A quick note

Very sorry I've not been posting for a few days (apart from pre-scheduled posts) and may APPEAR not to have been commenting on your blogs. I've been trying to sort out some issues due to a new Yahoo email policy that means all my messages and posts sent through Blogger have been blocked. I've changed the email account associated with Blogger, and that seems to have done the trick. However if you need to contact me other than as a reply to  a post, you can continue to do so via the email address in the right hand column.

Having spent all my spare time trying to deal with this, as you can imagine, little or no crafting has been done. Catch-up time starts NOW!

Decoupage at Back to Basics

It's time for our latest challenge at Back to Basics and Beyond and this time the technique we are revisiting is decoupage. There are actually several techniques known as decoupage, after all it just means "cutting out", but the one most cardmakers are most familiar with is 3-D decoupage and that is what I've used here.

Many of you know how much I enjoy crafting with CDs and may be surprised that I've chosen not to use one here, after all CDs are a real treasure trove of resources when it comes to decoupage. But I really wanted a chance to play with this NBUS Hunkydory topper stack called Florabunda (sic).

There are 24 designs in the stack and each is repeated 6 times, making them ideal for decoupage as you have plenty images to work with. Each is exactly the size of an A6 card front.

I fussy cut various elements from each sheet to build up the layers, using some of the scraps to decorate the inside of the card.

I finished off with a tiny touch of glitter added just to the top layers.

Graphic 45 Snippets

I love Graphic 45 papers, and like many crafters, find it impossible to throw away even the tiniest snippets from them (in fact there's probably a law about it!) so end up with my pads bulging with tiny odds and ends that "might come in useful".

This weekend I decided to have a bit of a blitz, inspired by some layout ideas in one of their recent email newsletters, and used up lots and LOTS of snippets from the French Country pad. I had to cut into new sheets of paper (ouch!) for each card base, but everything else, chipboards excepted, is cut from my snippets.

Naturally  I'm heading straight to the Snippets Playground with these, and I'm alsotaking them over to Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge.

Cool Colours at CD Sundays

It's time for our new challenge at CD Sundays and today we would like you to use Cool Colours ie those in the blue/green/mauve end of the spectrum.

I've made a double easel card using papers from the Funky Hands CD "V Funky"

 

The flowers and sentiment were stamped with a set of stamps a friend passed on to me and the flower is an old Joanna Sheen one.

I'm sharing this with
Little Red Wagon - Old or new trends because 10-15 years ago CD crafting was HUGE. It was hardly possible to find anything else on the craft TV channels, it seemed to have taken over from all other papercrafts. Nowadays it is much less popular, but a few of us still love to do it - the CD Sunday design team and our small core of regular visitors being among the die-hards.
Crafty Calendar - Unusual Folds - the double easel fold, with one side angled, is one of my favourite folds and is far easier than it looks.  

What a picture!

I'm always looking out for new ways to use the gorgeous Cityscapes stamps from Tim Holtz, and today I have converted them into "photos".

I printed out the blank photo slides from the Ooh La La CD "Teentastique" then masked off all but the central space and stamped parts of the Paris and Rome stamps in the space, then cut them out and stuck them on my card. I added a sentiment, and a camera stamped on beige card, both using stamps from a recent issue of Papercraft Essentials.

This card makes me think of my Dad, he was ever such a keen photographer and, when digital cameras first appeared, he got one "for snapshots" but insisted digital cameras would never be as good as film ones. He passed away 20 years ago, never having experienced the joy of the modern DSLR. He would have LOVED one!

I am sharing this with
Less is More - Black and white with one colour
The Male Room - photography and cameras
Inkspirational - Snap
Sweet Stampin - Keeping it neutral   

Spinning the wheel and hitting the jackpot!

A rare achievement for me - I've manages to use all 7 elements of the wheel at the Butterfly Challenge   - I feel as if I've just had a big win on the roulette wheel (actually I don't because I've never played roulette)

And here's my card

 

 

It's come out with a bit of a greenish cast to the white - I think that is probably reflected light from that amazingly sparkly green embossing powder.

I used a butterflies-and-flowers embossing folder for the background, swiping the "inny" surface with green pigment ink before embossing, then sprinkled with Emerald Sparkle embossing powder and heat embossed it. I love the way the raised elements stand out from the sparkly background.

 

The butterfly is cut using a very old die - I think it was a Marianne one. It's so old it's from the days before pokey-holes in dies were invented, so it takes about 10 minutes to pick all the waste out of the die. Which is why I don't use it much any more. I remember when I got it, I thought it was amazingly detailed - haven't dies come on a long way since then?

 

It needed something behind it to make it stand out from the busy background, so I drew around the die and then cut out just inside the line.

 

I am also sharing this with

 

Allsorts Challenge - Things with wings

Cardz 4 Galz - Beautiful Backgrounds 

Just add ink - texture  

 

Blue and Gold at Sparkles Christmas.

A pinch and a punch it's the first of the month! And that means it's time for our monthly challenge at Sparkles Christmas. This moth we'd like you to use blue and gold on your card.

Recently Pinterest has been showing me lots of "suggested pins" using Sue Wilson dies - I think it must have realised I don't use mine often enough! And this card, using a column die set, is inspired by a combination of several of the pins I've seen.

I cut the background layers in dark blue and the upper layers in gold, added a stamped sentiment and finished with a poinsettia spray die cut in dark blue, gold and white.

I am sharing this with
A bit more time to craft - Anything Goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Anything goes/angel