Summer’s here... at Dream Valley at least!! ;)

Hello there!! :)

I’m back again with another fab new challenge over at Dream Valley- and very timely it is too, seeing as the sun has decided to come out to play at long last here in my little bit of the UK at least!! :) So, if you haven’t already guessed, our theme this fortnight is ‘Summer’ and we are sponsored by Squiggle Stamps!! :)

Now, my card may not immediately scream summer as many of the gorgeous creations from the rest of our fab DT do but, as my health means no chance of going on a ‘sun, sea and sand’ type holiday (or even a ‘rainy English summer’ type one, come to that!!lol), I thought I would make my card reflect what this summer means to me... which, with the Jubilee last month and now the Olympics starting so very soon, is a celebration of all things British... oh, and a simply gorgeous SC digi ‘cause I love it!! :)

So, I have used my Portobello Road papers, stamps and buttons with some kraft card and Distress Inks to give this card a lovely vintagey-London feel... this is one of those cards that just came together so easily and enjoyably from the first moment of colouring to the last touch of embellishment- a challenge can be good but I just love the times when creativity just flows, don’t you!?!! :)

This image is my one of my fav SCs, I think- which is saying something as I love so many of them!! :) – I just think she looks so beautiful in her gorgeous dress, with that flowing long hair and the butterflies as the perfect finishing touch... everything about it just says summer to me, too, so perfect for this challenge!! :) I coloured with PMs, of course, using some new colour combos inspired by the Portobello papers... that’s what I love about paper packs- they challenge me to get out of my colour comfort zone... in fact, I have a pad on my desk at the mo’ which I would never have bought had I seen half the papers in it as it contains one of my most hated colour combos of purple and yellow... but, I’m actually still glad I got it as it has made me work with PMs which I have probably never even picked up before and, even if I don’t *love* the results, I’m pleased to have met the colouring challenge!!lol

I stamped Big Ben and the Postcard from the lovely Portobello stamp set on a piece of the Portobello paper, trimmed and distressed- the detail stamps so well, too!! :) - and then tucked them in behind the image... I was going for a bit of a clustered look with all my little extra embellies... not sure it was quite how I planned... but I like it anyway!! :)

Another of my little crocheted flowers with a button and twine and a little seam binding to finish it all off... I’m liking that I can have the Union Jack feel to the colours without necessarily needing to have bright red and royal blue as that’s not really me!! :)

The List:

• 6” sq. Scalloped cream card blank (Craftwork Cards)
• Saturated Canary digi- Cerridwen
• PMs (mostly) to colour (I actually can’t find my pic of the pens I used for this but have tried to piece it together from other pics/lists and my v dodgy memory, think it’s right, though!! :S): Dress- Cardinal Red, Antique Pink and Dusky Rose; Butterflies- Indigo Blue, True Blue, China Blue and Blue Pearl; Gloves- White Pearl (Spectrum Noir), Blue Pearl and Glacier Blue (FlexMarker) – had a bit of an indecisive moment over colour with the gloves!!lol; Skin- Satin, Blush, and Dusky Pink with Sunkissed Pink for cheeks; Hair- Caramel, Cocoa, Henna, Walnut, Umber, Burnt Umber; White Pearl around image and Ivory PM all over the white cardstock to tone in
• Spellbinders Nestie Labels 17
• Kraft card stock
• Papermania Portobello Road papers, stamps and buttons
• VersaFine Vintage Sepia
• Scissors to Distress
• Distress Inks- Antique Linen and Vintage Photo
• Tile Blue seam binding from The Ribbon Girl
• One of my little crocheted flowers in pink embroidery thread
• Ivory button twine from TRG
• Sakura Clear Stardust pen and waterbrush
• Ivory Flat-backed Pearls

...phew- long list!!lol

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Papertake Weekly - All Things Girly :) ; Fab 'n; Funky - Make Your Own Flowers :) ; Divas by Design - Anything Goes :) ; Allsorts - Distressing :) ; Charisma - Your favourite Animal (Butterflies, if they are big enough on my card to count?!) :)

