning everyone

I was inspired by this challenge colour combo of Yellow & Pink over at color hues challenge 

To start with I coloured A4 white cardstock - 1 with yellow brusho powder, 1 with bubblegum pink dylusions shimmer spray and 1 sheet with a mix of the two colours and left to dry over night while i thought about what i would create.

I made 2 cards the same just reversed the colours

DL (8x4") White linen cardblank, I lightly inked the edges with picked raspberry & sqeeshed lemonade distress inks.  I die cut a smaller panel from white linen card and a stitched edge die and adhered to the card front.

I die cut a large leafy swirl from the pink card, a flower from the yellow and the sentiment from the sheet which i sprayed both colours onto.  I matted the sentiment onto white card.  To make the flower bigger and stand out clearly behind the sentiment i cut it in half and did the same with the leafy flourish so i could make it longer - the gaps are hidden behind the sentiment.   This meant i could also slightly tweak the angle of the foliage to fit the DL shape better. 

I did cut some smaller flowers from the yellow card and adhered with some pink gem centres.  I then added a few yellow enamel dots to finish which give the feel of flower buds. 

Just a close up, sadly the amazing shimmer of the pink spray doesn't show up in the photos.

and version 2

Ive just made this one the other way around. A few more pink gem flower buds on this one as the gems were alot smaller than the yellow enamel dots i used on the first one. 

We finally have had a bit of sunshine this week so hopefully winter is soon a distant memory and we get some warmer sunnier days!

 Items Used:

Brusho's pigment powder 'yellow'

Ranger Dylusions shimmer spray 'bubblegum pink'

Distress Inks 'picked raspberry & squeezed lemonade'

Simon says stamp SSSd112057 'detailed leaf cluster' die

Daisy flower die

Tonic studios (hello sunshine) 3278e 'The four seasons sensational summer' die

Stitched edge DL dies

Altenew yellow enamel dots

Papermania pink gems

Thank you all for stopping by.  Emma

Id love to enter the following:

https://colorhuesthecolorchallenge.blogspot.com/2024/04/color-hues-85-yellow-and-pink.html

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https://unicornchallenge.blogspot.com/2024/04/unicorn-97-use-dies.html

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https://mytimetocraftchallenge.blogspot.com/2024/04/mttc-532-theme-is-everything-die-cuts.html

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https://just-add-ink.blogspot.com/2024/04/just-add-ink-698choose-two.html - I chose Leaves & flowers