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