Hello Autumn - UKPC September Swap Card

Morning Everyone,

I hope you are enjoying today and maybe finding time to craft. The card I'm sharing this time was made for this month's swap for the Facebook group, UKPC, The theme was green and white - a favourite combination.

The 'inchie' tiles were made from an autumn inspired masterboard I created using a combination of leaf stamps and various green inks, as can be seen in this photo.

How the masterboard was made:

First, I found, in the bits and bobs box of course, this Gelli plate print piece, made using Vicki Boutin's 'Juicy Pear' green and Maggie Holmes 'Sunny Days' aqua acrylic paints ...

... and decided it would make a good base for stenciling and stamping on, using just about every green ink in my stash, to create a masterboard. First, I stenciled here and there with a Heidi Swapp trellis stencil, then a combination of leaves - from Folio Variostempel's Leaves set - in various greens was stamped over the entire surface of the print. To finish, texture was added with a Vicki Boutin stencil and Ranger's Opaque Matte Paste.

Other supplies used:
- dark green cardstock for card base and 'inchie' layering
- white embossed card for topper base - another piece found in my bits and bobs box embossed with an old but favourite trellis folder from Crafts-Too
- a 1½" square Woodware punch used to make the 'inchie' tiles
- dies: butterfly from 'Butterfly Dance' by Tattered Lace, dragonfly a mini die from Cut & Make from The Range.
- stamps: greeting from Hunkydory's 'Autumn Harvest'
- inks: various greens from Ink It Up!, Letterpress, Ranger's Distress Ink, Versafine, Papermania, ColorBox, We R Memory Keepers
- embellishment: yellow Stickles 

As everything used on this card has been in my stash for quite some time, I'm submitting it to Shopping Our Stash's Challenge #405 - Dream the Embossible Dream

And also to C.R.A.F.T. Challenge 528 - Autumn/Weather

Many thanks for visiting here today and any comments are much appreciated - especially as I know that, like me, you're likely to be very busy.

What's On Your Workdesk - Week 529

Morning All,

This post is coming from a very overcast but hot Ayr today. We're just waiting for the weather to break and, hopefully, cool things down a bit. In the meantime,  it's still, as ever, Wednesday and desk reveal time over at Julia's Stamping Ground so here's mine.

As messy as ever. I'm participating in Mind The Scrap's Summer Scrap Challenge on Facebook. We're only on warm-up week and this is the result already. It's going to look a lot worse by the fourth week, I'm sure. Anyways, I've managed to make two pages already - here they are.

Flying High

 Celebrate Good Times

I'm taking this opportunity to concentrate on scrapping photos of my son, Alun, through the years for an album I'm making for his upcoming fiftieth birthday. That's him flying high and celebrating the good times. The photos were taken a few years apart but he's hardly changed at all - that cheeky grin doesn't change.

I also found time to make a few cards - in advance! Miracle of miracles!!!

This was my UKPC swap card for this month. The background is one of the many Gelli plate prints I made earlier and which I'm now trying to use up in as many projects as possible. The stamps are from a new set - bragged about in an earlier WOYWW post - Woodware's 'Going to Seed'. They are stamped using Versamark and heat embossed with a rarely-used-but-I-can't-think-why WOW! powder, 'Burgundy Red Regular' from the Sheena range.  The little bows were made with a punch bought cheaply at The Range.

As there was some of the background print left, I made another. This one has a Kraft base but otherwise the supplies were much the same.

I'm skipping the book bit this week. It's too hot! So hot my sweaty fingers are starting to stick to the keys as I type - yuck!

Have a wonderful day, despite the heat, and have a great week ahead.

Dog Themed Card for a Four-Year Old

Hello Everyone

I hope your week is going well. I have the card I made for my great-grandson's 4th birthday to share today.

Callum loves dogs so I thought I'd make him a card featuring four dogs - he'll enjoy counting them. And, again, I've used one of the Gelli plate prints I have in stock for the background.

Supplies used:

- white scalloped edge base card
- dark green cardstock for matting, brown cardstock for the dog dies, gold card for the sun & green glitter card for the number 4
- the Gelli plate print trimmed to create the band
- dies - Dovecraft dog & paw print; X-cut dinky Dachshund dog & Sun dies; number 4 die from Creative Dies

Inside is stamped with the greeting from the Creative Dies set and I've added a paw print in one corner.

I hope you are still enjoying these scheduled posts. I'll be back soon but I'm still enjoying my wee break for now.

Gelli Plate Print card - Sweet Sixteen

Hello Everyone

I'm enjoying using up the Gelli plate prints as much as I enjoyed making them - playing with paints and inks might be messy but it's also fun.

This card was made for my granddaughter's 16th birthday. When I spotted the stamp set being given away with a copy of Making Cards & Papercraft magazine I just had to have it. The stamps reminded me so much of Shari.

Supplies used:

Front:
- base - white card
- layering & butterfly die-cuts - hot pink glitter card from American Craft's Dear Lizzy New Day Mixed Media pad
- background - piece of gelli plate print left over
- topper - smooth white card; Sweet Samantha stamp set - described as a motivational stamp set - from Making Cards & Papercraft February 2019 issue; ProMarkers - Blossom, Burnt Sienna, Cinnamon, Cool Grey 1, Ice Grey 1, Rose Pink, Satin
- Dies - Rectangle die set, butterflies from a set from a magazine
pink gems

Inside:
- Creative Dies - Number dies and Special Celebrations stamp set

Because the Gelli plate print had already been created some time ago, this was a quick and easy card to make.

This is another scheduled post while I take a break from the craft desk. I'll be back soon but in the meantime I hope you are having a great week.

Summer Header and Hello Card

Hello Everyone,

Time for change again. Spring's over and daffodils are over too so time for a new summery header.

I've used one of the Gelli plate prints I made a few weeks ago - see post here - for the base panel. It's over-stamped it with seedheads and grasses that make me think of a summer meadow - , pretty randomly but leaving an area in the centre fairly clear- the name of my blog appears in this area.

 Grasses from Hobby Art's 'March Hares' set, Penny Black's 'Aspire' and the dandelion head from a set that was a free gift from a magazine.

Ink pads - We Are Memory Keepers, aqua, green & pink; Memento Dew Drop 'Elderberry & Pear Tart; Versafine 'Imperial Purple' & Olympia Green.

Of course, once I'd taken a photo of the panel, and uploaded it to Serif CraftArtist where it was merged with my blog name, I made a card.

Nothing too complicated. I simply stamped and embossed the greeting, 'Hello' from Papermania Capsule Geometric stamp set, with embossing ink and Stampendous Midnight Black powder on to middle of the panel. Then, to finish, the panel was matted on to a scrap of deep pink cardstock and then adhered to the front of a white scalloped card base.

That's it for me today. Many thanks for dropping in to see what I've been up today - I appreciate your visits and the comments you leave.

Take care and have a wonderful Saturday.

Christmas Card Club - Card 10/2019 - Children at Christmas

Morning Everyone

It was Kate's turn to pick the theme for the Christmas card club this fortnight and she picked Children at Christmas. After yet another rummage through old stash I discovered a pack of unused Cute Squares from Lili of the Valley. The images in the set are of very pretty little 'Christmas Girls' - the one I've used for this challenge is my favourite and, as there was three copies left, I've used them all and made three cards - all slightly different.

For this version I've used a Gelli plate print background, trimmed and edged with red (Fired Brick) distress ink. The image and dark green cardstock mat were cut with dyes from a stitched square set from The Works. The poinsettia and the greeting were made from leftover scraps of the background and green cardstock using Spellbinders Poinsettia set and Tonic Studios Mini Moments Modern Merry Christmas.

The robin patterned paper for the background in this version is from 'Festive Frolics' by Papermania (more old stash) trimmed and matted on to a layer of dark green cardstock. The image is also matted onto the green card, as is the red ribbon which provides the greeting. The holly leaves were cut with a Tattered Lace mini die - I've used a red glass gem for embellishment.

And finally this version is made almost entirely from snippets of patterned paper and cardstock - the exceptions are the image and the Kraft card base. The patterned papers are scraps from a Holly Hobby patterned paper pack - a magazine freebie - and the star patterned  ribbon was just long enough to adhere to the card and have a bit left for the bow. The greeting is another Tattered Lace mini die. I cut it three times from snippets of red card and glued them together to give the greeting more dimension. 

I'm submitting the last card to Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge #352 - Di's challenge is always for any subject as long as snippets are used so I hope she will forgive that it's yet another Christmas card. 

That's it for CCC today but I hope you will pop over to see what my teammates have created for Kate's challenge today - you'll find a list of their names and links on my right sidebar - they are always so much more creative than mine. 

Hope the weather has been kind to you and you're enjoying your weekend.

Sunday Snippets on Monday - Yellow Poppies

Evening Everyone

Welcome! I trust this finds you all well and that Monday has been a good day for you.

I have another watercolour and snippet make for Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 155 and it's those Rubber Necker Field Poppies again ... can you tell I just love these stamps?

