October Sketch File Time

The new sketch is up on the the Sketch File BLOG so if you enjoy using sketches in your projects, please take a look at this one.

There are some ideas for using it from Jackie, Bev and myself which we hope will help inspire you to have a go for yourself.

This is the sketch for October:

As my nephew has just passed his driving test I thought I'd try to make  "well done" card for him using the sketch.  It was also a personal challenge - could I use something other than flowers, even though I used them on the sketch?  If you visit my blog regularly, you'll know that it's always a challenge for me  not to use flowers hehe!

I twisted the sketch around and came up with this:

Papers (except the B&W striped one) by Piggy Tales, I think the B&W stripes are a Doodlebug one (he's a NUFC fan)

Oval shape is a Nesties die

Large car is Robo cut as are the puffs of smoke, the steering wheel, the little car key-ring and the traffic lights

Torn "L" plate is printed from a google image.

I couldn't resist printing off a tiny photo of Charlie to pop behind the wheel of the car!

I think I'll try making a Cword card with this sketch next - I'd love to see anything you come up with too, so please visit the Sketch File BLOGfor more info.

Thanks for visiting 

It's Started

The you-know-what card making!

I thought I'd ease myself in gently, so got the boxes of Cword paper and other bits and bobs out and had a good sort through.  Some have gone in the "pass on to worthy causes" pile,  Some are in a "not sure about these" pile and others I like too much to assign to either of the other piles so they've gone back in the box.  If I'm strong enough, come the end of the Cword crafting I'll dispense with those I've not used - After all, I've already bought lovely new things to use this year, so am I really going to do anything with those old favourites?  Answer on a postcard, please.....

Having done that it was on to the cards.

First I went through my leftovers from last year and threw away those I hated.  I then revamped some I didn't like enough to send last year, but liked enough not to throw away.  Aha! I now had a little pile ready to go in this year's box for very little effort!

Next - and please don't faint - I actually made some cards.  All variations on the same theme and using the same stash.

The die is from the Spellbinders "Fanciful Holiday" set and the papers are from the Kaiser 6x6 "Dear Santa" pad.  The paper for the trees was mounted on to scrap card before cutting, I used the little bauble waste circles to add as mini-brads.  The gold card pieces are from my "scrap gold card" box and the rub-ons are some I had left over from my home made transfer sheets made last year. The blank cards were als some left over from last year.  So it was worth sorting through the Cword stash boxes to see what was there, wasn't it! hehehe.  Okay, so the dies and papers were new but you can't have it all.

Next I'll bore you with a few holiday photos.  This bunch are from Mount Grace Priory near Northallerton, N. Yorkshire where we were staying.

The first shows our cottage from the entrance side - it was the whole of the building you can see, the rooms are off a long corridor with steps between the levels as it goes down the bank 

 The second photo is the cottage from the priory side.  As we were staying there we had access to the priory grounds whenever we wanted to take a stroll.

 

 You wouldn't believe that the busy A19 tuns along the bottom of the hill and is tucked out of sight in this photo taken from just inside our cottage gates!

 

 Normal entry to the site is via the gorgeous old manor house (originally the guest house for important visitors to the monastery) shown below.  The EH people recently moved a cupboard/bookcase in one of the rooms and found that behind it the wall of the alcove still had some of the original William Morris wallpaper on it.  Apparently Sandersons have all the original blocks in their collection so new wallpaper has been made and was being hung while we were there - we were lucky enough to be allowed a sneak peek of the room and you can catch a glimpse of the beautiful paper HERE

 

 The view from the dining table in the cottage was out to the ruins of the old priory church:

 

  The priory was a Carthusian Monastery and the monks there led a hermit-like existence.  Each had his own cell - most were two-storey, and each had his own garden.  Food was brought to the monks by lay workers and they met only rarely in the Church.

The photo below shows the cloister and some of the cells arranged around it.  One of the cells has been renovated and furnished to give an idea of what they were like, you can also see some of the garden area, but it was impossible to get a decent photo as they are in a really shady area.

 Another view of part of the ruins, and the manor house, the following picture als shows the manor, this time from the priory side of the building.

