Balloons

Hello there, thanks for visiting my blog today.

This time I've another card using the May LO from The Sketch File to share.  I really wanted to use some balloons on this one, and was flicking though my few (hahahahaha) paper pads when I realised that my current favourite paper set had just the thing - a design featuring little bunches of balloons.

Info

Background stencilled with Mini Swiss Dots (The Crafters Workshop)

Die Set Celebrate (Spellbinders) for balloons and sentiment

Papers: Hooray 6x6 (My Mind's Eye) 

Glossy Accents on balloons

White pen for highlights

Yellow Baker's Twine

Scraps of Aqua, Yellow and Peachy-Pink card 

May Sketch

The Sketch File May 2017

 

That's it.  See, I can keep it short when I really try!
Enjoy the rest of your day, and p[lease, don't forget to leave a comment!

 

Sketch for August

The new LO on The Sketch File is called Bouncing Circles - my first card using the sketch doesn't have circles (unless you count the flower centres), but that's the whole point of the sketches really - they are not prescriptive, its all about seeing the pattern and then having fun with it in your own way - check our how cleverly Brenda has done this over on the BLOG

The "Bouncing Circles" Sketch:

  

Materials and Tools

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

Paper designs are all printed onto white Bazzill cardstock

The flowers are cut from one of the papers and adhered to the wiggly line "stems"  of another of them.  The leaves are hand-cut from scraps

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

Flower shaped button, Gingham ribbon

EK Success Border punch

Memory Box Flourish die

That's it for this time, Thank you for visiting

Balloons

Today is Sketch File Update day and Jackie and I have new projects to share over there, I hope you'll take a look and maybe also follow the links that have been added to see what others have made too.

I've been playing with new downloads from Funky Hand.  There are four collections, themed for weddings, a different set for each season of the year.  Actually they have a much wider appeal than the title "Wedding" suggests, so don't think you won't be able to use them unless there's a wedding in the air.

For my Sketch File card this week I used the "Summer Wedding" set - I really love this pink, peach and creams paper set.  So far I've made a little gift box which I'll share on another day, and this card using the May "Cascading Circles" Sketch File LO

 Tools and Materials

All papers Funky Hand Summer Wedding download (available soon)

Cream Satin ribbon

Various fibres

Rub-on sentiment

EK Success Border Punch

This is the sketch from The Sketch File that I used for my birthday card.

I printed the papers on Bazzill textured card - the effect is really lovely so I'll be doing this again.  I only had 12x12 so cut them down to A4 size for printing.  I then did some cropping and resizing of the designs so that I could also use the strips I cut off the 12x12 sheets - cunning, or what? ;)

The balloons are hand-cut, then shaped using a quilling Ball Tool.  I added scraps of chipboard under the balloons to keep the dimension.

That's all for today, I hope you like what you see hear and will come again soon

Thanks for visiting

Plato said.....

It's always good if you can make one project tick two things off your list, isn't it?
My "show and tell" for today is a double page in the quotations Maze Book that I've been gradually adding to over the last few months.
One of the pages uses the March LO from The Sketch File and for both sides I've used some soon-to-be-released papers from Funky Hand - so you can get a sneak peek at what Anice will have in the shop soon 

 Materials and Tools

Papers; "I Love You Sew" a  sneak peek at the coming download collection from Funky Hand 

Other Items: Tiny red and clear gems, Black and White Baker's Twine, 

 Pink Button Twine, Black ink pad

Heart and button are hand cut

Small square punch for mosaic tile border

This is the Sketch File LO I followed for the right hand page

And a closer look at the left side page - the gorgeous text paper is part of the I Love You Sew download and comes in other colours from the collection too. 

 That's it from me today
Thanks for looking
 

Wallington Hall

Have you noticed how things go a bit haywire around this time of year? hahaha
That's my excuse for missing a couple of blogging days - stuff just got in the way - stuff like finishing off the gift-shopping, getting the cards written out, getting the trees decorated, trying to make headway with the wrapping... Well, I think the tree is done (always room for a "tweak") and I think I've finished the gift shopping (hope the online stuff arrives in time), but I've not finished putting the other decorations up or finished the card-signing, or anywhere near finished wrapping.  Actually, I've not even finished making those beady presents I set myself to do - I've a feeling the notebooks I planned to do will just stay a "plan"

Anyway, it's Sketch File Update day and I'm sharing the  layout I've done for my mini album- yes it's the same one I've been working on for the last year or so, but I think I'm getting near to the end now.
As an Anniversary present to ourselves we took out  a years' membership of the National Trust in July 2010, so the book will show all the NT properties we visited between then and the end of July 2011.  I don't work quickly, do I?
This is Wallington Hall in Northumberland

 I used

December Sketch File LO - see below

Bazzil card, Bo Bunny papers

Assorted paper flowers for layering

Green leafy braid, Pearls and Gems

December Sketch File Layout

There are som great ideas for using the sketch - for Christmas and other occasions over on the blog, so please pop over to see them - scroll down through the last few posts to see them all.  It would be fab if you'd join in and play along with us.

