Another Tree

When I made my previous tree card I stamped more than one image and rather than leave it hanging around I thought I'd make it into a quick card - smaller one this time.  I used a large woodgrain stamp onto a scrap of green card for the background and also overstamped some leaves.  The greeting was stamped onto a banner and I simply added some toning twine to finish off this quick card.

Wood grain stamp - Stampin' Up
Tree - from Totally Trees set also SU

Study in Green

This is a card for my box but hoping I won't need to use it too soon although it is always handy to have this type of card ready to use.  The background was made by randomly stamping leaves onto a piece of cream card before popping  into a textured embossing folder, finally inking around the edges to emphasise the pattern.  I cut a border strip from some scraps of cream and green card, stamped more of the leaves which were cut out with scissors and then the main tree image was stamped (double stamping) and die cut.  Once all the components were completed I did my usual technique of playing around with various layouts until I thought it looked OK before finally sticking it all in place.

Tree - from Totally Trees stamp set Stampin' Up
Leaves - from French Foliage set also SU
Sentiment - from another SU stamp set cut with stitched shapes die
Background - Crafter's Companion textures embossing folder
Border - Lattice border dies Sue Wilson

Hot Air Balloon

Whilst having a bit of a sort out I came across this balloon die which was a magazine freebie from a while ago and would you believe it was still in the packet - unopened!  I decided to put a card together using it so started by cutting the balloon and glued it to a piece of  patterned paper, leaving the basket area unglued before trimming carefully with scissors.  Next I inked a piece of card with some blue to give a cloudy sky effect.  The houses were cut using a die from one of my Christmas sets (three dies - houses, Santa in the sky and trees) but of course the houses will do for any time of year.  The greeting was stamped onto the sky area and then I set about cutting some layers and a border using dies.  I noticed while trawling around the blogs this morning that the current  theme at the House of Cards is a building and/or certain colours - this card fits the criteria so I'm popping over there with it.

Balloon - freebie stamp from magazine
Buildings - Christmas die set from Crafter's Companion
Frames - Sue Wilson pierced squares dies
Sentiment - freebie stamp from magazine

First Post of 2017

This is my first card for 2017 although it was in fact made yesterday!  I haven't yet cleared away all the seasonal 'stuff' on my desk but did just about manage to find space enough to make a card for the Pixie Snippets challenge this week using up some of the pieces of water colour paper to which I'd added some Pixie powders - love them!!  Santa brought me a new die set which I wanted to try out and I think it is one which will get plenty of use as the year goes by.  I really like to have dies which can be used in many ways and this one certainly fits the bill. I put a snippet of white card through the Big Shot with an embossing folder before dusting it with some purple ink to show up the pattern. I then die cut a selection of borders,  a fancy square and a selection of flowers and leaves - the only item which isn't a snippet is the card blank itself.

There is an opportunity to be in the draw for yet another brilliant prize - Christmas themed so that if you win you will be able to make an early start on the Christmas cards this year!  Di does a sterling job in organising the playground fun each week and it certainly gives us all opportunities for using up just some of our snippets - my theory is that the bits of card and paper etc actually breed when stored in boxes on the shelf!!  Despite the amount I use the 'mountain' still seems to get bigger.

Background - Sea Garden embossing folder Sue Wilson
Diagonal Borders - Lattice border die set Sue Wilson
Square and Circle - Australian Collection die set Sue Wilson
Flowers - Botanical blooms die set from Stampin' Up
Sentiment - computer generated