Baby Boy

I met up with some friends recently for coffee and a crafty chat and was reminded of some dies which I bought a while ago - two together in a pack.  There was an elephant which I used at the time and also a giraffe which until now hasn't seen the light of day but now he appears on two cards.  I made two similar cards because the die was cut using two colours of card so that I could mix and match the pieces.  The giraffes were popped onto some die cut circles, set to one side so that I could trim the motif down to be placed along the edge of the card.  Both cards have borders added for interest and a circular sentiment.

Circles - dies from Tattered Lace
Sentiment - from Netty's Cards
Giraffe - Sweet Dixie Toy Giraffe and Elephant
Floral Border - EK Success punch
Ric-rac border - die from Crafter's Companion
Papers - from my stash

Butterfly Challenge #124

  I spent lots of time yesterday searching for the 'HAPPY' die to use on the card for my great nephew but I was totally unable to find it so I had to change tack.  It is so annoying when that happens and not to be beaten I resumed the search this morning looking in various boxes where dies are stored.  I do have a small ice cream container in which I keep most of my word dies and this where I was sure I'd find the one I wanted.  Despite looking in there at least three times yesterday I didn't spot it.  Would you believe that as a last resort this morning I had yet another look and there it was - a smaller die than I'd remembered so I guess that's how I came to miss it.  Having at last located it I decided to make a card this morning using it.

The Butterfly Challenge is onto the letter 'H' with the usual colours/techniques to use in addition to a butterfly (or two).  Whilst having a bit of a tidy up after my search I came across this piece of background made a while ago and as it has a touch of green (Hunter's green) I've used it as the basis for my card.  The other colours asked for are hot pink and heliotrope (mauve/purple) and I've die cut some hexagons (another 'H' item and punched butterflies in the these colours.  The word die was used and a printed birthday word was added to complete the sentiment.  Tiny gems for the butterfly bodies and here we have my offering for the current Butterfly Challenge.

Background - Distress Oxide ink and Pixie powders
Hexagons - dies from Crafter's Companion Gemini
Large word - die given free with Crafter's Companion magazine a while back
Butterflies - punched with two sizes of punch from Stampin' Up

Scooter

One of my great nephews has a birthday next month and I remembered that this scooter die was given away with a magazine a little while ago.  There was also a set of stamps, one of which was of course for the scooter. The image was coloured using watercolour pens and then die cut.  My next move was to find some blue card and a piece of kraft card into which I cut a circular aperture.  A set of freebie stamps from an even older magazine was then brought into play to stamp a little scene.  Finally the greeting was stamped onto the top layer and the name  was die cut using separate letters from an alphabet set.  I don't think he is likely to see my blog so I thought it safe to share this today.

Scooter - stamped and die cut using freebie set given with magazine
Scene - stamped using another freebie set
Name - die cut using Sizzix alphabet sets (upper and lower case)

Pixie's Crafty Workshop #355

There is a super card in The Playground this time around with three adorable little pigs so I really must enter the challenge this time to be in with a chance to be the lucky person drawn out of 'the hat'. There seem to be lots of 'paper-cut' style dies around nowadays and I've used one such die on my card for the challenge. The die was cut into a snippet of black card and I found another snippet to pop behind which had been coloured with distress inks and having cut it to size I enhanced the colours a bit by brushing over lightly with more blue and green.  This little scene was then backed with a snippet of white before mounting it onto a larger design paper snippet and a larger snippet of black slightly smaller than the card blank.  Finally the words were stamped onto a tiny scrap of white.

Landscape - Paper Cut style die unbranded
Background Paper - printed from Artylicious Essence of Nature
Sentiment - from a Stampin' Up stamp set

Butterfly Challenge #123

As mentioned in my previous post I've used the second of my freebie dies to make a card for the latest Butterfly Challenge.  The letter on the wheel this time is G with a choice of three colours and three themes with the added choice of making a gatefold card.  I've chosen to go with Granny Smith and Gold for the colours and gems for one of the themes also the butterfly of course.  I chose some green pearl card which in reality looks very much like granny smith colour although it appears more turquoise here (sigh)!  The floral corner die was used to cut into one of the corners and then I backed it with some darker designer paper.  The oval decorative tag was cut from some gold card and backed with more of the green before cutting an oval to stamp the wording.  I originally decided to pop two butterflies onto yesterday's card but in the end settled for one so the 'spare'  has been added here along with a gem.

Corner Die - freebie corner from Diecutting magazine current issue
Oval - Sue Wilson fancy tag Zoe
Butterfly - Sizzix die
Sentiment - free stamp given with a magazine set

Butterfly Birthday

It is quite a while since I was tempted to buy a crafty magazine but I risked a quick look while I was shopping yesterday and just had to pick up the latest issue of Diecutting which had two very nice corner dies as a freebie, both of which will cut into the card and also have separate matching outline dies as well.  There is a pretty floral one in addition to the lattice one which I've used here by cutting it twice into opposite corners of a square of cream pearl card before backing it with some golden yellow designer paper.  I added a banner across the centre on which I've stamped the greeting, finally adding a butterfly and some gems. After this was made I remembered Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge but sadly my colours aren't right for this month's 'wheel' but as there is still time to enter I might make something for that before I tidy away the butterfly dies. It is pretty wet and windy here today and also chilly so I'm staying in the warmth of the craft room to play and take my mind off the weather.

Lattice Die - freebie given with current Diecutting magazine
Banner - Sue Wilson die
Butterfly - Tim Holtz Sizzix dies
Greeting - from a set of free sentiment stamps I've had for a while

Reindeer

I'd spotted a Christmas Card challenge earlier and as I had a die I wanted to try out, decided to make a card.  This  challenge was mentioned by two of my blog friends Rita and Valery but now the card is made I can't find a link to the challenge but I'm popping it on here anyway.  In hindsight and now I see the card on the screen I'm not too sure these creatures actually qualify as reindeer but high-ho at least I've made another Christmas card ready for later this year so nothing lost!!   At least is a change from my recent run of wedding themed cards.

I cut the die out using black card which was the right size for the card and backed it with a slightly lighter piece of snowflake print paper (left over from last year).  The snowflakes and greeting were die cut from pearl card and that's it - a fairly quick and simple card.

Main die - unbranded
Snowflakes - freebie die from magazine last year
Greeting - Tonic die
Background Paper - printed from Artylicious Seasons Greetings CD