Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - 'I am crafting'

Time for another Cuttlebug Mania Challenge and the theme this time is 'I am crafting'.

You might have to put your thinking cap on, although I actually had THE perfect stamp set - totally unused as well as being a good few years old - shame on me. And - this theme wasn't my choice either so it's pure coincidence which stamp set I used!

Some ideas are sewing, knitting, carpentry, painting - and I bet you can think of many others as well. You do have to use a manual die cutting/embossing machine for Cuttlebug Mania entries (it doesn't need to be a Cuttlebug but it must be manual, not electronic). And, you can't mix the two, it must be all manual please. Then make your entry, link into the challenge, link to the challenge in your own blog post and and make sure that you also say what products you used for any die cutting/embossing.

Details of our sponsor can be found over on the Cuttlebug Mania Challenge blog.

So this is my card:

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" white card blank

- snippet of SU 'Wisteria Wonder' card as the backing layer, glued onto the card front

- snippet of white card, embossed using the Taylored Expressions 'Twirls and Swirls' embossing folder and then trimmed to just slightly smaller than the 'Wisteria Wonder' layer. Then glued on top of the card front

- the stamp is from a very old fabulous set made by the now discontinued Elzybells called 'Stamp & scrap'. It really is perfect for a crafter/stamper/scrapper to use and goodness knows why I've had it forever without even using one single stamp - sheer madness!!  I hate to brandish Elzybells stamps when they are out of production though - sorry!

- then I coloured the image using Whispers markers - ahem, and in the process she did end up with a rather fetching sun tan! Added a sentiment from the set and just decided to go for it anyhow rather than start again - it could be me after our Portugal break, although I doubt it very much!

- die cut the image using an oval Nesties and then used another snippet of SU 'Wisteria Wonder' card to die cut the 'frame using a real favourite Spellbinders die of mine, I love the gentle scallops - layered the image onto the scalloped piece and glued it in place.

 Job done - and then I ran off to do some ironing.

Less is More - Challenge #306 - One Layer - 'Outline'

Wednesday was the first day I really felt like making a card for about a week. Ha, I eased myself in gradually you might say :

I used:

- 3.5" x 3.5" white card blank

- both the sheep and the sentiment were stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and stamps from the Elzybells 'Jump for Joy' set - sadly now out of production

- then just coloured the little tie and added some very pale pink to the ears and cheeks - using a Whispers marker

This is one of a set of four, to be enclosed with forthcoming Playground prizes - and also for the current Less is More challenge :)

And I think the sentiment says it all to you sweet friends who have left such lovely supportive comments during my 'down time'.

Be sure to come back on Sunday as the Christmas Festivities begin in the Playground!

Butterfly card

Here's a denim butterfly card:

I used:

- 4" x 6" white card blank, tent style

- piece of pale blue denim print paper from the Joanna Sheen 'Haberdashery' paper pack, trimmed slightly smaller than the card front and glued in place

- white card for the two front layers, die cut using the Spellbinders 'Resplendent Rectangles' set then glued the bigger layer in place

- the smaller layer needed a sentiment stamping onto it and I did some fiddling with the Misti. Basically, I was using an Elzybells sentiment stamp, which is solid red rubber and also wanted to be sure that it stamped fully. I was using Memento 'Paris Dusk' ink so knew I had a good start there. Here's how I adapted the Misti. I placed the Stampin' Up thin clear plastic sheet from the SU stamp positioner onto the Misti and popped the two magnets on it to hold it in place. Having swiped the back of the stamp with removeable tape runner, I then placed the sentiment stamp face down onto the clear plastic sheet, where it would be picked up by the lid

- firmly closed and then opened the Misti lid and at that point I had the stamp secured to the lid and the plastic held in place by magnets. Inked up the stamp and closed the lid - which left the image on the acetate. Hope you're still with me - if not just shout and I'll do a further post with some photos

- next took the already die cut top white layer of card and lifted just one of the magnets to slip it underneath the plastic sheet so I could line the sentiment up where I wanted it (could see this as the sentiment was already stamped onto the clear plastic sheet of course)

- it's really important to keep the plastic sheet in the same position whilst you slip the piece of card underneath as the stamp is going to come down in the very same place as it was picked up from. Once happy, and it took seconds, I held the piece of card in place with the magnet I'd removed earlier, removed the plastic sheet altogether and for extra 'belt, braces and double knicker elastic' also added the second magnet

- re-inked the sentiment with the same ink pad and then stamped it onto the top layer of white card. Sure enough, it took more than one go to get a clear, even image - phew, that fiddling on was so worth it!

- then die cut one white butterfly and one pale blue denim butterfly, using Memory Box dies called 'Darla' and 'Vivienne', layered them so that the denim blue lace wings were flicked up and then stuck the butterfly in place onto the card front

Hindsight being what it is, I could have saved all the fiddling round with the Misti and the clear plastic if I'd thought to stamp the sentiment onto a piece of white card first in roughly the right position and then do the die cutting afterwards - duh :(

Di
x

Merry Monday #200 {Multi-Challenge Celebration!}

Merry Monday are celebrating their 200th challenge with a choice of themes this week. I truly thought I wouldn't find time to join in but it's amazing what a bit of determination can do when you try, especially as my card for last week's Merry Monday challenge had an Honorary Mention, which thrilled me no end. Here are the options to choose from - plenty of scope there for sure!

 

After rootling round a bit in my backing papers and stamps I picked the Snowman Theme - and came up with this:

I used:

- 6.75" x 3.75" white card blank

- first I stamped the snowman onto a snippet of white card using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and an adorable Penny Black wood mounted stamp called 'Warm & Cold' - then coloured him in using Whispers brush markers

- fussy cut round the snowman and sliced across the bottom so the image would sit straight along the backing panel bottom edge

- the ready frosted snow scene backing panel was really a life saver (and maybe cheating a bit) but it did complicate the card measurements a lot. I've explained why and how I overcame the complications further down this blog post. I suspect the panel was from Kanban in the dim and distant past, it came with a silver border which had seen better days so that was first to go

- after trimming the backing panel to the carefully calculated size, I stamped the swirling sentiment using Memento ''Mediterranean Blue' ink and an Elzybells stamp

- then glued the snowman in place along the bottom edge

- glued the completed 'scene' panel onto a backing layer of slightly larger silver mirri card and then onto the card blank

The reason for the slightly odd sized card blank came about as a result of the backing 'snow scene' panel I used. It wouldn't have looked right on a full DL sized card and was too wide for the small long card size. Plus, I didn't have any envelopes that would be suitable.

So I worked backwards. Out came the Enveloper Pro leaflet and I found details for making a 7" x 4" envelope, using A3 paper (which I already have to hand for some odd reason). Next I calculated that a card measuring just quarter of an inch less along the top and down one side would be a good fit for a 7" x 4" envelope. And, the design of the backing panel had enough excess/spare sky at the top of the design to be able to cut it down to suit.

So, although you may think you're beaten at first, it pays to sit and fiddle around with possible measurements and options before giving up.

And, I found two more of the backing panels in my toppers box, so made three in one session. Sorry!

Di

x

Less is More - Week 221 - include a tag

Over at Less is More, this week's challenge is to 'include a tag'. For once, inspiration struck almost immediately - although it took me a couple of days to get round to making this card:

I used:

- A6 white card blank, tent style

- a panel of white card, embossed using Cuttlebug's 'Swiss Dots' embossing folder and glued onto the card front using Collall All Purpose glue

- a snippet of white card, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and an Elzybells stamp called 'Rose bunch'

- coloured the image using Whispers markers plus a very light grey Pro marker for the shadows

- then die cut the image using a die from the Lil' Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' set

- stamped the tag using a tag stamp and wording from Elzybells 'Mini Tag Set'

- trimmed round the tag with small scissors then punched a hole in the top of the tag using Fiskars smallest hole punch

- threaded some thin twine through the top of the tag, carefully poked a couple of holes either side of the knot in the ribbon bow on image and tied the tag in place

- added the finished panel to the card with thin sticky pads for more dimension

I like the fact that the tag swings rather than being stuck down :)

And shame on me, that was a first outing for the discontinued 'Rose bunch' stamp by Elzybells.

