CCT Stars and Stipes

Good Morning! This week on Cute Card Thursday we are celebrating with stars and stripes in honour of our friends in the USA who will be whooping it up on 4th July!

But, you know me .. .. first off I had to find some starry or stripey paper so went rummaging, and found this old Papermania Christmas pad with these two sheets that I thought could be used any time of year.  Then for more stars and stripes I decided on this LOTV Wizard with his stripey top and stars on his wizard's hat and cloak.  I've coloured with my Copics and what looks grey in the picture is actually brown!  Still trying to get the colours true on the camera and this time my little lad is looking rather pale and washed out, not so in real life. I've fussy cut him out and layered him up with 3d foam onto the stripey mat, and layered that onto the starry background.

Here's the card I made:

My youngest grandson likes pink! So this will be just right for his Halloween card.  I've decorated with green ribbon from my stash and punched stars, and a die cut swirly embellishment from a couple of Marianne Design doily sets, you get the big one in LR0129 and the smaller one in LR0130.  The die cut 'Eeek' is from a Penny Black die set I got on sale recently, first time I've used that brand and I must say, even though it is very fine and fiddly to layer up, it cut beautifully in my old Cuttlebug.  I used another of the dies from the set on the inside of the card, here:

And I found the little star stamp in my mini wood collection .. .. I've been digging out all kinds of stuff that I'd put away at the back of the cupboard so there will be some different 'old but new' things to share with you soon!

The Loves Rubber Stamps challenge is to include some die cut elements with your project, so that's an easy challenge for me!

And at the Addicted to Stamps blog they are playing bingo!  I have the bottom line of ribbon, dies and layers.

Thank you for stopping by and taking a peek, and hope to see you again soon!

Christmas Bauble

This is one of my messing about creations that actually didn't turn out half bad!  I was browsing through my die cut bit box, you know how it is when you've cut something and end up not using it .. .. and at the back of your mind you have a theme that you should be working on for an upcoming DT creation .. .. but get side-tracked!  Well this is the result!

The red base circle and white doily were already cut and so was the white fancy piece behind my embellishment, although you can't see it much.  I needed another red layer so cut one from the red bottom layer - it wont be missed as there's another white layer on the back ready to have a text or to/from stamped on it.  Then I thought, rather than make it for a card, turn in into a bauble so I cut the bauble hanger bit out twice, but first added the gold Stickles to the edges of the red layers and on the embossed bits on the bauble hanger before sticking the two bits back to back.  Are you still with me?  OK then, here's a picture of the Marianne Design dies I used, but I forgot to add the bells in, they are from set COL1363:

Once the Stickles were dry I layered up my pieces using 3d foam for the middle layer so it stands proud of the base. I found the gold lace ribbon in my stash to make a bow and for the hanging loop and die cut the holly leaves from shiny gold card and the bells from white, but then I had to dig out my glue gun to fix the bells as by then the gold bow and leaves made it too thick to use my normal dries clear glue .. .. hot glue is not my favourite as I get strings of glue everywhere, but it worked and keeps the bells proud but in place.  Finally the flowers!  I've been playing again with handmade paper and these are made with thin tissue so 4 layers in each, at least you can cut all the layers in one go!  Then more rummaging and I found the red sparkle brads, snipped off the prongs and hot glued them into the flowers.

So that's it, not what I started out to do but I think it turned out ok, and I can enter into several Christmas challenges with it. Fab 'n' Funky - Christmas, Holly Jolly - Tag It, Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Merry and Bright, and Winter Wonderland - no cards.

Here are more of my flower creations I made whilst messing about.  The best is the bottom left as that is made with Marianne Design Mulberry paper which when it dries goes back to being stiff so holds the shape better.  They are made with the larger version of the poinsettia die LRO122, although the bottom right one has a mini flower added to the centre and only the smaller die from the set used for the 2 layers of bigger petals.  From my results it pays to go with thick Mulberry paper so they flowers stay 'up', my top flower is made with a paper that almost disintegrated when it was wet and I had to be very careful when pulling the flower petals out when they were dry so as not to tear them.  It's ok though and will be used on something or other .. .. look out for them later!

Thank you for stopping by, and for the lovely comments I've been getting.  Hope to see you again soon.

Don & Daisy Z fold

The Don and Daisy Challenge #24 is for a Z fold card - there is a picture explaining how it's made on the blog. My version used up one of my scrap pieces for the base to make the Z fold. I stamped Daisy, coloured her with my Copics and cut her out with a mat to hang over the side - that way the whole thing fits in a square envelope.  To keep the card open I cut the icicle border from the thick MD sparkle card and 3d mounted it across the top.  Daisy is also mounted onto the brown lace circle mat, but not such thick foam, that way different icicles will catch either the brown layer or the top Daisy layer - I hope you got that!

The rest is fairly simple, some MD Christmas paper, MD snowflake and tree, then those little red flower gems from my stash that needed using up and I thought would brighten the card - that is the last of these red ones from a show about 5 years back! This one really sparkles but it's hard to capture in a photo.

My Marianne Design bits and pieces on this card are:

Snow Paper (but it's actually sparkly card) CA3104

Eline's Scandinavian Winter paper PB7040 has the sheet with the reindeer 

and I also used a little scrap from Wintertime PK9100

Christmas Daisy stamp DDS3325

Die to cut out Daisy from LR0141 set

brown lace mat CR1248

brown lace border CR1250

Snowflake from LR0123

Tree LR0136

Icicle Border LR0135

The Corrosive challenge blog theme is to leave a little sparkle, I have added glitter to the snow under Daisy's feet and on her candle flame, used sparkle card to cut my embellishments and finished off with the red gems - so ticked that box!  The Allsorts challenge is to use a stamp, no digis, so I can enter with them too.

LIM Stencilling

It's not often that I enter into the Less Is More challenges, well you know how I love to embellish my creations with my die cuts most of the time!  However, I do always peek at what other crafters are making and wish I could nail the LIM style!  And, this week when I read that the theme was to use stencils, I thought of the trial piece I made back in the Spring after visiting the Cornwall craft fair.  I got some stencils and paste and had a play, but the paste I got is transparent so I got to adding drops of re-inker and glitter - and getting messy!  Then I thought about making my own stencils - and this was my effort.

I've die cut the Marianne Design forest branch LR0150 from a thick glossy card and used the 'waste' as my stencil.  The base and my stencil layer are SU card in that pale almost kraft colour, I'm not sure if they are still selling it (and I'm almost out).  I couldn't resist adding my signature embossed stitches around the edge, and stamped a text .. .. then just had to add a floral embellishment too!  Here's  a close up for you:

Hopefully you can see the clear stencil on the edge of the card.  I thought it needed something so used the transparent paste with one of the stencils I bought.  And those flowers are more of my hand made creations, this time with just a single layer of MD mulberry paper, die cut with the smallest flower die in set CR1204, then coloured with pink die ink and squished up.  Hope everyone at LIM likes it!

I'm also joining in again with Pixie's Craft Workshop Snippets challenge, as my flowers are created with oddments of paper and the stencilled layer was just a snippet!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, I'm off to take Izzy for our afternoon stroll so catch you all later!

Nautical card for a man

I recently treated myself to this Marianne Design special offer kit from Cuddly Buddly, it's called Beach Set and includes A4 papers, the Nautical stamps and some lovely silky ivory ribbon and all for just £5.19 from Buddly Crafts - find it here.  Now the stamp set on it's own would cost you £8.99 so it's a bargain, and you get the papers and ribbon!  A no brainer in my book and perfect for creating something for 'difficult' men.  So this is what I came up with:

It's a smallish 5" square cream base and I've used a pale kraft card to mat my patterned paper from the pack, and to stamp the ship on to die cut out with the smaller circle die from LR0141.  I've added my signature faux embossed stitching and over-stamped the paper with some of the designs in the set using a mix of green, blue, sand and brown chalk inks.  The anchor is a MD die cut, LR0232 and I've just added string that I've also coloured with the inks.  To lighten things up I dabbed on the snow white paint dabber here and there.  The ship picture and the fish are coloured with pencils, thought they would show up better on the kraft for the ship and the cream card I used for stamping the fish.  So what do you think of my first attempt - it's a bit different to my usual flowery style, but I had fun getting inky fingers!

