On the edge

Evening folks. 

After a dodgy start it's been a lovely spring day today, we will probably count the cost of it tomorrow with a touch of frost.

There is definately spring in the air as our first lambs have come down from the lambing pens this afternoon, 12 ewes and their lambs all frolicking in the sun, such a happy site. I didn't take my phone when I went to look so no photos. :(  Must remember to get a photo or two tomorrow.

Any way I have been in te craft room having a play as I was inspired by the card over at Muse by Shona. I loved the soft stamped circles with the tiny hearts. I had it in my mind to use butterflies as the challenge at Less is More is 'Wings'

After a couple of false starts I ended up with this.

I loved the soft embossing Shona used and it was a little tricky to photograph on mine, so I took a few others to show it off better, not sure if they do!

This is Shona's lovely card

In the end after trying various butterfly stamps I went with some punched butterflies mounted on Silver Pearl embossed discs and diecut circles. The greeting is from Clearly Besotted and the stamped butterflies from Do Crafts. I kept the colours roughly the same, colouring the outlined butterflies with matching Copics.

Here are some more views of my card.

              

The first shows the pearly embossed background discs and the second the diecut front.

OK, it's getting a tad late now so I will finish and get off to bed, early start in the morning as AL will have to go check on the lambs.

MUSE

Welcome fellow crafters.

Today I have some really special news to share. I am the Guest designer this week over at MUSE.

I couldn't believe it when I saw the email with the invitation from Ardyth in my inbox. 

'Would I like to be the guest Muse for this week?' You bet ya!

Once the initial glow had passed, I then had to think of what I should do to inspire you all?

In the end I thought I would do what seems to best reflect my style, CAS with a little DP, diecuts, dry embossing and of course an image coloured in Copics!

So without any further ado here it is, this week's MUSE card.

As it's not far off Valentine's Day I went with the romantic theme of roses using one of my NEBUS stamp bargains from a trip to a store while on holiday in Norfolk last year. Regular readers will know I love a bargain bucket to rifle through! It could equally be a card for an anniversary if you prefer.

This one is a DoCrafts stamp called Forever Love - Rose and of course I used my Copics to colour, matching the rose to the free rose DP by Kaisercraft I got last year with a magazine. I fussy cut them before attaching to the card but not before I cut a heart shape in the top panel using my Little B hearts die and then dry embossed using a Rose folder from Cuttlebug. I stamped the STAMPlorations greeting (Bloom Sketches) in Versafine then heat embossed in detail gold, mounting flat on the top panel and lifting the rose panel up on pads.

I would love to see how you are inspired by my little offering, please take inspiration from where ever you want, it doesn't have to be a Valentine's card, it could be the layout, the theme of roses or just the colourway!

I shall enter it into the following challenges:-

( I went with the photo, the hearts and roses mainly)

Copic Marker Norge - Anything Goes
Time Out - Valentine's Day with a twist of hearts.
Penny Black and More - Stencil, masks and embossing folders
Uniko Studio #17 - Love and Friendship

Muse #97 and DT vote

Good afternoon peeps.

The sun is shining and the wind has dropped so it feels a lot milder than the last couple of days. 

Hope the 'weather bomb' hasn't wreaked too much havoc where you are. Not sure where that term came from, just looked like an intense Atlantic low to me on the weather map, newspapers looking for a headline probably.

It's time for the vote for the new DT member over at MUSE as well as a new challenge. I was saddened to hear that there may have been some dodgy voting over the last few weeks. One of the best things about Muse is that its the followers that vote for the best card designs and it relies on the integrity of us all to follow the rules and not distort the vote. I hope it has been sorted as I really believe in the challenge and it would be sad to see it spoilt.

On another sad note, the reason why they are having a DT call is that Therese is leaving and this is her last MUSE inspiration, so I had to find a way to take part. So enough blather, here it is -

and here is Therese's card

I love the comedic aspect of this card, but I haven't got a stamp remotely like this so I went with a Christmas theme, keeping to the colour scheme and using a Polaroid die cut to make the shaker. 

I'd not used this die before, its from Kaisercraft, and the sides are a little thin to use as a shaker so I had to cut the tape very thinly !

