Oriental Theme, Bamboo, CAS

I really didn't think I was going to get this card finished in time...  but I did, so here's my second post for today  :)

It's very different to my other card, isn't it?

I chose to stamp the Brushed Bamboo (Impression Obsession) stamp onto Hammer card as I wanted to add some extra texture CAS style.  I HAD to use Memento Bamboo Leaves to ink it up.  How could I not?! 

There are two layers to the Blissful Butterfly Border (Memory Box) butterfly - a Centura card base with a vellum topper just glued at the centre to make it 3D.  I chose the Centura card as I wanted to use it for the shaped flowers (Elizabeth Crafts, Bunch of Flowers 2), adding centres from my Flower Mound die (Memory Box). 

The oriental looking pieces are chopped up portions from Lattice 2 (Dee's Distinctively Dies), the single leaf is a Meadow Leaf that's had some pruning (Poppystamps) and the tiny red butterflies are from Peaceful Butterfly Wings (Memory Box).

I tried to make this more CAS, but it just didn't look finished without the extra elements...

This card's being entered into three different challenges...

Poppystamps, House of Cards and AAA Cards...

I'm off to make a start on my next card.  It's unusual for me, but this time I know exactly what I'm planning to do.  That'll probably change!

'Bye for now...

Gatefold Card, Double Butterfly, Black + White

As some of you may know, my daughter has various Special Needs.  Her needs haven't changed, but my daughter's school has new people in key roles.  So...  let's just say it's been a tough week and we've got lots of school meetings ahead of us, trying to justify (yet again) why she's on a reduced timetable, needs 'energy conservation' strategies in place and gets ill so often...  I truly understand the words I read recently on someone's blog bio about card making being 'cheaper than therapy and better for you than drugs or alcohol'...  though not so sure it is cheaper...  guess it depends on the individual!

So...  it's taken me a little longer than I'd hoped to get my latest card finished, but here it is...

I know that I probably could have made it much simpler, but I'm afraid my brain gives me a 'wedgie' so once it's got an idea in it's head it doesn't leave me alone!  (That's a reference from the Big Bang Theory for those of you who may recognise it from somewhere).

I also normally run firmly in the opposite direction when it comes to black and white cards.  I've never made one before, but I saw this challenge on The Card Concept and decided to give it a go...

My inspiration's from the colour scheme and the spotty pattern, but I decided against uniform spots and went for haphazard instead.  I also softened the black and white with hints of Memento Gray Flannel Ink.

The dies I've used for this card include Tab with Text (Marianne Design/Collectables), Classic Squares (Spellbinders Nestabilities), Floral Square (Memory Box), flowers from Botanic Frame (Memory Box) and butterflies from Blissful Butterfly Border (Memory Box).

I designed the card so that the tabs don't fully meet when folded backwards for posting.

The reverse of this card also has a Tab with Text die added to it (with a Nestabilities Square at an angle), plus the two outer butterflies.  Except for the Tab with Text, these were also edged in Gray Flannel ink.

As always, if you can spare the time I would love to know what you think.

The Card Concept only accepts entries for six (seven if you count Mixed Media which is coming soon) distinct styles of card making.  I'm entering this into the "Shabby Chic and Vintage' category... 

Have a good weekend, everybody...  and thank you for taking the time to come 'visit' me :)  

Double Tag, Serendipity Bird Frame, Bird House

I had a lot of fun with the last tag I made for a Tag You're It and Poppystamps challenge.  So much so that I've been mulling over a second design that would suit both challenges.

Here's the design I came up with...

It's predominantly made from my 'left overs' stash.  Do you have one of those?  It's the place where all my extra pieces go...  Normally because I've cut a few extra or I've cut the same die piece in a few different colours as I couldn't settle on which one I wanted to use.

The front tag has been cut from Kraft card and sponged with several shades of green, blue and brown from my Tim Holtz distress ink collection.  There's even some Antique Linen in there!

The Serendipity Bird Frame (Poppystamps) has been backed onto Centura Card.  The tiny leaves were left from my McGill Dimensional Lever Punch (Tree Branch) and the flowers were sent to me with a craft order.  Any tiny daisy punch would do the trick, I think.

Once I added the Poppystamps Nestled Bird (cut from recycled packaging), the Delicate Chain (Poppystamps) and the birdhouse (Taylored Expressions, Birch Tree Accessories Set), it was simply a case of deciding on which flower embellishment centres I wanted to use.   Can you see from the picture that I pierced a hole into the birdhouse and attached the chain through that, then cut into the chain to thread it onto the frame?

Once the twine was added the tag was finished, but I still felt it lacked something.  I considered adding a butterfly, making a bigger tag and backing it onto this one as a frame...  and then I remembered a double tag I had seen online some time ago.  I figured writing on the back of a 3D tag might not be the easiest of options, so this seemed like the perfect solution.

So I untied the twine and cut the back tag from Centura card to mirror the front design a little.  As I wasn't sure if Centura card was practical to write on I cut a distressed rectangle (Spellbinders) from hammer card, edged it slightly with Walnut Stain Distress ink and added a few extra daisies.

If you take a look at the Tag You're It design (below) that's posted by their Featured Designer, you'll see that this time around I've focused solely on the bird and flowers as the focus of my project.

I'm also entering this into Country View Challenges / Use Kraft card.

Yes, it was a lot of work for such a small project.  But I had fun doing it.

Bye for now  :)

Stampin' Up Best Blossoms, Textured Brickwork, Butterfly

A lot of stamps in my craft cupboard are completely untouched...  (Hangs head in shame)!!!  It's not that I dislike them, it's just that I like my craft dies a little too much :)

To make a start on remedying this situation I dug out my Stampin' Up Best Blossoms set.

It took me a while to come up with a design I was happy with as using stamps like this takes me out of my comfort zone!

Believe it or not, the background's actually been stamped using Impression Obsession's / Cover a Card, Distressed Brick stamp.   The stamp wasn't big enough for this card so I stamped off and kept over stamping / re-inking until I was happy with the overall look.

I wanted to do something a little different, so once the ink was dry (Versa Magic, Niagara Mist) I added the aperture window and some texture with a Tim Holtz, Bricked stencil and embossing paste.

Fussy cutting the flowers took a while!  I've used a combination of Rosebud and Elderberry Memento ink, stamping and then stamping off for the lighter shade.

The leaves are from my Lifestyle Crafts, Treat Box die set.  If this set is was available anywhere in the UK I couldn't find it, so I had to go hunting online to an American craft store.  I don't do this kind of thing very often, but sometimes it's nice to at least have the option.

The blue butterfly is from Marianne Creatables (Butterfly 3) and the tiny brown one's are from my Martha Stewart, Pop Up Butterfly punch.

As for the cute Forest Snail...  That's from Memory Box  :)

My original inspiration for the colour scheme came from the latest Fusion Challenge...

As there are several challenges with a Spring theme I"m also linking this card to Sunday Stamps, The Pink Elephant, Curtain Call...

...  and House Of Cards...

Hope you are having a good day...

Garden Flowers, Textured Brickwork, Kraft Card

Do you ever have one of those days when you try out an idea that REALLY doesn't work?

That's how this card began.  Some of my best work is a 'happy accident', you know!

Anyhow, I wanted to make a card that was less 'girly' but still pretty.  I think I've managed to achieve what I set out to do...  But if you have the time I would value your opinion.  Positive or negative - as long as it's constructive, please :)

Here's the card...

I've used embossing paste and a Tim Holtz stencil (Bricked) to give some texture to the Kraft card base.  Once dry, several layers of sponged distress ink (Walnut stain) were added.

The layered front panel has my favourite flowers on it.  Elizabeth Crafts, Bunch of Flowers 2.  The centres are tiny flowers from Memory Box (Flower Mound).

I've kept the Fresh Foliage (Memory Box) ink free as I didn't want to have too much going on.  This is a card designed for a CAS challenge, after all!

As for the butterflies...  I don't know if you can tell from the photograph but they are, in fact, embossed vellum rubbed with just a smidge of silver gilding wax.  The large butterfly is from Memory Box (Blissful Butterfly Border) and the smaller one's are from Martha Stewart, Pop Up Butterfly punch.

One piece of very dark brown twine tied to the side...  Finished :)

I made this card for the CAS-ual Friday's Clean and Simple Challenge...

...  and for Country View Challenges...

Have a great weekend :)

Chochitlan Wreath, Tag, CAS

I have to confess I've really enjoyed this Easter break, but sadly it's back to getting up at 5.45am from Monday.  I shower, then my husband...  and then at 6.20am I wake my daughter, give her five minutes to get her bearings and then she's in the bathroom 'til around 7-7.15am.  She takes forever to do things.  Always has.  The joys of Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder, Developmental Coordination Disorder, etc...  Did I mention that after a 10-15 minute break to dry off she's back in the bathroom for another 20 minutes just to clean her teeth?!  The things we have to do just to get our daughter to school on time.

At least this cute little gift tag did not forever to do.  Here's one picture from the front...

...  and one from the left...

...  and one from the right...

I started by overlapping three wreaths from the Poppystamps, Chochitlan Wreath.

As you can hopefully see from the photograph I chose to use two green colours for added interest.

