Poinsettia and Pinecones

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

I chose to use a 5×7 inch card base as the die cuts are quite large. The pinecones are from The Greetery – die cut from a lighter brown card stock, then each of the little details ink blended at the base the create even more dimension.

The bell was die cut from some brushed gold cardstock using a Honey Bee Stamps die set, then layered with glue.

The foliage and poinsettia were from Spellbinders, die cut with two shades of red for the flower, some different green cardstock and brushed gold for the foliage.

I used an embossing folder for a panel on the card base, then played with the placement of all the die cut elements, adding with a mixture of glue and 3D foam.

The sentiment is a foiled strip, and I also added a faceted gem for the centre of the poinsettia.

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

Sending A Note

Debbie is hosting the new challenge at The Alphabet Challenge – having reached the letter ‘L’ she wants to see your ‘Landscape‘ cards. Here is my card:

I chose to use some dies from Concord & 9th from a recent virtual event. All the layers were die cut and layered, including the mountains and the tree lines. I used a combination of card stock from Concord & 9th and some others from my stash.

I think the easiest way to sort out the layers was to have all the colours and layers cut to a A2 card – then place the dies for each layer one at a time.

It actually didn’t end up being too bulky, but I did add some 3D foam to the uppermost tree layer.

The sentiment is a foiled strip created previously.

I hope you can come and join us – following our theme. xx

Thinking of You

Hello everyone. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge, and the new theme has been chosen by Debbie. We want to see your ‘squares, or a square card‘. Here is my make:

Starting with a square card base, I used the stencil you see and ink blended some light pinks to create more interest in the background.

The four squares are from a Uniko stamp set, stamped, coloured with Copics, then die cut with a nesting square die.

These squares were then added with a thin 3D foam tape, and a foiled sentiment added in the centre.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations featuring squares – or a square card base. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Time Out – friendship/encouragement/support

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Delivering Warm Hugs

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

The main image is another layering washi tape from AALL and Create. A couple of foxes on top of a whole mound of presents.

Once the washi was layered onto some white card stock, I cut it into a square.

The background paper was added to a square card base, then I used a piece of previously created paper from a gel plate play session to die cut a scalloped square frame. Before die cutting the square I added the paper onto some white card for stability, then die cut the frame.

I went with the vintage feel to this card.

The sentiment is a foiled strip and added as you see.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Jingle Belle’s – Christmas and vintage

Allsorts – delightful animals – or anything goes

Creative Inspiration Challenge – anything goes

Double D – use shapes – squares, rectangles, circles, ovals – I used square shapes

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

You Can Do Amazing Things

Hello. More crafty play today to create this encouragement card:

I followed the colours at Color Hues Challenge – yellow and orange – and ink blended some yellow Pinkfresh Studio ink on the top half of an A2 panel, and Lawn Fawn ‘carrot’ ink on the bottom half.

Whilst this panel was drying, I die cut the Pinkfresh Studio ‘Secret Garden‘ cover plate twice in white card stock. I then took a piece of orange and a piece of yellow card stock and die cut again to get the flowers.

The inked panel was dry, and I glued the first white die cut onto that, then inlaid the flowers – orange flowers on the yellow half, and yellow flowers onto the orange half. This was a little fiddly – all those itty bitty dots – but I managed to find all the pieces.

I then glued the second white panel on top – just in case there was some glue leaking out of those itty spaces. That was also a little fiddly – to get the glue everywhere, but worth it I think.

The sentiment was stamped in brown ink – a little less harsh than black – then die cut with the smallest Pinkfresh Studio ‘Dotted Fancy Frames‘ die – which came as part of the Create and Connect event this past weekend. The second layer behind the sentiment is also a part of that die set.

I added some iridescent gems – which pick up the yellow and the orange behind them.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

Color Hues – orange and yellow

Triple B – birds and/or butterflies and/or blooms (blooms)

Cut It Up – anything goes with die cuts.

Swan Friend

Hello. A little playing in my craft room to produce this card:

Usint the colours from the current Color Throwdown Challenge, I decided to use an older Spellbinders die of the swans.

I die cut them out of cream card stock, all layers twice for dimension and stability, and added the wings with a little piece of 3D foam.

The face details were die cut out of Kraft and black.

The oval shapes were cut using another Spellbinders die, and I took some light blue card and die cut that with the same smaller oval. I then took some scene creator dies to die cut the two layers of the water, then ran those two pieces through an embossing folder to give the effect of waves.

The uppermost water layer was inked slightly on the edge to make it stand out a little more.

The layers were glued together, but I did raise the top water layer on some thinner 3D foam, then glued the swans flat.