I was going to put the doggy inside the shaker, but I decided to put a little bit of scenery in the background as the space looked too empty and the doggy on the outside. He is part of a set from LOTV which I coloured with Copics. I filled the shaker with some snowflakes, sequins and beads before mounting on a white base card that I embossed using my Cuttlebug snow folder. The clouds sort of balanced the design, I used a Joy die to cut them and glued them over the corner.

OK, that's about it, thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings.

Deck the Halls

Afternoon folks, here I am with my second post of the day. 

It's a bright sunny day here after a sharp frost. Max is lazing by the range and Al has been cutting and stacking wood for the next couple of weeks. All is quiet!

I'm sharing a card I started yesterday but didn't quite finish but anyway it was too dark last night to take a photo!

Over at Muse the designer is the talented Vicki Dutcher and I based this card on her's, spotty red paper, kraft and holly.

As you can see I took a few liberties with Vicki's original design:-

I rotated the card 90' and used my MB Glowing Candles die. It was the only die I had with holly branches!

I cut the outline in white then cut again twice in green and paper pieced the holly and candle sections, cutting away the candles from the green. After layering up, I added some tiny red diamontes to the holly and some gold behind the candle flames. The stamped sentiment was free with a mag, as was the holly stamp, no idea of the make or the mag! The panel was cut using my Die-namics pierced rectangle dies.

OK, that's about it. Thanks for all your lovely comments, they really do make my day. See you back soon.

Muse #95

Hi, hope I find you well.

This morning the sun is shining and there is even a little warmth in it. It's such a pleasant change from the grey and foggy days we've been having lately. It makes you feel so much better with a little bit of sunshine!
I've been staring at the MUSE challenge since it went live on Monday. I loved the card that Caroline (@ KISS, this weeks guest Muse) made, but was unsure where to go. Then I remembered a stencil that I hadn't used of birch trees and went from there.

I hunted around in the stash and found a freebie stag stamp from ages ago, but I couldn't find any red card that went with my SU Serene Silhouette fussy cut birds. In the end I stamped a tag with some Versamark, using a stamp I bought after a class I went to ages ago, and embossed in white before inking the tag with the same Versacolour ink as the birds. I rubbed away the ink over the embossing with a baby wipe. I masked off the center of the card and inked the border in DI weathered wood before sticking the tags down. I'm still thinking of the postman and trying to keep the weight and thickness down!

This is Caroline's fab card.

They are also having a DT call over at MUSE. It's sad because it means that one of the DT is leaving namely Therese. She has made some beautiful cards and I will miss her inspiration. At MUSE, if you didn't know, the members vote for their favourite cards each week and they are also going to choose their new DT member the same way. Ardyth has asked interested designers to showcase their best work new or old, so I'm not sure what to do. 

First what is my style and secondly what is my best work? I love using die cuts, but I also love stamping and colouring in both Copics and watercolours.

So for the moment it's an impasse.

Here are three of my favourites.

What do you think? 

Anyway if I don't get a wriggle on I will miss the deadline so nothing ventured, nothing gained so I will toss my hat into the ring and hope for the best!

Thanks for calling around, hope you like the cards.

MUSE #94

Afternoon folks, hope you're keeping well.

The afternoon's are getting shorter as the year moves towards Christmas. I needed the lights on in my craftroom before 3pm, but it is a bit misty out there today.

As regular followers may know, I love to take part in a couple of challenges on a regular basis, namely MUSE and Less is More.

This week Less is More want more than one tree on your project and and at MUSE the designer is Marion. So without further ado here is my card.

and here is Marion's card.

I love this built up technique and I've tried it once before but I wanted to have another go.

However a couple of problems-

1. I don't have many large script dies, well one actually and it wasn't appropriate!

2. I don't have a balloon stamp or die

So what to do? I had a bit of a think and decided to go with a Christmas theme and link to the Less is More challenge, hence the trees and use my 'Happy Christmas' die. This posed a further headache as it is an old one that cuts out a sentiment but you can't separate the two words as they are a solid plate die and leaves an imprint of the edge of the die if you are not very careful! Go with the full phrase was the decision. Anyway you can see the result. I used more or less the same colours as Marion and moved the focus to the bottom of the card as befits a tree! 

Here is a close up of the raised sentiment.

I also made one with a smaller tree but left the white embossed 'to you' off and mounted it on a black base card.

If you look carefully you may see a line where the die plate was!

OK, that's about it. Thanks for calling around.

