Baby Card

I have a Baby Card to share today, made one in pink and one in  blue because I didn't know which would be needed.  I saw something similar on Pinterest a while ago and thought it would be fun to make. The spotted paper was adhered to a piece of card to give it a bit of substance and a circle die used to cut out the 'window', which was then framed with a scalloped circle.  The rabbit peeping out was made up  'punch-art' style using some stamps with matching punch and then a die was used to cut the 'welcome baby' wording.  The blue card has been popped into the post to welcome my first great grandson.

Spotted Paper - from the Paper Pantry
Circle dies - from Spellbinders
Square dies - from Tonic
Stamps and punch - Stampin' Up Friends and Flowers (retired) 
Wording - unbranded die

Oldies

 No I'm not talking about old folks but old stamp sets and other 'stuff' which I've had for varying lengths of time and some of which haven't seen the light of day for years rather than months or weeks.  Trawling through my collections I remember that these were all purchased because I really liked them and I've realised that on the whole I still like them so my aim is to give some of them an airing and try not to be tempted into buying more new 'stuff'.  Not sure how the resisting temptation thing will go, that remains to be seen.😉

This card started out from coming across an already stamped ornate label - and yes it was stamped a really long time ago.  We are back before the days of matching dies so it has been fussy cut.  This led me to finding the stamp set to see what else was included so that I could make up a card and I stamped the oval frame and added a sentiment before using an oval punch to cut it out.  The bird was also stamped and fussy cut.  I had a small scrap of already embossed cream card which I extended by adding a punched strip on the bottom.  The background was made by over stamping some flowers from another ancient stamp set onto a piece of paper which was part of a magazine freebie.  Finally backed with a scalloped square of matching card and there it is - a card made from a heap of oddments - I do love to challenge myself to use up the bits and pieces I have lying around.

Oval, fancy frame and bird - from Suitably Ornate stamp set Stampin' Up (long retired)
Background Flowers - stamps from Everything Eleanor Stampin' Up (long retired also)
Embossing - folder from Creative Expressions 
Punched Strip - border punch from Stampin' Up
Sentiment - freebie stamp which came with a magazine
Card and Ink - Cherry Cobbler also SU
Square dies - Tonic

Christmas Wishes

 This comes with very best wishes to all my blog friends and followers and I would like to say thank you very much for all your visits through the year and for the lovely comments - all very much appreciated. It has certainly been a very strange year - here's hoping that 2021 will see a turn-around so that there are happier and more settled times times ahead for everyone.  In the meantime stay safe.

Dies used - from Crafts Too, Karen Burniston, Britannia and Crafter's Companion

Playground Challenge #393

 This is the final challenge for the year over in the Playground and there are some extra goodies to be won - best pop over for a visit and read the precise details for taking part if you are interested.  The lovely Di works so hard on our behalf to keep this challenge running and on 1 January it will be the nine years anniversary.  Goodness me that's a whole lot of posts and prizes if you think about it so well done Di, the regular playmates appreciate what you do for us.  Congratulations!!

Apart from the base card everything on this card was taken from various snippets boxes.  I started with the stamped image onto a snippet of white, coloured with pencils and then cut into an oval. I then selected some pieces of card and patterned paper which I thought toned together nicely and set about cutting banners.  A sentiment stamped onto another scrap of white with a tiny punched flower added and there it is - my snippets card for this challenge.

Hydrangea - stamp from a long-retired Stampin' Up set
Papers and card - all chosen from my snippets boxes
Sentiment - using one of the stamps from my favourite freebie sentiment set
Dies - ovel from Tonic, banners from Stampin' Up

Have You Guessed I Like Flowers?

 Yet another floral card to share today, made yesterday to cheer me up on a very grey, very wet Wednesday.  Bit of a contrast today because we have blue skies and sunshine although still winter temperatures of course. For this one I've pulled out a long-retired stamp set which I've had for many years. These date back to well before stamp sets came with matching dies so anything we wanted cut out had to be fussy cut with scissors which is what I've done here - at least everything except the sentiment oval which was die cut. For the outer blue square I was unable to find a piece of card to tone nicely with the blue I'd used for the stamping so I simply inked around the edges using the same ink - perfect match of course. The white square had the darker blue swirls stamped before being put through an embossing folder for some texture.  The blue plaque and flowers were fussy cut and the sentiment was stamped and die cut into an oval.

Embossing Folder - Art Deco style by Creative Expressions I think (no markings on folder)
Flowers, Swirl and Plaque - Everything Eleanor stamp set from Stampin' Up (retired)
Sentiment - free stamp onto stitched oval die cut Stampin' Up Stitched Shapes

Snowflakes

 Another Christmas card to share today which hopefully has reached its destination although it was well into teatime yesterday before  my post arrived so the postal delivery people are obviously being kept pretty busy this year.  I remember a time when each year there was plenty of seasonal work for students who used to join the 'posties' in the run up so that the mail all got through in time and of course in those days there were also more deliveries each day rather than just the one we get now. There were even deliveries on the Sunday prior to Christmas day then - Guess I'm showing my age here 😉.  

For this card I made up the background using two pieces of designer paper, the bottom one being die cut and laid over the 'sky' area.  The large word was die cut using white card and also a few miscellaneous snowflakes were cut to scatter around.  The little iridescent stars in the centre of the snowflakes look pink here but they look different depending which angle you view them on the actual card. The whole design was backed with a scalloped square of pretty silver card

Sky Paper - left over piece of Artylicious Seasons Greetings printed paper
Darker Blue Paper - from Stampin' Up Trimming the Town collection
Curved Die - from Curvy die set Stampin' Up
Snowflake Word - Sheena Douglass die Creative Expressions
Small Snowflakes - die cut from various die sets
Iridescent Stars - Stampin' Up

Let's Squash It Challenge #3

This time the team at Let's Squash It are asking for a combination of embossing and die cutting or fussy cutting - lots of possibilities here I'm sure. I decided to go down the die cutting route and started by cutting out a 'brass' jar to contain an assortment of die cut flowers.  This jar was then embossed using a floral embossing folder to give the appearance of a decorative brass pot.  The selection of die cut flowers were in a container on my desk left from a session of stamping, colouring and cutting - always handy to have a few flowers ready to pick up and use. This was all arranged onto some die cut shapes with the addition of a paper doily along with a label for the sentiment.  I'm sure many of us have lots of rarely used embossing folders in our stash and this challenge is a great excuse to bring some of them out into the limelight.

Square Dies - Tonic
Shaped dies - Window Frames Collection Stampin' Up
Brass Pot - Everyday Jars Framelits from Stampin' Up
Embossing - Sheena Douglass floral embossing folder
Flowers - from Floral die set designed by Christina Griffiths Craft Stash
Colouring - Inktense Pencils

Snowflake Deer

 Another of my many Christmas cards to share today - I do seem to have made rather a lot this year and as I'm not a fan of batch making they are mostly individual in design.  For this one I have die cut a piece of card using a snowflake die and backed it with a snippet of silver glitter card.  Another snippet of black card was brushed over with some glitter kiss which had totally dried out in the pot but I did manage to wet it and salvage enough for this job.  The deer was cut from this and luckily there was a small piece of the silver card to cut out an extra snowflake.  A piece of designer paper and a sentiment and that's it my snowflake deer card.

Snowflake Die - from Sizzix
Single Snowflake - die from Marianne which I've had forever
Deer - die from Sizzix
Background Paper - Stampin' Up Trimming the Town

Santa and Friend

 Another of my many Christmas cards to share today, this time using a downloaded and printed image.  The papers were also printed from the same download and I simply added a sentiment along with a die cut poinsettia

Image and Papers - from Polkadoodles Winnie in Winterland collection
Sentiment - stamp from Contempo Christmas set Stampin' Up (retired)
Papers - also from the download collection
Poinsettia - die from Marianne which I've had for many years

Challenge Time

 Time does seem to fly and it is time to visit Pixie's Crafty Workshop for the Snippets challenge.  I have another Christmas card this time because apart from the base card the whole thing was assembled from card and paper from my snippets boxes.  Decided to use a window die which was cut from some white pearl card so I searched for some scraps of design paper which could be wallpaper and carpet with a narrow strip of red for the skirting board..  The window was backed with a snippet of scenic paper for the snowy outside view.  A black cat was die cut to sit on the window sill and then more snippets were used for the tree, its decorations and the parcels.  As usual there is a lovely prize for the lucky person whose name is chosen from 'the random hat' so do pop along to the Playground to see the great card made using a super die which looks as if it could be used for lots of card ideas.

Window - die from Memory Box
Cat - came as a free gift when I purchased the window die
Designer paper behind window - snippet from Stampin' Up Trimming the Town
Tree and Parcels - Sizzix dies Santa's Workshop

Get Well

Christmas crafty bits stowed away now but not too far, just in case I ned any more cards for this year.  This time I've made a Get Well card, hoping I don't actually need to send it of course.  I've used a lovely free die of a good size which came as a magazine gift.  Started by die cutting two circles, one cream and one light blue.  The die was then placed partially over the cream circle and cut, then placed in the same way on the opposite side of the circle.  These cuts were then placed onto the blue circle but not yet glued so that I could work out where to place the sentiment on the two oval die cuts.  Glued the sentiment in place first and then the two floral partial die cuts so that they slightly overlapped the ovals and lined up with the edges of the circle. This was then layered onto a slightly larger darker blue circle. A square of cream card was then embossed and placed onto a darker blue square before the whole thing was assembled as a card.

Lilies die - free with an issue of Die Cutting Essentials magazine
Sentiment - Stampin' Up stamp from way back
Ovals - stitched shape dies from Stampin' Up
Circles and Squares - dies from my collection

Curvy Birthday

 I can post this card here because I know it has been received by the friend it was sent to.  I've used stamps and dies from a matching set recently acquired  Images were coloured using alcohol pens.  Not much more to say about this really as it more or less speaks for itself. It was fun working out different ways of using these stamps and dies, a useful addition to my stash.

Birds and Flowers - Quite Curvy stamp set Stampin' Up
Card layers - Curvy matching die set Stampin' Up
Sentiment - from my favourite magazine freebie set from way back
Colouring - using Copic pens
Ovals - Stitched nesting shapes Stampin' Up (retired I think)

Ikebana

A bit of light relief today with some Japanese flower arranging but using oddments of card which has to be much easier than doing the real thing - I'm not particularly good with flowers!  I die cut the container, branch and tiny flowers using various scraps of card then arranged them onto a cream label shape which had a toning layer behind..  I then remembered that I had a bamboo embossing folder which hadn't seen the light of day since Oriental cards were all the rage - some years back.  Stamped the sentiment onto another scrap of cream card, found some designer paper and assembled everything. I've still not stowed away all the Christmas crafty items which is what I really intended when I went into the craft room - easily side-tracked  that's me 😊😊  Seeing this on the screen I feel it probably needs something in the top right area, will have a ponder on that.

Dies - Ikebana set from Sizzix, designed by Pete Hughes
Embossing Folder - Bamboo by Cuttlebug
Sentiment - from my favourite magazine freebie stamp set from a while ago
Label dies - an old Spellbinders set
Background - Tonic dies

Seasonal Cards

 I think I should call a halt on making Christmas cards because I seem to have amassed quite a few more than I will be needing this year although I've not yet shared them all so you might still see some of them.  I'm aiming on having a general tidy up of my work space which will include packing all the seasonal bits and pieces back into their boxes.  The share for today is one using a large stamp from a set which came to light during one of my sorting out sessions and sad to say I'd completely forgotten about them and haven't used any of the stamps for some time until recently.  Once stamped and embossed this is quite a quick card to put together with some designer paper or card for the layers and of course the overall look could be altered dependent on the choice of embossing powders.  This one was embossed with gold onto cream card, layered onto red.  Minimal colouring is required and the stamp nicely fills a 6" card.

Stamp - from Fat Robin collection Chocolate Baroque (card is 6" square).

Christmas Wreath

 As I've mentioned previously reading blogs can lead me into temptation and it has happened again when I read this post from the lovely Jules HERE but this wasn't an expensive buy because the digital files mentioned were at a special price.  I downloaded them and once I'd eventually managed to open one of them using Craft Artist (with some helpful advice from Jules) I worked with it changing the colour of the wreath and then adding a sentiment and also flowers and a bow from some of my CA Digikits.  The file was saved and I printed a copy which was then die cut and layered up  to make this quick and easy card which could be good for batch making.  Looking a bit dark and wet outside this morning so I guess a morning tinkering with Craft Artist might be a good idea - not used it for a while so I need to remind myself of just what can be done with this programme which is sadly no longer available.

Wreath - Huckleberry Hearts "Wreath Clipart"   - one of eight designs
Flowers and Bow - from CA digi kits.
Layers - dies by Tonic and Phill Martin

More Seasonal Houses

 I have another seasonal house card to share today, this time using a snow globe die to contain the scene. Two of the snow globes were die cut, one with the 'hole' in the centre and the other without as a backing.  I carefully trimmed off the fancy edge from the backing one before building up the scene using scraps of patterned paper and white card and also green card for the trees, finally layering the two globes together..  The houses were fussy cut from the design paper, as was the greeting.  Background paper also came from the same set of design paper.

Design Paper - Trimming the Town from Stampin' Up
Snow Globe - dies from Crealies
Blue Sky - scrap of printed paper from Artylicious Season's Greetings CD
White layers - dies from Crafter's Companion and My Favourite Things
Trees - green trees - using dies from various sets.

Snippets Challenge #391

 Time for another visit to Pixie's Crafty Workshop and today I have another Christmas card for the current challenge.  I started by cutting the wreath from a snippet of green card and - call me mad if you like - added the red berries using the 'waste' saved from a rectangle die which has holes all around the edge.  As soon as they fell out I thought 'holly berries' and promptly gathered them up and popped into a little self-seal plastic bag for safe keeping.  A white circle was cut from another scrap, the sentiment stamped in the centre and the circle embossed before adding it to another larger circle (also from the snippets pile).  The birds were stamped on another white scrap, coloured and die cut; the bow was stamped onto gold - yet another small scrap and punched out.  I then found some larger snippets of seasonal paper and cut two curvy borders to go either side of the central green piece which wasn't large enough for the whole card.  Everything was layered onto a gold die cut background and that's it - a Christmas snippets card for the challenge.

Wreath - die from Tonic
Berries - 'waste' from another die
Bow - stamped and punched using retired Stampin' Up punch
Curvy Borders - Curvy die set from Stampin' Up
Robins - Birds from Curvy stamp set Stampin Up
Design Paper - retired Christmas papers Stampin' Up

Honey Bee

A beautiful sunny day today although of course it is quite chilly.  I have a sunny card to share today which was made a little while ago before I got into the seasonal ones.  I started with some background paper which had bees and honeycomb design, die cut some circles and then added the sentiment (using the Misti of course) and a beehive and bee.  Finished with a simple sentiment and a piece of matching ribbon.

