This card has been created with two challenges in mind, the first is at As You See It, Challenge #352 – The Shape of Things to Come, and my fill in the blank is circles. The second is at Seize the Birthday #309-Food and or Drink and you can see I chose a cake.

It is obvious that some of my inspiration for this card came from several of the DT examples at Seize the Birthday. I used some scrap glitter strips to make the initial background and then it was an MFT birthday die with a center using a StampinUP dotted circle die. Stamp comes from a dollar store set, was stamped with Versamark and then heat embossed gold. After that I used water colour pencils to add some colour. My candles came out slightly darker than intended so look a bit black in the photo. A few Pops of Color from Scrapbook.com and I called the card finished.

Thanks for spending time with me today. I appreciate you and any comments you leave for me.

To make this card for the flower pot theme at https://daranddiane.blogspot.com/ I returned to my new Weekender set from Spellbinders. I had the sky piece already on my desk as it wasn’t used at the time it was cut. The sentiment was also already done. Once I figured out a design in my head, I set to work cutting the rest of the pieces. Flowers, leaves and oranges were cut from scrap pattern paper. The arch and cobble stones were cut from a photograph that didn’t print well and the same applies to the step tops. The pots were cut from an inked piece I had in my stash. I assembled the pots with flowers, leaves and some oranges. Then it was a matter of finding the right placement for everything on the card front. Using these dies is fun, but also quite fiddly so I have to be in the right mood to do it. I added a few extra flowers at the top because I could see a small gap and wanted to hide it. I used foam tape on several elements to give dimension. The little seagull is done using a Jen McGuire hack. Works like a charm. Overall I’m happy with the end result. I quite like the effect of the stones, arch and steps as they look pretty realistic.

I have a new gig – I’m now a design team member at Double Trouble. First card I shall post will be July 21st. I’m pretty excited, but also a little nervous. I hope you will join me at some point.

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you and your time.

Challenge #254, as chosen by Caz, is all about wedding or wedding anniversaries here at cardz4galz. As a member of a local dragon boat team and the person in charge of celebrations for members, a wedding anniversary card was required so this is what I created. It uses up some of my oddments, while at the same time using a new EF by StampinUP called Starstruck. The embossed piece was leftover from an Art Deco card I made, as was the black piece you can see behind the circle. The white scroll die cut is an old one but I’m not sure of the brand and the circle is infinity dies by Hero Arts with the sentiment and scrolls from Crafters Companion for Gemini. The two tiny stars you see are stickers from my stash. A fairly simple card to make, but the EF sure makes a statement especially on this mirror gold CS.

Thanks for taking a look and we hope to see your creations in our gallery. Have fun creating and enjoy the summer months.

The current challenge at CYHTP is Anything Goes with a Twist of CATS and/or DOGS (6/25) and I didn’t use the twist for this card. And at Four Seasons the challenge is all about Summer Season July 2025 and lemons and lemonade mean summer time to me.

Before life went slightly crazy with overseas guests and a hubby who contracted a tummy bug while they were here, I had begun this card using a folder and die set from my Dolce Vita collection and the weekenders retreat. I decided to angle the cream embossed piece on top of a linen yellow card front. Then I added the lemons, flowers and leaves playing with placement until satisfied. I heat embossed the sentiment, edged it with some vintage photo ink and attached using foam tape. To colour the flowers I used a Q-tip so giving me more control on how much ink and shading. I added a little extra colour to the lemons and some pieces were attached using foam tape for dimension.

I’m happy I got this finished and also that my hubby is beginning to feel better. Poor man, he has suffered quite badly and yesterday had to sit with an IV for rehydration, which I was worrying about, as I knew he wasn’t keeping enough fluids inside him. He still isn’t 100%, but he is definitely on the recovery road. Our guests have gone and are continuing with their vacation in the U.K. and then a Mediterranean cruise before going home. In spite of the small crisis we, actually me, managed to give them a good time and to show them around our island home.

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you and your time.

Pamela has chosen a Welcome to Summer theme for our latest challenge (#253) here at Cardz4galz and I decided on a back folded card for my example. My card was inspired by an earlier one done by a stamp buddy in late March and she provided a link tutorial found here to create it. Probably one of the easiest fun folds for anyone to make.

My paper is from a Simple Stories pad, the sentiment and shades are from MFT, the wavy frame die is from Penny Black, with the flip flops coming from an unbranded die set. The jeweled embellishment is from my stash.

I used a Spectrum Moir sparkle pen for the shade lenses and a mop up ink piece for the frame along with a touch of gold glitter on the flip flop butterflies.

Thanks for stopping by, your time is appreciated and I hope you have fun with your own creations and enter them into our gallery.

We’ve had a hectic few days with some friends coming over from the mainland. They are house hunting so we may find they become neighbors once again. Anyway I am now exhausted and probably shouldn’t have begun crafting but I did and this is what I came up with. I’ve made it with Double D in mind as their current challenge is Let’s Go to the Beach.

My card uses one of the sets received through the recent virtual retreat I did by Spellbinders, called under the sun. The sentiment is from the same company. The waves are from Kokorosa and the foot prints are an old Hero Arts wooden block stamp someone recently gave to me. She had a box of old stamps and I pulled out a few I thought I might use, but most of them went to the thrift shop. I’m too lazy to pull out a stamp positioner for this type of stamp, but getting a good impression in the right place is challenging with the block. For me, clear stamps made so much difference to what I could do and imagine.

My fatigue made me forget to plan my scene properly so the sand and sky portion were added after the fact using watercolour pencils. It isn’t one of my best scenes, although the concept is not bad. The end result is okay, but definitely could be improved upon if I had been thinking straight.

Thanks for stopping by to look, I appreciate you and your time.

Another request for a sympathy card and as I’ve used some PP, I decided it would work in the challenge at Love Those Pretty Papers June Challenge. Although the theme is weddings it is mainly an anything goes challenge and I don’t need any wedding cards at the moment.

My card uses an older set from GKD, PP from my stash, and enamel dots from AlteNew. Die cuts are using infinity dies from Hero Arts.

Once I had the daisies stamped I heat set them clear and then used water colour pencils to add some colour. The sentiment was also heat embossed clear and then die cut using a StampinUP banner die. I used foam tape on the focal circle and on the sentiment banner.

A simple and fairly quick card, and all I had time for today.

Our new upright freezer was delivered earlier and it took me ages to clean up the garage in the area we needed it to go. The dog was also professionally groomed by the mobile groomer so it was a busy morning. I have to say I’m pretty tired now and my hands are getting sore, so it is time to stop.

Thanks for stopping, I appreciate it.

Another card from the La Dolce Vita collection, this one using another piece of patterned vellum along with the Citrus Spritz die set and the small banners. The Alphabet challenge is E is for Embossing Wet or Dry so I am entering it there.

After cutting all the bits and pieces I used a Q-tip to add ink to flower centers and a brush to add some ink to the lemons. I had the dry embossed white piece leftover from another project by Darice I believe. I decided to use it for behind the lemons. I fooled around with placement before attaching everything using a combination of foam tape and glue. I keep meaning to try foiling but as yet haven’t so instead I used scrap piece of gold CS to create the banner sentiment. To attach the vellum background I ran it through a Xyron machine as I’ve found the adhesive doesn’t show through this way. The blue card front makes the blue in the pattern more intense, although the photo doesn’t do it justice. Its much prettier in reality.

All in all I’m pleased with the end result. Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you, your time and any comments you may leave for me.

As You See It – Challenge #350 – Triptych. Another card using some product from my Weekender kit, this one using printed vellum. It couldn’t be more perfect for this particular challenge. After I cut a piece off the larger pattern piece I attached it to some white CS and then attached to the card base. I stamped the sentiment and using the matching die cut it in the shape. Before cutting I had heat embossed while the ink was wet. The gold thread is from my stash and I attached as you see with an additional smaller bow on top. Using some of the tiny clear gems, again from the kit, I added them to the centers of each tile, but they are so small the camera didn’t pick them up. They twinkle in my craft room light. The 3 blue ones were added and I called the card complete.

Probably the easiest card I’ve made in a while and I quite like the look. Thanks for spending time with me today, I appreciate you and your comments a lot.