A Dream for Midummer

Morning All!

Hope you're feeling well this sunny Friday morning!

How did we get to the Longest Day already - and without much sunshine to show for it so far....remember the long, hot summer of 2018? A bit of a dim and distant memory, eh?

  

It is of course, Daring Cardmakers day and Nat's challenge this week celebrated the day.

Midsummer's Day 

This week I'd like to see your cards in celebration of Midsummer's day - the longest day of the year here in the northern hemisphere and sometimes one of the prettiest summer sunsets to boot...

There are so many summer themes to choose from, but you will get extra gold stars if you make a card inspired by Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. :D

CLICK HERE to see what the design team came up with

This is a completely different card to the one I set out to make.  So I filed all the attempts I made at that one in the bin, cleared my desk and started again.
Flicking through my scraps box looking for an off-cut of white card to use for a background I found instead a spare piece of card that I'd printed out when making a card some time ago. Perfect!

 

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Digital paper download set from RomanticLetters,printed onto white Bazzill card. This panel was cut down and matted onto some olive green card before adhering to my card blank.
I inked up scraps of white card in yellow and orange shades ready for cutting out the pineapple and the glass.
I used two Spellbinders die sets the glass from one and the leaves and pineapple from another.
I found the silver metal 'dream' word in one of my "might come in useful one day" boxes. I know it looks black in the main picture, but 
this one shows the colour better

Once all the bits were glued together, and I'd added a few bits of thick card behind them to give some dimension and definition it was just a case of arranging them into a group and glueing down.

I'm hoping that adding the 'dream' will just nudge me into winning Nat's virtual gold star for the Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream 'nod'

That's it for this time. I spent hours trying to make Plan A work, whilst Plan B went together in about half an hour thanks the serendipitous background find!

Thanks for looking in today

Happy Crafting!

Flying High

Hello!

It seems that 'm back to my bad blogger ways!  I'm not quite sure what happened to his week, but updating my blog since last Friday obviously wasn't one of the things that got ticked off the to-do list.

We did have a lovely evening at our local cinema to see the live-stream from the Royal Opera House of the ballet Romeo and Juliet.  Without giving anything away, the story didn't end well ;)

This week on the Daring Cardmakers challenge blog we have our lovely Svenja in the hot seat:

It's Svenja here with a new challenge for you:

Come, fly with me!

I'd like to see all kinds of things that fly on your cards: birds, bees, planes, kites, superheroes... whatever comes to mind.

And of course the Design Team members have already taken to the skies to inspire you - see their cards HERE

Probably the obvious choice for me was to make some butterflies for this one.  Or bearing in mind the weather we've been having recently I thought of making a flying carpet and flying off to somewhere dry!

In the end though I decided to make a kite, and when I found the inky background while sorting through a box of 'stuff' I thought I could incorporate it into the design

 
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Inked background was  made for another project but not used in the end

Pieces of card were inked up in the colours I wanted to use for all the other components

The various pieces for the house was hand cut, as was the kite

The clouds were die cut with a Spellbinders die set

I used my own template and the Silhouette Cameo to make the little girl 

The kite is attached using wire, I added a piece of gold twine with knotted pieces of coloured Baker's Twine for the tail

The upper cloud, and the little girl are both attached with folding 'box' hinges behind them so that they can stand right out from the card

To finish I added a rub on decal sentiment

I quite like the simple and 'naive' look to this one.  Not that it was actually simple to make!

Anyway, that's all for this time, I hope you like it, I'd love to know what you think so please leave a message

Happy Crafting!

June's Elemental Inspiration Challenge.

Hello there!

We're having one of those "sunshine and showers" kind of days today.  When I say 'showers' I mean 'downpours', though.  I'm glad I'm not needing to go out today!

After a week staying with my family in Northumberland it's been really hard to get back to my craft desk - or anything else, for that matter.  So my card for the Daring Cardmakers was a bit last-minute this time.

 

As usual our first challenge of the month is an
Elemental Inspiration Challenge. 
For June we have this beautiful Mood Board. Remember, you just need to pick a minimum 3 elements  from the picture to use when making your card.  
If you choose to use the colour palette, then that would count as one of your elements

We also have the very talented Sonja Kaufmann joining us for the next few weeks as Guest Designer.  We've been waiting for Sonja to have a Daring Cardmakers-shaped gap in her schedule for ages, and finally it's here!

  I chose the leaves, feathers, the tags and the squares from the picture to use on my card, and decided to keep largely to the colour palette too

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For the background I set out lots of different leafy dies on my GoPress & Foil machine, added the soft gold foil, a piece of white Bazzill card and a couple of shim layers.  After heating I rolled the sandwich through my trusty old Cuttlebug, brought out of retirement for using with the GP&F as my eBosser just doesn't do the job!

Next I cut down and matted the foiled piece onto gold card and then adhered this to a plain white card blank.

 I cut several of the leaf dies in shades of green and gold, and sorted out 3 small pink and white feathers to use on the focus square.

A square of aqua pearlescent card was matted onto a slightly larger gold square and 3 of the larger die cut leaves were arranged behind before gluing in place

 in the lower corner of the card.

The pink and white feathers were arranged along with some of the smaller die cut leaves and adhered to the aqua square.

The stems opf a couple of roses were coiled around a bamboo skewer then glued on top of the feathers.  I tied a triple bow from narrow aqua ribbon and glued it across the stems, then die cut three tiny tags in matching colours to add to the 'bouquet'

Do you have stuff in your stash that you bought years ago and hardly ever get out to use?  The feathers are one of these things for me - I have bags of different colours bought when it seemed a good idea for some reason or other.  It was good to use some - even if it was just three of the smallest!

It would be great if you'd join in this week, we'd love you to share your creativity with us.

I hope you'll take a minute to leave a message, it's always good to read them - and I always try to reciprocate and visit your blog too.

Thanks for looking, have a great weekend

Happy Crafting!

Secret Hideaway

Hello 

I hope you’ve had a good week and have a lovely weekend planned. 

If it’s a bit dull and dreary where you are, as it is here this morning, perhapsa spot of crafting would be good- like joining in with our new challenge!

Maybe thoughts of warm sunshine were in my mind when I made my card for Joanne’s challenge to The Daring Cardmakers this week!

Secret Hideaway

This week I would like you to create a card with a hidden element.

Perhaps a camouflage/eclipse sentiment with

die cut words or letters, or a pocket to tuck

something into.,

Or add a flap to conceal a surprise image or sentiment...

My card for this week features a Secret Hideaway in two ways, firstly the doors hide the secret element then they open to reveal my own perfect Secret Hideaway!

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I started by making the doors, hand cutting the shape and adding various shades of ink to both sides to create the old, distressed wood look. I drew lines to look like the planks then cut the piece down the centre.  I added ‘hinges’ to the outer edges (because I forgot to allow for them w hen I cut the original

shape!)

For the wall I adhered paper to a piece of card the same size as the base card, 

cut out the doorway shape and glued the gate in place using the hinges. Next I cut pieces of paper covered card and glued in place to make the stone archway, added a latch to the gate and a potted plant to stand by it. 

..

open the gates and you find a lovely view of a terrace overlooking the sea and a couple of potted plants. 

I found the picture online and resized it to fit the aperture made by the gates. It was slid up between the card base and the top layer before everything was stuck in place. 

I wouldn’t mind opening my doors to this view, would you?

Anyway, that’s it from me for this time, I’d love to know what you think, so please leave a message in the comments

Thanks for looking 

Happy Crafting!

Celebrating the Victorian Era

 Hello

I'm late again today - I've been trying to ake something that seemed to have a mind of its own!  I think I finally got there, but it was a trial!

Anyway, it's Shabneez's turn to set the challenge for the Daring Cardmakers this week and it's a lovely one!

Celebrating the Victorian Era

It's Queen Victoria's birthday today so to celebrate I'd like to see something from her era on your cards be it a mode of transport, clothing, steampunk or you can pay homage to the Queen herself and do something regal!

CLICK HERE to see this week's inspiration from the Design Team 

I had a couple of ideas for this challenge.  The second one will have to wait for another time but here is the card I actually did manage to make!

The young woman in the photo is my Great Grandmother, she was born in 1870 and I think this would have been taken when she was about 20/21, so definitely a Victorian girl!

One of the interesting things I found out while doing some Family History research was that her mother (my 2xDreat Grandmother) was a dressmaker so I think its safe to assume that she made the dress Elizabeth is wearing - check out all the beautiful beading on the sleeves and bodice, and that fabulous bustle skirt you can just about make out!

I used an old Crafter Companion die to create the aperture, and added lilac card behind it, slotting the photo inside.

The lower edge is trimmed with white cotton lace, pale grey satin ribbon and a double bow, trimmed with a large diamante rimmed flat back gem

I made some paper roses and a couple of rosebuds which I fixed onto wire so that I could coil them for a bit of extra interest and added some bead strings to complete the 'bouquet'
To finish the card I added some tiny lilac gems 

That's all from me today, I hope you like this one, its lovely to use old photos on cards and this was a great opportunity for me to do just that!
Thanks for looking, I'd love to hear what you think so please leave a message

Happy Crafting!

Cheers!

Hello!

I've still got quite a backlog of un-blogged cards, so today I'm sharing another masculine card made for one of the May family birthdays.

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Black 15cm square card blank

White Bazzill card was inked lightly in grey for the glass shapes and orangey-brown for the drinks colours, the froth was cut from the plain white card.

The die set is by Spellbinders

I cut a piece of kraft card and glued the glasses down, then rounded the corners and added some crystal Distress Stickles to the frothy areas.

The sentiment was created on the pc, resized and printed onto white card, ensuring I'd have enough space to adhere the focus piece onto it.

That's it, a fairly simple, non-fussy card for a young man. To keep the theme, I sent him a gift of a 'pie and a pint' made from chocolate!

That's my lot for today

Happy Crafting"

M for Mosaic, A for Aster Y for Yellow!

Hello

I hope you've had a good week.  We 'took a day off' on Wednesday and headed over to Whipsnade Zoo.  We've been sponsoring the elephants there this year so took the chance of a beautiful sunny day to go a-visiting!  I'll share some photos when I've got them sorted out.
Today though its time for another Daring Cardmakers challenge and it was my turn to come up with an idea. I have to admit that it's a tough one, but if you give it a go and maybe think a bit 'out of the box' I think you'll have some fun.  At least I hope so!

 M A Y letters   
You can make any kind of card you like, but I'd like you to incorporate at least one thing beginning with each letter of the word MAY into it.  For example colours, words, 'things' or techniques beginning with the letters
ideas:
M - Magenta, Mustard, Maypole, Monogram, Masking
A - Anniversary, Amber, Arch, Anchor, Apple
Y - Yellow, Yacht, Yupo paper, You. Yak!

Please do visit the BLOG to check out how the DT really stepped up to the mark with their cards this week -  we've added the M,A & Y elements by our names to help give more ideas

 

You know those nights when sleep eludes you, do you count sheep, or maybe count backwards slowly from 100? Well this week I spent far too many hours thinking of things beginning with M, A and Y!

In the end I made this, where

M = Mosaic, A = Aster(and Adorable) Y = Yellow

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First I used inks to make a background piece which when I dried I cut out using a lovely Spellbinders die - it's actually for a trellis background, but I often end up using the 'waste' to create a mosaic background rather than the trellis itself!

I also inked up both sides of some Bazzill Bling white card just in a couple of yellow inks for cutting the flower petals, and a smaller piece using orange ink to make the flower centre

It's been ages since I used these quilling flower dies, I used a mix of Cuttlebug ones (for the flower centre) and Crafters Companion dies for the petals. Those old Cuttlebug sets came with a very useful tool for doing the twirling if you remember.

The leaves of my Aster flower are actually cut using the large petal die from a Creative Inspirations Poinsettia die set.

Having clued down the mosaic pieces in a pattern I liked, there was a bit of space too small to continue the design, so I decided to trim that piece off the side and then let the flower and the sentiment piece go over the edge of the card. 

The sentiment was created on the pc, printed, trimmed and matted onto a piece of card inked to match the flower centre, and it was all done!

It was around this point that I realised I have a niece and a nephew both with names beginning with the letter A, who had their birthdays in May.  Which meant I could have simply made a card with their initial 'A' as a Monogram and put it on a yellow background and I'd have been done and dusted days and days ago!  So feel free to pinch that idea and join in! 

I hope you like it, I'd love to hear what you think so please add a comment if you can. It would be great to see your own ideas on this theme, you can see the rest of our cards, and join in HERE

Thank you so much for visiting

Happy Crafting! 

Time to Celebrate

Hello

It's TIME for a new challenge over at the Daring Cardmakers and Sylvia has set the them this week

We are into May already and nearly half way through the year, Where does time go!  This week I would like to see

 "A Moment In Time"

featured in your cards, it could be clocks, watches, hour glass, or a time such as fairytale once upon a time, or Victorian, swinging sixties, tea time, play time, work time, anything time related. 

 Its still the Month of Mainly Males for my card requirements, so I decided to make a more masculine looking card for this challenge

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To begin with I cut a square of plain white card to 14x14 and embossed it with Teresa Collins A4 "About Time" embossing folder (I don't have a smaller one so had to make this do!)

I used small ink pads in a few shades of blue to colour the embossed image, and then rubbed over with Alchemy Wax in
silver and gold with my fingers to get a more interesting colour mix and
a lovely soft sheen finish.  This was trimmed down slightly and adhered to a dark blue card blank

 

The large sentiment panel was made on the pc, as was the smaller Happy Birthday piece

 I die cut the gold and white circles, plus a 'hanger' from a Christmas Bauble set in gold to create the pocket watch, adding tiny silver gems for the 'numbers' and a couple of pointers hand-cut from scraps of the gold card.

 I used some gold twine to  make a chain (like when casting on in knitting, or the first chain you make in crochet)

Then it was just a case of arranging and adhering the carious pieces to finish the card

I hope you like it, I'd love to hear what you think so please add a comment if you can. It would be great to see your own ideas on this theme, you can see the rest of our cards, and join in HERE

Thank you so much for visiting

 

Happy Crafting! 

One Big Balloon

Hello 

I hope you had a good Bank Holiday weekend - not too long before the next one either!

Today I’ve  a balloon card to share which was inspired by my lovely friend Joanne made for the balloon challenge of a couple of weeks back over on the Daring Cardmakers. 

Joanne’s was stamped but of course I don’t do much of that sort of thing so I had to come up with a different plan

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I scribbled some shades of blue Gelatos onto my card blank where the balloon would cover any messy boys then used a wet wipe to move the colour around for the background. 

 I inked up a piece of card with a few shades of orange and red to give depth of colour and used a large circle die to cut the balloon. I also cut a triangle with a wavy lower edge for the bit you blow into!

The balloon shape was adhered in place, then the overhangs trimmed off and the Bakers Twine string attached.

The  ‘happy’ word is made with Thickers letters (I found a whole box full of sticky alphas of various types that I’d forgotten about so I need to start using them), and ‘birthday’ is a sentiment rub-on. 

To give a bit of shine to the balloon I applied a layer of slightly diluted PVA glue over the whole area. Usually I’d use Glossy Accents to get this kind os effect, but this balloon would have taken a whole pot and I’m not that generous.

That’s all for this time, thanks for visiting

A Few of my Favourite Things!

Hello, Hello!

I hope this Friday finds you well.  Did you get the thunder, rain and hailstones yesterday?  The chap who comes to cut our grass and generally keep order out in the garden was here yesterday morning and moaning about how dry the ground was and how brown the 'lawn' would look after he'd cut the top growth off.  Maybe the Weather Fairies were listening.....

Anyway, back to things crafty, as its Daring Cardmakers day again:

 It's Shabneez here and as it's the start of a new month, the May Elemental Challenge is on the calendar this week.

You just need to choose 3 elements from the board (colours counts as one element) to use when making your card.
So here's what I've chosen:

Pretty Inspiration Board, eh?  I chose the flowers (no surprise) ,
the butterfly (no surprise there, either),and the 3x3 square LO.  Plus I stuck mainly to the colours and threw a bit of gold in for the 'fairy dust' in the bottom left square 

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My first step was to make a background piece to cut my squares from.  I used some white card with a pearlised finish - it was in my scraps box and I have no idea where it came from!

I damped it all over with a wet wipe, then tore the wet wipe into bits and dabbed the card with various inks from the colour palette, gradually filling in all the white space. When it was dry I flicked some gold paint over it then again left it to fry before cutting into squares.

The edges of the squares were inked in a deep lilac shade and arrange on a panel of pale lilac card from Hunkydory's Adorable Scorable Pearl Bouquet card pack. This was then matted onto a smooth white card blank.

I inked some scraps of white Bazzill card on both sides with the colours I wanted for the flowers then but the petals using a set of 4 dies where the largest is about 3cms in size.  I think the die set is from either Marianne or Britannia

I used a ball tool to shape the flowers with 2 or 3 petals in each. I added small white stamens to their centres. 

 I cut a few leafy swirls using a Spellbinders set from a dull gold card to tuck behind the flowers and add a bit of background interest.

The sentiment is also cut in gold using a Spellbinders die set

 

Beautiful Butterflies die set, Hunkydory crafts

For the butterfly I inked another piece of scrap white card using a couple of aqua inks and cut a plain large butterfly, and a small fancy butterfly from this piece of card.

I cut two fancy large butterflies gold vellum, one is a pearly gold vellum, the other has a gold rose pattern on it The four shapes were layered up with the small one as the top layer. They were all glued together only down the centre to allow the wings to stand out from the card.  I cut the body from black card to complete it

To finish I just added a few dots of gold Stickles for extra blinginess.  Yes, of course that's a word 😆

That's it, quite a bit of work in this one, but all enjoyable.  Whats not to enjoy about making pretty inky backgrounds, flowers and butterflies!

I hope you like it, I'd love to hear what you think so please add a comment if you can.

Thank you so much for visiting

Happy Crafting!