Forgotten Friday 7

The card I've made for the Forgotten Friday challenge this week uses a 'forgotten technique'.  I was reminded of this earlier in the week when I got together with three other crafty friends and one of them  (thanks Janet) told us about a way of using cling film with the lovely images which often appear on serviettes.  This is instead of using mod podge which is how I've done it before and as well as taking ages to dry it has a strange smell and can be messy.  Unfortunately I haven't been able to get the right brand of cling film yet so I resorted to using a piece of Bondaweb instead which also works but would work out more expensive than using cling film.  Background paper is from Papermania and I added some black lace and a scrunched flower made from brown wrapping paper, sprayed with Glimmer Mist.  Greeting was composed on the computer, cut out using Stampin Up punches and the leaves were cut using a Marianne die.  Judith had made a flower using brown paper - thanks - I'd not have thought of that but it is effective.

Something for a Change

I've not made a single card since the weekend which is most unusual for me but I've not been idle.  As well as having a little 'teach in' with three crafting friends yesterday making beaded beads, I've also managed to make a fabric covered box just the right size to hold a box of After Eight mints which is a nice way of presenting a little gift to a chocoholic and they will always have an excuse to buy more when they've eaten the ones you've given them!! Naturally the box could be used to keep anything if you don't happen to like mints.

And here is the open box showing the box of chocolates peeping out

Less is More Week 4

The challenge this week on Less is More is a 'recipe' to use three squares so maybe not quite so daunting. I have chosen to use  papers and a stamp from Papermania Pampered Pets collection.  The faux postage is from Forever Friends Good Life and the sentiment is a free stamp given on the cover of the current Creativity magazine.  What can I say - the dog was stamped  onto plain card using Distress ink and brushed out with a water brush; the squares were all cut using Nestabilities, sponged around the edges and arranged tastefully (I hope!!) onto a plain white card. - there is still some white space but not as much as last week.

Bah Humbug Challenge 8

Well we are up to week 8 already at Bah Humbug and this week's challenge is 'things that fly' which should give everyone lots of scope.  I decided to go for robins but if these two little fellows eat the pudding they are eyeing up I think they might have problems getting off the ground. The background paper, robins, pudding, holly and sentiment strip were all printed from Polkadoodles Sundae of Seasons - cut out, glittered and popped onto a couple of Sizzix die cut shapes.

Forgotten Friday 6

I can hardly believe it is time for Forgotten Friday again - where do the days go??  This time Judith has made a beautiful tag using some forgotten embellishments and other items - do go and have a look.  Her post has reminded me that I have tons of similar items which seem to have accumulated over the years and which at the time seemed like  'must have' purchases.  I will have to have a look through the boxes to see what I might use for a future entry into this challenge.

In the meantime I've used a stamp set from Stampin Up which I've had a while and although I do use the flower from time to time, this is the first outing for the word stamp.  The flower has been stamped onto Kraft card (a favourite at the moment) and coloured with Polychromos pencils.  Background paper is from my stash but I'm afraid I cannot remember where it came from - it is actually a nicer shade of green that it looks in the picture. I've also used a Martha Stewart punch, a Nestabilities shape, some ribbon and pearls. I had intended using a 'forgotten' butterfly punch but it seems to have gone into hiding (sulking maybe) so I used a Marianne die instead.

Eastern Grasses

There was an excellent tutorial on the Less is More blog this week explaining how to use text boxes in Microsoft Word to produce interesting sentiments for cards and although I had to persevere to make it work in my version of the programme I think I may have cracked it.  All that remains now is to write it down somewhere safely so that I have it to refer to when I try to do this again some time in the future.  This card has the sentiment printed directly from the computer and the stamped grasses (Elusive Images Eastern Grasses Set) were done in black on a separate strip of card, sponged with Distress Ink.  I'm getting to like this type of card but get the feeling that some folks might feel they should be paying less for this simple style what do you think??

Less is More Week 3

The theme for the Less is More challenge this week is Spring and they have also provided a great tutorial on writing sentiments using Microsoft Word - I couldn't get it to work exactly as they did but of course different versions of Word have slightly different features but I will persevere to see if I can get it all to happen as it should.  I did print my wording directly onto a DL card which is a first for me although I often make sentiments using the computer and either punch them or die cut them to use.  The daffodils were stamped using a Hero Arts stamp which I've had for many years but can't remember when it was last used - I had to have a search for it as I knew it was somewhere in my stamp collection.  Colouring was done using Polychromos pencils and the image was simply layered with two Nestabilities die cuts - I managed to resist the urge to add a few pearls although I was tempted!!  This 'Less is More' style is proving to be such a challenge for me but it is good to step outside the comfort zone and try different styles and ideas.

It occurs to me that this card would also fit the criteria for the Forgotten Friday challenge so do go and check this out too and maybe think about taking part in this fairly new challenge.