HAPPY Birthday

I recently bought this large HAPPY die from SSS, I actually thought that I would use it with lots of colours, but somehow gold and black just kind of happened. The 'birthday' was joined to another 'Happy' at the t and d, but I chopped it off. I actually like a mix of print and script for sentiments, both die cut and stamped  as well as computer generated.  I began by stamping  a simple grungy dot background and heat embossed it in gold. Whenever I use this leaf spray die I seem to lose some of the leaf inserts, I did think of using just the outline, but the dotty background looked a little odd through the leaves. I spent ages looking for one bit which pinged onto the floor! I sometimes find bits inside my slippers!

Just us Girls

I don't know if anyone else has had a similar experience with the new Blogger,  but several times I have had to save a challenge icon before I could add it to my Blog... usually I would just copy and paste it. It's a bit of a pain really! Today was a case in point with these two badges. I wonder if it's anything to do with the way the badge is added initially? Who knows!

CASe this Sketch

 

Hope your day is awesome

For quite some time I have resisted buying any Distress Oxide inks... partly due to the fact that I have all the colours of regular Distress Inks and love them so much... so what could possibly be better than those plus I really wouldn't know where to store any new ones. However recently I seem to have kept seeing the Oxides in use and I finally caved! I started by buying just three shades. I don't have a refill for my regular Aged Mahogany ink pad, so I chose that, I fancied the sound of Crackling Campfire, so I got that and to make up the trio I bought a Carved Pumpkin.  Which are the colours I used for this card!

Strangely I couldn't get the latter open to begin with and discovered that in fact the lid was glued to the base. I guess there was just a little too much glue used to adhere the inkpad itself in position. The long and short of it is that the lid broke as I was trying to prise it open! I have contacted to seller and they have asked to have the pad returned. I have bought so many Distress inks over the years and have never had anything like this happen previously!

To make the card I simply applied some of all three colours onto card using sponge daubers in an ombre effect then placed it behind the die cut! I don't remember where the die came from but I really love it!

 I keep all my dies on A4 magnetic sheets, in themes, in plastic file cases. I have been keeping all the original packaging separately (for reference purposes) however that storage box was overflowing I think some of the packaging has been tossed! Occasionally I feel the need to have a purge of unused things. I really think that I have a lot of stuff which could either be taken to the charity shop or sold on a declutter site! It's a question of getting round to it!

But to get back to the Oxides... I really liked them and think I may get a few more in colour families! The sentiment is from Avery Elle.

CASology  

Seize the Birthday

Both the card base and the tree branches give some texture.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

Anything Goes

WOYWW #595

This is the view of my other desk just after my Zoom meeting last night! (Hence the glass of wine)

To the right of the computer is my SIlhouette Portrait Machine, on the shelves are a load of Stampin' Up stamp sets, plates for my die cutting machines, lots of card, the top shelf has coloured card in colour families. The drawers have more dies, cello envelopes, and other bits and pieces. I can't quite get my knees under the desk because of another set of drawers, I think I really need a sort out!

This is my latest DT card for  Christmas Craft Creations, it's on the post before this if you fancy seeing the links to join in!

Yesterday I discovered a load of comments from WOYWWers in my junk folder. I think I managed to get around to everyone last week, but if I don't manage it, I at least like to visit those who visited me, so if I missed any of you I'm really sorry, I usually go by my email notifications rather than looking back at my post!

DO join in with Julia over on her Stamping Ground to take a snoop around the craft desks of the world.

Have a good day everyone!

 

Fa la la la la, la la la la

I had fun with this one. I began with the wreath dies, cut from white card, then inked with a couple of shades of Distress Ink, then clear heat embossed a couple of times. I cut another twiggy branch type die using brown paper. This die was much larger, but as is was much thinner, I could cut it and then weave it through the other die. The twirly bits are actually from a thread die... it came with a needle too, but I rarely seem to use that!

The sentiment is from MFT. 

I keep all my dies on A4 Magnetic Sheets in themed, plastic file boxes. I must admit to having a bit of an obsession with die cutting and I have literally hundreds of dies. I have been known to buy the same die more than once, as often when I see them, I think I must buy that, forgetting that it had already been purchased and squirreled away. 

