Sunday, 7 November 2021

Embossed Frosted Elegance

 


For Day 6 at Beccy's Place Month of Holiday Challenge the prompt is to CASE yourself.

This card is a variation of one that I made last year. The original one I made before was for a particular friend who is very elegant and so I made it more clean and sophisticated to suit her style. 



This is not how I had intended to use this embossing folder though when I purchased it. 

This time, in true Christmas Mandy styleee I went all out with lots and lots of gems for added sparkle. 

The scalloped card base is 8" and the actual embossing folder is 6" so it makes a really big impact. The cardstock is textured with a coloured core so you can sand the top layer back to reveal the colour.  This has then been layered onto a snowflake patterned vellum and layers of blue card to bring out the colours.

The centre embellishment is a from a plastic flower trim I got from an Indian clothing store many years ago. Quite often the trims they use to embellish saris are really different to traditional ribbons and can be used in cardmaking by cutting individual motifs from them.

Finally I have added clear and blue gems to the individual areas of the embossing folder. There are so many points that you can do this you could easily make it look different every time. 

Card Details -

Size - 8" x 8"
Embossing Folder - Frosted Elegance (Crafter's Companion)
Paper - Core'dinations Whitewash cardstock, Glittering Snowflakes Vellum (Crafter's Companion)
Embellishments - Plastic flower centre, self adhesive gems


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

at 10 comments:
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Thursday, 4 November 2021

Christmas Brads Penguin

 


It is Day 4 of Beccy's Place Month long Holiday Card challenge and today I have a Christmas card made with a free download from Kate Hadfield Designs. Day 4 is the letter D and I have chosen Die Cuts & Digi as my prompt.


Pop over to this post on Kate's Blog and you can download these cute Christmas Brads. They are intended to be used as a digital element on a page but I have resized them to 5.5cm across and printed onto glossy photo paper and they are so crisp and clear. Just goes to show that the files are such high quality they can be used as a main image too.


The little penguin brad has been fussy cut and matted onto a white card circle which hasbeen distressed on the edge with a small ink pad. This was then the perfect centrepiece for a large snowflake die Winter Wishes by The Paper Boutique. The centre circle was cut from a silver glitter card and the gorgeous snowflake is from white card which is have added some sparkle to with a product called Glitter Kiss from Cosmic Shimmer. It is a gel with glitter suspended into it and you can run this over cardstock to add glitter, or through stencils. A little goes a long way and when it dries it does not shed. I bought it from the Crafter's Companion store in Evesham and I am really impressed with it. Perfect for adding sparkle to Christmas cards.

The 6" card base has been covered with a snowflake paper and the sentiment is from a Hunky Dory kit. Finally I added some gems in the centre of the snowflakes because you can never have too much sparkle on a Christmas Card.

At Kate Hadfield Designs there are so many fabulous sets it is really easy to get inspired to use them. There are digital stamps which you can colour, coloured versions you can scrapbook or make into digital layouts. Papers, patterned overlays and doodles galore. No matter what your skill level there are so many goodies to play with.


One of the most fabulous things about being in this Creative Team is that we have free rein to make anything we want to using the sets in the shop. This is amazing for inspiring creativity as there are so many amazing packs to play with. I feel very, very lucky to be able to have this opportunity.


Kate is really generous with her freebies which are readily available. If you sign up to the newsletter you get access to an extra subscriber area the Doodle Den where there are loads more freebies. There is a gallery full of projects by the Creative Team and customers and so much inspiration for crafters and teachers. I would highly recommend you pop over there and join in the fun.


Card Details -


Size - 6” Square

Digital Image - Christmas Brads Freebie (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Dies - Winter Wishes (The Paper Boutique)

Designer Paper - Winter Wonderland 6” (Craft Sensations)

Embellishments - Gems, Glitter Kiss (Cosmic Shimmer) 



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


at 11 comments:
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Wednesday, 3 November 2021

Festive Fare Cracker

 


At Kate Hadfield Designs there are so many fabulous sets it is really easy to get inspired to use them. There are digital stamps which you can colour, coloured doodles you can scrapbook or make into digital layouts. Papers, patterned overlays and doodles galore. No matter what your skill level there are so many goodies to play with. 

One of the most fabulous things about being in this Creative Team is that we have free rein to make anything we want to using the sets in the shop. This is amazing for inspiring creativity as there are so many amazing packs to play with. I feel very, very lucky to be able to have this opportunity. 



For this card I have used the Christmas cracker design from Festive Fare Stamps. This is a great set featuring all the traditional things that would be on your Christmas table. This is available in the Stamps kit, a pre-coloured Doodles kit and a specially priced bundle of both kits at a reduced price.



I chose the bold outline stamp as I knew I would be cutting it out. The slimline card has been covered with a striped paper which has a metallic red running though it. It is that horrible time of year now when it is dark most of the time I have to craft so I was a bit challenged with the photo on this one so the red doesn't show up very well.

I chose a gold glitter card to go under the cracker so the paper and gold gave me the colours for the cracker. I used Promarkers to colour and then fussy cut the image. I added thin 3d foam pads to add dimension. The sentiment is a foiled die cut I have had for years and this is raised on thicker foam pads.

Finally I added some gems to embellish the holly berries and added some holly corner stickers.

Over at Kate Hadfield Designs there is lots going on. Kate is really generous with her freebies which are readily available. If you sign up to the newsletter you get access to an extra subscriber area the Doodle Den where there are loads more freebies. There is a gallery full of projects by the Creative Team and customers and so much inspiration for crafters and teachers. I would highly recommend you pop over there and join in the fun.



Card Details -


Size - DL Slimline

Digital Image - Cracker from Festive Fare Stamps (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Colouring Medium - Promarkers

Designer Paper - Christmas Basic Style (Craft Sensations)

Embellishments - Holly Stickers & self adhesive gems (The Works)



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


at 15 comments:
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An Autumn Thank You

 


It is time for another challenge over at The Paper Funday.
Our challenges are always Anything Goes with an optional twist. 
The twist this time is the theme 'Give Thanks / Grateful'


We are very fortunate to have 2 sponsors for each challenge this year which means we get to choose which artist we would like to work with. This really is great as it gives us double the choice. We are very lucky with the amazing sponsors that are lined up this year, many of which are old favourites and some are new to me. This month our CASual Friday Stamps & The Artsy Stamper

I chose to do the Thank You twist for this challenge. I had seen this amazing card by the Desert Diva Hannelie Bester and absolutely loved the colour block border and really wanted to incorporate it into a card. Now she is the queen of CAS cards and such an inspiration. I'm not exactly known for my CAS abilities but it is fabulous to see other cardologist's cards and use that as a starting point.


In the UK it is all things Autumn at the moment. We have had a cold snap that has heralded the start of the Autumn colours. I just love this time of year and the colours are spectacular.

It seemed therefore appropriate to have an Autumn theme to my thank you card. I used one of the leaves from the Pumpkin Spice Stamps set from Kate Hadfield Designs. I really like the shape of maple and sycamore leaves and had so much fun colouring it. I started with laying down the promarker base in mustard, amber and cocoa. I then used Arteza Expert pencils and a red fine line pen to add the veins to the leaves. I then added more layers of shading with the pencils and pens so that it was nicely blended. I found by accident on another project that Promarkers blend the pencils into the markers really well and softens the overall effect. Not sure if this is the same as gamsol and paper stumps but I am really happy with the effect.


I have a large paper collection and lots of leaves but I wanted a more plain outline effect in a light tone so it would not detract from the coloured leaves. I have some quite thin leather textured cardstock and decided to try printing a leafy pattern from the Autumnal Overlays pack. I am really astounded by the effect that has been achieved by simply running it through a laser printer. I changed the opacity to 50% so it laid less colour down and I got a really subtle backing paper for my card.


The colour border is a 3cm wide strip of white card for the base. I added some double sided tape to it and then went through my coloured scrap bags to pull out an assortment of brown, red, orange, yellow & gold offcuts. It was simply a case of laying them in place and trimming them. I decided to add some strips of gold peel off stickers in 2 different widths to add a bit of sparkle. Finally the sentiment is a die cut, cut out tree times and layered to make it thicker.

I hope you will join myself and our fabulous Team over at the Paper Funday Challenge.

Card Details -


Size - A5

Digital Image - Pumpkin Spice Stamps (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Digital Overlay - Autumnal Overlays (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Dies - Thank You (Crafter’s Companion)

Colouring Medium - Promarkers Arteza Expert Pencils 

Embellishments - Peel off Stickers



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


at 45 comments:
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Tuesday, 2 November 2021

Willie's Gifts

 


My Christmas card today has been made with an older Stamper's Delights image Willie's Gifts.

This has been coloured with pencils which make a change for me using markers. I quite like the sift effect it gives this image as it looks like with the vellum background paper.


I followed sketch 217 from Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 for my layout, adapting it slightly for a square image rather than a rectangle.

I added some glittery paper for the strips and embellishing with some fabric snowflakes I bought from Ebay a million years ago. I think I bought a bag of 100 and still have loads left. I added some large blue gems from Paperchase and a silver peel off sentiment.

Card Details -


Size - 6” Square

Digital Image - Willie’s Gifts (Stamper’s Delights)

Paper - Winter Wonderland 6” (Craft Sensations) & Glittering Snowflakes Vellum 12” (Crafter’s Companion)

Colouring Medium - Arteza Expert Pencils 

Embellishments - Padded fabric snowflakes, large blue gems (Paperchase), peel off sticker



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


at 10 comments:
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Monday, 1 November 2021

Claudia's Plant

 


It is the start of a new month and I am back with my DT hat on for 
The Freebie/Progressive Challenge at The Outlawz.



As long as you made a card with the October freebie you will automatically get the November image free. If you have not taken part before you can request this month's image so head on over there and join in the fun.

It is a fabulous way to use images from artists you many not have used before. Also sometimes the image is completely different to something you would normally use. It has been a good way for me to stretch my creativity and take me out of my comfort zone. 

I would highly recommend anyone who is not already taking part to jump in and have a go. We are a really friendly bunch at The Outlawz.



This month we are sponsored by Sheepski Designs



We have been given this image Claudia's Plant to play with this month which is a beautiful image that can be used for many occasions.

I coloured the image with pencil as I wanted to create a soft look appropriate for a Get Well card. I used the latest Outlawz Sketch Wednesday for the layout and used gold card for my base. I added a brown paper for the matting layers throughout and the leaf paper has a nice soft design so not to detract from the image.


The sentiment is a magazine freebie matted onto scraps pf gold and the brown paper.

If you fancy having a go with this image I hope we will see you enter our challenge at 
The Outlawz and look forward to seeing the entries.


Card Details -


Size - 6” Square

Digital Image - Claudia’s Plant (Sheepski Designs)

Paper - Garden of Love 6” (Crafter’s Companion)

Colouring Medium - Arteza Expert Pencils


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


at 7 comments:
Labels: , ,

Angel Prayers

 


Today is the first day of Beccy's Place Month of Holiday Cards Challenge. This is the 9th year she has been running it and the 3rd year that I have taken part. I work part time now so many not get chance to take part every day but I will do my best as I love making Christmas cards and it is so much fun to take part in this fabulous challenge.

The prompt for Day 1 is the letter A. I have chosen Angel and made my card with a rubber stamp & die set by Conie Fong that came in the 16th Birthday Event lucky bag from Crafter's Companion that I received last Friday. It must be some sort of record for me to use a new item within only a few days of receiving it! Although it is not specifically a Christmas image I thought it work well in a Christmas card.

I stamped the image with Memento ink using my stamping platform. I have never been truly happy with my stamping but by golly has that changed since I got my stamping platform. The results are so much better. I can use less pressure and lighter inking as I can repeat ink in the exact same place without ruining the image. It has been the single most thing that has improved my stamping and I now actually enjoy doing it again.

The image has been coloured with my Arteza Expert pencils and I added a little clear Sakura clear glitter pen to the roses and wings. The stamps come with dies to cut out the outline. It is the first time I have used a set like that and as long as you are careful lining it up and tape in place before cutting you get an even white border around the image. I added some thin foam pads to the back and placed to one side to make the card.


I chose the latest sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches for the layout. A sheet of gold card was used as the background and I used the same card to cut a mat from a Romantic Rectangles die. The red and gold paper has got loads of glitter on the patterns which has a slight green tinge to it. I used a scrap of green snowflake paper and added some gold peel off border stickers to it. Finally the sentiment has been recycled from an old store bought card I received and layered onto a scrap of plain green card.

Card Details -


Size - A5

Rubber Stamped Image - Angel Prayers (Conie Fong by Crafter’s Companion)

Dies - Outline die to match the stamped image & Romantic Rectangles (Spellbinders)

Papers - Merry Christmas Traditional (Craft Sensations) & Traditional Christmas (The Works)

Colouring Medium - Promarkers, Arteza Expert Pencils,

Embellishments - Sakura clear glitter pen



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


at 18 comments:
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Monday, 25 October 2021

Christmas Brads Trio

 


It is Christmas Day in only 2 months time so what better day to show you a Christmas card made with a free download from Kate Hadfield Designs.


Pop over to this post on Kate's Blog and you can download these cute Christmas Brads. They are intended to be used as a digital element on a page but I have resized them to 5.5cm across and printed onto glossy photo paper and they are so crisp and clear. Just goes to show that the files are such high quality they can be used as a main image too.


I used a DL slimline card blank and covered with a mat of red paper. I then added some plaid paper which was a scrap from a previous project. I was careful to trim the design so it was symmetrical..... I know I'm a bit OCD with that LOL

The images have been matted onto scraps of red card that were cut with a circular die. These are just an unbranded set I got from Ebay for a few pounds. These are popped up using really thin foam pads.

Once assembled I simply added some Card Candi from Craftwork Cards in the corners.

I really love how my little experiment turned out. They printed out so well, really crisp and clear.

At Kate Hadfield Designs there are so many fabulous sets it is really easy to get inspired to use them. There are digital stamps which you can colour, coloured versions you can scrapbook or make into digital layouts. Papers, patterned overlays and doodles galore. No matter what your skill level there are so many goodies to play with.


One of the most fabulous things about being in this Creative Team is that we have free rein to make anything we want to using the sets in the shop. This is amazing for inspiring creativity as there are so many amazing packs to play with. I feel very, very lucky to be able to have this opportunity.


Kate is really generous with her freebies which are readily available. If you sign up to the newsletter you get access to an extra subscriber area the Doodle Den where there are loads more freebies. There is a gallery full of projects by the Creative Team and customers and so much inspiration for crafters and teachers. I would highly recommend you pop over there and join in the fun.

Card Details - 


Size - 10.5cm x 21cm DL Slimline

Digital Images - Christmas Brads Freebie (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Paper - Christmas Basic Style (Craft Sensations)

Dies - Generic circle die (Ebay)

Embellishments - Card Candi (Craftwork Cards)



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


at 14 comments:
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