Beautiful Weather

We are having some beautiful weather at the moment and today looks as if it is going to be another scorcher so I certainly won't be doing anything too strenuous!  I find that people are often looking for cards to send to someone who just needs to know that they are in their thoughts - could be for a variety of reasons.  This is one such card made using embossing folder, dies and stamps.

Embossing Folder - Sheena Douglass (cream card inked with Distress ink)
Dies - Spellbinder circle and Marianne doily die
Stamp - Stampin' Up Faith in Nature set
Sentiment - computer generated on Spellbinder fancy tag

Free Stamps Again

I've used another of the free stamps today on a birthday card for my great nephew.  This stamp set was well worth the price of the magazine because there are four cute animals (fox, owl, badger and rabbit) as well as several patchwork style shapes, flowers and sprigs with some useful sentiments. I coloured this one with Promarkers but I can see they would lend themselves to paper piecing too.  I haven't put his age as I've lost track of what year he was born (he is still quite young) but included his name on the bunting.

Stamp - free set with Cardmaking and Papercrafts magazine
Bunting - stamps and matching punch from Stampin' Up (letters small unnamed set of letters)
Greeting - stamp and matching punch from Stampin' Up.
Papers - printed from Funky Hand Papercraft Factory

Easy Shaped Card

I spotted a shaped card on my friend's blog - Jill Stamps Up - and decided to have a try at making one.  If you are interested in doing something similar there seem to be numerous tutorials and You Tube videos out there  - just Google 'framelits cards'.  When I met up with Jill at the weekend she showed me a magazine which was giving away a lovely set of free stamps and guess what - it jumped off the shelf at me yesterday when I popped into the newsagents. I've used just one of the stamps for this card and left the rest of it fairly plain as it was my first attempt at the shape but I can see that there are lots of possibilities for adding embellishments on the side panels and/or the central one too.  I must also thank my friend Anne for a brief explanation of how to cut this and I have a feeling one of these might just appear on her blog soon.

Sorry the photo isn't too good but couldn't scan this one to show the shape
Dies - Sizzix Framelits labels for Stampin' Up, oval Spellbinder die
Image - Stamp from Oscar and Pals free set with Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine
Greeting - stamp from set cut with Bitty Banner die

Pretty in Pink

This is the title of the challenge on Make My Monday this week so they are looking for a project using this colourway.  My 'get well' card has been made using a Striplets die and a little bird stamp along with some paper which was a free set with a magazine. There is also some blue on the card but it is predominantly pink.

Dies - Sue Wilson Striplets set (heart lattice) and California decorative frames
Ovals - Spellbinder die and Stampin' Up punch
Stamps - Stampin' Up

Pixie Snippets 129

This week my card for the Pixie snippets challenge really is just that - all snippets from my various bits boxes, the largest piece being the background which is a long discontinued design paper from Stampin' Up - the last piece I have of that one .Everything else was punched from scraps, including some tiny pieces from an experiment with inked embossing folder technique.  I can't remember how long ago this was done but I'm sure I used most of it originally then squirrelled away this scrap which was just large enough for two one inch squares (and no I didn't keep the left overs this time!!). Once I'd decided to use those little squares it took me quite a while to come up with a way of using them but I think I got there in the end.

Background - Stampin' Up designer paper
Brown Banner - Sizzix thinlets die (Stampin' Up) Cuttlebug embossing folder
Tag - Stampin' Up Tag Top punch
Embellishments - 1" square punch and Postage punch - Stampin' Up
Butterflies - Embosslits die, Sizzix for Stampin' Up

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