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.

Card Swap June

2 new cards from me today, this time swap cards for CraftMad Swappers

 

I was extremely late with my cards for June .......

 

 

At first, I struggled with deciding which 2022 card to case, as they were all so good!  but in the end, I couldn't go past this one by fellow swapper, Tracey.

 

 

Card #1

 

I set about making my own background with sponging varying shades of purple/pink inks, then I randomly stamped my Kaisercraft butterflies and heat embossed in gold.  I also heat embossed the edges of the cardfront with gold, then attached to cardbase with double-sided tape.

 

I die cut sentiment out of white cardstock, mounted onto a black shadow then attached to the cardfront with foam squares to add dimension.

 

Card finished off with some randomly placed bling!

 

 

Card #2

This card followed the sketch, and I took the opportunity to have a play with my Penny Black Stamps - Party Time set.

Images were stamped with black Versafine ink, then clear heat embossed.  I coloured them in with Altenew Crisp Dye Ink (Dusk) using a watercolour brush, and then inked the edges of the boxes.  Waffle Flower A6 layers dies were used to cut the different sized boxes :)  

 

 

The most perfect background Scrapbook DP came from my stash ..... I don't know how long I have had it LOL.  The text 'happy' was diecut twice from white cardstock and coloured with same ink used to colour my images, then mounted with foam squares.  

 

 

The boxes were placed according to sketch and layered with foam squares to add dimension.

 

I also made a 'thank you for being my swap partner' card :)

 

 

When you open it up, the image of the die cutting machine stays on the inside :)

 

I just 'love' the die cut of the paper trimmer!!

 

'Thank You' card was made entirely with offcuts/snippets of white & silver cardstock and some leftover scrapbook DP

 

Linking 'Thank You' card with the following Challenges

Snippets Playground Challenge #485

 

Linking Card#2 with the following Challenges:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - July - Anything Goes/Food 

Cardz 4 Galz #229 - Shades of Blue  (oops!! Too late!)

TicTacToeCallenge-#252 (Middle Column - DieCut(s), Free, Any Sentiment) 

tttc#252

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.

Sending You Hugs

My friend is recovering from surgery, so I wanted a card that would make her laugh, or at the very least make her smile!  She is a cat lover and will see the funny side ...... I hope!

I have had this Penny Black Stamp for what seems like forever, and was quite happy finally to use it.

Penny Black 'Squeaky Clean' stamped in black and watercoloured with Distress Inks.  Dimensional Magic added to the water and gems added for bubbles.   Image die cut with a Spellbinders Circle die and layered on blue cardfront with 3d foam tape.  

'hugs' from Honey Bee Bitty Buzzword die cut & layered with black & white cardstock, mounted with 3d foam tape.  Entire cardfront trimmed down, then added to a white A5 card, with a tent fold.

I enjoyed making this card, and I am looking forward to visit my friend in a few days and give it to her in person.

Linking with:

Happy Little Stampers:  Anything Goes with Dies

Addicted to stamps & more - any occasion

Less is More:  Friendship

Penny Black Saturday 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.

Happy Birthday x 2

Two more cards for you today :)

Our oldest, dearest and closest friends celebrate birthdays close together, just like my hubby and myself!

Chris' birthday was on 26th January and his wife, Cathy (yes same as me) her birthday is on 4th February.  Our birthdays are September & October, and we have similar food tastes!

We had a lovely catchup last Friday, wherein we sat around the table eating, drinking (only a little) and solving the problems with the world ...... as you do!

Anyway, here are the cards I made for them.  I'll start with the birthday card for Chris.

For a change, I went with a DL size card, in portrait mode.  I have been having a lot of fun with a new way of making my own backgrounds lately, so I used this lovely green & gold combination.  Inks 'smooshed' onto a surface, spayed with water, then place the cardstock over the inks.  The edges were inked with Dark Green to define the outer edge.  'happy birthday' sentiment stamped in Black Staz On and die cut layered with 3 layers to give it substance.  Balloon die cut from a scrap piece of Holographic foil cardstock, all mounted on a DL size card.  Die Cuts layered with 3D foam.  The string on the balloon was hand drawn with black fineliner.

