Just to Say

 I have another of my smaller 'tall slim' cards to share today.  For this one I cut a panel of matching card using the same die as on my previous one which left a space at the bottom of the card where I added three little die cut flowers.  The panel was 'smooshed' through a couple of colours of Distress Oxide ink and once dry I stamped some text down one edge and added some stencilling.  The words were cut from some matching card.  I think I might be getting to like this size of card although once used up I probably won't buy any more 😉.  Next challenge could be a pack of 4" square cards which were hiding in the box - can't really imagine why I bought them because working on such a small scale does rather freak me out 🤣

Text stamp - came with an Indigo Blue magazine kit
Stencil - from Lavinia
Words - Art Gallery dies from Stampin' Up (retired)
Flowers - die set from John Next Door

Postage Theme

 It's said that great  minds think alike and while I was in the middle of making this card yesterday I spotted one  made by Linby using a similar idea and posted on her blog .  I've used different colours and stamps but with the same postal theme.  Back to my more usual square format today because this is quite a large die but so versatile, depending on what stamps are used.

Stamp Die - unbranded
Stamps - Card-IO, Lavinia, Clarity and some magazine freebies

Smaller Cards

 The majority of my cards are 6" squares with occasionally 5" x 7" or DL ones thrown into the mix and I rarely make anything smaller.  I've been making cards for many years and naturally have amassed large amounts of crafty 'stuff', amongst which was a large plastic box containing miscellaneous card blanks, mostly with envelopes and I decided it was time I turfed everything out and had a good sort through to see just what might be lurking in the depths.  Well as you've probably guessed there were quite a few (lot) of small cards, mainly squares but also a couple of full packs of something called 'tall slim cards'.  I could never resist a bargain and I see they were BOGOF at the time 🤣🤣.  Strange proportions to my eye though at 3" x 8".  Anyway I've decided to challenge myself to use up some of these smaller cards, starting with said tall slims which I thought might be handy as notelets rather than actual greetings cards - I think some of the smaller squares might be made into 'cards for no particular occasion' but just to send as random acts of kindness (RAKS).  

This one is my first go at working to a smaller format although at the moment it feels very restricting but perhaps if I persevere it should come easier 😉 .  Watch this space!

Stamps - a mix of Lavinia, Inkylicious and Card-IO

Hippos

 A birthday card to share today which was made for one of my great grandsons.  Not much to say about it really as it rather speaks for itself.  The stamps and dies used were from my stash and are mostly now retired although the kite is from SU's Playing in the Rain set which I believe is in the current annual catalogue.

Stamping Sensations Challenge

The theme for the current challenge on Stamping Sensations this month is ** Animals, Birds or Creatures**.  I was fortunate to receive this lovely owl stamp as a gift very recently so of course I had to have a play so that I could pop along to the challenge with this card because it has a large bird and a couple of little mice 😉

Stamps - Lavinia and Inkspirations
Owl Coloured using Inktense pencils

Fun Anniversary Card

 The February theme at We Love Stamping is **ROMANCE**, very apt for this Valentine month and I've chosen to take along an Anniversary card featuring a couple of frogs which have been stamped, coloured and die cut.  The large heart background was cut in two shades of pink, as was the shaped sentiment tag.  I also cut out a few more smaller hearts for added interest.  The sentiment was also stamped onto a piece of white card and then die cut..

Hearts - dies from Tonic - quite old so possibly no longer available
Sentiment Stamp - from a magazine freebie set, also from years ago
Sentiment Tag - from a Sue Wilson die set, again old so maybe no longer available
Frogs - from an unbranded stamp set, coloured using Inktense pencils

Snippets Playground Challenge #473

 Here is my homework for the latest Snippets Playground Challenge.  Sarn is in charge this time and she has made a super card from some of her lovely snippets.  Of course there is a great prize to be won by the lucky person whose name is drawn at the end of the fortnight.

For this card I decided to use up a snippet of card which I'd coloured using various Pixie Powders and had a fancy to use my Crazy Bird stamps although when I started I had no idea what the finished result was going to be.  Once I'd stamped and die cut the birds I decided I wasn't too keen on the outer margins of the die cuts which looked a bit too 'spotty' so I trimmed them much closer to the line with scissors - better!.  Next I scrabbled through my box of sundry die cuts, mostly white ones, which I always save because they might be useful one day, and found some leafy branches.  I coloured these using Distress ink pens and found some larger white snippets of card to cut the circle and to stamp and die cut the sentiment tags.  Another little problem with the birds was that being stamped onto inky card their beaks and eyes were somewhat 'lost' so I stamped again onto snippets of white card and fussy cut the eyes and beaks so they could be layered.  I also added a bit more colour to the bird bodies using coloured pencils.  Found a snippet of blue card to tone with the birds and then assembled the card - that's it, job done 😉

Actually remembered to take a pic of my snippets!!

Birds - Crazy Birds Sizzix Tim |Holtz
Branches - a very old Sizzix die