T.A.R.D.I.S.

Since I got my Cricut Explore, I have been a member of a fab Facebook group dedicated to helping each other out with any issues or good ideas we find. It's called 'let's learn cricut explore' and is well worth a look if you haven't found it.

A while ago, someone posted a photo of a brilliant doctor who card they had made using some svg's bought from a website I hadn't heard of before. The site is called Pretty Paper Pretty Ribbons and has a wide range of svg's available at great prices. I got 2 sets (the doctors and the doctors enemies) for less than £4 when converted via PayPal. They are quite complicated designs but the Cricut made it so easy.

The first thing I've made is this TARDIS shaped card. I have made one of these in the past but it took ages to work put all the sizes and cut everything by hand. This way was much quicker and neater.

I started by sizing the layered TARDIS to fit onto an A5 piece of card. I then copied the image, deleting all layers except the white base. I flipped this and then welded it to the base of the first image to make a shaped card base that would fit onto an A4 piece of card. I cut the other pieces from 3 different shades of blue as shown on both the image and the Cricut. I used double sided tape to layer up the different pieces.

The white windows are part of the design but the sign is not so I used one of the cut out sections as a template and drew onto some white card, cutting it slightly smaller to fit the aperture. I have left this blank as it would be perfect for a message. I also had to add the POLICE BOX label at the top by hand but I was lucky enough to win a Graph'It white marker a while ago and it was brilliant for this finishing touch.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Paper Shelter 'travel the world' 1/7 (I can't think of any other way to travel the world than in the TARDIS but please delete if it does not match your theme enough!)

Digi Choosday 'not a square' 8/7

Daring Cardmakers 'no scissors' 4/7 (everything done on my die cutting machine)

Crafty Catz 'anything goes' 3/7

Polkadoodles 'white & blue' 11/7

Caravan Holiday

I've been busy today making cards with some new goodies I got this week. I've been looking at the Polkadoodles Work and Play collections for a while so when there was a discount code on the Digi Choosday website this week I had to get them. Set 4 isn't yet available as a download so I just got sets 1, 2 and 3.

I made this card using elements from set 3

I really like these collections as they have pre-coloured digis as well as images that I can colour. I've used the pre-coloured option to make this card super quick. I printed the caravan to A5 size and the characters 9 to a page. I cut out the elements I wanted leaving a white border around the characters to help them stand out.

I then took a piece of A4 pale blue card and made a small stepper card using roughly 2/3 of the sheet. I attached some DCWV grass paper to the front step and then placed the deck chair man onto this step. I attached the caravan to the back step with double sided tape and used 3d foam on the lady.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Craft Room Challenge 'sun, sand & surf' 23/6
Crafting for all seasons 'no squares' 23/6
Graph' It 'blonde hair' 27/6
Digi Choosday 'pink' 1/7
Clear it out 'anything goes' 24/6
Cute card Thursday 'seaside' 25/6
Crafts Galore 'stamp or digi' 30/6
Crafting Musketeers 'stamp or digi' 30/6

Quad bike

I haven't had much time for crafting this weekend as I've been selling a few goodies at a local Vintage Rally. I made some tractor, train and car themed cards and they went down really well. I did manage to get in the craft room for a few minutes though and make this card.

It's a continuation on my plan to make at least 1card from each of my topper boxes (I think I've managed about 5 boxes now!)

I started with the circle Kanban topper of the quad bike, mounting it onto a mat I die-cut from a tread plate pattern DCWV paper. I wanted a background that reflected the muddyness of the topper but I didn't have anything suitable in my stash so I made my own. I cut a square of green card to just smaller than the 8x8 base card and then put some Walnut Stain distress ink onto my blending mat. I sprayed the ink with water and then laid the green card onto it to pick up the splattered ink. The damp ink caused the card to warp so I let it dry and then sprayed my table with a small amount of water and placed the back of my green card into the water. When it was slightly damp, I moved it to a dry spot and weighted it down with some paper pads. After a couple of minutes, it was flat again.

I attached everything to my base card, finishing with the speedo topper.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Crafty Cardmakers 'circles' 22/6
Digi Choosday '2 papers' 24/6
Papertake Weekly 'boys' 17/6
Cute Card Thursday 'so macho' 18/6
Penny's Paper Crafty Challenges 'anything goes' 17/6
Totally Gorjuss 'dad' 21/6
Love to Create 'anything goes' 22/6

and also the Creatalicious CT call which closes on July 15th- check it out here.

Potions class

Regular blog readers will know that I love anything Harry Potter and I've recently been crafting something for myself!

When I visited the Making of Harry Potter at Leavesden studios last year, I got hold of 3 house pennants (unfortunately the Gryffindor ones were sold out- good excuse to go back though!) and I've been looking for a way to display them ever since. I eventually found some large bottles in IKEA for just £1 each that were perfect. They looked a bit dull so I've Potterfied them a bit!

 The Skele-Gro bottle is an IKEA one, the 2 ribbed jars are from QD (the bigger one being only £2 which I thought was a bargain) and the smallest one was in a pack from The Range.

I started by using both acrylic and emulsion paints to coat the inside of the bottles. When dry, I added the labels which I found on Pinterest. The smallest bottle is ready for Felix Felicis (liquid luck) but doesn't quite have a label yet as I need to print out a super small version. I'm now on the lookout for more unusual jars and bottles and a box for a Bezoar!

