Thursday 27 December 2018

Me time




Now the festivities are over I am spending some time on myself. Plenty of sitting around reading, I hope, as well as crafting. I hope you all had a good time and are able to find some time for yourselves too. 
I'm linking this card to Pixie's Snippets Playground where Di is having a huge and generous Christmas giveaway. 
I cut out these flowers and then when I looked at them under good light against the base card I discovered that 5 were a different colour. I must have used two types of card so I cut out a few more.  Now I'm working on another card in a similar but different design to use up the spares. 
Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Sunday 16 December 2018

Inked flowers

Hello lovely crafters
I've finally finished a card I started about 2 weeks ago. It was for a challenge which has long gone. 


Having smudged the first sentiment, I carried on undaunted and stamped the second. I managed to remove most of the smudge with the Tombow eraser which I won in the playground last Christmas. It's very useful for a clumsy stamper! I don't  think anyone would notice it except me. 
After creating the background with ink and water on an acrylic block the card was warped. I always forget that will happen. I damped it slightly, rolled it through my Big Shot then put it under a book. . This could ruin the card but I got away with it today. 
I added Glossy Accents to the centre of the flower and to the two little hearts. I'd forgotten how much I love the glossy look. 

I'm skipping over to Pixie's Snippets Playground. I've used snippets, of course, and I've started using a few scraps glued behind to raise things up slightly but not give as much dimension as foam pads. This is in the hope that they will still go through the post. 

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Saturday 1 December 2018

Stencil snowflakes

Hello lovely crafters, 
This is my last Christmas card for the year. Yeay. I should add that I have not bought one single present so perhaps I should focus on that now! And the food, decorations, wrapping...

At 52CCT we encourage you to create your Christmas cards all year round and our loyal and talented participants now have a lovely stash of cards to post and a feeling of smug satisfaction.
It's not too late to join in though. Our final challenge runs for the whole of December. 




The challenges are listed on tabs on our blog and there are plenty to choose from. 

I chose August 2017 - Embossed impressions



I created it using a stencil. I brushed ink over it direct from the ink pads and spritzed with water before running it through my Big Shot. I used very cheap water colour paper. 
It gives quite  a subtle raised effect and I like the inky look. 



I also added a little shimmer with Perfect Pearls. 

We hope you will be inspired to join in.
Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

I'm linking to 
CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge #414
Jingle Belles Rock - Taking back December
Pixie's Snippets Playground - must use snippets. 

Saturday 24 November 2018

Ribbon tree

Christmas is all about lights, food, trees and presents but don't forget


that's our challenge at 52CCT this week. 

If you are like me you  have a box of ribbon which explodes when you take the top off and never seems to get any less no matter how much you use. Perhaps yours is neatly stored on rolls and never gets in a tangle. 
Glitter is now controversial, what isn't?, but I've used edible glitter so I hope that is better for the environment. Biodegradable glitter is now available. A world without glitter would be sad. 



I made a little ribbon tree using a twig and some scraps. It's not my idea, I did see one on Pinterest but couldn't get to the bottom of who had posted it. Sorry not to be able to credit the maker. 
I made the background with a few Christmas stamps. 
It was a little fiddly but once glued down is fairly secure. I used glue and tape to fix the ends of ribbon and the stick. I don't think I'll send this one through the post as it may not survive. 
We look forward to seeing how you use ribbons and glitter to add to your Christmas card stash. 
Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Joining in with 
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #413 Optional theme make your own background. I did. 
Please feel free to copy to your sidebar

The Card Concept #102 Homestyle Holiday. Inspired by the tree and the homestyle take on Christmas. 

Tuesday 20 November 2018

Spin the Butterfly wheel

In the nick of time, I'm posting this card for Mrs A's Butterfly challenge. The weeks go by so quickly and even though the challenge is two weeks it just disappears. 


This time is the letter R

I used ROSE PINK ink and water in the embossing folder to before embossing. REPEATED and the die cut and RUBY border on both sides. Used a RECYCLED piece of ROYAL (it looks more royal irl) paper for the sentiment and added ROUND RUBY gems and a RECYCLED flower, from a birthday card I think. 
There is also some Perfect Pearls brushed over. I was using it on another project and you might know when you use it it gets everywhere!

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day! x

Saturday 17 November 2018

Snowy village


Welcome to another week at 52CCT. We have a lovely challenge for you this time. 


I've always loved them but not sure if I've ever actually owned one. 

You don't need to have a snow globe stamp or die for this, they can be made in several ways. I used the base of snow globe stamp but the top is made using two circle dies. Of course it's also perfect for shaker cards.
The village is a Little Claire stamp which I masked and used on two levels.


I added some glitter, of course. I love the look of the bright blue against the white. 

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Skipping over to Pixie's Snippets Playground with this card. 
CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge #412

Tuesday 13 November 2018

and another one

...or three.
Here are some more cards I made using my Crafter's Companion 3D embossing folder 'Country Garden'. You can see the first ones I made here and here
I was inspired by the CAS Mix Up challenge which this month is:


The first card is made by inking the top of the folder with Angel Pink ink and then running through my die cutting machine. 


It gives a beautifully subtle effect. I did add a little more ink with brush in a couple of places where I thought  it was a bit pale. 

The next two are made by inking the folder with Seedless Preserves and then spritzing with water before embossing. I liked the effect so much I made two. 

 I think it looks like embroidered fabric. 

I couldn't decide on a sentiment for this one so I've left it either to add one later or just to leave in as it is. 

I've made them all in a similar style as I'd embossed on scraps of card and couldn't bear to cut them down and lose any of the patterns. I used pink paper for the die cut edges and inked again with Seedless Preserves so it matched. 

I hope you like them. Thanks for visiting and enjoy your day. x

Saturday 10 November 2018

Christmas pastels

 Good morning
We are racing through November and you know what comes after that! (Does anyone else think time goes faster now?


Our challenge for you this week at 52CCT is:


Not the usual Christmas colours perhaps, but our team never let us down and we always get fabulous entries. 



I've got quite an unusual look. How did I do it? I'm glad you asked. 

I started with a piece of white card and stamped and embossed the baubles in silver. (Still in a masking mood from a recent challenge). 
I coloured with pencil crayons and then comes the magic ingredient. Baby oil. I sometimes use that on pencil crayoning to burnish and when I used it here it gave the paper a translucent look. I was surprised (I don't know why) but I like the look. 

Does anyone else deconstruct their cards after they have made them? 
I made this all up on white card and it looked a bit meh. Carefully, I prised off the colouring and remounted on black and the difference was amazing. 

The final touch was drawing around an edging die with a silver pen. Wish I'd thought of that sooner.


We always look forward to seeing your entries. 
Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Joining in with 
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #411

Monday 5 November 2018

Pink passion


Following on from my last post here is the second card I made using the Crafter's Companion 3D embossing folder Country Garden. 


As you see, completely different from the first. After I'd tried the Wedgewood effect previously shown, I tried inking the other side of the embossing folder. I didn't like the look nearly so much so I flipped the card and inked on this side. 

This pink beauty is made by inking with Picked Raspberries. I put the ink on heavily with the pad and then filled in with a sponge. When the pink was dry I sponged on Gold, again fairly heavily. 


I've used embossing, sponge inking, stamping, die cutting. I have stamped on the die cut edges but you can't really see it. 
I wanted something around the sentiment area so tried splatters. I didn't manage it very well, they are too uniform, I think and perhaps shouldn't be over the sentiment. At least I didn't ruin the card!

Again I'm linking to CAS MIx Up challenge:


Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x





Wedgwood blue

Hello lovely crafters

A wet weekend and inspiration from a challenge was what I needed. 


The November challenge at CAS Mix-up is:


Listed on the blog post there are links to very many ways to use embossing folders. I had a look at these and then with a head full of so many new and fun ideas, didn't know where to start!
I decided to chose one folder, a pile of scraps and try different inking techniques. I found it easier to start with smaller pieces of card. It may sound daft but a whole blank sheet can be intimidating. It's expecting a lot from you whereas a scrap is already a scrap!

The embossing folder is Crafter's Companion 3D Country Garden. It gives a very deep emboss. I bought it at a craft show about a year ago. It was the one I 'had to have'. They had amazing sample cards but could I make anything similar? Not a chance. 
Today I am thrilled with what I have done with it. I've made two cards and there are more on the way. 

For the first one I wanted to try a 'Wedgwood' sort of look. I inked the folder in Danube Blue before embossing and got this look first time. I love it. 
You can see the depth here. 


I've used embossing and inking, die cutting, stamping, ribbon. The ink was on the top part of the folder.
A sweet and simple card where the embossed panel does all the work. The second card is in my next post. 
Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Saturday 3 November 2018

Snowflake shimmer

Oh my goodness, how did we get to be in November? It seems like only yesterday it was April and the daffodils were out. Now frost has killed off most of my flowers and the clear up starts. 

Time to think about the Christmas cards and we have a new challenge here for you at 52CCT.
This time it's a sketch. 



