Boy and Man card

Hello crafters, 
This fortnight, the Allsorts challenge optional theme, chosen by Ellie is "For Men and Boys". As usual, you can also enter with an "anything goes" theme.

My Flip fold card covers both boy and man, a Birthday card I created with the Presscut 3 Fold Die die-cut out of blue cardstock. The idea was to flip between the boy he was and the man he has become:

Above and below the "flipped" views

And below the 2 sides laid out flat:

The central image uses a paper background from a Tattered Lace magazine, which came with the boy die and matching images to cut-out. 

All paper and fussy cut elements are from the Mr Handsome collection by 13@rts and the stamped words are from Papertrey Ink Clip Tips Stamp and dies Sets. 

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Hop over to the Allsorts challenge blog to see all the DT inspiration and upload your projects. There are two prizes from  pictured below for a lucky winner! Two A5 stamp sets from Sweet Poppy

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Addicted to Stamps challenge

New Card Fronts from Stamplorations

Hello crafters, 

If you missed the news, after a long pause STAMPlorations is back in business and new products have been released this week: 14 new card fronts are available on the store here.

I have been playing with the Vintage Roses set:

 

I like those images so much I would be happy to use them as is, even as postcards since the cardstock is heavy enough. But, if you so desire, you can make them your own in so many different ways... A few ideas: 

- add glitter, foiling or embossing accents

- add small die-cuts (I was thinking bees or lady birds for the roses)

- add stamping or stencilling

- cut them up 

- use the inlay technique

and more...

For my first card I decided to add glitter (Tim Holtz Distress Rock Candy) to the rose:

I added a sentiment word and embossed it with Wow! EP in Violet Aurora (WS419X) and when that didn't show up so well against the card front I embossed on top with Ray of Sunshine (WS416R). And then, because it still didn't show up that well, I added a black shadow with another die-cut offset from the embossed one.

I tried to capture the glitter and the shine in these photos: 

 

My second card follows my current obsession with doors... I visualised a door opening to a rose garden full of morning dew...

For this card front I added dew drops on flowers with liquid glass and nothing else...
For the door mouldings I used some of the dies in the Basic A2 Panels Nesting Dies set, adding doorknobs made of Enamel Accents (Ranger). 

 
Finally, I found the courage to take my scissors to my last card front... 

It's not because the card front is a rectangle that you cannot use it as a square, circle etc.. or cut it in many pieces... I am quite partial to the square format so that is what I did and used the "waste" to make a matching tag.

All the embellishment is in the frames created. I made them so that I would lose only a very small margin of the image.

In conclusion, if the Card Fronts are a godsend for quick cards "as is", don't let that stop you from getting creative with them! And if Vintage Roses is not your thing there are many different styles on offer and at least one is bound to tempt you.

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Leave a comment on this post, my teamie's post and the STAMPlorations blog for a chance to win either the Vintage Roses or the Touch of Spring sets. 

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Whenever you shop for STAMPlorations products you can get 20% off with my code: STAMPGIRLCRAFTY

Thanks for coming by,
 Craftyfield   

     

STAMPlorations challenge is back!

Hello crafters, it is with great pleasure I welcome you to our new STAMPlorations challenge. This is a monthly challenge with an Anything Goes theme and I hope lots of you will join in. To inspire you I made this card:

My base is Neenah Kraft cardstock and I cut it with the largest die of the  Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies.

I then stamped once directly on the base panel and once on white cardstock one of the design of the Coffee To Go: Fall and Winter stamp set with the cup itself in grey-ish ink.

I used pencils for the colouring.
Finally the sentiment is from the stamp set Thank You Coffee, embossed with Wow! EP in Vanilla.

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Hop on over to the STAMPlorations™ Blog and check my teamies' inspiration makes and link up your  creations! There are prizes to be won....

- a discount code worth $25 chosen by a STAMPgirl from entries that use STAMPlorations products

- and a $10 discount code for a randomly selected entry (need not feature a STAMPlorations product)

(discount codes apply to shipping & products)

Do check your entry abide by the rules on STAMPlorations blog here

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Whenever you shop for STAMPlorations products you can get 20% off with my code: STAMPGIRLCRAFTY

Thanks for coming by,
 Craftyfield   I am entering the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, 

                                                          Stamping Sensations, and The Outlawz Twisted (my inspiration

                                                          song is "Coffee & Friends") challenges

     

Snowy scene with Cardinal

Hello crafters, 
This fortnight, the Allsorts challenge optional theme, chosen by Helen is "Winter Animals". As usual, you can also enter with an "anything goes" theme.

I chose the Red Cardinal bird for my tag:

I stamped the bird image (rubber Dance), coloured it, and masked it before splattering a mix of blue watercolours, adding splatters of iridescent medium for more interest.

I stamped a few snowflakes and the sentiment (also Rubber Dance). 

My base tag was die-cut with AALL & Create #30 Taggletastic die set and matted to the red card die-cut with AALL & Create #27 Tag You're It die set.

 

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Hop over to the Allsorts challenge blog to see all the DT inspiration and upload your projects. There is a Visible Image stamps and coordinating dies set pictured below for a lucky winner! 

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Tag along (and ATC), Polkadoodles, 

                                                          Simon Says Stamp Wednesday The Outlawz Anything But a Card,

                                                           Lost Coast Designs challenges

Snow under the Northern lights

Hello crafters, 
This fortnight, the Allsorts challenge optional theme, chosen by Lynn, is "Create a scene". As usual, you can also enter with an "anything goes" theme.

Scenes are one of my favourite subjects and this time I thought I would try something different by starting with a black base for a snowy night scene with Northern Lights.

All stamps are from Lavinia, stamped in white pigment ink:

LAV478 Fairy Fir Tree
LAV836 Small Pine Trees
LAV928 Small Robins
LAV687 Honeysuckle Cottage
LAV246 Fairy Path

The hills were created with Distress Oxides and paper masks and the Northern lights with chalk pastels.

I added snow with pastel pencil on the trees, path, ground and cottage.

I am glad I tried this but cannot decide if it works or not! 

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Hop over to the Allsorts challenge blog to see all the DT inspiration and upload your projects. There are two prizes from of Lavinia mini and small stamps with bottle sticker for scene making and three stamps as second prize pictured below for a lucky winner!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Lost Coast Designs, Stamping Sensations, 

                                                         We Love Stamping, and Polkadoodles challenges

Winter Snowscape

Hello crafters, 

Today I have a special Christmas card to show you. When I say special I mean it isn't one of those designs quick to make that we can mass make. No, this one is a labour of love reserved for my closest and dearest!

The card shape was inspired by the Wardrobe die set by Studio Light (SL-ES-CD455). 

I left a blank space at the back for the message and when the card is opened it looks  like this:

The paper I used is from the Winter Tales pad (Stamperia). I added foliage die-cuts (Sizzix Christmas Shadow Box Die Set - 663611), some of which I glittered.

To close the doors I added a chipboard piece from the Quotes And Labels from the same  Stamperia collection.

I liked the design but thought I could do better with the doors and added door mouldings as in this variation below:

Do let me know what you think of these!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Simon Says Stamp Monday, Polkadoodles, 

                                                         Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, Addicted to Stamps, 

                                                         and We Love 2 Create  challenges

New Adventure

Hello crafters, 
This fortnight, the Allsorts challenge optional theme, chosen by Liz is "New: baby/home etc...". As usual, you can also enter with an "anything goes" theme.

My choice of "new" is Adventure and because a new adventure often involves a move or a trip I selected the suitcase as my focal point.

The stamping in the background was made with old Papermania sets (All Aboard "Map" and Air Mail"). I built up my suitcase with the Papertrey Ink die set, including the flip flops, glasses and hat. A real stamp, a die-cut sentiment (Sizzix/Tim Holtz Adventure words:script 660224 and Alphabet 662228) finish the design.

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Hop over to the Allsorts challenge blog to see all the DT inspiration and upload your projects. There are two prizes of A4 and A5 stamp sets from AALL and Create pictured below to win!

 

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the Simon Says Stamp Monday, 

                                                        Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, Lost Coast Designs

                                                        and Polkadoodles challenges

Use your stash idea

Happy Sunday crafters! 

I have a weakness for beautiful papers and often grab a pad or a rice paper just because I like the look of it, not knowing how I will use it. Then it lays undisturbed in my stash because I cannot bear to cut into that beautiful paper! Sounds familiar?

