Sunday Snippets - Large Iris card

I was sent some happy mail recently by a lovely friend, many thanks again - you know who you are! I wanted to dive in and use one of the stamps right away - fetch your sunshades folks if things are a bit too bright for you:

 

I used:

- 7" x 5" 'Pale Ivory' linen card blank, side opening

- a snippet of 'Pale Ivory' linen card measuring 3.75" x 5.75" for the embossed background - which I embossed using a NBUS Penny Black embossing folder called 'noted'

- a snippet of 'black velvet' card stock to back the embossed layer as a frame, measuring 4" x 6" - then glued both layers together and set them to one side

- used the iris stamp from the newly gifted Oakwood 'Joys of Spring - Snowdrop and Iris' set of stamps plus a VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad to stamp the entire flower and stem onto another snippet of 'Pale Ivory' linen card and carefully trimmed right around the image using small scissors

- then used the same stamp to pick out three distinct parts (main part of the flower, deeper centre and the green stem) using the same 'Nocturne' ink pad and a single sheet of paper from the Honey Bee Stamps 'Team Tie Dye' paper pad 

- ran a black TomBow brush pen right around all the pieces, patterned ones as well as the plain one

- trimmed the flower and stem parts and glued them onto the previously stamped image using a glue pen

- glued the completed flower onto the backing layer of 'black border with embossed script' - and once again the camera plays tricks, the embossing is really clear in real life!

- then, used a pre-lettered and ready die cut sentiment from a Lou Collins Epheremera 'Words and Letters' pack of sheets, NBUS as well - gently coloured it using a soft brush and swipe of Distress Oxide 'crackling campfire' onto the Tonic glass mat that I always work on. Spritzed the Distress 'swipe' with water to tone down the density before picking it up with the soft brush and gently colouring the sentiment

- the iris stem obviously stood proud of the embossed layer so I used small pieces of thin foam tqpe pads to build a 'bridge over the stem' on the back of the sentiment before then popping it onto the card

- finally, added the finished panel to the card blank using thin foam tape strips - finished!

Normally I stamp straight onto a panel or the card front when paper piecing - but figured out that the embossing was going to cause issues if I didn't add the flower as one entity with a flat backing ......... and I wanted to use the embossing folder, so there! It did add to the process - didn't think that one through beforehand though.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Darnell's NBUS Challenge # 72 - HERE. The flower stamp, embossing folder plus the pre-printed and die cut sentiment were all waiting for an outing - a happy trio 

Allsorts Challenge #818 - HERE  The current challenge is CAS but I think I'd better add this in under 'Anything Goes' as it is pretty much in your face!

Dudley Pupdate: This afternoon, Saturday, Dudley pulled such a cute trick before he went into the back garden to help Len with replenishing the bird seed etc. The hedgies are already stirring and coming looking for food, so that means extra work keeping them clean and fed/watered. Dudley stood right at the top of the stairs really to go outside, and all you could see was Honka Duck in Dudley's mouth - with a pair of bright eyes peering over the top. Len and I were talking about something else at the same time as Dudley was waiting and it was just as if he was at Wimbledon! Duck in mouth and head swivelling from side to side as he looked up at us! Just a little vignette - but a really sweet moment, sometimes small things can be the most precious.

Very importantly, the results of Challenge #500 are now published HERE.  

Do please come and play in Sarn's current challenge over in the Snippets Playground - we're back to our usual routine after so many mystery prizes and special giveaways.

Love from myself and Dudley, xxx

Birthday card for a special Buddy

I made this card for someone very special:

I used:

- a white DL card

- white card stock for the stencilled panel

- a lovely  iCraft stencil 8527 that I won a while ago over at Allsorts - coloured using TH Distress Oxides and an assortment of 'small detailed' blending brushes rather like pencils with soft ends (bought from Amazon) - they compliment the 'make-up style blending brushes we're mostly using so well

- trimmed the panel down and layered it onto a snippet of yellow card before then gluing it to the card front

- used more yellow card snippets and a VersaFine Clair 'Morning Mist' ink pad to stamp the sentiment, using a set of The Greetery stamps called 'Opposites Attrract'

- then die cut the two parts of the sentiment using a The Greetery 'Opposites Attract' die for the word 'happy' and a die from their 'Opposites Attract Script' set of dies

- layered the sentiment die cuts onto two further die cut layers then glued them onto the card front

All done! My first serious venture into stencilling as well. Unlike most sensible folk I did a high dive into the deep end, as per usual, and chose to do something more intricate. ☺ Happy Birthday sweet friend if you happen to pop in and see this post!

