Swap Cards - Hello & Thank You

Some more swap cards for my CraftMad Swap group.

 

We had to swap two cards.

 

Card #1 - using a defined colour palette 

 

I started with an embossed card front and selected some inks that were sort of close to the defined colours and went about 'colouring in' using my ink blending brushes to create a feathery soft layered effect.

 

I Trimmed the cardfront down using Waffle Flower Rectangles and inked the edges to give definition to the border.  The cardfront was mounted with foam to a 300gsm cardbase.

 

I then diecut the 'hello' out of black cardstock and placed onto the front of the card.

 

I finished off with some gems that were received as part of my Secret Santa gift.

 

Linking Card #1 with:

Allsorts Challenge #843 - embossing

Beautiful Blossoms - Anything floral goes 

 

Card #2 - using items from Secret Santa gift.

 

The following card was made with several items received in my Secret Santa gift.

 

Secret Santa Gift 2025

I used a sheet from the paper pad and several elements of ephemera layered with foam tabs. 
 

 

The background paper was inked around the edges to define the border.  The gold 'thank you' sticker is from a sheet that has been in my stash for years!

 

I am quite pleased with how the cards turned out, even though they took a while to come together.

 

PS:  I ate the choccie santas, they didn't last long!  Thank you Secret Santa! 

 

Linking Card #2 with:

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge - Anything floral 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.

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.

Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary

Here is a card I made for my sister for her 50th Wedding Anniversary.

 

Using the Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms die set, I cut out a number of elements in Gold and white and set about making up some flowers.  The gold cardstock is some that I have had for quite a while now (read really old) and the last of it was in my 'offcuts' tray.  Some of the white pieces were left overs from my tray too!  This is my 'old' element for the Creative Inspirations Challenge.

I am finding the Be Bold Blooms die set is excellent for using up the smaller leftovers/snippets.

 

 

For the background, I embossed a 210gsm white cardstock with ProvoCraft 'Victoria' embossing folder and cut to size using Waffle Flower A6 Layer dies, then mounted the background onto a 300gsm white cardbase.

 

I used my computer to print up the sentiment using my laser printer, then foiled it using the Mini Minc & gold foil.  I then diecut the sentiment with one of my stitched circles dies. I am kinda pleased with how the sentiment turned out!

Sentiment was mounted to cardfront using 3d foam and then I played with the layout and layering of the flowers until I was happy with them, and finally placed some gems randomly around the cardfront.

 

I must say, I am really pleased with how this card turned out - all in all, a great afternoon crafting session!

 

Linking with the following challenges:

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations: January challenge 'old/new' 

Snippets Playground Challenge #497

Cut it Up Challenge #320 - 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.

Happy Birthday my incredible friend

Another crafting session, and another birthday card for an incredible friend.

Using the Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms die set, I cut out a number of elements in white and ink blended using blue to add interest and dimension to the flowers, and ink blended with green for the leaves.

 

 

I played around with the layout and layering of the flowers until I was happy with them, and then added them directly to the 'Leathergrain' cardbase.  To finish off, I placed a lucky 'ladybird' on a leaf and some gems randomly around the cardfront.

 

I couldn't decide which sentiment to use, so I ended up with none, but I did write a birthday message on the inside.  

 

Linking with the following challenges:

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge - Anything Goes - Optional Mood Board (I picked the 'blues')

 

Cut it Up Challenge #320 - 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.

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.

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.

Just for You

More time playing with the coneflower dies.  I am loving the different effect you get by changing the intensity of the ink blending over the different layers.

 

Once again, the Mood Board for Beautiful Blossoms has inspired my colour choices for the flower!

 

This card started with an ink-blended background that was masked off to create a frame within a frame.  Two different yellows were used, water splotches added, then set aside to dry.

 

 

 

The coneflower petals were cut from offcuts/snippetts, ink-blended using oranges & yellows then arranged/layered accordingly using liquid glue.

 

The leaves were die cut and a stem was cut manually, then ink-blended with two different greens and placed on the cardfront. 

I really like the way the petals fall over the edge of the yellow frame.

'just for you' sentiment was cut from some left over gold reflective cardstock (more snippets) and placed on cardfront which was then added to the front of the white 300 gsm cardbase.

 

I am loving this die set .......

 

Items Used

Dies - Amazon Coneflower Dies, Crafters' Companion Just for You
Inks - Ranger Distress Inks
Cardstock - 200 gsm white (cardfront), 300gsm white (cardbase)
Tools - Cuttlebug, Blending Brush
Extras - Glue, double sided tape, masking tape

Linking with the following Challenges:

Snippets Playground #481

Beautiful Blossoms #17 – Mood Board

Cut it Up #305 – Anything Goes

Shopping Our Stash #522  how does your garden grow

Inkspirational #317 - Frame

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.