25 November 2024

Nativity card

Hi Everyone, my card today was made for a few on my Christmas card list. I have had no mojo and looking through stamps and file images, I found this. I thought it beautiful, and it would be a quick make, with far too many cards on my list, I had to get down to it. 

The image itself was very simple, I decided to add a pale blue circle behind it, and add the Peace, Joy and Love in an arch on top of it. A few were printed out and cut, then layerd onto a matching blue pearlised paper. I'm happy with it, but I hoped it would spur me on to get my mojo in gear, but nope.  

As for the piccie, even the camera was out with the framing, making it look like the blue layer wasn't straight, it was, and if I tried straightening in Photoshop, it made other parts go off kilter, so I decided to just show it as is, so to speak.

I hope you are all getting on well with your card list, and mojo is being kind to you.

image - Prairie Song Scraps
 (Blog Hop Christmas 2023 at Digital Scrapbooking Studio)
Photoshop
blue pearlised paper - Jellybean

I'm going to join Jo and Gail at the

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #92

22 November 2024

Thank you box

Hi Everyone, I have a little gift box for you today. I have been having hydrotherapy at the local hospital, as it has helped me be more mobile. I felt the physiotherapist and her receptionist, who were both friendly and so very kind, deserved a little thank you. I bought a big bag of chocolates and shared them equally between them, placing them inside red tissue paper, and then into the boxes. They are a really nice size, 4 inches high by 3.5 inches overall.

Quite a simple box, but I felt the card I used showed it off well. They were impressed, so I was happy, that they were happy.

free box - Mini Hat Treat Box - Dreaming tree
paper 250gsm - Craft Sensations
black card Crafters Companion
red cord - stash
Silhouette

  
here you can see the red tissue paper popping out, with the chocs inside it. The flower top, is part of the file, using the same floral card. I added a button gem to the centre. What you can't see is, that there are reinforcing tabs, through which the ribbon goes.
 


18 November 2024

Christmas card mid month WLSC

 Hi Everyone, my DT card today is for We Love Stamping. This month, we would love to see your cards with the theme of  

Christmas
   
 
I have a lot of stamps not used, so decided to do just that and use NBUS as Darnell says. I took 3 borders and the reindeer included in the pack. Next I drew a line corner to corner onto the card and started with one of the borders, it was short of the length, so I stamped it, then heat embossed it with gold powder. I then stamped again which took me to the opposite corner.I carried on until the corner was filled.

The reindeer and sentiment were stamped and embossed onto plain card, these were then layered onto gold mirror card, and placed onto the bottom corner of the card. Little gems were added to the antlers. I love the shine of everything.
 
stamps - Signature Collection by Sara Davies an SCP Magazine freebie
gold embossing powder - Papermania
mirror card - stash

 
Don't forget, your image must be hand coloured. We now require At least one stamped element on entries. Those of you like us, who love to stamp, we would still love you to enter your fully stamped entry.

This month we have Three prizes of Sweet Dixie Christmas die sets from Aldridge Crafts
 
 Important - Please read the updated Rules of the Challenge here

12 November 2024

Delicate florals

Hi Everyone, it's been a while since I made a card, apart from my DT items, but my SiL asked me to make a card for my Niece. It was quite short notice and I decided to make a side opening landscape, I looked through my stamps and decided to go all out with stamping multiple times.

 

I stamped in green, seeing as the details are small, and then added a little more green on the stems and tiny leaves with DO. Next, I coloured the flowers in red DO. The sentiment was then stamped in the same permanent ink. I die-cut the layer and attached it to a red layer, both laid onto the base card. I decided to add tiny butterflies with a dab of ink on a piece of card, placing them onto to the card.

 

I then turned to the insert and found a few sentiments for "daughter" on the web and a couple I had in my files, SiL chose what she wanted, so I printed it out. Next, I stamped the floral onto the insert and placed it inside the card.

  

stamp - Penny Black, Delicate Florals 

permanent ink - Whispers, pine green (very old ink}

inks - Distress Oxide, rustic wilderness, candied apple 

insert verse - CraftsUprint

butterflies - Tattered Lace?

red layer - Lidl paper

 

 

A Note: I love the top hung format portrait 5x7-inch size, but all my cards always open wide to display. I hate that, so I decided to cut mine in landscape. I took an A3 card and cut the landscape shape with my Silhouette. I also used an A3 160gsm paper to cut the insert. 

