Less is More #4

So the kids are back at school and the weather is dreary so some card-making was the order of the morning.

Week 4 at the Less is More challenge blog and this week we have to use three squares on our card. I decided to stipple three squares through a homemade acetate stencil with Tim Holtz distress ink. Then stamp, and colour with promarkers, two images from a set of clear Woodware stamps and use a sentiment from the same set on the middle square. Glossy accents highlights the cherry and chocolate sauce and a piece of ribbon with bow to finish.

I was so pleased with how this style of card came out that I made another, this time as a birthday card for my Brother-in-Law whose birthday is coming up. He's a travel fanatic so thought I could make a variation on the theme using a  Judikins cube stamp and using Kraft card.

This time I stippled arond the acetate square and mounted the images on top.

If you fancy taking up the challenge visit the blog, make a card and upload it..we're a friendly group over there and you'll find some inspiring designs and blogs too :)

A Vintage Page

Hi everyone, here's my latest page which I'm entering into sketch 226 over at pencil lines, just in the nick of time as I think submissions close tomorrow.

The Sketch

I have scrapped a very old photograph of my grandparents before they were married so around 1945. My Nan died at the beginning of this year and all these photos have now come to light, she was one for looking forward not dwelling on the past as she had overcome her fair share of tragedies over the years. The only thing is that some of the photos have no date or names on the back so they need researching further.

This is a new style of page for me and I really wanted to try stitching between the patterned papers but it had to be done by hand as we don't own a sewing machine yet! It also made a change to use floral papers, something I don't use much of usually.

I'm pleased how it turned out and hope you like it too x
Thanks for looking :) 

Loads of Fun

This scrapbook book page for the Scrap Map Challenge on CCW blog gave me a chance to use my Cosmo Cricket pad 'Get Happy' and Tim Holtz Bitty grunge stamps. 
The pictures are of my son James on his new Trampoline last springtime. James is 15 and autistic and like other children on the spectrum he loves to release energy by bouncing. He is eagerly awaiting for the spring when he can go back on his beloved trampoline :)
Here is the sketch
  
 and here is my page

I love the extra elements you get in with CC pads like the word borders and journal boxes. One of the requirements of the challenge is to use chipboard so instead of lettering I chose other elements. I had some frosted acrylic which was waste packaging so I used a nestie label die to cut it and then used a cuttlebug embossing folder to give it texture.

I really like this messy graphic look, it suited these photos well and this CC pad is one of my favourites.
Hope you like it too and thanks for looking.

PS Thank you for all the lovely comments left on my blog, I really appreciate them x

Less is More #3

Well its week three over at the Less is More challenge blog and its a theme of Spring this week whilst keeping to the 'simple clean lines' rules.
I'm absolutely loving this type of challenge as it is really making me think about the composition. I love the less is more style and use of white space but when making cards to sell I'm aware that not everyone gets or likes this style so I'm enjoying creating them.
This week I decided to use my light box and do some dry embossing which I haven't done for a while.

Spring made me think of birds and nesting so I found this stencil and embossed onto lasting impressions card so I could sand the images and then cut them out. The birdies are embossed on white vellum and I'm so pleased with the positioning of the bird flying in.

Hope you like it and thanks for looking :)

An Altered Jute Bag

For my Mum's birthday yesterday we gave her some bits and pieces for her garden so I thought it would be nicer to put them in a jute bag (only £1.99).

 Later that day I wondered how I could decorate the bag to make it more individual.
So using a Sizzix die I cut four trees from brown mix material and then again with green felt/material and hand stitched the green tops to the brown bases.

I also hand stitched round two strips of green material for the grass and cut out birds from black felt. I used book binding glue to stick all the pieces onto the bag as I thought this would be easier than sewing through the plastic backed jute.

I'm pleased with how it turned out as sewing is not my 'thing' really, and  mum was thrilled with it too as she has an individual shopping bag now. Hope you like it too.

A Thank you Card

Another craft project I hear you say????..... yes, whether I will keep up this productivity is something else especially as half term is next week.
This card is for the 52 cards challenge on UK scrappers ,thread here, run by Ang on her blog Paper and Ribbons.
The starting points were PURPLE, MONOCHROMATIC and THANKS (you don't have to use all three)
I'm also entering this into the square card challenge on CCW blog

The stamps I've had a while and are from Technique Tuesday and they enable you to make up your own style of paisley pattern - so cool, love them.



.

I wasn't too sure about the colour when I finished it as it looked more of a pink!!......funny colour purple it has so many hues, but it's definitely purple.



That's all for today and thank you all for such lovely comments I certainly enjoy exploring all the other blogs out there and leaving words. 

I'll be back tomorrow as I've made a Eco friendly gift bag for my Mum's birthday present today and I'm pleased with how it turned out considering it was a last minute brainwave :D

My First Scrapbook Challenge

I decided to try a scrapbook page challenge so I found Creative Craft World - The Challenge Blog and they have a sketch running for this week and this is my take on it.

The photo I took last Autumn of my daughter and our terrier, Rolo, when I was doing a Cheryl Johnson Photography Course. I haven't really followed sketches before so found it quite different and in some ways helped me make decisions of what to include or not as the case may be :)

The chipboard letters I made myself with 'rub-ons' and I hand stitched round the white heart.

I tried out my 3d flower die from Sizzix...not sure how this is gonna fit in an album now???
The printed acrylic I've had a while from KI memories and i thought it was a good way of using it.
Hope you like it and thanks for looking : D



Less is More

This is a card I've made for the Less is More blog which is a weekly challenge blog requiring you to make cards with clean simple lines and a minimalist look I suppose...exactly as the blog title says really!

This weeks challenge is to make a one layered card that includes an image of a tree or flower so I dug my favourite Penny black stamp out and some ink pads and this is what I came up with.

If you like the sound of the challenge go and visit the blog and see the wonderful inspiration from Mandi and Chrissie, this weeks challenge closes Friday 18th at 18:00 GMT.

A Birthday Card

First I'd like to say thank you for all the lovely encouraging comments from fellow bloggers, I'm going to have a nosey round all the blogs later.

My Mum's birthday is coming up so at the weekend I made this card.

As you can see I'm getting into this inking round the edge business thanks to a Mr T Holtz and his luuuurvley ink pads and blending tool. The stamps are new from Inkadinkado and will hopefully be good for scrapbook pages too.

I decided to take the camera out today on the daily dog walk and my daughter Hannah came along too to be the photographer as I felt I needed to try and get a decent photo for my profile (I usually prefer to be behind the camera). I'm quite pleased they turned out well and 'voila' a profile photo was created :)

Welcome to my blog

Hello and welcome to my new blog.

I decided to take the plunge and create a blog as I enjoy looking at other peoples crafting projects on their blogs so thought I'd have a go too. I started card making about 6yrs ago and this has led onto scrapbooking and a love of photography too (the usual story I suppose).

Seeing as it's late and my dear daughter is helping me through posting my first blog post (I'm not computer savvy!!) I'll show you a page I created this weekend. It's a photo I used on last years Christmas Cards of our local park after a beautiful hard haw frost, with a blue sky and white trees I just couldn't resist getting the camera out. 

The 12x12 paper is white bazzill cardstock that I've inked the edges of and stamped with swirls, first time I've tried this and I quite like the effect. The white flower-thingy is made from a gauze swab although I had been looking for a woven bandage to make a flower with but felt this worked just as well.

Well that's all for my first trip into blog land, hope you like it and thanks for looking.