 Background - paper which came free with a magazine
Stamps - Honeybee set from Stampin' Up with matching dies
Sentiment - computer generated, punched with Stampin' Up punches (retired now I think)

Fun Snowmen

 I've been using more stamps from previous Christmas buys and this time decided to repeat the snowman three times so that he was turning cartwheels. Background paper is from a magazine freebie, the white circle was embossed to look like snow and I added snowflakes and a small sentiment

Image - Snowman stamp set from Stampin' Up (retired)
Embossing - Snowfall embossing folder by Sizzix for Stampin' Up

Blue Christmas

There is a pretty keen wind outside today but at lease it seems to be a bit nicer than yesterday when it lashed with rain all day long and was very dark and dreary - a good excuse to work in the craft room.
|Another Christmas card for my collection using stamps and dies along with some odd pieces of patterned paper and white card.  The row of trees, the sentiment and the stars were first stamped onto white card before die cutting the blue paper to put at the top and bottom of the card. Once the card was assembled I added a scattering of die cut snowflakes.

 Stamps - Curvy Christmas from Stampin' up with matching curvy dies
Snowflakes - from an old Crafter's Companion set called Frosted Tree
Blue paper was from a magazine gift, probably at least a year old if not more

Free as a Bird

 As I was trawling around a few blogs (as you do) I spotted a little row of birds on a branch which had been coloured as robins HERE so I decided to have a go.  I didn't have the colour of card which had been used originally but I tried mine using kraft card with Coloursoft pencils and my card layout is different but I think it has worked. Made a change from stamping  onto white and helped with the shading on the birds.. The image panel was backed with a circle which had been embossed with a 'falling snow' embossing folder and a piece of design paper was used also.  Sentiment stamped in red onto a scrap of white card with the ends punched.

Image - Free as a Bird stamps Stampin' Up
Sentiment - from a retired SU stamp set
Rectangle - die from John Next Door
Embossing Folder - Falling Snow Stampin' Up
Background - printed from Artylicious Season's Greetings CD

Squash It Challenge #2

The Squash It challenge this time has a theme of Christmas and stamps - pop along for a visit to them if you don't know what I'm talking about and all will be explained.  I started with a square of white card of suitable size for my card and  stamped the sentiment in place using the Misti.  Next it was embossed  using a snowy embossing folder.  I then found some red card and stamped two baubles using red ink then heat embossed using clear powder.  The bows were stamped onto some tiny scraps of gold pearl card and the baubles and bows were cut using  matching punches. Layered everything together with some more gold and red card onto a white card base.

PS - I've just been reminded that the same theme follows for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge so I'm popping over there with my card too - another interesting blog for you to take a look at

Baubles - Contempo Christmas stamp set and punch Stampin' Up (retired)
Bows - Holly Berry Happiness Stampin' Up (retired) with matching punch
Embossing - Snow fall embossing folder Creative Expressions
Squares - dies from Tonic and Phill Martin
Sentiment - clear stamp from my stash (unbranded) probably a freebie from way back

Trio of Trees

 Over the years I've attended quite a few craft Extravaganza days which I've always very much enjoyed and one of the 'perks' has always been a set of stamps to keep.  I've revisited a set from a few years back and come up with this trio of trees card.  Started by die cutting the stitched rectangle and then stamping the three trees in green, followed by stamping just the pots onto some scrap card in red and fussy cutting them to add to the panel.  The three tiny stars were from my little pot of 'die-cutting waste' where I save all but the tiniest pieces.  The square of green paper was left over from another project and a couple of red layers were cut to complete this card.  Sentiment was stamped onto a strip of white card and the ends punched to make into a banner.

Stamps -  Contempo Christmas set from Stampin' Up (retired)
Banner ends - punch also from Stampin' Up
Patterned Paper - printed from Artylicious Season's Greetings CD
Square Dies - Tonic
Rectangle Dies -  John Next Door

Seasonal Card

Yet another seasonal card, this time featuring an old fashioned post box in a little scene.  At first I was devoid of ideas when it came to using this die until I had the idea of incorporating a few animals.  Started off by die cutting the frame and then stamping the trees onto a piece of white card, brushing some blue ink across the sky area and stamping a sentiment.  After die cutting the post-box, fence and animals I played around with arranging them into a little group and that's it - another card for the Christmas collection.

Frame - Phill Martin die
Trees - stamps from a free set (magazine gift from last year)
Post Box - Britannia die
Dog - Xcut die
Cats - Impression Obsession dies
Robins - Memorycraft dies
Fence - Sizzix die
Sentiment - from SU Contempto Christmas stamp set (retired)

Fairy

 Two of the pieces from my recent dabbles using the gel plate were very pale and I almost ditched them but thought there would be nothing lost by playing with them a bit more using a stencil and some over stamping.  This card is the result of taking the lighter of the two  pieces and stencilling a design all over in a toning colour (Milled Lavender) and then stamping some delicate trees on the lower half.  I then cut a small oval from the second piece which had a little more colour and detail then stamped a fairy silhouette in black, adding some grasses and foliage in purple (Dusty Concorde).  Matted the two pieces onto some purple card and put it together with a birthday sentiment.  Great satisfaction achieved in rescuing two pieces of card which could well have found their way into the bin.

Stencil - Lavinia Pods
Trees - from Chocolate Baroque stamp set Tall Trees
Fairy - Lavinia Stamps
Foliage -  small stamps from various Chocolate Baroque sets
Sentiment - free download from Netty's Cards (resized)

Snippets Challenge #390

 Time to pop along to the Playground for this fortnight's challenge and certainly well worth the visit because there is a super prize as always for the lucky person whose name is drawn.  Super card for inspiration as well with an excellent explanation as to how it was made.  For my card this time I've made something sewing related because I know quite a few people who would appreciate receiving such a card. Started with a square snippet of cream card, trimmed to fit the sie of card and also cut a circle from another cream snippet.  Placed the circle into the centre of the square and lightly marked with pencil before stamping some flowers around in a kind of 'wreath'.  Stamped and heat embossed the sewing machine and words onto the circle before sponging the edges of both shapes, popping it all onto a toning die cut square to assemble the card.

Stamps - from a free magazine set designed by Phill Martin
Dies used - nesting shapes from Tonic and Sizzix

Mystical Scene

 Dragged my gel plate out of semi-retirement for a bit of a play using Distress Oxide inks and Brusho powders mixed with water - enjoyed the exercise and have coloured fingers to prove it 😀.   The results were a bit variable and of course pretty unpredictable but I selected one to use with some stamps to make into a card.  I started off by stamping a silhouette image and then using a circle mask to give the impression of a full moon, sponging ink carefully around; also torn paper masks were used to ground the image.  Next I chose a selection of suitable stamps from several sets to do the rest of the stamping to make a pleasing scene, finally sponging around the edges and mounting onto a piece of toning card.  I have a few more gel plate backgrounds to use and it made a break from the making of Christmas cards.

Main Image - from Serene Silhouettes Stampin' Up
Trailing Foliage - from Wisteria Lane stamp set Chocolate Baroque
Ground plants and grasses - various stamps by Chocolate Baroque
Sentiment - computer generated using Word

Tall Card

Apparently tall cards have come into favour so it is just as well I have a supply of most sizes of card blank including these.  Decided to have a little play with some inking and stamping for this latest Christmas card - quite enjoyed it although it does take a bit of time to get the ink off my fingers afterwards..  The moon was suggested by masking off the area; tall trees a stamp which I've had for many years and may no longer be available. First and second generation stamping here. The ground was formed with torn paper masks and the deer stamps I've also had a while.  Think I may follow this up with some more inky play to gather a few interesting backgrounds together.

 Blue used - Distress ink Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire
Trees - Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz stamp set
Deer - Stamp set from Card-i-O

Still in Christmas Mode

 I'm still ploughing on with Christmas cards and I'm going back about four years to a set of stamps which I came across recently in my stash - an A4 set and I'm pretty sure that some of them haven't ever been inked so I've remedied that and made a few cards using the set, or at least four of them.  The image was stamped on cream card using Versamark and then embossed using a very old pot of embossing powder which is red with tiny flecks of gold.  I then cut it out using an octagonal die set, also cutting  larger ones in cream and gold to layer up and make for a bit more interest.  The larger cream octagon has been embossed and background paper was printed from a CD which I think may well no longer be available but it is definitely a favourite of mine and gets used often.  Sentiment was stamped and then cut out with banner dies.

Background - printed from Season's Greetings CD Chocolate Baroque
Image - from Fat Robin A4 stamp set Chocolate Baroque
Embossing Powder - Antiquities Chinese Red from Ranger
Octagon dies - Daisy Mae from Craftstash
Banners - dies from Creative Expressions stitched banners
Embossing - folder from Creative Expressions

New Challenge

 A new challenge has been spotted - interesting name too - Let's Squash It!  They encourage the use of embossing folders, something which I have in some quantity and often forget to take out and use.  This time the theme is metallic and geometric although I realise now that in my haste to make a card my brain hadn't really registered the geometric element.  However I'm hoping they might stretch a point because the lower part of this folder is covered in circles.  I'd decided that as I was in seasonal mode I'd make a Christmas card using some gold card from my stash and this folder along with a die cut sentiment - fairly simple card really.

Gold metallic card from my stash
Embossing Folder - Embossalicious Christmas
Sentiment - dies from Tonic

Rainbow

 Dabbled with some ink blending in rainbow colours for a change from my recent Christmas card makes.  I die cut the shape first  before blending the inks and once the ink was dry I stamped using a large background stamp - dictionary text.  The square of white card was smooshed lightly into some ink on a glass mat and blotted to give a pale effect.  The flower was die cut from a scrap of white card and I kept the 'waste' so that I could use it as a stencil to give an impression of the same flower on the background.  Added a sentiment stamped on purple and embossed with white powder. A scattering of gems completes this card.

Die cut shape - retired set of dies from Stampin' Up
Flower - iris die by Joanna Sheen
Dictionary stamp - retired background stamp from Stampin' Up

Snow Couple

 Another Christmas card to share today, this time with some stamping and colouring using a seasonal stamp set which is a retired item - they seem to bring out a new set of Christmas stamps every year.  Using the Misti I stamped the Snow Couple, the snowflakes and the words onto a die cut stitched circle before colouring using alcohol pens.  The blue striped paper was amongst my magazine give-away paper collection and the die cut snowflake border was a free die also given with a magazine last year or maybe even before that.  Time flies doesn't it and often difficult to work out just how long things have been in the crafty stash.

