March Colours

After yesterday's meandering post, I'll keep it short today!
It's the first Friday of the month and that means a new colour combo challenge on the Daring Cardmakers.  Zuzana chose the palette and it's so lovely - with just the right amount of zingy bright colour to remind us that Spring is on the way.
I seem to be having one of those phases when I hate the first card I make and have to start over again.  I don't think card #1 will go in the bin this week, but it does need a bit of attention so we'll see what happens.
Anyway, here's card #2 - I went back to using my favourite butterfly die for this one

 Materials and Tools

White card blank

Pale turquoise-blue Bazzill, shaded with Gelatos in white, metallic aqua and turquoise

Pale lemon, Deep Aqua and Peachy-orange Bazzill

Paper from various MME 6x6 pads

Orange Stickles

Dies: Memory Box Butterfly, Crafter's Companion Circle Doily

Embossing Folder: Chevron 6x6 by Crafter's Companion

Daring Cardmakers March Colours

Hope you'll head over to the DCM BLOG to see the rest of the cards - it would be fab if you'd join in with us too
That's all for today
Thanks for visiting

Boys' Toys

Boy's cards can be sooooo difficult, can't they.  Sometimes I'm so sick of thinking of new ways to bung a football on a card it makes my brain hurt!
So today I've a couple of Big Boys cards to share and not a football in sight.

The first is a Lego inspired card for my hubby's birthday.

 

He's always dabbled with Lego - I pander to that by buying Technics kits for him at Christmas hehe.  Recently though Lego for grown ups is much more apparent with things like the Lego Architecture series being available (he got the Leaning Tower of Pisa for Christmas....). 
Anyhoooo some time before Christmas he discovered a website where you could "draw" in your own house, using the exact measurements etc and it would come up with plans and requirements for building yourself a scale model of your house. I know it's a bit mad, and I know how long it took him to do, but we won't go there....suffice to say I did get a tad worried that I might not be getting any Christmas presents myself because of all the time and cash he spent on his new project!  It's not just the outside of the basic "naked" house either - oh no!  You can add the colours (as near as you can with Lego bricks anyway) of your walls, carpets, furnishings ....  Yes. It all is a little crazy.  Here are our Lego selves in our Lego study - you can see all the IKEA shelves etc though they are a lot tidier than in real life ;)

Getting back to the birthday card - I cut all the pieces on the Silhouette and spent what seemed like days sticking them together - there are at least 4 layers to each brick and some have several more so there is a mix of  brick depths.  Yes, I'm just as bonkers as he is.  The circles on the top of the bricks are adhered with tiny bits of foam tape and they took blinking ages as they were so fiddly.
I also made a Lego logo style sentiment for the front of the card, but then I couldn't figure out where to put it so I stuck it inside instead

 

I was soooo relieved to get it finished! 
Next up was a card for one of my cousins - I think all that Lego sapped my poor head and it took a while to actually think of anything I could do for him.  I know he has a drum kit, so thought maybe I could make something themed around that - but I needed a way of keeping it simple so hunted out a clipart drum kit silhouette that I could convert to cut on my.....Silhouette. 

I'm really impressed at how well the machine coped with the very skinny and detailed cut-lines - I must admit part of the reason for doing this without tweaking the picture was to see how it would cope with so many tiny details.  It got it's own back though - as lifting the completed cut off the cutting mat was a bit of a mare! And getting all the tiny unwanted waste bits off was even more of a mare! 
Right enough of the waffle - can you tell I'm procrastinating as I have other things to be doing but can't seem to get started on them?
Hope you like what you've seen today, and that you've had a little smile too
Thanks for visiting

Textural

Last week was the TV launch of the latest goodies from Crafters Companion.  We'd been working with the fab new Embossalicious folders for a while, but a few weeks before the launch a new CD Rom and some new sets of the Semtimentals stamps were also added into the mix.

So there's a bit of a mix of projects that just use the new embossing folders and others that have the other new things included too.

There are a lot of things to share, but don't panic, I'm not putting them all on one post - if I spread them around they'll last longer won't they?!

Heart and Flowers card

 From Crafters Companion:

Embossalicious 6x6 Decorative Heart

Centura Pearl Hint of Silver

Other:

Vellum, Glamour Dust Glitter, Pearlescent Aqua card, Prima and other Flowers, Mulberry Roses, Pearl Spray, Mulberry Lilies, Aqua Dewdrops. Peach pearls,  Velvet ricrac, Butterfly punch

Comfort Jumper Card

 From Crafters Companion:

Embossalicious 8x8 KnitOne PurlOne

Embossalicious A4 Cable Knit (scarf)

Blue Coredinations card

Other: 

 Yellow and Red ink pads

“get well soon” is PC generated, “warm wishes” is cut using Craft Robo

Metallic Background, Flowers and Tag card

 From Crafters Companion:

Embossalicious A4 Cable Knit, Die'sire Spring Cd rom

Die’Sire Sentimental Stamps ~ Nature, Die'sire Quilling Sunflower large

Centura Pearl Hint of Silver, Coredinations card

Other:

Embossing coloured with metallic Gelatos

Quilled Sunflower cut from a baby wipe

Other flowers all from the cd rom, little tag covered with Glossy Accents

Brads, gems, thread, Glossy Accents

Vellum Rococo Card

 From Crafters Companion:

Embossalicious 6x6 Rococo Frame

Die'sire Spring Cd rom

Die’Sire Sentimental Stamps ~ Ornate

Die'sire Quilling Sunflowers large & Small

Coredinations card

Other:

Card layer and vellum layer both embossed

Flower petals embossed and inked before forming the flower

Pinky-red cord behind flower

Cable Knit Pillow Box 

 From Crafters Companion:

Cable Embossalicious A4 Cable Knit

Die’Sire Quilling Sunflower – Large

Die’Sire Quilling Stamen

Other:

Digi-printed patterned card, Pillow box shape cut out and lines scored before embossing

Flower centre made with beads dropped into Glossy Accents.  Embossing on box inked over while flat

That's all for this time, thanks for looking

Minted

As usual I'm a bit late blogging about the latest "Forgotten Funky" - a revisit to some of the older Funky hand download collections which are still there but often passed over in favour of the brand new ones.
Every month one of these collections is chosen and the Funkettes get busy crafting new things to show off the "old" designs and remind people how fab they are.
Minty Madness is this month's Forgotten Funky and you can see all the lovely things that the team made HERE, on the Get Funky and Craft Inspiration blog
It wasn't until I went to save the photos of my project that I realised that I had actually never used this collection myself!  So you see, delving into the archives really does bring out new treasures :)

I made another box using Spellbinders Nesties dies.  I've been meaning to do a tutorial on how to make these for one of my GF+C project posts and this time I even remembered to so some photos as I was going along - so if you are interested in seeing how to do it pop by next weekend.

Materials and Tools

All papers: Minty Madness by Funky Hand, printed onto cardstock

Ribbon, Ink

SU Blossom Punch (contact Sharon for more info)

Dies: Spellbinders Nesties Labels 26, MFT Die'Namics swirl

Cereal packet chipboard

I have loads of catch-up-blogging to do so hopefully will get some more posts written soon.
Thanks for visiting today

We're Getting Sentimental....

...with Gez this week on the Daring Cardmakers.

 "I would like to see words as your main feature,

and here is the twist!

 if possible, words that mean something to you! 

Show me your softer side"

I rather like to use a longer sentiment or quotation on a card - they can fill up a nice big space for a start, and often when it's difficult to work out which image or other focal piece would work, a quotation does the trick.

 I knew I wanted to use this quotation, I've no idea where it came from or who wrote it in the first place, but I've used it loads of times.  I often mess around with fonts and colours and mix them all up to match the papers I'm using or the sort of person I'm making it for.
I wanted to use this gorgeous  large size doily die to frame it, so I just fiddled about with the wording until I got something that would fit the right size circle, then printed and used a Nesties circle to cut it out
I usually save the finished version of sentiments I make this way so that I can use the same one again, or just tweak it a bit to suit the new project - well, it makes sense to keep a copy of something you've spent a while getting to look just right, doesn't it?

