Big card for a big birthday

Hello, crafting friends!

 

One of my neighbours was having a big birthday so we all clubbed together for a gift and I was so excited to be asked to make a card for us all to sign to go with it. Come and see:

 

The card is a sheet of thick white A4 card, scored and folded in half, so it is twice the size of the cards I'm used to making - and that was a lot of fun! I cut a card panel with a large stitched rectangle die by Christina Griffiths and sponged in an inky background. I clapped wet hands over this to create movement and  texture and left it to dry.

 

To build up a background for my toadstool and leaf scene, I used inks and daubers and three stencils: Berry Branch by the Greetery and Uniko's Tiger Print and Natures Tresure. The leaves, from Fall Foliage by Reverse Confetti, were left overs from another project and the mushrooms are gorgeous textured die cuts from the Greetery's Toadstool Garden, coloured with ink and daubers. Everything was glued in place, the panel attached to the card front and, to finish, I stamped a sentiment from Uniko's Birthday Sentiments.

 

 

I made a little gift bag too, out of some Stampin' Up designer paper I've had for many a year! I added a tag cut with an arch die, and sponged and stenciled using the same elements as the card.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Happy Little Stampers Birthday challenge where Anything Birthday Goes; Ellie has chosen the theme of The Great Outdoors at Allsorts this week, so I'm joining in there too; I'm also playing along at November's Stencil Fun Challenge where Leaves are the optional theme.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The clocks have gone back here which means the evenings are drawing in earlier and I'm finding it really hard to adjust to the dark this year. Anyone else? Off to make a hot water bottle and curl up with a rug over my knees...!

Sending hugs,

Cast your cares on Him

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Fancy a game of crafty Tic Tac Toe? Well, it's a Tic Tac Toe Challenge Thursday today and it's my turn to come up with a board to inspire you 8 different ways:

 

 

I hope I've instantly got you rummaging through your craft stash with some of these ideas! For my card, I used the left hand column, Leaves/Autumn Colours/Twine, and a colour scheme inspired by a pair of shoes (see And in Other News below for more on this!)

 

I started by cutting a frame using a stitched rectangle and a label die. The sentiment from The Greetery's Comforting Commands was stamped directly onto a card base and the frame popped up on dimensional strips to create a shadow box effect. I was then ready to decorate this with leaves and berries from The Greetery's Berry Branch stencil.

I sponged warm brown and burgundy inks into the leaves, adding detail with markers, then stenciled the berries using just markers. Then came the tricky bit: fussy cutting everything! I must look and see if there is a coordinating die because it was quite fiddly, but I love the way the leaves and berries turned out. I arranged a few of the leaves above the sentiment and a larger cluster, tied up with twine, below it.

 

Okay, so now it's your turn to pick a line from the board! My team mates have pulled out all the stops to inspire you with their gorgeous makes, so do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge website to check them out. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to share your own creation with us. Have fun won't you - I can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

This card was based on Amy's fabulous sketch at Freshly Made Sketches so I'll link up there; I used stencils to create my berry and leaf clusters so will also enter this at the Stencil Fun Challenge and Happy Little Stampers where Anything Stenciled Goes; I'm also joining in at Make My Monday which has an Autumn Colours challenge going on. 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

My husband and I had a look in the Next sale for some bargains a couple of weekends ago. He didn't find anything but I found a sturdy pair of shoes which I thought would be useful for walking the dogs. I loved the colours on them! 

 

When my eldest son came in from work, he saw them and picked them up and examined them. "Whose are these?" he asked. I told him I had found them at Next and he raised his eyebrows and told me they looked just like Gucci shoes. I informed him roundly that no-one in their right mind would imagine they were Gucci shoes when paired with my old tracky bottoms and anorak and while walking the dogs in the wind and rain!

Sending hugs,

A burst of stenciled leaves

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another challenge from Tic Tac Toe, where inspiration comes 8 different ways! Elizabeth has come up with a great board today:

 

I couldn't wait to get going with the diagonal from top left: Stencil/Free/Foliage because I'd been thinking about combining a few of my stencils to see how it worked out. Well it came out like this:

 

I started off with the Flower Bouquet Builder stencil from MFT, selecting a few different flowers and berries and inking them in a random pattern. The leaves are from the Greetery's Berry Branch stencil. I positioned the larger leaf around the flowers and sponged colour into it. At this point I brought out my coloured pencils and added more intense colour and detail to the flowers and leaves. I wanted the illusion of lots of leaves in the bouquet so I picked some other leaves from the Berry Branch stencil and stenciled them in a paler green so they looked as if they were behind the first leaves and flowers.

 

For further depth, I used Funky Fossil's Fancy Trellis as a background, masking off the bottom of the card and sponging blue ink outwards and upwards to a fade. The sentiment is from Tagged Elegance by the Greetery. To finish,  I stenciled a single flower on a snippet of card and fussy cut it, popping it up on the card, and added some enamel dots.

Okay, so now it's your turn! Which row or column will you choose? Or are you going for one of the diagonals? Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe blog to see the amazing samples the team has made to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to share your own design with us. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at the Stencil Fun Challenge where the optional theme is Fall, but Anything Stenciled Goes; I'm also joining in with Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where Anything Stenciled Goes; and also playing along with Addicted to Stamps and More where it's the turn of the Any Occasion challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I walk and board a selection of gorgeous dogs. I'm not supposed to have favourites but if I did happen to melt at the sight of a certain little golden girl called Lulu, who could blame me?! 

A pair of Grubs! Lulu (left) and Eva (right)

Sadly, Lulu's family have had a crisis, are having to move away and are unable to take their girl with them. I didn't hesitate to offer her a home. I have adored her since the day we started walking together, and Eva and she have always got on well together - often behaving like naughty twins! Luckily OH (perhaps knowing that there would be no peace until he agreed!) gave the go ahead and she will be coming to live with us properly next month after an easing-in period of extra walks, sleepovers and vet visits. Hurrah!!

Sending hugs,

Hello autumn!

And hello, crafting friends!

 

Today, OH wandered out of his office at lunchtime and announced that he wanted a fairly neutral postcard to send in the post and did I have anything suitable? I had a rummage but couldn't find what he wanted, so I said those words, thrilling for any crafter: "I COULD quickly make something for you!"

 

So I pulled out the Berry Branch stencil from The Greetery (which I've been dying to play with!) and came up with this quick creation. I used a thick card panel and masked off the edges with low-tack tape. I positioned the stencil over the top, securing with more tape and set to work with sponge daubers, inks, markers and coloured pencils.

 

When the stencil was removed, I added more detail, including gold dots on the larger leaves, and white highlights on the berries. The sentiment is a favourite die from Funky Fossil. I die cut it from terracotta card and glued it to a white panel to make it pop - and oh look! Another way to use my new nesting arch dies!

CHALLENGES

Darlene and Diane, two of the most energetic crafters in Blogland have come up with a fabulous new monthly challenge: The Stencil Fun Challenge - do take a look! It's Anything Goes with optional themes (this month it's Halloween Colours.) I'm linking up there and also at another wonderful challenge they run, The Four Seasons Challenge, where this month the theme is Anything Goes Fall. The Paper Players are also looking at the changing seasons with this week's Autumn challenge and Joanne wants to know what the season means to you (see my thoughts below!) To celebrate the first use of The Berry Branch stencil, I'm joining in with the NBUS challenge where Darnell wants to see our Never Before Used Schtuff!

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

As a dog walker, I see the changing seasons unfold at close quarters. In every season God's extraordinary creation fills me with amazement in all its incredible detail, but there's no doubt that the pups are much more comfortable in the cooler weather - especially the extra floofy ones like my lovely girl :)

 

Today, there was a warm wind blowing and we stayed out for hours. Here's Autumnal Eva (looking slightly embarrassed because she thought we were going the other way!)

Sending hugs,