Whatever The Weather

Hello friends, followers and passers by.  Today I have my Daring Cardmakers "Whatever The Weather" card to show you.  This week's challenge is sponsored by  JMC Designs, you can find them at www.jmcdesigns.co.uk.  There will be two  prizes which will be picked randomly and each winner will  receive a collection of images each (average value of £12.50 per prize).  Pop over to the Daring Cardmakers blog for more details and to see the design team inspirational whatever the weather cards.

I used one of JMC Designs weather girl images for my card,  I made it to cheer up my OH as he has been ill recently and still undergoing hospital visits and awaiting treatment.  The recent very hot weather must have influenced the hot colours used on the background and I tried to colour the image to represent sunshine and showers, colouring the hair blue for the sky and making the background a little stormy looking.  

We would love to see your whatever the weather creations so do come and join us this week for the Daring Cardmakers challenge.

Sylv xx

A Prickly Summer Cacti Card

Hello everyone,  this week has been very busy with hospital appointments for my OH but I managed  a few hours in the craft room today.   

I made this last minute card for this week's Daring Cardmakers Challenge which is "A Prickly Summer",  Miri is hosting the challenge and wants you to use one or more cacti on your card.  It was a bit late to add my card to the Daring Cardmakers blog but here it is.  Pop over for more details of the challenge and to see the design team inspirational cards.

A Sizzix die/stamp set, a photo frame die and papermilldirect card were used.  The cacti was stamped, die cut and coloured with Polychromo pencils.  The photo frame was attached to a piece of leaf stamped card from my bits box and then the cacti added to the frame.  I stamped the small cacti onto a piece of card and coloured the odd cacti this was matted onto a card blank and the embossed card and cacti frame added to this.  The sentiments were added to finish.

Thank you for your kind comments last week, I am finding a little more time for myself and hope to spend more time in my craft room and visiting your blogs and facebook posts.

Sylv xx

Wedding Season at Daring Cardmakers

Hello everyone, managed a few hours in the craft room this week and hope to get back to crafting more over the next few weeks.  Still coping with family health issues but am getting back to a little normality and managing a little time to myself.

This week's challenge over at Daring Cardmakers is hosted by Ruth and she has chosen "Wedding Season" as her theme.   A great challenge for getting out those pretty stamps and dies for  making wedding cards, wedding stationery or anniversary cards.

I used a Sizzix heart die,  a flower punch and a flower wreath stencil with papermilldirect white linen card to make my Wedding Day card.

Pop over to the Daring Cardmaker Challenge blog for more details of the challenge, the link to enter your cards and the design team inspiration.

Hope to get back to more blogging soon and doing the rounds to find what you have all been up to.

Sylv xx

A Quick Blog Post With A Tropical Card

A quick hello from me today with a reminder that the Daring Cardmakers challenge this week is "Come Fly With Me".  Check out the challenge and see the design team inspiration HERE.  

I didn't get anything done for the challenge as I am still back and forward to hospital with my OH and he needs lots of support at the moment from me.  I do hope to do the odd blog over the next months and will be keeping an eye on what you are all getting up to on facebook and Instagram when I can.

This is a card I did for the Elemental Challenge last week but had no time to blog it, it does fit this challenge though as toucans do fly!

A Sizzix die, papermilldirect card and a few scraps of other card were used to create the toucan with the leaves and flowers and I cut the large leaf from a digital paper. the toucan was layered onto a pink square then onto a larger dark pink square and finally onto a white square and onto a card blank.  A die cut sentiment and smaller stamped sentiment were added to create a tropical birthday card.

The design team at Daring Cardmakers  love to see your cards so do join them for the challenge. 

Sylv xx

Celebrating The Victrian Era

This week Shabneez is hosting the challenge at Daring Cardmakers.  As Queen Victoria's birthday was in May (4th May 1819 -2nd January 1901)  she wants to see anything on your cards that celebrates the Victorian era. I was thinking steampunk, vintage style or something invented or popular in the Victorian era.

I didn't get a card done this week due to family health issues, and I may not be around much over the next 3 or 4 months but will try to blog if I can.  Although I didn't make a card I did start one.  Some Victorian style stamps, papers and  postcards were gathered together.  The Victorian gentlemen with a distress oxide background was my final choice but I didn't have the time to finish it.

Do pop over to Daring Cardmakers and check out the challenge and the design team inspiration, they would love to see what you come up with.

