Tuesday 10 March 2020

Cardz 4 Guyz: Something Beginning with F

Hi all.  Sorry, I'm a bit late with this one today.  It's time for a new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz, and this week's challenge is to usde something beginning with F.  I was a bit stcuk with this at first and then I remembered I had these brilliant fish images by Vera Lane Studios.  I coloured the fish using Prismacolor pencils.  The background they are on was created with Distress Spray Stains and Wow! embossing powders.  I layered everything onto patterned papers and added some die cut shapes.

I hope you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Guyz.

Sian. xxx

Friday 28 February 2020

The Alphabet Challenge: Is is for Xtra Embellishments

OK, so it's cheating a bit, but not many things begin with X.  This week's challenge at The Alphabet Challenge is Xtra embellishments.  You can see that I've added lots of paper flowers to my card, with button centres.

For my main image I used a digi stamp by Lili of the Valley, which I coloured with Prismacolor pencils.

I hope you can join us at The Alphabet Challenge.  

Sian. xxx

Tuesday 25 February 2020

Cardz 4 Guyz: Use Ink and/or Paint

Good morning.  It's my turn to choose the theme at Cardz 4 Guyz this week, and I've chose the theme use ink or paint

I've created my card using Distress Inks and various stamps.  The main stamped image is by Lost Coast Designs.  The background is straightforward stamping using different inks.  Form the main image I stamped the image first, then created the background with Distress Inks.  I started by blending the inks then sprinkled some water, waited for it to dry off and added different layers of stamping

I hoe you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Guyz. 

Sian. xxx

Friday 14 February 2020

The Alphabet Challenge: W is for anything you Wish

Good morning all.  It's time for a new Alphabet Challenge, and today it's basically a free week, because W is for anything you Wish.  I made my card using some Papermania Bare Basics wooden jigsaw pieces, which I embossed with Wow embossing powders in various glittery pastel shades.

I added a die cut Happy Birthday sentiment and some paper flowers with buttons for the centres.

I hope you can join us this week at The Alphabet Challenge.

Sian. xxx

Tuesday 11 February 2020

Cardz 4 Guyz: Use Brads/Eyelets

Good morning!  Today's new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz is to use brads or eyelets.  I used some brads to embellish my card.  I realised when making this card that I hadn't made anything using brads or eyelets for ages, and I have loads of them from my early crafting days.

The centrepiece of my card is an image by Rick St Dennis, which I coloured with Prismacolor pencils.  I layered my coloured image onto patterned papers.

I hope you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Guyz.

Sian.  xxx

Friday 31 January 2020

Alphabet Challenge: V is for Vegetables

Good morning!  This week's theme at The Alphabet Challenge is vegetables.  OK, so I know mushrooms are not strictly vegetables, but I had absolutely nothing in my stash that was suitable for this challenge, so they will have to do!  I used some dies by Marianne Designs, which I coloured with Prismacolor pencils and layered them onto patterned papers.

I hope you can join us this week at The Alphabet Challenge. 

Sian. xxx

Tuesday 28 January 2020

Cardz 4 Guyz: Teddy Bears

Good morning.  It's time for a new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz.  This week's challenge is teddy bears, which I thought was a great excuse to use one of my favourite James Bear stamps by Lilif to the Valley.

I coloured my image with Prismacolor pencils and layered it onto patterned papers.

i hope you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Guyz.  

Sian. xxx

Saturday 18 January 2020

The Alphabet Challenge: U is for Use Washi Tape

Hi all.  Sorry, I'm very late again uploading my DT card for The Alphabet Challenge.  I have a lot going on in my life at the moment, which is making it difficult to find time and space to craft.  This week's letter is U, and the Challenge is Use Washi Tape.

I used a Lili of the Valley digi image for my card, which I coloured with Prismacolor pencils.  I layered my image onto patterned papers and added a washi tape bow to finish it off.

I hope you can join us this week at The Alphabet Challenge.

Sian. xxx

Tuesday 14 January 2020

Cardz 4 Guyz: Clean and Simple

Good morning.  Hopefully I'm back on track now.  Today it's time for a new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz, and the theme for this week is Clean and Simple.  I've used a cute rubber stamp by The Greetings Farm, which I coloured using Prismacolor pencils.  The Happy Birthday sentiment is also stamped.

I hope you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Guyz.

Sian. xxx

Monday 6 January 2020

The Alphabet Challenge: T is for Try Something New


Hi everyone.  Sorry, I'm late posting this.  Friday saw a new challenge at the Alphabet Challenge - T is for Try Something New.  I'm a bit of an experimenter, so there are not many things I haven't tried when it comes to papercrafting. 

I decided to try this alcohol ink technique which involves dripping the inks onto acetate.  I opted for some nice bright colours for maximum impact.

I  stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink and embossed it onto the acetate (make sure you are using laser copier safe acetate if you are dong this, or it will melt).  I inserted the acetate panel with the stamped and embossed sentiment into an aperture card and die cut a circle of the same size in black card and layered it on top.  I also added some card at the back with an aperture of the same size to make it neat.

Finally I layered some patterned paper behind the panel.  I have added pictures both with the patterned paper and without so you can see the impacet of the alcohol ink on a white background as well.  I hope you can join us this week at The Alphabet Challenge.

Sian. xxx

Tuesday 31 December 2019

Cardz 4 Guyz: Blue's the Colour

Good morning everyone, and welcome to my last blog post of 2019.  It's time for  a new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz, and this week we have a colour theme - Blue's the Colour.

I made my card using a brilliant image by Bloobel Stamps (now Twistoon).  I coloured my image with Prismacolor pencils and layered it onto embossed and patterned papers.  The sentiment is from a Tim Holtz Idea-ology pad.

I hope you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Guyz. 

Sian. xxx

Friday 6 December 2019

The Alphabet Challenge: Snow

Good morning.  It's my turn to pick the challenge this week at The Alphabet Challenge, and I've chosen the theme of snow.  Let's see your snowy creations.

I decided to use triple embossing for the centrepiece of my car, a technique I haven't used for a while.  I used a combination of Wow embossing powder and UTEE.  (My original plan was to use just the Wow embossing powder, but it soon became clear that I wasn't going to be able to stamp into it because of the high glitter content.  If you're not familiar with triple embossing, you layer up at at least 3 layers of embossing powder and then stamp into it.  It's a good idea to use pigment ink or Versamark  or something similar on your stamp so it doesn't stick.  I'm a big fan of Versamark for things like this, and you can also use it to make your embossing powder stick to the card.  (I used two layers of Wow embossing powder and 2 layers of UTEE).I stamped the snowflake stamp into the hot UTEE, left it to cool and then pulled the stamp off.  Once it was cool, I cracked it a bit because I wanted it to look like ice. 

I created the background and layers of my card using an embossing folder, and added some die cut snowflakes and gems to finish off.  My sentiment is embossed using the same Wow embossing powder that I used for the bottom two layers of my triple embossing.

I hope you can join in the fun this week at The Alphabet Challenge.

Sian.  xxx

Tuesday 3 December 2019

Cardz 4 Guyz: Christmas Critters

Good morning.  Today's theme at Cardz 4 Guyz is Christmas Critters. 

I created my card using a stamp by Lili of the Valley, coloured with Prismacolor pencils.  I layered my image onto patterned papers and added the paper holly leaves at the corners with some red gems for the berries.  My main image is raised up on foam pads.

I hope you can join in the fun today at Cardz 4 Guyz.

Sian. xx

Tuesday 19 November 2019

Cardz 4 Guyz: Icy Cold

Good morning!  It's my turn to choose the challenge this week at Cardz 4 Guyz.  As we're now heading well into winter I've chosen the theme of "Icy Cold", so let's see your snowy and icy creations!

I've used this brilliant image by Di's Digi stamps for my card, which I printed on kraft card and coloured with Prismacolor pencils.  I die cut my coloured image and stitched around the edge.  I always find this takes a while but I love how it looks, so I think it's worth it.  I layered my image onto kraft card and patterned papers and added some die cut snowflakes to embellish.

I hope you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Guyz

Sian. xxx

Friday 8 November 2019

The Alphabet Challenge: Q is for Quick and Simple


Good morning.  It's time for a new Alphabet Challenge.  This week's letter is Q, which is for Quick and Simple.  I decided to make a set of 3 cards, using some washi tapes that I got from The Range.  I tore pieces of washi tape and stuck them onto my cards, then added some die cut butterflies and sentiments.


I hope you can join us this week at The Alphabet Challenge.

Sian. xxx

Tuesday 5 November 2019

Cardz 4 Guyz: All Wrapped Up

Good morning everyone!  It's time for a new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz again.  This week's theme is All Wrapped Up, and there are two options.  You can either make a card featuring presents or you can feature a person or animal wrapped up in hats/scarves etc.  As you can see I have chosen the latter option for my card.

The image I've used for this card is by Whimsy Stamps, and I coloured it using Prismacolor pencils.  I layered my coloured image onto patterned papers and added some wooden embellishments.

I hope you can join us this week at Cardz 4 Guyz

Sian. xx

Tuesday 22 October 2019

Cardz 4 Guyz: Food and/or Drink

Good morning.  This week's challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz is food and/or drink.  I thought this was a great opportunity to use one of my favourite digi stamps, a cupcake monster by Bloobel Stamps. 

I coloured my image with Prismacolor pencils and layered it onto patterned papers.

I hope you can join in the fun this week at Cardz 4 Guyz.

Sian. xxx

Friday 11 October 2019

The Alphabet Challenge: O is for One Word Sentiment

Hello!  It's time for a new Alphabet Challenge.  This week's letter is O, which is for One Word Sentiment.  I have chosen the word "Congratulations".  I know it's not really the right time of year for graduation cards, but I love this image and really wanted to use it.

I created my card using a digi stamp by Tiddly Inks, which I coloured with Prismacolor pencils.  I die cut my coloured image and layered her onto patterned papers, adding some paper flowers at the corners.

I hope you can join us for this week's challenge at The Alphabet Challenge.

Sian. xxx