Cross Stitch Inchie

I recently took part in a cross stitch 'Inchie' swap and this is the gift I sent to Aileen.  I've previously used this bow pattern for a Christmas tree ornament which was stitched on 14 count aida.  By switching my fabric to 18 count aida I was able to trim around the bow and fray the edges to make an inchie.

I layered the finished cross stitch onto a die cut red square and then attached it to a cork backed notebook I bought from a local shop.

Kath x

Wildwood Cottage Birthday

I made this card for a young girl who loves fairies - the paper is so pretty I kept the card very simple.

The paper was from a 12" x 12" pad - I trimmed it to a 6.25" square, layered it onto purple card and attached it to the card front.  I then die cut 'Happy Birthday' from the purple card and attached it to the card.   Like I said, I kept it simple!

To make this card I used:
     7" x 7" white matt card blank
     Heartfelt Creations 'Wildwood Cottage Collection' paper
     Crafts Too 'Happy Birthday' die
     Purple pearlescent card

I am entering the following challenges:
     Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - August Challenge
     Cutie Pie Challenge - Hip to be Square
     Pearly Sparkles Challenge - Anything Goes
     Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes 198

Kath x

August Rudolph Day

It's time for another Rudolph Day - this month my card uses both wet and dry embossing.  I'm also using a new Clearly Besotted stamp and die set that I bought in the CB clearance sale - perfect for the NBUS Challenge. 

I used the stitched die to emboss a square in the centre of the card front.  I used the Crimson Red ink to stamp the mittens onto a snippet of white card and embossed them with clear embossing powder.  I stamped the hearts onto the plain mittens before using the coordinating die to cut them.  I placed the card into my MISTI and laid the mittens onto the embossed square to line up the sentiment.  The sentiment was then stamped and embossed.  To finish I attached the mittens with foam pads.

To make my card I have used:
     4" x 4"" white matt card blank
     Clearly Besotted 'Warm Wishes' stamps and coordinating dies
     Lawn Fawn 'Outside In Stitched Square Stackables' die
     Kars tan embossing mat
     Versafine Crimson Red and Deep Lagoon inks
     Stampendous clear embossing powder
     Snippets of white matt card

I am entering the following challenges:
     Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Embossing (wet or dry)
     NBUS Challenge - August (my CB stamps and dies)
     Pearly Sparkles Challenge - Anything Goes 54
     Rudolph Day Challenge - August Challenge

Kath x

Cross Stitch Orange Tree

This is the third stitched assessment for my Cross Stitch Diploma.  This assessment required adding dimension to the project and I used seed beads for the oranges.  We also had to use as many stitches as possible that had been covered during the course - I used cross stitch, half stitch, quarter stitch, three quarter stitch, back stitch, double running stitch, confetti stitch and star stitch.

This design was a cover gift from Needlecraft magazine (purchased on ebay).  The pot should have been stitched in cross stitch with added beads, but I changed it so I could incorporate more stitches - the star stitch and double running stitch.

Kath x

Happy Birthday

I used the same sketch as yesterday's Snow Friends Christmas card to make this quick card for a friend's birthday.  

I trimmed the white hammer card so it was slightly smaller than the kraft card blank and die cut the circle from the upper corner.  I layered the dark teal paper behind the card before attaching the panel to the card front.  I then die cut the sentiment from berry textured card and attached it in the circle.

To make this card I used:
     6" x 6" kraft card blank
     My Favorite Things 'Inside & Out Stitched Circle STAX Die-namics' and Crafts Too 'Happy Birthday' dies
     Marianne Design 'Wintertime' paper
     White hammer card

I am entering the following challenges:
     CAS(E) this Sketch - Sketch 385
     Just Us Girls - Colour Challenge - Kraft, Dark Teal & Berry
     Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes 197
     The Male Room - Our 7th Birthday

Kath x

Snow Friends

This is another image from my 'printed and not coloured' box - perfect to make a quick Christmas card today for a few challenges.

I layered red snowflake paper onto green textured card and attached it to the card front.  The digi was resized and printed onto white card before being cut with a stitched circle die. This was coloured with Promarkers to match the colours in the background paper.  I trimmed the left edge of the snowman image and attached it to to the left side of the card.  I die cut the sentiment from green textured and attached it to the lower edge of the card.  To finish I added white Fun Flock to the hat trim and Diamond Stickles to the snow.

To make this card I used:
     6" x 6" white matt card
     Bugaboo 'Snow Friends' digi stamp
     My Favorite Things 'Inside & Out Stitched Circle STAX Die-namics' and Creative Expressions 'Festive Collection - Contemporary Happy
     Christmas' die
     Promarkers
     Making Cards 'The Ultimate Craft Paper Collection'
     Green textured card and white matt card

I am entering the following challenges:
     CAS(E) this Sketch - Sketch 385
     Christmas Kickstart Challenge - Snow is Falling
     Cutie Pie Challenge - Hip to be Square

Kath x

Another Cross Stitch Heart

This cross stitch heart was my second practical assessment for my Cross Stitch Diploma.  The requirement was to stitch a design using confetti stitch - these are single cross stitches.  The stitches are started with a knotless loop and finished by securing the thread under the stitch at the back of the fabric.  This is quite a long process when there are a lot of confetti stitches, but it does prevent threads showing through the fabric.

I do like this pretty rainbow heart which is a design from Fandom Cross Stitchery. 

Kath x

Rainbow Happy Birthday

 As part of my continuing effort to reduce my snippets mountain I've made this CAS snippets birthday card for a few challenges.

I trimmed a piece of white hammer card so it was slightly smaller than the front of the card blank.  Using the smallest fishtail flag I die cut strips of card in rainbow colours.  The die wasn't long enough for my strips so I cut from the flag to almost the end of the die before moving it down the card, lining up the dots and cutting the rest of the strip.  Following the sketch I attached these rainbow strips across the card.  All my snippets of black card were quite thin, the sort I use for matting, so I cut 'Happy Birthday' three times and layered them before attaching the sentiment across the rainbow strips.

To make this card I used:
     6" x 6" white hammer card blank
     My Favorite Things 'Fishtail Flags' and Crafts Too 'Happy Birthday' dies
     Snippets of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet textured card, white hammer card and black matt card

I am entering the following challenges:
     Freshly Made Sketches - Sketch 448
     Seize the Birthday - Rainbow Colours
     The Male Room - Our 7th Birthday  

Kath x

Rockin' Robin Gift Tags

I've made a few Christmas gift tags today using some robins I stamped and die-cut ages ago, but never coloured. 

I die cut and embossed three tags from white card and threaded a piece of red embroidery thread through the top of each tag.  The robins and hats had already been stamped and die cut, so I only had to colour them with Promarkers.  The robins were attached to the lower edge of the tags and I attached the hats with a small foam pad.  A Wink of Stella added the final touch to the hats.

To make these tags I used:

     Creative Expressions 'Pierced Tags' die
     Clearly Besotted 'Rockin' Robin' stamps and coordinating dies
     Versafine Onyx Black ink
     Kars tan embossing mat
     Promarkers
     Snippets of white matt card
     Wink of Stella
     Red embroidery thread

I am entering the following challenges:
     ABC Christmas Challenge - R for Robins
     Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes
     Fezzwig's Festive Frolics - Wrap it Up

Kath x

Partridge in a Pear Tree

I didn't think I had anything suitable for the CAS Christmas 'Twelve Days of Christmas Challenge' and then I remembered I had a die that had been a cover gift with a magazine ages ago.  So here is my card!

I trimmed a piece of white hammer card so it was slightly smaller than the card blank, rounded the corners and die cut a stitched circle from the centre.  I added a snippet of beige script paper behind the aperture and attached it to the card blank.  I then die cut the partridge from a snippet of dark green card and attached it to the centre.

To make this card I used:

     5" x 5" white hammer card blank
     Immediate Media 'Partridge in a Pear Tree' die

     My Favourite Things 'Inside & Out Stitched Circle STAX Die-namics' die
     Snippets of beige script paper, white hammer and green matt card

I am entering the following challenges:
     CAS Christmas - Twelve Days of Christmas

     Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - No stamp or digital image

     Just Us Girls - Die Cut and a Window

     Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge 384

Kath x

Congrats

I've come across another old Lili of the Valley Art Pad image and used it to make another cute baby card.

