Feeling lyrically inspired for the MIO hop

Welcome to the August My Inky Oasis hop.

        In case you missed it here is a link to Laura's gorgeous creation.

I found this challenge to be a hard but creative one...mostly because I didn't think I had stamps that fit lots of the lyrics I thought of. But eventually I was reminded of Bob Marley's cheerful song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and picked this verse to illustrate: 

"Rise up this mornin',
Smile with the risin' sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin' sweet songs

Of melodies pure and true"

Products used:
Tim Holtz stencils Rays and Mini set #5

Heidi Swapp Music stamp

Colour Shine spray in Mustard and Gold

Distress Spray Stain in Squeezed Lemonade

Distress Paint in Mustard Seed and Fossilized Amber

Tim Holtz Music Tape

Distress Ink pads in Wild Honey, Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, VintagePhoto

Tim Holtz blending sponge tool (round)

MFT Tweet Friends

ZigClean Colour Markers in: 050, yellow; 052, bright yellow; 021. light carmine; 025, pink; 027, dark pink; 081, light violet; 082, purple; 080, violet

Ranger Texture Paste Transparent Gloss

If you want to hop on to the next stop to see the lovely Robbie's wonderful card.

Here is what you can win this month, just leave some love on each blog...

Closing date 25th August 2016

Here's the complete hop:

1. Laura

2. Emma ←you are here

3. Robbie

4. Joy

5. Linda

6. Lisa

Dominant colour challenge with My Inky Oasis

Check out Robbie's amazing card here.

Welcome to my first hop post for My Inky Oasis

This months theme was using orange as a dominant colour. Orange is not usually my first choice of colours so it was an interesting one for me. I love poppies so I decided to go with orange poppies rather than the stereotypical red.
So here is my card:

Tape down Tim Holtz's watercolour paper (I use micropore tape that I first dab on a fluffy jumper to remove the stickiness). Wet. Using Zig clean colour pens, use some shades of orange and pale green on the background to give a very pale wash. Let dry.
Stamp poppies from Tim Holtz's Flower Garden set using Distress Ink in Scattered Straw, or the palest ink colour you have. You will need to use the masking technique to get the two background poppies. Let dry again.
Use Zig clean colour markers, a brush and water again to watercolour the image and background.
Using Art Institutes Designer Dries Clear glue, attach Prills in Power Outage to ends of stamen to give dimension.

Colours for Zig markers:
050 yellow, 002 Fl Orange, 070, Orange, 052 Bright Yellow, 045 Pale Green, 044 Deep Green, 080 Violet, 036 Light Blue, 095 Dark Grey, 010 Black.

Later I made it into an anniversary card...

I just added a foiled die cut from Hero Art's Happy set. You can't see it too well, but it's gold foil (using a Minc Machine) and then stamped anniversary in black.

Please join our group on Facebook too, and have some inky fun! My Inky Oasis 

Hop on over to Lisa here

Here is the complete hop:

1. Laura

2. Jasmine

3. Robbie

4. Heart of Craft ← you are here

5.Lisa

6. Joy

7. Linda 

Here is this month's prize, donated by the lovely Laura. Three cheers for Laura!

TO ENTER:

To enter the giveaway to win this killer prize pack, all you have to do is leave some love on each blog in the hop! How easy is that!?!

All opinions are my own. I have no commercial or affiliate links, product links are for your convenience, feel free to shop around!

A Secret Project

A very dear friend of mine is leaving soon for pastures new....on the other side of the world.

So I decided to embark on a secret project to give her something to take on her travels that has some of the memories and love from her family and friends.

I am making a recipe book, since she loves baking and cooking. I am getting her friends and family to contribute recipes, photos, memories, quotes and more to fill the book. 

I intend to decorate the pages to make it special and bring it all together.

Here is one of the pages I have been working on, perfect for some summer love!

The back will have a recipe involving ice cream!

Products used:

Life is Like Ice Cream by Cats Pajamas stamps

Prismacolour pencils

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink

Tim Holtz mini stencil set #5

Distress Inks in Cotton Candy and Tumbled Glass

Glossy Accents

Foil glue and Decofoil in Opal

I will try and show some more of the project as I work on it :)
Meanwhile....sshhhhh! It's a secret :D

Did I mention I LOVE Cat's Pajama's stamps? Such a great company. No, I didn't get paid to say that :)

Entered in the Cat's Pajama's Blog Hop

A little mothering....

