Birthday Wit

I've used another stamp from the Birthday Wit set to make this card - these stamps are quite fun and cards made using them seem to be suitable for male or female, young or old.  The dog image was one I stamped and coloured a while ago and found amongst some of the bits on my desk.  I simply added a bit of textured colouring to a scrap of watercolour paper before stamping the little motif (also from the set), layering it up with some toning designer paper and that's it really for today.

We've lost the beautiful sunny weather and today is dull and rather wet in this part of the country.

Stamp Set - Birthday Wit by Stampin' Up
Dog - from a set of stamps by Tim Holtz, Sizzix
Texture stamp - Clarity

Two to Share

Two cards to share today with a little explanation of how they came about.  Sorting through some of my dies I kept spotting a floral one which I seem to remember came with a 'print and go' CD to produce a sheet of  decoupage images and some background papers to match in various colours.  As far as I can remember this set was used once to make one card at the time and it has lain unused for some years.

Needless to say it took me a while to unearth said CD from amongst many that I've had forever and which I imagine may or may not work with Windows 10 so I guess a little ruthless weeding out is needed sometime.  Anyway, once found I printed off a sheet of floral images and two different backgrounds all in the same colourway and in an effort to use up most of them I decided to make at least two cards.  The decoupage was duly die cut then layered up onto some die cut shapes with toning layers behind, papers cut to size and sentiments sorted out resulting in two cards which are 'the same but different'.  As the decoupage printed 6 to a sheet I still have four of those remaining and a few oddments of the two background papers to add to my every growing oddments.

Making these has nicely filled part of the morning and part of the afternoon and now I should take a look and try to decide which CD's to discard.  You've probably guessed I'm one of the world's hoarders so that's probably the most difficult task for me!!

Decoupage - Tattered Lace Charisma die with Print and Go CD
Diecut Shapes - dies from Tonic and Spellbinders
Sentiments - Stamp from Stampin' Up and download from Netty's Cards

Feathers

Sometimes I find it difficult to decide just what to make and I imagine many others feel the same but  making cards - or anything else creative - can be quite therapeutic and helps to keep the mind off the current situation even if only for a while.  I've been looking through my collection of crafty stash seeking inspiration and trying to use items which have perhaps lain undisturbed for some time and that was the case with this set of feather stamps with matching dies.  I've left the card without a sentiment for the moment because it is handy to have a few without words although there is room to add one later. I've gone for black, white and grey with a touch of red here and have used up some scraps of white card along with a strip of black and a strip of grey both of which have been embossed.  The bird is from a different set of dies.

Feathers - Four Feathers set from Stampin' Up
Bird - from another die set by SU

Lucky Win

I was lucky enough last week to be drawn to win a prize (a copy of a Craft Magazine complete with free gift) in the Friday  Freebie run by Christina.  Of course we all know that no matter how much 'stuff' we have it is always exciting to have something new and different to play with.  The gift was a 5" x 7" embossing folder which also had a heart-shaped cutting area embedded into it and there were some stamps as well.  I've used it fairly simply by embossing onto some cream pearl card, stamping wording onto the heart and also using some of own dies to cut out a foliage spray and a flower from the same cream card. The panel was raised up on some foam pads and the heart dropped into the aperture - finally a couple of the stamps were used to put the wording onto a banner.  I can see other possibilities with this lovely folder and will enjoy trying out some ideas.

Embossing - emboss and cut folder free with magazine
Stamps - also part of the same free gift
Floral Spray - dies by Sue Wilson.

Butterfly Challenge #140

I've not made a card for the butterfly challenge for some time but today I decided to join in. You can read all the details HERE and maybe you'd like to have a go..  The letter this time is 'W' and I've chosen the colour Wisteria and I hope the deep cream used could be classed as Wheat colour - of course I've added a butterfly.  Started with an embossed background, then die cut a floral spray which actually includes a small butterfly although I've added a larger one for a bit more impact.  A simple stamped sentiment and there it is - my challenge entry.

Embossing - All Occasions folder from Apple Blossom (one of many to chose from)
Floral Spray - Tonic die
Butterfly - Tim Holtz for Sizzix
Sentiment - Stamp and two punches from Stampin' Up

Blue

No I'm not feeling blue, this is just the colour of the card I've made to share. Yesterday I decided to go through all my boxes of snippets and scraps of various colours of card and - shock, horror - I actually threw many of the really small bits into the recycling. Mind you that was difficult!! Never fear I still have plenty of snippets left to be able to visit the Snippets Playground on a regular basis.  Needless to say the largest amount was white or cream scraps and I really am aiming to use them all up.

This card started from the small scrap of embossed card and the already cut sentiment shape and it sort of grew into this blue DL card.  I acquired this stamp quite recently but sadly have completely forgotten where it came from and there is nothing on the packaging.  I sponged the embossed scrap of card using the same colour of ink and stamped the 'Happy' word onto the sentiment shape, adding a computer printed 'birthday' word and sticking it in place.  Another thing I'm aiming to do is to try to use up some of the many card blanks I have in sizes which I rarely use these days - one reason being that my stock of preferred square cards is running low and I feel I should use what I have rather than buying more for the time being.

Take care everyone and stay safe

Pixie Snippets #375

I've used up several snippets of watercolour paper to make some of the components for this card, together with some cogs and a snippet of embossed background all left over from previous projects.  The embossed piece was coloured with various inks and the cogs, once die cut were embossed and swiped with some gilding paste.  The postcard was made using watercolour paper and a selection of stamps, as was the sentiment - the watch was stamped and fussy cut with scissors.  The text background was a fairly large snippet saved from some free magazine papers (good quality ones) rather than the flimsy glossy pages that are sometimes given away.  All of the watercolour paper elements were sponged with antique linen distress ink to age them.

There is a great card for inspiration made by the lovely Di and if you visit the Playground you will be able to see what prize is on offer this time.

Stamps - Postcard from Tim Holtz, rest from Phill Martin
Cogs - Sizzix dies
Embossing folder - Tim Holtz, Sizzix