die cutting

Sweater Weather

Hello. I received this sweater die as part of a Simon Says Stamp kit, and thought it was adorable, so I had a play with it yesterday:

I chose to follow the colours at the current Color Throwdown Challenge, by die cutting the sweater in the colours you see, and I also ran the die cut back through with the embossing mat to make the details stand out a little more.

I also ink blended each sweater in a slightly darker matching colour, to again enhance the details.

Keeping it fairly CAS – for me anyway – I used a Spellbinders embossing folder to create the background panel, then added the three sweaters with 3D foam.

The sentiment is from a Gina K Designs stamp set – stamped then cut out with a banner die from one of her Master Layouts die sets, glued directly down to the background.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Sparkles Forum Christmas – Christmas and festive wear

Simply CAS – CAS – holidays/winter

Color Throwdown – yellow, orange, green

Christmas Bingo – column I – winter/free/snowflakes

Rainbow Happy

Hello again. I have been exploring my CAS style with this card – something I really struggle with.

I was inspired by the current challenge at CAS on Friday – produce a CAS card with the theme of rainbow.

I searched through the Color My Life app, and found this die set received as a Concord & 9th cabin gift for one of their summer camps a few years ago.

The card base is Neenah 110lbs – I finally managed to get a restock here in the UK so I ordered plenty.

I die cut the elements out of 80lbs Neenah, and attached the outline of the image direct to the card base.

The other elements I coloured with Copics to create the rainbow colours, insetting them.

That’s it – no gems, no embossing folder background, just a colourful CAS card. It always amazes me though, how CAS can take longer to plan out than my general style of cards – there really is nowhere to hide with CAS is there?

Apple Of My Eye

Hello. I was intrigued by the challenge at As You See It – this time, they wanted the theme of apples, and it was also a timed challenge – had to be created within 10 minutes…

I did a search through the Color My Life app, and found this stamp and die set from Clearly Besotted – an old one from 2017, but I thought it would fit the bill.

I’m not particularly proud of the colouring on this – but I was conscious of the time so went with it.

I got all my supplies together, started the timer – off we go.

The first thing was to stamp the image, quickly heat set, then I used my Zigs to colour them in – very basic colouring. I chose Zigs as I thought they would spread the colour around quite quickly.

Once coloured, I used the matching dies, grabbed a card base, stamped the sentiment directly onto the card base, then attached the die cut image with glue. I had a few seconds left over, so I took a white gel pen and made some ‘shine’ on the apples. This didn’t turn out as white as I’d hoped, as the colouring was still a little damp, but you can certainly see the marks.

As you can see – very close to the wire – but success none-the-less.

Making Spirits Bright

I had chance to paly with a new product yesterday, and created this card – and two more……

I used the colours for the current Color Hues Challenge – Teal and Silver – and the die from Pocket Full Of Happiness – now stocked in one of our UK stores – the Folk Snowflake Background.

This is such a versatile die – you can certainly use any colours to create this, and you can paper-piece – which I did here – or use additional dies to create a more dimensional look.

The first step was to die cut the plate three times – teal, matt silver, and then some silver glitter card stock.

I then created a 5 inch square card base by cutting down a 5×7 inch card base, then added a piece of double sided sticky sheet to the card base, then attached the teal background.

The glitter and matt silver pieces were then inlaid back into their spaces – thank goodness each of the pieces are able to be pieced anywhere. I couldn’t begin to think how long this would have taken me if the shapes were all of a different size…

The sentiment is a silver foiled strip, and I thought the jaunty angle on each end was a whimsical touch.

As I had die cut three whole background panels – I was able to create a couple more cards, just by changing the background panel and the inset pieces around:

Is there such a thing as a three-fer? Well, there is now…

I shall be entering the following challenges:

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

A Cut Above – anything goes with a die cut

Color Hues – teal and silver

Craft Rocket – Christmas/Winter

Autumn Wishes

Hello. I want to share a card created using a Simon Hurley stamp and stencil set, obtained for a virtual event recently, and to enter the current challenge at The Four Seasons Challenge. The current theme is ‘fall’:

The first job was to stamp the bare trees, which I inked with brown, then stamped in different positions. The leaves are added with a matching stencil, so I actually used Nuvo drops for the so-called leaves.

I squeezed some of the purple out, scraped through the stencil with my palette knife – then had to wait for that to dry before moving on to the blue, and then the red – something I generally don’t like to do – wait for things to dry. I am very impatient when creating….

Once the three colours were dry, I cut the panel down slightly, then layered it with a patterned paper onto a white card base.

The sentiment was stamped, then the banner die cut and attached.

As mentioned, I shall be entering the Four Season Challenge – them of ‘fall’

Happy Winter Birthday

Hello again. A cold snap here in the UK means more crafty time – though I don’t really need an excuse at the moment – I seem to have recovered my mojo after my short break away in Tenerife. I wanted to create a birthday card for a change, but I still used some Christmas products:

The background panel was created using a light grey piece of card, and then using the Pinkfresh Studio cover plate ‘Stitched Pinwheels‘. I also used a Pinkfresh Studio frame die to cut the small white shape, used the Pinwheel plate again – thinking about the continuity of the pattern, and where I wanted to place it on the card front – thank goodness that worked….

I then die cut items from several Spellbinders die sets – the bird (Love Note Bird), then the branch and foliage from other die sets. I wanted the bird to stand out, so I chose bright colours for him/her, then the rest of the card elements are quite muted and neutral.

Once die cut, I attached the grey panel flat to the card base, used 3D foam to raise the white die cut, glued the bird to the white shape – though I did add a couple more die cut feet as they seems quite fragile – then attached the silver foiled sentiment with 3D foam.

I then played with the foliage, gluing them down one-by-one until I was happy with the placement and with the fullness.

As per usual, I added some extra embellishment, this time with silver sequins. I haven’t used sequins in a while, but I like how you can tuck them underneath layers so they are just peeping out.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Seize The Birthday – birthday – option to use Christmas supplies taken

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and critters

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Poinsettia Season’s Greetings

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

I wanted a dramatic and different look for this die card, with a lot of dimension.

The background panel is a piece of black shimmery card stock, and dry embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder.

The main image is a Pinkfresh Studio die and layering stencil set, and as the background was black and dramatic, I also went with a different colour scheme.

The layering stencils were ink blended using Pinkfresh Studio inks, then die cut with the macthing die set. I added a couple more layers to the flower image, then attached to the black embossed panel.

I also added gold gems to the centre of the flowers as they are my favourite embellishments to use, and there is rarely a card I make without some sort of gem or jewel around it somewhere. I feel they add a certain interest and detail which doesn’t take over the card.

The sentiment is gold foiled.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

As You Like It – favourite embellishment – gems/jewels/enamel dots

Stencil Fun – stencils – option to use some gold taken

Craft Rocket – Christmas/Winter

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

Beautiful Blossoms – florals – optional mood board

So Very Merry

Hello again. Having just returned from a few days away with hubby to Tenerife, I was itching to get into my craft rom and play with some new products which were part of a recent Online Card Classes class. I watched the first day of class whilst away, but still have to catch up on the rest.

I started by gold heat embossing the ‘Easy Repeat Holly‘ background stamp from Concord & 9th and Kristina Werner using the Taylored Expressions ‘Gold Sparkle’ embossing powder, then used the matching layering stencils to colour the image. On the holly leaves, I used two tones of green, the darker towards the base of the leaves to create some dimension.

This panel was then cut down slightly and attached to a white card base.

The snowman was die cut, glued together, and set to one side, whilst I gold heat embossed the sentiment, then used the matching die to cut it out.

When I placed the snowman and the sentiment on the background, they seemed to get a little lost, so I die cut a circle of vellum, attached the snowman and sentiment to the front of it, then glued it down – applying glue only behind the two die cut pieces.

I shall certainly be watching the rest of the lessons for the class, and I’m sure I shall be utilising some of the techniques demonstrated with these products.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Tic Tac Toe – top right diagonal to bottom left – snowman/snow – gold – Christmas sentiment

Creative Knockouts – time to be merry

A Cut Above – anything goes with a die cut

Stencil Fun – use stencils – option to use some gold taken

Craft Rocket – Christmas/Winter

Build Me A Snowman

Hello again. Caz is hosting the new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz, and she has chosen the theme of:

Build Me A Snowman

Here is my card:

I wanted to try out the die set from The Greetery I had for a while, and finally managed to obtain a few of the honeycomb additions.

The snowman was die cut and assembled, then the honeycomb added. I used small black gems for the eyes. These honeycomb elements are fun, but I definitely have to hand this to the recipient…….

The background blue was embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder, the silver foiled panel was created by using a background toner panel – I think from Picket Fence Studio, but I may be wrong there. It’s the first time I’ve used the toner panels with my Gina K Fuse machine – how quick and easy is that? I did have to watch one of her YouTube videos just to make sure I had the correct heat setting, but I did play with several panels on this machine and therefore have a few on hand for future projects.

I cut the snowflake foiled panel with a Pinkfresh Studio die, and cut the centre out – the snowman kinda got lost without die cutting that centre out.

No sentiment, I think it’s pretty clear what time of year this is meant for….

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

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

12 Months of Christmas Link-Up – Christmas – option of sleigh not taken

Christmas Bingo – column O – no stamping – free – gems

Love To Craft – anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

ABC Christmas Challenge – W and/or X

Hello again. The ABC Christmas Challenge has reached the letters ‘W’ and ‘X’, Fabiola is hosting, and the Christmas themes are:

W is for Wings and/or X is for X-stitch – any stitching

Here is my card for the theme of ‘wings’:

The birds were created first, and by using the ‘Birdie Friends in Winter’ combo. The birds were die cut, then ink blended using the matching layering stencils. Two of the birds have hats already, but I also die cut and ink blended another couple so I could clothe all of them with those cute hats.

The background panel was put through an embossing folder and attached to a card base.

The five scalloped pieces were die cut then ink blended with a couple of pink tones – I thought these pinks would be good for the background of each bird – allowing the blue and red on the birds to stand out.

These pieces were attached to the background in a jaunty fashion, the birds attached with thin 3D foam, a gold foiled sentiment added, and some gold gems also placed around and about.