My first card since arriving home from our recent vacation and I’ve made it to fit the JUG’s weekly challenge.

While touring around the Netherlands I came across a small hobby shop that had a sale going on. Just had to go in there and found a few useful items at decent sale prices. This tulip die was one of those items and is made by Craft Emotions. I mean tulips and Holland go together right so a must buy for me.

After cutting the die twice once in green and then once in pink I put the pink part over the flowers on the green and glued them together. Using a colour pencil I added a few details to the flowers. Taking a design idea from a stamping buddy I added the die cut to the dark green panel. After cutting, scoring and folding the main card I adhered some pp found on the internet and printed at home, to which I also added some get well (CTMH set) words in gray. I took a scrap piece of green cs for the folded back portion and using a tulip stamp from a set called A Year of flowers (GKD) I stamped a faint impression in pale pink. Unfortunately the photo doesn’t pick up this detail very well so you may not be able to see it. The sentiment is one I created on my computer.

Basically this came about because I wanted to use the scraps on my desk. I had the letters and the tiny glitter heart along with the mirri circle and I wondered how I should use them. Going through my stash of embellishments I found the swirly heart and hey presto. I remembered I had the no brand heart die for the background piece and using another scrap cs left over from yesterday I cut the frame and adhered it to white card front. I popped up the circle on top and resisted the temptation to add anything more. Again I can use this for an anniversary or a wedding occasion.

In general, I’m not one for doing Valentine cards, but think this one can be used for a wedding or anniversary so it will go into my stash until needed. PP and sentiment stamp is from Divinity Designs. The two hearts are from projects last year that didn’t get used and the birds are a new Impression Obsession die that I won in a challenge late last year. I had some scrap glitter silver cs that I used to cut them. Added a strip of silver washi tape to ground them. This was a very quick card to put together and I love the sentiment.

Started with the die cut which is a Flower frame from Gemini. I mounted it on top of the mirri card using tiny pop dots and then added that to the contrasting card front. Added a few pearls for accent and to hide the foam dots behind. Using another gemini die I cut the disc for the bottom corner backing this piece with some almost red scrap cs. Added the flower with florish in the center but made it completely flat except the pearl center.

It is funny how a photograph will change the colour of a mirri card stock where it hits the light.

I have wanted to make one of these fun fold cards for a while but only with the incentive of this challenge have I actually done it. I followed, for the most part, instructions on a video found here: http://www.stampinmagic.com/2019/08/diamond-easel-card-using-free-as-bird.html. I made a few small changes to mine because I only used PP and the card base so eliminated one layer basically. Still have to make a small box for it, but can do that just prior to mailing.

The demonstrator wasn’t kidding when she said this card took a long time. Getting the various elements stamped, die and/or fussy cut takes time but it sure is worth it. I used pp from a GKD pack along with a card base from same company. Also used the SSS Be Kind stamp set, a butterfly/shell set – no idea who made it, dab on rose gold shimmer, lemon drop & Verdigris embossing powder, 2 small dies from a Gemini set, perfect pearl powder and inktense pencils. There is lots of shimmer on this card. Inside sentiment is from GKD Massive message and Divinity Design stamps. I made it with a particular friend in mind and she will get it for her birthday. I enjoy making fun fold cards.

I’ve been cleaning up my desk and putting away supplies and in process came across this piece of marbled cs that I made a while ago using a Concord & 9th turnabout stamp . Decided to use it today with no specific plan or challenge in mind. First I cut the piece into two and adhered them both to some black paper. Cut it top and bottom so it would fit a card front and adhered it. I also added a small side strip same colours but different stamp from same company. Using my new SSS Be Kind set I stamped the leaf image in versamark and heat set in white. I then die cut it after which I added some shimmer with a dauber. Using foam dots I popped it on top. Using the sentiment from same stamp set I stamped them out and heat set in black. Cut the longer word strip very thin and added at the top. I fussy cut out the Be Kind words and added them just underneath. Was keeping the die cut and sentiments simple, as the marbled effect is so bold.

Using an old wood block heart stamp I stamped the background hearts very lightly. After adding the scrap of PP I popped up the world die cut. The sentiment is from an Altenew set called To the Moon and the little bunnies are from Divinity Designs called Somebunny. I added colour to them with inktense pencils, die cut and then popped them on top. A very simple and quick card.

A few days ago I messed up some stamping with a SSS set I’ve just purchased called Be Kind . I put it to one side in case I could redeem it in some way and today managed to do just that. As I had accidentally doubled up the original stamped image I decided to stamp a second one and deliberately double it up by moving the cs fractionally, on purpose. Then I added a hint of colour with my inktense pencils and die cut both pieces. Using the heron stamp (don’t know the make) I coloured in the heron and fussy cut it out. I popped that up on top of the leaves. For the background I chose a pp (very old stash) and dry embossed with a Darice Cattails folder. I backed that with a red border and added it to the pink card front. Stamped Hello with a new Divinity Design set called Fur-ever Friends. I had a challenging time getting the colours for this, as with no names to go by, it was that much harder to pick the right ones.

Although this could be used as a Valentine card it wasn’t intended as one. I just thought it would be nice to have something like this on hand and I liked the idea of using the challenge colours this way.

I took a strip of pp and cut into smaller strips then glued them to card front. After stamping the Divinity Design image and sentiment I coloured it with my Inktense pencils keeping to the colour scheme. It is a cute image and sentiment.

I figured if I have to make sympathy cards, I may as well ensure that one of them at least fit a challenge. In this case I managed to make it fit two one at JUGS and one at PaperPlayers. I started with the sketch and an idea and then incorporated some of the colours and the butterflies from the JUGS photo. I realize from the photo that it is hard to see the detail although in RL it is quite obvious. Firstly I stamped two sets of leaves from a new SSS set using Victorian Velvet Distress Ink over which I heat embossed in pink. I did this a couple of times to get a better impression but it is quite a pale effect on the kraft cs. Then I stamped the sentiment in black and when dry went over it with a Sakura jelly roll glitter pen. Using some cs in the pink and purple I went over it with the soft shine of my rose gold shimmer stick. Once that was dry I stamped the butterflies using wilted violet distress ink and stamps from a StampinUp set called Kinda Electic. I like these butterflies quite a lot, but the detail they give isn’t as apparent on the photo. After fussy cutting them out I added them as shown to the front panel. After adding a thin black border I adhered it all to the card front. With a little bit of bling and a small amount of perfect pearl onto the leaves there is a subtle shimmer to the whole card. Wish I could take photos of the shimmer. Hubby probably could but I’d be waiting at least a week for him to actually get to and I’m not willing to wait.

I also did this one but not for any challenges and it is dry embossed with the tiny die cut butterflies from SSS. The following one is in a larger format so my hubby can get all the club members to sign it.

I used a spotlight technique and some masking on this one and am pleased with the result. The heat embossing on this one is almost a coppery colour and I really like the powder. It is a new one and I hadn’t used it until this card. Stamp sets are from CTMH.