Take 2 - dogwood

A while ago I bought the dogwood stamp from Hero Arts. Love it and pulled it out recently to make a couple of cards.  The one on the left is a birthday card for my Aunt who is a keen gardener. Thought she'd like the look of this soft colour palate.  For the background, I used Heather's Make it Monday technique of stamping on an impressed background. But in this case, I stamped on the embossed dots:

The second card is for a friend who is going through a bit of a difficult time at the moment. I cased this card from Maile Belles and love how it turned out.


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Other - Stampin Up ribbon, black buttons

Take 2: poppies

Thought this was rather an appropriate stamp to use for an Anzac Day post. Anzac Day is our Remembrance Day and takes place on 25 April each year. The date was chosen to commemorate the anniversary of the landing of New Zealand and Australian soldiers – the Anzacs – on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915.

So here is Hero Arts poppy background stamp used two ways.  The poppies on the second card were a bit fiddly to cut out but I like the effect.  The bookprint is from an old paperback version of Don Quixote that was looking suitably aged.

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Deepest Sympathy

I seem to have been making a lot of sympathy cards recently. Here is one which features two of my favourite stamps - PTI's Turning a New Leaf and Rose Background from Hero Arts.  Probably hard to see from this angle, but all the roses are at slightly different heights to add a bit of depth.

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Other - SU kraft ribbon 

Black / white

I've recently joined Pinterest and have been wasting spending a bit of time looking for card inspiration online.   I've been struck by the number and variety of boards featuring fabric and home decor items, and have started to look around my own home with new eyes.

The other day I was wearing this skirt and wondered what would happen if I turned it into a card.

Well, this is the result - a couple of notecards:

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Happy birthday

I needed to make a birthday card for the teenage daughter of friends so decided to put a couple of new Hero Arts stamps to work.  The butterfly is coloured with copics.

I had enough time to make a matching bookmark from PTI felt. Abi is a keen reader, so I'm sure it will come in handy!

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Windmills of my mind

Well, not really, but I've had the song on my mind since making this card.  I used the same svg file that featured in an earlier post but cut it smaller (2 inches).

The instructions say to fasten the spokes with an eyelet or brad, but at this size, that's a bit tricky.  Aftrer gluing the 2 windmill pieces together in the centre, I pushed a needle in through the back and carefully threaded each spoke onto the needle.  I then applied some more glue in the centre and pushed the spokes down until the glue dried.  I used Tombow multi which dries quite quickly. Once the windmill was dry, I removed the needle and attached a button.

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Thinking of you

Love this butterfly stamp from Hero Arts. This card features some washi tape, and I pulled out my copics to colour the butterfly to match:

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Soaring high

Time for another cheery card. A nod to my Scottish heritage perhaps? Well, actually no. My Dad changed his name and my family really hails from Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic.

But I still love tartan.

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Just a note

Here's a simple card I made recently for my aunt. It features my new favourite background stamp - envelope pattern from Hero Arts. What I haven't shown is how many 'out takes' it took to get a card base that looked halfway decent. Using A2 size stamps is a bit trickier than I imagined.  Or maybe I'm just 'background challenged'?  Anyone got any hints or tips?

Supplies
Paper - SU  sahara sand,  PTI pure poppy
Stamps - PTI Tiny Tags, Hero Arts Envelope Pattern
Ink - Versafine onyx black, versamark
Accessories - Tags svg, clear embossing powder, PTI cream button twine

Take 2 - Round and Round

I needed a few easy-to-mail cards for my stash. Haven't inked up PTI's Round and Round anniversary set for a while, so thought it was time it saw some daylight. I used my new Hero Arts music background stamp. Love the fact that it's full A2 size and I don't have to line anything up.

Here's what I came up with.  No sentiments yet - I'll leave the cards blank until I decide who to send them to and for what occasion:

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Best wishes

I have an svg file for cutting rolled roses on my cricut, but it doesn't work so well with felt.  That's because you need to use something like heat n bond to stiffen the felt before the cricut will cut it - ok if your felt item is going to be glued down, but not so useful if you want to roll it up!

Long story short, I ended up buying one of the rolled flower dies from MFT - My Favorite Things. The die cuts very well - even using a scrap of craft store felt for this one.

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Bliss

I finally succumbed and bought the large rolled rose die from My Favorite Things. I can cut paper and card stock rolled flowers using an svg and my cricut, but cutting felt which is to be rolled up is a bit more difficult because it needs to be stabilised with heat n bond or something similar and then would be visible.

So I've been cutting felt flowers as if my life depended upon it.  Here is one cut from scarlet jewel felt. Such a gorgeous colour!  Bliss :)

And a close up of the rose:

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Birthday wishes

My aunt's birthday is at the beginning of November.  I've made her this set of notecards as a gift and today I made a birthday card to accompany them.  Since she loves flowers, I used a rolled rose  that I cut with my cricut.  My next challenge is to try and cut one of these using felt.  Will let you know if it works!

Supplies
Paper -  SU sahara sand, PTI scarlet jewel, ocean tides, vintage cream
Stamps - PTI Mat Stack 3 collection, Round and Round (sentiment), Hero Arts Envelope Pattern
Ink - Versafine onyx black, versamark
Accessories - matstack svg, banner svg, rolled rose svg, clear embossing powder, foam tape

Thankful

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, but it is good to remember to be thankful for all the blessings that we have. I was inspired by the mums (as in chrysanthemums) die that Papertrey Ink just released and went looking for a cutting file I could use with my cricut.  Thanks to the SVG Cuts blog, I came across this great project featuring a 3D chrysanthemum svg file.  And here's what I did with it:

Here's a close up of the 'mum':

Supplies
Paper -  SU sahara sand, PTI terracotta tile, orange zest, ripe avocado

Ink - Versafine onyx black
Accessories - chrysathemum svg, thankful svg, glue gun, PTI button, glue dots

MIM #35 - washi tape take 2

I had so much fun making my own washi tape using tissue paper and scor-tape for this post that I decided to keep going and make some more. I turned this tape into panels for the focal point. Love this butterfly from Hero Arts!

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Make it Monday #35 - washi tape

This is the first Make it Monday challenge I'm taking part in for months.  This one was a lot of fun - check it out here on Nichole Heady's blog.  I love washi tape and this is such a great idea - make your own. Haven't had so much fun in ages.

So without further ado, here's what I came up with:

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How luscious

I love the Luscious collection from Basic Grey - gorgeous colours and patterns.  I've been experimenting with crystal effects and love the look it gives little paper embellishments. The little pink flower is so shiny in real life but probably doesn't show up so well on a photo!  No sentiment as I haven't decided who to send it to yet.

Supplies
Paper - PTI hawaiian shores, stampers select white,Basic Grey Luscious patterned paper and chipboard
Stamps -  Hero Arts Luscious Bold Flowers 
Ink - Versafine onyx black
Accessories - Crystal effects, PTI button, bakers twine, foam tape