cards

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.

lavenderhousecreations

Upcycled Store Bought Card

Our lovely neighbors gave us a card at Christmas and I simply couldn’t throw it away. Instead I upcycled it to what you see here. I had seen Frenchie Stamps do a tutorial on making a card like this so I searched and followed the instructions.

Initially I had an issue as I couldn’t seem to get things to fit. I set it aside partially complete. Over time I have discovered that sometimes my brain needs to percolate, without my being aware of the thinking. A week later I took another look, realized what was wrong and hey presto my card was done. The foiled sentiment strip is from a package by Open Studio.

The last of the folds isn’t quite right as I glued it a bit too tight, but only I, and now you, know this. The recipient won’t realize unless I point it out. It folds flat and my hope is that the postage won’t be more than the usual fees. There is a line of sparkle in the snow so I didn’t have to add anything more to it.

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

lavenderhousecreations

Beside the Sea Vacation Time

It seems a couple of challenge blogs have a water or beach type scene as their challenges at the moment. When I first created my post for the As You See It challenge, my original intention was to do something similar to this post, but my brain went in a totally different direction that day. In the meantime the Card Concept came up with a new challenge that was nautical in nature and my brain went back to this idea. I think my card fits into their Clean and Layered definition. And because I used a stamp set from GKD that I’ve had forever and not used in recent years, I dragged it out to use here and that qualifies the card for the challenge at The Neglected Stuff. Believe it or not, the sentiment stamp had never seen ink until today.

The small gold squares were leftover pieces from a post I did a while ago and my new Memory Box nested squares arrived the other day, so I chose one slightly smaller than these and using some scraps I die cut the next layer. I added them together and set aside while I did the next few steps. Taking a wave folder from StampinUp I embossed the white layer and cut it down so it was slightly smaller than the card front. Then I carefully added the squares doing my best to keep them centered and straight. Once ready I added it to the card front. Then using a few stamps from the set, I stamped the fish and star fish using Black Soot ink and heat embossed clear, doing the same with the sentiment. I coloured these images with Prisma pencils using an alcohol blending pen to smooth out the colours. Once fussy cut I added them as you see. I felt the fish needed a bit extra so I die cut some seaweed using another Memory Box die set. I matched the sentiment piece to the others using a scrap piece of the same gold CS. The tiny embellishments were added and the card was complete.

When taking the photograph I had some issues with how the light was on the card and I can see here that the embossing isn’t as visible in the picture as it is in reality. This 3D folder has quite a visual impact usually.

Thanks for spending time with me today, I appreciate that you take the time to look and comment.

lavenderhousecreations

Under the Sea Birthday Greeting

Although the Inspo board is more about florals it is also about watercolouring at Double D Watercolor Challenge and I chose to make mine an underwater scene.

Firstly I took a piece of watercolour paper and some pretty ColourArt blue and green shimmer water colours and I added the colours in a kind of gradient. When it was dry I took a Memory Box 3D folder and ran it through my machine. I then took some different gold and silver pastes (no idea of the brand) and highlighted the little fish and the octopus to make them stand out more. I decided to use some gilding wax on the bubbles and on the octopus and heat set it. I felt it needed a bit more so I used a couple of mica sprays but I think I went overboard as I have more than I really wanted. The little turtles are on canvas and were already fussy cut so I added some foam dimension on the back and placed them. To my dismay, I realized I had added them both upside down and getting them off was quite the challenge. Luckily no serious damage to the card, but their placement isn’t quite what I envisioned as I was stuck with putting them back to cover up the original glue spots. As well, I had no idea that canvas frays in a similar way to fabric, so playing around with them more than necessary was going to ruin them altogether. Oh well, such is life on occasion. The foiled sentiment is from Open Studio. I kind of like the end result but what I imagined and what I got is quite different.

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




lavenderhousecreations

Fun Fold – Looks like an M Shape when Upright

closed and flat

Earlier in the week I was testing out a 3D folder to ensure which was the raised side versus the debossed side before I used the coloured card stock for the specific card I was working on. As the embossing was quite pretty on the test piece I decide I would use it in a project and this is what I came up with. I had seen a card like this on Pinterest and I followed it to Suestampfield.com where I could see her create it. I figured out the measurements, because paying for a tutorial in US dollars makes no sense to me, and this is my version of one of her examples. The folder is an unbranded one, the papers are all StampinUP as is the circle die cut. The sentiment die was a gift and I don’t know the brand, and the florals are decoupage that came in a kit by Crafters Companion. I had them put together for a while and decided this card would be a good way to use them.

