Just playing - Making Cards #1

Hello dear visitors and welcome!  Hope you are having a wonderful day!

It's been really hot in Adelaide over the last week or so and we've spent most of our time at home in the airconditioning.  Consequently, I had a bit of a play in the craft room and created a ton of cards.  Well, maybe not a ton but quite a few just the same.
I really amazed myself.  It usually takes me ages to make my cards because I procrastinate so much over papers and what embellies to use but, these came together quite easily.   I made 8 altogether.  4 Feminine cards and 4 Masculine cards and I am thrilled with that!!
Anyway,  I thought I would share one of those cards with you today.

I actually started off by gathering a heap of different papers and embellies.  Did a bit of die cutting as well and then just used those gathered bits and pieces to create my cards.  This idea came from Val Thorpe who has been posting about a faux scrapbooking kit that she has been using and I thought I would try something similar.  I was amazed at how well it worked!  Limiting the pieces I could use on my cards made it so much easier .. no procrastinating!!  LOL!!   It does mean that the cards I made are all very similar in colour and design but I don't see that as a problem.

Most of the cards I made are 3.5" x 6.5.   I'm really liking my cards tall at the moment.  These papers are from the Floral Romance 12 x 12 paper pad by Kaisercraft.  Loving the colours in this Collection.

The dies I've used are the Chloe Stem by Memory Box and the String of Pearls by Altenew.  I also tucked a piece of my favourite lace between the layers.

I hadn't gathered the flowers along with the other bits but flowers are always the easiest thing for me choose anyway. 

I must have coloured that larger bloom for another project and then not used it but it came in quite handy for this card.  All of the flowers are by Little Birdie.

So, this is the first of many.  I thought about showing them all at once, or even two by two, but decided against that as the post would be way too long.  Besides, posting them one by one means I can pop them up whenever I have nothing else ready to show!!   Sweet!!

Thank you so much for stopping by and, perhaps, leaving me a little comment to read.  Love to know what you think!

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

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #214 - Wet or Dry Embossing

Hi everyone!!  Welcome to my blog!  Thank you so much for stopping by.

The new Challenge is live at Crafty Cardmakers and this one is all about embossing!!
    Lin is our host and, as usual, you can make anything you like as long as it has either wet or dry embossing on it or, you can even do both!!

Once again, I have created a card.
Surprise!! Surprise!!  LOL!!

I don't have many, but I do have a few embossing folders in my stash and I think it may be years ago that I actually used one of them!!
I cut a piece of pale blue card stock to fit my card base and embossed it with an EZ cut Embossing Folder.  Then I decided that I wanted to tear it down the middle and leave a bit of a gap in between so I had to trim the side edges so it would still fit the base.  I lightly rubbed over the raised areas with a VersaColor Stamp Pad and popped a small piece of lace in the gap at the top and bottom.

The chippie frame was heat embossed with Seafoam White embossing powder by Ranger. 

Added a piece of medical gauze under the flower cluster.  Before adhering the gauze to the card, I dabbed it with a small amount of texture paste so that, hopefully, I could shape it a little better.   Happy to say it works!!

The leaves were cut with a Cheery Lynne die and the flowers were coloured with watered down acrylic paints.

I hope I have given you a little inspiration to join in with this Challenge.  Do, please, pop on over to the CCM blog and check out the amazing creations by the rest of the Team and, while you're there, link up your entry!!

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #214 - Wet or Dry Embossing

Thank you so much for your visit  and for any comment you may care to leave.  I love to read them and appreciate every single one!!

Have a fabulous day!!
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #211 - No Patterned Paper

Hello my lovelies and welcome.  So pleased you stopped by my blog today.

It's time for another Challenge at Crafty Cardmakers.  Valerie is our host and the Theme is 'No Patterned Paper".  

No patterned paper??  So, what can I use??  Ahh!!  I still have a piece left over from that Masterboard I made a while ago .. I'll use some of that!! 
Well, the idea didn't come about quite that simply.  Took a while to even remember that I had the piece .. LOL!!  But, once I located it, it all went fairly quickly from there.

