White and Blue

Hello everyone. I have a card to share as there is a new challenge starting at Cardz 4 Galz. The theme this time is ‘White and Blue’.

I began by creating a 6×6 inches card base, and die-cutting a stitched square frame just slightly smaller.

Then embossing the white card with the Apple Blossom embossing folder, and cutting it down slightly to ensure a slim white border around it.

The heart circle die is from Heffy Doodle, and another stitched circle die to cut around that heart frame – as it only cuts into the card, and using another die from the Heffy Doodle set for the blue inner die-cut. I think this is supposed to be the waste from that die – but there is no waste here!

The little hearts that came out of the Heffy Doodle die fit quite nicely into those embossed dotty circles – so with a little patience – I went round and stuck them all in as you see.

The ‘Thanks‘ word is from Altenew ‘Enchanted Iris’, die cut twice in white card stock and then in the same blue – for some extra dimension. I decided to stick this at a jaunty angle – for no reason in particular. :)

The photo is taken indoors in natural light – it’s very, very blowy here at the moment – but you can see the fabulous dimension and embossing that folder creates.

I do hope you can come and join us this time. I look forward to seeing what you create. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Just Us Girls – create dimension

Crafty Sentiments Designs – anything goes

Lemon Shortbread Challenge – anything goes

Stencilled Snowflakes

Hello once again. I have a card to share as part of the Design Team inspiration for the new challenge beginning at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge.

Our first challenge of the year, and the theme is – as always – anything goes as long as it’s Christmas related – that also means anything other than cards – boxes, tags, bookmarks, etc – so I hope you can come and join us.

I tried to capture the shine and shimmer on this card, but it wasn’t easy:

I used a new stencil from Funky Fossils Designs as I was inspired by some of the creations on Instagram. I don’t use stencils very often, and yet have many of them just laying around in one of my craft drawers.

Having just received one of the Tonic Craft kits, and some glacier paste I ordered – I decided to have a play. This stencil had just arrived, and was laying on my craft table waiting to be used, so I went with it.

I think I;m out of practice with stencilling, and perhaps I over scrape – there is a little snowflake that looks a little, erm, blurred (!!) – but I like how this turned out – the colours and shine in particular.

The glacier paste from Tonic is truly a very shimmery and shiny paste when it dries, and so I thought the sentiment needed to shimmer and shine too. I heat embossed the sentiment on vellum, to allow the snowflakes to still shine through, and attached to the back of that piece of card before sticking it to the base card.

I hope you can come and join us, and I look forward to seeing what you create. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Give a Crafter a Cookie – Photo Inspiration

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – atg Christmas

Christmas cards all year round – atg Christmas

Try Something New

Hi there once again. I have a card to share using a new piece of equipment, and new technique – which just so happens to be the theme of the new challenge starting at The Alphabet Challenge.

The letter is ‘T’, and the theme is ‘Try Something New’

I am sure you can guess – The Gemini Foilpress machine.

I have resisted this machine for the past year – having had a little play at 2018 Craftaganza, then another little play when a friend of mine brought hers over to my house. Why would I need foiling? What would I do with it? How would it enhance my card-making?

Well – I gave in. I bought one. And………….loving it!

Here is one the best – even though longest – YouTube videos which gave me all the hints and tips – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR8rr2fUJj4&t=2805s

Now – bear with the video – there are a lot of hints, tricks, and ideas. I even did the foiling of the ‘waste’ – and it worked. So basically – no waste.

On my card, it is one of the foil stamp dies…….done the ‘correct way‘…. and one of the sentiments I bought separately. A few little ‘dew drops’ added for some dimension, and card done.

So – it would be fabulous for you to come and join us for this challenge, and show us your new crafty goodies, or new techniques. The challenge runs for two weeks. I look forward to seeing your creations and techniques in our gallery. xx

Challenges I shall be entering:

Lil Red Wagon – never before used schtuff

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – something new

Craft Rocket Challenges – something new

Moving Along With The Times – all things new

Cardz 4 Galz Haberdashery

Hello once again. I hope everyone is doing well. There is anew challenge starting at Cardz 4 Galz, and this time the theme is ‘Haberdashery’. We want to see your creations using ribbons, bows, lace etc.

Here is my card:

Now, if you follow me regularly, you know this is certainly not the kind of card I usually create – that is why being on the Design Team for this particular challenge – well – challenges me too.

It challenges me to think outside of the box, to try new techniques, and to use some of the stash I have – which I have even forgotten I have – if you get my drift.

The cream die cut is from an older Spellbinders Card Creator die set, using the biggest of the dies – and cut very well and first time with my Gemini Junior – a new one after my first one broke!

I used a piece of lace across the middle, and heat embossed the Thirsty Brush and Co sentiment in a copper colour. I love this very simple sentiment, it can be used for so many different occasions.

The leaf cluster and the three flowers were part of the Simon Says Stamp Crafty Surprise parcel, and come from Prima Marketing. That parcel was packed full of stuff, absolutely full of stuff – but most of which I couldn’t see myself using………until now!

Doing the DT card for this challenge has actually made me look again at the contents of this parcel, and I can actually see myself using more of the stuff than I thought – I am sure I will be sharing with you at some point.

I also added some green pearl accents – make unknown – for some extra interest.

Anyhoo – my take on the Haberdashery theme – lace, flowers, pearls.

I hope you can come and join us, and I certainly do look forward to seeing what you create with this theme.

Challenges I shall be entering:

Allsorts Challenge – atg

Watercooler Challenges – atg

Arty Divas Challenge – atg

ABC Bingo Board

Hi there. Happy New Year to everyone.

It’s been a busy few weeks and I’m sure it’s been the same for most people. This is the beginning of a new year, and a new challenge has started at The ABC Christmas Challenge. The first two themes are ‘A’ for anything Christmas goes, and/or ‘B’ for Bingo Board.

Here is my card for the Bingo Board:

I used my newly arrived – Christmas Eve actually – Simon Says Stamp ‘Gnome for the Holidays card kit‘ to create this card.

I started by die-cutting the gnomes using some patterned paper from that same kit, but also using some red glittery card scraps for underneath their tunics.

I used the little red pompoms from a previous card kit for their hats, and put things together as you see.

The hillside was using MFT ‘Snowy Scene Builder’, and also using the little trees from that set to add some onto the hillsides.

The embossed sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp set – leaving the letters open and not coloured-in, to leave the interest with the gnomes.

Here is the Bingo Board by Helen, who is hosting this challenge:

and who is also providing a couple of prizes for 2 winners:

I hope you can come and join us in the new challenge for the New Year – and definitely get a head start in your Christmas card stash.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Watercooler Challenges – anything goes

Arty Divas Challenge – anything goes

Crafty Hazelnuts Patterned Paper Challenge – atg using patterned papers

Warm Winter Hugs

Hello there. A little bit of crafting today. Some stamping, some die-cutting, some fussy-cutting, some dry embossing – here is the card:

I used the Gina K Designs card kit, and stamped the poinsettias in Catherine Pooler ‘Be Mine‘ ink, then stamped some leaves from the same kit in ‘Lime Rickey‘.

The other leaves are actually the Christmas tree from that same kit – but cut apart and used as leaves, and then inserted as you see.

HERE is my post where you can see what the tree looks like as it is meant to be.

The background is a Crafters Companion 3D embossing folder, just to add some extra interest, and the sentiment is from that same Gina K kit.

Looking at these pictures – I think I may need some re-inkers for my ink pads………..I think I have them somewhere……….now to go hunting!

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – Lime Green, Hot Pink, White

Water-Cooler Challenges – Occasions

Day Of The Month Card Club – Poinsettia

Aud Sentiments – Christmas/Winter and sentiment

Unser Logo zum Mitnehmen! / Our logo to take away!

