May Winner is....

Cathy of 'A Surcee Life'.

Hope you enjoy this little gift!!

Thanks to all who played this month, and another giveaway will be along soon!!

Cindx

It's here!! WOYWW 4th Anniversary - #208 (and extreme overuse of !!!)

Never mind the weeks, the years are flying by!! Here we are today for a very special WOYWW, celebrating 4 years of this delightful madness.

If you've been  in a cave for the last four years and have  no idea what I am rambling on about then hop on over to Julia's blog 'Stamping Ground' where you can follow the links to find out how to join in and a little about the history of this weekly bloghop.

To the rest of you - A BIG WELCOME!!

Not a lot been going on but I do have on my desk this week the ATC I have made so that I can send one out to the next person on the list as part of the anniversary celebrations. I have a further 5  ATCs to send out to 5 people who request them in a comment on this post. If there are more than 5 requests I will pick names out of a hat to be fair to those who don't get online until later in the day. International players welcome. I must be able to contact you via your blog or email. I'll allocate them at random but if you do have a preference please state which one and I'll see what I can do. I would love it if you were able to reciprocate but that is not a condition.

(If you are interested in a trade at any time I do have other ATCs and tags available - check out my FLICKR gallery HERE and get in touch if you see something you like).

I am at work today and that does rather restrict how often I can check in so please don't panic if you can't see your comment as moderation is on.

Happy Anniversary and have a great day!!

(see some of you Saturday!!!)

(NB Sorry if this post doesn't make an awful lot of sense - have been in twice to edit because blogger keeps moving the text round - hey ho!)

CRAFTY CARDMAKERS - Tri-fold shutter card with a twist...

Well, what's that you may ask?

This is my very first DT piece for the Crafty Cardmaker's Design Team and I had to go and check it out myself (thank goodness for the internet!!) as I didn't want to go off piste for my very first challenge. I discovered I have made these before and I love the effect but don't much like all that matting and layering (cutting straight lines is not my strong point).

The actual challenge has been set by Annette  who would like to see a tri-shutter card with a stamped image, either digital or rubber, with an added twist of using the colours Blue, Yellow and Green. 

Once I had, ahem, mastered the basic design with folds and cuts in the right place (it's really quite simple....) I went to a DCWV paper pad (Café Mediterranean) for some colour inspiration. Having chosen my papers I selected a newish design from Clarity Stamps for my main image and coloured with promarkers. The flowers are made with a Martha Stewart punch and stamp set. You can see from the photo that I have had a bit of difficulty with my self adhesive bling which keeps falling off - weird, I've never had that before must just be a duff sheet. So I've re-attached them all with wet glue.

I hope I haven't put you off, these cards are really easy to do and look quite impressive but still fold down flat to go in an envelope.  Just don't let your head get too befuddled with measurements you may see online - you can change these as much as you like, it's the proportions and the principle of cuts (there are only 2!!) and folds you need to grasp. In fact I've been so inspired I've started a more ambitious project which I hope to share soon.



To join in with the challenge hop on over to the Crafty Cardmakers Blog and post your entry. This challenge is sponsored by Di's Digi Downloads but please make sure you follow all of Annette's requirements to be eligible. And you'll need to be quick as this challenge is only running for a week.

Can't wait to see what you do!!

Quick tag... Using up the leftovers....

I blogged previously about my May 'Tags of 2013' here using the rub on resist technique. Some of it didn't go so well and I cut them down for  ATCs. Weirdly 
the leftover bits looked better together and I made this tag.

Neat eh?

More justification for being such a hoarder!! (Not that I need any!)

Gelli Prints!!!

First of all thanks for all the well wishes, I am feeling much better in myself but the poor old voice is still very hoarse even after resting it for 6 days - seriously, I've hardly said a word, it's been killing me. Have been drinking lemon, honey and ginger until it's coming out of my pores. Am going into work tomorrow as I have a kids activity but not sure how long the voice will last (maybe they'll send me home after hee hee.....).

yes, I know, the letters are back to front....

Anyhow, Weds I did indeed get out my gelli plate. I moved into the kitchen as I had a feeling it would require slightly more space - and I was right!! WHAT a mess!! I've still got paint on my fingernails (acrylic to acrylic, not good LOL). Anyhow had great fun and here are some of my favourites.

Upside down in the photo but at least they are
right way round here, I'm learning

Need to practise a little more and I shall be looking out now for good things to 'make marks' with. Also need to get my head round the whole layers/what ends up on top thing but that's just my control freak side coming out - you can't really second guess a gelli plate.





There are quite a few more - once you get started you kind of just keep going!! Not sure what I will use them all for though!

So that's that, bye for now!!

Love this one
 

 

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday # 207

Well there hasn't been an awful lot of action here lately and I've kind of forgotten what I was doing with most of this.  I've been poorly :o(. Still feel like c*** but have promised myself an hour or two with the gelli plate as my playtime with it is long overdue. Which is why it has prime position.

Want to find out about WOYWW? Then pop over to Julia's blog Stamping Ground. Join in why don't you?
Goodness look at the time!!
Better get a wriggle on.
Have a good day!!

TIOT On The Wild Side - Bird card

I am so glad I finished this design piece ahead of time as I have felt really poorly this last week with some sort of non-specific virus which ended up with me losing my voice on Sunday. Just managing to croak a few words but not really feeling up to much - all say 'aaah' !!!

However, back to business and this fortnight at Try It On Tuesday we are asking you to feature animals or birds on your projects. I have used embossed and sanded Kraft Core to make my backing paper. The main image is from a Kanban stamp set - it took 3 attempts to emboss this without getting speckles all over the background!!

It was coloured with promarkers in shades of blue green and lilac (I almost managed to get it to match the paper).

I thought this card would be suitable for a variety of occasions and have purposely left it bling-less so it would work as a male or female card.

So ferociously wild or cuddly and cute, get out your animal images and join us at at Try It On Tuesday.

Tags of 2013 - Not all rub-ons are created equal....

Well we all know this.  I have sheets and sheets of rub ons that would be ever so useful if they would just, well, rub on. Or Off, depending on your point of view. I don't however have any of the TH Rub ons that he uses for the May tag so I have no idea how they perform, although I expect very well. I do have a few from 7 Gypsies and Basic Grey which are super easy to use and hopefully will be perfectly fine for the resist technique that forms the basis of this month's tag.

The next step is to smoosh on some colour. As I have said before, smooshing is not a technique I
have a lot of success with. Several dun coloured tags later I have actually achieved some colour in pleasing proportions. Because I have used some Paris rub ons I opt for my Mme Berth stamp - eek alors, used a rather dry ink pad and she has come over all faint. Despite my best efforts she looked lost on the tag, so I finally cut her up and made her into an ATC. I end up doing the same with the next two attempts, saving the best bit of each.

Despite these minor setbacks I can see the appeal of this technique if only I can get it right. The effect is reminiscent of highlighting with a white pen. Oh well, perseverance is a virtue and finally I  have some modicum of success, even managing to weave Mme Berth into one design and using a trusty Lynn Perella image for the other one.

 I have left both of my May tags fairly unembellished, mainly because I don't have the bits Tim has and I don't feel like improvising. I did however spring for the word bands but they have been on my wish list 4 ages. (To be honest I don't think they need it either although I did add a bit of gilding flakes to one).














Phew only the middle of the month and the tags are done - brill!!

Oh, and Tim's tag and instructions are here.

May Art Draw - Belle of the Ball

As regular readers may know I have reported on two crafty catastrophes in the last few days - firstly, the intended item for the May Art Draw has inexplicably disappeared following a bout of tidying up. Now there's a lesson if ever there was one.

Secondly, the proforma shoe made in advance of my Steampunk Cinderella  project got squashed because I put a box on top of it. Accidentally of course. But all is not lost.

I am pleased to report that I have managed to rescue the squashed item and together with a couple of other rather fanciful additions it is now my offering for the May Art Draw. I have repaired the heel and altered the original design which was from a template from House of Zandra by adding a back to the shoe and lining it throughout (helped with the squashed bits lol).

Here they are in all their glory.

There is the reconditioned shoe (it really is fine!!), a fan, a little dance card and well, you might as well have the other flower. I'm thinking that some rather elegant young lady might be getting all prepared for a night of dancing and fun.  I suppose she won't get far with just one shoe (although Cinderella did OK in the end) but I didn't have enough paper (or patience) for two. The colour is a little questionable but the DCWV paper is sooo pretty and being ready glittered added a lot of bling with very little effort. The fan is made from scraps of leftover papers and I confess is not perfect. It also lacks the satisfying 'snap' of other fans I have made (also here) and is all form with no function, but I can only hope you'll forgive me this little piece of whimsy.

If you would like to have these for your very own (!!!) all you have to do is leave a comment on this post before 9.00 pm on Friday 31st May and I will put you in the draw. Overseas players are welcome and please feel free to link from your own blogs (if you let me know you have done so I will put you in the draw twice).

I hope you like this project, the Cinderella shoe was so well received I thought it might strike a chord. Now all I have to do is find the other project and we'll be all set for June!!









Challenges:

Anything Goes Challenge Blog - Challenge 92, Shaped but not square
Our Creative Corner - Anything Goes

Crafty Cardmakers Rain/Flowers

Had just printed this image and papers off from my frou frou digikit when testing it out on the printer and saw the latest challenge on Crafty Cardmakers. The theme was Rain and Flowers.

The colours are a little bright for me (again... must be the sunshine earlier this week) and I've used two patterned papers - goodness I'll have to go and lie down in a darkened room.

But they are in the kit together and  they are supposed to match.......I'm just normally not that daring! I even die cut the leaves from some DCWV glitter paper because it was the best colour match - pattern, bling and bright colours, whatever next!!
Don't you just love that frond die? It's from Memory Box and cuts like a dream.

WOYWW #205 - all the usual suspects....

Wednesday? Again? Oh well, here we go, here is my desk this week....

Neither tidy nor particularly untidy - just a repository for things I am about to do this week. An abandoned shoe that I squashed with a box (can it be saved?). The raw materials for a little ATC project I have in mind, tags and a spectacle case that haven't moved since last week, a very dirty rag, a glue runner that has got messed up but I'm still trying to use it, and everything else just in its normal place.

If you have some reason to show off your desk this week, hop on over to Julia's blog 'Stamping Ground' and join in. I'd love it if you had time to say 'hi' and will definitely return the favour whilst I am on my rounds.


Will  you be at the WOYWW crop? I will!! Looking forward to it insanely. And have just realised if last year was anything to go by it won't do my pre holiday diet any favours!!
Have a great WOYWW!!

Unadulterated Self Promotion: I am running a little behind schedule due entirely to, ahem, tidying  up as discussed last week, but just wanted to give you a head's up to say that the Art Draw for May will be uploaded  on Friday. xx

Try It On Tuesday - Feminine and Fancy!!

Should be easy right? But for some reason I have struggled with this one!! I have a wealth of stamps and kits I could have chosen - perhaps it was the range of possibilities that stumped me but finally I plumped for this very pretty shoe image from 'Stamps by Chloe'. You can't go wrong with a fancy shoe can you?

I rummaged through my papers and found a pretty rose pattern amongst some 12 x 12 wedding scrapbook papers. Vellum, crushy ribbon, some very pretty lace and a sentiment from Anna Marie designs - done.
I didn't want to over load the card because whilst I was doing it I thought of a friend who might like it and it will have to be posted.

Because in the end it was quite a simple card I used up the rest of the paper by lining the envelope and fussy cutting to decorate the outside.

So, what can you make that's feminine and fancy?  Do come over to Try It On Tuesday and join in.

SUMMER!!

Oh I know it's barely Spring but it's a gorgeous day here today and that was the only word I could think of to go on this tag which is my entry for the current TOFF Challenge.

Wish I could carry off this look for the beach!!

Nothing much else to say today, it feels like the end of a long week but I'm not moaning the weather has been truly glorious, and it's all set to be a garden day today methinks !!

Have a good Bank Holiday!!

Bling it Up!!

A quick card for a friend who loves camper vans. I won this digi for an entry to a Polkadoodles Challenge so it seems only fitting to use it in the current Challenge which is 'Birthday with Bling'.

Backing papers are from the 'Back to Nature' CD and I've added bling by colouring the van with Gelly Rol Glitter Pens, glittering the backing paper and of course just a few gems!!

More clean and simple......

My last attempt at 'Clean and Simple' freaked out Neet and Von at Artful Times because they thought they'd got their challenges in a muddle. C&S is the official challenge this fortnight so I had to come up with another project that fits the bill.

I just happenned to have my JOFY stamps on the desk and they are so adorable I thought they would work.














After looking at my first attempt I did wonder if there was enough white space, so I tried again with less elements.

Just love this stamp set!!

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday #204 and a winner.........

Quickie from me which should earn a few brownie points from our esteemed leader, Julia of Stamping Ground (pop on over for more info).

Tidied up my desk this evening which was kind of stupid, so this is just a load of things I have been working on that I need to finish. My friend and I have been glittering acetate because she liked some cards she saw - I think she's changed her mind now!! Two weeks of being covered in glitter has dampened her enthusiasm somewhat. Other bits - My notebook and various digis printed out. Tags and something to alter. The waste from a fern die cut which I have mounted onto black card as I think it looks rather cool - a topper for a quick card methinks.

I have just done a random.org selection for the April Art Draw which was no 5 - Viv!!

I was going to give you a sneak preview of the May Draw but I can't lay my hands on it at the moment - may need to re-think......!! (I knew it was a mistake to tidy up.....)

That's it from me. See you around! Have a great WOYWW!!

Cindy