My First Sketch Based Card!

I had booked the day off work today and the plan was to go walking in the Lakes, that was until we checked the weather forecast!  So instead I've had a day of catching up with a few cards which I needed to make.

I often visit sketch sites for inspiration, but really struggle when it comes to actually making a card from them.  Today however I stumbled across this SKETCH on 2Sketches for you and actually managed (for the first time ever) to turn it into a card I was happy with!

Ingredients: Papers Basic Grey Infuse; scalloped edges cut with a Nellie Snellen die; Nestabilties ovals and scalloped ovals dies;  Cuttlebug flourish die;  ribbon, plain card, brads and roses from stash. 

I was on a bit of roll with the sketch and adapted it slightly and came up with this:

Ingredients:  Patterned paper -DCWV (very old stash); plain card from Partners; Kraft card from HERE; Nestabilities circle and scalloped circle die; Fiskars threading water/scalloped lace punch; lace, ribbon, pins from local market; metal pram embellishment from stash; Cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder.

I think this may be a record, but here is another card I made yesterday.  Three in a weekend must be some kind of personal best!

Ingredients: Paper - My Mind's Eye; Cuttlebug Asterisk dies and Swiss Dots embossing folder; chipboard frame made with a Nellie Snellen die; mini bulldog clip from Wilkinsons; Poundland gems; Quickutz Metro alpha dies; ribbon from Aberkan.

Even though Mr Crafty Blogger and I had to abandon plans for walking in the lakes today, we did manage to get out on Saturday. 

We set off from the reservoir I posted last week and ended up here:

It looks nice and sunny on the photo, but trust me, it was very windy and exposed on top of the moor.  We did go up the tower, but it was so windy it was difficult to hold the camera still to get a decent shot.

Thanks for looking,

Ruthie x

A Few Recent Projects

Here's some pics of my recent projects:

Free Standing Pop-up Card:

Ingredients: Papers - My Minds Eye (freebie with February's Card Making and Papercraft magazine), Cuttlebug, Quickutz and Nestabilities dies, Poundland stick on gems, Hobbycraft ribbons, Fiskars scalloped lace punch and finally a dreaded peel off!

The tutorial for the pop-up card is from Splitcoast Stampers HERE.

Easel Birthday Card:

This was a card I made for my mother in law's birthday.

Ingredients: Papers - My Minds Eye (freebie with February's Card Making and Papercraft magazine), Nestabilities dies, Cuttlebug embossing folders, butterfly punches, Fiskars scalloped lace punch, scrabble tile letters (Papermania I think), paper flowers from Sarah's Cards, Papermania pearl brad, lace from my local market and Making Memories pom-pom ribbon.

The easel card tutorial is also from Splitcoast Stampers HERE

Mother's Day Card:

Ingredients: Papers - My Minds Eye (freebie with February's Card Making and Papercraft magazine), Nestabilities and Quickutz dies, Cuttlebug embossing folders, paper flowers from Sarah's Cards LTD, Papermania pearl brads, Hobbycraft ribbon and heart pin from my local market.

Valentine's Day Projects:
For Mr Crafty Blogger's valentines card I decided to get my camera out and do a photocard. 

The first challenge was where to find Love Hearts sweets following the demise of our beloved Woolworths.  Fortunately Wilkinsons have stepped into the breach and I was able to get a few packets to set up my photo shoot:

About 500 photos later I managed to get this picture:

I cropped the picture down and printed it onto canvas paper (Aldi special buy a few weeks ago) to produce the final card:

The photo was post processed using  Coffee Shop's Butterscotch vintage action followed by a bit of my own tweaking.  If you use Photoshop Elements (as I do), you really need to visit Rita at the Coffee Shop blog, as her actions are FREE and they all work in PSE!!!! 

Mr Crafty Blogger did not fully escape my paper crafting.  I filled a Kilner jar with is favourite chocolates and made a little tag.

Ingredients: Cuttlebug and Quickutz dies, scrap paper and cardboard, Papermania stamp, ribbons and button from stash.

Mountain Rescuer's Birthday Card:

If in doubt with a man's birthday card, go back to the old faithful Sizzix doll dies!

Ingredients: Sizzix doll and winter clothes dies, Quickutz tools and toolbox dies, Dymo tape, Cuttlebug embossing folder, embroidery floss.

Thanks for looking,

Ruthie x

She crafts, she types.............

...... very occasionally!

A very belated happy new year to you all.  Yes I'm back and I've even done some crafting so I thought I would share it with you.

First is a card for a friend's birthday:

Ingredients: kraft/parcel paper embossed with a cuttlebug folder, MMI paper, Nestabilities dies, Making Memories ribbon, prima flowers, mini clip from Paperchase, wordart freebie download from here.

I have also made a gift bag for her present out of a C4 envelope:

Ingredients: C4 Envelope, K&CO Amy Butler paper, dymo tape, Nestabilities dies, Quickutz alphabet dies, Prima Flowers, string from local market, twill ribbon, scalloped lace punch, heart shaped brad from stash, button from here.

As well as crafting I did enjoy the snow we had at Chritsmas and just after new year, here's a few pics of what it was like up here in Lancashire:

Thanks for looking.

Ruthie x

A Productive Day

Yesterday was a very productive crafty day. I holed myself up in my craft room to finish my friends recipe binder (based on THIS fab tutorial), and here it is:

Front cover:

Side/inside view:

Dividers:

Close-up of the dividers:

I just need to print off the cards to go inside and then it's good to go.

Ingredients:

Based on Cathy Zielski tutorial (get it HERE)

American Crafts Modern album and page dividers from HERE

K&CO Amy Butler Sola 12x12 papers

Letters cut from funky foam using the Cuttlebug Red Tag Sale alphabet

While I was waiting for the bits of my binder to dry I decided to make a couple of cards with the off-cuts of paper which were left.

As some of the paper was stripey I thought it would tie in with a challenge over on Crafts By Carolyn's forum to create a card featuring stars and stripes. The star is very subtle as I used it for the brown petals of the flower, but it's there!

and a close up:

Ingredients:

K&CO Amy Butler Sola Papers
Bazzill brown card

Papermania felt ribbon
Lettering cut with Quickutz Katie Skinni Mini alphabet
Flower cut from felt and homemade chipboard using Sizzix star and cuttlebug scalloped circles/flowers die

Dovecraft brad

I carried on playing with the off-cuts and came up with another birthday card:

Ingredients:

K&CO Amy Butler Sola papers
Coffee cup sleeve
Flower cut from felt and a coffee cup sleeve using Cuttlebug asterisk and scalloped circles/flower dies

Cuttlebug swirl border

Greeting created using Dymo tape

Yesterday was also a productive day because while in my craft room I listened to an album I hadn't heard in ages (possibly even years) and realised I love it:

A bit of a controversial favourite as it was absolutely panned by the critics when it came out, but I'm not afraid to admit I like it, but it does make me feel old as it was released nearly 15 years ago. It also reminds me of the scene in the film Shaun of The Dead where they are killing zombies using old vinyl records and the Second Coming gets saved as Shaun liked to too. (Love that film, might have to watch it tonight :) )

I ended up listening to the album as I was reading a discussion on Crafts By Carolyn's forum about what kind of art people like. I remembered I read in the paper last week that the artist John Squire (former Stone Roses guitarist) has a new exhibition of his work starting shortly in London. For some reason this made me want to listen to the track Begging You from the Second Coming, so that's how I ended up crafting and listening to the album (twice through).

All in all a very productive day: recipe binder done; an album rediscovered and cards made. Excellent!

Cheers

Ruthie x

Why do men have birthdays?

Well I know why, but it's really hard work making men's cards. (Well I think it is!)


Anyway today is my FIL's birthday so I can't really get away with not doing a card. I opted for the easy option of the word 'Dad' and a beer. A winning combination in my book when it comes to Dad cards (unless the dad is teetotal of course).



Here is the finished item (poor light strikes again):




Ingredients:
Basic Grey 'Infuse' papers
recyled coffee cup liner
Chipboard letters cut using the Cuttlebug red tag sale alpha
Quickutz beer mug die
Screw head brads from Crafts By Carolyn
Inking and stitching


Also just a quick thank you to everyone who has left comments on my blog, I love reading them. It's also nice to know that people appreciate my attempts at crafting and rambling.

Got to go and make tea, I've promised Mr Crafty Blogger a chicken pie (his favourite). Oh what a domestic goddess I am :)

Cheers

Ruthie x