Floral Card

The weather is beautiful today with blue sky and sunshine - I hope it manages to stay nice for the Easter break as well.  The card to share today is a floral one on which the background was embossed and sponged with Victorian Velvet Distress ink.  flowers were stamped, coloured with a matching DI pen then cut out with scissors. The stamped greeting was layered onto punched ovals and a die cut fancy label (Tonic die).

Angelic Cat

This lovely cat who is trying to look angelic despite a couple of tell-tale feathers in his mouth is one of the images from the Crazy Cats collection drawn by Linda Ravenscroft.  The card has been put together with some of the matching backing paper, a piece of embossed card (Cuttlebug folder); a lacy border by Cheery Lynn and a bow (Die-namics).  There are lots of other fantasy cat images on the CD which I'm sure will be popping up on a few projects - I love them.

Useful to Have

I think it is always handy to have a few cards available to be sent to people just to let them know someone is thinking of them and I'm sure the gesture is appreciated.  For this card I've used a piece of script background paper and stamped  some pale blue card using the Hardwood stamp by Stampin' Up - I can see all sorts of potential for using this large stamp and despite being so big it does stamp very nicely.  Deco Labels dies were used to cut out the shaped pieces and one was embossed using a wood-grain embossing folder. There has been a free stamp set available recently which matches the shape of the Deco Labels and one of them was used on this with the addition of some stamped and punched Petite Petals with pearl centres.  The sentiment is from a set of tiny clear sentiment stamps of unknown origin.  Corner die is Victorian Romance from Cheery Lynn.

Thank You Card

I'm filling another gap in my box of cards today with this Thank You card made using the lovely Mexican Tile die from Cheery Lynne.  This die cuts well but I must say it seems to take forever to poke out all the little dots and shapes - well worth the effort though.  As this is quite an elaborate die I've simply combined it with some toning paper and card from Stampin' Up together with a stamp from their Faith in Nature set and a simple sentiment using SU punches.

House of Cards Challenge

As there are five Mondays in July the choice of style for the challenge at House of Cards has been left to us so in my 'using it up' mode I went ahead and made a card with some of the bits and pieces I had left in the colour scheme for July - wrong!!  That should teach me not to make a challenge card until the post has actually been publlished with full details!! We've been given a photograph as inspiration for this final free choice week so I had to get my thinking cap on to make something else.  The link to the photograph is somewhat tenuous because I've just used the colour of the wallpaper for the flowers on this classic style card.  During my sort out of the working space I came across a page of stamped and embossed flowers which needed colouring so I used a Sakura stardust pen and then cut them out, adding some coppery leaves (Memory Box die).  The background paper was left from a sheet I printed to use yesterday and the die cut strip and embossed panel were from the 'bits' box. A computer sentiment on punched and die cut shapes completes this card.

Here is the photo

and here is my card

Special Day

Another blue card to share today which I made using up various die cuts and a digital image all of which were lying around on my work space and are mainly either left over from other projects or were cuts made to try out dies to see how they looked when cut.  The embossed panel was part of an A4 embossed sheet and the lacy edge was the first piece I cut with this Cheery Lynne die to see how it cut and how easily it came out of the die - beautifully in both cases!.  The circular pieces were a Nellie die which I've had a long time. Image was a digital one and the central blue area is made up from part of a Die-sire set combined with a fancy corner from Marianne. I still have a bit more tidying up to do before I will be able to see and use the whole area of my glass cutting mat - it keeps disappearing under a mountain of card and paper scraps!!

One of my blogging friends Sue suggested I should enter this into the Pan Pastels challenge this week where the theme is embossing so here goes.  Thanks Sue.

Vintage Shabby

The challenge this week on House of Cards blog is VINTAGE/SHABBY still within the colour scheme for the month. Backing paper here is from Tim Holtz vintage shabby pad, overstamped with leafy swirls (Chocolate Baroque).  The wording is also a stamp from Chocolate Baroque onto a Spellbinder label.  The strip of pattern used a stamping wheel from Stampin' Up and the flowers were stamped using their Vintage Vogue set (retired I think), then cut out with scissors.  The leaves were cut from a scrap of card which I had lying around which had been spritzed with Glimmer Mist - never throw any useful scraps a\way!!. A lacy die cut and here it is - my take on the vintage shabby theme for the week.

Love Birds

When I received a package containing a couple of dies recently I was lucky enough to also have included a few actual die cuts as a 'thank you' for my order which I thought was a really nice touch.  The love birds here was the 'freebie'  so I don't know the source of the actual die but it has been put onto a Spellbinder circle with some leafty embossing, and another decorative shape from Die'sire (Crafter's Companion).  The lacy border at the bottom is a Cheery Lyn Design die. Backing paper was from my bits box so that's another piece used up.

Bird House

This cute birdhouse image is a digi one from Sassy Cheryl which I thought would be nice for a New Home card. Image was coloured with alcohol markers and cut out with a Spellbinder die.  Backing papers were some which came free with a recent magazine and the flower (Marianne Die) and leaves (Cherry Lynne) were die cut.  Sentiment produced on the computer and punched (Stampin' Up).

Well there is a bit of weak sunshine this morning but still bitterly cold, at least it is dry so not all bad.