 

It was only then I realised my printer wouldn't recognise the A3 size, DUH! I thought how am I to get the insert paper to go through my printer and print correctly?  A lightbulb moment, had me attaching the cut insert to a piece of A4 paper and printing it out, it was perfect. Now I can do more of the landscape shape and not worry about the insert printing correctly. I expect a lot of you already know how to do that. I blame my age for not knowing!

06 November 2024

Flip ear dog TMR

 Hi Everyone, my DT card today is for -

OH! My goodness I did procraftinate about this card, I had a few ideas, even made 2 and threw them, one of them I spent ages measuring then put it together and what a mess. So this was my best effort. I’m really not good at measuring and making, I usually have one or other pieces not fit together, so it was off to my Silhouette and download a file to enable me to get it right. I then inked each piece. He makes me laugh and took some putting together. I 3D'd his nose and I chose the same colours as the designer,  I'm sure I will try other colours next time. He’s fun, and I'm sure one of the Great Great Nephews will love pulling his tongue out to get his ears to pop up.

 Flip Ears dog design - Lori Whitlock
all card - Lidl
inks - Distress inks, ground espresso, tea dye, festive berries, candied apple
Silhouette cut file
 

with his tongue pulled out, his ears pop up

 

03 November 2024

Christmas Card WLSC

 

 Hi Everyone, my DT card today is for We Love Stamping. This month, we would love to see your cards with the theme of  

Christmas
   
 

Out of the selection of Christmas stamps I have, this Jolly Santa shouted at me. I had seen a card that I thought would be great with Santa, so I went looking in my files for suitable paper for the face of the card and found this one. Thinking it is a simple design, suiting the theme of the card.

I added the paper to the cut shaped card, then die cut the circle. The circle needed to be highlighted a little more, I thought, so I embossed it with the next size up die, you can see it in the insert photo. I marked the circle through the hole, to stamp Santa, then coloured him with markers, then rubbed the circle guide out.

Next I stamped the sentiment onto a piece of card, and used a marker to make a simple outline around it, to match the outline theme of the paper, attaching it to the front of the card. I then stamped the insert sentiment. Whilst writing this post, I realised it didn't say "have a". I had a look through my stamps again and luckily found one I could adapt. Too late for this post though.

A fun and simple card, that I think will be duplicated for the small children of the family.

Santa and other stamps - Magazine freebies SCP221
paper -  magazine freebie 2023
markers - Spectrum Noir
dies - Tonic



Don't forget, your image must be hand coloured. We now require At least one stamped element on entries. Those of you like us, who love to stamp, we would still love you to enter your fully stamped entry.

This month we have Three prizes of Sweet Dixie Christmas die sets from Aldridge Crafts
 
 Important - Please read the updated Rules of the Challenge here
 
 

01 November 2024

Winter Robins CCC

   Hi Everyone, number 1 of my DT makes today is for -

Critter Crazy

Whether Furry, Feathered, Fantasy, Fairytale, 
Scaly, or Insect, there must be a critter.
 

With Christmas on the horizon, my card today is a - Yep! You've guessed, a Christmas card. I went looking through my files, as I have a mass of digital stamps. I found this lovely image and decided to use it. Then took it into Silhouette to cut it out, no fussy cutting for me, as you well know. I cut 3 layers, then using inks I coloured the top layer, next I added sparkle pen to the snow in the image.

It was only then I thought about a design, I looked through some sketches I have saved, and decided this one from Atlantic Hearts could be adapted to suit. 

I cut a layer to add to the base card, then lightly drew the oval, onto the base card, to blend it. After blending, I placed the layer on top, but didn't like the plainness, so used a snow embossing folder, then attached it to the base card. The image was 3D'd over the oval. I found a die sentiment that fitted into the space, backing it with red card. I'm quite pleased how it turned out 

image - Ikes Art Winter Robins
inks - Distress inks, tumbled glass, vintage photo, ground espresso, candied apple, ripe persimmon, mowed lawn, forest moss
embossing folder - Crafters Companion Snow
sentiment die - Lisa Horton magazine freebie  SCP#250
red card - Dovecraft
Stickles - used on top of the holly snow 

23 October 2024

7 Year old birthday Girl

 Hi Everyone, my card today is for my Great, Great Niece, who was 7 years earlier this month. She is a real little lady, so I thought I would do a very pink card for her, after finding a lovely paper pad in my stash.

