Out of the Closet

Hi Nomad friends.  This week I realised that I have been hiding in the desert for too long.  I must out and make myself known.  Twice this week I have been addressed as Iona.  Now, I think that's a great name.  I have no problems with that but it did make me realise that my profile is verging on the non-existant.  I am going to own up and stand tall.  Check it out.   Maybe I'll go wild and include a photo. 

OK, so a while ago Von over at Artful Times challenged us to use at least two embossing folders.  Now I was all excited cos I love embossing folders.  They are my friends and make me look good.  That said, it was the New Year and I was all excited about a lot of things so I am only just answering the call.   Hi Von.......

I made a pair of tags.  I am so pleased with my new embossing folder Spellbinders M-Bossibilities Sea Beauty.  I used both sides.  I embossed some white card then used Sizzix Framelit Die Frame Ironwork to cut my tags.  This is pointed both ends so I cut the bottom square.   Then I fussy cut the shell shapes and die cut the seahorses with Sizzix original die.  I coloured with Distress Inks - Broken China, Pine Needles, Shabby Shutters and with Brilliance Dew Drop Rocket Red.  Brum brum.  The weeds in the background are Sizzix Flowers and Vines #3 which I embossed with Sizzix embossing folder Regal Flourishes and coloured with Shabby Shutters.   On the seahorse tag the RHS shell and the front seahorse are mounted on sticky pads.  The LHS shell on the second tag is also on sticky pads.  I was working on fish but couldn't find any that seemed to fit and then whilst looking through Crafty Individuals background book Seaside I found this perfect quote.  Happy dance.  I finished the tags with a clump of wool, embroidery thread and gold thread which I thought looked kind of like seaweed rising through the water.  Too much poetic blurb?  

I am entering these for Artful Times Challenge 20 - Embossing

I have doubled checked my spellings but please forgive any errors.  My new computer and I aren't quite seeing eye 2 eye.  I hit the keys but the letters don't always come up, or I get doubles.  I think the mouse pad is more sensitive as well cos occassionally I end up typing half way up the page so maybe I am brushing against it accidentally.  Or maybe the machines are trying to take over the world.

Take care friends.  Off to add a bit to my profile.  Maybe at least a name.  Don't want to get too carried away. 

Many Shades of White

Good evening blog friends.   Just a quick post for a card inspired by Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge Blog where the challenge is Winter Whites.  So I pulled out a selection of white card and paper and discovered that it's all relative.  There are many shades of white.  I decided winter white was bright white and shades into the blue, although it's a challenge in itself to get a white photograph of a white project!!!  Here goes.......

 

 I embossed some white card with Spellbinders M-Bossibilities Sea Beauty.  The flourish and the flowers are Sizzix flowers and vines #3.  The image is Cornish Heritage Farms Sweet One Collage stamped in pale blue.  I added a snowflake brad in white and a pearl button to each flower.   The butterflies are from Cheery Lynn mini dimensional butterflies, my most favourite die of the moment.  Love the detail and the variety of these little guys, or maybe gals!!

 
I am entering this for  Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 62 - Winter White
and also Cornish Heritage Farms - No Green Or Red

Thanks for dropping by.  Have a great weekend everyone.

With Love From Santa

Hello lovely people.  I hope the fat, happy man brought you all you wanted for Christmas.  For those of you wondering if you have stepped into a time warp, DON'T PANIC!!!  There are still a few Christmas themed challenges either running over from before the silly season or still being offered by the die hard Christmas fans.  Who am I to argue?  I have just discovered Joanna Sheen's website and challenge.  From the number of followers and entries she is obviously known to many, but it was a pleasant find for me.  I don't get out much you know.  Well, now you know.  So the challenge is "With Love at Christmas" and since Santa obviously comes with love, as well as presents, I thought I would offer up this card which I think fits the theme. 

The red paper was some preprinted and embossed scrapbook paper which I cut and arranged on a green card.  The Santa was cut using Sizzix original Santa Head and paper pieced.  I used mini pompoms with tinsel for his bobble.  Nice simple jolly card.  Just what you need when time is short.  

I am entering this card for
Joanna Sheen Challenge - With Love at Christmas

Hope you all have a good evening.  Thanks for dropping by.  

PS. This card was picked to feature in the Joanna Sheen daily talent spot.  What a lovely surprise and many thanks.  Check out the Joanna Sheen Blog and Joanna Sheen website, which offers free worldwide shipping.   Very useful for those of us in foreign parts.   

Mad, Mad, Party

Hi blogfriends.  Well it's late here, or maybe that's early but the crafting bliz has me firmly in it's grasp so I thought I'd share a little something with you all.  I've been having fun using some of my favourite things and have come up with a tag.  A little bird told me, you're going to have a party, gonna to be a bit crazy, the little bird told me. 

I made a tag.  I had three challenges in mind when working on this.  The Craft Room wanted a tag, at Simon Says anything goes related to The Mad Hatter's Tea Party and Crafty Mess want us to show some sparkle or bling.  I made a round tag by cutting a piece of Kaiser scrapbook paper with Sizzix Framelits round dies.  

