Friday 31 July 2015

When life hands you lemons ...

I am a teensy bit in love with the new Tildas that came out recently.  I'm not usually a great Tilda lover and they have to be quite specific for me to like them, but there are a few that I've bought recently and I'm really liking them.  This one's Lemon Tilda, and she was fun to paint.  I've matched her with my lemon meringue papers from Maja Design's Coffee in the Arbour pad and some lemon coloured embellishments.



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Thursday 30 July 2015

Say "Cheese"

I've got a CAS card to share today, using a cute bunny from Scrapberry's.  It's quite a masculine card which is a rarity from me! It supports the new Sugar Bowl Challenge and also the Fur or Feathers challenge at As You Like It Challenge which both start today.

For me the choice is definitely fur;  Although we did used to keep some chickens who had some fabulous characters, I'm generally not very keen on fluttery things.  There are a lot of seagulls and pigeons around where I live which are real pests.  I do quite like our resident robin red-breast, but generally prefer cute and furry, like bunny wabbits!





Card Recipe:
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Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Sunday 26 July 2015

Ice Cream

Today's card features a really summery image, with summery colours for a special reason.  I made a 'Winter Birthday' card last December for a lady whose birthday I believed to be late December (well with a name like "Mary" it seemed plausible!).  But she looked a bit befuddled when I handed her the card, because it turns out I got the date wrong, and her birthday is actually in August. Whether I pretended I was late for her last birthday, or early for the next one, either way my Wryn "Winter Birthday" card was somewhat inappropriate!

So today, I'm trying to redeem myself with a summery themed card.

I'm using a sweet new image that I bought from Sir Stampalot, and I must say that their customer service was amazing.  I ordered this image on Monday, and it was sitting on my doormat when I got home on Tuesday night!  So I excitedly inked her up that night, and made this card. And I must say, I kinda like her!

I made a custom sentiment to ensure the recipient realised that I'd got the date right this time, and finished her off with summery pink colours.



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Saturday 25 July 2015

Blue Fairy

I've got another sneaky peek of May Fairy today which is one of the new releases from Lili of the Valley due out next Friday.  This card's a but more fussy than my last one, and I've used a cherry blossom die that I thought matched the flowers on the image quite well.  The new release is 12 fairies, one for each month, and some gorgeous traditional Christmas images so keep your eyes peeled for some more sneaky peeks over the next week.


Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Friday 24 July 2015

Wedding Day

I know traditionally wedding cards are elegant shades of cream, ivory, magnolia, or other forms of off-white, but if you follow my creations you'll know that I only do cute and pastels.  So today's wedding card is pink and blue!

I have attempted a hint at the theme by the inclusion of lace, pearls and flowers, and of course the loved-up image and sentiment.

The adorable image from Lili of the Valley has been watercolour painted in DI reinkers and the curved sentiment was typed.



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Thursday 23 July 2015

Fiona Loves Flowers

I've used my beloved Fiona Loves Flowers stamp again today. And, yup, I still love her!  I've followed a simple sketch which allows her to be the focus of the card, but have still managed to sneak in some twine and pearls as embellishments.  I really love colouring this image, even though at first, the thought of attempting those flowers gave me the heebie jeebies!  I think she's worth the effort, and I love her in purple. I hope you do too. :0)


Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Wednesday 22 July 2015

Patchwork Balloons

I couldn't resist buying this little cutie with my last purchase from LOTV and I've really loved colouring him up.  The balloons didn't seem to be the usual transparent type, so I was able to have a bit more fun with the shading on them.

I've also used my WRS corner die and have cut it twice, putting one in each top corner. They're just the right size to meet with a neat little join which is hardly noticeable (unless you know where to look, so don't zoom in too closely!)

I'm not sure I got the shading quite right on the bear, but I still like the finished card. I hope you do too. :0)



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Tuesday 21 July 2015

Purple Fairy Sneaky Peeky

I've got a sneak peek of a fun forthcoming new release at Lili of the Valley.  There are 12 fairies, each one is themed for a different month of the year, and if that's not enough to tickle your fancy, there are also lots of gorgeous new Christmas images too.

They're all being released on 31 July so there's not long to save up, and there will be sneaky peeks from all the design team over the next 2 weeks to tempt you.

Today I'm showcasing the May Fairy with her pretty flowers.  I've managed to get lots of sparkle on her wings and a CAS layout to show her off.



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
  • Sketch Saturday - Sketch
  • Simon's Monday Challenge - I for Ink (as well as using DI reinkers to paint my image, I've also used Copic ink to colour plain white card to create the dark purple mat which is directly framing the image. I've also used a dripping ink colour scheme to paint the sentiment).
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Monday 20 July 2015

Hang on, is that a fox?

It was love at first sight when I saw this WRS fox a few months ago and I scrambled to get him as soon as he was released.  I think he's so adorable clinging to his branch and he's lovely to colour too.

