Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes With Dies Challenge - October 2021...

Hi! Welcome to another month of inspiration for the Happy Little Stampers Challenge. 

Diwali, the festival of lights is in the first week of November. It is one of the biggest festivals in India and celebrated with much fanfare across the country. I usually mass produce my Diwali cards. So I am always looking for quick designs. 

I used the Resplendent Rectangles die by Spellbinders and distress oxide inks in shades of red and pink to create this card. The sentiment is from a very old stamp set by Mudra Craft Stamps. In fact it was released before Varshitha Nagarajan launched her brand! 

I used a cream and gold handmade paper for the base and the panels. Here is a close-up of the inked panels.

I hope my card inspires you to create something beautiful. You can visit the Happy Little Stampers challenge blog for more inspiration and link your creations to our gallery.

Entering this card in the following challenges:

Die-Cut Divas October Challenge:

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge - WWC326:

Love,

Nandini

Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes With Dies Challenge - August 2021...

Hi! I am here today with the inspiration for the month of August for the Happy Little Stampers Challenge. 

I have been on a cleaning and organizing spree for the past few days. My inspiration today features a beautiful flower I made using the Altenew Fantasy Florals die-set and some inked paper. I combined it with the Kaleidoscope Plaid layering dies by Spellbinders.

I hope my card inspires you to create something beautiful. You can visit the Happy Little Stampers challenge blog for more inspiration and link your creations. I look forward to visiting you in our gallery.

Love,

Nandini

Addicted To Stamps And More #409 - Any Occassion...

Hi! I am back with another great challenge at the Addicted To Stamps And More blog. The theme this time is:

I have been busy clearing out my towering stash of scraps. So I created a quick card using some of them.

I found a large piece of paper colored with diagonal strips of watercolors. I simply cut out the Cascading Stars cover die by Fun Stampers Journey twice and layered both over a piece of black paper. Here is a closer look at the card

I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of the same sheet.

Here is another look at the card.

 

I hope you liked my card and will create something beautiful for this challenge. You can link your creations to the ATSM gallery. Please don't forget to visit the other DT who have some incredible inspiration for you. I look forward to visiting you in our gallery.

Entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge:

NBUS Challenge #28:

Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge #406:

HLS July Watercolor Challenge:

Love,

Nandini

Rainbow Card Challenge #29 – Positively Periwinkle…

Hi! Welcome to another great challenge at the Rainbow Card Challenges. The mood board this month is gorgeous!

I created a quick slimline card with some layered dies by Spellbinders. 

The colored papers are all from stash. The sentiment is from the Cross Stitch Flower stamp set by Altenew.

I hope you liked my card and are inspired to create something beautiful! Please do check out the Rainbow Card Challenge blog for more inspiration. And don’t forget to link your cards to our gallery. I look forward to seeing your beautiful creations.

Love,

Nandini

Papercraft Challenge #32...

Hi! Welcome back to the October challenge at the Papercraft Challenge blog. I hope you are all doing well.

The theme for October is Interactive Cards. If you want some inspiration, do visit us at the Papercraft Challenge blog where the DT has a great array of fabulous creations for you. You can also visit the Papercraft Business site for some great tools that can help you take your papercraft business to the next level. Like the awesome Papercraft Business Planner that helps you keep track of your favorite challenges!

Don't forget the great prizes we have for the winner every month. October Challenge Prize is the cute Winter Alpaca Stamp by Lawn Fawn.

Here is my inspiration card.

This card is very special because I made it for my mom's 75th birthday. I wanted to make something intricate for her and this Inside Tunnel card fit the bill perfectly! The original card and tutorial are by the queen of techniques, Jennifer Mcguire. You can check out her blog post and video here.

The card fits into a regular A2 sized envelope. 

I used the Layered Cake die by Spellbinders to create the card. The windows were die-cut using the oval dies by Itsy Bitsy. The colored cardstock is from Paperum by Mudra Craft Stamps. I also used the Lanthenay stencil by Memory Box.

The sentiment is from the Floral Banner stamp set by Mudra Craft Stamps.

Here is a final look at the card.

I hope you liked my card and are inspired to create something beautiful. I look forward to your entries in our gallery.

You can get more information about Papercraft Challenge Planner here. It is an invaluable tool for all crafters who love taking part in challenges. The Papercraft Business site also has tools that can help you take your business to the next level.

