Pamela has chosen the theme challenge here at MMM as B is for …. and as you can see I chose the theme of baking. As it happens one of my recent requests for cards was for Father’s Day and this is the 2nd card I’ve done in that vein. In this case my friend’s step father is into baking and cooking. As I don’t have any stamps in this theme I asked to borrow from a good friend, who was into StampinUp, and this card is made using one of her sets called Apron of Love, including dies. The sentiment, however is from CTMH. PP is from my stash.

On Instagram there was a card showing this fold by Purple Girl Crafts and fortunately she also created a YouTube video tutorial, which is what I followed. I did get a bit confused at one point, but kept going back to the video until I figured it out. I am beyond thrilled at how it turned out and am excited to deliver it, along with 3 other cards to the friend who requested them.

The trickiest part of this card was the scoring and folding but the look is so different that it was worth the fiddling. I die cut the images I wanted to use and added them as you see. On the inside I added a white piece for the personal message, although the video had PP there, with a message section on the back. I tried to keep the PP generic as it is for a man, but I can imagine this with pretty florals for a feminine version. Before returning the stamp set, my intention is to stamp all the images a couple of times as well as die cut them so I can keep them for later use.

We hope to see your cards in our gallery soon. Have fun being creative and thanks for stopping by. I appreciate all of you.

Several things inspired this card. First the colours at Color Hues, second the masculine style at Sisterhood of Crafters, third the sketch at AAA and last, a use your scraps tutorial by Natasha Foote. I made a background piece using two different styles of blue and white scraps, one was striped and one polka dots but due to the additional circles the polka dots don’t really show. Anyway, I die cut the apertures using a scallop die set from Sizzix and added the background behind them. Then taking a die from a StampinUp set I die cut the smaller circles. The stamp set is from Newton’s nook with two other stamps coming from a GKD set. After stamping the images, I coloured them with pencils and some glitter Sakura pens and using a thin foam I added them to the center of the apertures. I quite like how this one turned out as it is effectively simple in design.

I shall enter it into the following challenges: Color Hues # 88 Blue and Yellow, https://thesisterhoodofcrafters.blogspot.com/, AAA Card Challenges #266: Sketch

Thanks for stopping by, your time is appreciated as are any comments you may leave me.

Challenge number 226 is all about heels and handbags and as I’ve been in a fun fold mood lately, I took it literally and made a handbag. Having seen an image similar to this one on Pinterest I followed it to the link so I could have a closer look. There isn’t a tutorial, but the shape seemed simple enough so I made my own design getting a similar look. First I went searching for some PP that I thought would work and I found the heels. I resized it on my computer and printed onto some CS. Because the CS is light weight I added a second piece on the inside so the card is stronger. Taking a border die by Spellbinders and some PP, I cut the edge of the PP as you see. It was paper rather than CS so I folded it in half first and both sides are the same. Then I took a large circle die along with a slightly smaller one and die cut so I had a frame. This was folded in half and glued giving me a handle. To attach it, I measured where it would sit and made small slits in the border piece on the fold line. When the handle was pushed through I added glue to hold it all in place and then glued over the top of the bag on the fold line. Two small circle die cuts made the button. After showing it to my hubby, we discussed whether I should add a sentiment and his suggestion was to use something generic and curved in silver, so it is there but not obtrusive. As I have a set from a Spellbinder stamp club release that has all curved stamps I used the Celebrate one with VersaMark and then heat embossed in silver. In the future I can add other sentiments inside the card pertaining to which celebration I choose.

I’m actually quite pleased with the result and it wasn’t a difficult card to make. I honestly didn’t measure a thing, just eyeballed the angles and cut where I thought was right.

We look forward to seeing your interpretation of this challenge in our gallery. Have fun! Thanks for stopping by, it is appreciated.

Last year I received a card with this circle image and I felt it was too nice to throw away. Because my hubby does a lot of his own framing he has two mat cutters and one does circles and ovals. The circle is a large one and I don’t have any dies this size so my hubby did the cutting for me. I decided to try turning it into a shaker card, a technique I don’t do very often. I used a protective film bag and added some PP to which I had added some die cut trees. These are from StampinUp and I used a white one and a mirror card one, and two small ones, with blue trim on them all. Once the piece was in the bag I added some tiny glitter stars and a few sequins then sealed it shut. After running tape around the edges I adhered it behind aperture and added the original circle over the top front. It looks better in person than on the photo as I found it very challenging to get a good photo of it. The sentiment is from the same set that goes with the trees.

I think it was a good idea to use the store bought piece this way and still use my own creativity to make the card mine. It fits the challenge at Peace on Earth so I’m adding it there.

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you all and also your comments.

It is unlikely that I shall require a wedding card anytime soon, so initially I was a bit stumped. Although I do keep my cards handy, I don’t like to have too many that aren’t likely to be used and I already have at least five that are wedding or anniversary related. After thinking about it, I decided to make something that can be used more generically, but would still be appropriate for a wedding and I came up with this. I had seen a card with floating hearts some time ago and thought it was a great idea. At the time I didn’t make a note of the creator, but I believe I saw it on GKD’s Facebook group. The card began with me cutting 3 layers of the heart chain so I could stack them together and I used a SSS die for this. Once I had them glued I set it aside and continued with the rest. Using an unbranded rectangle set I die cut the aperture using a shimmer white CS. Then I used the same CS for the actual note card. It needed something behind the hearts so I took a stamp set I’ve had for a long time, all wedding related sentiments, and using just the Congratulations, I stamped it several times in Versamark and heat set in silver. The set is from My Sentiments Exactly Ltd. Using some tape I attached the heart strip across the frame cutting off any excess at the side. After adding 2 layers of foam tape around the frame I attached the entire piece to the card front. The little extra heart is there to cover up a few embossed lines that extended too far up the card front. Then I added the pearls from my stash at the corners and called it finished. It has more impact in reality than it does on the photo. I’m not a good photographer, but if I had to wait for my hubby to do it, the challenge would be over.

Thanks for stopping by, and I appreciate both your time and any comments you make. Have a great weekend everyone.

After a surprise win at Seize the Birthday, I get to be a guest designer and have to say I am thrilled to be guesting for such a good challenge blog site. The challenge is about using Metallics and I took it literally and actually used a thin piece of copper metal to create my focal panels. I had enough of it to do 2 cards so version 2 will show up later in the post. The idea came from here and I basically followed the tutorial to create my own pieces. Using StazOn jet black I swiped the pieces and left them to dry overnight before embossing and I used a brown version after all the embossing was done. I chose a folder from Tim Holtz called Mechanics 3D and used 2 sections of it to make my impression into the metal. I also used another folder on the gold layer by Sizzix. My embossing powders were in gold, silver and a mix of copper and ultra thick and I heat embossed each one in between until I was happy with the end result. Although I like both, the preferred one is version number 1. My gold layer was a bit too gold so I toned it down some by swiping over it with a Distress brown ink and I edged it with the same ink and a copper pen. For anyone trying this technique, be careful with the metal, it gets hot and the edges can be sharp. My sentiment is a vertical greeting from GKD, probably one of my first purchases from her, and used often since I acquired it. Because I didn’t want to detract from the focal panel I used a very light embossing powder by Seth Apter called Ancient Amber. It shows up better in person than on the photo but it is there. My hubby is really intrigued with these cards and wants to photograph them. They are great as masculine cards, but I’m sure a woman would enjoy receiving one as well.

I’m really pleased with the end result and have some smaller pieces of metal to play with. I wonder if I can cut a butterfly from one? Probably have to do the cutting first so it doesn’t flatten out the impression of a folder.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you get to play with metallics and join in the fun at Seize the Birthday.

The dies I used here are two of the first ones I ever acquired. The butterfly has been used a lot, but the photo frame not so much. I don’t know which brand, but most likely Memory Box or Sizzix. Once I had cut the frames I used a patterned vellum and cut 6 butterflies and attached them together so they were doubled. The body was cut from an inked scrap to which I added some Stickles glitter. I used a sponge and some Tattered Rose and Seedless Preserves ink to add some colour to the frames after which I sprayed with my shimmer spray. Taking a piece of shimmer CS I ran it through using a StampinUp Sequins folder and then I added a little ink to the raised parts before adding it to the note card front. When the frames were dry, I added them on angles and then added the butterflies as you see. The sentiment is from Kokorosa. It is on my desk so being lazy and because I like the font too, I keep using it . I didn’t quite get my placement right with the frames because my hands are sore and I dropped one which of course ended upside down making a mess. It left me with no choice but to cover up the mess. I’m quite pleased with how this one turned out considering the oops.

