International Art and Soul Challenge 134

 It's my turn to choose the challenge theme for this fortnight, and I've gone for one of my favourites, and I hope it'll be something you find fairly easy too. I want you to Say it with Flowers!

I first started following Susan Tierney-Cockburn when I got her book showing how to make realistic flowers from punched shapes. I've still got a box of punches, many of which were bought specifically for that purpose. Snowflakes make pretty good calixes! But dies are much easier, and I've been collecting her dies since her first collection  with Sizzix. I haven't bought too many of her more recent collections largely because there have been a lot of repeats, but the one flower I've been waiting for is the freesia. Not only do I love the perfume from those, but it was my mum's favourite flower. So, when I spotted freesia among the latest Spellbinders collection, I had to get it.

The frame is 12in square, and due to a miscalculation, I've had to leave the glass out as the flowers are a bit too three-dimensional! But the result is intended to be a placeholder until I can finish a piece of blackwork to go with one I've already completed. Anyway...

The background was made using Distress Oxide, and I blended, stencilled and used a rubber texture spatula to create the various effects. The flowers are ll freesia, and I've added some more of Susan's foliage to the arrangement. I used green card for the foliage, but the freesia (and their own leaves) used white card that I'd coloured with Promarkers, and added further detail with Pan Pastels. I love how freesia can have different colours, so that's what I went for here.

I'm looking forward to seeing your flowers, whether they're stamped, drawn, die cut, clay, wire, or however else you want to make some flowers.

International Art and Soul Challenge 133

 The challenge for this fortnight was set by Jane, and she wants to see projects where there are three of something. That could be three embellishments, three images, three ribbons, whatever you like.

I've been working on backgrounds a lot of late, and after some inspiration on You Tube, I came up with this:

The background started with Distress Oxide inks which I blended together, Then I added some more detail with Pan Pastels before stamping the Lavinia fairy, foliage and words. I added some further detail with a glitter gel pen, a white gel pen, and some Posca pens.

It's not obvious from the photo, but the black background is quite twinkly. I embossed it using a Crafter's Companion folder, then applied some Versafine Clair ink with a brayer too the very fine leaf detail. I had hoped for more colour transfer, but when it didn't happen, I heat embossed using some clear holographic powder.

To finish, I added three flower gems and three tiny clear gems I've had in my stash for a very long time. I suspect it's about three years since I last even opened the box where I keep sticky gems, so it was nice to get them out.

I do hope you can join us this time.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 258

The theme for this fortnight's challenge is Weddings! Now, most years, this would be a hard theme for me as almost no one I know ever gets married. But this year, a former colleague is getting married to her long time partner, and I made this:

I started with a Brusho background in blues and purples. However, they were too bright for a wedding card, so I added a layer of tracing paper which I heat embossed in silver. If you've never tried this, let me tell you, it's brilliant! It worked better than I could have expected.

Not a great photo, and of course I covered up a lot of it! But I was very impressed.

Edited: Of course, the wedding has had to be postponed due to the Covid19 Pandemic. So, there'll be another wedding card to do when they fix the date!

I do hope you can join us this time.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 215

The challenge for this fortnight is hosted by Jackie, and the theme is to use at least two dies, or two punches, or one of each. Otherwise, your project can be anything you like!

At the time of scheduling this post, we have just put our house on the market. Prior to that, we did some re-arranging in our kitchen, and the pictures we've had on the wall for many years no longer worked, but we were left with an expanse of wall that needed to be filled. So, I headed into my craft room with three Hobbycraft box frames and set to work

The Final Result

I started with some mixed-media paper, and added acrylic paint in black, white and silver which I brayered on in varying proportions. When that was dry, I stamped some background fragments, and finally, stencilled on some embossing paste in silver.

I made a range of flowers using dies mainly from Sizzix, but also from Cheery Lynn, Tonic, and, I think, Joanna Sheen. I stamped, die cut and coloured a Crafter's Companion butterfly,

I don't know how the whole moving enterprise is going to go. There definitely seems not to be much on the market, so we might end up deciding to stay if we can't find anything we like enough. It's definitely going to put a cramp on my crafting activities. As it is, the woman who came to take photos refused to use the one of my craft room (even though it was uncharacteristically clean and tidy) because it looked 'too busy'! It's all changed since the day we bought this house (32 years ago) when the only photo was one taken of the outside, and visits accompanied by estate agent personnel were pretty much limited to empty properties.

I do hope you can join us this time!

International Art and Soul Challenge 31

Our challenge for this fortnight is Paper Piecing. (Not to be confused with Paper Piercing!) Other than that requirement, you can make anything, any theme, any colours, so long as there's a piece of paper pieced in somewhere.

This is a technique that I've only tried once or twice before, and I've never liked the result, so I embarked with some trepidation. To my rescue came my last visit to Crafting at Ally Pally where at the Every Craft's a Pound stall, I bought several sets of Gorjuss stamps. I haven't used them much yet as they're quite big - the images are big and the frames supplied with them are huge. But, one of them seemed pretty much made for this technique and this is the result.

I also struggled to find a paper which had a small enough pattern to be useful here, and the one I found here is the last sheet of the design from a pad which was a magazine freebie several years ago. Because it's the last sheet, I've actually had to cut a piece out of the centre of the sheet for the paper-piecing! I coloured the rest of the image with Spectrum Noir pencils, although I did add a little colour to the skin tones with Promarkers too. Mat and layer dies are from Spellbinders. The flowers use dies by Sizzix from the Susan's Garden range, and I've added shading with Pan pastel and completed with a little Liquid Pearl.

I actually quite like the result. The images in this range are sweet, but the Santoro colours are dark and dingy, and if you know me at all, you'll know that's not my ideal!

I've made a box for this too, and if I get a chance, I'll add a photo to the blog later.

I hope you can join us this time!

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 206

Our challenge theme for this fortnight is Floral Delight. If you're like me, you struggle to make something without flowers, but we'd like to see lots of them for this challenge.

One of my Christmas presents were some Tonic Kaleidoscope box dies, but I haven't had any particular reason to make a box yet, so I decided to give them a whirl and fill one with flowers!

I do love the box! I've only got the hexagon lid at present, but suspect I see the octagon one in my near future.

The paper is from my collection. I'm using less and less patterened paper as I get into making my own backgrounds, so it was good to take a look at what I've got.

The flowers used a mix of dies. Most were Sizzix Susan's Garden dies, but there's a Sarah Wilson set there, as well as, I think, Cheery Lynn and Crafter's Companion. I added shading to petals and leaves using Pan Pastels, and some flower centres using Liquid Pearls.

A close up of some of the flowers.

I do hope you can join us this time, and I look forward to seeing lots of flowers!

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 204

This fortnight, we want you to get Inky or Messy! Any theme of project is fine so long as you've had brightly-coloured fingers at some time while you were creating.

I started by getting pretty messy. The background was created using a couple of different stencils and acrylic paint on my gelli-plate. I don't seem to be able to get anywhere near that technique without getting more paint on me than on the paper, but I did like the result - no doubt helped by the fact that it uses my favourite colour combination.

The image is a magazine freebie from Creative Stamping magazine. I've recently got hold of several back-numbers of this magazine and I've been quite impressed by the quality of the stamps. I coloured the image using pencils - a mixture of Spectrum Noir and Derwent Coloursoft, and edged the image with Distress Ink. Dies used are from Spellbinders.

The flowers were made using Sizzix dies, and I've shaded petals and leaves using Pan Pastels. I completed the card with some ribbon from my collection.

I hope you can join us this time.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 200

Our challenge for this fortnight at Crafty Cardmakers is to make anything but a card.

I decided to make a gift look a little more special.

A friend at work really wanted one of these jugs for her kitchen, so with her birthday coming up, it seemed and ideal gift. But it looked quite plain - it really needed the flowers she plans to put in it. For various reasons, real flowers are impractical before she gets the jug home, so I improvised with some tissue paper and hand-made flowers. The whole paper assembly will just lift out, so the jug is undamaged.

Each of the flowers were made using Sizzix Susan's Garden dies. I shaded petals and leaves with Pan Pastels. And that's it! It'll go in a gift bag and I hope she's going to like it.

I hope you can join us this fortnight.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 199

The challenge at Crafty Cardmakers for this fortnight is Thankful. We'd love to see what you come up with.

For this, I stuck to a basic 'Thank you' card.

This card started with me playing with my new Gelli plate and some acrylic paints. I used a swirly stencil and made a print onto heavy paper but wasn't happy with the result. I removed the stencil and took another print onto copy paper, and loved the result.

The 'Thanks' was die cut - I think it's a X-Cut die - it's definitely brown in colour. The flower was made using dies from Crafter's companion, and extra colour was added with Pan Pastel.

I think I'll be playing some more with the Gelli plate! In fact, it might be a good reason to give up buying patterned paper!

I hope you can join us.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 196

Our theme at Crafty Cardmakers is Autumn. My mind always goes to Autumn leaves, and this is what I came up with.

I stamped the tree using Clarity stamps and Memento ink. The background was sponged on using Pan Pastels with some cloud shapes used as templates cut using a Sizzix die. The result seemed rather misty to me, so the wording idea came from there. I think that's a CardCraft UK stamp, and I stamped it using Versafine ink as I wanted to make sure it would stamp clearly over the Pan Pastel. The matting is a wood-grained paper I've had just about forever. The background paper is from Papermania (again, very old) and the leaves were taken from my first (unsuccessful) attempt at an Autumn card and were cut using a Sheena Douglass die.

I hope you can join us with your Autumn creations!

International Art and Soul Challenge 8

Our challenge this fortnight at International Art and Soul is to use hot colours - other than that, you can make anything, for any occasion.

My immediate thought when I started this was to head for one of the collections of Kate Knight papers I've got. Many of her designs are extremely vibrant! Having found one that met the bill, I designed a card around it.

See what I mean about vibrant? I wouldn't normally have the confidence to mix magenta and orange, but with her papers, combinations like that just seem to work.

I used a Spellbinder's die to cut the background for the flower, and I think the dies used for the flower are from Crafter's Companion. I used some Pan Pastel to give some shading to the petals, leaves and stem, and that's about it! The colours are so bright, I really didn't want to add anything else.

I hope you can join us this fortnight.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 178

This time at Crafty Cardmakers, we want to try something a little different; our challenge is to make anything but a card! That's not something I find easy, but I had a little help from a friend who gave me an Ikea box frame. Well, this is what I came up with!

The frame is quite big - the green card I used as backing is about 9 by 9in. It's got glass too, but I removed it to get a better photo.

The background sheet uses watercolour paper shaded and stamped with a range of Distress Inks. The flowers are all hand made using dies from the Sizzix Susan's Garden range along with some greenery made with Sue Wilson dies. Petal shading was done with Pan Pastels, some flower centres use Liquid Pearls and extra detail on stamens use a little glitter glue.The colours are designed to go in our hallway - which is predominately green, although there are pinky/red lights in the glass on the front door, and an oak floor. I hope you can join us this time!

I hope you can join us this time.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 174

This time, at Crafty Cardmakers, our theme is Birthdays. It could be a card or something else, provided it follows the theme.

I chose to make a box for a friend's birthday gift.

I cut the bottom and top of the box using a trimmer, then scored it with my Woodware Fingerguard trimmer. (I don't use that one for cutting as I don't find it cuts square, but I keep a scoring blade in it, and it is pretty good when making boxes!) The card for the lid was pre-printed that I picked up at a craft show a while ago and keep forgetting about!

I decorated the box with die cuts. The flower uses the Clematis set from Sizzix's Susan's Garden range. I used Pan Pastels to shade the petals, and a mixture of liquid pearls and glitter glue on the stamen to add some interest.

The greeting uses another Sizzix die, one which cuts a border and inner in one sweep, and I tinted the border using the same Pan pastels as the flower.

I hope you can join us this time.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 168

This time at Crafty Cardmakers, we want you to bling it up! Simple, yes?

In fact, this card was a case of serendipity! I needed to make a card for a colleague who's leaving while in the throes of having our 'study' transformed into a craft room. I said 'study' because, although we've always called it that, the room has had many uses since we moved here over 30 years ago. In the early days, it was where we left coats and shoes, then it became a buggy park when the children were small. It's been a bedroom when my mother-in-law visited since she couldn't manage the stairs, and since we entered the digital age, it's been where we kept and used computers. Of course, as the children got older, and computers became even more frequently used, even that use has fallen by the wayside. Despite its many uses, it's always been one of the places where I've stashed my crafty goodies, and as a result, my bits are even more spread around the house than usual.

So, I decided what to do based largely on what I could get my hands on easily, and came up with the design using a variety of die cuts. But, when I assembled it, it wasn't balanced, so I had to decide how to get some more interest in that top left corner. First, I cut a second version of the die cut, this time in the peach, and cut out the butterfly motif. Then, I decided I'd add some sticky gems. When I was finally happy, it was extremely 'blingy', and I realised it'd be perfect for this challenge, although I didn't have it in mind while it was in progress. So, serendipity!

The corner die is from Heartfelt Creations; one I've had for several used but not used often. It's very hard to cut, and one of the reasons I upgraded from my Wizard to a Big Shot Pro a few years ago. I was very disappointed to find that even that machine struggled with it, but by dint of adding a metal plate, squirting with SprayEmboss and running it through at multiple angles, I finally got it to work.

The flowers were made from die cuts courtesy of Sizzix Susan's Garden range, shaded with Pan Pastels, and the leafy additions cut with Sue Wilson dies. The sentiment is computer generated, cut using a Go Kreate die and edged with Versamcolor ink.

I hope you can join us this time!

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 160

This time, the challenge at Crafty Cardmakers is to make something inspired by Easter.

For this, I've made the first of this year's Easter cards.

I started by making a border using a set of Sue Wilson Gemini dies, although I used both edges rather than just one! Then, I tried out a new (to me) die. It's another Susan Tierney die, but this time, produced by Elizabeth Craft. it's designed to be flatter than the Sizzix range, and that's definitely something I'd welcome. For the image and greeting, I've combined a cropped image from Joanna Sheen's Pamela West CDRom with a greeting. the embossed background was done using an Embossalicious folder.

I hope you can join us this time.

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 151

This time at Crafty Cardmakers and More, we're challenging you to be thankful about something. You might want to make a remembrance card as Armistice day's coming up, or just an old-fashioned thank you card.

For this card, I've stuck to a fairly simple design.

I've used a stamp set I got with a recent magazine. I coloured the image with Promarkers - the first time I've used them for a while! To complete the card, I made a branch of small flowers using a Sizzix Susan's Garden die set, shading the flowers and leaves with Pan Pastels and finishing the flowers with a dab of glitter glue.

I hope you can join us this time!

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 144

This time at Crafty Cardmakers and More, we're pushing the Cardmaking aside and promoting the More! We want your project to be anything but a card.

Now, I don't often make things that aren't cards, but I'd often thought of doing something to put on my parents' grave. I live several hundred miles from where they're buried and don't visit very often. I put flowers there when I go, but they only last a few days and then they're not replaced, so I wanted something that would last a little longer but be very personal. This is what I came up with.

I started with a blank plaque that I stained and then sealed with Spray and Shine from Crafter's Companion. I scanned and edited one of their wedding photos before printing and sealing. the flowers were made using a range of Sizzix Susan's Garden dies with added colour supplied using Pan pastel and a little liquid pear. I sealed each flower separately before assembling the plaque and sealing again. I honestly don't expect it to last very long once it's out in the elements, especially as the cemetery is on a windy hillside in an area known for its rainfall, but it should (hopefully) last a little longer than flowers.

And by a complete coincidence, it's especially appropriate that I'm blogging this today, as it would have been my dad's 88th birthday.

I hope you can join us this time.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

One Stitch at a Time Challenge 239

This time at One Stitch at a Time, the theme is Anything Goes with Men. We're sponsored by:

See the challenge blog for details.

I decided to make a card for my son, who grew up hearing about Dr. Who, only to have them resurrect the series some years ago. So, when I saw this image from Alipeep's Art, especially when it's a picture of The Doctor, it was perfect for him.

The wording, of course, comes from the series. I made the background paper using some key words from the series, and coloured the image with Promarkers, after adding the speech bubble in Photoshop Elements. The watch is a Marianne die cut which I've touched up with Pan Pastel to make the details more obvious.

I hope you can join us this time.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Creative Corner where it's 'Just for Boys',
Krafty Katz where they want CAS,
Graph'it where the theme is blue/boys,
Kitty Bee where it's 'for the boys',
Left of Centre where the theme is 'for the boys',
Polkadoodles where the theme is 'masculine',
Simply Create Too where the theme is 'masculine',
Simply Papercrafts where anything goes,
Sister Act where anything goes,

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 140

This time, at Crafty Cardmakers and More, the challenge is to use stitching. It can be faux, but we'd really like to see some 'real' stitching or embroidery on your project.

I decided to make a card for a colleague who's moving on.

I started by pricking out a regular pattern around some pale, shimmery green card. I then back-stitched it to a piece of darker green, before adding a 'spirelli'-style frame. (Although, I was making patterns like that long before I'd ever heard of 'Spirelli'!) I generated a sentiment in Photoshop Elements and cut and matted that using Spellbinders dies. The flowers are made using Sizzix dies. I shaded the centres with Pan pastels and finished them off with a little liquid pearl.

I used to stitch cards long before I'd heard of rubber stamping or die cutting, and I must say I really enjoyed doing this one. I've got several more leaving cards to do in the next few weeks and I suspect I'll be doing some variations on this theme!

I hope you can join us this time.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Simply Papercrafts where anything goes,

A Gem of a Challenge where they want flowers,

Inspiration Destination where anything goes,

Paper Shelter where the theme is Flower Power,

Penny's where anything goes,

Crafty Cardmakers and More Challenge 139

This time, at Crafty Cardmakers and More, we want to see shaped creations. Any shape you want so long as it's not a plain square or rectangle.

I actually planned to make a circular card for this challenge, but the die set I ordered has failed to materialise so far (looks like it had incorrect postage on it), so I had to re-think a bit.

And yes, it is a Christmas card - my second of the year. I normally try to get started on Christmas cards during the Easter break, but that didn't go to well this year, partly because we were away for a few days and partly because I'm just struggling for inspiration. Still, I'm quite pleased with how this one turned out.

I cut the card base using Spellbinders Grand Nestibilities and covered the plain card with some shimmery white card. I matted with two shades of pearly aqua card. The grid was cut with a smaller Spellbinders die and framed to give it a finished appearance, then it was adhered using a glue gel to give it a bit of height from the previous layer. The poinsettias used Marianne dies, and I added a little hint of detail to the leaves using Pan Pastels and finished with a little silver glitter glue in the centres. The sentiment is a pre-inked stamp I've had for many years.

I hope you can join us this time.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Sister Act where anything goes,
Crimbo Crackers where they want die cuts,
A Gem of a Challenge where they want 'more than one fold',
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge where they want some our your favourite things (die cuts, pearly paper and flowers ...)
Penny's where they want 'more than one fold',