Entering this card in the following challenges:

Casology Week 375:

Simon Says Wednesday: Anything Goes:

Cut It Up Challenge #209:

Watercooler Wednesday - WWC291:

NBUS Challenge #19:

The Spellbinders Layered Cake die set is around 3 years old. And this is the first time I am using it.

Edited – 10-06-2021

Creative Creases Challenge #8

Love,
Nandini

Quilt Style Hexagon Background with Layered Stamping...

Hi! I am here with another card I made for some challenges. This is a new technique I tried, inspired by a card by Yana Smakula. You can find the original card with a video tutorial here.

I started by cutting a bunch of shapes with the Hexagon Quilt die by Spellbinders out of watercolor paper. I bought this die a few years ago and never got around to using it. I am so happy that I finally used it! I played around with the shapes until I was happy with the pattern. For coloring the pieces, I used distress inks in shades of rust, blue, and teal. I just smooshed some ink on my media mat, sprayed water, and dunked the pieces into it. Once the pieces were dry, I started putting the card together. 

The floral bouquet is from the Magnolia stamp set by Mudra Craft Stamps. The sentiment is from another stamp by Mudra called Critter Party.

I put both stamps in a stamp positioner and stamped on a light cream card base with VersaFine Black Onyx ink. While the base dried, I prepared the die-cut pieces for stamping. The Stamping Mask Sheet by Mudra Craft Stamps was an invaluable tool in doing this. I simply trimmed a sheet of the masking paper to A2 size and arranged the die-cut pieces over it. The masking sheet ensured that my pieces didn’t move while stamping. I stamped again with the black ink. I had to do this couple of times as the paper was textured.

The rest of the card was very easy. It was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. I popped up the pieces with foam tape and aligned them with the stamping on the card base.

The whole process of putting the card together actually went much faster than I expected! Here is another look at the completed card.

I hope you liked this card. Please do let me know if you want a video of the process in the comments.

Entering this card in the following challenges.

Mudra Craft Challenge #35:

Yes...Virginia September Show and Share:

NBUS Challenge #18:

I used the Spellbinders Hexagon Quilt die for the first time.

Retro Rubber Challenge #144:

The Magnolia stamp set was released by Mudra Craft Stamps in April 2018. It was part of my DT kit. It is also one of my favorite stamps from Mudra.

Color Throwdown #612:

Love,

Nandini

Happy 80th Birthday Elena - Blog Hop

Hi! I am here today with a very special card for a very special lady. My fellow teamie from the Rainbow Card Challenge, Elena Chamberlaine, is celebrating her 80th birthday! Many happy returns of the day Elena!

All of us at the Rainbow Card Challenge agreed that this momentous day deserves a blog hop! So here we are, the DT of Rainbow Card Challenge celebrating Elena's special day. You must have arrived here from Katy's blog. I have the whole list below for your reference. You can also visit Elena at Elena's Ink Spot and enjoy her beautiful work.

I believe one of Elena's favorite colors is blue. So here is my blue card for her. The original card is in the mail and winging its way to her right now.

I used the Altenew Cross Stitch Flower stamp with the Glacier Caves mini ink cubes set for the flower. After stamping, I used the coordinating Cross Stitch Flower die. This die is a bit unusual. Instead of cutting the outline, it pierces little holes in the flower reinforcing the cross-stitch feel of the design. Here is a closeup.

I just love the added texture that this die gives. This is the first time I used the Cross Stitch Flower die and I am very happy to get it out of my NBUS stash.

I used nested circle dies to cut the stamped panel and also a speckled blue paper. I adhered the blue circle to a navy blue card base and added the stamped panel over it popped up with some foam.

The sentiment is from the Birthday Words die by Spellbinders. I cut it thrice out of white card stock and stacked the die cuts to get some dimension. I also added a heart instead of the tittle dot over the "i".

To finish, I added some sequins from my stash and rounded the bottom right corner. Here is another look at the card.

I hope you liked my card. I look forward to hearing from you. You can continue the hop by visiting Sue N next. I also have the whole list for you below.

Rainbow Card Challenge
Em
Izzy
Katy
Nandini - You are here
Sue N
Sue T
Elena

Entering this card in the following challenges:

Yes...Virginia September Show and Share:

NBUS Challenge #18:

I used the Altenew Cross Stitch Flower die which I bought a long time ago.

