Wedding Day Shoes

Hi Crafty friends and hope this post finds you well. I hope that you managed to enjoy some fine weather over the Bank Holiday weekend and a belated Happy Easter to you and yours.

I've been a very bad blogger again, and have been neglecting posting. In truth, Mr Mojo has cleared off and the run-in to the Easter holidays was the usual end of term mayhem at school. Plus, youngest Bambino went on a Geography Field Trip the first day of the hols (10 days in China visiting both Shanghai and Beijing!) so getting her packed and sorted took up some time. Then Papa Mia has taken time off both sides of our Bank Holiday weekend, which has really cramped my style.

Over the weekend, our newest challenge went live over at All Dressed Up and, as usual, our theme is Anything Goes with an All Dressed Up Image.  Wendy has plenty of gorgeous images available in the All Dressed Up Etsy Store. Haven't got any All Dressed Up images? Wendy has very generously provided some freebies here - please make sure you adhere to the terms of use if you're saving these though, to make sure they're available for other crafters to share!

Here's my inspiration for you:

I apologise for the sub-standard photos - I had to use my phone as the camera was in China 😁!!!!!

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is Centura Pearl Snow White Silver which I have cut, scored and folded to make a 15cm square card base
• Design Paper - is from Sara's Signature Collection - Together Forever and was included on the papercrafting CD Rom which came with Crafter's Inspiration Magazine - Issue 10 
  
• Image - is For Your Wedding Day by Wendy Burns, the artist behind All Dressed Up. I have brought this image to life using my Spectrum Noir Alcohol Marker Pens in the listed colours before die cutting the image using one of my Die'sire Essentials Circles dies
  • Bows on Shoes - PP4, CR6, DR6, DR7
  • Inside of Shoes - EB1, EB2
  • Outside of Shoes - IG1, IG2, IG4, Silver Gel Pen
  • Rose - PP3, PP4, DR6, DR7, DG2, DG3, DG4
• Border - is also from a piece of Centura Pearl Snow White Silver card which I have die cut using my Die'sire Edge'ables Mini Victoriana die. I think this must have been a freebie with an edition of Crafter's Inspiration Magazine as I can't find this precise die in the store. The die isn't as long as my card, so I had to find the centre of my card strip and die cut this, then match up the edge of the die to the cut so that the border repeated itself. Then I repeated this on the other side of the card strip. It was very fiddly to do, and there was much muttering under one's breath as my die cutting machine wasn't being very co-operative either 😆!

I hope that I have inspired you to come over to All Dressed Up and join in the fun this month but if you're in need of further inspiration please head over to the blog and check out the lovely creations by my talented teamies. We've also reintroduced our GDT spot, so our lucky winner is invited to join us on a future challenge - this month it's Jeanette, so please head over to her blog and take a peek at her beautiful card. 

Don't forget that the Facebook Dressy Girls have their own challenge running until the end of April and their theme this month is Feature a Creature. And you can combine both All Dressed Up Challenges if you would like to!

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• April Challenge - Anything Goes with Optional Twist of Wedding Day at Dragon's Lair Designs Challenges
• Favourite Card Base Shape and Why at As You Like It Challenge - this is definitely a 15cm square card base as it's easy to cut layers to fit it, suits different shaped die cuts for images, borders etc. and suits my OCD tendancies where everything has to fit on the card base!!!!! It's also easy to buy commercially made envelopes to fit this size for posting so I know my creation will reach it's destination safely!
• SOS #299 - A Rose By Any Other Name at Shopping Our Stash - my stash items are both the CD Rom from which the paper came from (issued Spring 2016 I think) and the die I used to make the border which was a magazine freebie (last year too I think)
• {PIN}spirational  Challenge #188 at {PIN}spirational Challenge - I've been inspired by the lace borders around the eggs and have made my own double edged border using a repeated die cut
• April Challenge - Girls Things or Girls Rule at Colouring in Scrapland
• It's a Girl Thing at Come and Get It Challenge
• Challenge #142 - One For the Girls at Crafting When We Can Challenge

I think that's all for me today - the Chinese Laundry beckons, not just because there are a few piles of washing around the house but youngest's suitcase needs emptying of it's contents! Whatever you're up to today, have fun and I hope you manage some crafty time.

Hugs, Helen x

Time to Relax

Hello crafty friends!

Wow, what a week it's been weather wise ... scorching sunshine one minute, torrential downpours the next, flash floods and then a glorious evening once again! I'm not sure our weather station has picked up the correct rainfall records as youngest Bambino and I were in the car travelling to gymnastics during a thunder storm with hail, rivers running across the roads and a flood at the bottom of one hill! Fortunately I got her to gym OK, and came home via a different route to avoid the flood!

Father's Day has kind of crept up on me this year, so I've only managed a really quick card for my Dad, inspired by the current sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches:

My card recipe is as follows:

• Card base - is a premade A5 card in white
• Paper - is from Sara's Signature Range Just for Men and this clock face paper comes from the Urban Collection Paper Pad. My copy actually came from the CD-Rom which came with Crafter's Inspiration Magazine Issue 10. I love the distressed grungy look of this design!
  
• Film Strip - is from the Verity Rose collection on the Crafter's Inspiration Magazine Issue 10 CD-Rom. I cut off the top aperture (as it was a bit girlie!) but I reckon the pictures left work just fine on a male card, don't you?
• Sentiment - is from the Mixed Circular Sentiments Set by Lili of the Valley. This set is great value for money as you get 4 main circular sentiments which you can then mix and match with the 36 word strips to make the perfect sentiment! I have stamped my sentiment in Vintage Photo Distress Ink onto cream card, which I've then die cut using the second smallest Die'sire Essentials Circles die.
• Twine - is from my stash, which I've tied in a reef knot on the front of the card

I have been inspired by and would like to enter the following challenge:

• Challenge #356  at Tuesday Morning Sketches

I would also like to enter the following challenges:

• Challenge #203 - Father's Day at Brown Sugar
• June Challenge - Something Masculine at Craft for the Craic
• June Challenge - Male Project at Sasayaki Glitter Challenge
• Challenge #37 - Theme "Father's Day" at The Male Room

Hope you have a lovely evening!

Hugs, Helen x

An English Country Garden

Hello blogging buddies and an especially warm welcome to Gabriella who is my newest follower! I hope you have fun on this crafty journey!

Hope you are well this weekend. I think the weather here is better than the forecast and my washing line is full, again! We've been having a bit of a clear out of stuff that's accumulated in eldest Bambino's wardrobes (ahem, it's not my crafty stash!) prior to us dismantling them and repainting her room in a couple of weeks, so I'm having a bit of an eBay weekend ;o)

It's also new challenge time over at Feeling Sketchy and this time we're being sponsored by Deedee from the now sadly closed Deedee's Digis. However, Deedee was determined to honour her sponsorship of this challenge, so she's let us have 2 digi sets for the lucky winner of this challenge.

Here's the sketch we're challenging you to create with this time:

and here's my take on it:

This is the card we gave to my M-i-L for her birthday which was yesterday, however she's in France at the mo (on an exchange trip with her church) so I've no idea if she likes it! I had fun making though and got a bit carried away with glue and sticky bits ;o)

My card recipe is as follows:

• Base card - is a pre-made 12.5cm square cream card blank
• Mat and Layer card - is Kraft Cardstock
• Papers - are from the Crafter's Inspiration Magazine Issue 10 (Spring 2016) CD-Rom and are a sneak peak from Sara Davies' newest Signature Collection - English Country Garden. Aren't these papers just dreamy? I've used a blue butterflies paper on a creamy background as my base layer, and then used a pale blue wood panel to use as my border.
  
• Sentiment - is from the Swirly String Sentiments Set by Lili of the Valley and I've stamped this directly onto the paper using Tuxedo Black Memento ink
• Flowers - are die cut and quilled using the Die'sire Stamen die and Kraft Cardstock (mental note to self: kraft cardstock is tough to quill!), together with the Die'sire Dahlia die and a floral pink paper from Sara's English County Garden Signature Collection. I've finished each flower by adding a clear gem to the centre.
• Leaf Sprays - are die cut from Kraft Cardstock using my Die'sire Classiques Delicate Flower die, and before I removed the card from die, I ran it back through my Big Shot to emboss the vein on the leaf.
• Doily - is by Papermania which was sent to me by my lovely blogging buddy Rachel ... thanks honey 'cos it's perfect for this project!

I hope I have inspired you to play along with this sketch, but if you are in need of any further inspiration please head over to the Feeling Sketchy blog and check out the other wonderful creations by my talented teamies! Then don't forget to come back and share your creations with us. We'll be back with our next challenge on 1st June 2016.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

• #CMC80 - Flowers at Card Mania Challenges
• Challenge #7 - Flower Garden at Crafty Enjoyments
• Challenge #49 - Birthday at Dies R Us Challenge
• Challenge #47 - Blossoms and/or Butterflies at Live & Love Crafts
• Challenge #02 - May at Classic Design Team Open Challenge
• Something beginning with B at CD Sunday - my B is Butterflies on my design paper
• Challenge 31 - In the Garden at Crafty Friends
• Flowers Everywhere at Di's Digi Designs Challenge
• Monthly Challenge 69 - Butterflies at Little Claire's

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Hugs, Helen