CAS-ual Fridays CFC91

Hi guys

Just a quick visit tonight to share a card I have made for the latest challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays which is to add silver to our projects.

I'm not entirely happy with it as it ended up different from how I first intended but I love the stamp, its so elegant, so decided to share it with you...

 

 

and a closer view...

I started with a layer of pearlescent bright pink cardstock to create a vibrant border against the black.  I stamped the main image with Versamark then heated with silver embossing powder.  I initially wanted to stamp the butterfly with pink ink but it didn't show up on the black card so I then decided to highlight it with some pink glitter glue.  The sentiments were also stamped with Versamark and embossed with a pale pink glittery embossing powder.  I then popped the black panel up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Cardstock: All from stash
• Stamps: Personal Impressions - Lindsay Mason Designs 'Magic Happens' set
• Ink: Versamark
• Embossing Powder: Rubber Stampede - Silver; Personal Impressions - Mothers Day Pink
• Glitter Glue: Stickles - Pink

Right, off to bed for me, thanks for visiting :)

Neet x

Less is More Challenge - Week 108

Hi Crafting Lovelies

Firstly I'd like to thank my most recent followers for adding themselves to my small but growing list.  Its always great to find out that you guys actually want to see my creations, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside so thank you so much :) xx

So, on to today's card and I was delighted at the weekend when I saw that the latest challenge over at Less is More was to use paper piercing on our projects.  Although I've only been blogging for a couple of months I've been cardmaking for a few years and I've had a lonely little metal paper piercing stencil in my stash which had been forgotten so I couldn't wait to have a play again, and I forgot how therapeutic it was! 

This is what I came up with...(apologies again for the poor photography, can't wait for the lighter evenings so I might be able to get some decent shots!)

 

 and a closer view...

 

There were lots of ornate swirls, flowers and leaves on the stencil but I decided to stick with the straight line of dots.  I used the same row of dots to create the five lines, each a different length.  This was my second attempt, on the first one I used five different flower stamps but it just didn't look right so I recreated it using the same little flower head in five different colours.  I then stamped the sentiment above but something was missing so I added the little mosaic gems in colours to match each flower.  This panel was then popped up onto 3D foam.

 

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Card blank - from stash; Stamped/Pierced card - Kanban 300gsm Brilliant White Cardstock
• Stamps: All from Penny Black 'Salutations' stamp set
• Ink: Versacolour - Mint, Orange, Pink, Lilac, Lavender; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Gems: Papermania Mosaics - Sets: Sapphire & Topaz, Citrine & Peridot, Ruby, Pink Diamond, Amethyst

 

I'm really pleased with how this turned out and thoroughly enjoyed making it so I think my little stencil may be coming out to play a lot more often :)

 

Thanks for visiting as always.

 

Neet x



 



Muse Challenge #5

Hi guys

I decided to take a break from decluttering my flat to take part in this week's challenge over at the Muse blog.

This is my take on this week's card...

 

 

 

 

Below is the fab card by this week's Muse, Marion Vagg, from which we were to draw inspiration...

 

 

 

I took inspiration from the horizontals and zig-zags and I love the colours she used but my stash of patterned papers is very limited and I have yet to add any washi tape to my craft cupboard.  So I then thought of a set of stamps I have which look like rows of stitching so I went with that to finish off my card after using colour blocked cardstock.

 

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Premium Cardstock - Orange, yellow, pale blue; Papermania Premium Textured Cardstock - Royal blue
• Stamps: Hot Off The Press - stitching; Hero Arts - just saying hello
• Ink: Versacolor - Royal Blue

 

As always, thanks for visiting me today.

 

Take care

 

Neet x

 



25% Off at Hobbycraft!

Hi lovelies

I've had no time lately for crafting as I'm in the middle of decorating my flat and having a general declutter so in a complete mess right now.

Just popping by to let you know that Vouchercloud are currently offering 25% off at

The offer expires on 24 February and they are offering 25% off online by entering a code at the checkout or in store if you prefer to have a browse.

 

Click on the image below to take you to the offer.

There's always something we crafters need (want!)

Happy shopping!

Neet x

Muse Challenge #4

Hi guys

Just a very quick post from me tonight to show you a card I am entering into Challenge #4 over at the fab Muse blog. 

Here is my interpretation of this week's card...

 

 

and a closer view...

 

 

 

I was drawn to the colour scheme although used muted, softer hues and also took inspiration from the vertical lines and white space.

 

I stamped and coloured the image directly onto the card base and then used a border punch to edge some pale green vellum which I then used as an overlay, adhered to the rear edge of the card fold.

 

This is the lovely Muse card designed by Therese Calvird, from which we were to draw our inspiration...

 

 

 Materials used:

• Stamps: Wild Rose Studio - Flower Doodles stamp set
• Ink: Impress - Jet Black
• Promarkers: Orchid and Soft Green
• Vellum: Anita's Plain Pastel Vellum Pack
• Punches: Hobbycraft - Ribbon Camomile; Dovecraft - Daisy Corner
• Gem: Papermania - Glazed Gems (Iridescent)

 

 

Thanks as always for visiting today.

