Keeping it simple

Today I have a couple of cards to share, the first one was created for both the CAS-ual Fridays CFC126: Colour Blocks and 52 Cards Challenge - Pale, Glitter, Love and the second was a way to use up the scraps from the first card. I love it when that happens!

This cluster of hearts caught my eye in the Silhouette store, I was originally going to go with reds and pinks in the aperture but the 52 cards challenge helped to change my mind. I do enjoy more clean and simple designs at the moment and this is one of my favourites.

I could not throw away the die cut hearts from the middle so went with a simple cluster and embossed sentiment. Valentines Day will soon be upon us, I really need to make some more cards!

Thanks for reading,
Ang.

Edited 11th September - The design is circle hearts by Kristen Magee, Design ID #25156 available from the Silhouette store.

Bits and Pieces 5 - The Sweet Life

I am back with a quick couple of cards, remember the scraps from the other week? This time I have concentrated on using up the stamped images from The Sweet Life by PTI.

 Card stock-Ripe Avocado. Patterned paper - Marrakech, Basic Grey. 

Ribbon - Anna Griffin. Rose and sentiment stamp - PTI. Pin - Etsy.

Card stock - Bazzill. Roses, sentiment, ink and embossing plate- PTI. Vellum - 

Making Memories. Glitter paper - American Crafts.

I can't seem to get enough of that perforated paper, glad I still have a couple of sheets left, although I still don't know who the manufacturer is.

Happy Friday!
Ang.

PS - You can see my attempts at 3 step colour combinations here using this set.

Washi tape from Amsterdam!

According to the song, it is more routine to bring tulips from Amsterdam, however on a recent trip there I brought back washi tape, lots and lots of washi tape.

I was late to catch on to washi tape craze and have a reasonable sized 'collection' already, however, I am always on the look out for more. My friend Nat over at Kool Kitty Musings told me about a retail homestore chain in the Netherlands called Hema. I began by stalking their website before I left for my trip and was quite excited with some of the selection shown;

So, when I eventually went to Amsterdam I found the nearest Hema store I could and went shopping! This is what I came back with :)

I couldn't help picking up some of the cute printed bags, great quality and patterns and so cheap!

I don't like to be a tease, so I have had a search on the Hema website and they deliver!

EU countries where you can also have your order

Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom Want it delivered in Belgium or France , rather you order viawww.hema.be or www.hema.fr .

Here are a couple of cards that I have made that either feature washi as a design element or a colourful embellishment.

 It's great for creating backgrounds.

 To complement colourful sentiments.

I used a diagonal stripe and arrow head pattern washi on this one.

I know I won't stop buying this stuff, it's so versatile!

Thanks for reading,

Ang.

Bits and Pieces 4 - Unisex Birthday Cards

Every now and again I feel that I need to address the huge pile of scraps that I have in my drawer and last weekend I had that urge again.

This is the packet that I dug out of my drawer, along with some bright plain card stock scraps and a couple of small pieces of patterned paper.

I swear that octopus has been taunting me for months, now I have a new printer I can print out a punny sentiment and finally say goodbye to it. Unfortunately it didn't make the cut in this round, maybe next time, although I need to learn when to put something in the bin and move on.

I managed to make quite a few cards, although for this post I will focus on some birthday cards, that on reflection would be suitable for both a boy or a girl, finally, I need to build up my stock pile. All

I used the letters from another scraps project and popped up the stars on foam tape, I love the star washi tape, more on that in another post.

 Again, my favourite foam tape, the small striped embellishment was a happy accident when I trimmed the paper.

I cut the frame with my silhouette using the rectangle tool and welded the word happy to the bottom of the frame, not an original idea I grant you, but I was pleased I managed to make it on my own ;)

I was left with these pieces and knew I could make just one more card.

I added a small glassine bag and used decorative scissors on the edge, filled it with some confetti and taped it to the card with some washi tape, a couple of stars, a ticket and a bit of stitching and it was done!

It feels so good to create more than one card at a time, I have another 4 cards to share from the same scraps bag, I'll be back with that on Thursday.

Thanks for reading,

Ang.

52 Cards challenge 2014 - Week 2

I'm following along with the 52 Cards Challenge hosted over on Nat's blog Kool Kitty Musings.

Here is the colour palette for this week

and this is what I came up with.

 Card stock - Bazzill, patterned paper and die cut - My Minds Eye, 

twine - American Crafts, washi tape - Hema.

Card stock - Bazzill. Patterned paper - Close Knit, Crate Paper, button

card - October Afternoon. Stamps and Dies - PTI. Twine - American

Crafts. Button - Jenni Bowlin. Flowers - Dainty Paperie.

I then promptly forgot i made the first one and made this. I chose the paper first and tried to work from there, for some reason it doesn't work for me, it just feels like it's missing something. Well, whatever it is, at least I have 2 cards finished!

Have a great weekend.
Ang

52 Christmas Crackers 2014 - Week 1

I managed to send a grand total of 5 Christmas cards in 2013, a shameful turnout for a card maker! This year I have decided to join in with 52 Christmas Crackers hosted by Nat over at her blog Kool Kitty Musings, it's a challenge to make a Christmas card a week following the prompts and by the time December comes around you will have a fantastic array to choose from.

This week's prompt is to use something new and it was the perfect excuse to break out my new Wplus9 Merry and Bright stamps and dies.

Card stock-Bazzill, Merry and Bright stamps and dies-Wplus9, ink-Memento,

vellum-Making Memories, herringbone embossing folder-Provocraft, glitter 

card-Home Bargains, embossing powder-Stewart Superior.

I'm in love with purple at the moment, especially rich dark purples like the Bazzill cardshoppe card stock I used on this card. I had fun die cutting 2 pieces of acetate and sandwiching them together to make the hurricane lantern, originally I had sprinkled a ton of stickles and glitter at the bottom of the jar to look like snow but it looked like a lump of frog spawn, ick! I cleaned them off and cut a snow drift from white glitter card and it looks much nicer.

                                     Card stock-Bazzill, Merry and Bright stamps and dies-Wplus9, ink-Memento, 

                             vellum-Making Memories, glitter card- DCWV, embossing powder-Stewart Superior.

I went with a more traditional colour scheme on this one, i really felt like it was lacking something so i added some washi tape to help balance it out, looking at it now i think i will also a couple of wraps of bakers twine at the bottom of the washi too.

It feels good to have 2 Christmas cards made already! Fortuitously, they both fit in with the current challenge over at Daring Cardmakers - This Little Light of Mine, double bonus!

Hope you have had a wonderful start to 2014.

Ang