Di
x

Using a favourite stamp and Brushos

I absolutely love Penny Black's 'Hello sunshine' stamp and also wanted to play at using Brushos as watercolours instead of 'sprinkle and spritz' for a change - although that technique gives such amazing results.

This was the result of just tapping the teeniest bits of Brusho colours into a watercolour palette and adding water before painting using a very fine brush:

I used:

- A6 off-white card blank
 
-white watercolour card (Crafters Companion), Penny Black's 'Hello sunshine 'stamp and Ranger 'Jet Black' archival ink for stamping

- Brushos for the water colouring (lemon, yellow, orange, brown and leaf green)

- the green backing card is SU's 'Mossy Meadow'

- the main image was die cut using a Spellbinder Labels Eight die then the sentiment was stamped using a teeny stamp from a (sadly discontinued) set by Elzybells and SU's 'Mossy Meadow' ink pad

- the image was then mounted onto a SU 'Hello Honey' backing which had been cut with a Spellbinders Decorative Labels Eight die

The more observant amongst you might twig that I've been using new card and ink pads from SU's In Color 2014-2016 collection. I love, love, love them!

I haven't been playing much lately for various reasons - but will be doing the Playground as usual for Sunday! Make sure you tune in :)

Di
x

Less is More - animal

The current challenge over at Less is More 185's theme is to have an animal on your card. I sorted through meerkats, dogs, cats, meeces - the lot - before returning to my old favourite. Spike the Hedgehog - who continues to grow at a rate of knots, is a nightly (very noisy) visitor and is eating us out of house and home:

I used:

- A6 tent fold white card blank

- Penny Black Stickeroos from the 'A Bunch of Love' sheet

- sentiment stamp is sadly discontinued, made by Elzybells and stamped using Memento 'Gray Flannel'. Then die cut using a Docrafts 'Speech Bubbles' die which was popped onto the card using a thin sticky pad

- bottom right hand corner was rounded using We Are Memory Keeps Corner Chomper

All Playground prizes were posted on Monday and at the time of publishing this I'm just about to play catch up with Playground commenting too, yay! Real life got in the way recently :)

Di
x

New home

A bit like Sympathy cards, New Home ones (when folk let you know they're just about to move house) can catch you on the 'hop'. So this card is for my standby box:

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- image stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad and a Stamposaurus Stamp called 'Town House - small' (bought at Newbury the other week). The image was coloured with Pro Markers and then die cut using a 'Stitched Rectangle' die by Lil'inkers

- plain brown card for the main backing layer as well as a 'frame' for the image, also die cut using a 'Stitched Rectangles' die

- the plaid backing paper is by LOTV from their 'Country Gent' paper pad

- sentiment is an Elzybells one, stamped using Brilliance 'Pearlescent Thyme' ink pad and layered onto a rectangle of brown card

- finishing touch - white Josy Rose nail heads

I've been asked about the Lil'inkers dies - made in the USA. Unfortunately they don't export the stitched squares or rectangles to the UK (as yet and I suspect it's unlikely they will do so in the future) but there is one UK stockist who does have some of their other goodies including stitched hearts, ovals and other shapes . They also have some Winnie and Walter stamps, yay!. The stockist is 'Make The Day Special'  . Do be aware though that they're often out of stock of stuff but certainly worth a first try if you're not in a hurry for something.

So, I ordered my Stitched Rectangles dies from the USA directly from Lil'inkers. In fairness the girls were very good and reduced the postage to $10 when they realised I was only ordering one item - I'd done that so as not to be stung for import duty. Hey, ho though - the customs declaration included the postage (ie. the full invoice amount I'd paid) and I DID get stung for customs duty. What was double annoying was that Royal Mail charge £8 to process the flipping charge!

So, if you UK gals do order from Lil'inkers can I suggest that you add a little note to the effect that they really shouldn't include the postage in the value of the parcel. That's what took my order over the top, sigh. And that, girls, is why I'm using the dies as much - need to get my money's worth outta them!

