A trip to the beach with My Partner in Crafting Crime :)

Hello folks!! :)

Well, what a couple of days it’s been with this sudden heat... perfect timing really as we have a new challenge for you over at My Partner in CraftingCrime and this time we’d like to see you create something with a ‘Beach Theme’ :) :) We're sponsored by the fab Bows & Berries Digital Stamps Shop who have some gorgoeus new releases out this week as well as the lovely sun digi I've used on my card!! :) And here’s what I came up with:

I’ve had this Gorjuss image coloured and just waiting to be used since it arrived on my doormat from a lovely friend a couple of months or so ago and this seemed the perfect opportunity!! :) I’ve seen lots of people using sandpaper to great effect to create beachy scenes and thought I’d have a play myself- originally the scene was going to be the full size of the card but when this idea of a Polaroid style scene popped into my head at the last minute I just had to run with it- the smaller scale meaning less energy needed was actually just a bonus this time!!lol 

I began by getting a rough idea of the size I wanted my ‘Polaroid’ to be and printing out the gorgeous ‘Sun Love’ digi from Bows and Berries, which is just such a happy image :) I then masked the digi, placed clouds cut from my Cricut onto the sky (all attached with 2-way glue) and then inked in a similar way to Bev’s Tutorial with a cheap shaving brush form Wilkos and Tumbled Glass DI- think I went a bit heavier with my ink than you would for the softer look Bev gets but I wanted a real bright summer sky so I’m happy :) Then I crumpled and sanded some Core’dinations Whitewash for the sea and stuck that and the sandpaper onto the inked piece, which I mounted onto another layer of white for the frame :)

 

The sun has a second layer on foam pads and some glitter and glaze to add dimension :)

All the little Sea Life embellishments are cut from white card on my Cricut- they’ve been sitting on my desk since I coloured the image, too!!lol- and coloured with Promarkers. Before I coloured the shells I used several sizes of embossing tool to score and shape the card- a small thing but I’m glad I thought of it on the last minute as I think (in reality at least- not sure it shows too well in my pics) that it makes a big difference. I shaped the starfish and seahorse slightly, too, and they all have Clear Stardust and Clear Glaze for extra pretty-ness!! :)

A little bit of sandpaper and a white doodled border to frame the whole arrangement and I was done :) I know I took too amny photos but I kind of like this one!! ;D

The List:

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• 6x6” Aqua card blank from stash
• Images: Gorjuss Girl stamp from Sugar Nellie and ‘Sun Love’ Digi from Bows & BerriesDigital Stamp Shop
• Promarkers to colour images and embellies – no idea of colours, I’m afraid :(
• White card, Blue Core’dinations Whitewash card and sandpaper
• Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and shaving brush for sky
• Antique Linen DI for 'photo' edges
• Cricut to cut Sea Life embellies and embossing styluses to shape them
• Sakura Clear Stardust and Clear Glaze pens
• Inksentials White pen
• Brown and Green fineliners for the sentiment and detail on the seahorse
• Stickles in Frosted Lace, Stardust and Diamond

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Pollycraft – Make a Splash! :) ; Papertake Weekly – Here Comes the Sun :) ; Fab ‘n’ Funky – Summer Loving :) ; I ♥ Promarkers – Anything Goes :) ; Sparkles Forum – At the Beach :) ; The Secret Crafter – Embossing (my shells) :) ; Sweet Stampin’ – Something Old, Something New (my new is my digi and sandpaper, my old is the card blank discovered when rooting through a box I thought was all junk!!lol) :)

So, I hope you enjoyed my little trip to the beach as much as I did- I have no idea what I’ll ever be able to do with this card but I so enjoyed making it that I really don’t care!!lol :) I rarely let myself make cards that I don’t think I’ll have any way to use as it just doesn’t seem a justifiable use of my energy but every so often I let myself play and it’s so much fun!! :) Please do pop over to the PCC blog and check out the fab creations from the rest of the DT- we’re all going on a summer holiday of sorts as we’re taking a little DT break after this challenge... but we’ll be back in September with more fun challenges to get stuck into!! :)

Sorry I’m a bit late in the day with this one, by the way, but I spent all the energy I had yesterday on getting my new drawers in situ opposite my desk, and swapping things around between the old set, the new set and my desk drawers etc. in an attempt to make it easier to get hold of what I want while I’m working... I think the new drawers (six shallower ones in the place of three I had to dig through to find things) will help a lot but there’s still more to do as I never have the energy to just keep going ‘til things are all sorted so I’m still not sure quite what’s been left where atm... :S Good job I don’t have anything I need to make in a huge hurry right now, then!!lol Anyway, I didn’t get round to getting my post ready the day before, as I try to do with DT posts in case my brain won’t work on the day... and sure enough, my brain hasn’t wanted to play nice at all today so apologies if this has been even more rambly and incoherent than usual!!lol

I hope you’re all well and had a great weekend enjoying the sun- or found a nice cool place to avoid it if that’s what you prefer!!- it’s cooled off a bit here in the last few hours thankfully as it was pretty unbearable earlier!! :S 

  

  

Clean and Simple for Father’s Day :)

Hello again!! :)

Well, I'm back with my second Father's Day card which was for my Grandad this time- as promised, if a day later than planned and very late at night, but if I don't post this while my brain's playing nice(r!) it might be the weekend before I can!!lol-:) It's another uncoloured image- I started looking at my images differently after we were given this challenge, and especially after seeing the fab 'Uncoloured' inspiration from the rest of my fellow PCC DT and the entries I saw around blogland, as I loved the look- I think there are quite a few stamps I could try this with... and I can't pretend that the energy and time saved not spending ages trying to get my colouring right isn't a bonus while I'm still limited for energy!lol ;D

The stamps are from a fab Kanban set I got from QVC a couple of weeks ago - I watched quite a bit of craft tv while I was feeling at my worst and at first I felt so ill that I wasn't really with it enough to be tempted by anything but this TSV got through the fog by the end of the day- you know when you're convinced you don't want something and think it's safe to keep watching just for the inspiration... and the next thing you know...!?!lol Still, guess I needed a pick me up and this lot'll keep me busy for ages! :)

So, I needed to keep this one pretty simple again but I still wanted to do something a bit special and different for my lovely Grandad- who lived by the sea much of his life 'til recently and still misses it alot- so I tried a new technique for me and stamped onto a card blank and the Nestie shape at the same time with some of the stamp over the edges of the Nestie (stuck the shape in position on the card with 2-way glue to be on the safe side!!lol) and heat embossed the image, then cut a mat layer of silver linen-textured card to add some dimension and interest. It's very simple but I'm actually really pleased with the effect :) :)

The list:

• 6" Sq. white card blank
• Images all from a clear stamp sheet from Kanban (bought as part of a set from QVC)
• Nestie Labels 2
• Versamagic ink in Aegean Blue and Aspen Mist - these inks took the embossing powder so beautifully, too, unlike other chalk inks I've had and the effect is so smooth and glossy irl :)
• Heat Tool and Clear Embossing Powder

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges: Colour Create - Blue, White and Grey :) ; Lexi's Creations - No Sentiment :) ; Totally Papercrafts - Say It  With Dies or Punches :) ; Dream Valley - Father's Day :) ; Little Claire's Designs - Cards for Men :) ; The Poodles Parlour - Anything Goes :)

Thanks for stopping by again- hope you like the card! :) I'll hopefully be back next Monday with my next PCC card if not before so hope you'll stop by then! :)

Krafty Father’s Day... :)

Hello!! :)

Thought I'd just attempt a quick post (or maybe two if I can manage it :) ) to share my Father's Day cards with you... don't want to leave it and end up with them still waiting to be posted three months later like my Mother's Day one is!! :S lol

This one is my Dad's and is the card I was intending to make as my DT card for the PCC Un-coloured Image challenge which I missed a few weeks ago... a great idea for a challenge and one that's given me lots of ideas :)

My Dad is a keen photographer and so I thought this lovely vintage style camera, from a SeeDs set I've has for years, would suit him well, and the gorgeous sketchy way the images in this set are drawn make them perfect for leaving uncoloured... I could have chosen almost any from this fab set for this challenge but decided I should do something I needed rather than get carried away with the pretty dress form or the beautiful lady!!lol :) They heat emboss beautifully, too, despite being so detailed :)

I finally used my gorgeous Papermania Hampstead papers which I've had almost a year and never got round to making anything with, shame on me! Think they're just too nice to use on any old card- or that's my excuse anyway!lol The fancy border and 'Nestie'-esque circle were cut on my Cricut using SVG files I designed in my graphics program... I've designed quite a few but not been upto getting the Cricut out to try cutting them so this was my first chance to see if they worked and I'm quite pleased but think I'm maybe designing a bit too small and fiddly for getting the best cut from it... but I'm learning all the time and loving it so there'll be more like this!! :)

The 'Dad'  and corners were also cut on the Cricut. I'm still having to work from my bed atm but, despite the worry of getting dark brown ink on my lovely purple bedding, I decided a Vintage-inspired card simply wouldn't look finished without a bit of Distress Ink here and there!lol Stopped short of getting out my Distressing Tool though as my energy levels wouldn't have run to that!! ;)

The list:

• 7"x5" Kraft card blank - Papermania
• Image from SeeDs Vintage stamp set
• Heat Tool, Versamark ink and detail gold embossing powder
• Nestie Circles
• Vintage Photo DI
• Papermania Hampstead papers and self-adhesive fabric ribbon
• Gold Linen-texture cardstock from C&C
• Cricut

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges: Bows & Berries - Masculine :) ; Dream Valley - Father's Day :) ; Papertake Weekly - Dads and Lads :) ; Crafty Sentiments - Father's Day :) ; Little Claire's Designs - Cards for Men :)

Out of curiosity I coloured the spare embossed image (very quickly and carelessly so no need to look too closely at that!!lol) and laid it on the finished card to see how different it might look to the uncoloured version... the slip-shod colouring aside, I think I actually prefer the uncoloured version- more varied ligh and shade on such a dark card... plus it's just a little nit different which is always good!! :) What do you think?! :)

Thanks for stopping by- I'll hopefully be back tomorrow with my Grandad's card! :) In the meantime, I hope you're all well and lucky enough to have seen some sunshine this weekend- this evening here in Manchester was lovely and bright!! :) oh, and thank you for the lovely comments and get well wishes after my last post!! :) I'm still feeling pretty rough but thought I’d try to write a post that wouldn't bore you all (or me!) with more on that one again!!lol

Getting back into the swing of things slowly... with a Tutti Fruiti challenge at My Partner in Crafting Crime :)

Hello lovely bloggers!! :)

Wow- it’s been so long since I posted on here that I feel like I’ve almost forgotten what to do... or that could just be the fogginess in my head... Anyway, regular visitors to my little blog will probably have figured out from my rather long absence that my unreliable health has been behaving even worse than usual lately, and I’ve had a few rotten weeks of being barely able to do anything but lie still in bed watching TV- how I got through three years like that before improving enough to discover the addiction we call craft is really beyond me... although, that was before the addiction so I suppose I can't really compare!! :S - but I’m now starting to feel a wee bit better and attempting to get back into things... and so here I am with a card for this fortnight’s challenge at over at My Partner in Crafting Crime!! :)

After last fortnight’s fun but quite definitely ‘out of the comfort-zone’ Un-coloured Image challenge- really sad to have missed taking part in that one, the rest of the DT’s cards and the entries were really stunning and so different to the norm!! -  we have something just as fun and a bit easier to get your head around... ‘Tutti Fruiti’- so you just need to include fruit somewhere on your creation!! :) We're sponsored as usual this time by the fab Bows & Berries Digital Stamp Shop - pop over and have a look, there are some gorgeous digis to choose from!! :)

Now, saying it’s easy, I actually didn’t have any fruit-related stash at all :S ...so I decided to get out my pencil and sketch some...

 

I needed to keep the whole thing really simple as I’m still not up to doing too much and can’t manage to be out of bed at my desk just yet (so all the fun-but-messy inking etc. is out for now :( lol) and so there’s really not much needs saying about it- my image, mat layers and ribbon were all coloured with PMs (Cardinal Red, Ruby, Berry Red, Forest Green, Lime Green, Walnut and Henna) and the greeting is from LOTV :) oh, and I added a couple of layers of Sakura Clear Glaze pen to the cherries for highlights :)

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: The PoodlesParlour – Anything Goes :) ; Crafts 4 Eternity – Photo Inspiration/Colour Recipe :) ; Totally Papercrafts – Summer :) ; Crafter’s Companion Monthly Challenge – Here Comes Summer :) ; Papertake Weekly – Anything Goes :)

So, I hope you like my very CAS little offering for today? Sometimes a card grows on you the more you look at it but, tbh, this one's doing the opposite... the more I look, the more I think it's just a bit too plain? I did toy with adding some gems to the top right of the image panel but they looked wrong and I was so tired I decided to call it a day, but now I'm not sure!! Decisions and M.E. brainfog are not a good mix at the best of times- it's a wonder I ever finish anything!!lol Anyway, please do pop over to the PCC blog to see the rest of the DT’s gorgeous work for some better inspiration!! :)

I’m still not feeling great but getting there slowly (I hope!) and trying to ease my way back into things, but I need to try to do that slowly and not get too carried away and make myself worse again- not easy as I’ve missed crafting/blogging and especially all you lovely bloggers sooo much I was beginning to go slightly crazy and I’m sooo glad to be back!! :S :) But I may not be around that often for a while... at least not where you can see me- I'm sure I won't be able to resist hopping around a bit even if I can't leave comments or post much!!lol I do want to say thank you vv much to the lovely people who’ve left messages/comments while I’ve been AOWL, too- my friends and their kind thoughts really have been keeping me going!! :) My lovely friend Elaine even texted me to let me know I’d come in Crafty Cardmakers’ Top 5 with my Wedding Candle Set while I wasn’t able to get online which made me smile more than I had in days!!! :) Anyway, I hope you’re all well and have a great week whatever you’re doing- and thanks for popping by!! :)