For a Special Man

Hello sweet visitors and welcome to my blog.  Hope you are all having a wonderful day. 
An especially warm welcome to my new followers, so lovely to have you here.

I have a new card to  share with you today .. and it was made for one of the favorite men in my life .. my youngest Grandson who has just turned 19.
As I have more male rellies and friends than I do females, I need to make quite a few masculine cards throughout the year.  Even though I love making cards for all of my favourite people, I must say that I much prefer making the feminine variety .. they are so much easier to do and I prefer working with flowers and ribbons and pretty things.

Anyway, enough grumbling .. here is my card. 

I've used kraft cardstock as the base and the papers used are from Prima's Cartographer 6 x 6 Paper Pad.

I do like the way this one turned out, but it ended up fairly heavy, so it's lucky that I don't need to mail it.

Distressed all the edges and then added a bit of crackle paste and some paint splashes.

Washi Tape, strips of paper and chipboard makes up the layers.  The chippie is from 2Crafty Chipboard.

A small photo frame coloured with VersaMagic Midnight Black and the greeting done in my own handwriting.  My gel pen didn't work so well at the start but it didn't turn out too bad.
That fabulous watch was found on a site called Epbot.  They took photographs of some actual pocket watches and made them freely available for people to copy and use.  HERE is the link in case you'd like them for yourself.
I simply printed it, cut it out, pasted it on some cardboard and covered it in Glossy Accents.  I was going to make some hands for it but decided to leave it as it is.

To finish off I added some metal cogs and some seed beads and also added a little 'rust'.

The inside.  The left side is a pocket where I inserted a Gift Voucher and I added a personal message on the right.

Thank you so much for dropping by, and a special thanks to those of you who have left me a little comment.  I love reading each and every one and I really appreciate you taking the time.

Do enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.

Some Colouring in and Sticker Fun!

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

A bit of a different post for me.  Thought I would give you an update on my Planner and show you a bit of my Colouring book as well.   I'm not really crafting very much right now because my mojo has taken a holiday (seems to be happening a lot lately .. hope it's not permanent) so I thought I would share some of the other things I'm doing.
Now that we are almost at the end of February (can't believe how fast this year is going) I thought I'd show you how January finished up looking.  This is my first Planner so it is all still a learning curve for me but I am really enjoying the process.

I found some really cute owl stickers (love owls) and some animal stickers too.  So my Planner will be filled with these I'm sure. LOL!!

I'm adding in lots of inspirational quotes.  It's good to keep oneself motivated and thinking positive.

The main reason that I now have a planner, of course, is to keep track of appointments and social events, but I also want to record the ordinary mundane things that happen in our lives.  Sometimes, they actually turn out to be the most important things and, if I've written them down, I will actually remember when and where and how they happened.

So, when good things occur, and I find that I don't have enough room in a single day section to record all the details, I add in an extra page or half page so that I don't miss out any of the details.  The little page above was added in to record the things we did when my Granddaughter came for a sleepover. 

I have some see-through pockets so that I can add in photos or, as in this case, some more quotes, because I'm really hopeless at remembering to take photos.  Have to hang a big sign around my neck, I think!!  LOL!!

I'll also be keeping some bits of memorabilia such as the tickets from when we went to see Star Wars.  Really enjoyed that movie .. I think Disney did a great job on it.
 

I have some private things written in these pages so I've blurred the words a bit .. don't want to be giving away any family secrets!  LOL!!
So that's my planner pages for January.  I'm starting to get a better feel for how I want this Planner to look so February is looking a bit more organised .. well, to me anyway ,, but that's a post for another day.

So, in the evenings, when we're watching a bit of TV or a movie, I do some colouring in.  Yep!!  I've also been bitten by the Adult Colouring bug!!  They call it 'Adult Colouring', but it's still just colouring in exactly like the kids do,  soooooo we're not really fooling anyone are we??  LOL!! 

I have to admit, I really enjoy it.  I find it very relaxing and I love the fact that you don't have to  be realistic, I mean, you don't see too many plants with blue or purple leaves do you???

Or a multi-colured tree for that matter ..

Or a multi-coloured Owl??

Yeah!!  They're a bit weird, but I love it!!!  I really love the books I've got too.  They are the 'Enchanted' series of Colouring Books by Johanna Basford.  A little more expensive but really good quality paper and really lovely images.

You have to wonder though don't you .. I play with stickers in my Planner and I play with coloured pencils in my colouring book .. so, am I going through my second childhood??  Actually, no, I think I'm going through my third or even fourth!!  LOL!!  Don't care .. I love it!!

This was just a bit of fun so I hope you enjoyed it and don't think me too mad  (I am though! LOL!)

