Can I move in?

This stamp makes me think of the Magic Faraway Tree series of books by Enid Blyton that I loved as a child. Blank it also makes me think of the Elvish homes in the Middle Earth books (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) by JRR Tolkien - not so much when I've coloured it this garishly!

The palette is inspired by Colour Q, but I confess I may have gone off piste by using so much brown as a neutral. If that's the case, apologies, and please forgive me for posting it up just the same because I'm so proud of it and want to share it. I'm always amazed at the colour saturation you can get with Spectrum Noir pencils.

I knew I had to do something with this stamp, in other words, get it out of the packaging for the first time with Addicted to CAS' 'Home' keyword, and in honour of it's inaugural use I've chosen to share it over at SSM as well, and it would also make a perfect New Home card.

Addicted to CAS #82 - Home
Simon Says Monday - "Take a leap into the unknown"
Colour Q #330 - Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise, Lucky Limeade
Stamplorations February - CAS (Optional colour twist is Red)

Her favourite flower

In the UK this is our week for remember the special women in our life, as it's Mothering Sunday this coming weekend. For one special lady in my family the freesia is one of her favourite flowers, so it seems appropriate to tag this card up to her today.

The image on this card was originally inspired by a now closed colour palette. When the closing date passed the colours morphed slightly as I continued to work on it!

A couple of weekends ago, in response to this months' Clarity Calendar Challenge (mutters under breath, did the practice, haven't made the card yet - closes at 8pm tonight!!) I was experimenting with the shaving foam technique for making backgrounds, and when I made this card up to the FMS sketch today, decided this piece was a good fit. See what you think. Sorry that the picture isn't quite in focus.

Freshly Made Sketches #225
Sweet Stampin' - Mother's Day/Special Lady
Simon Says Wednesday - Anything Goes

Turn over a new leaf ...

... well, a leaf of an old dictionary in this case.

I've managed to go on a crafty splurge this weekend, so this is the first of a few cards to get posted today. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice to say my crafting this weekend was restricted to a handful of stamps and my tins of colouring pencils, and that seems to have had a positive effect. One - I've managed to produce some artwork! Two - I really feel that I'm starting to get the hang of this colouring in lark and am producing things I'm proud of. Three - Spectrum Noir pencils are great - IMHO

Until not so long ago I veered away from buying open line stamps, because I didn't feel competent to do justice to them, so feeling able to tackle something like this beautiful Clarity Columbine flower is somewhat of an achievement for me.

I stamped it up in either Coffee or Potting Soil archival on to an old dictionary page, and coloured it in using this week's palette at Color Throwdown. I then further distressed the page by gently tearing the edges and inking them up with Tea Dye distress ink. Last but not least I layered it up onto a background made using the 'shaving foam' technique.

CASology #186 - Distress
Color Throwdown #381 - Pink, Light Green, Kraft
Addicted to Stamps and More #182 - Make your Mark

Sending you my love

I made this card a while ago, but chose not to blog it at the time.It strikes me that it would make a lovely subtle Valentine's card, but could also be put to other purposes. (Being completely honest, I made it as a sympathy card)

It uses a couple of stencils, layered on top of each other to create the background, some inking in the centre to create the landscape and a beautiful Clarity stamp with a selection of their wonderful word chains to pull it all together.

Just us Girls #329 Word Week: Valentine
Clarity #36: Love
Simon Says Wednesday: Have a Heart

Holding Hands

OK, so this card is a little more in the Valentine's spirit.

I hadn't had a go at the 'book page' technique in a while, and got inspired after watching Barbara Gray demonstrate on Hocanda yesterday.

My first attempt wasn't all I'd hoped for, so I had another go and I think it came out better after I rearranged the colours, and put less ink in the background. I don't think I'm allowed to submit two entries at CTD, so I'll pop it at the bottom in case anyone's interested.

It's an interesting challenge figuring out depth of colour, as the text shows through when you use Spectrum Noir pencils. I love the effect, but it's a balancing act so that you don't lose the impact of your stamped image.

Color Throwdown #378: Red, Pink, Dark Grey, Pale Blue
Friday Mashup #242:  We have heart
Addicted to Stamps and More #179: Clean and Simple

The original attempt, in which I felt Douglas didn't stand out enough in his dark grey suit.

Star Haloed Santa

I confess I rather like the challenge of a one layer card, and the perpetual AG One Layer Christmas card challenge is a good motivator.

Now it's quite typical for me to get inspired by a challenge, but not finish it before deadline, which is the case with dear old Santa here, so he's showing his CAS credentials instead.

As you'll all have seen there are 'lots' of Valentines challenges on the books at the moment. I'm rather partial to a bit of optional twisting, so here's a February 14th palette with Christmas spirit.

Santa's halo is a stencil, embossed through my Grand Calibur, and then Espresso Adi and Broken China distress ink applied to the replaced stencil. The Santa round is coloured with Spectrum Noir pencils.

Colour Q #327: Kraft, Cherry Cobbler, Ruby Red, Pool Party
Allsorts #349: Clean and Simple
One Layer Christmas Card challenge #25