Shaker Anniversary

Hi there and welcome.  I needed an anniversary card and had seen some shaker cards on Pinterest which gave me the idea to try one as I haven't made one before.  I used my usual Nellie Snellen hearts dies which are very useful as they have two scalloped edged and three plain edged dies within the set so there is plenty of choice.  I also used a freebie embossing folder for the background which has some very pretty butterflies and flowers.

I started with a snippet of white card for the background cut into a square slightly smaller than the card base and embossed with the folder, which I had to put through twice to cover the square piece of card. 

I then cut out both the scalloped heart dies with another snippet of white card and laid these two cut pieces together with one heart centrally over the other and fixed them with a piece of removable tape whilst I cut out the smaller plain heart in the middle, also fixing the die in place with some tape to ensure it stayed in the right place for cutting.  I then cut two of the large plain hearts, one from acetate and one from another snippet of white card.

I assembled the heart by fixing the acetate to the back of the scalloped heart with double sided tape, then fixed some foam tape to frame the smaller heart aperture.  I then filled the space with a few pastel coloured sequins before removing the foam backing and adhering the white plain heart to this, which then encases the sequins.

To finish I mounted the embossed background on to the base card and at this point decided that it needed a bit of colour so I took three colours of Adirondack ink, namely Sunshine Yellow, Pink Sherbet and Stonewashed and applied the ink with a dry wet wipe.  I find this is a good way of applying ink to the raised surface as with this over the finger it makes it much easier to apply the ink just where you need it, but even so looking at the photo now I can see I didn't get quite enough down the righthand edge but never mind.  I added the shaker heart on top and then used a sentiment inked with the Adirondack Stonewashed ink on to a small oval die cut, the smallest die from the Spellbinders Floral Oval.  As this was my first shaker card I was really pleased with the finished look.
 
Thank you for stopping by today.

Pat  x

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Weeks 208 and 209 where we use our leftover pieces/snippets of card, paper etc.

My Favourite Five Christmas Cards of 2015

Hi there.  Debby over at A Scrapjourney has run a challenge at this time of year for a few years now where we choose our five favourite Christmas creations, and she has decided to run it again this year, so thank you Debby as this is always fun and sometimes quite difficult to choose just five, although she does say an extra one or two is OK, so here are mine:

 
                                                                      Winter Tree

                                                                       Poinsettia
                                                   

                                                                   Winter Fenceline

 

                                                             Penny Black Mistletoe

Snowy Landscape

I hope you like my choices and thank you for stopping by to take a look today. 

                                                                                                                                                                     

Pat x

Heartfelt Christmas Greetings

Hi there to everybody.  Before anything else I would like to wish you all a Happy Christmas and a happy, healthy and creative new year.  I have had a most enjoyable blogging year, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who follows, or who drops by regularly, or even just occasionally, as I really appreciate your continued interest in what I do.

I have used this Serendipity stamp called Winter Fenceline once before, but last time I changed it to Autumn.  That is the beauty of this stamp as you can make it any season you like by varying the colours.

I stamped the image on to a snippet of white card with Versafine Smokey Gray ink and coloured using Distress Inks and a brush and some water.  The colours I used were Stormy Sky, Tumbled Glass, Seedless Preserves, Walnut Stain and Mustard Seed.  I did water the colours down well, especially the Seedless Preserves and the Mustard seed as I wanted it to be quite subdued.  Afterwards I did add a little more yellow using a Spectrum Noir yellow pencil as the sun needed a little more colour and the pencils are more controllable for finishing touches I feel.

I cut the image using a Simon Says Stitched Squares die set and then added a mat from a snippet of dark blue.  I then decided to back it with some embossed snowflakes using a Crafter's Companion Snow Flurry embossing folder and another snippet of white card.  I also added three die cut snowflakes again cut from another snippet of white card using Craft Emotions Snow Crystals die set.  I finished with a sentiment die cut from another snippet of dark blue card.

Thank you for  visiting today.

Pat  x

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Weeks 208 and 209 where we use up our snippets of card and paper etc.
Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge - December 2015. 
Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge - December 2015.  My favourite technique which I have used here is watercolouring with inks.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Winter Wonderland.
                                                                                                                                                               

Snowflakes and Tartan for Christmas

Hi all.  I have another Christmas card to show you today using some green tartan.  I love the look of tartan and I managed to find some papers which had red and green tartans which are from Dovecraft and the pad is called The Twelve Days of Christmas.  I also used a Spellbinder set of  Curved Borders 1 dies and some Craft Emotions Snow Crystals die and also a set of MFT Basic Stitch Lines dies which I used to put the stitching round the edge of the tartan and the white layer.

I cut the tartan paper to fit my square card and used the stitched border to all four sides, in fact I need not have bothered with the top as that is covered by the top layer which is a snippet of white card to which I added the curved scallop border.   I cut the four snowflakes from the white layer using the large one twice and the two smaller ones once each leaving the negative shape, and then finished the edges off with the MFT stitched die to match the under layer.  I then cut some more of the snowflakes from a snippet of gold card and attached over the negative space using foam pads for a bit of height.  I finished with the die cut sentiment which was cut from another snippet of gold card. 

Thank you for dropping by.

Pat  x

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Weeks 208 and 209 where we use up our snippets of card and paper etc.        
Simon Says Monday Challenge- Winter Wonderland.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Die Crazy.

Snowy Landscape

Hi everybody.  I made this card with the intention of entering it in the Crafty Individuals latest challenge but unfortunately I missed it, seems to be a bit of a habit of mine ...lol, so I put it to one side and posted an anniversary card instead, but I have decided to show it now so here it is.

I started with a snippet of white card and using a piece of torn copy paper to mask the edge of the sky I then brayered with Tumbled Glass and Stormy Sky Distress Ink.  I inked up the Crafty Individuals Winter Trees with Adirondack Espresso ink and placed the trees.  I didn't want the dark bit on the bottom of the background trees stamp so I used a piece of paper placed on the horizon line and then stamped them in place over this.  I added the late afternoon sun and its reflection on the snow with a little Mustard Seed DI on some blending foam on the tree and watered down using a briush on the snow.   I watercoloured with a little Stormy Sky and Walnut Brown DI  for the shadows and then added a little more of the brown in the area of the trees, and also some Mowed Lawn along the horizon to suggest some more distant greenery.  Florence who is a designer over at Crafty Individals made a card for the challenge which I missed, and she stencilled her sky area by laying the stencil and using some water to bleach out the design which I thought was something a bit different so I gave it a go and it worked, not as well as Florence's card here but you can see it a little in my sky.  Unfortunately I should have done the bleaching out with the stencil before I stamped the trees and the water bleached out some of the brown in the trees as well, but I think it just looks like a little mist in the air so decided it was ok.  I finished by adding the birds with a little brown ink on a fine brush.  I also added a little extra white on the branches of the trees.  I also added some on the ground around the trees with a white gel pen to make it look like the snow when it goes icy and starts to melt away, but I'm not sure that this worked very well, and then finished with some dots for falling snow.

I then die cut a sentiment from a snippet of silver card and also used another snippet to mat on to a white base card.  I did cut back the finished piece which is why there is only a small section left showing of the background trees.

Thank you for dropping by today.

Pat  x

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 207 where we use up our snippets.
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes.

Poppies and Butterfly Anniversary

Hi there.  I have an anniversary card to show you today so have interrupted my Christmas cards to make this, unfortunately still a lot of Christmas cards to make but never mind.  I adore poppies and I have a new/NBUS Memory Box die called Row of Poppies which I thought I would use for this card and I included a butterfly and four little hearts so it would qualify for Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge but I miscalculated and unfortunately it closed last Wednesday when I thought it was open until next Wednesday.  It just goes to show that time passes a lot quicker than I think!  Anyway, here it.

I lined my white square card with a piece of red tartan paper which I love, and then using some linen look card cut about an inch smaller all round, I cut the Memory Box die out of the left hand side.  I then stuck the white card down and placed the die cut poppies into the negative shape and stuck down all the extra little pieces which form the negative shape and then lifted the poppies themselves away when the glue was dry to leave the shape exposing the pretty red paper.

I then cut a heart using my Nellie Snellen Multi Frame Heart dies and stuck the sentiment to the heart as you can see with the heart on its side.  I found some little sticker hearts and coloured them to match my sentiment, and after sticking the die cut heart next to the poppy shape I added the four little hearts randomly around the card and sticking one on the heart itself.  I was going to leave the card there but then decided to make a sort of shadow effect with the positive piece of the poppy by placing it just a little to the right and draping it over the heart just a little which I think works quite well.  I finally added the little butterfly.

                                                          OOOooooOOOooooOOO

On to another topic briefly.  I in common I'm sure with a lot of other people have been doing a bit of colouring.  The colouring books have become so popular over the last six months or so and in July when I went away on holiday I thought I would buy one to have a go at whilst away.  I bought one called Relax With Art which comes out once a month I think and has a facebook page which you will find here.   I like it because the outlines are not thick and heavy and the pictures are not produced back to back so that if you do use markers or press a bit heavy with pencils it wont spoil anything.  I have used just colouring pencils so far but personally if I did use markers I think I would still put something in between the pages to be sure that no stray ink spoils anything.  I only get time to do it occasionally and have totally completed just two images so far and thought perhaps you might like to see them.

Thank you for looking at the blog today.

Pat  x

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 206 where we use up our snippets of card and paper etc.
Shopping Our Stash - No Stamping.  (I'm so excited that this card made the top 3)
Beccy's Place - A card or Papercraft  Project.

    

Robin and Holly Wreath

Hi and welcome all.  Today I am showing another Christmas card made with a freebie stamp and a Crafter's Companion Embossing Folder called  Snow Flurry which I embossed twice to fit the background on my square card.  I have also used some pretty holly patterned paper from a set by Dovecraft called The Twelve Days of Christmas and die cut the bottom with a Spellbinders Curved Borders 1 die.

Happy Little Stampers Sketch Challenge for November still has a few days to run and I used the sketch for this card.  I decided to make a banner for the image to sit on instead of a tag shape, and my background embossed layer is a little larger, but I hope it is close enough.

I stamped the wreath with the robin using Versafine Smokey Gray ink on to a snippet of white card and then I decided to colour using my Promarkers.  To be honest I don't have many colours and I felt when I had finished that perhaps the colours were a little dark for the robin, and maybe it would have been better to use Spectrum Noir pencils or watercolour with inks.  I then cut this with a Simon Says Stitched Circle die and using the next size up I cut another using a snippet of dark green card. 

I finished with a green die cut sentiment from another small piece of the same green which I adhered with Stick It.  To use you peel back the protective top layer and lay your card on to it and cut round, and when you have die cut you remove the paper on the other side and stick down.  This worked fantastically, even with the dot for the 'i' which is miniscule.  I have tried another make which I'm sure would be great with larger die cuts and for other techniques with glitter, micas etc, but with the small delicate sentiments was no good at all, just didn't cut well and wouldn't stick firmly enough to the back of the letters.

I hope I haven't bored you all to tears but I was so pleased with the result and really wasn't expecting it to work so well, and I expect lots of  you will know of this stuff already but for the uninitiated it is worth a mention.

After I had put the card together I thought perhaps I would highlight the berries on the topper and the backing paper with some red stickles glue, and I also used a little glossy accents on the robin's eye.

Thanks for your visits and kind comments which I appreciate very much because this blog wouldn't be the same without you all!  x

Pat  x

I would also like to enter the following challenge:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop  - Week 205 where we use up our snippets.
The Craft Barn - Snowflakes. 
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Addicted to Stamps and More - Make Your Mark.
Penny Black and More - Anything Christmas.

  

November Rudolph Days Challenge

Hi there everybody.  I am trying to progress quickly with my Christmas cards now as time is getting short and I have quite a lot to do yet so there will probably be quite a few posts with just Christmas cards.  This card was made with a mixture of stamps and an embossing folder which I got as freebies with magazines.  This is the last Rudolph Days for this year and I haven't entered the challenge as many times as I would have liked but will try to do better next year.  Up until he end of last year it was run by our friend Sarn of Stamping for Pleasure, but she decided to stand down, and Mo of Scraps of Life by Scrappymo stepped up to carry it on, and I think we all agree she has done a wonderful job, and what is really special is that Sarn is Guest Designer this month.  The challenge runs until the last day of the month.

I started by embossing the border strip down each side of my white square card and then I used a snippet of white card and stamped using Versafine Smokey Gray ink and coloured with my Distress inks in Festive Berries and Seedless Preserves for the shading.  I also used some Stonewashed Adirondack ink for the background.  I finished by using some Mustard Seed Distress ink in the centre of the flower and then gave it some shine with Glossy Accents.  I did add a little extra blue around the edge of the flower with a Spectrum Noir pencil as I felt when I had layered it up that it needed defining a bit more.

I mat and layered using some snippets of silver mirri and dark blue card which I cut using two sizes of Stitched Square Dies.

I finished by stamping the sentiment on to another snippet of white card using Versamark and WOW Silver Embossing Powder and then die cut using a Spellbinders Scalloped Oval die.  I did originally stamp straight on to the base card but unfortunately it was a little bit messy so I had to re-stamp on to the scallop oval die cut which is why it doesn't fit the space as well as it might. 

Thank you for taking a look today.

Pat  x

I am also entering the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge 172 Make Your Mark.
Penny Black and More - Anything Christmas.

Gelli Plate Autumn Leaves

Hi all.  I am back with probably my last autumnal card for this year and is a card I made recently for a friend's birthday.  I saw Barbara Gray of Claritystamp do something similar on her blog so thought I would give it a go.  It uses acrylic paint and real leaves with the gelli plate to make a background and a set of different leaf stamps from Hobby Art called Falling Leaves.  The two dies placed on top for the sentiment are from a Spellbinder set called Floral Ovals.

I began by using some fallen leaves I collected in a few different shapes, and also a couple of green ones from a shrub.  I got out some cheap acrylic paints I bought to experiment on the gelli plate with a while ago, in black, white, red, yellow, blue and buttermilk, and by mixing the colours together I managed to make some reasonable autumnal colours.  I took each colour in turn and using a brayer applied the colour to several of the leaves and placed them face down on the 6" x 6" gelli plate and then after brayering the back lifted the leaves off.  I pretty much covered the plate bit by bit and where the leaves overlapped I left each one to dry before adding the next coloured one to keep the colours nice and clean.  When everything was dry I applied a layer of buttermilk paint all over and using a piece of good quality paper I lifted the print by laying it on top of the plate and rubbing over the back a few times to get maximum coverage.  The idea is that the last coat of paint reactivates the underneath coats so that when you rub over it nearly all the paint lifts off on to the paper.  As you can see a lot of the leaf prints are not terribly clear and there are a few bits of the white paper which show through but I liked the overall look of the piece.

I finished the background by adding some more leaves using two of the small silhouette leaf stamps from the Hobbyart set with some Brilliance Galaxy Gold and Olive Pearlescent Pigment Inks.  The olive ones show up better than the gold ones.

I found some snippets of white card and stamped one of the larger leaf shapes from the Hobby Art set, using Versamark Ink and WOW Copper Embossing Powder, which I heat set, and then I coloured using Adirondack Inks and a water brush and blended the colours together.  I used slightly different colours on the two leaves to make them look more random, and the colours were Sunshine Yellow, Cranberry, Mowed Lawn and Espresso, and also a bit of Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and when dry I fussy cut them.

I finished by using some snippets of Kraft card to die cut the two Floral Ovals and I stamped the sentiment with the Versamark and WOW Copper EP.  I then found another snippet of Kraft card to back the gelli plate print and mounted this on to the white base card and then adhered the sentiment plate, and finally stuck the leaves with some Pinflair Glue Gel.

Before I go I would like to introduce a lovely new follower called Tina Z whose blog you will find here and I'm sure she would love you to drop by and take a look.

