Sketch challenge

This weeks challenge on Less is More is a sketch where they give us the basic outline which we have to follow.

Earlier this week I had made this origami heart bookmark and thought I could incorporate it into this weeks challenge. 

Cut it Out challenge

This weeks challenge on Less is More is to cut out an aperture on the card.  I have to admit to struggling with this one a bit.  I always try to make my own card before having a peep at everyone elses card so that I am not influenced.  I made a card earlier this week and was just about to add my link when I had a peep at Craftilicious's entry.  All I can say is that we both had the same idea but mine was not a patch on the cute lovebots entry.  After a couple of days I decided to have another go and came up with this card for my hubby on Valentines Day. 

 

I just love this little Steampunk key with the little heart

I first cut out a heart frame using chipboard and my Sizzix Hearts die.  I then distressed this slightly using Vintage Sepia ink.  Using the frame as a guide I then cut out my aperture on my card.  I tied the key to the heart frame and fixed with a chocolate brown ribbon bow.  The sentiment was done in Word and printed in Sepia.  I used a touch of red card under my sentiment to give it a bit of colour.

Birds - One Layer challenge

This week on Less is More the challenge is birds but with only one layer.  As I have never tried stamping before I had to make a trip to my local hobbycraft shop to try and find a 'bird' stamp.  There was not a lot of choice but I eventually settled on this one as it had a happy feeling about it. I couldn't quite get over the price for the stamp though - ouch.  I might have to stick to using digistamps after this.

I used the following:

Funstamps - Puddle Duck stamped in black directly onto white cardstock.  Coloured with a selection of Promarkers.  Sentiment printed from Word directly onto the card.

Predominantly Purple Challenge

One of my favourite blogs to browse through has to be Less is More.  I love their concept of keeping it clean and simple.  My challenge this year is to try new crafts so when I saw that their challenge this week was purple I had to try it out.  Not even sure if I know how to link back to the challenge but I'll give it a go.

I used the Sizzix flower layers #9 die to cut the flower head with a 3D flower stick on in the middle.  I cut the leaves out free hand.  My sentiment is from the Pink Petticoat Boutique.  I then tied coordinating purple ribbon down the side to finish it off.  Definitely simple but hopefully with a bit of practise I can improve on my skills for future challenges.

Paper Gift Bags

n my quest to try out different projects featured in my (many) magazines I thought I would give the baby box a try which is featured in the Feb edition of Crafts Beautiful - after all - how difficult can a paper bag be?  Well I couldn't even get through the first paragraph!  Not to be defeated, I had a look on google to see if I could find an easier way but each one I tried was just a mess when it came to the bottom folds.  I eventually took one of my bought bags apart and tried to copy the folds to see if I could master it.  Hey presto - nice neat folds giving a professional look to my gift bags.  I have loads of patterned paper which is given away in the craft magazines so made up a few bags to have on hand. 

All the time I was trying out my bags and creating a mound of wasted paper by 5 year old son was working away on his own paper project.  A masterpiece - a paper guitar with paper strings and even a paper plectrum.  I can't fault his enthusiasm and thought process but I think we are seriously keeping the paper industry going.  Better than sitting in front of the TV anyday!!


Play it again Sean



Music sheet on the floor with a 'wonky' music stand next to it.

For a step by step tutorial on how to make these paper bags

Thanks a bunch

A lovely lady over in France sent me some waffle weave fabric so I thought I would make a thank you card to send over to her.  I still have some of the lilac card blanks which I got in this month's CB magazine so once again used an image stamp from Pink Petticoat Boutique which I coloured with my Promarker pens.  I then used my die cutter and the Spellbinders Labels One to cut the image out and then using a piece of coordinating cardstock I cut a slightly larger label.  I then used a sentiment from Pink Petticoat to 'pop' through the cut out and finally added a couple of 3D flower embellishements to add a bit of bling.

New Years Resolution

It is that time of year when we look forward to the year ahead and make all our resolutions.  This year I have decided to try lots of different crafts and to try and use up my stash of goodies which just seems to accumulate in my craft room.  I love reading craft magazines and books but just never seem to get around to trying any of the projects so this is my year for trying new things.

 In this month's Crafts Beautiful magazine there was a great free gift with some card blanks and die cut butterflies so I decided to try out a birthday card for a friend.  I added an extra set of wings which I cut a little bit smaller than the original and stuck them on for a 3D effect.  I added some faux stitching around the edges and some glitter for the body. I then used a sentiment from my favorite digistamp website - http://www.pinkpetticoat.co.uk/ which I applied inside the card with 3D foam so that it shows through the cutout in the card. 
Happy birthday Annabelle.