Woof woof! And woof!

I'm short on both time and inclination for crafting & blogging lately. Busy at school with preparations for end of term concerts, and not feeling well. I seem to have had a cold for weeks, but without the streaming eyes and sneezes, just the bunged up sinuses & feeling tired and lethargic. I'm beginning to wonder whether it's hay fever instead, although I don't usually suffer from that. But I've heard other people saying the same, because the pollen is so bad this year, so I've just started taking antihistamines to see if they will help. No improvement so far, but I guess I should give them a few days to start working. Anyone else out there had something similar?

Anyway, I did manage to make a birthday card for a friend who has two papillons (also known as butterfly dogs). I bought the Grandma's Parlor Collection Set (digital) from *Wink *Wink Ink, which came with a poodle (not quite a papillon, but I thought it would do!). This isn't at all the sort of thing I usually go for, but there was just something about the set that appealed to me. It comes with 3 types of files - png, jpg outline drawing and jpg pre-coloured. I wanted something quick and easy to make, so I cheated and used the pre-coloured version, with a bit of 3D so I could feel I'd actually done something!

Also couldn't resist the BasicGrey "Max & Whiskers" 6" x 6" paper pad, which made lovely paw print patterned "wallpaper". I was quite pleased with the result, so I made a similar card for my FIL for Fathers' Day. He used to have a border terrier, who sadly is no longer with us. The set is female oriented, so I changed the colour of the chair, lamp and vase using my graphics programme and made a "Happy Fathers' Day" instead of the Mothers' Day greeting which is included.

A mystery!

Several years ago I was given a wooden planter filled with spring flowers. After the flowers died off, the planter was left on the patio and became repopulated with dandelions and moss! Then, three years ago, we noticed a strange plant growing there. It had long leaves which were covered with dark reddish spots. Eventually a single long stalk appeared with a spike of pale pink flowers at the top. "Hmm!" I thought. "That looks like an orchid!" A perusal of the wild flower book confirmed that indeed it was. A Common Spotted Orchid.

The following year there were 3 flower spikes, and along with those there appeared another plant, with darker purple flowers and no spots on the leaves. We identified that one as a Southern Marsh Orchid.

This year there are several more flower spikes, plus more baby plants of both varieties. The mystery is how they got there, especially as there are two completely different species! We certainly didn't plant them. They weren't there when I was first given the planter. When the first one appeared we wondered whether a seed could have been carried there by a bird or something, but when the second variety started growing, that seemed unlikely. All we can think of is that the seeds must have been dormant in the soil, and sprung to life some time after the original flowers had died off. Anyone got any other suggestions?

We may never solve the mystery, but we have some lovely flowers to enjoy!

New Stash

Here's a card using a stamp I bought when we went to Sir Stampalot last weekend. It's one of this year's new ones by Hero Arts. I've had the Basic Grey "Stella Ruby" paper (now discontinued, unfortunately) for some time and had been looking for a suitable stamp to go with it. This one was perfect. The card is for my sister-in-law. I wanted the image to be the focal point, but also wanted the background paper to show as much as possible, so I've kept it quite simple; watercolour pencil on the dresses, Martha Stewart punch down the side, a few buttons from my button box, a bit of ribbon (also from Sir S), but I think she'll like it.

Brilliant Day!

Well, the day finally arrived, and Sally, Megan and I set off to Sir Stampalot for our eagerly anticipated Blog Girl Get-together. It was lovely to be able to put faces to names (and blogs!) and spend the whole day playing, although with all the talking and laughing going on, not to mention eating (at lunchtime a delicious buffet appeared as if by magic!) some of us didn't get quite as much crafting done as we might have!

Brenda and Chris had prepared some wonderful projects for us to make, and since we wanted to try as much as possible, many of them were started and then put carefully aside to finish off at home. Chris's first demo was a really neat little album for recipes, photos, etc, with mini envelopes for pockets, then Brenda showed us how to make a lovely book/album using a new Sizzix Bigz Pro die using distressing and resist techniques. Other projects used brayering, masking and decoupage. I have yet to complete my little photo album, but have just finished the book.

(I used Distress Inks, and stamps by Hero Arts, Penny Black, Magenta, Inkadinakdo, and Crafty Individuals. The flourishes were cut with a die by Marianne Design.)

It was a very warm day, but the atmosphere of fun and camaraderie was even warmer. So to Brenda, Chris, Jules, Linda, Hayley, Rosie, Amanda, Sally and Megan, thanks for your company, and I hope you all enjoyed the day as much as I did. Thanks also to Janice and Andy for keeping the shop open for us to indulge in some retail therapy afterwards (not to mention during as well!) to everyone who contributed to lunch (Jules's heart shaped cheese scones were just to die for!) and huge thanks to Brenda and Chris for teaching us some gorgeous projects and for all their hard work which made the day such a success. Here's to the next time!

Sir Stampalot June Challenge

I've been busy lately dealing with my late father's affairs & effects, and clearing out his house, not to mention having had some sort of cold or virus which has left me feeling quite washed out, so I'm afraid blogging has had to take a back seat. When I did have some time to craft, I didn't have the inclination, but now I've been inspired once again by Sir Stampalot's Challenge. For June the theme is "Punch it", so I decided to make a screen card.

I started it off with the punched flower panel, the idea for which came from Julie Hickey's lovely book "Flower Power Papercrafts" (published by David & Charles), where she shows a beautiful wedding card with a flower panel, all in cream. I wanted mine to look summery, so I used multicoloured flowers.The flowers are not stuck on to acetate, as one might suppose, but only to each other, which adds to the lacy effect and allows the light to come through naturally.

The background papers are by Papermania, and the stamps and printed pictures by Crafty Individuals. I finished off the screen with some more punched flowers, a punched butterfly and some computer generated text. Other punches used were a Dovecraft corner rounder and the border at the top, the make of which unfortunately I don't know. 

Sally and I are very much looking forward to the Blog Girl Get-Together at Sir Stampalot this Saturday, when we will get to meet some of our blog friends, play and generally have a good old natter, just what I need after the last few months. Oh, and I should mention we also get to shop afterwards!

I'm also entering this card for the Charisma Cardz Challenge #22, which is "Flowers".

No longer so distressed!

Well, 10.30pm has just passed, so it is time to declare the winner of my little competition. Not many entries - obviously nearly everyone but me had already got a Victorian Velvet Distress Inkpad! I loved Jules's suggestion that I had sneaked into her front room and taken a pic of her dusty coffee table, (which sounds a lot like mine!) but I'm afraid that was not the case! In fact there was just one correct answer, so my superfluous pad will be finding a new home with

CRAFTIMAMMA (LESLEY)

Well done, Lesley! I'll be posting it off to you tomorrow, and hope it cheers you up after your cold.

Thanks very much to everyone who did enter. The mysterious object was indeed a Tim Holtz/Ranger Blending Tool!

Out of my comfort zone

This week, the  fabulous Allsorts Challenge Blog is one year old! So their challenge for the week, is, naturally, birthdays. Here's my entry.

It's quite different from my usual style. Generally speaking, I don't do cute, and I don't do fruit! Nor do I do hot colours. I much prefer cool or muted tones - blues, purples, greens, and my work tends to be nature, arty or vintage inspired. However, I thought that for such a celebration something a bit more lively was called for!

The background paper (which includes the flourish & the trims at the bottom) was a freebie from Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine a while ago. The cake and sentiment stamps are from a set by Impression Obsession. It took me about 10 minutes to make, which again is unusual for me! Normally I like to take my time, and often get part way through a card, leave it & come back to it later, to see whether I'm still happy with the direction it's taking, or whether I've changed my mind, before I finish it off. That's because I hardly ever have a plan in mind before I start! I just collect a few things together and see where they lead me.

Anyway, you'll gather that this card was some way outside my comfort zone, and that being the case, I'm also entering it for this week's Tuesday Taggers, whose theme happens to be "Step out of your comfort zone"! Funnily enough, now I've done it, I actually quite like it! And I managed to use up a bit of old stash too!

I'm just too distressed!

Somehow (long story - don't ask!) I have found myself the proud owner of TWO brand new Victorian Velvet Distress Ink pads. Now, I don't need two, so I have decided to give away the spare. For a change, instead of blog candy, I thought I'd have a little competition.

To enter, identify the object in the picture below, and leave a comment to say what it is. Closing date will be this Sunday evening, May 16th, at 10pm. I will put all correct answers into a draw and Mr. Random Dot Org will select the winner. The prize may also include a little extra surprise!

You may enter as many times as you like, but one answer per comment, please. In the event that no-one correctly identifies the object, all entries by followers of my blog (which will include anyone who becomes a follower between now and the closing date) will go into the draw to choose the winner . Good luck!

Butterflies and Blossoms 2

I've been wanting to make an exploding box for ages. I got as far as making the box and decorating the outside a while ago, but never finished the inside. Anyway, finding myself with some time when for once I had nothing I needed to do and nowhere I needed to go, I set to work and completed it. And since I had always intended it to be on my favourite theme of butterflies and flowers, and since the Sir Stampalot Challenge this month is just that, and since the challenge allows two entries as long as they are different types, I'm entering it along with the card I made earlier!

Here's the closed box. The papers and butterflies are from the Artylicious Butterfly Bliss CD, with Prima flowers.

Inside there are three layers. The square printed pictures are from Crafty Individuals, stamps also by Crafty Individuals along with Cherry Pie and Art Impressions. Other decorations include stickers, more Prima flowers and text printed from my computer.

Looking down on the inner layer:

Middle layer:

And finally the outer layer:

I've really enjoyed this challenge, and all the other entries I've looked at so far are gorgeous. Of course, I know we wouldn't want the butterfly theme every month, but...... maybe every few months?? ;-)

Butterflies and Blossoms, and my favourite things!

Well, some of my favourite things! The Sir Stampalot Challenge for May is right up my street, as is the prize! Butterflies and/or blossoms tend to appear on most of my cards, and anything by Tim Holtz would find a good home in my craft room, so this is one challenge I couldn't miss.

The only materials I've used for this card are paper and one shade of ink. Having finally managed to get my hands on some of the new Distress inks, I think Chipped Sapphire is going to become my favourite colour. More of a purply-blue than the denim of Faded Jeans, and just what I was hoping there would be in the new range. The flower stamp is an old favourite, by Funstamps. I've had it for years but use it often, as it's so pretty and versatile. Here I've used a favourite technique to colour it. I'm not sure what it's really called, but I call it the magic painting technique, because it reminds me of those children's painting books which appear to have blank pages until you paint over them with plain water, and the picture magically appears. I used to love them when I was a child (and confess I still do!).

I stamped the image with Chipped Sapphire, and then, with a fine paint brush and clean water, drew out some of the colour from the outline to shade it in. By using more or less water and blotting areas you want to be paler, it's possible to vary the depth of colour. When I've used this technique before, I've always done it with Adirondack rainbow inkpads, and this is the first time I've tried it with a single colour, but I really like the result. The Distress ink works perfectly for it. And to think that when Distress inks first came out, I didn't see what all the fuss was about! Now I wouldn't be without them.

The background stamp is Dots & Flowers by Hero Arts, the sentiment by Darkroom Door, the circle and oval shapes were cut with my Nestabilities and the butterflies were punched from paper coloured with the Chipped Sapphire ink. The overall effect reminds me of Delft Pottery. And, of course, blue and white is one of my favourite colour combinations.