 

Neet x

 

Very Happy Me :) and Valentine Challenges

Hi lovelies

I want to start today by saying how excited I am...I've only won a whole lot of goodies from Uniko Studio's February Release by commenting on their blog hop.  I never win anything so I'm well chuffed right now!  Yay for me! :)

On to today's post and a Valentine's Day card I've made for my chap.  I've been wanting to post this for days, lets hope he sees the real thing and doesn't look here first!

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

2 Sisters - Hearts

A Gem of a Challenge - Hearts/Valentine

CASology - Red

CAS-ual Fridays - Love Song (We Belong Together - Mariah Carey)

Craft Your Passion - My Valentine

Crafty Catz - Love is in the Air (feature a heart)

Crafty Creations - Love and/or Hearts
Dream Valley - Valentines

Ooh La La - Love Story

One Stop Craft - Love is in the Air

Simply Create Too - Valentine's Day/Hearts

Totally Gorjuss - Love

 

 

A closer view...

 

 

The red card looks slightly orangey in these pics, it is actually a slightly deeper red with a slight pink tone, I just can't seem to get it right when taking photos in artificial light.

 

I used one of my most recent purchases, the gorgeous Paired Up stamp set by Clearly Besotted Stamps, its so lovely and there are loads of stamps in the set.  I used a Hero Arts shadow ink to stamp the moon in the background behind the two birds but the camera hasn't picked it up too well.  The birds were stamped using Versamark ink and embossed with silver embossing powder.  I decided the inside was a little plain so I stamped a little 'love you' in the bottom corner just to add a little extra :)

 

 

  

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Anita's A5 White Card (base card); Papermania Premium Textured Cardstock (red and grey)
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Paired Up stamp set
• Ink: Hero Arts Shadow Ink - Stone; Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaColor - Rose Red; Versamark
• Embossing Powder: Rubber Stampede - Silver
• Die: Xcut Nesting Dies - Circle
• Punch: EK Success - Thin Edger Punch 'Dotted Scallop'
• Ribbon from stash

Thanks for visting, I love your visits and comments :)

Neet x

 



Less is More Week 106 OLC Music

Hiya

I want to start by saying a huge thank you to my first 10 followers, it means so much to me so thank you *little claps* :)

Well despite being sat in front of the laptop for what seems like two whole days on eBay I managed to find some time to enter this week's challenge at Less is More.  This challenge is to create a One Layer Card with a reference to Music.

My heart sank when I read what this new challenge was as I knew I had no stock whatsoever that referred to music...or so I thought.  I then had a brainwave and as it turns out...some peel-offs came to my rescue!  Yes, REALLY!  I raided a pack of partly-used peel-offs I'd listed on eBay yesterday, one of which had musical instruments on it.  Yay!

This is what I came up with...

 

I ripped some paper and masked off an area of the card, then stuck the musical note peel-offs in this area before carefully chalking in three colours applied with cotton wool.  I then removed the paper and carefully uplifted the peel-offs with a pokey tool.

And a closer view...

 

 

I then curved a clear sentiment stamp to match the contour of the chalked edge but to my horror I made a bit of a boob when stamping it.  Panic set it as I had no more peel-offs.  I tried to rescue my card by re-stamping to correct my mistake (why, I'll never know as this never works!) but I was delighted when this happened! 

 

 

As I hadn't lined up the image properly it created a faded shadow behind the original impression and I actually love it.   I think it makes a lovely soft effect alongside the chalk.

 

Now that I look at the completed card I think I should have made the chalked area smaller as I don't think I've left enough white space for this challenge.

 

Materials used:

• Chalks: Decorating Chalks by Craf-T Products
• Peel-offs: Musical notes - unknown brand
• Stamp: SP & Company - Just a Note stamp set
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black

 

So there you have it, learning from my mistakes all the time! :)  Thanks for visiting as always.

 

Neet x



One Woman's Trash is Another Woman's Treasure!

Hi guys

The reason I've been a bit quiet this week is because I've been having a good sort out of my stash.  Although I've only been blogging since the beginning of this year, I've been cardmaking for a few years so have a fair amount of stock...but times change and products move on so to be able to make room for some new bits and bobs (and of course to afford the new bits and bobs!) I'm parting with some stock I no longer require. 

Mum has taken some off my hands and the rest I have painstakingly listed here on eBay.  There are a few items at the end of the listing which are not craft, please just ignore these unless you fancy a new coat or cardi! hehe

I realise that most of you super-talented bloggers will probably not have any requirement for my cast-offs but you never know, that little stamp you so desperately want may be amongst it! haha, probably not but worth a try, eh! :)

Cheers peeps

Neet x

Liebster Award

 

Wow, I'm so chuffed, yesterday the lovely Kristie awarded Neet & Crafty a Liebster Award.  I've only been blogging a short while and recently discovered Kreative Kristie.  Her card designs are so inspirational so I'm over the moon that she takes the time to view and comment on my creations.  Thanks Kristie - go visit her blog, its amazing!

ABOUT THE AWARD
This award was designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion. Once you've been nominated, you award it to blogs that you like that have fewer than 200 followers, to encourage new visitors to visit these new blogs.

RULES FOR ACCEPTANCE
Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog. Post the award onto your blog. Give the award to five bloggers who you appreciate that have fewer than 200 followers. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know that you have given them this awesome award!

PAY IT FORWARD

As I'm a very new blogger I've been discovering other blogs by viewing through comments left and also by entering challenges and viewing other designs by some wonderfully talented people.  Here are five blogs that I think you should check out:

 Gillian

Carol

Lizy

 Jenny

 Cassie

These are some super-talented ladies! :) xxxxx 

Muse Challenge #3

 

Hi guys

I've no idea why I'm up so late tonight but I was feeling crafty so decided to have a go at the latest challenge over at the Muse Card Club.  For these challenges we are asked to draw inspiration from a card created by one of the Muse designers.  This week's card is designed by Laurie Willison and after our dull and dreary winter I really love the cheery Spring feel of this card.

The first thing that sprung into my mind was that I wanted to make a gate-fold card. 

I took my inspiration from the panels and the Spring colours.  I wanted to include a Spring floral so I decided to use a tulip stamp.

This is what I came up with...

 

 

 

 

 

 



I used an Impress inkpad in Jet Black to stamp the tulip but decided it would probably be too harsh so this was the second impression I took.  The sentiment was from a clear stamp set so I curved it to follow the contour of the leaf.  The whole card turned out a lot brighter than I intended, but now that I think about it tulips are actually bright yellow not a soft yellow so I've changed my mind and like the final result.

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Papermania - Tall Gate-fold card; Green embossed cardstock from stash (unsure of brand); Kanban 300gsm Brilliant White Cardstock
• Stamps: Anita's - Tulip (wood mounted); Marion Emberson Designs - It's all in the Words set
• Ink: Impress - Jet Black, Versafine - Onyx Black
• Coloured with FlexMarkers
• Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Classic Rectangles Large
• Ribbons and gems from stash

Thanks for visiting, I really to appreciate you taking the time.

Right, I'm off to bed!

Neet x

For My Bestie

Hiya

Hopefully my posts will be more frequent in the weeks to come.  I'm in the middle of a big declutter at the moment so the flat is in a bit of a pickle to say the least!

Today I thought I would share with you a card I made for my very best friend's birthday.  I was going to publish this at the weekend but had to wait in case she took a sneaky peek at my blog!  Its very similar to another recent creation, but using a variation of the image and paper.

 

and a closer view...

Not too happy with the colouring on this one, it all went a little wrong but happy with the overall card, these Wild Rose Studio stamps are so cute :)

Materials used:

• Design Paper: First Edition Paper - Spring Feast Paper Pad
• Cardstock: Kanban 300gsm Brilliant White Cardstock
• Stamps: Wild Rose Studio - Girl with Cake & Everyday Greetings sets
• Ink: Impress - Jet Black; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Reverse Wonky Rectangles
• Coloured with ProMarkers
• Ribbon and pearls from stash

Thanks for visiting today, hopefully I'll have a lot more to show you very soon.

Take care

Neet x

Kraft & Kreme - Happy 2nd Birthday Less is More

Hi guys

I've not had much chance for crafting this week but I'm back and I'd like to start by wishing Less Is More a very happy 2nd birthday.  I only discovered the challenge blog about a month ago when I started my blog and so far I'm loving it and getting loads of inspiration from all the different entries for each challenge.

So this week's challenge at Less is More is a colour challenge and we are only allowed to use

Kraft & Kreme

on our creations.

 

 

Here is my card...

 

 

and a closer view...

 

 

I did find this challenge a struggle at first due to my lack of stock but I love the finished result.

 

I started by using a kraft card base.  I then found some pearlescent cream card in my stash and I love the effect of embossing on pearlescent card so I ran this through my Big Shot using an embossing folder.  Before adhering to the base I rounded one corner of the embossed card with some decorative scissors.  Next I used an oval die to cut out more kraft card.  I then discovered that stamping the sentiment with VersaMark on kraft doesn't show up too well!  So I die cut another oval and the only ink I had which would be suitable for this design was white, which I then heat embossed with clear embossing powder to make it more subtle.  I affixed this oval to the base and finished by die cutting two small butterflies and popping these up on 3D foam.  I was going to carry on and use some pearls to decorate the butterflies but decided that of course, Less is More, and due to the embossed background the card didn't need any more.  Very proud of myself for holding back! :)

 

Materials used:

• Card: Papermania - Recycled Kraft Card Blanks; Pearlescent cream card from stash
• Embossing Folder: Craft Concepts - Florette
• Stamp: Woodware - Salutations stamp set
• Ink: Versacolor - White
• Embossing Powder: Rubber Stampede - Clear
• Dies: Spellbinders - Nestabilities Classic Ovals Large; Clearly Besotted - Butterfly Wishes
• Decorative Scissors: Fiskars - Corner Edgers 'Rounder'

 

I don't think this will be the last time I use this colour combo, sometimes colour just isn't required.

 

Thanks for visiting, I really appreciate you stopping by.

 

 

Neet x