Congrats

 

Today's card was made with a couple of challenges in mind.

Addicted to CAS

and AAA Cards

I used an old Cuttlebug folder for the embossed dots, and a Memory Box butterfly, cut from some Nuvo Shimmer background. The stacked sentiment was cut from part of an Altenew frame die-cut.

We had some fun last night with a 'Come and Sing' performance of HMS Pinafore. G&S is not something usually tackled by my choir, but this was great fun. My husband took the part of Captain Corcoran and I was little Buttercup! All that followed by a meal with a bunch of friends made the perfect day!

Congrats

 I really love the large background stamp (from Simon Says Stamp), which I used to make the panels for this card. I embossed a piece of black card using WOW Pale Gold EP and then cut it into three strips. The sentiment, (which is die cut and popped up on dimensional pads) is from Stampin' Up!

Addicted to Stamps and More

Colours and Sketches

I am getting a little concerned about letters not arriving when posted at my nearest post box. A card I posted last Friday to Portsmouth with a first class stamp, still hasn't arrived at its destination. Several packages of masks I made and other mail posted there also have gone astray. Something very odd is going on! I may have to pursue the matter further!

 

Masking

The challenge at Perfectly CAS this month is Masking

I haven't done any masking for quite a long time and I tried a few different things.... most of which left me feeling underwhelmed. For this card I used some Blockhead stamps (again these haven't seen the light of day for ages, until very recently). I don't feel too badly about this one. I left some space at the bottom of the card for a sentiment and was really pleased with the way that this one fitted the contours of the images (a pure fluke that the two things worked together). I had searched through my sentiments however to see if there were any which would fit well. I think it's from Clearly Besotted, but there's no manufacturer's name on the carrier sheet.

I made this one first but wasn't to keen on the flatness of the 'white space', although I like how the leaves turned out!

I hope that you will join us and try your hand at CAS.... lots of lovely white space, no matter what the colour!

Congratulations

Something very strange happened!

I completed this post and published it... having linked it to the challenges it was created for. Today only the card is apparent, with no text whatsoever.

Many thanks to Loll for visiting  pointing out that lots was missing!

SO.... I made a stencil from vellum and  a Memory Box die. I sponged through Distress Inks in WIld Honey and Spiced Marmalade, then overstamped with an old stamp from SU's (long since retired) Gorgeous Grunge set. The bees are also from Memory Box and are the fiddliest things to assemble! They are cut from white card, then coloured with alcohol markers and topped with Nuvo Crystal Glaze. The sentiment is from Sugar Pea Designs.

The challenges I'm linking to are ...

CAS Mix Up

AAA Cards

CASe This Sketch

 

Addicted to Stamps and More

It's a total mystery to me as to where the text from my original post went to... technology will never cease to astound me!

Love Flowering

I haven't used this stamp from Penny Black for quite some time, but it is perfect for a one layer card. I stamped it in SU Crumb Cake and embossed the sentiment in gold. Simplicity itself. I can see where the manufacturer got the name of the stamp from... the blooms do look a little like hearts don't they!

It's my DT card for the Perfectly CAS One Layer challenge.

I added a little clear Wisp of  Stella over the image to add a little interest.

I'm sure that one layer cards are not as scary as they once were for many crafters, so do have a go and join us!

Hooray

I just received a package of goodies from Simon Says Stamp, among which were the sentiment and vented star dies used here. I'm not sure of the make of the ribbon and stars and haven't been able to find the make online... I guess I'll have to rummage through my die packaging. I keep my dies on magnetic sheets in A4 plastic cases according to their subject matter and so file away the original packaging, but it takes a lot of going through to look for and determine the manufacturers, often it's quicker to look online.

Anyway I thought that this card fitted quite well with a couple of challenges.

Just US Girls - Sentiment

Case this Sketch

Rescued!

Don't you just hate it when a card has gone well during creation only to be ruined at the last moment!

I felt that this one was fine until I stamped the sentiment in my MISTI. Someone once gave me a tip that to make the magnets easier to handle, a cover of Washi tape made them easier to handle. Sadly one of the magnets had got  something on it which transferred to the bottom corner of the card. I'm not really sure what it was but it was indelible. My answer to the problem was to trim the top panel quite drastically from its original size. I think it still just about works.

Inspired by the Ombre challenge at CAS Mix Up I made this one for the Challenge  at Just US Girls.

I even went as far as using similar colours to those in the prompt.

The stamp is from Papertrey Ink, inked with Versamark, sprinkled with three shades of WOW embossing powder and heat set.

The sentiment from Clearly Besotted was stamped with Stampin' Up, Night of Navy ink. The butterfly dies are from Simon Says Stamp.

Here is my second rescue of the day!

I was going to cut out this AI image with a rectangle Framelit die, but somehow the die must have shifted just a tad as I began to wind it through my Big Shot so that the fire extinguisher ended up right at the edge of the cut out and was totally unbalanced. The remedy was to cut the whole thing out with scissors, smoothing the edges with an embossing tool to give  a better finish and mounting  it on dimensional pads. I think in fact that this was a better treatment than the one I originally planned. The sentiment which was part of the original Framelit diecut was just re-cut with a little, stitched, rounded corner, square die.

It's for the challenge at CAS on Friday - People

Twofer Birds

Here is a pair of cards for Darnell's Twofer Challenge which this time has to be birds!

Those who know me, know about my penchant for chickens... particularly the ones from Penny Black. Isn't this a fabulous image!

