Slatted Oval Background

 I got the idea for this card from watching a recent YouTube video by the talented Chrissie Stokes where she showed us a way of producing a slatted oval background without needing slatted dies (which I've not come across anyway).  This was achieved by using the largest of the square slatted dies (or the large circle would work as well)  and using the resulting piece to back a card design incorporating an oval cut out.  For my card I used an oval die with a floral design one one side where this actually cuts out the frame, which I was able to put back into the oval aperture before deciding what else to add.  I selected a dragonfly die which was cut from a piece of a Gelli print with a black layer for the body.  The sentiment was also cut from a scrap of the Gelli print.  Before it was assembled I decided to cut another layer of the oval frame to give the card a bit more dimension.  The dragonfly was brushed over with a glimmer pen for a bit of extra shine.  

Slatted squares die set - Craft Addiction UK
Oval Floral Frame - Gummiapan die from Easter Calendar 2025
Dragonfly - also Gummiapan die from Easter Calendar 2025
Sentiment - from Crafter's Companion (I've had this one a long time)

Allsorts Challenge #826

 Time for a new challenge at Allsorts and this time the theme has been chosen by Christine and it is either **The Beach** or the usual *Anything Goes*.  Prizes this time are from Grafton Crafts and you can see full details on the Allsorts Blog.

When I saw the theme this time I went straight to my collection of useful bits and pieces because I knew there were at least a couple of die cuts in there of some wooden posts, just waiting to be used and, as it happens I also came across a couple of seagulls and a handy clump of grass.  The seagulls and grass were already coloured and ready to go but the wooden posts were white so I set about colouring these with some Distress Oxide ink mixed with water. I then decided to go for a relatively CAS design using a couple of square dies and one of my slatted circles which I layered together, backing the circular area with a piece of a previously made Gelli print which is sea-coloured. Finally everything was adhered to a 6" square card - so far no sentiment has been added to the front of this card, which will probably be left blank because I find that people are often looking for cards in which they can write their own personal messages.

Slatted Circle Dies - from Craft Addictions UK
Wooden Posts and Gulls - dies from Gummiapan
Grass - from On the Horizon set Stampin' Up (long retired)

Inky Play

This card is the result of a bit of inky play and trying out the faux bleach or colour lift technique using a stencil and some water. First I smooshed some inks around onto a piece of white card which was slightly smaller than the card blank and once it was dry I used a damp sponge through the stencil in selected areas to lift some of the colour until I was happy with the result.  It was left to dry naturally although a heat gun could also be used if you are impatient (the results always seem to vary each time this technique is tried).  The stamped foliage was the final thing apart from a small die cut sentiment because I didn't want to cover up too much of the background.

Inks -Distress Oxides, Saltwater Taffy, Victorian Velvet and Wilted Violet
Stamp  and stencil - from Lavinia
Sentiment - a favourite free stamp, die from an ancient set of fancy dies by Sue Wilson 

Coffee Anyone?

I've made another drink related tag to take along to the Tag-along (and ATC) challenge. where the the theme is either Drinks or Anything Goes.  I don't have any small coffee or tea related stamps but a lovely blogging friend kindly stamped a few for me - thank you, you know who you are 😊.  This is quite a large tag so I was able to use one of my much larger set of stamps as a background.  I used a torn notebook die set to trim the edges of one of the smaller images I was sent and coloured and fussy cut the coffee cup from another to layer onto it, sponging the edges with brown ink.  The large tag was cut from an offcut (Snippet) of text printed paper.  Some toning baker's twine was used to tie through the hole in the tag and then everything was layered together.  I was inspired to come up with this design by the lovely prize this month.

Tag - Text printed paper from an old Prima pad, Tim Holtz tag die set with several sizes
Large Coffee Cup - from Caffeinated stamp set Aall & Create
Small Cup - from Tim Holtz small blueprint coffee cup stamp set
Torn Notebook Edges - unbranded die set

More Ducks

 I had a few die cut ducks left from a previous card so I rootled about amongst some of my older die sets and came up with the idea of using this gate, tree stump and some corn to build up a little scene.  I started by cutting a square of white card and brushed over lightly with some blue and green ink.  The ducks I already had and the die cut corn was found in my container of 'useful bits' so I just needed to cut the gate, tree stump, clouds and a couple of clumps of grass.  The sentiment was composed to fit one of my rectangular stitched dies using MS Word.    I find it interesting, and useful, to look back at older stamp and die sets to see just what can be pulled out to use with some of my more recent acquisitions - these dies came from several different sets 😉, all retired so no longer available.

 Ducks - unbranded die set
Gate - from Counting Sheep Stampin' Up
Corn and tree stump  - from Hey Chick also SU
Grass Clumps - from Elephant Parade also SU
Cloud - from Gummiapan (part of Easter Countdown special collection dies)
Sentiment - Stitched rectangle die set SU

Tag-along

 The theme for the current Tag-along (and |ATC) challenge is **Drinks**  so I've made a tag with wine glasses and a bottle. I started  by sponging some ink around the edges of the tag, adding a little stencilling, avoiding the area where I was going to place the wine bottle die cut.  There were also some faint fragments of text stamped near the top of the tag.  The wine bottle and glasses were die cut from some white pearl card and I also cut another one using red card, with the intention of placing all the red pieces back into the die.  Having tried that, I decided it was all too much so settled for just adding some 'wine' to the largest glass.

 

Stencil - came as a free gift from Craft Stash some time ago. Stencils  are rarely marked with a name
Wine Bottles and Glasses - unbranded die possibly from Temu
Text Stamp - came from a magazine gift set 

Naughty Step

 I reckon I may well be on the naughty step in the Snippets Playground because there is no picture of my left over snippets this time.  The main reason for this is that I've had a real flurry of making cards using my recently acquired slatted die sets which has entailed pulling out lots of my old stamps and/or dies in an effort to come up with a variety of ways to combine the old with the new..  Another dilemma was which card to choose to take along to the Playground for the current challenge and eventually these quirky birds won the day, closely followed by most of the remainder, which you will be seeing sooner or later.  Apart from the card blank, everything else came from my pile of snippets - mostly all white apart from the three little pieces used to back the circles to add a little colour. (pink, yellow and blue).  I die cut the three slatted circles from white card, using all three dies together so that I could back them with the coloured circles and then adhere to the main card background in a pleasing arrangement.  The birds were stamped, coloured and die cut, then placed onto their circle backgrounds.  A stamped sentiment from the set was added.

Slatted Circles - dies from Craft Addiction UK
Birds - Stamps with matching dies unbranded 
Colouring - Inktense Pencils with water Brush