gems

D is for Double

Hello there. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter ‘D’, and Melanie has chosen the theme of:

D is for Double – include 2 of the same thing

Here is my card, which has two flowers on it:

These flowers are from an Altenew die set called ‘Butterfly Ranunculus‘. I used a blue card stock to cut the petals, and added some darker blue ink blending to the middle of each layer. These were easy to put together due to the #keyhole system’ which Altenew uses. The stems were die cut, and placed to one side whilst I decided what I wanted to put on the background to show case these gorgeous flowers.

I decided to go with a cream textured card stock, placing one layer as the back panel on a card base, then die cut the stitched oval in the same card stock.

The oval was glued to the back panel, and the flowers arranged to my liking, added with 3D foam.

The silver foiled sentiment added, then some small black gems for added interest, and to bring in the black of the sentiment strip.

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

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Allsorts – anything goes in the garden

Give A Crafter A Cookie – in the garden

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

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and/or dry embossing

Peaches & Cream

Hello once again. I have a card to share inspired by the colours at Cupcake Inspirations:

For the cream part of the theme, I used Ivory card stock from Concord & 9th, and stencilled the florals on using a Kristina Werner stamp and stencil set ‘Aubrey Blooms‘. I didn’t use the stamp, just stencilled the florals using two peach tones from Pinkfresh Studio, adding slightly darker blending towards the centre of the flowers.

For the green, I initially used Sage from Pinkfresh, but decided it wasn’t dark enough on the ivory card, so I used the next green up in the family – Eucalyptus.

The panel comes out even larger, and you can get two A2 pieces pout of the blended panel, but I created a 5X7 inch card so I could get as much of the design on there as possible.

I layered a piece of card onto the card base, and to match the green on the design, I ink blended around the edge of a piece of white card, then matted the design onto the top of that.

The foiled sentiment was added, silver foil on black for a little drama, and then added three enamel dots, to include items in the current Festive Friday challenge.

Even though the background card stock is not smooth enough for perfect ink blending, I felt the outcome gave an almost vintage feel.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Cupcake Inspirations – Peaches & Cream

Allsorts – anything goes

Love To Craft – anything goes

Lotus Hugs

Hello again. I have been crafting a lot these past few days, mainly because it has been so hot in the UK, and my craft room has air con…..Here is a card created following inspiration from the colour board at AAA Colourful:

For this card I used a new product suite – to me, anyway – from Hero Arts. This couple of items includes a Letterpress Plate and ;layering stencil set.

I first used the press plate to dry emboss the image onto white card stock, then used the layering stencils and Pinkfresh Studio inks to ink blend.

This panel was then cut down slightly and adhered with 3D foam to a card base.

For the sentiment, I used a Time 4 Tea Designs die, the shadow being cut out of white, and the word die cut once I had used an ink pad to colour a piece of white card, as I wanted a blue from the same colour family as the two other blue tones used on the background.

This was adhered, then some blue gems added for interest.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

AAA Colourful – inspiration colour board

Aud Sentiments – embossing wet or dry and/or flowers and a sentiment (dry embossed the letterpress plate)

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

Sending A Coneflower Note

Hello. I have another card to share following the list of items from Festive Friday:

Looking at the list of items, I started with the golf foiled background panel. This was created using a hot foil plate from Spellbinders called ‘Dazzling Diamonds’.

The flowers were created using a layering die set from Honey Bee Stamps ‘Lovely Layers: Coneflower‘, with the layers of the flower die cut from Concord & 9th card stock – and including the ‘Marmalade‘ orange card stock which was retired a year or so ago. I have a stash of this colour as it is a gorgeous orange, and was sorry to see it go from their product line.

From darkest to lightest, I used ‘Spiced Cider‘, ‘Marmalade‘, ‘Clementine‘ and then ‘Creamsicle‘. The leaves were die cut from ‘Grasshopper‘. The centre of the flowers were a back layer of black, with a yellow upper layer from my stash of bits.

