As I wasn’t totally happy with my challenge entry at JUG’s yesterday, I decided to have another go and this is the result. In fact I’ve been playing quite a bit with various ideas using the puzzle die I’ve just acquired. It is from Hero Arts and I’ve had some fun with it. I’ll add some of the others I’ve made later this week. This particular idea came from something seen on Pinterest, but I can’t tell you who did it originally as the photo doesn’t follow any links. Whoever you are thanks for the inspiration.

I liked the sentiment a lot so I recreated it on my computer and printed it. As you can see I used the challenge colours on the puzzle die and cut them out. Then I used a die set I’ve had for a while, but cannot remember the brand, to cut a small frame. Added some plastic to that and using foam tape mounted it onto the background piece leaving an opening to add the puzzle pieces. Once the pieces were inside I sealed the opening and added this to a card front. It is like a shaker except that I stuffed it so full of the pieces they don’t actually move about which, in a way, was what I wanted. The PP background is an old scrap I’ve had forever and it fit the colours so was perfect here. Added a few gems and considered it finished. I’m much happier with this entry than with the other one. The only annoyance is I can’t seem to get good photos yet. I don’t have the set up I used in my last craft room and until this one is completed photos are a bit hit and miss. All the cabinets and hardware were delivered today so we are getting close to having it installed and finished! Can hardly wait.

With new two challenges and my need for a get well card I came up with this effort. I’m not sure I like it but it is colourful and looks better in R.L. than in the photo. I tried two different techniques for these butterflies, one was something I had seen Mindy Eggen do a while back where she used Perfect Pearls and the other used a combination of some heat embossing and Sakura Glaze pens. I used a yellow glitter powder for the lower wings. I think I prefer that butterfly myself. The glaze pens made the paper curl so I didn’t have to do anything to make it look as if it is flying. The lower butterfly is on a heavy card stock which wouldn’t bend but I did manage to get it to lift a little bit. Stamp set is from MFT called More Brilliant Butterflies and the sentiment is also MFT but called Itty Bitty Basics. The PP is something left over from a long ago purchase, I think from a Tattered Lace magazine, but can’t remember for sure. I added a few gems for interest.

just-us-girls-challenge-597-trend-week.html has a black and white challenge this week and I decided to try my hand at a black and white card slimline. Using my new dies from MFT I cut the circular floral pieces and after measuring the placements glued them to a white scrap piece. Added this to the same black CS and then onto the white card front. I then used the stamp set from the MFT kit called Friends Like You, to create the sentiment. Heat embossed in white and I added some black gems here and there to finish it off. This will be going to a good friend who is struggling with her hubby’s declining health. He has dementia and it is very challenging for her lately, although she never complains.

I figured making a card for a challenge was the best way to get back into creating on a regular basis. Using a new die set by Recollections (found on sale at Michaels) and a new stamp set from The Cat’s Pajamas I first cut the border piece and used the center shape to stamp the image. I coloured the water, the gift and the scarf with InkTense pencils then added some Nuvo Crystal drops to the bears nose, eye and water hole. I also added some snow lines, to ground the bear, with a Sakura pen and went over that with the drops too. The bear himself has been done with a white Sakura glaze pen so he has dimension but the camera didn’t pick up on that texture. I added the die cut and image pieces to the blue background piece and then added that to the white CS. Using a scrap piece of the same blue I stamped the sentiment and heat embossed in white.

It is hard to believe that the last card I made was in March and when I sat down yesterday to try to create something, I almost couldn’t remember what to do. My craft room is not ready, but my hubby set up my work tables for me and placed boxes so I could open and get into them giving me the opportunity to get back into my hobby. I can’t find everything but at least managed to set up some basic items for cutting, scoring and inking. I feel happier knowing I can sit and play even if the set up isn’t perfect.

This card came about from items I had been saving from other store bought cards. The colours aren’t showing as well as I wanted as the card looks blue in the photograph when in actual fact it is a purple stripe on a purple card front. This striped piece was part of a thank you card that I cut up because I liked the stripe. The images are from a Papyrus card that was set up for a crafter to reuse. They even provided a piece that would scrape off the tiny gems from the card front. I used some of the tiny gems here but still have a few others for another design. I used a sentiment from a new set received, but not opened since it arrived, by MFT. Stamped in VersaMark and white heat embossed. The card is slightly bigger than normal so I shall make an envelope when sending it later on,

I also repaired the two cards I posted that had spelling mistakes so I can now use them later.

Right now I don’t know whether to laugh, cry or even whether I should be posting this card plus the other one I’ve done. Glaring mistake here and I did the same error on the other one. And I pride myself on my language skills … LOL!

Upon thinking about it, I’ve decided to go ahead so you can laugh too and I’m even entering it into the JUGs challenge which called for an embossing folder, and is why I made it in the first place.

I started with a piece of turquoise card stock and using an older 3D folder from Spellbinders I ran it through my Big Shot. Then I went over the raised parts with some white ink and set it to dry. Using a favorite frame die from PaperRose I die cut the stitched frame and ran it through a folder from Sizzix called Stitched Sequins. I added a bit of ink to the raised bits here as well. In retrospect perhaps I should have left them white. Anyway I glued the two parts together and then added them to the card front. Using a die from SSS that includes an outline to the letters I die cut the word and tried using a Jennifer McGuire trick to get them straight before adding glue to the backs. The result isn’t bad but I definitely need practice in using the technique she showed on her video. After adding the word underneath the main panel I added a few pearls to the floral part and some other gems at the sides of the frame. I set out to do the photograph and realized my huge mistake. Can’t believe I did this not only once but twice! Maybe my eye surgery has made my brain wonky, haha.

