International Art and Soul - Elements of Nature

The theme this time at International Art and Soul is 'Elements of Nature' so please use your imagination and join us.

I used a card blank by Craft UK and then matted on to it a tan coloured sheet of handmade Indus paper by Paper State. The background paper of leaves is from a painting by my late husband, Eric. His painting hangs in my bedroom. When I printed it my printer was playing up and it didn't print properly, making blueish lines, but I actually liked it so decided to go with it in that form. I used my many Spellbinder dies to cut the leaves in many colours.  The sentiment is one of my favourites and after printing it I cut it out and edged with Distress Ink. I added the leaves around the sentiment and then added some gold stones to some of the gaps. I bought the stones in John Lewis about twelve or thirteen years ago because I thought they'd be good in my card making but I haven't used them that much. Large jars of gold, silver and red will keep me going for many years, lol

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

QKR Stampede - Anything Goes

Crafty Creations - Anything Goes

Inspiration Destination - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes

MAWTT Wedding/Anniversary/Engagement

Wendy set the theme for the challenge over at Moving Along withe the Times and it's Wedding/Anniversary or Engagement. My card can be used for any one of those celebrations as you can see.

My card blank is a scalloped 8x8 by Craft UK.  I used the Tied Together embossing folder by Couture Creations as the background. It was matted on to Anita's silver card. My Spellbinder dies of a heart shaped lock and key were cut out in a patterned silver card before being set in the bottom right corner. Joanna Sheen's dies of flowers were cut out in white as I'd decided to keep the card white and silver.  I added these to the top right and bottom left corners. The sentiment was generated on the computer in Scriptina font before being cut and backed with silver card. Mei Flower 'diamonds' were added to the sentiment and then I set it in the top left and raised it on pads.

I'm adding my card to the following challenges:
Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
Creates and Makes - Anything Goes/option Create a Sentiment
Lemon Shortbread - Anything Goes
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting.

International Art and Soul - Flowers

Come and join us at International Art and Soul and join in with our theme of 'Flowers'. 

My card is an 8x8 by Craft UK and I've used my new stencil on it. I bought the Folkart stencil at Hobbycraft a few weeks ago and this is the first opportunity I've had to use it. I stencilled the base pattern in Distress Inks in varying shades of green and then matted it on to Papermill red card. The elephants were done in Barn Door coloured Distress Ink on a separate piece of white card before being matted on to red card. I set it at an angle across the base mat. The same red card was used for the curved dies which I think were by Sue Wilson. I set one at the top of the elephants and the other at the bottom left so that I could add the flowers and swirly leaves to the right hand corner. The flowers were made for me a good few years ago by a blogging friend, Nataliya Simpson. The green swirly leaves were made with Spellbinder dies.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes

Crafty Animals - Anything Goes with animals

Petal Lu - Anything Goes with Red

Crafting by Designs - Animals

Stampotique Designers - Stencil It

Thank you all for visiting and leaving me comments, they are all much appreciated.

International Art and Soul - For Men

This challenge is all about the men so join us at International Art and Soul and show us what you can come up with for our theme of 'For Men'.

I'm showing an altered Craftbox that I receive full of craft items on a regular basis. I emptied the craft items into my usual storage spots and started on decorating the box for my friend who lives a couple of doors away.

The box is really sturdy and has a magnetic fastener so I thought, when he emptied it of his birthday goodies, he could use it for bits and pieces of his hobbies. I used Craftbox papers as the base. They are of old seed packets and I tore the edges and then used Distress Inks on them. I then started to add items that I knew would have some meaning to him - the little Snipart garden gate and watering can, the wooden flowers, bird and sun from Create and Craft - he's a very keen gardener. I added a little Hobbycraft wooden frame and then centred in it a little guitar charm. He's also a keen guitarist. Cogs made me think of cars - not sure whether they are relevant to cars - but he likes driving so I reckoned they would tie in. A gnarled branch from Craftbox was placed almost mid centre and then I added Hobbycraft wooden letters making up his name. I'd used bronze acrylic paint on the letters and then added a little arrow pointing to the name. Final additions were a brown gem and brown checked button, both from Mei Flower. He now has the box which had inside a half bottle of whisky, snazzy jar of chutney, sweets, etc. and he loved it.

I'm entering my box into the following challenges:
A Inky Mess - Anything Goes Mixed Media
Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes Mixed Media
Connie Can Crop - It's a Guy Thing
Cards Galore Encore - Anything Goes
Craft Rocket - For the Men/Boys
Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
Shopping our Stash - Dude
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

MAWTT Embossing wet/dry

The challenge this time is Embossing - wet or dry. The theme was set by Sue B over at Moving Along with the Times. Do come and join us and see the super cards made by Team B.

I decided to use both wet and dry for my card. It's a 7x7 card blank by Craft UK. The paws embossing folder came into use for only the second time - I've had it for ages! I embossed right and left sides of the card blank, leaving the middle blank. The embossing folder is a long narrow one and I cannot for the life of me remember who made it. I stamped a Tim Holtz crazy dog and after colouring with my Promarkers I cut him out leaving a narrow white border round him. I set him in the bottom corner and then stamped his feeding bowl and bone in the blank space next to him, both coloured with my Promarkers. The sentiment is by Visible Image and I stamped and embossed with Sparkle N Sprinkle embossing powder in Blueberry. After heat embossing it I cut with a Spellbinder wonky square die and then cut the larger size in metallic blue card as the mat. I set this to the top of the blank panel and that's my card finished.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
Lemon Shortbread - Anything Goes
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Crafting From the Heart - Anything Goes
Simon Says Monday - Masculine
Addicted to Stamps - Animals

Thanks for visiting, call again soon.

IAAS - Stitching Real or Faux

Stitching - Real or Faux is the theme for the challenge over at International Art and Soul. My faux stitching is a bit messy but because it's close work my eyes weren't too good, sorry.

I used an 8x8 ivory coloured card blank by Craft UK and then added a mat of beige Papermill card. The Tonic lace layering die in large size was used for the next layer. I only fixed the centre panel so that the lacy edge stands proud. The flower stamp was a freebie from a magazine and I stamped it in Memento ink Rich Cocoa before cutting out with a Spellbinder die. I used the embossed edge to try and keep my faux stitching in place and for this I used my Promarker in brown (oops, placed back in tray before I noted the exact colour!) That was fixed slightly above centre and then I added two swirls in beige using my Tattered Lace die. The sentiment is by Lili of the Valley and that was stamped in brown and added to beige card too. Three gold pearls by Michael's stores (yay, I've had them years and just got round to using them) were added to the top right.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:
Crafty Creations - Anything Goes
The Crafty Addicts - Anything Goes/Use Die cuts
Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes
Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
Lemon Shortbread - Anything Goes
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

International Art and Soul - Hot Colours

The new theme over at International Art and Soul is 'Hot Colours' so please come along and join us.

My card blank is by Craft UK and is 7x7 - my new favourite size.  I used my new Ally Pally buys to make this card. The first were the background stamps which are by IndigoBlue and I used my Distress Inks in hot colours to stamp before adding a strip of bright red ribbon - donated by my DIL, Wendy. The next was the word stamp by Visible Image which I stamped in Barn Door Distress Ink. After stamping the base sheet I mounted it on peach coloured card by Papermill. I then added the ribbon before mounting it on pads for depth. The word stamp was mounted on bright orange card, again by Papermill, and then added to the top of the design. I used a very old Create and Craft punch to punch out some bright yellow suns that I set on the ribbon. Red gems by Mei Flower were then added randomly to the design.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

Colour Crazy Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafty Girls Creations - Anything Goes
Card Mania - Life is Colourful
Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations - Anything Goes

Thank you all for visiting, please call again soon.