Sunday 21 December 2014

Snips and snails, and puppy dog tails

We are celebrating some more good news this weekend.
Yesterday we had the safe arrival of my niece's baby.
A tiny, little boy, named Darwin, who tipped the scales at just 4lb 1oz.
So cute.

Here's the card I made for the very proud Grandparents.


This was a quick make, as I wanted to get it straight out in the post, 
so, I followed the Sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch.

I die cut some cute, little animals and popped them up on a sparkly road.



Challenges.
CAS(E) this Sketch - #104
Pixie's Playground - Snippets
Less Is More - Family
Addicted to CAS - Family

Supplies.
Mama Elephant, Just Hatched Stamps & Dies
DCWV Tres Chic Glitter Paper
Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Border Dies
Copics. Sequins.


Tuesday 16 December 2014

When the snow lay round about...

I've had real fun making Christmas cards this year,
but I still let out a sigh of relief, as the last one went in the post box.

Here's one that's already reached it's destination.


Without a doubt this Winter Woodland set has been my favourite this year.
All the elements make it so easy to create a pretty, little Christmas scene.

On this card, I embossed the trees with glitter powder,
so, irl,  they have a pretty sparkle,
and the Happy Holidays is also embossed in red glitter.
 

Challenges.
Merry Monday - Winter Wonderland
Simon Monday - Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations - Winter Wonderland

Supplies.
WPlus9 Winter Woodland Stamps and Dies.
Lawn Fawn Hillside Border Dies    WOW Diamond White Embossing Powder
WOW Red Glitter Embossing Powder.

Friday 12 December 2014

May all your dreams come true


Hey there.
Eek! I am so excited that my daughter Annabel is engaged,
and I'm looking forward to spending the weekend with her and her fiance.
 
Here's the card I made them.
 

Ok, I went a little overboard with the bling :-)
The confetti, sentiment and banner are stamped and embossed in gold
and the shaker is packed full of tiny beads and sequins in gold, silver and white.

 
Challenges.
Simon Says Wednesday - Bling It On
Penny Black and More - Special Occasions
A Little Bit Crafty - Anything Goes (Not Christmas)

Supplies.
Winnie & Walter Big Bang Confetti.
Sentiment is from an old Whiff Of Joy set.
Banner is Clearly Besotted Basi Banners.
Nestie Heart Die  Gold embossing powder.  Beads and Sequins


Sunday 7 December 2014

Yay! You're engaged.


No card from me today peeps, just sharing some wonderful news.
My youngest daughter, Annabel got engaged yesterday.
Yay!

They went away for the weekend to a countryside lodge,
and Andy did the whole 'down-on-one knee' proposal
right next to a waterfall.

Nicely planned :-)



Saturday 6 December 2014

Shake it


Afternoon everyone...
Today I'm sharing a set of Christmas, shaker cards with you.


After a rummage in my Christmas box, I came across these pre-coloured toppers,
from Lili Of The Valley, that are just perfect for a quick and simple shaker card.

I made my shaker 'snow' from a combination of flower soft, diamond dust,
sequins and beads, and then, all that's needed, is a simple, sentiment banner 
to complete the card.

 

Challenges.
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes (optional gift or decoration)
Simon Says - Christmas/Holidays

Supplies.
LOTV Toppers. I think these are now availableas Art Pads.
Banner - WPlus9 Stamps and Dies.
Diamon Dust. Flwer Soft. Sequins.

Wednesday 3 December 2014

Deep and crisp and even


How is your Christmas card pile coming along?
I am almost done, I think!  Thanks to a few mini production lines.

Here's the first one... with a woodland scene card.


My cards are usually one offs, but I really liked how this one turned out,
so I set to making a few of them.
Here you can see my backgrounds are all stamped and embossed, and the die cuts are ready to go.


You can just make out below, that the little snowflakes are embossed. 
I used Wow - Diamond White powder, which in IRL gives a silvery sparkle.


Some of the backgrounds are stamped on very pale lilac card.
I'm not sure which one I like best!


Challenges.
Sweet Stampin' - Let It Snow
Simon Monday - Holiday Cards
Fan-Tastic Tuesday - Anything Goes (Twist is Embossing)
Time Out - Embossing (Twist is Sparkle)

Stamps and Dies - WPlus9 Winter Woodland.
Wow Diamond White Embossing Powder.
Memento Inks - Toffee Crunch, Lady Bug
Lawn Fawn Stitched Border Die


Thursday 27 November 2014

'Tis The Season

This is always gonna be the trickiest card of the year for me,
and I'm not entirely happy with it.
BUT, I know my Mum will like it - 
and that's all that counts, right?


I stamped my holiday wreath, and die cut a centre circle to make a shaker card.
My 'snow' is made up of diamond dust and a few sequins,
ans is much more sparkly than the camera picks up!


I'd like to enter this for the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge,
where the theme is Red, Green and White

Supplies.
WPlus9 Heartfelt Holidays, stamps and dies.
Lawn Fawn, stitched hillside borders.
Diamon Dust.  Sequins.  Stickles Glitter

Monday 24 November 2014

Winter Woodland

Morning crafters :-)

I'm excited today to be sharing a card with you, as the Guest Designer for
 MUSE
 I LOVE this challenge, and I was thrilled that Ardyth asked me to make a card.
It's great to see how everyone interprets the muse card,
so I really hope you'll find time to play along.


 All you have to do is use my card, or some element from it, as your inspiration.
So, you could take the tags, change the colours, use any stamps you like and any sentiment.
Whatever you have in your stash.
How easy is that?
 

Link up your card at the Muse blog and check out any other entries.
Try and comment on 3 other submissions. You know we all love comments :-)
Then pop back at the end of the week and you can vote on your 3 favourites.

Have fun   xxx

Supplies.
Stamps and Dies - WPlus9 Winter Woodland and Heartfelt Holidays
DP - Prima, Rosarian     Memento Inks - Grey Flannel/LadyBug

Saturday 22 November 2014

Shine Bright

I have to say, I'm not usually a fan of gold on cards.
I think it stems from my early days of card making, using those gold stick on sentiments.
But, after discovering gold embossing powder, I think it's growing on me.


 This is my card for the challenge at ShowCASe Your Style 
where the theme is a colour combo of black, gold, silver and white.

My birch trees are stamped in silver, which IRL has a shimmer to it
that the camera doesn't quite pick up.
And my woodland animals are stamped and embossed with gold.
 

Supplies.
Stamps and Dies - WPlus9 WinterWoodland / Heartfelt Holidays.
Wow Gold Embossing Powder.       Sequins.


Friday 21 November 2014

Trim The Tree

Hey there!
Looking at all those snow pics from the US has me dreaming of the white sutff.
I'm not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed to wake up this morning 
and find we didn't have a 6ft snowdrift to wade through :-)
Tell me I'm not the only one!!
 
So, I made my own little snow scene.
 

I followed the sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch
and made this super quick shaker card.

The image is a pre-coloured, Lili Of The Valley Topper,
and my 'snow' is made up of flower soft, diamond dust and a few sequins.
(much more sparkly than the photo shows)
 
 
Supplies.
Lili Of The Valley Topper - I think these are now available as Art Pads.
Banner - Stamp and Die, WPlus9 Heartfelt Holidays
Polar White Flower Soft.    Diamon Dust.     Sequins.

 

Wednesday 19 November 2014

Happy Little Trees

Hey there everyone...
just a quick post from me today, with my take on this week's MUSE card.


I love this 3d sentiment technique and I've been wanting to try it for a while.
In my excitement though, I messed up!!   Can you spot it?

I kept all those tiny pieces from the die cut sentiment and stuck them back in place.
It was only when I was taking the close-up photo below, that I realised
I didn't need to do that, and it kind of ruins the 3d effect.
  Duh!
 


 

Sunday 16 November 2014

Winter Woodland

So, today I've discovered that I cannot take a decent photo of a shaker card.
Argghhhh... it's driving me crazy.
Has anyone got any tips?

Here's the best I could do...


This is my card for the challenge at Make the Day Special

I have a family in mind for this card, so I wanted to make it bright and cheerful 
and the shaker style just adds a bit more fun.



 I hope you can just make out my 'snow'.
It's a combination of white flower soft and diamond dust glitter - 
and is much more sparkly than the photo shows.







Supplies.
Stamps - Snow Scene is WPlus9 Winter Woodland and the banner is Wplus9 Heartfelt Holidays both with matching dies.
Inks - Versa Colour Mint, Memento Rose Bud and Grey Flannel
DP - Pink Petticoat Pinstripes.    Sequins.  Polar White Flower Soft.   Diamond Dust.



Monday 10 November 2014

Poppy Day

Morning everyone.
No card from me today - instead I'm showing you something different.

I would love to see the art installation poppies at the Tower of London.
They look so stunning and are a poignant reminder of the lives lost in World War One.
I can't stretch to ceramics, but I did have a go at making my own poppy from felt.


 These were so easy to make and are really pretty IRL.
I used mine to decorate a gift box, but if you add a saftey pin they would make a lovely brooch.

I used a circle nestie to cut four circles from red felt.
Each circle was folded into quarters and then I attached them together with a few stitches.

For the centres, I added a few black stitches of differing lengths and then a black button.

As I said, they are VERY easy to make.

I think they would look great in different colours, on Christmas wrapping.


Challenges.

I'd like to enter this into the Allsorts Challenge where the theme is Poppies or Remembrance.
I'm not entirely sure if the challenge is papercrafts only,
so if it is, no worries ladies,  just delete my entry   :-)

xxx
 

Thursday 6 November 2014

Fake it till you make it


Hey there.
Today I'm sharing my FAKE shaker card with you.


 This is my card for the CASology challenge,
where the theme is
SEA

It was going to be a shaker card, until I realised I had no acetate.
So the card section with the boat die, is popped up on foam pads and the sequins
are fixed in place behind it.
Does that make sense?

You don't get the fun of a shaker card, but it's a good alternative.
 
Supplies.
Pinstripe digi dp  - Pink Petticoat.
Boat die - Provocraft
Banner - stamped in Versa Colour Bisque with die cut from WPlus9 
Sentiment - Penny Black Critters    Sequins.


Wednesday 5 November 2014

Be a Superstar

Hey there.
Today I'm sharing a STAR card with you


I took my inspiration from this week's Muse card by Vicki Dutcher.

This card started out as a birthday card, but looking at it again
I think it would be equally ok for a congrats or thank you.


 
 
 
 
Clearly Besotted Superstar Stamps & Dies
Memento Ink - Bhama Blue / Summer Sky / New Sprout / Dandelion
Versa Color Ink - Mint

Monday 3 November 2014

Purple is Awesome

The girls at Less Is More are gonna be tutting at me this week  ;-)
It seems I went a bit mad with the sequins.
Oops!
In my defence, the rest of my card is pretty CAS,
so, I may have just gotten away with it.


When I was flicking through my card stash for some non chrismassy colours,
this purple just shouted out to me.
I teemed it up with some pale lavender trees, and boysenberry reindeer and bird.
The white card panel, reindeer and bird are all popped up on foam pads,
to add a little more dimension.



Challenge.
Less Is More - Non Traditional Colour Christmas Card.

Supplies.
Stamps and Dies - WPlus9 Winter Wonderland
Inks - Versa Color Boysenberry and Memento Lulu Lavender
Sequins/Gems


Saturday 1 November 2014

Happy Holidays Deer

When it comes to buying new stamps I'm a bit of a ditherer!
Will I use them enough? Are they versatile? Can I really afford them?
By the time I've made a decision, the sets that I want are usually out of stock.
That's exactly what happened when I went stamp shopping last week.
As a last resort, I bought this WPlus9 Winter Woodland set
WOW!
I got lucky. They are fabulous.

Here's my first play with them.



 I followed the sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch - (just rotating it).

This was such a simple card to make. 
I stamped the trees in pale grey and then added my die-cut reindeer, popped up on foam pads.
I finished with the sentiment and a scattering of sequins.


I really love how this turned out, so I made another, just changing the colours.
Which do you prefer - red or blue?



Challenges
Simon Says - Anything Goes
CAS(E) this Sketch #98 




Tuesday 28 October 2014

Neutral Christmas

Afternoon everyone.
Now, I don't want to start a panic, 
but do you know, it's only 57 days til Christmas!!

I need to step up my Christmas card production!
Here's another one for the pile...


This is for the Merry Monday challenge, where the theme is
Snowflakes, Neutral Colours and Dry Embossing

It was the dry embossing that had me stumped for a while - it's not something I have ever done.
After a quick google, I came across a way to emboss with a nestie.
I tried running it through my Big Shot, but couldn't get it to emboss without cutting,
so in the end, I die cut my circle and then, leaving it in the nestie, turned it over.
Then, I used an embossing tool to go around the inside edge.
You can just make out in the photos that it does create a nice, clear impression.


Supplies.
Nestie Circle Die  /  Stamps - WPlus9 Heartfelt Holidays  /  Snowflake - Marianne Die
Glitter Card - DCWV  /  Inks - Memento Toffee Crunch and Versa Color Bisque
Sequins  /  Twine


Friday 24 October 2014

Sunburst

I'm not gonna lie, 
it's taken me a few days to ponder this week's MUSE card.
But, I really loved Marion's striking design and wanted to give it a go.

Here's my attempt ...


 I don't have a sunburst die, so I had to cobble something together.
I started by drawing round a circle die, and then using a ruler to draw lines through the circle.
I then cut alternate pieces with a craft knife.
You can see from the picture below just how I did this.


 I then layered this 'sunburst' onto my coloured card, trimming off the edges.
No need to worry about how bad the centre looks, as this is coverd up by my 'sun'.


It was a bit tricky die cutting my sentiment through those layers, but I finally prised it out
with the help of my craft knife and filled it with a navy blue insert.

I finished off with an embossed sentiment and a few scattered sequins.

I'm so glad I persevered with this card, as I really like the effect.
(Big thanks to Marion for the inspiration and making me try something different)
 


Here's the  MUSE card, by Marion Vagg

 

xxx