Cake Box

 hello there

Hope your week has got off to a good start.  I've just knocked one of my photography lamps over and broken the bulb - thankfully the whole front of the lamp was covered by one of those elasticated diffuser covers, so all the broken bits landed in that rather than on the floor, but still could have done without that happening, to be honest!

 
It was our anniversary back at the end of July, and a week or so back I shared card I made for hubby. As our lovely neighbours have been such a supportive bunch over the last few months we decided to make some cakes to share with them when we went out into the street for the usual Sunday drinks and chat.  Sadly, its going to be a bit more difficult to do that with the 'Rule of Six' now in force, but I'm sure there's a way we can still meet up, albeit in smaller groups.  Anyway, some of the 'regular' 'Sunday Drinkers' were away that day so we saved some cakes to take over when they got back.
 

Being me, I couldn't just put them in a bag, could I? 
 Plus its ages since I made anything other than a card so making a box was too much of a temptation to resist!

Info
I used 2 sheets of 12x12 scrapbook paper from the same pack to make the lid and base of the box.  I would tell you where they are from because they are rather gorgeous, but I can't remember! It was pretty enough on its own, but I wanted to add a label to say what was inside, so I had to add some flowers too.  They are just simple 'rolled roses', three larger ones with some leaves in the corner of the box, and a teeny one to decorate the tag.I finished up by tying up the box with some black and white Bakers Twine

 It fits 2 large Rhubarb and Custard Cupcakes and a couple of stacks of Rocky Road slices

 

That's all for today, thank you so much for visiting, I hope you'll leave a comment, You've no idea how happy it makes me when someone leaves a message!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

'S' for September

 

Hello

I do hope you've had a good week.  i did, because we finally managed to get up to Northumberland to spend some time with my aunt and uncle, we were able to take my cousin (their son) with us as we are in a 'support bubble' with him.  It was just lovely to see them, and to spend time visiting some of my favourite places, though it would take a lot longer to visit them all!  

We were lucky enough to have some really warm sunny days and even managed a day sitting on the beach.  Being the stressy, anxious person I am, we kept away from other people when we were out and about, took picnic lunches out with us and stayed in for evening meals. 

So it was a different kind of trip, but soooo good!

Shockingly, I was organised enough to get most of my card for this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge made ahead of our trip, so only had the sentiment to add yesterday - its my own challenge this week, so quite important to be as ready as I could be! 

This week its Kathy here with a letter challenge for you
 'S' for September
Please use at least three things beginning with the letter 'S' on your card this week - extra Kudos to you if you can manage
"Six (or even 7) S's for September"
ideas: stencil, sequins, song, spots, stripes, shells, scraps, silver, monogram 'S', stepper card, sea, sunshine, sandals, superhero, sunflower, stamps, shark,
Have fun, and remember to share your creations with us

Click here to see this week's design team inspiration

 Its a bit of a 'thing' on our team that whenever you set a challenge, you will struggle with your own card! This seemed such a good idea when I wrote the challenge into our calendar, but when I sat down to make something it didn't look right.  I started with the stencilling for the top panel and it was supposed to be just on a white card. The yellow shades were just lost on the white so I had to change to a deeper background to make them show up.

My 'S' elements are Stencils, Spots, Stripes, Sunflower, Splatters and Sentiment - so I managed 6 (7 if you count the word 'Sunshine)!

White card blank, cut to a fat rectangle shape, then inked with a burnt orange-red shade. 

Another piece of card was masked into a small rectangle and stencilled first with stripes in yellow, then with a spotty design stencil and a mix of yellow and orange inks over the top.  This panel was cut out and adhered to the base card.

For the sunflower I inked some 80gsm paper with a few shades of yellow and used a Tonic Studios die set to cut the petals.  I coloured some large white flower stamens with brown ink and attached through the centre of the flower

Next I used a brush and spattered some gold paint over the card before gluing the flower in place.More gold paint was added toi the centre of the flower.

The black and white striped piece and the sentiment were created on the pc and adhered in place with some thick scrap card between the layers to add more dimension

This time last week I was sitting on this beach at Druridge Bay having a picnic in the warm sunshine.  Today, we're back home, the wind is howling and the house is cold because the boiler sprung a leak last night and water started dripping through the ceiling!  Hubby switched it off and we rung the plumber who's just been round to fix it!  Typical that it was a cold morning today, eh? 