I was quite pleased with the shading on his fur so I decided to make him the centre of attention by keeping the finished card layout very clean.

The fabulous sentiment is a Simon Says Stamp die and I've used a stitched landscape border die to create a curved panel at the side for some colour.

But that's it.

Simples :0)



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
  • Sketch Saturday - Sketch (rotated anti-clockwise)
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Sunday 19 July 2015

Relax

It's another CAS layout from me today, featuring one of the adorable new Odd Dogs from Lili of the Valley.  He was for a friend at work who celebrated her birthday last week.  I've teamed him with some pretty blue papers and a simple sentiment, typed directly onto the designer paper.  I do love this little pup. I hope you do too.  :0)



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Saturday 18 July 2015

A small slice of cake?

Following a similar theme to yesterday, I'm featuring another Stamping Bella, with another small cake!

Now this is what I call a cake!!!

I'm happier with the hair and dress of today's efforts, and again the cake is chocolate, so I'm going to be helping myself to a slice when I've finished typing.

This card's for a lovely blogpal who's birthday was yesterday (so I'm safe to blog now as I hope she's received it by now).  She's not over keen on pink, so I'm going to call the icing 'cherry' rather than strawberry, and I've used her favourite colour, blue, as the other featured colour.

So bring a fork and let's help her celebrate by digging in to that cake!



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Friday 17 July 2015

A Whole Year More Incrediblerer

I was so excited when I bought this stamp (and a couple of others!) because I really love the fun girlie and oversized cake.  However I found it sooooo hard to colour.

The hair was the first to flummox me; those curls just didn't seem to want to happen properly.

Then the dress caught me for round two. I wasn't even pleased with the ribbon and bow around her waist.

The cake was the only bit that went to plan, with some added Wink of Stella for some sparkle on the candle on top.

But the part I really love the most is the sentiment; 'a whole year more incrediblerer'!

ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!

I sent this card to a gorgeously talented, uber special and slightly nutty friend who favours the CAS look. She seemed to think that it wasn't all bad when I showed her my painting efforts.  I still believe that she was just being polite.  Well if so, her complement has backfired because both the card and the stamp landed on her doormat earlier this week!

In conclusion, I really LOVE the image, but simply don't think I'm able to her justice.

Although I wouldn't mind a slice or three of that cake. It looks like chocolate to me, with strawberry icing.

Book me in!



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Thursday 16 July 2015

Pink-a-licious

This week's challenge at As You Like It Challenge is to showcase your favourite colour which for me simply has to be pink.

I've used a Tilda image that I've had for a long time, watercolour painted in pink and white, and I've used some other items that I've had for a while too, like the papers and the dies.

I've printed my sentiment onto vellum using the technique that I wrote a little tutorial on a couple of weeks ago.



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Monday 6 July 2015

Where are my [*insert expletive here*] keys?

In the past hubby has had an occasional habit of leaving his house keys on the outside of the front door after unlocking it to come inside. Sometimes our neighbours would see them and post them back through the letterbox for us.  It really scared me when we didn't notice they were hanging on the outside of the front door all night, glinting in the street-lights shouting "hello burglars, please visit us, we've made it REALLY easy for you" until we found them there the next morning.

So, I bought hubby a retracting cord which clipped his keyring to his trouser belt loops.  If he then left the key in the door and attempted to walk away he'd find himself attached to the door with the spring cord and his trousers would get a reminder tug.

Unfortunately the said he cord was bulky when the keys were in his pocket, so it got ditched. 

More recently his habit changed to bringing the keys in with him (some progress at least!), but instead he regularly puts them down somewhere he can't locate them.  There are often several minutes of expletives while he searches for them before we can leave the house. 

My second "bright idea" was buying him a novelty key-ring that beeped when you whistled. I picked one with good reviews, and the day it arrived he opened the package and started whistling. Each time the key finder would happily beep to identify its location. After 20 minutes the novelty of whistling every few minutes to 'find' his keys in various test locations around the house wore off and he disappeared off to the gym, without his keys as I was at home.

I was home alone, no radio, no TV, not talking to myself (honest!) and yet randomly every 2 to 4 minutes the damn thing would start beeping. I put a pillow over it. I put it in the room furthest from me. Random beeping continued. He was at the gym for 2 hours which was more than sufficient time for me to be drawn slowly mad by the constant beeping.

When he came home, I calmly made my feelings known and he laughed it off saying it couldn't have possibly beeped every 2 to 4 minutes (random not regular - trust me I checked) for 2 hours solidly. We sat down to eat the meal I had been cooking and heard a little beep from the hall table.  
The battery was subsequently removed and I relished a ceremonial slam-dunk throw into the bin.

I'm having one last attempt at finding a way for him to locate his keys and as this month the challenge at Without Words Challenge is to use blue and brown, I've made a little key plaque using part of a stamp called No. 7 from Lili of the Valley.   If this doesn't work, then I'm lost for options.




