Aquarius Blog

A Daisy Braid Variation

2012-01-21T12:33:00.002Z

A few of my crafty friends thought they would like to have a go at some beadwork so I decided a possible introduction for them would be to try a simple variation on the daisy braid. I've made this bracelet as a sample although it has yet to have a clasp attached. Now all that remains is to go through my bead stash and sort them out a few beads and gather my threads and equipment together so that they can have a try without having to dash out and buy lots of beads etc if they discover that using tiny seed beads isn't for them which I appreciate is a distinct possibility although I thoroughly enjoy bead weaving with needle and thread.

Make My Monday week 32

2012-01-18T09:31:00.000Z

Over at Make My Monday we are still on a nature theme and this week they are asking us to 'create a scene' (in the nicest possible way - I don't think we're talking 'grumpy old woman' here) LOL!!. Having made this card I've decided this is a technique I definitely need to practice a lot more but I had a go with Distress inks and some masking. The tree is from Chocolate Baroque Nature swirls stamp plate stamped with archival black and a few accents added with a white gel pen. Not a lot more to say about this really except that I felt it needed something at the bottom and now I'm not sure the greeting was the right choice but am happy with the ribbon.

B is for Butterflies

2012-01-17T13:44:00.000Z

Yes I know that is a bit predictable but there are some brilliant butterfly stamps from Chocolate Baroque (also birds and bees - spoilt for choice really). I started this tag by liberally dabbing a piece of white card with two colours of Distress Stains (Victorian Velvet and Dusty Concorde) and dropping salt crystals onto it while still wet. Once dry the salt was brushed off and left me with this mottled effect from which I cut out the tag and also one of the bookplates on the die. The stamp used was from Butterfly Flourish swirls stamped with black archival ink. The butterflies were made by stamping onto some Tim Holtz vintage shabby paper adhered to a piece of Clearly for Art by Studio 490 (also available from Chocolate Baroque) - this is a plastic sheet which when heated with a heat gun softens and can then be moulded to give some dimension - the butterflies were easy to cut out with scissors. If the result isn't to your liking it can be reheated and moulded again until it is right. These butterflies and the bookplate - which had been sponged with the darker Distress colour - were both rubbed over with Rock Candy Distress Stickles which gives a distressed glitter effect. These two tags have now been packed up, posted off and in due course I will be receiving an A and B tag made by someone else in the swap - something to look forward to!! I am already thinking ahead to C and D and also what colours and techniques I might use for them.

A is for Art

2012-01-16T11:06:00.000Z

This year I've signed up for a an alphatags swap with Chocolate Baroque Guild and as the name suggests we are working our way through the alphabet (two letters most months with a couple of three letter months) so that at the end of the year we have a selection of tags to make into a tag book. I have jotted down some ideas for most of the letters but must say that a couple of them could cause a bit of serious thinking later on in the year!!

I've chosen A for ART and have used resist technique with Versamark ink pad and clear embossing powder for the basis of this tag which started out as a piece of white card. The ART sentiment was stamped onto the white card and embossed, followed by a light sponging with Distress inks. I next stamped a floral swirl stamp and again embossed before adding more ink sponging and some overstamping using the same stamp. The flower was made from Tim Holtz kraft glassine, scrunched and coloured with Distress ink and a light spray of copper Glimmer Mist; card for the die cut leaves was coloured before cutting. Details of stamps and materials used are at the end of what seems to be turning into quite a long post somehow. I'll show you the B tag tomorrow - I wasn't sure if we were to add ribbons because of putting them in the post but have done so for the time being.

Tim Holtz large tag die, Tattered Flowers die and Tickets die
Distress inks in Dusty Concorde, Milled Lavendar, Mustard Seed and Wild Honey
Art Stamp by Chocolate Baroque - Artistic Affirmations plate
Floral swirl stamp by Chocolate Baroque - Nature Swirls plate
Ticket Stamp by Creative Expressions
Leaves - Crealies die

Forgotten Friday Week 44

2012-01-15T09:15:00.000Z

My offering for this week's Forgotten Friday challenge is another image of Magnum but this time it is a Christmas card. The image was from a set of digi stamps by Ladybug Crafts which I bought quite early in time for using at Christmas last year and although this one had been stamped and coloured it was still lying around unused. The papers are from one of my bit boxes and have been in there since the year before - I really must actually take papers and bits out of my storage boxes instead of just putting them away safely and then cutting into new pieces every time I make something!! Magnum was coloured using Polychromos pencils and the sentiment was produced on the computer. I'm going to try making perhaps one Christmas card every few weeks for this Forgotten Friday challenge rather than take part in a weekly seasonal challenge - would you believe I still have quite a few cards left from last year's challenges.

Make My Monday challenge week 31

2012-01-13T15:54:00.000Z

We are still on a NATURE theme this week at Make My Monday (and yes I do realise it is Friday already!!) I've had an eventful week. This time they are asking for ANIMALS and after some thought I decided to use this cute image of Mangum which has been stamped and coloured using Coloursoft pencils - Ladybug Crafts stamp. Background papers were from one of my many boxes of bits and pieces and I added a ribbon and some Card Candy backed with the smallest diecut from Spellbinders postage set. With all of these dies I so often use the two or three largest ones but rarely the smallest so thought I'd rectify that today.

Honey Bee

2012-01-10T14:40:00.000Z

The weather today is pleasant with some blue sky and a little sunshine which is certainly helping the winter along and certainly makes the days look a bit lighter. Today's card was made using stamps from the Honey Bee set by Chocolate Baroque, colouring done with Coloursoft pencils. Background paper which seems to be just the right colour was from my oddments box and has been overstamped. I decided to leave this card without a greeting so that it could be used for any occasion.

Simply Stampin Challenge week 41

2012-01-09T09:15:00.000Z

The challenge at Simply Stampin is another colour one and although I don't have all the colours I do have some Pool Party and white so decided to give it a go. It is pure coincidence that this card seems similar in colour to yesterday's one and I don't think I'm going into a blue mood!!

Background paper is from my stash and has been sponged around the edges with Pool Party ink and overstamped with an image from Nature Walk which also includes the bird cage and bee stamps. A border of embossed white card was added along with a punched strip and greeting using SU punches.

Funky Hand Challenge - Thank You

2012-01-08T11:29:00.001Z

The challenge this month at Funky Hand is a project to say 'Thank You' - quite appropriate for this time of year when we have people we need to thank. The only rule is that you must use a Funky Hand product and if you have nothing from them there is a brilliant freebie which you can find on their sidebar to download. I've used various papers from Craft The Year Away in the Marching On range with the background printed full size and some other patterns reduced in size for the layers. The stamp used is from Papermania and has been stamped onto card printed from the same collection cut out with a Nestability label die. The flowers were punched with X-cut punches and leaves with a Stampin Up bird punch.

Make My Monday Week 30

2012-01-04T13:36:00.000Z

The theme for January on Make My Monday is NATURE and this particular week it is BIRDS - do take a look at the lovely cards made by the Design Team for inspiration. For this card I used some Tim Holtz Shabby background paper, sponged with Distress ink. The bird image is by Papermania from one of their Urban stamp sets and the bird nest is from stampin Up nature set, both cut out using Nestability dies.

Forgotten Friday 43

2012-01-03T13:46:00.000Z

Well I have managed a minimal tidy up in the craft room - at least now I've put away all the things which were cluttering my working space but in reality the whole stash needs a serious sort out but that can be done gradually and hopefully during the process I'll find lots of items to use for the Forgotten Friday challenges this year. Who am I kidding?? Of course I'll come across tons of 'stuff' which hasn't seen the light of day for ages!!

Another crafty area which needs re-organising is my computer as, like many of you I imagine, I download things all the time as and when they take my fancy but quite often I don't actually use them. It is one such image which I've used this week for Judith's challenge - it is one of the Pretty Birds digital downloads from Chocolate Baroque which I have used as a background. The text is from one of their bird stamp sets and the feather is a Stampin Up stamp from a nature set. The digital image has been sitting on my hard drive for ages, the bird stamps have been resting in their storage box for even longer and I used a Spellbinder die (never been used before) to make a buckle for the ribbon. Do take a look at Judith's blog to see what others have been using from their 'forgotten' stash.

Happy New Year

2011-12-30T09:11:00.001Z

Just a quick message to say Happy New Year to everyone.