I shall enter the following challenges:-

Less is More - More than one tree

MUSE - #94

STAMPlorations - Stamps and lots of layers ( there are 4 Happy Christmas layers)

One Layer Christmas

Afternoon folks, thanks for calling round.

I hope you haven't been washed away or snowed in by the extremes of the weather we are having at the moment. Blog friends in central US appear to be freezing or under feet of snow while here the rain continues to fall, well actually as I write the sun has come out so hopefully we are past the worst.

After the hectic Tuesday and a trip to my son's on Wednesday I'm pleased to say that -

a) Chris has gas even if the road and drive look like the Somme battlefield.

b) He has internet after the nice young man from Virgin checked the system out and proclaimed the gasmen hadn't cut him off it was the new box that was more sensitive to the pile of wire spaghetti under our floor than the old one.

c) We have electric after a very dark Tuesday!

So I've been busy catching up on my commenting and only just got around to making this morning.

There is definitely a festive feel around blogland at the moment. As I checked my card stash I realized that a lot of my cards were too thick to post so I better embrace the  OL theme and get some made pronto.

I made this with a few challenges in mind -

Over at Muse Therese's card was the main inspiration. This is her card.

I went with the shape of the tree, and as Therese herself says went with my inner Ardyth with this paired down CAS card.

The triangle from a Sizzix leafy tree set was stamped on black with Versamark then embossed with gold fine detail powder. I was thinking what to do about a pot and/or greeting when I remembered my little Woodware greeting - perfect I think.

I shall  enter the challenges over at -

Muse

CASology 

City Crafter Challenge - CAS Christmas OLC

That's about it, thanks for stopping by, come back soon.

Muse #91

Afternoon, just, and thanks for calling around.

Warning this post contains an overload of photos!

I saw the latest challenge over at Muse this week and simply had to play along.

This week the Guest Muse, the talented Michele Ferguson,  has asked for not one card but three using one sheet of design paper. Well , that was a bit of an ask as I couldn't choose which paper from my copious stash to use! A little bit of retail therapy even came into the mix, but in the end I decided to use a sheet of paper that came free with a magazine which I squirreled away, too good to use!!! I think its a Do Crafts Forever Friends paper from Simply Cards and Papercrafts.

Here they all are.

Actually it is a set of four as those sharp eyed followers will recognize the same paper in a card I shared on Friday. I was inspired by this card to carry on and create a set. I used my scene dies as the focus for my trio.

Here is a closer look at the three cards

This one uses a new Marianne die I bought when I had a trip to LOTV in Farsley with my good friend Di and a freebie sentiment.

The second is a shaker card made using another freebie sentiment and my Calm Countryside die. I've certainly got my monies worth out of this little die.

Here is a close up of the beads I used.

The last of my trio is based on that Friday design but I used my Country Landscape die and coloured one of the cottages with Copics.

The top was embossed with the snow folder and I stuck a punched circle for the moon together with  a branch die cut. 

I had toyed with using my Chistmas candle die but decided to stick with a landscape theme.

I shall enter these cards in the following challenges

Muse -  #91 A Trio of Cards

Less is More - Non traditional Christmas colours

Thanks for stopping 'til the end!

See you back here sometime soon.

Muse #88

Good afternoon, just.

Its been a bit of a strange morning today, weatherwise. Went out in my fleece even though the sun was out its been chilly these last few days, but I was absolutely sweltered!! Weird weather we are having at the mo.

Anyway here is a card I made yesterday in between making table runners for my daughter's new kitchen/diner but it got too dark to take a photo by the time I finished it.

I made this with a few challenges in mind and the fact that Christmas is around the corner and I need to get a few cards made before the mad rush!

Over at Muse this weeks Muse card is by the fabulous, Therese Calvird

in which she hopes to encourage us to use our design papers.

I saw this and thought immediately of my Memory Box dies, Country Landscape and Calm Countryside. The latest challenge at the Cutting Edge also has an image using the cloud theme and 

coloured border,

and over at Merry Monday's  Silent Night is the theme. 

So as you may be able to see, I've taken a little bit of inspiration from all three images.

,I used the Calm Countryside die to cut an aperture then extended it with a Cookie Cutter square die.

I then used it again to create the back layer of hills and the Country Landscape for the two nearer hills. The papers were from the stash, just odds and ens in the Christmas paper box. I chose one's that suggested snow on grass. I cut the houses again in kraft and brown and coloured some paper with a Copic to create the lights in the windows. The sky was also from the stash, showing twinkling stars. The base card is covered in some textured green DP with diagonal stripes, but I can't get them to show on the photo! The frame was popped up on pads.