Love,

Nandini

Rainbow Card Challenge - Regal Rainbow...

Hi! I can't believe it is already December. The year seems to have flown past really quickly! I am here today with the final challenge for 2019 at the Rainbow Card Challenge. Here is the inspiration pic.

Rainbows always bring a smile to our faces! There are so many different ways of interpreting this challenge, I am really looking forward to checking out our gallery.

For my inspiration, I went with simple watercoloring combined with die-cutting.

I started with a piece of watercolor card and used the Kokoyu Camlin Artist Watercolors to make a simple rainbow background. Once the paper was dry, I die-cut it using the Banana Leaf Card Front die by Spellbinders. I adhered the die-cut to a dark brown card base. 

I die-cut the frame out of the same paper and covered it with Versamark. I used Ranger's Metallic Copper embossing powder for the heat embossing. The sentiment was die cut with the Tag Talk dies by My Favorite Things. To make the sentiment pop more, I inlaid the background under the tag. Here is a closer look at the sentiment.

I popped up the frame and the sentiment with foam tape and adhered it to the card. To finish, I added some clear jewels from my stash. Here is another look at the completed card.

I am very pleased with this card. I hope you find it inspiring and look forward to your creations in our gallery. Please do visit the  Rainbow Card Challenge for more inspiration and to link your cards to the gallery.

Entering this card in the following challenges.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes:

Just Us Girls #516:

Love,
Nandini

Fun with Cover Dies...

Hi! I am a big fan of die cutting, especially with cover dies. Though these dies are more expensive due to their larger size, they also make card making a snap. I recently taught a class with cover dies. We made 3 cards with three different dies. The first card was with the Flower die by Gina Marie Designs. You can find it here.

For the second card, I dug out an old Spellbinders die that I have had for a long time. Here is the card I made.

I used is the Trapezoid motif Kaleidoscope die. This is an older Spellbinders die. I had bought it a long time ago as I loved the intricate pattern. The die does not cover the full card. So I trimmed a panel of black cardstock slightly smaller than my A2 card base and die cut. I also cut out another piece from black cardstock and adhered both together. I adhered a piece of pattern paper behind the mat and then popped the die cut panel back into place. Here is a closer look at the panel.

I popped up the panel with some foam tape and mounted it on a black card base.

The sentiment is from the Birthday Greetings stamp set by Altenew. I stamped it and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I added some foam tape under the strip and adhered to the top of my card over a strip of vellum.

To finish, I die-cut the Isabella Butterfly from vellum. I also coloured a scrap of vellum with gold Sharpie and cut the Pippi Butterfly from it. Both the butterfly dies are by Memory Box. I adhered the layers together and added the butterfly below the sentiment. Here is a closer look at the sentiment strip.

Here is another look at the completed card.

I am very happy with the way this card turned out. It is different from my usual style. And I like it more for that reason.

Entering this card in the following challenges:

Cut It Up Challenge #172 - Butterflies & Bugs:

CUTplorations April Challenge:
The pattern paper has stripes like Jello eggs.

HLS April Anything Goes With Dies Challenge:

April Show & Share by Virginia:

Love,
Nandini

Addicted To Stamps And More #316...

Hi! This week is one of my favourite themes at the Addicted To Stamps And More challenge blog:

I recently bought the Wreath Turnabout stamp set by Concord & 9th. I decided to use it to create two similar cards with two different colour schemes.

This is a super simple stamp set to use. Once you do the basic steps needed to align the stamp, working with it is a breeze! Here is a closer look at the cards.

I used the inks from the Rose Petal mini ink cubes by Altenew for this card. 

I used the inks from the Sea Shore mini ink cubes by Altenew for this card. 

Once the stamping was done, I die cut the sentiment from the stamped panel with the Spellbinders Just For You set. I adhered some coordinating cardstock behind the sentiment and then popped it up on some foam tape. 

Entering this card in the following challenges:

Less Is More Challenge #383 - Dimension:

Cardz For Guyz Challenge #206 - Into The Woods:

Words To Craft By W2CB #58:

Mix It Up Challenge MIUCB #18 - Anything Goes + Monochrome:

Love,
Nandini