Making Do

Recently I'd spotted a set of stamps and dies featuring a greenhouse and just as I was thinking of adding it to my stash, I remembered that I was trying to resist the retail therapy 😉. I decided that perhaps I could 'make do' or improvise by seeing what I have already which might be brought into play.  No greenhouse die but I do have a fairly large birdcage one from way back so I fished it out and had a bit of a play.  I drew around the die onto some white card and fussy cut to make a backing piece and then stamped some leaves onto this before sticking the layers together and yes, I think it does vaguely resemble a fancy sort of greenhouse.  Next I die cut some flower pots and found some flowers and leaves left over from a previous project.  So far so good - next move was to stencil a brick background and assemble everything.  I know it's not a greenhouse but at least it has enabled me to make the card design which came into my head inspired by seeing the original greenhouse stamp set and another potential purchase avoided ... for the time being at least 😄😄

'Greenhouse' - birdcage die from Marianne 
Flower Pots - dies from Joanna Sheen
Brick Wall - stencil from Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi
Flowers and Leaves - stamps from two Stampin' Up sets

Llama

 A simple card to share today - the image is quite large and almost fills the 5" x 7" card so I simply layered it up and added a  greeting.  I did enjoy the colouring though so I guess that's the main thing and I used a stencil to give  a  bit of interest in the background  😉.

Llama stamp - Crafty Individuals
Stencil - All and Create
Sentiment - Tm Holtz label
Coloured using watercolour pencils

Snippets Playground #422

 We have a guest designer for the challenge in The Playground this time - our talented prefect Sarn  who has made a super coffee themed card, well worth visiting to see the card and find out what mischief might be afoot 😉.  A great Tattered Lace prize on offer this time and in duplicate so double the chance of being drawn out of the hat if you take part.

I raided my 'creams and browns' scrap box to make this card as well as digging out an image stamp which has lain unused for longer than I care to admit and in fact it could be that this is the first time it's been inked - can't really remember using it, but we are talking a good few years here 😉.  Background paper is part of a sheet from a pad of A4 designs (I always keep the bits and pieces tucked inside the pack once I've cut into a piece); the darker brown piece was a small strip from the oddments box and I selected some offcuts of cream for the stamping.  The Wise Gents were stamped and then sponged with Tea Dye ink; the tall cream strip had the numbers stamped in black along with more stamping using a sepia ink and finally the sentiment outline and words were lined up and stamped -  using the Misti of course.  A stray metal watch charm was added as a finishing touch.

Background Paper - Urban Textures, Phill Martin Sentimentally Yours
Main Image - Wise Gentlemen from Crafty Individuals
Numbers - stamp from a Phill Martin magazine gift set
Sentiment - from Tim Holtz stamp set

Flower Power

This card is made for a man so although I've paper-pieced the van I selected a subtle floral design of paper.  The vehicle was stamped onto a strip of cream card and then again onto the designer paper so that I could fussy-cut and adhere in place after I'd coloured details such as wheels, windows etc.  Next move was to get out my Pixie Powders and colour a piece of kraft card which, when dry was cut into a couple of strips and dry embossed, then lightly touched with gold gilding wax.  The  background paper was an odd piece from a magazine freebie collection from last year some time.

I hope you've all survived yesterday's storms without any major damage - certainly good advice was given for us to stay indoors.  Not that I needed much persuasion to spent some crafty time.

Otters

Had some fun stamping and colouring these cute otters and then decided to die cut them using stitched circles to make this card. Coloured using alcohol pens.  Quite quick to put together once I'd decided what to do with them and with the sentiment from the same stamp set this would suit a variety of situations.  One to add to my box of cards anyway.

Images - Awesome Otters stamp set Stampin' Up
Background - DSP also from SU
Circles - Stitched Shapes dies from SU, (may be retired)

Bird Cages

 Another card to share today featuring bird cages, although it is in quite a different style.  This time I've used a stamp from a set which came to light recently when I was going through my collection for inspiration.  I stamped in black onto a medium/dark piece of card and then selectively coloured parts of the image using Coloursoft pencils which seem to work well used in this way - looking better in real life than on screen.  I then fussy cut the image before layering it up with a piece of cream embossed card and adding a sentiment.

 Stamp - from Chocolate Baroque Pretty Birdcage set
Embossing - folder which came free with a magazine

Allsorts Challenge #663

Back again with a card for the new Allsorts Challenge and this time they are asking for **Clean and Simple (CAS) with the option of Elegance**.  I'd say my card is CAS but will leave the decision about 'elegance' to my viewers and the design team - not sure if it qualifies on that point.  I've used some dies which I've had for a while and as the lines are quite fine it was quite a task to apply glue to them so I hope they all stay put.  Quite a bit of 'white space (which is actually cream) and the sentiment was stamped direct with the aid of a positioning platform - not sure where I'd be without that - probably ending up with lots of throw-away pieces of card with messy stamping on them 😉.  Black and gold card from my scrap boxes was used for the die cutting.

Dies Used - Birdcages set from Sizzix
Sentiment - stamp from a favourite magazine freebie set