Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #205 - Love & Romance

Hello everyone and welcome to my crafty space!  Hope you are having a wonderful day!!

The new Challenge has started over at Crafty Cardmakers! 
Marlene is the host for this Challenge  and the Theme is Valentine based, so it's all about Love and Romance!
As always, anything you care to create is fine as long as it follows the Theme!

So, once again, I have created a card.
This is not really a Valentine's card though.  Hubby and I have been married for 50 years (yeah!  I know!!  I can't believe it either!  LOL!!) but we have never celebrated  Valentine's Day.  Just never felt we wanted, or needed to, so, this card will simply be used to send a little love to a rellie or maybe a close friend on their birthday. 

The background was created with some texture paste through a mini 'Art Is' stencil by the Crafters' Workshop.

Once the texture paste was dry, I sprinkled on a little LSG Magicals powder in Rizzo's Rowdy Red and then sprayed over that with water.   I love the way it splatters everywhere and I love all the different colours you get with this technique. 

Topped it with my usual cluster of gauze, diecuts and flowers.

The sentiment was printed with a label maker and then mounted on a piece of chipboard.

Once it was all assembled, I swiped the cluster with a little gesso and added some stamping along the edge!

Unfortunately, the stamping was not very clear and I must have hiccupped while doing it!  LOL!  Still, I don't mind that it's a bit messy.  It is handmade after all, so not meant to be perfect!!

Do go on over to the Crafty Cardmakers Blog and check out the fabulous creations by my Team Mates.  You will be inpsired to join in, I'm sure!!  Looking forward to seeing what you create!!

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #205 - Love and Romance.

Thank you so much for stopping by.
Have yourselves a wonderful day!
Take care and God Bless.
Marg oxox

Two simple Journals for Megs Garden - Part #2

Hello sweet visitors!!  Thank you for dropping by, so lovely to have you visit.

So, this is part two of my 'Two Simple Journals' posts.
If you would like to take a look at Part#1, HERE is the link.

These are the two books I created using Megs Garden's lovely papers.

In this post I will share with you the booklet on the right .. my writer's Journal.  This is the little book I will use to practice my hand writing.  As I said in Part#1, I used to have a reasonably neat hand but, over the years, that has deteriorated quite badly so now I need to practice to get it back up to scratch.

The inspiration for this booklet came from Astrid Maclean of Astrid's Artistic Efforts.  Astrid, like me, loves to make all kinds of booklets and, lately, she has been working with the Eileen Hull die.  Unfortunately, I don't have that die so I had to make mine by hand but I did use that book as inspiration for my design.
The papers used for this Journal are all from the A4, digital version of the 'In the Watercolour Garden' Collection.

As I wanted a reasonably soft cover, I simply made it from cardstock.  I used black for the outside cover and kraft for the inside.  The finished book, when closed, measures 4.75" x 8.5".

 I glued a piece of chipboard behind the spine on the inside cover for extra strength, punched the holes, threaded the elastic through those holes and simply knotted it at the back.   I then glued the two covers together.

 As with the first Journal, this one doesn't have much in the way of embellishment.  As this is also a work book, I didn't want anything three dimensional getting in the way.  Besides, these papers have such lovely graphics on them that I really didn't want to cover them up.
For the front cover though, I did add a Tim Holz door knob and some stamping.  I also fussy cut a second butterfly to give it a little bit of dimension.

I really love the graphic on this paper .. simply stunning!!

The inside cover and the first signature.

I added a pocket on the inside front cover and added some faux stitching with a gel pen at the top.  The 'lace' is simply a strip cut from the edge of a paper doily. 

 The pocket will house a small booklet which will mainly be used for any hints and notes that I may find and wish to keep.  I added more faux stitching around the edge of the paper.

 There are three signatures in this booklet ..

 I cut some pages from a cheap exercise book for the inside, made a cover for each signature and stapled them together.  Each one loops under an elastic band in the spine of the outer cover.  This way, as I fill them up, I can create new signatures and  replace them.

 Added a strip of washi tape at the edge of the signature to give the spine a bit more strength.  The only other bit I did was to add the quote.  As I said before, these papers have the most gorgeous graphics they really don't need any enhancement.

Back of the first signature and front of the second.

Love this music paper .. so gorgeous!!

All I did here was to add the quote.

Back of the second signature and front of the third.

I simply had to use this paper again .. I love it so .. and I only added the quote.  After taking this photo, I did add that strip of washi tape to the spine though, for added strength and continuity.

Back of the third signature and inside back cover.

 This is the most gorgeous background paper .. I didn't add anything because I didn't want to spoil it.  Love it just as is.

 As on the inside front cover, I just added some stenciling with Distress Ink.

A little metal embellishment on the back ..

.. and Voila!!

My work book is complete!!

I hope you like my little book and I'm sure you will agree with me that those papers are simply stunning!!!!  If you'd care to take a look at all of the gorgeous papers available in the Garden HERE is the link.  While you're there, why not take a look at all the fabulous products in store .. I know you will find something that you cannot bear to be without!!  LOL!!

There is some wonderful inspiration to be had over at the Garden blog.  Pop on over and take a look at the fabulous creations by my Teamies.  I know you will enjoy the visit HERE.

Thank you so much for dropping by today and, whatever you have planned .. do it well, do it safe and enjoy your day!!

Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg

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.