cardmaking

lavenderhousecreations

merry birth-mas

My last card as a guest designer at Seize the Birthday, and I’ve had such fun creating for each challenge. With this challenge asking us to use Christmas supplies and because I do have a male friend whose birthday is on Christmas day, I’ve decided this card is for him. This is always a birthday challenge but its asking us to use Christmas supplies to make it.

The strip of plaid CS used here is from a store bought card I received last year. The napkin music is the last piece of others I’ve used in the past. My Rudolph has been made by die cutting ovals and attaching them together. I cut a couple of small circles, one for his nose and another for his hands and I hand cut his teeth and then glued them as you see. Not my idea, but something I’ve seen on Pinterest and adapted for my own version. The bow is from an unbranded die set, the little stars are part of a die set by Marianne Designs and I used an MFT stamp and die set to create his antlers. A little bit of red sparkle on his nose and bow made him look more festive. The sentiment was created on my computer and is another thing I’d seen online. Initially I tried using stamps but couldn’t make it work nicely, so creating my own was the next option.

I’ve had a blast designing for Seize the Birthday and hope you have an equal fun time creating your own birthday cards with Christmas supplies. Thanks so much for stopping by, I appreciate you and your time.

lavenderhousecreations

build me a snowman

Welcome to our latest challenge here at cardz4galz, chosen and hosted by Caz. She wants us to build a snowman and I took the build part very literally and actually built my snowman.

Using a die set from Sizzix, I die cut two sizes of scalloped circles and then one smaller regular circle from Spellbinders. An old stamp set from Dare 2B Artzy was used as a template for his hat which I stamped separately and then fussy cut to adhere on top of the circle and I used the nose and scarf from this set as well. The twig arms I did by cutting from a scrap piece and I added the eyes, mouth and buttons by hand. A black Spectrum Noir sparkle pen was used on his hat along with some Sakura glitter pens for his hat band, flower and nose. And I added some shading using a gray pencil on his body. I assembled the snowman and set him aside.

Using a navy blue piece of card stock, a stencil called WarmWishes along with some sparkle stencil butter from TCW, I made the background. When dry I cut it to size attached it to the card front and then added my snowman. The sentiment is from the same stamp set as the other bits, but I cut it into two pieces so I could make it fit where I wanted it to go.

We look forward to seeing your snow people in our gallery soon. Thanks for joining me today, I appreciate you and any comments you may leave.

lavenderhousecreations

colour blocks

Challenge #204, here at Double Trouble is called ‘Its a Tall Order’ and if you’ve guessed its about creating a slimline or a mini slimline card you would be right. If you follow the sketch at TSOT #683 then you get an extra chance to win, but be careful to ensure you don’t backlink. My card follows the sketch but I can’t add it to the challenge because it would definitely be backlinking. The recipe calls for 3 colours, 2 images, 1 Slim line or mini and the twist is to use something beginning with T.

First I masked off a section of my card layer and then using a mask I could move up and down easily I proceeded to sponge ink in colour blocks similar to a paint chip. I used 5 different greens . My focal image is from a GKD stamp set that I’ve had for a long time and I stamped it with Versamark and then heat set in gold. Using another GKD set I chose 2 stamps that I could use in the top right hand corner. These were stamped in yellow and I added a green Pop of Colour dot to their centers. The sentiment is from Hampton Arts and my added twist, which I almost forgot, is a twine bow. Before adding the layer to the main card I used a yellow distress Oxide to colour in my daffodils and I went around this layer with a black marker to give a border.

Thanks for stopping by, your time and your comments are always appreciated. We look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery and hope you have fun coming up with your own ideas.

lavenderhousecreations

tree delivery

Going to a craft store and sorting through their sale items is both a great and a bad idea. It didn’t take long to spend $100.00. The die set and the paper used on this card are all products from the sale. There are two different Santa’s in this set along with some other accessories and I created a second card along with this one.

Once I had cut all the pieces I slowly put them together, but first I added the colour and let them dry where necessary. For Santa I used alcohol markers and for the trees and truck I used water colour shimmer paint. The sentiment is from Woodware and the candy cane is ephemera from StampinUp. I used a glitter pen to add a bit of sparkle on the background, but it isn’t visible in the photo. My hubby felt this card was the cutest of the two.

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

This is to be a second entry into the Peace on Earth challenge #99.

lavenderhousecreations

hand painted baubles

Having seen something similar to this on Pinterest, I wanted to try a version of my own, but I’m no painter. In the end I created a stencil, pulled out my trusty TomBow markers and came up with these. They were so easy to do that I made about five of them. I added some sparkle elements with a Sakura pen and filled in a few areas, then I took a gold pen and free handed the top of the ornament and the cord.

With another marker I went around the edge of the white CS before adding it to the card front. My sentiment is from a Woodware set. I never would have thought I’d be free handing this kind of thing, and I’m pleased with how they turned out. CAS and pretty at the same time.

I don’t believe I’ve entered into the Holly and Ivy Christmas challenge before, so this is being added to their current challenge.

lavenderhousecreations

dressed up wine

Using a Kokorosa die, I created a series of these cards, all similar but not exactly the same. They are intended for the ladies in my yoga group.

Using a SSS EF I dry embossed some white CS and backed it with some PP before adding it to the card base. Once I had the pieces in place on the wine glass I glued it all together and added it on top. The sentiment comes from a GKD set I think, but as it was stamped a long time ago and stored, I can’t quite remember which set. I added a tiny amount of sparkle on the buttons and some small red gems.

