Card Making

Colourful inspiration

Good evening all. For today’s card I have been playing with loads and loads of inks. Can you tell? I have been ink blending and creating Brusho backgrounds, and die cutting. Quite a bit of playing and fun I had.

For the base card, I used a piece of Crafters Companion water-colour card, and blended colours from Lawn Fawn. These inks are wonderful and blend very, very nicely. I will definitely use them again for this technique. I also did some water splashes to create some added interest to the background.

I actually tried to emulate the colours from the Daring Cardmakers challenge with the middle bottom image being of what I saw as sea and sun-setting sky.

You had to use three elements from these pictures, so I continued to create another ink-blending background, from which I cut small strips – to match the top middle picture, and laid those down in a criss-cross pattern just off to one side.

The third element I used were the flowers. Well, I couldn’t just put one or two on, could I? I started by creating a Brusho background with one of the blue colours, added some yellow, added some purple. I just kept adding until I liked the colours.

I then stamped the flowers from the Altenew ‘Adore You’ stamp set onto that background with Versafine Black Onyx and die cut them with the matching stamp set.

I glued everything down flat, and I used a glue I haven’t used before but bought at Doncaster Dome craft show this past weekend – Tombow multipurpose liquid glue. My goodness that stuff is strong, isn’t it? It may take over from my usual favourite glue from Creative Expressions – Cosmic Shimmer. I really like the Tombow….

I will be entering this card into the following challenges:

Daring Cardmakers – June Elemental challenge

Crazy 4 Challenges – at least three of something (strips, flowers)

 

Happy Birthday

Good morning everyone. I am not at work until this afternoon, so I thought I would finish the card I started yesterday. As always, I gain inspiration from challenges, and – as always – I leave it to the last minute on many of them.

I have had the colours from Color Throwdown and the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches in my head since they went live……and yesterday got down to making the card. Well, after I had spent a good few hours at a craft show in Doncaster Dome, and bought even more goodies.

I started with a 6 inch square white card base, and added a slightly smaller navy layer, which I embossed with my Crafters Companion Textures folder ‘Rain’. I then die cut some pale pink card from Creative Expressions with  a Sara Davies Signature Collection die – an edger die from the ‘Together Forever’ range, which added the curved intricate edge.

After sticking that down to the top of the blue embossed layer, I added another blue layer which I had die cut the ‘Happy Birthday’ panel. Again – from Crafters Companion Create-a-card range. I think the light pink makes the sentiment stand out quite nicely.

I was thinking of gold for under the sentiment, but then I bought the Altenew stamp and die set yesterday – ‘Extra Special’ – and decided to heat emboss the main flower onto blue card with gold embossing powder, to act as the downward tag part of the sketch.

I then added some gold speckle dots – couldn’t resist – and stuck them all down on the card base. I stuck them all flat, with very little dimension, apart from the layers themselves.

So different from the most recent card of mine, as very little stamping – just the main flower element.

I photographed the card outside again – in-between rain and rain and rain – but still natural light. I’m not sure if the card came out very effectively, but I wanted to ensure you could see the shine of the gold embossing.

I was Skyping my sister in Quebec yesterday, and we were talking about backgrounds and natural light, and as it is summer (apparently) and natural light is here for longer in a day, I may try more techniques in the future. Perhaps adding some extra interest with dinner plates, or pieces of wood………or some of the items I have used to make the card.

I will be entering into the following challenges:

Freshly Made Sketches – sketch

Color Throwdown – navy, light pink, white, gold,

4 Crafty Chicks – Birthday

Just Us Girls – Die-cuts

 

 

 

 

Sketch and colours

Hi everyone. Today’s couple of cards are inspired by CAS Colours and Sketches. For this card, you had a sketch to follow, and also a selection of colours from Stampin Up. I didn’t have all the colours they suggested, and used Lost lagoon, Baja Breeze, and Watermelon Wonder instead. I hope they match enough for the challenge…….

I began with a 6 inch square white card base, and added a die cut from Sizzix/Tim Holtz ‘Scribbles and Splat’. I die cut the scribble twice and added it as a band as per the sketch, and decided to use the piece of card I used for die cutting as another band on a similar card – waste not, want not! I stuck the actual scribbles down using my little Xyron so I didn’t get glue all over the place.

For the main piece, I stamped the main flower from Stampin Up ‘Sunshine Sayings’ in the two different colours, and added some smaller flowers as fill-in from Catherine Pooler ‘Amazing Floral’ stamp set. I used all three colours at some point in the stamping.

The sentiment is from the same Catherine Pooler stamp set, in black, as I wanted a contrast to all the colours used, and I feel the flowers actually stand out more with the sentiment in black.

I think I’m getting the hang of less and less layers and embellishments, but I do like to revert back occasionally.

I will be entering the following challenges:

CAS Colours and Sketches – sketch and colours

QKR Stampede – anything goes

Artistic Inspirations – anything goes with option of flowers

A bit more time to craft – anything goes

Mix it up challenge – anything goes with option of stamping

 

 

Love is all around

I’ve gone all ‘lovey dovey’ with this card, haven’t I? The inspirations for this card was from Just Us Girls challenge, and Cardz 4 Galz. I tried to emulate the hearts design, and whilst I was looking at that I was singing (in my head, don’t worry about it raining all day tomorrow!) ‘Love is all around’ by Wet, Wet, Wet. Even now, I know all the words. I have just done a quick Google – and it was released in 1995! 1995! Good grief. 22 years ago. Doesn’t time fly?

For this card, I used Centura Pearl card stock for all the die-cutting, as well as the base card. The embossed layer is a Spellbinders M-Bossability folder ‘Hearts’ I have had for many years, and is a go-to folder for the more romantic cards make – weddings etc. On one side you can emboss the smaller hearts background, and the other side is the dotty hearts background. A very versatile and useful folder.

The hearts are from a Sue Wilson fillables collection, a range of three heart dies and inners – ‘Jewelled,’ ‘Laced’, and ‘Fluttering’. I have mixed and matched all three of them to create each of the hearts.

I attached the three hearts with some Pinflair glue Gel, as I like to move it around when I have it on the card, and attached the single heart with some foam pads, as I knew exactly where I wanted that to be.

I will be entering one of these cards into the following challenges:

Just Us Girls – photo inspiration

Cardz 4 Galz – inspired by a song

Die Cuttin Divas – anything goes

Watercooler Wednesday challenges – anything goes

 

 

 

 

 

Shiny Christmas

It’s a cooler day here in Chesterfield UK, so I’ve decided to do a Christmas card. I have no idea where the logic came from in that sentence. It just seemed to fit. There are a few challenges out there with the theme of Christmas, so I’ve been playing with some of my crafty goodies.

I have also tried another way of taking a photo. What do you think? My sister sent me a link to a blog by Yana Smakula – I think she is bored with my previous background!! – and I’ve had a play with out house wall and a stool outside…….do you think it works better?

It actually took me a good couple of hours to conceptualise (what a word!) and come up with this. I wanted to do snowflakes, and I wanted them laying over the edge of the main piece of card, but other than that I just played.

I started by die cutting all five of the snowflakes from Sizzix/Tim Holtz ‘Paper Snowflakes’ – randomly – from a piece of white card.  After die-cutting the snowflakes, I then stuck a piece of double-sided sticky sheet on the back, which meant I could add some gilding flakes to the apertures left by the die cuts. (I’ll be using those on another project)

I applied IndigoBlu ‘Yorkshire Dales’ gilding flakes as I liked the multi-coloured effect these created. After adding the flakes, I smooshed them down and then embossed the sheet with a Sue Wilson 8 inch square embossing folder called ‘Snowflake Mosaic’. Then I decided what size I wanted the actual card to be – 8.25 inches by 6 inches. (Pre-bought card bases)

To follow the sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge, I then cut some circles from the MFT ‘Stitched Circle Frames’ out of the same ‘greeny’ card I used on my jungle themed challenge. I just love this colour – kinda shimmery, olive/greeny/browny.

I attached the circles to the bottom left of the card, leaving one of the smaller circles out for added interest so the circles weren’t so boring, and die cut one of the snowflakes out of Stampin Up glimmer paper, sticking that down with one of their dimensionals.

I cut the circles and snowflake to match the edge of the card, then peeled off the other side of the double-sided sticky sheet (already on my white card if you remember – and stuck that down to yet another layer of the greeny card, then onto white base card.

The sentiment is an X-Cut die, which I cut out three times from card with double-sided sticky sheet on each layer to make it easier to stick one on top of the other, then added to the card.

From the front, the sentiment isn’t quite that obvious – which I wanted – and doesn’t detract from the snowflakes, but turn it to the side and get the shine from the gilding flakes – I think it works well.

I shall be entering this card into the following challenges:

Altantic Hearts Sketch Challenge – sketch

Watercooler Wednesday challenge – Christmas

Addicted to Stamps challenge – Holiday

Mix it up challenge – anything goes option embossing

Christmas Cards all year round – precipitation (snowflakes)

 

 

 

Sparkly Dragonfly

 

Hi there, I have been playing again. I actually haven’t stamped very much on this card, as I just felt the need to die cut and emboss. I took the opportunity to use the Detailed Dragon fly Thinlits from Stampin Up. I also have the matching stamp set, but today just used the die.

