Cinderella

My great niece will be seven this weekend, so I wanted to make a girlie card for her.  It's not the easiest of card to photograph, with three Mirri card die cuts - four if you count the tiny shoe!  

The backing paper is from a Dovecraft paper pad called 'Princess Fairytale'.  Cinderella is a Frantic Stamper die, 'Princess & Shoe'. There are two dies in the set and I've placed the shoe on the path where Cinderella dropped it!  The castle is a Spellbinders die, 'Sandcastle Inn', but works well as a fairytale castle.  I've borrowed both these dies, but I think they'll be making their way onto my wishlist.  :-)  The number 7 is die cut with Sizzlet die from the Block Party alphabet set.  I find that Mirri card gets marked when cut with Sizzlets dies, so I solved the problem by putting a piece of plain card between the die and the Mirri card, then running it through my Big Shot. I've added three white heart-shaped pearls to finish my card.

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

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 196 ~ Used Mirri card snippets
Country View September Challenge ~ Numbers 
Beccy's Place September Challenge
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper September Challenge

Christmas Snowflake

The September Rudolph Days Challenge started yesterday and ends on September 30th.  I made red and white card today, which includes a snowflake, so it's perfect for the Craft Barn Challenge too, where the challenge is Christmas with snow/snowflakes.

 I won a beautiful Heartfelt Creations 'Sparkling Poinsettia Swirl' stamp set in a recent Oyster Stamps blog hop and the sentiment stamp is part of the set.  The snowflake is a Dovecraft punch, which I used to make an aperture in the red die-cut circle.  I used a Crafter's Companion 'Snowflakes' embossing folder and punched along the edge with a Fiskars 'Apron Lace' border punch.  Three tiny pearls finished off my card.  It's a fairly easy card to mass produce, so I'll be making a few more of this design.  It will be a good way to use up some of my big piles of red and white snippets too!

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

September Rudolph Days Challenge ~ Make a Christmas Card

The Craft Barn ~ Christmas + Snow/Snowflakes

CHNC challenge 248 ~ Stick it Down (several layers and adhesive pearls stuck down)

CHNC Challenge extra for September 2015 ~ Make A Christmas Card
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge ~ No Designer Paper

Dandelions

The Lavinia Stamps Challenge this month is ‘Hot Bright Colours’, which immediately made me think of reds, oranges and yellows.  I decided to use the Lavinia 'Dandelion' stamps which come in a set of three.

The Embossalicious 'Make a Wish - Dandelions' embossing folder seemed to perfect one to use for my card.  I covered a card blank with red card to make the border.   The dandelions were stamped with Adirondack 'Red Pepper', 'Sunset Orange' and 'Sunshine Yellow' ink pads.  I used the same ink pads with Ink Dusters over a piece of plain white card, blending the colours, before embossing it.  To give more definition to the embossed dandelions, I then inked again.  The sentiment is computer generated and cut by hand.

Usually when I think of Autumn, I think of browns and oranges, but after a visit to Westonbirt Arboretum today, there were some stunning shades of red, orange and yellow on the trees, so my card fits an Autumn theme too.  As I used white snippets for the stamping and embossing, I'll be sharing my card in the Playground.

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

Lavinia Stamps Challenge #9 ~ Hot Bright Colours

Addicted to Stamps Challenge #109 ~ Autumn
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 195 ~ Use snippets
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge ~ No Designer Paper
Beccy's Place September Challenge

Technology

The theme for the Less is More Challenge is 'Technology', which really had me stumped.  Searching through my stamps and dies, I drew a blank, so I decided to use technology and make a computer generated CAS card.

My plan was to add a picture of an eye at the bottom, but then I had a 'light bulb' moment and realised 'i' is a common technology symbol, so I changed the font from the rest of the text to match the 'i' in 'iPhone' etc.

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

Less is More - Week 242 ~ Technology

Age is only a Number!

Firstly, sorry in advance for the difference in colour of the purple on these photos.  I used the same sheet of purple card to die cut all the purple elements.  'The camera never lies' is a myth!  

