New Stash... and a new challenge at My Partner in Crafting Crime :)

Hello again!! :)

Sorry that this post is a little late- should have been up yesterday but I'm really struggling at the mo', had a v bad M.E. day yesterday indeed and was in no state to even think about let alone type a post :S Slightly better today so I’m going to try to make something sensible out of the bits I started typing on Sunday night- when I was already feeling rather befuddled and ill- so apologies if it’s a bit disjointed!! :S lol ...Anyway...

It’s time for a new challenge over at My Partner In Crafting Crime and this fortnight we’d like to see you using ‘Twine, Jute or String’ on your cards- a nice and easy one for you!! :) - and we’re sponsored again by the fab Bows & Berries Digital Stamps Shop!! :)

I used a fab digi from our sponsors Bows & Berries, which I won when I came in the Top Three in their own challenge a few weeks ago- as soon as I saw this gorgeous Mannequin I wanted to try and colour it to look like it was covered in black velvet- and I have to say I’m quite pleased with the way it came out as it’s the first time I’ve tried colouring anything this dark before :) – and it needed a rich, deep colour to go with it... purple’s always an easy decision for me, especially as I found this gorgeous plum Baker’s Twine at the Ribbon Girl a few weeks back (the perfect excuse to finally place my order and get the seam binding, lace and buttons I've had my eye on for ages, too- all firsts for me!!lol)!! :) I decoupaged the body of the mannequin, too, for a bit of extra depth, which I think adds something :)

I needed to make my DT card as well as a 21^st for a neighbour and wasn’t feeling well enough to make two cards in time so the two ideas got combined into this one design with a computer generated sentiment to personalise it and I tried to create a clustered effect with that and all the embellishments, which is a look I’ve been seeing a lot recently and really love :) My photos aren’t great for some reason and it did all look better in reality but the card had been given before I had chance to check the pics!! :S lol

A few close-ups of some of the details :)

The List:

• 6” x 6” white blank
•   Gorgeous Mannequin Digi Stamp from Bows & Berries Digi Stamp Shop :)
• Promarkers: Cool Greys 4 & 5, Black, Grey Green, Aubergine and Copic blender
• Core’dinations purple card
• Silver Linen-textured satin mirror board
• C’bug D’vine Swirls Embossing Folder
• Dusty Concorde Distress ink Pad
• Tim Holtz Paper Distresser tool
• Seam Binding, Baker’s Twine and Pearl Button from The Ribbon Girl
• Digi Sentiment designed in my graphics program
• Nesties: Labels 4, Large Circles and Petite Scalloped Circles
• Pearl Hat Pins
• Glitter filled domes
• Purple Flat-backed Pearls
• Sakura Clear Stardust and Clear Glaze pens

I’m going to come back later and try to find some challenges to enter this in as I haven’t been up to looking around much yet...

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges: OSAAT - Anything Goes :) ; Creative Craft Challenges - Vintage/Distressed :) ; Crafty Cardmakers - Embossing :) ; The Shabby Tea Room - Monochromatic :) ; Stamps R Us - Goin' Digital :) ; There's Magic In the Air - Embossing :) ; Paper Sundaes - Birthday Creations :); PaperPlay - Anything Goes :)

I also made a candle as a gift to go with the card, which I thought I’d show you, too- if I don't show you now, I'll probably forget for months!!lol

I used the same colours though I used a different stamp as our neighbours have a gorgeous little dog and so this Pampered Pets one seemed perfect!! :)

Hope you’re all well and had a good weekend!! :) Thank you for visiting and I hope I’ll be able to get back to blog hopping a bit myself soon- as Mr Blogger’s malfunctions last week showed, it really is an addiction and I miss visiting you all like mad!! :) Please pop over to the main PCC blog, too, and have a look at the fab Twine creations from the rest of the DT!! :)

  

WOW at LIM

Hello Bloggers!! :)

Woohoo- as Blogger's decided to start working again I'm going to get my LIM post pasted in while the goign's good!! Only been waiting all afternoon- was really quite upset at the thought of missing a week!! :S lol

A very quick post (assuming Blogger decides to start working again in time... I’m typing this in Word to copy and paste with my fingers crossed!! :S ) with my card for this week’s LIM challenge- week 14 already and I’m still loving it!! :) We’ve been asked to make a true White on White card with no colour at all this week- my effort is not a particularly good one as I’ve been feeling pretty awful this week but I’ve wanted to try WOW for ages and of course didn’t want to miss a week of LIM so made this in bed over a couple of days, mainly with stuff I had knocking around on my desk to save energy... and some help with anything that needed any bit of strength!! :S lol

     The list is probably all the explaining necessary... I used:         

• White DL card
• White card for layers
• MS large butterfly punch
• Butterfly cut on Cricut
• X-cut Scalloped Border Punch
• Nellie’s Die for main square
• Stickles in Crystal and Frosted Lace
• Cherry Blossom Border- my own design SVG file cut on the Cricut

Think I may have gone a tad overboard with the Stickles!!lol Not sure I’m really happy with it but I don’t think that’s because I don’t like this card so much as because I didn’t get to make the more interesting one I had in mind before I caught the cold that floored me for the week (wasn’t really a bad cold but any bug on top of the M.E. is pretty bad as it makes all the M.E. symptoms worse for far longer than the cold lasts)!! :S But maybe I’ll have some spare energy sometime this year to have a go at that one, too!!lol Hope the Crystal Stickles isn’t too much colour, too- has come out a bit strong as I was so heavy-handed with it!! To be honest I had to fight the instinct to add some ink to the edges the whole time... just as well I couldn’t get to my desk and my Cut’n’Dry!!lol

I’ve missed blogland so much this week while I’ve not been up to getting online and really hope I can catch up with your creations soon before the withdrawal symptoms get too much!!lol Don’t think I’ll be managing many comments for a while, though- my arms are killing me just from typing this in stages!! :S Anyway, I hope you’ve all had a better week than I have and enjoy your weekends!! :)

Edit: Wow- just had a qick look at the LIM linky while scroling through to add mine... really hope I'll have the energy to check a few of those cards out more closely soon- they look amazing!! :)

 

Super-quick CAS Congratulations :)

Hello again!! :)

A super-quick post (I hope!!lol) to share an Engagement card I had to magic up in super-quick time last weekend and keep me going in my goal not to miss a Less Is More challenge!! :) This week’s challenge from Chrissie and Mandi was to make a Thank You or Congratulations card- which was a very happy coincidence for me as the night before I found I needed an Engagement card for the Saturday night!! Eek- even for a CAS card that’s not long for me to come up with an idea... tends to take my brain a while to get going!!lol So, I fell back on an old design that I first made a couple of years ago...

It’s extremely simple and needs little explaining beyond the ‘ingredients’: 

• Tall Slim (8” x 3” or A5 folded in half lengthways) white card blank
• Anita’s wooden Heart stamp
• Versamark inkpad
• silver sparkle embossing powder
• a bit of spare card for the heart that’s raised in the middle
• Woodware ’Wedding Words’ clear stamp set for the greeting (I also embossed ‘On Your Engagement’ inside using the set)

 ...and that’s it!! :)

It’s so hard to get a good picture of virtually entirely white cards so apologies for these but you can just about see the glitter in the powder- it’s silver as opposed to the holographic you often get which I think is far more subtle!! :) I really like the extreme simplicity of this, especially that it has no colour- I’ve used the design for Anniversary and Valentine cards with different greetings as it’s so simple to make when I need a few cards to make more variety in my stock box!! :) I do prefer it with a more script-y font for the wording though, I think, but this was the only ‘congratulations’ I had to fit!!

Okay, I’ll stop wittering now and go have another rest!! Thank you so much to everyone who has left comments on my recent cards and I really am very sorry that I haven’t been managing to visit many of you, LIMettes and others, recently- I haven’t been able to spend very long online and haven’t had the energy to leave comments when I do get to look around but hopefully the enforced rest will start to help soon and I’ll be able to get back to visiting you all soon- I hope so as I'm really missing the inspiration of hopping around blogland!! I do hope, Chrissie and Mandi, that you don’t mind me still taking part with a card each week even though I sometimes can’t manage to visit many others despite my best efforts?! Thanks also to my newest followers- I will return your visits soon if I can find links to your blogs, and I hope you’ll continue to like what you see of my creations here!! :)

Well, that turned a short post into a long one again, didn’t it!! No hope for me!!lol Hope you’re all well and have a lovely weekend!! :)

 

Three, three & three – a Recipe at Forever Friends :)

Hello everyone!! :)

Wow- my first month as a member of the Forever Friends Challenge DT has gone by so quickly and it’s already time for another Monthly Challenge!! :) This time we have a recipe for you and we’d like you to use 3 Colours, 3 Papers & 3 Embellishments on your projects!! :) We’re sponsored this month by our very own Monthly DT member Ike who’s offering the lucky winner 3 digis from the great collection at her shop Ike's Art as well as a goody bag full of allsorts of crafty bits and pieces, too!! :) 

I had a total mental block on this card to begin with, as is often the case for me when attempting a challenge with a complicated sketch or larger list of required elements (just can’t keep it all straight in my little ol’ head, I think!!lol), and I don’t often attempt to use more than two patterned papers in one design but, after a little (okay, a lot of) thought, this is what I came up with...

I quite liked it when I'd finished it, despite it seeming quite busy compared with most of my cards and the fact that it’s nothing like I imagined at any stage of the proceedings, but actually, the more I look at it, the more I'm not sure... can't put my finger on the problem/s, though!! :S Ah, well!!lol All I knew at the beginning was that I wanted to make a card with one of my current fav Kraft blanks, pink and the paper I cut my large circle from- which typically you can now hardly see!!lol So, my three colours were sorted... then came finding two more papers to co-ordinate and coming up with a layout... think that took the longest of everything as I was determined to do something a bit out of my ordinary- hence the circles, the last of many rejected ideas!! :)

Unusually, the image came after the layout this time and this was one of the only two FF stamps I had small enough in the end, and it’s the first time I’ve used it- it’s actually from the Christmas range and I think the flowers are meant to be Hellebores/Christmas Roses and left white but it works perfectly well for any occasion, I feel, in different colours :) I used Promarkers to colour with some Clear Stardust and Stickles then added the words on the tag myself :)

The three embellishments kind of morphed from one thing to another as the card design came together-  I’d just received my first Ribbon Girl order with the gorgeous Tulip Pink Seam Binding so knew I’d be using that, but the hat pin just seemed to fit into the design quite nicely once I had the bow arranged, and the corners I found whilst looking for something else in my little box of bits cut from the spare space in any card I happen to be cutting on my Cricut... and I was really pleased I found them as I think they go far better than the butterfly I would likely have ended up adding otherwise!!lol 

Here’s ‘The List’...

• 5” Sq. Kraft card blank (mine are from Papermania)
• Forever Friends wooden stamp image, stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa
• Promarkers to colour: For the bear- Ivory all over to help the blending, Oatmeal for the shaded areas and Vanilla all over to blend together, then a few touches of Sunkissed Pink for cheeks and ears; for the present- Cinnamon, Cocoa & Henna, Baby Pink & Pale Pink; for the flowers- Baby Pink & Rose Pink, Buttercup & Primrose, Meadow Green & Leaf Green with a touch of Satin over the top (to tone the green down as it was a bit too bright!!); Satin under the bears feet
• Papers- FF For You pad (background), FF Party Time pad (circle), Kanban Garden Vistas pad, which came with a set of Kanban stamps from QVC (border strip)
• Plain paper coloured with baby pink PM for matting
• Nesties- Small and Large Circles
• Rich Cocoa to edge all layers
• MS Cherish Border Punch
• Sentiment for a LOTV stamp sheet
• Corners cut from brown card on my Cricut from a shape included in Scal software
• Pink Tulip Seam Binding
• Pearl Hat Pin
• Stickles in Diamond (flowers) and Platinum (corners)
• Sakura Clear Stardust pen
• Brown Fineliner for message on the tag

I’d like to enter this card in the following challenges: Dream Valley – Flowers :) ; Lexi’s Creations – Friendship (this will be being sent to a friend) :) ; Crafter’s Companion Monthly Challenge – Girl’s Birthday :) ; Papertake Weekly – Anything Goes :) ; Cupcake Craft - Something beinning with 'C' (my circles and the chocolate-y colours!!) :)

So, that’s what I concocted with our recipe please do pop over to the Forever Friends blog to see the other fab cards the rest of the Monthly DT have created to inspire you and, while you’re there, there’s also the Fortnightly challenge ‘Bows and Buttons’ running too- we’d love it if you’d join in... these gorgeous bears just don’t pop up often enough in blogland imo!! :)

Okay, mammoth post over- thank you for sticking with me!!- and I’m going for a lie down (despite writing most of this last night :S ) as I’m still not feeling too good atm- I will hopefully be back with a very brief post at some point before 8pm tomorrow, though, as I have my LIM card to share and I’m not going to be beaten in my aim to enter every week!!lol I hope you’re all well and have some sunshine to enjoy where ever you are!! :) 

Happy 21st – Numbers at My Partner in Crafting Crime

Hello bloggers!! :)

It’s time for another new challenge over at My Partner in Crafting Crime- where does the time disappear to!?! I swear some little imp or sprite (or any other faintly mischievous fantasy creature you can think of!!lol) magics entire days away while I’m not looking- ah, wait- it just occurred to me as I wrote that that that’s what I have M.E. for, no fantasy creatures needed here thank you very much!!lol  But on to the important bit... this frotnight at PCC we'd like you to ‘Incorporate Numbers’ in your projects- you can create anything you want for any occassion so long as the numbers are an obvious feature!! :) I decided to get ahead as I know I’ll need a masculine 21^st card in a month or two (this is unprecedentedly prepared for me... and I will probably have lost track of the card under a pile of paper and stamps by the time I need it!!lol) and this is what I made:

I decided to have a play with my recently acquired Sure Cuts A Lot software- which is truly amazing and has already meant my Cricut has been used more in the last month or so that it has in the several years since I got it!! :D I made the cut files myself very simply with the program, using a font I found online called 'Little Trouble Girl BV' and shapes from within Scal, by creating shadows of the original numbers and copying, flipping and welding the shapes to create the blank with a border for the numbers to sit on and a base for the greeting which adds stability, too. 

Once the layers were cut I ran the ‘2’ and ‘1’ through my ‘bug to emboss them for some texture and heat embossed the greeting in silver sparkle powder on the base panel. Then I decided it still looked a bit flat and lacking something, so I dabbed some Versamark around the edges of the numbers and rectangle and heat embossed with the same powder, which made it look much more interesting and slightly rough-around-the-edges (mainly because it's impossible to be neat with this technique in my experience!!) which seemed not to be a bad thing in a masculine card!!lol Then it was just a case of sticking all the pieces together with foam pads of two heights for interest and adding some Stickles to the stars- masculine perhaps, but still room for a bit of sparkle!! :D

This shot shows the card open just for curiosity’s sake!! :)

The ‘List’:

• Thick white card for base
• Blue pearlescent (from stash) and silver linen textured satin-finish (from C&C) cardstock for numbers and shapes
• Cuttlebug Spots & Dots Embossing Folder
• Woodware clear Magic Retro Words stamp set
• Versamark Inkpad
• Silver Sparkle Embossing Powder
• Heat tool
• Stardust Stickles
• Cricut/Scal

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Aly's Sunday Challenge - Shaped Cards :) ; OSAAT - Emboss It! :) ; Cupcake Craft - Something beginning with 'C' (the circles in my embossing) :) ; Crafts 4 Eternity #17 - Anything Goes :) ; DYSU - Make It Pop! :) ; Totally Papercrafts - Glitter :) ; Bunny Zoe's - One For The Boys :)

I hope you’ll pop over to My Partner in Crafting Crime to see the fabulous creations the other girls on the DT have come up with this time and then I hope you’ll join in yourself for the chance to win a fab prize from Bows & Berries Digital Stamps!! :)

Hope you’re all well and still enjoying this latest long weekend!! :) Thank you so very much for all the lovely comments on my latest cards- they hugely cheered me up and I will do my upmost to get around to visit a few more of you lovely people just as soon as I can!! :) :)