Big Balloon Day

This was another large card made for a boy who loves big and bold,

so I used the biggest balloon die from SU Balloon Festoon, big sentiment dies from SU Words and Wishes, and bright colours.

I stamped stars on the yellow background, and added some glittery punched stars and bow.

AAA Birthday #90 is going Big and Bold

Cut it up challenge #366 (more than 3 die cuts, 8 I think!)

Just Add Ink #795 (dies/kids)

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Lesley

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Glittery card for Mum in law

I used an old SU set recently to make my lovely MIL a card for her birthday.

The Cottage Rose set had stamps, dies and papers, so I used all three on a large A5/C5 card.

I used a background paper, another sheet, with flowers, was cut and coloured,

the words cut from an orange/pink glimmer paper, and some enamel glittery dots added.

Snippets Playground #542 (snippets of glimmer, DSP)

Triple B (blooms)

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Lesley

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Football frenzy girls and boys

 Today’s cards are for a niece and nephew who are both football fans.

All the elements are SU, from the Wonderful Match papers,

the sentiments are from old SU sets.

I did some colouring with blends and a lot of layers and fussy cutting which I enjoy too.

Card one for a niece who plays and teaches small children

Card two for a nephew and fan of Manchester City

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Lesley

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Coloured DSP

 Hello, today I’m sharing a couple of cards using some old stash from SU,

Abigail Rose, Cottage Rose, and Spotlight on Nature dies.

The papers did all the work (mostly!)

Card One

The papers are neutral, and I coloured them with Blends,

matching the card base with one of the colours.

Card Two

They were very therapeutic to make, although colouring in is not everyone’s favourite.

I always try to add some embellishments, hard to see on the busy papers

Challenges:

Allsorts #858 (AG) (2)

Seize the Birthday #334 (AG) (2)

Triple B # blooms (1)

We Love Stamping (AG stamped sentiment) (1)

 

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Lesley

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Happy dancing Hippos

 Hello, it’s Hippest Happy Hippo Hop here to make you smile!

An old SU set, stamped 2 in the background, and stamped and die cut the one in front, 

using a snippet of white and another snippet for the sentiment.

The hearts and flower die cut from another snippet.

The floor is a very useful die from Gummiapan.

Playing in the following…..

Snippets Playground #541

Creative Fingers #329

Craft Catz #719

Pink Gem of A Craft #8

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Lesley

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Take off your flip flops….

 Hi there, as summer is near its end I thought I’d share this card using SU Rolling Waves dies.

I also used a Sizzix die set for the camera and flip flops, coloured with blends.

I stamped detail (splodges 😂) on the pool party sea, and crumb cake sand,

and stamped a sentiment strip.

I’m hoping I’m not too late for the Snippets Playground #540

I used lots of scraps/snippets for the die cuts

We Love Stamping (anything goes)

Seize the Birthday #334  (add a sentiment strip)

Crafty Calendar (Summer)

Apologies for lack of /late comments, blogger is not updating my reading list at all 😢

Have a good weekend

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Lesley

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Allsorts of creatures great and small

 A favourite challenge is Allsorts, and this time the theme is “all creatures great and small”.

It just so happens I’ve been using some old SU sets for some younger members of the family,

and here is one of them showing a large animal with a very small one…

I’ve used a new SU set for the frame, Tile Garden, a new embossing folder Swirls of Magic

on two tone paper, lightly sanded, and an old set Elephant Parade, all from SU.

Elephant, mouse etc lightly coloured with blends.

Challenges:

Allsorts #857 (all creatures great and small)

Sweet Stampin  (use a die cut)

MyNBUS #90  as I’ve used new EF & die set

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Lesley

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Harbour side…..

 Today’s cards use the SU Waterside Retreat papers.

First up lots of fussy cutting, and two die cut nets, with a left over sentiment label from the SU kit.

I like the simple layout of this one that I cased from somewhere ….

The next one uses more of the papers, with some die cuts from Seasonal Layers, and Sunset Coast, SU.

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Lesley

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Fiddled with the Beach Huts

 Today’s card is a beach scene using a die set I’ve had for ages from Gummiapan.

I love love love beach huts, always dreamed of owning one,

but here’s the next best thing, making some. 😃

The dies are quite small, and initially I was going to colour them.

I found that too tricky to keep neat as there’s lots of teeny details.

Out came some scraps of card, die cut a few of each hut, then snipped them up,

and glued them on….believe it or not, it was a tad easier than colouring, and you know I like to fiddle!

