Tuesday 23 December 2008

Catching up.......again!

Oh my! Yet another week has passed and I’ve managed to miss another Daring Cardmakers launch day with my card.
Actually the girls had prior notice that I would be late with my card this week because I had a very special house guest coming all the way from Switzerland to stay for the weekend, ……..my wonderful friend Nicki.

As you can imagine, there was no crafting going on.
What little time we had was spent chatting, eating and going to the Christmas Sing-A-Long at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday afternoon, the main reason for Nicki’s visit.
I had mentioned that we go every year and what a great start to the festivities it always makes and because Nicki had never been to the Royal Albert Hall she decided to come over for it.....how great was that!
We had a fantastic time but before we knew where we were, it was over and Nicki had to return home. Still, I will cherish the wonderful memory of Nicki being the only one standing up in the Royal Albert Hall while singing Frosty the Snowman…….ok…it may have only been for a second or two but it was funny!

She sends her love and says ‘hi’ to those of you from Crafts By Carolyn and anyone else who knows her.


Anyway, with the weekend over and Nicki no longer here to distract me (my excuse) I was able to start catching up with things today.


The week before last I said I was going to update my blog but I never got around to it because things have just been so manic. I’m still up to my armpits with Christmas preparations but at least I’ve managed to make my card for this weeks dare…….well I’ve made two as it happens!

But before I show you those I’ll show you the card I made for the previous dare. The card was on the DCM blog but I just didn't find the time to put on here.

The brief was to make a card in around 10 minutes which was perfect for me considering how little time I seem to have at the moment.

My card was very plain and very simple.


Now this week’s 'team' dare was a bit more of a challenge.
It’s easy to use just Gold or Sliver on a card but much more difficult to incorporate them both together.

For the first card I made I took the easy option and just used Gold on its own.

Then I decided to have another go and used both the Gold and Silver.


So there you have it!

There’s no dare next week and the way things are going I’m not sure how much time I will have to get on here anyway.
I would just like to thank everyone who visits my blog and those that leave wonderful messages. Believe me, they are always appreciated.
I would also like to say a big thank you to all of you who have supported The Daring Cardmakers since it started a little over two years ago and made it as successful as it is today.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy the holiday in whatever way suites you best
Lots of Love
Sue
x x x

Friday 5 December 2008

Be Inspired At Home - DCM



I’ve been so bad not updating my blog over the last two weeks but that doesn’t mean to say that I’ve not been productive. It’s been more a case of little time left to do it so today I intend to add a few post here in an effort to bring things up to date a little.

First it has to be today’s dare from the Daring Cardmakers and it’s Kathy’s turn to have us scratching out heads while we panic about what to do. Her dare is a great help though because she has us searching out for our inspiration.

She says…..


Be Inspired At Home

This week you can make any card you like - so it can still be for Christmas, or to say Thank You or a card for any occasion you like, but I'd like you to look for your inspiration right there, in your home.



I started off by going around a few rooms with my camera, taking some photos of different things and then narrowed it down to three.
The wallpaper in my hall, my kitchen tiles and lastly, the one that I used, this limited edition framed cell from the Walt Disney film 101 Dalmatians.




I’ve kept the card quite simple but I have gone with a spotty background rather than spotty dogs.


Card – Craft Creations Creative Hammer (White), Creative Cover (Black)
Patterned Papers – DCWV Black and White stack
Rubber Stamp – Happy Birthday – Blond Moments Sweet Celebrations, Dog – unmounted stamp brought from someone on ebay.
Ink – Tsukineko Staz-On, Ranger Distress Ink (Black Soot)

Other Bits
Brads
Ribbon

The idea is that you look around your home and find a pattern, design, motif etc - or just part of one that you can replicate and use as the inspiration for your card design

You could use the pattern of the floor or wall tiles in your kitchen or bathroom, or even your patio tiles

Or maybe there's a pattern/motif that's used on a picture frame, wallpaper or curtains.

Or how about checking your crockery, a vase, an ornament for a motif you could develop into a design for a card
Once you start looking around, you'll see loads of little design motifs that can work for you - at least I hope you will!