I just love how every impression looks so different depending on the unpredictability of the watercolour paints/inks and whatever combination of colours used. I've added a few gold sequins for a touch of sparkle. The stamped image and the piece of yellow Gelli print have been matted and layered on to snippets of grey card.

The yellow base card came from an inexpensive mixed colour pack found in The Works a very long time ago - the inside is white. The finishing touches were the orange card candy and the pre-printed gold embossed greeting.

I did intend posting this yesterday but somehow never got around to it ... not feeling 100% at the moment so not ticking much off my seemingly neverending to-do list ... sigh!

On a much brighter note, my aunt Jean and cousin Lorraine are flying over from Australia for the Christmas holiday and I'm so looking forward to seeing them. It's been 40 years since they were last here in Scotland so there's a lot of catching up to do :)

Thanks for popping in. I wish you an enjoyable evening and a good day tomorrow.

Happy Crafting,

A Tag for Sunday Snippets

Hi Everyone,

I finished this tag a few days ago but deliberately held it over for today's trip to Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 145, because snippets galore went into the making of it.

Dream, Discover, Create Tag front

I was trying to use up as much stash as possible but, on reflection, it does look rather as though I've thrown everything but the kitchen sink at it!!!

Brusho'd and glittered chipboard heart, gold glitter
encrusted butterflies and flowers

Cotton lace, sequined ric-rac trim, Gelli print with butterflies
and words typed on ancient typewriter

Tag back

As it is still Sunday, I'm claiming Jules Law; that is, it's okay to be lazy today and not list the materials used, however, if there is anything you would like information on do ask, I'll do my best to answer any questions.

I hope you've had as enjoyable weekend as we have had here. The weather was good enough yesterday and this morning for me to get out into the garden and do a bit more tidying up before winter sets in, and before the storm arrives. It was forecast to be here tomorrow but the Met Office got that wrong, it's here already!!!

I hope Di, our favourite Pixie, has got over yesterday's rude awakening by now and that Parsnip is feeling suitably contrite for laughing too :)

Edit Note: At Mrs A's urging I'm entering this tag for her Butterfly Challenge #15 though wasn't sure it met the remit of Butterfly in Autumn Colours! What do you think? 

Happy Crafting,

Rosa Eglantine - A Sunday Snippet Card

Hello Everyone,

It's late but there's still some time left of Sunday to post the card I made today for Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 140.

The snippets are the green and yellow card used for matting and layering ... well, one yellow layer was a snippet but I misjudged how far the snippet would stretch and had to break into a new sheet to finish the card ... so now I have more snippets, and so it goes on :)

The background is another Gelli plate print which just happened to look nice with the decoupaged rose topper ... a freebie from Docrafts Creativity Magazine.  The trellis trim used on the front and inside was made with a EK punch. Snippets from the Gelli print and cardstock were also used to trim the inside and back.

There you have it, my snippet card for today. Like Jules, I'm going to be lazy today and not list the materials  but if there is anything you would like to know then please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do my best to answer.

I hope you have had a wonderful weekend and that the week ahead will be good to you.

Happy Crafting,

Flowers Are Poetry - Another Gelli Plate Print Card

Afternoon Everyone,

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

I have yet another card I made earlier, this time for the UKPC August Swap, and once again I've used a Gelli plate print as the basis for the design.

I went a bit wild with my choice of paint colours for the print - blues, pinks, yellows, green and white. The flower design on it was created using a selection of stamps from Kanban's Spring Meadow set to remove some of the paint from the plate before lifting the print.

The allium stamp used for the topper came from the same Kanban set. The stamp was inked up using a mix of  Memento markers - Danube Blue, Rosebud, Cantaloupe, and Bamboo Leaves before stamping on a square of white card. Papermania Textured cardstock was used for matting and Anita's gems decorate the alliums.

The hinged greeting is stamped with Hero Art's Flowers Are Poetry and a couple of tiny stamps from the Kanban set - again, I've used Memento Markers to ink up the stamps.

As usual for me, the inside and the back are decorated with the trimmings from the print. 

That's it ... another quick post from me today.

I'm absolutely shattered after my day out to the flower show yesterday. I must have covered quite a few miles walking round the stalls and in and out the various marquees - all good fun but, in the end, quite exhausting!

To make up for all that exercise yesterday, I've spent a bit of quiet time, pottering in the garden - until the breeze blew me indoors and into the craft room. I've been making flowers which I'm so pleased with I think I'll write up a wee 'how to' tomorrow. For now, I'm off to have a cuppa and a bit of a break before tackling supper.

Happy crafting,

Butterflies and Tulips - A Gelli Plate Print Card

Hello Everyone,

I hope you've had a great day. I've had a busy few days with little time for crafting so the card I'm sharing tonight is one I made earlier.

And it's another aperture card with a Gelli plate print. This print was made with yellow and pink acrylic paints and a mask - That Special Touch Mask Tulips. The pretty die-cut butterflies were a gift from a friend. The greeting is that Stampin' Up stamp from the Wetlands set.

Sorry to be so brief but it's late and I need to go to bed, I have an early start in the morning. It's the Ayr Flower Show and our friends are joining us for a day out. We've planned a picnic, weather permitting ... we are even hoping the sun will come out to play. I'm taking my camera so I should have plenty of photos to show later.

Enjoy your day tomorrow, whatever you're doing.

Happy Crafting,

Materials used: white double fold aperture card base; the Gelli plate print; acrylic paints in yellow and pink; That Special Touch Mask, Tulips; Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad; Stampin' Up Wetlands stamp set; die-cut butterflies; pink shimmery ribbon; yellow and orange pearls

Sunday Snippets - Another Gelli Plate Print Card

Good Morning and Happy Sunday to you all ...

... from a not too nice day, weatherwise, here. In fact, it's blowing a hoolie and, as they say around these parts, it's baltic out there! Which is why I'm staying safely indoors, in the craftroom, where I'll be warm and cosy all day long :)

For my Sunday Snippets make for Pixie's Snippets Playground, I have a card made using yet another of my many Gelli plate prints. This print was made using blue, pink, white and green acrylic paints. To create the scene the Wildflower Meadow stencil was laid down when paint was still wet and then lifted off - this has the effect of lifting the paint and leaving an impression of the design on the stencil.

As I've done before, I've trimmed down and attached the print inside a double fold aperture card base, and then stamped the greeting in black ink. To embellish it I've added a couple of butterflies punched from a snippet of dark blue metallic cardstock. The blue satin ribbon is threaded through two slits cut on each edge of the front and then tied in a bow. The die-cut flowers, a gift from one of my lovely blogging friends, were sponged with blue ink before adhering to the left side of the card. And as a final embellishment I've scattered silver sequins on the corners.

The materials used are listed at the end of the post.

I'm also submitting this card to Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge - #12 Summertime Butterflies

Hope you are all having a lovely day.

Happy Crafting,

Materials used: white double fold aperture card; white cardstock for Gelli printing; acrylic paints - blue, pink, white and green; Crafter's Workshop 6x6 Wildflower Meadow Template stencil; Stampin' Up Wetlands set for greeting; Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad; white die-cut flowers from friend; Memento Danube Blue ink pad; snippet of dark blue metallic card; Woodware's small butterfly punch; blue satin ribbon; silver sequins

Live Every Moment ....

... again! Can you tell I like this stamp :)

I think this IndigoBlu stamp is fast becoming my most used one, it seems to be appropriate for so many cards. This one is for my middle grandson who has just been promoted, found his ideal girlfriend and is enjoying life to the full ... all at the tender age of 23 :)

To make the card I used one of the prints taken from the Gelli plate as the basis for the design. Black, brown and blue acrylic paint has been combined with a That Special Touch stencil, Circles, and bubble wrap to create the pattern. After trimming down, it was matted on to layers of blue and brown cardstock before adhering to the card blank.

The topper was made by stamping the sentiment on to a snippet of white card and then matting and layering as for the base layer.

The hinged greeting ... I spotted this idea on a TV demo. The hinge is made from an off-cut of white card ... I scored the fold first before attaching it to the inside of the card.  The greeting, from My Favorite Things Happiest Birthday Wishes set, is again stamped on to a snippet of white card and matted and layered as before. Before attaching it to the front of the hinge I adhered a tiny scrap of the trimmings from the Gelli print ... you can just about see it peaking out from under the greeting.

The inside and back are also decorated with trimmings from the print matted on to scraps of the blue cardstock.

Lots of snippets and off-cuts of white card used here so I'm submitting this card for examination by Di at Pixie's Snippets Playground.

I'm off now to see what other snippeteers have been making this week.

Hope you are having a lovely day.

Happy Crafting,

Materials used: 6" square white card black; snippets of white card; blue and brown smooth cardstock; acrylic paints, black, brown and blue colours; Creative Expressions That Special Touch Circles stencil; IndigoBlu sentiment stamp (magazine freebie); My Favorite Things Happiest Birthday Wishes greeting stamp set; black dewdrops for embellishment