Allotment of birthday wishes

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's my OH's birthday coming up and I've had an idea for a card for him. He and I have been working on the allotment together (although I must say that he's done the lion's share this year while I have been busy working with Lulu.)

 

I thought this In Spades stamp set and coordinating Garden Gear Tools die, both from the Greetery, would be perfect for my allotment hero! I started with the trowel and fork, cutting a set from white snippets of card and another from grey. The wood effect handles can be cut separately, so I cut those from an offcut of brown card. I sponged the white set lightly with grey ink, then stamped a small floral design on each. Once these were completed, I assembled them, glueing the stamped tools to the grey ones for dimension and adding the handles. I sponged the edges of these with brown ink to blend the colours. For a decorative touch, I threaded a bit of jute through the handle of the trowel and knotted it.

 

Rifling through my designer paper drawer (and thinking of sheds!) I came up with a strip of wood effect paper which I trimmed to size with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle. (So sad, by the way, to see that company is closing.) I wanted a bit more interest on that background, so I chose an oversized birthday stamp from Avery Elle's Big Birthday and stamped it in black on the side. I was then able to add a little 'happy' tag.

 

I wanted the wood effect panel to have a blue border to match the floral design but didn't have matching card, so I swiped the ink round the edge of a white panel cut slightly larger. Finally, I glued everything in place, attached the panel to a card base and finished with a small orange enamel dot.

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Allsorts challenge where Gail has chosen Way to Grow as her theme; The Sisterhood of Crafters have an In the Garden theme, so I'm also joining in there. And this is the first time I used this stamp and die bundle, so I'm heading over to Darnell's NBUS challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Thank goodness election fever is over and we can return to the football! The golden girls disapprove of heated political debates and are happier (although still a bit dubious) with OH yelling at the footballers on the television screen to play better. They are quite surprised when we jump to our feet cheering, although this could be because it doesn't happen very often when supporting England!

Sending hugs,

The greatest gift

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Despite apparently living in tropics this week, I've been thinking about Christmas! The 25th of the month rolled round again, sparking another 'Aaargh! We're halfway through the year and my festive stash has failed to grow' panic. So I consulted some challenges and got to work.

 

Recently, I had a big clear out of my designer paper drawers and donated a whole load of tone-on-tone papers to some resourceful local children who were raising funds for their school by making and selling paper flowers. While I was sorting, some beautiful old Stampin' Up Christmas papers came to light and I used this cheerful stripe from them to create my gift. I cut a red card panel, and a smaller paper panel; the paper was cut into four pieces which were glued to the edges of the red panel. This revealed a 'ribbon' as the red panel showed between the paper pieces.

 

The tag was cut out of white card using an arch die from The Greetery. I stamped it with two sentiments from Reverse Confetti's The Best Gift of All and heat embossed in gold before mounting on another arch cut out of red card this time. The tag was glued to the 'gift' at a jaunty angle, decorated with various foliage and berries and finished with a die cut bow and a matching enamel dot. I attached the panel to a kraft card base to pick out the kraft colour in the paper design.

CHALLENGES

I was inspired by the Christmas Kickstart Challenge where this month's theme is It's a Gift; also Peace On Earth Challenge where there's a lovely kraft and green mood board; also Word Power where the sentiment is required to be the focus of your card; and last, but not least, Rudolph Days where Anything Christmas goes - this challenge has been triggering me to make Christmas cards on the 25th of each month for years now!!

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Lulu has learned some useful tips from her fluffy sister since she's been here. One of them is that the hallway is a cool and shady spot when the temperatures soar...

 

... and it's also an excellent surveillance spot - she knows EXACTLY where everyone is at all times, even if she does have a little snoozle!

Sending hugs,

Impressionist flowers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

And hello June - yikes, isn't that half of the year already gone?!! At the Flower Challenge, we have a brand new theme for you:

 

This month we're challenging you with a sketch:

 

 and, as usual, we want to see flowers headlining in your creation! Here's what I came up with:

 

I was really intrigued by that central panel and chose to interpret it with two embossed lines on my card front inset with a piece of a favourite designer paper trimmed to fit. Before attaching the paper, I sponged it lightly with a blue-green ink, fading out towards the top.

 

The flowers and foliage are from The Greetery's Fleur Impressions. I stamped the pretty blooms in pinks and yellows and fussy cut them, positioning them over the panel and popping the largest up on dimensional pads. The sentiment was placed in my stamp positioner and inked up with blue and grey markers for an ombré effect. It was cut into a flag and tucked under the large flower. I emphasised the dreamy look with some delicate sequins from my stash.

Okay, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Flower Challenge blog and check out all the wonderful cards my team mates have made to inspire you. When you've made your own, you can share it with us by using the Linky Tool at the bottom of the challenge post. Have fun - we can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in at We Love Stamping, where the optional theme is Fabulous Florals and where the team are celebrating 15 fabulous years! What an amazing milestone! I'm also playing along at Allsorts where Anything Goes or there's an optional Many Layers challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Forgive my absence over the past week; I have been celebrating my birthday and have had lots of visitors and treats and days out! The giddy social whirl has now calmed down much to my golden girls' relief. There have been some 'You're not going out and leaving us AGAIN are you?' looks on their little faces. They are happy to have me back doing my chores around the house and garden - although they prefer to have me sat down crafting, where they can keep their eyes on me and remind of their great need for sustenance or exercise, depending on the time of day!

