Commuting to Prague and Peppermint Fondant!

   Hello!

Our little 'between jobs' holiday is now over - as my OH has started his new job today.  Thanks to the amazing thing that is the Internet, he is working for a company in Prague, Czechia. However as it's a fully remote role his 'commute' is still a walk across the hall to the study.

This week's  Daring Cardmakers challenge

It's Svenja here and I would like to celebrate the sweeter sides of life with you: 

Candy Corn & Peppermint Fondant

In the US candy corn season is going pretty strong these days whereas here in Germany Peppermint Fondant is a traditional (all-year-round) sweet that usually comes in blocks of white and strong pink.
To celebrate these favourites, make a card using either a combination of white, yellow & orange or white & strong pink.
Extra (virtual) brownie points if it's sweets-themed.

 

No sweet cravings yet? Just LOOK at the mouth-watering examples the Design Team members have created!

 

Well I was a bit stuck for an idea for this one until I decided on using Svenja's colour-theme option.  I rarely use Hot Pink, but you know, I really enjoyed keeping to the clean pink and white colours of German Peppermint Fondant - though I did sneak a tiny bit of minty green in there too!

 

 Info

White square card

Pink stripes are stencilled with Pink Flame Nuvo mousse

I created the design for the candles by changing the colours on an existing digital paper, resizing and printing out onto white Bazzill. The candles are made by rolling small strips of the paper tightly around a bamboo skewer. Once the shape is formed I aided wicks (twine) glued into the tubes to complete the candles.

I decided to make a 'faux' eclipse effect for the letters by  stencilling another piece of striped card then cutting the letters from that plus other plain card layers and sticking to the bas card - a bit of a cheat, but it worked really well!

I used one of my home made sentiment stickers, arranged the candles and added a glitter card flame to the first one, then finished it all off with a few punched pink stars

 

Thank you so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message, I do love to hear from you.  

Or maybe I really am just talking to myself

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe,

 

Awesome Autumn

 

  Hello!

Just back from a few days on the Suffolk coast. Not a lot of sunshine around but we did stay dry, which in October is a bonus. I'd put together a box of blank cards, inks, a few dies and my mini die cutter, so even managed to fit in a bit of crafting. That, along with a change of scene and some sea air,  and the odd ice cream - it doesn't get much better.

 Amazingly, I actually got my card for this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge made before we went away - I meant to write my blog post while we were over there, but I didn't get that far, so I'm a bit later.  Oops!

  

Awesome Autumn

Shabneez says:
I love autumn and all the colours and textures associated with it so I’d love to see your creations to celebrate my favourite season with me!

 Info

White square card

Spellbinders Christmas Wreath die cut from gold card

Thin card inked on both sides with various Autumnal shades The leaves are from another Spellbinders set which has Seasonal accents to add to their plain woody wreath die. I used the Christmas Wreath because its 'fuller' and has the more swirly bits that make the basic design more interesting.  After cutting the leaves I added them to the wreath shape, gluing some under the gold wreath and others on top - covering the more Christmassy holly and berry areas with more leaves.  I also cut a few pine branch shapes from green card, and some pine cones from brown card.

There was a biot too much 'white space' around the wreath so I added some gold twine and a bow to the top edge, and wove in a few pieces of the gold twine around the wreath

The large 'hello' sentiment is another of my home-made black and white printed ones

 

 

 

Thank you so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to hear from you.  

Or maybe I really am just talking to myself

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe,

 

 

October Elemental Challenge

  Hello!

This week has whizzed by and I'm not keeping up with it!

So straight on to this week's  Daring Cardmakers challenge!

  

October Elemental Challenge

This time our 'First Friday' Elemental Inspiration Challenge actually lands on the first day of October!
Ruth has chosen a mood board full of textures and colour to inspire your crafting this week.
For those of you that need a reminder you simply need to pick any 3 elements or more from the picture below (colours count as one) to use when you make your card

After some deliberation and changes of heart (I really wanted to use that stained glass window, but couldn't work out now other elements would fit in with it) I came up with this, using the zigzag pattern from the floor, a potted plant and the tiny tag and Bakers' Twine from the bunny picture.

 Info

Starting with a White square card, I used a zigzag stencil, masked to leave just a roughly shaped rectangle and added inks in various aqua shade using a soft brush.

The flower pot is a cup die minus the handle, cut from a piece of inked card, then covered with Glossy Accents. Once dry I glued a piece of thickish cardboard to the back of the pot and glued it in place first adding the Black and White Twine. 

 The piece of card gives dimension and means there's enough room to poke some leaf shaped die cuts under the rim later. 

For the roses I inked up some thinner card with several peach and pinky shades, then cut the petal shapes with a smaller dies from a couple of different sets.  These were shaped and layered to make the roses.

Several different leaf shapes were die cut from a couple of shades of green card and the layout of leaves and rose was built up and glued in place.

Next I made the tiny tag and used a pin from my stash to attach it onto the pot/

To complete the card I cut a couple of tiny butterflies and added some mini jewels to decorate the plant pot

 Thank you so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to hear from you.  Otherwise I think I'm just talking to myself (again)

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe,

 

The Call of the Wild

 

  Hello!

Its been one of those weeks when everything seems to be harder work than it should be.  Consequently, I've not achieved many ticks on my to-do list. I can't be the only person who has weeks like that, can I? I have a few cards I need to make, and then there's the whole Cword making thing lurking on the horizon. Now that my birthday has gone, I will concede that the end of summer is nigh and I need to start at least thinking about Cword cards!

As it happens I was a bit stuck for ideas for Nat's DCM challenge this week and after much hunting through dies and shuffling paper I decided to dip my toe in the Cword card icy pool 

Here's Nat with this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge:

  

This week, I'm inviting you to take a walk on the wild side by featuring animal prints or wild animals on your card.

The inspiration came from my niece, who is currently going through a phase of being "a tiger" - ah the life ambitions of the young. So of course, I had to make a tiger card for her birthday!

To get you started, click HERE to see Nat's tiger card and the fabulous card ideas from the rest of the design team.

I'm not a great fan of animal print paper, fabric, clothing etc but surely I must have a bit of somewhere in my stash?  Well I couldn't find any, and I don't have much in the way of animal dies either so in the end I made my first Chrismtas card of the year. 

 Info

White square card stencilled with a large, off-centre circle in black ink then with a Navy Embellishing mousse for depth and shine

The trees are cut in dark green and in textured silver card using a Sizzix die - I was using these for the first time and have top

 report that neither of these tree dies cut well so I'm not impressed.

The deer are from a couple of different die sets - I've been lazy and not noted down where they are from, but I can tell you that these cut very well!  Even the fiddly antler bits came out easily!

The sentiment is cut in red using a Lawn Fawn die and it cut out beautifully, despite being a really fine and fiddly font.

To finish, I used some tiny jewels for stars and red noses, and added some punched stars

 

That's all for this time - if you've got that Sizzix tree die set I'd be interested in knowing whether yours cuts out cleanly so please let me know.

 

Thank you so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to hear from you.  Otherwise I think I'm just talking to myself (again)

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe,

 

Pretty Pastels

 

 Hello!

I'm sharing another 'catch-up' card this time.  

It's q feminine and colourful birthday card, with stencilling, lots of flowers and some lovely black and white to make it all pop!

 

Info

I used washi tape to mask off the border, then filled the remaining square area with pastel coloured inks.  Next I taped a stencil over the top and used some glitter gel paste through it to add some sparkle

Once dry I added a Tonic Scribbled Square die cut to be the frame for my flowers. Various leaf and flower dies were used and arranged across the frame.

The sentiment piece is another of my White on Black printed ones, matted onto scraps of patterned B & W papers - I never throw the little bits away, they often come in useful!

To finish I added some tiny gems, but with hindsight, maybe this was an embellishment too far!

 That's it for this time, Thank You so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to know what you think.

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe, 

 

Upcycled Circles

 

 Hello!

This week at the Daring Cardmakers our lovely Jenny is the challenge 

setter and she's

 

Going Round in Circles!

I'd love to see circles of all sizes on your cards, you could use a round card base, a circle frame or include some spotty and dotty patterns.  I can't wait to see what you get a-round to!;)

To start you off with some ideas the design team have made some fab projects, which you can check out by clicking HERE

 

I've done a bit of upcycling with my card - we'd just chomped our way through a box of M&S chocolates and I'd had my eye on the grey and turquoise box ever since it arrived in the house! 

So, I used some of the card from the box along with some scraps of yellow and red, and one of my favourite die sets to make a card with a more masculine feel

 Info

White square card

Turquoise and Grey card upcycled from a box of chocolates

Yellow and red card from my scraps box

Two sizes of Tonic's Scribbled Circles die set - I put the smaller one inside the larger one before cutting and saved the 'waste' bit to use aswell. 

The large letters are cut using an Altenew die set, but I'm not sure about the small ones as I've lost the insert card (it might be Sizzix) 

For the stars I've used an EK Success punch which punches several sizes and shapes of star in one punch

 

 

It's a simple and effective kind of design which works well for masculine cards with the stars, or maybe some gears instead, but would easily look more feminine with flowers and butterflies etc

The bit that took the longest was getting those little letters cut and arranged!

 

Thank you so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to hear from you.  Otherwise I think I'm just talking to myself (again)

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe,

Oh, the Romance!

Hello!

I hope you've enjoyed your week.  

I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend though, that's for sure!

It's my turn to set the challenge this week at the Daring Cardmakers and I saved something I made a few weeks ago for this one!

 

Oh, the Romance!

At the end of July,  a year later than originally planned (thanks to Covid), my eldest nephew married his beautiful bride at a lovely countryside barn venue.  After such a difficult year it was an absolute joy to be there to see them wed. 

 

I would just love to see cards celebrating and sharing the 'Lurve' 

(or Love, if you prefer!)
Love comes in all shapes and sizes, doesn't it?  So, although your card could be for a Wedding, Engagement or Anniversary but it doesn't have to be, feel free to celebrate the love you feel for your friends, family, pets...., chocolate? gin? 😀

How about a beautiful card for your best friend, for no other reason than to let them know how much having them in your life means to you.

See what our fab team created HERE

 

A special occasion deserved a special card, and because its a very 'lumpy' card, I made a box to put it in.  It wasn't going through the post so it could be as ornate as I wanted to make it!

Info

 I actually made the box first, then cut the card to fit inside.  I have a bad habit of making a card then finding it too big for any box-making card that I have!

I used a digital paper design to cover the front of the card, plus another for the front of the die cut heart, and more for making the roses

I used a large Spellbinders stamp and a burgundy ink-pad to stamp the 'love' background.

As well as cutting the heart in patterned paper I also cut it a few times in card, glueing the layers all together before adhering the piece in place. I then added a few random specks of glue, and when that was nearly dry put some gold leaf over them.  Once completely dry, the excess was brushed away. Next I made the paper roses, I made them in a few shade of the peachy pink papers for a bit of interest and printed the message card to tuck under them.  I die cut some leaf shapes to add behind the roses

To finish the card I twisted the stems of some tiny rosebuds and added them with a gold bow to the corner of the sentiment card, and a few gold hearts and gems sprinkled around..

I made the box from white card and then printed more of the digital paper to cover the two parts. I made a tag, and another rose to decorate the top of the box and added a little ribbon bow and some hearts to finish.

 

Thank you so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to hear from you.  Otherwise I think I'm just talking to myself!

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe,

 

 

Bright Background Squares

 Hello!

 For this week's catch-up post I'm sharing this colourful birthday card.  I needed it to stand a chance of travelling safely as it had a long journey ahead of it. So I kept it fairly flat,and tried to make impact with the colours and simple layout

 

Info

I've used washi tape to mask the rough rectangle shapes, then layers of ink and then Nuvo Embellishing mousse to get the bright, deep colours for the background.  

The black Scribbled Squares are cut with dies by Tonic Studios and the flower petals, stamens and stems are cut using dies from various die sets.

The sentiment piece is another of my White on Black printed ones, matted onto a tiny piece of dotty patterned paper made the same way.

 

 That's it for this time, Thank You so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to know what you think.

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe, 

 

September Inspiration

 

 

Hello!

How's your week been?  I hope its been a good one.  Usual quiet kind for us!

This week at the Daring Cardmakers Svenja is in the hot seat for the 

September Elemental Inspiration challenge

 
I put together a mood-board for our monthly picture inspiration challenge.

September Inspiration

 Please choose at least 3 elements from our picture to use when you create your card (colours only count as one element - sorry! ;-D  )

So, here it comes:

I hope you'll find plenty to choose from! 

Need some more inspiration to get you started? Just take a look at the fab creations the Design Team have created for you

Well, I must admit to having a bit of a struggle with this one.  I knew which elements I wanted to use (Wood-grain, Beads and the Seed Head image from rubber stamp in the top right)

I planned to use a gorgeous digital paper with a wood-grain pattern as the background, but that didn't work out at all, so it was time to simplify!

 Info

White square card, with about 1cm sliced from the side to get a fat rectangle.  The front of the card was then embossed with a wood-grain effect embossing folder.

The dandelion seed head paper is a lovely digital paper, resized from its original 12x12, printed onto white Bazzill, trimmed and matted onto white and black Bazzill

The flower is created using white Bazzill card, an EK Success craft punch and some ready made stamen, which I coloured with Nuvo Embellishing mousse to match the paper. To finish it I put a blob of Glossy Accents in the centre and added some silver micro beads.

The frond and seed head shapes are die cut from a textured silver card.

I threaded a pastel colour mix of beads onto silver thread and made holes to tie the ends of the thread through.

To complete this card I added one of the white on black sentiments from a bunch I made a while ago.

Thank you so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to hear from you.  Otherwise I think I'm just talking to myself!

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe,

Play that Funky Music

Hello!

Another catch-up post today, this time a music themed card made for my guitar-playing cousin's birthday back in March  - yes, I really am that far behind!

 

Info

I used a digital image for the music notes background

 which I printed directly onto the front to a square white card blank/

 I added strips of various black and white papers across the card, plus the happy birthday sentiment

The guitars are from a really useful DoCrafts XCut die set which has lots of musical instruments in it. I cut one in black card and the other in silver to stand out against the monochrome background

  That's it for this time, Thank You so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to know what you think.

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe,