A CARD IN TEN MINUTES

Hi Everyone

I hope you have all been having a lovely weekend. 

We have spent quite a bit of ours gardening .. .. .. it feels so good when you can look out of your window and see where your time has gone!

Over at the As You See It Challenge it is time for another "Card in Under 10 Minutes" theme .. .. and I decided this morning that if I couldn't spare 10 minutes to make a quick card it was a poor show.  The theme being "fast foliage".

The only trouble was I ended up making two cards - because the first one went "over time" but the second one (with a few changes) came in at 9 minutes 38 seconds.  I still only just made it!

To play along you can design your card in your head or sketch it out first.  You can gather all your supplies ahead of time.  But once you start cutting/stamping/die cutting/embossing etc you must start your timer.

Anyway .. .. this is my final card:

This used:

Embossing Folder: Kaisercraft "Leaves"
Sentiment:  Wow! "StampSet33" Big Words
Distress Ink:  Bundled Sage
Sizzix Originals Die "655459" Frame Heart
Corner Rounding and Heart Punch
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and this was my first attempt .. .. .. which came in at 10 minutes 58 seconds 

Cutting out one of the layers and trimming my sentiment so it didn't need to fit the card front so precisely made all the difference, and I must admit I think I prefer the less fussy version.

Hoping for fewer jobs around the house and more crafting this coming week.

Sadly my wedding couple who were supposed to have got married yesterday have had to defer for yet another year.  We are hoping for "third time lucky".

They could have got married .. .. with reduced numbers .. .. no dancing, no group photographs and masks to be worn at the reception.  But I am not surprised they have decided to wait until next year in the hope that things are much more improved.

So no wedding .. .. .. but they could have travelled to the Euro games and stood side by side alongside hundreds of total strangers with not a mask in sight!!  Where is the sense in that?!?!?!

HARE IN THE MIDDLE

Hi Everyone

Happy Monday .. .. .. I hope you all had a good weekend and all the Dads enjoyed their special day. 

I needed to get up bright and early to clear the dining room table (yet again) ready for our youngest Son coming to celebrate the day with his Dad .. .. unfortunately the London Kids weren't able to be here but we had a good catch up on Facetime!

We can't wait for the day to arrive when we will all be together again.  It feels like a lifetime since we were.

A while back (in the good old days) I was fortunate to visit the offices of Immediate Media and whilst there got to sit in on a pre-issue planning meeting.  One set of cards that really stuck in my mind used a technique called "retiform".  

I thought about the technique over the weekend and decided to give it a go for the background of my card.  Not too bad for a first attempt.

This used:

Images:

Woodware Clear Stamp Set "JGS699" Hare in the Middle
Woodward Clear Stamp Set "JGS300" Going to Seed
Sentiment:  LOTV "Simply Cute Sentiments"
Sizzix Thinlits Die Set "664382A" Springtime Borders
X-Cut Flower Punch
Distress Ink Pads and Memento Dewdrop Ink Pads
Nail Heads

My Trusty Sewing Machine

I am taking this over to the As You See It Challenge where the theme is "Masculine".

Hopefully catch you again soon .. .. 

HAPPY NEW HOME

Hi Everyone

Happy Thursday!  Well I think it is Thursday!  To be honest it has been such a topsy turvy week that I am not really sure what day it is anymore!  LOL!! 

Just a quick post today to share a card I made for pushing through the door of our new neighbours .. .. such a lovely young couple with a sweet little girl.  They have been excited about moving in for months but needed to wait for work to be done on the property first.  So we have got to know them slowly when they would come for a peep at how things were progressing.

This week they have finally taken up residence.  Yay!!

This used:

Sentiment:  Inkylicious Clear Stamp "New Home"
Backing Paper:  The English Paper Company (very, very, very old but very loved)
Gold Embossing Powder
Ribbon
ProMarker
White Gel Pen
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and for those who struggled finding the heart on the card from my last blog post .. .. .. there were at least two .. ..  .. thank you for still looking for them ..  .. .. mwah!!!!

Enjoy the rest of your day.

MOUSE BALLOONS

Hi Everyone

I hope your day has been a good one.

A birthday card from me today which I am taking over to the Bugaboo Catch the Bug Challenge Blog:

This used:

Image:  Bugaboo "Mouse Balloons"
Sentiment:  Computer Generated using font "Aracne Condensed Regular"
Backing Paper:  From the snippet mountain
ProMarkers
My Trusty Sewing Machine

So no opening of everywhere in England by the Government .. .. surprise, surprise .. .. but I "was" surprised that the number of people allowed to go to a wedding from the 21st June onwards isn't limited to 30 any more.  

Lots of  happy couples will be celebrating tonight .. .. .. the actual wedding celebrations won't be quite as we know them from times gone by .. .. but at least people can get married with more of their friends and family.  Probably after having their happy day cancelled numerous times in the past!

Catch you again soon.

A NEW SKETCH

Hi Everyone

Happy Saturday, I hope all is well with everyone and you are enjoying another weekend!  Hopefully a sunny one!

