die-cutting

lavenderhousecreations

Little friends

After some sunny, although cold days, we are back to the milder temperatures and the rain so I’m in my craft room catching up on a few things and posting this card.

It is intended for the AAA Card Challenge #306: Follow Francesca’s Lead and this is my take on her card.

To make it, I used a stamp set from Crafters Companion that came in a kit, and some Gummiapan dies. I stamped the background using Lost Shadow Ink and the sentiment in Hickory Smoke. While the ink was drying I die cut the images and coloured them with watercolour pencils and a Sakura Glaze pen.

When everything was dry I glued the die cuts as you see them. I did debate whether anything else was needed, but CAS means lots of empty space, so I left it as is. Colouring such tiny images is challenging and I need more practice at it, but all in all, I’m happy with the end result.

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

lavenderhousecreations

pink flower

Welcome back to the second challenge of the new year, here at cardz4galz, which is to add pink flowers. Challenge #268 has been chosen by Billie A and she will also choose the winners.

I wanted to keep my card simple so I chose a lacy look border die by Crafters Companion and die cut it. After attaching it to another layer I added the GKD ribbon and then attached the layer to the card front. The flower and foliage are from a Waffle Flower set. I die cut the pieces and then inked them using Distress inks and a sponge. I put the flower together and using a soft pad and a flower shaper I added some dimension to it before gluing it on top of the foliage. A few pink embellishments finished the card nicely and I’m happy with how it looks.

Thanks for spending time with me today. We look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery and hope you have fun making them.

lavenderhousecreations

lights, camera, action

new paper pad and camera die cut.

My hubby’s birthday is coming up soon and I’ve been working on this card for him. I can share it here, as he doesn’t go to my blog so won’t see it. Because it fits the current challenge at As You See It, Challenge #364 – Craft Room Additions I shall be entering it there.

My new additions are the patterned paper, the camera, and spectacle dies. This is an unbranded set that has other dies related to travel in it. I used two photo frame dies that have been in my stash forever and not used often, if at all. The banner die is from Scrapbook.com the alphabet dies are from First Edition craft and were cut from scrap card stock. The hugs die cut was a gift so I don’t know which brand and the its your birthday in the smaller frame is from CTMH and was a leftover piece in my stash.

The hardest part in making the card was figuring out what I wanted to use and then following along with the tutorial by Sam Calcutt at Mixed up craft. I like her tutorials and generally find them easy to follow, but for some reason, on this one, I couldn’t get the measurements right at first. I also didn’t have a heavy weight CS in the blue so getting mine to stand properly took a bit of finessing. I’m nothing if not persistent and usually find solutions or work arounds when I’m stuck. Because the paper is very busy, I kept the additional items to just a few things camera related. My personal message will be written on the back of the easel stand added behind the card.

I’m hoping to make his favourite chocolate cake but can’t find the chocolate that I normally use. When I asked at a local grocery store that has carried it in the past, I was told they aren’t stocking it due to the cost. They offered a chocolate flavoured slab, but I declined as it has to be quality and the real thing or nothing. I’m hoping when I’m in Nanaimo next week, a larger town not too far away, that I can find a gourmet store there that stocks it. The price of things lately is beyond ridiculous, but making a cake without the right ingredients is a complete waste of time in my opinion. Wish me luck.

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

lavenderhousecreations

celebrating 10 years

Ten years of blogging and making challenges for likeminded crafters is to be celebrated. Double D is celebrating just that. Congratulations to both of you for the hard work you put into all the challenges you support.

Before I began, I had something other than this in mind, but I couldn’t find the set of dies I was looking for. In my search I found this very old and somewhat neglected layered die set from Spellbinders. As I was getting a bit frustrated in my search, I decided to use this and go with something different than what I had in my head. In the end I’m happy to have changed direction.

I cut the pieces I required once in gold but the rest in white CS. Using the gold as my base, I added the inked balloons that I had coloured using distress inks. I used some foam tape to lift them. Using a scrap piece of yellow and an EF from Gemini I dry embossed the piece. Then I carefully cut along one curved edge. Initially I was only going to use this section, but it didn’t look quite right so on impulse I laid down the other piece, which created a gap because of the cutting. This looked much better but the white gap was too stark so I added some blue ink before gluing down the yellow layers. Once I was happy with this I glued the balloon piece on top. The sentiment section was added with additional foam tape which creates a lot of dimension. After some debate I decided against adding an additional balloon or other embellishments as it looks busy enough as is.

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

lavenderhousecreations

foxy fun

Happy New Year to all and here is the first challenge of 2026 for Double Trouble. Our recipe is to use: 3 colours, 2 shapes and one sentiment with the theme of cool, wild or crazy.

In my case I’ve chosen cool and wild as represented by the music background, it reminds me of cool jazz bands, and the Lawn Fawn wild animal fox. My shapes are the background panel, a circle die cut as well as the fox himself. The EF is from Spellbinders and I used a linen CS. I used a sanding block to take off some of the colour on the raised sections as I liked the look and it showed off the embossing more. My fox was built using scrap die cutting and then gluing the pieces together. The circle die cut is done with infinity dies by Hero Arts, the sentiment is from Spellbinders and the embellishments are from my stash. They pick up whatever colour they are close to, in this case yellow. My colours are Yellow, orange and pink, but if brown is considered a colour rather than a neutral I guess it would be four colours.

The idea for this card came from Pinterest, but it isn’t a CASE, just a general similar look. Remember that you can join in with the TSOT sketch challenge if you wish, but ensure that you aren’t back linking before you do so.

Thanks for joining me today, I appreciate your time. I wish you joy in your crafting and look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery.

lavenderhousecreations

Christmas Sparkle

Our last cardz4galz challenge of 2025, as chosen by Dawn, is Christmas sparkle. Although the photo doesn’t show it clearly, my card is full of sparkle as I used sparkle pens by Sakura as well as a shimmer spray over the entire card.

To make this card I die cut, using Hero Arts infinity dies, a circle in a piece that could be used as a stencil. Following an idea seen on Pinterest, I used some fine tip brush pens by Sakura and flicked colour through the stencil. I added the hanging cord by hand using a glitter pen and other glitter pens over the brush strokes. The sentiment is from a set from Woodware.

I kept this design CAS as I felt the glitter was enough. Now it’s your turn and we hope you find the time to add your own designs to our gallery. We know the season is a busy one for everyone and hope that you have the Merriest of Christmases and a Happy New Year too.

lavenderhousecreations

pet wagon

Sketch #566

Well here I am again being sidetracked by making another card, which came about because I wanted to use the dies before I put them away.

CAS Colours & Sketches are encouraging us to take either a colour challenge or a sketch challenge from 2025 and turn it into a seasonal card. My card is using Sketch #566 and I followed the orientation and shape of the sketch while changing what needed to be changed to give it a more seasonal look. The plaid paper is from the inside of a store bought envelope, the background oval (cut using Hero Arts infinity dies) is using a scrap piece from my stash. I jazzed it up slightly by adding dots of sparkle gold, but it doesn’t show much on the photo. It looks far better in real life. My little wagon and animals are all Gummiapan dies and my sentiment comes from a set by Crafters Companion. I love the font in this set and have used another of the stamps on the inside of the card. I used both alcohol markers and glitter pens to colour in the animals and wagon.

Although I don’t need any more Christmas cards now, I have several already completed for 2026 and this one will go into that stash. Thanks for joining me today, I appreciate you and any comments you leave.

lavenderhousecreations

just for you

I’m supposed to be cleaning up my craft room and cataloguing my new stuff, but in the process I’ve gotten a bit sidetracked. The latest challenge, AAA Card Challenge #305: Anything CAS Goes, optional twist: white on white and I do enjoy making white on white cards.

The die I’ve used is new and is from Crafters Companion. It comes in two halves with two stamps. I cut it using some scrap water colour CS. The popped up background piece was cut using an unbranded set, also fairly new to me. Using my smaller Misti I stamped the words and when the ink was dry I added the top and bottom parts of the heart. My embellishments are from Trinity Stamps and are clear, but they are designed to pick up colour from anywhere. In this case it is from the overhead light and on the photo they are reflecting the light and look more golden. In front of my computer screen it is all white so they look shiny white.

I guess now I’ve actually used this new die, I can put it away properly haha. As I have several new ones not even opened, I’m pretty sure I shall get sidetracked again. Hubby just came into my craft room, picked up the card and said how he liked it. Then he asked me if I could add the cuts to a coloured background, which was another idea I already had in my head.

I’m off to put away a bit more stuff before I stop for the day. I did all my embossing folders yesterday. They are now all labeled and numbered so I can find them more easily.

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

lavenderhousecreations

Christmas stocking

Well here we are with the last challenge of the season for Double Trouble and the recipe this time is: 3 -Something from your stash, 2 – Anything from your stash and 1 – everything from your stash. Twisted Sister says add a ribbon, twine or cord to your project but it is optional and Thing 2 says follow the TSOT #685 sketch and get additional entries to win. However you do need to be careful not to backlink when you join the challenge.

My card has 3 layers including the stocking but not including the actual note card, 2 tiny gems on the sentiment although there are more on the PP and my one is the sentiment, but could also be the stocking. I did add a twine bow to my stocking. I didn’t really interpret the sketch in my opinion, but others may think differently.

The stocking die comes from The Netherlands and is by Marianne Design. The twine is from my stash and is a challenge to use as the threads unravel too easily. The glitter CS and PP are from Michaels and I added Stickles to the stocking to define the toe, heal and top a bit more. Sentiment is from an MFT set and I used another one on the inside from the same set. While making this card I also made another stocking which is ready to use on another project.

Thanks for stopping by, you are appreciated. We look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery and above all have fun in your craft room.

lavenderhousecreations

butterfly sympathy

As You See It – Challenge #362 – Bits and Pieces has a sketch challenge as the latest theme and unfortunately, we’ve had a recent death in our neighborhood, which affects two families. It is a close knit community so I decided to make a card today for the widow, and used the sketch as a guide to my design. I shall do the other one later.

My card uses StampinUP DSP and the butterfly is also from them. The sentiment is from GKD, The piece holding the butterfly is from an unbranded die set and the tiny gems are from Trinity Stamps.

Once I had the papers cut it was easy to put together and I like the monochromatic look that was the result. The photo doesn’t really do it justice.

It has been quite a week, I caught a cold, which settled into a bad cough, leaving me feeling a bit like a space cadet. Our friends were coming to help with the Christmas decor as they do each year, and I let them know that they might prefer not to come, just in case. They came anyway, and the house has been transformed into a magical wonderland. It always amazes me how Dale makes it come together, after seeing the mess of boxes and supplies everywhere for a few days. Before I realized I wasn’t 100% I had managed to put together several meals that would keep until they were here making it easier to handle the few days of their visit. I had also put the tree together with the exception of some beads which I had trouble with. Dale soon sorted that issue. The guys did the finishing touches to the outside, repairing a broken snowman and figuring out an issue we had with another set of lights. I helped as much as possible inside, but the bulk of it was done by Dale and her imagination.

Today is the party for my yoga group, and fortunately, I’m well enough and no longer contagious, to be able to host it. We’ve had a few cancellations due to others coming down with this cold. It is certainly going around at the moment. I finished the cake this morning and will put the table together soon so all will be ready and I can relax for a short time before.

Thanks for stopping by, you are appreciated, as are any comments you may leave.