Key to the Heart

I am hosting a Valentine Challenge over on one of my Flickr groups.

Quite simple really, all you have to do is decorate a heart in any way you want from the template provided. The group is an International one so whenever you make something you have to be careful that it isn't too thick, heavy or bulky otherwise it costs a fortune to post and you spend days panicking in case it doesn't arrive at your partner's in one piece! But please click on the link and go and have a look at the diverse range of hearts produced from the same template.

Here is my heart! Thick maroon card, cut with deckle edge scissors, red and cream paper from Hunkydory rubbed over with 'Tea Dye' distress ink, small heart cut from same maroon card with some script paper and then a piece of Coredinations card embossed with the script folder matted on top. Small heart attached with 3d pads to give some depth.

The rose was cut from a large embellishment I bought at the NEC last year and the padlock and key from my stash!

The challenge at 'Created By Hand' is to make something that's not a sqaure or rectangle, so the heart shape fits in perfectly!

Still card making -

in between a couple of other projects... will post a pic of one later (waiting for glue to dry!)

These two cards are further additions to my stock for my Breast Cancer Charity - both made using digi images.... (see - am still practising colouring!)

Ok, first one is Gus. Gus is a relative of Ruby and the other ladies over at Bugaboo... he's a real grumpy old man and reminds me of someone I know.... (not OH I hasten to add, who is never grumpy!). I'm sure we all know a 'Victor Meldrew' grump like Gus! I coloured him in using promarkers and the backing papers are from K and Co. The cute boxer shorts charm was from my stash and looking at those legs think Gus would have been better advised by the fashion guru to wear something a little bit longer to cover those bony legs!

I always struggle making men's cards and obviously so do the gang over at 'Digital Tuesday' who set the theme this week of 'Make Those Men Laugh'.

The second card is made using a digi freebie and I can't for the life of me remember which company it was from, but I know it made me smile when I saw it. I used Coredinations Whitewash paper for the background and added a scrap of DCWV card left over from another project. Coloured the image with a mix of watercolours and promarkers and added a bit of sparkle to the bug's wings. The ribbon and buttons from my stash.

Mellow Yellow?

I am not a yellow person - I mean I like custard and don't consider myself cowardly but although I can honestly say I don't actively dislike the colour it was quite a surprise to realise after a quick look in my wardrobe I only possess one item of yellow clothing.......

So it was definitely a challenge for me to make a yellow themed card. I'm not sure if I've completely overdone it here too... maybe all the years of not using it means I've gone completely OTT?!

Have submitted this for Quixotic Challenge which was to ink up an old stamp.. (that was a difficult choice LOL - am beginning to think I could open my own shop with 'bought and never used' stamps), and the Saturday Spotlight challenge was to 'Let in the Sunshine' and Stamp, Scrap and Doodle's theme was 'Spring'..

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!

Ruby

If you've not already become acquainted with this lady before I would like to introduce you to Ruby! Isn't she the coollest?? LOL

Ruby is one of several 'ladies with attitude' that are available from a brand new company called Bugaboo. I have acquired quite a few 'digi stamps' over the last couple of months but don't use them very much - I am not very good at 'colouring in' and struggle unmercifully with shading and trying to give the image 'depth'.

But I liked Ruby (and the other ladies from Bugaboo) and I wanted to try and make a card using her! That was easier said than done too............. I have agonised for almost two days fiddling with bits of different papers to try and get a layout! In the end, I gave up and opted for a simple basic layout, (and as I had printed Ruby and her friends onto cream card) using a cream card as the base.

On the base card, I used burgundy card stock, another layer of cream and then a layer of burgundy card that had tiny pink stars on it. Ruby was coloured with promarkers (blush for her face, a combo of red/henna for her hair, cool grey for her dress and purple for her boots) and I tried to add some shading. Not the best but at least I had a go!

I added some bling and some cream velvet ribbon. I don't normally scan my cards preferring to take a pic instead, but no matter how hard I tried the colour repro in the photo was not right. The cream card came out rather washed out white and grey looking, so a scan it is!

Overall I am reasonably happy with this card, I'm hoping that Ruby will detract from my less than perfect colouring/shading!

