Two Of A Kind

I can't believe it is the 25th of February already and that means that it is Rudolph Day at Sarn's blog,
Stamping For Pleasure, where we are required to make at least two Christmas items for one blog post.
I decided to make this pair of little cards, just 4.5" square. Not my usual style really but I received these Penny Black clear stamps as part of a prize last year and thought I would see what I could do with them. I had trouble getting a good black impression on the foreground images, I don't know if that is due to the card I was using or the clear stamps, anyway I ended up using black Versafine Onyx Black and embossing it with clear powder, it still wasn't very black but at least I could use Promarkers to colour it with. I stamped again onto masking tissue and cut out and masked the images while I stamped the tree with Versafine Olympia Green ink.I think it looks as though I stamped them on a bit of a lean, they must have suffered in the recent gales!! I coloured them with a bundled sage Distress Marker and used Sakura sparkle pens for the baubles.I added snowy white highlights to the tree and the ground with a white Signo pen.I made another mask for the tree and used it while I shaded the background lightly with tumbled glass Distress Ink, and then stamped some snowflakes with a Crafty Individuals background stamp and the same ink. I used the largest of the Spellbindres Marvellous Squares die set to cut matting layers from some snippets of red card. I trimmed the images to fit and rounded the corners. After fixing all the layers together I stamped the greeting from the same set of stamps and added some Stickles glitter to the snowy bits and some gold coloured gems in the corners.
I am going to post this at the Snippet Playground as well seeing as the red card came from my snippets box.
Thank you for coming to look and for all your kind comments which are greatly appreciated.

Sending A Smile

Today I have a card that I  made for a new Butterfly Challenge started by Mrs A, who is also one of the  playmates at the Snippets Playground. For the first challenge she wants to see at least one butterfly and one flower on your creation. It is a fortnightly challenge starting on a Wednesday and the first one finishes on this coming Tuesday evening and a new one starting on Wednesday.So if you like using butterflies in your artwork why not pop over and take a look.
I stamped this Chocolate Baroque image onto white card with Memento Rhubarb Stalk ink, and coloured it with Promarkers. I shaded in the background very lightly with a duster brush and Broken China Distress Ink, and then cut it out. I used a piece of navy card to mount it and fixed it to the white A6 base card.I stamped and coloured the two butterflies again and cut them out, and then fixed them over the original ones with silicon glue to lift the wings a little. I used Cinnamon coloured Stickles to add a bit of sparkle to the flower centres. I finished the card by stamping the sentiment from Chocolate Baroque Amazing Birthday set with the Rhubarb Stalk ink. As I didn't have anyone in particular in mind when making this I chose this sentiment as it makes usable for several different occasions.
All of the image stamping was done on snippets of card and the navy mount was also a snippet so I am off to the Snippets Playground with it as well.
Thank you for taking a look and to those of you who leave comments, they are really appreciated.

Another Pink Flower Card

I seem to be in a pink and flowery frame of mind lately . Maybe it's an antidote to all the Christmas cards I made last month or just that I'm looking forward to spring. This card started out as an A6 size but when it was done I didn't like it, it looked too cramped and the sentiment didn't look nice at all. So I dismantled it and cut an A4 sheet of card to make a folded 5" x 7" base card. I covered the front with paper from a Papermania pad called Regency, cutting it slightly shorter than the card with a scalloped edge at the bottom. I added the ribbon before fixing it to the card so that I could tuck the ends in neatly.
The main panel was embossed with an EF that I don't know the name of, I think it was one that is sold by Do Crafts. The magnolia is a clear stamp from Chocolate Baroque, stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and coloured with Promarkers. I wasn't totally happy with how it looked and decided to colour the narrow scalloped line in the embossing with one of the pink pens I'd used on the flower. Promarkers are brilliant for this kind of work, I could never have coloured that thin line with a pencil.Then I thought it would look better with a coloured background so I filled it in with the palest blue Promarker that I've got. Next I trimmed the piece close to the embossing and inked the edge with the pink pen. I rummaged around and found these two dragonfly brads which matched, that have been in my stash for ages. The greeting is another CB clear stamp from a set of greetings and sentiments called Amazing Birthday. It is stamped onto a very small snippet of card with the black Memento ink and coloured and edged to match the image panel.
As I have used that little snippet of card I am off to Pixies Snippets Playground to join in the fun there.
I am also entering at Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Thank you to everyone who has visited my blog and for all your generous and encouraging comments, I appreciate them all.

