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

Merry and Bright

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

The image is from Spellbinders, and was hot foiled onto a piece of white card stock. Once foiled, I then coloured parts of the image with Copics, then cut the centre out with the matching die.

This panel was then layered onto a shimmery red card stock base – glued flat – and the foiled sentiment inserted into the middle space.

I then added some gems, and some white gel pen detail to some of the berries.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafty Gals Corner – anything goes, option of Christmas taken

Krafty Chicks – Christmas

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Love To Craft – anything goes

Addicted to Stamps and More – any occasion

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

You’re Sweet

Hello once again. Recovering from a head cold, and found that crafting did take my mind off things. I created this card:

I used an older Pinkfresh Studio washi tape for the fruit elements, inspired by the Inspiration Station photo – lots of fruit on a stall. This is a very large repeating washi, and once laid down onto a half sheet of card stock, I used the matching die to cut the elements out.

As washi tape is very slippery, and low tack doesn’t really adhere to it, I made sure some of my low tack tape was on the card stock too – ask me how I knew to do that……!

As this card is on the larger 5×7 inch side, I die cut a white panel and used a Spellbinders embossing folder which has fruit slices as the design. This was then added to the card base.

As the washi tape images had gold highlights, I then used a couple of rectangle dies to cut a frame out of Spellbinders brushed gold card stock.

I then added that to the panel with 3D foam as I was going to layer the fruit elements over and under the frame.

The fruit elements were added with a mixture of 3D foam and wet glue – leaving a space for the sentiment, which was stamped and heat embossed in gold. The matching die cut for the sentiment was used, and cut several times to create a more stable sentiment added as you see.

I have several rolls of washi tape from Pinkfresh Studio, but always forget they are there. I can see more cards coming soon using them.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Just Us Girls – word prompt ‘frame’

Ellibelle’s corner – I Spy Summertime Vibes

The Four Seasons Challenge – Summer

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cuts

Die Cut Divas – use die cuts and wet or dry embossing – I used both embossing methods

Pinspirational – die cuts

Inspiration Station – photo inspiration – fruit medley

Have A Hoppy Day

Hello once again. The new challenge theme at The Alphabet Challenge has been chosen by Caz. As we have reached the letter ‘J‘, Caz has chosen the theme of ‘J is for Juvenile (young person/child)‘.

Here is my card:

I don’t make any cards for the younger person, for a child, so this was a challenge for me too.

I decided to go with a full shaker panel for some fun, using Tonic Studios shaker pocket, but first I had to create the scene.

The pond scene and it’s grass elements are from a die set from Heffy Doodle – sadly now closed down – but I do have a lot of their products.

Once the scene was created – all glued flat to a white panel to stop the sequins from catching, I created the frog. This frog was one of the die sets from this years Summer Camp. What they call a ‘camp counsellor gift. A cute little die set which I just had to use.

I stuck the shaker pocket down on three sides, added a whole bunch of sequins and other stuff I seem to collect and never use, then sealed the fourth side. I may have added more than is needed – but I do like to see all those sequins move around.

This was then attached to the card base, and the frog glues on top of the acetate.

The sentiment is also a dies set – and once die cut from pink, I die cut again in white and inlaid the letters – fiddly but worth it I think.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Love To Craft – anything goes

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

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

A Cut Above – die cuts anything goes

Pinspirational – die cuts

We Flock Together

Hello everyone. I am the host for the new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz, and I have chosen the theme of ‘birds’. Here is my card:

I went with a tropical theme using Spellbinders products for a bright and colourful card.

The background is ink blending using a stencil, and a couple of blue inks. On top of the panel, I created a band of vellum, which I had embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder – thankfully the vellum didn’t crack….!

The bird layers were die cut from Spellbinders and Concord & 9th card stock, layered, glued and attached the the vellum with 3D foam. The top bird slightly off the top to also be used as an anchor for the top of the vellum band.

The sentiment was simply stamped and then the strip trimmed down. This was also attached with 3D foam, and by adhering it to the bottom of the vellum it was another point that the vellum could be anchored.

Looking at this photo I can see I didn’t poke out some of the belly dots on the lime green bird – oh well – added interest… :)

I hope you can come and join us with your bird themed creations – I look forward to seeing you in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Pammie’s Ink Pinkie Challenge – anything goes

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

Pinspirational – die cuts

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

Stencil Fun – stencils and option of summertime

Thanks So Much

Hello. I was inspired by the sketch – quite literally – at the current Altantic Hearts Challenge to create this card:

As I said – quite literally……

I have juts bought a Sizzix die in a sale and it was sitting on my desk ready to be catalogues in the CML app. It was perfect for the leaves.

The background panel is in a ‘Fog’ cardstock, a scalloped circle die cut from the centre, and then dry embossed using one of my all-time favourite embossing folders from Stampin Up’. I raised this with thin 3D foam tape to a white card base.

The leaves were die cut from three shades of green card stock – Spellbinders and Concord & 9th – then inserted into the aperture, glued using wet glue.

The sentiment is a previously foiled strip, and then three silver sequins added to the top right to compliment the silver of the foiling.

It has been absolutely ages – possibly years – since I entered a sketch challenge – I might have opened Pandora’s box here….

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Atlantic Hearts Challenge – sketch

Snowflake Kisses

Hello once again. The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge has finished their summer break and we start another challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas’. Here is my card:

The blue star background was created using a new product from Uniko. An ink and flip stencil. I did have to watch YouTube videos made by the owner – Bev – to get my head around it.

I used one shade of blue Distress Oxide, and by flipping the stencil and ink blending again, you get the different tones, and the snowflake shape. I still have no idea how it works – but it does. There are a few of the ink and flip stencils on the web site, and I did buy a couple of them, so I’ll be playing with them at some point.

Once the background snowflake was done, I decided to heat emboss some snowflakes on top. I did make sure the inked panel was completely dry before doing this, of course.

I randomly stamped the snowflakes in the background – no rhyme or reason – and used a silver embossing powder.

The snowflake panel was cut with Gina K Master Layouts, a black layer added, and then adhered to the card base.

The foiled sentiment was also layered with black, and adhered flat to the panel.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

Daring Cardmakers – Christmas in July

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Crafty Gals Corner – anything goes – option of Christmas taken

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Christmas (or not) Bingo – the column – free/rectangle/stenciling

Framed Florals

Hello once again. I have had some time to create today:

This product quite is from Pinkfresh Studio, and includes the press plate, stamp, stencils, and a die. As I finally gave in last week to buying the Spellbinders Letterpress machine, I thought I would give it a whirl…

The press plate was inked with black ink, ad instead of using the Spellbinders card stock, I used Hammermill, and it worked perfectly fine for me.

I used the press plate twice, then took the layering stencils and coloured them with the colours from the current Color Throwdown Challenge – yellow, blue, and pink.

I used the very small blue blending brush to colour the branches darker, and also the base of all the leaves.

Once die cut, I played around with the arrangement, decided it needed a frame, so I used a Pinkfresh to create the frame, die cutting three times for dimension, and added the inner detail to the top frame.

Once placed on the card base, I then decided to use another cover plate to create some detail on the back. This plate is part of the Pinkfresh Studio virtual event happening at the moment, and I think I may well be using it more in the future – some subtle detail, but it is there nonetheless:

I snipped parts of the coloured floral image to place them inside the frame, attaching them to the back of the frame, then adding to the embossed panel and card base.

The sentiment is a previously foiled strip, and I chose black as the outline of the floral images is in black, then added some silver gems.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – yellow, pink, blue

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – beautiful blooms

Stencil Fun – stencils – option shades of blue

Here Is A Place To Start – anything goes

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

Tic Tac Toe – middle row – flowers, free, layers

Just Us Girls – use stencils

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Hello Friend

Hello once again. The Alphabet Challenge has started a new challenge, our leader Caz is hosting, and she has a colour mood board for you to base your creations on. Here is the board:

Here is my card:

I chose to make the background the darker grey to highlight the pink of the flowers, and the lighter grey of the vase.

I dry embossed the background panel with a Spellbinders embossing folder, and die cut the vase and foliage from various colours of Concord & 9th card stock using Spellbinders die sets.

Once the flowers were layered together, and the vase adhered with 3D foam, I arranged them as you see. It usually takes me a while to figure out arrangements like this, so this actually took longer than die cutting and gluing….

Once arranged to my liking, I used glue and little pieces of 3D foam, then added a previously foiled sentiment.

Some pink pearls added to the flower centres and the background for extra interest and dimension.

I hope you can come and join us with creations for which the mood board colours are most prominent – neutrals can be added too.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Crafts Galore – anything goes

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

Here Is A Place To Start – anything goes

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

Tic Tac Toe – middle row – free, layers, flowers

Double D challenge – basket and/or posies

Beautiful Blossoms – flowers

Celebrate Onesie

Doesn’t time fly? It seems to have been a while since I posted, so I will try and correct that over the coming days. The post today is to share a card for the new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz. Billie A is hosting and she has chosen the theme of ‘For a baby’. Here is my card: