Gnome Snowscene Tag (Papercraft Essentials Magazine, Issue 150 - Enchanted Corner)

I sat down at my craft desk today with a totally blank mind.  I had no idea what I would be making.  If truth be told, I wasn't quite in the right head space having attended a funeral earlier today.  However, I was pleasantly surprised with this fun little tag.

The tag started life as a Tim Holtz Distress Ink background in slate blues & grey colours, with a few navy coloured speckles across the surface.  I added a few white spots with a Signo pen too.

I die cut a circle in a sort of orange colour and then dabbed the circle with Cosmic Shimmer Blending Ink (in a shade of "White Clouds") to provide a more mottled/moon type surface.  I then added a few dabs of yellow ink to it too.

Sorting through my die-cut off-cuts box, I came across the skeleton trees.  They were a bit short, but I decided I could cover that area.  I stuck the moon on to the tag and then layered the trees above, to give a kind of forest effect.

I found another off-cut of white embossed card.  It was originally embossed using the Stampin' Up "Seaside" die.  I cut the card into three sections, following the waves and layerd them above the trees to provide a snowscape look.

Finally, using a free stamp and die from Issue 150 of Papercraft Essentials magazine (the set is called "Enchanted Corner").  I stamped the image, coloured it with Promarkers and then die cut the little gnome.  I used foam pads to stick him to the tag, so that it gives the impression of dimension.

I'm rather happy with this cheerful little fella!

Stampers Anonymous Mini Bouquet Wild Roses Tag

Undecided what to make, I started off stamping some flowers from the Stampers Anonymous "Mini Bouquet" stamp set.  Colouring them in with my water colour pencils in pale shades of pink.  I'm not sure what flowers they are supposed to be, but to me they look like wild roses, so that's what I'm going to call the tag for this purpose. I then cut the images out by hand.

I picked a selection of dies, I think they are mainly by Creative Expressions and cut the foliage and scrolls.

I played around with positioning finally deciding what I liked and stuck them to the pale pink with tiny white dotty background of the tag.  

Wishing You A Beautiful Day

Last night I played with dies and flowers to create this card, which I think has turned out rather well.

60th Male Birthday Card

I had half an hour to play with some paper and came up with this 60th Birthday card for a male.

The patterned cardstock is actually a purchase from Lidl some time ago, which has been sat waiting for an appropriate occassion.  I used a Sizzix die to cut the 60 and die cut the stitched squares.

Starfish Under The Sea Tag

I started this tag by scrunching up a piece of old cardstock and then roughly flattening it.  I then inked the raised areas using Stazon Ink in "Cactus Green".  I cut it to a tag shape.  

I then used a die for the central lines from the Stampin' Up "Swirly Scribbles" set.  The other green foliage was cut using a Sizzix die from the "Back To Nature" set.

I then stamped the starfish using a Stampin' Up stamp from the "By The Seashore" set.  I used a Pumpking Stazon ink and then darkened the edges with other shades.

It was then a matter of assembling the pieces.  I used a silver ink on some of the edges and used little metal embellishments and small gem type bling to give a watery/bubble effect.

Nesting Birds Card

I tend to make cards in a very similar style, so this afternoon I decided to stretch myself.

My creative session started off with preparing Panpastel backgrounds.  I like to make a few at a time as I get a bit messy doing them.

Flicking through my stamp folder I came across a couple of stamps that I've not used for ages, so decided to put them to use.  I first stamped the bird/egg image and then used the remaining ink on the stamp to repeat the image on a scrap piece of paper.  I used repo Herma to position it over the stamped image (creating a type of mask).  I was then able to stamp the script image without going on the bird/egg area.  I then removed the mask to reveal the finished stamped area.

I then embossed a sheet of grey cardstock.  I routed through some of my dies and embellishments and positioned them in a pleasing arrangement before sticking anything down.

The chipboard bird shape has been inked and then coated in a Stickles glitter glue.

This foliage is cut using an assortment of dies.

I have to say I do like the finished card although it took me ages to get it to this stage.  I think I need to stretch myself more often  perhaps go grungy next time!