September Card Chain Challenge

Hello,
Today I am sharing the card I made for the September Card Chain Challenge, from the four options I chose the sketch:

Here is my card:

 I used a stencil and clear glossy texture paste to get the stripe effect on the white panel (you can't see it particularly well in the photo) and mixed alcohol ink onto Yupo paper to create the effect in the circle. I added some foil while some of the ink was still sticky, I love this effect and it is so easy to do.

To finish it off I die cut a circle frame and stamped the sentiment. It went in the post to the USA and is now in the hands of the recipient.

I enjoy doing this challenge as it is great to actually receive a special hand made card and it could come from anywhere in the world. The feedback is even more special when someone has the card in their hands. I think I will take part again.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today.

Hilary xx

Leaves

Hello,
Today I am entering the Twofer #9, prompt leaves. I have had a leaf die for a while that I bought at The Works and haven't used yet. I thought this was an opportunity to see what I could do with it. Both my cards are quite conventional but I really like the inlaid look you can achieve with dies so I have used it on both cards. I am happy with the end result even though I have used the same technique I think they are quite different.
I hope you like them:

For my first card the die cut is inlaid on a piece of craft card, the sentiment is heat embossed and the panel is raised on a piece of craft foam.

My second card took a bit longer, I made a watercolour panel and spritzed it with cosmic shimmer. I then cut the die from it and a piece of copper coloured mirror board and inlaid the pieces. I die cut the sentiment twice, once from the copper card and once from the watercolour background and then offset them to create the shadow effect. I toyed with the idea of putting on some sequins or similar embelishments, but resisted the urge.

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

More Hexagons

Hello,
Today I am absolutely thrilled to be given an honourable mention in the Twofer August Challenge. In honour of that I have decided to share two more hexagon cards that I made out of the remainder hexagons that I had spent ages cutting from fabric for the twofer challenge and ended up not using.
Here they are:

Rather unusually I was actually quite pleased with these cards!

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

Card Chain Challenge - August

Hello,
This month is the first time I have taken part in the card chain challenge and I really enjoyed making my card and posting it on to my recipient in the great USA. I have now had confirmation that she has received it so am able to post this blog.

Here is my card:

The technique option this month was stencils and it just so happened that I had been playing about with this squares stencil using Catherine Pooler inks fiesta blue and orange twist. I think orange and blue are one of my favourite colour combinations. I die cut the letters, heart and little flowers and filled the flower centres with enamel accents.

The good thing about this card is that it was not heavy and bulky so it easily went in the post. I hope you like it.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today.
Happy Crafting
Hilary
xx

Hexagons

Hello,
Today I have 2 cards for Twofer #8 with the prompt geometric.

It has taken me ages to pull these cards together but my ideas eventually galvanised into 2 cards. I attended the Festival of quilts last week and was blown away by the skills showcased in the exhibition and, of course, I ended up adding to my stash of fabric. This led me to think about a quilt effect on a card, so after lots of false starts and many, many passes through the die cutting machine of the single hexagonal die that I chose, I managed to produce this card:

The hexagons are cut out of fabric, I have used my favourite Liberty Print tana lawn fabric from my stash to give a genuine quilt effect. The die cut sentiment is an alphabet set from Concord & 9th. Here is a close up:

For my second card I decided to use the die as a stamp, which I have seen done several times recently. Again, it took me several attempts before I got a look that I was vaguely happy with (I am never really happy as I always think I could do better). I then masked the hexagons and stamped an image inside, which I simply coloured. What do you think?:

Here are my 2 cards together:

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