I’m entering this into the following challenges:

Thanks for stopping by, your time is appreciated.

This card began as an experiment as I tried something just out of curiosity. I knew I wanted flowers in teal and coral but I also wanted shine so I took a scrap piece of silver mirror CS and added alcohol inks in those colours to it. I also tried swiping inks and then adding heat embossing in clear but that was less successful. Anyway I took the Memory Box die called layered Periwinkle and cut the flowers. Spent a few minutes curling the petals before putting them together. While the glue was drying I cut the card base and layers and adhered together. The white layer was run through with an embossing folder that is like bubbles, but it was gifted and didn’t have any labels so I can’t attribute to any company. I die cut two frame circles and added them on top before gluing to the rest. I wasn’t happy with one embossed section so I added a small teal strip to hide what I didn’t like. Then I added the flowers as you see, with the center one being popped up on foam tape, along with a cut apart sentiment from Paper Rose. The flower centres have Trinity Stamp embellishments that pick up the colour they are placed upon. They look a bit like pearls but are not.

I honestly believe this is one of my better creations and I am really happy with how the experiment worked. Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it very much.

My card will be added to the Color Hues challenge.

Our current MMM challenge #226, chosen by Billie, is to use a Dog/Puppy in the design. As it happens a friend came by to visit and while here asked if I would make her daughter-in-law a get well card. She is suffering in hospital after major back surgery and is missing her dog and her music so my card has both as a theme.

I pulled out an old GKD stamp set along with a dog stamp from Crazy Dogs by Tim Holtz and this card is the result. After stamping the dog I masked him off and stamped the Saxophone which I coloured using a metallic pencil and a bit of gold sparkle pen. My original intention was to stamp the music notes on this same piece but I didn’t check the stamp properly and it was a mess. Instead I die cut the image into a circle and added foam tape behind. The dog was coloured with water colour pencils and some Nuvo Crystal drops were added to his eyes and nose. I edged the circle with a black pen. Directly onto the card front I stamped the music and then added a sentiment from a StampinUp set that was on hand. I curved it slightly on the block so it follows, roughly, the shape of the music. The additional notes are puffy stickers from my stash.

I can’t believe I did this card in 30 minutes while my hubby and friend were discussing some photography frames. She was able to take it with her with the warning that the eyes and nose were not yet dry and to be careful.

Thanks for stopping by, it is appreciated a lot. Have fun with the challenge and I hope to see your creations in our gallery soon.

Strike while the iron is hot is my motto today as I had a couple of ideas in my head and wanted to get them done. If my mojo is working then it felt best to keep going.

The mood board at Double D is all about polka dots and I had different scraps in my file so I pulled them out. Not sure where the papers come from but I think the background one is a StampinUp DSP. The gold strip is something I did a long time ago using gilding flakes and the black strips are just recent scraps. The sentiment is a cut apart from Paper Rose and the embellishments are from Trinity Stamps. I don’t know where the die is from as it was acquired long before I realized that keeping the brand name was a good idea. I did emboss the centre section of the die cut using the die and them popped it back into place as I glued it down. I also added some Pops of Color dots to make a necklace.

This is my last card today. I’ve done 6 so far but some are scheduled for posting on particular dates as they are for my little designing gig. As I have a bit of ironing to do and need a break from my craft room, I shall go and do that before dinner. My hubby is cooking tonight, Yay! Tomorrow we are going to dinner with friends so two nights out of the kitchen, bigger Yay! Earlier this week, I received notice from WordPress that I have 1000 posts. That is 1000 cards and doesn’t include the ones I don’t post. I guess I’ve been quite prolific these past couple of years.

Thanks for stopping by.