Product Review For Hunkydory

I was recently contacted by someone from Hunkydory asking if I would review of some of their products and I could choose what I wanted to review. Now as most of us know Hunkydory are most well know for their fabulous kits that they produce. Although I do use CD's sometime when Crafting I don't use kits. My greatest love is Stamping and Mixed Media but that was not a problem as two - three years ago Hunkydory  started their own range of stamps and more recently they introduced a range of ink pads too. So it was from these two ranges that I picked what I wanted to review.

I picked Three Stamps all on the same theme, which was Watercolour Birds and I also picked six different colour ink pads to try too.

 First to be put to the test where the ink pads, as a lover of Distress Ink pads I was interested to see how these inks performed. I'm pleased to report that they blend together very well and react to water being dropped onto the surface too. The size of the ink pads is small 2 inches by 2 inches, so if like me you go off to craft retreats and take ink pads with you they are a handy size. They are shaped and look as though they would stack together, however they don't. This was the one thing that disappointed me, but it was a very small thing.

Next I tried the stamps. They are clear polymer  stamp and very good quality as well. I used Versafine Black Onyx to stamp my images and they stamped very crisp and clear. I cleaned the stamps with a baby wipe afterwards and they stood up to a good rubbing to get them clean too. In the past some clear stamps I've used don't like being rubbed clean. I finished my first card by using Brushos in the background and Aqua pens on a palette with a waterbrush for the colouring. I also used the ink pads for the base card using some of the small stamps.

I used three different sized cards from my stamps, the first being a 7x7 (above) and my second was a 6x6. I used the main stamp on it's own this time, just using the description and the speckles from the birds back to decorate the base card,

My final card was an A5 craft card base where I used all of the stamps on the topper this time. They were all coloured with Aqua pens or watercolour paints on watercolour card stock. My reasons for using the different sized cards was that I wanted to show that the stamps were a decent size, not something that could end up getting lost on a big card.

So over all I would give Hunkydory a big thumbs up for the products that I've reviewed and to thank then for the opportunity to review these products. I'm sure it won't be long before I'm buying more of the lovely stamps and also the ink pads.
 

Thank you to all of you that have taken the time to read this to the end. And also for any comments that you wish to leave.

Sue

Rudolph Days

It's time again for another Rudolph Days Challenge, I can't believe how fast it seems to come around every month. My card or should I say cards this month I have made with a favourite stamp of mine from Stampendous. I seem to use it each year and try to do something different with it each time. This year I stamped it using Salty Ocean Distress Inks and then dragged the colour using a wet brush and a little of the ink from a refill bottle when needed. I then coloured the holly using a Distress Marker  and red glitter glue. I used Stickles to add some sparkle to the houses and snow and then some Tonic Nuvo glitter glue on the oval. I added a sentiment that I had received on a free stamp set from a magazine to finish.

 Another 8 cards to add to my growing collection.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Frosty Family

It seems strange to be posting a Christmas card with the beautiful weather that we are having at the moment, but if I want to get a head start then it must be done. I've used a favourite stamp from my stash and I can't remember where it came from, although Creative Expressions springs to mind from somewhere. I stamped onto some water colour card stock and then using a mixture of ink from Distress Ink pads and Aqua pens I coloured the image and the background. I added a little glitter glue underneath the snowmen and distressed the edges with Stormy Sky Distress Ink. I mounted onto an A5 card base and added a sentiment from Chocolate Baroque. Of course I didn't stop at one card I made eight altogether.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:-

Christmas Kickstart Challenge..... Frosty and Friends
Christmas Crafts All Year Round..... Family and Friends

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Spring Flowers

I been rather quite lately what with my Mum coming home from Hospital (glad to say she back to normal now) and the Easter hols. But in between I have managed to get some crafting done, just not had time to share with you all. Here is my card for today, it's similar to one that I made at a Phil Martin workshop at the end of last year but I've put my own twist on it. I started with an 8x8 card base and black card for the matting, some white card cut slightly smaller than the black which I coloured with distress inks. I then sprayed Dylusions Shimmer Sprays onto my glass mat and mopped up some of the colour onto the background I had made. I repeated this for the centre circle and added a sentiment from Chocolate Baroque. I made some flowers that from a die that was bought from the Internet and mopped up more spray from the mat before putting together on the card with some die cuts of leaves, from another die bought from the Internet.

Hope you are all enjoying this wonderful weather that we're having at the moment, I'm off to my Sister-in-laws this afternoon.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
Allsorts..... Blossoms, Butterflies and Bugs
A Bit More Time To Craft..... Anything Goes
Back To Basics and Beyond..... Use A Spray
My Time To Craft..... Spring Flowers

Thank you for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Sentiment In Focus

Two weeks ago I managed to blog every day and I was hoping to keep it up or at least blog more often. But like most things life has other ideas and last week my Mum was rushed into Hospital. I'm glad to say that she's on the mend now and should be coming home this afternoon. I'm waiting for a phone call as I'm posting this card. Hopefully I will be able to resume blogging again. My card is for the current challenge over on the Allsorts Blog which this week is Sentiment In Focus. For my card I used all Crafters Companion Products, starting with a 3D embossing folder which was given the distress ink treatment. Then I used one of the sentiments which was a fairly recent release form Crafters Companion, I distressed the edges with the same colours that I used for the embossed background.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

April Showers Bring May Flowers

At the end of February I was very lucky to win the Challenge over on the Stamping Sensations Challenge blog. The lovely ladies at Stamping Sensations have have asked me to be their guest this month April, for their new challenge which for this month is April Showers Bring May Flowers. I used a mixture of stamps to make my card starting with the Rain Drops stamps by Ryn, which I embossed with white embossing powder before blending blue ink all over the background. I then stamped and coloured some Heartfelt Creations stamps, Cheery Pansies and adding some micro beards to the centres. I mounted the background and the pansies onto some gold mirri card and popped onto a 7x7 card base. Finally I settled on a sentiment from Stampscapes which I felt went with the nature theme of the card. Do pop over to the Stamping Sensations blog and take a look at the fabulous cards that the DT have provided for inspiration this month, along with a great prize too provided by Be Creative who are giving a £25.00 voucher to spend in their store.

Thank you for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Bee Awesome

When I saw what the challenge was over on the Allsorts Challenge blog this week (it's to use Yellow) I knew straight away what stamps I was going to use. I have fallen in love with the Pink Ink stamps and am now the proud owner of 11 of them. This is the first outing for not only this beautiful Bee but of any of the ones that I have.The bee is quite a focal point as the card base I used is 7x7. I stamped using a stamp platform just to make sure that I got a good image before changing to a smaller block to use some of the extra stamps in the set around the outside of the card. Then I stamped onto heat proof acetate for the wings using StazOn,, again I used the stamp platform for this as I find stamping onto acetate a bit tricky. Then I coloured in the back with a clear sparkle pen and left to dry before cutting out and sticking to the bee. I don't think you can tell that they are separate in this photo so next time I might just try a pale blue sparkle pen.

Thank you for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Christmas Die cuts

I've noticed that there is a new Christmas Challenge blog on block, Christmas Kickstart Challenge. I think it a two week challenge and this time they are asking for cards with die cuts. For my card I have used a die from Spellbinders that was released last year in a bundle of Christmas themed dies. I cut it from black card and then with some textured wallpaper that I found in a DIY store (I took a largish sample) I made a backing paper. It has a rather nice silver sheen to it and there was enough there to make 9 cards all the same. I'm off now to join in the challenge.

I'm not sure how I've managed to post everyday this week, hope I can keep it up.
Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Mothers Day

I'm back with a card today that I've made for my Mum for Mother's Day. I used the Burst Of Spring collection from Heartfelt Creations for the card, the pansies from this collection are gorgeous. I used ink pads and dabbers to colour the pansies and added some matching stickles to the centres.  The sentiment die used is from The Paper Boutique. The challenge over at My Time To Craft is Mothers Day/For A Female so I'm going to join in this week.

Thanks for taking the time to look and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Feathered Friends

Well things have settled down here after the excitement of last week so I made time to make a card to enter into the Allsorts Challenge this week which is Feathered Friends. I've used a 5x5 card base and a stamp that was free on the front of Creative Stamping a couple of months ago, where there was a whole A4 sheet full of stamps with birds and related things. I used the Wren stamp, the reason for this is - outside my sitting room window is a large Clematis which every year blooms beautifully for a good 2 -3 months starting about the end of March beginning of April. After it finishes blooming a little wren can often be seen hopping about around the bottom of the plant, I not sure if it nests in there every year or just visits daily, I've never cut it back far enough to find out. The Wren stamp reminded me of this. I coloured my Wren using pencils and made a brushed background using distress ink pads. The sentiment comes from the same stamp sheet and the branches were from a Lavinia stamp.

Thank you for taking the time to look and your kind comment which are always appreciated.

Sue