I attached pink floral paper to the front of the card and die cut a stitched circle from the centre.  I attached a piece of white card to the inside of the front.  I die cut the precoloured image with the stitched circle and inlaid it into the frame.  I stamped 'Congrats' with grey ink onto white card and then used the coordinating die to cut the sentiment and two further sentiments.  These were layered and attached to the upper corner of the image.

To make this card I used:
     6" x 6" white matt card
     Lili of the Valley Art Pad (I'm not sure of the name of the pad, possibly 'Babies' or 'Toddlers'
     Clearly Besotted 'Modern Calligraphy' stamp and die
     My Favorite Things 'Inside & Out Stitched Circle STAX Die-namics' die
     Memento Gray Flannel ink
     Wild Rose Studio 'Annabelle's Meadow' paper
     White matt card

I am entering the following challenges:

     Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - August challenge

     Cutie Pie Challenge - Hip to be Square

     Pearly Sparkles Challenge - Anything Goes

Kath x

So Sorry You're Leaving

This is another leaving card I made for one of Steve's colleagues  I love this BoBunny paper, which had been a magazine cover gift years ago.  I made a larger 7" x 7" card as I didn't want to trim the paper as that would have cut the butterflies from the sides - I also thought a larger card would allow plenty of space for people to write messages inside the card.

I layered the paper onto a piece of card and them trimmed the edges of the card before die cutting a stitched circle in the centre.  The panel was then attached to the card.  I printed the sentiment onto white paper, layered it onto white card and die cut the stitched circle.  The sentiment was then inlaid into the card.

To make this card I used:
     7" x 7" white matt card blank
     Polkadoodles 'So Sorry You're Leaving' free digi sentiment
     My Favorite Things 'Inside & Out Stitched Circle STAX Die-namics' die
     BoBunny 'Isabella' paper pad 
     White card

I am entering the following challenges:

     Crafty Calendar Challenge - Anything Goes
     Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - July challenge

     Pearly Sparkles Challenge - Anything Goes

Kath x

Happy Birthday

I made this birthday card for a friend's birthday using papers from Funky Fossil's 'In To The Blue' paper pad that I recently bought with the gift voucher I won from AAA Cards.

I trimmed a piece of pale blue paper attached it to the card, leaving a small margin around the edge.  I die cut the sentiment from dark blue paper and attached it across the bottom of the card.  The inlaid letters were cut from a sheet of beige/pink paper.  I die cut and embossed two hot air balloons from the same sheet of paper, using different parts of the paper to give different effects.  One balloon was attached directly onto the card and the darker one was attached with foam pads.

To make this card I used:

     6" x 6" white matt card blank

     Memory Box 'Grand Happy Birthday' and 'Beautiful Balloon' dies

     Funky Fossil 'In To The Blue' paper pad

I am entering the following challenges:

     AAA Birthday Card Challenge - Tic Tac Toe (I chose Masculine, Die-Cuts, Patterned Paper)

     Allsorts - Make it Masculine

     Just us Girls - Travel

     NBUS - Challenge 17 (I used my new paper pad)

     Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

     The Male Room - Our 7th Birthday

Kath x

Hello

This is the card I made to send to Robyn for the July Card Chain Challenge using the Colour Option (Aqua, Slate & Amethyst), the Sketch Option and Theme Option (Friendship).

I die cut a stitched circle from grey card and die cut 'hello' from the centre.  This circle was attached to the front of the card and trimmed along the edge.  I die cut 'hello' from aqua card and inlaid it, together with the small pieces from the grey hello.  I die cut three stitched ric rac strip (two from aqua and one from amethyst card), trimmed them and attached them across the card.

To make this card I used:
     6" x 6" white hammer card blank
     My Favorite Things 'Inside & Out Stitched Circle STAX Die-namics' & 'Stitched Ric Rac' and Altenew 'Simply Hello' dies 
     Snippets of Amethyst, Aqua and Grey pearlescent card

I am entering the following challanges:
     Crafty Calendar Challenge - Anything Goes
     Pixie's Snippets Playground - Challenge 383
     Pearly Sparkles Challenge - Anything Goes

This is the lovely card I received from Greta:

Kath x