Bah Humbug Pretty in Pink challenge

Sorry I haven't posted much in the last week but I've been taking advantage of the lovely weather to do some much needed work out in the garden.

This is my card for the new Bah Humbug challenge which is entitled "Pretty in Pink". I have used a square white card base and covered it with pink Christmas script paper from my stash. I then ran it through my Big Shot with a nesties labels die to create the aperture in the front. I then cut a frame in silver mirri using the same die set. For the main image which is actually inside the card I have used a recycled Christmas card from last year and cut and matted it again using the nesties labels die. A couple of images from the same card front have been punched out and added to the front of the card along with some gems and a ribbon.

Thanks for looking.

Empty Vessels!!!

On Monday I went to a one day workshop at Hansons in Sturminster Newton called "It's a Wrap - Vessels". The tutor was Lynn Horniblow who is also my tutor for free machine embroidery.

We had a great day. We started off with a square of felt (yellow in my case which didn't really inspire me) but by the time we had finished free machining the felt and adding a lining the piece was completely transformed. A white cord was added around the square which needed to be sewn over using a matching thread. The finished article is really pleasing and ideal for those little gifts. Who would have thought it started with a humble piece of felt!!!

Thanks for looking.

New babies card

My brilliant friends Barbara and Pete have just become first time grandparents - TWICE - within the space of a couple of weeks with their daughter and daughter-in-law giving birth to baby boys. It doesn't seem that long ago that Barbara and I started (age 5) at our primary school.................. scary eh?

This card was made using an image from My Craft Studio Enchanted Romance CD which was cut out using my nesties labels die and inked around the edge. It was mounted onto blue mirri, white card and a patterned paper made by tiling the main image. All these were put through my Big Shot using Swiss Dots embossing folder. Stickles glue and some gems were added to the main image with a collection of flowers at the bottom left of the card and two brads made using a miniature photo of each of the babies and inserting them into a Papermania brad making kit.

Thanks for looking.

Flap Card

You know what it's like when you order something on a whim and then when it arrives you don't really know what to do with it????? Hmm, I'm sure there are lots of you who've been through this. I had ordered a Baroque set which included some die cuts and they had been sitting around for quite a while so thought I'd better make use of them.

I started off wanting to use a larger square card and this one is 7" x 7" which you get by cutting two A4 sheet to 7" wide and leaving the length as is, turn them landscape and score at 7". Cut one flap to 3 1/2" and punch a decorative edge. Stick the back of one piece onto the inside back of the other and you have your outer card. For the inner card I have done the same but cut the pieces of A4 slightly smaller to fit inside the larger card and also made it a gatefold. Lay your outer card with the decorative edge at the top on your work surface and attach the gatefold card to the centre section. This way when you open the main card the inner flaps open out to give you a card that will sit nicely on a surface.

I decorated the front sides of the inner card with some of the die cut decoupage and added an insert. I tied some ribbon to the top outer flap and then punched out three circles which would act as a closure for the card. On top of the circles I added a bird on a branch which was punched out using my new Stampin Up punch. This was added to the front of the card using some d/s foam which allows the top edge to be caught underneath so the card closes.

As I was making the card up I happened to look out of the window and staring back at me was this beautiful Sparrow Hawk - absolutely lovely to look at but such a predator for the smaller birds in our garden. Luckily he stayed long enough for me to take a photo but then flew away - without lunch!!!

Thanks for looking.

Wedding Card

An ex neighbour of ours was getting married on Saturday but we only found out on Friday night.......... so had to make a quick card to wish them happiness.

I recently won the Stampin Up Blooming with Happiness stamp set and it was the first chance I had to use it. I started off with a cream linen 6"x6" square card and stamped the dress onto another piece of cream linen card and gold embossed the image. I added dots of Quickie glue in the centre of the flowers and sprinkled with Glamour Dust. I then cut this out using my nesties label die and mounted it onto a piece of gold mirri and then embossed cream card which were both cut out with the labels die. The sentiment is also part of the stamp set and I added a cream and gold organza ribbon and some gems and a pearlescent cream insert.

Thanks for looking.

Bah Humbug Challenge - Labels

Well I couldn't believe my luck this week with the Bah Humbug challenge. After hunting high and low I eventually managed to get my hands on a pack of grungepaper and on top of that my new Sizzix die Flower Layers #5 also arrived and I was dying to try out the Tim Holtz roses that he showcased on his 12 Tags of Christmas.

I started off die cutting six petals (3 for each flower) and then spritzed them with Glimmer Mists. I dried with a heat gun and made up the roses as per the instructions. For the main card I chose a 6"x6" cream blank and covered it with a piece of card from the wonderful My Mind's Eye Christmas Glitter Book (3 sheets of each design - two to use and one to stroke!!! lol). I punched a central border using a Martha Stewart edge punch which was topped by a piece of ribbon. The tag was from my stash and covered with some vellum which I inked with Distress Inks, stamped with a background swirl stamp and then decorated with Diamond Glaze and some gems. I realised I didn't have a leaf stamp of the right size so punched out some butterflies using my SU butterfly punch which I then cut down the middle. These were spritzed with Glimmer Mists and when dry put through my Big Shot in a snowflake Cuttlebug embossing folder. I sponged one of Tim Holtz Adage Tickets with matching Distress Inks and attached it to a fancy clip. I attached the tag to the card and then stuck the roses and leaves into place with silicone glue and added the ticket. A few more gems and some matching ribbon and the card was finished.

Thanks for looking.

Treasure Box and a new Tim Holtz Sizzix Die

A friend telephoned yesterday and asked me to bring along my fabric boxes and doorstop chicken to show her next time we meet. This is fine except when I went to unearth my boxes I found I had sold out of the treasure boxes so had to make one up quickly. I had some really nice paisley fabric which I used for the outer and some black fabric for the inside of the drawers and lid.

This afternoon I received one of the new Tim Holtz Sizzix dies called "Ornate" and just had to try it out. It actually gives you a multitude of options as to positioning and I think it's lovely. So just to let you have a quick look at it I have just cut two pieces of card and combined them to give edges to three square cards. Sorry that there is nothing else on the cards but I thought it would show off the edges nicely.

Thanks for looking.

Decoupage

I normally don't do much decoupage as I have problems with my hands so usually go for the die cut ones. However there was a free download over on Cuddly Buddly which I couldn't refuse as it was really cute and pretty easy to cut out. The other one is from a Joanna Sheen CD which I printed out ages ago and hadn't got round to making up.

This is the free Birthday Teddies download from Cuddly Buddly which is excellent quality and very easy to cut out. I've mounted it on a piece of card from my stash and then layered onto a piece of mirri which I die cut with my nesties scalloped squares. It's a square white base card (6"x6") with a piece of matching backing paper. All finished off with some border and corner peel offs and some Stickles.
This one is from a Joanna Sheen CD which I layered up using silicone glue. The base card is a square white card and I used the same backing paper and peel offs to finish the card. Also used a little bit of Stickles.

Thanks for looking.

Happy Easter to everyone

Wishing everyone out there in blogland a very happy and chocolatey Easter.

Over at Bah Humbug this week the challenge is embossing and after a little pondering about which type of embossing I could do the following card is what I came up with.

I fished out an old snowflake stencil and placed this onto some black mirri card. I then took some Dreamweaver glossy white embossing paste and spread this over the stencil. After lifting the stencil carefully off the mirri card I sprinkled each snowflake with differend coloured Glamour Dust and left to dry. The main card is an A5 white blank. I ran a piece of gunmetal mirri card through my Big Shot in a Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder and then did the same with some black card. These two pieces were joined together. I then took a piece of each of these cards, cut them to size and punched the edges with a Martha Steward border punch. These were joined together and placed down the centre of the card. Each of the snowflakes were cut out using a Stampin Up circle punch and mounted onto gunmetal and black mirri card which had been die cut with a Nellies die. The sentiment is computer generated.


Being as it's Easter I decided to do another card to enter into the challenge and this one is a piece of parchment embossed using an embossing stencil, coloured from behind with gems added onto the tree and down the left hand side. A ribbon and peel off greeting finished off the card.

Thanks for looking.