I have submitted this card for several challenges - Stamp Something's theme is 'Funny' (well I think Ruby's funny anyway!), Corrosive Challenge is to 'Go Digi', Just Us Girls set a colour challenge of Burgundy, Blush, Vanilla and Gray (am hoping the cream card qualifies!) and Passion for Promarkers has a theme of 'Girls, Girls, Girls' this week - maybe those experienced digi converts can give me some tips!

With a song in your heart......

After having had several days of card making, I decided today to tackle something a bit different. Needing some inspiration I discovered the challenge at S2g Twisted Thursday was to create 'anything but a card' and with a twist of 'Valentine's Day.

This project was made out of mountboard and I will eventually mount it onto a canvas (somthing else for the workroom wall!!!!). It was inspired by Sue Roddis and the template for the heart shape came from her 'Decorative Handmade Books' and it measures almost 12" long.Please click on the pic and enlarge it to see it better!

I covered the heart in K and Co paper, then used the Crafty Individuals bird stamp (one of my favourites). The words are from an Elusive Images set. The flourish and feather stamps are also from the same set.

I used 3 heart shaped brads mounted onto more of the script backing paper (which doesn't show very well in the photo) and them matted it onto dark brown card.

The tiny silver wire nest with the small blue 'eggs' I can take no credit for - isn't it just lovely? It was a present last year from a crafting friend and I have never had occasion to use it before now.

The little polka dot wooden heart I gave had in my stash for years - it came from a local craft shop and I secured it with some organza ribbon and added a few fibres, resisting the temptation to add feathers too.

This was a welcome change from the cards and I enjoyed doing it! Theme Thursdays challenge is 'Hearts' so this fits in with 2 challenges!

One Card - 3 challenges

In between normal life have managed to make a couple more cards the last few days.

This card fits 3 challenges this week, I based the design on the sketch provided by Mercy's Tuesday Challenge , whilst Shirley's 2 Girls Twisted Thursday challenge was to use hearts somewhere on the design and the gang over at Tuesday Taggers had set the challenge of using birds and a tag!

The papers are all from DCWV Latte Matstack. I used the free stamp from this month's Craft Stamper magazine which had been designed by the talented Glenda Waterworth .

I used the same background papers to make the tag and finished the card with some cream ribbon.

New Challenge Blog

Paper Sundaes is a brand new paper challenge blog which is currently holding a 'blog hop' for great blog candy.
Challenges start next Sunday (17th) - why don't you pop over and join in? You can get to the blog by either clicking on the link in this text or clicking on the scrummy ice cream sundae pic in the sidebar!

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.

Am a bit like a bus today... not seen for ages then 3 come at once! LOL


Have taken advantage of the weather and been in the workroom all day - haven't created much - apart from a couple of cards the only other thing I made was a mess!


Anyway here's the third post for today.


This card fits two challenges - Tuesday Taggers theme is Black and White and Gingersnap have a Once in a Blue Moon challenge of Monochromatic Clean and Simple Cards.

Background done with the Cuttlebug 'Spots' embossing folder, and I used one of my favourite stamps on black textured paper and embossed with Seafoam White embossing powder. Matted and layered onto white then black card and mounted onto the background with 3d pads to give some depth to the stamped image. Finished with some spotty ribbon!
I was going to put a greeting on this but decided to leave it blank so it can be used for any occasion.... hence the small seed heads matted and layered in the top left corner!

Enjoy the Moments

I was going through one of the stamp boxes today and when I saw this one by Paperartsy, I thought about how much pleasure I had this morning from taking some time to just enjoy the view - one of the sentiments on the stamp plate was simply 'enjoy the moments' which kind of made me grateful that I could take some time out to appreciate things that surround us.

I made this card using K and Co papers, a Martha Stewart border punch, the Paperartsy stamp and a chipboard clock from Etcetera. The clock background was white and looked too stark so I rubbed some Tattered Rose Distress Ink over it to blend it in with the background papers. I added some ribbon and was tempted to add a few more embellishments but after positioning the usual butterflies, flowers, bows etc I couldn't find anything that I liked so decided to leave well alone and let the text speak for itself. I still feel however there is something missing but can't quite work out what!

I have submitted this to the 'Time' theme at Gingersnap Creations Chestnut Challenge.

Cold pheasant for tea?

It is really cold again today and I managed to get into the workroom without falling flat on my face - the snow here is not thawing at all and the ground underfoot is treacherous.

Here are a couple of pics, one taken a couple of days ago when the snow was falling heavily - don't you feel sorry for this lonely pheasant who landed on the first lawn near the house during the heaviest snowfall I've seen for years! Bet his feet were really cold! I took this pic through the side window of the workroom and before I could adjust the camera for a closer view Mr Pheasant decided he'd had enough and flew over the fence into the field behind - obviously gone to seek refuge in an outbuilding!

The other pic is a view down the garden this morning from the far edge of the first lawn - I braved the cold long enough to fill the bird feeders and take the pic! Then it was back into the warm workroom as fast as I could go. I suppose everyone else is fed up with the snow as it appears that the entire country has ground to a halt with schools closed and roads being left ungritted - (our lane is almost impassable either on foot or by car and there's no way the cars can get up the slope to the canal crossing) - but I confess to being completely overawed by the view down the garden and also across the fields from the house to the hills - the sky was a cloudless bright blue, the moon was sharing the sky with the sun and my whole world was covered in a sparkling ethereal white blanket - beautiful!

A Gem!!

Well I am stunned...... and chuffed to little mintballs!! Can you believe it? I was one of five chosen by the team over at Gingersnap Creations to receive their first 'Ginger Gem' award - I can't believe it!
I entered the beer can wall hanging with the winter's theme into their 'Winter Wonderland' challenge and they chose me (and four others! LOL) out of all their entries.
So here on the sidebar of my blog is their award - if you click on it, it will take you right to their challenge site which has loads of varied and interesting challenges to blow away the cobwebs!
First Wednesday of the Month - Chestnut Theme Challenge
Second Wednesday - Spicy Supply Challenge
Third Wednesday - Color Challenge
Fourth Wednesday - Random Redhead Challenge
Fifth Wednesday - Once in a Blue Moon Challenge
All the challenges last for 3 weeks so there's plenty of time for you to submit something and they're open to to papercrafters and mixed media artists !

Don't look too closely.....

.......at my stitching!!!!!

Maureen decided to use me as an experiment and sent me one of her gorgeous fabric postcards (the oriental one at the front of the pic here on Maureen's blog) via Royal Mail without any protective envelope/cover - it arrived undamaged and in pristine condition (so a big thank you to our sometimes much maligned postal service)............

Being Maureen though, I was not going to be able to get away with just receiving a post card without an instruction to 'Have a go at one yourself'...................which is all very well if you're good with a sewing machine (which I'm not).

So here is a rather raggedly stitched fabric postcard which I shall give to Maureen (for her sins - and for her making me attempt something I am definitely NOT good at!!!)

Spring Butterfly?

I can now post this pic of the note holder I made for a present. I made two of these, in slightly different colours for crafting friends and I confess to shamelessly copying the idea from Craft Stamper magazine.(But the recipients seem not to have minded - lol)

The large butterfly was from a template I had saved on the PC (no idea where it came from- LOL). I cut it out in mountboard then used Distress inks to colour the background before stamping the butterflies and swirls.

The note holder is just secured with a small bulldog clip.

Doing these kept me busy in the early part of December and I enjoyed making them as they reminded me of Spring somehow.....

So Christmas is now over and 2010 is almost here. I recieved some fab presents from fellow crafters and I shall cherish each and every one - I know some real talented people!! We spent a quiet Christmas at home, the peace only broken by my squealing on opening an envelope from my darling husband which contained an extremely large sum of money gift voucher to be spent at Paperartsy!

Hope your festive season was all you wished for too!

Merry Christmas

Thank you to everyone who has visted my blog this year, commented on my work, encouraged me and given me inspiration.

I hope you and your families have a wonderful Christmas (and Santa brings all my crafting friends lots of lovely new stash!)

