Josh Griffiths Forest Animals...

Hey there, crafty friends! I'm back to share a couple of cards made with the Josh Griffiths Forest Animal dies that I got in my recent Sizzix haul...

First up is the Valentine's card I made for hubby using the ever so sweet Bear die - he is so easy to layer up and turns out SO CUTE!...

Then I decided to make up the deer die and create a card...

The little rocks came from another Josh Griffiths set that I got in the sale called Twilight Animals...

And then, because you have to cut multiple layers for each animal, I couldn't waste the other layers, so ended up with a whole menagerie of animals!...

 

I have to say, that cute bear has to be my favourite and I can see me using him for quite a few Christmas cards this year! I still have the little raccoon to play with, but that's for another day...

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you like my die cut creations...

Crafty hugs, 

Passion for Markers - Mega Christmas Challenge 'Use Die Cuts'...

 Hello there, dear crafty friends! I can't quite believe that it is this time of year already, but here we are at the beginning of December, preparing for Christmas and the start of a New Year! It also means that it is time for our Mega Christmas Challenge over at Passion for Markers...

This challenge will run for a whole month and ends on 3rd January 2023!  This gives all of our Design Team members a chance to take a little break over the festive season and catch up on their last minute cards and gifts...however to make up for the lack of challenges we have some fantastic prizes up for grabs!

Our theme for the Mega Christmas challenge is “use die cuts”.  We don't mind what you create for this challenge, as long as you use some die cuts and colour with your markers!  You are welcome to make Christmas creations but as the challenge will still be running after the ‘BIG’ day you can of course make any type of creation.  As time is precious for our DT at this time of year we are limiting the number of entries you can make to just 3 for this month long challenge.  

* Please remember to be eligible for our prizes you must use your markers such as Promarkers, Copics, Spectrum Noir, Karin, Zig Clean Color etc *

So now for the exciting bit – the prizes!

Dies to Die For are offering 1 lucky winner a £20.00 gift voucher

Uniko Stamps are offering 1 lucky winner 1 stamp set (must be in stock)

Leann’s World 101 are offering 1 lucky winner 2 digi images

Crafty Sentiments Designs are offering 1 lucky winner 3 digi images

Colour of Love digis are offering 1 lucky winner 3 digi images

All Dressed Up stamps are offering 1 lucky winner 2 digi images

Polkadoodles are offering 1 lucky winner 3 digi images

Di’s Digi Stamps are offering 1 lucky winner a $6.00 voucher

Sheepski Designs are offering 1 lucky winner 3 digi images

Wow, we are sure you’ll agree our sponsors have been super generous once again this year!  We are so grateful to have their continued support. 

We have asked both design teams to share some inspiration with you but as it such a long challenge we will be posting the inspiration from Team 1 today and then in two week’s time we will be posting inspiration from Team 2.  

So here's a look at my contribution... 

Once again, I managed to avoid that event that is looming on the near horizon and went for a pretty floral creation using a new stamp and die set that I picked up in one of the various sales?! I coloured the little flower sprigs with my Pro/Flexmarkers :

Flowers - Pink Pearl, Sorbet, Fuchsia Pink, Orchid, Wild Orchid, Amethyst, Apple Green

Vase - Pebble Blue, Blender  

I kept my card in my ever favourite CAS style with an inked background and although somewhat happy with the result, I feel it is a little off balance and everything could have done with being lower on the card...but hey, ho! I'll know for next time!...

So to re-cap the challenge will run until 3rd January 2023 and you can enter a maximum of 3 times.  Unfortunately during the Mega Christmas challenge we will not be choosing a Top 5 Passionista but this will re-commence for the first challenge in 2023.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and wish you every happiness in the coming year!

Crafty hugs,

 

Passion for Markers - Something beginning with 'B'...

 Good morning, crafty friends! Hope you're all coping in this extreme heat that we're having here in the UK...best place to be is indoors crafting?! (If only I had the inspiration!)...

I'm here to share my DT card for this week's challenge over at Passion for Markers. The lovely Lorraine is in the hostess chair with a fun theme of 'Something beginning with B'...maybe bears, bugs, bows, blue, buttons or butterflies...

