Paper Lily Leaf: 2017

Thursday, 28 December 2017

Climbing Orchid

Hello! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. I had a lovely time, but I'm always itching to make a more spring-like card after months of making Christmas cards!

I was also desperate to have a go with my new Stampin' Blends that were a particularly fabulous Christmas present. I love them and they do blend beautifully! I decided to make a Z-fold card for these orchids from Lemon Lime Twist cardstock. I also used some dsp that will be coming very soon for Saleabration. The Glitter and Clear Epoxy Shapes are the perfect size for dewdrops on leaves!

I created lots of snippets because I kept getting my base card wrong for some reason (possibly too much Christmas chocolate!) I know that isn't really the point. The only thing I can say in my favour is that the Whisper White used for the sentiment and orchids all derived from a snippet-origin! I am therefore producing my orchids with a flourish for Parsnip and Di over at Pixie's Snippets Playground. I would also like to enter my card over at Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog.

Happy crafting! April x

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Sunday, 17 December 2017

Season of Cheer

Hello! I have taken a pause from general Christmas chaos to make a card. The bells started off life as part of my Amazon advent calendar! They were cut with an X-Cut die called Filigree Bell.

I'm very partial to a beauty advent calendar, but I try to get them when they are reduced. The original price for this one was bonkers. It has yielded some very nice card though!

Other parts of the card have come from Stampin' Up's Watercolor Christmas kit. The card base has a lovely subtle watercolour wash printed on it and the tiny bow (a Waffleflower die) was cut from a snippet of Real Red paper. The kit is gorgeous but I get very bored making multiple cards of the same design and so I tend to make the bits into other things. I'm always in awe when people say they have made a hundred cards of the same design. I can get easily bored halfway through one of my cards! I think that explains why I found the vellum snowflake on the floor. I have no idea what I made that for originally!

My card is super snippety, so I'm off to ring the bells down Parsnip's ears at Pixie's Snippets Playground! Thank you so much Di for the beautiful Christmas card. My card is currently winging its way to you and I hope you have a lovely Christmas (with lots of time for crafting!)

The theme of my card was inspired by the challenge over at Cards in Envy where the DT are asking for Christmas bells.

Product List

Watercolor Christmas Project Kit

[144649]

Watercolor Christmas Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[144838]

Pretty Pines Thinlits Dies

[141851]

Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies

[145372]

White Vellum A4 Card Stock

[106584]

Saturday, 2 December 2017

CCT Pick a Previous from 2012/13 and Goodbye!

Hello! We have finally reached December over at Christmas Card Throwdown! I hope you have a pile of cards ready for sending and that you have enjoyed our challenges. For this month, we would like you to revisit any previous challenge from 2012 or 2013. I have chosen March 2012 - Christmas animals and birds.

I joined the Design Team of 52 Christmas Card Throwdown in January 2015 and the penguin below was my second DT card! After three fantastic years, I have decided to step down. I have been lucky to work with some very talented people and have made great friends along the way. I'm very much looking forward to taking part in some of the challenges next year. Thank you for having me. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas filled with lots of crafting!
April x

Saturday, 18 November 2017

CCT November Colour Challenge

Hello! It's a colour challenge this week at Christmas Card Throwdown. Our lovely hostess Gill has chosen this fab combo -

I chose SU's Tranquil Tide as my green cardstock and I've stamped the background stars with a stamp from Wood Words. The reindeer is from Santa's Sleigh and the dies I've used are a mixture from the Mini Treat Bag, Stitched Shapes, Layering Circles and Bunch of Banners. I love the reindeer - he always seems to look very purposeful! He is stamped in Chocolate Chip ink, as is the sentiment.

I'm sure that you will enjoy playing with these colours. Lots of wintery woodland scenes definitely spring to mind, I think!
Happy crafting! April x

Saturday, 4 November 2017

CCT November Sketch Challenge

Hello! It's time for a sketch challenge over at Christmas Card Throwdown.

You can flip the design as I have done or use a different shaped element, but we should be able to recognise the original sketch in your Christmas card.

I made the background using a mixture of Coastal Cabana and Dapper Denim inks mixed with shaving foam on an acrylic block. I then used a stamp from Gorgeous Grunge to create a white embossed snowfall, but it wasn't quite snowy enough so I used a brush to spray white gesso on top.

The trees were die-cut using SU's Sleigh Ride Edgelits and I also added some Glimmer Paper stars to enhance the sky. Lots of fun to make! We are looking forward to seeing your interpretations of Gill's great sketch. Happy crafting, April x

Saturday, 21 October 2017

CCT October Stash Challenge

Hello! We have a stash-busting challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown this week. We would like to see wood or canvas (or both!) on your Christmas cards.

For my card, I have used some wood dsp combined with a bit of real wood - some retired Autumnal wooden elements. I've also used some brushed gold card, Real Red and Tranquil Tide cardstock. The lovely sentiment and the pine needles are both from SU's Peace This Christmas.
Please check out the inspirational examples from the rest of the Design Team!
Happy crafting, April x

Wednesday, 18 October 2017

Crazy Cat Collage

Hello! A quick way of using up snippets of left-over dsp. I just stuck a bunch of bits on a piece of cardstock and then die-cut a square from it. Then I plopped a cat on top using the SU Cat Punch. So simple! I think lots of random snippets will be getting this treatment, as I have a craft fair in November to prepare for!

Sending my snippety kitty to Di and Parsnip at Pixie's Snippets Playground!

Tuesday, 17 October 2017

Eclipse Cat

Hello! Can you spot the cat hiding in the flowers? The Eclipse technique is everywhere at the moment, particularly cards that use words in a cool 3D way. It's a super easy way of using all your dies and punches in a new and very striking way.

Simply start with a stamped image (fairly dense designs like this flower patch from Wood Words work best). Then use your choice of die or punch to remove an area of the stamped design. Punch/die-cut about five other layers from another piece of cardstock and carefully adhere them behind the original shape you cut out.

This photo gives a better idea of the layers involved. An adhesive with a bit of 'wiggle room' is best because you need to ensure that all the layers are perfectly aligned. You then glue it back into the negative space that you first cut. Some people like to emphasise the layering even more by colouring the edge with a black marker. Lots of scope for using that stash of punches and dies in a completely new way! I hope you enjoy your own eclipse card-making, April x

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Saturday, 7 October 2017

CCT October Theme Challenge

Hello! It's time for the October Theme challenge with our lovely hostess Fabiola at Christmas Card Throwdown.

Lots of potential here for some amazing Christmas designs! I used an old favourite stamp set, SU's Warm Wishes for both the sledge and sentiment. It reminds we that we still have a sledge in the garage. Of course as soon as we bought it we never had proper sledging style snow again. Typical!

Happy crafting! April x

Wednesday, 4 October 2017

Christmas Emergency Kit

Hello! This is my kit for Christmas emergencies of the postal variety. There's a profound irony in me coming up with this super organised kit, as it took me half the morning to find the acetate boxes I knew I'd ordered (I even went back to double-check I had actually ordered them!)

This kit is designed for general planning combined with that sudden realisation on the last day of posting that you have forgotten somebody...It contains a notebook planner, a gift receipt file, a sleeve to keep all your stamps safe and two emergency Christmas cards and gift tags - all kept together in an acetate box.

The really cool thing is that it's all made from bits found in Stampin' Up's Watercolor Christmas Project Kit. I only used an additional piece of Emerald Envy cardstock and some scraps of Whisper White that were hanging around. The kit is designed to make twenty cards, but I only used up two of the card blanks and one gold envelope liner to make my kit.

Here it all is fitted into the handy box...

The cute little planner is a plain notebook that I covered with card and the trees embellishment from the kit. The tabs for Christmas shopping lists and reminders were made using the Tabs for Everything stamp set and co-ordinating punch.

The file for gift receipts or other useful small pieces of paper is a card with one edge trimmed off and the inside covered with part of a gold envelope liner. The gift tags are made from 4 x 2 inch pieces of leftover card scraps.

The stamp sleeve (giving off a very radiant gold glow in this photo!) is just an envelope made from Emerald Envy with the Envelope Punch Board. I cut the top flap off and covered the front with a leftover piece of the envelope liner. The size of the envelope is the one for a 3.5 x 4 inch card. This is easily big enough to fit a number of stamp books in and saves you desperately scrabbling around for a stamp (if you are anything like me!)

I made two cards from the kit to add to the box. There are four lovely designs to choose from. Of course like a squirrel with his nuts, come Christmas time I may well have forgotten where I put this, but it was fun to make and hopefully demonstrates that you don't have to make twenty cards with SU kits!

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