Year: 2017

Altenew Cover Die

There seems to be a theme running through my cards at the moment – Altenew. I am playing with their dies as well as stamps, and recently bought this die set – ‘Layered Floral Cover Die’. I shall be returning to the Triangle Turnabout stamp at some point this week……

For this die set, I decided to go with blue and white, but mixed it up. I had some Tonic blue card in matching tones of blue, and used a dark blue and a turquoise blue as well as white. As you can see, it makes very different cards depending on whether the background is light or dark – and I can’t decide which one I like best.

I even hesitated about using a sentiment, but tried one sentiment on one of the cards. I didn’t want a die cut, I didn’t really want a sentiment which took away from the design – just to add a little something……

I went with the sentiments from an old stamp set I have from Craftwork Cards. I bought the set at a local craft show, and have never used it. Again – found when tidying my room up and trying to organise it. I actually may try to organise my room several times a year, as it is amazing what you find!

I shall be entering one of these cards into he following challenges:

Always Fun Challenges – anything goes

Inspiration Destination Challenge – anything goes

Createalicious Challenges – anything goes

A Bit More Time To Craft – anything goes

Still Triangle Turnabout

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This is the first attempt at using the Concord and 9th Triangle Turnabout stamp which turned out OK. For two of the layers, anyway. I don’t think you can imagine how long it has taken me to produce this little snippet of coloured card….I must have spent close to two hours yesterday trying to get it to work for me. I looked at half a dozen YouTube videos, created a template – or four – as recommended by them. It all went well for the first stamp and the first turn, and the next stamp – then all went to pot! I haven’t got a clue what happened. It all seemed to line up before I inked it, then it just didn’t work……

The small example above is just two stamps, with one turn. I was very tempted to try another turn, but decided I liked the look of it as it was, and I didn’t want to get it wrong yet again that same day.

Anyhoo, the card is made with the colours from CAS Colours and Sketches. The challenge was to use Rich Razzleberry, Sahara Sand, and Sweet Sugarplum. I only have the Rich Razzleberry ink, so used Crumb Cake instead of Sahara Sand, and used a piece of card which was Sweet Sugarplum.

As I was a little frustrated- just a little – I saw this sentiment from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous (Phrases 2) and thought it certainly matched the kind of mood I was in. It actually uplifted me. I certainly have the courage to imagine……..I just couldn’t execute the idea. Don’t worry, I’ll keep trying until I do succeed. I am not a ‘giver upper’!

I shall be entering this card into the following challenges:

CAS Colours and Sketches – colour challenge

The House That Stamps Built – colour palette

QKR Stampede – anything goes

Aud Sentiments challenge – anything goes and a sentiment

3 colour triangle turnabout

I’m still playing with the Concord and 9th ‘Triangle Turnabout’, which is why I’ve posted again today – very excited I managed to get that far…… This time I managed to do three layers in the colours set out in the current Just Us Girls challenge – lime green, turquoise and navy. I did the design of the card to match the challenge from Freshly Made Sketches and the Fab ‘n’ Funky challenge for creating a background.

I must say, doing three of the four layers for this stamp was a little easier than before, but I did make sure my stamp was cleaned well between the colours so I could double-check before stamping.

The Navy and Turquoise are from Stampin Up, and the lime green is from Catherine Pooler ‘Lime Rickey’. I think the colours work well together, and I loved the combination. To match the sketch challenge, I cut a thin sliver out and separated the two, adding thinner foam pads to raise only slightly. I always add a little glue to each pad, as I find it then gives me some ‘wiggle time’ to make sure it is centred correctly.

The sentiment is from Altenew ‘Painted Inspiration’, which is a great stamp set with some lovely sayings on it. Quite motivational, which I think is the point of them. I used a Sue Wilson die to cut out the sentiment, and raised it with foam pads.

When I manage to get all four ‘turns’ from the stamp set – I’ll let you know.

Challenges I will be entering are:

Just Us Girls – colour challenge (lime green, navy, turquoise)

Freshly Made Sketches – sketch

Fab ‘n’ Funky – use a background stamp or create a background

Colour challenge

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Hi there, everyone. I hope everyone is enjoying some intermittent sunshine. It’s quite cool here is Derbyshire, UK, but at least it’s stopped raining!

I have been crafting again – already! As you can see, I have gone more simple this time round……the card inspiration from the Color Throwdown challenge site with the theme of using the four colours listed – lime green, turquoise, yellow, white.

I did think of doing flowers initially, after seeing Amy Rysavy YouTube video on her take of the theme, but then I say another challenge from Simply Less is More with the theme of geometric – so I brought out my Neat and Tangled ‘Origami map’ and had a play.

Now, I have read the rules – several times – and for clean and simple cards it does say ‘lots of white/blank space’…….so I hope the blue background fits in as blank space…… I haven’t embossed it, I have left it pure and clean – well, apart from inking around the edge a little for more depth around the countries.

I started with a 6 inch square white card base, and put a slightly smaller blue layer on top, but cut out the origami map first, as I wanted the actual stamp to be paper pieced into the aperture. I didn’t want too many layers – yesterday’s card more than covered the layers side of me for a few days.

I then inked around the internal edges to make them darker – blinking difficult when there are small projections sticking out. I then used double-sided tape to stick this to the card base.

I stamped the world in Versafine black onyx, and let it dry, (not embossed that either!) then coloured with my Zigs. One colour – no water, no shading – just coloured. I love the fine tip on these pens, so you can into every nook and cranny. Once coloured, I cut it out with the matching die, and stuck it into the ready-made aperture.

The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn, and supposed to be an edger die, but I like how long the sentiment is, and covers the whole of the base of the blue card.

As a tip, I cut the sentiment out from a piece of card which had some double-sided sticky sheet on the back of it, to make it easier to stick down. If I forget to do this, then I use my Xyron machine – but I remembered this time.

These are the challenges I will entering this card into:

Color Throwdown – turquoise, lime green, yellow, white

Simply Less is More – Geometric

Artistic Inspirations – anything goes option of clean and simple

Crafting from the Heart – anything goes

Jungle themed

Hi there. It’s been a few days since I last posted, due to several longer days at work, and working later, but I think I’ve made up for it with todays card. It isn’t what you would call ‘clean and simple’. It isn’t a single layered card. It looks as though I’ve chucked everything at it, doesn’t it? Let me explain…………..

I have been trying to get to grips with masculine cards, and saved a challenge theme to try from ‘Cardz 4 Guyz’ as the theme was Jungle Fun. I bought a bunch of metal stencils from Sweet Poppy at the Doncaster Racecourse craft show, which depicted wild animals, and haven’t played with them yet. This is only one of the stencils, and I am currently waiting for texture paste to dry on the others I have made.

This card is, obviously, using the Giraffe stencil. I used a Cosmic Shimmer texture paste – Chic Pumpkin – on top of black card. A base card of 7 inches square, to which I added a greeny/shimmery card slightly smaller which I had embossed with the Die’sire ‘Tumbling Leaves’ embossing folder. Once I added the giraffe, I played with the position thinking about adding more leaves, a sentiment, wondering what I would put where on the card, and decided to put things a little haphazardly on the card, slightly off kilter, giving an impression of wildness – maybe? Kinda? Sorta? That’s my thought process, anyway.

The sentiment is from Tonic, and I shadowed it with white. In hindsight – as there isn’t any other white on the card – maybe this wasn’t the right choice of colour………

The leaves added to the left of the card are from Sue Wilson – Finishing Touches – Mosaic Leaves. I use these a lot to add interest and dimension to a card, and I particularly like them when they aren’t flat. I have only glued the stems down, slightly bending the branches themselves so they don’t stick straight up, but lie along the card.

And again – away from the clean and simple – I added some bling. Who says a masculine card can’t have some bling? I added some goldy/coppery jewels as you can see. You can also see that I not knowing my colours today – goldy/coppery and greeny/shimmery. I think it’s a new trend…….

Here are the challenges I will entering this card into:

Cardz 4 Guyz – Jungle Fun

Always Fun Challenges – dry embossing (background)

Tuesday Throwdown – texture (background and texture paste)

Watercooler Wednesday – masculine/anything goes

Simon Says Stamp – bit of sparkle (gems)

Crafty Catz – more than two layers

Green Flowers

For today I have gone completely mad and opposite to my clean and simple card yesterday. You could say I have gone embossing and die cutting crazy. Embellishment crazy even.

I was inspired by several challenges to create this card, and it all seemed to work well by combining them. This is the sort of card I started to make back in the day. I loved die-cutting and embossing with a passion, and added everything to every card. I tend to do these kinds of cards for Christmas, adding loads of layers, loads of different die-cutting elements like deer, or trees, or angels. Love it.

For this card I was going very floral, and very monochrome! I used a 7 inch square base and put an embossed green and white layer on top. They are both embossed with a Crafters Companion Die’sire Embossalicious folder called ‘Floral Vine’, cut with a Sue Wilson Noble Frame die – as always.

The roses are, again, Sue Wilson – Finishing Touches Wild Rose – cut three times, and embossing after cutting. Such lovely detail on the rose, don’t you think? Sue Wilson’s ‘Trailing Ivy’ was also cut and embossed.

The main sentiment is from Paperartsy ‘Eclectica 3’, and stamped in black versamark, using my Misti. I tried to find an ink which matched the green, but decided on black as I wanted a bold statement and sentiment which would stand out from all the floral happenings on the card.

I used yet another Sue Wilson die set – Frames and Tags ‘Grace’ – for the sentiment, using the main scalloped outside layer and detailed inner layer, adding a green layer behind to highlight the design.

For the final added embellishment, I turned to my Tonic Nuvo drops, added them to the four corners, then added around the sentiment. I told you I was harnessing my inner multi-layering personality!

The challenges I will be entering are:

Aud Sentiments challenge – flowers and a sentiment

The House that Stamps Built – tic tac toe – (flowers, pearls, frames)

Brown Sugar challenge – embossing

Craft for the Craic – anything goes

Allsorts challenge – ring a ring o’ roses

Crazy for Challenges – use green

Crafting with Dragonflies – lots of flowers

Less is definitely more

Hi all, I hope everyone is having a good weekend. I’ve been having a little struggle with my mojo for the past few days, what with busy at work, being let down by a charity I was making cards for. Isn’t is amazing how things affect your creativity sometimes, and yet other times it doesn’t make any difference.

I was having a look through my recent challenge entries, and remembered I had made a major ‘boo boo’ with the last ‘Less is More’ challenge – I entered a card but entered too many other challenges. So – you know what – this card is only being entered ONLY into the challenge.

The theme for the current challenge is ‘one layer: spots/stripes’. I knew I had some small stamps somewhere by Catherine Pooler which had plenty of those on them – now to find them! Actually, it wasn’t too difficult as I have been trying to organise my stamps into makes, as opposed to themes and find that works better for me. I always seem to know I have stamps and dies, and usually who makes them so it works better.

I used some Crafters Companion Neenah Crest Solar White card, which is lovely and smooth, perfect for stamping on. I cut two pieces of A4 card down to make four cards, as I was planning on putting some together in a four-pack for notelets, varying the sentiment on each one, but the design staying the same.

I used Catherine Pooler inks, too, as I find these stamp extremely well, but being very careful as they stay a little wet for longer. Beautiful inks……but I still used my Misti just in case!

So, I am only entering the current ‘Less is More’ challenge, and hope I have read the rules correctly this time! :)

Trio of butterflies

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Hi everyone. I’ve gone a different route to the most recent cards. And – I’ve read the rules for the challenges more closely, after the last time! My advice – read, then read again, then read again!

Anyhoo…….for this card I have used three ‘twinchies’ and stamped a layering butterfly from a Hunkydory set I have, using my Altenew inks. (You just knew there would be Altenew somewhere, didn’t you?)

The base card is Kraft card, with an embossed ‘pinprick’ design from Sue Wilson/ Creative Expressions as the first layer. I love those embossing folders, as they give really good dimension and texture when you use them. This one is called ‘Checkboard Pinpoint’, and gives a checkboard and dot effect.

After embossing that, I lay out my butterfly twinchies, but thought it looked a little boring. I had a hunt around my card and paper stash, not really looking for anything in particular, and came across this vellum with a bronze/brown/gold pattern on it.

I stuck that to the brown embossed card using glue which would be underneath the twinchies, therefore hiding it. I stuck the twinchies down with foam pads, and turned my thoughts to a sentiment.

I wanted a die cut sentiment and went to my Katie Skilton set, as I liked the look of the arrow, and that the sentiment could almost be suspended and flying – just like the butterflies…..well…..that’s what I thought, anyway.

I will be entering this card into the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge – ‘going dotty’

Addicted to Stamps and More – ‘anything goes’

Cardz For Galz – ‘add texture’

Moving Along with the Times – ‘Butterflies’

Still Altenew

Hi everyone. I am still with the same stamp set, and now playing with different colours. I seem to have gained some confidence with layering stamps. I’ll let you look at the blue cards to spot some mistakes – I’ll tell you at the end!

The inspiration for the yellow card is from the ‘Less is More’ challenge to use yellow and grey only, so I thought I’d have a play with the only flower from that set I hadn’t stamped yet. I did initially think of doing the sunflowers stamp set, but as I’m on a roll with this one, I decided to stay with it. Three layers for the flower, and two layers for the leaves at the base of the flower. This particular stamp actually fits together, and is quite easy to match-up – with the correct lighting, anyway.

I tried doing it and found that leaning over created a shadow and I couldn’t really see what I was doing, so in came a light I placed nearer and to the back of my craft table. That seemed to work very well.

I used colours from Altenew inks, so I didn’t even have to try and find colours that worked well and toned well together as it is already done for you with the ink sets.

So, onto the mistakes. Did you spot them?

On the top blue card I couldn’t figure out which way up the flower was supposed to be! So – it’s crooked. I think it was planted into alcohol!

For the second blue card I think I had a stutter with the stamping. I completely misjudged the darkest layer at the bottom of the bud. Well, take about artistic licence. So my blue cards are a drunken flower and a stuttering stamper…….some fun, at least.

I will be entering the yellow card into the following challenges:

Less is More – ‘yellow and grey’

Make My Monday – ‘May flowers’

Incy Wincy Designs – ‘Clean and Simple’

Crafting From The Heart – ‘anything goes’

Colour Crazy Challenge – ‘anything goes’

Crafty Calendar challenge – ‘flowers’

Altenew frenzy

Today was a day for a frenzy of activity. Why? Well, I have spent most of the day on the phone between two companies trying to get a brand new washing machine – which doesn’t work – changed. I have had it for two weeks, and it has taken that long for an engineer to come and say it is broken! Well – duh!! Anyway, after the saga I just had to go and craft.

I have certainly had a frenzy of stamping – as you can see! I have finally – yes finally – got to grips with multi-layer stamping. I think. Maybe. Sorta.

I have stuck to yellows and browns for the flowers, and green for the leaves. The colours worked well, so I stamped my way through my most recent Altenew acquisition ‘Budding Thanks’. All the yellow flowers are from that set. I am still working my way through the different flowers, and they are blinking gorgeous. So easy to line up…….and how about me going all ‘Clean and Simple’? Gotta say, lovin’ the simplicity.

A comment on a previous posting was absolutely right – it takes time to appreciate the simple after crafting so intricately for years, with layer upon layer of die-cutting.

The brown flowers were because I saw a posting from Yana Smakula on Pinterest, and she did her flowers in coffee colours. They were stunning. I had to give it a try. I am also liking that effect too.

As I haven’t posted for a few days, and was in frenzy mode, I have decided to choose some challenges using a different card from this posting for each one. I couldn’t decide what to do which would match the same challenges, and had some serious crafting mojo happening, I just went with it and kept going. I took one of my cats meowing at me constantly to realise how late it was and that I had been in my craft cave for a few hours!!

I did venture outside at some point today, and took a picture of the bluebells currently in bloom, almost at the end of their bloom actually. Still a stunning display, though.