I stamped a couple of them and and coloured them, then promptly misplaced the white one, so having done a little tidy up looking for it, I gave in and stamped and coloured another! It may well turn up sometime when I least expect it! The Congrats is from Hero Arts and the 'Surprise' I believe is from Penny Black!

The black backdrop was embossed with a Sheena Douglass folder and the white card was partially embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge Anything Goes

I recently discovered the fabulous voice of Josh Groban, so he is my crafting companion of choice at the moment... he's singing away on my phone... via my Bose speaker!

Bravo

Some weeks ago I took my gorgeous granddaughter Daisy for her tap exam.

I watched the pre-exam practice and was really impressed with how well she was dancing in her set of 4 girls. The icing on the cake came when she returned to her dance school after the summer break to be told that she had gained a distinction in her exam.

This is the card I made to congratulate her.

The image was downloaded from the internet and the sentiment made from a die from Cutplorations, cut in three layers with her name added using the computer. The peekaboo frame was from a die by MFT. The front panel was cut with a stitched square die also from MFT, but extended a little to fit the front of my card.

Bravo daisy!

It's for the CAS challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More

Here's that sketchy elephant  from Stampers Anonymous again. This time I paired it with a simple die cut Birthday sentiment from Papertrey Ink. Sadly I don't remember the make of the 'wish' die. 

Just us Girls is asking for Hand Drawn elements, so this was hand drawn... albeit not by me!

I did think about using a stamp which I drew and which was on the front of Craft Stamper Magazine as their 'FREE' stamp, but I feel it's a little passe now!

Congratulations

A simple congratulations card, suitable for Engagement, Wedding or Anniversary. 

I think the scroll is from Memory Box and I'm unsure of the origin of the sentiment. Both were gently twinkled with Glamour dust and a pearl added to the centre of the scroll.

It's from the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch. 

I put my sentiment beneath the scroll as it looked better balanced in this position on my card.

This is another card with practically the same layout, with the elements a little lower on the card. It's for the challenge at CASology with the theme Jumpy.

I think rabbits jump don't you! The image is from Stamping Bella and the sentiment from Clearly Besotted.

Time for a Sketch

Here is my card for the second week of my Guest spots at Colours and Sketches!

This is simply a bundle of die cuts!

Sizzix - Wire bundle and wild flower

Memory Box - butterfly

SSS - Floral spray

Hero Arts - Congrats

Embellishments - Crystal gems and Nuvo Drops in Silver Lining

The card for the base of the butterfly was coloured using Inka Gold paste, mixed with Distress Inks and spritzed with water and then prints were taken using card.

We should still be on our Mediterranean cruise, I've just about round to the notion that we will be taking it next year instead, when I hope the cruise line won't be overbooked again!

Shakers

.

I made a couple of shaker cards today. This one uses a floral die  which came in the pack from Sizzix with my Big Shot Plus. I made the frame with a couple of stitched dies from Simon Says Stamp and accompanied it with a couple of butterflies from Poppy Stamps. The coloured card was made with the squished flower technique and has been sitting in the drawer since last season.

The Congratulations is from Tattered Lace.

It's for the Shaker challenge at AAA Cards

I'm not so fond of how this one turned out, but it's a flower from the same Sizzix bundle, together with leaves from Marianne, 'Happy'is  from Creative Dies and 'Birthday' from Papertrey Ink. The card was coloured with a smooshy inky technique, not sure exactly how I did it but it's another from the supply of background card I made some time ago!

This is another for the Black and White challenge at Dies R Us..

The trees are another new acquisition from Poppy Stamps, which I inlaid. The sentiment from Hobby Art was stamped and then die cut using a stitched die from SSS, lengthening it slightly so as to accommodate the length of the words.

The lady who commissioned this card seems to have an abundance of friends who produce babies on a regular basis, as I have made many many birth congratulations cards for her. This is the latest, for which I used the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch. 

The images are from Simon Says Stamp on a background embossed with a Stampin' Up folder. The name was computer generated and the 'Welcome' is from Paper Smooches.The pink parts have been twinkled with Glamour Dust!

Congratulations

This week's challenge at "Less is More" is the theme Congratulations!

This new baby card was made with an Impression Obsession image, gently coloured, cut out and mounted on some embossed card which I think looks a bit like a baby blanket. It's from a Stampin' Up folder. The front panel was cut with Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangles.

Lots of inkiness here with over-stamped butterflies from Stamplorations and a Memory Box diecut!

It's simply Aqua Tint inks dropped onto a craft mat, spritzed with water and then a print taken from it.

Memory Box butterflies here, again with a print from Aqua Tint inks as the backing panel!

The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

This week has flown past and I just realised that I hadn't blogged a card all week! Must be getting old!

Have a good weekend!

The Butterfly Effect!

The base layer for this card was retrieved from the bin after I had thought that it was not good enough to use on a card. In fact I think that it was thrown away because it didn't turn out as I had hoped, but after a quick spray with glitter mist I thought it might be OK for the backdrop for these butterflies... and in fact I'm really pleased with the effect.

The die is from Memory Box used within a panel cut with a SSS stitched rectangle. The sentiment is from Tattered Lace (I think).

The challenge at the Card Concept is this

The butterfly Effect!

I remember a time when I had to hand cut a butterfly that I need for a card, now I have heaps of dies and stamps and still continue to buy more... I just love them!
This is also for a new Memory Box Challenge entitled Outside the Box
The theme of the first one is butterflies!


Addicted to CAS has the theme Butterflies