June Anything Goes with Die Cut Divas

It’s the end of June, which means it’s time to share my cards for the Die Cut Divas June challenge. This month, our theme is Anything Goes, so there was plenty of room to play, experiment, and have fun with colour and texture. I made two cards for the challenge, and the first one will be featured on our blog post

For my first card, I started with two experimental panels I had made using some inexpensive acrylic sprays I picked up last Friday. The colours turned out beautifully bright and vibrant. After spraying the panels, I added a spritz of Sparkle Spray for a little extra shimmer.

I used an older Kaisercraft die to cut layered flowers from the pink and blue panel, then cut the leaves from the green and yellow panel. Once the flowers were layered together, I finished each one with a pearl centre.

For the background, I used a leafy stencil with green ink, then ran it through the die-cutting machine with a tan mat to emboss the design. It created such lovely texture and made the perfect base for the flowers and leaves. I finished the card with a hot-foiled sentiment.

 

My bonus card was made a week or so ago. I embossed two panels, one red and one white, together using one of my many embossing folders. To bring out the detail on the red panel, I lightly highlighted the embossing with white ink.

I found a small birthday sentiment that fitted perfectly into the clear strip across the card. To finish, I added a Montie’s Craft Supplies layered butterfly, cut from white card and covered with a Gold Sparkle pen for a touch of shine.

I’m also looking forward to the weekend, as I’m heading south to Tauranga, about a three-hour drive, for the Craft and Create Show on Friday and Saturday. I’ll drive down on Friday, spend some time with my sister-in-law and her family, visit the show on Saturday, and then head home on Sunday.

An extra bonus will be getting to meet my newest great-nephew. It will also be my first time driving that far on my own, so it feels like a bit of an adventure!

Craft Roulette #325 - Diamond Flip Fold Tartan Christmas Card

I had some time today to get creative and make a card for Craft Roulette #325. After watching the replay yesterday afternoon, I did a quick search for Flip Fold card ideas and found plenty of inspiration for different card bases.

For my project, I decided to try a Diamond Flip Fold card. This was my first time making this style of card, and I followed a helpful YouTube tutorial to guide me through the process: 

I found some free tartan patterned images on Pinterest and printed a full A4 page, then cut the paper into panels for the card. The tartan pattern worked beautifully with the flip fold design and gave the card a cosy, festive feel.

For the front diamond, I used a sentiment from Rosie’s Studio – Hearth & Home. The inner sentiment is from Catherine Pooler Designs – Wonderful Time of the Year, and the word “TIME” also fits my Element parameter. To finish the card, I added a tartan bow cut with the Poppy Stamp Grosgrain Bow die, along with some little tartan dot embellishments that I die cut.

I really enjoyed making this card. Since it was my first time trying a flip fold design, I was pleased to find it much easier than I expected. It’s a card style I’d be happy to make again!

Mixed Media Butterflies for Die Cut Divas

 Hello crafty friends! Today I’m sharing my sample card for Die Cut Divas, where our June challenge theme is Anything Goes. Although we don’t have an official sponsor this month, we do still have a prize: one of our Divas won a $25 gift card to Whimsy Stamps and has generously chosen to pass it on. The gift card will be awarded by random draw from eligible June entries.

For my card, I created a mixed media background and paired it with layered butterfly die cuts. The butterflies were cut using Montie’s Craft Supplies Layered Butterflies from a piece of bubble watercolour card that had not quite worked out. Happily, it turned out to be perfect for these little cuties. I added Silver Lining Lunar Paste over the smaller layered pieces to give them a lovely shimmer and extra dimension.

To create the main panel, I first primed the surface with clear gesso, which gave the card a beautiful “tooth” and made it ideal for adding layers. I then “watercoloured” some Altenew Leaves by colouring directly over the stamp with watercolour brushes, spritzing it with water, and stamping the image onto the panel.

Once the leaves had dried, I used a Dina Wakley mini stencil to add brick details with Catherine Pooler brown ink. I also stamped randomly with a Hero Arts scripty stamp to build up more texture and interest in the background. After everything was completely dry, I added the butterflies and the sentiment strips, which I printed on my computer.

To finish the card, I added splatters of white Dina Wakley acrylic paint. I love how the soft watercolour, stenciled texture, script stamping, and shimmery butterflies all came together for a layered mixed media look.

I hope you’ll come and join us for our June Challenge - Anything Goes. Just remember to include a die cut and/or embossing folder on your project, of course! 

Stencil It - Simon Says Stamp Flickr group challenge.

There’s nothing quite like happy mail to spark a burst of creativity! Today, my new supplies from Simon Says Stamp arrived.  I had won a gift voucher and was pleased to get these. Once I had received the notification that they were there, I decided to finish work early so I could head home and make something.

Simon Says Stamp runs a monthly challenge on their Flickr group page, and June’s theme is “Stencil It.” It was the perfect excuse to put my new goodies straight to use.

I started with the Simon Says Stamp A2 Nested Stitched Rectangles, using one of the dies to cut a panel for my card. For the background, I pulled out Tim Holtz Doily stencil and did some soft ink blending with the leftover ink on my blending brush. The result was a subtle, pretty background that added just the right amount of interest without overpowering the focal image.

For the main image, I used another new arrival: the Simon Says Stamp Iceland Poppies die. This one-piece die cuts petals for two flowers, along with two stems and two flower centres. I cut everything from white cardstock, then used the remaining ink on my pinky-red, yellow, green, and brown blending brushes to add colour. Once the pieces were blended, I layered the flowers together and added them to the panel.

