ATC Swop UK

At long last, our Facebook ATC group is active again and our organiser is busy sorting things out.  We had all sent in our ATCs for the March swop (Birds) but these were at her shop when everything closed down.  They have now been retrieved and the swopping has begun.  The next swop - April - Fairies - have been sent in and after that one by one May, June and July will be done.

Here are the March ones that I made and sent.  Beautifully arranged and presented by Sue and her husband - affectionately known as the Slave.

As you can see I used a fair few gems on my creations.

These are the Fairies that I have sent in and I am looking forward to seeing them presented in a much better way.

Here is an extra I sent in for the Slave as I know he loves Minions as much as I do.

Keep safe
Carol
xx

Majestic Kingfisher

This card was made using dies etc from the Tattered Lace Favourite Florist Collection.

I saw a sample card made using the Kingfisher with the thistle plant and the two looked good together so I made my own on the same theme.

I used a new to me set of arched dies.  A recent purchase from Hunkydory. The backing paper inside the arches was one of the Tattered Lace downloads that come with the collection.  Also - of course - the Kingfisher and the thistle were  downloads to be used with the dies.

I think this will make a good male birthday card so it will be saved until next year.  I have been so busy card making during this awful stay-in time that I have made all my cards for the rest of the year.
Carol
xx

Afternoon Tea

Some more die-cutting and decoupage. This time from the Tattered Lace Afternoon Tea Collection.  The dies and the corresponding downloads are so easy to use and I think they look amazing.

I have still got lots more to keep me occupied.

Hugs
Carol
xx

Another river scene

Tattered Lace - as promised - but no parchment with this one.

A mixture of pinks and greens and a simple sentiment make it suitable for my go-to box.
The topper made with the white and green frame and watercolour picture is from Tattered Lace (shown in a previous posting).  The die-cut decoupaged flowers are also Tattered Lace and they come from the Favourite Florist Collection.  I love using these particular flowers because they are a perfect shape to use on the edges of images and I love the colours that are among the downloads.
The die-cut bow is an old friend. I cannot remember who makes it but the die itself is green.

The card size is a 170mm square.

I have had some more Tattered Lace deliveries so off to have a play. One of my new dies is of a Kingfisher and I can't wait to use it.

Hugs
Carol
xx

Tattered Lace River scene

I have now used one of the toppers I posted about yesterday. I decided that I would mount this on some parchment and here it is:

The die frame comes from the Abby Hill part of the 'Tattered Lace Peaceful Picture' collection and the river scene picture from the project magazine.
I used 160gsm weight of parchment and just created a pattern of crosses and sun tool embossing.

The die-cut sentiment was done in blue and white using a set of dies I have had for some time.

Now to decide how the present the second topper.  Not parchment this time I think.

Hugs
Carol
xx

Pink and white hearts

I am so enjoying my foray into Tattered Lace.  I think this is all the fault of our new CD Sunday Plus teamie Jo.  I have long admired the cards that Jo produces with her sets of dies and then  Jo joined us -   we got chatting and voila!

Now this new card has been made using dies from the Manor garden set from Peaceful Picture decoupage.  I looked at all the card samples on the Tattered Lace site and fell in love with one which I have almost replicated - just a couple of slight differences.

I love it.  Here it is:

My own tweaks are putting the decoupaged flower spray in a different place and adding a couple of diecut bows.

The gorgeous background paper comes from the accompanying USB as does the 3D decoupage.  I suggest that the decoupage is printed out on a fine photo paper for maximum effect.
Included with the die collection and USB is a project magazine.  The sample card that I used is also in the magazine together with some beautiful papers.

Some of the papers are watercolour scenes.  I have scanned these into my machine so that I can alter the sizes.  I have done this already with a couple of the papers and using the dies from the Abby Hill collection I have made the following couple of toppers:

They are beautiful just as they are but I am thinking of combining them with some parchment work.  They have been cut out of a lightweight card so they won't be too heavy for the parchment paper.

If nothing else the enforced staying-in has stimulated my creative juices as well as decreasing my bank balance.

Off now to decide how to use these toppers - unless I start diecutting again.
Stay safe.
Carol
xx

CD Sunday Plus - Challenge #40 - Anything Goes - hosted by Wynn

Good Morning.  I hope that all are well and still crafting. 

We had an amazing response to Challenge # 39.   What an introduction to hosting for Jo.  It will take her until # 41 to choose her Top 3.   Thank you all for your support.

For Challenge # 40 I needed my Pinflair punch. You will see why when you look at the photo:

I love Lilac.  I am just sorry that it doesn't stay in flower for very long.  The blooms are so pretty and they smell delicious.

The image I used looks as though it was painted in oils so I thought of the punch which would add a rough - oil paint -  appearance to the 3D effect.  I printed out many copies of the image and just kept punching out the flowers to stick on.
The two backgrounds are from MCS - Lavender Reign CD.  I use the same background for the die-cut butterflies.  I also used my own graphics programme to create the lilac borders and to add the sentiment.
Gems are from Hunkydory.
Here is a close up of the punching:

I think this is one of my favourites for this year - so far- and will probably be in my go-to box for a while yet.

