Last Thursday we had our April card group get together and it was such an enjoyable afternoon. Me and Lesley have our birthdays in April so we got lovely handmade cards and Lesley and Sue both brought along delicious cakes for everyone. An afternoon crafting, chatting and eating cakes with a cuppa - that's a wonderful afternoon! I designed three cards as usual, making sure that one was part of the set we'll be putting in a box later on. I used a circle die for the mask and brushed Wild Honey and Festive Berries Distress Inks through the mask to get the background. I then stamped the dandelions in black ink followed by the sentiment. NOTE FOR NANAROZ who left me a comment with a question about how I brushed the inks. I always start away from the area and work my way inwards. In this case I had a piece of white CS with the circle hole as a mask. I would have picked up ink with the ink duster brush and started swirling in a circular motion on the piece of CS and made my way into the circle. I honestly think starting 'off' your area and using the Inkylicious ink duster brushes with a circular motion are keys to smooth ink application. Getting rid of that first lot of ink from your brush by starting 'off' your area should eliminate the dark splotch on initial contact. Sally Holmes has fabulous Inkylicious ink duster brush tutorials on YouTube, click HERE to see them. Hope that helps you! Here's the inside and the envelope. The second card features a new Hero Arts 'Large Flower Background' stamp I got recently. I layered Blushing Bride, Early Espresso and Wild Wasabi CS mats onto the front of a 5 1/4" square cream card base. I stamped the whole image on Very Vanilla CS in Memento Bamboo Leaves ink and stamped just a part of the image again onto a piece of Very Vanilla CS. I inked the edges of the Very Vanilla square with Early Espresso ink, I coloured the flower with ProMarkers, fussy cut it and popped it up over the larger image. I cut a strip of vanilla flower trim, swiped the Bamboo Leaves ink pad over the flowers and left those to dry for a bit while I cut a Blushing Bride CS strip and inked the edges with Early Espresso ink. I adhered the flower trim in place with double sided tape. I stamped and punched the sentiment oval and was going to place it underneath the flower but it didn't look right. The design balanced better when I popped up the oval on the right side over the top of the flower trim. The pink pearls got lost just placed as they were on the Very Vanilla stamped panel so I punched Early Espresso CS 1/4" circles, glued them in place and added the pearls - ahh, much better! When using mainly pale, pastel colours I try to avoid a wishy washy look, I find that adding in a pop of a dark colour lifts and adds a bit of oomph that just rounds out a design so much better - in my view anyway! More stamping of the background stamp was needed to decorate the inside of the card and the envelope. I think this was the card the ladies found most challenging and time consuming! The third card is a bright and breezy number, loosely inspired by a card I made for a recent Glitter Pot class. I made a Bermuda Bay A6 sized card base, cut a panel of beautiful, shimmery Bazzill Bling 'Diamond' CS and dry embossed it with the Cuttlebug 'D'vine Swirl' folder. My sweet friend Lesley gave me the Impression Obsession 'Tied Line' die as a gift and I thought it would go really well with the Memory Box 'Surely Stitched Square' die. The one thing about these dies is the shapes are very delicate and can be difficult to glue in place without making a mess. I simply folded the ends of the die cuts over the edges of the embossed panel, taped them in place and glued the embossed panel to the card front - no mess! The 'Surely Stitched Square' die cuts the stitched frame and lines, a plain frame plus a small stitched square and I decided I'd use all these pieces. I glued the small stitched square over the 'Tied Line' die cut shape and added a shimmery white daisy. I added a trio of Bermuda Bay daisies to the Melon Mambo frame and sprinkled on a few yellow pearls. I stamped, die cut and popped up the sentiment label and added a small die cut butterfly to complete the card front. Here's the inside of the card and the envelope. I stamped a sentiment and small flower image inside. For the envelope, I glued the plain Melon Mambo frame to the flap, inset a Bermuda Bay punched square and added a daisy with a pearl centre. Supplies for Just for You card: Stamps: Inkylicious 'Dandelion Wishes' & 'Make a Wish' sets, WaltzingMouse Stamps 'Say It with Style' set CS: PaperMania A6 white card base Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Wild Honey & Festive Berries Distress Inks Tools: circle Nestabilities die, Inkylicious ink duster brushes Supplies for Fantastic Day! card: Stamps: Hero Arts 'Large Flower Background' stamp, sentiment also from Hero Arts CS: PaperMania cream square card base, SU! Blushing Bride, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla & Wild Wasabi Ink: Memento Bamboo Leaves, SU! Early Espresso, ProMarkers in Pale Pink, Rose Pink & Apple Tools: SU! plain oval punch, handheld 1/4" circle punch, sponge dauber Embellishments & accessories: SU! Very Vanilla flower trim, SU! Dimensionals, pink pearls Supplies for Birthday Wishes card: Stamps: SU! 'Four You', 'Happiest Birthday Wishes' & 'Hello There' sets CS: SU! Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo & Whisper White, Bazzill Bling 'Diamond' Ink: SU! Melon Mambo & Bermuda Bay Tools: Cuttlebug 'D'vine Swirl' embossing folder, Memory Box 'Surely Stitched Square' die, IO 'Tied Line' die, Memory Box 'Cascadia Butterfly Trio' & 'Leavenworth Butterfly Trio' dies, Spellbinders 'Labels Trio' die, Woodware Large Daisy punch, flower shaper & moulding mat Embellishments & accessories: yellow pearls, SU! Dimensionals