Simply Merry Christmas

Hi there everyone. There is a new challenge starting at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge, and – as always – the theme is anything goes as long as it’s Christmas. Here is my DT card:

I used some Catherine Pooler stamps and inks to create the background snowflake effect, along with a Catherine Pooler ‘Merry Christmas‘ die cut sentiment.

I added some Tonic Nuvo Crystal drops in red and gold – wherever I could…..I just couldn’t stop myself.

I find I enjoy creating my own backgrounds with stamping smaller images, and this set – from at least a year ago – has some lovely images in it. It may even be a couple of years ago – but I still like to explore my older stash, and give them some love.

I hope you can come along and join us in this challenge – I look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – traditional Christmas

Allsorts Challenge – snowmen and/or snowflakes

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – atg Christmas

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – atg Christmas

Always Fun Challenges – snowflakes

You are amazing – remember that…..

Hello there. I have another card to share, using the Altenew ‘Rosy Outlook’ stamp and die set:

I stamped the flowers using Altenew inks, but for the fourth layer of the large rose I heat embossed in gold. The leaves I stamped the first two layers in green, then heat embossed the third layer in gold too.

The sentiment is from a Stampin Up stamp set, again heat embossed in gold, then doing a little juggling and partial die-cutting, I managed to cut the length to size, adding a little ‘flag’ ending to it.

I used Altenew ‘Dotted Swirls Debossing cover die’ for the background, layered with some black card stock – and there we have it.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – aqua, green, gold, white

Watercooler Challenges – atg feminine

CAS(E) This Sketch – sketch

The Flower Challenge – flowers and use a die

Bright Red Poinsettia

Hi there. I hope you are doing well. I have managed to craft some more and created a CAS simple card for some challenges.

I used the Uniko ‘Season of Beauty’ poinsettia stamp, only using some of the layers. I fuirst stamped the flower itself in Rockin’ Red by catherine Pooler – realising after the first stamp I needed ti re-ink the pad. So this is actaully the second stamping…….

I then took the outline layer and one of the inner layers and heat embossed in gold. I used a green for the little dots in the centre of the flower, and stamped a sentiment from the same stamp set in Altenew Obsidian ink.

I took a little while to decide on the base card, and my eye turned to black, to tie-in the sentiment. My thoughts then turned to a strip of gold card, but I knew that Bev from Uniko designed a lot of the strip stamps to build backgrounds – of which I have a few :) – and found this stripy strip stamp so I heat embossed that in gold along the bottom – then went for the top too.

I’m trying to get my head around indoor photographs with my cards – lighting, angle etc. I may even try some kind of decoration around the cards at some point – only time will tell!

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CAS Colours and Sketches – cherry cobbler, metallic gold, shaded spruce

Daring Cardmakers – 3 elements from photo inspiration – stripes, red, joy

Time Out Challenges – merry and cheerful

Uniko December Challenge – Christmas with option of trees

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge – atg Christmas with option of candy cane

Snowy Bountiful Branch

Hello again. I have a card here which is made for the new challenge beginning at The Alphabet Challenge . The theme this time is ‘Snow’. I have gone for a muted, almost romantic look:

I first took a piece of mixed media paper, and ink blended some Distress Oxides with my blending brushes – I wanted an uneven edge to the blending, almost a blurring effect, and wanted to use colours which the red and greens of the branch would work with.

Once blended – and made sure it was dry – I then stamped the Altenew ‘Bountiful Branch‘ in all it’s glory. I had forgotten how beautiful this stamp set was – I may make more cards from this!

I then took some white gouache and splattered it all over to create the illusion of snow – I never know when to stop, and I never know which brush to use, how much water etc…….but just go with it.

The sentiment is from Gin K Designs.

I decided to off-set the main image as you see it laid out here – I just fancied it. No other particular reason…………

I hope you can come and join us in creating something for this challenge and theme – I look forward to seeing you in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafty Cardmakers – no patterned papers

Crafty Sentiments – atg

A Bit More Time To Craft – atg

The Merry Little Christmas Challenge – atg Christmas