I started with the sketch inspiration from Mojo Monday, as I liked the clean-ness of this sketch, leaving a lot open to interpretation. I also had some of the Lawn Fawn ‘Narwhal’ card left over from the previous blog post. I think this grey card is a really nice colour, and decided to emboss a grey panel with the Sue Wilson ‘Climbing Vines’ embossing folder, to go on top of an embossed white panel. I embossed them both together, so the pattern flowed across both the colours.

After sticking that down to a white card base, I die cut the large dragonfly out of white glimmer paper from Stampin Up, and decided not to add any other layers to it, as I think this glimmer paper is gorgeous enough on it’s own.

The three strips I cut down and stamped with a line of hearts in white ink, layering them down as per the sketch.

The main shape is also from Sue Wilson ‘Porto’ die set, which I cut out of white and then in grey, off-setting them so you could see the white on the grey background, and grey on the white background. The embossed detail is from the same die set – just embossed and not cut, to add some detail to an otherwise blank tag.

I used Collall silicone glue to the back of the tag, as I could then insert the strips and play around with the positioning before it set solid. I often do the when I want to add items underneath another item, as it gives you plenty of time to position.

The dragonfly I stuck down with Cosmic Shimmer glue – my favourite go-to glue of all time – but only stuck down the centre body, bending the wings slightly for more dimension.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Mojo Monday – Sketch

A Bit More Time to Craft – anything goes

Crafty Catz – anything goes

Colour Crazy Craft Challenge – anything goes

Monochrome Magic – anything goes monochrome

 

 

 

Three colours

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Hi there, despite it being 27 degrees today when I got home, I went to craft. I have a portable air-con unit which was ideal for this gorgeous weather! Cool as a cucumber – until I made some mistakes in this card. Took me several attempts for such a simple card, but here you go.

The colours I used are from the Colour Throwdown challenge, which I incorporated into a sketch from Clean and Simple Colours and Sketches. The colours were green, grey, and white.

I used a 6 inch square base card, to which I added a green strip embossed with a strip folder from Tattered Lace. The sentiment is from Concord and 9th, so is the ‘YOU’ part. They were obviously cut out of grey, and it was a Lawn Fawn Narwhal card I used for that.

The heart is from Stampin Up, a die set called ‘Sunshine wishes’.

What were the mistakes? Well – I forgot to cut the intricate dies with double sided sticky sheet on the back for one. So cut them again – and cut them the wrong way round, so when I came to stick them down – they were upside down. Start again.

I cut the ‘YOU’ letters, and put them into the middle of the heart in the wrong order! I spelt ‘YUO’. It took me a few minutes to realise what was wrong. I knew something was – but it took a while to realise.

Then – as I had stuck them down already, I had to cut another heart from another white piece of card, which I then inserted into the middle of the heart. Good grief! What a challenge! It was good that the air-con unit was working well.

Anyway, I will be entering this card into the following challenges:

CAS Colours and Sketches – Sketch

Color Throwdown – green, grey, white

Tuesday Throwdown – anything goes

The House That Stamps Built – anything goes

Orange Monochrome

For today’s card I have gone to one of my favourite ways of doing cards – monochrome. It doesn’t really matter what colour I use, but I tend to go for white with one other colour. It could be black, it could be green, and this time I have gone with orange. Orange? Yes – orange.

I decided to go with this as inspiration from Time Out Challenges had a CASE this card challenge, and to me the overall colours on the card were white and orange. I don’t really tend to do ink blending backgrounds, though I have tried in the past, and prefer to go with embossing.

And – a recent delivery from three of my current favourite companies – Lawn Fawn, Concord and 9th, and Altenew. I have just received my Altenew ‘Super Script’ stamp and die set, and Lawn Fawn ‘Stitched Windy Backdrop’ , and Concord and 9th ‘Say Hello’ stamps and dies.

I started with a white 6 x 6 inches base card, and added the stitched windy backdrop, also in white. I didn’t want the backdrop to be the whole of the base of the card, which is why I chose a 6 inch square – just slightly bigger. The die is quite big, measuring at 5.5 x 4.25 inches.

I then cut out the big orange ‘hello’ and left it bubble, with no added detail. The ‘friend’ part is using the matching stamp and white heat embossing it, then cutting it out with the matching die set. I only glued the top half of the die-cut leaving the bottom half hanging off the stitched backdrop.

I think this card is bright cheerful, but I still decided to add a little orange enamel dot in the bottom corner. This is from We R Memory Keepers, and matches the orange perfectly.

I shall be entering this card into the following challenges:

Time Out Challenges – Case this card (orange and white)

Daring Cardmakers – use two colours

Dragonfly Dreams – Monochrome

Cards in Envy – favourite colour combo (white and one other colour)

Monochrome Magic – anything goes monochrome

 

 

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