Image - Snowman stamp set from Stampin' Up
Colouring - using Copic pens
Snowflake border - free die given with a magazine

Snippets Challenge #389

 Well worth popping over to the Playground to see the super cute card which Di has made using what is the prize for this fortnight - a real fun set of stamps with matching dies.  You might have guessed I will be asking for my name to go into the draw this time around.

Anyway, on to my snippets card for this challenge which was prompted by coming across a box containing quite a lot of pre-cut shapes which I must have bought years ago and I'm talking about well before die cutting became possible in our own craft rooms.  I think it is about 15 years since the Big Shot arrived on the scene so I've had this box for ages.  I've used an oval frame and four little squares with text on them from the box (hardly made any inroads into the contents) and then set about using up more of my snippet mountains to make something from this start.  Cut four brown squares to back the printed ones, an oval in cream to go behind the frame and a selection of small snippets to make the flowers and leaves.  Even the music paper was a snippet left over from a much larger piece.  The message was stamped onto the cream oval using the Misti for positioning.

                                  

Text squares and oval frame - from box of pre-cut shapes by Papermania probably over 15 years old
Sentiment - free stamp from my favourite magazine gift set
Flowers and leaves - dies by Sue Wilson
Squares - cut using Tonic nesting squares die set

Trimming the Town

Thought I'd share more of the cards made using the Trimming the Town DSP - ingredients are much the same as listed on my previous posts.  I've quite enjoyed putting these cut out houses together in varying ways to make a selection of Christmas cards.  I still have a few more variations but will save them for another day.

 

Inspiration

 As well as tempting me with crafty items I don't have, viewing blogs often serves as a reminder of something which I already have in my stash.  This was the case when I spotted a card posted  by Jules when I remembered that I had some dies which I could use to make a card similar to and inspired by one of her recent makes. If you look near the top of her blog you will also find a link to a library of wonderful card layout sketches - yet another source of inspiration when you are stuck for ideas.  I sorted out some background papers and oddments of card to die cut the components for this card, starting with some toning background papers, followed by the ovals one of which was run through an embossing folder to give it some interest.  I then cut out the various small pieces of the succulents and their pots and assembled them, finally adding a simple greeting.  Thanks Jules for a timely reminder which didn't result in any retail therapy 😊

Background - bits and pieces from my stash, border die from Crafter's Companion
Ovals - dies from Tonic, embossing folder from Creative Expressions
Succulents - die set from Sizzix Dimensional Botanicals
Sentiment - computer generated, punches from Stampin' Up

Teacups

I'll give you a break from Christmas cards for today and share something different.  I came across the remnants of a card kit which came with a magazine and tried to think of a way of using up some of the bits and pieces.  There were some good size pieces of card with printed and foiled images and I selected one of them for the basis of the card, then used a teacup die to cut out three cups from some of the scraps.  The sentiment was also part of the kit and that was a fairly quick card to put together once I'd decided on how to use up the 'bits'.  I fancy it is an advantage having a fairly good memory for all the dies and stamp collections I've amassed from the magazine freebies over the years - mind you it does often take a while to actually find them 😄

Remnants of a kit from Hunky Dory magazine
Teacup die - another freebie which came with a different magazine ages ago

Christmas

 I've made a couple more Christmas cards using the houses which I'd cut out but with this one I've gone a little off-piste because I only had a couple of smaller houses left.  I did incorporate a strip of the DSP with printed trees for one of the layers.  Decided to die cut a car using a die from a freebie set which I've had for a few years, cut out some larger trees and 'found' a stray lamp post in the tray on my desk.

Sky layer - printed from Artylicious Season's Greetings CD
Tree layer and houses - DSP from Stampin' Up Trimming the Town
Car - die cut using a free set of dies and stamps I've had for some time
Large trees - Sizzix Seasonal die set Santa's Workshop
Lamp post - stray item found on my desk, left from last Christmas I imagine
Snowy area - embossing folder from Creative Expressions
Hills - cut using dies from Lawn Fawn stitched hills borders

Christmas Cards

 I thought it was probably time to get on with some Christmas cards - I've made a few here and there through the year but a more serious effort is required to get more done.  My friend Anne suggested to me (persuaded me!) that I really needed to acquire some designer series paper (DSP) which has a series of houses on some of the sheets which can be cut out either using a lovely die set which I don't own ~ yet ~ or alternatively they are quite easy to cut out using scissors.  I know that Anne has been making cards using this DSP and if you watch out for her next blog post I'm sure you will be seeing what she has come up with.  

So far I've made a total of five cards, all similar but not exactly alike - batch making isn't really my scene although I have to say it would be a more efficient method than my normal way - not really into time and motion study and let's face it time isn't really a problem when I'm at home pretty well all the time.  I printed off some background papers for the sky and die cut the snowy landscapes and trees adding sentiments in most cases.

For this card I die cut some snow with a line of trees, snowline with row of houses which I also cut using some yellow card so that I could light up the windows.  The snow at the base was die cut and then put through an embossing folder for texture.  Coloured houses and paper trees were all cut from the DSP and for this one no sentiment has been added although there is a space in the sky if I decide to add one later.  You will probably be seeing the other four cards at some point.

Background paper - printed from Artylicious Seasons Greetings CD from way, way back
Treescape and Houses - dies from Crafter's Companion
Houses and Paper Trees - cut from Stampin' Up DSP Trimming the Town
Embossing Folder - Creative Expressions I think
Snow - Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside borders

Pixie Snippets #388

 Time to visit the Playground once again and what a fun card the lovely Di has produced for us this time ~ I think I will have to ask for my name to be included in the draw for the brilliant die used - don't you just love the long johns 😁.  I've used quite a lot of fairly small snippets for  my card this time as well as delving into several different sets of dies in order to build up an interesting scene.  I started with the octagon die which I cut once in green and once in a patterned card.  I then sliced the top off the patterned piece to form a little slope.  Next came the tree house cut from a kraft card snippet, over stamped with bark design; followed in turn by the toadstools, flowers, grass and last but not least the two gnomes. Phew, that was a lot of die cutting and sticking I must say.  I'm probably going to use this as a New Home card but will add a suitable sentiment when I finally decide (left space for it at the bottom).

Octagon - die set from Daisy Mae
Tree House - from die set by Hello Bluebird
Large Toadstool and Flowers - Sizzix Funky Foliage die set
Gnomes and Small Toadstools - die set Gnome and Santa from Karen Burniston
Ground Slope - Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Borders die set
Blades of Grass - Grassy Edges Dienamics from My Favourite Things
Stamping on Tree - Woodgrain stamp from Stampin' Up

Butterfly Challenge #147

 It's been a while since I made a card for the Butterfly challenge and I did intend to try the clever fold idea but sadly this was not to be but the details of all the different card shapes are on the Butterfly Blog so I can try again another day.  The alphabet letter for #147 is 'D' - double point fold, diamonds and colours of delft blue, dandelion and damson with of course the usual butterfly.   I managed to incorporate diamonds in the large die cut background shape and some 'diamond' gems on the butterfly body, also colours delft blue and dandelion yellow.  The die used for the main fancy shape is one which I've had for more years than I care to imagine and using it has made me realise just how dies have improved over the years in terms of ease of use.  This one needed more than one pass to cut and then it wanted to hang on to all the pieces rather than letting them just drop out.  The butterfly was cut in the two colours as well and some matching paper was used for the background.  Card was finished off with some matching 'card candi' - something else which I've  had forever!!

Die cut Shape - Marianne die set
Sentiment - stamp from my favourite freebie set
Butterfly - Sizzix die

Free as a Bird

Yesterday I was quite pleased that I had to stay at home because the weather started out by being just a bit damp but deteriorated into being extremely wet and dreary as the day went on.  Just the sort of day for sitting by the fire doing a bit of stamping, colouring and fussy cutting.  I finished up with a bird, a branch and a selection of blossom and leaves which I then turned into this card.  I found some pretty background paper, die cut two shapes and embossed the smaller, white one before arranging the bird and blossoms in what I hope is a pleasing way.  Found an odd strip of pink card which I die cut on both edges to form a border, finally adding a birthday sticker. Blue skies and sunshine so far this morning but the forecast doesn't look good - mind you it is October so I suppose we can't hope for endless summer weather.

Bird and Blossom - Free as a Bird stamp set from Stampin' Up
Border - die from Crafter's Companion
Sentiment - sticker from Clarity book of stickers for many occasions
Shapes - Window frames collection Stampin' Up
Embossing - 3D Embossing folder from Creative Expressions
Colouring - done with Inktense pencils

Humming Bird

 I came across this image when I was sorting through a box of miscellaneous pieces of paper and card. I'm sure I must have printed it but for the life of me I can't recall the source. It was ages ago I know and probably before my computer crashed and had to be replaced.  Anyway I thought I'd use it to make up a card using some toning punched strips of card and adding a few more of my stray flowers and leaves which happen to be the right colours.

Image - unknown source
Background - from my stash of papers
Ovals - Tonic nesting dies
Strips - Stampin' Up punch
Sentiment - computer generated using Word
Flowers and leaves - Stampin' Up Botanical Builder dies

Stray Flowers

 The other day I used some stray die cut mice and today I have a card to share which has used up some stray flowers and leaves from the tray on my desk.  I started off by using a large octagon die to cut the base card - makes a change from my usual square ones!  Next I cut more octagons using smaller dies using white and different shades of green card.  A few flowers and leaves were arranged in a little spray, everything layered up and glued and there we have it - yet another card for my ever growing supply of finished ones.

