Kool Kitty Musings

12 Days of Christmas - Day 12

Hello!

Well, we've reached the end of my Christmas countdown for this year...

And I'm sharing one last favourite design to finish this series off!

Paper: Pebbles - Cozy & Bright (r), Pebbles - Merry Little Christmas (r), Pink Paislee - Auburn Lane (r), Simple Stories - Merry & Bright (r)
Dies: Lil' Inker Designs - Silly Stitched (r), MFT - Joy, Love, and Peace

Possibly the most Yorkshire style crafting involved for this bundled of 5 cards, because I had just millimetre clearance left to use the lovely last pieces of Snow Day paper from Pebbles on some cards. I had to find a die that would cut around the word die but still leave me enough paper to manage as many whole panel cuts as possible. And I only just managed 4 panels - how's that for frugal crafting Yorkshire style!

I also had only limited amounts of the woodgrain paper left, so thankfully was able to puzzle pieces in behind the words of the MFT die.

It all looks seamless, which is great, but behind the scenes there was a lot of measuring twice and hoping for the best! lol

Sadly things were less matchy-matchy when it came to the diagonal stripes in the background, some rotating of paper required (hence different directions of the stripes) and I even delved into some old MME papers for the pink/red/white stripes.

But I couldn't see myself using anything but red/white stripes to mount these panels on.

And again, no need for 3D foam tape, I just used lots of strips/scraps of cardstock from the past few weeks to layer up the die-cut panel over the woodgrain for a little dimension.

It just remains for me to say, thank you for joining me on this year's Christmas countdown - over 60 cards made and hoping the card tin is stocked with a good few extra cards ready for Christmas 2022. ;)

Until next time, happy festive crafting, and it just remains for me to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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Lil' Inker Designs - Silly Stitched dies (r) Shop at: MISC	MFT - Joy, Love, and Peace die Shop at: SHC	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: EH | SSS	Pebbles - Cozy & Bright - 'Tis the Season paper (r) Shop at: MISC | SBC
Pebbles - Cozy & Bright - Santa Land paper (r) Shop at: MISC | SBC	Pebbles - Merry Little Christmas - Snow Day paper (r) Shop at: MISC	Pink Paislee - Auburn Lane - Paper 02 (r) Shop at: MISC | SBC	Simple Stories - Merry & Bright - Sparkle and Shine paper (r) Shop at: SBC
Tonic Studios Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

12 Days of Christmas - Day 11

Hello!

It's time for another set of easy-to-mail flat cards...

This time featuring some more new Christmas items in my stash from The Greetery:

Stamps and stencils: The Greetery - Banner & Bough

Yep, that's right, I used just one stamp set (complete with bundled in stencils) to create this design, plus a whole lot of ink and some silver and blue paint splatters for good measure.

The banner and main foliage/floral elements are all stencilled in dye ink (Tranquillity set from Altenew). I have to say that these stencils are just so well-thought-out. The contrasting tone for the folds of the ribbon banner are on a different stencil to the main banner, so you can highlight them easily with a darker tone.

Once the stencilling is done, you go in with the detail stamps for the pine branches, flowers, and holly leaves.

And everything really goes next level when you use the "masking" stencil included in the set to mask off the big foliage display, so you can ink around the design and add splatters without messing up all that hard work.

I have the matching dies for this set, but when I saw the initial results for my first outing with this set using just the stencils and stamps, I was happy to add some more flat cards to my collection for easy mailing and keep things "simple".

The look book for this set on the Greetery website provides lots of inspiration for colour combos. I especially loved the fact that the jade ink I have in my collection that is seldom used provided a real contrast for the pine branches - they really pop out in the jade, as do the "grey" mistletoe berries.

One happy crafter here!

Until next time, happy festive crafting!

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The Greetery - Banner & Bough stamps and stencils Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery - Banner & Bough dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	Altenew - Cloudy Sky dye ink Shop at: MISC	Altenew - Misty Morning dye ink Shop at: MISC
Altenew - Morning Frost dye ink Shop at: MISC	Altenew - Nimbus dye ink Shop at: MISC	Altenew - Ocean Waves dye ink Shop at: MISC	Altenew - Sea Glass dye ink Shop at: MISC
Lawn Fawn - Artichoke ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Ballet Slippers ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Bubblegum ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Cilantro ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC
Lawn Fawn - Lobster ink pad Shop at: SHC	Lawn Fawn - Noble Fir ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC	The Stamp Market - Greenery ink pad Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Jade ink pad Shop at: MISC
Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Altenew - Cool Summer Night ink cube set Shop at: MISC | SHC	Altenew - Tranquillity ink cube set Shop at: MISC | SHC	Altenew - Warm Gray ink cube set Shop at: MISC | SHC
Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: EH | SSS	Kuretake Gansai Tambi 36-pan watercolour set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Post-It tape White Shop at: AZ | EH	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Craft blending brushes Shop at: AZ	Taylored Expressions - Blender Brushes Shop at: MISC	Tim Holtz - Distress Sprayer Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous Splat Box Shop at: AZ | SBC | SHC	Waffle Flower - Mini Media Mat Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Yoseng 8 Finger Ink Blending Brushes Shop at: AZ	Ranger - Artist brush set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Thermoweb iCraft - Purple tape for die-cutting - 1 1/2" Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

12 Days of Christmas - Day 10

Hello!

Today's card set is definitely on the clean and simple side at first glance.

But, personally, I never find ink blending to be a super quick option...

Dies: Lil' Inker Designs - Christmas Words Tree (r), Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Stars (r)
Other: Distress Oxides

I wanted to create a night sky backdrop for the shining star that I planned to glam up on the Christmas Words Tree die from Lil' Inker Designs.

This is a really versatile sentiment die and can be easily stacked 3 times to create dimension. I also love how the stitched stars set features one die that is an exact match for the star on the tree die, making it super easy to add a glittery star.

Behind that star I wanted to make the sky glow - without quite knowing where the star would end up, so on some of the cards there's more "glow" than on others.

Basically Distress Oxides and a lot of water spritzing followed by iridescent watercolour splatters did a lot of the work to create this effect, and I'm here for it!

Salvaged Patina has been a real game changer in the collection - it's not obvious it's been used here, but once you start spritzing with water and leaving it to develop, the aqua shade really stars to pop through.

I hadn't realised just how low I was running on square card bases until I was making this set and thankfully had just 5 bases - the exact number I needed - left!

No emergency trips out to the craft store required!

Until next time, happy festive crafting!

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Lil' Inker Designs - Christmas Words Tree die (r) Shop at: MISC	Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Stars dies (r) Shop at: MISC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Blueprint Sketch Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Mermaid Lagoon Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Distress Oxide ink pad - Salvaged Patina Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Marshmallow Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Memory Box - Majestic Hues glitter pad Shop at: EH | MISC	Dr. Pj. Martin's Bleed Proof White watercolour Shop at: AZ
Kuretake Gansai Tambi 36-pan watercolour set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Craft blending brushes Shop at: AZ	Taylored Expressions - Blender Brushes Shop at: MISC	Tim Holtz - Distress Sprayer Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous Splat Box Shop at: AZ | SBC | SHC	Waffle Flower - Mini Media Mat Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Yoseng 8 Finger Ink Blending Brushes Shop at: AZ	Ranger - Artist brush set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

12 Days of Christmas - Day 9

Hello!

Today we're heading back to the North Pole for another visit.

But this time, with the aid of a map...

Stamps: The Greetery - Destination - North Pole
Dies: The Greetery - Destination - North Pole, Pinkfresh Studio - Diagonal Stitched Rectangles
Stencil: The Greetery - Destination Map

This card design features the coordinating Destinations Waterfront stencil to create the icy backdrop for the North Pole, and I love that you get various "maps" in the stencil set.

I used blue inks from Altenew's Cool Summer Night set to blend the background and also stamp the snowflakes, stars, and street names in.

I cut out the stencilled backgrounds with the largest die in the Diagonal Stitched Rectangles set from Pinkfresh Studio and mounted them on grey card bases.

Then it was time to stamp and die cut all the other elements from the set and assemble my cards, using a little 3D foam tape for the tops of the trees, so they stand out.

The Destinations series is such a well-thought-out line, and if making multiples you can stencil, stamp, and cut so much in separate steps and just assemble everything at the end.

Until next time, happy festive crafting!

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The Greetery - Destination - North Pole stamps Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery - Destination - North Pole dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	Pinkfresh Studio - Diagonal Stitched Rectangles dies Shop at: EH | MISC | SBC	The Greetery - Destination Map stencils Shop at: MISC | SHC
Altenew - Dusk dye ink Shop at: MISC	Altenew - Morning Frost dye ink Shop at: MISC	Altenew - Ocean Waves dye ink Shop at: MISC	Lawn Fawn - Chili Pepper ink pad Shop at: AZ | SBC | SHC
Lawn Fawn - Doe ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Kiddie Pool ink pad Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Lobster ink pad Shop at: SHC	Lawn Fawn - Manatee ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC
Lawn Fawn - Narwhal ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Noble Fir ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Walnut ink pad Shop at: AZ | SBC | SHC	The Stamp Market - Cheeky ink pad Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Raspberry ink pad Shop at: MISC	Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Altenew - Cool Summer Night ink cube set Shop at: MISC | SHC	Altenew - Warm Gray ink cube set Shop at: MISC | SHC
Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: EH | SSS	Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH
Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Craft blending brushes Shop at: AZ	Taylored Expressions - Blender Brushes Shop at: MISC
Yoseng 8 Finger Ink Blending Brushes Shop at: AZ	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Thermoweb iCraft - Purple tape for die-cutting - 1 1/2" Shop at: AZ | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - Baubles, Boxes, and Bows

Good morning!

