Saturday 28 May 2016

Picture frame remake


I've been on a bit of a home design spree lately. Nothing major - I can't bear the thought of having to pull out paint brushes, I'm still too traumatised with the spruce we did at the Culinary Consultant's place three years ago. But small touches - flowers, candles, that sort of stuff. I'm particularly proud of a photo canvas I got for out downstairs loo. I couldn't find an image online that I liked so in the end I printed a picture I took myself in our garden last summer. Talk about individualised artwork! I also bought no less than five orchids today for the house as it seems like they are the only plants I can keep alive! I also got some cute little cacti and candles for my towel rain in the bathroom. Aren't they just the most adorable?


Anyhow, in my attempt to make our house a bit more of a home, I also want to add some photos to my craft room and our living room. So the first thing I need is some photo frames. I remembered I have a set of old cheap IKEA frames in the loft which I had painted bright pink many years ago. But they are nice little frame, so I thought why not try to work some of my crafty magic on them. Isn't this why I hoard all those weird mixed media things I don't really know what they are for - just in case I get inspired to do something like this?

I started by painting the frames white with Gesso to cover the pink. The for the lighter frame (at the top of the post), I added another quite thick layer of Gesso, let it dry for a while and then used some STAMPlorations stamps to create texture. I left the Gesso to dry over night. The following day, I painted the frame with Tim Holtz Distress Paint in Tarnished Brass, and let it dry over night again (the paint actually doesn't take that long to dry, but I was just getting in a few minutes of crafting between cooking dinner and then forgot all about it). After the paint dried, I tried adding some Distress Ink in Vintage Photo, but it didn't really stick to the acrylic paint. However, when I painted over everything with Distress Crackle Paint Rock Candy it moved the ink around a bit creating a nice extra vintage-y effect. After leaving the Crackle Paint to dry, I found that some of the crackling didn't stick very well to the frame, so I covered everything in a clear varnish. 

The darker frame was painted in Antique Bronze Distress Paint. After letting the paint dry, I inked Ground Espresso Distress Ink through an ARTplorations woodgrain stencil. However, as with the first frame, the Distress Ink didn't really stick to the acrylic paint surface, so when I added the Crackle Paint, the ink just reacted and flowed around but again I kind of like the effect here as well, as it just looks like the frame is really aged, even burned. As with the other frame, I finished everything off with a clear varnish to keep the crackle paint in place. And no, the Winnie the Pooh pictures are not what is going to be displayed in the frames - I just have no idea yet of what photos I want to use.

A few more pictures to show off the amazing texture of the frames, and particularly that gorgeous crackle. I really love the effect and I just bought a big bunch of other cheap picture frames, which I think will get crackled over too. I had absolutely no idea what would work and what won't but I'm quite pleased with how the frames turned out in the end.






I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Shopping Our Stash - Anything but a Card
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - N is for Not a Card
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Craft for the Craic - A Step Back in Time (Vintage/historic)
Creative Loops Challenge - Recycle


Materials used: Gesso, Old cheap Ikea picture frames bought years ago, Tim Holtz Distress Paint in Antique Bronze and Tarnished Brass, STAMPlorations Mixed Media Elements and Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds stamps, ARTplorations Weathered Wood, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso, Tim Holtz Crackle Paint Rock Candy, Prism Multi-Purpose Clear Gloss Craft Glaze Varnish

Friday 27 May 2016

Pastel Afternoon Tea


Happy Friday peeps! I am celebrating my birthday today by taking a day off work as is the Culinary Consultant. We don't have any special plans, just having a lazy day is special enough - we slept in (although it's quite sad that we are getting so old that sleeping until 7am is considered sleeping in!) and I'm planning on making a delicious brunch involving eggs, bacon, smoked salmon, mozzarella and raspberry and white chocolate scones. Not to mention the first coffee I have had in two weeks, which I know will taste absolutely delicious (I'm trying to cut down on my addiction to calorie-rich over sweetened caffeinated drinks). I did start the day with a bit of crafting, as I'm sure it's the best way of starting out a good day!

Today's card is inspired by the challenge over at The Card Concept (this is for the Clean and Simple category). What a great opportunity to get to use one of the lovely stamps from the STAMPlorations Coffee Happy stamp set combined with one of the hilarious sentiments from Literary Caffeine-aitions. I was also inspired by sketch over at The Paper Players, and I'm linking up with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenges where Anything Goes.



I started by stamping the tea cups in Versafine Onxy Black and masked the image. Then I used a round die to cut a hole in a scrap piece of paper and added water to the cardstock base through this home-made stencil to create the circular background. I painted the background in Tim Holtz Distress ink in Iced Spruce and Peacock Feathers. After the background dried, I added some splatters of water and Peacock Feathers before painting the cups and adding some gold Sharpie around the edges of the cups. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed it in gold - inspired by the gold frame in the inspiration image. Last, I added some enamel dots.

Card: 300 gsm white textured card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Coffee Happy and Literary Caffeine-aitions
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Iced Spruce, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry and Spun Sugar, Gold Sharpie
Other: Gold embossing powder, Stampin' Up Candy dots, home made enamel dot

Sunday 22 May 2016

Rainbow Party on a Cloud


Two cards in two days! I haven't managed that for a long time. But to be honest, today I used crafting as a procrastination tool - plenty of windows downstairs needing a wash, not to mention skirting boards needing a good wiping. I have also spent the morning procrastinating in another way - my long awaited Fitbit finally arrived last night (first I was annoyed at Amazon for taking so long to ship it, but when they finally shipped it, it actually arrived the same day so I that turned me back into a happy customer). And boy is it fun! I have been spending time setting it up, linking it up with my food tracker and other fun stuff. I had some trouble setting it up initially, throwing my toys out of the pram, but now that it's all up and running it's really addictive. Now I'm just waiting for this wretched cold to pass so I can start accumulating exercise as well. I don't believe you actually need toys like this to get in shape but for me being very resisting to any efforts of eating healthier or doing exercise I'm hoping it will be the boost to get me a bit fitter in a fun way. Also, I can't wait to see how many flights of stairs I climb per day as my office is on the fifth floor, and I usually always take the stairs, going in an out of the office multiple times a day because of meetings. I know, my life is very boring when things like this get me all excited.

Anyhow, on to the more interesting stuff. Today's card is inspired by a bunch of challenges. First off, I wanted to play along with the current Lawnscaping challenge where the theme is Sparkle It Up. I was also inspired by the great sketch over at RetroSketches. I'm also playing along with Daring Cardmakers where the theme is Paint the Rainbow and with the big 2 year Birthday Bash over at AAA Cards, happy second birthday AAA, here's to many more!!




I started my card by die cutting the various elements - the clouds, the frame and the rainbow. Then I stamped the cute unicorn and Dragon from Critters Ever After as well as some party paraphernalia from Party Animal and coloured with Copics in the same colour scheme as the rainbow. Then it was a great big puzzle to play with the various elements to create the scene. Last, I die cut the sentiment from the same glitter paper as the rainbow and adhered everything onto white card. 

Card: 300 gsm white textured card, glitter card in various colours from my stash, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters Ever After and Party Animal with matching dies
Ink and colouring: Memento Tuxedo Black and Copics
Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Square Frame, Happy Birthday Border, Puffy Cloud Border, Rainbow 

Saturday 21 May 2016

Stencil in soft pink


Happy Saturday folks! I had another crazy week, completely lost in work. So today I was going to just slouch - especially as I seem to have caught a bug from somewhere. Which is particularly vexing as I have tried to eat super healthily lately, and started to work out again. So much for a healthy lifestyle, eh? Anyhow, today has been devoted to a bit of spring cleaning. All that tedious stuff of dusting on top of the cupboard doors, wiping skirting boards, cleaning mirror and windows. I've only managed to do upstairs and the day is already gone, looks like downstairs will have to wait until tomorrow. I also managed a bit of a spring clean on my computer which has gotten slower and slower. I don't really want to splurge on a new computer right now, so I'm hoping that a little TLC will keep it running for a bit longer.

Before all this cleaning frenzy, I did manage to create a card first thing in the morning. It seems like my mojo is at it's best on a Saturday morning, and I enjoy a bit of crafting with my cup of green tea (even gave up coffee for this healthy life fad!). Today I was inspired by the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch and the colours over at Color Throwdown. I was also inspired by the CASology cue card which is stencil and the challenge over at Time Out which this time is the phrase "May all your weeds be wild flowers" and was inspired by the flower theme.




I started by stamping the dogwood from STAMPlorations Floral Bliss in Milled Lavender and then watercoloured it with the no line technique in Stampin' Up Melon Mambo and Basic Grey. Then I masked the flower and inked some Blushing Bride through the ARTplorations Retro Circles stencil. Last, I picked some sentiment stamps from Blossom Overture and stamped them in a lighter and darker grey. I thought the card needed just a little something, so I added Ranger Ice Stickles to the flowers. 


Card: 300 gsm textured white card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Floral Bliss, Blossom Overture
Stencil: ARTplorations Retro Circles
Ink: Stampin' Up Melon Mambo, Basic Grey, Smokey Slate, Blushing Bride
Other: Ranger Ice Stickles

Thursday 19 May 2016

May STAMPlorations CAS Challenge - Mid-month inspiration


Welcome back to our mid-month reminder of the STAMPlorations CAS challenge. Our optional colour twist this month is one of my favourites, magenta. You don't have to use the colour twist if you don't want to and you don't have to use STAMPlorations products but if you have them we always love to see what you do with them. All we ask is that you create a CAS card, add the below challenge graphic to your post and link up to our challenge over on the STAMPlorations blog. You can link up three times, and there is still two weeks to join us to win prizes, get inspired and inspire others.


Today's card is a perfect example of how one stamp set, a few inks and some white card is more than enough to create gorgeous cards which are really easy to customise for any occasion. Seeing all the immensely talented designers out in the blogosphere can sometimes be really intimidating, but it's all about finding the right no-fail techniques. I know I'm cheating slightly as I used sentiments from another set, but the Tree Sihouettes set also has some lovely sentiments. Further, sentiments are easy to print if you don't have the right stamps, or you can even write them if your handwriting is less atrocious than mine! For this card, I started by masking off the right and left sides with some masking paper (I use any leftover papers, old envelopes, anything I can find to avoid having to use "clean" paper) and washi tape. Then I picked a few pretty colours of Distress Ink and sponged it with a foam pad (you can also use small make-up sponges which are super cheap, they work just as well!). Then I took watercolour brush and splashed some water onto the ink to create the water splotches. Then I stamped the gorgeous tree silhouettes and the sentiment in Onyx Black which is the blackest of black. Last, I picked up some purple Distress Ink on my watercolour brush with lots of water and tapped the brush with a pen to create the fine splatters for a bit of added interest. Really simple and easy, and you can use any inks you have and any stamps and sentiments you like! 

Card: 300 gsm textured card
Stamps: STAMPloratios Vignette: Tree Silhouettes, Blossom Overture
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Abandoned Coral, Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire, Seedless Preserves, Wilted Violet, Worn Lipstick

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 17 May 2016

Rainbows and flowers


How is life over there? Here it's not nearly as warm as I would have hoped this time of year, but you win some, you lose some. At least it's warm enough to sleep with the bedroom window open. How wonderful isn't it to sleep and breathe in the fresh air? I feel like I sleep so much better with the window open. And as an added bonus, if you have just changed the sheets and they are lovely and clean and smell of the fabric softener. Bliss!! But before I get to slip in between the sheets, I wanted to show today's crafty creation. 

Nothing like some awesome dies to make for quick crafting - the only way to go these days. I was inspired by the great sketch over at Retro Sketches and the rainbow theme over at Paper Smooches. I also thought to try out for the Paper Smooches guest designer with this card as well as my earlier rainbow card as well. I'm also linking up with CASology where the theme is 

I had a lot of fun inking up some card in all the colours of the rainbow. Then it was just a quick job of die cutting the tab using the Notebook Basic die, heat embossing the sentiment in gold and adding the die cut gold flower. 






Card: 300 gsm textured white card, 300 gsm black card, gold mirri card
Stamps: Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler
Dies: Paper Smooches Adorable Array, Notebook Basic Die
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Blueprint Sketch, Fossilized Amber, Festive Berries, Mermaid Lagoon, Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed, Peacock Feathers, Seedless Preserves, Spiced Marmalade, Twisted Citron, Wilted Violet and Worn Lipstick
Other: Gold embossing powder


Saturday 14 May 2016

Calla lily shaker card


Happy Saturday everyone! I have to admit I slept in this morning. I can't remember the last time I would have slept until 8am, but my body and mind clearly needed it after a crazy week. After pottering around and being useless for the morning, I tackled one of those annoying things on the to-do list - I cleaned out my kitchen cupboards. It's nice to have an idea of what we have in the kitchen, and plan around using up things. But you would not believe the amount of jam we have in this house. Which is highly ironic as we don't really use that much jam at all, and if we do use any, we will use our home-made jam. How we have managed to accumulate a collection of almost a dozen jars of store-bought jam is beyond me! I am planning on getting all of our pantry foods logged onto an app, so whenever I'm in the store I can check what we have and what we don't have . The problem is that the existing apps don't seem very good, and the databased lack a lot of barcodes particularly in the UK. If you are using an app to track your pantry or fridge, let me know what you use and if it works for you!

Today's card is a shaker card I made using Stampin' Up Remarkable you stamps and the Lawn Fawn stitched rectangle frame dies. I started with watercolour paper and Distress inks and created the background. I stamped the lilies on another sheet of watercolour paper, heat embossed them in white and watercoloured with Distress inks. Then I die cut the stitched frame in white card, and another frame from an adhesive foam pad to create the shaker. Last, I added the sequins and beads, attached acetate to the shaker, added the frame and last I added the flowers which I had fussy cut. 

I would like to link up with the following challenges:
House of Cards - Clear papers (use vellum or acetate)
Craft Rocket Challenge - Flower Power
Ruby's Rainbow Challenges - Use a transparent element (used acetate for the shaker)

Card: 300 gsm watercolour paper, white card, acetate
Stamps: Stampin' Up Remarkable You, sentiment is a wood mounted stamp from my stash
Ink: Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress inks Dusty Concord, Fossilized Amber,  Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Spun Sugar, Twisted Citron, Victorian Velvet and Wilted Violet
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched rectangle frame die, adhesive foam sheet, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder, sequins and beads from my stash

Friday 13 May 2016

Large Pink Helenium


Do you have any big plans for the weekend? I most certainly have big plans - plans to sleep late and do nothing apart from a bit of crafting. I had a manic week, which luckily ended on a high professionally followed by some crafty time which was even better.

I was inspired by the gorgeous CASE over at Time Out and the colours over at Make My Monday. I'm also linking up with Shopping Our Stash where the theme is April Showers bring May Flowers and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is Flowers. 



Card: 300 gsm textured white card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Helenium large, Floral Bliss, Art Marks, Vignette: Trendy Feathers
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Bundled Sage, Hickory Smoke, Mowed Lawn, Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar
Other: Ranger fine clear embossing powder, Ranger Disterss Stickles in Worn Lipstick


Wednesday 11 May 2016

Critter birthday in the woods


What an insanely crazy week. Working towards our project's big Quarterly review on Friday, and there simply isn't enough hours in a day for anything else than reports, slide shows, emails and a bit of sleep in between. However, today I decided to finish a card I have been creating bit by bit for the current Lawnscaping challenge "Calling all critters". So I thought the critters would hang out in the forest and have a great birthday party with party hats and cupcakes! I love combining the various Lawn Fawn Stamp set and have used five different sets here, along with some lovely Lawn Fawn patterned papers. And sadly, it's back to writing reports now, any further crafting will have to wait until the weekend. 


I'm also linking up with the Unicorn Challenge where the theme is polka dots and the Critters and Creatures Linky Party where anything goes with a cute critter. 

