Author: lavenderhousecreations

lavenderhousecreations

Soft Spring Colours

As You See It – Challenge #369 – Soft Spring Colours is a colour challenge this time and I’ve done my best to match them.

I started with the embossed layer using a Catherine Pooler/Sizzix folder. When done I went over the panel with Tumbled Glass ink and cut it down to the size I required. After some searching I located this stiped piece and added it as you see. Then I cut a square white piece and a smaller piece to go on top so that there would be a border showing. This piece I inked green and added them together. While it was drying I inked up another strip of white card in the blue and cut 2 small squares which I then added as you can see. With a small piece of the striped section I added that to join the 2 pieces together. With a stamp set from Inkadinkado I took a small floral, stamped it and heat set then fussy cut it. When that was done I added colour using Prisma pencils and a little bit of the green ink. This was popped up on the center striped square.

My sentiment was from some vellum sentiments I’ve had for a while and this one was beginning to curl so I decided I had better use it before it was too damaged to use at all.

I find it annoying when a photograph seems to change the colours on a card as appears to have happened here. The striped piece is actually a lot lighter in colour than it shows, but it looks much darker now. In fact the entire photo looks darker than it does in real life. I also think I should have used a different folder as this one is quite busy and I’m not sure about the card now. Oh well, it isn’t a disaster, just not quite what I imagined.

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate that you do and also any comments you may leave for me.

lavenderhousecreations

3-2-1 Recipe

Welcome to a new Something, Anything and Everything challenge #213 here at Double Trouble and the recipe is as follows: 3 of something, 2 of anything, and 1 of everything else, all from your stash. Twisted sister double dares you to add an Easter element, but using the sketch is optional.

As I’m someone who often uses up bits and pieces left over from other projects using a recipe such as this is fun. My main circle piece was created using a technique shared by Natasha Foote and the different paper scraps were cut into 3 before adding them to the left over silver die cut. I used another scrap piece to die cut the banner which I then added behind the circle. The little nest and bird are from Gummiapan and I paper pieced the red breast on the bird before adding it to the nest. Both of these were added to a vellum oval before placing on the circle. I should mention that the circles were cut with Hero Arts infinity dies but the doily is from a Gina Kay set as is the sentiment. The embellishments are ancient and are from my stash. The mirror card background is the last bit I have in this colour and I thought it worked for that layer.

I rotated the card to landscape before adding everything to the base and although it isn’t an exact rendition of the sketch at TSOT #692 it is a loose interpretation of it. Due to backlinking I cannot enter the card into this challenge, but you can if you are careful of the backlinking rule. My card has 3 circles and 3 gems, 2 images, 1 banner and 1 sentiment which includes the Easter element.

Please have fun creating and we look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery. In the meantime, thanks for stopping by, you, your time and any comments are always appreciated.

lavenderhousecreations

First Grandchild Congrats

The current challenge at Shopping Our Stash is to make a card without white. My challenge was to make a new baby card for a dragon boat team member and hubby, who have the joyful experience of becoming a grandparents for the first time. Being able to combine what I needed with the challenge was a bonus.

Its funny how one can own a die for quite a number of years and not really use it, then in one week suddenly find uses for it. I had this MFT die set on my desk and the idea came to try to make a shaker card. (I’m generally not good at these, so rarely do them). As the baby is a boy I went with some blue DSP and cut the panel. I then backed it with some packaging plastic and adhered some of the letters that were sticking up a little too much. Using 3 of the confetti dies and some scrap glitter CS I die cut the confetti. After going around the congrats layer with some foam tape strips I added the confetti bits inside and used a scrap piece of silver CS to cover it all. This layer was then added to the card front. Taking a very old wooden block stamp, I scribbled some flesh coloured alcohol ink, let it dry, then stamped the baby on top, after which I fussy cut it. The safety pin and rocking horse are from a set made by a company called Little B. Don’t think they exist anymore as this is another set I’ve had for a very long time. I coloured the rocking horse with some Sakura gelly roll pens. Unfortunately the glitter CS confetti tends to clump together and it doesn’t shake freely so another lesson learned here. Told you making these isn’t one of my talents. The inside words were generated on my computer – Between the earth and the sky above, Nothing can match a Grandparent’s
LOVE.

I guess you could say, I truly shopped my stash to make this card. It is now in the mail and I hope they like it. Many thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you and your time.

lavenderhousecreations

Rejoice

Yesterday, I spent a bit of time using up some paper scraps as my hands were a bit too sore to do very much. I wasn’t sure if I liked the end result and thought I might cut it up into flowers or something similar. Today I saw the challenge theme at Double D – (DD 3/26) EASTER/CHURCH/CROSS Challenge and decided the piece would make a pretty cross so here it is.

I put together the cross using foam tape for dimension and set it aside while I decided on my next step. A lot of crafters plan their creations ahead of time, but I don’t always do that. Instead I let the design evolve as I work. The card base was already cut and I decided on an embossed background choosing a folder from Taylored Expressions. I went over this with some Antique Linen ink. The little bird and sentiment is from an old set by GKD and I coloured the bird with Prisma pencils and a copper pen for his beak and legs. I thought he looked as if he was rejoicing. The pink bow was already tied, which was a good thing as tying one today would be beyond me, and the black heart is a leftover piece from something else. I almost ruined my background as it didn’t go on straight and I had to pull it off and try again. Working with sore hands isn’t always my best option.

In general I don’t make too many cards for the different holidays, excepting Christmas, but this year I have put together one or two for Easter. This one is too thick for mailing so will be hand delivered to one of my neighbors. She is quite religious and goes to church regularly, but I’m not into any formal religion myself.

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you and your time.

lavenderhousecreations

Winter Roses

Having seen quite a few of these eclipse style cards on line, I really wanted to try for myself. When the opportunity arrived to buy the Craft Addiction dies here in Canada, I jumped at it. So my first set is ovals, but I do have another set coming soon which is different.

Sunday Stamps has this theme: SSC382 Oval Things and as it happens I had already created this card, but not yet posted it. Sometimes the universe works in my favour. The key to using the dies this way is to ensure you have two of the exact same image and I had this paper as a partial scrap already on my desk. All I had to do was pull another sheet and line things up properly. I’m not sure I can explain it well, but there are several people on YouTube and on Pinterest who explain it or who you can follow along with. Once my design was cut I went around the back with foam tape and also carefully around the oval section so it won’t collapse. The lines are too thin to successfully add foam, but I found they are fine without. The main layer was then added to a silver card front.

My sentiment comes from Hampton Art. I fussy cut around it and added a bit of colour to the edges. I also added a couple of clear gems into the larger letters and a few very tiny ones here and there on the rose. Just enough to catch the light when the card is moved.

It isn’t often that I become enamored with a paper pad, but I do love this specific pad. There are so many beautiful images on one side and matching colours but a more marbled design on the back side. Many thanks for stopping by, your time and you are much appreciated.

lavenderhousecreations

X is for X-Ray – Black and White Only

So The Alphabet challenge has a black and white only theme and this is what I came up with. I had seen something similar on Pinterest so I’ve kind of CASE’d it. Took the idea and changed it quite a lot.

Don’t ask where the little ticket die came from. I’ve had it for a long time and probably only used it once. When Winners first opened they had a small craft section and I purchased quite a few little items but never thought to keep information on them.

To begin I cut 5 tickets in both white and black. To stretch the black to the sides for a border, I cut them down the middle and then glued. I laid them out on the layer to ensure they would fit and then glued them as you see adding the hearts back into the centers. Using a scrap piece of patterned paper I added a strip down the left side. The I cut the letters from black paper using a die set from First Edition Craft and I added them as you see.

Somehow there was a scratch mark on the layer so I covered this with the twine bow. The word birthday is from a Spellbinders set and I offset the white layer onto a black layer. The little embellishments are from an old Die-namics MFT Confetti set. I’ve never actually used this set, but it came in handy today. This card will likely go to my B.I.L later this year.

I quite like how this one turned out. It is flat enough to mail and yet still has texture and dimension. I’m on a roll with making a few masculine style cards to add to my stash. And I still have a few more ideas to work on too. Thanks so much for stopping by, I do appreciate it.

lavenderhousecreations

Frogs and water lilies

Welcome to another challenge here at Cardz4galz where Pamela is asking for a splash of green on your project. It may surprise you to know that some of my card layers are all from a tissue box that I cut up.

Using teal CS I cut and scored the base and glued the ends into the two box tunnels. I added the back layer to one of these tunnels and after fussy cutting around some of the lilies I added another layer into the centre. Another lily was fussy cut and added for additional dimension. My main front piece was stamped using an older SSS set and I masked off the frogs so I could add the water and the bullrushes. These were then coloured using different green Distress Oxides and pencils. I fussy cut this piece so the the bullrushes and frogs look like they are free standing. I also stamped, coloured and fussy cut a dragonfly which I added to a lily pad on the back layer. Before I glued this layer, I felt that the water needed more than just the stamped waves so using a pencil I added a bit of colour to it. Once it was glued I checked to make sure it would fold flat – it did – and decided it was finished. The back layer has a white layer added so there is room to write a personal message.

