Well it took a bit of creativity but I succeeded in making a card for my Australian hubby. I took a leaf out of a stamping buddies book and searched online to find a free shape of Australia that I could resize and print onto CS. Then I looked for a PP that could also be printed. After deciding on a five and a half inch square card, I printed the continent onto the CS and then hand cut it. I didn’t do all the little islands that surround the coast but I did keep
Tasmania as you can see at the bottom. Then I glued the PP over the top, made a couple of slits to get scissors into and cut again so the shape shows up nicely. Using an older Hero Arts Kit I stamped various animals and the trees and die cut them. Then I took another piece of CS and inked the sunset background which I popped up behind with foam tape. After that it was just a matter of placement for the pieces I chose to use. Left over bits are in with the set for use another time. I made sure the Tasmanian Devil die cut was next to the island and I added the sentiment just underneath his tail. At first I wasn’t sure if I had made the right choices, but on reflection I do like the result. It was a bit challenging to do the continent without a die, but I managed reasonably well in the end.

I think my hubby will love the card but I’ve hidden it with his gift for the time being. He doesn’t follow my blog so I think I’m safe posting this before his birthday. I may need to make the envelope to fit as I think I’m out of the square ones at the moment.

Crafting Happiness has an alphabet challenge starting with A – is for all kinds of weather. I’m adding this card as it is an Australian summer card.

Thanks for stopping by, all comments are appreciated.

It is birthday time for cards at Make My Monday, challenge #217, as chosen by Billie, who will also choose the winners.

For my card I inked up a newish stamp not yet used, by Penny Black, which I stamped, heat embossed and fussy cut after I had coloured in the image. I used pencils to colour the image. The back layer is a shimmer white CS that I dry embossed using an EF by Lifestyle Craft. The sentiment is from an old rubber stamp set by GKD and I used a Spellbinders die to cut the strip twice, once in white and once in a pale lilac.

A few purple embellishments for added interest were glued, but think I did too many as I got a bit carried away. All in all I think I like the card and hope that it gives you some ideas for your own creations. Looking forward to seeing you in our gallery. Thanks for stopping by and any comments you leave are always appreciated.

One card for three challenges doesn’t happen too often so achieving it makes me feel happy. Both Seize the Birthday and CYHTP require embossing using a folder so I pulled out a StampinUp party folder and managed a good impression for a change. These days I don’t always get the pressure exact so another reason to make me feel good. I wondered what it would look like if I added heat embossing so I went over the raised parts with Versamark and then added silver powder to heat set. It worked quite nicely although, even being careful, I still managed to get ink in the background which makes it a bit grungy. It wasn’t bad enough for me to scrap and I added this to a red glitter card front and that takes care of the sparkle requirement at JUG’s. For my image I pulled out a newish stamp I received as a gift from SSS last year and I stamped, coloured and die cut this and added it as you see. The sentiment is from the same set and I added it underneath after going around the edges with a sparkle pen. For a little bit of whimsey I used a MayMay stamp set and added a face to one of the balloons. There is also some sparkle on the confetti around the balloons as well as the ribbon bows, but the confetti is so small it only shows in R.L.

And I just received some good news as my sick friend is back home as of today. I’m sure there is still a way to go before she is fully recovered but knowing she is at home is a huge relief. Maybe I’ll be able to visit soon, but it will depend on where she is at because the risk of infection for her is high.

Thanks for stopping by, all comments are much appreciated. Stay warm and dry wherever you are. We still have cold temperatures but it is better than yesterday and looks as if it will begin to warm up a bit this week.

I’ve not played in this challenge before, but decided to give it a go. You may remember I did some ink swiping last year and some attempts weren’t very good. That said, I don’t throw much away and figured I could use them at some point. When making a different card a few days ago I pulled out my Memory Box EF along with these ocean frame dies. In the end I only used the EF panel and these pieces were still on my desk. I decided to put them together using the swiped ink bits in the background. I also had some ocean related ephemera sitting on my desk so I added the whale and the shell over the panel after I had attached it to the card front. For now I’ve decided to leave off a sentiment as I’m not sure for which occasion I shall use it as yet. This is one of those cards that looks better in reality than on a photo. I quite like how it turned out considering it is using up items I had sitting around.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are warm and dry wherever you are. It is pretty cold around my home at the moment and we need to be quite bundled up when going out to walk the dog. Slippery too, but we managed.

The challenge at AAA seemed like the perfect opportunity to use a new stencil I bought a few weeks ago. It is by Julie Balzer and I used the top portion only. I inked through using a brush until I was happy with the coverage. I just realized that without doing it on purpose, I used a few of the colours from the sketch, funny how that happens. I let it dry and then used a stamp set from YNS for the image and sentiment. The image was coloured using pencils and Sakura pens. The nice thing about Distress Oxides is that you can colour over them to a certain extent and in this case I kept some of the background colour and just added some additional colour where I wanted it. I sized the panel and then added it to a blue card front so a small border would show.

I hope you are all somewhere warm if you live in places where winter storms are occurring. After a very mild start to winter, we have suddenly gotten some cold temperatures and a lot of snow. It looks pretty, but it is very cold outside and my hubby is bundled up tight so he can use the plow and clear some of the driveway.

