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Saturday, 6 August 2011

Blue butterfly friendship

I'm just scraping in at the last minute for Make my Monday 9: butterflies or dragonflies.

This is actually the first of six ATCs that I'm doing for the August swap on the Bubblyfunk forum - the theme is 'a quote/a saying'.

When the other five are made (hopefully tomorrow) I'll add them to this post.

The background is a Kanban image stamped with stazon ultramarine, with the butterfly lightly coloured with pale blue grey copic. The saying is a Stamping up stamp. Edges were distressed with stormy sky DI.

Sunday update - all six are done now:

This is also for:

Bizzy Becs August: use butterflies and the colour blue
ATC challenges 7: all things summer
Stamptacular 122: friends are heaven sent
Fab n funky 84: friendship

Red and white magical Christmas

For week 31 on the Facebook Sunday's with Santa group, there is a recipe of a snowflake, some ribbon and 3 buttons, so I have used all of these on this card.

The current CD Sunday challenge is 'bling it up!' - getting this done at the last minute before a new challenge goes up tomorrow. I used a paper and topper from My Craft Studio CD Christmas 1 contemporary tree. Until recently I'd forgotten about these Christmas CDs, so it made a change to use something from one of them (I have the My Craft Studio Christmas set). I added quite a lot of red gems for the bling, as well as the glittered snowflake. As I used a CD, this is also for Fab's big Christmas for August.



This is also for:

Incy wincy 105: monochromatic colours
Tanda teaser 177: ribbons and bows
Truly scrumptious 62: buttons & bows
Ribbon carousel 14: let's get crazy - anything goes (using ribbon)
Totally papercrafts 78: holidays (I noticed some of the DT did Christmas cards)
Simon says: Christmas in August
PaperPlay 31: Christmas in August
Stamp something: August digi day
AiFactory: August anything goes
Papertake: anything goes

In the garden

This card is for DDH (the angel company) 11: black and white - using one of their digital paper downloads (I entered a card for their challenge a few days ago, but didn't realise that I should have used one of their papers, hence another card now).

I've overlaid some Dawn Bibby acetate, using my xyron for even coverage, for The crafty pad 132: something clear. The acetate is embossed with silver foiling.

Th daisies image is one of my favourite Magenta stamps so I'm entering this for Ladybug 36: favourite stamp; sticky ribbons are from Hobbycraft and the felt flowers with button is from Poundland.

Because of the reflection on the acetate it was difficult to get a photo - this is the best I could do:

This is also for:

Secret crafter Saturday 146: black and white only
Order of the opus gluei 110: a picture is worth a thousand words - no words
Kaboodle 78: in the garden
Poodles parlour: round and round the garden
House of Gilli: polka dots
Hanna and friends 105: dots or stripes
Delightful: stitching - it's real on the ribbons, but I didn't do it!
Pattie's 27: stitching
The stamp man 28: show us some stitching
Ribbon carousel 14: let's get crazy - anything goes (using ribbon)
Incy wincy 105: monochromatic colours
365 cards day 159: opposite day - black and white
AiFactory: August anything goes
Nightshift stamping 78: feel free to do!
Papertake: anything goes

Cupcake birthday

This card is for Birthday sundaes 20: cakes and cupcakes birthdays. And it's for this sketch on CPS 229:

Background papers are Daisy bucket and the toppers are Kanban.


Colours are for The lollipop ladies 26: biscotti inspiration picture (the added texture is on the die cut toppers - they are embossed, but difficult to see here):

This is also for:

365 cards day 158: sweet treats (two different cakes)
Card cupids: birthday cards
Lollipop 42: celebrate - birthday
Cardmakin mamas 26: birthday cards
Craft your days away 26: birthday celebrations
My time to craft 151: espressoley for you - coffee colours or drinks
Lexi 45: a shaped card
Whoopsi Daisy: lt's get in shape
Mark's finest papers speedy the cat 67: anything but a standard card
Incy wincy 105: monochromatic colours
AiFactory: August anything goes
Papertake: anything goes

White on white Sassy Suzi

This is a joyfold Christmas card (well, it's my adapted version of a joyfold - a bit of poetic licence) for Christmas inspirations 30.

It features Greeting Farm wild sprouts 'sassy Suzi' stamp, coloured very lightly with two or three pastel copics. This is for Anyone for Anya 'no patterned paper' challenge, also for All that scraps challenge: anything goes - it's also for Farm fresh Friday throwback challenge 3: fancy fold, using an older TGF stamp.

The crackle embossing panel on the left was made using a creative expressions folder, the spots on the central card were produced with a crafts too folder and the Christmas greetings from a cuttlebug embossing folder, all run through my cuttlebug. I made my joyfold a bit different to the norm, so that the full extent of the embossed greetings can be seen when the card fully opens. The central panel can be opened, it's just held down a bit with the craftime flower. The white ribbon ith gems was from Hobbycraft.

This is also for:

Ellephantastic August: add some layers
Shabby tea room 73: mix and match - at least 3 different patterned papers - manufactured or make your own - I made three different embossed papers
Lexi 45: a shaped card
Whoopsi Daisy: lt's get in shape
Mark's finest papers speedy the cat 67: anything but a standard card
Jingle belles: shape up for the holidays
Totally papercrafts 78: holidays (I noticed some of the DT did Christmas cards)
Just for fun 27: white on white
Bah! humbug 32: white on white
Winter wonderland: white on white
House of Gilli: polka dots
Hanna and friends 105: dots or stripes
Ribbon carousel 14: let's get crazy - anything goes (using ribbon)
Cute card Thursday176: no designer paper
Incy wincy 105: monochromatic colours
My mum's craft shop 17: monochromatic
Simon says: Christmas in August
PaperPlay 31: Christmas in August
Craft us crazy 14: anything goes in August
AiFactory: August anything goes
Nightshift stamping 78: feel free to do!
Papertake: anything goes

My BF forum CJ has come home

For the past year I've been involved in a Circle Journal group on the Bubblyfunk forum - gosh, that year has gone so quickly ... and so it was time for my own CJ to return home and postie brought it this morning.

I am so delighted with it - thank you so much to all the girls who took part and made a DLO to make this journal so special.

I chose the topic 'If I could travel back in time .. I asked the group to think of a time in the past, either in your own ife that you would love to be able to relive, or in a time before that - perhaps an era when you would have liked to have been part of that scene.

You can see my original post here showing the covers, etc for my CJ and explaining about it.

You can double click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Here is my DLO - I chose the 1920s:


Here are the DLOs done by members of the group:

Rebekah:
Leigh:
Leigh's pages bought back memories for me - I was 13 in 1960 and so I was a teenager and into my 20s during the 60s - and, yes, I wore all the fashions - the bright colours, the mini skirts, the hot pants ... those were the days!

Di W:
Paddy:
Gez:
Nicky:
Not only do I remember the 60s, but also the 50s, during which I grew up as a child. Although it was a time of 'new beginnings', it wasn't easy as rationing still existed in my early childhood and money was tight. However, I can remember at the age of about 11 or 12 wearing some of the full skirts with lots of bright pink netting underneath.

Hels:
Lynn:

Chrissie:
Jane:
I will treasure this CJ.

I now have quite a lot of them and it's lovely to look through them from time to time.

CHNC challenge 32: black, white and one other colour - with a prize

It's time for a new challenge on my CHNC blog:


This time I'm asking you to make a Christmas card with black, white and one other colour. As this is the first Saturday in the month, there will be a prize for a randomly chosen winner - more information here. If you haven't already started making your Christmas cards, this is a good time to begin - and, for those of you who have been making them throughout the year, a good opportunity to add to your stock - the weeks go by so quickly that it makes sense to get some of those festive cards done.

For my card I've used the black, white and gold combo that I used the other day on this card. This one is quite similar - I just love this stamp so much that I thought I'd use it again for this card. The stamp is an inkadinkado one by Tin can mail, just simply stamped on to gold matt foiled card. This time I embossed the image with black detail. The background paper is some that came with a magazine (I've been hoarding it), scalloped on the edge on my rotatrim. The lovely black die cut panel on the left is one that I bought when we were at Maidstone recently. The sentiment is a Kaisercraft rub on.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Do you stack up 31: black with a pop of colour
Your next stamp 48: beautiful borders
Simon says: Christmas in August
PaperPlay 31: Christmas in August
ClearlyiStamp CIC 33: things with wings
Craft us crazy 14: anything goes in August
Totally papercrafts 78: holidays (I noticed some of the DT did Christmas cards)
AiFactory: August anything goes
Nightshift stamping 78: feel free to do!
Raise the bar 69: anything goes
Papertake: anything goes

Friday, 5 August 2011

Flashback Friday to a gift card holder

Flashback Friday 14 is asking us to show the first gift card holder we made.

In April 2009 I showed these ones that I made for a challenge (the original post is here).

If you click on the picture you can just see the semi-circular cut outs to house the gift card:

And this one is a gate fold one:

and the back shows the semi-circular cut outs:

And here's another version of the first idea:

The components for these came from a kit - strange this challenge came up today because I came across some bits like this the other day and thought I should do something with them, so perhaps I will now I've been reminded of these.

Thursday, 4 August 2011

Jolly Nation card, tag and gift box

Ages and ages ago I bought some Jolly Nation (well, they were Paper Nation back in those days) Christmas decoupage and matching background sheets and have had them stowed away ever since. Gold magic mesh was stuck on to red card to give a bit of dimension.

Last night I decided to watch a DVD, but wanted to do something constructive at the same time - something that wouldn't require much attention or thought, so I put together quite a few JN Christmas characters (so you'll be seeing more of these in the coming days).

This card, matching tag and gift box is for ABC Christmas: P for presents, which has this inspiration photo:

also for Christmas stampin all year long: the whole sha bang:


I'm also linking this for:

Aud sentiments 34: Merry Christmas
Simon says: Christmas in August
PaperPlay 31: Christmas in August
Fun with shapes and more 88: Christmas in July
Fussy & fancy 42: Christmas in July
Totally Gorjuss 91: Christmas in July
Craft us crazy 14: anything goes in August
AiFactory: August anything goes
Crafts and me 46: anything goes
For fun: anything goes
Papertake: anything goes
Crafty Ho's: anything goes
Happileigh 33: anything goes



For Your Inspiration Guest Design slot

I was privileged to be chosen as Lovely Lotus for challenge 7 on For Your Inspiration recently (you can see my card here). I received a prize of Charlotte with a rose rubber stamp - I blogged about it here - and the opportunity to be a Guest Designer, so I've joined the team for today's challenge 11, for which we were given this photo as inspiration:

I decided to produced my own 'quiet reflection' picture. I followed the tutorial given here (thanks to Stampin' Mama, Erika) for stamping my favourite inkadinkado trees stamp and making a reflection by stamping on a cello bag as per the tutorial, working on to white gloss card. The background was made with alcohol inks - the sky with a blend of stonewashed with blending solution, the grass with meadow and the water with a mixture of stonewashed, stream and a bit of blending solution.

This is also for:

Paper sundaes 80: clouds and skies
Inspiration avenue: the forest of trees
Pixie cottage 80: a time to learn - teach us something new
AiFactory: August anything goes
Craft us crazy 14: anything goes in August
Cute card Thursday 176: no designer paper
Nightshift stamping 78: feel free to do!
Stamp insanity 71: your favourite SISC - I chose SISC 9: create your own background
365 cards day 155: signs of peace

Wednesday, 3 August 2011

Pink ballet

This card is for Laura's sketch for Paper crafting journey 15, which is also 'go girly!':

I used Daisy Bucket papers and express yourself stick ons, as well as a felt flower/button from Poundland (why is it that the outer part of the flower looks red here, but irl it's the exact match of the deep pink paper?)

This is also for:

Order of the opus gluei 110: a picture is worth a thousand words - no words
Sparkles forum 17: one for the girls
Glitter fairies August 1: pretty in pink
Just us girls 95: use fabric on your project (felt flowers)
I did it 66: let's dance
Cutie Sunday 146: flower power
Anything goes 46: pick of the bunch
The paper shelter 25: flowers, flowers, flowers
Paper creator's crafts 4: say it with flowers
House of Gilli: polka dots
Going grey with Scrap creations: buttons or bows (I've used both)
Truly scrumptious 62: buttons & bows
Wags n whiskers 59: buttons and bows
My mum's craft shop: monochromatic
Incy wincy 105: monochromatic colours
Crafts and me 46: anything goes
For fun: anything goes

Purple birthday

It's ages since I took part in a Willow Sketchie challenge, so I thought it was about time I did - this is for this week on Willow Sketchie:

I love crafting with purple, so I chose Daisy Bucket and DCWV papers, distressed with dusty concord DI including the flowers which were originally white. The birthday greeting is a Clarity stamp hearty happy birthday. So this is for Stamp Insanity: what's your favourite colour, Pixie dust 85: what's your favourite colour, Flourishes timeless 129: favourite flowers (any purple flowers).

Colours are also for Picture perfect 67: perfect plum, concord crush, very vanilla, also Shopping our stash 11: violet (purples, flowers) and also for Jay Gee's nook 10 which has this photo inspiration:

This is also for:

Cooking it up with Katie 69: show me your new favourite old thing - the papers are old, the stamp is new and I've used distress inks, purple and flowers - they are all favourite things
Pixie cottage 80: a time to learn - your favourite techniques - using distress inks, blending tool and foam
Cutie Sunday 146: flower power
Anything goes 46: pick of the bunch
The paper shelter 25: flowers, flowers, flowers
Paper creator's crafts 4: say it with flowers
Sundays with Crissy 20: keep it simple stamper
House of Gilli: polka dots
Alota 64: tic tac toe - I chose ribbons, stitching and distress
My mum's craft shop: monochromatic
Incy wincy 105: monochromatic colours
Lollipop crafts 42: celebrate - birthday
Creative CAS August: birthday bonanza
Just Tracy: happy birthday
Card cupids: birthday cards
Stamps R us: happy birthday
Pattie's 27: stitching
Stampin' B 121: make a card using ribbon
Ribbon carousel 14: let's get crazy - anything goes
Crafts and me 46: anything goes
For fun: anything goes

Tuesday, 2 August 2011

Blue Christmas

I do love blue Christmas cards, so it was a pleasure to make one for the week's Jingle belles challenge.

I'm still using up the stiched paper with stars. The panel on the right was originally a silvery grey colour flocked paper (Anna Griffin), which I distressed with stazon ultramarine. The silver glittered letters are some that arrived today - they are actually self adhesive fabric which has been glittered. Because this panel was then mounted on to silver mirror card it was hard to get a photo that shows what it's really like. Here are my attempts!




Thought I might as well include a scan for good measure! This shows the blue better, but, of course, the silver mirror looks like black on the scan.



This is also for:

Creative craft world: anything BUT birthdays
Incy wincy 105: monochromatic colours
CES 47: feeling the blues
Just for fun: soft and gentle fabric
Just us girls 95: use fabric on your project
Word play 11: sparkle
Corrosive 127: manly - difficult sometimes to make Christmas cards suitable for a man, but I think this is
Theme Thursday: men/masculine
Cards for men 16: clean & simple
Desert island crafts 13: I chose: stitching, make it manly, use felt/fabric
Crafty creations 129: Christmas in July
Fussy & fancy 42: Christmas in July
Totally Gorjuss 91: Christmas in July
4 crafty chicks 48: get your bling on
Papertake: anything goes

Robins

This is for the sketch for Christmas challenges with sketches 5 sponsored by Krea Teja. Please click on the link to see the lovely sketch.

I've featured robins for Sparkles forum Christmas challenge 7.

I've used Papermania Christmas classic papers and 'robins' panel. The scalloped circle was cut with a nestie. There's quite a lot of red foiling on these papers, including some of the robins, which is why I had to take the photo slanted to avoid glare - you can get a bit of an idea of the foiling, but much better irl.

This is also for:

Creative craft world: anything BUT birthdays
Stampin' sisters in Christ 100: any type of creature from tiny to large
Ooh-la-la 85: circles
Fun with shapes and more 88: Christmas in July
Crafty creations 129: Christmas in July
Fussy & fancy 42: Christmas in July
Totally Gorjuss 91: Christmas in July
Papertake: anything goes

The angels shouted for joy

For this card I've used the sketch for Christmas card challenge week 35, with a bit of poetic licence because I've used a rectangle instead of a circle:

I've used a bit of an unusual combo of black, white and gold - it's a shame that the photo doesn't do the card justice - the gold is much richer irl. Papers are from a QVC Kanban Christmas kit from last year. The stamp is an inkadinkado one by Tin can mail, just simply stamped on to gold matt foiled card.

The strip of black lace is felt, so it's lovely to touch!

This is also for:

Creative craft world: anything BUT birthdays
ABC Christmas: O is for older image - this is another stamp that is more than a year old
Winter wonderland: fairies or angels
Crafty creations 129: Christmas in July
Fussy & fancy 42: Christmas in July
Sweet stampin: it's Christmas in July
Totally Gorjuss 91: Christmas in July
Desert island crafts 13: I chose: quote for a sentiment, something with wings, use felt, us 3 different colours (black, white, gold)
Crop stop 30: anything lace
Papertake: anything goes
Come and get it: anything goes
Crafty Ho's: anything goes
Happileigh 33: anything goes
Woodware USA 37: anything goes

Monday, 1 August 2011

Sunset birdie

This is for Stampotique 35: red, yellow, orange - the challenge chosen by a dear crafting friend, Kaz.

It's also for Sunday stamper 165: Waterloo sunset.

I brayered layers of big & juicy soothing sunset, masking a big circle, which I then gently sponged with some of the yellow - the masking is for Eye candy magic monthly challenge: masking. At the base of the card I masked the sunset with torn papers and coloured with C-9 copic. Janet Klein's super birdie Stampotique stamp was coloured with copic C-9 and C-7 for Copic creations 55: landscape design.

This is 'bold, bright and loud' for The craft garden August challenge.

I'm also entering this card for:

Order of the opus gluei 110: a picture is worth a thousand words - no words
Creative craft world: anything BUT birthdays
Little Claire 11: things with wings
Stampin' sisters in Christ 100: any type of creature from tiny to large
Come and get it: anything goes
Crafty Ho's: anything goes
Happileigh 33: anything goes
Woodware USA 37: anything goes
Allsorts 114: last week of free and easy

Saturday, 30 July 2011

A lovely cup of tea

I came across some Kanban toppers that I thought would look nice on a DL card - when I got out my stock of Dls I found a trifold card with a pearly iridescent finish, so I decided to use two of the 'cup of tea' toppers, with some ribbon behind them (one of my newest purchases from Hobbycraft) I lined two inside panels with a piece of green butterfly paper from the DCWV Mariposa stack.

The sentiment on the outside of the card reads:

When your day is topsy turvey and as chaotic as can be
There's nothing quite as tranquil as a lovely cup of tea.


The one on the flap underneath says:

I wish we could sit down together and have a cup of tea,
but since we can't, when you have this one I hope you'll think of me.

On this photo of the inside opened out the iridescent finish of the card blank is more obvious:

This is for:

Creative craft world: anything BUT birthdays
Sentimental Sundays 65: focus on the sentiment
Aud sentiments 33: enjoy your day or sentiment to make you smile
Dream valley 12: surprise - something hidden
KB cute Monday 23: food & beverages
Happileigh scrappin' 32: shaped cards and special fold cards
Little Claire designs 11: things with wings
Deep ocean 4: ribbons
Allsorts 114: last week of free and easy

A special thank you

I was asking to make a thank you card for someone who is leaving our church soon - I think the lady in question is far too busy to visit my blog and see this, so I'm sure I'm safe in showing it.

The current challenge on Karen's doodles is a Bingo choice - choose a line in any direction:

So I chose flowers, die cuts and gems.

The background paper is HOTP, which I covered with acetate with the gold foiled butterflies (I rang this through the xyron so that there was even coverage of adhesive which doesn't show through the acetate. The scalloped circle is a nestie die cut mounted on to gold mirror card, on to which were added decoupaged flowers, with a strip of sticky stitched ribbon at the side and computer generated text mounted on gold mirror card. A few gems on the flowers add a bit of bling. This is an A5 card. This looks much brighter irl because the acetate gives a sheen to it.

This is also for:

Creative craft world: anything BUT birthdays
Anything goes 46: pick of the bunch (flowers)
4 crafty chicks 48: get your bling on
Kaboodle 77: stitching
Little Claire designs 11: things with wings
Some odd girl: thank you
Pixie dust studio 85: what's your favourite colour? I love making cards with shades of lilac or purple