die cutting

Hello Friend

Hello everyone. I have just had a week in very warm Tenerife and now I’m, I can get to crafting and posting. The new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz has started. I am hosting this time round, and have chosen the theme of:

‘dies and/or punches’

Here is my card:

I chose to use some dies purchased from Simon Says Stamp, along with some dies from Pinkfresh Studio.

I first created the flowers by die cutting all the elements from the ‘Exotic Blooms’ die set from coloured card, then added some ink blending to the base of each of the floral layers, and then each of the leaf layers. The centre stamens were cut from gold card stock.

The florals were created, then I used the Pinkfresh Studio ‘Notched Corner Frame‘ dies. I first created the frame using a grey card stock, then I used the other layers of the frame to create the notches within the white card panel behind the florals to add a little interest to the background.

The gold foiled sentiment was added as you see.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cuts

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

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

Love To Craft – anything goes

A Tree and Stockings

Hello once again. It is time for the new challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge. Helen is hosting this time round, and having reached the letters ‘S‘ and ‘T‘, we have the themes of:

S is for Stockings’ and T is for Tree’

I created a card for each of the themes:

S is for Stockings

This first card was created using dies from The Greetery – the stockings and the foliage. Once these die cut, and the stockings layered together, I created a background white panel using a Spellbinders embossing folder, and added the elements by creating a swag of greenery, hanging the stockings from that swag, then also adding ombre gems.

The sentiments is gold foiled.

T is for Tree

For this second card, I used this fabulously fun die set from A Pocket Full Of Happiness – ‘Happy Rexmas’. There is certainly a lot of die cutting for this image, and I also used an embossing folder on the tree to create the added details – the same embossing folder I used for the background, from Spellbinders.

On the die set, the words came directly from the dinosaur mouth, but I didn’t want to create a larger than A2 card, so I added them above.

I hope you can come and join us by sharing your Christmas creations following one or both of our themes. If it isn’t clear which theme has been followed – then please let us know. There seems to have been a few entries to our challenge which do not match our themes and had to be deleted……

I shall be entering the following challenges:

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 circles & squares not taken

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Inlaid Greetings

Hello again. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter K, and Helen has chosen the theme of ‘keep it simple’. Here is my card:

To make this card I used a die from ‘A Pocket Full Of Happiness’. This company is now being stocked in one of UK stores, and this die set is one of a few I bought.

I used the die, then with each of the pieces which fell out, I ink blended, and then inlaid them back again. This was actually quite easy when using the Waffle Flower grip mat, and took very little time at all.

I chose to mat the white panel with black, and added to the front of the card base nearer the top, to make way for the sentiment.

The sentiment is also from the same floral die set, again die cut, then the fall-out letters ink blended and inlaid, matted again with a black piece of card.

As you know, this is about as simple as I get – no embossing folder, no gems or jewels…..

I hope you can come and join us in our challenge with your ‘keep it simple; creations. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Everybody Art – anything goes

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

Beautiful Blossoms – flowers – optional mood board

Die Cut Divas – anything goes with die cuts

Stitched Armchair

Hello everyone. It seems the more time I have, the less time I spend crafting…..it seems I have been getting out and about more than usual, so I am glad I manage to keep well ahead in my DT duties.

The new challenge has started at Cardz 4 Galz. Billie A has chosen the theme of ‘stitching – real or faux‘. Here is my card:

I wonder how many of you are like me and have some stitching dies, and yet rarely use them. This challenge theme gave me the opportunity to grab one from Spellbinders and have a go at it.

I first die cut the chair from Kraft card, then stitched with a darker brown thread. I wanted a more vintage look to the chair. I did try a red chair, and a darker brown chair – but once I started to stitch them, I didn’t like it.

The cat is also from the same die set, and die cut very simply from white card stock. This cat has certainly got that nose-in-the-air look, hasn’t it?

This is one colour of cat I have never had. Our first cats were two black brothers, and now we have two old black and white cats, one tabby, and one torty….but never a white cat….

The background panel was created using a Spellbinders embossing folder, the gold frame was die cut from a Pinkfresh die set, and the sentiment is gold foiled.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Everybody Art – anything goes

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

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of balloons not taken

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Die Cut Divas – anything goes with die cuts

Joy To The World

Hello everyone. After a busy few days over the Bank Holiday weekend, including a de-stash stall in our market area here in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, I find I am a day late in posting for the new challenge at The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas’. Here is my card:

The Santa Collage is from Waffle Flower – such a joyous and festive layering stencil set. I first die cut the collage panel, laid the stencils in order, and ink blended using traditional Christmas colours – a bright red, a bright green – then added white gel pen for some extra details.

I also added some pencil scrawls across the list Santa is holding, and gold acrylic paint dots on the solid red present.

The sentiment is from a previous foiling session – I have quite a few ready for attaching to cards – and is from Pinkfresh Studio.