I actually procrastinated about this Challenge for nearly two weeks.  Yeah, I know, pathetic, huh!!  Just didn't know what I wanted to do.  Did I just want to use cardstock, did I want to create a Masterboard or just a simple MM background??  Kept putting it off and putting it off until  I only had a day or two left to get it done!!!

Took a little while to find this left over piece of Masterboard.  I had put it in a safe place so I wouldn't lose it!  Well, it was so safe that I couldn't even find it .. LOL!!  When I finally did find it, I simply cut it to the size I needed, lightly inked the edges with Ground Espresso Distress Ink and then adhered it to my card blank.

Needed something to go under the flowers and I was going to use a stamp but, those of you who know my work, will also know that stamping very rarely works well for me.  So, I decided to use a die cut instead.  This one is by Altenew  and is available at Megs Garden. 

So, my card was almost finished but it just needed something more.  Ah!!  Of course!!  The old reliable prills!!  Perfect!  (Yes, I did try mixing a few microbeads in as well but didn't like how it looked so took them out again.  A few of them managed to hang in there though. LOL!) 

Mmmmm!!  There's still something missing!!   What's this floating around on my workbench??  Ah!!  A little sentiment left over from another project .. the perfect thing!!

.. and done!!

Sorry about all the silliness .. just felt in one of those moods .. LOL!!

I hope you will pop on over to Crafty Cardmakers and check out the gorgeous creations by the rest of the Team.  I am sure you will feel inspired to join in with the Challenge!!

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #211 - No Patterned Paper

Thank you so much for your visit and for the lovely comments left on my last post.  Very much appreciated.

Take care and God Bless.

Fairly Clean and Simple.

Hello and welcome!!  So pleased you decided to come by!

Just a quick little post today to share another of my cards.   Not a lot of embellishment on this one so it was really quick to make. 

The black and white paper is from Maja.   I love the subtle florals on the background .. so pretty!  The top layer is by Kaisercraft from a collection called Rose Avenue.  Again, I love the subtle, faded  graphics and script.

The lovely chipboard flourish is by Little Birdie and I simply left it raw.

The bloom is the Puffy Paper Flower available from Megs Garden.  
I have to say I didn't purchase this bloom.  It was chosen as part of my DT consignment so I received it for free but, I also have to say, that I have purchased this flower in the past as it is one of my favorite go to flowers.  I really love the shape and size of it and, as I get them in white, I can spray them any colour I wish to match my card.  In this case I used Peacock Feather Distress Spray Stain.
  

I had quite a number of other embellies on my workbench such as, leaves and gauze, gems and twine, etc., which I had intended to use on this card.  But, when I got to this stage, I decided I really liked the look of it and left it as is.  Did have to add those prills and microbeads of course!  Can't do without those!!  LOL!!

Fairly clean, and really simple to make and, suitable for any occassion!
I like it .. hope you do too!!

Thank you so much for stopping by, I really appreciate your visit!
Have yourselves a wonderful day!
Take care and God Bless.

Birds and Blooms!

Hello everyone and welcome!  So pleased you decided to stop by!


So, here I am to share another card with you.  Cards are about all I'm creating at the moment.  I do want to make a little journal with my new Eileen Hull Journal Die which I won from Anne Redfern last year.  Haven't yet decided what kind of journal I wish to make so, it's still up in the air at the moment.  Hopefully though, I will get it done sometime soon.

In the meantime, here is my card.
It was made with some old papers from Maja and some new ones from Kaisercraft. 

The flowers I have used on this card are from Megs Garden.  I usually buy my flowers white and then colour them with sprays to match the card I am making. 

The chippie flourish is from 2Crafty Chipboard.  I lightened it by daubing with White CLoud Versa Magic.

I have had those cute little resin birds for many years.  I won these from a sweet lady called Sandie Edwards (I believe she is Sandie Bolt now).  She owned a site called Delightfully Crazy and she was a great help to me when I first started sharing my creations.   Sandie stopped blogging a few years ago and, unfortunately we have lost touch, but I still think of her often and was crazily delighted (LOL!!) when I rediscovered these little birds in my stash.

