CCM Challenge 51 - Butterflies

This week at Crafty Cardmakers the theme, chosen by Melly, is everyone's favourites - Butterflies!

I've chosen Tilda this week to assist with my butterflies! Both she and her dog have one and there are several fluttering in the meadow behind them!  In case that wasn't enough, there are two die-cut butterflies crusted with stickles top left and a goldtone charm.

My lovely fabric-look papers were from C&C, believe it or not, one of their rare bargains.

You can't see much of the base paper, which is a shame because it's quite lovely, with fairies, butterflies and pink bindweed on a textured ground.

I coloured Tilda, her dog and the meadow in a mix of Copics, Marvy-le-Plume and Stickles!

Hugs.

CCM Spot 50 - ATC's

Team-mate Judie has chosen ATC's as the theme this week at Crafty CardMakers.


If you're not familiar with them, they are credit-card sized pieces of art made entirely to taste. 
ATC-ers often make a run of them in a theme and usually, they are swapped with other ATC makers

I've made three as I wasn't entirely convinced any of them would suit! LOL!
The first two are, clearly, a Liverpool theme and the last one a kitty-themed one.
I haven't made ATC's for ages and I know the more I make in a batch, the better they get so Judie's probably catapulted me into an ATC-making frenzy! LOL!



I made absolutely loads of these a couple of years ago - some of them quite intricate -  but I just don't have the space to store them or the swaps! With that in mind, the first to request them gets them! LOL!   They're both part of themed series and signed.


I hope you like them but if you pop over to Crafty CardMakers, the rest of the team have created som lovely works and will show you how it's done!
Hugs 
Ei
x

My latest digistamp - Morgan Le Fay

I love the Arthurian legends and have read a good few books on the subject so when I was wanting a new genre to draw images for, this popped into my head! 


Morgan Le Fay, so the legend goes, was the daughter of Uther Pendragon and he was also the father of Arthur, although Arthur was unaware of their siblingship as Uther had come to his mother under a 'glamour', she believing him to be her husband Gorlois.


There are then differing views on what and how Morgan was by the time Arthur met her but I believe that as Christianity was still the 'new' religion and paganism of the time had festivals at which it was ritual for the reigning 'goddess' priestess to unite with the representative of the 'god' at a set time  in order to assure fertility in the land, that Morgan and Arthur were these in roles.


Arthur was Christian enough to have run a mile had he known it was his sister but to the Pagans and Druids, at this special time of the calendar, Arthur and Morgan were no longer their earthbound characters but assumed the guise of the god and goddess, so no harm was done in their eyes. Indeed any child of this union was considered a great gift and blessed and was usually given to the preistesses at their dwelling to raise as another Priestess or Druid.


Anyway, enough of the historical literature lesson! LOL!
Here she is!

If you like her, she's available on my showroom site Eiglassing or you can just e-mail me and I'll either send her on to you or give you a download code.


Hope you like her!
Hugs
Ei
x


Entered at :
CMC Copics Challenge Group - Folds    13

Crafty CardMakers #49 - Spots and Stripes

This week's theme from Crafty CardMakers is Spots & Stripes which was chosen by our Donna!

' 

I would never normally combine spots & stripes per se as I usually have quite a fussy style to begin with but I may just try this again!  I had a slight problem with my glue not setting - probably the heat - so I didn't quite do everything I wanted to do with this card. 

Papers are DCWV and a doily, flowers a mix of Prima, Wild orchid and poundshop.  

The image is my own Eiglas  'Un bon repas pour deux'  (which can be found at my showroom, 'Eiglassing' )  coloured with my Copics.
The lovely 'crossover' card shape was featured on Top Tip Tuesday last week but I didn't get my mojo to work in time and so missed it. Fussy & Fancy's Diane has also made a crossover card this week - it's clearly an 'en-trende' technique!

My number three son, Rob has pinched my camera so I've had to use his Dad's 'orrible little 'point and click'. You can't half tell the difference!  The digital artifacts are all over the place. Yukkk! 

is our lovely sponsor this week and they're offering £10.00 to spend in their super shop!

Please do pop over to CCM - the girls have worked really hard on their demo cards this week and you will be inspired by the beautiful results!

Hugs

Ei

x


Entered for:


Fussy & Fancy - Diane                    
KB Cute Monday - Flowers              3
Make It Monday - Anything Goes   29
Ooh La La  - Summer Flowers          7

Crafty CardMakers Spot 48 - Sentimental

This week at Crafty CardMakers, the spotlight is on the real focus-point of any greeting card...the sentiment.

For my sentiment this week, I wanted to use something that really is a true-ism for me and I'd come across this quote by 'Dilbert' creator Scott Adams a few months ago so had it in my mind before the theme was even chosen. 

I made the quote myself and mounted it with a Nestie and a Tim Holtz die. 

The backing paper is from stash and I would be very grateful if anyone could identify it for me as I love it but only have a little piece left. 

The strange ribbon I picked up in North Wales a couple of years ago - I can't even guess what it's meant to be for but I liked it so bought a few yards.

This theme has brought out the philosophical side to my team-mates and it really would be worth your while popping over to Crafty CardMakers Spotlight for a look at their wonderful work! Some great quotes for you to steal...! LOL!

Hugs

Ei

x

Top Tip Tuesday - Open Challenge/ Welcome the New DT Members

It's a special week over at Tip Top Tuesday this week - we have new DT members!


To celebrate, we're having an 'Open' challenge - do what thou wilt!


We also have a selection of sponsors - Robyn's Fetish and StitchyBear Stamps, who have been so kind as to give the DT some of their lovely digital images to use.

I've used Kelly Kid's 'Dog & Boy'. I think it's a fab image and enjoyed colouring it with my Marvy-Le-Plume Permanent Markers.
The papers are DCWV from The Pets Stack.


Hope you like it!


Do pop over to Top Tip Tuesday as there's loads going on over there this week and you have no excuse not to enter, have you!
Hugs
Ei
x




I've entered this into :-


Papertake Weekly - Dads and Lads
Secret Crafter - Male
Alphabet Challenge - Father's Day or Male
Mami Doodles - Male
The Stampman - Boys & Men

Colour Create - Blue, Silver & Purple

I don't enter challenges very often but I do like  Colour Create Challenge and this week their challenge has one of my favourite colour combos of purple and blue with silver.


I've also entered a colouring competition at Letraset so I've used the same image of the Capri, on a card for my son Michael who has a birthday next week, in the required colours.

It's coloured, of course, with my trusty Copics!
Hope you like it!
Hugs
Ei
x

Crafty Cardmakers Spot 47 - Parchment

I've not done much parchmentcraft - I'm not the patient type! LOL! 
But I do admire it when it's done well and I know a few uber-talented crafters who perform this discipline the way it's meant to be performed - beautifully (...listen up Tina - I'm talkin' ta YOU!..)!


Unfortunately - I'm not one of those crafters so must apologize for my effort forthwith!


My Crafty Cardmakers teamie Jacki is to blame for this week's dog's breakfast...LOL! But you do need to pop over to base-camp and look at how this is meant to be done!

Materials
21 x 21 cm hammered white base-card
20 x 20 cm  backing paper from stash
A5 x heavy parchment (not vellum - too light)
A5 Rainbow card
Parchment pattern
Butterfly charm
Organza ribbon
Tim Holtz bookplate in cream
Handful of flowers to taste.
Gold-Touch pen
Embossing/pricking mat
Pricking tools
Embossing ball-tip tools
Good-quality white coloured pencil - (Bruynzeel Europa is mine)
Copics


Begin by placing your parchment over your pattern and tracing it with the white pencil. This will make life easier for you when you come to emboss and prick later on. It's a matter of taste as to whether the white pencil is on the 'right' or 'wrong' sides.




Greasing the 'wrong' side of your parchment with either a candle (tealight will do) or soap helps the embossing tool to glide over the parchment better.  (If you want to colour your parchment from behind then colour before you grease). For this project, I coloured from the front.


With your parchment on your embossing mat, take your embossing tool with the larger ball, gently trace over the white lines of the pencil.


What you are doing is 'stretching' the fibres of the parchment, so be really gentle with it as it's easy to push straight through the parchment if you go too hard.
You can always pass over again until you get the desired result.


On the leaves and petals use circular motions at the full and rounded parts then drag the ball in, in a 'feathering' motion for the shading like you would in colouring, although it's not exactly like colouring as it's not the darker parts you're shading this time, it's the 'highlit' parts! So it's kinda back-to-front!


Once you're happy with your embossing, do any pricking (if any) that's required.
I believed this is performed from the back, so as to create texture on the front, but have been corrected by better crafters than I and apparently it should be from the front!.


I then used my Copics (pale pink and green) to colour the floral pattern. This is not essential as many embossed parchment projects are just as lovely, if not more so, left white.


I then cut around the perimeter of the pattern with my scissors and edged it with my Gold-touch pen. This step isn't strictly necessary, but I've read about it so I thought I'd try it.  Think I prefer it plain actually. 


I also adhered it to a piece of rainbow card with sticky-dots round the edge and a fairly big couple of blobs of Pinflair Glue Gel right in the middle to give dimension.
You really can't see either of these through the embossed and coloured panel.


And that's my parchment done!  I think you can work out the rest yourselves! 
LOL!


Look forward to seeing your efforts on Crafty CardMakers next week!
Hugs
Ei
x

Top Tip Tuesday - Maze Book/Wrap it up with ribbon

It's my turn to provide a tutorial for you all this week at Top Tip Tuesday and it's one of my favourites - a Maze Book.


I first learned this project from an American site - TV Weekly (not sure if it's still up and running or not - must look!) a few years ago and I was so chuffed with it at my first attempt, I've made a few of them now. They're great as a little memento of a night out or a new baby or...well, just about anything really!

Maze Book

This Maze Book, is a miniature book using a single sheet of 12" 12" paperstock and a few scraps. 


All it takes is a little bit of folding, three simple cuts, some good gluing techniques and the basic book is ready for photos and embellishments. This lickle book makes a great gift or a pocket-sized scrapbook to show off those holiday photos, babies, pets or a great night out!. 


Please read the whole project before beginning to craft as there are a couple of alternative ways of using this book and it’s best to know which one you want to make before starting!


For the first one you are best using a double-sided 12 x 12 as you will see both sides of the paper. 


For the second one you could also use double sided or you could cheat like me with single-sided and put a few little liners in!







Materials


Patterned 12 x 12 heavy-ish scrap-sheet A to taste x 1 (ds if perferred)
Plain greyboard or similar  4” x 4”                          x 2 
Patterned paper B 4.5” x 4.5”                                x 2
Quantity of patterned paper B for cheat’s way.               
Bone Folder
PVA Adhesive
Foam Brush
Cutting Mat
Craft Knife
Ruler 
Ribbon                                                                 x 1 yard
Embellishments and photos to suit
Narrow ds tape

Method

Fold the 12 x 12 sheet in half. Use a bone folder to reinforce the fold. 


Fold the two edges back to the outside of the fold, making the page into long quarters.


Fold this again into quarters the other way. Reinforce the folds with the bone folder.


You should have a 3” square of folded paper. 


Open your paper out. Your paper should look like this

Open the scrap-sheet. Your 12 x 12  should have sixteen squares marked by creases.

Cutting  the “maze”. 

Unfold the cardstock on top of a cutting mat. Lay a ruler along the right vertical crease.  Using a craft knife, cut along the right vertical fold using the ruler as a guide. Start at the top horizontal fold and cut all the way to the bottom edge.

Make a second identical cut along the left vertical fold. Make a third cut along the middle fold, but this time start cutting from the top edge and stop cutting when you reach the bottom horizontal fold. The cuts in the cardstock form an “M”.

Now fold the cardstock into the book pages. 

Start folding from one end along the creases. When you reach the top of each section, fold the stack over to the next, following the natural fold. 

Continue to fold into a square following the creases you made . 

Set the pages aside.

The End-Boards

Take one of your grey-board squares (..mine are actually small pieces of cream illustration board..) and one of your patterned paper B squares.

(I'd use an old magazine or layout pad to do the pasting on so you can just tear and throw away the page - less messy!)

Place the board on the paper and score around it. This 'teaches' the paper which way you want it to bend when you've glued it.

Before you glue, cut off a tiny bit of the point of each corner of the board. Makes a tidier corner when covered.

Make a 'squiggle' of PVA on the board and using your foam brush, spread it from the centre outwards, then offer the board to the centre of the paper.