We're being sponsored by Dies to Die For who are offering one lucky winner a £15 voucher to spend in their online store...

 For my card, I dug out a die that I picked up in the Sizzix sale, possibly 4 or even 5 years ago and have never really known what to do with it, so cut it in white card and decided to colour it up with my alcohol markers...

I attached the bird (my something beginning with B) onto white card with the intention of cutting it out with a border but liked the way it sat on the slim panel and went with it...Some delicate papers and embellishments and a stamped sentiment were enough (I thought) to showcase this pretty die cut, and all mounted onto a light grey pearlescent cardstock...

I hope you can play along with our fun challenge this week and look forward to seeing how you all interpret it...

Crafty hugs,

Passion for Markers - Dies and/or Punches...

 Happy Tuesday, crafty friends! Another week whizzes by and it's time for a brand new challenge over at Passion for Markers!...

This week it's the lovely Marie in the hostess chair and she's given us a SUPER EASY theme of 'Use Dies and/or Punches'... I have to admit that it is very rare for me to create a card without using one or the other of these, so this was an easy one...

We're being sponsored by Dies to Die For who are offering one lucky winner a £15.00 voucher to their store (can I play along?!)...

 For a crafter who doesn't do Christmas early, I have been making quite a few festive makes and this one uses the free dies that came with Simply Cards and Papercrafts magazine Issue 222...

 

 I decided to show that using your markers doesn't have to mean colouring an image and created an ombre effect on the lettering and vellum background on this simple Christmas card. I used a Blender pen, Pastel Blue and Arctic Blue to create the shading on the letters and attached them to the white background die which was edged with Broken China Distress Oxide and glittered...

I attached an embossed snowflake panel to some paper from my stash and then adhered the marker coloured vellum panel, just using adhesive in the centre where it would be covered by the decorative panel. I added some white, sparkly, organza ribbon, wrapping it around the snowflake paper and then attached to my card front, before adhering the lettering panel using foam tape.

I finished off with some die cut snowflakes and a few diamantes for holly berries. A really simple make...

I hope you can find the time to play along with our easy challenge this week and look forward to seeing al of your wonderful creations!

Crafty hugs,

A bit of crafty time...

 

I picked up this Sizzix flower die a couple of years ago in the sale (it was a bargain!) but have never really known what to do with it...

 

Roll forward a couple of years and a change in crafting style and I thoroughly enjoyed inking and layering it up to create this pretty, almost stencil style, corsage! After making it up in my favourite colour tones (pink, of course!...although it is more of a coral pink?!) I decided to try it in muted tones for a sympathy type card...

 

 

 

 Hope you're all keeping well and enjoying a bit of crafty time, like me?! Although it's back to the grindstone and cooking tea before going to work now...and on my Birthday too!

 

Hugs,

Embossed Daisy card...

Good morning, crafty friends!  I was asked to make a birthday card for a gentleman to give to his wife and the brief was sea greens and turquoises, and pretty but not girly...

So out came one of my favourite dies - Tim Holtz Wildflowers Daisy. I love the way you can use just the head of this bloom, or the full stem in a bouquet and with just a touch of colouring, they look so delicate...

 
Firstly, I cut a piece of white cardstock 14cm square and embossed using XCut Lace Circle embossing folder and then matted it onto a piece of sea green pearl card, measuring 14.3cm square. I added a strip of green daisy paper 14.3 x 2.5cm, from The Works Botanical Bloom paper pad and then cut a 9cm circle from another paper in the pad. I created the sentiment in Photoshop to fit a 6.5cm circle and then mat this onto a blue circle, slightly larger...

I coloured the daisies using my Promarkers - Buttercup, Mustard and Gold for the centre, with some Walnut dots and champagne for the definition of the petals, then I inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I was struggling to get green tones with my Promarkers, so bought a set of green tone pens from Spectrum Noir and used Willow, Bamboo and Camo Green to colour the leaves from Sweet Dixie's Stylized Daisy die set before inking the edges with Vintage Photo. I used Grass, Alpine Green and Ivy for the smaller leaves (not sure of the set) and added in a couple of sprigs from Couture Creations Holly Berry Sprigs...

