Card Chain Reveal - August 2018

As it's the second of the month it must be time for another stunning reveal over at The Card Chain Challenge. This month 22 talented crafters sent their cards flying around the world!

Here are the options for the challenge:

The sketch

The colours

Theme Options

Lighthouse, Fruit, Friendship

Product/technique options

Stencils

Now, here's the card I sent to Lorraine in Gloucester, England. Lorraine lives two counties away... but it never reached her!

Here's the gorgeous (and slightly hypnotic) card Karren sent to me - she lives on the other side of the world and it arrived in under a week!

I was so taken with Karren's card, and especially how she had interpreted the sketch, that I did a bit of shameless CASE-ing and sent Lorraine this one, which thankfully made it in a couple of days! I'm hoping card #1 might reach Lorraine eventually, so decided to make sure that each card looked different.

If you'd like to play along at CCC, please visit our blog and read all the details.

Growing in Unity - Day #5

Thanks for joining me for my final day of GIU.

Today, we are kinda back where we started on day #1 with Whatever Comes Next by Angie Blom. I really do love this stamp set!

This time, she was coloured (with Promarkers and pencil crayons) and cut out so that I could drop her onto a stenciled background. I'm loving grey and yellow as a colour combo right now, so decided to go with this for my grande finale make! The sentiment is from the set, and a few pieces of washi tape complete the card.

Thanks for your company this week; don't forget to comment on each of my posts to go into the draw for a fabulous 25 stamp Unity grab bag! Thanks also to Kelli and all the gang over at Unity FB for giving me the chance to be a GIU girl!

Growing in Unity - Day #4

Holy moly, how can this be day #4 of my GIU week?

For my card today I got smooshy with water colour paper and Distress Inks and Oxides.

I really love this Itty bitty Summer Citrus stamp as it's just so much fun! The image was stamped onto the paper using my Misti and then I heat embossed with clear powder. I used my stamping block to smoosh the inks onto the paper and set it aside to air dry. After everything was dry I went back in with ink on a slim bush to add detail to the glasses and leaves. The cute sentiment comes with the stamp. I hope you like the effect of the limited palette of colours - I always think there is something super-summery about pinks and yellows together.

Thanks for joining me for day #4, and don't forget to leave a comment to be 'in it to win it' when I draw the two lucky grab-bag recipients after my final day of GIU tomorrow.

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday! #482

Hi Wednesday guys, thanks for visiting!

I was expecting to have a desk full of sewing and cushion related loveliness on show today, but the beautiful jacquard duvet cover I was planning to transform into cushions has vanished! I've ransacked the house as it has to be somewhere - I'd have never given away a barely used, cream coloured and wooden-buttoned beauty like that. Hubby has promised to climb into the loft and open bags and boxes on Saturday, so watch this space...

Here is something I've transformed from last week. I tried (and failed) at fast water colouring.

That lovely water colour paper is too expensive to waste , so I over-stamped a few different, random images and set it to one side. On a new piece of card I die-cut four sweet MFT leaves and then slipped the spoiled piece behind it. This looks so pretty IRL, and I'm thrilled with the effect. Thanks for the advice everyone!

So, now I'm experimenting with various off-cuts and left-over bits and pieces to see what else I can create. This is a new creative avenue to explore while I stress on the whereabouts of that duvet cover!

Mmmmm, shall I die-cut some leaves? Shall I create an underwater scene?

Happy Wednesday, I'll be visiting later on... With a glass of gin and tonic in my hand!

Growing in Unity - Day #3

Welcome to day #3 of my GIU week! Thanks so much for all your lovely comments, I'm sorry I have a 'no reply' thingy on my blog, but please know that I'm reading them all each day!

Hands up if you love paper-piecing Unity images? Yep, me too! 

For today's card I decided to use this sweet image called: More like a Sister. I achieved a CAS look by using the image of the girls, but I'm sure the more artistic of you could create a lovely scene with a gorgeous sunset - there are so many possibilities with this set! The paper-piecing is subtle here, which I think works well for this image.

Whenever I'm paper-piecing, I try to find patterns that don't look out of proportion with the characters. Also, I think it's a great way to use up those precious little scraps of pretty paper that we just can't bear to throw away!

Thanks for dropping by again today and don't forget to leave a comment so I can put your name into the grab-bag draw at the end of the week! See you tomorrow for day #4.

Growing in Unity - Day #2

Welcome back, it's day #2 of my GIU week and I'm buzzing to share my second card with you.

I think this little beauty may have been a free gift as I can't trace it over at Unity, but if it's gorgeous sunflowers you're after there's plenty right here.

To make my card I selected water colour paper and stamped my image in Versa Fine ink. This gave a nice, crisp image to emboss with Hero Arts clear embossing powder. I used a stencil to create a soft Distress Ink background after carefully masking the main image. I then watercoloured with matching Distress Inks and matted and layered in coordinating colours.

I don't know about you, but I tend to find it easier to water colour embossed images. I think this has something to do with the raised surfaces created by the embossing powder: it makes little 'reservoirs' which contain the ink/paint perfectly.

Thanks for sharing day #2 with me. You can find day #1 here if you missed it. Don't forget to drop by again tomorrow, and leave a comment to be in with a chance to win a 25 stamp grab bag at the end of the week. I'll be randomly drawing the names of two lucky people and it could be you!