Sunday 29 December 2013

We Are Sailing At CD Sunday

My first thought for the We Are Sailing challenge at CD Sunday was a cute image from the Faye Whittaker CD but then I remembered I had used it on a previous CD Sunday challenge here so out came the House Mouse CDs and I found this cute little micicle sailing in a nutshell. Just perfect. As the backing paper is very busy I didn't want to add to much so just a die cut leaf branch, some flowers from my stash and some snippets of ribbon. And as they were snippets of ribbon, I'm popping it over to Pixie's Snippets Playground too. No greeting either as I'm not sure what it's for yet


Friday 27 December 2013

Cool Summer

I'm trying to forget the horrible wind and rain we have at the moment so I got out my Summer By The Sea stamp set by Stampin Up and had a go at the Faux Tile technique which is the current challenge at The Technique Twist. There are links to two different tutorials on the blog and I've gone with the one by Julie Warner. My twist is only slight in that after I scored the tile lines, I then drew over them with a Versamark pen and used clear embossing powder to form the grout. I've then gone lightly over it with Tumbled Glass ink and then stamped the image with the same ink. The sentiment is from the same set and punched out with a Stampin Up punch. The backing paper is from a Dovecraft Back To Basics pack which I've edged lightly with Tumbled glass and the used the seaweed stamp from the By The Tide set to add some texture at the bottom although it doesn't show very much. Some ribbon and a few gems to finish










Tuesday 24 December 2013

Technique Time Tuesday - Choose your Favourite Technique

The girls at Technique Time Tuesday have extended the deadline for the current challenge so I thought I'd have another go. It was difficult to choose a technique so I've actually used three! The first is the Faux Leather technique from September 2012. My first effort didn't go too well as when I heat embossed the clear powder the masking tape came unstuck and the card buckled. So for the second attempt I used a thicker card and burnished the masking tape with a bone folder and this turned out much better. I used Gathered Twigs Distress Ink to go over the tape before embossing. The second technique is Faux Frame from November and I've used a Nestie and Gathered Twigs ink. The third technique is the Embedded Image from February so I've covered my Nestie die cut with Versamark and clear embossed three times and then stamped the car with Versamark and used a copper embossing powder. The car has lost a lot of detail but it does have a lovely copper sheen which doesn't show up. The sentiment is from a Personal Impressions set and triple embossed to match the image. A tied string knot finishes it off


Saturday 21 December 2013

Three D's

The challenge this week at CD Sunday is to make a card with Three D's - DL, Decoupage and Die Cuts. I really can't remember the last time I made a DL card so it was a challenge. I've embossed the ends of the card with the Cuttlebug Divine Swirls folder as I didn't want to add backing paper. The image is from The Best Of La Pashe 2012 and I';ve decoupaged the man, the alka seltzer and the pain tablets and layered it onto a snippet of blue card. The die cuts are from a  balloon die (Die-namics I think) again cut from snippets to match the picture and embossed with the swirl die. The greeting is computer generated and cut with  a Stampin Up banner die


I'm also entering this into the Anything Goes Challenge at Here Come The Boys and the Celebration challenge at The Male Room

Tuesday 17 December 2013

House Mouse & Friends Last Challenge of 2013

It's the last challenge of 2013 at House Mouse & Friends and also my last one as guest designer. For this challenge you have to use gold or silver on your card. I've chosen silver and the image is from the House Mouse CD. I love these cute little micicles playing on the computer. The backing paper is from the same CD.The silver letters are embossed on mirror card using the Crafts Too Scrap Alphabet folder and the Yippee is from the Cuttlebug Friends folder - there are some great words to use on their own on this folder. A few gems and the card is finished

The challenge is open for 4 weeks due to the Christmas break so there is plenty of time to play along




Sunday 15 December 2013

Technique Time Tuesday - Stamped Punch Window

It's the last challenge of the year at Technique Time Tuesday and we are allowed to choose our favourite technique of previous challenges. I've cheated a little as the technique I've chosen is the first ever challenge and I've never done this one but I'm sure it will be a firm favourite. It's called Stamped Punch Window and you can find the details here. For my card I've used the Stampin Up set called Elementary Elegance. It's perfect for this technique as it has a window frame and matching punch. I started by stamping the frame with Dried Marigold onto cream card. I've then punched the centre of the frame out and embossed it with the Darice butterfly folder. The Happy Birthday is from the same set and stamped with the same ink on the punched shape. I've put some dark peach card onto the base card and cut a butterfly from the same cardstock with a Joy Craft die and highlighted the wings with the distress ink. The punched sentiment is stuck flat onto the base and the embossed stamped piece is stuck on with foam tape. This turned out to be a very quick card but I think it's quite pretty


Saturday 14 December 2013

More Double Stamping

Another card for The Technique Twist Double Stamping challenge - it's so nice not to be doing Christmas cards. For this one I've done some double masking using the Stampin Up Postage Collection stamp set and the Postage Stamp punch.. I've stamped the first square onto a piece of cream card then used a mask before stamping another two either side all with Vintage Photo ink and then masking these as well. I've also stamped the sentiment above from the Itty Bitty Banners set and masked that. The next step is to use the Sanded background set with Gathered Twigs before using Tea Dye over the whole card while leaving the masks in place then added some Vintage Photo around the edge to frame it. Remove all the masks and stamped the three images onto the squares and then layer it onto a cream card base

I'm also entering this into the Here Come The Boys Anything Goes challenge


Technique Twist - Double Stamping

The current technique at The Technique Twist is Double Stamping where you mask of a stamped image and stamp over it. For my card I've used my new SIzzix/Hampton Art stamp & die set. I've stamped the butterfly onto my card base using Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and cut a mask using the die and a post-it note. I've done the same with the sentiment from Stampin Up's Itty Bitty Banners stamp and matching die. I've then used Tumbled Glass DI over the card base protecting the butterfly and sentiment with the masks and then stamped Stampin Up's French Filigree background stamp with Tumbled Glass. Some Lagoon Stickles on the butterfly to finish. I love how the butterfly pops even though it's flat apart from the Stickles



Wednesday 11 December 2013

Cuttlebug Mania - Anything Christmas

It's time for our last challenge of the year at Cuttlebug Mania and the theme theme is Anything Christmas. There's a lovely prize from Digi Scrap Kits on offer and you have until Monday 16th December to enter your card

For my card I've used a pretty Marianne Design image and matted it on aqua card to match the colour in the picture.  A ribbon from my stash is tied below the image. The white backing card has been embossed with the Cuttlebug Snowflakes embossing folder and highlighted with Crystal Stickles. The branch is from a Marianne Design Twigs die cut from aqua glitter card. The sentiment is another Marianne Design die cut from the same cardstock.


Saturday 7 December 2013

Home Sweet Home

I needed a new home card for my niece who is moving into her new house just after Christmas so I thought it was perfect for the CD Sunday Home Sweet Home challenge. She is a great animal lover so I wanted to do something a little different. The image is from The Best Of La Pashe 2012 CD. There is something for everyone on this and I'm so glad I have it.The embossing on the yellow card is my new Darice Duck & Ducklings folder. I've embossed onto Coredinations but when I turned it over I preferred the debossed side. The sentiment is computer generated and layered onto green card cut with Stampin Up's curly label punch and the card is finished with a strip of sticky ribbon




Wednesday 4 December 2013

It's beginning to look like Christmas at the House Mouse & Friends Challenge blog

Oops - I scheduled this post as I knew I wouldn't be home and I forgot to press publish so this is a little late going live

The girls at House Mouse have a great new challenge for you and the theme this time is Anything Christmas.

The image on my card is from the Winter House Mouse CD and matted onto red card. The backing papers were loose in my stash so I don't know the make. I've covered the join with some glitter card. The piece on the left is actually card and I've used my screw punch to make two holes and threaded ribbon through to tie the candy cane on. The snowflakes are cut with Elizabeth Craft dies using glittered card. I had to put them through the bug a couple of time but they cut quite well. The sentiment  is from a little Helz Cuppleditch set called Santa's Workshop.


So why not pop over to the House Mouse blog to see what the other Design Team members have come up with. And don't worry that I'm late because you have plenty of time to join in - the challenge is open until Saturday 14th December

Sunday 1 December 2013

Sunday Sketch & Stamp #185

It's another week at Sunday Sketch & Stamp so it's time for a new sketch and this is what we have to play with this week - you can add a sentiment and embellishments wherever you like


For my card, I've started with three papers from the First Edition Up & Away pad. I've cut the papers and edged them with Certainly Celery ink before sticking down. The papers are double sided so I've used the back of the centre strip to nest my die cut circle on and to layer the sentiment. The bird and branch are from Stampin Up's Language of Friendship set. I've stamped the bird and wing with green ink onto a blue paper and cut with the matching punch.The branch is stamped with green ink onto the green paper and again cut with the punch. I've stamped the birds feet straight onto the white circle and then onto the stem of the branch before sticking everything down. The sentiment is from Express Yourself and cut and matted with Stampin Up punches. I wanted to add a flower to the sentiment but only had a small snippet of paper so I've used a sticky not to be able to put it in the punch and line it up with the stamped flower. This way you can use the smallest snippet to punch


I'm also entering this into Pixie's Snippets Playground when it opens and the Brown Sugar Thank You challenge

And here is my card