City Crafter - Birthday Wishes

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I chose this week's challenge at City Crafter and, for a change, I decided to make it simple and useful - make a birthday card.

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For my DT card I made a pop-up card for a baby girl's 1st birthday. The dog was a digital image from Craft Artist, and I designed and cut everything on the Silhouette electronic die-cutter.

Our wonderful Guest Star, Davi  is still with us, and I hope you will come over to City Crafter Challenge Blog and see what she, and the rest of the DT have made, and enter your own birthday card into the challenge.

I'd like to enter:
Cupcake Inspirations: Sweet Inside
Give a Crafter a Cookie  challenge 51
Die Cuttin Divas anything goes
Crafting with Dragonflies more than one fold (extra folds form the pop-up )
Cute Card Thursday words and numbers 

Sparkle and Shine

I couldn't resist these retro Christmas stamps from Avery Elle. I must say that this card looks less 'smudgy' in real- life. As blogging crafters, glitter really is both our joy and our trial.  It look great in real -life but, in photos, is easier invisible or looks a bit rubbish.

Anyway, the grid stamp behind the deer is Kaisercraft and the second sentiment is a stray.

I'd like to enter:
Mod Squad animal
Addicted to Stamps holiday
ABC Christmas Challenge quick layout
Crafty Friends glitter

Plane and Banner

Here's a quick and fun card on a Sunday morning, to enter a few challenges.

I used a stamp set from Creative Stamping, a Hero sentiment and free papers from Making Cards Magazine.

I'd like to enter :
Time Out : CASE Julia
Color Throwdown colours
My Time to Craft  something that flies

Julia's original card at Time Out

A Sad Card

Before my daughter became a midwife I had always thought it must be a lovely job, being with parents on the one of the happiest days of their lives.  Well that is true, but also, too often, she's with parents on the worst day of their lives, as many pregnancies don't end happily.

My daughter asked me to make this card for the parents of a baby who was so tiny that my daughter caught it in her hands. The baby lived only for a couple of days and the parents were kind enough to invite my daughter to the funeral.

I made MANY different versions of the card as I found it difficult to make something appropriate and not mawkish.  I'm still not sure whether this is right!

I stamped the dandelion  stamps (Stampendous) and sentiment (Clearly Besotted) on blue card and dry embossed the panel for texture, I felt it needed something to lift it, so I mounted it onto an embossed silver panel.

I'd like to enter:
Incy Wincy sympathy
Crafty Gals Corner emboss it
Stempelgarten flowers and plants
Sweet Stampin no designer paper

Inkspirational - Primary Colours

Here is my very simple DT card for the new Inkspirational challenge , use primary colours.

I dropped Brushos in the three primary colours onto watercolour card and trimmed it into a square. (Actually, I did several of these and chose the won I thought looked the best!) 'You make life' is a Lawn Fawn stamp and I created and cut the FUN on the Silhouette Cameo.

We have a fabulous Guest Designer Shona, so I hope you'll come over to Inkspirational and see what she and the DT have made, and enter your own project.

I'd like to enter:
Casology fun
Simon Says Stamp Weds square

Australian Christmas Card

If you've seen a flurry of Australian- themed Christmas cards in blogland lately, that could be due to the challenge we had at Happy Little Stampers retreat.

Friends...brace yourselves...this card didn't win the challenge. I know you're shocked. But the winning cards by Sue and Val were actually even better.

Undeterred, I'm entering this into some challenges.

The card was designed and cut from the Silhouette Cameo electronic die-cutter.  The globe (Miss Kate Cuttables) and sentiment are SVG files. I found the outline of a kangaroo on the internet, traced it, duplicated it and welded it to a santa sleigh silhouette, Sidney Opera House was also traced from an image in the public domain. I used an embossing folder to add texture to the base card.

I'd like to enter:
Crafting By Designs Get Ready for Christmas
Fussy and Fancy let's fly away  ( the kangaroos and Santa)
Addicted to Cas  silhouette

Happy Birthday Pia

Happy Birthday to my fabulous Inkspirational team-mate, Pia Larsen.

I hope she's received this card. I made it at the Happy Little Stampers Retreat. The panel was made using a Brushos and starch technique demonstrated by Kylie . The butterfly was also cut from some paper painted with Brushos.

Have a fantastic day, Pia!

I'd like to enter:
Cardz4Galz butterflies
Craft Rocket things with wings
Creative Cottage things with wings

40 Shaker

My baby sister is 40 this week. Yikes! Even the young people are middle aged now!

I designed and cut this shaker card on the Silhouette Cameo. The stamped sentiment is Hero Arts. With hindsight, I wish I'd put in more microbeads, but I'm not going to try ripping it open now!

I'd like to enter:
Naughty or Nice numbers
Shopping our Stash numbers
Die Cutting Divas  birthday
Crafty Catz birthday

City Crafter Challenge Blog - It's all about YOU

This week, at City Crafter,  Stella wants us to include the word YOU on our creations.

For my DT card I used a very old stamp set (I think it may be Penny Black?), gold mirror card and some Antique Linen Distress Spray on the base card. 

Davi, our special Guest Star is still with us, so I hope you will visit to see what she made, and also the rest of our DT, and enter your own creation. 

I'd like to enter:

52CCT gifts

ABC Challenge noel

Happy Birthday Nonni

It's time to say 'Happy Birthday' to my dear friend and team -mate, Nonni .

The card I sent her was made at the HLS retreat using Brushos, which were a sponsor of the event. The stamp is by Penny Black.

Nonni - hope you have a fabulous day!

I'd like to enter:
Penny Black Saturday Challenge fave technique - as well as Brushos, I used my very favourite technique of paper piecing .

Back to School

My son doesn't actually go back to school for a few more weeks, but a few challenges inspired me to make this now.

I came across a very old pack of rub-ons and this crocodile was in it and I really wanted to use it ...it was brave, as I've had rub-on disasters in the past....but it worked!  The green spots are texture paste, coloured with Brushos and applied through a Paper Artsy stencil. The sentiment was made on  my computer.

I'd like to enter:
Fairytale back to school
Addicted to CAS silhouette
Pinspirational  photo

Doggy Hello

I ordered a Woodware Sausage Dog stamp and it was bigger than I'd expected - so I decided to see if  I could use it as two dogs. The sentiment is by Hero Arts. I've noticed dogs use a different way of greeting each other than we humans do- so I hope you find it amusing rather than offensive.

I'd like to enter:
Cas-ual Fridays  time to colour
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers  h is for hounds
Unicorn Challenge animal kingdom
Addicted to Stamps  make your mark
Moving along with the times clean and simple

Bird in Christmas Jumper

I made this with a new Stampendous set - it has lots of different animals seperated into heads and bottom halves, tails etc, with some patterned jumpers - I found it quite tricky to assemble the animals together, so this was the easiest one!

I stamped on kraft and coloured with pencils. The sentiment (Clearly Besotted) is embossed in white pearl ep.

I'd like to enter:
52 CCT red, black, kraft
Cute Card Thursday dressing up

City Crafter - Black and White Party

This week at City Crafter, Kirsty wants us to create a Black and White project suitable for a party/celebration, such as birthday, graduation, or any happy occasion.

For my DT project I made some items (a straw slider, place-name card and sandwich flag {couldn't find a cocktail stick to put it on!}) for a children's party, using panda stamps (wplus9) , Yay sentiment  (Hero?) and letters cut on the Silhouette Cameo.  For the photo I've styled them up with a yellow placemat and straw - that's because I could only find coloured straws in the house! 

Our wonderful Special Guest Star, Davi , is still with us, so I hope you'll come over to CCCB and see what she, and the rest of the DT have made, and enter your own Black and White Party project. 

I'd like to enter:

Crafty Boots anything but a card

Crafting Musketeers  anything but a card 

One layer French

I saw the Less is More challenge for a French One-Layer-Card when I'd just returned from holiday in France!

The cafe, pavement and sentiment are Sheena Douglass, and the sun is Hero Arts.

I'd also like to enter- Challenge Up Your Life - travel.

Feathers and Wings - Christmas Fairy

Here's another card from my card kit swap  with Nonni and Pia. 

Unfortunately it has not photographed well! (Can you spot me?)

I used some white embossed vellum from the kit to paper-piece the wings of the die-cut fairy (kit) and added Wink of Stella to the whole die-cut and silver pen and stickles to the star in her hands. I used silver glitter texture paste and a stencil to add stars to the patterned paper (kit). I dry-embossed the silver card from the kit.

I'd like to enter:
Winter Wonderland silver and embossed
ABC Christmas  paper piecing

Feathers and Wings - Thinking

Here's another card from my card kit swap  with Nonni and Pia. 

I made a background using Distress Inks and pearlised water and used the feather, string and pearls from the kit. I stamped the sentiment (Clearly Besotted).

I'd like to enter:
AAA Cards blending
Little Red Wagon  sympathy

Feathers and Wings - Love Birds

Here's another card from my card kit swap  with Nonni and Pia. 

The items from the kit were the stamped and embossed image and the pearly embossed paper at the back.

I masked the image and added two shades of pink Distress Ink through a Tim Holtz stencil. I coloured the image in using markers and added the sentiment (Papermania).

I'd like to enter:

Crafting When We Can  wings
Alphabet Challenge  l for love

Feathers and Wings - Dreamcatcher

Here's the first card from my card kit swap  with Nonni and Pia. 

The items from the kit were the dreamcatcher and the thread I used to suspend it from the aperture.  I dry-embossed the white card and added black pearls and a sentiment (Hero Arts).

I'd like to enter:
Come and Get It punches and dies

Card Kit Swap - Feathers and Wings

It's time to post the cards I've made for the kit swap I do with Nonni and Pia and this month it was touch-and-go as to whether I'd make the blog-posting date. There was a mix-up with my address and so I didn't actually receive the kit till I got home from holiday on Friday evening.

Pia put together such a lovely kit that in fact it wasn't too difficult to get the cards made in time. Here's a picture of the kit:

All I've got left is one piece of patterned paper, a feather, some sequins and some wire ...I really wish I'd used the wire but I didn't have time to come up with a good idea, so hopefully in the near future...

I am going to blog the details of each card separately and enter some challenges, so I hope you'll look at my other posts and go and visit Pia and Nonni and see what they did.

Inkspirational Challenge - Stamp on Patterned Paper.

Shauna has chosen our new  challenge at Inkspirational , and it is:

For me, this was a no-brainer ...my favourite technique of-all-time-by-a long-long-way- is to paper piece by stamping on patterned paper.

For my DT project I'm sharing a set of cards commisioned by my daughter. My oldest grandson is transferring to secondary school in September.  With a group of friends, he had a celebration meal to mark them leaving primary school and moving to (some different) secondary schools. They each received one of these cards.

I used a Mama Elephant stamp set and an October Afternoon paper pad from my paper mountain.

Our guest designer this week is the very talented and effervescent Kathy  who I recently had the pleasure of meeting in real-life. Not just great for card-making tips, she will also offer you style advice on occasion -wear!

Please do come to over to the Inkspirational blog and see what she, and the rest of the DT have made, and enter your own creation.

I'd like to enter:
Words to Craft By  a single step
Stamping Sensations anything goes

City Crafter Challenge Blog - Synchronised Swim

I chose the theme this week at City Crafter - Synchronised Swim.

The idea is that you take inspiration from the photo above. 

For my DT card I used the photo colours and swimming theme and tried to make the fishes (Lawn Fawn) look like they are swimming in synchronicity (?!) - unfortunately stamped fish don't have the physical versatility of the women in the photo. The sentiment was cut on the Silhouette Cameo. 

Davi, our wonderful Special Guest Star, is still with us, so I hope you'll come over to City Crafter, see what Davi and the rest of the DT have made, and join in our challenge. 

With The Beatles

I've just returned from a trip away and I'm home for a few days to do my washing before I head off again! This photo was taken a few days ago in York.

For my layout I used Pink Paislee papers and  Dear Lizzy stickers and I cut the title and Beatles silhouetttes on the Silhouette Cameo.

I'd like to enter:
Shopping Our Stash Silhouettes
Off the Rails Scrapbooking  black and anything goes

The Big 25

As I may have mentioned, I was at the HLS retreat at the weekend. We were given a goody bag on the first evening and in it was the Happy Little Stampers big number stamp set. I made this card in my hotel room that evening, using the 2 and 5 from the set. The other stamps are by Pink Paislee and Inkylicious.

I'd like to enter:
Chocolate Coffee Cards : Use a number
Sweet Stampin  Christmas
Challenge up Your Life  Christmas
Little Red Wagon Christmas
Addicted to Stamps cas

City Crafter - I Gained a Stone! - Sweet Treats

Stella has chosen a fun theme at City Crafter this week... add a sweet treat such as a pie, cake or , in my case, ice lollies/ice creams. And if you can't do that, you could even just use the colours from the photo. 

For my DT card I cut an ice lolly (popsicle)  shape on my Silhouette Cameo, using ice-cream themed patterned paper that were a magazine freebie some time ago. The sentiment is by Clearly Besotted. 

For the whole of August we are delighted to have a special Guest Star, Davi, and I hope you will come over to City Crafter and see what she, and the rest of the DT have made, and enter your own sweet treat. 

I'd like to enter:

Curtain Call  snow cone 

Crafty Cardmakers summer 

In the Clouds

I'm back from a fab weekend at Happy Little Stampers retreat. During the weekend, Carol demoed some masking techniques, including making clouds using a die-cut. I'd been thinking about entering a card into Case This Sketch and originally I was going to do a complete cloud background with the strips white masked on it - but that didn't work, so I cut the backgrounds into strips and am much happier with it.

The plane and sentiment are by Penny Black.

As well as Case This Sketch, I'd also like to enter:
Casology: Journey