Silver Bells

Today I came across some new to me challenges called City Crafter, Holly and the Ivy Christmas Challenge  Anything Goes, and Crafter's Castle. The first challenge  is entitled Silver Bells and this jingle bell die from Memory Box came to my mind immediately, as it is a real favourite of mine. The sentiment is from Cutplorations and thread from Memory Box. It's almost too simple for words but the overall effect pleases me!
Crafter's Castle's theme is Winter/Christmas

Autumn colours

Here is a card with simply two stamps, the spots from SU French Foliage and the leaf from Rubbernecker.

I popped the leaf into my MISTI and used various shades of Distress Ink to over-stamp in the Autumn shades, before spritzing the image with water. The sentiment is from Penny Black.

   

It's for CASual Friday's photo inspiration, TIME OUT Grateful, Creative with Stamps... Halloween or leaves. Mod squad Pink & Main.. Fall Thank you card. Crafty Calendar Autumn

Plus CAS on Friday Fall or Autumn

It's certainly beginning to feel more Autumnal in the UK and this weekend the clocks go back so it will be getting dark really early!

Hibernation anyone?

Metal

The challenge at CAS Mix Up this time is metal. I had fun with this die-cut bucket, cut from silver card I messed about with various ink pads and stamps to create a rustic effect.

I marked where the bucket was to be placed on my card with tiny pencil dots and then stamped the AI foliage stamps in various colours of Distress inks. The sentiment from Woodware was also stamped with Distress Ink and I'm delighted how it turned out with just one stamping. The bucket is stuck down at the edges and popped onto dimensional pads in the middle to give a little dimension.

It's also for the foliage challenge at Addicted to CAS

New to me

Today I came across a challenge blog which is new to me. It's called Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge... quite a mouthful, but there's a great sketch this week!

The flowers from SSS were stamped onto vellum and clear embossed. I then coloured them on the reverse with alcohol markers. I die-cut them adding plain white die-cuts behind them, finishing with a few tiny gems in the centres and attaching them to the card with glue dots.

The sentiment is from Just Rite Stamps, die cut with a Framelit rectangle, shortened just a tad to fit the sentiment exactly. The embossed strip was added from a scrap left on my craft table.

I'll be having lunch with a friend on Wednesday and she wanted some of my cards... sadly she needed some sympathy cards too!

Another new to me blog which I just spotted is Crazy for CAS!

Their challenge this time is Fall in Love

Here is the inspiration picture, I hope my card fits the bill.

I used Rubbernecker stamps inked with varying colour Distress Inks, applied using my MISTI. For the sentiment I simply inked a piece of card with various colours of inks and then die-cut the sentiment which is  from Creative Dies.The  background which I used to echo the inspiration photo was embossed with a Stampin' Up folder.
It's also for the challenge at Addicted to CAS where the challenge is Foliage

Partial die-cut

When I saw the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch this time I immediately fancied trying a partial die cut for the sentiment. I do have dies which give this effect without the messing around, but I particularly like this 'merry' die from Papertrey Ink.

I taped the die to the red card and placed just the part I wanted cutting, between the cutting plates for my Big Shot... the rest hung out over the edge. When I had passed it through the machine, I changed plates and added a rubber mat and embossed the lower part of the letters. I then removed the die and cut the top line with a combination of my Fiskars trimmer and a craft knife. 

The jingle bells and thread are from Memory Box (different die sets... the thread belongs with a needle which I seldom use but the thread die is a favourite) To finish it off I added a few random tiny stars.

Looking at the card just now I've realised that there is a really easy way of achieving this effect without messing around aligning up the die with the plates etc.

Cut out the word, cut the front panel and place the die just overlapping the top of the panel and cut it out. Throw away the scraps, then pop the whole word you just cut into the space! Easy peasy! 

I guess you'd call it faux partial die-cutting!

Cute

I have an extreme fondness for Penny Black stamps and the chicken ones are some of my all time favourites. This one, called Par Avion, is one such. However, 

 I don't think that these girls will be flying very far with their letters.. they look a little well fed!

They have been simply shaded with Promarkers with a little Wink of Stella added here and there for interest.

The sentiment is a die cut from Clearly Besotted.

It's or the challenge at CAS Christmas

Stag

The Christmas Challenge at Happy Little Stampers this time is to include some ribbon, although as ever Anything Goes!

Our winner for this challenge will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the shop! Check out all the details HERE.

IF YOU USE STAMPS BY HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS AND YOU ARE OUR RANDOM WINNER, YOUR PRIZE WILL BE DOUBLED!

For my card this time I used Freebie stamps and dies from a magazine. I stamped the stag's head onto Mulberry paper and then die cut the image with the matching die. I wasn't sure that the image would print well on this soft textured paper, but I was really pleased with the results. I used my hair straighteners to flatten the ribbon which had been used for tieing up a present. The stitched dies are from Simon Says Stamp.

Coloured vellum

It took me a while to decide what technique to use for my  CAS  DT card incorporating vellum at Happy Little Stampers this time. Finally I decided to use die cuts with some heat embossing and colouring on the reverse.

The stamps are from SSS embossed in silver and coloured with alcohol markers on the reverse of the images. As I wanted to use a dark background I cut out the flowers from plain white card to pop behind the vellum. The foliage is simply cut from vellum and mounted behind the flowers. The sentiment was a freebie from a magazine, also embossed in silver. I added a little clear Wink of Stella on the front of the flowers to add a little glam!

Our winner for this challenge will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the shop! Check out all the details HERE.

IF YOU USE STAMPS BY HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS AND YOU ARE OUR RANDOM WINNER, YOUR PRIZE WILL BE DOUBLED

Like a diamond

I'm always one for a bargain and when I saw the die for this cute Hedgie on sale I had to get it... but then of course I had to buy the full priced stamp to go with it! I'm glad I did however, as I think he's adorable! I coloured him with Promarkers and popped him on dimensional pads. I'm not completely sure of the origin of the tree line die but I think it's probably Memory Box or Poppy stamps. ..likewise the star! The hammered card seemed perfect for the snow at the base of the card.

It's for the challenge at  Addicted to CAS which happens to be Diamond.

I'm afraid the 'diamond ' in this is kinda tiny, but we all know that a 'twinkle twinkle' is like a diamond!

It's also for the challenge at Dies R US

Anything Goes
using dies by companies carried
at the Dies R Us Store!