Here is the 2nd card with the same error as the previous one. I’ve been thinking about this while cooking the evening meal and have decided to fix the mistakes before I send them to anyone. As peeling the letters off will damage the base card I will probably cover it up with another piece of CS but I’m not sure yet. As well I’m not 100% sure I really like the results of either card. I really wanted to give the ideas that J. McGuire did in her recent tutorial a try, but mine certainly don’t have a wow factor that others I’ve seen do. Oh well – it is good to try and neither card is bin worthy. I’m sure I can redeem them before mailing, but perhaps not until after I’ve moved. For now I’m sharing to give others a laugh.

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/ The challenge is to use a stamped image and mine is a new set from MFT called Hug it Out. Not having a lot of crafting time meant that I haven’t been able to use some of my new purchases and it felt good to use this particular stamp. The hearts and the sentiment come from the same set. The background behind the die cut sun rays is a vellum piece I made a long time ago for my hubby. As he no longer needs it I took it back to use and I cut a piece for this card to put behind the sun rays. The sun die is from Simon Says. Once it was cut I swiped fossilized amber distress ink and a small amount of squeezed lemonade over it. I was able to glue the vellum and the rays easily without the glue showing through. I coloured the image using a combination of Inktense pencils, Prisma colour pencils and my Sakura glaze pens. I tried to make the bear have a furry look but I’m not sure I achieved it. I quite like how the card turned out and my hubby really liked it too. The sentiment and image are perfect for the current times we live in when real hugging isn’t allowed. Can’t wait for that to change.

Having seen a few of this design recently, I really wanted to try for myself and this is my version. It seemed to me that the challenge colours at Color Hues were perfect for doing a card of this type. I chose a few different blue CS scraps and the same for the yellow and using my Hero Arts Infinity circle dies I cut the various sizes. The nice thing about this design is that you get 2 cards from one design so it is worth the work. After playing around with the placement of each colour circle I had one set of yellow hues and one of the blue. I then glued each set together and once dry cut the result in half ending up with 4 half circles. I already had the Navy card front ready and after dry embossing some white CS with a Darice Swirly vine folder I cut it slightly smaller and glued onto the card front. Then I took 2 halves of each colour set and played with placement on top. Before I glued them into place I cut another small strip of the navy CS and heat embossed the sentiment in white. I also flagged the ends and taking a thin strip of foam tape I added it to the back in the center. I stuck this into place just between the 2 halves and then I glued each half underneath butting up the edges to the thin piece of foam. I did the other half of the sentiment on a piece of white CS this time heat embossing in black and added it as you see in the photo. The sentiment is from a GKD set called Grand Greetings. I am really happy with how this turned out and it wasn’t hard to do, but did require a bit of thought to get right. There is a lot going on so I chose to keep it as is rather than add any bling. It’s a good design for a masculine card.

The sketch challenge at Global Design helped me to remember that last week while on the island I had been coloring some digital images and fussy cutting one specifically. I pulled it out and decided it would work well for the sketch and because it also reminds me of spring felt that it could be a 2nd entry to the Paper Players theme challenge too. After going through some of my PP stash I found a small piece of PP from GKD so I cut and glued it to make the side strip on the card front. The PP follows the flower theme in that it has hibiscus flowers. I used a combination of Inktense pencils and Sakura Glaze pens to color the digital image and it is very vibrant in real life. The tiny sentiment comes from a Divinity Design set I got last year and the word die Love is from MFT. I love the script and when I cut it from white card stock it didn’t stand out enough so I used the black glaze pen over the top. It now shines and pops from the rest of the card. Since my eye surgery last Thursday, I’ve been a bit limited in what I am allowed to do. Can’t do any packing or lifting and on the weekend the eye was too sore to do much anyway. Being able to do a bit of card making today makes me feel somewhat productive and I’m happy to get one or two done. With the right eye to be done on Thursday I guess I’m going to lose another few days of productivity while it heals. I’m making hay while the sun shines right now.

Perhaps roses are not quite spring flowers, but pink seems to remind me of spring and even Easter too. I started with an unnamed brand die cut done in white CS which I glued immediately to a piece of pink CS. Then I took several shades of Distress Inks in pinks and sponged colour over it all. I wasn’t completely happy with it so I used some spray inks and some Perfect Pearl shimmer to add more colour and spatter. All I wanted was for the background die cut to add texture initially. After adhering this panel to a card front I proceeded to stamp the flowers using a small stamp set from Hot off the Press, a tiny sentiment from the same set and I also die cut 2 hugs in both black and white. Those I glued together slightly offsetting the white over the black. I coloured the roses using Sakura glaze pens and fussy cut them out. Adding some foam tape to the back I placed them on the card front with the stems appearing to grow out of the word hugs. I added the tiny Just Rosy sentiment above the die cut word and underneath the leaves of the roses. I quite like the result and hope others do too.