In many ways this card happened by accident. I had viewed a couple of tutorials about using up scraps, checked out a card that looked interesting but now I cannot locate it to acknowledge its creator, and I needed a masculine style card for someone. The small banner die is from an unbranded set and is so thin that it is not very useful. Having the idea to use it on scraps seemed to me a good way to get some use out of it. Initially I was going to glue each strip in staggered lines butting each piece up against another. But I had the strips in my hand, which is sore today and promptly dropped them onto the white piece. They looked kind of interesting the way they scattered so I glued them that way. The white piece is the inside of a frame I used a while ago, the notes are stick-on puffy shapes I’ve had forever and the sentiment comes from one of my first purchases from GKD, and is quite old now. When I went to glue the layer onto the gray card front, it also fell and rather than try to straighten it I decided to leave it as is. Then I went around the whole thing with a black fine pen and over that with a glitter pen.

One card for two challenges makes me feel pretty good about myself. As I incorporated the double dare the card also works for a 3rd challenge too.

It is an okay card and in a way I like it, in another I don’t. It is certainly different and with my hands being the way they are it is fortunate I could create anything at all. Thanks for stopping by.

Links to the challenge blogs:

Just Add Ink #655…Add Music! – music notes and sentiment fulfill the requirement here.

Challenge #139 “We Dare You” Masculine Project partnering with Festive Friday – Plaids, die cuts and possibly the shape of the layer qualify this one.

There was almost too much to choose from in this mood board and it took my brain a while to decide what to focus on. In the end I decided on the colours and circles. Using some PP and dies from MFT, I ended up with these 4 circles. I added them to a 5″ square card and then looked for a butterfly to add on top. I chose one from an older StampinUP set that creates a pattern on the image and used a coral ink to stamp it. Fussy cut this and added it as you see. Added a few pops of Color dots to the body and a bit of thread for the antenna. Sentiment comes from the same set and was also fussy cut. As well I added a bit of sparkle here and there with a Sakura pen. I found another tiny butterfly from some PP that I fussy cut and added at the top left corner. I think the gingham PP creates interest without overpowering so follows the mood board in a different way than using a stencil. I managed to get the card finished before the challenge ends thankfully.

The card looks complicated, but was actually very easy to put together. The hardest part was my glue bottle as it decided to clog at the fine tip and it took me ages to free it.

Thanks for dropping in, I appreciate it.

Our current challenge at cardz4galz is to make a slimline birthday card and I came up with this one. For the images I used an old stamp set by Inkadinkado along with a sentiment from Hampton Art. Dies are Hero Arts Infinity and the tiny swirls are from Crafter’s Companion. The swirls and small circles were cut from an inked background I made some time ago and was a leftover scrap. The larger background circles I already had on my desk and I inked them with Distress Oxides to give a border for the other pieces. The two lighter green circles are a paint chip and the dark green is from my stash. The background paper is from an old pad and I added a brushing of gold paste here and there to grunge it a little. Embellishments from my stash. Every circle is popped up, either on a double layer of foam or a single, so the dimension varies. I also added a little perfect pearls shimmer powder so it has a slight sheen when tilted in the light. The idea for this card came from a Pinterest upload.

I am entering the card in the TripleB challenge which calls for birds, blooms and butterflies, either all three or just one element. Mine has the butterflies but I’m not sure if seed heads qualify as a bloom?

I hope you all have a great day and thanks so much for popping in to take a look.

Well one couldn’t get easier than this card or more CAS in my world. The die is a new one from Your Next Stamp that I was looking forward to using, and the bee stamp is from Kitchen Sink received as a thank you gift with purchases. I debated using black CS for the card base but in the end went with white.

First I cut the hive section using a scrap piece of yellow CS. To ensure I kept all the pieces together I lifted it from the machine using low tack tape, added glue and then straight onto the card base. I popped the card into my Misti once glue had dried and stamped the bee in black several times. Added the sentiment which is from an MFT set called itty bitty basics and the card was done. So simple and so quick. There is another idea I had planned to try but it requires much more work and in the interest of time I decided quick and simple was best.

Thanks for stopping by, I do appreciate all of you.

I don’t play in the Krafty Chicks challenges as often as I would like, so it is nice to have a card that fits their current challenge. The embossed background is a new folder that I was given and is unbranded. I ran it through and then used a sponge to add a bit of colour over the raised bubble edges. I also edged the card with ink. The rings were cut in a group using Hero Arts infinity dies and I had done them as a test. They stayed linked together so I separated them just enough to be able to add glue and stick them onto the background. For a day or two I wasn’t sure how I wanted to use the panel but when putting some items away I found my StampinUp otter set and I thought they would look cute. I coloured them with pencils after stamping and then fussy cut the images and added them to the panel as you see. The sentiment was also cut with an unbranded banner die after it was stamped.

The past few days have been spent cleaning my craft room and doing some gardening so it is good to get back to creating for an hour or two this afternoon. And as an aside, otters look cute and are fun to watch in the wild, but they are terrible if they get onto your boat as they did recently on ours. The stink was unbelievable and it took hours to clean up the mess. We brought home the cockpit mats to clean them outside and fortunately Oxyclean worked its magic and all stains came out. Needless to say we have found way to barricade the area we think they got in.

Hope you are all enjoying some decent weather and thanks for taking a look.

Earlier I was watching a YouTube Video found on Pinterest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLUCCMPZLv0, which had various ideas for using up left over strips. This is my take on one of the ideas shown and I felt it was perfect for the colour challenge at Just Add Ink this week. In cleaning up my craft room I came across a few small card blanks that I had forgotten about and decided to use one here. Card measures 5″ X 31/2″ and the blanks came with envelopes. The word die is from MFT and the tiny hearts are from an infinity set by Hero Arts cut in the same colours. I kept the card as simple as possible because the stripes make it busy enough. I quite like it and hope you do too.

Thanks for stopping by, it is appreciated more than you know.

Just Add Ink has a Choose Two challenge and as I had this sponged piece left over from my frame card I decided to use it here. I also had the stamp set out and this little banner stamp spoke to me. Set is from The Stamping Village and is by LDRS Creative. Embellishments are Studio Katya I think. I kept it really simple and only added some Nuvo Crystal drops to the banner and the balloon.

For me this card is unusually bare and it is quite small too, but I like it. A good way to use up an inked piece.

Thanks for stopping by – it is appreciated.

When I started this card yesterday I had something slightly different in mind – then I messed up the entire thing because I forgot that the flower centers hadn’t dried and I smeared it everywhere. The air was colourful around here – LOL. At first I wasn’t sure if I could fix it so I left it overnight and sure enough this morning I figured out how to rescue it.

The puzzle strip hadn’t been fully glued down around the edges so I carefully cut off the messed up top and bottom part and basically started over. The two small flowers floating above and below the puzzle piece were easy to remove from the messed up panel so I was able to use them again as shown here. I also used a tiny fussy cut butterfly to cover up another area. Flowers are a die from Memory Box called Layered Impatiens. Sentiment is from a GKD incentive set and was fussy cut so it would be small. I doubled up a few of the flowers after adding a hint of pink to them. I hadn’t intended to use any dry embossing in my original idea but decided to add it to this version and the folder is from Tim Holtz. I can’t remember where the puzzle die is from and I sponged 3 different pinks over a panel before die cutting. Inks are Distress Oxides, Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet and Worn Lipstick.

The card works for 3 challenges AAA Cards, Fourseasons and CYHTP.

Thanks for taking a look, it is appreciated.

I think this card works for three challenges which I will list at the end, but I followed the recipe at As You See It for the general idea. I also CASE’d a frame done by one of the DT’s (Deborah Wheeler) as I liked it a lot. She used a different die and colours but the idea came from hers. The challenge at JUG’s is a mood board and I obviously used the colours from one of the images and the one at Double D is flowers. The main stamp set is from GKD and was gifted to me by a treasured stamp buddy. There are a couple of images that are from other sets. I took my photo and then realized I had forgotten one of the ingredients so I quickly added a sequin bow and took another photo. The die cut butterfly is from Crafters Companion and the fussy cut smaller one is from some DSP by StampinUp and I added a tiny bit of sparkle to both. The frame die is unbranded and I had issues with the last cut piece. Why a die cuts beautifully for a few and then terribly for one boggles my mind. Anyway suffice to say that I was able to hand cut the spots that weren’t’ cut through and then stacked the die cuts together to get a bit of dimension. The sentiment was initially stamped onto the layer but I didn’t check it carefully enough and the frame ended up covering the top word. I was going to float another piece over the top but I didn’t like it so in the end I cut off the missing word and added it alone. All in all I like the card which always a bonus.

Thanks for stopping by – it is appreciated.

For a long time I have been wanting to try the tissue paper background technique and I finally found time to play. I made quite few backgrounds with this technique but haven’t used them all as yet. I decided on this one for the Cardz 4 Galz inspiration idea card. It is a very strong coloured background but so pretty with the white die cut added on top.

To do the technique I crumpled up tissue paper and without smoothing it too much, (I wanted the wrinkles). I glued it to some scrap card stock. As I glued it down I kept wrinkling the tissue so a few small ridges occurred. When the glue was dry I used Colour Burst powders and a spritz of water to blend them with this result. After the colour had dried I took some gold paste on my finger and gently added it to the ridges here and there.

The die cut was cut down to fit and then glued on top of the background. Die is from Stamplorations. I had the gold frame circle leftover and added a thin sentiment strip behind it. Sentiment from Itty bitty Basics by MFT. Using some fine thread I added some to the layer winding it round and round until I felt there was enough and then I tied a small bow. Also added some thread to the bottom of the card for more interest. I kept the sentiment very simple and small because this is a busy card. For the same reason I’ve not added any additional embellishments.

Thanks for dropping in to take a look and I wish you a beautiful day. Your comments are appreciated and welcome.