OK that's about it, thanks for calling by.

Muse #87

Afternoon folks. 

Couldn't join in with National Cardmakers day yesterday as I was out shopping with Nich but I'm back in the craftroom after Ben and Co have returned up the M6.

Its great to have them over but he is an early riser and I'm a tad tired now. 

The cold front has arrived as promised and there is definitely a chill in the air. Better make the most of the sun though as rain is forecast tomorrow if not later on today. I shall be out to cut the grass after lunch or when Al returns from removing Crassula from the top pond. It is an invasive plant that came from New Zealand for use in aquariums but escaped and is now choking ponds across the country. It was so thick that Max could walk across it, so it has to go as sheep will no doubt try and they will end up stranded or drowned! Al has been researching how to get rid but not with much success. Its a type of succulent so any bit left will reshoot and start the process off all over again.

Anyway while he's up there I have been playing and here is the result.

I made it with a few challenges in mind especially the one over at Muse where the fabulous Kimberly Wiener is their Guest Muse. This is her fabulous card.

I made mine using a selection of Creative Expressions stamps, a SU sentiment and one from Personal Impressions, stamped with Versafine Vintage Sepia. Spatters in coordinating colours.

As the challenge at AAA is watercolour I forsook the brushos for a softer w/c colouring effect. I do prefer the bold colours of Brusho but hey its good to play with other media.

I shall also enter the challenge at 

Allsorts - Autumn 

PS Almost forgot 

Less is More - Autumn Beauty

 OK, that's about it, thanks for popping by.

Brusho and Muse

Evening all.

It's been another fabulous day here in the Shropshire countryside and a fantastic sunset to finish off.

I can't believe it's almost October and we are still having days in the low 20's. I suppose its a compensation for the awful August we had!

I saw the Muse card at the beginning of the week but it's taken me this long to get my finger out!

I really wanted to take part this week as the guest Muse is my teamie from ATSM, Anita. Her card had an Art Deco feel about it but I went with a Christmasy feel.

and this is Anita's card

You can see that I've basically taken Anita's card as a sketch and gone with a Brusho panel heat embossed with detail white using a Stampendous snowflake stamp.

I really am enjoying playing around with this medium, it gives a real vibrancy to the work.

I tried two ways with this panel, first create then stamp, which gives a really intense effect but I eventually went with emboss first then add the brusho and spritz. It gave a softer look which I could add to if I felt it wasn't dark enough. 

I die cut both sentiment halves, one in white on the vellum the other in silver. Hope the pic comes across OK, the light was going as I took it. Lot's of shadows cast in my usual spot plus mucky windows thanks to hubby's pointing activities!

I shall also enter the following challenges -

CASology - Flutter

ABC Christmas Challenge - S for something festive

OK that's about it, thanks for stopping by!

Mosaic Muse

Good morning all. 

It's a bit misty this morning but the weather man says it will brighten up soon, still we can't complain nearly half way through September and temps in the 20's.(degrees C)

I saw the latest challenge over at Muse while on holiday and thought what a brilliant job Therese had done with the muse card and just couldn't wait to have a go when I got home.

However, my first attempt was a bit of a failure but I had another go yesterday with a different image and came up with this.

This is the original

The only grid die I have is a Sizzix hexagon one so that's why its as is. The hexagons are a little small but I think it works. The butterfly was a free digi off t'internet and I used the colours from the latest challenge at Colour Me but using Copics to match.

I don't have any inks or card from SU so I coloured a white strip and some pearls with matching Copics. My word dies were too small so I stamped this SU hey! then fussy cut and mounted on pads.

Now for the real tricky bit. I had seen a video on You Tube about using the waste from die cuts like this but it used a product that is unavailable in the UK or prohibitively expensive to ship and I can't remember the name now or the link!!!

Anyway, I improvised with double sided tape and I was quite pleased with the result. I popped a few extra hexagons up on pads for extra dimension.

I will also enter the following challenge:-

City Crafter Challenge - Butterflies

OK, that's about it. Thanks for calling round and I'll si'thee.

Muse #81

Evening all.

