Monday 29 February 2016

Happy Birthday from Fox and Hedgehog


I really am good at procrastinating, so I spent a lot of time in the craft room this weekend as I really would have needed to clean the house. This is another card I made while feeling guilty about all the dishes piled up in my kitchen. I did end up cleaning a few rooms after making this card so fear not, I won't drown in filth. Just wishing the weekends would last longer so I would have more crafting time. I will do my best to leave work on time at least one day this week, so hopefully I will manage some more crafty time soon!

This card was inspired by the tag over at Tag You're It. I loved the cute fox and hedgehog on the inspiration tag, so I thought I would make my own tag with a cute Lawn Fawn fox and hedgehog. My other inspiration was the sketch over at Retrosketches which worked perfectly with the tag theme and the colours over at Chocolate Baroque challenge. I'm also linking up with Daring Cardmakers where the theme is to use a resist technique. 




Card: 300 gsm textured card, Hobbycraft 190 gsm white card
Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Bokeh In the Snow, Let's Polka
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Sending Hedgehugs, Party Animal and matching dies
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Festive Berries, Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade
Colouring: Copics
Other: Lawn Fawn Tag You're It and Stitched Rectangle dies


Sunday 28 February 2016

Happy Mother's Day


Still no cleaning in the InvisiblePinkHouse, but I did make another card! I entertained myself yesterday by making a palette of my watercolour pencils, and so I thought why not make a card with the pencils as well as I've got them out. After a trip to Tesco yesterday I was reminded that UK Mother's Day is coming sometime soon as there was a whole isle full of pink cards, chocolates and champagne. I can never remember when Mother's Day is celebrated here in the UK, as Finnish Mother's day coincides with US Mother's day in May. Which makes much more sense, as Easter is usually in March and you already get all the chocolate bunnies and eggs, so it makes more sense to try and sell chocolate to people in May instead of the same month as the main annual chocolate celebration. Oh well, that's just my five cents.


Anyhow, I was asked to make a card for my mother unlaw (well, since we aren't married she isn't my mother in law, but almost, so why not unlaw...). I wanted a nice image with lots of space for doing some nice colouring. My card was inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch and the colour combo over at Color Throwdown. I'm also linking up with Crafty Friends Challenge where the theme is Floral, Sweet Stampin' where the theme is Mother's Day, The Pencil Case where the theme is New Blooms/Spring Flowers and Fantasy Stampers where Mums Rule.




Card: 300 gsm textured card, scrap of kraft card
Stamps: Stampin' Up Remarkable You, Lawn Fawn Happy Everything
Ink: Tsukineko Staz-On Jet Black, Stampin' Up Sahara Sand 
Colouring: Faber Castell Albrech Dürer watercolour pencils
Other: Stampin Up Hello You die, Wink Of Stella pen


Saturday 27 February 2016

In need of coffee


How have you all been? Long time no craft! And even now I should be cleaning, not crafting... but we did go through this the other day didn't we, and concluded that a happy crafter is more important than a clean house. Right? I did try to do some watercolouring after work one day this week, but that was a catastrophic waste of time. I cannot draw or paint, I knew this but somehow I thought that would magically have changed. Luckily there is always the option of stamping! So after a bit of a disastrous attempt this morning to make a card which ended up in the bin, I thought I really need to do something fool-proof to get back a bit of confidence in my crafting abilities. And luckily I have a whole stash of NBUS I recently ordered from the marvellous STAMPlorations. 

I didn't use to be a caffeine addict, but after starting in my new job I am living off large vanilla lattes. And I have to admit I now have to start my weekends with a large coffee as well. I am fully planning to wean me off the nasty stuff, but maybe a bit later... once I'm a bit more settled in my new job methinks. My card was inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge where the theme is Inspired by a song. My song is One More Cup of Coffee by Bob Dylan. On top of that, I'm linking up with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where Anything Goes, Crafty Creations where the theme is "Something to Eat or Drink" and Tuesday Throwdown where the theme is "Create Your Own Background".

