Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Well at least the envelope arrived

because my mothers day card wasn't in it :(
Dad says it wasn't sealed at all. I am pretty sure I wouldn't make such a school boy error but who knows. Still because I had made it for a Dare at elast I could email her a photo of what it had looked like.

this is the card i sent to my Mother in Law
Vellum and sparkles and trying out my new embossing pen. Don't really like my handwriting embossed though. Will need to work on that I think. The butterflies are on watercolour paper and I now have the outside and inside butterfly dies which makes putting them together so much easier. This one arrived without a problem...

I am behind again with my Daring Cards so here is what I have been up to
Two weeks ago we had the Great Daring Cardmakers Bake Off.
I used some old QK dies and a newer candle one to make a cupcake. Everything was cut from watercolour paper so I could add paint including that rather awesome gold. (I am gold crazy at the moment I cannot lie). A Lawn Fawn (I think) die cut circle got the same treatment. And as everything looks better with a black outline I gave everything a black outline. I also made a watercolour background and then was very brave and tried out my fancy writing skills using black, white and (here is the important one) grey pens. The shadow of the light grey promarker just brings it to life, even if your "k"s are not very good!

Then this week it was all swings and roundabouts asking for cards with a bit of swing and a circle if poss. Well every time I started thinking about the card the song "would you like to swing on a star" popped into my head. And so here is my swinging star
Heidi Swapp papers; gold foil card die cut star; gold liquid pearls; gold foil on red tape; Imagine That stamps; a whole load of different circle dies; krylon pen
and just a bit of frustration when it wouldn't go right!

Busy week as ever but wanted to dash in a blog post before I had 3 weeks worth of cards to show. Laters :)

Friday, March 06, 2015

Snap!

Its Elemental Inspiration time at Daring Cardmakers and I was tickled that Leo used the same sticker on her card as I did. Maybe it's not totally surprising as we both utilised Quirky Kits to make our cards. You can find instructions on Leo's card here - worth looking as she has made a very cute tassel. And do look on the DCM blog for everyone else's fabby concoctions.

Here is our inspiration
and my card
I used the gold (really? it must be subtle); the confetti and the big letter (although mine are three slightly smaller letters).
The confetti paper and the subtle aqua are the same sheet of paper - just beautiful. I used a brand new WPlus9 die for "thank you" and a Docraft alphabet to cut "mum" from gold foil paper. The pink tag is made from iced pink cardstock, embossed with a lovely Maggie Holmes folder and topped off with washi tape from the kit. The little sticker got the gold treatment with my krylon pen, like everything else. I added in some gold sequins as a further nod to confetti.
I shall write "for everything" inside the card as I ran out of space on the front!.

I have very little crafting time this week or next but have been trying to keep up a Lent journal which I must photograph. I usually get to about now in Lent then it gets really hectic and I fall by the wayside so I am hoping to finish this year. Lenten discipline is sadly not my forte. The good news is that it comes around again so that I can do better next time. And that I receive God's forgiveness. "Hooray" and "thanks for everything" are words for him, too.




Tuesday, March 03, 2015

It was meant for me

this card I mean

and ooh that burst of yellow did the trick.
Nat came up with this gorgeous idea for the Daring Cardmakers blog - Mellow Yellow
If you are feeling like its always winter then do pop over for some sunshine :)
I have been rather under the weather - a flu virus that has taken 3 weeks to recover from plus an excision following a (slightly) malignant melanoma leaving a rather fetching 3" scar on my shoulder. Stitches are out now so I am hugely better.

This card isn't my best ever but I was glad to feel well enough to get it made.
I used some Simple Stories papers and 3 different dies to create a sunshine scene. The Paper Smooches get well was cut and layered three times - I love that look. Adding glossy accents to one of the sun papers seemed like a good idea but was less successful - I should have used stronger glue underneath it as it tended to raise some of the paper up. Ah well. The letter stickers are Simple Stories and added on foam pads which gives the slightly wonky look.

I was well enough to attend the Artcards crop on Saturday. One of my Sabbatical resolutions was to make time to meet crafty people and I found Karen's fab group in Somerset. Not totally local but its good. I've only managed 2 since October due to my interesting work life but here's hoping I can fit some more in this year. It happily coincided with the arrival of my latest Quirky Kits box and that made packing for the crop easy as anything. I finished one layout completely, left two more almost done but needing things that I had left at home. Those were completed along with a further two on Monday. Which is good as crafty time will be in short supply over the next few weeks. One layout was launched on the Quirky Kits blog today - the kits are mouth wateringly lovely and can be found here. For more details on this layout visit the blog

Hope you are feeling fit and well :)