BF NRC getting distressed!

Joanne challenged us to get distressed! using one of the technique on Sir Tim's video.

I used his second technique - patting distress ink pads on my craft sheet and spritzing with water, then dabbing the paper on to it, heating and doing it again. For the background of the card I used a piece of BG ambrosia (a light grey) and used old paper and tattered rose distress inks. For the panel I used these inks with the addition of brushed corduroy and then stamped with black soot using Hero Arts Distressed Spring background stamp.

Thanks for another good challenge, Joanne.

Bubbly Funk Non Retreaters Crop (NRC in future)

Today some of the members of the Bubbly Funk forum are meeting up for a weekend retreat. Some of us haven't been able to join them, so Kathy had the super idea of us having a 'Non Retreaters Crop'.

So this is for Joanne's 'Pop up gift card holder'.

The papers are American Crafts a la Mode Parfait and Eclair - which are both double sided.

I've slipped in my Boots advantage card to show where a gift card would be slotted in.

Orange, black and white

I've missed some of the BG challenges (I love any excuse to use BG papers), but have done this week's challenge 34 based on Anthea's sketch:

I've used ambrosia papers. As these are black, white and orange, I'm also submitting this for challenge 59 on My Time to Craft 'black and white plus one' (yes, I know it's very late for this).

Bex challenge us (JB April 1) to make a card with orange as the main colour (I think there's enough orange on this one).

CBC ATCs for May

This month the ATC swap on CBC is based on this sketch template:
I've used BG Scarlet's letter papers and a stamp from the Daisy and Dandelion 'Pickles and Onion' range - it's the smaller of the two elephants - think that must be Onion, but I'm not sure which is which - perhaps someone can enlighten me?! I used copics to colour. The pieces of ribbon are Craft House.

Anyway, as it's an elephant, I'm linking for Alphabet Challenge E is for ... elephant.

The challenge this week on ABC is 'N is for ... not a card' and on Daisy and Dandelion it's 'anything but a card', so these ATCs do nicely for both.

As these ATCs have pockets, I'm linking for Dewdrop Craftz challenge: 'Pocket full of ...'

And, lastly, 'animal antics' for this week on Papertake Weekly.

Salt: God's Strength

Julie has chosen 'God's strength' as the theme for this fortnight's challenge on Salt. You can read what she says here.

This verse is such an encouragement to me and one that I have proved time and time again through various circumstances. All my life I've had health struggles (or should that be ill-health struggles? - depends whether you see the glass as half full or half empty, I guess!). As a couple we have been through many difficulties times for one reason or another - and through all of this, I have always found that indeed God's grace is sufficient and He is our strength in our times of weakness. Many of you know that in recent weeks we have been concerned once again about John's health. The news we got yesterday is a testimony to God's goodness and His grace towards us and we pray for His continuing strength to see us through this time.

I decided to make a card for this challenge, one that can be used to encourage someone who is going through a difficult time.

The background paper is Imaginisce Go for Baroque Rendez-vous Who? - it is double sided, so the square in the middle has been turned over. I love the blend of colours in this paper. The leaves, swirls and flowers all came in the swap RAK I received this week.



Please pop over to our Salt blog and see the beautiful crafting of the team. And perhaps you will feel prompted to make something and share with us - we would love that.

Daisy and Dandelion challenge 9

Sketch 3 by Clare for Daisy and Dandelion challenge 9: K & Co and Dream Street papers:

I've included the option 'just for you'.

Magnolia - love or hate?

This was a question I came across the other day - a bit like Marmite, you either love it or hate it: Magnolia stamps, Tilda in particular.

Well, I had my doubts for quite a while (the lack of nose and mouth) but I have to say that after I'd received some Tilda stamped images in a swap, I quite warmed to them and am now the owner of a few Magnolia stamps.

So I've used one for this sketch by Vee on Charisma Cardz for challenge 18:
Magnolia is the topic this week on Rosiedee challenge blog, so this is being linked there. It also fits the Just Magnolia challenge 4 (first time doing a challenge there): 'in stitches', as the grosgrain ribbon down the side is stitched.

The papers are a mixture of Anna Griffin, Brenda Pinnick and Dream Street. Tilda was coloured with copics.



Challenge 28 on One Stop Craft this week is 'cut it out'. More often than not I just stamp on to the card shape, but this time I cut out the stamped image and stuck on with 3d foam to give it a bit of a lift, as you can see here:

A lovely RAK and some good news

I know this is a craft blog and I usually try and keep it to that, but so many readers have been concerned about John, so I thought I would share the good news:

John had to go today to see the consutlants (thinking he might have to go back into hospital) - they said that the scan shows that the blockage was cleared by the balloon angioplasty and that the antibiotics are working on the foot. There is even some hope that the toe might actually heal - will just have to wait and see. So John has to keep on the ABs and go up again next Wed (and probably continue weekly after that). Even if he has to eventually have the toe amputated - and he might not have to - the news is still good.

I thought I'd also show a picture of some flowers I received a couple of days ago - a complete surprise - from a craft forum friend:


Thank you to everyone who has been concerned about us. We feel that this outcome is such an answer to prayer. We appreciate that many were praying along with us and will continue to do so, for the foot to heal and even for the toe itself to heal.

Miss you

This card is based on Kazan's sketch 26 on this week's 2 Sketches 4 you challenge:

The lovely dog image is one that I received in my swap RAK from CBC.

I'm linking for this week's Copic Colour challenge 12, which is to use RO2, E33 and E57 (I didn't have E57, so I substituted E37).

The 'dogs' paper is from PDA and the torn card at the top is Core'dinations. As I tore the edge of this, it's good for 'J is for jagged edge' on ABC challenge (one that I missed).

Day 59 on 365 was 'miss you', so this card is also for that.

And, lastly, the challenge this week on Papertake Weekly is 'animal antics', so this fits that.

Simply leafy

A simple card - no patterned paper, just a piece of 'Happy Birthday' vellum over a piece of DCWV textured card, with the additional of a few flowers and leaves - the leave were among the die cuts that I received in the swap RAK - aren't they lovely?

This card is for this weeks Creative Card Crew challenge 10: minimal and also for ABC 'keep it simple, as well as 365 cards day 61: 'leaf' it up to me!

Comfort food

I've managed to get another CJ done - I've amazed myself! lol!

This is Steph's (Nerdbird's) for the CBC group and it is her own CJ being returned to her. As I'm the last one to do a DLO I have the pleasure of seeing the finished CJ and what everyone else has put in it - I don't think Steph will be disappointed.

Steph asked us to share our favourite recipes for comfort food, so here is mine. The background paper is K & Co Urban Rhapsody.

The theme today on challenge 51 at A Spoon full of sugar is 'buttongs galore', so I'm linking for that - I think I have enough buttons on this DLO to qualify!

Pearls of wisdom

It was time to do my DLO in Net's 'Pearls of wisdom' CJ for the group on BF.

Net said: 'It's quite simple I need to know all the little pearls of wisdom your mum used to tell you. You know all the little things she used to tell you when you were small and you'd go off rolling your eyes thinking 'Oh year'. So no matter how odd you thought they were I need to know! In fact the odder the better!'

I must admit that I had to really think about this because as lot of the sayings I would have chosen had already been used by those doing the CJ before me.

Anyway, this is what I've come up with. I used DCWV Pocket full of posies papers because these co-ordinate with those Net used.

Circles, scallops and bling

This card is for this week's sketch on challenge 31 on Just Christmas and Birthday Cards:
On 365 cards today the theme is Tuesday's trio, consisting of circle-scallops-bling, all of which are on this card.

This is also good for challenge 13 (last week's one that I missed) on The Pink Elephant: circles and scallops.

The ingredients of this card are just pearlised card, scalloped circles, a DB flower, some star gems and a piece of Brenda Pinnick ribbon:

Something's fishy

'Something's fishy' was the theme on 365 cards for challenge 58: 'put at least one fish on your card'.

For this card, I've used the sketch for challenge 61 on Paperminutes:

I've used blue and green, the subject of this week's Colour Create challenge 15 (haven't done the option this time - perhaps another card later in the week).

The Pink Elephant challenge 14 asks for the use of 'light blue, medium or dark blue, green and white', so this fits that one.

And this week's challenge 39 on Cupcake Craft asks for a card for a man or boy.

And, lastly, the new challenge on Created by hand is 'postage stamps' - and as three of them are on this card, I'm linking for that.

The base card is a PDA design, the large picture is from a concept card kit, the fish at the top is a rub on and the three stamps are also rub ons, mounted on DCWV textured card.

Card recipe

One of the challenges I missed on 365 cards was day 55: card recipe:

This is what Pam said:

'Wouldn't it be nice if you just had a simple recipe to follow that only allowed for variation in colors/patterns? Here's the recipe for this card:

5x5 card (solid colored card stock - may be smooth or textured)
4x4 patterned paper (you may alter the edges if you'd like)
1 shape (circle, square, star, heart, etc.) - must be solid color
3 jewels
alpha stickers

My 5 x 5 card is DCWV textured, my 4 x 4 PP is BG cupcake, my shape is the little red star in the bottom left corner, my three jewels are the two silver stars top right and the one on the red star, and, of course, my alpha stickers spell out 'U R A STAR'.

I used the colours of this week's Colour Throwdown challenge 41: red riding hood, baja breeze and certainly celery, so this card is good for that challenge as well.

Keryn Campbell's challenge 16 has a very similar colour combo: regal rose, bashful blue, certainly celery and a neutral, so I'm also linking there.

Surprise RAK

On Friday, I showed some die cuts that I received from Ellen on CBC. Today, I received an envelope bulging with die cuts and stamped images, kindly sent to me by the swap groups on CBC. I usually take part in swaps like this, but, because of the uncertainty of John being in and out of hospital, I didn't take part this time. What wonderful crafting friends to send me these lovely goodies - thank you so much, everyone, and Helen for organising.

Acetate card

I bought a Dawn Bibby kit from QVC a long, long time ago and only used a bit of the acetate and certainly never made a whole card with any of it - I have quite a few A4 sheets of it.

So, when I saw the challenge on 365 cards for day 56: see through Saturday, I thought about it, but have only just got round to making it. This is also good for Double Dutch challenge 17: clear and simple.

I followed the sketch on Sketch and Stash - and this card qualifies because it uses something that I've had for ages and ages and never used till now.

I have to laugh, because I went to the trouble of cutting the lilac square across the middle to make the two triangles, as in the sketch - and then covered the corners with the leaves, so you can't see I did it!

The embellishments are all from the DB kit. I've stuck a plain piece of white card on the inside reverse of the card so it can be written on.

CBCC093 on CBC is 'sheer elegance' so I'm also linking for that, as it's a 'sheer' card.

Inchies

I've had a little catch up of the recent Inchy by inch challenges.

Three weeks ago, the topic was 'butterflies', so the first two inchies are for that (and I know they look bigger in the photos, but they really are only inchies). The first butterfly is cut from a Crafty Individuals miniature and the second one is a crystal tatoo. These butterfly inchies also fit this week's Crazy Amigo challenge: fly with me.

The second butterfly one is good, of course, for the next week's challenge, which was 'bling':

And, lastly, this week's challenge is 'faces', so I thought 'outside the box' and used parts of clock faces for the first two. The middle one says: 'it takes time to grow a friend'. The images were all cut from Crafty Individuals miniatures and stuck on various papers and inked:

The faces inchies are perfect too for challenge 18 'let's face it' on Lots to do (yes, I know, it's another late one!).

Milestone birthdays

The theme for challenge 38 on Cupcake is 'numbers', so I've chosen two 'milestone' birthdays to do a couple of quick, simple cards. As these both incorporate 'metallic', they are good for this week's ABC 'M is for metallic'.

These cards are also fine for another 365 cards challenge - day 62 'age is just a number'.

A card for mum

In many countries across the world today, notably in the USA, mother's day is being celebrated, so it's no surprise that this is the theme of a few challenges this week. Of course, here in the UK, mother's day was in March (always three weeks before Easter), so I've made a 'mum' card, but it's not specifically for mother's day, just an 'any time' card.

So this is for challenges on Created by hand, Dutch Dare and day 65 on 365 cards (another 365 one ticked off the list!)

This card is also for two challenges on Rosiedee. Firstly, Deanne's challenge 32 was to use peel offs (oh dear ... I had just a few strays left ...) and Rosie's challenge 33 was this sketch:

I used Sakura glaze pens to colour in the peel offs (which had been mounted on to a creamy/yellowy card). The papers are HOTP, except for the stripy background, which was from the inside of an envelope. I didn't have a 'mum' sentiment in blue, so I used a cream one and chalked it (colours match better irl than on here).

Tanda Teaser 96 (yes, I know it's late!) is 'yellow and blue', so this is OK for that (although there's no stamping in sight - actually, colouring the peel offs and cutting took me longer than it would have done to stamp something similar).

It's also good for CBCC096 'cafe culture' and for DCM's 'mum's the word'.

365 Card of the week

I've been awarded the 365 card of the week, as part of this week's top trio! 'We loved your crisp clean grad card.' - you can see it here. What a surprise. Thank you.



If you haven't yet visited 365, please go along and have a look - and perhaps join in the challenges - there is such variety there.