I Really Shouldn't Be Doing This!

I'm in my craft room to make my hubby his 60th birthday card but despite weeks of planning, I just can't get started on it. It's not until 2nd August but we're off to the Czech Republic first thing tomorrow so I really must get it done. But then I came across some eggshells left over from another project and thought it would be great for the Less is More challenge which is Tactile. I coloured the egg shells using a mix of Buff and Mocha Fresco paint (best I could find to make a Tip Top Taupe colour), Ocean Teal gilding polish and Banana Fresco paint to match as closely as I could the colours at Colours and Sketches this week:

I cut a strip of double sided sheet and stuck one side onto the card before sticking the eggshell to the other side. I then added white glitter to catch in the cracks. (the stray teal pieces are actually deliberate in case you were wondering). The sentiment is computer generated

I'm counting the eggshells and snippets and taking this over to the Snippets Playground
And because I've mixed the Buff and Mocha Fresco paints I'm entering this into the Party Artsy colour mixing challenge

Now to get back to that card - I wonder if he'll really mind if I buy one at the airport tomorrow!

Indigoblu Summer Poppies and Meeting Blogging Friends

I made these cards last week using up some pages left over from a book folding project (and similar to the yellow one I made a couple of weeks ago). And they fit perfectly with the July challenge at Indigoblu which is Summer Florals

 

 

I used Poppy Meadow stamp set and Dusty Concord, Festive Berries, Mustard Seeds and Peacock Feathers distress inks with some Fresco paint for the stamens

Last Tuesday I had the opportunity to meet some fabulous blogging friends thanks to the wonderful Darnell so I made these into some thank you cards (but totally forgot to photograph the final result - doh!) Darnell is on a tour of the UK and Southampton was her first stop over so I had to take the opportunity to meet her and I'm so glad I did. It was like having her blog talking to us - she is so funny and wonderfully kind. If you are meeting up with her on her tour you're in for a fabulous time. 

I've pinched this picture from Darnell's blog although you may have seen similar on the other girls blogs too

Back row: Debs Willis, Christine Smith, Anne Ray, me, Di Wray, Mrs A

Bottom row: Sue Steed, Darnell, Jane Willis, Chrissie Stokes

Thanks girls for such a fun afternoon x

Purple Denim

I've finally said goodbye to my purple denim jeans. They were my favourite for years until I put on so much weight I couldn't even get them over my knees! They were the first things I got out when I started to loose weight and I was over the moon that they finally fitted. Despite being too scruffy to wear outside, they saw me through the winter indoors until there was just too much glue and ink on them from the craft room so they were relegated to the rag bag for the charity shop.

And then comes along Mrs A with her latest Butterfly Challenge theme of Denim and Dimension. Well, out came the jeans and off with the little ticket pocket for my card.

I've added some 3D foam to the inside top of the pocket so it will stay open and the three full butterflies have 3 layers to them

I'm also entering this into the challenge at Watercooler Wednesday (a new challenge to me) which has the theme of  CAS Butterfly

Well, my jeans are well and truly rags now

Opportunities - Y is for Yellow & Years

I've been having a play with some JOFY stamps and Fresco paints this afternoon while watching the tennis. I did a class last year with Jo and bought these sets and I'm ashamed to say I've only ever used one of the stamps.

I started with some offcuts from a book folding project and stamped and painted some butterflies before cutting them out. I then looked for a whole page to stamp on and noticed that this one had a date on it and would be perfect for the Butterfly Challenge Y is for Yellow an/or Years. I tore around the page so it would fit on an A6 card and edged it with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. I then stamped and coloured the flowers. While painting the "grass" I accidentally got water on the top of the page and the frayed burlap ink stained the page so I put it to one side and started again. However, I really liked the stain once it had dried so decided to work with that. I stamped the butterfly on the page so I had the antenna and then stuck the page to a cream blank leaving the edges of the page free before sticking the glazed butterfly on top

This is the frayed burlap stain at the top and you can just about see the Pearl Glaze I put over the butterfly

Although I've put this on a card blank, I may cut the back off and add it to a journaling book 

JOFY stamp sets 32 & 33
Fresco Paints - Banana, Tangerine Twist, Guacamole, Tinned Peas and Pearl Glaze

Because the butterfly was stamped on an offcut of book, I'm going to take it over the Pixie's Snippets Playground - it's been so long since I played along

Y is for Years and/or Yellow

The latest theme at the Butterfly Challenge is Y is for Years and/or Yellow. I don't have any milestone birthdays coming up so I've just gone for the yellow theme.

My card was made for last weeks card class as an example of Triple Stamping. I used a Stampin Up set called Greenhouse Garden and a butterfly from another set together with my Robert Adams die