Hello lovely ladies and gents and a happy new year to you all.

Once again popping back out of retirement to take part in another fun and fab challenge over at Less is More.

This weeks challenge is colour using the ombre technique and for those not familiar with said technique just pop over to LIM and all will become clear.

I see my old mucker Smiley Kylie from Happy Little Stampers is the sponsor for this weeks challenge so one more reason for me to play along.

Two versions of the same card the first one is the nice clean and tidy version and the second one is the messy one but photographed better ( in my humble opinion )

The pig was cut with my cameo and the negative space was coloured with Pan Pastels then embossed with this fab Memory Keepers embossing folder and a little gem added for the eye.

Why not pop over to LIM to see the amazing cards by the design team and as always the gallery is filling up nicely with lots of gorgeous creations.

I’m off to put on some extra socks -9 here in sunny Greece all my lovely plants have died overnight after many years of love and attention from me sniff sniff.

Take care

Marie

Hello lovely ladies and gents !

It’s been seven months since I’ve entered a card challenge and I can hardly remember how to upload a card let alone write a blog post so I’ll keep it short.

Which challenge blog could bring me out of retirement……of course the one and only LIM that’s who.

Their challenge for this week is to use vellum or acetate on our cards I’ve chosen acetate as I love to use it, not too crazy about trying to photograph it though.

I stamped this lovely selfie stamp by mama elephant and then scanned it into my Silhouette software, enlarged the image and printed it onto acetate, I added foam tape underneath to give dimension and added a frame.

Do head on over to LIM as there are so many amazing entries in the gallery and the DT once again have worked their magic.

Wishing you all a fabulous day

Take care

Marie

Hello lovely ladies and gents.

Just popping in under the wire to enter this week’s challenge over at City Crafter,their theme this week is

Balloons !

Well we all love balloons now don’t we !

This is a Papertrey Ink die which I love but have found as with most dies that the borders are quite narrow and as I love to use double sided foam tape to give dimension I had to use my Silhouette software to enlarge the frame.

It’s quite an easy process once you get the hang of it and allows me to to play around with the die to get it just the way I want it,it really makes the die’s so versatile.

I used the Silhouette colour palette to fill in the negative space on the die and then printed it onto acetate which gives such lovely bright colours. I then lay the die cut frame over the top and popped up with double sided foam tape.

Do pop over and join in the fun at City Crafter as the DT has once again worked their magic.

I would also like to enter my card into Time Out Challenges as their theme is

Celebrations with an optional twist to use die cuts or fussy cutting

Lots of amazing cards from the DT and the gallery is full of stunning celebratory cards

Sorry for not commenting lately I made an unscheduled trip to the UK to see my dad who is suffering from ” Old Timers Disease ” and of course the rest of the mob. It’s so sad to see my dad like this and am not sure how long he will remember me for.  It’s difficult being in another country especially as most of the weight falls on my little sister Kal who is just amazing.

Despite the sadness I had a fabulous time and laughed non stop with my sister Kal who is an absolute nutter and a fellow crafter. She really is such a wonderful generous and hysterically funny lady who managed to embarrass me everywhere we went.

I wanted to share with you an incident that occurred while I was away and show you the murky depths of my sisters humour. As many of my regular bloggers know I had some health issues that lasted for over 18 months and was confined to bed rest and crutches. Well the last few months I have been a whole lot better and life had gotten back to normal, unfortunately the condition  has reared its ugly head and whilst I was in the Uk in a supermarket with Kal I had an attack. This consists of extreme pain in my ankle and I literally cannot walk, it also consists of me squealing like a stuck pig. So what did my lovely sister do…….. well after trying to take care of me for all of 5 seconds she realised this was an opportunity not to be missed and proceeded to find the most awful fragrance in the perfume section  and spray me from head to foot . There was no escape and  between stabbing pains I tried to hobble off but no she wasn’t having  it, I was cornered in the frozen food section and subjected to her spraying frenzy until her desire to humiliate me wore off which took a long time coming. Please note this was a rather large supermarket in Liverpool  people just carried on their normal shopping without batting an eyelid and after confiding in my neice she told me that her mum is a regular and the shoppers are quite used to her antics !!!!

Well thats all from me, it’s Easter this weekend here in Greece the weather is awful but maybe just as well as I have been confined to bed.

Take care

Marie

Hello to one and all

Time for a new challenge over at Less is More this week and what do those crafty ladies have in store for us…….

White space but not  WHITE 

Well I’m hoping that this fits the bill  although the image covers a large part of the card the colours are limited and the design simple, I stand to be corrected if this doesn’t fit the criteria.

The black outline and frame is cut with the Cameo , I did a bit of jiggery pokery with my compound paths releasing them and filling in the blanks as it were with red and blue then printing on to acetate. I then lay the black frame and flowers on top and added a touch of foam underneath to give dimension. It’s quite a tricky and painstaking process but I love the effect especially if you use acetate as you can see the shadow of the flower if you look carefully. Its a bit of a bugger to photograph though and it took me ages to get a piccie without my ugly mug staring back at me !

Here’s another using the same technique which fits perfectly with the Inkspirational Challenge theme this week.

Do pop over to Less is More  and Inkspirational to see the amazing and inspirational cards from the DT’s and both galleries are  choc o block  full of fabulousness.

Take care

Marie

Hello one and all

Yes it’s April fools day today , have you been pranked yet ? I was first thing in the morning by my lovely sister can’t say what the prank was but she got me fair and square.

To celebrate today the cheeky but talented Darnell of djkardkreative is asking us to share our ” oopsie – boopsies for all the world to see and do I have one for you, oh yes I do.

This is especially poignant as I’m sharing a card that I entered into a challenge at Less is More a few years back and didn’t realise my mistake until I got the comments and it was too late to change it.I was absolutely mortified at the time but it didn’t stop me from entering their challenges.Why so poignant  well…….today I just learned that I was showcased at LIM for their “Whats outside your window ”  challenge so I’m embarrassed to post this but also happy at the same time.

Can you spot the mistake ? of course you can, I can only attribute my mistake to bloggers blindness !

Do pop over and join in this wonderful and fun challenge its a one day only affair so come on I dare you …..

Take care

Marie

Hello one and all.

I was so excited and a little overwhelmed to have won the Fantastic Plastic challenge at City Crafter a few weeks ago my prize being guest designer for their latest challenge

Cloud Nine

I love to make shadow boxes and that immediately came to mind when I saw the inspiration photo.

I used a small Ribba frame from IKEA as the base , the clouds were cut with my Cameo using vellum,acetate and card, some were coloured with Pan Pastels and some were printed. The angel and the outer black frame were also cut with my Cameo. I didn’t like the shape of the frame so made my own and adhered it to the front this part actually took me longer than making the rest of the inserts !

If you would like to see a tutorial on how I made something similar you can see it here there are lots of photos to help guide you through

This is what it looks light lit from behind I have it on a shelf in my craft room lit with a strip light also from IKEA.

Here’s another interpretation of the theme in card form this time

I made a mask with some of the leftover clouds from the shadow box and used Pan Pastels to make the clouds both blue and pink, yes I have pink clouds where I live. The robot is Hero arts with a touch of glossy accents the sentiment stitched border and rocket are all from my darling Cameo.

I see that CASolgy has another great theme for this week

So I’m entering my shadow box

I do hope you will join us at City Crafter this week the DT has once again produced some amazing art to inspire us all and I look forward to seeing your wonderful projects

Wishing you all a fabulous day

Take care

Marie

Hello to one and all from sunny Thessaloniki !

The sun is out the sky is blue  and its time for another challenge over at Less is More

What’s outside your window

WASHING !!!!!!!

I was sitting in the kitchen at the time and that was my view but I couldn’t find anything washing related so I went for the next best thing.

The pets !

Actually I don’t own a cat but I do have three doglets who are often on the other side of the glass especially on lovely warm days like today.

I don’t have much of a view from my apartment but thought I would share a view from my summer home……roll on summer

This is Molly and Bailey , Rosy the porker was feeling a little camera shy today and refused to co-operate .

Super simple card although I did have to cut those blinds several times to get them the way I wanted , curtesy of my darling Cameo of course.

Do pop over to Less is More as once again the DT have worked its magic lots of wonderful inspiration.

Right I’m off to get that washing in its really spoiling the view !

Have a wonderful weekend

Take care

Marie

Hello to one and all !

There’s been lots to celebrate at “The Pap” residence of late hence the quietness of my blog. First off being showcased at Less is More for their texture challenge, big shock for me  and it was one of those picking yourself off the floor moments, I’m glad to say no damage was done (to the floor) !

Another reason to partay  was at the weekend Mr P and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary . We had three wonderful days away with friends in the mountains in Zagori Greece where we visited the highest gorge in the world. Unfortunately the weather was rather inclement to say the least a blown out tyre and having to be rescued and brought home plus four new tyres didn’t manage to bring us down. We still managed to have a ball it was definitely a trip to remember

Here’s me being all coy at lovely village called Papigo.

We had to get up this road in order for me to be all coy ( and have lunch ) in the above photo

This is a photo of the Bikos river at the foot of the gorge couldn’t believe the colour !

Now being the bad crafter I am I’m always late with cards for family members and I was really stumped making a card for Mr P . I wanted something simple I made two cards and took them with me in the hope that I would choose one whilst I was away , as it turned out I didn’t like either of them so the poor man didn’t get one !!!! how bad am I !!!

Having said that upon my return I saw that CASology’s cue card was DOODLE and that gave me an idea

Two doodled owls popped up on foam and a doodle border. The sentiment sums up exactly  how I feel about my man, who would have thought that a holiday romance could last all of these years !

Here’s another I made with the help of my Cameo and a piece of bevelled glass.

Please do pop over to CASology as always the DT have created some amazing and inspiring cards for your delectation .If you’ve gotten this far and I hope you have I just wanted to share some ” proper ” doodling by my son Alexi he did this whilst he was watching a movie using my supplies.

Well thats all from me wishing you all a wondeful day

Take care

Marie

Hello to one and all

I’m doing a happy limp today, should have been a happy dance but I ran 12 km last night and the old calf muscles won’t allow me to boogie.

The reason for the happy limp is that I won at City Crafters for their Fantastic Plastic challenge , winning feels really good especially as I’ve not been back blogging that long, what can I say those ladies obviously have great taste !

Another reason for the jigging about is that a fantastic new challenge has started run by Silhouette UK and for those of you who know me know  how much I love my Cameo you can understand my joy. The new DT has just been announced and  what a talented gaggle of gorgeous girls they are ( try saying that after a few Gin and tonics )

To cut a long story short the card I’ve made ( yes there is a card to follow ) fits very nicely thank you very much into both challenges, mainly because I made it fit !

Silhouette are asking us to use the above image which just so happens to be a free one and can be found over at the Silhouette store.

City Crafters want us to use Polka Dots

Finally my card

I used the image to cut the top layer of black card, then went back into the design released the compound path and filled in the empty space with patterned paper from my Cameo fill box, printed that out and cut just around the edge of the flower to give me a base, I used double sided foam to pop it up and inserted the printed flower back into the negative space. Clear as mud so far……….

The Black outline of the flower was placed over the top and I added a button to hold the whole thing together, the sentiment is also from the Silhouette store. I do hope you will pop over to Silhouette UK and to City Crafters both DT’s have amazing and inspirational projects for your delectation.

Right that’s all from me I can hear my bread burning in the oven.

Take care

Marie

Hello lovely ladies and gents.

For the last ten days I’ve been unable to take part in any challenges or upload photos from my i devices , some sort of conspiracy  between the so and so’s ! For some reason ipad, iMac and even the most reliable Macbook have refused to play ball, well actually I snapped the charger on my Macbook and there was no replacement to be found ! It was Something to do with my photo programme it’s been such a nuisance as there were so many challenges I had cards for and I couldn’t play along dag nabit ! and other such superlatives.

I really wanted to take part in the last couple of challenges at Less is More especially for their 5th birthday and for their one layer challenge. Now one layer cards are not my forte and I did struggle but I made one ,  could I upload the photo ,  no siree , I tried and tried and I nearly cried in the end but to no avail.

Third time’s a charm and as this week’s theme is Texture , the arrival of my brand new embossing folders from WRMK were just the ticket.

I was inspired to make this card by the fabulous Kristina Werner who had made some cards using the WRMK next level embossing folders and watercolours I immediately ordered the folders and I wasn’t disappointed so thanks Kristina .

I used Pan Pastels on Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed card using a sponge to get the effect I desired and then whipped it through the old Fiskers Fuse. Spellbinders card creator dies were used to create the frame  which I popped up with foam to give dimension and as I used the negative space I’m entering this into the City Crafter challenge who are asking us to use the negative space from our dies. The feather was cut with my cameo.

I was so impressed with the dimension achieved with these embossing folders that you’ll  be seeing a lot of cards using them over the next few weeks , the results using leather were particularly effective but didn’t photograph too well on this miserable sunday here in Greece.

Do pop over to Less is More and City Crafter two great challenges with super makes from the DT’s and lots of lovely cards in their galleries .

Wishing you all a beautiful day today.

take care

Marie