Bismarck

Hi all.  I have another Mo Manning digital image to show today called Bismarck used on this card for our son in Australia.  I also used a Crafter's Companion Embossing Folder called Frosted Elegance also having it's first outing, and a Memory Box die called Hanging Ornaments which I used on my last post here.

I started by colouring the image with some pencils and also used some oil and a paper stump to get a smooth finish, and fussy cut it out.  I then then used the embossing folder on a piece of card cut to fit a 6" square card and die cut the bauble from this piece having backed the left hand side with a piece of Stick it adhesive.  I then very carefully removed the pieces, luckily there weren't too many small ones, and I had already decided not to replace all the small pieces in the snowflakes.  I then coloured the background using a blending tool and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink making the colour darker around the edges and lighter towards the centre keeping the colour light.  I replaced the outer white frame of the bauble and then started to infill the other white pieces matching the pattern where necessary.  I finally coloured the other pieces with the background blue and put them back and used some double sided tape around the rest of the piece and  added the sentiment using the same Peacock Feathers ink before sticking it to the card

I finished by adhering the cute dog as close as I could to right of centre as otherwise all my hard work with bauble die would have been hidden...lol.

Although the card was sent on 2nd December it has never arrived, naturally I was rather disappointed, but luckily only the second time he has never received one of our cards at all.  I was hoping that it might eventually appear, but don't think that will happen now.  Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon.

I am entering the following challenges:

Rudolph Days Challenge - January - Anything Christmas Goes.
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Furry Friends.
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.
Watercooler Wednesday Challenge - All About Occasions.
NBUS Challenge - No. 34 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.

Silver and Gold Baubles and Snowflakes

Hi everyone.  I have a card, a bit last minute, for the CAS Christmas Card Challenge where the theme is Silver and Gold, and I have used this Memory Box die called Hanging Ornaments and I also used some snowflakes from Creative Stamping Magazine No. 100 which was one of four sets of stamps by Crafters Companion, and the sentiment was included in the set of snowflake themed stamps too.

I started with a white die cut baubles image which I have had sitting waiting to be used amongst my snippets, and decided to emboss it with WOW Platinum Embossing Powder, and then cut it again from a soft silver coloured snippet to coordinate with the frame rather than use the brighter mirri card.  I used some spray adhesive to stick the gold outline down on my 6" square card,  and then with some wet glue I adhered the larger silver pieces of the baubles and the circles back into the spaces.  I decided that the smaller pieces in the snowflakes were far too fiddly so they have been left open.  I did have an argument with one piece of the die cut and it bent out of shape so I cut it off as it didn't effect the finished look too much.  On reflection I decided that maybe the platinum didn't look gold enough, so I went over the outline very carefully with a gold Sakura Starlight pen which brightened it up and made it sparkly too.

I finished by adding the silver and gold snowflakes and gold sentiment embossed with WOW Metallic Gold and Silver Embossing Powder.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I hope to see you again soon.

I am also entering the following challenges:

Snippets Playground Challenge - No. 420 Ruby's Memory (snippets of silver and gold)
ABC Christmas Challenge - A & B Are For?  'A' is for Anything Christmas and 'B' is or Baubles.
Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge - No. 8 Anything Goes.

Watercolour Flourish

Hi there everybody.  I am back with an entry for the CAS Mix Up Challenge which this time is a watercolour theme..Loose Watercolouring to be exact.

I decided to use Pixie Powders which have a lovely mica sheen and the colours are Midnight Blue and Peacock Green, and using a stamp by Honey Doo Crafts called Fancy Flourish which I have had for a very long time and naughty me have never used before.  I also embossed the background using a Lavinia Stencil called Crackle.

I placed the flourish stamp in my stamp positioner and I started with the blue putting little bits of the powder straight on to the stamp.  I then spritzed with some water and moved the colour around with a waterbrush and stamped onto a piece of white card.  I kept going back in and moving the colour till I thought the coverage was good, and then I did the same with the green.  It pooled a bit in the centre but I thought that added to the loose watery look, and I also spattered a little of the Rich Gold powder which I have too.  I just added some water to it on my glass mat and loaded my waterbrush and tapped it to splatter the background a little... it's very fine so it isn't easy to see.  I then die cut it using a stitched square die cutting it down a bit as the stamp is rather large.   It does look a bit like cream card but is definitely white, and was a leftover piece sitting on the table and seemed to match OK until I saw the photo, although in real life it looks fine.

I continued with the background white card cut to fit my 6" square card and die cut an aperture using the same sized die and I then dry embossed the stencil onto it.  I finished by adding a sentiment using Versafine and heat embossed it with WOW Metallic Rich Gold Embossing Powder and added the background onto the card setting the topper into the aperture.

Thank you for visiting me here today and I hope to see you again soon.

I am also entering the following challenges:

NBUS Challenge - No. 34 Where we use our Never Before Used Schtuff.
Krafty Chicks Challenge - No. 595 CAS (Clean and Simple).
Stamping Sensations Challenge - January - Anything Goes with Stamping and Option - Add A Die.
Country View Challenges - January: Your Year to Sparkle and Shine (lots of mica shine from the Pixie Powders and also the gold embossed sentiment).
Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge - No. 421 Make Your Mark.
Sieze the Birthday Challenge - No. 230 Embossing.

Musical Zentangle

Hi all.  This was my first proper attempt at tangling, a couple of months ago now and I meant to show it then but with Christmas it got forgotten.  I made it for a friend that had been laid low with the virus but luckily after a week she began to feel better and no nasty after effects luckily.  She sings and teaches music so I found a treble clef shape which I transferred using tissue paper and a pencil, turning it over and then going over the lines again to transfer it on to my piece of Bristol Smooth paper.  

I used a similar design to that I had seen and using two Micron Pens, an 03 and 05, I pencilled the circles then went over with these pens.  I then filled in with the other tangles, again very similar to what I had seen but I used just the pen and went for it..lol.  I finished with some colour using four Intense pencils, a red, green, orange and lilac but with no added water.

I was very happy with the finished look and matted it on to black card and then my 7" x 5" card.  

Before I go I have two new followers, and thank you ladies.  They are Sue Greenwell and Janice Davies.  I was unable to find them online, so if you see this and want a shout out please leave me some details and I will gladly do so. 

*We visited her and her husband recently and she still had it out on the side still which I thought was lovely of her, and also she was interested to know how it was done.

Thank you for visiting me here today and I'll see you again soon.

Frosted Flurry

Hi all.  I am back with yet another Christmas make specifically for Pixie's Crafty Workshop Challenge where we use up our snippets of card and paper, and as this is a special Christmas prize draw she requested that this should be a seasonal creation.  I do not really use papers but have made a resolution to use up those old pads that I do have by making snippety backgrounds using strips or similar.  I found some You Tube tutorials which give examples of ways to make a pretty background and so I set to.  I also used a die I bought fairly recently at The Range made by Crafter's Companion called Frosted Flurry.

I started with a snippet of white card 5" square (this was half of a base card where I had to cut the front off and I was left with the back piece) and started to build up the pattern with strips 1cm wide using a pad which I got free with a magazine goodness knows how many years ago which is by Bo Bunny and I used both sides of three of the designs for the background.  I started by placing some diagonally across the card top left to bottom right, then top right and bottom left butting up to these diagonal ones, and lastly the two quarters left butting up to the previous ones which now run in the same direction as the original ones across the card,  and as you can see it makes an interesting pattern.  I also left a small gap in between each strip as this splits the patterns up a bit.  I then cut the circular snowflake die from a snippet of gold mirri card and as this cuts into the card I cut round it to cut it out so I could place it over the background and I put it on the dark green and cut that flush with the gold.  I added a gold sentiment in the centre using WOW Metallic Gold Embossing Powder and went over it with a gold Starlight Sakura pen to give it some added sparkle and layered it onto my 6" square white card. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I hope I'll see you again soon.

My Favourite Cards of 2021

Hi all.  I do this every year on New Year's Day and have a round up with a mix of my favourites and yours from the last year, choosing one from each month.  So here they are:

                                                                               

                                                                               

                                                                            

                                                                                 

                                                                                

                                                                                 

                                                                                 

                                                                               

                                                                                  

                                                                               

                                                                                

I didn't make so many cards this year,  I went through a bit of a slump and lost my mojo which I expect happened to many of us during this turbulent year!  Some months I only made a couple and there were months when I could have chosen three but I will not bore you by showing any more..lol.  This is strictly one from each month.

Wishing you a very happy, healthy and fulfilling 2022, and thank you to all who vist and leave such lovely comments, and I appreciate each and every one...the crafting community are a special bunch of people I think.  Lets hope this year will be a better one for us all.