Crafty Templates October

The latest set of Crafty Templates came out recently and as usual (it's getting to be a habit oioops!) I forgot to pop my DT projects on here.

So here they are:

Most of the papers, the lace and some of the embellishments are from the Crafty Goodies Kit that you can add to your stash collection via the Crafty Templates SHOP.  Leo always manages to gather together a lovely eclectic mix of goodies that work well with the current Templates and will come in handy for all sorts of future projects.  I have a box I keep them all in and it's grown into a bit of a treasure trove -  it's usually the first place I go to when I need something a bit out of the ordinary! 

Well it's been a hectic weekend, what with  MIL staying, other outlaws visiting and the fab Funky Blog Hop - thank you sooooo much to everyone who left a comment, I'll try to get round to all the blogs as soon as things settle down - I'm looking forard to catching up with friends "old" and new!

Today though I want to try and get stuck in with my Cword card making.  Now that things have calmed down I stand more of a chance of actually getting somewhere - at least, that's the plan!

Thanks for visiting

Funky Hand's First Blog Hopitty Hop

Thank you for visiting my blog today, it's fab to have you popping by!

If you've hopped over from Katina's -as part of your Funky Hand Blog Hop journey, then you probably know what it's all about already, but if not, then you can find out what is going on by visiting Anice at
Funky Hand Blog Hop Central HERE

The Blog Hop is all about introducing the fabulous new Funky Hand CD

TWELVE CRAFTERS CRAFTING

It's not released till the 5th November, but you can pre-order as from today from the website HERE.

As we each took one of the TWELVE paper collections to work with, our blog hop is just the PERFECT way to get a preview of what's on the new CD.  By visiting all the blogs of the Funky Gang's twelve crafters crafting you will see all of the colour-ways, lots of the paper designs, and many of the images and templates you can expect to find on

TWELVE CRAFTERS CRAFTING

  

I've been using Vintage Christmas, a fabulous red, green, golden-yellow and silvery grey colour-way, with some gorgeous neutrals such as creamy browns thrown in for good measure.  The reds and greens are subtle and easy to use and I just love the feel of this set.

Here is my giant Sleigh card using these papers

20 paper designs in each colour collection and I've used 6 of them on this card. 

The sleigh is one of the digital images on the CD and you can print it at any size from teeny tiny to this giant one.  This card is made from a sheet of A4, folded in half and cut down to about 8cm deep, so that the sleigh stands above the fold.  The sleigh measures about 18 x 11cms and the finished card is about 20x14cms

This sleigh digi is perfect for layering - and especially easy to do when you make the image BIG!

Here are some tiny sneak peeks of other projects I've made with the Vintage Christmas set of papers and a bit of a hint of some more digi images and templates (don't tell anyone I showed you though)

By this point on the Hop, you've seen lots of the fab collections - so, would you like your own FREE copy of
TWELVE CRAFTERS CRAFTING? 

Well, there's one up for grabs just for joining in with our blog hop. 

You'll need to travel around the blogs of all the Funky Gang who are taking part in the hop, leaving a comment on every single blog and collecting a letter from each. The hop begins and ends with Anice's BLOG - so if you're not already following all the links from blog to blog, then do head over to Anice's and begin your tour there! 

The letters you'll collect are an anagram and you'll need to solve that to be in with a chance of winning the prize. - but all the info you need is on Anice's blog so I'll stop wittering on and give you your next letter.... just don't forget to leave a comment here and on all the blogs you visit or you won't qualify for entry.

The letter I'm giving you is:

"N"

and your next stop on the Funky Blog Hop is up in Scotland at Allison's place! 

Hope you're having fun and liking what you see

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Here's my card for Nat's Daring Cardmakers "Felties" challenge this week and I think this one falls into the later category in the post title!

I've already pulled it apart once and I ran out of time to have another go.

This week I want to see you get creative with felt.

I just love the stuff but seem to always do the same old same old with it... so I'm really looking forward to seeing what creative ideas you come up with.

You can use felt to make your own handmade embellishments (even include some threading and beading if you're feeling energetic), use some pre-made felties, or even raid the accessories sale bins for something unique to add to your project!

Hey ho, you can't win them all, can you? 

I quite like the big felt stocking, I love the papers and I like the little cut-out paper stockings on the gold thread - but put the whole lot together and it's a mess.

Maybe I can salvage something later, but not in time for today's post!!!