Now I don't have any more birthday cards to make for a while I really must get on with my Christmas cards which I am late doing as usual!  Thank you for visiting my blog today.

Pat   x

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 204 where we use our leftover pieces/snippets of card, paper etc.
Mixed Media World - Anything Goes.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Divine Poppies

This time of year when Autumn is in full flow the Poppy is in our minds because of its link to Remembrance Day on the 11th, and I have to say that the Poppy is one of my favourite flowers, so as I needed a birthday card for a cousin of mine I turned to a new stamp which I got quite recently, a Penny Black one which is called Divine.  I must admit that it is a little larger than I realised but by cutting the bottom off the stem it fits better on the card which is approximately 6" x 6".

I started with a snippet of white card to fit the base card with a small border and embossed it with a zig zag style mask called Chevrons which is from That Special Touch, and adhered it to the base card.  I then used another snippet of white card and stamped the Poppies using Versafine Smokey Grey ink and coloured using distress inks in Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Festive Berries, Seedless Preserves, Walnut Stain and Mowed Lawn.  I use a water brush as a rule and I tend to mix the colours together a bit as I apply them.  I then cut the flower heads off the stems as I had it in mind to use the flowers and the buds and then draw in the stems myself as I wasn't sure how it was going to fit on the card, but after some thought I decided to try and cut the whole thing out and if that worked stick it to the background.  It wasn't easy but I managed fairly well as the card was reasonably substantial and then any white bits round the stem I coloured with the Walnut Stain and then I stuck the two flower heads back over the stems.

I then found another snippet of white card and cut the second sized die from the Spellbinders Floral Ovals set on which I stamped the sentiment, again using the Smokey Grey ink and whilst wet I heat embossed it with WOW Clear Embossing Powder but it doesn't really show in the photo.

I finished the card by making a little butterfly from a freebie set I have had for a while and stamped on another snippet of white card using the Smokey Grey ink which whilst wet I heat embossed with WOW Clear EP and then coloured with my Spectrum Noir pencils as it was such a small space to colour and I thought the pencils would be more controllable.  I finished the butterfly with some clear Wink of Stella, but again it doesn't show the lovely shimmer in the photo.

Thank you for visiting the blog today.

Pat  x

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 203 where we use up our snippets.
Butterfly Challenge - 'Z' is for Zig Zag.
Virginia's View Challenge - No. 20  Texture.
Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Dies and/or Punches.

Autumn Fenceline

Hi everybody.  I have a male family birthday to make a card for and I decided to use a NBUS/never before used stamp from Serendipity Stamps called Winter Fenceline, but I have adapted it to an Autumn scene instead.

I started by stamping the image on to a snippet of white card using Versafine Smokey Grey ink and coloured it using Distress Inks in Spiced Marmalade, Walnut Stain, Mowed Lawn, Stormy Sky and Faded Jeans and applied with a water brush to give a very washy watered down look and I did mix the green with a little of the brown because I didn't want the colours to look too bright.  I did add the birds in the sky which weren't part of the image.  I then die cut the image with a stitched square die and matted it on to a snippet of white card.

The background is a snippet of a piece I made using Sheena Douglass' faux leather technique which you can find here and for the embossing I used a Craft Concepts EF called More Dots.  I used it on a card I made over a year ago, featuring a pair of jeans with a leather belt, and it had been languishing amongst my bits and pieces ever since, the post is here if you wish to take a look.  I had a light bulb moment and thought this would make a good background so mounted this on to the base card before adding the topper.

I finished the card with the sentiment on this double fishtail banner shape made from another snippet of white card.

Thank you for joining me today and I do appreciate all your lovely comments.

Pat  x

Simon Says Monday Challenge - Create Something Beginning with the Letter 'N'.  My 'N' is for the new stamp I am using.
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 202.  The aim is to use lots of snippets.
Virginia's View Challenge - No 20 Textures.  This has dry embossing texture.

Autumn Leaves

Hi everybody.  Less is More Challenge has a theme of paper piecing this week so I have made a card, rather last minute, using an owl stamp from Indigoblu and some leaves  from a set by Hobbycraft.  I do hope they don't feel it is too fussy for a CAS card though.

I started by stamping the owl on to a snippet of white card using Adirondack Espresso ink and die cut it with a circle die and then coloured with some of my Spectrum Noir pencils and finished by adding some Glossy Accents to the eyes.  I then adhered this to a white square card.

Next I found some snippets of paper with nice autumnal colours amongst the freebie pads I have collected over several years as papers last a long time with me as I don't use them very often.   I have used several of the different leaf shapes from this Hobbycraft stamp set which I bought a few weeks ago and is being used for the first time, and stamped on to these snippets again using the Espresso ink.  I then fussy cut them out and stuck them in a circle around the owl using glue gel for dimension to make a nice frame.  I finished by stamping a sentiment.

Before I go I would like to introduce a new follower called Florence whose blog you will find here.  She is a very creative lady and her work encompasses cards, crafts and photography so please do go and take a look, I promise you won't be disappointed.

Thanks for visiting my blog today and your interest is always much appreciated.

Pat  x

I would also like to enter the following challenges:

Simon Says Monday Challenge - So Glossy.  I have used Glossy Accents on the owl's eyes.
Virginia's View Challenge - Texture.  The decoupaged leaves are my texture.
Share Handmade Kindness Challenge - Week 1.  This card is for the son of one of my cousins.  Jennifer McGuire has four weekly challenges throughout the month of November and this first week is to send a card to someone in your family or a friend.