I'm trying to get back into the swing of making cards but really I should put away all the christmassy bits and pieces which are littering my work space - maybe tomorrow ... The background paper on this card is from Chocolate Baroque Essence of Nature CD and the image used their teeny tiny tree stamps. The embossed panel using a Cuttlebug folder was sponged with matching ink to show up the texture. I added a flower made using matching papers, the word and brackets were cut out using a Slice machine.

Season's Greetings

2011-12-24T08:59:00.000Z

Very best wishes for a Happy Christmas and a Peaceful, Prosperous and Healthy New Year to my followers and everyone who has been kind enough to take time to leave comments on my blog during the year. I really enjoy taking part in the various challenges so thanks to the people who organise these as well - it must take up quite a time I imagine. It is also great to follow other blogs and to keep in touch with what is happening in the crafting world - here's hoping Santa brings you all you wished for.

Make My Monday Week 29

2011-12-21T13:59:00.000Z

The last challenge of the year at Make My Monday is to make a seasonal tag - I've gone along with another of the techniques from Tim Holtz. This time it is a kind of image transfer using clear packing tape, a clear acrylic accent piece and some self adhesive foil tape. The background was stamped with some music and little scraps of text, sponged with distress inks and overstamped using some holly stamps from Christmas Reflections by Chocolate Baroque - fairly quick to make once I'd mastered the image transfer technique. Hopefully this really is the last seasonal thing I make for quite a while and it will be good to get back to something different.

Jolly Snowmen

2011-12-20T09:17:00.001Z

A friend sent me a photograph of some snowman ear rings she had seen and asked if I could work out how they were made. It was such a dark and dismal day yesterday and pouring with rain so I thought I needed to rise to the challenge and make something bright and jolly. Hers had arms and a long scarf but I only had a very small quantity of the red beads so this one is a variation; also I've not added the ear wires yet. I worked out they must have been made using brick stitch and I used Delica beads.

A Colour Challenge

2011-12-18T08:49:00.001Z

The challenge at Simply Stampin' this week is to use these colours from the Stampin Up range so I thought I'd have a go to see what I could come up with

The background paper is from Tim Holtz vintage shabby range which I thought went well with them and I've used stamps from Notably Ornate and Vintage Vogue. The ornate label and the sentiment were from the first set and the flowers from the second (stamped and cut out). Also used was a Spellbinder die to cut a decorative square and a Marianne die for the leaves. Being mainly red and green I suppose these colours said 'Christmas' but I am trying to get away from endless seasonal cards now that mine are posted - at least most of them unless there are any I've forgotten which does happen!!

Forgotten Friday 42

2011-12-17T10:35:00.000Z

I really needed a break from seasonal projects so was glad of the opportunity to look through my stamps (it took a while) to find something neglected to use for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge. I enjoy this challenge because it really does make me use items which have lain sadly neglected and this time it wis this lovely bird stamp from Crafty Individuals - can't remember when it was last used. It was stamped with black archival inkk, then the sections were cut apart and sponged with Wild Honey distress ink; these sections were then adhered to a Spellbinders die cut and in turn onto to smaller die cuts in green to match the background paper which was printed from Chocolate Baroque Essence of Nature CD. I thought this would be a handy card to have on hand for any occasion so I left it without a greeting. If you have time in this busy run up to 'the day' take a look at some of Judiths beautiful work.

Another Tag

2011-12-13T12:45:00.004Z

This is the other tag and this was made using the reflection technique from Tim Holtz. A tag was cut out in acetate and coloured using alcohol inks, I then used stamps from Chocolate Baroque Christmas reflections on the inked side using black archival ink which was then removed leaving a clear impression in the colour - clever or what?? The acetate tag was then adhered to another one cut in white card. I added an embossed border together with a pine branch (Marianne die) textured with a Sizzix embossing folder - the bird was one which I'd stamped and gold embossed a while ago and not used so I simply turned him into a robin with a little bit of red Copic pen. I have enjoyed following the progress of his 12 tags which he has done for several years now but I think this is the first time I've ever had a go.

Make My Monday week 28

2011-12-12T09:03:00.001Z

I can now show you another of my tags which I made for a Guest Designer spot which I was kindly offered from the team at Make My Monday - thanks for the opportunity folks. The theme is still seasonal and this week it was 'anything goes' with the added touch of some red ribbon. I decided to make a tag based on Tim Holtz resist techniques so the tree from Chocolate Baroque Steampunk Christmas set was stamped using Versamark and clear embossed before inking the tag with fired brick Distress ink, spattered with water drops and then some overstamping using the same colour. The panel at the bottom was embossed using a Cuttlebug gears folder onto adhesive foil tape from the DIY shop, coloured using alcohol ink. The poinsettia flower is also from the same stamp set as the tree and the swirl is grunge board coloured and brushed with Distress stickles. Finally the required red ribbon (and some green) were coloured using the same Distress inks to match the colours used on the background and flower.
Do go and take a look at their blog to see some more great red ribbon inspiration from the regular design team members.

Christmas Tags

2011-12-11T10:22:00.001Z

Like many other people I've been following the progress of Tim's (Holtz) 12 tags of Christmas with the intention of making each one or something like it day by day but somehow time has been running away from me as usual. I have however made three (two of which you might see another day) all based loosely on some of his techniques. Needless to say despite the huge number of dies and other things I have there are items he's used which I don't have - yet!! The background on this one is his 'rusty' embossed look but I used a brocade stamp from Chocolate Baroque. I don't have his fab pine cone die so I used a rose die to make flowers, leaves used a Marianne die and the border is a Tim Holtz die. The lamp post is also a Marianne die and the letters were cut out using X-cut dies so as I said this is very loosely based on more than one of his 12 tags but it was fun to make.

White Christmas Challenge

2011-12-08T14:00:00.001Z

There is a White Christmas challenge at Chocolate Baroque with a prize - a voucher to spend on some of their gorgeous goodies. I decided to go with something fairly simple because some people don't really like cards to be too elaborate. The background was printed from their Seasons Greetings CD with the text added on the computer. The image is from a CB stamp set, stamped with distress ink and the colour pulled into the roof area using a water brush. This was then glittered to look wintry, cut out using a Nestability label die and a little Distress ink brushed around the edges. The little glittered wooden reindeer was a lucky find recently.

Make My Monday Challenge 27

2011-12-05T11:29:00.001Z

I've not done much by way of making cards for a few days - other things do get in the way sometimes and I have to say I struggled this morning to come up with an idea for the Make My Monday challenge where they are asking for a seasonal project with added glitter. Several attempts later I've eventually come up with these trees which are from Chocolate Baroque Fat Robin stamp set, stamped in Versamark onto dark blue pearlescent card and embossed using WOW platinum glitter powder. The blue panel was mounted onto a gltter layer as was the little sentiment. Background paper is from my stash and I added some glittery silver ribbon.

Bah Humbug Challenge 47

2011-12-03T11:08:00.001Z

Well this week's challenge at Bah Humbug is the last one for 2011 which means I have at least 47 cards in my box ready for the festive season - thanks so much to the team and the guest designers for organising this and for showing us so much brilliant inspiration during the year. This final week the theme is 'cute critters' and I've chosen to use an image from Docrafts From Me to You CD with Tatty Teddy posting his letter to Santa. Background papers, border and greeting are all from the CD, as is the holly embellishment which I printed, cut out and layered adding some glitter along the way of course.

St Lukes Charity Challenge

2011-12-01T15:17:00.001Z

Well that's another month gone by, it's the first of December and I've just realised that there are no chocolates in my Advent calendar yet - maybe just as well because I ought not to eat them anyway!! Being December means also that it is the start of another challenge for St Luke's charity blog and the theme this time is 'Let it Snow' and I really hope the snow stays firmly on Christmas cards only and doesn't fall on us like it did last year. My card this time is in the LIM style with just a small strip of snowflake backing paper, an image stamped using Lovely as a Tree by Stampin Up and I added a reindeer in the foreground using a free stamp which arrived with Craft Stamper magazine. I used the whole stamp for the greeting and masked off the circular part so that the reindeer stood in front of the trees. Plenty of glitter was added for the snow on the ground but I'm not sure it shows up too well on the scanned image.

Make My Monday week 26

2011-11-30T14:13:00.001Z

The last challenge for November on Make My Monday is still on the Christmas theme but this week we were asked to produce a box, either a decorated ready-made one, one we'd made or one we'd altered. As I seem to be having quite a busy week I've gone for a fairly quick one - using a die cut box and decorating it with Trees which I've made using stamps and a punch from Stampin Up, I added a tiny tag and some gold thread to tie and that's it for this week. I had several quite elaborate ideas in my head but sadly time was against me this week so it just had to be quick and easy - the most difficult part was getting a decent picture because the day has turned very grey again!!

Bah Humbug Challenge 46

2011-11-28T08:11:00.001Z

The lovely people at Bah Humbug are asking for fabric this week for their challenge and as I recently discovered Kanzashi flowers I hope that this brooch which I made will be acceptable - it would make a lovely Christmas gift for someone. This type of flower was used traditionally as hair ornament by Japanese women and were made in fine silk. This one was made using some scraps of batik patchwork fabric which I just happened to have and it is about 3 inches across - they are relatively simple to make with not much stitching involved.

At the weekend I attended a workshop to learn how to make jewellery using chain maille techniques and promised a friend that I would post a picture. Basically chain mail was originally a type of fabric made from metal links to protect the body from arrows and the like so maybe this will count as fabric too for the challenge?? At the workshop the aim was to teach us some different ways of linking jump rings to form various patterns so I came away with some short lengths of patterned chain which will eventually be made into bracelets (if I can remember the intricate way they were linked). However we did get to make a pair of ear rings and here they are.

Forgotten Friday 41

2011-11-27T09:01:00.001Z

Well Friday has come around and gone past yet again but I do have a card for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge. This time I'm using stamps from a set which I was lucky enough to win in a raffle way back in July at a brilliant Stampin Up day but to my shame this week is the first time I've used any of them. The set is called Fast and Fabulous and they are two-step stamps. Background paper is from a pad which I've yad for ages and as usual has lost the cover. The sentiment uses another SU stamp with matching punch.

Funky Hand Again

2011-11-24T08:57:00.001Z

The Link Gizmo would only let me add one phot so I'm doing a second post with the other one so that I can link that as well

Funky Hand Monthly challenge

2011-11-24T08:47:00.001Z

The challenge on Funky Hand this month is a double - they want a Christmas project made using traditional colours (red/green) and a non-seasonal project using their seasonal papers. I've chosen to make a pillow box and a birthday card using papers from Twelve Crafters Crafting. The box was printed onto card using a template from their programme and the Santa label was made up using images from the digi section and cut out using a sizzix die. The card used a star background paper and a textured plain one from the same CD - stars were cut using a Sizzix die with sentiment and numbers added to make a quick and simple birthday card.

Sympathy Card

2011-11-23T14:25:00.001Z

I always like to keep a few cards on hand for various occasions and realised that I had no sympathy cards so made a couple (I really hope I don't need either of these). For this one I used a little flower stamp from Stampin Up and the 'vase' was made using their Christmas bauble punch embossed and with a slice chopped off the bottom. Image was cut out with Nestabilities dies. Background paper is also SU and I stamped a simple message - I always feel such cards need to be fairly simple.

Make My Monday challenge 25

2011-11-22T09:48:00.001Z

The challenge this week on Make My Monday is to use flowers, foliage or snowflakes and I reckon I have all three on this card. There is also plenty of inspiration from the Design Team if you take a look at their blog.
The image is a stamp from Chocolate Baroque fat robin set coloured with Polychromos pencils. Backing paper is from my stash so not sure where it came from, the flowers were made using three sizes of Marianne dies and the pine foliage is also one of theirs. A Spellbinders die has also been used along with lace, ribbon and a little stamped sentiment from a set of free stamps (Papermania).

St Luke's Charity Challenge

2011-11-20T08:27:00.001Z

I was reminded on my friend Anne's blog that I'd not yet made a card for the St Luke's Charity challenge which this month is 'Deck The Halls' so a Christmas card I guess. When I saw Anne's mid month motivation card I was sure I had a similar stamp in my collection and once I dug it out I realised it was exactly the same (a very old wooden stamp by PSX which I've had forever). I've made a quick card using it and also using up some seasonal papers from my stash from last Christmas - I really am trying to use things I already have in an effort to clear some space but I have to say using this small amount of paper hasn't made much difference to the heap!! The stamp was coloured using Copic pens; background papers and greeting are from Papermania and a nice red ribbon finishes off the card.

Forgotten Friday 40

2011-11-19T09:42:00.001Z

It is thanks to Miranda that I dug these stamps out to use this week and to my shame although I've had them for ages (we're talking years here) they had never been inked - how bad is that?? Do take a look at her blog to see some of her lovely work. This card was made for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge and of course this is another blog which has beautiful work - they are both on the Chocolate Baroque design team and these large flower and leaf stamps are CB (formerly Elusive Images). First of all I stamped one of the large flowers on a piece of ivory card with Versamark and clear embossed, then applied various Distress inks with cut'n'dry foam and overstamped with a swirl stamp in one of the colours to give a subtle effect. The leaves were stamped also with Versamark and embossed with Queen's Gold, coloured using Copic pens and cut out before arranging them on the card with a small gold die cut flower (Marianne die). This weekly challenge is brilliant for making me use items which lie neglected and sometimes even completely forgotten - thanks Judith.

Bah Humbug 45 Again

2011-11-18T13:49:00.001Z

When I saw this Bah Humbug challenge earlier I thought it was a shame I couldn't use the lovely gift bag we made at the Extravaganza last weekend so went ahead and made the little gift box. However I have now made another bag following the ideas but using different papers and stamps from my own stash. Card and background papers are bits from my oddments and I used an EK Success punch for the decorative edge. Stamps and punches used were from Stampin Up apart from the actual words which were stamped inside the label border with a greeting from a Polkadoodles set. I must say I had a problem finding a greeting stamp small enough to fit - I have lots of greeting sentiments but most are too large for any of my fancy punches and I usually resort to printing them on the computer.

Bah Humbug Challenge 45

2011-11-18T11:14:00.001Z

One way and another I've not managed to get into the craft room much this week so today as I wasn't going out I decided I'd make a start on what I hope is a crafting weekend and make a little gift box for the Bah Humbug challenge. They were asking for a gift bag or box as a change from cards so I decided to go with an idea which I saw on Jo's Blog so I can't really claim it was my idea but I have made a variation of what she produced. Do go and take a look at her blog because there are some great tutorials on there for unusual items like this one.
I used the little milk carton Sizzix die from Stampin Up and cut a circular window from one of the sides and adhered a piece of vellum inside before making it up. The roof on mine was made from a strip of card embossed and corners rounded. The decoration on the little house was made using Pines and Poinsettias stamp set also from SU. This particular house has a flashing tea-light inside (battery of course - not the candle type) but you could of course use the box to hold a small gift. Unfortunately this doesn't show up particularly well on the photo which was taken using flash due to the light being poor this morning. Jo managed to get much better photographs of hers and I'll propbably try again when the light improves.

Blog Candy

2011-11-15T15:11:00.001Z

There is some brilliant blog candy on offer at the Craft Barn so do check out the link here . Good luck everyone

You just need to become a follower, put a post linking the picture on your blog and leave them a comment with a link back to your blog to be in with a chance to win these wonderful goodies.

Make My Monday challenge 24

2011-11-14T14:54:00.001Z

The good people at MMM this week are looking for a CAS (clean and simple) Christmas card with emphasis on the wording and plenty of 'white space'. Those who know me will be aware that this isn't really my style but I'm always prepared to have a go so I've used two stamps from Chocolate Baroque steampunk Christmas set stamped with Versamark and embossed with Ranger Queens Gold. It was so hard to resist adding a bit more of something in the wide open spaces. I carefully cleaned the scanner glass (twice) before I got a clean image and now I see there is a tiny mark at the bottom which isn't on the card - honest!! Do go and take a look at the great cards from the design team.

Bah Humbug Challenge 44

2011-11-13T12:05:00.001Z

We are on week 44 at Bah Humbug which means I must have at least 44 cards ready for the festive season so that's good news. This week they are asking for a Baby's First Christmas card which had me thinking a bit for ideas I must say until I remembered this lovely baby stamp from Lili of the Valley. I coloured him with Coloursoft pencils so that he looks like a mini Santa and I added a bobble on his little hat. The 'fur' around his hat and the bobble have been covered with textured glitter snow but it doesn't look too glittery on the scan. The sentiment was produced on the computer. While I was waiting for the snow to dry I went for a walk and that's when I do a lot of my thinking - I realised it would be a first Christmas for my great nephew so used a Stampin Up pennant punch and X-cut letter dies to add his name. The image was popped onto a Marianne die cut to which I added some narrow ribbon. It is thanks to Jenny (Stamping Moments) for that idea as yesterday I went to a brilliant SU Extravaganza day where we made some lovely projects - do take a look at her blog and you will see some of the things we made.

Forgotten Friday 39

2011-11-11T13:18:00.001Z

I think Judith must be busy because no sign of her post yet for Forgotten Friday but as I've made a card in readiness I'll show it here and link to her blog later. The partially embossed background on this card was a piece I did as a demonstration on using the Big Shot machine way back in September of LAST YEAR and I came across some of these bits and pieces when I was having a sort out. That is the first 'forgotten' item and the second is the stamped music design from a Chocolate Baroque set which I just had to have in August (this year) but this is the first time any of them had been inked. The main image is from a set of Urban stamps by Papermania, mounted on Nestabilies and I added a little greeting on matching die cuts.

Make My Monday Week 23

2011-11-09T10:46:00.001Z

There is a new theme for the month over on Make My Monday challenge blog and as you might guess it is Christmas with traditional/vintage chosen by Suzi B for this first week of November. I do like a wide variety of styles but for Christmas I think traditional or vintage always goes down well. I have chosen backing papers from a pad by Cart-US which has some wonderful vintage papers including some of these little postcards on which I've stamped a greeting. The main image is a stamp from a clear set which has unfortunately lost its packaging but I really love this Santa. I added some cream lace, a die-cut border and a poinsettia cut from some of the backing papers.

Beaded Bauble

2011-11-06T08:50:00.001Z

I just had to have a go at a beaded bauble pattern which appeared in the latest edition of Bead magazine. This is something I've been meaning to try for ages - even bought a book last year but didn't actually get around to making any of the designs! These instructions were brilliant to follow with excellent step by step photographs (sadly not always the case with magazine patterns) but that's another story. The most difficult part was actually trawling around the town searching for a bauble of the recommended size and I'd not realised just how many variations there seem to be, mostly smaller or larger than I needed. I would have preferred a matte gold rather than shiny but shiny was all I could get in the right size. The beading is a mix of size 11 seed beads and various fire-polished crystals. Sorry the photo is a bit dark but the light wasn't brilliant and I didn't want to use the flash on that reflective bauble.

Bah Humbug Challenge 43

2011-11-05T10:45:00.003Z

The lovely folk at Bah Humbug tell us that we are nearing the end of their challenges for this year - a brilliant way of amassing a good selection of cards for Christmas without the last minute rush. I do hope they will be back next year with more wonderful themes for us. The theme this week is snowmen and there are some great examples from their DT so do take a look if you are stuck for ideas. My snowman is made from a Spellbinders die which I had forgotten I had until trying to decide what to do this week. The 'scene' I've placed him in was printed from Polkadoodles Magical Winter and the ticket sentiment was from Cuddly Buddly. Once the various pieces were die cut this was a fairly quick and easy card.

Forgotten Friday 38

2011-11-04T13:22:00.000Z

Friday again already and time for something for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge. During my recent efforts to have a bit of a sort out of my stash I came across a box with a selection of stamped and/or digi stamp images some of which I'd coloured and some not so I decided to use one of the coloured ones for the challenge as I'd completely forgotten what was in the box - what am I like?? I thought these birds (a digi image from Pollycraft coloured with Copic pens)) would make a cute 'congratulations' card - background paper from my stash has had a border added with a fineline pen, a Martha Stewart punched border was added along with a couple of punched flowers. A friend had commented that she thought my cards had been a bit dark of late so I hope she likes this brighter one (you know who you are)!!

MMM challenge 22 - Autumn Leaves

2011-10-31T10:27:00.000Z

The last challenge in this month with an autumnal theme from Make My Monday is 'autumn leaves' and there is some great inspiration on their blog from the Design Team - well worth a look. The background on this card was made with a large leaf stamp from a set by Tanda Stamps using a resist technique involving acrylic paint The image is from a Stampin Up set and I simply added a little sentiment to complete this fairly quick card (apart from waiting for the paint to dry) which doesn't take long! I'm looking forward to seeing what the team challenge us with next month. Now I've seen this on the blog post I think it maybe needs a little something in the other corners but still debating that one! Maybe I should stick to less is more?

Bah Humbug Challenge 43

2011-10-29T07:40:00.000+01:00

I have to report that my major re-organisation didn't get too far yesterday but at least I cleared my actual working space and put away all the stray ink pads, stamps and so on which were cluttering it (they'll be back). I did get side-tracked however and made something for the Bah Humbug challenge this week which is to use die cuts to make something seasonal. I decided to break away from cards for a change and made a little milk carton gift box using a Sizzix die from Stampin Up. The poinsettias are also die cut using two sizes of Marianne dies. The closure is a small bulldog clip from the stationers and I glued another poinsettia onto that for decoration. The craftroom won't get much attention today either because I'm dashing off to teach a bead workshop but maybe tomorrow ...? One or two people who have left comments suggested I might like to sort their rooms out too so obviously I'm not the only one who needs to declutter.

The Time Has Come...

2011-10-28T10:54:00.001+01:00

... for me to have a MAJOR sort out and organisation of my craft room but before I launch into this mammoth task it is also time for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge again so I've just made this quick anniversary card. Do go and take a look at her blog - some beautiful work to see and the current post is a Haloween tag using her forgotten or neglected stamps (mind you Halloween stamps are mostly a once a year thing anyway which is why I don't have any to speak of).
For my card I used three stamps from a set of frames and smaller stamps by Joanna Sheen which I have had for a very long time and haven't used for an equally long time - we're talking years here and the little heart motif had never been inked as far as I recall. Background paper is a piece left over from a recent project and is from Artylicious Seasons Greetings CD which isn't just for Christmas; the frame and bow were stamped using Versamark onto kraft card and gold embossed before being cut out; the Top Note die cut has been embossed using a polka dot mask (another item which I reckon has been used only once since I bought it; the sentiment was computer generated and cut out with oval punches from Stampin Up.

Three Challenges

2011-10-26T11:47:00.000+01:00

I've had to do something this week which I very rarely do and that is to cover three challenges with one card - I really prefer to do separate cards for each challenge. Needs must but it actually took quite a bit of thought to co-ordinate my ideas to to do this which surprised me somewhat. I'd just realised that this week was galloping away from me at an alarming rate so I'll try to do better next week!
The challenges covered are Forgotten Friday, Funky Hand and Make My Monday - fortunately the last two are both autumn themed and Forgotten Friday needed me to use something from my stash which had been neglected or forgotten.

Forgotten Friday - the neglected item is the Nestability die set with the spikey circles which I've hardly ever used although I really needed it at the time.

Funky Hand - their monthly theme is autumn and I've used papers from the Craft The Year Away CD and the bird is also on the same disc - he has been paper pieced with a jewel for an eye. I chose papers from the Orange October collection (seemed appropriate!!).

Make My Monday - again an autumn theme for the month and this week they were looking for orange and black. I suppose the obvious thing would have been Halloween but as I don't have anything much for that and don't really 'do' Halloween I just used the colours. A Spellbinder die cut border across the centre, a computer sentiment some matching card candy and there it is - one card covering three challenges.

Beadwork Today

2011-10-24T08:13:00.001+01:00

Today's offering is a little beaded brooch made using one of the components of a necklace pattern which appeared in a recent issue of Bead magazine. A friend had mentioned that she'd tried this and that the instructions didn't appear to be particularly clear so I said I'd have a look and before you know it I'd launched into making this. Neither of us fancied making the whole necklace but it was a great idea of hers to turn part of it into a brooch and she was right in that the written instructions weren't the best but luckily there were also some diagrams so between the both we managed to work it out. This quite a close up photo - the actual brooch is approx 2" across

Bah Humbug challenge 42

2011-10-23T10:33:00.000+01:00

The Bah Humbug challenge for week 42 is 'with men in mind' so I've taken the opportunity of using stamps from Chocolate Baroque Steampunk Christmas. The background paper is from their Seasons Greetings collection and I've used a Tim Holtz Sizzix border die and also an embossing folder with gears. Some sponging with distress ink and there you have it - a male orientated Christmas card.

Advent Calendar

2011-10-21T13:45:00.001+01:00

While this Advent calendar wasn't especially quick to make it was very enjoyable and the instructions are available from the lovely Jenny of Stamping Moments if you think you'd like to make one. It is made on a canvas approximately 9" x 12" which I painted with gold acrylic paint and spritzed with Glimmer Mist using some masks (not much of this actually shows) but it is better than a plain white canvas. The 25 boxes with hinged lids are made using various Stampin Up punches and are about one inch deep which doesn't show up on the photo but they are large enough to hold a nice chocolate treat of some kind. I didn't follow Jenny's insructiions to the letter because I didn't have all the correct punches but managed to improvise by using circles to hold the numbers which were cut with X-cut dies as were the letters for the heading. I might just have to keep it for myself because I'm not sure I have enough spare time to make a couple more for the family (have to treat them alike of course).

Autumn Inchies

2011-10-19T07:16:00.001+01:00

The challenge this week for Make My Monday autumn month is 'inchies' - not something I would normally do but if a challenge doesn't take you out of the comfort zone then I suppose it isn't really a challenge is it?? I stamped various trees and grasses onto a piece of ivory card and sponged with spiced marmalade Distress ink. I then cut out some inch squares, sponged these too and stamped a variety of flora and fauna images using small stamps from various Chocolate Baroque sets (I forgot to mention that flora and fauna was also part of the theme this week). These squares were then arranged and re-arranged until I liked the effect and a saying was added. I do really enjoy these challenges and if you've not tried them why not have a go?

The Other Anniversary Card

2011-10-18T07:57:00.000+01:00

As I mentioned previously I'd made two anniversary cards recently and this one actually used up the rest of the backing paper I'd printed which is better than putting it away in a box and probably forgetting all about it.

For this one I used:

A piece of card embossed with hearts and spritzed with Glimmer Mist
A heart stamped with Versamark and gold embossed (Chocolate Baroque stamp)
A heart cut with an X-cut die and embossed for texture
Sentiments produced on the computer punched with Stampin Up punches
A small piece of paper from my oddments box(Chocolate Baroque)
A Marianne die cut corner and some card candy

Finished - At Last!!

2011-10-17T09:04:00.000+01:00

I have at last put the last stitch into this quilt which is a christening gift for a great niece and I'm not letting on how long ago she was christened but to be fair I didn't know until on the actual day that they would like me to make a quilt for her. I did enquire if there was any preference as to design and/or colour and all I was told was that her room is fairly neutral and not to make anything 'too pink or girly' - I do hope they like my choice.

Anniversary Birds

2011-10-16T13:35:00.000+01:00

I've been asked to make a Golden anniversary card and as there was no request for personalisation I actually made two so that there would be a choice and the one not chosen will go into my box as a 'spare'. I turned to Artylicious Decadent Brocade CD (Chocolate Baroque) and printed off a sheet of backing paper and two inserts onto some metallic champagne heavyweight paper. For this cards I've used the following:-

   Sizzix top note die cut embossed with cuttlebug swirls folder, sponged with DI and edged with gold pen
     Marianne die cut heart
     Two birds on branches using Stampin Up punch
     Numbers cut using X-cut dies popped onto punched circle and die cut shape
     A border strip with hearts - Martha Stewart punch
     Wording printed from computer punched using Stampin Up punches

I will post the other card another day

Bah Humbug Challenge 41

2011-10-15T07:15:00.001+01:00

The lovely team over at Bah Humbug this week are looking for 'something good to eat' as their challenge for the week. Luckily I remembered I had a cute Cuddly Buddly unmounted stamp with a cat and mouse sharing a pudding that I thought should fit the bill and once I'd managed to actually find it I stamped and then coloured the image with Polychromos pencils. I used a Marianne die and a Nestability die to cut out the circles, cut a strip of Coredinations whitewash card, embossed with snowflakes and then sanded to show up the design. Background paper is by Papermania, the glittery snowflakes with added gems were cut with a cuttlebug die and the swirls were cut from a scrap of spritzed card from my 'bits' box which just happened to be the right colour. The greeting was produced on the computer.

Forgotten Friday 35

2011-10-14T09:26:00.001+01:00

My goodnes don't the weeks just rush by? We are now on week 35 for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge and this week I'd been rooting through my stamps for ones with trees for another challenge and realised that this particular tree stamp from the Stampin Up Lovely as a Tree set had never actually been inked - how bad is that? I also have several other tree stamps which have been neglected so sometime soon. must use them as well. I stamped the tree first with Versamark and clear embossed, made a moon mask then brushed and sponged Chipped Sapphire Distress ink before finally stamping the tree again (slightly offset) using the same colour. This panel was them mounted with various bits of matting and layering using background papers from my stash and a punched tag for the words. I was hoping that this card just might do for another Christmas challenge but sadly their theme this week isn't trees - never mind.

Make My Monday challenge week 19

2011-10-12T15:48:00.000+01:00

First of all I must apologise for my lack of blogging this week - the days just seem to be disappearing and I've not been able to keep up, but at least I'm now on the last leg of a quilt which I seem to have been making forever. I just have to hem around the binding and it is finished - hooray.

However today I did manage to make this card for the Make My Monday challenge which this month is on an Autumnal theme with trees for this week's topic. This was made entirely using Stampin Up stamps and cardstock from my stash

Background - French foliage set stamped with Big and Juicy ink pad - Spice
Main image - Oak Tree from Lovely as a Tree and text from French Foliage - on a SU Sizzix Top Note
Oak leaves - from Lovely as a Tree, cut out and layered
Acorns - from Touch of Nature
Sentiment - from Happy Moments stamped onto a punched label (Four Frames set)
Green textured card - embossed with SU Sizzix Square Lattice folder

The green card is actually a much nicer colour than it shows on the scan and tones nicely with the rest of the card.

Bah Humbug week 40

2011-10-09T13:44:00.001+01:00

The challenge at Bah Humbug for week 40 is glitz and glitter and I've done a fairly simple card using Artylicious background paper. I used a tree stamp from the fat robin Christmas set by Chocolate Baroque stamped onto some of the backing paper with Versamark and embossed with Ranger Queens Gold embossing powder, cut out the image and mounted it onto a piece of gold card. The glitzy snowflake was made with 2 Marianne dies.

Forgotten Friday

2011-10-08T13:20:00.000+01:00

It's time for the Forgotten Friday challenge again - actually it is Saturday now and I'm really not at all sure what happened to Friday. I've been trying to have a bit of a tidy up and sort out in my craft room which is a fairly regular occurence and never makes much impression on the chaos. During this I came across a box with lots of die cuts and so on which I'd done whilst demonstrating the Big Shot back in April so I fished around and found all the necessary bits of this owl (as you can see he has lots of pieces) and decided he would fit the bill for the challenge this week. Background paper is from my stash and the border was cut with a Martha Stewart punch - the owl is popped onto a Marianne die cut and the sentiment was punched with Stampin Up punches.

Magnus

2011-10-07T10:28:00.001+01:00

Yesterday evening I went along to the last of three workshops to finish this bear. The first session was spent mainly in carefully cutting out all the pieces and starting to put them together then it was some 'homework' before the next session to get the various components tacked and stitched ready for the second week where we concenrated on stuffing the head and getting the features looking good as this is a very important consideration when making bears (or any toys presumably). Each person somehow managed to get a different 'look'. Last night we added some of the stuffing, then it was time to fix all the cotter joints before finally piling in the rest of the stuffing and stitching up the gaps.Anyone who has been following my blog might remember that I've made a few bears starting with a jointed one one of about 4" high, then moving onto a couple of slightly larger ones. This one is the largest one I've made (hence his name) and he sits about 30cm tall - 12" in old money (taller when standing obviously). When it came to colour there was plenty of choice from blonde, golden brown, milk chocolate and so on but I'd always fancied having a black teddy so that was my choice; very difficult to see when it came to the stitching in artificial light but on the other hand I reckon that this colour maybe hides a multitude of sins if the odd stitch wasn't as neat as it should be!! I'm going to knit him a scarf of his own but for the moment I loaned him one of mine for the photograph.

Make My Monday week 18

2011-10-05T08:17:00.000+01:00

A new month of challenges on Make My Monday and this time the theme is autumn with an added twist this first week to use a resist technique. I've used a piece of Tim Holtz kraft resist paper for the background and sponged with two colours of distress ink to show up the resist effect on the swirls. The text and the little acorns are from a stamp set by Stampin Up. The large leaves were cut using a Spellbinders leaf die, sponged with the same distress inks for the autumnal colour - fired brick and spiced marmalade with a touch of butterscotch.