It's the last of the Countdown to Christmas challenges over on the Daring Cardmakers blog.

This week's theme is baubles, boxes, and bows... and well my card contains all three!

It also uses up lots of cardstock scraps and marks the festive return of Stickles glitter glue in abundance:

Stamp: The Greetery - Ornament Box Top Vertical
Dies: The Greetery - Ornament Box Top Vertical, Hello Bluebird - Holly and Pine, Hero Arts - Infinity Nesting Rectangles, The Greetery - Curio: Attic Ornaments, The Greetery - Curio: Divider and Details II
Other: Distress Oxide

I started out by stamping the Ornament Box Top Vertical red rubber stamp from The Greetery on Bristol cardstock in Cherry Kisses ink. I find the smoothness of Bristol cardstock to be very forgiving when stamping detailed red rubber background stamps, as it just sucks up that ink in a crisp way.

I then stamped areas of the background stamp on a scrap of Bazzill Marshmallow cardstock in contrasting colours, ready to cut out with the matching die for this stamp set.

Once the background panel was dry, I cut it out with the largest die in the Hero Arts Infinity Rectangles. I could have done this with a ruler and knife, but I really like the neat cutting edge from a die, and any white bits showing can easily be inked over the with ink pad you used to stamp the box.

Next, it was time to delve into my bag of cardstock scraps from The Stamp Market and try and cut a load of bits that would work together using the Curio Attic Ornaments dies also from The Greetery.

Once I'd assembled a few things, the Stickles made their Christmas outing and glammed up these ornaments.

I left them to dry overnight (there have been too many times when crafting at night a Stickles accident has occurred - I've learnt my lesson!) and the next morning it was time to start assembling the box.

I cut the Divider die from white cardstock several times, and the top layer is from cream cardstock that looks a bit more rustic. One of the white cardstocks I used to cut this die is actually a corrugated sort of texture, so I used the cutouts from the frame in the background of the card for added interest. After the layered frame and inserts were all glued in place, I used some Antique Linen Distress Oxide ink to add some more vintage age.

I then placed all the elements where I thought they'd work best, using the Holly & Pine dies from Hello Bluebird for some sprigs of winter foliage.

I used a white pen to add some details to the wreath and the (slightly menacing looking) deer.

And hey presto, the card was finally made!

It might not be the quickest project to make, but it can definitely be simplified if that's the way you want to go.

I'm also using this card as my take on the December card prompt, since I also had that in mind when I was creating it and choosing the colours. :)

Make sure you check out the wonderful projects from the rest of the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

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The Greetery - Ornament Box Top Vertical stamp Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery - Ornament Box Top Vertical dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	Hello Bluebird - Holly and Pine dies Shop at: MISC	Hero Arts - Infinity Nesting Rectangles dies Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
The Greetery - Curio: Attic Ornaments dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery - Curio: Divider and Details II dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Antique Linen Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	The Stamp Market - Cherry Kisses ink pad Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Emerald Isle ink pad Shop at: EH | MISC	The Stamp Market - Peony ink pad Shop at: MISC	Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Marshmallow Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Strathmore Bristol cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Memory Box - Majestic Hues glitter pad Shop at: EH | MISC	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC
Craft blending brushes Shop at: AZ	Taylored Expressions - Blender Brushes Shop at: MISC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

12 Days of Christmas - Day 8

Hello!

For today's card bundle, I got so caught up in the process that I ended up making 6 of this design.

And yes, it's the return of another (Nordic) village scene, but this time in bolder colours:

Stamp: Lil' Inker Designs - All The Christmas You'll Ever Need (r)
Dies: Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Stars (r), MFT - Grounding Elements, MFT - Tiny Houses, The Greetery - Nordic Frames
Other: Distress Oxides

I'm still not sure whether white card bases were the right call for this colour combo, but it is what it is.

I started out cutting the Nordic Frames panels from a cobalt blue cardstock from AC that I've had in my stash for ages. It needed something extra, so I used various blue Distress Oxides from dark to light to darken the edges so that the winter sky would kind of glow outwards. It looks rather effective in real life.

I then used the lighter Distress Oxides, including the lovely Salvaged Patina, with the Starry Sky die from Avery Elle to create the glowing sky and set those die cuts aside to dry after a spritz of water for texture.

Next, I cut all the other die cut elements (including using glitter cardstock for the snow drifts and sparkly star).

I blended regular distress ink and other dye inks on the little houses for a vibrant look.

Once that was done, it was almost time to assemble the finished cards. But first I needed to add my sentiment to the sky die cuts, and I simply popped the die-cuts back into the negative space of the cardstock panel I use as a template in the Misti when stamping this set, so the sentiments are all lined up the same.

Once stamped, I gave the sky a splattering of white ink and a blast with the heat gun to dry.

Then it was assembly time and hey presto, 6 cards were finally made.

Until next time, happy festive crafting!

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Lil' Inker Designs - All The Christmas You'll Ever Need stamps (r) Shop at: MISC	Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Stars dies (r) Shop at: MISC	MFT - Grounding Elements dies Shop at: EH | SHC	MFT - Tiny Houses dies Shop at: EH | SHC
The Greetery - Nordic Frames dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	Distress ink pad - Candied Apple Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress ink pad - Evergreen Bough Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress ink pad - Kitsch Flamingo Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
Distress ink pad - Mustard Seed Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress ink pad - Rustic Wilderness Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Broken China Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Chipped Sapphire Shop at: EH | SBC
Distress Oxide ink pad - Faded Jeans Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Salvaged Patina Shop at: EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Tumbled Glass Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Lawn Fawn - Blue Jay ink pad Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
Lawn Fawn - Bubblegum ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Deep Sea ink pad Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Mermaid ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Minty Fresh ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC
Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: EH | SSS	Memory Box - Majestic Hues glitter pad Shop at: EH | MISC	Dr. Pj. Martin's Bleed Proof White watercolour Shop at: AZ
Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC
Craft blending brushes Shop at: AZ	Taylored Expressions - Blender Brushes Shop at: MISC	Tim Holtz - Distress Sprayer Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous Splat Box Shop at: AZ | SBC | SHC
Waffle Flower - Mini Media Mat Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Yoseng 8 Finger Ink Blending Brushes Shop at: AZ	Ranger - Artist brush set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

12 Days of Christmas - Day 7

Hello!

Well, it's fair to say when The Greetery landed at UK stockist Seven Hills Crafts, it wasn't just the one stamp and die set that made it into my basket!

There are some other new additions at work on this card:

Paper: Crate Paper - Falala (r), Crate Paper - Peppermint (r)
Stamp: WPlus9 - Silver Bells (r)
Dies: The Greetery - BotaniCuts Pine Bough, The Greetery - Crimped Frame, The Greetery - Crimped Slimline, The Greetery - Wood Slices, The Stamp Market - Scalloped Window Frame

All those new dies have been paired with some old papers from Crate Paper (the plaid one is from the Falala collection, and the off-white paper is from their 2011 Peppermint collection).

They provided the perfect backdrop for the wood slice and pine bough elements that are all die cuts from regular cardstock, brought to life with ink blending and coloured pencils (on the pine cones) and of course some snowy white and glitzy gold paint splatters.

The sentiment is another oldie, from the Silver Bells set by WPlus9, and is stamped on the largest sentiment banner in the Crimped Slimline die set.

For extra texture and detail, I cut the off-white paper with the Scalloped Window Frame from The Stamp Market, and then ran those panels through the Big Shot again with the largest A2 style crimped frame die to add the extra edging and tie in the crimping.

Really love how these turned out, just wish I had more plaid paper in my stash as it works so well with those wood slices and pine cones.

Until next time, happy festive crafting!

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WPlus9 - Silver Bells stamps (r) Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery - BotaniCuts Pine Bough dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery - Crimped Frame dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery - Crimped Slimline dies Shop at: MISC | SHC
The Greetery - Wood Slices dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Stamp Market - Scalloped Window Frame dies Shop at: MISC	Distress ink pad - Antique Linen Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress ink pad - Frayed Burlap Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Distress ink pad - Gathered Twigs Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress ink pad - Pine Needles Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: EH | SSS
Crate Paper - Falala - Fireside paper (r) Shop at: MISC | SBC	Dr. Pj. Martin's Bleed Proof White watercolour Shop at: AZ	Kuretake Gansai Tambi 36-pan watercolour set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Brutfuner 120 Colouring Pencils Set Shop at: AZ
Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tonic Studios Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC
Craft blending brushes Shop at: AZ	Taylored Expressions - Blender Brushes Shop at: MISC	Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous Splat Box Shop at: AZ | SBC | SHC	Waffle Flower - Mini Media Mat Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
Yoseng 8 Finger Ink Blending Brushes Shop at: AZ	Ranger - Artist brush set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Thermoweb iCraft - Purple tape for die-cutting - 1 1/2" Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

12 Days of Christmas - Day 6

Hello!

Today's card bundle features brand new everything!

Christmas/winter supplies are my weakness, but I have tried to rein it in recently and only buy things that I will be able to use for multiple designs.

