Happy 8th birthday to Uniko

I had these cards in the works this past week but did not manage to finish them until tonight. I had created the background on both cards using the same NBUS Woodware stencil and Altenew warm grey ink and then die cut a bunch of butterflies from cardstock in various neutral colours using the English country garden dies (Uniko).

I kept this first card simple, by layering two butterflies, stamping a sentiment from the Beautiful clear stamp set (Uniko) and finishing off the design with some enamel dots in two colours (Studio Calico).

I'm linking up this card at:

Uniko - 8th birthdy linky party

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

Less is More - #424 Big and small

Fusion - Decor

I was inspired by the colours in the photo

My second card was sort of finished a few days ago and should have been in the mail for a card swap at StampNation. However, I was not entirely happy with the card and did not get around to posting it, which was a good thing, since I made a few changes tonight and am much happier with the result.

Interactive birthday balloons

This card was inspired by the video tutorial that I saw on Jennifer McGuire's blog.

I used a balloon die set from Simon Says Stamp to die cut my balloons from scraps of cardstock and added a little shading to each balloon using Catherine Pooler inks and my Taylored Expressions blender brushes. I chose primary colours because the card went to our grandson. The sentiment stamps are by Marianne Design and were white heat embossed. The background stamp is by Hero Arts.

When you pull the tab, the second sentiment is revealed on a smaller balloon. I love how this turned out and cannot wait to create a few more in different colours, since it's so simple to make and it's a great way to use up scraps too.

I'm linking up my card at:

Uniko - 8th birthday linky party

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

Seize the Birthday - Toppings: Sentiment as focal point

And since I've been using lots of cardstock scraps

 for my balloons, I'm also having a play at

Pixie's Snippets Playground # 372

Twofer fruits

The current Twofer challenge was a great incentive to use my NBUS Layered Citrus stamp set from STAMPlorations/The Bee's Knees.

The design of my first card (on the left) was inspired by a tv commercial that I saw last week. I started with some ink blending on a few small panels of Bristol Smooth lettering cardstock (Tombow) using Catherine Pooler inks (Limoncello, Lime Rickey, Tiki Torch) and my Taylored Expressions blender brushes. Next, I double stamped the solid images using the same ink colours. After trimming my panels down, I decided I did want to add a hint of the outline image, so I stamped it in a light grey ink Altenew. After several mishaps, I ended up with my trio being adhered to two layers of cardstock (black and white) and trimmed back to the original tri-panel. Since I still wanted a black border but no more layering, I simply went around the panel using a Memento black marker before adhering it to a new card base with the right side up. The sentiment is from an old Clearly Besotted sentiment set.

For my second card, I created some sunflowers using the one solid stamp, using the rock and roll technique to create the darker edges. The die is from an older Essentials by Ellen die set, while the stamped sentiment is from a Winnie and Walter set. The sequins are by Studio Calico.

I'm linking up my twofer at:

Twofer Card Challenge - #24 Fruit

STAMPlorations - Never ending AG with STAMPlorations products

My Get well card is playing at:

SSS Wednesday - Add a sentiment

Alphabet challenge - W ... Anything you Wish

And my Sunshine card is playing at:

HLS CAS - Positive