Gina K Designs - A Beautiful Life

This is a simple but elegant stamp set with a whole host of greetings you can use.  It also requires a minimum of colouring in and can be used for when you need a sympathy card in a hurry.

I used Archival Ink for the image and sentiment and coloured the flowers and leaves in using markers.  The card size was cut down to fit the stamp.

Penny Black - Sunshine in the Rain

I am a sucker for teddy bear stamps and this one is really cute.  The best about Penny Black stamps is they come with a picture of the image coloured in.  It does not get any easier than that.

This image was stamped on watercolour paper (still my favourite) and coloured in using Distress inks.  The brolly was paper pieced.  I used Nestabilities Curved Rectangles to die cut the image and layered it on an embossed piece of blue cardstock.

Post-It note - Art Impressions

Another of my post-it note gifts.  This time I could not find the exact colour green cardstock and decided to use a paint swatch which DH picked up at the local hardware store for me.  I had forgotten that the Archival ink I use will not dry completely on it.  I thought a heat gun would help but it did not so I ended up putting a square of vellum over it to stop the ink from smudging.

The sentiment is from Flourishes and the image, coloured in using markers is from an Art Impressions Doorways Clear stamp set called Apr/May DW.



Go Kreate - Binki Boo Bear

This is a die I really love for baby cards.  I think the dummy does it for me !

The background on the white card was embossed with the CB Swiss Dots folder, the bear was sponged on the edges with Antique Linen Distress ink and a Peachy Keen face was added.

The blue 'nest' the bear is standing on is a Boss Kut die, the sentiment is a Flourishes one from a set called Baby Love and the banner is from Spellbinders Ribbon Banners.

Apologies for the quality of the photo, the actual card is a lot lighter.

Post-It note - Stampin Up - Open Sea

With just having been away I made a number of small gifts to take overseas.  This is a post-it note pad which I covered using a fairly thick locally obtained cardstock.  Next on was a layer of cream paper, then a layer of yellow on which I stamped a set of Crafty Individual ticket stamps and distressed the edges.

The focal image stamp is from the Stampin Up set called Open Sea.  I used Archival Ink Sepia and popped it onto dimensionals before placing it on the cover.

Whilst in London I managed to get to a craft show which was pure sensory overload !  I bought a number of interesting stamps and other goodies but will need time to sort them all out before using them.

Punch Art - Little Girl

When I saw this idea on a blog I knew I just had to try it out for my niece's birthday.  The hair reminds me so much of her.

For the hair behind the head I used 2  SU scalloped circles, the front section is a SU scalloped oval which I re punched smaller.  It was by sheer fluke I got it right the first time !  The head is the SU ornament punch and the face is Peachy Keen stamp.

The dress and pinafore are hand cut.  On the pinafore bottom I used a Nestabilities scalloped oval to get a slightly curved look.  The arms and legs are SU word window punch, the hands are a SU small heart, the shoes are the SU medium heart and the actual heart is the largest in the SU Heart to Heart punch which has 3 hearts in it.

The grass is a Magnolia die, the background paper is from my stash and as it was a tad too bright I laid some vellum over it to dull it down.  The side punch strips are from a MS punch.

I will not be posting for the following 2 weeks as we are leaving on an overseas trip on Sunday.  Usually I have some stock but this time I have been slightly pre occupied and have not managed to get ahead of myself.  I am really looking forward to popping into a craft store or two whilst in the UK.