cards

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

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.

lavenderhousecreations

Never Stop Dreaming

I’ve had this dollar store dream catcher stamp set for a while and have only used it once until today. The current Double D Feathers Challenge 2026 seemed like the perfect time to use it and this card is the result.

It was stamped in black ink and then clear heat embossed. Then I took some Perfect Pearls powders and proceeded to colour it. I used a gold pen to fill in the edges of the catchers and some Sakura pens to fill in the little bead strings which all give the card a subtle shimmer.

I managed to drop a bit of powder in the wrong place and it wouldn’t completely come off, so I used some tiny gems to hide the faint smudge. As well, I burned the edge of the card with my heat tool, first time I’ve ever done this. Instead of a white base card I chose this coloured one from Spellbinders and by trimming the edges of the burned piece I made it fit nicely.

I’m actually pleased with how this looks and as I’m going to donate some cards to a good cause this one is likely to be added to my donation. With the sentiment being a generic type it can be used for any occasion.

Many thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate that you do.



lavenderhousecreations

A Penguin Tree

My version
Where the idea came from.

At Christmas last year, we received the displayed Santa card from a friend in Japan. Japan often has amazing mass produced 3D style cards. I often keep cards like this and put them on display each year, but I kept this one to hand as I knew I wanted to try to make one.

The challenge for me was I had to stamp, colour and die cut 19 penguins to build a card, whereas the original was printed and then laser cut one section at a time making it easy to build. I had to figure out how to attach them together and be strong enough to stand up, as well as getting the box size and scoring correct. As anything to do with arithmetic or math is always an issue, it took 3 tries and help from my hubby before I got the box size and scoring right. I deliberately went with a larger base as I knew my penguins would be heavier than the original card is. I added a center piece to the box ready for the middle layer to be attached. The penguin and die come from a Divinity Design set. I stamped with VersaMark and heat set in black. Each were coloured with pencils, then die cut, then I divided them into the stacks required for each section. During the colouring process I had been thinking of how I could attach them knowing that the tallest stack would need some support. I ended up using some fairly stiff packaging plastic cut into strips, long enough to attach inside the back part of the box and provide support for the next row of penguins. The image was chosen for the light string they are holding and I glued each light string to the next one in rows while also adding some glue to the feet. Each layer was built the same way, although I only needed the stiff plastic strips for the back layer. When I looked a the back of each layer it looked messy so I cut another lot of shapes to glue behind each one making it look tidy and clean. My gluing ended up slightly crooked, but the basic shape was there and no real tree is uniform, and I decided it didn’t matter. The box base was covered in some scrap PP before I attached any of the layers and it all folds flat quite easily. My sentiment is also a Divinity Design stamp but from a different set.

Making this box card was a long process, but I enjoyed the experience and actually making it from scratch without any tutorials to follow helps me realize just how far I have come since I started making cards all those year ago. I probably won’t make another, due to how time consuming it was, but it was fun to try.

Thanks for stopping by, you and your time are appreciated.

The card will be entered into the following three challenges all relating to Christmas:

https://lilredwagon.blogspot.com

Peace on Earth Challenge #116

MLCCB #69 Anything Christmas Goes

lavenderhousecreations

My Heart is Full

Not having spent a lot of time in my craft room recently, I am pleased in that I have managed to make a card that fits two challenges. The first one is – Challenge #377 – Recipe for Happy Yellow Flowers and the second – Seize the Birthday #331-Square Card & Non White Base.

The recipe at AYSI required a set of ingredients which I’ve achieved here and because I made it square with a yellow card base it works for Seize the Birthday quite easily. After cutting my base at 5.5″ square, I then cut a white piece at 4.5″ square and built the other coloured layers around it. The die cut used a Hero Arts infinity die and the actual sentiment is a circle freebie from Natasha Foote. I added some gold to the tiny hearts and used a thin foam tape behind.

For my main piece I used a homemade stencil, gifted to me by a stamping friend and added some yellow polka dots in two corners. While it was drying I searched for a floral piece that I liked and found a stamp set by GKD. I’m sure this is long discontinued and it was also before die cutting became popular so I had to resort to hand cutting, however I used a self healing board and a knife to do it after I had heat set and coloured it. I used pencils to colour and even chose a yellow green to add to the leaves. Using a thicker foam and before adhering the flowers, I played with it until I liked the placement. I added some enamel dots from YNS and from Waffle Flower in a few places.

As in many locations it has been quite hot and although we can keep our home fairly cool without an A/C it has been slightly uncomfortable at times. Today it is cooler although still nice and sunny. So far, Vancouver Island is coping with wildfires although there are several burning at the moment. The terrain in many places makes it almost impossible to get crews into and lightening has been the cause of at least four of them. My dragon boat team had a festival last weekend and although I didn’t take part in the racing, I was very involved in making the decor to follow the wild west theme of the festival. Without my hubby and our artist friend things wouldn’t have gone as well as they did so the decor worked well. My hubby even came to help with the set up. Because of this and also due to some small day trips we’ve done, crafting, except for the essentials, was ignored. I made sure to keep up with my DT commenting and also to create the next round of cards for the upcoming challenges, but anything else had to wait. I try hard to stay at least a month in advance creating sample cards for the challenges, but they are scheduled posts and only show up as the dates arrive.

I appreciate you stopping by. Stay cool if you can.

lavenderhousecreations

Three Wishes

It always interests me to see where inspiration, especially my own, comes from. We were getting coffee at a local coffee shop and they had some thank you cards from customers displayed. One of them made me look twice and this is my idea based on that design. Seize the Birthday #330-One or More Numbers is the challenge it is intended for.

I have several new and unused products laying around and the trees on this card was one of them. It is an MFT die set that I got on sale. The cloud die is from a new unbranded set and the faces on the trees are from a MayMay Made It set, which I’ve had for ages and only used once or twice. I tried several ways to stamp a sentiment using a combination of different stamps and disliked them all. In the end I created it on my computer. All the paper and card stock is from my stash and I tried to keep the same colour tones in the shaded part of the trees as is on the gingham paper. I added two Waffle Flower, similar in tone green, enamel dots to the sentiment.

While searching for ideas on the Internet regarding wishes and trees I came across a book, intended for children, and it is a Traditional Folklore story about three trees. I tried to incorporate this into my sentiment but it would have been too long and too big, so I opted for what you see here. There are times when I wonder how we managed without the Internet?

Considering that I figured this design out without resorting to tutorials, I’m quite pleased with myself and I also like the end result. Thanks so much for stopping by, I appreciate you, your time and your comments.

lavenderhousecreations

3-2-1 Recipe – “Its going to be a long day”

It is once again time for our Double Trouble Challenge #219 and your challenge is to make a slimline card, regular or mini. Recipe is: 3 – layers and the card base can be included, 2 images and 1 slimline. Thing 3, twisted sister is to add some sparkle or glitter and thing 2 is for you to use the sketch and enter it at TSOT #698. Be careful not to back link.

Quite some time ago and I can’t quite remember where, I saw an artist colour some images just using brush strokes with different colours. I decided I would give this a go myself and I created the cup panel where it languished on my desk as I couldn’t decide, first whether I liked it, and second how I might use it. The cup stamp is from Joy Clair. My effort isn’t terrible, but I now realize that the artist was using a special shaped brush which I don’t have. Funnily enough my hubby saw this and said he liked it, which helped me to use it.

Anyway because this panel was already done, I decided it would make a decent slimline card. After cutting my card base I took some glitter CS and cut a piece for the front. Then I added the cup panel on top. Right there that gave me 3 layers plus the sparkle requirement. Then I cut another piece of white CS to the size I required for the bottom and stamped the sentiment heat embossing it for a bit more definition. Stamp set is from a dollar store brand Forever in Time and the cake image is from the same set. I stamped it, coloured with pencils and some Sakura glitter pens and then fussy cut, giving me my second image. If I don’t count the card front there are three layers but with the card front I now have four. Once this was added to the card front I called the card finished.

In the end I quite like the result, but without this challenge, I’m not sure I would have used the cup layer at all. Now it is your turn and we look forward to seeing your ideas and cards in our gallery. Have fun creating.

Thanks for stopping by, your time and comments are always appreciated.

lavenderhousecreations

Standing Out

One of my favourite challenge sites is As You See It, and this card is intended for Challenge #375 – Jungle Colour.

When I purchased this ephemera set a while back, I set it aside and then couldn’t find it. I found it the other day languishing in a drawer and cannot think how it got there. I also didn’t realize until going through the entire package that each envelope held parts of the same image as it was designed to be decoupaged together. I chose one of the hummingbirds that best used the colours in this challenge and built him using foam pieces between the layers. The sentiment is from the Weekender kit and I heat set it clear before using the matching die to cut it. The shaped pieces are a very old and hardly used set by either Sizzix or Spellbinders and my card stock is from StampinUp. It was recently found in a cupboard in my hubby’s studio. A friend had given me this CS before we moved to the island and I guess this was packed with some of his items and although I wondered what had happened to it, finding it 5 years later is funny.

I realized recently, that when I first began making cards, dies and clear stamps didn’t exist and I fussy cut everything, used clip art that I could alter on the computer and created other things to get what I wanted. I never did do well with the wooden block stamps although I used a few once in a while. Having family in The Netherlands and being able to visit them, I found a lot of crafty things at local markets and decoupage pages were among what I purchased. In those days I had to fussy cut each piece. Then dies started to become popular and I had no money for them or the machines necessary to use them. When I got my first machine I had no idea of what to do with much of it and although I purchased a few dies here and there I wasn’t skilled enough to figure out the best way to use what I had. As the Internet became more popular and more accessible I discovered a world I didn’t know existed and here we are today using it as a source for education, creative ideas and tutorials along with other stuff. I also have to give a shout out to Gina K. By accident I found StampTV and I learned so much from her and made a few stamping buddies along the way too. This creative community is amazing and I’m happy to be part of it.

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