Brown Bird

Yesterday I spent a lovely day at a Stampin' Up Extravaganza Day where we completed three brilliant projects which I was going to photograph but I see that Karen has been really quick off the mark with photos which you can see on her interesting blog if you follow the link.  The day was presented by Jenny of Stamping Moments and yet again she came up with new and attractive projects for us as well as bringing along lots of attractive samples of cards and other items made using SU products.  I do so enjoy these days as it is great getting together with like minded friends to make things and share ideas.

 I have a quick card to share with you today using a little bird stamp from Stampin' Up,  a doily die cut from an X-Cut die and an embossed panel using a Cuttlebug embossing folder which I've had for ages although it hasn't been used for a while.

Steampunk Butterfly

This card uses the actual butterfly from the set this time (you may recall I made a card withs the rose stamp from the set).  I started by colouring some card with Glimmer Mists and once dry the butterfly was stamped in black and clear embossed before cutting it out - the body was cut out separately and layered.  Background paper was Tim Holtz vintage shabby with some overstamping and the trellis was cut using a Spellbinders die.  The cogs were cut from the same misted card; glitter brads were added to the centres and some copper was rubbed over the embossing. The cogs were cut with X-cut dies and the flourish was a Marianne die.  Sentiment was produced on the computer and punched out.

Technique Tuesday

I was invited to take part in the Technique Tuesday challenge and there is a tutorial over there for this faux tile technique - follow the link to see it and also the work by their design team.  I used another Elusive Images stamp (now Chocolate Baroque), some Tim Holtz vintage shabby background paper and die cuts using up the other half of the Top Note piece which I cut yesterday and also a lattice Memory Box die. The sentiment was produced on the cojmputer and is layered onto an X-cut tag shape also die cut. I can see lots of potential for this idea and will probably be using it again as I'm sure it can look very different depending upon the stamps used.

Addicted to Stamps Challenge

The challenge on the Addicted to Stamps blog is on the theme of Spring (well it is that season 'down under') even though it is autumn here.  I've gone for spring-like colours on this card and incorporated a twinchie which I'd made for a challenge using a Papermania Urban stamp - I felt had to be used rather than left lying around so I've combined it with a butterfly die cut from X-cut and I must say that poking out all those tiny butterflies took an age, but it is a pretty die so maybe worth the trouble.  The embossed panel was made using co-ordinations card in a Crafts Too folder, backing paper was a freebie from a magazine.  I added a sentiment and a scattering of butterflies cut out  using an embosslits die (Sizzix) from Stampin' Up. Take a look and see what the design team have given us for inspiration on this theme.

Quilled Snowflakes

I treated myself to another quilling workshop yesterday with Jill of Jills Quills and you can see pictures of the morning session on her blog, no photos of the afternoon - that's a relief!!  The theme was seasonal and we were making snowflake designs and popping them onto small cards thoughtfully provided by Jill.  I can see that with the techniques we were shown there must be an endless variety of snowflakes which could be produced using various permutations.  I managed to complete two in the class and completed the third one when I got home.

The weather has taken a turn for the worse and this morning is very dark and dreary with steady rain so a good excuse to try a few more snowflakes or maybe even some holly or a christmas tree because were were all given some extra seasonal patterns and ideas - thanks Jill.

Birthday Card

I was asked recently to make a birthday card for a 70 year old who does lots of baking and having given it some thought I decided to use something from Polkadoodles Picknix CD.  I printed off some background paper and a topper then a couple of embellishments in the form of a cup cake and oven mitt - both were   resized to fit - the cake was printed more than once so that it could be layered.  Die cut numbers were added to the rolling pin and the greeting printed on the computer.

Boofle

It was the first birthday of my great nephew recently and I made him a card using this cute Booful character. This was a bit of hybrid crafting with the backing paper and images printed from the docrafts CD, cut out using Nestabilities and layered onto the card.  The number was cut using an X-cut die set.  I just love those 'knitted' letters which I used to spell out his name before printing them off.

There is another tangle added to the Zentangle page

Sunday Stamper Week 208

The theme set by Hels for Sunday Stamper this week is very 'jubilee' with red, white and blue to be used and as usual she has come up with a great project for inspiration.  I decided I'd make a Jubilee tag for my collection and started off by printing a Union flag design (My Craft Studio) onto card from which I then cut out the tag.  This was overstamped with a selection of stamps from Papermania Urban collections and the 'stamp-edged' square was one of those stamps also.  Some scraps of die-cut lace were coloured  to go along the bottom with a patriotic flower. The numbers for the year were cut from scraps of sponged card using X-cut dies, a Tim Holtz Type charm and some 'diamonds' on the crown and that's it.  Apart from a sheet of card for printing the background everything else here was from the 'scraps boxes.

Christmas Tags

Like many other people I've been following the progress of Tim's (Holtz) 12 tags of Christmas with the intention of making each one or something like it day by day but somehow time has been running away from me as usual.  I have however made three (two of which you might see another day) all based loosely on some of his techniques.  Needless to say despite the huge number of dies and other things I have there are items he's used which I don't have - yet!!  The background on this one is his 'rusty' embossed look but I used a brocade stamp from Chocolate Baroque.  I don't have his fab pine cone die so I used a rose die to make flowers, leaves used a Marianne die and the border is a Tim Holtz die.  The lamp post is also a Marianne die and the letters were cut out using X-cut dies so as I said this is very loosely based on more than one of his 12 tags but it was fun to make.

Advent Calendar

While this Advent calendar wasn't especially quick to make it was very enjoyable and the instructions are available from the lovely Jenny of Stamping Moments if you think you'd like to make one.  It is made on a canvas approximately 9" x 12" which I painted with gold acrylic paint and spritzed with Glimmer Mist using some masks (not much of this actually shows) but it is better than a plain white canvas. The 25 boxes with hinged lids are made using various Stampin Up punches and are about one inch deep which doesn't show up on the photo but they are large enough to hold a nice chocolate treat of some kind.  I didn't follow Jenny's insructiions to the letter because I didn't have all the correct punches but managed to improvise by using circles to hold the numbers which were cut with X-cut dies as were the letters for the heading. I might just have to keep it for myself because I'm not sure I have enough spare time to make a couple more for the family (have to treat them alike of course).

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

Bah humbug Challenge 29

My lovely owl punch arrived from Stampin Up and I really wanted to have a play so I worked out a way to incorporate owls and the requested BEADS for the Bah Humbug challenge this week.  I turned two of them into Santa owls and sat them on chimneys - fine but how to use beads?  Then I had the idea of die cutting and embossing some trees and decorating one of them with tiny beads so now these two Santas are sitting on the rooftop with their own tree relaxing after delivering all the presents.  The sentiment is from a set of Joanna Sheen owl stamps which I remembered I had lurking around somewhere - I do love owls!!

A Hoot of a Day

There always seems to be something so appealing about owls and this little chap was die cut using a die from the Papermania Forest Friends range and because all the pieces are on one die (apart from the eyes and feet) I cut out a set in brown and another set in Kraft card and then I could mix and match to make two owls.  This one has been added to an easel card - background paper is from Kay & Co and he has been popped onto an embossed tree (Crafts Too embossing folder).  I added some quilled flowers made using X-cut quilling dies and the message was stamped onto a Spellbinders fancy tag using a stamp from Joanna Sheen's owl stamp set.

Cute Rabbit

I think these rabbit images by Craftwork cards are probably intended for Easter cards but as I don't really make those I've used Warren for a birthday card. Background paper is from a Basic Grey pad which I've had a while, the image was coloured using Copics and the embossed border was cut using one of the new border dies from X-cut. I reckon Spring is on the way at last.

Birdy Birthday

I came across this birdy image when going through a box of bits and pieces and have made it into a card. Background paper is by Papermania with scraps also from the box. I made the flowers using new quilling dies from X-cut and the leaves were a couple of odd ones left over from another project and were printed from a Polkadoodles CD and cut out.  I've always hankered after one of the little machines for cutting the fringing needed to make these flowers but they are quite expensive and I've always resorted to cutting them with scissors before which is effective but quite time consuming so as soon as I spotted these dies I knew I had to have them.

Butterfly 70th

I was asked to make a personalised 70th birthday card for a lady who particularly likes green so I hope this is acceptable to them. Stamped image is from Elusive Images coloured with Distress inks, background papers are from Artylicious. The butterfly was printed on acetate from My Craft Studio Wings & Things and the colour altered to match the card.  Numbers were cut with X-cut dies. I added some matching pearls as a finishing touch. The card has a matching personalised insert.

Unusual Requests

From time to time I get unusual requests for specific cards and this one certainly had me thinking hard recently.  The brief was  a card for a friend's grandson who was a keen oarsman and about to go to Oxford University.  Luckily I came across a picture which  I felt would suit and I scanned a dictionary definition to use (something which I often resort to when all else fails).  Background paper is by Papermania, numbers were die cut and the word done on the computer.

Sunflowers

Some cheerful sunflowers this morning to brighten the day of someone who may be feeling unwell. Stamp by Papermania, butterfly is an X-cut die and background paper is also from papermania and the little bee buttons were lurking in my stash. Image coloured with Copics, message from the computer popped onto stampin Up punched ovals.

75th Birthday

A friend of mine will be 75 next week and as usual I had a bit of a struggle to come up with something other than footbal or beer for a man's card. As he does quite a bit of gardening I felt that this digi image from Charmed Cards and Crafts would fit the bill. The border strip with sentiment was produced using My Craft Studio. Background paper is from my stash and the numbers were cut using X-cut dies.

For Brian

A friend asked me to make a personalised birthday for her partner so I went to Joanna Sheen's Victorian Companion CD for inspiration and decided upon this image of a steam train with background papers to match. The sentiment was computer generated and for the numbers I used Xcut dies both were mounted onto Nestabilities shapes. The corner was a Sizzix die cut and the card used for layering was pumpkin pie from Stampin Up.