 

 

 It's a lovely place to visit if you're in that area of the country, and even more wonderful as a place to stay - I would absolutely love to stay there again!.  I hope I haven't bored you too much!

Thanks for visiting

Are you joining in?

with the Papercraft Inspirations Blog Party this weekend?

It's all to coincide with World Card-makiung Day  - a call to card-makers everywhere to get down and busy with ink, scissors, glue and paper - or whatever our own particular cardmaking vice might be!

The Papercraft Inspirations  team decided on a Christmas theme and you can find lots to inspire you by clicking on the link - including a "trends" article by the DCM's very own Jo Kill, who writes regularly for the magazine.

The Daring Cardmakers were among lots of British crafting groups and individuals who were asked if they'd like to join in and if you visit to the DCM BLOG this weekend you'll not only find the latest dare which was published yesterday, but also our own little contribution to the Blog Party by way of some Christmas cards and the instructions on how to make them.

There are card ideas from Lynda, Lythan and myself there atm but there may be more arriving later!

Here's the card I've made - you'll find the instruction and a list of the things I used on the DCM blog

Yesterday saw the launch of Lythan's challenge on the Get Funky! challenge blog.

Now, every month Anice gives away £20 to spend on Funky Hand products - to be in with a chance of winning all you need to do is create something for the challenge and make sure you use at least one Funky Hand product on it.  If you don't have any you can still join in as on the Funky Hand website there's even a little set of freebies for you to download - what a brilliant way to join in and if you win then you'll be able to buy some download collections or use the voucher to buy a CD (and you'll still have money left over to spend on more FH stuff too!  We couldn't make it much easier for you to join in, could we?

Lythan asked us to use at least FIVE papers on a project this month and I chose to make a little book.

These fabulous "Salt and pepper" designs are available for download from the Funky Hand website and are among some of my favourites - I couldn't really decide which 5 of the papers to use for my project so I just used lots!

The book is based on one I did a tutorial for a couple of months back. This time I used two 12x6" strips of Bazzell each of which was creased at 4" intervals  along the long edge, then the pocket was folded up at 2".  I glued the ends of the long pockets in place then joined the 2 strips together with a folded strip of spare card.  The concertina of pocket pages was then kept together with another strip of card to make the cover, you can see the basic instructions for the pocket book HERE. 

 I'm using this book to keep some favourite quotes - I just printed them out and glued them to black card tags trimmed with gorgeous ribbon.  I thought they looked a bit dull so then added some tiny punched squares and circles to jazz them up a bit - great for using even the tiniest of scraps too!

Don't miss your chance to win, check out Get Funky! HERE

I've been making a start on the great Blog Catch Up today - everyone's been so busy and I've missed so much!

Thanks for visiting, hope you liked what you saw and will come again soon

Opalescence

It's DCM day again but I'll get to that in a minute - first a little bit about what I've been up to lately!

We've been away for a little holiday - we had a fabulous week  in N. Yorkshire staying at the English Heritage holiday cottage at Mount Grace Priory - what a special place to stay!  Once the Manor House and Priory is closed to visitors you get the grounds to yourself and even the sounds from the A19 at the bottom of the hill can't take away the peace and tranquillity of your surroundings.  The photos will be along shortly - be warned!

It was a treat to stay in the area as usually we're just passing through on our way to Northumberland and don't really have the time to stray far from the A1 or A19.  We've visited Mount Grace a couple of times and knew it would be a wonderful place to stay, but we took the chance to revisit Rievaulx and Byland Abbeys during our stay and also the terraces and temples above Rievaulx, Helmsley and Middleham Castles.  We saw lots of the countryside, driving over the moors via all the little "white" roads that have me panicking about their narrowness - and their steepness (I'm a wuss) One day we came across a "Tractor Run" in aid of Marie Curie - 170 old tractors driving around those weeny lanes - there were tractors around every bend, much reversing into stopping places and squeezing our car into the hedges to let them past!  Good job we weren't in a hurry to get anywhere!

Anyway, enough of that for now - I promise to get some photos ready to show soon.