How Long to Christmas?

Hi everybody.  I have been rather tardy in my cardmaking recently, just don't seem to have been able to get on with it but  I think sometimes a bit of a break can be good   It has suddenly occurred to me that there are only about six weeks before the approximate time for posting the Christmas cards out so I don't have a lot of time and must step up production.

I have a folder full of bits and pieces of toppers and such like that have been lying around for several years, so I decided to see what I could do with some of it as it seems a sin for it not to get used.  A lot of it is Hunkydory and I have found that some of the toppers are overly large for my square cards so I cut out the bird house off a topper and backed it with an oval die cut piece of dotted green card, and then on to a piece of green, both part of the set.  I cut the bottom off the green card and fancy cut round the holly and mounted it over the top for a bit of dimension.

I found a freebie robin stamp which actually has the robin in the centre of a wreath, but I cut the bird away from the rest and stamped with Black Archival on to a snippet of white card, coloured it with my Spectrum Noir pencils then mounted it as you can see.  I finished it with a die cut sentiment topper cut from a snippet of red card.

Thank you for dropping by today.

Pat  x

I am entering the following challenges:

October Rudolph Day Challenge - phew, just made it!  This runs from the 25th to the end of the month.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Throwback.  For my past challenge I have chosen Holiday Cards from 1/12/14 find it here.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Happy Little Stampers October Christmas Challenge Reminder

Hi everyone.  I am back again with my second post as Guest Designer for the Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge and this is for the mid month reminder.  I decided that as I won the July challenge with a watercolour type card I would do something along the same lines.
 

For this card I have used a stamp from Chocolate Baroque which I have had for a couple of years but which unfortunately isn't available any more, but I like the shape of the flower and it is also a nice size.

I stamped it using Festive Berries Distress Ink on to a piece of watercolour paper.  I stamped it three times and had to have two masks as the flowers form a tight group.  I then pulled the ink in to the petals from the edge with a brush and some water just to take the whiteness off.  Next I worked on one petal at a time building up the colour with some more of the red and then whilst still wet I introduced some Seedless Preserves DI to add some shading.   I waited for the petals to dry or speeded the process a bit with my heat gun until I had been right round the flowers.  I then added some Mustard Seed DI with a little of the red to take off the harshness of the yellow and to shade the centres a bit.  I did go round and add more colour where I thought it needed it, but it is easy to overwork it so you have to try to judge when enough is enough.

I continued with the background making sure the flowers were dry first.  I used some Bundled Sage DI to start with by wetting the background as I went along, and when this was dry added Pine Needles DI round the flowers.  As even with watercolour paper the water makes it buckle a bit I stuck it under a heavy book overnight which did a good job of  flattening it.  On looking at it the next day I thought the background colour seemed a bit flat so decided to try and lift the colour by adding a little Peacock Feathers DI and this worked better I thought.

To finish it I cut the piece down and mounted it on to some gold mirri card and then mounted this on to my white square card.  I used a spare piece of card coloured to match the background and cut using one of the smaller dies from a Spellbinders set Floral Ovals and stamped the sentiment using Versamark and WOW Gold Embossing Powder.  When I had added this I decided to further enhance the background and sentiment with some stars and dots cut from a Memory Box die Snowflake Corner.

I have had so much fun and I would like to thank everyone over at HLS for making me so welcome.  They are all very talented so do go and take a look at their beautiful work and there is still plenty of time to enter this month's challenge.  You will find the details HERE.

Thank you for taking a look today.

Pat  x

I would like to enter this into the following challenge:

The 30 Day Coloring Challenge

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge

Hi all.  Well another month has passed and today is the start of the Happy Little Stampers October Christmas Challenge.  I am so thrilled to have been asked to be Guest Designer and here is the first of my two posts, the second being at the half way point of the challenge.

As you can see it is all about Poinsettias this month which I think are the very essence of Christmas and I have used a couple of different stamp sets here.  The first for the twiggy wreath is from Card-io called Oriental Blossom but works well for Christmas too, and the second is a set of flowers from Honey Doo called Flowers for Design which again are quite generic but I hope you agree make a pretty Poinsettia. 

I stamped the wreath with Versamark ink and WOW Silver Embossing Powder on to a piece of white stamping card using this little twiggy branch, and gradually built up the circle with it.  I think there are about three layers and I heat set after each layer.  I also used a circle die as a template and marked very lightly in pencil as a guide for placing the stamping.  I then used some other pieces of white card for the Poinsettias, each has two layers, and stamped using the middle and smaller sized flowers.

I used a water brush and red watercolour paint from a tube which gives a more opaque and brighter red finish, and I also used a touch of Seedless Preserves Distress Ink to darken the middle of the flowers a little, and then finished with some clear Wink of Stella to give a nice touch of sparkle.  I also used a gold coloured gem in the centre of each flower but I'm not sure they show up very well in the photo.

To finish I stamped the sentiment using the Versamark and WOW Silver EP.   I cut the wreath topper to fit and layered this on to a white square card, layered the flowers and shaped them a little, and then placed them on the wreath.

I would like to finish by saying a big thank you to Happy Little Stampers for giving me this opportunity and please do go and see all the wonderful creations that the Design Team have made, you won't be disappointed.  Find all the details of the challenge HERE.

Thank you for dropping by.

