April Sentimental Challenge; With Sympathy

 

Hello!

Welcome to my little crafting place! 

Here's where I share the things I've been making, and sometimes other bits of waffle!

Today is Daring Cardmakers day and it's the first Friday of the monthso time for a Monthly Sentimental Challenge

The theme for April is
With Sympathy
Perhaps the hardest of all the cards we make, its often difficult to express how much we care for someone experiencing so much pain and sorrow.
But Sympathy and Condolence cards mean so much to those who grieve
These challenges help us grow our stock of cards for those times we need something special and thoughtful.

I decided on a simple Navy, Pale Pink and White colour paletter with a little silver to add n extra 'lift'

The sentiment was created on the pc.  Using my graphics program (Paint Shop Pro) I make a set of different sentiments in different fonts on one 'background  save it then I can resize it to print when needed.  I can also change the colours, or maybe blank out one part to add a less used or one-off sentiment in its place - like on the blue version shown among the variants below

 

 I used 

Cameo Frames Etched Dies

Sealed Blooms Etched Dies

Sealed Wildflowers Etched Dies

Silver thread, Blue gem

 pc made printed sentiment

 

Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store 

-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders

It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.

There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

 

 Kathy xx

Mellow Yellow

 

Hello!

Welcome to my little crafting place! 

Here's where I share the things I've been making, and sometimes other bits of waffle!

Today is Daring Cardmakers day and we are keeping to the Spring theme but concentrating on one of the major Spring colours

Mellow Yellow

This week we'd like to see lots of Bright and Beautiful shades of yellow!
Swathes of it, Splashes, spodges and spatters...  
as much as you like however you like to use it
Let's welcome the sun and encourage to shine on all of us! 

 

Create anything you like cards, tags, or 3D project. Its up to you!

 Obviously, I couldn't resist making something flowery, and decided on a wreathe filled with as many kinds of yellow flowers as I could fit

The basic wreathe can barely be seen but its an old Spellbinders die, as are most of those used to make the flowers, I do love revisiting my old dies, it makes me feel better about acquiring more - knowing they'll generally have a very long and productive life.  Some of my favourites come out time and time again.  The leaves, sprigs and ferns are als from various sets, some old, some new.  You can necer have too many!

Some of the flowers are made with punches - mainly old EK Success ones - they always cut so beautifully withour needing brute force to press out. One day I'm going to sort out and get rid of all the punches that are hard to use and need a hammer to set ready for the next time.

To finish the flowers I uxsed a variety of beads etc for the flower centres and a printed sentiment I found in my spares bag

 I used 

Lots of different die sets and punches

Yellow, blue and green card 

 pc made printed sentiment

 

Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store 

-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders

It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.

There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

 

 Kathy xx

 

 

Wedgewood Blues

 

   Hello

welcome to my little crafting place! 

Today I've another Wax Seal project to share - because I've been playing with the Spellbinders March Wax Seal of the Month loads as its such a fun and versatile design

 This time I decided to stick to one layer of wax and a beautiful shade of blue which I mixed by adding some white into a couple of other shades of blue beads

The pattern on this month's seal lends itself really well to adding further embellishments and this is the second decorated with tiny gems. For this one I glued the gems into the tiny circles in the pattern. Please check back to see one with the gems on the crossovers

I love this pretty blue shade and managed to find a digi paper in my stash that I could colour match to the seal and use as the background. 

I used more of the fabulous 'Sealed' die sets from Spellbinders - I really can't get enough of these things! The lovely scalloped borders are from one of the February 2025  Spellbinders die set releases.  All info is below!

I used:

 

March Wax Seal of the Month

Shades of blue and white wax beads

Tiny silver gems 

 

Die Sets

Sealed Squiggles

Sealed Holiday Squiggles

 
Stitch & Dots Scallop Borders
 

Blue, White card,  Silver Glitter card, Blue waxed twine

   Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store 

-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders

It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.

There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

 

 Kathy xx

To My Friend

  

 Hello

Welcome to my little crafting place, where I share the things I've been making and occasionally other bits and pieces from my quiet little life!

Today I've another project made using a little sentiment from the March Glimmer of the Month club from Spellbinders which I've partnered with dies from their Vivid Blooms die set

 

I've gone quite BRIGHT for this one!

I cut down to the bit I liked best an inked ( turquoise, blue and mauve) piece of card to make the centre panel for this card and chose a deep blue for the card itself. I also prepared scraps of card inked to match ready for cutting the flower sections and a scrap of green patterned paper adhered to card for the stem

I'd been wrapping a birthday present while the inky pieces were drying and realised that the leftover scrap of glimmering wrapping paper would be perfect betweek card and inked panel! I just tore it down to fit

Having put the flower together, all this card needed was the little sentiment - I hot foiled it using lavendar foil onto a scrap elftover from making the centre panel

I used:

 

Sentiment from March Glimmer of the Month 

Inked card, lavendar Glimmer foil

 

Vivid Blooms Etched Dies 

are from the Vivid Expressions Collection.

Blue card blank

Scrap of wrapping paper

Inked card scraps for die cutting

   Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store 

-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders

It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.

There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

 

 Kathy xx

A Celebration In Spring

  Hello!

Welcome to my little crafting place! 

Here's where I share the things I've been making, and sometimes other bits of waffle!

Today is Daring Cardmakers day and at last it's time to

Celebrate Spring
There's blossom on the trees, the daffodils are out - it's even beginning to get warmer at last!
So this week make a card to celebrate Spring.
Think Easter, Eid, Spring colours, Tulips, Daffodils, New growth
Create anything you like cards, tags, or 3D project.

Its up to you!

I chose to make my card for one of the Spring celebrations as in the UK Mothers Day always falls in March

Also I wanted to make something using goodies from a couple of the March Spellbinders club kits, and a couple of other new SB die sets which have recently arrived on my desk

I made this wax seal using three layers of wax - I used the Pour and Scrape technique for the yellow patterned layer, then stamped this into pale aqua wax and trimmed off the excess wax around the sel stamp. Finally I poured pink wax to stamp the decoraed section into.  

The pattern on this month's seal lends itself really well to adding further embellishments and I made a couple of seals adding tiny gems in different ways, this one has gems on the crossovers on the pattern, I've another to share where I put the gems into the circles on the pattern. 

'Mum' comes from the March Glimmer of the Month, it features lots of lovely little messages (with die to cut them neatly) to let family and friends know they are appreciated.  It also has a script Mum. Mom, Dad set, with a cutting die to match - it's lovely that Spellbinders have included MUM for us non-Americans!

 Here's my list of things I used this time

 March Wax Seal of the Month club 

Yellow, Aqua, Pink wax beads

2 sizes and colours pink gems

'Mum' from March Glimmer of the Month club 

Black card, Silver foil

Dies from  Simple Vintage Flower Shoppe Collection:

Flower Cart  (flowers and leaves)
  
Scallop Journal Cards  (scalloped circle)

 Piece of striped pink card stock

Scraps of card in Aqua, Pale Green and various shades of Pink 

Small pc made printed sentiment

 

   Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store 

-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders

It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.

There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

 

 Kathy xx

Actually, It IS Cricket

   Hello

welcome  to my little crafting place! I hope you're emjoying some lovely Spring weather - its so nice, isn't it? 

I've had a great time playing around with The March Wax Seal of the Month club - it has a beautiful 'Perfect Pattern' seal, which stamps so nicely and I think gives an interesting starting point for different uses.  I've made a start on using it on some cards and I'll be sharing some of my ideas over the next few posts.

One thing I thought was how this seal could be used to conjour up golf, tennis, cricket and footballs - and others I'm sure.  Could be handy with those tricky 'masculine' cards I struggle with

 So here's a Cricket themed card for starters. I just used some digi downloads to help get the theme across, and added one of the little sentiments from the March Glimmer of the Month club to personalise it

 For this seal I used the Pour and Scrape technique and white wax for the top, patterned layer, stamped into red wax for the cricket ball, then stamped the whole thing into green wax for the grass

I used:

March Wax Seal of the Month

White, Red and Green Wax Beads

 

 Sentiment from March Glimmer of the Month 

Black card, white Glimmer foil

 

Digital 'grass' design and other cricket elements from stash

   Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store 

-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders

It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.

There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

 

 Kathy xx

Z Fold Box Card

 

 Hello!

Welcome to my little crafting place! 

Here's where I share the things I've been making, and sometimes other bits of waffle!

Try Something NEW!
Its really easy to get into a crafting rut, isn't it? Well, this week we'dlike you to break out, be brave and try something you've never tried before!
Do you dare to share something using a new technique, a new tool,
maybe a new card fold?

Create anything you like cards, tags, or 3D project. Its up to you!

 

This week my aunt and uncle are celebrating their Diamond Wedding Anniversary - that's a whole 60 years of beng married. Wow! 

So I definitely needed a special card to send, and as this week's challenge called for trying a new technique of some kind it seemed a good idea to tie these two together and have a go at a Z fold box card!

I'd not tried making a Z fold card, let alone tried incorporating a pop out box into one. And of course I only came up with the plan at the last minute so had very little time to work it out, make it and get it in the post!

I love this idea! The basic Z fold is pretty simple but looks effective.  The pop out box bit uses the same kind of structure you add in to the box to add all the embellishments to when you make a box card, and it seems quite obvious to add into the fold-space

 

Here you can see it folded flat (well fairly flat!)

I chose this diamond design digital pape. resized and printed it onto Bazzill Avalanche card

I was very pleased to find this lovely Tonic Studios textured card in my stash which matched the colour of the printed design perfectly

Once the actual structure was made and the hinge inserts added to the 'box' section it was time to get on with the fun decorationg bit!

Actually it was quite fiddly adding the flowers - more so than for a regular box card, so maybe finding an easier way to do it is a job for another time. 

 

This next photo is taken from a higher positon to try and show that there are several rows of flowers in there

 

I used

 

Flowers, Alphabet, Heart dies are all from Spellbinders 

Some are no longer available, but there are similar ones that are.

Aqua, Green and Pink card

Aqua card for base

Digital download printed onto White Avalanche Bazzill 

 'Diamond' gems, pink ribbon

 

Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS is my Affiliate Link to the Spellbinders store
-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders
It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.
There's a UK based shop now, so you c use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by.

 

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

Kathy xx

 

 

Get Well Soon

 Hello!

Welcome to my little crafting place! 

Here's where I share the things I've been making, and sometimes other bits of waffle!

This time I've my card for the Daring Cardmakers to share.

It was the First Friday of the Month, so time for a Monthly Sentimental theme

The theme for March is
GET WELL SOON
Wouldn't it be good to have the perfect card ready to send?
These challenges help us grow our stock of cards for just those times.
So join in, make a couple of cards to match the sentiment and you'll always ...
Be Prepared!

Just to see if it would work, I made this card from a 14cm square of card, on which I marked where the centre fold would be, then used a circle die to part-cut a section which would stand up when the card was folded.  Does that make sense?

My thinking was that if you were to make a card that went into the envelope unfolded then you'd have more scope for adding embellishments and getting away with still using regular postage!

So it looks like this until it's folded

 

 

I used

 

Circle dies

Border punch, flower punch

Leaves are leftovers from other projects

Blue and Pink card

PC generated sentiment

 

Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS is my Affiliate Link to the Spellbinders store
-  you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders
It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.
There's a UK based shop now, so you c use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by.

 

 Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

Kathy xx