Friday 1 November 2024

A is for Acetate

 


Beccy's Place runs a month of Holiday Cards challenge throughout November. Most days are a prompt with the letter of the alphabet but as there are only 26 then we get a random prompt too.


Beccy is so very generous giving out so many amazing prizes and visiting every single entrant during the month and there are over 1000! I was unable to enter at all last year as I was so busy with a 2nd job that my card making completely went by the wayside. So much so it was the middle of November before I realised that I had missed the challenge! It was a good job I had made a lot of my Christmas cards earlier in the year as there would not have been any handmade ones given out last year.

Anyhoo, I am still mega busy but I am trying very hard to participate this year as thee are my favourite cards to make.

This card is for the Letter A which is for ACETATE

I visited the Crafter's Companion store in Evesham earlier in the year and they often have some amazing bargains. Many are kits that have been sold to QVC customers and returned so the staff check them for completeness and sell off at a much cheaper price.

This majority of this card is made using items from the Winterberry Collection which retails for £50 but I bought for only £10!!!! It has 580 elements in it and was a complete bargain.


The centrepiece is a Diamond Painting (DP) sticker from a kit by Craft Buddy. I have to admit I was a bit reluctant to get involved with DP as I wasn't really keen on the idea of using little dots of plastic but was intrigued enough to have a go and I love it. This particular kit has loads of traditional Christmas images in it, some much larger than others. I took it on holiday to Anglesey earlier in the year and it was a lovely indoor activity when the wet and windy weather descended.

Once completed you seal the images with a special glue that prevents them from falling off but still retains the sparkle on the gems.

The sticker is on a clear acetate background which I trimmed more closely to the pattern. I used a circle of black card and added the white patterned acetate over it, being careful to add the glue under the sticker. This was then matted on red shimmer card from the Winterberry kit. The lovely paper, card blank and die cut sentiment are also from the same kit.

Thank you to Becky for running this challenge and your amazing generosity.

Card Details -


Size - 6” Square

Image - Diamond Painting Christmas Wall Art Sticker (Craft Buddy)

Die Cut, Acetate & Paper - Winterberry Collection (Crafter’s Companion)


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


Beccy’s Place Challenges - Month of Holiday Cards Day 1 - A is for Acetate

Sunday 4 August 2024

Fired Up 40th Birthday

 



Goodness me.... where did July go? We were really busy at work in June as it was our month end but July just seemed to disappear and before you knew it... we are in August!

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.


One of the most fabulous things about being in this Creative Team is that we have free rein to make anything we want to using the sets in the shop. This is amazing for inspiring creativity as there are so many amazing packs to play with. I feel very, very lucky to be able to have this opportunity.

A fireman friend of our was turning 40 and I wanted to make a card for him based around an image I had bought a while ago from The Paper Shelter. I used the Fired Up kit from Kate's store to feature as the front of a Z fold card.


The inside section was made using the number 40 candles from the Party Animals Kit


This was then surrounded by 40 candles which were from other kits Bring on The Cake & Lets Celebrate






The last section features the pre-coloured image Adorable Fireman from The Paper Shelter.


All sections of the card were matted and layered with red and black card to make it all look cohesive. I am really pleased with how it turned out


Card Details -


Size - 6” Z fold Card

Digital Images - Fired Up, Bring on The Cake, Lets Celebrate & Party Animals (Kate Hadfield Designs) Adorable Fireman (The Paper Shelter)



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

Wednesday 22 May 2024

Sloths Colouring Book

 


I was fortunate to win a prize recently at Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge and was asked to be a guest designer for the new challenge starting today.


The challenge is sponsored by Dr Digi's House of Stamps & Last Minute Manda


I was given this lovely image from Last Minute Manda to work with from the Sloths Colouring Book. You get 8 images in the set for only £2.40 and there is 25% off at the moment so excellent value.


I love this image and it was an absolute delight to work with. I love animals in general but absolutely adore sloths. They are such gentle creatures and so calm and serene. They have the most adorable faces and always look like they are smiling. Whenever I see them in as zoo or wildlife park I just love to watch them. My sister also loves them and I made this card with her in mind as she is going through a rough spell at the moment and we live far away and both have such busy lives that we don't get to see one another very often. So I am sending her a hug in an envelope in the meantime.

The card is A5 so I made the image about 10cm across. I used a combination of Promarkers and Spectrum Noir Triblend pens to colour it. 

I had already selected the paper I wanted for the background which is a lovely fern one from a VERY old Hot off the Press pack which I have honestly had for about 25 years. I wanted the sloth image to be nestled in the greenery, surrounded by a lush Amazon forest. I knew I had a very old hibiscus die which I have not used before so that is another ticked off my list. I thought I had more cheese plant like leaves like in the image but surprisingly I don't. I had planned to surround the image with leaves but decided to fussy cut it instead.

The sentiment is from Tlc Creations and is a very old freebie from her blog. Paulette has been so very generous over the years and still has a lot of freebies on her blog and store. I coloured this with green chalks but it is so subtle the photo does not show it very well.

The hibiscus flowers have been cut with scraps of pink and purple card and yellow for the centres. I used Spectrum Noir glitter markers to add a bit of sparkle.

Thank you to Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge for inviting me as a guest designer for this challenge. It is open for 2 weeks and the theme is always Anything Goes using paper.

Card Details -


Size - A5

Digital Image - Sloths Colouring Book (Last Minute Manda)

Digital Sentiment - Tlc Creations

Dies - Flower Hibiscus (Ellison Designs Thin Cuts)

Paper - Cardmaker’s Earth Tones Creative Pack (HOTP)

Colouring Medium - Promarkers & Spectrum Noir Glitter Markers, Pebbles Inc Chalks



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


Wednesday 24 April 2024

A Horsey Happy Birthday

 


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.



One of the most fabulous things about being in this Creative Team is that we have free rein to make anything we want to using the sets in the shop. This is amazing for inspiring creativity as there are so many amazing packs to play with. I feel very, very lucky to be able to have this opportunity.



I have used the Chinese Zodiac kit to make a card for a young lady's 11th birthday. She has recently become the owner of a horse who looks very similar to the horse in this kit so it is the perfect horsey to use for this project.

You can purchase this kit as uncoloured stamps or pre-coloured images. I chose to use the pre-coloured as unfortunately I am still having issues with stiffness in my hand and colouring is an issue for me at present.


I used the current sketch from Cheerful Sketches for the layout and printed my image to suit a 6" card. I distressed the edges with an ink pad and popped it up on 3d foam pads.

The main background paper is a lovely glossy sparkly floral which has a large corner motif which I thought would suit the large amount of open space in the sketch. I chose some semi plain green papers to pick up colours from this and the darker floral paper picks up the brown and provides a contrast. I was VERY annoyed at myself when I realised I had stuck the paper on upside down. I don't think it is really noticeable but I know it is wrong :( 

The final thibg to add was the sentiment from my stash which I matted onto a scrap of brown card.

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 - 6”x6”

Digital Image - Chinese Zodiac (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Designer Paper - Desert Blooms 6x6” & Love Letters (First Edition Paper) Green At Heart (Basic Grey)



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


Monday 22 April 2024

Anglesey Adventures 2022 Digital Page

 


Every month at Kate Hadfield Designs we have a completely free scrapbook template you can download. 



Pop over to Kate Hadfield Designs Blog and you will find Photo Bliss in the Free Templates section


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.



The first layer of the page is the background paper. I chose one from my fave paper pack Painted Pretties. I love the soft effect and it went particularly well with the image I chose for this page. 

The layout of this image didn't suit a square crop which was on the original template so I increased the text area. That is the beauty of digital pages, you can tweak them to suit your project quite easily.


The view from the caravan is breathtaking. The owners of Gwynfa lived in there whilst they were building their spectacular house and they now rent it out. I feel very lucky to have found this little slice of heaven. The view is to die for and it is so peaceful. If the weather is good you can see so much out of your window with loads of fields, lots of animals, Holyhead in one direction and a lighthouse in the other direction.

As we often saw the Irish ferries going into the harbour I wanted to include that on my page. The On Our Travels kit had the perfect ship and a great camera.


The On The Farm kit provided the moo cow and horse. It was lovely to see so many beautiful horses in the fields when we went on our walks.


The lambs and sheep are from the Nativity kit. I love baby sheepies and the one in this kit is so cute. I am hoping when we go back soon we will see lots of lambs frolicking in the fields.


Signs of Spring provided the grass. Sheepies of course need to eat lots of grass and in Wales there is so much rain that the grass is very green and lush.


The Great Outdoors kits provided the walking boots. 

When we went last time we actually climbed the mountain you can see in the distance. It is located in a country park and the flora as you get steeper and steeper with alpine flowers is gorgeous. 



There was a fabulous path to follow until you go towards the top and then that was a lot of scrambling over some pretty big rocks. This path looks easy enough but you went round the back and then it dipped down and back up again. You could see the top but it felt like you would never get there. I am not the fittest person and I was so proud of getting to the top and the view was amazing.... little did I know how hard it was going to be to get back down.

 


There was no proper path and we got quite lost. We followed what we thought was the right way to get down and came right up to a sheer drop. We went on a very clear day but if it was misty like it quite often was then we could easily have had a very nasty accident. I skidded on my bottom at one point right into a gorse bush. I had so many thorns in my bottom and thighs and ripped my favourite walking trousers. After a lot of false turns we finally got off the mountain at the wrong side of the Country Park and had a really long walk back to the car. I was shaking with adrenaline and in hindsight I know we were very, very lucky. Needless to say we will not be going up there again, lesson learned and all that.


Finally I added my favourite smiley sunshine to the page from the Springity Spring pack. We had quite a bit of rain whilst were there but that just provided the perfect opportunity to do my cross stitch and I started diamond painting for the first time.

I cannot tell you how much we were both looking forward to going back there and we have just come back from another lovely week. Again the weather was changeable but it was the perfect place to relax.

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 Page Details -


Digital Template - Photo Bliss (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Digital Paper - Painted Pretties (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Digital Images -  On Our Travels, On The Farm, Nativity, Signs of Spring, Great Outdoors, Springity Spring  (Kate Hadfield Designs)



I would like to enter this Digital Scrapbook Page  into the following challenges (in Alphabetical Order)