Materials:

Red, Green and White felt from my fabric stash, 

Papers: Fancy Pants - a mix of 12x12 and 6x6 (Charmed Cards and Craft), 

Gold card, Glamour Dust, Glossy Accents, Gold Stickles, Tiny gems (Anita's Gem Wheel), Tiny clothes peg from my stash, Gingham ribbon from the scraps box, red and white twine (Creative Treasures), Gold crochet thread,

Tools:

Spellbinders Stocking die and Snowflakes die sets, small star punch, 

Cuttlebug Snowflakes and Stars die

 You can see some really fab felt creations on the Daring Cardmakers Blog - so please go and have a look.  We'd love you to join in with us this week

.

It's a busy weekend in the wafflezone - there's a meet-up planned with various of the Out-Laws, so they can hand over MIL to stay with us for a couple of days (no comment), but there's also Funky Hand's  very first Blog Hop going on over the weekend - this is the first Blog Hop I've ever been involved with so I'll probably muck it all up somehow hehe!

Anyway, it's all to show off the brand new CD "12 Crafter's Crafting" (to be released on 4th Nov) which has a Christmas theme - lots of fab new papers, some wonderful Christmassy images and sentiments and some new templates too - plus the wordbooks, Alphas and Numerals you'd expect to find on a Funky CD.

Visit Anice's BLOG to find out more - it all kicks off tomorrow morning at 9am and there's  the chance to win a fab prize by joining in with us on the Big Funky Blog Hop

I'm a bit peeved tbh, because having visitors will mean I can't stay glued to the pc for the whole two days - but I couldn't miss the chance of joining in so I hope you'll pop by tomorrow or Sunday to see what's going on!

Right, back to the dusting and vacuuming I suppose,,,,,,,

Thanks for visiting,

Sketchy Friday

Even the best laid plans go wrong sometimes - or just have little glitches along the way.  Usually we're pretty organised on the Daring Cardmakers team and know what is coming up for us.  This week though it didn't go so smoothly so we had to have a little re-shuffle, which left us with a gap in the timetable and only a couple of days  to go before the new challenge went live.

So we're using the October sketch "2Circles2Go" from the Sketch File Blog for our cards this week and we hope you'll like what we've made - keep checking back to the DCM BLOG though as the short notice is sure to mean there'll be late additions!

 I couldn't resist using the Silky Crush ribbon flower I made the other day as one of the circle elements for my card, with the sentiments tag as the second.  I've used satin ribbon for the crossing lines, and beaded some pins to make the 3 little "bars" on the left side of the sketch. 

The aperture echoes the rounded rectangle background for the sketch:

Here's a closer look at the flower embellishment. 

 The Silky Crush ribbon is quite wide - about 5cms, so I cut a length of the ribbon about half as much as I needed then cut along lengthwise leaving about 1.5cms at the end uncut, this worked really well as any raw edges are easily hidden as you twist the ribbon around the circle of gluey card.  I've added a lace rosette at the back and a big pearly brad in the centre.

Materials:

MME "Dwell" 6x6 papers, Bazzill aqua card

Silky Twist ribbon, gathered lace, satin ribbon, Card Candy, Pearl-headed pins, Pearl Bead butterfly and spiral all from Creative Treasures

Beads, Pearl brad, Decal sentiment

Tools:

Spellbinders Nesties Labels 12 dies and Large Scalloped Circles die

Craft Robo for small circle

That's all for now - I'd better get back to making samples for the brand new, soon to be released "12 Crafters Crafting" CD from Funky Hand - if this doesn't kick-start my Cword card making, I don't know what will.  I might end up buying cards to send this year!

Please visit the Daring Cardmakers Blog to see what the team have made using the sketch - and to see who won our fabulous prize from The Ribbon Reel  of course!

Thanks for looking,

Challenging

I'm going to keep this short and try to avoid wffling on for once - the blog has that title for a reason, you know!

I'm trying to catch up a bit with two challenge projects today.

First is the page I made last week for my mini album using the October "2Circles 2Go! sketch over on my Sketch File Blog and forgot to blog on here.  There's a fab Christmas card idea from Keryn on the update today so please go and check it out - it might inspire you to get going with your own Christmas cards.

Anyway, here's my page - I've managed to get rather behind with the journalling pages that go with my last two photo pages so I must try and get those done soon.

This page is about the Rievaulx Terraces and Temples which feature pretty Grecian style "temples" and a lovely walk along the ridge where cunningly designed gaps in the trees, hedges and shrubbery  give wonderful views of the ruins of Rievaulx Abbey below.

"The site was created in 1758 by Thomas Duncombe III who had inherited it and the adjoining Helmsley estate some 10 years previously. His desire was to complement, and perhaps even surpass, the more formal terrace and temples laid out in about 1730 by his grandfather at Duncombe Park a mile away. It is thought that he may have planned to join the two terraces by a scenic drive along the River Rye." (Wikipedia)

I was quite pleased with the idea of using the large photo as the background and adding the crossing lines and circles for the details.  The round temple was perfect for the larger circle and I had planned to use another of the temples for the second circle - but couldn't get it to fit the shape nicely.  Hey ho, I just had to use a flower instead then hehe!   I loved the way the flower worked, it's made from some gorgeous white Silky Crush ribbon which was in my last pack of DT goodies from Creative Treasures.  I've made a aqua one too but haven't actually made a project to put it on yet,

Maerials:

MME papers Lime Twist 6x6 pads

Bazzill card, Silky Crush Ribbon, leaf ribbon trim, tiny gems

, large blue pearl flat back (Bo Bunny)

Tools:

Craft Robo for cutting the photo turns and tiny flower embellishments, large circle punch, Zutter Round-it-All to shape the ends of the straight border pieces.

Today it's my turn to share a project for Amanda's "Autumn" themed challenge over on Get Funky!, the challenge blog for Funky Hand.  As usual there's a free download on offer for one lucky winner, and also the most gorgeous Autumnal freebie download paper - which I haven't used on my project, but will definitely be making use of sometime soon!

You can see a sneakie peak of the freebie paper on the left.

Here's my project - it's another of those note-blocks which I can't seem to stop making!  I think there'll be a few on my to-do list to make for little extra Cword presents too.

This one uses the perfect Autumnal "Orange October" collection from the Craft the Year Away CD

You can read all about this month's challenge and how to join in - and how to grab that freebie download over on Get Funky!

Materials:

Cereal packet to make the base and cover, cheapo note block from Wilko's

Papers: Funky Hand Craft the Year Away CD

Bazzill card, Ribbon, buttons, Stickles and Glamour Dust Glitter, Glossy Accents, Prima Flowers, Wired Roses, Imaginisce I-rock gems

Tools: Craft Robo to cut title

So much for keeping it short, eh?

Thanks for visiting, please leave a comment if you've time

Where did the week go?

All I know is that it went past in a blur, it went so quickly!

So I find myself on Daring Cardmakers Day again and no blogging since the last one.  Must try harder....

This week it's Rein's turn to set the dare and she's chosen the lovely, popular theme of BIRDS.

It's an extra=special challenge this week as we not only have a lovely ribbon-y prize to give away, but are also able to offer everyone who joins in with us this week the chance to buy the same pack of gorgeousness at a special price - more of that in a minute.

This is my birdy card - I decided to go for 2 teeny-tiny little birdies.

Materials: 

Papers are MME - from 2 of the Lost and Found 6x6 pads

Brown Bazzill card, tiny black gems, red gems, red twine

Tools: 

Spellbinders dies for circles, flower and doily shapes

EK Success border punch (it's new so I had to try it out)

Craft Robo for tree and birds

The tree shape is based on a swirly tree clipart I saw, but I "hand drew" the trunk shape using the paintbrush tool, then added a long branch and circles of different sizes (with smaller circles inside) instead of swirls.  To make the circles I just used the paintbrush tool with the the circular shaped "head" selected and changed the size of the paintbrush to get bigger or smaller circles.  I always start by decreasing the colours so that I'm using only black and white.

The bird is a simple circle for the body, I used the "draw" tool to make any straight line sections (legs, feet, beak), then drew the shape of the tail feather piece, which I cut several times

Click here to visit The Ribbon Reel Online Shop

Here is a photo of the lovely Ribbon Reel prize we have to give away this week

Keilly is also offering everyone who joins in with Rein's challenge this week the opportunity to order the same gorgeous goodie pack at a special Darers Only price.

Please pop over to visit the Daring Cardmakers BLOG to see the lovely birdy cards and find out more about our fabulous Ribbon Reel prize and offer.

Right, I am running soooooo late this week and really must try and tick some things off my list.  I'll try and catch up on my blogging and blog-hopping soon though as I've been really really bad over the last few weeks - put it down to holidays, visitors and being ill!

All for now, thanks for popping by

October's Flower Power

It's the first Friday of the month and this year that means the Daring Cardmakers look to the flowers associated with that month for their inspiration.

This month's birth flowers are

Calendula and Cosmos

As always there are lovely cards to see on the blog so please click HERE and see what flowery fabbiness  the team have been making.

I love having cosmos in my garden, they are so colourful and pretty; and their feathery leaves are so delicate.

Here are a couple of photos from my garden this summer

As usual I googled for an image I could use as a starting point to make a Craft Robo template, then used it to make 2 variations.  One to cut in a single piece the other to cut in two layers. I'm not sure cutting two layers makes much difference though . For my card the white flower was cut in two layers and the coral ones in just one piece each

Materials:

14cm sq Kraft card blank

papers: MME "Lost and Found" 6x6 (I cut around the end of the "dream" ticket on the pink striped paper to slot the gingham one underneath)

Card: coral pink, white, yellow, green Bazzill

Loopy seam binding "bow", brown twine and black card candy
from Creative Treasures

tools: Tim Holtz distresser, Nellie Snellen stamen* and leaves punches 

*I'm a bit disappointed at how this punch cuts - it struggles with even the thinnest card and I have to use a paperweight to push the button as I can't manage just using my thumb

 I think that at last my cold is getting better.  Not sure having visitors to stay who then end up looking after you is the right way round, but that's how it goes sometimes.  I lost my voice for a few days so I guess they quite liked that! What a fab weekend we had though with the weather - having a barbecue and sitting out on the patio all day is a bit of excitement for October - in fact it was so hot that I had to come indoors for a while.  I have a feeling that little weather anomaly is well and truly over now though....

....And my excuses for not getting started on my Cword cards are running out too.

Hey ho!

Thanks for visiting today,

ooh la la and wunderbar

It's Lythan's turn to set the challenge for The Daring Cardmakers this week:

Well, this weeks dare is a little bit retro. As it is the European Day of Languages today I would like your card to feature a foreign language. 

This takes me back to one of the very first Daring Cardmaker Dares (November 10 2006 to be precise) which was a similar challenge. So why not also see if you have any cards to show from 5 years ago to see if your style has changed?

I didn't see the second bit of that till this morning, so I'll have to scroll back and see if I can find my card for that one - I do remember the challenge, but I don't remember what I made.

Here's my card for this time though

I couldn't resist another chance to get frilly and flowery. could I?

All the following from Creative Treasures:

Cream Lace, black "Mystery" ribbon, rolled piece of Pink Silky Crush ribbon across the middle

Flowers: large pink flower made from Silky Crush ribbon with a pink wired rose in the centre, Pink tulle rose cut for a length of ribbon roses, 2cm Black wired rose

 Other supplies:

All papers: GCD's fabulous Paris Nights (8x8), some flowers made with scraps

Cream Stardream card for sentiments pieces,

EK Success border punch, Spellbinders fancy tag from "Blossom Tags and Accents" set (Charmed Cards and Crafts), Spellbinders plain small oval die

selection of black and grey gems and pearls, Black hearts and swirl accents Kand Co, also Charmed Cards and Crafts

Prima Artful flowers je t'aime is cut on Craft Robo 

I hope you'll visit the Daring Cardmakers to see the other fabulous "foreign language" inspired cards the team have made this week - it's a great challenge and it would be fab if you'd join in too, I wonder how many languages we could manage to feature?

So, what did I do for my card back in Nov 2006 - well, as the challenge was just to feature "another language" I was a little bit sneaky and chose "The Language of Flowers" for my card.  Here it is:

Well, it's time I wasn't here - I think my cold is starting to improve, but it's really knocked the stuffing out of me, so my kitchen is only going to get "a lick and a promise" - I don't have the energy for much else atm.

Thanks for visiting today, I hope you'll come back soon

Wedding

I may have thought I had a cold a few days ago, but yesterday I realised that now I really did!

In this Blame Culture we live in, I'm blaming a poor little 1 year old baby who has just started going to a day nursery for a day a week.  Such a lot of new germs for a baby to pick up and take home to his daddy who then took said germs to his office and shared them around among his colleagues - who of course then took them back with them to their own homes and so on and so forth.  And this bug is a real humdinger, I can tell you!

I suppose it's not really Baby Ps fault, but I'm blaming him anyway, because I can!

Here's a wedding card I made a few days ago to send away for a customer.  What a fab excuse to break open the MME 6x6 "Lost and Found" paper pad!  Naughty really as I do have a huge lot of these papers in the 12x12 size, but somehow the little ones are just so cute and easy to handle

Lots of gorgeousness from Creative Treasures here too: the lovely minty coloured Card Candy, the deep aqua rose, the creamy brown Apple Blossom flower, the pretty white lace, the pearl sprays and the seam binding

Shockingly (hehe) I didn't have exactly the right colour of seam binding - but I did have the right shade of ink pad so I used it to dye enough white seam binding to make the ribbon for the bottom of the card and a rosette flower.

Also used: organza circles to make backing for flowers, Prima Artful flowers, coiled rose (scrap of MME paper) Spellbinders Nesties Labels 18

I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out - it's ages since I made a paper frill like this and I always love the way they look.

That's it for today, I hope the sun is shining on you wherever you are

Challenges:
Charisma: LOVE
Stampavie and More: LOVE

Album Pages

Do you have those days when even something simple takes a couple of goes to get right?  I had one of those yesterday - it's probably more to do with my concentration levels being affected by this rotten cold that Hubby's so kindly shared with me than anything else, but there you go.

My trach record for completing book projects is really bad - I love making books and albums but they are soon relegated to the bottom of the pile as a new whim takes hold.

Anyway, I'm determined to see through my project to make a mini album of the various places we visited  during our year's membership of the National Trust - this was an anniversary present to ourselves which finished at the end of July this year.  So I'm really hoping that I will end up with a complete album just for once!

It was starting to slide a bit as I'd almost finished the picture page for Anglesey Abbey and then there it sat on the desk for weeks and weeks waiting to be completed. I refused to allow myself to start a new one with the September "Sketch File" sketch until I'd finished the other set. 

So I sat down and finished the picture page AND made the journalling page - and then I did another picture page. wow!

This is the picture page for Shaw's Corner in Ayot St Lawrence, using the current September Simplicity sketch

I used:

Papers: Basic Grey

The little squares were punched from a second photo of the same place, which had lots of flowers in the foreground, then matted onto pale lilac card squares

Pink Seam Binding (Creative Treasures)

Tiny yellow buttons

2 x square punches

Next is a LO using the August "Going Round in Circles" sketch - as it's only just been completed it never actually made it onto the Sketch File Blog! oops.

Anglesey Abbey, nr. Cambridge

I used:

Papers and stickers: Echo Park, most of the flowers are cut from the same papers

I used several dies )swirls, Nesties Plain circles, Lacey circles, Labels)on these pages, all from Spellbinders

Lettering and circles for matting all cut on Craft Robo

gems all Imaginisce I-rocks

Please visit The Sketch File and see what the design team have been making over the last few weeks.  You've a week left to link a project using this sketch.

Thanks for looking today -please come back soon

Green Eggs and Ham

I'm having one of those days when things won't go right - even my pc isn't playing nicely today. Or maybe its the network - I know that trying to do anything on tinterweb is either really really really slooooooooooow, or doesn't happen at all - I wonder what will happen when I try to publish this? 

Hubby says he'll reboot the network later and see if that solves it.

Today it's Jo's turn to set the challenge over on the Daring Cardmakers and she's sending us all off to look at those bright and colourful Dr Seuss books all kids (and adults) love:

"I loved reading Dr. Seuss books when I was little and my children love them now so this week, I would like to see Dr. Seuss inspired cards - whether they feature Green Eggs and Ham, The inhabitants of Whoville, The Cat in the Hat or are inspired by the colours, font or rhyming phrases, it will be brilliant to see what you make!"

As usual I didn't have a clue what to do for this one, so headed off to do a Google Image Search in the hope of finding inspiration.  Scrolling through the pictures that came up I saw a photo of a "Cat in the Hat" cake and as cakes seem to be a feature of my card-making just now I thought I'd stick with the theme and do some "baking"!

I used a simple version of the hat as a starting point and Paint Shop Pro to get the template I needed to cut this with Craft Robo. I rotated the image so that the brim would become a plate, then used the paintbrush tool to make the top stripe look more like icing on a cake.  I drew in some icing drips and some candles, and then converted my picture to a Robo template and cut the various sections

My card base is supposed to give a nod to the bright colours on the front of the books.  I used Distress Inks direct to the card blank - I actually (shock horror) did that post-it note masking technique that "real" stampers do - what do you reckon to that then? hehehe - Joanne (Angelnorth) will be sooooo surprised!

 I cut some really skinny lengths of black card to create the border and again suing the Craft Robo I cut the sentiment in black card also.  This font is one my lovely DCM teamie Sharon put us on to, a free one called,, conveniently Dr Seuss

A bit of Stickles for some glitz and that was it all done.

I hope you'll go over and visit the Daring Cardmakers today - the cards are just fantastic! 

It's taken me all day to get this far so I'm going to stop now and hopefully it will publish!

Thanks for looking, please leave a comment :-)