Buy it, Try it - new Distress ink minis and SU stamps

I have been waiting for ages for the second mini distress ink set to be released and finally it has arrived :-)  at the crop last Sunday, I tried them out, along with some new SU stamps.

For the background, I smooshed the DIs in Twisted Citron, Blueprint Sketch and the grey whose name escapes me....
The flourish is from Everything Eleanor, the butterflies are from Butterfly Basics, the sentiment is from Teeny Tiny sentiments.  All stamped in smoky grey Versafine.
Now I have to say, I am not entirely happy with the overall look of this card.  I like the background, but I could have placed the larger butterfly better - it would have looked nicer stamped at an angle.  The flourish is slightly mis-stamped in places.  Also the sentiment isn't stamped quite straight, which is of course torture for me LOL.
So not my favourite card ever, but it'll go in the box and I will be having another play with the inks and stamps :-)

Pinterest challenge!

I asked Sy to pick out some of my Pins as a challenge, she chose four, so I will be doing one per week for Blogtober :-)

The Pin for the first one is here.  I put in my notes that I would place the sentiment higher than the original, but I ended up placing it lower instead!

The papers are from Graphic 45, Steampunk Spells, I think.  The sentiment is from Stampin Up.  It was a little fiddly to get the panels right, but I really like the way it has turned out and will use the layout again :-)

Out of the Drawer - more aqua cards from scraps

Yesterday I shared some cards made from the OotD papers after making a layout.  Here are the other two I made and I do still have enough left for perhaps another two, but I am a bit fed up with the papers now ... LOL ... so those will have to wait for another time.

The OotD items on these, apart from the papers and the embossing powder as before, are the large birthday stamp from Woodware and the butterfly dies from Memory Box.  I have actually used the dies before, but they have been languishing unloved as I forgot about them.
The stamp, from a set of two large sentiments, gives a good impression and embossed very clearly, I must definitely use it more often. 
The butterflies are actually two sets - the solid base and the filigree tops, the latter set includes the bodies too.  I cut the base and bodies in the darker colour, the filigree in the lighter and stuck only the centre of the filigree shapes down, so the wings can be raised.  Then I stuck the bodies over the top.  This is an idea I saw on a display card in the Glitter Pot - I went over there with Sy, before it became online only.
The sentiment is a peel-off on a SU punched tag.
It is quite satisfying to produce cards from scraps and leftover-from-other-projects paper, I will be doing some more, they are quite quick to do too, which is a bonus :-)

Out of the Drawer - feather cards

Once upon a time, a long long time ago ....... I went to Ally Pally scrapbooking and stamping show, back when they still had enough scrapbooking supplies to warrant the name LOL.  I bought some quotation stamps from the Clarity stamps stand, brought them home .... only used one of them, the rest never saw the light of day again and I forgot about them.
Fast forward to sometime last year, when I bought a magazine with a feather die as the free gift.  I bought it, then discovered it was meant to go with the stamp set they had given away in the previous issue.  I couldn't find this issue, so got a bit fixated on the whole thing and ordered the Hot off the Press stamps from Amazon, from a USA supplier LOL.
Forward a bit more, just a few months ago now, when I happened to come across the feather quote stamp and had the good sense to put it in the drawer with the die and stamps.  There the whole combination stayed.
Here and now! - I decided they would be perfect for an OotD post for Blogtober :-)  I had made a layout, to be shared later in the month, and the papers were also OotD, as they were an unused kit from a class at A Trip Down Memory Lane retreat.  So I made cards with the scraps!

I did find that the die didn't seem to fit the stamp exactly - the curve on the 'spine' of the feather seems to be different on the stamp and the die, even allowing for my placement errors :-)  The papers are from Echo Park.  As an extra OotD, I used two previously un-christened embossing powders, both from American Crafts, in Metallic Teal and Powder.  Embossing powders are high on the list of "I really must use those more often!", I have so many colours and I do love the effect.
The stamp set gives a very nice impression and I will definitely use both stamps and die again.  I also got some more cards out of the papers, will share those tomorrow :-)

My favourite Birthday card

My birthday was back in August and I thought I would share my favourite card with you.  This is from DS2:

He knows me too well :-)

San Marco 7 am

We went to Venice for our 30th wedding anniversary, back in March.  On the last day, we got up super early, so we could try and get some photos without too many crowds.  An ideal opportunity to make use of the selfie stick I had bought DH for Christmas :-)

The papers are Basic Grey 'Little Black Dress' and I cut the title on my Silhouette (font: Bernstein).

BtCR September

No particular theme for September's BtCR, I just sat down and had a bit of a session!  I made about ten, I think, donated some to Karen's charity fundraiser and kept five for BtCR.

This one uses Simple Stories papers and the curved edge panel was an idea in a card magazine from before last Christmas ...... no idea now which magazine.  My panel is smaller than the original as I misjudged where to apply the Spellbinders edging die ... LOL.  The snowflake dies are from Memory Box and the sentiment is done with SU punches.

 

 

The next two are a design I have used before and will again, the Memory Box die is so useful.  The papers are Simple Stories again and Craft Creations.

 

 

 

Finally, I had found this embossing folder in a sale, so thought I should use it ..... it is just slightly out of proportion for an A6 card, the sides don't need trimming but the top/base edges do.  I embossed some Diamond Bazzill Bling, cut to fit, then matted onto silver mirri (still using up those freebie sheets from work!)

 

 

 

There'll be more Christmas cards during Blogtober as despite my best efforts so far, I do still need just a few more :-)