Monday, 20 June 2022

Fathers Day

 


My Father In Law loves golf so I usually make a golf themed card for his birthday and Fathers Day.

This card has been made using 4 digital stamps. The image is  Upset Golfer  from QKR Stampede. I used the Fathers Day sentiment to frame the image. This is a freebie from Desert Diva which is available to down load from HERE.

I found a little old man golfing garden gnome from Tesco which was so cute I had to get it for him. He was wearing blue argyle so this was the obvious choice for the colour of paper. This then of course dictated the colours of blue and brown which is my favourite colour scheme for men's cards. The image was coloured with Promarkers.

The pre-coloured sentiment is a now retired set from Imagine That Digis by Kris. This was printed onto glossy photo paper and was in the perfect colours to match my scheme.


I don't usually put a sentiment inside the card but found this great quote from Tlc Creations which I though suited the image really well. It would be hard to imagine a situation where a golfer would break his clubs though.....


Card Details -


Size - A5

Digital Image - Upset Golfer (QKR Stampede)

Digital Sentiments - Happy Father’s Day (Desert Diva), Golf Set Retired (Imagine That Digi by Kris), Green Pastures Golf (old freebie from Tlc Creations)

Paper - Magazine freebies

Colouring Medium - Promarkers



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


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Wednesday, 15 June 2022

12 MoC Plaid Nutcracker

 


Over at The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up it is the midway point of our challenge. That means it is the turn of the Merry Maidens to share some more fabulous Christmas cards



The challenge theme is any Christmas Card with an optional twist of using PLAID. The lucky winner's prize is any 2 Winter or Christmas paper packs from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles

If you link up 2 or more cards to our challenge you will get the free Purple Plaid digital paper sent to you that our intrepid leader Lisa of Decosse's Dynamite Doodles has designed. 





Having had a break from card making since December to deal with a family emergency this is my first Design Team card for 12 Months of Christmas Link Up. It feels really weird to be only just starting making Christmas cards this late in the year so this challenge is so important for all card makers to get you disciplined into making your holiday cards all through the year. I find it is the most perfect reason/excuse to play with glitter and twinkle all year round ☺

This card has been made using the Christmas Plaid paper from Holiday Hoopla Patterned Papers set 1. I rarely make slimline cards but this paper would look fabulous with the Nutcracker.


The Nutcracker is a pre-coloured Doodle from A Very German Christmas. I am fortunate to be on the Creative Team for Kate Hadfield Designs and have access to so many fabulous images. They are a perfect compliment to Lisa's papers too.



Kate's Doodles are available pre-coloured and as digital stamp packs so perfect for many applications such as scrapbooking, journalling, card making and also a lot of teachers use them.


I use a program called Affinity Designer on the Mac to create my digital layouts, mock ups for cards in the planning stage and it is perfect to create digital layers like on this card. 

I started off with the plaid paper and selected the area in the page that I wanted to use. I then overlaid the Nutcracker image onto it and sized up as required. I then wanted to decoupage the image so also printed a copy of just the upper body and then a final layer with the head and beard. These were then printed onto glossy photo paper and fussy cut with my trusty Fiskars embroidery scissors. I have had them for years and years and having tried lots of other scissors none have been as accurate as these little beauties.

The plaid background has been matted with red card and then the base is dark green card. The decoupage layers have been popped up with foam pads. You can see the layers better in the close up below. I added some gems onto the uniform buttons and some red gems in the corners. Finally a gold bordered sentiment finishes the card.


I do hope you will take part in our challenge and look forward to seeing your creations.

Card Details -


Size - DL Slimline

Digital Image - Nutcracker from A Very German Christmas Doodles (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Digital Paper - Holiday Hoopla Patterned Papers Set 1 (Decosse’s Dynamite Doodles)

Embellishments - self adhesive gems



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)

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Monday, 13 June 2022

Over The Rainbow Unicorn

 


At Kate Hadfield Designs there are so many fabulous sets it is really easy to get inspired to use them. There are digital stamps which you can colour, coloured versions you can scrapbook or make into digital layouts. Papers, patterned overlays and doodles galore. No matter what your skill level there are so many goodies to play with.



