Gone Fishin' - again...

Welcome

Once again I have been much slower than I intended in blogging again

I have been trying to catch up on commenting, but the more I tried, it seemed the behinder I got, so I am trying to make a clean start....again :)

I made this card for one of the fishermen in the extended family - fishing is a major hobby of his, especially in the summer.

I used a set of stamps sent to me by the beautiful Karen Letchworth -  a Whimsy stamp set, Born to Fish

The background was made with a Uniko stencil, Wonky Stripes  and two shades of blue ink, then sprayed some blue Mica spray across the bottom of the card.

Initially I silver embossed the fish images, but they were 'lost' on the background, so I stamped them in Memento Paris Twilight ink on white card, fussy cut them and adhered them over the embossed images.

The sentiment is also from a Uniko stamp set

I repeat stamped the the fish 'off the edge' on the inside panel

As well as on the envelope, as seen in the top photo. 

I am linking this to 

Word Art Wednesday Challenge Weeks #708 +709 - Anything Goes

                                      Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenge #2529 - Anything Goes

                                           Cardz For Guys Challenge #376 - Summer Holidays

Tiles

Welcome

Thank  you for taking the time to visit.

I had hoped to post this before now, but I was waiting on a card to be delivered, and I thought the postal service was being very tardy with it.... It is part of June's card swap,  and the recipient is only an hour up the road.... 

Ooops, my bad, I omitted a line of the address from the envelope - I will be thankful that it arrived, and was not sent back to me!

The brief in June from our swap group, was to create a background using mosaic tiles made of paper, and several tutorials were linked to choose from. I chose this one  by Stamptastic Design. 

I started by using some Brusho'd watercoloured paper that I had cut into.  The offcuts were cut into strips and further cut down for the shapes.  

These were placed onto copy paper I had laid double sided adhesive onto. I trimmed it and sprinkled over silver embossing powder and heated.... 

Once I had assembled the main panel onto the background, I felt it needed a silver edge, so ran an embossing pen around it, added more powder and heated again, hoping that I did not wreck the whole panel and need to start again....  

I added in a raised diecut negative, a concept I was inspired to use by from Natasha Foote.  (It is approximately 3/4 the way through the linked video.) The die is part of a Scrapbook.com set, I will edit to add the name later.

 I dipped the edges of the panel into embossing ink, then 'silvered' that also.  The wee sentiment was also silver embossed.

The inside of the card, and envelope, were decorated with silver dotted washi tape.

I am linking this to:

Word Art Wednesday Weeks #706 +707 - Anything Goes 

Elliebelle's Crafty Wednesday June and July Challenge - Anything Goes

Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge #509 - Anything Goes using snippets

All the 'B's....

Welcome

I have another post half done, that I cannot post until the card is delivered - it was posted on 19th June..

This card was posted 48 hours ago, to a destination twice as far away, and has arrived!!

The vagaries of the postal system are beyond my comprehension!!

Rant over....

This is the July card for our wee swap group, and the theme was the letter B

This is somewhat photo heavy, but first I will start with the 'story' behind the card...

As we were due a very wet and cold weekend, we were given the theme a couple of days early

The Story behind my ‘B’ card

Despite the blustery breeze and the sea birds wheeling, Belinda donned her best blue dress and bopped along the beach, her beautiful balloons bouncing in the breeze, trying to sell them, so she could have a bacon buttie before bed. 

 That’s what happens when you have time, and a brain full of antibiotics, well that’s my excuse. I couldn’t think past beach and balloons initially, but this is the outcome...

The ‘sand’ is course texture gel, coloured with Lindy’s magicals – Grab a Guy Gold and Bratworst Brown. 

 The sea and sky were brayered on, using four different blue inks. White ball point and Kindy Glitz were added to the sea.  Clouds were cut using Whimsy stamps Stitched clouds, and had grey brushed across the bottom edges. 

The figurine is a Tim Holtz ephemera from the Paper Dolls series Poses.  Balloons were punched from various colours of glitter card.

I wanted to use some balloon washi tape, but could not find any in my stash, so used seaside themed tapes from an old magazine freebie pack.  This is the inside of the card, and there was another pattern on the envelope.

