Black Cat

 The black cat here is maybe not lucky - seems as if he's sitting on the windowsill asking to be let in ☺️.  For this card I used some dies from a fairly new set , whereas I've had the cat dies for more years than I care to think.  The flowers and foliage were stamped, coloured and die cut.  The cottage window and window box were die cut and coloured by sponging with Distress inks. Background was stencill3ed lightly to resemble a stone wall. There wasn't a die for the window blind so I trimmed a scrap of patterned paper to fit and die cut a fancy edge for the bottom. In fact I was somewhat surprised by the size of these dies - I really should take more care reading measurements before ordering items as I found the space available on my usual 6" card was a bit on the cramped side and I really don't want to launch into making larger cards.  Never mind, I'm sure I will manage some different layouts at some point and I do enjoy a challenge. I had a totally different layout in my head for this one but was unable to fit some of the other elements I intended 🙄

Cottage Window - die set from Craft Addiction UK
Wall Bracket - die from Gummiapan
Flowers and Foliage - stamps/dies Pots of Joy from CAUK
Cat - die set from Impression Obsession which I've had for many years
Brick Wall - unbranded stencil

Gone Fishing

 A birthday card to share today - made for a keen fisherman who had a 'big 0 ' birthday recently. He loved it and was amused by the wording which I printed onto the piece of card before trimming it to fit the card blank.

Dies used were all unbranded ones from a couple of different sets

Fashion

 I've made an ATC to match the Fashion theme for the current Tag-along and ATC challenge.  This time I've been a bit more conventional using a very old stamp which I've paper-pieced by stamping first onto white card, followed by using a scrap of patterned paper and fussy cutting it to fit.  The background was a Snippet of just the right size which I found in my box of sundry backgrounds, mostly made using Distress inks.  

Stamp - from a long retired Stampin' Up set Beautiful You
Words - from the same stamp set

Dedicated Follower of Fashion

 This song sort of popped into my head when I saw that Fashion is the theme for the latest Tag-along and ATC challenge.  It also reminded me of the set of dies I've used and for which I had to search as they've not been used for eons. As my tag is entirely made using Snippets I will also call in on the Playground to show them what I've made.  Both challenges have lovely prizes for lucky winners and you can see full details if you visit the links.

I started by die cutting the tag shape from a Snippet of text patterned paper which I backed using a cream snippet trimmed to fit.  Small snippets of coloured card were used to die cut the various elements and the idea which floated into my head has turned into a fun tag, covering two challenges along the way.  I think I also have some similar, smaller dies which could well fit the ATC format so another idea to pursue.

Tag - from a set of Tim Holtz tag dies from years back
Hat - from Snowmen die set X-cut build a snowman (won from the Playground challenge)
Facial Features - Sizzix die set Looking Dapper from 2016
Text Paper -  a Prima paper pad from years back

Allsorts Challenge # 855

 It's the turn of Sarah to choose the theme for the Allsorts Challenge this time and she has decided on **Colours of Summer** or, as always there is the *Anything Goes* option.  Prize this time is from Visible Image and you can see more details on the Allsorts blog post.

Summer is of course a colourful time of the year but I eventually settled on blue for the skies with touches of yellow for the summer sunshine, using  printed papers from some downloads and stamps which came as a magazine cover gift fairly recently.  The images were stamped, coloured with pencils and a damp paintbrush before being fussy cut.  A stamped sentiment was added to complete this Summery card.  It will be interesting to see what colours are chosen by others - I do think that we've had rather an excess of blue skies and sunshine this year in this part of the world.

Stamps - from Creative Stamping Magazine designs by Polkadoodles
Background Papers - from a Buddly Crafts download
Colouring - Inktense pencils used with a damp paintbrush
Sentiment - from Craft Addiction UK Buttons stamp set

CAS in Shades of Green

 I had just over half a sheet of A4 white card on my desk so decided to use some shades of green ink to smoosh, stencil and stamp which has given me a handy piece of background.  For this CAS card I die cut a small stitched rectangle from the inky piece and another in white using a matching larger die.  I always have strips and scraps (aka Snippets) of the same white card to hand so I was able to die cut the quirky 'flowers' from some of this.  All that was needed was a toning sentiment and that's it.  A CAS offering to share with you today.  The final touch was three gold sequins to match the gold splatters on the panel.

Panel -  Distress Oxides, Cracked Pistachio, Speckled Egg, Mowed Lawn
Stitched Rectangle Dies - a long retired set from Stampin' Up
Flowers - unbranded die recently acquired
Sentiment - produced using MS Word
Sequins - die set won as a prize from Snippets Playground many years ago
White Card - 300 gsm from Pink Frog

Rudolph Days

Christmas in July for the Rudolph Days challenge and for my card I've used a digital image acquired from Etsy a few years ago - a fun Snowman playing Santa and driving the sleigh.  The background papers were in my Christmas oddments collection and I printed the image onto white card and die cut into a circle, backed with a slightly larger red one.  There are a few more Rudolph days until the end of the month so why not see if you can take part - a good opportunity to add another card to the collection for the end of the year.

Background - papers from a download by Buddly Crafts
Image - digital image from Etsy
Sentiment - a favourite of mine from a long retired Stampin Up set (Contempo Christmas)
Torn Edge Circle die - unbranded