Monsters

 This is another card made using one of the stamps in my bargain Mystery bag.  The monster was stamped a couple of times onto scraps of card, coloured using alcohol markers and then fussy cut with scissors. I thought it would be fun to imagine they were singing a birthday greeting so I stamped some notes and a stave, finally adding the 'text speak' sentiment.  That's it, a fairly CAS card making use of another of my newly acquired stamps and dies.  The square mat was cut using a die already in my collection and was backed with a plain square to match one of the monsters

Music Stamps - Lavinia
Monster stamps - Gummiapan (retired)
Square and Greeting -  dies from Gummiapan
Colouring - Copic alcohol markers

Allsorts Challenge #763

 Here is  my card for the current Allsorts Challenge where the theme is **make your own background**.  My background was made using spray starch and pigment powders.  I coloured a fairly large piece of card and the background used here is just a small piece left from a previous project.  Luckily there was enough  for the dragonfly body and the wings were cut from a scrap of toning pearl card..  The background was embossed and I added a die cut frame around the aperture and finally a sentiment and a scattering of gems.

Circular Frame - die set from Daisy Mae
Embossing Folder - magazine freebie
Pigment Powders - Pixie Powders
Dragonfly - Gummiapan

Today's Share

 Today I'm sharing another card using a couple of items from my mystery bag of dies and stamps.  This time it is a quirky little stamp and a die which I had to study for a few minutes until I realised it was a 'text speak' sentiment.The qu8irky character was stamped onto a tag and then I sorted out some patterned paper,  scrap of ribbon and matching card to complete this simple card.  A little light stencilling was added to the tag

Stamp and sentiment die - from Gummiapan Mystery bag
Tag - unbranded die
Stencil - Aall & Create

Mystery Bag

 Back again with something else made using items from the Mystery bag mentioned yesterday.  I discovered that the  dies which I didn't quite understand are actually for cutting a large speech bubble, using the width of the card.  Also amongst the contents there was a really cute llama with a matching outline die so I've combined these with some dies from my collection for another card.  I've also had an idea for one of the little stamps which isn't my normal style and that one will be appearing in due course.  I'm quite enjoying the challenge of using items which wouldn't have been natural choices for me, although the llama is one which I would probably have bought and the speech bubbles could prove to be more useful than I'd initially imagined.

Llama and Speech Bubble - stamp and dies from Gummiapan (retired)
Sentiment - from Stampin' Up (retired)
Bridge, puddle and foliage - from Playing in the Rain set Stampin' Up

Temptation

 I'm afraid I succumbed to temptation and ordered a Mystery bag of retired dies and stamps at half price and whilst the monetary value was there the actual contents (inevitably I suppose) were not items I would have chosen to purchase and I have to say some of them have presented me with food for thought as to how I might use them.  Never mind - I do like a challenge and it keeps the brain ticking over 🤣.  Anyway I've used three of the small stamps along with others in my stash; a background die and some bits and pieces of patterned paper left from previous projects.  I think I've fathomed out a way of using one of the dies which started out as a complete mystery to me and when that card is finished I will post it.  Images were stamped and coloured using pencils.

Sentiment, Flowers and Birdhouse - from my stash, Stampin' Up (retired)
Cocktail,Chick and Bluebird - came from my Mystery bag (Gummiapan retired)
Background die - unbranded
Colouring - Polychromos pencils

Miscellaneous Bits and Pieces

 I have lots of sundry stamped and/or die cut bits and pieces which have accumulated over time and I think the time has come to either use them up or ditch them.  You might have guessed that I am reluctant to ditch anything which might be remotely useful so I'm going with the 'use it up' option before I  do anything too drastic 😊.  To this end I pulled out this cute donkey and the woodgrain circle; added a freshly stamped sentiment and die cut a slightly larger circle, all of which together with an offcut of patterned paper has come together for this fun card.  Voila! a fairly quick card and a very small proportion of my oddments used but it's a start.

DSP and stamps all retired Stampin' Up items

Torn Edges

 I was reminded of the torn paper technique recently in a post from the talented Sarn who is also hosting the current Snippets challenge this time.  You can see some of her torn paper cards HERE.  This technique is ideal for using up snippets of patterned papers (or indeed plain coloured card) - no shortage of paper in this house so I pulled out a few snippets and had a ripping time to produce this card for the current Snippets Playground challenge which is another special one with two bumper prize packages for the lucky winners.  It is a celebration to mark the 12 years that Di has been looking after the Playground challenge - that's a long time to have been working hard to make the Snippets Playground the happy place it is and recently she has been ably assisted by Sarn.  Such dedication and generosity certainly deserves a BIG THANKYOU 😊.  Because it is such a special occasion there is a theme alongside the usual Snippets requirement and , yes you've guessed, it's  CELEBRATION.🎈✨

For my card I found snippets of papers from a very old Papermania pad and selected some of the smaller pieces to tear so that the white core was showing, and a larger snippet to fit the card blank.  This  was topped with a larger white pearl snippet which had a circle cut out for the torn strips to be glued behind the aperture.  Snippets of the same pearl card were used to die cut the champagne glasses and the backing for the sentiment.  Finally a toning snippet of purple card was used to die cut the word and that's it - my Celebration card. 

Designer Paper - from an old Papermania pad
Sentiment - die from Tonic
Champagne Glasses - unbranded die