Off the cutting room floor at CD Sundays.

One of the problems with crafting using CDs is that, unless you are very clever at moving everything into an editing program and only using exactly what you want, you can end up with a stack of leftover bits and bobs that are "Too good to throw away". Which is why we've decided that the new challenge at CD Sundays should be "Off the cutting room floor", using up odds and ends from other projects you have made.

I went through my bits box and found enough odds and ends to fill a foolscap wallet, all of them from CDs, and picked out this selection to work with:

The images and part-used image sheets are all from the Polkadoodles CD "Winnie in Wonderland" and the two backgrounds are from La Pashe CDs, but it's so long since I printed them I can't recall which.

A bit of fussy cutting and edge-distressing later, I'd turned them into this

And now I feel as if I've got a "free" card as it's entirely made from bits that could have been thrown away.

Afternoon Nap

I could just fancy an afternoon nap. This fellow's beaten me to it though, dozing off in his comfy chair. Pity, as that little dog is waiting for walkies!

The image is a Little Claire stamp  from several years ago when it was available as a Dinkie stamp - I think it is now only available as a larger one in the Oh Man! set. The sentiment stamp is a Studio G ticket stamp set - there are several phrases that can be inserted in the space where I have stamped "Any gray yet?". I got it at about the time I started blogging so that makes it around 6 years old.  The patterned paper is from an Anna griffin mat stack and I've added some grosgrain ribbon which I think always has a masculine look.

I am sharing this with
Inkspirational - Comfort

Retro Rubber - tic, tac, toe  - I have chosen the diagonal line animals/birthday/ribbon

For an Instagram lover

Have you noticed how some young people are so obsessed with Instagram that their lives seem to revolve around hashtags and emojis? Well, if you have one of those people in your life, here is a very quick and easy card for them!

The # and @ symbols are die cut and the words are torn from a strip of "Love is all you need" washi tape. I added them to a circle in the middle of a square card to try to replicate the new, simplified Instagram logo but it looked rather unbalanced, with too much white space, so I changed it to an A6 (UK sizing) pink card base to match the washi tape. The heart pearl was originally going to be above and to the right of the circle, again to reflect the logo, but it looked rather unbalanced - I much prefer it where I eventually decided to put it.

Maybe I should offer my services to Instagram to help them to improve their logo?

I have made this as my entry to the current CASology challenge - Punctuation.

Golden wishes

I'm suffering from a case of lost mojo at the moment, which is why I've not posted for a few days. I have made a card, although I'm not over-thrilled with it.

To make this card, I used stamps from the Uniko Organic Wishes set and a sentiment from an out-of-production Clearly Besotted set. The stalks are stamped with Memento ink, stamping each first with black then with green, and the seed heads use gold Delicata ink. I don't think the photo does justice to the metallic sheen of the stamping, so here is a close up

I masked off the sentiment and then used a brush to add several shades of green to the lower part of the card. Finally I used a gold gel pen to highlight the edges of the area around the sentiment, and OMG it has gone sooooooo wonky, I wish I'd not bothered!

Anyway, I made this for CAS Mix-up where the challenge is Metal, and I've used stamping, masking and brushing with inks.

Butterfly on a wall

I've been fond of the idea of a butterfly on a wall ever since seeing one sunning itself on a whitewashed wall several years ago, and I've incorporated the idea into my crafting many times since. Today is one of those times.

This card was inspired by the current challenge over at The Library Challenge, which is The Woman In The Window. Now I've not read this book - surprising because it looks like exactly my kind of read (but then, so are most books, I'm not loyal to any particular genre!). So instead I took my inspiration from the cover.

The wall, which in the moonlight looks blue with black pointing, and the vivid yellow of the window and writing.

I used the faux letterpress technique with a Crafters companion embossing folder and black ink over blue card to create the wall, then die cut the butterfly and sentiment using Spellbinders dies.

I am also sharing this with Shopping Our Stash - Give Thanks.

Triangles at Cardz 4 Guyz

For this fortnight's challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz we want to see some triangular elements on your card - AND DON'T FORGET TO MAKE IT SUITABLE FOR A MAN OR BOY!

I thought triangles looked like Christmas trees, so that's the way I've headed.

The tree backing paper is an old one from my stash, and I've topped it with a pre-printed sentiment and some "trees" cut from the packaging of an olive oil gift bottle. I kept the trees undecorated apart from the star tops in order to give them a bold, masculine look.

I am sharing this with
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Flowers or anything goes 

The Great British Bake Off #GBBO

I bet you are expecting a recipe now, aren't you? Well, sorry but this isn't cake - it's a card with cake on it!

I watch very little TV but one show I never miss is Great British Bake Off. I love the baking, the artistry, the humour, the innuendo, the increasingly weird and wonderful showstoppers and of course Noel Fielding's shirts.

This young lady is carrying her showstopper up to the judging table! The image and sentiment are stamped with a very old magazine freebie set. I think it will be the final outing for these stamps as they are doing that "cheap clear stamp" thing of sort-of-melting in random places and I couldn't have got clear images of either if it hadn't been for the magic of the Misti. I coloured her in with Promarkers in summery fruit colours.

I used a Uniko stencil and distress inks to add a background panel which is a tribute to Noel's shirts!

I am sharing this with
Addicted to Stamps and More - Make Your Mark
Sweet Stampin - Use a stencil
AAA Cards - inspired by a TV show