Dusty Blue and Brown

Today I am sharing a card that I have made for a specific challenge. That is such an unusual event that I thought I should share it even though I am not that happy with the finished product. Actually 2 products as it one of those designs that leaves you with 2 cards.

Colour Hues are asking for dusky blue and brown, an unusual combination that I decided I would like to try. I used a cover die by Concord & 9th called empire inlay card front die and cut it from 2 colours. I used Catherine Pooler ink in stone blue and over coffee to colour my paper before cutting. I love doing inlayed die cutting but quickly realised that it was going to be quite a challenge to do it all one handed.

The pieces in the middle diamonds didn't fall out easily so I decided to leave them in and put double sided tape on the back and inlayed sections with the other colour. I had recently purchased another Concord & 9th stamp and die set called bouquet turnabout stamp set, which included the hexagon stamp, die and happy birthday. I coloured another piece of white card with both inks and stamped, heat embossed and cut the sentiment. I thought theses hexagons fitted well in the centre.

The stamping was done in the opposite colour but it turned out looking black on both colours. I finished them off with a few metallic looking gems.

There are lots of small errors on these cards, mainly because I am working with only one completely functioning hand, but I hope they are not too noticeable and I am pleased that I can still craft a bit, as long as I am careful.

Here is the other colour way:

As everything on these cards is NBUS, I am also sharing it at NBUS #90

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it. 

Just Dies

Today I have a card for 2 challenges that comes from my large stock of cards made but never shared. It is a simple CAS card made with diecuts.

The slatted square die is from Craft Addiction UK, The happy birthday is by Altenew and the little sailing boat is by Cut and Make. I think the colour is cummerbund by Catherine Pooler.

I am sharing this at:

Seize the birthday #333 - Dies only

CAS on Friday #342 - Sea

On searching through my files I found 2 more all die cut cards. This time I used the die cut inlay technique with glitter paper. The die is a very old one by Creative Expressions I actually found the panels in a basket of odds and ends relatively recently and decided that they deserved to be made up into cards.

Which is your favourite colourway? I think I prefer the red and yellow, much better contrast. Although usually I would go for the green.

Thanks for all your kind words about my broken wrist. I am slowly coming to terms with being in plaster for 6 weeks and it does ache a lot, but I am getting by. Whilst I can't write, I can type, so here I am.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it. 

August Card Chain Challenge Reveal

Today is 2nd of the month so time for the Card Chain Challenge big reveal. This month 26 card makers took part and I sent my card to Jo in UK.

This month I used the colours and the options of lace and friendship.

My card base is stone coloured matt card and my pewter and tan are metallic card. The lace die is by Sizzix (Tim Holtz 664181) and the hello die and sentiment is by Spellbinders (a little hello sentiments designed by Lisa Horton).

I made a stencil with the die to decorate the insert and the envelope. You can just see them in the first photo. The picture below shows the shiny metallic cardstock.

I was very lucky to receive this gorgeous card from Linda in Michigan. Thanks Linda.

If you would like to take part in the next card chain challenge, you have until 6th to sign up here

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it. 

Celebrating 50 Years

Today I have a card I made for my cousins' 50th wedding anniversary. It is such a special achievement that I tried to make her and her lucky husband a very special card.

I used lots of dies and hotfoiling for this one. It took a while to make, but I was pleased with the end result. The nesting circle frame dies are by Clarity Crafts and I cut them from a matt gold and white card and alternated them. These dies can be quite challenging to cut so there was lots of time spent on that. I am afraid I seem to have lost the packaging for the central die that has cut the hearts out and I can't remember where I got it. The numbers are by Concord & 9th and the flower is by Pink Fresh Studio, I used matching stencils to colour it.

I created the insert and decorated the envelope by using the matching cut out dies by Clarity Crafts. I then used pink paper to back them.

Sadly my first marriage ended after 14yrs and I have only reached 10 on my second marriage, but we have been together for 30yrs. Still a long way short of 50 though.

I am sharing this at:

Addicted to Stamps and more #524 - any occasion. Thanks Carol for reminding me that I had this card ready to share.

Unfortunately I had a little accident yesterday (Tuesday 25th). I was walking with my husband and I lost my balance on the edge of the kerb and fell. I have broken my left wrist (I am left handed) and am now in plaster for at least 4 weeks. I am feeling very useless and stupid bearing in mind that I generally walk around 5 miles a day quite happily. Hey ho.....

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it. 

Yellow and Orange

Today I am popping in to share a card quickly. When I saw the current challenge over at Colour Hues #139 is asking for yellow and orange, I knew I had just the thing for it.

I have to admit that it is a while since I made this card, but it hasn't been shared yet. In fact I only ever share a minority of the cards that I make. Not sure why, except that time always runs out for me, and I am  not good at making things for specific challenges, so I wait until I have something that fits. Anyway these stencils were a gift from a lovely blogging friend over in the States. They are by Stamping Up and I am happy that the current colours hues challenge has reminded me that I have them, as they really are rather cool. This is the thank you card that I sent to my generous friend as I knew that yellow is one of her favourite colours.

The thanks die is by Alex Syberia Designs and the 'so much' is from Yana's special sentiments hot foil set by Spellbinders.

Os course, as many of you will know, I will often make more than one. This time my second offering is a vibrant pink. I even hotfoiled the so much in pink! I hope you like them.

As these stencils were NBUS I am sharing this one over at NBUS #89

I know that I haven't posted much recently, but you might just see me again in a day or 2. We will see.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today, I really appreciate it.