cards

lavenderhousecreations

leaves – thinking of you

9:59 minutes

As You See It has one of the ‘dreaded’ speed challenges currently, Challenge #355 – Lively Leaves and I literally made it just under the wire with this card. Earlier this week I had been playing with leaf printing and I had a piece already done, but I thought it might be considered cheating if I used it here. In the end I decided on this design and once I had chosen my dies, Pattern paper and card front sorted it wasn’t too difficult. What took time was trying to add foam to the back and I resorted to cutting a black piece of foam with the die but it took forever to poke out the bits and of course it stretched a bit in the cutting so that was a bit of an issue too. Next time I do this I’m going to glue the PP to the foam ahead of any cutting and cut them out as one piece, but that thought was too late for this card.

So the die used is from MFT, the background piece is from an ancient paper pad and I ensured the dragonfly was front and center before cutting. The sentiment was on my desk as it had fallen out of a small pack of ephemera and I decided to use it because I had forgotten to prepare a stamp ahead of time. I tried to match the card front to the tiny dots in the leaves.

I learned yesterday, that a close friend has had what appears to be a mild stroke, so I am going to send this card to her. They still don’t know whether it was a stroke for sure, so a barrage of tests have been done but she won’t get all the results for a few days. In the meantime they are allowing her to return home. She is a semi retired Geriatric nurse and her hubby is as well, so I guess they feel she will be okay at home while they pursue it further. Because they live in a small town up north, most of the complicated testing has to be sent to Vancouver so results take a while.

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

lavenderhousecreations

fall is coming

On a dog walk yesterday I found a beautiful fall leaf that was mostly intact so I brought it home. Not having the time to play with it, I set it aside with a damp cloth on top so it wouldn’t dry out too quickly. This morning I decided to use it and while thinking about it, I also checked out the latest challenge at Double D. They were calling for butterflies so I decided to combine my leaf with a butterfly.

I cut a 6X6″ card then spent some time painting the back of my leaf with colour, which when done, I spritzed slightly before laying it in position on my card. Using the tool I generally use to press stamps in my Misti or Stamping wheel, I carefully ensured it was pressed fully onto the card. I left it for a minute or two and then gently peeled off the leaf and what you see here is the result. I did stipple a little bit of green with a brush. There was enough colour left that I was able to do another much smaller piece for use later. The sentiment comes from a Joy Clair set and my butterfly is die cut using scraps and a StampinUP set. I chose to use some green embellishments from my stash that came from a package purchased at Michaels a long time ago.

My hubby was so enamored with the leaf print that he stole the card from me before I put it together and proceeded to take photos of it. When I got it back I went around the edges with a brown Spectrum Noir marker and then added the rest. I have to say I’m quite pleased with the end result and the leaf sure makes an interesting texture on the card.

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

lavenderhousecreations

not a flower in sight

As you can see from the above graphic, the challenge specifies no flowers at Seize the Birthday.

Having seen something like this on Instagram recently I wondered if I would be able to create something similar and this card is the result. Prior to adding the angled masking strips I used some tape to mask off an area that would become the sentiment space. Then using Gina K masking strips I masked off each section in angles. With some additional paper to mask as I was sponging, I proceeded to add colour in each space. Even with masking carefully I still managed to mess up a couple of edges, but not badly enough for me to have to begin over. The card I saw, had the artist using markers to fill in colour and then different colours in circles over each area creating a kind of Bokeh effect. In mine I used inks and sponges and then a stencil from TCW called crazy waves and sponged white pigment ink through the sections. Although it was visible I felt it needed a lift so I brushed Perfect Pearl powder in white over the top and the ink caught the shimmer really well. My butterflies are from Scrapbook.com and I used a pale lavender shimmer piece for the bodies with gold mirror for the pattern pieces. I also used a small body die from StampinUp to create the bodies for the butterflies as to my eyes they needed it. I used a Hampton Arts stamp to add the sentiment, masking off the unwanted word before stamping as the sentiment was too long and I didn’t want to cut the stamp. I backed the rainbow layer with foam tape and then added it to the card front. A few small clear gems and my card was finished. The most work was creating the masked off areas before adding colour.

