Festive Gatherings Die

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

I hope that you are all well,  I had a busy morning yesterday just pottering round getting a few jobs done while Paul was at work,  I have just about cleared all of the boxes of craft stuff that were stacked up in craft room and lounge, all I have left is two bags of craft magazines that I don't really know what to do with.  I might reach out to see if there is a craft club or something locally that could make use of them.  I have a huge pile of card too that I think I will ask local school to see if they can make use of it.  Its all from those 'fill a box for £5' stalls we used to go to years ago.  

Today I am sharing a card that I made yesterday afternoon,  I have had the Tim Holtz Embossing folder or 'Texture fade' for a while along with the Festive Gatherings die set, so I was determined to use them, the card was inspired by a lady who's blog is called 17 Turtles, she was the reason I bought the dies!   I simply embossed the woodgrain Embossing folder onto cream card and I was amazed at how deep the emboss was...

It reminded me of the wallpaper from my childhood,  mind you my parents painted over it so much it ended up smooth!! 🤣😂 was it called Anaglypta???

It looks better in your hand!  

I die cut the foliage from the left over bits of red and green background that I spritzed on Sunday, I love the colour and the shimmer they have. 

I added a little Walnut stain ink around the edges of the embossed background and then arranged the 'festive Gatherings' die cuts onto the background, tucking a stamped sentiment in the centre of the arrangement.   I was going to add some sparkles but I wanted to keep the 'rustic' look. 

I hope that you all have a great day, 

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra                                                                    xxxxxx 

A couple of Oldies

 

Good Morning Ladies,  

Firstly an apology, I'm afraid our shopping trip zapped every bit of my energy so I didn't get a card made for today.  We got to the point where you are walking round aimlessly looking for ideas!  We got a few stocking fillers but that was it.  I then I have been 'running on empty" for a few days, I was up literally all night after Lucy's accident, checking on them and then overthinking the whole thing, anxiety is literally the most frustrating thing to have!

Todays cards are both made using embossing folders:  

Card 1:    I was experimenting really, I embossed a piece of Night of navy card with the Country Floral embossing folder (I spritzed with water for extra depth) .  I then took a White ink pad, and the back of a piece of Cut & Dry foam,  the back is a firmer surface which makes it easier for ink to glide over the surface rather than getting onto the background of the card as well, I use the same thing for Gilding wax.  After it was dry I trimmed it to fit behind my new Fabulous Frame Die, added some narrow blue ribbon with a label die, the final touch was a few white gems. 

Card 2:  This card is a Clean & Simple embossed card.  After embossing I trimmed the embossed piece down and matted and layered onto black card then onto white card base. Finishing with a little stamped tag. 

I hope that you all have a great day,

Love and hugs

Sandra xxx

More Pine embossing!

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

I hope that you have all had a lovely weekend and are ready for another busy week!  I have really got to get some Christmas shopping done, Paul and I ate going into Swindon to so some shopping today, I am hoping it won't be too busy because its a Monday! 

Are you all finished with your shopping??

Today's card I made yesterday afternoon to try and keep my mind busy because every time I thought about how badly wrecked Lucy's car was I wanted to cry!  Anyway here is how I made it.....

I cut and folded a piece of Kraft card to make a DL size card base. Next came embossing the green card, I it down to 1/4 inch  shorter than base cards, I had to cut 2 pieces and join them, the seam is hidden behind the poinsettia.  To enhance the pines a added a little gilding wax with my finger and  very lightly skimmed over pine branches.  I adhered .the green embossed card to the card base, then added the stamped and sentiment and embossed with Gold Embossing powder.  

Now comes the Poinsettia,  I don't know wby I bought this particular Poinsettia die set, I don't like its abstract style!   But we must use these things,  to add colour to the Poinsettia I spritzed two lots of watercolour card with Mica Spray (Tim Holtz) and die cut the pieces, I added gilding wax to the upper layer of the die cut pieces, to giveva little definition. I carefully placed leaves to make sure the join in the green card.  I quite like how it turned out,  that green card looks lovely against the kraft card. 

I hope that you all have a great start to the week, 

Sending my love and hugs to all of you,

Love and hugs,

Sandra xxxxxx 

Your Embossing Folder Challenge cards

 

Good Sunday Morning Ladies,

Just a short blog introduction aa I was planning to write this post to kill some time on the journey home,  sadly our journey home ended up being somewhat fraught as Our Lucy was involved in a car accident just before we were leaving Paul's Mum's,  the first hour we were trying to work out if both her and Flynn were OK,  then it was a case of everyone calling with updates etc. 

So here are your amazing cards....

Karen 

Karen's Description:

Two cards using embossing folder

No idea of either brand! 

Merry Christmas embossed onto gold mirri card with Sue W poinsettia and JL foliage - it’s a bit too “in yer face” for me 

Second one is embossed on to white and matted onto a piece of Clarity card and a Tim Holtz tree.

Two gorgeous cards Karen, I love the dramatic look of the black and white on the foiled background,  its stunning!

Your second card us perfectly clean & simple, I do love that Christmas tree, the clarity card looks so much like an inked background.

Thank you so much for taking part in this weeks challenge XXX 

Lilian 

Lilian's Description:

Hi here is my card for this week. Not a lot of embossing, top and bottom.

Had trouble with my Gemini it either ripped the card or creased it.

Lilian I'm sorry you're having problems with your Gemini, it must be so frustrating,  I have had creasing when embossing in mine before, I think some folders are too deep for it, its the one thing that that john Lockwood machine (kaleido) does well. 

That border embossing folder is lovely,  the sparkle from the Patina Stickles on your leaves is incredible too.  Thank you so much for taking part in this weeks challenge XXX 

Sonia

Sonia's Description:

Hi. Hope you’re having a good day 

Here’s a couple of cards.

I’ve used Spellbinders 3D ‘snowflake’ embossing folder, The Stamp Market snowflakes die and sentiments.

Sonia it's so lovely to be sharing your cards again, Your cards are so lovely, I forgot about this embossing folder I have it too !  Your backgrounds are beautiful did you use your Spray inks?  

Thank you SO much for taking part in this weeks challenge XXX 

***********************

Thanks once again Ladies, I really am so grateful to you for taking part in the Challenge each week.

Have a lovely Sunday,

Love & Hugs to all of you,

Sandra xxxxx

Mixed Up Saturday

 

Good Saturday Morning Ladies, 

As you are reading this we will either be on our way to Brixham to see Paul's Mum or we will actually be there!  It's been ages since we have been, every time we've been free She has been away in Birmingham or Canada!  It will be a long day but lovely to catch up x

Sophie's latest portrait 

Sophie was asked to perform some magic for a Special Christmas gift. A friend at work asked said to Sophie that she would love a picture of her Nana who had passed away with her Nephew, sadly Nana didn't get to meet little Frankie before she passed so she wondered if Sophie could draw a portrait of Nana with her Great Grandson, Sophie said she would have a go and asked for some photos, which are the ones you see above.  

I think she did a great job, when the lady that commissioned the piece opened the box Soph said that she gasped and cried, she said that Soph had captured her mum perfectly!  

She has been asked to create artwork for two large pillars in the Restaurant at the Wildlife Park,  she is going for a jungle theme to compliment the oil painting she did earlier in the year.  She has been asked to create them at work this time  She wasn't keen on the idea as the restaurant is chaos when it's busy, she is painting them onto boards that will be hung on the pillars, so she can take them to a quieter place if she needs to.  

I hope that you all have a super Saturday,

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra 

xxxxxx 

The Other Pine Embossed Card

 

Good Friday Morning Ladies,

Another week closer to Christmas,  I have all my Christmas cards ready, I just need to add insert and write them, why don't I stick to my plan of making insert at time of making card??!

We had a very dark and gloomy day yesterday,  I didn't feel 100 but I was determined to get the last few boxes of my craft stuff sorted out, Paul was home so got some more stuff in the loft,  we managed to sort a lot of the conservatory sorted too.  I have a huge pile of card, various colours and textures, I think I might call the village school and ask if they could make use of it. 

Thank you all for your lovely comments yesterday,  I absolutely love the Embossing folder, I got it from Amazon its from 'Kwan Crafts'  I have had some of their stamps too that stamp really well.

Here is the link in case you'd like one....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07SCVPSQ8?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image

Today's card is the other card that I spoke about in Wednesdays blog,  I used the Pines Embossing folder, added gold gilding wax and the sentiment this time is by HoneyDoo.  Now if you look at the bottom photo you can see how wavy and uneven the opening edge of the card is, I'm not sure if it was the 3D embossing folder or the heat embossing that caused the warping, I tried all sorts to get in to flatten but it just wouldn't stick down, then I had a thought....

What if I run just that edge through the die cutting machine,  I didn't want any of the Embossing to flatten so I just wound that leading edge through and then back and it worked !!!!  The top card looks much flatter. 

I hope that you all have a fantastic Friday, 

Love & hugs to all of you, 

Sandra xxx

Gold Debossed Christmas card

 

Good Morning Ladies, 

Change if advertised card 🤣😂, I made this one yesterday and was excited to show it to you! 

We had a whirlwind of a day yesterday,  Lucy wanted to pop to Becca's after breakfast, we stayed a while then had hair appointment,  after that we popped to shop and got home about 3pm, I sat and started a card, then we had late lunch,  then my sister Emily called for a post holiday catch up,  we chatted for a good 2 hours!   That was day gone. 

I did manage to finish this card though.

I bought this embossing folder from Amazon,  it was very reasonably priced and I love the delicate pattern, so neat and intricate!  

I inked up the bumpy/ raised side of embossing folder with gold ink on a brayer, I then placed a piece of gold card on the opposite, side and closed carefully and run through the machine,  I did a happy wiggle when I opened it up and saw the pretty, neat debossing, it's hard to see that the ink is in the most recessed part of the embossing. 

 I didn't want to cover too much of the embossing,  so I decided on this star die, the first layer was cut in gold mirror card, the next /decorative layer was cut in matt gold card, the centre I cut a black star then topped with another gold, I layered onto matt gold and then onto a black card blank,  to finish the card I added some tiny gold gems here and there.  Its definitely not a traditional Christmas card, it's nice to try different things though!

I hope you all have a lovely Thursday  

Love and hugs to all of you,

Sandra

xxxxxx