It's Wild and It's Wacky and There's a Bloody Great Big Pink Parrot Sitting in a Flower Pot, But I Think I Like It

Hello Nomad friends and welcome to the last day of February 2013.  Gosh, already?  What do you think of the title?  I was wondering how many words blogger would accept but he seems like a very accommodating fellow.  Maybe one day I'll see if I can do a whole post in the header.  Ha ha.  Gosh, crafting all day has put me in a very strange state of mind.  Feeling a bit wachy myself.  Been working on a project and I wonder if it is inspirational art or just out of control.  I blame it on the bird.  How can you concentrate when confronted by a big pink parrot.  Something is still missing one feels.  Needs some more to pull it all together.  Hey Tim, I really think you should have called it Pickled Raspberry rather than Picked Raspberry cos my fingers sure do look pickled right now.  

Anyway, enough jollity.  On to the serious stuff.   I really wanted to join the Crafty Individuals challenge but got sidetracked over to PaperArtsy.  Suzanne Czosek had a fun tutorial there and I thought well I don't have any of those stamps but I have a load of CI stamps.  So I made a sheet of background based on Suzanne's tutorial and CI stamps.  No, sorry I didn't get a photo of the sheet before I attacked it.  You only get to see the finished project.  Sorry about that.  Note to self, take photo's as you go along.

I know what you're thinking.   It's that bird again.  But really it's not.  It's his bruvver.  OK, so I had some of that shocking drippy splatty card left and since the background looked like it was shaping up to be a hint of pink I thought I would wheel him out again.   Talking of wheels...........

This is a ribbon rosette I made as per S.W.A.T. training, except I used 5cm wide ribbon with red cows on it.  And the Picked Raspberry got a bit out of control at this point which is why my fingers now look like they have been boiled!   The metal dingsen is from Korthobby and the leaves are Prima Marketing. 

 

I have used 5 different CI stamps including 293 and 310.  Sorry don't know the numbers of the others, a baby urn, the row of faces or the swirl (which isn't really visible behind my tree thingy).  The background was stamped using Memento London Fog and Tuxedo Black and Distress P. Raspberry.  For the deep pink paper see this post.  The bird is PaperArtsy Ding and Dong. 

What is it, I hear you ask.  It's a picture.  I cut a chipboard frame and used a sheet from CI Travels in Italy Background Paper Book.   It's a bit strange but it might grow on you.  It's for my friend.   Hopefully she will like the wackyness of it all.  

Ah well.  Oh yes, entering this for
Crafty Individuals - February Challenge
PaperArtsy
Simon says Stamp - Anything Goes

Oh, I hope this make some sort of sense.  It's very late but tomorrow, I mean later is a busy day so I'm trying to get ahead.  Miracles happen.  Have a great day everyone.  Stay warm and craft away.  Thanks for dropping by.

Skateboy

Hi friends, followers and blogland surfers.  A very quick post on a card for the male sector.

I've used arrow paper from Papermania.  I covered a chipboard frame with wallpaper and backed it with patterned paper.  The skateboy is paper pieced using a sizzlit die.  The Gratulerer is stamped and mounted on sticky pads.  It's the picture that is squiffy.  Maybe I should try and get a better one. 

Sorry it's quick but I got distracted with a package and forgot I wanted to enter this in to The Simon Says  Stamp Challenge

Entering for
Simon Says Stamp - Use an Arrow
Cards Galore Challenge - One for the Men
Craft-room Challenge - Something for a Man
Kort o Mania - Guttaboyz

Have a lovely day everyone.  Thanks for dropping by.  

Oh Christmas Tree....

Good evening Crafty folk.  Hope the day is going smoothly and you have had time to do the things that needed doing and also some of the things you wanted to do.  It was another lovely sunny day.  Maybe this is becoming a bit boring for you but I feel sun starved so must take advantage.  I joke that I am solar powered.  I always seem to have so much more energy when it's sunny.  We went for a walk up the mountain today and took some pictures of the frozen fjord from an elevated viewpoint.  Glorious.   Lots of ice still underfoot so maybe this post isn't so unseasonal as it first appears.

