Three more Christmas cards

 Hi there.   Today I have a couple of Christmas cards to share.  These were made over the time I had off.  

My first one uses a little gel press focal image. 

I was playing with a circle gel plate and different mediums.  I tried inks and some acyrlic paints.  This one used some Jo Sonya paints.  I brayered the paint and then used a Gina K stamp (Holiday Tapestry) to rempove some of the paint before pulling a print.  I then used a circle die to cut it out.    I used one of the sentiments from the stamp set to make a the panel.  I used an embossing folder to add some texture to the background.   There are a few other circle backgrounds... but this was my favourite.  

Card Two - started with some bits on my desk.  

The plaid background was made a long time ago... It's a Catherine Pooler stamp inked in some CP ink. The die cut is a Catherine Pooler one as well that I had die cut last week and never used.   I used an Altenew stamp and die set - Sophisticated Wreath.  I used a variety of Altenew inks.  I stamped the base layer straight onto the panel and then stamped the die cut the flowers and leaves.   I added a Christmas sentiment and some red gems.  

And my last one I did yesterday after looking through my patterned paper packs for Christmas papers

I used Gina K Master Layouts to cut my papers and the layers.  I wanted some gold layers so added some washi tape around the edges of the layers.  The sentiment is a Lily of the Valley digital sentiment.  I printed the entire page of sentiments and trimmed them out.   I used an older wooden stamp Poinsettia.  It is from a now defunct NZ coy.  I gold embossed it on vellum and then stamped it on red card.  I fussy cut and layered together.  All in all a CAS card.  

thanks for stopping by.  Take care out there.  

Floral window at Die Cut Divas.

Hi there.  It's the last day of the month so it's time for my last card for Die Cut Divas for our April ochallenge.    Our sponspr this month is Poppystamps and our challenge theme is  WINDOW or APERTURE CARD

I bought this really cute die from Poppystamps and here's what I made

I made a green watercolour sheet and used it to die cut the Intricate die.  I used an embossing folder with some white card that I had cut with a Spellbinders square die. I used some 3D tape to add behind the frame.  I added the frame to a panel that I had on hand... that had been made with my Gelli Plate and an Altenew stencil.  To finish I added a die cut sentiment.  This is from Britannia Dies and I cut it from black card that had been covered with clear packing tape.  This gives it a really glossy look with out the mess of Glossy Accents. 

You have till 9.00pm (US Pacific Time) to join us here.  We'd love to see your creations.  

Stencil embossed background.

 

I saw the latest challenge at The Flower Challenge and wanted to have a play.   I started with a piece of green gelli print sheet. 

Next step was to take a Paper Roses Spring flowers stencil and using my Cuttlebug and an embossing pad, emboss the paper.  It makes a beautiful subtle embossed background.  I matted the panel onto some ivory card and then onto an ivory base.  I then took some of the ivory card and used Altenew's Natures Blossom stamps to make the flower to add.  I used the matching stencil to colour the base level and then used the other grey inks to add the inner layers.  Once I die cut the flowers and levels I added some gold thread and then added them to the base.  I had the little birthday sentiment stripe in my "magic mug" so added it.  A few gems finished my card.  

Did have a wee boo - when I went to trim off the overhanging leaf - I nipped a little of the card base - but oh well.... it's a handmade card!

thanks for stopping by.  

WWC 289 Heidi's Challenge: Anything Goes With a Masculine Twist

 Welcome back to another challenge at Watercooler Wednesday.  This week Heidi is our hostess with an Anything Goes with a Masculine Twist.  

I do struggle with Masculine cards at times.  This is a very simple card using a background I recently made with my Gelli Plate and some stencils.  I forgot to note which inks I used.  I know they are Distress Oxides.  I made the base layer with a pale green, used the stencil to remove some colour and then use the stencil in the normal way.  

I cut my panel into three pieces and added to a dark green card base.  I then took the Altenew Apothecary label stamp set and used some Mountain Pine ink.  I used my MISTI as I inked the stamp 4 times to get a good dark coverage.  I then took an Altenew sentiment and white embossed it onto the label. 

Come and join in the fun at  Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and check out the project from the other designers.  Then take our challenge and link up your project to the challenge post.    We'd love to have you join us.  You have until Monday at 5 pm Mountain Standard Time (Tuesday at 11.00 am NZ time ) to link up your project.

Make a Background at Sweet Stampin' Challenge.

Well my friends... this post is coming to you LATE!  Yes I completely lost the plot and forgot to post... well even make a card for this challenge... Bad Designer team member!!! I thought I still had a week to go...saw the post from Sweet Stampin' Challenge pop up on my blogger feed and thought Oh C**p!  So there I was at 10.pm last night riffling through my stash for a background I had made and could make up into a card ASAP!

Here's what the result was

 My background was made last year when I was doing a Gelli plate class - I used Altenew inks to make a print by stamping on the plate with the leave stamp and then stamping off with the leaves onto another sheet of paper.  That is what this is - the off stamping.  I trimmed up the panel and used some Magenta Altenew ink to add a glow around the edge using a blending brush.  I stamped a sentiment from my new Clearly Besotted Say Something set which I matted with some dark pink card.  Added a few dusky pink sequins and hey presto and card done in 10 mins.

So do come and join us at Sweet Stampin' Challenge with a project where you make your own background.

Thankful for You at Die Cut Divas.

Hi there.  It's my day to share a card for Die Cut Divas.

Frantic Stamper is our fantastic sponsor for October and the winner will receive a fantastic die.  Here it is!

Priced at $25.99 - Prize for October

The challenge for October is Fall or Fall Colors.  You can work with the wonderful Fall colors or any holidays in October - for Americans, it's Halloween, so work your FALL MAGIC for us.

Frantic Stamper has so much to offer, stencils, stamps and dies.  Frantic Stamper carries their own brand as well as many other well known brands, such as Altenew, Elizabeth Craft Designs, and Hero Arts.

For my project today I am inspired by wonderful golden/orange palette of the Fall foliage.

The basis for my card was the stamped leaves I made awhile back with my Gelli plate, some Altenew inks and stamps.  This piece was the stamp off piece as I was making patterns with the leaves onto the Gelli plate. I overstamped the outline leaves in a darker orange.  My Thankful die is from Catherine Pooler Designs and the little For You is from Catherine Pooler Designs "Autumn Blessings" stamp set. 

Do come and join us at Die Cut Divas , we'd love to have you join us with your Fall or Fall colour creations using you Die Cut Machines

Hello Lovely Ellie

Hi.  It's my day to share over at Die Cut Divas. 

Our sponsor this month is Elizabeth Craft Designs and our theme is "HOT"

For my card I used ECD - Elephant die and Party Accessories die .  Elephants live in HOT climates... a bit of push... but here you go.

I used some grey and pink card to die cut out the pieces of the elephant die.  I decided I need to give her some arms.  I edged the pieces with some ink - dark grey on the grey card and some pink on the ears.  I used a piece of gold ink gelli print paper that I had made a while back to make my background.  I added some green card to make my grass with a Fiskers punch.  I added my little Elephant and gave her a crown.    The sentiment is from a Concord and Ninth set.

So do come and join us this month at Die Cut Divas

WWC235 Marsha's Masculine "Anything Goes" challenge

Hello there, it’s time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  Marsha is our hostess this week with a Masculine "Anything Goes"  challenge.

A simple and fun card.  My background is one I made a few weeks back as part of my Altenew Academy class - Monoprinting Made Easy.  I inked up my Gelli plate with some Parrot and Olive Altenew inks, and then using the base layer of the leaf from the Beautiful Day set I pulled off some of the ink and stamped it onto some white card.  I added some extra leaves by using the Olive ink, stamping off twice before adding it onto panel.  It gives a great subtle colour.  To keep the card masculine I didn't add anything more than the sentiment.  It's from CAS-ual Fridays - Whole Shebang set.   Perfect for those guy cards.

Come join in the fun.  Check out the projects that the artists at Watercooler Wednesday Challenges have created then take the challenge and link your creation to the challenge post. We’d love to have you join us.  You have until Mondays at 5 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (Tuesdays at 11.00am NZ time) to link up your project

 Thanks for stopping by today.  

Christmas Twofer - Christmas Kickstart #16

Over at Jo's Christmas Kickstart this fortnight she has the lovely Darnell as her elfin helper.... and as Darnell runs her own challenge - Twofer Card Challenge... that's what its all about.  Create two Christmas cards using two different designs but only one stamp/die with the prompt being Christmas Tree.   

 

I did have to think a bit about this one... then it came to me that I could practice my Gelli plate backgrounds and make that my twofer.   So off I went and inked by the Gelli plate, lifted off some trees and stamped onto card... then realised I had two similar backgrounds...and the idea was to use two different designs.  Oh well, at least I had one card done...and then the second one came quickly to mind... CAS as is my want!  So here they are:

  

For my Gelli plate background I used some Altenew Parrot and Olive inks to add the colour to my plate and then a quick spritz of water and used my Hero Arts "Merry Merry Christmas Tree" stamp to pull off some of the ink.  Because it's not a full solid stamp, it was hard to see where it came off the plate but I got some awesome stamping onto my other card.   Once my print had dried, I use the olive ink to add some of the trees back onto the background.  I the took a Catherine Pooler stamp "Wonderful Time of the Year" to add a sentiment.  Just a few gold faceted gems and it was done.   And the bonus is I still have this background to use

My second twofer card uses an embossing folder for it's background with the tree stamped in the centre panel.  I found the sentiment in a Me to You Carte Blanche set (from 2014) - I used just the fist tree words from the sentiment.

And as I went over to link this up at Christmas Kickstart I was nicely surprised to see my Angel card made a Star on the top of the Tree for the last challenge... Thanks for choosing me Jo.

It's a cold winter's day here today, so was fun to spend some time in the crafting room with the heater on.  Later today Miss Grace is coming to visit Nanny (and Pop) when her parents come for dinner.  They are off to Hawaii next weekend for a week.  Big trip with a 3 month old but I'm sure she'll take it in her stride.   I haven't seen her for two weeks so looking forward to all the smiles I've been seeing on her mummy's Instagram and Facebook.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Happy crafting this weekend.

Thanks to CAS-ual Fridays...

Over at Die Cut Divas this month, CAS-ual Fridays has been our sponsor.  Our theme is "Anything Goes" with an

I have a few CAS-ual Friday's stamps and dies. Here is my card for the final day of the month.

I used a piece of card stock I had previously embossed with an Altenew Stencil.  I love the subtle texture this technique gives. I used the stamps from CAS-ual Fridays' Pretty Posies set.  I white embossed them and then used Altenew Watercolour Paints - Coral Berry and Purple Wine.  My leaves were die cut with Casual Vine die (no longer available) from some of the Gelli plate inked backgrounds I made in the last weekend.  A few Nuvo drops and the white embossed sentiment finished my card.

Thanks CAS-ual Fridays for sponsoring our challenge.