Sylv xx

Daring Cardmakers M A Y Letters Challenge

Today I have my design team card for this week's Daring Cardmakers challenge.  Kathy is hosting the challenge this week and wants you to use or incorporate one thing beginning with each letters of the word MAY.

I used a Mixed Media Style, an Aperture and the colour Yellow for my M, A and Y.

The background was created first, coloured chalk paints were smudged onto white card and stamps randomly stamped in black and yellow ink and a little stencilling using white ink.

A square card blank was made using white linen card and an aperture was cut out of a square piece of card  which was slightly smaller than the card blank.  A sentiment was stamped onto the aperture before layering it over the painted panel and attaching to the card with 3D foam pads.

A flower and bee were stamped onto a piece of yellow painted card and fussy cut.  These were attached to the card and a few dots of perfect pearls placed on the mount.

You can find details of the challenge and the DT inspiration on the Daring Cardmakers Blog.  

Sylv xx





   

A Moment In ""TIME"

Hello everyone, this week I am hosting the Daring Cardmakers challenge and have picked the theme "A Moment In Time".

We are into May already and nearly half way through the year, Where does time go!  This week I would like to see "Time" featured in your cards, it could be clocks, watches, hour glass, or a time such as fairytale once upon a time, or Victorian, swinging sixties, tea time, play time, work time.  Anything time related will do.

Here is my DT card inspiration.  I have been looking through some old digital images and came across this image by Rick St Denis from back in 2012 it goes well with the Tim Holtz pocket watch movers and shapers die so I just had to use it for this challenge theme.

The image was coloured with ProMarkers and cut out with a circle die to fit inside the watch.  The watch was coloured with distress inks before adding the image, I mounted the watch onto a piece of watch embossed card.  The watch panel was added to a card blank with the sentiment and a chain embellishment. The sentiment is from Crafter's Companion and all the card I used is from papermilldirect.

Do come and join us in the fun this week, we love to see your cards.  More inspiration can be found on the Daring Cardmakers blog along with the link to add your creations.

Sylv xx

Daring Cardmakers May Elemental Challenge

Good morning evryone, and welcome to my new followers.  Today I have my DT card for the Daring Cardmakers Elemental Challenge.  Shabneeze is hosting the challenge this week and has chosen this gorgeous inspirational picture for you.

As usual pick three elements (or more) from the picture when making your card, the colour palette being one.

For my card I chose  fairy wings, flowers, gold dust and pastel and peachy colours from the top flowers.

Who can resist a Lavinia Stamp fairy, I started by making the background with my Geli Plate using distress inks in yellow/peachy pink tones and pulled the print using papermilldirect 200gsm smooth white card.  

A little more colour was added to even up the print.  The fairy was stamped in black, some flowers in pastel coloured inks then more flowers in black.  I covered the fairy with a circle of card and blended ink round it to create the moon.  More colour was blended round the outside of the card just to darken it a little and gold and silver fine glitter added to the flowers.

I wanted to bring the pastel shades into the wings so removed some of the colour with a water brush and added pale pink, blue, green and yellow distress inks to the wings.

The finished panel was layered onto black card and then onto a papermilldirect hessian textured card blank.

We would love to see which elements you pick and how you use them in your cards.  Do pop over and join us this week at Daring Carmakers for this gorgeous challenge.

Sylv xx

Birthday Balloons

Hello everyone, hope you had a good Easter weekend relaxing and crafting.   As today is Friday it is the start of another Daring Cardmakers challenge.  Miri is hosting this week's challenge and wants to see Balloons on your cards party balloons, hot air balloons just one or even 99 red balloons, however many you want on your card.  Pop over the Daring Cardmakers for more information and inspiration from the design team.

My card was made quickly as last week and the Easter weekend were taken up with family, again this was a rushed card made a few days before the challenge date.  I used papermilldirect white hopsack card which gives a lovely texture to the balloons, Taylored Expressions "Bold Balloons" stamps and dies set and Versa Magic multi surface chalk ink pads which give a lovely soft translucent image.

Using a selection of ink colours I stamped the balloons in a group added some strings, a die cut balloon was placed in the center using thin sticky pads and the birthday string stamped underneath it.  The corners were rounded and an insert added which had more balloons stamped onto it.

Sylv xx

Birthday Card For A Special Young Man

Hi everyone, my card today is a stamped collage card for a twelve year old.  My grandchildren have grown up so quickly and are into music, their mobile phones and computer games so what kind of card do I make for them?  I thought this would go down well incorporating the 12 for the age and personalising the insert.

The collage background was created using Tim Holtz tissue wrap, AALL guitar stamp, 49 and Market splatter stamp and an old wood mounted rubber stamp with three circles, distress inks and papermilldirect white linen, white hopsack, black plain, Christmas red plain card and white linen paper.

I started with a piece of white linen card and attached torn tissue with collage medium, when this was dry I added distress inks in yellows and oranges leaving some of the card un-inked.   The guitar collage stamp was stamped and heat embossed then coloured with red distress marker.  A selection of various stamps were stamped over the background and the numbers (12) and sentiments stamped.

Hopsack textured card was made into a card blank onto which a Christmas red mat was added, black card was layered onto the red and the stamped panel added to it.  An insert was printed with a personalised birthday greeting.

I have a blog post on the papermilldirect blog with a little more information.

Sylv xx

Blooming Flowers No Prob-Llama

Hello everyone and thank you for calling in to my blog.  Today I have my Daring Cardmakers DT card to show you.  This week Ruth is hosting the challenge "Blooming" and wants to see flowers in your creations.

As I have not used my Silhouette for some time I gave it an airing to make this sweet llama card which has a selection of colourful blooms in the head band.  The SVG file Llama With Flower Crown by Little Luxuries Loft was purchased in the Silhouette store where you can find a choice of similar designs.

The various parts were cut using papermilldirect card in white linen, pink, raspberry pink. post box red, marine blue, mandarin orange, apple green billiard Green, spring green and black.  A large card blank was made with white hemp card and a mat for layering in intensive lilac.

The edges of the face and ears were edged with grey before assembling the card onto a square of white linen card, when everything was attached I added glitter to the outside of the face and a few dots of Perfect Pearls to the flowers.

I have left the card blank until I decide who will receive it and for what occasion.

Come and join us for this beautiful blooming floral challenge at Daring Cardmakers, details and the DT inspiration card can be found HERE.

Sylv xx

BINGO!

Hello everyone, today I have my DT card for the Daring Cardmakers challenge.  Dawn has chosen the theme this week and wants you to pick a BINGO line to make a card, choose a line vertical, horizontal or from corner to corner.  I picked the first vertical line, sequins, stamp and Clean and Simple.

Having just come back from holiday with only a few days to get my card done in between doing the washing and getting the house back to normal after the decorators have been in.  This line seemed like the best option for me, so what to do!

I used papermilldirect 300gsm smooth white card making a 15cm square card blank, cutting a square to stamp the flowers and sentiment onto and a square of black card slightly larger for contrast.  The flowers were stamped onto the card and paper pieced with spray inked stamped flowers which were  fussy cut.  The sentiment was stamped and the card mounted onto the contrasting black square of card, this was then added to the card blank with 3D sticky tape.

Yellow sequins and a few dots of perfect pearls were added to finish the card.

Come and join in the fun this week and play BINGO with us.  More details and the design team inspiration can be found on the Daring Cardmakers blog. 

Sylv xx

Ahoy There Matey!

Hello everyone and thank you for dropping in.  I have a nautical themed card for you today inspired by a little piece of white linen inky card I found in my bits box. 

The blue and orange inked card which had been spritzed with water was die cut with a stitched square die then stamped with part of a sailing boat from a nautical themed Apple Blossom stamp set.

I set about designing my card using some of the stamps from the set.  I wanted to bring in blue to tone with the stamped square and cut a square of papermilldirect Turquoise Cumbria Colour Card slightly smaller than my papermilldirect white linen card blank.  An oblong of Ebony Cumbria Colour Card was cut to add some contrast and the lighthouse was stamped onto this using white ink, the sentiment was stamped and embossed with sea foam white embossing powder.

The two stamped panels were moved around on the blue card until I was happy with the placement but I thought the card still needed some more interest.  The compass points were stamped directly onto the turquoise card at the top and bottom of the ebony panel and then the panel stuck down over them.  The white square was added using 3D sticky pads.

The finished design was then added to the card blank with 3D sticky foam tape. 

The Cumbria Colour Card is a lovely card to use, it is 270gsm and a nice firm card with a gorgeous soft feel and comes in a wonderful array of colours.  It stamped well especially with the white ink and I will be trying some foiling and embossing with it next.

Sylv xx

Daring Cardmakers Elemental Challenge for April

Hello friends, followers and anyone passing by.  Today is the start of another Daring Cardmakers challenge and as it is the start of another month it is an elemental inspirations challenge. 

This month Nat is hosting the challenge and has given us this gorgeous inspirational picture.  As always pick three or more elements from the picture to use in your cardmaking, the colour palette being one choice.  More details and the design team inspirational cards can be found over on the Daring Cardmakers Blog.

I chose the man with the umbrella, circles (the mobile) and the colours yellow and orange (flowers) and a little beige to make this get well card.

I used a small piece of inky card left over from making my grandson's birthday card, umbrella man from Tim Holtz Paper Artistry set and a Penny Black sentiment.

I stamped the umbrella man directly onto the card using black Archival ink using a stamping platform.  Placed the inked panel over the image and glued it down before stamping the image again.  The sentiment was added above the image.

Check out the Daring Cardmakers blog for more information of the challenge, we would love to see your take on the inspirational picture.

Sylv xx

Butterflies and Dragonflies

Hello everyone, today I have two  cards over on the papermilldirect blog.  Pop over for details of how I made these cards and the materials I used.

I have challenged myself this year to use stamps, inks etc in my stash and try not to buy new, so out came a selection of small background stamps and stencils and bright distress inks to create backgrounds for my cards.

These two cards were made for female recipients and the butterfly and dragonfly make a beautiful focal point.  I wanted a little texture too so chose textured card to make the card blanks.

Both cards were stencilled, stamped and then the butterfly and dragonfly added leaving the end of the wings free.

This is a great way of creating backgrounds and a way use those small texture stamps and stencils, I will be making more of this style of card and using some of the many stamps in my stash.

Sylv xx

Daring Cardmakers "For A Special Lady" challenge

Today is the start of a new Daring Cardmakers challenge and this week Nat is hosting this lovely challenge which is "For A Special Lady".   With Mother's Day just around the corner  she would like to see you make a card to celebrate a special lady in your life. 

My design team card is for my 96 year old mum for Mother's Day.  I always try to make her a special card for Mother's Day or her birthday and this year I have used pretty pastel lilac and white flowers.

The sentiment was hot foiled onto velum and I used a large hot foil die to foil the lilac background card.   All card used was papermilldirect, white linen, new lilac and rose gold pearlised card.

The pearl card, foiled card and velum were layered onto a white card blank and flowers and leaves added.  I added few spots of Perfect Pearls to finish.

Although I liked the card and was ready to send it I added three sequins after it was photographed.  

We would love you to join us for this week's challenge, pop over to Daring Cardmakers for more details and how to enter and see what the design team have been making.

Sylv xx

"Recycle It" For The Daring Cardmakers

Hello everyone, today I have details of this week's Daring Cardmakers Challenge which is "Recycle It".  Svenja is hosting the challenge this week and wants you to make something using some kind of recycled material.  This doesn't have to be a card so go wild altering a box, a frame, anything as long as you use something recyclable in your makes.

The design team have some great inspirational ideas over on the Daring Cardmakers blog where you will find more details of the challenge. 

 

My card uses a piece of paper tablecloth and an old cork placemat, both of which were destined for the bin, a piece of old manila folder and some black ribbed card from my scrap box.  I even made a coaster for my craft room with part of the cork mat as a bonus!

I bought the stamp and die some time ago to make male cards and thought the cork mat would be ideal to use for the stamped corks.   A card blank was made from papermilldirect Christmas red card and this was embossed with a brick embossing folder, I was thinking of a wine cellar.  The corks were stamped in black and heat embossed before cutting them out.  These were mounted onto a piece of black ribbed effect card and a die cut Cheers was cut from the red tablecloth and added above the corks.

The black card was mounted onto a piece of the red tablecloth, then onto a piece of the brown folder then onto the main card.  A sentiment was stamped underneath in black ink.

Sylv xx

"Stitch It" For The Daring Cardmakers Challenge

Hi everyone, another Friday and another challenge over at Daring Cardmakers.  This weeks challenge is "In Stitches" hosted by Shabneez and she wants to see stitching on your cards, this can be real stitching or faux stitching.

I used a selection of sewing related stamps with faux stitching and added some machine zigzag stitching in a contrast colour, yellow crystals and white domes with a little yellow paint.

 

I used papermilldirect Cumbria colour card for the card blank and the stamped panel, it stamped and coloured beautifully, had a soft feel and I will be trying some water colouring or foiling with it for my next project.  I thought the stamps looked vintage so went with a vintage colour palette distressing and blending the edges with vintage photo distress ink.

The stamps I used were AALL and create #27,  Carabelle Studio Taches et Coutures and the dress form and sentiment were from an old set which was free with a magazine  (which has started to disintegrate now and go sticky).  The tape measure paper was from my stash.

Sylv xx