Birthdays

I realise I have a few family birthdays coming up so thought I'd make a start on some of their cards and the first one is one using die cutting with some stamping.  The bird stamp is of unknown origins but I think it came as part of a freebie set from a magazine but some years ago.  I did emboss the main panel before cutting out the details but of course the embossing has been somewhat flattened in the process but I suppose that is inevitable.

Embossing - Basket weave Creative Expressions (Sue Wilson)
Dies - Sue Wilson Striplet - lattice heart
          Sizzix for Stampin' Up - Apothecary Accents
          Spellbinder - standard ovals and Opulent Ovals
Flowers - Stampin' Up stamp with matching punch

Large Dies

Ever been tempted by an attractive die only to find that when you get it home it is too large to fit your usual size of card?  Will I never learn - however with this particular one I was able to overcome the problem by cutting it through the centre and trimming off some of it, making it into a roughly square shape.  By using another die shape over the top I was able to cover the join so no one would know (unless I told them of course!).  I have now put a short ruler into my handbag so that if I remember I can measure any tempting dies before deciding whether I NEED them.  In the meantime I have managed to get hold of some larger cards so that I can actually use some of my larger dies to better advantage.

Background - embossed using 'patchwork' embossing folder
Elaborate diecut - Sue Wilson rectangle
Mauve layer - Spellbinder die
Doily - Marianne die
Flower - Papermania large blooms
Sentiment - computer generated, punched and layered onto small die from rectangle set

A Quick Card

This was a relatively quick card to make because I came across some pre-cut frames and other items from Craftwork Cards - I seem to remember they had a special offer at the time which I couldn't resist and then the bits and pieces sat around in their original packaging for ages until I had a bit of a sort out.  There still lots of other bits to use but at least I've made one card from my 'bargain'.

All components from Craftwork Cards except leaves which used a Marianne die.

Male Card

On the Make My Monday Challenge blog they are asking for a male themed card this week and I've made a collage style one.  There are some great examples on their blog made by the design team so worth popping over to take a look for ideas - often difficult to come up with cards for men.  Because I've mainly used bits and pieces from my 'bits' boxes this one will make a third entry (three in two weeks) for the Pixie Snippets challenge where anyone making three cards gets put into an extra draw.  Apart from the background paper which I printed from  a Funky Hand programme the remaining elements were either just lying around (the snippets of cogs) or were made using scraps of card rather than cutting into new pieces.  I was beginning to think I'd never get this card made though because my printer threw a wobbly and everything I printed came out in weird colours which entailed a lengthy process of checking all the cartridges to find out where the problem was, cleaning everything a couple of times and eventually I managed to get this paper printed in the right colour - everything kept coming out in bright pinky mauve colours which was frustrating to say the least!!

Backing Paper - Funky Hand
Image - Stampin' Up
Embossed panel - Cuttlebug folder with Treasure Gold
Cogs - Sizzix die
Sentiment - computer generated

Pixie Snippets Challenge 128

My card for this challenge on Pixie Snippets uses up some more pieces of card from my oddments boxes.  Incidentally I have been through these boxes and ruthlessly thrown out some of the really small bits and you wouldn't believe how difficult it was for me to do this as most of them were large enough to cut out the odd flower, sentiment tag etc.  Anyway back to the card - I cut out some rectangular pieces with matching scalloped layers and embossed the top layers before sticking them together and adding snippets of lace and ribbon (yes I have loads of these as well!!).  Even the background was the last square from a 12" sheet of paper and of course the flower and greeting were cut from more oddments.

Background - Tim Holtz vintage shabby paper
Rectangles - Spellbinder dies and Cuttlebug embossing folder
Flower - Marianne die and X-cut punches
Flourish - Marianne die
Sentiment - Britannia die

Another Cat

I've used another cat image from the Crazy Cat CD and this one seems to fit in with today's weather - we had thunder and lightning and of course rain in the night and it is still dark and somewhat damp this morning. The background is from my stash and I over stamped it with the water droplets stamp, added a simple greeting and a die cut border.

Image - from Card Creations plus, cut out with Spellbinder dies
Sentiment - My Craft Studio, cut out with punch and Spellbinder dies
Water Drops - Stamps by Ryn
Border - Cheery Lynne die

To Cheer Up a Friend

One of my friends is due to have a cataract operation today so I made this card to let her know that we are thinking about her - I thought the little birds and flowers would make her smile.  The paper was one which I came across in one of my boxes and came as a freebie quite a while ago so I designed the card to go with the colours and luckily the punched bird is very similar to the one printed on the paper.

Background - free paper from magazine
Layers - Spellbinder dies
Bird and leaves - Stampin' Up punch
Flowers - Stampin' Up stamp with matching punch
Tiny flowers - X-cut punch
Sentiment - computer generated on SU punched tags
Ribbon - SU banner punch