O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Not one tree card but two!

The stamps I used for the first card are all from a set that came with a  magazine last year. Yet again, I've used Versamark ink on kraft - are you tired of seeing it yet? I'm not! - and the tree is heat embossed with white opaque detail powder. 

For my second card I used Distress Oxides to smoosh a background then stamped the tree all over, highlighting the central image with some glitter and a tiny hint of a silver sparkle pen. The ribbon, too, has a hint of silver sparkle although it doesn't really show up in the photo. I can't recall where the sentiment stamp came from, I think it was a gift from a friend.

I am sharing the first card with Jingle Belles - Rustic Glam - the inspiration I have used from the photo is the white decorated tree,  the stockings and the neutral colour scheme.



I am sharing the second card with
52 Christmas Card Throwdown -  Ribbon 
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - anything goes/use ribbon or twine

and finally I am sharing the whole shebang with Christmas Kickstart - Christmas Card/Christmas Card/Christmas Tree 

A trifold shutter card

It seems like ages since I last made a shutter card, which is a pity as they are far easier to make than they look, especially if you have a scoring board.

I made my base card in black and decorated it with papers, stickers and chipboard elements from the Graphic 45 French Country collection, fussy cutting the rooster from one of the papers and positioning  it to partially overlap the aperture created by the fold.

I am sharing this with Inskpirational challenge where the word prompt is FOLD.

Music at Cardz 4 Guyz

Our new challenge theme at Cardz 4 Guyz is Music.  I've gone all retro with a cassette tape - remember those?

All the stamps are from the same set - I don't know the set name or brand as it was a gift. I used red and yellow to stamp the two "noisy" patterns randomly to make a background, then used a platform to accurately position the words in opposite corners. I think those words are meant to look as if they are made from unravelled tape. (Do you remember the days when every roadside verge seemed to be littered with unravelled tapes, flung out of the window by frustrated motorists after the cassette had jammed Yet Again?).

I stamped the cassette on separate card and coloured it with Promarkers then attached it with foam pads.

Darling dinosaurs

My grandson is going to be 4 years old in a few days, and like most 4 year olds is totally obsessed with dinosaurs so here is the card I have made for him.

The stamps are a fairly old set (about 5 years old) from Clearly Besotted. I die cut a circle from scrap card and used it as a mask to ink and stamp mini scenes around the card, then stamped the dinosaurs onto separate card, coloured them with Promarkers and fussy cut them. 

I am sharing this with 

Less is More - small images  

Make My Monday - For a guy - any age 

Watercooler Wednesday - all about occasions 

 

Elegant Owls for Christmas

I'm rather late for Rudolph Day at Scrappymo's this month,  thanks to the heat and the school holidays, so I decided  I needed to make something quick but elegant - Hunkydory to the rescue! I picked out a topper sheet and two background cards from the Wonderful Wintertime collection which I'd been sent to review a few weeks ago.  This is my absolute favourite part of the collection so I'd been saving it for when I wanted to make something quick but special.

The large topper is just perfect for making a fold-back card. All I needed to add was lilac and silver cardstock and some  metallic silver candi.

So, my quick card was finished, but all the rest of the toppers and backgrounds were sitting there on the table and I couldn't bear to put them back in the packet, so these happened...

Thanks to the nudge from Jo, I am sharing these at Christmas Kickstart - Things With Wings. 

Wine and Chocolate

I don't actually eat chocolate but this sentiment (Clearly Besotted) still makes me smile...

I've used a HoneyDoo stamp set for the bottle and glass, positioning the bottle to look as if it is pouring into the glass. I coloured the image with Promarkers.

For the chocolate bar, I wrapped a piece of silver mirri in "Cadbury Purple" card and decorated it with another sentiment from the same set as the main one, plus a couple of peel offs.

I am sharing this with Passion For Promarkers - Food and Drink.

A stash surprise

I had quite a surprise the other day - I was rummaging through a box of stash and found a plastic wallet filled with an embellishment assortment that I'd never even opened and totally forgotten I had. It must be 4 or 5 years old and hadn't seen the light of day.

Inside there was a wealth of pre-cut bird, flower and butterfly shapes, tags and banners, a card of ribbons and a bag of gems, pearls and sequins. I had to start playing straight away! Here is my first make from the kit.

I chose a paper from the Dovecraft "Couture du Jour" pad to complement the dressmakers dummy from the kit. The tag, large flower and butterfly arrowhead banner are also from the kit. The bow and buttons are from my stash and the birdcage, chosen to match the birdcages on the background paper, almost all of which ended up being covered up, is part of a wedding favour. It's a set I bought from Hobbycraft years and years ago - pre-cut strips of 4 birdcages intended to be folded and  tucked together to create boxes for sugared almonds. Each strip cuts into 4 pretty birdcages.

I added to the "dressmaking" theme with doodled faux stitching around the edges.

I am sharing this with
Allsorts Challenge - Buttons and Bows 
Alphabet Challenge - I is for Insect 

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #140 S is for Sea

Ahoy there! It's new challenge time at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers and this time Edna is all at sea.

Once again I've been using Versamark on kraft - I think I'm  addicted!

The background stamps are old unmounted ones from grab bags and  the vintage poster stamps are from the now defunct Tandastamps. I am told that the term w-anchor is a "Britishism" so I hope you get the joke!

Row of flowers

It's hard to believe now that this stencil, which I got at a craft workshop three years ago (just checking my diary, it was actually three years ago yesterday) was the first one I ever owned - I have *ahem* a few now!

The stencil has a sky full of butterflies too, but I masked those off and then used Starlight Metallic Paints which have a beautiful pearlescent sheen to colour the sections of the stencil, again using masking to keep the colours separate. The photo doesn't really do justice to the paint finish, it's not really something a camera can pick up well.

To keep plenty of white space I added the sentiment over the flower stems by stamping and heat embossing it onto vellum. The ends are tucked under the top layer but I also added a tiny patch of adhesive dots underneath the writing where they don't show.

I am sharing this with

CASology - Shimmer 

CAS on Friday - use a stencil 

Off the Edge at Back to Basics

It's time for our new challenge at Back to Basics  and this time we would like to see "off the edge" stamping, ie some of your stamping should run off the edge of your card.

For my card I  followed one of the projects in the book "Simply Beautiful Rubber Stamping" by Kathy Seaverns, a book I have owned for several years and is a really useful resource for techniques and project ideas. I started with a 27cm x 9cm piece of white card  then used double sided maple and oak leaf stamps from Just 4 Fun to stamp the leaves and veins around the card, overlapping the edges. The stamps are red rubber on wood, which means a stamp positioner is needed to ensure the veins line up with the leaves. This made the stamping pretty time consuming, so when I had a disaster while punching the holes for the ribbon, trapping the lower left hand side of the card in the opposite side of the Cropadile, I decided to carry on regardless despite the hole in my work. I just won't be able to send the card to anybody now.

After stamping the leaves, I added a few dragonflies then scored the card into three 9cm x 9cm squares. and the end panels diagonally making sure the diagonal scores were parallel to each other.  I punched ribbon holes in the two long folded diagonal edges  then threaded ribbon through to close the card. Finally I matted it onto two toning pieces of card.

I am sharing this with

Addicted to Stamps and More - anything goes 

Purple pansy

Pansies fascinate me - they come in so many colours, many of them look as if they are made of velvet. So it's rather surprising that although I've had this stamp for many, many years I've only used it once before.

The stamp is so old that I can't remember where it came from but I have a feeling it was one of those postal "stamp of the month" clubs that was popular about 15 years ago.

I used the Misti to position a border stamp to make a frame around the card and added die cuts using bits from my snippets box and a few pieces of  candi to finish it off.

