Autumn flowers...

The challenge at http://cuttlebugchallenge.blogspot.com/ is to think about Halloween or Autumn. I haven't got any Halloween embossing folders - I love them but like most in the UK we don't go to town on Halloween. Wish we did if only for the sake of using black and orange together - what a stunning colour combination that is?

I haven't really got a specifically Autumn embossing folder either but I picked out this one, stylized flowers, to use with some fabulous mottled copper card that I have in my stash. The stamp is by Magenta and I used metallic Pearl Ex-Press Watercolour Palette to colour the flowers and leaves. The flowers are decoupaged with a copper brad in the final layer to give the card more depth. I've left it without a sentiment - to be truthful I wasn't sure where to put it and another reason was that it seemed like a good card to leave 'open' to any occasion.

Materials used:

• copper effect card
• black card
• cream slightly flecked card
• stylized flowers embossing folder
• Floral Magenta rubber stamp
• Pearl Ex-Press watercolour palette in metallic colours
• black organza ribbon
• copper brads

A Christmas Card...

The challenge at http://www.dutchdare-cardchallenges.blogspot.com/ this week is to create a Christmas card. It is getting dangerously near to that mad time when there just aren't enough minutes in the day to do all the things you need to. This year I have been determined to start early and so every challenge with the word 'christmas' in it gets my vote!

Cynthia at http://rainbowladyschallengeblog.blogspot.com/ had free choice at her blog this week so this card will also be okay for her challenge too.

Materials used:

• acetate base card
• snowflake cuttlebug embossing folder and white card
• silver mirri card
• Rubber Stampede Snowflake stamp
• Brilliance blue ink pad
• glitter embossing powder
• clear gemstones in various sizes
• silver border/corner and greetings peel offs
• angel silver charm and links

Another no stamping challenge...

I don't know about anyone else but I seem to have an awful lot of packs of embellishments (probably from my addicted to QVC days) that I never seem to use. Well the challenge at http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/ was another no stamping one so I took the opportunity to use some floral items out of a pack of embellishments that I have had for a long time.

This card is really a card within a card - the embellishments are attached to the Plasma base card but inside there is a smaller yellow card attached to the back of the plasma. The yellow provides a coloured background for the embellishments.

Materials used:

• plasma base card
• yellow card
• pack of ready made embellishments
• gold sentiment and border peel offs

Christmas animal gift tags...

Didn't want to miss the Christmas animal challenge at http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.com/so better late than never I used my tiniest Penny Black stamp to make a couple of gift tags.

Materials used:

• sizzix tag die
• white and red card
• Christmas ribbon
• Penny Black clear stamp from Christmas Critters set
• Sakura Stardust red and white pens
• Ultrafine white glitter
• silver sentiment peel off

No stamping and sketch...

The challenge this week at http://lotstodocallenges.blogspot.com/ is to create a card without using rubber stamps. I have used the Christmas design papers and extras that were included in this month's Crafts Beautiful magazine. I also used the challenge sketch at http://fridaysketchersblog.blogspot.com/ to create my design. The mock ribbons are the striped backing paper cut into strips. I must admit I wasn't sure about this sketch when I first saw it but I am pleased with the way it has turned out.

Materials used:

• Papers from Crafts Beautiful Magazine
• Burgandy card
• gold brad
• fine gold peel off

Bling...

The challenge at http://ourcreativecorner6.blogspot.com/ is to use 'bling' and anything shiny or sparkly. I've not managed to get a good photo of this card - the corrugated silver card is really, really shiny and the snowflake image is embossed with sparkly embossing powder. Everything sparkles - honestly!!!

Materials used:

• silver mirri card
• white card
• silver corrugated card
• Rubber Stampede Snowflake stamp
• Brilliance blue ink pad
• glitter embossing powder
• clear gemstones in various sizes
• silver border/corner and greetings peel offs

No card but interesting research...

I have had my Wizard die cutting machine for a long time. I bought it when they were first sold in England - infact when there was only one retailer in the whole country who stocked them. At the same time I spent a fortune on the geometric dies which I have used a lot and love cause they have been so useful.

However, the nestabilities hold so many more possibilities and naturally I would love to own those too. I was told that the old style geometric dies and the new nestabilities don't work together - hmmmmmmm well this morning I have been doing some investigating and have found that...

My old oval and rectangle dies are not suitable for combining with nestabilities but...

The large old geometric square and the large nestability square are almost identical - too late to save me money as I have already bought, but maybe if you already have the old die you might want to think twice about buying the new square. Photos below show the difference. The old dies are slightly bigger and therefore leave less of the scallop showing.

I haven't got the basic large nestability circle die set yet so can't show you the two together. The following photo shows the old circle die with the new large nestability circle. As you can see the dies don't work perfectly in the smaller shapes but do combine to a certain extent. The size 4 circle fits in the smaller nestability.

I hope this has proved useful to someone as I know I would have welcomed it when I was trying to decide which nestabilities to invest in.

Bandana Technique...

Until I saw the challenge at http://rainbowladyschallengeblog.blogspot.com/ this week I had never heard of the bandana technique. This is one of the great things about doing challenges you learn new things all the time.

I followed the links and also googled for more information. The more I found out the more I wanted to have a go. This card is my finished project - there was a lot of practising along the way on scraps to check the effect and I didn't find it easy to get a smooth white line. Maybe that depends on the pen you use, but I am sort of pleased with the finished result.

The stamps used are from a clear set of stamps by Heidi Grace and include swirls and delicious spiky flower heads. I found that they lent themselves quite well to this technique.

Materials used:

• red, black and white card
• Heidi Grace clear stamps
• Black versemark ink pad
• White Sakura gel pen
• black organza ribbon
• silver sentiment peel off (coloured with black peel off marker)