Would You Believe ...?

Would you believe it ... another crafty magazine hopped into my basket in the supermarket!!  This time it was so tempting because they were giving away a set of stained glass window stamps - four in all, with two sentiment stamps and a border embossing folder.  I've stamped and coloured one of the windows with alcohol pens; then decided to use some of the smaller square dies from a set to frame it.  Often I find that the smaller dies in the graded sets don't get used as much as the large ones. Next I cut some corners from scraps of card to match the inner frame before finishing off with some matching background paper and a larger frame.

Stamp - free with magazine and coloured with alcohol pens
Frames - Noble pierced squares by Sue Wilson
Corners - from Border and corner set also Sue Wilson
Sentiment - Stamp and matching Bitty banner die from Stampin' Up.

Trio of Flowers

I spotted two cards made by Barb and liked the quirkiness of them so much that I searched through my stamps to see if I could make something similar.  I hope she doesn't mind that I've pinched her idea but I'm told that imitation is a form of flattery!!  I stamped my flowers and leaves onto patterned paper and cut them out with scissors before arranging them onto a text background with a greeting. My flowers don't have quite the quirkiness I so admired but this is my interpretation of the idea.

Stamps -  flowers and leaves from Chocolate Baroque Sunny Sunflowers
Embossed border - free folder from magazine
Sentiment - Tim Holtz
Paper - Prima script collection
Flower centres - punch from Stampin' Up.

Pixie Snippets Playground

What a lovely surprise I had when I visited the Playground to see that my card from last week had been chosen as one of Di's 'picks' along with several others in varying styles so it is well worth hopping along to take a look I'd say.  For my card this week I've gone down the die cutting route, starting with a fairly large snippet of blue background, then a striplet die was used twice to cut out of the white pearl layer.  I then used another fancy die to cut out two layers in the same colours of card, followed by a couple of ovals for the sentiment which I did on the computer.  It so happened I had two stray stamped and embossed flowers which I popped on along with some matching pearls.  Di mentioned that buying dies to match stamps is not always necessarily the best option and I'm inclined to agree, especially when the outlines are easy to cut with scissors.  This means of course that you can cut closer to the outline without ending up with (often in my case) an uneven white border around the design and money saved can then be spent on something else crafty!!

Dies - Lattice Striplet and Vienna from the Austrian collection by Sue Wilson
Flowers - shaded peony stamps Sue Wilson cut with scissors
Sentiment - produced using Designer software from Docraft (discontinued I think)

Baby Boy

Before I show you my card for today I'd like to welcome and thank two new followers who joined me recently - Jules and Lesley.  Despite losing quite a few followers in the recent 'shake up' by Blogger the numbers are slowly creeping up again.

For my second baby card I've used another really old favourite stamp, also coloured using pencils and I printed some background papers from Papercraft Factory, leaving me with (of course) some leftovers - sigh - so in fact I made two cards with this stamp in an effort to use it up.

Stamp - from Lili of the Valley
Background paper - Papercraft Factory by funky Hand
Label dies - Spellbinders and Tattered Lace
Corners - die by Whimsy

Baby Cards

Friends sometimes ask me for greetings cards and I usually take my box along to the patchwork group I attend as well.  I do try to keep a selection of cards suitable for various occasions but find that on the whole it is the birthday ones which sell mostly.  I seriously cannot remember when was the last time I was asked for a 'new baby' card until last week when two went from that category, leaving me with just a few 'baby girl' ones.  I set about making some today to top up the supplies and this is one of them using a cute owl stamp which is one of a set which I bought several years ago and which cover lots of situations one way and another.  The image was coloured using pencils.   I've found that most of the blue card and patterned paper which I see nowadays seems to be more turquoise rather than what I call a true blue - wonder why that is??  This piece of background paper from my stash is a really nice blue but I couldn't find any  suitable blue card to go with it so settled for kraft which is always a good standby.

Stamp - Whoo set of owl stamps from Joanna Sheen
Sentiment - from same stamp set
Banners - Sue Wilson dies
Circles - Tattered lace dies
Corners - Stampin' Up punch

Sympathy Cards

Unfortunately we all need this type of card from time to time and I always like to keep a few in my box for such occasions.  I always feel they shouldn't be as elaborate as many of the cards we make and for this one I've simply used a couple of dies and some odd pieces of a printed text paper with subtle pearlescent card.

Background paper -  Chocolate Baroque
Feather - free die from magazine last year sometime
Lacy panel - Die from Crafter's Companion
Banners - Sue Wilson dies
Words - Crafter's Companion die

Playground Time Again

Yet again the week has rushed by and it is time for the challenge in the Pixie Snippets Playground.  I was tempted to treat myself to a stamp when I paid a brief visit to a local woodworking and hobby show where there were various craft demonstrations to see and of course plenty of temptation, some of which I managed to resist but not all I must confess.  I thought this stamp would be just right for the Playground so it was stamped onto three different scraps of printed papers and the many pieces cut out with scissors before being adhered to the image printed onto a snippet of white card. This was in turn layered onto a snippet of green. The background was made up from oddments of printed papers of the same design but in two different colours (the same paper as for the flower).  I actually ended up crawling around the floor on hands and knees part way through making this card, having dropped the tiny clear sentiment stamp ... they bounce ...  but I eventually found it!!

The layout for this card is loosely based on a sketch spotted on Always With a Heart a great blog to view if you get stuck for layout ideas - thanks Jules.  Di has made a Snippets card this week using a so cute set of hedgehog stamps with matching dies which will be the prize for one lucky entrant.

Stamp - by Woodware
Circles - Tattered Lace dies
Papers used - printed from Kimono collection by Crafter's Companion (I think)
Square dies - Die'sire and Tonic
Sentiment - Bitty Banners die from Stampin' Up and of course the 'rescued' stamp!