Saturday, May 21, 2011

Penny Black: Hello Dear - card for one of my dearest friends


Hi and welcome to my Blog  Free Smiley Courtesy of www.millan.net

I made this card for a dear friend of my mine who is going through a tough time to hopefully bring some happiness into her day and let her know that I am thinking of her.

The image is one of the more recent releases by Penny Black and I love it - but then again, I say that about all my Penny black stamps, don't I LOL?!!  Free Smiley Courtesy of www.millan.net

I stamped the image onto watercolour paper and coloured it with Faber Castell watercolour pencils.  You can't tell from the photo, but I added some Kindyglitz Crystalina to the centres of the orange flowers.  I punched a butterfly and added some tiny gemstones to the body.

I sewed the button onto the sentiment panel then popped the panel up on foam pads.  The ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my trusty Bow Easy.  I didn't really want to add anything else to the card because the designer paper (a gorgeous NEW release by Kasiercraft) is rather busy.

This card fits the following Challenges:

A Spoon Full of Sugar - Challenge 152 - Anything goes
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge #83 - Anything goes

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Penny Black 'Hello Dear' 40-062 slapstick, 'Hello' sentiment from Wendy Irving J6412.01 clear set

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black

Designer paper:  Kaisercraft Bubblegum Hills Collection - P635 Candy Confetti

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Spellbinder Oval Nestabilities, mulberry mauve button + matching sewing thread, ribbon, Scor-Pal, Kindyglitz Crystalina, Bow Easy, Faber Castell watercolour pencils, #2 round brush, 140lb watercolour paper, foam pads, Kaisercraft pink gems, Cardstock: mulberry mauve (American Crafts), light teal

Punches:  Martha Stewart Pinking Scallop, Carl Butterfly-A



Monday, May 16, 2011

Penny Black: For you - a birthday celebration


Hello blogging friends!  Free Smiley Courtesy of www.millan.net At last, I have been able to get into some cardmaking after what seems an eternity!!  Funny how when you haven't made a card for ages, it takes a while to get back into the groove and get the old mojo happening.  

It has been difficult to blog anything with Mr Blogger having some issues which I read about in Blogger Buzz and Known Issue for Blogger which I subscribe to.  If you don't subscribe to either, I would heartily recommend that you do so you know if there are any issues going on with Blogger.   Or check out the forum via the Help button at the top RHS of your Blog.  They have had to "roll-back" to an earlier version at their end and are now gradually restoring posts done since that roll-back.  I have noticed that some Bloggers have done their latest posts a couple of times probably not knowing what was going on and now their blogs have the same post several times over as Blogger is restoring them.  Anyway, I don't envy the Blogger Admin trying to fix what has obviously been a major problem - I imagine they would be very stressed and I'm grateful for all the work that they do behind the scenes.

As usual, I am digressing........back to my card.......

I started with a very simple masculine card for my nephew - which actually took me a silly amount of hours to do!  I just couldn't make up my mind about the sentiment panel and the ribbon.  Sometimes it takes longer for me to do a CAS (Clean and Simple) card than do a card with layers - it seems easier to "balance" the different elements on a layered card.  Rather ironic really when CAS cards are supposed to be quicker....... Free Smiley Courtesy of www.millan.net    But it's a style that I enjoy when it flows - plus it's a style I would like to master!   My blogging friend Robyn from Rainbows by Robyn is fantastic at CAS cards - check out Robyn's Blog here Free Smiley Courtesy of www.millan.net - you won't be disappointed.

I daresay you can see how I made my card, but I'll explain it in case you are new to cardmaking.  The kraft cardstock was run through my Cuttlebug using the Happy Birthday embossing folder and I rounded the corners with my corner punch.  I stamped the dog using Versafine Vintage Sepia ink, heat-set it then coloured it with pencils + OMS, added some blue glitter to the present, cut the image out and popped it up on foam pads.  The sentiment panel was diecut using one of the Spellbinder Tags Trio dies and I inked around the edges with Sky blue pigment ink, heat-set it so it wouldn't smear, added the brads then popped this panel up on foam pads as well.  The sentiment actually says 'Celebrate All Day' but I masked off the words to just leave the word 'Celebrate'.  Lastly, I tied the ribbon on the card, slipped it off again and sewed the button to the centre, then slipped the ribbon back on - much easier than trying to sew the button on when the ribbon is already on the card.

