Oh Man! - Daring Cardmakers DT

Happy Friday!

I did warn you that I'd be back so here I am!  We've been so lucky with the weather this half term and I've been out and about with the boys making the most of it.  In fact, I've taken some photos at the nature reserve near our house and have shared one later on in this post.

Before that I better tell you about the latest Daring Cardmakers challege.  Kathy has trouble with male cards and wants to see your inspiration to help her!  The only addition is that the card shouldn't be for a child.

I'm a fan of personalised cards (although I can't actually remember ever receiving one but that could be due to the fact that my name is rather long!) and I send them often as who doesnt like to see their name in print?  This was a simple card for a football fan - not that all men like sports but this one happened to.  You could of course substitute the football for something else that your repicient likes.

My favourite part of the card is the stamped sentiment using the Ranger Letter It Birthday set.  I just love that scripty font and until I can write like that I'm happy to use this set!  You'll be able to see a lot more inspiration from the rest of the Design Team HERE and I hope you'll join in and share your inspiration with us!

Here is the nature reserve with all the ducks!  I used to take the boys regularly and as babies in the buggy and it would be a daily walk.  The boys may be older but they still really enjoy going there.

This weekend I will be preparing for a demo at The Range in St Albans that opens next week so lots of beautiful papers are on my desk ready!  

Have a wonderful weekend whatever you do!

Shabneez

Products Used:

Ranger Letter It Birthday Stamp Set

Everything else from my stash

Using Stencils to Create Christmas Card Toppers - CrafTangles DT

Happy Weekend!

I'm so very glad the weekend is here although I'm actually teaching for most of the day today.  I'm up on the CrafTangles blog with a post on making your own Christmas toppers for cards.

I had a bit of a production line going and to begin with I die cut some shapes and made all the toppers using images from a stencil together with distress inks.

For all the cards I used the Trimcraft First Edition Jolly Holidays papers as backgrounds.  It's definitely one of my favourite paper pads this winter.

So for my first card I gave the Christmas tree and ombre effect and added washi tape, lime green card and a sentiment to finish.

For my next card I used the fun candy cane image and created 3 toppers adding a sentiment to finish.

My final card uses the deer image which I inked in milled lavender and weathered wood distress inks.  I really liked the subtle effect it gave to the topper.

I finished off with a sentiment and co-ordinating papers.

There's more of an in depth tutorial HERE if you want to know more about how I created these cards.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and hopefully see you next week!

Shabneez

Products Used:

First Edition Jolly Holidays Paper Pad

CrafTangles Christmas Elements Stencil

CrafTangles Christmas Ornaments Stamp Set

CrafTangles Seasons Greetings Stamp Set

Ranger Distress Inks in Abandoned Coral, Peacock Feathers, Weathered Wood, Milled Lavender, Mowed Lawn and Twisted Citron

Everything else from my stash

Christmas Aperture Cards

Happy Friday!

Today's blog post is a double post in that I am blogging for both CrafTangles and the Daring Cardmakers in one post as they both fell on the same day!  It just so happened that one of the cards I made for CrafTangles fits with the Daring Cardmakers Challenge this week so win win on my part - Ha!

My blog post is themed around aperture cards this and it's using Christmas stamps sets from CrafTangles.

This first card is the one that made me decide to concentrate on aperture cards.  It's a really simple card but I love the rainbow colours and it's a little different to the regular Christmas cards out there as it has rainbow colours.

Next up I decided to use 2 apertures in different sizes.

I used a very cute CrafTangles Santa Claus stamp set and I do love the sentiment.  The images were coloured in using my Chameleon pens.

This final card is the one that is also linked to the Daring Cardmakers Challenge this week.  The Challenge this week asks for a starry background on a card and you can find more information and inspiration on the challenge HERE.

This is my favourite card of the 3 - the one that I wasn't sure about but then it all just fell into place.  More information on how I created these cards on the CrafTangles blog HERE.

So there we have it - a 2 in 1 blog post especially for Black Friday!  You even get more for your reading on blog posts these days - Haha!!!  Don't shop too much!

See you again soon,
Shabneez

Products Used:
CrafTangles Cardstock.
CraftTangles Christmas Greetings Stamp Set
CrafTangles Santa Claus Stamp Set
CrafTangles Christmas Ornaments Stamp Set
Ranger Distress Inks
Tonic Glacier White Embossing Powder
Sizzix Circle Dies
Sizzix Oval Dies
Versafine Black Ink Pad
Chameleon Pens
Everything else from my stash

October Elemental Challenge - Daring Cardmakers DT

Happy Friday!

What a week it's been!  I've had a great week working with Pinkfresh Studio products and then celebrating our wedding anniversary.  I was treated to a delicious Thai lunch and a make your own tiramisu for dessert!

So, it's the first Friday of the month and an elemental challenge over on the Daring Cardmakers.  I fell in love with the images and colours Dawn chose for this one.  I had an idea in my head and then just played around with it once I had decided on what elements to use.

For the leaves I smooshed a background using various autumnal colours of distress inks then I die cut them out.

I made the pumpkin using 3 ovals that I die cut and inked then overlapped together.   I've seen the pumpkins made with more ovals so you can play and see what works best for you.

Below you'll see the beautiful board that Dawn has chosen.  I love all the colours and elements and when you join in you simply have to choose 3 elements.  I have chosen the leaves, colours and the pumpkin. 

I do hope that you will join in and I look forward to seeing your creations.  You can see more inspiration HERE.

I am on my travels again this weekend and will be at The Range in Romford on Sunday from 11am with some Trimcraft Christmas demos.

See you next week!

Shabneez

Products Used:

Dovecraft Leaf Mini Dies

Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Sizzix Stitched Oval Dies by Tim Holtz

AC Moore Paper Pad

Clearly Besotted Stamp Set

I would like to enter this card into the Double 'D' Challenges

Feeling Blue - Daring Cardmakers DT

Happy Friday!

Well, what a week it's been.  Bit of a whirlwind but at least the boys are now back at school so I can work without feeling guilty.  They happily get involved with what I'm doing but I still get those pangs of guilt.  Working from home takes juggling your home and work life to a whole new level and you'd think I'd have got used to it after all these years but it's not the case. 

Yesterday, I was invited on Create & Craft yesterday as a Guest Presenter to showcase the Darice dies.  One of the samples I made just happened to fit with this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge of using blue.  How lucky was that?!  I just love it when I can use one project for two purposes!

 I've used the new Darice dies that you can use to die cut, emboss and stencil. 

For the white glittery butterflies I used Darice glitter paper and for the others I simply cut, embossed then coloured with my distress inks.  The 'Hello' sentiment I cut, embossed then used the die as a stencil to add the different shades.  I adore butterflies and could happily use them on all my projects but then you'd be bored of seeing them I'm sure!  The royal blue background makes the elements pop.

I hope that you'll join in with the Challenge and see all the wonderful cards that my fellow DT members have created HERE.

I'm very much looking forward to the weekend as my sister in law is visiting and we're planning on having a BBQ - making the most of the sunshine while it lasts!

Have a lovely weekend,
Shabneez

Products Used:
Darice Butterfly Dies
Darice Sentiment Dies
Tim Holtz Distress Inks
Everything else from my stash

Spring Has Sprung! - Daring Cardmakers DT

Happy Friday!

How are you?  It feels like such a long time since my last blog, yet it's only been slightly over a week! 

The Daring Cardmakers has a new challenge set by Svenja who has asked for the use of stencils and fresh green as Spring is around the corner!  Lots more wonderful inspiration from the Team HERE.

I'm lucky as I only received a new batch of stencils earlier in the week from CrafTangles and there was one that caught my eye which I thought would be perfect for this challenge.

I also had an idea in mind to use ombre as I took inspiration for this challenge from my garden.  There are so many shades of green in it and I wanted to merge them together.

I made a background with the distress inks and then used the stencils with the same colours.  I stamped Happy Birthday in black as I wanted the sentiment to show but didn't want it to take over the background I'd made.

I thought I'd end this post with a bit of Spring from our garden:

I'm hoping to be back over the weekend with another blog post.  

Bye for now!

Shabneez

Products Used:

Tim Holtz Distress Inks

CrafTangles Stencil - Leaves

Dovecraft Happy Birthday Stamp

Everything else from my stash