Mickey and Minnie

Quite a while ago I bought a Disney kit from QVC that included lots of papers and also the rubber stamps for Mickey and Minnie. I've used some before for various challenges, but these now are for a rubber stamp Get Spotted challenge on Carolyn's to use spots or dots on a card:



And these are two simple new home cards (need to send one to a friend who's moved and could also do with boosting stocks). They are for Sue's CAC 007 'Home is where the heart is' challenge on Carolyn's:


Sorry that the card on the second one is white, so you can't properly see the edges!

A couple more cards

Doing the JB challenges is a good way of building up a stock of cards (hoping I'll be able to have an 'at home sale' in September to raise money for TEAR Fund - will depend on how I am and how prepared I can be).

Back to today: this card is for the chocachino challenge (apparently a drink available at Thornton's - I wouldn't know about such wicked things!) using the colours:
And the next one was a cardlift challenge. Here is the original example:

And here is mine:

The actual card is green (doesn't show too well in this light, as is the Birthday greeting) - don't often use green much for cardmaking (don't know why not), so it makes a change.

Trying to forget how I feel

Having had a 'not so good' day yesterday, I can't say I'm feeling much better today, but am doing some crafting to try and take my mind off the pain in my back. But, hey ho, no moaning, so on with the crafty outlook.

These are for the the JB July challenge 11 It's a match. We were asked to make a card/LO using these colours:

So here are two cards (which I admit were very quick makes because they were using bits from a kit by Lisa Bearnson purchased some time ago from QVC):

The LO took much longer - I actually started it the other day and gave up, so I came back to it this morning - I needed to print out the photos and generally finish off. My Grandad and Nan's wedding photo (15 February 1921) is in the middle and the other photos are of their sons' and daughters' wedding (although there were two that got missed off because they didn't fit the LO!):

The next LO is for the July challenge 18: the big picture (using just one large photo). The photo isn't very good (light is quite poor atm), but the top says 'mother' and the bottom says 'sweet daughter':

Not much today

It's not been a good day today - I know, I know, I probably overdid things yesterday, although nothing too much - think I didn't help my back by bending to pick things up - not always convenient to call for help from John.

Anyway, this morning just came and went - achieved nothing. But this afternoon did a LO that I can't show here yet (top secret - watch this space! - something new and exciting is about to happen).

But I can show some quick cards for challenges on Just Bex.

These two are for a 'less is more' challenge:


And these two are for a challenge to make a card using the colour of strawberries and kiwis (I know there's other colour but I hope it qualifies!):

And more!

JB July challenge 1: altered notebook:

Before:
After:

I used papers and bits from the K'Ology Hannah range.

This next one is for the JB July template 5 rectangles: I used papers from my new Papermania Inspirations black and white pack and highlighted the squares with craft stickers autcollants (have had these for ages and had never yet found a use for them.

And some more

Some more JB challenges. This time it's for the Friday night challenge to make a card and/or LO, using only one sheet of paper.

I did the card yesterday, but wanted to wait till I'd done the LO and put them both together.

The card was made out of a piece of card from the Making Memories Cosmopolitan collection called 'slimming stripe' (oh how I need slimming stripes!!). The little flowers were cut from an Ellison die and the lettering from an extended cut alphabet die - very small and fiddly (ds tape on the back first). The bottom is a 'double doo' border die:

The LO is a bit of a cheat really, because the background paper is from the K & Co Brenda Walton Brookfield range, which is double sided, so the bit used under the photo is the reverse side. There is so much on this paper that nothing much else is needed (well, it's not my fault if they make such a lovely paper that fits the bill!):

The photo shows my Mum, John and me, Mandy and the three girls - four generations!

And another - JB July challenge 3 - a sleeping scrapbook page LO:

Crafty catch up

These are the Just Bex challenges I did yesterday:

July challenge 7: Schools out for summer - card for a teacher that doesn't have 'teacher' on it (the 'distorted look towards the bottom is because there is an overlay of acetate which reflects the light):


Friday night challenge: Shape shifters - card of any shape other than rectangle or square (I made two because you can cut two out of an A4 sheet of card - the card has a glimmer sheen which doesn't show here):

Open:
Night in at the movies (based on 'The Wizard of Oz' (I chose 'red shoes' and the background paper seemed appropriate to the theme:

Close ups:


Jen's June challenge 1: using three different 'bling' techniques/products (I used glitter card for the matting around the photos and journalling, glitter glue for the blobby swirls - weren't really meant to be so blobby! - and sticky gems):

I've done a couple more challenges today:

Blooming flowers Craft Obsessions: make a vase full of beautiful paper flowers - I used my Sizzix paper sculpting Daisy to make the flowers out of papers from the DCWV pocket full of posies - something for me to enjoy on my windowsill:

July challenge 4: It's hip to be square - using nine squares in a 3 x 3 format - the background paper is Friendship Word, Creating Keepsakes:

I think I'm going to do some more LOs in this format - a good way of showing a group of photos for a particular occasion or holiday.

Back from Bognor

We came back on Saturday and I've been trying to ease myself into being back home again. Despite health problems that prevented us doing too much, we enjoyed the week and were very blessed with relatively good weather (considering what other parts of the country have been like). On a crafty note, I found a shop that Carolyn had told me about and managed to buy a few items (perhaps a bit more than a few) - what a good job John had a rucksack with him!

My first crafty task on return home was for an inchie swap on Paper n Lace - this was for Lynn:

I've done a few of the challenges for Just Bex today - too tired to show them tonight (should get off here now before my back feels worse) - will put them on here and on the forum tomorrow.

The following card is for this week's dare on Daring Cardmaker's (this is the first time that I've taken part in this, although I did do the midweek extra a couple of weeks ago):

This is the task set by Lynne:

"POCKETS I’d like to see lots and lots of pockets. Pockets full of posies, Brass in Pocket (love the Pretenders).Pockets on clothes, Pockets from clothes, Library Pocket, Pockets of this and Pockets of that. Get the idea? Pockets and Pockets of Pockets.
Don’t forget to leave us a comment and your Blog link and we’ll - hop, skip and a jump over to check out your creations. You can still join in the fun if you don’t have a Blog. Just send a pic/ scan of your creation to the team at daringcardmakers@hotmail.co.uk and we’ll add it to our gallery for all to see.

Remember to have pockets and pockets full of FUN!!!!"

So my card has a very simple diagonal pocket that houses a packet of seeds.

This is actually a simpler version of one that I made last year for a friend, shown here:

Japanese ATCs

Today I've managed to do the Japanese ATCs for the swap on Carolyn's hosted by Wendy. The background is red tissue stuck onto silver card and the stamps are with black stazon. The strip down the side near the ribbon is self-adhesive vellum.

I've also done the DLO in Rach's super CJ 'My little book of laughter'. I might show pictures later (not sure whether Rach would prefer to see or not).

Just Bex May prize

I won the prize for the challenge points for May on Just Bex. This is the super lot of goodies I received:

I've incorporated some of it into a card and a LO which will be used to launch a challenge on JB in about ten day's time - until then I can't show them!

Swirls and flourishes ATCs

These ATCs are for a swap on Tanda. I stamped on acetate with Brilliance Galaxy Gold and embossed with pirate gold powder, using some of the swirl stamps from Tanda. I coloured the back of the acetate with a mixture of alcohol inks: wild plum, oregano and butterscotch with just a hint of gold (irl there's more variation in colour than on the scans). I then coloured a few of the flowers very lightly with pink or purple and added the fans and dragonfly. The acetate was run through my xyron and then stuck on to gold card.

I'm quite pleased with the results, but have to say that a few efforts went in the bin before I achieved these. At first I inked up some gloss photo paper with alcohol inks - it looked really much better than the acetate - I then stamped on it and tried to heat the embossing powder but it bubbled. At first I thought it was the alcohol inks that were causing the bubbling, but I tried on plain photo paper and the same thing happened - it obviously couldn't withstand the heat of the gun. The acetate I used in the end is the kind that can go through a photocopier, so it stood up to heat embossing.


I took the cards to my friend this afternoon (the ones I showed on here last night) and she was really pleased with them, particularly the one with the Cliff Richard Congratulations 'record'.

Scarlet ATCs

These are for an ATC swap on Paper n Lace, the subject being 'scarlet' with the brief to 'think outside the box'. (Scans don't show that the sunset background on each has been swiped with embossing pad and clear embossing powder.

Another card

This is the other card that I was asked to make - for someone who is keen on the theatre and amateur dramatics. The 'curtain' is decoupaged, printed on to velvet paper and the beige background is also velvet paper (I knew I'd find a use for it one day!).

I can now show my scrapbook LO for the chinese whisper on Carolyn's:

I was the last one in the group. The template had started off like this:

If you'd like to see the progression from the template to my LO, please have a look here: http://craftsbycarolyn.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=41911

This morning was one of those times when I couldn't really get on with anything - had the workmen in to finish off the fitments in the spare room and also others in to fit new bathroom carpet, so a lot of 'coming and going'.

This afternoon I've been working on two cards requested by a friend. The first one is for her grandson who is mad keen on Roary, the racing car:

Although this is a very simple card it took quite a while because I had to adapt the only picture of Roary I could use that had other bits on it I didn't want, so had to edit in Paint.

And the next one is for my friend to give to a mutual friend who is a great Cliff Richard fan:

I've just realised that this would qualify (I think!) for the DCM extra: 'We've another Retro challenge for this week's Little Extra.This time we'd like you to find your inspiration in the 1960s.'

As usual, the photos aren't very good. Irl the 'record label' for Cliff's Congratulations shows up a lot better. It's mounted on a CD to give more depth.

I have one more to do for her, which is for her son's father-in-law who is keen on the theatre and amateur dramatics, so I know I'm going to use a stage curtain design, but haven't got that far yet - watch this space!