One Piece of Mirri board = three cards

I have a lot of Mirri board (mirror shine card) sitting unused and unloved in a draw, so a while a go I set myself the challenge of creating something with some of it. From one A6 piece of card I was able to create these three cards.  A big thanks to Kathy Racoosin for giving me the idea to use the die waste for a card too!

I die cut a spellbinders ornament from Mirri card and then added a window with a spellbinders inverted scallop die, the Hedgehog is by Penny Black "Bearing Gift" 1861E (he is now available in the clear set "Christmas Critters" 30-006 and has been coloured with Copic markers.  The background card has been stamped with Penny Black cling "Circles and Lines" stamp 40-084.  I then created this variation using the waste card from the bauble using the same stamps.

 
Finally I used the waste from the inverted scallop window to create this card

Again the background has been stamped with Penny Black cling "Circles and Lines" stamp 40-084, the robin and sentiment has been stamped from the clear set "Winter Wonderland" 30-083 and coloured with Copics.

Thanks for visiting and all your lovely comments, they mean so much to me.
Hugs Cathy
x

Simply Sketched

One of the Penny Black Design team members Jenyfur, is a whizz when it comes to creating sketches, this week she has created this sketch for creating a simple card.

I found a pre-printed card blank and added three lines of Gelato; softening and blending the edges with my fingers. "Blue Wings" 2422J was then stamped and embossed with black embossing powder, Gelatos were smeared over the butterfly and then blended with the fingers, it was then cut out and adhered to the card with dimensional glue. 

If you have time, pop on over to Penny Black to see some fabulous creations from our new designer kelley, here.  

I am going to have surgery on my shoulder tomorrow and don't know how long it will be before I am back making cards, in the mean time I will try and post some cards that I have made in the past on my blog. Thanks for all your well wishes and for visiting today, Hugs Cathy x

Happy Birthday my dear friend Virginia

A dear friend Virginia Lu will be turning 50 soon, so to mark the 
occasion I made her this special card.

I used the Penny Black "Tulip Jungle" stamp 2300K and only inked
the flowers this was then stamped onto white card stock and coloured
with Copics, to add more dimension to the tulips I dry embossed them
to give a raised effect. The 50 was cut from a Sizzix die and the card 

shape is spellbinders Labels 20 - I traced round the outside and inside 

of the die to get the pink filagree frame.

Hope you have a lovely day Virginia!

Hugs Cathy

x

Keeping it Simple

We can all be guilty of making life too complicated sometimes, and this also applies to card making! I often stamp images several times or have lots of colouring and cutting to create a card; Jenyfur and Kelley fellow design team members are showcasing simple clean designs this week over on the Penny Black blog here, so I thought I would make a card with similar principals.

Penny Black Materials used: "Christmas Flourish" 3900H, "Snow Dust" 4102K, "Warm Wishes" 40-074, "Clear Skies" Mix and Match Cardstock 10-001.

Instructions:
Step 1:  stamp Snow dust onto white card using Pearlescent Sky Blue Brilliance ink, add clear gems to snow trail.

Step 2: stamp grid pattern from Warm Wishes cling set onto blue strip of card, then punch out a scalloped edge, using an edger punch or die.

Step 3: stamp Merry Christmas with Versafine Onyx Black ink onto a strip of Craft card, mount onto blue card.

Step 4: wrap raffia around bottom of sentiment and then adhere to main card.

Step 5: Round of alternate corners of card with corner punch to finish.

I have to say I really enjoyed keeping it simple and if I run out of time for making my Christmas cards, this will be my fall back design!

Enjoy the rest of the week and do hop on over to the Penny Black Blog to see some other clean and simple designs.

Hugs Cathy
x

Ren's Clean and Simple cards

My husband Ren is always moaning that I take so long making cards, I mean how difficult can it be?
So today I set him the challenge of creating a clean and simple design, this was his first idea...

then he made this alternate version with a banner for the sentiment

He would love to know which design, if either you prefer?  So please leave him a comment.
He has used the baubles from the Penny Black clear set "Christmas Treasures" 30-085 and the sentiment from "Christmas with Mimi" 30-079.  The deer is a Tim Holtz Sizzix die cut.

Did you know that this week is dedicated to Clean and Simple cards on the Penny Black blog here, there is also a special announcement on Monday, so do hop on over and check it out.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today I am dedicating my blog to my wonderful Dad, who is celebrating his ** birthday (don't worry Dad I won't tell everyone how OLD you are)

Here is his card

The base card was hand drawn and cut out to resemble a cloud, the edges were then airbrushed with Copic marker B32, and the "happy, happy" sentiment 106E from Penny Black stamped.

The plane is by Penny black "Hedgehopper" 4126K, it has been stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured with copics. C1,C3, C5 Rotor and wheels, Y28 Wheel and rotor support, B21, B23, B0000 Plane body, E00, E02, E31, E47, E49, R20 Hedgehog.  The banner was stamped from the "sentiments"30-025 set ; I bent the clear stamp when placing on the acrylic block to get the look of movement and then drew the banner around the words.

The banner is attached to the plane with craft wire, bent into a bow at the plane end, the plane is then attached to the cloud with thin florist wire, this makes it wobble and adds movement to the card.

Don't forget to hop on over to the Penny Black Blog this week to see all the elegant cards that our design team have been creating here.

Do check out my other post for today below.

All that remains is to wish my Dad a wonderful day!

Hugs Cathy
x

Did someone say Elegant?

This week the Penny Black design Team have been focusing on Elegant cards, well not being the most elegant of people, I found this quite a challenge! Yes I can hear my friends shouting now "Cathy, Elegant, I don't think so!" Well if you would like to see some true elegance then hop on over to Penny Black here and see what the rest of the team have created.

Penny Black Materials: "Winter Wonders" 30-087, "Winter Sky" 4204L, "Warm Wishes" 40-074, "Clear Skies" Mix and Match Cardstock 10-001

Instructions: A white piece of card was cut using spellbinders wonky rectangle, then coloured with Tumbled Glass and Chipped Sapphire ink.  Winter sky was then stamped and embossed with Wow Sparkle Snow embossing powder.  The base was stamped with warm wishes using chipped sapphire.

The snowflake was made by cutting a Spellbinders build a snowflake out of acetate, covered with glossy accents and then sprinkled with Pinflair diamond ice. The back was then painted white and a brad added to the centre. The sentiment was then stamped onto white card, distressed and trimmed to fit. The card was then layered as seen.


Thank you for visiting me and have a great weekend.
Hugs  Cathy
x

Recycling A Christmas Card Tradition

My friend Audrey and I decided last year that we would save each others Christmas card with the challenge of recycling them to create our cards to each other this year.  The aim was to re-use every bit of the card....even the envelope!

This was Audrey's card to me last year

This beauty arrived in a plain white envelope with a white address label, with our names printed on it!

So I set about making my card, I carefully peeled off the deer (saving it for my envelope) and added a vellum flower  which was embossed with white powder onto two different colours of vellum using Penny Black's  "Christmas Pride" 40-075. The finishing touch was the sentiment from the clear set '"Winter Wonders" 30-087.   Here is the result

My only problem was that it now was too big for Audrey's original envelope, so a few scraps of coloured paper were added, the label coloured with distress inks and the deer strategically placed to hide our names....it looks a bit thrown together but at least I can say I used every last scrap that Audrey sent me.

This was a fun recycling challenge, we aim to carry on this tradition for a few years yet, so I will wait with baited breath to see what Audrey does with this card for next year!

Bauble elegance

Elegance is the theme over on the Penny Black blog this week, the design team will wow you with all there creations here. This isn't so much elegant in design but inspired by traditional cards that have baubles.

I have to confess I am not normally a fan of bauble or candle cards that you buy in the shops, however hand crafted cards that I have seen on the internet with these images always seem to wow me, so I thought I would give one a try.

The following Penny Black products were used to create this card:

"Poinsettia Script" 40-085, "Snowflake and Holly" 4206L, "Christmas Flourish" 3900H, "Forest Glen" Mix & Match cardstock  07-003.

I also used spellbinders ovals and  labels 20.

Thank you all for your lovely comments and visiting me.

Hugs Cathy x

Gif Card holder

With Christmas creeping up on us, my attention has been drawn on what to buy for family members, I always want to think of something special that they wouldn't buy themselves or would like as a treat.  


I wanted to get a magazine subscription for one of my family (if any of my famiy are reading this, you will be trying to figure out who and what magazine!).  But this type of gift has a downside, no physical present to open on the day, so I thought I would create a gift card holder that I could slot the magazine details in.
I created the gift card based on a credit card size and intend to write the details of the present on the back.

Inside

Instructions:
Penny Black Materials: "Christmas Express" 30-080, "Let it Snow" 30-086, "Air Mail" 30-072, "Coral Reef" Mix and Match Cardstock 15-003.

Fold mix and match cardstock in half and stamp truck, ensuring the end of the truck lined up with the fold.  Cut outline and window. Stamp and cut out second truck with white card to make inside pocket for gift card and for Mimi in the window. 

The outside is then coloured with Prisma pencils (wheel hubs silver paint) and the inside airbrushed with copics. The sentiments are then stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink.


Did you know that the rest of the Penny Black design team have also been creating gift card holders this week on the blog?  Why not hop on over and check out their creations here.


Now to leave you with a scary thought, there are only 6 weeks left to get all your Christmas cards made! Have a good weekend.
Hugs Cathy
x

Mum misses her offspring when they go to school

My daughter recently went off to university and our home is so quiet without her, this got me thinking of all the mums that now have quieter moments as their children have gone off to school, college or university. These thoughts were the inspiration for this card, Mimi is stood outside her home ready to go off to school.

The stamps are from Penny Black and include the New Victorian Homes 40-091 available here and Teachers Pet 4216H available here.  I have also used Miss You 3453C and Sweet Home 40-054 available here. 

Each image was stamped using Memento  Tuxedo Black ink onto a separate piece of card, the houses were coloured with Inktense watercolour pencils and Prisma pencils and Mimi was coloured with Copics, the grass was also coloured with copics but using an airbrush to make shading easier. 

The background card was airbrushed using copics and cut and folded in a zig-zag format (see angled photo below and template for fold instructions).  The stamped elements were then cut out and added to the background card and a die cut cloud with the sentiment placed in the sky to finish off.

I hope you have enjoyed visiting me today, my fellow Penny Black design team have also been creating projects this week using the latest stamp release; if you have time I would strongly recommend you check out their amazing creations here.

Thanks for all your wonderful comments as always, have a great weekend.