CCT Little Bugs and butterflies

I know it's been a while, and I'm still not creating any new cards these days.  I made this one last year out of oddments of paper and a pretty Penny Black stamp from my stash, coloured with Copic pens.  When I saw the CCT challenge was for bugs and butterflies it jogged my memory and so, I decided to share it with you.  It's one that went into a charity box, so hopefully someone, somewhere, has it and likes it!

Now that summer has finally decided to make an appearance, my spare time is in the garden, and should it be raining I'm picking up my crochet hook. My son gave me a bamboo hook as a pressie, so I tried it out making flowers:

I did try out a flower with 3ply baby wool that I put onto a project - when it is finished I will share, and you cant see my crochet mistakes as I've managed to hide them under a die cut and some other flowers!

 This square is from a pattern called Faded Painted Roses, I'm hoping to make a few more for a blanket.

And the picture below is the centre square from the Demelza blanket designed by Catherine Bligh.  I have finished the main sections, just need to join up the pieces and work on the border, it's stunning, even if I do say so myself. The picture is the square unblocked - I still have to learn how to do that, but for now I've gone ahead and stitched the pieces together in the hope that a gentle wash and warm tumble dry will even things out.

I am so chuffed that Catherine asked me to pattern test the centre square from her next new design, it's going to be called Ross and is beautiful too - but for now it's still a secret!  The designs are inspired by the Poldark tv series and the colours in the landscapes here in Cornwall, I can hint that there is more of the granite greys and masculine shades in Ross.  It will be lovely to snuggle under them and watch the Ross and Demelza characters on tv when the new series comes out, that's if I can get them finished in time!

Thank you for stopping by and for staying with me.  I hope one day to get back to card making, or at least projects with my stamps and die collection.  It might not be for a while though as Mum is needing a lot of care and attention, and that is not a situation that is going to get any easier with the passage of time.

CCT Food and Drink

Well hello there! yes, I am here to share a card with you again after quite a while.  And, unfortunately it is a one off as I'm still not really doing any paper crafting these days. The theme this week at Cute Card Thursday is food and drink, pop on over to the blog to read all about it and for inspiration from the DT.

 This card is one I made a while ago for a special lady's birthday this Saturday, so I can't put it on my Facebook page just yet.

I have used lots of Marianne Design products on my creation, the picture is from a MD Mattie's Cutting sheet that came out last year, so I'm not sure if it is still available.  The background paper is from the Victorian Vintage pack, again I've had it a while so not sure if you can still get it.  I've roughed up the edges of the paper and the mat then added 3d snow and glitter.  The mat behind the picture is from an older die set too.  Here's a couple of close ups of some of the details:

I die cut the bunch of grapes in set LRO366 then coloured with various chalk inks, adding in a few extra leaves from the mini leaf punch die and the glass from LRO367.

And in this picture you can see the little piece of chicken wire die cut I've tucked in behind, together with more leaves, snippets of leaves and fronds from the grapes die, little flowers from the flower punch die and tiny butterflies.

Thank you for stopping by to take a peek at my card, and for sticking with me too despite my infrequent blogging.  I am being creative with crochet - something I can pick up and put down and follow a pattern so not have to think too much.  I need to be making something, but using someone else's skills at putting it all together!  Here's what I just finished:

Summer Garden

I've made a card! After an extended break from cardmaking, and with all my stash put away, a neighbour came and looked through my 'for sale' basket and selected a couple of cards to buy.  But, she wanted something pretty with flowers to send for a Congratulations on your new job card.  I explained that I couldn't do exactly that, but could make something simple with Congratulations.  I'm still not in the right head space for colouring images, and time to do any craft is a few minutes here and there between looking after Mum, Izzy and the home.  So here is my card, and the lady liked it so that's a bonus!

The background paper is a sheet from the Studio Light paper pad #31, the picture is from the Marianne Design Mattie's Beautiful Swans cutting sheet, and I've decorated with various MD die cut bits and pieces and a lace bow.  The flowers, leaves and butterflies are all from MD strip dies, I use them a lot and keep little jars for the pieces I haven't used, ready for next time.  The frame for my picture is the larger square from LRO234 - still playing with my new X-cut machine and had to tighten the rollers to get any embossing, plus it doesn't come with an embossing mat so I had to use my old one from the Cuttlebug hence not an even surface over all.  It's a learning curve with this machine, great for the big stuff, even better if I can buy an embossing mat.  But .. .. .. a bit OTT if I'm just wanting to cut a little leaf or single swirl embellishment.  I'm thinking I might need one of those mini machines - any recommendations?

And I even used another piece of the paper and decorated the inside, adding the die cut Congrats on a pretty plain white die cut frame and a few more mini butterflies from the jar.

So, having been AWOL for so long I'm not up to speed with what challenges are running.  I have seen that the Crafty Catz challenge is for female only cards, and I think my card fits that theme.

Well, my stash is still out on the dining table so who knows, I might be inspired to make another card before it starts to gather dust!  Thank you for stopping by to take a look, and hope you will come back when I have something else to share - bye for now!

CCT Easter

This week at Cute Card Thursday we are getting ready to celebrate Easter.  Our sponsor is Di's Digi Stamps, please stop by the blog to read all about the prize and see what the rest of the team have made.

My card is one of my UFOs from last year .. .. admit it, we all have them!  I had the My Paper World from Viva Decor stamped main image already coloured in, and the card base sorted out too with old papers from my stash and a pretty Marianne Design square mat.  And that is as far as it went - looking a bit naked I thought.  So, I got out the same set of stamps and decided to stamp and fussy cut out the little chicks, the bow, extra primrose flowers and a couple of daffs.  I added touches of sparkle too and die cut 3 mini eggs from scraps of the paper I still had in my stash.  I little touch of pearl trim and that's it folks!  It's plainer than some of my recent makes, but I like the fresh feel for Spring.

Here's a close up of the little embellishment I created with the fussy cut 'extras'.

Thank you again for stopping by.  Looking after Mum and the house/garden are still taking up the majority of my time, but hopefully I will have some help in the garden very soon - giving the back lawn it's first cut nearly did me in and took two days .. .. not that it's much of a lawn after Izzy's waterings and the dreadful winter.  I will have to buy some grass seed for the muddy patches once my knight in shining armour gardening chap has done a little hard landscaping and given the smaller borders a solid edge in the hope that Izzy will realise where the grass stops and the dirt starts, and where he can run and where he can't!

Marianne Design Divas Shaped Card

Time for the next Marianne Design Divas challenge, and sorry I'm a day late posting .. .. time just runs away with me these days!  We have changed the rules a little to make it easier for you to enter so please check the blog for details.  Our sponsors this time are Marianne Design and Buddly Crafts, I've linked up the MD products I used to the Buddly Crafts shop to make your shopping easier!

The option is to make a shaped card, and with Easter not far off, I've made an egg card.  It does stand up on it's own as I cut a sliver off the bottom of the back, but for my picture I've lent the card up against a couple pieces of rough rose quartz.  Any how, on to the details of the products:

Country Style paper pack PK9130

Mulberry paper RB2219

Fern die LR0403

Wave borders LR0395

Branch from Pine Cone set LR0286

Flower petals from CR1202

Flower inner petals from CR1203

Pearl Butterflies CA3116

Green ribbon from JU0951

Tulle JU0924

Here's a close up of the flowers I made.  I have a confession - I made these last year but have had them in my bit box for ages. so I'm not entirely sure what die I used for the crumpled inner petals .. ..

The bigger outer petals are definitely from CR1202, the smallest die.  I've cut from Mulberry paper then inked with yellow inks, spritzed and shaped so that when dry they hold.  I think the inner petals are from the smallest die in set CR1203, but any small petalled die would work.  Again inked, spritzed and scrunched up.  I coloured the pearl centres with Copic pen so they would be yellow instead of white.  The feathers seemed a nice addition for Easter, and I used some of the flat back pearl trim from Buddly Crafts to accentuate the curve of the wave borders and there's a little raffia from my stash.

Thank you for stopping by, please take a look at the beautiful projects the rest of the DT have made, they are stunning - I wish I had their talent.  Special thanks to Monika who inspires me to have a go at making my own flowers.  She has tutorials on her blog if you want to try too!

The Creative Inspirations blog theme is 'Nature' so I will enter my card with them seeing as I have flowers and feathers and natural raffia.

Going Green

I've gone through my box of card blanks and found a pile of envies this long skinny shape.  And as I have quite a selection of coloured SU! card I can cut up for card blanks - expect to see more!

You might recognise the little picture as it's the smaller version from the sheet I used a couple cards back, Mattie's Beautiful Flowers.  The pretty mat is from the die set Anya's Circles LR0327 and I fixed the design to the base with 3d foam.  The paper is a plain green and I've overstamped behind the image with a small diamond pattern, but in green so you can't see it!  The right hand side I've embossed with the Pearls folder DF3424 then inked and added sparkle to the bigger dots. I had a tiny piece of green Marrakesh trellis cut out in my bit box so added that down the side.  The ribbon is from the Victorian Christmas selection and is lovely and soft so easy to tie in a bow.  The text is cut twice with die LR0223 and I've added sparkle with Stickles to the top layer.  I've created a little floral corner and added tiny butterflies and little pearl strings to finish off.  Here's a close up of the flowers:

The dies I used here were all Marianne Design, of course:

mini butterflies CR1354
mini leaves CR1336
mini flowers CR1323
small poinsettia flowers LR0142


The Crafty Catz challenge is for ribbon and bling this week, so I can enter with them.  And at Crafty Cardmakers they are asking you to go green, so I'm with them too!

Thank you for stopping by to take a peek.  Have a lovely weekend and fingers crossed the sun keeps shining where you are!

CCT Ribbon and Lace

 This week at Cute Card Thursday we would like to see ribbon and/or lace on your creations - I used a bit of both!

Our sponsor is All Dressed Up - please stop by the CCT blog to read all about the prize and see what the rest of the DT have made.

For my card I stamped up this LOTV wedding carriage, I've had the stamp a while but this is the first time it's been inked!  Colouring was easy with my Copics and Stardust Stickles on the bride's gown.

Here's the card:

It's fairly small, a 5" square, so not a lot of room for embellishments.  The papers are old magazine freebies by Nitwits and I've managed to add a die cut lace strip as well as real lace, some die cut blooms and butterflies then a little organza ribbon bow and tiny heart charm.  More Stickles added to the flowers and the butterflies for added sparkle and liquid pearls in the centres of the flowers.  Die cuts are Marianne Design, of course, so here's the list:

Triangle lace scallop edge LR0385

flowers from smallest die in CR1203

leaves from bird on branch die LR0138

butterflies from strip die CR1354

Thanks for stopping by to take a look at my card, I hope you like it.  I'm still busy looking after Mum most of the time, and trying to keep the house and garden clean and tidy - it's hard work on my own.