Tattered Lace

Three colours

20170525_181722

Hi there, despite it being 27 degrees today when I got home, I went to craft. I have a portable air-con unit which was ideal for this gorgeous weather! Cool as a cucumber – until I made some mistakes in this card. Took me several attempts for such a simple card, but here you go.

The colours I used are from the Colour Throwdown challenge, which I incorporated into a sketch from Clean and Simple Colours and Sketches. The colours were green, grey, and white.

I used a 6 inch square base card, to which I added a green strip embossed with a strip folder from Tattered Lace. The sentiment is from Concord and 9th, so is the ‘YOU’ part. They were obviously cut out of grey, and it was a Lawn Fawn Narwhal card I used for that.

The heart is from Stampin Up, a die set called ‘Sunshine wishes’.

What were the mistakes? Well – I forgot to cut the intricate dies with double sided sticky sheet on the back for one. So cut them again – and cut them the wrong way round, so when I came to stick them down – they were upside down. Start again.

I cut the ‘YOU’ letters, and put them into the middle of the heart in the wrong order! I spelt ‘YUO’. It took me a few minutes to realise what was wrong. I knew something was – but it took a while to realise.

Then – as I had stuck them down already, I had to cut another heart from another white piece of card, which I then inserted into the middle of the heart. Good grief! What a challenge! It was good that the air-con unit was working well.

Anyway, I will be entering this card into the following challenges:

CAS Colours and Sketches – Sketch

Color Throwdown – green, grey, white

Tuesday Throwdown – anything goes

The House That Stamps Built – anything goes

Mojo Sketch

This card was inspired by Mojo Monday Sketch challenge. I have turned the sketch around 90 degrees but you can still see the inspiration sketch in there.

It seems I am staying with my darker vintage look for today, completely different to the cards I made several posts ago. I don’t know why I am going that way currently – the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the pheasants are making a blinking racket(!!) – all a good thing, though.

For this card, I used an 8 inch square Kraft base card, and cut a smaller square in a deep purple colour which I think matched the tone of the rest of the card. I embossed this smaller square with the Tattered Lace ‘Autumn Leaf’ embossing folder, which has a gorgeous imprint of different leaves, and attached that to the base card.

The layers are from a patterned paper pad from Be Creative. The second layer had a couple of birds on each edge, so I just took the middle out of the paper and stuck them down together so it looked like they were still connected. The circle is stamped with a Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous set ‘Phrases 2’, and cut using my MFT ZIgZag Stitched Circle die set. This circle I raised with 3D foam, but the rest of the layers are flat to the card.

I don’t very often used patterned paper, and yet I have stacks of pads and collections I absolutely MUST get around to using. Maybe this is the start of a patterned paper thing. You never know. I don’t think I can be predictable with my crafting – it is all in what inspires me for the day. I may set off doing one thing, then get completely turned-around and go onto another thing.

Does anyone else have a stack of toppers they have made, and yet aren’t attached to cards yet? I am sure it isn’t just me. I know my sister in Canada has the same sort of collection. We see it as cards yet to be made, but can easily be grabbed for emergencies. (Not sure what those emergencies will be, though!

The more I set out my items to make this card, I realised how versatile and it could be, for any occasions, and so I shall also be entering this card into the Addicted to Stamps and More challenge with the theme of ‘Anything Goes’, and Moving Along With The Times, with the theme of ‘Into the Woods’.

Pink, Purple, yellow

20170326_165025

For this card, I was inspired by two challenges. The first was Paper Play Sketches with the theme of yellow, purple, and pink, and the second was from Cardz 4 Galz with the theme of pink. I decided to go back my roots and use a lot of die cutting and embossing.

The base card is 8 inches square, with a slightly smaller purple layer, cut with my Sue Wilson stitched square dies, and embossed with Tattered Lace ‘Lily Spray’ embossing folder. The purple and pink card is from Creative Expressions, but the yellow is a textured card from my stash – no clue where I got that from!

I used the Sue Wilson Noble Dies ‘Ornate Pierced Design’ to cut the pink portion of the card, in-laying the lacy layer for interest. On top I used the next embossing layer, and cut the smallest die from that set for my sentiment, which I decided to do in yellow, to match the flowers.

I was trying to decide which flowers I wanted to use, so turned to Sue Wilson yet again. I used the Finishing Touches ‘Delightful Daisies’ cut all four of them out, and then added them to my card. The photgraph was taken with sunshine streaming through the sindow, but it does show the embossing and flower dimesnion quite nicely, I think.

As I didn’t want to add ribbon to an already ornate card, I then used the embossing strip folder from the same tattered Lace pack and placed my flowers underneath that strip. I left the flowers unstuck at the top, so they add some movement to the card.

The sentiment is from Heartfelt Creations ‘Timeless Sentiments’ which I stamped in Catherine Pooler ‘Flirty Fuchsia’.

I did enjoy doing a virtually completely die cut and embossed card, and used the tattered Lace folders for the first time – even though I’ve probably had them for a couple of years! The embossing folder set has an 8 inch folder, two strip folders which are 2 inches wide, and a corner folder. It also comes with matching stamps and dies for the flowers and other elements,

Before I became more comfortable with stamping – and before I had my Misti – I very rarely did any stamping. I found I couldn’t really get the hang of it, something always went wrong – whether that was a blurry image, an incomplete image, or I smudged everything. The main thing I learnt was that I had to use the correct inks for the correct card, and the technique of actaully stamping was then easier.

As for die-cutting, I am sure I am not alone in saying I have more than one machine. I have several. Well – at least five. All different, and bought for different reasons over the years. The main machine I use is the Big Shot Express which is on my desk. I use this all the time, my main machine. As it is electronic, it is so easy to use. I tend to send my dies one way then bring them back – I don’t have to stand up, then!

As this is only for dies which are 6 inches or less, I also have my Big Shot Pro. The Beast. He is sitting on a table my sister altered to make it ‘shabby chic’ for me at Christmas. He is the one I use to cut anything bigger than 6 inches, and to emboss with my A4 embossing folders. He is heavy, and huge – but love it. So gald I now have a table for him, as he was taking far too much room up on my desk.

I enjoy particpating in challenges, as I use them for inspiration. that isnpiration also leads me to try different techniques, but still I am able to use a lot of the products I have bought over the years, and sometimes even mix and match together. The cards I make go to my firends, but mainly go to the charity for them to sell. So – any excuse to make cards, right?