The end of the month is looming, gosh there went February!!  There are still a few challenges I want to join in with but couldn't seem to get one project focused in my mind, or in reality.  Whilst digging through the stamps I spotted some christmas trees and decided to sort out cards for the Creative Craft World Challenge Beat the Christmas Rush.  They are inspiring us to make a few Christmas cards every month so as to have a handy little stash in time for the big event.  Great idea

This is a mega simple card.  The thing which took me most time was the actually base card shape.  The fold has to be at an angle!!  I used Brush Stroke Tree from Rubber Stampede and squiggle tree stamp with no name.  The God Jul, which is Merry Christmas in Norwegian was another unnamed stamp.  The straw decorations were purchased in a pack from Ikea I think.  I quite liked this so I made a forest....

 

Running total for year - 7


Entering these for Creative Craft World Beat the Christmas Rush - February

Have a happy evening and thanks for dropping by.  Followers, don't forget to check out my Looking into the Love Boat post if you haven't already, for a chance at a little thank you for your support.  The hares dance soon.....

Feeling Springy

Hello and a Happy Sunny Sunday to you all.  I have been out in the garden watching the chicken again and doing a bit of tidying.  I said a bit!  The man went fishing.  The good news is fish were caught.  The bad news is only mackerel were biting today.  It's OK, but not my favourite, and we have eaten a few mackerel dinners recently.  Then again it's impolite to complain when nature provides.  I just wish she provided more Cod!! 

The Cheery Lynn dies have had another outing today.  I was waiting on a package which has a new one in it but the postman hasn't delivered it yet.  Hoping it comes soon.  It's always so nice to get a package.  So I been working with my old favourites to make a shaped card.  The challenge is anything but a square.  So I went round.  Actually it's round for posting but turns into a right little rocker for display.

Looking at the colours maybe it's a bit more summer than spring.   I cut a 13cm circle from Basic Grey sheet Col-389 Discovery and folded it in half to make the rocker base.  I cut some orange gitter card with Cheery Lynn Spring Flower Burst doily and cut out the centre.  I stuck this on the card and added some punched paper flowers at the bottom.  I used some of the card I had left over from yesterdays colouring experiments (for details see yesterdays post) and cut lots of butterflies using Cheery Lynn mini dimensional butterfly die.  Butterflies all over.

This folds flat for sending and looks quite nice like that as well but I have designed it to rock and give a nice effect of flying butterflies.  I hope!

Entering this for
Cheery Lynn Design Challenge - A shaped card
Basic Grey Challenge 88 - Anything Goes (Basic Grey Col-389 Discovery)

Have a great evening everyone.  Thanks for dropping by.   Your comments are the sprinkles on my cupcakes. 

Phoenix or Flamingo

Greetings Nomad friends.  Hope you are all having a crafty good weekend.  I was hoping my man was going to go and fish today but he didn't.  A nice bit of fresh fish would go down a treat.  I must admit to being a very bad fisherperson.  It's OK when I catch something but there is nothing more disheartening than sitting in a boat, or on the ice as it would be at the moment seeing as the fjord is frozen, and not catching anything.  Maybe it's a man thing.  They seem to delight in sitting for hours waiting for a bite.  I am probably too impatient.  It is quite nice lying on the ice and listening to the pops and groans as it shifts up and down with the waves.  A bit scary the first time but pretty amazing.  Ah well, unless they are biting I would rather be crafting.

Have you checked out the PaperArtsy blog?  Some lovely work being done by the DT over there.  I have been very inspired by Linda Cain and have based this tag on her tutorial.   Linda, thanks for sharing that it's OK to make mistakes.  Everyone blogs their best so it's reassuring to know that we are all making mistakes, but hopefully happy ones.

I coloured my tag with Distress Inks Barn Door and Picked Raspberry then spritzed it with water.  For my first attempts my spray was too course and I ended up washing out my inks.  So I took Linda's advice and flicked water off of my fingers.  Then I did a bit of splatting with white paint.  My splats were small and irregular, not the nice round splats Linda had but I'm not starting again now.  Note to self, work on your splats.  Then I stamped with PaperArtsy Ding & Dong SIDD5.  I used the bird and also some of the scrolls from this set.

 
My white pen obviously wasn't the right sort because it didn't want to play with the distress inks.  So I resorted to Winsor and Newton white ink and my glass pen.   Any suggestions on the brand/type of white pen needed to give a nice sharp doodle gratefully received.

I added a bow, a Tando Creative key from their mini grab bag which I had sprayed with gold ink and some computer generated words.

I used a preprinted chipboard heart washer and some pink and black fancy fringe for the tie.  I added some gold blending filament as well but it's a bit stiff so happy with the colour but not the overallness of my tie.  I backed the tag with a layer of black card and did some faux stitches (Linda inspired). 

So Phoenix or Flamingo?

Entering this for
PaperArtsy Challenge
Tando Creative Challenge - Love, love me do used a Tando mini key
That Craft Place - Valentines
Kortgleder - Alt er Lov
Craft-room Challenge - Something for a man  Well, I know it's pink but I made it with a man in mind.  Why can't it be pink?  This is love after all.  Hot, hot, hot. 

Thanks for dropping by.  Have a great weekend and may all your mistakes be happy ones. 

Scrapping my Dictionary!

Hi blog friends.  Another lovely sunny day, but cold.  Brrrrr.  It didn't get much over 0°C and as soon as the sun went behind the mountains the temperature dropped fast.  I realise you are viewing this from your own part of the globe and it may be warmer/colder where you are but quite honestly I am ready for spring.  Actually found a clump of snowdrops in flower in a sheltered spot.  How do they do that??  The ground is frozen solid, has been for months, but they have pushed through and even decided to bloom!!   Plants are amazing.

Blogging my latest addition to to The Alpha Challenge over at the Craft Barn.  This week we are on H.  Until a couple of hours ago I was firmly convinced that H is for Horse/Hest.  Then, despite a helpful drawing supplied by my man, I realised I didn't have anything horsey that wanted to cooperate with my format.  Then I tried H is for hamster.  I am sure they are hamsters in Norwegian as well!  Nope.  Uh, uh, uh........

How silly I am.  Of course.  H is for hen/høns.  Oops, bit of digisquawk for the non-Scandanavian keyboards.   Using one of those funny letters.  Once decided I just had to pick a good photo and chicken to the rescue.....

 Meet one of the first hens I ever had.  This is Mrs Greengrass (don't ask, the names my chickens get are often strange but the reason is usually so mundane as to be boring).  I remember taking this photo and as I was focusing she was getting closer and closer.  They are such curious things.  So I have clipped her out and mounted her on 15 x 15cm My Minds Eye cardstock with a circle cut from a piece of IKEA fabric.  Definition from Wikipeadia, letters cut using Ida Lou's Flowerbox Sizzix alphabet dies.

She was a bit of a star that hen.  If you have ever kept hens you probably understand.  If you have never kept hens then you are missing out. 

Anyway, that's it for tonight.  Have a good one and keep warm and safe. 

This is for The Alpha Challenge

Love Bird

Hello blog friends.  Hope the day is going well for you.  I have been having a go at some colour techniques as shown by Roni.  Roni shared a whole host of fab techniques in January and I decided it was about time I gave it a go.  I chose the tissue paper technique.  Take some tissue paper, scrunch it up, stick it to some card but make sure you don't flatten out all the lovely crinkles, then ink it up and add a bit of sparkle.  I decided if you are going to give it a go go BIG.  Here's my finished sheet....

This shows the colours and texture.  I used various distress inks and then rubbed some silver ink over the crinkles.  It's quite blingy and a bit difficult to photograph.

I have a PaperArtsy stamp, Ding and Dong SIDD5.  Over at the PaperArtsy blog the challenge is a recipe.  Linda Cain has been inspiring us to stamp on all sorts of things so I decided to use my stamp on wood.   

What's that then??  It's a coil of wood which is the by product when you turn a wooden reel.  Like a cotton reel.  I got this many years ago after a visit to one of the only remaining factories making wooden reels.  See, we use it all eventually. 

I wanted some text so I stamped Hampton Art's I Love Thee KK2619 and then the PaperArtsy bird from SIDD5, both with Memento Tuxedo Black.  Then I backed it with black card and mounted the whole thing on a card made from my favourite Basic Grey card Curio Victoria cur-3025.    Both sides of this card are great but I used the less patterned side for this card. 

