Autumn Film Birthday

The Autumn Days stamp set from Stampin' Up has been around for a while now, it's one of the first sets I bought and I still love it and love thinking of new ways to use it.  This card was inspired by the sketch challenge at Less Is More this week, which is beautiful in it's simplicity- actually I think I may have 'over-egged the pudding' with this one, but I will still give it a go.
Here is the sketch:

It reminded me of a film frame I had seen in a magazine once and so I cut one out of black card stock and used my punch to add the tiny holes you see on 35mm film.  Then I masked off the rest of the card and stamped the pheasant, moving the image across each time so it looks like the frames of a moving image.

I added a sentiment which I inked up in the same colours as I used for the bird image and then heat embossed to make it more defined. I think this will make a lovely masculine card for one of the men in my family, probably my Dad as he's a bit of a bird watcher!

Nesting Tree

No it's not a tree for a bird, it's my Christmas tree card created from a set of pennant shaped nesting dies. I can't claim the idea was mine, I cased it from a crafty friend and it was simple to make and quite effective.  I've also made it into an easel card as you can see from the photo

This card is for this weeks challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown where the team are looking for cards using die cuts. Hop on over and look at the other cards made by the DT - they really are fabulous and we'd love it if you had a go too!
I am also entering it into the challenge at Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge where no patterned papers are allowed.

Perfectly Preserved Kraft

I am having a lot of fun with my new Perfectly Preserved stamp set and the challenge at cas-ual Fridays this week has given me another excuse to get it out again. This week the DT is challenging us to use Kraft card in our CAS designs.  I have used some Twitterpated DSP from SU too and the colours are also from Stamping up; Indigo Island, Lucky Limeade and Calypso Coral with a little crumb cake.

I made a sentiment banner, using a stamp from the Sweet Cake set and some kraft and lucky limeade cardstock, adding a couple of gorgeous brads as a finishing touch.  I'm making as many cards as I can as for Christmas I like to give the other ladies in the family a pack of hand-crafted cards for them to send to friends and family through the coming year.  As my daughter left home this year there is one more pack to make!

Life's a jar of Cherries

It was my birthday yesterday and I found a little time to craft so I made this card, especially for the simply Stamping sketch challenge.

 I really wish that I had a large oval die or punch as I think it would have been better, but sometimes you have to just make do and this was one of those times. I used my new stamp set again, this time stamping the jar in white onto acetate, I cut out two and stamped a spare on to act as a mask. Choosing the DSP was easy, all from SU's range Festival of Prints and I used some organza ribbon to add some detail. I stamped the cherries stamp through the mask to get the shape of the jar and then stuck the acetate over the top, then the bow and then a second layer of acetate adds dimension

The greeting is held on with two little brads and everything is layered onto a card made from Naturals White CS.
I didn't have time to post it yesterday as we all went out for lunch at a local pub and then had birthday cake and family movies for the rest of the day.  With one or two presents and cards thrown in it was a lovely day! Oh and even better, I'm having a crafting party on Thursday evening. The week just gets better!

Perfectly Preserved

We all love to get new stuff, don't we, and I'm no exception.  This week I got hold of a new set of stamps from Stampin' Up called Perfectly Preserved.  I have to admit that when I first saw these I was not particularly taken but I have seen so many lovely cards made using them I have changed my mind completely.  I have made a couple of cards as you can see.  The first one is called a Double Dutch fold, don't know why.

We made these cards at my Monthly craft group, run by my local Stampin' Up demonstrator and so the stamp set was straight out of the bag and inked up! The DSP is also from SU and I've added more inside along with a stamped sentiment.
My second card featuring this set is just a simple take on a jar of wild flowers

The card stock is Naturals White, which has a tiny fleck in it and the stamp set and paper are as before.  I added a piece of bakers twine around the neck of the jar before matting the card down.  Again,the sentiment is stamped inside. I have used the colour palette from Mynnette's DT challenge again, you can find the details here.

Glitter Bird

The Glitter Bird was created as my interpretation of a photo inspiration challenge for a DT call.  A new challenge blog called Inkspirational will be starting in 2013 and there are 4 challenges to enter if you would like to be considered. You can find them here and it's open until the end of November so you still have lots of time if you want to be considered.
Here's the photo -Isn't he cute?

The glitter bird is a die cut, which I have slightly altered and the branches are from the Two step bird punch from Stampin' Up. The red berries and the frosty feel of the photograph are also there in the silver heat embossed edging and the use of glitter card.  I used a dark grey card stock and the silver edge made me think of night time so I am also entering this card in this week's challenge at casology.  I just found a new challenge blog at The Cupboard Trilogy Challenge, where there are three challenges on the same theme each month - a card, a scrapbook layout and anything goes.  I loved the DTs inspirations so much I wanted to enter and as the theme is anything that flies, I think my glitter bird will be OK. Please think about having a look at their blog too!
Ooops, nearly forgot to show you my card! ...

Finally, I added a little red bow, and as it goes over the edge of the card, I will also enter in the cas-ual Fridays Challenge.

Fairy Lights

Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without fairy lights.  In fact, all of my children have had bedrooms strung with fairy lights at some time.  I like the multi-coloured ones best! As you may have guessed this is the theme for this week's challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown where there is this lovely photograph to inspire you

Now, I bet you thought I would go all out with lots of bling and shiny stuff, didn't you?  Well, instead I have showcased two papers, both of which feature fairy lights, not a gem stone in sight! I used the neverending card fold too, just to make the most of those papers. Here is my card in all of it's folds

The centres are a little Christmas tree stamp, embossed in gold and I did them in various colours to keep with the muliticolour theme.  I also used a little 3 piece Christmas tree punch. This type of card fascinates me, but I have yet to find a glue which sticks them well enough as they do come loose at the corners- does anyone have any suggestions?
Don't forget we are still offering a super prize of some lovely stamps from the Alota Rubber Stamps company, just look at Birgit's card to see another one for this week.  Best of luck with the challenge!

DIY DSP

The challenge at Simply Stamping #81 is simply brilliant - create your own designer paper, or as they put it DIY DSP! I have had so much fun with this and I am sure some of those other DSPs I've stamped will make it to my blog another day.  Here is my current favourite

I am working on a challenge for this colour combination at the moment and so a card was born! I used a new to me stamp set.  Its a retired 2 step stamping set from SU called Border Builders.  It was a recent find on ebay and came to me from the USA - how very exciting! I used Pretty in Pink and Basic Black cardstock and inks and the sentiment is from Sweet Cake. The die cut stars are popped up on dimensionals. Off to craft some more as there is only me home tonight...bliss!

Nature Walk Christmas

I made this card to enter the challenge at Less is More where it's a one layer card featuring something with wings .  Well, I did go for the obvious - the little bird from SUs Nature Walk, but I stamped him off the page and added a sprig of holly in his beak.  I stamped in Crumb Cake and River Rock and coloured in the leaves and berries with my markers.  I made a double score line to 'ground' the bird image and the card blank is a lovely textured ivory colour. I have made a few of these cards as I'm rather pleased with the design. As it is also very clean and simple I would like to enter it in the challenge at Addicted to Stamps where it's a CAS week.

An Elegant Christmas Tree

The colour challenge which the DT at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown have for you this week definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. Nothing difficult about it - Green, brown, cream and metallic gold but for me it's a combination which I don't often use, although don't those golden acorns look gorgeous?

I am sure that lots of you will be able to create something fabulous with these.  My card features Lovely As A Tree, stamped and embossed in gold and then stamped again in green onto cream card stock.  I have constructed a double frame around the stamped image with some retired DSP Christmas Wishes, I think and added some stars and large green pearls at the corners.  The finishing touch is a double bow with some wide organza gold star dotted ribbon, topped with a smaller bow from Chocolate Chip scalloped edge ribbon.

Casology #14 Leaf

A very topical challenge from the DT at Casology this week for those of us for whom Autumn is well and truly here! The colours of the leaves on the trees are spectacular right now and it was the cue 'Leaf' and those colours which inspired this card

I picked up this little leaf punch at a local craft shop and have made this simple card with the addition of some scoring and a pop of orange Stampwrite marker. There are two little leaves inside the card which show through the punched holes, they were made to look like a couple of leaves swirling in the wind. Artistic moment over.

Bargello and a snowman

Just wanted to share this little chap with you all.  He's actually only here to showcase the background which I made using the tutorial at Technique Tuesday which shows you step by step how to make bargello backgrounds. It really is very simple, not too time consuming and, best of all, uses up all your scraps of beautiful DSP that you can't bear to throw away.

Quick Circles in the snow

A new month and a new sketch at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown, this time designed by Jacqueline.  Do pop over to the blog and have a look at the cards created by the rest of the team, they all have such fabulous ideas and, much more excitingly, there is a fantastic prize in October for the overall Monthly winner, kindly donated by our sponsor Alota Rubber Stamps. Each week our very talented and creative guest DT member Birgit with showcase the stamp that can be won.

I was quite excited when I saw this week's challenge myself as I love designs with circles.I decided not to play around with it too much, and actually came up with two versions of the same card. You could easily make a whole set as they don't take long to make at all, if you do all the die cutting in advance they take less than 5 minutes each to assemble (always good if you've got a lot to do!). Here they are

The copper card uses copper foil, which I die cut the circles and then embossed, the silver card is just silver mirri board so I've got a metallic thing going on here. I embossed with a snowflake design, but they look very effective with polka dots, stars, any texture!   I used black card blanks and stamped my snowflake image onto them to make a background using Adirondack Snowcap ink.  The sentiments are peel-offs.
The silver one I am entering in this week's Less is More challenge where it is week 88 - a colour challenge and the colour is silver.

CAS Squirly Tree

Now here's a Christmas card that for once has not been made for the 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown challenge - this time it's for  St Lukes Charity Cards Challenge where they are asking for Simple Christmas this month.  This card started out as something completely different when I stamped the green frame by using my Lucky Limeade ink pad as a stamp.  This has been the technique which I've been messing around with today, I just love it's simplicity and yummy texture.
Then, I came by this gorgeous Christmas Tree stamp, quite by surprise when I went round to a friend's house and she was having a clear out.  Wasn't I in luck? I double heat embossed it in gold and then added a few bits of red bling.  Done, one CAS Christmas card, I am rather pleased with it!

Stick Around

I do like the challenges over at Casology where they supply a cue card with a word, it's such a simple idea and the entries are always very varied and amazing.  This week the word is 'ZOO' I racked my brains as I don't have any wild animal stamps or papers and then I remembered this little chap -you do find geckos and other lizards in zoos, right?

I only used two colours, Lucky Limeade and Pool Party. I stamped the image and then masked it while I stamped the frame, by pressing the ink pad onto the card. I love the textured finish this very simple technique gives you. I matted it onto more pool Party cardstock and added a sentiment which I produced on the computer. Finally I added some green 'Stickles' to make his eyes shine. I am sure I have seen these beautiful creatures in the zoo, although they are not quite as stand out as the lions, tigers and the elephants they are very iconic I think.

CASEd Thank you card

Mynette, over at On a Stampage is setting up an exciting new weekly challenge blog which will be known as Inkspirational (where does she get it from??)  and she's looking for a DT.  If you are interested hop on over to her blog and look at the 4 card challenges Mynnette has set us. My card today comes from her first DT 'tests' and it is a cased card. Here is the original.

 and here is my version, do you think it's close enough? I inked and coloured the flower parts before joining them with a gorgeous fabric covered brad, which I'd been saving for a special occasion!

I embossed the panel of the same pink card stock as the flower and matted onto basic grey and made a little extra sentiment using my Sweet Cake stamp set. I cut the oval by hand as I don;t have the right size punch, can you tell? I added leaves originally to the flower but took them off as I felt they 'disturbed' the pink and grey colour combo.  As a finishing touch I scored a frame around the card.
I hope Mynnette likes what I've done with her card