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

Creating with the Chantilly Cream Papercraft Pack - A Megs Garden DT Post

Hello crafty visitors and welcome to my blog.  Hope you are all having a wonderful day.
A very warm and special welcome to my new followers.  Thank you so much for joining me on my creative journey.

I have been having a fabulous time working with the new Chantilly Cream Paper Collection which is exclusive to Megs Garden.  I must say I am totally in love with these papers.  They are gorgeous.  Beautiful creamy colours and suitable for so many styles of projects from Vintage to Shabby Chic and anything in between.

I would like to share two cards and a tag that I have created with the Papercraft Mini Pack.  This pack is like a mini kit and is ideal for all of your smaller projects such as cards, tags, ATC's and even mini books.   You get 6 sheets of papers measuring 8.5" x 11".  Three of these sheets have 2 designs at 5.4" square with two matching mini strips on the side.  The other three sheets are full of ephemera and you can order it in either the printed version or the download version.  The download version is fabulous because there is no waiting for delivery.  You pay for your purchase and download straight away which means you can buy your papers and start creating on the same day ..  how awesome is that??  To take a closer look at this Papercraft Pack HERE is the link.

So, on to my creations.  First up is the tag.

I used two of the mini strips for this tag.  To complement the neutral tones of the paper, I decided to use purple and tan .. I think these colours look really great together. I also did a little stamping with my fave stamps and added some texture paste through a stencil.

While the texture paste was still wet, I added some clear micro beads for some added texture.

The large bloom was one I actually handmade a long time ago.  I found it in a forgotten corner of my stash and felt it suited the tag beautifully.   The bow was made with some knitting cotton which is not quite as stiff as twine so it has a softer look to it.

The white rose is the 'puffy paper flower' available from Megs Garden and one of my fave 'go to' flowers.   The cotton lace is also available from the Garden but the fern is from my stash.  I will leave a list of Megs Garden products at the end of this post.

The 'Love' label is from the ephemera which comes in the kit.  It was simply fussy cut and then mounted on some card stock.

I love creating tags but don't always have a use for them so what I usually do is mount them onto some cardstock and turn them into cards and that is what I'll do with this tag.

So, onto my cards.  Here is No. 1.

 I used one of the 5.4" squares for this card.  My go to size for square cards is 5.5" x 5.5" so, as this is double matted, I did need to trim the paper to fit.  Used 'Gathered Twigs' Distress Ink through a Tim Holtz stencil for some added interest and distressed all the edges.

This flower is another treasure found  in my stash.  Have no idea where I got it from.  Originally it was brown so, to match in with my colour scheme, I sprayed it with Afraid of the Dark Glimmermist.  It has a lovely shimmer to it although that doesn't show up very well in the photo.  Swiped it with a little gesso to add some highlights.

I used some of the ephemera from the pack for my layers.

Border punched some Kaisercraft papers (the only purple paper I could find in my stash) and then pleated it and tucked it under the layers.  This was an idea I lifted from Nancy Border Dynes (her works are awesome).  I love that bit of colour peeking out from underneath.

For this next card I also used the ephemera from the pack.

There are several different floral images in this pack and I felt this particular one went well with the other elements on the card.  The pretty lace attached at the side is, of course, available at the Garden.

All of these flowers are available at Megs Garden.  I used 'Sugar Plum Fairy' Glimmermist to alter the colour to match in with the image. 

A little bit of mesh and some cotton thread was added for extra interest and texture.

Megs Garden products used

Chantilly Cream Papercraft Mini Pack
New Cream Lace 12mm
Lace 1.6cm wide
Puffy Paper Flowers
Cherry Blossoms
Gold Pearl Stamens

I hope I have given a little inspiration for you to try Megs Garden papers and embellishments for yourself.  For more inspiration, why not take a look at all the wonderful projects created by my Teamies HERE.  To take a look at all the gorgeous products Megs Garden has to offer HERE is that link.

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

oxox Marg

Turtle Soup Creative Magazine - February 2016

Hello lovely visitors and welcome to my blog.  I hope you are all having a fantastic day.

Just a quick post today.  I was priviledged to be invited again to contribute some of my work for the Turtle Soup Creative Magazine which has now gone live.

I was lucky enough to have 4 of my cards and one of my Mini Albums included in the February issue.  A huge thank you to Bev Code for inviting me once again.

To view the Magazine, click on the above link then click on the link to the Magazine and then on Full screen to browse through it.  It is full of beautiful and inspirational projects from crafters all over the world and I feel very priviledged to have my little creations in there as well.


Here are my published creations on pages 94 & 95.  Sorry for the fuzzy image.

  

Of course, if you browse the Magazine, I promise the photos are a lot sharper.

Thank you so much for popping by and do enjoy the rest of your day.

