Give thanks

Hello, crafting friends!

 

There's a brand new board at the Tic Tac Toe Challenge today and Felicita has come up with great ideas to inspire you all:

 

 I went for the central column Leaves or foliage/Thank you/Die cuts.

Out of offcuts of white card I cut a little pocket using The Greetery's Halvsies Diamond die, and some leaves and berries with the Inside Out dies, also from The Greetery. I coloured the leaves and berries with inks and daubers and some markers for detail.

 

I spent some time arranging my foliage and berries in the pocket and, when I was happy with it, glued everything down. The sentiment is from a non-branded set that was a lovely gift from a pal :) 

 

Right, it's over to you now! Here's how to play: First hop over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge blog and check out the fabulous cards the rest of the team have made to inspire you; Next, pick a column, row or diagonal from the board and create a card using the ideas; Finally, link up with us using the blue Linky button at the bottom of the challenge post. Have fun!

 

CHALLENGES

I've not had much time to craft lately so it's lovely to be joining in at The Snippets Playground with this cards - lots of white snippets used; Lynn has chosen the theme of Falling Leaves at The Allsorts Challenge this week - my leaves have been gathered up and arranged in the pocket but I hope they still count! I'm also linking up with the Anything Fall Goes theme at Four Seasons.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Here are the Beige Beasts with long tongues due to a crazy autumn afternoon tearing around the paths the farmer has thoughtfully made for them in his harvested crop.

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,

Peace and Goodwill

Hello, crafting friends!

 

What a chilly old spring it's been this year! When you have to reach for a woolly throw most evenings and can't imagine what short-sleeved tops and flip flops are doing in your wardrobe, there really isn't any difficulty making festive cards! Here's one I rustled up earlier:

 

This has become a 'go to' recipe for a Christmas card for me - a sentiment label on a DSP background, embellished with foliage and berries. I trimmed a piece of Simple Stories designer paper with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle and glued it to a card front. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Hope and Peace and was stamped and heat embossed in red, then cut out with a label die from The Works. I popped this up on dimensional pads.

 

The foliage dies are from The Greetery and Flora and Fauna and I also used some unbranded holly dies. The die cuts were sponged with green inks except the berry branches which I left white. Everything was glued into place and I finished with some lovely shiny enamel dots.

CHALLENGES

Linda has an intriguing sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week which I used for this card; I'm also linking up with Peace on Earth which inspired me with another of their gorgeous mood boards; also the Anything Christmas Goes challenge at Rudolph Days where you can link up until the end of the month.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It's been good to have a bit of time to craft this weekend. The chilly weather has made me glad to get in from our walks and the golden girls are happy to settle down for a bit of serious napping while I create piles of papers, inks and dies all over the living room! 

 

Here's Eva being queen of the sofa! Of course it's important to keep one eye half open in case mum goes to the fridge for cheese!!

I hope you're enjoying your weekend :) 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,

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,