Card: 300 gsm white card 
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters in the Forest, Critters in the Arctic, Party Animals, Joy to the Woods, Hats off to You and matching dies
Inks and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics
Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Meadow, Let's Polka, Perfectly Plaid
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Frame, Stitched Hillside Borders, Grassy border and Happy Birthday Border 

Sunday 8 May 2016

Come fly away with me


Another glorious day, it looks like it's going to be even warmer than it was yesterday! After enjoying a wonderful breakfast of asparagus from our own garden with poached eggs, a bit of ham and Hollandaise sauce (I admit, I cheated and used a store-bought mix, but it counts as home made if you squeeze in the lemon juice all by yourself, right?) I am planning to dig a bit more in the garden. And then my wonderful man is making me BBQ. Could a Sunday get any better? Yes it can, I had a mother's day photo shoot with my gorgeous boy (you can see pictures here) and I had time for a bit of crafting as well! And it's barely midday yet!

Today's card was inspired by the inspiration image over at Inspired by All the Little Things, which was a perfect image to go with the new STAMPlorations Born to Roam stamp set that popped through my mailbox a few days ago. The cupcake wrappers inspired me to use the Stampin' Up World map and the compass from The Open Sea. I was also inspired by the cue card over at CASology which is Move, and the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches (this is my second entry in this week's challenge). I'm also linking up with Crafty Calendar Challenges where the theme is Things With Wings.

I started by stamping the plane in Versafine ink, and then masked it before stamping the World map through a mask. The I watercoloured the image using Tim Holtz Distress inks and last I stamped the compass from The Open Sea and one of the sentiments from Born to Roam in Versafine. I really like the way the card turned out, it reminds me of the Indiana Jones movies, where they show the little airplane moving over a map whenever Indy would fly anywhere. 


Card: 300 gsm super smooth white card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Born to Roam, Stampin' Up World Map, The Open Sea
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Broken China, Festive Berries, Fossilized Amber, Shabby Shutters and Vintage Photo



Saturday 7 May 2016

Build Me a Rose


Summer has arrived! It's warm enough to be out in T-shirt and sleep with the window open. We have spent most of the day in the garden, and I even managed to get a few windows cleaned. I feel like giving myself a big pat on the back. I also had a chance to play with some goodies from my recent happy mail from STAMPlorations! 

This card was inspired by the layout over at CAS(E) This Sketch and the colours over at ColourQ. I started by inking thought ARTplorations Build me a Rose stencil using Distress Ink. Then I stamped the sentiment in my new favourite ink, Versafine Onyx Black. Last, I stamped the frame and some splatters in Versamark and heat embossed in holographic embossing powder. It doesn't show up very well in the photo but it looks great live. I'm also linking up with Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where the theme is Stencil It.




Card: Super smooth 300gsm card
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Aged Mahogany, Festive Berries, Peacock Feathers and Twisted Citron
Stamps: STAMPlorations Floral Bliss, Fond Expressions 2, Art Marks
Stencils: ARTplorations Build Me a Rose
Other: Papermania Holographic embossing powder

Thursday 5 May 2016

May STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Anything Goes with Magenta


Hello May, my favourite month of the year. Well, to be honest, I'm biased as my birthday is in May, but I also love how spring turns to summer during May. And schools always closed for summer holiday at the end of May back when I was young, although they do go on until the first week of June these days. And to add to all the great things in May, our STAMPlorations CAS challenge optional colour twist is magenta, a favourite of mine. All the rest of the instructions are exactly the same as they have been since the start of the year - you don't have to use the colour twist, you can use any products you wish (but if you have STAMPlorations products we would love to see you use them) and we ask you to display the below graphic and link to our challenge page. You can link up three different cards, and there is a prize for the winner as well as a badge for the DT's favourites.


I started by inking white card using Disterss Inks, and die cut the background using a stitched rectangle die. I also spritzed water on the background to create a more distressed look. I then used an embossing buddy to make sure the embossing powder would only stick to the stamped images and not to the background. It makes such a big difference when working with embossing projects. I stamped two feathers from the gorgeous VIGNETTE: Trendy Feathers stamp set and a sentiment from Art Marks in Versamark and heat embossed in gold powder. I attached the card to black card as I thought it really makes the bright colours pop. 

