Oh, I’m such a ‘fan’ of the Daring Cardmakers!

Or should that read….I just ‘made’ a fan for the Daring Cardmakers

It's Tanya’s first time posting and setting the dare on the DCM blog this week and boy has she come up with a good one.
Here’s her brief:-

The Design Team have been busy working on this weeks dare ' It's all in the Shape' set by me. I'm a fan of shaped cards so thought this was a great one to do for my first dare. You can do any theme but your card has to be a shape of some sort.
If you don't have any shapes check out the internet as there are heaps out there. So go for it and can't wait to check out what you guys came up with.

I don’t often make shaped cards so I was scratching my head for a while before I finaly decided to make this………

Each panel of the fan was cut on Roberta Robo and then stamped with Tapestry stamps.
The front panel was stamped with Black StazOn and painted with Twinkling H2o’s

Paper – K & Co Classic designed Paper Pad & Memory Stor (Costco Kit)
Inks – Color Box Fluid Chalk, StazOn (Black) & Versa Color cubes.
Paint – Tulip pearl dimensional Fabric paint & Twinkling H2o’s
Glitter Glue – Stickles
Wired Flower Brad – Karen Foster
Rubber Stamps – Tapestry stamps – Rubber Stamp Tapestry & Best Wished – Fun Stamps
Fine Detail Silver Embossing Powder – Stamp ‘n’ Stuff
Fibers & Ribbons from stash

Sketch This (52) & Di Hickman challenges

I’m back from my weekly trek around Sainsbury’s with Dad and since getting home I’ve been playing with my craft stuff. I can't tell you how pleased I was when I got home because postie came while I was out and brought me three lovely sets of nestabilities........... I have a feeling they are the first of many!
As you can imagine, I couldn’t wait to get crafting but I had to be a little bit patient because I first needed to finish off a 21st birthday card that I started yesterday.

I used the latest template from Sketch This as the basis of this card.


Paper - Basic Grey - Scarlet’s Letter
Ink - Ranger Distress Ink
Fabric paint - Tulip metallic dimensional
Glitter Glue - Stickles
From my Stash
Blooms, Fibres, Chipboard Numbers
Computer printed greeting

With the 21st card out of the way I could now spend some time experimenting with my new toys. Nothing too exciting from my first attempt though, just some squares cut and embossed.

For this card I've used the template from Di Hickman’s Blog.


Paper – Double sided from Memory Stor (Costco Kit)
Ink – Ranger Distress ink (Peeled Paint) & StazOn (Black)
Rubber Stamps – Stamps Away - Tool Time
Computer printed greeting

Tanda Teaser - All Our Yesterdays

I miss doing the Tanda Teaser last week but I’ve been doing a few cards today and made one of them to fit this weeks teaser.

Here’s the brief:

We want to see cards with images of days gone by - you can use objects or people just as long as it transports us to a different time!

You can be the 'Dr Who' of the card making world!

For some reason I’m not good at doing vintage but I have to say I was quite pleased with my card when I had finished it.

The papers are a combination of DCWV Luxury Stack and K & Co’s Classic Designer Paper pad.

The stamps used are Tanda’s Retro Women Set 2 and Art Nouveau Borders and a greetings stamp from Blonde Moments Sweet Celebrations set.

I finished off my card with Cream Lace, seed beads and a flower shaped button from my craft stash.

DCM - 3rd Anniversary

I’m really late with my Daring Cardmakers little extra card this week because I’ve not been crafting much over the weekend and stayed over at my friend Susan’s house on Monday. However…..I have managed to make my card this morning and have now added it the DCM blog.

This is the 5th week in our ‘Anniversary’ series and the Anniversary is the 3rd, so that means making a card with leather, crystal or glass on.

I didn’t have much in the way of crystal or glass and come to think of it not much in leather either but I did have a little leather handbag that I really love but has honestly seen better days. I’ve been meaning to chuck it for ages but couldn’t bring myself to do it so this dare has given me a reason to re-cycle it……even if it did bring tease to my eyes as I took the scissors to it!

Anyway, here’s my card. Sorry the picture’s not great but it’s chucking it down at the moment and the light is not good.

The papers are from my new Costso Memory Stor kit and the stamp is from Tanda’s Transport Set 1.
The big brads were from my ever growing stash.

Papertake - For the Fella's

The Papertake challenge this week is called 'One For The Fella's'

We have Fathers Day coming up, here in the UK so this weeks challenge is to make a mans card! The card can be for any occasion as long as it's for a man!

