Allsorts Challenge #825

 We are into another fortnight with a new challenge from Allsorts and the theme, which has been chosen by Gail is **What Makes You Happy** (stamps/dies/weather/flowers etc) so a wide choice and of course there is, as always *Anything Goes*. Two prizes this time of Penny Black stamps/dies. 

There are many, many things which make me happy so it was a difficult decision but eventually I decided that as I enjoy making cards, love nature and flowers, a floral card would be my choice.  I started by cutting a slatted circle into a square of white card and backed it with a Gelli print from my box of inky bits.  Next I die cut and coloured the cone flowers, cut the stem and leaves from green card and assembled everything, adding a simple sentiment.

Slatted Circle - dies from Craft Addiction UK
Flowers - a very old die, maker unknown
Sentiment - computer generated using MS Word

Butterflies

 It's taken me quite a while to get my hands on a set of the popular slatted square dies - I just couldn't keep up and missed the boat trying to order when I spotted they were back in stock.  However there is now a handy button on the website where you can request a notification email when 'sold out' items are back in stock.  This worked well and the dies arrived so I just had to have a quick play - this card is the result.  I die cut three butterflies from a snippet of inky card and the word from an even smaller snippet of purple cardstock.  I decided to add two of the smaller square dies in the corners to add a bit of extra interest. The large square was backed with a piece cut from a Gelli print.  There's some shimmer on the butterflies which, of course, doesn't show in the picture.

Butterflies - dies from Gummiapan (exclusive to their Easter Calendar 
Hello - die from Gummiapan
Slatted Squares - dies from Craft Addiction UK

Tag-along (and ATCs)

 The optional theme for the current challenge at Tag-along (and ATCs) is **DRINKS** and I was pretty sure I had nothing to use which would fit onto an ATC until I remembered I had a CD which came out back in 2010 containing images connected to wine.  I managed to resize one of the cartoons so here is what I've made - pretty simple really and not that much work once I'd fathomed out how to make the image fit the ATC.  The most difficult part was choosing which of the designs to use😊 

Image - CD 'The Wine Buffs' from Katy Sue Designs dated 2010. Images designed by Mike Payne.  I'm guessing this CD is no longer available

Masculine Card

 I don't often make cards which are specific to either male or female recipients but think this one would probably class as masculine.  A little while ago I was gifted a fun stamp which represents distressed corrugated cardboard and this is what I've used here.  Thank you, I love it and you know who you are 😍.  I've stamped it onto some kraft card and then fussy cut with scissors, combining this piece with a die cut clock face, some inking, stencilling and random background stamping.  There's also a die cut torn notebook effect which I like and some washi tape scraps which I don't especially like but when I tried to remove them, the surface of the background was being lifted so I had to stick them down again before the whole card was ruined 🙄🙄.

Stamp - Woodware FRS802 Torn Cardboard
Clock - die from a magazine boxed set from way back, Phill Martin
Torn Notebook die - unbranded
Stencil - Tim Holtz clock faces (quite an old stencil)
Background stamping - border stamp Aall & Create
Washi Tape - also A & C

Snippets Challenge #507

 Time to hand in my homework at the Snippets Playground and this time I decided to make what would probably be thought of as a masculine card although one of my granddaughters is into books in a big way so I know she would like it.  Everything on this card, apart from the kraft card blank and the large cream square, came from my Snippets mountain.  The large cream layer was embossed using an embossing folder featuring text and a smaller snippet of cream card was cut using a pierced square die.  Onto this I placed four fancy-edged text squares of  design paper.  These were from a box of such squares and other shapes which I came across recently at the back of a cupboard and which dates back to my very early days of card making.  It's a  large plastic storage box containing 2,000 fancy shapes in an assortment of designs and colours and to my shame I think most of them are still in the box, untouched 🤣.  I think it could take me a while to get through that many and I'm not sure if they count as snippets.  However more small snippets of kraft and cream card were used to die cut the books and the banner for the sentiment.  The actual sentiment was die cut from the last of a sheet of printed sentiments which I produced on the computer.

This pictures shows some of my snippets, not worth hanging onto these scraps

Embossed Layer - unbranded folder from Amazon
Smaller Square - Noble Pierced squares dies Creative Expressions
Small Squares - Large box of assorted shapes by Papermania from many years ago
Books - unbranded die
Sentiment - produced using Microsoft Word to tone with kraft card
Sentiment Banner - die from Creative Expressions 

Rudolph Days

We're moving through the year month by month and now it's time for the May Rudolph Days Challenge where the theme is Anything Goes just as long as it has something to do with Christmas.  I had an image in mind which I 'd decided to use but was unsure as to how; until I remembered that Jules (Always With a Heart) has a good selection of layout sketches on her blog so I decided to take a look.  I settled on using square sketch #2 and trimmed my image into a square and searched for some suitable background papers.  The two small white squares were cut and embossed with a snowflake pattern.  For the moment I've left the card without a sentiment as it speaks for itself and there will be one added to the insert anyway.  Taking part in this challenge is a good way of building up a stock of cards ahead of the end of the year so why not think about making something - you have until the end of the month to take part.

Image - from pad of seasonal images Lili of the Valley (dated 2013)
Designer Papers - by Stampin' Up (retired) dating back 3 or 4 years I believe
Snowflake die - Source unknown - it was just in the box with most of my Seasonal stash
Narrow strip of green card from my snippets box. 

Allsorts Challenge # 824

 Big celebrations at Allsorts Challenge this time because it is our 16th Birthday and the theme is *Anything Goes* or you might like to celebrate with us and make a Birthday card.  There are multiple prizes this time as well - details below.  Some for winners in the UK and some for entrants from 'across the pond'.  Full details can be seen on the Allsorts Blog post.

All & Create - several prizes 
Lawn Fawn - 25$ store voucher
Colorado Craft Company - three stamps
Gina K Designs - 25$ store voucher (Worldwide)

For my Design Team card I've chosen to make a birthday card and have stamped the image onto cream card as a change from using white which can sometimes be a bit stark.  Colouring was done using Inktense pencils with a water brush and the image was cut out using a square die with  pierced detail  - a  slightly larger square was used  to back it.  I added a small simple sentiment.  

Stamp - From a Coffee Themed set by A & C
Square Dies - Noble Pierced Squares from Creative Expressions (Sue Wilson)