Elements for March

First Friday of the month is always an "elemental" challenge at Daring Cardmakers — choose at least three elements from the inspiration picture to kickstart your project.

This month's picture has a very serene quality. I decided that leant itself to sympathy cards and since they're rarely in my stash and you inevitably don't really feel like making one when you need it, I went that way.

From the inspiration picture I chose some of the colours, the feathers from the dream catchers, the macrame made me think of this embossing folder and I used twine to tie the feathers together. The feathers are gently edged with Vintage Photo ink. 

Stamps:
Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Kraft

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Feathers
Linked circles
Nail art pearls
Crochet thread
Cropadile

Here's our inspiration this week:

Thanks for stoppig by!

Make it masculine

Dawn is setting our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week and she’d like to see some more masculine makes.

The Tim Holtz lumber folder makes a good base for a masculine card, I think. I cut an extra “plank” to extend it for the proportions of the card. As there’s a join between each plank in any case, it’s not too difficult to make it look fairly seamless.

I rubbed a Neocolour water soluble crayon over the embossing (keeping it on the folder so it has support underneath is a good idea) and then smudged with a damp finger. 

Simple white die cut foliage tied with a tomato paste dot and a scripty sentiment finish it off. 

Supplies:
Tim Holtz/Sizzix embossing folder (Lumber)
Tim Holtz/Sizzix Wildflower dies
Poppystamps die (Happy Birthday Poe Script)
Neocolour crayons
Bristol board
Kraft card
Brown fineliner
Tomato past tube

Believe

It’s Friday so it must be time for a new challenge at Daring Cardmakers — it’s our last before Christmas and follows our previous one word prompts. Today’s word is BELIEVE.

I couldn’t resist tying in with Let’s Squash It where the theme is snowflakes and stars. Sadly, LSI is calling it a day, at least for the time being. I’ve been really honoured to be chosen as Empress three times. Gail and Jo have been fabulous challenge hosts and all the regular players will be sad to wave farewell. Thank you Gail and Jo!

For today’s card I used a sentiment that includes the DCM word of the week, stamped and heat embossed on vellum with torn edges and laid over a background of sanded embossed snowflakes. The stars are die cut from silver card and I added glitter to the largest one for a bit extra festive pizzazz. I haven’t used the confetti die that produces the little stars for ages — it was nice to “rediscover” that!

It’s wintery and festive with plenty of die cut action so I’m linking up at Die Cut Divas, too.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy and peaceful festive season.

Stamps:
Sparkle All the Way (Crafter’s Companion)

Paper:
Bristol board
Textured blue (came with the folder)
Vellum
Silver mirri 

Ink:
Versamark  by Tsukineko

Other:
Glamour dust by DecoArt (Crystal)
Stitched rectangle dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)
Snowflakes embossing folder (Darice)
Stars Framelits (Sizzix)
Confetti die (Mama Elephant)
Bright white detail embossing powder (Wow!)

White out

It's time for a new challenge at Daring Cardmakers and we have another in the series of one word prompts in the run up to Christmas. This week’s word is WHITE. 

I’m combining again with Let’s Squash It (any embossing folder on a Christmas card) and Die Cut Divas (where this month anything goes with a die and/or embossing folder). 

My mostly white card features embossed snowflakes and Snowy Sophie who has just a touch of colour. I had some white on black computer-generated sentiments left on my desk from last week’s card so I used another one here. 

I've lent most of my Christmassy embossing folders to my dad but forgot about this one as it was in my pile of "not yet used stuff" rather than in the Christmas box - sorry Dad!

I ran a line of pearl paint pen round the outside of the die cut embossed rectangle and poured glitter on it. Sophie is cut out (I redrew her arms onto the card with a fineliner so I didn’t have to cut out the fiddly bits) and given a sparkly snowdrift to nestle into using the same paint and glitter. 

Stamps:
Snowy Sophie (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Stitched rectangle dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)
Snowflakes embossing folder (Darice)
Glamour Dust by DecoArt (Crystal)
Pearl Pen by DecoArt (Ice White)
Black fineliner 

Holly jolly

It's time for a new challenge at Daring Cardmakers and we have a series of one word prompts in the run up to Christmas. This week’s word is HOLLY. 

I’ve combined with the new challenge at Let’s Squash It which is asking for any embossing folder on a Christmas card. I stamped the holly on a die cut square and then used the folder to emboss it so that all the grungy detail and the wording is on that layer. To get smooth leaves, I stamped again on a scrap of card, coloured the holly and cut it out. It’s stuck on with gel glue so the leaves are lifted off the embossed layer a bit. A wonky border doodled with a gold gel pen, some sparkle on the berries, a computer-generated seniment and some enamel dots finish it off.

The Die Cut Divas have an “anything goes” theme this month, I used an embossing folder and a die here so I’m linking up there too. I wanted a square that was bigger than the Nesties I have so I used a square frame die but placed my top plate so that I only cut one outer edge, then turned it to cut the next and so on — a bit fiddly but it worked! Of course I then obscured the stitching effect by embossing the piece so I should probably have just used a knife and ruler to cut a square!

Stamps:
Inked Holly (Visible Image)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Stitched square frame dies (Paper Rose)
Pine planks embossing folder (Stampin Up)
Clear Wink of Stella pen
White Enamel Accents by Ranger
Gold gel pen 

Autumn leaves

Time for a new challenge at Let's Squash It  and I’m delighted to be joining Jo and Gail as Guest Designer again this month. 

The theme this time is trees and/or leaves. I did a bit of both with trees on the embossing folder and die cut leaves for good measure. This little chap had a wintery adventure at this woodland spot last year, padding through snow between the trees — I thought it might be fun to give him some crunchy autumn foliage to kick up this year! I inked a piece of card with a few Distress inks then die cut the leaves to put under his feet.

Stamps:
Pointy Hat Gnome (Lost Coast Designs)
Sentiment from Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black, Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Mustard Seed, Rusty Hinge, Spiced Marmalade)

Other:
Woodland embossing folder (Stampin’ Up!)
Leaves dies (Impression Obsession)
Stitched rectangle dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)
Fineline marker
Copic markers
Gel glue

Why not break out an embossing folder and something with trees or leaves and come join the fun, there’s always a little prize on offer for a randomly chosen winner at Let’s Squash It and it’s always a lovely bunch of crafters taking part!

Oh, and with his drift of autumn leaves and backdrop of tree trunks, Gnomie thought he should enter the Four Seasons October challenge, too!

Changing seasons

Our challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week is being set by Dawn and she’d like to see something influenced by the changing seasons.

I’ve opted for the obvious autumnal feel and also combined with the current challenges at Let’s Squash It (emboss two thirds of your card) and Die Cut Divas (autumn). 

On my daily walk up the lane I pass lots of interesting dry stone walling, some of it a little tumbledown, some of it mossy or supporting brambles as well as keeping the cows and sheep where they should be! I haven’t used this folder for ages and I thought it would be nicely rustic with the autumn leaves. I added a bit of ink to the folder before embossing to accentuate the lines.  

Unusually for me, there’s no stamping (other than the sentiment). 

Stamps:
Sentiment from Big Day Today (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Kraft

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Vintage Sepia)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)

Other:
Dry stone wall embossing folder  (Crafter’s Companion) 
Pan pastels
Leaves dies (Impression Obsession)
Corner Chomper 
Nail art gems

September elements and link in the chain

A two-in-one post today since the second of the month (reveal day at Card Chain Challenge) coincides with the first Friday (our “elemental” challenge at Daring Cardmakers). 

Miri has chosen our DCM mood board for September — as ever, just chose at least three elements to kickstart your project. I chose the surface rings on the puddle, the autumn leaves and a circle. I used Pan Pastels to colour the die cut leaves and added the framing for the circle as an afterthought so it’s drawn on with a fineliner and a Copic marker. The dots are my trusty tomato paste tube and a few tiny nail art gems.

Just realised Die Cut Divas have an autumn theme this time around so I’m linking this card up there, too. 

Stamps:
Sentiment from Say It All (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Vintage Sepia)

Other:
Retro circles embossing folder  (Tim Holtz/Sizzix) 
Pan pastels
Circles dies (Spellbinder)
Leaves dies (Impression Obsession)
Stitched rectangles A6 size (Paper Rose)
Tomato paste tube
Nail art gems

My Card Chain Challenge card went to Pat in Texas this time. From the options on offer I chose the theme of fruit and flowers and gave this lovely lemon set its first outing (I have blogged another card with it already but this one was made and sent before that was made). It’s almost my usual one layer card for CCC, just the little blossom is die cut and added over the base layer. 

There’s still time to sign up for the September chain if you fancy it, details here.

Stamps:
Lemon Blossom (The Greetery, plus matching dies)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Various yellow, green and pink inks (I failed to keep note!)

Other:
Copic marker
Nail art gems
Corner Chomper

Cake and candles

I’m combining challenges again today! Shabneez has chosen our theme at Daring Cardmakers and as she has lots of family birthdays to celebrate in August, she’d like to see birthday card ideas featuring candles and/or cake.

Let’s Squash It’s challenge of a shaped card combined with any embossing folder is ongoing so I decided to play again there — the cabinet card shape I made last week was looking very lonely in the challenge gallery until the lovely Robyn joined me on Wednesday but I'm sure Jo and Gail would love to see a few more shaped cards!

I kept the shape really simple this time, using the largest die from a really old Spellbinder set, but it still looks a bit different than your regular straight edges. Wafer thin dies tend not to want to go through two layers of base weight cardstock — I ran the folded base through the machine once which cut the top layer and made a good indentation in the bottom one. You can then flatten it out and use the indentation to reseat the die and place your top plate so it lines up along the fold of the card to make sure you don’t cut more than you intended. I then die cut a full front out of black cardstock, embossed it, dry brushed with metallic acrylic paint and stuck to the card base. 

The cake is stamped, coloured with Copics and fussy cut then stuck on with gel glue with a glittery gold frame to spotlight it. The sentiment is cut with a small rectangle, modified make it longer.

I realised when dry brushing the card front that there is even a cake with candles (top left) in the embossing so it’s double cake all round!

Stamps:
The Cafe (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Sentiment from Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:
Bristol board
Black
Gold glitter

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Birthday embossing folder (Cuttlebug)
Copic markers
Labels 8 dies (Spellbinder)
Fine frames die, circle (Altenew)
Stitched rectangles A6 size (Paper Rose)
Espresso metallic paint (DecoArt)

Pearls of widsom

It's my turn to set the challenge at Daring Cardmakers and as one of June’s birth stones is pearl I thought we’d take our inspiration from all things pearly.

I started with a piece of pearlescent cardstock in a pale silvery grey, embossed and sprayed it with some ink and then polished some of that off the high spots of the embossing. 

I decided I wanted to stamp a sentiment round the curve of the shell which was a bit fiddly but made possible with the MISTI. I couldn’t get it quite as dark as I wanted though so I ended up going over it (very carefully) with a very fine marker.

I gave the whole thing a bit extra pearliness by adding some dots in different sizes along the bottom with a pearl pen and finished by drawing a wonky frame round the square with a metallic pencil. 

I’m guest designing with Let’s Squash It for the month of June and took inspiration from the challenge there too — hop over to see what it is! The sample I made in advance is here.

Supplies:
Shell Beauty embossing folder (Spellbinder)
Pearlescent silver and black cardstock
Adirondack dye ink spray (Stream)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Sentiment stamp from Seaside set (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)
Viva Decor pearl pen (Ice White)
Fineline marker
Metallic pencil (Lyra)

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Make it Manly

It’s time for a new challenge at Let’s Squash It and I’m delighted to be joining Gail and Jo as guest designer for this one. You can use any embossing folder you like as long as your card is manly! All the details are here.

My hubby is a bit of a wine buff so when I saw this stamp and die set at a bargain price a few months ago I knew I had to get it! Several other family members and friends will likely be seeing it too. There’s a die as well but I actually cut the row of corks out by hand as I wanted to make it shorter by cutting one off the end - it's an easy shape to cut. The word is die cut from tomato paste tube and has come out very shiny on the photo! 

The embossing folder seemed appropriate as I thought the circles might be a bit reminiscent of cork ends and the optical illusion of them bulging in the centre might be an indication of a glass too many!

I find keeping a limited, neutral colour palette is always useful when you’re trying to make a more masculine card.

Stamps:
Wine corks (Spellbinder, stamp and die set)

Paper:
Bristol board and smooth black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
3D Circles embossing folder (cArt-US)
Stitched rectangles dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)

Thanks for stopping by - we'd love to see you over at Let's Squash It with some manly makes!

Celebrate

We're celebrating at Daring Cardmakers this week - create a card for any occasion and include the word "celebrate" in your make.

I've combined with the current challenge at Let's Squash It which wants geometric or repeating patterns in our embossing.

I embossed a piece of engraving board (scraperboard when I was a kid!) in an old Spellbinders folder then sanded away the black coating to reveal the copper foil. Some white die cut flowers, a heat embossed sentiment and a little dome made from tomato paste tube metal and call it done.

Supplies:
Bristol board
Birthday (Letter It stamp range by Ranger)
So Trendy (Mbossibilities by Spellbinder)
Wildflower Stems I (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Copper engraving board
Versmark by Tsukineko
Detail embossing powder (copper)
Tomato paste tube

 

Textured holly

Last day of the month and I'm just managing to squeak in with a card for the current challenge at Let's Squash It - emboss/deboss. Jo and Gail want us to use any embossing folder and use both sides of the pattern on our cards.

I cut a full cardfront and then die cut two smaller rectangles from the centre. I ran the big piece through to get the debossed texture, the smallest through to get the emobssed texture and left the skinny one as a frame in between. I've added a tiny bit of colour to a couple of embossed holly leaves and berries, a stamped sentiment strip and made my first Christmas card of the year!

Apologies that the photo's not great, bright sun and snow glare in Northumberland today! Being a last-minute-minnie I can't wait for better conditions, I'm afraid. I hope it's still possible to see the two sides at play!

Supplies:
Moonlit Berries embossing folder (Couture Creattions)
Bristol board
Stitched rectangle dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)
Vintage Christmas Expressions (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Ivy)
Copic markers
Spica glitter pens (red and green)

Keep moving...

I managed to get some work done a bit faster than expected today so that meant I was able to get this idea out of my head and onto paper just before the end of the current challenge at Lost Coast Designs where the theme is Steampunk/Vintage.

I thought I was going to have to sit this one out but while trying to get to sleep last night I remembered this emobssing folder and thought it would probably do a lot of the work for me - I made this in about 40 minutes which is incredibly fast for me! Remembering I had an Einstein quote in my stash of stamps meant I didn't faff around trying to make a quote with die cuts or alphabet stamps etc, too!

Einstein was stamped on Kraft card and I thought it would be fun to give him his famous shock of white hair with fairly rough and ready strokes of a white paint pen. He's cut out and stuck on with a bit of gel glue for some lift. The background is the same Kraft card, embossed and then inked with brushes and some gold ink swiped directly from the pad over the high spots.

Stamps:
Einstein (Carmen's Veranda)
Bicycle Life (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Recycled Kraft board envelope (well known online retailer!)
Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo) and Oxide (Evergreen Bough)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Espresso)
Delicata by Tsukineko (Golden Glitz)

Other:
Uber embossing folder (Couture Creations)
White paint pen by Posca
Stitched rectangle dies, A6 size (Paper Rose)
Pinflair gel glue

Word Play

It's my turn to set the challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week. We're playing with the letters FEB as we wave goodbye to the month - use something beginning with each of those letters on your card.

I've combined with the current challenge at Let's Squash It which wants us to use green and an insect with our embossing folders. I think that bit's self-explanatory and I was lucky enough to win this lovely folder a couple of challenges back so I thought it would be appropriate to use it here. My FEB elements are Frame (and Flowers), Embossing folder (and Enamel Accents) and Bee.

I brayered a couple of green inks onto my folder before embossing and added Enamel Accents and fine glitter on the flower heads before stamping the bee, colouring with a white paint pen then restamping and adding a touch of colour with Copics. 

I've left it with no sentiment as an all-purpose kind of card.

Stamps:
Queen Bee (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukinko (Graphite Black)
Distress Oxide (Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough)

Other:
Stitched Frame dies (Paper Rose)
Ball Flower embossing folder (Hobby Solution)
White pain pen (Posca)
Copic markers
White Enamel Accents (Ranger)
Glamour Dust glitter by Deco Art (Crystal)
MISTI

Raise a toast

It's the last day of the year and I'm just managing to squeak in with an entry for December's challenge at Let's Squash It!

Gail and Jo gave us free rein this time - any folder, any technique. I went back to May's challenge to find a way to create white space alongside the embossed texture. I did it this time by laying my top plate part way up the folder so I didn't get the full impression. Then I turned the paper and did the same the other end, leaving a clear strip across for stamping the sentiment.I used a score board to create more defined edges for the embossed areas.

This folder is intended as snow but it's always made me think of champagne bubbles so I used some ivory pearlescent paper and teamed it up with champagne flutes to make a card that could toast the New Year.

Stamps:
Champagne Celebration (Crafters Companion)
Birthday (Letter It by Ranger) 

Paper:
Stardream
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Softly Falling embosing folder (Stampin' Up!)
Scor ItCopic markers
Copic Spica glitter pen (gold)
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by - whether you're raising a glass of champagne tonight or celebrating some other way, cheers! Let's hope 2022 is a bit kinder to us all.

Through the trees

The challenge at Daring Cardmakers this week has a focus on trees - one tree, a whole forest, Christmassy or not - up to you!

It's white-out conditions in the birch forest - it's lucky that gnomes have a good sense of direction! This one is standing in a sparkly snowdrift (not sure how well that shows up on the photo) and peeping round a tree trunk to say a seasonal hello.

The card front is embossed and I used a craft knife to cut slits either side of one of the trunks so that I could slot in the little fussy cut gnome behind the trunk.

Lost Coast Designs have a gnome theme for their currect challenge so I'm linking up there too, all the challenge details are here.

Stamps:
Pointy Hat Gnome (Lost Coast Designs)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Woodland embossing folder (Stampin' Up)
Copic markers
Pearl pen by Viva Decor (Ice White)
Glamour Dust by Deco Art (Crystal)
Hello die (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Thanks for stopping by!

Link in the chain - Octobter

It's reveal day at Card Chain Challenge. Mine has gone over the Pond to Linda this time.

From the options on offer for October I chose the colour palette (ruby, amber, sapphire) and the theme of shoes. Those things combined in my head to make a Wizard of Oz vibe so yellow brick road it had to be! That meant my usual one layer creations for CCC fell by the wayside as I wanted to use this brickwork embossing folder. 

The shoes have some glitter pen on them for a bit of glamour and the tiny nail art gems add a bit extra in that department. 

Stamps:
Wizard of Oz (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
DCWV

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Wild Honey)

Other:
Copic markers
Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinder
Brickwork 3D embossing folder (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Nail art gems
Spica glitter pen (red)

Thanks for stopping by! There are still a few days to sign up for the November chain if you fancy it, all the details here

New home

I needed a new home card with a masculine vibe and thought the current challenge at Let's Squash It would provide a good starting point.

Gail and Jo would like us to double emboss this time - use one folder over another or heat emboss a piece that's been squashed in a folder or squash a piece that's been heat embossed. 

I used a brick folder to emboss a piece of white cardstock and then ran that through another folder to get the keys. I thought bricks and keys made the perfect combination for a new home! 

The bricks squashed a bit flatter than I would have liked but they're still there enough to be picked up with some Rub n Buff for a subtle dackdrop. I did beef up the silver of the keys a bit with a gel pen.

Supplies:
Bristol board
3D Brickwork embossing folder (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Great Babette embossing folder (Couture Creations)
Silver Leaf Rub n Buff by Amaco
Silver gel pen
Black fineliner
Essential Messages (Hero Arts, retired)
Versafine by Tsukinko (Onyx Black)

Thanks for stopping by!