Elf Factory.

All stitched up. Best get stuffing then!!!

All got different hair to match their leggings.  Eek look at all those threads. I could be sometime!!

Lets see if Miss Di can pick her one out.

 

Christmas Sentiments.

Well there's another fortnight just wizzed by again. Wish the buses came that quick. Time for the girls in the Christmas Card club to show our next cards. The theme was set by Sylvie who want to see 'The sentiment as the focal point' on our cards.
Rummage time in the used christmas card box turned up a few cards that I could use but I just chose this one and made it up into a quick and easy card as I'm now busy in the 'Elf Factory' knocking out Elves like they are going out of fashion!

The card had been joined to its backing by the M and the X but I just trimmed round them to match the rest of the letters. Base card was made from black cardstock which I then layered up with gold and red cardstock to match the sentiment which was adhered on top using 3D pads for a bit of dimension.  One more card for the pot.



My second card  is one from a set I have just made. I was watching a video by Penny Black on You Tube but not having the stamps they were using or even the right ink pads I had to improvise with what I could find in my stash. (I have since bought the stamps and pads so once the Elves have been dispatched off to the North Pole I will be having a proper play.)

I have used watercolour card and created the background by dropping the colours from a re-inker bottle onto an acetate block and picking up the colours with a wet paint brush.  The trees are various ones. The large clump are by Stampscapes and the rest created using a Hobby Art stamp set given to me by a good blogging friend who found that she had 2 of the same .The large sentiment stamp is a freebie from a magazine. I created the falling snow by using white opal liquid pearls randomly dotting on card..

I'm entering this card only  into the following challenge:
Scraps of Life by scrappy Mo # October Rudolph day.
ABC Christmas Challenge # U is for Unlimited (the snow) and V is for Vibrant (yellow sky).
Crafty Hazelnut's Extra # Anything goes.
The Sisterhood of Crafters # I see spots (falling snow).
Fab 'n' Funky # 368 Christmas.
Crafting By Designs #  Get ready for christmas.

Call me weird but!

Iv'e just bought this Tonic studios die and thought I would have a play with it . I had nothing specific in mind and just cut it out using a snippet of water colour paper I had to hand.

 It cuts perfectly and all the little bits come out easily and thats where the problem lay.  Does anyone else see what I see with those fall outs ?

Well here is the card I made using some of them! I don't normally make halloween cards but I couldn't resist this one. 

Black cardstock for the base. The row of houses is a freebie image from Beyond The Fringe Crafts
called 'City Silhoutte'  I created the sentiment in word and printed out.  The little Ghouls are from above with the addition of black dots using a marker pen.
Yep I know I'm weird!!!!

Entering into the following challenges:
Crafty Cardmakers #198. Spooky
Deep Ocean Challenge #166. Halloween.
Die Cuttin Divas #340. Halloween (well it wasn't specified which part of the die cut I had to use!)
Tuesday Throwdown #366. Spooktacular.
Creative Inspirations #282. Autumn/Halloween.
Aud Sentiments #191 Halloween + a sentiment.
Creative Knockouts  #217. Halloween.
Fussy and Fancy #199. So spooky.

Butterflies + Z is for Zodiac and/or the colour Buttermilk

It is time for a new challenge over on the Butterfly Blog.
#88 Butterflies + Z is for Zodiac and/or the colour Buttermilk.

Now I'm  certainly not advocating that you should go out and buy any stamps/dies etc to accommodate the theme so just take a minute or two and take stock of what you already have in your stash and really think outside of the box.

With twelve signs to choose from you could pick

Libra -  Scales  (or even just use a balanced design)

Gemini -  Twins (so two of something on your card)

Sagittarius (Love or arrows)

Virgo  (A woman)

Aquarius ( jug or water with flowers)

Pisces, Scorpio, Cancer can be  depicted by something of a fish/water scene.

Leo (lion), Aries (ram/ sheep), Capricorn (goat), Taurus (bull)

or even just stars/world for the universe.

Don't forget the butterfly though.

Here is my inspiration for you.

My first card is depicting the zodiac sign Leo.

