Think Pink 5

This week's challenge for Think Pink is to make two any occasion cards, using mainly pink and black.

This was no problem, because I had a great choice of stuff, having bought the Pink Think black and pink kit. The papers I used were a mixture of some old DCWV and some BG from Scarlet's Letters:

BF CJ: A day in the life of ...

I'm not having a good day today - back is feeling particularly troublesome.

But I've managed to do my contribution to Di W's (crazydaisy's) CJ for the group on BF forum.

This is an unusual CJ - brilliant idea, I think.

Di said: 'I would like to find out a bit more about your everyday lives so would love you to do a double page LO in the form of a diary page. Please decorate the opposite pockets/envelopes and pop in a piece of ephemera from that day!

My diary page is for yesterday. Since John had his fall I haven't been out. I was meant to be going out for lunch with a friend, but I couldn't leave John for lunch - using the zimmer he can't cope with carrying anything - so we met for morning coffee instead.

The rest of my day is more or less routine.

So I chose to major on the coffee aspect of the day, with the 'Let's get together for coffee', a card about Coolings inside the envelope and a few blooms on the outside of the flap:

Salt: And God saw that it was good

It was my turn this time to choose the topic. This is what I said on the Salt challenge blog:

"We started the Salt faith challenge blog on 2 August last year, so this is our first birthday!!

A big thank you to all our blog visitors throughout the year and those who have taken part in our challenges, including the last one on Patience.

I feel so blessed to be part of such a wonderful group of ladies who are united in their love for our Lord and their creativity used to express their faith.

This time I (Hazel) have chosen the theme of

'And God saw that it was good'

This is a reflection on Genesis 1, which gives an account of God's marvellous work of Creation and His reflection on it was that He 'saw that it was good'.

As we celebrate our first birthday, it seems fitting to reflect upon the beauty of God's Creation.

I marvel at the wonders of God's beautiful world - so much for us to enjoy, whether it's a sunset, the petals of a flower, the intricate design of a seashell ... I could go on to name so many examples, including, of course, the wonderful gift of life itself to us as humans.

This is such a wide topic - you may wish to reflect on one particular aspect of God's Creation or the general scope of it.

We would love you to join in and create something for this topic. Please leave us a comment and a link so that we and others can visit your blog."

My LO is a simple one that lets some of the words from Genesis 1 to speak for themselves. The background paper is Craft Creations Sunset Photo A. The other papers used are from a variety in my stash, including some torn pieces from a favourite Paper Lane Paper 'British Beach'

Please take a look at Salt and the marvellous creations that others have made

Think Pink kits

I've treated myself to these gorgeous Think Pink kits - the good news is that £2 from the sale of every kit goes to Breast Cancer Care UK!!

Each kit contains a mix of 60+ embellishments from big brads, fabric brads, spotty brads, buttons, clips, crystals, and more plus ribbon, felt, gorgeous blooms and an organza bag with chipboard ribbon logo, pink cardboard ribbon logo and embossed ribbon logo.



Why not click on the Think Pink button on the right and find out all the exciting things that are happening for this worthy cause.

This week's Think Pink Project is to make cards using black and pink - I'll be doing these when I can find some motivation and energy for crafting.

Bumbleberries CJ

I've not done any crafting for a few days, mainly due to John having a fall and partly because I just couldn't settle to do any.

I'm a day or two late with doing the next Bumbleberries CJ - sorry, girls - this time I worked on Nicky's (madhousekeeper's) fab little CJ: My Name:







Apart from the primas and gems, everything I used is K & Co, most of which is Hannah.

Once I settled to it, I enjoyed doing this. The idea that I originally had went to the back of my mind and I produced this instead.

HS:MS SPS

On Wednesday we had a rare day out - we got a train down to Sheerness. I thought I'd show a photo of John and one he took of me (bless him, he couldn't see what he was doing, so just pointed the camera in the right direction). It was a beautiful day - the weather was gorgeous, although it was a breezy spot where we took the photos, hence my hair sticking up!





That day out is now set to be rarer than we imagined at the time, because John fell over the next day and has damaged his hip area - fortunately, no fracture. We spent hours at A & E. He can only manage to walk a few steps with the aid of a zimmer - poor old man! Perhaps I'll sneak a picture of him later and add here!

I had hoped to do a HS:MS catch up for the prompts that I've missed - did take a few possibles, but I just haven't had tme or inclination to do anything about them.

Think Pink 4

This week's challenge for Pink Think on BF forum is to make 6 Christmas tags.

For ages and ages I've wanted the Santa Collage stamp by Rubber Stampede, but it is hard to get hold of and they are not making any more, so when I saw a new one on ebay recently I couldn't resist and I won the bid.

So I've used this stamp for my tags, and on the reverse side stamped 'A gift for you' using an Anna Griffin stamp.



Please click on the Think Pink button on my sidebar for more information.