I used a Sizzix Circle Flip-its set of dies, which cuts out the basic card shape and the pieces to decorate it.  I cut out the purple pieces before embossing them using a Cuttlebug 'Number Collage' embossing folder.  I learnt from my mistake a few days ago, when I embossed first and then die cut, squashing the embossing flat!  The Happy Birthday is a freebie stamp, stamped with Versafine 'Onyx' and the 'Age is only a Number' is computer generated.  I wish I could work out how to get text into a circle on my computer. I think my version of Word is probably too old!

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

Country View September Challenge ~ Numbers 

Crafty Boots Monochrome Challenge

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge ~ Die Crazy

Exploding Minions!

Welcome to my new follower Karen  of  Karen's Crafting Obsessions.  She has some lovely creations on her blog, so please pop over and pay her a visit.  Karen also has some blog candy to give away to one of her lucky followers, you can find the details HERE. 

Onto today's card.  Yesterday I went to my local monthly 'Crop and Craft' day and decided to get ahead of myself and make a Minion card for my great nephew who will be six next month.  Although I've seen a lot of ideas for Minion cards lately, I had this idea in my head to make a box pop-up card. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I was really pleased with the result.  Apart from the greeting and the eyes on the flaps, I managed to complete the card at the craft day - as well as doing lots of chatting!

 

The Minions are foil stickers which came on a sheet from one of the pound shops.  I stuck them onto card to make them stiff enough to attach to the strips of acetate.  I embossed snippets of blue card with a Cuttlebug 'Spots and Dots' embossing folder to cover the panels.

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

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 195 ~ Use snippets

Country View September Challenge ~ Numbers ( I hope just one number still counts)
Cardz 4 Guyz Challenge # 88 ~ Embossing - Heat or Dry
Beccy's Place September Challenge

Two Little Cats

A Thank You card today for a friend who is a cat lover.  

Originally, I planned to cut the image into a circle with a stitched circle die.  When I put it through the Big Shot, it flattened the embossed wall, so I started again. The cats are die cut from a snippet of black card with a Frantic Stamper 'Love Cats' die.  I punched a circle to use as a mask for the moon and inked the background with Adirondack ink, applied with Ink Dusters.  A snippet of brown card was embossed with a brick embossing folder.  The embossing folder for the background is Creative Expressions 'Pawprint Lattice'. Tiny clear gems for stars added a bit of sparkle.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:
The Craft Barn Weekly Challenge ~ Stencils/Masks (I made a mask for the moon)
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 195 ~ Use snippets
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge ~ Die Crazy
Allsorts Challenge - Week 329 ~ Sparkle

Monochrome Butterfly Card

Welcome to my new follower, Lisa of A Mermaid's Crafts.  Pop over and visit her blog to see her lovely projects.  Lisa also has a generous 'Giveaway' for one of her lucky followers HERE.

The Butterfly Challenge this fortnight is 'Butterfly + Y for Yarn' and the Crafty Boots Challenge is 'Monochrome', so I chose shades of purple for my card and included a butterfly and yarn (thread).  I decided not to include a sentiment so it can be used for any occasion.

The scalloped circles were die cut with Spellbinder Nestabilities and lilac and purple thread wound round.  Both circles are attached with foam tape to give dimension.  The embossing folder is Embossalicious 'Floral Frenzy'.  The butterfly was die cut with a Stampin' Up Embosslits 'Beautiful Wings' die, which cuts and embosses at the same time.  I cut it out twice, in lilac and white, so I could double layer it, just attaching the top butterfly by the middle so the wings stand out. I then added tiny pearls for the body.  The butterfly corner punch is by Dovecraft.

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

Butterfly Challenge #38 ~ Butterflies + Y is for Yarn

Crafty Boots Monochrome Challenge
Bizzy Bec's September Challenge ~ Anything Goes
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge ~ Die Crazy
Beccy's Place September Challenge

Three More Cards......

Firstly, welcome to my two new followers,  Lesley Roulstone and Paula.  I can't find a link to either of your blogs, so please leave me a comment so I can make a link to your blogs in my next post. Thank you both for following my blog.

Three more cards were made this week, all of which have been received, so I'm able to post them here.  

The first card is a Belated birthday card.

This is a NBUS Inkadinkado stamp set with the image and sentiments coming as three separate stamps.  I thought it was a pretty cute image, but I haven't needed to make a Belated birthday card until this week, so it had it's first outing.  The image is coloured with Promarkers and the embossing folder is Couture Creations 'Fireflies'.  The card is finished off with Card Candi.

My second card is a Thank You card.

I bought the Papermania Thank You stamp a while ago in a clearance sale.  When I opened the packet this week, I realised that the stamp came with a die, which cuts the shape of the outline of the words.  'WOW' I thought, it was more of a bargain than I thought.  However, when I went to use it, I discovered that the die actually cuts out the shape in reverse.  The only way it would work was if I stamped on the back of the die cut - but the edges weren't as smooth.  So, it was back to Plan A and I die cut the stamped image with a Memory Box Stitched rectangle die.  The image was coloured with Promarkers.  I used the same embossing folder as the card above on silver pearlised paper this time.  Apart from the card blank, all the card and paper were snippets, so I'll be popping over to the Playground with this card.

Finally, this card is a copy of a card I made at the weekend HERE, but changing the colours to deep blue and silver and using one of the other dies in the corner set.

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

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 194 ~ Use Snippets

Ruby Anniversary + 1!

Today is my 41st Wedding Anniversary.  Forty-one years???   How did that happen?  That's more than two thirds of my life! ;-)  Here is the card I made for my hubby Alan, the second time I've made a box pop-up card.  I've taken photos from different angles, although the hearts look a bit higher in the photos than they actually are.

 

The die I used for the back panel is  a NBUS Memory Box 'Heart Waterfall' die.  I die-cut/punched different sized hearts, including using NBUS punch I've had for ages, a Fiskars scalloped heart squeeze punch.  I attached the hearts to acetate to make them pop up.  I'm not sure why I haven't used the Fiskars punch before - I guess it wasn't quite the size heart I needed until now.  The white panels on the side flaps are embossed with a Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' embossing folder, although I'm not sure you can see it in the photos.  The patterned paper is from a DoCrafts paper pad and has little hearts on it.

I also made a CAS engagement card using the Heart Waterfall die.  The first cut was through white card, which I mounted on a a red card blank.  I used the die again on red card and just used the large cut out heart to mount on the bottom corner.

As I used white and red snippets on my first card, I'll be off to play the Playground.

Darnell's NBUS (Never-Before-Used Schtuff) challenge finishes on Friday, so pop over to her blog to find out more and perhaps win yourself a lovely prize. 

I would like to enter my box pop-up card for the following challenges:

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #5 ~ (never-before-used-schtuff )

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 194 ~ Use Snippets

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge ~ Anything Goes
Bizzy Bec's September Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Get Well Soon

I heard today that a friend had a bad fall this week and fractured her pelvis.   I made this CAS card tonight, so I can get it off in the post first thing in the morning.

For the corner, I used one of the Memory Box 'Distressed Baptisia Collage' dies, backed with a snippet of red pearlised paper.  The flower is a Memory Box 'Prim Poppy' die, which I cut out with snippets of green card and the red paper.  I snipped the red flower heads off and attached over the green die cut.  The sentiment is computer generated and cut out by hand.

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

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 194 ~ Use Snippets

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge ~ Anything Goes
City Crafter Challenge Blog - Week 278 ~ Feeling Flat
Bizzy Bec's September Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Bags of fun!

The 'Less is More' One Layer challenge this week is 'Wishing'.  I knew straight away which two stamps I was going to use, but just had to find them!  They are both wood mounted Hobby Art stamps I bought many years ago, but have never used.  They weren't bought as a set, but go well together.  (Edited to say - they go well together in the UK where the image is three bags and not three purses, as in the US! LOL!) I know some crafters say you can remove the stamps off the wooden blocks, but has anyone done it without ruining their stamps?  They take up so much room on the wooden blocks!  

