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Celebrating Twins

Made for the ModSquad challenge to use patterned paper and also for a friend whose daughter has had twins. I cut out a large heart for the background and then using a Spellbinder die called Layered Happy Birthday, I cut out some balloons from other PP and added them to the heart. Using an unbranded double stitch rectangular die I cut the main panel and added a small scrap of marbled paper on top. I fussy cut two matching little bears from another small piece of PP, after stamping them and colouring in certain parts. I popped them up onto this and added a small fussy cut fairy above. Stamped the sentiment which I also fussy cut out. Added a few small gems here and there. Stamps and card stock all from Gina K. Designs my main go to place for ideas and purchases.

Featured lavenderhousecreations

Heart Bloom – My sentiments Exactly challenge.

Used another of my gifted stencils to create this one. First brushed colour in circles using distress oxides. Sprinkled a bit of water and let dry. Using Mowed lawn I sponged through stencil to get design. When dry I added nuvo glimmer paste through stencil. I used a versamark pen and ruler to draw a line around edge of card stock and then added an old glitter embossing powder on top. heat embossed to give the shine at edge. Added sentiment to a piece of vellum and heat embossed in black. Two black gems added to each end. added entire piece to turquoise sea card stock.

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A new beginning

I’ve been thinking about creating a blog for over a year now and am finally getting around to actually doing it. In order to showcase some of my cards I needed a place to upload them and display them for others to see so here is my first card for the year.

This card has been created for the monthly challenge at Gina K. Designs. We have to showcase a sentiment and cannot use others stamps on the card.

I stenciled Distress Oxides in several pinks using a lovely hand made heart stencil given to me by a great on line friend. I first masked off the area where the sentiment heart is. I stenciled the butterflies using another stencil from the same friend. I stamped the sentiment onto the die cut heart and traced over it with a gelly roll pen to add a bit of sparkle. I popped it up slightly offset over a black heart which I then glued in the masked off space. Added a few tiny bling gems in places. I added main panel to a black piece of card stock and then adhered it to the card front.

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Seize the Birthday #326-Feature an Animal

I sure hope my sheep image is front and center enough for this challenge. The image and sentiment came from Art Impressions and I used watercolour pencils after heat embossing it. I did stamp the image on water colour paper in order to be able to use water colour pencils.

The oval aperture was cut using a CraftAddictions die set and I added some watercolour to the die cut oval, but then decided to add a rub on transfer from 49 and Market on top. All the leaves came from an older Hero Arts kit and were water coloured as well. I couldn’t find the die set I originally planned on using, which would have been more in keeping with the transfer, but in the end I quite like the quirkiness of having jungle leaves with a sheep and pine branch image. Its ridiculous but amuses me. And the sheep image is in itself quirky and fun.

Foam tape was used on the top layer to lift it from the oval shape below and to allow room for adding the jungle leaves. The stitched oval was added flat, but I did add dimension behind the sheep so the card has a 3D look and feel.

The card will be added to Seize the Birthday for their current challenge. Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you, your time and any comments you may leave for me. Hope you all have a great weekend. It is Victoria Day here in Canada, with many families enjoying an additional day with family.

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Beside the Sea Vacation Time

It seems a couple of challenge blogs have a water or beach type scene as their challenges at the moment. When I first created my post for the As You See It challenge, my original intention was to do something similar to this post, but my brain went in a totally different direction that day. In the meantime the Card Concept came up with a new challenge that was nautical in nature and my brain went back to this idea. I think my card fits into their Clean and Layered definition. And because I used a stamp set from GKD that I’ve had forever and not used in recent years, I dragged it out to use here and that qualifies the card for the challenge at The Neglected Stuff. Believe it or not, the sentiment stamp had never seen ink until today.

The small gold squares were leftover pieces from a post I did a while ago and my new Memory Box nested squares arrived the other day, so I chose one slightly smaller than these and using some scraps I die cut the next layer. I added them together and set aside while I did the next few steps. Taking a wave folder from StampinUp I embossed the white layer and cut it down so it was slightly smaller than the card front. Then I carefully added the squares doing my best to keep them centered and straight. Once ready I added it to the card front. Then using a few stamps from the set, I stamped the fish and star fish using Black Soot ink and heat embossed clear, doing the same with the sentiment. I coloured these images with Prisma pencils using an alcohol blending pen to smooth out the colours. Once fussy cut I added them as you see. I felt the fish needed a bit extra so I die cut some seaweed using another Memory Box die set. I matched the sentiment piece to the others using a scrap piece of the same gold CS. The tiny embellishments were added and the card was complete.

When taking the photograph I had some issues with how the light was on the card and I can see here that the embossing isn’t as visible in the picture as it is in reality. This 3D folder has quite a visual impact usually.

Thanks for spending time with me today, I appreciate that you take the time to look and comment.

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Happy Circles

Welcome to our latest challenge at Cardz 4 Galz, and the challenge theme has been chosen by me. I will also choose the winners when the time comes. The theme is anything with circles.

