Masculine Birthday Card

Hello and welcome back.  It's my turn today to post a project on the Dies R Us Inspiration Blog.   This this project, I made a very easy and simple to put together masculine birthday card.

Just a few dies, some glue, a few gems and voila, card was done.  My wine bottle focal image is from a Hearty Crafts pack that I received as a gift.  However, if you'd like to create your own, the Wine Gear die set from Frantic Stamper is a must to have in your stash of dies :-)

I cut out two of the Square Flowers Frame, from Precious Marieke, in burgundy as I was going for the red wine look for my card. Then cut a few of the grape bunches and grape leaves from Tiny's Vines by Marianne Designs, and used them to decorate the frame.  Lastly, I added a few gems and stamped my greeting.

Remember that every so often, Dies R Us runs a big sale on international dies. During these times, you'll find dies from companies such as Marianne Designs, Lea'bilities, and Joy Crafts among others. The best way to know about these fabulous sales is to subscribe to the Dies R Us Newsletter.  

As always, here is a  quick guide to the crafty supplies used,

 each linked to the Dies R Us store for your convenience.

Square Flowers Frame

Precious Marieke

Wine Gear

 Frantic Stamper

Tiny's Vines

Marianne Designs

FineLine Bottle Applicator

And that was that!  The result was a simple masculine birthday card that only took me about 20 minutes to put together, but looks great to send to my brother for his 50th birthday. I hope you enjoyed your visit and that I was able to inspire you to use your dies, create a project, and come play along with us at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog for your chance to win a gift voucher to the Dies R Us Store.  A new challenge begins on the 1st and 15th of every month.  Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Pinterest too.

Click below for:

STORE
 CHALLENGE BLOG
  FACEBOOK
  INSPIRATION BLOG

FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

Crafty hugs,

Ice Cream Sundae Birthday Card

Welcome back crafting friends.  I'm at the Dies R Us Inspiration Blog today, sharing a fun Ice Cream Sundae card with you.  I love interactive cards and pop ups are one of my favourites. I'm a great fan Karen Burniston dies, and her latest release has many fun and interactive cards to choose from and they're just perfect for any occasion!  To look through all of her dies at the Dies R Us store, please visit HERE.  Now onto my card ...

Ta-da!!!
 Isn't it cute and delicious looking?  Just perfect as we near the end of summer 😀

The front of the card is simple, but I thought it was effective leading to the surprise pop-up inside.

Here is a close up of the ice cream sundae,

and the bottom section where you have a small decorative mat to write your message.  Although I followed Karen's tutorial video to assemble the pop up mechanism, I added a few extra details of my own.  Let me show you how ...

After all the die cutting, I gathered all my pieces together and using my FineLine Applicator bottle, I adhered the ice cream scoops together.

While the ice cream bowl was still in the die, I used Memento Summer Sky ink to sponge a shadow to give it a little dimension.

Using a regular small doily, I placed the ice cream bowl die where I wanted it to look like the bowl was standing on the doily when the card was opened.  Next I cut the Happy Birthday and the Celebrate dies twice - once in the light brown that other in chocolate brown. I off set them a tiny bit when I adhered them together in order to get the impression of a shadow behind each other. This makes the words stand out more.  I also cut out the scalloped message mat by using the Twist Panel Pop-up die.  When the card was done, I felt like there was a lot of empty space left at the top, so used a banner to put across it, after decorating it with small gem dots.  I also used a few of these on the bowl for a little extra interest.
That was it.  It sounds like a lot of work, but it really isn't and the result is a fun interactive card well worth the time spent on it.

As always, here is a  quick guide to the crafty supplies used,

 each linked to the Dies R Us store for your convenience.

Ice Cream Sundae Pop-up

Karen Burniston

Happy Birthday

Karen Burniston

Celebrate

Karen Burniston

Twist Panel Pop-up

Karen Burniston

Flag Banner

Impression Obsession

(I used Heart Banner from La-la Land which is no longer available at the store,

 but this one works just as well.)

Memento Ink - Summer Sky 

FineLine Bottle Applicator

That is it from me for today, crafting friends.   I hope you enjoyed your visit and that I was able to inspire you to use your dies, create a project, and come play along with us at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog for your chance to win a gift voucher to the Dies R Us Store.  A new challenge begins on the 1st and 15th of every month.  Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Pinterest too.

Click below for:

STORE
 CHALLENGE BLOG
  FACEBOOK
  INSPIRATION BLOG

FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

I would like to play along with following challenges:

Scrappy Land - Anything Goes
Classic DT Open Challenge

Crafty hugs,

Hello!

Hello crafting friends. 

I'm back from a wonderful overseas vacation, spent with family and old friends.

Of course time flew by and I could have done with at least another couple of weeks, but I was missing the kids and grandkids, so I'm happy to be back!

I'd love to go back and catch up on everyone's beautiful projects and leave some bloggie love, for the month of August, but truth be told, I just don't have the time as I have a lot of catching up to do in the non crafting world.

So, please forgive me but I will do my very best to start afresh as from today :-)

 I hope everyone had a wonderful summer. I can't believe that it's almost September!  Time for Fall, Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas projects!!!  This is my favourite crafting time of the year.  

I have a lot of projects to share with you in September and have started the month off with a DT project for Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round, so please do come back for a visit.

Till next time, 

September Challenge at CCAYR - Food

Hello and welcome to September's challenge at

 Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round

 hosted by the Gingerbread Gals.

September Challenge ~ Food

Prize:
In order to celebrate the 11th anniversary of Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round, Deanne is offering a $20 gift certificate to an online craft store of your choice!

Oh yum! I love everything about Christmas, especially the food :-)

I'm Portuguese and we celebrate just about everything with food :-)

We all sit around a large table, eating, drinking and catching up and yes, we sometimes all talk and laugh at the same time, but no, no-one is mad at each other :-)  We're just a fun loving people that really enjoy our food and carry recipes through the ages from family member to family member!

So with this being said, you can imagine that this challenge was not a hard one for me :-)  One of the things I enjoy at Christmas time in December is that the weather is perfect for hot cocoa with marshmallows and of course gingerbread cookies :-)  You see, when we lived in South Africa and spent our Christmas at the beach, we enjoyed anything that was cold and refreshing.  Christmas in the summer is not very conducive to having hot cocoa and cookies!!
So without further ado, here is the card I made for this challenge.

**Crafty Ingredients**

Card size - 5.5" x 5.5"

Card stocks - GinaK.

Stitched patterned - my stash

Image - Kadoodle Bug Designs

Greeting stamp - Christmas Sayings - Creative Expressions

Holly stamp - very old from my stash - no info on it

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I'd love for you to create a project and join in the fun by linking it to our blog at Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round.

You have till the end of the month to link your projects.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Merry Little Christmas Challenge
Love to Craft

Till next time,

Crafty hugs,

Set of Coasters

Hello crafting friends and welcome to challenge #8 at Lavinia World,

where the theme is always Anything Goes!

I was at Michaels the other day and walked by the Cricut Infusable Ink stand.  To be honest, I felt a little out of touch. There was a time when everything Cricut was my world, but then I discovered dies and stamps, and well, what can I say?  I do still use my Cricut but not as much as I used to.  Anyway while reading through the pamphlets to familiarize myself with this new Infusable Ink magic, I spotted a set of 4 glazed ceramic coasters and I knew right there and then that I had to have them, because this project popped into my mind ...

Isn't it great when you have a project in mind and it comes out just as you envisioned it? Although having said that, I'm a person who loves colour, so at first I thought they were a little blah, but the more I look at them, the more I like them just the way they are.  These were all stamped with a variety of Lavinia World stamps (see listed below which stamps were used for which coaster) and they were all stamped using Jet Black StazOn ink.  My stamps are all stained black, but they work perfectly well, so don't let that deter you from using StazOn ink.  I find that it's the best ink to stamp on a multitude of surfaces and holds up pretty well.  I made a set of coasters about 8 years ago, and they're still holding up well.

For this first coaster, I stamped the Star Blossom, then the dragon fly from the Fairy Bugs stamp set, and lastly one of the Fairy Foragers.  I always use the acetate sheet that comes with each stamp to help me plan out where everything is going to go.

I love this Fairy Bridge.  I centered it on the coaster, then stamped another fairy from the Fairy Foragers and then a few of the Willow vines.  I'm pretty sure they're supposed to hang, but I think they look great in this scene :-)

I love waterscapes, so this is one of my favourites 😄  I began by stamping the Lily Pad, followed by the Bulrushes (cattails) and lastly another of the Fairy Foragers. Then I went back and stamped another lily leaf by only inking part of the Lily Pad stamp.

For this last coaster, I used the Fairy Chain - Small, but even that was too wide across, so I had to leave out one of the fairies. Next I stamped the Vine in the center and used the Mini Leaf 1to fill in the remaining space.

I'm planning on giving this set away as a gift, but I'll definitely make more.

I think they make sweet little gifts for those special people in our lives.

Here is a quick recap of all the products I used,

 each linked to the Lavinia World store, for your convenience.

Star Blossom

Fairy Bugs

Fairy Foragers

Fairy Bridge

Willow

Lily Pad

Bulrushes

Vine

Mini Leaf 1

Fairy Chain - Small

Anytime you stamp on a very smooth surface, you have to have a very steady hand or use some sort of stamping tool in order to get the images stamped without smearing.  For me, the Fiskars Stamp Press worked out the best. The coasters are just a tad too thick to use in a Misti.  It's not too big of a deal though.  If you make a mistake, just grab a tissue,  dab it with rubbing alcohol and wipe if off.  Then you can go for a second try, or third, etc.  :-)

Thank you so much for stopping by.  I hope you enjoyed your visit and will make a project to come play along with us.  Although our theme is always Anything Goes, you do have to use physical stamps, either rubber or clear. 

 NO DIGI stamps allowed. 

We prefer that your submissions use Lavinia stamps, but it's not a requirement.  However, if you do use Lavinia stamps in your project, your chances of winning are doubled.

The winner of the challenge will be able to proudly display our Lavinia World winner's badge on their blog, and receive a $15 gift certificate to the Lavinia World store.  Lavinia World offers the complete range of Lavinia stamps and papers.  Although Lavinia Stamps is from the UK, Lavinia World is a US based store that ships worldwide.

Also, please note that we are not part of any other entity or Facebook group that carries Lavinia stamps.  ONLY the cards posted to Lavinia World Challenges will be entered into the drawing for the Lavinia World prize. Also note that the gift certificates are ONLY valid at Lavinia World. 

 For more inspiration, visit our Challenge Blog and see all the wonderful and creative projects my team mates made for you.

We'd love for you to follow us on Facebook and Instagram too!

Till next time,

crafty hugs, 

The Spirit of Christmas

Hello crafting friends and welcome to challenge #7 at Lavinia World,

where the theme is always Anything Goes!

I have a Christmas ornament to share with you today.

I purchased the heart shaped mat ceramic ornament at Hobby Lobby.

I stamped Mary in the center using StazOn Jet Black ink.

Then, taking the Mini Holly stamp, I randomly stamped around the edge of the ornament, this time using Versafine Clair Shady Lane ink.

All that was left was to add a few red gems for the berries.

On the back of the ornament, I stamped the  Spirit of Christmas sentiment using StazOn Jet Black ink.  For the holly border around the edge of the ornament, I did the same as the front.  I didn't add gems thinking that it would probably always face the tree, but I'm having second thoughts about it and may just go back and fill in all the berries with the same small red gems.  

To finish it off,  I used a small piece of gold threaded tartan ribbon to hang the ornament.  

I think these will be perfect as small gifts, or add-ons to all those extra special gifts we need at Christmas time, for teachers, colleagues, mail carriers, etc.  I'm sure that family and friends would appreciate them too.

Here is a quick recap of all the products I used,

 each linked to the Lavinia World store, for your convenience.

Mary

 Mini Holly

Spirit of Christmas

Versafine Clair Inks

I must admit that I really like the way this ornament came out and since it's a mat ceramic, it wasn't difficult to stamp on it. Thank you so much for stopping by.  I hope you enjoyed your visit and will make a project to come play along with us.  Although our theme is always Anything Goes, you do have to use physical stamps, either rubber or clear. 

 NO DIGI stamps allowed. 

We prefer that your submissions use Lavinia stamps, but it's not a requirement.  However, if you do use Lavinia stamps in your project, your chances of winning are doubled.

The winner of the challenge will be able to proudly display our Lavinia World winner's badge on their blog, and receive a $15 gift certificate to the Lavinia World store.  Lavinia World offers the complete range of Lavinia stamps and papers.  Although Lavinia Stamps is from the UK, Lavinia World is a US based store that ships worldwide.

Also, please note that we are not part of any other entity or Facebook group that carries Lavinia stamps.  ONLY the cards posted to Lavinia World Challenges will be entered into the drawing for the Lavinia World prize. Also note that the gift certificates are ONLY valid at Lavinia World. 

 In need of inspiration?  No problem!  Just visit our Challenge Blog and see all the wonderful and creative projects my team mates made for you.

We'd love for you to follow us on Facebook and Instagram too!

Till next time,

crafty hugs,