The sun is shining this morning and it looks as if we are in for a pleasant weekend, weather-wise anyway even though it is quite a bit cooler than of late.  Enjoy 😷🙂

Larger Octagons - die set from Daisy Mae Designs
Smaller Octagons - die set from Tonic
Sentiment - from my usual free set given with magazine ages ago
Flowers and Leaves - 'spares' from various sets,  kept in a tray on my desk

Get Well Card

 I thought these tulips might cheer up someone who is feeling under the weather. The flower heads were stamped onto scraps of white card using yellow first and then just touching around the edges at the base of the stamp with some red to give a two-tone effect. Dies were used to cut the tulips and a leaf.  Leaves and stems were stamped onto a strip of white card which was backed with some green card with a punched edge.  Sentiment was stamped onto a punched label shape

Flowers and leaves - Timeless Tulips stamps and dies Stampin' Up
Border and label punches - from Stampin Up
Sentiment - stamp from a set which came free with a magazine a few years ago

Stray Mice

 As well as always having scraps of paper or card left over from making a card often find that I have various left over die cuts and of course they all get saved.  This week I found two little mice lurking in a  tray on my desk (not real ones I hasten to add) and I guess they've been there ever since last Christmas.  I felt I should use them to make a Christmas card for this year so I looked out the set of stamps and dies along with a few other seasonal bits and pieces so that I could die cut some more bits to make a little scene.   The tree was cut from a scrap of plain card and then I stamped a woodgrain texture on it, coloured the window frames, then die cut a mouse snowman, fairy lights and some trees to go with the two stray mice.  |A scrap of blue spotted paper was used for the sky and some white card die cut into a snowy landscape.  I really should go through the plastic trays on my desk to see what other treasures there are which could be made into cards - I know there are definitely flowers and leaves as well as quite a few shapes which are left when cutting frames etc.

I have a feeling that Christmas this year will be a pretty low key affair but I think people will be glad to have some nice cards.  I hope so because I have lots of Christmas 'stuff' to use.

Tree and mice etc - stamp and die set which has lost its packaging
Snowy Landscape - Stitched Hillside Borders Lawn Fawn

A Lucky Win

 I was lucky recently and won a lovely prize in the Pixie Snippets Playground challenge - some dies, a stencil and pack of sentiment stickers so I thought it appropriate to use at least some of the prize to make a card for the current challenge.  I started off with a fairly large snippet of cream card and used the stencil to emboss the card before brushing it lightly with some Distress ink and then over stamping with a small swirl stamp.  I'd found an already cut piece of trellis which was a left over from a project made ages ago.  This was white so I inked it with the same ink so that it would tie in nicely.  A selection of smaller snippets in varying colours was  then used to cut out some flowers and swirls using the die set and these were arranged onto the trellis.  Finally a sentiment was stamped onto a scrap of cream card, die cut into a banner with a slightly larger one in brown as a backing.  Thought it just needed a little something extra so a tiny bee was die cut from brown card.

There is another great prize on offer for the current challenge so if you'd like to be in with a chance why not make a card using up some of your snippets - take a look at the inspiration card, I love it.

Background - embossed using Joanna Sheen stencil, small stamp Chocolate Baroque
Trellis - die given \away free with magazine many moons ago
Flowers and Swirls - die set from Sweet Dixie
Sentiment - free stamp, banner dies from Creative Impressions
Bee - die from Tonic

Yellow Poppy

 I don't think I've ever seen a yellow poppy, not that I can remember anyway but this die set came with a  CD for printing out a selection of colours and this was one of the choices.  I quite like the look of it anyway even if it isn't true to life.  The dies and CD were given away with a magazine a few years ago so I doubt they are still available.  I die cut a fancy shape in ivory pearl card, backed with some toning yellow card before layering up the flowers and leaves.  The print gives several to a page so I was able to cut into the images to use bits and pieces for decoupage.  The background paper also came from the CD and I over stamped this with a poppy image from a set of stamps which I seem to have had forever.  Because I'm unable to get out and about to look for new craft goodies (probably not a bad thing really I suppose) I've been looking through what I have stacked up in my craft room with the aim of using items which have been neglected.and sometimes even forgotten 🙂🙂

Flowers and Background - Charisma Dies and CD given free with Tattered lace Magazine 

Fancy Shape - Creative Expressions dies Caribbean Collection St Kitts
Words - from Clarity Word Stickers book on punched shape by Stampin' Up
Overstamping on Background - stamp from Chocolate Baroque

Playground Challenge #386

 I'm a bit later than usual checking into the Playground this time but I'm here now with a card which has used a selection of snippets from my 'mountain' of scraps.. I started with a piece of background paper from a pad I've had for ages and this was over stamped with feathers.  Next layer is a scrap of white card which had been embossed and I brushed this over with some purple ink to match the die cut feather (cut from a snippet of mauve) and layered onto a shape die cut from another snippet of card.  Finally added a couple of cogs which were lurking on my desk just waiting to be used up and a banner die cut from a purple snippet with a punched sentiment.  There is still time for you to catch up with this challenge before it closes and to be in for an opportunity of being in the draw for a prize. Well worth popping along to see what the clever Di has done with some of her snippets this time 

Feather stamp - from a free set by Phill Martin
Embossing folder - from Tim Holtz, Sizzix
Feather - Sizzix die
Backing for feather - die from a Tonic set
Cogs - dies from Sizzix
Banner - Creative Expressions die
Sentiment - computer generated, punch from Stampin' Up