As we finished off our holiday with an extra few days in Northumberland there wasn't much of September left when I got  back to my crafting - it was a bit of a shock to realise that I had a few things to do, and not much time to get them ready for the start of the new month!

• The new challenge on Get Funky! was announced this morning but I'll save my project till tomorrow - if you want a pee before then click HERE to find out all about this month's challenge and see what the Funky Hand Gang have been making.
• The October LO on The Sketch File blog will be appearing over the weekend so keep an eye out for that too!

But today is DCM day and we're returning to our 2010 series of using the Monthly Birthstones for our inspiration.

October's birthstone is the Opal - one of my favourite stones but it's supposed to be unlucky if it's not your birthstone - not that it stopped me buying a pretty Opal triplet ring when we were in Australia - which is where most opals come from.  We're used to seeing the pale and pretty shades of opals, but mine is very deep bluey colours - I'll try and remember to do a photo later and add it.

Anyway, I've gone with the pale pinky-bluey-greeny shades for my card this week and used opalescent cards and papers for this one - I apologise for the rubbish photo - the Glossy Accents didn't dry in time to do the photo when the sun was shining - and then one of the bulbs for the mini photo studio blew and I had to use some that we keep as spares as they are rubbish!

I tried to emulate the colours and sparkle in an opal by using glitters and kaleidoscope embossing powders for the flower centre, which was then covered with Glossy Accents.

The cream opalescent paper used for the upper fancy border was also used to make the flower.  I heat embossed some swirly designs on the petals using the kaleidoscope powder but tbh I don't think it really added anything!  The edges of the petals were lightly inked in aqua and pink then crumpled up to get some movement and shape.

I used:

Opalescent card (pink, cream, aqua) and paper (cream)

Glitter (pink, white, aqua), Embossing powder (kaleidoscope), Glossy Accents

Inks, Ribbon, MS border punch, home-made rub-ons

October is our anniversary month - we're celebrating a whole FOUR years of the Daring Cardmakers! It would be wonderful if you'd join in with us this week - after all the opal is our very own "birthstone"!

You can see the cards the team have been making HERE

I'll be back soon with more stuff to share - thanks for visiting today, please leave a message to say you called ;-)

70th Birthday

I finally finished the card that was lying on my desk a few WOYWWs ago!

Yes, I know it took a while, but I knew there was something missing and I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

In the end, I added the three tiny coiled roses above the monogram and I think I solved the problem.

This was a commission for a lady celebrating her 70th - now I don't think everyone really wants huge numbers screaming their age at them, so I try to be a bit more subtle about such things.  Lift the flap with the monogram on it and there's a little more personal message inside to mark the special day.

These gorgeous papers are from the "Lost and Found" collection from My Mind's Eye - they are truly beautiful, with lovely designs and an ample amount of glitter!

I made the little "secret message" piece by folding the paper in half then cutting with a Nesties die - make sure you have the fold lower than one edge of the die or you'll get two bits instead of one!

The monogram is Robo cut, then glittered with Stickles, then when that was dry I added a coat of Glossy Accents.

The flowers are a mix of ready made wired flowers (Creative Treasures), a handmade paper rose and some coiled paper roses

I've also used ribbon, lace and tiny gems from my stash

I just adore that gorgeous lace!

Thank you for popping by, I hope you'll come again soon - if you add me to your "following" list I'd be thrilled to bits!

Back sooooon with more stuff

Uncle!

I wasn't able to amke a card for the Daring Cardmakers this week - I do hate missing out on a dare too grrrr.  It's Keryn's turn today, so please visit the DCM BLOG and find out what Keryn's dare is and of course to see the cards the more organised members of the DT have made!

I'm hoping that I can add mine later, once things have settled down "Chez Waffle"!

I can't let a Friday go without adding a card, though, so here's one I made last week for my Uncle, who's birthday is today.  Happy Birthday Uncle Bryan!

Papers: Fancy Pants The Daily Grind

Brads, ribbon, sticky crochet all from stash

Fab Camera charm is from Charmed Cards and Craft

Lettering made in PSP and cut with Mr Robo

Photos of some favourite castles in Northumberland are mine and Hubby's, printed B&W, matted onto chipboard and inked.

My uncle loves taking photos and like us he loves his castles - especially those in Northumberland.

Just in case you don't recognise them, from left to right you can see;

Bamburgh Castle, Lindisfarne Castle, Alnwick Castle and my favourite, Warkworth Castle.  Dunstanburgh Castle was supposed to be in the frame too, but I printed them to big to fit it in.

One day I'll get the hang of planning ahead!

Or maybe not....

I hope he likes the card and I hope you do too

Thank you for visiting

Silhouettes revisited

A while back on the Daring Cardmakers Rein set us a challenge to use silhouettes on our cards.  I ended up making a wedding card - not because I needed one but because I liked an image I'd found!

Anyway, a few days ago I had a request from a customer for a wedding card; 

Aha! I thought, I have one ready to go!  

I sent off the photo, and said if this one was ok I'd add the wedding details and send it straight off.  Well, she was happy to take it off my hands so I went to get an envelope for it so I could bag it up ready to send off.  

That's where I hit a snag - for some unknown reason I'd made a card just slightly too big for any of the envelopes I had in stock..... BAH, rude words, stamps foot!

So I ended up taking the card apart and doing a bit of trimming and what-have-you so that I could put it back together using a slightly smaller size square. 

 Obviously I couldn't just send it without adding a few more details so here are both versions so you can play "spot the difference"!

New version:

Original version:

I suppose it serves me right for being smug enough to think I could save myself some time because I had a card ready-to-go!  How come it never works for me? :-(

Thanks for visiting!

It was my Birthday....

....last week.  I received some fab cards from my crafty friends, so I thought I'd add some photos so you could see just how lucky I was.

I had to take photos with them in groups or I'd have been there till Christmas taking photos!  I hope no-one minds - you can click on them for a better look though.  Oh, and sorry, the pics aren't brilliant either - probably because I had to balance on a ladder to get an angle on them hehehe, I've added names to each card but you'll probably need to click to see who's is who's - or maybe you can guess first!

I've got a feeling I may have missed some out when I was doing these photos - so I'll check through when I take them all down and make sure I add any I missed this time around.

Lovely, aren't they?

Thank you so much for sending me a card. I had an absolute ball opening them all and oohing and ahhing over them!  They look fab on my mantelpiece and windowsills!

Thanks for looking

There's Something in the Air

This week it's my turn to set the new dare for the Daring Cardmakers and I was very naughty and changed my mind about the dare I was going to set - luckily for me, no-one had made a card specifically for the original idea yet!

It wasn't that I'd had an idea for a card I could do for the new theme - oh no, that would be too easy - I'm more the think of a snappy title and then panic about what to do with it sort of girl!

I liked the sound of "There's Something in the Air" or "Come Fly With Me" as titles so that's what I went with.  Thinking about an actual card came later!

My thoughts were all about things that we see up in the sky - butterflies, balloons, bubbles, clouds, kites, aeroplanes and parachutes - anything along those lines - that's what I'd like the main features of the cards to be this week - and you can see some fab ideas from the Design Team over on our BLOG

I really hope you'll join in and do some flying, fluttering wafting and hovering with us!

I made this:

I've used papers from the lovely Prima Jack and Jill paper pad - which recently arrived in a box, along with lots of other glorious goodies from Karen at Charmed Cards and Crafts. 

I thought the children in the corner of one of the sheets would be so cute as the kite-fliers for my card, and the papers are so perfect for the background and for the kite and balloons.  There are even butterflies on the background paper to add to the theme!

The kite is hand-cut, the balloons are Robo cut using a template converted from a free colouring page. I added more butterflies raised on thick card to hold the kite string in place so that it will all fold up nicely for mailing.

The kite's tail hangs loose and has lots of different ribbons tied to it

I've used loads of ribbon on this card!

I'm really looking forward to seeing the cards everyone makes this week, I hope you'll join in!

 Thank you for visiting, I hope you liked what you found here and will visit again soon

Roll Up, Roll Up

This month's Crafty Template collection has a circus and animal theme with some really cute designs for use in card-making or other projects.

I've just made cards, but some of these would work brilliantly on scrapbook pages, or would look fab on the cover of a notebook.

My favourite of this months DT selection was the clown and I made him into a shaped card

I've used papers from the fab Crafty Goodies Kit for this month - you can buy the goodies and the templates, and find lots of useful info HERE

I used a big brad in the centre of the bow so that it will spin around with the flick of a finger.

Apart from the papers I used:

black Bazzill for the hat, adding some black Stickes to the brim

some black pen swirls for his hair, and orange Stickles on his eyebrows.  I gave his nose a nice thick layer of Glossy Accents

I love this elephant template too - seemed the perfect one to use for another new baby card.

I converted him to a Robo Template, then cut the elephant shape in card and in paper.  I also cut along the ear shape in the paper layer.  I used a scrap of paper between the two layers to cover the gap when the ear is standing out from the main section.

Paper and ribbon from the Goodies Kit,

Base card embossed with Swiss Dots folder (Cuttlebug)

Sentiment and baby face dingbat  pc generated

tiny Prima flower on the heffies hat

For the big top card I started by cutting a small aperture in the front of my card to match the opening of the tent.  Once I'd cut all the other bits and added them to the card I used my Robo to cut a tiny version of the Sea Lion template - I added this to the inside of the card making sure he could be seen through the aperture.  I just drew the ball with a glitter ink pen and added a blob of Glossy Accents on top.

Here's the sea lion on the inside of the card

Papers are all from the Goodies Kit, Sea Lion is black Bazzill

Bunting cut free-hand from scraps of the papers

black and white baker's twine looped and tied to make the frame

This is just a sample of the templates you get in a Crafty Templates collection, I hope you like what I've made with them this month.

All you need to know about Leo's Templates, Goodies and Quirky Kit stuff is HERE

That's all for today, thanks for visiting, I hope you'll come back soon

Behind the Mask

Another Friday come hurtling in at breakneck speed.

It's Lythan's turn to set the challenge on the Daring Cardmakers blog this week: 

Today's challenge gives you a choice....

Masks

Now you could make a card featuring a mask; or use a masking technique for stamping or use a mask to spray or paint on. The decision is yours!

Knowing that the only "ready made" mask I have is a crown shape (bought in error) and not having a clue what sort of card to make with it I thought I'd make a card in the shape of the sort of mask you would wear.  Again though, inspiration failed.  

Eventually, after spending a bit of time looking at masks and masking techniques on the interweb I decided to have a go at making some masks of my own.  ooooerrrr!

Obviously a job for Mr Robo as my cutting out is dismal (another "can't do" to add to my list hehe)
Using PSP (Paint Shop Pro) I drew a birdhouse shape, added a heart, circle and some little flowers with the preset shapes, then made the scallop bits on the roof using the brush tool. I cut it out then saw that all the bits I'd put on the rectangular part were separate pieces.  ooops!  Back to my picture to add some lines that would hold it all together and try the cutting again.
I sprayed it with repo adhesive and then used distress ink to ink over the birdhouse design.  I got a bit carried away and made more masks for the flowers and the butterflies.  The flowers are more PSP presets but the butterfly is from the Funky Hand "Flowers and Flutterbyes" download.

Also used:
Bird (Crafty Templates)
Lace, button, chain, tiny black pearl and brad from stash.
Natural twine (The Ribbon Girl)
Chipboard branch and tiny birdhouse (Bubbly Funk)
Inks, Stickles, tiny home made rub on decal

If you head across to the DCM BLOG you'll find some lovely and inspiring ways to use masks and masking techniques on your cards.  Maybe like me, you've never had a go at using them before - if so, this is your big chance to have a play!  I hope you'll rise to the challenge and have a go.

Please don't forget the September LO idea on The Sketch File Blog - we'd love to see lots of people joining in and using the sketches.  There's inspiration for using the September and other sketches over on the blog, and if you check out Jackie's blog HERE you'll find the most gorgeous album page she's created using September's LO.  I think it's absolutely beautiful!

Thanks for looking