Take care and God Bless.

A Tag for "More Than Words' first Mini Challenge!!

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to my blog, so nice you dropped by.  

I'm here to share a tag I made to join in with the brand new 'Mini Challenge' at the More Than Words facebook site.  The challenge is to use the word 'Be' in your project which, in this case, needs to be a card, a tag or an ATC and then you have to share it on their facebook page.

HERE is the link

 and here is my tag.

The paper used are from 7Dots Studio.  I received them as part of a give away prize I won from Helen Tilbury at Scrap Addict.  Have always wanted some of their papers so I was so thrilled to receive these.  I know I've said it before but, Thank you Helen!  I love these papers.
I did a little stamping and added some texture paste through a stencil for a bit more interest.  Once the paste was dry I added some extra colour.

The two larger blooms are available from Megs Garden.  I really love these flowers .. they have such a lovely shape, are the perfect size for cards and small projects and it is so easy to change their colour to whatever suits your creation.  All the other elements in the cluster are from my stash.  Once everything was glued down, I added some micro beads.

 

The chippie frame is from Imaginarium. Gave it a coat of gesso and then painted it with white acrylic paint.  While it was still wet, I sprinkled on some micro beads and pressed them into the paint.
A few of them did come off but I am happy with the amount that have stayed on.  After I glued the frame to my tag, I added more micro beads  in the center. 

The quote was printed out on my computer and I simply mounted it on some cardstock, edged it with gathered twigs distress ink and, once it was glued down, added more micro beads.

I was going to punch a hole at the top to thread some ribbon through but have decided that I will turn this tag into a Birthday card so the ribbon won't be needed.

.. And there you have it!!  I am so pleased I was able to join in with the very first Challenge at this new site.  My mojo seems to have gone on holiday and I have been struggling to finish some other projects I started a little while ago.  I'm hoping that, after taking a little break and doing  other things (like this tag), I will now be able to go back and finish those off.

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

A Tag .. and Planner Update!

Hello all my crafty friends.  So pleased you dropped by and hope you are having a wonderful day.

I'm here to share a little tag I created.  I watched a tutorial by Tammy Tuterow and, although the basic technique wasn't something new that I hadn't tried before, it was something I hadn't done in a while so I decided to have a little play.  HERE is the link to the tutorial and ..
this is my tag.

I used a slightly different colour combo to the one Tammy used and she used clear texture paste whereas mine is slightly transparent.  Tammy also added micro beads and glitter while the paste was still wet but, unfortunately, I got called away just after I stenciled this and by the time I got back, it was too late to do that.  Ah well, such is life.  Maybe next time.

I did some stamping on the background with my two fave stamps.  'Arty' and  a Script stamp .. both from Kaisercraft.

The two white blooms are the 'Puffy Paper Flower' and the 'Azalea' which are both available from Megs Garden.  The Azalea was all white , I simply coloured the center with some watered down acrylic paint.  The other flower was part of a crafty gift from my dear friend Heather Jacob.  

The chippie is from 2Crafty Chipboard and I added a little 'Rust' to the Tim Holtz Word Band.  The Word Band is available from Megs Garden.

I didn't follow the whole Tute from Tammy  .. just the basic background .. and then it just grew from there.  Not sure yet what I will do with this tag.  I may even turn it into my next Christmas card .. that should be interesting,  LOL!!

Now, about my Planner.  In my last post I mentioned that I wasn't really happy with the dividers I made.  I was even thinking of perhaps making some mixed media style ones, although that was going to be a lot of work.  Well, I did decide to change them.  Luckily, I had only done January and February so there wasn't a lot to change.

This is the original January divider ..

.. and this is the new one.

I am so much happier with the new ones.  I had downloaded some Katy Pertiet  free printables (HERE is the link) which I was going to use as small labels inside my planner.  I  resized them using Photo Shop and then also changed the colour balance on some of them to match in with the coloured monthly tabs and now they are my dividers .. and I love them!!!  The best part is .. they took hardly any effort at all.

 This is the original February divider ..

.. and this is the new one.

Covered the back of the last weekly January page, and created a pocket to hold my stickers.   A lot neater than doing it the other way,

I do realise that February is not the start of Autumn but I really love this page and it matched in well with the monthly tab.  So March, eat your heart out!!  LOL!!

So, that's my new look Planner.  Every once in a while I will show you more of my pages.  I'm really enjoying putting this together.  I don't have to worry about inking or stamping (unless I want to of course LOL!!)   all I'm really doing is adding stickers and washi (or my facsimile) and then just journaling about the things that are happening in my life.  I love it!!  No stress, no hassles, I only do what I want to do .. like I said "I love it!!"

That's all for today sweet friends.  Thank you so much for visiting and do enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.