Project Recipe:
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Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Friday 3 July 2015

Fancy a Cuppa?

There's only one more sleep to go before the new release at Lili of the Valley and today's card features my allocated image to showcase, Odd Dog; Mug of Tea.

I have painted him again in reinkers (I can't remember the last time I used my beloved Copics!) and made more of a fussy girlie card this time using some pretty pastel purple and aquas in my favourite 'Promises' papers, also from LOTV.



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx



Thursday 2 July 2015

Tutorials in a Winter Wonderland

We're in the middle of a summer heatwave so I thought I'd make a wintry card (no smart-arse comments from you now please Squirrel !).

This card went though a few versions, different papers, background matt colours and ribbons, and then ended up with no designer papers and no fussy stuff whatsoever!

It's supporting the 'favourite sport' theme at As You Like It Challenge, but unfortunately I'm not much of a sports fan (unless eating or sleeping count as sports).  However, I do quite a bit of walking as I walk to work most days and also usually do some kind of walking at the weekend, even if it's just walking into town and back for some noshing (there's the eating coming into the picture again!) or getting the train to the next town along the bay I live in and walking back, which is about 5 or 6 miles (with an ice-cream at the half way point!).

I did find it quite hard to find a walking image, hence I've ended up with a Christmas themed card as I was struggling to find a walking image in my stash.  And to top it off, I've added a custom sentiment which includes my 'sport', just to bring it all together.

Which leads me nicely to the tutorial part.  I was asked on a previous post if I'd do a mini tutorial on how I do my arc sentiments. I've done a couple on vellum which looks good, but this one is just typed and printed onto white card, then matted onto green to match my image.  But there's a bit of work behind the scenes to get the arc just the right shape.  So if you're interested, then keep reading and I'll include some pics on how I do it.

But first, here's my 'sports themed' card!



Arc Sentiment Tutorial:

I use Microsoft Word for my sentiments, but if you use another software the process will be similar so hopefully it helps give you some ideas!

1)  I insert a circle into my document which is the same size as the image that I want to arc my sentiment around. This is merely to use as a visual aid to get the arc of my sentiment right.  It will be deleted at the end so I don't need to fuss about colour and outline.  To insert a shape into Word, select Insert, Shape, and then select the Oval shape option.





2)  Ensure you size your circle to the same size as your image layer. My image panel has a 10cm diameter, so I size the template circle to these dimensions.




3) Next I insert some Word Art which will be my custom sentiment.  





4) I enter my text in the Word Art text box and format the font style and size to something I like the look of. 




5) Next I use the Format, Transform, Arch Up tool (as shown in the picture below) to arc the text. The Arch Down option would work in the same way if you wanted the text at the bottom of the circle.





6)  Next manually resize the text box into a large square that creates the shape of arc that you want.  Use your circle shape as a template imagining that it's your image.  As you can see below, the text box is not necessarily an even square (mine is slightly taller than it is wide) in order to get the shape of text that I think looks best.  Use the manoeuvring squares in each corner, and move the text box around over your circle template until you're happy with how it looks.  It takes some fiddling, but it's an easy way to get your shape right without a lot of printing trial and error!





7)  When I'm happy with my sentiment, I want to delete my circle template so that it doesn't print out.  However, the layers are now such that the text box is on top of the circle shape, so I can't select the circle shape very easily.  In Word you can move the layers backwards and forwards.  I move the text box that I can select backwards, behind the circle shape by using the 'Send to back' option on the text box.   If the text is at the 'back' this means that the template circle shape is therefore at the front.





8)  Once the circle shape is in front, I am able to select it and delete it. This should leave my sentiment by itself with some clean white space around it ready to print. 



9)  Once printed I use a circle the same size as my image (I could use my image panel, but this red circle is more helpful as it has a small mark in the centre).  Using a ruler I can then measure out the diameter of the circle I need to cut the outer arc of my sentiment.  Here, I have decided I need it to be an extra 1cm larger than my image panel (my desired size is shown in green below), so I need to cut the arc with my circle cutter set to 12cm diameter.






10)  I use my circle cutter to cut the arc, using the mark on the centre of my template as a guide for the centre of my circle cutter.  You could use a circle die instead for this cutting part and you wouldn't need to do steps 9 or 10, but I don't have a circle die large enough for this particular circle.






11)  I cut the sides at right angles and also trim the base as shown in the image below.  
If I want to matt the sentiment I cut a semi circle in coloured card which is very slightly larger than my sentiment arc.  I stick my sentiment down leaving a small border edge as shown below.

Tip:  If I print the sentiment onto vellum then I don't usually add a backing matt as I prefer the 'sheer' look of the vellum without it.





12) Finally I trim the edge of my coloured card leaving a narrow border, ready to slip underneath my image panel.





And here's a reminder of the finished card with the sentiment slipped behind the image panel:



Card Recipe:
I've been inspired by:
Happy crafting
Annette
xx