Catching up!

I’ve still been finding time to craft, but blogging has definitely taken a back seat lately. Today, though, on my non-work day, I finally found some time after lunch to head into the craft room, get creative, and catch up on sharing what I’ve been making. I have three cards to show you today, each with its own little story.

The first card is what I’d call a “Mesk” card — made from the bits and pieces that were sitting on my messy desk waiting to be turned into something useful.

I had a 3.75-inch strip of 12x12 patterned paper left over from making an envelope, so I trimmed it down to fit a white panel and rounded one side for a softer look. I added another scrap of patterned paper along the side, then went digging through my container of saved bits and found a sentiment I’d pre-cut awhile ago. A scrap of vellum became the circle tag, and I finished everything off with a few little gold hearts from my die-cut embellishments. This one actually came together earlier in the week, and I love how it made good use of leftovers.

The next card is a Christmas card, also made earlier this week. Back in March, I picked up some non-branded Christmas dies from my local stationery store, and they turned out to be such a great buy.

For this card, I die cut the pieces from green and red cardstock, then used scraps of gold and dark brown for the star and trunk. After that, it was simply a matter of piecing everything together to create the tree. To give the design a focal area, I used an old embossing folder to create a border around the panel and softly ink blended around the edges. A few gold dots on and around the tree finished it off nicely.

And finally, today’s make — another Christmas card.

This one came about while I was putting some of my stash back where it belonged. As I tidied up my Tim Holtz Bigz dies, I came across the Christmas Cardinal die and knew it would be perfect for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge — Season’s Tweetings.

I die cut the design — it’s an all-in-one die — and then used Tri-Blends alcohol markers to colour each section. For a snowy touch, I added White Nuvo Crystal Drops to the branch. To really let the die-cut image shine, I mounted it on a 5-inch square panel embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. The sentiment is from an LDRS Creative stamp set and was die cut with the coordinating Sentiment Stack II die.

And card #2 is being entered into Darnell's NBUS May Challenge 

Thank you so much for sticking with me to the end. I really do appreciate every one of my readers and commenters.

Happy crafting!

A Creative Friday inspired by Christine S

 Fridays are my non-working day and as is becoming my norm,  I spent a relaxed afternoon in my craft room catching up on YouTube. A video by Christine Stokes inspired me to try a gesso resist technique with Distress inks.

I adapted the idea using what I had—clear gesso instead of white. I dabbed it onto watercolour paper, let it dry, then added Distress inks (Scattered Straw, Antique Linen, Rusty Hinge, and a touch of Aged Mahogany) by smooshing on my glass mat with a spritz of water and a foam blender to add to the panel. The texture turned out beautifully.

Using a very old Tim Holtz Bigz Tattered Leaves die, I cut two leaves and added detail with a splatter stamp in Altenew Toasted Mauve, clear embossed. For the background, I used a corner aperture die with orange patterned paper behind it and added more stamping in Pink Sand ink.

I finished the card with a dark brown mat, an embossed sentiment (Altenew Sentiment Strips 3), and a few simple embellishments made from packing tape and cardstock.

A satisfying session—and a lovely reminder that adapting ideas with what you have can lead to great results.

Craft Roulette #206

 I managed to see the Craft Roulette show live yesterday ... 

Great parameters this week!  So much so I made two cards!   

Here's the one I made yesterday and submitted to the challenge

I started by making my background.   I was inspired by a video from Natasha Foote  - making a background with just one ink.... mine was a very old Hero Arts ink called Cup o' Joe.  I've had it for around 10 years.., and it still going well.   I smooshed it onto my craft mat and spritzed with water and dipped my Fabriano 160gms paper.  Dried and dipped again.  Then using a couple of lids to stamp circles and used a Catherine Pooler stamp set - Birds of a Feather to added some script and the Love postage stamp. Vintage colours ✓   I added a lace border using a Hero Arts wooden stamp called Lace Flower Cluster embossed with Ranger Vintage Pearl powder. - Lace on the Base ✓  It wasn't showing up so well... I added some extra ink blending to make it stand out.  Gave the background a bit of an ombre look.  I die cut a leaf cluster from the Fabriano paper with a Pinkfresh Curvy Leaves die.  I added a little bit of ink blending to the leaves.  That is my plant element.✓  My sentiment is from a Lawn Fawn stamp and die set - Magic Messages.   Again cut with the Fabriano paper and ink blended.  

Finally added a some little Hero Arts gems hearts to the centre flowers of my lace - Heart element ✓

And today - I made this one...

I've been seeing lots of cards using a birdcage and flowers... so that was my inspiration.  My patterned paper gave me a vintage vibe.  It was an A4 size so I cut it down into a 4" x 5.25" panel.  ✓  Used the same lace stamp and embossed it with the Vintage Pearl powder, ✓I have a very old Tim Holtz/Sizzix Bigz Die of a birdcage and bird.  I used some of the Fabriano paper ( it's a lovely light cream colour) to cut the die.  Added some gold gems along the bottom of the birdcage and a little bow from a bit of burlap.  My little grey heart from Altenew is added just under the bow ✓  And finally my plant element is the flowers and leaves.✓  The big green leaves are the Pinkfresh Curvy Leaves and the flowers are from the Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms.   I had them cut from some water colour paper and used Jasart Voyager Metallic paints to colour them.   I added a pre-printed sentiment from Creative Expressions - Everyday Wordies.

It was such a fun card to make.  I did some earlier in the day and the hubby and I meet up with our son and Grace at our local pub - The British Isles Inn just up the hill from us.  The boys had their glass of Guiness - to celebrate St Patrick's Day!  The pub was quite full of people dressed in green.  And there was a bank singing Irish songs.  Grace loved the music.   Florence didn't come with them as she is - unwell... ear infection and chest infection - poor wee mite.

Happy St Patrick Day