Doilies

The Butterfly Challenge this fortnight is 'Butterflies + D is for Doily'.  I'd been playing around with a few ideas in my head when we were away last weekend, then when we arrived home, a craft magazine was waiting for me with a doily embossing folder as the free gift!  

I die-cut a Spellbinders 'Butterfly Circles' shape, which I attached with foam tape.  The Stampin' Up butterfly is cut in twice, the bottom one in the same purple as the background but you can't really see it in the photgraph.  The top butterfly is embossed with a Swiss Dots embossing folder and glued just down the middle so the wings stand out.  Tiny purple pearls finished off my butterfly.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Butterfly Challenge #31 ~ Butterflies + D is for Doily
Addicted to CAS Challenge #64 ~ Animal

Just For Ewe!

A friend who collects anything 'sheep' related has a birthday next week.  I saw this Crafter's Companion stamp a few months ago, which came with the sentiment, and knew it would be just perfect for her card.

Without thinking, I stamped the image with a Versafine ink pad.  Big mistake! I used Promarkers to colour in the image and it looked terrible....I mean, really terrible!  Then a light came on in my brain and I remembered that I should have used my Memento ink pad.  This isn't the first time I've done this, so my box of Promarkers now has a label on the lid 'Stamp with Memento!'.  So the stamped image went in the bin and I started again.  The embossing folder was a freebie with a craft magazine and I used a Die-namics 'Fresh Cut Grass' die with a snippet of green card to add a little colour across the middle.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge Blog Week #312 ~ Happy Birthday
Addicted to CAS Challenge #64 ~ Animal
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks 178 and 179 ~ Used green snippet
Little Claire's Blog Monthly Blog Challenge #57 ~ Outdoors
Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge ~ Dies-Cuts/Punches

Owl Tree

A 'Get Well' card is needed today for my Uncle who's in his late 80s and who was admitted to hospital this week. 

The Owl Tree silhouette stamp is by Little Claire and is stamped with an onyx Versafine ink pad.   For the background I used a Spellbinders Card Creator 'Detailed Scallops' die.  I punched out the leaves with a little Woodware punch.  I used snippets for everything except the card base, so I'll be off to play in the Playground again this week.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks 178 and 179 ~ Use snippets

Little Claire's Blog Monthly Blog Challenge #57 ~ Outdoors

We Three Kings......

I have a new follower this week, but I'm not sure who you are! Thank you for following me.  Please leave me a comment so I can put a link to your blog on my next post.

We came home yesterday from a few days by the coast in beautiful Devon.  The internet connection was a bit hit and miss and also VERY slow.  I've managed to look at the blogs of many of my blogging friends while we were away, but didn't manage to leave many comments due to the poor internet connection. :-(  Hopefully I'll have time to visit again over the next few days and leave some comments.

It's time for Rudolph Days challenge for May, which runs from the 25th to the end of each month, so here is my card.

I made the background for the 'Three Kings' Lavinia stamp with Pepper Red, Sunset Orange and Sunshine Yellow Adirondack inks, which I applied with brushes.  The image was die-cut with a Memory Box Stitched Rectangle, which I matted onto a snippet of black card, also die-cut with one of the stitched rectangles in the set.  The 'Snowflakes' embossing folder is by Crafters Companion which I bought for just £1 at the NEC last year.  I do like a bargain! I added a tiny clear gem to the star on the image and three black gems in the corner.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

May Rudolph Days ~ Make a Christmas Card
Country View Challenge ~ Simply Scenic
Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge ~ Dies-Cuts/Punches

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks 178 and 179 ~ Used black snippet

Cuttlebug Mania ~ Add Bling

Torn Paper....Arghhh!

When I saw that the Butterfly Challenge  #30 was Butterfly/ies + J  is for Jagged edges (ie. torn papers, distressed edges using a distressing tool/scissors) my initial reaction was to wait and see what the theme was going to be next fortnight!  However, not wanting to be beaten by a challenge theme, I went out of my comfort zone and tore some patterned paper.  You cannot believe how difficult it was for me not to get out the scissors or guillotine and straighten the torn edges!!

I looked for some vintage style paper, as I thought it might look better with the torn edges.  The paper I used is from a freebie paper pad that came with a magazine some time ago.  I put a piece of honey coloured card in the gap, which picked out the colour of some of the butterflies in the patterned paper.  The sentiment was stamped on the same plain card, which I die-cut..... Sorry Mrs A., I just couldn't bring myself to tear around the sentiment too!  I had a snippet of the patterned paper left over, so I used this to punch out three butterflies, attaching them to the card by just the bodies to make the wings stand out.  So, just a simple card today, despite it taking so long to decide how to make it.  I'm still not sure about it, but as the Butterfly Challenge closes tomorrow, this will be my entry.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Butterfly Challenge #30 ~ Butterflies + J is for Jagged edges

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 177 ~ Use snippets

By the Light of the Moon

The Lavinia Stamps challenge this month is 'Blue or Pink or Both!', so I decided to go with both on my card.

