Time Out Guest Designer

Some time ago I was fortunate enough to have a card selected as the winner at Time Out Challenge and I was subsequently invited to do a Guest Designer Spot and here it is!

The theme of the challenge this time is NEW

Anyone who knows me, knows that my card style is Clean And Simple, although the kinds of technique I use tend to be somewhat eclectic. Having said that a real favourite of mine is using dies... I must have thousands of them and yet I still seem to be acquiring more. The one by Memory Box used here is getting its first outing and so that is my NEW thing for this challenge. I used it in a different orientation to that on the packet, because I wanted to put the sentiment in that particular corner. The background was made by smooshing some card into a little Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink and water on my glass mat and just dabbing with a paper towel. (It's supposed to look a little like sky!)

I don't remember the make of the sentiment, although I have a feeling that that may be Memory Box too!. The berries were made from pearls which I had coloured with a Copic marker.

This challenge is being sponsored by Uniko, so with a stamp set of your choice, plus a chance to be a Guest Designer for the winner, that's a really good reason to join in the fun as their products are awesome.

I don't do New Year's resolutions any more, but my husband and I have both returned to Slimming World as lockdown inactivity has taken its toll. SO far I have lost 10lbs, so we are heading in the right direction!

 

Be Merry

This is my last session as Guest Designer at Stamps & Fun = Creativity

The theme for my last session is Colour of Christmas.

To me Christmas is Red and Green.... and white of course. 

Red for lots of reasons... Rudolph's nose, Santa's suit, the robin's breast (because he stays with us all through the winter), poinsettias and berries from lots of plants which see the birds and other creatures through the winter.

Green for the Christmas tree and other evergreens which we bring indoors to decorate our homes. 

Anyway, enough waxing lyrical, here is my card with a couple of jolly polar bears (from MFT) wearing their warm woolly scarves in Christmas colours.

The 'merry' is from Papertrey Ink and the 'be' separate letters from a Memory Box alphabet.

 

Let it snow

Sometimes you make a card and it pleases you... this is one of those. I've had it in my mind for some time and had cut the two snowbanks, but didn't get any further. Today I saw that the challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown was to use any previous challenge and as one such was Winter Sledges, I went ahead and finished the card. The dies are by Memory Box. I added the cord, which in fact is supposed to be thread for a needle, but I have used it for so many purposes! The snow EF is retired, but by Sheena Douglass, 

AAA Cards 

CAS on Friday - Christmas

 

Süßigkeitenverpackung

If you were confused by the title of this post, I must admit that for a while so was I!

I am continuing my stint as Guest Designer with Stamps & Fun = Creativity, a German blog challenge and the challenge this time is ... what it says at the top!!!

Actually it means Candy Packaging! Inside my box are some meringues!

To make the box I began by printing a sheet of card with a design by Pink Petticoat. This is the largest size box I could manage with enough depth to contain the meringues. I used a Crafter's Companion scoring board to do the scoring. I cut a hole from the middle of the top of the box, lined it with acetate and then cut a scalloped edge to surround the aperture. I decided to cut one complete small flower from the waste of the A4 sheet.

I don't often make non card items, but now and again I do make boxes for cards if they are for a really special occasion and have 3D embellishments!

They are quite fun to do!

Do join in this time.... it will be handy for that Christmas gift!

ABC Christmas Y - YUMMY

 

Merry Christmas Ribbon

For this card I took the layout from Freshly Made Sketches and the colour theme from The Card Concept

I used a card made made from ivory hopsack weave cardstock.

The poinsettia die is from  Britannia Dies and I don't remember where the ivy came from. I coloured the flower with alcohol pens and the leaves with Distress Oxide inks. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things. The ribbon is by East of India.

 

Merry Christmas

Here is a card for the reminder post for the challenge at Christmas Craft Creations where I am doing a Guest Designer spot. The theme is Fun Folds

I kinda made this one up!

I just fancied something a little different. I made  gatefold cards for my daughter's wedding invitations, and they fastened with a ribbon, this one fastens by the fact that I made a double edge so that the right hand flap slots into the left hand edge.

I simply cut a second scalloped strip which I aligned and adhered behind the front one, leaving a gap for the right flap to slot into.

The little fox is from Create a Smile, the sentiment from Poppy Stamps and the tiny sprig of holly an old favourite stamp by Stampendous.

Thank you

On a wander round Blogland I spotted the challenge at Inkspirational where there is a photo for  inspiration this time. I used a Simon Says Stamp background stamp embossed in gold on black card for the panel and added a stacked die cut crane (or heron... not 100% sure of my birds) and a simple stacked sentiment.

I ummed and ahhed about whether to do something surrounding the panel but in the end just left well alone. I really like gold embossing on deep coloured cardstock!

 

Be Merry

Another week, another Guest Designer card for the challenge at Stamps & Fun = Creativity

You might guess from this card that the theme is SNOWFLAKES. I am quite partial to White on White cards, but the problem arises when it comes to trying to photograph them. I tried various backdrops, but couldn't seem to find anything to enhance the image. I hope you can see it! I triple stacked each snowflake and double stacked the sentiment. Each flake has a pearl in the centre.

TIME OUT Challenges

Simplicity is what I love!

 

Noel

Today I made a card following the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with dies

I use a couple of strips of water-coloured paper, a sentiment and a few stars. The edges of the stars and the sentiment are gently twinkled with Glamour Dust. I don't tend to make Christmas cards with non-trad colours, but I seemed to have done a few this year!

 

Christmas tile

Minimal or what!

The challenge at AAA cards is an INCHIE and only an INCHIE, so I tried to put a lot into a very little space.

To make the tile, I cut the square and coloured it with Barn Door Distress Oxide ink and spritzed with water. I then added a little Inka Gold, stamped a couple of times with a tiny script stamp in gold and then black, added a couple of tiny die cut holly leaves and then heat embossed about three times. After the final embossing and while the melted powder was still molten, I stamped another small round script stamp in Gold Brilliance ink, which left both an image and an impression.

I added a couple of tiny pearls for berries and it was done... mounted on a little foam tape to add just a touch of dimension!

I think this card would be OK for a chap too!

 

Merry Christmas Wreath

I love making Christmas Cards and I love using die cuts and I also love messing around with ink, so this card was just up my street. 

I dabbed a couple of shades of green Distress Oxide ink onto the wreath base and the sprigs of leaves and then spritzed with water. When dry I rubbed a little gold gilding wax here and there. The bow and the flower centres were cut from hessian and the sentiment was cut in kraft card to match and then stacked to give a little additional dimension!

Christmas 24

CAS on Friday 

LEAVES

Happy Little Stampers

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge

Merry Christmas to you

There's still time to enter the Stencil Monoprint challenge at CAS Mix Up

You don't need to worry if you aren't sure what that is as here are a couple of links to videos to show you how it can be done.

Video Tutorials:

Stencil Monoprints - Lee-Anne Cross (6:50)

Stencil Monoprints Backgrounds with Distress Inks (8:28)

For this card I inked my stencil with a few shades of Distress Oxide inks and gently spritzed with water., I then flipped the stencil over and took a print. This is part of a border stencil. I die cut the rectangle and then used some of the waste for the snowflake. I added a few tiny tiny gems and a simple sentiment! The snowflake is stacked with an extra layer under just the right hand portion which doesn't overlap the rectangle in order to keep it level!

It's a fun technique, why not join us!

 

merry CHRISTMAS

I spotted the sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches and thought I would have a go!

I've had this little holly stamp by Stampendous for ever and never tire of using it. I simply coloured it with a few shades of Copic markers and arranged it to fit behind the window in the little panel. I've also had the little Memory Box or Poppy Stamps sentiment (can't remember which) for ages too and love that just as much!

It's really, really simple but that appeals to me! I just love making Christmas cards as I know they will get a recipient, unlike many of the cards I've made over the years, which sit in a box until I cart them off to a charity shop!

 

Happy Birthday

I recently discovered a site for digital images, which I wanted for the occasional background for some of my cards. It's called theHungryjpeg. I began this card with one such image. I printed two and used one for the front panel and another to die-cut a circle to superimpose over the image, so adding a third circle to the existing two in the design. Another couple of die cut foliage sprigs, a few pearls and an die-embossed stripe down the panel, together with the sentiment completed the card!

Addicted to CAS - Circles

 

Another Merry Christmas

This die by Alexandra Renke is called a snow globe but to me it looks more like a bell, so I added some thread and a bow to suspend it. The scene inside this time uses a freebie tree line die-cut and a couple of Memory Box deer. The sentiment is a new acquisition this week also from Memory Box. The embossed snowflakes in the background are from The Creative-Depot. 

I began by making this card all white but it looked decidedly lack lustre, mainly I think, because it is a very flat, matt finish cardstock, so I added the kraft layers to the deer and the Merry Christmas. 

I didn't really check the size of this sentiment die before I bought it and was a little surprised by how big it is, but I got it on sale so I'm happy and looking at it now I think it's rather splendid!

CAS Christmas - Christmas Critters

 

Merry Christmas

I don't t end to use much designer paper these days, but today a scrap caught my eye in the drawer and this card emerged. Sometimes non-traditional colours work out and this time I was satisfied with the outcome. Dies by Alexandra Renke and I think the horizontal embossing was done with a freebie folder.

Just US Girls - Merry

Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes with dies

Happy Little Stampers - Christmas

Merry Christmas

Recently I was lucky enough to have one of my cards selected as the winner at Christmas Craft Creations and was invited to be a Guest Designer for their current challenge!

As you can see the card is a little different from my usual makes and that is because this challenge is to make a Fun Fold Card!

This one is a centre step card and the problem came with working out some measurements which would fit UK  cardstock sizes and have the correct dimensions to fold properly.

This is what I came up with. (Sadly not exactly to scale)

The measurements down the centre are the distances between each fold.

The solid lines are cut lines and the dotted lines are fold lines.

These cute polar bears are from MFT and I added a bunch of die cuts to complete the picture!

Just Us Girls 

 

Christmas Greetings

I combined a few challenges with this card.

Addicted to CAS - Circle

ABC Christmas W = Whimsical or X = Xerox 

whimsical

/ˈwɪmzɪk(ə)l/

adjective

• 1.playfully quaint or fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way:"a whimsical sense of humour"
  
  
  
  

After looking up the definition of whimsical as opposed to what I thought it was, (which in fact happened to be the same) I decided that a gnome with a pair of skis was quite a whimsical thought! So here is a little chap from SSS dressed in mulberry paper.

The sentiment EF was free with a mag I believe

AAA Cards