Autumn at Sweet Stampin'

 It's my favourite time of year here in Scotland and it's also the theme of our latest challenge at Sweet Stampin'.  We're looking for all things autumnal in your designs this fortnight.

I'll be honest, I bought this Altenew die set some time ago and have only used it once until now, to create a wall display in my classroom featuring the months of the year and seasons in French!  

The dies are a joy to work with and I cut the layers from contrasting rich and neutral colours in my scraps box.  I added ink blending for a bit of shading and used a gold gel pen to add a faint grass effect.

The stamped sentiment comes from a Pretty Pink Posh set which I heat-embossed in gold.

We'd love you to join in our Autumn challenge, so do hop over to the Sweet Stampin' challenge blog to check out the fabulous inspiration projects my lovely teamies have made.

Happy Autumn!

xxx

Things with Wings at Sweet Stampin'

 Another fortnight has flown by and it's time to start a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin'.  Our theme this time is "Things with Wings".

I chose a tiny Altenew stamp set to create my butterfly, one of their mini-delight range (I think that's what they're called!).  Rather than go for lots of white space around the image, this time I broke out my much-neglected embossing folders and opted for one which has quite a lot of detail.  I cut a panel of black cardstock to 4.25 x 5.5 cm and embossed the floral/diamond pattern onto this before adding it to a cardbase made from black cardstock.  The sentiment is from the same Altenew stamp set and to keep things simple I just added a couple of clear dew drops as embelllishments.

It would be great if you could join in our Things with Wings challenge Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog- we love to see what you make!

xx

Red for Remembrance at Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog

 I've been dying to use this beautiful press plate/stencil set from Altenew and our Red for Remembrance challenge starting today seemed the perfect opportunity.

Did you know that you can use your press plates in our Sweet Stampin' challenges?  After all, they're essentially just another way of stamping.

I ran the plate through my Betterpress machine using gold ink from Lisa Horton (these inks are AMAZING btw).  Once the ink was thoroughly dry I attached my stencils and inked the different sections using Pink Fresh Studio inks in Coral Reef, Passion Fruit, Berrylicious and Candy Apple.

I cut a frame for the image from co-ordinating cardstock, allowing for a thin white border to make the image really stand out.  I adhered a couple of gems from my stash and the job was done.

I really hope you can play along with us this fortnight while we give our thanks to all of those who served so that we can be safe and free.  My heart goes out to all of those affected by the horrific wars going on today across the world.  When will people ever learn?

You'll find all of the challenge details, along with lots of lovely inspiration from the Sweeties, here.

Take care xx

Food or Drink

 I'm here to tell you about the new challenge starting at Sweet Stampin' today.  Our theme for the next fortnight is "Food or Drink".  You can make anything on this theme provided we can clearly see some stamping.

I used a recently purchased set from Altenew to make my DT card

Not my usual style of stamp set, but I was tempted partly by a Jennifer McGuire tutorial and partly by the opportunity to use lots of bright ink colours.  It took a bit of messing about to get the individual parts to line up, but once I had my eye in, I couldn't stop! 

I do hope you can play along with us this fortnight.  All of the challenge details, along with some fab inspiration from the Team Susan Sweeties, can be found here at the Sweet Stampin' challenge blog.

Hope to see you over there!

xx

For my mum

I made this card quite some time ago but didn't get around to posting it. 

I stamped the image (from Altenew) onto a white mat cut with a stitched square die.  I then took the Altenew Alphas die, placed the letters m and u directly over the image and cut them out.  I cut the letters again from craft foam and adhered this to the back of the image pieces.

I cut a square of patterned paper and adhered this to my card, adding a square doily on top.  I then used double sided tape to stick the main image on top of that.  The last step was to fit the letter pieces into the spaces on the card and glue them down.

I'm really quite pleased with the way this turned out.

No school for me from today, so we're trying to teach the kids remotely.  Sadly the system can't cope with the number of people using it so it's all been a bit hit and miss.  Still, much better to have the children and staff safely at home and not contributing to the spread of this dreadful virus.  Here in Scotland all non-essential shops have now been asked to close.

Stay safe and well.

Wishing you Peace, Love and Joy

Here's another Christmas make.  No colouring on this one, just stamping & embossing using an Altenew stamp set.

I didn't have cardstock to match the blue ink, so I rubbed the ink pad over some plain white card to get the colour I needed.  I love this sentiment and have used it loads - it's from a Wplus9/Simon Says Stamp collaboration set.

This was the first chance I had to play with this stamp set but I quite fancy trying it with gold ink on black or  navy cardstock.

Back soon with another Christmas card!

xx