Bah Humbug week 39

2011-10-04T07:48:00.002+01:00

The theme this week on the Bah Humbug challenge is Nativity and I turned to the Polkadoodles Magical Winter Cd for an image and backing paper to use. The image was printed three times and cut to make the decoupage layers. I added a Nestabilities label which has been embossed with a snowflake design and sanded - the greeting is a computer one punched with a small oval punch.

CD Sunday Challenge - Nature

2011-10-03T08:24:00.000+01:00

The challenge on CD Sunday this week is 'Nature's Wonders' and I've chosen to use The Essence of Nature CD from Artylicious (Chocolate Baroque). I printed off an insert and a tag. I used the darker half of the insert as backing paper and overprinted with a stamp from their Floral Bouquet set which matches the design on the tag. The flowers were cut from the faded out side of the insert using a Sizzix tattered flowers die - they were overprinted with a text stamp and edges sponged with ink.

A Gem of a challenge

2011-10-02T07:55:00.000+01:00

There is a cute free digi stamp to download at Pink Gem Designs - a little snowman with a warming cup of soup. They also have a challenge blog called Pink Gem and their challenge this week is 'with love at Christmas' to include at least one heart in the design. As a thank you for the freebie I decided to make a card for their challenge using the snowman which I cut out with a circle die and then mounted onto a heart cut out in Tim Holtz whitewash coredinations card, sanded to show up the snowflake embossing (cuttlebug folder). Background paper is some which has been in my stash for ages and the greeting was printed on the computer, punched out and popped onto a smaller heart. Some glittery snowflakes were added also (Marianne die).
There are lots of lovely stamps and other goodies at on Pink Gem so well worth a look.

CD Sunday Challenge Blog

2011-10-01T08:11:00.000+01:00

Well I'm not quite sure where this last week has gone - I know I've been out and about a bit making the most of the late summery weather. I think I might just about be in time with an entry for the CD Sunday challenge which is 'Winter Wonderland' and for this I used an image from Polkadoodles Magical Winter CD, printed a couple of times and layered for a bit of dimension - had to add a bit of glitter for the snow as well. The background paper and sentiment are from the same CD and I cut out a toning label using a Nestability die, embossed and sanded to show up the dots which I think look like snow.

Forgotten Friday 34

2011-09-30T11:03:00.000+01:00

I've gone way, way back this week for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge because earlier in the week I was searching for stamps to use on another challenge and dug out a set by Paper Artsy which was given away as a subscription gift with Craft Stamper years ago. I cannot remember actually using this large stamp before so decided to give it an inking today to make a 'man' card.. Background paper is from a Basic Grey pad which I've also had for years and this was overstamped with bits and pieces from the Paper Artsy set. The ticket was die cut using a Tim Holtz Sizzix die and that was stamped with words from Imagine that - the wings were made using a stamp from Maya Road. This challenge is brilliant for making me look through my stash for neglected items to make sure they don't remain completely forgotten. Take a look at Judith's blog for some great inspiration with both forgotten items and really new things like the Christmas stamps (and others) from Chocolate Baroque as she is a member of their Design team.

Make My Monday week 17

2011-09-27T15:46:00.000+01:00

This is the last week on Make My Monday challenge for the steampunk theme and I'm way outside my comfort zone with this one which was 'anything but a card' because I rarely venture into this sort of work much as admire what other people achieve.. I've been mulling this over since I read the post and eventually decided on altering a picture frame. I called into our local shop where everything is one economical price and fortunately they had this square frame with a wide area to decorate. I sanded the surface slightly and applied some gesso and then a coat of acrylic paint, finally sponging with Distress ink. The image of the penny farthing was a free digital download from BTFC, distressed with dusty concorde ink. Various stamps from Kanban, 7 Gypsies, Paper Artsy and Chocolate Baroque were used (the flower is from CB Steampunk Christmas set). I also cut out some cogs using a Sizzix die and embossed them with more cogs using a Cuttlebug folder, again using Distress ink. I can see that I could have made this much more elaborate, especially if I had a handy supply of watch parts and other bits and pieces which are on my ever growing wish list, but at least I had a go.

Funky Hand Monthly Challenge

2011-09-26T08:07:00.001+01:00

The folks at Funky Hand are looking for something with a birthday theme this month which figures because a Happy Happy Birthday CD has recently been launched. I used papers from the Sunshine Birthday collection to make this card, simply adding a Top Note die cut from Sizzix, a scaled down piece of the backing paper cut using a Nestability die, a stamped and punched greeting (Stampin Up) and some flowers using a Marianne die and an X-cut punch. Just for luck I added a butterfly using a Sizzix embosslits folder (also SU). A bright and cheery result.

Bah Humbug Week 38

2011-09-25T10:20:00.000+01:00

The challenge from the ladies at Bah Humbug this week is to produce something on the theme of 'Rudolph' so nothing too taxing. The image, sentiment and backing papers have come from Polkadoodles Magical Winter and I also used a Sizzix die for layering. I try to keep some of my christmas cards quite simple because I find people are reluctant to pay much for the cards and also don't like having to put extra postage for dimensional cards this time of year. I will be adding some glitter to his nose but didn't want to wait for the glue to dry before posting to the blog and if no-one wants to buy this card I will add some dimension with real buttons and a sprig of holly.

Forgotten Friday 33

2011-09-23T14:05:00.000+01:00

When I saw the Midweek Motivation post on the MMM challenge I remembered that several years ago I'd bought a reel of this DIY aluminium tape and that it was somewhere in my craft stash (certainly not purchased for DIY). Believe it or not I actually knew where it was so I dug it out to use for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge this week - it certainly qualifies because it hasn't seen the light of day for many years. I stuck a piece of it onto some card and then cut out a small birdcage using a Tim Holtz Sizzix die - this was coloured using alcohol inks. The robin was cut out with a Stampin Up two step bird punch - another item which probably hasn't been used for a couple of months - I cut an extra wing in red to turn it into a robin.
Background is a piece of Kraft card stamped using a lovely brocade stamp from Chocolate Baroque - again a neglected item. The clock die cut was sent to me by a very kind friend and I sponged it with Distress ink and then rubbed some Treasure gold on to show up the pattern on the centre which I'd put through a Cuttlebug embossing folder. A ticket style Christmas Greeting from Cuddly Buddly and there it is a sort of vintage meets steampunk Christmas card.

Less is More 1000 challenge

2011-09-21T14:06:00.001+01:00

I hope Suzi B will forgive me for copying her idea of making a bookmark to enter into the Less is More challenge this week. She has had this great idea of using scraplings( which are the pieces of card left over after you've cut a square card blank from a folded A4 sheet of card) to make bookmarks. I cut a mask using a sticky note and stippled some distress ink, then stamped a Retro flower from a set of Chocolate Baroque stamps. A one layer clean and simple result and another entry towards their target.

CD Sunday challenge

2011-09-20T08:44:00.001+01:00

I'm a bit late with the CD Sunday challenge this week but I assume there is a week in which to make something. The challenge was 'black and blue' and I was trawling through the Create a Scene CD from My Craft Studio when I came across this lovely seascape which I put into one of the frames also on the CD, selected a suitable backing paper from another folder and there you have it - a black and blue card. I simply added a greeting and three black pearls so a quick and easy card really.

Make My Monday Challenge 16

2011-09-19T14:44:00.000+01:00

Over on the Make My Monday challenge blog the theme is still steampunk and this week they are asking for some metal to be included in the design. My background was made by colouring a piece of Tim Holtz kraft resist paper with Adirondack wild plum ink and edging with a gold Krylon pen. I put some mirri card through a cuttlebug embossing folder and coloured with alcohol inks in wild plum, butterscotch and stream, eventually only using a narrow strip. I then put some cream card through the same embossing folder which I had inked with Adirondack inks in the same colours so that the inks transferred to the card which was cut to size, spritzed with copper Glimmer Mist and sponged with black soot Distress ink to tone it down a little. The butterfly collage is a stamp by Crafty Individuals and I layered the butterfly and added a pen nib coloured with alcohol ink. I really enjoy this steampunk style but to be honest I'm not sure that the people who usually buy my cards will appreciate it so my long suffering family might just end up being the recipients of these cards.

Less is More - 1000 challenge

2011-09-18T08:48:00.000+01:00

The ladies at Less is More are aiming for 1000 entries this week and although this isn't my favourite style I thought I'd make a CAS card to help them on their way - hopefully Mr Blogger will cope!! I simply stamped the image and wording onto a plain cream card so what could be more simple - apart from making sure there are no nasty smudges on all that unused space. The stamp is from Nature Swirls by Chocolate Baroque and the word from their Eastern Grasses set.

Bah Humbug Challenge 37

2011-09-17T11:47:00.000+01:00

Another week has just rushed by and it is time for the Bah Humbug challenge again - this week they are asking for flourishes and swirls. The background paper is from Artylicious Seasons Greetings (now Chocolate Baroque) and has a lovely swirly pattern although you can't see much of it, the swirly main image is the Papermania large bauble stamp (this time using a resist technique) and I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder with swirls on a piece of Tim Holtz whitewash card and sanded it to show up the pattern. Finally I added a poinsettia made from the same card and a flourish made using a Marianne die.

I hope Judith will accept this card for Forgotten Friday this week - the Papermania stamp came out of 'retirement' only last week. I acquired it early this year because it disappeared off the shelves so quickly before Christmas last year I didn't get it in time to use then so it has been resting with my seasonal stamps ever since.

Response Received

2011-09-17T08:43:00.000+01:00

Well I eventually had a response from Docraft to my message about the CD problems and it appears that quite a few of the images over the two CDs are wrongly sized and will not print out correctly (do they not test new software thoroughly before they launch it I wonder??). I can imagine they were probably inundated with complaints once these CDs started landing on doormats via C & C. They are apparently working on solving this problem and will be issuing an update in due course. In the meantime they have offered a couple of temporary solutions which seem a bit of a faff but I will try them out later.
I'm hoping to get into the craft room today to catch up on some challenges so watch this space for a picture.

A Very quick card and a Disappointment

2011-09-16T14:04:00.004+01:00

I was excited this week when my copy of the Docrafts Country companion CD set arrived (it doesn't take much!!) as there are lots of cute and popular characters on there for many occasions. The disappointment came when I installed the programme on my computer and used the software to make a page of images, embellishments and so on to make a card. All went well and it was looking good on the screen but when I went to print it was a disaster with the small embellishments (flowers, a heart and so on) coming out absolutely huge and overpowering the rest of the items on the page. Fortunately these were on a layer behind the backing paper which I'd included on the A4 page so I was just about able to rescue enough to make this really simple card. Well they'd said on TV what a wonderful piece of software this was so I assumed I'd done something silly so I immediately did another layout on the screen - this time making up a complete square card design with backing paper, image (layered) text and embellishments - again hearts and some different flowers and leaves all tastefully arranged!!. Lo and behold the same sort of thing happened with some items being the right size and others being huge again and all over the page instead of where I'd placed them.
I'm wondering if anyone else has been having the same sort of problems or maybe I have a faulty set of discs? Another disappointment is the response from Docrafts - not even an acknowledgement of my first message earlier in the week so yesterday I contacted them again - on both occasions using the 'form' which is on the software . At least yesterday I did get an automated response email but so far nothing more.
Sorry - rant over and here is the very simple card I made and I will be making a heart and some flowers to add in due course.

Baby Dragon

2011-09-14T12:22:00.001+01:00

This cute baby dragon is a stamp from Sweet Pea and he's been coloured with Inktense and Polychromos pencils with glitter added to the wings. Background paper is from my stash (K and Co) and a Martha Stewart punch was used on the embossed card. Some ribbon and a computer greeting and there he is to wish someone a Happy Birthday.

Make My Monday Week 15

2011-09-13T16:00:00.000+01:00

The theme at Make My Monday is still steampunk and this week they are asking for monochromatic designs. I just had to use one of the' fashionista' images from the steampunk set by Kanban which arrived on my doormat very recently!! I'm not totally happy with the result here because I think a large image like this should be on a larger card but at the moment I don't have any without going out shopping and visits to craft shops always end up costing me more than I think they will so I used what I had. Background stamps are mostly from the 7 gypsies set I used last week apart from the cogs (they actually don't show much) which are from the Chocolate Baroque steampunk Christmas set. The background was sponged with Peeled Paint distress ink with the addition of a little Adirondack pesto. I also used some Tim Holtz tissue tape and a little piece of lace which I coloured with the distress ink - not really happy with this either but it was far too white without colouring. I might have another go later on when I've caught up with myself after last weekend - being out of the house for three days takes me ages to get back to normal (whatever that is).

Bah Humbug Challenge 36

2011-09-11T10:48:00.000+01:00

The challenge over at Humbug Hall this week is paper weaving - they seem to have a spider problem too but I'm glad we didn't have spiders as the challenge as I'm not sure how I would have tied them into Christmas. I embossed some red and green card using Cuttlebug folders, cut into strips and did the weaving and while my brain was ticking over wondering what to do next I remembered this beautiful stamp from Papermania but what I'd not remembered was the sheer size of it so ended up making an A5 card. Backing paper was from a vintage pad by Cart-Us (Kars).

Altered Beer Mats

2011-09-10T08:03:00.000+01:00

Hello folks - a very quick post this morning before I dash off for another day of demonstrating beadwork. A while ago there was a challenge on the Chocolate Baroque group to produce altered beer mats and here are a couple which I came up with. Hopefully after this weekend I will be back in the craft room catching up with challenges and so on (I may need to tidy up first though!!).

LOTV Cutie

2011-09-08T09:01:00.001+01:00

Apologies for not blogging much this week but I've been busy preparing for some beadwork demonstrations this weekend so there may not be much blogging then either!! For this card I used one of the free Lili of the Valley images which were given away with a magazine a while ago. Colouring was done with Copic pens and various backing papers were used from my stash but I can't recall the source because I often take pieces from various pads to match up for a project and then change my mind and don't use them all. The flowers are from a pot of mixed coloured ones with a Marianne die cut leaf and the greeting was a free download.

Make My Monday Challenge 14

2011-09-06T09:25:00.000+01:00

The folks over on the Make My Monday blog have a new theme for the month of September - steampunk and for this first week they are asking for an ATC which something I've not made for simply ages as I find the small size a bit restrictive. However I decided to have a go and have actually come up with two - couldn't decide between them so they are both here (sorry I put one a bit crooked in the scanner). The one on the left has a sponged background with some overstamping using stamps from 7 Gypsies and the lettering in the top corner is a stamp from a teeny tiny set by Chocolate Baroque. The butterfly has been cut out and layered. For the card on the right I first stamped part of a Christmas tree from Chocolate Baroque Steampunk Christmas using Versamark ink and embossed with clear powder before sponging and a bit more overstamping. A Tim Holtz die was used to cut out a cog shape which was then run through a Cuttlebug embossing folder, sponged with colour and layered. The hot air balloon from 7 Gypsies was stamped and cut out also. I might say that this set of clear stamps from 7 Gypsies caused me a problem in that they were so difficult to remove from the carrier sheet I felt I was in danger of actually ripping them as they stretched to an alarming degree - thankfully no damage was done and they stamped nicely.

CD Sunday - Peacocks

2011-09-04T23:00:00.000+01:00

The challenge on the CD Sunday blog is 'inspired by peacocks' and there are prizes on offer too. I did a bit of 'thinking outside the box' and chose an image of a peacock butterfly from Joanna Sheen's CD of Jane Netley Mayhew designs - printed onto pearlescent paper and decoupaged. Background paper is from Artylicious Peacock summer Party CD (Chocolate Baroque) and the Art Deco peacock feather was a Tanda stamp embossed in gold.

A Scheduled Post - I Hope!

2011-09-04T00:00:00.000+01:00

I've just switched to the new interface on Blogger and thought I'd try out the scheduled post option to see how it goes. This card was made using a Polkadoodles stamp from the Wonderland set coloured with Promarkers. Background papers are from Funky Hand and the sentiment was a free digi download but I'm afraid I can't recall who designed it. I think I will probably stick with this new interface although it is quite an adventure searching for the various functions - I reckon the success of this scheduled post might be the deciding factor.

Forgotten Friday 31

2011-09-03T08:24:00.000+01:00

It's time for my Forgotten Friday 31 challenge card to get an airing - this seems to have been a very short week somehow. This week I've used an image from one of my many My Craft Studio CDs and although I looked at this one ages ago when I first bought it I've not used any of the artwork until now. This cute character is Violet and the image was cut out using Nestabilities labels die, the sentiment was printed from the CD and I added a border, ribbon and flowers.

Bah Humbug Challenge 35

2011-09-02T11:54:00.000+01:00

Friday seems to have come around so quickly again this week (I blame the Bank Holiday) but anyway that means it's time for the Bah Humbug challenge which this week is 'sentiments or text' and they would like words to be the main feature. It so happens that on Monday I was persuaded to buy a pad of lovely vintage Christmas papers by Cart-Us so I really wanted to use some of it this week. As well as backing papers there were also some pages of lovely old postcards etc and you will notice that the one I've chosen actually ties in with the stamped sentiment. This sentiment is on a set of seasonal words from Chocolate Baroque and it's one of my favourites - this was cut out with a Nestability label and I just added an ornate die-cut corner (Marianne die) and a border which was also from the paper pad, as was the background.

Make My Monday challenge 13

2011-08-30T11:18:00.000+01:00

Over on the Make My Monday blog we are on the last week of the 'things with wings' challenge and this time they've given us a photograph to use as inspiration in any way we like. I chose a piece of green background paper from my stash of beautiful papers which came as part of my membership of the Graphicus Guild and I must admit I do tend to hoard them. I stamped a birdcage and embossed in white onto the background (Papermania stamp set) and the bird from the same set was stamped in brown, cut out and coloured with pencils.The flowers were made using some white glassine paper and then sprayed with Glimmer Mist; the leaf was cut using a Marianne die and the greetings printed and cut out using a punch and shapes cut with Cuttlebug dies. Take a look at their blog using the link above and see if you think this is a reasonable interpreation of the photograph.

Bah Humbug Challenge 34

2011-08-28T08:38:00.000+01:00

The challenge at Humbug Hall this week is 'here come the girls' and they are asking for something girly and/or with some bling. Once I'd remembered that I had a pad of Smirk collection Christmas papers by Papermania this card was quite quick and easy to make using one of the sheets with glitter already on it. I simply added a computer printed greeting using a stamp and punches from Stampin Up, added some glitter and a scattering of glittery snowflakes and there you have it - here come the girls!

A Spiky Bracelet

2011-08-27T08:48:00.000+01:00

I'm demonstrating bead weaving in a couple of week's time so I've been looking through books and magazines (a favourite occupation) for something a bit different to show. This bracelet in a recent edition of Bead and Button took my fancy and as I'd bought some small dagger beads recently I decided to have a go. It is made using Peyote stitch which is one I enjoy using. As the weekend weather isn't looking too promising I think I will probably spend much of the time going through my bead stash to sort out a couple of projects and get them started ready for the demonstrations - I'll need something reasonably straightforward so that I can talk to people and carry on working without making any mistakes in the pattern.

Forgotten Friday 30

2011-08-26T08:51:00.000+01:00

I was asked this week to make a card for a Silver Wedding anniversary and it so happens that it qualifies for entry into Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge - how lucky is that? The background paper was printed onto pearlescent paper from Artylicious Decadent Brocade CD and the wording was produced on the computer in My Craft Studio and sized to fit a Nestabilities die and circle punch. The heart was stamped onto a piece of the printed paper and embossed in silver using a stamp from the Lovesong set (Chocolate Baroque). This stamp is the forgotten item as it hasn't been used for quite a while although it is really good for anniversary cards. I also die cut a heart in silver card and embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and added a flower with a silver swirl. Judith has made a beautiful card with some of her forgotten stash - take a look.

Thank You Cards

2011-08-24T15:09:00.001+01:00

I've been busy this morning making an anniversary card but not sure if it is OK to post in on the blog so maybe another day... I also had time to work on a neat little holder for some 3" thankyou cards which holds one and an envelope in each of the four pockets. The instructions for this came from the lovely Jenny of Stamping Moments and it is one of her Stampin Up classes which are available on her blog - there are lots of lovely classes so well worth taking a look if you're stuck for ideas. This particular class is called 'Love you Much' because that is the stamp set she used but I opted for the Vintage Vogue set. This was a nice little project to make and would be a lovely small gift or maybe an item for a craft sale. The glue is still drying on the cards so only the envelopes are in the pockets at the moment.

Make My Monday challenge 12

2011-08-23T08:17:00.000+01:00

The theme on Make My Monday is still 'things with wings' and it would appear we can use anything with wings this week as long as we use ACETATE!! I must say that this isn't one of my favourite things to work with and after rejecting several ideas I finally settled on printing this aeroplane image (from Joanna Sheen's Victorian Companion CDs) onto acetate, applying glue to the back and covering with gilding flakes. The backing paper is from Chocolate Baroque Echoes of Italy collection - I felt it suited the image - and I used a piece of Tim Holtz fabulous Kraft Resist paper, punched with an EK success punch and wrapped with raffia. A Computer sentiment and a couple of brads and that's my acetate entry done!

CD Sunday challenge

2011-08-22T08:07:00.000+01:00

The challenge theme this week on CD Sunday is nursery rhymes and it is a good job there was so much inspiration from the design team or I wouldn't have known where to start. I searched out my Victorian Birthdays CD from Joanna Sheen and found this colourful image of 'three little kittens' - used backing papers from the CD and added a punched border, a few flowers and a greeting layered onto a variety of punched shapes.

More Steampunk

2011-08-21T09:18:00.000+01:00

I've used another of the stamps from the Steampunk Christmas set by Chocolate Baroque and this time it isn't truly steampunk style because of the colours and the gems I added but shows just a little of the versatility of these stamps. Background paper is printed from CB Seasons Greetings CD and a strip of embossed pearl card was added (Cuttlebug folder). The snowflakes were cut from glitter hand made paper using Marianne dies. this card also fits with the theme from Bah Humbug this week.

Bah Humbug challenge 33

2011-08-20T07:12:00.000+01:00

I recently treated myself to a fabulous set of Steampunk Christmas stamps from Chocolate Baroque and the first card I've made with them will be just right for the Bah Humbug challenge this week as their theme is 'something new'. The background was made by spraying Glimmer Mist in red and gold onto some card which was then put through a cuttlebug embossing folder with cogs and wheels which matches the steampunk design. The main design was stamped and embossed with vanilla ice embossing powder onto red card and the poinsettia (also from the stamp set) was embossed with the same powder which has tiny gold flecks in it. The border at the bottom was cut with a Crealies border die which also happens to be another new item - couldn't resist this or the stamp set which has lots of other versatile designs which will be used for Christmas and are also suitable for other occasions too.

Forgotten Friday 29

2011-08-19T11:47:00.000+01:00

Goodness don't the Fridays come around quickly - I swear someone has seriously shortened all my days but I wish they'd asked my permission first. Anyway I've managed to make a card for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge using a stamp from Cuddly Buddly which I used quite a lot when I first bought it but can't say she's seen the light of day for some months now. I fished her out to get back into the swing of colouring using alcohol based markers because if I don't keep practising I find my colouring suffers. A mix of Flex, Promarkers and Copics were used to get the colours I wanted and the image was cut using a Nestabilities label, then mounted onto a Sizzix die cut shape from Stampin Up. The buttons were cut using another Sizzix die (SU). Background paper is from my stash - stamped around the edge using a faux stitch stamp (Chocolate Baroque). The paper and also the ribbon have been in my stash for ages so they qualify as well - the greeting was a free download popped onto Cuttlebug die cut shapes.

Have A Mice Day

2011-08-18T08:34:00.000+01:00

I paid a visit to StampNcraft on Monday and decided my one lonely wooden House Mouse Stamp which I must have had for 10 year or so should have some company and it was difficult to decide which set to buy but settled on this one. Image was coloured with Flex and Promarkers and cut out using Nestabilities. Backing paper from my stash with a bit of stamping around the edge, a strip of embossed whitewash core-d-nations card sanded to show the core colour and the greeting from the stamp set cut out with a Stampin Up punch. As the message says - have a mice day - although it is raining steadily at the moment!! I'm off to visit a patchwork shop later and will do my best not to be tempted.

At the Seaside - Funky Hand Challenge

2011-08-17T08:39:00.000+01:00

The challenge for this month at Funky Hand is 'at the seaside' and they are giving away a lovely download to use - really bright colours. I decided to use their Colour Me Happy CD and papers (equally bright) from the Barbadian Ecstasy Collection. The little beach huts were adapted from a house which is on this CD and I printed it several times with reduced sizes of backing papers behind them so that I could paper piece to get colour variations. The sentiment is from Cuddly Buddly.

MMM Again!!

2011-08-16T10:54:00.000+01:00

I'm back again with another card for the Make My Monday challenge - I was searching through my box of clear unmounted stamps for something and came across this set from Lavinia stamps which were the subscription gift from Craft Stamper magazine many moons ago (actually unopened would you believe)!! I'd completely forgotten I had them but decided to play around with some Distress inks and put in a fairy entry this week as well.