As Creative Inspirations, Loves Rubberstamps, and Crafty Cardmakers all want to see masculine creations, I can enter my card with each of them.

CCT Add a Quote

ok, so you can't see the quote I've added in this little snip of the picture, so I'll quickly move on after telling you that the latest Cute Card Thursday challenge starts today and our sponsor is Whimsy Stamps, as usual stop by the CCT blog to read all about it and see what the rest of the DT have created.

I've inked up this cute LOTV stamp called 'Always' and coloured with my Copic pens.  Best show the card then:

The quote is an old stamp and I die cut using one of the hearts in a Marianne Design set LR0299.  The papers are digi designs from Buddly crafts with my signature embossed and inked stitching around the edge.  I'v added a little lace and a swirly pearl heart - that's from a MD set of pearl heart designs.  The flowers are cut from the two flower dies in LR0107 using plain printer paper then painted with H2Os so end up quite stiff enough to hold their own on a card, these were a couple of my early attempts so not as detailed as some I've made recently, but I think they coordinate with the flowers the little lad is holding behind his back.  To finish I've simply added the leaves from the mini poinsettia set, punched fronds and butterflies and the pearls.

The Papertake Weekly theme is for something 'So Pretty', I think this fits.  The ABC challenge theme is at the letter 'L' = lace, so I can enter with them too.

I'm flitting about a bit just at the moment, doing what I can when I can but still not able to get my teeth sorted out, except in a dire emergency when a visit to one of the hospitals with a dental department will give temporary relief but not help out with proper fillings or hygiene treatments.  I am on several 'waiting lists' so guess I will just have to do that .. .. wait!

Marianne Design Divas June Flowers

Time for our June challenge at the Marianne Design Divas blog, and we would like to see flowers a plenty on your creation.  Of course, you also need to use a minimum of 3 things from Marianne Design - not a problem for me!  Our sponsor for this challenge is Nikki at Bunny Zoe's Crafts as well as Marianne Design.

I have made a flowery card in shades of pink and blue and created all the flowers myself, from scratch.  I've die cut the layers from MD Mulberry paper then inked with either Summer Sky or Rose Bud Momento ink by dabbing the ink onto my craft mat, adding a spritz of water and dipping the edges of the petals in .. .. it makes for different shades each time.  With the little bud flowers it was easier to wet the whole flower as they are quite tiny.  Here are the dies I used to create my flowers and accents:

For the large blue flower I cut 2 large and two small, and forgot to add the stamen die to the picture, it's from the same set, LR0111. After inking with blue, I've lightly spritzed the back of the flower before scrunching up and leaving to dry. Once dry flatten them out a little and stick together finishing off with the blue gem.

The smaller pink and blue flowers are cut with the smallest daisy die in set CR1201, again two layers then use a ball tool to push down in the middle to bring the petals together and overlapping a little. For the centres I've glued in the pearl stamens.  Finally, those tiny wee buds are each cut with the small flower die (from the cup cake set LR0160).  I snipped a little 'V' into the centre then rolled up the flowers whilst still damp, then when dried added pva dries clear glue to the join and to stick them down on my card.  OK, let me show you the card .. .. ..

I've used paper from the MD Flower Garden paper pack with my faux stitch edging inked with the blue ink.  I've used my oval Passe Par-tout dies cut in ivory for the centre of the card and the text mat, I've had issues using these in the past, not really understanding how they worked but suddenly a light bulb moment and result!  The text is a small clear stamp from my stash that I've had for at least a decade .. .. but it was the only one that worked vertically on my small oval mat. The butterflies I cut from the same Mulberry paper that I'd dragged through the left over pink ink so in the end I got different coloured butterflies, I like the way they turned out.  I've finished off with pearls and a pale pink organza bow, admittedly it was hard to know when to stop with those flowers!