This card has been made using the rainbow and unicorn images from Over The Rainbow Stamps. I made it for my youngest niece who loves anything Unicorn, glittery and colourful so this suits her to a T.

The stamps have been coloured with Promarkers for the matte colours and then Spectrum Noir Glitter Markers for the twinkly bits. These have been fussy cut and mounted onto 3d foam pads.

The base of the card is a glossy silver cardstock but in this photo it looks a lot darker. The only way I could really show how glittery the card was it unfortunately made the cardstock look darker. 

The main background is a fabulous sample of wallpaper. The colours and glitteryness were just perfect for this card. I frequently look at DIY stores and departments for samples of paper to use as backgrounds, borders and inspiration. It is a great resource to tap into if you do not already do so.

As a final touch I printed the sentiment and cut into a simple banner shape.

The Over The Rainbow images are available in Stamps so you can re-size and colour using your favourite medium.


They are also available as pre-coloured Doodles and a specially priced bundle of both sets together.


Over at Kate Hadfield Designs there is lots going on. Kate is really generous with her freebies which are readily available. If you sign up to the newsletter you get access to an extra subscriber area the Doodle Den where there are loads more freebies. There is a gallery full of projects by the Creative Team and customers and so much inspiration for crafters and teachers. I would highly recommend you pop over there and join in the fun.


Card Details -


Size - A5

Images - Over The Rainbow Stamps (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Colouring Medium - Promarkers, Spectrum Noir Glitter Markers


I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)


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Wednesday, 1 June 2022

Floating Strips Birthday

 



It is time for another challenge over at The Paper Funday.
Our challenges are always Anything Goes with an optional twist. 
The twist this time is the theme 'Masculine'


We are very fortunate to have 2 sponsors for each challenge this year which means we get to choose which artist we would like to work with. This really is great as it gives us double the choice. We are very lucky with the amazing sponsors that are lined up this year, many of which are old favourites and some are new to me. 

This month our Sponsors are Varada Sharma & Digi Doodle Studios

For this challenge I have chosen to work with the twist of Masculine. 

The inspiration for this card came from one that fellow crafter Leslie Turner posted some time ago. I thought it was just so clever and effective and kept the link as a card idea for the future. If you are interested in seeing it here is the link to her blogpost with the original link to a Splitcoast Stampers tutorial.

My card is A5 in size so I started off with a sheet of A4 navy card which has got a sparkly shimmer effect. A panel of white cardstock is then added so all the front elements really stand out on it. I then cut a sheet of acetate to size so the strips look like they are floating above the white.

I have a great system for my scraps with a box from Ikea which fits a Kallax unit that sits on my desk. The A4 or letter sized zippered pockets were a gift from my sister from Amazon. The zips are colour coded and I keep my scraps of coloured paper and card in each relevant colour bag. The mesh makes them very strong and so far they have lasted me over 2 years. In the past I got into a real mess with scraps and had 2 big cardboard boxes full which i gave to a friend who runs craft sessions at a senior citizen home. I now try wherever possible to file away my scraps as soon as a project has been finished and then go to this first when I need to use something. After crafting for a number of years and trying so many different ways of organising my scraps I have found this to be the very best way for me to stay tidy and actually USE my scraps.




 For this card I simply grabbed the blue bag and had fun pulling out offcut strips that might have been suitable. It is then simply a case of laying them onto the acetate and moving them round until you have a pleasing arrangement then stick them down onto the acetate panel. This panel is then raised up from the white background with foam pads so the strips look like they are floating.

The main sentiment is a large die from The Works which is a great bookstore we have in the UK that sells some crafty things too. This is a die from their own range which was only £4, really great value for how large it is. I always pop into one of the stores when I am out and about as you can get some amazing bargains from them. It is worth grabbing something you like when you see it though as quite often you don't see them when you go in the next time. 

I knew this particular style of sentiment would be perfect for male cards and I think it works particularly well with this graphic style of card. The die has been cut 3 times in the same sparkly blue card as the base, glued all the layers together for dimension and then added onto the floating strips with some thin foam pads.

Finally the sentiment has been recycled from an old cut up card and star gems dotted onto some of the strips for a bit of bling.

This is the first DT card I have made this year as I took a break to help care for my Mother In Law who was very seriously ill. I really, really missed being creative and blogging and so glad to be back doing the things I love ☺

I hope you will join myself and our fabulous Team over at the Paper Funday Challenge.

Card Details -


Size - A5

Dies - Happy Birthday (The Works)

Embellishments - Star shaped gems



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)



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Friday, 6 May 2022

A Mini Beast Parade Digital Page

 


At Kate Hadfield Designs there are so many fabulous sets it is really easy to get inspired to use them. There are digital stamps which you can colour, coloured versions you can scrapbook or make into digital layouts. Papers, patterned overlays and doodles galore. No matter what your skill level there are so many goodies to play with.


 In honour of National Scrapbooking Day and Teacher Appreciation Day Kate is offering 25% between 6th and 9th May so what better time to add some of these fabulous sets into your collection.

There are some amazing new releases this month one of which is this cute set Mini Beast Parade. It is available in pre-coloured Doodles and also as Digital Stamps. You can buy them individually and as always there is a specially priced bundle including both formats.



There is a free digital scrapbook page template each month and I have used the one for May Blocked and Squared 2. This is only the 3rd ever page I have created and I cannot tell you how much easier it is to create when you have a page template to work with. As a complete newbie it really helps me to be able to be creative without worrying if the layout looks right. 

If you fancy having a go yourself this template and many others are available to download on Kate Hadfield's blog


Now anyone who visits my blog knows I LOVE butterflies so when I saw this new set I just knew I had the perfect photos to create a page with it. This particular visit to the Butterfly Farm in Stratford Upon Avon I was so blessed to have 5 butterflies land on me and my hubby was able to get photos of some. In a bizarre coincidence I have a butterfly tattoo on my right shoulder, just where this particular beauty was. The blue one is really large at about 5 inches across and this is the main photo on my page.

I started with a background paper from Painted Pretties. This is a really useful set with soft coloured backgrounds which I have used for several projects.


Other papers for the square panels have been included using the Spring Papers which is a free download for subscribers to the Doodle Den.


The border along the edges has been created by linking caterpillars together. I mean how cute is a little row of caterpillars with little smily faces ☺

Using the panels I added photos of my visit and doodles and stamps from the Mini Beasts set. The leaf for the leaf cutter ant was added from the Pumpkin Spice Doodles. That is the great thing about Kate's designs, you can mix and match from all the sets and you know they will work together. The only limitation is your imagination.


Over at Kate Hadfield Designs there is lots going on. Kate is really generous with her freebies which are readily available. If you sign up to the newsletter you get access to an extra subscriber area the Doodle Den where there are loads more freebies. There is a gallery full of projects by the Creative Team and customers and so much inspiration for crafters and teachers. I would highly recommend you pop over there and join in the fun.


Digital Images 


Mini Beast Parade Doodles

Mini Beast Parade Digital Stamps

Pumpkin Spice Doodles


Digital Papers


Painted Pretties

Spring Papers Subscriber Freebie




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Tuesday, 19 April 2022

A Very Special Birthday

 


Hi everyone,  Long time no blog!

All has been very quiet for me crafty wise as we have had a very unfortunate emergency in the family.

If you do not wish to read all about it please jump to the ***** for the card details.

Usually on a Wednesday I pick up my mother in law from the supermarket on my way home from work and take her home. As it was so close to Christmas and I knew she had meals out planned I called her on Monday 6th December to see if she needed to go a different day. She sounded like she had a chest infection or something as her lungs sounded full of liquid. I asked if she was feeling okay and she said she had hurt her arm. She lives on her own and she sounded so bad my first thought was she had developed Covid. I was really worried about her so when hubby finished work we went round. She was in a bad state, I tested her for covid and it went positive straight away. She was in a confused state and went in and out of lucidity. She said her arm hurt and it had a lump where it was swollen. Hubby had spoken to her Saturday afternoon and she was fine then but she had not eaten or drank since the Saturday night, nor had she phoned anyone to say she had fallen.  I was just so very grateful that I had called her that day and dread to think what would have happened if I hadn't.