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
CAS Mix Up - Stamping and heat embossing + your choice (inking and water splatters)
Freshly Made Sketches 



Card: 300 gsm textured white card, 350 gsm black card
Stamps: STAMPlorations VIGNETTE: Trendy Feathers, Art Marks 
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks Seedless Preserves, Wilted Violet, Shaded Lilac, Dusty Concord, Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio, Tsukineko Versamark
Other: Gold embossing powder from my stash, Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Die

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.

Monday 2 May 2016

Purple floral hugz


Looks like my back is recovering quite quickly thanks to lots of stretching and rollering, so I was able to sit down and create a bit today which made me very happy! I decided to try and make a small dent in my huge stash of patterned paper I was moaning about earlier. Although, I also worked out that I have at least 250 sheets of patterned paper in my stash. And that's just the nice paper, not the stash of papers I'm ready to get rid of up in the loft... So to be honest, this one card really didn't make much of a dent in the stash. Also, have you noticed how the two sided patterned papers always have all the nicest patterns on on sheet - so you want to use both sides. Or alternatively, you just don't like either side of them. So you never get sheets with one side you like and another side you don't like. Sods law!

I wanted to create something for the lovely purple floral image over at The Card Concept and the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch. As many other cards, this started out somewhere completely different and ended up somewhere completely unexpected, but I'm quite happy with it anyways. I started by die cutting the background paper and cutting it according to the sketch. Then I die cut the Paper Smooches Adorable Array die in a few different purples. I really love this die! Last, I stamped the sentiment from Owen's ABCs and die cut with the matching dies. I added a few adhesive rhinestones as embellishments. I'm also linking up over at Crafting When We Can where the theme is Add Flowers, Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge and Going Grey With Scrap-Creations where the theme is spring/flowers. 

 


Card: 300 gsm textured card, 240 gsm coloured lilac and purple card, 
Paper: Stampin' Up Colour Me Autumn, Design Series Paper Patterns Stack Brights Collection
Ink: Stampin' Up Rich Razzleberry
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Owen's ABCs and matching dies
Other: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die, Paper Smooches Adorable Array die, Papermania Adhesive Gems Capsule Heather

Sunday 1 May 2016

The gold at the end of the rainbow

I have managed to pull a muscle somewhere in my back, and I'm currently confined to slow movements and not sitting or lying still for too long as my back stiffens up and becomes outrageously sore. So right now I'm sitting in our conservatory which is nicely warm from the sunshine, in the most comfortable chair we have, enjoying the pain killers kicking in. I think this puts an end to my crafting time this weekend. A reminder that I'm not getting any younger and that it's certainly time to get back to the gym again. 

Before I regressed to the mobility levels of a 90 year old I managed to create a card using some backgrounds from my stash box. I love my new Paper Smooches Criss Cross Background die, so I had to create something with it almost as soon as it popped in though my mail box. I started by die cutting the background from a panel I created way back when using Distress Paints and smooshing technique. I die cut the Criss Cross Background from gold mirri card. For the sentiment, I picked another rainbow panel I created previously and die cut it using a banner die and stamped a sentiment from the Sentiment Sampler set and heat embossed it it white. 

The inspiration for this card was the new rainbow challenge over at Paper Smooches, the colourful inspiration pic over at Sunny Day Crafting as well as the graphic rainbow coloured inspiration image over at Pinterest Inspired Challenges (I'm loving all the rainbow themed challenges around lately, as rainbow is my all time favourite colour). I'm also linking up with Shopping Our Stash where the theme is Think Ink.



Sunny Day Crafting inspiration image
Pinterest Inspired Challenges inspiration image

Card: 300 gsm white card, 300 gsm watercolour paper, gold mirri card
Ink and colouring: Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Paints
Stamps: Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler
Other: Paper Smooches Criss Cross Background die, Lawn Fawn Everyday Banners and Stitched Rectangles dies, Stampin' Up Basic Adhesive Rhinestones, Papermania Seafoam White Embossing Powder