The Bee's Knees

I haven't had much time for crafting this year while I'm nursing my youngest son after surgery on his leg and foot.  Whenever I've started contemplating a card, I'll hear "Muuuuum" and that will be the end of that train of thought.  However after 3 weeks of being post-op and no return to school in sight (and a trip to the Expo Creative where I treated myself to some new goodies), I was determined to start something on the weekend and was finally successful in finishing something.

I bought this new honeycomb die with the express purpose of using it with this fabulous Verve "What's the Buzz" stamp set and matching dies and I wanted to use it first.  One of my favourite places for sketch inspiration has always been the Verve team so when I saw this sketch from Julee at Viva la Verve, a card started taking shape. 

Viva la Verve January Sketch Challenge 

Not a very traditional Valentine's Day card, but I'm not one for lot's of red love hearts anyway.  This one is certainly eye-catching (in a 'scuse me while I get my sunglasses kind of way).

I almost used a feather but this scroll die was another newbie so I thought I'd use it instead. 

Here are some of the other challenges I'm entering

Cuttle Bug Mania's Valentine's Day Challenge

SSS Wednesday "Layer It Up" Challenge

Addicted to Stamps "Anything Goes" Challenge

Happy Little Stampers "Anything Goes with Dies" Challenge

I love that you stopped by and appreciate all your comments.  

Have a great week,

Kate 

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