die cutting

Elephant Birthday

At The Alphabet Challenge, we have reached the letter ‘Z‘. Deborah has chosen the theme of ‘Z is for Zoology‘. We want to see your projects featuring animals Here are my cards:

I decided to make the background grey and have the elephants in colour. A flip-around really.

The background is dry embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder.

The elephants were stamped using the ‘Color Layering Elephant’ from Hero Arts, in tones of the colours you see. Once stamped, they were die cut and set to one side.

The balloon background panel is from My Favourite Things, and inverted. I have seen most projects with the balloons coming up from the bottom, but I wanted mine to come from the top.

Once that balloon panel was cut, I used some Copics which matched each elephant, coloured some pieces of card, then used a balloon die to cut them out, gluing them to the white balloons on the background panel.

I attached the elephant, stamped and attached the sentiment, then added glossy accents to the balloons.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

We Love 2 Create – anything goes mixed media (die inks, Copics, glossy accents)

Creative Artiste Mixed Media – anything goes mixed media (die inks, Copics, glossy accents)

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Crafty Gals Corner – anything goes

Spring Flowers

Hello there. I am hosting the new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz, and I chose the theme of:

‘Spring Flowers with dies and/or punches’

Here is my card:

This die set was part of the Concord & 9th ‘In The Classroom’ virtual event I attended last year. Big and Bold is the name of the set – and they certainly are big and bold flowers.

There is a die which you use for the background to place stitch marks on a panel, then you use the other dies for the flowers and leaves. You can use the flowers alone, but as you can see, the flowers are cut to perfectly line up with each other.

I die cut quite a few extra of the florals and leaves, and added them round and about the main big flowers, adding some matching enamel dots in places.

I hope you can come and join us with your projects following our theme. I look forward to seeing you in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Make My Monday – Spring

Everybody Art – Spring

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

Die Cut Divas – anything goes with die cuts

Here Is A Place To Start – anything goes – option of ‘hip to be square’ not taken

Beautiful Blossoms – flowers

Dancin’ Gingerbread

Hello. I ma hosting the new challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge. We have reached the letters ‘E’, ‘F’, and ‘G’. The Christmas themes are:

E is for embossing, F is for Faux, and G is for Gingerbread

I have also put a couple of stamp sets for a random winner:

I went with the Gingerbread theme. Here is my card:

The little gingerbread girls are from a Spellbinders die set, and you can make them as is, or you can make them dance. Of course, I made them dance:

I first die cut all the elements, and before gluing together most of the elements.

The background is a hot foiled panel – from Spellbinders – attached with glue.

To assemble the gingerbread so they dance, the head stays in one place. You add 3D foam to the centre of the head, attach the ringed die cut piece to the bodies, place over the 3d foam on the head – and stick that head down…..

Swinging bodies ensue…..

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations following our themes, the Design Team have a variety of inspiration for you. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Peace On Earth Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Crafty Catz – anything goes – option of monochrome not taken

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

Sparkles Forum Christmas Challenge – Christmas with plaid or tartan

Excited Congrats…

Hello again. I have a card to share using some of the products from the recent Pinkfresh Studio ‘Create and Connect Event’:

This floral arrangement is from the ‘Lantern Botanicals’ stamp set, now on general release, but was provided as part of our event kit.

I stamped the floral images four times – minus the lantern at the top of the stamp – in a light ink, onto textured cream/linen card stock. The stamp was left in the Misti so I could stamp again with a darker brown ink after ink blending.

I then used the three layering stencils to colour the leaves and flowers, wondering if I had made an error using the textured card. I did stamp on the smooth side, but as you can see some of the texture came through with the ink blending. I think this gives and almost vintage feel to the images, so I carried on blending all four of them.

Once coloured, I then placed each piece back in the Misti, ensured it matched, then stamped again with a darker brown ink.

These were all then die cut, and extra layers cut and adhered together to create more stability and depth to them.

I used another A2 piece of the linen card, played with arranging the images, then glued them down – snipping the ones that hung over the edge, and adding little pieces if there were any large spaces.

The sentiment was stamped in the same dark brown ink, die cut, extra layers added, then attached to the card:

I added some iridescent gems in spaces. I like how these gems pick up the light, but also the colour of anything around them.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – peach, sage green, cream

Beautiful Blossoms – flowers

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – add a sentiment

Ellibelle’s Crafty Wednesday – anything goes

Die Cut Divas – anything goes with die cuts

Here Is A Place To Start – anything goes

Vintage Telephone

The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter ‘Y‘, and Meg has chosen the theme of ‘Yesteryears/Vintage’. Here is my card:

I immediately thought of the old fashioned phones we used to have, and this die set from Time For Tea designs is one I have had for while and never used.

I die cut all the phone elements in several shades of teal, and layered them together. Once assembled, I used a 5 x 7 inch card base to allow for the large sentiment – also from Time For tea Designs.

I decided to use a patterned paper for the background, from Lawn Fawn I believe, and used grey tones to allow the colour of the telephone to be the centre of attention.

I saw a little reel on one of the social media sites which showed how the younger generation has no idea, no clue how to use these old rotary phones, many had never even seen them before……and how often just we pick up the phone to call someone and chat, rather than sending a message or texting…..? I think actually talking to someone on the phone is going to be a lost art form…

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Creative Inspiration Challenge – anything goes

Die Cut Divas – anything goes with die cuts

Here Is A Place To Start – anything goes – option of ‘hip to be square’ not taken

Delivering Warm Hugs

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

I had fun creating this card with all those die cuts. I have to be in ‘the zone’ when I do this, but I enjoy the process.

The background panel is dry embossing using a Spellbinders embossing folder, and adhered flat to the card base.

The mug, marshmallows and candy canes are from Spellbinders, die cut and assembled with a mixture of glue and 3D foam.

the sentiment is heat foiled, and some silver sequins added for extra sparkle.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – anything goes

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of squares/circles not taken

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Christmas Craft Creations – Christmas with stencils or embossing folder

Jingle Belles – Christmas and mainly die cuts

Envelope of Flowers

I was inspired to create this card today:

I used the photo inspiration from the ‘Inspired By…..’ challenge as a starting point.

The background panel is dry embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder, and cut to the size of the card – 5 x 7 inches this time.

The envelope die is also from Spellbinders, using a couple of sheets from their paper pads, and comes from a pack that creates a 3D envelope, but I cut off the sides and adhered the front to the base of the envelop with 3D foam to allow insertion of the elements.

The flowers are from a mixture of die sets from Spellbinders and Scrapbook and Cards Today, layered as necessary, and using Concord & 9th card stock.

I then played around with the floral arrangement until I had what I wanted, and adhered with glue and 3D foam. I was trying to achieve the overflowing envelope as per the picture, and also used the colours of the flowers to match too.

No added bling on this card, I think there is a lot going on already, and there is a touch of gold from the hearts on the front panel of the envelope.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

The Inspired By Challenge – photo inspiration

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Beautiful Blossoms – flowers – optional mood board

Die Cut Divas – anything goes with die cuts

Birthday Roses

Hello. I created this card with some new products from Honey Bee Stamps:

I first die cut all the elements from the die set out of white, so I could see where everything went in this layering die set. I also went on Honey Bee Stamps web site where there is a layering guide.

The leafy background was then die cut again from Concord & 9th parsley card stock. I wanted a bright and vivid green. The details on the leaves weren’t as obvious as I wanted, so I ran it through again with the silicone mat to emboss those details a little more deeply.

For the two larger flowers I ink blended some peach colour tones from Pinkfresh Studio inks onto each layer – darker for the bottom, and getting lighter to the top.

The smaller buds I went with yellow flowers, and chose the make the top layer green for leaves, and a lighter green than the parsley card stock so it stood out more.

Once I had laid everything on tp of the leafy background piece, I glued the initial white piece behind it to give it more stability,

A white card base seemed to wash out the colours, and wasn’t quite dramatic enough, so I chose a black card base which I think works better.

All the elements were glued down, a foiled sentiment added, and some clear dew drops also added.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Everybody Art Challenge – birthday

Color Throwdown – peach, yellow, green

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – beautiful blooms

Craft Rocket Challenge – birthday

The Crafty Addicts – anything goes

Krafty Chicks – occasions

Beautiful Blossoms – floral

X for Xtra Love Hearts

Hello. Caz is hosting the new challenge at The Alphabet Challenge, and for the letter ‘X‘ she has chosen the theme of ‘Xtra Love Hearts‘. Here is my card:

I chose to go with a tone-on-tone look with purple. The background panel was die cut using the ‘Daisy Chain’ cover plate from Pinkfresh studio, and layered onto a white card base.

The Greetery ’round about hearts’ die was die cut twice, and layered to create the circle of hearts, and flowers added as you see. The centre of the flowers are all tiny little gems, but I didn’t have one big enough for the large flower, so I coloured a white one with one of my Copics.

The sentiment was from a previous hot foiling session, added with 3D foam.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations featuring ‘Xtra hearts’. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Crafts Galore – anything goes

MAWTT – love hearts

Crafty Calendar – add a heart

Avenue 613 – anything goes – option love letters

Aud Sentiments – use dies and/or love/anniversary and a sentiment

Dragonfly Dreams – hearts

Crafty Gals Corner – add a heart

Seascape

Hello again. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge. Johanna has chosen the theme of ‘Sea Scape’ Here is my card:

The boat and dolphins are from a die set from Charlie and Paulchen. I started by die cutting the boat twice out of white card stock. On one of the boat die cuts, I coloured the mast and boat itself with a couple of brown Zigs, then the other white die cut I snipped the sails from and adhered onto the coloured die cut.

The dolphins I coloured with a grey Copic marker.

I then die cut a square out of a piece of Yupo paper I had used my alcohol inks on, and arranged the boat and dolphins as you see. I thought the wonky stitching on this die set would look like waves and add more interest.

I thought the blue alcohol inks looked like there was a swirly weather ahead and the dolphins were chasing the boat to warn it…….the way my mind works sometimes astounds me……

The white background panel was created using a Spellbinders embossing folder to continue to nautical theme.