The Call of the Wild

 

  Hello!

Its been one of those weeks when everything seems to be harder work than it should be.  Consequently, I've not achieved many ticks on my to-do list. I can't be the only person who has weeks like that, can I? I have a few cards I need to make, and then there's the whole Cword making thing lurking on the horizon. Now that my birthday has gone, I will concede that the end of summer is nigh and I need to start at least thinking about Cword cards!

As it happens I was a bit stuck for ideas for Nat's DCM challenge this week and after much hunting through dies and shuffling paper I decided to dip my toe in the Cword card icy pool 

Here's Nat with this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge:

  

This week, I'm inviting you to take a walk on the wild side by featuring animal prints or wild animals on your card.

The inspiration came from my niece, who is currently going through a phase of being "a tiger" - ah the life ambitions of the young. So of course, I had to make a tiger card for her birthday!

To get you started, click HERE to see Nat's tiger card and the fabulous card ideas from the rest of the design team.

I'm not a great fan of animal print paper, fabric, clothing etc but surely I must have a bit of somewhere in my stash?  Well I couldn't find any, and I don't have much in the way of animal dies either so in the end I made my first Chrismtas card of the year. 

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White square card stencilled with a large, off-centre circle in black ink then with a Navy Embellishing mousse for depth and shine

The trees are cut in dark green and in textured silver card using a Sizzix die - I was using these for the first time and have top

 report that neither of these tree dies cut well so I'm not impressed.

The deer are from a couple of different die sets - I've been lazy and not noted down where they are from, but I can tell you that these cut very well!  Even the fiddly antler bits came out easily!

The sentiment is cut in red using a Lawn Fawn die and it cut out beautifully, despite being a really fine and fiddly font.

To finish, I used some tiny jewels for stars and red noses, and added some punched stars

 

That's all for this time - if you've got that Sizzix tree die set I'd be interested in knowing whether yours cuts out cleanly so please let me know.

 

Thank you so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to hear from you.  Otherwise I think I'm just talking to myself (again)

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe,

 

Pretty Pastels

 

 Hello!

I'm sharing another 'catch-up' card this time.  

It's q feminine and colourful birthday card, with stencilling, lots of flowers and some lovely black and white to make it all pop!

 

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I used washi tape to mask off the border, then filled the remaining square area with pastel coloured inks.  Next I taped a stencil over the top and used some glitter gel paste through it to add some sparkle

Once dry I added a Tonic Scribbled Square die cut to be the frame for my flowers. Various leaf and flower dies were used and arranged across the frame.

The sentiment piece is another of my White on Black printed ones, matted onto scraps of patterned B & W papers - I never throw the little bits away, they often come in useful!

To finish I added some tiny gems, but with hindsight, maybe this was an embellishment too far!

 That's it for this time, Thank You so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to know what you think.

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe, 

 

Upcycled Circles

 

 Hello!

This week at the Daring Cardmakers our lovely Jenny is the challenge 

setter and she's

 

Going Round in Circles!

I'd love to see circles of all sizes on your cards, you could use a round card base, a circle frame or include some spotty and dotty patterns.  I can't wait to see what you get a-round to!;)

To start you off with some ideas the design team have made some fab projects, which you can check out by clicking HERE

 

I've done a bit of upcycling with my card - we'd just chomped our way through a box of M&S chocolates and I'd had my eye on the grey and turquoise box ever since it arrived in the house! 

So, I used some of the card from the box along with some scraps of yellow and red, and one of my favourite die sets to make a card with a more masculine feel

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White square card

Turquoise and Grey card upcycled from a box of chocolates

Yellow and red card from my scraps box

Two sizes of Tonic's Scribbled Circles die set - I put the smaller one inside the larger one before cutting and saved the 'waste' bit to use aswell. 

The large letters are cut using an Altenew die set, but I'm not sure about the small ones as I've lost the insert card (it might be Sizzix) 

For the stars I've used an EK Success punch which punches several sizes and shapes of star in one punch

 

 

It's a simple and effective kind of design which works well for masculine cards with the stars, or maybe some gears instead, but would easily look more feminine with flowers and butterflies etc

The bit that took the longest was getting those little letters cut and arranged!

 

Thank you so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to hear from you.  Otherwise I think I'm just talking to myself (again)

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe,

Oh, the Romance!

Hello!

I hope you've enjoyed your week.  

I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend though, that's for sure!

It's my turn to set the challenge this week at the Daring Cardmakers and I saved something I made a few weeks ago for this one!

 

Oh, the Romance!

At the end of July,  a year later than originally planned (thanks to Covid), my eldest nephew married his beautiful bride at a lovely countryside barn venue.  After such a difficult year it was an absolute joy to be there to see them wed. 

 

I would just love to see cards celebrating and sharing the 'Lurve' 

(or Love, if you prefer!)
Love comes in all shapes and sizes, doesn't it?  So, although your card could be for a Wedding, Engagement or Anniversary but it doesn't have to be, feel free to celebrate the love you feel for your friends, family, pets...., chocolate? gin? 😀

How about a beautiful card for your best friend, for no other reason than to let them know how much having them in your life means to you.

