cardmaking

lavenderhousecreations

Yellow and Black

It isn’t often that I really like a card I make, but this one I am truly happy with. So how did it come about and why I had to get really creative to make it?

Firstly it has been made for the latest challenge at Color Hues Challenge #135 – Yellow and Black. It uses dies from a StampinUp set, along with a larger die that I’ve had forever and think is from either Spellbinders or Sizzix. Acquired in the days when I didn’t think to keep the information. And it uses a sentiment from a Hero Arts set that was an included set in my latest Weekender kit.

I wanted to create a butterfly border, but didn’t have the right dies to do what I saw in my head. So instead I die cut the butterflies separately and added them as you see to the narrow yellow strips. To make them look as if they were die cut into the strip I coloured in the pattern attaching them to it. The hanging off piece picks up the black card front underneath. I used some black 1mm foam underneath and once they were attached to the card front, I started on the larger more ornate butterfly. Reversing the two colours I cut the background piece out of the yellow and the open frame piece from the black and attached them together. Taking the body die and some glossy gold CS I die cut the body and attached as you see. It was also popped up on a double up piece of foam so it floats above the others. The black embellishments are really old and from my stash. Once I had stamped the sentiment I embossed and heat set clear then I cut it into two so I could add it between the strips.

Yellow and black look pretty good together and I have to remember to use the combination more often. I guess using a strong yellow helps the visual impact a lot. Thanks so much for stopping by to take a look, I appreciate you and your time.

lavenderhousecreations

Huey Chameleon

I started this card mainly with Seize the Birthday in mind, but it sat on my desk for a couple of days because I didn’t have enough time to continue with it. In the meantime a second challenge began at CYHTP and I realized it would work for that too.

The printed acetate sheet is the last of a bunch I purchased many years ago because I thought they were pretty. Then I couldn’t think how to use them due to my lack of knowledge and skill. These days I wouldn’t have kept them so long unused.

The challenge at Seize the Birthday is to use acetate or vellum and the one at CYHTP is always an Embossing Folder, but with an optional twist. The twist this time is Boys to Men. My card fits both challenges, although I acknowledge that Huey would work for a woman as well.

Using my latest folder from Spellbinders and some watercolour CS I embossed the background and then used ink in two shades to add colour. I like the texture on the watercolour, it takes ink well and it seems to work great for these leaves. I wondered about adding dimension around the sides of the acetate, but it showed through too much so that idea was clearly not going to work. I already knew I was going to use the chameleon die set, and I set the acetate to one side giving me time to think about it and proceeded to cut and build Huey. Once he was built I took another 2 dies from a different set in this kit and cut the branch and the vine fronds.

I added Huey and the fronds to the branch and then placed him on the card front laying the acetate piece on top. Deciding this would work I glued him down and added a strip of scortape to the acetate at the top only. Using the sentiment and matching dies from the kit, I stamped the sentiment and heat set it clear. The It’s your Day was placed underneath the acetate at the top and the other part was added on top of the acetate at the bottom.

The card size is slightly larger than I would normally do, but I wanted to be sure the acetate would fit nicely and making an envelope for it is pretty easy. Although making Huey was time consuming, it wasn’t difficult and I was smart enough to print out the explanation for each piece which I’m keeping with the set. The hardest part of this card was taking the photo and it took several tries to get this one, which is still not that great. No matter where I put the card there was a light source that glared on the acetate, which is why you can’t see the entire sentiment at the top. All in all, I’m pleased with how this turned out and I have a few coloured stripes left to have the next Huey partially prepared.

Chellenges entered:

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

lavenderhousecreations

Seaside Fun

Lynda has chosen the current challenge theme here at cardz 4 galz, and she wants to see seaside/coast style cards for challenge #278.

I decided to let some of my paper do the work on this card and used a patterned paper that looks like water. I also used some old fine sandpaper to create the beach sand look. Using some Kokorosa dies I added the foamy water at the join of the two papers. Then with another die set I cut the umbrella tops and coloured them as you see, adding a couple of striped beach towels among them. The die set has tiny people so I cut three, two as sunbathers and one who is body surfing.

This umbrella scene was inspired by a graphic in a TV show which is set in Mallorca. To give the umbrellas some dimension I shaped them a bit and added foam tape in the centers so they pop up. My hubby commented that this looks like an arial scene taken by a Drone.

As I’m not certain how I shall use this card, I’m leaving the sentiment off for now. Many thanks for stopping by, I do appreciate you and your time. We look forward to seeing your cards in our gallery and hope you have a lot of fun creating.

lavenderhousecreations

3-2-1 Recipe My Guy

Welcome to challenge #218, here at Double Trouble. The current recipe is as follows: 3 – Washi Tape or paper scraps, 2- die cut elements, 1- Masculine project, Thing 3 is the option to use any element pertaining to your guy and Thing 2 is the usual Double Dare to use the sketch and enter into TSOT. Note that entering here means you need to take care not to back link your project.

As you can see I used a combination of inked paper scraps and Washi tape for my background. My Washi tapes are really old and why they are still around, is because I find they don’t stick well and often peel. As I type I can see some of it is lifting so I shall have to glue the ends in a minute. My die cut tool elements double as both masculine and the my guy option, because this card is intended for a friend who is always playing with tools and handyman work. As well there are 2 other die cuts with the glitter circle and speech bubble.

