Masculine OLC

Hi Friends

I simply LOVE the little "paint chip" stamp from SU's 'Textures & Frames' stamp set.

I've made a few one layer cards (OLCs) with it, and this one's perfect for a masculine birthday card. I teamed it with two lovely sentiments from Visible Image - one for the card front and the other for the inside.

5" square card - simply stamped

The inside

Thanks for dropping by to take a look at what I've been up to. 
Wishing you a lovely day.

Sunday Snippets - Happy Hallowe'en!

Hi Playmates

I'm submitting the following card as homework for the new SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND Challenge.

The small square of white card and the orange mount
are both snippets.

Miss Di is hosting the Snippets Playground for the next fortnight and there's an OPTIONAL THEME for you to play along with. It's still ANYTHING GOES, but if you wish, you can make your project  using an Autumn/Hallowe'en theme or just use their associated colours. Still only one entry, as usual.

I don't really have any Hallowe'en stamps so I decided to draw something instead. Here's my first attempt - which is on the reverse of the drawing you see on the card above (so as not to waste a snippet!).

Discarded in favour of my 2nd attempt
on the other side!

Much happier with this drawing, so 
I coloured it in with Distress Inks
& added clouds & the sentiment.

The cloud template I cut from a snippet.

Hallowe'en Party!

Remember Di is hosting a Fancy Dress Hallowe'en Party tomorrow night. I know lots of you have been busy making your costumes. We have a few frightful and ghoulish cocktails ready for you up in the Treehouse - witch(!) has been fully decked out with cobwebs and carved pumpkins etc (actually, we just didn't clean the Treehouse for a month so those fake cobwebs are REAL!). Grab your broomstick and come for a ride! Di's been busy making Pumpkin Soup in one of the cauldrons and I've been busy  making Witches Brew in the other, plus there's lots of crusty rolls and jacket spuds to help you mop up some of that Brew!

Bonfire Party!

Next weekend, we'll be setting light to a big bonfire and cooking jacket spuds, toasting crumpets and enjoying some hot soup. Might even be a sing song around the fire - but no fireworks cuz Playground Pets don't like the loud noise! Anyone seen the head of our Guy Fawkes? It's gone missing! DUDLEYYYYYY!

Allsorts' 700th Challenge

Hello and welcome!

It's 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning, which means there's a new ALLSORTS CHALLENGE waiting for you to play along with.

This week I'm delighted to have been invited back as a Guest Designer for their special 700th challenge.

This week's theme is Let's Celebrate - Any Special Occasion. This means any special occasion you choose, including Christmas. I chose to make a masculine card for an 80th birthday.

Here's my GDT card:

Lots of prizes to be won. Come along and join in the fun.

Leafy Goodness!

Hi Friends

I've made an autumnal card so that I could join in with the current Allsorts' Challenge where the theme is "Colours of Autumn" - pretty sure my leaves will count for that! 

An A6-sized card

The gel print and the die-cut leaves from it!

I used my fingers to smear red, green, yellow and orange acrylic paint all over my gelli plate and ran the brayer over the wet paint very lightly a couple of times. I used one of my larger snippets of thin white card to take the print. Once the print was dry, I die-cut it with a leafy set of dies that is my new favourite! The swirly stamp is a very old SU one, and the sentiment is from an Aall & Create set.

From run-off sheet to gift!

Hi Friends

This is a bit picture heavy . . . so you might want to grab a cuppa!

The photo below shows the "run-off" sheet left over from a gelli printing session. It's where I "cleaned off" my brayer and some stencils. I thought it was just too lovely to throw away and it proved a GREAT starting place to add MORE gesso, paint, stencilling etc! It's probably around A3 in size.

I cut a 7" x 7" piece from the sheet and added more stencilling in dark blue, as well as some gesso rings via a pot lid!

The 7" square piece that I cut off.

Below are 2 of the remaining snippets - I'll play with them another day (although I've already added gesso to the right hand piece)!

Snippets for another day!

Next, I folded the sheet in a specific way (see later video link) to create two pockets, suitable for small gifts and made a little tag with an off-cut of one of the above snippets (the bottom bit if you look closely)!

Here is the filled gift pocket

Front

Back

See HERE for a YouTube video on how to fold a paper square into the above. Because my run-off sheet is only pretty on one side, I chose to fold my pockets so that they faced the inside of the holder, rather than the outside as per the video.

My fold measurements, for a 7" square piece of paper were:

1. With the Triangle fold lined up to the LEFT of the scoreboard - score at ¾".
2. With the Triangle fold lined up at the TOP of the scoreboard - score at 3¼", flip the triangle over and score again at 3¼" (this will become clear if you watch the video!).

Snippets on Sunday!

Hi Playmates

It's Sunday morning and time for a new fortnight of fun over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND where Challenge 439 has started with Yours Truly in charge!

My homework is a sympathy card, for which I used one of my recently penned Sarntangles.

I drew the tangles on a small white snippet, then mounted them onto a black snippet. The sentiment is by Printworks (no longer in business).

It's been a little chilly of late, so I have been making plenty of Hot Chocolate up in the Playground Treehouse and there's often hot, buttered crumpets in the Sunday Morning Breakfast Club.

I hope you're all busy making your costumes for the Fancy Dress Halloween Party that Di will be hosting at the end of the month! Di and I will be busy decorating the Playground and Treehouse - no doubt with a little help from Dudley!

Sarn on Sunday!

Hi Playmates!

Look at that - October is here already and another SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND challenge has started. Miss Di is in charge for the next fortnight.

It's definitely turned autumnal and I'm thinking ahead to what shenanigans we might get up to in the Playground for Halloween!

For my homework, I played with the "Monogram Messages" stamp set by Stampin' Up, with a little help from the sun stamp out of "Kinda Eclectic":

An A6-sized card

Snippets used.

Mixed Media Art

Hi Friends

I recently attended a Mixed Media Workshop (Floss Workshop Art) and had loads of fun. Here's one of the things I made.

The final result

There are 5 more pictures of the process to see - so feel free to skip to the end if you don't want to see each stage!

Step 1: Tear up old pages, sheet music, ephemera, then
 glue on with Mod Podge.

Step 2: Add Gesso around the edges of the strips 
and randomly around the piece.

Step 3: Spray on some colour, then wipe some of it off
so that you don't lose all the detail.

Step 4:  Add acrylic paint through some stencils.
Step 5: Glue on some punched-out leaves then
add black gesso around them. Add highlights with a white gel pen.

Step 6: Finally, I added a little stamping to the top,
then mounted my art onto a larger piece of black card.

The 2½ hour class went by in a flash. As well as making the above, I also made a bookmark and learnt how to make an ugly page in my art journal a lot more pleasing to the eye! RE-sult!

Gelli Print Card

Hi Friends

I attended a Gelli Printing workshop by Floss Workshop Art HERE. Floss is lovely. Very patient and knows exactly how to get the best out of you. 

The workshop was GREAT FUN and I came away with 8 gelli prints as well as my "run-off" sheet, which I will probably use for something (it was too good to throw away!).

Here's a card made with a blue gelli print. All the die cutting is from white snippets.

A6 sized card.

Close up of the die cut flower head.

Snippets Challenge 437

Hello Playmates,

Di and I have reopened the Playground now that National Mourning has ended, so there's a new challenge for you to play along with at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND, with yours truly hosting until 11am on 1st October.

I made a pink and purple birthday card for someone special. 

I started by adding the gelli-print snippet to the left hand side of the card front. Next, I stencilled on the flowers and dots. Then I die-cut the butterfly from another snippet of the same gelli print, but, when I placed it on the card front (before sticking it down) I saw that it got lost in the stencilled background. 

So, in order to make the butterfly stand out, I brushed pink and purple ink though the negative piece of card left over from die-cutting the butterfly! After that, I glued the butterfly die-cut over the top and doodled inside the lines.

Finally, I drew all around the butterfly in pencil and smudged it with a paper stump - and that REALLY lifted the whole thing - so I did the same to the stencilled dots! I also used a ruler to add lines at the edge of the left hand border. 

Materials:

• SNIPPETS: Gelli print for the right hand strip and for the die-cut butterfly
• SAKURA fine liner pen to doodle in and around the butterfly; the stencilled dots and the left hand edge.
• PENCIL & PAPER STUMP: to make the butterfly and the dots pop!
• DISTRESS OXIDE INKS: Kitsch Flamingo; Picked Raspberry & Wilted Violet
• STENCILS: Doodle Daisies by Zinksi Art from Funky Fossil, plus the negative of the die-cut butterfly.
• DIES: Winnie & Walter Butterfly - or is it Concord & 9th? I can't remember!
• SENTIMENT by Clearly Besotted (2 separate stamps)

Happy crafting!

A Simple Thank You Card

Hi Playmates

I know many of us (myself included) are still reeling from the sad news of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's passing, so I'll keep this post brief.

It's really just to let you know that the RESULTS of the previous Snippets Playground challenge have been published HERE, so why not wander over to see who's been showcased and who won the prize? It might cheer you up.

5" square card - a one layer card

Inks used: Stampin' Up!'s Pool Party and Soft Sea Foam for the background chips and VersaFine Clair Twilight for the sentiment.
Stamps used: One small "paint chip" stamp from Stampin' Up!'s "Textures & Frames" set and a sentiment pulled from a JOFY stamp set by PaperArtsy (can't remember which set though!).

Sunday Snippets - Challenge 436 has started

Hi Playmates!

There is a brand new challenge to enter over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND where Di is hosting for the next fortnight. Please submit your homework by 17th September.

My homework is another little ATC made entirely from snippets.

Due to their small (playing card) size, ATCs are just perfect for using up snippets. Even if you're not into swapping them, they make great card toppers!

2.5" x 3.5" ATC

• The ATC base (measuring 2.5" x 3.5") is a white snippet.
• The ATC base was topped with a 2.25" x 3.25" gelli print snippet.
• I used white snippets for the die-cut flower and lattice work.
• First line of sentiment is by Uniko, the "hugs" word is by Stamping All Day.

Some Upcycling

Hi Friends

I was just about to throw an empty(!) Frusli box into the recycling bin, when I thought: "Hey, I could die-cut that and get creative instead of throwing it away!"

So I did!

Want to see the results? Of course you do - why else would you be reading this!!!! A bit picture heavy - so grab a cuppa!

Funky Fossil Washi tape at left edge; upcycled die-cut flowers
and a grunge stamp for grounding; finished with a
stamped sentiment by Printworks.

Two upcycled die-cuts and a large
Winnie & Walter sentiment stamp.

Upcycled die-cut bird branch;
Uniko sentiment & Aall & Create
washi tape at the bottom.

The original packaging I was just about to throw away

Blessings to my blog friends

Hi blog pals

When I count my blessings . . . I count you twice.

Please accept this card as a token of my gratitude for taking the time and trouble to pop in, take a look at what I've been up to and leaving your comments.

I want you to know that you mean a lot to me, and this card is by way of a thank you for visiting and keeping me company in blog land, come what may.

THANKS xxx

Sunday Snippets - Challenge 434

Hello Playmates!

Miss Di is hosting a new challenge over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND which has reverted to "anything goes" as long as you use up your snippets (please let her know what snippets you used). She has a lovely card to show you and there's a fab prize up for grabs.

My homework is below:

5" square card

CARD DETAILS:

• Gelli print snippet mounted onto a dark blue snippet then attached to card front.
• Retro flower punched out from a white snippet. 
• Piece of Craftwork Cards Card Candi added to flower centre.
• Sentiment stamped in blue ink to finish the card off.

The UK is set for another heatwave in the coming week, so I shall be packing a swimming cossie and towel in my satchel in order to whizz down the slide straight into the paddling pool, then dry off and go snag an ice cream cocktail in the shade of the Playground Treehouse! Come and join me if you dare!

Sunday Snippets

Hi Playmates

Guess what? A new fortnight of fun has started over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND where I'm back in charge and there's still a Christmas theme going on! Expect plenty of Summertime Cocktails - and if you want a recipe - just hop on over to the Playground to find one!

For today's homework, I took inspiration from Carol L's post HERE and got out my SU trees stamp set and co-ordingating punch.

Here's my snippets homework:

Snippets of white card, stamped and punched out.
For the smaller triangles, I didn't insert the punch
as far into the tree image as I did for the whole tree.

So why not grab some of your festive snippets, create a little project and enter your own piece of homework? There's a lovely bundle of Christmas prizes on offer to one lucky winner.

Floral DL card

Hi there!

Thanks for coming to visit.

Today I have a DL card to share with you which was just the right size to enclose three ATCs for a swap. I made this a little while ago, but haven't blogged it until now! Unusually for me, no snippets were used on this card!

• First, I brushed purple ink through the Uniko "Flower Power #8" stencil
• I stamped various stamps from Funky Fossil's "In The Meadow" set using first and second generation inking with grey and purple inks
• Purple splatters were stamped using SU's "Gorgeous Grunge" stamp set (retired)
• I also brushed ink right around the edge of the stamped panel
• The stamped panel was mounted onto purple card, then adhered to the card front.

Di has put the RESULTS POST up in the Snippets Playground. Why not nip over there and see if you're the prize winner, or perhaps your card has been showcased?

Snippets Playground Challenge 430

Hi Playmates

It's Sunday morning and time for a new challenge over at the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND where Di is hosting. So, I'm grabbing my satchel and skipping over there to hand in my homework!

My homework is an A6 card with an 
embossed snippet + background.

Here's the 2 paper/card snippets
plus the embossing folder I used.

Now it's your turn to grab some snippets from the pile that I KNOW you have . . . and create a little project for the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND where there is a lovely set of stamps and co-ordinating dies to play for.

A Little Zine!

Hi Peeps

I recently attended a mixed media workshop with Floss Nicholls of Floss Workshop Art.

Floss has lots of fabulous ideas and inspiration and I was lucky enough to attend one of her Zine Workshops. Zines are little handmade booklets. 

We used the gelli plate and lots of paint, stencils and stamping. It was GREAT FUN and very inspiring. The two hours just flew by! When I got home I added some doodling, washi tape and more stencilling!

I still need to make a couple of tags to go inside the two pockets that are available.

Here are some pictures of my finished Zine:

The front cover

Pages 1 & 2

Pages 3 & 4

Pages 5 & 6

The back cover - where I used Floss's logo
as a memento of the workshop.

Floss is lovely and I hope to attend more of her workshops at a later date. 

Allsorts' Special 13th Birthday Challenge

Hello and welcome!

It's 8 o'clock on Saturday morning, which means there's a new ALLSORTS CHALLENGE waiting for you to play along with. This week I'm delighted to have been invited back as a Guest Designer for their SPECIAL CELEBRATORY BIRTHDAY.

Brenda has chosen the theme of ANYTHING FOR A BIRTHDAY for this challenge, so that gives you plenty of scope to play along and join in with the celebrations. There are 15 prizes on offer in total - yes, you read that correctly FIFTEEN!

Here's my DT card:

See? It stands up all by itself, but it folds flat to post!

Snippets Playground Challenge 427

Hi there Snippets Playmates!

It's my turn to host a new challenge over in the SNIPPETS PLAYGROUND.  Miss Di is on a mission to tidy-up and sort out her craft room, so I think we should make the most of things while she's busy don't you? I'll bring along some contraband in my satchel for you to enjoy! Feel free to come up to the Playground Treehouse for a party!

My snippets homework is a little zigzag card - which is a great way of using up long strips.

This measures 3" x 4" when folded up

To make this little card: just take a long strip of card measuring 3" x 11.5" (mine was left over from an A4 piece of card) and place it on a scoreboard in landscape orientation. Score at 4", 8" & 9¾" then decorate with yet MORE snippets!

So, come and play on the Snippets Playground swings or join in with the Maypole Dancing. Miss Di will be patrolling the grounds with playground pup Dudley!

Bunny ATC

Hi there!

I like making ATCs and recently discovered an ATC challenge blog called A Tiny Craft, so I thought I'd follow their theme of bunnies and join in!

Here's my ATC:

2.5" x 3.5"

I stamped and coloured the bunnies first, then gave the ATC a light colour wash in the lower third. Stencilling was added via the Funky Fossil "Scribbles" stencil. Everything was coloured with Distress Oxides (and a white gel pen in places!). I also used a gold pen around the edges of the ATC.