Father's Day

It's been another eventful week one of good news and of bad.

My friend is continuing to make progress after her stroke although she is still unable to stand up on her own as she has been left with severe vertigo. She has had a visit from a Doctor from the Rehab Centre and they have said that as soon as a bed is available she will be transferred. She is desperate to get more intensive physio as she is wanting home soonest - unfortunately soonest is likely going to be longer than she wants.

Her Brother-in-Law, who had been in a coma for 3 weeks, unfortunately lost his battle last Monday evening. His 15 year old daughter had already started fundraising for the ICU where he was being cared for and it was planned that she, along with her Highland Dance school friends, would dance over the Forth Road Bridge on Father's Day. Everyone thought it would be cancelled but no, she bravely went on with her fundraising event.  That's one gutsy young lady & her Dad would be rightly proud of her!

I decided to use this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge as the basis for the Father's Day card my son commissioned from me and also for a Birthday Card.

After making the dandelion card last week the main dandelion die disappeared, been searching high and low for it for a week.  Couldn't understand how it could vanish into thin air.  Fast forward to Saturday when I was making the Father's Day card and got out my Tonic Studio nesting dies to create the background. Once I finished using them I was putting them back into their packaging and felt something on the back of the magnetic sheet - yep, it was the dandelion die!

I Used

Cardstock

White 300 gsm - Fabiano

Colours - Trim Craft

Stamps, Inks & Dies

Dog from "Bubbly" Stamp Set - Penny Black

Gathered Twigs Distress Ink Pad - Tim Holtz

Scalloped Rectangle Nesting Die Set - Tonic Studios 

Tim Holtz Stitched Ovals - Sizzix

For this Birthday card I used another Penny Black Stamp also from the "Bubbly" set. I went for the "Birthday Wishes" sentiment rather than a "Happy Birthday" as the impatient patient isn't a very happy bunny at the moment!

I Used

Cardstock

White 300 gsm - Fabiano

Stamps, Inks & Dies

Party Cat from "Bubbly" set - Penny Black

Birthday Wishes - Personal Impressions

Assorted Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Assorted Promarkers

Tim Holtz Mixed Media #2 - Sizzix

Tim Holtz Stitched Ovals - Sizzix

*****

One final card this week is a variation on one I made for a previous sketch. While I was doing the earlier version I realised it would be nice as a sympathy card - didn't dream I would need to make it quite so soon!

I slightly darkened the colours and instead of the round gems I used smaller tear drop shaped ones. The sentiment is by Cheery Lynn and was cut from card which had been shaded to match the feather background.

  

Urban Cool

Been busy working on a Birthday card and present for our Great Niece's 4th Birthday on Tuesday (aka tomorrow!).  I kind of got carried away working on things for Annie's "Fairy Door" and ended up really cutting it a bit fine with this week's entry to the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge - managed to post with 10 minutes to spare!

As soon as I saw the bird I knew I what I had to do! Yep, bring out my Tim Holtz stamp folder!

I teamed the Tim Holtz bird up with some Woodware Clear Magic Graffiti stamps and Crafter's Companion Walls and Corners Texture stamps.

Phew - now back to hopefully getting Annie's things assembled & finished tonight!

Dinner is Poured!

The Six Nations Rugby started back this weekend and Scotland's game was against Italy. There was a lot of shouting at the TV but I am pleased to say that, at last, Scotland managed a win and hopefully this means they won't end up with the "Wooden Spoon" this year! There was even more shouting at the telly later with the England v Ireland game but unfortunately my encouragement of the Irish team was to no avail!

This week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge gave me a few ideas and I ended up making three cards before deciding which one to go with.

Ok I admit it, I'm still playing with my Crazy Cats - well the matching Framelits arrived so a girl has just got to try them out. I did do one that's not cat related but it will be this Crazy Cat which will be this week's entry:

Dinner is Poured

This naughty cat has been trying to get the cream and has knocked over a bottle of milk to get some.

I used:

Cardstock

Ivory Linen Effect - PayPer Box

DS Striped - Trimcraft Paper Pad

Stamps & Dies

Tim Holtz Crazy Cats - Stampers Anon

Tim Holtz Crazy Cats - Sizzix Framelits

Tim Holtz Splat - Sizzix Framelits

Dyan Reavely Laugh Til You Leak - Stampers Anon

Inks

Memento - Tuxedo Black

Versafine - Onyx Black & Majestic Blue

Promarkers - Windsor & Newton

Another version I made using a Crazy Cat I felt sort of but not quite hit the brief for the Challenge but I liked it any way!

Got Catnip?

I used

CardStock

Linen Effect - PayPer Box

White 300gsm - Image Supersmooth

Stamps, Dies, Embossing Folders

Tim Holtz Crazy Cats - Stampers Anon

Tim Holtz Crazy Cats - Sizzix Framelits

Cat Sayings - Stampendous
Lillies - Darice

Inks

Memento - Tuxedo Black

Versafine - Onyx Black

Promarkers - Windsor & Newton

This last one has no cats used in it's production. Instead it's a little fishy, or rather it's a little  mermaid . . .