I used the Magic Roundabout mask from Crafty Individuals and Walnut Stain Distress ink. Iridescent glitter glue to highlight the birds with a small black round sticker for the eyes.  

The White Rabbit and I are always late so I wanted a time reference and this clock cardstock sticker from Kelly Panacci fitted perfectly.   The bunny is Sizzix Stuffed Bunny die cut and pieced and the phrase is from Craft Creations Wren in Mayblossom decoupage sheet.  This was something I got out earlier that was destined for another project but it seemed to fit right in here so..........

We like bunnies.  OK, it's not a White Rabbit.  Maybe it's his cousin from the old country coming to visit.  Hope he's in time for the party.....

Entering this tag for 

Simon Says Challenge - Totally Mad No Rules Tea Party

Craft Room Challenge - Make a Tag

Craftymess Challenge - Show Some Sparkle/Bling

Good night, sleep tight, hope the crafting bug bites.

There's Cheese and There's Cheese

Oh, my mind is a bliz with ideas and inspiration.  So many things buzzing I can't settle to one project and am afraid tomorrow they will have fled and I will look at the 50 things I took out today and ask "What dat den?!"  I am blaming it mostly on The Craft Barn and partly on Tim Holtz.  Now before anyone gets upset let me just say The Craft Barn is one of my most favouritist places to shop and they are just so nice and helpful but they have just set this mind blowing challenge, well OK it blew my mind, that is going to run for the whole year.  Now how ambitious is that?  Check it out HERE.  I have also decided to have a go at Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2013.  Another one that runs all year!  This will be the first time I have joined Tim's long established tag fest.  The tags that he uses to inspire and those submitted to the challenge are WOW so I was a bit unsure, but this afternoon an idea or two have avalanched into the tiny brain cell in charge of crafting so I'm going for it.  All this when I was supposed to be sorting out an entry for the CASology challenge which closes soon.  No, I mean really soon!  How can you CAS when the brain is full of tags and dictionaries and things that go bump in the dark??  A deep breath and say onomatopoeia, twice for luck.

So the challenge at CASology is New.  I have gone with a baby card.  You can never have enough baby cards.  People seem to suddenly turn up with a new baby and there is never a card on hand.  Or it's a boy and the cards are pink, or, yes you guessed, it's a girl and the card is an aeroplane because you were convinced he was going to take after the father and be a bird fancier one day.  So I went green to cover all bets.  I embossed my card with Sizzix Woodgrain embosssing folder and then coloured my white space green with Shabby Shutters and Pine Needles Distress and Memento's London Fog.  The owl, cute or what? is Leane Creatief Owlies #1 decoupage.  I haven't used all the layers, in deference to CAS, and also cos I was happy with it just the way it is.  Hopefully this will be perfect for the next baby that comes along, or if not I can enjoy it myself, cos that owl is just so cute. 

Entering this for CASology Challenge Week 25 - New

May inspiration rain down upon you and may the craft be with you.  Happy day, craft away. 

The First of the Year

Well hello everyone.  Hoping that your Christmas and New Year went perfectly.  Well here I am with my first post of the New Year.  It's been a bit hectic so I haven't had much time to craft but I really am hoping that I will be super inspired to try new things, stretch myself and be more focused.  I sometimes joke that my middle initial stands for procrastination.  I am excellent at starting things but often leave the finishing until tomorrow.   And as you know, tomorrow never comes.  Despite this things get done, maybe a bit last minute, but it's the end result that counts isn't it.  Hopefully my end results are good and getting better.  

Anyway, a new year and challenges all over the place.  Fun, fun, fun.  Cheery Lynn's weekly challenge is Friends/Friendship.    

I used a sheet from Dovecraft's Eastern Promise paper and embossed it using Born to Shop Green Goddess embossing folder.  Then out with the Pine Needles and Shabby Shutters Distress Inks.  I wanted to use my Cheery Lynn Mini Dimensional Butterflies Die (I love this fantastic die) so I thought about friends and butterflies and came up with a phrase I liked.  I didn't have an appropriate stamp or sticker so I have doodled.  Then I cut lots of butterflies from an old calendar and proved my saying had a tinsy little flaw.  Although I am firmly convinced you can't have too many friends I do think I maybe went a bit mad with the butterflies so I have a few left over for another project.  Excellent.  Also thinking about it you can have too many Cabbage White Butterflies.  Especially when their little caterpillars start munching on my cabbages.  Oh, sorry, got a bit distracted there.  I wanted a narrow border and was a bit stuck until I found these stripy pipe-cleaners in my stash.  After I had glued them down I realised I could have had a go at more doodles but I do like the extra dimension the pipe-cleaners give. 

Entering this for Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 61 - Friends

Thanks for dropping by.  Happy crafting everyone. 

Happy New Year

HAPPY

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Everyone