Little friends

After some sunny, although cold days, we are back to the milder temperatures and the rain so I’m in my craft room catching up on a few things and posting this card.

It is intended for the AAA Card Challenge #306: Follow Francesca’s Lead and this is my take on her card.

To make it, I used a stamp set from Crafters Companion that came in a kit, and some Gummiapan dies. I stamped the background using Lost Shadow Ink and the sentiment in Hickory Smoke. While the ink was drying I die cut the images and coloured them with watercolour pencils and a Sakura Glaze pen.

When everything was dry I glued the die cuts as you see them. I did debate whether anything else was needed, but CAS means lots of empty space, so I left it as is. Colouring such tiny images is challenging and I need more practice at it, but all in all, I’m happy with the end result.

Thanks for spending time with me today, I appreciate you and your time.

pink flower

Welcome back to the second challenge of the new year, here at cardz4galz, which is to add pink flowers. Challenge #268 has been chosen by Billie A and she will also choose the winners.

I wanted to keep my card simple so I chose a lacy look border die by Crafters Companion and die cut it. After attaching it to another layer I added the GKD ribbon and then attached the layer to the card front. The flower and foliage are from a Waffle Flower set. I die cut the pieces and then inked them using Distress inks and a sponge. I put the flower together and using a soft pad and a flower shaper I added some dimension to it before gluing it on top of the foliage. A few pink embellishments finished the card nicely and I’m happy with how it looks.

Thanks for spending time with me today. We look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery and hope you have fun making them.

have an Ice day

Welcome back to a new challenge here at Double Trouble. Our 3-2-1 recipe Waddle We Do Next, is asking for 3 colours, 2 images, 1 Sentiment, with a twisted sister dare of adding a Penguin. In addition you may enter your card into our sister challenge at TSOT, but ensure you don’t accidentally back link.

My two images are in fact the trees and the penguin who I felt needed his space to shine. My background uses part of a Christmas napkin that I added to card stock and spritzed with glitter spray. I stamped, (from GKD) the trees directly on top. The penguin is from a Crafters Companion set, as is the sentiment. When he was stamped I used clear heat embossing before proceeding to colour him. My colours are green, red, orange-his beak, pink for his cheek and pale blue for his ice boots and to add some shading to his hat. I used a copic marker on his body along with a Pitt pen here and there and I also added some stripes to his hat and scarf using a Posca pen. The background truly sparkles in reality but the photo doesn’t pick it up.

My card doesn’t follow the sketch exactly but is kind of close. It will be a good one for a winter birthday of which a few are coming up.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look. You and your comments are appreciated.

lights, camera, action

new paper pad and camera die cut.

My hubby’s birthday is coming up soon and I’ve been working on this card for him. I can share it here, as he doesn’t go to my blog so won’t see it. Because it fits the current challenge at As You See It, Challenge #364 – Craft Room Additions I shall be entering it there.

My new additions are the patterned paper, the camera, and spectacle dies. This is an unbranded set that has other dies related to travel in it. I used two photo frame dies that have been in my stash forever and not used often, if at all. The banner die is from Scrapbook.com the alphabet dies are from First Edition craft and were cut from scrap card stock. The hugs die cut was a gift so I don’t know which brand and the its your birthday in the smaller frame is from CTMH and was a leftover piece in my stash.

The hardest part in making the card was figuring out what I wanted to use and then following along with the tutorial by Sam Calcutt at Mixed up craft. I like her tutorials and generally find them easy to follow, but for some reason, on this one, I couldn’t get the measurements right at first. I also didn’t have a heavy weight CS in the blue so getting mine to stand properly took a bit of finessing. I’m nothing if not persistent and usually find solutions or work arounds when I’m stuck. Because the paper is very busy, I kept the additional items to just a few things camera related. My personal message will be written on the back of the easel stand added behind the card.

I’m hoping to make his favourite chocolate cake but can’t find the chocolate that I normally use. When I asked at a local grocery store that has carried it in the past, I was told they aren’t stocking it due to the cost. They offered a chocolate flavoured slab, but I declined as it has to be quality and the real thing or nothing. I’m hoping when I’m in Nanaimo next week, a larger town not too far away, that I can find a gourmet store there that stocks it. The price of things lately is beyond ridiculous, but making a cake without the right ingredients is a complete waste of time in my opinion. Wish me luck.

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

a gift for you

To make this card, I used a slightly textured piece of CS, some Speckled Egg ink and a folder from SSS. I inked up the flat side of the folder, added my card and ran it through the machine. This is the result and I love how it looks. I did a test piece first to ensure I had the right sandwich, so I now have another piece I can use at some point.

The current challenge at Seize the Birthday #318-Make Your Own Snowflake Background and using this folder from SSS, fits the bill beautifully to my mind. The stamps are from a Penny Black set. I stamped out the Penguin and then heat embossed it clear so I could use watercolour pencils. Once it was coloured and dry I fussy cut it and added some foam tape. Taking a scrap piece of printed vellum I cut a piece to ground the penguin and edged it with some glitter using a Sakura pen. Used the same pen around the sentiment edges. The Penguin was attached as you see and the card was complete. This card will go to a male friend whose birthday is coming up soon.

I’m really happy with how this card turned out and must remember to do this technique with folders more often. Thanks for joining me today, I appreciate you, your time and any comments you may leave.

celebrating 10 years

Ten years of blogging and making challenges for likeminded crafters is to be celebrated. Double D is celebrating just that. Congratulations to both of you for the hard work you put into all the challenges you support.

Before I began, I had something other than this in mind, but I couldn’t find the set of dies I was looking for. In my search I found this very old and somewhat neglected layered die set from Spellbinders. As I was getting a bit frustrated in my search, I decided to use this and go with something different than what I had in my head. In the end I’m happy to have changed direction.

I cut the pieces I required once in gold but the rest in white CS. Using the gold as my base, I added the inked balloons that I had coloured using distress inks. I used some foam tape to lift them. Using a scrap piece of yellow and an EF from Gemini I dry embossed the piece. Then I carefully cut along one curved edge. Initially I was only going to use this section, but it didn’t look quite right so on impulse I laid down the other piece, which created a gap because of the cutting. This looked much better but the white gap was too stark so I added some blue ink before gluing down the yellow layers. Once I was happy with this I glued the balloon piece on top. The sentiment section was added with additional foam tape which creates a lot of dimension. After some debate I decided against adding an additional balloon or other embellishments as it looks busy enough as is.

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

foxy fun

Happy New Year to all and here is the first challenge of 2026 for Double Trouble. Our recipe is to use: 3 colours, 2 shapes and one sentiment with the theme of cool, wild or crazy.

In my case I’ve chosen cool and wild as represented by the music background, it reminds me of cool jazz bands, and the Lawn Fawn wild animal fox. My shapes are the background panel, a circle die cut as well as the fox himself. The EF is from Spellbinders and I used a linen CS. I used a sanding block to take off some of the colour on the raised sections as I liked the look and it showed off the embossing more. My fox was built using scrap die cutting and then gluing the pieces together. The circle die cut is done with infinity dies by Hero Arts, the sentiment is from Spellbinders and the embellishments are from my stash. They pick up whatever colour they are close to, in this case yellow. My colours are Yellow, orange and pink, but if brown is considered a colour rather than a neutral I guess it would be four colours.

The idea for this card came from Pinterest, but it isn’t a CASE, just a general similar look. Remember that you can join in with the TSOT sketch challenge if you wish, but ensure that you aren’t back linking before you do so.

Thanks for joining me today, I appreciate your time. I wish you joy in your crafting and look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery.

standing fun fold

Having seen a card done in this style on YouTube, I wanted to try for myself. If you are interested in making one you can go here and see how. I followed the measurements but my card is using a napkin design that I had transferred to some thin card stock a while back. The only stamps I used are on the back piece and come from Marianne Designs and Kitchen Sink. I had to get a bit creative in laying mine out which took some fussy cutting but I’m pleased with the end result. The card stands beautifully, but folds flat for mailing and isn’t too bulky when folded. I’ve already got a smaller base ready for a second one and an image from a tissue box to use on a third.

Figuring out the fussy cutting took a bit of time, and I also did a bit of decoupage on the figure and bicycle. I used an old paper pad (when I say old, I mean really old) that is all sky and cut it to the size I required. After stamping the windmill I coloured it using Inktense pencils and a small amount of water. The ones I plan to do soon, will be much easier as I now have a good idea what they will look like when finished.

This was fun to make and my hubby was quite impressed with it. I am adding it to the challenge at Triple B January 2026 TB Challenge. Considering the weather and the dreary days, doing a card that denotes springtime was a nice project.

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

Christmas Sparkle

Our last cardz4galz challenge of 2025, as chosen by Dawn, is Christmas sparkle. Although the photo doesn’t show it clearly, my card is full of sparkle as I used sparkle pens by Sakura as well as a shimmer spray over the entire card.

To make this card I die cut, using Hero Arts infinity dies, a circle in a piece that could be used as a stencil. Following an idea seen on Pinterest, I used some fine tip brush pens by Sakura and flicked colour through the stencil. I added the hanging cord by hand using a glitter pen and other glitter pens over the brush strokes. The sentiment is from a set from Woodware.

I kept this design CAS as I felt the glitter was enough. Now it’s your turn and we hope you find the time to add your own designs to our gallery. We know the season is a busy one for everyone and hope that you have the Merriest of Christmases and a Happy New Year too.

pet wagon

Sketch #566

Well here I am again being sidetracked by making another card, which came about because I wanted to use the dies before I put them away.

CAS Colours & Sketches are encouraging us to take either a colour challenge or a sketch challenge from 2025 and turn it into a seasonal card. My card is using Sketch #566 and I followed the orientation and shape of the sketch while changing what needed to be changed to give it a more seasonal look. The plaid paper is from the inside of a store bought envelope, the background oval (cut using Hero Arts infinity dies) is using a scrap piece from my stash. I jazzed it up slightly by adding dots of sparkle gold, but it doesn’t show much on the photo. It looks far better in real life. My little wagon and animals are all Gummiapan dies and my sentiment comes from a set by Crafters Companion. I love the font in this set and have used another of the stamps on the inside of the card. I used both alcohol markers and glitter pens to colour in the animals and wagon.

Although I don’t need any more Christmas cards now, I have several already completed for 2026 and this one will go into that stash. Thanks for joining me today, I appreciate you and any comments you leave.