See what our fab team created HERE

 

A special occasion deserved a special card, and because its a very 'lumpy' card, I made a box to put it in.  It wasn't going through the post so it could be as ornate as I wanted to make it!

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 I actually made the box first, then cut the card to fit inside.  I have a bad habit of making a card then finding it too big for any box-making card that I have!

I used a digital paper design to cover the front of the card, plus another for the front of the die cut heart, and more for making the roses

I used a large Spellbinders stamp and a burgundy ink-pad to stamp the 'love' background.

As well as cutting the heart in patterned paper I also cut it a few times in card, glueing the layers all together before adhering the piece in place. I then added a few random specks of glue, and when that was nearly dry put some gold leaf over them.  Once completely dry, the excess was brushed away. Next I made the paper roses, I made them in a few shade of the peachy pink papers for a bit of interest and printed the message card to tuck under them.  I die cut some leaf shapes to add behind the roses

To finish the card I twisted the stems of some tiny rosebuds and added them with a gold bow to the corner of the sentiment card, and a few gold hearts and gems sprinkled around..

I made the box from white card and then printed more of the digital paper to cover the two parts. I made a tag, and another rose to decorate the top of the box and added a little ribbon bow and some hearts to finish.

 

Thank you so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to hear from you.  Otherwise I think I'm just talking to myself!

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe,

 

 

Bright Background Squares

 Hello!

 For this week's catch-up post I'm sharing this colourful birthday card.  I needed it to stand a chance of travelling safely as it had a long journey ahead of it. So I kept it fairly flat,and tried to make impact with the colours and simple layout

 

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I've used washi tape to mask the rough rectangle shapes, then layers of ink and then Nuvo Embellishing mousse to get the bright, deep colours for the background.  

The black Scribbled Squares are cut with dies by Tonic Studios and the flower petals, stamens and stems are cut using dies from various die sets.

The sentiment piece is another of my White on Black printed ones, matted onto a tiny piece of dotty patterned paper made the same way.

 

 That's it for this time, Thank You so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to know what you think.

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe, 

 

September Inspiration

 

 

Hello!

How's your week been?  I hope its been a good one.  Usual quiet kind for us!

This week at the Daring Cardmakers Svenja is in the hot seat for the 

September Elemental Inspiration challenge

 
I put together a mood-board for our monthly picture inspiration challenge.

September Inspiration

 Please choose at least 3 elements from our picture to use when you create your card (colours only count as one element - sorry! ;-D  )

So, here it comes:

I hope you'll find plenty to choose from! 

Need some more inspiration to get you started? Just take a look at the fab creations the Design Team have created for you

Well, I must admit to having a bit of a struggle with this one.  I knew which elements I wanted to use (Wood-grain, Beads and the Seed Head image from rubber stamp in the top right)

I planned to use a gorgeous digital paper with a wood-grain pattern as the background, but that didn't work out at all, so it was time to simplify!

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White square card, with about 1cm sliced from the side to get a fat rectangle.  The front of the card was then embossed with a wood-grain effect embossing folder.

The dandelion seed head paper is a lovely digital paper, resized from its original 12x12, printed onto white Bazzill, trimmed and matted onto white and black Bazzill

The flower is created using white Bazzill card, an EK Success craft punch and some ready made stamen, which I coloured with Nuvo Embellishing mousse to match the paper. To finish it I put a blob of Glossy Accents in the centre and added some silver micro beads.

The frond and seed head shapes are die cut from a textured silver card.

I threaded a pastel colour mix of beads onto silver thread and made holes to tie the ends of the thread through.

To complete this card I added one of the white on black sentiments from a bunch I made a while ago.

Thank you so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to hear from you.  Otherwise I think I'm just talking to myself!

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe,

Play that Funky Music

Hello!

Another catch-up post today, this time a music themed card made for my guitar-playing cousin's birthday back in March  - yes, I really am that far behind!

 

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I used a digital image for the music notes background

 which I printed directly onto the front to a square white card blank/

 I added strips of various black and white papers across the card, plus the happy birthday sentiment

The guitars are from a really useful DoCrafts XCut die set which has lots of musical instruments in it. I cut one in black card and the other in silver to stand out against the monochrome background

  That's it for this time, Thank You so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to know what you think.

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe, 

 

 

Hot Air Ballooning

 Hello!

I wonder how you  feel about travelling around atm?

I'm not keen on the idea, and for now any escapes to the sun will be in my imagination only!

This week at the Daring Cardmakers Rizwana is in the hot seat and she's sending us on our travels, even if its just in our dreams!

 

BON VOYAGE
Holidays seem to have a whole new meaning and experience now.
Is there a favourite place you'd like to travel to or revisit?
This week's challenge is all about travel so I would love to see maps, directions, tickets, planes, trains or automobiles.
Anything travel related you could even use your best holiday destination.Here are some ideas from our fabulous design team
to help inspire you.
Have fun!!

