Better with Age

 A quick CAS card ... and for a guy to boot! Perhaps I should make a few to put in my stash.

My entry to ...

... The Male Room : Food & Drink

... Inkspirational : Clean & Simple

Tag

It's been a while since I posted on my blog or instagram. I've had a lot going on in real life the last 9 months.

This is a card I made a while back as part of a series made by die-cutting card stock that I had distressed in rainbow colours - last one! (The first card can be found here, and the second set of 2 is here and the 3rd here). 

My entry to ...

... Less is More : Use A Tag

... Divas that Die Cut : Anything Goes

 

Soft Blossoms

First time playing with the Altenew Hill Blossoms Stencil! Doodling gives it another look (see Norine Borys' card - so inspiring). 

I wanted to keep this very pale, so when you do the first layer, use a very light touch - you should almost not be able to see the colour. 

I added some paint splatters so that it would carry on the feel from the patterned paper strip.

My entry to ...

... Addicted to CAS : Nature

... Seize the Birthday : Pastel Colors

... Addicted to Stamps & More : Birthdays

... NBUS #30

Monogram

It's my friend, Lesley's Birthday and thought I'd go for a monogram card.

This is a one layered card using my very old large alphabet from Hero Arts, and masking with The Greetery Birthday Blooms, and then I embossed with my NBUS Altenew Frame.

I used to Copics to colour the letter and make shadows.

My entry to ...

... Less is More #446 : OLC Monogram

... NBUS #28

... Addicted to Stamps & More : Any Occassion

It's your Birthday ... Woohoo!

I could not resist pairing these 2 sets together when I was asked for fun cards. It is the first time I'm using the Surprise Gift set.

I put a little arrow tab so that the recipient will know to pull up the lid of the gift.

Here's a little hint of the fun to come ...

Woohoo Indeed! I love these fun girlfriends.

Here is the action  ...

My entry to ...

... Die Cut Divas : Birthday

... NBUS #27

Looking out the Window

After seeing Jennifer McGuire's display frame cards, I knew I'd try one. 

My starting point was that I knew I wanted a window looking out onto a garden as the the display frame on the inside. 

My workspace was such a mess that my daughter challenged me to clean up a huge pile of papers/partly finished cards/bits and pieces left over - I had 2 days to to it.  It was while I was sorting through it that I found 2 pots with some flowers (left over from this card made in October last year). Thought they would look lovely on the windowsill. 

 

You can open the windows ... and get a lovely view of the trees, bushes and birds.

I took this photo with the photo lying flat in order to get the light to shine through the window to the world outside.

Here's a side shot so you can the see the dimension. I stuck some of the leaves to the back panel. I glued 2 narrow vertical panels on each edge midway from the window to the back panel. Then I glued a strip of clear plastic across from one panel to the other. This helped give some stability to the branches so they could hold the birds.

Then when it was all finished, I made the front to match

Here it is in action ...

My entry to ... 

... The Card Concept : Garden Treasures

... Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge : Use Dies or Punches

... Die Cut Divas : Tic Tac Toe I went with the diagonal of flowers, friendship, uneven edge. My uneven edge is on the inside with the windowsill and depth.

Two Cakes !

I'm happy to be the guest designer at Twofer Challenge #38 : Cakes or Cupcakes for May.

I decided to go for a cake as I have the wonderful Sweet Treats set from Pinkfresh Studio that I haven't used enough.

Firstly, I went for a CAS masculine look for a Birthday card. I took artistic license and used colours that are not often seen on cakes! I also left spaced between the layers to make it taller and coloured in the base to make it more bold.

I used 2 of the Hero Arts Infinity Rectangle dies as embossing for the edge to give some interest.

For the second card, I went all pretty and pink for a wedding. At first I stamped the cake in pink, but wedding cakes are mostly white so that wasn't what I wanted. I wondered how to get the white look with a solid stamp ... and thought how about a double layer of white embossing powder. I distressed the background with Hero Arts Sand to give a golden glow so that the cake would stand out.

The lovely 3D Botanicals embossing folder gives an elegant touch.

Here is a close up of the double white embossed cake. I gold embossed the other elements and coloured with Copics.

Here are the 2 together. 

Quite different looks!

Here's my favourite cake recipe - Carrot Cake. And it works very well as cupcakes too!

Janet’s Carrot Cake

3 Eggs
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Oil
2 Cups Wholemeal Flour
2 t Bicarbonate of Soda
1 t Cinnamon
½ t Nutmeg
½ Cup Coconut, desiccated
1 t Baking Powder
3 Cups Carrot, grated
½ Cup Pecan Nuts, chopped (opt)
Dash of milk
Pinch of salt

Whisk together the eggs and sugar until light. Add oil and beat well. Sift in the flour, bicarb, BP, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bake for 50mins – 1 hour at 180ºC.

Gluten-free option : Replace the flour with 1½ Cups Rice Flour and ½ Cup Glutinous Rice Flour. I'm sure you can also use your go-to gluten free flour. 

Topping :

250g Cream Cheese
125g Butter
500g Icing Sugar
1 t Vanilla Essence

Use cream cheese at room temperature. Mix until smooth. Add butter and mix well. Add icing sugar and vanilla essence.

Note : 

t = teaspoon (5ml)

I will also enter ...

... Pinkfresh Studio Monthly Challenge May 2021 : Anything Goes

... Global Design #291 : Birthday

... AAA Birthday #25 : Happy Birthday

... Just Us Girls #583: Layers

... SSS Wednesday Challenge : Feminine

Lavender wishes

I love lavender and I love CAS cards ... so I'm making a card combining them. 

It's quite a long time till I'll see them in my garden since I'm in the Southern Hemisphere, but here's a photo from September last year.

My entry to ...

... The Card Concept #153 : Loads of Lavender

... Stay Crafty with Hero #22 : Birthday

... The Flower Challenge #55 : Pastel Flowers

... Seize the Birthday #212 : Spring Flowers

... The Paper Players : Clean & Simple Birthday