I am linking this to:

Allsorts Challenge #826 - Seaside or Anything Goes

Make My Monday Challenge #255 - Summer fun

Dream Valley Challenge #340 - Anything Goes

Golden Birthday

Welcome

How can it be just over half a century since my daughter was born??

I helped celebrate her birthday with joy, and a slight sense of disbelief.

and a golden card...

The colour is richer than the photos show... the technique I used is one I saw on Natasha Footes channel here

I created the background using a stencil made by cutting a piece of manila folder with a 'Flat oval die' by Scrapbook.com, and sponged it using Delicata Golden Glitz ink which has a lovely shimmer to it.

The embossed sprig was a new one from a combined  stencil and stamps pack by Tim Holtz

The digits were cut using an old numerical die set, and I used a snippet of low sheen gold paper

The sentiment was stamped using a freebie magazine set of sentiment by Rare Earth, and embossed in WOW metallic Gold ep.  You can see the shimmer of the ink in the above photo.

The 'splatter' was made using the 'controlled splatter'  technique demonstrated in the video above

I used gold dotted washi tape on both the inside of the card and the envelope.

I am linking this to:

Simon Says Monday Challenge - Monochrome

Pammies Inky Pinkies Challenge #2523 - Anything Goes

Paper Funday's June Challenge #77 - Anything Goes with twist of embossing - heat or dry

Word Art Wednesday Challenge Weeks #702 + 703 - Anything Goes

Gamer Boy

Welcome

It's been way longer than I intended ... the trip to Australia was a wonderful time, and life has been hectic since I returned - I'm not sure if time is going faster, or I am going slower, these past few years, but I seem to be getting more and more behinder!

I was recently asked to make some cards for a friend.  This one was for a youngster who loves his computer games.  

I had no computer images as such, so some free clipart was searched for and found!

I printed out the images and then trimmed them out... 

The background paper is some I saved from a stamping magazine years ago...

The sentiment, placed in the centre of the gaming console, was stamped, using a magazine freebie by Rare Earth Stamps, scanned and sized to fit.  Once adhered, I put a layer of Glossy Accents over it

One of the pixelated images did not fit on the outside so was adhered to the left of the inside if the card

And a strip of the patterned paper decorated the bottom of the other side. 

The recipient loved the card.

I am linking this to:

Word Art Wednesday Challenge Weeks #702 + 703 - Anything Goes

Pammie's inky pinkies Challenge #2523 - Anything Goes

A Place to Start June Challenge - Anything Goes Opt Re-cycle

Mixed Media Steampunk Wolf

Welcome

No, I have not got lost in the Outback of Australia, it's more that I have been totally unmotivated since arriving home over a week ago.... and also beguiled by good books.

This was made for a steampunk fan, and my starting point was the image, by Gecko Galz. A freebie that was published for one of their challenges - they are a most generous group.

 

The background was made with scraps - I am not sure how I made the speckled background, it's been on my desk for waaaay to long, and IRL has a most gorgeous sparkle to it... the side panel was corrugated card with one smooth layer torn off, and bronze and gold pastes applied

The sentiment was embossed with bronze ep

A close up of the image

The inside was decorated with an offcut of the speckled panel.

I am linking this to: 

Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenge 2521 - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday Challenge Weeks #700 + 701 - Anything Goes

Allsorts Challenge #824 - Anything Goes

3 Shades of Green

  Welcome

I am on holiday, and posting from my phone, so hopefully everything looks OK...

I would like to extended a warm welcome to two new followers - KatieL and Pam. I am sure Pam has blog at Pam's Pearl's, but have been unable to link ti it, or find if Katie has one. I am finding myself technologically challenged with some of the latest changes... and working on my phone.

I made this card for my local (NZ) swap.  It uses a technique by Natasha Foote... sorry, I can't link to the You Tube video

 

I ruled up the back ground of my tiles, rounded the corners all over the design, the filled in the shapes using three shades of green markers

After many shuffles of the resulting tiles and sentiment die cut I arrived st this layout, then added the stripes cut from the same card as the green layer, assembled all the layers, then added the rhinestones.

The inside and envelope were decorated with washi tape and a layer of the dark green card.

I will not link to any challenges... but rather end here while I am doing ok.