Winter Wishes

This is the first Christmas card I've made in 2013 and even though I absolutely love winter time, it does feel a bit odd making Christmas cards in the middle of summer! I'm really happy with this card though- it's a bit different to my usual style...

I started with the beautiful 'Lily of the Valley' topper and worked the rest of my card around it. It's a very simple topper with limited colours so I chose to go for the icy blues & greys colour scheme. I chose 2 matching DCWV papers that both had a hint of glitter and then 3 shades of cardstock from DCWV pastel mat-stack. I also used some Bazzil Bling silver cardstock to mount the topper onto.

I worked exclusively with odd cm sized squares so started by cutting all of my different cardstock. The striped square is cut to 19cm and used to mat the 8x8 base card. The paisley design card is cut to 15cm, plain blue to 11cm and plain grey to 9cm. I edged all of the card pieces with my black promarker to make them stand out from each other. The silver Bazzil Bling mat was cut to 13cm square.

I laid out all of my cardstock pieces onto my base card but I felt that the topper needed some more interest to it so I tried something that I've not done before and after a bit of trial and error, it worked quite well. I used the grand callibur to emboss a swirly snowflake design onto the topper above the penguin image. I then wanted to repeat this at the bottom of the card so I repeated the process. This meant that my original embossing got a bit squashed by the rollers as it went through the second time and lost its definition. Turns out that I needed to leave the bit that I'd already embossed hanging out of the mat so that it didn't squash that bit. I carefully lined up the embossing and tried it again and it thankfully worked pretty well. To add a bit of extra definition to the embossing, I gently edged it with some silver gilding wax using exactly the same method I use for distress inks but on paper rather than my ink blending mat.

I attached all of the layers to my base card and then used 2 different xcut snowflake punches with the darkest blue DCWV cardstock to punch some snowflakes to add as the finishing touch to the card.

This card definitely has more layers than my usual style but I think it's still quite simple thanks to the clean lines of the layers. Embossing onto toppers is definitely something I'll be trying again (now I know how to do it properly!).

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Paper Shelter 'punches & dies'

Penny's Paper Crafty Challenges 'dry embossing'

Lili's Little Fairies 'Christmas in August'

Cute Card Thursday 'Die-ing to punch'

Here Come the Boys 'Only Squares'

Soft Kitty

I've been busy in the craft room this week and my newest card is this pastel coloured beauty!!! I don't work with pastel colours very often but I think they suit this super cute Saturated Canary image.

I started by choosing my striped backing paper so that I could match all of the other colours to it. It's a paper from a Papermania 6x6 'spots & stripes' paper pack. I then had some Create & Craft pastel glitter card that was a bargain from Wilko's a few months/years ago and has never been used so I matched this to the colours of the striped paper. I cut the glitter card into 9cm squares and attached this into the corners of an 8x8 white base card using rulers to try and get them as straight as possible. I put 3d foam into the white spaces between the glitter card to attach the backing paper so that I didn't have to worry about it not sticking to the glitter. I then chose my Promarker colours to again match the papers, using Buttercup, Orchid, Pastel Pink & Mint Green as the main colours to colour the fabulous Saturated Canary image (I love every image on that site). After colouring the image, I trimmed it leaving a small white border and attached it to the card. I then added the double layered Prima flower into the mint green corner. I finished the card by stamping the bunting from Little Claire stamps onto some scrap card and then colouring with the same 4 promarkers. I glued it onto some thin white string and then hung it from the card, sticking it behind the pink glitter card.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Saturated Canary 'set your creativity free'

Creatilicious 'I love my pet'

Polkadoodles 'birthday girl'

Crafty Catz 'pastel colours'

Challenges 4 Everybody 'anything goes'

Creative Card Crew 'banner/pennant'

Papertake Weekly 'anything goes'

Creative Inspirations 'something old & something new' (new bunting stamps, old glitter card)

T'wit T'woo

We've got a new challenge over at Card Makin Mamas for August and it's a nice simple one (I think)! All you need to do is make a card using just 3 colours- BLACK, WHITE + 1 OTHER and link it up to our challenge here. The prize is a mystery box of goodies from head mama Jess so come and take a look. Here's my DT card using BLACK, WHITE & BRONZE.

It's a really simple card starting with a sheet of A4 white card that I folded to make an A5 base card. I used different sized feather stamps from Sheena Douglass to stamp the base card to create my own design. I used a black VersaFine inkpad, double stamping to get the grey tone as well as the pure black, and a bronze VersaColour inkpad. The main owl image is a beautiful Indigo Blu stamp that I got at a show recently- it has amazing detail and stamps beautifully. I stamped it and embossed with black embossing powder and then coloured the image with 3 different shades of bronze Cosmic Shimmer iridescent watercolour paints. I cut out my Owl image as close to the embossing as I could and then used 3d foam to mount it onto a double layered Kanban mat.

This card shows that with a beautiful stamp, it's easy to make a fantastic card. Now show us what you can do!

Ooo Wee Ooo #2

I am super excited about this card for many different reasons! #1- I LOVE Doctor Who, #2- rumours are that the new Doctor will be announced in a tv special on Sunday night! & #3- the dalek & tardis on this card are my own hand-made embellishments (I tried a new idea and it worked really well!)

At the moment, Lakeland stores have a new range of Doctor Who baking supplies e.g. cake toppers, cake cases and the most awesome cake pan for making a 3d Dalek cake (is it ok to have that as a cake for your 30th birthday???). They also have dusting stencils, ice cube moulds & chocolate moulds (these are the 3 things I've bought for crafting with). The moulds are all made of silicone so are great for a wide range of crafting products. The chocolate moulds are shallow and the ice cube ones quite deep. For the toppers on this card, I've used the shallow chocolate moulds. I don't have a melt pot (yet!) but I still wanted to have a go at using my embossing powders in the moulds so I did it layer by layer with a versamark pen! The silicone mould can happily take the heat of the heat gun and actually stays warm for enough time to be able to re-powder without re-inking every time. Because this method took quite a long time, my toppers are very thin (paper thin) but this does mean that they are very lightweight and easy to attach with 3d foam pads. Once I had made them, I rubbed them with a little gilding wax as the back of the embossing powders are always dull and then arranged them onto my backing card (pearlescent design from Kanban kit). I then used some typography style clear stamps that have been in more stash for years (maybe decades) to stamp the 'ooo wee ooo' message in a pearlescent platinum brilliance ink so it isn't too obvious but is definitely there. I then mounted it all onto a 6x6 white card blank.

I sense a whole set coming on as the mould also has K-9, a cyberman head, a sontaran head and (my favourite) weeping angel! Looking to get a bargain melt pot first though so it's a bit quicker to do- anyone know where I can get a bargain???

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Songbird 'favourite things'

Creative Inspirations 'anything goes'

Cute Card Thursday 'anything goes'

Acceptance card

I recently made some invitations for some friends who are having a Naming Ceremony (non-religious Christening) for their baby girl. I also needed to make an acceptance card to say that I was going! I decided to make a card that matched the invitation in colour choice and theme but was completely different. The invitations used the same butterflies & flowers but they were die-cut from the card leaving a cut out design behind. This is my variation of the idea-

I started with an 8x8 white card blank and 4 sheets of pastel DCWV mat stack cardstock (2 yellow, 2 pink). I took one of each colour of card and embossed it with a star design using my Grand Callibur and then inked the edges in the opposite colourway using distress inks (squeezed lemonade on the pink card & picked raspberry on the yellow). I mounted these onto the card overlapping one corner. I then used my cricut to cut out the flower & butterfly toppers from the other piece of each colour of card. I arranged the toppers before sticking them down and then added the as the butterfly trails. I finished the card by stamping the 'acceptance' sentiment using Brilliance pearlescent pink ink and alphabet clear stamps.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Challenges 4 Everybody 'anything goes'

Creative Card Crew 'baby'

Cutie Pie 'pretty in pink'

Paper Shelter 'anything goes'