Watercolour Wednesday - Meant To Be

You may have noticed that although I have used the hearts this week, I haven't made them into any of the St Valentine's day cards. I'm not into that but there are many who are so these can be easily adapted by changing the messages that I've used.

Well! I did do a little bit of watercolouring this week! Sadly what I made up was really pretty but too big for the purpose of my card today! So I chopped it up! I started by die cutting the beautiful hearts from the Stitched Be Mine dies and covered them in clear Wink of Stella. They really do shine but it doesn't show at all on my pictures! Sorry. I embossed the white mat using the folder Painted Texture. I love the very tactile finish it gives. 

I watercoloured a band of different colours onto a block then onto the white card mat. Once dry I stamped some of the beautiful hearts from the stamp set. For this card, they looked totally wrong. So I die cut them down into little hearts as you can see! I love the Ombre effect they have with the colours mingling into each other. I completed the card using the Just For You which I punched out using the Story Label punch and the message with another little heart or 2 inside.

Technique Tuesday - Meant To Be

 Today's card is another very simple card. Made in a similar way to yesterday's card in as much as there is a little bit of stamping, 2 colours, a die cut and the message! That's it!

 Something that I often say is less is more and I truly believe that too. You can go to extreme lengths to make a beautiful card but often the more you add, the more the receiver looks, the more they find and often get confused or lost in the project. Hence my belief that less is more!

 

 

Make it Monday - Meant To Be

 Hello and welcome back. Didn't Cary show some amazing cards last week just using the scraps on her table? Incredible cards Cary, as always.  My week was a really lazy one last week. Apart from sorting through bits and pieces we have for the retreat we are holding in March, I relaxed for a change! I made time for my grandchildren and the family. It was lovely spending time with them all. Theo, who turned 1 year old 2 weeks ago, suddenly on Friday just got up and walked across the room! It was so amazing to see him do his little toddle. I'm glad I had time to watch and play with him too.

Anyway, back to this week. I couldn't decide which stamp set to show you this week so I opened the catalogue at no particular page and chose the stamps there. The first to show you is cards using Meant To Be stamp set and the other for is Strong and Beautiful. One has lots of lovely images of hearts and the other lots of gorgeous sentiments. I'm not sure how much I will use the 2nd set but I have it just in case!

 One of my favourite colours at the moment is this gorgeous shade of lilac or Highland Heather as Stampin' Up! call it. I have made a very simple card and one slightly stepped up by using the matching heart shaped dies called Stitched Be Mine. Please don't worry about your eyesight as I have fixed the front white mat on at an angle!

Leftovers week day 5

 For the final card in my leftovers week I've decided to make a fun fold card using scraps of pattern paper and odd bits of cardstock.  

The card is a simple one. Make a landscape opening card base by scoring a piece of 10.5cm x 29.7cm cardstock at 14.85cm.  I then took a 5cm x 29.7cm strip of contrasting cardstock and scored it at 7.4cm, 14.85cm and 22.3cm. 

The card base is folded and placed in a landscape orientation.  The contrasting cardstock is folded in a concertina fashion, valley, mountain and valley folds, to form a W shape. I placed the contrasting stip, folded up , inside the card base and secured the 2 outer panels to the inside of the card using liquid adhesive. Making sure that the inner piece doesn't poke out when the card is closed.

I then decorated the card using scraps of pattern paper, a  leftover sentiment and hearts from a previous dicutting project. I used an embossing folder to add texture and used some rhinestones to give it a little pop. 

Well I hope I've shown you a few ways to use up your scraps and maybe look at your leftovers a little differently this week 😉 

That's all from me till the next time. Olease join us next week when Gill will be sharing her creations with us all. 

Have a fun

Cary xx 

Leftovers week day 4

 When you trim your card and papers to fit your project do you end up with lots of 0.5cm strips? 

I do! Lots and lots! So for this weeks challenge to use up the scraps and leftovers on my work space I thought I'd save them rather than bin them for a change. 

And boy am I glad I did 🙂 I ended up with a pile of timmings from coloured cardstock and a smaller pile of strips from the Oh So Ombre pattern paper from Stampin' Up!

I took the small pile of Oh So Ombre papers and stuck them on to a scrap of cardstock.  I then found a stamped and die cut image from the Prized Peony stamp and die set also from Stampin' Up! The sentiment is from the Many Messages stamps and die set. 

I loved the soft gentle look of this simple card which is enhanced by the gentle grey card base and inked image.

Next I used the coloured card strips, well some of them at least 😉 , and stuck them diagonally onto a piece of printer paper that I had cut to the size I use for a background, 14.4cm x 10cm. I then used some dies to cut out a frame and letters.

 This one pass through the die cutting machine yielded the focal points for 2 cards! Always a winner in my book 2 for 1!!

  Here in the UK during lockdown we have seen an influx of rainbows to symbolise our wonderful NHS.  So my choice of sentiment seemed somewhat apt.

The finished cards are also super simple and clean looking which I find very pleasing.

I hope you enjoy my projects as much as I enjoyed creating  them. And maybe you'll  look at those thin strips, trimmings, in a different light from now one. 😊

Leftovers week day 3

 When you use watercolour paper do you end up with odd bits of the sheet left over? I  do!!! So today I looked at this little pile of offcuts and inspiration struck!! 

They looked like a little like a pile of artists canvases.  With that thought in mind I thought I'd make some mini works of watercolour art!

I used the painted texture embossing folder from the January to June mini catalogue from Stampin' Up! to add interest to the card.

The sentiment is from the many messages stamps and die set. 

I created 4 little panels and as the first card only used 3 of them I  looked at the 4th and suddenly thought canvas on an easle 💡. So with a few stips of card I made this cute card.

So my little pile of scrap has once again turned in to projects that I'm rather happy with 😉

Leftovers week day 2

 Do you save those little bits of pattern paper that are too small for a mat then wonder what to do with them? Well today I have a quick and easy card that can help you use them up. 

All you need for these projects are a pile of scrap pattern paper, card bases, a 1" circle punch and a a pen. ( I used a white gel pen and Stampin Write Markers). 

Now the hardest part deciding where to place the circles!! Once you are happy with where they are stick them down. 

Now for the fun part draw around your circles. I am not the most confident when faced with putting a pen to paper but sometimes you just have to challenge yourself! But I have to say I'm  rather happy with the end results. I used simple repeat patterns but you can go wild maybe add petals or concentric circles. The world is your oyster. 🙂

Hope you like today's projects and that you will give it a go.