Card: 300 gsm textured card, coloured 240 gsm chocolate card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Coffee Happy and Literary Caffeine-ations
Ink: Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip and Real Red

Sunday 21 February 2016

Another Tribal Triangles card



Happy Sunday, I hope you have enjoyed your weekend so far, and how great that it's only early Sunday morning so a whole day of freedom still ahead. I woke up to a great surprise in my blog feed as I saw one of my recent cards was highlighted in Fawny Flickr Friday, that always makes me so happy. Lawn Fawn has always been one of my favourite brands and the cards in the Lawn Fawn Flickr gallery are so incredible so getting highlighted by Kelly Marie is always such a thrill. And talking about Flickr galleries, I have my own over here, and I do have a Pinterest here and Instagram here as well. I use the Instagram for some other stuff from time to time as well, such as pictures of my sweet little Gary. 

Anyhow, back to the main subject matter, as we are about to head out for a walk on the North Norfolk coast, so I will try to finish the post quickly so we can get going. It looks a bit grey out there, so hopefully we won't get soaked! Sorry, drifting off on a tangent again. So today's card is a super simple one, and I was inspired by a few challenges. I thought I was quite aware of all the challenges out there in the blogosphere, but I actually came across a new (to me) one called Pinterest Inspired Challenges. It's a monthly challenge with a inspiration image from Pinterest. This month, the inspiration image is a blue hued geometric pattern (see below). So that was the inspiration for the colour scheme and the use of the STAMPlorations Tribal Triangles stencil. The layout was inspired by this week's sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch. I was also inspired by the Getting Geometric theme over at Daring Cardmakers and the Stencil theme over at The Friday Mashup. 

I inked with foam applicators using Tim Holtz Distress Ink through the stencil. I picked colours that were a bit earthier than the inspiration image, I'm not quite sure why, but I wasn't looking at the image when I was picking the colours, I only had it in my head and for some reasons the colours were different in my head. This happens all the time, might be because I don't have a very good memory, or maybe not a very good perception of colours? Anyhow, I list the colours I used in the list of supplies below. Then I die cut a black frame and the sentiment using Lawn Fawn dies and added Stampin' Up Crystal Effects to make them look really shiny. It doesn't come across that well in the photo, but in real life they almost have a plastic look to them from the glossy accents. I was going to add some sequins or something, but then I thought maybe better to just leave it alone!

Card: 300 gsm watercolour paper, scraps of black 300 gsm card
Stencil: STAMPlorations Tribal Triangles
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks Broken China, Chipped Sapphire, Crushed Pistachio, Forest Moss, Peeled Paint, Pumice Stone and Scattered Straw
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle and Scripty Hugs die, Stampin' Up Crystal Effects

Saturday 20 February 2016

Happy Travels


A friend was recently able to travel to some of the places she had always wanted to visit, and I know she absolutely fell in love with Paris. So this card is inspired by her travels. I have to admit, I am more of an Italy fan, I pretty much love every place I have been to in Italy whereas I didn't fall in love with Paris at all. However, I'm completely devoid of any travel-lust right now, it might be because my life is just hectic enough as it is right now, so any spare time I have I rather just spend right where I currently am typing this - in my craft room. I have the world's most uncomfortable sofa  in my craft room, but it feels like heaven. To be perfectly honest, travelling always sends chills down my spine. I love seeing new places, don't get me wrong. It's just the whole getting to those places that stresses me out. First you have to get to the airport (usually at an ungodly hour), then stand in several queues, followed by endless waiting, before you get crammed into a tiny space in a flying tin can where you can hardly move an arm without hitting something, and then it's the whole faff of waiting for your luggage, hoping it has actually made it onto the right flight, not to mention making your way from the airport to where you need to go. Fills me with dread every time. Just give me teleporting, and I promise I will venture out to see the world!

In addition to being inspired by my friend's travels, today's card was also inspired by the black and white inspiration image over at Time Out, the colour challenge over at ColourQ and the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. I'm also linking up with Crafty Catz where the theme is CAS and Little Red Wagon where the theme is Pop of Colour (use black and white with one additional colour). 




Card: Black 300 gsm card, 300 gsm white watercolour card, scrap of Stampin' Up Real Red card
Stamps: Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous I See Paris and Lawn Fawn Violet's ABCs
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, Stampin' Up Hello You dies






Thursday 18 February 2016

February STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Mid-month inspiration



It's time for the mid-month inspiration post for the STAMPlorations CAS challenge. Our challenge, which goes on until the last day of the month is to create a CAS card with an optional colour twist of using red. You don't have to use STAMPlorations products to play along, but if you have them we would love to see them. And the best bit, every month a random winner will receive a $10 gift card to the STAMPlorations shop, ($15 gift card if using STAMPlorations products).



The amazing DT has again used gorgeous STAMPlorations products to inspire you to create for this challenge. Thank you for everyone who has linked up so far, we have loved seeing your creations. You still have plenty of time to take part, and don't forget you can link up to three creations per challenge!

For my card, I used one of my favourite stamp sets ever called A Girl and Her Shoes. I'm a shoe-o-holic and a stamp-o-holic, so thing's don't get much better than this stamp set. And with this month's colour twist combined with the "Keep calm and buy shoes" sentiment, I immediately saw before my eyes a bright red panel with the sentiment stamped in white, just as those original "Keep calm and carry on" posters. So that's what I created, with a few shoes in the background thrown in for good measure! I inked a piece of white card stock using Tim Holtz Festive Berries, and die cut with a stitched rectangle die. I then prepped the panel very well with my anti-static bag to make sure the embossing powder would only stick to the stamped bits. I find this makes heat embossing so much easier and neater, I can't recommend it enough. I stamped the sentiment and the small high heeled shoe from A Girl and Her Shoes in Versamark and heat embossed with white powder. Last, I stamped the gorgeous shoes from the same stamp set in grey ink onto white card, and adhered the red panel. Easy peasy and perfect to send to a fellow shoe-lover (and also perfect for sending as there are no bulky layers or embellishments, so no added postage!).

Don't forget to play along with us, you have a few more week's to play along, and don't forget to check in on the first Thursday of March to see what our next challenge is!

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Color Throwdown - See colour swatch below
Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes
ABC Challenge - Anything starting with B (boots!)
Dream Factory - Pretty Woman (you know that scene in the beginning of the movie where Julia Roberts puts on those high black boots... just saying!)
Creative Moments - Anything Goes with Dry/Wet embossing




Card: White 250 gsm card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm card
Stamps: STAMPlorations A Girl and Her Shoes
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Festive Berries, Hickory Smoke, Tsukineko Versamark
Other: Papermania Seafoam White Embossing powder, Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies. 

Disclaimer: I have received some STAMPlorations products for free in exchange for creating cards for the challenge. All opinions however are completely my own. As you can see by browsing my blog, I have been using STAMPlorations products (which I bought myself) way before my time on the DT and I wouldn't recommend them unless I absolutely loved them myself.

Sunday 14 February 2016

Party Animals on a Rainbow Watercolour Background


If you look up #domesticgoddessfail in the dictionary, you will most likely see a picture of our house. It's quite incredible how you stop seeing the mess when you come home late in the evening and get up early in the morning and never see your home in daylight. Then the weekend hits and you see the mess but you are too tired to really care. I read all these wonderful food and lifestyle blogs about people who live in spotless designer houses and spend their days arranging flowers. I spy with my little eye two small flower vases on top of one of our snake-vivs with flowers long dead. As in dead and gone. That's how bad it is! Could someone please just hug me and tell me it will all get better? At least I have taken down the Christmas decorations (ok, that's an exaggeration as in fact the Culinary Consultant dismantled most of them), but the box is still in the living room, waiting to be taken up to the loft. So the sad fact is that today I will have to focus on cleaning, although I would much rather spend my time in the craft room. Isn't it funny how all you want is to be an adult when you are a child - just imagine you could do whatever you want. And yes, you could just sit on the sofa and eat candy all day in theory... but of course we all know that's not how it goes.