You can see how and where we're 'travelling' to over on our blog HERE

 

Once upon a time I was given a balloon ride as a Christmas gift.  It was to take place in Bath, which is a bit of a trek from where we live, but we booked the ride, and a few days there and set off.  The weather was wrong all through our visit, so I didn't fly.  We booked again a few weeks later and the same thing happened.  Despite a few more trips over to Bath in the next few months I never did get that balloon ride.  In the end we just gave up and pretended the whole idea had never existed! 

So if you fancy the idea, take my advice and book it near where you live, or somewhere where the weather is more forgiving!

Anyway, I decided to go with a hot air balloon for my card this week

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White square card, the central section masked off with torn washi tape for a wobbly edge and inked with several shades of light blue ink.

The balloon die cut is by DoCrafts XCut, cut in a dull gold card.  I cut another layer in black and glued them together onto a base layer of a plain black card circle,

Next I coloured pieces of scrap card in green, pink and blue Nuvo mousse and die cut them to fill in the coloured sections of the balloon

I damped the top layer of brown paper from a small box and removed it to reveal the narrow corrugated inner layer(small boxes have smaller wrinkles!).  I then cut

a panel to fit the balloon die cut and glued the balloon in place.

Before adhering the balloon section in place, I glued some loops of gold thread across the blue panel to add some extra interest to the card.

 

 
I've left this card without a sentiment for the moment - its the sort of card that will work for various reasons and occasions so I'll add a sentiment when I want to use it.

 

Thank you so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to hear from you.  Otherwise I think I'm just talking to myself (again)

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe,

On the Tiles Birthday

Hello!

I've a tiled card to share today on my catch-up campaign! 

Its actually made using the 'waste' from cutting out a trellis patterned background die.  I'd coloured a piece of card and used it to make the trellis pattern for something else, but was left with all these pretty intricate shapes that fell out once it was cut. Far too pretty to just throw away, so I used the die to help me arrange them onto my card

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Square card blank with a narrow strip cut off to make a 'fat rectangle'

The original piece of card was inked with various lemons through to orange and some reddish shades. The die used is a large Spellbinders background trellis design.  

Once the tiles were in place I added the white and orange strip across the front and cut some 'HAPPY' letters and 'birthday' word to match the shades of the tiles.

To complete the card I made an orange and yellow flower and a green leaf to the sentiment panel.

Short and sweet today!  Hope you like this idea for making use of the bits you might otherwise throw away when cutting this kind of die.

  That's it for this time, Thank You so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to know what you think.

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe, 

 

Cheers!

 

 Hello!

My blogging over the last few months has been very hit and miss, so I've decided that trying to keep them shorter and not go off on my waffly tangents might help!

In reality, it won't make a ha'peth (how do you spell that, anyway?) of difference to my being organised and up to date with my blog, but I can at least try to fool myself....

 

This week Ruth is in the hot seat over at the Daring Cardmakers

 

10 Green Bottles
It's Ruth - your hostess for this week's challenge and I'd like to see anything to do with a bottle - or maybe even 10 green bottles.  Wine bottles, Beer bottles, Perfume bottles, Small ones, big ones, full ones, empty ones...

We've got some great ideas over on the blog, you can see check them out HERE

 

I thought this challenge would be brilliant for a 'get ahead' project as I have a few men's cards to make for the next  few weeks.  I really wanted wine bottles, but I don't have a die for those and I couldn't be bothered doing them on my Silhouette.  That's one of the things that doesn't get so much use with OH working from home.  Too noisy!

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The bottles are cut using a Joanna Sheen die.  I cut them in a variety of blue, green and brown card scraps, then I used various dies and punches to make the labels. I again used bits and pieces from my scraps boxes plus some shiny gold shapes to add some colour and pattern to the labels. To finish each bottle I added a gold cap to each. Before gluing them onto the card I added a piece of chipboard to the backs to give some dimension.

Next I used my favourite Spellbinders alphabet set (the one with the lost 'A' - but no 'A' needed for this  - hah!) to create the lettering. 

 Each letter is four layers of brown card, topped with one layer cut from a piece of wood patterned digital paper I found in my scrap box (Never throw anything away 😜)

Once I'd worked out a layout I was happy with I glued everything down.

 

It turned out a bit more time-consuming than I'd planned, but I like it - what do you think?

Thank you so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to hear from you.  Otherwise I think I'm just talking to myself (again)

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe,

A Little Bit of Love

Hello!

Once again on my catch-up campaign today I've a little love heart gift card to share.  It was made in a hurry and the photos also taken in a hurry, which is why they are so rubbish - sorry!

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12x12 square card blank 

Aqua card for hearts and sentiment

White textured and Aqua mirror card for backing square

The two sizes of heart are die cut and embossed using a Tonic die set. a small piece of chipboard was placed between the layers for extra dimension

'Love' is from a Spellbinders set

The card was completed with some small metallic gems

Short and sweet today!  Hope you like this simple little card idea

  That's it for this time, Thank You so much for coming by, please don't go without leaving a little message as I do love to know what you think.

 

 Happy Crafting, Stay Safe,