embossing folder

Rainbow Christmas Trees

Hello once again. The ABC Christmas Challenge has started a new challenge. Carol is the host this time round, and as we have reached the letters ‘U’ and ‘V’, we want to see your Christmas creations following the themes of:

U is for Unusual Colours

and/or

V is for Velvet

Here is my card for ‘Unusual Christmas Colours’:

The background panel was cut down slightly and embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder, and was adhered flat to the card base.

I then used an Avery Elle die for the Christmas trees, die cut out of a range of card stock from Concord & 9th, following a ROYGBIV rainbow.

The hardest part of this was trying to get all these trees in a straight line – the ‘T’ square ruler came in handy for this.

The sentiment is a previously foiled sentiment from Lawn Fawn, and die cut with the matching die.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Love To Craft – anything goes

Christmas (or not) Bingo – column N – layers, no stamping, free

Peace On Earth Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Crafty Calendar – anything goes

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

My Ride Or Die

Hello once again. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter ‘M;, and Billie A is hosting and chosen the theme of

‘Masculine’

Here is my card:

I don’t make very many masculine cards – only if there is a theme for one of my design teams. This card was given to my husband for his birthday last month. We have recently watched some challenge programmes on TV, and this was the sub-title of one of the shows. I knew I had seen the sentiment in my stash and the Color My Life app made it easy to find it – from MFT….

The background panel was dry embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder and attached to a card base.

The car stamp is from The Greetery – just the car outline stamped, then the solid colour, but I didn’t use the detail stamps for the rest of the image.

Stamped in the colours you see then die cut, arranged onto the embossed panel, then the sentiment stamped and added.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Fab’n’Funky – birthday or anniversary

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

A Cut Above – die cuts – option of monochromatic not taken

Here Is A Place To Start – anything goes

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Ice Skates and a Present

Hello again. It is my turn to host the new challenge at ABC Christmas Challenge. We have reached the letters ‘S‘ and ‘T‘ and we want to see your Christmas creations with the following themes:

S is for stencils, and T is for traditional Christmas Colours

I chose to create a card for each of the themes.

The first card is using some layering stencils from Spellbinders:

These stencils were created directly onto the card base, first ink blending the bow, then adding the mask to the bow and ink blending the foliage.


I added the foiled sentiment, then some purple gems around that sentiment.

The second card is also using Spellbinders:

The background panel was embossed using an embossing folder, then some light blue ink gently swiped across it. The snowflakes picking up a slight blue tinge.

The skates and the foliage were die cut and layered together, then all elements added to the card base until I was happy with the arrangement.

The finishing touches were the gems for the centre of the poinsettias, and a foiled sentiment.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations following one or both of our themes. I look forward to seeing you in our gallery. xx

Poinsettia and Pinecones

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

I chose to use a 5×7 inch card base as the die cuts are quite large. The pinecones are from The Greetery – die cut from a lighter brown card stock, then each of the little details ink blended at the base the create even more dimension.

The bell was die cut from some brushed gold cardstock using a Honey Bee Stamps die set, then layered with glue.

The foliage and poinsettia were from Spellbinders, die cut with two shades of red for the flower, some different green cardstock and brushed gold for the foliage.

I used an embossing folder for a panel on the card base, then played with the placement of all the die cut elements, adding with a mixture of glue and 3D foam.

The sentiment is a foiled strip, and I also added a faceted gem for the centre of the poinsettia.

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

Swan Friend

Hello. A little playing in my craft room to produce this card:

Usint the colours from the current Color Throwdown Challenge, I decided to use an older Spellbinders die of the swans.

I die cut them out of cream card stock, all layers twice for dimension and stability, and added the wings with a little piece of 3D foam.

The face details were die cut out of Kraft and black.

The oval shapes were cut using another Spellbinders die, and I took some light blue card and die cut that with the same smaller oval. I then took some scene creator dies to die cut the two layers of the water, then ran those two pieces through an embossing folder to give the effect of waves.

The uppermost water layer was inked slightly on the edge to make it stand out a little more.

The layers were glued together, but I did raise the top water layer on some thinner 3D foam, then glued the swans flat.

The sentiment is a black foiled strip.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – light blue, cream, Kraft

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Craft Rocket – animals

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and wet or dry embossing (embossing folder)

Double D Challenge – use shapes – squares, rectangles, circles, ovals – I used ovals

Wishing You a Brew-tea-ful Day

Hello everyone. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge. Helen is hosting this time, and has chosen the theme of :

‘Pretty In Pink’

Here is my card:

I wanted to use the new products from The Greetery, and thought the die cuts of the teapot and cups inked with the matching stencils would work a treat. It is not very often I create a wholly pink card, but I am pleased with the outcome.

The background card was layered with a pink panel, and onto that I layered a white panel which I had dry embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder, then and added a gold frame. The gold frame was created using a die set from Pinkfresh Studio, received as part of their virtual event coming up this next weekend.

I then die cut all the tea pots and all the cups as I didn’t know which combination I was going to use, then ink blended through the matching stencils to create the interest on each die cut.

I also added some extra pink ink blending to the whole of the tea pot – subtle – but it is there.

I played around with the placement of each, then added either glue or 3D foam to create the little scene.

The sentiment was gold heat embossed, and die cut with the matching die set.

A final touch was to add some pink stocky thingies – the dots, star and heart which I found in my stash.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

MMM Challenge – something metallic (frame)

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies Challenge – anything goes

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and option of wet or dry embossing taken

Pinspirational Challenge – die cuts

Here Is A Place To Start – anything goes – option of diamonds/pearls/gold

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Thank You For Your Kindness

Hello once again. I have a card to share created yesterday:

I wanted to play with a new die and stencil set from The Greetery. I really like the water-colour effect this stencil set gives.

This stencil set has 5 layers to it, and I used three green inks and two yellow inks from Pinkfresh Studio. Once stenciled, I used the matching die to cut it out.

I am currently loving using a frame on my creations, and find it hard not to do so, therefore I used a Pinkfresh Studio frame die set to create this one.

The back panel is using Concord & 9th card stock, and dry embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder – I thought it gave an feeling of a trellis behind the image.

All were layered together as you see, and the sentiment stamped and die cut – also from Pinkfresh Studio – with three more layers of the sentiment die cut for added stability and dimension.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – yellow, brown, green

Pearly Sparkles – floral

A Perfect Time To Craft – anything goes

Ellibelle’s Corner – anything goes

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and wet or dry embossing (dry embossing)

Creative Fingers – anything goes

Crafty Gals Corner – anything goes with option of using embossing folder taken

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

You’re Sweet

Hello once again. Recovering from a head cold, and found that crafting did take my mind off things. I created this card:

I used an older Pinkfresh Studio washi tape for the fruit elements, inspired by the Inspiration Station photo – lots of fruit on a stall. This is a very large repeating washi, and once laid down onto a half sheet of card stock, I used the matching die to cut the elements out.

As washi tape is very slippery, and low tack doesn’t really adhere to it, I made sure some of my low tack tape was on the card stock too – ask me how I knew to do that……!

As this card is on the larger 5×7 inch side, I die cut a white panel and used a Spellbinders embossing folder which has fruit slices as the design. This was then added to the card base.

As the washi tape images had gold highlights, I then used a couple of rectangle dies to cut a frame out of Spellbinders brushed gold card stock.

I then added that to the panel with 3D foam as I was going to layer the fruit elements over and under the frame.

The fruit elements were added with a mixture of 3D foam and wet glue – leaving a space for the sentiment, which was stamped and heat embossed in gold. The matching die cut for the sentiment was used, and cut several times to create a more stable sentiment added as you see.

I have several rolls of washi tape from Pinkfresh Studio, but always forget they are there. I can see more cards coming soon using them.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Just Us Girls – word prompt ‘frame’

Ellibelle’s corner – I Spy Summertime Vibes

The Four Seasons Challenge – Summer

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cuts

Die Cut Divas – use die cuts and wet or dry embossing – I used both embossing methods

Pinspirational – die cuts

Inspiration Station – photo inspiration – fruit medley

We Flock Together

Hello everyone. I am the host for the new challenge at Cardz 4 Galz, and I have chosen the theme of ‘birds’. Here is my card:

I went with a tropical theme using Spellbinders products for a bright and colourful card.

The background is ink blending using a stencil, and a couple of blue inks. On top of the panel, I created a band of vellum, which I had embossed using a Spellbinders embossing folder – thankfully the vellum didn’t crack….!

The bird layers were die cut from Spellbinders and Concord & 9th card stock, layered, glued and attached the the vellum with 3D foam. The top bird slightly off the top to also be used as an anchor for the top of the vellum band.

The sentiment was simply stamped and then the strip trimmed down. This was also attached with 3D foam, and by adhering it to the bottom of the vellum it was another point that the vellum could be anchored.

Looking at this photo I can see I didn’t poke out some of the belly dots on the lime green bird – oh well – added interest… :)

I hope you can come and join us with your bird themed creations – I look forward to seeing you in our gallery. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Ally’s Angels – anything goes

Pammie’s Ink Pinkie Challenge – anything goes

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

Pinspirational – die cuts

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

Stencil Fun – stencils and option of summertime

Thanks So Much

Hello. I was inspired by the sketch – quite literally – at the current Altantic Hearts Challenge to create this card:

As I said – quite literally……

I have juts bought a Sizzix die in a sale and it was sitting on my desk ready to be catalogues in the CML app. It was perfect for the leaves.

The background panel is in a ‘Fog’ cardstock, a scalloped circle die cut from the centre, and then dry embossed using one of my all-time favourite embossing folders from Stampin Up’. I raised this with thin 3D foam tape to a white card base.

The leaves were die cut from three shades of green card stock – Spellbinders and Concord & 9th – then inserted into the aperture, glued using wet glue.

The sentiment is a previously foiled strip, and then three silver sequins added to the top right to compliment the silver of the foiling.

It has been absolutely ages – possibly years – since I entered a sketch challenge – I might have opened Pandora’s box here….

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Atlantic Hearts Challenge – sketch