Please leave a comment as you pass by and perhaps even join in with our challenge. We would love to see you.
Hugs
Carol
xx

p.s. Please don't forget our very few rules -below - when entering our challenges. Sadly our record number of entries for the last challenge was spoilt by some who did not qualify.


"This is the CD Sunday Plus Challenge Blog. This means that as well as following the theme of the challenge, a CD, USB or Digital images, or any combination thereof, must have been used somewhere in the making of the card or project."
THE SOURCE MUST BE NAMED AND CREDITED

More Tattered Lace dies and 'downloaded vignettes'

I don't know if the term 'downloaded vignettes' is the correct one to use for the pictures that you download to use with the appropriate die.  I saw it used on the blog belonging to one of our CD Sunday players so I am using as well.  If I am wrong perhaps some kind soul will tell me.

Whilst I have been having such fun with the dies etc making 3 D pictures I have been investigating various papers in order to get the right effect. Or rather the effect that I want.  I tried some glossy photo paper that I had found in my stash but discovered that it was far too heavy gsm wise and the result was very poor.  A fellow CD Sunday teamie had suggested one of the ICE range of papers and I ordered small quantities of a few and settled on ICE professional inkjet photo paper Gloss 210 gsm.  It cuts beautifully and I think it looks perfect. You can be a judge as that is what I used in the following two cards.

The topper I used for both these cards is a free download from Graphic Fairy.  It is - I believe - a Victorian postcard or something similar.  I lightened it a little so that it didn't look too Victorian, and added a border.

The die-cut flowers are Lavatera from Tattered Lace and are 3D.  I think they do look good using the ICE paper.

The added words were done by me with my ACDSee programme.

The first card is for my go-to box and second a thank you to a dear friend.  It was her birthday on Friday and I joined her and another friend in her garden for a cup of tea and a glass or two. This was the first time I have been out since Feb 20th and I must admit to feeling quite scared and jumpy. Ridiculous at my age - but I did.

I forgot to say that the pretty backing paper is a free member download from Create and Craft.  One of Nancy's collections I seem to recall.

I am off back to the dining room do some more die-cutting.  Keep safe.
Carol
xx

Tattered Lace dies and downloads

I have been totally absorbed over the last couple of days using my new toys again.   Both the  Petals of Lace and The Favourite Florist collections from Tattered Lace.
The first card is from Petals of Lace.  The pinks are the most natural tones and I prefer them to the blues and other tones.

Here it is:

I have used about three layers of decoupage to most of the roses and die cut the sentiment message in bronze Mirri card.

The structure of the above card came from the downloads but the second card I have designed and created myself.

Like Topsy,, it sort of grew as I went along.  I found an image on the internet of a garden to use as a background.  This was my starting point. Rather than just stick it on to a folded A5 card and go from there I decided to make a gatefold card.  My favourite flower from the Favourite Florist collection is the Wild Rose which is in the 'In the Field' section of the collection.  This Wild Rose is a beautiful pink so I chose that colour as my base and used my graphics programme to create some card the right colour for the basic card.  I then positioned the green matted 'garden' image to the gatefold front and then decided how to decorate it.
Easier to show you rather than long descriptions:

The three Wild Roses are from Tattered Lace but the mauve, pink and yellow roses and leaves in the left-hand corner are die cut using a similar programme from Hunkydory (Moonstone in Full Bloom).  They have a book of images (rather than downloads) which have matching dies.

In amongst the Hunkydory images and dies, I found a sentiment for the inside of the card.

I had such fun making these.  Whilst I was downloading and die cutting I was doing extras for future projects.
Love to hear from you if you care to comment.
Hugs
Carol
xx

CD Plus Challenge #39 - hosted by Jo

As always our challenges are 'Anything goes' with the proviso that either a CD, digital image or a USB has been used singly or in any combination.

This is also team member Jo's first time to host a challenge and choose the Top 3.


This is my card for this challenge:

This was originally die-cut decoupage. There was so much on the sheet to use.  In fact too much for just one card.  I copied the image back sheet and with my graphics programme added the borders and the sentiment. I printed an extra sheet of flowers so that I could punch out some flowers for the corners and for the second card and topper that I managed to make using the layers from the original sheet.  I love this flower study.  Funnily enough, I do not like Hydrangeas in real life but I do like them in pictures and paintings.

This one was also made for a Facebook Group where we have been making  'Cards of  Kindness'.

Here are the second card and the topper that I made to show just how much there was to use.

I look forward to some more blog visits so please join in with us.  I will already be doing a great deal of blog hopping as it is my turn to choose the  Top 3 for Challenge #38.
Love
Carol
xx

More Tattered Lace

I really am enjoying the new 'toys' and this time I have used the Iris die.  I found an old photograph I took many moons ago during a trip down to Bristol to stay with my sister.
We visited an old house and gardens that were open - in aid of something or other,  and I took lots of piccies.  I have used several but not this one before.

Here it is:

I used my graphics programme to add a border.  The Irises are from the Tattered Lace set and the white picket style fence is from a die that I have had for some time but from whence I do not know. The matting layer is purple Mirri card - not black as it appears.

Another for my go-to box which during the lockdown is getting very full.   I fully intend to stay where I am for some time to come so I am sure it will get even fuller.

Keep safe.

Carol xx