A touch of gold

I embossed the brown panel with an art deco style folder, then rubbed with gold gilding paste.

 

Freshley Made Sketches -  734 - using the above sketch - 

I did wonder if I should have picked a coloured cardstock for the background but the patterned paper has white so I suppose it works.

a trio of stamped butterflies

I have a few diamond stencils - not sure which one this is- script stamp is from Indigo Blu - sentiment stamp  is from simply Cards and Papercrafts issue 256 and the butterfly stamps are from Creative Stamping issue 146,tiny butterfly punch also used.

Triple B - challenge for April - mood board
 

a trio of butterflies

 I tried the 'milky mist embossing technique as shown here by Bibi Cameron. I didn't have the right inks but gave it a go anyway. My inks were a cheap set of 20 for $8 from Target, I used lilac,blue and yellow.

The embossing folder is a phill martin one for the" sentimentally yours "magazine. The butterfly die is by lou collins for "die cutting essentials"magazine.

Let's Craft and Create challenge 230 - a/g or butterflies.

lilac and green bookbinding card

 Australia Post have this thing about square cards costing more to post so a bookbinding card gets around that. I suppose you could also put a square card in a regular rectangle envelope.

Let's Craft and Create challenge 299 purple and green . 

a couple of pretty papers and some dies. I chose this sentiment stamp as it can be for so many occasions, birthdays,mother day or an anniversary. You can add the specific details inside before you send it.

what are they called ?

 

I'm sure there must be a name for this  where you score an A4 piece of card vertically and horizontally then cut away a quarter of the card. Cut a circle or any shape from the front panel ,decorate around the aperture and add a greeting on the second panel behind. The card then opens normally to add a greeting inside.

I made two - one landscape and one portrait. 

It's taken a long time but I think I am just about over my sweet kitty dying. I think I must have been feeling low before  she died and that was the final straw to make me really sad and unhappy with life. Autumn is just around the corner here in Tasmania and here I am just doing the Spring clean and trying to sort out the garden- I really haven't wanted to do anything for the past few months, so now I'm playing catch up.

a little bit christmas

Please don't laugh, I have just been to the post office to mail my christmas cards - all 3 of them. How many will I get back  - probably none. 

Cards seem to be a thing of the past which is a shame as I love to get stuff in the mail.

I've used the same dies for them all with slight changes- they all have the same greeting inside. So that's me done for another year. I do make lots of cards for the local charities and charity shops which means I get to use up some of my stash.

 

will it get better , I hope so

                                          chinese style lantern- not sure what I will do with this.
 

Couture creations die cut baubles

I couldn't find any markings on this square die so I have no idea where it came from

.It does have lots of interesting items - mobile phone ,guitar, sunglasses  to name a few.

A few days after Bellas death I packed up all the wet food, biscuits and dental treats and dropped them off to a local cats rescue. I passed a small charity shop and whilst I never buy clothes ( cos I'm fat ) I do like to browse the crafty bits. A sealed bag with a $2 sticker, the only thing I could see was the large square die cut - as you can see from the pics I got a lot for my 2 bucks so used the word die to make this card. I need to keep busy.

I miss my furry little friend more each day. I did speak with the senior vet this week to go over the blood work etc for Bella and was assured that there was nothing they could have done to save her. A very aggressive cancer is the probable cause.

Goodnight sweet Bella

Bella - happy in the sun 

I don't normally mention personal stuff on here but I am just heartbroken at the loss of our sweet little pet.

 On Sunday evening we noticed Bella had some swelling on her front leg and paw -

 on Monday morning I arrived at the vets without an appointment and was happy to wait until they could see her. She had a high temp and lots of fluid on her leg - tablets and medicine for 5 days to be given with food - sadly Bella didn't want any food or water -I syringe feed her with both so that I could medicate her.

Things didn't get any better on Tuesday and she almost staggered about , her back legs wobbly. I tried again with the syringe feeding and on Wednesday morning she was unresponsive- her eyes almost closed and no strength in her back legs. So back to the vet who was very concerned- bloods tests showed concern on every level - kidneys- liver - low temp- blood count very bad - everything listed was very bad - Bella just laid there, she made no attempt to move or do anything as she was checked over- the vet tried to stand her up and she just collapsed in a heap on the floor. She was put to sleep as there was nothing the vet could do .I am devastated she has gone

Animals are very good at being quiet and not showing signs of illness- We were at the vets in April to get yearly vaccinations done - was she ill then or this something that has happened very quickly. There will be no pets for us ever again , I can not go through this heartbreak and sadness - the house seemed empty today, no little patter of feet coming into the bathroom with me and no hot water bottle to keep me snug at night.

birthday butterflies

 I used pretty papers from My Minds Eye 'meadow collection' which I picked up from the local op shop.

I don't know where the butterfly stamps came from - I have had them  a few years.

Let's Craft and Create challenge 224 - things with wings.

A little bird

 

I have been pulling my hair out with this one. I used a die cut for the banner at the top and was then interrupted by my cat who I tried to ignore - turns out she was hungry. When I went back to craft table said die was missing ( where do these things go). change of plan and I add the triangle - maybe 5 minutes later I found the die but it was too late , because of the embossed background I had stuck it down really well.

the bird stamp is really old from Inkadinkadoo and the last time I used it was 2018 so I am guessing it will be a least 10 years since I bought it.

Freshly made sketches challenge 706. Not quite what I had in mind and I'm not sure if it's  CAS enough

I made a second card using the bird stamp but instead of black I used green and blue  - does it work or should solid stamps always be black ?

hung out to dry

 I picked up the frame die as part of a 3 set from the op shop without any packaging- Do you know which company made this.

The image is a really old one from 'sassy cheryl ' coloured with marker pens.

Creative knockouts challenge 555- anything goes

orange- not my favourite colour

I'm not really an orange person so I originally chose soft peach colours for this image bit it really was too pale so I it with some strong orange and also stamped in an extra flower between the two on the left. This stamp is  big  but the flowers are only small so the card front looks a bit empty. I decided to make a focal point of part of the stamp which I think looks better. Next time I will stamp some script or a small background pattern before I actually stamp the flowers. The stamp came from Creative Stamping magazine  issue 43.
 

Passion for Markers week 807 - anything floral . 

flower panel

the flower stamp came from 'simply cards and papercraft ' magazine issue 256. the 'hello' was part of a set I picked up from the op shop and had no packaging.

Freshly Made Sketches   705. 

I have made quite a few cards using the sketches and have always been too late to post them.
 

cute koala from connie fong

This digi image from  connie fong has been sitting on my computer since September so I decided to print it out.

Critter Crazy challenge- 100 birthday bash - birthday cards with critters.
 

just playing around

 

managed to find a little time to craft- me time seems to be getting less and less. it's winter here in tasmania and whilst I'm not a fan of the rain it would be a good time to get some crafting done.

As you can see the above double z-fold still needs to be finished .  Do I add some green leaves poking out from the flowers or just leave it. I think once I add a sentiment to the front that might just be enough.