Doggy Birthday

I wanted to make a card for my grandson which was a bit quirky and not the usual 'run of the mill' things produced for males so I had a little trawl amongst some of the miscellaneous files saved on my computer - many from some years ago and it was a good exercise in reminding me just what I do have stored away and pretty much forgotten!!  I eventually settled on this dog image which I printed and then cut out using some wonky squares dies which haven't been used for ages but I thought they were just right for this card.  I finally added a random strip of text paper, a greeting and the number along with a patterned background paper trimmed to suit and which was the last remaining piece from a pad.  He has a gorgeous Golden Retriever which is much more beautiful that this zany pup but I hope he will like my choice of image!

Everything apart from the base card can easily be classed as a snippet so this card will be taken along to the Playground for their latest challenge before I pop it into the post.

Image - from Animal Magic download, Charmed Cards and Crafts 2008
Dies - Wonky Squares set Spellbinders
Sentiment - Tim Holtz stamps

Parchment Lace

I have another parchment card to share today with a pricked and snipped border made using part of one of the 'Queen' duo border plates.  I do enjoy doing this kind of thing but it is quite time consuming - keeps me out of mischief though!!  I simply added an oval with some grasses and a printed and punched greeting.

Victoria duo border Groovi plate

Hooves

Time for another Christmas Kickstart challenge and this time the theme is 'Moves on Hooves' and I've chosen to include some reindeer moving across the sky  towing Santa.  The main image was made using a die which came free with a magazine a couple of years ago and once cut I backed it with small scraps of coloured card behind the cut-outs.  The outer scalloped square was also part of this very handy die set.  It is well worth popping over to their blog to see several ideas for using a variety of animals which have hooves - some great inspiration.

Twofer Card Challenge #14

The theme for this challenge is 'Balloons' as well as the usual idea of making two cards in different colours or style and for different occasions using the same stamps, dies etc.  As I have a set of balloon stamps which I know haven't been used for quite a while I thought I'd have a go this time.  There is plenty of inspiration by the design team if you pop over to the Twofer Challenge Blog.

For my first card I've stamped just one of the balloons and combined it with a die cut elephant to make a baby card.  I layered up some pink papers before die cutting two scalloped circles on which to pop the elephant and balloon.  A sentiment was added onto a smaller matching scalloped circle.

For the second I stamped three balloons onto a scrap of watercolour paper which had been coloured with Pixie powders and was left from another project.  In both cases the balloons were cut out with scissors although there is a punch available which matches the stamp set.  I sorted out some paper and card which matched the colours and die cut some banners.  Coloured string was added to the balloons and the computer sentiment was punched out before popping onto a scalloped oval and an odd die cut shape which was lying around just waiting to be used.  There was some over-stamping on the narrow sections of the banner.

Edited to add side by side picture - thanks to those who pointed out the 'rules' - should have read them more carefully!!

Balloons - Balloon Celebrations set from Stampin' Up
Elephant - Sweet Dixie die
Circles - Tattered Lace dies
Banners - Dies from Stampin' Up and also Creative Expressions
Sentiment - oval punches from SU, shaped plaque Creative Expressions die

CAS Stencil Challenge - Ghosting

The March challenge on the CAS Stencil Challenge Blog is to use the Ghosting Technique and there are many examples and tutorials around on the internet and probably elsewhere.  I started by sponging  three colours of Distress Oxide in a fairly heavy layer onto some white card, placing a stencil on top.  This was spritzed with water and the stencil lifted immediately to avoid water running under the edges of the design.  After leaving the water for a short while the piece was blotted with a kitchen towel which has lifted some of the ink - causing the ghosting effect.  As this is a CAS style of card I simply glued the panel in place and added a die cut flower silhouette and a stamped sentiment.

Inks - Wilted Violet, Cracked Pistachio and Picked Raspberry
Flower - Tim Holtz die from Wildflower stems #2
Sentiment - magazine freebie stamp

Snippets Challenge # 347

I'm still working hard to reduce my ever growing piles of snippets and several pieces of reasonable size have been used up on this card for the current Snippets Challenge.  Of course, as we all know, if you cut a piece from a fairly large snippet you are then left with at least one smaller snippet and so the heap doesn't really diminish.  For this card I've used dies from two different companies, an embossing folder and punches.  The two 'bow' pieces were die cut from separate scraps of matte gold card and put into place onto a large snippet of brown.  I found a strip of cream pearl card which had been embossed and was left from a previous project, and wrapped a snippet of brown ribbon around. My next move was to cut the various layers of the die cut shpes on the top layer again using gold, brown and cream snippets.  Finally I punched a sentiment from a partial sheet of computer generated greetings, punching a gold scalloped oval to pop behind it.  There are quite a lot of layers on this card so a reasonable amount of snippets used.  As always there is a great prize awaiting one lucky winner.

Bows die - Crafter's Companion
Embossing Folder - Creative Expressions
Central motifs - Creative Expressions dies by Sue Wilson
Punches - ovals by Stampin' Up.

Parchment Lace

I'd sort of forgotten just how long it takes to emboss, prick out and snip a piece of parchment lace but at least by using one of the Groovi border templates there is not the 'prick 2, miss 2' way of going about it that there was in the past.  Mind you there is still a degree of concentration needed and it is pretty labour intensive.  I didn't time how long it took me but I do find it quite a mindful and relaxing thing to do, all the more so without the frustrations of the past when miscounting often came into the equation and usually when I'd nearly completed a piece.  I've popped this onto some patterned paper and added a central panel of flowers - another card without a sentiment because there didn't seem to be anywhere pleasing to place one.  Colouring was done from behind using pencils.

Lace Border Template - Victoria from Clarity Groovi Queens range
Flower - taken from Deco Poppies Groovi plate