card-making

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.

lavenderhousecreations

For the Artist in You!

A speed challenge always ensures the adrenaline is way up and for me it is also when I become the most clumsy. That said, I still managed to come up with a design and decent, if not truly creative, end result. This one was completed in 8 minutes and 10 seconds. As You See It – Challenge #379 – Hastened Handicrafts speed challenge has a theme of anything crafty.

I pulled out two stamp sets, one from Amazon Globeland and the other GKD which is where my sentiment came from. As well I pulled the larger arch die from a slatted die set by Craft Addictions UK. I used the stitched outline along with the arch but didn’t use the slatted piece here. I also used a homemade, gifted to me, stencil in yellow and orange. I did think about fussy cutting the images, but realized that my time would be affected too much.

Of course the fumbling started as soon as I started the clock and even though I used some tape to hold it, the die slipped slightly during the cutting leaving a sharp edge at the curve. I tried returning it to the die and running through again unsuccessfully, so I used scissors, which made it better but not perfect. Using the stencil and pre inked sponges I added the dots randomly. Then I stamped the images and sentiment on top. I forgot that the dots would show through the images (silly me) so now I’m definitely not happy and no time to correct. My solution was to use Prisma pencils and colour in the paint box and brush holder. This worked and for good measure I took some Sakura glitter pens in various colours and added colour to the paint pots. I already had the dark Teal card base ready but I took time to cut the burgundy PP and glued it as you see before adding the shaped piece on top. I completely forgot about adding an embellishment until after I stopped the clock and likely I will add one or two before I use the card.

Many thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you and your time.

lavenderhousecreations

Garnish Your Margarita

It took a while for me to settle on the right images and ideas for this card challenge, but once I did everything went smoothly. The current challenge at Seize the Birthday #332-Funny/Pun-ny requires funny/pun-ny and fortunately I have a few stamps sets in my stash that fit the bill. My images come from a YNS set that had matching dies and the pun sentiment is from that set. The Cheers sentiment is from Joy Clair and the Happy Birthday is from SSS. My EF is from Spellbinders but my ink pad was very juicy which meant the ink stayed wet. Because I’m impatient, I decided to heat emboss it clear. I cut it down slightly and added more ink around the edges before adding it to the card front. The oval is from a CraftAddiction UK set and I cut two to stack them for dimension. I did the same with the images so they have both strength and dimension.

Using a VersaMark pen I went around the edge of the oval and heat embossed it in gold and the sentiments were all heat embossed in gold too. The images were coloured with water colour pencils and to ensure they wouldn’t run I heat embossed the outlines after stamping.

I like the cuteness of the images in this stamp set and had fun putting the card together. This particular stamp had the 3 images close together, but I didn’t realize that each part had an individual die. Cutting that tiny heart was a challenge due to its size. The rest was much easier.

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

lavenderhousecreations

A Winter Scene

Welcome to Double Trouble Challenge #223. Your 3-2-1 recipe is as follows, “Something, Anything, Everything”

3 of something from your stash, 2 of anything from your stash and 1 of everything from your stash. Thing 3 Twisted Sister has the option of using foam tape or multilayering of item to add dimension and Thing 2 is the double dare of using the sketch and adding to TSOT #702 challenge. Remember the backlinking rule please.

I began my card by stamping a Penny Black scene and heat setting it so I could add colour. Using some inks and sponges I added the various colours working my way down the image. Taking an unbranded die set I cut one of the small deer and 3 rabbits to which I added a little colour before using thin foam tape to pop them on the front. My two fussy cut little birds are from a GKD set and I added some colour to these as well. The sentiment is from a YNS set and I used a Sakura glitter pen here and there for a little fun.

I had fun putting the scene together and hope that those of you participating also enjoy the process. We look forward to seeing your creations in the gallery. Many thanks for stopping by, you, your time and your comments are appreciated.

lavenderhousecreations

Leaf Wishes

The challenge at Color Hues is #138-Navy and Teal and I wasn’t sure if I had any ideas for it. However, a book I’ve been reading, had a very interesting and pretty cover and it set off an idea for something with stripes. This is what I ended up with.

