30 Days of Crafting - Day 7

 I am so happy to be back crafting.   And you know I love my Altenew products so I wanted to play with the 30 Days of Crafting challenge.... a daily prompt for making a project. 

Day 7 - was Make a card using Altenew Keyhole system.  If you haven't seen this system... it's the easiest way to layer floral dies...matching up keyhole symbols.  

I recently saw somewhere on YouTube someone who printed some images from PNGwing onto vellum.  For the life of me, I can't remember who it was!  Have download a couple of watercolour looking images and printed on some Catherine Pooler Heavy weight vellum.  Turned out beautifully!  I die cut the petals and with the aid of the keyhole system they went together so quickly.   I added some splatters by tapping a Posca gold paint pen to added a bit of texture.  My panel was inked with some pink Altenew ink and more of the Posca pen splatter before adding the flowers and leaves.   The sentiment is from Altenew Scripty Sentiments cut from gold card. I also made some little star embellishments were cut from the gold card using a die from Catherine Pooler's Tags,etc dies.   My matting layer is a very dark green for a bit of contrast.  

As these are Spring flowers I am entering into The Flower Challenge - Spring Colours.. 

I was thrilled how the printed vellum looked so printed a few more sheets for future use. 

Friday fun - Two cards - two challenges.

 HI there.   I managed to make two cards today, in my breaks from work and after work.  Perks of working from home -early starting and finishing!   

My first card came about as on my Facebook post of one of my lily cards, I mentioned that I was going to do pink lilies and one of my commentor asked if I had done it.   So I decided to make a card for The Flower Challenge with pink lilies.   Their challenge is to use a square card. 

I cut the square die from Gina K Master Layout 3 and embossed it.  Used Altenew Pink Pearl and Coral Berry for the flowers and Frayed Leaf and Forest Glades for the leaves.  I used a Prismacolor pencil to add the colour for the stamen and to add extra texture lines on the flowers and leaves.   Finished with a little Easter Wishes sentiment from a Verve stamp set.  

My second card is for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge.- Get your Grinch on. Use Green 

I have been hoarding some Penny Black Masterpieces Made Simple printed card panels.  I got two sets of the Aglow ones - there are 4 panels in each pack.  They are so beautiful.   

I glued the panel to some dark green card from Scrapbook.com - Sprinkles pad and then die cut the Waffle Flower Postage die.  I then layered some green card under before adding to my white card base.   The sentiment is from Waffle Flower's Star Snowflake set.   Just love the simple CAS look. 

I'm going to be crafting my heart out tomorrow. Hubby is doing his refresher First Aid course all day.  My plan is to just play and have fun.  And do my Design team cards for when I'm on holiday in April. Just to make sure I'm ahead.  

Flowers and Heart

 The Flower Challenge has restarted for the New Year and being February (the month of Love) the challenge is "Add a Heart" 

I still trying to use patterned paper so I pull out some for my background. 

The paper is from a Uniti pack called Sunshine Floral.   Love the soft look of this paper.   The rest of my card is made up by bits from my "to use" pile.   The heart (a Spellbinder's die) and the floral bouquet (Pink Fresh Studio - Artistic Dahlia stamped, stenciled and die cut) have been sitting in the pile for some time.  I took Prisma's pencils to add some extra shading to the bouquet and to add around the heart.  The sentiment is from a very old Hero Arts set called Yes.   I used some Memento Gray Flannel ink.  Three little pink gems finished the card perfectly.   

I had a great weekend creating.  Yesterday I finally got around to creating the pages for the two new grandchildren to put into frames and made my design card for the 28th of the month.   Today I did a card for the Craft Roulette that I will share tomorrow and this one.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Another Poinsettia card.

 I love Poinsettias.  And have a number of different stamps and dies.  Today I saw the challenge at The Flower Challenge - is Gold and that got me thinking... and I came up with this quick and fun card. 

I used an Altenew set called Holiday Flowers.  I started by using a Pinkfresh Studio Folk Edger Rectangle die to cut my dark navy cardstock.  I then used Altenew Rose Gold Embossing Powder to emboss the floral image and the sentiment.   I coloured the image with metallic paints - gold for the leaves and soft pink for the flowers.  I then used the gold paint to add splatters to the background. 

Black, White & Yellow at The Flower Challenge.

 I decided that I need to entry in The Flower Challenge as I haven't done so for a while.   Nice to make a non-Christmas card.   

