What's black,white and red?

The Christmas cracker answer would be a newspaper but in my world its three birthday cards from one die. I love this die from poppystamps makes the perfect guy birthday card and looks so different when you change the colours and can also make pretty girly cards is softer colours with added butterflies  and flowers too.

I used white , black and mirrored red card to cretae my 3 cards.I used different out cuts from each of the die cuts to inlay contrasting colours and I so love how they pop and the best bit is they are perfect for sending through the post too

I would like to enter this card design and these cards into the following challenges:-

creative knockouts - anything goes

craft - anything goes

craftaholics -birthday

crafty gals corner - anything goes

Shades of autumn

I have some candles that are battery operated so much safer when you have a cat that is inquisitive and likes to jump onto the mantle piece so real lit candles are a big no no.

I love the glow they give all orangey and thought how it reminds me of autumn leaves so had a wee play and this is what I came up with. 

I used some cream leather textured paper and a poppystamps autumn leaves collage die and randomly cut leaves into the paper. 

 I measured and cut the paper to fit as a collar around the candle.I initially tried the collar just as it was but it didn't have the effect I wanted so I added some red vellum behind the die cuts and that worked perfectly.

I love how the leaves glow and as the light flickers the leaves almost seem to change colour and dance in a non existant breeze, but they certainly make a change from the plain cream wax,

I would like to enter this project into the following challenges:-

Scrappyland - anything goes

crafty calendar - autumn colour

Bunny winter wishes

I don't tend to make Christmas cards in the summer , I prefer making them when the days get darker and miserable, but as we have had some days like that here is a Christmas card.

I bought this die from amazon it was less the £5 with shipping and although it took a while to get here from China for the money its great value. I cut it out in white card and stuck strips of black behind for contrast. I attached to a blue distress ink blended background.

I decided to create a winter scene so cut a window in my base card using an oval die.

The foreground I created using a Martha Stewart punch to cut leaves which I coloured with spectrum noir aqua glitter pen to give a frosted look. I created some bushy undergrowth and added some winter wildlife in the form of bunnies coloured with distress ink.

Although I made the card with the intention of it being a Christmas card, without the sentiment I think it would make a fab winter month birthday card too, so I'm keeping my options open and will add the sentiment later.

I thought I'd seen a design that inspired me to create this card and was sure I had saved it on my Pinterest inspiration from others page so I could credit the designer and say thank you but not sure if I dreamt that as I don't  seem to be able to find it so if I did use your design as my inspiration thank you and sorry but I can't find you to link your inspiring card 

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges;-

crafty friends challenge - cute

Paperminutes - cold

Through the craft room door - anything goes

Allsorts - Christmas creatures

Daring card makers - DIY blended backgrounds

Jingle bells - animals

Brassy fern

More cards for my mum in law in Tenerife ( see post here).

This card uses a simple but fairly large fern die from memory box cut from a white base layer and also from copper mirri card which is then inlaid into the white base.

I Although the card has the appearance of a matt to keep the card light-weight I removed the centre of the blue matt layer which was made from pearl blue paper again to keep the card light weight for overseas postage.

I finished the card with a Brittania die sentiment 'happy birthday' and that was another light weight male card designed for my mum in law and her ex-pat friends.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

A bit more time to craft - anything goes

creative craft cottage - use a sentiment

creative fingers  -anything goes

Addicted to CAS -leaves

Dream valley -birthdays

challenge up your life - use 2 dies

Who gives hugs like a favourite teddy

Two cards ,same image ,different colours and how different they look, well I think so.

I used white base cards and stamped the images in black memento ink  and coloured with promarkers adding high lights with sakura gel pens. 

I kept the design really simple and no sentiment so it could be added when needed as I think it could be used for a male birthday, father's day or even retirement or just a simple hello or thank you.

I would like to enter these cards into the following challenges:-

Colour crazy -anything goes

QKR - halloween or anything goes

Sweet stampin' - bears

crafting from the heart - anything goes

Lemon shortbread - anything goes

Rubber dance - animals

You're special

A quick and simple card I made experimenting with masking and distress oxide inks. I used a white base card and masked off a band with post it notes. I blended a yellow ink and a deep pinky red ink and where they met they created an orangy colour.

I removed the top mask and used some Darkroom silhouette stamps and black ink and stamped a hedgerow of flowers along my band so most fit within the band but one or two popped their heads above the strip.I removed the other masking strip and added a simple sentiment from the stampman  again stamped in black ink.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Colour crazy -anything goes

Crafty catz -anything goes optional autumnal colours

CAS on friday - make a card with flowers

HLS CAS challenge - one layer

Take it make it - anything goes with stamping

Tuesday throwdown - CAS

with deepest sympathy

It's always sad for those left behind when you have to say goodbye as they have left this world sooner than was expected in the normal run of things. One of my husband and sons colleagues sadly passed away towards the end of last year after a 5 year battle with non Hodgkin lymphoma , the sad thing was it was actually the last lot of his treatment that caused his organs to collapse but guess his time was up one way or another as he would philosophically said.

It was a wonderful service and as funerals go not that depressing as there were many who shared their happy memories of time they had shared with our friend and his family really appreciated how many people he had touched in such a positive way which they seemed quite comforted by.

I made two cards one for his immediate family and one for his parents as I cannot imagine what they must have felt as we found out that when our friend was a teenager his sister had also died , so his parents had had the misfortune of loosing both their children untimely and before themselves.

My cards I created a background with a quilted effect on the first on lilac card using a memory box stitching line die and added another memory box die cut of a fern cut in ivory pearl card.

I mounted this on pearl lilac card with a stamped sentiment embossed with moonglow obsidian violet powder.

Quite simple but in my mind as it should be.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges;-

cardz for galz- monochromatic

double D - leave it to me

craftaholics-anything goes

CASology - sorry

Through the craft room door - anything goes

Babe magnet?

One of my nephews turns 16 this month and he's getting a scooter to ride to school so I thought this would be a fun card for him, hope it makes him smile in a good way.

I used a lily of the valley stamp and coloured it with promarkers.
I used a circle die but allowed some of the image to spill over the edge of the die cut.

I used a map stamp from a set from the Stampman , one of the first stamps I ever bought and stamped on cream paper colouring the roads different colours( not that you can see them) in hopes it looks a little more realistic. They live in a rural area so not many roads.

I used a kraft base card and some purple plaid paper to create the base layer and a printed sentiment I found in my stash that came from an ancient kit I got when first starting to card make, I cut it in half and attached to each side of the image. I finished the card with some peel-off numbers , well 16 is a milestone of sorts especially when it's you that's 16.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Daisy Chain - happy birthday

Dream Valley challenges - for the boys

Seize the birthday - anything goes

QKR - anything goes or pumpkins

Jingle bells

I bought these Sheena Douglas dies and stamps when visiting Crafter's companion store in Chesterfield though I only went for some card.

I cut the die in silver mirri card and also in white card which I then coloured with promarker to add depth.

I created the background by  using distress oxide inks on some centura pearlised card, it really adds a lovely sheen. 

I then used Versamark ink and silver embossing powder and stamped 'jingle ' twice on the background. I cut a square of white card slightly larger than my background and coloured the edge with the same promarker as my jingle shadow. I then mounted the background and its base to a white square base card.

 

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges;-

Fab n funky - word art

Casology - odd

Sweet stampin' - sparkle and shine

The Male room - use metal

the Corrosive challenge - anything goes

HLS Christmas - anything goes optional silhouette

Sweet stampin, Christmas - anything goes Christmas

Christmas card challenge - anything goes optional photo inspiration

Black on black

Thought I'd have another experiment with my distress oxide inks and as a starting point found a challenge to use as a starting point. I used orange inks to create a sunset sky blending the inks together from lighter deep yellowy orange shades to deeper orange shades. I created the setting sun by using an open studio circle die and a water pen to remove the ink dabbing with a tissue to remove the colour. To add the hazy clouds I just drew lines again with the water pen removing the colour.

I used several more memory box dies, cattail landscape die, prairie grass die, elegant seashore birds and springtime bunnies, all cut in black glossy card and arranged them to create a scene. 

I finished the card by mounting the panel on a black glossy card base. no sentiment as yet as I feel its a card that could be used for many different occasions and so will add an appropriate sentiment when I use the card.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Outside the box - black and orange

crafty friends - anything goes

creative fingers - anything goes

OLLCB- dies

HLS - anything with dies

Sunshine smiles

Who doesn't love sitting in the sunshine with a gentle breeze listening to the birds singing and the buzzing of the bees. Nature is a wonderful thing and when I here people say 'stop and smell the coffee or roses' I think it should be stop and listen to the birds and bees though I guess coffee is available all year round whereas roses, bees buzzing and birdsong might not be, I digress as usual onto my card.

I love these itty bitty bees from memory box and they are such fun to make too quite therapeutic if you get a little conveyor belt going and they just add something when you add them to a project. I have some lady bugs too and they are fun too just make me smile, not sure what that says about me lol.  My card was a bit of an experiment for me using a stencil and distress inks both relatively new to my craft collection but I hope I will grow into them. I was quite surprised the pattern from the stencil showed so well and thought it would be the perfect backdrop for this fab sunflower also from Poppystamps. You can probably tell I cut it a couple of times and did some colouring too using promarkers but I do think it was worth it.

I love flowers and have quite a few favourites and most are daisy type so gerbras ,sunflowers ,daisies and I guess the exception would be gladiolas. I also love flowers like roses and sweet peas and peonies as they fill the air with such beautiful scents. All flowers have a beauty in their own way so how can anyone ever just have one favourite.

I did think about adding a sentiment but couldn't decide whether to add 'you make me smile all over my face' or 'you make rainy days sunny ' or just a simple happy birthday,so for now I've left it blank until the occasion for using it presents itself.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Poppystamps - masquerade

Kraftin Kimme -fall colours

The Flower challenge - use your favourite flower

would love to win the power poppy prize

The crafty addicts - anything goes/autumn colours

Deep Ocean - autumn colours

Glitter n sparkle - fall/autumn from colours to imagery

Peony pink wishes

I have quite a few wedding anniversary celebrations in my family so thought I'd get ahead start so here is one of them. I coloured this fab image with promarkers in peony pink like the Sarah Bernhardt The image is from Aurora wings by Mitzi and it's so realistic.

I fussy cut the image and attached to the bottom corner of my base card.

I used the same green promarker to stamp the sentiment by the darkroom.

I finished my card with some green dew drops .

I would  like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Simon says stamp-make a card for world card making day

creative craft cottage - pink for breast cancer awareness

crazy for challenges- make a card for world card making day

fab n funky - pretty in pink

Aurora wings - CAS

Craft rocket - birthday or pretty in pink

Passion for promarkers - pink

Unicorn challenges - pink for breast cancer awareness

Best Fishes

Boys cards in fact male cards many seem to struggle with ,me it's girly cards I find hard but this I made for a 16 year old boy so no problem

I started with an Aurora wings image one of a pair of gold fish ,they are such a delight to colour which I did with promarkers in shades of orange.

I wanted to showcase the image and keep it CAS so I used a blue base card and added some blue distress oxide ink and some water drops to create a watery effect. I added a loopy rings die cut in white (from Memory box)and the fish atop that.

The sentiment is hand written just for fun.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Aurora wings - CAS

The crazy challenge - add an animal

Stamplorations CAS - anything goes optional twist orange

cute card thursday -anything goes

I love promarkers - diecuts

Stamplorations theme and sketch - stamps and 2 colours or sketch

Anniversary wishes

 I made this for a 14th anniversary which traditional and modern is celebrated with ivory and gold jewellery. 

Well this is my take,an ivory card base and gold die cuts. I used dies from open studio 'love words' and memory box heart arch. I cut the dies in gold mirri-card and attached to the  ivory base card. A quick and easy card to make.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Scrappyland - anything goes

Penny's - anything goes

crafting with friends - anything goes

crafty catz - anything goes optional twist CAS

porcelain anniversary

I have a couple of anniversaries to celebrate this month . This card celebrates 18 years of marriage . I used some see-dee stamps I have never used but have had for years, I originally planned to use some tea cut die cuts but couldn't find a die I liked anywhere to buy so had a rummage through my stamps and found these. I stamped with black ink and clear heat embossed the images on photo paper and then fussy cut the images adding colour with promarkers and gold gel pen.

I used a white card base with a card fold I found on Glenda's blog and used more white card which I embossed with tiny hearts using a do crafts embossing folder. I covered the 3 panels base card done.

I cut 2 heart shapes using open studio dies one in white and one in gold mirri card and again embossed both with the tiny hearts.I mounted one on top of the other and then added my porcelain teapot,cups and saucers.

I finished the card with a stamped sentiment using a stampman stamp and black ink.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-

Cutlorations - 'Home is where the happy is'

crafty cardmakers - fancy folds

Incy Wincy - let's celebrate

Auds sentiments - use die cuts and a sentiment

Inky chicks -not a square