An Easter Card on Good Friday

I've used Simon Says Stamp's pretty Outline Floral Cross die on quite a few Communion and Confirmation cards, but for my first time I'm using it on an Easter card.

To start with I used distress inks and water spritzing to make a rainbow panel, or I should say three rainbow panels on different cardstocks with differing results. After that I die cut the cross and decided which background it looked best against. The cross was adhered to the panel with foam pads and I added a Hero Arts flower gem to finish. I matted the panel on white card and added it to the card base using foam pads.

Die - Outline Floral Cross (Simon Says Stamp) & Distress Inks (barn door, spiced marmalade, mustard seed, mowed lawn, tumbled glass and dusty concord) - Tim Holtz Ranger

For the inside I stamped the sentiment from Hero Arts' Celebrate Everyday set, die cut it out and matted it on a piece die cut from one of the other rainbow panels.

Stamp - Celebrate Everyday (Hero Arts), Die - Labels 4 (Spellbinders) & Distress Inks (mowed lawn, tumbled glass and dusty concord) - Tim Holtz Ranger

I'm submitting this card into Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge.

Scrappy Shamrock

Recently I've been sorting out my paper scraps and what a job it's been! I don't know how I've managed to accumulate so many scraps but I'm going to try to use more and more of them in my cards before the scrap containers burst at the seams.

With so many scraps of green patterned paper on hand, I decided to use some of them on a card I sent to my aunt for St Patrick's Day.

Stamp - Celebrate Everyday (Hero Arts), Embossing Folder - Shamrocks (Darice), Dies - Fancy Tags (Spellbinders) & Framelits Hearts (Sizzix)

I stuck strips of patterned paper onto pieces of light cardstock and die cut three scrappy hearts. The hearts were put together to form a shamrock and I used some of the card left over after die cutting the hearts to make a stem.

The background was dry embossed and the sentiment stamped on a die cut tag.

Here we don't send each other St Patrick's Day cards, so I usually only make one every year for a friend who lives further afield. But because of visiting restrictions this year due to Covid, I made a few more to send, so I'll post those tomorrow given the day that's in it.

Sparkly Gift Tags

I really enjoyed joining in on Simon Says All That Glitters is Gold Challenge so when I woke early this morning gathered together some supplies to get a start on Christmas gift tags for bottles.

Dies - Eliza & Kate Snowflakes (Simon Says Stamp), Fancy Cut Christmas (Hero Arts), Circle Nestabilites (Spellbinders) and Stitched Circles (Pink & Main)

I think shaker cards are so fun so made a shaker to go on my first tag. I adhered five glittery gold stars to the plain black background of the shaker element, added a mix of sequins and stars and used a gold frame over the acetate to trap all the shaker pieces inside. A pretty bow, not made by me but recycled from a box of chocolates, finished off the look I wanted.

I love the way my friend Linda used a die to emboss the background on her bicycle card here. So I did the same with the Eliza Snowflake die on this tag, added the Kate Snowflake cut from glittery card and a little gold gem to the centre of the snowflake.

When I was taking photos of the tags on the bottles who should come along with his own bottle of Buck's Fizz looking for a chase - Toby! I don't know if it was coincidental or if he recognised the similarities between what I had and one of his toys, but I had a good laugh when I saw him and managed to get him to pose for a few seconds after I chased him down the corridor.

Yarn Bombing and Emoji Card

June Fest is on again in our neighbouring town Newbridge. We happened to be in Newbridge one glorious sunny evening and came across the yarn bombing in Liffey Linear Park. It was so enjoyable strolling through the park and taking in all the fun and funky knitted and crocheted pieces that decorated trees, lampposts, railing, benches etc.

Because it was so sunny and bright and I had to take photos on my phone, unfortunately, my photos don't do justice to the installation, but here goes anyway!

The first hint of what was to come was the way the swan statue at the entrance to the park was bedecked in colourful knits.

Well done to whoever yarn bombed this life sized angel!

Crochet flowers were trailing from the flower basked on this lamppost

and the trees along the pathway were full of colour.

There was even a little bit of Christmas to be found with this gingerbread man on his bike

and a snowman was tucked away in a tree decorated with candy canes.

