Birthday Gardenia

I hope you've all been keeping well in my absence.  Just because I haven't blogged for nearly two weeks doesn't mean I haven't been crafting. In fact, I've been very busy in my craft room but I've been working on projects that I can not show yet. In the meantime here is a birthday card that I made for a very dear friend back in December.

The card base is 8"x 8" and I rounded the corners before adding green card and a floral paper from my stash. I fixed lace across the front and used an All Occasions trellis die and Memory Box Catalina Wreath die that I'd coloured with Copics to match the image.

I love this gorgeous image from Mitzi at Aurora Wings. It's called Gardenia and Pearls. I coloured her with Copics and layered her onto green card.

The flowers were made with Tim Holtz dies. I used a variety of pearls and stamens for the centres.

The sentiment was printed on the computer and the bow was tied with organza ribbon.

I hope you all have a crafty week. I'd better get back to the craft room.

I have entered this card in the following challenges:

http://fattastictuesday.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/19-january-challenge-120-anything-goes.html
http://craftingfromtheheartchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/challenge-95.html x
http://notjustcardschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/challenge-28-january.html x

More Docrafts Samples January 2016

I hope you all have something nice planned for your weekend and that the weather behaves for you. I shall be demonstrating the new Docrafts collections at The Range in Carmarthen from 10 till 4 today so, if any of you are in the area please pop in to say Hello.

Before I get on my way I want to show you some more samples from the new ranges.

These first cards are from the gorgeous Butterfly Dreams collection.

There is the Card Making Compendium which comes in it's own pretty box and contains over 800 pieces.

There are papers, card blanks, decoupage, embellishments, a butterfly punch and more! Enough to make at least 36 cards.

The new products also include sentiment and background A5 stamp sets.  And there are wonderful new foiled decoupage sheets from Anita's.

Look out for the Papier Patch papers. They come in a wide variety of patterns and are perfect for upcycling and home decor.

I hope I've inspired you to look out for these fabulous new collections at your local Docrafts stockist and that you treat yourself to some of the gorgeous goodies. I shall be uploading all my new samples to my Docrafts Gallery in the next few days. Just click on the link on the right to see all my previous samples.

Enjoy your weekend and if you're in the Carmarthen area on Saturday please pop in to The Range to say "Hello".

Docrafts Demonstration January 2016

There has been no rest for me since the Christmas and New Year celebrations. I have been playing with the new releases from Docrafts and will be demonstrating with these fabulous new goodies at The Range in Carmarthen this Saturday from 10am until 4pm. Please pop in if you are in the area.

Today I want to show you some of the samples I've made using a couple of the new collections.

There are two fabulous Capsule Collections featuring bold, modern designs and gold foiling.

There is the Geometric Neon collection to really make your cards stand out.

And the Geometric Mono for a more classic look.

Both collections have craft tapes, shiny embellishments, ribbons and a range of different packs to choose from.

There are also some fabulous new coordinating stamp sets 

and stencils. Including different fonts, shapes, images ......

.... and Steampunk - my favourite!

Lots of wonderful new products means lots of samples (and photos) which, hopefully, means lots of inspiration for you. I hope you now go and check out your local Docrafts stockist so you can grab some of these fabulous new goodies for yourself.
These cards feature only some of the new products. I shall be back before my demo to show you another new, wonderful collection.

Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge #10

This is my second post for today so it's another opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year!! I hope you all have a fabulous year full of fortune, good health and wonderful surprises. 

Not only is it New Year's Day but, as it's the first Friday of the month, it's also the start of a new challenge at Creative Artiste We are a challenge blog for everyone who likes to mix their media. As long as you use more than one medium on your creation we'd love to see you enter the challenge. This is a month long challenge so you have time to create projects and enter up to three times. A full list of the rules is on the challenge blog. Thank you to everyone who entered Challenge #9 for December. The winner has been announced  on the blog.

This month's themes are

"Anything Goes" or "Use Chipboard"

We are being sponsored by the brilliant Dusty Attic this month.

I made this wall hanging using a chipboard base.  I first gave it a layer of white gesso then a coat of a teal coloured acrylic. Next was a layer of a turquoise acrylic. I let each layer dry in between coats. When the turquoise paint was dry I lightly sanded it all to show patches of the teal underneath.

I then added a coat of crackle paste and brushed over with white acrylic paint. The next step was stamping the leaves with a Heartfelt Creations stamp and, lastly, a coat of PVA to seal it all. The bows were made by colouring seam binding with DIs and sprinkling with Frantage. The house was already cut out at the top and the brass button is from an old bracelet.

The sentiment was printed onto card that I had coloured with Pan Pastels and stamped with the leaves. I then matted it on to Kraft card. The ceramic bird is from my stash.

I painted some watercolour card with acrylics and, once dry, cut the flowers using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die. I Frantaged the edges and the beads for the center. The metal leaves were Frantaged too.  The joke in my house is that if you stand still too long you'll get the Frantage treatment!

Now please visit the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog to see the wonderful projects created by my talented team mates. Remember to have fun and enter your "Anything Goes" or "Chipboard" mixed media creations in the challenge.

I've entered this project into the following challenges:

http://petalluchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/anything-goes.html x
http://alteredeclectics.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/25-days-to-christmas.html ?
http://welove2create.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/challenge-26-anything-creativemixed.html x
http://thatscraftychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/anything-goes-challenge.html Winner
http://rheddscreativespirit.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/january-2016-challenge.html x

Crafts Galore Encore January 2016

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a lovely time over the festive season and my deepest sympathies go out to those affected by the awful weather in parts of the world recently.

 The first of January means it's time for a new challenge on the Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog. Thank you to everyone who supported us last year and joined in with our challenges. We hope to see you all again this year. Last month's winners are on the challenge blog 'winner's page'. This is a month long challenge and you can enter up to three times. A full list of rules are on the challenge blog.

Our theme this month is everyone's favourite
"Anything Goes"
and our fabulous sponsor is Fabrika Fantasy who have some of the most gorgeous digis on offer.

The team were allowed to choose an image each and I made a card to celebrate the new year with the digi I chose.

I printed a couple of wood effect papers and a stripey one I thought would look good as wallpaper. I cut one of the wood papers to resemble a mouse hole door and matted it onto black card to create the shadow. I added a gold gem for the handle.

The super cute image I chose is Happy Mouse. What better way to start a new year than with a huge smile? I coloured him in with my Copics and cut round him before fixing to the card on foam pads.

The balloons were cut with an X-cut punch and I used gold thread to tie them to Happy Mouse's tail and a champagne bottle which I created from an X-cut die set.

I finished the card with some purple pearls and a banner to wish all my friends and family a Happy 2016!
We have some talented new DT members joining us today so, please show your support and visit the  Crafts Galore Encore challenge blog to see the fabulous projects they and the rest of the team have created for your inspiration.

I've entered this card into the following challenges:
http://lilredwagon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/little-red-wagon-challenge-322-happy.html x
http://inspirationdestinationchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/ag-no-66.html x
http://brownsugarchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/challenge-179-happy-new-year.html x
http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.ca/2015/12/fussy-and-fancy-challenge-154-happy.html x
http://stempelsonne.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/157-bis-140116.html Winner