Monthly Archives: April 2012

Get Creative 20th April Card Sketch Challenge

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Its time for our last challenge of the month over at Get Creative and our lovely and talented  leader Irini has given us the following sketch to work with.

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The design team have been very generously given a gorgeous goody bag of chipboard elements to play with and use in our creations by the fantastic sfragidomania.

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Here is my take on the Sketch

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I cut several square frames with my Cameo and stamped with a baroque stamp and inked the edges. Layered them one on top of the other to give dimension. I used a Sizzix embossing folder with shattered glass effect and ran a piece of acetate through it in the Big Shot. The chipboard chandelier was inked with Stazon in black and then three layers of clear UTEE were added. Some pearls from my stash. I also added UTEE to the sentiment wich was also generated by my Cameo. I was trying to give the impression of a fallen chandelier , it’s a bit of a standing joke in our house when something goes wrong then someone usually trots out the phrase ” it was like that when I got here ” on showing this to my husband though he didn’t get the joke so I hope some of you do ! Sorry about the rubbish photo but as most of you know acetate is a bit on the tricky side to photograph.

Do pop over to Get Creative to see what my fabulous team mates have come up with to inspire you and the see the fabulous prize that is on offer. We have once again been sponsored by the very generous Tina Suitella .

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I am a little behind in commenting this week as my New I Pad fell into a bucket of water ( don’t ask !!! ) and am in mourning for its loss. I usually take it to work with me to help with my commenting , lucky i am the boss ! Due to its sudden demise and until I get a replacement I hope you can all bear with me.

Right that’s me folks off to earn a penny or too

Take care

Marie

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 66 ” Fantasy “

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Yesterday in Greece we celebrated Easter and the sun came out and stayed all day ! Not only where we able to roast our lambs on the spit but we where able to roast our bodies too ! Well I did any way ! You could certainly tell who was British amongst our contingent , all of the Greeks sat in the shade with their sun glasses on and a certain British person sat in full view of the sun without protection or glasses. Needless to say I am looking a bit like a patchwork quilt today and a very unattractive one at that. After twenty-three years of living here you would think I would be a little used to it by now but no siree not me, as soon as I see the sun I come over all touristy and park myself underneath it. Now the truth be told I do work all day so I don’t get much of a chance but when I do I’m off in my car to the beach !

Over at Crafty Cardmakers our lovely and talented leader Lin has chosen ” Fantasy ” as our theme for the next two weeks. I really enjoyed getting inky and messy so much so that I made two cards and here they are for your perusal.

The image is courtesy of The Graphics Fairy , The stamp is from a children’s stamping set and of course I have no idea who made it as the box has long been discarded . Embossed with SU embossing powder. Waco ( great name ) gold crackle paint was used for the base and then coloured with Marina Mist ink by SU. After I had distressed the edges of the card with my fab but very noisy Zutter distressing tool ( they really should give free ear plugs with it I  ) went a bit mad with the Encore Ultimate metallic Gold ink but it was great fun.

Again the image is courtesy of  The Graphics Fairy edged in gold ink as above and positioned onto …. well am not exactly sure what it is, paper like material that I got from my local craft shop., again went a bit mad with the gold. The wings were made with my Cameo, coloured with Marina Mist from SU and then embossed with three layers of clear UTEE, bobbly trim from my stash and blue foam for the border cut with one of my Sizzix bigs dies .

Our two fab sponsors are, firstly
$15 Gift Certificate to the Crop Stop Store
and our second sponsor is
$10 Gift Voucher
Do pop over to Crafty Cardmakers to see the fabulous creations made by my team mates to inspire us all and who knows you could be one of our lucky winners.
Right am off for a little lie down, am still recovering from working all day  every day in my shop with the run up to Easter , nothing to do with the excesses of yesterday you understand.
Take care
Marie

Out of a Hat Creations ” Use some Craft Stash “

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For those of you who celebrated Easter at the weekend I trust you are all back on your diets !! Here in Greece we celebrate at the weekend and am hoping the horrible weather improves. Easter is a time of huge celebration here with families returning to their villages , connecting with old friends and the traditional roasting of  lamb on the spit its my favourite time of year  ( if the weather is nice ) .

There is another new challenge blog on the block Out of a Hat Creations was formed by four blogging friends after a challenge that they participated in every week closed. I was also a regular contributor to the site although in the last few months I had been a bit lackadaisical ! The idea behind their blog is that the four team members, Chrissie, Florence, Sandra and Janet each put ideas for themes in ” the hat ” and each week one is chosen by random. This weeks theme is to use up some of your craft stash.

Now before you see my card I just want to point out that although it looks incredibly simple it has taken me four whole days to complete !! Yes four !!!

The heart is made from fused plastic beads, the beads are tiny and are placed onto a small plastic base with little tiny pegs that protrude. You place the beads on top in the desired shape and the using a heat-resistant paper iron the top and the plastic fuses together. Ok so far so good !  Not if you are me , the slightest movement of the base dislodges the beads and you have to start all over again or in my case, again and again and ……………….After many many attempts I finally got to the ironing stage but alas the wire from the iron touched the base and they went flying all over the place ! Bailey and Rosy thought this was a great game trying to eat the plastic perishers , I am very sure they are not approved by the canine association ! So out came the Hoover and I started all over again. Near to tears I eventually yesterday evening after twelve hours of work at my shop  shakily added the last bead….. and success !!! which is why the card base is so simple I just didn’t have the will to do anything else except for a bit of embossing !!

This is a picture of the offending jar of beads which is from  a well-known Swedish super store and is supposedly for children !! Now I know why it has been sitting on the top of the wardrobe for over a year and its gone right back up there !!

Do pop over to Out of a Hat Creations and support these lovely and talented ladies .

Would also like to link this to Use It Tuesdays who are also asking for us to use something from our stash think this fits the bill !!

One more thing, a few of you have been unable to leave comments not being able to find where to leave them. With Blogger we are used to seeing the comment form at the bottom of the page but of course the blog theme I chose with WP doesn’t have that facility., trust me ! If you take a peep at the top of the post on the right hand side you will see a little bubble,  click on that,  or the post title and the form will come up.

Wishing you all a wonderful week

Take care

Marie

Get Creative Card Challenge ” Use Stickers ” and Goodbye Dolly Daydreams Hello baileyrosy !!!!

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Goodbye Blogger Hello WordPress !! This is my first post from my new blogging home. After weeks of Blogger messing me around and not publishing my posts I have finally and to use the words of a lovely blogging friend , Lynne from Adorn ,” moved over to the other side”  !!! I would just like to thank everyone who has popped over to support me , thank you all so much, blogger friends are the best !!!

Over at Get Creative we have a new challenge up and running and an interesting one it is too ! Our lovely leader Irini has asked us to use stickers on our cards, no background papers just stickers. Well I nearly came unstuck myself with this one ! I must be one of the few crafters who doesn’t have any , luckily Irini came to the rescue with these beauties ,  and when she revealed where they came from I nearly fell off my chair but more of that later.

Do you think the photo is big enough !!! As its my first post here am trying out all of the possibilities until I find out what suits me best so please bear with me. I used those pesky Gilding flakes to make the background, I do remember saying I wouldn’t use them again due to the fact that they attached themselves to everything inside the craft cave  including the mischievous mutts Bailey  and Rosy . However I felt they were a fitting backdrop to the gorgeous stickers and reminded me of an old mirror. This time I had problems sticking the flakes to the background ,after several attempts and lots of cussing I discovered that I was using glass primer instead of the appropriate glue. These flakes and I do not go well together ! In the centre of the frame I used a piece of transparency that I had printed this lovely flourish on to. The grey card was distressed and I used Stazon gold ink around the edges. The Lovely frames are from a Childrens toy store Jumbo which is here in Greece and the last place `I would have imagined finding these beauties.

Do pop over to Get Creative to see what my fabulously talented team mates have come up with to inspire you . We have lots of very interesting challenges this month, sometimes I wish I wasn’t on the DT so I could take part.

We are sponsored this month by the lovely Tina Suitella who has been so very generous with her fabulous gifts , she also is a very talented crafter so why not pop over and check out her blog .

I do hope that this post finds you all, I have been on a roller coaster ride this month and was very close to packing it all in a few times. I would love to hear your comments and get your feed back on my new blog and if any of you have any suggestions on how I can improve it please do let me know.

Now I really do hope I can’t catch up with you all !

Take care

Marie

 

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 65 " Easter "

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 Over at Crafty Cardmakers it’s once again time for our fortnightly challenge our theme for the next two weeks has been set by the lovely and talented Doreen who has chosen  ” Easter “. Now I’m sure you are all in the throes of making your Easter cards and decorations so why not link  up your creations  to Crafty Cardmakers we would love to see them and  who knows you may be one of our lucky winners !

I just a napkin for the background , I applied a layer of Modge Podge to the napkin and ahered it to the card, another layer of Modge Podge on top to protect it. I cut the Easter image with my cameo and layered it over the napkin. Easy peasy you may think but it took seven attempts to cut the image as the wording is very delicate and kept ripping as I was lifting it from the cutting mat. This was my last piece of cream card stock too.  The craft cave was definitely a PG rated zone !!  I am going through a bit of Modge Podge phase at the moment . I have just finished altering a radiator in my sons bathroom  I completely covered it with groovy paisley napkins and it looks fabulous,  unfortunately I cant get a good enough photo ! I am now working on light fittings and switches stay tuned !!!
Undeterred by my frayed nerves I decided to make another card. The base is made from silk kindly donated by a friend who has a fabric shop , although I have to say the beautiful pieces are all silk and far to nice to cut up ! My likkle wabbit was cut with …… yes you’ve guessed it my Cameo, I added some lovely lace and velvet ribbon and the little flower I made using one of my molds.
Thought I would share with you this photo of the corner of my living room where I take my photos. Some of you may have noticed that in all of the cards on my blog there appears to be greenery growing out of the top of them. This is the only spot in the house that has some light even though my ceilings are four meters high and there is plenty of glass, I guess I just don’t live on the sunny side of the street !
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We are sponsored for this challenge once again by Digi Doodle Shop who are offering a $10 Gift Certificate for the store

We are also sponsored by Hobby Art who have very generously offered us two beautiful stamps sets . Please see Crafty Cardmakers blog for more details.
Please pop over to Crafty Cardmakers to see the wonderful inspirational work by my team mates we would love to see you there.
Before I go just another little moan about Blogger. I said on my previous post that I have opened an account with WordPress and hope to transfer there in due course. One of the main reasons is that Mr Blogger insists I don’t have a blog !!!!!!! and wont let me make any changes. that and not burning my posts is driving me crazy. Since yesterday am unable to leave comments on most of your blogs I keep getting the error message service unavailable !!! I think I might have been cut off !!!!! so please bear with me and I do apologise for not leaving comments.
Right winging over lets see if Blogger lets this one through !!!

Take care 

Marie