Creative Expressions 30 Day challenge - Day 7 Tropical

Evening All,
Sorry, a little bit late tonight, but I've been doing Domestic Science, or good old fashioned cooking with my Granddaughter Saskia.
We had masses of ripe bananas, and some rhubarb given to me by a friend so we have been cooking Rhubarb Crumble, and trying out a new recipe I found for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Cake as well as a Shepherds Pie for dinner.

All in all a very productive evening. Sorry the crumble and Shepherds Pie were demolished before I could manage photos, but Sas was very chuffed with her Banana Cake.

Today is Day 7 of the 30 Day Challenge at Creative Expressions, and the theme is Tropical.

I'm afraid that once again I failed to find anything that specifically fits the theme so I have chosen a card in lovely tropical colours.

It uses another beautiful floral stamp set designed by Jane Gill.

She really does design some beautiful stamps that are perfect for colouring, and I am the lucky girl who gets to make samples using them.
I will definitely need my early morning walk around the park tomorrow to work off some of this home cooking.
Night, night.
Hugs Kimx

Creative Expressions 30 Day Challenge - Day 6 Dreams

Evening Everyone,
Just a quick post tonight for the Creative Expressions 30 Day Challenge.

I didn't think that I had anything for this challenge, until I found this card.

I hope that the sentiment will be considered enough.
Stay Safe.
Hugs Kimx

Creative Expressions 30 Day Challenge - Day 5 Love

Morning All,
Another lovely day, although it is much colder, and someone even suggested that there was a hint of snow in the air. I do hope not.

So the 30 day challenge today over at Creative Expressions is Love,

so here is a card that I made using a fabulous Sue Wilson die and a piece of handmade background.

The backgrounds to all of the following cards are made in a similar way.

Inked backgrounds and then a pattern removed from them using a stencil and a damp baby wipe.

Some of them have had a little sparkle added to them, again using a stencil.

I've also added stamped and embossed images,

and diecut or stamped sentiments.
Quite a selection I know, and not all love cards, but I am trying to blog several cards at once all using the same stamp, or in this case technique.
It's the only way that I stand a chance of sharing all of the cards that I have made over the years.
Isn't it great that we have such a fabulous hobby to help keep us sane at the moment.
Have a great day. I hope that you will join in with the challenge, but above all Stay Safe.
Happy Crafting and Hugs
Kimx

Creative Expressions 30 Day Challenge - Day 4 Ombre

Evening Everyone,
I'm not quite sure that this entirely fits the bill of todays Ombre challenge over at Creative Expressions 30 Day Challenge, but it was the best that I could find amongst my stash of cards.

They are made using a lovely Christmas stamp set designed by Jane Gill.

 The image has been stamped and white embossed and then coloured with inks.

Same, but very slightly different.

And again.
Let's see if I can do better tomorrow.
Hugs Kimx

Celebrate a Weed Day

Morning Everyone,
I hope that you are all doing OK. I've been for my walk, done my good deed for the day by getting my friend her paper, and I've checked my e-mails. I only skim through the interesting ones, I don't need any more reminders of bad news.

So did you know that today was, amongst others, National Weed Appreciation Day. I know I'm a mine of trivial information lol.

The celebration is designed to remind us that some weeds are beneficial to us and the ecosystem.

Even the perishing Dandelion serves a purpose.
  Dandelions are a food source for insects and some birds. Humans eat young dandelion leaves and enjoy tea and wine made from the leaves and flowers. The Native Americans used dandelions to treat certain ailments. Nutritionally, dandelions contain a source of vitamin A and C, calcium, iron and fiber.
I suppose they do provide a flash of sunshine in the grass, so long as it's not my grass lol.

So to celebrate I thought that I would share a card with a couple of weeds (or wild flowers) on it.
There are other things to celebrate today apparently, including National Black Forest Cake Day. I think I'll stick with celebrating this one, I'm sure that it tastes a whole lot better than dandelion leaves.
Have a great crafty day.
Stay safe and hugs
Kimx 

Creative Expressions 30 Day Craft Challenge - Day 3 Geometric

Afternoon Everyone,
It's Day 3 of the Creative Expressions 30 Craft Challenge, and today is Geometric.

Now I have to say that I rather struggled to find something for this challenge (I'm trying to share some of the cards that I already have made since I have hundreds of them!!) until I saw a card from Natalie Stringer, one of the other lovely people that has entered into the fun.

And isn't that exactly what this challenge is all about, being inspired by others, and having a bit of fun.
I have used a lovely Sue Wilson Die CED5524 - Noble Collection Lavish Accented Octagon. 

I used DSSSheet, glitter, a bit of Paper Piecing, and of course a lovely stamp designed by Jane Gill.

I did manage to find a few other cards with a geometric theme, but they don't really use much in the way of Creative Expressions products, so I didn't think they would count.

I will share them though because they are a nice easy way to use up some of those scrap pieces that we all seem to hoard.

I have loads of scraps of background cardstock which were just perfect for these last couple of cards.

I would love to be able to do Clean and Simple cards, but I just had to add some stamping in the background.
I hope that I can find something to use for tomorrows challenge, but I think I might need to see what other people post before I can find something that will fit.
Stay Safe and Craft.
Hugs Kimx

Day 2 of the Craft Challenge at Creative Expressions - Flowers

Morning All,
Another lovely sunny day. I've been for my walk, and done my good deed for the day. Shopping for a friend who is in self isolation.
So here we are on Day 2 of Creative Expressions Fun Craft Challenge, and today it's Flowers.

Once again I searched through my boxes of cards to find these ones to share with you.

This one was stamped and embossed in gold on black card stock using a Jane Gill design for Woodware called Daisy Chain. Once I had painted it, I ran it through my embossing machine using a lovely leafy embossing folder and added a little bit of Gilding Wax.

Jane loves her flowers, as do I, so as you can imagine it was rather a hard task to decide which set of cards to share with you.

This one was created in a similar manner, only this time I stamped and embossed in black on cream card.

 I added the small strip of card that I trimmed from my panel and then added a sentiment and a couple of tiny fussy cut flowers.

My final card today uses the single flower from the same set.

I just stamped and embossed it twice in black and then added some ground using a fine black micron pen.

I watercoloured the image using inks.
I hope that you will feel inspired to join us today over at Creative Expressions. I know that Jamie has already added a video to give you some inspiration, so I'll see you there.
Stay safe and Happy Crafting.
Hugs Kimx

30 day Craft Challenge at Creative Expressions - Day 1 Butterfly

Afternoon Everyone,
Another glorious day with beautiful clear blue skies. Let's hope that it continues for a while as it definitely lifts the spirits.

We have some fabulous fun starting today over at  Creative Expressions  where they have announced that they are starting a 30 day Craft challenge.

Today is Day 1 so they are looking for Butterflies.

Interpret each day's challenge as you wish and share your makes using #CECraftChallenge

Dig out your craft stash and use your Creative Expressions, Cosmic Shimmer, Woodware, Pink Ink Designs, Paper Boutique, Paper Tree, Ranger and Spellbinder products!

As I am lucky enough to make samples for Creative Expressions using Woodware stamps, I thought that the first thing I would do was search through my huge stash of cards to see if I had anything that fitted the bill.

This card was made last year while I was at SirStampalot.

We did a class using Mica Powders for a Mica Removal Technique inspired by something that I found on Sue Wilson's blog.

I actually used a stamp designed by Francoise Read for a change. This one is called Vintage Swallowtail. The butterfly image got a little bit lost in the background so I decided to 3D a fussy cut image over the top.

Another card made using the same stamp, only this time I used an embossing folder in the background.

I confess that it is a Tim Holtz one, so I hope that I will be forgiven for that lol.

The diecut sentiments on both cards are available through Creative Expressions.
I hope that you will join us for this fun challenge. It's been nice to have something to focus on as my mojo has been on a bit of a go slow just lately.
Stay safe, and happy crafting.
Hugs Kimx

Home Sweet Home

Afternoon All,
So we are finally on lock down here in the UK. I did wonder how long it would take given all the idiots that there seem to be around who think that this terrible situation won't touch them.
There are times when I am rather ashamed to be English. While on the other hand we are surrounded by amazing people who are risking everything to keep the rest of us safe.
Anyway, rant over, I have finally managed to finish a card even though my mojo has gone walkabout lately.

Thankfully, my cousin and his wife moved into their new house a couple of weeks ago so I expect by now they are surrounded by lots of empty boxes not full ones.

Once again I reached for my lovely LOTV Simply Print images. This one is called A New Adventure. I bought mine a while ago when it was available as a pre-coloured image, but it is still available as a digi image that you can colour in yourself.

I printed it out two images to a page and then decoupaged one of them to give some depth.
The sentiment dies were designed by my lovely friend Paula Pascual under the Bright Rosa brand name. They are quite large dies that can be cut into or out of your card stock.
BTW if you like the LOTV images they are on a 50% off deal until the end of March, and that includes the new Easter designs.
My turn to cook the dinner, so I had better get a wiggle on.
Stay safe. Happy Crafting and Hugs
Kimx

A host of golden daffodils for a Spring challenge at CCM

Hello All,
Another beautiful sunny day here, and another challenge over at CCM where Judy is our host for Spring.

And how appropriate on such a lovely day.

Daffodils are always a sign of Spring for me, so here is a card made with some lovely Hobby Art ones, Daffs and Bells.

I stamped, embossed and coloured the daffodils and foliage, and then added some zendoodled frames.
It is also a Mother's Day card which we celebrated yesterday in the UK.
Well, we celebrated with bum bumps and Facetime, no actual hugging which was very hard. I can't wait to be able to give my lovely Mum a really big hug, and share a cuppa and a dark chocolate stem ginger biscuit. This is our treat when I take over her shopping which of course I am not able to do at the moment.

This second card uses the same set but this time I stamped and embossed in white

and then added a couple of fussy cut flowers

and an Easter greeting.

Card number three uses another white embossed panel only this time I created a darker colour spotlight in the centre of the card.

I made this final one a birthday card.

All three of the sentiments are part of this same lovely set.

I hope that you will be able to join us over at CCM. Crafting has certainly been my savior over the last few weeks, and I'm sure that it will continue to be such during this difficult time.
Stay safe and Craft.
And a big virtual hug from me.
Kimx