These cards look complicated but they are actually much easier than we imagine and I enjoyed making this one. The back of the card is okay for writing a personal sentiment, but one could enhance it with some stamping if desired. This card fits into the current challenge at CYHTP and includes the twist of flowers.

Thanks for stopping by, you, your time and any comments you may leave are always appreciated.

lavenderhousecreations

3-2-1 Recipe

Welcome to the new challenge here at Double Trouble recipe #215. The recipe is as follows: 3-Layers and card base counts here, 2 shapes or images, 1 stenciled and/or embossed element. Thing 3 by twisted sister is to include flowers if you wish, and Thing 2 is the double dare for you to add your creation to the TSOT Sketch #694 challenge. When you do this, be aware of the backlinking rule.

My card has the 3 layers, one of which is also a stenciled layer. I used a Color Box stencil and some TCW Stardust butter in champagne for this. I bought 2 containers of these butters earlier this year and when I opened the rose gold one, I discovered it was as hard as rock. I no longer have the receipt for the purchase so cannot take it back to the art store. Anyone with any ideas of how to soften it please share.

The PP was on my desk as I had used it recently for something else so I decided to put the two together and then add them to the card base. The image is from Wild Rose Studio and I stamped it then coloured with Prisma pencils. This was then fussy cut. I did two of the flowers and shaped a bit when I put them together. As well I used an alcohol blending pen to smooth out the colouring. The Scrapbook.com sentiment was another stamp I still had on my desk and I quite like it so decided to add it to a Hero Arts die cut heart giving me my second shape. The heart was coloured with the same pencil I used on the flower. It was at this point that I realized I hadn’t quite gotten the edges accurate when I added the layers and it bothered me. To fix it, I used a border die (can’t remember which company) and using a scrap piece I cut the hearts. Instead of using the actual border, I used only the tiny hearts and glued them down the side.

All in all I’m quite pleased with the end result. It is loosely based on the sketch, but I cannot enter there due to the backlinking rule. We look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery and above all hope you have fun creating. Thanks for joining me today, I appreciate you and your time.

lavenderhousecreations

Primarily Pink

After I had posted yesterdays pink card, I realized that it may have worked for this one here at Seize the Birthday #325-Primarily PINK! The challenge with that would have been trying to say Happy Birthday with only one word. So this morning I set about making one specific to this challenge and this is what I came up with.

In my searching for items yesterday, I came across this stenciled background piece that was left over from a long ago project. I remember using an unbranded die to make the stencil from some cardboard which was then discarded after use. I took some glitter CS and cut a layer for the base and added the heart layer on top. Using a new die from Uniquely Creative and some scrap pink CS I die cut the postage stamp layer. I found a floral stamped piece of vellum that I had left over from a while back and cut the vellum to fit the top and bottom spaces. The florals are from Crafters Companion. Then I took a die set from Altenew called Sunlit Butterflies and cut the base butterfly in a darker pink and a vellum topper. I added them together in the middle space leaving the vellum loose in the wing section.

The sentiment is from Hampton Arts and was stamped in Picked Raspberry ink and then heat embossed. I cut the sentiment into two pieces and stacked them as you see.

I spent 30 minutes outside weeding in my garden, which is sadly a bit of a mess. To avoid getting stupidly overtired and sore I actually took a timer along and when it beeped I stopped. This worked quite well so I may do this again throughout this week. Even if I only get a tiny section done it will be better than nothing at all and it is rather nice to be outside at the moment. We have beautiful weather. We are going with friends for Sushi later so I don’t have to be in my kitchen at all, Yay!

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

lavenderhousecreations

Shades of Pink

I’m fortunate in that this card works for two challenges so it will be entered into the current As You See It and at CYHTP challenges. At AYSI, it is a kind of a recipe challenge where 5 elements have to be used but how you use them is your choice and at CYHTP it is the usual embossing but with a twist of flowers and my folder (unbranded) is all about roses.