The A4 Stamperia rice paper below (Blue Dream from the Colorful Life collection DFSA4746) is one of these that I didn't know what to do with, until I had the idea of using it on a mouse mat. 

My old mouse mat was deteriorating and the top layer was lifting up at the corners. 

I realised that if the top layer was plasticised, underneath was a white paper layer that could accept glue. And the size was a little shorter than A4 but I could still fit sky and sea from the rice paper!

To provide the necessary glide for the mouse and protect the top layer, the rice paper had to be treated in some way. Instead of gel medium, varnish or similar, I thought laminating would be the best idea. Of course since I needed to glue the image to the paper layer of the mat I couldn't laminate as normal, that is to say both sides. So I sandwiched my rice paper between one layer of laminating and a page of copy paper both slightly bigger than my rice paper.

Then it's a matter of cutting out the margins to take out the copy paper and applying a good amount of glue or gel medium to the mat and smoothing the laminated rice paper on top. For this project I used matt laminating pouches rather than glossy.

And here's the result:

I have been using my mat for a while now and enjoy looking at that view everyday as well as having something that is unique and made by my fair hands. Really pleased with the result so much so  I upgraded another mat in the same way!!!

Thanks for coming by,
 Craftyfield   

Winter coasters

Hello crafters, 
This fortnight, the Allsorts challenge optional theme, chosen by Helen is "Lets get sentimental". As usual, you can also enter with an "anything goes" theme.

Strictly speaking only one of my make has a focal sentiment, but, as I decided to make coasters and I always make these in pairs...

Both stamps are from Let's Make Cards issue 89, designed by Rare Earth.

I prepared the coasters with white gesso, then painted them with several layers of Paper Artsy Fresco in  Butter as I prefer a matt surface when I need to stamp on top. I added some dark brown paint around the edges.
For the cup I used Versafine Clair ink (Pinecone) but I switched to Archival for the other coaster as it did not dry quickly enough.

Both will need a few coat of varnish before using with hot drinks!

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Hop over to the Allsorts challenge blog to see all the DT inspiration and upload your projects. There is a prize pictured below from Sweet Poppy, an A5 stamp set and a sentiment stencil (plus an extra prize).

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield     I am entering the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, 

                                                          Stamping Sensations, We Love Stamping and Polkadoodles

                                                          challenges

Pink Christmas

Hello crafters, 

This fortnight, I am hosting the Allsorts challenge and chose the optional theme as "Christmas". As usual, you can also enter with an "anything goes" theme.

Pink is unusual for Christmas cards, but, I was inspired by our Allsorts leader Brenda's gorgeous card and had to try it for myself!

The focal image is from a freebie set included in Simply Craft and Papercraft Issue 237 (Winter Woodland). I simply inked it with different shades of pink and left it at that for a CAS look.

But I did have to mat the image with several layers of die-cuts to fill some of the A6 card size (14.8cm x 10.5): the white and the blue shapes are from now defunct 🥹My Favorite Thing, Blueprints 13, the postal shape is from the AALL & Create  #87 Quirky Post die set.

Finally I stamped the sentiment with a very old magazine freebie set.

And voila... a vision of Christmas in pink! It will not be my go-to colour for the holidays but I think it will feature occasionally!

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And...I have a bonus make for you as I finally got around to make a Christmas décor piece!

I made this on the reverse of my Autumnal panel and you can read the details for the wooden base here.

  

The paper is a freebie from magazine, die-cut with AALL & Create #39 - Infinarty die set. The sentiment is from Tonic Studio and, as it happens, one of the prizes on offer at Allsorts this fortnight! 

The berries, acorn and leaves are made with the Stamperia Woodland Mushrooms mould and I added some pine die-cuts from a number of dies.

I gave all my embellishments some "snow" with white paint, flock and some sparkles (Stamperia).

A closer look :

I am entering this make (with Tasty Berries...)  in the Outlawz Saturday challenge

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Hop over to the Allsorts challenge blog to see all the DT inspiration and upload your projects. There are two prizes of stamps, stencils and dies pictured below for lucky winners, all Christmas themed!

Thanks for coming by,

 Craftyfield   I am entering the pink card in the  Lost Coast Designs, Outlawz,

                                                         We Love Stamping, Outlawz Challenges Friday and

                                                          Addicted to Stamps & More challenges