Pat x

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 197 where we use up our bits/snippets.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Framed Rose Anniversary

Hi there.  I made this card for an anniversary a few weeks ago and never got round to showing it here.    I used a Chocolate Baroque stamp called Rose Stem Script and also a set of dies from Creative Expressions by Sue Wilson Elegant Lace Edger Configuration Dies.

I began by stamping the rose on to a snippet of white card using Versamark Ink and embossed using WOW White Embossing Powder.  I watercoloured it using a water brush and using Distress Inks in Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Walnut Stain and Mowed Lawn, and Adirondack Ink in Bottle.  I cut the Lace Edger dies, two of each using  some snippets of white card, and glued them to form a frame around the rose.  I finished the topper by cutting round the edge of the frame and added a silver sentiment and then mounted it on to a white square card and as it overlapped at the top and bottom I cut it down to fit.

Thank you for visiting here today.

Pat  x

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 196 where we use up our snippets of paper and card.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
                                                 

Crocheted Bunny

Hi there everyone.  I have been very busy for the last week or so but on things other than cards.  My husband and I are involved with helping to raise funds for a small local hospital.  The money we raise buys a few of those extra things which make make being in hospital a little bit more pleasant than it might otherwise be, and this coming Saturday we have a fete which is an annual event.  I started the bunny a while ago so thought it would be a good idea to finish it so it could be sold on one of the stalls, or else go into the raffle which is most probably what will happen.  One of the ladies had a bolt of fabric going begging so I have made eight table cloths for our refreshment tables too.


                                                                               
I haven't done a great deal of crochet before but these amigurumi toys are actually not too difficult to make.  This is a freebie pattern which came from a site called Ravelry and the designer Sharon Ojala has a You Tube video for most of the things she makes and now and again I have played it to clarify when things have gone a bit astray.  I'm not sure that the eyes are big enough and I think plain black ones would have been better, also I used double knitting wool but I think the wool she has used is a bit thicker quality double knitting and made the whole thing come out a bit bigger and more closely crocheted, but overall I am quite pleased with the finished result.

Hopefully now these projects are finished normal services will be resumed on the cardmaking front.

Thank you for stopping by my blog today.

Pat  x

Red and Gold Embroidered Anniversary

Hi all.  It has just occurred to me looking at the date that I have just passed the two year mark on my blog.  I can't believe it as it seems like no time at all since I started and I would just like to say how many wonderfully creative people I have met through their blogs and how much I love being part of this crafting community.

I have another anniversary card for you today.  The summer months are the busiest so not many more before the end of the year, just three I think, then none until April although I may find one or two to blog that haven't been aired.  Anyway, this is it.

I was prompted by Mrs A and her  Butterfly Challenge which has the theme of a butterfly of course but the letter Y for yarn, though it seems this can be interpreted more loosely as a thread of some sort so I have chosen embroidery thread, specifically a gold sparkly thread as you can see I have used it on the background and on the two red hearts.

I started with the background which was embossed with the Kimmy-Luvs folder from Cuttlebug which sadly is not available any more but does come out quite often for an anniversary card.  I used a piece of a blank card which I managed to ruin with atrociously bad stamping but was ideal for this.  I decided where I would place my embroidery threads and I just pushed them through the card with the needle itself.  There are four elongated 'v's' but they give the appearance of the thread being pulled together behind each of the hearts. To make the threads stand out I used the full thickness, all six threads and stuck on the reverse of the card with double sided tape. 

I cut the hearts using my Nellie Snellen heart dies using snippets of red card, and then I had originally thought I would leave the hearts as is but decided to go for the embroidery in a bigger way so took my needle and thread and just went for it.  I put the holes in mainly as I went along and pierced with the needle, but with hindsight should have used a pokey tool and made them a bit more regularly spaced.  I decided to make a pattern up and so looking at the heart I thought that top to bottom one way would look quite nice and then the same in the other direction but weaved in and out.  On one heart the threads go nearer to the edge than the other but it took me quite a time to do it so was not too keen on redoing any of it, but I think the finished result was maybe not as neat as it might have been but acceptable.  Here I only used two threads thickness and anchored them at the back again with double sided tape.

I then cut a bigger heart from the Nellie Snellen set of dies and as I love the script used the sentiment from the Verve set Poppy Birthday which is one of those all purpose sentiments, and I embossed it using Versamark and WOW Gold EP.  I used another snippet of the white card and stamped and cut out the butterfly which was part of a magazine freebie set.  This was also embossed with the Versamark and Gold EP.

Lastly it was matted on to a snippet of gold mirri card and mounted on to a cream square card.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.

Pat  x

I would also like to enter the following challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Use a Stamp.
Cuttlebug Mania - Anything Goes.
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 194 where we use our leftover snippets/ pieces of paper and card etc.
Stamping Sensations - Sew Special.

Stylised Poppy Birthday

Hi everyone.  I needed a birthday card this week and so decided to combine this with NBUS Challenge No. 5 which our friend Darnell of DJKardkreations is running, where we use anything in our stash which we haven't used before.  There are a lot of prizes on offer from really well known sponsors as well as some donated by her personally, so 'thank you' Darnell.  I used green and gold to tie in with the colour challenge which I am just in time to enter over at Less is More.

I was lucky enough to win a gift token over at Verve Stamps and I bought some stamps and dies and these are my NBUS items.