So... here is my card

The sentiment was stamped with a Versafine 'Onyx' inkpad and the image with Memento 'Tuxedo Black'.  I coloured the image with Promarkers and Wink of Stella glitter pens.  

This is my second card for Darnell's NBUS challenge.  If you haven't heard of NBUS (Never-Before-Used Schtuff), then pop over to Darnell's blog to find out more.  She has a challenge running until the 18th September with very generous prizes from herself, as well as other sponsors.  

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:
Less is More - Week 241 One Layer ~ Wishing
Darnell's NBUS Challenge #5 ~ (never-before-used-schtuff )

Green and Gold

The Less is More Challenge this week is 'Green and Gold'.  My initial thought was a Christmas card, but as I needed to make a thank you card today, I decided to use green and gold on this card.

The Memory Box die, 'Florina Corner', was recently purchased with a voucher I won in The Craft Barn Challenge and had it's first outing for this card. I used it first on green card and attached the die cut to the cream card blank.  I used the die again on a snippet of gold Mirri card and used just small parts of it over the original green die cut. 

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

Less is More - Week 240 Colour Challenge ~ Green and Gold
Darnell's NBUS Challenge #5 ~ (never-before-used-schtuff )

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 193 ~ Use Snippets

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Picking Flowers

The current Butterfly Challenge is 'Butterflies + A is for Archway'.  This is my take on the challenge, using a Spellbinders 'Arched Window' die to form an archway - hope this counts!

The stamp is Magnolia 'Tilda Picking Flowers', coloured with Promarkers and a Wink of Stella glitter pen for the flowers.  I used a white snippet for the stamp and green/turquoise snippets for matting the sentiment, so will be off to play in the Playground again. 

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

Butterfly Challenge #37 ~ Butterflies + A is for Archway

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 193 ~ Use Snippets
The Craft Barn Weekly Challenge ~ Stamping

Out of my comfort zone again!

Yesterday I went to an Art Journal workshop, which is SO far out of my CAS comfort zone!  But sometimes it's good to go out of your comfort zone.....right?  It was run by the two friends who organise my local, monthly 'Crop and Craft' days, so I knew I'd be in safe hands.  :-)

For the first project, I started with a blank piece of mountboard and attached various die-cuts, textured paste and torn,  embossed card before painting everything with black acrylic paint.  When it was dry I added silver and turquoise Inka-Gold which gave it a metallic sheen.  

The next two projects were also on mountboard, painted with blue, pink and yellow acrylic paint, before giving them a coat of white acrylic paint.  The image was coloured with pencil crayons.  The text was computer generated with lines added by hand.....  

... although on the second one my CAS head kicked in and the lines around the text on this one were done on the computer. ;-)

So..... I survived the day.  I'll remember to put my gloves on before I start next time, so I don't come home with blue stained hands again! 

Owls

An owl card today using Papermania 'Owl Folk' paper and stamps.  I love this range of papers, as the colours make them suitable for a male or female.

I added just a little colour to the stamped image, using a Promakers, matching the colours in the patterned papers. I matted the stamped image and sentiment with a snippet of turquoise card and add a strip of the card stamped with feathers down the middle, so I'll be off to play in The Playground when the gates open again in the morning.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:
The Craft Barn Weekly Challenge ~ Animals
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 193 ~ Use Snippets
Deep Ocean Challenge #111 ~ For the Boys

Special Wedding Card

When I was asked to make a wedding card last Saturday afternoon, which was needed by today, my initial thought was 'I'm going away for a few days in the morning and won't be back until late Thursday evening. I have a huge pile of ironing to do before we go, so I won't have time'.  But when I heard that the last minute card was needed for a very special reason.....well, the ironing just had to wait.  I made a card based on a design I'd done before, for an anniversary card, to make sure I had time to finish the card.  Thinking of a design often takes me longer than actually making the card!  

I usually leave the insides of my cards blank, but I was asked to add this text inside.