Make My Monday challenge

The challenge this week on Make My Monday is to make our own embellishments rather than use ready-made items which just need sticking on. This theme sort of goes along with my efforts to use up scraps of card and papers so I've done just that and used dies, punches and embossing folders to make the various layers on this card.  The image is a digital one from Sassy Cheryl and has been coloured using alcohol pens.

Make My Monday week 52

The main topic this month at Make My Monday is EVENTS associated with JUNE and as the birth stone for the month is PEARL they are asking for a birthday card with pearls.  I'm afraid I just had to break into a new sheet of paper for the background on this one but the rest of it all came from my scrap boxes.  The flower is a stamp from Imagination Crafts and has been coloured using Coloursoft pencils, background paper is from Prima  with added strips of card embossed or punched.  The border strip was punched with a Martha Stewart punch and Stampin' Up punches were used for the sentiment and the piece with pearls at the top. If you follow the link you will see  some great ideas from the Design Team.

Simply Stampin' Colour Challenge 56

Again I've had to improvise a bit with the colours for this Simply Stampin' Challenge this week (I had the soft suede card).

Background paper is from Stampin' Up and their cupcake stamp set and matching punch have been used along with a Sizzix (SU) tag die and SU punches for the greeting.  The pink border is a Martha Stewart punched strip which has been layered onto some soft suede card.  The large die cut shape is a Sizzix (SU) topnote die which has been embossed with some gems added.

Forgotten Friday 38

Friday again already and time for something for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge.  During my recent efforts to have a bit of a sort out of my stash I came across a box with a selection of stamped and/or digi stamp images some of which I'd coloured and some not so I decided to use one of the coloured ones for the challenge as I'd completely forgotten what was in the box - what am I like??  I thought these birds (a digi image from Pollycraft coloured with Copic pens)) would make a cute 'congratulations' card - background paper from my stash has had a border added with a fineline pen, a Martha Stewart punched border was added along with a couple of punched flowers. A friend had commented that she thought my cards had been a bit dark of late so I hope she likes this brighter one (you know who you are)!!

Anniversary Birds

I've been asked to make a Golden anniversary card and as there was no request for personalisation I actually made two so that there would be a choice and the one not chosen will go into my box as a 'spare'.  I turned to Artylicious Decadent Brocade CD (Chocolate Baroque) and printed off a sheet of backing paper and two inserts onto some metallic champagne heavyweight paper.  For this cards I've used the following:-
  
     Sizzix top note die cut embossed with cuttlebug swirls folder, sponged with DI and edged with gold pen
     Marianne die cut heart
     Two birds on branches using Stampin Up punch
     Numbers cut using X-cut dies popped onto punched circle and die cut shape
     A border  strip with hearts - Martha Stewart punch
     Wording printed from computer punched using Stampin Up punches

I will post the other card another day

Forgotten Friday

It's time for the Forgotten Friday challenge again - actually it is Saturday now and I'm really not at all sure what happened to Friday.  I've been trying to have a bit of a tidy up and sort out in my craft room which is a fairly regular occurence and never makes much impression on the chaos.  During this I came across a box with lots of die cuts and so on which I'd done whilst demonstrating the Big Shot back in April so I fished around and found all the necessary bits of this owl (as you can see he has lots of pieces) and decided he would fit the bill for the challenge this week. Background paper is from my stash and the border was cut with a Martha Stewart punch - the owl is popped onto a Marianne die cut and the sentiment was punched with Stampin Up punches.

Baby Dragon

This cute baby dragon is a stamp from Sweet Pea and he's been coloured with Inktense and Polychromos pencils with glitter added to the wings.  Background paper is from my stash (K and Co) and a Martha Stewart punch was used on the embossed card.  Some ribbon and a computer greeting and there he is to wish someone a Happy Birthday.

Bah Humbug Challenge 30

Week 30 at Bah Humbug which means I have at least that many cards ready for this year - thanks girls for the ongoing ideas and inspirations. The plan this week is to use lace in some form and I immediately thought of Joanna Sheen's Victorian Christmas CD and actually couldn'f find an image which included any lace but I selected a vintagey (is that a word?) one and matching background paper then added some punched lace instead using a Martha Stewart punch.  I added a die cut corner and poinsettia using Marianne dies and that's it - a card with lace.

Make My Monday Challenge 5

I've just discovered another challenge blog - Make My Monday - and their theme this week is vintage using brown, cream and either pink or blue.  I decided to go with blue; background paper is K and Co from my stash; birdcage is a Marianne die cut and the butterflies from Chocolate Baroque were stamped and cut out; a punched border in Kraft glassine and a bit of cream lace complete this card. The Martha Stewart punch I used didn't work too cleanly on the glassine (they are better cutting card) but I think this just adds to the vintage feel.

Less is More week 8

The challenge this week over at Less is More is to follow a sketch which is a great way of composing a card and it is surprising how many different interpretations there can be from the same starting point.  I took a cream DL card and added a punched strip using a Martha Stewart punch - this had a darker strip of card behind to show through the design.  A cameo was cut using Quickcutz dies and this in turn was mounted onto a shape cut with a Marianne die.  The addition of a simple stamped greeting completes this clean and simple card and it was interesting to use a tall card as somehow the 'white space' seems more with these proportions.

Forgotten Friday 6

I can hardly believe it is time for Forgotten Friday again - where do the days go??  This time Judith has made a beautiful tag using some forgotten embellishments and other items - do go and have a look.  Her post has reminded me that I have tons of similar items which seem to have accumulated over the years and which at the time seemed like  'must have' purchases.  I will have to have a look through the boxes to see what I might use for a future entry into this challenge.

In the meantime I've used a stamp set from Stampin Up which I've had a while and although I do use the flower from time to time, this is the first outing for the word stamp.  The flower has been stamped onto Kraft card (a favourite at the moment) and coloured with Polychromos pencils.  Background paper is from my stash but I'm afraid I cannot remember where it came from - it is actually a nicer shade of green that it looks in the picture. I've also used a Martha Stewart punch, a Nestabilities shape, some ribbon and pearls. I had intended using a 'forgotten' butterfly punch but it seems to have gone into hiding (sulking maybe) so I used a Marianne die instead.

Card for a Friend

I made this card recently for a friend but couldn't post it until today which is her birthday and I know she has now seen it.  Stamps used were from the Vintage Vogue set by Stampin Up. I used a Martha Stewart punch, some dotted background paper which goes with the SU dotted ribbon - I added a little pearl slider and some pearls on the flowers.  The 'F' and some of the flowers were cut out and layered for a bit of dimension.

Owl

This owl is from Craftwork Cards and has just had a touch of colour added using Copic pens.  Background paper is from Papermania with some pieces from stampin Up edged with a Martha Stewart punch.  Flowers with card candy centres are also from Craftwork Cards.  A Sizzix swirl and computer sentiment complete this card.

Flower and Bee with Text

The flower and bee on this card are from the Blooming with Beauty set by stampin Up.  Background paper is from Artylicious Essence of Nature and one piece has been stamped with a large text stamp also from SU.  Colouring was done with pencils and a touch of Glamour Dust was added to the wings of the bee. I also used Nestabilities and a Martha Stewart punch.

Cute Anniversary Card

This is another Golden Wedding card in a different style - this time using stamps from the Crafters Companion SWALK stamp set and backing paper from their CD.  I added a Martha Stewart punched heart border and some Sizzix die cut corners and a touch of stickles for the champagne bubbles.

Challenge 33 Polkadoodles

The Polkadoodles Challenge this week is 'vintage' to show that although lots of their images are really quirky it is possible to make a vintage style card using their products.  I chose an image, border and background paper from Love and Cherish CD which with the addition of some inking, stamped flourishes and lace made a card suitable for a Wedding or Anniversary. The sentiment was computer generated and punched with Stampin Up punches and the heart border is a Martha Stewart punch

Henry Hedgehog

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I can never resist the 'free' stamps which come on the front of magazines from time to time (shame the mags often appear so 'samey').  This image is from a set of Henry the Hedgehog which was on the front of the current Papercraft Essentials, coloured with pencils.  Background paper is from Kay and Co with the addition of some oddments from my stash.  Die cuts are Nestabilities and Nellies dies, punched border made with Martha Stewart punch; the sentiment was produced on the computer and now I've seen the card on the screen I might just be tempted to add a little embellishment to the centre of the sentiment.

Hydrangea

I was recently tempted to buy some clear stamps in the Henbury Lane collection by Papermania as they looked so pretty and delicate but was dismayed to find that the delicate flowers are almost solid polymer and it is proving very difficult to get a good result. I was thinking soft grey outline images delicately coloured with watercolour - no chance!! I tried various approaches and so far this is the best I could manage - I'm not really happy with the image but have made it into a card anyway as I didn't want the money spent to be entirely wasted. I think on balance I prefer rubber to polymer for stamps and maybe I will try not to be so easily led by the illustrations on the packets in future.

Background paper is from Papermania Rose Garden collection with some other bits and pieces from my oddments box. Image was finally stamped in pale grey Memento ink and coloured with Copics.

50 Years

I was asked to make a Golden Wedding Anniversary card and I thought this image and background papers from Joanna Sheen's Victorian Romance CD would be appropriate. The images were all layered onto gold mirri card which doesn't show up well in a scan and I added a heart punched border (Martha Stewart), some gold ribbon and gold pearls - also gold Glamour dust was added on the frills of the dress.

Roses

Two friends have asked me to make personalised cards for one of their friends and I've made two quite different ones. This one uses stamps from a clear set by Papermania and the background paper is from stampin Up with a Martha Steward decorative strip. Images coloured with Copics.