March Showers, Spring Flowers

Today has been a really miserable day weather wise- began to wonder if the living room windows would stand up to the wind and rain! Good excuse to stay in the house and craft anyway...

Here is today's make:-

Another quick & simple card from me today (my favourite kind) and it is similar to a card I made ages ago but the main image is so detailed that I don't like to add too much too it.

I started by printing the image from my Walk in the Countryside cd-rom and decoupaging the flowers. I mounted it onto a piece of dusky pink card and then mounted that onto a 6x6 scalloped edge card blank. I added a pink organza bow to the spine of the card and a little bit of Stickles glitter glue to the centre of the flowers. Done!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Crafting for All Seasons 'pastel hues' 30.3
In the Pink 'lots of layers' (decoupage) 1.4
Crafty Cardmakers 'spring' 5.4
Craft your Passion 'anything goes' 29.3
Digi Choosday 'lots of layers' (decoupage) 7.4
Paper Shelter 'blooming' 31.3
That Craft Place 'Easter/Spring' 11.4

The Bunny's Bum

I posted a card a couple of weeks ago that I made for someone at work for Easter and here is the second one. She wanted cards with rabbits on them but apart from that, I was free to play!

It's another CAS card that was quick and easy to make. I started with an A5 scalloped edge card blank which I layered with some green paper, embossed with a leaf design using my Grand Callibur. I then used a circle die to cut the black circle for the rabbit hole and a slightly smaller white one for the bunny's bum! I hand cut the feet, using white and beige paper and then added a white pom-pom for the tail. I added the ribbon around the green paper before attaching it all to the base card. The finishing touch was the peel-off message.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Creatalicious 'anything goes' 15.4
The Pink Elephant 'green' 23.3
Crafty Boots 'spring' 29.3
Craft Your Passion 'anything goes' 22.3
Papertake Weekly 'happy anything' 24.3
Clear it Out 'Easter & pastel' 24.3
Creative Card Crew 'Easter critters' 29.3
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenges ' favourite embellishments'- ribbon 24.2
Crafters Cafe 'spring-my season' 25.3
The Paper Shelter 'spring' 24.3
Cute Card Thursday 'spring fever' 25.3
Crafty Catz 'no designer paper' 26.3
Catch the Bug 'bingo' (Easter & Die-Cut & my choice- ribbon) 28.3

You should read this book!

A few weeks ago, I made a Dr. Seuss inspired canvas for my school library. This week, I've been making a pin board that will also go in the library and be somewhere for the children to recommend books that they've enjoyed to everyone else. It took ages as the Cricut was playing up a bit but I'm pleased with the final result- now it's done!

I started with a £2 cork pin board from QD which I painted bright yellow using the remains of an emulsion tester pot. All of the letters and images that I have used are from the Cricut Design Space subscription and I made them using the print and cut feature so that I didn't have to layer up lots of different pieces of card. I simply attached the letters and the images around the board with pva glue and then used some DoCrafts Gorjuss baker's twine to make the hanging string.

I am entering this project into the following challenges:-
Crafty Catz 'song title to match image' 12.3 (Paperback Writer by the Beatles)
Crafty Boots 'not a card' 15.3
Clear it out 'anything goes' 10.3
Papertake Weekly 'anything goes' 10.3
Catch the Bug 'anything goes' 14.3

Princess words

I've been busy starting work on a crafting project for school, so just 1 quick card this weekend.

This is another card made using the 'word collage' images on the Cricut Explore. It's a set of designs that I hadn't used and then fell completely in love with!

I started with the 6x6 base card and a sheet of pink star print backing paper also in 6x6. I used the Cricut to draw the princess lettering in gold ink and then trimmed the design down to fit onto the card. I added a small brush of gold metallic acrylic paint around the edges of the card and to highlight some aspects of the design such as the crown. I then used a pale pink ranger alcohol ink to colour a silver key charm which I then tied into a large gold bow down the spine of the card. To finish it, I added a double layered flower secured with a gold glittery brad.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
The Pink Elephant 'girly girl' 9.3
Craft your Passion 'anything goes' 8.3
Quirky Crafts 'pretty in pink' 14.3
Penny's Paper-crafty Challenges 'female cards' 10.3
Crafting for all Seasons 'girly girls' 16.3
Crafter's Cafe 'charms' 11.3
Creative Inspirations 'something old' 10.3 (everything on this card is things that I've had in my stash for ages!)
In the Pink 'special lady' 18.3
Crafty Calendar 'add some metal' 3.4

Spring Swim

I've been busy again this weekend, and here is the second of the 2 cards I made. It's a really fun spring/summery Polkadoodles card.

This isn't as CAS as my usual card style but I really love it- it's lots of fun. I recently made a Polkadoodles Work & Play Pinterest board to collate some ideas. I found a really great idea using the swimmer image that was my inspiration for this card, You can find the original here.

I started by looking through my Polkadoodles Work & Play 4 kit and printed off the waves background paper and the swimmer and bunting toppers. The cloud paper came from another Work & Play kit (1, 2 or 3- I can't remember which), as did the spotty paper used on the beach huts. The beach huts are a digi stamp I found on Etsy here for only 50p!

I started by covering an 8x8 card blank with the cloud paper. I cut the wave paper to the same size as the clouds and then cut a square aperture from the centre leaving 3cm on each side. I used my Cricut Explore to create the beach huts, importing the png. image into the Design Space software and then using the print then cut feature. I actually cut them out myself as I only wanted 2 of the 3 beach huts but using the Cricut meant that I could very accurately resize the image which I can't do in a Windows Print. I hand cut the bunting and the pre-coloured swimmer digi too.

Once everything was cut out, I was ready to start to build the card. I layered the beach huts on top of the cloud background, attaching them with a double sided tape. I then used a thin 3d foam to attach the wave frame and then used my thickest foam pads to attach the swimmer and the bunting to the card. It has lots of layers and different things to keep the eye interested but is still quite simple as all the cuts are square.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Digi Choosday 'spring pastels' 3.3
Digi Choosday 'anything goes' 10.3
Crafters Cafe 'lots of layers' 4.3
Penny's Papercrafty Challenges 'lots of layers' 3.3
Paper Shelter 'make it digital' 3.3
Daring Cardmakers 'yellow' 6.3
Crafty Hazlenut Patterned Paper Challenge 'anything goes' 31.3

Christmas in March

Here is my Christmas card for March-

Can't quite believe I'm still managing this- though I suppose 3 months isn't many is it?

It's another really quick and simple card which is great for me when I do need to make 20 Christmas cards in one night- hopefully not this year though!

Both the backing paper and topper came from a Papermania 12x12 paper pack that I had completely forgotten I had! The topper was from a sheet that had 9 different squares on it so 9 cards in an instant!

I started with a 6x6 card blank, added the cut down backing paper, mounted the topper onto red mirror card and added that to the opposite corner to the corner detail on the backing paper. Done!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
The Pink Elephant 'anything goes' 2.3
Crafty Cardmakers 'stripes' 8.3
Craft your Passion 'anything goes' 1.3
Clear it out 'animals and stripes' 3.3
Cute Card Thursday 'fancy corners' 4.3
Crafty Hazlenut's Extra 'anything goes' 31.3
Crafty Hazlenut's Xmas 'cut it up' 6.3
That Craft Place 'anything goes' 14.3
Crafts Galore Encore 'anything goes' 31.3
Christmas Card Challenges 'winter hues' 7.3