Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

I "built" this snowman from scraps and from bits I've had in my stash for far too long!  I think he's been a little too long in the sun as he is decidedly disheveled and just a little pink!

It's been so hard to get motivated lately!  I've managed to make a few things but I've had no time to blog.  I finally reclaimed my craft space (which my son had started using during home schooling last year and then took over completely during the summer this year) and was able to vacate the living room and most importantly the dining room table in time for Christmas but it's meant moving furniture around (some of it quite heavy and to a different floor) as well as a big reorganisation and clean out (which barely scratched the surface needless to say)!  

I really wanted to enter a few challenges that are still open over the Christmas period - especially Pixie's Snippets Playground Christmas Draw.  The sentiment on this card was from a set I won last year during Di's fabulous and very generous Christmas draw - Uniko Simply Said Blocks Christmas.  

I'd also like to join the Happy Little Stampers December Anything Goes with Dies Challenge;

Allsorts Challenge #655 - Anything Winter Goes;

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #574

and Christmas Kickstart Challenge #57  - if it's Christmassy link it Up!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll be thrilled!  I’ll also know you were here and where to see what you’ve been up to so we may become better acquainted!

Kate

 

Grateful

I celebrated a significant birthday recently which was wonderful  - to be able to celebrate I mean!  I don't like the fact that I'm getting older but the alternative is much worse, so it's fair to say I'm feeling extremely grateful at the moment!  It was wonderful to be surrounded by loved ones even given (or perhaps because of) the recent loss of my mum.

After the party I sat down and started a bunch of thank you cards for all the friends who had helped me celebrate the occasion.  The house was full of the most exquisite floral arrangements (in fact I ran out of vases) and was inspired to create floral arrangements of my own.

Initially I started quite simple.  I cut six garlands from an old Sizzix Bigz die (Tim Holtz Regal Crest) from brown card stock.  I cut these in half and distressed them with green and red inks and sprayed with Mustard Seed Glimmer Mist.  Because I had left and right facing garlands, I had left and a right facing cards.   I cut a whole bunch of these small flowers (Tim Holtz Funky Foliage) from white card stock. I think they're supposed to be cornflowers, but I coloured them in the reds, yellows, oranges, pinks and purples from my birthday bouquets using alcohol markers.  Alcohol markers are great for colouring and blending seamlessly - though the flowers are so small, the blending is almost imperceptible.

When I had used up all the "cornflowers" I had cut, I was tempted to get a little more adventurous.  I don't know about anyone else, but 10 of the same design seems to be about my limit!  I started cutting other flowers from the Funky Foliage set and also from the Funky Nature set and colouring these.  I also cut a few of the MFT Sunflowers.  I also tried some foliage left over from a previous project and decided I preferred a more delicate foliage so cut a bunch of these.  Finally to finish the cards, I cut and stacked these Grateful sentiments (Winnie and Walter Big, Bold and Blessings set) which summed up just how I was feeling!  

Of the twenty or so cards I eventually made, this one was my favourite!

I'd like to enter the Four Seasons Anything Goes Fall Challenge for November.  

I'd also like to join the Shopping Our Stash Challenge #457 which has the prompt You Don't Bring Me Flowers.

And Little Red Wagon Challenge #626 - So Very Thankful.

And 613 Avenue Create Challenge #11 - AG with optional Twist Thankful.

 You may have noticed the wood panels I used for the initial cards.  I'd like to enter the Double D Challenge - A Walk in the Wood as this was exactly what I had in mind when I started these cards.  

Finally Day of the Month Club Challenge #33 which has the prompt Beautiful Day - I'm still basking in the glow of my beautiful day!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll be thrilled!  I’ll also know you were here, so I can check out what you’ve been up to and we can get better acquainted!

Kate

You Got This!

 

 I wanted to create a card for Squash It Challenge #12 but Monsieur Mojo has been a bit elusive of late. Finally I managed to emboss and sand a piece of card I was happy with and decided to make a back to school card dedicated to all the teachers out there!

"May your Coffee be Strong and your Recess be Long"

Other Challenges I'd like to enter:

613 Avenue Create - School Daze;

Alphabet Challenge "M is for Motivational/Encouragement Sentiment";

Make My Monday Challenge #158 - Embossing -  Either (I've used both);

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll be thrilled!  I’ll also know you were here, so I can check out what you’ve been up to and we can get better acquainted!

Kate

Give Thanks

 

Two weeks ago I was on a roll.  I was working on this card (my third Autumn spinner card) while my sister was keeping my mum company in Australia.  We knew mum didn't have long, they had refused her surgery the week before because they didn't think her heart could take it, and my sister was very anxious that night, so I was trying to keep her calm (she hadn't slept properly for days).  I showed her this card I was working on and she said it was very pretty (she loves purple and I had added that purple cornflower for her).   She said she was worried about the noises mum was making and I suggested she get a nurse to turn mum and then try and get a bit of sleep.

I kept working on the card - strange how doing something like this can bring you comfort, even if only temporarily.  I had added more flowers and foliage to this card so was looking for a sentiment that fitted and using which label since I could no longer stamp directly on the panel (forethought is not my middle name).  In the end, I went with this simple "Give Thanks" sentiment embossed with WOW! Mandarin powder on Kraft card stock.  I just finished it when my sister called me back with the news that mum had passed.

As I sat there looking at this card I had just finished, I realised that the sentiment perfectly summed up what I was feeling at that moment in time about my mother!  And so this card is going into the glass cabinet and whenever I look up at it, I will "Give Thanks" for her and "Give Thanks to her"!  I'd also like to give thanks to my sister who was with Mum till the end.  My brother had come up days before but had to isolate so couldn't give her a break.  She was exhausted!  

It's been a difficult summer.  I had hoped that, being vaccinated, I could travel to Australia during the summer months (their winter months) and spend some time with mum.  However the delta variant soon put paid to that idea!  Instead, the weekly cap of people allowed into Australia was halved and most of NSW went into lockdown.  Mum only had a handful of mourners present at her funeral but the service was streamed live for those that couldn't be there in person.  I'm very close to my brother and sister.  We talk or text most days, particularly this year as mum's health had declined!  We worked on the readings and discussed points for the eulogy and I wrote and prerecorded the eulogy and it was played as part of the service.  It was so painful not being able to be there with my family but I kept thinking of those poor souls who died alone in hospital and were buried quickly during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.  For me, it was particularly painful that I couldn't be there to sing for mum as I had for dad.  But in any case, due to current Covid restrictions, no singing was allowed.  

I wasn't going to blog about this card, but I was looking at challenges and trying to kick start my waning mojo, and happened upon some challenges that made me think someone was sending me a message.

Firstly The Day of the Month Club Challenge #31 is celebrating World Gratitude Day.

The Timeout Challenge #197 has this inspired by words prompt.   As I sit here surrounded by flowers which dear friends and family have sent me, I can definitely relate to this quote.  And the flowers I added to this card now hold a special meaning for me.

I'd also like to enter Inspired By Challenge IB188 has this lovely mix of leaves as inspiration;

Double D Challenges also has the prompt Leaves and this lovely inspiration board;

I'd also like to enter the Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge #412 - I was determined to use up all of a distressed sheet of Bristol card stock I created for some earlier autumn projects and these tiny leaf dies from Tim Holtz Fall Foliage were perfect for this.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment,  I’ll know you were here and can check out what you’ve been up to and we can get to know each other a little better!

Kate

Tumbling Leaf

It's almost that time of the year again, when Luxembourg comes alive with colour!  Having come from a country where the native trees are evergreen (well ever brown really), the sight of a hillsides ablaze with Autumn colours still takes my breath away after 23 years living here!

The base of the spinning leaf was cut from gold card stock.   I distressed an A6 sheet of Bristol card stock with Fired Brick, Twisted Citron, Carved Pumpkin and Mustard Seed Distress Inks from which I managed to cut 6 Skeleton leaves (I have a market next weekend and I'm hoping to finish and sell all 6 cards to raise money for charity).  I even managed to cut the "F", "A" and the 2 x "L"s (Memory Box Wooden Alphabet) from what was left.  The flowers, mushroom and acorn (Tim Holtz Funky Foliage) were cut from Bristol paper and hand coloured. The top leaves (Tim Holtz Fall Foliage) were cut from a snippet of gold which I pounced upon with some distress inks - there's a lovely subtle shimmer to these leaves. 

As you can see I constructed the card with a track so the leaf could "tumble"!  The spinning leaf is a no name die.  I did see one on the Walmart site which looks identical though one can never be sure when buying things on the internet!  The size and shape of this are ideal for a spinner element!  Here's a video to show the card in action and I even managed to take advantage of some late afternoon sun so you get an idea of the lovely shimmer!

I'm excited to enter the new Four Seasons Challenge Blog which has any Anything Fall Goes theme this month

I'd also like to enter the Inkspirational Challenge #247 - with the prompt Autumn Leaves

I'd also like to enter the As You See It Challenge #258 - with the prompt In the Air

I'd also like to enter Timeout Challenge #195 which has the prompt - use coloured card base.

I had an idea for a similar card while writing this blog post and finished it before I'd finished this post.  So here's a twofer!

And I made sure to include 6 leaves on this one so I could enter Just Us Girls Challenge #600!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll be thrilled!  I’ll also know you were here, so I can check out what you’ve been up to and we can get better acquainted!

Kate

 

Busy Bee

This is another card I've been meaning to make for several weeks, having seen this lovely inspiration at the August {Pin}spirational Challenge.  

I have a market in less than two weeks - my first one for 2 years!  Cards made with this little bee stamp and matching die from Verve are usually some of my best sellers so I hope to make a few but I thought I'd make up a sample one first, to try out this new die.  I can practically make these interactive spinner cards with my eyes closed now.  Mostly I use a patterned (usually floral) card stock as the base panel - embossed backgrounds don't work very well because there isn't enough clearance provided by the magnets I use.   When I saw this honeycomb detail panel die, I thought it might give a plain background panel some interest but not so much interest that it interferes with the spinning process if you know what I mean!  It finally arrived last week so that gave me a good excuse to try it out.  Since this is the first outing for this die I'd also like to enter NBUS Challenge #29.

I'd also like to enter Timeout Challenge #195 which has the challenge to use a coloured card base.  Black isn't technically a colour, but I don't think hairs will be split over it!  

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge has an Anything Goes this week so I'll also be entering there!

So does the detailed die base inhibit the spinning action?  Here's a video I shot of the bee in action!

And a closeup of the schparkle though the sun was not very obliging today!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll be thrilled!  I’ll also know you were here, so I can check out what you’ve been up to and we can get better acquainted!

Kate

Mountain Wedding

A friend of mine needed a wedding card and as she know I'm making cards for charity she asked if I could make up one for her. I asked her if she had a preference for a colour and her answer was “the wedding is in the mountains, the colour of the mountains?”. The first thing that came to mind was Blue Mountain Pottery which was very popular in the 80s - a mixtures of teals and blues mimicking the pines and spruce on the face of the Blue Mountain in Ontario’s Georgian Bay region.  And as I've been meaning to make up something in teal for Rainbow Challenge #32 for several weeks, this seemed the ideal opportunity!   

Since I didn't have any teal embossing powder, I experimented with several green and blue embossing powders, as well as UTEE and Gold Sakura powder until I was happy with the result.

Timeout Challenge #195 has a theme challenge to use a coloured card base.

Just Add Ink Challenge #569 has asked that we add something with "N".  I've added the "Names" of the bride and groom on this wedding card.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge this week is Anything Goes

Krafty Chicks Challenge #574 has an "All Occasions" prompt.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll be thrilled!  I’ll also know you were here, so I can check out what you’ve been up to and we can get better acquainted!

Kate

Banzai Bonsai

 

This was a special order for an anniversary card.  Her husband is a fan of the Cobra Kai television series.  Banzai means 10000 years of long life well that was the Wikipedia definition anyway!

I used this Memory Box Wooden Alphabet to spell out the sentiment and it had the added bonus of grounding the bonsai tree.  I cut it from Kraft card stock and distressed it slightly to bring out the lovely wooden texture.

The Spellbinders Bonsai Tree is very intricate and more than a little tricky to cut until I remembered the wax paper trick - place a piece of wax paper between the die and the card stock and it comes out cleanly without tearing or warping - then it's just a matter of peeling the wax paper off the image.

Shopping our Stash #452 has the prompt - "Wood You Believe";  

Cardz 4 Galz Challenge #153 has the prompt Texture;

The Alphabet Challenge Blog has the prompt "J is for Just One Word";

NBUS Challenge #29 - The alphabet and bonsai were both NBUS;

I'd also like to enter the Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies Challenge for August.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll be thrilled!  I’ll also know you were here, so I can check out what you’ve been up to and we can get better acquainted!

Kate

Sweet 60!

 

As You See It Challenge #256 has a "Fill in the Blank" Challenge - What Is Your Favourite Animal?   Birds of course!  Such beautiful and majestic animals and my first pet was a bird - a little budgie called Billy Boy!  I was petrified of him at first but gradually fell in love with him.  He was so clever - talked, danced and came when you called!  Though he did have an annoying habit of biting my nose if I slept in!  Yes he had the run of the unit and only had his cage shut when we had visitors and that was mostly for his safety as budgies are bush birds - they love to spend time on the ground!

I cut my bird from pink card stock and distressed the edges with Faded Jeans DI.  I went around the eye and throat with blue alcohol markers because I saw a "Mask" prompt at CASology Week 394.  However  this card is definitely not CAS so I won't be entering there but I thought I should give them some credit!  The eye was a drop of black Ranger Enamel Accents - which worked perfectly! 

Inspiration for this card also came from the Alphabet Challenge which has the prompt "J is for Just One Word"!  This seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out this tongue in cheek sentiment I've been considering for a while!  And this little bird (TH Feathered Friends) is just soooo sweet isn't he?

The Sisterhood of Crafters has a "Leaf it to Chance" challenge at the moment so I added a few sprigs to make my little bird feel at home.

Just the one snippet of teal card stock used here for the foliage (unless you count the snippets I had left over from cutting the bird which I used for the flowers and sentiment) so I'll be entering Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge #409!  I wish I could say my stash(es) of snippets is going down but sadly it's not true.  I just can't throw anything out!  Fortunately, there are plenty of ideas in the playground for using them up!

I'm also entering my card in the August Anything Goes with Dies Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll be thrilled!  I’ll also know you were here, so I can check out what you’ve been up to and we can get better acquainted!

Kate

Snappy Lobster

 

A few challenges piqued my mojo this week.  Firstly Seize the Birthday Challenge #220 has the prompt "Stripes".  I've been looking at this lovely striped DP for over a week now - it's from the same pad that I used for Squeeze the Day.  I knew I wanted to do something nautical with it and there's loads of brilliant inspiration in this photo at the Card Concept Challenge #158 but I've focused on the two cushions on the sofa. 

 I experimented with a frame because of the challenge at Just Add Ink Challenge #566 - after all a frame is a great way of focusing attention!   However I thought I'd change it up by using a hexagonal frame when a simpler plain round frame would have been better - next time!

The Male Room Challenge #153 is celebrating their 8th birthday this month and as the inside of this card reads "I missed your birthday" I'm entering my belated masculine birthday card there as well. 

Finally the Memory Box Lobster is NBUS (been sitting in its envelope for a few years now) so I'll be entering it into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #29!  

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll be over the moon!  I’ll also know you were here, so I can check out what you’ve been up to and we can get better acquainted!

Kate

Bottled Vitamin Sea

 

A couple of different challenges sparked my mojo for this card!  Which is just as well as the weather has been absolutely abysmal all week and you would never dream it's summer here!  

The first inspiration came from this Mason Jar Mood Board at Double D Challenges.   Obviously the bottom right jar got me inspired!

The Card Concept #158  gave me oodles of inspiration for my clean and layered card with this photo! 

Then I noticed that Fab'n'Funky Challenges had an "I can see the sea" prompt and

The Sisterhood of Crafters had the prompt "The Ocean is Calling" so I'd like to enter my card there too!

Finally the Male Room Challenge #153 has it's 8th Birthday celebration this month so I'd like to enter my masculine birthday card there as well!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll be over the moon!  I’ll also know you were here, so I can check out what you’ve been up to and we can get better acquainted!

Kate

Layered Anemones

 

I finally got to play with this Altenew Layered Anemone Die set!  This was an encouragement card for a friend I made earlier in the month.  I found 4 shades of purple card stock and 3 shades of green and made it up as per the layering guide - it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.   Though I would advise against using textured card stock as it's tricky getting the grains aligned (and I failed miserably)!

While I had the die out, I made up another three flowers and this week I finally made them up into cards - this time adding stems.  The Simon Says Stamp Tattered Poppy set includes a straight and a curved stem.   On these two cards I used the SSS Detail Bohemian Plate for interest.  I love this die but it meant I couldn't stamp on the panel.  I've stamped a "Thinking of You" sentiment (Verve Rise Above) and cut it with this ticket die (Crealies).  I prefer "Thinking of You" to "With Sympathy" generally, and it means I can also use it should I need a get well or encouragement card.  But IMO, these cards are a bit too fussy for sympathy cards.

For this last one, I laid the flower on its side for a landscape orientation and I used the simpler leaves from the SSS Tattered Poppy set.  I think this plainer "Thinking of You" sentiment suits a sympathy card better than the flowery one I used on the second and third cards.  I like this last one the best!

I'd like to enter this last card into the following challenges

Timeout Challenge #193 which has the following inspirational quote

Mod Squad Challenge has a "With Sympathy" theme

Cardz 4 Galz Challenge #152 has a Dies and Punches theme

Krafty Chicks Challenge #570 has an Anything Goes theme

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge has an Anything Goes theme

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit.  If you leave a comment, I’ll be over the moon!  I’ll also know you were here, so I can check out what you’ve been up to and we can get better acquainted!

Kate