I am sharing this with

Retro Rubber - Purple, yellow and green 

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge 357 

Uniko Studios - Flowers & optional die cuts 

Stamping Sensations - The Earth laughs in flowers

Rose easel

I've had this set of stamps from Oak House studio for a couple of years now and this is the first time I've even cut into the stamp sheet, in order to use this large rose stamp and matching border and sentiment.

I used a stitched square die to cut the background papers using sheets from a very old magazine freebie set. Then I went around the "stitching" with a very fine black liner to make it look more realistic. I used the same effect on the oval die cut I used for the rose, cutting around the large leaf  and slipping it to the back of the die before cutting so that it appears to overlap the edge.

I am sharing this with

Fab 'n' Funky - add pearls/gems 
Little Red Wagon - Sew/stitch it 
Just us Girls -  pink, dark pink, green 

Festive Robins

This cute little robin trio stamp was a magazine freebie years and years ago.

Today I've coloured it with pencils and added  a star brad for them to wish upon and a suitable sentiment.

I am sharing this with

Christmas Kickstart - Things with wings 

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - anything goes/use a diecut

Anything Goes at CD Sundays

It's time for our latest Anything Goes challenge at CD Sundays.  We'd love to see what you've made incorporating something printed out from a craft CD!

This time I've used the La Pashe CD "Something for Everyone"

I was tickled pink to find that my random Candi mixture box contained a few pieces of newsprint Candi, perfect for with this fun decoupage!

Bold and bright

The other day I saw a photo of a really stunning new variety of osteospermum that I really wanted to try to recreate by means of colouring, so  today I dug out a  huge daisy stamp  and had a play.

Here's my card

I coloured it with Promarkers, using each pen in brisk strokes in one direction only to try to keep the colours from blending - exactly the opposite of what I usually aim to do.

This is the flower that inspired me:

I am scharing this with

Addicted to CAS - Daisy 


Sweet Stampin'  - You've got to have friends 

Passion for Promarkers - Colours of Summer 

An Impossible Card

I think this is only the second time I've mad an Impossible Card. They fascinate me - despite having a very mathematical mind and knowing how they work, they still look completely impossible when they are finished!

The background is made on watercolour card with red and green distress inks which are much darker than they appear on the photo - I think it must be the contrast with the black, making them look almost pink and yellow. . I stamped the moth images onto part of it - they are beautiful old stamps from The Stamp Man, I kept the leaflet that came with them and it is dated 2003. I've just checked their website and they don't seem to stock Aspects of Design, which was their own range, any more so this stamp set is probably no longer available, a pity as it is gorgeous.

I stamped random tiny dragonflies over the rest of the inked card to use as a background.

I am sharing this with The Butterfly Challenge where I am claiming all 7 elements - BINGO!

CAS Christmas mid month post

I am Guest Designer at CAS Christmas this month and it's time for the mid month reminder.  The theme is Snowflake 

and here is my reminder card for you.

I masked off the card to leave a strip which I sponged with pink and blue distress inks, then stamped the big, bold snowflakes and sentiments using a bargain stamp set that I bought in Poundland. Some branches have a good range of craft supplies, and  they appear to be from discontinued Dovecraft ranges that have been rebranded with the store's own craft brand; well worth looking out for if you aren't concerned about being at the cutting edge of crafting fashion!

The challenge closes on July 24th so hurry, you only have a week left to play!

Spice it up!

Mark's chillis are starting to form now, after a disappointing start, so here is a card that celebrates all things chilli.

I've made a one layer card, stamped with red and green chillies from Rubber Dance and finished with a sentiment from the same set stamped boldly over the top of them.

I am sharing this with

Addicted to CAS - heat 


Allsorts Challenge - Clean and Simple 

Watercooler Wednesday - Masculine anything goes

Season's Greetings

All these "Christmas in July" challenges are really giving my Christmas card box a welcome boost!

