Birthday Boys

We have a regular family gathering for all the August-September-October birthdays, usually some time in October, and this year was no different.

I made a two cards for the Great-nephews, Lucas (10) and Archie (8) - the boys are growing up so fast!

Card #1

Card #2

  

Both backgrounds were handmade by ink-blending a rainbow of colours, then put through the Cuttlebug with a different embossing folder for each card.  After embossing, I smudged some inks over the raised bits to make them stand out.

 

I then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, then cut it out using the matching dies.  Sentiments were cut out multiple times, so that the sentiment could be layered together for added dimension.

 

The balloons & tags (Spellbinders)  were die cut using my stash of 'snippets/offcuts' and I used some very old 'letter stickers' to add the names and the numbers.

Two cards came together fairly quickly and easily :) 

 

Items Used:

Spellbinders Dies, Ranger Distress Inks & Altenew Inks

Cuttlebug machine, Provo Craft embossing folders (Number Collage & Happy Birthday)

 

Linking with the following challenges:

Card #1

 Allsorts Challenge #804 - Anything goes 

 Snippets Playground - #492

Card #2

Die Cut Divas - use a die cutting/embossing machine

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.

Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

World Cardmaking Day - 5th October 2024

I had a bit of a car accident on 17th September 2024. Thankfully, I was not hurt, but it is proving frustrating being without my car and relying on Mr Fixit to run me around.  I am not comfortable driving his car, which is a V6 Holden Commodore, as it is just so big.  My car is being repaired, so I am without a car for the next 8 weeks or so. 

Anyway .......  back to World Cardmaking Day :)

I think it is such a fun idea having a day dedicated to cardmaking  LOL so I took the opportunity to have a play with some of my recent purchases.

 

I have been keeping a lookout for Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms dies ..... usually they are over A$35 depending where you get them from, and with the added cost of postage, it makes it a very expensive purchase.   I was lucky enough to come across a great deal on Amazon - A$23 with free postage!  SOLD!

 

 

I started with rummaging through my offcuts/snippets ..... and made a selection of colours that I thought might work well.

 

I die-cut the flowers and leaves multiple times in multiple colours.

I then set about making up various combinations of flowers, stems and leaves.

Once I had finished that, I then sorted through my stash of cardstock for the background, and I finally settled on the dark blue that was in my 'off-cut' bin. 

My 'go to' cardbase is A6, which is half of an A4, folded in half.  I used the Waffle Flower A6 Layers die to cut the cardfront to the perfect size.  

 

Playing with the layout was lots of fun.  I chose to stick fairly closely to the sample in the packaging for my first layout, while I got familiar with the blooms.  I have some pre-foiled/pre-cut sentiments that I have had for absolutely ages and was quite pleased that one of them worked with the layout.

 

A final touch of bling added randomly around the card ...... if you call playing with the positioning for a good 5 minutes before deciding on final layout random LOL

 

I am really pleased with the way this card turned out .... especially considering it is made entirely with snippets/offcuts (except the white 300gsm cardbase).
 

Linking this card with the following challenges:

Snippets Playground Challenge #490

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge  #21

As You Like it Challenge:  Fave card shape & why

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.

Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Craft Mad Card Swaps - September

As mentioned in my previous post, I was LATE with my card swap for my partner for September ...  I struggled with motivation

The theme for September was 1 card using a 'Sketch' and 1 card using TIC-TAC-TOE

 

Card #1 - sketch

 

I received a lovely Scrap Boys 'Christmas Day' paper pad from my Secret Santa last year, so that formed the basis of my choices for this swap.

 

I chose three different papers and cut the tags by hand.  A large snowflake was die cut from silver mirror card.  Sentiment & little holly leaves were stamped & clear heat embossed.  The leaves and berries were hand coloured with Copics and die cut.  Sentiment was die cut using the centre circle of the snowflake.

Card was assembled according to sketch, using 3D foam tabs for added dimension.

 

 

Card #2 - Tic Tac Toe - Patterned Paper, Die Cut, Embossing

 

Selecting another page from the 'Christmas Day' paper pad, I layered it onto red leathergrain cardstock using the Waffle Flower A6 layers die, and then layered that onto the white cardbase.

Hero Arts 'Merry' Stamp & Cut - 'Merry' was die cut twice out of the red cardstock and layered to add dimension, with the other sentiments stamped in black.  Stars were stamped in red & embossed, but they don't show up very well in the photo.

 

And in answer to your question ......... yes, I was humming the song all the time I was making the card!

 

A very big thank you to my partner for being patient with me!

 

Linking Card #2 with the following Challenges:

Sparkles Christmas Challenge #165 - use the word 'Christmas'

Cut it Up Challenge #314 - inspired by a song

 

 

Also included, was another one of the cards I made previously especially for my swapping partners - see my post in June on how they were made

 

PS:  Cardstock was purchased from BlueEdge Crafts  (no affiliation arrangements with this store, I just want to let fellow Aussies know of a good store :) )

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.

Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

CraftMad Card Swap - August

I was so VERY LATE with my card swap for my partner for August .............  
I just couldn't get motivated

When September hit, I knew I had to pull my finger out!

 

The theme for August was 1 card using TIC-TAC-TOE and 1 card using 'INKS'

 

I have been a bit 'forgetful' lately, so the card is fitting.  Once I settled on which stamp set to use, the ideas came fairly quickly.  

 

Card #1

 

Image of elephant was stamped, coloured in by hand, then fussy cut.

Background row of circles ink-blended with home made stencil using Spellbinders circle dies, highlighted with Kindy Glitz/Stickles.

Small balloon diecut, coloured and highlighted with Kindy Glitz/Stickles.

Gold fine cord added to hold balloon, and 'unforgettable' stamped on vellum then cut to form a tag and attached to cord.  Elephant and balloon were then mounted to cardfront with 3D foam tape to add dimension.  Image 'grounded' with the addition of grey shadow, then final touch of bling/jewels added.

 

Inspiration for the above card was found on Pinterest, but I found the original author's blog TaeEun Yoo using My Favourite Things Adorable Elephant stamp set.

 

Card #2

 

Handmade background - 

Technique:  Emboss Resist - Couture Creations Star Burst - stamped with VersaMark and clear embossed.  Background rainbow created using blending brushes and Altenew inks.

Background was cut to size using Waffle Flower A6 layers die and added to cardbase using 2mm foam tabs.

 

Uniquely Creative Cake Builder - Birthday cake stamped with Versafine Onyx Black pigment ink & clear embossed, then die cut.

 

Cake was then assembled and mounted to card front using 3D foam dots.

 

Thank you so much to my partner for being so very patient with me!

 

Also included, was another one of the cards I made previously especially for swapping partners - see my post in June on how they were made

 

Stay tuned for my September Swap ......... it was so very late as well!

PS:  Cardstock & Couture Creations stamps purchased from BlueEdge Crafts  (no affiliation arrangements with this store, I just want to let fellow Aussies know of a good store :) )

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.

Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Thinking of You

I was in need of a Sympathy card this last week ..... my sister-in-law's father passed away.

I was lucky enough to have a background pre-prepared - it was an experiment on making some patterned paper; I wasn't happy with it at the time, but kept it anyway.  I stamped the sentiment multiple times across the background (partly to cover up an oops moment!).  I then stamped the sentiment in black to make it stand out - the sentiment is heat embossed in clear, but it doesn't show up very well in the photo.  

 

I used the 'Lavender' stamp set from Altenew and stamped & die cut more flowers which were tied together with gold twine, then mounted to front of card with foam tape.

 

The Retro Rubber Challenge Blog asks us to state how old the stamp is ..... this stamp set was originally released in 2019, but it is fairly new for me .... I got them in January 2023, so I have had them for about 18 months and I love using them!

 

 

 

My cardbase is 300gsm white cardstock from Blue Edge Crafts (A4) size, but this time, I cut the A4 in half length-wise .... making it a Top Fold card.

Linking with the following challenges:

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge #20 - Anything Goes

Cut It Up Challenge #310 - Thinking of You

Retro Rubber Challenge #237 - Tic Tac Toe - Die Cut/Heat-Dry Emboss/Pattern Paper

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.

Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.