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.

Recently I saw a square card that had been divided into coloured quadrants and I thought I could do the same with a circle. I already had three sizes cut so decided to give it a go using them. I added faint pencil lines and then some masking tape along the lines leaving one section open for colouring and proceeded in this fashion to fill in the colours. I used Sakura pens and Spectrum Noir glitter brushes. The smaller circle was sponged with some Tea Dye ink so it wasn’t glaring white. In my stash I had some foam numbers so I put them on the circle and then coloured them with the pens. The little hat is a die for which I’m searching the set it belongs to. I think it may be an MFT set but I can’t find the right one. As it was on my desk I used it with some of my hubby’s background paper. The sentiment is MFT Itty Bitty Basics.

This is really CAS for me, but I like the end result nevertheless.

Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate all of you more than words can say.

Challenge #225 as chosen by Caz, has the theme of World Bee Day. She will also choose the winners.

When cleaning up and organizing my craft room, I came across a set of pre-printed note cards that I have never truly used. One or two here and there, but the box is still almost full. I liked this design and decided to make my life easy, and use it for my card sample. The CS is slightly rough similar to a linen feel and the pattern continues on the back. I searched for some bee stamps (don’t have many) and found these two tiny ones, as well as the movement spiral, in a GKD set. After test stamping I figured they would work so added them along with the small sentiment stamp, a gift from Kitchen Sink stamps. Using Inktense pencils I coloured in the bees, the rose, and then added water to blend. I also added a sparkle pen to the wings. Initially I thought about colouring in all the flowers, but instead decided to spotlight only one. I used yellow because in the language of flowers yellow denotes friendship.

I’m quite happy with how this ended up and don’t think I could have improved on it even if I had stamped the entire design. Thanks for stopping by, it is appreciated.

My garden is a riot of colours right now and we have two Azaleas next to each other, one flame, and the other bright pink which are truly glorious to view. This die cut piece reminds me of those two plants.

When I was cutting out the fancy Crafters Companion wreath the other day, I couldn’t remember how the 2 piece dies fit together and so I messed up. I liked this half of the mistake so I set it aside and continued with the card I was aiming for. As often happens this piece ended up on a some white CS and I liked it even more so I decided to use it on a card front. It was slightly narrower than the card front so I added it and then cut the excess card front off. With another small scrap piece of the same photo/PP I die cut the butterfly. The dots are pops of color from Scrapbook.com. I couldn’t figure out which sentiment or how I wanted a sentiment to look so I set the card aside for a while. Coming back to it, I decided to pull out some sentiment stamps and play around but they wouldn’t curve the way I wanted. Then I thought about cutting up the longer sentiment, from GKD and adding them as you see . They look erratic which is how a butterfly flies. I liked this so glued them after adding a bit of sparkle with a gelly roll pen. I also added a bit of sparkle to the flower centres and the butterfly body.

It is such fun to use my hubby’s photo in this manner and I just love the colours. I am entering the card into the Fourseasons challenge. Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it a lot.

May 2024 Stencil Fun Challenge

When I saw the colours at Sunday Stamps, they reminded me of a card I’d seen a while back that I wanted to try. I did save it on my computer but forgot to attribute it so I’m not sure whose design I’ve CASE’d. I really liked the simplicity in the design yet it has lots going on at the same time. Because I’ve also used a stencil it fits into the stencil fun challenge too, and I guess that flowers are more girly so the twist is also covered.

My stencil is a handmade one that was gifted to me a few years ago. The flowers are from Memory Box, sentiment strip is Paper Rose and the embellishments are YNS. I inked throught the stencil using 2 greens so it looks similar to the green in the photo and I brushed the flowers using two pinks and ayellow for the centre. Using a Hero Arts infinity set I cut the circle frames and added them as you see. I edged the panel with a Spectrum Noir marker to give slightly more impact.

I’m really happy with how this one turned out. Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you, your time and your comments.