The image is a Lavinia Stamps Celtic Dreams Die, 'Alura', which I cut out in dark blue.  I die cut a white circle, slightly smaller than the Lavinia die the make the moonlight background.  To do this, I masked off the moon and used an Adirondack 'Denim' ink pad and applied the ink with Ink Duster brushes. I added a little sparkle with a clear Wink of Stella glitter pen over the wings.  I used the Lavinia stamp 'Gip' with a Versafine Majestic Blue ink pad to stamp randomly for the background, before matting on pink card. To finish my card, I punched small pink flowers from a snippet of card left over from the matting, and embellished them with small white pearls.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Lavinia Stamps Challenge #5 ~ Blue or Pink or Both!

Country View May Challenge ~ Simply Scenic

City Crafter Challenge Blog Week 261 ~ Focus on FLOWER(s)

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 175 and 176 ~ Use snippets
Fan-Tastic Tuesday Challenge 85 ~ Anything Goes with a Twist - Add some flowers
Deep Ocean Challenge #103 ~ Flowers

Chill Out!

The challenge on the Less is More blog is a one layer card with the theme 'Water'.  Water I'm fine with, CAS I'm fine with, but one layer is a real challenge for me. There's no room for mistakes that can be covered with an extra layer!

The image is stamped using a Memento ink pad and is coloured with Promarkers.  As the challenge on the Addicted to CAS blog is 'Birds'....and the penguin is a bird, I'll be sharing my card there too.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Less is More Challenge #223 ~ Water

Addicted to CAS #63 ~ Birds

Gardening

A masculine card with a gardening theme today. I don't usually put flowers on cards for men, but as this is a gardening theme and I've kept the colours to black and white, I thought the subtle addition of flowers would be appropriate.  I decided to used striped paper to keep a masculine look.

I used a Little Claire silhouette digi stamp for the main image and the papers are from a Dovecraft Paper Stack.  I finished off my card with a punched flower and black Card Candi.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Cardz 4 Guyz ~ Gardening

Little Claire Digi-Stamp Challenge # 5 ~ Mono Colours

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 175 and 176 ~ Used black and white snippets

Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper May 2015 challenge

Bowls

Welcome to my latest follower, Debby.  Please visit her blog A Scrapjourney for lots of inspiration.  

The caretaker at the school where I used to teach will be 80 years old next week and he is still doing his job! His main hobby is lawn bowls, so I decided to make a bowls scene.

  The grass is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder 'Forest Branches'.  I used three dies to create the background scene, Lil' inker 'Cloud Sky', Poppy Stamps 'Picket Fence' and Die-namics 'Fresh Cut Grass' (which you can just see behind the fence).  The image is a digi stamp by Just Inklined which I coloured with Promarkers and then cut out, before attaching with foam pads to give dimension.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Country View Challenge ~ Simply scenic

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 175 and 176 ~ Use snippets
Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge ~ Anything Goes
Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #138 ~ Make Your Own Background

Seize the Birthday ~ Topping - 'Make Your Own Background'

Include a Tag

Welcome to my two new followers.  Firstly, Dianchik of Moments of Creativity.  My second follower is Sue Fenton, who hasn't got her own blog - yet!  I hadn't seen Sue for well over twenty years, when we both worked in the same pre-school, then earlier this year I happened to bump into her!  Thank you both for following my blog.

So... back to my card for today. Include a tag - how easy is that? I asked myself.  Not as easy as I thought, as I've abandoned the first two attempts, but the deadline for the Less is More Challenge is today, so this is my final tag card.  I was thrilled to be ShowCASed on the Less is More blog last week!

The embossing folder is by Cuttlebug and the image is stamped with a stamp I've had for ages.  I wanted to use ribbon, but had no yellow apart from organza, which didn't really show up.  I know..... reels and reels of ribbon but no yellow! So I cut a snippet of yellow card instead and threaded it through the tag.  I finished off my card with three yellow star buttons.

I think the reason I seemed to have lost my inspiration today is that we have recently got home from nearly a week in London, where my DH was running the London Marathon last Sunday, (here is the card I made for him), so I've not even picked up a pair of scissors or a reel of DST for a week.  However, I did find all fifty Shaun and Sheep in London!  Click on the link for details.  They are dotted all over London - I think I must have walked a marathon finding them all!  They are in London until 25th May. Here are two of them......

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Less is More #221 ~ Include a Tag

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 174 ~ Use snippets