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-
A Blog Named Hero 'not a card' 14/6

Fancy frills

This is most definitely a move away from my usual style of card and, to be honest, not something I'll probably repeat too often! I recently ordered 2 crafters companion die'sire embossing and cutting dies which is the first time I've bought such an item. I haven't had much time to play yet but it was perfect for the current Graph'It challenge entitled 'frills & fancy'. It can be good to take on a challenge and try something new but you won't see many cards like this on my blog! (I'm also not sure how the camera has made the central heart look pink as it's exactly the same card as the surround but...)

It was a pretty simple card to make with the die doing most of the work!

I took a piece of A4 pearlescent card and placed the die carefully at the top of what would become the front. I used my Grand Callibur to both cut and emboss the design onto the card. I then cut a piece of lace to slightly wider than the card and attached it to the back of a length of ribbon (with a heart buckle already placed) using double sided tape. I overlapped the lace to create the ruched effect and then attached the 'skirt' to the card with more double sided tape.

To create the hanging heart, I took the die cut heart and attached a small loop of invisible thread to it. I then placed a pearl onto the top of the heart aperture and used this as the hook for the heart to hang from. It is a very pretty card and I'm sure lots of people will like it, it's just a big departure for me!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Graph'It 'frills & fancy' 13/6
Creative Inspirations 'anything goes' 10/6
Crafty Catz 'inspired by a song' 12/6- 'hanging onto your love' by Take That
Crafty Calendar 'petals and pearls' 4/7
Totally Gorjuss 'embossing' 14/6

Na x 16

BATMAN!!!

Here's my latest card and it's again using the brilliant Cricut Explore. I spent some time this week having a look at the Cricut website to see what's included in the subscription package and found a fab set of designs in a cartridge called 'word collage'. It's got lots of different themes and is great with the drawing function of the Cricut. For this card I've used the superhero version on the right hand side of my wardrobe card.

I simply drew the design onto black card with a gold metallic marker (well the cricut did) and then mounted it onto my base card. The base was made out of a piece of A4 yellow cardstock folded at 6cm on one side and 9cm on the other to make an uneven wardrobe. On the left hand side of the card I used a topper cut from a 12x12 paper that's been in my stash for ages and the Batman logo which was a tag on a pair of pyjamas I got recently from Primarni.

A really simple card, using a mix of old and new. I sense this may be the start of something with these word collage designs...

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Polkadoodles 'men on our minds' 13/6

Country View Challenges 'only men allowed' 30/6

Papertake Weekly 'anything goes' 10/6

That Craft Place 'men' 21/6

The Pink Elephant 'masculine' 17/6

Fantabulous Cricut Challenges 'male' 16/6 (not sure if this card fits the rules or not as it uses a Cricut draw rather than cut-please delete if it is not allowed)

Love to Create 'kids' 15/6

Craft your Passion 'boys/dads' 16/6

Cutie Pie 'cute dad' 21/6

All aboard...

Over Father's Day weekend, I am going to a local 'Town & Country Fayre' with my cards, bags etc., hoping to make a few pennies to buy some more crafty goodies with! With that in mind, I've been busy making some cards that I think will suit the kind of people that would attend that sort of event. There are going to be people displaying their vintage cars and tractors so I've dug out the 'men' box and gone a bit mad.

This is one of the cards I've made-

I didn't want to make anything too simple but the obvious rules of chucking glitter at a card can't really work here, so I had to think outside the box.

I started with the pyramaged train topper which is from a Kanban set and then chose the other elements to go with it. The topper is quite large so I went for an 8x8 square card that I covered with a piece of kraft cardstock. Before attaching the kraft card to the base, I stamped 2 corners with a Kanban gear stamp in Walnut Stain distress ink. I took a piece of Papermania vintage travel inspired map paper (from a set I believe is called All Aboard) and ripped the edge to give it a vintage look. I then also inked the edge of the map paper using the Walnut Stain ink. I attached my various items to the card, completing it with an old cigarette card and a piece of Anita's sticky ribbon.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Crafts Galore 'stamp/digi' 30/6
Craft Your Passion 'rip it' 9/6
Digi Choosday 'men' 17/6
Crafting Musketeers 'stamp/digi' 30/6
Crafters Cafe 'masculine' 11/6
CRAFT 'male' 11/6
Stampin' for the Weekend 'anything goes' 19/6

Beautiful butterfly

I've set myself a challenge to try and make at least one card using items from each of the boxes in my craft room. I've made a list of the boxes and there are 41 so, my challenge is to make 1 card from each box. Here's the first,

It's in my usual CAS style and was nice and quick to make. It uses papers and a topper that have been in my stash for ages and a butterfly cut from the new Cricut Explore.

I started by choosing the topper and then finding a backing paper and cardstock to match it. The backing paper is from a DCWV 'blossoms and butterflies' stack. I chose a dusky pink cardstock that matched the colours in the topper and used it for the base card and to mount the topper. I then cut an intricate butterfly from pale yellow card and attached the body to the card leaving the wings free to fly!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Craft Room Challenge 'things with wings' 9/6
Crafty Catz 'anything goes' 5/6
Love to Create 'happy birthday' 8/6

Land Ahoy!

Here's a new card using words from the Cricut Explore and the 'word collage' designs.

It's an offset wardrobe card with a slightly larger panel on the left hand side. On the left hand side, I used a DCWV printed pirate theme paper and used the Cricut to draw onto it with copper metallic ink. I mounted the paper onto copper mirror card and then attached it to the pale blue base. I added the pirate topper which actually came from a room decor set onto the panel.

On the right hand side, I used a different design of DCWV paper and a swimming shark topper.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Crafting for all Seasons 'boys will be boys' 9/6

Cute Card Thursday 'blues' 4/6

Creative Card Crew 'nautical' 15/6