I started with the embossing after testing the folder on some craft CS. I couldn’t remember which side was the debossed side and my initial thought was to ink the folder. However, my test piece looked quite nice (to be used later) and I decided to emboss a pink piece of CS and then used a darker ink from Hero Arts and swiped over the raised parts. Once this was dry I added this layer to the white card front. It took some thinking to decide how I would do the frame requirement and I played around for a bit before deciding on a StampinUP circle set. I found a darker pink paper and die cut the circle leaving me with this empty square frame. This was cut down a bit more to narrow the edges and then I added it to frame one of the roses. Using the same paper and an MFT word die I cut two layers of the word, glued them together and added it underneath.

Being completely truthful, I am not feeling very creative at the moment so I’m just pleased that I got something made that is decent if not inspired. We’ve been dealing with accountants and taxes, which I find emotionally draining, as messing with numbers is something that often upsets me. Our accountant is transitioning into retirement after more than 20 years of looking after us, and has passed our file to another person who doesn’t understand my number phobia at all. Once this tax season is over we shall be looking for someone closer to where we now live and whom we hopefully will like. As my hubby has had cataract surgery and the second eye isn’t settling well yet, it has been challenging for him to check the documents before they get officially filed. It meant I’ve been more involved than I normally would be. Stress levels for both of us were pretty high, but this morning we signed it all, and went to the bank to make the payments. I hate tax season, sigh!

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

lavenderhousecreations

Another Year Flies By

Let’s make this Air-mazing is the latest challenge here at Double Trouble #214. Our recipe is as follows: 3 Patterned and/or special papers, 2 colours from colour wheel #1, 1 image. And our twisted Sister is suggesting an optional flying element. The double dare is to use the sketch TSOT#693 and enter it there. Be careful not to backlink when posting to TSOT.

As you can see, my flying element is a kite from a StampinUP collection, as is my sentiment. I used a sky paper layer from a very old paper pad (it still comes in handy at times) and some holographic paper. As I don’t have dies that will cut a cloud shape in a line I used some shaped scissors. I could have free handed it but felt the scissors were best. Once the kite and tail were stamped I used a combination of Sakura glitter pens and Prisma pencils to colour it and did the tail stars in silver glitter. Believe it or not I did fussy cut these elements and then added them to the, also fussy cut, kite. I backed all this with foam tape to lift it off the sky and did the same to the clouds on each edge. I stamped the sentiment and heat set it with a multi coloured powder then added a small black layer behind before adding to the clouds.

It was at this point that I realized I had missed part of the recipe as there were only had 2 patterned papers and I really didn’t want to have to begin again, so some thinking was required. I settled on adding another layer of paper over a portion of the holographic section. I found this piece in a paper pad and added it flat at the top. In a way it wasn’t a bad idea as it has toned down the glare that comes from the shiny section but it wasn’t quite the look I had in my mind.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look. I appreciate you and your time. We hope to see your creations in our gallery and that you have fun making them.

lavenderhousecreations

Blossom Window Arch

This card has been created with 2 challenges in mind. The first being As You See It who want to know which occasion cards we make the most. In my case mostly birthdays. And the other is Seize the Birthday who ask us to create a Spring garden.

Having just acquired my second set of Craft Addiction Arched slatted dies, I decided to use the larger in the set to create my window. Once die cut, I used foam tape and added some sky paper in behind and an additional arch to give the piece more support. I pulled out a couple of Spellbinders die sets, La Dolce Vita and Citrus spritz, and proceeded to cut the leaves and flowers. I thought I might combine both sets on one card but quickly realized this wouldn’t work so there are only a few pieces here that are from the Citrus set and I have the rest ready for another card.

I used ink and brushes to add colour to the die cuts and then played with placement until satisfied. Once glued I used an off cut linen look yellow card for the background and then added it all to a white card front. The sentiment is part of the collection and this set has its own dies making it easy to use.

I’m quite happy with the end result and had fun putting it together. I won’t be around much this coming week as we have a guest here from tomorrow for 6 nights. It will be great to see her in person after several years of absence.

Sadly I have to make a sympathy card today as I’ve just learned that a cousin has passed away rather suddenly at age 68. It is a shock for everyone, but the diagnosis he received 2 weeks ago told him there was no hope and no treatment available. At least it wasn’t a long drawn out painful end, which doesn’t help his family, but from my own experience, is still a better outcome than watching someone suffer for weeks as happened with my youngest sister. I’ll get the card done now so I don’t have to think much about it during the visit with my friend.

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