DT card

Christmas Florals

Hello again. The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge has started a new challenge. As always, the theme is ‘anything goes Christmas’. Here is my card:

For the main images, I used an older Concord & 9th stamp set, and heat embossed in gold. I then Distress pencils to colour the image, and added some gold marker to the berries for more detail.

I then used the matching outline die to cut it out, and layered this image onto the black panel to ensure it stood out, then onto a white card base.

I die cut the ‘merry’ with gold card stock, and layered that a couple of times with black – a little off-set.

I hope you can come and join us and add to your Christmas stash – I look forward to seeing you in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Beautiful Blossoms – anything goes with flowers/florals

Love To Craft – anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Mix It Up Challenge – anything goes – option of aperture not taken

Crafting Happiness – anything goes

Fringe Cake

Hi there. Happy Little Stampers ‘anything goes birthday’ challenge has started for August. Here is my card:

The cake die is from Spellbinders, and the layers of the cake die cut with a couple of colours from Concord & 9th. I love how the die cuts the fringe into the layers, and there is a row for stitching, for which I used a glitter gold thread, and a blue and white striped thread.

The candles and the cake stand were die cut from Spellbinders gold glitter foam.

I adhered a piece of patterned paper to the card base, cut slightly smaller to allow white edge, then assembled the cake as you see. The candles were the hardest part, as they are quite thin and fiddly, but the foam adheres very nicely once put into position.

I hope you can come and join us for the challenge, and I look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Seize The Birthday – birthday – option of inspired by a book not taken

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Allsorts – anything but square

Love To Craft – anything goes

Mix It Up – anything goes – option of aperture not taken

I is for Ice Cream

Hello there. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter ‘I’, and Dawn has chosen the theme of ‘Ice Cream‘. Here is my card:

The ice cream die cuts are from Elizabeth Craft Designs, and die cut in a variety of bright summery colours, matching the colours from the background polka dot paper I chose.

The paper is from Polkadoodles, and the card stock is from Concord & 9th.

These were attached with 3D foam, and the sentiment stamped with C9 ink – a couple of times to get a better impression.

I am sure we will see a great deal of colour is our gallery, and I’m looking forward to seeing you there. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

The Crafty Addicts – anything goes

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Ellibelle’s I Spy – a sweet treat or warm and sunny colours

Party Panda’s

Hello once again. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge. Pamela is hosting, and has chosen the theme of ‘P is for …….?’. Choose something that begins with the letter ‘P’. I chose Panda and Party for my ‘P’ themes. Here is my card:

I created a shaker card using some patterned paper for the back panel, and die cut another patterned paper panel with a Concord & 9th die, added 3D foam tape and acetate, and a party mix of sequins.

I then stamped the Mama Elephant panda’s, kept them black and white to stand out more on the colourful panel, and attached them as you see.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations, I’m looking forward to seeing you in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Die Cut Divas – birthday

Pinspirational – birthday and summertime vibes

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Mix It Up – anything goes – option aperture

A Merry Holly Christmas

A new challenge has started at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge. The theme is always ‘anything goes Christmas‘. Here is my card:

I first stamped a Hero Arts background script onto a white piece of card in a water-proof ink, then ink blended around the edges, taking the colour inwards a little haphazardly.

Then I had a go at a newish technique for me. I used a Tim Holtz red rubber stamp, and Distress pencils, slightly wetting the stamp, drawing the colours on with the pencils, a little spray of water – and stamp…..I think I did this a couple of times, adding a little less water the next time, but I really like how it turned out. I may have to have a further play with this technique in the future.

Once that was dry, I attached to a red layer, then a Kraft card base.

I felt the berries needed a little something-something, so I added some gold highlights to them:

The sentiment is stamped using a Tim Holtz stamp in Distress Oxides to match one of the pencils I used.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

We Love 2 Create – anything goes mixed media

Crafty Catz – anything goes – option Christmas in July

Paper Dragonfly – anything that flies or nature

Creative Artiste Mixed Media – anything goes mixed media

Crafting Happiness – anything goes

Get Creative – Christmas in July

Hope Your Birthday Is On Point…

Hello once again. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter ‘H’ and Billie has chosen the theme of ‘H is for Humour’. Here is my card:

I decided to use a Tim Holtz die set to create the cactus, and Concord & 9th card stock in various shades of pink. I made the flowers more colourful for some contrast.

The background was created using a Clearly Besotted stencil and Lost Shadow Distress Oxide.

This was attached to a grey slimline card base, and the cactus attached with 3D foam.

I found some pink heart embellishments in my stash and added them around the heat embossed sentiment.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

MMM Challenge – birthday

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

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Crafting Happiness – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Mix It Up Challenge – anything goes – option of aperture not taken

Cardz 4 Galz – Cats or Kittens

Hello once again. A new challenge has started at Cardz 4 Galz, and Debbie has chosen the theme of ‘cats and/or kittens‘. Here is my card:

I have four cats currently, and I must say they brighten my day. I just had to use this stamp and die set from Heffy Doodle ‘Purrfect Day‘ and Time 4 Tea Designs ‘Kitty Capers’. I stamped all the images in Gina K Amalgam ink, coloured them with Copics, then used the matching die set to cut them out.

I had fun putting the scene together – once I had decided on what patterned paper to place at the back – and added the small elements from the stamp set, such as the milk bottle and tiny mouse.

I hope you can come and join us – I’m very much looking forward to a very feline gallery this time round. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

MMM Challenge – birthday

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Challenge Up Your Life – patterned paper

Country View Challenge – 4 legged friends

The Crafty Addicts – anything goes

ABC Christmas Challenge – N and O

Hello there. I am hosting the new challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge. We have reached the letters ‘N’ and ‘O’ and the themes for those letters are:

‘N’ for No Layers – card base only, no added layers, and/or ‘O’ is for Ornaments.

Here are my cards:

The ‘No layers’ card was created by using layering stencils from Pinkfresh Studio called ‘Winter Foliage’. I first stamped the image then used the stencils to colour in the images, and added some gold dots to the berries. I also went in with the gold marker and added some extra gold dots in the more open spaces.

The sentiment was heat embossed.

The ‘O is for Ornament’ card was created using a foil plate from Hero Arts – silver onto black card stock, adding a foiled sentiment in the centre, and even though I tried to restrain myself with the silver gems – I couldn’t resists just filling in the centre of the bauble with them……..

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas/Festive creations using one or both of our themes. I even have a couple of stamp sets up for grabs to a random winner – so everyone is in with a chance of winning these:

I shall be entering the following challenges:

One layer card:

Inkspirational – Christmas In July

Craft Rocket – Christmas in July

Aud Sentiments – stencils and/or Christmas in July and a sentiment

Sparkles Forum Christmas Challenge – Christmas and include gold

Get Creative – Christmas in July

Bauble card:

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

12 Months Of Christmas – anything goes Christmas

Dragonfly Dreams – Christmas in July

The Crafty Addicts – anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

There once was a cat and a ladder….

Hello. This sounds like the start to a limerick or other funny story, doesn’t it? I just couldn’t think what to call the post so I just wrote what I saw…..

The Alphabet Challenge has started a new challenge. We have reached the letter ‘G’, and Debbie has chosen the theme of ‘G is for Green as the dominant colour’. Here is my card:

I used a previously created green ink smooshed [iece of card, and added an alcohol ink banner at the top. Some different shades of green, with a little gold on the alcohol ink portion.

The cat, ladder, and the leafy sprigs are from Charlie and Paulchen, a German company I have ordered from a couple of times. They have some amazing die sets – very small but perfectly formed – as they say…..

The cat and sprigs were die cut out of white so they stood out from the green background, and the ladder die cut from some brown card, layered a couple of times for dimension.

I added a previously foiled sentiment at the top as it seemed to fit better that way.

Although there are a few layers, I still feel this is quite CAS – compared to recent cards anyway.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations which feature green predominantly. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Avenue 613 Create – anything goes – option summertime

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and critters

The Crafty Addicts – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Thank You Triple Flap

Hello once again. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge. Helen is the host this time round, and has chosen the theme of ‘more than one fold’. Here is my card:

This is a triple flap card, quite easy to do, but as fancy folds aren’t my usual style – I really had to concentrate for this one. It is held closed by the belly band.

My goodness – these are a challenge to photograph.

I chose some coordinating patterned paper from Spellbinders, adding them to each part of the card. The back piece I wanted quite plain as I knew I was going to add a little something more.

The frames and puffy sentiment are also from Spellbinders, and not too bulky for the card to close.

The triple flap is held closed by a belly band, to which I stuck a larger floral image from the same card kit.

As you know, I’m not one to use a lot of patterned paper usually, but I really like these colours, and as the whole pad has a lot of coordinating paper, it makes it just that bit easier to match .

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Here Is A Place To Start – anything goes

Get Creative – more than one fold

Allsorts – atg option bunch of flowers

Dragonfly Dreams – fancy folds

Creative Creases – anything goes with a fun fold