I used a celebration number, cut with my Silhouette, it's the same alphabet as this card. I think it looks so different cut in a colour. A back layer was cut for the 7 in silver mirror card. Her name, Dorothy, was also added inside the top of the 7. 

I then hand cut 2 layers of different card to back the number, the lower layer has stars on it, although they can't be readily seen, the stars match the star on the number. I punched the corners to round them for a softer feel, I thought. 

The next layer has some pretty bows. I thought I would add a bow to the 7 to tie it all together. I love the 3 layer design of the bow, with cut centres to the top layer.

Sparkle pen was added to the number, which shows up in real life, but the camera doesn't pick it up. She is always thrilled with her cards and on a visit in August, was delighted to see where I make my cards for her and her siblings. 

 paper pad - Craft Sensations Kids
bow - Silhouette Design Store #352883 

This is a different view, I was hoping to show the sparkle on the number, but you can see the details better. 

 I touched on her siblings, earlier, this is her 2 year old baby sister Iris, playing with my eldest brother, her 88 year old very active, Great Grandfather, in August. I think it's extraordinary she should know him, let alone be able to play with him. He had been running around, playing ball with her too. Although, I suppose, not as rare as in my days, mine had long gone before I was born. Anyhow, here they are.


18 October 2024

Autumn mid month WLSC

 Hi Everyone, my DT card today is for We Love Stamping. This month, we would love to see your cards with the theme from Emma of  

Autumn
   
 

More unused stamps used for this card, I went with this seed head stamp, (I thought it was seed heads!). I found some autumnal paper and decided to stamp on it. Then the seed heads were coloured with DI's, using oranges and yellows, although the oranges don't seem to have shown as well. I stamped a sentiment, knowing what a wicked sentiment I was adding onto the insert. I layered it onto die cut brown card.

It was then I decided to use a cream base card and bend the front in half. I added a ribbon which I thought matched and added the stamped layer to the rest of the half fold.

stamp - Woodware "Autumn Flowers"
ink - Memento black
sentiment stamp - magazine freebie
inks - Distress Inks, mustard seed, spiced marmalade, ripe persimon
paper - Nana's Digi Scraps 2012
ribbon - Dovecraft
insert sentiment stamps - Creative Craft Products
 
I cut the paper to size and attached it to the insert, then I went into fun mode, no idea why, that's how my mind works sometimes. I stamped the sentiments and then for more fun added the balloons. The black sentiment says "This Young".

 
Don't forget, your image must be hand coloured. We now require At least one stamped element on entries. Those of you like us, who love to stamp, we would still love you to enter your fully stamped entry.
Three prizes from AALL and Create, two of border stamps and third two stencils 
 

 Important - Please read the updated Rules of the Challenge here

15 October 2024

Mid Month at the Christmas KickStart Challenge

  Hi Everyone, I'm honoured to be Guest Elf for October at the Christmas Kick-Start Challenge #91 -

 
 This month, Jo and I decided on this beautiful colour theme. Such a lovely combination.
Inline image

 This is the link to my first card. Loving the colour mix so much, I had to do another for the mid month make. How about you, seeing what you can do with this mix?

I was looking through my embossing folders, for another project, and found this one, that had a plain rectangle centre. Then off I went looking for a Christmas stamp and found one I liked, I hadn't used it before, amongst others not used! Anyhow, I stamped the image and heat embossed in clear powder, then fussy cut it, thankfully a simple cut. I don't think I'll ever like fussy cutting. I coloured the image with DI's, although the photo doesn't give justice to the matching colours of the theme, I used.

Then I embossed the embossing folder as the background, and decided to paint the stars with gold paint. 

I found some bright blue card to layer the embossing on and attached it to the base card, then added the image and sentiment. 

car stamp - Chloe's Creative magazine freebies Simply Cards & Papercraft #249
sentiment - magazine freebie
inks - Distress Inks, mustard seed, spiced marmalade, ripe persimmon, stormy sky, weathered wood, broken china, faded jeans, candied apple
gold paint - Kuretake
sentiment die - Card Making Magic
embossing powder - Papermania Clear
gold ink - Kuretake 
embossing folder - Cuttlebug
I hope you join in and start, or even continue, your Christmas cards with Jo and me. The colour combination is so pretty to use on our Christmas cards.
A Super prize is in the offing for the Rudolphs random raffle