Hero Arts October Challenge

I haven’t had much time lately to be able to make cards and as we draw closer to Christmas, it will be even harder to make time, so there may not be quite so many blog entries from me. I still have to decide if I am going to make my Christmas cards this year. I have done so for the last couple of years - see below. I used to do it before I had kids too, but only got back into making them again a couple of years ago.  I would like to make some this year again, but I need to come up with a design that looks good and is easy to mass produce!

I also won a set of ciao copic markers (36 of them!) which arrived in the post about a week ago. I am looking forward to using them, but I just haven’t had the time to sit down and play with them. Hopefully I will get to have a little play with them soon, and then more over the Christmas holiday period. Any hints or techniques on using them would be most welcome.

I really wanted to make a card to enter in the Hero Arts October challenge. The closing of the challenge is Thursday 27th October although because I am here in New Zealand, that actually is our Friday evening, so I am still in time. I made the card last night, but waited until this morning to take a photo so I have better light. A few days ago I decided what I wanted to make a card and I already had an idea on what I would do, but the difficultly has been trying to find the time to make it. I decided I wanted to use one of the sketches and I would use it to make a Christmas card. I wanted to use the ornaments from the Hero Art CL236 stamp set in my card.

Here are the sketches.

Here is the card I made using the last sketch.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Hero Arts October Challenge - Sketch
Wee Memories - FREE FOR ALL Challenge! #73  Sponsored by Annabelle Stamps
One Stop Craft Shop - Week #154 - No Designer Paper
Simon Says - Anything Goes

I decided to use three colours – red, forest green and white. I embossed the ornaments in gold on three different coloured cards and cut them out. Then the dilemma was what colour background to use. I didn’t want to use a colour I had used for the ornaments as otherwise they would get lost in the background and I felt the background colour also need some texture so I managed to find this blue textured paper in my collection. Lastly I added some gold twine and used my corner punch.

I was pleased with the result, but it is not one that I will be making lots of this year!

Here are also the Christmas cards I made last year and the year before.

Christmas Card 2010 - The following is gold embossed inside with this verse "wishing you all the joys of the season and a year filled with happiness" which is from the stamp set Hero Art CL236, along with the other ornaments and "Joy" I have used on this card.




Here is the Christmas card I made in 2009.





As you will see, my Christmas cards tend to be in the more traditional colours.  Perhaps this year I will branch out and do something  little different.

Thanks for stopping by.  I really appreciate your comments.

Angela

Final Simply Scrapping Crafts Challenge

I did manage to make two fairly simple cards last night.  When I saw the final September challenge (a little late)  for Simply Scrapping Crafts and I thought I really wanted to take part.  The theme is make a baby card.  I have a friend having a baby girl in the next couple of months so I thought I would make a card for her.  I used the sketch from Card Patterns #136 as my layout for the card.



The stamp is a Penny Black one "Basket of Joy" and I used coloured pencils to colour it.  I used baby PP in the background and added a pink and white bow.

I am also entering this in the One Stop Craft Challenge #152 "Anything Goes"



My other card is for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge  #172 "Age is just a number". A card personalised with a number.



It seems to be the season of birthdays for my children's friends, so I thought since my daughter has just turned 5, there will be others turning 5 soon too.

I used a Penny Black stickeroo mounted on a label die cut which I had inked the background with red ink, leaving the edges white.  I cut out the "5" from an alphabet and number set I have for my cuttlebug.  I positioned the hedgehog so it looks like he is looking up to the number on the card.  I added the ribbon and some kindy glitz for a bit of sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by.

Angela

Sparkle and Bling

Just a quick post as I haven't had much time for card making and blogging recently. My kids were sick last week, then I got sick over the weekend. Thankfully we are now all better, but now it is the school holidays, so a fun and busy time, but not much time (if any) for card making.

Here is a card I made for a friend to say thank you. She very kindly gave me the stamp set which I have used here. It is a stamp set from Djeco. Not one that I have heard before. She also gave my son a Djeco vehicles stencil set and my daughter a Djeco sticker set for their birthdays, which they also both really like. So they can get "creative" like Mum too!




The background is made with distress inks - walnut ink and wild honey, stamped on an acrylic block, spritzed and the stamped onto the card. The green ink is the ink that came with the set. I coloured the girl pencils and added her with mounting tape to make her stand out. Betty, who I met through Lily Pad Cards CCC exchange, very kindly send me some of her lovely punched butterflies which I adore and have finally got to use in a card. (Thanks Betty!) I love the texture it gives to the card, especially with laying three butterflies together. I felt I needed something else at the top, so I added some "bling" which was perfect for the Simon Says Challenge "sparkle and bling".


Also entering this card in One Stop Craft Challenge - "Anything Goes" #152

Thanks for stopping by and for your encouraging comments.

Angela

Another Leaf Card

Here is another card using my leaf stamp. This stamp seems to be my favourite at the moment. I have used it on a few different cards, particularly those with an autumn/fall theme, even thought here in New Zealand it is the beginning of spring!



I stamped the Hero Arts Old French Writing stamp in chocolate impress ink onto the cream card.

I stamped two small leaf stamps in Versamark onto nutmeg card for a background effect and mounted this onto the mulled wine card.
The larger leaf stamp was stamped onto white card that I had coloured with distress inks. I stamped walnut stain and wild honey onto an acrylic block, spritzed it and then stamped onto the white card and left to dry. Once dry, I stamped the leaf stamp, cut out it out and I added glossy accents once it was mounted on the card with mounting tape.

For the sentiment, I used a Spellbinders circle and a scalloped circle with Birthday Wishes stamped in chocolate impress ink.

Stamps used:
Hero Arts Old French Writing
Large leaf stamp - Stamp Oasis
Small leaf stamps – sorry no idea of the brand
Sentiment - Hot of the Press - Tiny words & images (HOTP 1020)
Cardstock – cream, mulled wine, nutmeg


This is for the following challenges:

Simply Scrapping Crafts - Sketch

The Play Date Café PDCC101 -

One Stop Craft Challenge – Week 151 - Just for Men

Simon Says – Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and for your comments. 

Angela

Penny Black Blog Challenge

Over at the Penny Black Blog there is the opportunity to win stamps and be a Guest Design for them at their  Blog.  All you need to do is create your best, *new*Penny Black stamped card and upload it into their Gallery by Midnight Sunday (tomorrow) night, PST. You need to tag your entry with “pennyblackguest“. The Penny Black Designers will choose a winner to receive an assortment of their favorite stamps and they will also be invited to Guest Design for a day at the Blog.

Here is my entry. 



I stamped the background with Daisy Pattern (2642K) and white embossed this, using my stamp positioner each time to make sure I had a continuous background stamp. I then used faded jeans distress ink over this.

I also used faded jeans distress ink for the background of the label, leaving a white edge by leaving the die on while I inked it. I then added a stickeroo. I don't have many Penny Black stamps, so stickeroos are great, but I would love to buy or even win some PB stamps!

Lastly I added the sentiment - Just for you. I did hope to stamp that in faded jeans distress ink too, but it just was blurry and didn't come our right, so decided to stamp in black.

I think the emboss resist technique is one of my favourite techniques at the moment.  This card involves this technique, so I am entering it in the Wee Memories #70 "Your fav technique" challenge.

And also entering this card in the Simon Says - Anything Goes Challenge.  Trying to do my bit to help them reach their target of 1000 entries.

Angela

90 Minute Scramble - A tag

This morning (Sunday 7am NZ time) I took part in the Hero Arts 90 minute scramble.  My second time at taking part.  I had to keep it quick and simple as my kids were around and needing my attention too.



I had an orange tag that I found, so I based my tag around that.
I used the Hero Arts Cling Flower stamps and Hero Arts Happy Birthday stamp (E1119).
The background is a swirl stamp.
I had white ribbon and stamped it with distress ink - wild honey.

I am also entering this in the Simon Says - Anything Goes Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.

Angela

World Card Making Day - 1st October

Hi and Happy World Card Making Day

Today is World Card Making Day and there is a blog tour list here that you can visit to see who is taking part in this big celebration.  Here in New Zealand the day has nearly ended and I have just had enough time after a busy day to made a quick and simple card to celebrate this day.  I had to make a card even if it meant making it at 10:30pm before I went to bed.!






I have used :
Spellbinder Labels
Faded Jeans Distress Ink
HA Happy Birthday Stamp
Pink rhinestones
Blue ribbon
White gel pen for the faux stitching

I am entering this in the following challenges:
CAS-ual Friday - Feeling Loopy CFC22

Lily Pad Cards - Simon Says Stamp Presents a Bling Challenge


And Simon Says - Anything Goes  They are trying to reach 1000 entries, so please feel free to take part!

Thanks for taking a look a my cards and for your comments.

I hope you too are having a wonderful World Card Making Day too!

Angela