Butterfly Challenge #123

As mentioned in my previous post I've used the second of my freebie dies to make a card for the latest Butterfly Challenge.  The letter on the wheel this time is G with a choice of three colours and three themes with the added choice of making a gatefold card.  I've chosen to go with Granny Smith and Gold for the colours and gems for one of the themes also the butterfly of course.  I chose some green pearl card which in reality looks very much like granny smith colour although it appears more turquoise here (sigh)!  The floral corner die was used to cut into one of the corners and then I backed it with some darker designer paper.  The oval decorative tag was cut from some gold card and backed with more of the green before cutting an oval to stamp the wording.  I originally decided to pop two butterflies onto yesterday's card but in the end settled for one so the 'spare'  has been added here along with a gem.

Corner Die - freebie corner from Diecutting magazine current issue
Oval - Sue Wilson fancy tag Zoe
Butterfly - Sizzix die
Sentiment - free stamp given with a magazine set

Butterfly Birthday

It is quite a while since I was tempted to buy a crafty magazine but I risked a quick look while I was shopping yesterday and just had to pick up the latest issue of Diecutting which had two very nice corner dies as a freebie, both of which will cut into the card and also have separate matching outline dies as well.  There is a pretty floral one in addition to the lattice one which I've used here by cutting it twice into opposite corners of a square of cream pearl card before backing it with some golden yellow designer paper.  I added a banner across the centre on which I've stamped the greeting, finally adding a butterfly and some gems. After this was made I remembered Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge but sadly my colours aren't right for this month's 'wheel' but as there is still time to enter I might make something for that before I tidy away the butterfly dies. It is pretty wet and windy here today and also chilly so I'm staying in the warmth of the craft room to play and take my mind off the weather.

Lattice Die - freebie given with current Diecutting magazine
Banner - Sue Wilson die
Butterfly - Tim Holtz Sizzix dies
Greeting - from a set of free sentiment stamps I've had for a while

Reindeer

I'd spotted a Christmas Card challenge earlier and as I had a die I wanted to try out, decided to make a card.  This  challenge was mentioned by two of my blog friends Rita and Valery but now the card is made I can't find a link to the challenge but I'm popping it on here anyway.  In hindsight and now I see the card on the screen I'm not too sure these creatures actually qualify as reindeer but high-ho at least I've made another Christmas card ready for later this year so nothing lost!!   At least is a change from my recent run of wedding themed cards.

I cut the die out using black card which was the right size for the card and backed it with a slightly lighter piece of snowflake print paper (left over from last year).  The snowflakes and greeting were die cut from pearl card and that's it - a fairly quick and simple card.

Main die - unbranded
Snowflakes - freebie die from magazine last year
Greeting - Tonic die
Background Paper - printed from Artylicious Seasons Greetings CD

Pixie Snippets challenge #354

I still had some snippets of cream and a slightly darker shade (sort of mushroom colour)of pearl card lying around on my desk as well as some of the dies I'd been using so at risk of boring you all I've used up pretty all the remnants and made another card quite similar to the one I took to the Playground for the previous challenge.  This is for an Anniversary and will go into my box of cards where I try to keep some for different occasions.  The cream card came in A3 size so there was a large enough piece to cut a square slightly smaller than the card blank and this was then embossed to give it some detail.  The panel and the hearts were all die cut using a mixture of the cream and darker shade of snippets with an oval die used onto which I stamped the sentiment in sepia.  I'm still living in a pretty blurred world so lining up the dies to cut out the intricate pieces has been a bit of a challenge but I got there in the end.  I've had my check up and all was fine so the wheels are in motion for the second eye to be dealt with - just a case of waiting patiently for the appointment to come through.

If you visit the playground you will see a lovely floral card with the usual excellent details of how Di made it - so helpful - and of course you will be able to guess what the prize is for one lucky entrant when the draw takes place.

Heart Dies - from Tonic
Panel - also Tonic dies
Oval - Creative Expressions die Austrian collection
Embossing - pin point A4 folder by Sue Wilson Creative Expressions

Wedding Card

I've made another simple wedding card today or of course it could be for an anniversary.  Thank goodness die cutting is popular and of course I do have 'few' dies!!  because at the moment I'd struggle with colouring an image or doing any parchment work.   I've die cut some hearts in two colours of pearl card then layered them and simply added to a background with a strip of die cut lace and a couple of fancy corners.  The summer seems to have gone walkabout today as I'm actually feeling quite chilly and trying to resist putting on some heating.

Background - Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby designer paper
Hearts - Tonic dies
Lace - crochet lace dies by Sizzix
Corners - dies I've had for ages but can't remember the source

Visiting the Playground

I'm afraid I've been unable to do much blog visiting recently due to the fact that since having had cataract surgery a couple of weeks ago I'm having some 'issues' one of which is difficulty seeing the computer screen.  The upside of having the procedure means that I can now read without wearing glasses - something I've not been able to do for many years.  Unfortunately the downside is that anything further away than I would hold a book is pretty blurred which is all a bit trying to say the least.  I guess that this is something I will have to live with until the other eye is operated on which hopefully won't be too long to wait.  I did as instructed and removed the lens from my specs, leaving the one for the non-operated eye.  Well that certainly didn't work - hopeless - I'm better off without glasses at the moment. 

I decided to have a go at making a card this morning to take along to the Playground challenge and it seems to have taken me forever to get it done.  My intention was to make a few cards to fill some gaps in my box of cards - one down, several to go - good job they aren't urgently needed.  This one is a wedding card so I've used up several snippets of white and pale grey pearlised card for the hearts, lace border and sentiment banner.  I die cut  three sizes of the hearts, a strip of lace, a banner and some flowers and leaves.  The wording was stamped in grey as I thought black would be too stark against the delicate tones.

Hearts - from Tonic Hello Beautiful Layering Hearts die set
Flower and Leaves - Finishing Touches - Cornflower die set by Sue Wilson
Banner - Stitched banners die set Sue Wilson
Lace - Sizzix Crochet Lace die set Tim Holtz
Sentiment - from free sentiment stamp set given with magazine a while ago

Floating Frame

After my first dabble with the idea of a floating frame I had a closer look at the You Tube video HERE and also some other images online  and realised that my original frame wasn't actually 'floating'.  I thought I should have another go so I stamped some flowers and leaves, cut them out with scissors (no matching die sadly) and because I don't have any of the sticky film mentioned I tried using a piece of paper from a roll of masking paper which I've had for years and which has a non permanent tacky side to it.  The gems have filled in some of the gaps to help the illusion.  I still have the floating circular piece to make into a second card at some point,

Stamps used - Penned and Painted from Stampin' Up (discontinued I'm sure)
Sentiment - from a free set given away with a magazine