The Basic Grey card has some nice textural effects printed on and I love the way the colour grades, but that's not so obvious in the picture. 

Entering this for

PaperArtsy Challenge

BasicGrey Challenges - Your Favourite (favourite Basic Grey card and a favourite stamp)

Artful Times Challenge 23 - Colour Technique

Stamping Sensations - Fur and Feather 

Stampotique Designers Challenge - Use Text

Thanks for dropping by.  Happy hopping......

It Was a Lovely Sunny Day......

Hello Nomad friends, followers and passers by.  It really was a lovely sunny day today.  Very springy.  The ice was melting nicely but with the ground still frozen that gave rise to lots of puddles.  So I decided to let the silly birds out of their wet garden into the big wide world.  The big wide world is wet as well but there is more of it and much more fun for them.  Then I spent about an hour sitting in the sun watching the chickens doing their thing.  It was a bit decadent.  I rarely just sit.  Always so much to do.  As I was sitting there I kept thinking of things I should be doing but it has been so long since such a day has presented itself I decided I owed it to myself, and my vitamin D levels, to take the time to just relax and enjoy.  Bliss and delight. 

Here's a picture of my cockerel Ninja and some of his girls.....

 

What do you mean you dropped in for the crafting?!!  Well OK then.  After relaxing we must do a little work.  

I've been making ............ Christmas cards.  Yeah.  Over at Creative Craft World they have this idea that if we make a card or two every month then we will have a little stash ready for the big day.   Well, it's so nice someone wants to help me get organised so count me in.  

I designed a snowman.  The snowman was fussy cut  from hammered card and the nose, eyes, scarf and hat from various papers and card.  I think this hat is coconut paper.  Great texture.   I mounted the snowman on blue card and added some snowflake confetti. 

So pleased with my creativity I made another with slightly different papers...

 

Usually I make editions of one but I made an exception here.  So that's my snow pair.  Off to a start.  Not a huge start but a start.  

Want to join the fun?  Beat the Christmas Rush

Hope you have had a great day.  Thanks for dropping by.  Merry Merry Ho Ho Ho

February 2013

Hello hello Nomad friends.  I am working on The 12 Tags of 2013 which as most of you will surely know are inspired and steered along by Tim Holtz.  This is my first year joining this long running challenge and last month I had great fun.  Really enjoyed the challenge and the inspiration.  This month Tim used lots of exciting products of which I had...... almost none!!!   Oh woe is me for I must improvise.  But then again that is something that Mr Holtz suggests.  To quote.....

" it’s important to remember you can customize many of the embellishments you already have for projects you’re working on – always think outside the box"

OK, definitely off my box.  Here we go.......

I decided to use the same type of kraft card tag I cut last month, for a bit of continuity.  I coloured it with Distress Ink Barn Door and Picked Raspberry, distressed the card edges and inked with Walnut Stain.  Tim used kraft core but I didn't have that so I inked some kraft card with Memento Tuxedo Black, embossed with the Patchwork embossing folder, sanded, tore and mounted. 

My central embellishment is a piece of pine tree bark with a heart cut using Framelits scalloped hearts and embossed with the patchwork embossing folder.  I wrapped around with some decorative wire I had. 

I made the embellishments using metal frames from Korthobby.  The pictures are from the new Papermania Chronology set.  I covered them with glossy accents.   The hand and wheel is cut out from the same papers.

Tim used paper tape to make his tag tie but I didn't have any suitable so I resorted to last months solution.  Some torn cotton fabric, scrunched and vaguely coloured with Barn Door and then stamped with Walnut Stain using Hampton Art Stamp KK2619 I Love Thee.  I realised I should have stamped the tag with this as well before I started sticking everything on.  Hindsight is a wonderful thing.   I used a little chipboard dingsen that was printed with hearts around the tag hole and tied the stamped fabric through.    

Entering this for

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2013 - February
Creative Craft World Mini-Challenge - Use Kraft
Simon says Stamp and Show - Metal-ology

Happy crafting everyone.  Thanks for dropping by.  

