die cutting

Snow Sweet

Hi, I hope you are doing well. I have a card to share using a technique from a virtual class by Hero Arts and some Spellbinders products:

The background red panel was created during a virtual class run by Hero Arts. Jennifer McGuire dry embossed a foil plate – after inking the plate……..to say I was amazed and astounding is putting it lightly.

I inked the foil plate with red ink, and ran it through by die cutting machine to create this debossed panel with red ink in the grooves – it makes the detail stand out more. She also suggested white ink – I have a couple of those panels to hand for the future.

The vellum has white ‘snow’ on it, and I die cut with a bauble die from Hero Arts – the one that matches the foil plate – and attached it with a small 3D foam square through the bauble ‘hole’ at the top – so it swings just a little.

I put the snowman together by die cutting two circles which had double sided tape on them, placing them behind the snowman body and head, paper-piecing all the little light blue shapes into the belly, and paper-piecing the little black dots for the eyes and mouth. The carrot nose is a separate die which I die cut from a little piece of card I coloured with an orange Copic marker.

The hat has a little cut to insert the snowman head – very well thought out – and then I added the scarf, and actually added an extra scarf piece around the base of the hat.

Once the snowman was adhered to the vellum, I thought some more detail was needed, so I took some white glitter card stock – a new white shimmery card from Pink frog Crafts here in the UK – and used a BG Copic to colour the glitter card – then die cut some snowflakes, adhering them as you see.

The sentiment is from the same snowman die set from Spellbinders – a black banner in the back, the light blue in the front with the words die cut out of it.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

52CCT – snowflakes

Fab’n’Funky – Christmas

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Cut It Up – Christmas – include die cuts

TTCRD – anything goes

Dream Valley – Christmas

Crafty Gals Corner – Tis The Season

Merry Christ-mouse

Hello once again. The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge has started it’s last challenge for the year. As always, it is ;anything goes Christmas’. Here is my card:

I used quite a few Spellbinders die sets for this card – loving the die cutting and assembling of all the elements. I must have been in a finnicky mood that day…..

I first took the white card base and added some black splatters, and whilst this was drying I turned to the post box, envelope and mouse, cut out the elements, and assembled them.

Once I had put the post box on the card base, added the mouse to the front, I slotted the envelopes in as you see, then decided that there was something missing – so I die cut those hearts and arranged them around and about.

The sentiments are from a previous foiling session.

I hope you can come and join us for the last challenge of this year – we will certainly back in the New Year – creating Christmas cards for our stash. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Mix It Up Challenge – atg – option to use a technique (splattering, foiling)

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

2 Critter Crazies – animals as focus

Here Is A Place To Start – anything goes with option happy holidays

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

The Alphabet Challenge – R for Reduce

Hello once again. The Alphabet Challenge has started a new challenge, and as we have reached the letter ‘R’, Veronika has chosen the theme of ‘Reduce – make it clean and simple‘. Here is my card:

I used a frame from my stash – I forget the maker – and stuck a piece of patterned paper onto the back – then trimmed around the frame.

I stuck this down onto the card base with a strong glue.

I think the tree was a pre-cut piece from a kit, to which I added three gold strings, and then placed some gold facetted gems on top of the ‘loops’ of the string, adding a larger gem onto the top of the tree.

I’m looking forward to seeing your CAS cards in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

TTCRD – anything goes

Lil Red Wagon – glitter, glitz, gleam, glow

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – anything goes

Fab’N’Funky Challenge – die cuts or embossing – no stamped image

Love To Craft – anything goes

Just……..Hello…..

I have a CAS card to share which incorporates several of my favourite techniques – ink smooshing, die-cutting, and using embossing folders:

I dry embossed a white panel and stuck to the card base with 3D foam.

The Tim Holtz flower (Holiday Brushstrokes) was die cut from a previously created orange ink smooshed panel – the different small layers had some extra ink blending on the edges to make them a little darker – and glued together. The yellow centre is from another panel using mica sprays.

I also die cut the leaves in that die set from a brown card stock, then adhered these with a mixture of 3D foam and wet glue.

The sentiment if from Lawn Fawn, die cut three times in white, then a brown die cut on top.

I added some red enamel dots as extra accents.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

TTCRD – anything goes

Krafty Chicks – CAS

Creative Knockouts – anything goes

Color Throwdown – red, orange, brown, yellow

Mix It Up – anything goes – option to use a technique

U Got This…..

I have a card to share today using lots of bright colours and die cuts:

The base panel is a previously created panel when ink smooshing and mixing some bright colours, then I embossed it with a Stampin Up embossing folder. I splattered this some black acrylic and set it to dry.

I then turned to die cutting all the pieces from the Tim Holtz die set – choosing bright colours – and using more previously created ink smooshed panels from my stock. I also found some black glimmer card which I had used some glimmer polish on so thought that would be ideal for the eyes.

Once all the pieces were die cut, I played with layout and decided to go with the face as you see, sticking down with a combination of 3D foam and glue.

The sentiment is also from Tim Holtz – using the letters which fell out of the metal die – a big ‘U’ instead of the full word as I felt it wouldn’t fit in and look right……

A bright and cheerful encouragement card – I have someone in mind – with a lot of fiddly work – but I like the result.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Cut It Up Challenge – big image or sentiment – include a die cut

CYHTP – embossing folder – option orange and black not taken

Time Out Challenge – cancer awareness/friendship/encouragement

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Allsorts Challenge – add a sentiment

Addicted To Stamps and More – die cuts/stencils

We Love 2 Create – anything goes mixed media

Cardz 4 Galz – Forget-Me-Not

The new challenge theme at Cardz 4 Galz has been chosen by Debbie. She wants us to create a card ‘for a cause’. Here is my card:

My mum passed away earlier this year from the effects of Alzheimer’s Dementia, and so I chose to use forget-me-nots for my card, which is the flower associated with this dreadful disease.

I used the die set from The Greetery to create this bunch of flowers. Firstly, I ink smooshed some blue and some green inks onto some Distress Mixed Media card stock – trying to get some variation in the colours – but not too dramatic.

Once die cut, I assembled the flowers – I must have had some patience to do this – but maybe it was that I was inspired by the reason I was doing it – so very fiddly – but it came together quite quickly.

The sentiment is from Pinkfresh Studio, and I realise as I type this that it is very emotional, such a short time since I lost her, and I will always be thinking of her……she is the one who got me into card making in the first place too……

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Creative Fingers Challenge – anything goes

Ally’s Angels Challenge – anything goes

TTCRD – anything goes

Mix It Up Challenge – anything goes – option ink smooshing

Love To Craft Challenge – anything goes

Merry Cardinal Christmas

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

This cute little bird is from the new Spellbinders release, of which I must admit I bought quite a lot of the products. There will be more cards coming with those products in the near future.

Onto white card base I layered a red panel, then the white dry embossed panel.

I die cut the scallop oval, matted with a plain white piece, and then set-to putting the little birdie together.

I decided on what colours I wanted to go where on the birdie – and stuck down a piece of white on the back behind the eye and neck, placed him onto the oval and stuck down the 3D foam tape.

I stamped the sentiment onto white, and layered that small panel with the matching red card to enable it to standout a little more from the background.

I hope you can come and join us – thereby creating your stash for later in the year. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – emboss it

Christmas With The Cuties – cute Christmas

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Crafty Animals Challenge – anything goes with an animal

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

Balloon Dog Birthday

Hello there. I have a card to share using a new die set from Spellbinders:

For the background, I ink blended some yellow and aqua distress inks, then used an embossing folder – also from Spellbinders.

I then took a brayer, and some Distress Ink ‘Picket Fence’ and rolled it over the background, to give more dimension and interest to the embossing, without diminishing the colours.

I then ink blended some Saltwater Taffy and Abandoned Coral onto two separate pieces of card and die cut the balloon dog elements. Once I had glued the layers together I added some white gel pen marks, and a little further Abandoned Coral to some of the edges.

The layered sentiment is also from Spellbinders – and my goodness those letters are fiddly – I was going to layer them but they are too thin – and the letters are separate from each other – the ‘sticky specks’ came in handy here and worked very well.

Before I added the background to the panel, I splatted some gold Liquitex metallic acrylic ink and then some white metallic ink onto it, and when dry added to the base card with 3F foam strips.

I adhered everything as you see, and added some purple sequins from Catherine Pooler.

I can see that I will be making this balloon dog in different colours moving forward – such a great die set.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

MMM Challenge – splatters

Shopping Our Stash – use ink blending

Color Throwdown – aqua, yellow, purple, coral

Seize The Birthday – birthday – option metallic

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of summer

Deer Season’s Greetings

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge has started another ‘anything goes Christmas’ challenge – here is my card:

The deer and trees is a die set from Crafters Companion – bought on a whim – and found again when I was entering some new buys into the CML app.

I die cut the main deer image into the front of my card panel, then used some light brown/Kraft card stock for the trees. When putting the card together, I did cut off the frame for the trees, as it seemed to be poking through the front window a little more than I liked.

I used another of my ink blended backgrounds – I still have lots of those ready for crafting – and die cut a slightly larger square than the main panel, and placed it behind the deer, then glued the trees onto that.

As the back of the base looked a little messy, I die cut a rectangle to cover the different layers and adhered it to make it look neater.

The sentiment is from Uniko – I wanted a fairly plain, un-coloured sentiment, so as not to detract from the main image.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations – anything goes, as per usual……. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Creatilicious Challenge – anything goes with option of animals

Tuesday Taggers – simple design, simple to make

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Craft Rocket Challenge – CAS

Just Because Cottontail Cutie

Hello once again. I have created a card to share as I am currently making cards to give to people I meet at work, or when shopping, just to say ‘hello’, or ‘just because’ – to try and spread some good cheer.

I used the MFT ‘Cottontail Cutie’ die set, as I haven’t played with that for a while, and the colours from the current challenge at Color Throwdown.

The grey card has an almost silver sheen to it, and I think adds a little texture to the bunny. The pink areas are cut from a pink foam I just happened to have lying around…..adding some brightness and even more dimension.

I used the Lawn Fawn ‘Simple Grassy Hillsides’ as you see, and the sentiment is white heat embossed.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – pink, grey, green, Kraft

Aud Sentiments – anything goes with a sentiment

A Bit More Time To Craft – anything goes

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

Die Cut Divas – anything goes with a die cut and option of animals

Crafty Animals Challenge – anything goes animals

Country View Challenges – an animal as focal point