 

I finished off with 3cm square polka dot paper squares, cut in half diagonally, to create the corners and added some silver Liquid Pearl dots around the embossed circle...

 

I really like the way this one turned out, but I think I would like anything with these pretty daisies on! I have another commission to do and think I will be using this same layout in different colours...

 

Right, looks like I have to go and do some ironing before everyone starts complaining that they've got nothing to wear! I'll be back later with some crepe paper flowers that I've created but for now, have a wonderful Wednesday!

Hugs,

Daffodils...

Good morning, crafty friends and a happy, if somewhat soggy Thursday to you all...it is Thursday, isn't it?!! I have totally lost all concept of time and days of the week - it is just like one long weekend!

I must admit though, the one benefit of all of this is that I seem to have found a new enjoyment of crafting! There is a lot of uncertainty around my hubby's job, so I am trying to use what I have and revisit some of my own designs, rather than spending...I so wish that my crafty hobby could help to generate a little income for us, especially in these worrying times, but at least it seems to fund itself for the moment and keeps me out of trouble!

I saw a pretty Mother's Day card over on Honey Bee Stamps Facebook page and wanted to have a go at recreating it...so out came the dies and I looked through, finding shapes that I had to make the different elements...

Now I know that daffodils have 6 petals, but it seems that I don't have any 6 petal flower dies, so I used my Sweet Dixie Christmas Rose die as the main flower. I then found an XCut button with a frilly edge that I thought would do as the centre and cut a hole in the middle using the little eyelet die from the Marianne Collectables, Karin's Bird COL1443...I coloured the flowers with Yellow Promarker and added shading with Gold and Pumpkin, then inked the edges with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink, popping the centres up on small bits of foam pad ...

I can't remember the make of this leaf border die, but it is one of my favourites and I also used the leaves from the Agapanthus die from Tim Holtz Wildflower Stems #1. I coloured them with Apple Promarker and added some shading with Forest Green...

I printed off the watering can from Words at Play, printing it with a Photo Size of 3.5 x 5 inches, then fussy cut it out. The papers are the Makeup Spots paper from Another Play on Words and the Telephone Polka Dot from Words at Play and I used a Creative Dies Scalloped rectangle for the topper.

I tried to keep everything else on the card quite simple and muted, as there is a lot going on, on the topper. I finished the centre of the flowers with small pearls, added string and a bow, and a stamped sentiment...and here's the image that gave me the inspiration in the first place...

Well I suppose I should go and do some housework, but I would like to have a go at the wax paper emboss technique that Gina K shared on her facebook video last night...it's a technique that I've been wanting to try for years...ah, what the heck?! Nobody's going to be calling to visit anyway - time to get the iron out! And if you want to follow me on Facebook, you can find me HERE

Hugs,

Frugal crafting...

Good afternoon, crafty friends! Well, this is a rarity for me these days - a post between challenges! I have to admit to having lost my crafty motivation since starting work (just a little job four evenings a week, but it's surprising how much more organised I seem to have to be with my time!) but one of the few things that I am always inspired by is the beautiful floral creations I see, made using the Lady E flower dies!

I have to say that I am quite a frugal crafter (my family would call me tight, but hey...tom-A-to, tomato!), so I like to make my crafty stash work to it's best potential and am always looking for new ways of using my existing stash. I have put myself on a crafty stop, mainly because (since starting work) I am more conscious of all the 'stuff' I have and need to find some sense of tidiness and organisation in my home...a huge task, but feel I have to start somewhere...

Anyway, digressing!...I decided to see if I could replicate some of those stunning flowers with some of the flower dies that I already have and I was rather pleased with the result...

I used a couple of Sweet Dixie die sets, including the Christmas Rose, Stylised Daisy and Delicate Blossoms, plus a couple of foliage dies. I thought I would share a quick tutorial on how I created the Poinsettias and the Sunflowers were created in the same way...

