Beautiful

A quick post this morning before I go off to craft group - this is mostly made from scraps of card, apart from the base card and background paper .  The image was coloured using alcohol pens and die cut into an oval which fits the larger de-bossed oval.  The diagonal border and the little floral spray were cut from Centura pearl card and finally the sentiment was a printed one on punched shapes.

Image - Beautiful You Stampin' Up
Ovals - dies from Sue Wilson Austrian collection
Floral Spray - Sue Wilson die
Diagonal Border - also a Sue Wilson die set
Sentiment - computer printed, punches from Stampin' Up

3D Embossing

I love the 3D embossing folders and there are numerous ways to use them for different effects.  Today I've made a background by sprinkling Pixie Powders onto watercolour paper before embossing.  I'd made a piece large enough to stamp and die cut some flowers too and there is still a reasonably sized piece left for another project (and a few spare flowers).  The embossed panel was cut down to fit a square card and some frames were cut to fit using card the same colour as the stamped detail on the flowers; I also used some pearly gilding polish to enhance the embossed design.  The sentiment has been popped onto a layered die cut and flowers and leaves added just in the corners because I really didn't want to cover up too much of the beautiful embossing.  One of the advantages, or drawbacks depending how you look at it, is that when cutting frames you are left with lots of 'waste' from the centres so I think I must apply my mind to deciding what I can do with a pile of miscellaneous squares.

Frame and flower detail - rich razzleberry card and ink from Stampin' Up.
Frame - Sue Wilson Noble Pierced squares dies
Embossing Folder - English Rose 3D by Crafter's Companion
Sentiment - computer generated and punched oval Stampin' Up
Sentiment Plaque - dies from Sue Wilson Greek Islands collection
Flowers - Shaded Peony stamps and matching dies, Sue Wilson
Pixie Powders and Gilding Polish - Cosmic Shimmer

Racing By...

Well I'm afraid my resolution to stay away from the newsagent shelves has wavered somewhat when I spotted this set of dies and stamps which I just couldn't resist.  Originally I'd thought that maybe these 'freebies' would be of lesser quality than dies you could buy but this isn't the case because they always seem to cut really well - this set is no exception and I can see there will be lots of ways to use them.  I've incorporated a die which I already had to cut the hill and houses, the 'grass' layer was a piece of waste from cutting a border for another project and the main part of the scene has used just some of the dies and stamps in this current free set.  Oh, and the picket fence was another free die from a previous magazine give away.  I had fun cutting out all the pieces and assembling them into a cheery scene and of course all of the pieces apart from the base card are from my bits boxes.

Houses on Hill - from Christmas die set by Crafter's Companion
Picket Fence - free die from recent magazine
Car, Trees etc - all using dies from Enjoy the Journey set free with Die-cutting Essentials
Stamps - detail on tree and sentiment etc - from same set of dies/stamps

Home Decor for the Playground

It's time for the fortnightly challenge in the Playground and I thoroughly recommend a visit to see the great card made by Di with some oh so cute little elephants. This time I've made a home decor project using some of  my snippets - mostly tiny ones though so I still have loads left!!  This is a deep box frame with a 6" aperture and the two large squares are 'waste' from previously cut square pierced frames.  Two narrow strip snippets were used as a 'perch' on which the peacock sits but it is the bird himself which has the large number of tiny snippets used for the tail feathers and wings - even the body was cut from a larger piece in the blue snippets box - and yes I do have them colour-coded!! I was so pleased that I have a small die cutting machine because it would have seemed a bit silly cutting those tiny tail feathers on an A4 model!! I added a simple quote - more snippets of white and blue card and there it is - a piece of home decor for a change. I dithered about painting the frame but decided in the end to leave it 'as is', at least for the time being.  Apologies for the quality of the photo but the light wasn't too good yesterday afternoon.

Peacock die - Sizzix designed by Pete Hughes
Perch - embossed with a decorative strip die by Tonic
Words - from a Sheena Douglass stamp set (Indian tiger etc)
Plaque - Sue Wilson dies from Caribbean series
Squares - Sue Wilson Noble Pierced squares dies