die-cutting

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

uncluttered

After a week of not really being in the mood to create, I finally had a small break through and these cards are the result. As the challenge at https://abcchristmaschallenge.blogspot.com/ is asking for uncluttered and/or vertical I decided that my card would work for the challenge. In addition, it works for another Christmas challenge at https://12monthsofchristmaslinkup.blogspot.com/. This one is an anything goes challenge. I’ve not entered here before and haven’t entered often at ABC either.

To make my cards, I used a lamp die by YNS, and an unbranded die set that includes wavy dies to make hills etc. My wreaths are cut from a scrap piece of last years PP and by cutting out the center I was able to hang it from the lamp post. The sentiment is from a Woodware set. I used a gold glitter pen on the lamp light. The little houses were bacled with some gold paper and my tiny trees are cut from a scraps. Using a Sakura glitter pen I added some lines to the hill tops and snowman as well as to the berries on the wreath. I felt the snow needed more so using a glue pen and super fine StampinUp glitter I was able to make it sparkle. The other two cards were done in a similar fashion only one has been sprayed and the other uses the super fine glitter. I quite like the simplicity of these cards and they are still flat enough to mail easily, if and when the service goes back to work. I think the postal strike has been a factor in my lack of mojo.

It is Thanksgiving here in Canada, and we are expecting guests later on. I’ve been preparing food for their 2 day stay since Friday. No turkey though, instead I’ve prepared a stuffed Pork roll and for tomorrow a lasagna. It took a while to put the rooms together as there is 4 people coming, all members of my hubby’s former photo club. Fortunately I am able to split the king bed into twins and after adding a camp cot to the other room they should be fine. After a deluge of rain yesterday, today is cold, sunny and extremely windy which means a porch full of leaves to clean up again.

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

lavenderhousecreations

shades of fall

After this long hot and dry summer it is a relief to be heading for some coolness and hopefully some rain. I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking this way, although for sure we will all eventually be longing for winter to be over.

Our current challenge is to use the shades of fall and our recipe is to use 3 colours, 2 images, 1 stenciled or dry embossed piece, with an optional Twisted Sister idea to use either a fall fruit or veggie. As well you can use the Twisted Sister thing 2 double dare, which is to participate in the TSOT sketch #681 and/or the alternate Pearly Sparkles challenge #112. Bear in mind the risk of backlinking so your entry isn’t disqualified.

My card doesn’t fit the sketch challenge at TSOT, but I did add a fruit to my project. In case anyone isn’t quite sure – an Acorn is considered to be both a fruit and a nut. In a way my card uses the spotlight technique as I stamped the images onto the layer first and then again on a separate piece so I could die cut. Because I used Distress Oxides to stamp I was able to heat set the images clear making it easier to colour them. At the same time I added the sentiment and heat embossed it too. I coloured each image exactly the same using more than 3 colours and I did this with both ink and water colour pencils. The stamp set is from YNS and has matching dies although I didn’t use them here. I wish the company was still in business as I noticed that the sentiment stamp has a slight fault that I didn’t realize was there when I purchased the set. When everything was dry I die cut 3 small circles using Infinity circles from Hero Arts, making sure the die was smaller than the main stamped image. After adding some foam tape I carefully attached the circles on top of the main images. I also used an alcohol marker to go around the edge of this layer for a bit more definition although it is glued flat. The dry embossed layer was done using a Sizzix Tim Holtz 3D foliage folder and I swiped inks over the raised parts in the same colours as used when colouring the images.

Thanks for joining me today, I appreciate you and your time. We look forward to seeing your creations for this challenge and above all hope you have fun creating.

lavenderhousecreations

wicked

Challenge #260, as chosen by Helen is to use purple and green and to make mine I used some glitter paper from Scrapbook.com in both those colours. The face and lip dies come from Spellbinders and the inspiration came from several cards seen in the private group for a kit I received as a birthday gift. I’m not allowed to share the photos from this group, but one crafter did make a card that helped me to make mine. I hand drew and fussy cut the hat and decorative band and buckle. The letters are from an older die set by First Edition Crafts and I used a couple of dies from HeroArts infinity circles as well.

I have to say this card turned out a lot better than I expected it to and my hubby loved it. We look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery. Above all have fun.

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

lavenderhousecreations

stacked banners

The challenge here at Double Trouble is to use Something, Anything and Everything. Hard to interpret you may say – no, actually easy as you will see from my process. The recipe says, 3 of something, 2 of anything and 1 of everything. My card can be considered in several ways using this formula. Firstly I used 3 X 3 layers of banners in a stacked design. This idea came from something I saw Natasha Foote do. As these were cut using a StampinUP die set my design says three die cuts too.

Secondly I have two layers, one of which is also a die cut and for this I used a Spellbinders border die. In addition I have 2 gem embellishments so I met the requirement in 2 ways.

