Paper Blooms

I've spent an enjoyable day today in my local craft shop demonstrating the making of paper flowers using a book called Paper Blooms.  It was something new for me making flowers more or less life size although I've made lots of miniature ones before - give anything a go that's me!!  One good thing about these ones was that the materials used were reasonably easy to get hold of and a minimum amount of equipment required.  I've taken a very quick photograph of some of the ones I made and will try to get some better pictures in daylight.  The poppies and other large white flowers were made from coffee filter papers and wine filters, the pumpkin was made using strips of orange card with a couple of stamped leaves and other blooms made using odd bits of paper from my stash.  The fringed asters which don't show too well took a lot of cutting of fringed strips before they could be assembled.

Floral Card

It's a while since I did much in the way of stamping or colouring because as you may have noticed, dies seem to be very much in vogue at the moment.  However considering that I have so many stamps I thought I should redress the balance somewhat so here is a card with a stamped and coloured image as the main feature with some die cutting as embellishment.

Floral Image - Stampin' Up coloured with alcohol pens
Dies - Deco Labels from SU
Border - Cuttlebug die with Die-namics bow die
Sentiment - computer generated on Cuttlebug die cuts

Christmas Cards

I've made a couple of Christmas cards to pop into my box - one using an embossing folder and die cut flower and the other using an image from Crafter's Companion 2013 Christmas Collection (bought last year) and nothing from the kit has been used yet so thought I'd better have a go rather than be tempted to buy this year's collection.  It has been raining steadily all day today and so very dark and chilly, really miserable.

Embossing Folder - Couture Creations
Poinsettia - Sue Wilson dies

Image - Crafter's companion 2013 collection
Snowflake - free die from magazine

Pixie Snippets Challenge 146

Each week on the Pixie Snippets challenge there is an opportunity to be included in a random draw to win a generous prize and last week I was lucky enough to be picked out of the 'hat' when I won a die set which cuts various sizes of sequins.  Of course I've included some of these into my card for the challenge this time around.  I started with a snippet of Centura Pearl card which was embossed and then had some blue ink brushed over - more snippets of card to cut a banner, a lacy strip, a flower and some leaves with a final snippet of ribbon from my overflowing ribbon box - finally some tiny snippets in the form of a few strategically placed sequins using my new die.  There is another great prize on offer this week so why not have a go and use up some of your snippets.

Background - Die-sire embossing folder
Banner - die cut using Stampin' Up framelits set
Flower - stamped using SU Beautiful Bunch and matching punch
Lacy Border - Couture Creations die
Leaves - Robert Addams die (Papercrafts)
Sequins - Die-namics die

More Pearly Technique

I've made a card using the other experiment with pearlescent medium and Brusho crystals - this time salt was added while the piece was still quite wet and brushed off when dry.  I didn't want to cover up too much of the background so simply added a banner, a few flowers and a sentiment, details below.  These crystals are really good for making backgrounds and the results are quite unpredictable which for me is part of the fun.  Apart from the background, everything else was made using snippets of card from my famous bits boxes so this could be another entry for the Pixie Snippets challenge - luckily I had an ink pad the right colour for the flowers!!

Banners - Sizzix dies for Stampin' Up
Flowers - SU Flower Shop and Petite Petals with matching punches
Sentiment - Computer generated on Cuttlebug die cuts.

Male Cards

When looking through my box of cards I realised I was a bit short on ones suitable for sending to a man.  My followers will have realised that I am well into die cutting at the moment but sometimes I feel that the cards made using some of the more elaborate ones are perhaps more suited to send to ladies.  When I spotted this corner die I decided to use it for a plainer type of card but of course it could just as well be used with floral embellishments to make a prettier card.  That's what I really like about using dies - their versatility and the way they look so different depending on colours chosen and the way they can be combined with other elements.

Background - Corner lattice die by Papercraft (Robert Addams)
Circular dies - Spellbinders
Lattice strip - Cuttlebug die
Sentiment - Stamped and punched (Stampin' Up)
Image - Stampin' Up Wetlands stamp set

Playing with Backgrounds

I spent some time yesterday playing with my recently acquired Brusho crystals (just had to try some when I spotted them at a show recently) and the pearly paint background technique and it certainly helped to take my mind off the horrible weather.  I used one of the pieces as a background on this third sympathy card.  The flower was stamped, coloured with alcohol pens and cut out so that it could be popped onto the oval which had the stem stamped.  The greeting was also stamped from the same stamp set.  Details below of items used.  Thankfully the sun is shining today although there is a definite chill in the air - winter woollies time I think although I think the thermals can stay in storage for a bit longer!

Background - Brusho crystals and pearl acrylic medium on watercolour paper
Dies - Tonic (purple),  Pierced oval Spellbinder, fancy tag Spellbinder
Stamps - from Stampin' Up Bloom with Hope set