Krafty Chicks challenge #838 - CAS (clean and simple)

Good morning lovely friends and welcome to my little corner of blogland. It's time for a new challenge over at Krafty Chicks challenge and this week we are on Week 3; and as always the theme is 'CAS (clean and simple)' and Diane is our hostess. Now we know that CAS is subjective but generally it's lots of open space (doesn't have to be white), no embellishments (or very few) and an uncluttered design. It can be a difficult design to pull off but we hope you will take on the challenge and come over and join in the fun with us.

It was my sister & brother-in-law's anniversary recently so used this opportunity to make them a card.  It's not a one-layer CAS card but I made a 5 1/2" x 7 1/2" card (as it was a special family card) and I think the proportions work well with lots of uncluttered space around the focal image.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by making my card base by cutting a white piece of card 11" x 7 1/2" and scoring at 5 1/2".  I cut a white panel 5" x 7" and added a strip of black & white paper to the top and bottom with liquid glue before adding a black mat layer with double sided tape.  I die cut a plain heart from white card and a scalloped heart from black card and adhered them together using liquid glue.  I die cut the leafery and flowers using coloured card from my scraps bin and adhered them together and added them to the white heart using liquid glue.  I made the sentiment on my computer and printed it out onto my usual white card before die cutting it with a flag die.  I added the sentiment over the flower arrangement using a mix of foam squares and liquid glue.  The heart was then adhered to the background panel using foam squares.  The panel was added to my card base using double sided tape.  For the inside I cut another white panel and black mat layer as well as a strip of the black and white paper and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I cut a small plain heart from white and scalloped heart from black and adhered them together with liquid glue.  I die cut two more of the flower/leafery and added them over the heart using liquid glue.  The heart was then added in the bottom right corner with liquid glue.  I stamped the sentiment in the centre using black ink and adhered the panel to my card base using double sided tape.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Beautiful Blossoms challenge - anything floral goes optional inspiration photo

Craft Rocket challenge - use dies

Creative Crafting Uncles challenge - males go feminine

Heart's Quest Celebrations of Love challenge - BEWAS (anniversary)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - clean and simple

Unicorn challenge - not square

I hope you will be able to join us for our 'CAS' challenge and I cannot wait to see your creations in our linky. Please leave some love for my fellow chicks - Leanne, Diane and Lori. Thank you so much for stopping by; I appreciate your lovely comments.

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Spellbinders - sealed bouquet die set

Honey Bee Stamps - stacking hearts and scallop hearts honey cuts

MFT - blueprints 27 (for flag end die)

MFT - black & white stripes 6x6 paper pack

LOTV - verses A5 polymer clear stamp - no longer available

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

Limetree Craft - 300gsm smooth white card (for card base)

Limetree Craft - 220gsm black card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

computer & printer for front sentiment

coloured card from my scraps bin

CASE IT IG Hop - June 26

Hello again friends. I hope you've had a great start to your weekend. I'm here to share this month's card for the CASE IT Instagram Hop where we find a project on Instagram that inspires us and we will share that project as well as the project we’ve created. There are so many beautiful creations on Instagram the only difficult part is narrowing down which one to CASE (which means Copy And Share Everything).

This month I was inspired by Nancy (@nauntie over on IG); I love every card she makes as she does CAS so amazingly.  As soon as I saw her card I was in love, her Christmas card is just gorgeous and I loved the embossed background and large die cut sentiment.  I decided to make my card an anniversary card but you can definitely see that my card was inspired by hers! Here is her card for my inspiration:

Isn't her card just perfect? Using Ardyth's LIMES process (you can watch her video here) we list what we see - Nancy has used white, lime green and red as her main colours, an embossing folder in the background, alphabet letter dies, a smaller sub-sentiment and a strip of vellum.  So I followed the layout and used a dark green, white and gold colour combo and used a large die cut word instead of her letters for my main sentiment.  I also added a few pieces of leafery which Nancy didn't have.  I didn't really omit anything this time and my spin is that my card is anniversary instead of Christmas and also it's 5 1/4" x 7 1/4" in size. I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by embossing a white panel cut to 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" (I also embossed a dark green panel to see which one I preferred; I felt the dark green one was too dark for the front so kept it for the inside instead). I die cut the 'happy' word, once from dark green and twice from white so that I stack them for extra dimension. I die cut the anniversary word from gold mirror card and also one of the leaves.  The other leaf was cut with vellum and I also cut a 1" strip to go around the front of my card. I also cut the shadow for the 'happy' word from vellum.  I wrapped the vellum strip around the embossed panel and added some double sided tape on the back to secure it, I then added a dark green mat layer behind the embossed panel.  I added the vellum shadow layer behind the stacked 'happy' and added that over the vellum strip with foam squares. I tucked the two leaves behind the vellum strip and adhered them with a combination of foam squares and liquid glue.  The 'anniversary' word was adhered below the strip with liquid glue.  I adhered the panel onto the card case with double sided tape.  I didn't add any embellishments as I wanted to try and keep Nancy's CAS look as much as possible.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" and added a piece of dark green embossed panel to the bottom with double sided tape.  I also added a thin strip of the gold mirror card above it with liquid glue.  I die cut two more leaves, one from vellum and one from gold mirror card, and added them in the bottom left corner with liquid glue.  I decided to stamp the sentiment with a dark green ink, as opposed to my usual black, as there was no other black on my card. I adhered the panel onto the card base with double sided tape.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Allsorts challenge - anything goes from the garden 

Alphabet challenge - D is for double (I have two leaves)

Can You Handle The Pressure challenge - must use an EF optional theme boys to men

Daisy Chain challenge - not square

Heart's Quest Celebrations of Love challenge - BEWAS (anniversary)

Word Power challenge - sentiment as the focus

We hope you will be inspired by our CASE IT Instagram Hop and will pop over and check out all the gorgeous cards along the way. If you would like to join us please visit my Instagram page or use the hashtag #caseithop and we will find you.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Lots of love

card supplies:

Spellbinders - branching out embossing folder (EOM-Jan24) ? retired

Spellbinders - sealed bouquet die set (for leafery)

Julie Hickey - happy profile die set

Crafts-Too - happy anniversary die

Cardmaking Magic - verses for occasions stamp (for inside sentiment)

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (not available but other options are here and here)

*Gina K Designs - Christmas pine ink pad

*I now have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x

Just Us Girls challenge #809 - guest designer

Welcome back to my blog lovely friends.  I was honoured to be asked to be a guest designer for the Just Us Girls challenge for February and immediately said yes. They have fun weekly challenges and I hope you will join in.  

They have set themes for each week so it is always easy to play along.  Here is the schedule:

Week 1. Die Week

Week 2. Word Week

Week 3. Mood Board Week

Week 4. Anything Goes using a stencil Week

Week 5. Case a DT Member Week

Obviously I will only be sharing 4 cards with you as there are only 4 weeks this month.  

So as it's Week 1 the theme is Die Week and the prompt is 'use a heart'; here is the graphic:

I had just received my Gina K Designs kit when I sat down to make my card so of course I had to use the gorgeous heart frame die and matching stencils on my card; it was perfect timing!  I used a purple and green with a touch of black colour combo and made a 5 1/2" square card for a change.  I did go a bit wonky lining up the die on the stencilling but rectified that by using a green Promarker to colour in any missing areas and I think it looks ok.  I hope you like it.

Here is my card:

A closer look at the details:

Plus I decorated the inside:

I began by creating my card base by cutting a white piece of card cut to 11" x 5 1/2" and scoring on the long side at 5 1/2".  I cut the heart frame from white card and used the square die to cut it out.  I took another piece of white card and used the matching stencils and purple and green inks and created the beautiful design.  I adhered the stencilled panel and the die cut heart panel together with liquid glue but as I said I went a bit wrong and it was stuck good and proper so just grabbed a green Promarker and carefully filled in any gaps.  I added a black mat layer behind with double sided tape. I ink blended the heart from the centre with the same purple inks and popped it back in place with liquid glue.  I cut a purple piece of card 4 3/4" square and embossed it with the swiss dots embossing folder and again added a thin black mat layer behind with double sided tape.  I added the purple panel onto the card base with double sided tape, added some scrap white card behind the heart frame panel and also added that to the purple panel with double sided tape.  I stamped the sentiment in black ink and used the coordinating die to cut it out.  I added the sentiment over the heart using foam squares.  I finished off with some black pearls.  For the inside I cut a white panel 4 5/8" square, stamped the sentiment in the centre and stamped two corner images in the top right and bottom left corners; I used Promarkers to colour these in.  I added a thin purple mat layer and also a thin black mat layer behind with double sided tape.  This was then adhered to the card base with double sided tape.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

* to be updated *

I'm sure this will be a popular challenge as we all love our dies don't we? Please pop over and check out the gorgeous creations by the talented design team. 

Love and hugs,

card supplies:

Gina K Designs - heart frame die & stencil (in current Mega Kit but will be available next month)

Gina K Designs - swiss dot embossing folder

Gina K Designs - graceful greetings stamp & die (for outside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - floral wishes stamp (for inside sentiment)

Gina K Designs - in the corner stamp (for inside decoration)

Gina K Designs - black, gold & silver metallic pearl mix

Gina K Designs - ink pads - lovely lavender, wild lilac, jelly bean green, fresh asparagus

Limetree Craft - 280gsm silky smooth white card (currently not available but they have alternatives here and here)

Limetree Craft - 220gsm black card

Versafine Clair - nocturne ink pad

Green Promarker

purple card from stash

*I now have an Affiliate Link for the Gina K Designs store. If you are considering making a purchase I would appreciate you using my link as it will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Thank you x

Anniversary shaker card

Happy Saturday friends.  I hope you've had a brilliant week and are ready to enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend.   I cannot believe we are in the last weekend of August; I love autumn, with the cooler weather and crunching leaves beneath your feet, but really don't like the dark nights so much.  I have enough trouble taking good photographs of my cards in the summer, let alone when it's dark and dreary lol!  

Anyway I'm here today to share an anniversary card that I made a little while ago but forgot to share.  It's a bright and cheerful colour scheme and I decided to make a shaker element too.  

Here is my card:

a closer look at the sweet lovebirds:

I stamped the gorgeous floral heart and adorable love birds and coloured them with Promarkers.  There aren't any dies so I fussy cut them out.  I decided to cut the centre out of the heart and make a shaker card so added acetate behind the heart.  I used a beautiful embossing folder for the background as I thought it was really elegant for an anniversary card and matted it onto a pale green card.  I gold heat embossed the sentiment (from the stamp set) and added a few tiny die cut flowers and leaves for decoration and to tie in with the larger floral heart.  To put my card together I added some sequins into my heart and sealed it close with foam tape.  This was then added to the embossed panel with liquid glue.  The birds were added with foam tape at the lower part of the heart and the sentiment was placed middle centre below the birds, again on foam tape.  I didn't added any extra embellishments as the shaker was enough.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Sweet Stampin' challenge - wedding/anniversary

Stamping Sensations challenge - mood board (I was inspired by the colours and bird)

Craft Rocket challenge - animals

Krafty Chicks challenge - all occasions

Cardz for Galz challenge - cute animals or insects

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - bright and cheerful

Triple B challenge - I used birds and blooms

Can You Handle The Pressure? challenge - use an embossing folder option poppies

Moving Along With The Times challenge - embossing 

Tic Tac Toe challenge - anniversary/gold or silver/free (my sentiment is gold embossed)

Colorful Options challenge - yellow/green

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks so much for stopping by. 

Love and hugs, 

card ingredients:

Funky Fossil Designs - love birds stamp set

Spellbinders - stylized trellis EOM-Jan 23

Spellbinders - mini blooms & sprigs

Cosmic Shimmer - detail bright gold embossing powder

Promarkers

shaker mix from stash (I think it was a freebie)

pale green card from stash

30th Anniversary card

Hello again friends; I hope the start of the week has been good for you.  I'm back to share the card I made for hubby to celebrate our recent 30th Pearl anniversary.  I cannot believe where the last 30 years have gone; although I think I deserve a medal for putting up with him for so long lol!  

Here is my card:

this one shows the glittery card better:

My husband is not really into fussy cards so decided to buy a die/stamp set to cut out the 30 and save myself the stress of trying to make something elaborate from scratch.  I die cut the base from navy card and then the 30 was die cut from a pearl glittery card that I've had in my stash for years.  The sentiment was also from the same set and I heat embossed it on the navy card with a glittery powder.  The husband word was die cut in the pearl card and also a dark red which was ever so slightly off set.  The hearts were also cut from the same dark red card.  The finished card is very dimensional as the 30 was added with foam squares along with the sentiment and hearts.  I think the finished result is perfect for my husband.  

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Color Hues challenge - merlot and navy

Moving Along with the Times challenge - wedding/anniversary

Shopping Our Stash challenge - celebrating by the numbers

Addicted to Stamps and More challenge - any occasion

Dream Valley challenge - dies and/or punches

Thanks for stopping by; I really appreciate all your comments and your continued support.  

Love and hugs, 

Card ingredients:

Creative Craft Products - numbers galore: flirty 30

Heffy Doodle - husband die cut

MFT - tag builder blueprints 6

card stock from my stash

Papermania - tinsel snowflake embossing powder

Rainbow butterflies

Hello again friends.  I hope you are all doing ok and having a great week so far (at least it's a short one here in the UK yay!).  I'm back to share an anniversary card that I made for my in-laws using really pretty rainbow colours.  I hope you like it. 

I usually do hearts and flowers for anniversary cards but thought I would do something different for a change.  I found this gorgeous butterflies die that I don't think I've ever used and cut it out of white card.  I then used my distress oxide inks to ink blend on another panel and add this behind the dies cut butterflies.  It is such a soft and pretty way to show off the cut outs and super easy too.  I added the panel onto a black panel and then added this with foam tape to my card base.  I stamped the sentiments and used a banner die to cut them out.  Finally I added some embellishments in similar colours and viola my card was complete. 

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Use your stuff challenge - mood board (I was inspired by the colours)

Less is More challenge - CAS inking

Inspired by challenge - spring into color (I was inspired by the pastel colours)

Creative Craft Cottage challenge - CAS

SSS Monday challenge - Easter or spring (spring colours)

SSS Wednesday challenge - Spring/Easter mood board (I was inspired by the colours)

SSS IG challenge - hello spring (spring colours)

Happy Little Stampers challenge - anything goes with dies

I hope you have a brilliant week and have a wonderful Easter weekend.

Stay safe and take care.

Hugs and love, 

Card ingredients:

Memory box - reverse butterfly collage die

Clearly Besotted - Mr & Mrs stamp set (for anniversary sentiment)

Clearly Besotted - happy birthday all (for mam & dad sentiment)

Distress oxide inks (kitsch flamingo, squeezed lemonade, twisted citron, tumbled glass, milled lavender)

Little Things from Lucy's Cards - crystal collection - over the rainbow

Gina K Designs - master layouts 1 (for die cutting the panels)

Gina K Designs - master layouts 2 (for the banners)

Taylored Expressions - blender brushes 

Anniversary card

Hello friends; I thought I would try to get back into blogging again as although I love Instagram and Facebook for showing my cards you can't really give too much detail about what products you've used etc.

I have a quick anniversary card I made for my sister-in-law & brother-in-law.  I used My Favorite Things stamps called 'Raving Raccoons' that I bought from Dies to Die For.  I coloured the cute images with my promarkers and used the matching dies to cut them out.  I also used an older MFT die called 'insert it - instaframe' which appears to be discontinued as I can't find it in the MFT store and ink blended the small square behind the raccoons with my distress oxide inks with my awesome Taylored Expressions blending brushes.  The scalloped panel is W Plus 9 from the 'sunshine layers' die set and the happy anniversary sentiment is Taylored Expressions from the 'simple strips background' stamp and die set.  The main sentiment was created with Clearly Besotted 'happy birthday all' which is perfect for all your family members.

Here is a close up of the images:

Let me know if you have any questions or if you feel there is a way to make my posts more interesting or informative.  I am very rusty after being away from blogging for so long so any advice would be appreciated. 

I hope you're having a great week so far.  Hopefully I can blog more regularly from now on, even if it's only once or twice a week.

Enjoy the rest of your week and until next time, take care and lots of love.