CBCC056 Everything chinese and BF Think Pink 3

Jackie (okey-dokey) on CBC said: 'With the Olympic games just a few weeks away our inspiration for the next few challenges will be the Beijing Olympics. Don't be scared - they won't be difficult and there some links for you to get inspiration and free downloads! So even if you don't have anything Chinese you won't be stuck.

Your first challenge is to make something (preferably oriental); card, layout, jewellery or anything else using the more traditional Chinese colours of Red, Black, Gold, or Green. You don't have to use them all.'

So this card is for that challenge:



and will also be sent with this one for the Think Pink challenge 3 on BF forum (the trim around the New Home square and the Good Luck is gold foiling, not black as appears in the scan:



The theme this week was to make two Good Luck/Goodbye cards.

HS:MS catch up

I've still been having a peep into the HS:MS site quite regularly, but haven't been takng part lately - it seems if I miss a day or two it goes on to be a week or two.

So I've decided to have a bit of a catch up with the recent prompts:

Ring: this is a toe ring:



Row: some knitted rows:



Red: part of a heart shaped box that doesn't have much monetary value, but loads of sentimental value:



Peep: this is a peep at a Christmas matchbox swap that is about to happen on BF forum:



Towel:



Today's SPS: there's that toe ring again - but I deliberately blurred the photo because I don't like the way my feet look atm:

Funky Fairy Blog Candy

Thanks to Adele (saw it on her blog: http://dillydallydingle.blogspot.com/2008/07/omg-blog-candy-alert.html

A whole year of downloads to be won:
http://funkyfairyinspirations.blogspot.com/2008/07/fabby-blog-candy-giveaway.html

Wow!! Go check it out! Someone's got to win (would love it to be me!)

Salt: Patience

It is Esther's turn this week to set the challenge.

PATIENCE

Esther says: My inspiration came from a daily devotional page that my friend gave to me, it was very reassuring and talked of resting in God and waiting patiently in him Psalm 37:7, I will quote some of what it says "there are things you cant have today that you'll be able to have in the future. So it doesnt make sense to drive yourself crazy and put your life on hold struggling to accomplish something now that'll be easy when the time is right...." "God allows certain things to take place in our lives to teach us important principles...." "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans12:12 when you spend time in God's waiting room, He's developing qualities in you that simply can't be deceloped any other way.

When He's finished you will come out stronger and wiser..."

My LO is based on Psalm 37:7 'Be still before the Lord and wait patientlty for Him'. I've used the music score from Mendelssohn's Elijah 'O rest in the Lord' to highlight this.

The background paper is Imaginations Sonnets script translations (although you can now see very little script) - I've used a couple of ivy stamps randomly, some going over one another - to depict the busy-ness and sometimes confusions of life - as a contrast to the serenity of the candle picture, depicting rest in the Lord.

Please take a look at Salt and the marvellous creations that others have made

Little houses swap

A week or two ago I showed the houses I made for the Little Boxes on the Hillside project swap.

Today I received my swap houses - wow! they are all gorgeous!









Thank you, everyone - and many thanks too to Sarah for organising such a big swap.

New Home card

A simple card with mulberry paper on to the card blank - can't remember where I got the house and welcome mat - made for a friend who's recently moved:

Another 100th Birthday Card!

A friend rang up this morning asking if I would be able to make a 100th birthday card - she started to say who the lady is and I soon realised that it's for the same person as the previous card. She asked if I would do something that incorporated a hat (been there, done that!), perhaps an Edwardian lady - it was left to me to come up with something.

So here is a card using one of my big foam stamps - I had to use a 7" x 5" blank because the stamp is too big to be used for an A6 card.

I stamped with versamark and then chalked lightly, then mounted on silver mirror card (I know, it looks black in the scan) with silver edging round the Happy Birthday greeting and, of course, that all-important 100 in silver.

Christine, if you have a look here, I hope you like what I've done:



I've just realised that as there is lace on the lady's dress I think it could qualify for the July challenge 3 loverly lace on JB and also for the Lace it up! 052 challenge on CBC.

100th Birthday Card

This is the first time I've been asked to make a card for a 100th Birthday. The recipient used to be a milliner, so I said I would make a large card in the shape of a hat. I only had a template for a small card, so I had to draw round it, scan, then enlarge and print out to use as a template with A3 card folded.

The background textured paper and the brads are DCWV. I printed the greeting and then used daisy sticky ribbons along the edges (the cut edges didn't look even enoug without it). The daisy ribbon looked a bit bare, so I stuck the little sparkly gems in the centre of each daisy (I had exactly the right number of the size I needed).

I cut A3 folded paper to make an insert and stamped and embossed a deep pink 'Happy Birthday' (but I admit that I wasted three sheets of A3 because I wasn't pleased with the stamping).

The person who asked for the card is coming to pick it up on Thursday - I just hope she likes it:






I don't usually double up on challenges, but as this is a special card I hope I can be forgiven. So itfits the Easy as 1, 2, 3, CBCC046 challenge on Carolyn's, the June 10 challenge on JB: I've got your number, and the DCM Got your number little extra midweek.

Think Pink 2

The theme for the Think Pink challenge on BF forum for last week was Anniversary or Wedding cards, so I made two very simple wedding day cards. Unfortunately, holographic doesn't show well on photos:

DCM more peel offs

Two more cards using peel offs:

DCM: peel offs

Lythan set the dare on DCM this week: 'Cards with a certain a-Peel (off)'.

I admit that I used to have loads of peel offs - bought once upon a time in the distant past, thinking I would create wonderful cards with them - and most of them stayed at the back of the cupboard until I sold them.

I had one or two that I'd saved for a possible rainy day, so I dug out a sheet of white fashion peel offs.

I stuck the dress on a sheet of white and grey paper fromm a kanban pad that I purchased to go with a kit of concept cards - I've been making these ready for my TEAR Fund sale in September - and stuck the dress on one of the cut off cards (this is silver foil edged, which doesn't show well in the photo) and then fixed a matching Happy Birthday tag with a handbag brad.



I've mounted the other dress from the peel off sheet on to a different coloured piece of paper and will do something with it later.

Meanwhile, I've been putting together the cards from the concept kit - this had 48 cards in it, but with a bit of cutting and changing and adding other bits I'm managing to make 100 cards with it - might show some in a slideshow later.

Bookmark swap

Now that I know that Janice has received this I can show it. The bookmark was for a swap on BF forum and we had to use yellow. I didn't find it that easy, but once I started I enjoyed doing it.

The flowers on the vellum were coloured in lightly with Sakura gelly roll pens. The swirly backgrounds on the front and back were just stamped with versamark to give a watermark effect.

Janice commented that she wouldn't have the patience to do the quilling - I confess that neither have I - I bought them like that!

JB July challenge 1: a template

Why is that some days I struggle to make one card and yet today I am making one after the other?

Anyway, here is one for the July challenge 1 on JB - a template supplied by Sue:



I used K & Co Classic K McKenna and one of the stamped images that I had left over from making the box of cards last night:

JB June challenge 7: any which way

This was the challenge from Nicky: 'Here's a nice straightforward card challenge for you - make a card featuring an arrow, any kind, any size.'

There are los of arrows on this K & Co Urban rhapsody paper - the strip between the ribbons is from the other side of the paper:

JB July challenge 2: flower power

Yesterday, Sue set this challenge on JB: OK ladies a REALLY easy challenge for this wet Wednesday. I need a card with FLOWERS - couldn't be easier.

I haven't done many JB challenges for a while - just like me to start with the most recent one!

The other day I had a session of inking and embossing pieces of card. I used various cuttlebug embossing folders, including this paisley one. I wasn't sure what to use this particularly piece on, but I found a gatefold card - quite unusual to have the fold across a landscape A6 card. I've added some embossed tezxtured rub ons (they look much more textured irl) and put one on the inside of the card where the gate fold opens. The card blank itself has a bit of a gold iridescent sheen to it, which doesn't show in th photo:





Thanks, Sue, for a challenge that spurred me on to use a piece of the embossed card.

A proper ice cream sundae card!

I suddenly thought that I might have some offcuts in my scraps box - and yay! there were some pieces of BG cupcake papers, so here is another card for the CBC challenge - the ribbon and brad is DCWV and the sentiment, I think, was in a Brenda Pinnick collection:

CBC ice cream sundae challenge 055

Ah, I thought, I've got just the right papers for this challenge - I remembered there's some paper in the BG cupcake range with ice creams all over it - then I discovered that I'd used it all recently.

So, in the end, this isn't exactly ice cream sundae, but it's summery strawberries, so I hope it will count. The main double-sided paper is from K & Co Berry sweet range and the stripey and spotty strips are from a DCWV paper. The embellishments - officially hearts, but I thought they might be seen as strawberries (whichever, they seemed to look OK) were some that I've had for ages - cut off a cheap bag from Primark.

Oh dear - nevermind!

This card was going to be for today's challenge on CBC: everything chinezse 056, but, having done the card (having a pink and plum day today!) I looked again at the challenge and it said: 'using the more traditional Chinese colours of Red, Black, Gold, or Green' - ooopps - oh well, I'll still show it - a very quick card:



As you can see - no red, black, gold or green in sight! Will try and do a proper one for the challenge later.

CBC template 053

Having made my box for the 6 cards for the Think Pink challenge 1, I had the piece of card spare that had cut out the aperture on the box lid.

I remembered that on CBC there was a template challenge (CBCC053) that featured an oval shape and I thought that my cut out piece of card could be used on a card for this challenge.



So I stamped it with Archival plum, using another of the foam stamps I recently acquired, inked the edges, and mounted on to a piece of BG sugared. The strip of ribbon is just a stray piece I had in my box that just fitted in nicely with th colours.

The card is actually square, although the photo makes it look an odd shape!