CD Sunday - Travels Abroad

Normally by 8.00 a.m. I have already posted the new CD Sunday card, but this week I must apologise as I'm a little late (and to think I had an extra hour in bed too). I was asked if I would take my cards along to a local Christmas Craft Fayre yesterday. So having been busy all week getting ready all yesterday morning while hubby was walking the dog, I started loading the car. I was in and out of the front door with arm loads of stuff when my ankle just gave way and I found my self on the wet floor outside the front door. With no hubby to help me up, and my ankle shouting at me with pain, I managed to get back in doors. Rather shaken and with a throbbing ankle, I got changed out of the wet things and with hubby helping to load the car, driving me to the venue and helping set up I settled in for the day. It was while sitting waiting for the first customers to arrive through the door that I discovered I had somehow managed to hurt the knee of my other leg. Anyway I had a good day, but on getting home I was in so much pain from my knee (the ankle has paled into insignificance by now) instead of getting on and scheduling my post, I sat with my leg up. So here I am Sunday morning, still in pain from the knee, posting this a little late.

This weeks theme has been chosen by Christine, and it's Travels Abroad. It's going to be great to see where in the world you are all going to take this week, the design team along with guest Wynn have made some great cards to inspire you so do pop over to the blog and take a look. For my card I've used Joanna Sheen's Tales Of The Orient, and a beautiful Japanese garden. I started with an A5 white card base, and some burgundy card for matting. The matching backing paper had a beautiful border on it which I cut off and matted up separately. I matted the topper onto white and then burgundy card, added some matching card candy and some flowers from my stash.The sentiment can wait until I've decided who will receive the card.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Fun Filled Weekend - Part 2

I'm back again with the second instalment of my weekend with Eileen Godwin, this time with Sunday's workshop which was all about journalling. I have long wanted to start a journal but not knowing really how to start, so as soon as I saw that Eileen was running a workshop for this on the Sunday I put my name on the list to attend. On Sunday morning I turned up at the Village Hall, and out of 10 of us 8 had as yet unused journals. Eileen gave us a demo of the sort of things she liked to do in her own journal and how to make a splat with distress stains. Next it was our turn, so armed with some distress stains we all got splatting. Below is my first page, after splatting I used a stencil and distress inks. I felt it need a little lift, so went around where the stencil had been with a black distress marker. I then add the stamped words before finally putting some white acrylic paint circles on the page.

My second page I was not very happy with to start with, but it has grown on me. I did consider tearing the page out, but in the end I left it. Again I did the distress stain splats, and a Tim Holtz stencil with which I added some lines with distress ink. I used a Tim Holtz stamp set for the Butterfly's, and with another stencil added some flowers at the bottom.

After doing two pages inside the book, I took a look at my covers these were white but I felt that they would not stay that way long if I continued to get inky fingers. On the Saturday I had really enjoy the technique that Eileen had shown us using acrylic paint bring it down the page in stripes, but leaving white space at the bottom. It was nice, bright and very colourful and would hide any fingerprints, I hope. I also used the same London set that I had used the day before, along with the bitty grunge set. The words I used came from a Wendy Vechi set that was for journalling.

Of course I had to give the back page the same treatment as the front. I used the enamel accents to finish them both off, and as they took some time to dry I had to leave the book out flat.

So while that was drying I had another play with splats, distress inks and some of the new Stamps by Ryn. This is about the same size as the pages in my journal, so I will try and add it at some point.

All too soon my weekend of crafting was at an end, but I had so much fun. It was great to see what everyone else had done during the day, and they were all different. I'm going back next month for the journalling workshop, I can't wait to find out what we'll be doing then.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Craft A Scene Week 3 - Foul/Fowl Weather

I'm back again with my second post today, this time for Craft A Scene. We are still asking for your creations for Foul/Fowl Weather, my last offering for this theme included rain, this one I've gone for the bird element and this gorgeous digi stamp from Nicecrane Designs. I printed it onto some white card and also white copier paper. With the copier paper version I cut out and used as a mask then coloured the water and sky using Distress inks and brushes. I coloured the island with pro markers and added some Gray to shade the swans. Finally I added some reeds and a sentiment then mounted onto some matt silver mirri card before placing onto a 6x6 blue card base.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