Best wishes from me for the holiday season and for 2010. Merry Christmas everybody. x

3 down................

After the rose (see post below!) I was spurred to try and create something pretty!

Here is another piece for my (hopefully) soon to be assembled fabric book. I now have three projects completed and need to do a couple more. Maureen (the mentor...lol) has kindly sent me some canvas to use as the pages for the book and am looking forward to finishing this project, not because I am fed up doing it, far from it(!), but because I have really enjoyed doing it and want to finish it!

I have again used as the backing fabric, more of the chinese silk. This time I used a pale blue piece which really is a beautiful colour and it seemed a pity to cover it but needs must.. so cover it I did, although you can see a small bit of it at the top and bottom!

I used some old cream and pale blue lace for the right hand side (the blue of which has not shown up too well in the pic), a piece of striped fabric from my stash which I frayed and some paper from the huge K and Co pad I recently bought.

The image is printed onto cotton fabric and the blue picot edging was, like all the silk, given to me by my mother in law! I put the image onto a piece of frayed muslin and hand stitched the ribbon roses and pearls.

As the theme at Created by Hand is Vintage this week, I have submitted this as my entry.

The last rose of 2009...........or the first of 2010?

In my garden I have an old pig sty - half of it is used as a storage shed for garden tools and the other half as a store for garden chairs etc. I've had no cause to go near the place over the last month because the weather has not been dry enough to do even a small amount of tidying up outside. (And anyway I'd sooner be crafting!! LOL) But over the last week I had noticed something pale coloured outside the building bending in the winds - the weather here on Friday last was freezing cold but dry so I stopped being lazy and went to take a look.............

Can you believe this rose? Does it not know its December? It didn't look this good in the middle of our so called Summer!!! Even with all the hard overnight frosts we've had since I took this pic the thing is still blooming! I was sorely tempted to cut it and pop it in a vase inside the work room but knew it would die instantly with the change in temperature so I have left it where it is and I am now checking on it every day irrespective of the weather.

It makes me smile each time I see it - and reminds me of summer days past and hopefully those to come.

Vintage Tag

I made a few tags this morning to send to some fellow crafters instead of Christmas Cards and didn't think to take pictures of all of them before I put them in the envelopes! This is an extra one I made.

I think the background paper is Graphic45 and the image is printed onto cotton fabric. The vintage lace at the top of the tag was cut from a roll that was given to me recently. I thought it looked like a star! I put a gold star brad in the centre and messed about for ages with a single bead drop which I had taken from the same piece as the beaded embellishment on the bottom. It was the fiddliest thing in the world and sorely tested my patience in trying to secure it to the centre of the lace star - but I managed it in the end - it was only afterwards I thought that I could have re strung the beads and then stitched it onto the tag.............erm......!

I attached some more lace to hang from underneath the star and used some sparkly fibres for the hanging thread.

This is my entry into Theme Thursday's challenge of 'Vintage' this week.

Egyptian Discovery

I have set the challenge on our Flickr Group - Art 'N Soul- this month. The challenge is to make a 'Circle Book'. I have made one of these before (which can be seen here) and have been wanting an excuse to do another! So my poor friends in the group were challenged to make one for our next swap!

I have used the theme of Egypt for my book as I had recently bought quite a few egyptian type stamps (they were a bargain in a sale - honest!!).

I once again have to apologise for my photography skills - not made any easier by the light or the shape of the finished project either! (Enlarging each image helps!) But if you want to see a 'step by step' account and also have the template to make one, they can be acquired on my photostream here.

Inside the book, I used some parchment type paper for the backing of each page, some vellum, a variety of the stamps, embossing some with gold onto a black background and also using some images from a variety of sources.

The front and back covers are thick gold embossed paper and some torn muslin was used for the ties which were distressed with 'Antique Linen' ink. The 'mummy' on the front is made from air dried clay using a Krafty Lady mold, then I used Mod Podge to stick the muslin on the body! The Mod Podge has given the muslin a harder feel and it is quite rough to touch now, which I am happy with - after all, if you've been stuck in the ground for thousands of years you'd expect cloth to be hardened wouldn't you???? LOL