A mystery folder

I was looking for an embossing folder the other day and came across this one - and I have absolutely no idea where it came from! I don't recall buying it,  and it's too sturdy for a magazine freebie, so I think it must have come as part of some candy or a goody bag. But why don't I remember it? Maybe the crafting fairies just tiptoed in during the night, and added it to my stash.

In any case, I thought I'd better have a play with it, so I combined it with some Spellbinders labels, a couple of butterflies die cut from a scrap of teal card - the butterfly is also a Spellbinders die - and a die cut sentiment, using a Tattered Lace die.

I am sharing this with:

Butterfly challenge - Texture and/or Teal
Dies R Us - Black and white with optional accent colour

Happy Birthday Ma'am

It can't have escaped your notice, if you live in the UK, that today is Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday. In fact you've probably heard about it even if you live elsewhere.

However she isn't the only lady to be celebrating a 90th birthday this year. In a couple of weeks' time, my Mum will also be having her 90th birthday, and here is the card I made for her. I thought I would share it today because it is so relevant to the day.

The embossed background is a Crafters Companion die, and all the other dies are from Creative Expressions' Sue Wilson collection apart from the numbers, which are Spellbinders Victorian Numbers.

More Mackintosh

Earlier today, I posted my first make with the Charles Rennie Mackintosh stamp set from Creative Stamping magazine. Naturally once I'd started using these gorgeous stamps, I didn't stop at one card, and now I'm sharing my second card with you.

I'm sharing this one with Glitter 'n' Sparkle challenge - Red and White

Glasgow Rose Butterfly

The other day I got the latest issue of Creative Stamping magazine which comes with a whole A4 sized sheet of stamps in the style of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's  famous "Glasgow Rose" design. I love the stamps and I think you'll be seeing a LOT of makes using them appear on here over coming weeks and months.

Here is my first make, a butterfly stamped on acetate. coloured and glittered from the back and then mounted in the window of a tri-fold aperture card which itself has been stamped with images from the set.

Ooops! Now I've added the photo, I can see that the bottom right hand stamping is much too far over to the edge - one to earmark for next year's April 1st boo-boo challenge perhaps?

I am sharing this with:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Photo inspiration (the butterfly and colours)



Creative with stamps - Butterfly



Fab 'n' Funky - Winged Things

Make My Monday - Butterflies

Stampin' Royalty - Butterflies 

Cuddly Robins

In my experience, robins aren't terribly cuddly, they are very solitary birds and very possessive of their territory. We have a "garden robin" and woe betide any other robin that dares to stray onto his patch - except at mating season, of course! So OK, we'll pretend that Christmas is mating season (hence the mistletoe sprig!)  and get on with the card.....

I made this using a 3-D decoupage sheet printed out from a CD that came with a craft magazine a couple of Christmases ago - I printed it as soon as I got the magazine so now I can't recall which magazine or CD it was. The scalloped borders are actually the waste from when I die cut the waves for my Jonah and the Whale card. with a spot of blue Liquid pearls added to each scallop. I'm continuing with my one-woman campaign to revive peel-offs, at least until those of us with a huge stash of them have had chance to clear the backlog, although I do wish the "Seasons Greetings" sentiment didn't look as if it said Seazonz Greetingz!

I am sharing this with

Winter Wonderland - Pink or Blue 
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Cute

Books or Book Paper at Cardz 4 Guyz

It's time for our new challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz, and this week we would like to see Books or Book Paper in your design.

I must admit I struggled with this at first. Although I love to see altered and folded books, I can't bear to do that myself; I don't like to write in books, or turn the page corners down, or do anything to hurt them. In fact when I thought about making an altered book, it made me want to rush to my books, all 5 bookcases full of them, and fling my arms around them to protect them!

Luckily my Dovecraft Curiosity Corner collection of goodies contains some newsprint paper and paper with newsprint leaves on it. so although it's technically imitation newspaper rather than books, I am claiming artistic license!

I fussy cut the leaves from two different sizes of paper, leaving a border around them so they would stand out from the background. My choice of image is determined by the fact that I wanted to use this gorgeous vintage bicycle ribbon I won in a recent challenge - isn't it super? The image itself is a die cut from an old Hunkydory kit.

I am sharing this with:

Suzy Bee's Blooming Challenge - Make it Male
A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - April    

Vintage Tulip

One of my oldest and most favourite stamps is the Hero Arts vintage tulip stamp. Oddly enough it is also my six year old granddaughter's favourite, and she would much rather use it than the fun children's designs I have stocked up with for her.

Today I've combined it with a script stamp, it's an old unmounted red rubber one so I must have got it in a grab bag at some point. The script is hard to read but it's all about the language of flowers, so ideal to use with a floral image.

I stamped the script to fill the background, using Versmark ink, and then dabbed several shades of green chalk over it and inked the edges. The tulip is coloured in with Promarkers and has made me realise I need to get some more, less harsh, shades of green!

I'm sharing this with House of Cards, where the April challenge is a colour challenge and/or script.  I've nailed the script side of it, but my poor selection of greens means the colour challenge part is a bit off-message. And it's only now, while copying the inspiration photo to paste here, that I've realised I've subconsciously copied the image on the photo - that wasn't intentional! But it just shows what a lovely picture it is and how it stuck in my mind.