Di
x

Pillow box bags

Last Friday (crumbs, already a week ago now!) I met up with Sarn, Sam and Debs for lunch in Southampton. As things were so busy here I did fear I'd end up going empty handed and that really stressed me out. However, lying in bed on the Tuesday night, I had a sudden little brainwave for at least a starting point. Then I remembered some little 'cuties' I had here and this was the end result:

Sigh, the contents were such a tight fit that the pillow boxes did get a bit distorted but I still thought it was worth showing a different way to use the pillow shape.

I used:

- papers from DCWV's 'Preppy Princess' paper stack - I've had them since the beginning of time (almost!)

- Sizzix 'Box, Pillow' die - Sarn will remember how I went totally crackers trying to source this discontinued die about a year ago:)

- after assembling the box sides I used SU's 'Large Oval' punch to create the handles, I got the idea from here, and then popped the other ends inwards and fixed them with double sided tape because the contents were gonna be little bit weighty and also a tight fit

- the little tags were just circles die cut from snippets of card and a teeny butterfly (punched with a Woodware punch) added then topped with a little pearl

- the sentiment came from a discontinued Elzybells 'Mini tag' set, stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink pad

- the little 'cuties' were popped into the 'bags' with a teeny scrap of tissue then the handles were tied together with pink gingham ribbon and the tags attached with iridescent cord

And here's one of the 'cuties'. I'd bought these teeny carved stone elephants in Thailand last October as little gifts:

He's only about 1" high although I have to say, his Mummy didn't teach him to clean his ears did she?! 

Len and I both tend towards Buddhism due to our frequent trips to Thailand, plus I'm a bit superstitious and do believe that elephants are lucky, especially white ones.

Elephants are often associated with good or bad luck and, in Buddhism, they are also regarded as a symbol of strength, wisdom and prudence. The elephant is a sacred animal in Buddhism because it was said to have offered flowers to Buddha. According to Buddhist beliefs, elephants should be placed high on a mantel or shelf, or on an altar.

Superstitious people believe that an elephant can bring bad luck if its trunk is pointing downwards towards the ground. When an elephant's trunk is facing up it is supposed to bring good luck. Even if the elephant's trunk is facing down, with a little upturn at the end, this should still bring good luck.

The elephant's luck-bringing properties are now even better known because of the increasing interest in the Oriental practice of Feng Shui. This set of ideas, based on the principle of yin and yang, attempts to improve balance and harmony in man-made environments, particularly with the positioning of furniture or objects in the home. According to Feng Shui beliefs, the trunk of an elephant should point toward the front door or to any door to the outside. It is believed that this can draw in money and prosperity. 

Mind you, I did have a bit of a giggle when I found the above explanation on the web - some wag had responded 'You could stand it on its head and that wouldn't change what's in store for you'. Maybe so, but perhaps every little bit helps :)


Di
x

let it snow...let it snow...let it snow and a neat little trick to try

The current challenge over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is '3 of something'. I went through all options, three cards, three Wise Men, three colours - than I remembered a pre-loved stamp with three 'snow people' I bought fairly recently. And this card (two exactly the same in fact) was born:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white scalloped edge card blank

- pale blue backing card

- Kraft coloured 'snowflakes' backing paper from LOTV's 'Krafty Christmas' paper pad

- Penny Black 'Snow Family' stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and coloured with Pro Markers. Then die cut using a Nesties Labels Eighteen die and popped onto a pale blue backing, made by drawing round the outside of the die and just hand cutting

- the sentiment is an Elzybells stamp, stamped using SU's 'Bashful Blue' (which shows up much better in real life) then mounted onto a strip of pale blue card and finished off with a coffee coloured pearl at either end

- then I just added some little dots of 'White Opal' Liquid Pearls around the image

And here's a great little trick. I only found it online recently and can't recall where otherwise I'd give credit 'cos it works a treat! I know it's probably the way I do it, although I have read that some newer pearl liquids are much better at 'settling' and mine are pretty ancient, but I always seem to end up with little 'peaks' - sigh. The trick however is as soon as you've finished applying the liquid pearls, just lightly tap the card on your desk (facing upwards of course!!), it 'settles' those little peaks beautifully :)

And this card is also for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra of course.

Di
x

Buzzin' by to say Hi ..

The current challenge over at Less is More is to use two (at least) stamps on your card. At the WOYWW crop in May I coloured all of six images, yup, that's how much else was going on during the day :) Needing little cards to pop in with Snippets Playground Prizes I rustled up three of these the other day:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blanks

- a stamp I'd wanted for ages by Penny Black called 'Gifts for you', stamped using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink, coloured with Polychromos pencils and Sansodor blending solution then just a tickle of clear Wink of Stella on the little bee's wing

- the sweet little sentiment is a discontinued (sorry!) Elzybells stamp, and I used SU's 'Certainly Celery' ink to stamp with

- then I just mounted the image onto a square of SU's 'Certainly Celery' card - job done!

I coloured a fourth one of these cute little images, but that's destined for a much more detailed card - watch this space :)

Di
x

Put your sunshades on!

I recently made this slightly psychedelic card:

I was led by the butterfly and, once I'd made it, a 'flowery traditional card' just wasn't gonna look right, IMHO at least :) So I opted for quite a modern looking doily die and kept the card as clean looking as possible so that the butterfly wasn't swamped.

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- the butterfly is from an acetate sheet of butterfly outlines, which are really meant to be glittered. But bright spark here decided to just colour the image - and wrecked the first attempt by using Sakura Gelly Roll pens which went all streaky. Then I discovered some long forgotten 'Peel off Marker pens' and they worked a treat.

- the backing card is from the snippets folder, SU's 'Island Indigo'

- the doily was die cut from white card using a die from a Marianne Creatables set 'LR0129' and backed with a snippet of 'Island Indigo' card stock, trimmed down to fit

- sentiment is an Elzybell's one, sadly discontinued now, stamped using Memento 'Teal Zeal'

- the butterfly was just trimmed round with small scissors and adhered at the last minute with strong narrow clear DST

Am slipping  a bit with Christmas card making if the monthly target is to be kept up, but there are a couple of challenges in my sights this week :) Best get a wiggle on then!

Di
x

More 'huff and puff' stamping

Needed a Birthday card in a hurry so I had another go at colouring a stamp and then 'huffing' on it to remoisten the inks before stamping:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white card blank

- a floral stamp from SU's 'Serene Silhouettes' set, coloured with a mix of TH Distress Ink and Whispers pens, then die cut with a Nesties plain oval and popped onto a white Nesties 'Floral' oval 

- SU's 'Perfect Plum' card stock for the main backing

- spotty mauve paper from a Christmas paper pack - Wild Rose Studios 'Wintry Christmas'. All of the designs are fine for use other than at Christmas btw :)

- Elzybells sentiment (I masked off the word 'belated' with tape before inking then removed the tape before stamping), stamped using SU's 'Perfect Plum' ink pad, punched with SU's 'Word Window' and then popped onto a punched snippet of 'Perfect Plum' punched with SU's 'Modern Label'

- final touch, a little 'Perfect Plum' butterfly punched with a small Woodware punch and topped with a white pearl

Little tip, which I bet you already know. The sentiment covers different thicknesses on the card, the backing paper and the layered ovals. To make it sit level just add a piece of thin sticky pad to the back of the 'paper' end and flat tape or glue to the back of the 'layered' end of the sentiment before popping it on.

Di
x

Christmas Love

This week's theme over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas challenge is 'Christmas Love' and I knew just the stamp I wanted to use:

This poor little stamp hasn't been used since before I started off this blog - shame on me!

I wanted to follow a sketch and found this great one over at Sunday Sketch and Stamp, so I'm also entering my card into that challenge.

 

I used:

- 6" x 6" white scalloped edge card blank

- House Mouse 'Mistletoe Moment' stamped using SU's 'Smoky Slate' and coloured with Polychromos Pencils and Sansodor blending solution. The colours are much stronger IRL - dratted camera again! I added a couple of little self adhesive pearls to the mistletoe

- all papers are from LOTV's 'Woodland Wishes' Christmas paper pad

- the sentiment is an Elzybells one (no longer trading sadly), stamped using SU's 'Rich Razzleberry' then die cut using a Spellbinders banner die. I just did the green backing layer by using the die as a guide and drawing round the outside before hand cutting it

- white Josy Rose nail heads

I'd also like to enter this into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra, where it's always 'anything goes'. 

And, the current challenge over at House-Mouse and Friends is to use amethyst, white plus one other colour - green in my case. I know that some beige has crept into the main backing paper  (but the meeces are browns too aren't they) so hopefully the amethyst and green are strong enough. If not then do please tell me, ladies over at HM, and feel free to delete my entry - leaving me squeaking with embarrassment :)

Reminds me - did I ever tell you the tale of Fudge the field mouse? He lived with us one Winter, no kidding!

Di

x

Just saying 'Hello' card

It seems like ages since I used a Penny Black Stickeroo on a card, so the other day I set out to put that right:

 I used:

- 7" x 5" cream card blank

- Penny Black Stickeroo from the 'petals and poetry' sheet

- beige and brown card stock from one of the first paper pads I ever bought back in the Dark Ages, by K & Company called 'Classic K McKenna'

- I used the beige 'hessian' card as a background mat and to frame the Stickeroo

- the brown layer, from the same pad, looks a bit like leather. I embossed it using a folder called 'Bon Jour' by Couture Creations. The card is double side printed and I'd already guessed that the core might show once it was embossed - sho nuff, I was right! So I just lightly rubbed over the leafy pattern with fine sandpaper

- the peach ribbon came from the ribbon box

- sentiment is a discontinued Elzybells one, stamped onto a snippet of the 'hessian' card using VersaMagic's 'Hint of Pesto' and then punched using SU's 'Modern Label' punch

Here's a tip I posted about a while ago, which some of you just might not have seen.

It's a sort of swatch, for punches :) Not every single one that I own, just those used for sentiments so I can try it against the card and of course against the stamped sentiment (or even the unstamped one) to check for size and shape. I used Shrinkles shrink plastic (the frosted one) 'cos that was all I could lay my paws on in here then wrote the names of the punches on in permanent ink and rounded the corners - they were lethal sharp before that little extra step.

This is the swatch:

 

And this is one of the templates against a sentiment when I was choosing which sentiment went with which punch.

I keep my unmounted Elzybells sentiments in separate little polybags with a stamped slip showing the actual sentiment - they're then all shoved into a bigger poly bag so I can grab them easily. Nothing fancy but it works for me :)

Di
x

Fuchsia, black and white

.............one of my favourite colour combinations. I remember, when I was a teenager, my Mum had a dress very similar to this card. She made it herself in a plain 'shift style' using material that you bought by the patterned panel - and it looked terribly elegant too!

Back to today's card, I was lucky enough to win some goodies from Nessa in those very colours,and a similar pattern, so this is what I made:

I used:

- 5" x 5" square black card blank

- SU 'Melon Mambo' backing card

- a piece of the paper from Nessa along with a glossy rose embellishment which covers one of the centre roses, lovely fluffy fuchsia and black twine with a rose charm - also from Nessa

- the sentiment was stamped with SU's 'Melon Mambo' onto a snippet of white card - first with the 'dotty' stamp from SU's 'Four Frames' set which I then punched out using SU's matching 'Decorative Label' punch. Sigh, in the process I smudged where I wanted to stamp the Elzybells sentiment so I stamped that onto another snippet of white card using Memento 'Tuxedo Black' and punched it using SU's 'Large Oval' punch. I know I'm being picky but it's such a shame that the oval on the frame stamp is just a bit larger than the 'Large Oval' punch - a missed trick by SU there I think :(

Thank you again Nessa - I love my prize and might send this card to myself as it reminds me sooooo much of my Mum :)

Di
x

Winter weather

The theme this week over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is 'Winter Weather'. Recently, howling gales and torrential rain would have been appropriate, but I opted to upcycle a Christmas card with this snowy scene instead :)

I used:

- A6 white card blank

- image die cut from a Christmas card using an oval Nesties die, popped onto a slightly larger hand cut oval of pearly dark blue card

- backing card in a pale blue snowflakes design, mounted onto another piece of the pearly dark blue card

- sentiment is an Elzybells one, stamped using Memento 'Espresso Truffle'

- a snippet of fringed twine, which came free with an online order a while ago

Am also entering this card into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for January, where it's always 'anything goes'.

Sigh, I did stick the oval onto the blue backing a little bit 'wonky' but not as badly as it looks in the photo :(

Funny, I'd have thought this card would be super fast to make, which in a way it was - but it took me ages to plan the thing!

Di
x

Thanks a bunch

I recently made a few thank you cards and this was the first one:

I used:

- DL white card blank

- Penny Black 'Love Blush' stamp, stamped with VersaMark onto Clarity coated/silk card and allowed to dry. Then it was rubbed over with Tim Holtz 'Peeled Paint' using a 'sponge applicator thingy with a wooden handle' before being polished off with a piece of kitchen roll. NB. I didn't use embossing powder and heat set it, although that is an optional step extra of course, it was purely stamped with VersaMark and allowed to dry properly before going any further

- the image was then die cut using a Nesties Labels Eighteen die and an embossing tool run round the edge before removing the image from the die

- a piece of green patterned card (a QCME magazine freebie by Pink Petticoat) was trimmed to fit diagonally down an oblong snippet of white card and stuck down before I added three embossed lines. Little trick, which is probably obvious, don't do the initial emboss from the back of the piece of card - do it from the front first so you can see the line of the patterned paper you want to follow, then flip the card over and run down the lines again from the back

- a snippet of  white card was used to stamp an Elzybells sentiment in SU's 'Old Olive', then punched out using SU's 'Word Window' punch, then popped onto a snippet of the sponged green 'Peeled Paint' background which had been punched out using SU's 'Modern Label' punch

Did the supermarket run today and got 'Miss Supermarket Personality of the Year' working on the checkout I unfortunately picked. One of those who totally delights in throwing stuff through ten times faster than you can cope just for the sheer fun of it. Wish you'd seen me juggling with one packet of linguine and another one of spaghetti like a circus clown - oh, and also just add three escaped apples into the mix, five items in one performance. Sigh - am applying to the 'X-Factor Talent Show' as there are skills I didn't know I had just waiting to be exploited :(

Di
x

Golden wedding acceptance

One of Len's relatives and his wife will be celebrating their Golden Wedding shortly and this is the little note I made to accept their invitation to a party:

I used:

- 4" x 4" square cream linen card stock

- a ready made topper (dating from the year 'dot' but wire and hessian is back in fashion so am glad I hung onto it) layered onto a snippet of matt gold card

- Elzybells sentiment, stamped in gold onto a snippet of cream card and punched with SU's 'Petite Curly Label' punch

- round and heart shaped Josy Rose nail heads

Now I just have to think about making them a card to take with us on the big day. Now that's the sort of project I like, hearts :)

Missing WOYWW again this week - but I have a great excuse. Am meeting up with Queen Julia, Lunch Lady Jan and Annie (Wipso) today - wahoo!

Oh, and my LIM card yesterday was accepted by Chrissie as one layer - no naughty step for me :)

Di
x

A card for a rather dapper man

Not a very imaginative title for a blog post, but it's too hot here to really think very deeply:

I used:

- 6.5" x 6.5" square black card stock

- Core'dinations stone coloured plain card

- top hat patterned papers from Paper Cellar's 'Mens' pad, and the swirls paper is from First Edition's 'Noir et Chic' paper pad - I thought the colours matched well and the swirls echo the border round the top hat paper

- to cover the join I punched a strip of plain stone card using Martha Stewart's 'Double Loops' punch and just topped it with a strip of the patterned swirls paper

- Elzybells sentiment was stamped onto a strip of stone card using Brilliance 'Graphite Black' and the very dapper moustache is from a sweet set of moustache stamps by Studio G, given to me by our Brenda on her trip to the UK - mwah!

That's it for me - typing this on Thursday afternoon and you could fry eggs on the pavement here!

The House of Zandra 'Robin' stamp I used the other day that wasn't 100% has been replaced, the new one is stamping perfectly, not a fuzzy line to be seen. Bless them, they even tried the new stamp out first and enclosed the crisp image :) Also enclosed a SAE so I could send the faulty one back and they will be taking it up with the manufacturer. That proves, at least with House of Zandra, if you aren't happy with something it's always at least approaching the retailer to see if they can rectify things.

Di
x