Pink Tulips

Hi everyone, I have another birthday card to show you today. I
used a small set of stamps from Chocolate Baroque called Tulip Script which contains both of these images. First I stamped the main image onto white card with Memento Back Tuxedo ink and coloured it with Promarkers. I then mounted it onto first dark green card and then onto some light pinky lilac card. The base card is a white 5"x 7" folded card, and I used the outline tulip image to stamp randomly on the front. I used Brilliance Ivy Green ink for the leaves and stems and a Milled Lavender Distress Marker for the flower.I added a matching ribbon with a little flower charm hanging on it before placing the image panel with foam tape.The birthday greeting is from Chocolate Baroque clear stamp set Amazing Birthday.
As usual the matting mounts came from the snippets box so I will be popping over to link this up at Pixies Snippets Playground, where I gather there may be some ark building going on!!
I am also entering this at Great Impressions Challenge - Floral Images
                                Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Purple Bloom

I thought I'd have a break from Christmas cards this week so here is a birthday card that I made for my Daughter in law. This beautiful flower is  from a Chocolate Baroque set of stamps called Breath of Spring. I stamped it with Memento elderberry ink onto white card and coloured it with Promarkers. After trimming it down I inked the edges with shaded lilac Distress Ink.I mounted it onto some mirri card which I think is called gunmetal, a sort of dark silver colour, leaving a narrow border, and then onto mauve pearl card. The base card is a 5"x 7" folded card blank, and I used a stencil called Quatrefoil from The Crafters Workshop and a duster brush with the lilac DI to add some interest to opposite corners. I wrapped some matching ribbon round the folded edge and added a bow, and then stuck the image panel on. The sentiment stamp is from the same CB set and I stamped it with the elderberry ink, and mounted it to match. This is fixed with foam pads to overlap the flower panel. I used the tiniest snippet of the mirri card to cut a butterfly with a Cheery Lynne die, I just managed to fit it on so that it cut properly. Using another die from the same set I cut the solid butterfly to go behind it using some very old shiny paper that has a kind of interference effect of changing colour when it's moved. I have a little stack of this paper some of which is bright colours and some like the bit I used here are pale. I don't know why it has stayed unused for so long except that it is quite thin and I wasn't sure what to use it for, but it is perfect for these butterflies.

As I have used up some snippets for the butterfly and the sentiment pieces I am off to join in the fun at The Pixies Snippets Playground. They are a lovely bunch of friendly playmates there, if a little mischievous at times. All you have to do to join in the fun is to use up some of those snippets of card that we all seem to collect.

I am also entering at Great Impressions Challenge - Floral Images
                       
                               Crafter's Cafe Challenge- Use Ribbon and /or Lace in Your Design

Belated Rudolph Day

Last Saturday saw the first Rudolph Day challenge of 2014 over at Sarn's Stamping For Pleasure blog, but I didn't realise the 25th had come around so quick and missed it. However Sarn keeps the challenge open until the end of the month and she wants us to make at least two cards to enter this year, I am popping over with two more of my recycled cards.


For the first one I first cut out the part of the image I wanted to use with a Go Kreate oval die and then using some white card with silver sparkles in it I used a Dienamic fancy edged die to cut a frame for it. I folded some dark blue card to make a 5.5" square base card and stamped the Chocolate Baroque holly flourish on it with Versamark ink and embossed it with WOW silver powder.I stuck the oval image on with foam tape and added the sentiment, also from Chocolate Baroque, stamped onto a snippet of the white and silver card.
For the second one I used Nestabilities plain and scalloped dies to cut the image and mat. I covered the front of a dark green square card with some background paper, Papermania I think, after inking the edge with vintage photo Distress Ink .The greeting was cut with a Britania die. Both the mat and greeting were cut from snippets of gold glitter card so I am going to enter these at the Pixies Playground as well.

Thank you for taking a look and for all your comments which are much appreciated.

Green Cards ?

Hi there everyone, I am sorry I have been very slack in my blogging lately. I think I have spent too much time browsing other peoples blogs, and snuggling up in front of the TV during the horrible winter nights. It's not that I've been completely idle though, I have been busy recycling some of the Christmas cards that were sent to us,( not the hand made ones of course), and I always have some knitting or crochet on the go for when I am watching TV. I tend to just fall asleep if my hands aren't doing anything.
So today I will show you a couple of my recycled cards to get my blog brain going again.!

The picture on this one came from a very ordinary looking card and I cropped the main part out with a Go Kreate  oval die.This is the largest of the set so I didn't have one to make a mat but discovered that it just fits onto  this fancy oval from Dienamics which I cut from red mirri card. I thought that this greeting from Chocolate Baroque Christmas Cheer set complimented the mounted image and I stamped it onto a white base card with barn door Distress Ink. The Penny Black holly swirls were stamped with Versafine olympia green ink and the berries coloured with a Sakura sparkle pen, and then the image added on top.




This second card was made in much the same way , with the fancy oval being cut from gold glitter card, and the holly swirl stamped with gathered twigs Distress Ink to match the foliage in the image, and the berries again coloured with the sparkle pen. To finish the card I added the tiny greeting, I don't know the make, and a red ribbon.
Every year I save bits from Christmas cards to use on something else and they stay shut away in a box never to see the light of day again. So this year I decided to use them before I got too involved with anything else and I am quite pleased to have made some nice cards with them and with the help of some stamps, cutting dies and embossing folders. I will probably show some more of them at a later date.
Right now I am hopping over to the Pixies Playground to link these up as I used some snippets of card to cut the mats from, and that is all that you need to do to join the fun at the playground.
Thank you for visiting and for your lovely comments which I enjoy reading and really appreciate.