To finish the card, I stamped a sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Handwritten Sentiments stamp set and die cut it with the smallest of the nested rectangles. For a little extra oomph, I blended a touch of soft pink ink over the sentiment while it was still in the die.

I’m also adding this card to Darnell’s NBUS challenge, as both dies are getting their very first outing.

On a personal note, today is my youngest grandson’s third birthday. I had a quick video call with him this afternoon while he was enjoying time at Perth Zoo, which was lovely. His birthday card still hasn’t made its way to him, even though I posted it nearly two and a half weeks ago. Hopefully it arrives soon!

Christmas Kickstart - Snow Days

Over the weekend, I managed to sneak a few happy hours in my craft room and create a card for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge theme, Snow Days. I started with one card, but once it was finished, it felt more wintry than Christmassy. So, using the same snowflake embossing folder, I had another go and came up with this festive version.

For the Christmas card, I started with a square panel and ran it through with an old freebie snowflake embossing folder. It may be from years ago, but it still creates such lovely, deep impressions and makes a beautiful snowy background.

Penny Black’s Snowy stamp and die felt like the perfect focal point. I stamped and die cut the image, coloured it, and then added Kindyglitz glitter glue to the pompom and hat for a little festive sparkle. To finish, I added a small red die-cut sentiment from a Sizzix die set.

This the first card I made using the same embossing folder, along with the stamp that originally came with it. I stamped the image first in blue ink, clear embossed it, and then added the embossed snowflake background.

To bring in some extra shimmer, I added sparkle pen details and white Nuvo Drops, then finished the design with a blue snowflake die from Scrapbook.com coloured with sparkle pen. I really liked how this one turned out, even if it felt more like a winter card than a Christmas one.

Craft Roulette #324 - Butterflies, sweets and purple

This weekend’s Craft Roulette parameters were nice to us crafters, and I had fun bringing them together in this sweet little easel card. I decided to go with a 4.25-inch square design, which gave me just the right amount of space to play with layers, texture, and a cheerful mix of cakes and sweets, butterflies, and purple accents.

 

To start, I folded the card base and created the top panel. For my table element, I used a Journalsay sticker featuring a table full of cakes and sweets—I placed the sticker onto white card, then did a little die surgery with a Waffle Flower deckled die to cut it into a panel. A purple mat helped the image stand out beautifully, and I added a Journalsay butterfly sticker in the corner for a delicate finishing touch.  I always love finding something Purple when I'm in a craft store!

For the sentiment, I die cut a “Hello” from my stash using the same purple card, then stamped the sub-sentiment from Altenew’s Fabulous Florets set with Catherine Pooler Royal Treatment ink. To create the stopper for the easel card, I used a Martha Stewart punch to cut a lacy purple panel, then layered two more pieces of card behind it to give it extra thickness. It ended up reminding me of a pretty lace tablecloth, which tied in so nicely with the sweet table scene.

I finished the card with another butterfly and a few dot embellishments, and I love how all the little details came together. The cakes, lace-inspired stopper, soft butterflies, and purple accents made this such a fun card to create.

Bright and Cheerful Stenciled Card

This month, Maxine set a fun challenge for our NZ Swap group: “Use a stencil.” It was such a great prompt, and I decided to make something bright, cheerful, and full of colour. For my card, I created a bold, stenciled background that really became the feature of the design.

The background stencil is a large one from Kmart, and while I didn’t quite manage to fit every rainbow colour onto the panel, I loved the colours that made it in. The bright rainbow blend gave the card such a happy feel. To add a little extra interest, I stamped some black sparkle details using the Big Bang Bling stamp set from Walter and Winnie.

For the focal point, I used the Perfect Gift stamp, die, stencil, and embossing folder combo from Altenew. I stamped the flower, added colour with the coordinating stencils, die cut it, and then ran it through the embossing folder for extra texture. To finish the card, I added a sentiment from the Simon Hurley/Spellbinders Must-Have Sentiments hot foil set. I used silver foil on white cardstock, then ink blended over it with black ink so it would tie in beautifully with the sparkle details.

After two weeks the card finally made it's way south to Jude.   Happy it finally arrived. 

Can't wait to see what Carol comes up with for July's challenge!

Craft Roulette #322: A 1970s-Inspired Postcard Card

It’s my second week in a row joining in with Craft Roulette, and I’m really enjoying the challenge. I watched the replay on Sunday and immediately felt inspired by the parameters the wheel spun this week.

As soon as I saw the challenge, I knew exactly which stamp I wanted to use: the Hero Arts Big Postcard woodblock stamp. I’ve had this stamp in my stash for such a long time, so it felt good to pull it out and give it some love again.

For the colour palette, I searched for 1970s colours and found plenty of inspiration in warm, earthy tones. I settled on browns, burnt orange, maroon, and avocado green — such a classic retro combination.

The card came together really well. I embossed a kraft-coloured panel with Altenew’s Organic folder, which added the texture I wanted and worked perfectly with the 70s feel. I then used the Simon Says Stamp Circle Loops die to cut a kraft circle for the wreath. The flowers and leaves were cut from different coloured cardstock using the Sizzix Spring Foliage set, and I added Copper Penny and Rhubarb Crumble Nuvo Drops for a little extra detail. For the pre-printed element, I used a sentiment from Paper Rose.

I actually finished the card on Tuesday, but Wednesday threw me a bit of a curve ball, so I didn’t get a chance to photograph and submit it until this morning. I’m glad I still managed to get it entered — and even happier to have another much-loved stamp back in use.