Then to make the beach I rummaged and found Timeless Textures from SU had a possibility….

I stamped in crumb cake, then blended some ink to colour it, not going quite to the edge.

I then made a mask to ink blend the sea.

I’d left a bit of white at the shoreline, then added white highlights of sea foam with a gel pen.

I left it blank so I can personalise it.

Taking the never before used huts to

MyNBUS #89

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Lesley

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House-Mouse flies a kite

 I’m using another wooden stamp for this one,

House-Mouse Flying your way….

I stencilled the sky, then stamped and fussy cut the image.

I contemplated masking it, but it would have been even more difficult,

plus I like how the image pops more this way.

I did use some scraps on the back, instead of foam pads to raise it a little.

Challenges:

House-Mouse & Friends #472  (add ribbon or string (There’s both in the image 😃) or AG!)

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Lesley

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Thoughtful Journey Sympathy

These are not anyone’s favourite card to make, but possibly one of the most important…

I used an SU paper aptly named Thoughtful Journey.

It’s beautiful so I just added some Irridescent discs, and a sentiment.

I mounted it onto a coordinating pinky purple base, even though it looks more red.

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Lesley

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50th Anniversary is gold

 I used an old wooden stamp for this one…

Penny Black Furry Embrace, which I coloured with blend pens.

For friends 50th Anniversary, so I framed it in gold.

I didn’t want to spoil it with a sentiment,

so I decorated the inside, and cut some heart “confetti “

We Love Stamping has a theme this month, “Summer Blooms”,

so I’m hoping this fits the bill.

Penny Black has a challenge “wings”, but as cats don’t have any, luckily they accept Anything Goes.

I couldn’t resist entering the Addicted to CAS #315 Anniversary theme!

I hope it’s CAS enough 🤞

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Lesley

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No snow here on the beach

 Today’s card was sparked by 52christmascardthrowdown’s challenge,

where they’ve asked for Christmas cards with no snow.❄️ 

I immediately thought of a beach scene, as I’ve been making beach cards recently.

This is what came to mind…a favourite Penny Black, Margaret Sherry wooden stamp “Chill Day”.

Luckily I had a scene prepared in my stash, so I stamped the image on it, then stamped it again on white card** so that I could colour it and fussy cut the main elements.

I also used SU Beach Day for the palm trees, seagulls and a few details stamped on the sand.

The sentiment was in my stash from when I occasionally do batch making,

which definitely saves time especially for Christmas cards.

Challenges :

52cct Christmas without snow

Snippets Playground #539 as I used white “snippets” **, and green and brown offcuts for palm trees

Peace on Earth #118  inspiration board

Pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge anything goes

Krafty Chicks challenge  #833 Christmas 

Jingle Belles rock Masculine merriment

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Lesley

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Have a paddle in the sea…

 As the sunshine continues, I escaped to my own imaginary beach,

using Rolling Waves, a clever set from SU.

This card was inspired by The Crafty Owl…..

I used two tone card for some of the layers, which are die cut.

I stamped on the darker blue and “sand” to add texture and interest, and stamped the sentiment.

Shells and umbrellas die cut also. All using the Rolling Waves set.

Taking this to….

Just Us Girls #836 (water)

We Love Stamping (summer but no blooms, so Anything goes) 

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Lesley

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Wonders Poinsettia Pines

Back so soon? I hear you ask….

I’m trying to catch up with the list of challenges I wanted to join in, so that I increase my card stash.

 I used lots of my old SU stash for this one…..

Poinsettia Petals, Christmas Pines stamp sets,  North Pole Wonders dies, Boughs of Wonder DSP.

DSP background, die cut a contrasting stitched rectangle, added stamped, die cut, coloured with blends poinsettia, and die cut stag from brown card.

Stamped and die cut sentiment and added a few gold “berries” for a bit of bling

Excuse my black blobs on the photo….gremlins when I was editing 🙄

Challenges:

Just add ink #791 -Christmas 

Merry Little Christmas #69 -AG

52 Christmas card Throwdown - red, green, brown

Slightly different background paper, Stag cut from gold card, and sentiment heat embossed in gold.

I should have used the same gold pearls instead of the liquid gold that turned into a blob.

I blame the heat 😂, but I’ll probably rectify it before I send it to a friend 😉

Challenges:

Jingle Belles -tic tac toe (die cut, red & green, heat embossing)

Christmas kickstart challenge #113- friendship

Huge thanks to those who run the challenges…it keeps us on our toes and provides our inspiration 🙏

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Lesley

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With love Cone flowers

Yesterday’s village garden safari went well, a good turn out,

 and the gardens looked great considering the lack of rainfall.

It was too hot for me but I took my rechargeable fan which helped,

 and tried to stay in as much shade as possible.

We were all sensible and took water with us.

 Today I’m sharing another card made with the Spellbinders Wild Cone Flowers.

This time I chose a deep pink cardstock, (summer colour) with dark brown cones and dark green stalks.

Looks like I forgot the leaves, or maybe it was artistic license 😂

I then stencilled grass and sky (might be Gummiapan 🤷‍♀️),

Found an old pre cut sentiment which fits the word theme, and added some gems.

Challenges:

Allsorts Challenge #855 “colours of summer”

Shoppingourstash #579 “what’s the good word”

Just Us Girls #835 “dies”

Cut it up #362 “add a sentiment”

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Lesley

xxx

Santa’s Sleigh

 Today I’m sharing a Christmas card made with another very old SU set 

North Pole Wonder, Wonder and Wishes.

I’d seen the CAS Christmas challenge which sparked the idea.

The deer and sleigh are not designed to connect, but I wanted to find a way, so,

I stamped one deer, stamped and die cut another, and two sleighs.

I fiddled with alignment before positioning the first sleigh and second deer.

I then fussy cut the sleigh’s side panel and used an old gold WOS pen to colour it.

That pen was also old, and dry, (like me 😂) so I went over it with a clear pen.

I then used my Stamparatus to place the sentiment, which also grounds them.

It’s not perfect but hopefully it meets the challenge!

We’re going on a small “garden safari” today in our village, wearing hats and sun cream.

It’s for charity and will be nice to support the local hospice, and the garden owners,

who must be struggling to keep them looking good in this extreme heat wave.

Please can we have some ☔️ rain!

Challenges:

CAS Christmas challenge - Santa’s sleigh

Sparkles Christmas challenge #187 - CAS

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Lesley

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#Elfie tag-along

 Hi there, I’m still doing Christmas in between life, and here’s a cute tag using a very old

SU set called #Elfie

I found the tag in my unused box, it is also an old SU item, no idea of name unfortunately.

So I coloured and fussy cut him, simple but it will be useful.

I’m taking this to the following challenges 

Tag-along and ATCs August -“fashion” or AG in my case

Peace on Earth - AG #117

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Lesley

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Summer flowers flutter by

 I can’t believe we’re in August, and I’m exhausted with this heat,

my garden is exhausted, and so too I think, is all of nature.

However, there’s lots of suffering around the world, so I’m very lucky really.

  Allsorts inspired me with their summer colours challenge, to break out a new to me 

Spellbinders set, Wild Cone Flowers, with which I die cut lots of snippets in yellow, orange and green.

I’m taking artistic license with the colours 😃

I also used a new to me set from Uniko, English Country Garden Butterfly, 

which I coloured and fussy cut.

I didn’t realise the phrase was wonky, until I looked at the photo 🙄

I used SU coverplate Stitched Greenery for the Lemon Lolly background,

and made a frame with their Arched dies in Calypso Coral.

I’m not totally happy with the overall look, but I’ve got lots of die cuts left to play with,

maybe when it’s cooler, as I find it hard to concentrate in these high temperatures.

Snippets Playground #538 - snippets used for flowers, leaves and butterfly.

Allsorts challenge #855 -colours of summer

AAA Birthday #88 -Flowers

 Triple B august challenge - blooms, butterfly

MyNBUS #89 -never before used Spellbinders and Uniko sets

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Lesley

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Christmas presents and stockings

 Hello, hope you’re all keeping safe and well….

I’m desperately trying to get ahead with cards, but I’m not finding it easy in this heat,

which is soooooo frustrating.

Anyway I managed two small square cards using some old wooden stamps from Paper Nation,

which I then coloured and fussy cut (the girl and boy).

I used SU retired Ready for Christmas for the backgrounds.

There’s a few challenges I want to enter before the deadline, so…..

Peace on Earth #116 

Little Red Wagon #869 (one thing)

Merry Little Christmas #69

Christmas Kickstart #112 (presents)

Addicted to stamps #522 (Christmas)

Inkspirational #372

Stay safe, keep cool (or warm), and see you soon!

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I really appreciate your comments

Take care and see you soon

Lesley

xxx