So.... snow globes and winter scenes are always my weakness, and I will always make some kind of card design with them each year. ;)

Please welcome to my Christmas stash collection, The Greetery Destination North Pole and Poppy Stamps Cabin Snowglobe Pop-Up Easel:

Stamps: The Greetery - Destination - North Pole
Dies: The Greetery - Destination - North Pole, Poppy Stamps - Cabin Snowglobe Pop-Up Easel
Impression plate: PTI - Woodgrain
Other: Distress Oxides

I started out by cutting the snow globe card base die from red cardstock, but of course I had to give it extra oomph by blending Festive Berries Distress ink on the inside edges and the outside edges of the card to deepen that festive red tone as the more I progressed, the pinker the red of the cardstock looked.

I also used brown distress ink to add some warmer tones to the cardstock that I'd embossed with the woodgrain impression plate.

It looks much more realistic after the texture and colour variation as been added.

I then created a blended sky background with different Oxide inks, knowing most of it would be covered up, but not really caring.

When that was done, I splattered it with white ink for some snowy interest and set the sky backgrounds aside to dry.

I then cut the rest of the snow globe elements I needed from card scraps (trees) and my new stash of gold card and festive glitter card.

Then I selected the greetings and polar bears from the Destination North Pole set and stamped those out ready for assembly.

The final assembled cards (complete with little buttons to hold up the easel) are really different from the usual cards I make.

Pricey, I know, but years of creative fun ahead.

Until next time, happy festive crafting!

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The Greetery - Destination - North Pole stamps Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery - Destination - North Pole dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	Poppy Stamps - Cabin Snowglobe Pop-Up Easel dies Shop at: EH | MISC	PTI - Woodgrain impression plate Shop at: MISC
Altenew - Morning Frost dye ink Shop at: EH | SSS	Distress ink pad - Festive Berries Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress ink pad - Gathered Twigs Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Chipped Sapphire Shop at: EH | SBC
Distress Oxide ink pad - Tumbled Glass Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	The Stamp Market - Cheeky ink pad Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Raspberry ink pad Shop at: MISC	Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Altenew - Warm Gray ink cube set Shop at: EH | SHC	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Marshmallow Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	The Stamp Market - Forest cardstock Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Greenery cardstock Shop at: MISC	Lawn Fawn - Gold metallic cardstock Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Memory Box - Festive glitter pad Shop at: EH | MISC	Dr. Pj. Martin's Bleed Proof White watercolour Shop at: AZ
Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Craft blending brushes Shop at: AZ	Taylored Expressions - Blender Brushes Shop at: MISC	Tim Holtz - Distress Sprayer Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous Splat Box Shop at: AZ | SBC | SHC	Waffle Flower - Mini Media Mat Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Yoseng 8 Finger Ink Blending Brushes Shop at: AZ	Ranger - Artist brush set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

12 Days of Christmas - Day 5

Hello!

Today's card features papers that I have found to be extremely versatile for my Christmas cardmaking in years gone by.

And I am so glad that I managed to get multiples when I did, because I love the tree background paper especially for its simple, not overly busy design and how it always provides that perfect backdrop if you have a focal element you want to showcase:

Paper and epoxy stickers: Crate Paper - Falala (r)
Dies: Hello Bluebird - Holly and Pine, Poppy Stamps - Whittle Santa (r), PTI - Tag Sale #10

I started out by backing all my card bases with that tree paper, having found a card base in my Christmas box that I'd backed with this paper some previous year, but never managed to actually make the card... So just 4 new bases needed this time!

The Whittle Santa die cuts are coloured in with Copics for the hat and face, and a light grey shade to accent the beard and hat trim. For festive sparkle, I added Stickles to the pompom.

While those were drying, I cut the main tag from just enough of that lovely Mistletoe green paper, with just a sliver to spare.

You may be surprised to hear that no foam tape was used to make these cards. Having passed the scalloped frame from the tag die through the Sidekick 15 times to create 3 stacked layers, I used the centres from the tags to pop up the green tag and left over strips of card to pop up Santa and the sentiment. It does make cards a little heavier, but I've been using up scrap cardstock in this way with wet glue to add dimension a while now, and not automatically reaching for my foam tape.

I knew there were some "ho ho ho" sentiments still left on the Greetings paper from this collection, but not enough for all 5 cards, but thankfully the Epoxy stickers for this line included a ho ho ho sticker and a Fa la la sticker, and they were put to good use for this bundle of cards.

I found some aqua/blue paper that would work behind Santa and fit in those little windows. Once the tags were assembled on the cards, I added that pretty pink bow as a final finishing touch that brought everything together.

Until next time, happy festive crafting!

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Hello Bluebird - Holly and Pine dies Shop at: MISC	Poppy Stamps - Whittle Santa die (r) Shop at: MISC	PTI - Tag Sale #10 dies Shop at: MISC	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Marshmallow Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	PTI - Sweet Blush cardstock Shop at: MISC	Crate Paper - Falala - Evergreen paper (r) Shop at: MISC	Crate Paper - Falala - Greetings paper (r) Shop at: MISC
Crate Paper - Falala - Mistletoe paper (r) Shop at: MISC | SBC	Crate Paper - Falala - Epoxy stickers (r) Shop at: MISC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - Trim the Tree

Morning!

This week's challenge over on the Daring Cardmakers blog is all about trees, festive or otherwise!

I decided to go a bit sparkly with mine.

Stamps: The Greetery - Christmas Time Sentiments
Dies: The Greetery - Christmas Time Sentiments, Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Stars (r), The Greetery - Deco Frames, The Stamp Market - Dotted Tree
Other: Distress Oxides

I actually had the Dotted Tree die cuts all ready to use from when I cut a load of different colours from left-over card last year.

The cool pink stitched tree is actually layered on a solid heather coloured tree for extra pop.

I stitched the pink tree with DMC metallic thread (boy will I not be trying that again in a hurry!) and gave the offset glued trees a splattering of white ink.

The background uses 3 shades of blue Distress Oxide ink, toned down with a little Picket Fence ink before it was spritzed with water, dried with the heat gun, then sprayed with Blizzard sparkly mist and given the snowy ink treatment.

Once the background panel was dry, I ran it through the Big Shot with one of the newest additions to my Greetery stash, the Deco Frame dies.

I love the cut lines in these dies and the beautiful frame that really brings the tree front and centre.

I used another of my recent Greetery purchases for the sentiment, the Christmas Time banner is stamped in Dew Drops ink, then the sentiment was just stamped over with Onyx black Versafine ink.

I added a little extra Dew Drops ink to the ends of the banners and some Stickles Star Dust glitter for a frosty look.

Finally, once my card was assembled, I added a sparkly star to the top of the tree.

Make sure you check out the wonderful projects from the rest of the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

---

The Greetery - Christmas Time Sentiments stamps Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery - Christmas Time Sentiments dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Stars dies (r) Shop at: MISC	The Greetery - Deco Frames dies Shop at: MISC | SHC
The Stamp Market - Dotted Tree dies Shop at: MISC	Altenew - Dew Drops dye ink Shop at: MISC	Distress ink pad - Picket Fence Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Broken China Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Distress Oxide ink pad - Speckled Egg Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Tumbled Glass Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Altenew - Sweet Dreams ink cube set Shop at: MISC | SHC
Bazzill Cardshoppe - Marshmallow Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Taffy Shop at: AZ | EH | MISC	Memory Box - Majestic Hues glitter pad Shop at: EH | MISC	Dr. Pj. Martin's Bleed Proof White watercolour Shop at: AZ
Studio Calico - Mister Huey's color mist - Blizzard (r) Shop at: SBC	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Craft blending brushes Shop at: AZ
Taylored Expressions - Blender Brushes Shop at: MISC	Tim Holtz - Distress Sprayer Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous Splat Box Shop at: AZ | SBC | SHC	Waffle Flower - Mini Media Mat Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
Ranger - Artist brush set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

12 Days of Christmas - Day 4

Hello!

For today's card, we have something that will definitely mail flat and not need a postage upgrade. ;)

The stamped images are from an "autumn" set but work great for winter/Christmas too!

Paper: Crate Paper - Snow & Cocoa (r)
Stamps: Avery Elle - Starry Scene (r), Flora & Fauna - Holiday Word Party, Waffle Flower - Happy Fall
Dies: Avery Elle - Starry Scene (r), Waffle Flower - Happy Fall,  MFT - Grounding Elements

I got slightly ahead on this project back in the autumn when making a card for the Daring Cardmakers challenge at that time. While I had the Happy Fall stamps and dies out for that project, I stamped and coloured a bunch more so that I could use them for multiples of this Christmas card design.

Again, I went back to my stash of 6x6 papers - this time the Snow & Cocoa collection from Crate Paper, and luckily I had multiples of the 12x12 sheet called Rosy Cheeks to assemble the card bases I needed.*

For the snowy scene, I used my much-loved Starry Scene stamp and die from Avery Elle with lovely Sea Glass ink from Altenew (such a fab colour!) to provide that wintry sky background.

I then used a grounding element from MFT with white glitter paper to separate the two paper backgrounds and "ground" the scene.

Finally, when everything was assembled on the cards, I used my Misti to add the sentiment from Fauna & Fauna.

And there we have it, flat cards to mail for a change!

Until next time, happy festive crafting!

_______

* After cutting the papers for my card blanks, I actually had enough for one extra card - but no pre-coloured girl and mouse for it, so I added a happy snowman sticker from Pebbles to that scene to use up the card base and not have it sat in the box for another year.

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Avery Elle - Starry Scene stamps (r) Shop at: MISC	Flora & Fauna - Holiday Word Party stamps Shop at: SHC	Waffle Flower - Happy Fall stamps Shop at: SHC	Avery Elle - Starry Scene dies (r) Shop at: MISC
Waffle Flower - Happy Fall dies Shop at: SHC	MFT - Grounding Elements dies Shop at: EH | SHC	Altenew - Sea Glass dye ink Shop at: EH | MISC	Gina K Designs - Obsidian Amalgam ink pad Shop at: EH | SSS
Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	Crate Paper - Snow & Cocoa - 6x6 paper pad (r) Shop at: MISC | SBC	Crate Paper - Snow & Cocoa - Rosy Cheeks paper (r) Shop at: MISC
Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

12 Days of Christmas - Day 3

Hello!

For today's card, I decided to give a new-to-me technique shared by Jennifer McGuire here a go.

This card is mainly made up of vintage elements - papers and ephemera die-cuts I've had a while, and definitely very vintage buttons for the spinning technique:

Paper: My Mind's Eye - Sugar Plum (r)
Snowflakes: Pebbles - Winter Wonderland (r)
Stamp: Flora & Fauna - Holiday Word Party 2
Dies: Reverse Confetti - Stitched Pinwheel Cover Panel, Hero Arts - Infinity Nesting Circle, Mama Elephant - Dainty Bow

These particular die-cut glittery snowflakes, which are Pebbles "chips" ephemera accents, already have a hole in the middle, so I thought they'd be perfect for trying out this technique that makes them spin on the card.

And yep, it worked perfectly.

I was originally going to cut the pinwheel design from several patterns of paper in the Sugar Plum 6x6 pad and piece together the segments so they would all be different, but I didn't have enough varied designs left for this to work, and I'd have had to create 7 cards in the end... so I took the easy route and just used one design per background.

I think this worked out better on this occasion, as it meant that the background isn't overly busy, and the snowflake is still the centrepiece.

I added a sentiment from Flora & Fauna to the centre and, as a finishing touch, a little bow and crystal for extra shine.

Some of the papers already have glitter on them and the snowflakes are pre-glittered, so there's definitely a frosty look to these cards.

Until next time, happy festive crafting!

---

Flora & Fauna - Holiday Word Party 2 stamps Shop at: EH | SHC	Reverse Confetti - Stitched Pinwheel Cover Panel die Shop at: EH | SHC	Hero Arts - Infinity Nesting Circle dies Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Mama Elephant - Dainty Bow dies Shop at: MISC
Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Marshmallow Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH
Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

12 Days of Christmas - Day 2

Hello!

For today's Christmas countdown card, I returned to a much loved combo.

My typewriter die set from SugarPea Designs and the Tall Snow Globe from MFT:

Paper: Crate Paper - Merry Days (r), Crate Paper - Snowflake (r), Pebbles - Cozy & Bright (r), Pebbles - Merry Little Christmas (r)
Stamps: Hello Bluebird - Typed Christmas, SugarPea Designs - You're My Type
Dies: SugarPea Designs - You're My Type, MFT - Tall Snow Globe

For these cards, I ideally wanted to use winter scene papers in the background, and thankfully I still had a few offcuts of favourites in my stash that worked a treat. Those Pebbles papers in particular have been a great resource over the past few years, I've used them on so many cards and will probably have to get the digital papers once the last tiny scrap has been used up, unless they release something equally fab!

To construct the snow globe, I cut the dome from vellum for a "glass" look. It's definitely more obvious in real life as the vellum stands up off the background a little because I only glued it down behind the typewriter and used wet glue for this, which makes the vellum sort of curl up - the perfect look for this card!

The typewriters were all created from cardstock scraps - it's always nice to actually use those scraps up!

The sentiment on the typewritten letter is from the matching You're My Type stamp set, while the sentiment on the base of the snow globe is from Hello Bluebird, and probably my most used festive stamp set last year!

Until next time, happy festive crafting!

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Hello Bluebird - Typed Christmas stamps Shop at: MISC	SugarPea Designs - You're My Type stamps Shop at: MISC | SHC	SugarPea Designs - You're My Type dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	MFT - Tall Snow Globe dies Shop at: EH | SHC
Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Versamark ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SHC	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Butter Mints Shop at: AZ | EH	Crate Paper - Merry Days - Frosty Days paper (r) Shop at: MISC | SBC
Crate Paper - Snowflake - Village paper (r) Shop at: MISC | SBC	Pebbles - Cozy & Bright - Santa Land paper (r) Shop at: MISC | SBC	Pebbles - Merry Little Christmas - Snow Day paper (r) Shop at: MISC	Lawn Fawn - Vellum Shop at: SBC | SHC
Hero Arts - White embossing powder Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC | SHC	Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Scor-Tape - 1/4" Shop at: AZ | SSS	Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	EK Success powder tool Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI creative corners Shop at: EH | SBC
MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - December elemental inspiration

Good morning!

Well, December has finally arrived, so as it's the first Friday of the new month, there's a new elemental inspiration challenge over on the Daring Cardmakers blog.

This month's picture features lots of festive elements, but there's scope for a colour scheme other than red, green, and gold!

The elements I went with were hot chocolate, stripes, winter foliage, and the wooden star:

Paper, stickers, and glittered snowflake: Pebbles - Winter Wonderland (r)
Stamp: The Greetery - Sentiment Suite: Christmas
Dies: The Greetery - Sentiment Suite Basics, Avery Elle - Double Pierced Squares (r), Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Mats: Circles (r), Sizzix - Tim Holtz - Mini Holiday Greens

I noticed that the wooden star in the photo had a similar geometric shape to the inside of some of the snowflake ephemera in this collection, so instead of my original plan of having the hot cocoa mugs in the centre of the aperture, I created a little snowflake window and offset my sentiment and embellishment cluster so that the centre of that snowflake would still be visible.

The striped background was cut first with the pierced square die and then a stitched circle die was used for the aperture, so there's some extra interest with the different textures. It brings everything nicely together, despite the "busy" paper patterns.

The mini holiday greens dies from Sizzix were cut from Evergreen C&9th cardstock and really make those cocoa mugs stand out against the papers.

Finally, I added a teeny sentiment from The Greetery that is white heat embossed on Midnight cardstock, also from C&9th.

Slowly, but surely, I am chipping away still at my large collection of random bits of 6x6 papers, ephemera, and stickers that I still have from this collection by Pebbles that came out back in 2015. I tend to make at least one Christmas card a year with it, and there are plenty of bits left to go. ;)

Make sure you check out the fab projects from the rest of the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

---

The Greetery - Sentiment Suite: Christmas stamps Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery - Sentiment Suite Basics dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	Avery Elle - Double Pierced Squares dies (r) Shop at: MISC	Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Mats: Circles dies (r) Shop at: MISC
Sizzix - Tim Holtz - Mini Holiday Greens dies Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Versamark ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SHC	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Marshmallow Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Concord & 9th - Assorted cardstock pack Shop at: EH | MISC | SHC
Hero Arts - White embossing powder Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC | SHC	Tonic Studios Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	EK Success powder tool Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Thermoweb iCraft - Purple tape for die-cutting - 1 1/2" Shop at: AZ | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

12 Days of Christmas - Day 1

Hello and welcome to what will be this year's Christmas countdown series on my blog.

Last year I aimed to make a Christmas card a week and shared them all in the run-up to Christmas 2020.

This year I wasn't really feeling the Christmas crafting spirit in the early months of 2021 and by the summer, I definitely wasn't in a Christmas mood.

So, instead, I decided that I would try my hand at making at least 5 cards in one sitting in 12 different designs inspired by my favourite card makes from previous years and some new designs thrown in for good measure.

As many people will know, I am not very good at bulk cardmaking. I often find assembly line cardmaking sucks the joy right out of it for me, and many of my card designs don't really work for making multiples.

So I've chosen a few clean and simple projects that use up papers that are to hand (so they aren't all necessarily matchy, matchy) as well as lots of dies and stamps of course!

Kicking us off, we have the return of a Christmas card staple - mini houses!

Here's a closer look at one of the cards:

Paper: Crate Paper - Bundled Up (r), Basic Grey - B-Side (r)
Stamp: Mama Elephant - Holiday Messages
Dies: Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Stars (r), Neat & Tangled - Skinny Strips (r), Poppy Stamps - Townhouses, The Stamp Market - Jumbo Tag

I cannot tell you how much I love this combo of the Jumbo Tag from The Stamp Market being used to showcase the snowy nighttime street with those Poppy Stamps town houses.

The tag works great against any patterned paper background you have in your stash, especially from old 6x6 pads like the Bundled Up collection from Crate Paper that I used here.

It's also great for adding a really long sentiment strip to your card to divide up the space on the tag, and thankfully the Holiday Messages stamp set from Mama Elephant has the perfect sentiment to fit that strip.

I covered up the hole of the tag with a stitched star popped up on 3D foam tape, and as a finishing touch, each of the cards in this collection has coordinating enamel dots to decorate the sentiment strip. I have a lot of enamel dots in my stash, but really wish manufacturers would just release sheets of these small ones, as those are the ones I use aaaaall the time.

Until next time, happy festive crafting!

---

Mama Elephant - Holiday Messages stamps Shop at: MISC | SHC	Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Stars dies (r) Shop at: MISC	Neat & Tangled - Skinny Strips dies (r) Shop at: MISC	Poppy Stamps - Townhouses dies Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Jumbo Tag dies Shop at: MISC	Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	Lawn Fawn - Glue tube Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC
Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - Show us your stockings!

Good morning!

This week over on the Daring Cardmaker's Blog, it's all about stockings - including those of the Christmas variety. :)

Surprisingly, I didn't have as many Christmas Stocking items in my stash as I thought, but I did have three on a sticker sheet from Crate Paper's Merry Days collection that were just perfect for creating a festive little scene:

Paper: Honey Bee Stamps - Fresh Brewed, Crate Paper - Falala (r), Crate Paper - Merry Days (r)
Stickers and ephemera: Crate Paper - Merry Days (r)
Dies: Honey Bee Stamps - Wood Frame Builder, MFT - Tiny Houses

I created a little wooden shelf using woodgrain paper and a woodgrain die (for added texture) from Honey Bee Stamps.

Then I found some papers that would work as a good wallpaper background.

I hung the stockings from the shelf and added the sentiment to look like a hanging picture, plus little green trees as ornaments on the shelf.

Definitely a nice quick make which is very welcome this time of year, and it's always good to make a dent in the sticker and paper stash!

Make sure you check out the lovely projects from the rest of the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

---

Honey Bee Stamps - Wood Frame Builder dies Shop at: EH | MISC | SBC	MFT - Tiny Houses dies Shop at: EH | SHC	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: EH | SSS	Honey Bee Stamps - Fresh Brewed 6x6 paper pad Shop at: EH | MISC
Crate Paper - Falala - Very Merry paper (r) Shop at: MISC | SBC	Crate Paper - Merry Days - Tinsel paper (r) Shop at: MISC | SBC	Crate Paper - Merry Days - Ephemera (r) Shop at: MISC | SBC	Crate Paper - Merry Days - Cardstock stickers (r) Shop at: MISC
Tonic Studios Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - Silver, Aqua, and a Dash...

Good morning!

For this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge, we are working with colour combos of silver, aqua, and a dash of something else...

Stamps: PTI - Brushed Birds, The Greetery - Put a Bow on It
Dies: PTI - Brushed Birds, The Greetery - Put a Bow on It, Hello Bluebird - Holly and Pine, Pinkfresh Studio - Diagonal Stitched Rectangles, Sizzix - Tim Holtz - Holiday Greens
Stencils: The Greetery - Frosty Flakes
Other: Distress Oxides

Sadly, the return of photographing in winter daylight yields rather disappointing results! This card is much more sparkly and vibrant in real life.

I started out by using watercolour paint over the Frosty Flakes stencils from The Greetery. How I wish we could get Pixie stencil spray in the UK to hold detailed stencils in place, but for this look the blue wash through the more detailed elements create a nicely frosty look.

After some more paint and ink splatters were applied, I set the background aside to dry and got down to stamping the sparrows with Distress Oxide ink with ink daubers. I also inked the Holiday Greens branch in various shades of green and brown before leaving them to dry ready for some glittering.

The bow was stamped several times with Lawn Fawn Kiddie Pool and Sage Leaf, I also gave it a good splattering of aqua toned paint before leaving it to dry.

Then followed my glittering session with Rock Candy glitter, and while those elements were drying, I cut some lovely pine boughs from Memory Box silver glitter cardstock to arrange behind the bow when finally assembling the card.

Make sure you check out the lovely projects from the rest of the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

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PTI - Brushed Birds stamps Shop at: MISC | SSS	The Greetery - Put a Bow on It stamps Shop at: MISC | SHC	PTI - Brushed Birds dies Shop at: MISC | SSS	The Greetery - Put a Bow on It die Shop at: MISC | SHC
Hello Bluebird - Holly and Pine dies Shop at: MISC	Pinkfresh Studio - Diagonal Stitched Rectangles dies Shop at: EH | MISC | SBC	Sizzix - Tim Holtz - Holiday Greens dies Shop at: AZ | SBC	The Greetery - Frosty Flakes stencils Shop at: MISC | SHC
Distress Oxide ink pad - Antique Linen Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Frayed Burlap Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Ground Espresso Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Iced Spruce Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Distress Oxide ink pad - Pine Needles Shop at: EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Rustic Wilderness Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Walnut Stain Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Weathered Wood Shop at: EH | SBC
Lawn Fawn - Kiddie Pool ink pad Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Sage Leaf ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC	Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Marshmallow Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Bazzill Cardshoppe - Taffy Shop at: AZ | EH | MISC	Tim Holtz - 4.25 x 5.5 Distress Watercolor Cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Memory Box - Festive glitter pad Shop at: EH | MISC	Tim Holtz - Distress Glitter - Clear Rock Candy Shop at: AZ | SBC
Dr. Pj. Martin's Bleed Proof White watercolour Shop at: AZ	Kuretake Gansai Tambi 36-pan watercolour set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Ranger - Glossy Accents Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Sponge daubers Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Tim Holtz - Distress Sprayer Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous Splat Box Shop at: AZ | SBC | SHC	Ranger - Artist brush set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Thermoweb iCraft - Purple tape for die-cutting - 1 1/2" Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - Jolly Holly-days

My word, the week has flown by!

Friday is here again, and it's time for a new challenge in this year's Daring Cardmaker's Christmas crafty series.

This week, the theme is Holly and other winter foliage.

Well, there might not be any holly on my card, but words count, right?

Stamp: The Stamp Market - Merry & Bright (r)
Dies: Pinkfresh Studio - Diagonal Stitched Rectangles, The Stamp Market - Holly Jolly

I used plenty of scraps of cardstock from The Stamp Market to cut the letters out.

The white outline is also mounted slightly offset on the same outline die-cut from white glitter paper, for a little festive sparkle.

I temporarily stuck the greeting in place on a white cardstock panel, and then mounted various pine boughs from the Merry & Bright stamp set from The Stamp Market on acrylic blocks and randomly stamped them around the sentiment in Greenery ink.

I must say, it's nice to get clean stamping results with ink first go for images like these. No need to deploy the MISTI in case repeat stamping is needed.

Finally, once everything was assembled, I added white Nuvo drops here, there, and everywhere for some extra pop.

I almost added a sprig of holly, but actually thought it looked nice without.

Make sure you check out the lovely projects from the rest of the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

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The Stamp Market - Merry & Bright stamps (r) Shop at: MISC	Pinkfresh Studio - Diagonal Stitched Rectangles dies Shop at: EH | MISC | SBC	The Stamp Market - Holly Jolly dies Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Greenery ink pad Shop at: MISC
Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: EH | SSS	PTI - Sweet Blush cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Bubblegum cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Cheeky cardstock Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Curry cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Emerald Isle cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Forest cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Greenery cardstock Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Jade cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Lipstick Red cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Peony cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Raspberry cardstock Shop at: MISC
Tonic Studios Nuvo Crystal Drops - Simply White Shop at: AZ | EH	Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - November Elemental Inspiration

Good morning!

It's the first Friday of a new month, and so it's time for a new elemental inspiration challenge over on the Daring Cardmakers blog.

Here's the image we're working with:

And the elements I've interpreted are a pine bough complete with pine cones, blanket stitch, snow(flakes), frosty details, and grey and brown as my colour combo:

Stamp: The Greetery - Pine Blossom
Dies: The Greetery - BotaniCuts Pine Bough, The Greetery - Crimped Frame, The Greetery - Wood Slices
Stencils: The Greetery - Frosty Flakes
Other: Distress Oxides

I started out by creating the snowflake background panel. It's simply white cardstock, but before applying the stencil overlay, I inked the outside of the panel with Altenew Limestone dye ink. It's a very subtle grey, but has created more contrast between the whiter central part of the panel and then the snowflake patterns that have been applied with the same ink using the stencils.

Once the panel was dry, I ran it through the Big Shot with the largest of the Crimped Frame dies that sort of mimics a blanket stitch look.

I then added a splatter of brown, gold, and white paint to the background and set it aside to dry.

The next task was inking up and assembling the wood slice and pine bough die cuts.

I used regular Distress Inks for the wood slice (cut from cream and brown card), and followed The Greetery's tutorial for adding colour to the BotaniCuts Pine Bough elements. So the same Distress Oxides as featured in the video, and some shading with pencils on the pine cones before giving my Distress Rock Candy and Vintage Platinum glitter an outing for the first time in aaaages.

Once they were dry I gave them a splattering of white ink as well. Can't have enough snowy details!

Finally, I added a sentiment to the background panel and assembled the card. The subtle glittery effect catches the light beautifully in real life. I may need to get the glitter out again!

Make sure you check out the lovely cards from the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

P.S. I'm also claiming this as my November card for the 2021 card challenge as it features a lovely subtle grey snowflake background, pine cones, snowy boughs...

