Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #197 - Fancy Folds

Hello lovely visitors and welcome to my blog.  Hope you are having a wonderful day.

There's a new Challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers and I am happy to tell you that it's my turn to play Host!
The Theme is Fancy Folds and this particular Challenge is for cards only. 

I wasn't sure what type of card to make for this Challenge.  Thought about Step cards and Easel cards but they weren't really what I wanted to do.  Then I saw a card on Pinterest that piqued my interest .. an Upright Z Fold card .. I had never made one of these so I thought, 'That's what I'll do.  Something new and different.'    Well, for me anyway.

The papers are a mix of Maja and Kaisercraft.  I seem to be using them a lot lately but they do go so very well together.

I still had quite a bit of Autumn coloured bits and pieces on my work bench left over from the last Challenge (yep!!  afraid I haven't really been very particular about cleaning up my Craft room) so decided to use some of them.

The flowers are available at Megs Garden.  They were a creamy white and I altered them with sprays made from watered down acrylic paint.  I always make sure to wet the flowers with water first and then the colour soaks in really well.

The leaves were cut from Maja papers with a Cheery Lynn die.

Had to add some prills of course, with some micro beads mixed in, and I also added some gesso highlights to the flowers and leaves along with a few splats on the base.

 This is another first for me.  The bit of 'lace' was made with a mould and Acrylic Gap Filler.  It is a little fiddly but quite easy to do and looks pretty good, I reckon! 

When you start to open it right out, this card is fairly long ..

 .. and a bit difficult to photograph but I managed to get it in one shot.

 Easy to see how it stands up here.  I used a gem brad to anchor it.

It was fun to make and, although I probably won't use this style a lot, I might make some of my Christmas cards like this.

Update:  I have just found out that it was Berit Rosenfeldt who first created this fold.  Thank you Berit .. it is awesome!!   Unfortunately I cannot find a current blog of hers to link to but HERE is a video of the original cards.  I'm afraid it's in Danish but the cards are gorgeous!! 

Well, I hope I have given you some inspiration to try a new style of card and to join in with our Challenge!  For more inspo', pop on over to the Blog and take a look at the wonderful creations by my Teamies and then link up your entry.  Please read our rules and take note of the 15 Challenge limit.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #197 - Fancy Folds.

Thank you so much for your visit and for leaving me a little love .. I  really appreciate it.
Whatever you plan to do for the rest of your day, do it safe and do it happy!!

Take care and God Bless.
oxox   Marg

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #196 - Autumn

Hello sweet visitors and welcome to my blog.  Hope you are having a wonderful day.

There's a new Challenge starting over at Crafty Cardmakers!  For this Challenge, Kim is our host and the Theme is Autumn!!

As always, you may create anything you like, as long as it follows the Autumn Theme.
Please read our rules and take note of the 15 Challenge limit.

So, here  is the card I created for my DT contribution.
The papers used are from Maja and Kaisercraft.  I felt they were a really good match.

The leaves were cut with Tim Holz' Mini Tattered Leaves Die which I have had for ages but never got around to using.   I cut them from a light brown cardstock and then coloured them using sprays made from Distress Re-inkers.  I also added a few veins with a brown fine line pen.

Tucked some gauze under the cluster for some soft texture, added some berries and, of course, lots of prills.

The flowers were also coloured with sprays and I added a touch of gesso here and there.

More of the Maja papers inside.

Et Voila!!

Another fabulous Challenge from Crafty Cardmakers.

Take a look at the wonderful inspiration from the rest of the Team and, while you're there, why not join in the fun and link up your entry.  Simply click on the link below.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #196 - Autumn.

I am sharing this card with the Challenge at
Fussy and Fancy Friday #196 - Fall Colours

Thank you so much for your visit and for leaving me a little love, and,
whatever your plans are for the day, do it safe and do it happy!!!

Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg

1 Master Board = 3 Simple Cards

Hi everyone!!  So lovely to have you drop by.

Hope you are all having a wonderful day!

I've been spending some time watching videos (don't we all??)  on You Tube and came across one that I found really interesting.  It was made by Eileen Godwin of Eileen's Crafty Zone and she was demonstrating how to create a Masterboard.   There's actually two videos and HERE is the link to the first one if you're interested.   There, you will see the link to the second one as well.   I thoroughly enjoyed it and was inspired to have a go.  

So, this is what I made.

I didn't take progress photos while I was making this (if you wish, you can see all that on the videos) and I even forgot to take a photo before I cut it up so I simply pieced it back together so you could see how my Masterboard ended up.  The colour was added with Distress Inks and I wasn't overly impressed with my colour choices at first but, started to like it more and more as it progressed.
The colours I used are Mustard Seed, Ripe Persimmon, Faded Jeans and Pine Needles.

I managed to make three cards with this masterboard and am really happy with the result.
They are all very similar but, still, a little different.

The first card measures 3.5" x 7".

I used similar elements on all three cards.    Had to use prills, of course, along with some micro beads.

The gauze has been brushed with gesso to give it shape and structure and the flowers were coloured with sprays made from Distress Re-inkers.

Got myself a Brother Label Maker just recently (been going nuts labelling everything I can in my Craft Room.  LOL!!) and used it to make the sentiment.  

Wrapped the twine around the panel on this card before tying the bow.

The second card measures 4" x 6".

 

  Larger flower this time and simply left it as is.  Another label from my maker for the sentiment.

 Didn't bother wrapping the twine around this one .. just added a simple bow.

The last card measures 4.25" x 5.5".

Same gauze, same prills and micro beads.

 Different flowers again, coloured with sprays made from Distress Inks.

I thoroughly enjoyed creating this Masterboard and then the three cards.  It was something totally different to what I normally do and I love the results.  As I said at the beginning, I didn't really like my colour choices at first but it turned out nice and bright and cheery in the end. 
Thank you so much Eileen for sharing your talent and for inspiring me to do something a little different.

Thank you all too for dropping in and taking a look.  I hope you will go over and check out Eileen's video and her work .. I think she is awesome!!

Whatever you plan to do today,  make it a good one and have fun!!

Take care and God Bless.

MM - To Bin or Not to Bin!

Hello everyone!!  Welcome to my blog with a special welcome to my new followers.
So pleased you decided to join me on my creative journey.

Hope you are all having a wonderful day!

I'm back to share another of my inky (or painty? LOL!!) cards with you.  This one was made at the same time as the clean and simple cards I posted a while back (HERE) but, as you can see, it is totally different.

Actually, after creating the background, I was going to throw this in the bin!!  Glad I didn't though because I really like how it turned out in the end.

When I was creating my MM cards, this was actually my first attempt.  I mixed the colour (Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals - Cocklebells Coral) and popped it into a bottle and sprayed it onto some watercolour paper.

Unfortunately, the sprayer didn't work correctly and so I ended up with this big blob in the middle.  Bumma!!!  So, I tried softening the edges by using a paper towel soaked in the paint and dabbing it on.
Blah!!!  Still didn't like it so, I put this aside, tried a different technique and came up with the other two cards.  Loved them .. but hated this and was going to toss it.

But then I had another look and thought .. mmm .. maybe if I add a bit of stenciling and tone that 'blob' down a bit and perhaps add a bit of gauze as well to soften the look.  

So, out came the stencil and the texture paste and ...  still not really happy but it was starting to look a bit better.

Maybe I should also add a little stamping!   Yeah .. I suppose that looks alright!  Okay, let's try the gauze ..  no, the white looks all wrong so .. colour it!  Still wasn't really happy but started looking for some flowers .. that would certainly cover up the 'blob'.

Well, it took ages to find the right one.  Small ones didn't work, medium sized ones didn't work  so I figured I'd try a large one.  Well, I had to go through a lot of my stash, but finally found this really large Prima  bloom.  It was white and, at first didn't look right either, but then I sprayed it with the same colour and, voila!, it looked fabulous!! (at least, I think it looks fabulous!!)  I really love how it didn't take the colour evenly and IRL it almost seems to glow!  Loved it!!

While I was hunting through my stash for the flower, I found some silver stamens I forgot I had so, I mixed them with some white ones, and decided to add those instead of leaves.  Had to add some prills too, mixed with micro beads of course, and a twine bow at the side ..

.. and, Voila!!!  So glad I didn't toss out that background.

You just never know what can be achieved until you try it.

Thank you so much for stopping by to take a look and, I do hope you enjoyed your visit.
Happy crafting everyone!!!
Take care and God Bless.

MM - Clean and Simple

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  So pleased you dropped by.

I have been playing with my Lindy's Magicals again and, this time, created a couple of clean and simple cards.

I've actually been getting into a bit of a rut with my cards.  They were all starting to look the same to me so, I thought I would try something a little different.

No background papers on these two, just some magicals and texture paste.

As you can see, both cards are pretty much the same with only a few, slight differences.

This card measures 4" x 6" and the Magicals colour I used is Danny Zuko's Denim.

I used removable masking tape to mask off the area I wanted to colour, wet the paper and then dropped some of the powder onto it. 

You get such a great effect with the magicals and, although the texture paste ran under the stencil a little,  I love how it soaked up some of the colour.  It is possible that I didn't dry the magicals properly but, as I said, I like the effect.

 A piece of gauze under the flowers for some soft texture and then plenty of prills and some micro beads for extra effect.  I saw this combination on Tracey Sabella's blog and really loved how it looked so thought I'd try it out ..  Love it even more now!

 

My second card measures 3.75" x 7" and the colour I used here is Greased Lightnin' Green.

 The little medallion shape was made with a glue gun, some Mod Melts and a silicon mould.  I sprayed it with the same Magicals for a bit of added colour.

 I dabbed the gauze on both cards with gesso just to give it a bit more structure.

I didn't pre-mix the Magicals.  I simply wet the watercolour paper and then picked up a small amount of the powder on a paint brush and simply flicked it onto the page.  To spread the colour a bit more I sprayed again with a bit more water and this was the result.  I love how you get so many different shades just from the one colour .. awesome!

Lots of prills again.

.. and a final look at both cards together.

Unfortunately my stamping is not as  sharp as I would have liked and the texture paste bled a bit under the stencil but, all in all, I am really happy with the way these turned out.  They are certainly different from what I usually do and, I think, that's a good thing.

I apologise for the long post but I felt that these two cards needed to be shown together.  So glad that you made it to the end.

Thank you so much for popping in and taking a look .. I do hope you enjoyed the visit.

Have yourselves a wonderful day!!
Take care and God Bless.