Buttons Galore!

Hi there, after I mentioned to someone the other day that I take all my card scraps and turn them into buttons with the  Button #5 Sizzlits die I thought I'd better do something with them!

As you can imagine, my 'button' bag is full of all sorts of coloured buttons, so I had an enjoyable 5 minutes playing around with colours and this is what I came up with.  No sewing required!

What I used:

Card:  Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Whisper White - buttons are an assortment of SU card.

Tools and other fun stuff:  Scallop border punch, Framed Tulips embossing folder, Buttons #5 Sizzlets die.

A little bit of everything

Hi there - hope your day is going well.

I had stamped and punched out these butterflies intending to use them on the Matchbook Mini Album but then did not use them so I've found a proper home for them on today's card.

I love these butterflies, both the stamp set and punch, you just can't go wrong with them!

What I used:

Card:  Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Certainly Celery, Riding Hood Red, Old Olive.

Ink:  Riding Hood Red

Stamp Sets: Butterfly Prints

Tools and other fun stuff:  Butterfly punch, Bird punch, Very Vanilla 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Scallop Border punch, Buttons sizzlits die, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Rhinestones.

Happy Retirement Jo!

Our local Plunket nurse has just retired, so I wanted to make her a card to thank her for all her kindness when I used to take Leo for his checks.  It's great that she lives locally too, as I get to see her in the supermarket quite often so we won't lose touch.

This card started off as an exercise in using my new Framed Tulips embossing folder to make smaller borders, the white card is 4" x 4" and it worked really well.

The great thing about embossing folders is you can use either side of the resulting embossed card, today I chose to use what is officially the 'reverse' side of it, so technically it's debossed, not embossed!

What I used:

Card:  Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip

Ink:  Riding Hood Red, Pumpkin Pie, Always Artichoke

Stamp Sets:  Petal Pizazz, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Tools and other fun stuff:  Scalloped Circle punch, Buttons #5 Sizzlets die, Framed Tulips embossing folder, Stampin' dimensionals, Stampin' sponges, Stamp-a-majig

Crumb Cake Sweet Summer

For today's card I've used once again the Sweet Summer stamp set which I'm really enjoying!  It makes a wonderful background like you can see here, I stamped one of the flower images plus a tiny bee in Crumb Cake on Very Vanilla, scalloped two edges and sponged them with Crumb Cake as well to soften them.  I had embossed the base card with the Textured Impressions embossing folder to add interest to that part of the card. Once again I have used a blender pen to 'pull in' the colour on the red flower and bee, an effect I really like.

The other set I'm using a lot lately is the Teeny Tiny Sentiments - with 24 different sentiments you just can't go wrong, there's something appropriate for almost every event!

This card meets the requirements of three (or is it four!) challenges - I'm learning to combine them now!  First of all the colour is from ColorLab, the sketch is from GAB and the embellishments are for the Daring Cardmakers challenge (on this occasion sponsored by The Ribbon Reel).

Anyway, once again, hope you like it!

What I used:

Card:  Crumb Cake (first time I've used this colour), Real Red and Very Vanilla

Ink:  Crumb Cake, Riding Hood Red.

Stamp Sets:  Sweet Summer, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Tools and other fun stuff:  Heart to Heart punch, Buttons #5 Sizzlits die, Square Lattice embossing folder, Scallop Border punch, Real Red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, blender pens, Stampin' sponges, red twine from my stash.

Gray, blue and purple?

I came accross this colour combination at Color Lab and it's one I would never have thought of using of my own accord.

The challenge was to use Bashful Blue, Perfect Plum and Basic Grey.  Now, I've had three sheets of Perfect Plum since May last year and have never used them as purple just isn't really my colour, so today it finally got to see the light of day!  I actually made two cards with it, the second one I will show you tomorrow.  The other colour I've never had a chance to use before is Basic Grey so am pleased I got a chance to try it today.

I really like the stamp set I used, Loads of Love, I used it to make some Christmas cards last year, and my daughter has taken ownership of a Valentines card I made with this set as well, now it's time to make a masculine card with it.

I also love my new Sizzlits die as I'll never run out of co-ordinating "buttons" thanks to it!

I took a series of photos as I made this card to show you how I did the checkerboard background (please excuse the rather well loved aka 'grotty' green cutting mat, after all I've had it for about 25 years..!) - here they are:

 I cut six each Bashful Blue and Basic Grey 1 1/4" squares.

 I placed them in the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder in the order they would be glued onto the base card, I was hoping to achieve a continuous pattern by doing this.

 Here they are after embossing.

 Glueing them down on the Bashful Blue base card, start with the four corners, them fill in the edges and finally the middle two.

 Here is the finalized checkerboard pattern.

 Cutting my 'button's with the Sizzlits die in Perfect Plum.  The black slivers are offcuts from other projects which I kept expressly to thread through the buttons to simulate thread.

First I coloured the pickup truck using watercolour pencils and the truck ended looking rather pink.  I slept on it and this morning I had another go at it and here is the result of my "adjustments":

 I stamped the truck image on a scrap of Perfect Plum card and with some fussy cutting I ended up with a Perfect Plum truck!  Much better I think.

What I used:

Card:  Bashful Blue, Basic Grey, Perfect Plum, watercolour paper.

Ink:  Basic Black

Stamp Sets:  Loads of Love, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Tools and other fun stuff:  Buttons #5 Sizzlits die, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, corner rounder punch, Stampa-ma-jig, Stampin' Dimensionals, acquabrush.

Vintage Love Letter

Hello again, well I finally figured out how to change the reactions on my post, now only have 'feel good' ones - well, it is my blog after all LOL!!

I've had a busy morning today, thought I would have got a little more done by now but can't really complain...

Here is today's card - followed a sketch this time from Stamping 411 which was quite straight forward so all's good.  Can you spot the difference???  Of course you can!  The first card looked a little naked so just had to add the greeting, now it's ready to give to someone!

What I used:

Card:  Riding Hood Red, Black, Very Vanilla, Love Letter DSP

Ink:  Riding Hood Red, Soft Suede

Stamp sets:  Easter Blossoms, Sincere Salutations

Tools and other fun stuff:  Large Oval punch, Scalloped Oval punch, Buttons #5 Sizzlits die, Stampin' Dimensionals, stamping sponges.

A little Pizazz for you

I am really liking this colour combination of Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red and Olive Green, with Very Vanilla to cool it down a little.  When I first saw the Pumpkin Pie/Rose Red colour in a Stampin' Up! DSP I thought it was rather bright but now I'm really loving it!

I am just starting to get the hang of challenges or sketches and I saw a very do-able sketch this morning on Mojo Monday which I thought I'd try interpreting - hope you like the results!

What I used:

Card:  Old Olive, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla

Ink:Old Olive, Rose Red

Stamp sets:  Petal Pizazz

Tools and other fun stuff:  Scallop Border punch, Spellbinders Scallop Circles, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Buttons Sizzlits die, Regal Rose grosgrain ribbon (retired), Old Olive 1/4" taffeta ribbon, Stampin' dimensionals.

My first post

Well, welcome to my blog - I've been wondering for ages about starting a blog which allows me to show you what I do in my creative time, and perhaps more.... still not sure!

So to welcome you here is my first "blogged" card - this is so exciting!  I won't go into details on what I used or what I did in this instance - thanks for taking a minute to stop by and smell the roses!

Bye for now

Frances