A Thank you for a Sweet Friend

Hello my lovely visitors and welcome to my blog.  I do hope you are enjoying your day.  We're getting quite a bit of rain in Adelaide today.  It's wonderful!!

I'd especially like to welcome my new followers.  Thank you so much ladies for joining me, I really do appreciate it.

Today I'd like to share a card I made as a Thank you to a dear friend.  I have known this lady for a number of years and she would have to be the kindest soul you could ever hope to meet.

 The papers I've used are from Maja's 'Walking in the Forest' Collection.  I've also used a little bit of Prima's Sunrise Sunset paper for one of the die cut layers.  

 The flower is from Prima.  I've had it in my stash for quite a long time and finally found the right place to use it.  I love the little charms and pearls attached to it.  

 The base paper was cut to size and then distressed but all the other layers have simply been torn to the size and shape I wanted.  Makes it look extra shabby, and I love that.

 Added some bits in between the layers such as the half square doily, the gauze and the punched sprigs.

The two chippies on the side are Imaginarium's Tiny Keri Flourish.  They have been coloured with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and then lightly brushed with Versa Color Gold.

Tucked a KC paper flower in at the bottom, which was also lightly brushed with gold Versa Color, and also added some strips of Tim Holtz Washi Tape.

Rolled some of the edges of the paper.  I really love that look.  The flourish shape under the flower was cut from white cardstock with my Silhouette.  I then stamped it with Kc's Script stamp and edged it with Tea Stain Distress Ink to make it blend in.

On the inside I simply adhered a number of torn strips of the Washi Tape.  I need to find a really lovely friendship quote to add to the card before I can give it to my friend.

My friend loves blues and orange so I am really pleased that I found this paper range.  It was perfect for my card.

I am so pleased you came for a visit and thank you for taking the time.  Hopefully you enjoyed it enough that you will want to come back.

Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg

The Colour Purple

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  I hope you are all having a wonderful day and that the weather is being kind.  We've had some lovely weather here in Adelaide lately and I for one hope it will continue.

It's been a little while since I posted here, and I won't bore you with the reasons why, but I'm back and hope to post a bit more regularly from now on.

So, to business.

My youngest Grandson celebrated his 17th Birthday yesterday (where has the time gone?????) and this is the card I made for him.  You can obviously guess that he is quite fond of the colour purple.

 Yes, I'm afraid it is another Centre Step Card.  Actually it is another Cross Over Centre Step Card.  I really am fond of this shape, so there probably will be more of these to come.  The papers I've used are from Kaisercraft's Check In and Glitz's French Kiss.  A bit of a mix but I feel it worked quite well.  The panels on the side were created with an EK Success Border punch.

 I love that I can make some tags to go with this card and it's fun looking for different labels and quotes to add to them.

 On the centre panel I've added some Washi Tape some builder's tape and also a piece of plastic gutter guard as well as a Tim Holtz Ticket  and Dominoes from Kaisercraft's Art of Life Collection.  The significance of the dominoes is that they add up to 17 (my Grandson's age).  The arrow chippie is one of the gorgeous pieces that came in my win from Scrapmatts.  Coloured it with purple Acrylic Paint and some Bronze Versa Color and then clear embossed it.  The clock was cut from black cardstock with my Silhouette and lightly brushed with Versa Color Bronze.

 The Chipboard Ruler is from Prima and the label is also from KC's Art of Life. 

 Just a close-up of the tags and more labels from KC. The backs of the tags were left plain.

 This is how the card looks without the tags ...

 ... and a closie of the layers.

All done!!!  I love working on these cards, they really stretch the creative thinking because there is quite a bit to decorate.  Hope you like it.

Thank you so much for your visit and I would love it if you could leave a little message and tell me what you think.  I read each and every one and love them all.

Take care and God Bless.

ox Marg 

... And a Step to the Side!!

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.

  So pleased to have you visit, and I hope you are having a lovely day.  

We've got some beautiful weather here in Adelaide today.  After a couple of very overcast days, the sun is showing it's face again.  It is very pleasant outside.  

So, what an I doing here, inside then???  Well, I wanted to show you my latest card. 

 This time, as you probably guessed from the Title, it is a Side Step card.

 The papers used are from Pion Design.  I so love the subtle patterns on these papers, they are gorgeous!  The top layer was curled at opposite corners and I coloured the back a little for contrast but, as I wanted to keep the monochromatic colour scheme, I just distressed the edges but didn't ink them.   

 Placed some gauze down first and then adhered my flower cluster on top.  The little velvet flowers are available from Meg's Garden, the small rose from Kaisercraft but the rose bud, the white flower and the tiny pale yellow ones are from my stash.  The stamens are also available at Meg's Garden.  You can find the store HERE.

 The two flower clusters are a mirror image of each other.

 The bit of texture was added using The Crafter's Workshop's 'Mini Ferns' Stencil and home made texture paste.  I originally coloured it the same as the back of the curled paper, but it didn't stand out as well, so I simply painted over it with gesso, although I did leave some of the colour on the paper.  I do sort of like that shadow effect.  The chipboard border is from Little Birdie and I simply painted it with white acrylic paint.

 The stenciling on the side panel is the same as on the front of the card except that I didn't colour it this time.  The tiny gems were added randomly around the card for a little bit of bling.

 The center strip is simply some gauze attached to a strip of the paper which was then tied with a twine bow and wrapped around the top layer.

 View of the card taken from each side to show how the Side Step looks. 

... And there you go ... all done!!   

I expect a lot of you probably like the clean and simple approach to card making, but I love distressing the edges and manipulating the paper to look like it's been used and abused.  It just adds so much interest to it ... well it does in my opinion anyway.   Don't get me wrong, I have seen a lot of totally gorgeous cards where the paper was lovely and flat and new looking but I for one simply love it when it's a bit messy and grungy, even on light coloured 'pretty' cards like this one.  I actually feel I haven't crumpled this one up enough, but I do love the way it turned out so it will have to do and, regardless of how you prefer your cards, I hope you like it too.  

Thank you so much for visiting  and I do hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

Please take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg

Woo Hoo!!! I am a Winner!!

Hi everyone!!

Just a quick little post because I have just discovered that I won the Challenge over at Crafty Card Makers.  

It was Challenge # 109 This is a Man's World and I Am A Winner!!!  Woo!! Hoo!!

My Winner's Badge ...

 ... and the card that won!!!

I would like to thank all the ladies at Crafty Card Makers but especially Carole who was the host for this Challenge and who actually chose my card.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Feeling good right now!!!!

Thanks for dropping by and sharing in my joy!!!

Take care lovely people and God Bless.

oxox Marg

Center Step

Hello everyone and welcome to my bloggy space!! Lovely to have you here.

I'm back to share another card with you and it is another center step card, a feminine one this time.  I still have a lot of masculine cards I need to make but keep getting side-tracked.  It's the flowers, they distract me every time.  LOL!

The papers I've used this time are from Prima's Sunrise Sunset Mini Pack.  All edges are distressed and inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  I've layered some netting in between the papers and added a little gauze in one corner and a die cut as well.  The Die is the Honey Blossom Sprig Die  by Memory Box.  I think the paper I've used for the die-cut is actually from Kaisercraft.

 Did some lacing on the side panels by simply punching the holes and then using embroidery thread for the stitching.  Have seen this on so many other peoples' creations, I thought I would give it a try.  Must say I quite like it.  I know Miranda Edney does this quite a lot and I've also seen it on Heather Jacob's  work.

 The flower cluster is made up of some daisy type flowers from Seriously Scrapbooking ( I don't know the Manufacturer ) a small rose from Kaisercraft and a small spray from Ribtex.  There's also some gauze and die cuts as well.  The dark brown branch was actually cut with my Silhouette and the fern is a Joy Craft Die. 

The chipboard frame is from Little Birdie which I've coloured with Brown and Olive Versa Color and then coated in clear embossing powder.

The wooden flourish is from Kaisercraft. I've left it raw and just inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. 

 Attached the usual strip of border punched paper on the inside.  The border punch used is Martha Stewart's Doily Lace Die.

As those of you who have visited here before probably realize, I quite enjoy making these Center Step cards.  They are a little more involved than the normal type of card because of the number of panels that need to be decorated.  It's not just the one surface, and I find it keeps the creative juices flowing and the brain working just a little harder to get it all to blend together.  Love it!!

That's all for today good people.  I do thank you so much for coming and hope you've enjoyed the visit.  

Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg

Altered Box for Meg's Garden

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  So nice of you to stop by.

Hope your day is going well and that the weather is being kind to you.

We are getting the most wonderful rain in Adelaide at the moment.  It has been coming down steadily since yesterday morning and, apparently, there is a whole lot more on the way.  I absolutely love it.  It's coming down nice and steady and everything smells and looks so fresh and new. We really needed it too.  It is wonderful!!

I have a new project up on the blog at Meg's Garden.  It is a small altered box and here is a little sneaky peek for you.

For more piccies and all the details please visit Meg's Garden Blog HERE and perhaps, leave a little comment there as well.  That would be lovely and much appreciated..

Thank you so much for visiting.

Take care and God Bless!!

oxox Marg