White and gold snowflakes

Good morning

We have a lovely colour combination to tempt you to join in at 52CCT this week. 

After a bit of thought I came up with this idea. Eight snowflakes are die cut and glued onto the card. I cut the ninth from the front of the card and embossed in gold and, after a bit of fiddling, glued it onto the inside of the card so it shows through the cut out. 

Here is the inside. Showing the gold star and gold embossed 'Merry Christmas'.

I glued the snowflakes on first before cutting out the last one which meant they were all rolled through and firmed down during cutting. This is a technique which Di from Pixie's Snippets Playground recommends but I never remember to do. It beds the die cuts into the card though I should have used a shim on the inside as there are a few marks from the base cutting plate. 

I'm popping into the Playground with this as I've used snippets - of course! 
CraftyHazelnutsChristmas Challenge #428

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

March sketch challenge

March is here and a new set of challenges at 52CCT.

We always start the month with a sketch and here it is:

I used an topper image which someone once gave me. I don't normally use this sort of thing but I think it fits well here with my inked an embossed background. 

The left side is clear embossing on green and the right is clear embossing with pink and green inking. I often struggle with sketches but I managed to put this together without too much of a headache. 

I hope you like it an are inspired to join in with our sketch challenge. 

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Butterfly challenge with new stamps

Hello lovely crafters, 

I recently went to a local craft fair. I was very restrained in my buying and chose this set I knew I could use in several different ways plus the die. It's a new to me brand called Rainbow Designs. All the stamps here are from that set apart from the butterfly and the squiggle which are Inky Doodles. 

Mrs A's Butterfly challenge, with the Letter G, gave the perfect opportunity to use them. I've already made a paper pieced flower card which looked pretty good. ( In my opinion 😊).

I was inspired to use all the options though that is not necessary to join in the challenge. 
Incredibly I forgot to stamp the butterfly. It was supposed to go around the edge with the flowers so I added it afterwards but it does gives some extra dimension. 

So I embossed in GOLD, coloured in GRAPE and GREEN (Brushos) added some GLOSSY ACCENTS with GLITTER and finally a few GEMS and the Butterfly, of course. 
I sprinkled the glitter onto the Glossy Accents while it was still wet and then it dries into it. 
FYI Biodegradable glitter is now available!

I hope you like it. I think anything looks good embossed in gold and I love to paint inside embossing as its so easy!

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Also linking to 

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - use snippets

Crafty Cardmakers - Explosion of colour

Pink and silver - what's not to love!

Hello lovely crafters

It's not often you get to combine two colour challenges but that is what I have done. 




This week at 52CCT Fabiola has challenged us to use Silver and we can use other colours. 

Over at the Jingle Belles challenge it's Pink but we can use other colours. 

This is what they say:

'If you've played along with us in other years, you may already know that at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we always devote the first theme of each October to making pink holiday cards as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and that for each card that gets linked up, we (Stephanie and Lauren) each donate two dollars to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. '

Thank you for your generous donations. x

So pink and silver it was!

I embossed the Christmas tree in silver then added pink baubles. I confess I'd like to have this tree in my house. In case that is not enough pink here is the inside:

I hope a silver challenge will inspire you to get busy with your cards and join us at 52CCT. We are also having a DT call to add to our talented team. 

Thanks for visiting. Enjoy your day. x

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge.  Anything goes. 

Tied up with string

Hello Lovely Crafters, 

Can you believe it's May? We've been so busy longing for spring that April has passed by. Spring is at least here and parts of April were, indeed, lovely. 

This week at 52CCT we have a sketch challenge brought to you by Lucinda. 

I can see now that I haven't followed it very correctly but I hope it's near enough and  I can be forgiven. If not I'll have to be struck off.  
I embossed a piece of inky crumpled paper and used that as the base. The lovely stamp is from Creative Stamping #35

We hope you will have time to join in, have a lovely weekend. 
xxx

Silver snowflakes and shimmer

Hello Lovely Crafters
Welcome to another month at 52CCT. I am hosting for April and this week I have a sketch for you. 

I hope you have fun with it. You can use different shapes and orientation as long as we can see the basic sketch.

I wanted to use acrylic blocks for inking the squares but the only way this would work sizewise was on a DL card. Often the idea in my head doesn't quite work in terms of scale. 

I smooshed Teal Zeal and Grape Jelly onto a square acrylic block and then spritzed with water. You want some but not too much water or the ink drips off. Then I used that to stamp my squares. I added more colour with a brush where I thought I needed it and also added a tiny amount of Perfect Pearls for some shimmer. Embossing the snowflakes was the easy part. 

You can see a little shimmer here. 

I've used a strip on inked paper at the bottom and then a few gems for accent. 
I've lost the name of the snowflakes but the sentiment is Inkylicious. 

We hope you have time to join in the challenge, you have one week and we love to see your cards. 
I've had no time for crafting in the last few weeks and the next few don't look too good either! Perhaps I can squeeze an hour in one evening before I get withdrawal symptoms. 
Thanks for visiting, Enjoy Your Day. x

Metallic look snowflakes

Our latest challenge at 52CCT is Embossing. Everyone's favourite. You can use heat or dry embossing or both as I have. 

