Inspiration

 Inspiration and ideas for cards come from many different sources and the idea used on this card was spotted while trawling through some YouTube crafty videos.  Often far more entertaining than watching TV in the evenings 🙂 I find.  This is also yet another good way of using up some of the scrap card mountain.  Circles were die cut from three colours of card and then each was cut in half before reassembling in whatever way you think fit.  The same thing could probably work with squares or other shapes but this is my first 'play' with the idea.  There was a stray donkey hiding amongst the bits and pieces on my desk so he has been used to complete this card  Sentiment was stamped onto a strip of card which has offset fishtail ends punched and I've added a few coloured sprinkles.

Edit - forgot to say the technique seems to be called 'layering Circles' and there are several videos to be found on YouTube

Circles - Stitched shape dies from Stampin' Up
Donkey and words - Darling Donkey stamp set Stampin' Up
Punch used - banner punch from Stampin' Up

Blue Floral

Shades of blue on today's card which is a floral birthday one.  Self explanatory really with a mixture of stamping and die cutting to make this arrangement.  The layout is based on a recent new sketch from Jules although I've turned it around a little and used it for a square card whereas hers was designed for a rectangle.  Some kraft card elements have been added because I felt what I did originally was a bit too 'blue' and needed a touch of contrast.  I always gather my components together and have a 'dry run' before I finally stick anything down.

Vases and Flowers and Background - Boho Indigo suite from Stampin' Up
Sentiment - download from Netty's Cards, resized to fit a punch
Die cut shapes - Stitched so Sweetly Stampin' Up
Kraft panel - embossed using a Cuttlebug embossing folder

Snippets Challenge #401

 There is a guest designer this time in the Playground - none other than the lovely Mrs A of Butterfly Challenge fame.  Well worth checking out her blog to see the tutorial explaining how she made her pretty card and to see the great prize on offer for a lucky winner.  It so happens that I've also used lots of snippets for my background this time - coincidence really and I can't  claim credit for the idea because I saw Julia Watts demonstrating something similar on The Craftstore channel and thought it would be just right for a Snippets challenge card.  I've cut a selection of squares from some of my snippets and arranged them Bargello style onto a piece of paper and glued them down before over stamping with several different stamps to make an interesting background effect..  I didn't really want to cover up too much of this background so simply added a couple of label shapes with a greeting.  This was a fun technique and one which I may well repeat in the hopes that my snippets mountain might diminish, although I imagine that is a vain hope 😀.  

If you've not heard of Bargello it is a patchwork technique where strips of fabric are stitched together before being cut into further strips and reassembled to form interesting pattern effects - lots of information to be found on the internet.

Stamps used - various freebies which came with a Phill Martin magazine some time ago
Sentiment - another freebie stamp from a magazine gift, again from a while back
Labels - Stitched so Sweetly dies Stampin' Up