Orange, Purple and Black with Stars

   Hello!

Have you had a good week? I hope so.

Finally, after taking just a couple of days to travel from Prague to the UK then sitting in a Customs shed in Dartford since the start of the month OH's new work tech (laptop, keyboard, screens, wires etc) was released and deli vered this week. In the meantime, as HM Customs don't give any info as to when or even if they will release goods, his new company arranged to have another laptop delivered from a UK supplier just so he could start to get on with stuff.  Don't ask me, its about processor speed and such like. 

Thank you sooo much to all those who voted FOR Brexit and have made life difficult in so many ways

Obviously everything arrived on the same day, the separate laptop arriving about an hour after the enormous box with the whole kit in it.

So that's about as exciting as its been around here this week

This week's  Daring Cardmakers challenge

It's Dawn here this time and as this weekend will be full of Ghoulies and Ghosties and Four-legged Beasties, I thought we could make 

Halloween Inspired

our starting point. So you could make a traditional kind of Halloween card, but it doesn't have to be ghosts and witches, instead, you could choose to use  Halloween colours (black, purple and orange) or Autumn things like pumpkins and apples, or creatures connected to the season such black cats, cute owls, or a starry sky.

 

Check out the ideas from our wonderful design team HERE

Not being a great fan of Halloween stuff I chose to go with Dawn's suggestion to use the colour scheme, plus the starry sky and add a card to my meagre pile of Christmas Cards.  I'm so behind with making them and you know what they say; Every Little Helps!...

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Starting with a white square card. I used washi tape to mask a rectangular shape, then filled it in with orange, purple and black inks/

After removing the tape I added stencilled stars using a Memory Box stencil and some silver glitter paste (Stamperia).  This time I stencilled out of the rectangle, so that some of the stars are on the white area of the card.

The row of tiny houses and the silver trees are die cuts. I added tiny bits of black and gold paper behind the doors and windows

To finish I added a white on black Christmas sentiment and a loopy bow topped with an punched star

 

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,

 

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!

 

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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!

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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.

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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,