It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like ...

The timing on this card was perfect.  It's not long finished and I just got an email notification of the latest challenge at Double D Challenges.  There's lots of inspiration here - something I have struggled with over the last few weeks.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

If you're interested in the details, that beautiful large snowflake die is from WMS - I was lucky to pick that up before Claire closed her doors 😢 and I'm not sure if she has re-released it under the Gina K label like many of her stamp sets.

It's huge and will not fit comfortably on an A6 card so I did that off the side trick.  The other two snowflakes are also from WMS.  I thought the middle snowflake die resembled foliage so I had no worries about cutting it from green.  In fact when I looked for an appropriate stamp (to decorate the inside and the envelope) I found that she had designed a matching forest stamp - Claire is a genius at designing clever sets!

In my first design of this card, I used a red bead in the middle.  It looks great, but I'm not sure it's up to the long trip to Australia or post office franking machines.  So I used a red brad.  BUT it was just flat and ordinary SOOOO.  I applied about 3 coats of glossy accents to the brad to give it that enamel dot look (and a touch of glitter along the way for some interest).  This is an especially good trick (if you have the patience) when you want to match your  enamel dot perfectly to your project. Enamel dots are pretty expensive - and you can't possibly have them in every colour you might need.  I normally keep any "dotty leftovers" for such a purpose and I have a few dies that will quickly produce  a few different sized dots if I need them.  Because of the viscosity of Glossy Accents it stays on the dot - just make sure you keep your project flat until it's dry.  Here's a close up

Here are some other great challenges which I'm also entering

Just Add Ink - Just Add Glitter

Cuttlebug Mania - Let it Snow Challenge

Happy Little Stampers November Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

Make My Monday Challenge #59 Snow Fun

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Muse Christmas Visions Festive "Free for All"

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you like what you saw.  If you did, leave a comment so I can get to know your better and return the favour.  Your visits and comments are precious to me.

Kate

Can't See the Trees for the Wood

This pretty patterned paper from My Mind's Eye was from a free gift with Cardmaking & Papercraft Magazine and has been languishing in a box waiting to be used for some years now.  The berries on the trees gave me the idea to cut my own berries in different shades of green and brown and dress up a few twigs.

And sitting on top is a little Meadow Bird enamelled with pale green embossing powder and UTEE and sprinkled with Pale Gold Tempera Powder while the UTEE was still molten.

Initially I was only going to have my bird sitting on a single twig but being so light coloured, he was lost against the background so I had to add more twigs to frame him.  I should have gone with a brown bird with just a hint of the green - note to self!!!

I'm entering this card in the Cardz4Guyz Challenge #182 Oh! Christmas Tree

Dies : Spellbinders Cherry Blossoms (Twigs); Verve Awards Banner (Baubles); Memorybox Meadow Bird

Stamps: WMS Vintage Ornaments (Sentiment); WMS Flurries (Envelope and Inside)

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you take the time to leave a comment - your visits and feedback mean the world to me,

Kate

Falling Leaves

Inspired by the beautiful colours of Autumn, I thought I'd make some Autumn leaves today.  I die cut the oak and maple leaf from an old Spellbinders die and set about distressing them with various Distress Inks and Glimmer Mists.  IRL there is a gorgeous sheen but naturally I wasn't able to catch it  in the photograph.

I thought that since I was making this much mess, I should make a few extras for future projects.  The bead of glossy accents (meant to imitate a dew drop) wasn't yet dry in these photos I took this morning. 

Since these leaves have been distressed to within an inch of their lives, I'm entering this card in the current Timeout Challenge that has the theme

Sympathy With the Optional Twist of Distressing

I'm also entering it in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge for their Anything Goes theme

and the October Anything Goes with Dies Challenge at Happy Little Stampers

I'm entering it in the current Fusion Card Challenge

Just noticed the Double D Challenge has the theme "Leave it to Me!" so I'll be entering over there too

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you take the time to leave a comment.  Your visits and feedback mean a lot to me,

Kate

More Poppies

As I said in my last post, a bad case of flu and some family issues have had a negative effect on my mojo lately.  I thought one way to kick start it might be to revisit some old designs.  I had some of these Simon Says Stamp Poppies already made up from earlier on this year so I thought I would put some of them to use.  This first card was pretty much the same as the one I made earlier in the year, using WMS Big Day Today and the WMS Double Stitched Frames - baby steps.

But then I thought I'd try changing the matting and sentiment.  I used a a smaller internal rectangle to create a thicker frame and this simpler simple sentiment (also from WMS Big Day Today) fitted perfectly.   I actually prefer the simpler sentiment and I love how the poppy is bursting out from the frame.

I always like to dress up my envelopes so I stamped this flower from the WMS 2-step sprig (though it's actually a 3-step stamp).  I also stamped it on the inside.

The edges of the poppy petals have been distressed with black soot DI to give them some dimension,  which is fortunate for me because the current challenge at Time Out is "Sympathy with the optional twist of distressing".

Other Challenges

Happy Little Stamper October Anything Goes with Dies

Simon Says Stamp has an "Anything Goes" challenge this week

CAS on Friday has the theme "Flowers"

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you take the time to leave a comment.  Your visits and feedback mean a lot to me,

Kate

Be Spectacular

Apologies for the lack or posts recently.  A nasty bug I caught in Sydney has laid me pretty low for about 8 weeks now and I'm still not fully recovered.  I keep losing my voice but at least the coughing has subsided.  Another problem I had was that my Mac's hard disk was wiped when I upgraded it to Sierra.  Fortunately I had my photos and documents backed up but there are several things I have had to reload (or have tried to reload), so that has also kept me busy.  

There has also been some nastiness in my family concerning my older brother following the execution of my father's Will.  It's taken a lot of my energy (and my younger brother's and sister's) to support my mother through it.  Suffice to say that my father didn't make adequate provision for her and my older brother ended up being virtually the sole beneficiary.  Before you ask, "yes she is his mother too" and "no we're not talking Downton Abbey here - just a large free standing house in a leafy inner city suburb of Sydney".  He's never really got on with my siblings and me and he's been strangely distant from my mother for about 6 years now but we never dreamed he was capable of this!!!  

I actually made this card a few months back before my trip to Australia but ran out of time to post it.  It was inspired by my choir mistress.  She was wearing a very simple grey dress one Sunday last June and donned a really chic pair of red sunglasses when she stepped outside!!!  Both pairs of spectacles were cut with the Memorybox Stunning Spectacles but the red ones were coated with glossy accents and I placed tiny black gems in the corners to give them a little more pizazz!!!  

Here's the inside, "Be Spectacular" meant to look like an eye chart.  I designed it myself using Microsoft Word and Wordart.  Trouble is I can't open the file because I no longer have Word installed on my computer.  I found the installation disk but I can't find the licence key so I'll have to buy Microsoft Office again @#^$%!!! 

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you take the time to leave a comment.  Your visits and encouragement mean a lot me,

Kate

Romantic Bouquet

When I saw the Current Inspiration from The Card Concept I just had to make another version of my previous card (Wedding Bouquet).

If I had finished it a little more promptly, I could have added it in the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Patterned Paper.  As it is, the current at Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge is Anything Goes so I can still enter there.

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you take the time to leave a comment,

Kate

Wedding Bouquet in Gold and Cream

A friend of mine asked if I could make a special wedding card for her brother's wedding.  I was inspired by the invitation (below) to go with a cream and gold theme.  The gift she has for him is square so I was keen to make the card square also.  Postage was definitely not an issue and she quite liked the idea of some dimension.  I found some white resin flowers in a local hobby shop, and covered them with various cream coloured and gold alcohol inks, and surrounded them with a few golden leaves to complete the bouquet.

This is the first time I've made a card which has so much dimension.  Even though it wasn't going to be posted, I thought it would be wise to build up a raised frame and provide a little protection for the flowers.  Happily, it still fitted into a standard (square) envelope.

Supplies : Lemonade, Butterscotch, Sandal, Gold Adirondack Alcohol Inks

Dies : Yvonne Springtastic Flowers (leaves), Spellbinder Labels 14, Spellbinders Label 4, Spellbinders Adorning Squares

Other : Gold Mirror Paper 

I'm entering my card in the following challenges

Timeout Challenge 86 - obviously I'm not twisting

Celebrations with the Optional Twist of One Layer Cards

Fusion Card Challenge -  I was inspired by the Sketch (Frame and 3 flowers though I centred my bouquet) and the foliage surrounding the flowers in the jars.

The Challenge #88 - which has a new challenge of keywords - flowers and square being among them.

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you take the time to leave a comment.  They are always appreciated and I will try and return the favour when my life gets a little more normal 😊

Kate

Last Mojo

Some sad news this week with the announcement that this is the final Mojo Monday sketch.  I never play as often as I want to but they are my go-to place for a sketch when my mojo is in need of a good prod - which it definitely has recently.

It's also a contest challenge so there's Verve Stamp Sets up for grabs - Yay!!!

I've framed my sentiment using WMS Stitched Rectangles and WMS Scalloped Rectangles so I'm entering my card in the Cuttlebug Mania Challenge Frame It

I'l also be entering in the Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

CAS-ual Fridays have a fun challenge this week - to use those Pattern Papers.  I'm on a mission to do just that and managed to use 3 patterned papers on my design.

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you take the time to leave a comment

Kate

Café Latte

I wanted to create a café look with this card, so I used some Spellbinder border dies to create some curtains from some gingham paper which I've had in my stash for ages but I think it's My Mind's Eye!!!  I'm really making an attempt to use up papers however I usually buy them at an ever faster rate !!!

I used more of the DP for a table cloth and topped it with a doily.  I then set the table with a coffee pot, mugs and a sugar bowl stamped and cut from the WMS Coffee set.  There was a lovely milk jug in the stamp set but unfortunately it had no matching die - once you start using matching dies it's hard to go back to fussy cutting don't you think?  Still if you've ordered a Latté I guess you don't need a milk jug on the table right 😄!!!

This gingham paper was a difficult one to colour match - all the colours were either too blue or to green, but then I remembered this embossing powder - which is lucky because Make My Monday has an Embossing Challenge this week.

Both Shopping Our Stash  and Cuttlebug Mania have coffee related challenges at the moment.

I'll also be entering the Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies Challenge for April and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge which has an Anything Goes Challenge this week.

Thanks for stopping by, your visits and comments are always a joy.  I hope you find something to inspire you here,

Kate

Bag You're It

As a gift for my dear friend's birthday, I put together a package of cards for her.  I was then faced with the dilemma of making her another card and also making a suitable receptacle in which to present them and for her to store them in.  I decided on something a bit different and made this bag/card instead.  

It was a little challenging as it's quite a large area to fill - larger than an A5 card but fortunately I had a little help.

I found this brilliant inspiration at Timeout Challenge #81, and realised a flurry of butterflies in different sizes would be perfect to fill the large area.

I then found more inspiration in this photo at The Card Concept Challenge #71 which provided me with a lovely spring palette and the idea to use doilies at the base for an even more feminine touch.

Thanks for stopping by - your visits and comments are always a pleasure,
Kate

Glossy Accident - Almost

A friend of mine asked if I could make an anniversary card for some Scottish friends who will be celebrating their silver wedding anniversary.  Luckily it happened to coincide with a NBUS Challenge over at Darnell's Blog so I wanted to post it before to closed.  In my haste to get it photographed, I didn't wait until the glossy accents dried.

Do you see what I mean.  Fortunately I noticed before too much damage was done - phew!  It's going to lay flat for any future photo shoots.   

Unfortunately the silver detail on the hearts isn't visible in this photo because of the extra thick coat of glossy accents I had to reapply.  I stamped and embossed the heart from  WMS Celtic Heritage in silver on navy card.  I then used the heart die from the WMS My Heart die set (though any open heart die would do) and ended up with a celtic patterned heart.  

Here's a closer look at the hearts - boo boo and all!!!

The Cheery Lynn die is NBUS.  I had tried to use it before but the die cut is quite long and won't fit on a card front - if you try to truncate the die cut the middle bits fall out because of the design.  I had a light bulb moment and partially die cut one end, repositioned the die cut in the other end of the die and partially cut the other end.  Now there are three links instead of five so it fits on an A6 card front and the middle bits are intact.

Do pop over to Darnell's blog - you're sure to have a giggle !!! 

So glad you stopped by, your visits and comments always brighten my day,

Kate

Cupcakes Anyone?

When I saw the Mojo Monday Sketch earlier in the week I knew what I wanted to do, I just had to wait until this evening to get some time on it.  I used the Verve Cupcakes stamp set for the split sentiment.  I used the WMS Crackle Background stamp embossed in gold for the icing on the top of the cake.

Here's the sketch for Mojo Monday #489 - it made me think pull tab element so that's what I went with. 

I've used several dies to get the effect I wanted, so I'm entering in the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - to use more than 1 die or punch.  Here are the die (sets) I used

Marianne D. Cupcake (5 die set)

Crealies Stitched Square

PTI Shutterbug dies (for the pull out element)

MFT Vertical Greeting II (trimmed for the pull tab)

I'm also entering in the Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies Challenge for March

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you take the time to leave a comment.  Your visits and comments are always a joy,

Kate