Next, I cut and shaped the flowers (Elizabeth Crafts, Bunch of Flowers 2).  This time I used tiny purple flowers as centres for the white flowers (Memory Box, Flower Mound) and a small diamante gem for the blue flower.

The Poppystamps Nestled Bird (and some ribbon) were all that was needed to finish this mini project.

I'm entering this gift tag into the latest Poppystamps Challenge...  and Tag You're It...

If you take a look at the original tag design above you will see that the bird, the flowers and the circles on the big blue flower are where my design idea has come from.  I've swapped out a busy background for plain, kept the blue flower, dropped the sentiment and the feather and used the ribbon shape on the tag as actual ribbon to tie my tag with.  The two shades of green in the wreath echo the two shades of orange on the flowers from the original design...  and as a final finishing touch I've included one small diamante gem to echo the 'shine' from the paperclip.

Hope you like it...

Flowers on Branch, Kraft Tag, CAS

I love the simplicity of this card...  and it's really quick and easy to make.

Instructions...

Take one Kraft tag, add a Branch die (Memory Box, Woodland Branch), shape three white flowers from Centura Pearl card (Elizabeth Crafts, Bunch of Flowers 2) and glue centres to the middle of each flower using tiny brown flowers (Memory Box, Flower Mound).  Add some red twine, mount with foam pads onto green backing card that has 'cut outs' in the corners (Joanna Sheen/Signature Die, Rose Leaves), glue to a card front...  Finished.

It's like a quick and easy recipe :)

I'm entering this card into the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge (use Kraft, Flowers and Twine)...

It's also being entered into Country View Challenges (use Kraft card) and Tag You're It...

As you can see from the Tag You're It...  design shown above, I've kept to very little of the original design this time.  The central flourish has been replaced by a branch and I've kept three of the flowers.  Other than that this design is quite different.

Hope the bank holiday weekend is treating you well...

Floating Butterflies, Kraft Card, Flowers

There are a few challenges focusing on Kraft card this month, so I've taken the plunge and had a go at a few designs.

With that in mind, here's the first of today's 2 posts...

I'm linking this to Country View Challenges...  and the latest Poppystamps Challenge...

I've cut the Floating Butterflies die (Memory Box) from some gorgeous red shimmer card that's been sponged using Brilliance Moonlight White Pigment Ink and a Tim Holtz Blossom stencil.  Once dry, this was backed onto Centura Pearl card that's been cut slightly larger, then mounted at an angle using foam pads.  

If you look closely you'll see that I've kept the inner 'cut out' outline of the Floating Butterflies die, gluing a small piece of card behind the centre of the middle butterfly to hold it all into place.  You can't see the strip of card as the folded Darla Butterfly die (Memory Box) hides it.

I then attached a piece of brown twine to the edge of the card before adding pieces of the Massa Leaf Frame (Poppysatmps) that I roughly edged using a Mememto Olive Grove Pen.

Three Dew Drops and some white flowers (Elizabeth Crafts, Bunch of Flowers 2), centered with tiny flowers (Memory Box, Flower Mound) and the card was finished.  

I'm keeping this one to use at the end of the Summer term.  It will be a 'Thank You' card for my daughter's one-to-one.  

Thanks for stopping by :)

Tag Card, Yellow Rose, Kraft Card

I'm trying out a card design today that's for three different challenges.

This is what I've come up with...

The challenges are from Tag You're It..,  Fusion...

...and Country View Challenges (use Kraft Card).

I've taken the colour palette from the cake (that big yellow swirl on the top made me think of a spiral flower straight away), and the layout is from the tag card...  complete with the embossed white background, Kraft tag, central flourish, big flower focal point and the Dew Drop embellishments.  The differences are that I've added some extra leaves (Joanna Sheen/Signature Dies, Rose Leaves) and (Memory Box, Fabulous Phlox), one small butterfly (Impression Obsession, Butterfly Die Set) and dropped the musical notes, the sentiment and the smaller flowers.

The background was embossed using a Sizzix/Texture Fades Embossing Folder (Birch Trees, Tim Holtz).  The flower is also by Sizzix/Tim Holtz (Bigz Die, Jumbo Tattered Pinecone) and the flourish is from a set called 'Sweet Strawberry' (Sizzix/Thinlit).

As for the tag tie...  If you look closely you'll see that it has a zigzag edge to it - just like the case on the cupcake.  As for where it came from..?  Let's just say it's been upcycled and I'll leave you to try and guess.

It's going to be a fun filled day here today.  My daughter was still awake at 3am.  Just as well we're on school holidays right now.

I haven't made a card with a large 3D flower before.  If you can spare the time, I would love to know what you think.