stamping

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

CAS stencil

My second card as a guest designer at Seize the Birthday and the challenge this time is to use a stencil and keep the card clean and simple.

My stencil was a hand made one gifted to me by a talented card crafter and is similar to the fleur de lis in pattern. I used stencil butter called Ocean Mist by TCW to do mine. As I had viewed a card on Pinterest that incorporated some drawn circles and a partial frame, I decided to try it on my card. I traced around the inside of two dies to get them as good as possible and used a T-ruler to do the partial frame. I’m not sure it was a good idea although it isn’t absolutely horrible. In retrospect I’m thinking using gray pen or pencil may have been a better choice.

The sentiment is from an incentive stamp set by GKD and I cut it into 3 to make it work better on my card. We look forward to seeing your amazing creations in the gallery and above all have fun!

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

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

postcard christmas

Although when I started this card I was thinking it may work for the next Peace on Earth Challenge #96, at the time I hadn’t seen their mood board or the DT designs. However, one example features a postcard and here is mine.

I was thinking about my Woodware postage frame die the other day and wondering how I might use it for a Christmas card? As it happens, I had already pulled out the MFT village stamp set I’ve used here, so I inked up some CS to give the blue background and stamped the scene in the middle. I used the accompanying stencil only to assess where to add other images. I added the trees, some from GKD, another MFT, the tiny mouse is Hero Arts and the sentiment is StampinUP. Everything was clear embossed as I worked and I coloured everything before I used the die to add the postage holes. I did trim down the edges to ensure it fit onto my card front which is from Spellbinders. At first I wasn’t sure if I liked it, but after my hubby and our artist friend were complimentary about it, I’m more comfortable with it myself.

I’m really trying to keep my cards as flat as possible for this season, as postage has become more expensive and the rules about some items keep changing.

Thanks for spending time with me today, I appreciate you and any comments you may leave.

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

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.

lavenderhousecreations

bright as the sun

I was honored with an invitation to participate as a Surprise Party Guest at Seize the Birthday and this is the first of five cards I have made. The day the email arrived I was so surprised and delighted that I almost fell of my chair.

This challenge features embossing and I have done both dry embossing and heat embossing. The idea for this card came from a lovely design done by Marie SanFilippo, but I’m unable to link, as it was part of a private group held by Spellbinders. I used a folder from Taylored Expressions for my background and added swipes of metallic gold ink from Scrapbook.com to add some colour. My sentiment and the sun face are from Spellbinders and my flowers are from Memory Box. I used some yellow pop of color from Scrapbook.com for my flower centers. And I used gold CS to cut a background piece for the sentiment so I could offset the main part on it.

Although I do like my card, I wish I was allowed to show you the one done by Marie as it was truly an amazing card. Mine is quite different but the idea of hers is here.

Thanks for joining me today. I appreciate you and any comments you may leave. Have fun making your own cards featuring embossing.

lavenderhousecreations

May your stocking be full

September 2025 Peace On Earth Challenge #95 which is an anything goes Christmas challenge although there is a mood board for anyone needing a boost for ideas. I had the stocking already done as I was playing with this die a few posts ago, and I decided to use it here.

The stocking is from a small die by Marianne Designs, purchased in the Netherlands and I cut it using different PP so I could paper piece a little to give it more definition. PP is from a Recollections pad. The background layer is actually from a store bought card received last year that I thought would work for something else one day and it works well here I think. The tiny sentiment is from a GKD set, and the star banner is from Scrapbook.com. The lacy piece is a border die from Crafters Companion that was poorly cut. I layered it with another poorly cut piece and decided it would work as a kind of mantlepiece to hang the stocking from. The twine is from my stash and it took me forever to tie it into a satisfactory bow. The threads kept separating but I managed in the end. I added some sparkle to the snowflakes in the stocking as well as some red dots to the leafy area.

This card is a fairly simple one and although there are layers its still flat enough to be mailed as regular postage, although not to the USA, as their regulations have changed and anything that isn’t paper means it has to go as a package, which is becoming expensive.

Thanks for spending time with me today.

lavenderhousecreations

fall colours

Yesterday I posted to the As You See It speed challenge and after I had, I realized that perhaps I hadn’t met the challenge properly. The Challenge #355 – Lively Leaves clearly says speed stamping on the image and my card had no stamping on it at all. Given that AYSI is one of my favourite sites to enter I decided I had better make another one and this is it.

I started by using some inks on a plastic sheet and a wet brush and swiped the brush across the panel in curves at the corners and not bothering to be careful. Then I took the Altenew leaf sprig stamp and stamped the leaf over the top. This took several tries as my inks weren’t quite dry. Sentiment is from the same set. Using a new die set from Amazon, I proceeded to cut the layer and then did a second one in gold. Why dies don’t cut properly when we are hurrying always puzzles me, as I had to repeat the cut and then spend more time than I wanted on getting all the bits out of the gold layer. I did take time to add the enamel dots but they were easy compared to poking out the gold piece. Had the die cut properly my card would have been finished in 6 minutes (a record for me) but hey ho, it took more time and I finished the card in 8 minutes and 30 seconds.

I’m not sure I like the end result, as my colours are a bit darker than I wished, but when doing something for speed it is not easy to fix or change.

Thanks for joining me today, I hope your Sunday has gone well. Ours has been so hot being outside was virtually impossible, but we shall do a BBQ tonight and eat on the patio.

lavenderhousecreations

put a bow on it

It has been a while since I had the time to enter into a Sunday Stamp challenge, but today I managed it. SSC367 Put A Bow On It is the theme and because I had been playing the past two days with using kitchen foil, alcohol inks and some leaf printing, in a way this card almost made itself.

I placed the leaf panel into a stitched rectangle unbranded die and cut it to size although it required some replacement of the die to achieve the length I wanted. Yesterday I had added some crumpled kitchen foil to some card stock and earlier today I played with adding inks to it. I quite liked how it ended up so using an Altenew die, I cut the leaf sprig you see here from part of it. After adding foam to the back I added it to my leaf print panel. The little tag is from a set that my hubby bought many moons ago and I didn’t keep the info on the 2 sets he gave me. The sentiment is from a SSS set and I heat embossed in gold. I found the red and gold thread in my box and by pulling the threads apart I was able to combine both and make a bow. A lot of blue air, as my fingers would not cooperate, but I managed in the end. After adding a bit of colour to the tag I attached it and using tweezers pulled a bit of the thread through the hole.

While playing I hadn’t really thought about a design for the finished panel, but I did have the Sunday Stamps challenge open on my computer and when I took another look at it, I realized I had the makings of a card to meet the challenge. As you can see I added a border of some CS that was similar in hue to the colours in the leaf and then using the leftover piece I added it to my card base so it fit the sketch. Once the top layer was added it met the theme perfectly.

I’m pleased with how it turned out and had fun playing with the inks although if you had seen the mess I made of my glass mat and fingers you would laugh. Fortunately a little alcohol on a sponge helped me to clean it all up easily. Many thanks for stopping by, your time and any comments you leave are truly appreciated.