Birthday

Birthday Peony

Hello. I have a card to share using some die sets from Honey Bee Stamps:

I wanted to use the three colours for the current Color Throwdown Challenge and was stumped. I mentioned the colours to a friend of mine, and she instantly said ‘peony’…….I searched the Color My Life app for what peony items I had (quiet a few actually) and this die set just spoke to me.

I ink blended a panel of Distress White Heavystock with Spun Sugar Distress Ink – keeping it quite light, and not being too perfect – and die cut the leaf from that due set twice.

On another panel I die cut the flower layers first, then ink blended the Tattered Rose Distress Ink afterwards – I wanted to vary how strong, how blended, and how smooth I wanted the blending to be, depending on which part of the flower showed when all layered together.

I die cut three of the ‘Lovely Layers Heart Vine’ outlines and arranged them behind the rose and leaves:

Once I had the placement I wanted, I used some ‘Press’n’seal’ to pick the whole arrangement up and attach 3D foam to the back, and then stick down. The leaves were not stuck down any other way and left loose to give even more dimension.

I stamped the sentiment then used the matching die to cut it out, and arranged as you see.

I also added some enamel dots to the top right corner.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – blush, dusty rose, white

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – make your mark

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – anything goes

Krafty Chicks – occasions

Make My Monday – flowers

It’s Your Bird-day

Some messy in smooshing play this morning with Distress Oxides and Distress Sprays, in order to create this card:

I used the two pink Distress Oxides you see in the picture to create two panels from which I die cut the Simon Says Stamp bird. I layered the darker and the lighter pink to create some dimension.

The background is a Simon Says Stamp embossing folder, which I cut down and layered with a black panel.

The branch is die cut from an ink smooshed panel too – using Rusty Hinge Distress Ink – and the green branches are from yet another ink sprayed panel using Rustic Wilderness. The branches are from Gummiapan and Charlie and Paulchen.

The sentiment is from the Spellbinders Advent Calendar from last year, a debossed sentiment, which is difficult to see in the photo – better in real life – but here is a close up:

I’m trying out a way of photographing my cards to try and make them appear better. The card is raised on a Distress Ink pad to create some shadow, and I have added three of the items I used to make to card – a triangle as it were…I’m not sure if I’ve got the hang of it yet, but I’ll keep trying…..

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – pink, rust, green

Festive Friday – three items from the list – bird, birthday sentiment, embossing folder

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Cut It Up – die cuts and something starting with ‘B’ – bird, branch

CAS Birthday Bear

Hello. I have a CAS card to share using a Clearly Besotted stamp:

I stamped the image onto panel and coloured with Copics. I then stamped the sentiment in the same brown Gina K amalgam ink, cut the panel down to be slightly smaller than the card base, and adhered with 3D foam.

I decided the bear needed some grounding, so I added a little cool grey Copic shadowing.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

AAA Cards – CAS – bears

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – 4 legged animals

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with critter as main focus

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

AAA Birthday – anything goes birthday

Sparkles Forum – friendship

Birdie Birthday

Hello once again. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge. This time round Dawn S has chosen the theme. She wants us to create a project which incudes anything from ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’. Here is a reminder of the lyrics:

On the Twelfth day of Christmas, My true love gave to me
Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

There are a lot of options here to choose from – I went with ‘four calling birds’:

I took a break from Christmas crafting, and went with a birthday theme. To be able to arrange everything on the card, I went with a 5 x 7 inch card base.

First of all, I dry embossed a white panel, layered it with a black panel – to match the sentiment strip I was going to use – and adhered to the card base.

The birds are from Simon Says Stamp – all die cut using 4 different colours and mixing and matching tp create the four birds. These were adhered to the embossed panel with 3D foam, as was the previously foiled sentiment strip.

I added some die cut musical notes, deciding not to stamp the actual notes within the die cuts, and stuck them around the birds, with some silver gems also dotted around the spaces – silver to match the foiled sentiment.

I hope you can come and join us – I look forward to seeing a wide variety of projects and themes in our gallery – and you can see it doesn’t have to be Christmas themed at all. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

TTCRD – anything goes

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of thanks not taken

Dream Valley Challenge – lots of layers

Crafters Café – use dies/punches

Happy Birthday

I’m back from my holiday to Turkey – fabulous and sunny – even though I was hit with a heavy cold on my return……I now feel I can get back into the flow of crafting.

It is time for the October challenge at Happy Little Stampers ‘anything goes birthday’. Here is my card:

Onto w white card base I layered a black panel, and added a dry embossed piece for additional interest.

The flower from Concord & 9th was stamped and then coloured using the layering stencils, then die cut with the matching dies.

Once adhered to the card with 3D foam, I added the foiled sentiment – using blac to tie in with the black panel.

I resisted adding some gems this time – shocker – and kept it quite simple.

I hope you can come and join us with your ‘anything goes birthday’ creations – I look forward to seeing what you create. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – emboss it

Try It On Tuesday – emboss it

CYHTP – embossing folder – option leaves

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Emboss Resist Ink Blending

Hello there. Happy Little Stampers ‘anything goes birthday‘ challenge has started for the month of September. Here is my card:

I used the floral stamp from Concord & 9th Summer Camp 2021, and white heat embossed on white Distress Heavyweight card stock.

I then chose some lighter Distress Inks and blended over the top of the image for a fresh look and feel. I then splattered with water, and also added some Liquitex metallic acrylic ink splatters.

I then took a white card panel and die cut an oval, placing the floral image behind where I thought there was more interest an colour, then adhered to a card base.

The sentiment is from as ephemera pack I have as I wanted to keep the front panel quite flat.

I hope you can come and join us with your birthday makes – I look forward to seeing your birthday creations. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafting Happiness Challenge – card theme – flowers

Paper Minutes Challenge – in the garden

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – anything goes

Creative Fingers Challenges – anything goes

INTAAS – birthdays

Happy Winter Birthday

Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge. The theme is ‘check it out’ chosen by Helen. We want to see your creations which include gingham or plaid. Here is my card:

Onto a white card base I adhered some MFT plaid patterned paper in brighter colours.

The image is from Time For Tea Designs, stamped with a brown Gina K amalgam ink, and coloured with Copics, trying to match the colours in the plaid background.

I used the matching die, which cut out the centre of the wreath, but I placed that back inside once I had stamped the sentiment – from the same stamp set.

I’m looking forward to seeing your girly creations using plaid/gingham. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

INTAAS – happiness

Love To Craft – anything goes

Colour Crazy Challenge – week 31 – anything goes with colouring

Craft Rocket – flowers

AAA Birthday – birthday atg

Crafty Hazelnuts Patterned Paper Challenge – anything goes with patterned paper

Hummingbird Birthday

I have a card – two actually – to share today following a couple of days in my craft room:

I chose to use the Concord & 9th bundle and create two cards, as I couldn’t decide which of the hummingbirds to use.

I used a dark blue base layer for the birds, and other colours as you see. I also added another base layer for the bird to create another layer and thickness so I didn’t have to use 3D foam squares.

The floral arrangement I kept one colour – dark blue – to ensure the hummingbird was the star of the show, and also layered that twice – those little stems are a trifle challenging – but I managed!

The sentiment is from another C9 stamp set, white heat embossed and die cut with a banner die.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – mint green, light yellow, navy, strawberry

Addicted to Stamps – birthdays

Seize The Birthday – birthday – option butterflies or hummingbirds

Pearly Sparkles – layer it up (several layers on birds and florals)

Moving Along With The Times – birthday

CASology – CAS botanical

Cardz 4 Galz New Year or New Stash

Hello there. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge. This time the theme chosen by Helen is ‘New Year or New Stash‘. Here is my card:

This card was created using a new stencil from Pinkfresh Studio – a layering stencil – which I’m finding I enjoy using………as long as I keep everything today and don’t get any ink smudges – which happens quite a lot…..

I also used the hint and tip from a few YouTube videos about using the Misti to line the stencil up and keep everything straight – worked very well for me. No longer did I have to tape each layer down – just used the Misti magnets and kept moving them around. I did notice that it worked best when the stamping mat was removed first – some more of the edge to keep the papers and stencils straight.

I used Distress Inks for the stenciling and then die cut that piece to fit the inside of an A2 card base:

I had a plan in mind – but it took me quite a while to figure it out….

The front panel was cut using a hillside border, and that top part embossed using an Altenew debossing panel. I then added some acetate at the back, to hopefully create a window.

The part that was cut from the front panel was cut to size – leaving the ‘window’ in the middle – stamped with an MFT sentiment, and attached to the bottom of the acetate.

The back of this front panel looked a little ragged – sticky showing through the acetate – so I managed to create two backing panels the same as the front to hide all the mess. Some red dots added for some more colour and interest on the front.

I hope you can come and join us – I look forward to seeing you in our gallery.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafty Sentiments Designs – anything goes

Stamplorations December stencil challenge – anything goes with a stencil

Happy Little Stampers stencil challenge – anything goes with a stencil

Dragonfly Dreams – anything goes

TTCRD – anything goes

Dinosaur Birthday

Hello there. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter ‘O’ , and the theme chosen by Helen is ‘Outdoors’. Here is my take on ‘outdoors’:

I decided to create a scene using Clearly Besotted stamps.

I stamped the background scene first, then stamped it again on some masking paper, masked it off, and ink blended the blue sky. I did consider some splatters and some stars – but decided to leave the blue clear clear.

As this was drying, I stamped and coloured the dinosaurs, and let my Scan-n-cut do it’s work – I’m not a fussy cutter when it comes to images like this, and the scan-n-cut does a great job – if I set it up right and stick down the card properly (my mat is a little less tacky than I would like)!

I then die cut the background panel with a Catherine Pooler die, stuck it down to a card base, stamped the sentiment, and then added my two little creatures.

I hope you are able to join us, it would be great to see what your interpretation of the theme ‘Outdoors’ is….. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

The Sisterhood Of Crafters – Happy Birthday

Addicted To Stamps and More – make your mark

Seize The Birthday – Birthday – option to use stencils (option not taken)

Avenue 613 – anything goes