Die Cut Birthday, Die Cut Bird

My youngest sister (I'm the oldest of four) is turning 60 in a couple of months!  Hard to believe.  So when I saw the Shopping our Stash "By the Numbers" challenge and the Inkspirational Challenge "Celebrate", I was inspired to get her card made.  It's also being linked up at Cut It Up (anything goes with die cuts) and Sisterhood of Crafters "Flowers".

Using the old SU Elements of Style floral stamps, I stamped some in white and heat embossed them, then watercoloured them just in shades of blue, colouring the background as well. Then stamped some in black and watercoloured just the flowers and leaves. Using a hexagon die, I cut out sections of each.

I watercoloured a scrap of watercolour paper just with shades of blue and die cut the sentiment and the numbers.

I ran a scrap of plain watercolour paper through a floral embossing folder and die cut a hexagon out of it.

I cut a focal panel very slightly smaller than the card base and cut one hexagon out of, then glued it to the card base. I arranged the floral and embossed hexagons on it and glued the "60th" into the cut out hexagon and the Happy Birthday on the top. I added a few green and blue gemstones.

Sticking with the theme of die cuts from one of the challenges for my first card, I've made this card for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Use Die Cuts".  It's also for Time Out Challenges "Your Favourite Winged Thing" - birds are definitely my favourite!  And Try It On Tuesday "Things with Wings".

I die cut the bird twice out of watercolour paper and glued it together for more substance, then painted it with my watercolour paints.  I added it to a dry embossed panel, and topped it with a die cut gold frame and a die cut sentiment banner.
 


           

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - SU Elements of Style
Ink - off white cs, watercolour paper
Paper - off white cs, watercolour paper
Size - A2
Accessories - white embossing powder, watercolour paints, floral embossing folder, hexagon die, Happy Birthday die, number dies, blue and green gemstones

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - Ranger Red Geranium
Paper - gold and white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - unknown bird die, watercolour paints, Darice stars embossing folder, Spellbinders square dies, stitched banner die

Monochrome Christmas and Birthday

This month the Group of Seven Cardmakers chose Monochrome as the technique for our cards.  I opted to do Christmas cards to build up my stash.  The first card I made followed the method in this video.

I stamped and heat embossed the poinsettia in white on red cs, then added colour to the poinsettia with red coloured pencils.  I trimmed the panel, added a red glitter border, added it to a red card base, popped on a white heat embossed sentiment, and embellished with clear gemstones in the centre.

Next up, shades of green:

For this card, I put the stamp in my MISTI and coloured it directly on the stamp with Memento Dew Drop ink pads, stamping and reinking until I was happy with the results.  Trimmed it, mounted it on a dark green card base, and added sparkly embellishments on the berries and a green bow on top of the stems.

And I had to get some blue in here so my third card is all shades of blue, and will go off to my sister in Ontario for her birthday.

I sprayed the background with various blue sprays, then die cut the hexagon out of it in three places.  I stamped various script and postmark stamps on the hexagon pieces I'd cut, and sponged around their edges.  I then cut hexagons again from scrap cs - put the scrap ones in first and then the sprayed and stamped ones on top for some dimension.  I created a piece of smooshed blue and die cut the wildflowers, sentiment, and tiny butterflies from that.    

There are lots of ways to make monochromatic cards - head on over to the Group of Seven blog and see all of the cards our Design Team has made.  We'd love to have you link up a card using your favourite method for monochromatic cards.

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black poinsettia, unknown sentiment
Ink - ColorBox white
Paper - red cs, red glitter cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - white embossing powder, coloured pencils, Spellbinders square dies, clear gemstones

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Penny Black greenery, Purple Onion sentiment
Ink - Memento Dew Drops Northern Pine, Bamboo Leaves, Cottage Ivy
Paper - light green and dark green cs
Size - A2
Accessories - sparkly stick-ons, green ribbon

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - various postage and script stamps
Ink - Distress Faded Jeans
Paper - mixed media and off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tattered Angels, Perfect Pearls, and Mr. Huey's blue sprays; Gummiapan sentiment die, Poppy Stamps butterfly dies, Tim Holtz wildflowers dies, Spellbinders hexagon die

Twofer Layered Hexagons

This month's Twofer Challenge is Geometric - any kind of geometric shape.

I recently bought a set of larger hexagon dies - large enough to make card bases from.  I cut two of them for each card and then made "hinges" from scraps of the same cardstock to hold them together.  I then used the smaller hexagon dies for my layers.

The first one is a butterfly-themed thank you card:

I love this scripted swirly butterfly stamp - I've had it for along and haven't used it for ages so high time it saw some ink.  I used the equally old Big and Juicy Hydrangea Rainbow ink pad.  I stamped the butterfly and sentiment directly on the panel, and then stamped the butterfly again on a scrap of cs, fussy cut it, and popped it up with foam tape on top of the one on the panel.  A few simple shimmery flower sequins, a blue border, and a layer of fun foam to give dimension finished it off.

Next up a Christmas one:

Very very CAS and simple to make.  Back to the basics of heat embossing image and sentiment!  For this one, I added a few gold sequins, a gold border, and fun foam under the panel for dimension.

A great opportunity to use my new hexagon dies!

Supplies:

Stamps - SU butterfly, Judith thank you, Inkadinkado cardinal, PTI Joy to the World

Ink - Big and Juicy Hydrangea Rainbow ink, ColorBox gold ink

Paper - white, blue, and gold cs

Size - 5.5" wide, 5" high

Accessories - Surprise Creation hexagon dies, gold embossing powder, gold sequins, blue flower sequins, foam tape, fun foam

Two Very Different Challenge

I have some spare time today so I'm here to post cards for two very different challenges.

First up a Christmas card for AAA Cards:

Using an old hexagon punch and a bunch of scraps of glitter cs, I created a border around the simple heat embossed sentiment "noel" that is also punched out as a hexagon.

Next up, is a card for a good friend.  It's one of my favourite friendship sentiments.  It's for the Less is More challenge.

I sprinkled red brushos over a heart stencil and spritzed with water.

I stamped and heat embossed my sentiment over them in black, bordered with red, and popped up on fun foam.

I'll be back tomorrow with cards for some other challenges.  It's too hot to work in the garden today so a good chance to do indoor crafty things!!

Supplies for card 1:

Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment

Ink - ColorBox Gold

Paper - white cs, scraps of glitter cs

Size - 4.75" square

Accessories - gold embossing powder, hexagon punch

Supplies for card 2:

Stamps - Kay Foley sentiment

Ink - Versafine Onyx black

Paper - white and red cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Heidi Swapp "confetti" stencil, red brushos, clear embossing powder, fun foam