Crafty Cardmakers Challenge # 224

Hello everyone!!  Thank you for stopping by.  I hope you are having a fabulous day!

The new Challenge is live at Crafty Cardmakers.  This will be our last Challenge this year (can you believe it??)  and I am happy to say I will be staying on the Team for another year!  Yayy!!
Mary is our host for this Challenge and the Theme, of course, is Christmas.
As always, you may create anything you like as long as it fits the Theme.

This is the perfect time to start showing you the Christmas cards I have created for my family and close friends this year.

Usually, the cards I make for Christmas are quite similar  to each other and, this year, I have made them even more alike.  All of the papers and the embellishments are the same, I have simply changed the combinations slightly for each card. 

I made a decision earlier this year that I wouldn't buy any more Christmas card supplies.  This year, I would make all of them with whatever I had left in my stash from previous years.  Well, that turned out to be quite a lot.  I probably have enough left still to last me for the next couple of years at least!

The papers are all from previous Kaisercraft collections.  Some from a 6 x 6 pad and some from a 12 x 12 pad and the sentiments are also, mostly, from those pads.

I will be sharing my cards over the next few days (or weeks) and I will then explain more about the embellies used.

I hope you will pop over to the CCM blog and take a peek at what the rest of the Team have created.  Lots of inspiration there to inspire you to join in with the Challenge.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #224 - Christmas

Thank you so much for your visit, I really appreciate you taking the time.  I know how busy everyone is at this time of year.

Enjoy the rest of your day!!

Take care and God Bless.

A Special Anniversary

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.

So pleased you stopped by for a visit at this busy time of the year.

Last month our oldest son and his dear wife celebrated their 25th Wedding Anniversary.  Such a wonderful milestone and hubby and I are so very proud and happy for them!

This is the card I created for their special day!

The papers used are from the digital version of the Gardens in Paris Collection by Megs Garden.   They have some lovely papers available in both printed and digital versions, if you're interested, here.  I also used one of the images from their Vintage Flowers Journal cards.
For my card I just added a little stamping for some extra interest.

This flower is also available at Megs Garden.  It was white originally, I simply sprayed it with some watered down acrylic paint.  Underneath the cluster I added a piece of really pretty lace ..

.. as well as a length of thread and a mix of prills and micro beads.  The sentiment was computer generated and mounted on a piece of chipboard.

The clock was a freebie from the net (you know how much I love clocks).  Again, it was simply printed out and mounted on a piece of chipboard.

A bow made from cream seam binding completed the embellishments.

Voila!!

Thank you so much for your visit.  I know everyone is really busy preparing for Christmas (I have actually started on my Christmas cards!!!  Yayy!!) and I really appreciate you taking the time.

Have a wonderful week everyone!!
Take care and God Bless.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #223

Hi all and welcome to my blog.   So pleased you stopped by,

It's time for another Challenge at Crafty Cardmakers!!
Angela is our lovely host and the Theme is   
'ANYTHING BUT A CARD' 

 So, as always, you can make anything you like, as long as it is NOT a card this time.

I created a little tag.

  The background is from a Masterboard I created a while ago.  Found it in my stash and felt it was time to put it to good use.

I used Distress Inks to colour the background but I'm not one hundred percent sure of the colours I used so I'm not going to try to list them.  Gesso was used through the Mini Circle Explosion and the Mini Chicken Wire Reversed stencils by TCW.  The stamping was done with my fave Arty and Script Stamps by Kaisercraft.

The flowers are from Megs Garden and were coloured with sprays made from watered down acrylic paint and the butterfly was fussy cut from papers by Kaisercraft.

For extra texture I added a diecut, a piece of gauze and an offcut of lace underneath the cluster.

The quote is one I found on the net.  Simply printed it on some heavy paper, cut it apart and edged it with Ground Espresso Distress Ink.

Do pop over to the CCM blog and take a peek at the fabulous creations by my Teamies.  I am certain you'll be inspired to join in with the Challenge.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #223 - Anything but a Card

Thank you so much for your visit and for any sweet comment you may care to leave.  Both are very  much appreciated. 

Have a fabulous day!
Take care and God Bless.

 

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #222

Hello my dear visitors and welcome to my crafty space.

Hope your day is going well so far.

It's time again for a new Challenge at Crafty Cardmakers.    Judy is our lovely host and the Theme is
LOTS OF LAYERS!!
As always, you may create whatever you wish as long as it follows the Theme.

I have a masculine card for this Challenge.  Another quick and easy one I made a while ago which I felt was eminently suitable for this Challenge. 

 This one was made with lots of scrappy bits of papers that were left on my work desk.  I'm pretty sure they are a mix from Kaisercraft and Prima.

 I did a little machine sewing on this but, as you can see by the photos, that didn't go terribly well.  The thread kept breaking and, when I finally checked it, I found that the machine wasn't threaded or tensioned properly.  Duh!!  I was going to use another piece of dp but, went over the zig zag stitching again just to make sure it was working, and then decided that I would use it anyway.  Waste not, want not!!  LOL!!

Trimmed a couple of the paper pieces into little banners .. just because.

Cut a little banner from one of the scraps and added a sticker for the greeting.

I do love adding clocks to my masculine cards.  This one was fussy cut from a sheet of Kaisercraft dp (don't remember which collection) and then mounted on a piece of chipboard.

Done!!

Pop on over to the CCM blog and take a look at the fabulous creations by my Team mates.  I'm sure you will feel inspired to play along with the Challenge.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #222 - Lots of Layers

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

 

Masculine Flip Fold Album

Hello everyone.  Welcome to my crafty place.
Hope you are having a wonderful day.

I'm here to share with you the Masculine Mini Album I created for my Guest Design spot over at Mini Album Makers Challenge blog.  I had been wanting to create a masculine style mini album for a while and thought that this would be the perfect project for this post.
On the MAMC post, I shared the first half of the album and also shared how it was created.  In this post, I will show you the completed Album.  If you'd like to see the tutorial as well, HERE is the link.
This will be quite a long post so you might want to grab yourself a cuppa.

The outside of this album measures 5.5 x 6.5" and the inside pages are 4.5" x 6".  The spine is 2" wide.

The papers I've used are a mix from Studio Light's Industrial 2.0 paper pad and Kaisercraft's Factory 42 paper pad.

 The inside cover and the first page set.
I haven't done much embellishing in this album but I have added  a few cogs here and there and a little bit of washi tape as well.  I have also stamped some splatters and coffee stains, added a little stenciling and inked the edges of all the papers with Ground Espresso Distress Ink.

I created two sets each in two different styles of  pages.  So, there are 4 page sets in this book but, as you will see, there are a lot of places for photos, etc.
This page set opens up firstly to the left as seen above ..

.. and then the page on the right lifts up to reveal a folded card ..

 .. which is tucked into a side opening pocket attached at the back.

You may notice that I've added a few of Tim Holtz's Snarky Small Talk Stickers to this book.  If you'd like to see them properly, simply click on the pictures to get a larger view.

This is the back page of the first set and the first page of the second.
I have used a stacked hinge to bind my pages to the spine and have left a gap of about .25" in between each set so that the pages will sit nice and flat when opened.

The back page of the first set has a double belly band which is held down by some magnets ..

.. and opens up to reveal another photo mat.  All of the above mats and pages are attached to, and held by, a single hinge.

The second page set opens out to the right, and there is another underneath which opens out to the left.  It also has a folded card tucked into a pocket which is attached at the back of the set but this pocket is open at the top..

The back of the second set and first page of the next.

   This little flip up opens to reveal a double photo mat (or journaling spot).

The next two page sets are the same design as the first two but, of course, I have used different papers (from the same paper pads) to decorate.

  

The little flip up here is the same as the one from the second page set but I have changed it a little in that it opens up first and then flips up.  The first one flips up first and then opens.  I'd like to say that it was deliberate but I didn't realise that I actually put the papers on the wrong sides .. LOL!!

I can actually still flip it the right way but I wanted the dark grey papers showing on the outside of it as it is a nice contrast to the papers underneath.

The cover is made of chipboard.  As you can see I used a piece of hessian style material to cover the spine and, although the material is glued down, I added the brads for some extra interest and strength.  After all, this is a man's book and is going to get some rough handling!  LOL!!

I used a piece of corrugated board under a chippie frame by Little Birdie and a word strip by Scrapmats, to decorate the front of the book.  The frame was heat embossed with a mix of black and bronze embossing powder and the word strip was edged with Ground Espresso Distress Ink.

The chippie decorating the spine is also by Little Birdie and was heat embossed similarly to the frame on the front.

This book is fairly plain but I really enjoyed working it all out and creating it.  Between this book and the Junk Journal I created a while ago (you can see that here) I rediscovered my love for making books and I am itching to go and make another.  Hopefully, soon.

Sorry that this is such a long post but I hope you managed to stick it out to the end and that you enjoyed seeing my little album.  If you need some inspiration for your own Album making, pop on over and pay a visit to the Mini Album Makers Challenge blog.  The DT ladies create the most amazing books and I'm sure you will find plenty of inspo there and, if you enter the Challenge, you will have the chance of doing a Guest spot as I did.

Happy album crafting everyone!
Take care and God Bless