Bird of Peace

Challenge #164 has just gone live at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge and here is my DT card.  

For today's card I raided my UFO box and found this window (Poppystamps Brilliant Star Oval) I'd cut for a previous project but didn't end up using.  It had been cut from light blue card stock but I thought it could benefit from a little gilding to make it a bit classier for Christmas - I have to admit I do love the mottled effect of gilding wax!  Then, I was very happy to discover that the largest of my old Spellbinders Class Ovals dies fitted perfectly so I placed an oval of patterned vellum behind the window - I do love a bit of vellum.

I had already cut the base of the bird from blue and I was going to cut the remainder from gold when a snippet of yellow caught my eye (not cleaning up your desk between projects can have its advantages)!  It occurred to me that a blue and yellow bird would be perfect for my Ukrainian friends!  It also reminds me of my budgerigar  Billy Boy who was blue and yellow!

The background panel was cut with one of the Pinkfresh Studios Essentials Diagonal Stitched Rectangles.

Lastly, I mounted the little bird on an action wobble!

I'd like to enter these fab challenges

Kraft Chicks Challenge Week 2 - All Occasions;

Triple B May Challenge - Birds, Butterflies and Bees;

Die Traumfabrik Challenge #128 - Pets (my budgerigar was blue and yellow just like this little bird);

Me and Billy Boy circa 1986

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Fur or Feathers;

Peace on Earth Challenge #63 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #56 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and will hopefully be able to find you!

Kate

Magical Day

 

Challenge #264 has just gone live at Time Out Challenges and this fortnight we challenge you to be

Magical

This challenge is generously being sponsored by Picket Fence Studio and they are offering our Top Pick as chosen by the design teams a $25 credit to their store!  The Top Pick will also be invited to join Time Out as a guest designer in a future challenge!

Speaking of guest designers, we are joined this challenge by the incredibly talented Carol McFarland of Saw it. Had to Make it.  Wait until you see what she has created for our challenge this fortnight - do drop by and leave her some comment love!!

What does magical mean to you - magical or mythical creatures, wizards, witches, fairytale scenes?  Carol and my talented team mates have plenty of inspiration for you over on the Challenge Blog!

Today's card is a tribute to a set of books that were pure magic in my family.  Like so many other households across the globe, Harry Potter ignited a love of reading in my boys.  They were the first real novels we read to our boys and it wasn't long before they were reading them themselves (despite not learning to read in English at school).  Before Harry Potter it was mostly Thomas the Tank Engine!  And yes I was one of those people queuing up at 1 in the morning in July 2007 when the final book in the series was released (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) - accompanied by a 14-year old Gavin who started reading it on the way home by torchlight!   Anyway, onto my card.  

The cauldron is from a set I bought earlier in the year from Gummiapan.  To give the cauldron more dimension, I cut it twice and removed the legs from the second.  The I cut just the upper area of the cauldron and snipped away the lip and removed the centre.  I cut the area around the handles from gold  and snipped these away too then assembled the cauldrons.   These dies are made so that the pieces easily separate - it only takes a few snips most of the time.   I have to thank Christine Stokes and Deb Hallett for showing me how to use the beautifully detailed dies properly!  Once assembled,  I rubbed the black cauldron with gilding wax to give it an aged patina (a tip from Christine Stokes).  

The glasses were from a set I had almost forgotten about (Impression Obsessions Sunglasses).  I bought them in Australia last year and then forgot about them after the dreadful trip home and Covid and Christmas!   I have a few sets of glasses but these round ones made me think of John Lennon and I imagined myself making a card for one or two Beatles fans in my life!  The Harry Potter connection didn't occur to me until I started thinking about making up a card for this magical challenge!  Naturally I added glossy accents for the lenses!

 I found a lightning bolt die in a very old weather set and cut it from a snippet of gold mirror card.  

 

Almost forgot to mention the floor - another die from Gummiapan which has been ever so useful in grounding many of my recent projects!

I'd like to enter my magical card into the following fabulous challenges

NBUS Challenge #62 - the Cauldron die and Glasses are NBUS;

The Heart's Quest Fantasy Challenge #5 - Anything Fantasy Goes (option of Unicorn);

Kraft Chicks Challenge #717 - All Occasions;

Sisterhood of Crafters - Men;

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday Challenge for May - Anything Goes;

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your comments are always appreciated and always bring me joy and if you do leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

Glad Tidings Deer

Challenge #163 has just gone live at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge and I have a quick card today!  

These reindeer (Poppy Stamps Whittle Forest Reindeer) have been sitting on my window sill for a few weeks - I had cut them when I made up this card!   I  thought I'd make them a little more special so out came the gilding wax ... again!   This stitched panel was also in my UFO pile so it was just a matter of working out what else to add.  I went with this row of trees (Poppystamps Whittle Tree Border).  If you look closely, you'll see a touch of gilding wax on the trees as well.  To subtly ground the scene, I used some very old stitched border dies (Paper Smooches Stitched).  Do you think I should add red noses ... I do like my reindeer with red noses, don't you?

I'd like to enter these fab challenges

NBUS Challenge #62 - The Whittle Tree Border set is NBUS;

Kraft Chicks Challenge Week 715 - Christmas;

Crafty Animals Challenge #83 - Anything with an Animal;

Peace on Earth Challenge #63 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #56 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate

All About Gavin

 

Challenge #263 has just gone live at Time Out Challenges and this fortnight it's a theme challenge because we're celebrating 

ALPHABET MAGNET DAY

This challenge is generously being sponsored by Altenew and they are offering our Top Pick as chosen by the design teams a $15 credit to their store!  

The Top Pick will also be invited to join Time Out as a guest designer in a future challenge!  Speaking of guest designers, we are joined this challenge by Carol McFarland our winner from Challenge 259!  If you're still stuck for ideas, Carol and the rest of the team have plenty of inspiration for you over on the Challenge Blog!

Alphabet magnets are such a lot of fun!  I love the bright vivid colours and they are such a great educational aid as well!  When my husband and I arrived here 26 years ago with a 2 year and a 5 year old in tow, we knew we wanted to give them the opportunity to fully experience a foreign culture and learn new languages but we also realised that that meant they wouldn't be learning any English at school, so we would have to be their English teachers!   Making words across and down with the magnetic letters on the fridge door was just one of the things we would to do to make sure they had a good grasp of English vocabulary and spelling!    

My eldest son still has a thing for magnets and so I thought I'd make up an "alphabet magnet card" to celebrate his birthday!  It took days (and nights) to plan it as I sought out words that describe him while trying to fit those words around the letters from his name - and then there were the colours to consider!  My original design was a lot more complicated, with over 60 characters but I realised (fortunately before I got to the die cutting stage) that I needed a simpler design and ended up with just his name spelt vertically in red and adjectives using those letters spelt horizontally.   Still, with 43 characters cut twice and stacked it was a lot of die cutting and required an A5 panel to accommodate it - can't tell you how many times I wished I'd chosen shorter adjectives - definitely a labour of love!

Of course I couldn't resist getting the Glossy Accents out so the letters resembled plastic! 

Then I created a frame using strips of red and mitring the corners so it resembled a school blackboard.  I also wanted to draw the eye to the letters in red which actually spell out his name.

I'd like to enter these fab challenges

Word Power Challenge #5 - Make the sentiment the focus of your card;

Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge - Use Die Cuts;

Colorful Options May Challenge - Rainbow option!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate