Now the Creative Knockouts challenges last a fortnight I get a bit more breathing space between my contributions which I must admit is a little bit of a relief.
This time the theme is Birthday Wishes and we are sponsored by All Dressed Up whose images I love.
I chose to use the image Little Scottie Dog which I was gifted by All Dressed Up. I printed it and coloured it using my Promarkers with some really pretty pastels.
I then die cut the image out.
I then went to town with the Pierced Blooms die cuts in coordinating colours.
For the background I went with Kraft cardstock and ran that through the embossing folder to give some texture. I also added some dsp in the blue as some contrast.
When I had put this together I went with a Kraft card blank and so added a mat of white and then chose my sentiment from the Fancy Phrases set.
I also added in some splatters of the pink shimmer ink and then some flower embellishments.
I also added a metallic button with some twine as the final embellishment.
So I’m writing this a little ahead of time so it is all ready for posting on Christmas Day. Wishing all my blog visitors and readers a lovely festive season.
We had a bit of a naff week as I got hit with a flu virus so everything got put off until the last minute but fortunately been feeling a little more human by Christmas Eve and so we got ready in time! But just admit I am in bed early on Christmas Eve as so exhausted!
Anyways I didn’t come on here to moan but instead to share the card I made for my hubby for Christmas as I realised I hadn’t shared it yet. I also realise the only pics I have of it in daylight are before the glue had dried on the gems so it doesn’t look it’s best but hey ho that’s how it goes sometimes!
I decided to keep it quite ‘simple’ with an embossed background and then stamped images. Even though the stamped images could be die cut I actually fussy cut them as I was in the mood for it and die cutting sometimes is difficult to line them up straight.
I stamped all the leaves from a selection of greens and then the berries from cherry cobbler and the pine cones in early espresso and soft suede. I must admit my brown inks are quite dry now though so they did stamp quite lightly.
I raised a few of the pine cones up on foam to give dimension and then the sentiment I cut into strips and added some gold paint pen to the edges to add some shine. I also dotted the gold pen around the cluster.
I finished with the clear gems which as I say I took the pic whilst the glue was still drying but the dried glue is clear so it doesn’t look as messy!
Edit… took a pic of it on display so you can see it without the messy glue.
I raised the whole panel up on foam. This is a larger card (7×7 card blank) so the card blank frames the panel well.
Ok so that is the final card for this Christmas and whilst I don’t currently feel well enough to craft at the moment I am definitely thinking ahead to what 2023 crafting might bring.
Thank you so much for joining me for my crafty exploits this year and if I get a chance I will pop back again post Christmas festivities to let you know how Christmas went and any plans I may have made.
Today I am sharing the card I made for my Dad for Father’s day even though I’ve not been able to give it to him as a result of our Covid filled household.
I made the card a few weeks ago, and would have posted it if i had known we wouldnt be soending the day together, but that wasnt the plan!
Anyways … I was hunting through my stash for the components for this card as I knew I had bought a Papermania kit many moons ago that was for Fathers Day and had barely used it. For some reason it felt like 2022 was the year to use some of it!
So the kit included 12×12 papers and some of those papers had sentiments and words on and some had various elements like tags and frames. So I decided to collage them together and also add in some textures and die cuts and stamping. The kit had also included the metal tool charms so I also added those.
I set to on fussy cutting everything out and then when I had enough elements I decided to add panels of cardstock I had embossed. I love the effect of embossing so much and rarely remember to use my folders.
Once everything was cut out (including the die cut letters for Dad which I had stacked 3 deep) I inked all the edges and the embossed panels using Vintage Photo.
Then I started sticking things down, adding foam layers to sime parts for dimension. I then took some brads and attached the charms and then added some larger brads as ‘nail heads’ on two of the frames.
I added a tiny scrap of string to the tag too.
I decided rather than use the Happy that was in the patterned paper to go with a stamped one from the Biggest Wish set.
Inside the card I created a little cluster of the paper and cut out elements with a stamped Dad. I also added some of the paper and a little panel with a cut out element to the envelope too!
Love how this came out. Lots and lots of fussy cutting and inking … but my Dad is definitely worth the effort!
Happy fathers day to my Dad, to my hubby and to all the Dad’s out there!
Wishing I was spending today with my Dad but as a result of our little run in with Covid this past week we have postponed our plans for another week to be on the safe side!
I haven’t made any Christmas cards in ages … so when I stumbled across Kendras card challenge using 6 pieces of 6×6 to make 15 cards I thought it might help spur me on and help me get started on this years cards.
Of course I forgot using an American template would lead to card sizes that aren’t standard UK sizes so I made mine as card toppers and added them to 5×7 card blanks.
Kendra provides both the cutting guides and the layout/sketches with measurements so this made stage 1 (cutting, layering and grouping together) easy. Next step was to decide how to finish each of the cards off.
I used the Painted Christmas dsp for mine …
And teamed the papers with Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Pear Pizazz and Mossy Meadow cardstock … mainly as that was what I had to hand! I also added in some of the glittery speciality paper too for some fun.
I used different embossing folders, stamp sets, die sets and punches to finish off the cards… some I added inking too, some I kept plainer.
So there you go … 15 cards made ready for December. I always make lots of cards but I then gift them to my parents and my aunties for them to use too … so it helps to get lots done in one go … they then function as a set, although each is very different!
Yes I know I already did a challenge back in July (which I didn’t quite finish) but I decided to set myself another one! This time for the next 12 weeks we have a weekly challenge and I would love for you to join me and play along. If you do join in … it will take you up to the end of November and 12 Christmas projects done before December starts!
So first up is foliage.
I used the fabulous Christmas Season stamps to create a full piece of A4 patterned paper. I did add the Very Versailles text stamp too because I couldn’t resist. I also added some splatters of the shimmer ink in both champagne and rose gold.
I then cut it up as a one sheet wonder. I chose to mount some on Polished Pink and some on Mossy Meadow. I then stamped and die cut some sentiments from the Christmas to remember set and the added elements of a pine cones and the fir tree pieces.
I then started putting the cards together.
Some I added ribbon or twine to… or both.
On some I also added the gold Holly leaf embellishments which are super cute!
I also grabbed embossing folders (Timeworn Type and Pinewood Planks) to add texture to a few of them.
Really happy with this set of cards.
So the challenge doesn’t require us to make more than one card … it just so happens that this first one I did make 7! But then I also had lots of fun making the patterned paper from those stamps.
If you do join in please comment below so I can see your cards… or add the hashtag on Instagram #christmascard2021IFCchallenge
Another crazy week has passed, possibly one of the busiest I’ve had for a few months, so once again crafting had dried up… but then on Friday a SU order arrived. So a few YouTube videos were filmed … unboxing and then tidying up!
I did do plenty of crafting yesterday and today but for projects I can’t blog about yet so I had to make this quick card for today’s blog.
I am doing some sort of creative stuff daily that I started this week … journalling. I’m sort of mixing writing journalling with bullet journalling and junk journalling all in one… fancy seeing it? Well maybe I will share that when I have a decent number of spreads… although will need to cover a fair bit of the writing up for privacy.
Anyways… as I said today I have a card I made using the Birds and Branches stamps and dies but I kept it all really simple.
First an embossed panel of some slightly shiny cardatock. I brought out the embossing by adding some Sahara sand ink and using the blending tool. So pretty and delicate.
Next I stamped and die cut three birds… Blushing Bride, Pool Party, Pistachio Pudding (I would use soft sea foam but don’t own the ink yet!).
Then stamped the sentiment along the bottom.
Finished off with a tied piece of linen thread across the whole front of the card and adhered on the inside with a piece of card.
I’m joining the Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge for another six months and decided this time to do a one sheet wonder each month…. well that’s the plan anyway!
This time I decided to use old SU paper to create all male themed cards and I managed to make 21 cards!
I used the template from Karamiasu.
I used a map based paper and then some text paper as a secondary paper to add background and to stamp some images on it.
Lots of stamps from the Creative Stamping magazine sets and some random Paperartsy and Carrabelle ones too.
Yesterday we celebrated my husband’s birthday. Given the lockdown no meals out, or partying with friends. Instead we played games, ate fish and chips for tea and watched what he wanted on the TV.
I ended up making two cards … one from me, and one from the teenager … here they are …
I decided I wanted to use the Out of this world stamps from Alpaca Pals and used loads of other alpaca pals stamps to make up the background.
I embossed and masked the little alien. Then went to town inking and stamping the background. I chose (oddly as I’ve just moved them to a further from reach shelf as I hadn’t been using them!) to use Distress inks. I really enjoyed blending the colours together to create a fun background. I splattered some water on to lift some colour too… always fun!
I coloured the little alien with promarkers and then added some splashes of shimmer watercolour.
I decided to cut the panel apart a little as when I went to add the sentiment strips it didn’t feel balanced with the alien in the middle … really love how this looked as soon as I separated the panels.
The sentiment I took some random sentiments and some alpha stamps for the 👽 one stamped them out separately using the colours of the card and then added them down the right hand side.
Inside the card I took more Alpaca Stamps to decorate the inside…
Perfect for my husband (who we decided years ago for many reasons is actually an alien! 👽👽👽
OK from the teenager a different card entirely…
I went autumnal and also included a nod to our other family member (Lucky Chuck Johnson is a hedgehog who has been in residence at the raised bed in our garden since July!)
I used a kraft card blank and then created layers of texture and different inking effects using the Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo distress inks. I did some embossing using the Pinewood planks folder. I blended inks with some masked strips. I splattered. I had great fun!
I used the same inks to watercolour the hog images (Paperartsy – Kim Dellow) which I had embossed.
The sentiment I stamped using the Claritystamps letterbox set perfect for making a personalised card.
I finished off with some doodled lines and a little tag I embossed with a gold heart.
And why did I end up having to make this? Well I bought a card from our local supermarket for her to give … but it turns out that was the one she had given him previously! Who knew? Well another reason that handmade is best… no two cards are the same! So it might have been a last minute make on her behalf (she had left it too late to make one herself!).
So happy birthday dear hubby… not the birthday we had hoped for, but still lovely to spend the day together having fun!
Another one sheet wonder to share with you, this time using am old piece of patterned paper I was gifted which has a vintage feel so I teamed it with browns and creams and used the fabulous Peace and Joy stamps and dies to decorate.
Used a similar one sheet wonder as the one I shared last month using the Merry Moose stamp set but changed up the first card as I made an error when cutting and also added the slim panel for 5 into card 3 as I made an error putting them together thinking there should have been 4 strips not 3!
I mounted each of the panels onto the Early Espresso coloured coredinations card (I’ve found a stash of this in one of the boxes in my craft room so was happy to use it again). Then created panels using cream laid paper and very vanilla cardstock.
Once again I went to town with embossing and added some ribbons from the stash on most of the cards.
The focal images of the Peace and Joy set I did in a few different ways. Either I stamped them in Mossy Meadow or Soft Suede and then added a layer of die cutting. With the very narrow dies I generally layered them so they were two or three tall. And the glimmer paper came out again just for a few bits. And yes there is glitter everywhere as a result. (I will never buy it again… so must use up my stash and get rid of it!)
Love how they all came out and think that the Peace and Joy bundle is one of my favourite ever sets for versatility. It just works so well for creating features as well as little elements such as the holly leaves which create lovely embellishments.
Creating all these cards probably only took about 3 hours if that! You can get in a nice rhythm and almost do it as a conveyor crafting session … paper and card cutting, then stamping, then die cutting and fussy cutting, then sorting layouts and choosing ribbons, then embossing, then adhering. Or at least that’s the way I did it. So ideal if you are a last minute Christmas card maker and haven’t started yet.
I can really recommend the Peace and Joy bundle. And at £42.50 for the bundle it’s not a bad price considering the versatility.
Inkyfingeredcat 