Friend

This is another of the backgrounds which I made during my latest video. I used Nuvo Shimmer powders with a floral stencil and took a print from the stencil as well as having the design through it. This is the print version. The arched die is by Photoplay, I'm unsure about the butterflies and I think the sentiment is by Whimsy stamps. When I get these things, I think I'll remember, but often don't and end up rummaging through the packaging (which I keep separately) to try to find out!

I really love the delicacy of this one!

Addicted to stamps and more 

Happy Little Stampers - Anything goes with dies

 

FRIEND

I made this card to send to a fellow crafter whom I "met" on Facebook. I guess it just about sums up what I feel about the many, many people with whom I have had interaction over the internet. Questions are answered, techniques are shared and I guess this is the friendship of the 21st century! Some of these lovely people I have had the good fortune to actually meet in person... at craft shows, retreats and the like and I feel truly blessed to have all these associations.

As to the card... I began by embossing a background stamp by WOW with gold and silver embossing powder on a black base card.  The word friend is from a new alphabet die set by Memory Box called Twiggy Alphabet, which consists of the letters and their backgrounds. The flourishes are from MFT. I quite like the opulent look of this one!

The colours are from this challenge at Color Throwdown

 

Support

I have made a card similar to this before, using this MFT die set. The insert of the bra is just plain, but I wanted to give a lacy effect, so I looked through my embossing folders to see if I could find one which would give that lacy look. I have used a different one previously, but discovered that this one of Small Flowers from Nellie's Choice fit the bill admirably.

The die set is called Support Hope and I think was intended to support women with breast cancer, but this sentiment, which was shown to me by a friend who was going through another sort of cancer, expressed just how important the fellowship and strength of friends are when times are tough!

I generated the sentiment on the computer in Formal 436 font, which I thought matched the black bra well.

CASology

 

Friend

Recently I seem to have been making cards with a front panel containing apertures. If that panel is popped up onto dimensional pads it seems to add a whole lot more interest. Here I used some little crocus dies by Alexandra Renke, coloured with Distress Oxide inks, applied randomly for the flowers with a little water spritzed to move the colour around a little, and applied with a blending brush for the stems and leaves. 

Just Us Girls

Alphabet Challenge  E Easy Simple card

Hello

I saw this sketch from MFTWSC on Bloglovin and thought I would love to have a go!

Here I used a bunch of MFT dies and a sentiment from Clearly Besotted. I keep my dies in themes on magnetic sheets, in A4 plastic files. One of these is the stitched and pierced  die box. Because our card sizes in the UK are different from the USA, I need to adapt lots of these stitched and pierced dies to fit my cards. I used a square stitched die from one of the Blueprint sketch sets to make the front panel, elongating it slightly by partially cutting from each direction to make it fit. I had stamped the IO plank background with SU Smoky SLate ink before cutting.  I got the two fishtail dies out of their box, but by the time I came to use them, the small one had disappeared. (It's the story of my life  in my craft room.) I searched all over the place to no avail and then had the bright idea of looking to see if it had been attracted to the outside of one of my die boxes... in fact it had stuck to the underside of my magnetic stamping platform. Quelle relief! I hate losing dies, and have lost a few over the years. I think some tiny ones have gone out with the trash after falling into the bin with scraps of card!

We have had some lovely weather recently which makes sitting in the garden more of a pleasure, especially as the chap who comes to do our garden hasn't been affected by the stay at home policy as he is working alone in the open air!

Clean and Simple on Friday

Black &White and One Colour

I don't often cover the whole of the front of a card, in fact I don't remember the last time that I did it, but here is a second with quite a bit of coverage and is using the same Impression Obsession plank background as the previous card. Makes me realise how much I like it!

This card was inspired by the challenge at The Card Concept

I thought that the wood of the console table was rather like this stamp so I added tulips and a cross and an Easter sentiment. I thought that the tan base of the card was rather like the frame in the photo too!

I hope everyone manages to have a peaceful Easter.

Do stay well everyone and take care!

You're so Special

I've had this Indigo Blu stamp for ages... years I guess... and it has never before seen ink. In fact it is a largeish background stamp, but here I just used the top bit to make an 'along the edge' card for AAA Cards.

There are some great expressions on these little guys' faces and I decided to highlight just a couple of them and add a sentiment from Sugar Pea Designs. There are so many sentiments in this set (Everyday Sentiments) and I find them really useful.

Yesterday we ventured out for a walk in the sunshine along the front at Lee on the Solent. Lots of people had the same idea, but there was plenty of room for everyone without encroaching on anyone else's space. Apparently some National Trust grounds have had to be closed today as so many ventured to them yesterday. We are fortunate to have a garden where we can sit in the better weather and get a little fresh air. Some of the Spring flowers are just emerging!

  Stay safe everyone!

Animal friends

Here we have a couple of images from Artemio, stamped and clear embossed before colouring with Copics, then cutting out. I put them onto a background of grass made on glossy paper using alcohol inks. I simply cut the top border with a grass die (not sure of the make). The sentiment is from Altenew.

It's for the challenge at AAA cards.

 

Memory Box Challenge

I just found a new (to me) challenge called Outside the Box, which is part of Memory Box. As many of you know I love die cutting and Memory Box is one of my favourite companies, so I just had to have a go!

The challenge this time is Warm Colours

To make the card I simply cut the front panel with the solid butterfly die and cut the top layer of filigree butterflies from a separate piece of card. I coloured the backdrop with Distress Inks, applied with sponge daubers. The filigree butterflies were then inlaid into the gap and the sentiment from Altenew stamped beneath it! I think I may add a little pearl to each body.. I think it needs just a little something!

More die cuts

A quick card for a couple of challenges.

Simple die cut dog and cat and a stamped  sentiment from Altenew, all popped onto a raised panel. 

Make it Monday - Friendship

AAA Cards Make it in Minutes

This one is for the challenge at The Male Room where they are having a celebration to commemorate 6 Years... quite an achievement! Congratulations girls definitely worth raising a glass or two!

Bit of a die cutting bonanza today!

Floating Die Cuts

I really enjoy watching videos from Jennifer McGuire, she always has fresh ideas and ways to extend my range of techniques. Here is a pair of cards which I made after watching her video about making cards with 'Floating Dies'. Thanks to amazon Prime i only had to wait a day to get my roll of Press 'n' Seal, the product needed to do this technique.

I used a coordinating stamp and die from Clearly Besotted. I cut a foliage spray from a piece of card and then placed the die cut, still in  position in the piece of card, in my MISTI. I placed the stamp over the diecut and inked it up with Lucky Limeade ink from Stampin' Up. I then proceeded to cut many more die cuts and each time placing the cut piece in the gap of the original piece of card in my MISTI and stamping, using that card as a jig.

I arranged the stamped die cuts over a piece of card the same size as the card front. When I was happy with the arrangement I covered it with a piece of Press 'n' Seal and die cut the aperture and the edge at the same time. It cut the Press 'n' Seal, the card and the diecuts all at once.

I carefully removed the card from the  the back of the diecuts leaving them temporarily adhered to the plastic. I then added dimensional pads to each of the leaves, before laying them back over the cut card front. Once stuck down I peeled off the Press 'n' Seal and Hey Presto apparently 'floating' leaves. I stamped the sentiment from Penny Black and embossed in gold before sticking the panel onto the front of the card.

This technique always gives you a Twofer, so the centre section which was cut, forms the basis of another card. I simply cut a larger frame from Framelits to surround the leaves. As there were tiny fragments of diecuts on this piece I decided to merely stick them straight onto the card instead of letting them float. So after removing them from the card on which they were cut, I glued the them, placed them in position and stuck them to the card front and then removed the Press 'n' Seal.  The bits were too small for dimensional pads... even cut down pieces! I popped the frame on to pads instead.

The sentiment was cut twice once in white and once on gold and layered to stretch across the frame.

Jennifer explains it all beautifully on her YouTube post so if all this is gobbledegook, do check out her video.

After all this, it's my contribution for Darnell's  Twofer Garden Challenge!

Well leaves grow in gardens don't they!

We're off to see our granddaughter in Bath Theatre School's  production of Aladdin this afternoon, should be fun!

Negative Space

The latest challenge at Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge is to use Negative Space. This is not a term I have come across before although I guess that I have in fact done this technique before but not realised there was a specific term for it!

The leaf die I used is from Simon Says Stamp, cut from a piece of black card, which was mounted over a watercolour background.

The word die was picked up on the internet, not sure if it was eBay or Amazon, but I'm not sure of the manufacturer.

I think that with this colour backdrop, the dark card front makes quite a dramatic contrast.

Do join us!

Spring Flowers

It's always a little tricky when colouring a one layer card, as it looks horrid if the colour transfers to the inside of the card, which is why I have used watercolour here. Some times I use watercolour pencils and a brush and sometimes I use paints... here I used a combination of the two. I wasn't too pleased with the colours I had used from the pencils so I added a little warmth from the colours in my little paintbox.

The stamps are from Penny Black.

There's something a little odd about the bucket... There's a line around the back of the flowers which I think is supposed to be the rear  rim of the bucket, but the perspective is all wrong to my eye, so I ignored adding colour to the inside of the bucket as I thought that it would accentuate this anomaly!

