Disruption is Occuring!

No, not the weather - although that is pretty diabolical at the moment with lots of rain, a tornado and thunderstorms! No, the carpet is about to be ripped up and replaced and that means that all the surface stuff has to be taken off furniture and things like that to allow the workmen to move said furniture.  OK, I can cope with that for the delight of getting our 24 year old carpet replaced!

The disruption occurs because this is also happening in the craft cave!! Eeeeekkkkkkkk.......

This means that I had to remove all the surface stuff, and the piles of "keep that'cause it might be useful" stuff and all the 12 x 12 papers and card, and all the stuff on the floor......you get the picture?

About half way through tonight - all I need to do is.....

......yeah, all the stuff on the floor under the shelf against the wall.......

....the top of my desk, and the printer and computer disconnected.........

Where did it go - into John's workshop!

Yes, he has this much space!!!!

......and behind the easel is more!!

Well, hopefully I will still be on line until Thursday morning, and then I hope to get back on-line by the end of the weekend at the latest! Wish me luck!!

Unstampabelles Final Week post for July

Unstampabelles is hosting a challenge for July themed:  I Could Have Danced All Night.  

This is the last week for the challenge  as it closes on Friday, so if you were planning to get an entry into this challenge, you had better get those dancing shoes on now!

This is what I came up with for the final week - remember this from last week?

See that little cut out  (in SU Shimmer card) on the top right, on the pink card - well, flip that over and.....

....cut out a dress and attach it..........

......add an SU sequin 'ribbon' sash as a belt.......

.....and put it onto a heart die cut (SU card used), on some lovely rich DP (no idea where from, sorry) and mount these onto some various levels of other SU card before attaching them to a white blank.......

........scatter around some more sequins and add three Tim Hotlz sticker words, and you have another card!!

Waste not, want not!

I will enter this in the following challenges:

a.muse studio: fun in the sun - that is what she is doing; having fun in the sun!

That Craft Place: Anything Goes

Crafting at the Weekend: Anything Goes

Crafty Catz: Anything Goes

Challenge #74 for the Squirrel and the Fox

#74 is to be inspired by a song or movie 

Well, there was a movie made for this, but it is really the song that I was inspired by -  as soon as I saw this image! Kenny K, our sponsor, generously gave the DT some images to play with, and I chose the little General!

 He is very English - a right, proper gruff old soldier! The song began to play in my head straight away so I had to ditch the film I had originally chosen (A 1950's movie by Steve Martin and Jerry Lewis called At War with the Army) and adopt this one.

The lyrics to this song are

Who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hitler,

If you think we're on the run?

We are the boys who will stop your little game.

We are the boys who will make you think again.

'Cause who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hitler,

If you think old England's done?

Mr. Brown goes off to town on the eight twenty-one,

But he comes home each evening and he's ready with his gun.

So who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hitler,

If you think old England's done?

Written by Jimmy Perry and Derek Taverner in 1969!

Kenny K are the sponsors and are offering

Prize - 5 free digis from their store

Now, I am making this card for a friend who happens to be yes, English, but is now living here. He is the partner of a good friend and  he had a birthday on the 24th so, Happy Birthday Rowland!

To make the card a bit masculine, I used SU's Hessian ribbon and some old onion bag waste behind my gold shimmer card and straight onto the black card blank.

I used the red frame to highlight the image,which has been printed onto white XPress Blending card, and coloured with Copics.  The sentiment is computer generated and die cut with SU die, and mounted on red SU card.  Both the top of the gold card and the border of the sentiment are fussy cut but the stars are punched using an old SU punch. He is a 3 star General you notice!

There are a few dimensionals in there and lots of double sided tape! The image is also fussy cut and mounted into the frame, which sticks over the top of the card a bit and the 'ribbon' sticks out the sides and I fringed it a bit to make it look a bit frayed.

Another photo using the black side of the photograph stand hubby made me - decided you cannot see the black card (lol) so just turned the stand around and rephotographed with the white background for the one above. 

I will enter this in the following challenges:
Brown Sugar: For the Boys - closes Friday 1st Aug
Fairy Tale Challenge: use a digi stamp
KennyK's Krafty Krew: Anything goes - twist - sports: the General is going riding!!!
Sister Act: Anything goes

Bag it and Tag it! That's the Dragonflies!

Crafting with Dragonflies are having a Bag and Tag challenge # 31 

Sami stamps are the sponsors, and the prize is a $12 voucher to spend in the shop.

We are making our bags from scratch, and mine is called a Goody Bag, and is made using a template from Papermania given to me for my birthday last year by my friend Glenda. She doesn't understand my attraction to paper but feeds my habit anyway!

I put my template over a sheet of 12 x 12 paper and also over a sheet of 12 x 12 blue bazzil card, and using a pencil, traced the necessary lines to make the Goody Bag. That meant I had the ability to add DP to the front and back of my bag simple by cutting out the correct panels, rather than trying to measure and cut, which I am a bit rubbish at, I must say.  

Once I had the shape and had cut it out, I folded my various fold lines, and cut the ones I needed to cut, and added red tape to the flap to close it up.

The base is a bit tricky, but if you persevere you can get the flaps to fit properly and hold. 

I actually cut and stick a small piece of card to the inside bottom to secure the base further.

Once I had cut out (and trimmed up) my DP I stuck that onto the front and back also.

The sides fold in towards the top, and there is a flap that goes over and is supposed to tuck under a small cut, but it actually doesn't do it very well, so I usually use something else to hold it, depending on what I am using the goodie bag for......in this case, a pair of knitted booties for a friend's new grandson. (No, I didn't knit them - got them from the CWA shop!)

So, I used a sparkly blue peg I had - it just happened to be laying around from some other challenge (lol) - and I also threaded some blue ribbon through the front and back through the flap to tie over the peg in a bow. It looks like the baby is being held up by the peg also. The image was supplied by our Sponsor Sami Stamps, and after printing it off onto the XPress Blending card, I coloured it with my Copic pens.  I actually printed two copies, one slightly larger than the other and coloured them up also at the same time so that they matched!

I then made a small (3.5 x 5.5 inches) gift card to go with the bag - so that is my tag. I mounted the image for the bag onto some matching card and fussy cut around it, but I just fussy cut the second smaller image and then ran a Copic pen around the edges to create the illusion of being mounted. 

The DP is from an old set of 12 x 12 papers bought from Big W about a 100 years ago. 

A bit of ribbon on my tag to tie to the bag!

When I was colouring the image up I realised that the baby was probably meant to be a girl as she had a butterfly clip in her hair,so I turned it into a butterfly, as I had already coloured everything up blue at that stage! I added the antenna and the body to make it more like an insect than a hair clip!!

So, lets all have a go at a bag and matching tag, and if you are looking for inspiration on where to locate your bag template or instructions, go no further than the blogs of the DT, who all have included where they found their bag from and where you can find it too. Mine as I said, is from Papermania, and I think it is not that expensive to purchased the thin plastic template. Your local craft store may have it! If you look on the net, there are millions of free templates too. See you over at Crafting with Dragonflies.

Great prize to be won, and who doesn't need bags and tags for those little gifts - especially heading to the second half of the year and thinking more about Christmas! 

I will enter these at the following challenges:

Party Time Tuesdays: Anything Goes - closes 29th July
Through the Craft Room Door: Anything Goes - closes 30th
Craft My Life: Anything but a card - it's a bag and tag set! Closes -
Marker Pop Blog: Blue - coloured with Copics - closes 3rd August (?)

Danced All Night Challenge at Unstampabelles!

Unstampabelles Challenge Blog has as its July Challenge, the theme of 

I Could Have Danced All Night!

The TWIST is to USE RIBBONS

The challenge is being sponsored by 

Flourish with a Bling

who are offering a $15 voucher to spend in the store!

I made two cards for the Midway Post DT Inspiration

My first card was made trying out a new technique - iris folding. 

1. Iris folding is a paper craft technique that involves folding strips of colored paper in such a way to form a design. The center of the design forms an iris — a shape reminiscent of the iris diaphragm of a camera lens.

That makes it simple to understand doesn't it! I saw my dancer in a magazine, and swiftly pulled out the pages from Card Making and Papercraft - Masterclass ADVANCED.  Should have realised that word said it all! I didn't check the pages, just put them to one side until I needed them - so I didn't get the actual template they provided which was in the back of the magazine!  BUT I am nothing if not creative so I looked at their dancer on the front of the card; got a sheet of vellum and traced her; scanned this into the computer and enlarged it a bit, and then reprinted it as my template!!

I lay the sheet with the template over some lovely SU Shimmer Card, and used my Fiskar's knife to cut around the image very, very carefully! My cut-out lady will come in useful later, now I had to use the negative image to do the iris folding behind. I could see that there were 8 separate different pieces of Design Paper, so I scrabbled in my scrap basket and got some lovely papers in gold and pink shades.

I followed the instructions - sort of - and used a lot of double-sided tape to create the lady in her dress behind the cut out negative.

You can see the strips of paper, folded in half, laying in the aperture to create the illusion of skin and clothes. 

I printed out my sentiment onto some SU Pink Pirrouette card and cut it up to place around the dancer. I used a Spellbinders edge to create a fancy edge on one side and layered this onto a sheet of DP and then onto a folded card made from SU PP. My shimmer card has wrapped around it two pieces of ribbon -a sheer pink, and another pink and I added some lovely pink pearls from our sponsor down the side.  I was really pleased with how this turned out, especially seeing that this is my first attempt at this technique! Now, I must be advanced (not!) 'cause I completed the masterclass - but you notice that you are not being shown a photo of the back of the aperture!

Luscious pearls

My second card is a decoupage kit from Crafty Bob - if you go there and look, there are lots of images useful for this challenge. This one is printed off onto some shiny white SU card. I cut it up and mounted it onto some gold mirror card.

I added part of a blue pearl swirl from Flourish with a Bling, and some small gold dots from my gold Liquid Pearl. The two sentiments come with the kit.  I cut out the decoupage bits with the Fiskars knife and added them using dimensionals to lift them up a bit. I am sure you can decoupage better than me!

Go over to Unstampabelles, and look at the wonderful DT inspiration that has been provided for the midway posting - be inspired and then have a go yourself at creating something that fits this theme but, remember NO STAMPS are to be used!

I will enter these in the following challenges: all for the iris girl
613 Avenue Create: Anything Goes with a Party theme twist; my iris girl is certainly partying! Closes 27th July
Scribble and Scrap: Anything Goes - closes about 3rd August
That Craft Place: Anything Goes - closes about 4th August
Crafting at the Weekend: Anything Goes - closes 26th July

Time for another Challenge #73 at TSATF!

TSATF?? Oh, the Squirrel and the Fox!

Yes, they are having challenge #73 - use Ribbon and Lace

My ribbon is white with gold trim and my lace is red!

My frame has a lacy edging too

Sponsor - Robyn's Fetish

Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps And More is proud to sponsor this challenge. Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps And More, a division of I Did It Creations, was created and is owned by Robyn Weinrib. Robyn offers a wonderful variety of digital stamps and digital papers, designed to meet the needs of all digital paper crafting addicts for every occasion. Robyn’s Fetish Digital Stamps And More is happy to award 3 digital stamps of the winner’s choice to the winner of this challenge.

Now, you may have noticed that in my card, princes and frogs are mentioned.  I actually decided to hand write a message around the edge of my frame in gold pen...all about how many frogs one has to kiss before one of them turns into a prince (notice I didn't say handsome...just a prince). There are usually a few frogs and there is usually only one prince......or at least, for most people one at any one time! My sentiment is hand written also and mounted on gold card.

These handsome frogs are waiting to be kissed at the wishing well! This digi image was supplied by our sponsor and as I quite like frogs, I liked being able to colour this in. I added lots of sparkle to everything 'cause this is a fairy story, right?

Several have already puckered up ready for the smacker!

You now, you could be lucky and only have to kiss one - I know several people married to their childhood sweethearts (still!). Most of us are not so fortunate and have to go through a few toads  frogs before we find the one we really like and think we have some chance of molding into the prince making a lovely life. Do I sound a bit cynical?  I just think we need to give our young people fair warning that life is not usually like a fairy tale and if it is, be careful! All relationships if they are to work, are hard work and none more so than marriage. If you just sit back and wait for the significant other to do it all - you might still be waiting!

Enough soliloquizing......commercial card base, a strip of red lace, my image was printed off onto XPress Blending card and eventually coloured with Copics. I masked it first, and used my Copic Spray System to create the sky and ground, before liberally smearing everything in Kiddy Glitz and Wink of Stella.  I die cut the frame (Spellbinders) and mounted it on gold mirror card.  Can you tell I stuffed up my edge around the top of the well?  Started playing around with it and ended up making it have a halo - ignore that! Part of the fantasy element I am going for......blame my strange sense of humour on this card.........

The other DT members have created great cards too - why not go and have a look HERE. Then you can get inspired to enter the challenge and make a card with Ribbons and Lace. 

I will enter this in the following challenges:

Fussy and Fancy: It's for the girls - yep, a warning for them! - closes 17th July

Left of Centre: Sparkle - on the roof of the well; my card is about a myth/fairy tale so definitely left of centre!- closes 19th July

4Crafty Girls Challenge: anything goes - closes 23rd July

Crafting with Dragonflies Challenge #30: CAS

Crafting with Dragonflies has a new Challenge!

Challenge #30

CAS in a CARD

This challenge requires us to create a CARD in the CAS style......so, what is CAS? I went to the blogspot Addicted to CAS for a definition, as I know this site well and love the work that frequently appears on it - I would love to be as good as they are! According to the experts it is:

CAS is an acronym for "Clean and Simple".

This means that you must create a project with very few embellishments (I know it's hard), clean lines and lots of 'white' space.

White space just means an area of your card with nothing on it at all. It doesn't have to be 'white'. It could be brown, pink or red. Any colour as long as there is lots of SPACE.

Our sponsor for this is 

 the prize is $7 gift certificate for the winner!

I used one of their images called Beehive.

I coloured it with my Copics after printing it out on XPress Blending card, and then fussy cut it - oh my hands!

As it was meant to not have layers, I used my Copic Spray system to create the background - I masked off the lower half and sprayed B34 for the sky, and reversed it and sprayed G63 for the ground. I tried to be a bit artistic with the grass and 'clump' it for texture. Not sure if that worked but.....

When I purchased this set it came with the very cute bees, a butterfly and the snail - I didn't use the butterfly! Again, they are fussy cut - again, my poor hands! I think I am due for some new scissors!

The bees and the snail are popped-up on dimentionals. If you consider the scene for a moment you will wonder why the hive is sort-of sitting onthe ground rather than swinging from the tree branch - the answer is - it fell out of my hands while I was about the position it and so it had to be exactly where is is - my position is that is why the snail looks a bit amazed!! So he/it/she should! Fancy something like a hive suddenly plopping down beside you from the tree branch where it had been handing carefreely all this time........

So, why not go and see the other CAS work over at Crafting with Dragonflies - lovely work it is too. The DT have done an amazing job of  creating CAS cards for your inspiration.  Looking forward to seeing what you can create too!

I will enter this in the following challenges:

Through the Craftroom Door: anything goes - ends 15 July

Card Galore encore: use a rubber or digi stamp - ends 31st July

Lia Stampz: no patterned paper - ends 15th July

Scribble and Scrap: anything goes - ends 19th July