My wonderful mother in law is also an avid crafter. So I thought I would do a non traditional card for her on American Mother's Day. I love this set, it's lots of fun!
Supplies used:
Keep Calm set by Cat's Pyjamas
Distress Inks
Black and White Card (Neenah)
Clear Embossing Pad and Embossing Powder
Minc Machine and Blue Foil
Black Memento Ink.

Some flowery bunnies.

I am a huge fan of bunnies. They are my totem animal really. No I don't have big ears, but I was born in the year of the rabbit, I have had many as pets and they just seem to follow me through life. I didn't seem to have many bunny stamps though (feel free to give me recommendations on more bunnies!), so I was delighted to find this adorable range of bunnies from the Cats Pajama's! They also have free shipping and a free goody when you spend $65. Expect more bunnies in future :D. They also seem to have bred...aka I couldn't resist making two with different colour bunnies..

Supplies used:
Kick Some Grass stamp set by Cat's Pajamas
Friendly Flowers Fri-dies by Cas-ual Fridays from Laura's Loft
Distress Ink in Wilted Violet
Zig Clean Color Pens
Vellum
Prills
Tim Holtz Watercolour cardstock

Entered in My Inky Oasis monthly challenge
And Cat's Pyjama's Floral Challenge/ Monthly Blog Hop

Your Heart's Desire with Laura's Loft

This months shop and hop has a little bit of a mixed bag from me....a Father's day card (I think maybe my hearts desire is neatly pressed and laundered shirts, preferably ones that I didn't have to do myself!) and a touch of coffee...something I long for since I am not allowed it any more! Still, in lieu of that I will take chocolate :)

So here is my first card. I love this shirt cut as it is so versatile. I cut a pattern with my Silhouette Cameo, but you could cut it by hand, use a Cricut or find some dies.
Then I sponged around the edges with a Tim Holtz sponging tool and Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean and Blueprint Sketch. Then over stamp in Salty Ocean with the lines from MFT's (My Favourite Things) Abstract Art set. I love finding yet new ways to use this set!
Then sponge the tie with Distress Ink in Wilted Violet and over stamp with MFT's Party Patterns set. Assemble the card and voila...all done. Nice and easy. You can come up with so many shirt and tie combos with either or both of those two pattern sets.

For my second card I again used Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean and Blueprint Sketch inks on the outside of a panel of white card. Spritz with water and blot. I stencilled the middle of the card with stencils from Papertrey Ink (chevrons) and Tim Holtz (coffee stains) using the same colours of Distress Inks in Vintage Photo with a touch of Walnut Stain.
Stamp the charming coffee loving cat from Newton Loves Coffee in Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black on watercolour paper. Colour with Zig clean markers and a watercolour brush. Fussy cut.
Die cut Tim Holtz's Sizzix Bigz coffee cup die (or use a Silhouette or Cricut). Sponge the edges of the cup with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. Use a Prismacolour pencil for some shading and over stamp a dot texture (I use Tim Holtz's Cracks and Specks). Sponge the label in shades of blue and stamp the sentiment and coffee beans from the set. Shade the beans a little with the coloured pencil. Lastly sponge the lid in Pumice Stone Distress Inks. Assemble, and put in some shading with a deep blue Prismacolour. Adhere to card. Using some Designer Dries Clear glue stick on some coffee coloured Prills to the coffee stain to give dimension.


This months amazing prize....

And all you have to do is leave a little love at every blog stop! Easy :)

 While you are here, why not check out Laura's shop..there is an amazing sale...35% off from May 5th until Midnight on May 15th!

Here are all the stops:

1. Laura

2. Deana

3. Jasmine

4. Robbie

5. Heart of Craft ← you are here

6. Lisa

Springtime

Just a quick spring time project for you, a card I made for a beloved relative of mine on his birthday.

The top is a white panel printed with MFT's Fall Florals set using Memento Inks (colours listed below). Then I stamped two butterflies from Clearly Besotted's Flowers set in Black Memento ink and coloured them with prismacolour pencils. Fussy cut. Use a Silhouette, Cricut or dies to cut a panel the length of the card and a surround for the especially for you, with a frame in a blue cardstock. Cover the panel with distress inks in Lilac and Tumbled Glass. Spritz with water and blot. Matt a green card panel onto green cardstock. Then assemble the whole using some green patterned paper too.

Materials:
MFT Fall Florals and Clearly Besotted Flowers

Memento inks in Pear Tart, New Sprout, Bamboo Leaves, Cottage Ivy. Flowers in Summer Sky and Lulu Lavender. Sentiments and butterflies in Tuxedo Black.

Distress Inks in Shaded Lilac, Tumbled Glass.

Prismacolour pencils.

White cardstock, green cardstock, patterned paper.

*note Fall Florals is out of stock right now at Laura's Loft but there are lots of other lovely stamps by MFT there instead! This card would also work nicely with Party Patterns for example

April Challenge with Laura's Loft

Welcome to this month's challenge with Laura's Loft!

This challenge is using the colour swatch below, a gorgeous soft palette of purples, greys and blacks

First make your background card textures. Using some Neenah white 80lb cardstock and a Tim Holtz mini blending foam applicator sponge on Distress Inks in Wilted Violet, Shaded Lilac, Hickory Smoke, Pumice Stone. Spritz with water and blot. Put the grungy circles stencil from Tim Holtz's Mini Stencil set #5 over half the image. Spray through with Distress spray in Shaded Lilac . Spritz over the top of that with Tsukineko's silver shimmer mist spray. On a 2" x2" stitched panel (use a die, Silhouette or Cricut machine) made from grey card stamp spots from Stampers Anonymous in London Fog ink by Memento. Edge by sponging with Shaded Lilac Distress Ink.
On separate cardstock stamp the flowers from MFT (My Favourite Things) Fall Floral set using Memento Inks in Grape Jelly, Lulu Lavender, Danube Blue, Tuxedo Black and London Fog. Highlight areas with a white gelly roll pen. Cut using dies, a machine, or by hand.
Cut a light purple panel and a dark purple card to fit. From the dark purple card also cut "Birthday" from Papertrey Inks die set.
Work out a pleasing arrangement and adhere. Stamp "Happy" from Papertrey's set. Put on some accents using Glossy Accents by Ranger.

This is certainly a palette I'd use again!

How about having a go yourself?

This month there are two prizes. Yipee!

$20 Store Credit 

Want some more inspiration?

Then visit Laura, Deana or Jasmine....

Mum's Bouquet with Laura's Loft

Welcome to this month's Shop and Hop with Laura's Loft. I've been busy making some spring time cards using the same sets I did for the CHA release but with a very different look. They are Birthday cards but you could easily make them Mother's Day cards if you wanted. Mother's Day is in March for me as I'm English so I decided just to go with spring time colours and my favourite dragonflies. 

Use a white card for your base and using a Tim Holtz mini round blending foam blend on some Distress Inks in Wilted Violet, Twisted Citron and Salty Ocean. What a zingy combination! Not my usual one, but I wanted to try something different.  Spritz with a little water and blot. Over stamp in the same colours of ink using the dots from Hero Art's Mason Jar Bugs set. Spray with some Perfect Pearls spray in Pearl. Let dry. Meanwhile cut a white panel just wide enough to fit the dragonflies at an angle and the length of the card. Cut a purple panel slightly larger on either side but not the top or bottom. Adhere together. Cut "celebrate" from the same purple cardstock using the die from Avery Elle's sentimental set. Put some white and purple highlights on it using Prismacolour pencils.

Stamp the dragonflies from Hero Art's Mason Jar Bugs set on vellum using Hero Art's Unicorn White ink pad and emboss with white embossing powder.  Blend the same color of Distress Inks on the vellum. Alternate between blending on the front for a bolder look and the back for a muted one. If wished pick out some fine detail on the body with an alcohol marker. Adhere the dragonflies to the white panel using Designer Dries Clear Adhesive. Adhere main panel to backing card, then place the "celebrate". Finally stamp on Happy Birthday from the Avery Elle Sentimental stamp set.

Here is another variant on the card, the products and techniques are the same. 

Here is this month's wonderful prize.

Don't forget to comment on each blog step and use other social media for extra entries!

Full instructions on Laura's post.

And even better news...there is a HUGE sale over at the Loft! 30% off everything!!!! Take advantage while you can, on till 4th May!!! 

Here's the whole hop in case you are lost!

1. Laura 2. Deana  3. Jasmine 4. Robbie 5. Heart of Craft ← you are here.
6. Lisa

Hoppy Easter!

A little extra post for my Easter cards I have been working on! It's no secret I am a huge bunny fan (and am often to be found sporting bunny slippers) so it's probably not surprising I love this time of year. Nice weather, flowers coming into bloom (I love photography too, so it's a happy time for me!) bunnies and chocolate.... and probably some more bunnies! I came across this cheeky chap by Art Impressions and fell in love. I had to design a card around him.

I designed the grass cutaway card using my Silhouette machine and altering a grass pattern from the Silhouette store. I cut a separate piece of grass and then sponged it using Distress Inks in Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn and Peeled Paint. I then spritzed with some water and blotted. I altered an image of a spotty egg in various sizes, printed it out on cardstock, cut it out, then ran it through my Minc foiling machine with gold foil. Then I sponged over the top with Distress Inks in Wilted Violet, Salty Ocean and Picked Raspberry. Spritz and blot again. You will need two of the biggest egg. When you have coloured them, stick them back to back. Then stamp the bunny from the Art Impressions set in Black Memento Ink and cut him out. I coloured him with Prismacolor pencils. Cut a slit around his arm and stick his back and front together, leaving the arm a little loose. Stick the middle egg to the card, then stick the bottom grass over it and adhere the smallest egg. Stick our leporine friend to the largest egg, with it nestled under his arm. Then stick the egg to the card. If needed cut some more grass to hide the back of the middle egg.. Stamp and gold heat emboss the Happy Easter sentiment.

Laura's Loft have some great offers on Distress Inks at the moment, so do pop over and get yourself some...I love them so much I land up using them on nearly every card!!!

Meanwhile have a wonderful holiday weekend, however you celebrate it. May the bunnies be with you!

Entered in the Cat's Pyjama's blog contest.

March Calling All Sistahs

Please click above for the beginning of the hop.

Calling All Sistahs!

1 in 8 women in the U.S. will develop invasive breast cancer in her lifetime.

On August 17th, 2015  an awesome friend of ours became 1 in 8

Calling All Sistahs was started by Michele Gross, owner of CAS-ual Fridays Stamps, shortly after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It is her hope to create awareness for breast cancer beyond just the month of October by reminding you to do your self breast exams on the 17th of each month, and encouraging us all to remind all the great women in our lives to do the same. You can read more about her story HERE 

The Calling All Sistahs Collection was created by Michele with the specific intent of donating 50% of her profits from this collection to Breast Cancer Research and Awareness programs in honor of all who have been affected by breast cancer.

Laura's Loft are thrilled to be one of the first stores in the country to offer this special collection of stamps and dies. It's important to us to be able to remind all of our sistahs to check yourself and we are proud to continue Michele's effort by donating 50% of our own profits from this collection to breast cancer research in VA. 

Join us here on the blog on the 17th of each month for CAS-ual Fridays projects dedicated to the fight against Breast Cancer and in support of our sistahs suffering through it along with a personal reminder to get yourself checked. 

I am so happy to support this cause, I lost a friend a university to breast cancer, and know several woman who have suffered from this horrible disease. Catching it early is a life saver! 

 ***This is your reminder to do your breast self-exam!***

and remind your sistahs too! 

If you're not exactly sure how to do a self exam, you can click here to get the information you need, and then follow up with your doctor at your next appointment.

Don't forget to go for your mammograms!

Here is my card for this months hop.
On some pink card, stamp in white pigment and clear emboss the ribbon from the Hope Ribbon set. Add some shading with Zig clean colour pens and a watercolour pen. Cut our with the Ruffled Ribbon Fri die. Cut out some flowers from vellum with the Friendly Flowers Fri-dies. Sponge daub some Chalk inks on the back in Warm Violet and Berrylicious. Let dry. Add some details with a white gelly roll pen. Adhere layers of flower together with Designer Dries Clear adhesive. Add some white prills with the same glue and let dry. Adhere the ribbon to a white panel that has been sponged using a Tim Holtz mini blending foam and Distress Ink in Spun Sugar. Stick that to larger accent panels and a base card in shades of pink. Place the assembled flower in the middle. 

There are some great prizes again this month.... Cas-ual Fridays is giving away three $25 vouchers to their store. The winners will be pulled randomly from comments on ANY of the blog stops...the more you comment on, the more you might win! Laura's Loft is generously giving away two $25 store credits and all you need to do is comment on ALL the blog hop stops.

Hop on over to Lisa's blog next for more inspiration....

The complete hop:

1.CAS-ual Fridays Stamps 
2.Jingle 
3.Kelly 
4.Laura 
5.Deana
6.Jasmine
7.Emma  ←you are here!
8.Lisa 
9.Robbie
10.Angie 
11. Archana 
12.Joanna 

CHA Release Hop with Laura's Loft

See Robbie's beautiful work here!

Welcome to the CHA new release hop!

                                                                                                           So many exciting new products this month... Wow! 

Here's my card using Hero Art's Mason Jar Bugs set. I had a lots of fun with this.

Using Kraft card stock make a greetings card with three circles on the right hand side. You want them slightly towards the top to leave room for the sentiment. I used my Silhouette Cameo, but you could also use dies or punches. The circles are 1 1/2 " across. Cut a second set of just the circles to use as a mask.

Take some white card stock and print out the dictionary definition of a dragonfly on it (I typed mine up in a word processor) three times. Place a circle mask over one and using Distress Inks in Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain sponge over it using Tim Holtz's mini ink blenders. Use darker colours at the edges and for the end blending remove the mask. Spritz with water and blot. Repeat twice more. Cut into squares (you need the border to stick it to your card). Adhere to the back of your circles. 

Stamp the dragonfly from Hero Art's Mason Jar Bugs set in black ink. I ran mine through a copier and then my Minc machine with silver foil. But if you don't have a Minc, you could heat emboss them in silver instead. Sponge them with Distress Inks in Twisted Citron, Tumbled Glass and Wilted Violet. If wished add a little shading to the body with a fine tipped marker.  Make sure the dragonflies are flat and cover the wings in glossy accents and a little glitter. Let dry and then stick the body only to the card. Lift the wings.

Stamp the thanks and so very much from Avery Elle's Sentimental set using black Memento Ink.

A quick bonus project for you here. Cut a circle from the centre of a kraft card. Place some scrap paper behind it to protect while you stamp around the edges using Memento Inks in New Sprout, Pear Tart, Cottage Ivy and Grape Jelly and MFT's Fall Florals. Add some dots with a pink marker. Then stamp the ladybird from Hero Arts Mason Jar Bugs set in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink. Colour with prismacolour pencils. Stamp the small firefly off to the right and colour. On a separate piece of kraft cardstock stamp the dragonfly again and colour with pencils. Cut out and cover the wings with stickles glue in Crystal. Let dry and adhere body to card. Lift wings.  Die cut Thanks from Avery Elle's Sentimental die set using purple cardstock. Shade it with Black Soot Distress Ink and a white coloured pencil.

Here's the prize for our hop.

Aren't those bunnies adorable! And those papers are sooooo pretty.

How do you win it I hear you cry?

TO ENTER:

There are several ways to enter and the more comments you make in the different social media platforms, the more entries you earn! It is required that you comment on each blog in the Hop.  After that, you are encouraged to like and comment on our Facebook page, tag on our Instagram post and pin on Pinterest, as well as share on your own pages. The participant with the most entries wins the fabulous prize package! 

Don't forget March is National Craft Month so there are lots of bargains in the shop... 

                                 
                                                                    15% off store wide till April 3rd as well as the $10 off if you spend $75 (code $10off75)

Hop on over to see what the lovely Lisa has to offer...

Here's the complete list of hoppers....

1. Laura's Loft

2. Deana

3. Jasmine

4. Robbie

5. Heart of Craft  ←you are here

6. Lisa

7. Sue