It has been so busy lately that I haven’t had any time for my craft room. Yesterday I did sit down for a while but found that I had no mojo for anything so I caught up on email instead.

The embossed piece used here was something leftover from another project and I decided to add it behind the lighter blue piece. I backed the layer with a bit of black for a narrow border and then thought about what to add. As the challenge has a twist of butterflies I decided to go with it and used an MFT set called More Brilliant Butterflies, to create this one. I inked up the stamp with Mustard Seed Distress oxide ink and fussy cut the base wings. The top wings were done with VersaMark and silver heat embossing, to which I added a hint of yellow to the middle with a darker edge at top and bottom. These pieces were glued together then added to the card. Sentiment is from a Hampton Arts set and was heat embossed with white. I added a few dots with a Sakura glitter pen at the base of the butterfly for some added interest. I’m not sure about these but too late to change it now.

It was Canada Day here yesterday, so I wish all Canadians a Happy one and 4th of July is coming up for those of you in the USA so I wish you all a wonderful day when it arrives. Thanks for stopping by it is appreciated as are any comments.

The Cardz 4 Galz challenge is more than one fold and this is what I came up with. As a design team member I try to come up with something different when I can. I’ve never done this style before and rarely have done any pop-up cards so it was fun to play with something new. I followed a template found on Pinterest that included a tutorial on YouTube so I used that for measurements and this card is the result.

A good friend of mine was so disappointed with the quality and variety of pet sympathy cards, that she decided to try making her own. I think she managed one before deciding that card making was not her forte and gave up. Last year I made her 6 to have on hand and unexpectedly, in return, she gifted me with some unbranded stamps and dies as well as the supplies she had purchased for her unsuccessful venture. The stickers used on this fun fold card and the PP on the cross over pieces come from her items, the rest is from my own stash.

Once I had the pieces cut it was fairly simple to put together and to decorate. The sentiments and stamped paw print as well as die cut paw print all come from a small SSS set that I’ve found very useful since its purchase. I promised my friend a few more cards in this vein for her stash and this will be one of them after the challenge is over. I’ll probably do another 5 or 6 when I have time.

I appreciate you stopping by and hope you have a fun day.

As you can see, I chose to go with the blue photo, partly because this card was almost making itself. I had some left over scraps at my cutting area and the negative area landed on top of the darker blue piece as I was cleaning them up. I didn’t have to do any cutting as the sizing was just right so I glued them together and added the layers to the card front.

One of my friends loves to go to craft fairs and garage sales and she picked up some ‘old’ hardly used Sizzix dies and brought them over when she visited on the weekend. I think these dies go back to when die cutting was just starting as they are on plates that have a velvet finish and 3 of them are long and thin. I don’t even have the long cutting plates anymore so I improvised a bit to cut out the branch and birdie. The stamp sentiment came from a GKD set and pearls are from my stash.

I tried to pay my friend for the dies, but she refused to allow me to. I know she loves a particular chutney made here on the island and when it is back in stock I shall buy her 6 jars to keep her going. An easy card as it didn’t require me to use my hands much and it stopped me from feeling bored.

Our sunshine is back after a few days of cooler cloudy days with the odd much needed shower thrown in. We host a neighborhood BBQ this Sunday so it is great to see that the weather will be cooperating and we can hold it outside as planned. Approximately 55 people are coming so far. As it is a Pot Luck, I’m not too worried because there will be a lot of food. We provide the venue, dishes (rented) and soft drinks, they bring the rest as well as a chair to sit on. The Fire Smart people are coming to give a talk on fire safety in a rural location so it will be interesting for everyone to learn what they can do to keep themselves and their homes safe.

Thanks for taking a look, it is appreciated.

Well I just made the deadline for this one and am lucky I managed to make it at all. In my recent speed challenge I aggravated my right hand with the fussy cutting and then to compound it, I hurt it again when changing our bed yesterday morning. The mattress is a heavy one and the sheets fit tight, my hand didn’t like it and now I can barely move my thumb. Typing okay, but lifting a cup hurts.

Thankfully, yesterday afternoon, sponging the circle through a mask was doable and I managed to die cut the tiny houses using an unbranded die set. Added a bit of gold behind them before adding to the circle. This morning I was able to assemble the card with a couple of tiny trees, birds and a sentiment then I called it finished. Both stamps are from matching Inspired by Stamping sets, that I pull out fairly frequently even though they are now very old.

I had planned a one layer card, but in the end this is what I came up with instead. Thanks for stopping by – I appreciate it and you.

Whew! I just made it with a second to spare. These speed challenges sure get the adrenalin going. I laid out everything before starting, but it still took more time than I thought it would. Not one of my best cards but I used temporary adhesive so I can take off the shells and fix them slightly differently before actually using the card.

I knew I wanted to use the bubble EB folder and remembered that I had a piece already embossed from when I used it the first time. I found it among some prepared backgrounds and all I had to do was add a bit of ink. In the rush, slightly too much around the edges, but not so bad I couldn’t use the piece. I had decided on 2 different border stamps from sets by GKD, stamped them, added a sponged bit of colour and fussy cut them. No dies for these sets as they are old. This was what took so much of the time as I under estimated my ability to do it fast. The sentiment stamp was from one of the sets used and I stamped and fussy cut this roughly so it was quick.

