'English Rose Garden' - Cards for Megs Garden

Hi everyone and a very warm welcome to my bloggy space and a very special welcome to my new followers.  Thank you so much for joining me.  Hope you are all having a wonderful day. 

I'm back again to share my projects for the Megs Garden DT.  This time I have created two more cards with the lovely 'English Rose Garden' papers.  I think I mentioned in a previous post how much I love these papers.. they are so pretty and simply perfect for anything 'shabby chic'.

It is winter here in Australia and it has been bitterly cold and wet and I, for one, have certainly had enough of this weather.  I made these cards with some lovely summery colours just to brighten up the day a bit.

Megs Garden Products used

Papers

English Rose Garden Mini Paper Pack

Flowers

Lace

For the base paper I've used 'Leaves &Foliage' and then added some scraps from 'Bouquet of Roses' and 'Roses & Flowers'  plus a small scrap taken from the Butterfly Book Kit to add a little contrast.

I added a little texture with a Prima Damask Stencil and some paste and cut a small metal trinket in half and inserted it in between the paper layers.

The 'Puffy Paper Flower' (one of my favourite flowers to use) was coloured with acrylic paint.  I usually buy my flowers white and then mix my own colours of acrylic paint to get the shades I need.  Place them in a spray bottle, fill it up with water and the paint will spray quite easily.  I used the same method to colour the small paper roses.

The gorgeous lace was attached with a glue gun.  I simply gathered it slightly as I was glueing it down.

Used a couple of strips from the 'Pink Rose Vine' paper to decorate the inside of the card.  The left side was edged with Martha Stewart's Floral Vine Deep Etch Border Punch.

Added some seed beads, some twine made into a bow, some pieces of gauze and even a twist of cotton thread in and around my flower clusters.  Once everything was assembled, I dry brushed some gesso in random places to create some highlights.

So, that was card number one, and this is card number two ..

Megs Garden Products used

 Papers

English Rose Garden Mini Paper Pack

Flowers

Tim Holtz Studio Keyholes

For this card I used two pieces from the 'Roses & Flowers' sheet.  Cut them to size and distressed the edges with a distressing tool. 

My fave flower again .. the pretty 'Puffy Paper Flower' sprayed the same as on my previous card.

This bloom is the 'Ivory Primula'.  It is a lovely creamy white fabric flower which has been altered using watered down 'Peeled Paint' Distress Paint. 

Megs Garden also sells some Tim Holtz products.  This is one of the 'Keyholes'.  I simply glued it down and swiped it with a little gesso. 
 

The seam binding was sprayed with the same colour as the Primula then crumpled up and dried.  Wrapped it around the top paper layer and simply tied it in a bow.

Added some gauze in between the paper layers, some seed beads in a few spots and some strands of twine to the cluster.  Swiped some gesso in random places and my card was done!!   Adding these little touches just adds so much interest to a card .. well, I think so anyway .. LOL!!

If you wish to take a closer look at the products used here simply click on the product pictures and it will take you to the web page.  Also, why not go over and take a look at the wonderful projects created by my Team mates .. I know you will be inspired.  HERE is the link.

I hope I have inspired you as well.  Thank you so much for visiting and do enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg

Feeling Sketchy #122

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog.  A very special welcome to my new followers .. so pleased and honoured that you decided to join me.

After being out of action for a few days due to a sore back (no more housework for me .. LOL!!! ..  I wish ..) yesterday I felt I needed some crafty time  and so I decided to join the Feeling Sketchy Challenge which finishes today.  I would have had this post up this morning but my monitor decided it didn't want to play and had to be re-calibrated so I could get my photos ready.  Hubby fixed it for me and then we had to go out so I thought I had missed the deadline.  Just checked it and I have an hour left .. talk about leaving it to the last minute!!  LOL!!  So here is the sketch ..

.. and here is my entry

As you can see, I followed the sketch pretty closely.  The papers are from Kaisercraft's Antique Bazaar Mini Pad and I did a little stamping and also some stenciling with Distress Ink.

The large bloom is from Megs Garden.  It was originally white with blue edges and I had it sprayed for a previous project but hadn't actually used it.  It was perfect for this card.

 

The circles were made with some string and I also added some seed beads.

 

The die cut quote is from the same KC collection as the papers.  As is my habit, when it was all assembled, I added some random swipes of gesso.

Decorated the inside with some strips of the same papers and also added another quote from this collection.

 

And there you have it.  My entry for the Feeling Sketchy Challenge #122.  HERE is the link if you'd like to take a look at the next Challenge. 

Thank you so much for visiting and leaving me some love.  I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

Take care and God Bless.

One for the Guys ...

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  So glad you dropped in for a visit and I hope you are having a wonderful day.  

Sharing another 'Man' card with you today.  This one was made for my oldest grandson's 20th Birthday.  Can't believe both my grandson's are pretty well all grown up now.  Even my granddaughter will become a teenager next birthday.  Where have all the years gone!!!??  

Anyway, here is my card.

Pretty grungy hey!!!  That's how I like my masculine cards ... lots of distressing and lots of grunge!!

Kaisercraft papers and some corrugated cardboard make up the base and I added some crackle for texture.

I'm in the process of tidying up my stash and discovered some metal embellies that I totally forgot I had, so a lot of them ended up on this card along with some wooden cogs.  Also added some small pieces of gutter guard at the sides.

Of course, I couldn't leave them clean and neat so I used some paints and gesso to mess them up.
Love that sparkplug!!!

 

I also added some seed beads.  Thought they might look a bit like ball bearings.  Not sure that that worked but I do like them there anyway.

The inside with the sentiment.  I got a bit enthusiastic and wrote a personal message before I took the photographs so I had to block that out.  That's what happens early in the morning when your brain is still asleep.  LOL!!

Of course, when everything was glued down and dry, I had to spread some random bits of gesso around!!

So, there you have it!!  Another of my grungy male cards done!!  Happy to say, it was well received.  I am absolutely stoked that my grandies, and my kids too, save the cards I make for them.  A lot of my friends do as well so my efforts are not wasted!!  Love it!!

Hope the weather is nice wherever you are.  It's a bit cold and wet in Adelaide at the moment but I am so glad we didn't get the storms that they had on the east coast.  They were absolutely horrendous and I sincerely hope it's all over now and people can get their lives back together.
My thoughts and prayers go to everyone in that part of our country.  I have some close friends and some scrappy friends who live up that way but, luckily, they all came through it reasonably well.

Thank you so much for visiting and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care, stay safe and God Bless.

A Lovely, lovely Christmas Surprise!!

Hello lovely people and thank you for dropping by at this busy time of the year.

I did think my previous post was going to be my last before Christmas, but today I got a lovely surprise which I simply had to share.

I have been very blessed to have come to know a lot of very talented people out there in blog land and, quite a lot of them I have come to call my friend.  Some, I have even been lucky enough to meet personally but others I have never met and probably (unless I am extremely lucky) never will.  Well, this morning in the post I received the loveliest surprise from one of those friends who lives on the other side of the world and whom I, unfortunately, will most likely never meet.

I received a Christmas card from Astrid Maclean and I am over the moon.  Astrid and I, through a set of circumstances I won't go into here, did exchange cards last year but, as she is away from home over Christmas and as she is an extremely busy lady, I really didn't think it would happen this year so, to my extreme dismay, I didn't actually make one for her and then, this morning, I received this gorgeous card from her.   

I am always amazed at Astrid's art.  She has a wonderful eye for colour and composition and the techniques she uses to make her projects are brilliant.

I love the embossing and the way she blends the different colours so beautifully.

Love the heart with that little twine bow.  Such a lot of work went into this card, these photos really don't do it justice.  

Absolutely stunning work!!

Thank you, so much Astrid!!  It was such a lovely surprise to receive in the mail this morning.  Your card is divine and I will treasure this forever.
I have a box where I keep all my most special cards.  Some were made by my children when they were little and some were made by my grandchildren and also some from special friends (Astrid's card from last year is in this box), some of whom are no longer with us.  Every once in a while I get my box down and sit quietly to look at them all and remember when I received them.  After I finish displaying this card (which will probably be for a very long time) it will go into this box as well.
I am so sorry that I didn't reciprocate this year Astrid, but I will definitely correct that mistake for next year.  I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a really lovely holiday with lots and lots of hugs and kisses for you from your grandchildren.  Blessings to you all.

For anyone who doesn't know Astrid, her blog is Astrid's Artistic Efforts and you can find it HERE.  I urge you to go and take a look, her work is amazing!!

A very Merry Christmas to all my lovely followers and visitors too.
Thank you so much for dropping by and enjoy the rest of your day.

Take care and God Bless

oxox Marg

Christmas Cards #3

Hello again everyone!!  Hope you are having a wonderful day and thank you for dropping by!  I know how busy you all must be so I really appreciate you taking the time.  I'll make this post reasonably short and won't blather on too much.  (I hope)

Just sharing two more of the Christmas Cards I made this year.

For this first one I again used the 'Gentleman Collection' papers from Meg's Garden.

Gold embossed the edges and swiped some gesso in random spots but that is the only alterations I did with this one.  I've had that gold bauble vine in my stash since last Christmas and the white spirals is some paper covered wire I had which I just twisted around the end of a paint brush.

The tag is from Kaisercraft as is the stamp.

I've also had the burlap flower in my stash for some time.  I just sprayed it with some watered down acrylic paint and dry brushed it with gesso.

Different pockets on the inside this time.  One side was used for vouchers and the other held a tag with the message.  I'm afraid it got posted before I realised I hadn't photographed the tag.

The second one was made using Kaisercraft papers.

Did a bit of stamping with various stamps and added some micro beads before placing my cluster.

No pockets on this one.  Just a KC collectable on one side and the verse on the other.  The papers are from the Meg's Garden Correspondence Collection.

There you are, all done, and not too much blathering!!  LOL!!
Only a couple more to share  and I will do that in the next few days.
Only 7 more sleeps to Christmas!!!  Woo!! Hoo!!

Thank you so much for visiting and enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg