Gingerbread house

Stamps: Gingerbread Man (Elzybells); Nordic Winter (WM)

Ink: Rhubarb Stalk (Memento)

Dies: pinking squares (WPlus9)

Finally!  This card has been haunting me for a few days now, but I have not managed to get 5 minutes time to make it happen.  And then when I do, Blogger conspires to defy me with its "server returns invalid response".  Grrrr.

 

Moving on...fairly simple front, not much to explain, but open it up &

 

 

TA-DAAA.  A gingerbread house for the man to live in.  House is made from a manila swing file, with scraps of red.  The roof is strips cut with scalloped scissors & edged with white gel pen. 

I was an engineer for 14 years before I had my children, so I find this sort of construction extremely satisfying.The concept came from a book I found in the library years ago: Paper Engineering for Pop-up Books and Cards by Mark Hiner which contains many fab ideas & techniques.

 

Linking to:

CAS-ual Fridays: CFC76 ~ Kraft On

CASology: Week 17 ~ Sugar

Dovecote decoration

Stamps: Teeny Trees (WM)

Ink: White Pigment (Studio G)

I have very few original ideas.  By nature, I am an adaptor rather than an innovator - I make changes to other peoples ideas to make them my own.  But this dovecote is all mine.

I created a cut file in Silhouette Studio for the main body, then cut it out of a manilla folder from Staples (good source of cheap kraft paper!).  Before assembling, I stamped the birds on both sides & added the gingham sills.  The floor & roof are simple strips of red from the scrap box.  The hanging loop was added before sticking the roof on.

This looks great hanging on the Xmas tree.  I made a whole bunch of them last year & sold them for the PTA.  If you would like the cut file, let me know & I'll send it to you - I haven't yet worked out how to embed things in Blogger for downloading.

 

Linking to:

CAS-ual Fridays: CFC76 ~ Kraft On

 

 

To Autumn

There have been a number of autumnal challenges floating around lately, but I've not felt sufficiently inspired to make anything for them.  This morning however, I had the lines 'mists & mellow fruitfulness' in my head.  No idea why, I am not a particular lover of poetry.  More likely to be from when it was used in a Mr Kipling advert! 

Anyway, I digress; I found Keats' poem on line & put the first verse into Tagxedo to come up with the above card.  I always feel like a bit of a cheat when I enter something created purely digitally into a challenge, even though it probably took just as much messing about as stamps & ink, but with an emptier waste basket at the end!

 

Linking to:

Less is More: Week 90 ~ Autumn

 

 

Let it Snow

Die: Marianne Snowflake



 

I used up the last scraps of my stripey paper, with a computer sentiment & some glitter that I haven't played with in ages.  I'm not sure if you can see, but the snowflake is inset into the card, which sits on sticky pads for height.

 

Linking to:

CAS-ual Fridays: CFC75 ~ Over the Edge

CAS(E) this Sketch: Challenge #2

 

Winter Wishes

Stamps:  Elzybells

Ink: Bamboo Leaves, Danube Blue, Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Other: Quilt Cuts 2 die (WPlus9), white gel pen, Sakura \metallic red

This is my third attempt on 'good' paper.  Needless to say, my initial effort on a piece of scrap has been sitting winking smugly at me all morning, secure in its perfection...

 

I used the inner frame from the die cut as the window & stamped through it, then masked off the various areas for sponging.  The best way I found for doing the lines around the panes was to go around the inside of the stencil in pencil, remove the stencil & then go over them in fine marker.  Yes, this bit of genius DID only occur to me on the third try!  The snow is just dots of white gel pen.

 

Linking to:

CASology: Week 15 ~ Night

One Layer Wednesday: OLW 110 ~ Squares

Merry & bright

Die: Quilt Cuts 2 (WPlus9)

Other: glossy photo paper; snowflake punch

Just 'cos I haven't been postin', doesn't mean I haven't been lookin' (& investin'...).  Yes I have taken a break from the tyranny of the paintbrush to use my lovely new dies that came in the post last week from WPlus9.  They are fab; lovely geometric quilt cut designs, just right for an obsessive such as myself!

 

This card was inspired by the Runway Challenge this week, & also CAS(E) This Sketch:

 

 

 

I didn't have any red stripey paper, so I drew some lines in Silhouette Studio & printed them out on glossy photo paper.  I also did the sentiment, using CAC Pinafore, Book Antiqua & Century Gothic fonts.

I placed the die on the paper to ensure that the stripes would run in the direction I wanted, then arranged them as shown on the kraft strip.  The red & white bands are also on glossy paper.

The kraft was embossed using the scoreboard at 0.5 inch intervals.

Having put it all together, it looked a little bottom heavy (don't we all?), so I added the snowflakes to balance things out.

 

Linking to:

Runway Inspired Challenge: ric#22 ~ Tommy Hilfiger

CAS(E) this Sketch: Challenge # 1

 



A short break

Sorry for the lull in posts, folks.  Paint on walls is temporarily taking precedence over ink on paper.  Normal service will be resumed in due course.

Silver Retro Sketch

Stamps: Star Prints (PTI)

Ink: Versamark (Tsukineko)

I like the layout at Retro Sketches this week, & have continued the silver & red theme from Saturday. 

 

The sentiment was constructed digitally (Century Gothic & Qumpellka no.12), before stamping & embossing.

 

Linking to:

Retro Sketches: #32

Less is More: Week 88 ~ Silver

Merry Christmas from our house to yours

Stamps: Neighbourhood (Market Street Stamps); Nordic Christmas (WM)

Ink: Rhubarb Stalk (Memento); Versamark (Tsukineko)

Other: ProMarker; silver detail embossing powder

Hi folks.  Today's offering is in response to Less is More's request for silver.  I took the opportunity to use another recent purchase (Market Street Stamps had a 20% discount last week, & the stamp got from the USA to the UK in a week!).  Love silver & red together.  The silver side-matting is a happy accident of measuring, but these things happen for a reason!  The lower case part of the sentiment was done on the computer, with a couple of nail gems for a bit of extra sparkle.

 

Linking to:

Less is More: Week 88 ~ Silver

52 Card Pick Up: Week 40

One stamp two ways

Stamps: Teeny Trees (WM); Text Style (PTI)

Ink: Angel Pink, Rhubarb Stalk (Memento)

Taking up the challenge for One Layer Wednesday this week, to use one stamp in 2 completely different ways.  I think this is probably the very first time I have used 'Teeny Trees' as trees.  I drew the curve (which has more than a little resemblance to the Modern Landscape Die I took possession of last week...), & used it as a mask for the 2 hills in the 2 different inks.  With the mask still in place, I stamped the text for a little bit of texture.  The trees were straight forward to do, then I added the digital image from the Graphics Fairy.  I am also entering it into CAS-ual Fridays 'One for the Girls'.

 

Stamps: Teeny Trees, Fancy Phrases (WM); Polka Dots II (PTI); Elzybells

Ink: Tangelo, Morocco, London Fog (Memento)

The second card uses the tree tops as butterfly wings.  I achieved the spots by stamping off (don't you love that phrase - sounds really angry!) the ink & then kissing (much nicer) it back on with the original.

 

Linking to:

CAS-ual Fridays: CFC73 ~ For the Girls

One Layer Wednesday: One Stamp 2 Ways

 

CASology ~ Zoo

Stamps: Circus Animals (My Cute Stamps)

Ink: Tuxed Black (Memento)

Other: various paper; By the Numbers die (MFT); Cuttlebug embossing folder

I've been playing about with MS Photo Editor.  Can you tell?

A bit more involved than my usual offering, but I do enjoy a bit of paper piecing now & again.  There was also a monkey involved during the early stages (in the the design, not helping me out), but he got cut before the final take.  I love this set from My Cute Stamps & may well be tempted to use them for this challenge again before the week is out.

 

Linking to:

CASology: Week 13 ~ Zoo

 

Runway Inspired Challenge

Inspired by this week's picture:

 

This colour combo is new to me, as I am not over fond of yellow, but I like it with the grey & aqua.  The main shapes are all slightly different, as they are on the dress & I have used the off-set grey rectangle to mimic the shadows at the models' feet.  The digital sentiment is my favourite font - migraine sans.  And no stamps or ink in sight!

 

Linking to:

Runway Inspired Challenge: ric#21