Kirsten Aitchison: Handmade with Love: 2021

Thursday, 23 September 2021

Rainbow Glimmer Happy Birthday

Hi everyone...back again so soon you ask (after so long away). Well, I still seem to have some creative mojo left so figured I'd keep on going by creating another card... or 2.

Today's cards were inspired by our latest challenge over on the Aussies Who Love Stampin' Up! Facebook Group - #AWLSU091 Just Add DSP.

Now what I've used could be argued that it isn't DSP, but it is patterned paper in the form of sparkles and rainbows so I'm going with it :)

If you live in Australia and are interested in participating in our fortnightly challenges, click here to join the group :)

The layout for my cards was inspired by the latest Caseing the Catty #336 Challenge, where you are CASEing something from the August/September Sale-A-Bration Catalogue.

I was inspired by the below triangle Merry & Bright Christmas card, which can be found on page 9 of the SAB Catalogue.

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Here is what I came up with:

I don't know about you, but I just love the Rainbow Glimmer paper. I loved it so much that I couldn't bring myself to make the first cut, so it's lived on my shelf being admired since I purchased it over a year ago.

I've decided to try something new here. I'm trying to make sure I use all the things I think are "pretty" or "too good to use". Yes, I'll be sad when I run out and they are retired and I can't get them anymore. But, there will always be new pretty things to purchase to replace them. I really need to stick to this as I'm currently drowning in 8+ years worth retired Designer Series Paper, Ribbons, Embellishments and other bits and pieces that I never used up.

So stay tuned.... I'm hoping to make lots of stuff in the future using retired and current goodies to hopefully make a dent on my stash and give me a bit more space in my craft room (fingers crossed).

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Since I love this paper so much and I'd hate to waste any of it, here is how I cut out my rainbow triangles.

I cut a single strip of the glimmer paper that was just a tiny little bit bigger than the Stitched Triangle die. I started with a half triangle by lining up the centre of the die with the edge of my paper at the Mango Melody (Yellow) end. I used my retired Magnetic Platform in my Big Shot to help hold the die in place while I cut. I then cut each triangle, one at a time, flipping the die each time.

As you can see I didn't have much glimmer paper left over. Just a thin outline and 2 half triangles, both of which I'm sure I'll find a use for.

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It took a bit of playing around to decide how I was going to lay out my triangles, but I ended up going with using 5 full triangles and 2 half triangles for my cards (which only left me with 2 half triangles left over).

I decided to use Basic Black for my card base on the Mango Melody to Blackberry Bliss rainbow. My Happy Birthday sentiment comes from the Artistically Inked Stamp Set and was stamped in Memento Black ink on a piece of Daffodil Delight cardstock (it seemed a closer match to the yellow at the end of my rainbow than Mango Melody).

Once I'd finished my card I felt it needed a little something extra. So I looked through my pile of embellishments and couldn't find what I was looking for, so I improvised. Using my Daffodil Delight Dark Stampin' Blends alcohol marker, I coloured in a couple of Pearl Basic Jewels and placed them randomly near my sentiment.

For my Granny Apple Green to Blackberry Bliss rainbow I thought I'd change it up and use Whisper White as my card base. I used the same sentiment and ink for this card, but instead of Daffodil Delight cardstock, I've used Granny Apple Green. Again, I coloured a couple of Pearl Basic Jewels and used my Granny Apple Green Dark Stampin' Blends marker.

I'm really happy with how both of these cards came out. Not sure which one is my favourite though.

Which card base colour do you like best? Black or White?

Thanks so much for your support and for visiting me today :)

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You too can make these .......

Here is a list of the supplies and tools used:

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Rainbow Glimmer Paper
(153056)

Stitched Triangle Dies
(152710)

Artistically Inked Stamp Set
(154542)

Pearl Basic Jewels
(144219)

Cardstock: Basic Black, Basic White Thick, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green

Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento

Stampin' Blends: Daffodil Delight (Dark), Granny Apple Green (Dark)

Adhesives: Multipurpose Liquid Glue

Tools: Paper Trimmer, Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine, Magnetic Platform, Clear Blocks, Simply Scored Scoreboard, Bone Folder

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Sunday, 19 September 2021

Clean and Simple For You Card

Wow, it's hard to believe that it has been 15 months... to the day... since I last created a card and posted it on my blog. The last 2 years have been quite a challenging time for me and no doubt all of you too. What a crazy time the world has been going through with the COVID-19 pandemic. I've struggled quite a bit with my creativity and wasn't giving myself much time to craft as I just sat here with a blank mind every time I tried to create something.

But, I'm super excited to say that thanks to a couple of creative challenges I've managed to create my first card in a really.... really long time.

Here are the challenges that helped me get my creative mojo flowing long enough to finish a card :)

This weeks Freshly Made Sketches #503 was my layout inspiration, the Global Design Project # 309 Colour Challenge helped me with my colour choices and the latest Addicted to CAS #206 "Leaf" challenge helped with my focal point and keeping me to a clean and simple design.

Here is my card:

My squares were cut using the retired Layering Squares Dies in Whisper White and Basic Black cardstock.

I stamped my "for you" sentiment (from the Hydrangea Haven stamp set) using Shaded Spruce ink on 1 of my white squares. I then dry embossed the white squares using my Painted Texture 3D embossing folder and my Big Shot.

I then adhered each white embossed square on to a Basic Black scalloped square. Using my Tombow Multipurpose Liquid Glue I glued the squares together in an offset pattern.

My leaf branch was cut from some Shaded Spruce cardstock and used the leaves die from the Artistic Dies set. I cut off the bottom 4 leaves to make the branch a little shorter to suit my design. I then glued the branch on to my joined squares.

Using a few Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, I attached my squares to my Whisper White Thick card base.

I felt my card needed a little something extra and to keep with the clean and simple design, I resisted the urge to add lots of bling and instead only added 3 Matte Black Dots.

I'm pretty happy with how the first card I have created in 15 months came out. Hopefully this is the card that has kick started my creativity and I can slip back into my card making groove.