It seemed like a good idea at the time......

Why is it that kits are so tempting? I see them demonstrated on TV, or gorgeous photos of cards made with them on blogs and websites, and despite all my vows of "No More Kits" I find yet another one landing on the doormat. And when I come to make cards using the kit, they never look like my own creations, they just look like cards made from a kit.

Sometimes this can be useful - when you need to make a lot of cards in a hurry for charity or for Christmas, but mostly I save my kits for when my crafting mojo goes AWOL. I set myself the task of making four cards from every kit I own, working through them starting with the oldest. I soon start to get frustrated with them and move on to something more original, and in the meantime I've boosted my stock of charity cards.

But with two "floral" challenges waiting for me when I got home from my trip to Mum's this week, Flower Power at Crafty Creations Challenges and A Summer Garden at Craft Room Challenge, I thought I really ought to try to do something with the Hunkydory Lace in Bloom kit, which had seemed like SUCH a good idea at the time. I've tarted it up with die cuts and buttons, but, well, I still think it  looks like a card made from a kit! Very pretty, but not a lot of ME in it. I'm way behind with things at the moment,  after having been away, but if I get chance I'll be back with something a little less formulaic for each of the challenges.

What's black and white and red all over?

The answer, of course, is a newspaper (it only works if you read it out loud) but it could also apply to this card. Oh come on, humour me, this is my 500th post so I reckon I'm allowed to be a bit silly!

I made this card for the Black and White +1 challenge at Oldie But A Goodie  but as the background is actually a patterned paper (I know, it looks plain black, but it is actually a black on black brocade design) I'm also joining in with Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge.

The birthday message is the oldest stamp in my collection. I bought it about 20 years ago, before I really started stamping, to add a greeting to the cross stitched cards I used to make. The die cut layers it is stamped on are many years old too, from a QVC kit I bought before I had a die cutting machine of my own, and the  two brocade papers are from a lovely stack of papers I won a few years ago. In fact the newest thing on the card is the filigree die cut, which is actually a votive candle wrap that I bought just after Christmas.

Lentil and carrot "tabbouleh"

When I first saw the recipe for Puy Lentil and Carrot Tabbouleh on Cherrapeno I expected it to have some bulghur wheat in it somewhere, but in fact the "tabbouleh" part of it is the carrot, which is finely pulsed in a food processor to give a tabbouleh like texture. An intriguing idea, and one I had to try right away.

I had to omit the parsley, as ours is just about over, so I used a little more mint, and my tin of lentils was one I'd brought home from France, just "lentilles" and not Puy lentils. Apart from that, I followed the recipe exactly.

The salad came out stunningly colourful - and stunningly delicious too. I generally grate carrot for salads but pulsing it to give this fine, crumbly texture is a great idea and one I will adapt to other salads in future - and I'll be making this one again soon, too.

I'm joining in with Bookmarked Recipes at Tinned Tomatoes  - if you follow the link you'll find last month's splendid selection of recipes, like having a vegetarian cookbook all on one page - as well as being able to submit a recipe of your own if you wish.                                                           

Give us a Kiss for Christmas....

.....under the mistletoe!

This ultra-cute image is from a Buzzcraft Die Cut Pyramage sheet available from Foil Play. To make the border, I used double sided peel offs from a kit I bought from QVC many, many years ago. First of all I positioned the corners and the motifs in the centre of each side, then foiled them with metallic green foil, then used the "waste" hearts from the centres of them in between all the green elements, and foiled them in red. The foils, too, came from Foil Play. (And yes, the green IS the same bright shiny green all round, but my flash has made it look a lot brighter at the bottom. Unfortunately Mr Sunshine hasn't come out to play today so there's no good natural light).

 

I'm joining in with

 

Winter Wonderland - Anything Goes Xmas

Christmas Cards All Year Round - Sparkle and Shine

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - August  

 

And finally, because I know Hazel will pop over to comment on this post, I'd like to share a card that is nothing to do with Christmas but was inspired by (indeed copied from!) this wonderful card that Hazel shared on her own blog. Thank you Hazel for coming up with such simple yet stunning idea!

 

 

 

 

 

Dragonfly days

I love dragonflies - as many of you already know. They feature over and over again in my crafting, but until this week I didn't own a dragonfly die. But I've treated myself to a lovely one from Spellbinders, and was eager to use it in my crafting this weekend.

The new challenge at Less is More is a colour challenge  using the photo below as a guide

 

so I decided it was time to give my new die its first airing.  I don't have dies for grass or clouds, so I cut those freehand, and softened the edge of the cloud a little with Antique Linen distress ink.

 

 

Unfinished Symphony

This project has been sitting around part finished on my craft mat for several days - I got the two stamped panels in place and had intended adding just one butterfly, on the Chinese text background, and a couple of metal Chinese fan embellishments, but no matter how I moved the various elements around I couldn't find  an arrangement that didn't look clumsy.

So instead I stamped a second butterfly and dropped the fan idea. It seems lighter and less cluttered now, and I like the positioning of the butterflies - the Chinese fans were just too heavy for the colour scheme.

 

 

I'm playing along with the following challenges:

 

Craft Room Challenge - Green photo inspiration 

Addicted to Stamps and More  - #106 Anything Goes  

Make My Monday - Butterflies

Butterfly Challenge - #12 Summertime Butterflies

 

Absolute Beginners

Today I'm going to share one of the simplest projects imaginable - but thanks to the foil from Foil Play it still looks very striking.

 

 

All I did was to apply a Christmassy themed double sided peel off to a small glass jar and gently rub red hologram foil over it. Being Christmas themed, I've used it to store some of the ribbons I'll be using in my Christmas card making.

 

It is a project simple enough for an absolute beginner - you could even  get the children involved, getting them to decorate empty jars to use as pencil holders on their desks.