The Paper Players - One Layer

Crazy for CAS - Watercolour

Addicted to stamps and More - Make your mark

Ike's World - Clean and Simple

Papercraft Challenges - Clean and Simple

Friends

I feel really privileged to have made so many friends through crafting... some of whom I have actually managed to meet IRL. This is a card for one of them!

It's my DT card for Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge this time around and it couldn't be much more simple. I believe that the sentiment die here is an old one from Spellbinder and the stitched flower from Memory Box. I simply coloured the places behind the apertures with alcohol markers (on a separate piece of card so that the ink didn't show through to the inside of the card) and popped the front panel onto dimensional pads.

I hope my friend knows how much I treasure our friendship... I'm sure she does!

Friends

A card caught my eye this morning, doing exactly the job it was intended to do! It was a DT card for the challenge at The Card Concept

Here is the challenge     

 and this was the card which inspired me! 

I didn't have any heart dies with 'stitching' so I used a stitched strip die to emboss the marks on both the card and the hearts.

I believe that the friend die can be obtained from Aliexpress.

Well speaking of friends... there's a friend of many out there called Di, of the famous Pixie's Playground where snippets are the focus of everything!

She has been running her challenge now for many a year and encourages us all to use up all those bits and bobs which would otherwise be tossed! I always have heaps as I never like to throw anything away.. hence the clutter in my craft room. All the little die cuts are from my snippets drawer!

I was lucky enough to meet Di IRL some time ago when Darnell was over this side of the pond for her famous English Tour! It was such fun actually meeting people face to face whom we have only known via the internet. 

Darnell is doing a tribute Blog Hop for Di here, so do take a peek and join in the fun!

Long may your challenge continue Di!
Addicted to CAS - Friends

Close to your heart

The challenge at CAS Mix up is to use Embossing folders.

Here is a card made from a die from MFT and an embossing folder from Craft Concepts.

The die set has a separate panel for the bra cup and so I looked through my EFs for a pattern which would give the appearance of lace! This one has swirls which exactly match the contour of the die cut when placed strategically in  the folder. I decided to add a little colour to the image by inking the flat side inside the folder with Archival Brilliance Pigment ink, before running through my Big Shot.

I layered the main part of the bra to give a little strength before popping it onto dimensional pads.

The sentiment was 'stamped' onto the card using the computer as I didn't have this wording in my stash and it is kinda specific... and so true!!

This is also for Clean and Simple on Friday... "Make a card to brighten someone's day!"

A couple more cards

Here is a simple card made for the challenge at Colours and Sketches.

When I saw the design I immediately thought of this digi image which was lurking somewhere in the depths of my computer. As it has been there for quite sometime I really don't remember its origin. It was simply coloured with Promarkers, cut out and mounted on 3D pads. The sentiment is from a stamp set from Creative Stamps.

This one is for the CAS Christmas Challenge. It couldn't be much simpler! Again this is a digi image but when filed away on my computer ages ago, I failed to add a source to it, so if anyone recognises it I should be pleased to know its source. He was gently shaded and twinkled with Glamour Dust.

The sentiment is from Altenew which I believe was a freebie with a mag. The embossing on the background is from  a Sheena Douglass folder.

Fabulous Friend

I was just browsing a few blogs when a card from my fabulous friend Anita, jumped out at me. It's her inspiration card for MUSE and what an inspiration it is, I think it's absolutely stunning.

So this is my attempt!

I used a Tim Holtz stencil and brushed some Candied Apple Distress ink through it. I simply added some Sizzix flower die-cuts and stamped a one word sentiment from Paper Smooches. The front panel, cut with a SSS stitched rectangle and elongated a tad to fit a British card size, was popped up on dimensional pads.

You and me

I just received these sentiment dies from CUTplorations and had to try them out.

The base layer ones are from Simon Says Stamp and it's just the simplest design, but it appeals to me!

The challenge at Time Out is to be inspired by this phrase!

The sentiment was cut from a piece of card which I had coloured using a marbling technique.

'Friends are connected heart to heart, distance and time can't break them apart'

 I think that this will fit the bill!

It's also for the CAS Challenge at Stamplorations ...I'm not sure if the pink is quite hot enough, but part of the marbling sheet I cut it from was!

Fabulous Friend

Another piece of smooshed card here, die-cut to make this jolly balloon against a background embossed with a Stampin' Up folder. I find it difficult to remember the source of lots of my stash particularly the stuff that doesn't see the light of day too frequently. I don't think I've used the balloons before and the hello has seldom been used. I know that the fabulous friend bit is from Clearly Besotted and I just looked up the hello and discovered it's from Technique Tuesday. For the moment the origin of the balloons remains a mystery.

CASe this Sketch