CD Sunday - Fox And Friends

Sunday again already, I can't believe how quickly they keep coming around. I had a lovely weekend last week and have put the cards that we made on here, and will be putting the Journal pages on tomorrow. As it's Sunday it's time for a new challenge over on the CD Sunday blog, and this week it was my turn to pick the theme. I've gone for Fox and Friends, and am looking forward to seeing what you all come up with this week. For my card this week I have used Pollyanna Pickering's British Wildlife CD From Creative Crafting World, and these Fox's who seem to have plenty of friends. I've used an A5 card base, and gold mirri card for the matting. I then used one of the square toppers and a small one which I popped into the corner, and a matching backing paper. I added some ribbon across the bottom half of the card and finally some flowers from my stash to finish it off. We still have Wynn as our GDT, and again she and the rest of the DT have made some wonderful cards for your inspiration, please do pop over to the blog and take a look.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.
I'll be back later today with my offering for Craft A Scene

Sue

Fun Filled Weekend - Part 1

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be able to attend one of Eileen Godwin's workshops. I have long been an admirer of Eileen's style of crafting and use of bright bold colours, but lacked the confidence to take the plunge and be so bold. So I booked myself onto one of her workshops and set off to spend a week in Kent. With the help of Sat Nav we found the Village Hall quite easily and hubby dropped me off with my bag of craft equipment, my lunch and a few nerves, after all I was on my own and didn't know anyone. However after a warm welcome from Eileen, she showed me where to sit and I was soon chatting to the ladies around me, Hellen, Helen, Diane and Sue. Thanks you for being so friendly ladies.

We made three projects (cards during the day) and time flew past. We made two cards in the morning, one that had to be started and then left to dry, and the other we got on and made while the first was drying.

The first one above, I feel I kept within my comfort zone colour wise as these were colours that I would use everyday, but it was a great technique involving getting pearlised card stock wet before adding the colour.

Next I went way out of the comfort zone, using acrylic paints in very bold colours for me. And I loved it, now all of the acrylic paints I've bought and left in the cupboard will be coming out and getting a new lease of life. After the paint was dry I went over it with a stencil and distress inks, then a Tim Holtz stamp from the London sights set. The small circle stamp was from Designs by Ryn, then the circles added with a shot glass and white acrylic paint. Finally the dots are Enamel Accents (very much like Glossy Accents) and they take a long time to dry.

After lunch Eileen showed us how to make this gorgeous card above, it was such an easy technique but looks so effective. Embossed in white on water colour paper and then finger painting over the top with distress inks in the colours desired, just finishing off the leaves with a paint brush.

Than all of a sudden it was time to pack up, I could not believe that I had been there nearly 6 hours - the day went far to quickly. However Eileen has started up a Jounalling workshop, and I had put my name down for this too. If you pop back on Monday you will see what fun I had then.

Thanks you for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

CD Sunday - Butterfly

It's Thursday evening and I'm scheduling my post for Sunday Morning. As today (Sunday) I am attending a Journaling Workshop with the talented Eileen Godwin. Yesterday (Saturday) I was attending a card based workshop with the same talented Lady. Anyway as it's Sunday it's time again for another new theme over on the CD Sunday blog. This week Wendy has chosen for us, and it's butterfly. For my card I have used Krafthands, Kew Collection, and this beautiful old fashioned Bearded Iris. When we first moved to our current house over twenty years ago, there were loads of these in the garden, but lined up against a fence. I decided to move them and only a couple have ever come up again. This Month Wynn is our GDT, and I know that both she and the DT have made some lovely cards for your inspiration this week. So please pop over to the blog and take a look.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

30th Birthday Cards

Today I thought I would show you the 3 different cards that I had to make for my Daughters 30th Birthday today. All are 8x8 card bases, the first was made using this gorgeous large swallowtailed butterfly stamp from Stampin Up (I just had to have it). I stamped it and then embossed with white embossing powder, then coloured over the top using a stylus tool and Adirondack ink pads. I wiped away the ink that settled on the top of the white embossing, and then cut out. The backing paper was a download from Chocolate Baroque, which I took into MCS to lighten the colour, after cutting it to size I went around the outside of the page using Storm Adirondack ink. A Martha Stewart punch was used for the fancy panel, which I placed some wide lace under. The sentiment was made on the PC and again coloured with the Storm ink. The corners are from a Marianne Die.

The second card from my Son to his Sister was made using the Fabulous Shoes CD from Katy Sue, with art work from Sandra Wright. When my Daughter first saw this CD she fell in love with it, so it was the obvious choice to use.

Finally the last card from my Father-in-law was again using a Katy Sue CD, with art work by Sandra Wright, but this time it's the new Flights of Fantasy CD. The flowers used on the last two cards are made using a crealies die, also the leaves. The corners on the last card are a new Marianne corner die.

