An Easter Card on Good Friday

I've used Simon Says Stamp's pretty Outline Floral Cross die on quite a few Communion and Confirmation cards, but for my first time I'm using it on an Easter card.

To start with I used distress inks and water spritzing to make a rainbow panel, or I should say three rainbow panels on different cardstocks with differing results. After that I die cut the cross and decided which background it looked best against. The cross was adhered to the panel with foam pads and I added a Hero Arts flower gem to finish. I matted the panel on white card and added it to the card base using foam pads.

Die - Outline Floral Cross (Simon Says Stamp) & Distress Inks (barn door, spiced marmalade, mustard seed, mowed lawn, tumbled glass and dusty concord) - Tim Holtz Ranger

For the inside I stamped the sentiment from Hero Arts' Celebrate Everyday set, die cut it out and matted it on a piece die cut from one of the other rainbow panels.

Stamp - Celebrate Everyday (Hero Arts), Die - Labels 4 (Spellbinders) & Distress Inks (mowed lawn, tumbled glass and dusty concord) - Tim Holtz Ranger

I'm submitting this card into Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge.

Jar of Roses Slimline Card

This month's challenge over at the Die Cut Divas is to make a slimline card. I haven't made many slimline cards so thought I'd challenge myself and give it a go.

Stamps - Everything's Rosy (Sunny Studio Stamps), Bouquet For You (Stampendous), It's Your Birthday (Hero Arts), Embossing Folder - Happy Birthday (Cuttlebug), Dies - Everything's Rosy (Sunny Studio Stamps), Christmas Florals (Precious Marieke)

One of my favourite layering stamp sets is Sunny Studio Stamps' Everything's Rosy set. I love how dimensional and realistic the flowers and leaves images look and it's fun coming up with different ink mixes for them.

I made a cardbase and added an embossed background layered on silver glitter card. Next up I had some fun getting inky to make the flowers and leaves.

I arranged the stamped images and die cut foliage filler pieces on a jar I had coloured with distress inks (tumbled glass, broken china and faded jeans). The stems were coloured using watercolour pencils. To finish I stamped a sentiment from a Hero Arts set on a strip of card and fishtailed one end.

Afternoon Tea Birthday Box Card

My sister and I put together an afternoon tea on our Mam's birthday. I just took a quick photo as we were starting to put everything out on the table, so lol it's definitely not artfully arranged for a photo, but it's the only photo I got of some of the spread before we started to eat! Anyway I thought it would be a nice idea to use the afternoon tea theme on the birthday girl's card.

Die - Docrafts Flower Doily (under the mini teacup and saucer candle)

A little while ago my friend Linda gave me a pretty die which was perfect for the card - thanks again, Linda! The die is Afternoon Tea by Joy Crafts which I've already enjoyed using over and over again. To make the box card base I used a die I bought recently, Lawn Fawn's Scalloped Box Card Pop-up die - love it! I made my first ever box card a few weeks ago using instructions I found online, but I have to say this die by Lawn Fawn means I can make box cards so quickly and easily.

Dies - Scalloped Box Card Pop-up (Lawn Fawn), Afternoon Tea (Joy Crafts) and Advent Drawer Deco (Tonic Studios)

The tea set was cut out from a scrap of patterned paper and the little hearts were cut from the tiny scraps I had left over using the hearts die from the same Lawn Fawn set.

To finish I cut out numbers from glittery gold card using Tonic Studio's Advent Drawer Deco die set.

I'm submitting this card into Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge.

Scrappy Happy Weekend

Over the weekend I continued with the plan to use up more of my card and fabric scraps to make some more cards. I got a bit carried away and made the following four cards plus blocks to go on future cards.

I forgot to take photos of my scraps before I started and I've completely used up some of the patterned paper scraps but I had a little bundle like this put together at the start of the weekend with fabric, card and even envelopes from bills.

My favourite die from WPlus9's Quilt Cuts 2 set is the star die and I used it and the inlaid die cut technique for all of my cards. For the first two cards I used some rainbow coloured fabric which I had left over from a quilt I made years ago.

Dies - Quilt Cuts 2 (WPlus9), Scalloped Squares (Spellbinders), Tags & Bookplates (Docrafts)
Stamp - Everyday Sayings (Hero Arts)

Die - Quilt Cuts 2 (WPlus9)
Stamp - It's Your Day (Hero Arts)

I love greens and blues so I have loads of scraps in these colours left over from other projects. In my stash of plain card scraps I have lots of kraft and white so used a combination of patterned and plain scraps to make the following cards.

Dies - Quilt Cuts 2 (WPlus9), Scalloped Squares (Spellbinders) and Thanks Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts)

Dies - Quilt Cuts 2 (WPlus9), Bundle of Stitched Shapes (Simon Says Stamp) and Tags & Bookplates (Docrafts)
Stamp - Everyday Sayings (Hero Arts)

Whenever I can I like to use recycled materials on my cards and now, thanks to the blue and white patterned insides of envelopes which came with bills, I have some blocks lined up for another card. At least there's some upside to bills;)

A Couple of Valentines

For the past number of weeks a few things have completely taken up my time and kept me away from card making but I'm happy to be finally back in the swing of things again to make a Valentine for my hubby. I ended up making two Valentine cards as I thought the first one might be too girly for him. The little glimpse below probably says it all really:)

I had some pretty wedding table sprinkles in my stash and thought they, along with some beads and pearls, would make a nice background for a couple of lovely die cuts my friend Linda sent me - thanks again Linda:) So the card came together fairly quickly once the glue I used for the sprinkles and beads had dried. This month's challenge over at Hero Arts is Fabulous Flowers so since there are flowers on the heart die and flowers in the sprinkles I'm submitting this card into the challenge.

Dies (Hero Arts) - Floral Heart Stamp & Cut by Lia and My Monthy Hero January Kit Add On

After making the card above I thought I'd try to make a more masculine looking Valentine using a favourite Hero Arts die and the inlaid die cutting technique.

Dies - Renaissance Heart (Hero Arts), Bundle of Stitched Shapes (Simon Says Stamp) & Alphabet (Docrafts)

Even though I was going for a masculine look I couldn't resist using glitter card in the heart to represent the sparkle hubby brings to my life - sorry for the soppiness but I think I can get away with it this week:)

I'm submitting the cards into A Blog Named Hero's is A Bit of Sparkle Challenge and the Die Cut Diva's Love, Marriage and Anniversaries Challenge.

Snowflakes Christmas Card Set

This year I seem to be far behind on making Christmas cards compared to other years so I think it's time to start making sets of quick cards to help speed up the process.

Stamp (Hero Arts) - Hand Drawn Snowflakes Bold Prints
Die (Hero Arts) - Fancy Cut Christmas

I can't seem to resist pretty snowflake stamps or dies and this year I'm delighted to have added Hero Arts Hand Drawn Snowflakes Bold Prints to my stash.

Distress inks - shaded lilac, dusty concord & faded jeans

The snowflakes on this stamp are so delicate and gorgeous looking and I also love that the stamp is large (6"x 6") so it's the perfect size for anything I want to make.

Distress inks - tumbled glass, broken china, faded jeans & salty ocean

To make the cards I started by white embossing the snowflakes onto squares of white card. Then I applied distress inks and spritzed with water. As I wanted the snowflakes to be the main feature on the cards, I just added the Christmas sentiments I had die cut using one of the dies from Hero Arts Fancy Cut Christmas .

Distress inks - barn door & spiced marmalade

The sentiments have four layers, the upper layer die cut from either glitter card or plain card which had a coat of diamond stickles applied and the three other layers are die cut from matching plain card. After adhering the embossed panels to card bases, using foam pads, I added some gems to finish.

Distress inks - shabby shutters & mowed lawn

I'm submitting these cards into Hero Arts Holiday Card Making Challenge . This weekend is a bank holiday weekend here so no work or school on Monday. Also the clocks change this weekend, so an extra hour in bed on Sunday or maybe that will be an extra hour of crafting instead! There's lots to look forward to this weekend. Hope you have a great weekend too:)

Happy Birthday Rocket

I wanted to make a birthday card with a space theme for a two year old boy so pulled out a cute freebie stamp set (Rocket Thanks) that Hero Arts recently gave out with orders.

After stamping and cutting out the rocket, I coloured it with Promarkers and added stardust stickles to the flame. The star background was made by applying distress inks (salty ocean, peacock feathers & faded jeans) to white card and stamping the stars in faded jeans distress ink.

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Rocket Thanks, Fantastic Birthday & Tiny Star Background
Die (Tonic) - Advent Drawer Deco Die

I die cut numbers out of the side of the card base and added a panel of acetate behind the number two so that I could inlay the birthday boy's age. As I wanted it to appear that the rocket flame had ignited the number, I coloured it in the same colour as the flame and applied stardust stickles.

I'm submitting this card into Allsorts' Numbers Challenge and Simon Says Stamp's Anything Goes Challenge.

Beauty Spot Bee

Over at the Hero Arts group on Flickr, Martha is hosting a fun 90 minute scramble over a 24 hour period. Her theme is to make a project in grey, black, white and use a small pop of one colour.

With this theme I decided to use a cute little bee image from Hero Arts, have yellow as my pop of colour and use hexagons wherever I could. To start with I clear embossed the hexagon background on a panel of grey pearlescent card. Then I die cut a hexagon from white card and die cut a black hexagon frame. After stamping the sentiment, I adhered the frame onto the white hexagon with foam pads and also use foam pads to attach the piece to the background.

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Hexagon Background, Be Happy & Everyday Sayings

Then it was time to make the little bee. I black embossed the bee twice and coloured the images. After cutting out the bee and the bee's head from the second image, I used foam pads to layer the head for some extra dimension. In my haste to meet the scramble deadline, a stray speck of embossing powder ended up on the bee's face, so she's ended up with a beauty spot;) To finish I added some diamond stickles to the wings. I'm submitting this card into Simon Says Stamp's Anything Goes Challenge.

I'm happy to say we're having an Indian summer here this week and it's great to get out on walks and enjoy the pretty autumn colours that are starting to appear on the trees. Hope you're enjoying beautiful weather too wherever you are.

Halloween Treasure Hunt

I remember when I was a kid it seemed to take forever for darkness to fall on Halloween. Here at that time kids called from house to house asking people to "help the Halloween party". The phrase "trick or treat" hadn't made its way across the Atlantic at that stage - yikes I feel old! We'd usually get fruit and nuts for treats and my goodness if we received sweets or coins we'd be absolutely delighted with ourselves!

When our kids were younger we used to have some of their friends over a few hours before it was due to get dark and would have a party with spooky food and, of course, play lots of Halloween games. A favourite with the kids was running around the house finding clues on creepy treasure hunts.

When I ordered Hero Arts 3-D House Die and co-ordinating stamp set, I had in mind ideas for Christmas. When they arrived I couldn't help but think what a fun set it also is for making Halloween decorations and even concealing clues for a treasure hunt.

Die(Hero Arts) - 3-D House Fancy Die
Stamp set (Hero Arts) - 3-D House Essentials

After die cutting the houses I stamped them and then stamped doors, windows and pumpkins in Halloween colours. After cutting these out I adhered them to the houses. The die cuts and scores a house in one pass so it makes it really easy to quickly put together a set of houses.

Die(Hero Arts) - 3-D House Fancy Die
Stamp set (Hero Arts) - 3-D House Essentials

In a treasure hunt it's nice to get a little treat along with a clue (just to keep energy levels up;), so I used the little houses containing the clues as decorations on these cupcakes.

Die - 3-D House Fancy Die (Hero Arts) & Lace Hearts Cupcake Wrapper (Die'sire)
Stamp set (Hero Arts) - 3-D House Essentials

I'm submitting this project into A Blog Named Hero's Die Cutting Challenge and Simon Says Stamp's No Designer Paper Challenge.

Two Card Makeovers and a Little Recycling

Hero Arts' fun Makeover Challenge gives us a chance to makeover old projects. I definitely have plenty that could do with changes but picked two butterfly cards for makeovers today.

The first card I picked is this one.

I wanted to make a butterfly in the same colours using the same inlay technique but changed the background and used less enamel hexagons. For the background I light applied distress inks (broken china, tumbled glass & shabby shutters) onto white card. Then I inked the background stamp with shabby shutters distress ink, spritzed with water and stamped on the panel. After stamping the sentiment I added one little enamel hexagon to finish.

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Tropical Background & Fantastic Birthday
Dies - Butterfly (Hero Arts) & Bundle of Stitched Shapes (Simon Says Stamp)

Next in line for a makeover was this card.

With this one I wanted to reverse the colours and add even more sparkle to the butterfly. I inked up the background stamp by dragging Hero Arts' mint julep to emerald green ombré ink pad across and down it. Then I stamped the image on a panel of white card and applied peacock feathers distress ink. Once the panel was dry, I embossed the sentiment.

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Tropical Background & Celebrate Everyday
Dies - Butterfly (Hero Arts) & Bundle of Stitched Shapes (Simon Says Stamp)

Next it was time to do a bit of recycling to make the sparkly butterfly. I die cut the butterfly from a piece of white glitter card I had saved from a Christmas card. The butterfly was backed with glittered tulle taken from a mini bag I had received a pressie in. After adding a few gems to the butterfly's body, it was adhered to the card with foam pads and I added some sequins to finish.

Have you seen Hero Arts' new website? It looks wonderful, has a fantastic ideas area filled with inspiration and of course there are so many tempting goodies in the shop. I couldn't resist ordering lots of new stamps and dies the other day and thanks to Hero Arts' super speedy service they are already winging their way to me - can't wait!

Felt Flower Card and Tag

I had a birthday card and gift tag to make for an upcoming birthday so thought I'd join in on a couple of challenges while I was making them - Hero Arts Tic Tac Toe Challenge and Simon Says Stamp Use Your Favourite Technique and/or Product.

In the Hero Arts Tic Tac Toe Challenge I picked the line with circles, birthday theme and your favourite colour. My favourite colour would be a toss up between blue and green and I love combining both colours with white. For the Simon Says Stamp Challenge I used a favourite technique, stitching, and favourite product is Hero Arts Stamp & Cut sets.

Stamp & Cuts sets (Hero Arts) - Butterfly and Flowers and Happy

I stamped the flowers and leaves on felt and, after the ink had dried, hand stitched the images and cut out. To finish I added buttons and sequins to the flower centres. The die cut sentiment on the card was cut from a scrapped watercolour background that I made ages ago and the "birthday" sentiment was stamped using faded jeans distress ink. To finish I added a sprinkling of sequins.

After die cutting the gift tag, I stamped the sentiment with faded jeans distress ink, added a flower and some sequins.

Butterfly and Flowers Stamp & Cuts set (Hero Arts), Birthday Messages (Hero Arts) and Pierced Circles Dies (Spellbinders)

Card on a Card Scramble

Yesterday in the Hero Arts Flickr Group Jayne hosted a great Scramble with the theme a card on a card. I don't think I've ever made a card on a card before but I think it's something I'll do again and again.

The ninety minutes to make, photograph and upload a card really flies by so I just tried to make a quick and easy card. To create a mini card I folded white cardstock and then die cut a circle (through both layers) at the folded edge but kept the fold just inside the circle die. After die cutting the flower shape out of the front of the mini card, I added a piece of backing card which had been stamped with the woodgrain pattern. I used shabby shutters distress ink spritzed with water. The flower was stamped on patterned paper and layered.

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Butterfly and Flowers Stamp & Cut set, It's Your Day and Woodgrain Background

To finish the flower I added clear Wink of Stella and a button. After adding the flower to the mini card I used foam dots to adhere the mini card to a kraft die cut scallop circle.

I'm submitting this card into Hero Arts Tic Tac Toe Challenge using the circles, background stamp and watercolour.

Cow Wrangler

I wanted to join in on a couple of Simon Says Stamp Challenges - the Make it Masculine Challenge and Flickr Challenge #20 with this cute and summery inspiration photo:



The greens in the inspiration photo made me think of the cows here out on the lush green pastures during the summer and the smiley sun in the photo inspired the cartoon cow and circular window. For masculine cards I usually try to keep things fairly plain and simple but like to throw in some humour and texture at the same time.



Stamp - Birthday Farm Animals (Simon Says Stamp)
Dies - Bundle of Stitched Shapes (Simon Says Stamp), Grassy Border (Lawn Fawn) & Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders)

I die cut the card face using the rectangle die from Simon Says Stamp's Bundle of Stitched Shapes and then die cut the circular window. The die cut grass was layered behind the window and I used a piece from an old pair of jeans for the background. After stamping and colouring the cow I paper pieced the sentiment in orange because it's so often used for stitching and tabs on jeans. Once the cow was complete I nestled him in the grass and adhered the card front to a kraft card base.

Moo-tiful Birthday

Barb over at the Simon Says Stamp Flickr Group has come up with a yummy colour combination for Flickr Challenge #17. Here are the colours we have to use -



The colours don't have to match shades exactly, so in the end I substituted a hot pink for the rose pink as I have lots of hot pink card which I never seem to use and thought it might go well with the other bold colours. Hopefully the bold colours I used won't hurt your eyes too much! I wanted to make a colourful background for the fun cow from Simon Says Stamp's Birthday Farm Animals set and made it with scraps of card and a die from WPlus9's Quilt Cuts 2 set. Instead of messing with a glue stick I find adding a large sticky label behind the frame of the quilt block is a quick and handy way to adhere the small pieces.

Stamp - Birthday Farm Animals set (Simon Says Stamp)
Die - Quilt Cuts 2 (WPlus9)

After stamping and cutting out the cow, I added some colour and shading.

Then I paper pieced the birthday banner and birthday hat. These days I can't seem to make a card without adding clear Wink of Stella and on this card added some shimmer to the hat and banner.