die cutting

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.

I added a foiled sentiment and them some ombre glitter gems for the centre of the flowers.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Inkspirational – seasonal

A Cut Above – anything goes with a die cut

We Love 2 Create – anything goes mixed media

12 Months of Christmas Link-up – anything goes Christmas, option of snowfall not taken

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

Creative Artiste Mixed Media – anything goes mixed media

Crafters Café – anything goes – option of Christmas taken

ABC Christmas Challenge – Uncluttered and/or Vertical

Hello once again. ABC Christmas Challenge has reached the letters ‘U’ and ‘V’. We have the Christmas themes of:

‘U is for Uncluttered’ & ‘V is for Vertical’

Here are my cards

For the first card, I used the ‘Sketched Poinsettia‘ from The Greetery again, and gold heat embossed the image onto some Kraft card stock, using just the one layer of the layering stencils to colour it in. I wanted a softer overall feel to this card. The panel was cut slightly smaller than A2 and attached to a white card base, with the foiled sentiment attached as you see.

The second card took a little more time and planning.

To cover the vertical aspect of the challenge, I used a slimline card base. Onto that I used a Heffy Doodle slimline die set to create the blue layer, then the white layer with three windows. Each of the windows cut out a scalloped square and all three of those squares I ran through an embossing folder to create some detail, making sure the pattern was square for each of them.

The layers were attached to the card base, the squares inserted, then I used a die set from The Greetery for the stockings, and a die set from Scrapbook & Cards Today – received as part of a recent virtual event – to create the tree and candles for the bottom two windows.

The greenery was also part of the die set, arranged as you see, and the foiled sentiment was added.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of trees/leaves not taken

Cut It Up – use more than one die

Mix It Up – anything goes – option of fancy folds not taken

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Die Cut Divas – anything goes with die cuts

12 Months Of Christmas Link-Up – anything goes Christmas – option of snowfall not taken

Believe In Yourself

Hello again. The Alphabet Challenge has started a new challenge. We have reached the letter ‘M’, and Tee has chosen the theme of :

‘Mythical Creatures‘

Here is my card:

For this card I used products from Waffle Flower Crafts, utilising some die sets, and layering stencil sets for the open book and dragon and castle images. The book was die cut first, then the layering stencils used with Pinkfresh Studio inks to create the scene.

The background panel was also using a Waffle Flower Crafts older die set, the Cloudscape Panel Die.

The cloudscape was die cut, then each of the cloud layers were ink blended individually, the brown lower piece also ink blended. This frame was glued to a card base, then each of the cloud layers were inlaid back into their respective places, the brown layer glued in, then the book attached.

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

I also added some opal glitter drops for extra interest.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Mix It Up – anything goes – option of fancy folds not taken

Love To Craft – anything goes

Die Cut Divas – anything goes with die cuts

Crafts Galore – anything goes

Purple & Green Hugs

Hello there. A new challenge has started at Cardz 4 Galz, Helen has chosen the theme of:

‘Purple & Green’

Here is my card:

For this card, I chose to go with products from Concord & 9th, and The Greetery.

The first thing I did was to use the ‘Bitty Botanicals‘ stamp set for the green foliage, then added the various tones of purple for the flowers using the matching stencils.

I then added the ‘Diamond Ribbons‘ stencil and die set combo to create the trellis and attached that with glue so each diamond framed each of the floral images.

Onto that, I added a word die from Concords & 9th, with the shadow layer being from vellum.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

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

Crafters Café – flowers

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Mix It Up – anything goes – option of fancy folds not taken

Love To Craft – anything goes

Red Poinsettia

Hello everyone. I have a card to share for the new challenge at The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge.

I again used the ‘Sketched Poinsettia’ from Waffle Flowers Crafts, but this time I used more traditional bold colours.

I first stamped then gold heat embossed the image, then used the layering stencils to colour it in. This was then die cut with the matching die, and put to one side whilst I thought about the background.

The striped red paper was cut to the size of an A2 card, and I then used some letter press plates from Pinkfresh Studio to hot foil the frame and the inner rectangular piece, cutting them out with the matching dies. This gave some subtle gold highlights to certain places of the die cuts.

The poinsettia was added, and then a hot foiled sentiment on the top. The final touch were some gold gems.

I hope you can come and join us in our challenge, and I look forward to seeing you in our gallery.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Colourful Options – any colour, any theme, any combination

Crafts Galore – anything goes

12 Months Of Christmas Link-up – anything goes Christmas – option of circles & squares not taken

Crafters Café – flowers

Beautiful Blossoms – anything florals

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Love Letters & Hearts

Hello again. The Alphabet Challenge has started a new challenge. Veronika is the host, and as we have reached the letter ‘L’, she has chosen the theme of:

Love Letters and Hearts

Here is my card:

I chose to use a Spellbinders die set for this card and wanted vibrant colours.

The dies set for the main heart and the flowers is called ‘Blooming Heart‘. I used a combination of Spellbinders card stock and Concord & 9th card stock to create the vibrant glowers and leaves, and added them to the dark blue background heart.

For the letters or handwriting part of it, I used a Spellbinders Letterpress plate twice – just moving it along to create the indents in the mustard coloured card stock behind the heart.