The sentiment is a black foiled strip.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – light blue, cream, Kraft

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Craft Rocket – animals

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and wet or dry embossing (embossing folder)

Double D Challenge – use shapes – squares, rectangles, circles, ovals – I used ovals

Kittens Or Cats

Hello once again. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter ‘K‘. Deborah is hosting and has chosen the theme of:

K is for Kittens and cats

here is my card:

As I have four cats this was a ‘purrfect’ them for me – I obviously have a lot of cat themed products…..!

I started by die cutting the cat in a warm grey and lighter grey card stock, some pink for the tongue and ears, and a muted green for the collar. I don’t have collars on my cats – we live in a wooded area and one of my first ever cats got caught by a little branch – so no collars for my boys and girls….

I used Time4Tea designs patterned paper with paws, then topped that with some Lawn Fawn paper.

The huge sentiment is also from Time4Tea Designs, cut from some patterned paper, then layered with white card stock for stability and dimension.

I hope you can come and join us with your kitten/cat themed projects – I am looking forward to seeing what you make. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Craft Rocket – animals

Pinspirational – die cuts

Love Those Pretty Papers – patterned papers (3 used)

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Wishing You a Brew-tea-ful Day

Hello everyone. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge. Helen is hosting this time, and has chosen the theme of :

‘Pretty In Pink’

Here is my card:

I wanted to use the new products from The Greetery, and thought the die cuts of the teapot and cups inked with the matching stencils would work a treat. It is not very often I create a wholly pink card, but I am pleased with the outcome.

The background card was layered with a pink panel, and onto that I layered a white panel which I had dry embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder, then and added a gold frame. The gold frame was created using a die set from Pinkfresh Studio, received as part of their virtual event coming up this next weekend.

I then die cut all the tea pots and all the cups as I didn’t know which combination I was going to use, then ink blended through the matching stencils to create the interest on each die cut.

I also added some extra pink ink blending to the whole of the tea pot – subtle – but it is there.

I played around with the placement of each, then added either glue or 3D foam to create the little scene.

The sentiment was gold heat embossed, and die cut with the matching die set.

A final touch was to add some pink stocky thingies – the dots, star and heart which I found in my stash.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

MMM Challenge – something metallic (frame)

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies Challenge – anything goes

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and option of wet or dry embossing taken

Pinspirational Challenge – die cuts

Here Is A Place To Start – anything goes – option of diamonds/pearls/gold

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Thank You For Your Kindness

Hello once again. I have a card to share created yesterday:

I wanted to play with a new die and stencil set from The Greetery. I really like the water-colour effect this stencil set gives.

This stencil set has 5 layers to it, and I used three green inks and two yellow inks from Pinkfresh Studio. Once stenciled, I used the matching die to cut it out.

I am currently loving using a frame on my creations, and find it hard not to do so, therefore I used a Pinkfresh Studio frame die set to create this one.

The back panel is using Concord & 9th card stock, and dry embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder – I thought it gave an feeling of a trellis behind the image.

All were layered together as you see, and the sentiment stamped and die cut – also from Pinkfresh Studio – with three more layers of the sentiment die cut for added stability and dimension.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – yellow, brown, green

Pearly Sparkles – floral

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and wet or dry embossing (dry embossing)

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Crafty Gals Corner – anything goes with option of using embossing folder taken

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Christmas Wishes Shaker

Hello once again. The ABC Christmas Challenge has started a new challenge. Helene (Mummylade) is the host, and having reached the letters P, Q, and R, our Christmas themes this time round are:

P is for Pink, Q is for Quartet (four of the same), and R is for Rudolph

Here is my card:

I chose to go with the quartet theme – a four window shaker.

This four window shaker die is from MFT, an old one, and with it came to plastic four window shaker pouches.

The card base had a red mirror card stock, out of which I die cut the four window frame, then glued to the card base, with a piece of shimmery, glossy silver paper from my stash.

I added sequins into the four windows, then adhered an acetate piece the same size as the shaker. This way I don’t have to faff around trying to place it square without the sequins falling out – it does make it a lot easier to do it that way.

The window was then attached to the card with a mixture of wet glue and double sided tape – more stickiness – and a red glitter foam added – die cut from a Spellbinders die set.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations following one or more of our themes. Please make it obvious which theme it is – or tell us in your blog post. We have a few entries recently which didn’t follow our themes and unfortunately they will be deleted, and not eligible for the prize draw or top picks.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Addicted to Stamps and More – any occasion

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cuts

Creative Inspiration Challenge – anything goes