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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.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – grey, magenta, aqua

Crafty Gals Corner – anything goes

CYHTP – embossing folder, option of feminine taken

Fab’n’Funky – embossing

Festive Friday – three items from list (4 for this card)- grey, flowers, pink, foiling,

Car Shaker

Hello once again. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter ‘C‘, and Billie A has chosen the theme of ‘Cars‘. Here is my card:

The shaker element was created using Spellbinders ‘Stylish Ovals’ dies – two dies together to create the frame – cutting the shape several times in white, then a top layer of a light blue/teal. I prefer to use die cuts for the walls of the shaker instead of 3D foam as I think it keeps the edges neater.

Once the white layers were stacked together, and glued to the card base, I added the sequins, then added the top layer to which I had adhered the acetate.

I used a Spellbinders die for the car, from the Spellbinders Advent Calendar 2023, assembled all the layers, then glued that down to the acetate – slightly overhanging the lighter blue/teal as though this was the road……

A foiled sentiment was added for completion.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafty Gals Corner – anything goes

Seize The Birthday – birthday – option off the edge not taken

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Classic Design Challenge – anything goes – option birthday taken

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Crafts Galore – anything goes

Halloween (and other occasions) Crafts – any occasion

Pop-Up Celebration

Hello everyone. A new challenge has started at Cardz 4 Galz, Pamela has chosen the theme of ‘celebration’. I believe there is Mother’s Day coming up in the USA, also think graduation, babies, weddings etc…. Here is my card:

Please excuse the angled tweezers, but they are holding the card closed to photograph as the inside is a pop-up:

The inside was so very difficult to photograph, here are my other attempts:

The pop-up dies are from Concord & 9th and a virtual event from 2022. I did have to go back to the videos to see how it was put together, but thankfully they will be available indefinitely.

I first created the background panel for the front of the card by ink blending through a stencil. I then stamped the balloons, heat embossed the sentiment in white, then used the matching dies to cut them out.

Then turning to the inside of the card and the pop-up element, I used the same stencil and all three ink colours to cover the whole of the inside, die cut the letters from some striped rainbow card stock, die cut the pop-up pieces, adhered the letters, then assembled the pop-up as instructed in the videos.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Avenue 613 Create – anything goes -option of splash of colour/colourful

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – feminine

Crafty Gals Corner – anything goes

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes