It's that day!!

Good morning, and Merry Christmas to you. Today I have the final share of my Christmas makes. This is the card I made for my lovely husband.

I went for a very monochrome theme, with dark grey pearl from my stash combined with Centura Pearl Fresh White, silver satin card and a very old 12x12 Craft Creation backing paper.

The dies are also very old: Sara Signature Traditional Christmas Decorative Bauble and Merry Christmas sentiment; Sara Signature Winter Wonderland Dendritic Crystals. I used small strips of the dark grey for the hanging part of the bauble, some light grey/silver ribbon and a few flat backed pearls.

However you are spending your day, may it be filled with peace and love. 

Thank you for popping by. 

Please feel free to follow me here on my blog, on Twitter, FaceBook,  Instagram or Pinterest. 

Happy crafting, 

Cxxxx

If nothing changed ....

I really enjoyed working in my new Arteza journal yesterday. The process felt more comfortable for me, and I like the end result. I know that, sometimes, you need to go outside your comfort zone, but for now I am happy doing what I know and love.

Today, I chose to use brighter colours - but stuck to two. I wanted to include sprays as well as inks today, so pulled out all my Imagination Crafts Mixed Media sprays. Sad to say that some of the bottles were clogged - but a bit of flushing with hot water seems to have sorted them out. In the end, I chose to use yellow and green. To go with this, I used Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Cracked Pistachio and Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxides. After inking the background, I added the sprays over the top.

For more texture, I used Sara Signature Flutterby stamps - Scripture and Textured Elements - with Rustic Wilderness Distress Ink. The wording (which unfortunately is a little blurred) is from the Fly Away stamps, while the large butterfly is the Botanical Butterfly stamp - both stamped in Versafine Onyx black. I used my watercolour tin to colour the butterfly.

 Happy crafting.
Cxxx
  

Birthday Tea

It was my lovely sister-in-law's birthday a few days ago. I made her this card using Hunkydory Pick and Mix - A Tea-licious Day.  

Behind the topper, I used Crafter's Companion 5x5 Tea Party Create a Card, cut in pale blye card. The other matts and layers are matt gold card, pink dots from Sara Signature Little Angel, and some pink Core'dinations. The flower is Sara Signature English Country Garden Lazy Daisy and Grand Floral.

I also dug out some Card Candy, and added a few pearls. 

Will be back in the next couple of days with the new challenge over at Use Your Craft Stash.

Happy crafting!

Cxxxx

Anything Goes Again

We've decided to stick with the Anything Goes theme again this week. I did have a big plan about what I was going to do - and then I ran out of time. So, instead, I dug into my draw where I have kept all those bits I kept from past demo days (and just couldn't throw away), and made up a few cards. 

These ones are made using Crafter's Companion Easel cards - in this case, the heart and the "square". I have also tried to use older dies that I had for making DT cards and probably never saw the light of day again - and in one case, a piece of card I didn't want to throw out.

So, the first heart is cut from Kraft Card, and I used some cream patterned card that I printed from a Crafter's Companion download (I think). If I recall correctly, the designs were originally made in A3 card, but then brought out in digital form. I used CC Stitched Edge Heart dies, with dies from Sara Signature Vintage Tea Party. The flowers are Hobby House and the sentiment I think is from Sara Signature Flutterby.

The second heart easel, is also cut from Kraft Card, with some Pink Core'dinations. The patterned overlay - cut with the decorative dies that come with the Easel Card - is CC Shabby Chic A3 card. The roses are the cheap ones you can get from The Range, and the little heart is embossed with a mini folder that came with the Diamond Press Starter Kit. I use the same sentiment as above.

The third heart easel is cut from black card, and the patterned is another CC download. The little hearts are CC Stitched Edge dies, and the shoe is from the Catitudes collection. The sentiment is CC Essentials Only Words.

And finally, the "square" easel is cut from Centura Pearl - but I managed to use it the wrong way round. The pink patterned card is Hunkydory - left from a topper set, and so is the actual topper. It's one of those Hunkydory ones where they print the design on the corner of the A4 cardstock. I rarely use them with the toppers - but then struggle to think how to use them!! I may have solved that one now. The butterflies come with the Easel Card die set, and I used a CC Stitche Square for the stopper.

I have  loads more of these Easel card bases already cut - so will undoubtedly be making more in the not too distant future.

Take care, and stay safe,

Cxxxx

New Baby

Good morning!! Today I have the first of three baby cards to share. We have a new baby in the family - my nephew and his girlfriend have had a second baby boy. The first card is the one I sent to them. The other two, which I will share in the next couple of days, were for the grandparents and great grandparents.

So, Fletcher was born on Monday and I had to wait until the cards were received before posting. 

This is an 8x8 card using Hunkydory Pick and Mix Little Effalumps.  The background is made up of matt gold mirror card, the blue stars is from a Hunkydory card pack and the pale blue and yellow are from an old Kanban Pad. The white Centura Pearl is embossed with an old Crafter's Companion Embossalicious Everyday folder called Clouds. The balloons are cut with Crafter's Companion Essentials Balloons, and the clouds are from the Sara Signature Little Angel collection.  Lettering is cut with Diamond Press Alpha letters. The little star decorations are the waste from cutting the balloons.

We are looking forward to the day we can meet our great nephew - and also see our grandchildren again. Hopefully in the not too distant future.

Take care and stay safe,

Cxxx

When it goes wrong - put a butterfly on...

That old crafter's adage worked for me today - and saved me from feeling pretty rubbish about what I was attempting. This is what I produced, but it is so far from what I set out to do, that it's really quite laughable.

Let's rewind to just before lunch yesterday. I decided to make a list of all the things on my shelves, in my drawers and in my cupboards (and already I know I missed some things - gel press, mica powders...) that I really should play with, have a go with, experiment with. you get the idea.

And when lockdown had seemed imminent a couple of weeks ago, I ordered myself some journals from Pink Pig. The large one has watercolour card in - for an art journal, The next one is lined for jotting ideas and thoughts down. And the little one is for drawing and sketching - I went small with this one as I didn't want to be intimidated by a larger size.

The art journal was the one I wanted to start with, but I didn't really want to ruin other pages, so I cut a piece of mylar to sit behind the page and protect the rest (or that was the idea).

 

For the afternoon's dabble, I decided to have a play with the Spectrum Noir Sparkle Inks. I bought these with the intention of using them on my Christmas cards, and never did, so they have sat in the cupboard for a while.

I got all excited, googled for something different to try with watercolour based products, and found a lovely video clip which showed techniques using salt water, water with bleach, and clingfilm. Great, I thought. And got myself all set up, remembering to take photos for a step by step. And I used some low tack tape to divide the page into three - one for each of the things shown on the clip. So far, so good.

  

I started with the salt water. The idea was to put a wash of the salt water on the paper, then dot the ink on. I used Amethyst and Garnet from the Glitz and Glamour set. This was reasonably successful - but not quite as great as in the video.

I pushed on with the water with bleach in it. Same idea - make a wash with the water and then dot the ink on. This was supposed to give a much more feathery effect. This was what I got. Total fail.

At this point I was starting to get frustrated, but ploughed on with number 3 - the clingfilm. Plain water is put on the clingfilm, ink dotted on, and then applied to the paper. 

  

The result - a puddly mess that leaked onto the other two sides as well. Totally annoyed with myself by this point. Instead of a lovely page showing three techniques, it looked like a small child had been let loose on it (no offence to small children intended). So, I went over the whole lot with the salt water.

  

At this point, it was a case of what can I do to save this. So I dug out my Sara Signature Flutterby Collection (have pretty much all of this as I demo'd it not long after release), Harmony Water Reactive Inks - Plum Pudding, Winter Rose and Silent Night and Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide.

At this point, photos kind of went by the wayside. I added more of the Pink Garnet Sparkle Ink at the top and bottom and stamped the Botanical Butterfly with Silent Night inkpad. I used water to spread some of the ink, and then filled in with Amethyst and Pink Garnet Sparkle inks. 

Have to say, it looks better on the above photo than I felt it did yesterday, so I watered down some white gesso and went over it to knock it back. And then I attempted to overstamp the butterfly with Memento - Nautical Blue.

    

To frame it, I used one of the Scripture stamps with the Winter Rose inkpad and two different stamps from the Textured Elements set with the Plum Pudding and Silent Night.

The sentiment is from the Fly Away set, and I edged the whole thing (tricky when it's spiral bound) with Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide.

While this is is no way what I had intended when I started, it ended up OK. Oh, and it's almost impossible to keep the next pages clean in a book like this!! 

Lessons learned. Onwards and upwards!!

Take care and stay safe.

Cxxx

Hearts and Easels

So, I am currently fundraising for a new local charity called Helping Yound Minds, aimed at providing a safe space and mental health support for our local youngsters. I initially started out with signing up for some sporting activities and setting up a Go Fund Me page - as I've always managed to raise a reasonable amount in the past. But it's just not happening at the moment, and I'm a bit down about it all. 

And when I'm a bit stressed, I have a tendency to tidy and organise. While doing so, I re-discovered a whole drawer full of old demo bits and pieces - die cut bases and other things prepped for demonstration and never used. And I also realised I have some other stuff - completed samples etc - that are just sitting in boxes. So, am thinking I am going to use all those bits and pieces and my vast stash, along with those already completed pieces, to try and boost my fundraising. 

At the moment, I am just prepping and creating, and don't really know how I'll go about selling stuff, but just doing something to make it happen is good enough for now.

Here are two heart easel cards completed today, and I rather like them. It's been a while since I really created anything - and have to admit I don't miss the time involved, but I am loving the results.

Both use the Crafter's Companion Heart Easel Die for the base, and the larger mat. I also used my X Cut Heart and Scalloped Heart dies, and Crafter's Companion Stitched Edge Hearts.  For the one on the left I used Sara Signature Together Forever Champagne Flute and Graceful Swirls, and for the one on the right I used Sara Signature Vintage Tea Party Cherry Cupcake. All the card and paper is from my stash - a lot of which I no longer have any recollection of where it came from. Ah, well!

Will keep you updated as I add to the collection ready to try and raise some money!! 

Take care,

Cxxx