Never mind, we caught it quickly before any real damage was done, and the house will soon warm up again

Anyway, Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you'll leave a comment, I really appreciate it when people take the time to leave a message!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

Shaun of the North

 

Hello

I do hope you've had a good week.  We've had some really warm sunny days lately which have been a real September treat;

 WI think its probably fair to say that making cards for men and boys can sometimes be a bit tricky! So Dawn is giving us the opportunity to get ahead of the game and concentrate on the males in our lives this week on the Daring Cardmakers!

 Its Dawn here with this weeks challenge and its one that I often struggle with or I just don't make that many.
So this week I would like to see your
Masculine Makes.
Its always a good idea to have a stash of masculine themed cards ready for the men/boys in our lives.

Click here to see this week's design team inspiration

 This challenge was a good chance to get my nephew's card done and dusted - and to make use of another of the dies from the Wallace and Gromit collection.  

I thought Shaun the Sheep would look cute in a Newcastle United FC jumper

Info

White card blank, with Black and White striped backing piece which was pc generated

For Shaun (die sets from CraftStashUK), I used scraps of white, black, red, yellow and blue card plus more of the striped card for his jumper.  I added some White Stickles to his 'hair'

He was matted onto white and blue circles (Tonic Studios die set)

The sentiment is a Spellbinders die

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you'll leave a comment, I really appreciate it when people take the time to leave a message!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

Storage Idea

 hello there

I hope you are having a good wee and enjoying this lovely late summer warm sunshine  

 
I've a very quick 'project' to share today and its got an element of upcycling too!
  Do you ever buy Innocent Smoothies? Well, a couple of weeks back I was about to throw an empty bottle into the recycling when I thought; this bottle looks about the right size to hold some of the Nuvo unembellished mousse pots. At that time I was keeping them in stacks in a drawer, but finding the one I wanted was a pain, and as they were piled on top of each other.  It turned out those bottles are exactly the right size to fit the pots, once you cut them down to the straight part just below 'shoulder'

 

Info
Just remover the label - it peels off fairly easily.  I then cleaned the sticky residue away with "Sticky Stuff Remover" (It does what it says on the bottle, don't you know).  Now cut around the bottle just below the curve of the shoulder.  I used a Sharpie to give me a guideline and cut with my Tonic Studios scissors.  Each bottle will hold four Nuvo Mousse pots and as you can see, its simple to see the one you need.  I've a few more pots flailing around in the drawer, but I also have two empty and washed bottles ready to convert into holders.Anyway, hope this is a helpful idea that you can use. 

Do Let me know how you get on

 

That's all for today, thank you so much for visiting, I hope you'll leave a comment, You've no idea how happy it makes me when someone leaves a message!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

Cute Baby Elephant

 

Hello

I do hope you are keeping safe and well. 

Unsurprisingly,  the rules have been tightened again to try and halt the rising numbers of Covid infections. Over the last few weeks we've all seen the news about increases in other countries, and all the reports about 'the stupid people' here with their mass parties and raves etc. so it was just always going to happen.

  Those 'in power' appear to be totally clueless and pulled this way and the other like a flag on a tug of war rope.  Lets just all take responsibility for the way we live, the things we do and look after ourselves and those we care about.

 

We're celebrating the littlest ones on the Daring Cardmakers this week! It's all down to Ruth, whose 'babies' are growing up fast!

Oh Baby!
"Today I (Ruth) am your host and I've gone with an 'Oh Baby!' theme.  This challenge falls in between my two boys' Birthdays and I'm a bit in denial that they will be 15 and 17.

So, it could be a new baby card, a congratulations or just a card for your 'baby' - the theme interpretation is up to you!  Good luck!"

Click here to see this week's design team inspiration

  There are no imminent new arrivals in my circle - that I know of, anyway, but its always good to have a couple of new baby cards handy just in case!

 

Info

White card blank, with 'hello' border die cut ( Spellbinders) cut in an aqua coloured card which I think is the backing card from a pack of K&Co embellishments!
Spellbinders elephant plus the hand cut balloons and bunting were cut from paper which I think was by Echo Park
BABY letters from a Lawn Fawn alphabet set were cut from white card, sponged  with peachy pink ink on the lower half

Pastel shades of Bakers Twine for the bunting and balloon strings to finish

 

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you'll leave a comment, I really appreciate it when people take the time to leave a message!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

 

 

Anniversary 2020

 hello there

How is your week going?  The last time I wrote a midweek post was during a thunderstorm, in that heatwave when we needed to have the fan going all night long to get even a little bit of sleep!  That seems quite a long time ago now, and once again I've got a little stack of things waiting to be blogged because I've got so behind.
It was our anniversary back at the end of July, and as so often happens, I wasn't completely happy with the first card I made for hubby.  So I started again and made this one

Info

I used another 'fat' rectangle card, and started by stencilling the lovely starburst in silver and red, using a stencil from Funky Fossil
For the hearts I used a fab die set from Bright Rosa, and cut the hearts from inked red card, red flower-patterned paper and silver card with an embossed pattern.  I folded the upper hearts in half, then glued them down only along the centre line so that I could fold them up away from the card.
The black 'lace' edging is another die cut (might be from a Papercraft Society box...)
The various Black and White patterned elements and sentiment are all pc generated.
To finish I added a few punched and die cut tiny hearts and stars, and a few tiny jewels for a little more dimension

 That's all for today, thank you so much for visiting, I hope you'll leave a comment, You've no idea how happy it makes me when someone leaves a message!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

 

September Elemental

Hello

Hope all is well with you.  

What's the weather been like where you are - its not been great here, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll still get some sunny and bright days before the Autumn really sets in. It's bad enough seeing how the days are shortening quite dramatically just now - makes it hard for me to avoid my hibernation tendencies!

I'm making a big effort to actually get my Daring Cardmakers project blogged ahead of time - I'm writing this on Thursday afternoon rather than leaving it till Friday morning as usual, or even later as has been happening far too often recently - of course you only have my word for that....
Anyway, as its the first Friday of the month, it’s time for September's Elemental Inspiration Challenge and Rizwana chose our beautiful mood board this time

September Elemental Inspiration Challenge

 Just pick a minimum of 3 elements from Rizwana's mood-board
 to use when making your card.
Using the Colour palette counts as 1 element..
We're looking forward to seeing what you make

Click here to see this week's design team inspiration

I'm not ready to welcome Autumn yet, so I decided to make a Christmas card - well, Winter is ages away still, isn't it (don't answer that!)
I've used the Layout of the board, some trees and a woodgrain texture as my 3 elements

Info

Fat rectangle white card blank
Squares and rectangle cut from deep blue card, the largest square was embossed with a woodgrain folder (Cuttlebug) and glued to a white square for a little extra dimension.  The various shapes were then glued in place to match the layout of the mood board
The trees and snowflakes were die-cut from white card 
To complete the card I glued 3 lengths of Blue and white Bakers Twine across the card, made a small sentiment tag and added a twine bow.

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you'll leave a comment, I really appreciate it when people take the time to leave a message!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

In the Garden

Hello

I do hope you are keeping safe and well. 

 As those 'in power' are as much in the dark as the rest of us and we can't be sure who is pulling their strings (is it really safe, or is it the various sponsors and the loud business leaders who are the ones pushing the government's buttons?) I'm a cynic when it comes to politicians - I don't think there is a single one of them who isn't more concerned about themselves than you or me, whatever they say.
Yes we want to help businesses survive the crisis, but not by putting ourselves at risk. It's so hard to know what to do for the best these days.  

I'm a bit late again with my Daring Cardmakers project - Hubby and I share the room which is both study and craft room.  Most of the time its fine and its nice spending time there together, even if we're not chatting all the time!  But when he's on conference calls and I want to play with my 'noisy toys' it can be tricky 😕, and this week, there were a lot of calls and crafting had to fit between.
Anyway,  it’s Shabneez who set the challenge and its a lovely one!

In the Garden
"I’ve been spending a lot of time in the garden
lately and so I’d like to see creations with
something from your garden, window box,
windowsill or maybe the garden of your
dreams on it!"

Click here to see this week's design team inspiration

 I decided to look back to Spring time, when my fabulous, flamboyant peonies are in bloom so, once I'd managed to fit in some paper punch noises, some die-cutting noises and some digi printing noises here's what I came up with.

Info

Fat rectangle white card blank, with fold on the side 
Digital papers in are from a set called Pink Peonies from the Alphabet Store, via Etsy 
I inked paper on both sides using various shades of pink ink and used a couple of sizes of petals from a paper punch to create the flower 
More inked paper was used to die-cut the lovely twining leaves, 
die set by Spellbinders  
To finish I added a pc generated sentiment.  As you can see, I'm still loving adding a touch of black and white to everything!

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you'll leave a comment, I really appreciate it when people take the time to leave a message!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

Picture-Perfect Baby

Hello

The weather here continues to be weird.  We;ve had the baking hot, the ferocious thunder and lightning and even a couple of chilly days.  Today there seems to be a gale blowing out there.  OH has been out to check the tomato plants are safely tied in. just in case.....
Mind you, I think its worse in other parts of the country, so if you're in one of those areas - batten down the hatches and stay safe.

I'm still struggling with a lack of crafty mojo and every thing I make seems to be hard work. I do have cards I need to make though, and I'm hoping that a nudge from the Daring Cardmakers might get me inspired again. 

This week it’s Miri’s turn to set the challenge:

Picture-Perfect

I want to see picture-perfect cards 😊!
Use a photo camera, a picture frame, a Polaroid layout,
 an actual photograph or anything picture/photo related on your card.

Click here to see this week's design team inspiration

 When some kind of photo challenge comes up on The
Daring Cardmakers I usually go straight to the holiday photos we have stored on the pc for suspiration, but I thought I should try to do something different for a change. I couldn't find what I was looking for in my various 'useful stuff' boxes, but I did find a sheet of photo images I bought years ago, and decided to make use of one of them to make a new baby card.
 

Info

Fat rectangle white card blank

Grey and White paper from an old Fancy Pants 12x12 set

It's an 'Eclipse' card so the paper was cut to size, then the BABY letters (Lawn Fawn alphabet set), cut out and all the bits saved for later

I inked the card in the area where the letters would be in yellow before adhering the paper in place.

I cut each letter 4 more times in white card, glued them together in stacks and inked the edges in yellow. Next the cut out striped letters were glued to the top of the stacks and the tiny cut out pieces added to the reverse of the letters where applicable - I just use a tiny piece of sticky tape for this, The chunky letters were then glued in their positions on the card.

The photo card was matted onto yellow and grey card before adhering to the card. 

Finally. different sizes of stars were cut from yellow and turquoise card and folded to make them 3D

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you'll leave a comment, I really appreciate it when people take the time to leave a message!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

Peek-a-Boo Secret Message

Hello

What's the weather like where you are?  As I write this, there's a ferocious thunderstorm going on here - over the last few days we've had several of them, but before that  it was days and days of seriously hot and very, very muggy. We never seem to get days that are hot, but dry - just those hot and humid kind, the ones that leave you needing to wring your whole self out!

I've had several crafting disasters and false starts this week, so I'm very late with my card for the Daring Cardmakers

Consequently, he bin has seen a lot of action, as has my bad  temper.  So I'll keep this short.

It's Nat here bringing you the details of this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge.

I want to see you make a card with some sort of opening element!
It could be: A lift-up flap. a surprise element (e.g., a tear-away section to reveal a sentiment, an interactive moving wheel, a pull tab with something that pops up)
Or simply a clever use of an aperture

My Peek-a-boo element is a pull out secret message strip attached to the flower section of the pot and pulled out using the plant stick
 
Info

Card blank made from 2 shades of blue cardstock

Blue dotty pattern panel is a scrap leftover from another poject

Blue organza ribbon tied around and a bow added

Plant pot is from a Papercraft Society die set as are the leaves, Flowers are an old Die'Namics set

Punched squares and hearts to decorate the plant pot

Small white pearls for flower centres and to highlight the ribbon and add a little bling to the sentiment tag

Plant Stick cut using a candy cane die and finished with dotty pink ribbon

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you'll leave a comment, I really appreciate it when people take the time to leave a message!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

Thinking of You Both

 

 hello there

 

What a week!  Its been so hot here that at times when we've both been in the study/craft room we've had two fans working to keep us from melting.  For the last few nights our wonderful Dyson fan has worked all night long so we can get some sleep

This morning we had a huge thunderstorm and its cleared the air a bit, but its still a little more humid than I'd like!

 

Today should have been a wonderful, happy family day, watching our lovely nephew Charlie marry his sweetheart, Annabelle. 

 Sadly thanks to the pandemic they had to take the decision to postpone their special day so that everyone they wanted to share such a special occasion could be with them.  I can't begin to imagine how they must feel today, but hopefully when the new date comes around next year it will be even more joyous and celebratory

 

I couldn't let the day go by without sending a little message to let them know we've not forgotten how special this day should have been for them

Info

A 'fat' rectangle card, this time I went with a side fold and I really like the difference it makes.

Striped section is created with a Funky Fossil stencil and aqua Altenew ink

After stencilling I added a swirl of silver stars using another Funky Fossil stencil and Silver Glitter paste

The three intertwined Scribbled Circles (Tonic Studios) were cut from textured  Silver card 

The two hearts were cut using a die from a Bright Rosa set

The sentiment pieces were created on the pc 

 

 

 That's all for today, thank you so much for visiting, I hope you'll leave a comment, I'm so grateful and happy when someone leaves a message!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe