52 Cards Challenge Week 13 - Guest Post

Hi everybody - it's Trish from Doodles and Swirls. Ang is living it up in the Big Apple this week and she asked me if I could host the challenge which I was more than happy to do!

The prompts for this week are pink, diecuts and flowers.

Green and pink is one of my favourite colour combos at the moment so I thought I would use it for this card, along with a couple of different Nestabilities for my die cuts (Lacey Circles, Standard Circles and Labels 14). I also used my Craft Robo to cut out the leaves for the flower. The lovely pink flower is from Prima and I added some stickles to the leaves to give it a bit of shine, and finished off with a bit of stripey twine....

Can't wait to see what you all do with this weeks challenge - make sure you leave a link in the comments so I can come and visit you!

Supplies used - Basic Grey Phoebe papers, Nestabilities Lacey Circles, Standard Circles, Labels 14. Waltzingmouse Vintage Labels 14 stamps, Hero Arts sentiment stamps, Prima flower, Bakers Twine.

Crafty Templates - Granny's House

Hello! Just popping in to post a couple of the cards I made with this month's Crafty Templates Granny's House card kit and templates. The templates had a very vintage feel to them this month coupled with the cute doily papers I was in heaven!

I just loved the vintage style sewing machine and I was so pleased with the little details that I added, the 'sewn' love tag and threading a tiny little bobbin, so cute!

I could not decide on the right sentiment for this one, but then Mr Paper suggested 'Just 2 Chair You Up' and I loved it. He is my go-to-guy when I get stuck with sentiments, we sit and throw different ones back and forth until we find one that fits. I should really write them all down in a book so when I get stuck again I can flick through it and find the right one.

I loved the fabric Leo provided this month, so colourful, I had to create a rolled flower with the excess (now I know how to do them!) and the great little sentiment from a Hero Arts mini set.

Hope you are having a good week!

52 Cards Challenge Week 12

Have you ever had one of those days where nothing you make turns out how you envisioned? That's just what happened to me today. After pulling the prompts out of the bag I sat and just stared at my clip it up, filled with visions of this and that and got quite excited, until I started pulling it all together and it just didn't 'fit' right. I was almost at a point earlier where I wasn't going to post what I made, but I think I should share the good with the bad ;)

I also didn't photograph the prompts because I clean forgot! They are:

Brights/Stickers/Unisex

I pulled out a pack of American Crafts stickers and went from there. I was happy that Unisex was featured this week as I have a number of male birthdays coming up and find it hard going to make suitable cards so I hoped this would push me to get some ready.

Here is the first. The circles were going to be polka dots on a white background, but it just looked so plain, I added the lime card and the word 'happy' but it still looked too simple, I popped on the candles and decided to leave it, I have a habit of adding stuff when I should stop and I knew if I kept going I would hate the finished product, so far this is tolerable.

I then decided to use the excess circles, mounting them on foam pads to give them some dimension, and adding the number stickers from the pack as I knew I wouldn't use them on another project. Once I was finished it didn't convey 'birthday' so I added a sentiment on some acetate. Still, pretty blah.

The brown 'best ever' used to have the word birthday in it but I cut it out so I could position it next to the cake. I had initially stamped birthday candles, cakes and hats on a blue card blank but, as my day was going I hated that too. I added some Making Memories paper and highlighted the blue dots with stickles, mounted the stickers on some gingham card and left it at that.

*sigh* I hate days like today and I hope that you have a better one, anyway I am off to the Big Apple this week so that gives me something to smile about :)

Have a great week!

97/100

52 Cards Challenge Week 11

Hello there! I hope you are all enjoying the challenges? It is lovely to see so many beautiful cards being made each week, it really does make me happy that so many of you are taking part. Don't worry if you have only just found the challenges, you can start mid way through or catch up from the very beginning, it's all about helping you create!

Here are the prompts for this week

Red, Folding, Journalling Spot

and here is mine

I scored lines at intervals on a strip of paper and then folded to create a pleated strip, to keep it's shape I then sewed across the middle.
Supplies used: Hero Arts notecard, Cosmo Cricket Early Bird paper, Making Memories Noteworthy paper, Nestabilities dies, Papertrey Ink stamp, ribbon (etsy)

Until next week x

96/100

52 Cards Challenge Week 10

Happy Monday to you! I have recovered after my crafting escapades at the weekend. See here for a refresher! I am so excited, I am off to New York in a couple of weeks and I am looking forward to picking up some crafty items, some of which will go towards my giveaway on my 100th post which should be on Monday the 4th of April, and I am excited about that too!

Sorry, I digress. Here is the challenge for this week!

Vintage, Layers and Decorative Pins.

I would have normally gone at this in my usual way, using pastel colours and lots of flowers and lace etc, but this time I decided to attempt a more grungy vintage style which is not really in my comfort zone, but I really like how it turned out!

I went with the vintage style, used lots of layers and a decorative pin.
Supplies used: Crate Paper Restoration papers, K&Co Die Cuts, TH Ticket, Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink, Prima Flowers, Vintage Looking Lace, Crystal Topped Pin, Vintage Button, MS and Fiskars punches, Vintage book page.

Looking forward to seeing your creations. Have a great week!

95/100

A productive but painful friday night!

I have been on a handmade embellishment kick of late and last night I decided to make a batch of rolled flowers and 'singed edge' flowers. Having never made them before it took me a couple of tries to perfect the process and in doing so I had a number of little accidents, I will share them with you so you don't make the same mistakes!

1. Never hold a cable with your teeth to get 'better precision', it may end in a blob of very hot glue getting stuck to the end of your nose.
2. Ensure that you don't get glue on your scissors and rest them on your leg, you may find that you have a new 'embellishment' on your brand new pair of trousers.
3. Always wear a good bra. Bosoms that roam free on the desk top may find they are adorned with rolled flowers, on the other hand, if you are a burlesque dancer by night you'll have some pretty cute pasties.
4. Whilst fingers are essential for crafting, be aware of the effect of hot glue when holding something down to get 'good adhesion'. Surgically removing a layer of skin to remove an errant piece of fabric can be painful.
5. TIE YOUR HAIR BACK, I cannot stress this enough. I do however have a lovely new asymetric hairstyle that wouldn't look out of place in the 80's.
6. Pearls covered in hot glue stick really, really well to the skin. Unless you are channelling Lady Gaga, be careful where you put them.
7. Waft the fabric above the flame, don't get too close and make sure you have a cup of water nearby. A damp baby wipe is not the same as a fire retardent blanket.
8. Move the candle if you need to reach for something, don't reach over the candle, burnt arm hair is not a nice smell.

After all that, and if you persevere, you may end up with a batch of pretty little flowers like these

Only 1 human was harmed during the making of these flowers ;p

94/100