Speedy Tulips

Hi there. I decided to have a go at the current challenge at As You See It. This time, it is a speed challenge – make a card within 10 minutes, and the theme is ‘tulips, or other spring bulbs‘.

This is the second attempt at this challenge, as my first attempt – I dropped a die into my machine, my glue was blocked – and I hadn’t figures out where each die cut piece went – so the time went over, hence the second attempt:

I used an older Sizzix die set, then all the Concord & 9th card stock I wanted to use for the flower and the leaves, got out my Spellbinders embossing folder and a white panel, my card base, and the sentiment die from Time 4 Tea Designs.

Off we go. The panel was embossed first and taped to the card base.

The layers for the flowers and leaves were die cut – several pieces through at once – then the sentiment with it’s shadow. That took over 6 minutes…..

I then assembled all the layers with glue, stuck them down onto the panel, added the sentiment – done – phew!

Only just though – it was tight:

A couple of errors found whilst speedily gluing – the left hand leaf has the lighter green attached to the back……and I missed off one of the mid pink layers on the tulip – so added it anyway on top……but it still looks pretty, I think.

On a previous speed challenge I did stamping and (bad) colouring, which is why I thought die cutting would be a better way to go……..perhaps not such an intricate one – not realising until I did the first card how many little pieces there were – but I was going to get it done, no matter how many times I had to try…

I shall be entering the following challenges:

As You See It – speed challenge and tulips or other bulb flowers

Make My Monday – say it with flowers

Blow Bubbles

Hello. It is my turn to host at The Alphabet Challenge. We have reached the letter ‘C‘, and I have chosen the theme of:

C is for Circles

Here is my card:

I remember having a Lawn Fawn stamp and die set with bubbles, so I hunted it out, stamped all the images, then coloured with Copics. These were then die cut and set to one side.

I wanted a grass and sky background, but not the traditional way of doing it, so I searched through the CML app for ‘circle’ and this fun stencil popped up from Heffy Doodle.

Onto a white panel, I laid the stencil, then ink blended in two colo0urs of blue and then two colours of green, darker at the edge of each colour, then lighter where the two colours met.

This was then glued onto a card base, and then I spent quite a bit of time placing the images, and the bubbles until I was happy, then used 3D foam pieces to attach them.

The sentiment is from the same Lawn Fawn stamp set, and stamped onto the background panel – very, very carefully and using my Misti……Maybe it should have been stamped before adding the images……

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following our theme. I look forward to seeing you in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Stencil Fun – use stencils – option of see through it not taken

Allsorts – anything goes

Love To Craft – anything goes

Hang In There – You Can Do It

Hello once again. I am here with a card for the new challenge starting at Cardz 4 Galz. Billie A is hosting, and she has chosen the theme of:

Brown & Green, with twine/ribbon

Here is my card:

I started with die cutting all the layers of the cat (Spellbinders/Bibi Cameron) in Kraft and white – some pink for the ears and tongue, as well as green for the eyes.

Before layering together, I thought about how I could ‘hang’ the cat, so I knew where to place his paws, and found some twine I had in the drawer in my kitchen (who doesn’t?) and grabbed a piece.

Starting with the green background panel, and a Spellbinders embossing folder, I attached the twine to the back, then glued to the card base.

The cat was assembled, then attached with 3D foam, making sure it was over the twine where needed, and where it looked right.

The sentiments were stamped and then die cut to create the banners you see, and attached with 3D foam.

I hope you can come and join us following the theme set by Billie A – I look forward to seeing you in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Allsorts – anything goes

CYHTP – embossing folder, option of embellishments not taken

Love To Craft – anything goes

Lotus Hugs

Hello again. I have been crafting a lot these past few days, mainly because it has been so hot in the UK, and my craft room has air con…..Here is a card created following inspiration from the colour board at AAA Colourful:

For this card I used a new product suite – to me, anyway – from Hero Arts. This couple of items includes a Letterpress Plate and ;layering stencil set.

I first used the press plate to dry emboss the image onto white card stock, then used the layering stencils and Pinkfresh Studio inks to ink blend.

This panel was then cut down slightly and adhered with 3D foam to a card base.

For the sentiment, I used a Time 4 Tea Designs die, the shadow being cut out of white, and the word die cut once I had used an ink pad to colour a piece of white card, as I wanted a blue from the same colour family as the two other blue tones used on the background.

This was adhered, then some blue gems added for interest.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

AAA Colourful – inspiration colour board

Aud Sentiments – embossing wet or dry and/or flowers and a sentiment (dry embossed the letterpress plate)

Triple B – birds and/or butterflies and/or blooms

Floating Bay Window Christmas

Hello again. It seems really strange to have created a Christmas card when the temperature in the UK was over 30 degrees – but I was so inspired by the current technique challenge at 52 CCT that I just had to have a go.

The challenge was to create a floating bay window card, a couple of videos were provided to follow, and here is what I created:

Now – this card was really hard to photograph – I used a lot of silver and shiny papers, and it just wouldn’t happen whilst indoors, so I too the photos outside in daylight – though in the shade.

I followed the instructions for the base card – quite easy to follow, then found a paper pad with lots of silver and shiny Christmas sheets. The papers were cut and matted with brushed silver card stock, then attached where instructed.

For the acetate front panel, I used a piece of acetate – a long time in my stash – which had white polka dots on it, almost like falling snow, then die cut a couple of larger Pinkfresh Studio snowflakes out of white glitter card and attached them

This is how it closes to be able to be posted – please excuse the fingers holding it closed – it did like to pop open:

A great fancy fold, quite easy to put together once you understood where it was going, and could be used for all kinds of occasions.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

52 CCT – Christmas & floating bay window card

Love Those Pretty Papers – patterned papers, option of fancy fold taken

Peace On Earth – Christmas anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – Christmas anything goes

You Are Amazing

Hello everyone. I’ve had a little break – a few nights in Tenerife with hubby – and then after we returned home, we had to say goodbye to another of our cats, which would be the second in 5 weeks. Needless to say – we are heartbroken and been trying to come to terms with the double loss, so close together. We do still have 2 other cats – one is 10 years of age, the other is 19 years of age – both getting extra cuddles – when they allow it….

I have been crafting but not really had my head right to be able to post anything, but hopefully I can continue.

I start with a card inspired by the current colours at Color Hues:

The colours they provide this time are lime green and violet. I wanted those two colours to stand out, so kept this quite simple – for me, anyway.

I first die cut the flowers from Concord & 9th ‘Handpicked’ die set, just using the smaller florals in this large die set, and lime green card from my stash, and the ‘Grape Soda’ card from Concord & 9th. The flowers were assembled, and set to one side.

The background panel was embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder, and glued to the card base.

The oval frame was created by die cutting a Pinkfresh Studio die set, which was then applied to the embossed panel with thin 3D foam strips.

The flowers were arranged and each of the flowers has a little piece of 3D foam, with glue on the base of the stems.

The sentiment is from Pinkfresh Studio, stamped, then die cut with the matching die, and also layered with 2 more die cuts. To attach this, I had to cut some teeny tiny 3D foam pieces for the part inside the oval, then glue where it was on the oval.

The final touch was to add some Spellbinders gems to the centre of the flowers.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Hues – lime green and violet

Aud Sentiments – embossing wet or dry and/or flowers, and a sentiment

CYHTP – embossing folder, option of embellishments taken

Have a (gum)ball

Hello again. It is time for the new challenge at The Alphabet Challenge. Dawn is hosting, and has chosen the theme of:

B is for Balls

Here is my card:

I decided to go with a quirky take on the theme, by using a stamp set from Lawn Fawn. I stamped and heat embossed the image onto water-colour card stock, the water-coloured with my Zig markers. This was die cut when dry, then the sentiment stamped and die cut with a fishtail banner die.

The background is patterned paper, matted with white, and all put together with glue and 3D foam.

I hope to see all sorts of ‘ball’ themed creations in our gallery and hope you can come and join us. xx

Paper Circles

Hello again. It is time for the new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz, and Johanna has chosen the theme of:

A circle, or anything with circles

Here is my card:

fir this card, I wanted to use some of my patterned paper pieces, and also decided to go with a slimline card base.

I first die cut several circles out of different papers, different sizes, using Hero Arts nesting circle dies. I wasn’t sure which I wanted to sue, so cut quite a few.

I used a cream piece of card for the background, and used a Spellbinders embossing folder, arranging the circles to suit my eye, which did involve a lot of moving around…

The white circle was cut using a Gina K Designs circle tag, and stamped with a heart and small piece of foliage – I can’t remember which stamp set and which company now.

All the circles were die cut again with white card to make them a little thicker, then attached to the card base with 3D foam, strategically placed so I could overlap them.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following our theme. xx

ABC Christmas Challenge – J & K

Hello there. It;s been a busy week, but I am here with a couple of cards for the new challenge starting at ABC Christmas Challenge. We always have themes for our letters, and this time they are:

J is for Just Enough (CAS)

K is for Knitwear

Here are my cards:

For my first card, I chose a Polkadoodles stamp set, and stamped directly onto the white card base, then coloured with pencils. I find Copics show through on the revers side, and I wanted this card to be one layer, no additional elements, to keep it very purely CAS.

My second card took a little more time. My first step was to stamp the Lawn Fawn critters, then colour them with Copics, before die cutting them out. The sweaters were also stamped, coloured, then die cut, and attached to the critters. The edges of the sweaters I also added some Lawn Fawn Prisma glitter for a little more sparkle.

All of these stamps came from the same stamp set – ‘Ugly & Bright’.

The background is some patterned paper from Heffy Doodle.

I used the Waffle Flower postage collage die, then a couple of the Waffle Flower Christmas postage collage stencils – picking which images were going where after placing my critters – then ink blending , adding more glitter to some of the elements, before stamping and die cutting the small bubble sentiments.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations following one or both of our Christmas themes. xx

Sending A Coneflower Note

Hello. I have another card to share following the list of items from Festive Friday:

Looking at the list of items, I started with the golf foiled background panel. This was created using a hot foil plate from Spellbinders called ‘Dazzling Diamonds’.

The flowers were created using a layering die set from Honey Bee Stamps ‘Lovely Layers: Coneflower‘, with the layers of the flower die cut from Concord & 9th card stock – and including the ‘Marmalade‘ orange card stock which was retired a year or so ago. I have a stash of this colour as it is a gorgeous orange, and was sorry to see it go from their product line.

From darkest to lightest, I used ‘Spiced Cider‘, ‘Marmalade‘, ‘Clementine‘ and then ‘Creamsicle‘. The leaves were die cut from ‘Grasshopper‘. The centre of the flowers were a back layer of black, with a yellow upper layer from my stash of bits.

To include a hexagon, I die cut two of the Pinkfresh Studio ‘Nested hexagons: Double Stitched‘ – you can part of the two hexagons under the flowers.

The gold diamond panel was adhered to a white card base, the two hexagons adhered flat also – there are lots of layers to the flowers, therefore enough dimension.

I applied 3D foam to the flower heads and placed them onto the hexagons, then added two of the leaves for each flower – also with 3D foam.