My hubby stayed with her overnight and then spent most of Tuesday speaking to her Dr and trying to get an ambulance. They said they were under so much pressure, nothing available, back of the queue as she was covid positive. After 6 hours of waiting they even told us they could not do anything for her and told us to put it in a sling. We were told we couldn't take her to A & E as they would refuse her due to being covid positive. In the end her daughter took her to a smaller hospital closer to where she lives (but 45 miles away from us). They x-rayed and found she had broken her left shoulder in 2 places. She was not vaccinated and the covid was really bad on her lungs. She was in hospital for 6 weeks and a rehabilitation unit for another 2 weeks. It looks like she developed low blood pressure and collapsed thus breaking her arm. While her lungs were so full of fluid they could only strap it up to immobilise it. They were unable to lay her on her left side or front which made it harder to clear her lungs. We were told twice she had 24-48 hours to respond to treatment and they gave us the most terrible prognosis for her. Basically they said as she was 78, not vaccinated and also a woman if they put her on full ventilation in ICU then she was unlikely to survive. At the very least her quality of life would be minimal afterwards. She was on full oxygen for weeks, not allowed to get out of bed as her BP went too low and they were worried she would collapse.

She needed full time care when she came out of the rehab ward as she is left handed and could do nothing for herself. The first few weeks she went to her daughter's house where she had carers twice a day washing and dressing her. Then on 13th February she was transferred to our house where our council could not provide any care so personal duties fell to me. The first few weeks were just full on and so tiring. Mom was getting up to the loo 4 or 5 times a night and I am a light sleeper so would wake up most of the time too. I work part time but its early morning starts, then shopping, personal care, washing and cooking for 3. It was bloody exhausting I can tell you. My free time went completely out the window so crafting was on a needs must basis. I had to pause all my Design Team commitments as I just could not be relied up to to do anything that was time sensitive.

The most fantastic thing though is that we have been able to rehabilitate her and give her back the majority of her strength and mobility. We got her maisonette decorated, sorted out a long list of things she had needed to get done for a long time and made her home much more welcoming for her. On Sunday 10th we took her back to her place and most days we have popped round to sort things out for her, take her shopping and basically support her. She is surprised how easily she tires and I think it will be a while before she feels 'back to normal'. I'll not lie to you, these last few months have been exceptionally challenging for many reasons but when all is said and done family is super important and we all have to do our part when bad times come. I am just so incredibly proud of the fighter that Mom is and that she managed to pull through this, despite all the naysayers.

*****

It is therefore quite fitting that this first card I have blogged for 2022 is for Mom's Birthday. Considering there was a very real possibility she would not see this birthday I am sure you can agree it was indeed something to celebrate.

I used a digital image that I had already coloured some time ago with Promarkers. I updated it and added lots of twinkle with some glitter markers from Spectrum Noir. I used the colours of blue and yellow as they look lovely together, but also to show support for Ukraine which is just the most awful situation.

The card is 8" square. the patterned paper is a really old Hot Off The Press one with blue card matting layers. The gold edged ribbon has sunflowers which were fussy cut from a DCWV sunflower themed paper. To this I added epoxy alphabet stickers to spell MOM. The sentiment is a Kanban diecut. Finally I added a yellow pearl and a plastic butterfly that looks like it is diamante.

Made by Mandy is not back upto full steam just yet but hoping it will only take a short while for Mom to adjust to living on her own again. As time goes by and she gains more confidence she won't need her hand holding quite so much and I can get back to crafting for pleasure again and get back onto my DT work. I have missed it so much but sometimes in life you are thrown a curve ball and the path leads you in a different direction.

Card Details -


Size - 8” Square

Digital Image - Swallowtail & Sunflower (Just Inklined Retired)

Colouring Medium - Promarkers, Spectrum Noir Glitter Markers

Paper - Citrus Cardmakers Creative Pack (HOTP), Flowers taken from DCWV sunflower themed paper

Embellishments - Ribbon, Epoxy alphabet stickers, diamante effect butterfly trim, Kanban foiled sentiment



I would like to enter this card into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)









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