You brighten my day

Yellow is such a warm happy colour, and yellow flowers will brighten anyone's day.  So I couldn't resist Jenni's card at the Muse Challenge this week.

I was inspired by ...
... her yellow flower
... in a frame (she had 3, but I stuck to one)
... a strip of patterned paper

Also entering this to the Freshly Made Sketch Challenge #225.

Leftovers ....

I had a few painted mini flowers left over from my Easter Cards, and I knew if I didn't use them straight away, they would just get messed up and go to waste.

I envisioned a soft water-coloured background to tie in with the flowers. A touch of black with the sentiment, washi tape and twine to offset the dreamy softness.

Entering the ...

...  Simon Says Stamp : Anything Goes Challenge

... Addicted to Stamps : Make your Mark Challenge

Distress ...

I was so happy to see that this week's challenge as CAS-ology is Distress. I wanted to try Jennifer's Distress Ink lift technique with embossing.

It certainly lends itself to lovely bright colours, which is perfect for Easter and spring.

I made up one panel of the flowers, but decided I could get two cards out of it. I die cut a bunch of the Impression Obsession bunnies, and the Simon Says Stamp Tiny flowers and leaves.

I wanted to have Easter blessings as my sentiment, but didn't anything. So Silhouette saved the day once again!

Also entering this to the Simon Says Stamp : Work it Wednesday Challenge.

More negative colouring

I had tried my hand at negative colouring a while back (see this card using a looser watercolouring) but I love Jennifer's more bright and solid look too.

I used the Platinum embossing powder and distress inks.

I was my friend, Bronwyn, who taught me the lovely combination of pinks, oranges and yellows.

You Brighten my Day

Love the inspiration by Tracey at Muse Challenge this week.

I focused on ...
... the embossing
... lovely colours
... design

I snuck in the entry at the last minute due to Ardyth's kindness! (Thanks Ardyth) That's a lesson in not leaving things to the last minute!

Also entering it to the ...

... AAA Cards : Sequin  Challenge 

... Addicted to Stamps : Anything Goes Challenge.

Flowers and Butterflies

Linda had a lovely Card Scramble last night, which tied in with the Hero Arts Fabulous Flower Challenge, but added the extra challenge of adding an insect.

This is the card that I got finished in time for the 90 minute deadline, inspired by Jennifer McGuire's Distress Ink lifting technique.

Then I tried to make a second, but didn't complete it in time. So I finished it today, and will enter it to the Hero Arts Fabulous Flower Challenge.

And angled to try to catch the glimmer from the Perfect Pearls.

New Blog Header

How do you like my new header?  I designed it using Silhouette Studio. Wonderful that it can be used for more than just cutting.  So versatile and easy to use.

This has been on my to-do list for months, and I'm so happy that I finally got round to it.

I used the Serial Sue font for the "Swanlady" which I cut and melded to a cropped section of a Swan image.

The "impressions" is in Sweetgirl font. Then added the waves.

Always in my heart

Sometimes when I see a challenge, I know exactly what I want to create. Doesn't mean that it will always turn out the way I saw it in my mind but in this case, it was pretty close.

I ended up stitching this by hand as I would not have been able to put the beads between the hearts if I used my machine. So this is take one ...

But I thought the sentiment needed a little more, so I added some small hearts. 

Which do you prefer?

When the card opens, the hearts swing around.

Inspired by the Fusion Challenge .. and using both the picture and sketch.

Grab & Craft Challenge

Papertrey Ink is having their 9th Anniversary Challenges, and I'm starting with the "Grab and Craft" Challenge.

As I'm still trying to practise my watercolouring, I grabbed my Daler Rowney set, watercolour paper, plus 2 PTI stamp sets and my white embossing powder.

Set up the stamps on my MISTI, stamped one corner, flipped the card and stamped the other corner and embossed in white. Stamped the smallest circles using an acrylic block as it was quicker as I had to move them. Wet the whole card and added watercolour. While that was drying, I die cut 3 "Hugs" in yellow, orange and magenta and layered them.  Stamped the small hearts and sentiment and mounted it to a card base.

Caring Thoughts

I'm sending thoughts and prayers to the Cox Family as they go through tough times. Thank you Michele for sharing with us on CAS-ual Fridays : Caring for the Cox Family.

Also entering it to ...

colourQ Challenge #327

Addicted to CAS #81 : Bloom Challenge