To include a hexagon, I die cut two of the Pinkfresh Studio ‘Nested hexagons: Double Stitched‘ – you can part of the two hexagons under the flowers.

The gold diamond panel was adhered to a white card base, the two hexagons adhered flat also – there are lots of layers to the flowers, therefore enough dimension.

I applied 3D foam to the flower heads and placed them onto the hexagons, then added two of the leaves for each flower – also with 3D foam.

The final steps were to add some black gems, then the foiled sentiment.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Festive Friday – at least 3 items from the list – I used yellow/black/orange/black gems/gold foil/hexagons/flowers

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Dragonfly Dreams – use die cuts

Have A Pawsome Day

Hello again. I have a card created from the current Colorful Options Challenge. This month they are celebrating black and white, and one of their options is to use a pop of colour:

I began by stamping two of the images from Waffle Flower Crafts ‘Postage Collage Cat Silhouettes’ and die cut them with the matching die. I then stamped the picture frames to match the size of the cats I had chosen, then die cut them out.

All of my die cuts are layered three times, as I like stability and dimension.

I then die cut the bowl and the ball of string in red card stock.

The background panel is from Pinkfresh Studio, a cover plate which adds floral stitching ‘Charming Stitched Florals‘.

The panel was glued to a white card base, then the frames, cats, bowl and ball of string were placed.

The sentiment is also from Waffle Flower – stamped then die cut, layered once again.

I wanted some additional red, so I looked through my bling stash and found these hearts – I think I received them in a packet for a virtual event at some point – so added them as you see.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Colorful Options – black and white, option taken for a pop of colour

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Dragonfly Dreams – use die cuts

Thank you

Today’s card is using the current colours at Color Hues – yellow and blue. Certain neutrals are allowed:

I chose to use a Pinkfresh Studio stencil and die set called ‘Wildflower Elegance‘. There is no stamp with this set, so once you have ink blended the image and cut it out – there are no white areas.

I chose a selection of blue and yellow inks from Pinkfresh Studio, and used two tones of grey for the stems and leaves, and a light brown for the centre of the flowers. The die also adds some details to the flowers and leaves.

I also die cut two more layers to add stability to the floral arrangement.

Now for the background – this was a light blue piece of Concord & 9th card stock, onto which I glued a Pinkfresh Studio die cut to act like a trellis, called ‘Scalloped Grid cover plate‘.

The sentiment is a stand-alone die, cutting the shadow layer out of the light blue card, and using a darker blue for the words themselves. The words were layered three times -a little fiddly – but I do like the look this gives.

The sentiment was placed, and I snipped the bottom of the florals off so they would lie better behind the sentiment.

I did have to die cut the shadow layer three more times so it would sit evenly when glued down – just snipping off the top of the letters T & H as that area would be sitting on the base of the floral stems.

Looking now at the photos, I maybe should have gone with a darker yellow for the second layer on the florals – something else to remember in the future.

The final touch was to add three blue gems – also from Pinkfresh Studio.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Hues – blue and yellow

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

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Ellibelle’s Corner I Spy – I Spy Spring Flowers or April Showers


Happy Birthday

I have a card to share created for a good friend who is celebrating her 60th birthday tomorrow:

Following the theme from AAA Birthday to use Washi tape, I gathered my Pinkfresh Studio product suites which included Washi tape, and used ‘Fluttering Butterfly‘ to create the leafy sections and the butterfly itself. The Washi was adhered to white card, then the matching die to cut them out.

To add interest to the background, I die cut the ‘Floral Lace’ die twice and layered it together, glui9ng to the card base.

The leaves and butterfly were adhere, then some gold gems for extra interest, and to match the gold within the Washi tape itself.

The sentiment banner is from a Simon Hurley/Spellbinders die set, cut out of gold, with a white backing, and adhered with 3D foam.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and birthday/anniversary

AAA Birthday – birthday and Washi tape

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Thank You For Being You

Hello there. I have a card to share using a pale pink and pale blue:

My starting point for this card was to use the images from Pinkfresh Studio, products from the recent SCT event. The stamp set is called ‘Delicate Whispers‘ and comes with four of the floral images in one stamp, so I stamped twice using a brown Gina K ink instead of black for a softer outline.

Once stamped, I ink blended the light pink and light blue Pinkfresh Studio inks, then die cut with the matching die. I die cut another layer to place behind for more stability – each floral image layered twice.

I wanted to place several of the images on a card front, so I then used the Waffle Flower ‘Postage Collage Blocks’ stencil to shade each block with both of those colours.

The sentiment was stamped – from the same Pinkfresh Studio stamp set – then the panel adhered to a white card base with 3D foam.

Each of the images was glued down, and then some light blue sparkle gems from Spellbinders added here and there.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

(PIN)spirational – pale pink and pale blue

Allsorts – in the garden

A Cut Above – die cuts option of pastels

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

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

A Little Birdie Told Me….

I have a card to share created using more products from the recent SCT event – this time using a die and stamp set from Scrapbook.com:

The current challenge at Color Hues is to use the colours Navy and Fuchsia, and these colours were my starting point. Certain neutrals are allowed also.

The birds were die cut with white for the base of each, and then navy and fuchsia card stock for the layers. The blue and pink pieces were ink blended a little to create some dimension, then the layers glued together. The wings were added with a small piece of 3D foam, the beaks were die cut from gold card stock, and the eyes are little black gems.

The background navy panel was cut slightly down, and run through my die cutting machine with a Spellbinders embossing folder, attached to the white card base with glue.

The sentiments and musical notes were stamped, then die cut with the matching dies, two more layers also die cut and glued behind the sentiments instead of using 3D foam.

To put this together, I added the sentiments first, then attached the two birds with 3D foam, making it look as though they were perched on the sentiments. The musical notes were glued flat to the card panel, and some ombre gold gems added – from Pinkfresh Studio to tie in with the gold beaks – and because I love to use them….. :)

I love how these two colours work well together, and am really pleased with how it turned out.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Color Hues – Fuchsia & Navy

Addicted to Stamps & More – any occasion

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and birthday/anniversary

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

The Magic Is In You

Hello everyone. I am settling down from my retirement and have made time to create this card for the current challenge at Festive Friday, choosing three items from their list:

I am currently working my way through the projects from the recent ‘Crop & Create‘ 3 day virtual event, run by Scrapbook & Cards Today. I always buy this event – so much product, so much teaching from the gurus of the card making and crafting world.

This card was created using the Gina K Designs product suite from this event – stamps, dies, and stencils. I stamped more when completing the cards she was teaching and took these two images, ink blended with Pinkfresh Studio inks in bright colours, adding some slightly darker blending around the edges of the florals and the base of the leaves with a darker tone of each colour.

Once the two images were completed and die cut, I used some bright green dotted patterned paper from Heffy Doodle for the background, die cutting the ovals from Pinkfresh Studio in that same paper, and some white card stock.

These were layered onto a white card base – the top white layer with 3D foam – then the florals attached with a mixture of glue and 3D foam.

I searched through the CML app for the word ‘magic’ (on the Festive Friday list) and found this one from Pinkfresh Studio. I die cut the shadow layer out of vellum, then the words three times from black card stock.

The first two layers were glued onto the front of the vellum, the third layer glued onto the back of the vellum. I find this is a good way to be able to add glue for attaching the sentiment, instead of trying to glue vellum and getting smears and smudges of glue.

The final touch was to attach some ombre glitter gems – also from Pinkfresh Studio – to the centre of the large flowers, and more dotted around as you can see.

So – that takes care of three of the items on the Festive Friday list – bright colours, sparkle gems, and ‘magic’ sentiment.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Festive Friday – choose three from the list – bright colours, sparkle gems, ‘magic’ sentiment

Craft Rocket – layer it up