Dragonfly - CBS Challenge

Here's my second post of the day, and another entry to the Clearly Besotted Challenge!

I saw this dragonfly in this month's release and just couldn't resist.  I have made a variation on another card I made last month "Dotty Birthday".

To start off with I just had the detailed wings set on top of the solid butterfly, but it didn't look quite right so I cut another detailed dragonfly out of white card and sandwiched it in between and I thought it worked much better.

As you can see it's been beautiful weather here this weekend so I did some alfresco photographs!

Jacqui x

Stamps - Clearly Besotted Stamps: Background Builder, Woodware: Happy Birthday
Dies - Spellbinders Nestabilities: Circles, Clearly Besotted Stamps: Dragonfly Die Collection
Ink - Tsukineko Memento Dye, Morocco

Cardstock - Core 'dinations: Brights

Floral Frame

Just a quick post from me as there are lots of other things I should be doing.  This is a card I made for my Grandma, sorry about the awful photograph but I made it in the evening and had to get it in the post straight away!

It was a very simple card to make but I love these stamps.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:
Clearly Besotted Challenge - "Anything Goes"
Time out - Challenge #7
STAMPlorations - June Challenge "Stamps and Borders"
Addicted to Stamps - Challenge #99
Sweet Stampin'


Jacqui x


Supplies:
Ink - All memento: Pistachio, Lulu Lavender, Lilac Posies, Rose Bud
Glossy Accents
Rhinestones from stash
Stamps - CBS "You Are", Woodware "Happy Birthday" Singles

Colour Inspiration

When I sat down to make the card below i had no ideas what so ever...I had a route round my stash and came across the ribbon that I've used at the bottom of the card - and bingo.  You may recognise the ribbon, I saved it from a top I'd bought!

I had colours that perfectly matched the ribbon in my stash, so used these to create the elements of the card.  To make the stars pop I added some glossy accents.  Otherwise I wanted to keep the card flat as I knew I'd be sending it in the post.

Thanks for visiting!

Jacqui x

Supplies:

Dies - Spellbinders Nestabilities 5 Stars, Memory Box - Happy Script Die, Birthday Script Die.

Glossy Accents

Card and ribbon - from stash

Girly 30th Birthday

This is a card I made my sister, it was a few weeks ago but I never got round to sharing...so here it is!

I layered up the two sheets of paper, glued, and then die cut a circle from them to frame the "30".  From the bottom of the green section I die cut the "birthday" and inlaid a die cut I'd made from white card.  The happy is again inlaid into the pink card.

Recently I've started thinking more about the inside of my cards.  I generally add a paper insert, but not always, especially if it's a white card or colour that can be written on.  For this card I decided to add a strip of the patterned paper to the inside of the card, as you can see on the bottom photograph.

Jacqui x

Supplies:

Paper - Dovecraft - Garden Party

Dies - Memory Box - Happy Script Die, Birthday Script Die, Large Typewriter Number Set

Enamel Dots - My Minds Eye

Card - Core 'dinations - Brights

Masculine In The Frame

I'm back with another card I've made with a stamp set I received for my birthday.  I have again used colours inspired by the CBS challenge.  I kept it simple as I think the strong frame works well without needing anything else too fussy.

To balance the card I wanted to add some enamel dots...but a lack of suitable colours made me search for some suitable stamps.  I found the little stars within the CBS "Signature Christmas" set, and I'm pleased with how they look.

Jacqui x

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - In The Frame, Signature Christmas, Good Times
Card: Bazzill Basics Card Shoppe
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Dye - Morocco, Tuxedo Black

Masculine 30th Birthday

I am back today to share a 30th birthday card I made for my brother-in-law.

The "happy" I die cut and stuck onto the white card, whereas the "birthday" I sunk into the white card, just to add different textures.  The 30 I coated in Glossy Accents to make it a little more interesting.

Jacqui x

Supplies:

Dies - Spellbinders: Nestabilities, Memory Box: happy, birthday, Large Typewriter Number Set, CBS: Honeycomb Die
Cardstock: Core 'dinations "brights
Glossy Accents

CAS(E) This Sketch #48

I haven't played along with CAS(E) this sketch for a while, but I needed to make a card for my husbands Grandma and was severely lacking ideas.  As soon as I saw the sketch I knew exactly what I wanted to do! - sign of a good sketch if you ask me =)

Here's what I came up with:

I have very limited ink colours to choose from so that pretty much dictated what colour the flowers were going to be, so I chose the rest of the colour theme based on the flowers.  I initially made the card without the ribbon and it looked really plain.

This is the sketch that I based my design on:

That's all from me today.  I'm hoping to find some more time for crafting soon so will be back on a more regular basis again.

Thanks!

Jacqui x

Supplies:
Stamps - Clearly Besotted Stamps "You Are", Personal Impressions - Everyday Words Happy Birthday.
Ink - Memento - Black, Lilac Posies, Versa Color - Orchid
Embossing folder - Cuttlebug "Simple Flowers"
Paper, ribbon and rhinestones from stash

Spotty flower

I wanted to submit another entry into the Clearly Besotted Challenge #2, but I seem to have limited "spotty" things to craft with.  In my last entry I used the centres of the flowers from the CBS "You Are" set, here I am using them again but for their intended purpose!

I was half way through making my card and then realised that the card I was making was turning out a lot like a card I saw on the Lime Doodle Design blog, so I have CASE'd Debby's design from looking at it a few weeks ago...it clearly had a lasting impression on me!

I have raised the flower up on foam pads, and then also raised the centre of the flower on foam pads.  The dark colour behind is aubergine, even though it looks almost black in the photo.

Hope you've all had a lovely day.

Jacqui x

Supplies:
Card base - Craft UK 5 x 7" 250gsm white card
Flower Stamp - You Are by Clearly Besotted Stamps
Sentiment - Everyday Words Happy Birthday
Ink - Versa Color Orchid, Memento Lilac Posies and Tuxedo Black
Coloured paper from my stash

CAS(E) this Sketch #37

Hi All! I have been a busy bee this weekend.  It was my PhD graduation ceremony on Friday which I got to celebrate with my lovely family and friends, it was a gorgeous day all round!

I just got time to make an entry for this weeks CTS challenge.  I bought a hexagon die a few weeks ago and I absolutely love it.  The hexagons are smaller than the ones in the sketch so to balance out the card I had to change it slightly.

Here's the sketch:

And Here's my card:

Supplies:
Paper - Garden Party by Dovecraft
Hexagon Die - Clearly Besotted Stamps
Sentiment - Everyday Words Happy Birthday by Personal Impressions
Pearls - Vivi Gade Designs
Card Base - White 5 x 7 by Craft UK

That's all from me today!

Jacqui x

Freshly Made Sketches #92

It's my Mother-in-law's birthday next week so I wanted to make a card to give to her.  I was massively lacking any ideas but I stumbled across the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge Blog.  I'd not seen the blog before but as soon as I saw this weeks sketch I knew what I wanted to do, and the card below is the result!  It's a really lovely sketch.

Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

I drew the wave shape of the flowery paper freehand and cut it out, then used the piece I'd cut off as a template to cut the thin strip (it's dark aubergine, although it looks almost black int he photo).  The sentiment I tried writing by hand and embossing but it looked awful so I resorted to printing it out and it looks much better.

Supplies:

Gemstones - from stash

Flowery Paper - Boofle

Pink paper - from stash and embossed using "Simple Flowers" from Cuttlebug

Card - From stash

It's a beautiful day here so I'm heading outside while there's still some sun.  Thanks for visiting!

Jacqui x



CTS #32 and CBS Challenge

I got home early enough today to take a photo of the card I made at the weekend before I lost all the light.  I based it on this weeks CAS(E) this sketch challenge, as soon as I saw the sketch I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do.  Here is the fabulous sketch:



I turned the sketch around to make my card, but hopefully you can see all of the elements in my design.

Everything was things I had in my stash.  The butterflies I cut out using 2" and 1" punches that I have, and the circle I cut using a 2" punch.  I added a little glossy accents to the "body" of the butterflies to add some interest.  The sentiment is printed directly onto the card as I didn't have a nice clean simple stamp for this which was the look I was going for.  The writing under the circle is from the background builder set from clearly besotted, so I'm also going to enter this into the challange that they are having at the moment.

I love entering these challenges, most definitly will be entering more of them.

As always, thanks for visiting!

Jacqui x

CTS #31

I thought I'd have another go at entering the CAS(E) this sketch...I was too late getting my first attempt uploaded! Never mind!  This weeks sketch was this:

                                      

I don't have anything that could resemble a feather, so I took inspiration from all the other elements and the need for something with a bit of height.  I came up with this...

I used paper from my stash to make all the elements of the card (mainly scraps kindly given to me by my Mum!).  As I've just got my Cuttlebug I couldn't resist using it to create a texture on the red block section, I used the "Swiss Dots" embossing folder.  The balloons I drew freehand and then covered in glossy accents, another new addition to my crafting collection...I think I need more practice as its a bit bubbly which I didn't realise until it had dried.  I like the added gloss effect on the balloons though, brings them to life a bit.  As for the sentiment I wanted to stick with the sketch so used my 2" punch to cut a circle and then stamped using some stamps from the "Everyday Words Happy Birthday" set from Personal Impressions in Tuxedo black from Memento.

I really enjoyed coming up with an idea, makes me be more imaginative than I usually am! Can't wait to see what next week's sketch will be.

Thanks for dropping by.

Jacqui x

My first ever CAS(E) this sketch entry

Today I have a card to share with you that I was inspired to make for the challenge over at CAS(E) this Sketch, I've never played along before but I really enjoyed doing it so will be joining in again soon!

Here is the sketch for this week:

                                          

I kept close to the sketch and came up with this:

I'm quite pleased with the result and it isn't something I'd have come up with on my own.  I bought a Cuttlebug at the weekend which was waiting for me when I got home from work tonight....I couldn't wait to use it and hence the background to the card is embossed using the "simple flowers" embossing folder that came with the Cuttlebug (I'm still deciding which embossing folders to buy - there's so much choice!).  The pink paper is just from my stash and I printed the sentiment directly onto a piece of white card, again from my stash.  All of the patterned paper is from the Tea House 12 x 12 paper pack by Dovecraft.

Hopefully I'll have another card to share with you tomorrow.  I have the evenings to myself this week so making the most of it with lots of crafting!

Jacqui x 

Mini Bunting

Wow, where did the last week go! It's Friday already tomorrow and I feel like the week has only just started.  

I thought that today I'd share a card that I made for my brother-in-law's birthday.  I really struggle to make cards for men (a common problem I think!), so when I saw this mini bunting card when I was perusing Pinterest I couldn't resist having a go at recreating it.  There is a great description of how the card is made on the link above, but basically you make little hinged triangles that you fold and stick around the twine and voilà  you have your cute mini bunting.  I printed my sentiment onto card using my printer as I wanted a fairly plain font that wasn't too feminine, which I mounted and added to the card on foam pads. 

Sorry the photo isn't the best, as well as improving my card making skills as I go along I'm trying to improve my photography skills too (they are none existent at present!).

Thanks for reading, please leave comments - I'd love to hear what you think.

Jacqui x