Riding by to say 'hello'

A crafty friend needed some cheering up

I made my background by scoring diagonal lines with my scoreboard.  I then inkblended the edges and attached it direct to the 300gsm cardbase.

I stamped various elements from Honey Bee ‘Riding By’ – heat embossed in black and then coloured with Distress Inks/watercolour. 

Bike elements were die-cut from Red Mirror card, wheels & handle bars from silver cardstock, tyre from black and attached direct to the cardfront with Gina K Connect Glue. 

Sentiments were stamped & die-cut then attached to the cardfront with foam tape.

The basket & flowers were arranged and glued together, then placed on the cardfront with foam tape to add dimension.

Items Used:

Stamps &/or dies:  Honey Bee ‘Riding By’

Ink:  Versamark Embossing Ink, WOW Embossing powder, Distress Inks

Adhesives/Tapes:  Double sided tape, Gina K Connect Glue, 3D foam

Card stock:  Blue Edge Crafts - 300 gsm cardbase, white 210 gsm cardstock, mirror cardstock,

Tools:  Cuttlebug, Couture Creations Mini Guillotine Trimmer, Couture Creations Mini Score Board

The card has now been received, and I can share it here. 

Linking with the following challenges:

All Sorts Challenge #847 - in the garden 

Cut it Up Challenge #354 - colours of spring 

Stamping Sensations - Nature inspiration 

We Love Stamping - Spring 

 

 

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.

Swap Cards - With Sympathy & Handmade Hug

It was time again for some more swap cards.

 

Card # 1 - Easel Card

 

I struggled to come up with an idea - but landed on a 'crafty' feel.  I actually started following the sketch before I came up with a suitable 'easel' idea.

 

I stamped, hand coloured and die cut several elements from the Stampin Up Crafting With You.

 

The various elements were added to the front of the cardbase using foam tabs to provide added dimension.

I forgot to take a photo of the easel bit ..... but the front of the card folds up, to reveal another raised element of the designer paper.

 

Card #2 - Sketch 

 

Once again, I followed the sketch, with the basic elements being added to the front of the card with foam tabs.  Spellbinders 'Little Blooms' were diecut, then ink blended with Distress Inks, leaves trimmed & glued together to form a 'bunch', then added to the square panel cut with Spellbinder Square die.

 

The background paper came from the paper pad I got from Secret Santa - it's funny, because I am not normally a fan of green, but I do like this particular shade of green.

 

The 'With Sympathy' element was printed and foiled, then die cut with Spellbinders Circle die.  Both the square and the circle were added to the cardfront with foam tabs to add dimension.

 

 Linking Card #2 with the following challenges:

Pick 3 challenge #2 - I chose Embellishments, Flower, Circle

 

Allsorts Challenge #844 - 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.

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.