Looking into the Love Boat

Hello, hello, it's me again.  Trying to catch up after last nights hitch and taking advantage while the crafting mo-jo is upon me.   I don't really do Valentines.  Not such a hearts and red person.  But it's that time of year.  There are a lot of fun challenges out there that want a bit of love from us so I have put together this little guy.  He's on the outside looking in and hoping for a bit of loving........

 

Over at CASology the want to see some red and Meghan's fish card reminded me that I had this cute stamp that I hadn't used in a while.  Actually, I think it took me longer to find the stamp than to make the card!   Is this a sign I have too many stamps (ooh, I heard lots of no, no, no, can't ever have too many stamps etc etc), or maybe just that I am disorganised?  Yes, definitely that.  If you look up messy in the dictionary I am sure my name will be part of the definition.  Only kidding.  Just.  Simon Says Stamp and Show have challenged us to be messy.  That's me.  I am great at making a mess.  Not so good at the clearing up.  But I also managed to get covered in Distress Ink Barn Door when inking up my background so hopefully that's messy enough.  I don't have a valentines embossing folder but I did have a pack of Design Objectives pre-embossed white cards so I just went a bit crazy with the old Barn Door and got a lovely red background.  And fingers.  And everywhere!!

 

I stamped the fish using All Night Media stamp 379D.  I have had this forever.  Well OK, a long time.  Then to make the porthole effect I cut a circle out of foiled card and added some gem stickers as rivets.   A hint of a tint on his lips and he's ready and waiting for some loving to come his way.    

Entering this for

CASology - Red

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Something Messy

EmergencyCrafters - Romance

Artful Times Challenge 23 - Colour

That Craft Place - Valentine 

TO MY FOLLOWERS.  Thanks for being with me.  I now have a happy band of 13 so......  I don't got much but I do have a Crafty Individuals Birdcage Mask that I will send to one of my lucky 13.   If you would like it please leave a comment on this post before the Mad Hares dance telling what you think about the number 13.  You can say something about my fish as well if you like.  Ha ha.  I will pick one name to receive this modest but lovely crafting essential.  Thanks for following. 

Have a great evening everyone.  Happy Happy Ho Ho Ho

Tick Tock

Well hello again and a special welcome to my new follower.  This was made and all ready to blog yesterday and then the PC threw a fit and wouldn't connect to the internet!  Arggggg.......  Personally I was going to throw it out the window but my man offered to have a look and after many more hours than I would have given it he's got me up and running again.  Something about broken or missing drivers!!  It's all beyond me.  I just want to sit down and everything work.  Sometimes I think technology was invented by the man with the horns and the pointy tail.  I did have a plan to try and make and blog a new creation everyday for a week.  Obviously even that was too adventurous a goal.  Oh well, reset to Day 1........

So here's a little something I put together using Bazill Bling, my favourite Cheery Lynn die and some of the new Design Objectives range.  

The challenge at Cheery Lynn at the moment is to include a frame.  I've used the Cheery Lynn Spring Flower Burst Die.  I cut the center piece out of the doily and this make a reappearance lower down the design.  I have been playing again with the DOcrafts build a scene balloons and also one of their Lace dies, this one is Maureen.  I cut this from yellow card which I rubbed my Memento London Fog ink pad over to give me a colour difference for when I did the folds.  Then I mounted a bottle cap which I had cut out a clock face and then filled with glossy accents.  When I started looking for a card to put this one I got the idea for a carriage clock sort of arrangement.  So I cut the Bazzill Bling with an arch top and the aperture using Sizzix Framelits Scallop Rectangle.  I used the same die to cut the mirror card frame.  I backed the aperature with some card embossed using DOcrafts triboss cog folder and coloured with ink.  Then mounted the inner piece of the Cheery Lynn doily that I cut out earlier.  I thought it looked kind of coggy, or maybe like a pendulum.  Fun fun.  Some Craft Creations gold label stickers to finish.

Must admit I'm not happy with the photo.  A grey day and the bling is a challenge but say La Doo Da.  I'm happy with how the actually card looks so that's the thing.  Maybe I'll try to get another photo, but it's another grey day here so maybe that's the best it will be NoMad friends. 

