Winged Love ... a Valentine's Day card, of course.

Hello Fellow Bloggers,

I hope you all had a lovely weekend wherever you are and that you are all well. Apologies for being MIA, I've not been crafting recently ... pain stopped play, so rather than the crafting, I've been resting. Luckily, I did manage to complete this card on Thursday last week so thought you might like to see it now.

For my birthday last year I was treated to a Lisa Pace book entitled Delight in the Details, and it is a delight. I love the ideas in the book so much that I thought I would attempt to make something based one of the cards illustrated. Of course, I didn't have any of the materials Lisa used, that goes without saying, so I raided my stash and improvised as usual. Otherwise, the design is very much Lisa's.

The papers base card, a charcoal grey, came from my favourite pack of Papermania textured card ... there's not a lot left in this pack now and I'm going to miss it when it's completely done because it has proved to be very usable. The white/black design paper is from Papermania too but the pink is from My Mind's Eye, Deena's Penny Lane Collection which is trimmed with a scalloped punch ... the trimming is stitched over the black/white paper ... my stitching needs more practice, but, believe me, this is better than previous attempts. All the trims and embellishments are bits and pieces left over from other projects and the handwriting on the little jewellers' tag is mine! The wings are actually a die-cut sticker butterfly cut in half. The ribbons are Anna Griffin.

The insert is a modified paper from Debbi Moore's Shabby Chic CD, Paper Delights. The papers are pdf documents so I used the snapshop facility, converted it to jpeg and imported it into My Crafts Studio to re-size it and digitally punch out the heart shapes. After printing the insert out it was finished off with a scalloped trim to match the front.

The back is simply decorated with a punched heart.

All-in-all, I'm pleased with the completed project, I particularly like the combination of lace and ribbons and the way the insert looked eventually, after a fair bit of tweaking :)

Not one for Pixie's snippets, the papers and cardstock were 'new' ... new, in the sense that it was all sitting in my stash unused and uncut ... but, because of that, it certainly fits in with the principles of Fran's Use-It-Up. It's disgraceful that I've become such a paper hoarder ... I'm ashamed of myself (hanging head in shame) but some paper just seems too beautiful to use :(  However, I am now making inroads and at the same time overcoming my fear of cutting beautiful paper.

Now I'm off to lie down for a bit, after another bad night I need some shuteye ... there's no rest for the wicked :))

Hope to see you later, once I'm feeling my old self again ... hopefully for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, if not sooner.

In the meantime, happy crafting,

Naked Tree Card

Good Evening to you all,

Another visit to my g-granddaughter, Rhian, today for a cuddle, followed by a trip to Waterstones to buy the latest book for the reading group I attend - 'A Fine Balance' by Rohinton Mistry. A chunky read of 614 pages and fairly small print - gulp :( Goodness knows when I'm going to find time to read it all.) I also found a lovely book of nursery rhymes for Jenny to sing to Rhian as she mentioned that she had forgotten the words to many of them. That got us all thinking and trying to remember the nursery rhymes we were taught  - for my DH and me that's going a very long way back!

Back home again and I've completed this birthday card for our friend whose birthday is tomorrow.

This effect is the one that uses post-its as a mask and then a make-up sponge and a Big & Juicy to create the inked background on white card. I chose the bare tree from the Lavinia Autumn Scene stamp set and the Birds stamp to stamp over the background using a black dye ink pad.

The sentiment is from the Sheena Douglass stamp set, again stamped in black on white card. Both are edged using a Krylon 18kt Gold Leafing Pen (saw Barbara Grey demo this) and then matted onto plain brown cardstock. I added some gold brads to the sentiment topper.

The base card is Crumb Cake (formerly Kraft card) from Stampin Up and the backing card is one I made some time ago using Cosmic Shimmer in Rich Gold and cling film on thin white card.

For the insert I used My Craft Studio digital punch to create the edge using a Nitwit digital paper, Ticking Mocha, from the Cottage Charm Too Fat Quarter Collection - gorgeous papers! The stamped greeting is from Stamps Away's collection of useful words.

