Off Centre!!

This is my card for this weeks less is more challenge, the theme was 'off centre' and I used my Puccini Muse stamp from Stampington and lightly coloured it with promarkers, the sentiment is an old one with slightly oriental lettering that was originally with oriental stamps.

Butterfly Girl!!

I had originally decided to make a fabric postcard for the challenge on Art and Soul but then changed my mind and settled on paper collage - the challenge is to make a collaged postcard and use metal somewhere on it. I used a serviette as the base and added collage bits from my stash, I used vintage photo distress ink to bring all the colours together on top of a coat of gloss mod podge, my metal is an alcohol inked butterfly from a (cheap shop) necklace.

Chutney and a box.

After a walk around our local country park we returned home to undo all the good the walk had done by indulging in a whole easter egg, well we needed something to make up for not being able to go away in the caravan because it is on the poorly list at the moment at the 'repairers'. I set to and made some rhubarb chutney , the whole bungalow now smells of vinegar but the chutney looks good!! And I made another origami box, this one more man style with rusty grunge paper 'hinges'. I should say that the finished boxes are 3 1/4" square and the inner box is made from an 8" square of paper.

Origami Box

I found this blog some weeks back and thought I would like to have a go at the various boxes Elaine shows, when I went further back I found the Origami boxes that are really quite simple to make, so this morning I had a go!! Once the box was ready to be decorated I realised that, altho in a sheet of paper it was pretty, it was a dreadful colour to match - neither pink nor mauve but I managed (with the help of white card and distress inks) and am quite pleased with my first attempt.Perhaps a couple more then I'll have a go at what Elaine calls a magic box.

The dreaded Acetate!

We've just had a weekend away in the caravan and strangely it was close by a very nice stamp shop so of course a visit was a must, I bought some lovely stamps that I think will go great with the less is more challenge so was keen to check this out as soon as I got home, but not to be - this week we have to use ACETATE - that dreaded word, then I remembered the flowers I'd made a few weeks ago -- take a piece of acetate, drip a couple of colours of alcohol inks onto it, add some glossy accents and move the mix around a little, place a good tissue paper onto it nd continue to 'squidge', allow to dry and then use the result as you wish, I'd cut out flowers using my Tim Holtz die --- so I used one on the card and added a sentiment to match the colour. I do hope it's not too bright for LIM but there is still a good bit of white card showing.

Catching up.

This week I've been catching making birthday cards that I need to send out so I'm just showing a special one that I made using my new embossing folders and also a couple of boxes I made for easter goodies.

Two for one!

The LIM challenge this week is for a one layer card with the sentiment as the focus so for once I had two ideas and made two cards. The 'birdie card I stamped the image then lay a nestie on the back, turned it over and ran an embossing tool around all the edges, probably would have been easier to run it thro' the machine but it worked, the stamps I used are 'Pink Petticoat' freebies from a magazine.I used crayons for the colouring.The second card I lightly inked the square and the edge of the card with memento 'pear tart',stamped the sentiment part way across the coloured block and added a little bling - very simple.

Say it with flowers.

This card is for the St Lukes Charity Card Challenge, a new monthly challenge where you can actually send the card you make, by freepost, to be sold for funds for the St Lukes Hospice in Sheffield, please check out the challenge as it is such a worthy cause.For the first theme they have asked for Flower cards, I decided to emboss the layers using an embossing board, I stamped a Whiff of Joy sentiment then added lots of punched flowers, I used white pearlescent card throughout and changed the flower colours with distress inks. The card is really pink and white not pink with a tinge of lilac as my camera turns it.

A Lovely Day!!

Yesterday Roy and I drove north and Viv and her hubby drove south and we met at Trentham Gardens near Stoke on Trent, we had a lovely day swapping crafty goodies (most important) then walking in the gardens , eating a fine lunch then in the afternoon, which turned out so hot, Viv and I did a quick check of the shopping village and returned to the menfolk to eat icecream before another short walk by the lake, there was no rush to get home and we returned to the garden centre restaurant for a coffee before we left. I had rested my ankle on tuesday in the hope it would't be too bad for wednesday and went well strapped up and with a stock of painkillers, luckily the rest had done it good and other than the odd limp and twinge it was ok. Did feel a bit overheated ,around the feet, in my boots but they were all I could get on.

A Touch of Red

A touch of red is the theme of this weeks Less is More challenge, I used an Inkadinkado swirl stamp and punched some red flowers for the 'touch' and coloured the 'leaves with pastel crayons. Between starting and finishing this card we went for a walk around our local country park and I managed to twist my ankle rather badly, I know I should be sitting with said ankle raised but i'll do that later when (and if) there's something interesting on the TV.

A sucker for a Bunny!!

Perhaps it's because my Dad used to keep rabbits when I was a kid but I've always loved them and OH and I have kept a couple ourselves, they even had their small hutches for when we went caravanning!!! but back to the new card - I found two bunny stamps in a local store and had to have them, this is Basil , Buttercup has yet to surface as has the House Mouse bunny stamp I bought last weekend at the NEC. I'm rather pleased with myself as I stamped onto watercolour card and used my watercolour crayons with an aqua brush to colour the image.