Danny's Cards Blog

I'm gearing up for Valentine's Day this week. Over the weekend, I spent time with some new stamps and got to coloring. After some ho-hum attempts the prior week, I was ready to make some Valentine's cards with a little style. When I'm really stumped with what to do with a variety pieces, nothing helps more than a couple of Sketch Challenges. The first challenge comes courtesy of Sweet Sketch Wednesday . The Sketch was as follows: And here was my product. I used Washi Tape and rhinestones at the bottom, which really gave this card the flair it needed. Over on The Paper Players , their sketch challenge also gave me heaps of inspiration.  The L shape around the border gave me some pause. But with a little Washi Tape, I came up with just the right solution. Unfortunately, I didn't check the date on the third contest I was entering, so I missed the deadline. Nevertheless, I would have submitted this card to Just Add Ink . Here was the sketch: And here was my submission:

Anna Griffin's new Slimline Compendium dies feel essential. In the past few months, several companies as well as crafters showcased Slimline cards. These much taller (and much slimmer) cards measuring an astounding 8" x 9" and fit into business sized envelopes. They looked attractive, and while no doubt, anyone could cut the base with a bone folder and a paper cutter, the dimensions feel so unwieldy, it does feel intimidating.  Enter Anna Griffin's Slimline Compendium Dies. Now everyone knows that I'm one of Anna Griffin's biggest fans. The Empress is to me, bar none, the best die cutter out there. Additionally, her dies always impress, and I rarely feel disappointed in any die set I purchase.  But the Slimline dies feel next level. Maybe it's just the sheer quantity of dies. While other sets for the same price offer two or three intricate cuts, this set offers an outrageous 21 dies. And while each die is a variation on the other, it gives the set a wholly

Over on the Global Design Project , love is in the air. While I haven't fully committed to the Valentine's day themes, I did find that the theme was flexible enough to pull out my brand new mini-envelope die . Here is the full challenge in question: What I was most attracted to was the image of the little envelope. I definitely wanted to play with that. Additionally, I purchased the Giving Tuesday surprise pack from Lawn Fawn way back in November. It's a grab bag of sorts with all proceeds donated to charity. In this pack I got an assortment of different stamps, one of which was full of "Open Here" and "Look at This" which turned out to be the perfect thing I needed to execute my card. So here is the card on a first look: And then the little envelope opens up to reveal a little mini card: And the inside of the card shows this: And because I can never make anything once, I made the exact same card with a purple envelope: Overall, I'm super thrilled w

Over on the Just Us Girls  challenge blog, they deemed it color week. I haven't done any crafting since the holiday despite receiving a number of new dies and stamps. Thankfully, this challenge was just what I needed to try out my all new Note Pocket Die . The challenge set forth was to use three shades of any blue: The tricky part of the die was it's only one die template, so you needed to cut two versions of it and trim it down. I then embossed the bottom piece to give it a little texture and used stamps from Lawn Fawn to complete the look. Here's the result: And as you can see from the next picture, you can out the back piece to write a special note to a loved one: They're a little more time consuming than you would think for such a small piece. That said, I am still happy with the end result. I then went on to using a pink theme to make a few more of these. These stamps came from Wonton in a Million . Overall I'm very happy with the note card. How practical it i

Over on Daring Cardmakers , the designers asked us to adorn our work this week with Tags, Toppers and Labels. Christmas tags are some of my favorite things to make during the holidays, but rather than just make a bunch of tags, I decided to turn those tags into cards. So here were the two cards I ended up making: I used a basic three square sketch that is quite popular and staggered the tags with 3D dot adhesives for a little dimension. And here's the second card I made: In the same sketch pad I used to made the tag cards, I also made these next cards. They're unrelated to the challenge, but I figured they were worth the post nevertheless. First up, a little vintage Santa: And then a Merry Home card: Anyway, if you like what you see, be sure to hit the SUBSCRIBE button at the top to see new posts. And be sure to follow me on Instagram  @DannysCards For various Christmas Cards, check out the following posts: Inkspirational Challenge #228: Snow Cards Festive Friday Challenge 0074

Over on the Try Stampin' On Tuesday blog , they offered a beautiful sketch where I couldn't just help but take a stab at it. After an abundance of Christmas and holiday cards, I really needed a break from all the festiveness to make cards with no real holiday in mind. Today at Michael's, I hit the motherload of clearance Hot Buy pads and stickers, which basically governed what I made today. Here was the sketch Try Stampin' showcased: I knew immediately I was going to use my circle punches and 3D dots to give it some dimension. I always look at these sketches and tend to follow them a little too closely. So I mixed it up by removing the white circle entirely and using the stickers I found at Michael's as my inspiration. These stickers come c/o This is Us Paper House Productions . Here was the first card I made: And here is the card at an angle so you can see all the dimension of the card. My second color followed the same color scheme, just in reverse. And here's