The tools come from a die set from MFT, and I cut them twice to have enough to glue around the circle. The sentiment is from GKD and the heart stamp is from Simple Stories. I used a scrap piece of gray CS and some silver scrap to cut the tools. I used Black Soot ink for the sentiment and then heat embossed it and the hearts were added almost as an after thought.

Now it is your turn and we look forward to seeing your makes in the gallery. Above all have fun. Many thanks for stopping by, your time and comments are greatly appreciated.

lavenderhousecreations

Bird of Paradise

Using my new kit from Spellbinders and thinking this particular die set would be perfect for a colour challenge, I set about creating this card for Sunday Stamps – SSC387 Garden Grandeur. I think I’ve managed to use all the colours in this card although only 3 are truly required.

There is quite a lot of fiddly work to create everything here and my shading of various pieces isn’t brilliant. It takes time and practice to get this 100% right, but I’m sure my next card will show improvement. I picked out the various colours from my scrap pieces and die cut what I wanted to use. Laying them all out on a sticky mat I tried to add the shading, but one of my inks was too dry and I don’t have a reinker for it so it didn’t go as well as I needed it to. Then I proceeded to build the bird of paradise flowers and added the stems to the various leaves. My background was embossed using the folder from the kit and because I used a textured CS the raised pieces ended up white. I went over them with some ink so they turned a light shade of pink. I played with placement until I had something I thought would work and glued everything in place. It needed a bit more so using another set from the kit I cut a few flowers and added them as you see. The sentiment is from Open Studio because I was too lazy to use one from the kit and the tiny opal embellishments came with kit and are exclusive to the Weekender. The embellishments are truly pretty at Spellbinders so I’m sure crafters will be asking for them. I also added some Nuvo Crystal glaze to the flower centers.

I think I will pick a day when my hands are not as painful and die cut all these pieces again so I can practice putting things together and get better shading results. Actually I may do this with the other sets as well. It will help me to create some of the other ideas I have floating in my head.

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

lavenderhousecreations

Jungle Blooms

If I am honest, I’m not at all sure I like this card although as often happens it may grow on me. I’m not sure why I feel this way about it, maybe it’s the splatter or my less than stellar stenciling? Oh well, it’s an entry into a colour challenge – Color Hues # 134 Pink and Turquoise and I did my best.

To make it, I used a few dies from my Spellbinders Weekender kit, most of them coming from the Tiki Toucan set. The slatted arch is from Craft Addiction and the sentiment is another Spellbinders as is the die that cut it.

I used the stencil set from the kit, first time I’ve done any layering stenciling and although far from perfect, it’s not a bad effort. When the piece was dry I cut it a little smaller and then added to the pink card front. Before I added it I used a little of the Picket Fence splatter paint but I think I went a bit mad. The flowers and leaves were cut from bits and pieces of scrap CS in close tones of the colours after which I inked each of them to give more impact. I played around with placement before adhering anything and managed to wind the little hanging vine pieces in between the flowers without messing it all up. I stamped the Hello with VersaMark ink and heat embossed white, but now I think I should have done it in black as it would show a little better. Using some embellishments from my stash I added a few here and there.

Now that I have opened up all the different die and stamp sets, I am about to put them away properly. Already I found a die I used yesterday underneath my machine instead of with the set and if I delay any of this I could lose some of the small pieces. Thankfully I have magnets and envelopes to put them in so I can label and add the graphics that show what each set contains and how they layer.

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

lavenderhousecreations

Untamed

My hubby gave me an early birthday gift, which allowed me to take part in the Weekender Retreat held by Spellbinders. This exclusive kit is an amazing one and I enjoyed the 15 hours of participation, although I didn’t actually create anything during the tutorials. I did this retreat last year and by accident my kit was late, meaning that I couldn’t prepare die cutting for the event. That experience made me realize that for me, it is better to watch, learn and create later. Therefore this year I made no attempt at homework and just watched to learn.

One of the things I noticed when reading some of the chat, was that so many participators seemed to get hung up on following exactly what the demonstrator showed that they forgot to be creative in their own way. Some even complained that the kit didn’t have all the colour card stock shown in the booklet. The booklet clearly states that not every thing used in the tutorials was available in the kit.

I already knew I wanted to create the jungle cat, but I also didn’t want to be cutting up my new and beautiful card stock to do it. So I went to my scrap envelopes and pulled out various bits to use. My cat uses a shiny dark brown background piece with a muted but metallic gold overlay and some cream shimmery scrap for the chest, stomach and face. I was just curious to see how he would turn out and I cut and put him together during a break between sessions. I was quite pleased with how he turned out. In the next break period I went searching for the leafy frame die which I thought was from Hero Arts, now part of the Spellbinders family, but is in fact from MFT. I decided to use this although I could have used quite a lot of dies from the kit and got something similar in design. Once it was cut I added some foam tape along the edges and underneath the leaves. The white of the foam tape was showing in a couple of places so I used a black sharpie and went around the edges that showed and then I attached it to the card front. With two dies from the kit I cut a cloud and the sun and added them behind the frame. And I had the little flowers made in a tray and decided to use them rather than cut others. These flowers come from last years Weekender kit and all I had to add was the flower centers which I did with enamel dots. The sentiment is from this years kit which includes the stamps and matching dies. Once I had this done all I needed to do was situate my Cheetah and foam dimension helped me get him to look good. A couple of tiny black gems for the eyes and the card was complete.

My card fits the masculine challenge at Inspirational – Challenge #368 – Word Prompt – For the Guys so I am entering it there.

lavenderhousecreations

Pocket Card with Tag

Welcome to challenge #277 here at Cardz 4 Galz and Billie A has chosen the theme of Brown and Green with twine/ribbon.

For my card, I have used some patterned CS from CTMH that I have had for a very long time. I scored diagonally so I could fold the corner as you see in the photo. And I also added another strip of the PP. This layer was then added to the Kraft card front. Using some beige paper and a Kokorosa tag shaped die I cut the piece to place inside the pocket. The die was for cutting a more rounded shape, but I only wanted the top portion. I only partially cut it and then used scissors to cut the rest. Using my new stamp set from Simple Stories I added the film strip to the tag and used the additional stamps in each section. There is space on the back for me to add a more personal message. The organza ribbon was added at the top.

Using a scrap of dark green CS and a stamp/die set from Spellbinders I stamped the sentiment, die cut it and added as you see. I finished the card with some green embellishments. This card is intended for one of my B.I.L’s who always enjoys my makes.

We look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery and hope you have fun as you create. Many thanks for joining me today, you and your time are appreciated.

lavenderhousecreations

Challenge #217 – 8th Anniversary

Welcome to our 3-2-1 recipe challenge and in this case you are to choose your Celebratory Raffle ticket and create a card using the theme that is part of your ticket. Thing 1 – choose your ticket colour, Yellow -anniversary/wedding, pink – birthday, Blue – masculine/ fathers day and green – graduation. Thing 3 is the option to use Kraft paper or like Thing 2. Thing 2 is a double dare to play along in the TSOT sketch #696. Take care not to back link when adding to TSOT.

As I need a card for a little girl who loves cats, I chose a PINK raffle – birthday theme and made the one shown here. The little cat is cut from some Kraft paper using a Kokorosa die set and I enhanced it with a bit of shading using ink. I added colour for the eyes, ears and nose using pencils. The rabbit was stamped using a Penny Black set, coloured with pencils and then fussy cut. The heart piece is from a store bought card that I received and saved. The blind uses another Kokorosa die and was cut from some scrap blue CS. The die didn’t cut well so I had to use a knife in a few places which meant it isn’t as clean cut as it should be. It is disappointing when a die doesn’t cut well and I tried on several pieces of paper and all had the same problem so it wasn’t the card stock I was using nor the pressure on the machine.

I added a lighter blue gray card layer to hold the blind and then added the cat as you see. The rabbit was added with some foam tape as was the heart. To hide the rough edges at the side of the piece I added some StampinUP embellishments. This was then added to the card base.

Now it is your turn and we look forward to seeing what you do. Above all have fun creating. Thanks for taking a look and also for any comments you may leave.

lavenderhousecreations

Splatter

In many ways I had no idea what I might do for the latest Double D challenge which is a SPLATTER Challenge. I looked at a lot of different card ideas, but nothing really spoke to me. In the end I decided to just fool around a bit and this card is the result of playing.

I used several stamps from my Crafters Companion set that is still on my desk. Choosing the floral silhouette image, I decided to ink it half way in green, stamped along the bottom of the panel, then I cleaned the stamp and using a purple ink I stamped the top part of the flowers. This looked okay to me so I chose another of the small stamps in this set and stamped the butterfly twice. Using a splatter image stamp which I tested on a piece of paper first, I then stamped in various places above the flowers. While doing this I remembered an incentive set from GKD that was also about paint splotches and splatter and I pulled out the splatter one testing it first on a separate scrap piece to make sure the yellow was the right tone. In my head I was thinking it might look a bit like sunshine. The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed clear. I added a little Distress spray and some shimmer on top. I also used a sponge around the edges of the layer before adding it to the card base.

This ended up being better than I expected considering I had no clear plan in my head when I started. It’s a lot like a mixed media card and I quite like the look that occurred. Easy to mail as well because there are no dimensional pieces to it.

We had a crew of people here earlier as they were scheduled to pressure wash the outside of the house and then do the windows inside and out. The back of our home is all windows and mostly they are 10 feet tall. Makes the house beautiful but too much for me to clean myself and I detest cleaning glass anyway. We also have 3 ceiling fans and the blades on those were quite dusty, so they kindly cleaned them for me. Not really their job, but they did it anyway as a favour. I’m now trying to catch up on other chores like laundry which was delayed due to the pressure washing. Being on a well, means we have to ensure that the pump can handle the load. Next year I shall try to schedule for a day that isn’t a laundry one. It is quite amazing to see clearly outside now the windows are sparkling.

Thanks for spending time with me today, it is appreciated.