Totally Tropical

Hello!

Happy Friday.  Gosh this week went past quickly.

It's been a horrible week for those of us with hay-fever , and if you've been suffering too, then you have my sympathies.  Thank goodness for Balsam tissues, I say!

We went to our local cinema for another of the "Live Stream" events earlier in the week, this time it was "An Ideal Husband", another of the Oscar Wilde series streamed from the Vaudeville Theatre in London.  We booked this one because we enjoyed "Lady Windermere's Fan" so much.  It was good, it was funny, and there was much laughter in the auditorium.  I love the whole idea of these live streaming events - instead of all the faffing and extra expense to get to the theatres in London or Stratford or wherever  we just walk up the road to the cinema, and after its over we'll be out and home within 10 minutes!  I guess you do miss out on a bit of the atmosphere of being in the actual venue, but I can live with that!

Enough of the waffle, on to this week's Daring Cardmakers' challenge and this time its our lovely Shabneez in the hot seat:

Following on with Svenja's summer theme from last week
I want us to go
 Totally Tropical!  

So I'd like to see you use bold, bright colours, flowers, fruit, animals, birds and anything else you can think of associated with my tropical theme.  Take a look at the BLOG to see the DT's creations for this week

I've got another project on my desk which left me with a batch of circles left over after die cutting apertures, so rather than waste them I've been inking them up with Distress Oxides.  So it was good to come up with a design that actually used one.  

 Info

For the background I used masking tape to create a border then stencilled the wavy pattern.  I don't have a proper waves patterned stencil, so improvised with Echo Park Woodgrain

stencil, turned 90degrees, it sort of looks like ripples on water, I think....

I wanted to add more tropical colours so used another piece of card,, pieces of masking tape and various inks to make the strip for the right hand side.

The sunset circle was then glued in place.

I then used various scraps of card and a couple of Spellbinders die sets to cut the flamingoes, leaves and pineapple, and also the lily, info as follows:

Tropics Wild & Free by Debi Adams 

Shapeabilities Etched Dies  

Create A Lily   

Shapeabilities InspireEtched Dies  

That's all for this time, thank you very much for taking the time to visit. I hope you'll leave a message - it's always lovely to hear from you.

Don't forget to pop across to the DCM BLOG to see my Teamies' creations too - and of course, we'd love you to join in and share your own tropical paradise cards with us.

Have a great weekend

I'm a Seaside Girl at Heart

Hello!

I've been delving into my brand new 'Hooked!' craft box from Bubbly Funk Through the Letterbox for today's little bit of crafting fun!
I've made a 'mixed media' canvas, with loads of inking and other messy stuff on it - well, I say 'canvas' but actually it's made using the cardboard top of one of the Through the Letterbox craft boxes!  It's always fun to think of a crafty idea for using the actual box the goodies come in, isn't it? It may not last for ever, but as soon as I'm bored looking at this one I can just make something new.

 

Actually though, the base board held up really well to a lot of abuse - I was inking and splashing water around like nobody's business.  And then there's loads of different glues, texture paste and all the weight of the big wooden heart, a huge amount of beads and sequins, the card flowers and lots of thick chipboard to even out the layers.

So if you're looking for a cheap alternative to 'proper' canvases, then maybe this would suit you too.

I started by taking time to cover my cardboard with a sheet of fairly thick white cardstock, folding around and mitring the corners to give myself a good base in which to work.

I'm no artist, so anything like this is always a splosh and hope sort of journey.  I'm a great believer in sticking something else on if something doesn't turn out as I hope, so this sort of collage art works great for me!

There's more info on the Bubbly Blog HERE, plus lots of other lovely ideas for the various boxes and other Letterbox-friendly stash.

That's all for this time

Thanks for dropping by :)

 

Driftwood

Hello

Happy Friday

Here we are on the first day of June - boy, do those months slip away - and on the brink of another weekend.  Friday always means Daring Cardmakers Day and the first Friday of each month is always an Elemental Inspiration Challenge.  This time it's Svenja's turn to inspire us and she's put together a gorgeous mood board using her own photos and I love it - so Summery and Beachy!

 All you need to do is select a minimum of 3 'elements' from the mood-board to inspire your card, you can see what the Design Team made by clicking HERE

Those who know my love of beach huts will probably be surprised that there isn't one on my card even though there are some in the photo!  It was the middle picture, with the frame on a beach which grabbed my attention first.  Certainly the beach huts couldn't be ignored, so I've used the gorgeous  blue and white stripes from those, and then oh look! there's a big pink flower -  and that obviously was  element no. 3  

Info

For the background I masked off the stripes with with washi tape using the grid on my craft mat as a guide.  The blue ink is a Versacraft cube

Once dry I die cut a square aperture, then behind it used paper from a Studio Light paper pad.  I 'fussy-cut' extra elements from the same sheet of paper to add more detail within the aperture.

Using a couple of square dies I cut the dark blue frame, and glued in place, with some strips of chipboard between the layers 

Instead of leaving the frame plain and to keep the beachy theme, I made some driftwood branches.  They are die cut from Kraft card, then inked up with various brown, grey, white and silver inks to get a driftwood look.

Next came the flower - made from paper inked with Raspberry Distress Oxide and water sprayed before cutting with a brand new, just arrived this week die set - the latest in the Cinch and Go series

The petals are heart shaped - the little heart 'hanger' was made using hearts cut from a flat petal shape!

While they were still just on the damp side of dry I used reverse tweezers to shape the petals, then left them to dry completely before creating the flower. The yellow centre is just a rolled narrow strip of card which was first fringed very finely with scissors.

The bunting is made with scraps of card, cut into strips and then into small triangles and glued behind a length of blue and white stripes Baker's Twine

The Cinch and Go Flowers III and the Cherry Blossom set used for the driftwood branches are both by Spellbinders
 

Cinch and Go Flowers 3  Elegant 3D Vignettes by Becca Feeken 

Shapeabilities Etched Dies
 

Cherry Blossoms 

Shapeabilities Etched Dies

I really had a lot of fun making this card.  I think it may well end up in some sort of frame rather than being used as a card.  My lovely friend Dawn gave me some instructions on making a box frame from card so I think maybe this is a good excuse to finally have a go at making one.

Thank you so much for visiting, I hope you like what you saw here 

Have a great weekend

Inky Peachy Pink

Hello!

I used more of the inky background pieces I made a couple of weeks back for a new Bubbly Funk Through the Letterbox project.  

I thought this particular piece of card had a lovely flowery, chintzy look to it (purely accidental, of course!) so would make a pretty backdrop for a little picture, or wall hanging.  I had a lot of fun putting this together.   

There's more info on the BUBBLY BLOG

 

I love the way adding the black accents and framing square make all the difference and highlights the pretty colours, it looked a bit bland until those were added.

From the Hello Spring box I used

1x  Postage Stamp
1x Wooden Butterfly
Green Ribbon

From my stash I used, inked card scraps,  die cut flowers, leaves letters and frame, gems and braid

Bubbly Funk Through the Letterboxes start at £!2.50 and do exactly what they say - they slide through your letterbox so you don't need to wait in for the postie, or trek to the sorting office to collect your parcel because you were out.  You can see them HERE along with all the other lovely things in the shop.

Thanks for looking

Happy Crafting

Peachy Paper Peonies

Hello and Happy Friday to you!

It's a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, so lets hope this morning's rain soon clears up. W thought we'd head over to the Southwold flat for the weekend, but we had a last minute booking and after all the cash we've spent on the place paying customers definitely must take priority!  Actually, I'll be quite happy to chill out at home, do a bit of gardening and just maybe 😉 spend some time at my craft desk.

I've rediscovered my love of making paper flowers, in no small way thanks to Daring Cardmaker Dawn.  Dawn lives in France and for the last couple of months has been taking a French course, complete with bouts of work experience.  It sounds really tough -very intensive and full-on, but I think her last piece of work experience was much more enjoyable and has inspired her challenge this week

Its Dawn here with this week's challenge and I have decided to call it.
 Handmade Flowers
I have been having some work experience as part of my French course and I have been working along side a fantastic lady who makes paper flowers.
So I would like to see handmade paper flowers on your cards.
This could be a punched flower or die cut but it has to be handmade.
    See what the Design Team were inspired to make HERE

Well, I was definitely spurred on to make flowers - I think most of my projects for the last couple of weeks have flowers on them!  Mind you it could also be to do with the relief of getting all those May birthday "boy" cards out of the way!

My card was inspired by the anticipation of the masses of buds on my peony bushes which are about to burst open any day now.  

Info
The background panel was created using a couple of Distress Oxide Inks and a liberal amount of water
The trellis panel was die cut twice from 350gsm white card and the two pieces glued together to give some extra dimension
The three peony flowers were created using pale peachy pink Bazzill card. The dies I used are given below, I used all the petal sizes for the largest flower, then gradually less for the smaller ones. You can see what I mean on the picture of the die set below
The edges of the petals were inked in a deeper peach pink shade
The leaves were cut from some scrap deep green card
The sentiment is a decal sticker matted onto white and a leftover scrap of the DOI card
 Here are the die sets I used, both are from Spellbinders

 Create A Peony 
 Shapeabilities  Etched Dies

Double Heart Gatefold Card 
 Timeless Heart Collection by Marisa Job 
Shapeabilities Etched Dies 

That's all for this time, i would love you to join in ans share your own handmade flowers.  You can see the DT's cards, and add your own link over on the Daring Cardmakers BLOG

Thank you so much for coming to visit

3D Vignette dies - Spellblogger post for Spellbinders

Hello

For my Spellbloggers post this time I've been experimenting with the gorgeous Tiered Rosette die, Petite Double Bow and Flowers  and another beauty, Tiara Rondelle all from Becca Feeken's beautiful new Elegant 3D Vignettes collection from Spellbinders

Info:

Smooth white card blank

Patterned papers

For the Tiara Rondelle section I adhered the paper to some card before die-cutting, then cut the shape in half to make an arch.  The two pieces were also separated by tiny pieces of chipboard to add dimension

The rosette die, with the pretty lacy edge was cut twice, and the two pieces glued together.  Instead of forming into a rosette, I used the fold lines to create the loopy, pleated border.

For the roses I used Cinch and Go Flowers set one. The die set has several sizes of the flower which means it's fantastic for making flowers in different sizes

To finish I added a raised strip of the lilac paper and topped it with the beautiful double bow

Here are the details of all the Spellbinders die sets used this time 
 
Tiered Rosettes  Elegant 3D Vignettes by Becca Feeken 

Shapeabilities Etched Dies

 

custom link      http://shrsl.com/val3

Tiara Rondelle Elegant 3D Vignettes by Becca Feeken

Shapeabilities Etched Dies 

 Petite Double Bow and Flowers  Elegant 3D Vignettes by Becca Feeken
Shapeabilities Etched Dies

For the rose:

Cinch and Go Flowers set one by Becca Feeken (Amazing Paper Grace) 

Shapeabilities Etched Dies

Platinum Die Cutting and Embossing Machine
 

I love making rosettes, but its also great to find other ways of using your dies, so using the rosette die to make different kinds of pleated borders is a good way to get more mileage from this one.
There's another idea for using it to make a pleated edge HERE

That's all for this time, but if you click on This Link you'll find yourself browsing the aisles of the wonderfull Spellbinders store where you will find lots of lovely dies, stamps and other goodies, plus a huge amount of inspiration
to get you motivated

Happy Crafting

Hello Spring Paper Rose

Hello!

How is your day going?  It's just so peaceful here today, all I can hear are the birds singing.  I'm hoping that that wont curse the rest of the day now!

I've been in a bit of a flower-making mood lately, and as I have a few pieces of paper left in  'Hello Spring' craft box from Bubbly Funk Through the Letterbox I thought I'd use some to make a paper rose.  I've also used a butterfly and the flower stencil from the same box and the oval frame shape and the tiny price tag from the 'Love Is..' box.

Info:

Stencilled card blank using Hero Arts stencil 

Square of inked card leftover from another project to make the backing piece. 

Embossed white square of card 

Oval frame, Tiny tag, wooden butterfly and the plain white string from the tag  all inked to match. 

A few die cut leaves and some pearls were added to complete the card.

From the 'Hello Spring' box I used
Patterned paper
1x Wooden Butterfly
Hero Arts Flower Stencil

From the 'Love Is..' box I used
Chipboard Oval
Tiny price Tag

From my stash I used, inked card scraps, embossing folder, die cut leaves, pearls, decal sticker sentimentBubbly Funk Through the Letterbox Craft boxes start from just £12.50 and you can find these and all the other Letterbox goodies HERE

Thanks for looking

Happy Crafting