Anchors Aweigh!

I've got a stall at a charity craft fair next week, so I thought I'd better start making a few more cards particularly suitable for men. I thought this embossing folder and anchor punch would look good together, so this is the card I came up with.  

T

The embossing folder I used was a Cuttlebug one, 'Anchors Aweigh'.  

I would like to enter my card for the following challenge:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 148 ~ Used black snippets

Embossed butterfly

The Butterfly Challenge #17  is 'Emboss Your Butterfly' so, as I need to make a birthday card for a friend's birthday next week, I decided to make her a butterfly card.

The background was embossed with a Swiss Dot embossing folder.  I made a silver frame using Nestabilities and attached it over a circle of white card, using foam pads.   The large butterfly was cut out with a Spellbinders die I bought years ago, which I really love.  It cuts out two butterflies at the same time, both embossed and one with holes.  I cut the butterflies out in dark blue and silver and attached the silver one behind the blue one.  I also now have a butterfly the opposite way round to use on another project.  I hope this makes sense - it sounds a big confusing reading it back! The butterfly is also attached using foam pads to make it stand out.  The little white butterflies were cut out with a Sizzix die which cuts and embosses at the same time - if you look carefully, you might see the embossing! I keep forgetting how difficult it is to photograph mirror card.  The silver shines through the holes in the butterfly beautifully, but looks a bit dark in the photo.  

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Butterfly Challenge #17 ~ Emboss your butterfly

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 148 ~ Used silver and white snippets

Christmas

I arrived home yesterday from not so sunny Devon.  Our little caravan is now packed away for the winter and will be kept warm in a barn until next Easter.  There was not much room in the car this time to take the usual amount of craft stuff (in case of bad weather), but I managed to make thirty four more Christmas cards, with another ten partly done.  The card below is one of the ones I finished off today.

A quick and easy one, using up some snippets of Christmas papers.  As the left hand side has Christmas words on, I decided the card didn't need a Christmas greeting.  The holly punch is one I picked up at a car boot sale for a bargain price! I do like a bargain!

Off to share my card over at Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 148  then I need to make a birthday card for a friend.  I have an idea in my head for a butterfly card, so if it works out, I'll pop over to the Butterfly Challenge.

Autumn Fall

Autumn is well and truly here and walking into the school where I worked today, the ground was covered in fallen sycamore leaves.  So, for today's card I used the lovely Lavinia 'Autumn Fall' stamp, embellished with sycamore leaves.  

I coloured a sheet of white cardstock randomly with Adirondack inks in shades of red, orange, yellow and brown.  I used this inked sheet to put a strip behind the die cut holes, punch sycamore leaves and to mat the sentiment.  The punched leaves were attached with foam pads to give a bit of dimension.  For the stamped image I used a Versafine 'Sepia' ink pad.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Lavinia Stamps Challenge #10 ~ Autumn Colours

Sparkles Monthly Challenge CH#61 ~ Fall/Autumn Colours
Stamping Sensations October Challenge ~ Warm Autumn Colours
Bizzy Becs October Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Retirement Card

A wonderful dinner lady at the school I where I used to teach is retiring tomorrow, after 32 years at the same school!  As my class was called 'Sunflower' while I was teaching there, I wanted to included sunflowers somewhere on the card.  

The dies I used were all Poppystamps:  Small Madison Arched Window, Small Window Box, Picket Fence and Walking Cat.  There's no name on the brick embossing folder, so I'm not sure of the make. White, green and yellow snippets used this time, so I'll be sharing my card on Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 147  

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:
Fan-Tastic Tuesday Challenge #58 ~ Anything Goes with a Twist - Add Some Flowers
Bizzy Becs October Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Autumn Colours #2

Following on from yesterday's post, I've made a second card using a photo I took recently at Westonbirt Arboretum.  This time it's a close up of a tree which really caught my eye with all the lovely autumn colours on just one tree.  The photo is attached with foam pads.

I used a Martha Stewart border punch and attached a piece of green card behind to show off the leaf shaped holes.  There is still lots of green around in autumn!  The card was finished off with brown punched trees.  Lots of snippets used on this card so off to play in Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 147  , then it will be time to do some hospital visiting......

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:
Sparkles Monthly Challenge CH#61 ~ Fall/Autumn Colours

Autumn Colours

This week I need to make a couple of 'Get Well' cards for men. This first card is for someone who was a volunteer at Westonbirt Arboretum for many years, one of his favourite places.  This seemed a perfect theme for his card.  I went to the arboretum a week or two ago to see the beautiful 'Autumn Colours', so I decided to use one of my photos on the card to make it personal.  I need to make a card for someone else to give him, so I think I'll use one of my other photos on a second card.

