Guest Designer at TIOT

Happy Monday! - Warning!! A picture heavy Post!!!
A couple of weeks ago I was asked to be a Guest Designer over at Try It On Tuesday - as you can imagine I was well pleased, not least because the permanent DT are such an amazingly talented lot so I am in exalted company!
TIOT is a challenge blog which sets a theme and then encourages you to make anything within the guidelines of the theme, cards, altered art, ATC, scrapbook page, tag - anything you want and this fortnight's challenge is also an 'open' one of  'Anything Goes' so you can literally do whatever you want!

A friend recently asked me to make 'something other than a card' for her sister's 50th Birthday. The birthday girl is a mad footie fan (like me!) and her team wear orange and black....

I used white pearlised card dusted with a combo of Wild Honey and Dried Marigold DI to make a box. Using the pearlised card as a base has meant the box kind of 'shimmers'.

The border is an MS punch cut from black pearlised card and I made a tag, attached it with some black satin ribbon tied into a bow across the top.

Opened up it reveals a mass of shimmering gold, white and black.

I double layered the inside of the box so that the panels had some weight to 'drop'. 

I gold embossed the large butterflies entirely and used a Stemplglede flourish stamp to gold emboss the black pearlised panels and the bodies of the tiny butterflies.  I made a rose using Spellbinders  blossom dies and popped a dew drop in the centre of it.  

Although this took quite some time to make I am happy with the overall result - even if I'm not so happy about my photography skills! I've blamed the combination of embossing powder and shimmering card as well as the awkward shape but I hope you can see enough of it to imagine it in real life!

Please pop over to TIOT and join in this fortnight - the DT have some fab inspiration for you too.

Other challenges -
Crafty Bloggers - Anything Goes
Paper Playtime - Anything Goes
Fashionable Stamping - Anything Goes
Take A Word - Butterflies
Whoopsi Daisy - Lots of layers
Come and get It - Anything But a Card
The Crafty Pad - Things With Wings
Poodles Parlour - Anything Goes
Crafty Catz- All that glitters

Thanks for looking in today - and if you've been able to find the time to leave me a comment, I appreciate it and hope you have a lovely day whatever you're doing. x 

My Old Piano

I have sat down here and just realised that it is a whole week since my last post - this is completely unprecedented (except when I'm lying on a faraway beach - just 50 odd days to go but who's counting?????? LOL)
It has been a busy 7 days really - and once again I have been out all day today and another all day event tomorrow - I have made only a couple of things and have nearly finished something else but haven't been in enough during the day to take any decent pics.
But I thought I'd better scribble a few words in case you thought I'd given up blogging.. !
So here's a card I did some time ago and thought I'd share -

I used black pearlised cardstock and drew what I hope looks like the shape of a grand piano (!) then cut it out.
The notes are also cut from white and black pearly card. 

I printed sheet music direct onto vellum then clear embossed and placed it as extra page behind the piano lid.

Added a bit of black and white ribbon and in true Liberace/Elton John style a diamond buckle  and a clear sparkly gem for a bit of bling!

Not the most difficult thing to make but the musician recipient liked it a lot!

Challenges -
Fab 'n Funky - No Stamped images
Creative Card Crew - Use black cardstock
Papertake Weekly - Make your own - and I made my own 'piano'!
Card Crafters Circle - Clean and Simple

Know it's not much to share, hopefully will have a bit more time next week - thanks for not forgetting about me whilst I've been AWOL! Will try and get round to visiting you all over the next couple of days - Enjoy the rest of your weekend. x

Keepy - Uppy!

I have met myself coming back the last few days, not least because this viral throat/coldy thing refuses to go away completely and I am swinging between times of feeling fine and times of feeling like something very heavy has decided to sit itself on my chest! Darn nuisance!


I've also played a few games this week and today I was organising and running a competition just up the coast from where I live - and - it's been a lovely day, we even saw lots of sunshine.

So crafty time has been at a bit of a premium this week and I have only managed to make a couple - and both of them are with the new 'Little Masterpieces' releases from LOTV.


This tri fold card was quick to do - the card is a pre cut and scored blank which is actually called a 'Baby handbag' card kit - 
- which if you're anything like me and completely incapable of measuring stuff properly are the best things since sliced bread! All you have to do is open the pack, fold them and add whatever you want! This pack also gives you extra circles and die cut scalloped edges so I got some K and Co green paper which has a  grid design on it - have no idea why it reminded me of a football field but it did...... . and decorated the card and the scalloped circles with it. 

I cut out the footie image (isn't he great? Budding Becks I think!) with a nestie then layered it up inside the scallop and die cut frame. I just added a teeny bow of black and white twine on the front.
Inside I added a some embellishments (football boots and 3d footballs)which I picked up in a Hobbycraft sale.
No sentiment as yet because I think I may personalise it for a little person that I know!


Challenges -
Sisterhood of Crafters - Let's Hear it for the Boys
Craft Room Challenge - Sports
Card Crafters Circle - Children
Crafts 4 Eternity - Crazy Circles
Emergency Crafters - Circles
One Stop Crafts - Olympic Sports 


That's me done - my bed is calling - enjoy the rest of your weekend!x

Bring me Sunshine?

There's still a complete lack of the yellow ball in the sky here so instead tried to transfer my (very) distant memory of it onto this card!
To be fair, it HAS stopped raining but the grey skies just refuse to budge... a bit like my cold - we're now on day 6 and I am really FED UP!!!! Sore throat has gone (almost) so I think I'm now on the 'up' side..... found enough energy this morning to make this....

If you are a follower of my blog, you may have realised by now that I really like these Wild Rose Studio set of stamps!
This one is called 'Kitty Picnic'. Coloured with promarkers and watercolour pastels, then put onto a frame.

I distressed and stitched the backing papers - one has a diamond pattern and the layered one is polka dots - then used some of this stunningly gorgeous lace which was a present (along with some scrummy mini Toblerones) from Alessandra. Popped the framed image on top with 3d foam pads.

I hand stitched the large organza ribbon rose onto two scraps of the lace, and added a couple of goldie tipped pearl pins and a small die cut flourish.
The sentiment was a freebie from TLC and to finish off I added a Cheery Lynn die cut corner and a couple more flat backed gold pearls.
Same papers are used inside.
I hope if you day is as grey as mine is here, this card has brought you some sunshine and thoughts of picnics on warm summer days!
Challenges -
Daring Cardmakers - Lace and pearls
Truly Madly Crafty - Animals
OLLCB - Whiskers
Crafty Boots - Bingo - (Yellow - Dots -Lace )
Lets Ink It Up - All Girls
That Craft Place - Anything Goes
Lexi's - For a Friend

It's only words.....

or not as the case may be!
This is a quick post and a quick card for this week's Less Is More  challenge. The old cold just refuses to go away at the mo and I am getting sorely irritated with myself as I am struggling to finish up all the half done bits on the desk... hopefully I'll be back later with another post but don't hold your breath!
 Challenge this week was THREE of something -
"Three of anything, three colours, three images, three stamps, three words, the number three, it's up to you, but don't forget the lots of white space, a simple design and just one layer"

Agggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!
The dreaded one layer - as you can see I have added a little teeny weeny absolutely minute piece of ribbon as an embellie......well two pieces actually- (down on knees, begs for forgiveness....).

This image makes me smile - Marcel Marceau in triplicate!
I love their little scrawny elongated necks!!

So I thought maybe it could be a card used for saying sorry? Or just to send someone a message of comfort?

Printed direct onto bright white card, coloured it slightly with promarkers and although you can't see it very well the central body has had some glossy accents placed on his cherry red lips - just right for kissing and making up!!! LOL
The sentiment was PC generated and I embossed a couple of lines at the top and a single line at the bottom. I have resisted the temptation (for now- ha ha) to add a couple of black pearls onto the bottom below the embossed line......... maybe I should put it away before the urge becomes too much!

Luckily there is another challenge I can submit this too - over at Cupcake Crafts the theme is 'Le Tour de France' - anything France related - so even though I would normally go overboard with the red, white, blue, loads of papers layers and embellies, I have entered this for a change.

Cold - and not just the weather

From the post's title you might have deduced that since Wednesday night I have been full of an absolute stinker of a cold... I very rarely get colds (about one a year) but boy oh boy when I do, they're of the type that just knock you off your feet - raging headache, throat feels like someone is dragging barbed wire through it,face swollen cos my sinus are blocked, unable to breathe and generally feeling like I've been run over by a bus!  Other than that I'm fine!!!!!!!!! LOL

Consequently I have not felt in the least bit like making anything or blogging so in true 'Blue Peter' tradition - here's one I made earlier!

This was a commissioned card which I finished at the beginning of the week for a 90th Birthday. Same gate fold design as a previous post with a different colour background. I finally mananged to get a good embossing 'sandwich' with this Marianne 'Anja' die and it looks just like lace in real life!
I like this shade of purple - it highlights the embossing enough without being too overpowering.

I made the flower again using my blossom nestie set and mounted it onto a nestie Fancy Tag.

I had a bit of a rummage round the inky stuff - a long long time ago OH bought me a complete set of Whispers pads in a storage caddy - and there looking at me were a couple of ink pads in purple shades - I thought they may well have been long dried out but as luck would have it, some of them are still Ok enough to get a wee bit of colour from them. This one was called Rio Purple.
I sponged it onto both sides of all the flower petals before making up the flower and onto the punched out butterflies. then just ran it lightly over all the embossed bits. Couple of lilac pearls (which were a challenge win) and a springling of Diamond Stickles down the butterflies bodies.

Inside I cut another fancy tag and sponged inside the die.

Made a box for it, ran the ink pad round the edge of the box and used up some of the discarded flower petals to make a smaller flatter flower with a lilac pearl in the middle for the box top.
Looks OK doesn't it? (at least I think it does!) 

It's not too bad a day here for a change - windy but at least it's dry - and I've managed to get some washing out on the line - am going to try and do my LIM challenge today - if I can stop sneezing and coughing for long enough!

Have a great Sunday whatever you're doing. x

Challenges -
Classy Cards and Such - Handmade Flowers (used Spellbinders Fancy Tags 2)
Ruby's Rainbow - Emboss It
Samuel Taylors - Card using Die Cuts - As always there's lots of lovely goodies up for grabs this month!

Quick card and quick post!

Been missing for a couple of days - will be catching up on all your blogs today and thought I'd better pop on a card to show that I am still making a mess here in the craftie space and haven't upped sticks and gone to warmer climes...although it has crossed my mind... a LOT!!!
Thankfully today we have dry weather at the minute - lots of grey cloud about though so can only hope the water doesn't fall again - summer temps it certainly ain't...

Card for my 'Pink' stash to share today - I have quite a few of these lovely Saturated Canary images, and made this one with a sugar pink and pale green colour scheme.
Am real pleased with the way it turned out - it's actually a collage of presents from my friends in blogland - lace from Alessandra, pic from Juney, the butterfly punch from Maureen, and the lovely lace corner was part of a Cheery Lynn die set from Barry - (who's website is almost ready to go 'live' so we can all go spend )!!!
The backing paper, pins, ribbon and card were mine though!!!!!!!!!!!
Usual flourishes, pearls, flowers to decorate with a liberal doses of glamour dust on the butterfly bodies (!) and of course the same colours used on the inside.
Off to take a chance and hang out the washing - fed up with the kitchen looking like a chinese laundry and I absolutely REFUSE to use the tumble dryer in JULY!!!!
Have a lovely Wednesday whatever you're up to and maybe I'll 'see' you all again later! xx

Challenges -
Bearly Mine - Pearls and lace
Creative card Crew - Swirls and pearls
{Pin}spirational - photo inspiration
TIOT - Ribbon, 2 papers, Bling and a butterfly!
Saturated Canary - Bling It On

Our weather is on the up (shhhhhhh... it might hear us!!) - been a really good day today - no rain, some sun and quite warm....

The LIMettes have set us a challenge of 'Gold' this week... I have a card ready on the table that needs photographing but the light now here is not good - and I finished this a short time ago and took a pic of it straight away .... suppose I should have finished them both THEN took the pics... but that would have meant me engaging the grey matter and I've had a stressful day. (Not going to divulge too much but after a number of years spending a lot of time and effort doing a voluntary team captain job that no one else wants I am completely disillusioned with the attitude from some.... don't get me wrong, they're not all bad - just the odd one but that odd one is beginning to get right on my nerves!!!! - 'nuff said!).

Back to the card.... disappointed really with the pic but only cos it doesn't show the stunning sparkly blue eyes our little pussy cat now sports!  I coloured them with a Kuretake 'wink of stella' GL Blue pen.. which was a present from the lovely Alessandra - and boy do these eyes sparkle!(probably not as much as Bailey, Alessandra's feline friend ......lol) - but what great pens! Never seen them before (much to my shame) but suspect I may be investing in some more.......

Aperture cut in white linen card with a nestie, gold circle frame also cut with a nestie and the pic printed direct onto linen card. Then used 3d foam pads to stick the gold framed kitten cat under the aperture. 
I used WOW Gold embossing powder on the collar and tag and strung some metallic gold embroidery thread top and bottom, then coloured the cat dish and the two eaten fish (!!) with a gold marker pen. 

Am glad you've  called in - I appreciate it. x

I saw sun!

WELL!!! I was very scared this morning when I got up and opened the curtains cos there was this big yellow thing in the sky surrounded by patches of blue with the occasional white cotton wool ball nearby................. it's been so long since I saw the sun, I've forgotten what it looks like! Made the most of it too 'cos would you believe we've now been given an 'amber alert' weather warning for the next couple of days and have been told to expect torrential downpours! So, I haven't put the wellies away just yet.....

Here's today's card to share - Been messing with the dies again as you can see!

haven't made this for anything or anyone, but wanted to try out my two new sets of Cheerry Lynn Butterfly and Corners Dies (Thanks Barry!).

Can someone tell me though why pearlised card is soooooo difficult to photograph.. must have taken about 40 pics and am still not happy - even ventured outside and tried there but that was even worse!!!

Used white Centura pearl card, altered the colour of the sentiment to a soft green colour, printed then cut it out using Fancy oval nestie. I'm not normally a slushy sentimental person but this one appealed to me.
Edged the frame with Versacolour in Evergreen.Cut out another larger fancy nestie oval and then cut a 'fancy tag', used the same Versacolour to edge both. I cut the tag in half and layered it behind the smaller of the two ovals then layered them all together.

The 'rose'  was made with spellbinders blossom dies and I inked it with Spun Sugar DI, found this very large pink pearl bead in my stash and glued it in the middle! The flourish is a Marianne die. 
The smaller butterflies were punched out and also inked and a sprinkling of glamour dust somehow found it's way onto both flower and small butterflies.....
The intricate butterfly (which I just love!) was cut from the same card and inked with the same DI and I popped a pink pearl onto the body. The corners were edged with the evergreen ink and a few more pearls added to both corners and the edge of the tag.

Some challenges -
Shelly's Images - What the Text
MAWTT - Make It Sentimental
Southern Girls - Pearls
My Mum's Craft Shop - Photo inspiration (green/pink/white)
Cupcake Craftroom - Layers
Shopping Our Stash - Triple Threat (Use 3 of something- mine was butterflies and pearls)
Creatalicious - Anything Goes
Sassy Cheryl's - Anything Goes
As always, I'm thankful for you coming to see me, I hope you're all enjoying your day whatever you're doing. x

A warm welcome to my new followers - it's lovely to see you and thanks for being interested enough to pop in and comment.
What on earth has happened to our Summer?
The weather here agin this morning is wet and the skies are grey - yesterday I had to have the light on whilst making messy in the craftie space and I suppose today is going to be no different. I am listening to the weather forecast at the mo and the radio man is saying no change - Am definitley now counting down the days till the September holiday!

Just a quick card to share this morning - I'm currently working on a couple of things ordered by some friends and the desk is littered with Distress ink, embossing powder and acetate... need to get on and finish so I can tidy up!

I am one of the large number of us who always struggles with 'man' cards - kids are fine 'cos you can get away with an odd ribbon or two but once they become teenagers and then even worse grown up adults I never seem to be able to come up with any ideas other than plain and simple!

BUT - have recently invested in a couple of stamp sets - and this is one of them -
I went a bit mad and bought the matching papers too..... called 'Man About Town' by Wild Rose Studio - to make sure that I had plenty to make a few cards with!

Made a batch of them to make sure I've always got one when I need it - didn't mess about with any embellies other than a couple of card candy and just to make them a bit more interesting continued with the papers inside.

Very sophisticated isn't he? Not that I know anyone who takes their martinis shaken not stirred..... but a girl can live in hope.....................................



Couple of challenges -
Top Tip Tuesday - One for the Men
Cards for Men - Happy Birthday
MAWTT - Happy Birthday
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting - if it's raining where you are I hope you're dry, if the sun is shining - I'm really jealous!!!