Okay, that’s it from me for now- thank you so much for stopping by and reading my waffle and I hope you like this one!! :) Pleased pop over to the DVblog to see the rest of my teamies fab summer creations and I hope you get some lovely sunshine to inspire you to join in wherever you are!! :) Hope you’re all well and have a lovely week... I’m hoping to make the most of the sun out in the garden while we’ve got it!! :)

A Vintage Christmas... and Anything But Square at Dream Valley :)

Hello!! :)

Well, I’m finally here to share my card for our latest challenge over at Dream Valley- I’m exceptionally late with this as it should have been posted last Sunday but I’ve had a mixture of feeling really quite ill and trying to catch up with all the things I’ve not got round to doing due to feeling so rotten for the last month so have only just managed to get on my netbook to type this up... but, as we are a fortnightly challenge, you do still have another week to enter... so, I’d best get straight on then!! :S Our challenge this time is ‘Anything But Square’ and as always, any type of creation from cards to jewellery, scrap layouts and altered items will be welcome... just so long as it’s not square!! ;) We’re sponsored by OSCC and Meljen's Designs this time!! :)

And this is my belated offering...

It’s actually the card I made for my mum for Christmas last year... I had a pretty little circle card I made specially for this challenge, photos taken, edited and ready well in advance... but, when I came to upload the pic for the challenge blog... yup- I couldn’t find them anywhere!! How hopeless!! I’m normally unusually organised with my card pics- have to be with my permanently befuddled brain!! :S – but they seem to have disappeared completely... so I’ll share those when I’ve re-edited the originals and, in the meantime (whilst trying not to panic!!lol), I managed to find this one ‘not square’ card in my overflowing folder of as-yet-unposted bits and pieces...

It’s an A5 top-fold card with a panel of the same card matted on and is almost entirely made from Waltzing Mouse Christmas sets... I just love Claire’s Christmas designs so much- they really make me feel the magic of Christmas and it seems basically impossible to make anything but a lovely card from them!! :) I used a Spellbinder’s die with Claire’s co-ordinating stamp and a WMS sentiment for the focal point and then made a frame and branch for the bauble to hang from with the gorgeous Festive Foliage set.

The only non- WMS stamp was the ‘’Twas the night before Christmas’ poem from Inkylicious (another company whose stamps I love!!lol), which I stamped all over the background in Antique Linen DI to tone in with the AL edging around the whole panel. I also smeared some Antique Linen Distress Stickles all around the edges, too... I had so much fun with this card, I love doing things like this!!lol

And a close-up of the decoupaged pine cone branch and my six-loop bow (only meant it to be four loops but I was getting carried away!!lol) in gorgeous Venetian Red seam binding :)

The List:

• Top Fold A5 off-white Linen card blank (made from A3 card), plus almost A5 piece for image panel
• Stamps- Festive Foliage, Compliments of the Season & Vintage Ornaments from Waltzing Mouse Stamps and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas from Inkylicious
• Inks- VersaFine Vintage Sepia & Olympia Green and Antique Linen DI
• VersaMark, Gold embossing powder and heat tool
• Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments Dies
• Venetian Red Seam Binding from The Ribbon Girl
• Antique Linen Distress Stickles

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Divas by Design – Christmas in July :) ; Crafter's Companion - Ho Ho Ho Christmas :)

So that’s it from me for now- do pop over to Dream Valley to see the fab creations from the rest of the DT... you still have a week to enter!! :) I’ll see you soon, I hope- if my brain and body play nice and let me get anything done, that is!! :S I hope you’re all well and have a good week- thank you for stopping by and bearing with me and my haphazard blogging habits!! :)

ETA: No idea what the strange and not very pretty white background to some of my text is but I can't get rid of it so please just ignore it, it's not intentional!! :/

Things with Wings at Dream Valley... and Father’s Day cards!! :)

Hello folks!! :)

Yep, it’s that time again- yet another fortnight has sped by in a blur and it’s time for a new challenge at Dream Valley!! :) This time our theme is ‘Things with Wings’ and we are sponsored by Digi Doodle Shop :)

The fab DV DT has come up with a fantastic array of winged things to inspire you... lots of beautiful butterflies, fairies and general prettiness... and then my offering... which is my third male card in a row- I am seriously wondering what’s got in to me... and for this challenge, with all the lovely fairies and flutterbies in my stash, too?!!lol Anyway, here it is (or actually, ‘they are’!!):

These are actually the cards I had intended to be my DT piece for the last challenge but, as I mentioned, they were still sitting unassembled on my desk when I was writing that post!! They were, however, completed and safely arrived at my Dad’s and Grandad’s houses in time for Father’s Day, which is the main thing!! :) I don’t normally make the same/similar cards for the two of them but when I had this idea, I thought it would suit them both so just varied the colours so as not to send them the exact same thing :)

The tree panel is actually composed of four repetitions of a branch stamp from a gorgeous set by Katy Sue Designs (the Flowersoft people, I think) which I saw on C&C when I had been looking for a set of branch/vine/foliage type stamps for a while and just loved :) I am normally thoroughly disappointed with myself when I attempt this kind of stamping but this time I made test piece from scrap to try the composition out on instead of just jumping in on the card and wasting it... and imagine my amazement when it came out just how I wanted first time!!lol So I copied it twice for my F’s Day cards... and then again another twice for good measure, so I could pad out the old stock box a bit too!! :) The bird is from an Inkylicious set I got recently, too, and is stamped with FlitterGlu and gilded (I need more practice at this- think I pressed too hard and got a thick outline) with a bit of Glossy Accents for extra pop as they seemed a bit lost :) 

The spares with a more generic greeting, which I think would suit many occasions and people :) Just a bit of die cut dark brown card with some button twine and one of the ‘waste’ pieces from the die cut to balance that top corner, finished off a set of very simple, but, I think pretty nice, male cards... I was honestly really pleased with these; especially as I hadn’t been sure they would turn out at all well ‘til I was finished!!lol And actually, I think many ladies might be quite happy to receive one of these, too :)

I used:

• 5 ½ “ square cream and kraft card blanks
• Cream and brown cardstock
• Branch stamp from Katy Sue Designs ‘Trees and Flowers’ set
• Bird stamp from Inkylicious’ ‘Wings & Things’ set- how apt!!lol
• Versafine Vintage Sepia Ink
• FlitterGlu from IndigoBlu and Variegated Green Gilding Flakes from Crafty Notions
• Anita’s 3D Glaze (not Glossy Accents but cheaper and quite good enough for most things!!lol)
• Spellbinders Edgabilities Scallops die set
• Sentiments: Father’s day from Woodware Clear Magic ‘Tiny Phrases’ set and ‘For You’ from a Honey and Hugs set (with the ‘Especially’ cut off)
• Natural and Ivory Button twine from The Ribbon Girl

I’d like to enter these cards in the following challenges: Allsorts – Any Die Will Do :) ; Crafts and Me - Anything Goes :) ; Paperplay - Use a Die :) ; Crafty Ribbons - Clean and Simple :)

Well, thank you for stopping by today-  I really hope I’ll find the energy to get here again before my next DT post is due as I have a fair few things to share!! :) I hope you’re all well and not struggling with any nasty effects of the awful weather in the UK again!! :) Don’t forget to pop over to the Dream Valley blog to check out my teamies' gorgeous creations!! :)

 

Masculine in Monochrome... For That Special Guy at Dream Valley

Hello!! :)

Wow- got to love a long weekend but is anyone else kinda wondering how this weekend snuck up on them so fast!?!! Bank Hols are sooo confusing!!lol Anyway, Sunday it is- apparently!!- and so it’s time for another challenge over at Dream Valley... we want to see your creations ‘For That Special Guy’ this fortnight... just in time for Father’s Day, of course, but, so long as your entry is for a man, any occasion will do!! :) We are sponsored by One Stop CardCrafts and Sassy Studios...

My card is not the one I had intended to share with you today... but as that one’s still sat unassembled on my desk after my bit of fun making cakes and jewellery for the Jubilee caught up with me and left me too exhausted to get anything done this week, I had to make a quick substitution... so this is the card I made for my Uncle’s birthday a few weeks ago!! ;)

I went for a very CAS look again- I am trying to get back into the mindset I was in this time last year when I’d been entering Less Is More every week as I so enjoyed that time... I felt more creative and more productive at the same time... got to be good!!lol

I used my fabulous new Filmstrip stamp from Inkylicious- an impulse buy as it was new in the shop the day I placed my order, having haunted the site for weeks waiting for a particular stamp (which is still sitting unused on my desk, typically!! :S) I was desperate to have to come back in stock, but I love it... I just stamped it on a panel of the same white cardstock as I used to cut my blank, in VersaFine Onyx Black, added a greeting from Cat’s Life Press and edged the panel. A bit of black Baker’s Twine and a few black gems and I was done... very simple, again!! :)

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Papertake Weekly- Anything Goes with optional theme of making a card for a man :) ;  The Stamp Man – Make it for a Man :)

Thanks for stopping by today and for your kind comments on my last posts - do pop over to Dream Valley to see the inspiration from the rest of our fab team, too!! :) I hope you all have a lovely week- fingers crossed for a bit less of the grey skies and a bit more sunshine than last week!! :)

Jubilee Jewels...

Hey there everyone!! :)

Happy Bank Holiday to you all- hope you’re all well and enjoying the weekend’s Jubilee festivities one way or another... my mum’s church had a ‘street party’ on the church path yesterday afternoon and I’m just so glad for them that it has been such a lovely day after she’d been dreading more of Sunday’s rain!! :) Mum made some displays for the event and of course raided my stash and equipment to help her along the way... also my actual help last week as she was running out of time to get things done, so that has been taking a lot of my crafty energy... but... I do have another Jubilee-themed project of my own which I thought I should try and share with you before all the celebrations are forgotten...

I discovered this fab blog a month or so ago after a bit of a browse on Pinterest and was very intrigued by the glass tile jewellery posts... I have never tried this kind of thing before but it seemed simpler than I thought it would be {I didn’t end up doing it the way she suggests as I didn’t read it all through and instead followed the instructions on the site where I got my supplies, which takes longer but might be more sturdy... will have to experiment!} so I popped off to Google to find some supplies...

And then promptly got rather carried away!!lol It’s not as bad as it looks, I do seem to have a couple more necklaces than my mum and I need but all the little round ones in this pic have been made into pins and are already with their new owners... when mum saw my first (okay, first successful, but more on that in a mo’!!) necklace she asked if I could make some little pins for the people at her church to wear :)

The Union Jack flags I used are a graphic I created earlier this year when I couldn't find papers I wanted for my cards- spent ages getting the proportions right!!lol- and then printed out sized to suit my various glass shapes... and therein lies the story, as I had a couple of botched attempts at first while I was finding my feet... they looked great when I made them and I was v pleased with myself... but by morning they were a blobby mess... yup, I’d used too much glaze to glue them into the metal pendant trays, and been too eager to see the finished results, so not let all the layers of sealant and the glaze to stick the image to the glass dry properly first... and the inkjet ink had run... too much even to call it an intentional style choice!!lol But I got there in the end thanks to some advice from the lady I bought my supplies from... if you want to know more about making these then pop to her blog as she has some Tutorial posts :) 

This pic is of a slightly different style- an epoxy sticker on a metal dog tag, which was a free gift with my order but surprisingly nice so I got some more!! :) The others are glass with the images glued on and then either set into a tray or with a bail added to the back. But the glass seemed to play up with my camera/ lamp and this shot through the sticker was the best one to show the pattern on the flag, which is a simple overlay of a photo of a jacquard fabric added over the block colours of my finished basic flag in my graphics program. The darker image just has another ‘burnout’ type overlay on top of that for a more distressed vintage effect :)

I thought I should try a different image so this is made with a piece of Bo Bunny Gabrielle paper... this particular piece is a bit busy for my tastes and I’ve always wondered if I would ever use it... very nice to be able to say yes, just not on a card!! :) It just needs a charm to sit over the top right corner when I find something that suits :)

I also made my mum a quick little pin with a couple of my crocheted flowers and a teeny Portobello Road button- love these!! :) – all stuck together with Pinflair!! :)

So, that’s what’s been keeping me busy this last couple of weeks- aside from helping my mum!! I hope you like them... I’m really excited by the possibilities of even more personalisation and creativity in my jewellery that this technique gives- so glad I took the energy to search out the supplies and figure it out so I’m sure I’ll be making more!! :) Right now, though, I really do need to reclaim my desk from all the different jewellery findings and glues, etc. so I can get to making some cards... June is a *veeeerrry* busy month for cards and I haven’t even started on account of not really having my head around the idea that it was going to be June so soon!! Ooops!!:S lol Best get going... well, maybe in the morning!!

Ooh- as a little extra, here is a of pic of the mini Victoria Sandwich cakes my mum and I made this afternoon... mmmm!! :) Can you tell I just love my Union Jack mug, btw...and the napkins even match!?!!lol

Less bears is more cake... humour at Dream Valley :)

Hello!! :)

Time for my broken record moment... altogether now- ‘Well, another fortnight has passed us by in a flash...’!!! Seriously, where is this year disappearing to!?!! At least the weather seems to have finally caught up with the calendar, though... or maybe overtaken it even!! Isn’t it lovely to have so much sunshine and warmth at last?! Lots of excuses for icecream... as if I needed one!!lol:) :) But enough random waffle and down to business...

It’s time for a new challenge over at Dream Valley and this fortnight we’d like to see your creations with a touch of ‘Humour’!! :) We are sponsored by the fab Bugaboo (perfect for this one, I’d say- and quite a few of the team have put their images to good use!! :) ) and Crafty Emma's Store!! :)

Now, I have to say that I was a bit worried when I saw this one... I don’t mind trying a new style or technique but I don’t really seem to do humorous cards whatever the style- but then I remembered this image and, though not exactly roll-on-the-floor hilarious, I like the gentle humour in the sentiment... as well as the ever adorable Newton, of course!! :)

I’m not sure how it came out *quite* so CAS as this but sometimes a card just makes up its own mind, I find, and this one just wasn’t having any of that fancy paper or pearls and gems malarkey at all!!lol Don’t think it helped that I got myself a tad confused with the colouring when I came to do his patch as I coloured it grass green and it looked kind of odd- I toned it down with greyer greens but then didn’t know if it looked feminine or masculine... was leaning towards masculine but then- pink icing on a man’s card?!! So I kept it simple as that always seems to be my way for men's cards... did manage to persuade myself a scalloped edge card blank was okay, though, which livened it up a bit... but I still don't know- can you tell I’m not sure I like this one?!! :S lol

I coloured this cute Newton digi (a free colouring page from here – there are quite a few and all great!! :) ) with PMs and added a few touches of glaze pen to his nose and the cherries... couldn’t not really!! :) Then I doodled a border and coloured it with a PM and fine nib... couldn’t live without those nibs now!! :) And that was it- couldn’t get much simpler really!! The sentiment even comes on the image, btw, so I just sized it and printed!! :)

The List:

• 6” Sq.  white On the Edge Scalloped card blank
• Newton’s Law digi image - free download from here
• ProMarkers to colour – no colours I’m afraid as I had pens from several images all in a jumble on my desk!!lol
• Sakura Clear Glaze pen
• Black Fineliner

I’d like to enter this card in the following challenges: Crafty Catz - Card for a Man :) ; Passion for ProMarkers - Birthdays :) ; 

Well, CAS is clearly the way to go- that’s been the easiest post to write for a while as well as a quick card!!lol Don't forget to pop over to the DV blog to check out the (far more amusing!) inspiration from the rest of our fab DT!! :) Thanks for stopping by today- I hope to be able to manage a mid- fortnight post with an non-DT card soon... still not feeling great and got to make the most of what energy I have to enjoy this lovely weather while we have it!! :) Have also been experimenting with a couple of new jewellery ideas but nothing’s ready to share quite yet!! :) Hope you’re all well and having a lovely weekend!! :)

Football crazy... and CASEing at Dream Valley...

 Hello bloggers!! :)

Whoops... another fortnight has passed without a post from me and late again to boot!! :/ The excuse/explanation is the same as ever lately so I won’t bore you with it again!! :S On the plus side, though, time flying does mean it’s time for another challenge over at Dream Valley and this fortnight we’d have something slightly different from our norm for you as we’d like you to ‘CASE the DT’... and if you’re wondering what on earth we’re on about- crafting and in particular crafty blogging can be like learning a whole new language sometimes, can’t they?!lol- then the definition of CASE we’re going for is ‘Copy and Selectively Edit’ (which I much prefer to the ‘Copy and Steal Everything’ version- much more scope :) ) and basically we just want you to pick one of the DT’s cards/projects to take your inspiration from for your own creation... don’t forget to tell us which DT member you are CASEing and what elements of their design you were inspired by!! :) We have two fab sponsors this time, our monthly sponsor OSCC and Crafty Ribbons!! :)

There are such a great variety of styles on our fab DT so there’s plenty to choose from- cards or a scrapbook page, CAS to super-embellished, masculine or feminine, subtle or bright colours, birthdays, weddings, even Christmas... :) Here’s what I did:

A while ago I needed a card for a 13 year old boy and, teenage boys being the only ones harder to craft for than grown men, I was stumped... then I saw this fab LOTV stamp with the gorgeous James Bear which I’d wanted for ages (but kept telling myself I wouldn’t get enough use from to justify it :S!) on sale and I knew his love of football was the perfect excuse for a spot of crafty shopping!!lol Only crafters can make other people’s birthdays the perfect excuse to get stuff we want!! ;D Shame we can’t get someone else to buy it for us, though- I just popped to LOTV to check the name of this stamp and remembered how much I want almost all their new sentiment sheets... all donations gratefully received!!lol

I selectively inked the stamp, which actually has a number seven on the shirt, so I could add in his favourite player’s number instead and then coloured it in his team’s colours- he will be jumping for joy today as his team is Man City... in case you can’t tell from my fab colouring!!lol I actually love the pale blue PM combo I found for this- would make a very pretty dress, too!! :)

I found a lovely marbled blue paper that looked like clouds in a rarely opened odds and ends box and added the grass at the base with my PMs- first time I’ve tried grass like this and I like the effect, plus it was really easy!! :) The eyelets have been in my stash for years- I have loads from when they were appearing on everything!!-  I don’t think to use them often but they do come in useful when a male card needs something where you’d normally put pearls or gems!!lol

I stamped the greeting and trimmed it into the banner shapes by hand, then inked with DIs and added some Sakura Clear Glaze pen to make it stand out a bit more. I also glazed the footballs, too, as they just looked a bit plain and flat without!!

The List:

• 6” Sq. White Scalloped On the Edge card blank
• LOTV stamp- No. 7 Bear (with his number edited by me!!)
• Stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with ProMarkers (see picture below)
• Marbled cardstock (in a bumper kit from C&C years ago)
• Football stamp from a SeeDs set along with the numbers for the shirt (also years old- I’m doing well!!lol)
• Sentiment from Woodware Clear Magic ‘Mixed Greetings’ set
• Peeled Paint Distress Ink
• Green Eyelets and Cropodile to set
• Sakura Clear Glaze pen

So, for example, if you chose my card then there’s plenty there to CASE, I think- the layout, fairly CAS style, creating a scene with the clouds and grass, the bear, a football theme... !! :) And if that doesn’t spark any inspiration for you, then check out the rest of the DT’s fab creations on the DV blog!! :)

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Allsorts- For a Man or a Boy :) ; CES (the last ever!! :( ) – Anything Goes :) ; Cards for Men – Kicking Back :) ; Little Claire’s – Male Theme :) ; Divas by Design – One for the Boys :) ; Lili's Little Fairies - You're Favourite Craft Tool -this is rather difficult as there are several but one of them is definitely my ProMarkers!! :)

Well, all that remains to say now is thank you so very much for all the incredibly kind comments on my SC Rapunzel card- they truly made my day (on whichever day you left them so my week at least!!) and it’s so lovely to know people are reading and enjoying what they see here!! :) I’ve said it before but discovering blogland and starting my blog are the best things I’ve done in a long time- crafting is what keeps me going but it really is so much better with people to share it with!! :) Have a great week!! :)