I used little snippets in autumn colours to punch the leaves, so I'll share my card over at Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 147.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenge:
Sparkles Monthly Challenge CH#61 ~ Fall/Autumn Colours
Crafting Musketeers Challenge #18 ~ Autumn Colours

50th Charter Card

So much for retirement!  I've worked every day this week as a supply teacher, which is most unusual!  I love teaching really, especially in Reception (four and five year olds).  Yesterday we were finger painting autumn trees and today we were covered in glitter, making cards. Bliss!!  However, I thought I had all week to make a special card to celebrate the  50th Charter of my local Ladies Circle, but things never work out as planned!  Ladies Circle was formed originally for the wives of Round Table, but these days have open membership.  So, tonight I eventually finished the card needed for this weekend.

I included the logo on the card in gold and also used turquoise, the colour of the modern badge. The champagne glasses were die cut with a Sizzix die and attached with foam pads.  I added some sparkly bubbles and turquoise pearls.  I managed to find a snippet of yellowy gold card which was big enough for what I needed, so I'll pop over to the Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge - Week 146 .

Lego card

When I saw Di's Lego card on Pixie's Crafty Workshop blog HERE I knew straight away that my great nephew would adore a Lego card for his birthday at the end of this month.  So here is my design.

 

The Lego bricks were cut 2" x 1" and 1" x 1".  The circles were punched with a 3/8" punch and attached with foam pads to give dimension.  I cut a piece of card 4" square and attached all the bricks to it, trimming off the excess before attaching it to the background.  I thought this would be easier than trying to get the bricks level on the embossed background.  The green background was embossed with an Petite Dot - 6in x 6in Embossalicious Embossing Folder.  Apart from the white card blank, everything else was made with snippets.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 146 ~ Use snippets
That's Crafty! Challenge Blog ~ Keep it Simple

Bizzy Bec's October Challenge ~ Anything Goes

True Blue!

Another football fan birthday card needed this week.  Blue and white again!  What makes you think that our local footie team plays in blue and white?  

My Die-namics 'Peek-a-boo Dots' die had its second outing this weekend, this time with a snippet of blue behind the dots.   (I've also now got a little pot of tiny white circles to use on future projects! ) The stamp is a Paper Nations one, and I've coloured in the image in the team's kit of blue and white quartered shirts.  I used Card Candi to finish off the card.  As there are lots of circles on the card, I rounded the corners of the card too.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 146 ~ Used blue snippets
Addicted to Stamps Challenge #89 ~ Anything Goes
That's Crafty! Challenge Blog ~ Keep it Simple
Bizzy Bec's October Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Scrapy Land Challenge #3 ~ Anything Goes using any brand of die that Scrapy land sells

Neon Colours for Christmas!

When I saw that the challenge on Merry Monday was to make a Christmas card using neon colours, I thought I wouldn't have anything suitable to use.  However, I vaguely remembered buying some neon card or paper years ago and eventually managed to find it.  I must have used it once, as there were a few whole sheets and quite a few snippets left in the pack.  

I used a Die-namics 'Peek-a-boo Dots' die on white cardstock and put strips of four shades of neon paper behind at an angle.  I used a holly punch for the leaves, but as I wanted to attach it with foam pads, I stuck the neon green paper to a piece of card first as the paper was quite thin.  The finished piece of card was then attached to a card blank to hide all the strips of paper behind the dots.  

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:
Merry Monday #129 ~ Neon Colours!
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra ~ Anything Goes - Christmas

Throwback Thursday Challenge #2

When I saw that Bibiana has started a new Throwback Thursday Challenge on her blog, Stamping with Bibiana, I thought it would be fun to take part.  The idea is to repost a card posted some time in the past.  Each challenge lasts for two week, starting on a Thursday, and this time the theme is: A past Halloween project (preferably but NOT compulsory).  As Halloween cards are not common in the UK, I've never made one, so I thought about the first card I ever made for a challenge.  HERE is my original post.

In March 2013 I saw a new challenge being started by Lavinia Stamps. As I already owned a number of Lavinia stamps I decided to enter.  It was only when I saw other entries, that I realised there were other challenges.  Until then I had no idea that there were online card making challenges! As I started to enter a few of these challenges, I discovered there are hundreds of challenges, with lots of lovely bloggers who visit and comment on each others posts.  Since March 2013, when the Lavinia Stamps challenge started, I always make sure I enter every month, as it was the challenge that first introduced me to my blogging friends.

Pop over to Stamping with Bibiana and repost one of your creations from the past.

Butterfly Tag Card

I decided to have a break from making Christmas cards, although I've still got a lot to make!  I thought I'd go with shades of purple for this birthday card.

The tag is made with a Stampin Up Tag punch and I drew some faux stitching around the edge.  The stamp is from the Little Claire Butterfly Tree stamp set, one of my favourite sets of Little Claire stamps.  The butterflies were coloured in with Promarkers - Violet, Lavander, Lilac and Ivory, with a touch of sparkle added to the bodies with a Wink of Stella glitter pen.  The embossing folder came as a free gift with a magazine quite a while ago.  I've added tiny pearls to the centres of all the embossed flowers.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Little Claire Monthly Blog Challenge # 49 ~ A Birthday Card

Butterfly Challenge #16 ~ Butterfly with a Tag
Sparkles Monthly Challenge #60 ~ Things with Wings
Fan-Tastic Tuesday Challenge # 56 ~ Anything Goes - With a Twist....Wings 

Frosty the Snowman

I was passing a garden centre yesterday which I knew had a craft section.  As I can't resist a browse in a craft shop, I went in and saw a Woodware Snowman stamp which I thought might be easier to paper piece than the first one I tried this week.  

I first stamped the image on the blue card. I remembered to use Post-It notes to mask off the parts of the white card and patterned paper that I didn't want stamped, leaving just a small area big enough for the part of the stamp I needed.  That way I didn't waste any of the patterned paper.  I didn't think to do that last time! The patterned papers were snippets of a Dovecraft Christmas paper stack.  I used a Tonic snowflake die for the three snowflakes at the bottom.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Lisa.B.Designs challenge ~ Christmas stamping and paper piecing
Lawnscaping Challenge ~ Use Patterned Paper

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra ~ Anything Goes - Christmas

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 145 ~ Use snippets

Paper Piecing

When I saw that the Lisa.B.Designs challenge this month is Christmas Stamping and Paper Piecing, I decided this was a new technique I wanted to try -  well, new for me!  I knew this would take my totally out of my comfort zone - I tend to shy away from cutting out by hand.  I looked through my Christmas stamps and chose a large tree stamp I thought would work, but I really didn't like the finished result.  So I found a cute reindeer stamp, but this proved to have too many small, fiddly bits.  The only other stamp I thought might work was a plum pudding one.  I've only paper pieced the plum pudding and the holly on top, so I hope this still counts for the challenge.

The hearts were coloured in with a red Stardust pen and I also used a Powder Blue Promarker to highlight the pudding.  Little red pearls were added to the punched holly leaves in the corner. I used brown, cream and green snippets for the paper piecing, so I'll be entering this card over at Pixie's Snippets Playground challenge too.  While I was making the card, I realised that Plum Pudding starts with the letter 'P', so it's perfect to enter into the challenge on Crafty Hazelnut's blog too, the pearls are a bonus 'P'.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Lisa.B.Designs challenge ~ Christmas stamping and paper piecing

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Blog ~ Include something beginning with 'P'
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra ~ Anything Goes - Christmas

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 145 ~ Use snippets

Perfect Penguins!

When I saw a challenge on Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Blog to include something being with 'P', I immediately thought of Penguins, Pearls and Patterned Paper.  I remembered I had a sheet of penguin patterned paper, so this is my second design for this year's Christmas cards.  All the cards with this design will be slightly different, as I'll be working my way through my stack of Christmas papers and will change the decoration to link in with the pattern on the papers.

The little penguin was made with the Stampin' Up owl punch and I added a little hat to match the penguins on the patterned paper.

This shows the card opened.

I would like to enter the card for the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Blog ~ Include something beginning with 'P'
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra ~ Anything Goes -Christmas

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 145 ~ Used red, white and green snippets

My First 2014 Christmas Card

I've made my first Christmas card for this year!  Unlike many cardmakers who make lots of different cards for Christmas, I'm afraid I design just two or three and mass produce them.  One or two friends who I know will keep them and who won't have recycled them by the end of December may get a 'one off', if I have time.  So this is my first design for this year.  I needed to do a bit a careful measuring as I didn't want the embossing to go under the 'Christmas' word, but it was fairly quick to make.

The die is a Memory Box one and I've used a Sizzix embossing folder, not sure about which one as I've had it for ages and there is no name on it.  The little punched tree is topped with a punched holographic star.  Apart from the base card, everything else was made with snippets, so by Christmas my snippet pile should be greatly reduced!

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 144 ~ Using snippets
Less Is More - Week 191 ~ Mostly Words
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra ~ Anything Goes -Christmas

Trio of Bunnies

I can't believe that I've spent three days, on and off, trying to make a birthday card for my great-niece.  I knew I wanted it to feature rabbits somewhere, as she has a new pet rabbit, and also wanted it in bright colours to reflect her personality.  So, I got out my Sizzix rabbit die and Joanna Sheen rabbit stamps and played around with a few ideas. I just couldn't seem to come up with a design, so I went to Hobbycraft yesterday to find my mojo, and happened to find this back view of a rabbit stamp for £1.  Armed with my new purchase, I set to work again on the card.

I'm not sure if the patterned paper is too busy, but she will probably discard the card after a few seconds to open her present!   The rabbits were coloured in with Promarkers, picking out the colours in the patterned paper and the punched flowers were made out of matching snippets, decorated with pearls.  I wanted to get glitter on the card somewhere, so I covered the tails in Glossy Accents and sprinkled on white glitter while it was still wet.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenge:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 144 ~ Using snippets