Use your Dies

Hello one and all. It's my pleasure to be hosting this challenge at Allsorts and I've chosen DIES as the optional theme, Anything Goes is also most welcome. Going forward we are now  a fortnightly challenge and we have welcomed some new team mates too.

I have had a self imposed embargo on crafty purchases this year and have actually managed to restrain myself (apart from perhaps one or two accidental purchases!!). I feel that I have accomplished that mission and have used lots and lots of crafty goodies that have never been used/opened. One of them being the Sue Wilson die that is centre stage on my projects below.

The background papers (The Range) were leftovers from gift boxes that I made last year so I made the card bases to fit the sizes I had. Glittery green board was perfect for the sentiment trees and I stuck them on more scraps of the same pad die cut with a favourite Spellbinders Fancy Ovals set.

Both cards were finished off with die cut poinsettias and some gems.

3 prizes of Oakwood dies and coordinating stamps.

Before I go I would just like to thank you for your continued visits, comments and support and to wish you a very Happy and Peaceful Christmas xx

 

Lots of White at Allsorts

 Hello friends. Ellie has chosen Lots of White for our optional theme at 

it's a bit out of my comfort zone but put on the big girl pants and made this...

I heat embossed multiple snowflake stamps and a lovely Noel (very old from Clarity Stamps). To begin with I tried white only but it just didn't do anything for me so after a rummage, I found some silver glitter board and hey presto...much better!! Good old Tonic dies provided the mats and I fussy cut more snowflakes to finish it off.

Three prizes, AALL and Create border and floral stamps

 I am planning a holly hunt this afternoon when we take the dogs out. I've not made a wreath this year (just in case we get more gales and storms) but plan to put some holly and seasonal bits and pieces in a vase. We'll see.

I hope that you have a good weekend and that your Christmas prep is underway. If you find yourself with a spare minute or two you will be assured a warm welcome at the challenge.

See you soon xx

Anything Christmassy

 It's Christmas all round for my DT pieces this week.

is Anything Christmassy so break open the glitter and festive stamps and come along!!

I have a really inviting front door to share, the embossing folder, dies and stamps came with a papercrafting magazine a few years ago when I subscribed. 

It fit perfectly on my die cut stepper card. Some of the stamps were heat embossed for impact and I cut out the door and surround from the embossed detail. 

It's been lovely to have you visit today xx

Cute Christmas

Hello again. So as not to bombard you at once on this particularly chilly Monday I thought I would post my second  bit of inspiration a little later in the day.

is running alongside our sister challenge (Christmas with the Cuties) this month so you have chance to share double the cuteness if you choose to.

Many of you will know that I have branched out a bit and had a go at other forms of papercrafting this year and among my travels found Amanda Charlesworth - Create with Scrimping Mommy She is an extremely generous and inspirational crafter and my card has been made using some of her own design freebies that can be found in her FB group.

All the fussy cuts and paper were included and I still have lots left over too. All that I added was stickles.

Whether you are off to make a cute card, or a mug of hot chocolate for that matter, it's been lovely of you to visit me. See you later in the week xx

Cute & Christmassy

 It's the final Christmas Party for 2024 at

and we would love you to join us and bring with you a Cute and Christmassy card.

Here's mine...

I heat embossed the lovely Uniko Framed -  Snowflakes stamp for the background. Stamped up a super cute doggo from PB Wintertime Cheer, coloured him and his tractor with Promarkers and fussy cut. I found some super sparkly holographic sticky paper in my stash so backed the card with that and die cut a lovely little Tonic sentiment to finish it off. Oh and used some stickles for the snow too!! I think that Jackson will be getting this one as he LOVES tractors.

Thank you for taking the time to pay a visit today. See you later in the week xx

Christmas at Allsorts

 We are feeling festive at Allsorts Challenge today where the optional theme, chosen by Lynn, is

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

Having had a little spend at LAvinia I then went to Aall & Create and bought a lovely die set that I just had to use. What better to team it with than Santas Elves from MFT that come out every Christmas.

The paper is a real pad from LOTV that is still available but in digi form here. I coloured the little elf with Promarkers and filled all the other mats with other stamps from the set. 

I hope that I have tempted you into entering as there are

2 prizes of AALL and Create A 6 stamps

That's all from me today. I hope that you have a lovely weekend outside of the UK. For those of you here, I Hope you all stay safe from harm in the path of storm Darragh xx

Winter Flowers & Fauna

   

 Hello friends. We have a wintry optional theme at Allsorts this week

Winter Flowers & Fauna chosen by Brenda and the prize is this

2 prizes AALL and Create A5 stamp sets

I love being on this Design Team they are such an inspirational bunch and I have tried to extend my  repertoire!! It's working and these days I don't always go for "cute".

I have had the Cheery Lynn poinesttia die for many years and normally use it as an embellishment on the aforementioned "cute" cards. This time I wanted it to be the star so cut it in some lovely satin board that came from Joanna Sheen a long time ago and stuck them on a heat embossed hessian Wow stamp (also very old). The die cut sentiment is one of Sue Wilsons. To finish off I splattered gold watercolour paint. The card is actually a lovely clotted cream colour but the glare from the gold has lightened them somewhat.

As we kiss goodbye to November I thought I would share some pics of the last couple of weeks where we seem to have had ALL the weather thrown at us!!

Sunny days

Frosty Days (and kisses)

                            

Snowy Days

Rainy Days

Thank you for paying me a visit today. I hope you have a good weekend xx

Gold, Silver or Glitter

 Hello everyone. 

The new theme at As You Like It is a perfect one for Christmas makes, so that's what I did.

I did a little bit of inky smooshing first and added some powdery shimmer that I can't remember the name of!! I used a Crafters Companion stamp and die bauble set and heat embossed the stamps in silver and gold, used mirri card  or glitter card to die cut the shapes and layered them up. My good old LOTV Christmas sentiment stamps were used for the sentiment. I made ten in all for my work colleagues.

See you on Saturday!!

Sparkle & Shine

 Morning All!! Only a month to go but there's time still to add to your festive cards.

The new challenge at

is Sparkle and Shine so I dug out a gorgeous glitter card and holographic mirror card to make this...

I used a super cute stamp from MFT and coloured him with Promarkers. Mounted him inside a snowflakey die frame (Lawn Fawn I think). the sentiment is a Sue Wilson one from several years ago and one that I've used a lot. I layered it with some black card so that it stands out a little bit.

I hope that you will come along and join the party!!

Thank you for stopping by and paying a visit, it's much appreciated xx

Ribbon and/or twine at Allsorts

 Happy Weekend everyone. 

I've a Christmas card to share with you today it's adorned with lovely ribbon and some glittery twine to inspire you to join our optional theme at Allsorts challenge this week. Anything Goes is also most welcome.

I used an old Do Crafts vintage paper pack for the base of my card then stamped my lovely Stampendous stamp and heat embossed it with a lovely pepper coloured WOW embossing powder. All the edges were torn using my lovely Indigo Blu tearing tool and then inked. I had a perfect festive green organza ribbon that I wrapped around one of the panels and added a twine threaded button too.

The prize this week is a

Sizzix die set from Craft Stash

Can't wait to see what you make!!

I hope you have a good weekend. It looks like we are in for 48 hours of heavy rain and gales so I am really not looking forward to that. It's been an interesting week weatherwise with snow and sub zero temperatures too, it actually felt quite festive!!

See you on Monday xx

Food and/or Drink at Allsorts

Hello friends. I am inviting you to join me for a beverage this morning. Gail has chosen the optional theme at Allsorts this week and it's

Food and/or Drink

I have kept my resolution to use old stash this year and while having a rummage, as you do, I found a lovely coffe cup stamp set. I know I have mentioned my exploration of other papercrafts this year  and in doing so found a lovely lady called Amanda Charlesworth on You Tube (Create with Scrimping Mommy). She shares so much inspiration that I used one of her Journal Slide and Reveal techniques on my card.

Closed

Open

It's a really easy technique using a folded "slider". 

 

AYLI Favourite Embellishment

 Another two weeks has rolled by and here we are mid November, can you believe it?!!

Anyway, my post today is to invite you to join in at

where Elaine is hosting and has chosen the theme of

Favourite Embellishment (and why)

I have been on a mission to actually use my paper pads this year so have been making other papercraft projects. Along the way I found hidden paperclips that are really fun to make and functional too in journals, folios or on cards as embellishments or can be used as a paper clip!! They are also a really great way to use up strips of paper, fussy cuts and actually any little bits and bobs that you've saved. I've made a few Christmas ones to add to cards or tags. 

I cut interesting bits from several paper collections by Do Crafts, & Craftwork Cards.

If you google hidden paperclips on You Tube there are countless videos to immerse yourself in!! 

Thank you for your company today . See you on Saturday xx

Special Occasions

 Happy Monday everyone and I hope this week is kind to you. Today is the first of three visits for me so I will kick the week off by inviting you to join in at

where the theme this month is

Special Occasions.

I am getting on a bit and seem to be making an awful lot of retirement cards lately for colleagues and friends so what better special occasion than that!!?

I used a super cute LOTV rubber stamp and coloured him to match the Bo Bunny paper pad. I used my lovely tearing rulers again for the panel and used a MFT die cut frame too. The sentiment was cobbled together using two different stamp sets, happy was a freebie and retirement from Whimsy. All edges were inked for a little bit of interest.

I am looking forward to seeing your interpretation of Special Occasion.

See you on Thursday xx

Christmas at Allsorts

 We are feeling festive at

Allsorts Challenge

the alternative theme is Christmas this week and the prize is from Lavinia Stamps

I have been pretty good this year keeping up with the festive makes but I realised that I had way too many cute cards in my pile so made some more grown up models. I am always in awe of inky backgrounds so had another go making these two featuring Card-io stamps. The pretty papers are from Craft Creations.

I added some super sparkly glitter glue that really packs a punch!!

We are looking forward to seeing your Christmassy makes xx

The Magic of the Season

 It's the Magic of the Season (Christmas) at Allsorts this week, as an alternative to anything goes if you fancy!!

I have been a little bit naughty and recently bought some Lavinia goodies that I wanted to try out. One being a ink brush and the other the gorgeous Christmas Joy tree. The lovely fox was already in my stash and he was crying out to be included in the scene.

I inked, glittered and splattered some snow about!! 

I hope that you have a good weekend.  The forecast looks good so we have some field jobs to do. I suspect the leaf blower will be involved!!

See you soon xx

Favourite Critter at AYLI

 I am the host at 

and I have chosen the theme of Favourite Critter (and tell us why)

I have many, many favourites but my most favourite has to be Barry the bear from the, much missed, Stamp Fairy. He really is the most versatile bear, he gets up to all sorts of things and added to that he is lovely to colour!! I have chosen to showcase him in spook wear as it's October 31st!!

I made a slidey type card, you know the ones with the carrier bag mechanism inside. Well I had trouble finding a carrier bag as bags for life are the thing these days. I did locate one eventually, in the spare room, that was holding old Christmas baubles!! It's been sliced up now though and the baubles have been put elsewhere!! Barry was coloured with Promarkers and matted on some suitably halloween coloured card and I added some sequins to jazz him up a bit. BOO was die cut using a Crafters Companion alphabet.

I do hope that you will share your favourite critters with us.

See you at the weekend xx

Christmas Pinks with the Cuties

 We are all pink and girly at

the theme is Pink Christmas

I made a sweet card using a digi from the long ceased Little Claire and some pink paper from a paper pad that came from The Range.

The little sentiment is from Clearly Besotted. Not too much colouring necessary on this one but plenty of festive sparkle though!!

That's another added to the Christmas card pile!!

See you soon xx

Anything Cute at Allsorts

Another Saturday and another new challenge at Allsorts.

The optional theme this time is CUTE.

That was no problem at all for me with my love of cuteness.

I still had some scraps left over from my Simple Stories pad that I used for my folio for last weeks' challenge so I used a piece as my inspiration. I printed a Digistamp Boutique image (I still miss that lovely range of images!!) that I coloured with Flexmarkers to match the stripey paper.

 I framed the paper with a couple of scraps that, I think, really makes the striped paper "pop". Liquid pearls were perfect for the mistletoe berries and Stardust Stickles, as usual, for the snow.

I am looking forward to seeing your cute makes this week xx

Patterned papers at Allsorts

 My name is Sarah and I have an unhealthy addiction to Patterned Papers!!

It's my turn to host so that's why the optional theme at Allsorts challenge this week is

Patterned Paper, it will also be lovely to see your Anything Goes projects too.

This year I've been dabbling in other kinds of papercrafts so for this challenge I made a folio to hold photographs. I found a lovely instruction sheet to accompany a You Tube tutorial by Karolinas Krafts and, using a WHOLE paper pad from Simple Stories, made this.

It's full of pockets, little tuck spots and hidden flaps. Such fun to make.

Three AALL and Create stamps

 

I hope you will support my theme and join in this week xx