Things That Fly

The challenge this week on Make My Monday has been set by Suzi B and there is a prize as well for one lucky entrant so worth taking a look to see what the design team have made for inspiration. The theme is 'anything that flies' and I dug out some wood mounted stamps which I've had for many, many years and there is no information on the blocks as to who made them but I thought they would fit this challenge nicely as a change from the usual butterflies or birds which immediately came to mind.  The background was made using Distress Inks with a touch of Glimmer Mist, overstamped with some swirls and of course the sentiment (Creative Expressions).  The insects were cut out using a Sizzix die (Stampin' Up).

Diamonds and Flowers

I've just made the first of my Quintiles for the Chocolate Baroque swap where the theme for May is 'Chelsea Flower Show' and as it happens I've included a trellis die cut which with a bit of lateral thinking makes this suitable for the Sunday Stamper Challenge today with the theme of diamonds or pearls.  The background here is some Prima paper purchased from CB and I've used their stamp set called Sunny Sunflowers although I've chosen to colour mine differently.  They were stamped onto watercolour paper and coloured using Inktense pencils, cut out carefully and layered up for some dimension - the leaves are from the same set of stamps. The trellis die is by Spellbinders and the embossing folder is by Sizzix.  On now to the second Quintile - a lovely theme this month because I actually have quite a few (aka lots!!) of CB floral stamps to choose from so watch this space.

Anything Goes at Make My Monday

This week on Make My Monday we are being asked to produce anything but a card and I did have great plans to decorate a box with all sorts of loveliness.  However in view of the nice weather I thought I just had to work in the garden while it is dry so sadly the box is still in my head.  I recently made some items using fabrics sold by my local craft shop as part of a show/demonstration weekend so I'm sharing this patchwork owl and baby with you in the hopes that the lovely people on MMM will consider it OK for inclusion (it definitely isn't a card!!).  The pattern was spotted in a recent magazine and was just crying out (or hooting) to be made so I had a go - first time I'd actually seen a marsupial owl but there you go, artistic licence I guess.

Tall House

I've been raiding my oddments boxes again and came across this image which I printed off a while ago and sadly cannot remember where it originated from.  Apart from the background paper which came from my stash all the elements on this card were from the oddments boxes.  The ribbon is actually a very pale pink but looks white in the picture for some reason.  It is so nice to see the sunshine and blue skies today.

Missing in Action - Again!!

My blog seems to have been sadly neglected of late but I have managed to take a look at most of the ones I follow although sadly not always had time to leave comments so apologies all round.  My time management skills seem to have deteriorated but hopefully I can soon get back into the swing although with the slightly warmer weather the garden is 'bursting out all over' and calling for attention so that is another thing to add into my busy schedule.  If anyone has any good suggestions for dealing with a large lawn which is looking more like a ploughed field covered in badger toilets I'd be grateful - a load of ready-mix concrete comes to mind!!  I'm sure mowing it must be classed as a health hazard.

This card was made as a commission for a man with an interest in woodwork and motorbikes - mention was also made that he used to milk cows but I was unable to include them as well.  I thought I had a woodgrain embossing folder but sadly not, so used another one which I thought looked vaguely like wood when used on Kraft card.  The motor bike stamp is one I've had for ages and came from a 'grab bag' of unmounted ones many years ago when wood-mounted stamps were the norm.  I used to cut my own wood blocks and mount them up would you believe.  The chap on the bike reminded me of the AA men who used to ride around with sidecars to come to the aid of stranded motorists - they wore peaked caps and would salute anyone with the AA badge on their vehicle (ought not to own up to remembering that - showing my age!!).  As the recipient of the card is 90 years old I felt he would be likely to remember them too.  The lady who asked for the card to be made was very pleased anyway.

Beading for a Change

I thought I'd share my latest bead weaving project with you today - a simple necklace using cube beads in two sizes.  I spent an enjoyable morning at a quilt exhibition with a friend and have come home with all sorts of ideas buzzing around in my head - particularly some of the machine embroidery projects made me realise this is a technique I've not done in ages which is a shame because I have plenty of exciting fabrics and threads to use up being the hoarder that I am LOL!!  We all say it I know but oh for more hours in the day.

Make My Monday challenge

The challenge this week on Make My Monday is to use the colours of blue and brown.  This wonderful bear character is Wellington from Docrafts and he is surrounded by blue flowers so just right.  The entire card was produced within their Digital Designer programme, partly because I felt like dabbling with the computer and partly (well mainly really) that my desk space has shrunk to almost nothing so no space for regular crafting.  This was a bit of displacement activity  to avoid the tidying but but I will get around to that tomorrow - just didn't feel in the mood today!!  There are some beautiful examples from the design team so follow the link to take a look.