Allsorts Challenge #788

 Just about made it to catch up with the latest Allsorts challenge where they are looking for **Romantic Occasions** but my card this time will be an *Anything Goes* option.  That said, I do think that these two owls could well be used for any romantic occasion with a suitable sentiment.  I cut a square of cream card slightly smaller than the card  blank and then cut off the lower section using a curvy die.  This section was then embossed which gives a 'grounding' effect for the two stamped and die cut owls.  The words were added using a stamp set which I've had for many years

Owls - stamps and matching dies from Gummiapan
Sentiment - from a Joanna Sheen owl stamp set
Curvy die - Lawn Fawn
Embossing - unmarked embossing folder from my stash

Christmas in July

 The Stamping Sensations challenge this month is slightly different because the main theme is **Anything Goes** with the alternative choice of **Christmas in July**.  As you will see I've gone for the second option with this 'fractured' card.  The image was stamped and coloured with Copic alcohol pens and I've used some seasonal paper for the background and toning strips of red card for the effect.  As usual there are lovely prizes featuring stamps which will come into their own for later in the year.

Background - downloaded design from Buddly Crafts
Stamp - Peace on Earth from Cuddly Buddly 2008 - going back a bit!!

Snippets Playground #484

 There's a new challenge and another lovely prize in the Snippets Playground where I'm sure most people know this is where we are encouraged to use up some of our snippets  which always seem to be left over from each project.  Quite a lot of smaller snippets used for this card showing a sunny scene featuring a windmill.  Everything used here apart from a card blank came from my ever-growing pile of snippets.  No matter how many I use up the pile never seems to diminish 🙄 but it is fun going through them to find suitable pieces.  It's also enjoyable going through my various die sets to seek out items to build up an interesting scene. Mainly coloured card snippets used apart from the tulips which were white to start with.

Windmill, Flowers and Bicycle - die set from Amazon
Fence and Sack - from a retired SU die set
Clouds and Sun - from magazine freebie die sets
Background - larger snippets of printed papers

Leaves

 Here is the second leafy card which I said I'd share, this time using a different set of dies although, again, I've used some more of my shaving foam technique card.  Some over stamping onto the card before die cutting the leaves and adding gilding flakes afterwards.  This card actually came about because I'd been playing with different ideas using some shiny gold washi tape which I'd adhered to a strip of white card before embossing which has toned the shine down so that it's not quite so 'in your face'.  I finally decided to trim it on the diagonal, adding the leaves and a simple sentiment for this CAS card.

Sentiment - from a set of peel-off words which came free with a magazine I think
Leaves - Leafy Fragments die set from Sizzix
Embossing Folder - another magazine freebie from some time ago

Way to Grow

 The theme for Allsorts challenge this week is **Way to Grow** or of course there is the **Anything Goes** option.  I've chosen to use a stamp featuring meadow grasses and flowers all of which will be flourishing in this lovely weather.  I was lucky to have won a voucher recently as a challenge prize and this stamp was one of the ones I selected.  Stamped onto a die cut circle of DSP and layered onto some more pieces cut from the same pad so that everything tones nicely. A tiny punched dragonfly was added to the sentiment to echo the one in the stamped image

Flowers - stamp from Crafty Individuals
Papers - from Prima Nature Garden collection (from 2012 probably no longer available)
Sentiment - computer generated cut with die from Stampin' Up (retired)

Fun Card

 I have a fun card to share today which was inspired by one made recently by Chrissie Stokes although I've used my own layout with dies from my collection.  Three different cow head dies were used along with a music die.  The wood effect was achieved by stamping onto a piece of light brown card.  Each cow was cut three times - once in each colour and then layered together - a bit fiddly to do but worth the effort I think.  Sentiment was produced on the computer and die cut using a stitched strip die (extended to fit).

Cows - dies from Gummiapan
Wood grain effect - stamp from Stampin' Up (retired)
Music - unbranded die

Eclipse Technique

 I was inspired to have a go at an eclipse card when reading some recent posts from Lesley who has shown some lovely versions of this technique.  I've used a piece of floral DSP and dies from two different sets to achieve this card.  There are several ways of going about this and plenty of videos on YouTube.  This is probably one of the simpler versions but effective nonetheless.  The eclipsed word was die cut once from DSP and three times from the pale yellow card then stacked together.  I doubled up on the Birthday word using white card.

Happy word - die set from Julie Hickey
Birthday word - die set by Britannia
DSP - from Stampin Up Dainty Delight (possibly retired)