White Space but not white!

Just lately I have made and posted a card only to find a couple of days later that it would have fitted the challenge theme at Less Is More! And then to compound my frustration I haven't any time (or ideas) to make another one!!
Happened again this week when the challenge posted was 'white space but not white' and my grey tiled effort HERE posted on Thursday would have fitted!
But this week I did found a spare hour to make one to submit

This really IS a CAS card, inspired by Pinterest and made in super quick time. I have already started on a couple more with different coloured bases and may bundle them together for note cards, hence the absence of any sentiment.
The textured coloured cardstock in my stash has been very much neglected in favour of white and cream so this challenge was a good opportunity to dig it out!
I used a flourish embossing folder across the centre of the card to break up the expanse of black.
The little 'tile' was made using odd scraps of white and aqua card.
The white piece was stamped with an Indigo Blu script stamp in Versafine Smokey Gray (stamped onto another scrap piece first to remove some of the ink). I used Versamagic Oasis Green for the butterfly stamp (found amongst a pile of old stuff but just the right size!)
Just layered the stamped bit onto the aqua then onto a scrap of black and mounted with foam pads.
Quick, simple and am happy!
Calling into the Playground with my make and also making a call to Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend. x
 

Another Desk Tidy!

Just mooched about this morning - done some housework and some washing and have listened to the {very} heavy showers!
Came into the craft room armed with the hoover as there's bits of paper all over the floor... got in here and promptly just sat down at the desk abondoning the cleaner in the doorway!
Whilst making the card here last week, I abandoned a piece that I had started work on as the trellis edge had 'buckled' a bit in the middle.

This morning I 'rescued' this piece and set to using up the leftovers from the sheet of textured card and making use of the trellis edge, which I have decided isn't REALLY that bad.

When using up odd bits of card I always opt to use this honeyblossom die! Don't know why, - it's not that I don't have others!!

Embossed the background and after securing the oval frame onto another small piece of card lightly sponged some Spun Sugar DI. Cut out both frame and an aperture, stuck the oval centre flat onto the embossed background and then raised the frame on 3d foam pads.
Tucked in the flower die after sponging with the same ink, die cut a butterfly and added a few tiny pink gems.

No sentiment as yet as I am intending to use this card for myself rather than put in the 'Pink' box so  sentiment will be added when I use it - think though that it will be useful for a few things, Get Well, Birthday, Sympathy so a useful addition to my own card stash!
Challenges -
Little Red Wagon - All Purpose
Paper Nest Dolls - Anything Goes
Craft Your Passion - Fancy Borders/Edges
Feeling Crafty - Butterflies
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Nutcrafters - Anything Goes
A Creative Need - Die Cuts
Pixies Playground - Snippets Week 106
ATCAS - Dies

Suppose I'd better retrieve the cleaner and sort out this floor - which is now covered with even more paper bits!!! Have a great day whatever you're doing! x 

Guest Designer!

I was over the moon to be asked to take a GD spot over at Crafting By Designs. Their challenge this week is White on White.

My card is a variation on ones I have done previously (inspired by the creativity over on Pinterest)  and is made entirely from linen textured small pieces of left over white card. So it's going to give me access to the playground this week too!
On all edges and to highlight some of the embossed areas I used the very delicately coloured Versacolour ink in Narcissus. This is a lovely pale lemony colour which I think is subtle enough to highlight without taking away from the white on white effect.
 
The largest piece of card I used at the top - I embossed both edges with a flourish folder and embossed the middle with a nestie frame.
On top of this piece I glued a length of thin paper with a scallop edge which was the off cut left over from punched out piece of paper and added some white shoestring ribbon to tidy up the edge.
The layers at the bottom were also done with a punch then glued to the base card and the larger embossed piece - again some shoestring ribbon to hide the join.
A fancy oval label cut with a nestie and secured with 3d foam pads.
The rose was also made using nesties.
The flourishes are a Marianne die (I think!) and the leaves are an embossed punch.
Finished it all off with two punched butterflies and some pearls.  

Challenges -
Crafty Catz - Use 2 or more dies
Divas by Design - Anything Goes
Allsorts - Anything But Christmas
Red Carpet Studio - Ribbon/Lace (and I interpreted the lace part as the frilly lacy punch used)
My Craft Creations -Anything Goes
Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
Bunny Zoes - Wings 
Crafty Bloggers - Girly

Thanks to the wonderful team at CBD for asking me to do this guest spot and hope you will all create something and join in their challenge!  Thanks for visiting today. x

Back to the Washing....

