Quick Rosy Gift Bag

Hello!

I'm back after a couple of lazy weeks on the sun on the Greek island of Skiathos.  So this week's Daring Cardmakers Tourism card was very apt for me! 

Now though its time to try and get back to crafting - I have quite a few projects I need to be getting on with.

First though, this morning I needed a little gift bag to pop a small present into, so this was a nice little project to ease myself in with

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I used half a sheet of 12x12 with a lovely rose pattern and formed it into a gift bag shape

Having put the gift inside, I folded the top over a couple of times and used my cropodile to punch the holes

 A couple of lengths of raffia were threaded through the holes and a bow tied in the centre.

To finish I added 3 tiny rosebuds pushed through the raffia, and then coiled the wire ends

 Though I've flown to the island of Skiathos a couple of times in the past, it's  been en route for neighbouring islands of Skopelos and Alonissos so all I've seen of the island itself is the harbour and a bit of Skiathos Town while waiting for the Dolphin to arrive.  This year we decided to stay on Skiathos and booked a villa just outside the town.

Anyone who knows Greece will know how hilly the islands are, and how steep, narrow and winding the roads can be.  Our villa was up one of those kind of roads - with the odd hairpin bend and 1st gear being the only option to use in getting up.  I'm a right wuss about roads like this, so it's just as well OH takes it all in his stride.  The views were worth it though - with a few of the uninhabited islands in the bay, then looking out to Skopelos, and further right of this photo on clear days we could even see Evia on the mainland and the mountains in the distance. 

I love a view!  From our upper terrace we could watch the little beach boats and yachts, as well as the Flying Dolphin catamarans and the big inter-island ferries going by.
It's really hard getting back to reality!

That's my lot for today, thanks for visiting

Happy Crafting!

Kalimera!

Hello

Did you know that it's World Tourism Day today?  No, nor did I!  But what a great excuse for rambling through all those holiday photos and memories, eh?
Thanks to all the digital photos we have stored on our pc I wandered around the world this week.

Thank you Shabneez for reminding me of all the wonderful places I've been lucky enough to visit over the years!

It was all because of this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge

World Tourism Day
 It's World Tourism Day, so please feature something from another
country or culture your cards this week.  
It could be cherry blossom from Japan, a henna pattern 
from India or a cactus from Mexico!
The World is your oyster....

 Click HERE to visit the blog and see where in the world this one took our Designers!

I knew I wanted to use one of our own photos on my card, and despite trawling through all those photos and remembrances, I ended up with an archetypal Greek shot.  
Of course I did!
I adore Greece and have visited many times since my very first trip 'abroad' took me there.  So there's more of photos from Greece and the Islands than anywhere else!  I chose one from a fantastic couple of weeks we spent in Santorini a few years back. 

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Photo printed onto white textured Bazzill card, I added a blue line around it in Paint Shop Pro before printing.
I used the same card to cover a card blank so that it matched perfectly and used foam tape to adhere the photo in places.
Some scraps of the same card were inked in shades of green, and various inks used to get the right colour for the terracotta urn. 
For the blossom I used some pink paper from my scraps box, the branches are cut using a dull green card.
I found the flag image and resized and printed two copies, making a mirror image version for one or them and adding narrow silver card strips for the poles
 

All the dies used are from various Spellbinders die sets.  The urn is just a fat oval with the ends cut off!

Well.I hope you'll pop over to see the other ideas the DT have come up with, and of course it would be wonderful to have you join in with the Daring Cardmakers  this week

Thanks for looking in today

Happy Crafting!

Counting the Days.....

Hello

Another Friday!
Despite the title of this post and the card I've made for Ruth's Numerical Daring Cardmakers challenge this week I'm really NOT counting the days to Christmas,  It's still September for Heavens sake, and September is still 'Summer' in my book! 

However, as I don't need any birthday or anniversary cards with numbers on just now, I thought I'd use the challenge to make my first Cword card of the year....
Got Your Number
 Ruth's son will be 16 soon, so her challenge this week is
 as easy as 1,2,3!  
Just put one or more numerals on your card

 Click HERE to visit the blog and see all the lovely cards made by our Designers

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I've used a smooth white card blank for this card, The textured silver stars are matted onto squares of turquoise and more textured silver card for the centrepiece.  The sentiment and numerals were die cut from red gloss card

The Snowflakes are from a fabulous set of Snowflakes by Bright Rosa - I just know already that I'll be using this set a LOT this year!

The '25' and Christmas word are from 2 different sets by Spellbinders

Nice and simple, just the way I like my Christmas cards to be. I actually like this - which is unusual for the first Christmas card I make  - they are the ones that usually get left in the box when I've sent all the others!

Well.I hope you'll pop over to see the other ideas the DT have come up with, and of course it would be wonderful to have you join in with the Daring Cardmakers  this week

Thanks for looking in today

Happy Crafting!

My Wish For You

Hello

It;s Friday again and time to see what the Daring Cardmakers
are up to.  But there's a serious note to our challenge this week 

We ask you to join in with us as we think especially of Dawn, who lost her
beloved father recently

    Special Thoughts
Remind someone that you are thinking of them. 
There are many times when a little card can help someone through 
a tough period in their life.
It could be a Sympathy or Condolence card, but it also be a message of solidarity and/or hope. 
Or just to let a friend know that they aren't forgotten even if you've not been in touch for a while. 
Or maybe create a card that helps remind you of a loved one.

 Click HERE to visit the blog and see all the lovely cards made by our Designers

For my three elements I chose the rectangles, Flamingo and Flowers

I found this quote on the internet some time ago, and its full of hope and support  and a message we probably should say to our friends and relatives more often than we do

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I've used a beautiful, embossed and textured pearlised card from Craft Perfect for the background of my card, and another colour from the same 6x6 pad for one of the butterfly layers
The text was created in Paint Shop Pro so that I could resize it to fit exactly, then printed onto plain white card.
I matted it onto a darker shade to match the background, and also used the same card to cut the gorgeous leaves.  The die is by Marisa Job from
Spellbinders

For the butterfly I used the smallest size in the Moonstone Beautiful Butterflies  set from Hunkydory
To finish I just added a small bow and a few pearls

I know from my own experience how much a note or a card helps when you are going through a difficult time.  Sometimes its just too hard actually talk to anyone, so knowing they are still thinking of you is a real comfort.

I hope you'll pop over to see the inspirational and thoughtful cards the DT have made, and of course it would be wonderful to have you join in with the Daring Cardmakers  this week

Thanks for looking in today

Happy Crafting!

Flamingo

Hello!

Ooops! Late (again) today!

I've been busy all week, but here I am on Friday afternoon, unable to see what I've actually got done.  That can't be fair, can it?

Anyway, here's this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge

As usual our first challenge of the month is an

Elemental Inspiration Challenge 

For September we have this colourful mood board chosen by Ruth

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
Click HERE to visit the blog and see all the lovely cards made by our Designers

For my three elements I chose the rectangles, Flamingo and Flowers

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I've been working on another project this week, and using a Craft Consortium 12x12 paper pad, which features lots of sort of watercolour patterned papers in it.  I had a lot of small scraps of the different coloured papers on my desk which were perfect for making my background of rectangles.  I glued the pieces of paper onto scrap card before trimming to size, then inked around all the edges before arranging on my card.

The Flamingo, sentiment and flowers were cut with die sets from Spellbinders

I used paper from the same pad for the flowers and leaves, but layered up glitter card, pearl card and black card to create the flamingo

I hope you'll pop over to see the fab cards the DT have made this week, and of course it would be wonderful to have you join in with the Daring Cardmakers this week

Thanks for looking in today

Happy Crafting!

With All My Heart!

Hello!

How did we get to September already?  I'm sure it was s only 5 minutes since it was cold and miserable and I was yearning for Spring!

I'm finally getting round to sharing the card I made to give hubby in our anniversary at the end of July - yes, I know it's ages ago now!
The structural part of the card is made using one of Karen Burniston's pop up card die sets, the same set I used to make a flower box pop up a few weeks ago.  You can see that one HERE.

This time I wanted to fill the box with hearts.

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The flower pot was made first using a matte silver card. 
  Bazzill card was used for the card base and also for printing the patterned papers I wanted to use, they are all digital papers from MaiShop digital

 The Sentiment panel was created by cropping one of the paper designs to the shape I needed, then using Paint Shop Pro to create the box for my message.

Most of the hearts were made using a fab die set by Bright Rosa.  There's a great mix of sizes, plains and patterns in the set.
Other hearts were made with other dies and punches to get more variety.

The pop up mechanism is really clever, you need to be careful and make sure all the bits tuck inside when the card is closed. I added some hearts on wire for some extra bounce!

Here it is half closed 

I made a slide on/off Belly Band to keep everything tucked inside until the card was opened. The huge hearts on the belly band are also in the Bright Rosa set.   I just added some claret red ribbon and a bow to finish it off.

Here it is closed up

And here's a closer look at the box section with all the hearts bursting out.

That's my lot for today, thanks for visiting

Happy Crafting!