Just Us Girls Challenge #308 Wild Card - Sketch

Hello Everyone

Well it's the end of August already......where on earth does the time go?  The end of August means the end of my very enjoyable time as Guest Designer over at Just Us Girls.  This week is a Wild Card challenge:

And here is what I came up with:

I started off by stamping this lovely stamp "Falling Flowers" from Honey Doo Crafts.  I heat embossed in fine gold e/p.  I then fussy cut the flowers before putting it through my machine with a Lil Inker Stitched Rectangle die.  I then stamped and embossed the flowers twice more onto vellum, fussy cut them out, coloured the rear of the flowers with my Inktense pencils, shaped and used Pinflair to add them to the top of the original image.  Two mats were cut in pink and gold using the Lil Inker Stitched Rectangles dies and they were all layered up.  The d/p is from my bits box but think it is an old Glenda Waterworth piece.  The band is another piece of gold and pink but I put the pink piece through my machine using my Cuttlebug Paisley embossing folder (which goes pretty well with the d/p).  The sentiment was in my bits box but think it is an old Spellbinders die and the tag is from Sue Wilson's Pierced Tags.  Finishing touches were Liquid Pearls and a bow.

Thanks for stopping by.  Please pop on over to the Just Us Girls Challenge Blog to see the lovely examples the Design Team have come up with for you.

Happy crafting.

Less is More - Week 220 Theme & HLS Sketch Challenge

Well it's another lovely day here in Somerset, especially if you are somewhere sheltered as there is quite a cold breeze and we had a slight frost this morning.

There's a new challenge over at Less is More and this week the category is "Theme".  

Here's a theme to conjure up a pretty picture

Up, up and away!

For this one you can think balloons, planes, other things that fly and things that can be carried along on the breeze.

Let your imagination take flight!

There is also the April challenge over at Happy Little Stampers:

Here is my card that I'm entering into the challenges.

I've used my Lawn Fawn Party Balloons die set to cut a balloon out of red card with the string to match.  I sponged round the edges of the balloon to give it more definition.  The greeting is Papertrey (birthday) and Tattered Lace (wishes) die cut from glittered mirri card.  I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder to add some definition to the front of the card before I popped the balloon up on a Wobbles Action Spring.  

You can see how it stands out from the card (but goes totally flat to go in the envelope) but it also wobbles as well!  I've just added some sequins to finish off.

Thanks for popping by.  

Happy crafting.

Addicted to CAS - Challenge #31

Happy Saturday to all my followers and fellow bloggers.  Hope you are all safe and well.  Can you believe it's time for another new challenge at Addicted to CAS?  They seem to come round so quickly and we are delighted to have had so many fabulous entries in the latest challenge #30 New. There were 164 amazing entries at my last count.......thank you all so much for playing along with us.

This week your hostess is the fabulous Jaydee and here is the code word she's chosen:

Our Sponsor for this challenge is:

http://www.whimsystamps.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=13_38

Prize is 5 free digis

____________________

Anni Lerche will be our Guest Designer for the month of February.  

Welcome Anni!!

"Hello, I am Anika (aka Anni or Annikarten) and I’m from Germany. For 15 years now I´ve lived in the beautiful city Berlin and I am married. I work as a math-teacher at a vocational college; to perform handicraft work is a perfect compensation for that.

From the cradle I grew up in a family of creative hobbyists, whereas I always only loved working with paper – I am wasted on needlework.  Into stamping I am since 2008, I love clean and simple cards, and yet eventually my cards often turn out to be somewhat more complex. I love the soothing paper piecing and resist techniques. You can see all my projects at annikarten.blogspot.ca."

Now, onto my DT card for this challenge.  I've used one of Kathryne's lovely images called  Filled with Love.  I've printed the digi out twice; the first time on white printer card and the second on designer paper so I could paper piece her dress and hair bow.  Image coloured with Flexmarkers.  I cut out the heart balloons separately and added some bakers twine which I attached to her hand and then decoupaged her hand (paw?) on top.  The hearts are Spellbinders and she was popped up with Pinflair.  The sentiment is Tim Holtz Stacked Words: Valentines and die cut out of the same d/p.  The heart balloons and the heart on the sentiment had Crystal Lacquer added.  The base card was embossed using a Cuttlebug border e/f.

Now pop on over to Addicted to CAS and have a look at the fabulous DT cards.  Looking forward to visiting your blogs to see your wonderful creations.

Have a great weekend - happy crafting!

Addicted to CAS - #21

Hello everyone - it's that time again...........here is the latest challenge from Addicted to CAS.  Here are the details.  Your host is the very talented Harriet and here is the code word she's chosen: 

This challenge is Sponsored by -

 

 

who are offering a prize of a

$25 gift voucher!

Both of my cards use digi images but I'm afraid I don't know where they originated.  I've printed these images out and used a simple frame for each.

 

 

For the violin I've used my square nesties and turned the central one into a diamond shape.  I die cut four strips of music using my MB Virtuoso Music die and sponged lightly with Distress Ink Old Paper.  These were then added around the frame.  The sentiment was computer generated and die cut using Petite Labels One and again sponged inside the label die.  

 

 

 

For the umbrella image I used my square nesties and Labels Twenty-Seven and die cut the frame which I then put through my machine in a Cuttlebug music embossing folder.  I added some acetate to the inside of the frame onto which I'd stamped one of the stamps in the Raindrop Set (Designs by Ryn) using StazOn Timber Brown.  The border stamped on the base card is one of the background builder sets from Clearly Besotted.

Well, that's enough from me........it's time for you to pop on over to A2CAS to check out the inspiration the rest of the Design Team have come up with.  We can't wait to see your entries and visit your blogs.

Have a great weekend.

Clearly Besotted!!!

Hi Folks - just a very quick post today as I'm packing my bags (no, I'm not leaving home....... lol) as it's our craft night tonight and I have quite a lot to take along for the two projects we are going to be completing tonight.

However I just had to have a quick play as my new goodies from Clearly Besotted arrived this morning from Stephanie's May release.  I've used the Just Fabulous stamps and die set.  I started off by embossing a piece of white cardstock using my Cuttlebug Geometric e/f but used my Darice Easy Frames to keep a clear oval at the bottom right hand side of the embossed piece (not sure you can see it on the photo very clearly).  I then stamped the stem and leaf directly into the clear oval and decided where I wanted my smaller flowers to go so I could add stems for them as well.  I then stamped up my flowers using SU Tangerine Tango and die cut them.  I inked up the larger vase and die cut that as well.  These elements were shaped with my bone folder and added to the card using Pinflair Glue Gel.  I then stamped the sentiment and punched it with my SU label punch.  I also punched the same shape on the main piece of embossed card so I could place the sentiment on the base card which could be seen through the "window".  The whole of the main image was then raised on d/s foam pads and added to the base card.


I have always admired Stephanie's ability to die cut her images perfectly so asked if she actually die cut the stamped image or die cut the shape and then stamped on top.  She directed me to a blog who gave the best solution I have seen - and perhaps you all know about this, but it was one of those "duh" moments.  Firstly you die cut each shape out of a separate piece of card.  Keep these negative pieces and then when you stamp your image place the negative card over the top and pop your die into the aperture and tape down.  Put through your machine and you have the perfect die cut!  Simples eh?   

Anyway, must get on with getting all my gear together.  Have a great evening and thanks for dropping by.

Less is More - Week 86 - Recipe

Well, what a change in the weather.........gorgeously sunny day yesterday and nothing but rain today!  Still, I suppose it could be worse........hmmm

This week over at Less is More the lovely ladies have more or less given us carte blanche:

Take 3 Challenges
If you look back at the list of our past challenges on the page at the top of our blog, you can choose any three to combine in your project... if you fancy the theme of a One Layer Week... you don't necessarily have to make a one layer card for this particular challenge.

In fact I think that when you're faced with 83 very different challenges to choose from how can you pick 3?  Well, after much deliberation, going off and doing something else, checking blogs etc etc I finally settled down and decided to opt for three challenges in a row - Week 14 - White on White, Week 15 - Embossing and Week 16 - Butterfly/Butterflies.  It's all pretty self explanatory and the recipe was:

Marianne Designables Cut & Emboss Folder

Couture Creations - Tied Together

Stampin Up Embosslits - Beautiful Wings

Cuttlebug Cut & Emboss Alphabet

 Thanks for taking the time and dropping by on this soggy afternoon.

 

Less is More - Week 75 - Colour........GOLD

Hi there everyone - are you all as wet as we are down here in rural Somerset????  We're expecting to get the dingy out later to go shopping!!!  lol  Not quite that bad but getting near.  We were going to the Seafood Festival in Weymouth today but didn't fancy soggy prawns!  Anyway, on to more pressing matters........ this week's Less is More challenge is 'Gold' and they say "It can be shiny or matt, but we'd like it to be unmistakably gold!"

I decided to use my Memory Box dies - Debutante Frame, Orchard Tree Frame and Spring Border.  I die cut the backing frame out of white card, the Orchard Tree out of gold mirri and the Spring border also out of gold mirri.  I then put the border through my machine again with the Orchard Tree frame so I could shape the bottom of the border so it fitted neatly.  The sentiments are Stampin Up Congrats and gold embossed.  I've used an A5 card blank and used my Cuttlebug Wicker Weave border embossing folder.  I've added some metal trim and some gems to finish off.

Thanks for stopping by - hope everyone is safe and dry.

Less is More - Week 74 - Lucky Dip

Hi Everyone - well this week's challenge over at Less is More is:

For our challenge we have decided to take our 

"Less is More"  

header as the inspiration for this challenge.

 

 

Hmmmm - well I had a thunk about this and here is what I came up with.............

 

I decided to CASE the blog header and started off with a Cuttlebug music embossing folder as I didn't have a stamp to do the job - instead of embossing it all I did was inked it up, put some card in and pressed down with my fingers and got the music impression.  The next layer was similar - I used a Tim Holtz Alterations embossing folder Fancy Frame - I inked it up but then put a piece of vellum in it and ran it through my Joy machine.  I then cut around the embossed frame.  The kraft card and topper were cut out with my new Stampin Up dies and the sentiment is from Stampin Up Love and Laughter set.  Now, I felt the background lacked something or other so dug out an old flourish stamp (unknown origin) and stamped that just off to the side of the music notes.  I then used the same SU die (largest one) to shape both the ends of this piece of card - I'm sure you all know how to do this now but if not then please email and I will try to explain!  I then inked the edges with DI's. All this was layered up and put on a 5x7 card base which had it's corners rounded.  I then used some lovely SU pleated ribbon and some matching pearls.

Thanks for stopping by.  I love to read all your comments and will try to pop by to repay the favour.

Less is More - Week 68 - Theme

A very warm hello to everyone out in blogland today - and I really mean that!!!  It's really hot out there today and I've been doing some planting and was "glowing" ......... so thought I'd better come inside and cool down.  Just finished off my card for the Less is More challenge which this week is to make a card for a baby or child.  As I've made a few baby cards recently I decided to make a child's card and decided to use this teddy bear fishing stamp for the main focus of the card.  Unfortunately all it's got on the side of the stamp is copyright Bramley Crafts/MH but no name of the character.  I stamped it using Rich Cocoa Memento ink and coloured with my Letraset Flexmarkers and then cut out by hand.  The mat is a scalloped square nestie and I used a Martha Stewart punch on the border and added a ribbon.  On the base card I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder and then scored lines down each side.  I've added some Glossy Accents to the jar and the teddy's eyes.  The sentiment was computer generated.

Hope you're all enjoying this glorious weather - fingers crossed there's more to come.

Happy crafting.

 

 

Winter Wonderland - Embossing

Hello everyone - hope you're having as brilliant a day as we are in Somerset.......... blue skies and wall to wall sunshine.

The challenge over at Winter Wonderland is embossing of any type so for my card I decided to use my Santa's sleigh and reindeer stencil and Dreamweaver gold embossing paste.  When it was dry it was matted onto some gold mirri card and then onto a piece of kraft cardstock which had been run through my Joy using a Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder (unfortunately I don't think it shows up on the picture for some reason).  The main card is a DL with some gold embossed holly design vellum held in place by brads.  The sentiment is computer generated and punched using my SU word window.  I've added some punched holly leaves with red gems and a poinsettia flower.  The last touch was the ribbon from my stash.

Right, think it may be time to get out in the garden to do some work.  See you all soon.

Bah Humbug - Challenge 47 - Cute Christmas Critters & St Luke's Charity Challenge - Let it Snow

I just can't believe that this is the last week of challenges over at Bah! Humbug! - and it's Cute Christmas Critters -  it doesn't seem like 5 minutes since we started way back in January!  Also over at St Luke's Charity Challenge   their challenge is Let it Snow.  I had already started on a card and it will match in with both challenges.  I have used the great Stamp Addicts set called Polar Bears SA-6019.  I just love using the polar bears as they're soooo cute!!  On a piece of black card I stamped the icicles and embossed with white embossing powder.  I stamped the star and embossed with silver detail e/p.  The polar bears were stamped with Memento ink onto white card and then cut out.  I have used a Letraset Fleximarker to add a blue tinge around the outside of the images.  I cut around the arms of the large polar bear so I could "sit" the baby one inside.  The sentiment is from the same set and I have used my Stampin Up oval and scalloped oval punches to cut out and mat onto silver card.  The whole thing has been mounted onto silver mirri which I embossed with a Cuttlebug dotty e/f.  I added a ribbon to the side and a snowflake die cut out of silver glitter card using my Whimsy Stamps Winter's Jewel 1 die.  I then mounted this onto a black DL card blank and added some snow.

Thanks for stopping by - have a great weekend fellow bloggers.

Bah Humbug - Challenge 34 - Here come the Girls

The lovely ladies over at Humbug Hall have set this week's challenge as Here come the Girls.  I had just got a free digistamp from Jossi Designs and she's a lovely girl in full Xmas outfit.  I printed her out onto super smooth card and coloured using Promarkers.  I then die cut the image using Labels 20 and gold inked around the edges.  I've used an A5 red card base and the backing paper is from my stash.  I used a die cut shape in red (kindly given to my by my friend Anne) and put it through my Joy in a Cuttlebug embossing folder called snowfall.  The central border is a Martha Stewart snowflake punch.  After I'd layered everything on the card I decided the main image was perhaps a wee bit too wide so scored and folded it at the sides and mounted it using double sided tape at the side and silicone glue in the centre - although I'm not sure if that shows up in the photo.  Glamour Dust has been added to all the white fur on her outfit and I've added some poinsettia flowers, gems and a ribbon to finish off.

Thanks for dropping by.

Less is More - Week 14 - Colour Challenge White on White

This week the girls over at Less is More Mansion have set us a colour challenge of white on white and there are some gorgeous cards over on their blog.

I really enjoyed this challenge and started off by using a white linen square card blank.  As most of you will know there must be hundreds of shades of white and none of my cardstock actually matched the white of the card blank so there was nothing to do but use another card blank for my embellishments!  Firstly I used the largest embossing folder from the Sizzix set "Butterfly Migration Set".  This is a lovely folder giving a really crisp finish but I thought it looked lop-sided just having the embossing on the left-hand side so just put the top right corner through again in the folder.  I then die cut the main focal point using my Spellbinders Shapeabilities Pendants - Renaissance Hearts, then a Magnolia swirl and the sentiment Love was die cut using my Cuttlebug Embossing Plus Monogram Seals.  The Renaissance Hearts were placed on the card using silicone glue, as were the letters.


Thanks for dropping by.

Faux Pressed Flowers

Just a quick post today.  I saw this great tutorial over on Splitcoaststampers for Faux Pressed Flowers.

On a piece of white card cut to fit a 5"x7" card blank I stamped a flourish and sentiment using a Big & Juicy pad and then chose some paper flowers to match the colours.  These were glued onto the flourish  and then put through my Joy die cutting machine in a Cuttlebug embossing folder - it's quite amazing how these 3D flowers almost become part of the background.  It was then mounted on the cardblank and I added some co-ordinating paper.  I then used a Martha Stewart punch to punch two borders - the top one I added some matching ribbon and a ribbon bow.  All the card needed then was the addition of some gems and it was finished.  If you don't like the flat finish you can lift up the petals of the flowers.

Thanks for looking.

Black , White and Pink

There's a new blog on the block.......... Less is More has just posted their first challenge which is black, white and pink.  Their aim is to promote the making of classic clean and simple cards which sounds really easy............. but it's pretty hard to pare everything down to such simple cards but I really enjoyed doing this challenge.

I've taken a square white card blank and embossed it using my Swiss Dots folder.  I then die cut nesties from black, pink and white card which were matted together.  On the white card I have stamped the word "kind" in black with a pink flower above (both came from a SU set).  The addition of a pink and white polka dot ribbon finished off this card.

Thanks for stopping by.

Pink & Girly

The challenge over at Do it with Digi's is Pink & Girly.

I have used a digistamp from Di's Digi Designs.  The ticket sentiments are from the lovely Lynne over at Sentiments4You.  I have used a 5" x 7" card blank and covered it with papers from the Papermania Summer Bloom set.  The top paper was put through my die cutting machine in a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I used some pretty lace across the join in the two papers.  I coloured the image, which is called Maisie with Teddy, with Promarkers and cut her out using nesties - this was matted onto two other nestie shapes which have also been embossed.  The addition of some pink roses, some ribbon and gems finished off the card.

Thanks for stopping by.

House Mouse card

It's my friend Janet's birthday today and I'd like to wish her a very Happy Birthday.  Hopefully we will be seeing her tonight at our craft club meeting.

I've made a card using my House Mouse Autumn Berry stamps which were coloured with ProMarkers and Diamond Glaze added to the berries.  The base card is pearl white A5 which I have put through my Joy die cutting machine with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I was able to lay the entire card out flat (A4 size) so I didn't get any impressions on the back of the card and then put it through twice - once for each side of the card.  It will be really nice when the manufacturers start making larger embossing folders!  The layers have been cut using my Go Kreate XL Frilly Labels and also Nesties labels dies.  The flourish is a Sizzix die and I have added some purple ribbon and gems.  The sentiment is from the House Mouse stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by.

Ruby Wedding Anniversary Card

Friends of ours celebrate their Ruby Wedding Anniversary later this month (obviously they are much older than us!!!!  lol).

I have started out with an A5 gold pearlescent card and attached some foiled paper to it.  I then took some matching card cut slightly larger than the front of the card to allow it to be domed and, using my Nesties, die cut a heart out of the centre and then added a gold mirri scalloped heart to frame it.  The embossing on the top and bottom of the card was done using a Cuttlebug embossing border folder.  I also die cut letters to spell out their names which were attached to the top left and bottom right of the card front - I ran these through my Zyron 510 so they would adhere easily.  I then die cut two tags with the numbers 4 and 0 which were tied together with some matching ribbon and placed in the aperture.  The "waste" numbers were used on the smaller matted heart and I used a peel off for the "th".  The sentiment is a peel off with two gold gems added and cut out using my SU punches.  I added some matching flowers and leaves and finished the card off with some peel offs down each side.

Thanks for looking.

Bah Humbug Less is More Challenge

Over at Bah Humbug this week the challenge is "less is more" - not an easy one for those of us who love using ribbon, gems etc!!!  lol

For this very simple card I ran a piece of black mirri card through my Big Shot in a Cuttlebug embossing folder and using a Quickie glue pen added Glamour Dust to the stars, smoke and the rooftops.  This was then matted onto a piece of silver mirri and then onto the base card which is an A5 black ribbed card.  The sentiment is a peel-off matted and layered using my SU punches and I then added a simple peel-off in each corner.  Very quick and easy!

Thanks for looking.

All White Christmas Challenge

This week's challenge at Die Cut Dreams Christmas Club is to make a card with the predominant colour being white.

I started off with a white 6" square card blank and cut a slighly smaller piece of white card which I put through my Big Shot in the snowflake Cuttlebug embossing folder and mounted this onto the main card.  I then found a piece of white and silver handmade paper in my stash and used one of Tim Holtz' new dies to cut a fancy edge - unfortunately it doesn't show up very well in the photograph.  I stamped the largest snowflake out of the Stampin Up snowflake set and embossed on parchment in silver.  This was cut out using a Nellies die and mounted onto a piece of silver mirri also cut using the larger Nellies die.  The sentiment is a silver peel off mounted onto white and silver mirri punch out with my SU oval and scalloped oval punches.  I used some diamond gems in the centres of some of the snowflakes on the embossed card and the main image and added a white and silver irridescent ribbon bow and some silver peel offs down each side.    For some strange reason the silver mirri looks like gold in the photo!

Thanks for looking.