Month: January 2022

Happy Everything…..

Hello – some fabulous crafty time this past couple of days. I have created a card for a few challenges:

I’ve been playing with some layering stencils recently, and this stencil from Pinkfresh Studio caught my eye as I loved the tumbling leaves, and that the flowers you create are all cut individually using the matching die, so you can out them wherever you want to.

The stencil is slimline size – as is the die and stamp set. Once I had stamped the outline, I used the colours from the current challenge at Color Throwdown to create some pink tumbling leaves at the top, but used green for the leaves around each of the flowers. The Altenew ink sets are perfect for layering colours.

Once I had die cut them, I just played around with placement, making sure I left space at the bottom for the sentiment.

The background stencil piece is from my stash – a previous crafty playtime using an Altenew stencil and a gold shimmer paste. I still have a few pieces left from creating that day so you will be seeing that in the future.

The sentiment is from Time For Tea Designs, which comes with matching dies. The word ‘Happy’ was stamped using a pink and purple Distress Oxide, and multiple stamping to create a two-tone word.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

QKR Stampede – anything goes

Color Throwdown Challenge – pink, purple, green

Addicted To Stamps – Make Your Mark

Crafty Catz – anything goes – option flowers

Time Out Challenge – inspired by the quote –

Mix It Up Challenge – anything goes – option foiling (option not taken)

V is for Vehicle

Hello there. I have a card to share for the new challenge which has begun as The Alphabet Challenge. We have reached the letter ‘V’ and Deborah has chosen the theme of ‘Vehicle’.

This whole card is completely outside of my comfort zone and involved a lot of die cutting and gluing – some very fiddly parts to this die set – and yet I quite enjoyed it.

I wanted to use the die set from Elizabeth Craft Designs, but I didn’t want to create a Christmas themed card, so you can see I changed it a little…….well, quite a lot actually.

I wanted the train to be shiny, so I used some ‘new to me’ mirror card from The Paper Boutique. This was shown is a Facebook live by Sir Stampalot here in the UK – and I immediately went and ordered it.

There are a lot of little pieces to put together, and I didn’t know which colour I wanted to go where on the train, so I die cut everything out of the two colours of card stock – so technically I have enough to make another train.

I added some stickles to the holes on the engine, and some vellum behind the window on the cab. Using tweezers was certainly very, very helpful – and glue which dries clear…..

I used a blue slimline card base, ink blended some clouds on the background – very subtle – then added some grass and rolling hills.

The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn.

I hope you can come and join us with your ‘vehicle’ creations. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Watercooler Challenge – occasions

Aud Sentiments Challenge – anything goes with a sentiment

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Corrosive Challenge – anything goes

Cardz 4 Galz – Make It Sparkle

Hello once again. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge, and Dawn has chosen the theme of ‘Make It Sparkle’. Here is my glittery card:

I used a few sparkly glittery papers to create this card. The background leaves has glitter on it, and so does the main flower image – probably best seen in my second photo.

The sentiment is a die from Simon Says Stamp, and die cut several time, including the top layer out of a matching paper, and stacked and glued as you see.

The whole card has quite a lot of glitter on the images – so very sparkly.

I hope you can come and join us – I am looking forward to seeing you in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnuts Patterned Paper Challenge – anything goes with patterned paper

Creatalicious Challenge – anything goes (option winter not taken)

Aud Sentiments Challenge – anything goes with a sentiment

Creative Fingers Challenge – anything goes

Santa Merry Christmas

Hello. The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge has started a new challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas‘. Here is my card:

On a white card base I added some patterned paper – still going to try and use more patterned paper in my makes – and then topped that with a white piece which had been embossed with a Simon Says Stamp 3D embossing folder.

I looked at my Christmas ephemera – another stash of craft items I want to use more of – and found this cute and layered Santa, which I added as you see.

The sentiment is also a layered ephemera piece, but it had been layered wonky – so I removed that piece of foam and glued the layers directly together, and added to the bottom of the card.

I hope you can come and join us – I look forward to seeing your creations. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Crafting Happiness challenge – anything goes

Watercooler Challenge – occasions

My Time To Craft Christmas – Christmas and something beginning with ‘S’

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Simple Heat Embossed Vase

Hello. A very quick and ‘escapism’ playtime yesterday created this card:

I tried to capture the thickness of the embossing here – heat embossing with a Wow! powder which has a lot of depth to it – sometimes you just need something more……

Using a couple of images from the Altenew stamp set, then heat embossing, then die cutting, created the two main elements – the vase and the flower/leaf stem.

The background is a cream card stock – textured on the actual card base, then smooth side for the added layer, die cut with a stitched rectangle.

The sentiment is from the same stamp set, and stamped using a red Distress Oxide.

I’m going to be needing some ‘thank you’ cards soon and thought I’d get to creating when I can…..

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – red, cream, gold

Cut It Up Challenge – anything goes with a die cut

Perfectly Clean and Simple – flowers, using one third or less

Buttercup Thank You

Hello. I’ve been getting messy in the craft room and creating some inky backgrounds. I do like to spend a few hours creating them and I always use them, whether for die cutting, or just for the background itself.

Here is my card:

The blue background is using a stencil with Altenew embossing paste coloured with blue – this piece was in my stash from a previous play time.

On several pieces of Distress Heavy White card stock, I played with a yellow Distress Mica Spray, ink smooshing with yellow Distress Inks, and also green Distress inks – I may have used some Distress Oxides too – especially with the green.

Once these were dry – and I tend to wait until the following day – I used the Altenew Buttercup layering die set and die cut lots of layers for the flowers and die cut many leaves.

I put all the flower layers together, with a grey layer as the bottom layer, then arranged them with the leaves as you see.

The sentiment is from the same die set, the words die cut three times, stacked together, and added to the white outline layer.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Watercooler Challenge – feminine

Color Throwdown – blue, grey, yellow, green

The Sisterhood of Crafters – use blue (heart background)

We Love To Create – anything goes mixed media (sprays, smooshing, embossing paste, die cutting, stencilling)

Die Cut Divas – dies cuts and flowers

We Love to Create mixed media Challenge Blog...sponsored by Polkadoodles

‘U’ for Unequal – small and big

Hello once again. The Alphabet Challenge has started a new challenge. Having reached the letter ‘U’, Billie has chosen the theme of ‘Unequal’. Think big and small – animals, flowers, buildings etc. Here is my card:

I used some Lawn Fawn patterned paper, and an Altenew debossing cover plater behind a Hero Arts infinity frame. The stamped images from MFT stamps were coloured with Copics, then die cut with their matching dies.

I placed them in the frame, but tried to make it look like they were almost sitting on the base of the frame.

The sentiment was chosen to express my thanks to a very dear friend……

I hope you can come and join us in our theme this time round – I look forward to seeing your creations. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Passion for Markers – markers and dots

Colour Crazy Challenge – week 1 – anything goes colouring

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

Crafty Animals Challenge – anything goes with an animal

Cards Galore Encore – anything goes

Cardz 4 Galz – Lace and Pearls

Hello once again. I seem to be having a problem posting my Design Team cards in a timely fashion – one must try harder….

Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge, and this time we want to see your creations with ‘Lace and Pearls’. Here is my card:

On a white card base, I adhered some Lawn Fawn patterned paper – some subtle water-colour splashes in the background.

I used Altenew ‘Doodled Lace’ cover plate for my take on ‘lace’, and a piece of ink smooshed water colour card to create the colourful background panel. I added some pearls to the centre of some of the flowers.

The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn – die cut and layered several times. I decided to do this in a bold black colour as a contrast to the colourful background.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Just Us Girls – ink or sprayed backgrounds

TTCRD – anything goes

Arty Divas Challenge – anything goes

Crafting Happiness Challenge – anything goes

Here Is A Place To start Challenge – anything goes

Trio of Baubles

Hello there. ABC Christmas Challenge has started a new challenge, and we have started from the beginning of the alphabet again. We would like to see the themes of ‘A for Anything goes Christmas’ and ‘B for Baubles‘. Here is my card:

The background pattern is a die from Catherine Pooler, added to a slimline card base. The baubles are die cut from an Elizabeth Craft Designs die set, and the bauble toppers and snowflakes die cut from – I think – Stampin Up glimmer card. A CAS design, but with some extra glittery feel to it.

I did toy with the idea of adding some twine or string to each bauble, but obviously decided not to.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations using the above two themes. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Peace On Earth Challenge – anything goes Christmas – option of mood board

Shopping Our Stash – something beginning with ‘S’ (snowflakes)

Creative Fingers Challenge – anything goes

Craft Rocket Challenge – anything goes

My Time To Craft Christmas – Christmas and things beginning with ‘S’ (snowflakes)

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Merry And Bright

Hello. I’m a little late posting for the new challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge. We have started a new challenge and – as usual – the theme is ‘anything goes Christmas’.

Here is my card:

During the holiday season I took time to sort out some patterned papers and ephemera I have, and decided to try and use them more. Here is my first attempt at that.

I took a 5×7 inch card base, cut down two patching patterned papers. The papers were 6×6 inches, so to keep the sentiment and poinsettia from one piece of paper, I added a strip of another piece to one side. Along the join, I added a strip of gold.

There are three ephemera pieces on here – the poinsettia to the top left, the little heart, and some extra little leaves to the bottom left.