Anyhow, before I grab my trusty Dyson Animal, I want to show you the card I made yesterday while procrastinating and mentally scolding myself for crafting instead of cleaning. It's inspired by the Party Animal themed challenge over at Daring Cardmakers and with a theme like that I couldn't resist grabbing the cute little Lawn Fawn stamp set called very appropriately - yes, you guessed it - Party Animals. I wanted to make a watercolour rainbow background, so I grabbed a bunch of Tim Holtz Distress Markers and a waterbrush and then spritzed some water droplets to create a distressed look. I stamped the critters in Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Neenah Solar card and coloured them with Copics before die cutting with matching dies. I'm all about rainbow colours at the moment, cheers me up when it's grey and dreadful outside (although I have to admit the sun is currently shining, and boy does that feel nice!). I'm linking up my little animals with Just Add Ink where the theme is Just Add V (obviously aimed at Valentine's day, but I chose to add Wilted Violet distress ink [that's the one in the lower right corner of the background] as well as very happy creatures [does that count?]), Challenge Up Your Life where the theme is No Designer Paper (easy for me, as I love to hoard DSP but never use it, go figure...), Creative Knockouts where the theme is Furry Friends and last but not least Brown Sugar where the theme is Favourite Colour Combo (yes, I proclaim that rainbow is a colour combo). I can't wait for all the crafting challenges to move on from the omnipresent Valentine's day theme for us not so romantically inclined!! 

Card: 300 gsm white card, 190 gsm watercolour card, Neenah Solar white card
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Party Animal and  Holiday Party Animal with matching dies
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Markers, Copics
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies

Friday 12 February 2016

Stencil watercolour background


Woohoo, we have all made it to another weekend. It's time to enjoy life for two days. Are you planning anything special for Valentine's? We are not very romantic in this house, but I think we will cook our traditional Valentine's Day Venison from the farm a few villages over. And today I'm making pancakes for pudding, as we missed out on Pancake Day earlier in the week. I bet the pancakes will be delicious with a touch of our home-made Apricot jam. 

I made this card yesterday, but the photos I took were so horrible due to sunset that I didn't think they really did the card justice. Today I just about made it home before losing the light, still not as good as I wanted, but a definite improvement over yesterday's photos. So here we go! My card is inspired by the colour challenge over at ColourQ and the really inspiring new sketch over at CAS(E) this sketch. I couldn't resist the urge to get out one of my favourite stencils and play around a bit with watercolours. A few quick die cuts and a step of matting onto pink card later - done! 



I'm also linking up with: 
Alphabet Challenge - Y is for You Choose
Craft for the Craic - Something to make you smile
Crafting With Friends - Anything Goes
PDE Linky Party - Anything Goes
Simply Papercraft - Anything Goes

Card: 300 gsm white card, 190 gsm watercolour paper, Stampin' Up Melon Mambo card, gold mirri card
Ink: Stampin' Up Pink Pirouette, Calypso Coral, Melon Mambo
Stencil: STAMPlorations Tribal Triangles stencil
Other: Lawn Fawn Scripty Hugs and Stitched Rectangles stencils, gold sequins from my stash




Wednesday 10 February 2016

Fun with stencils


Just a quick post before the Culinary Consultant drags me off to the movies. I have been totally and utterly consumed by my job for the last... well... three months or so. Basically ever since I changed jobs. Anyhow, that has meant that the poor Culinary Consultant has been the sole cook, house-keeper and general life manager in the Invisible Pink House for quite a while. So when he wanted to see a movie I had no interest in, I was inclined to decline, but then I realised I really need to be a good girlfriend and actually do something he wants to do for a change, he is more than deserving. Not once has he complained about my newfound work-o-holicism. So off to the movies we go, but before that a quick card.

Today's card is inspired by the sketch over at The Challenge as well as the colours over at Color Throwdown. I was also inspired by the image over at Daring Cardmakers, more specifically about the deep pink/purplish flowers and the gold tray, and the watercolour splatters on my card were inspired by that fantastically awesome spotted chair. I didn't have very much time in the craft room, so today's card really is a super-simple one. I started by die cutting using a stitched rectangle die. I then inked using foam pads through the STAMPlorations Old Rose Prints stencil. I made a mask for the rose, and then moved the stencil to make the roses look like they were overlapping to match the sketch. I started by inking a bit in the middle in Seedless Preserves, then working around that in Picked Raspberry and last doing the outer petals in Spun Sugar. I splattered some ink in the same colours on the other half of the card and die cut the sentiment from gold mirri card. Cards cannot get any simpler than this, I tell you! Too bad it will still be several weeks, if not months before it's light enough for me to manage a photo of my after-work crafting in daylight, so a horribly bad flash photo will have to do, sadly. I love the colours on the card, and they are much prettier in real life, I promise you.