I loved this fun couple

and the aquatic pieces on this lamppost.

If you want to take a breather, near this teacup lamppost with cupcakes and donuts

there is a fabulous bench under a shady tree.

After a little break how about shooting some hoops

or taking a stroll to the end of the park

where some colourful mushrooms had sprouted at the base of this tree?

Flowers, bees and sea life were out in force on the banks of the River Liffey.

I couldn't think of a better placement for this poo emoji

and there were lots more emojis to be found on this lamppost.

After coming home I thought I really must make a card using an emoji die set I picked up on a fun shopping trip last year with my friend Linda.

Die - Emojis die set (Spellbinders)
Stamp - Woodland Creatures (Hero Arts)

I just wanted to make a quick and simple card using one of the emoji dies and because of the way all the trees were decorated in the park I wanted to use some kind of woodgrain on the card. In the end I recycled a piece of card I had saved from packaging.

Hope you enjoyed taking a peek at some of the yarn bombing in Newbridge. It's well worth a visit if you happen to live nearby or even not so nearby :)

Rainbow Flower

I love the theme of this week's Wednesday challenge over at Simon Says Stamp - Showers and/or Flowers and had fun today playing along with the challenge. For my card I decided to have silver sequins representing the rain and, as a rainbow is always a great bonus after a shower, made a rainbow background for the card.

Dies - Tudor Rose Collection (Spellbinders), Curvy Leaves (Elizabeth Craft Designs) and Thanks Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts)

I started by applying distress inks (barn door, spiced marmalade, mustard seed, mowed lawn, salty ocean and shaded lilac) to white card, spritzed with water and repeated the process. Once I was happy with the background I matted it top and bottom with black card and adhered it to a white card base. As the background was so colourful I decided to die cut my flowers and leaves from white card. When the flowers were layered, I added a silver sequin to the flower centre.

The sentiment was die cut twice from black card and layered for some dimension. A sprinkling of silver sequins finished the card.

Critter Christmas

Oh where did that weekend go?! Just before I head to work I want to set another Christmas card challenge for my friend Linda. This week I’m going with Critter\s Christmas so the card should have any type of animal\s on it.

For my card and tag I inked up a funny reindeer image from Art Impressions. As soon as I spotted the reindeer with the wobbly bottom I had to get it – I know some of my family and friends will get a laugh out of that fella when they see him on their Christmas cards.

Stamp – Jingle Set (Art Impressions)
Embossing Folder – Snowflake Scroll (Darice)

After stamping, colouring and cutting out the reindeer I adhered him to a card panel that had been embossed and stamped with the sentiment. Then I cut out and coloured an extra bottom which shakes as it’s been adhered to the larger image with an action wobble.

I had to add a little sparkle so out came diamond stickles to go on the bells.

Next up I made a matching tag. Even reindeer are taking selfies now:)

Stamp – Jingle Set (Art Impressions)
Dies - Film & Polaroid – (Greeting Farm) and Romantic Rectangles 2 (Spellbinders)

Linda has already set her challenge here - it's a good one and one of my favourite techniques!

Not a Christmas Image

It's time again to challenge my friend Linda to make a Christmas card and this time I'm going with the theme of making a card on which the main image is not a Christmas related one.

This week I've made a card for a friend who is mad into golf. I think she'd play golf on Christmas Day except for the fact that her club is closed! For my main image I used a fun golf martini stamp from a set Linda gave me recently - thanks again Linda! The image was coloured with Promarkers and I added a sprig of holly for a festive feel.

Stamps: Fore Retirement - Impression Obsession, Woodland Wreaths (sentiment) - WPlus9 & Christmas Characters (holly) - Inkadinkado
Die: Elegant Ovals (Spellbinders)

The top part of the glass and the flag are popped up on foam pads for extra dimension and I added a layer of Glossy Accents to the glass.

For a matching tag I treated the die cut golf ball as if it were a Christmas pudding by topping it with a sprig of holly.

Dies: Golf Ball and Tee - Taylored Expressions & Nesting Gift Tags (Docrafts Xcut)
Stamp: Christmas Characters (holly) - Inkadinkado

Linda has already set me a challenge for this week. You can see it here. Oh I think her challenge is the most difficult type of card for me to make - hope I can come up with something that's even semi okay!!