Over all, I was quite pleased with the card and Chris loved it!

Now, onto the card for the Birthday Girl (which was the main reason for our get together).  Cathy is celebrating a 'big one' ....... 60!

I stuck with the DL size card in portrait mode, and used another handmade background.  For the balloons I created some text in Word, prnted on purple cardstock (Cathy's favourite colour) and foiled with gold, then die cut the balloons and actually tied up the balloons with black cotton.  Balloons placed in staggered layers, then Penny Black Hedgehog from 'Party Time' stamped and hand coloured in with Copics, cut out and positioned with 3D foam.  Little butterfly with a present stamped directly onto the front, hand coloured with Copics & Kindy Glitz added.  A final bit of bling added with some sequins.

I am quite pleased with the foiling and the bonus is that Cathy loved the card!

I am linking the above cards with the following Challenges:

Happy Little Stampers: Anything Goes (backgrounds were made with inks & water)

Penny Black Saturday Challenge:  Anything goes/Something New  (new technique)

Seize the Birthday: Anything goes as long as it is birthday (oops, too late for linky)

Happy Anniversary to my Valentine

This week Mr Fixit and myself celebrate 38 years of married life!

This is about as much 'bling' as Mr Fixit can handle LOL

and because we got married the day before St Valentines Day, the theory was that he would never forget the date :)  .......  LOL it always sneaks up on him .....

Linking with:
Penny Black Saturday Challenge - 'love is in the air'
The Penny Black Saturday Challenge is 'anything goes/love is in the air.

As You Like it Challenge:  Favourite Animal
The AYLI Challenge this time is "your Favourite Animal" - my favourite animal to photograph is a bird, but this cute little hedgehog from Penny Black is one of my favourite animals to use on my cards.

Card Concept - #128 Be Mine , Valentine
The Card Concept Challenge #128 is 'Be mine, Valentine' so my CAS layout was inspired by the hearts.

2 Crafty Critters Crazies Challenge - February

Happy Birthday Cynthia!

One of my quilty friends celebrated her birthday in February :)

I made a card nice and early, but it sat in my handbag for a few days before I could put in the mail.

Ofcourse, I then had to wait until the card had arrived before I made this post - Cynthia reads my blogs and I didn't want to spoil the surprise  :)




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 Joy!

My best friend Joy celebrated her 70th birthday during the week - but celebrations were put on hold as she came down with a bad cold - we waited until she was feeling a little better before catching up :)

You may have noticed from my photography blog that we go out a lot together with our cameras - Adelaide & Monarto Zoos are frequent destinations, as Joy loves the big cats!

Unfortunately, I don't have any lions or tiger stamps, so Penny Black Hedgehogs will have to do :)

Out with the Old, and in with the new:  Old: spellbinder square dies,  New:  camera theme embossing folder

Items Used:

Stamp:  Penny Black – Party Time

Card Stock:  BlueEdge Crafts

Ink:  Memento – Tuxedo Black

Equipment:  Cuttlebug, embossing folders, Spellbinders Dies – Square

Embellishments:  Kindy Glitz, Copics, gems

Linking with:
Penny Black Saturday Challenge - January Anything Goes
Cut it up challenge - #112 Out with the Old, in with the new  (oops, missed the deadline)
Dream Valley Challenge - #147 something new


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 to my Sister-in-Law .............

...... and Happy Anniversary!

We all joke that Rosa picked the date for them to get married so that Greg couldn't forget  LOL








Linking with:
Feeling Sketchy - #157
Daisy Chain Challenges - All that Glitters - #2


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.

New Baby | Happy 30th Birthday

I finally managed to get the new baby card that I mentioned in my previous post done & dusted, and I must say, I am really pleased with how it turned out.

When I went hunting for what type of card I was going to make for my new great nephew, Archie, I looked through my stamps and found a Lily of the Valley stamp I hadn't used.  So I went looking for layouts I could use to incorporate that stamp.

I was inspired by a card created for an old challenge blog called Here Come the Boys by Sharon, unfortunately, the blog doesn't exist any more, it closed in 2013 - but I did save the image as inspiration for the future.

Several layers have been cut with Spellbinders dies, Lily of the Valley stamp hand coloured with copics, embellished with liquid paint & kindy glitz, and a ribbon.

It is also my niece's 30th Birthday - so here is the card I made for her :)

I would like to submit my baby card to the following challenges:
Dream Valley Challenges - #142 one for the boys
CAS-ual Fridays (layer it on) - CFC158 (my card has 8 layers)
Daring Cardmakers: Seriously Monochromatic
Sunny Day Crafting - 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.

34 years ago, I said "I Do" .....

.... best decision I ever made!

It is our 34th Wedding Anniversary today and here is the combined Anniversary & Valentines card I whipped up for Mr Fixit

Stamped with a Penny Black image from 'Piece of my Heart', hand coloured with copics and highlighted with the obligatory kindy glitz/Stickles.  Mr Fixit has a real sweet tooth, so the image is appropriate :)  
Inside the card reads:  More than chocolate!

Linking with the following challenges:
CASology - Week 184: Valentine
The Stamping Boutique - I Love You
Penny Black Saturday Challenge - use Hearts and/or Red It's a bit hard to see but there is a heart shaped decoration on one of the cakes, and the ribbon is red (flimsy connection, I know :) )
The Card Concept - Sweethearts (inspired by 'sweet')

that's it from me this week - another card on the way next week :)

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.

Off to a good start ...................

My first cards for the year :)

I wanted to make a card for my friend Joy's birthday, and I knew I wanted to use a Ladybird, and I was drawn to my Penny Black stamps that I have had for years, but never used - so all that was left was to find a layout ............ harder than you think!

I came across an excellent sketch on the Sweet Sunday Sketch blog - unfortunately, it is the last sketch for that blog :(  However, I think I will keep it bookmarked so that I can go back and use some of the other sketches :)



I used Sketch #300, but changed the proportions of the centre panel so it wouldn't take anything away from the Penny Black image :)

The Penny Black Saturday Challenge is anything goes, as long as you use a Penny Black image.

I was on a roll, the creative juices started flowing, and these cards came together in a few hours!  The hardest part was trawling through my DP to find something suitable for the background.

I decided to make two cards, one rectangle and one square.  I like them both, but think I will give the square one to my friend Joy :)

EDITED:  the pink rectangle card is available in my ETSY store :)  I guess it could be used for several purposes: birthday, hello, thinking of you, missing you, or simply just because :)

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 ............

One of our long standing members of our camera club lost a member of their family last week, and as Secretary, I sent her a sympathy card from the club.

I have always wanted to try the heat emboss resist method, so I thought it was a good opportunity to try something new.

I just love how the spellbinder nestabilities dies make cutting perfect sized squares such a breeze!

AND I had the opportunity to try out my new toy and apply some Hot Fix Crystals

I would like to submit this card to the following challenges:

My Time to Craft - #291 Sympathy
Craft Stamper Magazine - May Challenge - Take a Stamp
Penny Black & More - Dies & Punches

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.

Where does the time go?

I can't believe it has been so long since my last post here ............ almost 50 days!

Anyway, I thought it was time I caught you up on has been happening in my creative corner :)

February was hot ......... too hot to do anything much!

We celebrated our 33rd Wedding Anniversary

We are waiting for cooler weather to do something and go somewhere for a few days - not sure where yet :)  Health & work commitments are getting in the way :(

Anyway, here is the card I made for Mr Fixit

I was inspired by the February Penny Black Challenge to make up this card, but my blog post was too late to submit it :(

However, I would like to submit my card to the following challenges:

Less is More - 215 - One Layer Week (with an animal)
Craft Stamper Magazine - Take a Stamp
AAA Cards - #35 - Bare Naked

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.