DIY Damask card

Well, I've had a go and I can't say it was the easiest thing in the world to do!
The Shabby Tea rooms want us to use damask this week.  I figured I had lots of swirly stamps so I could use them to make a damask pattern .... this is what I came up with after I raided my son's box of lego to make a stampamijig!  I know it doesn't look much but it took most of the afternoon to put this card together!

I'm entering it into
The Shabby Tea Room #128 Shabby Patterns
Polka Doodles #34 Stitching
Stampin' for the Weekend #16 Pearls and Swirls
Clean&Simple  #205 sketch



The swirl stamps are Chocolate Baroque Butterfly Flourish Swirls and are stamped in Stampin' Up Sahara Sand.
The flowers are a Tim Holtz die, cut out of pink papers and tissue paper
The sentiment is a Stampin' Up set, Curly Cute
It has faux stitching around the edge of the damask paper, and teeny tiny pearls in the centres of the flowers.

Going Around in Circles

I quite enjoyed delving into the depths of the craft cupboard for the last card and have kept a few of the bits and bobs I found down there out for this card.  There were a set of big circle and elipse templates that I've used here and some wobbly edge scissors that my children are after now that they've seen them!
The swirls are Sizzix dies and the papers are freebies from magazines that have had some cream tissue paper glued over the top to calm down the colours a bit.

Am entering this into -
Allsorts week 167 - going around in circles

I based the card on Retro Sketches #24 but was too late posting it to enter.  Doh.  Must make a better note of the closing dates!

Lilac Anninversary

I think I had everything out from the craft cupboard this afternoon to make this card, even my very rickety old wobbly edge scissors which haven't seen the light of day for a very long time!

I'm entering this into 3 challenges;
The Shabby Tea Room #125 Sweet Summertime
The Ribbon Reel #33 Button It
Sketch Saturday #219

My 1 year old is currently sitting on my lap 'helping' me post this blog so I won't go into details about how I made it, except to say that I've inked, stamped, die cut, folded, threaded and layered lots of newspaper!




Woo-hoo!  Many thanks to the Shabby Tea Room for awarding this card an honorable mention cup of tea.  You made my day!

Retro Gold

Well I seem to be on a bit of a card making roll at the moment, I've barely packed up all my cutting, sticking and stamping supplies before I feel inspired to get it all out again and make something else.  Maybe it's something to do with the lovely British summer we're (not) having!
I'm entering this card into three challenges -

Less is More, #75, Gold
Retro Sketches #19
Sentimental Sundays, #110, Bingo ( I used pearls, flowers and stamp)

The bottom half of the card is dry embossed with a flower design on plain white paper.
The top half is stamped with a small flowery design in a caramel/gold colour.  I stuck a layer of thin white tissue paper over this to soften it a little.
The stamps are all Stampin' Up (Office Accoutrement and Elementary Elegance).  I heat embossed the large flower in gold, the other stamping was done in gold and just off-gold colours.

There are too many great challenges out there this week to only make one card, so here's my second one which is entering
Mojo Monday 248 - sketch
Papertake - Anything Goes

I loved working with just white the other week so thought I'd give it another go.  I used some white diamond bling card for the big piece, and some plain white thick paper which went through my paper crimper for the smaller piece.  The stamped frame is from a Stampin' Up set I purchased on ebay recently and have used lots.  The scalloped edge is a XCut Dielicious border die, and I made the paper roses after seeing Brenda's beautiful creation for the In Bloom challenge from Allsorts (week 161)

Patterned Paper Flowers

Just when I think that the weekly challenges out there couldn't get any more exciting, four fabilicious ones come along at once!
Clean & Simple Stamping provided the sketch
The Daring Cardmakers dared us to use a minimum of six patterned papers
The Allsorts challenge blog is In Bloom and required the use of  a flower (or bunch)
and the team at Papertake have an anything goes week with the option of using some glitter

So here's my creation which I had lots of fun putting together
The flowers are die cut using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die.  I managed to find six patterned papers in my stash that (sort of) coordinate.  The flower centres are Stampin' Up glitter brads.

Something Shiny

So many great challenges this week I didn't know which one to choose, so I've had a go at combining three.  Unfortunately I wasn't quite quick enough to get it entered into the CASual Fridays one before the deadline.  (Doh - will be better organised next time!)  The two I'm in time for are:
The Shabby Tea Room - Week 119 Diamonds are a girls best friend ( white and silver with pearls / crystals)
Less Is More - Something Shiny

I used a white card blank and heat embossed (in silver) some flowers (from Stampin' Up Growing Green) in a kind of circle shape.  I stuck some shiny diamond gems in the centres of these.
Around the edge of that I used another Stampin Up flower stamp (from the Polka Dot Punches set) which I stamped in silver ink.
I placed a piece of acetate over the top with another Stampin' Up flower (this time from the Printed Petals set) for which I used some white pigment ink.  The acetate is stuck on with some 3D sticky pads to raise it off the card.  I rather like the shadow that the large white flower casts behind it - although it's a bit tricky to see in this photo!
Finally the sentiment was stamped in silver and I've placed some sheer/shiny white ribbon down the side to help disguise my sticky spots.