A Jolly Elf

A very quick card made for the Day of the Month Club Challenge #53 - National Simplicity Day.  I left lots of white space one element, a simple stamped sentiment and a simple colour combination of red, black and white.

I finally get around to using this NBUS die I ordered almost 18 months ago from Charlie & Paulchen - Wichtelreihe (Row of Pixies).  I was going through my sentiment stamps recently in the hopes of finding my mojo and found this lovely bold sentiment from WMS 'Tis the Season and thought it was perfect for this jolly little chap to use as a springboard!  Once I'd coloured him with alcohol markers and assembled him, I added glossy accents to his nose to make it bulbous and added glossy accents and glitter to the bobble on his hat.

There wasn't a lot to this card but I did use a snippet of white left over from a previous project to cut the elf so I'd also like to enter Challenge #459 at the Snippets Playground - the main reason I made my CAS card a Christmas one!

I'd also like to enter Merry Little Christmas Challenge #51 - Anything Christms Goes;

The 12 Months of Christmas Challenge #102 - Anything Christms Goes;

My Time to Craft Christmas #65 - Cute Christmas;

Christmas Kick Start Challenge #76

And also NBUS Challenge #52!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Dove over Troubled Waters

Ready for some Summer Fun by the Water?  The theme for the July Challenge 613 The Avenue Create is 

Nautical

We want to see anything to do with the water - Boats Sand, Water, Beach ...

This was a card I recently made for an adult Baptism.  Since water is such a key element of a Baptism, I went with a DP that featured waves and a bible quote which referred to waves.  The Dove die is from a set of Framelits (unimaginately called 5pce birds but they're obviously doves) - this was the second largest in the set.  I hadn't tried this eclipse technique with a die image before, only with sentiments.  Once I had cut the dove from the background paper, I cut it twice from white card stock and stacked these under the patterned dove.  It still didn't stand out enough in my opinion, so I mounted it on foam tape.  This actually worked out well because I was able to put a floral sprig in the dove's mouth by tucking it under the beak (where there was no foam)!  The sprig was one of many lovely flowers in the Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms set and added a feminine touch to the card - it was for a young lady after all!

I would like to enter this card in the current As You Like It Challenge : Favourite - Plain or Patterned Papers.  I love patterned papers!!!  Some women have hundreds of pairs of shoes - my weakness is patterned papers!  The challenge for me is to actually use them rather than hoarde them!  

I would also like to enter  Card Concept Challenge #198 which has the following fabulous photo inspiration!

I'd also like to enter the following challenges

 Allsorts Challenge Week #735  - optional Summertime theme - despite spending the last 25 years in a land locked country, summertime still makes me think of the beach and waves I enjoyed at every opportunity during my teenage years! ;

 Make My Monday Challenge #203 - with a theme of On the Water;

Crafty Chicks Challenge #670 - Anything Goes;

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Hello Summer

Well it took its time getting here but summer seems to have finally arrived - we've had a week of glorious weather!  And opportunely, we can celebrate its arrival because the theme for the month of June at 613 The Avenue Create is 

Summertime / and the Living is Easy

My ideal summer destination is anywhere by the sea!  I finally cracked open this lighthouse set (Charlie & Paulchen) for my husband's birthday.   The 'MOIN' banner die was included in the set.  Charlie & Paulchen are a German company but I hadn't heard the word MOIN in German before (though my German vocab is not exactly extensive) however it is obviously where the Luxembourgish word MOIEN  comes from - which means hello and is the first word any foreigner learns when they come to this very welcoming country.   The sea gulls above the heart were also from this set!

I teamed it with this Wavy Heart die from Poppy Stamps - cut from bristol card and coloured with alcohol markers.

 This month we're sponsored by 

How will you be influenced by the theme at 613?  Drop by the challenge blog to see how the rest of the team were inspired - our theme is only optional so you can always play Anything Goes! 

I'd like to enter the following challenges

NBUS Challenge #51 - Both the C & P set and the Wavy Heart are NBUS 

Four Seasons June Challenge - Anything Summer goes

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Allsorts Challenge Week 731 - Use Your Dies

Inkspirational Challenge #291 - Seasonal - I've chosen Summer

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Say it with Flowers

 

The optional theme for the month of May at 613 The Avenue Create is 

Say it with Flowers

which presented me with an excellent opportunity to make another lollipop flower - this time an interactive one!

I used this "thanks" text die (Winnie and Walter Big Bold and Comfort) to create a stem for my flower - if you really want to say it with flowers can you think of a better way!   I cut it from some lime green patterned card stock (a snippet left over from a previous project).  I also cut some leaves to ensure it looked like a long-stemmed flower rather than a bunch of circles stuck at the end of a die cut sentiment!   The leaves were cut using a NBUS set (Memory Box Sturdy Stem)!

The flower head is made up of three slightly offset circles.  The bottom circle has a hole punched in it and is attached to the card front wih a brad so that it can spin.  Simple really, although the flower head will spin more freely if you surround the brad with strips of foam tape so that the foam tape is higher than the head of the brad - this ensures the layer added on top won't bulge or more importantly interfere with the movement of the brad.  I added the top circle with foam tape too but just for consistency.   The flower does looks a lot better with foam tape separating the layers anyway!  I also added the panel to the card base with foam tape to give it the best possible chance of spinning freely.

I try to make sure the hole in the bottom circle is fairly well centred so it stays centred above the stem and doesn't spin off to the left or right or up and down but by placing the other circles off centre you get an off-kilter wonky spin which is much more effective in my opinion.  

Here it is in action

We are sponsored by Mirtallamente and there are prizes to be won so check out the challenge blog 613 The Avenue Create for details - you'll also find loads of floral inspiration from my lovely team mates!  I do hope you'll come and hang out on our front porch this month!

I'd like to enter the following challenges

NBUS Challenge #50 - the leaves die is NBUS;

Snippets Playground Challenge #453 - snippet of patterned paper used for the "stem" and leaves;

Papercraft Challenges #93 has a theme of Spring;

Allsorts Challenge Week 727 - April Showers Bring May Flowers.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments always bring me joy and are always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Dream Bigger

This month at 613 The Avenue Create, we are challenging you to use stencils!  I am woefully short of stencils so I cheated a little!  I used a cover plate die to create a stencil from some heavy duty card stock and blended three colours of distress ink through it to make this rainbow "Southwest" background.  I fell in love with this Taylored Expressions Southwest cover plate die a few years ago - I thought it would make a wonderful background for a dream catcher but it's been sadly neglected all this time. 

 I started with Picked Raspberry on the top third of the panel, then Squeezed Lemonade on the middle third and Mermaid Lagoon on the bottom third.  Then I went over the areas where two colours met with both those colours - Picked Raspberry + Squeezed Lemonade produced an orange and Squeezed Lemonade + Mermaid Lagoon produced a green.

The advantage of a stencilled background rather than a die cut panel is that it's perfectly smooth and ready to be stamped on!  This big bold sentiment from Waltzing Mouse Stamps also got its first outing and sits beautifully under these feathers I cut from black card stock (WPlus9 Dream Catcher) - I gave them a coat of Glossy Accents, sprinkled some ultrafine iridescent glitter and then gave them another coat of glossy accents when the first one had dried!  This way they have the smooth shiny surface you expect from glossy accents yet the glitter underneath the surface still catches the light!  I think they resemble opals!

I also have this gorgeous rainbow die cut panel left over from the process!  Because I'd used low-tack tape to hold it still during the stencilling process, there were odd markings around the edges, so I went over the edges with a black permanent marker.  I'm not sure what I'll use it for yet - but definitely too pretty to discard!   

Just out of curiosity, does anyone else see two yellow eyes, pink lips, green eye brows and a third (blue) eye on the forehead???

I'd like to enter the following challenges

NBUS Challenge #49 - Southwest Panel, Text Stamp are both NBUS

Colourful Options April Challenge - Rainbow Option

The Sisterhood Of Crafters - Rainbows or Rainbow Colours

Try Stampin' on Tuesday Challenge #599 - Large Words or Text

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Krafty Chicks Challenge #657 - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Colouring is Cool

I am finally overcoming my fear of colouring - in fact I think I've done a pretty"cool" job on this one!  But that could have to with the image being coloured.  This is Sadie with Icecream from Mirtallamente - who  are sponsoring our challenge this month at 613 The Avenue Create.  

I've coloured her using alcohol markers.  Don't ask me what colours - I had a lot out on my work space by the end of this session!  I'm not sure I achieved the faded denim look I was going for with the dungarees -  I'm a little short on blues (note to myself, get some more)!

I had to jazz her up a little with some red accessories because the optional theme this month is "something red that is NOT a heart".  She looks so cool, I knew I wanted a pair of red sunnies to complete the look!  As I was applying some glossy accents to the glasses, I also added a touch to her earrings, scrunchie and bangle!

I framed her with an A2 sized frame set that I rarely use because I prefer the metric A6 size but I love the scalloped frame in this set.  I paired a sentiment from Clearly Besotted Super Cool) with a Word Balloon (Poppy Stamps) and was delighted that it fit perfectly!  I shadowed the sentiment speech bubble with a red one and popped it up on dimensional foam tape. 

The Word Balloon from Poppy Stamps was a present to myself before Christmas and is having it's first outing here so I'd like to enter the NBUS Challenge 47.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments always brighten my day!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Fly Me to the Moon

It's time for another challenge at 613 Avenue Create!  This month, the optional twist is 

Up In The Sky 

so we'd like to see the Sun, the Moon, Stars, Sleighs, Angels, Clouds, etc.!   But it's only optional and we do love to see your projects!

 

I've gone with a rocket ship blasting off for the moon - it was actually a special request for an astrophysicist from his wife for his birthday but it could easily work for an anniversary or other significant celebration!

I have a stamp of a rocket in an old WMS set (Lil' Heroes) but the rocket image was too juvenile for him but I did use one of the sentiments from the set.  Plus, she really wanted an interactive card so I really needed to go the die route ... which I don't have so I needed to hit the Silhouette Store and see what they had available and create one digitally.

Here's a closeup of my little rocket.  Some of the pieces were tiny - the whole rocket is less than 2" long!  Anyway I managed to put them all together without losing any pieces and with a coat or two (or three) of glossy accents it was ready for blast off!

And here's a short video of the rocket in motion - flying between the earth and the moon!

I'm thrilled you stopped by my little corner of blogland and hope you go away a little inspired!  If you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you so I can see what you've been up to!!!  

Kate

God Jul

It's time for another challenge at 613 Avenue Create!  This month, the optional twist is 

Fancy Folds and Cuts 

I've created a Flip Card.  There are dies available for this and yes I did buy them but I then realized that they're not necessary!  All you really need is a frame die which is symmetrical.  I have loads of Spellbinders Label dies which could have worked but in the end I went with a circle!

Unfortunately, I didn't take step by step photos and I don't believe in measurements so I'll just describe the basic idea behind this card - that way you can make them up in any size you like and you can make your flipping frame any shape you want!   If you have any questions, leave them in the comments box and I'll do my best to answer them.  

1. Fold your base card in half as you would normally if the card base didn't come pre-folded;
2. Fold one of the halves in half again so that you have a short flap - this will be the front;
3. Choose a symmetrical frame die such that half of it will fit on this front flap;
4. I find it useful to mark on the die where the mid point is (for the circle I cut a circle from scrap paper, folded it in half and lay the folded circle back into to the die, turned it over and marked the places at the top and bottom of the die where the fold line was);
5. Open up your card base and lay it on your die cutting plate face up, making sure it's square with the front flap to the top 
6. Place your frame die over the front flap so that the centre of the frame die lines up with the fold line;
7. Place the edge of your top cutting plate so that it does NOT go past this midline;
8. Run it though the machine.
9. You're left with a semi circular cut-out - there's a foldline right down the middle of your circle but that's ok, you won't see this fold line once you placed a decorated circle of the same size on either side;
10. Decorate the various panels

Here's the card in its various stages of opening

For this card I've chosen an image and sentiments from one of my favourite Christmas stamp sets - Waltzing Mouse Alpine Christmas.  I've also tried to create an Edelwyss flower using the MFT Sunflower.  I had a snippet left over of a background I had stamped previously using WMS Cabin Plaid in redand teamed it with this spotted blue DP to try for a Swiss/Nordic vibe!