Right, it's back to a beading project for me now.  I hope to goodness that you are better organised than I am, because this is n o fun - but it happens every year, despite my annual promise to myself to do better! :o  hey ho

Hanging Out

Well, I'm pleased to say that I've finally started my Christmas shopping - I'm aiming to keep it really simple this year because I'm struggling to get into any sort of Christmas Spirit and maybe not letting it all get too stressful and complicated is the best way to cope. I keep saying that it's because I'm still waiting for the Summer to arrive - how can it be Christmas when we haven't had a summer yet this year? hehe
Classic FM have started playing Christmas music though, so maybe that will help - I do love a good old sing-along!

It's the first Tuesday of the month so there's a new LO idea on The Sketch File
Here's my first project using the new sketch

 Materials and Tools

Papers: Carta Bella 6x6

Glitter card; Red, Gold

Gold Crochet thread

Gies: Spellbinders snowflakes from several sets

Punches: Martha Stewart, EK Success, Woodware

This is the sketch

Or maybe you could use it like this:

Thanks for popping by today, I hope you'll visit again soon - Don't forget to join in with our Daily Blog roll and leave a link to your crafting HERE

Rows of Ribbons

It's New Sketch Tuesday on The Sketch File blog today so just for once I'm going to be "on the ball" and get my stuff blogged on the same day.

The sketch is a really simple idea and I'm thinking it might be a good starting point for easing myself in to the Cword card-making zone, I'm sure I can do something a bit more seasonal with this one....
Actually I've already used this sketch to make several things so watch this space for more over the next few weeks.
I've added a couple to The Sketch File blog post today and there also cards from Victoria and Jackie to see this week too.
Here are mine:

Materials and Tools:

Papers MME "Follow Your Heart" 6x6

Card Candy, Pink button twine, black Bazzill card

Sentiment; Cuttlebug die

Materials and Tools:

Papers Bo Bunny "Serenadet" 6x6

Card Candy, Red button twine, black Bazzill card

Sentiment; Cuttlebug die

  It would be great to have you join in with us - just click HERE to visit the blog, see what we've been making and add your own link when you're ready to share.

Thanks for visiting today

September on The Sketch File

Last posting for today's Big Blog Catch Up session!

A new sketch comes out on the first Tuesday of each month over on The Sketch File, so September's LO idea is now live

This is my first project using the "Over the Hill" sketch

I wanted to shrink the sketch and see how it worked in an aperture (yes, I'm still in hole-making mode haha).  I thought it would be fun if the sketch part showed through the aperture, with the full image showing once the card was opened.  I should have cut my aperture higher up to make it work, but as usual I didn't think it through before I started die-cutting, so the cupcake is a bit stunted!

The cupcake and candles are hand cut because they are such easy shapes to do

Here's the sketch - I hope you'll join in with us this month - you can link any crafting project you fancy, as long as we can see the sketch in there, it counts!

We add new projects to the BLOG over the course of the month, so please keep visiting to see what's new from the team.

Twice Around the Block

The first Tuesday of the month is when the new LO idea goes live for The Sketch File - it's not often that its also the first day of the month too.

The May sketch has 2 circles - that's the "Twice Around" bit,  and a square - "the Block" bit hehe

Here's the sketch

I've used it for another of my dreaded May "boys" birthday cards.  If you checked in with my last Daring Cardmakers card you'll recognise the footballer element as I've used it on here too - albeit with a bit of a tweak to give him a trophy to hold/.

 I've made the largest of the circles into a football and yes, I've sneaked in an extra circle as I realised I hadn't cut the green circle big enough - it all looked a bit out of balance.

Materials:

MME Lime Twist 6x6 papers

Bazzill card; white, black, pale peach

Striped satin ribbon, Silver star brad

home-made decal sentiment

Tools:

Craft Robo to cut circles, football, footballer and child's name

Please head over to The Sketch File to see the gorgeous card Keryn has made to start off this months DT makes.

I hope you'll give the sketch a try this month.

Thanks for looking

Maze Book Page

I've used the current Sketch File LO to make another page for my little "inspire" book of quotes.  It's a sort of occasional challenge to myself to make the sketches work for something really small.  I don't do ATCs etc, so these 7x7cm square LO are about as small as I go.

This is the page using the April Sketch

While I had these pretty papers out, I thought I'd just do a collage picture for the facing page - this was fun and didn't take long because all the paper elements are really simple - did I hear you say "childish"? hehe - and just cut free-hand with a pair of scissors - except for the butterflies which are made with a tiny punch

I used:

MME 6x6 pad Follow Your Heart "Be Harpy"

Pastel Buttons, Baker's Twine (Creative Treasures)

Flat-backed pearls and gems

Trees, flowers and tiny bird cut freehand from scraps

Liquid Pearls

Inks

Quotation is pc generated

It would be great if you'd check out The Sketch File blog and make something to share with us.  Keryn, Jackie, Carol and I try really hard to make things that will inspire our fellow crafters and it makes us sad when we don't see many people joining in - so why not pop over to see the sketch and all the things made with it over the last few weeks - there's still time to join in and share your own crafting with us this month too.

Thanks for visiting

April Sketch File

It's the first Tuesday of the month, so time for a new  LO idea for April on The Sketch File Blog - I hope you'll pop over there to see the sketch and the projects we are sharing on the firs of this month's posts.  We like to spread the ideas out a bit, so over the coming weeks there will be more pieces appearing there = so do go back regularly to see what's new!

Being a Last Minute Minnie to start with - and having a visit from the BFoP (Bad Fairy of Procrastination) to contend with didn't help one bit.  BUT I was brave and kicked her out of the house and in the end managed not only to do a page for my resurrected mini album, but a card too!  Wow! are you impressed? hehe

We gave ourselves a present for our Wedding Anniversary in July 2010 of a year's membership of the National Trust - the mini album is supposed to be a record of all the NT places we visited during that year. I'm doing (sort of) ok with the photo pages ( if you call still working on it a quarter of the way through 2012, "doing ok"), but the facing page for each LO is supposed to be more of a journal entry about the place - and I'm really, really behind with those.

For this page we're in Yorkshire visiting Beningborough House during our stay at the gorgeous English Heritage holiday cottage which is part of beautiful Mount Grace Priory.

 I used:

April sketch from The Sketch File Blog

Bazzill card for base page

All papers Bo Bunny Weekend Market 6x6 pad (Charmed Cards and Crafts)

Narrow green organza Ribbon, Blue Brads

EK Success Moroccan Lace border punch

Circle punch

Lettering cut with Craft Robo

This was my first dip into my new Bo Bunny papers - they looked so gorgeous that I bought the 12x12 set as well ooops! At the same time I felt compelled (as you do!) to invest in the Graphic 45 8x8 "Olde Curiosity Shoppe" pad too. It's a lovely "Steampunky" sort of pad with lots of collage effect papers plus lovely vintage designs and great colours - flicking through it was enough to get me cutting and sticking again!

 I used:

April sketch from The Sketch File Blog

All papers; Graphic 45 "Olde Curiosity Shoppe"  8x8 pad

 (Charmed Cards and Crafts)

Narrow brown/cream gingham ribbon

MS border punch

2 x Circle punches

I really enjoyed making this card - I like using papers, and bits of the designs on them collage-style.  It's often more interesting and more personal to build up your own designs using elements from several papers.

I'm thinking I might add a bit more to this card and make it into more of a collage picture - some flowers maybe, and some more ribbon.....maybe some good old steampunk cogs....

Anyway, thanks for visiting, please come back soon

WOYWW? And a Sketch File Update

Good Morning!

I'd just sat down at my craft desk to play with some new papers when I remembered about Julia's Wonderful WOYWW - I've been a bit too busy to join in for a couple of weeks but hopefully this week I'll have more time to get around and see lots of the linked workspaces - if you still haven't a clue what I'm on about check JULIA'S BLOG for all the information.

Here's my desk and all the surrounding clutter - with a bit of luck within the next couple of months there'll be a whole new workplace in this spot!

We're hoping our builder will start work at the end of this month.  Our house was built before cavity walls came in and it's in the conservation area - so no option for external cladding - the study is going to be the "guinea pig" for internal insulation.  They'll put battens on the inside of the outside walls (does that make sense hehe?) and then fill the gap with insulation before attaching "new" plasterboard walls.  All of the walls and ceiling will be plastered or skimmed  or whatever they do (they were a bit of a mess when we moved in and we've been planning to get this job done ever since), then decorated and then it'll be all new shelving and desks for me.  Hubby likes his enormous desk so that's staying.  We spent the weekend making a room plan and working out what we need to buy.  Although I'm not looking forward to moving all that stuff out of here so that the builders can start, I am looking forward to seeing an end to all that makeshift storage and especially waving goodbye to all the horrible plastic drawers that never really work as well as you think they will when you buy them!

I will keep you posted on our progress!

 It was entirely my fault that the new sketch for The Sketch File blog didn't go up at the beginning of January - I take complete responsibility for it - the girls on the DT had made their projects ages ago - and so had I as I made a baby card ready for the arrival of one of hubby's workmates new baby.  I just didn't get round to loading everything onto the blog.  So it went up at the end of January and this sketch will go through till the end of February - please take a look at the lovely cards the DT have made using the sketch - and if you join in with us we'd be over the moon!

Here is my card:

I used:

Papers  by SEI

Crawling Baby and all lettering cut with my Craft Robo

Seam Binding, Bakers Twine and gorgeous little pram charm all from Creative Treasures

Right, back to my other desk and the card I started to make.  I hope you enjoyed your visit and will come back soon

I Love Turquoise!

Always have - and I really love turquoise when it's teamed with purple and a hint of silver.  They were the colours of my bedroom when I was about 13 - I think it was the first time I'd been allowed to choose and we even found some bedding and curtains in the same colours -I absolutely adored the finished room and as a sulky teen I spent a lot of time in there!  I'm still drawn to those colours.... I wonder if that purple Radley bag on my list will be under the tree on Christmas day.....

This week the Daring Cardmakers reach the very last birthstone of our year-long series and it couldn't really be a better stone to round it all off.  December's birthstone is the Turquoise (in case you hadn't guessed), so we're asking everyone to use the Turquoise as the inspiration  for this week's card-making.

We have a prize to give away this week too - a fabulous set of flourishes and stones is generously given by  Australian company 

Flourish With A Bling!

Head over to the DCM blog to find out how you can win these gorgeous goodies

I did plan to make a glittering snowflake card but then I remembered that in my last box of delights from The Craftz Boutique were some lengths of tulle and one of them was turquoise, so I changed my mind and made a birthday card instead.

I used:

December sketch from The Sketch File
Rosette made from lengths of Tulle, Organza ribbon, Satin ribbon, large sparkly brad, 

dots of turquoise Ice Stickles on the tulle.

White card embossed with Cuttlebug Swiss Dots matted onto turquoise Bazzill Bling card, 

Long rectangle is Doodlebug Sugar Coated card, White lace slotted with narrow turquoise gingham ribbon. Sentiment is Robo-cut from the same Bazzill Bling using a slightly "engineered" Scriptina font

We'd love you to join in with our Turquoise challenge - it's such a fabulous colour to craft with and we're all looking forward to seeing what everyone makes this week.  You can see the cards the DT have made, and find out how to join in by visiting the DCM BLOG.

The Sketch File and Get Funky join forces!

 

Above is thee new sketch on the Sketch File, and you can also see it, and how the design team have used it for their December projects HERE.  We're thrilled to bits that this month's sketch is also being used for the Get Funky" Challenge blog, so there are even more inspiring projects to be seen for using the sketch - plus both teams have used Fabulous Funky Hand papers and other digi goodies to make all the things you can see on both blogs.

I used the "Contented Coffee" collection from Funky Hand's Colour Me Happy CD to cover the notebook and to make most of the decorative bits

 I first loosened the wires and removed the flimsy covers of the original notebook.  I cut slightly larger new covers from cereal packet chipboard.  The notebook is a "reporters" notebook so I printed 2 sheets of  the gingham design to cover them, trimming a few cms of the short side so that when the paper was folded around there was about 2cms margin all round on the reverse. 

At this point I used the original covers as a template to punch the holes at the tops of the new covers, then the book was reassembled.

All the papers are Funky Hand , even the flowers used for the focus decoration. To make the flowers strong enough to use in a 3D way I laminated a sheet of the flowery paper for extra strength then cut out some of the flower shapes and sewed buttons front and back to get the dimension then added some Stickles to the tops - when the glitter was dry I added a coat of Glossy Accents.

 Once all the decorative bits on the front were done I used another sheet of the FH paper to cover the inside of the new covers - leaving this till last means that if you've used brads or sewn things on to the covers all the messy bits will be concealed!

Summary of Materials:

All papers from Colour Me Happy (Funky Hand), Cereal packet chipboard, Buttons, Gingham ribbon, Pom-pom trim, Laminator and laminator pockets, Titl is Robo cut, Stickles (Fruit Punch), lots of extra ribbon knotted through the wires to finish

Please do join in and leave your links on both the Sketch File and Get Funky! this month.  If you used even ONE Funky Hand product and leave a comment over there you'll be in with a chance of winning a prize.  Even if you don't have any FH stuff yet you can still enter as there's a freebie download available on the downloads section of the shop site.

The Sketch File is HERE

Get Funky! is HERE

I've somehow managed to get way behind in adding stuff to the blog so I'll try to catch up over the next few days - I'll also try to catch up with my blog-hopping which has rather gone to pot this week!

Anyway, thank you for visiting my blog, I hope you'll leave a comment before you head off again :-)