As this is intended for a male friend -  a businessman with a no nonsense approach to life - I've made it as non-fussy as possible, well, for me that is, so I hope it passes muster.

I'm now away to take a peek at as many WOYWWers desks as possible.

Bye for now,
Elizabeth

Z is for Zero Degrees or Zipping Through the Snow

Good morning, on this cold and frosty one, to you all,

Yippee! The last card in the Alphabet series is done. Z proved to be, by far, the most difficult letter to design a card around. However, I had to design a card for our 11 year old grandson, Alun, who loves anything to do with speed -  in particular, Formula One racing cars. I couldn't fit racing cars into the Christmas/winter theme somehow but I discovered this racing tobogganer design in the My Craft Studio CD, The Finishing Line, and the idea for this card was born - Z for Zero Degrees or even Z for Zipping Through the Snow!

Materials used: My Craft Studio, The Finishing Line CD, Design 4; white cardstock for base; Gold mirror cardstock; blue pearlescent cardstock; glitter; embellishments - snowflakes; diamante stars, peel-off gold/silver stars.

I printed off the design sheet, re-jigged the background to make an insert large enough for the A5 sized card and using the digital punch created an area for the greeting which was inserted using the text feature. Otherwise, it was simply a case of cutting out, matting, glittering and embellishing.

I thought the greeting that comes on the design sheet most appropriate for the front of the card because one of Alun's favourite words is 'cool' - everything that he approves off is 'cool'.

That's it - the series is over at last. What should have taken only 26 days took far longer for me. I've discovered that I'm a lot slower than many cardmakers, that it takes a lot of time for me to think up a design, gather all the materials together and make the project. I'm never going to be able to whizz through a project but that's okay - I'm not really in a hurry.

Nevertheless, it was a great challenge which had me trying out lots of new equipment, techniques and crafty stuff which I will be able to use in future projects and I can't wait to try other new things in the coming year.

In the meantime, a planned visit to my daughter and her family has had to be postponed due to the snow - she lives further inland and it's worse where she is - so I'm going to amuse myself with a few last minute projects. There are a couple of ideas buzzing around in my head that I'd like to try out and I think, if I have to stay at home, I should seize the day.

DH is on his laptop doing a bit of research into the dates, times and costs for a trip on the Fort William to Mallaig steam train (the Hogwarts's Express I believe). It's one of the items on our 'bucket list', which we are progressively working our way through, and this one is going to be scheduled for late Spring/early Summer.

Hope you are all keeping as warm as you can and enjoying your day.

Bye for now,
Elizabeth

Floral Birthday Card + Matching Bookmark

The day hasn't got any worse for us here in Ayr - in fact the sun struggled out for a wee while - so sorry for all of you who are suffering an abundance of the white stuff. I know a lot of you are either not getting to work or are suffering slippy roads to reach your workplace and that's grim. DH tells me that the long range forecast is not good and that this could keep on until 27th December. Of course, we do know how accurate the Met Office forecast is - not! But, as Littlejohn (The Mail) wrote, 'this will be global warming then'.

Enough of the weather, here's the birthday card I made for my Auntie Milly who will be 86 tomorrow.

Looks a bit wonky - don't know how I photographed it at that angle! The papers, pyramage, insert, etc., all came from My Craft Studio Professionals Floral Masterpieces - absolutely gorgeous traditional flowery papers, etc. For this one I used a lilac pearlescent card for matting, a Magnolia doily and lace trim, and an Anita lilac ribbon with silver trim for embellishment. 

Apart from a fair bit of cutting out and lots of adhesive this was one of the easiest cards I've put together.  I used one of the sentiments from the 'Words for Every Occasion' featured in my Birthday Goodies post for the insert.

The bookmark is also included in the print-out from MCS and makes a nice wee extra to include with the card.

Just took a break from snooping through the WOYWWers desk to do this, will get back to it later this evening.

Bye for now,

Elizabeth

M - Mrs Claus

To everyone who sent me good wishes for my birthday I'd like to send a big THANKS. I had a lovely day, mostly pottering away in my craft room, and DH spoilt me totally by making me a lovely birthday dinner and even washed up afterwards. A perfect day : )

I finished a couple of cards yesterday but haven't photographed them yet so more of them later. In the meantime, here is the M card, easel shaped, in the Alphabet series - M for Mrs Claus.

