A Pop of Pink and Polka Dots

Good morning

I'm going to be playing catch up this weekend and sharing some cards I've made over the last month or so but not yet found the time to share.

And although I'm still working, I think with the current crisis around the world, and the need for social distancing will mean that I'll be finding lots of time to craft in the evenings and weekends and share more makes with you.  I was also meant to be participating in my very first craft fair next month but of course it's been postponed for now, such a shame as I was getting really excited about it! :(

So this is a great opportunity for me to get more stock made for the fair ready for when it does finally take place, add more to my online shop and also do that job I've been putting off for ages....tidying my craft space!  Yikes!!!

Ok, back to it, and this is the birthday card I made for my bestie last month.  I love black and white cards with a pop of colour so that was my starting point for this one...

I began by die cutting a frame using two stitched rectangle dies, which I then backed with some black and white polka dot paper.  Next I die cut the flower twice, one from white cardstock and again from bright pink cardstock.  I adhered the white flower, minus the petals, tucking the stem into the frame, then inlaid the pink petals.  The frame was then popped up on the card base using foam and the sentiment stamped below.

Materials used:

• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Creative Expressions - Scribble Flowers
• Patterned Paper: MFT - Dots & Stripes Neutrals
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Beautiful Friend
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black

Challenge entries:#

CAS on Friday - Challenge #176 - Birthday

Daring Cardmakers - Floral Focus

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #381 - Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers - March Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

Time Out - Challenge #157 - Birthday (optional twist: die cutting)

The Flower Challenge - Challenge #42 - Anything Goes

AAA Birthday - Game #11 - Flowers

Thanks so much for visiting, I'll be back with more very soon :)

Stay safe, everyone xx

Christmas Card Multiples - Metallic and Sparkle Inlaid Trees

Hi there

More of my multiple makes for you tonight, and you may recognise this design.  I made a larger duo when I took part in Michelle Lupton's Challenge Me a Christmas Card series, you can find the post HERE. 

So these cards are a slightly simpler and smaller version, in different colourways...

I die cut squares using a pierced square die from white glitter card and also from pink and blue shades of matte metallic cardstock.  I then die cut the same tree from each of the squares, keeping hold of the little bits within the loops.  To adhere the trees, I used squares of paper cut smaller than the die cut squares, covered these with adhesive from a glue roller, mounted the cardstock squares over the top then slotted in the die cut parts.  The panels were then adhered flat to the card bases, and I stamped the same sentiment on each, using my MISTI for speed.

Pink metallic inlaid into white glitter...

White glitter inlaid into pink metallic...

Blue metallic inlaid into white glitter...

White glitter inlaid into blue metallic...

Materials used:

• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Pierced Square Stax; Clearly Besotted - Christmas Tree Die
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Tiny Type
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black
• Glitter and metallic cardstock from stash

Challenge entries:

Use Your Stuff - Challenge #388 - It's Christmas Time

Happy Little Stampers - December Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

Happy Little Stampers - December Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes

Addicted to CAS - Challenge #174 - Tree

Make My Monday - Challenge #111 - Anything Christmas

Thanks for looking, I'll be back with more very soon.

Challenge Me a Christmas Card with Michelle Lupton

Hi guys

I'm honoured to share that the super talented and lovely Michelle Lupton has invited me to join her again this year for her 'Challenge Me a Christmas Card' series.

She asked me to choose any style, theme, technique or product for us both to use on a Christmas card.  I chose Inlaid Die Cuts.

I love this technique.  Not only does it look great, it often leaves you with excess to do a twofer!  That's exactly what happened with mine...

I wanted to go with non-traditional colours as I was using a modern style Christmas tree die.  I began but die cutting two pierced squares, one from white glitter cardstock and the other from rose gold mirri cardstock.  I die cut the tree from each and then inlaid the positive part of the die in the opposite panel, and the negative bitty bits back into the gaps of each original panel, adhering on the back with some paper covered with dry adhesive.  The panels were then mounted on 3D foam onto larger square die cut panels and adhered to the card bases, and a very simple sentiment stamped below in black ink on each card.

I would love to know which version you prefer.  I think I'm leaning towards the glittered panel with the mirri inlay, that may be because mirri card is so difficult to photograph! lol


Materials used:

• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Pierced Square Stax; Clearly Besotted - Christmas Tree Die
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Tiny Type
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black
• Cardstock from stash

Challenge entries:

Just Us Girls - Challenge #509 - Trend Week - Frame It
Happy Little Stampers - October Anything Goes with Dies Challenge
Happy Little Stampers - October Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes (option: twinkle)
Always Fun - Challenge #131 - Dies or Punches
Dream Valley - Challenge #211 - Clean and Simple




Please do pop over to Michelle's blog which you can find here, to see what she created with the same technique.

Thanks again, Michelle, for inviting me to join you and your friends for this fantastic card series :)

Happy Little Stampers February 2019 CAS Challenge

Good evening

The February CAS challenge over at Happy Little Stampers is just starting so I'll get straight to it and share this month's cue card...

This challenge, along with the rest of the HLS challenges (most to start over the next few days) will run until the end of the month so there's plenty of time to play along.

I kept my card super simple, using just an inlaid die cut and a stamped sentiment...

I began by die cutting the stitched rectangular panel.  I die cut the flower from the panel, and again from textured green and coral cardstock.  I secured an adhesive panel to the reverse and inlaid the coloured die cuts into the negative space.  I stamped the sentiment in black before adhering the panel to the base on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Dies: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Double Stitched Rectangles; Creative Expressions - Scribble Flowers
• Stamp: Mama Elephant - Ella & Friends
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black

Thanks so much for visiting :)

Hot Pink Anniversary

Hi guys

I was sorting through the cards in my stock box recently and realised the one genre of card I don't have any of is Anniversary.  So I made a few for my stash, and then my Auntie promptly bought two of them so I now need to make more!

Here's one of them, I'll share the others in future posts.

At the time, this was one of those cards I wished I hadn't started as it took a lot longer to create than I thought it would.  But I do think it has the wow factor, while still looking very simple.

I started with a panel of white cardstock slightly smaller than the card base and die cut a heart aperture in the centre.  I then laid it over the base and marked with a pencil where the aperture would be.  I then used a tile background die and cut this once from white and also from some glossy hot pink card I had in my stash.  I adhered a section of the white die cut onto the card base and then filled in the pattern using the waste from the hot pink die cut.  Although this die looks symmetrical, I can assure you it isn't!  Some of those little 'drop' shapes are different sizes, so after some choice language coming from the area of my craft desk, I did finally fill in the gaps!  Next time I'll try to keep the die cut and waste intact rather than just popping them out willy nilly :D

To finish I popped the panel up on 3D foam and then added a black sentiment strip with the sentiment heat embossed in white.

Materials used:

• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Heart Stax; Hobbycraft Intricut - Circle Tile Background
• Stamp: Altenew - Vintage Roses (sentiment)
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White

Challenge entries:

AAA Cards - CAS Game #109 - Die Cuts Only (stamped sentiment allowed)

Alphabet Challenge - X for Xtra Special Occasion

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #279 - CAS

My Time to Craft - Challenge #364 - Love is All You Need

Inkspirational - Challenge #154 - Aperture Card

Happy Little Stampers - February Challenge - Anything Goes with Dies

Cards in Envy - Love You So Much

Thanks as always for your visit, I appreciate each and every one of you coming to my little space in Blogland x

Layered Wreath with Gold Inlay Die Cut

Hi there

Next up this afternoon I'm sharing a Christmas card I made a while ago but haven't yet shared.  This one uses a lovely stamp set and dies from Clearly Besotted.

The wreath is created from a layering stamp set and I love how this looks.  The pale green of the wreath I stamped first, then the mid green, then the holly leaves and berries are builder stamps from the same set.  I die cut the Merry Christmas from some gold mirror card and inlaid this into the card panel, ensuring I had retained all the 'itty bitty bits' from the card front, which I then popped back into their original positions.  The panel was adhered to a panel of the same gold cardstock and then adhered flat to the card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Layered Wreath
• Ink: Altenew - Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades, Evergreen, Ruby Red
• Die: Clearly Besotted - Merry Christmas Die Collection
• Gold Mirror card from stash

Challenge entries:

Allsorts Challenge - Challenge #447/448 - Seasonal Flowers

Sweet Stampin' - Christmas/CAS

CAS on Friday - Challenge #123 - Christmas

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #284 - Winter/Christmas

Christmas Cards All Year Round - December Challenge - Anything Goes

Penny Black and More - December Challenge - CAS

Uniko - Challenge #44 - Christmas

STAMPlorations - December CAS Card Challenge - Anything Goes (Gold)

STAMPlorations - December Challenge Theme and Sketch - Stamps and Gold

Thanks so much for joining me, I'll be back with more Christmas makes shortly!

Less is More Week #333

Good morning

At Less is More this week it's the turn of our Theme challenge.  I'll get straight to the details...

We have the lovely Lucie of Lucie G Cards joining us as a Guest Designer this week following her recent win for May so I'm sure she'd love a visit from you if you have the time.


I was a bit stumped by the 'personalise it' theme as there aren't any specific cards I need for individuals right now so I decided to go with a relative for my personalisation and made a sister card for my stash.  I also recently purchased a new floral stamp set and wanted to ink that one up so here's my card...

I took a panel of cardstock cut slightly smaller than my card base and stamped the leaves and flower heads using two tones of each colour for a little depth, using my MISTI so I could restamp the darker areas.  I then stamped 'Sister' and used the co-ordinating die to cut this out, stacked some more die cuts behind it and popped it back in place with added dimension (sorry, you can't really see the dimension in this photo).  I finished by stamping 'the best' and then popped the panel up on fun foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Mama Elephant - Brushed Florals; Clearly Besotted - Sugar and Spice (and co-ordinating die)
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Altenew - Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades, Puffy Heart, Purple Wine, Soft Lilac, Lavender Fields, Sea Glass, Ocean Waves

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #246 - Anything Goes

The Flower Challenge - Challenge #9 - Anything Goes

Apologies for just one card this week, I've had a crazy few days and a serious lack of crafty time.  My teamies have made some brilliant cards this week so please do follow the LIM link at the top of this post to visit the main challenge blog, where you will also find links to their personal blogs and perhaps even more inspiration.

Thanks so much for visiting, I read and appreciate each and every one of your comments.  Wishing you a lovely weekend whatever you're up to.

Muse #202 - Camouflaged Hello

Hi there

I'm thrilled to be your designer over at Muse for this week's challenge.

I didn't really know where I was going with this card, I just knew I wanted to do some colourful background stamping so that was my starting point.

I'll get straight to it...

I picked out some bright cheery pigment inks from my stash and a great little leafy stamp set and started stamping on a panel of white cardstock to create a fun background.  I then die cut with a rectangular stitched die.  I die cut the hello from the stamped panel (keeping hold of the little bits from inside the letter loops) and die cut it again three times from black cardstock.  I used my glue runner to cover a small piece of scrap paper with adhesive and placed this behind the negative space.  I inlaid one of the black die cuts first, along with the 'bits', then all that was left to do was glue together and stack up the remaining die cuts, using the stamped one as the top layer.  You can see the dimension in the pic below.  The main whole panel was then popped up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Paper Smooches - Leafy Greens
• Ink: Versa Color - Orchid, Marigold, Turquoise, Lime and Cyan
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Rectangles; Lawn Fawn - Scripty Hello

I hope there are some elements you can take from my card as your inspiration this week, and look forward to seeing your creations in the Muse gallery :)

Happy Little Stampers May 2016 CAS Challenge

Hi there

As we are now into the month of May the new challenges are starting over at Happy Little Stampers and today it's the turn of the CAS challenge.  This challenge is all about making clean and simple cards and each month we have a different technique for you.  This month it's...

If you are unfamiliar with this technique there are some video tutorials included over on the challenge blog.

Happy Little Stampers is the sponsor for this month and one lucky winner will receive a stamp set!

So, onto my card.  I wanted to use a leaf die that is new to my stash and decided to create a sympathy card in soft colours.

I started by die cutting the leaf from a panel of white cardstock.  I then stamped the sentiment in black.  Next I cut a panel of beige cardstock, slightly larger to create a border, and adhered the white cardstock to it ensuring that there was lots of adhesive behind the leaf aperture.  I then die cut the leaf again from the same beige cardstock and gently blended the edges with Distress Ink before adhering in the aperture.  The whole panel was then adhered to the cardbase using 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Die: Memory Box - Pointed Leaf
• Stamp: Happy Little Stampers - Doodled Flowers
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress Ink - Crushed Olive
• Coloured Cardstock: - Bazzill Basics

Challenge entries:

Fantasy Stampers - Challenge #61 - Monochrome

613 Avenue Create - Challenge #174 - Anything Goes

My teamies have created some great cards to inspire you this month.  We would love to see you in the gallery this month so why not play along.