I’ve always loved purple and gold/yellow together and as I also wanted a feminine style card these are the colours I chose. Starting with Hero Arts infinity circle dies and a silver patterned scrap piece of Purple CS I die cut 5 circles. With another slightly smaller die and gold scrap I cut another 5. My Scrapbook.com alphabet dies were located and I die cut the letters from some silver CS.

I went on the hunt for an old die that had the tailors dummy outline with the corset piece in the middle. I don’t know which company, but based on how long I’ve had it, I’m sure it is one of three, Spellbinders, Sizzix or Memory Box. The birthday word is from another ancient set by Sizzix. As you can see I used some yellow CS to cut these pieces. The tailors dummy piece was a bit too large for my purpose so I cut it down and used only a portion of the stand, adding the corset on top. I also dry embossed the corset piece so it has dimension and interest. I lost the point for the i in the word so I used a small StampinUP enamel heart instead. I used a ruler to ensure the larger circles were properly aligned as I glued them down and deliberately offset the gold ones on top just a bit.

Not a difficult card to make thankfully and now it is your turn. We look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery and above all, hope you have fun making them. Many thanks for stopping by, you are appreciated.

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“It’s a Wheelie Cool Day”

Welcome to challenge #216 here at Double Trouble and the recipe this time is as follows: Thing 1, 3-layers, 2 shapes and 1 image. Thing 3 is to include at least one wheel, Cam and/or gears. Thing 2 is a double dare to use the sketch at TSOT and to enter your card there. If you are entering into the TSOT challenge be careful not to back link.

To make my card, I pulled out a Spellbinders set that came in the Weekender kit last year and using various coloured bits of scrap card stock I die cut everything. Once the pieces were cut I assembled my sun. To give my sun some eyelids I cut the image twice and turned the other piece upside down and glued it behind. Then I added all the other pieces. It is fiddly work and needs tweezers but is fun nevertheless. I set my sun to the side and stenciled my background using an older stencil (can’t remember the brand) using 3 different inks. Initially I wasn’t sure what to pair it all with and then I remembered that I had some golfing images shared with me, from a stamping buddy. The golf cart and the sentiment seemed to fit the bill so these are the ones I chose. The sun is big and detailed so I didn’t want to add anything too much as I felt it would be way too busy to look at. The sentiment appeals to my weird sense of humour.

Due to the timing of our challenge my card cannot be entered at TSOT. We look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery and trust you have fun creating. Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate that you do as I know how busy people can get.

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Surfer Girl

The Beachcombing challenge at As You See It #372, lends itself to various interpretations.

I too live in beautiful British Columbia on Vancouver Island to be precise. Anything to do with water and beaches is big around here and in West coast Tofino people surf year round. I decided to go with the surfing idea and this card is the result.

It started with the scrap piece of PP that looks like water and then I used an unbranded die to cut the sand. I added a bit of colour to the sand using some blending and a stamp from Crafters Companion. Then I added the 2 pieces together and glued to the card front. I pulled out an older die set from Hero Arts and die cut the surf board and the lady surfer. Using alcohol pens and a Prisma pencil I added colour to both and popped them up with foam tape. The foiled sentiment is from Open Studio. I keep forgetting I have these and I’ve now deliberately left them on my table so they are front and center.

This card came together quite quickly and I’m happy with how it turned out. Thanks for spending time with me today, you are appreciated more than you realize.

lavenderhousecreations

Under the Sea Birthday Greeting

Although the Inspo board is more about florals it is also about watercolouring at Double D Watercolor Challenge and I chose to make mine an underwater scene.

Firstly I took a piece of watercolour paper and some pretty ColourArt blue and green shimmer water colours and I added the colours in a kind of gradient. When it was dry I took a Memory Box 3D folder and ran it through my machine. I then took some different gold and silver pastes (no idea of the brand) and highlighted the little fish and the octopus to make them stand out more. I decided to use some gilding wax on the bubbles and on the octopus and heat set it. I felt it needed a bit more so I used a couple of mica sprays but I think I went overboard as I have more than I really wanted. The little turtles are on canvas and were already fussy cut so I added some foam dimension on the back and placed them. To my dismay, I realized I had added them both upside down and getting them off was quite the challenge. Luckily no serious damage to the card, but their placement isn’t quite what I envisioned as I was stuck with putting them back to cover up the original glue spots. As well, I had no idea that canvas frays in a similar way to fabric, so playing around with them more than necessary was going to ruin them altogether. Oh well, such is life on occasion. The foiled sentiment is from Open Studio. I kind of like the end result but what I imagined and what I got is quite different.

Thanks for stopping by, you, your time and any comments are appreciated.




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Fun Fold – Looks like an M Shape when Upright

closed and flat

Earlier in the week I was testing out a 3D folder to ensure which was the raised side versus the debossed side before I used the coloured card stock for the specific card I was working on. As the embossing was quite pretty on the test piece I decide I would use it in a project and this is what I came up with. I had seen a card like this on Pinterest and I followed it to Suestampfield.com where I could see her create it. I figured out the measurements, because paying for a tutorial in US dollars makes no sense to me, and this is my version of one of her examples. The folder is an unbranded one, the papers are all StampinUP as is the circle die cut. The sentiment die was a gift and I don’t know the brand, and the florals are decoupage that came in a kit by Crafters Companion. I had them put together for a while and decided this card would be a good way to use them.

These cards look complicated but they are actually much easier than we imagine and I enjoyed making this one. The back of the card is okay for writing a personal sentiment, but one could enhance it with some stamping if desired. This card fits into the current challenge at CYHTP and includes the twist of flowers.

Thanks for stopping by, you, your time and any comments you may leave are always appreciated.

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Bee Happy

Challenge #275 here at cardz 4 galz is all about bees this time and Dawn will be the one choosing the winners.

In my personal stamp collection I haven’t had much in the way of bees, just few odd stamps here and there. But in the local dollar store I did come across this particular stamp set and thought it might be useful. The challenge with these types of stamps is the poor quality of the impression. If you press too hard they squish and move. As well they don’t come with matching dies, so I may invest in a better set later this year.

I stamped the honeycomb directly onto the card front, moving the stamp across it until it was filled. On a separate piece of CS, I stamped the sentiment, which I find cute, and then I cut it with a die from Sizzix. After that I went around most of the sentiment with a Sakura gold glitter pen and I also coloured in the bee bodies with Prisma pencils. This was then popped up with foam tape. I decided to add a few more bees to the honeycomb and used the gold sparkle on their wings. I liked how it looked so went through the whole honeycomb with the gold so it glistens similar to real honey. You can just see the sparkle in the photo, but it more obvious in reality.

A very simple card but it works and can be used in different ways depending on what I write inside. We look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery and hope you have fun creating. Many thanks for stopping by, it is appreciated.

lavenderhousecreations

3-2-1 Recipe

Welcome to the new challenge here at Double Trouble recipe #215. The recipe is as follows: 3-Layers and card base counts here, 2 shapes or images, 1 stenciled and/or embossed element. Thing 3 by twisted sister is to include flowers if you wish, and Thing 2 is the double dare for you to add your creation to the TSOT Sketch #694 challenge. When you do this, be aware of the backlinking rule.

My card has the 3 layers, one of which is also a stenciled layer. I used a Color Box stencil and some TCW Stardust butter in champagne for this. I bought 2 containers of these butters earlier this year and when I opened the rose gold one, I discovered it was as hard as rock. I no longer have the receipt for the purchase so cannot take it back to the art store. Anyone with any ideas of how to soften it please share.

The PP was on my desk as I had used it recently for something else so I decided to put the two together and then add them to the card base. The image is from Wild Rose Studio and I stamped it then coloured with Prisma pencils. This was then fussy cut. I did two of the flowers and shaped a bit when I put them together. As well I used an alcohol blending pen to smooth out the colouring. The Scrapbook.com sentiment was another stamp I still had on my desk and I quite like it so decided to add it to a Hero Arts die cut heart giving me my second shape. The heart was coloured with the same pencil I used on the flower. It was at this point that I realized I hadn’t quite gotten the edges accurate when I added the layers and it bothered me. To fix it, I used a border die (can’t remember which company) and using a scrap piece I cut the hearts. Instead of using the actual border, I used only the tiny hearts and glued them down the side.

All in all I’m quite pleased with the end result. It is loosely based on the sketch, but I cannot enter there due to the backlinking rule. We look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery and above all hope you have fun creating. Thanks for joining me today, I appreciate you and your time.

lavenderhousecreations

Stripes and Florals

Aren’t I lucky as I seem to be on a roll and managed another twofer before stopping for the day. The Paper Players is a PP783 – A Sketch Challenge from Stef and Sunday Stamps is SSC384 Pastel Portraits and I combined the two.

My Crafters Companion set (from a kit) seems to live on my desk lately and I’ve not used all the stamps in the set as yet. So I took the largest floral stamp and using the colours from the challenge stamped 3 flowers and heat set them clear. After trimming this layer down a bit I looked for some PP that would fit down the side as per the sketch. Then I stamped the butterfly, from the set, in Worn Lipstick and heat set it before fussy cutting. I’m not sure why the butterfly looks more red than pink in the photo. This was then added using foam tape. Somehow I managed to smudge a section in the main layer with yellow, which I didn’t see until after I glued everything to the card front. To hide the error I stamped the sentiment, also from the set, fussy cut around it, after I had heat set this clear as well.

It is nice to get another card done, considering that I’m still not feeling as creative as I know I can be. Sometimes just getting one or two done seems to kick start the creative flow, at least it does for me.

I’m off to get ready to go to dinner, which I’m looking forward to. We haven’t seen these friends recently as they’ve been away so we’ll have a good catch up I’m sure. Many thanks for stopping by, you are appreciated more than you know.