Batch Making

Hello and Welcome

Last week I spent an afternoon using my Misti to batch make a set of cards using some new stash.

I bought the Spellbinders stepper die at a table top sale a few weeks ago and this was it's first time out.

The bird and branch were in a freebie set of stamps and dies with a recent magazine and the single flower was lying on my table, stamped and diecut from an older freebie set.

I recently went to Loobi Crafts for a workshop using Craftwork cards materials and the paper is scraps which were leftover from the class.  I still have lots of the diecut sentiments, candi and full sheets of the pretty papers to play with.

I stamped then diecut six birds and wings from scraps of white card.

Next I put one of the scraps into my Misti and put the diecuts into the holes in the scraps.

I placed the stamps in the right position to stamp the wings, heads and bodies of the birds then stamped in my chosen colours.  I removed the wings as they were finished and switched the birds over so that I could stamp the reverse parts.

I made three of the cards using various pieces of this set of papers and the other three birds I have put aside to use later.

I am taking my card over to join in  at Pixies Snippets Playground Weeks 293 & 294

Is it a Bee!

Good afternoon
My card today was a very quickly made a couple of weeks ago using a piece of gelli plate print.

 I diecut the bee  from it a couple of years ago to make another card but kept the waste.

When I rubbed round the edges with oxide fosillized amber it looked a bit solid and flat so I squiggled lines with a marker and sprinked and heated clear embossing powder round the top right hand corner.

The bee is a Bigz die and the sentiment is letters cut out with a Tim Holtz set of letters.

I would like to join in the challenge at
Stamping Our Stash # 313
 Butterflies,Bees and Bugs

Rudolph Day - July

Hello and thank you for your visit.

This is my card for the Rudolph Day Challenge - July
Maureen holds a challenge each month from 25th till the last day of the month where we show our Christmas cards.

I used a Tattered Lace die given to me as part of a birthday present last year.

Once the die was cut the card was very quick to make.

 I added some glitter inside the bauble and round the edge of the blue matt.  A couple of punched snowflakes a few gems and a little colouring in spaces with a gold gel pen and I just needed a sentiment.

The photo of my card has a bluey tinge to it but I really did just use white and dark blue card!

From a Buddy!

Good Morning and Welcome

Recently I made a comment on a beautiful card on a Buddy's blog.  Here is the card.

After saying how I now  regretted giving that lovely background away I got a message from Karen to say she had another which she would send me.

Well the stamp arrived yesterday together with this beautiful card.

Thank you so much Karen for your kindness.

Here is a link to Karen's blog.

Thanks  to everyone who has wished me good luck with my driving.   Your encouragement is very much appreciated. I'm off for my third lesson in a couple of hours.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Waste!

Hello and thank you for your visit today.

Sorry to be behind with my visits yet again.  I seem to be having a very busy year. There have been some very sad things happening over the past few months then more recently it has been a bit more positive.

After losing my confidence with driving,  I've hardly driven at all in the past 10 years, I decided I really needed to do something about it!  So - I've just had my second refresher/lesson and feeling very determined and positive about it!  I'll keep you posted!

I recently bought the  Chrysanthemum dies by Sue Wilson and cut the flowers out in various sizes.

I often keep the waste to use as stencils but decided instead to make a couple of quick cards this time.

I cut the waste into a few pieces and sprayed with some old sprays bought years ago from Create  and Craft then sprayed with water.

Next I mounted onto offcuts of black card and added a few gems, card candi, thread and sentiments.  I ended up making four similar cards with my waste.  I'm showing two today.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge:
Pixies Snippets Workshop - Week 291 & 292

butterfly challenge #82

Evening all!

I've really had to think about this one as it's a bit outside my comfort zone because orange isn't a colour I use very often.

I used Fossilised Amber oxide distress ink randomly over my piece of card then after drying pounced like mad with ordinary Spiced Marmalade distress ink on a piece of bubble wrap over the top to get an orange peel coloured base!

I used an embossing folder on my piece of card then  rubbed Inka Gold over the middle section and added the piece of ribbon underneath.

The flower pot was laying on my desk  so I attached  that  with silicone glue and a punched out butterfly to decorate the bottom of my card and and  scraps of gold mirri and white linen card using SU punches for the two matching  butterflies at the top.

I added a few gems for decoration but the top left hand corner looked empty after I'd put the card together  so I stencilled the dots to match the bottom section and  add balance to my card.

 This card really did just evolve as I made it but I was quite pleased with how it turned out in the end.   I would like to join in with Mrs A's  Butterfly Challenge blog #82

Sunflowers

Hello and Welcome

First I'd like to introduce my newest followers Sharon, Mia and Claire.  I hope you will visit them and enjoy their lovely creations.  I'm very sorry Sharon I'm unable to find you.  If you have a blog please leave a comment so I can link to you..

I have been playing with a wonderful  sunflower set of stamps and papers  that arrived the other day as a freebie with a magazine.

 My Misti came in very useful for stamping onto the cut out seed packets and the large sunflower.

The background papers came with the set.   I coloured the flower with a few promarkers.  The piece of scruffy hessian had been lying on my desk for ever and the little flower was previously cut from yellow card.

For my second card I stamped and fussy cut the small flowers from the set and the swirls were die cut from an old envelope and snipped into pieces to fit.

I would like to join in with the Stamping Sensations Challenge - July (Anything With Flowers)

Red Geranium

Hello and Welcome

My card today was made a long time ago but never shown and unfortunately did not photograph too well.

The image is an old, very detailed  Hero Arts stamp which only needed a little simple colouring with a couple of promarkers.  I used a matching coloured card for my embossed background and a Printworks stamp for the sentiment.

I used snippets of black and white card for the Spellbinders diecuts and sentiment tag.

I would like to join in with the following challenges:
Pixies Snippets Playground Weeks 289 & 290
The Flower Challenge Blog # 10  (Embossing Heat/Dry)

Parchment Card & Box

Hello and thank you for your visit!


This is a card I was going to make for a friend's Special Birthday next week..  Well I got a phone call from her hubby during the week asking if I'd make a special card for him to give to her.  I won't have time to make another parchment card now so here's John's card for Lesley's birthday.


John is going to print his own insert for the card so I left the front free of a name or sentiment.


I decided to make a box to put the card in.


For the box I used two stencils in two different Distress inks in blue and a blush of pink, my old French script stamp and a couple of dies.  The flower is by Sue Wilson.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:

Crafting from the Heart # 165 (Anything Goes)

A bit more time to Craft #47 ( Anything goes)

Filled with Flowers

Good Morning and Welcome!

At the weekend I got out some old pieces of gelli plate print which I'm trying to use up before making more.

I last used this print over a year ago for paper piecing here on  my Woodware sneakers.

I was able to make one other similar card similar to this with the rest of the print.

The sentiment is from a Woodware set and the swirls and leaves were scraps that I had  in a box which I cut up to fit.  I used Papermania dew drops for the centres of the flowers.

I would like to join in at:
Allsorts Challenge #42 Flower Power

613 Avenue Create Challenge Blog #198

I'm off up to my cabin now as I have to make a parchment card for a friend's special birthday.  That should keep me out of mischief for a couple of days!

Happy Family!

Hello and Welcome.

This is a card I made last week using a set of stamps and dies which came recently as a freebie with a magazine.

I think this set will work well for many occasions and I did use it to make a card for my hubby for our Wedding Anniversary earlier this month.


For this card I used a piece of background paper from Papermania which has been tucked away for several years.  The background piece, punched snowflakes and the little people were all done with offcuts of white card.  I still have a bulging carrier bag full of white snippets hanging up in my cabin waiting to be used.  Unfortunately it's being added to almost by the day!  I think you all know what I mean!!!

I would like to enter my card into the following Challenges:-
Pixies Snippets Workshop - Weeks 287 & 288
The Rudolph Day Challenge - June

Both are fun and really friendly places to play and I like to join in with both as often as I can.

Whitewash!

Hello and thank you for your visit.

Today's card was made for a friend's birthday last week and is my first attempt at the whitewash technique.

I used a Paper Artsy set and stamped the flower spray with versamark onto a piece of kraft card which was then embossed with white embossing powder.

For the whitewash technique I rubbed a white inkpad onto my craft sheet and watercoloured it onto the flowers.  Then using a pink inkpad in the same way painted a thin coat of colour over the white flowers.

I did the same with the butterfly on a small piece of kraft card, coloured the body with a promarker and fussy cut it.

I decided to make another card before cleaning my stamps.

The background stamp is from the same set and stamped with distress ink and the sentiments are from different companies.

I added clear gems to the centres of the flowers after colouring them brown with a peel off pen and the paper strips on the second card are the trimmings from the sheet of paper which I used for the square card.

I would like to enter my first card into Mr's A's challenge on her Butterfly Challenge Blog #80 (using the middle line of the Bingo lines - butterfly, blooms & bling).

Buzzing By

Thank you for buzzing by today.

I bought this Woodware set last week and decided to have a play with it today.  I made two watercoloured  cards and then as an afterthought  stamped onto a piece of a gelli plate print for this card

I used three Promarkers to add just a little colour and a white gel pen to brighten it up a bit.  The edge was tinted with a distress ink and I added glitter to the bee's wings and spotted some glitter randomly around the top right hand corner.

While the dinner was cooking I noticed, while doing some blog visiting, a  blog I've not seen before so decided this would fit the challenge quite well.

I would like to join in at the Quirky Crafts Challenge #4 Things with Wings

Fly Away!

Hello and thank you for dropping by.

My card today was made some time ago although it was never posted.

I recycled the front of a shop bought card for the background and used the now sadly retired Stampin' Up bird punch and a Marianne die for the cage.

I added the sentiment and a bow to finish the card.

I have used this idea several times using old card fronts with flowers for the background.  The punched and die cut elements were all snippets of scrap card.

I am joining in again with the challenge at
Pixies Snippets Playground Weeks 285 & 286.

My apologies for being absent for several challenges as I do like to join in with all the playmates.

A Quickie!

Hello and Welcome

Here's a very quick card I made as I've not had a lot of time for crafting over the past week or two.

I began by stencilling the background with Distress ink through sequin waste.

The Flower and leaves are from an Artemio set which I stamped with Archival ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

I coloured with pencils and fussy cut the flower and leaves.  I added a little gold gel pen to the flower and scribbled a border round the card.

I would like to join in the challenge at
Moving Along With the Times #47
Wet and/or Dry Embossing

Loving my oxides!

Hello and thank you for your visit.

I recently bought five of the new Tim Holtz Oxide Distress inkpads and couldn't wait to have a play.

So I got out some Visible Images stamps  bought when I went to Ally Pally that hadn't been used before.

  I cut a piece of white A4 card into four and coloured each piece, by the smooshing method, with a different combination of colours.  Then I used a different set of  stamps onto each of the the backgrounds.

The jellyfish was stamped first and painted with fired brick oxide and I added a touch of sparkle pen to the top.

After stamping the rest of the stamps I added white jelly pen to the jellyfish, fish eyes and the bubbles then finished by shading the outside of the card with black soot distress ink.

I love the way the inks blend together and how they turn chalky when water is added and will be collecting the rest of the colours that are available.

Wishing you a happy weekend, whatever your plans.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge (Anything Goes)
A Bit More Time to Craft #45 (Anything Goes)
The Crafter's Cafe #174

Happy Rudolph Day!

Hello Everybody!  It's good to be back.

I'd expected to return earlier but it's been such a busy couple of months and I apologise for not visiting you as much as I had intended.

Many thanks to those who left comments on my previous post.

Well I left with an Easter card and am returning with a Christmas one to join in with Maureen's  Rudolph Day Challenge .  Each month she invites us to post a card between 25th until the end of each month.

I made my cards for friends last Christmas although it hasn't been posted before.

I used a Tim Holtz Crazy dog and Santa hat and a few snowdrop peeloffs.  The red ribbon is a pull tag for the kinetic inside  which I forgot to photograph.

Wishing a happy Bank Holiday weekend to those living in the UK.

"Happy Easter"

Happy Easter to you all!

I would like to say a big "Thank You" to all my followers and blog buddies.

I very much appreciate all your visits to my blog and the kind comments you leave.  It really does brighten my day and it's great keeping in touch with you all.

I'm taking a short Blog Break as things have been so busy here and I have a busy time ahead.

I'm afraid I am still playing catch-up but will continue to visit when I can during my break.

Love
Barb xx

Blue Skies Ahead

Hello and I hope you're enjoying sunshine too where you are.

My card today is made with a stamp from a new Artemio set that I bought at a discount price.  I loved the cute little images although the sentiments are all in French.

I used crayons on acrylic paper for the background and blended with my fingers.  I then dry brushed over the top with white gesso to dull the colours and mounted up onto black card.

To make the image stand out I scribbled more blue where the image would be.  The shell border was punched from the trimming of the background using a Martha Stewart punch which was recently given to my by a friend when she was having a clear out.  I just stuck the border to the bottom of the black card and the sentiment was also stamped onto a scrap of white card.

As I've used lots of snippets for this one I'm going over to join  Pixies Snippets Playground Weeks 275 & 276

I would also like to join in with Darnell's NBUS Challenge #11  where we're invited to share some
Never Before Used Schtuff!

Loobi Hoop!

Hello on this lovely sunny Monday.  I hope you are having a good day.

Yesterday I went to Loobi Crafts in Leighton Buzzard for a Dabble Day with some friends and we made a total of 8 projects.

Anne, Cobnut Crafter was there.  We first met at a Loobi class and it's the first time our paths have crossed since we started following each other.  So it was good to catch up in person again.

We had a lovely lunch and lots of cake and everybody enjoyed the day very much.

Here is one of the cards we made using a new Woodware set called Embroidery Hoop.

I was so tired when I got home I didn't even lift the lid of my laptop so I am again behind with my visits  but will pop in to see what everybody has been up to over the next few days.

I would like to enter my card into the challenge  at Crafting from the Heart #153 (Anything Goes)