A new sketch made its way into my Rectangular Sketch Library earlier in the week and today I actually had time to play with it and used it to create this:

This used:

Image:  Hero Arts "H2817"Garden Flowers Sketch
Sentiment:  an Ebay purchase without proper packaging but a reference number of PICS066
Backing Papers:  First Edition "J'Adore
ProMarkers
Ribbon
Pearls
Nail Heads
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and Rectangular Sketch Number Four which looks like this (but my flower morphed into a tiny butterfly LOL!):

If anyone would like to use any of my sketches then please feel free do so so.  Both square and a few rectangular sketches are available on the tabs at the top of my blog.  More sketches for both tabs will be being added, but as the rectangular collection is new to my blog, that is the one I am trying to bulk up a little.

Enjoy your weekend everyone.

Catch you again soon.

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

Happy Tuesday.  

I hope you are blessed with the lovely sunshine that we are enjoying here today (sadly it does mean the washing line is going to be filled to capacity again though .. .. which means lots of ironing).  Boo hoo!!

Here with a teeny, tiny Tuesday make .. .. but one that is a little different to my normal teeny makes:

This used:

An empty rectangular hinged tin

Lots and lots of snippets

Dies
Stamps,

ProMarkers

Stencil

Quilling Paper

Pearls

Gems

Silver Gilding Wax
Silver Embossing Powder

Glamour Dust 

Distress Ink 

and of course My Trusty Sewing Machine!!

I was going to take this over to Pixie's Snippets Playground as all the card and paper used for decorating came from my snippet mountain .. .. .. but I then I remembered I have already entered this time so my make is simply for sharing with all my lovely blog visitors.

Enjoy the rest of your day .. .. .. and keep slapping the sun cream on!

ALL HEARTS COME HOME

Hi Everyone

I hope you have enjoyed your weekend.

Yesterday was wonderful sunshine from start to finish here, but today has seen spells of rain and sunshine .. .. .. what gardeners would call "growing weather".  At least Mr Heart has been spared watering duties!  LOL!

Today I had my first proper play with "The Frisk Speckling Brush" I showed on my previous post .. .. ..  I speckled the image panel once all the work had been done on it (apart from adding the sentiment).  So I "speckled" thinking .. .. "I hope this works or I will have wasted my time"!  Thankfully all worked out OK and once the paint was dry I was able to stitch the sentiment in place and stitch the panel to its backing card.

This used:

Images and Sentiment:  Stampin Up! "Hearts Come Home"

Snippet of Green backing paper (which you can hardly see)
Distress Ink Pads:  Stormy Sky and Chipped Sapphire
Memento Dew Drop Ink Pads:  Rhubarb Stalk and Bamboo Leaves
Versafine Ink Pad:  Onyx Black

Slightly watered down White Acrylic Paint for the speckles
Frisk Speckling Brush

My Trusty Sewing Machine

I am taking this over to Fezziwigs Festive Frolics Challenge where the theme this fortnight is "Red & Green".

I gained this stamp set "pre-loved" from Ebay a couple of weeks ago and it came with some beautiful dies alongside.  They will be played with another day .. .. but for now I am happy that another Christmas card is making its way into the stock box.

So that is me for today. I'll catch you again soon.

NEW TOY

Hi Everyone

I hope your day has been a good one.

Mine saw a very cheap new little toy pushed through my letter box by Mr Amazon (other suppliers are available LOL!!) .. .. .. and here it is .. .. a brush for making tiny paint speckles from "Frisk".

I don't know about you but I normally use a small paintbrush for adding paint spattles to my creations but I often end up with big uneven blobs that I am not always keen on .. .. .. especially if I want to create something like a snowy sky.

With this brush you roll the paint bristles into your paint and slide the prong, that is set in the wood,  along the handle into the bristles.

You then hold the wooden section and turn the brush away from you using the circular handle  .. .. the ink/paint then spattles over your card.

I placed my card inside a cardboard box to spattle the paint .. .. .. .. using white acrylic paint which I watered down a little .. .. .. and for saying this was my first play I was quite pleased.

I am looking forward to future experiments .. .. .. this was just a quick 5 minute play I had before we wandered to spend the evening in my lovely sister's garden.  So lovely having her live so close to us.

Take care everyone.

Catch you again soon.

TEENY, TINY TUESDAY

Hi Everyone

I hope your week has got off to a good start and that you have seen some of the lovely sunshine we have been having here in my little part of the world.

So lovely to see the garden springing back into life all bright with so many beautiful colours!

Today before I put the stamp set away that I used at the weekend, I decided to use another stamp and die from the same set to create a teeny tiny card. 

For anyone new to my blog these measure a whole 3.5inches square.

This used:

Image:  Hero Arts Stamp and Die Cut Set "657776"
Sentiment:  Clearly Besotted "Speaking Out"
Backing Papers:  From Snippet Mountain  (in fact everything for this card came from snippet mountain)
Spellbinder Nestabilities:  Scallop and Classic Circles
My Trusty Sewing Machine

and that is me for today.

A teeny, tiny post for a teeny tiny card.

Catch you again soon.