Second time around/recycled - CD Sunday

I hope you all enjoyed the Beautiful Blooms theme at CDSunday – it was lovely to see so many entries for Jocelyn’s theme.

This fortnight it’s Carol’s turn to pick the theme and she’s chosen ‘Second time around/recycle’. This is a favourite theme of Carol’s and mine. I once made 10 ATCs for a recycle theme – we were only supposed to make 2 LOL!

I made my card sometime ago and at the time I was seeing a lot of 'bow' cards that were embellished with lots of lace, pearls and flourishes so decided to have a go at making one. I used a template to make the pieces for the card which I bought from someone on the internet. You’re emailed files for the individual pieces to be printed onto card and hand cut out. You also get files you can use in various electronic cutting machines which I guess makes it a lot easier, and faster, to cut them out. At this point you’re probably expecting me to say where I bought the template from………………. but I’m not going to give the link. I’ve heard, around various internet sites, that there’s a dispute over the ownership of this template. I’ve spent a lot of time looking but can’t find anyone else selling the template other than the person I bought it from. I’m sure they’re the legitimate owner/designer because the templates all come with a copyright printed on them. So if you want to make a bow card you’ll need to search the internet and decide for yourself if you’re buying from a legitimate source.

 

 The base card is hexagonal shaped and cut from pale green pearlised card. You get a template for this but I used a Tonic die from the Secret Spring Hexagon Kaleidoscope Box Lid and Base Set. Both layers of the bow are cut from card that was printed with designs from Craft Artist kits. The pale green striped paper is from a kit called Posy Party and the floral paper is from a kit called Occasions. They’re both designed by Victoria Nelson. The ‘tails’ of the bow are made from a base layer of pale green pearlised card and then a layer of Tonic’s Craft Perfect card in Coral Pink. I wasn’t happy with this colour, I think it swamps the rest of the colours and I should have changed it. I ran the coral pink card through a flower embossing folder and dotted the centre of each flower with Ivory Seashell Nuvo Crystal Drops by Tonic.

 

Once the basic bow card is made you can move onto the fun bit – adding all the embellishments and frills! The 'lace'  in the middle of the bow is a panel cut from a camisole. It was far too pretty to throw out, so I’ve had it in my stash for quite a while. I stitched the sides together and fussed with it until I was happy with the way it sat on the front of the bow. I then topped it with a paper rose and added some pearls threaded onto wire. Then I cut flourishes out of dark green card (Emerald Hessian by Tonic), chopped them into smaller pieces and arranged them around the bow.

 

 The card was made for a very dear friend who I’ve known for several years (possibly since 2006?) and who was due to have a milestone birthday – hence the number gems at the top of the card!

I dotted some resin flowers around the edges of the card and placed pink pearls in the centre of them. I also added strings of clear gems around the straight edges.  

The inside of the card was decorated with the same papers/card that was used on the front. The sentiment is a die from Creative Crafting World’s Paper Boutique range of cutting dies – collection number 3.

 

 I now had the problem of getting it to my friend, still in one piece, through the mail system. I found a very old box in my craft room that was almost the perfect size but was very faded and battered – so I decorated that too! Another item that was used for a second time and recycled. I’m pleased to say the card arrived safely and intact.

 

I hope you have fun with this theme and can’t wait to see what you all reuse/recycle. Don't forget that the CD Sunday Challenge is about making items using something printed from a craft CD Rom. You can use other craft items on your card/project, such as a stamp or die, but you must include something from a craft Cd. So if you like colouring stamped images or digis you can still enter the challenge but you must include something from a Cd such as a backing paper, a sentiment or a butterfly for example. In your blog post/Facebook entry you must give the name of the Cd you've used. This is important if the items you've used can be bought as a download as well as a CD as the Design team can't tell which has been used unless you tell us. Your entry can't be considered for a prize if you haven't used a Cd or if you haven't told us the name of the CD in your post. The Design team still leave comments on your blog but there's no chance of winning if the above hasn't been followed. We now have a Facebook page if you don't have a blog - The CD SundayChallenge. 

Beautiful Blooms - CD Sunday

Over the last 2 weeks we had some really beautiful entries for the Art Deco theme at the CD Sunday Challenge. I don’t envy Margaret having to choose a winner. It’s Jocelyn’s turn to pick the next theme and she’s chosen Beautiful Blooms. Very appropriate for this time of year with 

I knew I had some parchment flowers in my stash that I’d made on a Groovi workshop last year so decided to base my card around them.

I embossed a piece of Raspberry Kiss coloured card (from Limetree Crafts) using a Die’sire embossing folder called Rose Vine. This was fixed onto an 8 by 8 white card blank leaving a border of 1 cm. I then attached another layer of white card again leaving a 1 cm border.