I used
Cardstock

Linen Effect - PayPer Box

White 300gsm - Image Supersmooth

Stamps & Embossing Folder

Little Mermaid - Woodware
Bubbles - Darice

Inks

Memento - Tuxedo Black

Versafine - Onyx Black
Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Promarkers - Letraset/Windsor & Newton

After applying the Distress Inks I splashed a little bleach on to the card to give an air bubble effect.

Scrap Paper Makes

Like most crafters I seem to have amassed loads of bits and bobs including rather a lot assorted scrap pieces of paper that have ended up in my "might come in handy at some point" box. Last night I was going through the box to see what was there as winging it's way to me in the next few days is one of the new Spellbinder Sapphire Die Cut & Embossing machines. These machines are teeny tiny and to me seem an ideal way of turning the scraps into small die cuts.  In the meantime, I decided to turn some of the larger pieces into something useful and came up with these covers for sticky note pads (generic Post-It notes).

These covers are easy to make and are a great way to turn something boring into something pretty. 

If you are looking to entertain the kids on a rainy afternoon these sticky note pads can be picked up in various "Pound" stores (I've found packs of 3 or 4 for £1). They could be made as gifts or perhaps for fundraising at school or group. You can keep them simple, personalise them or really jazz them up with lots of bling!  I made some of these at Christmas time and teamed them up with matching calendars using calendar tabs to give as "mindings".

 

Paper from Trimcraft Spring in Bloom 6x6" Pad,

Flower Trimcraft Santoro Mirabelle Paper Blossoms

Bling coloured with Promarkers

 

 

Paper from Trimcraft Kiss and Tell 6x6" Pad,

Flowers - Trimcraft Santoro Mirabelle Paper Blossoms,

Patterned Craft Tape - Papermania Capsule Collection Spots and Stripes Jewels

Bling coloured with Promarkers

 

 

For the men - something a bit more macho:

 

 

Cardstock White Pearlescent & Matt Copper Metallic from PayPer Box. The Copper cardstock were trimmed pieces left over from embossing with Darice folders Steam Punk Gears & Diamond Plate Pattern

 

White "Card Candy" pieces were coloured with Memento Brilliance Tiramisu Ink Pad and made to resemble screws by denting them with end of a nail file!

A Little Bird Told Me

It's Sunday, the sun is shining (in between the showers) and our garden is starting to bloom! I've had my fingers crossed since January after I took loppers to my dwarf James Grieve apple tree for the first time since I got it as a Birthday present around12 years ago. I'm pleased to say that it is now covered in gorgeous pink blossom so it's looking good for a nice crop this year! 

 

I picked up a "Quick Cards" magazine earlier in the week, I don't often buy magazines but it had a rather nice "Moonbeam Meadow" Stamp Set by Crafter's Companion as a "free gift".  The new set of Promarker Pens I bought as an almost, not quite, nearly, early, Birthday present to myself arrived yesterday so it was practice time!

 

Last night I stamped out some of the "Moonbeam Meadow" designs and set about colouring them, when I was finished I played about with some ideas to use for the  Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #186 

 

As this challenge is based on a sketch  containing a diagonal I was drawn to the design of on a sheet from one of my Trimcraft 6x6 paper pads, Spring in Bloom, which has the main pattern concentrated into the right hand corner. The paper was put into the trimmer at cut on the diagonal and then separated to elongate it to fit a rectangular card shape and to create an inner strip for embellishment.

  

 

 

 The edges of the diagonal were decorated with promarker coloured strips cut using the dot/dash edge die from Spellbinders Borderabilities "A2 Bracket Borders One" set with matching DS satin ribbon (photo shows it darker). The central strip was coloured with Promarker to match one of the pink colours on the background paper. The little flowers and pearls were also colour matched to those on the background paper. The circles  used for the Little Bird topper came from my "might come in handy at some point" box and are the inners left over from cutting out some Joy Craft Floral and Celtic Circles!

 

Cardstock:

Image - Super Smooth White

Trimcraft - Spring in Bloom
PayPer Box - Gold Pearlised

 
Dies:
Spellbinders - Borderabilities A2 Bracket Borders One
Joy Craft - Circle

Stamps:
Crafter's Companion - Moonbeam Meadow

Ink:
Versacolour - Sepia
Letraset Promarkers - Crimson, Dusky Rose, Rose Pink, Pastel Blue, Blue Pearl, Leaf Green, Grass 

Good Luck!

The exam season has started here in Scotland and tomorrow my teenage son sits the first of his Nationals (they replaced Standard Grades/O Grades last year). 

Whilst he doesn't really need  any luck as he's been doing lots of studying I thought I would make him a Good Luck card.

He's really into Manga and Anime art work so when I saw that Lawn Fawn's Good Luck Charm set had the Maneki Neko (Chinese Good Luck Cat/Japanese Beckoning Cat) I decided to get it. On doing some research I found that green is used with the Maneki Neko to denote education and studies so decided to use that colour as a starting point and, eventually, came up with this:

 

I used some gold pearlised cardstock as card blank then added a light green card from a Trimcraft Serenity 6x6 pad to make the card front. I used more of the gold pearlised (coloured with ProMarkers) to mat and layer in order to create embellishments with the Lawn Fawn stamps/dies. A Creative Concepts Script embossing folder was used to create a panel for one of the layers.

Baby, Baby, Baby - Freshly Made Sketches 183

It's been a while since I've made as many cards as I have in this last week - maybe I'm getting my mojo back!

On looking at the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge for this week I thought I would adapt the baby onesie shaped card I made last week and make a smaller version which could be used as a topper.

In order to get an idea of the size I would need for the onesie I used linen effect card to mat and layer the three outer dies of the Spellbinders "Radiant Rectangles" and used the width of inner rectangle as a starting point.

Using a rectangle of paper folded in half I cut out a template for the topper and used it to transfer the design onto linen effect card. (I don't have exact measurements for it as I did it all by eye.)



Once the design was cut out, everything I wanted pink (card, DS satin ribbon and bling) was coloured with a Dusky Pink Pro marker to ensure a good match. I took some small scraps of left over patterned paper (from FMS 182) and used them to embellish the onesie, It was then trimmed with the fine DS satin ribbon at the neck and legs. 


The completed onesie was then mounted onto a piece of foam and shaped to give a more dimensional look.
 
I've had the pale pink gingham cardstock for a while and although I kept looking at it I never seemed to find the right project to use it - until now! I thought the gingham would look nice with the lace effect frame created from the Radiant Rectangle dies.

Cardstock:

Gingham and linen effect card from PayPer Box

Patterned card from Trimcraft Kiss and Tell 6x6" Pad

 

Dies:

Spellbinders Radiant Rectangles

Spellbinders Congratulations

Hobby Craft Small Daisy Punch

 

Ink:

Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry

Letraset Pro Markers - Dusty Pink

Stamp:

"New Baby" from Paula Pascall Sentiments Set

 

Embellishments:

Ribbon, button and bling scavenged from my

craft stash!

 

 

 

 

 

My next project is going to be a Birthday Card for my Sister's Birthday next weekend I shall have a rummage through my craft stash over the weekend to see what comes out.  Who knows, I may even make her a piece of jewellery as well - if I can come up with any ideas that is!

Busy Wee Bee!

It was a bit last gasp but last night I thought that as it is our Wedding Anniversary (today) perhaps I'd better get a move on and get the card I'd been saying for the last month I was going to make for hubby finally made!

In the end it didn't come out in anyway shape or form as I'd planned over the weeks. I lost count of the chopping and changing I made - the original idea was, by now, long gone out the window! Anyway here is the card that greeted him this morning:

 

 

 

 Card Stock:

Black, Ivory Leather Effect and the Gold Pearlised cards all from PayPer Box

Patterned Card from Trimcraft 6x6" Serenity Pad

 

Dies:

Spellbinders Nestabilities Radiant Rectangles

Spellbinders Shapeabilities Arched Elegance

Sizzix Framelits Die Set 8PK w/Stamps - Hello, Jillibean Soup by Hampton Art

Stamps:

Sizzix Framelits Stamps - Hello, Jillibean Soup by Hampton Art

Ink:

Black from the 3 colour Ink Pad Tsukineko Brilliance Pad, Tiramisu

 

 

 

 

By the time I finished John's card I was on a roll and decided to make something else.

 

Earlier in the week, whilst out with my friend, we were looking in the window of a rather pricey Gift Shop which had opened recently. It was there we saw a couple of handmade cards for a new baby which were in a "onesie" shape. They were made in brown Kraft Card, which had been very roughly cut out (you could see lots of what looked like jagged scissor marks) and then stamped with a sentiment. I couldn't see a price on them but going by the rest of the prices in the shop, they were unlikely to be cheap! 

 

So at 0200hrs this morning, I decided to see if I could do better. I made up a template from a piece of UK A6 (US A2?) sized card using a ruler and a small circle die (it came from the free gift I received when I signed up to Tonic Gold). Once complete I used the template to trace around a tent folded A6 card and came up with this, the collar/bib was cut from a Spellbinders D-Lites Love Locket border die:

 

 





I'll have another try later to see if I can refine the design a bit more.

 Card Stock:

White Pearlised and Aqua Spotty card from PayPer Box

 

Dies

Spellbinders D-Lites Love Locket (cut down to form bib/collar)

Tonic Circle die (from their freebie Tonic Gold die) to form neck & leg holes.

 

Embellishment

Pearls tinted using Promarkers and the "Charming" sentiment came from my craft stash both originally came from Home Bargains.