Build Me A Snowman

Hello again. Caz is hosting the new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz, and she has chosen the theme of:

Build Me A Snowman

Here is my card:

I wanted to try out the die set from The Greetery I had for a while, and finally managed to obtain a few of the honeycomb additions.

The snowman was die cut and assembled, then the honeycomb added. I used small black gems for the eyes. These honeycomb elements are fun, but I definitely have to hand this to the recipient…….

The background blue was embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder, the silver foiled panel was created by using a background toner panel – I think from Picket Fence Studio, but I may be wrong there. It’s the first time I’ve used the toner panels with my Gina K Fuse machine – how quick and easy is that? I did have to watch one of her YouTube videos just to make sure I had the correct heat setting, but I did play with several panels on this machine and therefore have a few on hand for future projects.

I cut the snowflake foiled panel with a Pinkfresh Studio die, and cut the centre out – the snowman kinda got lost without die cutting that centre out.

No sentiment, I think it’s pretty clear what time of year this is meant for….

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Addicted To Stamps & More die cuts and/or stencils

12 Months of Christmas Link-Up Christmas – option of sleigh not taken

Christmas Bingo column O – no stamping – free – gems

Love To Craft anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challengeanything goes Christmas

ABC Christmas Challenge – W and/or X

Hello again. The ABC Christmas Challenge has reached the letters ‘W’ and ‘X’, Fabiola is hosting, and the Christmas themes are:

W is for Wings and/or X is for X-stitch – any stitching

Here is my card for the theme of ‘wings’:

The birds were created first, and by using the ‘Birdie Friends in Winter’ combo. The birds were die cut, then ink blended using the matching layering stencils. Two of the birds have hats already, but I also die cut and ink blended another couple so I could clothe all of them with those cute hats.

The background panel was put through an embossing folder and attached to a card base.

The five scalloped pieces were die cut then ink blended with a couple of pink tones – I thought these pinks would be good for the background of each bird – allowing the blue and red on the birds to stand out.

These pieces were attached to the background in a jaunty fashion, the birds attached with thin 3D foam, a gold foiled sentiment added, and some gold gems also placed around and about.

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:

2 Crafty Critter Craziesanything goes with a critter

Die Cut Divasdie cuts and critters

Sparkles Forum Christmas ChallengeChristmas and festive wear

Crafty Animals anything goes with an animal

Crafts Galoreanything goes

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:

CYHTPembossing 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 Challengeanything goes Christmas

Floral Hello

Hello everyone. The Alphabet Challenge is starting a new challenge. We have reached the letter ‘O’, and Helen has chosen the theme of:

O is for Oval and One word sentiment’

Here is my card:

For this card I chose to use the Press Plate from Pinkfresh Studio ‘Oval Blossom‘. I first used orange ink for the press plate, which colours the outside of the blossom image, then used the oval die and scalloped die which comes from the same set.

The sentiment is also a Press Plate from Spellbinders, inked with the same orange die cut with a stitched rectangle die which would leave a white edge to match the scallop on the floral image.

The background navy panel was cut slightly smaller than an A2 card size, and dry embossed using a very, very old embossing folder, which I believe is from Darice.

The final touch was to add some pearl gems to some of the background flower centres.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge add some texture

Beautiful Blossoms florals

Ally’s Angelsanything goes

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 Funuse stencils – option of Halloween related not taken

CYHTPembossing folder – option of pumpkins or orange not taken

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

Beautiful Blossoms florals

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 Aboveanything goes with a die cut

We Love 2 Createanything goes mixed media

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

Triple Bbirds and/or butterflies and/or blooms

Creative Artiste Mixed Media anything goes mixed media

Crafters Café anything goes – option of Christmas taken

N is for Night

Hello everyone. The Alphabet Challenge has started a new challenge. We have reached the letter ‘N’, and Pamela has chosen the theme of:

N is for Night‘ with some ideas such as clouds, moon, sleeping image, stars etc

Here is my card:

I decided to break out my Copics to colours this scene – I’ve not used them in a while.

The images is from Clearly Besotted, stamped with alcohol friendly black ink. I use Gina K Designs Amalgam for this.

I then used a range of tones for the colouring of the image, before stamping again and fussy-cutting around the sky line – yes – me – fussy-cutting!! – to create a mask. This mask was placed over the image and another small circle of the masking paper created for the moon.

I used some Distress Oxides and ink blended the sky, darker at the top edge. The moon mask moved during one of my swiping of the blending brushes, and some of the ink got into the moon area – but that was certainly a happy accident as it made the moon look more realistic….

Once ink blended and the masks removed, I used a heat tool to dry completely ( so I thought) and used the star detail stamp and used a white sparkle embossing powder……another happy accident was that I hadn’t actually full dried the moon area, so some sparkle landed on there – again, I liked the look of that so left it as it was.

I created a rectangle frame using a couple of dies, one with a stitching detail, then glued the coloured image and the frame to a white crad base.

The sentiment was stamped as you see.

So – a card with a couple of minor hiccups – but all came out good in the end….

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Crafts Galoreanything goes

Ellibelle’s Corneranything goes

Crafters Café anything goes – option of Christmas not taken

Ally’s Angels anything goes


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

U is for Uncluttered
V is for Vertical

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 Upuse more than one die

Mix It Upanything 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-Upanything goes Christmas – option of snowfall not taken

Greetings from Santa

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

This card was a trial to see how it would look, and it turned out so much better than I had hoped.

The background panel is using a lot – I mean a lot – of the stickers from a Tim Holtz idea-ology sticker pad. I just took them out of the book haphazardly and stuck them down to the panel. I didn’t think too much about it to begin with, and then thought a little more when the panel was getting full – just so I could fill in the gaps.

The panel with the stickers was cut down a little, then attached to a white card base.

The main Santa sticker was adhered to a vellum panel die cut with Pinkfresh Studio ‘Double Stitched Fancy Frames‘, then adhered to the sticker panel.

I hope you can come and join us with your creations and get your stash ready for Christmas.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ally’s Angels anything goes

Love To Craft anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challenge anything goes Christmas

12 Months of Christmas Link-upanything 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 Angelsanything goes

Mix It Upanything goes – option of fancy folds not taken

Love To Craft anything goes

Die Cut Divas anything goes with die cuts

Crafts Galoreanything goes