Flowers and other die cuts

I have not been able to do much this week - firstly because I was too upset about what has happened to poor Christchurch in New Zealand (keep remembering our lovely holiday in that beautiful city); and secondly going to see my second granddaughter get her Blazer presented at her school for her position on the SRC.  Also saw her and two other girls sing a Missy Higgins song in unison - very impressive. she looked very contained, proper and upright in her blazer, but I know that inside she was a bundle of nerves, and just containing the giggles!

Because I could not get my head around making a card for a few days, when I was in the craft space I decided to use some new die cuts and make a few flowers. I had picked up a Marianne Design Creatable die cut of two flower shapes and a flourish leaf. They are thin metal dies and so it is difficult to get the paper or card out of them but I got quite adept in the end! I used up ends and bits of card and paper that were laying on the desk, and then decided to tidy up further, and use some other dies to get rid of my growing mound of scrap card, so I have cut out many labels, tags, hearts and shapes using dies and the Cuttlebug or some of my many punches. (Also managed to cut a hole into my rubber embossing mat - don't ask, I cannot believe I was so stupid!).  I have then put these diecuts into plastic bags and now have a store of many different colours to draw on if and when needed!  Be prepared to see lots of these on cards in the future. Here are the flowers and leaves and a card made from the pink ones!

 This card uses DP from DCWV's All Dressed Up cardstock, and the flowers have a SU brad in the centre.  I have included a label cut using a Nestability Label 4, some pretty ribbon, some leaves die cut and a heart shape punchout, as well as SU Mambo Melon ink, with clear EP.  It is all assembled with dimentionals and double sided tape, and put onto SU Pretty in Pink folded into a card shape. 

The flowers have three levels - one of card, and two of paper.  I used the ball on the end of a stylus to gently make the petals sit up, and tried to get the petals to sit properly but they keep moving back into place.  I think I should glue them next time. 

My next lot of cards were for the Creative Cottage Challenge - Fabulous Florals. Again,  I mixed the flowers I made with other die cuts and various DP and SU card. In the first one, the negative from the piece of paper where I had cut out the swirls was too intriguing to throw away, so I incorporated it in this card. Two punches of the heart swirl (in blue), and a Verve stamp, stamped in SU ink, a lace doily and a blue circle diecut, and a scrap of blue ribbon. 

This one used an image on the DP of the green bird (I added a black crystal for the eye) and three other pieces of bling.  The sentiment is a Verve stamp and I backed it on a blue card on a blue card - tried to be subtle. 

This one I used the WMS label's 14 stamp set and a Label 14 Nestability to create the label, and a WSM stamp for the sentiment, stamped in SU inks (Soft Suede and Moss green).  The small Kaiser brads make the centre of the flowers in this one, and the backing DP is a piece of scrap from a long time ago - no idea what is is. 

A mouse in the house......

Mmmm.....it looks better in real life.....has a lot more sparkle.  It is to be entered into Delightful Sketches - Ribbon Recipe; Lord Have Mercy Tuesday Sketch Challenge #90; and Creative Cottage Challenge #22 - Celebration. 

                                     

Penny Black Marching Mouse stamp; Memento Tuxedo Black ink and Copic pens to colour it, plus white gel pen. Three pieces of ribbon - red, green and yellow (gold). SU card and a sentiment stamp embossed in gold and stamped over Memento black ink to 'ghost' the letters. Hand stitched in red embroidery thread. The circles were cut out/embossed using a Nestability circle in the Cuttlebug, and the inner circle was then smudged with gold ink, and some gold tinsel added.  Bling added to the circle and to the centre of the flower. I stressed the edges of the background card and attached it to a white commercial blank.

Cards in a Box

OK, I am hooked on challenges now - this one is for Creative Cottage and is called "No Cards Allowed".  It is Challenge #18.

Now, I was making a present for my friend whose birthday was on Tuesday, so I combined the two things.  Then, would you  believe it, splitcoaststamping sent me the weekly newsletter, and there was a tutorial for a box with a drawer!  So, it was meant to be. I used their template and made the box, and covered it with paper and embellishments taken from 'freebie'papers that came in a magazine.  Now, I have a habit of either throwing these into a drawer (if I think I will use them) or into a big brown bag (if I think I will not use them) and of giving the bag to various friends of mine who teach primary school, and who love to get fresh 'stash' for the classroom. What I don't do is record who or where I got them from, so I have no idea from where I got this paper or the embellishments, except I had to cut them out of one sheet, and the other sheet had some too on the back of the DP and I had to choose which one I wanted to use the most.  Would have liked to have had the use of both sides on both sheets, but 'thems the break'! The box is made from SU Tempting Turquoise and apart from 2 orange brads, and some sticky and some bling, that's all it was.

I added four cards - here are three that I made today for the box and the fourth was an old one, made several months ago. However, discovered after I made it that the envelopes wouldn't fit the box - yes, I measured for the card size but envelopes are slightly bigger - bugger! Here are the cards:

                                       

I used the Cuttlebug and embossed onto the cards using the folder called Edges. I then rubbed each edge with ink or in one case blue chalk, helped to raise their profile on the card. Some ribbon, DP scraps and stuff from the stash, and an added insert in each one completed the cards.

                                                    

This card used white gel pen also to highlight the flowers, and white ink, and the bird from  the SU Bird Punch provided the bird and branch.  I also stamped a sentiment from TJ Designs - Songbirds using Memento Black ink.  I used several images from this set also on the inset to decorate it a bit.

                                                       

This card used a rub-on and a Prima flower - isn't it lucious.  In addition, I used a bit of 7 Gypies gafer tape and was quite pleased with the effect. The ink pad I used here is a Splendour Pastel chalks - one of those with lots of colours - and I used the green end which had three different greens in it. Enough for now, cheers,