Another challenge entry - and frustration!

I couldn't resist the CPS challenge #154 when I saw it this weekl! My card follows the given sketch almost exactly; the top layer with the quotation (unknown stamp) was sponged round the edges with Distress inks in various shades, the other yellow layer(yes, it really is yellow!) was made with Adirondack Color Wash sprays and the edges again sponged with Distress Inks. The leaves were punched from another Color Washed piece. And all the colours are much lighter in real life - I did try to alter the scan but obviously I didn't do enough.

The frustration referred to in the title comes not from the card making (although I wish I could cut straighter, considering the care I take in measuring and marking!) but from trying to tidy up the lists on my blog. Maybe I've become complacent about the way I've found my way around Blogworld, but I've spent a considerable time trying to transfer some 'Favourites' to another section, only to have Blogger insist on changing the addresses to something which cannot then be found. OK, so I also discovered that I had forgotten to Save some of the edits I made, but it isn't entirely my fault that I'm having problems. If only I could do it by clicking and dragging......now, did I try that I wonder?!

Another JustRite challenge card

I made this birthday card today to a design I've used many times before but added words from the Just A Note set and one of the new wide borders, both by JustRite stampers, mounted on a Spellbinders die from Labels #4. The gold decorations, including the 'pages' at the top are peel off stickers, which are very popular and easy to find in the UK (my local craft shop has an amazing stock) but I understand they are not common elsewhere, particularly in the US. Like many craft items/techniques they originated in the Netherlands. There is a score line separating the 'cover' from the 'spine' but unfortunately this doesn't show on the scan. I have no idea whose pattern the 'book' was originally; I saw it on Circle of Crafters several years ago and have since made it in various sizes, from ATC up. When sending it in an exchange I title it 'The Friendship Book'.

A mixed bag of cards

First up today is my entry for the new JustRite Stampers 'Birthday' challenge. The background is more vellum from New Zealand overlaid on bright green card, and the Cuttlebug embossing folder is one of my favourites from the combo set Everyday Greetings . The words are from the JR Designer Centers and Borders set, and the watering can is from Autumn Blessings, also by JustRite. Both are cut with Nesties - and how useful is the compatability chart on the JustRite Stampers website as to which size die to use, rather than doing it by trial and error.

I don't often go for 'cute' designs but I couldn't resist these owls by Little Claire, the three designs being on a single acrylic stamp. I stamped them several times and cut them out after colouring with pencils. The base card was copied from one I bought and the words were printed from the computer; positioning them accurately was ... interesting, shall we say! The card is 12" wide but I first did a draft print on scrap paper, forgetting that this is our normal A4 size of 297mm which is one-eighth of an inch less. Not a lot of difference, but having folded it in 4 and done lots of measuring, and turned the paper upside down to do another print, and found it was even more inaccurate than the first attempt...well, you get the idea! What a good thing I have a numerate husband to help with the calculations. Anyway,they read
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday toooo hoooo?
Happy birthday dear Diana,
Happy birthday to you!
The card really is complete on the righthand side, but that's what happens when you try to scan 12" width on an A4 scanner.


The last offering out of this particular bag is a Get well card for a friend at present in hospital. It's another much loved Cuttlebug folder, Bird Call (I dithered over buying it for ages, but have used it far more than many of my others) plus a Winter Bird by Impression Obsession and words by Stamps Unlimited.

Two new cards, and some musings...

I made a couple of birthday cards today, my first this week. They are made in the same style : both measure 6"x5" (15cm x 12.5cm) with the front folded back on itself.The green one is for my niece in America (Jamie's mother, for those who have read about my star card) who has made her own little English garden in Delaware and will, I think, appreciate the sepia stamped sundial by Joanna Sheen. The stamped greeting is hidden by the front flap and is next to the picture. The leafy paper is from my stash, origin unknown, and the words on the Nesties are from a clear um stamp, also of unknown origin.

The crane stamp on the red card is by Hobby Art and the coin by Personal Impressions (both are UK companies), embossed with gold detail EP and the crane is matted on gold. The paper on the inner panel is a beautiful oyster satin which I bought in New Zealand last year. This is the first time I have used it....although I have several sheets I'm being very frugal so I don't use it all up! I added a plain white piece with a decorative punched bottom border on the hidden inner panel.

I deliberately had a break from crafting this week, partly because I've been busy with something else but also because I felt dissatisfied with the cards I made for challenges last weekend. That was my own fault for leaving them until the last minute (I'm a champion procrastinator) and having to rush them, but I wanted to think about what I was trying to achieve by entering the challenges. We each have our own style - there's a category on Split Coast Stampers called 'Clean And Simple' which I think describes mine quite well (kind critics have used the words 'elegant' and 'stylish' about my cards which I should love to think also fits them). I'm not artistic, although I think I have a good eye for colour, and I can't handle lots of fussy embellishments or glitz: a narrow border of mirri card or a dab of silver Stickles is just about as bright as it gets! I thought that by committing myself to entering a few challenges regularly it would stretch my imagination and take me outside my comfort zone, because I do know I tend to stick with a design and risk becoming boring; however I have come to the conclusion that I don't have a flexible imagination and I'm a leopard who doesn't want to change his spots, so from now on I will enter challenges only if I can make a suitable card in my own style. If I can't, I'll either wait for another week or enter a different challenge.

Two Challenge Entries

This is for the first Just Cute Bears Challenge, where the brief was 'a girly card' to include an image of a teddy bear. They don't come much more girly than this very pink card; the stamp is by Judikins, embossed with copper EP then coloured with Promarkers, cut out and stuck on a small piece of pale pink matted on green, then applied to a daisy paper designed by Nancy Watts from Making Cards magazine.


The second challenge is for a sketch supplied by 2 Sketches 4 You and is my first entry there. Words are by Clarity Stamps, Labels#4 by Spellbinder.

Parchment Craft

I started doing parchment craft several years ago but am not very expert at it because I don't practice enough. I have resolved that this year I really will work at it; meanwhile this is the third time I have made this card, the design of which appeared in Parchment Craft Magazine a year or two back. I much prefer the lacy look of white-on-white to the coloured style, but of course that also relates to my love of lacemaking and my inability as an artist.


And just to show that I have done other patterns, here's a Christmas card I made from a design by Christine Coleman. It's far from perfect....but it gives me a baseline to chart my improvements!

ATCs for a couple of challenges

I hoped to make such a lot of cards today but in the end all I have completed are 4 ATCs, two each of two designs. They are destined for a swap session at a big craft show in London in April but meanwhile the peacock is my entry for Rainbow Lady's latest challenge Fur and/or Feathers. It was difficult to achieve a clear scan because the panel at the side is a child's wooden picture domino, painted with acrylics and stamped using Ranger archival ink. Both stamps are by The Artistic Stamper.

Carmen is for the Music themed challenge on the Circle of Crafters. Not a scrap of music to be seen.....but being an opera lover myself (who sang in an amateur production of Carmen many years ago) I think she fits the bill very well. The red is a satin finish paper, again stamped with Ranger archival ink; the stamp is by Inkadinkado and the lettering is Curlz font by JustRite Stampers. The backing is gold mirror card, and we all know how difficult that is to scan.