Quirky Little Tree

This little tree stamp was with the others I mentioned earlier that were sitting in the bottom of a drawer, unused!  I quite like it, although it is a bit sort of Easter Egg shaped!!  Anyway, stamped and then coloured with Promarkers and mounted onto SU yellow card, I thought it looked a bit spring like, but also a bit bare somehow!  I found some quite thick string that I've had for ages, split it down and glued it around the edge for added interest! I am entering this in the Case This Sketch #61 challenge this week.

Here's a close up!

Thank you card

I found this little birdie stamp in the drawer and am ashamed to say I have never used it!  I think it's rather sweet, so will probably use it again!  Not sure where it came from, but it was with others in a set which were free with a magazine, have had them for ages!  The other stamps I found when I was rummaging were Mix and Match Borders from Papermania - again unused (hangs head in shame) so when I saw the Simply Less is More sketch I knew they were just right!

Here is the original sketch - hope you like my take on it!
 

Black and Gold

Here we are again with the dreaded mans card!  We were in town and went into a cut price shop where I saw, and fell in love with, this black and gold harlequin ribbon, and it was only 25p for 3 metres in the sale! I got a £1's worth!! I could immediately see it's potential as it is not often you can use ribbon on a man's card.  For the gold harlequins I used a Stamps Away mask and Pebeo gilding wax, rubbed through with my finger.  I then stamped the motorbike image with a Stampin Up stamp with Versafine Black ink onto a very grainy card as I wanted it to have a vintage feel.  To keep the colour theme going, I inked part of the motorbike with a Sakura gold metallic pen.  The sentiment and stamped harlequins are also from Stampin Up. I am entering this card for the Cas(e) this sketch #60 challenge.

Hope you like it, and thank you for looking.

Hearts!

 This is my entry for the Simply Less is More blog for this week - very late I know!  The brief this time was for a one layer card and the theme of Hearts - well with Valentines Day on the horizon - very handy!  I used a mask to make all the hearts, with Stampin Up Cherry Cobbler ink as it's a nice shade of red.  I stamped the rose in black versafine ink and then "painted it out" using bleach.  I love using bleach as it gives a quite a vintage feel to any project.  You can use just ordinary household bleach and if it's a bit thick, just water it down a bit. Remember to wash your brush out well afterwards or the next time you come to use it, there may be no bristles left!!  A very simple card, but effective. 
Hope you like it, and thank you for looking!

Have also entered this card in the Papermill Direct blog challenge  here :Papermill Direct

Winter Blues

I decided to start entering blog challenges again wow!  I have been so busy lately and the amount of time I have been able to devote to crafting has been limited boo hoo!  I have found a couple of challenges which give you two weeks to enter, so that is much better for me!  
I have made this card for the Less is More challenge which asks for Winter Blues and also the Artful Times Challenge where the brief is just for shades of blue.
I used Stampin Up lovely as a Tree stamp set, which is my favourite.  The background is made using the masking tape technique, which I really love with these trees, the inks are Wisteria Wonder, Ballet Blue and Bashful Blue.  The trees are then stamped in Night of Navy. I love how the masking tape gets less tacky the more you use it, creating a slightly different effect every time!  Hope you enjoy looking as much as I did creating.