1,2…….…..3!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully nice and early for Less is More this week (Theme Baby or Child). Nice wide scope but I found it quite difficult to do CAS for a child…to make an attractive card for a child tends to lend itself to bolder style designs so this week my card has a bit more layering than I would normally do for this challenge, hopefully there’s enough white space and simplicity (oops a few little details did creep in) to qualify.

In honour and might I add extremely early I created a card for my youngest goddaughter who is three this year…

A while ago I bought some lovely embroidered tape from the chartity shop (20P!!) and I knew it would be useful so quite simply a strip attached on a layer and a message embellished with three buttons created a simple design but hopefully bright and appealing to a child.

and just in case the message hadn’t been twigged

a nice big three inside !

As I said…. I have made this card early……birthday in August…now all I have to do is remember I made it…… and where I put it!!!

Nappy crafting definitely not happy crafting….

Should have called this post “warts and all” as this week my idea didn’t quite work but if I’m honest it was more the execution of the projects that failed…..

A couple of weeks ago Katie and I made her friend a Nappy bouquet (congrats on the safe arrival of beautiful Betty Rose!!)…

….and much to Katie’s frustration she caught me “salvaging” the one nappy that got trashed in the making “Honestly mum…cant you throw anything away!!!!!”

“er ……..no!” and boy I’m glad I didn’t as Less is More really made my brain hurt with their one layer challenge of three stamps….its bad enough not using bought cardmaking things but to come up with three stamps that was going to be a challenge… so this week I had to do a bit of a cheat….I used some free stamps from Quick Cards Magazine.  I could have stamped with some household things in fact my third stamp was actually a bit of card but I really  wanted to have a go at making my own ink pads to use with stamps….HENCE THE NAPPY….see Katie told you I would use it!!!.

I have made impro ink pads before but finding a medium to successfully contain the ink (food colouring in this case) without clogging or oversaturating is not easy…..and actually its a big thumbs up for disposable nappies as they retain plenty of moisture but still allow some through when pressed…pity my stamping skills didn’t live up to expectation

First attempt …….started reasonably well, thought I would use the back of the stamp to create a shadow (used some double sided tape to attach the stamp onto the base of a flat bottomed glass)…but the colours were disappointing particularly the purple I mixed…dull…dull… dull ….and to top it all I mis-stamped one of the jars…all in all …insipid!

 

 

Second attempt…….

decided to customise the pads with different colours, again shadow stamped but this time used some black ink for the outline… 

didn’t think this one through and ended up with a silly gap at the end, so doodled a lollypop at the end to compensate…but as I dislike the the dark colour scheme for the theme…its more bin fodder…..

one  final attempt…added a little pen ink to the pads and a really quick design just to test the pads and…..

really…really… earth shatteringly….poor layout but the colours were improved…oh well back to the drawing board…

Heart “felt” sorry

Please don’t groan …I know its a rubbish pun…at least I didn’t actually make a felt heart for my belated birthday card (for a cardmaker I am actually dreadful at remembering birthdays…on time!)…it was thanks to Less is More for actually steering me away from such a visual pun, this weeks challenge is Yellow  and I have to say a yellow felt heart just didn't look quite right…believe me I considered it…. but a lovely bright yellow flower will hopefully “re”gain me some brownie points with my Goddaughter ……particularly bad as her birthday is two days before mine.

The flower was so simple to make….
six little petals cut from small squares of felt roughly stitched and gathered together, finished with a button (great for hiding very bad stitching!!). I only wish I had thought to attach it to a brooch back so it could be removed and attached onto a bag or something.
I have to say a big thank you for all the lovely good wishes we received for our Anniversary a couple of weeks ago, I showed my hubbie when I showed him the dedicated You tube clip!!  and he was astounded by such warm wishes….he didn't realise how friendly bloggie people are.
I have to share a pic of two cards I received…. the Anniversary card is from my hubbie it made me smile as I was tempted to sneakily submit it for L.I.M’s sketch last week, and Steve actually said not only does he now look for lovely words (he always chooses great words and often writes little poems….occasionally they are of the “girl stood on the burning deck” variety but at least they’re unique?!?) he now feels under pressure to choose something that looks handmade and naturally he went for CAS!!!!!!!!

The birthday card is from my friend at work who is not an “official” cardmaker but she knows how passionate I am about creating cards from anything and she wanted to pay homage to the bunting workshop we are having at our Library (recycling book pages for the Jubilee!)…the card is excellent and she said she had such fun making it…truly superb Eugenie….thank you so much!
Sorry I didn’t get to join in with L.I.M last week, things stacked up against me…mainly the fact my dishwasher and my washing machine ganged up on me and both went on strike… aaaaaaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhhhhh…so it was back to basics and doing things by hand…..ridiculously time consuming………………
but normal service has now been resumed…god bless the repair man and his trusty van of spare parts!

Grilling…..again!!!

If you saw my flower post a couple of weeks ago, you will know I had a little adventure trying to dry out some soggy paper flowers (ok I know it wasn't my best idea) but this week in pursuit of making a charm for Less is More’s challenge I resorted to using my cooker for crafting again.

….and apart from a slightly “fumy” smell (toxic??? nah! at least I don't think so???) I was quite pleased with the result…but I wont post a pic of some of the interesting brown splodges I  originally created…it seems not all plastics are created equal!

To create a charm I found a piece of picture hanging wire in my kitchen “bit” draw…(tell me you all have one of these…its that  parking place for bits you don't know what to do with but cant quite bring yourself to throw away and I have to say its a useful place to find interesting things to craft with). After twisting a piece into a heart shape I couldn't help feeling it needed to be a bit more solid….so I decided it needed filling…I considered several ideas but decided it would be nice to have an faux enamel look and the only thing I could think of was to melt some beads in the centre.

but the best beads I found to melt so far were some of my girl’s old plastic play beads, (I think they’re called pony beads) and as most of them were highly fluorescent I had to just use the clear ones. I popped five beads in the shape and put it under the grill (on non stick baking paper). It took a while to melt but I was quite pleased with the glassy look.

I originally planned this as a white card with black and red accents….but I resort to this so much I made myself use some coloured scraps…not entirely comfortable with it but it makes a change….

and I know my husband will love it whatever I make.  Its for our 28th Wedding Anniversary on Saturday. I based the card on a song that he has sung to me (he can be a bit of an old romantic at times!) I have put the  lyrics inside….if you dont know it, its sung by Heatwave, the song is by Rod Temperton a very talented man (also wrote Thriller!)…I love this song and the words are wonderful….I found a fab clip on Youtube… worth a watch particularly when you see the brave choice of outfits!!!!!!!!!!!  (Steve this is for you…just promise me one thing……never….ever….. wear a tight fitting pant suit!!!…. Always and Forever yours).

Doodle heaven! ? ! ? !

Well Less Is More have excelled themselves this week as this week they have challenged us to doodle.

Now for me, with my “papercrafting on a budget” agenda I am……....                

but I am quite sure some Limettes may be thinking………….

I think it was quite a brave choice as so many of us are not happy putting pen to paper and I am certain I can hear the echoes of my own cry  ….”but I can’t draw!!!” …..I can’t …but I do love to doodle and I think a little hand drawn detail or message adds a great little personal touch. I have had such fun this week visiting some amazing blogs and wow there have been …without fail.. some stunning artwork…., but one of my fave cards is actually Lynne’s card, by adding a little puff off smoke she has completely changed her car from static to in motion…perfect solution to the challenge….. and then there have been some totally hand drawn cards which I couldn’t begin to pick a favourite as they are so superb. I am so impressed and a little daunted but again I have to give myself a little slap and remind myself that its the fun of creating that's important. I deliberately picked Purple Ronnie and Edward Munch artwork as it serves as a good reminder to me that actual realistic drawing often doesn't haven’t anything to do with art, both these pieces of artwork perfectly convey their meaning and I love them both.

……..So I have been scribbling doodling and generally getting inky… all to satisfy an “itch” that has been bothering me….. inspired by some pottery I recently saw where the glaze had settled into debossed details to create the pattern and Emmanuel Guibert’s technique of drawing with water… I have set about seeing if these ideas could be interpreted in papercrafting…or indeed if there is any value in them.

Well these are some of my test pieces…….

I have been comparing standard drawing using waterbased pens with “dry” doodling (have finally made myself an embossing tool with an old biro), I have experimented with different card (Guiberts technique definitely works best on paper and I really needed proper ink not just the watered down pen ink that I was working with). …and………….drum roll please…..the results…….. were………..…..a bit mediocre !

The card I liked best was this one…I kept to my “lollipop” flower doodle which is often my default phone doodle.

I did play with a couple of other tester cards……the right one I’m really not keen on…I can live with only having two flowers (generally I keep to the “odd number” rule) but they are far too large and clumpy.

The panel card was fun to create but it will most probably end up in recycling heaven.  I combined dry doodling with Guibert’s technique as I flooded the debossed doodle with water then wiped watered down pen ink over with a  pieces of sponge.  At first it didn't seem to have any effect but as it dried more of the pink ink was drawn  round the detail!

…. not exactly my finest hour….um hours. … Sorry its a long post…I could bore you more as I am a bit zealous about giving your own artwork a go but I wont run on anymore…but I will leave you with the  “notes” I made last week on a training course…

……..well…. the information was all on printed handouts….but it was jolly nice of them to give me a paper and pen to play with!!!!!!!!!

Wobbly bits!!!!

In reality I have plenty of my own wobbly bits, but I have been planning to create a wobbly card for my God-daughter (great-great niece!!!) who is three this year, but I went right off track and instead of the “Hoppy” birthday card I was planning, I changed it to “Hoppy families” as a little congratulatory note for someone we know who has just announced their pregnancy (wonderful news).

As usual my inspiration came from Less is More who have a “Three greens” challenge but also DYSU who want “Friendly critters”, so it was a case of putting the two together to make my little family.

…and who needs brushes!!!

I have quite a few inherited acrylic paints from my girls, I adapted the green with yellow and blue…….

…..daddy was darkened with the blue…mummy was the green unaltered and junior (who I have christened..Harry “Frogger” ) was lightened with yellow.

The bodies were quickly created with a few finger and thumb prints….after they were dry (note to self…in future wait till they dry ) I added some detail with a permanent marker and some white corrector pen fluid.

Last night I spent ages creating elaborate little springs with wire and twisty ties but they were sadly lacking in the “wobble” factor and the answer was simply little “Z” shapes of acteate (not too thick…the first bit I used was too rigid) and I have to say they all wobble fantastically

Now must quickly post this as….um er… should have left for work 5 minutes ago!!!!

Will have to do some blog hopping tonight (wont get home till 8 tho) or tomorrow.

Playing around…

You know the saying it’s not where you start its where you finish…well actually this week it’s more about where I started than where I finished. It’s been another mad week and I have had an idea buzzing in my head this week that I wanted to play with and it has been a case of flying in my craftroom whenever possible to have a little messy play.

It all started at the weekend when we assaulted a large Camellia in our garden. We tried to transplant it in Katie's cottage garden…..it didn’t go willingly and I fear for it’s survival but it was completely hidden in our jungle, the blooms are so beautiful so it was a shame to have it out of sight.

When I saw Less is More’s fabulous Picture inspiration this week I knew I had to have a go at capturing the beauty of the blooms in paper….ha ha.. easier said than done, especially without my crafting tools….reeeealllllllllly wanted to use my cricut but “hey ho” it was out with the scissors for a play.

I’m a big fan of Petaloo and Prima flowers and I have quite a lot of them but often never the right size or colours, so it was time to experiment making my own…the first one was a quick trial and actually ended up adorning the pot of sugar scrub which I had made as part of a friends present…

I then had further play with some scraps of paper, exploring folds, multiple layers and different cuts…..not sure any of them actually look like Camellias but I have had a lot of fun creating them.  I found they moulded better  dampened and once dry they actually became quite robust.

TOP TIP no. 1…. if speeding up the drying process….don't put them under the grill and forget about them…the smell of scorched paper can last a long time in a house and having to leap about frantically trying to shut the smoke detector up is very frustrating…. but hey I think I have invented a new style of vintage flowers.

 

…the other conundrum was how to create the centres (this is how I got distracted from the grill!)…while I was in the kitchen I decided to dig out my food colouring and create some “pseudo” glitter with salt. I put a few drops of food colouring on table and rock salt….also tried some rice…this time I left it to safely dry on a radiator!!! …boring… had to wait till the next day in fact I had to tip it onto paper which did bleed some of the colour out but I was quite pleased with the end result. Trouble is when I put the salt on the wet glue, the rest of the colour bled out…so it was back to the drawing board…and quite honestly it was easier to just add the food colouring and salt directly to the glue.

TOP TIP n0. 2 Salt and Book Binding glue doesn't work…although NASA might be interested in the new “flubber” that I have invented!!!

I have spent so much time playing that actually there is very little time to make a proper flower and card, so this has to be the prototype card for the challenge

The great thing about renovating the cottage is I keep finding things I want to use in my papercrafting….The flower is mounted on a piece of Plasterboard “Scrim”, which quite handily is self adhesive…it reminded me of “Magic Mesh”…do you remember that trend, it was a long time ago…(bought some but never really used it!!! and I have to say I like the scim better).

I want to say a big thank you to Chrissie and Mandi for showcasing my card this week, but more importantly, for running such a wonderful challenge and the dedication you both have to everyone who joins in.  I truly appreciate your advice and comments.  Equally I appreciate the fabulous camaraderie that has developed from the challenge. I can’t express enough how much I appreciate people taking the time to visit me and tolerating my “homemade” approach to cardmaking.  I LOVE the inspiration I get from visiting other blogs, I only wish I could visit more, I try and get to see as many as I can.

Finally…particularly FAO: Jenny…remember “WOYCRF” (what’s on your craft room floor) …well this week its………………………..

 

 

TOP TIP no. 3 …when tipping dyed salt into a bag…remember to have the bag open!