Fab 'n' Funky ~ Anything Goes!

It's time for a new challenge at Fab 'n' Funky today, the UK crew are still on their Summer hols', so this will be a 'no comments' challenge. But there is of course a lovely prize up for grabs, so do come and join in the fun with us for our 'Anything Goes' Summer challenge. I've been busy making a gift set of cards for this challenge so it will be a very photo heavy post, sorry!

I kept the theme very simple, a diecut border, uplifting lovely sentiment and then very simple embellishments to complete the cards, often just a wrap of twine. I got to use some stash that I very rarely use, like the little pearl buckles. I think they gave the Sympathy cards a simple elegance.

I made this selection of cards for my mother-in-law. Each a little different and many with religious sentiments as she loves to give cards that uplift and encourage. Christmas cards she loves to give with a passage of scripture and always reflecting the 'true meaning' of Christmas. So this card set was crafted with that in mind. 

They were made to suit multiple purposes, some could be Sympathy cards, others thank you to a friend, I even managed one that that could be used to welcome home a traveller. 

The base of each card, with the exception of the two pink cards, I used cardstock that had a lovely shimmery sheen to it. The pink ones were plain cardstock, so I sprayed them with Glimmer Mist and they came up beautifully. Just a soft shimmer showing through where the butterflies are. This doesn't show at all in the photos, but in reality there's a really pretty shimmer where the diecuts are. 

I made quite a large box set of cards and it's a shame I didn't photograph them with their envelopes, as that really set them off so nicely. The London scene diecut had a lovely bright yellow envelope, which looks fabulous against the shimmery black cardstock. The two Christmas cards had red envelopes, which picks up the red accents in the cards. 

These two Oyster coloured cards had lovely buttery cream envelopes which picked up the honey toned sentiment and they looked very elegant with their envelopes. (Seriously kicking myself that I didn't photograph all the cards with their envelopes!) They really can finish a card so beautifully.

I've loved this starry border die for so long and rarely use it, so it was lovely to pull it out and give it an airing. The die is a Doohickey border die called Starlight Lace. I was delighted with the sentiment match I found for these two starry border cards. They are both from an older Amy R for CC Designs Sentiment set. 

The border die for these two cards is also an older Doohickey border die called Romantic Lace. The sentiments for these two cards are both from Unity Stamps and inked with the last two colours of my Kaleidacolor Creole Spice ink pad by Tsukineko.

For the following cards I used a lovely Joanna Sheen border die called Lace Edger #2. I've bought several border dies (as you can see from this post!) and I have to say, there are few that rival the excellent price point of Joanna Sheen's dies. They are really good quality, cut beautifully and there's a lovely range, which includes the London Skyscape I used in the travelers card earlier in this post. The bonus for me, is that she will post for free internationally with spends over £9. That's hard to beat!

This final pair is my favourite from the whole set. I love green, so this pretty pale shimmery green cardstock is just beautiful to me. I think it looks so elegant with this intricate and fun Memory Box Cosmo border die. I'll have to hunt down the sets these two sentiments are from as I can't recall off the top of my head. So I'll update later. 

You may have noticed I crafted 'pairs' of similar colours and diecuts, for this card set in the hopes that it looked a little less eclectic. I wanted lots of variety, and to cover lots of different purposes, but still wanted a sense that it was a 'set'. I had a 'pair' for this orange card, but ended up not including it in the set as I decided I wanted to go in a slightly different direction with the second orange card. I'll put up a post with that one later, so you can see what I did with it. Still using this same, CAS design template, diecut border, lovely sentiment and minimal embellies. But with a little twist - to be revealed later. (I used the Creole Spice Kaleidacolor ink again for this card.)

Wow, congratulations if you made it all the way to the end of this mammoth post! There are 16 cards in this set, so that was quite a lot to get through! I hope you enjoyed having a look at the set and I encourage you to check out this fabulous tutorial by Jennifer McGuire if you like the idea of using border dies to create a card set. It was her post that inspired me to create this set and I hope you enjoyed my take on it. 

Do stop by the Fab 'n' Funky Challenge to check out what my amazing teamies have been up to for this challenge. You're sure to be super inspired after a visit to their lovely blogs. Come and join us for our easy peasy 'Anything Goes' challenge. I'll be back again before long with the 'orange card' that didn't make it into this set. See you all again soon and have a fabulous week. Hugs, Wends xoxo

Challenge Entries: 

Not Just Cards: #47 ~ Anything Goes

Crafty Creations: #348 ~ Anything Goes

Creative Moments: #124 ~ Anything Goes

The Paper Shelter: #305 ~ Punches and Dies

Colour Crazy Challenge: #32 ~ Anything Goes

Little Patch of Crafty Friends: #63 ~ Anything Goes

Crafting By Designs: August ~ Anything Goes Challenge

Really Reasonable Ribbon: #169 ~ Anything Goes with Ribbon. My whole set of cards has either ribbon or twine on the cards :)

City Crafter Challenge: #375 ~ No Flowers (with the exception of my pink cards, all the other cards in this set, have no flowers on them!)

As You Like It: Favourite Embellishments ~ I don't always use them, but flowers are definitely amongst my favourite embellishments, from the flat papercut flowers, to the 3D mulberry paper flowers and everything in between. I love to use flowers on my creations such as the gem flowers I've used on the pink cards in this set.