Dotty

Hands up if your card always turns out as you'd expect. 
This was going to be CAS with an all white background. I found this dotty paper and all was lost!

I started as I'd planned by sponging green ink onto some scraps, stamping the snowflakes and die cutting the circles. Of course, I could have started with green card. 
The I embossed the circles twice with clear powder and added a tiny bit of glitter before heating a second time. 
Then I fiddled about die cutting the strip to go behind not realising that most of it would be hidden. 

What I've finished up with here is a modern looking card so I popped the sentiment on sideways to continue the theme. 

I learnt this trick on You Tube this week. I'm sure you all do this anyway but it was a revelation for me. Tape a bit of scrap paper onto your shape while you heat emboss to use as a handle. No burnt fingers or finger prints in the embossing!

I'm running in to Pixie's Snippets Playground. I've used snippets for the circles and sentiment and also a piece of patterned paper which I have a stack of and don't use much. Now I have two more snippets of the dotty paper! 
Also checking in with Scrappy Mo's Rudolf Days challenge just at the last minute. Anything goes as long as it's Christmas. 

Stencil from die-cut.

Hello everyone. 

I've finally managed to make a card I'm happy with after a bit of dry spell of feeling uninspired. Now I can't wait to get on and make some more. There is a storm on the way tomorrow so perhaps that is the perfect opportunity to stay in with stamps. 

I took inspiration from 

 I rooted through my box of dies to choose one which would work for this technique. 

 I chose this bubble/circle die which I have not used nearly enough. It's one of those I bought and then forgot why I'd chosen it. I like the fact that you get all the little circles to and I save them though I don't really know why.

Holding down the two pieces of stencil was a little fiddly and there was no where to tape it down. I should have tried to gently stick it. I think I got away with it, though. 

I sponged through it with green, blue and yellow ink. Then I decided to use some of the little circles so I inked them using the same colours and added Glossy Accents. 
When they were dry I popped some into the shapes with a few extra for accents. 

So I've used a die to make the stencil and then used: inking, stamping, more die cutting and glossy accents. Plus using up the scraps which must count for something!

I don't have many stencils but I would like to get some more. I'll also try this again. 

I can't wait to visit the cards from the DT and also the entries which are inspiring but must do some cooking first!
Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Dreaming of summer

Hello and welcome to a dull damp day in the UK. I'm dreaming of spring and summer but it will be here before too long, I know and we must enjoy the now.

Pink and green is one of my favourite colour combinations and that's what I've used here:

I needed to make a special birthday card so I picked out one of my favourite flower stamps. Two stamps in fact from an Ultimate Crafts set. One is a single flower and one is a spray so you can cut them out to give different looks. 

I stamped in black and then coloured in Picked Raspberry and Mowed Lawn. Putting a little ink on an acrylic block and painting with water. Then cut them all out and arranged round the edge. I'm sure I've done something similar before but hey, if it works!
I also stamped in grey ink around the edge of the green backing to give some extra interest. 

I added some pearls in the flower centres and a tiny bit of Pearl Effects on the other flowers, risky as the card was finished by then but I got away with it! 
I'm pleased with this sweet look and love the colours. 

Having used and old faithful stamp I can join in with Stamping Sensations - Favourite Stamps. 
Also I've used snippets so I can call into Pixie's Snippets Playground and show off.  As always we are encouraged to use up our snippet mountain. I have in fact, organised mine so I can now find what I need and it takes up less room. I threw out a tiny amount but not much of course. :)
The Allsorts Challenge this time is 'Say it with flowers' so that seems appropriate for this card. 

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Take a breath

I've been making this card for about three weeks. It's not that it's particularly complicated but just that all the nonsense of Christmas got in the way. 
Having fed people and washed up (with help) for two days straight, I now have time to relax. 
I don't know why we tidy up before Christmas as by the end of the day nothing is in the right place and there are piles of presents and paper everywhere. I've just about got it back to normal now. 

This card started as a one layer card but having stamped. coloured and added the greeting I didn't like the layout so I cut out the flower and leaves and started again as you see here. I like this much more.

I masked off the background and stamped a few leaves. The flower cut out is embossed in silver and coloured with Distress Oxide inks and water, Then, as I usually do,  I raised it up with snips of card on the back instead of foam pads. 

The die cut sentiment is coloured with the same ink and then double embossed with clear powder which gives a smart look, I think. 

The stamps are Pink Fresh from a recent Creative Stamping magazine and the sentiment is Creative Expressions. 

I'm nipping into Pixie's Snippets Playground. Pixie, aka Di, is running a bumper prize draw over the holidays but you have to be in it to win it. Do go over and have a look if you haven't already. Thanks Di for doing this when you might understandably feel like having a well earned rest. 
You need to use at least one snippet of paper, card, wool, ribbon or anything else. I've used several scraps of card here. 

I'm pleased to have another birthday card to add to my stash and now a bit of time to work on a few more. 
Thanks for visiting and hoping you all get time to do what you love this holiday. x

Are we there yet?

Welcome to our final challenge of 2019. If you've been following our 52CCT challenges all year and playing along then Well done! Hopefully you now have a good little stash of cards all ready to post. 
Huge thanks for joining in. 😊
Our final challenge of the year runs for the whole of December so there is plenty of time to join in with those final cards. 

You can find all our previous challenges on the tabs at the top of our page. There is plenty of choice and a challenge to suit everyone. 

My card is for 'Embossing Folder Backgrounds' - March but also fits into 'Ribbon' - July

I tried a new technique - partial embossing using a diffuser. The technique leaves you with an un-embossed area to stamp or decorate as you please. 
Never one to buy something if I could make it, I used cardboard to make mine after taking advice from You Tube etc. It's very easy. I just die cut the shape from 2 pieces of cereal packet and glued together. Of course, you are restricted to using die shapes you already own. 

It took a bit of fiddling to get the sandwich right. For my Big Shot I used:
Tab 1
Cutting plate
Embossing folder with card in it. 
Diffuser
Embossing mat

Here is the result:

 I made the first one into a Christmas Card using a Robin stamp and some red ribbon. In like the traditional colours. I used the same shaped dies to make a frame which looks the same white in some lights and different in others. 

Having had so much trouble with the whites, I chose purple for the second frame. It would have been fine without a frame but the first shape was not very well defined. You can see the partial embossing effect better without the frame. 

I wasn't sure if it was worth buying diffusers as I might not use them much. Having tried it, I like the effect so I think it's something I might do quite often. 

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Joining in with
CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge - anything goes optional quick and easy. This technique turned out much quicker than I anticipated. 

Merry Little Christmas challenge - anything goes

Twofer - Greenery and purplery

Good morning
I found myself with a little more time recently so wanted to enter a few challenges. I've missed entering as it's fun to join in, get feedback and see other people's cards but it's also inspiring to try out different styles and learn new techniques. 

So here we go with the Twofer challenge which encourages us to use the same stamp (die or stencil) in two different ways. 

My first card makes use of the smooshing technique plus dabbling into watery ink to fill in the gaps. I love the green and orange together. 
Heat embossed the leaves, I then painted in with Perfect Pearls for some shimmer. 

This one is for our 52CCT November Technique Challenge:

The next one is much more CAS. I simply stamped and embossed the branch twice and painted in with inks and the obligatory Perfect Pearls on the berries. I find in annoying when things which are actually straight look squint.

I liked it so I made two more quick cards as my stash is running low. 
I had a design in my head but finding sentiments to fit wasn't that easy. The answer is obviously to buy more sentiment stamps change the design to fit your stamps so one card has the sentiment stamped direct which works for that stamp. 

 Green and purple

 Purple and pink

Green and pink (my favourite).

The stamp is from a recent Creative Stamping magazine and is a Pink Fresh set. I love them.

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Also popping into Pixie's Snippets playground as I have used some tiny snippets plus a few and a really old card base on the first card. 

Purple and white

Good morning. Welcome to our colour challenge at 52CCT. 

This week they are slightly unusual but you will have lots of fun:

I chose to use this snowflake die which I recently got with Die Cutting Essentials magazine. 

I cut twice and then joined the two die cuts with a craft knife in a (nearly) straight line. I could have chosen a simpler design to begin with but you know how it is when you get an idea in your head!

The background is made with Wilted Violet Distress Oxide ink and water. A combination of smooshing and spritzing. There is a little Perfect Pearls as well. 
I used a few of the cut out snowflakes and some gems to finish. 

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x