Design Team Make for "My Time To Craft Challenge Blog" #395 Spring Flowers

It is time for another challenge on the "My Time To Craft Challenge Blog".  This time the theme is "Spring Flowers".  If you have a minute to spare, please do pop over and take a look at the creations by my fellow Design Team members and maybe take part in the challenge yourself.

I decided to go for a clean and simple (CAS) look.  For this card I used an embossing folder that came free with a magazine a couple of years ago.  

The bucket of flowers is also a free stamp from the "Crafts Beautiful Magazine", March 2018 issue.  I used Tim Holtz Distress Marker pens to stamp the image in the following shades:  Wilted Violet, Hickory Smoke and Twisted Citron.

I decided against using a sentiment for this card, as I thought it would be handy plain for several different occasions.

Visible Image Butterfly Card

This card started off with several layers of different colours of Distress Oxides.  I then used Distress Inks through a Clarity Stamps Stencil.

I used a Visible Image butterfly stamp for the central image.  The sentiment was free with a Crafts Beautiful magazine (Dec 2017). Finally I added a few extra shimmery dots, which can not be seen in the photograph, using a Sakura Jelly Roll pen.

Snowy Forest & Deer Christmas Card

I've continued to play with the free stamps from the December issue of Crafts Beautiful magazine, making this card.

It has a background of grey and blue distress inks.  With a layer of die cut tree trunks and a snow drift placed over the top.

The deer is stamped in Versafine ink and cut out, with a dob of Stickles glue for the red nose.  The sentiment is from a Stampin' Up set called "Winter Memories".  I then added a little shadow using a water colour and some Papermania "Holographic" embossing powder to add a little shimmer to the snow areas.

Here's a picture of the cover of the Crafts Beautiful magazine if you want to get a copy for yourself:

Week 49 - 52 Week Mini Art Card / Tag Challenge 2017

This week, I've noticed that the wind is tumbling the leaves around the garden, so knew I wanted to reflect that in a tag, which I have managed in this tag.

The prompt for Week 49 is "Together"

Again, I have started out with a background of Tim Holtz Distress Inks in assorted shades of yellow with a touch of orange.

Both the owl and the tree branch that they stand on is from a free set from the December issue of Crafts Beautiful magazine.  I stamped these onto the tag.  

Don't forget, you can check out the previous prompts for this challenge, by clicking on the tab to the right hand side of the "home" button just below the banner.

Also, don't forget to like the A Crafting Niche Facebook Page too.


Here's the magazine and stamp set in case you want to purchase your own copies.

I then coloured the owls using Promarker pens.  

Next, I turned my attention to the background.  I used a little stamp from the Visible Image stamp set which has leaves in fight, which I stamped using Versafine ink. The "Love" sentiment is a stamp by Stamper's Anonymous.  I finished the tag by inking the edges of the tag in darker shades to pull the eye to the central image.

Birds on a branch Birthday Card

Like me, my friend has a December birthday.  The closer you get to Christmas the less likely people remember about your birthday and I find I quite often am given what I refer to as a "garage card"!  You know the one, where it's an after thought and it will often fall over after an hour of being on display because of the poor quality.  Because I know how this feels, I always make an effort to make this friend a card specific to her.

For the background of this card, I used different shades of yellow, orange, pink, red and purple Distress Inks.

Using my Misti, I positioned and stamped the two sentiments (both from a Stamper's Anonymous set ref: THMM108) using a Versafine black ink.  Still using the Misti, I stamped the bird on the branch.  This was a free stamp from the December 2017 issue of Crafts Beautiful magazine.  

Then using a Stamper's Anonymous honeycomb stamp, I added two sections to the bottom and to the right hand side.  Next, using the Stampin' Up "Gorgeous Grunge" stamp set, I added some foxing dots in black.

Finally, I added some white dots across the surface to add a little lightness using my white Signo pen.

In case you would like to buy the Craft Beautiful Magazine, this is the cover and stamp set you need to look out for (I got my copy in Tesco).

Snow Scene Christmas Card (Stampin' Up Softly Falling embossing)

I have continued my play with the stamps that came free with the Crafts Beautiful magazine. 

I've used a Stampin' Up embossing folder called "Softly Falling" for the background.

I stamped and then die cut the snow scene image, colouring it with water colour pencils.  At the base of the card, I added a sentiment using a Woodware stamp.  Finally, I punched some small snowflakes, adding them to the card and topping with some stickles glitter glue.

Here's a photo of the magazine and stamps, so you know what to look for in the shops if you also want to purchase it.

Winter Wishes (Squirrel) Christmas Card

I'm guessing this will be my last make for November.  Looking back, it's been a productive month.

For this card, I started off by making the background using Tim Holtz Distress Inks in shades of greys and blues.

Using a die, I cut the tree trunks in white card and stuck them onto the background.  Free hand, I cut two snow slopes and glued them on top of the tree trunks at the base of the card. I then used a Signo Pen for the snow flakes.

I used a Papertrey Ink sentiment stamp from their "Winter Hills" set and stamped it at the bottom right hand side of the card.

The squirrel is from a stamp set that came free with Crafts Beautiful Magazine (Dec 17 issue).  I stamped the image then coloured it with Promarker pens.  I added sticky foam pads to the underside and stuck the image onto the card. I added a little grey shadow beneath the squirrel using distress inks.

Here's an image of the magazine and stamp set, in case you want to shop for it too.

Forest Silhouette Christmas Card

Today, I have continued to play with the stamps from the December issue of Crafts Beautiful magazine.

I created the background using three colours of Tim Holtz Distress Inks, then stamped the forest scene onto it.  On plain white card, I then splattered the same coloured Distress Inks to make a speckled background for the whole card.

I then die cut the image into a circle and then die cut a black circle frame for the image.  I stuck the two to the middle of the splattered background and then stamped the sentiment using a Woodware "Season's Greetings" stamp.

(Here's the magazine and stamp set, so you know what to look out for in the shops if you want to get it too).

Rabbit Winter Wonderland Christmas Card

I made this card yesterday, but didn't get round to popping it on here.

I'd been to the supermarket earlier in the day and was drawn to the free set of stamps on the front of "Crafts Beautiful" December 2017 issue of the magazine.  

I was especially drawn to the rabbit, hedgehog and squirrel stamps, so knew that I would be playing with those.

For this card, I used my water colour pencils to create the blue grey wash for the sky.  

While that was drying, I stamped the rabbit, coloured it in with three shades of Promarkers and then cut out the rabbit shape. 

Using an off-cut of white card, I cut a gently curved slope to replicate a snowy hill, which I stuck on top of the water colour sky.  I then mounted the coloured square onto a piece of brown card and trimmed to size.

Finally, I added sticky foam pads to the back of the rabbit to give a more 3-D look.  I added snowflakes to the sky using a white Signo pen and added the Papertrey Ink sentiment (from their "Winter Hills" stamp set).