To brighten up your day

I had so much fun making this card. I die cut the circles with Heffy Doodle stitched circle dies and then inked the center circle with Salty ocean, Blueprint Sketch and Black soot distress inks. I cut a circle frame out of some brilliantly shiny gold card from Tonic. We were lucky enough to be sponsored by Tonic at my last Crafty Purple Frog Getaway and I have to say I really like their range of card stock. I will be getting a lot more of it so expect to see much more of it cropping up on my blog :D

For my main image I have used another of the brilliant Create a Smile stamp sets, Glowing seaside . It is safe to say I am addicted to these stamps. I stamped this squid in Tuxedo Black Momento ink and then coloured it with the following tri-blend markers:

Squid body: Pale Pink Shade, Pale Pink Blend

Eye ball: Ice Blue Blend

Stars: Citrus Blend

I used some Spectrum Noir gold midas ink and one of the small stamps in the set to add the dotty circles all over the black card blank Then I attached the squid and the gold circle frame on some foam pads so they give some depth to the card. I wanted the Squid to stand out even more so I covered his head in glossy accents. 

The sentiment I stamped in Wow! embossing pad and then used super fine gold embossing powder. For the final touch of texture and sparkle I used a mix of Blue Lagooon and Yellow bird nuvo glitter drops leading away from the squid off of the card.

I am entering this card for the following challenges:

Creative Fingers - Anything Goes

Patties Creations - Anything Goes 

Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes with a sentiment

Cardz 4 Gals - Something beginning with S 

Heffy Doodles first challenge!!

I am so excited that over on the Heffy Doodlers Facebook page they are having their first ever challenge! The prize for one lucky winner is a £50 voucher to spend  in their store!! I had to have a go at that seeing as I LOVE all things Heffy Doodle. There is still time to enter and all you need to do is create something using Heffy Doodle goodies that has a "fall theme".

For my entry I combined the super cute "Elephant Of Surprise" stamps with the leaves from the "Blooming Marvelous" stamp set. 

I started by inking the background with some scattered straw distress ink, Fossilised Amber and then added a touch on gathered twigs distress ink at the bottom and round some of the edges to give it a bit of depth. Next I stamped out the leaves in a mix of gold and bronze midas ink. This is my first real play with the Spectrum Noir Midas ink and I have to say I LOVE it. You need to make sure you get a lot of ink on your stamp to get a good impression but the result is worth it. It is hard to see in these pictures but it looks almost as if I have heat embossed them, they are that shiny. 

The sentiment I did heat emboss using some Wow! gold superfine embossing powder. Then I coloured up the adorable little Ellie using a tri-blends ice grey blend pen and a nuvo blender pen. I added the layers of brown and gold card just to make it look that bit more detailed and hand drew some brown faux stitching. 

As well as the Heffy Doodle challenge I am entering this card for the following challenges:

Cutie pie challenge - Anything goes

Dream Valley Challenge - Add a sentiment

Incy Wincy Design - Add something metallic (I used metallic embossing powder and Midas metallic ink)

Cupcake inspiration challenge - Fall theme