Hello there! Well it's gone from wet and windy to bright, sunny and absolutely freezing in a matter of a day here. We even had a flurry of snow the other day. Must be getting near to Christmas - am I panicking about Christmas cards.....well.... just a little BUT I have the Make The Day Special Challenge to thank for getting me into the zone.
It finishes today (Sunday 22nd) at 10pm, so it's cutting it fine, but I was inspired to use my latest purchases of SugarPea Designs stamps to make something for it. I made two cards in the end, one Christmassy (yay!) and another a birthday card for a friend, which is my entry for the challenge.
Birthday card first:
I pretty well went with the sketch cutting a circle from the centre of my A2 card blank. I cut my CB rounded tag die from Neenah 110lb card stock and stamped the French Hen using Memento Tuxedo Black and then coloured in with Copics - not sure you can see it so well, but I tried out some of my texture with the colourless blender for feathers. I cut another tag to adhere to the back as the copics bleed and it was going to be exposed when you open the card.
On the inside of the card I adhered a piece of bright pink card so it would show behind the tag which was adhered over the circle on the card front. I attached a piece of grey baker's twine through the tag.
The sentiment is from the non Christmas additions to the 12 Days of Christmas set - it cracks me up! I stamped it in VersaFine Onyx Black and cut it out with the CB long flag die - I am not very good at cutting these straight so this is easier. I then attached it with foam pads.
The sequins were a kind gift from Kate, whose blog you need to check out, and just added a little bit of bling.
The Christmas card was made in pretty much the same way, but using the LF Let's Bokeh in the Snow paper pad on the inside, and the Merry Christmas sentiment from CB Sweet Little Sentiments.
[Supplies: SugarPea Designs Every Day is Christmas, 12 Days of Christmas, Feeling Sentimental Stamp sets; Neenah 110lb card stock; Hobbycraft Premium White Card stock 300gsm; Memento Tuxedo Black; VersaFine Onyx Black; Papermania Capsule Collection 6x6 paper pack; Foam Pads; Sticky Red Tape; Ranger Multi Medium Matte; Avery Elle sequins; Grey Baker's twine; Spellbinders Grand Calibur die cutting machine; Spellbinders standard circles large; Clearly Besotted rounded tag die; Lawn Fawn Let's Bokeh in the Snow 6x6 paper pad; Copic markers]
I absolutely adore these stamps, so I'll be making as many Christmas cards as I can over the next few weeks - and possibly beyond, because I always think Christmas cards should be allowed between 25th December and 6th January - those are the 12 days after all!
Hope you're having a great weekend. Thank you all for your lovely comments recently. It means a lot to hear from you and that you like what I'm doing. I love visiting your blogs as well, so do please leave a comment so I can come and say hello!
I've decided to try my hand at another challenge, this time CAS-ual Fridays. I love popping along to their blog during the weeks the challenge is on and seeing what people create. The colours appealed to me this time, so I've given it a go. Honestly, my creations are nothing compared to the beautiful cards some people come up with, but it's all about practice, so here you are. I've come up with two because I always like to use the negative from a die cut where I can - waste not want not!
I started with some white card blanks and chose my turquoise and orange from my Papermania Capsule collection. I die cut the circles using my Spellbinders Nestabilities standard circles (large) and the dragonflies using the free die from Simply Cards and Papercraft issue 134. I adhered a dragonfly to its opposite colour circle before attaching as seen. The sentiment dies are from Clearly Besotted - happy and birthday - and die cut from my Papermania collection. I used some Stick It! I got from Make the Day Special - it's great stuff for intricate dies. I fussy cut the happy birthday from some white cardstock before adhering with foam tape to add a bit of lift. I've added a few
sequins from the Lucy Abrams sequin mixes I bought with my last purchase
from Clearly Besotted Stamps - this one is Glacier. They really are beautiful.
This card is made from the negative of the happy birthday with a dragonfly and sequins as above. It's a tent fold this time. I tell you, getting all the little extra bits of paper from the die for the 'a' and 'h' etc was rather fiddly!
So there you are, another challenge - that makes three this month. I'm getting carried away!
Thanks for reading, hope you've all had a good Monday!
Hello everyone! I've had quite a few goodies arrive in the post recently, not least the Sugar Pea 'Home' die that I've been waiting on for several weeks. It finally shipped over to the lovely people at Make The Day Special!
I've also three friends who have moved house recently, so I have to make those in the next week or so. Here's the first using that new die and also my new Spectrum Aqua markers that I got free through subscribing to Simply Cards and Papercraft. I've been playing around with them and watching lots of videos on YouTube for tips - I love the way they make really beautiful backgrounds so easily. Definitely a great free gift!
I started by taping down a piece of water colour paper onto my glass cutting mat and block colouring it using three of my Spectrum Aqua markers (Heather, Orchid and Wildflower). I then washed them over with water to blend them together. After waiting for it to dry, I splashed it with water and then blotted it dry, leaving nice splatters.
I then took the HOME die and cut it out twice from two shades of purple paper, adhering the houses in the bottom right. I placed the 'Home' as in the picture, accenting it with some die cut hearts from my Lawn Fawn Best Pun Ever set. I used one for the 'O' of 'Home' instead of the house and added some Wink of Stella and glossy accents to make it pop out a bit - Home is where the heart is after all!
I think this might be the first card I've made that didn't have any stamping on it!
I've followed the layout for this month's Make the Day Special Challenge, as I'd like to enter. They give such brilliant customer service, so any excuse to buy things there ;)
Hope you like it and thanks for reading!
Hello! I got a bit carried away last week and made quite a few purchases. I love Michelle Short's haul videos over on her blog, The Card Grotto, and whilst I can't compete with her on quality of blog and video, I can express the same enthusiasm for buying new things.
I have coined a new phrase: The Impoverished Happy Crafter. I am she. I suspect at times you are too. There is so much out there, so many lovely things I could use, and so little money in my bank account. I would rival Carrie from Sex and the City's shoe purchases with crafty ones if I could afford it!
So, here we are, my Make the Day Special Lawn Fawn and Mama Elephant purchases. I didn't get the Up and Away dies when I bought the stamps, but should have really. I've wanted the Let's Polka paper range for ages - Let's Polka and Let's Polka Mon Amie, plus some stitched square frames, and last but not least, the Best Pun Ever stamps and dies just had to be mine. I've been on the look out for a decent teapot and cup and this was it. Lovely!
One of my earlier posts was about the Ranger Dye Inks. I had a couple of questions from some bloggers about them. I'll pass my answers on: They didn't bleed when brushed with water and you will need a decent stamp cleaner, because the stamps I used have stained. I know Stazon cleaner is what a lot of people use, but I have heard it can damage clear stamps over time, so I haven't bought any yet. I need to do some research on stamp cleaners, otherwise everything I own will be stained!
Still, I bought the rest of them for the rather reasonable price of £3.75 each from Inkylicious. They were also selling all twelve for £42...
I also bought some Wink of Stella pens - a brush and a fine. I've seen them used on projects a lot, so I thought it was time to try them out.
I'm off to do a bit of crafting now the kiddies are in bed. Can't wait. I've been like an overgrown child at Christmas today - desperate to open those last two packages!
Thanks for reading. Happy Tuesday :)