I have literally  had this card front in my used card box for ever and a day. It was a birthday card received by my son and I had kept it because it made me smile.  Not only that but when  I pulled it out to use, it also had the little butterfly on it! I have made an  elongated easel card to show of Leo.

Brown and Cream leather effect cardstock for the card base came from my stash along with the gold peel off sentiment. 

Entering this card into the following challenges:

City Crafter #385:  Jungle animals.

Inspiration Destination #136: Anything goes+ optional twist of Easel card.

The Crafters Cafe #183: Shaped card..

Second card depicts the sign of the Zodiac Libra.

I remembered that I had this Scribbles Designs digi called 'Weigh in Diva' and I thought that the scales would be perfect for Libra. I have made a twisted Easel card this time. The Pink and Cornish Cream cardstock came from my stash.  I created the sentiment in word and printed off the punch line.  Butterflies were punched out already from scrapes and I layered 3 up on each butterfly to give a bit of substance to them. A pink gem finished them off. 

So as you can see I only used items already in my stash. Hope you will have a sort through yours too and come and play along.  Challenge runs for 2 weeks and I will show you some more inspiration next week making some Zodiac tags.

Nursey, nursey.

We had a phone call a few weeks ago to say that The Doc's best friend( from Senior school days whom we had kept in touch with, regularly visiting each other) had been taken into his local hospital (in the early hrs of the Weekend )where after doing a few tests they transferred  him straight off to Papworth Hospital(Leading Heart Hospital) as he had had a major heart attack. By the following Tuesday he had undergone a quadruple heart bypass operation. He is home now and slowly getting better after a few initial setbacks.  He keeps telling his wife how he misses all the nice young nurses so I made this card for him to remind him of them!!

Image is by Bugaboo and called 'Stella Peeker Nursing' and I have coloured with my promarkers.

Die cut stitched rectangles by Crafts-Too.  I created the sentiment in word and printed off.

Close up of the lovely nurse!

Just one Leaf.

I have another dear blogging friend who was in need of cheering up so I sent her this card. It has been received and did put a smile on her face so mission accomplished.

Makes me smile when I use this image too. It is by Scribbles Designs and called 'Leafy Brr'. Coloured with my promarkers and die cut using Crafts-Too Square dies ' Scalloped edge PCD77'.
Paper again are all freebies from various magazines. You probably think me a cheapskate always using freebies but it does mean I get to spend my money on digi's, stamps and diecuts which is the fun bit for me.

Here's a close up of that last leaf just waiting for the right breeze to come along Shouldn't be long now with the winds still blowing a gale from Storm Brian!

Waterfall.

I don't know about waterfall it was more like watershed making this card. Nearly didn't come into being. First I used too much glue for sticking the little squares on and it left glue marks, so covered those up with the glitter glue I had already used around the butterflies. Phew!
Then I added the glitter glue around the trellis work, stood the card up to leave to dry and promptly knocked it off the work top and like any good piece of buttered toast it landed on the carpet glue side down. Retrieved from carpet and picked off all the carpet hairs which were now attached to the trellis work. Phew!!
 Next I decided that the colour of the ribbon pull (in daylight) really clashed with the design paper so removed it. Only problem was in my wisdom I had secured with a small staple so the pretty scalloped bottom had to go. Not enough tag left to recut the scallop so a straight cut had to suffice. Pink ribbon looks much better. Phew!!!
 Then I attached the gems with glue. Got to the last gem and could I find it? Nope and I sure did look for it, so out with the gem box and glue another one in place. 
Finally ready to take the pictures and thats when I found where it went to!!!! See last piccy.

The following photo's show how the mechanism works as you pull on the tag.

And finally the back of the card!

I made the card for the second weeks inspiration for the current Butterfly challenge. (Iv'e thrown the how not to's in for free).

#87 Buterflies + V is for Vertical and/or the colour Damson. 

Still time to enter as the challenge doesn't close till next Tuesday. Hope to see you there.

Finally

I'm entering into Pixie's Crafty workshop # 303/304   cos I used loads of snippets up (Twice!)

If your looking for either Di or myself we are behind the bike sheds quaffing copious glasses of wine.

Note to Parsnip. Don't you even think of snitching on us!!. 

Friends.

Sometimes virtual hugs are not enough and a card is needed too. I sent this one to a very good blogging friend in need of some TLC.  It has been received so I can show now.

The stamp is by Stamping Bella 'Uptown Girls Belinda & Bernadette The Bench Buddies'.

I used my promarkers to colour and this very pretty freebie digi paper from  

Crafter's Companion Club Inspire April 2016.

They really do have some lovely papers for you to download and whats more they never run out!

Here is a close up below of the girls.

Entering into the following challenge:
Passion For Promarkers #47 Anything goes.

Non-Traditional Colours

Another fortnight gone woosh knows where and it's time again for the Christmas Club Girls to show out makes. Carol set the theme of using  Non-Traditional  colours on our cards.
A quick rootle around in my used christmas card box found this first card which is what I can only describe as a Cadbury's Chocolate Box colour with additional flocking in the design. I had intended to use gold shimmer card for the base of the card but whilst running my hand through the pile of cardstock in my cupboard it stopped at this 'Moroccan Gold' which just screamed at me to be pulled out and used.

I cut an aperture from the front of my folded cardstock using my  Crafts-Too Rectangle die stitch hole. Timmed the card front down slightly to fit behind and attached. I covered the back with another piece of the cardstock for neatness. Yellow ribbon and the holly stickers  were from my stash. I found some matching Anita's gems and used them for the berries.  I had a slither of the card over so used it to decorate the inside panel which I have left blank for a handwritten  sentiment to be added. A few more holly stickers /gems and I delcared the card done. 

For the second card I turned my attention to my box of design paper which I had been resorting  and filing into appropriate colours earlier in the week.I remembered seeing  a snippet of mulberry paper in a pink/lavender colourway with silver embossing on it not dissimilar to the flocking pattern on the first card so pulled it out. It had been  a gift from a kind blogging friend and time to use instead of just stroking and admiring!  My Amethyst card stock looked perfect with the paper so I made another card base up the same as above.Again the dark silver ribbon. silver holly stickers and crystal gems were from my stash. The sentiment is a tonic Studios die which I have cut twice and layered for a raised effect. 

I had just enough of the design paper left to decorate the inside of the card along with another silver holly sticker and gem. 

I'm off to see what the other girls have come up with for this challenge.  I'm late due to internet problems and weak signal strength.

Vertical Elements

A new challenge has started  over on the butterfly challenge.
#87 Butterflies + V is for Vertical and /or the colour Damson.

So a vertical image or an added vertical element  needs to be on your project.

The colour Damson  sometimes called Damson plum is the dark-blue or purple fruit of a plum so there will be variations  in colour. 

Here is my inspiration for you . On this first card I have used a Memory Box die cut called Tessatina  Border Style No 98302 for my Vertical element. I didn't have any plain cardstock the correct shades so I used white cardstock and then coloured the die cut using my Marvy LePlume II plum coloured pen instead. The background digi paper is from Crafters Companion Club Inpsire April 2016 and has shades of both plum and damson in the pattern.  The butterfly has been die cut from felt using the Memory Box
Cascadia Butterfly Trio set. The gem came from my stash.  The sentiment  is a Tonic Studios Miniature Moments die Happy Anniversary. Again I cut in white and coloured with my Plum coloured pen.

For my second card I have used a plain white card blank which I have adhered a pale green sheet of cardstock to the front.  The paper ,( surprise, surprise)  is a freebie from Making Cards Magazine June 2016 called June flowers. Again the flowers are in shades of both plum and damson. I have distressed the edges before attaching over the green card. The  image (which is my Vertical Element) is by Kaisercraft called 'Flutter' and I used Dew Drops Versa Magic 'Perfect Plumeria' chalk ink for stamping onto white cardstock. Ribbon, gem and the the paper flower were from my stash. The Birthday wishes stamp was a freebie from a magazine at sometime  but I have no makers name for it.

Hope to see you over at the challenge which runs for two weeks.

Best Laid Plans.