Next was the CD element of my card. I printed a backing paper onto printable vellum. The CD is a Creative Crafting World Cd called Perfect Papercrafting Companions and I chose a Textured backing paper which was printed in Dusky Rose.  The vellum was then put through a Tonic embossing folder called Just For You. It has one pattern at the top and another at the bottom but I only wanted the bottom rose pattern. So I embossed two pieces of vellum with just the rose pattern and then cut along the wavy line. I then hid the join with the swirly banner part which is a separate die from the same set. The embossing didn’t show up as much as I wanted so I did the same embossing on a piece of white card. I then matched up the embossing on the card with the embossing on the vellum and this seemed to make it more noticeable. This was layered onto the card and glittery peel offs attached around the edge.

I then laid out the parchment flowers and leaves, rearranging them until I was happy and glued them to the vellum. They’re made from coloured parchment and just embossed using a Groovi plate then cut out. I finished off with some sparkly pink gems in the centre of the flowers and on the edge of the card. 

I'm sure lots of you can think of someone who you could make a card for that has Beautiful Blooms on it so please enter Jocelyn's theme. Don't forget that the CD Sunday Challenge is about making items using something printed from a craft CD Rom.You can use other craft items on your card/project, such as a stamp or die, but you must include something from a craft Cd. So if you like colouring stamped images or digis you can still enter the challenge but you must include something from a Cd such as a backing paper, a sentiment or a butterfly for example. In your blog post/Facebook entry you must give the name of the Cd you've used. This is important if the items you've used can be bought as a download as well as a CD as the Design team can't tell which has been used unless you tell us. Your entry can't be considered for a prize if you haven't used a Cd or if you haven't told us the name of the CD in your post. The Design team still leave comments on your blog but there's no chance of winning if the above hasn't been followed. We now have a Facebook page if you don't have a blog  - The CD Sunday Challenge.  

70th Birthday card

I use CDs a lot in my crafting, often printing out backing sheets and using them to make a 3D item or die cutting from them instead of using coloured card stock. I know it's thought that printers use a lot of ink but my cartridges last at least 6 months - I know because I keep a record of when the cartridges where last replaced. The printer is used by both myself and hubby, not just for my crafting but also for printing documents and online information. I buy from an online shop and get original cartridges for a good price but now that my printer is out of warranty I'm going to switch to compatibles which are cheaper again.

 I used an 8 by 8 card blank and covered it in black card stock and then embossed white card stock using an embossing folder and layered on to the black card. The next 3 layers are printed from Tattered Lace CDs that have the papers from the Tattered Lace magazines issues 19 and 21 (the 2 wooden 'plank' effect papers) and a Creative Crafting World CD called Perfect Essential Companions (the plain textured effect paper in the Putty colour).

I then added a strip of black card across the middle of the card and topped it with circles of black and white card that were cut using dies.

 

The numbers are stamped onto the brown card left over from the plain brown layer and then cut out using the matching dies. The Happy Birthday is also die cut from the brown card. The card is finished off by adding candle and star peel offs and wooden embellishments.

 I also decorated the inside of the card.

I'm entering this in the Back to Basics Blog Challenge where the theme is 'Use A Craft CD or Papercraft Kit'. 

Items I used:

Creative Expressions: Tartan Trellis embossing folder.

Creative Crafting World - 8 by 8 card blank, black card (for matting and layering), ivory Woodstock card (second layer that was embossed and middle of circle) and white card (for printing).

Tattered Lace: Click, Print, Go Paper Collection Volume 6 CD and happy birthday die that was free in a Tattered Lace magazine.

Tonic Studios - Circle Layering Die Set.

XCut - Carnival numbers stamps and dies.

My Mind's Eye: Wood Dots.

The peel-offs and Happy Birthday stamp (on the insert) are from my stash and I've had them so long I don't know where they're from.

I'm entering this in the Back to Basics Blog Challenge where the theme is 'Use A Craft CD or Papercraft Kit'.

Art Deco - CD Sunday

There's been much head scratching and debating among the design team at the CD Sunday Challenge and we’ve finally agreed on the two winners of the Birthday Challenge prizes! Head on over to the challenge blog or Facebook page to find out who the winners are.

This fortnight is Margaret’s turn to pick a theme and she’s gone with the ever-popular Art Deco. I love the stylish, classy look of Art Deco – but not so sure about having to wash and iron the clothes LOL!

I decided it was time to use something from a huge quantity of Hunkydory designs that I won a few years ago. I was going to make one of the shape designs that was in a kit but although there was a small photo of the completed design there were no instructions. So I decided to do a stepper card and put the topper on one side of the card. I cut the stepper card blank using a set from Tonic which consists of a Side Stepper Embossing Folder and then decorated with dies from the Tonic Horseshoe Arch Stepper Card Die Set.