Here is a little close-up peek of that cute little dog that I love so much:



This card fits the following Challenges:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Week 151Clean and Simple

Moving along with the times - Challenge 98:  2 B's - at least 2 items on your project beginning with B, but you can have more.  My 'B' items are brads, blue, button and birthday.  And unfortunately belated as I got my weeks mixed up and I thought my nephew's birthday was THIS coming week, not last week!  Oops....

So that's about it.  Don't forget that you can email if you have any questions - my address is on the LHS of my Blog - just scroll down a little till you find it.

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again soon.  Hey - I just learned how to add smileys to my Blog (bet you can't tell LOL!) Free Smiley Courtesy of www.millan.net

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Penny Black 'For you' 3446E, Sentiment from Hero Arts - HA-CL292 Celebrate All Day clear stamp set

Ink:  Versafine Vintage Sepia, Versafine Onyx Black, Versacolor Sky blue pigment

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Happy Birthday embossing folder, Spellbinder Tags Trio S3-147, doublesided foam pads, blue brads, gingham ribbon, blue button + sewing thread, blue glitter - Art Institute (from Shabby Chic set), Designer Dries clear adhesive (for glitter), heat-gun, Prismacolor and Derwent Coloursoft pencils, OMS (Odourless Mineral Spirits), paper stumps, Cardstock:  American Crafts Kraft, KW Doggett "Knight" white

Punches:  Stampin' up corner punch


Monday, May 9, 2011

Sorry for my lack of posting + some photos of my garden

Hello blogging friends. Sorry for my lack of posting - sometimes life gets in the way of blogging and I have been very busy with helping my elderly Mum and of course, life is always busy with a young child - plus I have been plagued with migraines of late which hasn't been fun. Anyway, you didn't come here to hear me moan so I shall stop now ;-) On to more important issues......

The other reason is that I couldn't do any posts!! Every time I tried to do a new post in Blogger, I would just get this non-stop spinning wheel where you would usually type your text. I thought maybe Blogger was having some maintenance done making it go "off-line", however, after some research I have found that the new editor program on Blogger isn't working for my Blog (other Bloggers are having the same issue apparently) so I have had to modify my settings to go to the 'Old Editor". I have never used the Old Editor before so are still finding my way around it. I can't seem to make pictures very big - but it is certainly better than nothing!

You can read about the problem at this post here at the Blogger Help Desk and you can read some more information about what Blogger are doing to fix the issue at this link here.

I am glad that it is not me - I was thinking that I had messed up my Template modifications and was tearing my hair out thinking that I wouldn't be able to fix it.

Anyway, I hope to resume my regular posting very soon. I am working on some of those hard-to-make masculine cards and finishing off my ribbon dyeing tutorial.

In the meantime, I thought I would share a couple of photos that I took in the past week:



These daisies appeared in my garden bed after digging in some home-made compost. They are so pretty and just keep flowering. I love daisies - they are so cheerful! They are actually really small flowers - probably about half an inch in diameter.



This second photo is the view from my kitchen window. The sun had almost set and this double-rainbow appeared through the misty rain. The colour was so intense in the centre of the first rainbow that I just had to take a photo. It hasn't been enhanced with any photographic editor - this is just how it was.



This last photo is of my pink bottlebrush which has been looking spectacular and keeping the bees very busy - so it wasn't hard to find a flower that had a bee on it for my photo :-)

Since I took these photos, the weather has turned very cold - like mid-Winter - and it was very frosty here this morning - below 0 degrees C (or 32 deg F). Brrrr - I felt like a blimp wearing all my layers of clothes when I took my DD to school. I am wishing for spring already.....

Thanks for visiting - and I hope to resume my regular posts very soon!


{{hugs}}

Jocelyn
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