Playing........................

or 'faffing' as the hubby would say.....................

I attended a project class yesterday and part of what we did was to use air dry clay - wow, love it.

I had already purchased some Martha Stewart clay from C&C last year some time and some moulds from China via the internet and it was all in my crafty stash still un-opened!! (does this sound familiar)! 

 

I have to say that the clay we used yesterday was a lot cheaper and more of it so I will need to shop around for my next lot!

Well because when I have been to a project day I feel all inspirational and confident to have a go at things (faff) these are what I came up with last night...........

(a sign I didn't have to get up to go to work today)



 I cannot believe the detail that you can achieve...................

 
even the little bits at each side of the larger crown!!

I am truly stunned at how detailed these flowers and shells are

 

love it - love it!!

 

Hopefully, if you, like me have some of this stuff and not got around to playing with it yet, it will give you a little inspiration.

 

 

xxGailxx

Well I got this well and truly wrong.................................

not only did I not post this on Friday, it is not an old card...........................

 

I thought it was supposed to be using Old Die day, Friday!!

 

Well this is what I came up with (using old dies) although I must confess still some of my favourites.........

 

 



The black and white die cuts are from the SB Fleur de Lis set and the teal blue one is from SB Marvellous Squares - this is actually a piece of white card that I have coloured with Peacock Feathers DI - the sentiment is a Stampendous stamp and I inked this while still in the die with the DI to match.

 

The card blank is 6' x 6' and I ran this through the M-bossalities Dainty Dots emboss folder and finished it off in the corners with CE black pearls.

 

A very easy card to make as it is all die-cuts and the teal part was an off-cut from another card which I was supposed to post before this one..............................it is for my Sister and her birthday is not until next week, so I will post it after I know she has received it.

 

I will post an old card next Friday!!!! (honest)!

 

Enjoy the rest of your Bank Holiday weekend and hopefully you are having better weather than we are.

 

xxGailxx

 

 

 



This is definitely not................

...monochrome.

I must confess that it was a little difficult to come up with a colour scheme that I wanted to use - so out came the CE card and I found a pack of double-sided patterned card..........................the green card just 'sang' to me................................and looked so summery too!

 

I have decided that before I start making new cards I am going to go through my 'lots' box and try and use at least one thing from there.....................I did only manage to use one thing on this card but watch for my next blog because I managed to use several bits and pieces........................................(feel quite proud of myself)!!

 

The one thing that I did use on this card was the embossed centre panel - embossed with the M-bossabilities Asian Folder - so the card was designed around this panel and the green double-sided card...............................

 

 

I cut out the centre of this panel using the SW Basic Frames Set A and then mounted this onto foam tape and then onto the spotty side of the CE card..........................................

 

A piece of Centura Pearl card was scored and used as the card blank and the front was embossed using the reverse side of the M-bossabilities Dainty Dots emboss folder...........................

 

I then used the SW Spanish Border (which I had cut as a practice piece when I received the dies) this hadn't reached my 'lots' box but I will have that one too! - I then mounted it onto the reverse patterned side of the card and stuck this across the middle as a faux ribbon.................................the sentiment was stamped onto the SW Spanish tag die (again a practice cut) I put it back into the die and inked through with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink - I also did this with the border die.

 

I coloured some of my CE pearls with pro-markers - a tip from Mrs Duck and these were stuck around the aperture to add some interest and also to the corners of the centre panel...........................

 

now this card didn't start out looking like this as I had a mishap with colouring the largest sized pearls...........................I coloured them in one evening and thought they looked fine and they were duly stuck to the card - when I looked at them in daylight they were very streaky so I tried to colour them again while in situ - say no more!!!!!!

 

I managed to salvage the topper and the finished card that you see is very different from the original - I have to say I do prefer this one............................................anyway I felt that something was still missing, so a couple of days later I cut out the SB Marvellous Square die so I could use the corners and it made such a difference to the card - finished it off in my opinion.................................

 

 

 

 

I rescued some of the original card blank to use for stamping sentiments etc for other cards and ended cutting around the stamp that I use on the back of all the cards I make.................................it was going to go in the bin but I decided to mount it onto some of the remaining patterned card and stick it onto the back of this card - I don't stamp directly onto Centura Pearl card I usually use a pre-printed label...................but I quite like how this looks (only thing is because it is a close-up I can see where there is some tape sticking out)!!

 

I hope you like.

xxGailxx

 

 

Monochrome again.........................

this colour combo seems to be the one that I go for most................

maybe it is also because I have the bit and bobs left on my desk from previous card projects.................

I also had a 'dig' through my 'lots' box (everyone else has a 'bits' box)!! and found the frame I had made from a previous project that didn't work at the time - so out it came and the card was designed around the frame..............................

here is my creation...........................

 

 

also the first outing of the faux quilled leaves

 

 

it took me nearly as long to make the bow (believe it or not) as it did the rest of the card.......................

I really don't know why as all it is, is a piece of black tuille tied in a knot with bakers twine and a CE pearl dazzler in the middle - what is hard about that but it seemed to take ages to get it just right, size wise and position wise...............................................

Ingredients used:-

M-bossabilities Dainty Dots emboss folder for the white background
M-bossabilities Garden Lattice for the black frame
SW California Basic Frames A
SW California Decorative Frames B
SW Faux Quilled Leaves
SB Spiral Blossoms dusted with CE Iced Snow
Indigo Blu Sentiment Stamp

I hope you like.....................................

the next card I will post will definitely not be black and white.

Thanks for popping by to see what I get up to in my spare time.....................


also a belated 'hello' to PharmacyMichelle who commented on a previous blog

and Diane who has commented on a couple - Thank You it means so much as I know how precious time is.


xxGailxx

 

Not a card................................

unfortunately I am not that organised - hence the previous post being of an old card.......................

We went for a walk today with our daughter and our four legged gran-puppy and part of the walk was through the aptly name Bluebell Wood..............................

well we did a little 'slip sliding away' due to the muddy paths but it was well worth it and I wanted to share the pics with you.....................................

 

 

I cannot imagine why it is called Bluebell Wood can you?

 

 

 

 

our adorable gran-puppy.........................

 

we had a fab walk which we managed to complete in between the rain showers..........................all finished off with a well earned drink in the local pub where we were able to sit in the beer garden with our four legged family member.

We 'bumped' into a family walking the other way who had found an egg shell and asked us if we knew which species of bird it was from.................they were obviously not from our country and on asking them where they were from they told us Mexico - I said they must be feeling the cold but they all said that they thought our weather was great and the eldest, who was a girl said she didn't like hot weather!! makes you realise what a wonderful country we do have.

Take care all and I will hopefully be posting my last (for a while anyway) mono-chrome card soon.

xxGailxx

 

 

 



 

A blast from the past.............................

this is actually a card a made a couple of years ago after watching Sue Wilson on C&C - I was fascinated how she mixed up the die-cuts she used and I have to admit that it was not something I had thought about doing (derrhh)!! like I say it was a couple of years ago!

I was so intrigued to see what I could create with the dies that I had, and this is what I came up with...............................

funnily enough I have called this card 'Experiment Card' when I saved it on my PC.

I never gave it out to anyone, firstly because the borders and sentiment die are very delicate and I      don't think it would survive the post and secondly I wanted to keep it to refer back too - a reminder to try and remember to 'think outside the box'

                                            

I also used the letterpress technique - which I am guessing Sue also demonstrated on this particular day - as I seem to have tried several techniques on this card that I have not done since.......................

           

as you can see the letterpress is not that brilliant but I do remember it being the best of a bad bunch, which is why I am guessing I have not tried it again...........................I really must have another go though as I do like the look of it.

I also did the SW piercing technique, which again I have not done since!!  

I think I must have been really 'fired up' to create something different on that day because I have never made anything quite like it since - maybe I will have to have another go with different dies - maybe a lucky dip type thing and see what I can come up with!!!!!!

The one consistent thing is the colour combo (sorry) and I have to say that my next post is mono-chrome too - but I have made a note to myself that I will use a different colour palate for the next card I make - honest!!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

xxGailxx

Easy Peasy...................................

lemon squeezy..............................

 

It has taken me a while to 'dip' my toe into the SW dies - only because I felt I had to justify spending more money on dies when to be honest I already own quite a few but I had decided very early on when I saw them that I would buy the Striplet die eventually.............................................

 

well that was lethal because it set me off wanting more..............................

 

 I had my eye on the 'finishing touches' dies - especially Fern Trio and the Quilled Blooms - but whenever I checked they were always out of stock but while browsing I also quite fancied the look of the California Fancy Frame Set B and the Basic Frames A - but felt that the basic ones were probably too basic (if that makes sense) was I wrong - after watching Sue on C&C (about a week after it was televised, which is probably why most of the dies were out of stock) -  she was saying that these were her 'go to' dies so I decided to 'dip' my toe in again!!

 

 

Here is the creation I made...............................

 

 

 

 

 

 

This card came about purely because I cut out all the dies from both sets using black, white and silver card which was laying around on my desk (this seems to be the main colours I use and I had never realised until I started blogging).......................

 

and then layered them up to see how they looked on my craft mat  - well I was pretty impressed so decided to be a good crafter and use up some card that I had embossed that was left-over from previous card creations - so other than embossing the card blank with the M-bossabilites Dainty Dots and stamping a sentiment onto a SB basic tag die and adding some pearls from my stash I had all the components for my card.........................................

 

 

 

now I have to say that this is not my usual way of crafting - I usually make a card for a specific celebration -  but I am pretty pleased with how it has turned out, and it is probably one of the easiest cards I have ever made..................the dies and emboss folders do it all for you!

Oh and by the way I have since purchased some of the finishing touches too - been bitten by the SW bug big style (not bad for someone who was not going to buy anymore).......................but that is definitely it for now!!

 

Anyhow - I hope you all have a fab Bank Holiday weekend, whatever you are doing and the weather is kind to you.

 

xxGailxx