And last but not least my sentiment layer is my everything, after all a card with no sentiment can look unfinished, but just in case I also added a sparkle glitter piece of tape. This served two purposes, it adds some glamour to the card but it also covers up the edge of that layer so it looks nicer. The PP is scraps from my stash although the middle set is actually from a photograph that didn’t print well. Waste not want not LOL. Sentiment is from a Hampton Arts set.

I did not follow the TSOT 680 sketch in my design, but I highly recommend that you try the dare as it gives you more chances to win. If you prefer to try an alternate challenge have a look at https://welove2create.blogspot.com/, and also at Sunday Stamps with their new challenge SSC370 Squared Away. Entering gives you another chance to win. We look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery, but above all we want you to have fun.

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

lavenderhousecreations

just enough spookiness

Most of you know generally I am not into Halloween, but occasionally I’ll make one or two just for fun. This card is one of those and came about because of the challenge at Double D – Make Your Own Background Challenge. And while I was at it, I thought why not add it to the https://twooldbatshalloweenchallenge.blogspot.com/ as well. Their mood board features a cat, but I confess only checking that after the card was complete.

In going through my stamps the other day, I rediscovered some Concord & 9th Turnabout stamps and this marbling is using one of those stamps. It has been so long since I used these stamps I had to consult old videos by J. McGuire to remember how to do it.

After deciding on my colours I proceeded to ink up the background and added some shimmer spray to it because I felt like it. When it was dry I added it as you see to the card front. My cat is also ancient and is from the Crazy Cats and Dogs by Tim Holtz, the witch hat is from the same sets. The little ghost and sentiment come from GKD and my additional background piece is from a photo that a friend had printed and didn’t like. She reprints and I get to use the poor ones if I think I can. Using a WeR cutter, which allows me to choose the blade I like, I trimmed it the size. The ghost and hat were fussy cut. I used pencils to colour the images and did the hat buckle with a silver sparkle pen. Googly eyes finished the cat and I added some highlights using a Posca pen. I’m not good at this but our artist friend is going to help me develop my skill once she has gotten my hubby and his upcoming exhibition sorted. They have been working really hard on this and it is an eye opener to learn just how much work goes into preparing for an exhibition on a bigger scale than just one or two pictures.

I think I like the result, but even if I’m uncertain, I do have a friend who will enjoy receiving it as she is nuts about cats. Thanks for joining me today, I appreciate it.

lavenderhousecreations

skeleton leaves

It always puzzles me as to why the colours in a photo don’t look quite the same as in reality. This photo is a case in point. Here at home it isn’t as yellow as it shows here and is in fact more like the colours needed for the challenge. As You See It has a colour theme and a photo for inspiration this week.

My card started a while back as a mop up piece from some inking I had been doing. I set it aside for a few days and then stamped the skeleton leaves, an incentive set from GKD, setting it aside once more. I had intended to use it, and had already cut the piece using the unbranded die set I’ve just acquired, but in the end, went in a totally different direction. So once again it languished in my waiting to use pile.

It seems it was waiting for this challenge so I cut another piece using the next size die, using CS similar in colour to the one in the challenge and put the two together. My card front is dark gray but is CS from GKD. The sentiment strip is also GKD and I edged it with a black pen and added some copper glitter to the words before attaching it on top. Two Waffle Flower enamel dots completed the card.

Thanks for joining me today. I appreciate you and your time.

lavenderhousecreations

wishes for Christmas

Challenge #259 at cardz4galz has been chosen by Lynda and she has chosen the theme of using dies and or punches. This gives you a lot of choice for your own ideas.

In my case I’ve used a die from Waffle Flower that is still fairly new and not fully used until now called Elegant Envelope. I die cut the base flap and bottom of the envelope in cream and then a decorative piece in gold. The embossed base uses a new folder from Taylored Expressions which I added to a darker matte gold card front. The flower piece is a stamp from GKD that I inked in Seedless Preserves ink and clear heat embossed along with the sentiment, which is from another GKD set. I used Inktense pencils to colour in my flowers after which I fussy cut them before adding them as you see in the photo. I also used a Sakura gelly roll pen to give colour to the stamens of the flowers. I’ve kept the card as flat as possible for mailing as I recently had to pay a large sum to mail something internationally, that was slightly too thick for the system. Its no surprise to me that Canada Post is having financial issues because people simply can’t pay the ridiculous stamp fees these days.

I enjoyed making this card and quite like the end result. We hope you have fun making your own designs and look forward to seeing them in our gallery.

lavenderhousecreations

oodles of doodles

Challenge #679 here at Double Trouble is to make a doodle style image card. You may hand draw, use a stamp or die as long as it looks like a doodle. You need 3 doodles, 2 layers including card base and 1 sentiment. If you wish you can take the optional thing 3 by Twisted sister and do a pop of colour and thing 2 is to use the sketch and enter into TSOT as long as you take care not to backlink.

As you can see I used a clown image as my doodle and it is from an old wooden block stamp from Stampers Choice. I also chose to do a pop of colour which I added using pencils and some glitter Sakara pens. My sentiments come from SSS. The background PP is from Simple Stories.

Have fun doodling and we look forward to seeing your creations in our gallery.

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