I made this by embossing with a snowflake folder then rubbing on ink in different colours. I can't tell you what they all were but I kept sponging on more until I was happy with the colour. There is definitely some pink, blue and purple. The final layer is silver to give the metallic look I was after.

I do like the mix of colours. 

The embossing folder came with a craft magazine and the sentiment is Inkylicious.

We've had plenty of snow and I really don't want any more. So what I mean is don't let it snow!

We hope you have time to join in. As there are 5 Saturdays in March, you have an extra week to be inspired. 

Thanks for visiting and enjoy your day. X

Embossed kraft

Hello Lovely Crafters, 
Sometimes a quick card is needed and that is what this is. It is not very inventive but is what time allowed. 

This week we have a colour challenge from Fabiola at 52CCT.

These colours are particularly Christmassy so do see what you can come up with and join in with our challenge. 

I've used an Inkylicious sentiment stamp, a Sizzix embossing folder and everything else is from my stash. I think the snowflake is saved from an old Christmas Card! I've finally found a good use for it. I've also used DP inside to strengthen the card a little and make it easier to write on.

Thanks for visiting and Enjoy your Day. x

I'm linking this to ABC Christmas. The challenge is E for Emboss, F for Frill  or G for Glitter. I've used embossing, obviously  and there is a fair amount of glitter around from the snowflake. Some of it is still on the snow flake. 

Feathers times two

Hello lovely crafters
It just so happens there is a new challenge on the block. The theme happens to be feathers. I happen to have a feather stamp and it happens to have Never Been Used. This is perfect as the challenge is organised by Darnell. 

The challenge is to make two cards using the same stamp but the cards must be for different occasions. Thus stretching our ingenuity and our stash. 

 Here are my two cards using a feather stamp and sentiments from Ultimate Crafts. 

I embossed the feathers in clear powder. 
I had an image in my head of rich colours blended so I inked over with a mix of ink pads (Danube, Teal Zeal, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves) and a blending tool. Then I spritzed with water hoping for fine droplets. I never learn. I got great  drips but it was done so I went with it. More inking followed.
Then I removed some of the ink on the feathers with water. It didn't take of much so I tried a drop of bleach in the water. You only need a tiny drop and then you'll find yourself adding colour back in again. 
I finished it with some flattened raffia ribbon.
The sentiment was embossed in clear then I coloured the white card with a Pro-marker. Pro-markers colour clear embossing. Who knew? I thought it looked OK so I kept it instead of starting again and having a white sentiment. It isn't really blurred as it looks here. 

I was less pleased with this in general but now I quite like it. 
The feathers are embossed in silver and then painted in with Danube Blue, very dilute, and a touch of Perfect Pearls. I over-stamped more feathers in Cloudy Blue. 
I added a strip of paper for definition and a few gems. 
I'm also linking this one to the Stamping Sensations challenge Cold and Frosty Colours

Twofer is a great idea and is fun to try out a different idea with a stamp instead of immediately putting it away. (I'm sure you don't leave yours out to gather dust and fluff). 

Thanks for visiting. Enjoy your day. x

Merry Monday - red and kraft

I really like the idea of the current  Merry Monday challenge which is to use red and kraft.

 It's a very Christmassy combination. I really struggled to get my ideas in order, though, and in the end this is what I made:

There is a bit of clear embossing, some red embossing, a tartan ribbon and there it is!
I'll definitely use this combination again when my head is more organised.

Thanks for visiting and Enjoy your Day. x

CCT-October Stash

We are into the second week of our Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge - October stash. We have been asking you to use canvas or wood on your cards. 

I think wood is a popular feature on cards but canvas is maybe not quite so easy. 

I have used an embossing folder which I have had for a good long while and rarely used. It is actually called 'Hessian' but I hope I can be forgiven for that. 

I started with grey paper, embossed and then inked directly with a Dew Drop Brilliance white pigment ink pad. I blended more grey and black dye ink around the edge.
The ribbon on the left is covering an unembossed area where the folder was too narrow and I couldn't get it in my machine in the other direction. 

I heat embossed the holly (Honey Doo Holly) on vellum, added some more Brilliance with a brush and a touch of red pencil on the backs of the berries. 

I will say that the holly was reluctant to lie flat even after scrolling with a ball tool on the back. It had to be quite well stuck down so as not to be damaged in transit. It really behaved like real holly being prickly and curled up in all directions. In fact it was like one of those paper fish you hold in your hand that tell your fortune. Perhaps because I'd painted it with ink. 

I wanted to create a wintry frosty look and I think that's what I've done. I hope you will feel inspired to join in with our challenge. Do have a look at all the great work by the rest of the DT.
I'm Joining in with October Rudolf Days over at Scrappy Mo's. There are always wonderful cards to inspire.
Also Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Callenge #357 Anything Goes as long as it's Christmas. 
Thanks for visiting and Enjoy Your Day, x