CAS(E) this Sketch #43

Good morning fellow crafters

I've got a horrible cold at the moment so got up early this morning as I couldn't breathe lying down!  So I had a little tidy up of my crafty mess that was left after making my last couple of cards and then made this card for the latest challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch.

Yes, its that Fancy Pants paper pad again but I love it and chose to team it up with a kraft card base as it works so well with the neutrals in these patterned papers...

 

And here is the challenge sketch...

 

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Card base - Papermania Kraft; cream cardstock from stash
• Patterned paper: Fancy Pants - Country Boutique
• Stamp: Wild Rose Studio - Everyday Greetings
• Ink: Versa Color - Charcoal
• Button: Stampin' Up - Designer Very Vintage
• Ribbon from stash



That's all from me today but please pop back tomorrow when I will have some very exciting news to share with you ;)

Until then, take care

Inspired by.....#2

Good morning crafters

As promised, I'm back to share another creation in my 'Inspired by' series...

 

 

I decided to use a textured card base for this card.  At first I was trying a portrait layout but I couldn't find a design that I was happy with so I turned the base to landscape and I much prefer the result.

 

 

 

And this is where I found my inspiration...

 

 

 

 

MY LUNCH BAG!

 

 

I wasn't too sure about this card until it all came together at the end, but now I think the colours look great together :)

 

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Papermania Premium Textured Cardstock (turquoise); white and red from stash
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Flower Arrangement and Leafy Accents; Wild Rose Studio - Everyday Greetings
• Ink: Versa Color - Cardinal and Turquoise
• Dies: Spellbinders Nestabilities - Classic Scalloped Ovals Large; Clearly Besotted Stamps - Flower Arrangement
• Punch: EK Success - Edger Punch Dotted Scallop

 

That's all for now folks, have a great day x

 

 

Washi Tape Love

Good evening crafters

Before I share today's card I'd like to welcome Sharyn as my latest follower.  Thanks so much for showing an interest in Neet & Crafty, its very much appreciated :)

Ok, tonight I'm back with a very quick card I have made for the latest challenge at Less is More.  This week's challenge is to make or use washi tape. 

I bought one little pack of two rolls of washi tape some time ago and until tonight, the packet was still sealed.  So I had a little play and came up with this...

 

 

This was very easy to create.  I used a scrap of cardstock and laid strips of washi tape across it and then used a heart die to cut it out.  I cut a couple of notches in the base card to secure the twine, mounted the heart using 3D foam and curved the sentiment stamp to follow the curve of the heart.

 

I think I need to invest in some more washi tape or attempt to make my own so I can experiment some more.  I've seen lots of washi tape being used in blogland and it looks great :)

 

Materials used:

• Washi Tape: Riverbank Revels
• Die: Xcut - Nested Hearts
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted Stamps - A Little Sentimental
• Ink: Versa Color - Green
• Twine: Doodlebug - Bright Assortment

 

That's all from me tonight, I'll be back tomorrow with another Inspired By... creation.

 

Night all x

 



Clearly Besotted Challenge #3 - Colour Inspiration - Take 2!

Hi lovely people

On this miserable rainy evening I'd firstly like to give a sunny welcome to two new followers, Janet and Karen M.  Thanks so much for joining me :)

I'm back tonight to share a quick card I've made as my second entry for the latest Clearly Besotted Challenge, I wanted to create another for this colour challenge before it ends later this evening.

This was a really simple one but a design I think I will come back to again and again if I'm in need of a quick CAS card.

 

 

Here is the gorgeous colour palette/photo for the challenge...

 

 

 

This was so easy, I just stamped a background on a small section of white cardstock using the challenge colour palette, used a square die to cut out a section, popped it up on 3D foam and added a sentiment.  One little CAS card done!

 

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Flower Arrangement and A Little Sentimental
• Inks: Versa Color - Raspberry, Petal Pink, Lilac, Olive and Sky Gray
• Die: Xcut - Nested Squares
• Cardstock from stash

 

Thanks for popping by.  If you have any Clearly Besotted products why not have a go while there are few hours to left. 

 

No more crafting for me tonight, I'm already in my PJs and off to relax :)

 

Take care

 

 

Embossed Circles

Hi guys

Firstly, I'd like to give a warm welcome to two new followers, Hazel and Sarah.  Thank you so much for joining me and I hope I'll keep you interested and maybe give you some inspiration :)

I'm here this evening to share the following card...

 

 

 

 

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Dovecraft - 12 x 12 Icicle
• Embossing Folder: Couture Creations - Peacock Pleasure
• Stamps: Inkadinkado - Circle and Dots; Hot Off The Press - unknown set (sentiment)
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Brilliance - Graphite Black
• Die: Xcut - Nested Circles
• Ribbon and gems from stash

 

I'm entering this into a couple of challenges this week, the first being Dynamic Duos, to use Light Aqua and Black with the option of Embossing...

