Best Wishes, To My Friend

Time for another card swap - CM June swap cards – Christmas & Sketch (once again, I was extremely late in making and sending these cards)

Card #1 – Black & White + 1 colour

I knew which direction I was going to go with this one - black & white + Gold

 

Thanks to my swap partner for taking the photo :)

 

I die cut a selection of flowers, leaves and stems from the Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms die set using my Cuttlebug.

 

I die cut a black cardfront using my Waffle Flower A6 Nesting Rectangles.

 

I played with the layout of flowers for a while until I was happy, then proceeded to attach flowers using a combination of glue and foam squares.

 

I attached the black cardfront to the white cardbase, then finished with gold sticker 'best wishes' sentiment.

 

No added bling for this card.

 

Linking Card #1 with the following challenges:

 

AAA birthday #88 - flowers 

 

 Just Us Girls #835 - Die Week

 

 

Card #2 – Tic Tac Toe

I went with the middle column - Bright Colours, Friend, Gems

 

 

I settled on the 'bright colours' option and knew I wanted to utilise a rainbow and as I was browsing through my stamps, I came across my Altenew Mini Delight Mini Paintbox .... perfect!  I have had this stamp in my stash for a little while, and I don't think I have used it yet!

I positioned the paintbox and sentiments then stamped using the Couture Creations stamp positioner so that I could stamp twice and get a good impression.

 

I coloured in the 'paint pots' using Altenew Inks and then stencilled the background using the same Altenew Ink colours, then added Crystal Accents to the paint pots.   I then trimmed and attached the cardfront to the cardbase.

 

I added gems with glue, the final element in the Tic Tac Toe.

 

This card came together quite quickly, and I am very happy with the way it turned out.

 

Linking Card #2 with the following challenges:

NBUS Challenge #89  - 'stencils'  I have had a huge pile of stencils in my stash for quite some time now and have only used 2 or 3.  I am aiming to use each stencil, at least once before Christmas!  LOL

Neglected Stuff Challenge - August 2026 

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.

Cheers - celebrate the New Year

With the Cricket on the TV, I get to spend some time in the craft room ...........
Mr Fixit is happy, I'm happy!

Using my own handmade stencil cut with Spellbinders circle dies, I made my own background by ink blending some random 'bubbles' on 210gsm cardstock, highlighted with white gel pen for the background, which was then trimmed with Waffle Flower A6 layer dies, and added to Green 300gsm cardbase.

 

SugarPea 'Cheers to You' Champagne bottle and glasses stamped in black and clear heat embossed, hand coloured with Copics, then die cut with matching dies, placed strategically on the cardfront with foam squares.  

 

Sentiment 'Cheers' stamped directly onto background in black and clear heat embossed with a final touch of Kindy Glitz added to bubbles for sparkle.

 

Linking with the following Challenges:

Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog - Something New (celebrate the New Year)

Just Us Girls Challenge #756 - Die Week

My Time To Craft #550 - Something New (celebrate the New Year)

Time Out Challenges #279 - New Beginnings (New Year)

 

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 New Year

Time for another crafting session!  The Cricket is on the TV, air-con on, nibbles and wine is flowing ... what more could a girl want!

 

I am very late with my December swap cards for CraftMad Swappers :)

Card#1 - Merry Christmas

 

Using a Kraft cardbase, ribbon was added across the middle with glue, Scrap Boys 'Christmas Day' DP was die-cut using WaffleFlower A6 Layer dies and added to cardbase.  KaiserCraft Christmas Tree was stamped on green cardstock, heat embossed with VersaMark & clear embossing powder, then die-cut with a slightly smaller Waffle Flower A6 Layer die.

A final touch of bling added at bottom of card.   I couldn't find the right sentiment stamp, so I used my new T-square ruler and wrote it by hand.

 

This card was inspired by a 2016 Sketch from my CraftMad swap group.

 

Card#2 - Happy New Year

 

Using my own handmade stencil cut with Spellbinders circle dies, I ink blended some random 'bubbles', highlighted with white gel pen for the background, which was then trimmed with Waffle Flower A6 layer dies, and added to Navy cardbase.

SugarPea 'Cheers to You' Champagne bottle and glasses stamped in black and clear heat embossed, hand coloured with Copics, then die cut with matching dies, placed strategically on cardfront with foam tabs.  Gold PeelOff stickers '2025' added, and a final touch of Kindy Glitz added for sparkle.

This Card was inspired by the CraftMad Swappers December TicTacToe - Diagonal Down L-R - Numbers, Gold, Sparkle

Linking Card#2 with the following challenges:

My Time To Craft Christmas #102 - Sweet Treats 

Inkspirational Challenge #331 - use stencils

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

A birthday card today, inspired by a sketch on Freshly Made Sketches and Colour selection from Just Add Ink

 

 

 

I used my own handmade circle stencil, made with Spellbinders Circle dies & acetate, to make the 'bubbles' using blending brushes on a white 210gsm cardfront.

 

'Happy Birthday' from MFT 'Adorable Elephants' stamped directly to the cardfront in Black, trimmed to suit with a blue border added to define the edge.  Cardfront was then added to 300gsm cardbase using 3D foam.  

 

Two cocktail glasses & umbrellas from Sugar Pea Stamps 'Cheers to You' were stamped, die-cut & coloured in with Copics then layered onto the cardfront with 3D foam ... and a finishing touch of Kindy Glitz/Stickles & bling.

 

I used Distress Inks - Twisted Citron, Tumbled Glass & Mustard Seed - they are the closest to the Just Add Ink colours I have.

 

 

I am quite pleased with this card - I hope you like it too!

 

**UPDATED**  Oooh - My card was chosen Princess of Clean by Judy for Freshly Made Sketches!

 

 

Linking With the following challenges:

Freshly Made Sketches #587

Just Add Ink #654

Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes with Dies

 

ITEMS USED

Stamps/Dies:  MFT Adorable Elephants, Sugar Pea Stamps & Dies

Inks: Distress Inks

Tools:  Cuttlebug, Handmade Stencil, Blending brushes

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.

Let's Celebrate

It is incredibly hot here in Adelaide this week - we have had several days of  between 35C-41C (95F-106F) so we have been inside, with doors and windows/blinds closed.  Mr Fixit has been on his computer researching a new bed for us and I have been in my craft room, having a play.

 

It was quite fun making a card with no specific person in mind .....  this card has been inspired by some of my favourite challenge blogs.

 

 

To make the background, I used a stencil I had made myself with Spellbinders Circles & Acetate, and used a blending brush & inks to make 'bubbles', randomly positioning the stencil.  Each bubble was highlighted with a white gel pen.  Background was then trimmed and placed onto Burgundy cardstock, which was then placed onto a white A6 cardbase.

Using StazOn Ganache (a nice dark brown/black ink, less harsh than black) I stamped the Champagne bottle & glasses on white cardstock and coloured with copics.  Bottle & glasses were die cut 3 times and layered together, then placed on cardfront and highlighted with Kindy Glitz/Stickles, Dimensional Magic & Dew Drops.

 

Sentiment 'Let's celebrate' stamp is from Ultimate Crafts (Magazine)

 

I am quite pleased with how this card came together, it was just so nice to sit and have a play.

 

Top 3 Winner AAA Birthday

 

 

--oo0oo--

 

Linking With the following challenges:

AAA Cards Challenge has asked us to use circles.

 

AAA Birthday Challenge is to use a stencil.

 Just us Girls Challenge has a mood board (I was inspired by some of the colours) 

 

As You Like It Challenge is your 'favourite stencil or freestyle background'   I have started making my own handmade backgrounds of late, and I must say I am enjoying it!

 

ITEMS USED

Stamps/Dies:  Champagne bottle & glasses, Spellbinders Circles, Sentiment

Inks:  Distress Inks, Copics, white gel pen, StazOn Ganache

Tools:  Cuttlebug

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.

Deck the Halls .....

with boughs of holly, fa la la la la .......

 

Another Christmas Card, surprise, surprise!  :)  

 

I ordered a stamp & die set (more of that to come later) from Uniquely Creative, an online craft store right here in Adelaide!  I like to support local where I can. There was a stencil included as a 'thank you' so I just HAD to have a play.

 

I grabbed a couple of inks and daubers and placed the stencil on the left hand side of a card topper.  I quickly realised that my daubers were way too big, so I settled on a 'rustic' finish.  To cover up an 'oopsy' I inked up the edges of the topper with both the brown & the red  Cardtopper is 210gsm, layered onto 250gsm cardbase (White) from Blue Edge Crafts, another local Adelaide online craft store.

 

The large snowflake was diecut from silver foiled cardstock, the centre circle was cut then the sentiment was stamped with Versafine Black Onyx & clear heat embossed.  The snowflake was mounted to the card topper, with the sentiment raised on 3D foam.  Additional holly was stamped, heat embossed and coloured in, then mounted onto circle.

I am normally a 'gold' person, but I quite like the silver snowflake on this card!  The other colours used were inspired by the Card Concept challenge

 

Linking With the following challenges:

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #69 - anything Christmas

The Card Concept #185 - Christmas Greetings

Fab 'n' Funky Challenges #563 -  last minute Christmas

Merry Little Christmas Blog Challenge #47 - anything Christmas goes (oops too late!)

Winter Wonderland - anything Christmas goes

 

Items Used

Cardstock:  White 210gm & 250gsm

Inks:  Distress Inks Mowed Lawn, Candied Apple, SU Chocolate Chip, Versafine Onyx

Stamps/Dies:  Lawn Fawn Magic Holiday

Tools:  Cuttlebug

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 Sympathy

Sympathy cards are always hard to make, but sometimes, the challenge blogs can help with inspiration.

One of my camera club friends, Donna, passed away unexpectedly ..... she was only 64.  I needed a card for her partner & soulmate Michael.  Donna had a wonderful laugh, always greeted everyone with a smile and will be sorely missed.

I experimented a little bit with this card.  I used a Spellbinders Die as a stencil - not the die cut, the actual metal die.  I quite like how the slight overflow on the edge of the die creates a white frame without adding extra layers.  I also kind of like that the blue looks like sky with the dandelions blowing in the breeze :)  so it fits with the Just Add Ink challenge of Day/Silhouette.

Linking with:

Addicted to CAS: #232 - Sympathy

Happy Little Stampers October Stencil Challenge

Just Add Ink #627 - pick 2 - Day/Night/Silhouette

Less is More #476 - use a stencil

Cardstock:  Leathergrain 300gsm cardstock.  

Background:  Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Chipped Sapphire, Wilted Violet blended with brushes.

Dies:  Spellbinders Deckled Edge  

Stamps:  Dandelion stamped in Versafine Onyx Black & heat embossed with clear embossing.  With Sympathy Ultimate Crafts Ooh La La - Happy Lives stamped with StazOn black.

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.