Use your dies - you know you want to

Greetings from sunny Florida- again!

At time of writing it is absolutely tipping down with rain - so not so sunny after all lol - but at least it's warm rain and it's not all fun either - we do work here as well!! - my DH is cleaning the carpets and I'm supposed to be checking out the cupboards to see if anything needs replacing - but I got bored with that and decided to blog instead! 

So on to the real reason for my post today -

It's time for another new challenge over at 

Fab'n'Funky Challenges

and because we're really nice over there we've made it very easy for you!

our challenge this week is 

Use your Dies

(your project must include at least one die cut)

I decided to go with a card made with no stamped images at all 

- though I did stamp the sentiment - just for good measure!

My mother asked me to make a card for a friend at church who was 90 - it had to be a card big enough for all of her friends at church to sign.  I thought it would be a good idea to make a lovely elegant white on white die cut card - seemed to me to be very suitable for a lady of 90.  My mother had other ideas!  To her a WOW card was a bit boring - it needed to have colour on it - but she liked the idea of all the die cuts - well there's no accounting for taste!!  To me this card would have been far nicer all white - but you've got to keep the customer satisfied - and apparently the lady concerned and the church congregation loved it!  It had a fold out panel inside for all of her church friends to sign - I think the design worked rather well - it meant that everyone could sign it and then it was stuck in afterwards - I didn't think it was a good idea for all these people to be signing into the card - the ribbon and button would probably have got squashed!!

Anyway....it also had a matching box which I made with my Crafters Companion Ultimate Pro, This is my tip for Toptip Tuesday challenge .... I use my Ultimate Pro all the time for making boxes, scoring card, embossing designs - and trying bows. I also used it for for the bow on this card -It is probably one of my most used pieces of crafting kit and the one I've had longest (well with the exception of my guillotine/cutter - which I couldn't live without!!) So my tip is - the right tools make the job so much easier and quicker too - invest wisely in your tools and they will serve you well.
  

The box was tied at the corners with ribbon when it was all finished - at least the box looked very elegant lol.

I didn't photograph the inside but it was completed to match the front.

This is what I did...

Card - 8x8 white blank

Coloured card - Bazzill basics

Papers LOTV  - Shabby Shack

Dies - Sue Wilson for Creative Expressions from the Austrian collection

Sparkly button - Creative expressions white sparklers

Ribbon - Carnmeal Cottage organza ribbon

Sentiment - Anna Griffin - stamped and embossed with silver embossing powder

Pins - from my stash

Box - made with Crafters Companion Centura pearl card using the Crafters Companion Ultimate Pro

Hope you'll play along with us this week at Fab'n'Funky

Challenges I'm entering with this card

Crafty Sentiments - use die cuts
Party time Tuesdays - Anything goes
Sweetstamps challenge - bordered sentiments
Toptip Tuesday - buttons or bows
Love to scrap challenge - Sentiment in colour other than black and white (silver and white)
Perfectly rustics - use embossing (wet or dry)

See you there!!

Hugs 

Judith xx