Squash and snip

The first cards I've found myself in need of post-Christmas are not necessarily the ones you want to be making - a thinking of you for a friend and a sympathy card.

I used the current Let's Squash It challenge as inspiration for both of them. The challenge is to use a folder and die cutting or fussy cutting. I actually did both for the Thinking of you card - die cut the oval panel and fussy cut part of the embossed design so I could tuck the oval into the flowers and foliage. My dad bought me this folder as a Christmas gift - it's a beauty isn't it?

I embossed some grey cardstock, highlighted the texture with some gilding wax and used a gold gel pen in the flower centres for a bit of subtle variation. 

Stamps:
A very old HOTP sentiment set

Paper:
Grey
Bristol board 

Ink:
Hero Arts shadow ink (Soft Granite)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Flower Frame 3D folder (Nellie Snellen)
Silver Rub n Buff
Oval dies (Spellbinder)
Gold gel pen

For the sympathy card, I wanted just a little bit of embossing on a clean and simple design - I put the card in the folder and bashed one corner with a hammer (I think this was the first embossing folder I ever owned ). Then I  rubbed a tiny bit of microglaze on the raised bits and washed over with watered down Distress ink. I left the die cut feathers simple white and added a few tiny gems as it looked a bit unfinished somehow but as it’s a sympathy card I didn’t want anything too in your face.  

Stamps:

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

Paper:

Bristol board 

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)

Other:
Feathers dies (Spellbinder)
Textile Texture embossing folder (Cuttlebug)
Microglaze
Nail art gems
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by - there are a couple of days left if you fancy joining in at Let's Squash It.

Tags, label and toppers

Our theme for the final week of our Christmas Countdown over at Daring Cardmakers is tags, labels and toppers - thing to decorate your parcels with.

These would have been quick and easy but those die cuts ain’t half fiddly - it took ages to get all the little bits to pop out, even though they’d cut cleanly. Dad picked up a few dies for me when they were on sale at The Works, back before the world went wonky, and this was one of them. It’s pretty, with a sort of vintage vibe, and looks lovely cut in glitter cardstock - I just need to remember it’s not one to use if I’m in a rush (or try the waxed paper trick next time)!

The glitter card is super-sparkly in real life - I bought a pack in the local pound shop ages ago and it’s a good weight for die cutting. A little bit of ink applied to the tag edges with a brush, a simple stamped image and a knotted ribbon complement the die cut.

Stamps:
Festive Foliage (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Mixed media by Hannemuhl 
Silver glitter

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Antique Limen)

Other:
Merry Christmas die (The Works)
Tags dies (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by, after this challenge DCM is taking a break until January 8th - hope you can join us! Wishing you a happy, healthy and peaceful Christmas and New Year. 

Animal antics

It's Countdown to Christmas number six over at Daring Cardmakers and today our theme is "animal antics" - make anything you like as long as it features a Christmas critter or two.

When I saw the Cool Yule set on sale a while back I knew I had to get it for the reindeer head. A friend has a felt and fabric deer head on her wall year-round (he has a Libery print fabric nose) and I couldn't resist the idea of making a Christmas card for her although I didn't go for the ditsy floral nose in the end! I cut all the pieces from white card and added colour with markers. He's a bit fiddly but it's satisfying to see him emerge as you assemble the individual bits. 

His leafy wreath is not really a Christmas stamp but I figured if I gave it red ribbon and red berries it would make a reasonable festive stand-in. I used a glitter pen on the berries for just a touch of sparkle.

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

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Bundled Sage)
Momento Luxe by Tsukineko (Love Letter)

Other:
Cool Yule dies (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Copic markers
Gel glue (Pinflair)
Spica glitter pen (red)
Corner Chomper

 

Thanks for stopping by!

December elements

It’s the first Friday of the last month of 2020! First Friday always means an “elemental” challenge over at Daring Cardmakers - choose at least three elements from the inspiration picture to kick start your project.

I chose the mittens, a square, some of the colours and little scattered circles. The mittens are from a digital image and I wanted a matching pair (the two mittens in the original have different patterns on them) so before printing I copied and flipped the snowflake mitten to get the other hand. I pressed a Distress Oxide pad directly onto the card base to get a slightly “shabby” background square.

Stamps:
Mittens and Merriment  (digital stamp by Power Poppy)
Sparkle All the Way (Crafter’s Companion)

Paper:
Bristol board
Premium weight copy paper to print image

Ink:
Momento Luxe by Tsukineko (Love Letter)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Cracked Pistachio)

Other:
White Enamel Accents by Ranger
Copic markers
White Prismacolor pencil
White paint pen by Posca 

Here's our advent inspiration this month! Thanks for stopping by.

Link in the chain - November

It’s reveal day at Card Chain Challenge - mine went over the Pond to Jutta in Canada this time so once again, light and flat for airmailing was a good idea. 

From the options on offer this time I chose the colour palette (frost, blush and silver - pretty but not the easiest to pick up on camera) and two of the themes in that I combined an ungulate animal (that’s one with hooves if, like me, you’d never come across that word!) and stars. I also managed the product option of glitter to give the reindeer a little snowy drift to stand in.

Stamps:
Stars from Hello Baby Vol 1 (Darkroom Door)
Sentiment from an old Cornish Heritage Farms set

Paper:
Bristol board
Black

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Spun Sugar, Tumbled Glass)
Delicata by Tsukineko (Silvery Shimmer)

Other:
Corner Chomper
Reindeer Family dies (Paper Rose)
Star Framelits (Sizzix)
Crystal Glamour Dust (DecoArt)

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are keeping well.

Boxes and bags

The theme in this week's Christmas countdown over at Daring Cardmakers is “boxes and bags” - make something to present a gift in.

I hope Kathy will forgive a slight stretching of the brief - I used a little tin and prettied it up with some paper crafting supplies. The tin originally contained travel sweets and came from a car showroom as a freebie. Die cutting a circle to exactly the right size hides the car branding quite nicely!

I'm afraid my camera battery died just as I needed to take my last minute photos so I had to made do with my phone - apologies for the photo quality!

I made a coordinating card as well so I’m playing again at Let’s Squash It. The challenge is totally to blame for this embossing folder in any case - I saw it on a couple of earlier entries and thought it looked lovely and then found it on a well known auction site for under three quid. Since you can pay that much for a single greeting card I decided I could justify buying it!

 

Stamps:
Festive Foliage, Compliments of the Season and Noel (all Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger  (Evergreen Bough)

Other:
Pine Needles embossing folder by Richard Garay
Circle Nestability by Spellbinder
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size by Paper Rose
Corner Chomper 

 

Gorgeous gifts

It’s the second week of our Christmas countdown over at Daring Cardmakers and this week we’re all about gorgeous gifts. It could be a card featuring images of pretty packages, a gift card holder, a paper crafted gift for a friend...what can you come up with?

I always check out the Christmas Kickstart challenge (although I don’t manage to play very often) and owner Jo has teamed up with Gail in Let’s Squash It, a challenge dedicated to embossing folders. I’d been thinking recently I don’t play with my EFs nearly enough so perhaps this will give me a push! They have a joint challenge going on at the moment so I’ve made something to hit three targets - go me!

The sunshine is bright in Northumberland this afternoon so apologies if the photo looks washed out - just imagine understated sophistication! 

I die cut squares and rectangles for my packages, brayered ink onto my folder and embossed two of them. The third has stamped snowflakes. A bit of glitzy silver thread, a doodled border and a stamped sentiment and call it done. 

Stamps:
Flurries and Noel (both Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Delicata by Tsukineko (Silvery Shimmer)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger  (Tumbled Glass)

Other:
Moonlit Berries embossing folder by Couture Creations
Silver thread
Silver gel pen
Corner Chomper 

Thanks for stopping by, keep safe!

Come visit one (or more!) of these challenges!

     

 

November elements

It’s the first Friday of a new month (and alarmingly that month is November!) so it’s time for an elemental challenge at Daring Cardmakers. Today, Kathy has chosen our inspiration picture (it's at the end of this post) and as ever, just choose at least three elements to kickstart your project. We’re starting our run up to Christmas this week so all the challenges between now and late December will give you a chance to really get going on the festive crafting.

I confess the busyness of that tree induced a sort of brain freeze for me! I eventually chose a five point star, colours and silver circle (inspired by the plate) for a one layer card. One of my trusty acetate sheets with die cut holes got used as a stencil to brush on silver ink as the first element and I doodled a bit round the edge of the circle with a silver gel pen. I coloured the stars with Copic markers then added Perfect Pearls in similar shades to give them the pearlescent sheen of the baubles in the tree.

Retro Rubber has an “anything goes” challenge at the moment, as long as you use a stamp that’s at least a year old, you’re good to go. My star was the cover mount stamp for Craft Stamper magazine in September 2011. A larger version is still available in the Stampotique catalogue as Jo’s Star.

Stamps:
Star by Jo Capper Sandon  (Craft Stamper magazine, September 2011)
Sparkle All the Way (Crafter’s Companion)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Delicata by Tsukineko (Silvery Shimmer)

Other:
Corner Chomper
Nail art gems
Copic markers
Silver gel pen 

Here's our inspiration picture this month:

 

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are keeping safe and well. 

Link in the chain - October (and September!)

It’s reveal day at Card Chain Challenge. Mine has gone to Annerieke in the Netherlands this time. From the options on offer I chose the sketch, the theme of food and the colour palette (pumpkin, cherry, chocolate).

It’s a single layer to keep it easy for airmailing, I used some low tack tape to mask off the edges before inking. I didn’t have three sizes of the red gems so for the largest size I used a die cut “sequin” that was on my desk, coloured it red and added some sparkle pen then stuck a gem in the centre.

Stamps:
The Cafe (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Say It All (Hero Arts, retired)

Paper:

Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Chocolate)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Spiced Marmalade)

Other:
Strobe stencil (Visible Image)
Red gems
Copic markers
Spica glitter pen (red)
Corner Chomper 

I realised I forgot to blog September’s card so I’ll do that here as well so I have a record if I want to look back. 

This one also went to the Netherlands, to Gerjanne, and I chose the sketch and the theme of birds from the month's options.

Stamps:
Layering bird (Hero Arts)

Paper:

Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Spun Sugar)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Denim, Stonewashed)

Other:
Rubber bands stencil (Crafters Workshop)
Sequins

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are staying safe and well. 

Fright night

We're fast approaching Halloween and Rizwana would like to see spooktacular makes for our challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week.

I don't own any stamps or other supplies that are spooky so I found a way to improvise and made a postcard! I used a cheesecloth background stamp and torn edges as masks to create a "wrapped bandage" effect  and a longer word ("KABOOM!") with selective inking and a marker pen to fill in missing lines for the sentiment. The eyes are drawn using circle dies as templates.

This year may have gone wonky in many ways but Lost Coast Designs have their usual 31 Days of Halloween going on so I'm linking up there, too.

Stamps:
Cheesecloth backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)
Kaboom (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Vintage Photo)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Black fineliner 
Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinder (to draw round)
White paint pen by Posca
Microglaze

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are keeping safe and well.