Darling Donkey

 Back in the comfort zone today with a square card using an idea from Stacey Marsh spotted recently on YouTube.  She had made a rainbow striped background by stamping with a striped stamp which I don't have but I did come across this zig-zag stamp in my stash which I thought would do the trick and luckily I had the right ink pad colours to give the rainbow effect. Amazed I managed to keep the lines reasonably straight!! My card is similar in style to hers but I've used a donkey image stamped, coloured and fussy cut.  The 'Happy' word used some die cut letters and the 'birthday' word was stamped onto a die cut strip of card. - a scattering of sequins and that is job done for a fun birthday card.

A grey and damp morning outside so I think time in the craft room is called for today

Image - from ~Darling Donkeys stamp set Stampin' Up
Large Letters - cut using dies from Sizzix alphabet
Sequins - die cut in silver card using a die I've had for some time

CAS ( Clean and Simple)

 Another 'out of my comfort zone' card today on two counts this time - a DL card and CAS in style.  I started by lightly inking with two colours through a leafy stencil to give a partial background, then stamped the two hares into place using the Misti to position them.  I used an oval die to cut out a shape from some thin card so now I have a stencil and a mask to use.  I placed the oval over the hares and carefully added some ink around the edges to frame the image.  Another simple sentiment and there it is, a CAS card in the DL format. Afraid the subtle leafy effect doesn't show up too well in the picture but if you click on the image to enlarge it shows up better and it does look OK for real.

Leaf Stencil - Laurel from Lavinia Stamps
Hares - stamps by Lavinia
Sentiment - produced on computer

Comfort Zone

 I do think it is good to step out of the comfort zone every now and then and having heard that DL size cards are becoming popular I thought that was maybe an ideal opportunity.  For some reason I seem to find it a bit of a challenge to design cards in this format - I'm much happier making my usual square ones but I have attempted a couple of tall ones recently and this is one of them.

I started with a piece of white card and a slightly larger black layer  to fit onto the base card.  The numbers were stamped down the centre using Versamark ink, embossed with clear powder to act as a resist before applying three colours of Distress Oxide ink using soft brushes. A few splatters were added with water droplets blotted with a tissue. The same colours were brushed onto some scraps of card and the clock faces stamped in black and fussy cut. I then printed off the words which were cut out so that they could be adhered as I thought looked OK when arranged with the clocks.  All fairly straightforward to start with and I think maybe I could grow to like this format - luckily I have quite a few blank cards which have  been in my stash for a really long time.

I hope you are all coping with the lockdown - not quite as easy as it was back in the Summer when lots of time could be spent outside in the garden.  It is looking reasonably bright outside this morning but of course it is too chilly to sit out - much nicer though than the grey and damp days we've been having.  Stay safe and keep crafting either in or out of your comfort zones 😉

Stamps - from a set by Phill Martin
Words - Computer generated using Impact Label font
Distress Oxides - Fossilised Amber, Faded Jeans, Worn Lipstick

Curves

 Another  card using dies from a current favourite set - there seem to be so many varied ways in which these can be used.  This time I've made a 5" x 7" card using a kraft card base along with cream and a piece of vintage floral paper which I've had for some years stashed away in a box.   I stamped the curvy words which follow the line of the die cut and added a tiny stamped and die cut bird along with some leaves cut from scraps of kraft card. A scatttering of gems just to finish.

Curves - Curvy die set from Stampin' Up
Bird and sentiment - Quite curvy stamp set Stampin' Up
Leaves - various leaf dies from my collection