die cutting

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

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:

I don’t make baby cards at all, but this die set was from an online event run by Scrapbook and Cards Today in February of this year.

I first chose to make a blue card and started with a blue card base. Onto that I layered a cover plate die.

The onesie was die cut, then ink blended over the top to create the star detail. The frog was die cut and adhered.

The word was die cut several times and stacked for dimension, then all glued together.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Stencil Fun – use a stencil – option of shades of blue taken

Here Is A Place To Start – anything goes

Tic Tac Toe – middle column – die cuts, free, any sentiment

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Soak Up The Sun

Hello once again. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter ‘H‘, and Helen has chosen the theme of:

H is for Holidays – summer or Christmas in July

Here is my card:

This die set and stencil were part of a virtual class hosted by Spellbinders, and I thought would suit the summer theme for this challenge. Though we haven’t had much of a summer in the UK, and it is still raining, it did give ne hope that we could have some warmer weather soon……

The background is ink blending through the stencil, a rainbow kinda look using only three colours of ink, but ensuring they overlapped to create a five colour look. This panel was cut down a little and glued straight to the 5×7 inch card base.

The elements for the glass and scene were die cut and glued down, and the umbrella and cherries and added. That’s why I chose a larger card base, as I wanted to get the height for the added elements.

I tried the glass against the background panel, and felt it got lost in the colours, so I added a plain white oval.

The sentiment was stamped then die cut using a stitched rectangle.

I hope you can come and join us with your holiday themed creations – summer or Christmas in July. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Creative Knockouts – summer fun

Just Us Girls – summertime

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Crafts Galore – anything goes

Stencil Fun – use a stencil – option of shades of blue

Here Is A Place To Start – anything goes

Shades Of Blue

Johanna is hosting the new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz, and she has chosen the theme of ‘Shades Of Blue‘. Here is my card:

Using a newer die set from Spellbinders, I created the openings using 4 different shades of blue card stock. There are a few of similar tunnel die sets from Spellbinders, this one is ‘Cloud Tunnel’.

It is very easy to place the dies in different positions on each piece of card to create the size and shape of the opening, and also the create as much or as little of each layer showing as you please.

The second darkest blue I layered with 3D foam, but the other layers were glued flat to each other.

The moon and stars are also from the same dies set, and I stamped an appropriate sentiment on the front piece.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

AAA Colourful Challenge – colour board – mainly blue

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Crafts Galore – anything goes

Here Is A Place To start – anything goes

Love To Craft – anything goes

ABC ‘N’ and ‘O’

Hello everyone. The ABC Christmas Challenge has reached the letters ‘N’ and ‘O’, Fabiola is the host this time round and the Christmas themes are:

‘N’ for No Stamping and ‘O’ for Off The Edge’

I went with the no stamping option. Here is my card:

I am sure you all know by now that I am a Spellbinders fanatic, and this card was created using one of their die sets and one of their embossing folders.

The background was embossed and then a darker blue ink blended around the outside edges to create a halo effect.

The baubles were all die cut, and all those little pieces of white and blue were die cut and inlaid back into their little places – a fiddly job, but I treated as a therapeutic endeavour.

I also used some white glitter card stock for some portions of the die cuts.

The sentiment is from a previous hot foiling session.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations following one or both of our two themes. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

AAA Colourful Challenge – mainly blue colour board

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Sparkles Forum Christmas – handmade ornament or ornament card

Christmas Crafts All Year Round – anything goes Christmas

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Christmas (or not) Bingo – column ‘I’ – free, embossing (wet or dry), glitter (glitter card)

You Are Simply Amazing

Hello everyone. Some crafty time yesterday created this card for a few challenges:

The background panel is a turnabout stamp from Concord & 9th. It was one of the many, many items received as part of their ‘Summer Camp’ virtual weekend. They always provide such a great number of items for this weekend event – and so many ‘camp counsellors’ which I know I regard in high esteem and watch many of their YouTube channels.

The first thing I did was the turnabout panel, using the colour scheme from the current Color Throwdown challenge. I used Concord & 9th inks, and their turnabout jig – which also came with the event – then cut that down to slightly smaller than an A2 card base.

I then stamped and die cut the separate flowers and leaves, and die cut ‘Jumbo Butterfly‘ from The Greetery, using the matching stencils to ink blend the colours on it.

The sentiment is also from the same event, and stamped into an oval, die cut from a Gina K Designs master layouts die set.

The oval was attached with 3D foam, the flowers and leaves added, then the butterfly, and some iridescent gem for the centre of the flowers – and some down towards the bottom right.