Forgotten Friday 33

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.