Chocolate Heaven

 

Hello

I hope Friday finds you well and enjoying some Spring sunshine 

So it's Easter weekend, and I always love this holiday!  

An extra long weekend with two Bank Holidays - and so much more relaxing than Christmas!  There's the promise of longer days, better weather, flowers and leaves popping up all over the place, little lambs and chicks and ducklings!

It’s my turn to set the challenge for the Daring Cardmakers so in honour of another of the lovely things about Easter:

eating chocolate, 

because you just have to,

 its the law!

 

Chocolate Heaven

 

Indulge yourself  a little this week!
I'd love to see all sorts of chocolatey treats - chocolate cakes, chocolate colours,  velvety drinking chocolate, a tempting box of chocolates....
Whatever you fancy

 

 

Info

The eggs were die cut from chocolate coloured pearlescent card, then a couple were embossed  in each of 3 embossing folders. I cut a narrow strip of turquoise card to glue across the card then arranged the eggs along it adding pieces of chipboard between the layers .  The HAPPY EASTER letters were cut from the same card. For the flowers and leaves I used a sizzix die set and card in pastel shades, adding tiny gems for the flower centres.  

Thank you so much for coming by. 

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe, 

 

 

 

 

Standing with Ukraine

 

April Elemental Inspiration

 

Hello

 

Jenny has a lovely mood-board for this week's April Elemental Inspiration Challenge to the Daring Cardmakers!

It's Jenny here hosting our first challenge of the new month.  

 

As we are now in a new month it's time for our 

April Elemental Challenge.  

We would like you to use a minimum of three elements from these pictures to inspire your card (colour can only be one element).

 

You can see lots of inspiration from the Design Team by clicking this link

 For my elements I chose the pink paper panel with its gold foiling - I didn't have a foiling plate with lines on it, so used this fab Spellbinders dotty one, The twigs from the top right image and the tiny yellow flowers that are scattered around

Info

I've used a smooth white square card base trimmed down to a fat rectangle. I used Nuvo embellishing mousse in shades of pink and peach to colour a spare piece of white card, then when dry foiled it using a Spellbinders plate and gold foil in my GoPress and Foil machine.  I added the horizontal strip using spare of the inked card and a scrap of mirror gold card.  The faux brads are  little circles die cut from gold card

For the twiggy bouquet I used several shades of brown and green card and twigs and branches from various die sets, along with some peachy-pink ehelas fibres for extra interest. The yellow flowers are several sizes of small circle cut in lemon and yellow card, plus some glitter card.

To complete the card I used a knotted piece of organza ribbon, along with some gold twine and a gold glittered enamel dot

 

Thank you so much for coming by. 

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe, 

 

 

supporting Ukraine

The Early Bird - is definitely not me!

 

Hello

 

So I'm back to being late posting my challenge card for the Daring Cardmakers, Sorry Miri, its just a bit of a struggle keeping things going at the moment, for no good reason.  Hopefully my energy levels will get better now the days are longer.

Miri has a lovely theme for this week's challenge to the Daring Cardmakers!

What I like a lot about spring is the fact that it’s no longer dark when I get up and that I can enjoy the first morning sunshine on my way to work. (At least until Sunday when the clocks go forward to Daylight Saving Time 😉).

So the topic for this week is:

The early bird catches the worm.

On your card, use whatever comes to mind when you hear this saying, such as birds of any kind, sun rays/sunshine/sunset or even a worm!

You can see lots of inspiration from the Design Team by clicking this link

I've used a smooth white square card base trimmed down to a fat rectangle plus extra of the same for the upper panel which is matted onto pale blue card

O stencilled the white panel with sunrise shades of ink, which I then sprayed with water to blur them a bit.

The dies for the bird and birdhouse and the grass are from a couple of old Spellbinders sets.  My little bird is on the lookout for worms for his breakfast!

The sentiment is from a Tim Holtz  added a few green and pink pearls nearby

To finish I found three tiny mulberry paper flowers in matching colours - its been a very long time since I used any of those!

Thank you so much for coming by. 

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe, 

 

 

supporting Ukraine

Celebrating Springtime

 

Hello

I hope Friday finds you well and enjoying some Spring sunshine 

The news is still horrendous with the atrocities in Ukraine continuing, and Covid deaths going over SIX MILLION

 

What. A. World.

