...I can explain!! ;)
No, I'm not writing a letter to Father Christmas...I'm back again today with a card for Retro Sketches. This sketch happens to be one of Laurie's that was used over at Muse recently, but I missed it when it was there so I'm glad for the second chance!
When I saw this sketch I immediately thought it looked like an envelope...do you see where I'm coming from?! So, that's where my idea started...an envelope addressed to Father Christmas ;) Inside the card is the rest of the sentiment "...I can explain...!" This card would be apt for pretty much everyone I know!!
Here is the sketch...
I wasn't sure whether I liked this card when I finished it, but I think it could be a grower. I saw it on my desk when I got back in from a short trip into town this morning (I made this card very early this morning!!) I liked it a little more than before?! What do you guys think?
Thank you, as always, for stopping by ;)
Supplies
Card: Paper Mill Direct - White, Bright Red
Stamps: Papermania - Let It Snow
Ink: VersaColor - White
Other: WOW! - Bright White Opaque e/p; Windsor & Newton Black Calligraphy ink; rhinestones
Hello guys and gals!
I hope you're all enjoying your weekend so far. I certainly am as I found a little time in which to craft - and I hope I made the most of it :)
I have made a card that is fit for THREE challenges! Some people are great at this and that's just normal for them - me, not so much!!
Today's card is being entered into CASology where the Cue Card is 'Autumn'; CAS-ual Fridays where the challenge is 'Fall colours and a leaf' and last but definitely not least, Addicted To CAS where the Code Word is also 'Autumn/Fall'.
There are no prizes for guessing what my card is going to look like!!
I was trying to hone my inner Ardyth on this card...I'd like to think there's one in there somewhere, but I very much doubt it!!
This card definitely evolved from the original idea...in fact it was quite a major transformation! The plan I started out with when I sat at my desk was to die cut the leaves into opposite corners and place autumnal blended colours underneath that just peeked through, finished with a nice sentiment in the middle of the space. Well, that didn't happen did it?!! Nope. I did try that but this particular die isn't 'shapely' enough if you know what I mean and just looked like I'd cut a blob out of the corner! This is a house of making the best with what you have, so as not to waste the 'failed' die cutting attempt, I used the leaf blob for the purpose it was intended! I blended the colours onto the die cut and then decided it still needed more definition, so I clear embossed the coordinating leaf stamp over the top. It still wasn't defined enough so I emboss again in copper pearl and that was just the ticket! The sentiment was embossed in that lovely Halloween glitter powder to tie in with the colours a bit :)
Anyone bored yet?!! How can a simple card become so long winded huh? ;) I kinda like this little, simple card and it will be a good one to have on standby should I need a thank you note :)
The challenges...
Thank you for stopping by and reading my rambles ;) I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Supplies
Card: Paper Mill Direct - White
Stamps: Verve - Bloom & Grow; Bo Bunny - Sentiment Stamps
Ink: Ranger - Perfect Medium; Papermania - Yellow; Distress Ink - Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door
Other: WOW! Halloween Glitter, Copper Pearl e/p; Verve A Cut Above Dies - Elegant Leaves
Morning!
I am here today with my interpretation of the GORGEOUS card over at Muse, by the lovely Karen! Her card is so beautiful...it's really feminine without a drop of pink in sight! ;)
First up, here's my card...
This card just kinda came into being! Now, I realise that sounds a little bit silly, but it's true. I knew I wanted to CASE the blue/purple panel from Karen's card, but I didn't want it to look like an exact replica which would've been an easy trap to fall into because where do you go from a card that great?! :) I had a piece of vellum floating around on my desk and I was having a bit of a tidy (situation normal! My desk should be super clean the amount of time I spend clearing it!) Anyway, I was looking at the vellum and wondering whether you'd be able to see colours through it if I blended a background? Luckily it worked and here we are! I am trying to get a wriggle on with my Christmas cards so that was the obvious direction for this card. I embossed the snowflakes in silver, white and silver pearl to emulate the colours Karen used for her Dandelions.
I also used some NBUS on this card! Yesterday I received a parcel, a very small parcel I might add, in the post. Where I live there are two art shops, that is all. They're not very big shops, more like little family run places and I love them, but they don't stock a great deal and so sometimes I have to resort to online shopping. Ok, so it's not that much of a chore (!) but I do prefer to keep the small high streets shops in business - it's my little contribution to social, local and economical sustainability :) Anyway, I had to order some double sided tape from an online shop and I noticed this cute little stamp set out of the corner of my eye. (ok, I was looking!) It's Bo Bunny's Sentiment Stamps and it's perfect! It has a sentiment for every occasion in one little set! It just jumped into my basket and ended up in my parcel! He he! :) I even waited for my delivery to arrive before I finished this card because I wanted to use this Christmas sentiment! So this NBUS is seriously new!! :)
Without further ado, here is Karen's lovely Muse card...
...see, told you it was purdy!! :)
Thank you for stopping by guys ;)
Supplies
Card: Paper Mill Direct - White; Vellum
Stamps: Wild Rose Studios - Snowflakes; Bo Bunny - Sentiment Stamps
Ink: Versamark - Champagne Dazzle
Other: WOW! - Ebony, Silver Super Fine, Bright White Opaque, Silver Pearl e/p; rhinestones
Hi guys!
Are you all looking forward to your weekend? I am hoping to get some time at my desk to have a go at all the fabulous challenges I love, we'll see how that goes hey?! I'm sure my DOH will have many plans for us which will invariably involve hard work - he's on a plastering mission at the moment (we are STILL renovating our house!) and I have a horrible feeling I'm going to get roped in to being a joey of sorts. Part of me hopes that he'll want a rest for at least one day this weekend because he's had a particularly hard week at work this week :) That makes me sound very lazy, which I absolutely am not, it just gets a bit much sometimes :) We have a kitchen to fit next week for a client so I don't want to be pooped!
Anyway, that's not why you're here - it's a card blog!! I made this card a few days ago but haven't had a chance to post it and therefore have missed the Festive Friday deadline! Doh! (That one is the actual 'Simpson' sound, not my darling other half!) Luckily, I made this card using the sketch at Retro Sketches this week - which is particularly awesome! I will almost definitely be using this sketch over and over again - it's wonderful :)
So, here's my card...
I decided to be brave and make a card with NO SENTIMENT! There is no stamping whatsoever on this card, which feels kinda strange, but I figured it was quite obvious that it was a Christmas card...wouldn't you say?! If not, then I'm doing something very wrong! ;) The panel underneath the navy is a matt silver card which I actually LOVE! The colour doesn't show up well on my monitor, it looks fine on my camera so maybe I just have a rubbish screen! The snowflake has sparkles on, just to jazz it up a bit as it is a super CAS card, even for me!
I am cutting the Retro Sketches deadline a bit fine...what's new huh?! Here's the sketch that you have only hours left to use!!...
...and the Festive Friday inspiration that I used but failed to join in on in time!...
The new challenge at Festive Friday is to create a holiday project (that's Christmas in England!) that includes a star - I think that should be pretty do-able - I'll try and actually make the deadline this time, it would help wouldn't it!!
That's all for now! Thank you for stopping by ;)
Supplies
Card: Paper Mill Direct - White, Navy; Create & Craft Mirror Card - Matt Silver
Stamps: NONE!
Ink: NONE!
Other: Spellbinders - Create-A-Flake 3; Cuttlebug - Swiss Dots e/f; Glitz It Sparkles; pearls
Hello there!
I managed to find some time to join in with the Catered Crop challenge which is to make some packaging. This little project has been floating around my head for some time now and this was the perfect opportunity to get it out of my head and into a real form!
Last Christmas (which feels like only yesterday, however was nearly a whole year ago now...how did that happen??!!) I was given a lovely box of Thornton's chocolates - yum! As i was eating the chocolates I noticed how cool the box was and I thought that it would make a lovely box to put a gift in. Because I have a terrible hoarding type OCD, I couldn't bring myself to just decorate the box I already had...so I disassembled it and painstakingly measured it all out and then drew out and made my own. I have to admit, it took a few attempts to get it just right, but I was really pleased with how it turned out ;)
Here's the original box...
...and here is my version of the box...
This box is for my Mum, she absolutely loves the Art Deco style women in their beautiful dresses. I have to say, so do I! ;) I thought it would be more elegant to keep the colours to a minimum and use a classy silver on black - I know for a fact that Mum will like that so there will be no bottom slapping required!! Ha ha! ;)
Luckily, my mother doesn't read my blog, at least not on a regular basis, and so she won't see this which is handy as I am planning to use this for her Christmas present ;)
I am also hoping that this counts as 'decadent'. The challenge this month over at WOW! Embossing Powder is to create a project inspired by the theme of 'Decadence'. I don't think there's anything much more indulgent than a box of chocolates or a an ornate box for a lovely present ;) (This box is ornate for me!)
Thank you guys for stopping by, as always ;)
Supplies
Card: Paper Mill Direct - Black, White
Stamps: Papermania - Art Deco; Verve - One Person
Ink: VersaColor - Silver
Other: WOW! - Silver e/p; pearls; rhinestones; silver elastic
Hey!
Today I'm here with a card I have made for my Mum to give to a colleague of hers who is retiring in a few weeks. Hopefully she'll like this one first time round, unlike the last one she had me make - twice! Love her ;) (Good job I do! Of course :))
I used this weeks Muse card by Marion Vagg as my inspiration and this is what I came up with...
I think this is probably the busiest card I've made in a long while! I was inspired by the tag and the flower of Marion's card and it just sort of grew from there. I wanted to make a patterned background like Marion did so the emboss resist came out :) The background was embossed using WOW's Clear Hologram embossing powder which gives it a lovely purple/blue sparkle in real life...I don't know if you can see it in the picture below?
Here is Marion's card...
I hope that Mum likes this card, and her friend of course...but let's be honest, we all want our Mum's to be proud above all ;)
Thank you for stopping by! ;)
Supplies
Card: Paper Mill Direct - White, Daffodil
Stamps: Papermania - Cornfield, Pot Pourri; Glitz - Coutur Distressed Flower;
Ink: Distress Ink - Broken China, Antique Linen, Spiced Marmalade; VersaColor - Green; Windsor &
Newton Writing Ink - Black
Other: WOW! - Clear Hologram e/p; Crafty Ribbons - Pumpkin seam binding; luggage tag
Hello there!
