Dandelions

 I received another 'class in the post' during the week, this time from the lovely Jenny of Stamping Moments and if you visit her blog you will be able to see the cards which she designed for us to make.  Everything was included to make four cards and a little gift box. All I really needed was an ink pad for the sentiments. I do enjoy working with these classes and having an opportunity to make cards with nice products as a sort of trial run.  I had in fact already treated myself to the designer paper pack so I was able to break into that to enable me to turn the components into larger cards than are supplied with the classes because  I very rarely make smaller A6 cards.  I've included pictures of three of the ones I made, all in my usual square format.  

Products used - Dandy Garden DSP and die cuts from Stampin' Up 

Dandelions

 Today's card is one of those which unfortunately we all need from time to time and it is good to have a few in hand rather than having to rush around to make one in a hurry.  I've used a piece of card which had been inked with some Pixie powders and possibly Brusho and onto this I stamped some dandelion heads in a matching purple ink as well as the sentiment using black.  Next I over stamped the dandelion heads using Versamark and embossed with white detail powder, finally mounting this onto a darker purple layer and then onto the  base card. 

Dandelion stamp - from a magazine freebie set
Background - inked piece of card from my oddments boxes

Playground Challenge #400

 This is the 400th challenge in the Pixie Snippets Playground so definitely cause for celebrations.  The lovely Di has made something other than a card to showcase the brilliant prize on offer so do pop along the take a look - a really fun project.  For my card I've made another Anniversary card and everything apart from the base card is from my snippets collection which never seems to diminish.  It is always a challenge to gather together enough bits and pieces in the right colours to make a card and it does take time - luckily I do enjoy the process.  The donkeys were stamped onto scraps of white card, coloured and fussy cut; the circle was already cut so I fished that out of the box and embossed it with a suitable embossing folder; die cut a heart from a scrap of pink and then managed to find two pieces of patterned paper to finish the layout.  Finally some small hearts were punched from tiny scraps and a few gems added along with the sentiment.

Donkeys - stamps from Stampin' Up
Embossing Folder - Creative Expressions
Heart - Tonic die
Sentiment - freebie stamp from a magazine gift

Ice Cream

 Again I've treated  myself to a 'class in the post' from Stacey Marsh and this time we have been supplied with some Ice Cream design DSP to make up the cards.  I had some cornets left over so have now made a tall card adapting one of the new rectangle sketch designs from Jules who has kindly opened up a new section on her blog for rectangular card ideas to add to her extensive library of square ones.  My DL design for this card is loosely based on one of these new sketches so thanks, Jules.

The background I've used is from the Icecream papers and I've added a die cut border strip down the centre, topped with a stencilled and inked rectangle with cornets, fussy cut from the DSP,  arranged down the side.  A greeting is added below with another spare cornet and that's yet another birthday card for the box.

Ice Creams - Sweet Ice Cream designer series paper from Stampin' Up
Border dies - Daisy M\ae borders
Sentiment - stamped and punched with SU label punch, also Daisy M\ae label
Splat - stencil made by die cutting thin card, die from Sizzix

Birds and Blossoms

There were a couple of die cut and coloured birds loitering amongst the 'stuff' on my desk so I set about using up more of my snippets of white card to die cut some branches for them to sit on.  Had to dig out the extra long cutting plates for this die which is a long narrow strip with foam backing - ancient but still works well. Branches and leaves were coloured using alcohol pens.  I also had some small stamped, fussy cut flowers which I needed to use up so they were added as the blossom.  After considering the elements I decided to assemble them onto a DL card, adding a simple greeting.

 Birds - from Best Birds stamp/die set Stampin' Up (retired)
Branches - very ancient Sizzix long strip die
Blossoms - from Free as  Bird stamp set Stampin' Up
Colouring on Birds and Blossom - watercolour pencils
Colouring on Branches - Copic alcohol pens

New Home

 No it's not me thinking of a new home - not sure I could face packing up and moving all my crafty stash 😀😀..  I have made a 'New Home' card though using a wood-mounted stamp set which I've had for some years.  Re-visiting crafty items which haven't seen the light of day for ages can be quite an interesting exercise and it is ALMOST as good as having something new to spur the mojo into action.  Naturally being an old stamp set there were no dies to match and not even a punch, or if there was I didn't purchase it so all the little pieces were stamped, fussy cut and assembled into a little scene.  Started with a cream oval die cut and used a freebie texture stamp to make some 'ground' and a little touch of grass before popping the houses and trees in place.  Raided the scrap boxes for some other pieces of card and that's it - a New Home card made.

I hope you all remembered to put the clocks forward - it will be nice to have  more daylight each afternoon/evening now all we need is some warmer temperatures.

Houses and Trees - Good Neighbours stamp set Stampin' Up (long retired)
Ovals - Tonic dies
Fancy Border - die from The Works
Sentiment - freebie stamp, Stampin' Up die and fussy cut card scraps

Window Chick

 While having a bit of a sort out in the craft room I came across a box of miscellaneous card blanks, most of which I've had for a long time and which I decided should be used up before I think about buying any more.  There were a few left over from a pack of three-fold cards where the centre layer has windows cut out for mounting maybe cross stitched pieces or even Iris Folding (remember that??).  Anyway what I did was cut one of the cards into three, then die cut the window panel to a suitable size to fit my regular card blanks.   For this one I've stamped and die cut various chick related elements and built up a little scene in and around the four apertures, layered it onto a piece of green striped DSP to make what I think is quite a fun card.  I must say cutting and assembling the sweetcorn is a tad on the fiddly side but I don't mind doing that sort of thing and it certainly passes the time quickly.

Chicks etc - Hey chick stamp set with matching die set from Stampin' Up
Picket Fence - die from a Sizzix set