Hello Friend, Happy Birthday

I have another new card today.   This one is Card #2 of my CraftMad card swap.

 

Card #2 is an embossed card with layers.

 

It took a little while to settle on a design, but once inspiration hit, the card came together fairly quickly.

 

I rumaged through my Snippets container, and made a selection of rainbow colour strips of cardstock.  I ran them through the Cuttlebug using the 'hello' embossing folder.

  

The strips were then placed in rainbow order, trimmed to suit the placement of the sentiment and then mounted to cardfront with foam tape.

 

Honey Bee 'Bitty Buzzwords' stamps & dies were used.  

 

 

I diecut 'hello' & 'friend' in alternating black & white cardstock (black for the shadow, white for the text). 

Sentiment was also mounted with foam tape, and placed at the bottom of the cardfront.

  

'Happy Birthday' was stamped on the inside with Versafine Claire Onyx black.

 

 

Quite a fun cheerful card.

 

Linking with following Challenges:

Snippets Playground #509 

Can You Handle The Pressure - Anything goes 

 

 

 

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.

Have a Bloomin Good Day

A slightly different card from me today.  

 

You may recall I have been participating in a swap group, regularly swapping cards with a 'fun fold' technique ..... most of which have not been 'fun' for me!

 

Well, I persevered and I finally made a card I am happy with and had fun making (even after a few false starts with the cutting and measuring 😆).

 

So here is one of my cards for the card swap - a Double Z fun fold.

 

I started with a 300gsm speckled cardbase I have had since I first started crafting way back in the 90's - I came across the last few pieces when I did a recent sort out!

 

I then selected some DP from a new 'Craft Smart textured paper stack' I purchased recently.

 

The chosen stamp set was 'build-a-bouquet' from Australian Simply Cards Magazine Issue 113 (I think)

 

After planning layout and cutting, I stamped the various sentiments in Versafine Claire Black Onyx directly onto the DP, then attached them to their respective positions using double sided tape.

 

     

I then stamped the vase on vellum, in Versafine Claire Black Onyx, heat embossed with clear, then die cut the vase.  The bunch of flowers & single flower were stamped in Versafine Claire Black Onyx on 210gsm white cardstock, and hand coloured with Copics.  The bunch of flowers was cut out by hand and the single flower was die cut.   The stems were stamped directly onto card front, the vellum vase placed over the stems with double sided tape, then the flowers were added to the front with foam tabs to add dimension.  Flowers were highlighted with FolkArt Papier Finish in Antique.  A final touch of bling with a spray of brown pearls added above the sentiment.

 

          

I am really quite pleased with how this card has turned out ...... so much so that I didn't want to send it to my swap partner LOL  I think I can see a few more Double Z Fold Fun cards in my future!

 

 

 

Participating in the following challenges:

 

Die Cut Divas - June Challenge - The tonings of the card were inspired by the current challenge for Die Cut Divas - I love the browns/pinks.

 

 

 

 Addicted to Stamps & More #495 - Die cuts &/or Stencils

 

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge - Anything Goes

 

 

 

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, Thanks so much

More time in the craft room recently :) yay!!

 

Another selection of cards for my swap group. 

 

For May, we swap 2 cards of our own choice ......   easy right?   I was happy to make a start on the cards early in the month, but things got in the way and the cards were delayed in getting to their partner.

 

Anyway, here are my cards.

 

Card#1 

This is an Altenew stamp & die set - Wild Flora (2020) - flowers were stamped with Versafine Onyx Black and heat embossed with Zing Clear embossing powder.  I hand painted the flower & leaves using Altenew Inks.

 

I made the background using a stencil with a blending brush and lightly blended using Altenew Ink in the centre.  When mounting the background onto the matt, I thought it got a little lost, so I ink blended the edges as well, and added a few splatters.  I then die cut the sentiment twice from black and layered onto the background.  

 

The background was cut using Waffle Flower A6 layer dies and layered onto an A6 300 gsm White Cardbase.  

 

The flowers and leaves were then positioned on the front in a pleasing manner with foam tabs to add dimension.

 

 

Linking this card with a few challenges

Retro Rubber Challenge #257 - Stamp set from 2020 - using right column Stencil, coloring, die cut

Triple B Challenge: June 2025 - use Blooms

 

 

 

 

Card#2

 

I came across some elements set aside from a previous crafting session and thought it was perfect for the swap.  Flowers were stamped with White ink, and heat embossed with White embossing powder, then the flower & leaves were ink blended using brushes.

 

The flower element was mounted onto a gorgeous die-cut that I received in a Swap many years ago, then that was mounted onto the purple handmade paper, which in turn, has been mounted onto the white A6 300gsm white cardbase.

 

Sentiments 'thanks' (from Honey Bee Stamps Bitty Buzzwords) was die cut from black & white, layered & mounted with 3d foam dots to background.  'so much' (from Honey Bee Stamps Miss You Big time) was stamped in StazOn black onto white cardstock scrap pieces, then mounted onto front of card. 

 

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 today and every day

I have been a bit sidetracked in the craft room of late, but sadly, I was in need of a sympathy card to give to my sister.  Her mother-in-law, who turned 90 in February this year, passed away on Saturday night.

 

 

This is an Altenew stamp & die set - Wild Flora - flowers were stamped with Versafine Onyx Black and heat embossed with Zing Clear embossing powder.  I hand painted the flower & leaves using Altenew Inks.

 

I recently purchased some stencils and blending brushes from Amazon and was keen to have a bit of a play.

 

I made the background using one of the stencils with a blending brush and lightly blended using Altenew Ink in the centre.  When mounting the background onto the matt, I thought it got a little lost, so I ink blended the edges as well, and added a few splatters.  I then stamped the sentiment directly onto the background.  

 

The background & matting were cut using Waffle Flower A6 layer dies and layered onto an A6 300 gsm White Cardbase.  

 

I layered the background onto the purple matting, then layered the purple matting onto the white cardbase.  The flowers were then positioned on the front in a pleasing manner with foam tabs to add dimension.

 

Linking this card with a few challenges

 

TicTacToe #272 (centre column - layers /Free/ Floral/foliage

 

Just Add Ink #754 - Choose Two - DieCut-Flower-Ribbon - I chose DieCut/Flower

 

Just Us Girls #778 - Die Week - Layers - I used several dies to make up multiple layers

 

 

Cut it Up #331 - anything goes (with a die)

 

 

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.

A New Home

Some friends are moving into a new home, so I just had to make a card!

 

David is a friend I met through my camera club way back in 2011 and his wife Carol is a quilter!

 

Suffice to say, I knew what type of card I was going to make.

 

 

I found a great tutorial online to follow, and the card came together very quickly.

 

The longest and hardest part was choosing the DSP - which was from my stash of 6" DSP I have had for quite some time.

 

I made the cardfront using 210 gsm, and cut up several strips of DSP, and following the tutorial, placed the strips accordingly.

 

Picking which embossing folder to use for the 'quilt block' was fairly easy, the one I chose has some 'double wedding ring quilt' inspiration ...

 

I ink blended the edges of the cardfront to add further dimension & interest, then added a strip of DSP.  The 'quilt block' was added to cardfront with foam tape.

 

The sentiment was printed on computer, and foiled with my Mini Minc in gold foil, then mounted to the front of the card using foam tape.

 

To finish, the cardfront was added to a 300gsm A6 cardbase.  

Linking with the following Challenges

Can You Handle the Pressure - use embossing folders 

Neglected Stuff Challenge - DSP

TicTacToe #268 - middle row - Any colour/Free/Embossing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 | Hello Sunshine | Best Wishes

I can't believe just how fast the year is going ..... here we are in April already!

It's Autumn here in Australia and I think this is my favourite time of the year.  Nice sunny days, blue skies, cool nights - perfect!

 

I have some more cards to share, as part of my CraftMad Swap group.

 

We had to make 2 cards - Card #1 a 'silhouette' card, and Card #2 a fun fold concertina card.

 

Card #1a - Thinking of You

I started by making my own stencil/mask using one of my Spellbinders Oval dies and ink blending a rainbow of colours in a diagonal pattern directly onto the cardbase.  I splashed some water onto the rainbow area, to add some interest, and then dried off with my heat gun.  A selection of silhouette stamps (from Amazon) were stamped in Versafine Onyx pigment ink directly to the cardfront.  I ummd & ahhhd over whether or not to stamp the sentiment and add it as another layer, but decided against it and ended up stamping the sentiment directly to the cardfront as well.

 

A final little touch of bling completed the card.

 

I actually enjoyed how this card came together, I made another one!  I believe it is called a 'two-fer'

 

Card #1b

I followed the same process as the previous card, but this time made my own stencil/mask using one of my Spellbinders Circle dies and ink blending a rainbow of colours from the centre outwards directly onto the cardbase.  I love the way it looks like the glowing sun.  I splashed some water onto the rainbow area, to add some interest, and then dried off with my heat gun.  A selection of silhouette stamps (Creative Place - Islandia) were stamped in Versafine Onyx pigment ink directly to the cardfront.  Sentiment was stamped directly onto the cardfront as well.

 

A final little touch of bling completed the card.

 

I was very pleased with how both of these cards turned out.

 

  

Linking Card #1a with the following challenges:

AAA Cards #287 - Silhouette +1  #1a = Geometric Shapes,  #1b = Landscape

Just us Girls #768 - anything goes Stencil week

 

 

----oooo0oooo----

 

Now onto Card #2 - a fun fold 'concertina' card

 

Well, I think you can guess what I'm going to say next right?   NOT a fun fold at all! 

It took me a while to decide on which 'concertina' card I was going to make, but I settled on one that had quite a few videos on YouTube and several different bloggers seemed to have a lot of fun making it. 

 

Even though I watched several tutorials, who made it look so very easy, I struggled - both with the construction and the end design of the card.

 

I took notes on the various measurements and started to cut - I settled on some double sided DSP that has been in my stash for a while - I think it is Kaszazz - and some co-ordinating 12x12 cardstock.

 

A rectangle using the other side of the DSP was added to a black matt and added to the cardfront.  The large sentiment was stamped and layered twice to add dimension, then added to a square green DSP front panel matted with black.   MFT Adorable Elephants Butterfly and heart stamped and a touch of bling completes the front.

 

Now despite my very careful cutting and layout plan, I still managed to muck it up!  I had intended for the the 'green gingham' to be the inside of the card and the smaller section to use the lighter paper .... oops!

 

Anyway ..... once I had got my valley folds & mountain folds sorted, I struggled to decide what to do with the inside.  I was going to leave an inside panel blank to write a greeting, but there wasn't really enough room to do that, I ended up stamping the inside panels with the cute little hearts and dotted 'flight path' over some cute little daisies.  In the end, I added a white panel on the back of the card for a personal note.

 

Here is a top view of the concertina card.
 

I really struggled with this one ..... an awful lot of wrangling, for not a lot of reward LOL

 

Anyway, I hope my swap partner likes the cards I have made - I will be sitting out the swap for April - I have had my fill of the 'fun fold' cards ................. they are NOT FUN!

 

 

 

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.

With Deepest Sympathy

 

They say the best way to get inspiration for cardmaking, is to do a bit of a tidy up! Well, that is pretty much true!  I did have a bit of a tidy up, and whilst sorting through my cardstock and re-organising the way it is stored, it led to a pile of snippets that also needed organising.

I now store my A4 cardstock in clear folders near my workdesk - they used to be stored all in one big basket, which made it difficult to sort through when looking for something specific.

 

AND my snippets are in an even bigger container now, and I will be making a concerted effort to use them all up!

 

I also sorted through some stamps, but that is a story for another post, later!

 

Whilst sorting through my stuff, I came across some beautiful cream pearl ribbed cardstock, which I thought would be perfect for either a Wedding Card or a Sympathy Card.  Now I know those two occasions are completely opposite each other, but as chance would have it ... I needed a sympathy card :( An old school friend lost her husband after a long illness.

So I set about making this card .... I wanted it to be simple, elegant and a little sophisticated as that would suit my friend Sharlene.

 

I turned to my go to dies and cut out some more shapes in gold and white using the Spellbinders, Be Bold Blooms die set.

 

The sentiment was designed by me and printed on the laser printer, then foiled in gold and diecut with Stitched Circle dies, and attached to cardfront with foam tape.

 

 

It was almost therapeutic arranging the floral elements in a pleasing manner, then they were attached directly to the cardfront using a combination of glue & foam tape to add dimension, finishing with a touch of 'bling'.

 

Who would have thought that using only two colours could be so effective!  I am quite pleased with how the card turned out .... now the hard part is here.... figuring out what to say on the inside. 

 

 

Linking with the following challenges:

Snippets Playground Challenge #502

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge - Anything Goes

The Flower Challenge #100 - Add Circles

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, To Someone Special

More time in the craftroom saw me playing with a new to me card style - a 'Fun Fold Tower Pinwheel card'.

 

Card#1

This card was part of the February swap for Craft Mad Swappers - and once again, I was so very late in making my card, and sending it.

 

I really struggled with the design aspect of this card - ultimately working out 4 'cardfronts'  LOL

Altenew stamps stamped & heat embossed, watercoloured in with inks and cut with matching dies, Sentiment 'thanks' diecut in black, with the shadow in white, and attached to 'front' with foam tape. 

 

Inside section to write a personal greeting.  Altenew stamped inside the card.

Once a 'design' came to mind, then it was just a matter of 'fudging' the dimensions.  Kaisercraft Butterflies stamped on another panel on the inside.

More Kaisercraft Butterflies stamped on another panel on the inside.  I can't say it was my finest work, but I am glad I took the challenge and didn't let it defeat me.  Although I can say that the 'Fun Fold Tower Pinwheel Card' was most definitely NOT FUN and will not be on my 'to do list' again!

 

Card#2

The next swap card, was quite easy - we had to use something from our Secret Santa present.  I chose the gorgeous sequins & sprinkles to make a shaker card.

 

Penny Black hedgehog from 'Party Time' stamped and coloured in with Copics.  Balloon diecut positioned and cut out to make the shaker part. Finished off with a cute little bow that has been in my stash for a very long time!

 

And of course, the 'Thank You' card I make for all my swap partners - the die cut of the die cutting machine is actually on the inside of the card :) 

 

Linking Card #2 with the following Challenges

Addicted to Stamps & More #488 - Birthday

Allsorts Challenge - #818 Clean & Simple

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - March Anything Goes

 
 

 

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.