Sometimes I just despair or things ever getting better, of people living together in a respectful way

I feel like pulling up the drawbridge and declaring a state of independence.

If only I had a moat, a drawbridge and some battlements

Anyway before I get even more maudlin, I need to remind myself of the birds singing in the morning, the days growing longer and signs of Spring in the garden...

...and Shabneez's perfectly timed challenge to the Daring Cardmakers!

Hello Spring!

It's almost the first official day of Spring here in the UK and what better way than to celebrate with a challenge!  

I’d love to see anything related to the season be it lambs, rabbits, daffodils, tulips etc.

You can see lots of inspiration from the Design Team by clicking this link

I thought I'd make this challenge work hard and make it for MiL's Mother's Day card.  

I've used a smooth white card base plus extra of the same for the upper panel which is embossed using the good old Swiss Dots folder from Cuttlebug

This panel was adhered over a length of narrow pink satin ribbon

I inked more white card with shades of green and pink Nuvo Embellishing Mousses to cut the tulips.  The die is by Joanna Sheen, but I cut it a few times, cut away sections and layered them into a taller, narrower arrangement.

I think its good to get creative and make your dies work harder for you!

I made the sentiment on the pc and added a few green and pink pearls nearby

To finish I tied a messy double bow and glued in place

 

I love the soft sheen of the mousse but it does make photographing a bit trickier, and no matter how often I tried I couldn't really get the embossing to show very well.  But it is there!

Thank you so much for coming by. 

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe, 

 

 

 

Standing with Ukraine

Cover background is from a digital download called Spring Flowers by

 Ukrainian Etsy seller DigitalArtDreams

 

 

for Ukraine

 

All around the web people are trying to show they care about the people of Ukraine and show in whatever way they can that we stand against the devastation Mr Putin is hell-bent on doling out.

This week the Daring Cardmakers are joining crafters all around the world who are trying to show solidarity with our friends in Ukraine

 

 

What is happening in Ukraine is shocking and utterly wrong.
We want to show support for the Ukrainian people by filling our blog with the blue and yellow colours of the country's flag and masses of sunflowers; the national flower of Ukraine

The power of the internet means our crafting and working community often encompasses people from all over the world and most of us will know at least one fellow crafter who is living through such terror and heartache.  

Suddenly it's our friends and colleagues  - not strangers who are suffering,

Se this week we're asking you to join us and show support for the people of Ukraine by filling the crafting world with
 

Sunflowers, Blue, Yellow and HOPE

 

Please share this week's cover wherever you can

 

For my card I inked pieces of white car with shades of yellow and blue,  I cut these into rectangles and then randomly cut those into strips before arranging onto the base card.  In my head it's symbolic of whats happening over there.

To me sunflowers really are a symbol of hope and brighter days - they are big and showy and full of pride - and not afraid to stand tall.  I wish I had their confidence.

I made mine by first inking some 80gsm card with several shades of yellow ink, then die cutting with a die set from Spellbinders for the larger ones, and from Joanna Sheen for the small one.

 
The sentiment is created on the PC and I added some tiny copper gems to highlight the flower centres and a few clear and yellow dew drops to symbolise tears

 

Thank you so much for coming by. 

Just to reiterate the 'friends and colleagues, not strangers' - one of OH's co-workers is Ukranian, she lives in Prague but her family are in Ukraine. Every day must be more like a nightmare of worry and fear.

  I would be thrilled if you would join in in some way so that we can show support albeit in this very small way

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe, 

 

March Elemental Challenge

 

Hello

Another Friday rolls around - I hope you’ve had a good week, despite the world seeming to lurch from disaster to catastrophe. The events in Ukraine are utterly shocking, how dare that greedy, posturing Russian Megalomaniac decide that another country is a sweetshop  and it’s ok for him to steal from it.  I can’t help thinking that we’ve been here before

It’s weird to just try to get on with everyday stuff when such atrocities are happening. What can ordinary people do apart from voicing our condemnation of Putin’s actions and offering our support to the Ukrainian people in whatever way we are able. 

So we will make monetary donations (my OH’s company are generously matching any donations it’s employees make to some of the charities helping ‘on the ground’), I buy a fair number of digital crafting downloads via Etsy, so I’ll be seeking out those created by Ukrainians to show my support. And we should all be making a noise on our blogs, on Instagram and everywhere else we can think of. 

It needs to stop

 

March Elemental Challenge

The first trip I ever took with  the man who would become my hubby was to Paris, so it holds some special memories for us.  A few years ago (before the world went mad) we decided it was time to go back.  This time we found a cute little apartment to call 'home', hopped on the Eurostar and set off early in March for week in Paris 

So I thought as its March again a trip down Memory Lane would make a fun mood board for this month.  I've pulled together a random mix of photos from our Paris visit which I hope will inspire you.  

Just choose a minimum of 3 elements from the pictures to use when you make your card.   Obviously your card doesn't have to have anything to do with Paris though, I've added some suggestions below the picture

Suggestions: Layout, Landmarks, Tower, Triangles, Clocks. Rose, Pastries, Beads, Paintings, Bicycle, Bright Colours, Lips, Water, paving patterns, Materials (wood, metal, canvas, glass etc) ...

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with, and to get you started, don’t forget to check out the ideas from our wonderful designers 

I took my inspiration for the background from the bright colours on the painting in the Montmartre photo, added some still bare tree die cuts and an Eiffel Tower one from the main photo and a bicycle from the photo of a shop window display in one of the Passages Couverts - which we loved exploring 

 

I used small ink cubes to create the background

Tree die by Memory Box

Eiffel Tower and bicycle dies by Spellbinders

 

Thank you so much for coming by

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe, 

In the Nick of Time

 

 

Hello!

I've surpassed myself in my lateness with this one.  Earlier today I posted my Daring Cardmakers project for this week - and now here I am posting the one I made for last week's challenge.  I'm so sorry Rizwana. how ironic though that the subject of this challenge was Time!

 

In the Nick of Time

It's Rizwana here with this weeks new challenge. 

Time is of the essence! 

Use clocks or anything to represent time on your card, including watches, hourglasses, sundials or pocket watches.

Click here to see the lovely projects the design team made:

 

I used one of my precious little pocket watch charms on my card - though I doubt it will still be there when I send the card!  I find it hard to part with tiny treasures like these!

 

 

Info

I've used a smooth white card blank, but trimmed about 1.5 cmx off the edge to make a fat rectangl. 

In my bag of black and white printed bits I found a small piece with a chevron pattern on to use to offset the pastel colours I wanted to use for the rest of the card.  The Tonic Scribbled Circles die was  cut from a pearlescent pink card.

For the flowers I used inked card and a lovely Hunkydory set of flower dies.  The butterfly is also from a Hunkydory die set

For the lettering I cut 'Time to' in a block capitals font and the word  'celebrate' (Spellbinders) tin a script font

I threaded some green ribbon through the loop of the pocket watch charm and fixed it in place, then to  complete the card I added some die cut leaves behind the flowers

 

Thank you so much for coming by

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe, 

FEB Word Play

 

Hello!

Hope you've had a good week.

The last few weeks have been 'trying'.  I don't know whether its  really February's fault or my preconception that February is always a pain in the derrière!

That is my excuse for feeling fed up, under pressure and not managing to get anything done all at the same time.

 

This week it was Joanne's turn to choose a challenge for the  Daring Cardmakers - and this one stretched the brain cells a bit.  Rather klike a crafty Wordle!

Word Play

 As we wave farewell to February, let’s use the month for inspiration in a different way. Make a FEB card! 

Use something beginning with each of those letters in your creation. 

So it might be a foiled elephant juggling a ball, a blue fairy with an embossed background, a baby card with flags and embroidery thread… 

what can you come up with that’s FEB? 

Don’t forget to tell us which items you’ve used in case we don’t spot them!

 

 To help get your creative cogs turning, click here to see the clever ideas the design team came up with!

Four Easter Bunnies

Info

I've used a smooth white card blank, cut to fit the four bunny die cuts - I wanted to use five, but that would have made the card a bit of a weird shape! It already means I'll need to make a custom sized envelope, but never mind!

I taped off a border using Washi tape and filled in the remaining area with a couple of shades of Nuvo Embellishing mousse

The Rabbits are cut using a vute Spellbinders die set from a few years ago.  The ears, eyes and noses were stencilled through the dies and I folded a few of the ears for a quirky look

The eggs are made using a Poppy Stamps die; I glued a few pieces of patterned paper to bits of card before cutting them out.

To finish I coloured some white card with pink Nuvo Embellishing mousse then die cut the 'HOPPY EASTER' letters

 

 

 

Thank you so much for coming by

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe,