Inky Session

I decided that my box was short on male cards so yesterday I set about making some backgrounds by embossing white card using various 'industrial' style embossing folders and then colouring with Distress stains and inks along with some metallic stain.  Good idea to do most of the inky jobs in one fell swoop and then have a major hand cleaning attempt.  So far I've put together three cards and this is just one of them - they have similar components but are not all the same.  For this one I cut three strips from the inked card, die cut a motorbike and added a bit of over-stamping to some text background paper. Of course most of this is covered up with the strips but not to worry. The bike was layered onto a scrap of text paper which in turn was layered onto another left over strip of a different text paper.  A selection of cogs were die cut from black card, embossed with 'industrial' folders and rubbed lightly with Treasure gold. Sentiment was produced on the computer and punched out.  I had intended going for a walk today but became engrossed in making these cards - now it is lashing with rain so the furthest I will be going is to put the wheelie bin by the gate.

Embossing Folder - Tim Holtz Alterations by Sizzix
Cogs - Sizzix Bigz Die
Text Papers - Prima pad which I've had for a long time
Motorbike - unbranded die
Sentiment - Stampin' Up punch with ends trimmed off

Playground Challenge # 369

The lovely Di of Pixie's Crafty Workshop fame has been taking a short break but it is lovely to see her back today with a beautiful Christmas bauble card which of course is a big hint as to what the prize will be for Snippets #369.  My make this time is a relatively CAS style of card using what I thought was an interesting set of geometric dies and something a  bit different.  I die cut the openwork layers twice and layered them together for a bit of extra dimension - using snippets of white pearl card.  Then found a snippet of card which I'd coloured with Distress Oxide and Pixie powders some time ago - this was a left over piece which of course I saved and it has come in handy for this card.  I stamped a narrow border three times onto a large snippet of white card using similar colours before arranging the triangles and a message banner, finally adding a few left over 'jewels' scattered in between.

Triangles - set of unbranded dies
Banner - Sue Wilson die and stamp from Tim Holtz
Border stamp - from a Stampin' Up vintage stamp set from several years ago

As Promised

I believe I promised to show the other card which I made using the Christmas wreath die which is a good one for using up tiny scraps of card.  This time I popped the wreath onto a layered red and white scalloped circle, adding a punched bauble attached with some baker's twine and with a printed sentiment in the centre.  I've had problems getting going again with everyday cards but at last I've made a start and the mojo is drifting back slowly so watch this space.

Wreath die - Sizzix thin die set

Bauble - punch from Stampin'  Up from a few years back

Scalloped Circles - dies from Tattered Lace, also several years old

Sentiment - downloaded from Netty's Cards, resized to fit a punch

Merry Mice

I'd more or less finished with Christmas cards for a while until I came across these merry mice - there are quite a few in the set and I've only used some of them.   They are quite small so a great way of using up some of my snippets of white card to stamp and die cut them and also some other snippets to make up the card.  Shame it isn't the week for visiting the Playground with a card but worth taking a look all the same to see what might be on offer in the grand seasonal draw if you make and enter a card using some of your snippets.

I started with stamping, colouring and die cutting the mice and some of their 'accessories' and shuffled them around a bit to see what scene I could  conjure up.  Settled on some of the mice putting Christmas lights onto the side of a 'shed', accompanied by their mouse snowman and a little tree.  Santa is on his way to visit flying across the sky.  The shed was made from a scrap of card stamped with a woodgrain effect with a scrap of white for the snow on the roof.  Oddments of white card were used for the snow on the ground and a snippet of blue pearl paper for the sky. Finally a frame was cut to surround the scene, again cut from a snippet of pearl white. I really must put away all the Christmas bits and pieces for the time being although I do have pictures of a few cards which you've not yet seen.

Frame - Sue Wilson Noble Pierced Squares die set
Shed - stamped with Stampin Up Wood grain stamp
Santa - die from a Crafter's Companion set
Mice and Accessories - from Merry Mice set of stamps and dies Hello Bluebird
Tree and Star - lying around on my desk waiting to be used

Seasonal Greetings

With very best Christmas Wishes to my followers and those who take the time to visit this blog and leave lovely comments.  Have a wonderful time and ...

  Here's to a Peaceful and Healthy year to come.  

A simple card, white on a gold layer.  Stamped and embossed in gold.  Stamp used is a very old wooden backed one (remember when all stamps were on wood blocks??) from Papermania.

Pixie Snippets #368

Today is the start of the final Playground Challenge for this year which also means that the very generous Di has lots of lovely prizes going into the seasonal draw this time.  I'm in awe of her organisational skills in running this and the current post gives very concise details of what you would need to do in order to be in for an opportunity to win something.  Do pop along to see the super card which she has made using Prize A.

My card for this time uses quite a lot of pretty tiny snippets of various colours for the components.  I started with a piece of wood-grain paper to use as a background then die cut two banners, embossing the white one with 'snow'.  The next thing was to cut two twiggy wreaths, one brown and one kraft, which I then decorated with a selection of die cut flowers and leaves.   The final thing was to cut the word along with its backing.  All the 'bits' were cut from snippets in my scrap piles - the base card and piece of background being the exception.  While I had the dies out I'd cut another two wreaths and more flowers and leaves which I've made into a quite different card which I will show you another day.

Wood-grain - from a pad purchased in The Works
Wreath and decoration - die set from Sizzix
Banners - Sizzix dies by Stampin' Up
Embossing Folder - Snow Falling from Stampin' Up
Joy word and backing - dies from Crafter's Companion

Winter Window

I met up recently with friends for coffee and of course plenty of crafty chat - this time we swapped Christmas cards with the usual questions about the various products used.  I have to admit I succumbed to temptation and ordered a really useful window die which has arrived really quickly and the package also included a little gift of a cat die which was a kind gesture.  I justify this purchase - if I need to - because the window can and will be used on cards throughout the year although for the moment I've made a Christmas card inspired by the one I received from my friend.

The window was die cut and then I found lots of snippets of card and cut out houses, trees etc to make a little scene, adding a silver star in the sky. I used some woodgrain paper as a background so that it looks a bit like a cabin in the woods. Naturally I had to have the cat reclining on the window sill and some floral decoration at the top (left overs from another card). I even cut the houses in yellow and painstakingly paper pieced the windows in - mad or what!! It is a shame I've already popped over to the Playground with my entry for the current challenge because this card would certainly fit the bill.  There is still time to enter if you'd like to be in with a chance of winning a lovely prize - follow the link to see what is on offer.

Background - paper pad from The Works
Window - Grand Madison die by Poppy Stamps
Trees and houses - die set from Crafter's Companion
Cat - gift die which came with the window
Flowers and foliage - Sizzix dies (left overs from previous project)