I will definitely be using this stencil set again, maybe in different colour ways, but I do like the traditional look for this.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Stencil Fun – use stencils – option of trees and/or leaves not taken

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

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

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Hello Friend

The Alphabet Challenge has started a new challenge and theme. Melanie is the host, and she has chosen:

J is for Jump – anything which jumps

Here is my card:

I chose to use a new die, and one from a company I haven’t used before. They now have their products on one of our UK stores, and I took the opportunity to buy several – this peekaboo die really sang to me.

I used a white card base, and die cut the peekaboo die from another panel of white card stock, and simply laid down a rainbow striped paper behind it….really clean and simple – for me at least…..!

I added the foiled sentiment – no gems, no other embellishments – again a rarity for me – but I really do like the simplicity of it.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations featuring anything that jumps. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

Craft Rocket – animals

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cuts

Colorful Options – Neutrals colour board or rainbow

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Hugs Leafy Frame

Hello everyone. There is a new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz. Johanna is hosting, and she has chosen the theme of ‘Use Vellum’. Here is my card:

I started by ink blending the leafy frame from The Greetery, using all of the layers from the stencil set and Pinkfresh Studio inks, adding some darker ink towards the bottom of each leaf, then die cut using the matching die.

The background panel was created using an embossing folder, onto which I attached the frame using small pieces of 3D foam.

I then took the vellum and die cut some extra foliage to place around and about to create more subtle details.

The sentiment was created by swiping one of the ink pads I had used for the ink blending, and using a Time 4 Tea Designs die, with the shadow layer also in vellum.

I hope you can come and join us with your projects using vellum. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cuts

Crafts Galore – anything goes

Stencil Fun – use stencils – option of trees or leaves taken

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

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Believe In Yourself

Hello again. I have created a card for one of my friends going through some tough stuff at the moment, and decided to use patterned paper from my stash:

I wanted to create a Z fold card for the current challenge at Die Cut Divas, together with the theme of ‘bees’ from Double D challenge.

I knew I had some honeycomb/bee papers from 49 & Market somewhere, and I hunted them out, picked several of the papers and decided which ones I wanted.

I created the Z fold using an A2 card base, matted one piece on the inside, and another piece to the front narrower panel, also covering the rear of that folded piece.

I used the ‘Honey Bees’ die set from The Greetery to create the three bees – all coming from the same die set. The yellow part of the bees is from a previously created panel – ink smooshing, acrylic paint splattering, and I think there was even some water droplets thrown in for good measure. I liked the almost honey-like colour on the panel.

The black stripes of the main bee were cut at the same time, from the same yellow piece, and coloured with a W9 Copic marker – not black – as I wanted the legs and antennae to look a little warmer, and stand out from the black hexagon.

The black hexagon piece is from the same patterned paper pack, but onto that I also used some Distress paste – the translucent paste – and a Simon says Stamp honeycomb stencil to create a little more detail and interest behind the bee, scraped through quite haphazardly.

The wings for all three bees were die cut from vellum, and all the layers attached. I had to wait until the following day for the paste to dry, but then it was putting everything together to make the card you see.

I added the sentiment strip, layered with a piece of black for stability.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Double D Challenge – use bees and/or the word happy

We Love 2 Create – anything goes mixed media

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Die Cut Divas – die cutting and Z fold card

Crafts Galore – anything goes

Love Those Patterned Papers – patterned papers option of summertime

ABC Christmas Challenge – P, Q, & R

Hello everyone. It is my turn to host the new challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge. We have three letters and themes for you to choose for your Christmas projects:

P is for Pastel colours

Q is for Quick

R is for Robins

I chose to make two cards covering two of the challenge themes:

Q is for Quick:

For this card, I used a Spellbinders embossing folder for the background panel, and onto that I adhered some die cut washi from Pinkfresh Studio, then a previously foiled sentiment. Simple and quick, but I think very effective none-the-less.

R is for Robins:

This card was little more faffy, but fun creating.

I first used the two layering Robin stamps from The Greetery, then the matching dies to cut them out. I also wanted some branches, so used another layering stamp set from The Greetery ‘Blooming Branch’.

The background is a panel of silver glitter card stock, with branches adhered to it. When I came to add the branches and the birds, I though the background was too busy, and I wanted the Robins to stand out more, but still keep the glitter effect.

I used a Pinkfresh Studio die to cut out a shaped piece of vellum, added that on top of some of the branches, then added branches and the two birds on top of that.

The final addition was a silver foiled sentiment:

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

wreath card:

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of summer fun not taken

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

12 Months Of Christmas Link-Up – anything goes Christmas

Robin card:

Cut It Up – die cuts and add a sentiment

Craft Rocket – animals

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

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

Sending Snowflake Kisses

Hello once again. The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge is starting a new challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas’. Here is my card:

I started by die cutting the snowflake panel with white card stock using a Pinkfresh Studio and layering some silver glitter card stock behind to shine through the openings. This was added to the card base, then I set to ink blending the Waffle Flower ‘Postage Collage Snowman’ layering stencils.

I ink blended the images, then created a slightly darker halo effect around each image to highlight them a little more.

This was then die cut using the Postage Collage die, then each image cut apart to create individual pieces, and arranged on the snowflake background.

The sentiment is silver foiled.