Snippets Challenge # 533

 I'm heading off to visit the Playground in the hopes that the paddling pool has been refilled with cool water.  It's certainly turned into a scorcher this week and strange to realise that only just over a week ago I was still wearing a woolly jumper as an extra top layer to keep me warm indoors.  Anyway Sarn has started off another Snippets challenge with a fabulous prize so I will take my homework along as well to hand in. 

 Apart from a 5" x 7" card blank, everything on this card was selected from my Snippets 'mountain'.  I pulled out a left over white layer, slightly smaller than the card and this was stencilled in a stone wall pattern.  I then die cut the two slatted arched windows using smaller white snippets and backed them with blue snippets.  A snippet strip of blue was die cut using a wood-grain panel to act as a long kind of window box.  Furball, the rabbit was snipped out of a sheet which I'd printed for a previous project and hadn't used them all.  The image was water-coloured and fussy cut so that he could sit on the ledge between the two windows.  The flowers were die cut from really small white snippets, as was the embossed sentiment. The  tiny butterflies were die cut from the remnants of the blue card and have been painted with Wink of Stella.  There you have it - my Snippets scene for the current challenge. 

Slatted Dies - Arched dies from Craft Addiction UK
Window Ledge - from Fence Post die set also CAUK
Furball - digital download design by Louise Dunne again also CAUK
Sentiment - again CAUK die from Birthday Tags set
Flowers and Butterflies - dies from Gummiapan
Stencil - unbranded

Rudolph Days May

 It seems a bit odd to be posting a Christmas card on what is probably the hottest day so far this year but we are into the Rudolph Days Challenge for May.  This is an opportunity to make and share Christmas cards and of course it helps to build up a stock of cards through the year in an effort to avoid a last minute scramble in December.  For this one I've used a cute duck in a Santa hat - it's a digital image which I've printed and fussy cut, popping him onto a slatted circle with a circular die cut sentiment.  Some very old scalloped circle dies were brought of retirement to add interest.  Happy Rudolph Days everyone!! 

Duck - digital download from Craft Addiction UK, designed by Louise Dunne
Slatted Circle - die from CAUK
Sentiment - unbranded die
Scalloped Circles - very old Spellbinders dies
Background - printed using a download from Buddly Crafts
Square dies - very old set from Tonic 

Allsorts Challenge #850

There's a special event over at the Allsorts Challenge blog where they are celebrating their 17th birthday with extra prizes and and until the end of the month Aall & Create are offering a 15% discount on purchases. What's not to like??   Full details can be seen on the Allsorts blog post..  The theme is *anything goes* and for my Design Team card I thought that a birthday card would seem to be appropriate. I've made a CAS card with a fairly prominent birthday sentiment.  A slatted rectangle die was used to cut into a white square and A strip of colour was added behind it to tone with the 'inky play' card from which the leaves and sentiment shadow were cut.  The leaf veins and words were die cut from some scraps of card coloured gold with gilding flakes.

W'e'd love to see what you make to help us celebrate this special birthday event.

Slatted Rectangle - die from Craft Addiction UK
Leaves - Artsy Leaves die, Tim Holtz for Sizzix
Birthday - unbranded dies from Amazon

Get Well Bouquet

 Some 9 or 10 years ago an embossing folder which was a magazine gift went viral and was followed by more in the same style. I've used one of them as a backdrop to a bouquet made using some lovely floral stamps and dies. Once the flowers were stamped, coloured and die cut it was a quick card to make and I decided to make it a 'Get Well' card using a sentiment from a favourite magazine gift of sentiment stamps which I've had, and been using, for many years.

Embossing Folder - from series by Apple Blossom but possibly no longer available Flowers - Designed by Susan Hardy available from Craft Addiction UK Sentiment - from a magazine gift set from many years ago Sentiment Label - from a die set by Creative Expressions Greek Island Collection

Another DIY Lattice Card

 I've still held off buying any of the latest lattice dies and  I've used a different, and very ancient, die from my stash.  This time it's framed by a circle and I've added butterflies and a stamped and die cut sentiment.  I seem to recall that this particular lattice die and its matching embossing folder (which I never managed to get hold of) were both extremely popular when they appeared and crafters were almost 'queueing around the black' to acquire one or both of these items.

Circle Die - from Noble Pierced Circles set Creative Expressions
Lattice - Cover Plate die  Tied Together from Couture Creations
Sentiment - from Craft Addiction UK flower stamps/dies by Susan Hardy
Butterflies - also from CAUK 

Paper Piecing

 I was having a sort out of some of my snippets of patterned papers, wondering if I should discard some of the smaller pieces but I just couldn't bring myself to put them into the recycling box.  Instead I've used a couple of them to make this card using a stamp which I've had for some time although I have to confess it's not been used recently.  I stamped it onto a die cut square of white card and again onto the two pieces of patterned paper so that I could neatly fussy cut the two dogs.  For a bit of added interest I did some over stamping onto the background before sticking them into place, where according to the packaging they are 'waiting for their next adventure'.  A fun card which I enjoyed putting together and making good use of some scraps.

Stamp - from Crafty Individuals, sadly no longer trading
Background Stamping - Selection of stamps from magazine giveaways
Sentiment - Tiny tag from Craft Addiction UK set

Snippets Playground Challenge #532

 I'm off to visit the Snippets Playground to see what's afoot - not quite warm enough for the paddling pool but no doubt the breakfast club is doing well.  Time for another challenge with the usual lovely prize.  Everything on today's card, apart from the card blank and the pink card layer, has been made using bits and pieces from my Snippet mountain.  I'm polishing my halo too because - at least for the time being - I've resisted purchasing any of the latest release from Craft Addiction UK which included some really tempting lattice style dies.  I put my thinking cap on and tried to work out ways of achieving similar effects by using what I already have in my well stocked stash of dies.  I came up with some ideas and then started a search for at least one lattice  die which I knew must be lurking somewhere.  Well I didn't find anything with a straightforward lattice but managed to pull out a couple of slightly more elaborate ones which haven't been used for many years and I've actually come up with a couple of cards and this is one using an arch shape.

I trimmed a snippet of white card to be slightly smaller than the pink layer and used an arch die to make a frame (cut twice and glued together to give it a bit of strength).  I then die cut the lattice die from another snippet of white and placed it behind the resulting aperture, slipping a small snippet of pink paper behind to show through. The white frame was popped back into the aperture. Next move was to stamp, colour and die cut Buttons the mouse using another white snippet, finally stamping and die cutting the sentiment.  Phew - quite a selection of small white snippets used and I nearly forgot to mention that I used a brick stencil to add a little colour to the surround of the archway..  

The card I made using the other lattice die is a circle design for a different look and I will be blogging that one fairly soon.

Arch Die - from Graces Garden stamp/die set Stampin' Up (long retired)
Lattice Die - Ornate Trellis Crafters Companion (years old)
Mouse - Buttons stamp/die set Craft Addiction UK Louise Dunne design
Stencil - from an unbranded set of stencils