Happy Hauntings.

Having had fun making the Never Ending Card for my last Butterfly Challenge I decided to use the shape again  and make a Halloween card to send to our Grandson.  It has been posted so he should be opening it today.
All of the digis are freebies from various sites I have collected over the last few years and knew would get used eventually.  I used orange and black cardstock to make the base card and the layers.

 This is the front of the card.  The house line is City silhouette by Beyond the Fringe. Wordings I created in word and printed off.  The cat with pumpkin  and the bat wings poster are  from The Sum Of All Crafts freebies.
The card opens up to reveal the next layer. I had already given the card to The Doc to sign it before realising  I hadn't taken any photos of the inside of the card so I have blanked out Grandson's name.

 The black cat is called Spook Cat from Digi Stamp Boutique. The witch and halloween scrap book page paper are from The Sum Of All Crafts freebies. This then opens up to the next layer.

 The last layer is then revealed below. The witch potion poster is from The Sum Of All Crafts freebies.

This layer then returns you to the front of the card to start all over again!! It really is never ending.

Entering this card into the following challenges for Halloween:
Daring Card Makers # Make It Spooky
Shopping Our Stash #407 Halloween.
Little Red Waggon #521 Scary It.
Tales From The Craft Room #9 Halloween.
Water Cooler Challenges #245 Anything goes.



To go with the card I also made this box of treats.  'Pinky' had entered a gorgeous butterfly candy bar box that she had made for the last Butterfly Challenge and she also included an excellent video on how to make. Check out her entry here  at No 7.
I used up the scraps from the card above to decorate the box and also made it slightly deeper as the pumpkin balls were larger than a flat candy bar. I made my sides 3 qtrs of an inch instead of half an inch. Pictures as below.

 I made a witch slider for the box closure

 Side ways view.

You slide the witch down the slider bar  to open the box up. 

 The open box showing the halloween goodies inside. I even had a few left  over for The Doc!

Entering this box into the following challenges:
Crafty Card Makers #244 Halloween.
Always Fun Challenges #134 Halloween
Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends #116 Anything goes.
Pixie's  Crafty Workshop #364 Use up your snippets (Used from card making  above).
Not Just Cards # Anything goes.

One Layer Cards.

Time again for another challenge over on the Butterfly Blog and the letter is O.

#131 Spin The Butterfly Wheel with the Letter O for One Layer Card.

Sorry , my camera is making the purple look blue.

I have chosen One Layer Card as the card shape (although not strictly a shape it is a definite style of card and for the purposes of this challenge if you are making the card shape then one layer really means one layer so you can use only a blank card/or cardstock folded to make your base card to either stamp/paint/colour directly onto. You may use only one embellishment of your choice to be adhered to the front of your card. 

No die cuts unless this is your 1 added embellishment or you are cutting an oval in the front of the card and your design is therefore showing through from the  inside of the card.

I know that several of you struggle with making  this type of card so that is why I decided on it as  my choice for the letter O. Hopefully my examples will give you some inspiration for your own cards. You do not have to use the one layer element to take part in the challenge. Just choose from the other parts of the wheel as there are several prizes to be won.

1st Card.
One Layer Card/Only 1 extra embellishment/Olive/Old Gold/ Orchid/Butterfly

I have been watching a lot of videos on You Tube showing how to  paint loose Watercolor Florals  and have been trying my hand at painting  some myself. They are really easy to create.  The lady I have been following is called Creationsceecee.  They are ideal as little notelet cards and perfect for making one layer cards.

I have used the three colours from the wheel and  my Caran D'ache Gouache Studio watercolour palette box of paints. I mixed my colours to get the right shades.
The sentiment is by Julie Hickey from her 'Beautiful Butterfly' stamp set.  My 1 added extra embellishment is the gold sticker from my stash. A really easy peasy one layer card.

Entering the above card into the following challenges:
Water cooler Challenges #245 Anything goes
Crafty Catz #480 Anything goes.
Scrapping 4 Fun #152 Anything goes.
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #116 Anything goes.
Not Just Cards # Anything goes,



.

2nd Card.
One Layer Card/Ovals/Olive/Old Gold/ Orchid/Butterfly

For this card I have cut an oval aperture from my card base and stamped my image to be coloured onto the inside of the card. I used my Graph'it markers to colour the butterfly image along with a silver gel pen to highlight. The stamp is Marianne Design   from CS0927 stamp set. The sentiment stamp is by Phil Martin from his Scribbled corner sentiments Everyday set. he flutted Oval die  cut is from The Works.

I used the same oval die to embellish the inside of the card.

Another easy peasy one to make.  Hope you will come and have a play and don't be put off by the one layer. If I can do it so can you.

Entering this card into the following challenges:
Die Cuttin Divas #444 Anything goes.
Tuesday Throwdown #443 One layer wonder.
Polkadoodles Craft Challenge #43 Anything goes.
The Sisterhood of Crafters #Make it clean and simple.
Craft Stamper # Anything goes.
Love To Craft #39 Anything goes.

Just To Say...

Well the Summer House is all done. It stayed fine here over the weekend so I was able to turn over the mud in front of the house and let the air dry it out. I added loads of top soil into it too and it did the job as this morning I was able to level it out and get the stepping stones relaid and the new front step in situ. The floor matting is in and the furniture as well. Even a wall hanging and ornament or two!
I was surprised that only 2 people guessed the colour of the table and chairs so for the rest of you,  here is a little teaser.

The image is a freebie that I found on Beyond The Fringe called 'French Cafe' which I thought was very appropriate to use.  Coloured using my Graph'it markers this time. I created the mat under the table and chairs and randomly selected markers that matched the real carpet. I took a photo of the matt whilst it was still laid out in the lounge and have used that as the background behind the image. I was pleased at how well my 'faux mat' matched.!!!!
I am going to enter this into the All Sorts Challenge which is to make your own background. Well I took my own  photo and drew my own background to the little scene so tongue in cheek and see what Kathleen says!!!
Been a bit of an emotional day for me today so will share the summerhouse piccys from start to finish tomorrow.

Entering into the following challenges:
All Sorts Challenge #543 Make your own backgrounds.
Creative Moments #179 Anything goes + optional for the girls.
Creations in Pink #15 Anything goes mainly in pink.
Creative Craft Cottage #123 Make it pink.
Scrapping 4 Fun #152 Anything goes.
Colour Crazy #42 Anything goes.
Crafty Catz #480 Anything goes.
Love To Craft #39 Anything goes.

Pumpkin Kitty.

Day six of the Cat Lovers Hop already and I'm racing in with my last entry. 

The pre-coloured  image and the sentiment are both freebies from TLC Creations web site . As soon as I saw this image I knew I needed to download and use.  I have simply mounted onto orange and then black cardstock and made a base card using terracotta cardstock. Mounted the sentiment with 3D pads for a bit of dimension and my card is done. I think the picture does all the talking.  

Entering into the following challenges:
Her Peaceful Garden # Day 6 Cat lovers Hop.
Show Us your Pussy Cat Challenges #47 Meowloween/furrything goes.
Alphabet Challenges # P is for Poppies or Pumpkins.
Addicted To Stamps #178 Add a Pumpkin.
Creatalicious #173 Anything goes + optional Autumn/halloween.
Crafty Calendar # Autumn colours/halloween.
Pattie's Creations #163 Autumn/halloween.
International Art and Soul #69 Halloween.
Crafty Gals Corner #200 Halloween colours.
Daring Card Makers # Make it spooky.

It has rained constantly here today. The pond has overflowed and the bottom of the garden looks like the rivers of babylon so I haven't been able to lay the new path/step to the summer house. Frustrated as I can't get the furniture installed. The new rug is laid out in the lounge flattening out from where it has been rolled up under the car in the garage and the table and chairs  are still packed flat awaiting assembly.

Here is a preview of the rug though.

Anyone who knows me won't be surprised by the colour and can probably  even guess what the colour of the furniture will be.!!!

Meow!

Day 5 of the Cat lovers Hop and been a busy , busy day here as Yay, I now a Summer House erected in the garden even though the skies did decide to open up and it rained quite heavily. Thankfully nearly up and finished by the time it did pour though the garden does ook a bit of a quagmire at present.
Back to my card for today which is another digi image by KPM Doodles. Thi is Kitten stamp no 3.

I have coloured with my promarkers and then mounted onto a piece of card that I had used the Shaving Foam Technique to make coloured card with. This is just one of the many of the pattern designs that I made back last summer. The sentiment is a gold sticker I found in my stash. Finally mounted onto kraft card stock fo the base card.

Entering this card into the following challenges:
Her Peaceful Garden # Day 5 Cat lovers Hop.
Dream Valley #212 Add a sentiment.
Crafting By Designs # Anything goes.
Scrapping 4 Fun #152 Anything goes
Polkadoodles Craft Challenges #43 Anything goes.
2 Crafty Critter Crazies #31 Anything goes with a critter.
Not Just Cards # Anything goes.
Show Us Your Pussy cats challenges #47 Meowloween/Furrything goes.
The  Creative Crafters #21 Anything goes.
ColourCrazy # 42 Anything goes

Jigsaw Cat

Another of the cards that I sent to my grandson. I coloured the image by Cut and Tape Girl (on Etsy) called Line Cat Main Coon. There were 5 to choose from. After colouring with my promarkers I made the digi into a jigsaw using a die cut by Xcut.  I also  made another one up and enclosed it inside the card. Sentiment was a sticker from my stash.  I went to a craft workshop today by Julie Hickey. We had fun using her new Christmas dies and cut glitter board into strips to make patterned cards. We all managed to make 6 cards though I have brought mine home to finish them off in my own time. 

Entering into the following challenges:
Her Peaceful Garden #  Day 4 Cat lover hop.
Dream Valley #212 Add a sentiment.
CD sunday Plus #21 Anything goes.
2 Crafty Critter Crazies #31 Anything goes with a critter.
Show Us your Pussie Challenges #47 Meowloween/ furrything goes.
Crafting By Designs # anything goes.
Not Just Cards # Anything goes.
The Creative Crafters #21 Anything goes.

Adorable Kitty.

Day 3 of the Cat Lover hop and this is my card to show. Digi image is by Tierra-Jackson and called Adorable Kitty. I have coloured using my promarkers and a gold gel pen. The gold sticker from my stash. I also found the outcut in my stash from where I had cut a die shape from and used that to frame the image. Spotted paper from my stash of hoarded freebie prints.

Short and sweet as I am running all behind today. Still trying to get the garden ready for the arrival of the Summer House on Friday.
Entering into the following challenges:
Her Peaceful Garden Day 3 Cat Lovers Hop.
Dream Valley #212 Add a Sentiment.
Crafty Creations #401 Anything goes.
CD Sunday Plus #21 Anything goes.
2 Crafty Critter Crazies #31 Anything goes with a critter.
Show Us Your Pussies Challenges #47 Meowloween/Furrything goes.
Through the Craft room Door # Anything goes.
All Sorts Challenge #542 Add something gold and /or silver  (used gold gel pen on Cat.)
Pixies Crafty Workshop #353 Use up your snippets (Red outcut from a previous project.)
Crafting with an Attitude #56 Anything goes.

Never Ending Love.

Gosh week 2 of the Butterfly challenge already and here is my next inspiration card to show you.

#130 Spin The Butterfly Wheel with N for Never Ending Card.

My selection from the wheel this time is:
Never Ending Card/Narrow Edges/New York Pink/Nautical Blue/Butterflies.

 I have used a Bo Bunny sheet of design paper called Early Bird Flutter #7310067 and used Nautical  Blue card stock to make the four pieces of card 6" x  3" needed for the base.  This really is such an easy card to make. You will find instructions are over on the Butterfly Blog under the Card Shapes Tab.  this is the strt of the card which then opens up to show the card in the photo below.

 This page also stands up nicely on it's own for display purposes. The silver stickers were all from my stash. It then opens up to reveal the card in the photo below.

 This in turn reveals the last page shown below which opens back up to the beginning of the card again. A Really ingenious design.  I shall be making a halloween edition for my Grandson with scarry cats on it.

Challenge is running for another week and closes on Tuesday 29th Oct 8pm (GMT).
Please do not feel that you have to try the Never Ending  card shape to enter. You can use any combination of the items listed on the wheel so long as you include the statutory Butterfly/Butterflies on your card. There are 4 different prizes to be won on each challenge.  Hope to see you there.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Through The Craftroom door # Anything goes.
Crafty Creations #401 Anything goes.
Creative Moments #179 Anything goes =optional for the girls.
Water Cooler Challenges # All about occasions
A Bit More Time To Craft #102 Anything goes.
Creative Fingers #173 Anything goes.
The Creative Crafters #21 Anything goes.
Love To Craft #39 Anything goes.
Ally's Angels #27 Anything goes.
Get Creative #85 Anything goes/shaped cards.

Kitty Cat

Day two of the Cat lovers hop and this is another of the cards that I sent to my Grandson and have not shown yet.
The digi image is by KPM Doodles and is Kitten Stamp 1. There are six cats to choose from.

Coloured with my promarkers and then mounted on to some spotty paper from my stash. The wording is a black glossy sticker. I think he looks kinda cute and as if he has  just spotted you as he was passing by. 

Entering into the following challenges:

Her Peaceful Garden #  Cat Lovers Hop day 2

Fab 'n' Funky Feature a creature.

Penny's Paper crafty #452 Anything goes.

Southern Girls # Anything goes.

Colour Crazy #40 Anything goes.

2 Crafty Critter Crazies #31 Anything goes.

Show us Your Pussies Challenges #47 Meowloween/Furrything goes.

Cute Card Thursday #604 Spots and dots.

Brown Sugar #294 Anything goes.

CD Sundays Plus #21 Anything goes.

Hi There!

I have several cards made and sent last yr to my grandson of various different  cats that I have never shown. I have been keeping them to show this week as it is the 5th yr for the Cat Lovers Hop over on Her Peaceful Garden and run by Janis.This is the first yr I have been able to enter.

The digi image is by Bugaboo called 'Lilkitty tree.' Coloured with Promarkers.  The papers are from The Works.  The 'Hi' is a stamp by Imagination Crafts from their Decoupage stamp range.

That spammer is persistent. I found they had posted a comment yesterday to an old Butterfly Challenge so I deleted asap and marked as spam. I don't know what perverse enjoyment they get out of doing this.

Summer house is due this Friday. Yay. No summer left now but I shall be in there come rain or shine!
We did manage to have lunch in the garden today though before the rains came down.

Entering this card into the following challenges.
Her peaceful Garden. 5th Cat lovers hop.
Fab 'n' Funky #453 Feature a creature.
2 Crafty Critter Crazies #31 Anything goes with a critter.
Passion For Promarkers #515 Add a sentiment.
Through The Craft Room Door # Anything goes.
Penny's Paper Crafty #452 Anything goes.
Southern Girls # Anything goes.
Colour Crazy #41 Anything goes.
Alphabet Challenge #O is for one word sentiment.
Sweet Stampin # Creatures.

Has anybody else spotted  the big orange button (saying TRY THE NEW BLOGGER) that has appeared at the bottom left hand side of the Dashboard page?  Has anybody been brave enough to try it out yet!!

Truly Never Ending.

So the New Challenge over on the Butterfly Blog is

#130 Spin The Butterfly Wheel with The  Letter N for Never Ending  Card. 

I really deliberated on using this card for the letter but having watched loads of tutorials I realised that basically the card is a very simple one to make. I have made a very easy pictorial tutorial for you which you will find on the Butterfly blog under the card shapes tab. Click on the name of the card to be taken straight to the instructions. I hope you will give it a try.

Here is my inspiration for you.

I have used the following elements from the wheel.
Never Ending card/ News print/Narrow edges/New York Pink/Napa Red/ Butterflies.

This is the front or the starting point of the card.  I have used design papers from The Works The Butterflies are an SU Punch and the die cut sentiment is by Xcut.
When you start to open the card up the next layer is revealed.

I have used more of the papers from The Works and this time the butterflies are a Woodware punch.
Sentiment is by Hobbycraft.
This part of the card is free standing so makes a nice focal point.
When you go down to the next level this is revealed.

I think this has a distant Art Deco look to it with the large  floral design being used and all the layering.
When you go down to the next level this is what you see and this is also the last layer before you open up to reveal the beginning of the card again.   The Sentiment is a sticker from my stash which just happened to be the right colour red.

It really is an ingenious design of card and I am glad I used it for the new challenge.

Entering this card into the following challenges:
Creative Craft Cottage #123 Make it pink.
Craft Rocket Challenges #64 Pink
Unicorn Challenge #48 Pretty in pink.
Daisy Chain Challenge #35 pink or halloween.
Ally's Angels #27 Anything goes.
Crafts Galore #68 Anything goes.
Crafting By Designs Anything goes.
Get Creative #85 Anything goes/shaped cards.
Creations In Pink #15 Anything goes in mainly pink.


Well this was going to be posted this morning first thing but a spammer had other ideas. I opened by laptop only to get a warning message from my Anti Virus Program saying that a very long script was running and slowing my computer down and was going to result in my computer coming to a complete standstill if I didn't stop it from running. I did and then went on a walkabout to see that could have been causing it. Didn't have far to look as someone ( between the Butterfly challenge going live  at 8am and me logging on at 11am ) had loaded a very iffy looking site as a thumb nail  card entry below the new challenge. I deleted forwith and removed it from Mr Linky and notified them that this was spam.
Finally managed to get this written with  links working and posted. What a day!!!

Nativity

Another fortnight has flown by again and it is time for the girls in the Christmas Card Club to show our next makes. Rita has asked for Nativity. I didn't think I had anything suitable for this theme but I found a recycled Christmas card front in my stash at the very last minute so have used that on one of my cards. The other one is not strictly Nativity nor Christmassy but I think the image works perfectly on my card.

First Card.

 For this card I simply trimmed down the card front to neaten and adhered to a bronze adhesive metal effect sheet. I have had the packet in my stash since 2016 . It is by Xcut and has sheets of Bronze, Gold and Silver. I made a base card from dark cream card stock and mounted the adhesive sheet straight to the front of the card.

Second card

I found this freebie print on  Create With TLC and thought it would make into a card to send to one of our friends that does not celebrate at Christmas but still likes to receive a card from us.
I have mounted the image which is called Morocco Journal Card. onto a midnight blue and gold design card which picked out the colours in the print. I used a sheet of the Gold adhesive metal effect this time and made a tent style base card from pale cream card.  The sentiment is a die cut from Britannia dies  which I cut from an off cut of the gold adhesive sheet. 

Another two cards to add to my growing pile  which is still sorely depleted so I must get a move on!

Botanical garden.

It is the last week of the current Butterfly Challenge and here is my last inspiration card to show you.
I have used the following from the Butterfly Wheel using the letter M.

Magic Window/Metal Charm/Mandarin/Magnolia/Mint/ Butterflies.

I have used a  paper from The Works (from their Botanical Garden design pad). Base card is cut from magnolia cardstock. The die cut is also from The Works.

 Inside of the card showing the magic window fully opened. The sentiment is by Julie Hickey. The mint design paper is a freebie from Making Cards March 2015 'Sugar and Spice.

I have a date for my Summer House for the 25th Oct. I can't wait. I have the pots already planted up with bulbs that are going either side of the double doors and the furniture to go inside plus a carpet too!.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Little Red Waggon #518 Cut it out.
Crafty Creations #400 Anything goes.
Penny's Paper Crafty #451 Anything goes.
A Bit More Time To Craft #101 Anything goes.
Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends #115 Anything goes.
Ally's Angels #27 Anything goes.
Get Creative #85 Anything goes /shaped cards.
Crafting With An Attitude#56 Anything goes.
Crafts Galore #68 Anything goes.
Crafting By Designs # Anything goes.

Pink Bokeh

I was at my daughters' at the Weekend and spotted a well known make of tissue box on the table which happened to be just what I needed to make this card so I nabbed it! (I did ask first).  The design on the box was Bokeh and the plain pink paper has a Bokeh design on it too. Perfect for the challenge I had in mind. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together and don't look a gift horse in the mouth as the saying goes.
The design papers are both from 'The Works'. The leaf die is by Die-namics Royal Leaves and I used a five petal Woodware punch for the roses.
I simply cut the top from the tissue box which already had the oval aperture in it( I have saved the sides and flaps for another time) and back it with the pretty rose design paper. The pearls for the centre of the roses and the silver glitter sentiment were from my stash.

Entering into the following challenges:
Creatalicious #172 Anything goes+optional us e a Punch ( I have used a Woodware flower punch).
The Crafter's Cafe #228 Use pink and/or make a tag.
Craft Rocket Challenges #64 Pink.
Crafty Catz #477  Anything goes +optional Ribbon, Bow or Flower. (I have used  flower).
Brown Sugar #294 Anything goes.
Crafting with an Attitude #56 Anything goes.
Crafting By Designs # Anything goes.
Daisy Chain Challenges #35 Pink or Halloween.
Country View Challenges # Bokeh.
Unicorn Challenge #48 Pretty in Pink.

Art Deco Style

I saw this card shape  on another blog here so I can't lay claim to the design of it. There were no instructions or links so I thought I would have a go at recreating it myself.  After 3 attempts at folding a piece of printer paper I finally arrived with  measurements that looked  right so set about cutting and scoring the different papers needed. I had an idea of how I wanted to decorate the card but as I started making it up it began to look Art Deco to me in its design and I knew I had a Art  Deco die cut which would fit inside perfectly and so it morphed into the card you see below.

 The green design paper is by SU from their Sale A Bration  Jan-mar 2015 and the pretty flower pattern is a freebie from Making Cards magazine Oct 2016 'Pretty Petals' It took me quite a while to cut and layer all the pieces but I think the result was worth it.

 I used green distress ink with a dauber to edge round all of the papers before attaching.

 The Art Deco Die Set is By Spellbinders. The sentiment by Xcut and the butterfly is from a set by Cheery Lynn Designs 'Tiny things with wings'. I used some of the waste bits from the die cut to decorate the belly band.  I hadn't intended to use a butterfly on this card but the space  looked a bit  empty and I thought this one fitted in with the rest of the card.

 Here is the card fully opened so you can see the way the folds are made.

Entering into the following challenges:
Through The Craft Room Door # Anything goes.
Crafting By Designs # Anything goes.
Crafty Creations #399 Anything goes.
Penny's Paper Crafty #450 Anything goes.
The Crafter Cafe #228 Use pink and/or make a tag.
Crafts Galore #68 Anything goes.
Unicorn Challenge #48 Pretty in pink.
Love to Craft #39 Anything goes.
Dies R Us #130 Anything goes (Dies used Spellbinders and Cherry lynn Designs).
Cute Card Thursday H602 Anything goes.
Craft Pocket Challenges #64 Pink