I made this card using the Tonic Studios "Winter Wonderland" pad - I've had it for several years now and must have made dozens of cards with it, yet it's still going strong. It started out with 42 8"x8" patterned papers and 24 sentiments, and I totted up that there are still 19 uncut sheets and 16 sentiments left, plus a generous handful of snippets. And the small patterns mean that even the tiniest snippet can be useful. The designs are timeless and the colour scheme makes it great for masculine cards.

I am sharing this with

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Red, green and brown 

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Use some red 

Shopping Our Stash - Christmas in July 

The Male Room - Christmas in July 

Transport at Cardz 4 Guyz

Our new challenge is starting at Cardz 4 Guyz and today the theme is Transport. A perfect chance to play with the super Trucks'nTrams set from Picture This

The trucks are vintage ones with a very 1940s/1950s look to them. The ribbon reminds me a bit of a road.

I am sharing this with
Use Your Stuff - Masculine 

Flying High

The current challenge at The Library Challenge is Jules Verne's "Five Weeks in a Balloon"  and this is my take on it.

The image is a Crafty Individuals stamp which I have coloured with watercolours to help keep the vintage look. For the base card, I cut a cloud shaped template from scrap paer and sponged light blue ink over it although the effect doesn't show up very well in the photo.

Get the fizz ready!

What would a celebration be without champagne?

The bottle, glass and bubbles were stamped with a set of stamps that came with a magazine a few years ago. The bottle is fussy cut and the glass cut with the matching die. I remember thinking when I got the mag "How odd that they've included a die for the glass, it's just as simple a shape as the bottle". However I tried fussy cutting a glass - just once. If you have the same stamps and are thinking the same, good luck with cutting that glass stem!

The sentiment is stamped with a very, very old Hot Off The Press stamp that was part of the very first kit I bought from QVC. I started shopping with them when my daughter was doing a project about TV shopping for part of her 6th form media studies course, and she's just celebrated her 40th birthday, so you can imagine how old it must be!

I am sharing this with

Cardz 4 Galz - Party time - celebrate! 

Less is More - Celebrations

Every little helps...

I think most of my UK based friends will recognise immediately what the inspiration for this card is - if not, the title of the post is another big clue!

It came about when I saw a joke on Facebook that was a parody of the Tesco Value logo - something at the back of my mind made me think "Actually that might be a fun layout for a card". And once I'd had the idea, I just had to see if it worked.

I think Tesco has changed the value range now to a rather dull brown-and-beige design but this is still the one we all recognise.

I used Promarkers to rule the background stripes and to underline the stamped red "Hello". The leaf border on the red layer is stamped with Versamark and embossed with white opaque detail powder simply because after many years of searching I've still yet to find a white inkpad  that gives a clear, consistent result. Recommendations would be very gratefully received! All the stamps were from the set that came with the current issue of Creative Stamping.

Making this card really made me laugh!

I am sharing this with

Creative with Stamps - Stripes 


Just Us Girls - sentiment as focal point 


Watercooler Wednesday - all about occasions 

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #139 - Joke

It's new challenge day at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers and today Edna has chosen J is for Joke

Naturally I decided to use stamps from the Katzelkraft Les Chats Russes set because they always make me smile!

The room scene is created from snippets and the joke is generated on the computer. Would you believe it, after years of looking for suitable "speech bubble" stamps and tearing my hair out trying to find digital versions online or in Craft Artist, I've realised they've been there all along on good old Word, and fully customisable too so I could get the "pointy bit" exactly where I wanted it. It's Occam's razor, isn't it? Don't spend time looking for a complicated solution when a simple one works perfectly!

If you, too, are on the quest for speech bubbles, or callouts as they are apparently known, they are in the Draw menu of Word, in the Auto Shapes section. And I have a sneaky feeling that you all, every single one of you, already knew that and have been keeping it from me!

Lots of snippets were used for this so I'm heading over to The Playground with it - as long as Dudley promises not to chase my cats!