Showing posts with label Die Cuts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Die Cuts. Show all posts

Thursday, 13 October 2022

Cozy

I was looking though some blog challenges today and spotted that CASology had the cue word COZY


Actually I wouldn't spell it like that, as in the UK we tend to use an 's' instead of a 'z' for lots of words... but we all know what we mean!
The first stamp which came to mind with this word was this old one from Hero Arts. I have another with Santa's jacket and another with his boots...and I have always loved them. I coloured it with Copic markers and added some fun flock for the fur. I cut two additional squares and mounted them all on foam tape.  Job Done!



 

Wednesday, 12 October 2022

Thanks


I really love leaves and foliage of any kind really, so when I saw the embossing folder for this oak leaf on Amazon I ordered it immediately! I actually thought it was just a regular sized 3D embossing folder, but it turned out to be an Impresslit from Sizzix. It was much smaller than I had anticipated plus it contained the dies for the leaves too!
Having both the impression and the die made the folder really thick and was too thick to go through my Spellbinders Platinum 6 using any of the normal plates, so I set about finding a solution. 


This video also shows how I coloured the leaves, giving them shimmer, but using regular alcohol inks.
The challenge at Addicted to CAS is Autumn, so this card seems ideal for that challenge.





I would be delighted if anyone watching my video could also subscribe to my channel as this makes it pop up to more crafters so I understand!
Thanks so much!


 

Gnoel

Today, I spotted that the challenge over at ABC Christmas was U for Unusual Christmas colours.
Just Us Girls has a CAS challenge this week which is just up my street!



Here is a gnome by Simon Says Stamp and I used non-traditional colours…. Lime green and deep teal. I think that die-cutting is a good way of using up the backing papers that I no longer use as layers. The noel is by Clearly Besotted and the G from Papertrey ink. The snow background embossing is by Sheena Douglass but sadly is no longer available. 

His beard has been gently shaded with alcohol markers.

If GNOME can be spelled with a G, why not GNOEL?


 

Wednesday, 5 October 2022

Happy Birthday


Some time ago I was fortunate enough to have a card selected as the winner over on the Male Room Challenge, following which I was invited to be a Guest Designer for one of their challenges and this is it!

Needless to say that this theme is just up my street!
My card was made following our recent holiday in Antigua, where we stayed in a super little cottage in Cocobay, with Adirondack chairs on the deck overlooking our pool and the sea. We spent many happy hours on those chairs, reading, enjoying the the weather and the view. As soon as I got home I searched to see if I could find a die of an Adirondack chair and found this one from Impression Obsession. It is triple stacked, adhered over a patch of  'sand'  from a stamp from Stamplorations and embossed with some old Distress Embossing powder, which melts to a rough, matt finish.  I don't believe that it is still produced.
The seagull is by Memory Box and the sea elements from Charlie and Paulchen.
I hope that we can return to Antigua before too long, the people are so welcoming, we loved it!
 


 

 

Tuesday, 4 October 2022

Noel


Today I spotted this challenge at AAA Cards 

and remembered a little die set from Charlie and Paulchen so I thought I would have a go. 
I selected the centre rectangle for my image which I coloured with a variety of marker pens. I think he's such  cute chap!

I made this video on how I did the colouring!

I made a slight faux pas with adding the image to my card and stuck him on the back of the card, but a simple bit of cutting had made it a panel to be mounted onto the front of a new card base!





 

Sunday, 7 August 2022

Pine Trees


The challenge at CAS Christmas 


This month it's PINE!

I'm not really sure where the die for the trees came from but it's only about 1in across!
The background is a print from a Gelli plate background. I use dies from Presscut for the squares and the circle aperture. The pine tree die is just a frame die,  so I cut the circle aperture in the square just a tad smaller so I could attach it.
I think I must get out my Gelli plate again, this background has been sculling away in a drawer for a while!

Monday, 1 August 2022

Hello


It's time for another challenge at CAS Mix Up, which this time is to include Emboss Resist!

Hosts Message

Emboss Resist is an old technique using different Heat Embossing techniques.
I highly recommend you watch one or more of the videos that have been 
provided by our design team.  I guarantee that you will be inspired to play along!
We can't wait to see your Clean and Simple Mixed Media cards:-)

Video Tutorials:
Welcome to our wonderful Guest Designer

I thought that this small Stamplorations bubble wrap stamp looked rather like honeycomb, so I stamped in Versamark, embossed with clear embossing powder and inked with a few shades of Distress Oxide Inks, applied with blending brushes. I'm not sure of the origin of the bee die cut, but it was coloured with marker pens and then glazed with Nuvo Crystal Glaze. The hello is from a long string die, but I chopped off the ends.

 

Monday, 25 July 2022

Happy Birthday


A card using dies from Gummiapan (net) and Charlie and Paulchen. The dies were cut from pieces of digitally printed card with images from pngwing. The pink was flowers and the green was a leafy background. I think it works quite well, giving slight variations of colour.  Sentiment is from Paper Smooches.
Addicted to CAS - Nautical



 

Friday, 8 July 2022

Happy Birthday


When I saw the challenge at the Male Room, I realised that I had posted the perfect card for it the previous day, so I went about making another in a similar vein. 

My previous card has a knot on it and so I thought I would do another with a similar knot, but not exactly the same. This took me back to my Guiding days and this knot is called a sheet bend.
Here's how to do it!

The sentiment is by Gummiapan and the posts from Memory Box, the anchor was a freebie from a magazine. The source for the seagull escapes me, but that may be Memory Box too!

The only source of colour is the seagull's beak and legs!
We're off to our grandson's Speech Day today on his last day of school for the academic year. There is a to be a picnic in the grounds so it should all be great fun!






 

Friday, 1 July 2022

Thanks


The theme this month at CAS Mix Up is Things with Wings and is a watercolour challenge.
This means that some form of water colouring should be present.

For my card I chose a favourite old Memory Box die called Chloe and used the backing die to make a stencil from Mylar. I then stamped the script background stamp through the stencil and embossed in white embossing powder. After heat setting I placed the stencil back over the stamping and inked with three shades of Distress Oxide inks using blending brushes. (Salty Ocean, Salvaged Patina and  Tumbled Glass) I then just added a few droplets of water and blotted with a paper towel. I adhered the matching filigree die cut over the inking and added a few tiny pearls.
It's a simple look but It's a little involved to achieve but I'll probably be quicker next time!
Do join in the fun with some water coloured wings over at CAS Mix Up!




 

Sunday, 12 June 2022

Congrats

 


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



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!




Wednesday, 1 June 2022

On your Special Day


CAS Mix Up has been taking a break for a while but we are back again with a new fun challenge, which this time is to use pastes or gels.

Some time ago I discovered how to make embossing paste after being faced with a solid lump of the stuff when I wanted to make a card. Being a creature of impulse I wanted to do it straight away, so after tossing the dried up pot of the stuff, I made my own. Here is a video I made, demonstrating how I made it.


For this card I used two stencils, the Paisley type one, and a circle one over the top. I spread the embossing paste through it using a palette knife and sprinkled it with Gold Glamour Dust when still wet.
The twiggy die cut is stacked a few times to add dimension, the heat embossed sentiment is by Personal Impressions.


 

Thank you


A  craft company that I discovered only fairly recently, produced some delightful products and I'm particularly drawn to their dies. The have lots and lots of very small elements, which are perfect for my  clean and simple cards as I can include quite a lot of detail and still have lots of whitespace. These grape hyacinths are from them and the vase is the base of a coffee cup die. The company is called Gummiapan and they are located in Sweden. I just placed another order and  today received an email telling me that I had received a partial refund from the company. I thought perhaps that an item wasn't available and so they and refunded the cost of it. However I couldn't have been more wrong.  After enquiring about the reason for the refund, they informed me that the package was lighter than anticipated and so sent a refund for some of the postage costs. Everything I had ordered would be arriving in due course (and there is always a little surprise gift in the package).  How many companies would bother to do that? I could probably count them on the fingers of one hand. 



The stripes are from a stamp, inked with Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide Ink. The flowers were coloured with SU markers!