So...this post is day late, but not for the want of trying! Yesterday was my friend's, Heather, 30th birthday! Woohoo! Well, I tried to post this card yesterday but the internet was just not playing ball and despite my best efforts it just wouldn't let me connect - doh! Unfortunately that means that this post is a day late for Heather's birthday (sorry girl!) but I don't think she'll be too worried :) We went out last night and had a lovely evening, although I'm not sure she'd agree with that so much today...bless her! ;)
Here is the card I made...
I went with the rainbow colour scheme...I just can't help myself! ;) I asked Heather's boyfriend what her favourite colour was, assuming that he would know...WRONG! I know she likes purples and reds but I wasn't sure just HOW much she liked them so I thought if I went with every colour then I couldn't go wrong! ;) Luckily she really liked her card :)
Here is this week's CAS(E) This Sketch sketch on which my card was based...
Aren't all the sketches that come out of this challenge actually awesome!!? ;) I don't think there's been one yet that I haven't loved, even if I haven't always had the mojo to use them to their potential.
I am also going to enter this card into the challenge over at CASology...if they'll allow it! ;) The Cue Card for this week is 'Arrow'. I normally make my sentiment banners with an inverted arrow end, but I thought I'd have it pointing 'outwards' this time...not very well explained I know, I'm still not feeling too clever myself after last night!! So...I'm hoping that this counts as an arrow of sorts...sorry to the CASology girls if it doesn't ;) It's their 62nd challenge over there already...can you believe that?!! It feels like they only started up yesterday! ;)
Thank you for stopping by guys and gals... ;)
Supplies
Card: Paper Mill Direct - White, Black, Lilac; Hobbycraft - Pearlised Lilac
Stamps: Verve - Hope Blooms
Ink: Distress Ink - Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade; VersaColor - Black, Green, Violet, Lavender;
Papermania - Yellow
Other: WOW! - Silver Pearl e/p; pearls; Tonic - double corner punch
Hello peeps!
How are we all? Well I hope! :)
I don't know what the weather's like where you are, but it's definitely turned to Autumn here in England! Brr! I'd forgotten what it was like to wear jumpers and a pair of slippers! There are a few good things about Autumn though, one of which is the Design Team Call going on over at the Paper Mill Direct blog.
For as long as I can remember, I have bought Paper Mill Direct card over all others. I used to love going into their shops, picking up my box to fill with as many different colours as I could lay my hands on! (and that would fit in the box!) It was like an all-you-can-eat buffet for paper addicts! Brilliant! I was so upset when they had to close down their shops, however, I could still get my fix online...and that I do!!
So, imagine how excited I was to see that they're after a new member for their Design Team!!? ;) I would love to be a part of it so I'm going to give it a go :)
The theme for the entries is 'Autumn'...see where I was going now?! I LOVE autumnal colours, they're so warm and comforting...but I'll be honest in admitting I rarely use them, they're not my 'go-to' colours so this was a great challenge for pushing me out of my comfort zone if nothing else :)
Here is my card based on the theme...
For my card I used, of course, Paper Mill Direct card! The colours I used were...Ruby Red, Bright Red, Citrus Orange, Primrose Yellow (which I haven't seen on the website for a while but I LOVE this colour!) and of course, White. The quality of this card is second to none. It's heavy enough to do the job, and the colours are so vibrant...can you tell I'm a fan?! ;)
For the leaves, I used Verve - A Cut Above Elegant Leaves die and clear embossed them. I then fanned them out so they looked like a pile (a TIDY pile!) of Autumnal leaves. Even the ribbon has an apt name - it's 'Pumpkin' seam binding from Crafty Ribbons. I scrunched it up and spritzed it with water and then dipped it in some Vintage Photo Distress Ink to break up the solid colour and add a bit of interest. It actually reminded me of the colour of leaves when they've fallen into a muddy puddle! ....Maybe my imagination is working overtime...?
I also had the opportunity to use my new embossing powder from WOW! for the sentiment which is called 'Halloween' and it is a black embossing powder with a copper/orange glitter in and looks FAB!
The sketch originally was based on this Retro Sketches layout...it ended up being a loose interpretation I have to admit but it provided a great jumping off point!
So there you go...I think I've rambled enough now, I don't want to bore you all! I'm off to link my little post up to the DT challenge on Paper Mill Direct's blog and I'm going to wait with my fingers crossed! :) If you fancy joining in too, get yourself over there!
Thank you for stopping by guys! ;)
Supplies
Card: Paper Mill Direct - White, Ruby Red, Bright Red, Citrus Orange, Primrose
Stamps: Verve - Wishful Elegance, Bloom & Grow
Ink: Ranger - Perfect Medium; Distress Ink - Vintage Photo, Antique Linen
Other: Verve - A Cut Above Die Elegant Leaves; WOW! - Halloween embossing glitter; Crafty Ribbons -
Pumpkin seam binding
