I have a card to share I started yesterday, but struggled with a sentiment. I finished it after work today, and am quite pleased how it turned out:
I stamped the Altenew ‘Extra Special‘ sprig and used Altenew inks for the layers, going with the darker reds, then die cut them with the matching dies.
The two background rectangles are – again – Reverse Confetti ‘Diagonal Stitches cover panel‘. I had some red card in my stash which matched the reds I had used, and used as you see.
The sentiment took hunting through my stash and finding the Ultimate Crafts ‘You are beautiful inside‘ stamp set, stamped in one of the reds, and stuck down onto the framelits dies from Stampin Up.
The two sprigs were positioned like this as I wanted some of the red at the top right edge to break the whiteness up there.
I shall be entering this into the following challenges:
Hello again. My crafty mojo seems to be with me after a week away on holiday. I have another card to share with you – and this one took a little planing:
I haven’t used this stamp set before, despite having it in my stash for a while, but it came to mind when I was thinking about a few challenges.
I stamped the images you see, and coloured them with Copics. I wanted a vibrant dragon, with matching little people. I then took some Distress Oxides and smooshed a panel, using colours which I felt were vibrant, but also didn’t interfere with the main images.
Using the ‘Tall Triangles‘ Reverse confetti die to cut the white card, I re-inserted one of the cut triangles in the smaller end, so it matches the sketch I am following, and stuck that down onto the inked panel.
I was toying with the idea of the dragon blowing smoke and flames etc – which are included in the stamp set – but I didn’t want him scaring the little people away……just as he is dropping by for a visit.
The sentiment is from Heffy Doodle and I thought matched perfectly, so it meant the dragon was actually a friendly one! What a story I had going on in my mind at the time – thinking about Puff The Magic Dragon – but not the sad part! (Showing my age, now!)
Guess what? I did what I normally do – and try not to – I forgot about the sentiment until I had already put the card together……and stamped it using my Misti just hoping and praying I didn’t mess it up…..I must learn to plan ahead more!
Hello everyone. It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post, as I have been enjoying a week in Tenerife with friends. Even though the weather has been cloudy, there has also been some sun…..and certainly warmer than the UK.
I have able to get to my craft room in between washing and drying clothes and visiting family, and I have created a card for a few challenges:
I have just bought a new tablet, too, and am in the process of changing things over. The Samsung ‘smart switch; is great – but you still have to OK a sign-on from another device – and I had forgotten how many apps I use each day! This photo is with the new tablet, and to me looks a little dark – despite my photo box………..I will obviously persevere.
I stamped and heat embossed the Altenew ‘Perfectly Perfect‘ flowers, and water-coloured them with the Altnew water-colour pan set. I only used one blue, and one green, but drew the colours out to be lighter at the edges of the petals, and darker in the centre.
The background is a Reverse Confetti die cut out of white, then grey, and I even lined up the stripes when I stuck them together!
The sentiment is from a Chloe stamp set I bought yesterday with a gift token I received for Christmas to a local craft shop. I had a challenging time wondering where to place the sentiment, as I usually do this at the bottom, but I decided to go higher this time. (There are a few bigger splatters than I liked which are hidden now!)
I shall be entering the following challenges: Color Throwdown – navy blue, grey, green
I’m off to craft again – I’ve missed it despite the holiday – and am preparing for my Guest Designer stint over at CASology from 5th February…..I hope you can join us. Speaking of design Teams, have you also entered the ABC Christmas Challenge for January yet? It’s still open, and the theme is ‘A’ for anything goes, and/or ‘B’ for berries………….
I’ve been on a roll today, probably as I won’t be able to post so much next weekend as I have previous things arranged. This time a quick post for the card using the colours from Color Throwdown – black, brown, white – and the theme from Time Out challenges – Loving -:
This flower is one of the freebies when I attended the Altenew day in Daventry last year. It is a three step layer flower and leaves set, but I decided to colour with my Copics because – well – I could!
The outline of the flower was stamped in Gina K amalgam ink, then coloured with four – yes four – brown colours. I’m getting very daring with the Copics, aren’t I?
The leaves were stamped in Versafine black onyx, and the two layers stamped with the Altenew grey inks – the grey is my ‘added’ neutral.
The background is a purchase from Seven Hills Crafts with a couple of gift tokens from my family for Christmas. How lucky am I?
I hope you have a good week, and I’ll catch you all soon. 🙂
Hello there. I am finding my card making all over the place at the moment. I am working on Christmas cards for the next ABC Christmas Challenge, so I have a lot of Christmas stuff out.
I am also making some birthday cards to put together a stash of them for when needed- and that’s mostly stamping and colouring.
I also turned my hand this weekend to make a birthday card for my mum-in-law. She doesn’t follow my blog or Instagram, so I think I am safe posting this. Her birthday is on Tuesday – the big 80…………but that is the day after we bury her second husband……….my step-father-in-law……a true gentleman, who took great loving care of her for many years……
Mum-in-law particularly likes my intricate die-cutting cards, the kind I made lots of back when I started crafting – mainly because I couldn’t stamp clean and clear images! The arrival of the Misti stamping tool changed the cards I make, and the way I craft, and following other card making blogs and Instagram led me to the American crafting industry – wow. What a selection of crafty stuff over there – but lets also not forget out UK companies – Clearly Besotted, Heffy Doodle, to name just a couple.
Here I am rambling on – maybe I’m getting a little maudlin because of what the week is about to bring…..
Back to the card:
I turned to my Sue Wilson/Creative Expressions stash for virtually all of this card. The card stock – lilac and teal; the dies – stitched rectangles and leaves; the glitter jewels behind the lattice. The only other company was Crafters Companion – the sentiment, and the glitter card stock for the leaves.
I actually ‘gutted‘ the bottom two layers to die cut the top few labels, so it made it more economical, and raised some of the layers on foam tape. Another couple of pictures and close-up:
I am tempted to change the way I did the sentiment, as I think it gets a little lost on the card, but it certainly shines and glitters more in real life – may be the last photograph shows it better?
I also used my Gemini Go for the first time. I am finding a lot of my die-cutting is for small images, and I used it for the mosaic leaves here – first pass, cut straight through – no backwards and forwards – just done…..I am so impressed as these leaves are quite intricate. It now has a place on my craft table……
Hello there. Having some time to craft today, despite being full of cold – and boy did that kick in this afternoon! I am glad I managed to complete this card before my eyes went……
I have tried a new thing today, well , several actually, but the main thing was colouring a digi stamp. With Copics…..! I am a total beginner with Copics, a complete novice with digi stamps, and so my morning was challenging – but in a good way. This stamp is from QKR Stampede, and I fell in love with the image as soon as I saw it……….
I am really pleased how this turned out, and even I can see the dimension on the candy cane! I have been working through some colouring classes from Kit and Clowder. The videos are very informative, and just the encouragement to give a go is enough for me to – well – give it a go.
One of the most basic for me – sometimes my Copic just belches out colour…..messes your colouring completely. The answer – take the lid off the other end of the pen! That way it gets rid of the vacuum, and no more colour belching!! Wow! Who’d’a thunk!
It’s a game changer for me – yet another tool in my box. One I will keep trying, and even try some other digi stamps – but, yes, colouring still not the most enjoyable time for me……..only for short periods, before I get stamping and die cutting withdrawal!
The sentiment is from a Honey Doo set in Rockin’ Red from Catherine Pooler.
A little closer look: (in my brand new, bigger photo box! I think I’ll make some backgrounds which are more interesting)
Just a reminder – there is still plenty of time to play at ABC Christmas Challenge – you know it’s my first ever Design Team position – with the them of ‘A’ for anything goes, and/or ‘B’ for berries – I hope to see you there. 🙂
Hello again. I hope you are well. I have had some new deliveries this week, and there is more to come, but some of that is from Simon says Stamp – so I’ve no idea when that will arrive. It takes 2-3 weeks for my sister to get her stuff and she lives in Canada………..I’ll let you know.
I have made a card I would like to share based on the colour scheme from Color Throwdown:
This stamp set is one which arrived yesterday from Crafters Companion, and when I saw it for sale on the website – it kinda just jumped into my basket. I particularly like that you can also die cut the whole image – or either side of it – which is what I did here.
I took me a little time to figure out which part to cut, which part to place under my cutting plates – it looks so much easier when someone else does it!
I coloured the image with yellow and green Copics, die cut one side of it, then stamped a sentiment from a Uniko stamp set.
The black card was embossed using the fabulous We R Memory keepers next level embossing folder, and the whole thing put together as you see.
I thought the white was a little too – well – white, so I added a few black Nuvo drops.
I even managed to get outside and take the photo – even though it’s a little grey and dull. Here is the embossing a little closer:
I shall be entering this card into the following challenges:
Hello everyone. I am pleased and excited to announce that here is the first post as fully-fledged Design team member at ABC Christmas Challenge.
The current challenge is the start of the New Year, and the start of the alphabet. Goodness – there are some amazing themes coming up – I hope you can play along. I have discovered an amazing and friendly team, I have learnt how to use blogger – a little, anyway – and I’ve discovered that I’m going to be making Christmas cards all year long. All. Year. Long.
All those will be posted here, and will all be posted on Instagram. Please say hello when you see our cards.
The first challenge is ‘A’ and ‘B’, of course. The theme being anything goes, and/or berries. Now, I hunted everywhere for berry stamps or dies, and couldn’t find anything with berries that I really wanted to use. What I did find, was this unused, yet been with me for ages, Hero Arts Colour Layering Trimmings stamp and dies.
Here is the card – anything goes (Christmas):
I stamped the layers of the leaves on a white piece of card, then added to a green and white card base – then stamped some more, die cut them, and added to the edge for dimension.
I wanted to give the impression of a Christmas Tree hanging over the edge of the card.
I hope you are able to come and join the fun, and I look forward to seeing your makes – and I even get to comment officially now – yay!
I shall also be entering this card into the following challenges:
AAA cards – three of something – (three added branches)
loopyloocards 