I have been trying to get this post blogged since Tuesday but like the best laid plans life just seems to have a habit of throwing the odd curved ball in the way.
Here are two more cards to give you some inspiration for the current Butterfly Challenge which you still have time to enter. as the closing date is Tuesday 8pm (GMT).
These two cards are trying out some more card shapes that I have found on You Tube. For my sins I have signed up to do a Craft Fayre in December at out local community hall so whilst I do have plenty of cards already made I thought I would  have a go at these ones too.

The first card is a Z Fold Flap Card. I followed this tutorial here by Dawn for the main measurements  changing how I made the closure tab slightly.

The papers are by Lili of the Valley Nitwit Collections ' Snow Princess'. This paper pad has some lovely designs in it and was given to me by my fab Daughter  to use up. The stamped image on the front is by Imagination Crafts from The Decoupage Stamp Range Called ' Butterfly'.  I have silver embossed and then used my Marvy Leplume  II water colour pens straight to the paper to fill in the butterflies wings and the trailing flowers.

 For the inside panels I have used the accompanying stamps in the set using black Memento ink and the same pens.   Not showing up but the flower centres and the butterfly head have small green quartz gems in the centres.

  The closure tab has more quartz gems on it and the circle stamp is by Wild Rose Studios. The Green surround is die cut using an  Xcuts "Bloom" nesting die.  I have used 3D pads to raise the tab up slightly to give room for the card fold to fit underneath.

The second card is a Pop - Up card. I followed the tutorial here by Jolan giving it my own personal twist on the design elements. The tutorial is spoken in Dutch but the measurements come up on the screen and the visuals are very easy to follow and I had no problems with keeping up.

 Again I have used a paper pad given to me by my Daughter. This time it is Lili Of The Valley Nitwits Collections ' Pastel Dreams'. I have added stamped flowers to the front which I have coloured to match the pretty paper and fussy cut. I thought the design  looked so good with the paper. The stamps I have used are by SU from their Birthday Blossoms Set. I stamped 3 of the large flower out, coloured and fussy cut, layering up and adding a quartz pink gem to the middle . The circles were cut out using my Xcut circles die.
I will let the following pictures show you how the mechanism unfolds.

The butterfly over the top of the sentiment is by Marianne Design from their CS0927 set. I have embossed with WOW's  Sheena Pearl kit embossing powder in red regular but because I am doing it onto white card you get this lovely pink quartz colour and the shimmer is amazing.
I used lots of scraps of white paper for the flowers so I'm speeding over to the playground and nipping in before the gates shut for the night.
Pixie's  Crafty Workshop # 301/302. Use your snippets.

Make It Round

It is my turn to set the theme for the next Christmas Card Club  challenge and I have chosen
Make It Round so lots of scope to think outside the box for this one.

I had a rootle round in my used christmas card stash and found this card front that had a nice circle design. I first cut the circle out leaving the card front intact. Using blue card stock I made a base card up and carefully adhered the circle to the front of the card. I had some pieces of snowy acetate in my stash so used a bit to adhere to the back of the hole in the card and then used 3d pads to then stick this over the circle already attached. The snowflakes were purchased die cuts which came in a huge packet of assorted shapes, colours and sizes. I used a finger dauber to add some blue colour to some of the white ones and then layered a few together and blinged them up with blue crystal gems and silver glitter glue.

You can just about see the 3D effect.

My next card uses freebie paper from Making Cards Dec 2015 called ' Traditional Christmas' by Hunkydory. I had another rootle around in my stash and found this Circle Swing Base Card and decided to use the paper along with some red card stock to cover all the sides of the card. Bad mistake as it took for ever and a day to to cut and piece it together . It  looks good now its finished but a quick job it wasn't! Do I ever  learn. 

There was one sheet with the large design on it and then another sheet had smaller designs set into circles along with some sentiments.

You can see the card fully extended here and below is the back of the card showing the reverse of the swing circle just to prove I did indeed  cover it all.  I have used some more of the snowflakes but this time I used red ink on the dauber and a pearl in the centre along with the silver glue. 

So this is my take. I wonder what the girls have all come up with.
I'm slowly getting round to  all your blogs so if I haven't been seen for a while I'll be with you soon.

Hugs