Apologies for the quality of the images but the light is really bad at the moment and despite wandering all over the house looking for the perfect light I can't improve on this. The sexy lady is a Kenny K digi stamp - one of quite a selection, some rather more risque than others!

Coloured, as usual, with Promarkers and I still haven't developed the habit of keeping a record of which colours I've used, but includes:

soft peach, blush, ivory (skin), black, ice grey 5 & 1,  indigo blue, powder blue (hair, sack, belt, stockings & boots), burgundy, cardinal red (dress and hat), pastel yellow, marsh green, poppy (bells, holly and belt buckle) and not forgetting the trusty blender.

For the dress I tried out a technique called 'tip-to-tip' using the burgundy with the black - you put the tip of the burgundy to the tip of the black, it darkens the burgundy, not too much but enough, to use to define the shadows.

The two sentiments are also digi stamps from different sources, the round 'Baby . . . It's Cold Outside' is from Sentiments 4 You and the 'Be Naughty' is a Maloorney digi available at Digital Stamping by Louby Lou.  I blinged them up with silver and red glitter.

The red backing paper is one of my Christmas favourites, a freebie from Bearly Mine Designs, and the striped one is from Papermania's Mono Paper Pack by Tina Higgins.

The black & silver trim and the tartan ribbon are from my local knitting/craft shop; the bow is made from black metallic mesh ribbon from Ribbonbox. This is quite different from normal ribbon - you shape it first by pulling tight before shaping into a bow and then pull out again to form the fullness of the bow. (I'm not sure I've described this well, I think it is one of these things you have to see to get the idea - but the effect is good!)

The flower is actually a white poppy is from Wild Orchid Crafts - I just embossed it with silver to fit with my design. As usual, I decorated the inside with the papers before calling it finished.

I'll be back later, once I've photographed the other two cards, but in the meantime I hope you all have a lovely day and for those of you suffering the white stuff do keep warm.

Bye for now,

Elizabeth



An NSR Thank You

It's a frosty morning here with just a light scattering of snow. My sympathy to all of you who are knee deep in the white stuff.

Just a quick card today - one I made to say thank you for a RAK I received from one of our fellow bloggers. She has the card now so safe to show it here.

This is a No Stamp Required (NSR) image from My Craft Studio's Serendipity CD - I think the these are cosmos flowers so I've used a bit of 'artistic' licence in colouring one blue - never seen a blue cosmos!

They are coloured with Promarkers and adhered to a pale pink die cut. I used two very pretty backing papers. The white/silver is a gauzy transparent paper - similar to Washi - from Ribbonbox which I layered it over a pink Basic Grey papers called Indian Summer.

The little Thank You ticket used inside is from a Hero Arts set of stamps. Embellishments are pink grosgrain ribbon tied with a faux bow (like tying these in this type of ribbon - traditional bows never seem to look right somehow) and silver peel-offs.

Got to take Bonnie to the vet's for a quick post-op check today and then it will be back here to try to tackle the growing list of cards I have to make. There are quite a few birthdays coming up in December and there's the never-ending list of Christmas cards to complete.

Bye for now,
Elizabeth

L for Love

Good evening, everyone.

Just taking the opportunity while DH takes over the nursing of a somewhat needy post-op Bonnie for a wee while to do this post. I really enjoyed making this card because this is my first attempt at using fabric and stitching.

The fabric has everything you need for a Christmas card, a red, gold, white and black colour scheme and snowmen, holly, lanterns and robins - perfect! I stitched it to red card cut out with the one of the new baby nesties from B-C-E and then adhered it to black backing paper. I chose the Nellie Sugar stamp, Snow Loved, thinking it an ideal match with the fabric and stuck to the colour scheme.

I stamped onto a white card, coloured with Promarkers and blinged it up with glitter. I then inked up the edges in red and then embossed with gold powder. This last was actually pretty tricky to do - I first went round the edges with a Versamark pen then embossed with the powder but wasn't too pleased with the result - too bitty. So, I took a glue pen and went over the top of the gold embossing which I then covered in powder again and I was much happier with the result. However, what I did discover is that the glue heated up much quicker and even bubbled in one corner. It's too easy to overcook it so another lesson learned :(

Now, I always try to decorate inside and back of my cards but the fabric presented a bit of a problem. I didn't really want to stitch it onto the inside and back so what to do? The solution was to scan the fabric, print off a page, then import it into My Craft Studio Professional and subject it to a bit of digi punching to design my own sentiments. Here's the results:

Inside

Back

Sentiment on front.

The finishing touches were some gorgeous red ribbon printed with Christmas trees, and a charm from my stash and, finally, some red flat-backed Prima pearls,  bought mail order from the lovely Hayley at Funky Farm Scrapbook Barn.

I really enjoyed making this card, feel I've learned a lot, and, happily, I am pleased with the end result. And, better still, I've plenty of fabric left - they call it a 'fat quarter' in the business, it measures approximately 40cm x 42cm, enough for several cards.

To all her well-wishers here's a pic of our Bonnie.

She is much brighter today, eating and drinking again and going quietly round the bend trying to remove that collar! She is banging into everything. Poor wee thing - it's only when you see her struggling to get around with this lump of plastic around her neck that you realise how much she depends on her whiskers to feel her way.

That's it for now - I'm off to take a look round all the other WOYWWers desks for a while then it will be on to the M card in the series. Goodness knows what I'll have to talk about when this is over :)

Bye for now

Elizabeth

K for Kiss

Many thanks to all of you who wrote such nice comments about my J card, Jingle Bells. I have only been crafting for a few months and writing this blog for even less time so it's good to have your input. Over the next year or so I'm aiming to try as many new techniques as I can and perhaps by doing this develop my own particular style. Jingle Bells was quite a departure, vellum embossing, orange and brown - so different! Well, with the K card I've tried another new technique. I think it's called 'reveal' but not entirely sure.

On white card I stamped a combination of a mistletoe spray (Let's Get Crafting) and tiny hearts (free with a recent Docrafts Creativity magazine) all over in a random way. I then embossed with clear embossing powder before sponging on blue ink. Before the ink could dry too much I rubbed the embossing with kitchen paper to remove as much blue from the embossing as possible and reveal the white of the card. I edged the card by running a Versamark pen round it and then embossing with white powder. I discovered it's not easy to get even coverage doing it this way and had to repeat another twice before I was happy with it.

The main image is a Mo Manning digi stamp called Kisses for My Sweet - I just love the humour in this stamp - the mistletoe spray is part of the set.

A lot of stamping went into this card - the tag is an Anita's stamp and inside I've used a Docrafts stamp from the Penelope and Percy pack.

Embellishments were some royal blue eyelash fibre, paper lace, and blue flat-backed pearls - from my stash. The blue satin ribbon and white snowflake trim I found in my local knitting/craft shop - part of the haul I bought on Saturday. I don't go shopping often but when I do I make up for the times I don't - here's some of the evidence:

Mainly satin ribbon in colours that I didn't have in my stash (not really a blue girl). The rose pink really sang to me as did the fat quarter of fabric with it's cheery snowmen. I've never made a card with fabric sown on so going to have a bash at that next.

That's me for tonight - off to watch High Street on BBC1 now.

Bye for now.
Elizabeth

Mouse with Books note card

Woke up this morning and it was zero degrees outside - brrrrrrrrr!

It's a big day here in Ayr - the Christmas lights are switched on at 4pm. I'm told it's a star from the X-Factor who is going to be doing the honours but as I won't be going down to watch I'll have to wait for the local paper to find out who it is.


In today's card I've used the cute little Library Mouse, drawn by Elizabeth Dulemba, a children's book illustrator.  Her blog is a wonderful source of free digital cartoon images and well worth a visit, especially if you are involved with children's education in any way. 

This was a quick and easy note card to make using a gingham backing paper and trims from the SWALK Series 1 disk from Crafter's Companion; some taupe coloured card, the image coloured with Promarkers. For me the advantage of printing paper from a disk like this is that I can adjust the colour to match whatever I'm working with as I did here. I took the paper over onto the back of the card but this time didn't decorate the inside as I planned to write a paragraph or two in it. 

As I said simple and quick to make. I cut the circles of card out using one of the sheets of scrapbooking templates I have had for some time. Even though I have a Cuttlebug and so could use dies to cut these shapes out I do like using templates - for one thing, they are cheaper than dies and, I don't really like the damage dies do to my Cuttlebug plates. Is it just me that feels this? I know that it's not supposed to do them any harm but I can't seem to get over it, although I love using my Cuttlebug for embossing. So here is my latest template purchase, Baby Nesties by B-C-E , which arrived in the post yesterday.

Love the fact that they have a scalloped edge and a plain edge and that there's a range of shapes and sizes in each pack. They are transparent so they can be positioned just where you want them and I think I will be using them a lot.

Yesterday I bought the latest edition of Craft Stamper - lots of interesting techniques to try out in this magazine - and Docrafts Creativity and guess who get's a mention, moi! There's a really dreadful photograph taken by my husband at one of our favourite places, Loch Doon - not his fault it's dreadful, it was just a bad hair day for me, all windblown and sans make-up.  It's in reference to the Craft for Live win I received a few days ago.

Inspired by an idea in the Craft Stamper I'm off to get my fingers dirty.

Bye for now.
Elizabeth

WOYWW - Week 76 & the J for Jingle Bells card

Good afternoon to you all, and welcome to What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday again.Here's what's was happening on mine early this morning - not a lot:

The cold I had at the weekend developed into sinusitis and with all the associated dizziness and nausea I couldn't do much except try to keep my head still, so Sunday, Monday and Tuesday turned into real duvet days for me.

But look what the postman brought me - another prize! I'm obviously on a roll now as this is the second prize in as many weeks. This time it's 3 cards handmade by the presenter Konnie Huq at a Craft for Life, Make a Card a Day, event supporting Cancer Research UK and run by Docrafts Creativity Magazine. And, there's a certificate signed by Konnie on which she says 'I Craft for Life because it's fun and creative and personal cards can mean more ...'

At the front of the desk is a card I started working on late last night - it's now finished. It's the J card in the Alphabet Series - J for Jingle Bells. The colours used are a range of oranges and browns, dictated by the choice of digital background paper from Bearly Mine Designs, CD22 in the Christmas Delights pack and a need for a dark background beneath the bell panel.

I drew inspiration from the famed Barbara Gray's, of Clarity Stamps, demo on TV this weekend - what else can you do with duvet days but watch crafty programmes on the box : ) I stamped the bells from the set from Let's Get Crafting, Issue 26, in Momento Tuxedo Black onto a strip of white vellum, then embossed them with Papermania clear powder. Next, I turned the panel over and using the embossing tool went over the bells - never tried this before but was pleased with the effect. As you can see in the photo I used a mouse mat as an embossing mat - a tip from Barbara!

The rest was fairly straightforward - the panel was mounted on some brown card and attached with tiny orange brads from my stash. I edged the paper and card with Tim Holtz' Brushed Corduroy and I stamped out the 'jingle bells' using a small alphabet stamp set then embossed with gold powder, added the ribbons and the charm and job done! Oh, and being me, I decorated the back and inside because I just can't leave them blank.

The rest of the stuff in view is my usual tools of the trade. Someone recently admired my green check workmat.  This is simply an off-cut of the kind of plastic material used to make kitchen tablecloths - I bought several pieces for £1 from a stall at the Ayr Flower Show this year. I keep one piece for when I'm messing with paint and the one on my desk is for when I'm distressing with TH ink pads.

For anyone who is still wondering what WOYWW is all about pop over to Julia's blog, Stamping Ground, where you will find you have the opportunity to snoop at a lot of workdesks around the world.
Bye for now
Elizabeth

A New Home card and Another Graduation Card, this time for a new PhD

It's been calm, bright but cold for us today - quite a bit of blue sky showing - a perfect day for a walk but I've still got this cold hanging on so staying in the warm. Yesterday, I made these two non-Christmassy cards and enjoyed the change.

The first card is for my DH's lovely grand-niece, Laura, and family.

It was quick and easy to make using an A6 card base, landscape,  covered with design paper from Papermania's Summer Bloom 6"x6" pack. I found a use for the decorative strip I made recently when I was experiment with embossing on the Cuttlebug and punching a lace edge with my one and only Martha Stewart punch. The digital image is Home Sweet Home from Squiggles Stamps, coloured with Promarkers and the sentiments were made using My Craft Studio Professional, edged with a turquoise ink pad from Studio G. Inside and back simply decorated.

The other card is another graduation card but this time it is for a friend's daughter, Amy, who has just been awarded a Doctorate in Music. How she found time I do not know because, not only has she been teaching in Edinburgh, and as she lives in Glasgow that means quite a commute each day, but in the time it has taken her to write her thesis she has also given birth to her second child!

Again I used an A6 base card, portrait this time, and covered it with left over design paper. I used the Grad Anya digi stamp from the Greeting Farm again, coloured with Promarkers. And, again, I used a couple of stamps from the Congratulations stamp in the SWALK series, silver embossed, to decorate the front and inside.

Now, I have to clear my craftroom - DH is coming in tomorrow to put up a shelf in the corner for our little TV to sit on. You see, I've got quite a collection of videos with recordings of some of the Create and Craft stamping programmes showing techniques I want to try out at some time. Especially those with Barbara Grey from Clarity Stamps - I love what she does and the way she demonstrates. And, of course, the best place to follow them is here at my workdesk.

I'm told it will only take a couple of hours so should be back crafting later tomorrow.  Actually, it's forced me to have a clear up and that's no bad thing!

Bye for now
Elizabeth

G is for Gifts - and lots of Glitter + a surprise package arrived today

Back on track again now that the excitement after yesterday is over and here is the G card in the Alphabet Series.

Once again I decided to go for something different - this time an easel card, only the second one I've ever attempted :)

Goodness knows why but I decided on a aqua/turquoise/peach colour combo - not particularly Christmassy but the design paper is from the Docrafts Penelope & Percy A5 Paper Pack which is winter themed and that is snowflakes in the background.

The image is another digi from the Digi Stamp Boutique - Birthday Zoe - again, not a particularly Christmas themed image but it fitted in with my 'G for Gifts' theme.

Once again I remembered to list the Promarkers I used:

Skin: Blush, Ivory & Soft Peach
Hair: Burnt Sienna, Caramel & Vanilla
Crown: Pastel Yellow & Ruby
Dress: Soft Peach, Vanilla & the Blender
Gift Boxes: Denim Blue, Pastel Blue, PastelYellow & Ruby
Shoes: Apricot
Shading: Cool Grey 1

As you can see, she got the glitter treatment, and then some; gold, silver, red (Papermania) and blue (bought at Tesco a few years ago for the grandchildren to craft with and not the most satisfactory, the granules are too chunky.)

I didn't do much to the inside of this card - just a simple panel of that lovely spotty paper matted on to turquoise pearlescent card to decorate the back but a bit more decoration to the panel at the front. The sentiment is a stamp that came free with the October edition of Craft Stamper, stamped in Versamark then embossed with gold powder and adhered with foam dimensionals.

Other materials used: Prima Essentials Flights of Fancy flowers, e.line flat-backed pearls brads, brads and ribbon from my stash, origin unknown now.

The lovely lace trim is a Magnolia doily lace strips cut die bought online from Poppy's Cabin. Of course, the card folds flat for posting.

Before I go I have to tell you about the surprise package I received today - I've won a freebie! I make a point of shooting off postcards for any freebies that I fancy when they are offered in a magazine and then promptly forget I have done so - in this case Quick Cards Made Easy magazine, Issue 79. Hence the surprise when this complete set of Series 1 of the SWALK stamps + the disk from Crafters Companion arrived totally unannounced. I think that is the only issue I have :)

Bye for now
Elizabeth