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The Greetery - Pine Blossom stamps Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery - BotaniCuts Pine Bough dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery - Crimped Frame dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery - Wood Slices dies Shop at: MISC | SHC
The Greetery - Frosty Flakes stencils Shop at: MISC | SHC	Altenew - Limestone dye ink Shop at: EH | MISC	Distress ink pad - Antique Linen Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress ink pad - Frayed Burlap Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Distress ink pad - Gathered Twigs Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Bundled Sage Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Iced Spruce Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Vintage Photo Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: EH | SSS	Tim Holtz - Distress Glitter - Clear Rock Candy Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Distress Glitter - Vintage Platinum Shop at: AZ | SBC
Dr. Pj. Martin's Bleed Proof White watercolour Shop at: AZ	Kuretake Gansai Tambi 36-pan watercolour set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Brutfuner 120 Colouring Pencils Set Shop at: AZ	Stampers Anonymous - Glitter Duster Shop at: SSS
Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Craft blending brushes Shop at: AZ	Sponge daubers Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Taylored Expressions - Blender Brushes Shop at: MISC
Tim Holtz - Distress Sprayer Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous Splat Box Shop at: AZ | SBC | SHC	Waffle Flower - Mini Media Mat Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Yoseng 8 Finger Ink Blending Brushes Shop at: AZ
Ranger - Artist brush set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Thermoweb iCraft - Purple tape for die-cutting - 1 1/2" Shop at: AZ | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - Halloween Inspired

Good morning!

For this week's Daring Cardmaker's challenge, Dawn wants us to (ideally) celebrate Halloween... but as Halloween isn't something I usually make cards for, she's kindly included a starry sky as a potential interpretation, I kind of expanded it to a snowy starry sky....

Stamps: The Greetery - Destination - North Pole
Dies: The Greetery - Destination - North Pole, Poppy Stamps - Cabin Snowglobe Pop-Up Ease, The Greetery - Crimped Slimline

For maximum wintry sky, I knew I'd need to go with a slimline design (which is very difficult to photograph!) as there's so much more space to blend a wider range of colours.

I started out with Tumbled Glass and Salvaged Patina at the bottom and worked up to the top using darker inks.

There of course needed to be a splattering of snow, so out came the bleed-proof white ink and the splatter box!

While the background was drying, I used scraps of cardstock from The Stamp Market to cut some cabins and trees from the Poppy Stamps pop-up snowglobe easel die set.

The Greetings from the North Pole was pre-stamped from another recent crafty session. I think the colour was Sea Glass from The Stamp Market for the blue outline text - very frosty!

Once I'd assembled everything, I added a gold star cut from the Festive Glitter pad from Memory Box, their glitter pads really are lovely, and I hope to get more now that I've found them stocked in the UK. :)

Make sure you check out the wonderful projects from the rest of the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy ("Halloween") crafting! ;)

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The Greetery - Destination - North Pole stamps Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery - Destination - North Pole dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	Poppy Stamps - Cabin Snowglobe Pop-Up Easel dies Shop at: EH | MISC	The Greetery - Crimped Slimline dies Shop at: MISC | SHC
Distress Oxide ink pad - Black Soot Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Blueprint Sketch Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Chipped Sapphire Shop at: EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Salvaged Patina Shop at: EH | SBC
Distress Oxide ink pad - Tumbled Glass Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Butter Mints Shop at: AZ | EH	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Marshmallow Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
The Stamp Market - Bubblegum cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Citrine cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Emerald Isle cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Forest cardstock Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Island cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Papaya cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Sea Glass cardstock Shop at: MISC	Memory Box - Festive glitter pad Shop at: EH | MISC
Dr. Pj. Martin's Bleed Proof White watercolour Shop at: AZ	Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH
Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Craft blending brushes Shop at: AZ	Taylored Expressions - Blender Brushes Shop at: MISC
Tim Holtz - Distress Sprayer Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous Splat Box Shop at: AZ | SBC | SHC	Waffle Flower - Mini Media Mat Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Yoseng 8 Finger Ink Blending Brushes Shop at: AZ
Ranger - Artist brush set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Ranger - Distress Splatter Brush Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC | SHC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

It's Your Birthday

When your very good friend asks for a favour and would like a card making, but looks sheepish when she tries to soften the blow of what specific theme she needs for the card, you know it's going to be an interesting one...

So I need a card... A card for a guy.

OK.

For a 60th birthday.

OK.

....

And he works in pest control, so could you do something along those lines?

{silence}

{cogs whirring}

Pest control?

Well, thankfully another very good friend was sat at the same table, and this very good friend had precut me some of the Curio Summer Findings die set for that particular crafty get together, and it happened to include some moths, fly/wasp creatures, and other pest-control-friendly elements.

I am not sure Betsy ever imagined that a pest control inspired card would be made with her products... but here we go:

Paper: Honey Bee Stamps - Fresh Brewed, Pink Paislee - Auburn Lane (r)
Stickers: October Afternoon (r)
Stamps: Simon Says Stamp - Tiny Words Birthday, The Stamp Market - Little Lovelies
Dies: Honey Bee Stamps - Wood Frame Builder, The Greetery - BotaniCuts Toadstool Garden, The Greetery - Curio: Summer Findings (borrowed), The Stamp Market - Embroidery Hoops, The Stamp Market - Tiny Tags
Other: Distress Inks, Distress Oxides

I started out by creating a notice board background with cork paper from Honey Bee Stamps and an off-cut of the Auburn Lane paper that happened to be on my desk that would make a great frame using the Honey Bee Stamps Wood Frame Builder dies.

Once the background and frame were constructed, I cut a load of white tiny tags to place inside the noticeboard area and worked out what summer findings dies would fit where.

I also knew I wanted to include some Fungi (another pest control issue...) and finally had a good reason to use my Toadstool Garden dies mixed in with the summer findings.

All the elements were cut from white cardstock, and I simply blended ink over them on my mini waffle flower mat.

It holds them so well, and Distress Ink (original formula) really blends in nicely and makes these elements look so vibrant.

Before sticking the tags down, I stamped a sentiment on one of the larger tags and added jute twine to all the tags as an extra detail.

I also had a little space left to include one of the embroidery hoops from The Stamp Market with a bit more greenery.

Sadly I didn't have any dies that had numbers of the right size, but I still have a few Mini Market stickers from October Afternoon and the ledger set still had a six and zero that fit on one of the long tags.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, and I am hoping my friend will be too.

But I'm not sure that I'm cut out for any more pest control cards just yet. ;)

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Simon Says Stamp - Tiny Words Birthday stamps Shop at: SSS	The Stamp Market - Little Lovelies stamps Shop at: MISC	Honey Bee Stamps - Wood Frame Builder dies Shop at: EH | MISC | SBC	The Greetery - BotaniCuts Toadstool Garden dies Shop at: MISC | SHC
The Stamp Market - Embroidery Hoops dies Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Tiny Tags dies Shop at: MISC	Distress ink pad - Antique Linen Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress ink pad - Black Soot Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Distress ink pad - Candied Apple Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress ink pad - Crackling Campfire Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Distress ink pad - Crushed Olive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress ink pad - Fossilized Amber Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Distress ink pad - Gathered Twigs Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress ink pad - Iced Spruce Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress ink pad - Mustard Seed Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress ink pad - Peeled Paint Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Distress ink pad - Pine Needles Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress ink pad - Rustic Wilderness Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Distress ink pad - Speckled Egg Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Distress ink pad - Twisted Citron Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Distress Oxide ink pad - Antique Linen Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	The Stamp Market - Greenery ink pad Shop at: MISC	Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: EH | SSS
Honey Bee Stamps - Fresh Brewed 6x6 paper pad Shop at: EH | MISC	Pink Paislee - Auburn Lane - Paper 02 (r) Shop at: MISC | SBC	Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	Craft blending brushes Shop at: AZ	Taylored Expressions - Blender Brushes Shop at: MISC	Waffle Flower - Mini Media Mat Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
Yoseng 8 Finger Ink Blending Brushes Shop at: AZ	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - Wear It Pink

Good morning!

For this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge, Joanne is challenging us to feature someone wearing pink on our cards in honour of Wear It Pink day for breast cancer awareness month.

Well, with winter approaching and Christmas cards firmly on my mind, there had to be a cosy knit jumper...

Stamps: PTI - Sentiment Staples: Christmas, Simon Says Stamp - Critter Sweaters (r)
Dies: Simon Says Stamp - Critter Sweaters (r), Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Stars (r), The Greetery - Crimped Frame, The Greetery - Crimped Slimline, The Stamp Market - Dotted Tree
Stencil: The Greetery - Knit Wits


I started out by ink blending the rabbit and bear - Manatee grey for the rabbit's head and a mix of Pizza Crust and Doe for the bear's head.

I took some more post-it tape to mask off the heads and ink blended the background colours for their jumpers. Pink Lemonade for the bunny and Kiddie Pool ink for the bear.

I put them aside to dry properly and got started on a pink knitted background using the Knit Wits stencils from The Greetery and pink distress inks on pink cardstock: first using Worn Lipstick for the dark stitches, then Kitsch Flamingo for the lighter pink stitches.

I then ran the panel through the Big Shot with the Crimped Frame die and used Raspberry Bliss ink to add some contrast around the edges.

I set that aside to dry thoroughly and went back to stamping the patterns on the jumpers.

A mix of Lawn Fawn pink tones for the bunny and Lawn Fawn aqua tones for the bear, oh and when that was done I stamped on the faces in Onyx black ink.

It was time to set the wintry scene, adding a green dotted tree from The Stamp Market and simple white glitter paper for the snowy hill.

Before sticking anything else down, I got my trusty white bleed-proof ink loaded on a paint brush for some snowy splatter.