So this is the full list of Marianne Design products on this card:

Mulberry Paper RB2219

Flower Garden 6x6 Paper Pack PK9112

Blue lace down the side (under the pearl string) JU0845

Passe par-tout oval CR1241

Tiny's forget-me-not spray CR1307

Tiny's swirls and leaves (just the leaves) CR1245

middle size blue and pink flowers CR1201

large blue flower LR0111

small bud flowers from LR0160

butterflies from LR0261

faux stitching created with LR0161

The Allsorts challenge blog theme is Flower Power so that definitely fits my card!

I'm struggling a little bit health wise just at the moment so please excuse me if I'm not around for a while, I do have my CCT projects all done for June so at least there will be something for you to see each week.  Hopefully I can get back into the crafty groove again soon. Take care! and thanks for stopping by.

Beside the Seaside!

I now have the oldie song, "oh I do like to be beside the seaside!" in my head .. .. and I actually live just a couple of miles from the sea but rarely go to visit these days. As it's Thursday, over on the Cute Card Thursday blog we are looking for Seaside creations this week. Katharina at Whiff of Joy is our sponsor for this challenge.

On my card Don is having a great day out lazing in his deckchair, but like most lads he can't be parted from his mobile phone!  The stamp is Marianne Design DDS3352 with the background from the Summer scenery set DDS3333.  I've coloured with my Copic pens and found a piece of MD paper that although from a Christmas pack, it looked suitably summery to me! Here's the card:

I've die cut the MD shells and anchor, and a branch from a Christmas set.  I die cut the flowers with the mini poinsettias then painted with shimmery H2Os, then added yellow sparkle mini brads in the centres.  The fronds are made with an old MS punch.

The MD dies I used on this card were:
mini poinsettias from LR0142
shells LR0230
anchor LR0232
branch from LR0286

The June challenge at Stamp and Create is 'Summer Fun' so I can enter my card with them. And at Addicted to Stamps they want to see Summer colours so I'm good for them too!  Stampavie and More want you to include some brads - in the centre of my flowers, and last but not least, Pixie's Snippets challenge #180, as usual I've used snippets for die cutting my embellishments.

CCT Summer Colours

Time for another challenge at Cute Card Thursday, this time we want to see some sunshine Summer colours, and at last here in Cornwall we actually have seen the sun .. .. not sure for how long though.  Our sponsor for this challenge is Bunny Zoe's Crafts, please stop by the CCT blog to read all about it and see what the rest of the DT have created.

I have inked up one of my favourite LOTV girls, this cutie is Rosie Posie and was one of the first LOTV stamps I got.  This time out I've coloured her in sunshine yellow with touches of complimentary purple.  Here's my card:

I've used up another scrap piece and made Rosie into a topper so the whole thing will fit into a 5" square envie.  The papers are digi scraps and I coloured the ribbon and row of lace flowers with my Copic pens to match in, oh and the clear domes in the centres of the flowers and down the side too.  The flowers are die cut from ordinary printer paper then coloured with yellow H2O paints so are lovely and shimmery in real life. The die cut elements are made with my Marianne Design dies, here's the list:

lace mat for my image CR1203
flowers from mini poinsettia set LR0142
extra little stamen type flowers from die in LR0111
swirls snipped from LR0112
skeleton leaves snipped from die in set LR0227

The Papertake Weekly challenge is anything goes this week, so I can enter Rosie Posie with them, and at Moving Along With the Times it's Birthday celebrations so one for them too.

I'm also entering Rosie into the LOTV Facebook Summer Special competition - today is the last day of the challenge so I had better get a move on!

Thanks for stopping by, and hope you will pop back soon.