Creativation 2020

Happy New year to you!

So far this year, so many people seem more positive. Quotes like "its a new decade", "time for 20/20 vision" and "new year, new opportunities" have been reflected back to me.
It's nice to have positivity around you. As I have matured, I am more cognizant that the group of people I regularly connect with are positive, kind and supportive people. One wonders if maturity also brings with it insight and self respect. Wow, going deep there!!
Either way, so far 2020 has been very, very cold but super positive, and what better way to start than attending Creativation in Phoenix again.
This will be my fourth year of attendance. Hopefully flight delays will be at a minimum. I think it was last year, flight delays were so bad, I ended up having to be put up in a hotel overnight by the airline.
I'm attending Creativation for two days this time, not three. I have a super busy schedule on Friday. My flight leaves at 7am (I hope!) . It should get me into Phoenix by 10.30. My first class with Altenew is at 12.30pm and my next class with Gina K is 3.30pm. Then,  I have a designer dinner to attend at 7pm. This will be my first time and I'm not sure I will know a lot of people, so super intimidated by that!
I plan to take pics of some of my favourite peeps and new crafty goodies being released this yea, so keep an eye out on my instagram @linkcraftycards

Chat soon guys :)

Gnome For Christmas 2019

This Christmas was the season for Gnomes in the crafting world. Simon Says Stamp cracked it when their designer Shari Carroll came up with Gnome die. There were so many fun ways to use the die with different colour combos and added embellishments. Take a look below at some of the Christmas card designs I came up with this season.

Christmas Cards 2019

Altenew Build-A-Flower: Bellflower Release Blog Hop + Giveaway

I am proud to be participating in the Altenew Build-A-Flower: Bellflower Release Blog Hop + Giveaway. To celebrate this release Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 6 lucky winners! Please leave your comments on the Altenew Card Blog and/or the Altenew Scrapbook Blog for a chance to win. Altenew will also draw a winner to receive a $15 gift certificate from the comments left on each designer’s blog on the blog hop list below. All winners will be announced on the Altenew blog on 8/10/2019.The Altenew Card Blog is full of fabulous inspiration. There are some amazing designs from such creative people. Make sure you leave comments for a chance of winning the giveaways!By scrolling through my blog post you will see my designs as well as links to all the Altenew products. I have added large pictures to help you see the stamp set and bundles, up close and personal.

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY

My first card was inspired by the colour combos of Coral, Green and Taupe. I knew I wanted to do something with a gold trim that was elegant, and with alternative colour combos. As well as using the Build-A-Flower Bellflower stamp set I also used Altenew's Floral Frame stamp set. The set has great sentiments in it and has matching dies! 

BIRTHDAY WISHES

My second card is a bright and cheerful colour combo. Green and yellow. I decided to use just the closed petal design here from the Build -A-Flower Bellflower stamp set. My thoughts were the sun rising and the morning dew. I achieved the background with a little ink blending, then splattered it with white. I added a black frame to make the flowers pop. The clear drops just added that little extra to imitate the morning dew. 

Of course, I have shown you some alternative colour combos when using the Bellflower stamp set. If you want to save a bit of money and stamp it using the original designed colour combo, there is an opportunity to buy the Build-A-Flower Bellflower stamp, die and ink bundle saving 5%!

**One thing I want to mention...I attended a class with Altenew a couple of years ago at Creativation. I spoke to their marketing director May (who is as cute as a button BTW). I asked her if they would consider labelling the Build-A-Flower sets with numbers and letters. It was my belief that sometimes it was hard to distinguish between the layers, despite having the pictures on the back. Im not sure if there were others that suggested this addition to their stamps, but I have to say the Build-A-Flower stamp set is labelled!!! Yay!! Check out the picture below. I believe this is really helpful, especially for stampers who are not as experienced. 

Before I leave you I wanted to make you aware that Altenew also have a monthly subscription opportunity for their Build-A-Flower designs and you can sign up HERE!

Go show some love.....and maybe win!

Altenew Card Blog

Svitlana Shayevich

Therese Calvird

Virginia Lu

Sveta Fotinia

Laurie Willison

Altenew Scrapbook Blog

Seeka

Caly Person

Laura Jane 

Mindy Eggen

Nenette S. Madero

Jaycee Gaspar

Ashlea Cornell

Jenny Colacicco

Cheryl Espie
Amber Rain Davis

Mandela Stencil Ink Blending

 Hi Guys,

If you read this today, then you will get to see all three colours of cards that I made using the Mandela stencil by Honeybee Stamps. Even before Instagrammers!

All the colours were achieved by blending two different distress oxide inks per card.

The pink card uses Spun Sugar and Picked Raspberry, the green uses Cracked Pistachio and Evergreen Bough, and finally the yellow uses Spiced Marmalade and Squeezed Lemonade.

The sentiments come from the stamp set called Hello Gorgeous, also by Honeybee Stamps.

They have matching Honey Cuts (love that name!) too. For each centred die cut, I cut it three times to give added dimension.

There's something about lush colours together that just makes me happy....looking at these three cards make me happy....hope they make you happy too!!