Before you glue the flaps, take your scissors or knife and cut off the corners of the paper approx 16th of an inch away from the board (not like I did - I cut them off after gluing because I forgot! LOL!)

There should be enough PVA on your foam to run it round the exposed paper but if not, add just a LITTLE more and wipe it around the edges pushing it gently into the edge of the board. Now fold the flaps over and smooth them down using the point of your bone-folder to tuck the corners in (like when gift-wrapping). Repeat on second board and put aside to dry.

Variation one - pockets

Take up your pages again and if you want to make fewer pages but have pockets in them now's the time to do it as it's harder to 'play' with the pages once they're stuck together and the ends are on.  I used my scalloped punches to make little openings and because my paper is single-sided I had to make little 'liners' from the contrasting paper to pop behind the apertures. This is where you may prefer to use a double-sided paper so you don't have to make these liners.

Once you're happy with this, take your ds tape and create your pockets. One or two are sideways ones, so don't think you've done it wrong when you come across them!

Variation two - long maze.

This one is easy! Your maze is made! Just decorate and embellish to taste.

Adhere the end-boards

Place your two boards patterned side down and evenly placed on your magazine again.  

Squiggle your pva and spread again.

Place your ribbon across the two end-boards then  place your pages in the centre of one board over the ribbon.

Place the other end-board on top and manipulate your ribbon to suit.

Fill your pockets with tags, photos tickets etc.

 Your Maze-Book is finished!

(my photo corners are all silvertone - don't know why they look gilt in the photo!)

I hope you enjoy making this book - I love them and once you get the hang of them, they take minutes to make!

Don't forget to pop over to Top Tip Tuesday to get some inspiration from the team !

We have two fab sponsors over at TTT this week

and 

so be sure to pop over to their places to have a good old nosey!
I've also made a card utilizing one of Digital Delights fun images - a lickle mouse enjoying a coffee!  I'll send this to a friend I haven't seen for a while, inviting her for coffee!

Sorry the photo isn't very good - I'll try to get on in daylight tomorrow but I'm going to be busy again until Wednesday so don't hold yer breath.....! LOL!

See ya next week!

Hugs

Ei

x

...oh my goodness...what a week!

...talk about meeting yourself coming back! LOL!


I often state (...NOT complain, mind you...!) that my OH and I 'don't smoke, don't drink, don't go out anywhere, don't spend much on clothes or beauty salons etc...'
as an explanation of why I think I deserve my (sometimes costly) craft addiction.


Now my timetable this week will probably cause sneers of derision from some of you younger, fitter peeps out there but remember I've been retired for about five years and the OH is doing a 'part-time after retirement' job - we're a pair of old wrinklies!


This week's timetable has looked something like this:-


Monday :- Gotta get up early to get my project on for Crafty Cardmakers. I had to make it last night because I was too busy at the week-end with visitors and needed to photograph it in daylight!
Then there's the big shop. Monday is Nic's day off and he LOVES to shop (yukk!) so we end up in every pound-shop and Home Bargains type shop between here and Widnes. This week he was hunting down garden and bird type stuff!  I then had the usual house type stuff, feeding him and taking him to work in the evening.
I get back and make my project for tomorrow's Top Tip Tuesday because I was too busy with visitors at the week-end!


Tuesday morning :- up early again to put on my blog write-up for Top Tip Tuesday (...must try to get ahead on these projects...!) I'm not actually playing this week but I still try to do write-ups for my DT's.
9:00 am - I go to physio which includes an hour of physical jerks (ouch!)
Tuesday pm I get the grandbabbies - lovely, but knackering! Then the usual tea-time cut & thrust and taking Nic to work.


Wednesday:- 8:15am- off to new hospital for Glucose Tolerance test. This delightful experience includes a disgusting glucose gloopy drink and a two hour wait between blood-tests. Fun eh?
pm - I actually get a couple of hours before Nic gets up to do something for myself. What did I do...? Fall asleep! On my keyboard! 
Then the usual tea-time routine and getting Nic to work.


Thursday:-  Bev chose today to come to visit with both babies! I printed out some photos of them for her photo-frames and she did my hair colour for me.  There is a fair amount of 'blonde' coming through now, so I need Bev to make sure I don't miss any!


We're actually going out tonight! 


