Lovely Day

Well it would be if the weather would make it's mind up what it wants to do! At least it's stopped snowing & hailstones. The sun is lovely when it's out, the inside of the car is like an oven, and I'm sure it would be quite warm outside if only the wind would go away! I've bought some border plants to bring a bit more colour into the garden, just need a break in the weather to have them planted out. 

My son starts study leave tomorrow, I do hope he remembers that the time off is for studying for exams and not for playing "Magic The Gathering" with his friends!

For this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge I, once again, couldn't quite make up my mind what to submit as I had made two different cards.

The first was made using freebie stamps and dies from the latest Crafter's Companion Inspirations magazine. The dies are intended for their new Diamond Press mini die machine but they work fine in my Sapphire. The hexagonal dies come in two versions, plain and stitched and the stamps are florals, bees and stitches so the choice seemed to be either a quilting theme or some busy bees.
I opted for the quilting. 

A sheet of card was stamped with a hexagonal stamp which has floral design & had Distress Inks dabbed on randomly for a multi colour fabric effect. The stamped images were then cut out using the stitched effect dies.

                                                                   

                      

I Used

Cardstock
300gsm Card Blank - Anita's

300gsm Smooth Card - Fabiano

Pearlised s/s Card - Create & Craft

Stamps & Dies

Crafter's Companion

Inks

Assorted - Distress Inks

Tuxedo Black - Memento

My other card uses a stamp from a set by Lindsay Mason and features a rather motley (or should that be muttley) crew of pooches.

                                          

They are a bunch of cuties, I think Jack was a wee bit jealous that they were getting more attention than him! In fact as I was colouring them in he jumped up behind me on my chair & sent my Promarker folders flying - pesky pup!

I decided the little poodle was a bit of a pampered princess so gave her a pink rinse. I used the colours in the bandana for the side panel and the sentiments came from a Simply Cards & Papercrafts magazine freebie set called "Furry Friends". 

I Used

Cardstock
300gsm Card Blank - Anita's

300gsm Smooth Card - Fabiano

Stamps
"Dogs 3" - Lindsay Mason, Personal Impressions

"Furry Friends" Sentiments - Simply Cards & Papercrafts

Inks

Tuxedo Black - Memento

Assorted - Promarkers

It's Been a While . . .

In fact it's over three years since I last posted but better late than never I suppose!

I've had a Grand Calibur for a couple of years now but have rarely used it as only a 4 sets of dies. I finally decided it was time to get it out of moth balls and treat myself to some embossing folders and a couple of new die sets, here are the results. Oh and I bought some ink pads, including set number 4 of the mini Tim Holtz ink pads to have a go at distress inking. Here are some of the results:

Embossing folder: Darice Argyle Background

Dies:

Spellbinders Radiant Rectangles

Joy! Crafts - Butterflies

Joy! Crafts - Daisy Flowers

Inks: 

Tim Holtz Mini Pads Set 4 and 

Tsukineko Brilliance 3 Colour Ink Pad, Aurora

Sentiment: Anita's Birthday Sentiments from Do-Craft. 

Embossing folder: Darice - Vine Background

Dies: Spellbinders Radiant Rectangles

Ink: Coral Pink from Tsukineko Brilliance Colour Aurora Ink Pad

Sentiment - Anita's Birthday Sentiments from Do-Craft

Embossing folders: 
Outer Layer: Dots from Darice Happy Birthday Folder, 
Inner Layer: Couture Creations Art Nouveau Swept Away

Dies:
Spellbinders Radiant Rectangles
Joy! Crafts - Flowers, Butterflies and Leaves

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Minis Set 4
Sentiment: Anita's Birthday Sentiments from Do-Craft

Lilac Pearlised Card from PayPer Box

Embossing Folders:

Darice - Steampunk Cogs Background

Darice - Diamond Plate

Darice - Happy Birthday 

Grey Hammered Card - PayPer Box

Silver Mirror Foil Card (sanded down)- Home Bargains

Ink: Tsukineko Brilliance 3 Colour Ink Pad, Tiramisu 

used black over brown for a rusted appearance.

My son loves the texture of this card - says it's so "lifelike" he expected it to feel like metal.

So it's official, I've now got the embossing bug and have just ordered some bargains I found on offer at Amazon!

This was an experiment with Spellbinders Borderabilities Brackets. I was trying to make a card with a header ie the top section of the card was cut as an insert from the back of the card blank.

I used the 3 insert dies to create the design and the perforated edge die to cut it out from the card.

  

Here are the dies and shown with the "header", the bottom photo shows it in a bit more detail.