Happy Stars

Hello everyone,
It is the 2nd Saturday in May and it is time for a colour challenge over on the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge.

I must admit that colour challenges are a challenge for me. This one definitely threw me as they are colours I don’t normally use, especially peach. To make this card I did take a trip to my local Kasiercraft store and luckily they had some peach and grey cardstocks. They were a darker shade than shown in the challenge but these would work.

To construct my card I cut panels slightly smaller than my A6 card front from each of the cardstocks. From the grey cardstock I cut out 3 stars using my dies from Paper Rose Studios and then sprayed this panel with some White Iridescent Kasiermist Ink from Kasiercraft. While this was drying I ran the peach cardstock through my Gemini Jnr machine with a various dots embossing folder just to give some dimension behind each of the star cutouts.

In my sentiment stash I found this printed happy holidays to which I sponged some Carved Pumpkin Distress Ink. To help it stand out from the card a little more I mounted it on some white cardstock.

Putting everything together on the front of my card panel, the card itself became a layering mat which matched my sentiment. Thanks for stopping by and looking at my card design for the colour challenge over on the 52CCT blog. Please stop on by and see what the other designers have created with this combination.

Until my next post,
Be Kind to Yourself and Others

Amazing

Hello everyone,
I wasn’t sure if I would get around to sharing with you my make using sketch no.576 from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

This happens to be my birthday week but I have been struggling with my health. At the moment we are experiencing yo-yo weather and my body isn’t coping. Whenever I am going through these times I try to spend more time in my craft area as it helps me take my mind off of what is going on. Once I got in there I did have fun and I was able to make a few cards.

Any way back onto my card.

This card was made with just a few supplies and some of it has been sitting in my stash for awhile. The pink wooden background was from a set of papers that I have been working through. To this I added the red and white polka-dot washi tape to which I added a black classic Love from Lizi straight sticker. The wavy papers I cut with a rectangle die, just using 1 long edge for each of the colours.

The flowers in pots are from an older NitWit collection that have been printed and cut out for ages. The sentiment banner is an older StampinUp set which I love using because of the different shaped banners included. I stamped the sentiment and cut it out by hand as I don’t have the dies.

I had fun pulling in these different elements to work with the sketch; it was great to use items from my stash. Thanks for stopping by and looking at my creation.

Until my next post,
Be Kind to Yourself and Others

Hoot for the Holidays

Hello everyone,
My card creation was inspired by the May Sketch over on the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge.

When I first saw this sketch I thought that I would be making a snowman but I couldn’t find something that I could work with. Then I saw this owl and at the time I created this card he made me laugh.

So I thought why not use him and put him into a scene? This is one of the advantages of working with digital images. You can have fun creating with images from different creators. I created the main panel with a background paper of snow covered foliage (image credit – unknown), of course the star the owl image (Owl – Crafty Arter – Etsy) and then the present that he is sitting on ( present – Cute Art Creation – Etsy). To complete the scene I cut out some hills using a die from Paper Rose Studio. My sentiment I made using my computer as I didn’t have anything that suited my owl.

I hope that you like my take on this sketch from Valentina on the 52CCT challenge blog. Please stop on by and see what the other creators have made using this sketch.

Until my next post,
Be Kind to Yourself and Others

Just Be You

Hello everyone,
Today I am sharing my card design using the latest sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

This sketch is shown as a slimline design but I don’t make a lot of these as a lot of places that I donate my cards too have trouble with these sizes. So I changed my card to being an A6 sized card instead. My card still starts with the same sketch but ends up taking a different path.

I had fun using products that were already on my desk. To make my card all I had to do was make the frame and stamp the butterflies onto some pink swirl paper which was in my scraps pile. The sentiment I had made previously but never had a use for it because I just couldn’t find a make that matched it until today. It was made using a word and shadow die from Paper Rose Studio.

I had fun bringing these different elements together and they worked well together despite coming from different companies. Thanks for stopping on by and seeing my card creation using sketch #575 from AHSC.

Until my next post,
Be Kind to Yourself and Others

Peace Love Joy

Hello everyone,
Welcome to the last weekend in April. Over on the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge we have a technique challenge for everyone.

I must admit that I don’t usually make slimline cards as I don’t really feel comfortable in where to place elements and such. So I decided to go down the simple style route and used a sketch as inspiration. It came from an older post by Kristie Marcotte.

I didn’t use the dimensions that she worked out as I was making a slimline. I mainly used this sketch because I could use 2 pieces of patterned paper to stretch across the card front. My main box is a lot smaller as well but the dimensions of the papers were chosen because of the scraps that I had. I was so nice to use them even for a longer card because they were thinner than a usual card front.

To make the design stretch across my card front a little more I used an old Christmas sentiment die set and cut the 3 words from Gold metallic paper. I think these helped to tie all of the elements together.

Thanks for stopping in and looking at my card design for the Slimline Technique Challenge over on the 52CCT blog. Please stop on by to see what the other designers have done with this technique.

Until my next post,
Be Kind to Yourself and Others

Just for You

Hello everyone,
This card is made with supplies that I had sitting on my craft desk from the last time I was able to craft. My making of this card started with me using a sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

From making my last card with the roses paper I still had a full card front panel left. Then the spotty paper was from the same set and I the sentiment is a circle sticker, I used this as I wanted to add a little more colour to the card. To complete this all I had to do was cut a layer. Love having elements already to go or easy to update as it helps with making cards quicker.

Thanks for stopping in and looking at my card design using the latest sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

Until my next post,
Be Kind to Yourself and Others

Old Fashioned Christmas

Hello everyone,
I am late in uploading my design team make for the April Theme challenge over on the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown blog; life is still throwing curveballs in my direction. The theme for this month is

To make my card I combined together an image that I found on Flickr and some papers from an older paper pad. I was going to use an image from the paper pad but they were all just a little small for me to consider using them. This image from Flickr worked out really well and I found a couple of others so I can make some more using this layout design.

Thanks for stopping by and looking at my design for the April Theme challenge over on the 52CCT blog.

Until my next post,
Be Kind to Yourself and Others

Roses for You

Hello everyone,
Here is a card that I made using the current sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

I love this sketch as it allowed me to use some paper strips that I had from creating other cards. Clearly this has to go in my finish off a paper pad set of sketches. The elements don’t have to match the sketch exactly mine definately don’t as everything on this card was already in my stash.

The sentiment and flowers were already printed, cut out and sitting in their named containers waiting to be used. The 2 strips of paper were both sitting in my off-cuts container just to let you in on a secret – they are not the correct length 😉 My sentiment covers that part though. The patterned paper has white roses but I thought that these purple ones co-ordinated as they were the same type of flower. I think that these flowers now pop more because the paper is understated.

Thanks for stopping by and looking at my card creation using Sketch #573 from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge. Later in the week you will be able to see what the other designers have made, of which I am one of them.

Until my next post,
Be Kind to Yourself and Others

Sparkle Reindeer

Hello everyone,
Today I am sharing a card with you that became my arch nemesis. First though you need to know why I went down this card making route in the first place. This card was made using the April colour combination over on the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown blog.

These are the colours that have been chosen for us to craft with. Now I must stress in no way was sparkle/shine a requirement for the creation – but who could resist? Even me as it turns out.

I mean if you have been to my blog before; you will know my love-hate relationship with card elements that sparkle or shine. I could have gone ahead and recoloured this older digital stamp image red and printed it that way on the kraft cardstock. In my stash I have my precious but under loved Minc machine and some wonderful foils.

So why did this simple card turn into my nemsis – first my printer ran out of toner; didn’t realise this until after I ran it through my Minc and the foil didn’t transfer fully. The 2nd time worked – yeah 🙂 Then came trying to get a photo that did the foiling justice on most of the card – I won’t tell you which one this is and all I can say is thank goodness for photo editing software. Just so you know all of the elements on the kraft cardstock are foiled – not black.

Thanks for stopping by and looking at my card creation. I hope that you will stop on by the blog (HERE) and look what the other designers have made. Then come and join in on the creative adventure with us.

Until my next post,
Be Kind to Yourself and Others

Sorry this was posted late.
I am slowly coming out from my sickness cave, the worlds been a blur of late. On the mend slowly.

Christmas Wishes for You

Hello everyone,
I am here to share my card that I made using the April sketch from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge.

I have made my card a rectangle instead of the square in the sketch but you can see where my creation inspiration started. This is what I love about sketches that they are great jumping off points for creativity.

The papers and couple image all come from the same older paper pad that has been sitting half used in my stash for quite awhile. Plus the bells and foliage sticker came from a different sticker sheet. It is great being able to use items from my stash to make a card that I really like.

Thanks for stopping in and looking at my creation. Please stop on by the challenge blog and see what the other designers have made with this sketch. Would also love to see what you could do with this sketch and build your Christmas card stash early.

Until my next post,
Be kind to Yourself and Others