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!! :)

 

A New Idea... I think!?! ;D

Hello again!! :)

Wow, this CAS craze has really fired my imagination- and a huge thank you to the Less Is More ladies for that!! :) - and I can hardly believe I‘m actually about to enter a weekly challenge for the third week in a row but here is my entry for the Spring theme!! :D :D This time I have something slightly different to show you... I’m sure that somewhere out there somebody (or several dozen somebodies!) have already done this, but I hadn’t seen it done before and so I’m calling it a new idea for now!!lol 

A while ago I saw the ‘Out Of The Box’ nestie technique- which I was fascinated by and looked all over for an explanation of only to finally find one the day after I figured it out for myself!!- and this is  basically just the inverse of that, so it’s probably nothing that exciting... except to me, as it was really what I wanted to do for my One Layer entry last week but couldn’t for the life of me think of a way!! ;D Then I had a lightbulb moment- while I was resting and supposed to be calm, always the way!!- a couple of days ago while my mind was wandering through some of the ideas inspired by my travels through blogland- not thinking about this at all but one thing led to another, as they say, and I suddenly realised what I had in mind was  actually incredibly easy after all!! :) Anyway, I’ll stop wittering on about my rare moment of inspiration and show you my card!! ;)

 

So, was that a total anti-climax after all my build up!?! ;D It’s actually really simple to do but I love the way it looks :) I started by drawing round my nestie shape on the card front and then transferring an old sketch of a tulip I drew years ago onto the card, too, overlapping at the top and bottom (I've been wanting to use some of my own artwork in my cards for a while and this came to mind as nothing says spring to me more than tulips- I have some this colour in a vase in front of me as I type!! :) ). I drew over the tulip in Fineliner and then- this is the lightbulb bit!!- cut around the tulip to just past the line of the nestie with a craft knife. Then I slotted the die through the cuts (behind the tulip) and ran it through my bug... simple as that!! ;) After that I rubbed out all my pencil lines, coloured it with my Prismas and Zest-It and added a piece of paper (a beautiful design form the from the Forever Friends Pink Parfait pad) behind the aperture (as it doesn’t have to be just one layer this week I thought I might as well!!) and it was finished!! Or so I thought ‘cause then, when I was about to take the pics, I decided to add some Stickles around the aperture... not entirely sure if this was a good idea but sometimes it’s very hard to resist the call of glitter!! :)

 It’s not perfect and there are definitely areas I will attempt to improve upon another time, like th eneatness of the cut lines- the details are key with CAS after all as there’s nowhere to hide!! ;S – but overall, I’m just happy that my idea worked!!lol

I’ve been inspired by so many different blogs this last couple of weeks and this is a combination of ideas but I should especially say thanks to my lovely friend Elaine, who inadvertently set the train of thought that ended up in this card in motion this week (thank you honey!! :) ), and to Sarita, who’s amazing original sketches have got me feeling so inspired and excited to be more creative with my own designs again!! :)

Thanks to anyone who pops by and especially those who leave a comment- it’s wonderful to share what we’re all doing and I appreciate any comments!! :)

I hope you’ve all had a good week and wish you a lovely weekend!! :) I’m off to link up and then to have a look at a few of the other entries... that’s if I don’t get distracted by anymore of the sneak peeks of the next LOTV release- I have to have that adorable little elephant!!! :D

 

hugs,