JB big challenge 10

Sadie set this challenge on Just Bex: big challenge 10: swing card: 'I am so excited, Bex asked me to set this challenge so test your mojo and get on swinging.
I want you to create a swing card, you can decorate it any how you like as long as the card you create swings!'

I've never attempted one of these before - I had fun doing it and it's far from perfect, but thought I'd still show it:




The plain green area is ready for writing a greeting to and from.

Now I've made one I'd have a better idea of what I am doing, so hope that doing another one would create a better result.

JB big challenge 5

Nicky set this challenge: JB big challenge 5: frame it: 'Nice and simple, this one! Create a LO using ribbon as a frame for your photo.'

I wouldn't often think of putting lilac and black and white together, but I think it works:

Crafts by Carolyn challenge: a play on words

I know that I've shown similar cards before, but there's only a certain number of variations on a theme that a girl can do! These are for the crew challenge 008 set by Nicola at Carolyn's: 'This challenge is all about words....the cornier and punnier the better! They can be your words, a quote that makes you laugh....whatever tickles you!'

So, they're not very original, but here they are:

HS:MS SOS 9

Today on HS:MS it's SOS.

A couple of months ago, my main laptop died and I hadn't backed up some of the pictures and scans I had on there (I know, I know ...).

Anyway, this afternoon John was getting some stuff ready for the council to come tomorrow and give an estimate to dispose of - we have quite a lot of old stuff in the garage and shed that really needs to go - and I thought that the dead laptop might as well join the rubbish.

Still disappointed that it had died on me and I had lost some family photos, I decided to have one more try to get it working. A couple of months ago I had tried everything - trying to get into the bios, pressing F2 or F8 or whatever, tried the restore disc, the windows xp disc - zilch!

So I thought I'd have one last try to resurrect it - did all the things I'd done before - nothing - tried about six times. Completely switched off again and thought I'd try again and .... you've guessed .... it came on and loaded up with windows and everything that was originally on there. Because I don't trust it, I then saved pictures and scans to an external hard drive.

What, you may well be asking by now, has this got to do with my SOS photo for today. Well, on there were some photos of my dad's last birthday on 29 October 2003 when he was 86 - sadly he died a month later.

The photo I've chosen isn't a good one (at the time my photos were taken with an early digital camera and the resolution was poor compared with what's available these days). But I've chosen the photo because it's one of the last that I took of dad with mum and even though he was in a nursing home suffering from dementia he enjoyed bits of his birthday, although five minutes later he had no idea what had happened.

JB big challenge 11

JB big challenge 11: a Christmas carol: 'Your next Christmas challenge is to create a card with a Christmas Carol or song on'



The right hand looks too turqouise in the photo - it's really a true blue. The picture is raised with 3D pads.

JB big challenge 7

JB big challenge 7: polka dot spots: 'Your challenge is to create a card or a layout featuring polka dots or spots'.

The paper is from the BG Scarlet's letter range:



Sorry flash has reflected, but you get the genteral idea.

HS:MS SPS 9

Saturday is SPS on HS:MS and ever since Chris told us about the 'scrap your boobs' challenge on It's a Creative World I've been trying to summon up courage to do this. I decided today is the day, so here is my LO:



In my enthusiasm for getting on and doing this (at last!) I completely forgot that Chris has been kindly supplying pink papers to be downloaded, so my LO doesn't include these.

So far I'm only submitting this as my HS:MS photo for today - partly because I'm not sure that I'm brave enough to submit it to It's a Creative World and partly because the light had faded by the time I'd finished it and there's evidence of the flash and the LO isn't as pink here as it is irl.

I'll decide tomorrow whether I'm brave enough to take a daylight photo and submit it to It's a Creative World - it's all in such a good cause, so I probably will.

HS:MS regulars - please excuse the poorness of the photo.

JB big challenge 3

Lisa set challenge 3:blooming Christmas: 'Flowers are generally associated with spring and summer but they can also be so christmassy too. So for this next challenge lets see all your blooming gorgeous christmas cards...all flowers welcome'

This was an easy one for me because I've still got plenty of papers left over from my Anna Griffin kit, so I used them for backgrounds for the first four cards. The first two have small Christmas flowers on them and the next three have a combination of flowers I had in stock and some of the big poinsettia blooms that I got the other day from Poundland (24 for a £1 - good value). The background paper on the last one was one that I got with a minibook (didn't use the book, but have cut up the pages to use for cards):

HS:MS blue

'Blue is next in our Rainbow theme - go find me some blue in your psace today.'

This mini guillotine is always near my space (although sometimes I mislay it among everything else!):

JB big challenge 1

Over on Just Bex there are going to be lots of challenges over the weekend. This is for big challenge 1: fasten it: Sue says: '........and for this we want you to make a card that FASTENS - it can be tied buckled, buttoned - you decide'

This has taken me a loooooong time (won't be doing many of these in a hurry!). I had to experiment a lot to get the hook and eye fastener in the right place to be able to flex the card enough to open it - I found out that using a gatefold card as normal just wouldn't work, so I had to trim either side of the centre before securing the hook and eye with brads.

I've used velvet paper for the main 'coat' of the card (on the back as well).

I hope that the pictures show that it can stand up when it's closed and that it opens out OK:





Thanks, Sue, for a good challenge - it certainly was a challenge!

DCM midweek extra

Over on DCM, it says: 'here's our Little Extra for this week:"O Christmas Tree. O Christmas Tree" Want to guess what needs to be featured on your cards this week? Yes, we want to see lots and lots of Christmas Trees - that should help you get those stocks of cards looking a bit healthier.'

This is a bit of a cheat really, because these cards weren't made specially, but were recently done to add to my stock. Apart from the last one (which was robo'd) they were made using some of the never-ending Anna Griffin kit - admittedly easy to put together cards if you have a lot to make:

You make me smile award

This was so hard - there were sooooo many of you that I would have loved to put on the list - restricting to just ten was mega hard - it was almost like drawing names out of a hat. There are many, many more blogging friends who also qualify for this. Thank you to all who visit my blog and yes, you do make me smile.

Diana
Charli
Kate
Nicola
Sue Nicholson
Lythan
Sue
Chris
Rachel
Em

I am such a wally - I've come back to edit this - to say that you then need to nominate ten people to receive the award.

HS:MS green

'Next to Yellow in the rainbow is Green. Show us Green in your space.'

Although it's now autumn and there's definitely a nip in the air, despite the lovely sunshine this morning, there is still much green in the garden:



I couldn't resist having a wander round the garden to take shots of the variety of green. I think that green is definitely one of God's favourite colours, because he used it so much in creation - and there are countless varieties of shades of green. These are just a few examples (and apologies that there are so many - I just got carried away with the wonder of it all):

You make me smile award

I've been awarded the You Make Me Smile Award by Andrea - thank you Malieta.

I apologise that I didn't do anything about this earlier and I'll come back tomorrow with my list of ten people who I am nominating for the award.

Incredible!!!

If you've read my earlier post, you'll know that I did quite a few stamped images by painting the stamp with H2Os and then spritzing with a fine spray of water to refresh.

Well, I hadn't cleaned the stamps that were used this morning - they've just been left with the rubber side facing upwards. I wondered whether it would still be possible to spritz them and get a result and this is what I got:





The first one can now be used just as it is - I'll just add a bit of Stickles glitter glue in the centre, and the second one is what the others looked like before I then shaded them using the H2O and a waterbrush.

Update on 'why is it?'

Thanks for all the comments on the card. I took it over to mum's and the lady concerned has collected it and was thrilled with it - said it was just what she wanted - phew!

CBC No ink pad challenge

The challenge crew on Crafts by Carolyn launched a 'no ink pad' challenge a few days ago and there have been so many terrific examples of various ways to achieve such talented results.

I decided to get out my H2Os this morning and use them to paint directly on to the stamp.

For the first two cards I used one of my favourite Magenta stamps, and sprayed with a fine water spray to refresh once I painted with the H20s. I added a few spots of Stickles glitter glue in the centres of the flowers:





For the following cards, I painted H2Os on to the rose stamp and used it over and over again, lightly spritzing the stamp to refresh. To be honest, some of the images I nearly threw away because they weren't perfectly stamped, but by the time I'd used a waterbrush with them, I couldn't tell.

After the first rose was stamped I went over parts of the rose with the H2O and gradually used less paint and more water to blend to achieve the variation in colour:

The next three were done in the same way, but with a bit of Stickles glitter glue added:







The next one had glossy accents added along some of the lines of the rose and leaves:



And the last one had a combination of glossy accents and glitter sprinkled on to it in places:



They honestly looked better irl than on the photos - you can't see the sheen and the gloss.

I have to confess that there was another one, but I was too impatient and started to handle it before the glossy accents had set - it ended up in the bin!

JB July challenge 12

Yes, you have read that correctly - this is a July challenge that I never did (because I couldn't at the time find my deckle edge scissors). This is for July challenge 12: scissor sisters card challenge: 'Okay Ladies root around and dust off those scalloped or zig zag scissors...yep this challenge is to produce a card using your decorative edged scissors.'

The rose was stamped using H2Os direct to the pad and them using a waterbrush to blend in afterwards (more to come in a while for another forum challenge).



Btw the 'congratulations' paper isn't actually crooked at the top (just my photography!)

HS:MS yellow

'Our Rainbow theme takes us on to Yellow - Bright, cheery, sunny. Show us yellow in your space.'

This morning I've been stamping - evidence on here a bit later on - and so I thought of ink pads - this is my collection of yellow (not a colour that is often used for stamping):

HS:MS orange

'Following our rainbow theme this week, Orange comes next in the rainbow to Red. Show us Orange in your space.'

It's blooms again - just some that are housed in my lovely blooms box that Sue made and sent.







And just in case you think I don't have any other orange in my space, here's a little peep: