Friday, 27 January 2023

A Very Very Merry Spider

 


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.


For this project I made a Christmas card for one of my bosses who is nicknamed Spider.  I used the spider from Too Cute To Spook Doodles and added a hat from Very Very Merry Doodles. The hat was printed a 2nd time to decoupage with foam pads. Stickles glitter glue and googly eyes were added to complete my too cute to spook spider.




The tartan paper and black leather cardstock are all scraps. It's always a nice feeling to complete a card without having to cut into a new sheet.

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” Square 

Digital Images - Too Cute To Spook Doodles & Very Very Merry Doodles (Kate Hadfield Designs)

Designer Paper - Woodland Christmas 12”x12” (The Works)

Embellishments - Stickles Glitter Glue, google eyes



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







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Saturday, 21 January 2023

Elegant Deer

 


Over at The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up it is the midway point of our first challenge of 2023. That means it is the turn of the Merry Maidens to share some more fabulous Christmas cards.


The challenge theme is any Any Christmas Card or other December holiday with an optional twist of Out With The Old & In With The New. 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 a free digital paper sent to you that our intrepid leader Lisa of Decosse's Dynamite Doodles has designed. 


My card this month has a mixture of Old & New

Old is the digital papers which were offcuts that are from a previous project.
Old is the peel off line stickers & sentiment I have had in my stash for a million years.
Old is the Elegant Deer die I have had for at least a couple of years and not previously used.

New is the gilding flakes used to 'colour' the die cut
New is gilding which is a new technique for me.

I have used the following papers designed by Lisa



The base is a sheet of white A4 cardstock. I wanted to add gold as the metallic accent as this was a large part of the colour of the gilding flakes. I used a metallic mirri card to create a border around the plaid paper. I have some border stickers from Lakeland Limited that I have been using for years. There are an assortment of thicknesses in silver and gold and have proven so useful. It is a shame they don't do crafty things anymore as I got quite a few things from them over the years. I lad the thin gold strip along the thin black lines on the pattern as I felt it gives the paper a more opulent effect that enhances the gilding.

The deer is a Sizzix thinlits die that I cut from a double sided sticker sheet. It was a bit fiddly to remove as the curly sections of the antlers were very delicate. I added this 'sticker' to the crumpled Chrome paper and cracked open my gilding flakes from Indigo Blu.

Now having never used gilding flakes I am not altogether too sure if my technique was right as I got myself in a right mess. I had used an old ice cream tub and put a few flakes into it. I then grabbed a few and squooshed into the sticky shape. Once covered I started to remove the excess that stuck out. This is when I started to get it everywhere as the static build up was worse than I had expected. I used a muslin clothe to rub off the excess and buff it but it just kept sticking to me. It was so funny at the time as these little precious flakes were all over my desk. Eventually I managed to control the bits and get them back into the pot. Having watched a YouTube video I now know I should have used a stiff brush to get the excess off before rubbing it with the cloth. The demonstrator got into a mess too though so I don't think I did too bad for my first attempt. I enjoyed doing it though and it didn't put me off having another go ☺

Apologies for the weird angle on the photo as it was the only way I could get the foiling to show up properly. 

Card Details -


Size - A5

Die - Elegant Deer (Sizzix Thinlits)

Digital Papers - Purple Plaid, Crumpled Chrome (Decosse’s Dynamite Doodles)

Embellishments - Morris Dance Megaflake (Indigo Blu) Peel off Sticker sentiment, Peel off line sticker



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







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Thursday, 19 January 2023

Snowy Days GDT

 


In October I was chuffed to bits to come 1st in the Top 3 for challenge #654 at C.R.A.F.T. Challenge with my Dracula Treat Bag and was invited to be a Guest Designer for the current challenge which starts today.


We are sponsored by All Dressed Up and the theme is Inspired by a Song. 



I chose Frosty The Snowman and this lovely image to work with Snowy Days.



I have not made an easel card in ages and love to make them as it gives you more scope to use lovely papers. I started with those using a snowball paper for the base and my favourite snowflake vellum for the main paper.

I coloured the image using Promarkers and some very fine tipped markers. I added a mouth to the snowman as I felt he should be smiling at his little robin visitors so added some small black stones to match the ones on his body. I used a Spectrum Noir glitter marker to add some twinkle to the snowballs and ground and a silver gel pen to add accents to the knitwear and snowflakes.

The silver card used to mat the image and decorative border has been recycled from some packaging. I get vitamins on subscription sent in the post and they are always packaged with some thick silver or white card which is really useful to craft with. Frequent visitors to my blog know I like to recycle as much as I can. The sentiment on the front of the card has been recycled from an old shop bought Christmas card.

As a final touch I have used a foiled sentiment from Craftwork Cards as the stopper on the base of the card which has been popped up on foam pads.

The challenge will last for 2 weeks giving everyone ample opportunity to take part. I do hope you will join in.

Card Details -


Size - 6” Easel

Digital Image - Snowy Days (All Dressed Up Stamps)

Colouring Medium - Promarkers, Fine Tipped Markers, Silver Gel Pen, Spectrum Noir Glitter Marker

Designer Papers - Glittering Snowflakes Vellum (Crafter’s Companion) Merry Christmas Frosty (Craft Sensations)



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












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Wednesday, 4 January 2023

Swallowtail Sympathy

 


Happy New Year ! It's time for the first challenge of 2023 over at The Paper Funday.
Our challenges are alway Anything Goes with an optional twist.
The twist this time is 'Starry Night'


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 is really 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 that are new to me.

This month we are sponsored by Fred She Said Designs & LeAnn's World


For this challenge I chose to work with Swallowtail by Fred She Said Designs. This file comes with both a coloured version plus lines art to colour yourself in different formats.


I had already printed this image off before Christmas and had great plans of what I was going to make with it. Unfortunately two friends have had very close family members pass away. I rarely make sympathy cards, somehow it feels wrong to have them already to hand almost anticipating the sad times. It is always the saddest reason of all to make a card. Unfortunately as I get older more and more of this type of card is needed so I think maybe I need to make more to add to my stash.

I have a 6" pad of designer paper which is all sunflowers. I decided to colour the butterfly with pencils and placed it so it would be framed by the sunflowers on the paper. I  fussy cut around it (very fiddly....) and gently curled the wings so they stood out from the background. I used a brown card for the base and matted the sentiment with it.

I made it at night and left it until the following day to take a photo. Just as I took it the sun came out and the wings cast a slight shadow. I think there was something quite spiritual about that so decided to use that photo.

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

Card Details -


Size - 6” Square

Digital Image - Swallowtail (Fred She Said Designs)

Colouring Medium - Arteza Expert Pencils

Designer Paper - 6” Nature’s Garden Sunflower Collection (Crafter’s Companion)



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


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Monday, 2 January 2023

Happy New Year 2023

 


Happy New Year to one and all. I hope 2023 is kind to you and your families.

2022 has been a very troubled year for my family in many ways. There have been so many medical issues, some of which are not resolved.

December alone had so many plot twists I honestly didn't know if I was coming or going. Some of which were a cancelled 3 generation family break, family members marriage breaking down, last minute re-arrangement of Christmas plans, a hole in my car radiator, having to spend a fortune on taxis as couldn't get a courtesy car.... honestly in the space of just 24 hours almost everything that had been organised had to be changed at the last minute.

I am however very proud of the fact that I coped and didn't crumble. The stress from all sides was immense and I know in previous years I would have just had a meltdown. Years ago when I went through therapy my counsellor told me that my capacity to handle stress would be greater and I think this year has proven that in more ways than I ever thought possible.

There are so many cards I made that were due to be blogged in December that didn't get posted so I will have to play catch up. There are so many cards that didn't get added to challenges or social media so I endeavour to make a better attempt this year.

I for one am glad to see the back of 2022. We go into 2023 with some challenges but I have faith that I can handle things and have my crafting to de-stress.

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