Lace Template

Papermania have recently produced some dies which cut lacé designs - a technique I did try years ago with a metal template and craft knife (without a great deal of success) it was far too fiddly for my liking. This way the die does the work and all that remains is to fold over the cut elements.  I added a little punched flower to the centre and then assembled it into a card with a Pampered Pets stamp which was given away free as a taster earlier this year and an embossed faux postage. Background paper was lurking in my oddments box.

I'm demonstrating use of the Big Shot next month and this will probably be one of my samples so certain people had better look away now!!

Cute Rabbit

I think these rabbit images by Craftwork cards are probably intended for Easter cards but as I don't really make those I've used Warren for a birthday card. Background paper is from a Basic Grey pad which I've had a while, the image was coloured using Copics and the embossed border was cut using one of the new border dies from X-cut. I reckon Spring is on the way at last.

Less is More Week 6

Two posts in one day but I thought I'd post this card before anything else bad happens to it!!  This one layer card challenge from Less is More has caused me such hassle this week you wouldn't believe.  After having an idea my first attempt was a disaster - the masked circle was too large for the card; I'd chosen to use a stamp which didn't really work and the spongeing could have been better.  The second attempt fared a little better until I somehow managed to get an inky mark on the 'white space' and of course for this challenge I couldn't hide it with a strategically placed flower or butterfly!!  On the third attempt I decided I'd cracked it and then noticed the bottom corner of the card was slightly damaged and when I went back to the pack of cards some of the others are too which is annoying to say the least.  I know the guidelines said 'no embossed lines' but I do hope it is allowed to cut off an edge of the card with a border punch - which is what I did eventually to overcome this last hiccup. Despite all these setbacks I did enjoy rising to this challenge and no-one said it was easy!!

The circle had inks applied with brushes through a circular mask placed off the edge (mask cut with Nestabilities die) The teazles were stamped and shadow stamped off the edge (Elusive Images stamp) and a simple word added (Stampin Up stamp).

Inspiration

This card was inspired by an article in the March issue of Craft Stamper.  Alcohol inks were used on silk card which was then run through a Cuttlebug embossing folder - the soft ribbon was also dyed using the same inks.  Background paper is from artylicious Essence of Nature collection and the flower stamp is from Papermania Hampstead set - stamped onto watercolour paper with Adirondack dye ink and cut out with a Nestability die.  The corner was cut using a Marianne die and the stamped sentiment punched with a Stampin Up punch mounted onto a smaller 'Nestie' die shape.

Bah Humbug Challenge 10

My pile of Christmas cards is growing steadily thanks to the Bah Humbug challenge and this week they are asking for apertures.  I know I have some ready cut aperture cards lurking somewhere but thought instead of searching for them I would first have a go at cutting an aperture on the front of a card using  a Nestability die and it seems to have worked out OK. I embossed the aperture using an embossing tool - an idea I picked up from Ikki's blog - thanks for that.  I cut a piece of card to fit the inside and then stamped a winter scene to be viewed through the aperture. I used Tim Holtz trees and a Papermania flying reindeer (the TH one was too big for this card); I added a glitter snowflake to the outside (Marianne die) and a stamped word.

Forgotten Friday 8

I can hardly believe it is Friday again already but it is so here is my card for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge. This time the forgotten element is some watercolour paper which I inherited and my Prismalo watercolour pencils which haven't been used for a while either.  This paper is very thick and heavily textured and I wasn't sure how it would stamp but it seems to have taken the impression well enough.  I originally stamped it and started colouring with Polychromos pencils but I found the result too patchy due to the texture of the paper so I stamped the image again and tried with the watercolour pencils which seem to have worked better.  The stamp is a Forever Friends from Papermania and the background paper is some which I had printed ages ago so I'm afraid I can't remember the source but I knew it was somewhere in my stash and thought it would go well with this image.  I added a piece of kraft card which has been embossed using a Cuttlebug folder and inked to bring out the pattern. Do pop over to Judith's blog to see her work - she is also guest designer for the Bah Humbug challenge this week and working on that one is my next task.

Bird Cage

Last year a friend bought one of my cards with wording on to send to one of her friends and this year asked for something similar but with a different verse so I stamped off all my suitable words and let her choose.  This Elusive Images stamp was her choice and I used backing paper from Artylicious Echoes of Italy collection, overstamped around the edges with some swirls (also EI stamp).  The birdcage and bird were stamps from Papermania from a set called Tweet which is being sold with a donation of £2 per sale going to Cancer Research UK.  The addition of some cream lace and a computer greeting complete this card - I do hope she likes it!!