The central sentiment plate is a Spellbinder die set Labels Thirty Three which has been used before and I cut two different sizes using snippets of gold mirri and white card, and layered them up and stamped the sentiment from the NBUS sets of stamps from Verve called Poppy Birthday.  I then used the Build a Poppy die set to cut the three base pieces of the flower from snippets of gold mirri card and then using the stamps in two different sizes I stamped on more snippets of white card using Versamark and WOW Gold EP and then cut the flowers with the dies and layered these up too.  I finished the flowers with little pearls in the centres.

I finished by cutting leaves in two different sizes from snippets of green card using another Verve set of dies called Sprightly Sprigs which co-ordinates with some other stamp sets which I don't have, but I consider this is a leaf shape which can be cut from plain card as seen here without the matching stamps.

The gold dots are actually the waste pieces from the poppy stamp co-ordinating die set.  I think the idea is that you use the holes made by the projections on the dies to help line the die when using the negative piece left from cutting the die as a template, and in order to line up the die when cutting out the stamped images you use the template over the stamped image and then fix the die into the negative space and this then keeps the die in place whilst cutting the image out.

Thank you for stopping by here today.

Pat  x

I am also entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 193 where we use up our snippets.  The whole card was made from snippets.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Stamp and Punch/Die Cut.                          
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Use a Stamp and Blog Hop.

Tag and Envelope Birthday Wishes

Hi there everybody.  I have been mulling over what I might do for three of the clean and simple challenges this week and eventually came up with this.

It combines Addicted to CAS has asked for blue, Casology which has given the word 'write', and Less is More is a lucky dip week using Sprays/Mists.  I have a mask from That Special Touch  called Splats which I used in the background combined with a spray which I made up using watercolour paint, and then when dry blended distress inks through the mask using Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers and Faded Jeans.  I was a bit fussy about exactly where I wanted the splats so just cherry picked which bits I used from the stencil, and used a piece of Clarity stencil card to do it on.  

I managed to find a free template for the small envelope and tag and after downloading these and cutting them out I transferred them to some snippets of good quality white paper and after sticking the envelope together I inked that and the tag with a little of the distress ink left on the blending foam to take the whiteness off and then stamped the sentiment on the tag using Memento Nautical Blue ink.  I finished the tag with a bit of blue baker's twine.

Lastly before I finish I have a new follower called Gail whose Blog you will find here.  She is on the HLS Design Team and does some fabulous work and I'm sure she would appreciate your visiting her.

Thank you for dropping by and I do so appreciate your interest.

Pat  x

I am also entering the following challenge:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - where we use up our snippets.  I used snippets of paper for the envelope and tag.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Trio of Colours.  I used three colours of blue distress ink.

Mistletoe Christmas

Hi there.  Well it's that time in the month when Rudolph Day over Scraps of Life by Scrappy Mo is here again, and continues until the end of the month.  I have made a card using a Penny Black Mistletoe stencil and a new/NBUS Spellbinders Borderabilities - Curved Borders 1 die  in the background.

I started by dry embossing the stencil using a snippet of white card, and then coloured through the stencil with some inks and blending foam starting with a lighter colour green, Adirondack Lettuce I think, and then some darker ink to add shading which was Mowed Lawn Distress Ink, and finally some Pine Needles DI, and the berries I left alone.  When dry I put the stencil back over and added some Cosmic Shimmer Translucent Texture Paste using an old plastic card to apply it, and then left this to dry for an hour or two.  I then finished by blending some blues into the background using Adirondack Stonewashed ink and darkened with Stormy Sky DI around the edges and then a little Peacock Feathers towards the centre to lighten.  I also darkened around the leaves with a darkish blue Spectrum Noir pencil and added a few highlights with a lilac.  I found when I came to use my Cosmic Shimmer Pearl Glue Gel on the berries that it had dried out so I used a dot of the ordinary CS glue on each berry which did give a raised effect, and when dry I added a black dot on each berry with a Micron pen.  I layered this topper on to a snippet of dark blue, then light blue and finished with a snippet of gold mirri card.

For the background I used another snippet of white card edged with one of the curved borders and then dry embossed with the mistletoe stencil which I used twice to make a nice pattern.  Unfortunately it doesn't show up very well on the photo.  I then used a snippet of blue using another of the edges, and finished with a snippet of gold mirri card and another of the edges.  I stamped the sentiment on the base card using Versamark ink and WOW Gold Sparkle embossing powder and then finished by layering everything up.

I have never used the texture paste before and it did bleed under the stencil a little so I used my Promarkers to cover up some of these blemishes, and I also added a little extra colour to the leaves with a darkish green one too as I felt the leaves needed just a little extra shading as these do work on a shiny surface.

Thank you to everyone who visits my blog as I really appreciate all your interest.

Pat  x

I am also entering the following challenges:

Happy Little Stampers August Christmas Challenge - Sparkle.  I hope the gold mirri and the gold sparkle embossing powder fits the challenge ok.
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge - Use Some Gold.
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challeng Extra - Anything Goes every month.
Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 191 where we use up our snippets.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
   

Acetate Golden Wedding

Hi all.  From never having made one I have now made my second Golden Wedding card in four months.  Both the recipients are cousins of mine whose weddings I went to and for this particular one I was a bridesmaid.  When you are fourteen you don't think you are ever going to be looking back to a wedding that happened fifty years ago ..lol.  On one of my Pinterest visits I remembered seeing a card which used acetate and had decorative panels vertically down the front and then a sentiment mat in the centre which I thought was quite attractive and has sparked my recent enthusiasm for acetate. As you can see my panels go horizontally instead of vertically.  These sorts of cards do require a nice heavy weight of acetate.