Card: 300 gsm white textured card, gold mirri card
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves and Spun Sugar
Stencil: STAMPlorations Old Rose Prints stencil 
Other: Lawn Fawn Scripty Hello and Stitched Rectangle dies


Sunday 7 February 2016

Welcome baby!



Our first daffodil blooms are out in the garden. In early February! This world is going absolutely wacky. Will this mean the winter is not coming at all this year? Or will it mean it's still coming? I could do with an early spring for sure. I know February is too early to dream of spring, but I could really do with some sun and warm weather right about now. Is it just the UK who are having these unusual weather patterns or are you seeing the same where you live as well? 

I've had minimal crafting time this weekend due to work commitments.  But I wanted to create something for a bunch of challenges which are about to run out, so I managed to squeeze in a really quick crafting session this morning. Unfortunately the pictures came out with a blue hue to them, and I didn't get home until after dark, so no chance to re-take them so sorry about that!

I was inspired by the following challenges:
Freshly Made Sketches - sketch (see below)
Color Throwdown - colours (see below)
Lawnscaping - Sending Love - use hearts or love sentence
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Have a Heart 


Card: 300 gsm white card
Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Bokeh In the Snow, Let's Polka
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters in the Jungle, Love You Tons, Critters from Down Under
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Abandoned Coral
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, Wink of Stella Glitter pen

Saturday 6 February 2016

A little bit of sunshine is just what we need!


How are you? Sorry I haven't been around. Don't even get me started. It's been insane. I keep thinking that the job will ease up as soon as we get through x. But then there is y. And no matter how much we think that will be the last level of craziness then there is z and it's five best friends sneaking up on us around the corner. Sigh.

I did manage to squeeze in a little bit of crafty time the other day, but it's like going back to the gym, the first time is a complete disaster. I did manage to do an intervention to save today's card from joining it's friends in the bin by applying a bit of banner magic. As we haven't seen the sun for ages, I thought a bright yellow card would light up the day a bit. I used the spritzer tool on the background card, and splattered some watercolour as well, although it doesn't show very well on the photo.


I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Shopping Our Stash - Dreaming of something warm
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Ray of Sunshine
Time Out - Love is the flower you've got to let grow
Addicted to CAS - Bloom
Allsorts Challenge - Clean and Simple
Cardz 4 Galz - Fantastic Florals
Hiding In My Craft Room - No red or pink

Card: 300 gsm white card, 190 gsm watercolour card, scrap of Stampin' Up Old Olive card
Ink: Tsukineko Staz-on Jet Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Fossilized Amber, Mustard Seed, Shabby Shutters, Spized Marmalade and Squeezed Lemonade
Stamps: STAMPlorations Bloom Sketches
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies

Thursday 4 February 2016

February STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Anything Goes with Red


It's the first Thursday of the month, and you all know what that means, don't you? It means there is a new challenge over at the STAMPlorations CAS challenge blog. Thank you to everyone who played along with the first ever CAS challenge, there were so many amazingly gorgeous cards. 

Our CAS challenge is always Anything Goes, but every month there is an optional colour twist which this month is Red (perfect for all those Valentine's day cards, right?). You don't have to use STAMPlorations products to play along, but if you have them we would love to see them. And the best bit, every month a random winner will receive a $10 gift card to the STAMPlorations shop, ($15 gift card if using STAMPlorations products).



For my February card, I wanted to create a Valentine's day card for a friend. I created a stunning background very easily by sponging Tim Holtz Distress Inks through the STAMPlorations Old Rose Prints stencil. I used darker red in the middle of the roses, and lighter pinks around the edges. For the central vellum panel, I stamped the beautiful rose from the Blossom Overture stamp set and a sentiment from the Bloom Sketches stamp set in Versamark, and then heat embossed both in white powder. I coloured the rose on the reverse side of the vellum using bright red and green Copics giving it that stained glass look. Then I used special micro glue dots designed for adhering vellum to attach the smaller panel in an invisible way to the background.  



You can find more inspiration from the talented DT over on the STAMPlorations CAS challenge blog. And then it's over to you to show us what you have created, you have until the last day of the month to link up, and it's up to three entries per person.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes with a twist of valentine
Naughty or Nice Challenges - See red
Dream Valley Challenges - Valentine's day
Unicorn Challenge - Lots of Love 
Crafting By Design - Anything Goes
Creative Moments - Anything goes with twist of romance/love

Card: White 250 gsm card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum
Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Overture and Bloom Sketches
Stencils: STAMPlorations Old Rose Prints
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks Festive Berries, Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Worn Lipstick, Tsukineko Versamark
Colouring: Copics R29, R89, YG13, YG17
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder

Disclaimer: I have received some STAMPlorations products for free in exchange for creating cards for the challenge. All opinions however are completely my own. As you can see by browsing my blog, I have been using STAMPlorations products (which I bought myself) way before my time on the DT and I wouldn't recommend them unless I absolutely loved them myself.

Tuesday 2 February 2016

Deepti Popped - blog hop


Today we are having a special blog hop to welcome another STAMPbaby! Deepti has had a precious baby boy and we all want to send lots of love and congratulations to her and her family. You can join the hop on the here and link up your card if you want to join us in wishing Deepti all the best, or just to hop along to see what the talented STAMPlorations ladies have created.

For my card I started by watercolouring through the STAMPlorations Retro Circles stencil using Tim Holtz distress inks in Chipped Sapphire, Blueprint Sketch, Broken China and Tumbled Glass to create an ombre effect. Then I die cut the panel using a stitched rectangle die. I stamped the rose from the Blossom Overture set on Neenah Solar card, coloured using Copics and fussy cut it. Note to self, this is not the stamp you want to fussy cut as it's rather intricate, but I got there in the end. After attaching the rose I finished the card by stamping a sentiment from the same stamp set in Memento black ink and attached the panel onto white card.

I am linking up my card with the following challenges:
Just Add Ink - Just Add Nature
Sketchy Colours - Blue, Green, White
Just Us Girls - Tic Tac Toe (Flowers, Stamps, Die cuts)
Addicted to Stamps - Anything Goes
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes

Card: 300 gsm textured card, 190 gsm watercolour card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Blossom Overture
Stencils: STAMPlorations Retro Circles
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Blueprint Sketch, Broken China, Chipped Sapphire and Tumbled Glass. Colouring Copics YG11, YG13, YG17, B00, B04, B06, B29
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies



  

Monday 1 February 2016

Happy Grunge-y Valentine's day to Grandma


I know I said earlier that my "It moose be love" card would be my only Valentine's day card. But then I realised I had forgotten that I also need one for my Grandma. In Finland Valentine's day is called Friend's day and doesn't quite have the uber-romantic connotations it has in the UK and I guess to some extent also in the US. I hope she likes it, it's a bit different from the cards I usually send her, a bit more grunge-y.

I was inspired by the colours over at The Card Concept as well as the rustic woodgrain and neutral inspiration image over at  Fusion Card Challenges. My style of card for The Card Concept is Clean But Grunge-y (yes, I made it up, but it says you can make up your own style. I have another CBG card here). I guess it's a mix between Clean and Simple and Shabby Chic maybe? In addition to the above, I was also inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch


I started by creating some paint smooshing on watercolour paper. I used Tim Holtz Distress paints in Vintage Photo, Hickory Smoke, Brushed Pewter and Tarnished Brass on my craft mat, added some water droplets and smooshed my paper around. Then I dried the paper with my heat tool, and gave it a second round of lighter smooshing, picking up more colour. Then I stamped the feathers from Stampin' Up Four Feathers in Versamark and heat embossed with gold and silver powder. You can see from the image below how the feathers have both gold and silver embossing on them. Then I cut the feathers using matching dies.  For the background, I inked up the Hardwood stamp using Ground Espresso and lightly misted it with water before stamping onto linen textured card through a rectangular mask slightly smaller than the stitched die cut. The sentiment says Happy Valentine's day in Finnish. I die cut the "Happy" using Lawn Fawn Cole's ABC from leftover scraps of the card I used for the feathers and used the Stampin' Up Rotary Alphabet stamp for the second line of the sentiment which I then lined with stitching using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die.


Card: 300 gsm white linen textured card, 190 gsm watercolour card
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Ground Espresso
Stamps: Stampin' Up Hardwood, Four Feathers, Rotary Alphabet stamp
Dies: Stampin' Up Four Feathers matching dies, Lawn Fawn Cole's ABC and Stitched Rectangle dies
Other: Silver and gold embossing powder from my stash