Bye for now

Cheryl x

Bouquet of Roses

Happy Canada Day guys!

I wanted to give a shout out to this beautiful stencil by Simon Says Stamp called Bouquet of Roses. Stencils are a great cheap alternative to full background stamps. This one was used for two different techniques, ink blending with Oxide Distress Inks and for adding dimension,  Nuvo Embellishment Mousse.

For the ink blending card I used the Distress Oxide Inks called Picked Raspberry and Squeezed Lemonade. For the dimension card I used  Nuvo Embellishment Mousse called Mother of Pearl.

To see short videos of the both techniques in action, checkout my Instagram  @linkcraftycards 

Bye for now, Cheryl x

I'm Published in Scrapbook & Cards Today!!

Well, I have official bragging rights today...one of my cards has been published in the summer issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today - Summer Edition. It is released today and you can read it for free here

The Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine is always a well laid out, quality magazine and I am pretty chuffed (that's British for proud), that they thought my card was good enough to grace their pages. Thanks so much to them!

The stamp set used was designed by Hello Bluebird and it's called Be Happy.
The sentiment is also by Hello Bluebird. Colouring with Copic Sketch Markers is a constant leaning process and it will never be perfect. I just keep practicing and some images turn out better than others. Sometimes just adding a bit of something, something like the dots with a white gel marker, can make all the difference.

Thank you for coming to celebrate with me!
Hugs, Cheryl

Simon Says Stamp Pretties

Hi guys
I was a busy beaver over last weekend ensuring I made some cards before I went away camping this weekend. Well, I shouldn't really say camping, its more like 'glamping'! We brought our first ever trailer, so it will feel luxurious having running water, our own bathroom and a comfy bed. Quite excited about the whole adventure actually.
The card above was inspired by a few personal experiences in my life recently.
Simon Says Stamp have been a staple in my craft room since time began. I was probably one of their first customers actually. Over the years, SSS have grown so much and now produce their own stamps, dies, cardstock, inks, dies....everything. I vouch for their quality. And no, I don't get any commission or goods for free from them...they probably dont even know who I really am, I just believe this to be true.
The stamp set used is called 'Love'. It has a matching die set too. Countless times this stamp and die set has been useful, so I advise you to get it for a staple and value for money set for your stash. I had some pretty paper left from one of their card kits. For a little something, something (a saying that sticks in my mind from @lorafadora ) I embellished it with the Love die. Then, I ink embossed the sentiment from the stamp kit.

Keeping up with the coral, pretty theme above is the second card made using a Simon Says Stamp set called Delicate Flowers. I ink embossed the images using white embossing powder, then blended the oxide ink called Abandoned Coral over the embossing. This is a really easy, yet effective technique. For the gold trim, I generously blotted Versamark ink along the edges of some cardstock, added gold embossing powder, then heat set it. Don't be impressed by the clarity of the black sentiment, I can not take the credit for that. It was cut from SSS's ready made sentiments that they sell. As a tip, if you have difficulty stamping like smearing, getting sentiments straight...these are a solution for you. Though I think it would help if SSS left a larger gap between the sentiments, as I found it quite fiddly to cut with a cutter.
Well, enjoy your weekend...I intend to under the trees!
Bye for now
Cheryl

Mama Elephant Competition Entry

Hi guys,
I love Mama Elephant stamps! Their images are so cute and I have to say that they are one of the original cute image stamp companies out there. I have many, many of their stamp sets and they have continued to put out fantastic quality images time and time again. If you haven't checked them out...(and not sure how that could be possible), please do so.
Mama Elephant has set up a new competition called Top Card Designers. You have to design an original new card for a chance to win a great prize of a free goodies and a chance to guest design...YES PLEASE!
Anyway, this is my entry. I'm pretty intimidated as there are so many clever and skilled card designers out there, which are far better than me I'm convinced that there are more people who craft who are like me, that just keep trying and not always perfect. Be assured, this project took me at least two hours to complete and despite the near perfect looking end result, it did not feel an easy thing. I love it though and even if it isn't successful, its a joy to look at for me.

Wish me luck!!
Hugs
Cheryl :)

Yellow Wellies by Simon Says Stamp

It's been a while hasn't it?!
I try to keep adding to my blog on a regular basis but times flies by and I realize I haven't chatted with you in a while. Exciting stuff though, we purchased a new truck and trailer over the last couple of weeks and so we have been a bit pre-occupied :)

Just look at this adorable set of wellies! In the UK we call these Wellington Boots, not sure about everywhere else, haha. The die set was part of a monthly card kit from Simon Says Stamp, though I know you can purchase this die separately. It's pretty versatile as any patterned paper could change the look easily. This type of card would be pretty well received from a gardening enthusiast I think.

Todays job is driving out and staying overnight in a hotel so we can get some miles on the new truck. Apparently, you have to use a new engine before it is supposed to pull a load like a trailer.
I plan to take it easy, go for a swim and sauna, then dinner with the hubby this evening, yay.

I hope your Sunday is a peaceful one.
By for now
Cheryl :)