ConGradulations

This is for the son of a friend who graduates in engineering next week, so I had to "engineer" something...

The outside is very blokey and I was lucky that his name spelt out of the positives of the diecut.
The grey and blue are the colours of his engineering degree hood, and the black for his gown. And of course inside I went a bit mad with colour ...

EF:
Word die:
Number die: Cuttlebug/Provocraft
Stamps:
Hat & degree die:
Star die:

Shared on challenges:
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Floating Feather

A floating feather.  I loved the camera work in a scene in the movie Forrest Gump where the feather floated through the town.  The music represents the song of the bird it came from, and the gems are the floaty bit.


The navy blue card is not that dark in real life, here it looks black.  I inked the edges of the feather.

Feather die:  Hot Off The Press
Stitched rectangle die: DieNamics






Shared on challenges:
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Vintage Birdcage

I usually favour a simple design, but now and then I break out of my box and do a 'frilly' one.  Also it was time I got out of my colour rut, and tried a combination I've never used before.

I used a sketch from Verve for the design:




Circle Dies: Spellbinders
Papers: Kaisercraft

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southerngirlschallenge anything-goes-with-team-lou
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Elf Peeking

This is such a cute image, it reminds me of one of my grandchildren.  The frame is on thick 3D foam tape and stands out from the background.





Image: Bugaboo
coloured with Copics
Die Fancy Frame: Kaisercraft
Inner diecut frame: Nellies
Tag die: Cuttlebug
Stamp sentiment: Hastings Rubber Stamps
Candy cane EF: Practical Publishing
Lights EF:
Also, gold cord, gems





Shared on challenges:

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yournextstampsketch-and-color-challenge-53 - colour & sketch
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daranddiane traditional-christmas-colors
allsortschallenge week-391-anything-christmas
craftycreationschallenges 329-christmas
creativeknockouts 169-tis-season
craftypurplefrog let-challenges-begin_Christmas Magic


YNS : colours chosen: green-yellow-red, for the sketch I 'wonky-ed' it up a bit to add interest and movement.

Deer Wonder

This deer looks at the stars and wonders what it's all about.  Maybe it's Christmas.

Deer diecut from manila card.  Blue card cut into a tag, stamped and embossed with silver.  And wasn't that ribbon with silver edge a good find?

Deer die:  Couture Creations
Star stamp:  Practical Publishing freebie
Sentiment stamp: Practical Publishing freebie
Corner punch: Couture Creations
Also: Silver embossing, ribbon



Shared on challenges:

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Summer Christmas Tree

We have Christmas in the middle of summer, so our icons are different from a winter Christmas.  This EF has NZ birds and flowers as well as a pair of jandals/thongs/flipflops.  We usually spend Christmas outdoors at the beach or somewhere cool.

I diecut a scalloped triangle (Spellbinders) and sponged distress inks on using the negative cut as a stencil to highlight the items, and then used a gold Sharpie for the big star and silver for the small ones.  I matted it onto silver metallic paper.  I like the simple look which is quite deceiving as it took ages to do!
EF: Craft Creations









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craftypurplefrog-challenges-begin-Christmas Magic

Concertina Butterfly

I made this for a friendship cardswap using instructions from a youtube tutorial (just google concertina card).

The edge of the card is punched and inked, coordinating papers on the inside panels with inspiring messages.  The butterflies are die cut from sparkle card.

Punch: Fiskars
Diecut labels: Spellbinders
Dies Butterflies: Spellbinders
Also: ribbons, sequins, gem




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modsquadchallenge sparkle-it-up
freshly-brewed-challenge-november pastels/friendship

Thank You Bag

November is thankful month at Die Cut Divas, so check out my teamies work here:  die-cut-divas

The image is from super sponsor Bugaboo, get it here:
bugaboostamps.com/AKV-Fall-leaves


I love the colours of this card and the contrast.  The teal card is actually a subtle sparkle, but it doesn't quite show in the photo. I like the subtle dimension the dry embossing gives without taking over the whole design.  The lettering is card several layers thick.

Image: Bugaboo, coloured with Copics
Circle Dies:  DieNamics
Sentiment dies: Spellbinders
leaf punch: unknown
Base card corners dry embossed with large ball tool

Shared on challenges:
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crafty-catz-challenge-347-anything-goes with red
aaacards-game-78-circles
glitternsparklechallenge-215 thanks
pile-it-on-121-thankful-thank-you
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aloha-friday-challenge-85-thanks

Joy Deer

A little bit of a northern Christmas scene card in blue.  I stuck the sentiment on with 3D foam to look like signs tacked to the trees.  I like that the deer looks amazed at the snow.

EF: Practical Publishing freebie
Deer Die: Couture Creations
Stamped sentiments: Practical Publishing freebies.
Snow stamp: Rosie's Studio

I swiped over the embossed trees with white ink (ColorBox) and also stamped the sentiments and snow.  The deer is diecut from kraft card and a gem added.

Shared on challenges:


trimmiescraftchallenge-390-christmas
thecraftyaddictschallenge-28 winter blues
craftycreationschallenges-animals
cutecardthursdaychallenge-452-christmasholidays
inkychicks challenge-75-winter-wonderland
open-mindedcraftingfun-challenge-11-christmas-hanukkah
craftypurplefrog-challenges-begin Christmas magic

Get better

Get better soon from the Come and Get It team here:
cagichallenge

Image from Sponsor Time4Tea:
bubbles-digi-stamp

Image: Time4Tea
Coloured with Copics
Sentiment Stamp: CloseToMyHeart
Die label: Spellbinders
Die doily: Couture Creations
Also:
washi tape border, Glossy Accents on bubbles

Shared on Challenges:
fabnfunky challenge-327-digi-girls
creativeknockouts 168-lots-of-layers
creatalicious challenge-103-anything-goes-with a sentiment
lilpatchofcraftyfriends challenge-46 ag
carabbiemomentsofcraft challenge-106 ag
brownsugar challenge-225-anything-goes

Lizzie Graduates

My friend's daughter graduates in December and I decided to make a more girly card with unexpected motifs, hence the stars and butterfly. My inspiration was actually the sentiment!


Sentiment stamp:
Inside inspirational stamp: Kaisercraft
Paper: MME
Butterfly die: Spellbinders
Number dies: Cuttlebug
Hat die: Impression Obsession
Also: ribbon, brads

Shared on challenges:
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craftyfriendschallenge-44-for someone special
creatalicious challenge-103-anything-goes-withasentiment
fussyandfancychallenge-177 fancy folds

Trad Merry

Traditional colours for this merry card and a bit of a vintage look.




Sentiment stamp: Denami Design
gold embossing
Die labels: Spellbinders
Papers Pad: Kaisercraft
Border die: Kaisercraft
Floating Leaf die: Couture Creations
Background Leaf die as stencil: Couture Creations
Ribbon, gold cord, distress inks edge

Shared on challenges:

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craftypurplefrog-challenges-begin_10 Christmas Magic
trimmiescraftchallenge-390-17th-of-november-christmas
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Birthday Star

Everyone likes to be a star on their birthday, right?
I love this image of Charlie Chaplin (an old silent movie star for those of you who are way young); it's so great for a mancard.

I watercoloured the background plaid (I tried shading it from light to dark) with a ruler edge, the side of a coffee stirrer stick, a stamp and a stencil using distress inks.  Then I spritzed with water and blotted to make it uneven and blotchy.
I painted around the image with distress ink Hickory Smoke with various intensities, and added the touch of purple in Dusty Concord.
I think the hessian and staples add a manly touch.

Image: ADayFor Daisies
Stars die: Sizzix
Sentiment: Rosie's Studio
Plaid
Stencil: Rosie's Studio
Stamp: Hero Arts
Edge of ruler

Shared on challenges:
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Bird Christmas Tree

Over at the Crafters Café, we have a Christmas theme, check out the wonderful work from the design team and enter your own: crafterscafeblogchallenge

All of the items on the card except the gold stars are from our sponsor Decosse: decossesdynamitedoodles
Thanks Decosse!
I chose these items because we have a summer Christmas and snow just doesn't work here!

I used these printable digipapers from Decosse's Holidays, Christmas collections:
12 Months Christmas 2014
A Grungy Christmas
Christmas Critters
Striped Paper Multicoloured
An Eclectic Christmas

Doily Die: Nellies Doily
Border die: Kaisercraft
Also: punched gold stars, Glossy Accents (on birds), Pilot gold pen (edge of tree).

Click on images for a closer look.




And ... when you're on a roll ...




THE TAG: The tag is diecut (Sizzix/Tim Holtz) and the background is stamped over with Kaisercraft sentiment using Versamark ink as a watermark, splashed with gold ink (Pilot). I used a left over bird tree to make a tag, edged tree and tag with gold embossing.  Cut out five little birds to pop up using 3D foam. 



Shared on challenges:

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A Chicken Bawk

A bawk about a chicken?  Chicken Licken or Chicken Little, however you call it, is pretty much a weird story about a chicken who gets hit on the head with an acorn and thinks the sky fell on her head.  I'm sure there are days we all feel like that!

One layer cards are pretty challenging.  I was so glad to find a chicken netting stencil in my box of tricks that was just right for this stamp.  I masked the image and lightly stencilled over with distress ink.

Stamps: Art Impressions
coloured with copics
Stencil: Rosie's

Shared on challenges:
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Tui cheerful

I love sketches:





and I used this to make an Analogous Colours (colours next to each other on the colour wheel)Cardswap card.

Tui is an iconic NZ bird with an amazing array of calls (including local dialect)which are so cheerful.  Tui is a nectar feeder and the stamp shows it feeding from a flax flower.   NZ gets its black and white sporting colours from Tui.  It is a forest bird that looks black with two white curly feathers at its throat until it is in the sun, where it is black with an iridescent blue-green sheen to its feathers.


Stamp: Craft Creations
Die: Couture Creations
Sentiment stamp: Verve
Also: feather, gold pen, white gel pen, pearls

Shared on challenges:
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happylittlestampers-november-anything-goes-with-dies
freshbreweddesigns-challenge-november

Got the blues

Got the blues?  send someone a hug!  Win:win, they feel better and you feel better too.

You know how I love sketches:



Image: A Day For Daisies
Coloured with copics
Circle dies: Couture Creations
Heart die: Couture Creations
Background die: Couture Creations
Sentiment stamp: Rosie's (gold embossed)
Metal heart: MME Necessities
Other: scraps of paper, hessian

Shared on challenges:
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thecraftyaddictschallenge-28ag-blues
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Deer Christmas

I like simple cards and used a Verve sketch for this one:








Image stamp: unknown
Silver embossed
Background stamp: Rubbadubbadoo
Sentiment stamp: Papermania







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Birthday Whiskers

What could be better than birthday whiskers for a cat lover?

TicTacToe is on at Come and Get It challenges: cagichallenge
I chose the blue-glitter-ribbon line.

I used sponsor Sami image (so cute)of  'sneaky whiskers' printed at different sizes, get it here:
etsy.com/shop/SamiStamps


Image: Sami Stamps 'sneaky whiskers' coloured with Copics
Sentiment stamp: Rubbadubbadoo
Paw stamp:





Shared on challenges:
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southerngirlschallenge/pop-it-up-with-team-lou

Birthday Smiles

Come And Get It team are doing tic-tac-toe this challenge, check it out here : cagichallenge

I used sponsor All Dressed Up image which comes with the sentiment, and coloured it with copics:
etsy.com/shop/alldressedupstamps

For the tic-tac-toe I chose diagonal blue-glitter-ribbon.

This image cried out for pastels, which I don't usually work in, but I enjoyed this one and I like the soft effect.

Image: All Dressed Up
Dies: Spellbinders
Ribbon, gems, corner punch


Shared on challenges:

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deepoceanchallenge-141-use-die-cuts-or-punches
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Awesome thanks

It's always a good idea to have thank you cards ready; you never know when you'll need them!

Check out Die Cut Divas November thankful challenge: die-cut-divas

with our wonderful Sponsor Bugaboo:
bugaboostamps.com/pumpkin-crow


Image: Bugaboo, coloured with copics
Tag Die: Spellbinders
Speech bubble die: X Cut
Sentiment: Verve
heat embossed with white
Also: Ribbon, Kindyglitz





Shared on challenges:

diesruschallenge-60-thankful-for-nature
tuesdaythrowdown -tt318-thanksgiving
deepoceanchallenge-141-use-die-cuts-or-punches
daranddiane harvest-blessingsgive-thanks
timeoutchallenges challenge-69 thanks

Dotty Pumpkin Thanks

The Die Cut Divas are spotlighting thankfulness in November - check out the Divas cards throughout the month : die-cut-divas. 

It's always handy to have some thank you cards in your box ready to appreciate someone.
Click on the image for a closeup.

The image is from fabulous sponsor Bugaboo: 
bugaboostamps.com/pumpkin-crow

Image: Bugaboo - Pumpkin Crow
(Paper pieced, edges inked)
Doily die: Couture Creations
Scribble die: DieNamics
Thank you die: Spelbinders
(stacked with 2 black cuts then a white cut)
Corner punch: Couture Creations
Also Kindyglitz

Shared on challenges:
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Rainbow hope

There's always a rainbow after the rain - such lovely words of hope and encouragement.



I inked the EF using separate inks to get the rainbow effect.  It took several tries to get it right but it worked in the end.  I will be able to cut up the rejects and use bits of them later, I hope.



EF:
Die: Spellbinders
Sentiment:
Pearls


Shared on challenges:

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cutecardthursday challenge-449-lace-andor-pearls
getcreativechallenges ch-51-ag
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Park the broom

Park the broom and have a coffee with me!

Colour: Three shade of Distress Dabbers
Stamps: Woodware
Gold ink fine splatter from edging pen

Shared on challenges:

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thecraftyaddicts challenge-27
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qkrstampede-215-halloween
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