Hello Friend

Hello everyone. I have been a little remiss in posting, but I have been creating behind the scenes. I have been enjoying playing with products from some virtual events this past few months, and I have a card to share using products from the recent Simon Says Stamp and Gina K designs collaboration:

I used the colours from the current Color Throwdown challenge to create this card.

The images of the flowers and leaves were stamped, then coloured those using Pinkfresh Studio inks and the matching stencils. I used a heavier hand towards the centre of the flowers and the bottom of the leaves for a little more interest.

The sentiment was stamped in black, then all the images and the sentiment were die cut with the matching dies. The sentiment I layered three times for more dimension.

I took a smaller white panel and used a Pinkfresh Studio Letterpress plate to create the subtle detail in that small white panel, layered that with a black panel, then adhered to the card base.

I then arranged the flowers and leaves, attached the flowers with 3D foam, and the leaves with glue, before adding some enamel dots. The turquoise and yellow dots attached the the centre of the flowers were from Time 4 Tea Designs, and the three small green dots are from Concord & 9th.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – yellow, green, turquoise

Stencil Fun – stencils – option of summer fun

Craft Rocket – no designer paper

Addicted To Stamps & More – dies cuts and/or stencils

Inkspirational – using stencils – option of geometric

Jolly Holiday Branch

It’s time the new challenge at The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas’. Here is my card:

I first started by stamping and heat embossing the Pinkfresh Studio berry branch images in gold. I then used the layering stencils to colour them in, then die cut with the matching dies.

Whilst I was heat embossing, I also did the sentiment.

The background was created by using a Spellbinders embossing folder, then attaching a gold glitter frame from some Pinkfresh Studio dies, with some 3D foam.

The images were arranged to my liking around the sentiment, and added with a mixture of glue and 3D foam pieces. For some reason, I had some gold glitter leaves laying around on my desk – so I added them in certain places for added interest.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Crafts Galore – anything goes

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cuts

12 Months Of Christmas Link-up – anything goes Christmas – option of one or two layers not taken

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

A Butterfly Note

Hello. More time in my craft room today to create this card. My goodness – this was a labour of love. It seemed to take forever, and quite a few variations and tried at it……..

To create this card, I used some Waffle Flower products and Pinkfresh Studio inks. I started by cutting the ‘Butterfly Blossom‘ texture die out of white card stock. I then used the layering stencils to colour them all in. There are 5 layering stencils, two for the flowers, and two for the butterflies – the background and then the details on the wings. I didn’t use the fifth stencil – butterfly bodies and flower centres – as I die cut them out of Spellbinders brushed gold card stock.

I also blended a little darker shade for the flower centres, before adding the brushed gold on top to give a little added detail.

Once blended, I die cut the base layer once more and glued it behind to give a little more dimension and stability, then glued down to a card base.

The sentiment is also from Waffle Flower – white shadow layer and brushed gold for the sentiment – two more layers of white behind the words.

The most time I took was choosing which colours – I played with several other combinations until I decided on these colours – but I will play more with this set now I kinda know what is going on…..!

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Stencil Fun – use stencils – option of summer fun

Craft Rocket – no designer paper

Make My Monday – one or more butterflies

Pooh Birthday

Hello everyone. I had a little play in my craft room today to create this fairly simple card:

I used some new dies to me from Spellbinders which included Pooh bear and some of his friends. These were bought as part of a Facebook live sale from one of our UK companies – Sir Stampalot. They do this sale once a month, and I generally pick up a few crafty bargains.

I started by die cutting Pooh himself, then the honey jar and the balloon. I chose colours from the current Color Throwdown challenge – which I haven’t entered in quite a while. The balloon and honey jar were then cut

Once the bear was die cut, I used another die for the turquoise back panel. I thought the panel and the balloon looked a little plain, so I used an embossing folder to add some details. I can’t remember who this is from, and it isn’t in my CML app.

The panel was adhered with 3D foam tape, then I added the bear, ensuring all the other elements fit in. The gold foiled sentiment was then added last.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – green, turquoise, orange

Addicted To Stamps & More – any occasion

Daisy Chain – birthday

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

MAWTT – birthday

Hope Your Day Is Beautiful

Another challenge has started at The Alphabet Challenge. Deborah is hosting and has chosen the theme of

‘Embossing – heat or dry’

Here is my card:

For this card I chose another Pinkfresh Studio product suite called ‘Best Thing‘.

I first stamped and gold heat embossed all the images, coloured them with the matching layering stencils, then die cut them all out.

To put the card together, I added a panel which had been embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder.

The birdcage was die cut from gold glitter card stock and adhered flat, then the floral images and bird attached and arranged as you see.

The sentiment is also gold heat embossed, and die cut and layered a couple of times.

I hope you can come and join us with your embossed creations – heat or dry. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Love To Craft – anything goes

The Flower Challenge – flowers and add heat or dry embossing (both added)

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Crafts Galore – anything goes

Stencil Fun – stencils – option of summer fun not taken

Craft Rocket – no designer paper

Swan Easel

Hello once again. It is time for the next challenge at Cardz 4 Galz. Debbie is hosting, and has chosen the theme of:

‘Easel card’

Here is my card:

For the base of the easel card I used a 5×7 top-folding card. I knew I wanted a larger card to ensure I managed to get everything on there.

The front of the card was scored, then I cut a slightly smaller piece of brushed gold card stock for edge of the visible sides – three in total – and before attaching to the card base I die cut the circle from the larger piece for behind the swan.

These three pieces of gold were attached, three pieces of white card stock cut down to layer on top, and each of those three pieces were placed into an embossing folder from Spellbinders to add some interest, then glued down.

The next step was to hot foil the swan and floral images. This is from a Pinkfresh Studio set received from their ‘Create & Connect’ event in February of this year. Once hot foiled, all the images were ink blended using the matching layering stencils, then die cut with the matching dies.

The circle frame is also from Pinkfresh Studio, the gold circle previously cut added to the back, the swan and some florals added, then attached to the easel card.

The rest of the images added below the circle to form a swag.

The next step was the sentiment, which I used as the ‘stopper’ to allow the easel to stand open, and this was two hot foiled sentiments, die cut at least several times for depth, and glued down. Gold gems added for further interest.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Mix It Up – anything goes – option of paper piecing not taken

Love To Craft – anything goes

Tic Tac Toe – top right to bottom left diagonal – die cuts – free – ink blending

The Flower Challenge – flowers and add embossing – heat or dry (embossing folder)

A Little Holiday Sparkle

Hello everyone. It’s time for the next challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge. We have reached the letters ‘L’ and ‘M’. Our Christmas themes this month for those letters are:

‘L’ is for Lights, ‘M’ is for Music

Here is my card:

This background chock full of lights is using a die from Concord & 9th, but instead of die cutting the background panel and inlaying all those lights, I decided to dry emboss the panel to create the impressions for the lights and the strings.

The lights were then die cut from colours of card stock, then placed on the impressions. The base of the lights was die cut from gold glitter card and then also glued into place.

The gold foiled sentiment was added with some 3D foam.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations following one or both of our themes. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Peace on Earth – anything goes Christmas

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Christmas (or not) Bingo – column ‘N’ – Christmas – free – glitter

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

12 Months of Christmas Link-up – anything goes Christmas – option of one or two layers not taken

Sweet Holiday Wishes

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

This card was created using products from a Pinkfresh Studio virtual event which occurred in October 2024, for which I also added the press plate add-on bundle.

The jar was created first by die cutting the back of the jar in a light teal card stock, then die cutting the inner white piece. This piece was dry embossed using a snowflake cover panel for added interest, glued to the base, then the lid was die cut from brushed gold card stock from Spellbinders.

All of the images were hot foiled in gold, then coloured using the matching layering stencils, die cut with the matching die, then arranged onto/into the jar.

I decided to create a coloured background panel by ink blending the panel in one of the colours used on the smaller images, and this too was dry embossed using the snowflake cover plate.

The final addition was the foiled sentiment.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown – Christmas with dies/punches

Cut It Up – anything goes with die cuts

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

Love To Craft – anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

12 Months of Christmas Link-up – anything goes Christmas – option of one or two layers not taken

D is for Dogs

Hello once again. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter ‘D’, and Caz has chosen the theme of ‘DOGS’. Here is my card:

Now most of you know I have cats, currently four of them, and have never owned dogs. However, it appears I have quite a few dog-themed crafty products in my stash. For this challenge I used a Spellbinders die for the dogs, die cutting in varying tones of brown and grey. Some black was used for the eyes and noses.

This die was part of the Spellbinders Advent Calendar 2024, and comes with additional elements to make this cute little guy into a Frenchie – a little beret, a little scarf, and stripes for his jacket. As you can see, I kept him quite simple – if die cutting and layering all those pieces can be called simple.

Once he was put together three times, I decided to use a slimline sized card to get them all on comfortably. The slimline scalloped circle die is from Pinkfresh Studio, and the patterned paper behind the three holes is from Time 4 tea Designs.

I added a gold foiled sentiment.

I hope you can come and join us for this new challenge with projects celebrating dogs. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafters Café – anything goes – option of no squares taken

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Love To Craft – anything goes

Floral Frenzy

Hello everyone. It is time for the new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz. Helen is hosting, and has chosen the theme of:

‘Floral Frenzy’

Here is my card:

For this card I used a Concord & 9th ‘Bright Blossoms’ die set. Inside of using the background die to create stitching on the background for the placement of the florals, I dry embossed the pattern. This caused the floral placement areas to be indented, giving an almost cushioned look.

I then die cut the floral images in a variety of cardstock colours, adding some ink blending towards the centre of the flowers, and some ink blending onto areas of the dark green leaves – though this is less noticeable.

The leaves were glued directly into the indented places, and the flowers were added with 3D foam for further dimension.

The centre of the flowers were die cut from gold glitter card stock, and as I had raised the flowers with 3D foam, I had to get a little creative adding those centres – some teeny tiny itty bitty pieces of 2D foam to make them the same height. Somewhat of a challenge – but fun none-the-less.

I die cut some extra little gold glitter dots so I could add them around the background.