New Baby

 For a change I decided to make a Baby card, mainly just to fill a gap in my box of cards because I like to keep a selection ready for various occasions.  I started with a piece of blue background paper from my stash and then die cut the cute panda with a blue bow.  The next decision was to bring out these octagonal dies for a change and finally I added a banner with the wording.

I hear we're heading for yet another heatwave ... just when I thought the temperatures had become more bearable 🙄

Octagonal Dies - Set from Daisy Mae which I've had for some years
Panda die - Spellbinders
Banner - Dies from Creative Expressions, also years old
Words - Dies from Crafter's Companion

Snippets Playground Challenge #510

 Time for another opportunity to use up a few  more of my Snippets on a card for the latest Playground challenge.  This time I've brought my favourite bunny out to play and he's sitting beneath a floral tree enjoying the sunshine and hopefully a cool breeze.  I started with a square Snippet of cream card slightly smaller than the card blank and cut out the tree aperture, backing it with another snippet from my box of papers.  This is a left over piece from one I printed a while ago onto some textured paper.  I then die cut the bunny twice from a scrap of the same cream card so that I could layer him up for a bit of stability.  Next I pulled out a snippet of some card which I'd treated to some inking and, again, this was really a left over scrap which many people would have binned. I'm sure.  From this I cut a series of small flowers and then used another die to cut a few random cream 'dots' for the flower centres.  A simple sentiment tag and that's another card made although not much of a dent made in my Snippets mountain 🤪

Picture of the smaller snippets

Sentiment - dies from Craft Addiction UK Tiny Tags
Bunny, Tree Aperture and Flowers - unbranded dies (Amazon, Temu)

Allsorts Challenge #827

 The theme for Allsorts Challenge #827 has been chosen this time by Liz, who would like to see cards which would be suitable to send to a child or as usual there is also the anything goes option.  The prizes will be stamps from Saturated Canary (more details on the Allsorts Blog post.

For my card this time I went first to my box containing useful bits and pieces, including die cuts and/or stamped and coloured images left over from previous projects or from a colouring session which is one of the things I sometimes do when I need to craft but don't quite know what I want to make.  It so happens there were quite a few chicken images, probably dating from when the stamp sets were first issued, maybe a couple of years ago.  To form the background I used a piece of green card slightly smaller than the card blank and die cut it with a variation on the current trend for using slatted dies.  This piece was then backed with a darker green polka dot piece of paper to show through the gaps.  I then tried various arrangements of the henhouse and chicks until I was pleased with the layout, added a die cut sentiment and called it finished.  There is plenty of space on the card to add a die cut age number when it's about to be sent to probably one of the great grandchildren.

Background slatted die - an unbranded one I've had for some time
Chicken, henhouse and sentiment - stamps/dies from Stampin' Up (long retired)

In the Garden

 I've made an ATC for the current Tag-Along (and ATCs) Challenge where 'In the Garden' is the theme. This elf is working away in the garden and watering some of the plants - guess the fairies and elves have been having a heatwave too ☺️.  Some stencilling in the background and a bit of masking along with the stamped elf, bee and foliage.  An ATC doesn't take too long to make so why don't you have a go using the theme or the 'anything goes' option - a jolly handy prize on offer for a lucky winner.

  All stamps by Lavinia, some old, some more recent
Stencil and mask - also Lavinia

Tag-along (and ATC) challenge July

 Time for a new challenge at Tag-along (and ATCs) and the theme is 'In the Garden' or there is always the 'anything goes' option. .  For my tag I started with some partial stencilling and then stamped the Chinese lanterns and some foliage, finally adding some more ink around the edges and painting the lanterns themselves using Distress Oxide ink.  Finally a little 'sticker' which I produced on the computer. Some stickles and white pen used as highlights here and there.

 Stamps all from Lavinia
Stencil - also Lavinia
Tag - using a Sizzix Tim Holtz die set (largest size die)
Word sticker - produced using MS Word

Snippets Challenge #509

 I've just realised that I'd not made a card for the current Snippets Challenge.  No excuse really except that I'd been without a computer for a couple of days during the week and I'm afraid that being so out of touch really puts me all at 'sixes and sevens'.  Thankfully the update didn't take too long and it's all nicely back in place on my desk; also working more quickly which is great..   I did actually have to use some whole sheets of A4 card for this card because I've decided I will make my own card blanks for now and I also needed a couple of layers as well here.  All of the die cutting for this card was done using snippets of white card and I remembered to take a pic before throwing out the remnants.  

I started by die cutting the toadstools, colouring the caps with alcohol markers and then assembling them, popping the teeny tiny white dots back into the blank spaces.  This turned out to be very fiddly so I might have to rethink that procedure.  I lightly coloured the stems and some details on the little toadstool cottage. The next move was deciding how to design the layout and I settled for a slatted circle which was backed with a snippet of designer paper from my collection.  Tiny tags were used for the sentiment and a snippet of gold and white baker's twine used to attach them..

Picture of the scraps (snippets) left over after die cutting the toadstools and tags

Slatted Circle - Craft Addiction UK
Tiny Tags and Toadstools - Craft Addiction UK
Squares - Noble Pierced Square Nesting dies Creative Expressions

Rudolph Days Challenge

 The Rudolph Days challenge has caught me out yet again this month so it was a quick scramble to make a Christmas card before the end of month deadline.  I've chosen this time to make an eclipse style card using one of the slatted dies and an image from a pad of seasonal images which I've had for some years and is most likely now discontinued.  I selected two identical images and used one of the slatted dies to cut into the centre of one of them before layering them together for the effect.  A piece of toning card was used to cut a larger rectangle to back this and then it was adhered onto a 7" x 5" card blank.  A simple greeting was die cut and added and that's it - job done and my Rudolph Days card for June completed in no time.

Image from Lili of the Valley pad of seasonal images 
Greeting - dies from Britannia
Slatted dies - from Craft Addiction UK (squares)
Toning Card - Cherry Cobbler by Stampin' Up