Thursday 25 April 2013

Majestic Majesty!

I think Summer has finally arrived here in Cyprus. The weather is fabulous!! The fruit is ripening nicely on the trees in the orchard. So there'll be lots of jam making in this household very soon.

On to today's card. The CD Sunday Challenge is all things Majestic in honour of Her Majesty's birthday.

Thinking caps on for this one team lol. I found a great image of a 'stag at bay'. Now if that isn't majestic nothing is. And Her Majesty loves all things Scottish so I went with it. The image is from Pyramid Krazy CD. I didn't pyramage it tho. Instead I used the bottom layer as a tag and created the background to the card with the matching background paper and metallic paper from papercellar. I cut 2inch squares and put them diamond shape up and made a patchwork background. Where they joined I added green flowers to neaten it up.

I hung the topper on a piece of green ric rac ribbon and tied a bow to the top.
 
 On the topper I also added the green flowers and green Happy Birthday sticker.......hope she likes green lol!!
 
Challenges:  CD Sunday.....Majestic
                                                            Tuesday Throwdown......Make own background

Monday 22 April 2013

Girlie....No Sew

Today is my weekly Craft Group meeting. I was having a break from the planning and handed over to my colleague. This is always a treat for me as I never know what we'll be making.

A black and white girlie card was on offer which at first appeared simple. It was simple really but very fiddley as the toppers were so tiny to make.

We were given the pattern for each element which had to be traced then cut out and placed on either black or white card.The card is a white DL with the corners rounded with a corner punch. The main image....little black dress......... was placed on the left hand side. Three squares in black card were placed on the right hand side with the white toppers.....handbag, shoe and a pouch on a lead.... put in the centre.

Then came the fun bit....... glitzing it up!! The elements as I said earlier were so small that I had to search hard to find beads that were small enough not to overpower the elements. I went for pink and purple diamantes which I've had in my stash for about 7 years. I never seem to use them up.  I added a purple feather to the dress which is quite small and unless you're a crafter I think it would have been thrown away by now it's been in my stash for sooooo long.............but crafters never throw anything out do they lol!!! 'It'll always come in useful ' is my motto much to my partners despair!!!


This week's challenge on Top Tip Tuesday is to use faux sewing on your card. I used black to faux sew the edges and around the handbag. I also found in my stash a black topper which had faux white stitching around the edges.
 So finito!!! Another to add to my collection of 'girlie' cards for my girlfriends.


Challenges: Top Tip Tuesday.......'Say it isn't sew!.....No machine sewing!
                      Oldie but Goodie Challenge.....Make it girlie

Sunday 21 April 2013

Football Crazy!!

I thought I'd share a card I made for my 'Football Crazy' son.......bit like his Mum lol.

The design is from CUP but sorry can't remember who designed it!!

I folded an A4 card so that it was an off- center gate fold. Then wrapped the background paper around it. Decoupaged the topppers and glitz it up a bit. Don't usually add glitter to male cards but thought the 'whistle' at least could take it.
There's a crazy football related sentiment around the whistle....which I'm sure will be best understood by soccer fans lol.' Kick it if it doesn't move.Kick it till it does' 
 
Two Greetings were added to dark blue glittered card and silver peel offs completed it.
 
Challenge: Aud Sentiments Challenge ....a card for a man with sentiment

Saturday 20 April 2013

Mica Masks and Distress Ink

We've still got the internet so thankfully we're still in business!! The weather's been really cold up here in the hills but down in the tourist area it's warm in the sun.....so good for the holidays makers. We went down to the old town yesterday and had lunch in a tiny taverna tucked away in a side street. We had a great lunch/snack ......chicken kebab in a pitta with salad to die for. How do they do such tasty salads. You never seem to be able to replicate it at home. They gave us fruit to follow.....'on the house' lol. A Cyprus tradition which is sadly in decline. With a soft drink this was all for the princely sum of 8 Euros!!!

Ok now for today's card. When I was in the UK last yaer I was very lucky to find a Papermania Craft Fare. I found lots of goodies that I could never find here in Cyprus and one was some Mica Masks.

For the background in the oval aperture I used That Special Touch Mask. I also bought some Tim Holtz distress inks. The one I used was Mustard seed. They come in a fab range of colours.....sadly I couldn't buy them all lol!!


The lovely sentiment reads 'Happiness held is the seed: happiness shared is the flower'
I added a felt butterfly from my stash which was a perfect colour match with the background and two diecut flowers.

Another card waiting to be sent to one of my dear friends.

Challenges: Happy Campers Challenge No. 15 ....Use a Mask or a stencil
                    Throwdown Tuesday..........Focus on the sentiment
                    Craft-Room Challenge............So Sentimental

Friday 19 April 2013

Thank you!!!!

What a week!!! Lost the interenet Monday after a dreadful storm knocked out the Wi Fi mast and they had to send off to the UK for a new part. Unbelievably it turned up within the week and we're now back online yeh!!! What did we do before the interent? As we lost WiFi it also meant we'd lost the TV. Since Sky moved the satellite we can no longer get it that way so we rely heavily on the computor. But every cloud has a silver lining and it meant I got more time to craft yeh!!!

This week's CD challenge is a Thank You card...........I'm definitely saying 'thank you' for being back in cyber world!!


The pyramage image is from CD Pyramid Crazy.  I love the way the child is reaching through the curtains with her flowers....are they for her or is she giving them to someone??....you decide!

I used the Cuttle Bug to cut the doorway diecut as a surrounding. This die is very intricate and lovely but it's a nightmare to 'clean up' with all the minute specks of card caught up in the die!!

I've added a 'flowers for you' sentiment and a 'thank you' tag and a ribbon.



Challenges: CD Sunday....'Thank you'
                    Card and Scrap.....Use a die

Thursday 11 April 2013

Through the Window

Phew!! Didn't think I was going to make this week's CD Sunday Challenge in time this week but I've made it. I've had a busy week hospitalwise....is that a word lol. Anyway I'm back on track again.
 
 
This week's CD Sunday Challenge is 'Through the Window'. I found this lovely wimsical image on the Pyramid Krazy CD. What is she thinking about?
 With my creation  you've got two windows for the price of one or is it three I'll let you decide.
I pulled the pyramage topper away from the main sheet and framed the main image to look like curtains.I've added pink bows....for 'tiebacks'....originally I had blue oganza with rosebuds but they seemed to dominate the scene so I changed to pink.
This card will be perfect from my dear friend who is ill and in hospital. It's not a good time when you're ill here and so far away from family, so friends are very precious. 'Get well soon my friend.'
I'm entering this in:
CD Sunday Challenge....Through the Window

Monday 8 April 2013

Beach Girl

Well would you believe it...........Winter's still here. So much for my optimistic post yesterday. Weather a bit gloomy and we can't see the sea today :( Never mind I've been cheering my self up crafting. I found some Duflex decoupage sheets hidden away in my stash and one is of a pretty girl playing in the water. As you can see it hasn't scanned too well and my scanner seems to be a bit grubby too grrrr Would have scanned it again but my scanner has now decided to go on holiday..........must get the camera sorted!!!
Duflex doen't really scan well either .....soooo shiney but yummy.....so colours are bit odd.But you can see Coral and Aqua clearly. I added a flower with flower brad in the centre to represent a sea urchin and starfish. The Martha Stewart edging punch helped to make 'waves' across the bottom plus the fuzzy edged Mulberry paper. The sentiment reads....'Here's to Happy Days' and 'Happy Birthday to you'. I found a great 'Beach Girl' topper with a flower on in my stash which worked beautifully with the scene.

I enjoyed making it so thought it was worth showing it to you even tho the scanning doesn't do it justice.
I'm entering this in Top Tip Tuesday challenge. So my tips for this week are:

TIP 1. For those who hate making bows cos they are soooo fiddley why not try this. Just cross your ribbon over and tie it in the middle with matching wire and hey presto a neat little bow.
 
TIP 2. I've used Mulberry paper on this card and wanted a fuzzy edge to represent waves.....in my mind. Fold your paper first , where you want to tear it, then dampen edge with a sponge, open up and tear along the crease. This is much easier than just pulling at the edge of  your paper as it doesn't always come off cleanly in my experience.
 
 
Challenges:
Top Tip Tuesday.....Boys and Girls
Crafts4eternity....colour recipe 118 sweet spring
Daring Cardmakers.....Coral and Aqua
Creative Corner Challenge.....Girly Birthday
DutchDareChallenge....Birthday Fun
Happy Campers Blog......Flower Power
Aud Sentiments challenge blog....card for child plus sentiment
 
 

Sunday 7 April 2013

The Lavender Fairy

It's been hot hot hot today. A really beautiful day so hopefully our Winter is over.

Today's card was inspired by a large topper I received as a swap from my one of my online
crafter friends on ukandocrafts.
As you can see the image is one of the very pretty flower fairies. This one tho is my favourite....thelavender fairy....how did she know?
I love lavender and have quite a lot growing in my garden here in Cyprus.
 
I've mounted the image on some lovely lavender card which is sprinlked with delicate leaves, flowers and tiny birds. I edged the deckled card stock with Tim Holtz orchid ink. Then all there was to do was to add two sentiments from stock. 'Just to say' 'Happy Birthday'
So a big thank you to Mary and what a great swap!!!
 
I'm entering this in the following challenge:
                       craftycreationschallenges......216 Flowers and /or fairies
 

Tuesday 2 April 2013

It's Spring

Not feeling too good today but being here will hopefully keep my mind occupied.

This card is  fresh and Spring like. I'm not a lover of greens but they always make me think of Spring. I love the green check ribbon bows....in fact anything checkered makes me think of fresh new things.


Whoops!!! Looks like my scanner is a wee bit grubby....sorry about the marks on this image....''must do better next time'' lol

I'm entering this in :
                                 The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop......Spring is in the Air
                                  

Monday 1 April 2013

Sugar and Spice

Wow what a challenge this week from CD Sunday 'Sugar and Spice'.....thinking caps on for this one team!!

All sorts of images spring to mind don't they? After hunting through my stock of CD's.....don't have that many but thanks to a very generous friend who always seems to buys/sends me the perfect gift I have some fab CDs.

I've chosen an image from Kraftyhands Christmas Friends Vol 1 'Holly and Snowflake' I know it's not 'Sugar and Spice' but Holly's hair is spicy red and her wings are hot mustard....got to be spicy!!And Snowflake well he's definitely sugary don't you think team???

The CD comes with some fantastic printable images and two adorable characters. There's backgrounds and pyramage and inserts too. I used the matching backing ground with hanging baubles. It wrapped nicely around the card so no need to put a border down left hand side I thought.
 I then found some left over icicle peel offs which I added just above the snowflakes.....looks like that cute 'Sugar/Snowflake' is trying to grab them!!


I chose the mustard coloured strap lines 'Festive Fun' and 'Merry Christmas' as I thought it reflected the 'spice' theme. I don't usually use this colour from Xmas stuff but I felt it worked well on this occassion.

So another Xmas card for 2013 my stash is growing....I now have two lol!!! But hey it's more than I had this time last year. So thanks team for another great challlenge.

I'm entering this in:
                                 CD Sunday Challenge....'Sugar and Spice'