In Safe Keeping

Our lovely Zuzana is in the Daring Cardmakers' dare-setter's chair this week and she's chosen a challenge called

In Safe Keeping

 - I dare you to create cards with pockets and/or envelopes on.

Well as soon as I saw this one I knew what I wanted to do - it's ages since I made a "pocket card" and they are quite nice to make so a good chance to remind myself how to make them!
Now, usually I make these to fit a DL envelope, so they are a tall, skinny shape, with a long insert in the pocket, I thought I'd experiment with a different size and shape this time and came up with this

The thing I don't like about pocket cards is that, as the pocket is the actual card and it doesn't open in the usual way it doesn't stand up on it's own and you have to prop it up against a wall or something if you want to display it.  I find this annoying, so I always incorporate some sort of stand "mechanism to the back of the pocket to get over that. 

I think the regular 350gsm card I use is too thick for something which has a minimum of three layers (more here the tabs for forming and sealing the pocket edges are), especially if I then cover it with paper, so I use something more like a 180g for these.
In this case I had a moment of enlightenment - they don't happen very often so you've got to grab them when they do, haven't you?  Well, this one was to cut out the "cover pocket with paper" step and instead use some Funky Hand designs which I could print direct onto some white Bazzill card, then create the basic pocket from the ready-decorated card.  I do love the effect you get by printing FH onto textured Bazzill - it really adds so much to the designs, and this paper set "Fading Beauty" has several  textured-look designs which worked really well on a card with "actual" texture

 Materials and Tools

All papers  Fading Beauty download from Funky Hand, printed onto both sides of 

Classic texture Bazzill white card

Various pearls and gems

Seam binding used for the multi layered bow 

EK Success border punch

Large flower created using SU Blossom punch

Flower centre is the stamen from a DieNamics flower die

Swirls behind the flower are "Curly Swirlies"die  by Taylored Expressons

Hand cut tiny coiled roses

Leaves behind the roses are cut from one of the"Sprigs" Die D-Lites by Spellbinders

Here's a quick peek at more of this paper set just to add some temptation - great value at £2.99

Fading Beauty download from Funky Hand,

As you can see, the insert isn't exactly finished - I've not decided what sentiment to put on it yet so will add that onto a doily-type die cut later- though, wouldn't this sort of card make a lovely note card, with all the space to write in?
I really should make more of these cards, I enjoyed making this one!

Please pop over to the Daring Caardmakers Blog to see all the pockets and envelopes the team have incorporated into their cards this time

That's all for this time, Thanks for visiting

Heads Up, Thinking Caps On, Get Ahead wiith a Hat

It’s Miri 's turn to set the challenge on the Daring Cardmakers blog this week

"You can leave your hat on!"

I dare you to use any kind of head gear on your card: party hats, helmets, woolly hats, crowns, fascinators etc.

So put on your thinking cap :-), create a card and share it with us!

Head over to the BLOG to see how this challenge went to our Heads....

Well, that sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?
How often does it happen that the ones that sound the easiest turn out the hardest to actually do?  Having thought about the challenge all week, I was still clueless yesterday lunchtime.  Not being a stamp and colour sort of cardmaker I couldn't reach for a stamp or digi  and most of the ideas I did have were far too complicated to make when time was running out!
I do like to make cards that I'll be able to use too - maybe if I put this out of my head it would be easier....
Back last summer I made a graduation card for the eldest of my nephews who'd gained a First from Sheffield Uni - couldn't help feeling a bit peeved that I couldn't use that one!  But then I realised that I have another nephew who will graduate from Uni this year and although I couldn't really make the same card again, maybe getting AHEAD and making one for him was the solution I needed!
Honestly, if I stopped thinking so much and just made something my crafting life would be a lot easier! 
So anyway. here's the card

Materials and Tools

Centura Pearl White with a hint of Silver card for base and upper piece

Dark Grey Bazzill (sentiment, and lower background piece)

Black. Blu, Golden Yellow  Bazzill (mortar boards)

Smooth black card and Silver corrugated paper for upper panel

Scraps of various colours and different card types for stars

Silhouette to cut mortar boards  and sentiment - own template

2x small star punches

I cut the mortar boards in three sizes - the idea being that it reflects the tradition of the students all throwing their mortar boards up in the air after the ceremonies.

So that's it for this time, I wonder if I'll be able to find this card when I actually need it? hmm
Thanks for looking, please leave a message ;)

Pretty Gift Basket

I saw a picture of one of these baskets some time ago and thought they looked lovely, so saved the picture for future reference. 
Now that all the Christmas panic is over and there's a little gap before the Birthday List gets going I have a little time to just play.

This would be perfect for presenting a bag of mini eggs, a chocolate Easter bunny or something like that, but I raided my Molton Brown stash and filled it with these...and no, I'm not giving it away!

I used two designs from Funky Hand's Little Princess download, printed on either side of an A4 sheet of card to make this.  One sheet was enough to make the whole basket, though it's easy to adjust the size to make larger or smaller versions
 

 Materials and Tools

1x A4 sheet Bazzill Bling card in Diamond White

2 designs from the Little Princess download by Funky Hand

2x medium brads

Circle punch

Ink for edging, Craft knife

I had a couple of false starts before I got it to work, so thank goodness that for once I had the sense to use some scrap paper first before cutting up the I  "real" stuff. 
Anyway, I hope you like it.

Thanks for looking

January Blues

It's Daring Cardmakers day again and this week's challenge is:

January Blues

You are free to use the title however you want; it could be a "just to cheer you up" or "sorry to hear you're feeling blue" card,  a card with shades of blue as the main colour, or something else inspired by the heading.  Lets chase the January Blues away with some quality time spent getting creative!

 Blue is my favourite colour, but it's not always the easiest colour to craft with - so many shades and tones and they don't always go together very happily.  I usually gravitate towards the turquoise end of the blue spectrum because I love turquoise the best of all, so to make it a bit harder for myself I thought I'd try to stay in the true blue area this time.

Tools and Materials

Papers: Funky Hand "Hey Baby Boy" set from CD "Wishes and Kisses"*

Silhouette-cut "hello" using one of the Winter Wedding download papers, also
Funky Hand

Multi layered butterfly; Memory Box die

Leaf swirl; Spellbinders die

Small pearls

*This CD is currently on sale for only £1 (while stocks last)

That's it for now, it would be great if you'd join in with us this week, thanks for looking

It's Elemental, my Dear Watson

Oh, what a poor neglected blog this is! Time to try and get back into the swing of more regular blogging.  I don't make New Years Resolutions because I'm rubbish at keeping them and that's just depressing, but one of my "Try Harders" for 2015 is about being a better blogger 

After a few years of the Colour Combos over on the Daring Cardmakers, there's a new year long theme for the First Friday of the Month, inspired by one of Nat's regular dares last year

"Elemental Inspiration"

Here's how it works;

The DT will take turns to choose and post a picture - it could be a photo, a piece of artwork, or maybe a little montage of  bits and pieces we like.  

Each of these pictures will have a variety of "elements" that we hope will inspire you to get crafting - and we'd like you to use a minimum of THREE.of the elements you see to make a card  

 For instance the Element Suggestions for the January picture are: 

 colours, stitching, hearts, quote, vintage girl image, parasol, layout, vertical panels and layers - but of course you'll probably see many more that you can incorporate

I'm the first to set this new type of challenge and I've chosen a beautiful piece of artwork from a fabulous blog: Victoria's Art Visions.

It really is worth taking a look at Victoria's blog, she is sooooo talented

Victoria's Art Visions

The elements from this picture that I've used to make my card are 1. the colours 2. the "stitching lines", 3. the hearts and then a "bonus" element with the wording style for my sentiment 
here's my card:

 Materials and Tools

Black card blank

Cream card for inked piece and surround

Distress Inks and Memento Inks

Stickles and Gklossy Accents

Stamps from Self Addressed (now defunct, sadly), Heidi Swapp and 7 Gypsies

PC generated World image

Hand-cut hearts, Punched tiny hearts

Hand-drawn doodling and sentiment

The background for this went together really easily - Getting the greeny shade in was tricky - it is there, but doesn't show up much. 

I thought that I'd go with the message behind the original quotation and not get bogged down trying to make everything perfect, this made using stamps less scary for me - if you visit regularly you'll know stamoing is not my favourite thing! 

Using those stitching line stamps from an old Self Addressed kit made me sad for it's demise - I used to love getting my box of goodies through the post all the way from America every month

The measuring tape stamps and the ink blot are from a Steampunk set by 7 Gypsies. I thought there was a globe one in the set which would work with the sentiment I wanted to use, but there wasn't so I had to hunt out a suitable image on Google instead

The stamped words are from a Heidi Swapp stamp thingummy - its like one of those old library date stamp things where you twist the knob to get a new message.  I thought it looked cute and useful when I added it to a Christmas Wish List years ago, but in reality I think maybe this is the first time I've actually made something using it

Anyway, I had fun making this and as it was my first piece of crafting since before Christmas it didn't go too badly....Heck, I may even make something else soon!

Hope you like it, and I'm also hoping you'll feel inspired to join in with us this week - it would make me very chuffed if you did! 

Hope 2015 is full of good things for you, Happy New Year

Shaky - In More Ways than One

I've never had much luck with Shaker cards, so my heart sank when Sharon issued the latest challenge for The Daring Cardmakers.
But a challenge is a challenge!

Hi, it's Sharon here with this week's dare and I've chosen:

Shake it Off

I want to see shaker cards this week, and I'd really love to see some creative ways to fill them.

To get you thinking,t here are some ideas from the design team HERE

Tools and Materials

Papers: Simple Stories 6x6 pads

Glitter card, Gold card

Memory Bos Snowflake Wreath die

Sweet Dixie tree die

Spellbinders Circle die

Tiny snowflakes and stars left over from other projects

Glitter, Gems,

Plastic packaging for shaker front (I can't find my acetate sheets) 

As usual when I try to make this kind of card it's a bit of a dog's breakfast and I think it looks more like fog than a starry, snowy scene behind the acetate! 

 It would be too easy to say, "I'm useless at these things so I'll just sit this one out" wouldn't it?.  What I like about being involved with the DCM is the variety of things we are asked to do, and how some weeks' dares will stretch some of us, but not others - we are all different and we all bring different likes. dislikes, skills, styles and techniques to the party - which is probably why we still enjoy doing it every week!
So if you've never made a shaker card before, or if like me they are not something you feel super-confident about - go on, have a go - I dare you!

Thanks for visiting

Sketch File Snowflake panel

I rather liked the effect from using all those tiny snowflakes on my Daring card last Friday, so I thought I'd try using them in another way and incorporate them into a card using the December sketch from The Sketch File Blog  

To keep the snowflakes and stars in the confines of the rectangular panel I washi-taped a rectangular frame die in place then just filled the "hole" with the tiny die cuts.  it's not as fiddly as you'd think - I put a blob of glue on the lid of my glue pot, then use a mini spatula which is just a piece of card (a few cms long)  with one end trimmed to a bit of a point.  Dip the point into the glue, use it to pick up and set the small item in place and repeat till the space is filled.  You don't need to cover the whole of the die cut with glue, just a tiny spot will keep it in place.
When you can't fit any more snowflakes in, use tiny stars, circles, gems, tiny blobs of glitter glue or whatever else you have at hand to fill any gaps. 

Remove the tape and the frame die and finish the card however you fancy. 

 This the sketch:

The Sketch File Blog 

I cut a few larger snowflakes and layered them up to make my card.  On a bit of a roll, and with more snowflakes ans stars still to use I made these too

Now, I reckon this would look fab using other shapes - I'm thinking a nice big star, but whether I'll get round to giving that a go is another thing!

Hope you like these, anyway.  Thanks for visiting

Red and Blue

It's Dawn's first time setting a dare for the Daring Cardnakers this week and to ease her in gently she's chose the colour palette for our last Colour Combo of the year.

The challenge is very simple - just to use any shades of Red and Blue on our cards

"I really do love seeing red and blue on Christmas cards or as a theme for your Christmas tree.  Something a little non traditional.  Hope this weeks challenge kick starts your creativeness ready for the festive season."

My growing snowflake die collection got another workout this week!

 

The papers are from an old Fancy Pants winter collection, along with some glitter card and pearlised card
The dies are from various manufacturers including memory Box, Poppystamps, Crafters Companion and Sweet Dixie.  The small ones are cut using a fabulous 10x10cm plate die by Cheery Lynn - I really use this one loads!


Dawn gave us this photo as a starting point but it was a good job she said any Blue would do!

The snowflake and star "swirl" was originally going to be a simple circle but I got a bit carried away, didn't I? hehe 
Gaps are filled in with tiny stars (EK Success punch), and a few dots which are the "waste"that falls when you use some of the border punches - though in this case it was the waste bits I wanted.

 

I absolutely LOVE the effect of all the tiny snowflakes and stars, even if it was a bit accidental!  I'm going to try and use this idea some more, so "watch this space" to see if I actually get round to it!

Thanks for popping by

Nice and Easy Sketch

I've used the new LO from The Sketch File Blog to make this card,  When I'm so behind with my card-making, a simple and straightforward plan is exactly what I need!

 
The script background is just a scanned piece from "The Night Before Christmas", printed onto some white Bazzill card which I'd previously tinted a very pale grey shade using Paint Shop Pro - because I didn't have a pale enough ready-made piece.
The sentiment with the little snowflakes was printed directly onto the card blank
I've a growing collection of snowflake dies in different sizes so I cut a big batch of them in various colours and papers,  then just do an assembly job until I run out.
Here's the sketch:

The Sketch File December LO

 Oh well, best get back to it then, thanks for looking in

I Forgot my Forgotten Funky

The last Friday of the month is the day all the Funkettes post something on the Get Funky and Craft blog, all of us using the same Funky Hand CD or Download - so how come I nearly always forget to have something ready?

On Thursday afternoon when Anice issued a friendly reminder of the date I had a little panic, but found some pieces of the right papers actually in one of the piles of stuff on my desk, because I used the "Sleigh Ride" a while back  to make a gift bag.

I grabbed them and made a quick card to add to the blog post.  It was a bit of a pig's ear to be honest, so when OH rang to say he was going to be a bit late home I went back to my desk and had another go.
Well, that didn't go well either!
So the card I put  on the blog on Thursday night had to do for the Friday morning launch.

Well, with a little more time and feeling a bit less frazzled I sat down at my desk this morning and made something I like much more - and it gave me the chance to try out another of my "home made" sentiment panels = you can see another on my Daring Cardmakers card if you scroll down to the post before this one

I really love the "Sleigh Ride" download and often use it for my projects as the colours and lots of the designs are just great for all year round crafting

Funky Hand "Sleigh Ride"

The sentiment panel is created using Paint Shop Pro using fonts and dingbats. For this card I added colours to the dingbats to match the colours in the papers before printing out.

The stars were cut with some of the dies from a nested die set (Taylored Expressions) using  more designs from the  "Sleigh Ride" collection along with a few in glitter paper for a bit of festive bling

I'm going to have a look at the two rejected cards to see if I can save them, so watch this space!

Thanks for looking. please leave a message.....

Cottoning On....

Another Friday another Daring Cardmakers day and this time it's Jo setting the challenge

It's Jo here with this week's dare;

Cottoning On!
This week, I'd like to see some cotton on your cards, cotton thread, cotton wool, cotton yarn...
The DT have created some beautiful cards to inspire you; and you can see them all by clicking HERE

A couple of years ago I bought a pack of beautiful fabric "trims" which were part of a Websters Pages Christmas range.  I will admit that I've not really used much of them so this challenge was a great opportunity to hunt them out.
With the lovely, quite wide and rather opulent piece of fabric as a starting point there didn't seem much point in half measures, so I threw all my favourite card-making "excesses" at this one - ribbon, lace, a big flower, some glitter and lovely rich shades - this was fun to put together

 
I've been playing around with Paint Shop Pro on the pc using different fonts and quotations etc to make some sentiments for my cards.  This is one of those I've made - having worked out the layout and which font to use for the words I then added the little holly motifs which are from a Christmas dingbat font (found on DaFont) - I just "coloured" them in later with the "fill" tool.  
What you end up with is something along the lines of a stamped sentiment, but with the added bonus of being able to resize it, or even change the font or icons if you want

Tools and Materials:

Cream, ribbed card blank

Cream card, lightly inked for printing sentiment panel

Dark red glitter card,  Dark red Stickles glitter glue

Red, Yellow and Green Bazzill card for flower

Gold card

Wide Christmas fabric "ribbon" (Websters Pages)

Cream cotton lace (Charmed Cards and Craft)

Very narrow Red stain ribbon

Gold lurex ribbon (under the lace)

Border punch (Martha Stewart)

Poinsettia die (MFT DieNamics) 

Tiny Holly die (Memory Box) 

Although there's lots going on in this card and quite a few "processes" involved this all went together really easily.  Funny how things do that sometime

Thanks for coming by, I hope you like my card

Something Old, Something New

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

"I have gone for one that allows for "seasonal" choices but is also something fun if you have either smugly made all your cards or are still in denial about what happens near the end of December...
Something Old, Something New
Most paper crafters have something in their stash that they have bought but never got round to using. If that isn't you - well done! But you can still play along as the idea of this dare is to combine a new and unused/ fresh out of the packet and only used a little product with something that has been hanging round in your craft space for a while."

You can see all the cards we've made using our Old and New stash by visiting the BLOG, here.

OK so I may have indulged myself a little and bought a few new dies in the lead up to the Festive Season, but I've already used some of those for cards I've shown on here, so in the spirit of the dare, I actually chose to use the brand new, as yet unopened pack of nesting star dies to make my card this week. 
My "Something Old" is pretty much everything else, but especially the papers, which I bought a couple of years ago but haven't really used much at all

Tools and Materials

Kraft Square card blank

Papers: Bazzill "Believe" 6x6 paper pack

Strip of  Dark Red Bazzill card

Dark Red and Gold Glitter card

Gold Vellum

Gold cord

Decal sticker sentiment

Ink: Rhubarb Stalk dewdrop (Memento)

Nested Stars Die set (Taylored Expressions)

Tiny Stars punch - punches 6 at once (EK Success)

At first I only had the glitter card and "music paper stars, but it looked very dull, so I added another star cut from gold vellum and it's amazing the difference it made in brightening up the whole thing
The small stars are hanging loose on the cord strands so there's a bit of movement in the finished card too.  I hope you like it

 Thanks for visiting, please leave a comment

In a Flap for November

With hardly any Christmas cards made yet I'm definitely in a bit of a flap in that regard!
"In a Flap" is the name of the November LO idea on The Sketch File Blog and I've used it to make a couple of  cards so far - Christmas cards, so that's at least 2 in the box!
The sketch actually went live a couple of weeks ago but I completely forgot to blog my cards here

 For my first card I used the sketch the "right" way up and used my new star die

 Tools and Materials:

Cream card, Red card

Red and Gold Glitter card

Gold ribbon

Homemade sticker sentiment

Dies: Spellbinder scalloped circle

Sweet Dixie star

Various star punches

The little hearts around the scalloped edge are waste from the 2 star die cuts

Here is the sketch:

For this week's card I turned the sketch upside down to make a snow "hill" for the tree to stand on

 Tools and Materials:

White card

Dark Blue card embossed with "Petite Dots" (Crafters Companion)

Green and Silver Glitter card

Silver cord

Homemade sticker sentiment

Dies: Spellbinder plain circle, Sweet Dixie Tree, Cheery Lynn snowflake plate

Small and tiny star punches

Well, that's it for this time
Thanks for looking

Light a Candle

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

 "Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."    ~Buddha
So this week I'd simply like to see some candles on your cards, whether its just one candle or lots of them - and for any reason you want.

It always takes me a while to get into "Christmas card mode", and I try to keep the bulk of my Christmas cards fairly simple to put together (which isn't usually the case with my cards). so it's nice to use the DCM challenges to have a bit more fun with embellishments, dimension and lots of layers!

The main trouble this week was that it's my challenge - and most of the team will tell you that making something for your own challenge is the hardest of all.  Why that should be the case is a mystery, but that's the way it is!
Thus, it shouldn't have been a surprise when  this one took most of the day to make - and  I'm not happy because I wanted to use red ribbon  but didn't have enough of the right shade to do it. maybe  I should have planned ahead....haha, that'll be the day!

This one involved lots of die-cutting, making and cutting templates for the Silhouette and some ridiculously fiddly sticking of tiny berries which I could have done much more quickly and easily with blobs of Stickles....but by that time my brain was frazzled!
I bought the holly border last year and find it quite handy as because the very fine strand that joins the leaves  allows it to be quite pliable for bending into different shapes - like a circle for instance....

Tools and Materials

Cream card blank

Papers: Sleigh Ride download by Funky Hand

Bazzill card: white (for printing papers on to), dark green for larger holly

Dark Red Glitter paper (Best Creations)

Green ribbon, Srickles (yellow, dark red)

Candles and flames are handcut

Sentiment is pc generated

 Silhouette Cameo:

Frame with circle in it, plus the turquoise mat behind it

Petals for the poinsettia

Dies: 

Large holly; Crafters Companion

Holly border die (Memory Box), I've used 3 of the strands to go around the circle and to make the wreath and add some extra strands to fill it out, plus a 4th  on the side panel at the right

Mini Holly Leaves and Berries ( Memory Box) for extra leaves

Slellbinders Labels 34 to make backing for sentiment 

Snowflakes cut using a Cheery Lynn plate of tiny snowflakes

There  are some fantastic ideas on ways to use candles on cards from our fab Design Team over on the blog, so please check them out HERE
I hope you'll join in and play along this week
Thanks for visiting

Forgetful

I'm not sure how it happened but I've completely forgot to update my blog for the last couple of weeks - I even forgot to add the card I made for last week's Daring Cardmakers challenge - which is really bad as DCM Fridays are usually the ones I remember to blog, even if I don't add anything else during the week.

So today I've a Daring Double to share

First up is this week's challenge, set by Leo and as it's the First Friday of the Month it's our November Colour Palette Challenge.
Leo chose Gold, Rose-Gold, Silver and Linen White as the colour combo and I made this card

I didn't have anything I felt met the "Rose Gold" shade, so I opened a new document in Paint Shop Pro,  hovered my mouse over the Rose Gold squares on Leo's inspiration board to get the RGB colour match and used the "fill" tool to cover the page.  I then printed it onto an A5 piece of Bazzill Bling in  "Diamond White" which meant the printed piece of card has texture and a lovely soft sheen.
Here's a screenshot of how to get the RGB codes, just in case you are interested

Here is Leo's inspiration picture

Tools and Materials:

Smooth White square card blank, plus scrap for snowflakes

Bazzill Bling Diamond White card for printing with colour

Bazzill Bling Diamond White card left white for embossed panel

Plain Gold card for sentiment

Silver and Gold glitter card (Best Creations)

Pearls and tiny silver gems

"Christmas" cut from my own Silhouette Cameo template 

Baubles cut with a Memory Box die, Snowflakes with a Cheery Lynn die plate of small snowflakes

Last week, Bat asked us to use some googly or whacky eyes on our cards - this was such a fun challenge and I absolutely loved seeing the cards the team made - so may inspiring ideas on how to use them!
I used a template I made for my old Craft Robo a few years ago and now cut with the Silhouette

Tools and Materials:

Smooth White square card blank

Deep Blue card (Bazzill)

Snowflake background is a digital design printed onto Diamond White (Bazzill Bling)

Blue-grey and Green glitter card (Best Creations)

Red, white, peach card scraps

Googly Eyes, Stickles Ice crystal glitter glue

Father Christmas cut from my own  template using Silhouette Cameo

Holly die (Crafters Companion)

Fancy Scalloped Circle die (Spellbinders)

Last week was Dare 52 of Year 8 for the Daring Cardmakers - a full 8 years of setting challenges - which is amazing.  Leo's colour choice for this week is perfect for celebrating  Dare 1 of Year 9 and  the start of a whole new year for us.   I hope you'll pop across and see what the team have made this week.

Thank you for coming by today