A Bit More JOFY ...

These flowers are just gorgeous!  I love cone flowers in real life and have them in my garden but it is a constant battle to keep the plant, let alone get a bloom as they are high on the list of favourite foods for slugs!!

What I have found with these stamps is that they stamp beautifully every time and they seem to look good coloured in any combination which is a great as it takes the pressure of finding shades with will work.

I made this card for my daughter and it was the last of the 3 cards needed for my triple team.  She's a very girly girl so I decided that pink with crystals would be a perfect combo.

I decided to combine her card with my DT piece for our new challenge at Try it on Tuesday, which this fortnight is 'Going Dotty'. 

I started by using crackleglaze over bubblegum acrylic paint on the corrugated card before adding the white top layer.  I am fascinated by the speed it crackles up - the effect is so cool.  I love that you can make bigger or smaller cracks depending on the paint thickness.  

I kept my crackles quite small and I wiped a few areas to expose more of the pink.

I coloured my blooms with DI using the pads with water and also the distress markers. 

The dotty background was make using more DI with a great circular mask.  I then used a new stamp by Stampotique to add all the flower words.

It would be great to see all your dotty entries this fortnight so get your spots and dots ready and join in with this fun challenge.

x

JOFY Fun

Last weekend, I spent the day at the Stamp Attic with Jo Firth-Young playing with her lovely JOFY Stamps.  It was a great day with lovely people and the time went too fast (as usual).

So, of course, I had to add to the one set I already had and decided that these birds were just TOO cute to leave behind!

It was the triplets 14th birthday yesterday and so I decided it would be a JOFY birthday. 

These are the two cards I made for the boys. This was a late night operation having completely run out of time.  Basically, I didn't start on the cards until the evening after the wrapping up, cake making, balloon buying (not to mention the football run, collection from friends and late supper) had all been finalised.  Phew!!  

Bit of a mistake really but we all do it don't we?  Too many things to do and too little time available.  So everyone had gone to bed and I finally got done at 1.30am!  But it's all worth it when you see their faces and I know they still appreciate me making cards and cakes for them.  

For Seb, I painted out a panel and then added some text in walnut stain.

I stamped and cut out all the elements and painted them with distress inks.  The way DI's work with water is so cool as each colour just sits so well next to each other to give really lovely shades.  I love how the little birdhouse just looks came together with such soft colours (made me feel like a pro!!) (dream on ...)

So, once out of my dream world I mounted them using 3D silicone glue.  Love that stuff as its kind of like icing a cake!!

No time to sit back and admire ... 2 more cards to make ...

For Quin, I decided to make a gate fold card with the branches coming from either side.

I stamped and cut out more birds, leaves and branches (eyes were getting a bit tired by this time!) and painted them with DI's.  

I sat them all on their perches and silicone gel ... job done ... actually no, 3rd card needed!

No, I'm not posting Tavi's card today.  I decided to double up her card with my DT entry for TioT this weekend which goes live on Tuesday.  Knowing this weekends was going to be busy with family time, for once I planned ahead and killed 2 birds with one stone.  So if you want to see more JOFY, pop back on Tuesday and all will be revealed!! 

Hope you are all having a great weekend.

x

My birthday team at the beach yesterday morning after walking the puppy!

Flowers

This fortnight we are concentrating on handmade flowers at TioT and the challenge is Make Your Own Flowers.

I love experimenting and I decided I wanted to make some loose blooms.  I used tissue paper and fine net to create these which remind me of those lovely dark fuschia blooms I had all summer in my tubs. If you crouch down and look up into the bloom, this is almost what you see!

I wanted to use the Fairy Rhymes stack by Prima as it's so lovely and I tasked myself to create a layout using the many elements that come in the stack 'kit'.  This is not something I normally do as I like to start with a blank canvas and create everything myself, so this was also something to add to my challenge.

I think this is why I love this crafting journey.

I hope you will feel inspired to join in with this challenge - why not try to do something outside your comfort zone?  Either way, I look forward to seeing all your lovely blooms ...

Have a great week

x