Card Swap June

2 new cards from me today, this time swap cards for CraftMad Swappers

 

I was extremely late with my cards for June .......

 

 

At first, I struggled with deciding which 2022 card to case, as they were all so good!  but in the end, I couldn't go past this one by fellow swapper, Tracey.

 

 

Card #1

 

I set about making my own background with sponging varying shades of purple/pink inks, then I randomly stamped my Kaisercraft butterflies and heat embossed in gold.  I also heat embossed the edges of the cardfront with gold, then attached to cardbase with double-sided tape.

 

I die cut sentiment out of white cardstock, mounted onto a black shadow then attached to the cardfront with foam squares to add dimension.

 

Card finished off with some randomly placed bling!

 

 

Card #2

This card followed the sketch, and I took the opportunity to have a play with my Penny Black Stamps - Party Time set.

Images were stamped with black Versafine ink, then clear heat embossed.  I coloured them in with Altenew Crisp Dye Ink (Dusk) using a watercolour brush, and then inked the edges of the boxes.  Waffle Flower A6 layers dies were used to cut the different sized boxes :)  

 

 

The most perfect background Scrapbook DP came from my stash ..... I don't know how long I have had it LOL.  The text 'happy' was diecut twice from white cardstock and coloured with same ink used to colour my images, then mounted with foam squares.  

 

 

The boxes were placed according to sketch and layered with foam squares to add dimension.

 

I also made a 'thank you for being my swap partner' card :)

 

 

When you open it up, the image of the die cutting machine stays on the inside :)

 

I just 'love' the die cut of the paper trimmer!!

 

'Thank You' card was made entirely with offcuts/snippets of white & silver cardstock and some leftover scrapbook DP

 

Linking 'Thank You' card with the following Challenges

Snippets Playground Challenge #485

 

Linking Card#2 with the following Challenges:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - July - Anything Goes/Food 

Cardz 4 Galz #229 - Shades of Blue  (oops!! Too late!)

TicTacToeCallenge-#252 (Middle Column - DieCut(s), Free, Any Sentiment) 

tttc#252

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.

Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Thinking of You ......

Hi everyone, thanks for stopping by and reading my latest post!

I have needed a few Sympathy cards of late ...... such a sad time for some of my friends and their families.  Over the next day or so, I will be sharing some of the sympathy cards I have made.

 

One of my friends I have known since about 1975, Gavin, recently passed away.  It was a bit of a shock, as he was only 66, but he had been experiencing some health issues of late.  

 

This card will be for his ex-wife, Deb.  Even though they were no longer married, they remained on good terms.

 

For me, the loss of an old friend hurts, but knowing he is no longer in pain is a source of comfort.

 

Altenew Build-a-flower Coneflower images were stamped in layers, with the outline being stamped with Versafine and heat embossed with clear, then die cut with matching dies.  Using my Couture Creations Stamping Platform really helped with aligning the images.

 

Background was made by masking off the outer edge of cardfront and using a blending brush.  Water droplets were splattered to create some texture.  

Stampin Up 'Thinking of You' sentiment stamped directly onto cardfront with Versafine Onyx Black.

Cardfront was then trimmed and mounted onto cardbase using 3D foam tape.

Flowers were attached to cardfront with 3D foam squares. 

 

I am loving using these #Altenew stamps & dies

 

Linking With the following challenges:

The Flower Challenge #84 Use a Die

Creative Knockouts #502 anything goes

Cardz4Galz #207  Leaves

Tic Tac Toe #225  Diagonal top left to bottom right

ITEMS USED

Altenew Build-a-flower Coneflower Stamps & Dies, Inks, VersaFine Onyx Black, Clear Emboss Power, Stampin Up 'Thinking of You' stamp, Couture Creations Stamping Platform

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.

Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Sorry for your loss

More time to play with my new stamps ...... this time with Altenew Paint A Flower - Poppy set.

 

 

I stamped the flower on white blending 250gsm cardstock using Versafine Clair Onyx and heat embossed with clear.  I then coloured in the flower & leaves with Distress Inks using a waterbrush.

 

For the background, I mixed up a 'slurry' of gold Delicata ink and using a brush I flicked it onto the cardfront. I picked up some of the remainder green from the leaves and flicked that too!

 

Sentiments were stamped using StazOn Ganache (not black - more of a browny/black) -- 'sorry' from HoneyBee Stamps 'Miss You Big Time' die cut 3 times, then layered together and placed on front of card.  'For Your Loss' single layer was stamped and the strip manually cut then layered with 3D foam.

 

A final touch of black hearts bling added.  The Cardfront had warped a little bit with the water colouring so I added another 210gsm layer using double sided JAC paper to add some structure, then placed that onto a Dark Maroon cardbase.

 

All cardstock in this project is from Blue Edge Crafts and the stamps were purchased from Auzz Trinklets N Crafts  I have no formal Affiliation with these stores, I include their links because I like to support Australian craft stores where I can, and I have always had a positive experience with these stores in particular!

Thankfully, this card is not needed right now, so it will go in my 'stash' ready for when I do need a sympathy card.

 

--oo0oo--

 

Linking With the following challenges:

 

Inspiration Station #45 - I was inspired by the flowers on the window sill

Cardz4Galz #190 CAS  - A clean and simple card (well, clean for me LOL)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Fabulous Flowers

PRODUCTS USED

• Stamps/Dies:  Altenew Paint A Flower: Poppy, HoneyBee Stamps 'Miss You Big Time'
• Inks:  Versafine Clair Onyx, Distress Inks, StazOn Ganache, Ranger Embossing Powder
• Tools:  Cuttlebug, Couture Creations Precision Stamp Press, Couture Creations Mini Guillotine Trimmer, Couture Creations Mini Score Board, Heat Tool
  
• Cardstock:  250gsm Blending Cardstock, 210gsm white cardstock, 300gsm Coloured Cardbase

 

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.

Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Good Bye & Good Riddance 2022!

2022 has ended with a thud with the news of another very dear friend passing away.

 

My friend Gary, who I have known since 1975 passed away on 16th December 2022, he was 62 years old. Far too young!

 

I really struggled to make a card for Janine (his wife and also my friend), as I wanted it to be perfect!  I also wanted to write a letter and include it in the card ..... that took a moment or two to collate my thoughts.

 

 

 

I had made up some backgrounds and hand stamped elements earlier in the year using the SU Hand Penned Petals stamps.  So I just had a play around with combining different elements and settled on this final layout.  

 

Background was made by stamping multiple times in the pink, the border section on the left was stamped multiple times using the two-step feature of the stamps. The feature element was die cut and mounted on 3D foam dots, with some gold twine circled underneath, then highlighted with Kindy Glitz.

 

 

Linking with:

Cardz for Galz #189 - choose your fave challenge from 2022.

My fave challenge from 2022 was the June 2022 - die cuts

the card I submitted for that particular challenge is HERE (the flower in the top right hand corner is the element I used for this new card)

 

Items Used

Cardstock:  White 250gsm, purple scraps

Inks:  Distress Inks, Kindy Glitz

Stamps:  SU Hand Penned

Tools: Cuttlebug, dies

 

 --00Ooo--

 

Sadly, I couldn't physically attend the Memorial Service as it was too far away, but I was so very thankful for modern technology which meant that the service could be viewed via Zoom.  It was such a lovely service too, so 'Gary' like ..... the music selection was very moving and my heart nearly burst when one of my old photos came up on the screen

there we were, back in about 1976... I can still hear us all laughing and giggling... there are so many good memories of our teenage years.  We often chatted via Messenger and I am so thankful to have been able to catch up with them in 2017 and make a few new memories.  I will treasure each and every one of them.  

 

--ooOoo--

 

Thank you for visiting my blog today - I hope you have a good day.

Remember, any day doing something you love makes it a good day ;-)

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

Happy Birthday - two step

I have a new stamp set ..... well, new to me :)

The As You Like It Challenge asks us to nominate favourite card to make .... feminine or masculine?

Well feminine ...... hands down!  Because I just love flowers, and pink & purple and pretty things!

I was introduced to 2-step stamps many years ago when I discovered Stampin' Up and have been a fan ever since.

Main image was stamped in Jet Black StazOn as well as Ranger Distress Inks.  I made my own background strip with the same stamps, but stamped off the colours before stamping so that they were a lighter shade than the main image.

Gold twine wrapped around and placed underneath the main image, along with some die cut leaves, inked with the Green.

I even used the border die to get the lovely scalloped edge .... so cool!

Linking with:

As You Like It Challenge : Feminine or Masculine 

Cardz 4 Galz : #175 die cuts & punches

Happy Little Stamps - Anything goes with dies

Thanks

A Thank You card was needed and CASology challenge provided some inspiration for this one.  'Botanical' which for me, means greens for plants, blues for sky, yellows for flowers, and ladybugs!

Cardz 4 Galz encourages us to use a sentiment as the focal point.

One of the 'smooched & spritzed' techniques I have been playing with recently for backgrounds has been used on this card - utilsing blues, greens & yellows.

Simple text 'thanks' has been diecut & layered with 3D foam and a cute ladybug diecut in black & red.

Cardfront panel has been diecut using Spellbinders 'deckle edge' rectangle and added to cardbase.

Linking with following challenges:

CASology: Week 403 - Botanical

Cardz 4 Galz #173 Sentiment as focal point