My kitchen floor looks like a jumble sale sorting room. Little piles of different coloured things have sprung up like tiny mountains and are patiently waiting to be drowned in water and soapy suds - there are two things I dislike about holidays - packing/unpacking(that counts as one thing cos it relates to suitcases LOL) and all the washing you have to do when you come home!!!!!!
So with one pile done, second pile in I decided to do something quick to ease me back in slowly to the craftie space.
Complete with my suntan (which even if I do say so myself is spectacular...) I opted to make - - - a Christmas Card!

Done quite simply by rubbing some very old Pearlescent Ice Blue pigment ink across the reverse of a snowflakes embossing folder and running through the Cuttlebug. (I was surprised that there was still some ink left in this pad - it's YEARS old!)

Sadly the pic is not the best owing to the fact that it is very gloomy here on the moors today but at least you get an idea.

I used some paper that had a light sheen to it so where the ink is patchy in places it has allowed a lovely iridescent sheen to show through and the snowflakes look shimmering.

The vellum was a scrap found in a drawer, torn into strips. I stamped the sentiment then heat embossed with silver powder.
Finished with a snowflake charm.

Made a few of these in a silly hope that I may not be rushing about last minute as normal....... am not holding my breath though.

Challenges -
Holly Jolly - No patterned paper 
Just Insp- Metal Embellie
Xmas Cards All Year - Getting Ready
Christmas Card Challenge #44 - Anything Goes
Use your Stuff - Heat Guns
Glitter and Sparkle - Add Some Metal

Am now settled down for the rest of the day to have a good old trawl round blogland and catch up and also to do some serious crafting - haven't got anywhere else left in the house to put any more washed stuff to dry - (good excuse....)

Snow and Ice - CCM DT.

Weeks are going by and before we know it Christmas will be here!! I though am still sorting out my holiday clothes - not many sleeps left really - only a couple of weeks and I shall be lazing about in the sunshine again!

Before then though Josephine set us a wintry challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers of 'Christmas Snow and Ice'.
Am grateful really as this is the first Christmas Card of 2013..... whether it galvanizes me into making more instead of leaving it till last minute as usual remains to be seen!  
We are sponsored by DI'S DIGISTAMPS with a $10 GIFT VOUCHER this time.

I opted for a CAS design and got out my Snowflake dies and 'Diamond' Stickles.

The card is made with the same White Centura Pearl that I used on the wedding card and this was the left over! Matted onto a silver holographic card before being layered onto white base.

I used trusty swiss dots embossing folder for the top and a snowflake border folder for the bottom, covering the join with some shoestring white ribbon.

All the snowflakes have been cut from two different types of snowflake dies, layered and liberal helpings of stickles applied and each has a tiny sparkly in the centre.

The sentiment was a freebie and I printed it out onto vellum. I may add a few teeny sparklies to the sentiment at a later time!

Hope you can pop along and join us for our wintry challenge - please go to the blog and check out the rules and of course - all the fab projects done by the rest of the DT!

Challenges -
Pixies Snippets Playground
Christmas Card Challenges - Something New (ANOTHER snowflake Die! LOL)
Glitter n Sparkle - Anything Goes
Red Carpet Studio - Anything Goes
Fashionista - Christmas
Creative Creations -Early Christmas
Lothian Crafts - A/Goes with Dies
ALBC - CAS
Created with Love - Snowflakes

Have a great day! x

Can't believe that my last post was Sunday! I've had a busy week - doing paperwork - and not the crafting kind of paperwork either more's the pity!
But I received a request for a wedding card so set to yesterday to rustle one up -
I don't know the intended recipients but hope that they (and the person who ordered it) like it!

 The whole card is made using Centura Pearl White.
I embossed the background using 'Budding Vine' embossing folder (which is one of my favourites), then layered it onto silver mirri card. I confess to not liking mirri card very much but think that for weddings and other glitzy occasions if you don't use too much it's fine as it gives a bit of shine to your projects......
I printed out the sentiment, then cut with the oval from the Radiant Rectangles nestie set and again matted it onto the silver.
I popped on a tiny rhinestone to make the 'diamond ring'!

The large corner die cuts I simply love and they always seem to be perfect for wedding creations.

The flowers were made using nestie blossom dies and once assembled I brushed on a wee bit of Stickles Diamond to give them some sparkle. The white leaves were done with an embossing punch and the silver ones are another punch which was one of the very first I ever bought.

The two tiny silver goblets are secured with a ribbon which is being 'carried' by the butterfly!
I have continued the theme on the inside.

Challenges -
Lexis - Sparkle and Shine
OLLCB - Inspired by a Song - ('I Do' by Westlife)
Crafters Cafe - Embossing
CRAFT- Congratulations
Delightful Challenges - Make the Cut
Cuttlebug Mania - Die Cuts
Delicious Doodles -  Anything Floral
Natalie & Amy - Embossing

Thanks for taking the time to look at my share for today - have a great weekend! x

Flying

The post title relates to how quickly time is passing for me just lately!
I have a CAS card to share today - and once again the pic quality is not brilliant as the sun had gone in just when I decided to take the photo!
This was just a quick make with odd bits of card I had in the 'off cuts' drawer so it will also be given an outing at the Crafty Playground this week. Once I have finished this post I am going to forge an adult's signature onto my 'report card' to say I have been 'poorly 'ick' and unable to attend.... (it's a big fib but Playground Minder Di has very very poor eyesight and believes everything you tell her so she won't know I was busy doing other things or who signed it.................)

Here's the card!

Bright white pearlised card. An odd piece left over from a previous make ran through the Bug with a 'never before used' embossing folder (note I didn't say new - just never used!!!) and then matted onto the card base.

Some lines embossed round it to make a frame.

I printed the sentiment (from TLC) after altering the colour and then used a fancy tag die and popped it onto the card with 3d pads, adding a couple of pearls at either end.

Butterfly again was cut out from a left over and I just inked some Versamagic Chalk Ink called 'Pixie Dust' round the edges (quite apt for Pixies Playground dontcha think????). It's a lovely pale pink colour and the card will now go into the 'Pink Stash'.

Challenges -
CAS on Sunday - Use a Butterfly
Sentimental Sundays - Anything Goes
Heck of a Challenge - Butterfly and Pearls
Natalie & Amy - Die Cuts
Addicted to CAS - Wings
4 Crafty Chicks - CAS
Happy Campers - Flutterby Butterfly
Nutcrafters - Letter 'B'

Will be calling on you all in a little while as soon as I have the coffee cup in hand - Have a great day!

Wistful Wanderings

Another card from me this morning - using an image from the same set of stamps as the 'Water' card. I stamped these images at a craft meet a couple of weeks ago using the hosts stash and I wish I'd made a note of the manufacturer when I used these cos I would probably now be investing in them!

This is another one of those drawings that somehow make me feel relaxed and peaceful - the girl standing barefoot on the grass, collecting wildflowers and watching the butterflies dancing in the breeze........ooo listen to me waxing lyrical!!

Back to the card - the image was coloured with a mixture of Promarkers and watercolours and the background papers are from Papermania's Capsule Collection 'Sunshine'. I used a Coredinations 'whitewash' paper run through the flowers folder, then sanded for the right hand side panel and matted all the various elements onto DCWV mustard yellow card before adding to the card. The sentiment is by Inkadinkadoo and cut with the nesties.

The Incy Wincy Colour Challenge this week is 'yellow'

The Secret Crafter's Challenge's theme is - What are little girls made of'

Rainbow Lady's challenge is 'Paint It' and as I used some watercolours I hope I qualify!

Quick Card!

Have had this embossing folder for ages and wanted to use it to try it out so when I saw Stamptacular's Sunday Challenge this week was 'Life's a Beach' it gave me an excuse to spend a small amount of time making a card.

I used Coredinations 'whitewash' paper for the embossing, sanded it and then layered it onto bown and cream card. The stamp is this month's freebie from Craft Stamper magazine inked up with 'Vintage Sepia' Versamark ink and the embellishments and shells are all from my stash. The background paper is by Graphic 45.

I have the feeling that there's something missing from this card but am at a loss to know what! I am looking for a small pic of a seagull that I can use to sit atop the rope bound post! But at least I found some precious time to have a fiddle with paper even if I am not 100% happy with the result!

