Less is More - Cats!

Having said in my Simples Sunday post, earlier today, that I was going to have a few days off from blogging here I am back already!!!! When I saw the LIM challenge this week was 'Cats and/or Dogs' I thought I was scuppered as I don't own any stamps that would fit the challenge. However not to be beaten I decided a bit of punch art was called for and this is what I have come up with. I can't take credit for the idea of the punch art cats as they have been stalking around blogland for a very long time but these are my versions. Mostly made with Circle punches of varying sizes but with the addition of the heart noses from the Owl Builder and the ears from the Blossom Builder punches.
The sentiment is from A Word for You. Just to add a little texture to the card I diagonally scored lines in the top right and bottom left corners and added a couple of Glimmer Paper hearts.
I am currently working on a Super Heroes punch art card for my Grandson's 5th birthday so, as soon as I have finished it, I will be back to show you. Until then enjoy the rest of the weekend x

(Fairly) Simples Sunday

Today's card is one I made a few weeks ago but thought it would fit the Simples Sunday as it was fairly simple to make. I took a piece of Whisper White cardstock and lightly drew around the outside of one of the Apothecary Accents Framelits in pencil, Then using the Summer Silhouettes stamp set I stamped three flowers in Raspberry Ripple then covered them using my pre-cut post-it note masks before stamping the leaves in Certainly Celery. (Tip: after cutting masks for stamps don't throw them away, stick them to the inside of the stamp box and you can re-use them several times) With this particular stamp set, to save time, you can stamp directly over the leaves providing the flower is a fairly strong colour and the leaves are not too dark. The centres of the flower are stamped in Early Espresso and the sentiment is from Field Flowers. Once the stamping was done I placed the die back on using the pencil line as a guide, fixed in place with a post-it and ran through the Big Shot. A length of Raspberry Ripple Stitched Satin ribbon was placed across a panel of cardstock then fixed to a card blank and the stamped die cut was fixed using dimensionals. I added a few Basic Pearls to finish the card.
I will be taking a break from blogging for a few days as I haven't had a lot of crafting time just recently but I will be back soon.

I first saw this technique a few weeks ago on the Less is More challenge site but unfortunately I didn't have time to try it for that particular challenge. However I still wanted to have a go and it was an ideal opportunity when I needed a card for a work colleague.
This technique (no idea what it's called) is not the easiest but Lizy Bartaby did a brilliant tutorial on her blog so, if you'd like to have a go, you can see her post here.
I used Fabulous Florets with Raspberry Ripple and Old Olive plus a couple of retired stamps, the Itty Bitty Butterfly punch and the Typeset Alphabet Bigz die for the lettering.The ribbon is Raspberry Ripple Stitched Satin. I also made a bottle tag in the same design but with the recipients name but forgot to take a photo of that!!
Hopefully back tomorrow for the LIM challenge - where has that week gone????

Labour of Love!

This is my 'labour of love' card that I was working on last week - called that because of the excessive amount of time it took to make!! It's an oversized card, an A3 piece of card folded to make a card which is A4, made for a work colleague who is leaving and it needed to be large so that everyone can sign it. I used Chocolate Chip for the mat with diagonal score lines across the top right and bottom left corners with Chocolate Chip butterflies stamped on the central plain section. I then used the large scallop oval die to cut Crumb Cake Cake cardstock and a smaller oval die for the Very Vanilla mat stamped with four butterflies, from the SAB set Bloomin' Marvelous, in Crunb Cake. I then punched four butterflies with the Bitty Butterfly punch in Vellum cardstock to overlay the stamped butterflies and added a Basic Pearl to each one. The flowers were made from Very Vanilla cardstock with the Boho Blossoms Punch and Blossom Party die. Leaves were punched from Certainly Celery with the Bird Builder punch. I finished the card with a computer generated sentiment cut into a banner and three Basic Pearls across the top right corner. I made a bag to put the card in which is pictured on the right.
Tomorrow I will be back to show you my card that was made for the same lady.

A Chocolate Treat

Last week I showed you a card I had made with some 'leftovers' (picture below) and today I'm showing you a treat box which was made to match.

I needed a small gift for a work colleague and, having already made the card, I decided to make a matching box to hold a small box of chocolates.
The box is made with some sturdy white cardstock (non SU) and decorated with stamps from Field Flowers in Elegant Eggplant and Wisteria Wonder. The sentiment is from A Word For You, punched with the Decorative Label punch and finished with a couple of Basic Rhinestones.

Another Aperture

A card very similar to yesterday's but I have used Summer Starfruit for this one. The aperture is cut with one of the Window Frames Collection dies and uses another of the stamps from Fabulous Florets.
I stamped the flowers in Versamark onto Summer Starfruit cardstock and embossed using clear embossing powder before fussy cutting them. The leaves this time are again from the Bird Builder punch but in Chocolate Chip. I added a knot Summer Starfruit Stitched Satin ribbon and a Basic Pearl in the flower centres. There's no sentiment on today's card as I'm not sure what I want yet!
Tomorrow I have a 3D item to match a card I showed you last week.

Using Apertures

I was inspired to make this card by one I saw on Lizy Bartaby's blog who is a fellow Pink Lady. It is not case'd just 'inspired by' this gorgeous card (here) that Lizy entered into last week's LIM challenge. Don't just stop at that card though, take a look at the rest of Lizy's lovely creations.
For my card I cut the aperture using a die from Apothecary Accents Framelits and fixed a piece of Cherry Cobbler DSP onto the base card so it would show through the aperture. Taking one of the images from Fabulous Florets, I stamped some images in Versamark and heat embossed them using clear embossing powder. Then, on a scrap piece of card, I stamped three more flowers and this time embossed with Cherry Cobbler, before fussy cutting them. The aperture panel was then fixed to the card blank using dimensionals before arranging the Cherry Cobbler flowers and adding some Certainly Celery leaves, punched from the Bird Builder punch. I finished the card by stamping a sentiment from Bring on the Cake onto the DSP.
Tomorrow I have another aperture card to show you, using the same stamp set but in a different colour and a different shaped die.

LIM One Layer Revisited! (and Simples Sunday)

 

I said I might be back for the LIM 'One Layer-Coloured Card Blank' challenge and here I am! A really simple card (or should I say cards) this time using Summer Starfruit cardstock, stamps from Just Believe and Teeny Tiny Sentiments stamped in Staz-on. Then finished off with some scoring using the Borders Scoring Plate.

As it was so easy I made this variation on a theme but, this time, using Island Indigo cardstock with the same frame stamp but a different sentiment (also from teeny Tiny Sentiments). I inked the stamps first with Versamark and then with Night of Navy and heat embossed using clear embossing powder.

Edited to add - My apologies if you came to see a Simples Sunday card, I thought I had scheduled one but I was wrong! This card fits the bill though because it really is very simple!!!

LIM One Layer

Good morning everyone - what happened to summer? Last weekend it was a t-shirt, this weekend it's a jumper and fleece!!

As always the first thing I do on a Saturday morning is look at the challenge over at LIM which, this week, is a One Layer card with a Coloured Card Blank. My first attempt was using More Mustard but I wasn't happy with that one so I did another using Sahara Sand which I was much happier with. Sahara Sand is a colour I rarely use for some unknown reason and I can only describe it as somewhere between grey and kraft but with a hint of green (and one which doesn't show up too well in photos!).

I used some masking on this card and started by stamping the flower, from Fabulous Florets, in Raspberry Ripple. I then added post-it note masks onto the flower and in a strip across the card before stamping the leaves in Old Olive. After removing the masks I drew two lines across the card (where the post-it mask had been) with a Raspberry Ripple marker pen and then scored some lines on either side. The sentiment, from Bring on the Cake, was stamped in Raspberry Ripple and I added a bit of shading to the leaves with a Sahara Sand marker and a bit of sparkle to the flower with Dazzling Diamonds.

I have a lot of jobs to catch up on today but, when I've finished those, I could well be back with another card for the challenge - watch this space :0)

Until next time, have a great weekend and keep warm!!

Card Swap Group

I really can't believe we are on the THIRD month of the card swap group but it's that time again and this month I have to make a card for the lovely Sue. My sister and I met Sue and her sister at a Craft Retreat we attended 2 years ago and we immediately got on really well. When we met Sue and Carole again at the Retreat last year it was like meeting up with old friends and we had a great weekend. Sadly the Retreat is not happening this year so we have to resort to keeping in touch by email, well that is until it's our turn to send a card to each other :0)

Anyway Jane has set a theme this month and that is to make a card in the recipients favourite colours and Sue's are orange and yellow. Jane's email had the comment 'can't wait to see what you come up with' and that's probably because as a regular visitor to my blog she is well aware I don't do bright colours! Well I've tried Jane :0) I have used Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight cardstock along with Polka Dot Parade DSP. The Whisper White panel in the middle was embossed with the Honeycomb Embossing Folder and inked around the edges with Daffodil Delight, the butterflies punched with Elegant Butterfly and Bitty Butterfly punches, and the sentiment was punched with the Word Window Punch and matted onto a Decorative Label Punch. 

I posted my card to Sue on Tuesday so hopefully I'm not posting it on here before she's received it! Have a great weekend and I'm sure to be back tomorrow for the Less is More challenge.

Using leftovers!

The Elegant Eggplant oval, leftover from cutting an aperture for yesterday's card, and the Field Flowers stamp set were sitting on my desk so I thought I would make a second quick card.
I cut a smaller oval from Whisper White cardstock and used one of the flower images to randomly stamp using Wisteria Wonder. Field Flowers is a 2-step set so I used one image for the oval and the other to stamp three images down the side of the card in Elegant Eggplant. The sentiment is from Bring on the Cake which was stamped onto a strip of card and then cut with the oval die to match up with the stamped oval. To finish the card I rounded the corners of the Whisper White panel and the card blank and added a couple of Basic Rhinestones.
Hooray I've actually used a 'leftover' rather than putting it in a drawer to use later - something which never seems to happen!!!

Field Flowers

This is a card I made for no particular reason although I'm sure it will come in handy at some point!
I used a piece of Elegant Eggplant cardstock and cut an aperture with a die from the Ovals Collection Framelits. I then stamped images from Field Flowers, to go behind the aperture, using Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder and Old Olive onto Whisper White. Before attaching to the card blank I embossed two fancy lines along the bottom of the Elegant Eggplant panel using one of the Adorning Accents Embossing Folders and rounded the corners of both this and the card blank. The sentiment is one from A Word for You which was fussy cut before fixing to the card.
Tomorrow I will show you a second card I made with the leftover oval which was cut out and the same stamp set.

Bookmarks

When my Grandson came to stay at the weekend he was looking through things that I have made for my Owl Punch class, which I am holding in a couple of weeks time, and was intrigued by a magnetic bookmark. So intrigued in fact, that he wanted to know if Granny would make him one but with a lion on (lions are his favourite animals at the moment). So Granny set to and made this one using punch art. Of course, having made him one, I couldn't miss his sister out could I so made her a pink teddy complete with a bow in her hair! It does look as though the poor bear has a touch of the measles but, being only 2, I'm sure my Grandaughter won't mind!!
Over the weekend I have spent most of my crafting time making a 'swap' card, a birthday card for one of the swap group and an oversized special card - which, given the time it has taken to make, can only be described as a labour of love. But of course none of these can be shown until the recipients have actually received them!I have managed to make a couple of other cards in between times so pop back and take a look tomorrow when I will show you a card using the Field Flowers set.

Another commissioned card and this time for a wedding. The colour scheme needed to be gold and burgundy so gold embossing, Brushed Gold and Bravo Burgundy cardstock fitted the bill perfectly. Stamp sets used were Confetti and Love & Laughter along with the Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslits (for the dress and suit), a die from Apothecary Accents Framelits set and the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch pack.
The picture bottom left shows the bag I made for the card to go in.
Posts are a little short this week as they were all written in advance (on the same night!) and scheduled to post each day but maybe that's a good thing :0)
As always, any questions about the cards, to buy products or for further information on Stampin'Up! then please feel free to contact me (details on the 'Contact me' tab above)

Simples Sunday Number 2 meets LIM!

Second post of the day is a card I have made for the Less is More challenge which, this week, is to use to opposite colours from the basic colour wheel above. I thought I could get away with combining it with my weekly Simples Sunday post as, although quite time consuming, it really is simple to make.

The idea for Lego bricks is one I've seen lots of times in blogland but have absolutely no idea where it originated from so am unable credit anyone for it. I chose green/red for my colour scheme but, in hindsight, I wished I had used blue/orange because, as anyone who knows me, under normal circumstances these are two colours I would rarely (if ever!) use together! 

The bricks were made using the Large Square and 1/2" Circle punches, inked around the edges with a sponge dauber. The sentiment is from Bring on the Cake inked with a marker pen so I could separate the words and the 'TH' is from Memorable Moments. I cut the 5 from the Typeset Alphabet Bigz die in both Gumball Green and Real Red and glued one on top of the other to give a shadow effect. Before putting the card together I scored a couple of zig-zag lines using the Borders Scoring Plate. Now you may be thinking - why the three coloured dots under the 'happy'? Well, when inking the sentiment with the marker pen, I managed to ink a tiny bit of the letter underneath which left a splodge on the card and the dots cover it up. So now you know!!

This card will be ideal for my Mum to give to my Grandson in a couple of weeks time as he loves playing with bricks. It doesn't seem 5 minutes ago when we were cheering him for putting one brick on top of the other and now he is making high towers and vehicles for his toys to ride on!!

Thanks for stopping by - back tomorrow x

Simples Sunday

When is a bauble not a bauble? ..............................

 
 

when it's a vase of course!!!!!

I saw the idea for today's 'Simples Sunday' card over at Stampin' Pretty and decided to have a go and make a couple of thank you cards I needed. The vases are made from Rich Razzleberry cardstock and the ornament punch from Merry Minis Punch Pack (just snip the bottom off to give a straight base). The flowers are punched with an Itty Bitty Shapes Punch using Rich Razzleberry DSP with one punched out at the top as an aperture and a Basic Pearl added to the centres. I decided to add a little detail with a decorative score line, done with the Simply Scored Borders Scoring Plate, and the sentiment is from Made for You.

Hope you're having a great weekend - back soon x

Crafting with a 4 year old!

 No crafting from me today but some that my 4 year old grandson did this morning after staying for a 'sleepover' last night (his words not mine!!)
He wanted to make somefing but didn't know what so, after some searching, we found some large fold-flat pizza style boxes that have been kicking around for ages and he decided he'd like to decorate one to keep his drawings in. He started by stamping the Dinoroar images and then went a little mad with the grass stamp and a stamp from Lovely as a Tree. He cut the letters with the Typeset Alphabet die using the BigShot

Not happy to leave it there he then wanted to make one for his sister! The picture above shows his stamping skills and, the one on the right, his decorating skills and the finished box.
Not at all bad for a 'nearly' 5 year old boy in my opinion but then I am biased!!!

Back tomorrow for 'Simples Sunday' x

Another 60th

The last of my commissioned cards for this week - another 60th birthday with a requested colour scheme of black and red. I used Cherry Cobbler for the panel on the front of the card and used a stamp from Summer Silhouettes to make a faint background for the cascading Boho Blossoms punched flowers. The aperture in the Cherry Cobbler was punched with the 2 1/2" Circle Punch and the sentiment from Memorable Moments stamped in Basic Black directly onto the card base. I attached some Cherry Cobbler Tulle Ribbon, unfortunately now retired, around the left hand side of the card before fixing onto the card base with dimensionals. The addition of some black leaves punched with the Bird Builder punch, finished the card.