Allsorts Challenge # 848

 Time for a new theme at Allsorts Challenge and this one has been chosen by Christine, who would like to see *Shaped Cards* (anything but rectangular or square).  There is the usual *Anything Goes* option.  Prizes this time are from Aall & Create - full details on the Allsorts blog post..  For my Design Team post I've chosen to make a circular card incorporating a wreath with various die cut  flowers and a sentiment. The wreath was die cut twice using different shades of green and the extra leaves were cut from a scrap of inky card from my 'useful bits' collection.  Flowers were die cut from various pieces of coloured card., also from the 'useful bits'. Finally the sentiment and tiny butterflies used up the remaining scrap of the inky purple piece.

Scalloped Circle - die from Tattered Lace which I've had for years
Plain Circle - die from Creative Expressions Noble Pierced circles (also quite old)
Wreath - die from Craft Addiction UK
Flowers and Extra Leaves - dies from Crafts Too (John Next Door)
Sentiment - dies by Crafter's Companion
Butterflies - tiny die from Gummiapan 

I made another Tag

 Following the 'birds, blooms, butterflies'  theme for the current Tag-along and ATC challenge I had a rootle through some of my older stamps and came across a set of bird themed stamps dating back to 2009 when Chocolate Baroque was known as Elusive Images.  Another piece of my inky-play background has been used with the addition of a little stencilling and background stamping. (think I've used up most of that at last!). I then stamped the small bird and the words.  Final touch was a stamped and die cut feather from another set which has also been in my stash for a really long time. Some colour was added to the bird using  pencils.  There's still some time left before this challenge closes if you feel like having a go - there's a really handy prize.

Bird and Words - Curly Birds/Fly Away by Elusive Images from 2009 (probably no longer available)
Feather - Stamp and die set Four Feathers from Stampin' Up (long retired)

Snippets Playground challenge #530

 The sun is shining this morning so I'm skipping off to the Snippets Playground to hand in my homework and hopefully there will still be some cups of hot chocolate around because it's still none too warm 
outside.  I started with a snippet of cream card trimmed to slightly smaller than the card blank and die cut the frame.  This left me with a smaller square snippet which I coloured by smooshing some ink to colour it before popping it back into the aperture, adhering both to the card.  More cream snippets were used to die cut the flowers and the decorative circle.  This die doesn't entirely cut out from the piece of card so I used a plain, slightly larger circle die to cut it free.  The flowers were coloured and assembled before arranging onto the fancy circle, adding a few leaves which came from my trusty 'useful bits' container.  Final touch was a small tag with an embossed sentiment.  There's the usual generous prize on offer for the lucky person who is randomly selected to win so why not use up some of your snippets to be in with a chance.

                                         

Square Frame - Stich Craft Fusion Frames die from Craft Addiction UK
Sentiment Tag - Mini Birthday Tags Collection also from CAUK
Decorative Circle - die from Irresistible Blooms die set Stampin' Up (long retired)
Plain Circle - die from Crafts Too circle set
Flowers - Magazine Giveaway from Die Cutting Essentials 

Tag and ATC Challenge

 It's mid-month reminder time from the Tag-along Challenge and this time I have an ATC to share. which has  the *butterfly* and *flower* part of the theme. I trimmed another piece of my inky background strips to the correct size and stamped the floral image and word.  Next I delved into my box of useful bits and pieces where I found the small white slatted circle and a stray butterfly which was die cut from a scrap of inky card which had been coloured a while ago using Pixie Powders.  A little silver gilding wax was added as well as a touch of Wink of Stella

Knapweed Stamps - from Aall & Create
Butterfly and Circle - dies from Craft Addiction UK

Allsorts Challenge #847

 The theme for the Allsorts challenge is **In the Garden** or the option of *Anything Goes*.  This was chosen by Gail and the prizes are from Lavinia Stamps - full details on the Allsorts post where you will also see the inspiration from the Design Team.

For my card I've turned to a die set which has been in my stash for some years and I've used it to build up a garden scene.  I started by smooshing some colour onto a piece of white card to give the appearance of sky and grass followed by die cutting the gateway, foliage and flowers.  I then used different dies to cut the bird, cats and watering can.  The three tiny butterflies were from my box of saved bits and pieces.  The sentiment was stamped within the archway.

Gate, Flowers and Foliage - Garden Gateway die set from Stampin' Up (long retired)
Cats - dies from Impression Obsession (also very old)
Watering Can - from an unbranded die set
Bird - from a Joanna Sheen Bird Feeder die set (very old)
Butterflies - 'waste' from a border die (Crafter's Companion)

Daffodils

 A quick CAS card to cheer up a dull foggy morning although I must say we've had a couple of really quite warm sunny days this week.  I've used one of the smaller stitched detail frame dies here and also a slatted square which was placed behind the aperture and the whole thing layered onto a piece of green patterned paper.  The daffodils were die cut using snippets of white card, coloured using watercolour pens.  The sentiment is from a selection gifted to me by a kind friend.  I used it 'as is' rather than foiling which is their original use.

Frame Die - from Craft Addiction UK
Square Slatted Die - also from CAUK
Sentiment - foilable sentiments by Julie Hickey
Daffodils - unbranded die from Temu last year

Good Crafting Weather!

Wet and windy here today, albeit with a few glimpses of sunshine in between the showers but it does mean that it's perfect crafting weather.  I have another entry into the Tag-along and ATC challenge and this time it's a tag. I started with a piece of a Geli print, made some time ago and used one of the dies from a triptych set to cut it, then the slightly larger die to cut a piece of brown card.  To this I added a brick wall die cut in cream, a dragonfly cut out from a scrap of card which had been coloured using Pixie powders and some die cut flowers which I coloured to tone.  Finally the flowers had some gold centres to match with the die cut bow.  There is a nice shimmer on the flower petals and the flowers cover the 'blooms' part of the current challenge theme.

Tag - dies from unbranded triptych die set
Bow - die from Gummiapan
Bricks and Flowers - unbranded die set from Temu
Dragonfly - Elegant Dragonfly die set from Craft Addiction UK (smallest one used)