Finished the card off with a twine bow and some prills and microbeads!!

I have been hearing so much about all the crazy weather around the world and it is affecting us here too.  The last three days the temperature has been above 40degrees.  That is centigrade which is around 100 in fahrenheit!  Have been virtually hugging the airconditioner and will be so glad when it's over.  Hope the weather, wherever you are, is being kind to you and that you are having yourselves a lovely day.

Thank you so much for dropping by.
Take care and God Bless.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #203 - Bling's the Thing!

Hello everyone and welcome!!  Lovely to see you here!!

Its time for the first Challenge of 2018 over at Crafty Cardmakers and I am happy to say, I will be staying on for another Term.  Thank you Lin!!  I thoroughly enjoy working alongside all of the lovely ladies on this Team.  They are so creative and their inspiration certainly helps to keep the creative juices flowing!!

The Theme for this Challenge is Bling's the Thing and Lin (our fearless Leader) is our Host.  As always, you may create anything you like as long as it meets the Challenge criteria.

The papers I have used for this card are a mix from Maja (the dark blue) and Kaisercraft.

Added a row of tiny pearls to the pretty piece of lace attached to the side of the top layer.

The chippie is by 2 Crafty Chipboard .  I daubed it with Cloud White Versa Magic Stamp Pad to lighten it and then attached a large glass bead.   Usually these beads live at the bottom of the vase when I have fresh cut flowers to display.  They make it easy to keep the arrangement steady and they also make the flowers last a bit longer.  I have thought for a while that they could look nice on a card too so, when I was looking for that extra bit of bling, I popped one on and, luckily, I like it!!

The bloom is a paper Azalea which is available from Megs Garden, and was originally white.  To give it that gorgeous bright blue colour, I sprayed it with Peacock Feathers Distress Spray Stain.  Although you can't really see it, the stamens I used also have some glitter on the tips.

For a little more bling I added some gem flourishes to the flower cluster.
The leaf die is Flourish #14 by Cheery Lynn.

It is quite difficult to pick up the bling when you are photographing but, it does sparkle quite prettily in real life.

I invite you to go over and take a look at the gorgeous creations by my Teamies.  I'm sure you'll  be inspired to play along and link up your own creation.  Would love to see what you come up with!

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #203 - Bling's the Thing!!

Thank you so much for stopping by.
Take care and God Bless.

Crafty CardmakersChallenge #191 - Here Comes Summer!

Hello lovely visitors!!  Welcome!!

Hope you are having a fabulous day!!

Crafty Cardmakers have a new Challenge starting today!  The theme is 'Here Comes Summer' and June is our host.

As always, anything you make is fine as long as it follows the Summer theme.

A bit hard to get into a summer kind of mood in this part of the world at the moment, I know.  We are just at the start of Winter and it's been really cold here in Adelaide so it was quite hard to think of warmth and sunshine but, that's what I think of when I think of Summer.  Hot days and a profusion of flowers in the garden!!  So, that's what I had in mind when I made this card.

The papers are from Maja's Vintage Summer Basics and, although they look quite orangy here, they are really more of a warm yellow.

Wrapped some twine around the base papers  and used my fave flowers from Megs Garden after spritzing them with some colour.  Added lots of texture underneath the cluster with twine, gauze and also some sisal.

I added a little extra colour with Lindy's Stamp Gang's Magicals.  You can't see it at all in these photos but it actually gave this card a lovely gold shimmer .. so pretty IRL!

I created the sentiment by simply printing it on my computer, trimming it to size, distressing the edges and glueing it to the card.

Had to add lots of prills and micro beads of course.  Can't seem to make feminine cards without them .. LOL!!

Hope you like my Summery card and that I have inspired you to join in with the Challenge.
For more inspiration, go and take a look at the fabulous creations by the rest of the Team and then join in the fun!!

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #191 -Here Comes Summer!!
Don't forget to read the rules and please take note of our 15 Challenge limit!

Thank you so much for taking the time to come and have a look and do enjoy the rest of your day!
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg