More Recycled Treasures

Hello
How are you? I hope you're all coping with our new way of life - I liked the message I saw the other day that said we need to change the mindset of "Stuck at home" to being "Safe at home".  Putting a more positive spin on it is the way to go, I think.

I'm hoping that the companies who won't allow people to work from home in 'normal' life, probably because they don't trust their employees to do their work, will finally se the benefit of being more amenable to the idea, having been forced into it!  Think of the impact on the road and rail networks, let alone the air quality in our cities.

Enough waffling for today!

I made a second card for Friday's 'Recycling' challenge at The Daring Cardmakers and decided to use the second for another blog post.

My recycled items this time were some corrugated cardboard from a small box (the wrinkles are much smaller than on a normal box), a pretty card pocket that came with some flowers I received a few weeks ago,  a gold paper hat from one of our Christmas Crackers and another of the Seasalt tags

 Info
 I cut the pocket open and used one side and a wavy border die to make the pieces.  These were then adhered onto the paper hat gold foil leaving narrow gaps between the strips.
This section was then adhered to the card front
I used more of the gold to make a mat for the corrugated square and added the layered, die cut butterfly on top
I covered the wording on the tag with a sentiment piece and shortened the twine to fit better. From my scraps box I found some green card to match the clothing tag and cut the leafy swirls to go under the focus piece
To finish I added a few matching pearls

That's all for today, I hope you like it, and that you'll feel inspired to look around for rescued treasure to use in your crafting!   Thank You so much for visiting,
please leave a comment, I really love seeing your messages! 

Happy Crafting!

It's Not Hoarding - It's Recycling!

Hello
I hope you're keeping well and managing to get on ok with home-working and all the other changes many of us have had to make to our daily lives.
I'm hoping that at the end of it, we'll all have learned something, about ourselves, about what's important, about how we treat each 
other and our planet
Maybe some good can come out of it in the end
This week at The Daring Cardmakers we have an interesting challenge, set by Ruth, and maybe this is the kind of thing you can do with your kids too
  
Recycled 

 I would like you to use something you've recycled on 
your project this week.
We're all staying home,  trying to keep safe, so a 
great chance to go through that
"might come in useful one day"
box (we all have one, eh?) for some inspiration
Don't forget to tell us what you used!

You can see what our fab Design Team made by clicking HERE

 

I'll admit to being a hoarder, especially of things that might eventually find their way on to a crafting project.  No ribbon ever ends up in the bin while I'm around!
I am quite addicted to the clothing firm Seasalt and not only are the clothes lush, but they generally have the most gorgeous clothing tags complete with tiny safety pins and lovely bits of twine!  
Which is how I've collected this little lot:

I used one of the picture tags plus some twine for this card, along with some satin ribbon which has the name of the shop it came from on the reverse, the navy blue card for the doily shape is also recycled - from around a jewellery presentation box.  Info

Soft White base card  
To start I dipped the tag in thick gold stencil paint all around the edges,
A few random ink smudges of colours from the tag to make a background, then a few zigzags stencilled over the top.

2 x Tonic Scribble Circles dies cut in textured gold card plus the smaller of a set of Memory Box doily dies cut from the recycled blue card
The ribbon was adhered in place and a second piece used to make the knot - carefully placed so the writing on the other side doesn't show!
For the flowers I inked up a few scraps of card to match the background
 Next I arranged the tag, the flowers and some die cut leaves in place, cunningly
concealing the shop name on the tag!
I found a plant pit charm to glue at the top and added a bow from the label twine over the hole, then added a sentiment, a few gems and pearls to complete the card

That's all for today, I hope you like it, and that you'll feel inspired to look around for rescued treasure to use in your crafting!   Thank You so much for visiting,
please leave a comment, I really love seeing your messages! 

Happy Crafting!

Floral Focus

Hello
I hope you're keeping well and managing to deal with this strange world we find ourselves living in.
Rather than waffle on for a bit, I'm going straight over to Nat, who has set the challenge this week for The Daring Cardmakers
 
 The world outside is certainly moving at a pace and we're all having to cope with many things outside of our control.

It's important to find some balance right now and I'm sure many of you are turning to your crafting projects for this.

Hopefully this week's dare will brighten your day and someone else's - even if you can't give them your card in person.

Your card project needs to have a floral focus this week.

Get those flowers front and centre!

Whether floral backgrounds, big stand-alone blooms, or dimensional flowers – let's bring the garden indoors.

Get stamping with vibrant inks, use your stencils for blending, crack open your stash of pens, or get your paintbrush at the ready.

You can see what our fab Design Team made by clicking HERE

I wanted to make something which would be fairly flat for posting, but still appear to have the layers and dimension that I love to use.
I also wanted to use a piece of inked up card created for a different project that I'd just come across again!  Perfect colours for a Springtime card

  Info

Soft White base card 
Card panel inked with lemons, peaches and pinks
Curvy border die to cut the shape for the coloured panel
2 x Tonic Scribble Circles dies cut in textured gold card between the background panel and the flower focus
For the flowers I inked up a few scraps of card to match the background
For the leaves various shades of green card from my scraps of green card box

Various petal and leaf shapes  from several manufacturers
White on Black sentiment was pc generated
To finish I added a few Nuvo Glitter Glue dots, and a line of the same along the curvy edged piece

That's all for today, I hope you like it, and that all our lovely flowers on the blog cheer you up!
 Please take care of yourself, and be mindful of others who are
 just trying to do the same for themselves and their families.
At this time more than any other we need to be kind to each other

  Thank You so much for visiting,
please leave a comment, I really love seeing your messages! 

Happy Crafting!

Lucky, Lucky, Lucky

Hello

I hope you've had a good week. 
We've got the builders in!  After a break of a couple of years since the last work we had done, I'd forgotten just how invasive it is, even though they are working outside the house this time.  I'll get used to it - I have to, they're going to be around for a couple of months!  

This week's host at The Daring Cardmakers is Joanne and she's come up with a twist on Friday 13th for our challenge this week

Lucky For Some
Friday 13th might be unlucky for some but it’s St Patrick’s day on Tuesday so we might be able to balance it out with the luck of the Irish! Make a card featuring something lucky. 

Different cultures around the world have different symbols - you might choose a four leaf clover or a horseshoe. Or perhaps a peony, a dream catcher or the number seven. If you’re stuck for ideas, there’s a fun list here, plenty to choose from!

You can see what our fab Design Team made by clicking HERE

I was doubly lucky with my card as I hadn't realised that peonies were a good fortune symbol until I read Joanne's suggestions.  As they are a favourite flower of mine both in the garden and to make from paper, I was very happy to make one for my SiL's birthday card, I also used some lovely peony paper to make the 'eclipse' background.

  Info

White base card 
Digital papers printed onto white Bazzill 
Name cut from the flowery paper with my favourite Alphabet Spellbinders

 die set (the one I lost the 'A' from - but there's no 'A' in STEPH!!)

The letter stacks were cut in pink card to create the eclipse effect

The striped upper layer is raised on foam tape

The peony flower was created using pink card and a Flower die set also Spellbinders

Aqua satin ribbon for the bow

A tiny sentiment tag and a few pink pearls to complete

That's all for today, I hope you like it. Thank You so much for visiting,
please leave a comment, I really love seeing your messages! 

Happy Crafting!

Birthday Balloons Box Card

Hello

How is your week going?  Mine started with a bit of a go-slow yesterday so I'm hoping today will be better.  Actually, maybe another coffee would help - hang on a mintute while I go and get one, oh, and I need to put the makings of a loaf into the bread machine too.....

.... Okay, I'm back. I thought I'd share a box card today,  These are great, because although they fold relatively flat and can be ailed in a regular envelope, once the band is removed they pop out in a 3d box shape

 Info
I've used orange card for the card base plus various dies and some scraps of silver card from my stash,
The blue card and patterned papers are from February's Papercraft Society box (Craftstash UK), as are a couple of the die-cut accents and some of the dies (balloons, twirly shape, some stars).  

 Here's how it looks when it's folded flat, the band slides on and off, and holds the folds and flaps in place

  That's all for today, Thank You so much for visiting,
please leave a comment, I really love seeing your messages!

Happy Crafting!

March Elemental Inspiration

  

Hello

I hope you've had a good week.
No waffle today, just straight on to this week's
Daring Cardmakers challenge and as its the first Friday of the month we have a new Elemental Inspiration picture,chosen by Miri:.

March Elemental Inspiration picture

Just be sure to use at least three elements on your card.

These could be: big words, succulents, a typewriter or a typewriter font, 
an octopus, jewellery, tea, lines etc.

From Miri's board I chose the Layout, the Rings and the Flowers/Greenery and made this birthday card

Info
To begin with I used various shades and various types of ink to colour up a piece of card.  This was then cut into strips, then smaller pieces to create the background.  The edges of each piece were inked, and a little more colour added if required.  They were arranged to fit the upper section of the card and glued in place.

There was enough card left to cut the narrow strip for the lower edge - I added strokes of extra colour to make vague stripes.  

Next I made the sentiment on the pc using a simple font and printed

 to fit the gap.

 Thinner card was inked in some of the colours I'd already used to make the flowers.  I've used dies from the March Papercraft Society box to cut the flowers, and different shades of green card with various Spellbinders dies 

for the greenery

These were all arranged onto a Scribbled Circles (Tonic Studios) die-cut which I'd cut in an embossed silver card

To finish I punched tiny circles of spare card to the centres of the flowers, and topped them with Nuvo Glitter and then Glossy Accents

That's all for today, Thank You so much for visiting,
please leave a comment, I really love seeing your messages! 

Happy Crafting!