Using an A4 piece of pearlescent card I folded it in half to make a card blank and cut down to make it square with the fold at the top. I decided the width of the top border which I think was about 3/4" and cut the rest of the front of the card away.  I then cut three strips one to go at the back of the top border, just a little narrower, because if at the back it butts up to the crease the card will not close properly, and then two more strips, both of the same width as the top border, to go at the bottom. I then cut a piece of acetate the same width but just very slightly shorter than the original card front, again for easy card closure.  I cut the decorative borders using my Sue Wilson Configuration Dies and snippets of pearlescent card from the card front. I cut one length and two corners for the top and the same for the bottom.
                                                                             

I then stuck the decorative border to the underside of the top of the card using double sided tape, then the acetate, lining it up with the bottom of the card, then the white strip to neaten the back, all stuck with double sided tape. This was obviously repeated with the bottom strips.  I then cut two hearts using my Nellie Snellen Hearts die set and more snippets of pearlescent card, one for the front, and after attaching, one to neaten the back.  I then cut a decorative heart from a snippet of gold mirri card and finally another smaller plain heart using another snippet of white pearlescent card.  I then cut two Nellie Snellen Multi Frame Borders 3 dies to go top and bottom using snippets of gold mirri card.  This particular design has little pointed bits on the edge which I didn't particularly like on this card so I cut them off before adhering to the borders.

I  used gold numbers and a gold sentiment to finish the front and I ran a greeting off the computer and cut it out using a large Nellie Snellen die from the same set which I stuck to the back of the card.

I was very pleased with how this turned out as it was a complicated card to make which I had to think about very carefully before starting and whilst assembling, and I think the back looks just as neat and tidy as the front which I feel is essential with acetate as whatever you use to glue it, in this case double sided tape, can look messy from the back.  This is definitely a one off as a special card for a special occasion.  

I hope you have found this description of some use but if totally bored and nearly dozing off I hope you liked looking at the photos anyway .lol ..haha. (I have just seen on another blog post, Darnell for the many that know her, that lol is now out of favour and haha is now back in again, so not to be considered uncool I have changed my text .haha/lol ..or whatever (laugh)).

Thanks for visiting my blog today.

Pat  x

I am entering the following challenges:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 190 where we us up our snippets of card, paper ribbon etc.
Simply Create Too - No. 92 Anything Goes.
Vintage Stamping Challenge - No. 35 Anything Goes.  Although they have vintage in their title they do say that your cards do not have to be vintage in design.

Fun Fish

Hi all.  I have a collection of fish, carp actually, to show you today.  I needed a card and I wanted to enter a few CAS challenges.  I have used the current sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch and here it is .....

..... and here is the card I made:

I used a carp from a set of stamps by Sheena Douglass called A Little Bit Oriental - Koi and Waterlilies, it's the smaller of the two fish.  I stamped the central fish on a snippet of white card using Memento Tuxedo Black, and then I made a mask and covered that one up so I could stamp a few others around it.  I then used my Distress Inks to watercolour in shades of blue including Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers and Stormy Sky.  I then coloured the fish using Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed.  I think I must have been half a sleep or something because I intended to use Archival Black but it wasn't until I had finished and coloured it that I realised I had used Memento which really should not be used when using water because it can run and blur the outline, but I was lucky that didn't happen.   Some of the fish do look fainter anyway because they are second generation ink. I did add a little extra red to the orange on the fish and also a bit of darker blue around some of the fish using my Spectrum Noir pencils.

I finished by adding a snippet of black card as a mat before mounting on to my square white card and added a sentiment.

I have another new follower today who is Eve, and I think many of you will know her as last week she helped Di with the challenge over at Pixie's Playground and she is a very talented lady, so if you haven't seen her blog you will find it here.

Thank you for dropping by today and thank you also for your continued interest in my little corner of blogland.  This community is the  best!

 Pat  x

I am entering the following challenges:

Addicted to CAS - School.
Less is More - Congratulations.
Casology - Aquatic.
Happy Little Stampers - Masking.

Heart on Acetate Anniversary

Hi there.  Yet another anniversary card for friends whose anniversary was a week ago, and I also wanted to enter the challenge at  Addicted to CAS which is 'Banners'.  This card has only one banner but hopefully it will be alright for the challenge.

I decided on the cut out idea which I used on my chevron card last week, so I used my Stitched Circle die from Simon Says Stamp and then cut a frame from a snippet of white card, using the two larger dies, and this goes on the inside to neaten it up.   The acetate was cut with a plain Xcut circle die which was a little large so I cut  1/4" off  it so the frame would cover over it when glued into place on the back of the cut out.

I cut two of my Nellie Snellen hearts, one for the outside of the acetate and one to cover it on the inside, using a snippet of red card, and cut the banner sentiment also using a snippet of white card, which I tucked under the heart on top of the acetate and finished it with a silver sentiment.  The inside of the card was covered with a piece of Papermania paper from a pad which I won over at Pixie's Playground quite a while ago.  I placed a die cut heart on the back of the card too to write the message on.

I have one new follower to introduce who is Sid and you will find his blog here.   He seems to enjoy anything which includes stamps and inkiness and I'm sure he would love you to go and take a look.

That's all for now.

Pat  x

I would also like to enter the following challenge:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Week 189 where we use up our snippets including paper and card.