Materials and Tools

Smooth white card base, 2 shades grey card

Paper from Charmed 6x6 pad by MME

Wide blue glittery organze ribbon

Satin stripe pink ribbon, Pearls and Enamel dots

Crafters Companion Circle Doily (large)

Spellbinders Nesties plain circle

PC generated sentiment

Whilst this card took a very short time to make in the end, the earlier versions are now in the bin!
Version one took ages did get photographed before I pulled it to pieces to make version 2, which didn't even get glued together before being rejected
Actually it looks a bit less of a dog's breakfast in the photo than I felt it did when I'd finished making it - but I still don't like it.

Right, that's it for today, thanks for looking in - I hope you'll join in and get Sentimental with the DCM this week

Cute as a Button

Funky Hand released some gorgeous baby-themed downloads at the weekend.
There are a couple of cute "Button Baby" images and a paper collection that matches the "button" theme beautifully
here are a couple of cards I've made using these cute new downloads

Materials and Tools

"Button Baby Boy" downloadable image by Funky Hand

All papers from the  "Button Baby" collection by Funky Hand

Circle dies, plain and scalloped by Spellbinders

Square Punch, Satin ribbon

 

Materials and Tools

"Button Baby Girl" downloadable image by Funky Hand

All papers from the  "Button Baby" collection by Funky Hand

Plain Circle dies by Spellbinders, 2x baby ribbon

 In PSP I cropped and resized the cream paper to make a square shape, then pasted this onto the plain pinky-red paper.  After cropping down to get the sort of border width I wanted, I merged the layers and resized the whole to fit onto my card ready for printing.
The image was printed twice, then I cut out some bits from one to use for adding dimension to the base image.  I've cut out some of the button shapes from the flower-button paper to use as embellishments, and a length from the chevrons paper to use as a "ribbon" behind the focal piece.
The LO for this card comes from The Sketch File

There's a gallery on the Funky Hand website with more projects from the DT using these lovely downloads - do check them out, they are all soooooo cute!
Here's a quick peek at the paper collection - you get both colour-ways in one gorgeous download on this one, so you don't have to choose ;)

That's it, I've got to get crafting....but a cappuccino first, though
Thanks for looking in today, please come back soon

Cable Knit Pillow Box

The latest new goodies from Crafters Companion are released this evening at 9pm on Ideal World.
The DT have been really busy using all the new embossing folders, papers, Stamping Frame dies and brand new additions to the Sentimentals stamp range, along with our old favourites the quilling dies.

For this pillow box I cut and scored the pillow box shape, then ran it through the ebosser using the A4 "Cable Knit" embossing folder to get an all-over embossed design.  I used a few shades of turquoise  and aqua inks over the raised design, then once the ink was dry I folded and adhered the box into shape.
The wrap is made from some of the gorgeous paper designs on the new CD,  As well as patterned papers there are absolutely loads of embellishments ready for you to cut out and use on your projects - the little coiled rose centre for my quilled flower is one of them.

Tools and Materials

All from Crafters Companion: Embossalicious A4 Cable Knit

Die'sire Spring Cd rom (papers and embellishments)

Centura Pearl Hint of Silver

Die'sireQuilling die - Rose, large

Here's the info for this evening's TV launch

I know it's shocking to blog two days in a row, but I'll be back tomorrow with my card for The Sketch File - there'll be a sneak peek of that later today on The Sketch File blog though....

Thanks for visiting

Old but not forgotten

This week's Daring Cardmakers's challenge is all about looking back to the things we used when we first started card-making.  It's Sharon who is our hostess and she says:

For my dare, I want you to think back to your very first crafty purchases and try and use something

Old but not forgotten

Have a look through your stash and see what you can find - maybe you've still got some of the very first stamp sets you bought, or if you're like me, you've still got papers and embellishments because you hate to throw anything away.

Well, it was all my mum's fault really - we saw some handmade cards and she said "You could do that" - she always had great and possibly unfounded faith in my creative abilities hehe!  Anyway, I thought I'd have a go. 
I went to a couple of classes right back at the start - these taught me something quite quickly -this was that stamping was never going to be my thing.
I like to get a lot for my money and soon discovered that buying patterned paper sets opened a whole realm of possibilities as you could make lots of "faux" embellishments like brads and ribbons as well as using it for backgrounds, layering, making flowers and all sorts of other things.
Which is probably why my shelves are groaning under the weight of 12x12, 8x8, 6x6 and A4 papers and so many other types of paper that it's never ev er all going to be used.
Periodically I have a sort and off load some of the "I am never going to use this" papers, but more often even if they've sat unloved for years I can't bear to get rid of them because of that naughty, niggling voice that says "throw it out now and you'll need it next week" - you know the one, I'm sure you do!
In the last couple of years I've gone right off Basic Grey papers, but back in the day they were the very first I bought and among those first purchases was one that I've loved ever since - even though I don't use them very often.  You know you love a paper set when you buy it in all the size formats and then go back and buy more,  BG's "Fusion" collection was one of these - I adore the colours, the "textures" and all of the patterns and I don't think I'll ever pull that box out and find I've gone off them!  Which is probably why I managed to make my card using only scraps and didn't need to cut into any larger sheets!
I'be just remembered that the book cover - a photo of which is my blog header was made with these papers!

The first major tool purchase I made, and first venture into the wonderful world of die cutting was the old blue Quickutz machine - it was soon replaced by the improved pink version.  They were hard work but the QK dies were really cute and I was hooked on die-cutting.  The QK machine was replaced by that teeny weeny little SideKick - I really didn't like the Sizzix dies, but that little machine was brilliant! 
Years on and the machines, the dies, the embossing folders got bigger, my shoulder got sore with all the handle-cranking and forcing difficult "sandwiches" through over and over to get a decent cut.
So now I have the grand-daddy of them all - an electronic die cutter and embossing machine, the wonderful ebosser - oh wow, what a machine!

I've used an old QK birthday cake die for my card and sat it on a very much newer Die'Sire diecut.  I think I need to reassess how I store all those little 2" dies as I'm sure I'd use them more if they were easier to get at.  Actually, probably not, but you never know!

Papers; Fusion collection from Basic Grey

Die; Birthday Cake by Quickutz

Embossing Folders; Chevrons and Petite Dots, both Die'sire 

by Crafter's Companion

Doily die-cut; Chantilly Lace stamping frame set also 

Die'sire by Crafter's Companion

Hand-cut bunting, Lilac seam binding, Baker's Twine, Dewdrop stones, Gelatos for colouring embossed background and the cake pieces, Stickles glitter glue

So, will you join us on a trip down Memory Lane this week and use some of your oldest supplies, tools and stamps etc to make a card?  We'd really love to see what you make and enjoy hearing your story too. You can see the rest of the cards from the DCM Designers HERE

The problem with taking a trip down Memory Lane is that you end up rambling around a bit - which I have done for long enough, so I'll get back to the present and go and finish at least one of the half-made projects on my desk!
Thanks for bearing with me on my meanderings, hope it won't have put you off coming back soon

Honeycomb Heart

Some time ago I saw a tutorial showing how to make your own honeycomb paper - I was too busy to try it out at the time but popped it safely onto one of my Pinterest boards - how I love Pinterest!  I used to save so many wonderful things then not have a clue where I'd saved them - so many hours wasted looking through all those "saved stuff" folders!

So, thanks to Pinterest it's now just a case of logging in and scrolling through the photos till I find the one I want - the relevant link is saved as a matter of course to make it even easier to find instructions etc. The tutorial I used is HERE and was really easy to follow if you want to have a go yourself.
Having made my honeycomb paper I cut it into a heart shape to use for a Valentines card

I used the "On Target" LO for February from The Sketch File - as you can see, apart from moving it lower down the page, I used it pretty much as on the sketch

 Materials and Tools

Honeycomb paper made from tissue paper using this tutorial

February 2014 LO from The Sketch File

Patterned paper (grey and red) from an old HotP paper pad

Red and Silver card scraps

Red satin ribbon and "Be Mine" brad from stash

Embossing Folders: Chevrons from Crafters Companion, Tiny Hearts by Cuttlebug

2x heart punches, Scalloped Circle Nesties by Spellbinders

The heart folds relatively flat to fit in an envelope, then the tab made from small hearts tucks under the brad to keep the pom-pom heart open

Hope you like this one, I enjoyed making it and the honeycomb paper was nowhere near as tricky to make as you'd think.
Please leave a comment xx


 

Neon Brights

Another Friday, another Daring Cardmakers' challenge and this week it's a bit special because our own lovely Leo is offering a prize from her fab Quirky Kits Papercrafting store

Each of the Daring Cardmakers team was sent a parcel of goodies from the brand new Jan/Feb Quirky Kits and extras to use on our cards this week
Leo's challenge is to

Use a pop of neon

It was the bubblegum pink twine I found in my goodie bag that I really wanted to use.  At first I thought I'd use it to tie a bow around my card, but then I decided that it was way too long since I'd made a birdie for a card
 

 From my Quirky Kits goodies I used:

Various patterned papers. Pink Twine, Chipboard cloud and raindrops, Sentiment sticker

Other stash:

Bubblegum pink Gelato crayon used with 2x Prima stencils, Inverted Card Candy, Green pearls, Glossy Accents

Birdie, Tree  and banners are hand-cut

Plain circle Spellbinders nesties

Just to add a bit of temptation, here's a photo of the prize we have to give away this week - remember, it's a random giveaway so as long as you join in and link your card you have as much chance of winning as everyone else.

Don't forget to visit the Quirky Kits Papercrafting store to see all the gorgeous and fun kits that Leo puts together - and please pop over to the  Daring Cardmakers Blog to see more of how we used the kits and of course to join in this week!

That's it from me for this time, thank you for visiting[ please leave a message, it's always so good to know I'm not only talking to myself!

A Glimmer of Sunshine

Here in the UK the weather has been appalling - so much rain, so much flooding, so much suffering - it seems like it's been raining for ever. My heart goes out to those people, particularly in the west country who are really up against it, with homes flooded out and villages cut off because of all the water. 
When will common sense prevail and they'll stop building on flood plains and they'll realise that there was a good reason that  rivers and streams were regularly dredged in the past?  That old saying "A stitch in time saves nine" springs to mind, eh?
It might not solve the problem entirely, but surely it would help. We seem to lurch between deluges like this and water shortages like a couple of years back atm
Kathy climbs off her soapbox.



Over on The Daring Cardmakers today  Leo has chosen the February colour combo - and it's a bit like when the rain stops and the sun comes out with a grey, yellow and orange palette that we've all enjoyed using this week.  The blog looks gorgeous and definitely worth a look.

The Sketch File

My card is very simple and Kaz and Joanne will be amazed to see so much white space!  I didn't even do my usual trick of "lifting" the white space by sneaking in a bit of embossing.

I've used the February LO from The Sketch File for my card, I've just moved the feature area down to the bottom corner. 

 I couldn't decide on the "where to put the sentiment?" question - so I left it off. 
Still not sure that it doesn't need something else though...

Materials and Tools

2 x Grey-green papers from MME "Miss Caroline

Ribbon and Twill tape

Lokta paper for flower

Grey flat backed pearls

SU Blossom punch

2 x plain circle Nesties 

I love using the handmade Lokta paper for flowers, this peachy-orange stuff I bought in France a few years ago and is a bit tricky to cut because the thickness varies so much between tissue-thin and bulky bumpy bits but I think it's worth preserving as the end result is so soft and pretty

Here's a quick peek at Leo's inspiration photo for this challenge

Image source: Pinterest

That's it for this time.
Thanks for visiting

Take It Away!

it's my turn to share something Funky on the Get Funky and Craft Inspiration blog.

I'm hoping these will "whet" your appetite for some new image downloads coming soon to the Funky Hand shop.

There's a new range of takeaway coffee cup images due out in the next few days - they are so cute, and it doesn't take long to put together something with the perfect message already incorporated. 

T made this one using the  papers from the "Tea's Up!" collection which costs just £3.49.  I did most of the work on the pc, choosing the papers to use then adding the image over the papers I wanted to use, then resizing and cropping off any spare "paper" so that I only printed exactly what I needed.  Believe it or not, I was able to fit all these, including some paper for the background on to one sheet of A4

I shared another of these cards a couple of weeks back for a Daring Cardmakers challenge,

For this one I used papers from the "I Love You Sew" download collection priced at £3.19

The coffee cups on these cards are fixed to the card base with "box hinges" - I've explained a bit more about them on the GFandC BLOG so please pop over and have a look - it would be great if you'd leave a message to say you were there, too ;)

That's it for this time, I need to get back to my craft desk....