I’d like to enter the following challenges

Happy Little Stampers November Christmas Challenge without the optional Santa;

 Krafty Chicks Challenge #636 - Stamp Act;

Crafty Hazelnut’s Challenge #619

Why not give this fancy fold or another, and enter your card in the 613 Avenue Create!  Or just play along without the twist!  We love to see your creations!

I'm thrilled you stopped by and hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you and perhaps we can get better acquainted!  

Kate

Ok, but First Coffee

 

I am really excited to bring you October’s challenge over at 613 Avenue Create where the twist this month is  But First…Your Favourite Beverage!  We'd  love to see your beverage inspired projects but if you'd prefer to play without the twist, that's fine too!

Our sponsor this month is Mirtillamente and I’m using her But First Coffee image because for me, it has to be coffee!   

I’ve printed the image onto some off-white card and die cut it with the Lil’ Inker Coffee Talk 2 die.   What you see is actually three mugs stacked.  I removed the handle from the top one so the mug stood higher than the handle.  Removing the handle also made it easier to distress all the edges.   I removed all but one of the mug contents and coloured that with Distress Inks and then reinserted it into the mug!

Then I applied versa mark and Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel to make my mug look more authentic!  Because the coffee was at a lower level, applying the Versamark was difficult, so I ended up finishing this off with Glossy Accents.  I add a few gold beads to the coffee because they remind me of Demerara Sugar.

I created a simple little scene with a brick embossing folder, a snippet of red gingham and a doily!  I don’t normally make square cards - they cost twice as much to send!  However they are nice format to work with, especially a small one like this!  

I’ve used an embossing folder to create the brick wall background so I’d like to enter the Can You Handle the Pressure Challenge!

I've also used some snippets in the card so I'm off to the Snippets Playground for challenge #438

I'm thrilled you stopped by and hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you and perhaps we can get better acquainted!  

Kate

Poinsettia and Foiled Foliage

 It's always Anything Goes at 613 Avenue Create Challenge but this month we have the optional twist of Foliage - Leaves or Paper!   Do come and hang out on our front porch, we love to see your work!

The sponsor this month is Conie Fong Art!

 For this card I've used her Holly Poinsettia image. I coloured her with watercolour pencils with just a few highlights in red marker because I wanted a more vivid red.   I added a layered mini Poinsettia die cut (Marianne Design) to the image for some dimension and a little gold for sparkle.  

I cut a rectangle from the front panel using a double stitched frame to frame the image and the front panel is attached to the card base with foam tape.  I had this sentiment already on the stamping platform so I stamped it on a scrap of ivory cardstock and cut it with a small stitched rectangle. 

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #610 - optional twist "S" for scarf ;

Peace on Earth Challenge #23 - inspired by the winter foliage

NBUS Challenge #42 - the poinsettia is NBUS ;

As You Like It Challenge - My favourite cardbase is A6 - just cut an A4 in half and fold in half, and no additional postage!

Time Out Challenge 221 - Festive

*****

I've been wanting to try out foiling for a while now!   Seeing this sentiment of  Conie’s - I immediately thought it would be perfect for foiling - bold with some lovely loops and curls!  And being digital I could make it as big or as small as I wanted - I went big!

Just a quick explanation of foiling for those who haven't heard of it.  You print something on your laser printer - yes it has to be a laser printer but there is no time limit so you could take your documents to Office Works or the equivalent and print them there!  Then you put it through a Minc machine or equivalent and the heat makes the foil to stick to wherever the toner is - i.e. your printed image!  Easy, peasy right!  

Well I don’t own a Minc machine, but a friend gave me a cheap knock off and I understand that a laminator will also work!  I found this video on Youtube which filled me with enough confidence to give it a go!   I ordered some Heidi Swapp foil on Amazon but it took ages to arrive.  In the meantime, I found some cheap rolls in Action and bought about 10 a few!  I have to say, I was underwhelmed - the foil stuck to everything not just what I had printed on the laser printer!  Well, I decided to take advantage of this "feature" and cut the foil the same size as my card panel and ran that through the laminator!  There was a fine gold layer over the entire panel, but I quite liked the effect and the sentiment was definitely readable!  

I also ran a die-cut leaf (CraftEmotions Fern) which had NO toner on it through the machine and achieved a lovely shimmery effect.  I took this photo in the sunshine, so you could see the mottled gold effect!

But as you can see from this photo, the leafy pattern on this background panel is still visible when the light isn't shining directly on it!

And here's a short video I took because this effect is very hard to photograph! 

The genuine Minc Foil finally arrived and I'm happy to report the problem with the background foil is gone!  I made these place cards for my friend's daughter's wedding and the gold only stuck to the printed parts - a lovely thistle image and the names!  And it made no difference with the cheap foiling machine or the laminator!  So foiling with a laminator does work!   Why not give it a try for yourself!

****

A few weeks ago I posted a card I made for a friend who joined our choir after being forced to flee from Ukraine.  She has just released a beautiful song on YouTube and though it's in Ukrainian, you can easily get the gist of the anti-war story she tells!  If you have the time, listen to it and drop her a like if you enjoy it -"Тополя"Olena Afanasyeva "Poplar"

I'm thrilled you stopped by and hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you and perhaps we can get better acquainted!  

Kate

Bright Fall

 I am honoured to have been selected for the 613 The Avenue Design Team!  The sponsor this month is Mirtillamente.

I was bowled over by the vibrant colours in this Bright Fall Digital Paper Pack!

I thought the darker paper would be perfect for a "hidden sentiment" and this"grateful" sentiment from Winnie and Walter seemed the logical choice!  

I'm planning a trip to Australia in October and my sister (who I haven't seen for 5 years) and I are busily planning our agenda so I'm feeling pretty grateful at the moment.  I also just received my 4th booster shot yesterday and while the vaccine wasn't all we had hoped for in early 2021, I am grateful that I live in a country where I have the opportunity to receive it!  I am also grateful to be able to share my creations in such a wonderful, supportive community and to Chana in particular for giving me the opportunity to be in in the 613 The Avenue Create Design Team!

As with most of my cards, the idea changed as I went along!  I had intended to make a penny spinner card but forgot (I'm blaming the heat) to cut a track before I created the hidden sentiment!  Actually I got right up to foam tape stage before I realised!  So I decided to go with a bookmark instead.  This leaf wasn't my first choice - I was going with yellow (which is why the hidden sentiment was backed with yellow) but I just wasn't happy with the yellow leaves and realised pink would be a much better colour choice!  I distressed some light pink card stock with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink to get the mottled pink effect on the leaf! I also added glossy accents.

I created a bookmark from some snippets left over from cutting the panel using the SugarPea Designs Open Book set (two bookmarks back to back with a black one in between) and added a black tassel.  I added a magnet to either side and covered these with some pink card stock to make them a little more presentable (I would have coloured them black if I had found my black permanent pen).  There's a magnet between the card panel and the card base and another one behind the leaf - 4 in total!   I wanted to make sure the bookmark was anchored to the inside of the card but could also be removed!  The leaf can be attached to the bookmark or stay in place on the card front or be used as a fridge magnet!  You can add the bookmark to the card front or use the bookmark to magically move the leaf around on the card front!  I love magnets don't you?

I would like to enter my card in the Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #435 - to use die-cuts or stencils!  

I'm thrilled you stopped by and hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you and perhaps we can get better acquainted!  

Kate