Lavender Sachets

Now that lavender is in full bloom here, except in my garden where it seems to be a bit behind this year, my sister gave me two big bunches from her garden which I am currently drying out on trays covered with tissue paper.

I still have some dried lavender in a jar which came from both of our gardens last year so I decided to make lavender sachets using some pretty felt die cuts my friend Linda gave me recently. You can see gorgeous sachets that Linda made here and pick up some great tips from her too.

These Simon Says Stamp dies have gone straight to the top of my shopping list - thanks for enabling me, yet again, Linda;) The first sachet was made for my sister so she could enjoy the glorious scent of lavender from her garden year round.

Dies - Plush Blooming Heart & Plush Charmed Heart (Simon Says Stamp)

I popped the heart in a little cellophane bag and die cut and folded over the larger oval die to use as a topper.

Dies - Plush Blooming Heart & Plush Charmed Heart (Simon Says Stamp) and Elegant Ovals Nestabilities (Spellbinders
Stamp - Sew Artsy (Hero Arts)

The other sachet is for my Mam. Next up I think I'll make one for myself and get an order in with Simon Says Stamp:)

Dies - Plush Blooming Heart & Plush Charmed Heart (Simon Says Stamp)

CAS Christmas

It's time again to set a Christmas card challenge for my friend Linda and this week it's going to be a CAS Christmas card. I have to say CAS cards are definitely a challenge for me but I thought I'd give it a go anyway this week. I see Linda has already posted a challenge for me here on her blog - can't wait to make a start on something!

After die cutting a window and stamping a sentiment on a panel of white card, I added a little elf peeking out of the window. I adhered an embossed circle to the card base before attaching the panel with foam pads. To finish I applied stickles to the trim and bobble on the elf's hat. It was such a quick and easy card to make especially as I had the elf image already coloured with Promarkers and ready to go on a card.

Stamps - Santa's Elves Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts) & Woodland Wreaths (WPlus9)
Die - Nestabilities Circles (Spellbinders)
Embossing folder - Cuttlebug Lace Tree (Provo Craft)

For my matching tag I used another elf image from the same Hero Arts set and sandwiched baker's twine between the embossed circle and a backing circle.

Stamp - Santa's Elves Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts)
Die - Nestabilities Circles (Spellbinders)
Embossing folder - Cuttlebug Lace Tree (Provo Craft)

If you'd like to join in on Linda's challenge and/or mine we'd love you to add a link to your card on either of our blogs.

Scrappy Happy Weekend

Over the weekend I continued with the plan to use up more of my card and fabric scraps to make some more cards. I got a bit carried away and made the following four cards plus blocks to go on future cards.

I forgot to take photos of my scraps before I started and I've completely used up some of the patterned paper scraps but I had a little bundle like this put together at the start of the weekend with fabric, card and even envelopes from bills.

My favourite die from WPlus9's Quilt Cuts 2 set is the star die and I used it and the inlaid die cut technique for all of my cards. For the first two cards I used some rainbow coloured fabric which I had left over from a quilt I made years ago.

Dies - Quilt Cuts 2 (WPlus9), Scalloped Squares (Spellbinders), Tags & Bookplates (Docrafts)
Stamp - Everyday Sayings (Hero Arts)

Die - Quilt Cuts 2 (WPlus9)
Stamp - It's Your Day (Hero Arts)

I love greens and blues so I have loads of scraps in these colours left over from other projects. In my stash of plain card scraps I have lots of kraft and white so used a combination of patterned and plain scraps to make the following cards.

Dies - Quilt Cuts 2 (WPlus9), Scalloped Squares (Spellbinders) and Thanks Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts)

Dies - Quilt Cuts 2 (WPlus9), Bundle of Stitched Shapes (Simon Says Stamp) and Tags & Bookplates (Docrafts)
Stamp - Everyday Sayings (Hero Arts)

Whenever I can I like to use recycled materials on my cards and now, thanks to the blue and white patterned insides of envelopes which came with bills, I have some blocks lined up for another card. At least there's some upside to bills;)