Penny Farthing

This die hadn't been used for a while so I thought I'd use up some more of my scraps and make a male card. Background paper was from a pad which I think is quite handy for male themed cards and a scrap of black card was embossed and then rubbed with silver gilding wax.  The penny farthing was cut from another black scrap and popped onto a pierced square which was left over from making a frame.  The whole thing was brightened by using some coloured card to accent the layers and sentiment.

Dies - penny farthing by Memory Box, square Sue Wilson, sentiment Sizzix
Background - paper by papermania
Embossing Folder - circles from Sizzix

Stamping Challenge

The challenge for this month on Stamping Sensations is to use a combination of dies and stamping.  The stamp I've used on this card has been in my collection for some years and at the time it was a 'must have' but to my shame I'm pretty sure that this is the first time it has been inked and used - how bad is that??  The image has been coloured with Inktense pencils before using an oval pierced die to cut it out.  I dug out a piece of script background paper and a lattice work stencil which I thought was reminiscent of ironwork on a railway bridge. Do take a look using the link above to see some great inspiration from the guest designer and the design team.

Stamp - Joanna Sheen railway themed set
Oval Die - Spellbinders
Lattice - Tonic die
Banner - Sue Wilson die
Sentiment - Tim Holtz stamp
Background - script pad by Prima

Pixie Snippets Challenge 210

For my Pixie Snippets card this week I've used a fairly large snippet of some Brusho'd watercolour paper, embossed and gilded with gold wax.  I raided the bits box for a piece of paper for the background and also die cut a plaque from scraps for the sentiment; finally adding some Card Candi (have loads of that)!!

I don't really make New Year resolutions but I'm going to try to make much better use of all the 'stuff' I have rather than be tempted to add any more to the stash. The trouble is that there are always so many lovely dies, embossing folders, stamps et al being produced and showcased in ways that try to persuade us that we really NEED them!! I've definitely decided that if I see a particularly nice idea I want to use I will try to adapt it to suit my existing dies/stamps etc - not sure how long this will last!!

Embossing Folder - Tim Holtz Sizzix
Sentiment - computer generated
Dies - Sue Wilson

Butterfly challenge 45

The theme for the butterfly challenge this month is X for Xanthine and if you take a look at their blog you will see a definition (in case you don't know) and also some great work from the design team.  I've used a piece of watercolour card which was coloured with Brusho powders before being embossed with a floral design, sponged with Distress ink to show up the design..  The square frame was die cut with a smaller square of flowers cut from the centre and a stamped sentiment was added.  The butterfly was also die cut in two layers using a scrap of the coloured card for the plain layer and a scrap of yellow for the lacy layer.

Embossing Folder - Sheena Douglass floral design
Butterfly - Sizzix dies
Central floral panel - Sizzix die
Frame - Tonic die

Bright Thanks

I thought that a nice colourful card would brighten what is a very dull, wet and windy day - we had sunshine and blue skies yesterday, the weather is so changeable.  Luckily I did my little bit of food shopping yesterday and as you might have guessed I was tempted by a free die attached to a magazine (the magazine rack is right next to the fresh fruit display!!).  The 'Thank You' sentiment is always handy to have, particularly at this time of year so I'm afraid I couldn't resist.  I've been playing around with some sprinkles of Brusho powders onto watercolour paper and have produced a few pieces in varying colours.  For this card I embossed a strip with a floral die, edged it with die cut borders and simply popped it onto a cream card with the sentiment.  Finally a die cut flower was added using the same colour of card.

Dies - flower and border strip by Sizzix, sentiment freebie with magazine
Embossing - Darice floral folder
Paper - coloured with Brusho powders, sponged with Distress ink

Thoughts

My card to share today is a 'thinking of you' one which I think could suit either male or female recipient.  I'm going to try and make a concious effort to make a few more male orientated cards this year although I must say for some reason it is the feminine ones which seem to go more quickly.  For this one I used a lovely embossing folder which was a freebie on a magazine and one which is so nice it is a shame to cover it up with too much in the way of images etc.  I decided to go for just the sentiment in a fancy frame on this occasion. The embossing was highlighted with distress ink and the sentiment and labels cut out from scraps of card.

Embossing - free folder with magazine
Sentiment - computer generated and punched with Stampin' Up punch
Label shapes - from die sets by Sue Wilson

Followers

I spotted this information on another blog and thought it a good idea to publicise this so that you will at least know what is happening.  I might be back later with a card to share.

Have you lost a few followers?

In a nutshell, Blogger have (as we suspected) been tinkering with the Followers service.

Quote from a post on 'The Real Blogger Status' dated Monday December 21st:

During the past weekend, Blogger started the process of simplifying Following. This involves removing non Google accounts and profiles from Following.

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

This is the link to the blog, explaining in more detail
http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2015/12/blogger-followers-google-friend-connect.html

Hope this enlightens those of you who've been wondering!