Sea View

It is quite a long time since I actually saw the sea and I guess now it will be some considerable time before an opportunity arises but I have made a sea view through the window on this card.  I die cut the window and then cut a scrap of white card to fit nicely behind it, lightly marking the position of the window panes with pencil before dusting the sky with blue ink and stamping the details.  Two pieces of patterned paper were found to form the background and a narrow punched strip hopefully looks like a dado rail.  Lucky the black cat was added to the window sill, gazing out at the wading birds.

Window - Memory Box die
Stamps - from Stampin' Up High Tide set

Iris

I seem to be in floral mode with the cards I've been making and this is in part due to the fact that Mr Mojo seems to be taking a break and I'm having trouble thinking of something to make.  However I have a little plastic tray on the desk containing quite a few miscellaneous flowers which I've either stamped and coloured or die cut from coloured card - some of the stamped ones don't have matching dies so were fussy cut with scissors.  I thought if I used some of them up it might get me going again and hopefully I might have something more interesting to share - not that there is anything wrong with flowers and floral cards are always popular anyway.  For this particular card I've die cut an iris, cutting the whole thing in green then trimming off most of the flower heads before cutting some more heads in mauve card, sponging the edges and layering them together.  A panel of white card was embossed, sponged with the same colour ink and everything was layered onto some scraps of green designer paper and matching card.  Sentiment was stamped using the Misti for placement and a small butterfly added.

Dies used - from Joanna Sheen
Embossing Folder - also from JS

Trees

I'm trying to post fairly regularly so that people who are good enough to follow me will know I'm still OK and of course I'm hoping you are all OK as well or at least as OK as you can be in these awful times.  On Sunday my internet connection decided to start working at snail's pace which is a pain and everything is taking much longer than usual, but then again - silver lining - time is something I have plenty of at the moment.  This is a card a made a little while using  alcohol inks on some sparkle card and this is what was used as a background to these die cut trees.  A simple sentiment and that's it really, a fairly simple card but for this sort of thing I feel that simple is often best.

Take care everyone and stay safe

Floral Card - Again

I've made a second floral card using yet another set of stamps and dies which I loved when I bought them but which have languished in a drawer for too long.  This one is quite different from the earlier floral one and I started with a panel of white card which would fit nicely onto the blank and sorted out some papers as a background.  Next move was to root out some snippets of pink and mauve card to stamp and die cut the flowers.  The jar was also stamped and die cut, lining up some stamped stems using the Misti, which was also used for placement of the greenery stamped as a backdrop for the blooms, which were added using thin foam pads. A couple of tiny tags were punched and applied with a die cut bow.  The words were stamped onto card before punching them out so that they lined up because they really are quite tiny. As it came together I thought it just needed something else so I added a white doily for the jar to stand on.

It's another bright day but my goodness the wind is bitter so indoors is definitely a good place to be.

Stamps and Dies - Jar of Love sets from Stampin' Up
Tag Punch - also from SU

Floral Card

I've spotted that quite a few of us are re-visiting items in the stash which maybe haven't seen the light of day for a while and it is good to be reminded of things which were 'must-haves' in the past or techniques which have been temporarily put to one side.  I've used a set of dies which has a matching stamp set although on this occasion I've die cut the flowers and leaves from scraps of coloured card so the stamps haven't actually been used for this card.  The darker flowers have  been sponged around the edges with white as a change from the more usual darker colour highlight..  I'm sure with so much 'stuff' to use there is no excuse for feeling 'stir-crazy' and I feel for those who have no interesting hobbies to keep them occupied in these strange times.  Stay safe everyone, follow the guidelines and we will beat this!!

Die set used - Botanical Builder from Stampin' Up
Sentiment - free stamp used with SU punches

Pixie Snippets Playground

When I die cut a window to make a scenic card recently I was left with four little rectangles of card - could I drop them into the bin??  No of course not, so this card is designed around those four white pearl snippets.  I found another die slightly larger and cut a  layer for each using snippets of red card and also stamped and embossed four ladybirds on other matching scraps.  The bug stamp set comes with an interesting text panel stamp so so I cut out a larger rectangle from the same set of jagged edge dies for this text, backing it with a plain red rectangle slightly larger.  A narrow fancy border strip was added to the mix and for the background I used a larger piece of text paper, over-stamped with some bees.  Everything on this card is a snippet apart from the card base and the large text background.  Mind you I am now left with a snippet of said text paper to use on something else - snippets breed more snippets - proven fact!!!

I know we aren't allowed out to play now but thank goodness for the virtual Playground provided by the lovely Di and which I imagine is quite large enough for us to visit and share with the others who visit regularly - keeping the regulation distance.  Di has made a super card in bright colours and of course the prize is equally super as always.

Ladybirds and Text Panel - Tim Holtz Entomology stamps and dies
Rectangle dies - Tim Holtz Sizzix dies

Snowdrops

I believe it is now officially Spring so I'm posting this card which I made a couple of weeks ago using yet another freebie stamp and die combo. The stamped flowers were coloured lightly with watercolour, die cut and layered.  The background oval had some text stamped to give it some interest and the narrow panel of test was produced using a small text embossing folder and sponged with some matching green.  A banner sentiment and a little bow complete this fairly quick card.

Snowdrops and Text - stamps/dies given free with magazine
Ovals - Tonic dies
Banner - Sue Wilson dies