Although I do occasionally use a sketch to get started on a card it isn’t my usual mode of card making. For some reason I found this one particularly challenging which meant it took me a while to make it. I began yesterday afternoon and couldn’t figure out what to do but decided to build it layer by layer. First the pp was cut and added then I matted the white patterned piece on which I scored some diagonal lines. Once this layer was added I used the small piece of pp left over to add the vertical layer. From there I was stumped and decided to leave it overnight so I could think about it. On returning to it this morning I decided on white squares matted the same as the white layer and again got stuck. After an hour dog walk and lunch I had the idea of making it into a new home card, as I remembered some friends have just moved. The little house is something I created on the computer as I don’t have any stamps of buildings. I coloured it and added glossy accents on the windows. I also had the puffy key sticker in my stash so that was added on the side. Using two stamp sets one by Unity Stamps and another, I’m not sure which company, I stamped the envelope and the sentiment. Added these layers to the card front with the smaller sentiment strip underneath. Now that it is finished I can’t see why I found it so challenging in the first place – lol.

When making my initial entry for the challenge at Perfectly CAS I also had the idea to make this one. It also fits the Sweet Stampin challenge so is my 2nd entry there as well. I used one of the stamps from my new Stamping Village set, added some colour and then added the frame. The sentiment came from a different set made by GKD that was on my desk and I like the font. A very simple card to which I may add some bling before I send to anyone.

I had been wanting to try making some graphic type card such as this for a while using stamps, but I don’t have enough of the right sizes to make it work so I settled for using die cut frames. I laid them out on a blank piece of paper so I could get the pattern right and not get glue all over the card front. Once they were glued together I then added the entire piece to the card front. My original plan was to leave it pretty much as a graphic but when I saw the new Sweet Stampin challenge I thought maybe adding a cute image would work. Using a Divinity Design stamp set and die I stamped and coloured the little elephant and glued a few extra die cuts to the back for more dimension. I added the sentiment and then played around with where the elephant would fit best. Once it was glued I added a few pearls.

I was playing around over the weekend using a new to me stamp set by GKD called Birds and Blossoms 2 and I created a panel which became this card. It was larger than you see here, but I cut it down added it to card front and then added the silver strips at the sides.

I started out with a piece of silver cs and randomly stamped the flowers and leaves in versamark then white embossed them. Using Distress Oxides I brushed in colour, blending as I went along. I spattered the card with one of the colours and then with a perfect pearl spray to get some shine. The sentiment is from some mixed media that was gifted to me and I added the silver border and went over the word in silver pen before adding it as shown. It happens to fit the theme at Global Design so I am entering it into their challenge.

I’ve been saving this card for the right challenge and the tic-tac-toe is the perfect one to upload it to. It fits the middle line straight across in every way.

As some of you know I was on a kick recently of making this style of card using a SSS stamp and die set I had bought and loved. This is actually the very first one I made and part of it came about by that happy accident of thinking – What If… I used a white card base and a silver panel cut slightly smaller. The plan was to die cut the corner and put something behind it, but instead – the what if I tried – happened. I glued the smaller piece to the card base, placed the die in the position I wanted it and then ran it through the big shot with an embossing sandwich instead of cutting. Because it was quite thick the impression came out as you see in the photo and I even had it showing on the backside too. I loved it. I had already stamped, coloured and die cut the leaves as you see here using Distress Oxides very lightly in the different hues. After gluing this piece I stamped the sentiment, adhered it and added one pink pearl.

The GKD stamp set called Sophie Pig seemed to be the perfect stamp for this challenge. Once she was stamped I masked her off to stamp the puddle. Coloured her with a combination of Inktense pencils and a copic marker. Added some clear Nuvo christal glaze over the hearts and water as well as a bit of sparkle from a Sakura gelly roll pen. Also added some black enamel for eyes, nose and hooves. Photo doesn’t catch the shine and the glitter very well but it’s great in real life.

I’ve never made one of these before and decided that it was time to try. Its not bad for a first attempt and it fits into the Anything but as Square challenge at Sweet Stamping.

I used a GKD stamp set called the Wetlands to create this and followed two different tutorials found HERE and HERE. Images were coloured with Inktense pencils and I added some shimmer to the dragonfly. It took me a while to get the wiper part correct and I’m not happy with it even now but it works and will have to do. If and when I make another I will have a better idea of how to do it. Even though it isn’t 100% I am happy with the overall result. I think I may give this to my sister for her birthday in July.

I had been playing at making some water colour backgrounds on water colour paper and in cutting it up for a different project I had this frame left over. In making this piece I had used various stencils in different inks to get the look I needed at the time. Problem was the frame was bigger than my usual card size and the sides weren’t an even match. I also had the smaller piece you see in the center left but I didn’t need to do anything to this piece. I measured a card front 6″ x 4 1/4″ to fit the frame and then played with the frame to get the sides to match the top and bottom edges. Glued it to the card front. I measured where to place the center piece and glued that as well. The die cut poppies were left from another project but one stem was missing leaving a gap. I found this piece of teal (no shine or texture) ribbon and it fit the width exactly so I played with some stamps and added the 2 sentiments in white. It didn’t take very well so I went over it with a pen and prayed it would dry and stay on. Thankfully it did and I was able to glue this piece over the poppies to fit the gap. I will make an envelope to fit this card when I eventually give it to someone. And just so you know – it was an accident that the pattern from the frame fits the center panel. Luck played a role here.

It is always nice when one can combine two challenges with one card and I managed it with this one. Don’t really need a baby card at the moment so I made this generic and it can be used for either sex if and when the time comes. The sketch worked nicely for this card too.

The pp is from one of those 6 x 6 pads but it is so old I don’t know who made it and it was the last piece. The paper ribbon is by KCompany and is another thing I’ve had forever. The dies are by Sissix and paper scraps were used for cutting. I added some clouds to the white layer using my ‘Bonnie’ cloud stencil and tumbled glass ink. The heart/turtle stamp is from SSS with sentiment from the same set. I coloured the image using Inktense pencils added a touch of shimmer to the heart. Using scrap cs I cut out several of them to glue together for dimension. Once it was added to card front I cut the sentiments out, added a tiny strip of orange paper to the edge and glued it as shown.

This card was made as a practice for a coloring class I was taking. My hubby really likes it, but I wasn’t sure I did. Anyway I played with it a bit more added a touch of sparkle to the flower stamens and some black enamel to the stems of same. That made the whole thing much better. I layered it onto some orange cs and then added it to the black card front. It is slightly crooked but to me that proves handmade so I left it that way. The stamp set is from GKD and I used copics to color it with a few pencils to emphasize some areas. The bling was added partially to cover up a spot I couldn’t erase. My tiger lilies are up in the garden with big buds on them but they need some consistent sunshine before they will be blooming.