This is a doctored version of the card above as I improved it after I had finished it, at least to me it is an improvement. By accident the design fits the challenge at Just Add Ink so I am entering this version there. I stamped more of the images and fussy cut a few parts out to add dimension to the other pieces. As well I stamped a small shell from a Hero Arts (ancient set) to add to the sentiment section of the card. I feel the card works better with the few additional pieces. I’m a lot happier with the changes although in 10 minutes I knew it was impossible to achieve for the version above.

Thanks for taking a look, it is appreciated.

Welcome to the current challenge at cardz 4 galz, which is to use die cuts or punches. The background is vellum which has alcohol inks added to it. The texture in the vellum is due to my using it initially to emboss some CS and vellum will often help to avoid the CS from breaking. I really liked the texture left behind so I kept it figuring it would get used eventually. Then I decided to play with the alcohol inks and a background was created. It sat on my desk while I did other things and now I’m using it here. The gnome is from a Taylored Expressions die set. The balloon is stamped and fussy cut from a SSS set as is the sentiment.

The gnome pieces were gifted to me by a treasured stamping buddy who was helping me out so I could make some gnomes for another friend. She was very generous in the amount of die cuts she sent me and I had 2 of them leftover after giving the others away. This is one of them. All I had to do was figure out all the pieces and glue them together giving me this cute result. I added a couple of extra hearts and the YNS Gumdrops before calling it finished.

This gnome die cut set is cute, but I didn’t want to buy it for basically one project as knew I wouldn’t use it much, so my stamping buddy really helped me out. Thanks my friend, you know who you are.

Thanks for stopping by, it is appreciated.

I almost forgot about this challenge and suddenly realized I’m down to the wire for entering. What to do, what to make? I decided to use both a positive and negative die cut and went from there. Card front obviously red, then a white layer that is the negative of the unbranded die I used. What a pain trying to get it out of the space. It hadn’t cut through fully and in the end I hand cut a few lines to get it separated. I adhered this layer onto the card front then using the same die I cut a second piece this time turning the die around a few times to make sure it cut cleanly. Whew, it worked. This positive aqua piece was attached over the negative portion as you see. Took a while for me to find the right sentiment and this one is an old one from CTMH. I fussy cut this and added it to the aqua die cut which is from MFT. The little red bow is an unbranded die set received as gift and gems are from Trinity Stamps. Still not totally happy with the sentiment, but it is all I had in the orientation I desired.

Thanks for stopping by, it is appreciated.

This card took a long time to make as it was way more fiddly than I thought it would be. I’m glad I persevered though, as it is quite pretty in real life. Photo doesn’t really do it justice. I used a folder from Craft Concepts to get the blue layer and using the same colour CS I die cut some tiny flowers and leaves using dies from Spellbinders. I’m not sure which company provided the alphabet that I used, but think it might be either Sizzix or Recollections. I die cut several letters so that I could double them up for both stability and dimension and this alone took quite a long time as I was having trouble with my glue bottle. For some reason my glue is going a bit thick and won’t leave the bottle through the tiny nozzle. Very frustrating. Once the letters were together and dry I began to add the flowers and leaves which also took a long time for same reasons as stated. I added a gold sparkle pen to the flower centers and then using a thin double sided tape attached the word across the card front. I felt it needed a bit of bling so added the iridescent gems as you see.

I am pleased with the end result, but am quite tired from creating it LOL. It works for the challenge at JUG’s so I’m posting it there. Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it.

This challenge required some thinking on my part as I wasn’t sure what I wanted to create. In the end I used a stencil (newly acquired) by Simple Stories and inked up a 6 x 6 piece of CS. I used mostly Sweezed lemonade Distress Oxide with a touch of Twisted Citron and while the ink was still wet added some clear embossing powder which I heat set. Usually I will do it twice to get a smooth finish but in this card the slightly bubbled effect makes the lemons more realistic so I left it as is. I cut the panel down and decided to center it onto the card front. It needed something so I added a fine border with a Sakura Glaze pen and that helped it to pop more. The stamp set used for the martini glass is from Joy Clair as is the lemon slice. I stamped and fussy cut both, added some Nuvo Crystal drops to give more dimension and shine then popped it up with foam tape. The word is a die I’ve had for a while and think is from Sizzix but I’m not certain. I cut it twice once in yellow and once in black so I could offset slightly for more definition. Before I thought about blogging and such, I never figured I would need the product names for sharing with others so some of my older products are a bit of a mystery these days.

I still have another stenciled piece to use which is nice. I’m quite pleased with how this one turned out and join my prestigious stamping buddies in entering into the same challenge. Thanks for stopping by, it is appreciated.

My second post using a similar design for both masculine challenges. Actually this was my first attempt and my angled piece is on a different side to the previous post. In fact this card had to be corrected because I forgot to put a border piece underneath. To fix it I cut some thin strips and glued them carefully around the angles. I don’t have much in the way of boat stamps and this one from Hero Arts is technically a silhouette stamp. I stamped a mask first and cut it so that the hull and sails were separated. Then I stamped each section using the masks. The hull was stamped in black and the sails in blue and I went over one of the sails with a gel pen for more colour. Used a glitter pen in red for the flag and the stripe on the hull. I also used a wave stencil to add the water and the bird stamp is from Inspired by Stamping. Sentiment is Hero Arts and PP is from my stash, I think it is originally from CTMH. I’m quite pleased with both cards and they will be used quite soon as I have several masculine birthdays coming up.

Thanks for taking a look.