Sending hugs,

A hugely happy happy birthday

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I'm living in Birthday Land at the moment as lots of friends and family celebrate their special days around this time of year. Today I want to show you a really quick card that I made for my brother's upcoming birthday:

 

The bright striped paper is a Stampin' Up design given to me by a lovely friend. I trimmed a little smaller than a card front and cut off the top at an angle.

 

 

Along the top I positioned the die cut word 'happy' from Uniko's Big and Bold Happy die set. I cut several of these out of yellow card and stacked them together for some nice dimension. I topped that with a birthday sentiment from Uniko's Simply Said Blocks stamp set, stamped in red ink and snipped out. That's it, very quick and simple :)

CHALLENGES

Kim's fabulous 'cut on an angle' sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week was my inspiration for this card, so I'm linking up there; I'm also joining in at AAA Birthday, where the theme is Clean and Simple birthday cards; The sentiment is the main focus of this card so I'm playing at Word Power too.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The nesting season is in full swing in my tiny garden and loads of birds, mainly sparrows, robins and blackbirds are busily popping in and out of the ivy and making exciting rustling noises. Eva takes it all in her stride and although she gets quite interested when the fledglings start to learn to fly, I am pretty confident she wouldn't harm them. Lulu, on the other hand, spends a lot of time watching them...

 

... and I cannot be sure that there are no dark hunting thoughts going on in that pretty head! You will be glad to know I don't leave her unsupervised in the garden!!

Sending hugs,

Floral notes

Hello, crafting friends!

 

There's a new colour challenge in Blogland! It's called AAA Colourful and is the sister challenge to AAA Cards and AAA Birthday which we all know and love. The challenges start mid-month and close on the 14th so there's time to join in. Come on you crafters - let's show some support!

 

I missed the first challenge but here is the mood board for this month and I couldn't resist these gorgeous colours. Here's what I made:

 

There was a discarded piece of white card that had been die cut with an Arch die on my table, so I stamped it with Waffle Flower's Poppy Hawthorn stamp set which was also out on my desk. (Do you think I should clear up?!) I coloured the flowers with Arteza  watercolour brush pens (also out on my table!!) and left the panel to dry.

 

Meanwhile, I trimmed a piece of Stampin' Up gingham DSP to size and glued it to a card base, adding a coordinating strip of card on the top. The dry floral panel was stamped with a sentiment and a line and secured to the card front with dimensional pads.

CHALLENGES

I'll be linking this card up at AAA Colourful :)

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Eva has disgraced herself I'm afraid. We went for a walk at a location we haven't been to for a long time and she was so excited she had a little roll in something very foxy indeed. The drive home was a little er, 'fragrant' and I don't think my OH will be coming out with us again for a while! After a full shampoo and blow dry, normal nasal service was resumed, but Eva looked like this:

 

Sending hugs,

Playing with layers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome back to The Flower Challenge where we are going for layers this month!

 

 

I'm not usually very comfortable with lots of layers, but I've gone all out on this card with a layered background and a spring bouquet layered up with foliage and flowers!

 

The design started with a neutral background, layered with a strip of an ancient SU paper. I trimmed this to size with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle and stamped the bottom corner with my sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio's Perfect Sentiments.

 

The bouquet was made up of the Greetery's Inside Out foliage dies, cut from black card; and the Wildflower dies, also from the Greetery, cut from white card and coloured with inks and daubers and coloured pencils. I glued everything in place and finished with a rustic twine bow.

 

Okay, now it's your turn! Do hop over to The Flower Challenge blog won't you - there is some incredible inspiration from the design team! When you're ready to share your own design, you can use the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post. Do make sure flowers are the focus of your design and have fun creating!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Seize the Birthday where Linda has chosen the Topping of Spring Floral. Also Addicted to Stamps and More where the challenge is to Use Dies and/or Stencils.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

There's lots of talk about spring but, after a reprieve of a day or two, the rain and the mud is back :/ But the golden girls don't mind a mucky walk and they get to have a spa treatment or two afterwards before a cordon bleu dinner in the Kitchen Restaurant and relaxation in The Lounge Area.

 

Lulu wonders what happened to those cucumber slices for her eyes...? You ate them Lulu!

Sending hugs,

Easter blessings

Hello, crafting friends!

 

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Today I'm showing you one of this year's Easter cards which uses up snippets of very old paper and card, and a ruined card base, and uses an interesting ink technique!

 

I used the back of a ruined card base to create a panel. I stenciled a 'glow' on it using Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil sponged with yellow ink. I wanted to depict the crosses of Jesus and the two criminals but didn't have stamps, so I used the edge of a piece of card dipped in an ink pad to create them - sometimes you just have to be a bit resourceful!! - then filled in with a brown marker.

 

The 'green hill without a city wall' (which always confused me when I sang it as a child!) was cut out from an offcut of some very old SU paper using an oval die from a nesting set. I added a snippet of contrasting paper at the top and cut the whole panel to size with a stitched rectangle from Heffy Doodle.

 

For the sentiment, I cut a small oval from the panel and replaced it with another oval stamped with the word 'Blessings'. The large Easter die cut is from The Greetery and was cut from a snippet of card which matched the hill paper. The card was finished with an assortment of sequins and enamel dots.

 

CHALLENGES

I used Amy's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches for this card so will link up there; Krafty Chicks has an All Occasions challenge and Addicted to Stamps and More has its Any Occasion challenge going on so I'm joining in at both.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

When you have a dog that has lived four years of her life in another household, you really don't know how they'll react when they come across something new. Today, we were walking up a lane when a horse and rider came round a corner. Eva was right beside me and I put her on lead immediately; Lulu ran towards the horse - eek! BUT...  I called her, she turned on a sixpence and ran back to me. I was able to pop her on lead and walk past the horse and rider with a cheery remark about the weather. Eva is great around horses but I didn't know about Lulu and I was SO proud of her!

Sending hugs,

Floral mail

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another fun challenge at The Flower Challenge! This month it's hip to be square as our theme is to make a square card featuring those gorgeous florals.

 

It's hard to believe it's March already and that here in the UK, we'll be celebrating Mothers Day on the 10th of this month. How fun to open an envelope and find a card inside featuring another envelope bursting with pretty flowers!

 

I stamped and fussy cut the flowers from The Greetery's Pine Blossom - which is a Christmas set but when has that ever stopped me?! Next, I cut the envelope from Mama Elephant's Botanic Envelope die set, as well as the Inside and Out leaves dies from The Greetery, which I sponged with green inks. I arranged the flowers and leaves inside the envelope and stamped it with a Mothers Day sentiment from Uniko. 

 

For the background, I stenciled a panel using blue ink and Funky Fossil's Fancy Trellis stencil, then layered a piece of thin mustard envelope paper over it. To finish, I positioned the flower filled envelope in the centre.

Right - now it's over to you! Do hop over to The Flower Challenge blog to see all the wonderful samples made by the talented design team, then come up with a creation of your own feasturing flowers on a square design.  When you're ready to share your card, you can use the Linky Tool which you'll find at the bottom of the post. You have until the 25th to join in - enjoy the challenge!

CHALLENGES

I'm joining in again at Allsorts with this envelope of spring flowers as Lorraine's theme is Spring; Spring has also sprung over at the Four Seasons Challenge so I'm linking up there too; I'm also linking up at Inspired by where I was inspired by the inspiration photo with its gorgeous envelope of blooms; and Color Dare #590 where the trio of colours are Lagoon, Clover and Honey Butter.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We've been spoilt with some moments of sunshine in the last few days, but cloud is building up again as I type and I'd better get those golden girls out before it rains! They have caught on to the fact that I always seem to be looking for water at the end of a walk and have enthusiastically joined in with the task of finding it:

 

Not sure if they read the memo all the way through though...!

Sending hugs,

Writing with love

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's a Tic Tac Toe Challenge Thursday today and I can't wait to show you the board Betty has come up with to get your creative juices flowing! 

 

I was excited by the left hand column CAS/Foliage/Metallic which gave me the perfect opportunity to have a little play with some new goodies that arrived recently :)

 

My starting point was making the fountain pen using the Greetery's new Pen Pal die. I cut the barrel of the pen and the lid out of a glossy magazine cover (look at me recycling!) and the trims from gold mirror card. You can see how shiny the pen turned out in the photo below :) The designer paper, a snippet of an SU paper gifted to me by a lovely friend, coordinated beautifully with the pen. I glued it to a card base and trimmed the edges.

 

The 'with love' from the Greetery's Scripted Sentiments was stamped directly onto the paper and card base. The 'on your birthday' comes from the same set and was stamped and trimmed into a banner. The leaf is a favourite stencil from Uniko, Natures Treasures, and was inked with a couple of shades of green ink. After assembling the card, I added a couple of green enamel dots to pull everything together.

 

Right, so now it's your turn! Here's how to play: First, hop over to the Tic Tac Toe challenge blog and check out the amazing inspiration from my team mates; Second, choose a row, column or diagonal and create a card using the suggestions; Third, use the Linky Tool at the bottom of the challenge post to link your creation with us. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

The Pen Pal die and the Scripted Sentiments were new so I'm sharing this card at Darnell's NBUS Challenge where we show off our Never Before Used Schtuff; I used a stencil so will link up at the Stencil Fun Challenge; Simply Clean and Simple wants to see CAS cards and their optional theme is Pink so I'm joining in there; and AAA Cards are looking for CAS cards with an optional twist of Birthday so I'm joining in there too!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I can reveal that I am officially fed up with winter now. No matter how many pink cards I make, life is just:

 

Please send sunshine and lollipops!

 

Sending hugs,