Ho Ho Ho, Merry Everything

Here is another card I made recently with the abundant supply of alphabet letters I die cut the other day!

 

I die cut a series of letters out of Plaid DP and layered onto white cardstock for dimension. 

I used my new 'T square' ruler to align the letters, before affixing with foam tape to red background cardstock.  Gold Peel Off stickers were randomly added to the background, 'Merry Everything' sentiment stamped on 210gsm white cardstock, cut out and added to red background with foam tape.  The background was then affixed to a white A6 300gsm cardbase.

 

AND .... we have another 'dancing' Santa :) stamped on 210gsm white cardstock and hand coloured with Copics, fussy cut with scissors, highlighted with Dimensional paint, then affixed with a wobble (see video below).

 

 

I have really enjoyed making this selection of Christmas Cards, even though the lettering took way more time than I expected to LOL

 

Linking with the following challenges:

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #93 - Anything Christmas

As You Like it Challenge - Anything Christmassy

Creative Knockouts #536 - Time to be Merry 

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.

Merry Christmas

Here are a few Christmas Cards I have made recently.

In a recent post, here, I shared that I needed some new Cuttlebug Plates as my old ones had cracked.

Well, I put the new plates to the test and they performed beautifully!

 

I made up two DL size cards for something different!  (which is two-thirds of an A4 sheet)

 

Card#1

 

I die cut a series of letters out of Plaid DP and layered onto white cardstock for dimension. 

 

I used my new 'T square' ruler to align the letters, before affixing with foam tape to red background cardstock.  Gold Peel Off stickers were randomly added to the background, along with a mulberry paper poinsettia.  The background was then affixed to a white DL size cardbase.

Card#2

Again, I used my new 'T square' ruler to align the letters, before affixing with foam tape -- oops, the 'a' has a bit of a 'lean' LOL.  Gold Peel Off stickers were randomly added to the red background cardstock, then affixed to a white DL size cardbase. 

 

 

 

 

AND .... we have a 'dancing' Santa :) stamped and hand coloured with Copics, fussy cut with scissors, highlighted with KindyGlitz, then affixed with a wobble (see video below).

 

 

Must go, I have more Christmas cards on my to do list!

 

Linking Card #1 with the following challenges:

Cardz4Guyz Challenge #362 - Holiday/Christmas Tag/Card 

The Male Room #193 - Anything Goes

 

 

Linking Card #2 with the following challenges:

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #93 - Anything Goes - If it's Christmassy link it up! 

Sparkles Christmas Challenge #167 - Feature a Christmas Song or Carol - I am not so much into Christmas Carols, but I love Slade's 'Merry Christmas Everyone'  LOL  The song was released in 1973 and I play it nice and loud whenever I can :)

Cut It Up Challenge #319 - Use more than one die cut - well I think I got that one covered.  I confess, I didn't think making up the word Merry Christmas would be so fiddly, and take as long as it did!

ABC Christmas Challenge Y - Favourite Color - My most fave Christmas colour is Red combined with gold!

 

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.

Thank You

I have a few new cards to share today.

A Thank You card ..... made with bits & pieces from my stash - the only thing new is the sequins.

The background was part of a swap from many years ago, where we swapped a selection of embossed backgrounds in A6 size.  It doesn't show up in the photo very well, but the brown cardstock is the most beautiful chocolate brown :)

 

Embossed background trimmed, twine wrapped around and glued in place, then added to cardfront with foam tape.  

 

'Thank You' Sentiment was stamped & die cut twice for dimension, then added to cardfront with foam tape and a final touch of sequins for that 'little something'.  

Linking above card with:

The Male Room Challenge #193 - Anything Goes

Cardz 4 Guyz #361 - Grateful/Thankful/Blessed 

Card#2

Still with the frame of mind of clearing stash, my Second card is repair/rehash of an older card I made some time ago for a friend, but decided to go a different direction.

 

I did a bit of a watercolour wash using a fan brush for the background, then stamped the dandelions in black, then added a touch of bling.

 

The 're-hash' was re-affixing the cardfront to a better black cardbase.  The cardstock I had used for the watercolour was not my best choice and it had warped a little bit, re-affixing it to a stronger cardbase helped straighten it a bit ..... well sort of.

 

 

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.

Cuttlebug down!

I had a bit of a calamity a few weeks ago ...... my Cuttlebug C Plate cracked 

 

**insert sad face**

 

.... then the more I used it, the more it cracked, then finally it became unusable. 

 

**insert very sad face** 

 

So the search began to find a replacement plate .... 

 

**insert surprised face**

 they don't make Cuttlebug any more!!! ...  

 

I have had my Cuttlebug since about 2008 and it has been the most reliable crafting tool ever!  I was absolutely astounded to see the price of replacement machines on the market now!

Thankfully, I was able to find a replacement set of plates on Amazon, so I took the opportunity to replace my B Plates too, as they were quite worn and had a definite 'bow' to them.

 

Shiny new plates!

 

Now back to my cardmaking ..... I need to pull my finger out for Christmas Cards.

 

 

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.

Thanks so Much

Having another play with my new Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms dies ..... 

 

I am really enjoying playing with these dies and die cuts.

 

 

 

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

The background is left over from a previous card - I think that might be the last of the gorgeous dark blue. I used the Waffle Flower A6 Layers die to cut the cardfront to the perfect size.  

Playing with the layout is lots of fun. 

 

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 $493

My Time to Craft - #547 - Thank You 

The Flower Challenge #97 - Thanks

Creative Knockouts #534 - Thankful

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.

Hello there

Time for another swap card - my October swap - which was late ..... again :(

1 card using stamps

1 card using the TicTacToe

Card #1 was made using a combination of stamps and patterned paper.  I have been going through my stash in an endeavor to use up what I have.

I had made several 'card topper' elements a while back using some stamps and designer papers, so I decided to utilise these elements.

The 'dancing lady' was stamped onto DP and 'paper pieced' onto square card topper, bordered by Green Pearl cardstock, all cut with Spellbinders Square dies - I love the fact they fit together so nicely.  The left panel was made by layering DP onto pearl cardstock, then attached to the front of the card with double sided tape.

 

Sentiment was stamped then cut out with Spellbinders Ovals, layered onto green pearl cardstock oval - added to front of card with 3D foam dots.

 

The square topper was added to front of card with 3D foam dots and a final touch of 'kindy glitz' added to image, and 3 gems added to bottom.

 

A very simple card which came together fairly quickly..... once I had gathered all the elements.  The colour scheme was influenced by the TicTacToe card.

 

 

Card #2

Using TicTacToe - bottom row across - Yellow/Birds/Embossed Panel

In my stash I found an embossed panel - I do believe it was from a swap I did many years ago where we sent and received a selection of embossed card fronts.

I lightly swiped yellow ink across the raised bits.  I was going to add the embossed panel directly to the front of the cardbase, but it didn't look right.  I then thought about adding it to a yellow layer .... yes!   

So I trimmed the panel slightly smaller, then because of an oopsie where I forgot to put the lid back onto my black ink ........ I had to rescue it by swiping black ink around all of the edges .... 

 

The bird image was a freebie stamp included in an Ultimate Crafts Magazine.  It was stamped in black, heat embossed and then coloured in using Copics. 

 

It is certainly not quite what I had in mind when I started, but it is a finished card and has been now received by my swap partner.

 

Linking Card #2 with:

Inkspirational Challenge #328 - Layer it 

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.

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.