card-making

lavenderhousecreations

Happy Fall

The latest 3-2-1 recipe is all about Fall here at Double Trouble. use 3 colours from Combo Wheel #3, a 2 worded sentiment, and 1 autumn image. Thing 3 – Twisted Sister has the opt of adding pumpkins, Gourds and/or other harvest fruits and vegetables. And thing 2 is a Double Dare Opt: use the TSOT sketch #705 and enter your card there as well. Be aware of the backlinking rule. My card fits the sketch but cannot be entered.

As you can see I followed the sketch using strips of colour from my scrap pile. Once these were glued I used a YNS stamp and added colour after heat embossing the edges so they wouldn’t bleed. Initially I used pencils, but I wasn’t happy so I added Spectrum Noir markers over the top. I had seen a red squirrel photo, but no matter what I did, my colouring skills couldn’t recreate it. Sentiment is from the same set and I heat embossed it in gold. The tiny leaves and acorns are also from YNS as they came from a background plate. The pumpkin is from a GKD set and I fussy cut around it and did the same with the squirrel image. I scattered the leaves and then glued them where they fell except for in front of the pumpkin and along the right edge. These were placed. Oh and by the way, an acorn is considered a fruit according to my research.

Its a shame that so many red squirrels have been lost due to the introduction of the gray ones. In the U.K. I don’t believe there are any left at all, but here we do see one or two very small ones occasionally. We also have black ones. They are so brazen and the dog has made it her mission to get them away from the bird feeder if she can.

We look forward to seeing your creations in the gallery and hope you have a lot of fun creating. Thanks for stopping by, your time is appreciated.

lavenderhousecreations

Fall Birthday

My mojo is still not back 100%, but I’m managing a few cards here and there. The latest challenge at Seize the Birthday #335-Use Fall Colors and this is my initial effort. I’m not totally happy with it, however it isn’t a bad card, just one that I don’t consider inspired. The card also fits the new challenge at Allsorts, challenge #859 Anything Autumn.

Using some textured card stock I cut it to size and added it to the white note card. Then using another white CS and an unbranded stitched die I cut the top layer. I’ve always loved the skeleton leaves from an incentive set by GKD and pull them out at least once per year since I got them. To showcase them this time, I found a Taylored Expressions hexagon stencil and with Distress Oxide ink I sponged 3 shapes to the layer. Then I stamped the leaves on top of each using Walnut stain ink. The sentiment strip is from Open Studio. I felt the card was missing something and in retrospect it may have been a good idea to do some splatter here and there. However, at the time I didn’t think of it and went searching for some embellishments I could use. I found these tiny paper flowers that I’ve had for so long I’m surprised they haven’t fallen apart. I glued the two colour sections together and then used some Pops of Color for the centers. Once dry I added them as you see.

After a two days of consistent and much needed rain, today was once again dry and sunny for the most part. My hubby took me out to lunch and we also went for a nice walk with our dog. Our fall colours are quite pretty, although nothing like what the east coast will see as they move into the cooler weather.

Thanks for stopping by, you are appreciated in a big way.

lavenderhousecreations

Shake it Up!

In general, making a shaker card isn’t something I do very often as I find them difficult. However, I had some pretty digital images given to me and I wanted to find a use for them. What I did was print them onto some CS that my printer can handle and fussy cut them. The heart aperture I already had because I had die cut a stamped image for another card. The image behind the aperture is from the same gifted digital images and I cut it to a size that fit behind the aperture. To add the shaker elements I used some packaging and made it smaller so I could fill it with the rest.

I backed the layer with foam tape after I had added the shaker pouch. The fussy cut pieces were added at 2 corners, and I stamped the sentiment on an angle. I’m sorry but I’ve forgotten which stamp set it came from as I put it away after using it. The tiny hearts are from Altenew. Once the top layer was put together I added it to a white note card.

The card was made a few days ago, but I didn’t have time to post it until now. I looked at a few challenges and think it fits at The Sisterhood of Crafters – September 2026 – Frame It and also it is a 2nd entry into Double D – pretty in pink.

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

lavenderhousecreations

From me to You

Double D’s latest challenge mood board is all about pink and a stamping friend of mine mentioned a brand new challenge blog called Heart’s Quest and they too have a mostly pink challenge happening. I decided that my card fits both so I managed a twofer.

I wanted to play with my newest stamp/die set from Craft Addition UK as I had only used one of the stamps so far. I really liked the floral heart and decided to start with that and see how my thinking evolved. I chose a Distress Oxide ink Victorian Velvet and stamped it after which I used clear embossing and heat set it. When it was fully dry I used the matching die and cut it. Setting it aside I decided to use another of the Quacker stamps, stamped, heat set and die cut. Using pencils I added some colour keeping to the pink theme. It’s art, so who says a duck has to be white? I knew I would be popping up the duck so I added foam tape and set it aside for a few minutes more.

My card front is a pink from GKD and I remembered I still had some StampinUP DSP that looked marbled in different colours and this piece was one of them. I used the less marbled effect to keep the soft look as a background. The other side is lovely too but a but too busy for this card. Once I had glued the DSP to the card front I played a moment with placement before adding the other elements. It needed a sentiment and I thought this one was perfect and it helps to ground my quacker too. A few pink Pops of Color and the card was done. I guess you could say this card is an almost CAS style. I quite like how this one has turned out, although perhaps adding a bit more than just pink may have given it a little more Oomph as my hubby likes to say.

Thanks a lot for stopping by, I appreciate that you take the time to look.

lavenderhousecreations

Masculine Card

I’m not sure where my mojo is, but it definitely isn’t around at the moment. It took me forever to decide on a card for the challenge at As You See It and as many of you know, it is one of my favourite challenge sites. The current one is about colour, Challenge #381 – High Tech Handsomeness and here is my effort. And because I’ve used a folder I am entering it as a second card at CYHYP Anything Goes With A Twist of Cloudy Day . Twist not taken.

Even though I like the colours and the image that was part of the inspiration it took me some time to decide what to do. I started with the folder which is by Sizzix called Mechanics Texture Fades. I chose the slate gray CS and embossed it then went over the raised parts with a blue ink cube. My card base is basic gray so the layer was cut down to allow the darker gray to show up as a frame. I actually got this layer on straight for a change. I remembered that I had a stamp/die set that is an unbranded set. After stamping the truck I stamped the packages, heat embossed them, then die cutting after they were coloured. Prisma pencils were used to colour. These unbranded sets are useful but not fantastic and in the one I have there is a fault in the die for the parcels. As well the stamps are so soft that one has to be careful to get a decent impression.

Once I had everything coloured and put together I added foam tape behind for dimension, looked for some PP that allowed me to ground the truck and added it to the 3D layer. I wasn’t sure about a sentiment but in looking for the PP I also found some sentiment strips from Idea-ology so I chose one of those and added it at the bottom.

We had a massive and violent lightning storm right overhead a few weekends ago. It lasted 6 hours and hit one of the transformers on a pole that brought power to 5 houses. It was an almighty bang and almost made us fall out of bed with shock at the noise. Of course everything went dark and we waited for our generator to kick in. Sadly it didn’t, because the lightning also took out the control panel on the generator. Fortunately we have surge protectors on our panel and we had turned off the computers and other electronics as a precaution. We’ve been dealing with the aftermath ever since as so many little things no longer work. I have two kitchen appliances not working, our ventilation system control panel has to be replaced, a roof exhaust fan is also broken and many LED light bulbs just gave out. Now that we have quotes on most of it we’ve started an insurance claim. Just the generator alone is a $2,000 repair. We would have preferred not to claim but we are now way over the deductible and after speaking with the company the adjuster agrees that it is necessary and likely to be covered. We consider ourselves lucky as it could have been so much worse. One of our neighbors had a power bar start to smoke and burn and it freaked me out because if she hadn’t been awake to find it her house might have burned down. I guess this saga is the reason my mojo is a bit lacking. Anyone denying climate change needs to start rethinking in my humble opinion.

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you, your time and any comments you may leave.

lavenderhousecreations

A Fall Retirement

Our neighbor is retiring soon and as he loves his garden and very generously shares some of his produce with us, I decided to make him a retirement card. We harvested a bunch of his apples yesterday. The Card Concept #229 {Sunflower Delight} has a delightful image to use as inspiration and I was intrigued by the mix of sunflowers and other items as part of the mantle. As my card uses an embossing folder I am also entering it into Anything Goes With A Twist of Cloudy Day at CYHTP but no twist taken.

The other day I pulled out some stencils as some of my pastes were going very hard and I thought perhaps I could use them up before throwing them away. I finished off a Brutus Munroe glitter paste using a brick wall stencil and I used some gold butter paste on another scrap card stock with the same stencil. I tried mixing some colour into an old white paste but it had gone too far to be successful so I ditched it almost right away. Anyway these pieces were sitting on my desk where I had left them to dry.

I remembered that I had an EF that was also a brick wall – this one by Tim Holtz if I remember correctly. I ran it through and used some lost Shadow ink over the raised sections so the embossing showed better. As you can see the Inspo image became my focus and I built my card to look somewhat similar. With all that has been going on for a week or so, I hadn’t felt much like creating, so having a photo to follow helped a lot in my creativity. In my stash I have some laser cut florals by 49th and Market so I took some of them to add to my fireplace. Using the glitter piece I cut it down leaving enough on each side to become a flap so when added it would stand up. I also cut the space for the fire. Then I added the black mantle top and glued it all to the embossed background. Taking the laser cuts I played until I had something I liked and then glued or added foam tape to make it stand out. The two sunflowers are from a forgotten bunch of florals I’ve had for a long time. I cut off the stems and made them as flat as possible on the back before using them here. They are a little bigger than I would have preferred but sadly, I don’t have any sunflower stamps or dies, so using something already made was the best way for me today.

The sentiment was created on my computer, cut to size and added as you see. I’m not sure of my style for this card, but after looking at the definitions on the website I believe it is a combination of Mixed Media, and Freestyle collage. Hopefully my mojo will be back properly after working on this card. Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you and your time.

lavenderhousecreations

Interactive Double Slider

closed card front
sliders open

Welcome to Cardz4galz challenge #284, as chosen by Jill, who is asking for an interactive kinetic card. I chose to do a double slider and used a tutorial from Purple Girl crafts, found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLP65jOX-Nw. I’ve never done one before so I thought it time to challenge myself a little.

Although I followed the tutorial as best as possible, I did have a few issues and had to make some adjustments here and there. And like on the tutorial my sentiment layer should be slightly smaller so that both layers can be seen a little better. That said, I’m not too displeased with the end result and should I make another I know what to do next time.

Having acquired a few funny stickers, I decided to use one for my card front and pulled out paper pertaining to coffee. The sticker was adhered to a leftover piece which had been die cut using an unbranded set. My sentiment comes from an old GKD set as do the coffee beans and the images on the back slider layer. I heat embossed everything. I also used a small Pull stamp from a little used set I’ve had for some time, but I’m not sure who made it. I added the word Pull to another small circle, heat embossed it and glued in place covering up the back with another circle.

Now it’s your turn and we look forward to seeing your interactive cards in our gallery. Have fun creating! Many thanks for stopping by, you and your time is appreciated.

lavenderhousecreations

FRIEND

A twofer to fit these challenges: (DD 8/26) WHEN LIFE HANDS YOU LEMONS Challenge and Seize the Birthday #333-No Stamping Dies Only.

I had begun this card but didn’t get it finished before our house guests arrived. I thought perhaps I wouldn’t manage to complete it, but this morning my hubby and Ron are putting up a special rail for his photograph gallery and Dale is outside doing our garden. I’m in charge of the kitchen but in between I managed to put this card together so I could post it. These particular friends are amazing and always end up helping with something.

My card uses a Spellbinder folder and dies for the lemon arrangement, a die from Craft Addictions UK and a word die from MFT. Although it is hard to tell from the photo I did swipe a light yellow ink over the raised parts. It shows more in real life.

After die cutting all the small pieces I spent the time arranging and gluing until I was happy with the look. I then added it to the small green piece before adding that to the embossed section. The word was die cut in gold and attached at the bottom and then the entire layer was added to a note card.

In a minute I shall be making lunch and helping haul away some of the garden waste that Dale produces. She tells me she suffers from withdrawal symptoms if she doesn’t manage to be working in a garden for a few hours. Everyone should be as lucky as we are to have friends like these in ones life.

Have a great day everyone and thanks for stopping by. I do appreciate it.

lavenderhousecreations

A Little Bird …

Welcome to the latest Double Trouble recipe challenge #224. Thing 1 – 3 Patterned papers, 2 colours of choice (neutrals do not count, but can be used in addition) 1 image. Thing 3 – Twisted Sister Opt: Include Stitches on Project and Thing 2 is a double dare to use the sketch from TSOT and enter into TSOT #703 challenge. Note the backlinking rule.

My card uses patterned paper from a HunkyDory Duo Design paper pad and some patterned vellum. My colours are blue, yellow and green along with the neutrals in the paper. The little bird is from Gummiapan and was coloured using pencils. The tiny butterflies are also Gummiapan. I used a GKD stamp to add the branch for the bird to perch on. The circle dies and the stitched sentiment dies are from StampinUP. The actual gold embossed sentiment is from Joy Clair and my die cut flowers are from Memory Box.

When I began this card I didn’t really have a firm idea of what I wanted to create, but as so often happens it evolved by itself. I quite like the result, which is always a bonus for me.

Now it is your turn and we look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery. Above all, have fun! Thanks for stopping by, you, your time and your comments are appreciated.

lavenderhousecreations

Bzzzzz

This card fits two challenges and even includes the optional twist on one of them. As You See It Challenge #380 – Quadrants and CYHTP (8/2026) Anything Goes with a Twist of BEES.

I started with a piece of fairly heavy CS and an EF from Sizzix called Foliage. Its an old favourite of mine. Once I had the impression I chose two ink cubes, one in yellow and one black and swiped ink over the raised parts. Then I cut it into 2″ squares and added it to a mat gold background. All this was then added to the card front. My arithmetic is hopeless and I didn’t quite get the sizing correct so the card was cut down a 1/4 inch to make it work.

Using an unbranded Dollar store stamp set I chose the two bees and the honeycomb stamps along with the sentiment. I fussy cut them all except for the sentiment square which was done with a Memory Box die. I did round the corners using a punch. I added colour to the bees with a pencil and used a silvery glitter Sakura pen for the wings. The smaller bee is glued flat but the honeycomb and larger bee are each popped up with foam tape.

I recently came across a site that collects cards for cancer and they are slowly gaining traction province by province. I joined the group and so far I’ve donated about 30 cards. As they are now located in my own province I am aiming to add quite a few more. As a cancer survivor it seems like a worthy cause to me and it is one way I can support others. In general I’m not a person who volunteers so being able to do something nice right from home works great for me. There is apparently a sister site in the USA, so anyone interested should message me and I’ll send info if requested.

Thanks for stopping by, you, your time and any comments you may leave are always appreciated. We have house guests arriving for a few days on Sunday, so I probably won’t have time for the computer or my craft room until later in the week.