 I don't have room to store all the packaging, although I have kept a lot. I can't find the pack that the wreath dies came in but I'll keep looking!

The theme at Christmas Craft Creations  this month is Christmas Music. 

It doesn't look as though I'll be singing this carol this year, as my choir hasn't managed to meet to rehearse apart from Zoom sessions for about 6 months. It's planned to start socially distanced, risk assessed, super sanitized, non mingling, reduced time, un-coffee-breaked rehearsals this coming week! There won't be room for everyone so as an OLD person, I think I'll leave space for the younger members.

I love the idea of getting Christmas cards done throughout the year, it saves a lot of pressure when the time comes around, so do join us with this jolly challenge!

Less is More 

Season's Greetings

I came across a set of Sizzix Christmas dies which I must have purchased last year maybe, and forgotten about. The component parts are really diddy, they are supposed to be little things so go into a snow globe. I began yesterday thinking I would cut some of the pieces colour them, then put them through the laminator to give the effect of the globe. Well... shall we say it's still a work in progress. Anyway this little mountain is one of the items. I don't know if this works or not, it's all quite stylised. I love the colour combo from 

CAS Colours and Sketches

Speaking of which (challenge logos), has anyone had any problems adding the logo from some Challenge Blogs to your posts? Recently it has happened a few times. I try to copy the logo to paste onto my blog, but end up having to save it and then add it from my computer. I'm still trying to get my head around the features (or lack of them) of this latest version of Blogger.

Anyway back to the card, the tiny sentiment if from SSS and the deer is the tiniest I could find which I think is part of a Memory Box much larger die.

Merry Little Christmas  - Anything Goes

Well we are just off out for our daily constitutional walk, the rain has stopped and the sun is shining for the moment!

Stay Safe!

Christmas Blessings

Recently I saw two things which caught my eye, one was a sketch and the other was a colour combination so I thought I would try top combine the tow.

Here is the sketch at CASe this sketch

 

...and this is the colour combo at Color Throwdown

The base of this card is cut from some ivory hessian or hopsack (not sure which) card from Paper Mill Direct. It's a lovely creamy shade. I cut the poinsettia from some card which I had heat embossed in gold (to add a little interest). The edges of the holly leaves were gently inked with some Pumice Stone Distress Ink  to relieve the slightly flat appearance of the bare card. The heat embossed gold sentiment is from MFT. Looking at it now I think that a little smidge from a gold inkpad here and there might have looked quite good. Maybe next time!

The leaves are really starting to change now and in a couple of weeks when the clocks go back, it will seem that winter won't be far away!

Warm Winter Wishes

Here's my sweater die again... not used for years then twice in a few days!  This time I decorated it with a snowflake and some small stars. There is actually a small die which belongs with this set which has the sections of rib alone. When cut however, each line of rib is cut separately and so has to be stuck on one by one. I lost a few on the way and so came up with the idea of cutting another sweater, cutting off the rib sections and then placing them into the actual rib dies and embossing them. I stuck them in place before embossing, with a piece of double sided sticky tape. which in  turn adhered to the back of the card and was used to secure them in  place on the sweater. Sadly I don't know where I got the sweater dies from as they have been in my Christmas die box for quite a while!

The sentiment is from Cutplorations!

52 Christmas Card Throwdown

AAA Cards

Color Throwdown (Just love this colour combo!)

Stay safe everyone!

 

WOYWW #594

Good morning all!

This morning my desk shows the detritus from yesterday's card which was of a Christmas sweater.

I have had a die for ages but it was a case of another NBUS. I was wondering how the sweater would be decorated when I came across the tiny EF from Sizzix which looked a bit like plaid, so I inked inside it and took an embossed print. I then realised of course that the embossing would disappear if I then decided to die cut it, so I did it again the other way round and die cut the sweater before putting that through the embossing folder. If you can't quite see the finished card on the edge of the picture, this is it.

 

FOr those of you who visited last week... thanks for those visits, here is the card I made with the leaves which I stamped and cut with my Silhouette Portrait... or should I say cut, then stamped!