 The right-hand side was covered in a spotty paper from a Creative Crafting World CD called Perfect Essential Companions in the colour Seafoam – I thought the green and blue matched the colours in the topper perfectly. I then die cut a circle using a Tonic Scalloped Circle Layering die and the card was also from Tonic and is called Powder Blue Lace Speciality card. I then cut another circle from gold mirri (another Hunkydory win!) using a circle die from a set by Creative Crafting World called Especially For You. The sentiment is also from the same set, also cut from the gold mirri with the backing plate cut from brown card in my stash. I finished the card off by dotting gold pearls here and there.

 Don't forget that the CD Sunday Challenge is about making items using something printed from a craft CD Rom. You can use other craft items on your card/project, such as a stamp or die, but you must include something from a craft Cd. So if you like colouring stamped images or digis you can still enter the challenge but you must include something from a Cd such as a backing paper, a sentiment or a butterfly for example. In your blog post/Facebook entry you must give the name of the Cd you've used. This is important if the items you've used can be bought as a download as well as a CD as the Design team can't tell which has been used unless you tell us. Your entry can't be considered for a prize if you haven't used a Cd or if you haven't told us the name of the CD in your post. The Design team still leave comments on your blog but there's no chance of winning if the above hasn't been followed. We now have a Facebook page if you don't have a blog - The CD Sunday Challenge. 

I'm entering this into the new challenge at Back to Basics - Use a craft CD or papercraft kit. The CD I used is from Creative Crafting World called Perfect Essentials Companion. I also used something from a papercraft kit (the topper with the Art Deco lady) which is by Hunkydory called Deco Delights.

Anything Goes - CD Sunday

Well what a response we had to the CD Sunday Birthday Challenge! Thanks to everyone who entered but especially those who entered for the first time. The design team will now ponder long and hard and come up with two people to win the prizes. The names of the winners will be announced on Sunday 13th May to give us time to come to a decision - not an easy task as there were so many wonderful entries.

The theme for the next 2 weeks has been chosen by Wynn and she's gone with 'Anything Goes'. A really easy theme so let's so lots of entries again!

Don't forget that the CD Sunday Challenge is about making items using something printed from a craft CD Rom. You can use other craft items on your card/project, such as a stamp or die, but you must include something from a craft Cd. So if you like colouring stamped images or digis you can still enter the challenge but you must include something from a Cd such as a backing paper, a sentiment or a butterfly for example. In your blog post/Facebook entry you must give the name of the Cd you've used. This is important if the items you've used can be bought as a download as well as a CD as the Design team can't tell which has been used unless you tell us. Your entry can't be considered for a prize if you haven't used a Cd or if you haven't told us the name of the Cd in your post. The Design team still leave comments on your blog but there's no chance of winning if the above hasn't been followed.

Today is my husband's birthday and as the theme is Anything Goes I thought I'd make something for his birthday. One of his hobbies is to feed the wild birds in the garden - we have feeders everywhere! He likes to sit in the dining room and watch the birds through the patio doors. It gives him a great deal of enjoyment so when I saw how to make a bird house from card it was the obvious choice! Michelle Jackson-Mogford has a feature in the Crafter's Inspiration magazine (issue 17) from Crafter's Companion. If you recognise her name Michelle used to demo Craft Artist on Create and Craft. You can download the birdhouse template from www.crafterscompanion.co.uk/ci17-liliesandlight

I didn't follow the article in the mag completely - I used different papers to Michelle as she used purples. I used a green paper from Issue 11 CD Autumnal Days folder and 3 blue papers from Issue 17 CD Tokyo Blue folder.

The little bird was one of a pair left over from a previous project. Michelle printed her bird from the files on the CD but I knew I had this one, bought from The Range, in my stash.

I just poked a small piece of stick through for him to sit on.

Michelle punched hearts to make the roof 'tiles' but when I saw this paper on CD 17 I thought it looked like roof tiles - what do you think?

I decorated the 2 sides and back with dies cuts using Tonic's Craft Perfect card in Fern Green and two different sized dies from Cheery Lynn. 

The front was decorated with strips of clear gems and die cuts from a Tonic With Love set. I used plain white card and after cutting out the dies I coloured the card using a Tonic Glitter marker.

This is where I confess to a little 'cheating'! Anyone who follows my blog will know I don't enjoy cutting things out by hand. Having already cut loads out for the rest of the birdhouse I didn't fancy cutting the roof trims out by hand - too small and fiddly for me. So I rummaged through my stash and found an edging die that looked just like the pretty decorations that hang from roofs and used that! I edged it with a French Navy Promarker and dotted tiny hearts along it. I think it worked! 

We now have a Facebook page if you don't have a blog or if it's easier for you to enter that way - The CD Sunday Challenge.