Zentangle Holly :D

I'm not that great at Zentangle, I think I'm a bit too impatient, however I saw Mel on Create and Craft show this Holly Zentangle using a grid, so I thought I'd give it a try and use it as a background... I changed it slightly by drawing the grid in pencil so I could rub it out later, however I'm not sure it was the right choice as when I showed it to a friend all she could see was circles in the background and not the holly lol, but anyway it was worth a try... I love this scribbly bird by Dina Wakely, and when I saw this pose, I knew it had to be a robin, so I water coloured it using Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany distress stains. Once I'd assembled the card, I thought it looked a bit empty, hence the black splashes in the background :) and then to finish it off I just added a bit of red glitter glue to the holly berries and a Happy Christmas sentiment :D

Simple Snowflake :D

I made this card as a thank you to one of my mums friends who gave me this snowflake die that she'd gotten free on a magazine... however after I'd made it I thought that I could do a similar version with the free x-cut die that was on an issue of creativity recently :) I really love the way this turned out... I started with a piece of white card which I covered with Waterfall green and Galactic blue Daley Rowney Pearlescent inks (I don't think the shimmer comes across in the photos...) and then I wasn't sure what to do to begin with so I just cut a few snowflakes out and arranged them on a square card blank... I'm not very good at leaving a card simple, and thought it looked a little plain with just the snowflakes so I decided to use an embossing folder, and this lead to the shorter front than the back, because the folder was 5x7 and so didn't completely cover the front and I didn't want a join, but I actually think that this makes the card better and so I'll probably do this again in the future :D I then just added the sentiment which is from a stamp set that was free on Creativity ages ago and I used a small labels 20 Spellbinders die and then just added some white faux stitching :D :D

Butterfly Trio :D

This is very similar to the previous card, but I tried a different colour way.... It'll probably be a Birthday card for my sister whose favorite colours are blue and grey :) I used Calypso Teal, Slate Grey and little After Midnight dylusions ink sprays for the background, and this time I used Faded Jeans and Weathered Wood distress ink for the stamping :) Again I stamped the butterflies onto the background and onto a spare piece of background so that they're 3D on the card, also stapling them on, makes the card fold a lot flatter when in the envelope :D

Floral Congratulations :D

I used a selection of Happy Days papers, Me to you Spring time papers and some pre-made PM flowers. I also used the xcut petal posy dies and the daisy palm punches in 2 different sizes. I love this effect of a mis-match of flowers, I did it on an up-cycled photo frame for another friends 21st, but I'm not sure where the photos are... The little scrunched flower toward the middle at the bottom is made from 5 punched circles scrunched up, its the palm punch that fits around the bigger typewriter key letter stamps :D The congratulations is one of my favorites from a free stamps set from a creativity mag the one with the globey thing on. and the pink behind the sentiment is a piece of bias binding that i had pre-dyed for another card ages ago...

Butterfly Trio :D

This is a variation on the big butterfly Happy Birthday card that I've made before.... I started off making an inky background using tangerine dream and funky fushia dylusions ink sprays. I then used mustard seed, spiced marmalade and picked raspberry distress inks to add some stamped detail to the background. I stamped the same butterfly 3 times onto the background first and then onto a spare piece of the background... I cut them out, inked the edges and then stapled them directly over the top of the stamped image... I added a doodle line border and then raised the panel with 3D foam tape, and stuck this to a 5x7 card blank... on another spare piece of background I then stamped the sentiment and cut this into a banner shape, and also added this with 3D foam :D To finish it off I then added butterfly trails and a few dots in a white gel pen :D

Butterfly Cards :D

 These are all pretty similar and are made by the same process. I usually make a load of backgrounds on a day when I can't think of many ideas, also its good to do them all at once because spray inks are a bit messy, so i use a washing up bowl and cut my card to A5 size, and it means you only have to wash the bowl out once if you do them all in one go :D also an A5 piece is perfect to make a whole card, and A6 piece for the back ground, stamp the butterfly and use the left over as the pennant for the sentiment :D oh and I also spray one A5 piece then sandwich another on top so you actually get 2 card worth out of one lot of ink spray. Once the backgrounds are dry I do a bit of ghosting or extra spraying with a stencil and then add texture with various stamps, i think this batch was mainly Tim Holtz stamps, but previous versions similar to these I used the PM hamstead heath stamps and some basic spots and stars :D

Woodland Themed Cake

A two-tiered wonky double chocolate cake with a woodland theme... for my Nans 80th Birthday :D I had great fun decorating this cake, I seem to be slightly obsessed with toadstools at the moment... I made them out of fondant icing and I even made a couple of them so that the candle was hidden inside :D The main brown icing was a lot less stressful than usual, as I wanted it to look imperfect and have a bark like texture :D The finishing touches were then chocolate raisins, nuts and smarties stuck on with chocolate icing and then for the soil I used crumbled up bourbons :D I loved making this so much!