A Card at Last

Hopefully my computer glitch is now sorted and I can access  pictures to post this card for the Pixie Snippets fortnightly challenge.  The image on here is from a free set of stamps given away with a magazine (yes...again)  and this time there was an embossing folder although I've not used it here. The background is a fairly large snippet of card which had been printed quite a while ago using a gelli plate and acrylic paint.  This came to light when I was sorting out bits and pieces, reminding me that I've not used the gelli lately - sigh!!  I've used another square snippet which was embossed and sanded, snippets of white for the stamping, a snippet of red pearl card for the fancy oval and finally a little strip of embossed parchment - couldn't bear to throw that away.  There is a guest designer in the playground so do take a look at her lovely and clever card - there is still time to enter the challenge too if you fancy taking part.

Stamps - panda and sentiment free stamps with magazine
Embossing - Crafter's Companion folder
Ovals - white oval die from Stampin' Up, Red layer Spellbinders oval die

Aplogies Yet Again

Sorry I've not been posting on my blog - again - this time caused by a bit of a 'hiccup' with the computer which hopefully is about to be sorted.  I can assure you I've not been idle on the crafty front and 'I will be back'!!  I hope you are all having the lovely weather which seems to have arrived here today.

More Magazine Freebies

I have cut down on the number of magazines I pick up although I have to admit I still get tempted if there is a good free gift which I think I will use on more than just one occasion.  This fairy set was one such set which included an embossing folder and a set of fairy stamps (14 stamps in all).  I had a piece of watercolour paper which had been coloured with Pixie Powders so I put part of it through the embossing folder before carefully inking the embossed area with a black marker.  The fairy and sentiment were stamped onto this in black and the edges sponged with matching ink.  A larger piece of the coloured card was used as a background, topped with a piece of purple card which had a corner die cut to show the colours through.  Three little gems and that's it.  The mica in the Pixie powders gives a lovely sheen which unfortunately doesn't show in the picture.

Watercolour paper coloured with Pixie Powders
Corner die - Mixed media die from Tim Holtz
Dandelion - free embossing folder with magazine
Fairy and sentiment - stamps from free set with magazine

Playground Snippets

I've managed to gather together quite a few snippets to make a card for the Playground challenge this time around - I must say it seems to have taken me most of the morning to make this card but I did need a coffee break as well - there was quite a lot of die cutting!!  I started with the window die and then gradually built the card around it.   A snippet of blue card was found for the background, followed by a brick patterned scrap of paper.  I then cut the window from a snippet of cream Centura Pearl card and the flowers and leaves from coloured scraps.  I spent some time thinking about how I could get some nice lace curtains until I remembered a small edge die which I cut out in cream pearl paper and cut in half to pop each side behind the window frame.  Some foliage was stamped at the bottom of the background piece and I added a kraft card picket fence.  The sentiment was stamped onto an odd piece of cream card before die cutting that and a kraft card layer using the next size of die. Finally a grabbed some butterfly dies and cut out some to flutter in the sky - phew, no wonder it took me ages to make.  Now of course I have loads of things to tidy away but that can wait until after lunch.

Window Box - Cottage Window die Crafter's Companion
Lace Curtains - Tiara mini edgeable die Crafter's Companion
Picket Fence - Sizzix die
Butterflies - free dies from magazine
Stamps used - all free ones from magazines
Brick Paper - free from magazine
Sentiment -  shape cut using Sue Wilson dies

It's Been A While!!

I'd not realised quite how long it has been since I posted something on here but somehow other things seem to have  been taking up a lot of my time.  I expect the truth is that I keep getting slower and probably waste quite a lot of time one way and another. Maybe I should pay attention to time management rather than just drifting along doing what takes my fancy from day to day!!  However I've spent a bit of time this morning reminding myself how to do things using Craft Artist - what a shame it doesn't seem to appear on TV any more.  I do however have lots of scribbled notes from way back when they were on although I must say some of them don't mean a lot currently, mainly because I forget which kits they referred to.  Anyway I have managed a fairly simple card so will pop it on here just so people know I'm still around.  I'm aiming to get back into making actual cards shortly as it is something I thoroughly enjoy.

Well - that took way longer than it should have because I'm so out of touch that I forgot that I couldn't post a CA project direct onto the blog so I had to go back in and convert it to a picture first - dim or what!!

Animal Theme

I've often seen mention of the Cuttlebug Mania challenge (using manual die cutting machine) on the lovely Di's blog (HERE) - as she is one of the design team but I've never made a card for them.  It so happens that this time they are asking for an animal to be included on the card and as luck would have it I'd added a 'stray' cat onto this card which I made yesterday.  I was trying to use up lots of scraps of card which were littering my desk by die cutting a selection of garden related items to make a card suitable to send to a keen gardener. It isn't exactly animal themed and it was sheer chance really that the cat was found amongst the bits and pieces as I was clearing myself a space! Rather than keep this card for the next Snippets challenge I thought I'd pop over to the Cuttlebug blog to post it.

Details of what I used are shown below

Background - printed in Craft Artist, over stamped with Eastern grasses (Chocolate Baroque)
Squares - Stitched shapes dies from Stampin' Up
Garden Items - set of dies from Robert Adams
Cat - a 'stray' from a die set by Impression Obsession
Picket Fence and Tree - Sizzix dies
Sentiment - stitched banner dies from Sue Wilson

Floral Snippets for weeks 269/270

I've been using up more of my snippets for the Playground Challenge which is now a fortnightly event with prizes as before and also opportunities for Gold Stars or to be a guest designer if you wish.  For my card this week I found a large snippet of paper for the background, a piece of Centura Pearl card for the die cut panel and some smaller snippets of white card onto which I've stamped a selection of flowers and leaves.  Finally a snippet of green was used to stamp a jar to hold the bouquet.  The flowers, leaves and jar were cut out with scissors after stamping (triple stamping in the case of flowers and leaves).

Background - paper from Prima
Die cut panel - Regency Swirls from Crafter's Companion
Jar - from Jar of Love stamp set Stampin' Up
Flowers and Leaves - from Penned and Painted stamp set Stampin' Up
Sentiment - tiny clear stamp of unknown origin