I really struggled with this for some reason and now I'm looking at this I can see I've done it wrong, I just wasn't feeling the creativity this week. In the end I went for the easy option of a die cut and ribbon. 



Here you can see the shimmer on the card in a completely different colour! The photo above is the correct one. 
I'm sure you will be much more inventive and follow the sketch properly. The range of cards we get in our gallery is staggering. Every one would be worthy of winning and some weeks it's very hard to choose. 
Thanks for visiting. 
Enjoy your day. x

CraftyHazelnut's Christmas Challenge #410

Wednesday 31 October 2018

Butterfly challenge with new stamps

Hello lovely crafters, 


I recently went to a local craft fair. I was very restrained in my buying and chose this set I knew I could use in several different ways plus the die. It's a new to me brand called Rainbow Designs. All the stamps here are from that set apart from the butterfly and the squiggle which are Inky Doodles. 

Mrs A's Butterfly challenge, with the Letter G, gave the perfect opportunity to use them. I've already made a paper pieced flower card which looked pretty good. ( In my opinion 😊).



I was inspired to use all the options though that is not necessary to join in the challenge. 
Incredibly I forgot to stamp the butterfly. It was supposed to go around the edge with the flowers so I added it afterwards but it does gives some extra dimension. 

So I embossed in GOLD, coloured in GRAPE and GREEN (Brushos) added some GLOSSY ACCENTS with GLITTER and finally a few GEMS and the Butterfly, of course. 
I sprinkled the glitter onto the Glossy Accents while it was still wet and then it dries into it. 
FYI Biodegradable glitter is now available!



I hope you like it. I think anything looks good embossed in gold and I love to paint inside embossing as its so easy!
Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day. x

Also linking to 

Saturday 27 October 2018

Give masking a go.

Welcome to another challenge at 52CCT. 



The weeks are flying by and we are here to help you get a head start on your Christmas cards before panic sets in in December. 
Our challenge this week is a fun one:


In case you have not tried this before here is how I made my card. You can get some great looking results and extend the range of your stamps. 
I chose a Poinsettia stamp and wanted to use it all around the edge of the card. Masking allows you to overlap your stamps without the lines crossing each other. It doesn't have to be this complicated. It can be as simple as a panel across your card. 
You just need to remember that whatever you stamp first will be at the front and the next things behind. 

I stamped the flower on a sticky note pad and cut out masks. I forgot to stamp near to the sticky edge but I had enough sticky to make it work. 



I cut out several together and then keep them with the stamp set as they can be used again. 

Stamp your first image and then cover with the mask and stamp again. 



You can see that the lines overlap onto the mask and not your stamped image.  I went all around the card stamping and masking. Then I filled in with Brilliant Red and Emerald Green Brushos. 
I love the effect and the vibrancy of this card.
The Poinsettia is Penny Black and the sentiment is Inkylicious. 


I hope you have time to join in. 
x
I'm joining in with October Rudolf Days at Scrappy Mo's a  monthly Christmas card challenge. 
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge

Saturday 20 October 2018

Christmas pets

We have a new theme for you at 52CCT this week and I'm sure it will be popular. 


I chose to use a topper which I don't normally do. This one reminds me of the Little Grey Rabbit books which I used to read as a child. Little Grey Rabbit's Christmas was one of my favourites. I still have the books stored away. Simpler times. 


I've given it the simple treatment and it's actually all made from things lying around on my desk. I like these colours together. 
Thanks for visiting, Enjoy your day. x

Linking to 
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #408 - Anything Christmas
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ABC Christmas Challenge - U or V - V is for very quick. This was quick as I had the base card and die cuts left over from previous failed projects. Plenty more bits waiting to be used!

Saturday 13 October 2018

Pink and silver - what's not to love!

Hello lovely crafters

It's not often you get to combine two colour challenges but that is what I have done. 




This week at 52CCT Fabiola has challenged us to use Silver and we can use other colours. 



Over at the Jingle Belles challenge it's Pink but we can use other colours. 


This is what they say:
'If you've played along with us in other years, you may already know that at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ we always devote the first theme of each October to making pink holiday cards as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and that for each card that gets linked up, we (Stephanie and Lauren) each donate two dollars to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. '
Thank you for your generous donations. x

So pink and silver it was!


I embossed the Christmas tree in silver then added pink baubles. I confess I'd like to have this tree in my house. In case that is not enough pink here is the inside:


I hope a silver challenge will inspire you to get busy with your cards and join us at 52CCT. We are also having a DT call to add to our talented team. 
Thanks for visiting. Enjoy your day. x

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