I then added the characters to the scene, a sentiment on the smaller banner from the Crimped Slimline die set, and finally a glittery gold star for the tree and festive enamel dots for the sentiment.

Make sure you check out the wonderful projects from the rest of the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

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PTI - Sentiment Staples: Christmas stamps Shop at: MISC | SSS	Simon Says Stamp - Critter Sweaters stamps (r) Shop at: MISC	Simon Says Stamp - Critter Sweaters dies (r) Shop at: MISC	Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Stars dies (r) Shop at: MISC
The Greetery - Crimped Frame dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Greetery - Crimped Slimline dies Shop at: MISC | SHC	The Stamp Market - Dotted Tree dies Shop at: MISC	The Greetery - Knit Wits stencils Shop at: MISC | SHC
Distress ink pad - Kitsch Flamingo Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Distress ink pad - Worn Lipstick Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Lawn Fawn - Ballet Slippers ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Bubblegum ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC
Lawn Fawn - Doe ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Kiddie Pool ink pad Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Manatee ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Mermaid ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC
Lawn Fawn - Minty Fresh ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Peacock ink pad Shop at: SHC	Lawn Fawn - Pizza Crust ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC	Lawn Fawn - Plastic flamingo ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC
Lawn Fawn - Sage Leaf ink pad Shop at: SBC | SHC	MFT - Pink Lemonade ink pad Shop at: SHC	Pinkfresh Studio - Raspberry Bliss ink pad Shop at: MISC | SBC	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Marshmallow Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: EH | SSS	PTI - Sweet Blush cardstock Shop at: MISC	Memory Box - Festive glitter pad Shop at: EH | MISC	Dr. Pj. Martin's Bleed Proof White watercolour Shop at: AZ
3M Post-It tape White Shop at: AZ | EH	Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	MISTI creative corners Shop at: EH | SBC
MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Craft blending brushes Shop at: AZ	Taylored Expressions - Blender Brushes Shop at: MISC	Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous Splat Box Shop at: AZ | SBC | SHC
Waffle Flower - Mini Media Mat Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Yoseng 8 Finger Ink Blending Brushes Shop at: AZ	Ranger - Artist brush set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Thermoweb iCraft - Purple tape for die-cutting - 1 1/2" Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

Baby Iris

Here's another make that I've yet to share.

A card request from a friend to mark the arrival of her brand-new niece:

Paper: Crate Paper - Little You - Girl (r), Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes - Willow Lane (r)
Ephemera: Crate Paper - Little You - Girl (r)
Dies: Lawn Fawn - Oliver's Stitched ABCs, Mama Elephant - Dainty Bow, Pinkfresh Studio - Ornate Oval Frame

I reached for my go-to baby collection, Little You by Crate Paper. I remember first using this collection for a baby card when my niece was born five years ago. It has definitely stood the test of time and is a favourite for a reason. :)

The main image is actually one of the oversized journaling spots from the cut-apart sheet in this collection. Thankfully it fit inside the ornate oval frame die I had!

I just needed to add some ephemera and die-cut baby Iris' name (thank heavens it was short) with Oliver's stitched ABCs dies from Lawn Fawn, and added a little bow and Prima heart gem to finish off the frame.

 

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Lawn Fawn - Oliver's Stitched ABCs dies Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Mama Elephant - Dainty Bow dies Shop at: MISC	Pinkfresh Studio - Ornate Oval Frame die Shop at: AZ | MISC | SBC	The Stamp Market - Blush Pink cardstock Shop at: MISC
Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes - Willow Lane - Darling paper (r) Shop at: MISC	Crate Paper - Little You - Ephemera - Girl (r) Shop at: AZ | MISC | SBC	Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH
Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

With Sympathy and Love

There have been a few card projects I've made this year that I've still not shared on my blog.

One of them is this special sympathy card made back in March for Polish family friends:

Stamp: Simon Says Stamp - Sketched Flowers
Dies: Altenew - Polish Papercuts 3D, Avery Elle - Double Pierced Squares (r)

Sympathy cards are always hard to make, but for this card I wanted to include something uniquely Polish to make the card even more special - Polish paper cuts.

Just two tones of cardstock and a simple stamped sentiment.

 

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Simon Says Stamp - Sketched Flowers stamps Shop at: SSS	Altenew - Polish Papercuts 3D dies Shop at: MISC | SBC | SHC	Avery Elle - Double Pierced Squares dies (r) Shop at: MISC	Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Bazzill Cardshoppe - Alpaca Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - Candy Corn and Peppermint Fondant

Good morning!

Friday at last! And so time for a new challenge over on the Daring Cardmakers blog.

This week, Svenja is challenging us to be inspired by the colours of candy corn or German peppermint fondant.

Well that was a sign for me, as I was planning on doing a candy cane themed card at some point.

Paper: Pebbles - Cozy & Bright - 'Tis the Season (r)
Stamps: Hello Bluebird - Typed Christmas, The Stamp Market - No Peeking, The Stamp Market - So Mini Hellos
Dies: The Stamp Market - No Peeking, The Stamp Market - So Mini Hellos, Pinkfresh Studio - Artistic Bows, PTI - Tag Sale #10
Other: Puff paint

I started out by stamping 15 candy canes in three shades of pink using the No Peeking set from The Stamp Market.

Once I had all my candy canes stamped, I arranged them over a panel of Rocky Candy cardshoppe (it's a great charcoal/dark grey shade) and used press n seal to keep them in place, so I could add strips of cardstock to pop them up and affix them to the grey background.

I then added Stickles between the colourful stripes and left them the card to dry for a few days before I was able to come back and finish it.

That meant there was definitely no Stickles-related accident on this project. ;)

To add a sentiment and coordinating festive scene (sadly no gingerbread houses here, which was my original plan) I used the So Mini Hello stamps and dies that contrast nicely against the kraft tag.

The sentiment is from my trusty Typed Christmas set by Hello Bluebird. I use their typed sentiments so much on Christmas projects.

And finally, the ultimate festive touch came in the form of my rediscovered Jones Tones 3D puff paint, which has a matt finish and is great against that kraft. I shall definitely be using it again on festive cards. Can't believe the bottle is almost 20 years old and still working well. :D

Make sure you check out the wonderful projects from the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

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Hello Bluebird - Typed Christmas stamps Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - No Peeking stamps Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - So Mini Hellos stamps Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - No Peeking dies Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - So Mini Hellos dies Shop at: MISC	Pinkfresh Studio - Artistic Bows dies Shop at: EH | MISC | SBC	PTI - Tag Sale #10 dies Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Cotton Candy ink pad Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Greenery ink pad Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Peony ink pad Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Raspberry ink pad Shop at: MISC	Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Bazzill Cardshoppe - Rock Candy Shop at: AZ | EH	Neenah 80 lb smooth Desert Storm cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	Pebbles - Cozy & Bright - 'Tis the Season paper (r) Shop at: MISC | SBC
Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - Awesome Autumn

Good morning!

We're welcoming the season over on the Daring Cardmakers blog by focusing on all things autumn this week.

Stamps: Mama Elephant - Mini Everyday Messages, The Stamp Market - Little Lovelies
Dies: Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Woodgrain cover-up (r), Lawn Fawn - Hearts, The Stamp Market - Embroidery Hoops, The Stamp Market - Mini Autumn Leaves, The Stamp Market - Tiny Tags

I was also determined to use kraft for this card, so it would also tick the boxes for the kraft-focussed October card challenge prompt here.

Kraft is definitely a great backdrop for colourful autumnal tones, and I love pairing it with my stitched woodgrain cover die from Lil' Inker Designs.

I've been inspired by the Curio designs recently shared by The Greetery, and used lots of mini dies from The Stamp Market to create little Curio tags.

I used many cardstock scraps to cut the leaves (always satisfying to make a dent in your scraps!) and stamped the embroidery hoops with stamps from the Little Lovelies set, also from The Stamp Market.

It wasn't the quickest card to make and took some faffing about to get the layout right, but I was also listening to an audiobook at the same time. So time well spent. ;)

I found a sentiment that would fit on the smallest tag and added a bright enamel dot as a finishing touch.

Make sure you check out the wonderful projects from the rest of the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

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Mama Elephant - Mini Everyday Messages stamps Shop at: EH | SHC	The Stamp Market - Little Lovelies stamps Shop at: MISC	Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Woodgrain cover-up die (r) Shop at: MISC	Lawn Fawn - Hearts dies Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Embroidery Hoops dies Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Mini Autumn Leaves dies Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Tiny Tags dies Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Leafy ink pad Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Sea Glass ink pad Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Slate ink pad Shop at: MISC	Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Marshmallow Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Neenah 80 lb smooth Desert Storm cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	The Stamp Market - Blush Pink cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Bubblegum cardstock Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Citrine cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Forest cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Gravel cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Leafy cardstock Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Melon Orange cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Peach cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Rusty cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Sea Glass cardstock Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Tropic Teal cardstock Shop at: MISC	Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - October Elemental Inspiration

Good morning!

It's a new month, so time for a new elemental inspiration challenge over on the Daring Cardmakers blog:

The elements I went with were a cute creature, chevron print, and woodgrain.