 



I've not entered this challenge before but I'm starting to enjoy colour challenges a bit more now.  I've not used SU products but hopefully I've come close enough with these shades :)


The second challenge is at Less is More although I'm not sure I've successfully complied with the brief this week.  The theme is 'Round and Round' so I immediately thought of this embossing folder featuring circles within circles.  However, after reading it properly (that'll teach me!!) Chrissie and Jen wanted us to use any image which implies this movement...ie things with wheels or which move in this manner etc or in fact cards with some moving parts.  Circles go round and round, right?!  Oh well, I enjoyed making it so may as well enter it :D

That's all for now folks but I hope to be back soon with more to share.

Take care

Clearly Besotted Challenge #3 - Colour Inspiration

Hi all

I'm here this evening to share a card I have made for the latest Clearly Besotted Challenge.  This time Stephanie has set us a colour inspiration challenge, using a gorgeous colour palette from Design Seeds. 

Here is my card...

 

 

and here is the inspiration photo/colour palette...

 

 

 

 

 

I do find the colour challenges the hardest as I only have one brand of inks at the moment, although I do now almost have the full set so I can start to collect another brand now for some variation :)

 

I tried my best to incorporate all the colours and I used stamps from three of the gorgeous Clearly Besotted sets, together with a few bits and bobs from my stash.

 

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Building Blocks, Love Hearts and Framed Sentiments
• Dies: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Love Hearts
• Ink: Versa Color - Petal Pink, Lilac, Raspberry and Sky Gray
• Cardstock, dew drops and ribbon from stash (the ribbon is taken from the hanging ribbon inside one of my jumpers - I save them all!)

 

I appreciate your visits and comments so very much so thank you :)

 

Take care



Inspired by.....#1

Hi guys

For a while now I've been taking notice of things around me day to day and thinking 'those colours look great together' or 'that design would look great on a card'.  So, I've decided to start my own little series of posts on my blog where I've been 'Inspired by' something I've got at home such as packaging or an item in my home, or out and about where I plan to start taking quick pics on my phone so I can return to them later for inspiration.  Basically like Pinterest I suppose but I wanted to get inspiration from around me rather than online.  My job involves sitting at a computer for most of the day so I wanted to gain ideas as and when I see them rather than spending even more time on my laptop surfing the internet.

So, here is the first card I'm going to share with you...(apologies for the dark photo, I'd lost most of the daylight by the time I took this so had to use my daylight lamp)

and this is where my inspiration came from...

 

A REALLY PRETTY LOO ROLL!

 

 

I had this particular stamp in mind when I saw the design but its smaller than I hoped it would be.  For my first attempt I tried paper piercing to create the grid but it overpowered the design so for my second card I used simple diagonal score lines.  A few gems and a yellow border finished off the card.

 

Materials used:

• Stamps: Wild Rose Studio - Flower Doodles; Clearly Besotted Stamps - Paired Up (leaves), Flower Arrangement (sentiment)
• Ink: Versa Color - Cyan, Fresh Green
• Cardstock: Base card from stash; Southfield - Premium Pure White Glass Smooth 200GSM; Papermania Premium Textured Cardstock
• Gems: Anita's Gemstone Wheel - Gold and Silver

 



No doubt I'll get inspired by more weird items as I go about my day to day business!

Thanks for popping by and it will be great to hear what sort of things have caught your eye and made you think 'oooh, that would look great as a card!'

Bye for now

One Layer Number

Good morning crafters

I know its unusual for me to be posting this early in the morning but I made this card last night and had to wait until this morning to photograph it, and as the recipient has a birthday tomorrow I need to get it in the mail today!  That being said, apologies for the not so great picture, my usual photography spot in the flat isn't so bright at this time of day!

I have made this card for this week's Less is More challenge...its the dreaded one layer challenge and this time Chrissie and Jen want to see numbers used on our creations.

I have very little in the way of number stamps, and absolutely nothing in my die collection so my mind went a completely blank at first.  Then I had an idea and this is what materialised...

I started by printing a large number 3 on some thin paper and then cut it out as neatly as possible so I was left with a stencil.  I wanted to use my Clearly Besotted Stamps 'Basic Stripes' set to create a kind of tartan effect.  The stamps are quite long so I gave the stencil a wide border to cover up the base card.  I've tried stamping through a stencil made of card before and it didn't work too well, so I used fairly thin paper to ensure the ink would reach the edges nicely.  I started with the medium width stripe stamp and stamped the vertical blue lines.  I then followed this with the wide stripes in orange and the thin stripes in the darker blue.  This card is for a boy which is why I chose two blue shades, I then chose to use orange for a pop of colour, this being the opposite of blue.  I then inked up the 'today' stamp in the same lighter blue shade.  To finish, I used my corner rounder scissors to echo the curviness of the number 3.  Unfortunately, by using thin paper for my stencil some of the ink blotted through onto the base card so the image isn't as clean as I had hoped but overall I'm happy with it :)

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Basic Stripes; Dovecraft - Numbers ('today')
• Ink: Versa Color - Cyan, Orange and Indigo
• Tools: Fiskars Corner Edgers - Rounder

I'm really pleased with how this turned out and there are some great entries already in the challenge gallery.  One layer cards certainly take a lot of thinking about but its amazing what can be created.

As always, thanks so much for popping by and I hope to see you again soon.

Less is More Week 131 & CAS(E) this Sketch #40

Hi guys

Firstly I'd like to give a warm welcome to my new followers, Jo, Deepti and Christina.  Thank you so much for taking an interest in my blog, its always great to know that people appreciate my creations :)

Apologies for being a bit quiet this week, I've been spending a few evenings trying to organise my stash into some sort of order.  My cupboard still needs some more planning as I seem to have bought too much recently and have no room for it! Oops!  I've also started to make a set of swatches for my inks so I can see the true colours.  Its very difficult to imagine the exact colour just by looking at the pad.  Its a work in progress but should get it all sorted how I want it soon.

Tonight I'm here to share a card I've made for a couple of challenges.

 

 

 

Less is More - Colour challenge / inspiration photo

 

 

 

CAS(E) this Sketch #40 

 

 

It took a while to pull together some materials from my stash to fit the colour challenge but I think I did ok.  I love the sketch this week and its one I've used a few times over the years, I love the simplicity and the vertical sentiment.

 

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Textured card base from stash; Papermania Premium Textured Cardstock
• Stamps: Marion Emberson Designs - On your special day; SP & Company - Just a Note
• Ink: Versa Color - Charcoal and Umber
• Ribbon and dew drops from stash

 

I hope to be back at the weekend with more to share with you, thanks as always for visiting and for your kind comments :)

 

 



Less is More Week 130 - A Pinterest Picture Inspiration

Hi guys

Firstly, I'd like to say a huge thank you to Chrissie and Jen at Less is More for choosing my card as one to ShowCASe for the Week 29 Challenge, Handmade Flowers.  I was so excited to get recognised amongst some fabulous entries so THANK YOU :) 

I've left it very late to enter this week's Less is More challenge but I've made it with a few hours to spare.  This week we are to use a Pinterest Picture as our inspiration.  Chrissie and Jen chose a piccie of some fabulous killer heels and here is my card, followed by the inspiration photo...

 

Aren't these shoes fabulous!  Unfortunately, I've never been able to wear such high heels but they are still lovely to look at! :D

I started with a cream card base.  I don't have any shoe stamps so I decided to pick up a few details from the photograph.  I stamped a black strip of card with some vertical stripes using VersaMark ink and then embossed with black embossing powder, I wanted to capture the shiny patent of the shoes, hopefully you can just about see this in the photo.  I then looped some stitched ribbon, similar to that detailed on the shoes, and secured this under a shiny black button, also tied with some ribbon.  As the shoes are 'fabulous' I chose a sentiment to reflect this, also inked up with VersaMark and again embossed with black embossing powder.  A few black gemstones were added to finish.

Materials used:

• Cardstock: From stash
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Basic Stripes and A Little Sentimental
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Stampin' Up - Black
• Ribbon, button and gemstones from stash

Right, I need to go and start getting glammed up for the engagement party I mentioned in my post yesterday.

Take care and see you soon :)

Congratulations on your Engagement

Hi guys

Well, until today my week off has seen very little sunshine, but today the sun finally came out so we made the most of it and got out and about.  We travelled up the coast to Seaton in East Devon and had a little trip on the Seaton Tramway where electric trams take you from Seaton to Colyton alongside the River Axe estuary and through the nature reserves in the Axe Valley.  A little later we drove along the coast to Beer and had a little wander around the shops.  Its a shame we had to use the cliff top car park, that just proved how unfit I really am!!  Phew, that was very hot and hard work!!

Anyhoo, getting back to some craftiness, I wanted to share a card I made last night ahead of an engagement party we are going to tomorrow evening, one of my chap's friends recently popped the question :)

This is only the second time I have used pages from this paper pad and I really love the neutral shades.  I scored double horizontal lines above and below the strip of patterned paper and then used some dies to cut out the hearts from other pages in the same pad.  I used two different stamp sets from Clearly Besotted for the sentiments and decided to use Charcoal ink on this one instead of black and I think it works much better with the neutral tones of the paper.  My only annoyance with this card is that the pattern can be seen through the ribbon, oh well, you can't win 'em all eh!  On the other hand, I love my bow, makes a change for me to create a half-decent one! :D

Materials used:

• Cardstock: Base card from stash
• Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants Designs - Country Boutique
• Dies: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Love Hearts collection
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps - Framed Sentiments and Baby Love sets
• Ink: Versa Color - Charcoal
• Ribbon and gems from stash

That's all from me today.  I have an afternoon and evening on my own on Saturday so hopefully I will be able to fit in some crafty time and therefore be back on Sunday to share some more creations with you.

As always, thanks for visiting and I hope you are having a lovely week whatever you're up to :)

Bye for now

 

Weight Loss Update:

So far I've managed to lose 7.5 lbs in 4 weeks, not bad considering July was a busy month for socialising.  I've been eating out a fair amount this week too, it is my holiday after all, but I don't think I've done too much damage, Monday morning will reveal all :-/