I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #49 HERE. The stencil, the small sized blending brushes and the sentiment stamps and dies were all out for a first play!

Sarn has posted the results of Challenge #451 over in the Snippets Playground HERE. As always, we had some really great entries - so lovely how those snippets just keep on multiplying.

Dudley Pupdate: Nothing much to report, although he's loving the Springtime walks - once he's been coaxed into his harness and has his collar on. He's a funny little guy, if he just doesn't feel like going for a walk he lies down on his side and sticks one leg up in the air for a tummy tickle instead! The weird thing is that it's the only time he does 'raise his leg' - he still squats like a puppy for a wee!

He currently looks like a ball of fluff - most likely heading for a bath early this coming week, little does he know!

It's Mo's Rudolph Days Challenge beginning on Tuesday 25th remember! And there's still one week of the current Snippets Challenge to go. See you in the Playground.

Bunny is going on holiday

'cos he's tired out and demanding a rest from all this fancy posing stuff - so this is the last card with him on for now. No doubt, he'll pop up again at some point but meanwhile:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" tent style card blank, cut from 'Syntegro White Linen Silkweave' textured card

- assorted sizes of snippets of the same white card for the image panel and all the little die cuts

- cut the following die cuts: the flowery border/grass strip using the Charlie & Paulchen die called 'Flower and grass border', unbranded sitting bunny, window opening panes by The Greetery called 'Fresh Air Window Frame' and finally, all from Gummiapan, a nest and a couple of chicks from the 'rooster, hen and chickens' set plus three eggs from the 'Easter Branches' set

 - once again lots of little die cuts to colour in using Distress Oxide ink pads and a water brush

- then used a large ball ended embossing tool to slightly round/shape the bunny, nest, eggs and chicks to add some dimension

- rubbed some Ranger 'Micro Distress Glaze' onto each of the 'rounded' pieces

- the image panel was trimmed to 5" x 3.75"

- then die cut the window into the image panel using a die from The Greetery 'Fresh Air Window Frame' set and backed it with a snippet of yellow patterned paper (the camera is telling fibs and showing it as almost green!)

 - stuck the flower & grass border onto the front panel using red line tape across the bottom section and a glue pen for the blades of grass

- used a die from The Greetery's 'Brick Layer' set of dies to cut a stencil from 125 microns Mylar and stenciled the brick pattern in one corner of the window, using a mix of Distress Oxide inks on my glass mat, all mixed up with a squirt of water 

- glued the arched open windows in place using a glue pen

- built up the rest of the little scene using some teensy pieces of thin foam pad behind the nest, chicks and bunny. The eggs had already been stuck to the back of the nest using red line tape prior to me touching the Micro Distress Glaze BTW

- adhered the front panel onto the card front, using strips of narrow foam tape to raise it up a bit

- finally, using a pencil, I added the eye and little nose to the bunny's face

Didn't add a sentiment this time, it would have knocked the layout to pot.

I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #49 - the floral grassy border, nest and eggs, window and shutters plus the 'brick work' stencil were all having their first outing.

Dudley Pupdate: We've had such a mix of weather this past week - Dudley just loves to roll around on his back on the 'easy maintenance' grass in the back garden when it's sunny. I sat out with him for a while a couple of times and when I was then fussing him and stroking his back Len said - 'you DO know that he's probably been rolling on a worm?' Very nice trick Dudley. Been a few 'zoomies' of course - Spring is in the air even though it's teasing us a bit this year.

It's that Easter Bunny again!

Here's my Sunday snippets card - all using white linen snippets to start off with:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" side opening card blank, cut from 'Syntegro White Linen Silkweave' textured card

- assorted sizes of snippets of the same white card for the image panel and all the little die cuts (not worth taking a photo)

- cut the following die cuts: unbranded sitting bunny with the stool he came with plus the following Gummiapan dies:  a vase from the 'set of vases', three 'Easter branches', and daffodils from the 'tiny daffodils' set of dies. Also, the bow for the bunny - from an unbranded set of seven different bows 

 - so, there I was once again with a lot of little die cuts to colour in - and out came the Distress Oxide ink pads and water brush. Even coloured the little green buds all ready to burst forth!

- after colouring all the pieces, I then used VersaFine Clair 'Morning Mist' ink and a small Indigo Blu stamp appropriately called 'Crackle' to add some interest to the stool. In order to be sure to position the stool so that it was all covered in the 'crackle' in one go, I popped the stamp onto my glass mat, then inked it facing up before positioning the ready 'die cut and coloured' stool on top - then pressed down with a large acrylic block - perfect!

- then used a large ball ended embossing tool to slightly round/shape the bunny and his bow tie, along with the vase and the flower heads, just to add some dimension

- rubbed some Ranger 'Micro Distress Glaze' onto each of the die cut and coloured pieces - word of caution, be sure to keep it away from the back of the pieces as you handle them otherwise sticking them down might prove tricky - ask me how I know this

- the image panel started out on a bigger snippet of white linen card - and to 'ground' the image I stenciled what might pass for a rug onto the bottom edge of the panel - using 'Lost Shadow' Distress Oxide and a stencil I'd cut myself using a die from the Memory Box 'Baptisia' set of dies

- stamped the Easter sentiment into the top right corner of the panel using a stamp from the Clearly Besotted 'Say What?' set of stamps and a VersaFine Clair 'Morning Mist' ink pad

- glued the front panel onto the card front, using strips of narrow foam tape to raise it up a bit

- built up the little scene using a glue pen, red line tape, tweezers, pokey tool and some teensy pieces of thin foam pad behind the vase, daffodil heads and the bunny. The flowers and Spring branches had already been stuck to the back of the vase using red line tape

- finally, using a pencil, I added the eye and little nose to the bunny's face

Cutting my own stencil was inspired by Chrissie Stokes of course. After a false start with 250 microns Mylar, I switched to 125 microns which cuts like a dream - even coping beautifully with the very tricky die I used on this card. In real life, the colours are stronger than in the photo - and there is a third daffodil hiding somewhere in my craft room - it did a runner just before I assembled the card and I certainly wasn't going to go through the whole process of making a replacement.

I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #49 - the stool, bunny bow, vase and Spring contents dies were all having their first outing. Oh, and the 'stencil making' was a first too!

I actually have two more 'Easter Bunny' cards to one side here. One is fully made and 'waiting in the 'wings' - a bit of the die cutting is done for the final one, but having been one degree under for a few days during the week I'll wait and see how things go.

I've been having problems with some of my blog commenting lately - when using Firefox it was often, but not always, only allowing me to comment as 'Anonymous'. I've been into Privacy and security in Firefox on my laptop and have changed a pop-up setting to allow them - it seems that the latest Firefox update made this an option and not the default. It's little things like that lurking to trip us up. So do keep an eye on your browser settings. BTW - Blogger works much better on Chrome (both Google products). Quelle surprise!

Dudley Pupdate: It's been a quieter week than usual here but Dudley has never been far away from my side - keeping watch and offering cuddles of course. 

Dudley is such a joy. His morning 'treat hunt' is so funny. He adores 'calcium bones wrapped in dried chicken by Pawsleys or similar. We're not up at the crack of dawn all/showered washed, dressed and on parade at our age (yay, I actually felt right saying that and not explaining to builders why 8am is not on our radar these days!). 

