Well firstly, I had to stop posting for a while because my laptop died! It was eleven years old so in fairness it’d had a good innings! What really finished it off though was my boyfriend managed to stand on it when I’d moved it off the coffee table to the floor for a few minutes…
Sooooo I had to save up for a while in order to buy a new laptop and here we are! Although I’ve made a lot of cards during this time I’d not taken any photos or anything so I decided I’d start with a bit of a challenge.
In the time I’ve been without a laptop, I’ve gone from having a craft corner to a whole craft room! Soooo exciting… It’s not the biggest of spaces but it’s absolutely perfect for the stuff I have. Not to mention that our dining room now has a LOT more space since my desk and craft stuff are now gone.
On one of my craft trolleys I keep a few plastic boxes where I keep things I’ve cut/stamped but not actually used. These are things that I’ve done when I’ve been going one way with a card but then changed my mind. I don’t like throwing things away when I know at some point I can maybe use them so the boxes I have are idea for things like this.
Now it’s easy to use sentiments and backgrounds for new cards since they’re quite generic and can be adjusted for various types of cards but I realised I had quite a full box of ‘Shapes & Die Cuts’ which I’ve really struggled to use up. SO… that was my challenge for this post; I tipped a few different things out of the box and decided to make a load of cards that had to include these things.
So for my first card I picked the balloon die cuts and the ice cream tub. I made a background using some distress oxide ink and a Cloud stencil. I then arranged the die cuts on the card and drew on some strings. I glued the balloons on a stuck the ice cream tub on with foam tape. After adding sentiments from my sentiment box, I stuck to a 4.25″ x 5.5″ card base and finally put some Nuvo Vintage Drops on to finish off.

For my second card, I used the 4 black squares I had and some little die-cut heart outlines. I added a sentiment and some Black 3D pearls. It still looked a bit bare so I drew a thin frame with a fineliner and finally I mounted to a kraft card base measuring 5″ x 4.5″.

The next card used some cactus die cuts and some coral-coloured shapes (I cannot remember where these came from but remember saving them coz I thought they looked cool!) I had a card panel in this yellow cardstock from Lawn Fawn that I really like but had struggled to use and thought it would go well here. I stuck the cactus/coral shapes down then used a tiny cluster stamp from a larger set for the background (which I stamped in a beigey ink) I also stamped the little plant stamp and sentiment from the same set. I finally drew on a ‘stitched’ frame in a black fineliner and stuck this panel onto a teal card base measuring 5″ x 4.25″
For card Number 4, I took the peach-coloured mason jar die cut and a tag and attached them together using some twine. The jar was going to be ‘filled’ with the mini flowers but I only had two and aesthetically things need to be in threes so I had to make another one otherwise my OCD wouldn’t be able to cope! I stamped ‘thank you’ onto the tag and then mounted this onto some Lawn Fawn card and rounded the corners. I stuck this onto a card base measuring 4.5″ x 4.5″ and rounded the corners on that. I decided this was too plain so used a tiny flower stamp in Raspberry Lawn Fawn ink just to jazz up the background.
The next two cards were mini-notecards. I have some pre-cut 3″ x 3″ card bases so took 2 of them and selected a few bits to add. For the first I stuck down a square that was originally part of a larger square background which I’d used a stencil on, I also had a smaller black square and another of the little white heart frames. I also randomly had a tiny silver key die cut which for the life of me can’t remember where it’s from but I threaded both onto a piece of invisible thread and wrapped round the black square before gluing down. After adding a sentiment I used some Nuvo drops to finish.
For the other notecard I used a flower I’d recently made out of kitchen roll (links to where the idea came from will be at the bottom of this post!) I also had a flowery-tree that I’d die cut which I cut the trunk off so it was just a circle. I added a sentiment, some pink glass beads and drew a frame in a pink gel pen to finish off.
Card 7 is one of my favourites. I’d had these rainbows I’d coloured and cut out for AGES and decided they finally needed to be used. I cut a slimline card base measuring 3.5″ x 7.5″. I had a panel a wee bit smaller and stuck 3 rainbows in a column, cutting off aything that hung over the edge. I had 2 cloud die cuts in my spares box so stuck them onto the bottom one. I then went back and used the Cloud stencil with some pink ink this time for the background and decided to use a clear sparkle pen all over the rainbows. I then remembered I have a snow marker which gives this ‘puffy’ effect so put that on the clouds, added a few iridescent sequins and glued the panel to the card base.
I had another rainbow left so made a simple card by attaching off the edge of a pearlescent card base (4″ x 4.5″) and then stuck on a gold butterfly. I added a foiled sentiment I had and then put some nuvo glitter drops onto the butterfly. This was probably the quickest one to do.
The next was I suppose a more ‘masculine’ card. Using the black and white small rectangles I had, I glued to a black panel and then had some cocktail shaker/glasses which I’d alrealy made and coloured – these were stacked up already. I stuck these on top and then added a stacked ‘cheers’ die cut. Finally I drew on a frame in a gold gel pen and stuck to a white card base measuring 4.25″ x 5.5″.

For card number 10 I took a sunflower die cut from my spares box along with a ‘happy’ sentiment cut in kraft card from my ‘sentiments’ box. My friend had recently given me some nice lace/burlap ribbon which I stuck across and behind a card panel. I stuck the sunflower on top and added added the sentiment, stamping ‘be’ above it so it said ‘be happy’. I stuck this down to a kraft card base measuring 4.5″ x 5.75″ and added some nuvo vintage drops to finish.
The last card was made using a die cut heart and a piece of double-sided foam which was from the same die so they fit perfectly on each other. I had some seam binding lying around so wrapped that around a white card panel and stuck the heart on top. Because the heart had an inlaid pattern and there was double-sided adhesive behind it I sprinkled on some gold glitter and used a bone folder to get it into the holes. I heat embossed a ‘congratulations’ sentiment in gold onto the panel as I thought this would be a nice wedding card. To give more interest I took a couple of tiny heart stamps and made a background. I had a kraft card base measuring 4.5″ x 5.75″ and on top of this stuck a gold glitter panel just a bit smaller than the base and larger than the panel. Finally I attached the panel using foam tape and that was this card done.
So I got 11 cards made in a matter of hours and have managed to clear out a few of my spares. I think the wedding card and sparkly rainbow card are my favourites 🙂
Thanks for looking!
Sutz x
BALLOON CARD SUPPLIES
- Lawn Fawn Treat Yourself stamp set
- Lawn Fawn Sophie’s Sentiments stamp set
- MFT Cloud Stencil
- Distress Oxide ink in Tumbled Glass
- Balloon Die from MFT
- Nuvo Vintage Drops in Peppermint Candy
HEARTS ON BLACK SQUARES
- Die cut hearts from Concord and 9th Tall Type Alphabet set
- Avery Elle Simple Sentiments
- Dovecraft 3D pearls in Black
CACTUS CARD
- Concord and 9th To The Point Turnabout
- Gina K Ink Cube Sandy Beach
- Lawn Fawn Ink in Peacock
- Yellow Cardstock – Lawn Fawn No. 2 Pencil
- Teal Cardstock from Papermill Direct
THANK YOU CARD
- Lawn Fawn Summertime Charm set (Mason Jar)
- Flower Dies from Craft Export (Aliexpress)
- Pink Cardstock – Lawn Fawn Pencil Eraser
- Lawn Fawn – Sophie’s Sentiments (flower stamp)
NOTECARDS
- Concord & 9th Faceted Turnabout Stencil
- Concord & 9th Tall Type Alphabet set (heart)
- MFT Greetings Galore
- Nuvo Vintage Drops in Bohemian Teal
- Flower Die from Sakura Blossom by Altenew
- Pink Glass Beads from Alinacraft (Aliexpress)
- Kitchen Roll Die Cut idea/tutorial from Positively Papercraft
RAINBOW SPARKLE CARD
- Cloud Stencil from MFT
- Distress Oxide in Spun Sugar
- Marvy Snow Marker
- Nuvo Glitter Gloss Sparkle Pen
- Cloud dies from MFT
- Reverse Confetti Unicorn Wishes (sentiment)
RAINBOW BUTTERFLY CARD
- Spellbinders Brilliant Butterfly die set
- Happy die from Hero Arts
- Avery Elle Simple Sentiments
- Pearlescent Cardstock from Tonic Studios
- Gold foil card from Memory Box
- Nuvo Glitter Drops in White Blizzard
CHEERS CARD
- Catherine Pooler Cocktail Party stamp & die set
- Lawn Fawn Scripty Cheers
BE HAPPY
- Newton’s Nook Sunflower Days
- Happy die from Mama Elephant
- Avery Elle Modern Calligraphy stamp set
- Nuvo Vintage Drops in Chocolate Chip
WEDDING CARD
- Concord & 9th Quilted Heart
- Seam Binding from Etsy – SplatteredInky
- Lawn Fawn Happy Wedding (sentiment and hearts)
- Gina K Ink Cube in Sandy Beach
- Gold Adhesive Glitter Card – Dovecraft