Monday 30 October 2017

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #199 - Thankful!

Hello again sweet visitors and welcome to my little creative space.

It's time for another Challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers.  
The Challenge Theme is 'Thankful' and  Maike is our Host this time.  
As usual, anything you care to make is fine .. a card, a layout, a canvas, home decor piece ..  it doesn't matter as long as it has a Thankful Theme.  

Me, I'm mostly into cards and, as I needed one of the masculine persuasion, this is what I created for my DT contribution.
 The papers are mainly from Kaisercraft with just the ruler strip on the side being from Prima.
 The tags are pre-made ones from Franceville but the clock flairs are hand made.
 I found some free printable ones on the net ages ago so, I simply printed them, cut them out and covered them with Glossy Accents.   It took a while for the big one to dry but I like that extra shine so it was worth the wait.
 The chippie is from 2Crafty Chipboard.  I gave it some colour by swiping it with Versacolor Stamp Pads in Bronze and Lapislazuli.
 The greeting was also simply printed out and mounted on a Spellbinders die cut which I found floating around my workbench.

 Et Voila!!
Sincerely hoping I have inspired you to join in with the Challenge.

For more inspiration, pop on over to the Crafty Cardmakers Blog and take a peek at the fabulous creation by my Teamies.  I am sure they will inspire you to join in the fun.   Simply follow the link below to check it out and to link up your entry.
Please read the rules and take special note of the 15 Challenge limit.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #199 - Thankful

Thank you so much for dropping by and,
whatever your plans may be, hope you have a great day!
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg


Friday 27 October 2017

A Masterboard Christmas

Hello sweet visitors and welcome to my blog.  Hope you are having a wonderful day!

A big welcome to my new followers too!!  Thank you so much for joining me.  I hope I can pass on a little inspiration now and then.

Today, I am sharing two more Christmas cards made with my Christmas Masterboard.  I really enjoy these Masterboards and am definitely going to do more of my cards this way.   It's a lot of fun  creating them and it saves using up my DP.  Although I still have so much of that I don't think I will ever get to use it up, LOL!!!

These two cards are almost identical so I thought I would share them together.
The poinsettias were made with a die from Poppy Crafts and the Pine Branch die is from Impression Obsession.

  The sentiment on Card 1 was printed, punched out and covered with an epoxy sticker ..
,, and on Card 2, I used a simple gold sticker.
Added a few prills and micro beads although I wasn't really happy with the result on card 1.  I think the colour is wrong but, once they are down, it's impossible to get them off again.
Was a bit happier with the result on card 2 .. but still, not quite what I wanted.
Should perhaps have used green.
Inside Card 1.
Inside Card 2.
Card 1 full frontal ..
.. and, Card 2.

Not quite sure about using the red cardstock base.  I think they may have looked better with a white base.  Still, I'm not unhappy with them so I guess they will do.

Have you started making your Christmas cards and decorations yet??  
Dare I say there are only about 8 weeks to go??  Scary isn't it??

Thank you for stopping by to take a look.  It's always so nice to have you visit and, whatever you are planning to do, make it a great day my friends.
Take care and God Bless.
Hugs xx

Saturday 21 October 2017

Getting ready for Christmas

Hello my dear friends and lovelies!!  So pleased you dropped by. 
Hope you are all having a wonderful day.

Well, I have finally started making my Christmas cards.  
You might be thinking that it's still only October, but I'm thinking 'Oh my goodness!!  It's near the end of October already and I haven't even started on my Christmas cards!!!!'   LOL!!

For a little while now I have been testing different techniques on making Masterboards and I finally did one for Christmas that I really liked.  It is much the same as one I did a while ago (you can check it out here if you wish) and, just as I did back then, I have cut this one up to create my cards.
This piece has been matted on some green cardstock.

The Distress Ink colours used for the background are Forest Moss, Crushed Olive, Fired Brick and Wild Honey.   The poinsettia stencil is from Tim Holtz.   It was one of the things I purchased from Funky Junky Boutique with the voucher I was lucky enough to win from Mini Album Makers Challenge Blog.
To construct the layers under the cluster, I used some corrugated board (which was lightly swiped with gesso) half of a die cut doily and, somewhere underneath it all, there is a small piece of gauze as well.
Created the flair sentiment by printing it, punching it out and covering it with an Epoxy Sticker.
Easy Peasy!


Another piece of the Masterboard on the inside ..
.. and the full frontal!!
I will have a few more of these to share with you.  As a matter of fact, I will probably bore you silly with all the Christmas cards I will be sharing over the next month or more so I will apologise for that up front .. LOL!!



Have you started your Christmas preparations yet??   I usually end up leaving mine till the last minute and then get totally stressed out in the rush.   Hopefully I will get all my cards made soon (??!!??  Ha!!)  and then I can concentrate on the rest.  I did say 'Hopefully'.  LOL!!

Thank you so much for dropping by and taking a look.
Have a wonderful day!!
Take care and God Bless.

Monday 16 October 2017

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #198 - Spooky

Hello lovely visitors and welcome to my blog.  A special welcome to my new followers.  Thank you so much for joining me on this creative journey.

There is a new Challenge starting at Crafty CardmakersGlenda is our Host this time around and the Theme is all about being Spooky!!!  Anything you care to create is fine, it doesn't have to be a card but it must be Halloweenish!!  LOL!!  Is that even a word??  Guess it is now!!

This time I created a tag but, as I don't participate in Halloween and don't possess any 'spooky' items in my stash, I simply used the Halloween colours of black, orange and purple.
The inspiration for this tag came from Autumn Clark who created a stunning Graduation card in Halloween colours.  You can see it here.

I cut the base tag from black cardstock and covered it with some Prima papers.
 Die cut some leaves from orange cardstock and paper and also used some left over leaves from my 'Fancy Folds' card here.

 I have no idea where the flower came from nor do I remember what colour it was originally.  When I found it while searching through my stash, it had obviously been sprayed red, so all I did was respray it again with some watered down acrylic paint.  You can still see some of the red shining through.  It looks like a Prima flower to me but I may be wrong.
Layered a paper doily and a die cut one under the flower cluster and also added a scrap from a Prima journal tag under the leaves.   A little touch of lace for more texture!
Attached a twine bow at the side ..
.. and more twine at the top of the tag ..
.. and it was done!!!!

I hope you like my little Halloweenie tag and that I have inspired you to join in with the Challenge.

For more inspiration, pop on over to the Crafty Cardmakers blog and take a look at the fabulous creations by my Teamies and then link up your entry.  Don't forget to read the rules and please take note of our 15 Challenge limit.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #198 - Spooky

Thank you so much for dropping by and for leaving me a little love.  I really appreciate it!!

Enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg

Monday 2 October 2017

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #197 - Fancy Folds

Hello lovely visitors and welcome to my blog.  Hope you are having a wonderful day.

There's a new Challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers and I am happy to tell you that it's my turn to play Host!
The Theme is Fancy Folds and this particular Challenge is for cards only. 

I wasn't sure what type of card to make for this Challenge.  Thought about Step cards and Easel cards but they weren't really what I wanted to do.  Then I saw a card on Pinterest that piqued my interest .. an Upright Z Fold card .. I had never made one of these so I thought, 'That's what I'll do.  Something new and different.'    Well, for me anyway.

The papers are a mix of Maja and Kaisercraft.  I seem to be using them a lot lately but they do go so very well together.
I still had quite a bit of Autumn coloured bits and pieces on my work bench left over from the last Challenge (yep!!  afraid I haven't really been very particular about cleaning up my Craft room) so decided to use some of them.

The flowers are available at Megs Garden.  They were a creamy white and I altered them with sprays made from watered down acrylic paint.  I always make sure to wet the flowers with water first and then the colour soaks in really well.
The leaves were cut from Maja papers with a Cheery Lynn die.
Had to add some prills of course, with some micro beads mixed in, and I also added some gesso highlights to the flowers and leaves along with a few splats on the base.
 This is another first for me.  The bit of 'lace' was made with a mould and Acrylic Gap Filler.  It is a little fiddly but quite easy to do and looks pretty good, I reckon! 
When you start to open it right out, this card is fairly long ..
 .. and a bit difficult to photograph but I managed to get it in one shot.
 Easy to see how it stands up here.  I used a gem brad to anchor it.

It was fun to make and, although I probably won't use this style a lot, I might make some of my Christmas cards like this.

Update:  I have just found out that it was Berit Rosenfeldt who first created this fold.  Thank you Berit .. it is awesome!!   Unfortunately I cannot find a current blog of hers to link to but HERE is a video of the original cards.  I'm afraid it's in Danish but the cards are gorgeous!! 

Well, I hope I have given you some inspiration to try a new style of card and to join in with our Challenge!  For more inspo', pop on over to the Blog and take a look at the wonderful creations by my Teamies and then link up your entry.  Please read our rules and take note of the 15 Challenge limit.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #197 - Fancy Folds.

Thank you so much for your visit and for leaving me a little love .. I  really appreciate it.
Whatever you plan to do for the rest of your day, do it safe and do it happy!!

Take care and God Bless.
oxox   Marg