Now I know that this would be so much easier and quicker if I had the Lady E poinsettia dies, but I thoroughly enjoyed the couple of hours I had, altering a plain piece of white pearl paper into these pretty floral creations, so know that my love of crafting hasn't waned - I just need to have a destash and get rid of all the clutter that seems to be filling my head too! Plus, it would be nice to actually use the dining room table for it's intended purpose once in a while!
Right, off to put the kettle on and see what's for tea...hope you like my tutorial and maybe it will inspire you to look at your existing dies in a different way...

Until next time, have a wonderfully wacky Wednesday!

Bee happy...

I'm back again...so much for tidying the house...I got distracted by the fact that Moving Along with the Times challenge blog has a theme of 'Bees' this week!?!...

Anyone who knows me well, will know that I have a bit of a love of bees...now that's not saying that I want to keep them, or that I want them on everything in my house, but like clouds, there is just something about them that I love! So, it was inevitable that this pretty bee die fell into my basket whilst perusing the Sizzix sale a couple of weeks ago!
I loosely inked the die cut with Distress Inks and used my Promarkers to colour the detail on the bee, then layered up his wings with vellum for a bit more dimension. I teamed it up with one of the papers from the Watering Can set of Words at Play and a bit of yellow polka dot from my scrap drawers for the corners. I added a touch of glitter to the bee's body, vellum behind the die panel to diffuse the aperture and created a sentiment in PS to coordinate.
I've just waved off the little man, so feel a little lost at the moment...need to get that list written!
Have a lovely day and don't forget to Bee Happy!
Crafty hugs,

I'd like to enter my card into the Bee challenge over at Moving Along with the Times

Workshop cards and a special make...

Good afternoon, dear Blogger buddies!  Just popping in to share the cards we made at workshop yesterday...

...First we made a trifold floral card...

...Second was a sweet gift card/money wallet with a pocket on the inside and a lion made from different die shapes.
Hubby and I have also been busy on a little project for the last few weeks, creating solar lights for the garden...

...I'm really pleased with how they turned out!  They're made from a brake drum and prop shaft from an old hackney carriage taxi, a ceiling light and some solar garden lights! We're just wondering what we can make next!...
Hope you're having a fabulous weekend!
Hugs,
Lisa x

Bee Happy...

Good morning, Blogger friends!  I would like you to picture the scene...I was sat on the bench in the front with a cup of tea yesterday afternoon, in the warm sunshine, overlooking the Berwyn mountain range.  The lambs were bleating in the fields, the birds were singing and you could hear the distant hum of a lawn mower...suddenly, rising out of the bush in front of me like an apache helicopter and with sound effect to boot, was a huge bumblebee!...

This bush is a mass of flowers this year and the bumblebees seem to love it!

Now a couple of days ago, I received the Spellbinders hexagon die set that I ordered after seeing lots of clever cards on Pinterest and they have been sat on my table, unopened since.  Well Mr Bumblebee gave me inspiration to open them up and get creative!  This is what I came up with...

...I used the smallest hexagon die and one of my new papers to create a honeycomb background, then die cut a frame from antique gold cardstock...

...I needed some bees, so had a root around in my die box to see what I could come up with and came across the Marianne stitched flower and leaf die.  I used the leaf die, minus the stem as the body and cut it in black, yellow and white for each bee so that I could cut and piece the detail.  The flower was cut from silver detail vellum, then cut down to two heart shapes for the wings.  I added some cream jute/hessian and bakers twine with a small sunflower charm and bow...

...The inside was finished with a printed insert.
I like the way this little card turned out and all thanks to a bumblebee!  I wonder where you will find inspiration?! The sun is still shining today - I won't know what to do when this spell of warm weather ends, it'll be a bit of a shock to the system, although it has been fabulous for the school holidays, the kids have been out everyday and playing in the river! Better than sitting on their electronic gadgets!
It's workshop tomorrow, so I'd better go and check everything is in the boxes ready - have a fabulous weekend and I'll be back soon with some more craftiness.
Hugs,

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges :

Creative Craft Cottage

Use Die Cuts until 20th

Crafty Cardmakers

Wings 2nd entry until 18th

Try it on Tuesday

They who have Wings 2nd entry until 13th

Papertake Weekly

Anything Goes until 13th

Top Tip Tuesday

Mellow Yellow until 13th