Temptation!!

My local shop has had a delivery of dies and embossing folders and was I tempted?  Yes of course but for the time being have resisted so this morning I decided to have a closer look at some that I already have and mix them up a bit in the hopes that I am persuaded that I really don't need any more.  Of course who knows what might jump into my magnetic basket on my next visit??  I embossed the background and sponged with latte die ink then set about cutting and embossing a selection of dies in brown and cream, playing around and re-arranging them until I achieved something reasonable.  When I opened up a box to get the cameo dies I stumbled across the border one which I'd completely forgotten (bought ages ago and I'm talking YEARS).

Background - Creative Expressions Deco embossing folder

Border - Cuttlebug die border set

Sentiment - computer printed Stampin' Up punches

Cameo - Quickcutz dies 

Layers - Sue Wilson California frame, Tonic corner die set, Spellbinder opulent ovals

Left Over Flowers

During my sorting out I came across these flowers which had obviously been stamped and cut out and I imagine I did far too many for whatever the project was so I decided to build a card around them.  I found a piece of matching backing paper in my stash; cut  banners, squares and some leaves from green card; a swirl was stamped onto the square with matching ink; added a sentiment, gems and some card candi to finish everything off.

Paper - Stampin' Up, long discontinued

Flowers - Vintage Vogue stamp set SU, also discontinued

Flourish - Always Eleanor stamp set SU,  "          "

Leaves - Cheery Lynne dies

Green - Wild Wasabi from SU

Sentiment - SU stamp and punches

Banner - die from SU
Card Candi - Craftwork cards

I've Been Sewing

As you might well have guessed, I have fabric mountains as well as paper, card etc and if you add in my beading addiction too you will realise I have to try and use up some of this hoard.  I'm always afraid to turn on the 'Hoarder' TV show just in case there has been some secret filming going here!!  If you look online you will find various tutorials for the Snappy Bags and also the Triangular Thread Catchers and both of these projects are pretty straightforward to make and of course do help in the 'using it up' campaign.  The 'snappy' bags can be any size you like, made of one fabric or oddments and feature a clever idea - using pieces cut from retractable metal measures for the closure (best purchased from the shops where everything is one price rather than filched from the tool shed).  The triangular item can also be any size you like and is really handy to keep by your side when sewing to pop all the little bits of thread into rather than scattering them far and wide to be cleared up later.  You might be able to see that I've been using the smaller one because there is a snippet of thread showing in the photograph!!

Challenge

The challenge on Make My Monday is to use owls and I've paper pieced using a Woodware stamp which I think came as a magazine freebie some time ago.  Some scraps of card were embossed and inked and tags used for the sentiment.  There are some lovely owl projects on their blog for inspiration so worth taking a look.

Snippets Challenge 124

The snippets on this week's challenge card are some stamped and coloured Christmas images which I 'found' when clearing out some of the accumulation of 'stuff' some of which hasn't been touched for years.  These were obviously done and cut out in the days when gel pens were all the rage for colouring - don't see them mentioned much nowadays.  Just as I was about to bin these bits I decided they would suit this challenge so rescued them and just cut some mats from scraps of card using the smaller sizes of a Spellbinder labels die set.  I must say the smaller sizes of the nesting dies don't get used nearly as much as the larger ones.  I found an odd Christmas Greeting to add and now that's another card for the Christmas pile.

Birthdays

As well as my great nephew having a birthday next week, two granddaughters have theirs on the following day and one of them is 21.  I've not seen her for years so I'm not really sure what her tastes are - I do hope she likes the card I've come up with.  I used an image from Papermania Tulip range, cut out with Spellbinder dies, added a floral border and a printed sentiment keeping everything fairly flat because it has to be posted.

Backing Paper - discontinued one from Stampin' Up
Image - Tulip and Friends CD from Docraft
Layers - Spellbinder labels four dies
Numbers - X-cut dies on Cuttlebug shapes
Border - EK Success punch
Sentiment - Computer printed , Stampin' Up punch
Card Candi - Craftwork Cards

Bright Colours

I've gone a bit bright for this card using a stamp which I came across when sorting things out - he was, and still is a favourite but hadn't been used for a while.  He was coloured using Inktense pencils and cut out using Spellbinder dies.  I then trawled through my card scraps to find some pieces to die cut borders then popped it all onto this bright background with some bunting.  Maybe I should have posted this yesterday to brighten a wet and dull day.

Stamp - Magnum by Ladybug Crafts

Borders - Crealie die

Bunting - Stampin' Up stamps with matching punch

Layers - Spellbinder labels dies