Buzz Buzz

Hello

 

Hope you had a lovely Easter, and that the rest of the week was good too.  It's been very sunny most of this week, but chilly and quite blustery - and some frosty mornings too!  Our magnolia tree, which looked beautiful last weekend wasn't very keen on the frost and is looking very sorry for itself now.

We're 'in the garden' for this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge, which has been set by Shabneez

Let's Hear It For The Bees!

I would like to celebrate bees this week so would love to see anything related to them on your cards.  You could use beehives, honeycomb shapes, honey coloured ink etc - extra points for using a combination of elements

 Click here to see this week's design team inspiration  

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I started with a smooth white card blank and stencilled the background using a Crafter's Workshop Honeycomb stencil with a few shades of yellow ink, plus some a little Indian Gold Tonic Nuvo Embellishment mousse.
 Next I made the bee using a Spellbinders die.  I cut

it once each in yellow, black and twice from vellum. 

The wings were cut away from the black layer and this became the base layer of the bee.

Only the wing sections were kept from the vellum layers, and these were glued in place on the top of the black section

The legs and wings were cut away from the yellow piece and discarded. Black stripes were added to the body and head, then it was adhered on top to complete the bee.

The sunflower was created from inked yellow card using a wonderful Spellbinders sunflower die from the 'Build a Flower' range.

Whenever I need to make a new white on black sentiment, I always do a little batch of the words and phrases I use most.  I do them in different sizes and fonts, to save and use later and make it worth the effort creating them and persuading the printer to play nicely (why are printers always so bolshy?), so these were some from my bag of spares!

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you'll leave a comment, I really appreciate it when you do!

Happy Crafting, and please take care of yourself.

Love April

  Hello, Happy Friday!

I hope you've had a good week, it was really warm earlier in the week, but now Easter weekend has arrived its turned a bit chilly - typical!

Hubby and I had our first doses of the Covid vaccine on Monday.  I felt a bit achy and tired for a couple of days, but other wise it was fine, but what with that and hayfever symptoms shooting through the roof its been a tricky kind of week.

The only crafting I managed was my card for this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge, its Jenny's turn to select the moodboard for our monthly Elemental challenge

 

April's Elemental Inspiration 

Just pick a minimum of 3 elements from Jenny's beautiful moodboard to use when making your card. 

The Colour palette counts as 1 element. 

we can't wait to see what you choose, and what you make!

 Click here to see this week's design team inspiration 

I loved the subtle book page background, so decided to create something similar, then use a heart and a flower as my other elements - I thought I could use this to trial an idea for a wedding card I need later in the year.

 

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Smooth white card blank

Digital papers from Raspberry Road (via Etsy), resized and printed onto textured Bazzill white card. I covered the card blank with one of the papers, then inked up a fab 'love' words background stamp from Spellbinders in a deeper peach/brick red shade - ,my idea was to only ink parts of it to get a mottled kind of imprint - but I may have got a bit stamp-pad happy!

 Next I printed out another of the paper designs to die cut the glorious Heart (also Spellbinders).  Its quite a large die so doesn't get used as often as I'd like!  This time I also cut a couple of extra hearts from a toning plain pinky-peach shade of card and layered the three together before adhering off-centre to the card.

For the flower I chose another of the digital papers and this time printed on both sides of the white Bazzill.  A large flower punch was used for the petals, my Rose Tutorial is HERE. 

I placed the rose to the side of the heart then cut the 'Love' word it two layers of deep coloured card to match the stamped words and once in an embossed gold card. The coloured layers were matted together, then the gold one added on top, but offset a little

Thank you so much for visiting today.  I'd like to know what you think, so I hope you'll leave a comment - they are really appreciated

 Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

Word Art

 

 Hello

As I write this, we have bright sunshine and pouring rain - yes, both at the same time!  The thing about English weather is that you can always relay on it to be unreliable 😂

 No more waffle, lets get straight to this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge, as I'm late again!

I had a pretty good idea how my card would look, which is often the hard bit - but this time it was the background that caused the trouble for me - thanl heavens I decided to do that bit on pieces of plain card rather than straight onto a card blank as there would have been an awful lot of wastage.  As it is, hopefully I can reclaim some of this little lot to use in some way!

 Anyway, It's Nat who brought such torture to my craft table, but as she's so lovely, I'll forgive her!☺️

Nat says:

For this week's dare, I want you to focus on words.

The sentiment for your card needs to be the star of the show and feature prominently as the main element.

It can be oversized, it can be created with negative die-cutting, it can be a mix of font styles (stamped/die cut). Whatever you choose the sentiment shouldn't be overshadowed by other elements in your design.

 Click here to see this week's design team inspiration  

  

So, having failed to make anything usable, I gave up and decided to start again on another day. This time I thought it best to go back to some current favourite things, stencils and Nuvo
Embellishment mousse

 

 

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Smooth white square card blank, with the lower section inked using  teal and deep blue ink pads.  I inked another piece for cutting the sentiment and coloured a second piece using gold Nuvo Mousse

For the background panel I used a Musical symbols stencil by Apple Blossom and various different shades of Nuvo Mousse. 

I can't remember where the sentiment die came from (might be Polkadoodles) - I cut it twice, once blue, once gold and matted the layers together before adhering to the card.  To finish I swiped some gold mousse along the lower edges of the card and added a few die cut music notes to pull all the colours together.

I have several male birthdays coming up and my master plan was to make something that would tick at least one of them off the list, but  I'm hoping that some of the Discard Pile might be salvageable for some more of them.

Finishing today with a photo of the first camellia to open up in our garden.  There are other buds, but usually the first opening flower is immediately followed by a spate of freezing cold, wet weather which means none of those other buds ever opens!

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you'll leave a comment, I really appreciate it when you do!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

Spring Things

 

Hello

 

Hope your week has gone well - its been typical Spring weather where I am, quite breezy at times with lots of showers and some very bright sunshine - and sometimes all at the same time.

Which ties in nicely with this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge, and its my turn to set the theme;

Spring Things

I'd love to see your cards filled with anything Spring related:
baby animals, daffodils and tulips, seasonal celebrations -blossom, warmer temperatures (or cooler if you're 'down under') or other Spring weather!
Or think a little out of the box and feature things with springs like a jack in the box, or make a card with a hidden spring mechanism

 Click here to see this week's design team inspiration  

  

Well, as it happens I'd had my eye on a cute Spellbinders greenhouse die set which was out of stock when I first saw it, so I grabbed it quick when it became available and it arrived on my doormat at the end of last week. Perfect timing really 

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Smooth white square card blank

I used washi tape to mask off the border, then filled in the remaining area with Tonic Nuvo Embellishment mousse in Baby Blue mixed with some white for a paler shade. The greenhouse was cut a couple of times in dark green card, then the layers glued together. I used the little plants from the set, plus some from other sets of suitable sized plants in various shades of green card gleaned from my scraps box. I made the 'floor' of the greenhouse by using the dies as a template to cut the shape and colouring with inks. Now it was time to have some fun building up the contents of the greenhouse using the plant cut outs. Some were glued onto the blue background, others were glued toi the reverse of the greenhouse shape.  When I was happy I fixed the greenhouse to the card, using very thin strips of card to make it stand out slightly.

For the plant pots and seedlings I used mainly dies from a Sizzix set of tiny garden images.

To complete the card I added a couple of tiny flower shapes to give small pops of red, then created the black and white sentiment on the pc.

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you'll leave a comment, I really appreciate it when you do!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

Plant a Flower Day

 

Hello

 

Hope your week has gone well and you're managing not to get too blown away!  Its been really blustery here for the last few days and a mixture of rain and the kind of bright sunshine that makes you squint!

Getting straight to this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge as I'm late with my blog post again. Its our lovely Jenny in the challenge-setters chair this time;

🌻🌼 "Plant a Flower Day" 🌼🌻so

and so to honour this I would love to see project showing your favourite flowers.  

I find it difficult to pick just one but as spring is just around the corner in Scotland we have lots of snowdrops popping up and they are definitely one of my favourites.  

Click here to see this week's design team inspiration 

Well. my favourite flower changes almost as often as I change my socks so I thought I'd tweak the challenge slightly and use my favourite set of flower dies and some lovely Spring colours with them to make my card 

 

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I started by trimming the edge from a plain square card blank

Next I created a striped design for the digital paper using Paint Shop Pro, and chose a nice Spring green for the stripes. 

Once it had been resized and printed out (I printed a whole square so that I had some left for another project) I cut a wavy line using a Spellbinders edging die and adhered it to the lower half of the card.

For the flowers I inked up some very thin white card on both sides then cut the various petals using my lovely Hunkydory flower die set.

The petals were shaped with a ball tool, then the layers glued together and arranged along the curve.  I added flower centres from various die sets in black, and inked more card to a toning green shade for cutting the leaves (Spellbinders die).

 I added one of the white on black sentiments I made a couple of weeks ago, and some natural twine to complete the card

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you'll leave a comment, I really appreciate it when you do!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

Tiny Handmade Roses

 

 Hello, Happy Friday!

I hope you've had a good week,hopefully all the steps we've taken and the roll out of the vaccines will mean a gradual return to what used to be normal.  Call me pessimistic, but there's a part of me that still can't help worrying that a lot of people will think "Great, its all over" and stop taking precautions and it'll be back to rising death rates and overcrowded hospitals.  

Its getting better, but we're not out of the woods yet.

March Elemental Inspiration 

 

Just pick a minimum of 3 elements from Nat's beautiful moodboard to use when making your card. 

The Colour palette counts as 1 element. 

we can't wait to see what you choose, and what you make!

 Click here to see this week's design team inspiration 

 

 There are so many ideas on this board - you need to zoom right in to check them all out!  I wanted to use this challenge to make a card for MiL for Mothering Sunday, and eventually chose the flowery background designs,the colours, a pop of gold and some thread

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Smooth white card blank

Digital papers from Alphabet Store (via Etsy), resized and printed onto textured Bazzill white card. I chose 2 designs to use for the centre panel, then cut the Tonic Scribbled Diamond frame from a gold card with a fine ribbed texture. The frame was adhered in place using a few pieces of chipboard, which were later hidden with the flowers and leaves.

For the roses I inked both sides of a piece of very thin card and used a set of Marianne petal dies in different sizes to cut the layers and shaped them with a ball tool before gluing the various components together.  The leaves are cut from green card using my favourite Spellbinders Leafy Swirl die; I just separate the little bunches of leaves, dip the ends in glue and tuck them in wherever I want them. I also die cut the leafy areas of the frame again and added those for an extra pop of gold.

The sentiment pieces were created on the pc using Paint Shop Pro.  I just use the 'negative image' command to change to black ground with white writing, then resize and print.  You just have to remember to give the black ink plenty of time to dry though!

Finally I added a bow made with gold thread

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you'll leave a comment, its really appreciatedHappy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

Happy Ever After

 

Hello

 

Hope your week has gone well

I'm late today, so getting straight to this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge

Fairy Tale Day

Celebrate National Tell A Fairy Tale Day with us today! Rizwana would like you to create a card inspired by a Fairy Tale or fairytale character.

Click here to see this week's design team inspiration 

Mine ended up as a card with that age-old Fairytale ending as its theme - though when I starred it was going to be based on Rumpelstiltskin and have more gold thread.  

I think what I loved about the Rumpelstiltskin story was the picture of him stamping his foot so hard that it went through the floorboards and got stuck.  

Could that be because I've always been a bit of a 'stamps foot in frustration' kind of person myself? hmmm. maybe!

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Large white square card blank, plus more matching card for die-cutting the cascading hearts and the background square. Gold card for the scalloped square, and various glitter, shiny and pearl gold card scraps for the heart details

I adhered 2 white heart cascades together, cutting some away to get the shape I wanted I cut some parts of the cascade in the gold cards, along with some of the fill in hearts. I used these to add gold 'frames' over some of the white areas, and fill in white 'frames' with the different types of gold card

The sentiment pieces were created on the pc and printed out, then a hew bits of gold thread were added, along with a couple of red gems 

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you'll leave a comment, I really appreciate it when you do!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

Lip-synching

 

   Hello, 

I hope your week has gone well, and you have something to look forward to at the weekend.

I'm getting straight to Joanne's Daring Cardmakers challenge for this week.  A bit of a continuation from last week's smoochy Valentine's Day theme

Kiss Kiss!
Ever heard that the Friday after Shrove Tuesday is Kissing Friday?
Unthinkable nowadays, but until the mid-20th century this strange UK custom allowed a schoolboy to kiss a girl without fear of a slap or a telling off! It was especially popular in the Victorian and Edwardian era.
As today is Kissing Friday I challenge you to make a card with a kiss this week - it could be an image of characters kissing, some luscious lips or use a kissing technique with your rubber stamps.

Click here to see this week's design team inspiration 

I was a bit stumped for quite a while with this one.  I had no dies that could be used, and no real, or digital papers which would work either. In the end I turned to an image search with that clever Ms Google and found this smiling mouth image.

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Square white card blank, plus more card in white, red and  black

I resized and printed the mouth image, then covered the lips with Glossy Accents.

The sentiment was printed directly onto the card and the large letters cut from red and black card using a Spellbinders die set;1 layer in red, 2 in black. Once the letters were ready they were adhered to the top of the card. 

Once the image was dry I layered it onto red and black card rectangles and adhered the whole thin at a jaunty angle to the card blank and I was done!

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you'll leave a comment, I really appreciate it when people take the time to add a message!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe

Heartfelt

 

Hello,

 

Hope your week has gone well despite the freezing cold, wind and snow! Definitely a good reason to stay home and warm and maybe indulge in something crafty.

I'm getting straight to this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge - a little bit of love to make us all feel cosy!

SHARE THE LOVE

Its Dawn here with this weeks challenge and as its nearly Valentines Day I would like to see your cards featuring some love. It doesn't have to be just for valentines.
Think of an occasion when someone needs a little love, a hug or even just a card to show you care. Things are hard at the moment so sending a card just because you care is so needed and will be appreciated.

Click here to see this week's design team inspiration 

Info

Square white card blank, plus more matching card for die-cutting the cascading hearts and the rectangular frame twice each.

I adhered the 2 heart cascades together, then did the same with the rectangular frames. Next I glued the frame on top of the cascade and then this whole piece to the card. 

I'd saved all the little hearts from the cascade so next I chose some 'sunset' shades of ink to colour a mix of the different sizes.  To add a bit of contrast I coloured some with aqua shades. 

To apply them to the card, I used a spot of glue to the back then pushed it into the relevant sized hole and made sure it was stuck in place my rubbing a small headed ball tool around each.

I added other hearts to some of the plain white ones that form part of the cascade, then used some of the spare ones to make single heart stacks to add outside the cascade.  

The words were cut from a couple of layers of black card, then 'Love' in an embossed gold card; this was adhered just off the black layer to create a bit of a shadow

Thank you so much for visiting today, I hope you'll leave a comment, I really appreciate it when people take the time to add a message!

Happy Crafting, and please Stay Safe