Some Recent Cards

These were done as swaps for the Creative Cardmaking Yahoo group, and I either know (or am pretty sure) they've arrived now, so I can show them.

The first swap needed minimal embellishment. The funny thing is that that's how my cards almost always were until fairly recently, and yet I struggled a bit with this one.


The image is one of the free images from Selina Fenech (www.selinafenech.com). I've coloured it with Promarkers and layered it with card and paper from my collection and backed it all with paper decorated with Radiant Rain. Despite using a larger main image than I usually do, I had to steel myself not to add anything else!


This card was for the heat embossing swap. I've done standard heat embossing any number of times, but hadn't ever tried triple embossing, so I dug out the ultra thick Cosmic Shimmer embossing powder I bought by mistake (I didn't know it was ultra thick), and some rather pretty stamps I bought at the local market a while ago. There's no label or manufacturer on the stamps that I can find, but they're rubber backed with clear plastic, and they came as a set of six with similar decorative images. I have to say that I had several attempts before I got something I liked - especially when it came to placement of the image, but I eventually did. I embossed on card cut with my nestibilities, and matted with more nestie shapes - and card printed from my Crafty Computer Paper Crafty Emporium CD, then placed the result into a frame cut with yet another nestibility. The result's quite masculine, I think. So definitely a technique and colourscheme to revisit next time I need a man's card!


This one was for the 'white and a splash' card. I went for texture since I didn't have too many colour options, so I embossed a Celtic circle from a brass stencil I've had for a while. I added a circle and several layers of Dahlia nesties which I textured with a Cuttlebug folder and layered with silicone glue. That gave me a bit of a nightmare when it came to posting because it was the best part of an inch thick, but I really hope it arrived safely. (It should have arrived and the recipient doesn't tend to frequent Blogland, so she shouldn't see it here first.)

Next month, we've got to make an easel card, so I'm off to find out how to do that.

Starburst Stains!

I had an unexpected day off work yesterday due to even more snow, so I had a play with my Starburst Stains. I've only got one set (so far) and it's the one with seaside-themed names. But, I've also got some Radiant Rain and Perfect Pearls and the likes, so I was mixing various options.



In this card, I used Azure Sea Asters, Sea Mint Green and Glory of the Seas Gold. I used the scrunch technique to combine the colours. The colours worked really well with the image I used which comes from Fred She Said. It's a beautiful image, and I layered the main one and then added the centre two sections as an accent. I love Tracey's images. They're simple in form but look really great, and the colour options for this image are gorgeous. (I expect I'll do a few more of them.)

I'd like to enter this for the current challenge at crafty Cardmakers - What's New! - because the Starburst Stains were a Christmas present and new.

Christmas Cards

Not entered for anything, but I thought I'd post a few of the over one hundred I made this year.



This one is magazine freebie! The image was a stamp which I watercoloured and the backgroud paper came direct from Papercraft Essentials.



This is a simpler one - two stamps from my See Dees collection and I've embossed them in silver. The paper is one I put together.


This one is similar, but embossed in gold and the paper is from Debbi Moore.








This is another pair of See Dees stamps, embossed in clear and coloured with Sakura Stardust pens.












This one is a recycling special. The main image is the front of a card from last year which I loved. I added some backing paper and ribbon, and there it is!









And finally, this is one I did for my other half. The stamp is one I bought from Mad About Cards in one of their 50p specials, but too late for most of my Christmas cards. I suspect it'll be heavily used next year. I inked part of it in black and embossed it with clear powder, then inked the stars with clear and embossed in gold. The background is my first attempt at the cling film technique from The Stampman, although using a different product. The background card is wizarded using a Cuttlebug folder.