Another attempt at Bokeh

A few months ago I tried a bokeh effect background but was pretty unhappy with it. However I still had the template I had made by die cutting various sizes of circle into a sheet of strong card, so I decided to have another try, and this time I made sure the colours worked well together by separately using all 5 shades from a Kaleidacolor pad. To do this, I din't push the strips together in the usual way, and picked up each colour with a smallish spong that didn't overlap onto the next strip.

I kept the more intense colours to the outer edge of the rectangle and emphasised that by inking the edges of the finished piece. Then I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment onto vellum and wrapped it around the panel before attaching to the card. 

I am sharing this with 

The Male Room - Sentiment in Focus 

A Place to Start -  Create a custom background 

Guess what? Mackintosh again!

I just can't get this stamp set out and use it for just one card - here's my third card in three days made with it (I'm ready for a change now so it's going back in the storage box today).

I can never decide what's the best angle to arrange a gatefold card for a photo so take your pick! 

I am sharing this with 

Use Your Stuff - Flowers and/or butterflies 

Crafty Cardmakers - Celebrations 

AAA Birthday - Things with wings 

Allsorts Challenge - Butterflies

2 Crafty Critter Crazies  - anything goes with a creature

More Mackintosh

I just can't get those Mackintosh style stamps out and make one single card, I have to carry on and make more, so here's another that I've made, inspired by a feature in an old issue of Creative Stamping.

Once again, all the colouring is done with Promarkers,  and this time I've gone for lighter colours and fussy cut those corners  then applied them with 3-D adhesive for depth. 

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Stamping Sensations - Say it with Flowers 

Passion for Promarkers - In the pink  

Sweet Stampin - Bright and beautiful 

The Blue Bird of Thanks

I think when life starts getting back to normal, some of us who have been staying indoors are going to need a LOT of thank you cards to send to those who have been helping us, so I'm planning to build up a nice little stockpile of them.

The stamp set I used for this came free with a craft magazine a few years ago,  although I have seen it on sale separately - it is made by Creative. I stamped all the images, using the Misti to make sure the corner images were properly aligned, and coloured with Promarkers.

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Passion for Promakers - Animals (including birds)

2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything goes with a creature

Black butterfly

I made this card using the die set that came with a recent issue of Paper Crafter magazine. I was actually sent it to try before the magazine was published - I love the butterfly die but oh my, that large floral corner is a pain to extract from the die, even with waxed paper!

Dies are great for using up snippets, aren't they?  And as I often use black for matting, I do tend to have a LOT  of black snippets. I thought the butterfly looks rather like a Monarch butterfly, so I also used a snippet of patterned orange and green paper from a very old K & Co pad.

I cut the butterfly out of the white square then backed the opening with the patterned paper. Then I die cut  the butterfly again from black, inserted it into the opening and ran the whole lot through the Grand Calibur with the embossing plates to give it a neat finish. Then I stamped the sentiment, positioned the panel on the card base and added the black die cuts.

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A Bit More Time To Craft Extra - Anything goes 

Allsorts Challenge - Butterflies 

Pixies Snippets Playground - Challenge 377 

Crafty Calendar - Black and White 

Little Red Wagon - White Space  

Butterfly Challenge - Letter X - Xicetic and Xtra colours

Watercooler Wednesday - Anything Goes 

RECIPE: Carrot and lentil soup

This is the final dish that I made with the stock from the carcass of last weekend's chicken. Home made soups really do thrive on good stock, and I generally use chicken or vegetable. Both are easy and almost-free to make, but good bought stocks make great soups too - just go easy on the seasoning as they will already be quite salty.

To serve two: 

1 large carrot

1 medium onion

25g butter

30g split red lentils

grated zest of ½ lime, reserving a few bits for garnish

3 cardamom pods, crushed

600 ml stock 

seasoning

Chop the onion and carrot as finely as you can - I do this by cutting them into large chunks and blitzing them in the food processor. 

Heat the butter in a large saucepan and very gently fry the chopped veg until tender. Add the cardamoms and lime zest and stir for a minute or two to release the fragrance than add the lentils and stock, bring to the boil and simmer until the lentils are falling apart tender. Don't add salt yet - it can make the lentils tough if you add it before they are done. The length of time depends on how fresh your lentils are - from a brand new pack it will be about 15 minutes, but if you've dug them out of the back of the cupboard and turned a blind eye to the use-by date it could be more like 45 minutes. Keep checking the amount of liquid - if you have to cook them for a long time it will reduce and you may need to add some boiling water. 

Once the lentils are done, the soup is ready to serve - fish out the cardamom pods then taste and add the seasoning. If you prefer a smooth soup, whizz the pan contents with a hand blender. 

Garnish with the remaining lime zest and serve. 

You can ring the changes by swapping the lime zest for any other citrus fruit and the cardamom pods for ½ teaspoon of ground coriander or cumin. 

It's Weekend Walter again

I think Weekend Walter from Dr Digis is my favourite ever digital image and he really lends himself well to being treated  in a slightly saucy way.

I printed him out and coloured him with Promarkers.  The chipboard letters are from a very old part-sheet that's been lurking in my stash for years. The "carpet" and "wallpaper"  are patterned papers from an old V&A design collection, and I've also used a strip of the carpet paper to create a frame for a stamped sentiment, making it into a picture on the wall by drawing in a cord and adding a brad for it to "hang" from.

I am sharing this with:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Make your Mark 


Make My Monday - Use a digital Stamp 

CD Sunday Plus - anything goes using something from a CD, USB or download