Sunday 21 June 2015

A patriotic Father's Day card...

Happy Father's Day
Hey!

Happy Sunday! Happy Father's Day! Happy Summer Solstice! Happy Midsummer's Day! Happy birthday (to me!) 

Yup, another birthday has crept up on me today and I'm still finding it hard to believe and act the age I was the year before, let alone my new age today. ;)

As it's Father's Day I thought I'd share with you the card I've created for my father-in-law. A simple, graphic card with a patriotic Irish colour combo seems to have gone down well, (I can say this as we visited my in-laws yesterday for a yummy meal out and insisted that he opened his card early!)

tips and tricks

  • I honestly don't think you can go wrong with stars for guy cards. They're my go-to shape for every masculine card, but I never tire of featuring them. :) 
  • The stars were made sparkly by covering cardstock with some basic glitter tape purchased from John Lewis and die-cutting small stars from it. 
  • I made sure that my stripes were measured and cut to fit so there's an orange stripe at the top and bottom of the card front. This enhances the symmetry of the clean, graphic design. 
Masculine cards can be tough to make at the best at times, but I'm going to admit that this one was particularly tough. Today is the third Father's Day without my dear dad but it's the first one where my birthday falls on the same day. It doesn't happen often, but it makes today a bittersweet birthday. I'm lucky to have many happy memories though. So today on my birthday and Father's Day I'm thinking of happy times like this memory of us captured on a summer holiday. Yes, my hair really was that red when I was a youngster. ;)


Happy days. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and if you're celebrating it, then I hope you have a wonderful day celebrating Father's Day and any other special occasions that may fall on this day!

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Monday 8 June 2015

On a roll...literally!

Let's roll
Hey!

Happy Monday! Well I was supposed to share this card with you on Friday as I made it on Thursday night, but it took longer than expected and before I knew it I'd run out of daylight to photograph it! Then we had a glorious weekend of sunshine so we made the most of it and staying indoors was simply not an option - you've got to get what vitamin D you can, right?

So here's a delayed card featuring Clearly Besotted's adorable Let's Roll stamp set! The good news is that the June release is live so this sweet stamp set is available to purchase now!

As soon as I saw this set I knew that I had to get this hedgehog rolling to twist this metaphorical sentiment into a literal one. I've also purchased some Saraha Sand Memento ink so I thought this would be the time to try my hand at a little no-line colouring technique (can you see why I ran of daylight time now to photograph this?! Ha!)

Now I know what you're thinking. You can't see this little critter roll on the picture of my card so by the power of magic - well, video - you can see this hedgehog roll. Lights, camera, action!


The penny slider card is an oldie, but a fun card to revisit every now and again. There are many tutorials out there for penny slider cards on YouTube so I recommend you check them out if you fancy trying this for yourself!

Well, this hedgehog is on a roll and it's time for me to roll too. I've got today to get some Christmas cards created for a magazine commission. Not quite sure how I'll get into the Christmas spirit in June...wish me luck!

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Thursday 4 June 2015

Sunflower friend

Sunflower friend
Hey!

Happy Friday Eve! :)

I'm back as promised with another sneaky peek of some new Clearly Besotted goodies available for purchase from tomorrow at 10pm (UK time). If you missed yesterday's post, you can check it out here.

Yesterday's card was fab and fun so today I've got something a little more soft and subtle. I think it's a given that whenever Stephanie treats us to a flower set that it's impossible to resist the temptation to ink it up! Cue the predictable heat-embossing and faux artristy using Distress Ink - I hope you don't get too bored of seeing it as it's so therapeutic to sit painting these beautiful flowers. Although it's clear to see that my sunflower here has suffered a little sunburn with those orange tones - ha!

Sunflower friend close up

The large sunflower stamp is from the new set, Sunshine & Smiles. I absolutely love the font of the sentiments in this set, although I unfortunately cut my panel too small to fit them on nicely! I opted for a small, pretty friend sentiment from Just Darling instead. Oooh and I couldn't resist a bit of sparkly goodness from Lucy's Gold Dust sequin shaker mix. :)

As I look at today's card and compare it to yesterday's card I've come to the conclusion that I don't have a distinct cardmaking style. My cards are much like a British summer: completely unpredictable from day to day! Who know's what tomorrow's card will bring? I don't even know myself as I'll be making it tonight! I hope you can stick around for it and for the full reveal of the Clearly Besotted June release - shopping lists at the ready peeps!

And in the meantime, pop across to CB HQ (aka Stephanie's) to check out some more sneaky peeks from the amazing Design Team for some serious enabling! ;)

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Wednesday 3 June 2015

Retro FABulousness

Fab friend
Hey!

Wowzers! June already? How did that happen? I seem to be a record stuck on repeat but I'll say it again, this year is zooming by. But a new month means some new sneaky peeks of Clearly Besotted goodies available for purchase from 5th June 10pm (UK time). So, let's get started!

I'm a day late to the sneaky peeks but I'm hoping today's FAB card will make up for it. Yup, I've been busy playing with the new On The Beach die set to create some iced lollies (or popsicles as some of you may call them!) that bring back fond memories. I have a weakness for Fab lollies and this hasn't been the first time I've managed to incorporate them into my papercrafting - check out my previous take on this yummy treat here.  I was always a fan of Fab lollies when I was younger and would insist on following a routine of picking all the chocolate from the top, then eating the softer white layer leaving the red icy bit for last. Please tell me I'm not the only one that did, and maybe still does this!

Fab friend close up lollies

Sorry, I digress! Enough trips down memory lane, more about the card. Those lollies were so easy to create: I simply die-cut the lolly a few times from white, pink and brown cardstock, chopped them up and pieced them together! The hundreds and thousands are represented by teeny tiny gems that I coloured with my ProMarkers and I added some icy shimmer to them using a clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen.

Fab friend close up

I was originally going to go very plain with this design but thought I'd inject a little more summer fun with the a double-sided sheet of Yum 12x12" BoBunny paper from the new #ForeverYoung collection. I then added a little more retro fun to the design by creating a customised sentiment using my Dymo label writer. :)

I hope today's card just goes to show how versatile the dies are that co-ordinate with the wonderful stamps from Clearly Besotted. I'll be back tomorrow with more sneaky peeks but until then, pop across to Stephanie's at CB HQ to check out some FABulous projects from the FABulous Design Team!

Thank you so much for stopping by and have a FABulous today! :D

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Copyright/Disclosure

I am on various design teams and receive free product to use and promote. I geniunely love the products of the companies and all opinons are honest and my own.

I'm flattered if I've inspired you and you want to CASE anything of mine, but please don't enter it for commercial publications or competitions.
Thank You!
All designs, text, and photographs on Crafting Confessions are ©2009-2016 to Amy Gray unless stated otherwise.