Thanks for stopping by, any comments you leave a much appreciated.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all enjoyed a lovely festive season and that the year to come is full of pleasant surprises. Our challenge at cardz4galz is all about a safari for the next two weeks.

For my card I chose a jungle theme using Hero Arts stamps and dies from a card kit they put out a couple of years ago. I haven’t used it in a while but thought it the perfect choice for this challenge example. First I took a scrap piece of shimmer CS and dry embossed using a folder from Taylored Expressions. I then added some ink on the raised parts. Setting this aside I proceeded to stamp, colour and die cut various plants and the leopard. I cut a couple of layers for the cat so it would have dimension and strength. I arranged things until I liked how it looked and then glued it all in place popping up a few leaves here and there. The leafy vines were coloured using ink and shaving foam and then die cut and the background for the sentiment came from a bit left over. I have enough pieces left to begin another card and will likely do it pretty soon as I have another idea.

Thanks for stopping by, and thanks to for any comments you leave, they are appreciated.

This card started as an experiment as I wanted to see what embossing on glitter CS would look like. First though I had to find my glitter CS which I bought prior to Christmas, set aside and promptly lost. I’ve been looking for it ever since and today I made a more thorough search and discovered it underneath a hidden birthday gift for my hubby. Almost forgot I had that too. I’ve moved the gift to a more prominent place just in case. (I really must put away some of my new supplies properly, LOL) So now I had my bronze glitter sheet I pulled out a folder by Spellbinders called carved tile. This folder is a slimline with 3 tiles but I only wanted one so I placed my CS carefully and ran it through. It kind of worked, but there wasn’t quite enough definition for my eyes. My next thought was to repeat the process on some gold CS and from that the idea came that perhaps I could cut out part of it and add it over the original one. I cut out the outside frame and went around the embossing with a tiny hole punch so when glued the bronze would show through. This took forever but I like it. Then I cut out the center section and used the hole punch again, which was much easier on this piece. Once I added it, I cut down the background portion a bit and then added the whole panel to the card front. I cut a strip of the bronze for underneath, added a die cut bow from an unbranded set and then used two small dies from another Spellbinders set and cut one in the glitter and one in the gold. I added them as you see and hand wrote the number with a copper marker.

I quite like the result even though it is extremely glittery and shiny. For an experiment it isn’t bad but for embossing to work on glitter CS I need a lot more pressure for it to really work well. It would be fun to actually send it Darlene and Diane, but for that I need a physical address.

Thanks for stopping by and all your comments are much appreciated.

It doesn’t happen all the time, but every once in a while I make a card that works for 2 challenges. In this case the new challenge at WordPower and also the first one of the year at As You See It. As you can see I followed the sketch in several ways but added my own touch to the hearts so I could incorporate the words for the other challenge. I bought these tiny word dies when visiting a friend in Texas and they’ve come in handy several times since. Not sure which manufacturer unfortunately. The sentiment is from PaperRoses a set of cut aparts, and the intricate die is from Tattered Lace. I used some PP scraps to cut the hearts and the panel piece with some Mulberry Paper as a background panel.

This card looks better in R.L. than it does in the photo. I’m glad I found a few minutes in my craft room today. We’ve been taking down the Xmas decor and by the looks of the sky we got the outside done just in time. Snow is predicted and it sure looks like we are going to get hit with a lot.

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you and your comments. Hope you’ve enjoyed a good weekend.

When I see other cards that have been dry embossed and then coloured they look great. When I do it, I think it’s a hot mess. I used a 3D folder from Memory Box and some bits from a Memory Box frame die. I cut off what I wanted to use and layered some alcohol inked Yupo paper over some scrap CS as the Yupo paper was too thin on its own. To colour the embossing I used fine craft Q-tips and Distress Oxides. Even trying to be careful and I still got ink where I didn’t really want it. I decided not to add a sentiment on the front because I felt it wouldn’t look right no matter where I added it. Instead I will add something extra on the inside when I decide to use the card.

As this works for the challenge at Colorful Options I am adding it there. Maybe this card will be one of those that grows on me when I leave it for a while.

Thanks for stopping by, and also thanks for any comments you may leave. They are always appreciated.

The stamp set used here is from Altenew and is called Leaf Clusters. I’ve had it on my desk since it arrived as I wanted to use it. Although I did use one stamp, I only got around to using more of them for the current JUG’s colour challenge. I chose several of the leaf stamps and added them with the 3 colours as you see on the card. The sentiment is from the same set and I inked with 2 of the colours adding 3 gems underneath.

I also went around the edge of the panel with a black pen so it would stand out a bit from the base. The navy ink I used looks almost black in the photograph.

I’ve just learned that my sick friend has been admitted to hospital so I’m quite concerned. I can’t go and visit because the infection risk is too high. Right now they have patients all over the place with no rooms to put them in. Fortunately, or perhaps not, considering how sick she is, they’ve found a small room for her for the time being. Our hospitals are overflowing with sick people at the moment. It is pretty scary and the news last night suggests it is the same all across Canada. No wonder the medical people are leaving in droves – they simply don’t get a break.

Thanks for stopping by and if you would, a prayer for my friend would be wonderful. She is quite a special person and needs all the help she can get right now.