Poinsettia Sunburst

Why oh why do I have these brilliant ideas  that do not take into account the fundamental flaw of if it can go wrong it does!!
I actually started this card with plenty of  time to enter into the current Rudolph Challenge which is about to now finish if I do not get my skates on. As weather has been so nice I have been making the card outside on a small fold down table that I can easily move around the garden to follow the shade.
Had in my mind to make a sunburst design card so selected the needed papers and spent an afternoon rustling up 4 different pattern designs and then put to one side to continue finishing off with an embellishment and sentiment. 
Decided that the one for the challenge would have a poinsettia on it and found my John Next Door stamp and matching die set and having stamped and die cut inside as didn't want to lug my big shot downstairs and out into the garden I then took the flower parts outside to adhere to the card base.
Cue the sudden east wind that gusted the said shapes into the air and deposited onto the gravel around the table. A mad scrabble ensued to pick up before another gust took hold. I did have 6 petals but could only now find five and then spent  ages hunting for the last petal which should have shown up  quite clearly. Couldn't find it anywhere and as I had put everything  away up stairs I finally gave up looking and finished the card with only 5 petal layers..

 Another  round up of flowers in bloom in the garden.

 Pink Peony that opened up this morning by the front door.

 Just a selection of a few of the pots  in the side garden.

 There is a poinsettia lurking in there somewhere!!

And lastly the red hot pokers in the back garden looking erm  Rather  Hot. The Doc counted 23 heads and I spotted one extra  tiny one just beginning to poke its way up.  A record number this year.


Stay Safe and well  and away from crowds. I am quite happy pottering around in the garden and in no hurry to stick my head up over the parapet even if rules are being relaxed as from Monday.

Out of Africa.

We have been in Africa all week over at Clarity with Barbara Gray. You can catch up with her over on You Tube with Episodes #42 - #46. I loved drawing the figures but the Elephant and her baby I found hard to scale down  enough to fit the picture and spent ages penciling in and rubbing out and in the end I just went for it.  So here is my finished doodle for this week.

Some more photos from around the garden again. This one is the other poppy I have which is a bright orange. I was gutted as about half an hr  after I had taken this photo the petals all fell off.!! There are another  two buds to come out though.

Clematis on the front wall.

 White Peony in the front garden.

Keep safe and well. Remember there is no safety in numbers.

Meow Xmas

Time for the girls in the christmas card club to show their next cards. Rachel's turn to choose the theme which is Humour. Thought I would have to pass on this one but on looking through my box of  xmas stash I found this old card front. I used my Crafts-Too rectangle stitched dies to first trim the card down and then to make a layer  for it from green card stock that matched the green on the image perfectly. Mounted onto white card stock for the base card and then instead of trimming with silver edging (as I was going to ) I decided to use the green cardstock to cut a few narrow strips off and used those instead just for something a bit different. Three pearls and card finished. A simple offering from me this week as right out of ideas.

I do have photos to show though of the beautiful Poppy that is out in bloom right now in my garden.

 A further two of the buds have opened out  since I took these.

YoYo cards.

It is time again for the Butterfly Challenge to show a new letter of the alphabet. We only have one letter left to go.
#142 Spin The Butterfly Wheel With Y for YoYo Spinner Card.

  Your 6 elements are:

YoYo Spinner Card/ Yarn/Your Choice/ Yale blue/Yarrow/Yam
+your Butterfly.

N.B. Yes these colours really do exist!!

Yam  = Light orange

         Yarrow  = Light Yellow 

If using please state the element of Your Choice.

Here is my  first inspiration card for you using the following from the wheel.

YoYo spinner /Yale Blue /Yarn/ Butterflies.

Please go to the Tutorials Page on the Butterfly Blog to see how to make a YoYo Spinner element. I have broken it down into easy steps for you to follow.

I have used a free digi paper from Activity Village called Blue and Lilac Butterflies for the design paper background. The spinner element has been made with Yale Blue  cardstock.  The sentiment is by John Next Door from his stamp set ' Swirl Sentiments'.  Butterfly on end of yarn is a SU die punch and the Bakers Twine and pearls from my stash. The Little butterflies were on my desk as outcuts.

My next inspiration YoYo Spinner card uses the following from the wheel.

YoYo spinner /Yarn /Yarrow/ Yam/ Your Choice/ Butterflies.

My 'Your Choice' was to use an embossing folder. 

Background was created using an embossing folder from Crafts-Too  CTFD3103 on pale yellow  (Yarrow) cardstock. The base card is made from Pale orange (Yam) cardstock. Spinner element made using  the yellow and orange cardstock and a butterfly stamp that came as a freebie in a magazine. I created the sentiment in word and printed off. I wanted the sentient and the spinner to do all the talking on this card. 

 

Last Inspiration. 

As all the prizes for this challenge will be Gift Certificates from CraftsUPrint I will be show casing some of their downloads from their huge range  that I have already purchased. This one is is called Butterfly Decoupage and designed by Dawn Hill. They really do have hundreds to chose from and some very pretty papers. I just put in butterflies as my criteria on the search page and I got a hit of 5,000 images!
I lost a day just looking through them all  and some might have inadvertently  fallen into my basket!!

I used white cardstock for my base card and layered up with yellow cardstock. The sentiment is part of the download. The pearl is from stash. I actually purchased this image way back in May 2014 and it fits the colours perfectly for the current challenge. 

Hope I have inspired you to play along.  The Spinner is really fun and very easy to make. Challenge is again for three weeks. Only one more letter to go to get to the end of the alphabet. 

Do you want to play again with a fresh set of card shapes (I have loads already sorted out)  or do you want me to find another theme?  Let me know in the comments below. 

Geisha Girl

More doodlings from my daily  sessions with Barbara Gray (Clarity Stamps) on her Face book page.
We spent a week in Japan doodling a Geisha Girl complete with Cherry Blossom. I used my colouring pencils for this one. After the Initial Gulp of how am I ever going to do this I did enjoy.

 This past week we have been in New Mexico doodling  a Dream Catcher and Arrows.  Barbara is such a fun lady and her stories/antidotes she tells as we doodle along just make you laugh. Good therapy in these trying times.

Just a splash of Turquoise added as this is the colour most associated with New Mexico.A lot of their jewellery is this colour. 

By no means master pieces but I am having fun drawing them.

Keep Safe and Well.

More X.

Well overdue ( how and where is time disappearing to) to show you some more inspiration for the current Butterfly Challenge which has another week to run.
This next X Fold shows a different version. Tutorial for it can be found over on the butterfly blog in the usual place  under the card shapes tab at the top of the page.

Using the following from the wheel.
X Fold Card /Xrta colours/Xiketic/Xanthic/ Butterfly.
Digital design paper is by Creative Cottage from their 'Poppy Delight' pack paper No 11. Butterfly die is by Memory Box 'Terrace' butterfly. Black shiny stickers from my stash. 

 Side 2

 Side 3

 Side 4

Entering this card into the following challenges:

Through The Craftroom Door. # Anything goes.

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #131 Anything goes.

A Perfect Time To Craft #5 Anything goes

Ally's Angels #33 Anything goes. 

Classic Design Challenges #5 Anything goes.

Crafter's Castle #29 Anything goes.

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenges # Anything goes.

Love To Craft #46 Anything goes.

More Mixed Media #Anything goes.+ pink.

Using the following from the wheel.
Xrta colours/Xiketic/Xanthic/ Butterfly.
 My second card for you is using a digi image  from Bugaboo called Butterflyrosecorner1. I have coloured using my watercolouring pencils just by blending them and not using any water to dilute.
The sentiment by Crafts -Too  has been die cut 3 times and layered up to give depth and make more sturdy.

Entering this card into the following challenges:
Jan's Digi challenges #12 Anything goes.
Use Your Stuff #397 Flowers and butterflies.
Colour Crazy #18 Anything goes.
Allsorts Challenge #571/2 Anything goes.
Crafty Friends Challenge #135 Flowers.
International Art and Soul #83 Flowers and butterflies.
Angie's Digital Stamps Challenge #42 Anything goes with no twist.
Ellibell's Corner # Make it feminine.
Love To Scrap #133 Anything goes.
Pattie's Creations #170 Anything goes.

Peddle On

It's The Doc's Birthday today and this is the card I made for him. Nearly gave myself a heart attack trying to remember where I had carefully put the bicycle die cut that my good blogging buddy Di had sent to me several months back after I saw here using it on her blog. Di very kindly die cut me a green one as that is the colour of his bike and it does match perfectly. Thanks Di.
Couldn't get any self raising flour but I did manage to purchase a Betty Crocker Rainbow Chip Party Cake Mix in my Sainsbury shop last week. After carefully sifting out the rainbow chips I made a cake up this morning which is now cooling down in the kitchen as we speak. I even found a pot of Apricot Jam in my larder so I can split the cake and use to sandwich together again. Simples.

Entering into the following challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations #CIC 493 Things with wheels.
Crafter's Castle #29 Anything goes.
Crafty Creations #409 Anything goes.
Creative Craft Cottage #129 Make it Masculine.
Creative Moments #190 Anything goes.
The Crafter's Cafe #241 Anything goes.
Cardz 4 Galz #121 Birthday.
Creative Fingers #185 Anything goes.
A Perfect Time To Craft #5 Anything goes.
Classic Design Challenge #5 Anything goes.

Chasing Tails

Loosing all sense of time here and forever chasing my tail in an endeavor to keep up. Not that I am doing anything other than foraging and hunter gathering in order to continue getting  essential supplies delivered. Currently I have managed to deflect The Doc's wails of  'Yes, but I will have  to go out at some point because I will need..........'  So far have bought a Trickle charger (2 in fact as the first supplier was  running very slow on delivering) for his car,  replacement batteries, a battery tester, hair trimmer and trellis work for the garden. Busy sourcing flour at the moment but need to get the neighbours on board for that as it will be a bulk purchase!! Also looking at ways of making my own sourdough culture. 
Anyway I am late for the party again. In  my defence  I did sit and make all the cards last night though but then got distracted this morning with jobs that needed to be attended to in the garden before the ground frost bites tonight(.Not loosing my precious tomato plants after the trouble I took to purchase and then get special trellis pots for them.)
So it was Margaret's turn over at the the Christmas Card Club to choose the theme for todays show and tell which is A Christmas Door/Window.

I have used a selection of ready coloured images from Lili Of The Valley's 'Snowy Scenes art pad set 31' which just happened to have a Front Door and several Shop Windows.  Simples!!!

Card 1.
The images are all quite small on their own so I created borders for them. On this card I simply made  a card base from green cardstock and cut a window in the front using my Crafts -Too Stitch hole Rectangle dies set. Backed with red card and attached the door image onto the inset. The sentiment is a silver sticker from my stash. It looked a bit unfinished until i added thee Ivy leaf corner sticker.

 Card 2.
The borders are die cut from cardstock that I have which exactly matches the green colour in the image but camera is showing it up here a much lighter shade. Cardbase made from burgundy cardstock and the sentiment /studs are holographic stickers from my stash.

 Card 3.
I thought the tangerine cardstock really showed off the brickwork  in this image and I again used the  burgundy cardstock to create the basecard. Sentiment/ studs and edging were gold stickers in my stash.

 Card 4.
I just picked out the light and dark greens in the image and created multiple layers using the different size stitchole die cuts. Sentiment and stars were stickers from my stash.

Hope you like my selection Margaret. I have a special card to make now for tomorrow so mustn't be late on producing and a cake to bake.

Doodling Along.

Mojo has certainly taken social distancing to the extreme. I can't seem to settle to anything much at the moment but the one thing I have found to distract me is Doodling!
Barbara Gray (Clarity Stamps) has started doing live Doodling sessions on her Clarity face book page 10 am in the mornings. I only found out about it a week ago so I have been playing catch up with the lessons which can be found on You Tube once they have  gone live. I like watching the videos as I can start and pause them when I like and there is no pressure for me to keep up.
These are just a few of the ones I am most pleased with. See what you think. Not master pieces by any chalk but I enjoyed doodling  them. All you need is a piece of copy/printer paper, a pencil, micron pen and an eraser!.

 The next lesson is all about Japan and I'm about to start a Geisha Girl.  Gulp!!

Keep Safe and Well.