Black and White

Here is a presentation box made from a template kindly supplied by Jo. The box uses one complete sheet of A4 card with minimal cutting out and very little waste and I thought it might make a nice small present for someone with a couple of notelets inside. Jo's put a great tutorial on her blog so if you fancy having a go, pay her a visit.

I used card covered with Artylicious paper for the box and just added some gingham ribbon and a white scalloped border as I felt the paper made quite a statement!

I made 3 plain cards retaining the black and white theme - the box is big enough to hold 4 so perhaps I'll add another.

The two stamped cards were done by using white embossing powder onto black card - the larger one is a new stamp that I had not yet used so this was a perfect opportunity! The other card was done using a cuttlebug folder. I added gingham ribbon to all 3 and a couple of black gems on the larger stamped image.

Stampin for the Weekend has a current theme of Monochromatic, so this has become my entry!

Visions of Tomorrow

Finally I managed to find some free time yesterday to use my newly acquired Cuttlebug Asian Folders. I ordered them ages ago and they finally arrived on Saturday morning which irritated me immensely as I had to go out on Saturday and couldn't play with them!

I bought them from the USA cos as usual they get all the good stuff before we do!! (It's so unfair.....LOL) and as I'm not known for my patience, I wasn't prepared to wait until they're released here!

Decided to do just a simple card using the bamboo folder on Coredinations paper. The first two lines of the quote are a chinese proverb, I made the last line up to finish the greeting!! Printed it out on DCWV Oriental theme paper and mounted it onto chipboard.

I bought these huge oriental coins at Manchester at the end of last month and have been waiting for the folders to arive so I could use them!

On the Wings of Love.....

... know it was a song... know the next line.. (only the 2 of us together flying high) and the darn music has just been going round and round in my head the entire time I have been making this - but can't for the life of me remember who sang it.... will have to google it! (Wouldn't mind but I wasn't fussed on the song when it was released, so will someone please tell me why I remember it????!!)

Anyway - spent some time today finishing this - I decided a couple of weeks ago that I needed to practice more with metal so I suppose this might have been a bit ambitious - but - 14th Feb is fast approaching and although OH and I don't celebrate Valentines, it is OH's birthday! And this year is a huge milestone.... massive milestone.... gi-normous milestone... LOL

So to show him that I still think he is the best thing since sliced bread despite the fact that come the 14th he will be officially 'middle aged' - I thought I should practice my metalwork on this little frame to mark the momentous occasion!

Frame painted with Prussian Blue acylic paint. Blue metal put through the Sissix with the Swiss dots folder then sanded for the silver to show through and attached to frame, script printed onto pale grey paper. I didn't have any red metal to use for the heart so instead just embossed some thick card and coloured it with a red promarker and ran some black paint over it with my fingertip to tone it down a bit. I then edged it with a silver Krylon pen. The wings (a paperartsy stamp) were stamped onto the metal, the edges embossed with the herringbone tool and then shaped to mimic flight. The metal 'Love' charm I have had in my stash for ever and I just added some metal hearts into the corners of the frame.

Not bad, but more practice needed!

The Gingersnap Creations team has a challenge on a metallic theme this month so this is duly submitted!

To greet or not to greet..........

that is the question!

Shall I leave this card as it is, or should I add a greeting on the front? And if I add a greeting, where will I put it?

Background is K and Co paper matted onto green card then mounted onto cream cardstock and the script folder was done using Coredinations Whitewash paper ( this is scrummy stuff!!) which I then sanded to bring the pale green colour through and then mounted onto the same green card backing.

I am not a big user/lover of stickers but these are from Penny Black and I like them a lot - I bought 3 sheets of these so don't be surprised if the next few cards are made from these - New Year's Rezzie.... use up some stash instead of looking at it!!!! LOL I added a tiny watering can embellishment to the main image after again layering it onto the green card.

Fortunately I am into card making mode at the mo - I'm again trying to raise some cash for Breast Cancer this year and my bowling friends are a generous lot and they buy my cards, so I need to get properly stocked up before the outdoor season begins! (I also must say a big thank you to Maureen who keeps sending/giving me masses of gorgeous cards for my charity ...trouble is , I like her cards so much I don't want to let them go! LOL)

Any suggestions as to greet or not welcome!

I have entered this into the ABC Challenge blog this week whose theme is layering.