 

Saturday, 14 May 2022

Merry Christmas

Recently I was fortunate enough to win a challenge at 52 Christmas Card throwdown, which came together with the invitation to be a Guest Designer for them. So here I am with a card for their colour challenge which this time is 

The red in my version is minimal to say the least. but where would \Rudolph be without his red nose! The deer die is by Gummiapan, I don't recall the origin of the tress, but they were coloured with Distress Oxide Inks.
I made a video on how I colour die-cuts here. https://youtu.be/_fv0SL4-2B4

The sentiment is a foil plate from Spellbinders... I couldn't resist playing with my new toy... a Glimmer Hot Foil machine!


 

Friday, 6 May 2022

Get well soon


I do enjoy working from a good sketch and this one by Cecile is from Freshly Made Sketches.

I stamped the background using a stamp from Stamplorations, and used less ink and the secondary stamping to make the colours lighter nearer to the top. I still thought that the colours were a littl too intense so I tore a piece of vellum and added it over the top of the stamping.
The gently coloured die cuts are by Gummiapan and the sentiment by Poppy Stamps.
Daisies in a vase for a get well card always reminds me of You've Got Mail... one of my all time favourite films!



 

Tuesday, 3 May 2022

Thanks


I have been having fun recently with my Gelli plate and some Nuvo Shimmer powders. This butterfly emerged from one of the prints. The die is by Sizzix and has tiny little overlay pieces which add considerable interest to the effect. The large fern die is by Charlie and Paulchen and the sentiment by Stamplotations,  both of which are stacked three times.
The challenge at Fusion called for a blue butterfly... always makes me think of my friend Jen,  a consummate designer who joined me as  at Less is More many years ago, whose blog is called the Tiny Blue Butterfly!



Friday, 29 April 2022

Have yourself a fabulous birthday

A short while ago I drew a sketch for the Facebook CAS Card Making Group, (where I am a moderator) using this card as the model. It is so similar to the sketch at Just add Ink, that as I haven't previously blogged this card, I thought I would do it now!
This is the sketch from Just Add Ink.

I was using up scraps to make this card... even the die-cut flowers are from very old Cuttlebug dies. There's something about kraft or this neutral shade and white which I find particularly pleasing. The ring is mounted on foam tape to add a little dimension.
The sentiment is by Personal Impressions.



 

Sunday, 17 April 2022

40


Some years ago one of my cards found its way to a recipient who lives in Ireland. I usually put a little sticker on the back my cards with my name, phone number and email details etc and in this case it has brought many, many commissions from this particular lady. Every now and again I will receive a text from her requesting a bunch of cards. Sometimes it will be months and months between requests but it's always good to hear from her. 
The stamp used here is an old wood mounted one from Inkadinkadoo, which I think was called My Mother's Dress. I have another smaller version of it somewhere which came as part of a clear stamp set, but I've always loved it. I stamped it in black Versafine ink and then embossed it with WOW Black twinkle embossing powder. I began by colouring it with watercolour pencils, but it was just too insipid for the effect I wanted to achieve, so went over it with a couple of shades of red Copic markers.
I embossed some black card with the same EP and cut the numbers (Sizzix) and the shoes (Britannia Dies) from it. I tired to be a bit subtle with the shoes adding a slightly offset, under layer of red to suggest the brand of rather special manufacturer!






 

Friday, 15 April 2022

Stille Nacht



Recently I have discovered quite a few new (to me) craft store websites in Europe and love the purchases I have made. The trouble is I get them muddled as to what came from where... so the sentiment and church  fall into that category. 
I prefer to sing this carol in the original German, it just seems more evocative somehow, so I was delighted to get the die of it. Many years ago we visited the little chapel in Austria commemorating the composing of this carol and although not exactly like it, (I believe that one has a domed roof,) the image on the bauble is to represent it.




 

Tuesday, 12 April 2022

Have a magical birthday

 


This card is just a bit of fun. The rabbit was a 'thank you' freebie from Charlie & Paulchen with a recent order. I simply found a free piece of clip art of a magician's hat to pop him into, which I printed, cut out, and shaped, mounting it on some foam tape to keep the shape and adding a computer generated sentiment. The fonts used are Champagne and Limousines and Baby Lalisa.
The bunny was gently coloured with alcohol markers.
CASology - Fluffy

Birthday

Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

Less is More - Occupations .... Magician!