Allsorts Challenge #783

 The theme for the current Allsorts Allsorts challenge is **lots of layers** or as usual it could be *anything goes* and there is a Christmas related prize to be won by a lucky someone.  There are quite a few layers on my card which uses some birds which were stamped onto a scrap of 'inky play' card and fussy cut; stamping again onto scraps of plain white so that I could also fussy cut the eyes.  There are layers with the die cut shapes and the sentiment. The line the birds are standing on was drawn with a black fine liner pen

Background Layers - dies from John Next Door set
Birds - Crazy Birds by Tim Holtz
Sentiment - computer generated and die cut with retired Stampin' Up die

Allsorts Challenge #782

The theme for the Allsorts Challenge this week is **A Blast from the Past** and although my card doesn't feature retro or Art Deco etc it was certainly a 'blast from the past' for me when I came across a House Mouse CD from years back.  House Mouse designs at one time used to appear on a very regular basis but I've not seen any for some time so I printed off an image and some backing paper to make this card, adding a scrap of embossed card from my oddments boxes and a sentiment.  If this doesn't fit the theme I guess it can come into the **Anything Goes** category which is always an option at Allsorts.

Seeing the card on the screen I've just realised that the embossed design is Art Deco style 😉

Image and Background - House Mouse CD set from Joanna Sheen
Sentiment - from a retired SU stamp set
Ovals - dies from Tonic
Embossed Panel - E/F by Creative Expressions from some years ago

Rudolph Days - May

  Rudolph Day always seems to come around so quickly but at least I've managed to make a card in time for the May challenge.  As this was made entirely with pieces from my Snippets collection (apart of course for the card blank) I will be popping along to the Playground with this one as well.  I trimmed the red mat to fit the card blank - this one had already had the centre cut out or 'gutted' so that I could use the resulting piece to cut out the letters.  Next layer was an oddment of DSP left from previous projects, followed by a smaller dark green mat and an even smaller white one.  The word was cut from a snippet of dark green and the red letters were infilled.  Final touch was the addition of three shiny snowflakes left over from last Christmas no doubt.

Partial Embossing

 For this card I decided to do some partial embossing.  This was achieved by slicing a square of white card diagonally and embossing just the left hand side before simply sticking the two parts back together, adding a strip of ribbon to cover the join.  Leaves were stencilled, stamped and die cut and a simple die cut sentiment added.  Different partially embossed results could be achieved by slicing the piece of card in various places - lots of variations possible.

Embossing Folder - came free with a magazine a while ago
Leaves - stencil, stamp and die set from Globleland
Birthday Sentiment - unbranded die

Sentiment Frame

 I saw a video recently where Chrissie Stokes explained how she made a sentiment frame using Microsoft Word - link to video is  HERE.  I thought I'd give it a try but unfortunately I have a quite different version of Word so had to 'wing it' a bit to achieve a result.   It seems to me that the newer versions of Word are far more complicated than the versions I've been used to along the way although they seem to have more functions these days.  Anyway I achieved something usable and have printed it onto a piece of DSP and then used a square die to cut out the panel.  I decided to make a postage stamp style of card using a very ancient Spellbinders die which hasn't seen the light of day for some time.  A smaller square panel was cut to fit and then stamped with a text background and some other stamps, mostly magazine freebies which I have in my collection.  Background DSP is from a Phill Martin pad.

Birthday Time!!

 It's birthday time at  Allsorts - the challenge has been running for 15 years and to celebrate there is a huge bundle of prizes from Aall & Create to be shared with the lucky winners this time.  The theme is very simple too **Anything Goes** and I've made a stamped card on a coffee theme and added a few extra texture stamps and a computer sentiment.  There is lots of inspiration from the design team and guest designer too so well worth taking a look.

Coffee Grinder - stamp from Caffeinated set by A & C
Texture stamps - various stamps from my stash
Colouring - Inktense pencils with water brush
Sentiment - produced using Microsoft Word

CAS Ideas

 There are so many ideas around for making Clean and Simple cards and once having got over the fear of unwanted inky marks on all that 'white space' it can be quite a fun process although I must say it isn't always as quick a solution as the name suggests.  Today's card was made by adding a block of colour to a piece of plain card which is slightly smaller than the card blank and then over stamping with a floral motif with the addition of a computer sentiment.

Quite a long time ago I purchased an alternative to a gelli plate which I guess was manufactured from the same material as clear stamps. This was A5 in size but I have to confess I was not very successful in using it at the time and not happy with the results, ending up with a couple of genuine Gelli plates instead.  However I came across this item during a sort out of my craft room and decided to chop a piece from it to use as a method of achieving a random inky area - using it like a stamp and inking with Distress Oxide ink, three colours and drying the print each time before cleaning the block, partially re-inking and stamping again.  Once thoroughly dry the flower spray was over-stamped using Versafine Clair in black. I hope this makes sense - much easier to do than to explain in words 😊.  I'm certainly pleased to be getting some use out of what was at the time an impulse buy which I'd regretted and I now have a selection of different sizes cut from the original A5 sheet.

A5 alternative plate - from John Next Door quite a long time ago.
Flower - Funky Flowers design, Kay Carley (The Stampman) - very old stamp set
Distress Oxide inks Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers, Dusty Concord
Sentiment - produced using MS Word, printed and die cut.