Saturday 28 April 2018

EAsel Card for Crafting with Dragonflies Challenge#103

Wow, Challenge#103 at Crafting with Dragonflies! 

I have been so under the radar lately that I didn't realise it was challenge over a 100!!!!! 
What an amazing achievement for Hilde! Congratulations. 

For this challenge, Hilde asks us to make an easel card. I have played with easel card before and made a few but I saw quite a few recently with movement popping over the edge of the crease so I thought about how I could achieve that. Lot's of wonderful inspiration floating around in Pinterest land as per usual. and this one was inspired from there!

I started with a commercial card blank and folded over the top diagonally.
I added some card and DP from Stampin' Up

I then used an SU  punch for the daisy and the leaves and SU card.


The flower centres are bits of bling.



The sentiment is die cut - I was going to stamp it but it got lost in the DP so I die cut one instead. 


A 3D look at the fold above and below is the front pushed down for going into the envelope and potentially posting.


So, that is all - you now can get cracking on an easel card for the challenge!!

Enter it HERE


Some further inspiration --


WOW... what a cracker of a sunset from the aptly named Honeymoon Bay, on the Freycinet Peninsula, thanks to Lydia Horsburgh ðŸŒ…

Honeymoon Bay, can you get a nicer sounding bay than that? Located at the edge of the beautiful Freycinet National Park, Honeymoon Bay is a gorgeous swimming spot and the water is crystal clear.


Monday 23 April 2018

What a Tonic is Tonic!


Warning - lots of photo's

I got a new set of dies and stuff from Tonic - plus a magazine. I think it came out earlier in the UK but I have just got my hands on it so I had a play! I made some things for the latest challenge at


for the current challenge

Use Acetate or Vellum

I used both in one card and then just vellum (but two different kinds) in another....then I just played!

Firstly - my other view.......


A truly beautiful long exposure from Swimcart Beach at the Bay of Fires thanks to Sam McEwen.

www.instagram.com/smcewenphotography


This one has two different vellums used. I die cut one piece into a heart and  layered another on top of a sheet of black card.


Then I die cut out some other hearts from the set and built up the structure. I added a die cut sentiment and some red liquid pearls for a simple but I think elegant card. It is then added to a cream card. It could be for an engagement or a wedding.


Another angle....


This is another shaker card using acetate and then I put some plain vellum behind another heart and added a rub on sentiment....


You can see the seed pearls inside the shaker and again it could be an engagement or similar. 


These two suit the current challenge at Unstampabelles

You can go HERE to enter

Then I had a play with some other ideas from the magazine - my mojo has been hiding lately and I find that following an idea can help me find it again and it did. I made these two before the ones I made for the challenge - some are similar and some are my own idea.....

This one is coated over the EF print with gold paint rubbed on with my finger to highlight the embossing - and the whole is lifted up on dimensionals for extra height.


Interesting colour combo's on the DP that came with the kit. 


I suppose I could have made this into a shaker too but I like the idea of digging for depth.


This one was basically copied although I didn't have the background die they did so used an old Sizzix one I had that fitted the cut down Embossing folder piece. The coral and gold and cream layering adds extra dimension.


This one was the first one done - I could feelmy mojo releasing as I die cut the bits and fitted them together. While it is not exactly the same as theirs it is very similar.


They were such pretty dies, they deserved to be showcased here. 


The DP came from the kit. 

That's all folks - keep well!

Tuesday 17 April 2018

Crafting with Dragonflies Challenge#102: Use dies or punches

Well, I have a few of those - dies and punches I mean! 

Thought I should pull the proverbial finger out and get my post done as it is now four days overdue. I feel like the perennial white rabbit from  Alice - always late!



Crafting with Dragonflies  has a new challenge:

# 102 - Cards using dies and or punches

This week we are asking you to make a card with

Dies and/or Punches

So I got out some Coulture Creations Sue Wilson - Sydney dies and Chrysanthemum die and got to work with some gold card and creamy gold shimmer card, plus a bit of SU DP from Christmas.

This is what happened:


White cyrissies for Mother's Day - I cut out three but only used one


Stamp is from a freebie set off a magazine
I embossed it in gold


The white sections of the DP look blueish gray here in the early morning light outside


That's better....

Finally, a photo taken by a neighbor of ours yesterday on the hill over the road from our place - we don't get this view (either of us) as we look into the bay but this is behind the hill looking down the river Derwent towards the city of Hobart. That is the Tasman Bridge. The burnt trees are from the bushfire last year.
Yes - it was a chilly day........



by Chris Hadrill
from Natone Hill


A Weasley update......


Look what I discovered when I came downstairs yesterday morning - stolen toilet roll from bathroom next door ....... wonder who did that? He was quite proud of it. 

Monday 16 April 2018

Roses are ....Pink!

I love that late summer flush of roses, don't you? They are such versatile flowers too. I have noticed that many of the old-fashioned flowers are making a return but roses are still in the mix. Talking about flowers, at the weekend I went to an autumn flower show at a place called Tesselars in the Dandinongs, just outside Melbourne. It was a stunning autumnal day - about 28 degrees and blue skies, with just a touch of a breeze to keep everything cool.

They had mass plantings of many varieties of autumn and winter perennials an the effect of the sweeping rows down the hillside in so many vibrant colours was amazing!


Love the snapdragons and salvias in paticular


There were no roses on display but my card today for the challenge at Unstampabelles contains roses.



The latest challenge at Unstampabelles is to 

Challenge #78: Use Acetate or Vellum

Prize 
New KaiserCraft EF



Twist - create a new view
TIP: show us something new to look at..........

My new views are from the photo's from Tesselars of the flowers..........

I used vellum today and I added the sentiment to a piece by foiling it with my new hot foiling machine.


I die cut the roses (from a die by Memory Box - English Rose bouquet). Some old DP from SU and an embossed piece under that and a gold card base formed the platform for it all. 


My gold foiled sentiment on vellum was added under the rose bouquet, and I added too some ribbon and gold sequins for a splash.


The butterfly button was added last. 

You have two weeks to enter the challenge  - go to the blog and scroll down to the first post for April 
 - but remember, NO STAMPS





Wednesday 11 April 2018

I'm a Shaking.......for Unstampabelles



William Edward John (November 15, 1937 - May 26, 1968), better known by his stage name Little Willie John, was an American R&B singer who performed in the 1950s and early 1960s.

When ya touch my hand
An' talk sweet talk
I got a knocking in my knees
And a wobble in my walk 

I'm trembling
And I'm shaking.......


over at

there is a new

Challenge #78: Use Acetate or Vellum

Twist - create a new view
I created a shaker card and my new view is the view behind the acetate!
A die cut HB and a green doily!


I decorated the outside of the window with some flowers from D'Lish!


I used some seed beads for my shakers
I'm shaking up a storm here!


At an angle


Unstampabelles has a new challenge running to use acetate OR vellum in a project
Just remember - NO STAMPS please. 



Monday 2 April 2018

Eclectic Ellapu and April

Guess who was an April Fool? 


I left my Eclectic Ellapu post till now instead of doing it yesterday! 

The theme for this one is 'Anything Goes'

Everyone's favorite!

My contribution to the DT's fabulous inspiration is a set of cards made using the new SU stamp set called Waterfront and playing with inks and Brusho's

By the time I stopped to photograph what was happening I had missed the creating of the colours but basically I used my Brusho's on a mat, misted them with water and then misted a piece of hot pressed w/c paper as well and used the various stamps from the Waterfront dabbled into the wet puddles and then stamped to create a scene. For some of them I used the stamp face up and carefully pressed the paper onto the stamp with my fingers and peeled it off. There is a great YouTube on this technique using these stamps and I followed that.


I used the water pen to move some of the ink around as well
This shot is of my desk after it was finished


This is what I created initially


I added some red Brusho's to the left-overs and misted it again and then sopped it up with a bigger sheet of w/c paper to use for another project sometime other.....shame to waste it otherwise; this will be a good background for something.




Here are the finished cards



A negative circle was used here for the sun and I just sponged some ink into it


This was the one that started it all - copying another amazing crafter I saw on Pinterest

I die cut the square out and added another square behind to form this card. I also added some water from the stamp set High Tide; also the birds for interest.



The somber colours made it a sympathy card. 

It certainly suits the seas around here when it is winter. 

This was fun to do.
I can highly recommend it!

Why not skip over to Eclectic Ellapu and enjoy the DT pieces and then enter yourself!


WOW… what a capture from Wineglass Bay on the Freycinet Peninsula thanks to Luke Tscharke Photography who says:

A bit like a tropical paradise except it's far from the tropics. Wineglass Bay on the Freycinet Peninsula in Tasmania is on another level to any beach I've been to. Sitting on the brilliantly white beach watching the waves break out of the cyan waters and ripple over the shore was one of the highlights of our trip. Well worth the hike in!

www.instagram.com/tscharke


Time waits for none of us......

....and I just realised that the newest challenge over at Unstampabelles for April is about to start!

The challenge is 

#78:April Vellum or Acetate

Prize 

New KaiserCraft EF





Twist - create a new view

Now, according to Unstampabelles the view can be of anything so my new view today is this.

Image may contain: plant and indoor

I wonder how that happened!
It is the view out of our bedroom window
We are getting new blinds - isn't that lucky?

I have gone with Acetate this week
I am repurposing/reusing an acetate box that housed originally some candles


I made it a container for some Easter Goodies and added a tag!


The tag is one from SU and I paper pieced it.


The chicken is one I got from a local craftsman - it is made of wood
You could fill this up totally with eggs if required but I sort of wanted to set a small domestic farm scene - a new view......


Several more views


What fun can you come up with?

You have a month to comply