I’m quite pleased with the end result and because I had inks and sponges out I did another slim line piece for a different card you will see in a future post. Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you and your time.

We’ve had 48 hours of rain, which has lessened the fire danger dramatically and enabled fire fighters to keep a handle on a bad one burning up island. It has also ensured a lot of the smoke has dissipated which is good for all of us, but in particular people with chest conditions. I feel a sense of relief and although more sunshine is coming it isn’t likely to be as hot as the past couple of weeks have been.

lavenderhousecreations

one for each decade

One of my aunts, is turning 90 soon, and I decided to make this card for her. As a bonus the card fits the current challenge at: The Sisterhood of Crafters – Strips and/or Dots. As you can see, the candles show both stripes and dots, but the PP also has them in its design.

I did consider making a card that incorporated 90 candles, but discarded the idea due to the thickness and cost of mailing one that is oversize. So instead I used the double Z fold technique and added 9 candles to represent 9 decades. The stamp used is an old (very) Hero Arts wooden block and I found it isn’t stamping well so I shall be discarding it. That said I got a good enough impression to use for this card although I did have to use a sharpie to fill in edges. After stamping enough, along with a few extra just in case, I coloured them using pencils, Sakura Gelli roll pens and some Perfect Pearls for additional shine. Took a while to fussy cut, but cutting mostly straight lines isn’t hard.

Using some GKD CS, I had prepared my card base and added some PP, the music panel is from a napkin, the back panel is StampinUP DSP that had a shade of the same colour blue as the card base in the design and the other PP was gifted to me a long time ago and I think is from Michaels. The bottom is the Z fold strip after I had added the PP to it. Glued all the candles down as you see and checked the folding to ensure no errors. Of course I found a big one so a little bit of cursing was in order. I had to get very creative to fix it. What had happened was that I used both sides of the white CS to stamp the candles because the first try didn’t get good results. Figuring mistakes wouldn’t show once they were glued I stamped again on the other side. On a different design this this wouldn’t have been an issue, but I forgot that when the card is folded the backside of the candles shows and it was ugly. Fixing it required stamping another 6 candles onto white CS, fussy cutting and then adding them behind the glued ones. A little bit more cursing to get them glued, but it worked for the most part. I decided not to worry about perfection so while still not pretty, it’s a lot better than it was. If I do another card similar to this I will ensure that both sides of the stamped image are the same. My hands didn’t like the effort though and I’m paying for it now.

With a leftover piece of the blue CS I die cut the sentiment letters using a Scrapbook.com set of alphabet dies and glued them along the bottom deliberately skewing them slightly for a fun look. I felt it needed something on the last piece so I used a Forever in Time dollar store set, stamped the star and fussy cut it before adhering as you see. I’ve created a white piece for the back of the card so I can write a personal message, which will include an explanation for the quantity of candles.

All in all, I’m pleased with the end result and shall be mailing it tomorrow morning. Thanks for stopping by, your time and you are appreciated.

lavenderhousecreations

musical note Christmas

The Christmas challenge at Peace on Earth Challenge #90 had some lovely colours in the inspiration photos with the bottom right corner one appealing to me the most. I’ve used a few here but slightly muted.

The other day I was playing with a napkin image of musical notes and I attached a larger portion of it to some card stock for a future background. With the piece leftover I was about to set it aside when I wondered what it would look like behind an opening? On my desk was a scrap piece of CS that I had already die cut some banners from and I placed this over the top. It looked good so I cut two more banner openings from the opposite direction then attached it to the napkin piece. After trimming the edges I decided to ink around them and slightly on top to age the CS a little. I remembered that I had this MFT set of bird and die stamps so on another scrap piece I stamped two birds and some foliage. Coloured it all with pencils and water, die cut them and attached as you see here. I used the Just a Note sentiment, from the set, at the top, but as I’d decided I wanted it to be a Christmas card the wishing you and Merry sentiments came from a Divinity Designs set. I had the embossed piece leftover from a project and I added the bird piece to this. Taking some copper thread I added a few turns and tied into a bow before adding the small gem to the middle. Then I added the layers to the main card front. Not a good day for tying bows as it took me more than 10 minutes to do with a bit of swearing thrown in.

Its a Dragon Boat paddling evening, so I have to leave in a few minutes, but thanks for stopping by and for any comments you may leave.

lavenderhousecreations

Sympathy window

Once again I needed a sympathy card, 5th one this month. As Double D Frames Challenge is looking for frames, I figured I might as well make a card that works for that as well as for the friend it is intended for. At the same time it gave me a chance to use part of a Spellbinders die set that came with my kit for the Weekender Retreat. I used just the window arch and interior piece, plus the steps, along with a Gummiapan floral as a small topper, sentiment is from GKD and the background is DSP from StampinUP. Florals were coloured with pencils and because I messed up I had to add an additional flower near the sentiment as well as a fussy cut bird from the DSP to disguise the mess. I guess experience in card making means that we know what to do when we make a mistake. I used my score board to get the lines behind the scene. In the end I quite like the result.

We have heat in a big way, and I am glad that where we live usually means we also have a breeze as it helps to keep the house cool. Down in the town it will be almost unbearable. Tomorrow my dragon boat team are racing in an area that will be even hotter and I am glad that I will not be participating. I tried one race last year, did not enjoy it and decided that racing is not for me. Practices I enjoy as there is less pressure and fortunately the team understand my limitations. My hands sometimes just won’t hold onto the paddle properly which is disastrous if in a race. And if any of you are wondering whether your scissors are sharp, just do what I did and have them slip when cutting something. My finger is now bandaged so I don’t get more blood on anything. All I was trying to do was to cut my sentiment stamp in half so I could use it differently and I didn’t notice that the points of the scissors were going to hit my finger. BooHoo!

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you, your time and any comments you may leave. Have a great weekend.

lavenderhousecreations

balance

prepared pieces ready to begin.

Well this almost turned into a disaster, but I coped and still had 3 seconds left on the clock when done. Why, you ask – its the ‘dreaded’ speed challenge at As You See It Challenge #349 – Rapid Water and of course when in a hurry, whatever can go wrong usually does. In this case my die didn’t cut properly and I had to repeat the process on another piece of CS. That will teach me to make sure my cutting plates are in good shape LOL. After I stamped the image I quickly coloured using Inktense pencils and a water pen and then fussy cut as best as possible. I also stamped the sentiment and fussy cut around that. Stamp set is an unbranded one and the quality is definitely not there so the sentiments don’t stamp really clear on the word edges. With the more expensive brand sets this is never an issue. Anyway once I had these pieces ready it was mainly an assembly of the parts. After a quick glance at the clock and a deep breath, I cut down the blue layer to fit over the top fold square card base and adhered it. Then I added the water layer and even used two of the fallouts to create a wider splash zone. In adding the yoga frog and the sentiment the glue point jammed so I didn’t get enough glue to stick them properly. Doesn’t show here and is an easy fix now I’m no longer in a hurry. The die used is from Memory Box and I’ve had it for a long time.

After I’ve improved it one of my yoga group will receive this sometime this year. I shall also give my glass mat a good clean in a minute. Actually my entire desk needs a good clean. I need a craft fairy to magically inventory my new supplies and put them away and then to clean my entire space.

Had a fun Friday evening and full day Saturday with the Spellbinder’s Weekend Retreat. The items in the kit are going to be fun to use. I could have crafted along with the designers, but chose not to as it was more relaxing to just view. Had I tried to craft along I think I would have gotten quite frustrated. As it was, I became exhausted and fell asleep in my chair. I only woke up when I almost fell out of the chair. At least it was done in my time zone. Some attendees were watching and crafting at ridiculous times of the day and night. Took me all of yesterday to stop being so tired. The entire event is available to watch at anytime so I can always watch again if I need to.

Thanks for spending time with me today. We have sunshine with a cold wind here but it is supposed to get quite warm this week. Wildfires are burning in other provinces and our hope is that they don’t start here. It is so sad for those affected.

lavenderhousecreations

Flipped over Christmas card

There is a sketch challenge at Sunday Stamps and this is my take on the challenge. It is the second one of two as I wasn’t 100% happy with my first try. I like this much better. I am adding the card at Peace on Earth as well.

I started with some silver metallic CS which I dry embossed with a SSS folder called Filigree snowflakes. To get the flip side I added a piece to the back and when properly attached scored the line for the fold. I wanted more depth, so I went over the piece with some ink and then heat set that with some WOW powder. It needed a bit more oomph, as my hubby would say, so I also spritzed some mica spray. I learned that mica sprayed embossed bits don’t stick well so it took some doing to get the fold to stick down. While waiting for it to dry I took an old GKD set and stamped the snow people using watercolour pencils and Stickles to colour them. After checking placement was what I wanted I glued them flat to the card front, after which I added the embossed panel. Using a die from GKD I cut two snowflakes in a blue CS, added some sparkle and attached them together before adding them to the folded corner. The sentiment is from a Divinity Designs set. A small blue gem completed the card.

Here is a photo of the first one, which is okay, but not quite what I envisioned.

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you and your time. Two more cards for my Christmas stash is nice to have. And I have a few other stamped images that I thought I might use for one of this style card so hopefully another couple will get done when I have time.

Happy Easter to all.

lavenderhousecreations

art deco step/easel card

Challenge #248, as chosen by me, here at https://cardz4galz.blogspot.com/ is all about Art Deco. I shall also be choosing the winners for this challenge.

Recently I purchased a new paper pad that has a lot of night sky designs as well as patterns that I’ve used here. It is a good quality pad, but still a little flimsy to use without a card base. That said the card design called for a card base that is bigger than any heavier stock I have so I used the PP on its own and reinforced it underneath in a few places with scraps. The easel part of the card wasn’t holding the steps up properly so I added a band underneath that holds them more securely.

The black art deco frames are a set by Altenew and don’t show up as much as I wanted them to because of the darker PP in the background. I jazzed up a few sections a little with a gold pen. The corners are done with stickers from my stash, I don’t use them that much these days but at least I remembered I had them. The swirly bits are from a Memory Box die and I cut 2 then cut them in half. The images are off the Internet and then jazzed up with sparkle pens. The smallest image on the front I fussy cut and just popped up. The middle one I die cut with a Hero Arts circle and the back panel I fussy cut around the lamps and the arch before popping up with foam tape.

The photo doesn’t do the card justice, as although it’s somewhat dark, it isn’t as dark as it appears here. My hubby likes the card, and I’m sure it will grow on me over time. Right now I’m not sure how I will use it but there is space on the back to write a message when the time comes.

Thanks for joining me today, and I hope to see some spectacular designs in our gallery. Have fun creating.

lavenderhousecreations

layered butterfly birthday

https://seizethebirthday.blogspot.com/ challenge #303, is requesting layers and this is what I came up with. I started with a 5 and one half square card front and layered a half size smaller pattern piece, then half size again with the pink sparkle layer. Next I used a darker pink scrap that I ensured would fit in the rotation and layered another pattern piece on that before gluing to the rest. It seems that right now I am fixated on my butterfly bundle from StampinUp as this is the 4th or 5th card I’ve done using it. Using up a scrap piece of pink vellum I die cut the lacy part of the butterfly and then layered this onto a regular piece of vellum. Before I attached the layers I decided the pink vellum needed to be brighter so using a Wow embossing pen I went over it, then used some glitter embossing powder before heat setting. I also went around the edge of the plain vellum with the pen and heat set the edge in gold. When I placed it onto the PP it still didn’t have enough presence so I added a bottom layer in gold metallic CS, which I also used to create the sentiment and the body of the butterfly. The sentiment is from Hampton Arts and I heat set this in black before die cutting. Added 2 pink embellishments from Studio G to the label. Not counting the card front, this became a 9 layer card, but fortunately it is still thin enough to mail easily. The PP is very old and is from Recollections. Because I store my papers in vinyl sleeves they seem to stay clean and don’t fade so I can use them even when old.

Thanks for joining me today, I appreciate you and your time. Its a dragon boat paddling event for me soon, so this is it for today’s crafting. I’m glad I managed one card.