Bah! Humbug! day - Stitching...

Ooooooooooooooh stitching - enough to make the blood run cold!  I see stitching on everyone else's cards and it always looks amazing, but I am such a scaredy cat (plus the sewing machine is in the very deep dark recesses of a very overpacked cupboard).  However, no worries at Bah! Humbug! because any stitching counts - faux - stamped - drawn - embossed - any kind of stitching so even wooses (is that spelt right?) like me can join in.

The stitching on my card is faux blanket stitch created using a set of Elusive Images rubber stamps that are all Christmas images with a stitch effect on.  The other blanket stitch effect on the pink squares was created using one of the stitched square embossing folders by Cuttlebug and then sanding to make them pop.  The pink and blue papers are from an amazing paper pad by HOTP that Max gave me in York.  

Other challenges...

• Fab's Big Christmas Card Challenge - different technique (faux stitching using embossing folders and sanding - hope that counts)
• The Secret Crafter - Stitching

Spring Quilt...

The challenge at Roses on Paper at the moment is to make a quilt card. As I was sorting out my craft stuff recently (well okay ransacking things to try and find something I thought I had) I found a Hot of the Press book on quilted cards. A book that I have had ages and not used because it seemed a shame to pull out any of the papers.

Anyway I still haven't used any of them, but I did use some of the ideas in the book to create my card for this challenge.

The papers I have used are from another HOTP and the beautiful stamp is one of the stamps in the Spring Set by Whiff of Joy. I wanted to get an exact colour match on her outfit to the quilting papers so I paper pieced.

My card is also for the challenge at Stamp Something where they want us to 'Think Spring' - strangely enough their challenge this week is being sponsored by Roses on Paper.

Another cup of coffee...

This is another card made using the HOTP book 'Shaped Cards'. I made it yesterday, at the same time as my other card, but I wasn't totally happy with it.

Today, I've added a black peel off to the top of the cuttlebug embossing and roses to the corners which has improved the look of it, but I still don't like it as much as the pretty gentle pink card.

One thing I am really pleased about it the way I managed to get a really wide piece of cuttlebug embossing to give the impression of a table cover at the bottom of the card. No way would the piece fit in my machine, but using a rolling pin on the folder worked great. I would definitely recommend that for anyone wanting a wider than normal piece of embossing.

Coffee invite...

The images I've used for this card are from a HOTP book called 'Shaped Cards'. This was a present from one of my friends (thank you Max) quite a while ago and to be truthful it's one of those things that you don't like to cut into.

However, my new aim is not leave things in cupboards gathering dust but to use them and enjoy myself. Now in the book the cup is called a coffee cup and is therefore ideal for the challenge at http://www.daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/ which has the theme of coffee this week.

Personally, I think it's more like a teacup but there isn't a 'tea' challenge so I've decided to believe the publishers at HOTP and go with them. I haven't made the card like the one in the book though - well the card was supposed to be a shaped card with the fold at the bottom of the saucer. Surely that would look strange if you tried to stand the card up and the coffee would fall out!!!

Here is a picture of the secret message under the coffee flap. I used a clear sticker from my stash to add this to the card.

I added a lace border to give a sort of table look to the card and a tag attached with an organza bow. This card is one for my 'card box'. I think it will be just great for inviting one of my friends round or out for coffee.