The challenge at The Flower Challenge this month is Black, White and Yellow.   Yesterday I was reading my Splitcoastampers newsletter and saw the Technique Monday challenge -Colour block 5 minute card.  The technique is to use your mini ink pads to add colour to your background and then add a black inked image.   So I did this 5 minute card.... took more time to chose the stamp to use!

My background was made using Altenew yellow ink pads from A Pocketful of Sunshine set.  I only used the first three colours and randomly stamped the pads directly to the card.  I used a Gina K Master Layout die to cut out the panel before stamping the Altenew floral from Build a Garden: Morning Aster stamp set.  I stamped the sentiments from the Altenew Elegant Sayings set.  I added some black pen to fill in the flower centres and layered the panel onto some black card before adding to the white card front.    Finished with some black gems.  

We made good time on our trip north - just over 1hr 15 mins.   I have to say I slept most of the way!  I don't travel well - get a bit queasy on some of the windy roads and going to sleep helps.

Pink Star Flowers

 I was in my craft room today as I had a design team card to make.   Once it was done, I got to play with a new die set that arrived last week.   

The die set is Star Flowers from Birch Press.  I have paired it with some Orchard Leaves from Poppy Stamps.  I cut them all from white card and used Altenew inks blended onto them.  I add some lines to left hand side with my Scor-Buddy.  I added the flowers flowing down the page.  The sentiment is from Couture Creations - a stamp and die set.   A few Lucy Little Things - Ice Cube jewels finished the card.

I made this in mind for The Flower Challenge #84 - the theme is Use a Die

Later this year, Birch Press is sponsoring Die Cut Divas, so I'm sure that you will see the Star Flowers in actions again.  

And as I opened the die package today and it was it's first use, I'm adding to Darnell's NBUS Challenge. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you get some time to craft over the weekend.   It's the start of Daylight Savings overnight, so one hour less sleep or one hour less to craft!   But the weather is not going to be spring-like with heavy rain forecast.   Great to spend time crafting!

CAS Florals for The Flower Challenge.

 Hi - I decided to make a card for The Flower Challenge.  The challenge them is CAS.   I wanted to use my new Altenew Build a Garden - Morning Asters.  I love the look of these flowers. 

I stamped the floral directly to the front of my card base and then using a variety of Altenew inks and the matching stencils to colour the image.  One of my purchases at the Craft Fair was the Waffleflower sticky mat (got two - the 8.5" x 6.5" one and the 4.75" x 6" )  - what amazing mats.  I put them into my Misti and Mini Misti and take them out to use when stenciling.   Hold everything beautifully.   I used a ruler and a "B" Faber Castell Black Pitt Pen to make the faux matting frame.   The sentiment is from another new set  - Altenew Elegant Sentiments. 

I've been very busy with all my new stuff.   Two more cards made and photographed ready to blog over the next few days.   And lots of backgrounds done and still more Postage Collage stamped images to use.  

Artistic Dahlia - Two different ways to make a card.

 One of my recent purchases was the Pinkfresh Studio's Artistic Dahlia washi tape and coordinating dies.  Once I purchased them, I decided I need the stamps and matching stencil as well... so a quick order to my local online store (Krafters Cart) and they arrived in a couple of days!  So now I have lots of choices on using these all together.  

So for my first card I've used the Washi tape and die to cut some stunning florals.

I stuck the washi to some white card and used the matching die to cut it out.   It is a very clever idea- each of the florals are separate and it's one linked die that cuts them out. Luckily my old 12inch Cuttlebug plates fit my new Spellbinders Platinum 6 machine.  I made the frame with a Spellbinders die set (Hemstitched Rectangles) cut from some maroon coloured card.   I layered some of the florals around the frame and pop a part one into the corner.   A Couture Creations stamp and die set had jumped into my Krafters Cart order - so stamped the and die cut it.  And my Altenew Enamel Dots were the perfect finishing colour. 

I'm adding this to Darnell's NBUS challenge - as the Washi  and dies are new. 

For my second card I had The Flower Challenge #80 Pretty Pastels in mind and used the stamp and stencil combo.

The stamp is HUGE!  - I had to put it diagonally across my original MISTI and trim a panel of card to fit.  Once stamped, I used a variety of inks to colour it in.   I has watched Jennifer McGuire's Video on  Stepping up or mixing your inks.  I used a number of colours together on some of the layers of the stencil to give more dimension.  Again, when I had finished, I used the die set to cut all the florals out.   I have heaps of both the washi and stenciled florals to use on other cards.   The sentiment is from the same stamp set (there are 4, 3 of which have matching dies!)  I layered a couple of the matching die cuts to give added stability to sentiment.   Again, the Altenew Enamel Dots had the perfect colour for my embellishments.   For some texture, I die cut the Pinkfresh Studio's Floral and Diamonds Tile Coverplate and stuck it to my base.  I blended some soft blue around the middle to add my floral centrepiece over.   I got this one finished just a little while ago - it's a cooler, windy and wet Autumn day here - nice to be in the craft room!  

Hubby is watching some rugby so I'm off to do more crafting.   

Floral background

 I was wanting to play at The Flower Challenge this month.... the theme being "Focus on the Background stamping"   I had Altenew's Cherry Blossom Bunch on my desk (had used it working on a DT card for later in the month) so made this card. 

I started by stamping the focal image in Altenew's Cloudy Night grey ink randomly across the panel.   I then die cut, stamped and stenciled the image.  I used the grey ink to stamp then used Altenew inks - Pastel Sunrise, Canyon Clay and Eucalyptus.    I used a Pinkfresh Studio stamp and die from the Just a Hello set stamped in Burnt Red ink.  I die cut the stamped background with a Lil'Inker die and matted onto  dark grey card.

Hope this is enough of a focus on the background - 

It's been an expensive weekend with our laundry issues.   The new washing machine come tomorrow and once we realised it was too wide for the space, we decided to change the super tub to a smaller size.   So bought that today... cost half as much as the machine!   Got it home and turns out the hoses are not the right size.   So now have to get a plumber to come and do some work...more money!   Hopefully by Wednesday or Thursday I'll have it all sorted and can do the washing.  

Thanks for stopping by.  

Two cards, two challenges.

 I managed some time in the craft room last evening.... not much on the tele...and hubby had rugby on... 

I was wanting to do a card for both Christmas Kickstart and The Flower Challenge -

First up was the card for The Flower Challenge - Die Cuts or Stencils.   I decided to do both!

I started by using a Tim Holtz corner die to cut the right hand side of a card panel.  Next I stamped the Altenew Cherry Blossom Bunch in a light brown ink,  and used the coordinating colouring stencils and some Altenew purple and green inks to colour it up.    I then die cut it with the coordinating die.   I blended the two purple inks onto a scrap to add behind the die cut corner.  

And here's my card for the Christmas Kickstart challenge - Wrapped up for Christmas  (use a scarf or Scarves on your card) 

I love my Gina K penguins - there are a few of them in the one stamp set - my favourite are these two.   I stamped and clear embossed them onto some Bristol card and used some distress inks to watercolour them before die cutting them.  I next made my background - using a Montarga snowflake stencil (They are a NZ company) I used what blue ink was on my blending brush then used some Nuvo glimmer paste to give some sparkle.   My sentiment is from a mini set by Kaisercraft, die cut with an Altenew sentiment die set.  I used a Gina K Master Layout die to cut out the scalloped rectangle and added to the red base.   

Today, I did a couple more cards - a pair of Easter cards for my grandies... Just need to finish them off tomorrow.  

New stamps and dies in the house!

 Over the last two days I've had two orders arrive.... one from my local online store -Krafter's Cart and one from Altenew.   I had won a gift voucher for watching a Facebook live and I decided I need a new stamp, stencil and die set - Build a Flower Grand Carnations and a cover die - Zero Waste 3D cover plate.   And in my Krafter's Cart order I got the Altenew Fresh Dye Inks - Frosted Foliage cube set and a Concord and 9th sentiment die set.  And one more order from Scarpbook.com which should be delivered in the next few days.  

I started work early this morning so finished at 3.30 and when hubby brought the parcel in around 4.15, I went straight into the craft room.   And here is what I did.... inspired by the inspiration sheet in the stamp set. 

I stamped one of the carnation bouquets in a dark grey ink  and used the matching stencils to colour layer with Altenew Wistera, Hydrangea and Ultra Voilet inks and Silver Sage, Jade and Eucalyptus Fresh dye inks.  Once I had finished blending the ink on, I restamped the image to make it a bit crisper looking.    I then die cut it out...(slightly unaligned - but okay) For the background I used the background stencil from the set and the Silver Sage ink to add some to part of the panel.  I then used the darkest green (Forest Fern) to splatter the background.   I stamped one of the sentiments with the same dark grey ink - stamped three times to get a crisp clear look.   A few silver sequins and it was done. 

I'm entering this into The Flower Challenge - Use your Latest Stamps or Dies. 

And into the NBUS challenge - first time using the stamp, stencil and die set. 

I so enjoy having new stuff in the house.  I really want to play and not work.  But got to work to pay for the play!

Peace Love and Joy

 HI there.   Been in a bit of a slump lately and haven't been doing much crafting.   But last weekend I did take a stamp set with me up north.   I stamped Altenew's PAF - Iceland Poppies twice -coloured one with Woodless Watercolour pencils.      This evening I decided it would make a great Christmas card. 

I used my Gina K Master Layouts 2 to trim the painted panel and layered onto red card.    I then look Hero Arts Peace stamp and die set and die cut the peace once from red and three times from white. I layered the whites ones and then offset the red one on top,  I added the little sub-sentiment.  

I'm entering this into the December challenge at The Flower Challenge.  The theme is Christmas. 

And into Darnell's NBUS challenge - this was the first outing for this stamp set.  

Two weeks tomorrow and we'll be on our way to Perth for Christmas.  It's coming around so quickly. 

Happy Birthday card inspired by Natasha.

 Today I am sharing a card I made last night, inspired by a You Tube from Natasha Foote.   She used some rub ons on book paper.   I had got a new paper pack yesterday from my local 1-2-3 dollar store and it had some subtle wording on one page so I used that using the design Natasha did on her card.  (her video is HERE)

I used an older Spellbinders nestability square die set and cut three squares.  I matted them with some black card,  and then followed Natasha's design.  I added a black line around the edge and added some gold gems.   The sentiment is a new to me one from Memory Box.  It's a hot foil stamp and die.  Love it!

I'm entering this into Darnell's NBUS for September as it was the first outing for the sentiment. 

and The Flower Challenge - Add Sparkle.  My sentiment is gold foil.  

Inspired by Simon Hurley - another floral circle card

 I was checking my subscriptions on You Tube and came across a neat technique from Simon Hurley - using stamping foam and an embossing folder..  You can check it out Here 

He used his round foam but I only have the original sized rectangle foam.  I loved a card he made using the circle - colouring and stamping then embossing the entire folder and using the circle as a spotlight feature.    It inspired me to try something similar.  Simon used the debossed side - where as I used the embossed side. 

I took my Altenew 3D folder - Decorative Florals, headed the foam and press to get the impression. I had used a Spellbinders circle die to cut the circle and after I added inks with blending brushes. spritzed with water and stamped onto it. Once it was dry I added the circle back into the EF and ran it through to emboss it.  Took some metallic paste and ran my finger over the raised areas.  I used the EF to emboss a white panel and slotted the circle into place.  I layered the panel on some pinky purple paper and onto my white card.   White embossed the sentiment from Sentiment Strips #3 and added it.

I'm entering this into The Flower Challenge - Circle/Circles -

                                                 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Floral Heart - using stencils and dies.

Second post today  - to see my designer card for Sweet Stampin' Challenge - go HERE.

 Hi there.  I'm here to share my entry for the latest challenge at The Flower Challenge. - Add a Heart

My card was inspired by two artist - Gina K and Natasha Foote.   Gina made a card using a heart made with scraps - I was inspired by her design and Natasha's inspiration was to use die cuts to add to a shape. Natasha's was  more of a floating die cuts - but I used a white card to add my die cuts to. 

I used three flowers I made using Altenew's Bitterroot flower stencil and die set.   It is a toughy to do, but once I got the idea of what parts of the stencil worked together, I used different combinations of the pink Altenew inks,  I drew around the heart die and worked out where to put the flowers and the leaves and glued them down.  I then ran the piece through my new Spellbinders Platinum 6 with the die.  It is from Gina K Master Layout 4.  Layered it onto the black heart.   The background was inspired from Gina's card.  I used my Scor-Pal to add the lines and then a grey Altenew ink to blend over.   I used a Honey Bee die cut sentiment.  To make it shiny I added some clear packing tape to black card and then cut the die.  Used white for the shadow layer.  The little sub-sentiment from the same Honey Bee set and was cut with Altenew's Featured Sentiments die set.   Love the little rounded corners.  

Had my Rapid Antigen Test this afternoon - Negative - so all good to go tomorrow afternoon.   I made a couple more cards yesterday and today which I've scheduled for Monday - so do come back for a look.

Take care.... see you all in two weeks!

Floral Occasion - Take 2 at the Flower Challenge.

 Today I made another card for the latest challenge at The Flower Challenge.  

Today I was working from home.... and took a bit of a longer lunch break to have a play.  The call of the craft room is hard to deny...  It was a quick card as I had a pre-foiled panel.  I had made a few panels when I first got my Go Press and Foil machine.  

The sentiment is a Hot Foil stamp from Spellbinders.  The floral stamp is by Woodware.  I stamped it with Versafine Onyx Black ink and clear embossed it.  I took some Altenew inks and blenders and added colour to the flowers and leaves.. I added some little Pretty Pink Posh gold baubles.   It's hard to get a good photo of the foil... 

Back into the office tomorrow... and will find out if we are going to a two team work roster... one week home and one week in the office - with no contact between the two teams.  This means if someone gets COVID or is a close contact, only half of our area will need to isolate.    

Thanks for stopping by.  I appreciate your visit.  Please leave me a comment so I know you've been here. 

Celebrate Flowers

 The latest challenge is up at The Flower Challenge...

I love using flowers on my cards and today I have a card inspired by Gina K and Jennifer McGuire and their partial die cut cards.

Here it is laying flat.  I used an Altenew stamp and die to make my focal image.  I did a partial die cutting of the flower.  The inside of the card was layered with purple card and I added the hot foiled sentiment (Pink Fresh Studio)  

Here is it standing up to give an idea of how it looks. 

Life in NZ is pottering along.... Omicron cases are increasing... today was the highest number of infections since March 2020 with just over 300 cases.. but hospitalisations are low - 12 with none in ICU.  At work we are working on strategies to ensure we can keep servicing our customers... we already have reduced the number who can be in the reception area to 3, with just one receptionist.  Hopefully we won't be hit too hard.  

WWC332 - Tristan's challenge: All Things Feminine

 Hi there... welcome to our first challenge for 2022 at Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.   Tristan is our hostess with an All Things Feminine Challenge. 

As most of you will know I love florals... and nothing makes a more feminine card than flowers. 

Today I have gone with a monochromatic look.  

I used an Altenew stencil called Sweet Spring Stencil.  I used two shades of blue Altenew inks to blend over the stencil.  I used some of the darker colour to water down and splatter over the card.  I finished with a few clear gems scattered over the card  

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 17th January at 5 pm Mountain Standard Time (Tuesday at 12.00 noon NZ time ) to link up your project.

Also entering this into the challenge at The Flower Challenge... monochromatic.

Red Florals for Christmas and a Birthday

 I saw the December challenge the Flower Challenge and knew what I wanted to do...

 

I have a few Christmas digital images from Gracielle Design and one is a hanging Poinsettia. A Christmas Hello set...

I printed the flower and the sentiment from the same set onto white card.  I used two of the dies from Pink Fresh Studio's essentials mini slimline card.  I used Copics to colour up the flower and and then added it to the red die cut frame and then onto the white mini slimline base.  I added some white pearls to the background florals.  A very CAS card for Christmas.  

This morning we had to pop into our Local Mitre 10 (hardware store) to get some hooks and screws to repair my wardrobe that collapsed yesterday... and while I was there I picked up some Valspar paint chips and chose reds and greens so I could do a red flower. 

I used Altenew Fantasy Floral 3D die to layer up the three colours of the paint chips.  The leaves are only one layer.  I used a Gina K Designs sentiment which was white embossed.  I added some white pearls to finish.  I used Gina K Master Layouts 2 to cut the black and white layers.  I added to a red top fold US A2 card base. 

Just one more week at work before I take my Christmas break.  I had planned to have been in Perth Australia this Christmas and took 4 weeks leave, but COVID put paid to that plan.  But I decided to still take the 4 weeks off and just relax.  We might go North for awhile to visit our friends.  The hard border around Auckland is being lifted on Wednesday night, and as we are both double vaxxed we can travel..  

Take care everyone.  

Use a Shape for The Flower Challenge

 The Flower Challenge is one of my favourite's to have a go at.  It's their 5th Birthday too!  

I had added a die cut shape to my card and made a Christmas card. 

I gone for a bit of a non-traditional colour with my pink background.  I took the Catherine Pooler Trellis die cut and cut it a few times.  I chopped two of them to remove the trellis and add just the frame behind the first die cut to give it a bit of dimension.  The little poinsettia are made using the smallest two dies from a Spellbinders die set.  I cut some in red and some in green to make the leaves.  I also cut two little swirls by Cheery Lynn Designs.  Addeda yellow pearl to the centre of the flowers.   I die cut the sentiment with a Britannia Dies Christmas die and laid it diagonally across the trellis.   Was very happy how it turned out.  

We are certainly having Spring weather here... Yesterday was lovely and warm and hubby even went for his first swim of the new season... way too cold for me to consider, but he said it was "brisk"  - then today it's cool and overcast with wind and rain.   Can't wait for the consistent warm of summer.    At least with the not so nice weather I've been enjoying spending some time in my craft space.  A card or two done!

Take care - and enjoy your weekend.