Anything but a Card and back to Messy!

Since my last post I have finished two cards which were looking sad half done on the desk! I also promised myself I would put the card making to one side for a  couple of days and do this project.

It seems a long time since I have completed anything that wasn't a card - I'm enjoying the whole card thing but also have acknowledged that I have missed the mixed media stuff and making something for no particular reason except for making sake!

I bought a Tando Mini Printer Tray at a visit to meet with Maureen at BarjanB recently. (Actually I bought rather a lot of stuff whilst dearly beloved was with Barry and Maureen's OH which left the coast clear for Maureen and I to mooch about in the shop!)

First, I painted the entire thing with acrylic paint. I used K and Co Flora and Fauna paper on the outer and inner cover.
I then randomly stamped over it with a Clarity 'crackle' stamp in Versafine Smoky Gray. It probably doesn't show up very well in the pic! and then inked the edges with Victorian Velvet DI.

The birdcage stamp is from My Mind's Eye and the tiny pearls for the hanging I glued on by hand - (real fiddly and don't think I'll be doing it again in a hurry!). The wording stamp is by PaperArtsy.

The fabric rose edging is from my stash and I made the flower by ripping into circles more of the paper stack, spritzing with water, scrunching up and securing together with a brad. The 'rose' was put onto two fabric leaves and a pice of tattered fabric that I inked with the same DI.
The inside front cover was stamped with a mixture of PaperArtsy and Inkylicious bird themed stamps and some scraps of lace glued on. 

The 'tray' interior was then rubbed all over with the DI and stamped over again with the same crackle' stamp.

From the top -
Birdhouse and the Ivy is a Marianne die. Scattered Straw DI used on some string and then glued to make a 'thatched' roof! Popped a tiny mirror onto the back of the heart opening.

Silver wire wound round with three small blue beads to form what I hope looks like a nest! attached to a small crocheted circle.

Bird image from same paper stack. Word stamp from an Invoke set. Feathers, green fibres and a small speckled egg all from my stash.

Three small black dewdrops from stash and wording 'without wings' cut from an odd sheet of paper.

Egg stamp and egg wording from an Invoke set stamped onto 'duck egg blue' coloured card

Two scraps of lace and three scrabble letters from my stash.

There are a couple of challenges that my tray may fit -

MAWTT - Flying High
Totally Stampalicious - Anything Goes
Natalie and Amy - Anything Goes
Unique Crafters challenge - Altered project 
Tando Creative - Leaves and trees

Thanks for calling in - hope you liked my little creation as a change from my usual cards! x

Monday Second!

Promised another post and I've had my little mooch around blogland so before I pop off for the night here's another I made earlier.
Tell me are you fed up with these papers yet?????
Promise I only have one more made from this stack.. but there's lots left so don't be surprised if more appear over the coming weeks as I am absolutely DETERMINED to use it up!
Then I can start on the second drawer of 36........................................ LOL


This was the quickest in the world to make, just 3 different papers, cut to fit the card blank and stitched together --- (and here's the confession - they weren't complete sheets - I did throw some of the smaller ones in the bin but kept these - does it count as 'using up a paper stack' ????) 

The organza ribbon is a strange colour and I have no recollection of buying it but it blends perfectly with these papers (maybe once the rest of the ribbon is used up I will stop the obsession with using up the stack???). I wrapped some round the papers (covering up some of the stitching ..DOH!) then made it into a quadruple bow. 

The flower was made using scalloped nesties in varying sizes, spritzed each one with water then crumpled together and assembled with a brad to secure the middle and glued with a pop up dot onto the ribbon..

Sentiment stamp was a freebie from a craft magazine stamped in Versafine Onyx Black and I finished it all off with some blingy flourishes.
Quite like it so will probably do a few of these and leave off the sentiment so they could be used for any occasion.

Challenges
Stamptacular Sunday - Roses and Ribbons
Cupcake Crafts - Flowers
Love to Create - Hand Made Flowers
Fashionable Stamping - Hand Made flowers
Crafting for all Seasons - Stitching
Sentimental Sundays - Stitching and a sentiment
Come and Get It - 3 d Flowers
Crafty Catz - Ribbon and bows

That's all for now - am locking up the craftie space and going to make a dash for the house and hope that I don't get too wet! Thanks for dropping in! x

Monday First

First post tonight - got home after getting drenched (AGAIN) - Didn't anyone tell the weather that bowls is a SUMMER game, supposed to be played in SUN??? Cold and wet, green flooded so we all just came home, yet another competition abandoned - don't anyone say anything to me about global warming - I've put the heating on - it's like November!!!
It's been a couple of weeks since I managed an entry into the Less Is More challenge and I was pleased to get a card finished this week - the others from the last two weeks are lying here unfinished!
This week the theme was 3-2-1.
'All that you need to do is to incorporate 3 of something, 2 of something and 1 of something else!'
So here's my countdown ( or was it dusty bin... talk about showing my age...) card!

I initially intended to only use 3 stamps but ended up using four with the sentiment stamp!

The flower heads (which are 2 stamps from a Hero Arts set) were stamped in Tea Dye DI and then stamped over again using Antique Linen DI. The wispy grasses off the edge of the circle are also from the same set and the sentiment is a stamp that was just laying about on my oh so tidy desk and fitted into the frame!!

I cut out the stamped image with a nestie then cut another circle from a piece of rusty coloured textured cardstock and stuck the stamped image over it.
The remains of the card stock was cut to fit inside a scored card blank and just positioned to the left of the stamped circle.

I finished the card with 3 bronze sparkly gems, a punched out butterfly and added a teeny bit of glamour dust onto the flower heads for some bling!
So my 3-2-1 are
1 butterfly
2 shapes - circle and the other bit!
3 gems. 
Sorry about the pic quality - light here is terrible!

Mission Accomplished! (Twice!)

Once again I am back to using up paper stacks - why do we buy so many papers? I have enough papers to stock my own shop but still I buy them... even worse I have lately taken to buying digi paper packs too so now my PC's hard drive is also full of patterns!
When I bought this particular pad it was a 'simply must have' - I absolutely loved it - still do which is probably why I only used about 4 pieces from the 48!
I have today made 3 cards using it (Ella Blue by GCD) AND I have not kept the smaller snippets - they went straight into the bin as they're other things I never ever use up - now I am feeling very smug 'cos I accomplished using paper I have kept for no other reason other than it was pretty!
Will share the other ones at a later time but here's one of today's makes:-

I was the Guest Designer over at Try It On Tuesday for their last challenge and their current one is to follow a sketch so I used the sketch as a base for this card.

All the papers are from the same stack and the inside is co-ordinated to match.
The background damask style paper is actually flocked so there is a lovely textured feel and it's definitely 'strokeable'!
The brown script paper is heavily linen textured and I used some gorgeous lace (a present from Alessandra) - two different widths and colours of organza ribbon for the bow and popped a couple of pearl pins (the brown larger one was a present from Sassy) through both lace and bow.

The vintage dress form stamp is by My Mind's Eye and is part of their Lost and Found series. Stamped using Versamark Sepia ink, cut out with a Marianne die and the last of my brown pearls popped onto the middle.

I finished with three paper roses - (yes Maureen I finally managed it after you explained I was trying to roll them from the inside not the out!) - which were cut using another Marianne die.
I am submitting this into the September challenge over at Unique Crafters in the Card class. 

Other Challenges -
LEJ - Vintage
That Craft Place - Vintage
Craft Your Passion - Power of 3
Created with Love - 3 of a Kind.

Off to get the washing in before the rain - thanks for calling in!x

Belated Celebrations

Have been away for a few days on the South coast - at last I saw sunshine in what has been a dreadful wet and grey Summer here! Weather was hot and sticky and I didn't moan once about the humidity level - 'cos the ice cream van was never far away!
Came home last night to yet another torrential downpour and this morning skies have resumed their normal grey colour..... so it's like I've never been gone! But only 29 days to go till the suitcase gets packed for a whole two weeks of sunny lazing about!!

Made two cards before my little break - may share both today but it depends on time factor-
first is based on one seen in a craft magazine and designed by the hugely talented and inspiring EMMA. I had the papers (more things bought - looked at - felt - put away....) which are Flower Garden by Tilda - and secured the mask from Barjan.
No excuse now not to use the papers!!

I suppose it may be deemed to be a little late for Jubilee celebrations but we still have the Paralympics to continue being proud and patriotic. 
This was my first time at using the mask to cut out shapes - my use of a craft knife for straight lines is not the best but the mask made it really easy and I managed not to cut off any finger tops.

Square piece of dark pink card from the paper stack, followed by the union flag design cut from the teal based floral paper, another shade of pink for the layering of the centre cross and then a smaller cross from another different sheet.

Flowers were made using my trusty nestie blossom dies and the rosette also made from the same paper stack.
PC generated sentiment and a couple of sparkly gems to the ends of the banner.

The gorgeous sparkly crown is from my stash from ImagineDIY.... hurt me to use it really!!! LOL
Same papers used to decorate the inside.

Challenges -
Cutie Pie - Borders and Frames
Hooked on Crafts - Let's Celebrate
Creative Inspiration - Sentiment as focal point
Paper Shelter - Anything Goes
Card making Mama's - try something new (using a mask)
Clear It Out - Inspiration/use your stash/Glittery (I used the papers from my stash, my glittery crown charm and my inspiration came from this pic -

So that's the first for today - have a few things to do, not least to catch up on what you've all been doing in my absence - have a lovely day! x

CAS

Today's share is a quick CAS card made using left overs from other recent makes which were just about to get scooped up into the bin -
then I remembered seeing something whilst on a blog trawl (it may have been on Pinterest - am spending a lot of time on there just lately as inspirational ideas abound!!) and realised that the bits on the desk could be used.

Plain white 7 x 5 card with a layer of aqua coloured paper (left over from previous post) used as a base.
I printed the 'congratulations' wording onto a small piece of white linen card and also printed 'Mr' and 'Mrs' onto another leftover piece of the aqua paper.
The 'towels' were made by just tidying up the edges of some card previously embossed with the trusty 'swiss dots' folder and two tiny scraps of lace stuck on, then the aqua strips glued over it.
I thought they still looked a bit plain so retrieved the tiniest piece of paper from the bin and cut with some scalloped scissors to edge it then glued it onto the bottom.

The 'towel rail' was made using a bamboo barbie skewer and secured to the linen card with a couple of silver brads. The 'towels' were then simply rolled over the top and secured.   

Desk looks quite tidy now without all the left overs lying about!

Challenges -
Paper Shelter - Clean and Simple
Sentimental Sundays - Clean and Simple
Hooked on Craft - Let's Celebrate
1 Stitch at a Time - Anything Goes
Crazy 4 Challenges - White on White.

A big hello to my new followers - it's great to see you! Well it's raining here again now so that's the perfect excuse to go back to the craftie space and untidy the desk again! See you soon. x

Mint Julep!

Some years ago when I was young and foolish (!!!) I tried a Mint Julep cocktail as I used to really like mint flavoured ice cream.
I thought the cocktail would taste the same........... obviously they don't put generous helpings of bourbon in mint flavoured ice cream as I quickly found out when this pale insipid looking concoction arrived with green stuff languishing in the bottom of the glass and half a tree branch sticking out of the top.......
Whilst making this card I remembered the disappointment I felt when the glass did not contain anything that remotely resembled the colour (or taste!) of my beloved mint ice cream!
 
 The card happily does!

I am sticking to my promise of getting to the bottom of the paper stacks and using it up (it's a very slow process....). The paper I used for the background is from a Craftwork pack which I think was called Ooh La La. I distressed the edge, ran some Versa ink in sea breeze colour around the edge and then stitched it onto a pice of minty/aqua coloured card.

The gorgeous aqua coloured lace was a present from Alessandra (and Bailey - LOL) and i used it across the centre of the card base and then threaded it through a K and Co tag with a scrap of ribbon in the same shade. I added a die cut corner to the bottom end of the tag to give it a lacy edge and glued on a small pearl.

The image is from Stampendous, coloured with promarkers, antique linen dusted round the background of the stamped image, distressed and stitched and raised on 3d pads onto the tag and card base.
The Eiffel Tower cut out and the tag on the bottom left were also in the same craftwork card pack.

Feeling especially adventurous I made the flower out of vellum cut with my nesties! A pearl, some more scraps of ribbon, a couple of die cuts and two pearl and crystal pins (a present from Sass )all added.

I finished it with a couple more pearls, a pearl heart and stamped 'beautiful' onto a piece of co ordinating paper. The same colour scheme continued through to the inside.

Challenges -
Fashionable Stamping - Ice Cream colours
Addicted to stamps - Pearls and Lace
Stamp and create - Stitch It Up 
Totally Stampalicious - Fave colour combo - (I like all colours really so it was hard to choose a fave!)
Ribbon Girl - Bingo - (Ribbon, Pearls, Image)
Just Some Lines - Layer It Up
NMWC - Anything Goes
Moxie Fab World - Mint Challenge

Hope you're all having some sunshine and maybe an ice cream or two?? Oh and for those of you who are wondering - my disappointment didn't last long - of course I drank it - then had another just to make sure ..... left the tree branch behind though! x

Give Away and a Stepper

Have had a bit of a clear out of a couple of drawers and have posted a pic on my other blog - http://bellesbitz.blogspot.co.uk/
there's no conditions - you don't have to be a follower or anything but if you want to go in the 'hat' pop over and add a comment to the post... can't do the linky thingy!!
The stash would be great for a craft club or similar - there's  ribbon, pots and pots of glitter, a couple of sticker sheets, some die cut shapes, lots of flowers and other bits and bobs.
Give away is open until Wednesday 15th August - each comment will be numbered from the top and will get Mr Random Generator to do the draw around midday.

Have lost my mojo a bit this past week - been busy and when I've had some spare time have ended up glued to the TV watching the Olympics and becoming all emotional at Team GB.

Hopefully it will return soon - but as it's a few days since my last post here's a quick stepper card to share.
LOTV image coloured with promarkers, papers from my stash, a hand made flower with candi centre, some die cut flourishes and a couple of pearl pins. 


Challenges -
Challenge Up Your Life - Anything Goes
Card Making Mama's - 1 image,2 designer papers, 3 embellishments
Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes
Emergency Crafters -  a photo for inspiration this week - and I used some of the shades from the flowers

Enjoy the rest of the weekend! x

Just a quick post - as always am running round like a headless chicken - have stripped and re made bed, flicked a duster round, had a cursory run through with the hoover and ironed some of the pile..... (did you hear that Teresa???? Ironed... yes I did say IRONED - LOL)

Have an evening function some two hours drive away, (best frock at the ready!) - so it's a stay overnight followed by a visit to BarjanB tomorrow to meet up with Maureen.
Hope the weather improves for this afternoon's journey - it's currently bucketing down here and the M6 is not my favourite piece of road at the best of times!

Onto the card - a LOTV image, coloured with promarkers and then cut out with a nestie and placed onto another die cut frame. I added a die cut corner in the same dark pink.
The papers I have had in my stash for ages and as I am determined to try and make a dent in the paper pile the ones at the bottom got pulled out and used!

















The sentiment is a freebie from TLC.  Dark pink grossgrain ribbon, ribbon roses and a few pearls to embellish.... and the same colour schme and papers carried on to the inside.

Challenges -
Incy Wincy - Sugar and Spice
The Pink Elephant - Use Ribbon  
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
2 Sisters - Anything Goes
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
Stampin' for the weekend - Photo Inspiration

I really want to eat one of those cupcakes right this minute! So am off to pack my overnight bag before I am tempted to rummage in the fridge looking for something scrummy.... see you in a couple of days! x

Serene Summer

I saw this stamp when buying a present for someone - that's the trouble when you go internet trawling round crafty sites - you go with the intention of buying one thing for someone else and end up buying six things for yourself as well!
But I really liked it so as ever it was a 'have to have it' moment.

The image just makes me feel peaceful - I am not a painter but one of my friends who is an accomplished artist says using watercolours are the best bit of therapy she can have........... 
I opted for a simple layout using only one DP and just distressed the edges a wee bit.
The image was coloured with watercolour pastels, cut out with a nestie and lightly distressed.
Putting it straight onto a large lacy doily I think kept the 'soft' overall feel.
I finally got round to using one of my new dies - called honeyblossom sprig and although I used some pale green card  hope you can see enough of it -  isn't it pretty?
Secured a rather large organza bow with a pearl buckle and the two pins were a pressie from Sassy - clever girl she is! They're lemon pearly tips with silver bits, creamy pearls and lovely shimmery glass beads.  
Flowers and pearls all from my stash and the inside decorated to match.
Challenges -
Creative Inspiration - In the garden
Cupcake Craft - The Great Outdoors
Order of the Opus Gluei - Seasons (Summer)
MAWTT - Summer
Divas by Design - Flowers
Creative Craft - Summertime
Really Reasonable Ribbon - Bling with Ribbon

Have a great day everyone! x

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!!!