We're off out for a meal tonight with my Daughter and her partner, she hasn't seen the cards yet. It's a good job I know that she won't look at my blog before we meet up.

My next post will be a scheduled one, as this weekend I'm attending two workshops, held by the talented Eileen Godwin, of Eileen's Crafty Zone. The first is a card based workshop, which I should have attended earlier this summer, but it was the weekend my Mother-in-law passed away. And the second is the following day and more journal based, so I hope to have plenty to show you when I get back.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and you kind comment which are always appreciated.

Sue

21st Birthday Cards

Yesterday was my Niece's 21st Birthday, and this was the card that I made for her big day. This is one of the many that I've had to make over the last week or so. I used The Fabulous Fashion CD from Katy Sue (Flowersoft) with the wonderful art work by Sandra Wright. It is an 8X8 card, with the topper being decoupaged. The flowers were white, but I coloured them with pro markers to match the colours of the dress. I used my Cricut and the Plantin cartridge to put her name and age on it.

Last Saturday was my other Niece's Birthday (my sister and I were so kind to my Mum, all of her Granddaughters are born with 5 days of each other - in different years of course) she was 23 so no age on her card. It was made the same way as the other one, minus the Cricut letters, and the flowers were made using a crelies die. This time Happy Birthday was cut out using Occasions die cuts.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Craft A Scene - Foul/Fowl Weather

I'm back again with my second post today, this time for Craft A Scene. This month we're asking for your Foul Weather scenes, and also to include a bird or birds in your scene. For this card I used a 6x6 card base, and silver mirri card for the matting. I used some matt card stock from Lavinia stamps to stamp my scene onto, and stamps from Lavinia, Sheena Douglas and Designs by Ryn.I started by stamping my Island in the middle of the card with blue Stazon, I also stamped the thistles and birds with Stazon. I stamped the willow leaves at the top using chipped Sapphire distress ink doing first and second generation stamping. Next using my brushes I used distress inks in milled lavender for the sky, and faded denim for the water. I went around the outside with chipped Sapphire and then added the raindrops, I have also added glossy accents too, in the hope that they look wet. I hope that you will pop over to the blog and see what the rest of the DT have made for your inspiration this month.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

CD Sunday - To The Moon And Back

Well another Sunday has come rushing around, bringing with it a new month, and as it's Sunday it time again for a new challenge on the CD Sunday blog. As it's the first Sunday of the month it means we have a sponsor and this month it's the lovely Lynda Chapman from Creative Crafting World. Lynda very generously sent the DT some art work for this challenge, please don't forget to pay the blog a visit to see what we've all made with it. If you read my blog post earlier this week you will know that this is a busy month for me with lots of family birthdays coming up, so with this in mind I made this card for our Great Niece who is going to be 7 on the 17th (the little fairy even looks like her). I used an 8x8 white card base for this card and used gold mirri card for the matting. I printed off one of the design sheets and cut out all of the elements, I decoupaged the main image and added the stars down the side of the card and the daisies at the bottom. I also printed off the alphabet sheet and cut out the name Darcy and added it. Finally I added a ribbon rosette in a matching colour.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue

Spooky

I can't believe how fast this year has gone, and that it's October already. This is always a busy month for me as it's our wedding anniversary Friday. Saturday is my niece's birthday, the 8th is my other niece's birthday - she's 21 this year. Then 9th is our godson's birthday and the following day my Daughters birthday (30 this year), and that's just the beginning of the month.

Each month on the Chocolate Baroque group we have a swap of quintile's (5x5 square piece's of work) with a new theme each month, and this month is Spooky. I know that here in the UK we don't celebrate Halloween like our friends in the US and Canada, but I do love the Halloween stamps, so for this month I had just had to get out those stamps. For the first tile I've used stamps from Nevermore and Witches Brew sets and distress ink pads in colours Milled Lavender, Picked Preserves and Dusty Concord. I added a little glitter to the small mushrooms by the witch in the hope that they would look a bit magical.

For the second tile I've used stamps from the Bewitched Moonlight set. I've used distress ink pads in Mustard Seed, Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade. I then stamped some of the mushrooms in Rusty Hinge and Vintage photo, I also used Vintage Photo to create some shadows. Glitter again to the mushrooms and also the rat's wings.

I'm entering these into the following challenges:

Inspire Me Fridays - Anything Goes
Artistic Inspirations - One Layer
Sister Act Card Challenges - Anything Goes
ART Card Challenges - Anything Goes

Thanks for taking the time time to look, and your kind comments which are always appreciated.

Sue