Playground Challenge #486

 Time for another Playground Challenge and some cool treats in the treehouse I hear😊.  A CAS card from me this time using a few snippets and a whole card blank.  I've been re-visiting the use of a Gelli plate with acrylic paint which is where I started some years ago but sadly I was never particularly pleased with the results until I switched to using inks instead.  However during some online chat with a crafty friend we discussed using acrylics again so I had a bit of an experimental day recently and I was slightly more pleased with what I produced.  That said, I still think that, for me, inks would be the preferred choice., but each to her own 😉.  Anyway back to my card - I used a snippet of one of the Gelli prints along with a snippet of toning plain card and a snippet of white to die cut two flowers which I glued together to give them a bit more stability.  A stamped sentiment and that's it, job done for my Snippets card this time.  Some lovely prizes as always and I'm sure there are plenty of snippets just waiting to be used up so why not have a go??

Not many snippets but I remembered to take a picture!

Flower - Memory Box  Poppies die
Sentiment - from Stampin' Up Daisies stamp and die set

Postage Stamp??

 Well it's been a week since my last post and much as I feel bad complaining about the hot weather I'm afraid it's been a bit too  much for me this past week and just 'being' has been hard work 🙄.  I checked my files and have a few cards made at intervals and never posted so here is one to share today.  I used my postage stamp die but instead of adding individual smaller images to the apertures I've covered the whole central area with an image from a book of mixed images on card, backed the whole thing with a toning layer and added a sentiment.  I also over stamped with the two postage-related images.  Fairly quick and easy if I remember rightly.

Enjoy the weekend - thankfully it does seem somewhat cooler today

 Postage Stamp Die - unbranded
Image - from Lily of the Valley, probably no longer available

Seasonal Delights

 The Allsorts Challenge is running for two weeks this time with great prizes as always.  The theme is **Seasons Delights** or of course you can opt for *anything goes*.  I've chosen the Summer season and have used some Honey Bee stamps which I've had for some time but I think bees will always make me think of Summer.  I stamped the honeycomb twice onto a piece of cream card and the beehive onto a separate piece.  Both images were coloured using pencils and the beehive was fussy cut and layered over the background honeycomb.  A sentiment was added and two bees stamped and die cut to fly around the card.

Honeycomb and Hive - stamp set from Chocolate Baroque
Words - stamp which came with a magazine freebie set
Bees - stamps and dies from a Stampin' Up set (retired)
Colouring - Polychromos pencils

Mischievous Cats

 A scenic card to share today using some dies from a set which I'm not sure I've used before although they were definitely a 'must-have' at the time.  Oddly, these cats don't come with eyes included but I felt they were needed so I trawled through quite a lot of my die sets to find something with a suitably sized 'waste' piece which I could use and then added teeny tiny black snippets to finish them although I realised - too late - that a black fine liner pen would have been an easier option 🙄.  I embossed a brick wall for the lower part of the card and added an old-style post box and a couple of little birds which were hiding in 'useful bits' pot on my desk.  The sentiment was computer generated and cut out with a banner die.

Cats - Mischievous Cats die set by Tim Holtz for Sizzix
Post Box - Britannia die
Birds - Memory Box dies
Banner - Creative Expressions
Embossing - Brick Wall E/F from Stampin' Up (retired I think)

Rudolph Day

 Well a quick scramble this morning because Rudolph Day has caught me completely by surprise with no card made for the challenge. I know that time flies but it seems to have been particularly speedy this month.  Fortunately I already had some die cuts stashed away - thanks to a very kind friend who loaned me her Santa Wineglass dies recently, so all I needed to do was assemble one and find suitable background and sentiment to make this quick card.  If you follow the link you will see  super cards for inspiration made by guest designers Bunny, Pauline and Darnell and of course Helen.

Happy Rudolph Day 😊

Background - retired snowy DSP from Stampin Up from a few years back
Wineglass Santa - unbranded die
Snowflake - die from my Christmas stash SU I think
Words - also a die from my Christmas stash (unbranded)

Allsorts Challenge #790

 The theme for the current Allsorts Challenge is **Flowers** or of course there's also *Anything Goes** to be in for a chance to win from a selection of lovely prizes..  I've opted for the floral theme but with just a single flower.  I started by stamping the flower image onto a piece of card to fit my card blank and stamped the flower head and leaf onto a Post-It so that I could cut them out to use as masks before adding the stencilling and also the text stamping and a couple of small 'splodges' as background.  Masks removed, I then coloured the flower head and leaf., adding a simple sentiment to this small, tall, slim card.

Flower - stamp from Crafty Roo
Stencil - from Lavinia Stamps
Other stamping - using stamps from various magazine freebie sets (not current)
Colouring - Inktense pencils and water brush

Playground Challenge #485

 Time for another Playground challenge and in honour of Dudley's birthday the prize this time is doggy themed.  Those of us who follow this challenge will be well aware that he is an important member of the team and we love reading about his various exploits.  He is six years old today 😉 Happy Birthday Dudley.

My card this time is just a bit of silliness really with an odd bird built up using a selection of abstract die cuts.  I've watched some YouTube videos made by Deb Hallett who has come up with some really fun (and whacky) characters.  HERE is a link to her channel, well worth a watch - you might like to make yourself a cuppa before you sit down though 🤣  My effort isn't a patch on hers and I need lots more practice but I did enjoy trying to make it look halfway decent, just need to get my imagination working.  All the components of the bird were cut from some of my many small snippets and the wording was printed on the computer. I wasn't sure quite how to 'ground' the bird so he is perched rather precariously on a miniature stool !!   I also remembered to take a pic of the left over scraps before they were swept into the bin.

Stool - die from Gummiapan
Bird - dies from Abstract Elements, Sizzix