Stylish Stencil

 Morning all.  It's time for a new challenge at Sparkles Monthly Challenge. We would like to see your 'Stencilled' projects please. I love stencils.  I've been looking forward to this one. I could used my favourite stencil from Funky Fossil.

This is my favourite stencil and, right now, I absolutely hate her.  I had such a brilliant idea for this card.  My idea was to use gold foil on a black background. A 'Goldfinger' type approach.  It was going to look stunning.  Well, in my head it did.  I spent an entire weekend trying to get an even finish to my foiling.  There are several sheets of black cardstock lounging in the bin as a testament to my determination.  In the end I fished out a piece of teal cardstock and stencilled her in black.  I'm glad I did in the end.  I'm much happier with the result. I stamped my sentiment and added some obsidian gems and that's that.

Please pop over and see the fabulous inspiration from the design team.  Then you can join in the fun.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Autumn Elegance.

 Autumn Elegance.  Well, that's what I was going for anyway.  You can be the judge of whether I managed it or not.  

Autumn Elegance is the new challenge over at Make My Monday. Can't wait to see what you all come up with for this one as autumn is anything but elegant around here.  Soggy - yes, miserable - yes, uninviting - oh yes.  I haven't stepped a foot out of the house all weekend, and it has nothing to do with Lockdown. I just don't have any desire to wander into the dank and foggy world right now.  You can help me by keeping me busy commenting on your wonderful creations.  Here's mine.

I'll say one thing for tidying your craft room, you find all sorts of stuff you can't remember seeing before. I found several sheets, some in pearlised card and some in velum, of these beautiful leaves.  I have some gorgeous baby blue ones and some white but I chose to go with the ivory and cream.  They are all beautifully edged in gold and all I had to do was pop them out and arrange them.  Sounds easy enough (it wasn't).  I ended up with a couple of floating leaves to try and even up my wonky wreath shape.  The addition of a few goldy coloured gems also helped to even the shape out.  All I needed to do after that was stack a few sentiments to add to the middle.  I'm really pleased with the end result.  Not too much swearing either - bonus!

Ok, over to you.  Keep me tied to the computer and away from the miserable outdoors.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Party Animal

 Morning all.  We are up to P for Party over at The Alphabet Challenge.  Here in the UK we are in Lockdown once again so this is the nearest you are going to get to a party in the next month.  If you needed an excuse to join in then that's got you covered.  They can't fine you for joining a virtual party.  During the first lockdown we had a virtual cheese and wine party on a crafty Facebook group I'm on. I baked a camembert and drank quite a bit of white wine.  Well, you have to show willing don't you.

My party card started with a fun image from Bugaboo.  I chose the spotty backing paper and coloured my image to match.  Then I sat and fussy cut the whole thing out 'cause my little piggy bled out the lines and there was no way I was starting again.  I die cut lots of white balloons to add to my card blank for a tone on tone effect before sticking the rest of it together.  I'd had to cut off the 'happy' part of the stamp so I added 'wishes' instead. You can't see it but I covered the balloons and presents with Spectrum Noir sparkle pen.  I also added it to the chocolate chip ice cream.  Mmm, ice cream.  Do you think that is an acceptable choice for a breakfast this morning?  I'm tempted.

Ok, time for you all to get your party on.  Pop over to the blog and see the awesome inspiration and please join in the fun.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Silver and gold

 Morning all.  Are you ready for a new challenge over at Cardz4galz.  I get to chose the subject this time and I would like to see Gold and/or Silver on you project please. It doesn't have to be Christmassy but this does seem to be an ideal opportunity to get started.

I had a lovely idea for layering an intricate cut file - cut on my cricut- with some glittery gold card I'd got lying around.  Now, my cricut and I have a love/hate relationship.  I have come to realise that, if I am going to use it, it will not go right first time around.  I popped some silver mirri card on the mat and selected the card setting.  I figured it wouldn't cut on that setting but it would give me an idea as to where I stood without ripping the card.  I watched it cutting my snowflake design and realised that I liked the etched effect.  OK, let's have a rethink.

I still used the gold glitter card.  I just layered it and used it for the die cut lettering. I used a piece of velum behind the words as it got lost on it's own.

I think I may etch some more mirri card with this design.  I think it works as well as actually cutting it.  What's the betting that I end up cutting it by accident (or just because my cricut is bloody minded and doesn't actually do what I want it to do).

Anyway, it's your turn now.  Let's see all that silver and gold.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x

Adult Content!

 Morning all.  It's time for a new challenge over at Cardz4guyz and we would like to see a card for an 'Adult Male'. I couldn't resist going a little cheeky with this one.  I dug out one of my old Kenny K images (sadly, no longer available).  To be fair, it's not the most risqué image I could have used but it was enough to, hopefully, raise a smile.

I used some silver card - embossed with one of my most male embossing folders.  I just added it to my card with a printed sentiment.  I coloured and fussy cut my image and popped her on the ribbon.  I have recently sorted out my ribbon box and was going to used some black and white checked ribbon but it was so wide it would have taken up a third of the card. Oh well, maybe next time.

OK, it's your turn.  Let's see your cards for an Adult Male (don't panic, they don't have to be that 'adult'.  This is just my sense of humour). Have a look at the design team cards.  They are all fabulous, and way more sensible than mine.

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn x