Don't Run with Scissors

....in fact, put them in the drawer and don't use them at all....or the guillotine, either.... So go the instructions for this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge set by our lovely Miri! 

No scissors, please!

Decorate a card blank without using scissors or a paper cutter/guillotine. However, you may use your die cutting machine to add labels/shapes etc.
This is a perfect opportunity to use stamps, washi tape, ready-made embellishments etc.
So, go and hide your scissors … and start crafting!

It s long time since I did any paper tearing, so I thought that be a good way to tackle this one.  As I needed to print out some papers for this month's "Forgotten Funkies" post, I thought I'd use the same papers for both cards - sneaky, eh?  I'll blog my "Forgotten Funky" card next time, but if you want a sneak peek, click HERE

One of the great things about printing out Funky Hand papers is the knowldege that if it all goes wrong, you can just print out some more - which is very handy when you're trying to make a torn paper background - it's so easy to tear away more than you should

I used the base card as a guide then "nibbled" away at the gingham design to get the right sort of size.  I tore the other two panels in the same way, then tore another strip to make the stripey "ribbon" - then I scored and folded to get the straight edges and a bit of extra dimension

I was really pleased at how the flower turned out.  To make it I just tore loads of different sized "circles" from a few different papers, crumpled them, used a large ball embossing tool and then inked the edges. I then just crumpled the edges again and layered them up, adding a touch of glue between each layer.  The torn and inked edges give a great carnation effect to the finished flower, I think - and is so easy to do that it'll definitely be used again!

To finish the card, I used Miri's "permitted" tools of punches and die cuts; die cuts for the swirky flourishes and a small circle punch for the faux brads (or Card Candy)

Materials and Tools

All papers: Funky Hand CD "Colour Me Happy", this colour collection is "Glad Rags"

printed on both sides of white Bazzill cardstock

Xcut tiny circle punch used to punch the little flowers from one of the paper designs and make the "brads"

Dies from Spellbinders, Memory Box and MFT-DieNamics

Head over to the DCM BLOG to see how the rest of our fab team dealt with Miri's challenge - we'd love you to join in with us!

Do You Doodle Do?

I've never been very confident at doodling on my cards etc - I do give it a try from time to time but am never particularly happy about the results.
So when I read what Gez was asking us to do for the Daring Cardmakers challenge this week I did have a little wobble hehe

First task was a bit of hunting around the Pinterest boards for a bit of inspiration and advice.  The thing is, actually taking a pen to your project isn't the same as doodling around your shopping list or a phone number on the pad, is it?  You've probably put a bit of effort into making something which you are now about to ruin by scribbling on it!  Mucho Pressure!

I thought it would be better to approach from the other direction and do the doodling before I  made the rest of the card - easier to bin the worst efforts that way ;).  I suppose it took the "I'm going to mess this up" pressure off - but having got myself a couple of doodles to use, I hadn't a clue what to do with them now.  You just can't win sometimes.  I made a couple of cards, both took a few goes at the combining the doodling with the backgrounds so the bin is pretty full.  hey ho

Having had a couple of "dry runs" with just the doodled image on plain white card, I thought a bit of colour might work better.  I've used Distress Inks to create the background for the doodle and also on the card blank.  Which is a sort of freehand doodling with an inking tool, isn't it.....

For this one I used Gelatos for the coloured bits.  The flowers are just  blobs of Gelatos, moved around in a circle with a baby-wipe covered finger.  Once dry I added the scribbled petals and stems

Other stash used:

Coredinations Teal card, EK Success border punch

Pink Panel cut from a paper from a new Funky Hand collection "Wash It Al Away" released this weekend.  I cut the strip, then used a Spellbinders die at either end (slot the strip through the die so it only cuts at one end, then repeat at the other) 

The faux card candy is made with a tiny circle punch (Xcut) shaped with an embossing tool

Finished off with a double bow made with aqua satin ribbon

I nearly did some more doodling arund the edges of these - but I thought I'd quite while I was ahead.

Hope you'll visit the DCM BLOG and will feel inspired to join in with us this time
Thanks for looking.  Please leave a comment and let me know what you think - I can take it........

Man, Oh Man!

For Beckie's challenge on The Daring Cardmakers it's all about the men this week. She's not only asking for a card for a man, but she also wants it to be a shaped card AND have the numbers 2 and 1 on it!  Not asking for much then, eh?

As usual the design team have risen to the challenge and made some brilliant cards (loads of inspiration to refer to for future "man" cards, which is good!)

I made a card in the shape of a "proper" style mini - I hate that new so-called mini, it's like a gross caricature of the real thing!

Nothing much to add about this one.  I made a template for cutting all the various bits on the Silhouette Cameo, then stuck them together. 
 
Usually when I do cards like this I add the wheels on brads so that the whole card will push along on "working" wheels, but I need to tweak the template a bit so that the base section allows that.  No doubt I will have forgotten by the time I want to use this one again....

So, a very short post today.  I hope you like the idea of this challenge and feel inspired to join in with us this week
Thanks for visiting

Understated

It's the first dare of the month and that means a Colour Challenge for the Daring Cardmakers.
This  time it's my turn to choose the colour palette.  I really wanted to add an extra challenge by avoiding my favourite pastel aquas and peachy shades, and I'll tell you something,.....it wasn't easy!
I now have a lovely little(large) stock of beautiful photos with those pastel palettes hidden away for future reference ;)
After a happy hour browsing the interweb I found a lovely palette of mauve, black and neutral shade which I think is beautifully understated and elegant - just like me, really..... hahahahahahaha - that'll be the day.




Here's what I made

 ....oh what a surprise - another paper peony! Are you bored with these yet? I'm not bored with making them, and have others I've not shared on here yet, so be warned!

I made a card base made from some pale mauve pearlescent card, then as so often, I turned to my Funky Hand stash to help me out with the other colours, printing out papers from various downland collections; mainly "Hearts and Flowers" and "Salt and Pepper", plus some Bazzill card scraps to match the colours on my inspiration photo. 
It must have been something subliminal that made me choose the black and white spotty design paper!

The LO is based on the June sketch from The Sketch File

I forgot that I was going to add some ribbon, but maybe that would have been "too much" anyway

The twirly, swirly bits are cut using flourish dies from Spellbinders, Memory Box and MFT-DieNamics, the border Punch is by EK Success

As usual the DCM design team have created some beautiful cards, which you can see HERE

That's it for today, thanks for looking in - it would be fab if you'd leave a message ;)

Paper Peony

Last Friday there was another  "Forgotten Funky" showcase over on "Get Funky"  - this is an inspiration blog for the Funky Hand shop and there are at least a couple of new ideas posted each week. 
Mostly the DT take turns at showing what we've been making with our own choices of goodies from the Funky Hand website, but every now and then one of the older collections is chosen and we all make something new to share on one lovely big post.

The current "Forgotten Funky" is a real stunner!  It's called Summer Wedding and its one of four on the same theme - you can probably hazard a guess at what the other 3 are called.
It's one of my favourites because the colours are so gorgeous - and it's not just for weddings

I used lots of layers of papers, some raised up on dimensional glue.

The paper peony is made from layers of petals cut from a couple of different papers

Papers: all Funky Hand; "Summer Wedding" download

Bazzill white card to print on

Satin ribbon tied in a double bow

Border punch; EK Success

Swirl Die; Spellbinders

The peonies in my garden are all starting to open out - they've been in bud for seemingly ages, just waiting for a few nice sunny days before they open properly.  There are masses of buds - I think all the rain we had during the winter may not have been great for us, but the plants LOVED it!  Climbers have climbed higher and things I'd forgotten I'd planted have flowered at last!

Anyway, enough of the waffle!
I have more crafting to do and I must send the BFoP (Bad Fairy of Procrastination) on her way....Honestly, she is such a pain in the derrière .....

Thanks for visiting

On Yer Bike!

 It's New Sketch Tuesday on The Sketch File and this is the first of my cards using the June sketch

Over the last few weeks I've been busy making cards using the current  Quirky Kit from Crafty Templates including this one.  I've been saving the gorgeous metal bicycle that came in the kit box for something like this.

 

June Sketch

The papers are all from the current Quirky Kit, as are the wire bicycle and

the fab chipboard letters. 

 I've a feeling that the narrow grey striped ribbon and even the bakers twine on the 

bunch of flowers are also from old kits

If I'm right, then the only non-kit bits are the tiny flowers

I've blogged this and a couple of other Kit cards over on the Quirky Kit blog today - I will get round to blogging the others here too, but don't wait - click HERE to visit the Quirky BLOG and check out the fabulous LOs, tips and ideas that Leo and Lythan have been sharing - it's a little goldmine of inspiration!
Go straight to the Crafty Templates/Quirky Kits Website by clicking HERE

Thank you for visiting today, back soon (well, that's the plan) with more.