Two cards in one day? Pass me a cold flannel!

Ok, so I'm having that last-minute panic before going on holiday.  You know, that moment when you realise that there's only 5 days to go and you still have to: get your hair cut; then dye it; go for a sunbed or two; give yourself a shellac pedicure; go and buy all your holiday essentials - not least of which is some clothes that actually fit; pack the suitcase; print out the tickets; check in online; oh.... and lose 3 stones. 

Ok, so I'm probably not going to manage that last one.  So instead I made another card to cheer myself up.  Here it is:

I used some gorgeous Lavinia stamps; Distress Inks; glittery Wow! embossing powders; and some glitter card, glitter and sparkly gems.  The bright yellow, orange and red Distress Inks were totally out of my normal comfort zone (I'm usually a pinks, purples and blues kinda crafter).  But I actually quite like the effect when using the black silhouette stamp.  So perhaps I'll start to get a bit more experimental with colours.

This card is my entry for the following challenges:

Lavinia - Add Some Glitter Challenge

Pan Pastels - Bold and Bright Challenge

Polkadoodles - Fun in the Sun Challenge

Thanks for looking!

Lori
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The non-Christmas-stamped Christmas card

When faced with a challenge to make a Christmas card using only Indigo Blu stamps, my first thought was "Yippee!  An excuse to buy some new stamps!"  (As if I needed any encouragement!  LOL!).  But then I reminded myself that I'm going on holiday shortly, so giving in to my stamp-buying urges was not something I should be doing.

So I got a bit creative and came up with this:

I first stamped onto Indigo Blu's gorgeous white card in Versamark, using the beautiful swirly ends of Indigo Blu's "Juliet" stamp, and embossed in clear WOW! powder.  I then ran the card through the Grand Calibur using a snowflake embossing folder.  I then blended Distress Ink around the edges of the card to help bring out the snowflake embossing.  A quick wipe with a piece of kitchen roll removed the blue ink from the clear embossing to make the swirls really stand out.

I used the same effect on the tree shape (which was just drawn onto white card and cut out by hand).  Add a bit of glitter card and sparkly gems - and voila!  It feels very weird making Christmas cards when I've still not had my summer holiday.  But I guess it's good to get started early and avoid the last-minute panic (which is what happened last year, and I ended up giving some people *shop bought cards*.  Oh, the shame!).

So, this card is my submission for the following blog challenges:

Indigo Blu - Christmas in July

Craft Stamper Magazine - Take It, Make It Challenge

WOW! Embossing Powder - Monochrome Challenge

Thanks for looking!

Lori
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I had such good intentions!

I had planned to be hugely creative and industrious, and enter lots of challenges.  But, like all best laid plans......

My aim this week is to try to make cards for another 4 challenges.  I might even be sneaky and try to use the same cards for multiple challenges (or is that just naughty?).

This blog post, and card, is dedicated to the amazing Lavinia stamps challenge.  I am a recent convert to Lavinia, having been introduced to them by my very lovely, and equally craft-mad, friends, Kirsty and Dawn.  At the moment I am trying hard to stop myself buying too many new stamps.  But they are too beautiful!!  LOL!

So, here is the card.  The theme is "Summer Colours".

Thanks for looking!

Lori
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A new card and a hard blogging lesson learned

Note to self: make sure to actually click "Publish" after composing your blog post - BEFORE closing the window and going to make a cup of coffee (and getting distracted with 5 million other things)!  Groan!  I hate having to do the same thing twice.  I came back to the laptop, all ready to link my blog post to the Craft Stamper Magazine Blog Challenge only to discover that, to all intents and purposes, I'm a numpty (to anyone reading this from anywhere but Scotland, "numpty" is not a complimentary description).

Anyway, I guess *lesson learned*.  Or maybe the lesson should be "stop writing blog posts in the middle of the night when you should be sleeping".  LOL!

Here is my entry for the Craft Stamper challenge for July, based on the resist-embossing technique which was featured in the magazine (and happens to be a favourite technique of mine):

For this card I first stamped a lovely script stamp in pale pink ink onto the plain white cardstock (my intention was that the script would show through the clear embossed areas, but I think it was just too pale a colour.  You can only see it if you look really close up in good light.  Ah well).  I then stamped some foliage and flower stamps using Perfect Medium and clear embossing powder.  I then used Inkylicious ink duster brushes to apply the first layer of "Picked Raspberry" Distress Ink (everyone seems to call it "pickled" instead of "picked".  Who would ever pickle a raspberry?  LOL!).

Next I built up the layers of ink using cut'n'dry foam - also adding in some "Dusty Concord" and "Chipped Sapphire" Distress Inks.  After that it was just the finishing touches.  The card looks much better in real life than in this photo (well, I guess I would say that, wouldn't I?).  The colours look more vibrant than they do above.  I guess I'll need to get better with my camera.

Thanks for reading!

Lori
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First ever challenge entry

Recently, I've found that my craft mojo has deserted me a little.  And I think I needed a little motivation to spur me back into action.  That came in the form of the IndigoBlu Blog Challenge.  I've never entered any kind of craft competition or challenge previously, but a couple of my crafting friends persuaded me that I should give it a try.

I actually really enjoyed messing about with inks and stamps and other bits and bobs, in order to make my challenge entry.  It reminded me of how chilled out I feel when I'm in the craft "zone".

So, here is my entry for the IndigoBlu Blog Challenge, number 17:

The background was created by stamping the "Love Is" heart stamp randomly all over the white tag.  Then applying Distress Inks in the following colours: Spiced Marmalade; Aged Mahogany and Vintage Photo.  The main stamped image is "Juliet", stamped and embossed in gold.  I used gold gilding flakes and some mica flakes to add a rich sparkly finishing touch.

First ever post! I'm now officially a blogger!

I have to confess, the Blogging world is still a bit of a mystery to me.  However, as a self-confessed craft addict, I feel it is my duty to join the ranks of the craft-bloggers.  LOL!  So, this is my first (but hopefully not only) post.

I'm hoping I learn how everything works pretty quickly.  But please forgive me if I make a few mistakes on my journey.

I look forward to sharing some of my crafty makes on here.

Lori
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