A very belated blog challenge post...

Hello crafty peeps and welcome to my crafty nook! I hope you are all well and have had a good Easter etc. Sorry it's been so long since I last posted, hopefully I'll be adding posts a bit more frequently once I've got a few things sorted out in my home life. Apart from the odd day it's still a pretty miserable start to spring but at least it's getting lighter (sort of!) so we can enjoy the natural light for longer. It doesn't really make much difference to my crafting because my crudy is north-facing and I can't actually reach the windows with any ease so I tend to keep the curtains closed most of the time, once the weather has warmed up (we still have the odd frosty/foggy start) I'll be opening my window to get some air in which will be very welcome.

 Michele and I finished our cards for last month's challenge within a week of the last post being added but I've not had the time to add them here before now - a huge apology to Michele and my lovely readers for the delay.

For some reason the Christmas photos and the top photo have saved the right way on my PC but have come out the way shown when I add them to the blog - I'm really sorry about this but I can't alter the orientation. For her three Easter egg cards, Michele has used the blossom basket dies that came free with Die Cutting Essentials magazine a couple of months ago. I'm very impressed with Michele's cards because in all honesty I really disliked the basket die that came as part of the set though I like most of the other dies but Michele has to managed to make it look really good and I'm now quite looking forward to using it myself at some point. I love the embossing folders she's used on her cards too especially the script one and the green glitter card on her second card adds that lovely shimmery accent.I love the images and colour palette of the Christmas cards, they have a really contemporary feel to them. A fantastic set of cards as always Michele.

Woodland themed circle swing card

Die cut topper made using circle sentiments from Crafter's Companion

Close up of woodland scene

My first card was made using a freebie called Butterfly Dreams from issue 173 of Simply Cards & Papercraft magazine. The leaves were made using a generic die from my stash and the tree branch was actually a tree stamp on it's side. The sky was coloured using Broken China distress oxide ink (I now own two oxide inks and I love them!!!) and a couple of cloud masks. The ladybird and sentiment were from another magazine freebie and I added some glossy accents to the ladybird to make it stand out more.  My Christmas card was made using a snowflake die that came free with Crafts Beautiful magazine, I've had it for months but this was my first time using it, I also used one of the snowflake dies that came with my CC Advent calendar last year to make the smaller snowflakes. I managed to get some glue on the background that looked awful once it had dried and rather than starting over again I added dabs of Dovecraft glitter glue all over the background to disguise it. My final card is a circle swing card decorated by a die set that came free with Diecutting Essentials magazine issue 32 called Woodland Friends and has a distress inked background. I used the circle swing die set that my lovely husband bought me for Valentine's Day to cut the card blank out and the circle sentiment. I added panels of wood grain paper from my stash.

I hope you like our blog challenge cards. This month's challenge is another magazine freebie but this time using the Tonic Studio Flip Flop card dies that came free with last month's issue of Diecutting Essentials Magazine, we'd like you to make a minimum of two cards using this die set with one of them being a Christmas card, you can use any items from your stash but don't go out and buy anything extra - apart from the magazine of course!- if you join in because our challenge is about encouraging you to make use of what you've got not an excuse to buy more stash (and who needs an excuse to buy more lol). If you don't want to spend a tenner on the magazine (and I wouldn't blame you to be perfectly honest) then it is possible to make a flip/flop card using any layered die in your stash. Google flip flop cards and see where it takes you or check out a video or two on YouTube - this style of card was very popular about four years ago and there are loads of videos to choose from. If you ask nicely I might even do a step by step photo tutorial for you using a basic shape die *winks* it will have to wait until I've sorted a few things though. If you'd like one then please leave a comment in the usual places.  The current flip/flop card challenge will close in two weeks time and we would love for you to join in, just email me photos and details of the finished cards or leave a link to your blog in the comments section. There isn't any prizes just the satisfaction on delving into your stash and using items you might normally not use in a new and exciting way.

Until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx