Off to Peru…..

Not me, but someone we know is off to Peru to do some voluntary work, which means of course…another excuse to make a card…. I thought I would combine a good luck card with the LESS IS MORE CHALLENGE “Cut it out”

I hadn’t considered framing the map until I saw the challenge and I must say I think that the great benefit of challenges, is it makes you consider different possibilities.

Once again the challenge lent itself to proper cardmaking equipment to create an aperture (badly wanted my cricut for this one….or my punches at least)but for my self imposed blog rules…… that left me with my trusty scalpel or scissors …..trouble is…. I am truly scissorly (not a proper word!!) challenged….and a bit lethal with a knife to!!

After printing a map  the appropriate size, I placed a piece of copier paper  over the image and with a pencil, lightly traced where I wanted to cut (needed to make sure Peru was visible).

To create the base card I used a 13 x 29.5 off cut of white card

I put the paper template over the base card and cut over the lines with the knife.

After positioning the card pieces over the map I attached them in place with 3d foam pads, then scored the top fold and trimmed the excess from the back panel…..it all finished off with a greeting printed from the pc.

…….and you know what I said about me and knives…..well when I was putting the lid back on….. I managed to take a slice out of my finger!!

…at least I did less damage than poor Paul Daniels…..

When is CAS not CAS?

Well its one layer week at Less is More again, and I applaud Chrissie and Mandi for keeping us on the straight and narrow with the core rule of CAS which is as minimal as possible……and I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do….but as I often find, I went completely off track….oops.

One layer is always difficult for me as it definitely lends itself to stamping (against my blog philosophy!). The theme lent itself perfectly to a card I wanted to make featuring one of my favourite quotes, which is the best way I know of conveying hope to someone when things seem at their darkest (sadly I have cause to make another one of these cards and I make it with a sad heart, but also with much love and care).

The quote is :- Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.   - Rabindranath Tagore
For once I decided I didn't want to use white, but the only scrap that I thought suitable was a strip of A4 flecked card…didn’t want to do another A6 so I decided to off set the spine to create a dl size. I had made my mind up to have just the words on the front and perhaps a little image inside but as the inside was to be visible I thought “this kills two birds with one stone!!”…perfect?!?…

….and that’s where it went a bit wrong… I really think there is not enough “white/negative/empty” space for this to be truly CAS, plus it’s overly fussy for CAS

I made my own stencil for  the bird and used felt pen ink smudged on with my handmade daubers…as the bird appeared to be floating I “grounded” him by lightly stencilling over a torn paper edge

inside I just twisted a dauber to give a faint hint of a sun and without reinking smudged some sky with the blue dauber…..then I got carried away and distressed around the edges with a little more ink….the final nail in the coffin I think, as far as CAS is concerned.

So… not happy with the final result for the challenge I decided to use one of the other text boxes I created when I was playing with  the quote. BY the way I downloaded a fantastic free font from kevinandamanda.com called RAGE which I thought perfect for the word FAITH. I also used a dingbat font for the little scrolly details at the top (called Florals 2 from 1001 free fonts I think) .

I printed the text panel onto my normal square white card. I centralised it as it seemed a very formal arrangement.

 

This is more the sort of CAS I am comfortable with….and I sat on my hands a resisted any urges to add any embellishments ….not even one itty bitty tiny one! (although I think a tiny bow at the top would have been quite nice!!)

I was going to add a little bird inside but when I created a smaller bird stencil  it ended up looking like a miniature Tyrannosaurus Rex!!!! so I gave up!!

Now… more importantly … off to look at the lovely creations I can see at Less is more.!!

Purple and Poorly

No I am not purple (that’s for “Less is more”) but I am a bit blue because I well and truly have a “cold/flu/bug/virus??”… but still the cardmaking must go on and I have a card to make for a sixteen year old niece, plus I desperately wanted to join in with not only Less is More’s Predominately Purple challenge but also a challenge I have never joined in with before. St Luke's Charity Cards Challenge is a super idea where we can join in the fun and also if desired donate cards for them to sell for their worthwhile cause. As this months challenge is to reuse something on your card I had to join in as all my cards for my blog are made entirely with reused items, I only allow myself cardstock and glue to be bought specifically for the purpose.

…………………DREADFUL!!!!!!!

I am completely happy with the idea that a card made for someone can be completely simple ……don’t get me wrong I LOVE playing with papers and techniques but honestly sometimes this doesn’t suit the recipient and I don’t think spending hours on a card (and boy have I spent hours on some cards!!!) means the card is more justified, I think people truly appreciate the gesture and it is a case of tailoring the card to the recipient ….BUT if it is going to be simple…it needs to be as perfect as possible and that manky row of bows clearly shows I have had one to many sips of cough mixture.

The ribbon was an “upcycled” piece (I think it was the hangy bit from inside some pyjamas…by the way who hangs up pyjamas???!!!) but it was single sided satin (which didn’t tie well) and I sniffed and snuffled throughout the procedure and quite honestly the bows look dreadful….so with that in mind …I give in…a lemsip and my sofa is calling and I will have to start again when I don’t need to keep permanently reaching for a tissue. Vicky the card might be a bit late!!

oh and …. I don't know why… I have a hang up with numbers on cards….often only comfortable with the written form…..am I batty?

Hope you all have a lovely …and germ free day!!

Toe in the water!

……from me!!!

I’m well and truly dipping my toe back in the water and gradually finding my way out of the blog hole I fell in.
Less is More has a One Word challenge and DYSU is looking for A Rainbow of Colours, so with last years resolution, to keep my cards simple I made a quick card with the word generated on the PC and then finished the word with a button.
Now for this years resolution….to become friends with blogging again….so far so good (Mass of hair…hope you are impressed …I finally got round to downloading Windows Live Writer and it really is much simpler to use…….my test post didn’t quite look like what I had created, it spaced out rather and altered sizes of font but hopefully blogging wont be quite so frustrating now…So big thank you for advice…and Suze if you use blogger this is a much friendlier way of creating posts…I just googled Windows Live writer and followed the instructions, there were several things to download i.e photo/video suites etc. but I just selected the “writer” bit…..I have to say I just blundered my way through the procedure and so far so good!!!! oh no famous last words ….ha ha …watch this space!!!!)

Well Happy New Year to you all! Time to post and go for a hop!!

Still playing….and just waffling!

Just trying to get my head round live writer ….what can it do

…. it’s time to start pressing buttons and having a play

what about adding pictures…

well that seemed simple…by the way, this is Sharon and Steve, James’ parents,(James is Katie’s fiancée…yes they got engaged … yay!!……but sadly cant afford to get married now they are renovating the cottage) creating some much needed parking outside the cottage. ooooh you can add faces…good fun.

how about adding pictures retrospectively (oops needed to find spell checker for that one!!)

….that it so much better than blogger and this is Katie and Steve viewing the cottage nearly a year ago….Steve had just noticed the interesting way of holding roofing felt on the porch…..

they’re clothes pegs?????…dont think they will catch on in the building trade!

Wow this is easy and so much quicker than blogger!! also been playing with layout…can you tell?

what next ….. change the colour of text…… simple……. font…. simple….

and just for the fun of it here are some pics of the cottage (just want to see if I overload it with pics… will it have a meltdown?????)

the cottage lounge - then….

lounge - taking shape (just discovered the inglenook and the bread ovens beside it!!)

fireplace finally exposed… and ceremonial fire lit!! stand back ..the heat is intense?!

not sure how this will all publish …..now playing with formatting and great you can even cut and paste…..definitely think blogging is going to be a happier thing!!

well… soon time to flex my C.A.S…. economical crafting…. brain cells….

Cardmaking here I come!!!!!!

Just a little test.

O.k hello blog world…are you still there…well I know you all are as I have been keeping up to date with all the lovely creations everyone has been making but I haven’t had a chance to blog along myself!!

This is my first test with windows live writer, anyone who has kindly visited my blog knows I am a very inept blogger and “Blogger” has frequently got the better of me PLUS I had a falling out with Talk Talk…..they liked taking my money but weren’t so keen on supplying me with a functioning broadband!!!! soooooo all in all I fell out of love with my blog PLUS my daughter finally bought her cottage (complete wreck!!) and we have worked on it every available weekend since September.

Anyway fresh start….new year…new broadband provider……reasonably tidy craft room and a new way of blogging…I thought…. here goes time to pop my head back into the blogosphere again and wish you all a very sincere

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I hope 2012 treats you well.

and my new years resolution…to fall back in love with blogging!

Call Centre Survival Technique

Well life is still rollercoasting along and I have thought long and hard about Less is More's sketch challenge this week, but felt the week slipping away and no crafting time available.....was it going to be possible to join in this week!?!?......unexpectedly some crafting time presented itself last night!!!

Despite my clever tactic of leaving it as late as possible to ring a call centre, I still found myself sitting in a queue...after negotiating half a dozen menus...apparently"my call was very important to them and would be answered as soon as possible", I think that is code for "there are two of you daft enough to ring at this time of night and our single operator has had to pop out to the loo". BUT then the torture began ...music played in a loop....(I'll put the tune at the end...this I am doing to save you! because like me, you will start humming along...then wont be able to get it out of your head!!!). With the music serenading me in the background, I opened a Word Document inserted a two column, two row table, selected Auto fit, then typed each of my letters in each cell. I then spent the next few minutes playing with the font and formatting the borders, I copied and pasted the design and created different versions.

I was quite disappointed when the call was answered....... I wanted to play some more......perhaps with some colours. Still thank you "Nabul" you sorted out my problem very well....despite the occasional language barrier..and thinking my husbands Dive suit looked like a Spiderman costume (ebay item!!...anyone want to buy a Drysuit?).

Call ended....hit print...abandon husband to feed cat, lock up and make a cup of tea...run upstairs for quick crafting.
First card was simply a cut out panel mounted on foam pads (was going to stick it straight on but I liked the extra shadow the mounting created.
This gave me the idea for the second card.... as I was working very monochromatic, I wanted to play with the shadow idea some more, so I created the next topper in different depth layers (good job I had printed several matching panels)....then came the call..... "YOUR TEA'S GETTING COLD!!!!"..... so with music still humming in my head...I went to bed....

This morning I decided the topper needed something more...ribbons... gems or..... buttons (did them to death last week) just didn't work, so I drew an additional frame....I love this look but find it so difficult.
But by forming the frame from post it notes, it allowed me to draw the lines quite easily

I used an ordinary gel, rollerball pen and just followed the ridge created by the edge of the notes.
I chopped the word "you" off a previously printed message and stuck it on.

So a quick bit of blogging, then off to work and I feel quite pleased to have made another couple of speedy cards...yes they are very plain...in fact I have now decided my cards are not so much CAS but PAS (plain and simple!!!!!).

oh and the music was ......."Eye Level" by the Simon Park Orchestra...you know the one..dah dah di dah, dah di dah di dah dah..dah dah di dahh du di dah dah. sorry if you now spend the day humming it.........HAVE A GOOD DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!