A bit of background:-
Our number three son Rob, is a talented musician and from the age of 14 had his own bands. His first band was Happy Accident who were phenomenal for their age. 


At 15, Rob was writing songs a professional songwriter would be proud of and this band of lovely lads included Allan William Jones, the drummer.   As a youngster, Allan was as cute as a button - small and dark like a little pixie and by their teen-years he had all the girls after him but he was only interested in his drums .......and his skateboard!


Well, that was fifteen years ago! LOL!  Then I got a 'poke' on Facebook. Allan was still drumming and playing in Liverpool with a band called 'Red Scare' - would we like to come and see them?  Would we ever! How could we not? I was the band's roadie for about four or five years - I wouldn't miss this for the world!


So, off we went to Mello Mello, in the heart of Liverpool hoping we wouldn't, at our great age, look too out of place!  There was nothing to worry about at all - it was a boho-style cafe-bar and the clientele was eclectic to say the least! We weren't even the oldest in there! 


Great atmosphere and the band were slick and tight with Allan - still adorably baby-faced at 30 despite his new beardy look - a real professional on those skins!


It was so lovely to catch up with him and his parents (they used to be Happy Accident groupies too!) but I had no voice at all the next day, which was a bit of a bummer because I had my Copics Certification course at 10:00am over at Warrington!


Friday:- Got up early - no voice to speak of, got ready and drove to Warrington for my course.  I knew where to go because I'd attended the preceding module
there last November.  


Had a great day there with Wendy and the other girls and came home tired but happy, thinking  'Well, at least we have Saturday at home.'


By now the dogs were taking themselves off to their beds as soon as I came down the stairs with 'grown-up' clothes on (they're used to me slobbing about in jeans and t-shirts and crocs and know if I'm dressed up we're off out!)! They weren't happy!


I got home and there, in the porch, was a letter.  I opened it. My cousin had only gone and got hitched and was having a reception on Saturday....! Aaaarrrgghhhh!


Somehow, I managed to sort an outfit, buy a present and make a card, as well as all those other annoying things we have to do every day that don't include CRAFTING or RELAXING! 


The wedding was lovely! And it was like a grand in the hand seeing our Kim looking so beautiful and meeting up with all the family again......the dogs were NOT impressed!


Sunday we dragged ourselves out of our bed, hauled ourselves to the park with the dogs, fell asleep over our cornflakes, didn't bother going shopping despite the empty fridge, I had to make a start on some DT projects but didn't get time to finish them because........WE WERE GOING TO A CONCERT AT 7:30PM!


Our lovely, beautiful, kind, generous daughter had bought Nic tickets to see Roger Hodgeson, singer-songwriter and erstwhile frontman of Supertramp, for Christmas and it was for Sunday night!


To say I've never felt less like going out is a colossal understatement! I was knackered! So was Nic. The dogs weren't speaking to us already! 


I can't describe the look of reproach shot at me from Charlie the Poodle as I came downstairs, once again in tidy clothes!  He didn't even bother to try and jump up and lick me, he just pushed past me and went to bed!


Still, they'll get over it!


I didn't really know what to expect of the concert.  It's been thirty years since I last saw Supertramp.  I hate seeing great artistes in their declining years if they are no longer in possession of that 'spark' that made them great. It makes me sad.  And Roger used to be in possession of a falsetto that would make a choirboy's eyes water!


I needn't have worried!  The concert was amazing!  It was just like listening to the cd - not a flaw in sight and Roger's 'new' band is equally amazing.


The audience was in the palm of his hand and erupted to standing ovation time after time. 


He will long remember playing Liverpool, I can promise you! Especially when half of the crowd, in unison, started to chant 'Roger is a Scouser, Roger is a Scouser ...na na na  na, na na na  na...!'....a great accolade in my city.


Then we came home, had some supper and Nic went, thankfully, to his bed.
I, on the other hand, had projects to finish.......!


....oh, and I forgot to mention - 7:45pm Saturday, just before leaving for the concert, a good pal turned up at our house and asked Nic to put together two flat-pack chests of drawers before Sunday night....!


It's been a mad, tiring but fun week! I wouldn't want to repeat it too soon, mind you...! LOL!  


I have to sign off now - Nic's home and he'll want his lunch about now!


Have a lovely, enjoyable Bank Holiday everyone!
Hugs
Ei
x