die cutting

Bauble & Wreath

Hello again. The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge has started a new ‘anything goes Christmas’ Challenge – here is my card:

I started by creating the background panel – a dark blue piece of card – and embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder, then a white pigment ink pad swiped over the top to highlight the dimension.

Whilst this pigment ink was drying, I stamped and glitter silver heat embossed the bauble image from Pinkfresh Studio, and used the matching stencils to ink blend the one central detail. I juts wanted the bauble to stand out from all the surrounding colour. This was then die cut with the matching dies, and set to one side.

The leaves were die cut with a piece of previously created panel which I had used a green mica spray, and also die cut with some silver glitter card stock. This die set is also from Pinkfresh Studio – ‘Tied With Cheer’. There are three wreath layers in this die set, and I think I cut them all, and maybe a few extra.

The blue panel was adhered to a white card base, the wreath leaves layered and attached, then the bauble added.

I hope you can come and join us in our challenge – remember – Christmas cards only….. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CYHTP – embossing folder, option of pumpkins or orange not taken

Tic Tac Toe – top left to bottom right diagonal – leaves – free – die cuts

Peace On Earth – Christmas anything goes

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

12 Months of Christmas Link-Up – Christmas – option of sleigh it like you mean it not taken

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Fill Your Heart With Joy

Hello. I have certainly been having some crafty play this weekend. I have another card to share using products from yet another virtual event from 2024 – I really need to organise the products from these events and play more with them.

The tree image was stamped onto white card stock and white heat embossed – all the white on the tree is from this embossing. I then used three tones of green from Pinkfresh Studio and ink blended – light at the top, going darker further down the tree.

After wiping excess ink from the white embossing, I then used the matching die to cut it out.

The background panel was dry embossed using a cover-plate, then using my green blending brush – no further ink added – I then lightly went around the edges to create a subtle halo effect in the centre of the panel.

The sentiment was heat embossed in silver, and cut out with a circle die. I used the same silver embossing powder to create a panel out of which I die cut some foliage. I also ink blended a smaller panel in the green, and used that to cut out more foliage.

After sticking the background panel down, I die cut two more trees from white card stock and layered them together, adding the coloured tree on top. This was stuck down to the panel, the foliage added, and then the sentiment added to the top of the tree – I didn’t want it obscuring too much of the tree – hence the placement at the top.

The final addition were three clear drops – just three – I restrained myself…..

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafters Café – anything goes – option of Christmas taken

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Have A Cool Yule

I had some time yesterday to attend a virtual craft event, so whilst listening and watching – I tend to do the cards at a later date – I created this card:

The background panel was created by using some plum coloured card stock from my stash, and a Simon Hurley snowflake stencil with silver glitter paste. This paste is semi-translucent, so you get some lovely hues through the glitter.

That had to dry for a while, so I used the sentiment die from Hero Arts (a product received from another recent virtual event) using white glitter card stock for the shadow layer, and lilac card stock for the top most sentiment layer.

I die cut the sentiment a few times with different colours of purple, until I decided on the lighter lilac colour. The shadow layer was die cut three times to add more dimension.

I struggled to get all the glitter from the paste to show in the photo, but I think you can see what I mean by the different hues within it.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Jingle Belles Rock – Christmas and snowy

Crafters Café – anything goes – option of Christmas taken

Christmas (or not) Bingo – column N – Christmas – masking/stenciling – free

Thanks For Everything

Hallo. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge. Pamela is the host, and she has chosen the theme of ‘colouring‘. Here is my card:

For the floral images, I decided to colour them using ink blending. This die and embossing set is from Altenew, and I think it was part of a virtual event. I must have ‘filed’ it somewhere safe, because I cannot find it again at this point….

I first used the die set to cut the images out, but taped them back into the card it had been cut from to make ink blending easier. I then used the matching stencils to colour each of the images, using some shading and certain places for added dimension.

I then placed the die cut in the matching embossing folder and ran it through my machine – this certainly adds even more dimension and detail.

The background panel is using Spellbinders ‘sage’ card stock and also ran through an embossing folder.

The final touches were to add the gems for the centre of the flowers, then a gold foiled sentiment.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations following our theme – there is a lot of scope to be able to include colouring on your projects. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Stencil Fun – use stencils – option of Halloween related not taken

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of pumpkins or orange not taken

Ellibelle’s Corner Garden Party – anything in or from the garden

Beautiful Blossoms – florals

Harvest Thanks

This card was firstly inspired by the current challenge at Inspiration Station. I was looking at the colours with the basket full of harvest goodies.

I took the opportunity to raid my stash of pre-prepared papers and card from ink smooshing and spraying and spritzing, using Brushos – generally from one of my play sessions.

I found the orange piece and die cut some pumpkins using a die set from The Greetery. I also found a piece of yellow card from playing with some mica sprays – the smaller pumpkins were die cut from that. The sheaves of wheat were die cut from more mellow orange and yellow pieces.

The basket is also from The Greetery – ever used – and that was just from some plain light brown/Kraft card stock – letting the other elements shine.

The background panel was created using a piece of paper I had gel printed on – I was obviously playing with some light green or lime inks and paints, and that piece was cut down to an A2 size panel, then a Spellbinders pumpkin embossing folder used on it, after which I took some bright ink and lightly blended over the top – catching the details subtly in some areas.

Now all my elements were ready, I glued the background panel onto the card base, played around with the layout, then added some 3D foam pieces to the back of the basket, inserted the sheaves of wheat, then stuck down.

The pumpkins were added with a mixture of 3D foam and glue.

The sentiment is gold foiled – again from a previous crafting and foiling session – black strip to make it stand out amongst all that colour.

I had fun creating this card – so many mediums I have previously played with, creating a stash I forget to turn to – but I was also inspired by one of my Design Team buddies who had recently produced a card using stuff in her ‘bit box’ – and so reminded me I had a stash of papers and pieces of card from all my sessions playing with inks and paints and gel plates etc… I really must remember I have them….

I shall be entering the following challenges:

We Love 2 Create – anything goes mixed media

Inspiration Station – photo inspiration

Creative Artiste Mixed Media – anything goes mixed media

Tic Tac Toe – middle row – thanks sentiment – free – Kraft card stock

Ellibelle’s Corner – Garden Party – anything in or from the garden

Feathers Appear

After my die cutting saga yesterday, I decided to try my hand at a more CAS card today:

You know that CAS is not my usual style, and I actually find this style more challenging, but I was inspired by the current challenge at CAS on Friday, as their theme was ‘feathers’ and I just love this die and stencil set from Waffle Flower Crafts.

The card base is an A2 side folding – my choice is asked – and into that I embossed a rectangular frame using Clarity Crafts embedders. I really, really need to practice this technique, as I failed on the first card base – a couple of panels to use later – but I do like the effect. It adds a little something-something without adding too much detail or dimension.

I then stamped the sentiment from a Clearly Besotted stamp set directly onto the card base, at the bottom of the embedded rectangle.

The feather was die cut, placed on my grip mat, and the colours from the Color Throwdown used – lime, pink, then orange – using Pinkfresh Studio inks.

The two layers for the stencil set first does the lighter details, whilst the second layer does the darker details, and after those two were blended, I went back over very, very lightly with the same inks to make the background white on the feather less harsh.

I decided to keep the nib of the feather pen on there, but did ink down a little with the orange, then glued directly into the embedded rectangle.

So – no gems, no jewels, no 3D foam tape – my goodness – I must get back to doing that tomorrow…..!

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – lime, pink, orange

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – CAS

Just Us Girls – stencil week

CAS on Friday – CAS feathers

Stencil Fun – used stencils – option of anything Halloween related not taken

Let The Games Begin

I have a card to share inspired by the current colours for the Color Hues challenge – and I took the opportunity to add other elements for some other challenges:

I have this die set from Spellbinders for quite a while, though I did have to wait for the re-stock initially, and have been waiting for the chance to use this fun set.

The colours for Color Hues are ‘orange and purple’, which I thought would be perfect colours for this joker.

I die cut the elements required for him from Concord & 9th card stock – minus the stick thingy he holds – and started gluing each of the layers together, body part by body part. I then assembled him, adding some small 3D foam in certain places for more dimension – the legs, the head for instance.

I then though about what to do for the background……I tried a couple of ways first – which didn’t work and were too busy for this chap – and whilst searching through my stash came across this fun embossing folder – just some subtle starts and bubbles – and thought it would work.

I used a different colour C9 card stock:

The sentiment is from Spellbinders and is a Letter Press plate which was with the same release, picking the sentiment I thought was fun, used my letterpress for it, then die cut it out.

This same letter press set came with the banner die – it took me a while to figure that out (!!) – but I managed – only one small piece of card to throw away when I did it wrong…

I glued the background embossed panel to the card base, added the joker with a mixture of 3D foam and glue – he was all different levels due to my use of 3D foam when assembling him, then added the sentiment.

As a final touch – you know I like my gems – I added some small purple ones to each of the parts of his outfit where I thought bells would be if he was a proper joker or court jester.

All-in-all – having fun with the die set, a couple of oops moments, but smiles mostly…

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Cut It Up – die cuts and add embellishments

Die Cut Divas – anything goes with die cuts

Color Hues – orange and purple (neutrals allowed)

Cup Cake Inspirations – what makes your smile – card making, even making some errors, playing around generally to create a card – and the card itself has made me smile)

CYHTP – embossing folder – option pumpkins or orange

Beyond Happy For You

Hello. I had time to craft and create the following card today:

I was intrigued by the current recipe for the As You See It Challenge and decided to see what I could come up with – flowers, frame, happy sentiment, punch/die, shades of orange.

I began with choosing some flower die cuts from The Greetery ‘Embroidered Blooms‘ – and cut the elements from tones of orange, some green, grey, and yellow for added interest.

I then chose a frame die set from Pinkfresh Studio, and used ‘Cayenne‘ card stock from Concord & 9th, adding a couple of white layers beneath for dimension, rather than using 3D foam.

Arranging on a 5×5 inch card base to align with the square frame, I felt the background was a little too plain, so I used an Altenew embossing folder ‘Daisy Bed 3D‘.

This embossed panel was glued down to the card base, the frame added, then the florals arranged.

The sentiment is from Pinkfresh Studio, stamped and die cut with the matching die. I chose black for a little more drama, and even added three little black Spellbinder gems – I do like to use gems….

A smaller card and a different size than my usual, but I think it is quite cute – if I do say so myself…..

I shall be entering the following challenges:

A Cut Above – anything goes with a die cut

As You See It – recipe – flowers, orange, frame, happy sentiment, punch/die

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything in or from the garden

Beautiful Blossoms – florals

Snow & Wreath

Hello everyone. I have a card to share that I have been procrastinating over for the past few days. I finally managed to decide on how I wanted the wreath to look:

The starting point for my card was the top row of the current challenge at Tic Tac Toe – wreath – foliage/leaves – stencil.

The background is using a Simon Hurley stencil received from a recent virtual event, and also using his Unicorn Horn Lunar Paste. Whilst this panel was drying, I searched through the CML app for foliage, branches, leaves, poinsettia and holly, and picked out three or four of the Spellbinders die sets I have.

I used a few shades of green for the foliage, a brown for the branch dies, red for the poinsettia layers, and I used silver glitter card for the holly leaves. Once all die cut, and the back panel was dry, I created a circle frame using some nesting circle dies and stuck that down, so I had something to follow when arranging all the elemnts.

The branches and leaves were glued down – just the tips so there was movement and dimension, then the poinsettias attached with a little circle of 3D foam, the holly leaves added lastly.

Silver gems were glued to the centre of the flowers, then the silver foiled sentiment from Lawn Fawn – stacked a couple of times – was glued down to the bottom of the card.

Lots of glitter and shine on this card, and I’m so pleased I actually managed to finish it…

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Tic Tac Toe – top row – wreath – foliage/leaves – stencil

Die Cut Divas – anything goes with die cuts

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cuts

12 Months of Christmas Link-up – anything goes Christmas – option of snowfall taken

Crafters Café – anything goes – option of Christmas taken

Making Spirits Bright

Hello everyone. The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge has started a new challenge – anything goes Christmas. Here is my card:

There’s a lot of glitter and shine with this card, and I’ll try and show you on the following pictures.

To begin, I started with the Pinkfresh Studio ‘Whispers of Poinsettia’ die and stencil set. I started by using the stencil and ink blended all the layers with different coloured inks, then used the matching die to cut it out.

To add more drama, I used a black panel and cut to an A2 card base size, then used another Pinkfresh die set to cut the frame out of black, and used an embossing folder for the cut out portion of the frame. The poinsettia panel was also die cut with the larger of the frame dies, placed behind the frame, the black embossed panel added behind, and then I added some splatters that with some gold shimmery acrylic paint from Liquitex.

When I say ‘some’ splatters – I kinda went to town with it….

A gold glitter card stock panel was cut, and all the layers added with wet glue.