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Thursday 28 March 2024

Spring blessings

Hello, crafting friends!
 
It's Thursday and time for another fortnight of Tic Tac Toe challenge fun! Linda has chosen the ideas for the board this time and what a lot of gorgeous inspiration she has given us! 
 

I chose the middle row: Spring Colors/Free/Stencil and made a card for a young couple from church who have announced that they are having a baby later this year. Such lovely news!
 

I used the Greetery's Printshop Floral Frame stencil and stamp set, choosing inks in lovely spring colours, and stamped the sentiment from All Blessings Flow, also from the Greetery, in the centre. Light green card strips were glued to the top and bottom of the card front to finish the design.
 

Okay, so now it's your turn! Here's how to join in: First, hop over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge blog post to check out the design team's work; Second, create your own card using ideas from any row, column or diagonal from the tic tac toe board; Third, use the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post to share your creation with us - we can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES
I'm linking this card up at Try it on Tuesday where the challenge is to Use a Stencil; Stenciling is the name of the game at the Stencil Fun Challenge too, with an optional twist of Spring/Easter; I used the sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches, so I'm also joining in there.


AND IN OTHER NEWS
With the Easter weekend coming up, the golden girls have heard that there might be an egg hunt! Lulu can't wait to get started...
 

... and wonders if THIS might be one of the eggs? Could she have a treat now, pretty please?!

Sending hugs,

Tuesday 26 March 2024

Berry Christmas

Hello, crafting friends!
 
It was Rudolph Day yesterday (the 25th of the month) and I made a Christmas card... but didn't get it photographed before I lost the light.  Oh the trials of a crafter and blogger! Anyway, it's here today instead:
 

It's a really simple card - a white card panel embossed with Altenew's Berried Cotoneaster embossing folder, coloured with coloured pencils and inked around the edges with pale blue ink. I added a sentiment from a Uniko set and mounted the panel onto some muted red card before attaching to a card base.
 

Coloured pencils are maybe not the ideal medium for colouring embossed panels but it does work. I liked the soft colours here which I thought gave a kind of frosty look.
 
CHALLENGES
I'm linking up with Rudolph Days of course; also ABC Christmas where E is for Embossing, and Can You Handle the Pressure where Anything using Embossing Folders Goes, with an optional theme of Birds. The EF was having its first airing so I'm taking it over to Darnell's NBUS Challenge.
 

AND IN OTHER NEWS
I went shopping at my local pet food shop yesterday. While I was in the middle of loading bags of frozen meaty chunks and sprats into the boot of my car, a diminutive lady came round the corner with a large chocolate lab. The lab took one look at me and voted me Shopper of the Year. He made a beeline for me, bringing the tiny lady with him - perhaps rather quicker than she would have liked! She and I had a nice chat and the lab allowed me to make a fuss of him, but alas, there were no treats forthcoming and he walked away dejectedly, wondering how he could have been so deceived in a person!

Sending hugs,

Sunday 24 March 2024

Spring in the meadow

Hello, crafting friends!
 
Spring is really on its way now and I am so inspired by all the pretty colours in the garden. There are lots of card challenges celebrating flowers and spring too so I rolled up my sleeves and joined in.
 

This fabulous floral is from Waffleflower's Bouquet Builder 3 that I was lucky enough to find as a bargain recently. I stamped the large image off the edge of a panel of watercolour paper that I'd trimmed with a Hemstitch die from Spellbinders.
 

I used a lightish neutral coloured ink and then coloured the image with Arteza watercolour brush pens - yes, they were out on my table again!
 

The sentiment is such a pretty one from The Greetery's Pine Blossom - a set that just keeps on giving in my opinion!

CHALLENGES
I'm linking this card up at Addicted to CAS where Toni has chosen Bloom as her word prompt; also Little Red Wagon where Chrissy's theme is Florals; Sarah is hosting Allsorts for a two week challenge and has opted for an optional challenge of Keep it Simple; Cathy wants to see Feminine cards at We Love Stamping, and Spring is in the Air at Stamping Sensations, so I'm also joining in there too. Finally, as this floral stamp is Never Before Used Schtuff, I'm twirling over to Darnell's NBUS Challenge.
 

AND IN OTHER NEWS
I did ask the golden girls if they'd like to watch me do some more crafting this afternoon but they decided they'd rather go for a long muddy walk instead. I know who is in charge in this house so I doffed my cap and scurried off to fetch the leads!
 

Here they are, fresh out of the river! They don't look very cheerful do they, but the expressions on their faces represent pure concentration because they know that when I've stopped mucking about with cameras, I am going to be saying those beautiful words that every pup longs to hear:
"Are you hungry?"

Sending hugs,

Friday 22 March 2024

Birds of a feather

Hello, crafting friends!
 
Where has the week flown off to? Very little crafting has taken place and my fingers have been feeling quite naked without their usual coating of ink! That was remedied today as I scrolled through Challenges for Days and was instantly inspired.
 

To start this card, I watercoloured a pale green square directly onto a thick cardbase (I've found that as long as I don't use too much water the card doesn't buckle.) I topped this with a circle of vellum, diecut with a Waffleflower nesting die, then added some stamped and fussy cut flowers from The Greetery's Fleur Expressions. The birds are from Robin and Wren, also from The Greetery, and also stamped and fussy cut. 

 
I had fussy cut the birds without a white outline but decided they needed one so, instead of starting again, I glue-dotted the birds to a snippet of white card and fussy cut around them. I quite like the dimensional look it gives them. I positioned them so they look as if they're having a nice chat so decided a Hello sentiment from an Altenew set would be appropriate :)

CHALLENGES
Narelle's beautiful sketch at Freshly Made Sketches was my starting point for this card, along with The Card Concept's gorgeous inspiration photo and colour palette - I have made a Clean and Layered card. I'm also playing along at Allsorts where the optional theme this week is Fur or Feathers, as well as The Snippets Playground where Miss requires us to make a project using snippets. I forgot to take a photo of my snippets but the vellum was a small offcut and I stamped and fussy cut the birds and flowers from white snippets as well as the sentiment.
 

AND IN OTHER NEWS
I love watching the busy little garden birds, fluttering about gathering nesting materials and preparing for their families but, meanwhile, the pigeons are like drunken nightclubbers behaving disgracefully and disturbing the peace!
 

Here's a portly chap cooing sweet nothings into the ear of a flighty miss. Hmmm! Be off with you or I'll release the Beige Beasts!

Sending hugs,

Saturday 16 March 2024

Cheers me dears!

Hello, crafting friends!
 
We had fun celebrating my youngest son's birthday earlier this week and I thought I'd show you the card I made for him. It was designed to make him smile and I hope it might give you a chuckle too!
 

The sentiment is supposed to be read in a cockney accent. When I used to live in London, I might hear someone say: "Who's that geezer with the dodgy tache?" meaning: " Who is that gentleman with the inappropriate moustache?" Anyway, enough of that...!
 
The drinks are from an older Clearly Besotted set called Raise a Glass. I stamped them on off-cuts of watercolour paper, coloured them with my Arteza Watercolour Brush Pens and fussy cut them. In case you were wondering why the boozy card, my son is not a dipsomaniac but IS a master cocktail maker!
 

The sentiment was made using The Greetery's Slim Alphabet dies which I cut from the matte black packaging my Arteza Brush Pens came in! Waste not want not! I arranged everything on a thick card base, making the letters dance about as if someone had (ahem) imbibed rather too many of the cocktails! I tried to make the cocktails realistic - see if you can spot a Martini, a Margarita, an Old Fashioned (he told me off because it's the wrong glass!), a Singapore Sling, a Cosmopolitan and a Bellini! 


I forgot to take a photo of the snippets before I cut them out but here's a photo of the cuttings!!
 
CHALLENGES
I am of course romping off to the Snippets Playground with my cocktail shaker in my satchel - will tell Miss we're doing scientific experiments! The Male Room's theme is Food & Drink so I'm joining in there too.


AND IN OTHER NEWS
My son kindly brought his cocktail shaker up at Christmas and had great fun devising cocktails for our enjoyment. I took a photo of some of them:

 
... unbelieveably delicious! I would share the recipes but naturally they remain a secret known only to the genius behind their conception ;) The decoration in the second photo was supposed to be frosted cranberries but I hadn't been able to find any so my poor son had to make do with a frozen cherry. Other great artists don't have this kind of nonsense to contend with do they?!!

Sending hugs,

Friday 15 March 2024

Easter crocuses

Hello, crafting friends!
 
It's time to remind you that this month's challenge at The Flower Challenge is to create a square floral card. It's always fun to break out of the usual rectangular style so why not come and join in!
 

I've made an Easter card this time, using the Botanicuts Crocus die set from The Greetery. I cut the leaves and flowers out of vellum and used waterbased markers to colour them, then set them aside while I made a background.
 

The grassy foreground was sponged onto a panel using a mask cut with a Lawn Fawn Hillside Border die. I used Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil to create a subtle sunburst (hard to see I know!) and added blue ink sponged round the edges of the panel. The flowers were added in one corner and I stamped a sentiment from Uniko's Everyday Spring Sentiments before attaching the panel to a square card base.

Okay, so now it's over to you! Do hop over to The Flower Challenge blog to check out all the amazing inspiration from the design team. Create a square card using florals, then when you're ready to link up your card, use the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post. You have until the 25th of the month to join in - have fun!

CHALLENGES
I'm linking this card up at Beautiful Blossoms where there's another gorgeous mood board involving purples and yellows! 
 
AND IN OTHER NEWS
The sun came out in time for our walk today - hooray! The golden girls took the opportunity to career about, have a good old roll, attempt to eat unspeakable things in the fields, chase unsuspecting squirrels and cause general chaos in the countryside! After that, there was just time for Eva to cool off in a handy pool which...
 
 
... wasn't really muddy enough for her as she could still see her reflection! No cup of tea in the world was strong enough to sustain me after this ordeal so I reached out an exhausted and feeble hand for some chocolate truffles instead. 10 out of 10, would recommend!

Sending hugs,

Thursday 14 March 2024

Birthday blossom

Hello, crafting friends!
 
Today I'm enjoying being the Surprise Party Guest at Seize the Birthday where Jules has chosen a fabulous new challenge and loads of inspiration from their talented design team! So what's the Topping?
 
It's a fun one - to make a coordinating tag and card set! There's a spring birthday coming up in my family so I couldn't wait to get started. Being a lazy crafter, I decided to stamp and colour one image and then divide it into two pieces with dies - cunning huh?!
 

Using Nesting Arch dies from The Greetery, I was able to created an inset panel on a card and a double layer tag for my gift. Here's a closer look at the card:
 

Isn't that blossom image beautiful?! The cherry blossom isn't out here yet so it gave me a lift to see it on a card!
 

The stamp is from Blossoms in Bloom by Clearly Besotted, stamped on watercolour paper, coloured and splattered with my Arteza watercolour brush pens, and left to dry before cutting the arch. To complete the card I cut the same size arch in a card panel and used it to position the blossom arch before popping it up on dimensional tape.
 

The sentiment is a favourite from The Greetery's Arched Sentiments set, positioned to overlap the 'frame'. The card was finished with a few clear gems.

Here's a close up of the tag:
 

There's a little bud sprig at the end of the blossom image which I thought made the perfect image for the coordinating tag - not the same but clearly a part of it. I added a sentiment and a gem and tied the tag with a larger arch onto the gift with coordinating ribbon from my stash.

I had so much fun making this card and tag set! I do hope you'll join in and enjoy yourself too :) Don't forget to go to the Seize the Birthday blog and check out all the samples the amazing design team have made to inspire you. You can use the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post to share your own creation. 

CHALLENGES
I'm linking up with Double D where the theme is First Signs of Spring - and I've gone for blossom!Make My Monday and Try it on Tuesday both also have a Spring theme so I'm joining in there; and Retro Rubber want to see a card featuring favourite spring flowers using stamps older than a year (Blossoms in Bloom was a 2019 release.)
 

AND IN OTHER NEWS
With Mothers Day taking place last Sunday and coinciding with a family birthday on the Monday, we've unexpectedly had everyone come to visit. What a joy it was to feast and laugh and chat and catch up! Going out to a restaurant to eat always triggers memories of our family holidays when our offspring were children and it always amazes me that what everyone remembers is different. One thing we all remembered from a holiday in Kent was when we came across a signpost giving directions to Ham on one arm and to Sandwich on another. This tickled us so greatly we must have laughed for about half an hour! What a blessing family is!
 
Sending hugs,

Monday 4 March 2024

Floral mail

Hello, crafting friends!
 
Welcome to another fun challenge at The Flower Challenge! This month it's hip to be square as our theme is to make a square card featuring those gorgeous florals.
 

It's hard to believe it's March already and that here in the UK, we'll be celebrating Mothers Day on the 10th of this month. How fun to open an envelope and find a card inside featuring another envelope bursting with pretty flowers!
 

I stamped and fussy cut the flowers from The Greetery's Pine Blossom - which is a Christmas set but when has that ever stopped me?! Next, I cut the envelope from Mama Elephant's Botanic Envelope die set, as well as the Inside and Out leaves dies from The Greetery, which I sponged with green inks. I arranged the flowers and leaves inside the envelope and stamped it with a Mothers Day sentiment from Uniko. 
 

For the background, I stenciled a panel using blue ink and Funky Fossil's Fancy Trellis stencil, then layered a piece of thin mustard envelope paper over it. To finish, I positioned the flower filled envelope in the centre.

Right - now it's over to you! Do hop over to The Flower Challenge blog to see all the wonderful samples made by the talented design team, then come up with a creation of your own feasturing flowers on a square design.  When you're ready to share your card, you can use the Linky Tool which you'll find at the bottom of the post. You have until the 25th to join in - enjoy the challenge!

CHALLENGES
I'm joining in again at Allsorts with this envelope of spring flowers as Lorraine's theme is Spring; Spring has also sprung over at the Four Seasons Challenge so I'm linking up there too; I'm also linking up at Inspired by where I was inspired by the inspiration photo with its gorgeous envelope of blooms; and Color Dare #590 where the trio of colours are Lagoon, Clover and Honey Butter.


AND IN OTHER NEWS
We've been spoilt with some moments of sunshine in the last few days, but cloud is building up again as I type and I'd better get those golden girls out before it rains! They have caught on to the fact that I always seem to be looking for water at the end of a walk and have enthusiastically joined in with the task of finding it:
 

Not sure if they read the memo all the way through though...!

Sending hugs,

Sunday 3 March 2024

Reddy for spring!

Hello, crafting friends!
 
I am currently filling the house with bright spring flowers in an effort to pretend winter is over. It helps! Potted hyacinths and daffodils are filling the rooms with their fresh scent and I have vases of tulips too. Which brings me to today's card:
 

How amazing are these tulip dies from the Greetery?!
 

I cut them from watercolour paper and coloured them with my Arteza watercolour brush pens. 
 

To display my tulips, I stamped a red gingham panel using a Kaisercraft stamp, drew some stems using one of the Arteza pens and positioned the flowers and leaves. Once I was happy with the arrangement, I glued everything in place and finished with a pretty birthday greeting from the Greetery's Arched Sentiments, stamped and die cut.

CHALLENGES
I used Jen B's fabulous sketch at Freshly Made Sketches to create this card. I flipped the sketch - I hope you can see how I used it! I'm also joining in with Seize the Birthday where JoAnn's Topping is Use Red as the Main Color; Lorraine has chose Spring as her optional theme at Allsorts and I'm sending my tulips along there; I've not used my Tulips die before so will take it for an airing at Darnell's NBUS Challenge where it's all about Never Before Used Schtuff!
 
 
AND IN OTHER NEWS
I am more than ready for spring I can tell you! Here's a rare sighting of the Blonde Bombshells in all their pristine fluffiness:
 

Needless to say, this photo was taken at the beginning of our walk. See all that mud behind them? A few frolics later and that mud will transfer itself to my girls and they will turn into a pair of Grubs! Luckily there is a clean stream at the end of this walk so we will swap muddiness for sogginess!

Sending hugs,