I decided to go with the Father's Day card as I still have some to make for the shop.

Here's my effort:

The papers are Basic Grey - Color Me Silly with some doodling added.
All the letters, tags and the circle were cut on Roberta Robo and the brads are from my stash.

Sketch This - Cards (51)

Here’s a place I’ve not visited for a while…..Sketch This . It’s a great place to visit if you’re looking for templates, be it for cards or layouts.

I thought it was about time I had another go at the latest card templates and found that it would work well with an idea I had for a Father’s Day card.

This is what I came up with. It’s just something very simple but I think it works!

The papers I’ve used for this are all Crate - Taylor Collection.
I started off by covering the card with the pale Blue card having already printed the greeting on it using my computer. I then inked the edges and added some doodled dots around the edge. The two tags are die cuts from the same paper kit and I’ve attached them both with brads and some ribbon from my stash. I’ve added some more doodling and a ‘Letraset’ rub-on greeting.
Finally I cut the letters on Roberta Robo and attached them to the card on spirals of wire so that move about.

Another Template challenge - Di Hickman

I spent some time ‘playing’ yesterday afternoon, having a bit of fun with this lovely new kit that I brought in Costco the day before.

What a bargain it turned out to be…..300 sheets of good quality, double sided card stock, housed in a wonderful accordion file and all for £20……that works out less than 7 pence a sheet.
Needless to say I’m one happy bunny at the moment.

I was spoilt for choice when I decided to have a go at the latest Di Hickman template.

Here’s my effort:

I chose just two of the new papers which turned out to be more difficult than I thought it would…….they are all so gorgeous and go so well together!

I ended up making two cards using the same papers but on one I’ve covered the whole of the card and the other I’ve left the card as it was. You wouldn’t think that doing something as simple as that would result in two completely different looking cards would you, but I’m quite pleased with the outcome.

All I did was to cut strips of patterned paper, inked the edges with Ranger Distress ink and attached them to the card and then added a hand cut star to the corner with a star shaped brad.
The greeting is a Whispers Words stamp which was also stamped with the Blue distress ink.
Both cards were finished off with some doodling and inking around the edges….and there you have it!

I've got my 'Beady' eye on you!

I’ve been let loose again and it’s my turn to set the dare this week for the Daring Cardmakers.
Having scratched my head for some time trying to come up with something I decided to go with something beady.

I’m sure that most of us girlies had a bead box when we were little and if you were like me, would spend hours sorting and swapping them with friends. Come to think of it, things haven’t changed that much because I still have a box of beads and I’m hoping that you do too.For my dare this week I would like you to make a card that incorporates beads somewhere in the design…..it’s as easy as that!It can be one bead, lots of beads, big beads, and small beads, whatever you like as long as there’s at least one on your card somewhere.

What I’ve used

The dotty paper is from Doodlebug and the double sided Flowery/Green paper I think came from a 12 x 12 paper book from HOTP but I can’t be sure about that.

The stamps I’ve used are Blond Moments – Just Plain Dotty (Flowers), Technique Tuesday – Whispy Gigs and a stamped greeting but I’m not sure who made that either.

Inks - Ranger Distress ink – Dusty Concord, Color Box Fluid Chalk Cat’s eyes
Silver fine detail embossing powder

Seed Beads

Lavender and Lace

What a lovely combination and just perfect for our little extra over at Daring Cardmakers this week.

Over the past few weeks the mid week dares have all been based around Anniversary gifts and this week is no exception. The Daring Cardmakers want us to make a card using Bronze, pottery, linen or lace, the modern and traditional gifts for the 8th Wedding Anniversary.

I didn’t have anything in mind when I started making this card but I’m pleased to say that what I’ve ended up with will be perfect for a wedding card that I needed at the end of the month.

For this one I decided to go with the ‘lace’ part of the brief but the card stock is embossed Linen effect which I also think could also count as part of the dare.



I started by stamping half of the card with a pretty little flower stamp. Sorry I can’t tell you who it’s made by because there’s no name on it. All I know is that it was part of a set I brought from QVC a few years ago. The stamping was done with VersaMark and then dusted over with Blonde Moments Sugar Dumpling Pearl Pigments.

The bottom half of the card has been covered with a patterned paper from a Brenda Walton book of designer papers and I’ve hidden the join with some White lace and added tiny seed beads for detail.
The central image is a stamp called My Mother’s Dress by Inkadinkado. It’s been stamped with Color Box Fluid Chalk Ink, matted onto some Mauve card and edged with the same White Lace. To finish the card I’ve added some paper flowers, metallic dimensional fabric paint, some glitter glue and a computer generated greeting.

My knight in shining armour

The challenge over at Papertake this week is to make a card using this template.

I decided to go with a Father’s day theme as it’s coming up in the next couple of weeks and I needed to get a few cards made to fill my basket in the local chemist.

Here's my card:

I’ve used Tanda’s Medievel Knights Set 1 for my images, stamped with VersaMark and heat embossed with fine detail Silver embossing powder.

There’s also some dry embossing in there too, as three of the mats have been through my Cuttlebug, using various embossing folders.

Long Time, No Challenge

Well, it's absolutely ages since I've had a go at a CPS template but yesterday while I was pushing paper and embellishments around my craft table looking for inspiration I suddenly remembered the templates that they come up with each week and headed straight over to their blog.

Here's this weeks template:

You'll notice that I've turned the template round sideways to do my card because it suited the imaged that I eventually decided to use.

This is what I came up with:

The first thing I did was to cover a DL card with Dusky Pink patterned paper from the English Paper Company. I then stamped the three images of the lady using one of the stamps from Tanda's Retro Women Set 2. Each one has been stamped in a different shade of Color Box, Fluid Chalk ink...........................you may have noticed that I use these a lot, well that's because I love the softness of the image that they produce. The colours are really fabby too!

Each of the images was matted onto Brown card and had the ribbon and brad added before being mounted onto the prepared card base. I then added the stamped greeting, which has also been matted onto Brown card.

I hope you like my effort.

Thanks for looking.

Papertake - Luscious Lime & Lilac

This morning I’ve been busy finishing off the inserts for a card order that I’ve been working on this week but I strayed slightly and got waylaid a bit. While blog hopping I came across Papertake, another blog with a weekly Monday challenge so I decided to have my first go at it.

Their challenge this week is to make a card with the colour combination of Luscious Lime and Lilac - or any shades of green and purple!

Here’s what I came up with

I used my Creative Memories Cutting System to cut the aperture in the card and make the frame. For the stamping I’ve used various Tapestry Stamps and Technique Tuesdays Whispy Gigs in a combination of Colur Box and Versa Magic Chalk Inks in shades of Green and Lavender.

To finish the card I’ve added a bit of sparkle with some Stickles and then finally added an Organza bow.

The Animals came in Two by Two

My heading is not strictly true, it should say two cards and three animals but that doesn’t have a ‘ring’ to it, does it.

This week there are two challenges which have to feature animals the first is over at Daring Cardmakers and the other is the Tanda Teaser, so while I had my animal stamps out I decided to give them both a go.

First is our DCM dare.

Hi everyone, it's my turn (Mel) to set the dare this week :)
I've based my dare on the book by Graeme Base called 'Animalia' (just because that book happened to be sitting near my desk when I realized it was my turn for the dare this week).
So, all you have to do is create a card featuring an animal.
I thought this would be a good opportunity to used the lovely set of stamps that in won in one of Sheila, Manic Stamper’s raffle’s on her blog a little while back

The two papers that I covered my card with are from DCWV ‘All Dressed Up’ stack and were a perfect match for the Zebra stamp that I’ve used. I stamped the image three times, using a mask as I stamped over the previous image and then tore and inked the edges with Black distress ink before attaching it to the card with four large Black brads.
The little round tags read ‘Go Wild’.
They were cut with a Cuttlebug die, inked with Black distress ink and the letters were stamped with my ‘Evolution’ magnetic stamp alphabet from Making Memories. I tied the tags to some Black Fibers down the side of the card and then finished it off with a computer generated greeting.

Next is the Tanda challenge.
I’ve never had a go at the Tanda Teaser’s before but I’ve decided to give it a bash.
Here’s the brief……..

This week's Tanda Teaser is called 'ZOOFARI'. We want to see cards with an animal on - anything you would find in a Zoo!
For this one I decided to go with my stamps, some chalks and a children’s stencil.

The stencil comes from a lovely little ‘Fun with Zoo Animals Stencils’ book.
I started by securing the stencil with low tack tape to the centre of the card and then, using various Tanda Inches stamps I stamped over the stencil randomly using Brown Staz-On. With the stencil still in place and using a cotton wool ball, I chalked over the stencil in shades of Yellow, Orange and Brown.
The border was created by first making a rectangle mask to cover the centre image. I then used an array of different stamps and coloured inks to stamp around the edges of the card and then, with the mat still in place I chalked over the stamped images.

I framed the centre image using some fibers and four large brads and finally added a stamped greeting.

Time Flies

I can’t believe that Tuesday is here again and it’s time for another Mid Week Little Extra from the team over at Daring Cardmakers.

Another Midweek challenge based on the traditional and modern gift lists for Wedding AnniversariesThis time we've chosen the 3rd Anniversary, so you have the choice ofPaper or Clocks to inspire your card making this week - which is nice and easy don't you think?Remember, your card doesn't have to be an anniversary card, it can be for any occasion, we're just using the themes for inspiration purposes!
I though that just going with the paper might be the easy root to take so I decided to have a stab at the clock.
There’s paper in there too obviously so I think I have it well and truly covered!


I started out with a Caramel coloured card and stamped some clock faces all over it to create a subtle background. The centre panel started life as plain Cream which I’ve sponged with Distressing Ink in three colours, Tattered Rose, Dried Marigold and a touch of Faded Jeans and then spritzed so the colours run into each other. Over the top of this I stamped some fine text using Penny Black’s Letter Background stamp and then some various travel related stamps from Clear Choice Stamps Journey Collection.

The clock face is also a Clear Choice stamp. I stamped this onto a strip of Cream card, added some faux stitching along the edges and then mounted it onto a strip of torn patterned paper and then onto the card and added a ribbon.
Finally I printed ‘Time to Travel on to some Vellum, using my computer, tore the edges and attached it to the card with two little brass brads.

Now that the dare out of the way I can tell you about my day yesterday.
I went to see my pal Lythan and we had fun playing with our crafty toys, having a good old natter and we had lunch in the garden, it was really fab.

We did actually make a few cards too. Here's what I managed to make.

A Bit of a Magpie

I have to own up and face the fact that I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to card making. I see things and think to myself, “I could use that on one of my cards” and it duly goes in a box of bit and bobs awaiting the day that I recycle it. This is especially true when it comes to embellishments on shop brought cards and before I know where I am I’m cannibalizing them.

The challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week gave me the perfect opportunity to rummage through my box because they want us to make a card recycling an embellishment or paper from a shop brought card, gift bag or wrapping paper.

I decided to go with one of my 50th birthday cards that’s been sitting in the box for 18 months and had a lovely little present on it that was just crying out to be re-used at some point.

This is what it looked like before

and here it is now


I cut a 14.5cm square card and added some panels of Basic Grey Colour Me Silly that have been inked on the edges and then doodled with Black pen. I stamped some swirls onto the largest of the panels with Technique Tuesday's Whispy Gigs stamps and a Orange Ink It Up pad.

I have to say, this is not my usual style but I was so inspired by the card that Lythan made for her AD-dicted dare that I had to give it a go.

The birthday present is the recycled element from the 50th card and I’ve added a stamped birthday greeting using Black Staz-On and my Blonde Moments Sweet Celebrations stamps and finished it off by adding some little buttons, brads and gems for my stash.

DCM - Little Extra - Wood or Silverware

I can’t believe that it’s been two week since I last posted.

I’ve been laid up with an acute case of very painful sinusitis which turned into a nasty chest infection and felt so rough that I’ve not been in the mood crafting in any shape of form, not even my cross stitch. I’m pleased to say that I’ve over it now though; well, apart from the cough which is still hanging around but I thought it was about time to get the ribbons and papers out again!

The Daring Cardmakers are doing another challenge in the series of Anniversary gifts that they started a couple of weeks ago and this weeks Little Extra is to make a card featuring either the traditional gift of wood or the modern gift of Silverware for the 5th Anniversary.

While I was wondering what on earth I was going to do I remembered that I had some lovely little shaped wooden buttons that I brought at Ally Pally last year and had never used so I pulled them out.

It turned out to be very simple. I covered the card blank with the patterned paper and cut the scalloped border by hand after using a stencil that came free with one of the card making magazines. I coloured the buttons with Gel pens

and also added a little bit of doodling to the borders and then finished the whole thing off with a little tag and some ribbon

Ingredients

Patterned papers – DCWV – All Dressed Up stack, K&Co – Hopscotch Designer Mat Pad.
Organza ribbon – from stash
Wooden buttons –from stash
Large brad – from stash
Sakura Gelly Roll pens
Tag Whale of a Punch
Blond Moments Sweet Celebrations unmounted stamps.