Entering this for

Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 67 - Frame it

Craft-room Challenge - Handmade Embellishments (I made the bottle cap clockface)

Delightful Challenges - Frilly

Thanks for dropping by.  Hope you have a great day.  If I get really organised I might be back again later.  Best laid plans and all that......

Way Down Deep in the Middle of the Jungle....

Hello, hello.  Have you heard about all the fun we are having over at The Craft Barn with the Alpha Challenge.  Give me an F, give me a U give me an N yeah........FUN.  OK, got that out of the system.   So this week it's E.  For me with my animal alphabet in English and Norwegian I chose elephant/elefanter....

 

For the background on the My Minds Eye cardstock I used Tando Bamboo mask with Distress Inks Walnut Stain, Mowed Lawn and Shabby Shutters.  The elephant is Sizzix original diecut coloured using Distress Inks Salty Ocean and Pickled Raspberry and Tando Leaves mask.   The elephant was floating around a bit so I decided to stand it on the definition.  

 

Did you know elephants closest living relatives are dugongs and hyraxes?!!  Wild.   See, fun and educational. 

 

How many psychedelic elephants have you seen?? 

This is for The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - E 

Have a great evening.  Thanks for dropping by. 

Maiden Flight of the Double Duck

God kveld Nomad friends.  Welcome, welcome to another exciting chapter of No Madness.  You know, or maybe you don't, but 2013 has been a little difficult so far.  Hopefully now the Snake has arrived we can expect better things.  They say you will never be hungry with a Snake in the house, so we can at least expect lots of cake.  Other good things as well, but definitely cake.

Today I needed to rustle up a card for my brother.  Needless to say, this isn't it.  The need to create did shift a few stuck cogs.  I now have a couple of things finished that I had started and ground to a halt with.  Since I don't need to share it all in one go that will give me some breathing room.  Today I want to unveil the 'Double Duck'........

 Yes, I know, hot air balloons are supposed to be pretty colours, but the Joanna Sheen challenge is black and white, and since these brand new create a scene dies from Docrafts have just come into my possession I felt a monocrome attempt was worth a go.   Not bad, not bad.  Actually this was quite fun because once I had pieced my balloon from various cards and papers I started thinking about the background.  I decided to emboss and then colour with an ink pad.  Since white ink appears to be difficult to get hold of it's white card with a swipe of Memento Tuxedo Black.  I embossed using Spellbinders Sea Beauty m-bossibilities folder.  Shells in the sky, why not??.  The hemp texture card I embossed warped a bit so I cut the panel out and mounted it on some chipboard to give the card a bit more dimension.  This is so not obvious from the photograph.  Ah, the joys of photogiraffing.

I thought it needed a bit of bling.  My stash is a bit short on the all white but I did find a sheet of assorted snowflake stickers.  Perfecto.  I always think of black and white as winter colours, as snow always makes such a contrast with everything, so a few snowflakes fit.  So that makes it Flight of the Snow Duck Duck.  A couple of birds in the sky, a couple of tiny duck stickers on the flag, some computer generated words with some doodles to finish and it's all ready to send and wish someone, and everyone, a very happy day.

I am entering this for
Joanna Sheen Challenge - Black and White
Cards Galore Challenges - One for the Men
Hjerteboden Utfordring 2 - Vinter og Snø

Wishing you all a happy and inspirational evening.  Thanks for dropping by.

Just a Little Hello

Hello Nomad friends.  So glad you took the time to drop by.  Too much been happening recently.  No time to step back, think and reset.  Thank the universe for craft.  Time to lose yourself and let the super-concious work it all out.  Just a little ATC, what other type is there??, for the Artful Times Challenge.  Happy New Year of the Snake and the challenge was something Asian.  So I went here....

 

The base is a red handmade paper with embossed reptile pattern.  Well, I don't know!, that's what it looks like!!   Crocodile Nile.  Anyway, I had some asian print vellum which I painted the back with white acylic.  It seemed like a good idea to bring the colour of the vellum out but it curls like crazy!!  Has anyone else tried that?  If you are thinking about it just to let you know it curls like crazy!!  Got a bit of white transfer to the front but maybe that's a happy mistake.  I liked it.  Then I added a decoupaged lotus flower and some beady embellishments I purchased in my former life from The Range.  The end.  

Entering this for

Artful Times Challenge 22 - Happy New Year

Fun with ATC's Challenge 81 - Something Red

Have a great evening.  If you like it leave me a little comment.  They are smiles in my day.  Thanks for dropping by. 

Ode to Spring

Hi Nomad friends.  It was a lovely sunny day today but very cold.  Crispy underfoot.  Despite that the rabbits seem to think it's time to be doing springy things, running around a lot and making sure who the boss is.  I think they are a bit early but maybe they know something I don't.  Entirely possible as the little brain cell is feeling very challenged at the moment.  I did have the urge to be out in the garden and do something but since the ground is frozen and there is ice everywhere I just took a wistful look and went back indoors.  I did manage to do something useful inside and put this little creation together for the Cheery Lynn Challenge

I decided to make a diamond fold card.  It seems to be in the spring mood as well since I had trouble getting it to stay shut to take a before photo.  At least it will be impressive when it explodes from the envelope.......

Open ..........

and some detail...........

I used My Minds Eye double sided cardstock, mirror card, + other card and paper
Cheery Lynn Hummingbird, Mini Dimensional Butterflies, Spring Flower Burst Doily
Sizzix Flowers and Vine #3
Xcut small flower punch and brads

Entering this for
Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 66 - Add a Flourish
Scraphaugen Februar
Ett Trykk - Trykkpressa Februar

Thanks for dropping by.  Keep warm, keep well, be happy and craft away......

Humming is Good For You

Hello Nomad friends and a special hello to my new followers.  Woke to a sprinkle of the white stuff this morning.  Pretty, but the chickens are never impressed when the ground is the wrong colour.  A bit chilly for little chicken feet as well.  

I've been working on a project for few challenges.  Cheery Lynn want something pink, Joanna Sheen has a 3-2-1 recipe and Korthobby have a sketch challenge.  I've used Cheery Lynn's Spring Flower Burst Doily and Hummingbird dies.  I cut the doily three times out of two different My Minds Eye cardstocks.  I turned the doily and stuck it in the aperture, then cut and layered the other two doilies on sticky pads.  I tore the edges of the paper and then using more sticky pads mounted it third piece of My Minds Eye cardstock.  

The centre image is rose dome sticker (difficult to see in the photograph).  The hummingbird was cut from texture card and coloured with distress inks then mounted with more sticky pads.  I finished with metal embellishments from Korthobby.  

Entering this for
Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 65 - Tickled Pink
Korthobbyutfordring - Skisse
Joanna Sheen Challenge - 3-2-1 
Ett Trykk Februar - Doily  

 Hope your weekend is going well.  Be safe, be warm, be crafty. 

Howl if you like

Hello Nomad friends.  It's another chilly day so best to stay in and keep cuddly warm.  I have been working on 'C' for The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge.   Yet another project that started one way and ended another.  Is it just me?  Anyway, today C is for Coyote/Coyot (that's Norwegian for coyote in case you were wondering). 

'C' presents difficulties in Norwegian, as the other Scandinavian players have said.  Most 'C' words start with 'K' so not too many animals to choose from.  I picked coyote and had a vision of my page with a howling coyote silhouette.   As you can see the finished article is a little different from the initial idea......

 

I found a picture of a howling coyote on the net and printed it out.  Then I overlayed it with some acetate, drew the outline and cut it out.  Now I have a coyote stencil.  Excellent.  Then I thought it was a pity to cover up this lovely pattern on the My Minds Eye cardstock so I decided to have a go at some Zentangles.  OK, so it's a bit covered up!!  I came across these a few months ago and thought they looked fab and maybe something I would like to have a go at.  This is my first attempt.  The last thing I did was stick on the word definition.  I should have put that on earlier and then I could have incorporated it into the zentangles instead of just sticking it on top.  Too late to redo the whole thing now, so this is C for coyote.  

 

 

I have used My Minds Eye cardstock, Sizzix Ida Lou's Flowerbox alphabet and a black pen.  I got the zentangle patterns from Zentangle, with a little improvisation. 

This is for The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - C

Have a great weekend everyone.  Happy crafting.