Ruby Wedding card

At last I can blog the card I made for our friends Carole and Paul as the anniversary was yesterday and they have now seen it. The heart stamp is from Clarity Stamps and I stamped it once in cream and once in red, embossed them both in gold, cut them into quarters and mixed them together. The word stamp is an Anita's stamp which I picked up in a sale for £2.99! Again, I've also shown the insert. I'm happy to say that the card was much appreciated.

Chinese butterfly

Thanks to the inspiration from a very talented Canadian lady, Yogi, I made this card. I tore a piece from a Chinese newspaper (thanks to my friend Ping who gets a Chinese Daily and kindly passed one on to me). Then I covered it in a thin coat of gesso after which I added distress inks in blue and green. Next I edged it with my gold Krylon leafing pen and added the butterfly to which I'd added a coat of glossy accents. I had dragged a glossy card through the same colours of distress inks which I'd spritzed lightly with water then spritzed the card and dried it with a heat gun. I added the Chinese "love" character and embossed it with gold, a couple of beads (again thanks Ping!) and finally stamped my JudiKins Japanese poem "Beneath a Plum Tree" as the background in unembossed gold. Looking back on my very early attempts at cardmaking 16 years ago, I think I can say that I am definitely on a journey of discovery and I'm loving every minute of it!

Pierrot card

Here's a card that I made this morning using my friend Pam's "Pierrot" stamp from Paperartsy that I borrowed during our recent "playday". I also used her block stamps from The Stamp Man or Stamp Addicts (can't remember which)and her wonderful Marvy blender blocks (what delicious colours they come in!). The fern stamp is actually mine from Clarity Stamps, also the "love" stamp from I know not where! I've also included the photo of the insert which I did in turquoise paper with a heart punched border to echo the turquoise colour on the front of the card.

Recycle challenge

I have done a very minimalist entry to this week's lotstodo challenge. I scrunched up the foil from around the top of a bottle of fizzy wine, then coloured it with alcohol inks. I put it behind an aperture card and stamped the message in silver on the front.

Alcohol inks and acetate

Following on from the last card, I inked up some acetate with several inks then backed it with some Chinese paper. I loved it so much that I didn't want to use it for background so it has become a card in it's own right! I'm playing around with backing the acetate with text but finding the right balance is difficult. I want it to be subtle but still be able to make out the text. This amazing art journey continues.....!

Acetate challenge

I'm a bit late in submitting my entry for this week's challenge on Lotstodo but I found it exciting and interesting in where it might lead me....... I coloured some acetate with alcohol inks then punched them out with my square punch, backed some of them with coloured paper and embossed around them. Finally I (bravely!) added a hand-written message and lines to the butterfly. I can see that this will be an ongoing project as it has so many applications!

Paris challenge

Well this week's challenge on Lotstodo could have been made with me in mind so I just HAD to enter. I used 3 of Clarity Stamp stamps, gave the lady a Japanese paper jacket and cut out the doorway from black card.

Another Barry birthday card!

Here's a card that I made for yet another friend named Barry (we have THREE!). It is a pinch from Barbara (Clarity Stamp) using her fisherman stamp and the reflection technique using her brayer and crumpled paper which she demonstrated on C&C recently.

Barry's birthday card

We celebrated our friend Barry's 75th birthday on Tuesday in a wonderful old hotel near the Med. It was a lovely party culminating in the town's marvellous firework display (it was Bastille Day). This is the card I made for him. The subject matter was easy as he is a professional photographer and the "book" format lends itself wonderfully to special birthdays in the form of "yearbooks". Here also is a photo of the firework finale. Don't forget to click on the photos for better views.

Chris's birthday card

Here's a card I made for my crafty friend Chris for her birthday last Wednesday. I stamped the poppy image (unknown to her!) when we had the recent craft day in her new craft room and the background was a glossy card swished through some spritzed distress inks and over-stamped with a cracked effect in smoky grey.