My first step was to create the stripes and this is my second attempt as the first one was not what I wanted. I used Gina’s masking magic strips and my glass mat for getting them onto the card stock straight. Then I used Chipped Sapphire and a sponge to do the navy stripes. When they were done and dry I moved the masks so I could add the Peacock Feathers ink. While this was drying I looked through my stamps and found this set by SSS that includes dies as I wasn’t in the mood to fussy cut anything. I stamped them using Chipped Sapphire and then used clear heat embossing to set it. Using a several water colour pencils, I added colour using a darker teal and a lighter one, along with navy. While they were drying I added VersaMark ink using a fine tip brush and the liquid and doing 2 stripes at a time added clear heat embossing to give it the shine I wanted. This took enough time that the stamped pieces dried well so I die cut them and then added VersaMark onto a few leaves and clear heat embossed those as well. The teal stripes have a subtle shine as I used some Perfect Pearls powder on those. The sentiment is from Open Studio.

In thinking about the process I took to get this result, I’ve realized that I could have added VersaMark using the ink pad before I moved the masking strips, but as with so many things hind sight is always 20/20.

We’ve actually had some rain earlier today which is a relief because it is scary to see how dry things are. The fires in the Okanagan are very bad and so many communities are affected. In my thoughts I tried to send the rain to them, but we don’t have control over the weather unfortunately. It is depressing to see how many people have lost everything, but there are also stories of hope and heroes too. Other countries have sent crews to help which allows some of ours to get some rest and recharge their batteries.

My I-phone is giving me some issues since a recent update and the photo is way darker than the card looks in real life. It is a very strong card, but I like it and my hubby liked it too.

I’m off to finish some laundry now that the painters have moved to another section of the house. We are having some areas redone with the hallway to the laundry room being one section. It looks nice but I couldn’t get to my machines easily. Many thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate it.

lavenderhousecreations

Sympathy Blooms

Sadly, I was in need of a sympathy card as a sick friend passed away on Friday. She was a part of my yoga group and will be sorely missed. I figured that if I must make one why not add it to a challenge while I was at it. It will be entered into the Triple B TB August 2026 Challenge.

I took an A2 panel and die cut a label aperture through it. Before doing anything else I ensured where to adhere the sentiment so it shows through because I knew I was going to use foam tape to lift it up from the main card. The actual sentiment comes from a book of essential inserts by HunkyDory Crafts and I used a larger label die to glue it behind. Dies are by Spellbinders Nestabilities. Once the layer was added to the main card front I proceeded with the rest.

Using an older die set from GKD, I die cut 9 flowers, placed them on a sticky mat, pounced colour, then using a Sakura gel pen I made the lines darker for more definition. With a paper styler and some foam I added a curve to all of them and then added the silver flat backs to their centers. These were then glued to the layer as you see in the photo.

I made an envelope for this card to ensure the flowers would have more space as the regular envelopes don’t allow for this much dimension. I will, however, be delivering this in person sometime later this week. We don’t have yoga for a few weeks as our teacher is on vacation, but we shall be having a coffee together on Thursday in Fern’s honour. A couple of us will miss her for more than just her personality as she also took care of our dogs once in a while.

Thanks for joining me today, you and your time is appreciated.

lavenderhousecreations

Pinecone Bough

In my testing out some new dies, I ended up with extra pieces that were good enough to use elsewhere so I created this card for CYHTP. Their challenge is: Anything Goes With A Twist of Tie It Up. The die set used is from Karen Burniston and is called Pine cone. It also fits with the theme at The Card Concept too. The Card Concept #228a {Summer By The Sea} or #228b {Christmas in July}

My embossed background is from a folder by SSS and was a test piece made some time ago. While it wasn’t bad, I did set it aside for future use and used another one for the card I was making at that time. This one works perfectly here and I played around with the foliage and pinecones until I liked the placement before finally gluing it all. The sentiment strip is from an MFT stamp set and I edged it with the same ink used in the embossed layer. Taking two colours and lengths of twine I folded them together and in half before tying the bow and placing it as you see.

After adding the layers to the teal card front and a couple of extra berries to the sentiment I called the card complete. I’m trying to do a few Christmas cards a month to ensure I am not panicking later.

We are back in a hot dry spell and with what is happening in the Okanagan, everyone is slightly nervous. Things are tinder dry and one mistake would be a costly one. Everyone is sad for those in Summerland who are evacuating due to the wildfires nearby. It is awful to see how bad it is. I pray for them as I also pray we don’t get a fire here. The only upside for us, is that the wind has changed direction so any smoke is moving out and to the east. We were getting smoke from several places including the USA.

Thanks for stopping to take a look. I appreciate that you do and thanks in advance for any comments you may leave.