Craft Mad Card Swaps - September

As mentioned in my previous post, I was LATE with my card swap for my partner for September ...  I struggled with motivation

The theme for September was 1 card using a 'Sketch' and 1 card using TIC-TAC-TOE

 

Card #1 - sketch

 

I received a lovely Scrap Boys 'Christmas Day' paper pad from my Secret Santa last year, so that formed the basis of my choices for this swap.

 

I chose three different papers and cut the tags by hand.  A large snowflake was die cut from silver mirror card.  Sentiment & little holly leaves were stamped & clear heat embossed.  The leaves and berries were hand coloured with Copics and die cut.  Sentiment was die cut using the centre circle of the snowflake.

Card was assembled according to sketch, using 3D foam tabs for added dimension.

 

 

Card #2 - Tic Tac Toe - Patterned Paper, Die Cut, Embossing

 

Selecting another page from the 'Christmas Day' paper pad, I layered it onto red leathergrain cardstock using the Waffle Flower A6 layers die, and then layered that onto the white cardbase.

Hero Arts 'Merry' Stamp & Cut - 'Merry' was die cut twice out of the red cardstock and layered to add dimension, with the other sentiments stamped in black.  Stars were stamped in red & embossed, but they don't show up very well in the photo.

 

And in answer to your question ......... yes, I was humming the song all the time I was making the card!

 

A very big thank you to my partner for being patient with me!

 

Linking Card #2 with the following Challenges:

Sparkles Christmas Challenge #165 - use the word 'Christmas'

Cut it Up Challenge #314 - inspired by a song

 

 

Also included, was another one of the cards I made previously especially for my swapping partners - see my post in June on how they were made

 

PS:  Cardstock was purchased from BlueEdge Crafts  (no affiliation arrangements with this store, I just want to let fellow Aussies know of a good store :) )

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.

CraftMad Card Swap - August

I was so VERY LATE with my card swap for my partner for August .............  
I just couldn't get motivated

When September hit, I knew I had to pull my finger out!

 

The theme for August was 1 card using TIC-TAC-TOE and 1 card using 'INKS'

 

I have been a bit 'forgetful' lately, so the card is fitting.  Once I settled on which stamp set to use, the ideas came fairly quickly.  

 

Card #1

 

Image of elephant was stamped, coloured in by hand, then fussy cut.

Background row of circles ink-blended with home made stencil using Spellbinders circle dies, highlighted with Kindy Glitz/Stickles.

Small balloon diecut, coloured and highlighted with Kindy Glitz/Stickles.

Gold fine cord added to hold balloon, and 'unforgettable' stamped on vellum then cut to form a tag and attached to cord.  Elephant and balloon were then mounted to cardfront with 3D foam tape to add dimension.  Image 'grounded' with the addition of grey shadow, then final touch of bling/jewels added.

 

Inspiration for the above card was found on Pinterest, but I found the original author's blog TaeEun Yoo using My Favourite Things Adorable Elephant stamp set.

 

Card #2

 

Handmade background - 

Technique:  Emboss Resist - Couture Creations Star Burst - stamped with VersaMark and clear embossed.  Background rainbow created using blending brushes and Altenew inks.

Background was cut to size using Waffle Flower A6 layers die and added to cardbase using 2mm foam tabs.

 

Uniquely Creative Cake Builder - Birthday cake stamped with Versafine Onyx Black pigment ink & clear embossed, then die cut.

 

Cake was then assembled and mounted to card front using 3D foam dots.

 

Thank you so much to my partner for being so very patient with me!

 

Also included, was another one of the cards I made previously especially for swapping partners - see my post in June on how they were made

 

Stay tuned for my September Swap ......... it was so very late as well!

PS:  Cardstock & Couture Creations stamps purchased from BlueEdge Crafts  (no affiliation arrangements with this store, I just want to let fellow Aussies know of a good store :) )

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.

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.

Happy Birthday

On a roll with these coneflowers!!!  This is the last one (for a little while LOL)

 

As per my previous cards, I die cut the flowers from some small left-over scraps of white cardstock (snippets), then ink-blended using Altenew Inks.  These flowers were added to cardfront using foam tabs for added dimension.

 

I found the most perfect background in my 'handmade' stash which was made by 'smooshing' various Inks, then inking around the outer edges with the darker colour from the flowers for definition and mounted onto a 300 gsm cardbase.

 

 

 

The Happy Birthday Sentiment is from a set of stickers I have had for I don't know how long ... the gorgeous gold on the white background was layered onto a circle of vellum cut with Spellbinders Circles Dies, then attached to cardfront using foam tabs to add dimension.

 

Items Used

Inks – Altenew Inks, Distress Inks
Dies – Amazon coneflower, Spellbinders Circle Die
Cardstock - 200 gsm white (cardfront), 300 gsm white (cardbase)
Tools - Cuttlebug, Blending Brush
Extras - Glue, double sided tape, foam tabs, peel-off stickers
Papers - Vellum

 

Linking with the following Challenges:

Seize the Birthday #284 – Anything Goes/Use Metallics

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.