Month: May 2024

Happy Birthday & Many More

Hello everyone. It is my turn to host the new challenge at The Alphabet Challenge. Having reached the letter ‘E‘, I have chosen the theme of ‘embossing – wet or dry’. Here is my card:

I started by die cutting all the elements from a couple of Spellbinder die sets, and used a mixture of Concord & 9th and Spellbinders card stock.

Deciding to go landscape, and dry embossed a panel and adhered it flat to the card base.

I played around with the layout, knowing that the ampersand would be sat on top of the florals – which took a little figuring out when it came to 3D foam – where to place it, and how many layers………the ampersand was die cut a couple of times and layered together for added stability, and also ended up with 2 or 3 layers of itty bitty 3D foam pieces – I do like to make my life harder….!

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Seize The Birthday – birthday – option to use metallics taken

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of fruit and veggies not taken

Krafty Chicks – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Addicted To Stamps and More – any occasion

Love To Craft – anything goes

Heels and Handbags

Hello once again. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge. Dawn W has chosen the theme of ‘heels and handbags’. Here is my card:

This was challenge to me as I couldn’t find anything in my stash which would fit the theme. Once again – I took to searching for digital images, and came up with this one from Etsy – StylishFantazy – there are some absolutely gorgeous images on there……I was certainly stuck for choice.

I used a square card base, and some Creative Expressions card stock which I have had for ages. The background panel was dry embossed using an older Sue Wilson/Creative Expressions A4 embossing folder, and I also used some Sue Wilson die sets to create the panel and aperture.

I also decided to off-set the main image panel, and I didn’t add a sentiment this time round.

I hope you can come and join us for the heels and handbags theme. xx

Floral Christmas Tree

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge has started their next challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas’. Here is my card:

I began by die cutting all the elements needed from the Spellbinders die set in a selection of card stock from Spellbinders and Concord & 9th.

I die cut the base green leafy layer a couple of times more and layered them together for stability. As you can see, I didn’t use the base rim for the tree, as I wanted the florals and leaves to stand out, and have the background panel show through the gaps in the arrangement.

I also decided to use a dark grey background panel, embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder, to create the dramatic look.

I added the small red atg, backed with gold, to the top right of the card base – not intruding on the tree itself.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Peace On earth Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Halloween and other Occasions Crafts – occasions

MAWTT – flowers

Aud Sentiments – foiling and/or flowers and a sentiment

Jingle Belles Rock – Christmas and tic tac toe – middle column – red or green/embossing/die cuts

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Christmas (or not) Bingo – column ‘I’ – free – die cutting – tag

Seagull Hello…

Hello again. A few days of no crafting – no idea why I didn’t feel like it – and then I created this card with a new Waffle Flower die set:

I used Crushed Olive Distress Oxide to create the ink smooshed background – several layers, drops and sprays of water, then I let that dry. When dry, I added some white splatters.

I die cut the seagull from some ‘Fog’ card stock, and die cut the beak from a cut-off of the ink smooshed panel.

The sentiment and it’s shadow layer are from a past ‘Let’s Stamp Together’ set – the letters die cut three times for added stability and dimension.

I actually die cut a couple of the larger seagulls, and a couple of the smaller ones – played around with the layout, and then decided I would have a large seagull just popping down to say hello – quirky I know….

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – gray, olive, white

Crafty Calendar – anything goes

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Christmas Bingo – or not – column ‘N’ – create own background – free – splatters

Especially For You

Hello everyone. It’s been a busy few days but I managed to find time to create this card using the colour scheme from the Color Throwdown Challenge:

The background is using a piece of card stock from Concord & 9th and a Spellbinders embossing folder. Once embossed, I used Hero Arts white pigment ink to swipe across, which meant it highlighted the raised areas.

I then used a Spellbinders die set to create the flowers, and some ‘Marmalade’ card stock from concord & 9th, which they discontinued last year – but I do have a stash of that still.

I also used two shade of purple for the stamens, and the centre of the larger flower.

Once adhered to the card background, I added a foiled sentiment. I also wanted that to pop, so used black with white foiling, and then added some black gems.

I shall be entering the foloowing challenges:

Color Throwdown – orange, purple, aqua

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of flowers taken

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Craft Rocket – flowers

Cut It Up – die cuts and ‘send me flowers’

MAWTT – flowers

Beautiful Blossoms – flowers

D is for Dancing

Hello everyone. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter ‘D‘, and Dawn has chosen the theme of ‘Dancing‘. Here is my card:

You may or may not believe this – but I have very little in my stash relating to dancing. I thought and I searched, and finally went to Etsy to try and find some suitable images I could use. The site I found this image on – and I did buy and download a few more stunning images – was ClprtCo. I couldn’t resist these vibrant images. There are quite a selection on there, so I must bookmark that page….

To try and do justice to this image, I simply matted and layered and tried to match some of the almost electric blue. I did add an embossed white piece for a little more interest, but the image speaks for itself I think……

I printed some more of my purchases off, and created a little box of note cards.

I hope you can come and join us with your dance themed creations. xx

Have A Bee-utiful Day

Hello once again. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge, Caz is hosting, and has chosen the theme of ‘World Bee Day’ which is May 20th. Here is my card:

I created a slimline card to enable me to add all the large elements. The background panel was dry embossed using a Spellbinders Embossing folder.

The other elements were die cut from a few Spellbinders sets, layered and added to the card panel, ensuring I left enough room for a bee to be on each flower.

I hoe you can come and join us with your bee themed creations. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Crafting Happiness – blooms or birds

Make My Monday – florals

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of flowers taken

2 Crafty Critters Crazies – anything goes with a critter

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Craft Rocket – flowers

MAWTT – flowers

Aud Sentiments – foiling and/or flowers and a sentiment

The Magic of Baubles….

Hello – after a little hiatus, the Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge is back with a new challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas‘. Here is my card:

I used a stamp and stencil set for the baubles – heat embossing the outline with gold, then using the matching stencils to colour them in. I wanted a soft look to them, as I knew I was going to add quite a bit of gold.

Once the baubles were coloured and die cut, I also heat embossed, coloured, and die cut the foliage, adding some shading the the leaves by varying the pressure when blending.

The background is a piercing cover plater, and added the frame with some strategically placed foam strips. I then added the foliage and the baubles, tucking them into the frame, and lastly added the heat embossed sentiment.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Cut It Up – die cuts – add a sentiment

Peace On Earth Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

ABC Christmas Challenge – J and K

Hello everyone. The ABC Christmas Challenge has reached the letters ‘J’ and ‘K’, and we want to see your Christmas creations featuring the following themes:

J is for Jesus

K is for Kings

Here are my cards:

I was really stumped by these themes, I don’t have very much in the way of traditional Christmas, except for some Tim Holtz products.

I used a Tim Holtz die for the three wise men, layered a couple of times, and adhered it to an ink blended background panel.

The Jesus themed card took a little longer to sort out. I eventually found an SVG file which I bought and downloaded to my Scan’n’cut. This in itself is something I have rarely done, but I managed to figure it out – resizing then sending to my machine.

The SVG file was from ‘Craftables’ and is a free download – how cool is that?

The ink blending on this panel was just an idea I had – instead of going across, I decided to go in a downwards direction, and I like the outcome.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas projects following our themes. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Creative Fingers – anything goes

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – Christmas atg

You Are A Wonderful Friend

Hello everyone. I have a card to share inspired by some challenges:

The background is a dry embossed panel using a Spellbinders embossing folder – one of my favourites – and Spellbinders ‘Fog’ card stock, adhered flat to a card base.

The frame is from Pinkfresh Studio, and is actually a square die set, but I did some partial die cutting to make it a rectangle, big enough for the A2 card base.

The flowers – also from Pinkfresh Studio – were stamped in a grey ink, then ink blended using the matching layering stencils, Pinkfresh inks, and then die cut with the matching die set.

I played around with the layout of the flowers until I was happy, and added them with a mixture of glue and 3D foam.

I added the foiled sentiment with 3D foam strips and some iridescent gems, as the foiling is iridescent.