This is the 3rd card I’ve done using this particular style and I like the way each one looks. The fold is easy and the 3D layers really look good, especially in reality.

We look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery and hope you have fun creating.

lavenderhousecreations

Ducks in a Row?

Let me say from the outset, that I can’t take full credit for this particular design. A while back I came across a UK demonstrator, named Christine Stokes and started to follow her because I really like her work. She created a card like this one and it made me smile. Because I’m not sure the CASEing rules we have in N. America apply elsewhere, I asked for permission to use her design, which was given. Of course it has taken me months to actually use her idea, but finally here it is. And if you want to see the original go HERE.

When I was part of StampTV I used to also regularly enter challenges at The Paper Players and I’m not sure why I stopped. So for a change, I am entering this card into their current challenge. As well it fits the challenge at Allsorts so it will go there too.

Obviously, I didn’t use ducks but I did have these little chicks from Kokorosa and like Christine, I created my own words on my computer. My layout is quite similar but my saying does include a Happy Birthday greeting as I thought the little flowers the last two chicks are holding deserved that.

Once the die cutting was done I used pencils to colour them and I lifted their wings a little bit too. It took me a while to decide on my phrase, but amused myself with what I eventually came up with. As an afterthought I realize that this could quite easily have been an Easter card, but too late now. As it is I made a spelling error that I didn’t notice until after I started adding my chicks and basically had to carefully remove them so I could replace the layer with a corrected version. I did use foam tape for a little dimension. I also added an additional thin layer in yellow before adding it to the white card front.

I had fun making this one and may look for the dies that Christine used if they are still available. Thanks for joining me today, I appreciate you and your time.

lavenderhousecreations

Up, Up and Away

Right now I seem to be on a creative roll after a few weeks of not being very motivated. Many reason’s for it, but I’m glad that my brain is once again coming up with ideas. I have quite a few PP scraps lying around and I wanted to use them. Having seen a card on Pinterest I thought it was a good idea and a way to use some of them.

Then I also noticed the challenge at Just Add Ink #781…Just Add Wings! and this card was born. I knew I had a stamp set with a plane, but had to do a bit of searching as I couldn’t remember which company it was. It is from CTMH which is now no more, but I do have a few sets from its early years. The sentiment, however, is from an old GKD set.

It took me a while to get the paper scraps the way I wanted them and I made a mistake at first when I tried to glue from the bottom to the top. Started over from the top down and glued the cut pieces as you see. They were cut using several dies, some from Spellbinders and some from Kokorosa. Once I had them together I added them to a white layer which I then cut down to fit on the card front. Before doing that I stamped the clouds and the sentiment. The little plane was done on a separate piece, coloured with a mix of Prisma pencils and Sakura gelli roll pens. After fussy cutting, I added dimension with foam and then went around the entire layer with a black pen after which I glued the panel to the card front. I was dismayed to realize that I had somehow gotten a large black smudge on the plane which would not come off. So more stamping, more colouring, more fussy cutting and then glued it over the original.

Another needed masculine style card ready and I’m quite pleased with myself and with it. LOL. My hubby was complimentary when he saw it. Many thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you and your time.

lavenderhousecreations

just to say …

Welcome back to another challenge here at Double Trouble. Your recipe is to use 3 Colours from the No 3 primary colour wheel and the neutral wheel as well, 2 images and 1 sentiment. You may choose to add the dare from Twisted Sister and add a four footed animal and if you follow the sketch you may add your card to the TSOT challenge too. Be careful not to backlink if you choose to add it at TSOT.

My card incorporates more than 3 primary colours and several of the neutrals. I made my own section of PP by randomly stamping the fish bones in black, after which I added some colour using Sakura glaze pens. The second half strip is from a paper pack by GKD that I’ve had for a long time. I backed these pieces with a black layer and added it to the kraft card front.

After stamping my cats, all from the Crazy Cats by Tim Holtz, I coloured them using Prisma pencils and Gamsol. Then they were die cut using the matching dies from the set. I set them aside so I could work on the rest. I had these die cut circles left from a different project so I sponged colour using Distress Oxides 2 colours per circle. Once they were dry and I knew I liked them, I added the cats and fitted them to the other layers. Because I had already added the layers to the card front, I used a pencil mark on the two circles that overlapped and cut them on my Fiskars unit. My sentiment comes from a note pad by Hunky Dory that has pages of pre printed sentiments intended for the inside of cards. I’ve only just purchased this and it is handy as it has 120 Essential card inserts. The inside of this one says Many Happy Returns.

I’m happy with how this turned out and it was a fun one to create. We look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery and hope you have fun with the challenge.

Thanks for joining me today, I appreciate you and your time.