Once breakfast is over and he's 'ready' for the day, Len makes us a second cuppa - mug of coffee for him and one of peppermint tea for me. And that's when Dudley knows it's 'treat time'. No matter where we conceal or hide it - that boy is on the hunt. The only way we can confuse him is to handle the treat between ourselves - and then he's a bit confused. Hands, smell, WHO? HE always wins - and in pretty short time as well.

Sarn has a new Snippets Challenge up and running in the Snippets Playground! Do have a look at her lovely snippets homework and join in with the fun - HERE. Nice selection in the prize pot as well!

Allsorts 13th Birthday Challenge # 677

Huge congratulations to Brenda and her lovely Design Team - 13 years of the Allsorts Challenge - phew! One of my favourite challenges and a great place to find stimulation and ideas.

The theme this week is 'Anything for a Birthday' and I sat working until quite late yesterday evening, determined to join in the fun. This is what I made, two cards very similar to one another - just reversed the colour of the big die cut word:

The gorgeous shine on the die cut word

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blanks, side opening

- two Concord and 9th 'Everyday Tintables' card fronts, coloured using soft blending brushes with Distress Oxides in 'Peacock Feathers' and the gorgeous 'Saltwater Taffy'

- at the same time I coloured a couple of white card snippets all over using each of the same Distress Oxide colours ........ I had a leetle  plan in mind!

- both of the 'tintables' panels were trimmed down and mounted onto backing 'frames' of black card and glued onto the card fronts

- next, thanks to an idea from Ann Melvin, I laminated both pieces of the plain Distress Oxide colored card - on the front only. So easy to do when you know how - just back the whole area where the card pieces are place in a laminating folder with copy paper or similar. The backs of the coloured pieces of card are then left unlaminated when you cut the laminating pouch open to reveal the contents - simples and also really easy to glue onto your work! Hint from Ann - don't laminate the back and front - your die cutting machine won't cut cleanly through the back layer

- then I die cut the laminated word 'friend' for each card using a die by Winnie and Walter called 'In A Word: Friend Cutaway'- and it comes out looking just as if you'd coated it in Glossy Accents, wahoo!! ☺

- stamped the 'BIRTHDAY HUGS' words onto a snippet of white card using a Versafine Clair 'Nocturne' ink pad and just hand trimmed them - the stamps are by MFT from their 'Label Maker Sentiments' set 

- layered the die cut word 'friend' onto two more white die cuts to add dimension

- then just glued the main and smaller sentiment words in place using a glue pen

- finally, added three 'Bubbles' embellishments to each card - and called them done

The Ann Melvin demo in the link above uses strips of washi tape and I've also seen another version where she laminated plain coloured card. The Glossy Accents effect really is gorgeous in real life. Not seen her laminating Distress Oxide coloured card as I did - but to be honest, any flat paper or card would work fine as far as I can see. And if you want to economise, then place your card pieces to be laminated face down on either side of the pouch with two sheets of paper in between! I promise it will make more sense if you spend five minutes watching Ann's video.

One thing I tried that didn't work was to laminate the MFT words and then fussy cut them. I think it's the action of the scissors on small pieces but they were just going to peel apart from the lamination covering - luckily I'd had my doubts and had also stamped extras! The little dots above the letter 'i' in the laminated word friend came out from the die cutting process perfectly though.

One way round it might have been to run the MFT scissor cut words back through the laminating machine, between a folded piece of copy paper. Another one to try at some point!

I confess that I then moved on to laminate some pretty napkins - using matt folders. Watch this space!

I also love those 'tintables' card fronts and had forgotten I still had them, minus one used ages ago. They are already covered with 'resist' patterns or words, all ready for some blending work. Mind you, I deffo. need to work on my blending skills.

When doing the blending I tried out a new gadget - a Waffle Flower 'Mini Stencil Mat'. Basically it's a soft floppy silicone sheet with a lip around one side and the top - which you keep your work butted up against. It does away with tape and of course, much like the Misti and other stamping platforms, your work goes back into exactly the same spot if you take it away to have a look. Really easy to clean as well. I just bought the Mini Version (about A4 size) but there is also a larger one available. I got mine from HERE.

I'd also like to enter these cards into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #38 HERE. Several new things, both of the Distress Oxides were having a first outing and also the Waffle Flower stencil mat.

Rudolph Day - April 2018

I forgot to add my usual reminder to Sunday's snippets post - it's Rudolph Days from today until the end of the month over at ScrappyMo's HERE!

This card is my entry, and I managed to make three of them exactly the same:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank, side opening

- white card stock, onto which I stamped the image using the Misti, a Tim Holtz Distress Oxide 'Iced Spruce' ink pad and the fabulous Inkylicious 'Winter Snow Pines - Large' stamp

- I positioned the stamp on the Misti and used card which was larger then I wanted the final result to be so I could trim it down to suit once the stamping of the trees was done

- for the first stamping I inked up the stamp and stamped it off onto a scrap of paper before then stamping onto the card panel (aka 2nd generation stamping)

- then, I moved the stamp about half an inch to the left and stamped it again (leaving out the 2nd generation step) for a darker image

- then trimmed the panel down to quarter of an inch smaller all round than the card front

- used the Misti to add the sentiment in the top left hand corner with a stamp from the Paper Smooches 'Christmas Sampler' set and a Dew Drop Brilliance ink pad called 'Crimson Copper' - which is a perfect match to the deep red mat/frame I wanted to use

- then added some 'Art of Craft' own brand micro glitter to the trees using a Zig glue pen (needless to say it's impossible to capture the lovely sparkle on camera although if you enlarge the photo and peer very closely some of it does show up, sigh)

- brushed any excess off using a large soft make-up brush - valuable piece of craft equipment!

- trimmed down a deep red card snippet to an eight of an inch all round larger than the image panel and ran a dark red Whispers pen around the cut edge as the off white core of the card was irritating me (OCD strikes again!)

- then glued the image panel onto the red mat before gluing to the card front

I bought this stamp before Christmas and offered one as a prize - after seeing what a lovely card Sarn had made using her stamp set. I just couldn't find a nice enough blue in amongst the 1001 ink pads lurking here so opted for the 'Iced Spruce' - which then needed a pop of deep red and some sparkle to bring it more alive.

Thinking about it, the Tim Holtz 'Broken China' Distress Oxide ink pad would have probably worked fine as it's such a pretty shade of blue - one to remember for next time.

More Distress Oxide Ink background stuff

Had an idea about using up one of the Distress Oxide (DOX) ink backgrounds I made recently. It was originally going to be a card for Less is More but I think it's probably a bit too 'busy':

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" white card blank, tent style

- piece of white card stock for the front panel, die cut using a MFT 'Diagonal Strip Sentiment Cover Up' die

- next, cut a piece of double sided self adhesive sheet to a teensy bit smaller than the die cut panel and popped it onto a snippet of white card which I then trimmed down to the edges of the adhesive sheet

- peeled off the remaining piece of protective sheet and carefully applied the sticky card to the back of the die cut panel so that the apertures were now backed with sticky. (TIP - keep the piece of waxed protective paper from the sticky sheet to cover up the panel in between working on the next stages). And, medium hold sticky sheet is stronger than Stick-It sheet (ask me how I know .... I had to add some glue here and there!)

- next, took a piece of pre-prepared 'Distress Oxide inked' card and die cut it using the same cover up die and popped all the pieces in place to create the diagonals

- then die cut the daisy and the word 'hi' into the 'banner part' of the striped card background using Penny Black's 'Bashful' die and a die from the MFT 'Hello There' set 

- then using more of the same piece of DOX'ed card I die cut the flower and the word 'hi' using the same dies as before

- popped the pieces in place and ran the whole panel through the Cuttlebug to 'embed' the die cuts properly

- glued the whole panel to the card front 

The panel I used was a reject really, but sliced apart it looks a whole load better. It was an attempt at 'smooshing' with the DOX ink pads. I did use the proper craft mat, dried in between each layer but have a feeling I used too much water - plus I didn't keep on going adding more layers. Thanks for the tips girls! The ink colours used are: Cracked Pistachio', Wilted Violet' and Worn Lipstick' - totally yummy!

Have a lovely weekend - whatever you have planned!

Framed butterfly card

The other day I was playing with my new TH Distress Oxides (DOX for short!) for the first time and made a few background pieces.  One was oranges and off it went down the right path without even planning it - so this is the card I made using some of the background piece:

I used:

- 4.25" x 5.5" white card blank, tent style

- a snippet from a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media Vellum Coated 300 gsm paper (I adore this!!) which had been smeared and daubed using TH Distress Oxides in the following colours: 'Fossilised Amber', 'Spiced Marmalade' and 'Fired Brick' - all part of the first set of 12 to be released

- heat dried between each colour so they didn't end up like a patch of mud ....... and then finally sprayed with plain water using a Mini Mister to add the 'splats and droplets' then given a final dry with the heat gun

- next I die cut two matching sets of frames using Impression Obsession's 'Rectangle 6 in 1 Frames' and white card stock -  then stuck the two matching frames together, one on top of another, for added dimension

- trimmed a piece from the rather precious TH DOX inky piece of card (it's not something you rattle off in five minutes!) and mounted it behind the white frame

- now that the framed piece of orange DOX card was assembled I could work out the positioning and potential 'look' of the sentiment - and after a lot of dithering opted for a die cut gold mirri card sentiment, to match the gold bodies I planned to add to the butterfly's wings later

- die cut the word 'Smile' (from the Penny Black 'Hooray' set of dies) using Stick-It backed gold mirri card and adhered it onto the card front. To really 'set' it in place and also to smooth out some 'cutting plate endowed wrinkles' I ran the whole card-  with the die cut word in place - through the Cuttlebug, using the embossing plates as well as an embossing folder for the right pressure

- time to glue the frame with the orange DOX backing in place, using Collall All Purpose glue - still a huge favourite of mine for 'wriggle room'

- at the same time as working with orange shades, I'd been using a variety of DOX blue shades in a similar way and had a little strip left over from a card I'll be showing on here in The Playground soon. So I die cut two little matching blue butterflies using SU's 'Beautiful Wings' Embosslits die/EF

- then added little gold mirri card bodies to the butterflies, die cut using Frantic Stamper's 'Petite Butterflies' plate die (it comes with loads of little butterflies and bodies, very pretty and in a way I wish I'd used it for the butterfly wings as well). If you love small butterflies then this die plate really is a lovely one to have in your die collection :)

- popped the butterflies in place using snippets of thin sticky pad and there it was - done!

I've said it before but running an added die cut through the embossing machine really does seem to 'embed' it into the card and it ends up looking almost 'foiled' if you use mirri card. Just remember to use an embossing folder for that added pressure, along with your normal embossing plates set up. For some cards I leave the embossing folder layer out, so it's a case of try the gentle approach without an EF first and see it you like it. Just make sure the EF is bigger than the card front for an even pressure and no rogue 'lines'. I tried to take a photo showing the mirri card shine but failed miserably :(

It sounds quite an easy card to make, but at the same time we were also trying to sort out the aftermath of the violent thunder storms we had here on Tuesday night. Both woken up by the bedroom lighting up like a funfair and an immediate enormous crash of thunder at about 2:30 am.

Looking back, it must have been quite an amusing sight - Len was out of bed in one huge hop (Olympic high jump standard) whilst I scrabbled to cower under the bedclothes! I swear that everything in the house rattled! And the next day we discovered that the telephone line was dead as a Dodo. BT are supposedly now on the case but who knows when things may be sorted out - at least we still have internet access, which surprises me, plus our mobiles! At least nothing blew up and we weren't endangered in any way :)

I have a friend who is absolutely terrified of thunder and lightning and has been known to dive under her bed or even into the wardrobe during a thunderstorm! After the other night, I'm on her side and would have been scrapping and fighting her out of the way I promise!

Edit: I just realised that this card is eligible for the brilliant CAS Watercolour challenge for July, run by Loll and Bonnie! The theme is 'Butterfly' - whoop, whoop - it's been far too long since I joined in.