Once I had all the pieces cut, the series was pretty easy to put together, and I created 8 in total. On some I used different EF but all were 3D folders. I really wish companies would standardize their folders as it would make things a lot easier to work out which plates to use to get the look we need. Some of the 3D ones are really hard to get through the machine.

a few of the others.

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

My card is being entered into the challenge at November 2025 Peace On Earth Challenge #99 which is always an anything goes.

lavenderhousecreations

alcohol inks on Kitchen foil

Our Cards4galz challenge has been chosen by Pamela, and she has a theme of colouring. Lots of scope with this challenge so I’m sure you will all enjoy playing.

In my case I decided to play with alcohol inks and crumpled kitchen foil. I adhered the foil to some heavyweight CS but I didn’t try to smooth it out as I wanted the texture. Then I picked out my colours and dropped them on top with some additional alcohol to move them around. This is what I ended up with. I wanted to die cut a leaf shape from this, which I used on an earlier post. The process of die cutting meant that the top part flattened somewhat, but I still liked it. I had a piece of schmoosed ink CS that I added behind the opening and then I attached the entire piece to a black note card. The sentiment is from GKD and the ribbon is from my stash. I added some colour to the sentiment piece to soften it as the white was too white.

A messy, but fun process and I liked the end result as the colours blended quite well. We hope to see your creations in our gallery and enjoy the creating process. Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you and your time.

lavenderhousecreations

caroling snow people

With my mojo mostly absent in recent weeks, I was so fed up that I headed to a craft store in the hopes of reviving it. While there I discovered this set of Spellbinder dies, promptly purchased it and made this card almost as soon as I got home.

My papers are from StampinUp and I added sparkle to the stars in the background. After cutting the pieces I attached them as you see and then added the snow people as you see. It was a bit fiddly putting them together but I was smart enough to keep the pieces in little cups so I didn’t lose any. Spellbinders thought of everything here, as they even had dies that work to cover the holes from the back. I would have added black paper anyway, but having them die cut made it so much easier. They also thought of adding a small mark where the noses should go.

I’ve managed to get quite a few cards done this past week, so I must count them to see where I am at. My aim today is to get all the labels done and the cards signed and into envelopes. Our mail is working (kind of) as they are back to doing rotational strikes so some items are getting through. I shall likely mail most of my cards as soon as they are ready in the hopes that they get through the system. Better too early than awfully late and people can put them aside until they are ready to deal with Christmas décor if they wish.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look. I appreciate your time and any comments you may leave.

This card works for the challenge at Peace on Earth Challenge #98 so I am entering it there.

lavenderhousecreations

round and round

Welcome to our latest challenge here at Double Trouble. Our recipe this time is a 3, 2, 1 recipe round and round. 3 circles, 2 images, 1 ribbon twine or cord. Twisted sister thing 3 is to include at least one bird. And of course playing in the TSOT Sketch #682 is another fun part of the challenge. It is optional though and you need to be aware of backlinking.

This is probably one of the easiest cards I’ve made recently because it was all in my bits and pieces box and all I really had to do was figure out placement. The only items that weren’t prepared was the background layer and the little bird, which is a die from Gummiapan. The floral images and leaves are from Memory box and I built the flowers and added them to the largest circle as you see. Then the other circles were added twisting them over and under the largest one. My circles are cut using Hero Arts Infinity dies with the dotted one from StampinUp. The word die is from a dollar store set and the little bow is something I tied using some leftover ribbon. When my hands are working properly I sometimes spend some time preparing small bows to have them ready for days when I can’t tie one.

The team looks forward to seeing your creations, using this recipe, in our gallery. Have fun creating, and thanks for joining me today.

lavenderhousecreations

Fall birthday

Seize The Birthday is asking for Favourite fall treats which leaves quite a lot of scope for your designs. As an invited guest DT I came up with this card.

As an Ex-Pat Brit, we didn’t have all the hoopla that is part of living here and I’ve never quite gotten used to the N. American way of celebrating it. Asking me what my favourite treat is, is a hard question for me to answer. I’m kind of boring, as I only like regular coffee, so all the flavours available aren’t something I would go for, and although I enjoy pumpkin pie, I can’t say I’m mad for it. Likely because of this I don’t have a lot in my stash that pertains to this theme. I do however enjoy the fall colours and seeing pumpkins stacked up in a store, or watching kids at a pumpkin patch, choosing the one they want to carve up as part of the upcoming Halloween fun.

All that to say making a card for this challenge was somewhat of a real challenge for me. In the end I chose to do a fall scene. I pulled out a Birch/Aspen tree stencil and added the blue sky and some grass to show between the trees. Then using a fine brush and some ink I shaded the actual trees with Lost Shadow and some Hickory smoke to give them some definition. My gate and the small topper are dies from Gummiapan and I stacked a bunch together to give the gate some dimension. I cut the topper in green as well as yellow and stacked them so that there was some green showing after I cut off some of the yellow bits I didn’t need. I also went around the wood edges with some ink, but the actual wood grain is from a dollar store paper pad. A Tim Holtz stencil was used for the pumpkins and I moved the stencil around to try to get a stack. Once it was dry I added some additional colour for definition and then fussy cut. After adding the main layer to the card base I placed the gate and the pumpkin stack where I felt they looked best and glued them down. The sentiment came from Hampton Arts and I used foam tape to get it to sit over the edge of the gate frame.

I’ve had a lot of fun being the guest designer here and there is one more to go before my stint is finished. I sure hope you have fun creating your own favourite fall treat cards. Thanks for stopping by, your time and any comments you leave are highly appreciated.