Shades of green

 It's lovely to see the trees starting to look green again (although my eyes rather wish the nearby birch trees weren't producing so much pollen) so I've made a card that celebrates all the shades of green we see in nature. 

A total snippet-fest using scraps of several shades of green and a snippet of leaf-patterned paper. The leaves were cut and embossed and the background finished with the last pieces of the scraps of card.  I know the leaves are more "deep dark jungle" than "English country lane" but the colours are very reminiscent of the spring leaves, the conifers and the evergreen shrubs along the roadside. 

I am sharing this with 

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge 401  

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - M is for Monochromatic  (apologies for the total lack of snark, sistahs, but my 95 year old Mum is in hospital at the moment and my mind just refuses to get into a snarky groove, I'm feeling to stressed to laugh!) 

Shrink plastic revisited

 A few weeks ago, I used a very large butterfly stamp from the latest Indigo Blu magazine kit, and speculated at the time about how it would look used with shrink plastic. 

Well I've had a play now and am delighted with it. 

I stamped it onto clear shrink plastic and coloured it with pencils before shrinking. Then I used a new-to-me card fold called Mini Miura, following instructions over on Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge blog. I used coordinating patterned papers on the end panels and a green core-dinations card, embossed and sanded, for the centre panel. The back of the last panel has a white space for writing, and the sentiment attached to the belly band is a very old Polkadoodles stamp, coloured with pencils. 

I an sharing this with 

Butterfly challenge  - I've used the fold and all the colours and of course a butterfly. I'd planned to add some metal brads but the ones I was going to use clashed horribly with the papers, being *exactly* the wrong shades of green and maroon, so I can't claim a full house this time. 

Sweet Stampin - no squares allowed 

Victory Lap

 I've not made an easel card for absolutely AGES and thought it was about time I put that right. 

I used stamps from a recent issue of Creative Stamping magazine and papers printed from the La Pashe CD "Something for Everybody" . I coloured the images and made the chequered flag strip using Promarkers. 

I am sharing this with 

Addicted to Stamps and More - Birthdays 

Cardz 4 Guyz - Wheels 

CD Sunday Plus - Anything goes

Make my Monday - checks or plaids 

Watercooler Wednesday - All about Occasions 

Bee Happy

Today I've used one of my oldest unmounted stamps - when I first started stamping, I bought a few grab bags of unmounted stamps, mostly from the USA, and this was in one of them so must be 20-25 years old. 

I stamped, coloured and glittered the image then cut it out. The background is a selection of shades of yellow, orange and brown card scraps, all cut with hexagon nesting dies and arranged to give a recessed effect. It looks as if there should be another layer between the darkest yellow and the orange, doesn't it? Yet I definitely used the whole set and haven't lost a die! 

I am sharing this with

Daring Cardmakers - Let's Hear it for the Bees! 

Allsorts Challenge - Butterflies, Birds and Bees  

Country View Challenge - The Birds and The Bees 

Pastel bouquet

 Another make using the gorgeous flower stamp from the Indigo Blu #3 magazine kit. I love this stamp for slimline cards. 

This time I've used all my palest pastel coloured promarkers to colour it  and matted it with a layer of pink vellum to keep the delicate look. 

I am sharing this with

Cardz 4 Galz - Slimline card  

Passion for Markers - Feminine

The Flower Challenge - Pretty Pastels 

How does your garden grow?

But first - happy 9th birthday to Onions and Paper. Actually it would probably have slipped beneath my radar if today's Facebook memory post hadn't been my post from 9 years ago today announcing the opening of the blog. If I thought that by starting a craft blog I would knuckle down and use up some of my mountains of stash, I was about as wrong as I could be - the mountains have expanded! 

This card is made using some of the stamps from the current issue of Creative Stamping. I stamped the floral border twice to go across the front of the card, and added the sentiment, watering can and butterfly. I doodled in some sprinkles of water then coloured the can and butterfly, leaving the border uncoloured so the pots would stand out against them. 

I used the three potted plant images from the stamp set and coloured and cut them, then attached them with 3D adhesive, adding a slightly thicker layer to the central image to raise it a little abolve the other two. 

I am sharing this at Inkspirational where the word prompt is GROW. 

Parrot and Pussycat

 I've been playing with a fun NBUS stamp set that I won in last year's Cat Lovers Blog Hop. 

Sorry about the grey looking background, I'm having a lot of trouble with the white balance on my camera at the moment and although I've done what I can to edit it to a true white, it's refusing to play ball. 

I used the stamps to construct the scene - all the elements are separate so it's a very versatile set. Then I coloured it using Promarkers. The colours I chose for the cat are based on a lovely little cat ornament my grandma bought me when I was a little girl, about 5 years old. We went shopping in the Burlington Arcade on Lord Street in Southport and I fell in love with it. I suspect my Mum still has it in her loft somewhere. 

The sentiment, also from the set, is perfect for an anniversary card for cat lovers. You don't often see a cat and a bird in love, but the card would be great for a "chalk and cheese" couple. 

I am sharing this with

Alphabet Challenge - A for Anniversary 

2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes  

Passion for Markers - Animal Antics  

Show Us Your Pussycats - Furrything Goes