Its been a pretty mixed day here weather wise, torrential rain, hot sun, strong winds and a chilly evening. Looking around at some of the trees you would be forgiven for thinking it was autumn already!

When I saw this week's Muse card by Marion Vagg I just fell in love with it and had to have a go. I've not played the last couple of weeks so here goes.

It follows Marion's card pretty well but it was so good I didn't feel I could alter much.

However as I didn't have any chevron stamps I used my Die- Namics chevron dies in glorious ice cream shades of glitter card. All accept the green which I had to make using some pale green glitter on a white chevron.

I used plain old copy paper for the Memory Box butterfly, cutting four layers and added three tiny iridescent  sequins for it's body. The chevrons were glued to a panel and then popped up on pads. The sentiment was heat embossed on some black card.

I should also like to enter the Tic Tac Toe challenge at CAS-ual Fridays before it closes!

I went straight across the top with Chevrons, black and sequins.

OK thanks for popping around, see you back again soon.

An other Wednesday Owl

Afternoon all.

The weather here is rather better today, not too hot and a pleasant breeze, although showers are forecast for about now. The clouds are thickening up but no wet stuff as yet.

I haven't played at Muse for a while but when I saw the inspiration by Marion Vagg I just had to play.

Those of you who have read last years early ramblings will know that about this time of year I make an owl inspired card for my Mum's next door neighbour. Mum is sadly no longer with us but Audrey is still following the Owls, Sheffield Wednesday FC (a soccer club in the Championship in England for my US followers). I was of the red and white persuassion (Sheffield United FC) but Audrey used to take me to see the matches when I was much, much younger, as she had season tickets at both clubs.

So without more ado here is this year's card.

The backing paper is from NitWits 'All Spaced Out' collection and the owl on a branch is from a free set in Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine - Oscar the Owl and friends and the greeting is from a Woodware set.

I had to extend the branch just like Marion and I doddled a border to complete the center panel. The owl was coloured using Copics then the panel was popped up on pads. The colours were dictated by Wednesday's team colours which are blue and white striped tops with black shorts.

This is Marion's muse card, so I've kept pretty close to the original for a very good reason!

OK, that's about it for today. Thanks for popping by and leave a comment if you can I love reading them and if time allows I hope to visit everyone in return.

Musing on a Sunday Afternoon

Afternoon folks.

It's been pretty poor weather wise up to now, now the sun is trying to show it's face, hope the rain has stopped now.

Over at Muse this week we are inspired by this wonderful card by Vicki Dutcher.

I love the layout of this card and the contrast between the colours she has used. I have been playing around with my new memory Box Gardenia die, I love it but I was not sure what to do with it. You know how it is when you see something and fall for it then stare at it trying to think what to do!

I have tried various techniques but I have neglected my W/C pens for too long so was playing around with them and thought I could use them in a card based on Vicki's layout. I was going to make a retirement card for my daughter's friend and she doesn't do pink so lilac it was. However after doing all the w/c I hadn't got a suitable sentiment so it ended up as a birthday card.

I will make another if she likes this one! I thought I had some baker's twine in purple but I couldn't find it so used ribbon to match. I die cut the white outline then used the negative left as a stencil to cut the solid shape to watercolour, then placed the white outline on top. The DP panel is from my stash of free magazine papers, it doesn't show up but the butterflies are shaded lilac. The greeting is from Stampin Up dew drops and sequins from the stash.

I shall enter it in the following challenges as well :-

Crazy for CAS - ribbon or twine

Without Words - Purple or pink and green

Keep it simple - Watercolour

OK, that's a wrap for today, come back soon.

Goldfish

Morning all.

An extra post this week as I was inspired by a couple of challenges I found while doing my DT comments.

At Muse this week the inspiration is by Marion Vagg.

She has used watercolour over resist white embossing and a textured card base. When I saw this I immediately thought goldfish, because of the lovely sunny flowers and watery background. I loved the woodgrain effct card she used for the card base but I haven't got anything like that so I used some coarse linen textured card I had in the stash. The stamp I used must be over 10yrs old but it fit the bill. It's from Inca Stamps and is called 'Stained Glass Fish.' I used my watercolour pens and waterbrush to colour the image after stamping and heat embossing in white.

I was also inspired by the challenge at Inkspirational, which is this sketch.

I shall also enter it in the following challenges:-

ATSM - Make Your Mark

So that's about it for today, thanks for popping by.