Oh and, it's October, so welcome to mostly Christmas card season here on my blog! lol

Paper: Basic Grey - Juniper Berry (r)
Puffy stickers: Crate Paper - Merry Days (r)
Stamps: Waffle Flower - Happy Fall
Dies: Waffle Flower - Happy Fall, Pinkfresh Studio - Ornate Oval Frame

It all started with that chevron carpet in the photo. I knew I needed to feature a chevron print, but not necessarily as the full background. Luckily I remembered that I had a cute set from Waffle Flower that I'd bought for winter cards (rather than autumn ones) and it also featured a cute little mouse in addition to the little girl in the chevron coat.

Two elements in one. :D

I also spotted some wood panelling at the back of the shelves in the image and had a piece of paper among the Juniper Berry left-overs in my stash that had a woodgrain look to it, and this worked really nicely as a frame.

The snow paper and woodland print are also from Juniper Berry and provided a perfect setting for a woodland scene.

Instead of stamping a sentiment, I used some puffy stickers from Crate Paper Merry Days that featured the perfect font for this card.

Make sure you check out the lovely cards from the rest of the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

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Waffle Flower - Happy Fall stamps Shop at: SHC	Waffle Flower - Happy Fall dies Shop at: SHC	Pinkfresh Studio - Ornate Oval Frame die Shop at: AZ | MISC | SBC	Gina K Designs - Obsidian Amalgam ink pad Shop at: EH | SSS
Bazzill Cardshoppe - Butter Mints Shop at: AZ | EH	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Marshmallow Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Crate Paper - Merry Days - Puffy stickers (r) Shop at: MISC	Tombow - Mono-Multi liquid glue Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - Going Round in Circles

Good morning!

For this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge, I have definitely gone autumnal!

The challenge set by Jenny is to use circles. Well, although you can't see a very round circle on my card, there was definitely one involved in the making of this design:

Stamp: The Stamp Market - Scripty Sentiments
Dies: Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Woodgrain cover-up (r), Hero Arts - Infinity Nesting Circles, The Stamp Market - Mini Autumn Leaves

I started out by selecting one of the last few Kraft card bases in my stash. I'm not sure why my Papermania square card blanks always seem so wonky when folded. They are a pain to photograph and despite folding down the spines over and over with my bone folder, these cards never lay flat... but that's another matter!

I needed another shade of "kraft" to stand out enough against the card base, and Neenah Desert Storm was just right for this. It's a buff shade of "kraft" and a great neutral.

I ran the panel through my Big Shot with the Stitched Woodgrain die for some seasonal texture.

I then die-cut 2x each of the mini leaves from The Stamp Market in tone-on-tone cardstock colours. This didn't take all that long in the end, as the dies work nicely in the Sidekick and are a great way of using up small offcuts. This is the colour palette I used as inspiration.

I die cut a circle aperture so that the sentiment would peek through nicely, but also allow the leaves to overlap the edges and create that circular wreath frame.

It's definitely a simple design, but I don't think it needed anything else. Those pretty leaves did most of the work. ;o)

Make sure you check out the lovely cards from the rest of the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

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The Stamp Market - Scripty Sentiments stamps Shop at: MISC	Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Woodgrain cover-up die (r) Shop at: MISC	Hero Arts - Infinity Nesting Circle dies Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	The Stamp Market - Mini Autumn Leaves dies Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Slate ink pad Shop at: MISC	Neenah 80 lb smooth Desert Storm cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	The Stamp Market - Blush Pink cardstock Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Bubblegum cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Citrine cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Gravel cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Melon Orange cardstock Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Peach cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Rusty cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Sea Glass cardstock Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Slate cardstock Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Tropic Teal cardstock Shop at: MISC	Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - Oh the Romance!

Good morning!

This week over on the Daring Cardmakers Blog, Kathy is challenging us to embrace love and romance...

Here's my take:

Papers: Carta Bella - Flower Garden (r)
Stamp: Mama Elephant - Mixed Wishes Greetings
Dies: Mama Elephant - Oval Deco Frame, The Stamp Market - Postage Stamp, The Stamp Market - Tiny Tags

This card was actually created on a 5 x 7 card base, but trimmed down in height to match the scale of the oval deco frame.

I love how versatile this frame is. It's got that decorative detail, but doesn't make things look too busy, so it still pairs well with highly patterned papers.

I needed the sentiment I'd stamped on the largest die in the Tiny Tags set to stand out against those florals, so I used the smaller postage stamp die in the set from The Stamp Market to add some contrasting paper behind the tag.

Finally, I added a heart gem to the top of the frame for an extra nod to the theme of this challenge. :)

Make sure you check out the wonderful projects from the rest of the design team here, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

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Mama Elephant - Mixed Wishes Greetings stamps Shop at: EH | MISC | SHC	Mama Elephant - Oval Deco Frame dies Shop at: EH | SHC	The Stamp Market - Postage Stamp dies Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Tiny Tags dies Shop at: MISC
Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Bazzill Cardshoppe - Taffy Shop at: AZ | EH | MISC	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	Carta Bella - Flower Garden - Bloom & Grow paper Shop at: SBC
Carta Bella - Flower Garden - Lovely Floral paper Shop at: SBC	Lawn Fawn - Hemp Twine - Natural Shop at: SBC | SHC	Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH
Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

DCM - September Elemental Inspiration

Happy Friday!

It's the first Friday of a new month, so time for a brand-new elemental inspiration challenge on the Daring Cardmakers blog.

Svenja chose this photo with some very clever little details:

I went with hand-stitching, sequins/gems, and a postage stamp style frame.

Paper: Cocoa Vanilla Studio - Daydream (r)
Stamps: The Stamp Market - Eat Cake
Dies: The Stamp Market - Eat Cake, Concord & 9th - Sew Striped (r), The Stamp Market - Postage Stamp

I decided it was time for some hand-stitching, so pulled out my Sew Striped die from Concord & 9th and a selection of rainbow colours in more muted tones that went with the background paper.

The colours look a bit more subtle in real life, September is the start of deteriorating natural light when much fiddling is required in Photoshop Elements...

Sight, the real end of summer is upon us! lol

Anyway, I didn't want to cover up the stitching too much, and realise I had some postage stamp style dies that could frame a sentiment.

Well, the smallest I've used here is a solid background, so I gutted the inside to turn it into a frame and used my bone folder to smooth off the cut edges so that it looks almost like a frame die.

I added some more paper from the Daydream collection behind the frame, stamped my sentiment and added it on some 3D foam tape for pop.

Finally, I added sequins and gems from Lucy's Cards for a little subtle sparkle.

Make sure you check out the wonderful interpretations from the rest of the design team over on the blog, and play along if you can!

Happy crafting!

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The Stamp Market - Eat Cake stamps Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Eat Cake dies Shop at: MISC	Concord & 9th - Sew Striped die (r) Shop at: MISC | SBC | SHC	The Stamp Market - Postage Stamp dies Shop at: MISC
Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	Cocoa Vanilla Studio - Daydream - 6x8 paper pad (r) Shop at: MISC	Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC
Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC

2021 Card Challenge - August card

Well, better late than never I suppose...

I've been meaning to get a photo of the card I made for the August card challenge prompt for almost a month now!

But finally the time has arrived and here's my ode to the colour blue:

Stamps: The Stamp Market - Butterfly Builder, Hello Bluebird - Sparkles Script
Dies: The Stamp Market - Butterfly Builder, Pinkfresh Studio - Diagonal Stitched Rectangles
Other: Distress Oxide inks

I also went with the combination of butterflies and glitz from the prompt image.

The butterflies were created with an ombré style combination of inks (including the latest blue tones) from The Stamp Market, with their multi-step Butterfly Builder set.

They really stand out well against the Distress Oxide background.

Glitz was my other feature from the prompt, and although it looks quite subtle in the photo, when you rotate the card in the light, the Glitter Art Angels splattering of Chandelier glitter paint really shows up. I added gems and raindrops as additional accents.

Before sticking the butterflies in their final position, I added the stamped sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black, my ink pad of choice and the current one I have must be at least 15 years old now. Still going strong!

 

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Hello Bluebird - Sparkles Script stamps Shop at: EH | MISC	The Stamp Market - Butterfly Builder stamps Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Butterfly Builder dies Shop at: MISC	Pinkfresh Studio - Diagonal Stitched Rectangles dies Shop at: EH | MISC | SBC
Distress Oxide ink pad - Mermaid Lagoon Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Tumbled Glass Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Distress Oxide ink pad - Wilted Violet Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	The Stamp Market - Breeze ink pad Shop at: MISC
The Stamp Market - Cobalt ink pad Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Navy ink pad Shop at: MISC	The Stamp Market - Ocean ink pad Shop at: MISC	Versafine - Onyx Black ink pad Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Neenah Classic Crest 110 lb smooth Solar White cardstock Shop at: AZ | EH | SSS	Ranger - Multi-Medium Matte adhesive Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	3M Scotch double-sided foam tape Shop at: AZ | EH	Lawn Fawn - Stamp shammy cleaner Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC
MISTI stamping tool Shop at: EH | SBC	Craft blending brushes Shop at: AZ	Ranger - Mini round ink blending tools Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Taylored Expressions - Blender Brushes Shop at: MISC
Tim Holtz - Distress Sprayer Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Stampers Anonymous Splat Box Shop at: AZ | SBC | SHC	Waffle Flower - Mini Media Mat Shop at: EH | SBC | SHC	Ranger - Artist brush set Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC
Sizzix - Big Shot machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Sizzix - Sidekick machine Shop at: AZ | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC	Tim Holtz - Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: AZ | EH | SBC