I'm a bit like a squirrel i guess when it comes to crafting supplies and I don't even like to throw tiny scraps away. These drawers house my off cuts of card, in colour themes.  I began with a letter file, which quickly became full to bursting, then moved on to a small set of drawers and now it's these!

Scraps of smooshed, printed, stamped or any other technique I've tried, go in these drawers and come out when the inspiration descends!

Well have a good day everyone, and I'll try to get around a few more desks this week!

You can join in the fun by heading over to Julia's, the Queen of WOYWW!

 

Christmas Hugs

I have had this little sweater die for quite some time but it appears to be NBUS! SO here is its f irst outing! I found a tiny Sizzix embossing folder.. it's only about 7cms x 5.5cms, but it looks a bit like plaid. I decided to ink one side of it and pop a sweater die-cut through it. I did an additional die-cut to use parts of it for the rib section. It's on a dry embossed snowy backdrop with a tiny Christmas sentiment from SSS.

AAA Cards

52 Christmas Throwdown

CASology

I chose dry embossing!

Stay safe everyone!

 

Just a note

I always try to get at least one card made for each challenge at CAS Mix Up as they really make me think outside the box, for both ideas and techniques.

For my card I used a sphere die from Altenew to make a stencil (I do have the actual stencil from Altenew as well, but preferred the smaller size of the die for this particular project). I brushed on some Shabby Shutters Distress ink then used the stencil to add more of the same colour but this time applying with a sponge dauber. The SSS leaves were cut from some scrap DP and then inked a little with more green and a touch of gold.

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

I based the design on the sketch from Colours and Sketches

Today we are going to meet our son and his wife and daughter for lunch. This will be the first time that we have eaten out for over 6 months. It feels a little odd. we are fortunate that our area is not as restricted as many in the UK, but we must still be vigilant.

What strange times!

Stay safe everyone!

Here Comes Santa

The Challenge at Clean and Simple on Friday  is PLAID.  I had just a couple of scraps of plaid and so decided to use a little as a backdrop for the reindeer. There's something about this skinny reindeer which I find really cute.

ABC Christmas has the letters U  - Up in the air ...and V- Vixen (or other reindeer)

This little reindeer may very well be 'Up' in the air very soon, but for now it's Vixen or just another reindeer!

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge Anything Goes - Christmas

 

WOYWW 593

 My Simply Cards and Papercraft mag arrived and I thought that I would try to make some cut files for the foliage stamps. 

Today's picture shows part of the process. Since having terrible trouble trying to do this some time ago, I thought I would try again. This time with a little more rapid success. I stamped the branches in black, scanned them then dropped the images into the Silhouette software. Somehow the size had altered along the way so I had to do a bit of jiggery pokery to get it right. 

Once sorted, it's easy to cut loads of outlines and then stamp them in a stamping platform, using the same aperture to stamp each one in turn, so not having to reposition the stamp for each impression.

I used a couple of shades of ink... SU Lucky Limeade as a base layer then some Forest DI for the tips of the leaves.

The finished stamped leaves are on the left and the one in the platform is after one stamping.

It would be a whole lot of work to have to cut out these fiddly leaves by hand!

DO join Julia and the crew having a snoop around the workspaces of the world!

WOYWW 593

 

Season's Greetings

I love this little gnome from Simon Says Stamp. I have two of them but this little chap is my favourite. I cut him from Hessian, which I had backed with some double sided adhesive sheet. This helps to keep all the fibres together once they are die-cut and makes sticking onto the card a breeze. The sentiment is also from SSS and I added a little interest to the blue base sheet by stamping with an Impression Obsession wooden plank stamp using Versamark. 

The sketch is from Fab Friday

and I used the colours from 52CCT

Merry Little Christmas - Anything Goes

I chose the sentiment as I often associate gnomes with a silly little gizmo which comes out with the decorations each Christmas and is placed strategically in the downstairs loo.  It is a little gnome which is fixed onto a scissor like action, so that he pops up when the button is pressed and calls out "Season's Greetings". Guests often return from a visit to the loo with a big smile on their faces!

Actually it reminds me of a pub we used to go to years ago where in the ladies loo there was a picture of a Scotsman, complete with kilt, which was obviously hinged and liftable! It was quite a temptation for the ladies to lift the kilt to have a peek, but when they did, a buzzer sounded in the bar, so upon emerging from the ladies room there would be knowing grins all round thinking... we know what you did!

 

Coffee

I wanted to join in the one layer challenge at AAA Cards

 

Quite some time ago I came across this sentiment, which I jotted down as I thought it might come in handy sometime. So I had the sentiment but couldn't find a suitably sized or appropriate image, so I thought that I would draw one. Being a one layer card I chose to colour it with watercolour pencils and a water brush, so that there would be no colour transfer to the inside of the card. I printed the sentiment from the computer and then added the drawing... it's not my finest hour but at least I think it looks like coffee!

I bought this set of pencils second hand (but hardly used) from my friend and they come in really handy from time to time!  They would have cost the earth brand new.

Maybe the folks at WOYWW would like to see them! 

I'm off to accompany my husband for a eye test, I don't trust him to choose new frames for himself, by himself!

Tartan Gnome

 

The other day I was wondering why the images of my cards on Bloglovin are always, or nearly always cut down in size so that only a portion of the card is visible. 

I think I have come up with a reason! 

My cards are always or nearly always CAS, which means that there is a lot of whitespace as part of the card. I think that this whitespace is what is deemed as unnecessary by Bloglovin and so the pictures of my cards are reduced to a small proportion of the original. Does anyone else have a theory on this? I would be really interested to know!

Anyway here is another CAS rendition, this time for the challenges at Just US Girls and Christmas Card Throwdown.

 

I recently made a card for a friend and the reverse side of a piece of leftover DP was tartan and so here it is as as the clothing of a gnome.
I dry embossed some interest onto the beard and coloured his nose with a marker pen. The rest is die cut and embossed. The snow backdrop is a discontinued Sheena Douglass EF and I don't remember the make of the trees. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. I really like this little chap, he's a die from Simon Says Stamp!

In fact, I'm awaiting a shipment from Simon Says Stamp, but I was really irritated to realise that having just put in an order, an email arrived the very next day saying that I could have saved 15% if I had delayed what had  ordered by just one day! Grrrrrrr!

C'est la vie!

Robin

I guess these little birds from Technique Tuesday could be any kind you like... I chose to make this little chap into a robin for the challenge at CAS Christmas which is 

I think that they are really cute and don't get them out as often as I should. I coloured him with alcohol markers and cut the square with a Framelit die, I cut a larger square and with the aid of my MISTI stamped the sentiment which is from MFT, around each edge.

Yesterday was a bit of a technological nightmare. I couldn't send emails except from an icloud email address which I didn't really realise I had. Incoming emails were fine! My phone was telling me that the WiFi connection in my house was suddenly 'Weak Security'.  All very puzzling and extremely frustrating. Today I spent an hour on the phone either waiting for or speaking with a Virgin Media representative, who informed me that as my phone had updated to iOS 14.0.1, my Hub needed to be recalibrated. She then took me through the process and now things seems to be back to normal. 

The emails I had tried to send yesterday morning started to arrive about 12 hours later!

As Shakespeare said "All's well that ends well!"

Avenue 613 Anything Goes - Things with Wings

Frustration

Don't you just love technology!

This morning I discovered that I couldn't send emails from my phone or laptop! Receiving was fine, but not sending! I rebooted, re-set, re-everything I could think of to no avail. 

A main reason for the frustration was the fact that I send pictures from my phone to my laptop via email... usually it's the quickest way of going about it... but not today. Eventually I managed to send it via an icloud email address which I didn't really know that I had, but found it on my phone.  I'm going to have to investigate further, but for the moment my pressing problem has been solved. This is the card I made today, which ironically I was thinking was rather serendipitous, as the embossing folder exactly fitted the piece of card I had cut (not measured) and the die I used to  back it was exactly the right dimensions... there the luck ended.

The embossing folder is from Lifestyle crafts and the sentiment from Clearly Besotted.

I followed the sketch from CASe this Sketch

I'd love to get to the bottom of why I can't send emails from any of the three addresses (Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo) I have on my phone, I have folders full of sent items which actually haven't gone anywhere!

If anyone has any ideas of what can be done to sort out my difficulty, I would be delighted to hear from you!