More simplicity

Good afternoon, peeps! TGIF - it's the start of a long Bank Holiday weekend and I hope you're all looking forward to it!



Here I am still trying to solve the problem of what to create for the Make and Take session I'm involved in and this is my second effort. I think it's more viable that the last one I posted because the card is easier to assemble. The main problem is that I'm not really a 'less is more' person, I'm more of a 'pile as much on as you can' person - especially flowers! Now that I've made two cards without a bouquet on them, I'm definitely getting withdrawal symptoms! but at least this card has one flower on it! Apart from that, everything else can just be punched/die-cut and stuck on - the ribbon is not a necessary embellie.
I think I quite like it but I'm not sure - what do you think?

Card recipe:

Image: Magnolia- sorry but I don't know what colour Copics I used because she's been coloured for too long!
Sentiment: Whiff of Joy (I think!)
DPs: Craft Creations
Punches: Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly large and medium
Pearls: The Hobby House
Flower: Cardology (2 of them glued together)
Ribbon: from my stash


Back to the Clarity stuff now - have a great weekend!
Hugs

A Criss Cross card

Good afternoon, peeps! I hope you are all well and seeing some sunshine!


Well, this card was something of a challenge to myself, the reason being that I've been asked to teach (if that's the word) a Make and Take project at Samuel Taylor at Roseville Street in Leeds on 4th June and I needed to create a project that could be easily constructed. This is the first of two options. The only problem is, I find it very hard to imagine the timing for creating the card when you have all the bits ready cut out and you're only concerned with the assembly. I seem to spend ages going through the thought process of what to put where, which papers, punches and embellies to use and so on. I think the only answer is to recreate this when I have the correct images, which will be from the Magnolia 'Sweet Rainbow' collection, and set the clock when I've prepared all the elements. There could then be a quick redesign - watch this space! You could be seeing a very similar card again!

Here you can see both elements of the card with the jotting panel on the inside, pull out part of the card.


and here is a close up of the star of the show:


I did keep a note of the Copics I used to colour her but you'll be amazed at the number of colours I used for her dress but I just kept layering them on until I was satisfied with the colour!
I hope you like it, peeps. I must say I was itching to pretty it up a lot more but then it wouldn't have been suitable for the Make and Take!
Hopefully, I'll see you again soon with another option for the occasion. Enjoy the slightly warmer weather despite the winds!

Card recipe:

Image: Magnolia
Sentiment: An old one from my stash - sorry but I don't know who makes it.
DPs: Craft Creations
Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities Mega Ovals large (plain and scalloped) Go Kreate Concentric Tags #1, Sizzix 'Primitive Hearts', Sizzix 'Decorative Flourishes set'
Punches: Martha Stewart 'Swirling Lace', McGill 'Leaves', EK Success 'Retro Flower'
Pearls and Pearl Brad: The Hobby House
Ribbon & button: from my stash
Copics:
Skin: E000, E00, E01, E21, R30, R20
Hair: E50, E51, E53, E55, E33 + Prisma Sandbar brown pencil
Dress & socks: R11, R20, R21, R22, R30, R81, R83, R85, RV000, RV00, RV11 + Prisma Cool Grey 50%
Tilda's wings: C00, C1, C3 + Prisma Cool Grey 50%
Shoes: BV25, BV29, C00
Roses: Y13, Y15, Y17
Leaves: G20, G40, G82 + Prisma Marine Green
The shadows around Tilda were created with Prisma Warm Grey 70% & 50%
All the distressing was done with Pumice Stone DI.
Hugs

A little Clarity

Good evening,peeps! I hope you all had a good weekend.
I've been working on Clarity cards today for the next Create and Craft TV show in June and it occurs to me that I've never shown you the ones I made for the last show at the beginning of May.

You may have caught a glimpse of this one if you watched the show. It's a combination of three of the kits with the Postcard Kit stamped in the middle of a sky backgound (created with cotton wool soaked in Versamark and Adirondack Cloudy Blue and Stonewashed brayered over) surrounded by the Famous Places kit and a couple of the Stamp stamps added for good measure. I paper pieced the Taj Mahal and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The images in the stamps were coloured with Promarkers - I find that Promarkers give a better result on the Claritycard than Copics.

This was my personal favourite of the cards I made from the last bunch of kits. I used the Big and Juicy 'Foliage' pad to brayer the backgound in two parts - sky first then masked that and did the earth. I just love that image of the Massai warrior and I bought him as a lineart image before I got this silhouette in my DT kit. All of the silhouetted images are stamped with Jet Black Archival ink and I thought that rafia was the perfect finishing touch.
Well it's just a brief post for this evening - lots more work to do!
Have a pleasant and peaceful evening!
Hugs

Cake card

Good morning, peeps and TGIF! Nearly the weekend - do you have something exciting planned? DT work for me! Speaking of which, here is my card for the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge which, this week, is a recipe:

3 papers
2 embellishments
1 ribbon

I love this type of challenge and here's what I did with it:

When I first saw this cake card on the talented Cabio's Blog it was another 'Wow, I must make one of those' moments and it was perfect for this recipe challenge!

Of course, being basically another easel card it was the usual challenge in the photography department - not one of my major talents at the best of times! The little box that is tied on with my 1 ribbon holds six birthday candles and, just to illustrate how they would be used, I've placed three spares in the holes of the 'cake', which is simply made with card covered with DPs.

This is a really fun project so do have try with it if you have need of a birthday card soon. I shall certainly be using the design again and stocking up on candles in readiness! I've also seen it produced with just one larger candle for the centre of the cake and four candles for Advent - both look great! The other good news for me in producing this card is that I've found a Red Violet (pink) Copic combination that I actually like - some of the colours in this colour family are so harsh that I hesitate to use them but this one could be used a lot!

Card recipe
Stamped image: Magnolia 'Tilda with Wedding Presents'
Copics: Skin: E000, E00, E01, E21, R11, R20. Hair: E50, E51, E53, E55, E33. Apron/socks: RV11, RV13, RV14 + Raspberry Prisma. Dress/shoes: BG70, BG72, Cool Aqua Promarker + Muted Turquoise Prisma. Parcels: Y32, Y35, Y38, Y13, Y15, Y17 + Golden Rod Prisma. YG01, YG03, YG25 + Moss Green Prisma. V12, V15, V17. BG70, BG72, Cool Aqua Promarker. Shadow: French Grey 50% & 70% Prismas.
DPs: Echo Park 'Summer Days'
Flowers: Wild Orhis Crafts
Dies: Magnolia Swirl and Sizzix Primitive Stars
Sentiments: Pink Petticoat (Happy Birthday) and Lili of the Valley (on cake)
Ribbon: from my stash

Whatever you're doing this weekend, have a great one and do try and join us for this challenge.
Hugs

Circle Step Card

Good afternoon, peeps!
You know how sometimes you see a card and you think 'Oh, yes- I've GOT to make one of those!'? Well this was one such card. I first saw it here on the lovely Jacquie Dennis's blog who in turn had found it on the talented Marlene Ashby's blog here. So now it's come full circle (groan, groan!) and now you're looking at my effort!

I must say that with 20/20 hindsight (a wonderful thing) I wish that I'd used stronger colours than peach and white but maybe it'll be a good excuse to make another and try again.
Well, I'm glad that Mr Blogger seems to be back to health and behaving himself - it definitely is not good when he goes AWOL! I'll also be glad when I get back to full health because I'm still croaking like a warbling chipmunk but at least I've found the energy to make a card and a blog post. Who knows, I may soon get around to visiting all you lovely people again soon.
Anyhoo, I'll be teaching peeps how to make this little flowery concoction at Samuel Taylor, Brighouse on the 31st of this month but, in the meantime there's another Clarity Stamp show on Create and Craft TV on 5th June for which to prepare cards - lots of work to do with that!
Card recipe
Image: Nellie Snellen 'Dawn with flowers'
Sentiment: Penny Black
Colouring: Copics and Prisma pencils (sorry no numbers!)
Flowers: EK Success Retro flower punches medium and small
Butterflies: Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly punch
Flourishes: Sizzix Decorative Flourishes Set
Pearls: The Hobby House
Ribbon from stash
Hugs


EDIT A friend has emailed me to say that she cannot leave comments on this post. The problem may be Internet Explorer 9 which is apparently incompatible with Blogger. I've changed my web browser to Firefox in the hope of a cure but I'm sorry if anyone else out there is having the same problem.

A new challenge and an apology

Good morning, peeps!
Well, I can't believe that it's 2 weeks since I last posted anything to my blog so I'd like to apologise to all my lovely followers that there's been nothing new to see here. Excuses? Well I've had a really heavy, flu-y cold that's totally wiped a week from my life when I've been unable to do anything much and I don't 'do' ill so that's been a bit of a shock to the system! I'm still not good but better than I was. Then there was the Clarity DT work, which I must confess tends to absorb me totally so I need to be more organised about that and not neglect my blog - watch this space!
OK, moan over and let's get on to the challenge:

The challenge over at Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge this week is a sketch from my talented teamie Mindy. Here it is:

As always with Mindy's sketches it was great fun and easy to work with and I've echoed the design on the inside of my card, as you can see here:


I do like the insides of my cards to be properly finished but I must confess that too often lately I've just completed the outside to meet a deadline and I now have a whole box full of cards that are waiting for the insides to be prettied up and have a box to live in. Hey ho! That sounds like a little occupational therapy for when there's nothing else pressing!
Anyhoo, on to the card - the recipe is at the end of this post although it doesn't have the Copic numbers with it I'm afraid. The image was coloured some time ago (if it hadn't been I don't think there would have been a card this week!) and there was no note of the numbers with it.
Thank you so much lovely followers and visitors for looking today. I do hope that you'll join us at Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge this week where there's a great prize up for grabs from our generous sponsor Simply Betty Stamps.
I'm teaching a Copic/Promarker/Prisma Pencils colouring class tomorrow at Samuel Taylor in Brighouse and I've still got lots of prep to do. My lovely son tells me I sound like a warbling chipmunk so I hope all the students manage to hear me OK! At least I'm no longer infectious!
Supplies:
Images: Magnolia on the front and Penny Black 'Scrolling Along' on the jotting panel inside
Sentiment: Hero Arts
Colouring: Copics and Prisma pencils
DPs: Basic Grey 'Kioshi' and a Freebie from Making Cards magazine ages ago!
Dies: Spellbinder Nesties and Magnolia Doohickey Swirls and leaves
Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
Ribbon: from my stash
Pearls: The Hobby House
See you again soon!
Hugs

Wonderful Springtime!

Good morning, peeps on this wonderful Good Friday morning!
Well, it's time for a new challenge over at Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge and for the next two weeks we'd like you to create a project with Springtime colours, images or both. Our wonderful sponsor is Digis with Attitude and the winner will receive a generous $10 voucher to spend in the store so we'd love to see your entries!
Here is my DT sample:

So is this flower overkill or what?!! Having said that, I do like the effect but it took me ages to get it right for me. I have five plastic drawers full (and I don't mean half full!) of flowers and I had every one out and stacked up around me. Anyhoo, I achieved what I wanted, which was to make it look like Tilda is walking in a leafy, flowery dell - having picked some flowers on the way, as you can see! I've recently bought the Stone Path image that forms the background and was itching to use it. To create the Springtime fluffy, cloudy sky behind Tilda I used the technique shown by the uber talented Annika Ryan and if you click the link you'll be taken to the video tutorial on her blog. When you see it, you'll know that I definitely need to practice more! I also need to buy the B0000 and C00 Copic markers to make the effect better so those are on the (never ending) shopping list now.
To help with the colouring generally, I also used Promarkers and Prismas and I remembered to make a note of the colours - wooo hooo! (In the recipe below.)
Whatever you have planned for the Easter break, I hope you have a wonderful, happy time of celebration. I shall have to spend part of it on Clarity DT work, but that's OK because it's crafting, right?! If you're a fan of all things Clarity, Barbara's on TV on Sunday morning from 9 - 10 a.m. UK time or you can watch the show online on the Create and Craft TV site.

Recipe:
Copic colours:
Skin: E000, E00, E01, E02, E11, R11, R20
Hair: E50, E51, E53, E55, E33
Dress and socks: RV00, RV10, Promarkers Pink Carnation and Blossom + Raspberry and 50% Cool Grey Prismas
Shoes: BV31, BV23, 0 (blender) + 50% Cool Grey Prisma
Tilda's flowers: Y000, Y02, Y06, Y08
Basket: E40, E41, E42, E43
Stone path: E40, E41, W1, W3 and Promarker Umber
Flowers: V000, V01, V12, V15
Leaves and grass: YG01, YG05, G20, YG93 and Promarkers Olive Green and Pear Green + Marine Green Prisma
Sky: B000, B91, C0, 0 (blender)
Shapes: Spellbinder Nestabilites Classic Circle and Classic Scalloped Circle
Doily: from my stash
Sentiment: Whimsy ticket stamp and die but the 'happy' word is from LOTV
Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
DP: Crafty Individuals 'Springtime' pad
Tall leaves: Marianne D Die
Small leaves: Leonie Em punch
Butterfly: Martha Stewart punch decorated with Star Dust Stickles
Phew! Lots of ingredients in this one!
See you after the holidays, peeps - have a good one!
Hugs