Butterflies and Bunting

I've just come back from a week's holiday to hideous weather up here in NW England and so all I want to do is hole myself up in my craft room and play.

With this in mind, this morning I went on the hunt for a challenge to inspire me and this week's challenge on Daring Card Makers fit the bill perfectly:

This week it's me (Kathy) here to set the new dare and I'd like you to

Come Fly With Me

My theme is All Up in the Air, really ;-) - I'd like to see the main elements of your card being things that fly, flutter, hover or waft about "up there" in the sky.

The hideous weather I've come back from holiday to has made me crave sunny days and afternoon tea parties with bunting flapping in the wind and butterflies hovering over head.  So this is what I came up with:

It's a card for a friend whose birthday is not until late October, by which time I think we will all be craving sunny days and blue skies!


Ingredients: Papers October Afternoon (Fly a Kite range - even that fits the dare!), Quickutz alphabet dies, Cuttlebug cake die, Nellie Snellen frame die, American Crafts ribbon, pen stitching, garden twine from Wilko, punched butterflies.


Just a note on the 'stitching'.  One of the comments on my last post asked if it was real stitching on my cards.  It isn't!  After thinking I had broken my sewing machine the only time I tried to stitch a card I always stick with my pen stitching method: piercing the card/paper with a map pin and then drawing in the 'thread' with a fineliner pen.  (It's much less stressful.)


As I said at the start of this post I've just come back from holiday and I can say there where we were there was no shortage of sunny days and blue skies as Mr Crafty Blogger and I spent a fantastic week on the beautiful Greek island of Santorini.  I don't want to bore you all with the hundreds of pics I took so here's a storyboard of just a few of them:

(storyboard created using a template from Coffee Shop)

We stopped at THIS fantastic hotel in the capital Fira (or Thira).  Not only were the facilities excellent we also had amazing views of the Caldera (volcano) and the sunsets which Santorini is famous for.  (I took the photo on the top right of the storyboard from our balcony!)


Although we stopped in Fira, we managed to get around the island very easily by bus, including a  number of trips to the beautiful (and very photogenic) village of Oia which is where three of the storyboard photos were taken.


I promised not to bore you with the photos, but before I sign-off I just want to share one of my favourite shots from the week:

If you are interested I have put a few more shots on my Flickr.

Thanks for looking,

Ruthie x

A New Challenge

Lisa (Crafty Fairy) has launched a new challenge over on her blog.

Welcome to Shape of the Week Sunday!

I decided to set a Die Cutting based challenge on my blog every week, as there does not seem to be many die cutting challenges about so i thought this may inspire people!!

So my challenge to you is to make a card using a die of a scalloped circle - there are tons out there and i think it is a popular die!!

This challenge gave me the kick up the bum I need on Bank Holiday Monday to make my Mum's birthday card:

Ingredients:  Scalloped circle dies (large one is Nestabilities and small  one under the button is a Cuttlebug die), October Afternoon papers, Cuttlebug butterfly die, home-made journalling spot (made in Photoshop), Cuttlebug letters dies, mini bulldog clip from Paperchase, button from stash, pen stitching.

After I finished the card on Monday we headed out to Morecambe for a walk along the prom and to make most of the unusually nice weather.  It was also a good opportunity for me to practice my photography. Here's a shot I took when we walked down the Stone Jetty looking back towards the Midland Hotel:

Of course a trip to Morecambe wouldn't be complete for me without my favourite ice-cream treat, a Snowball Topper.  Although this has featured on my blog before I still had to take a photo of the 2010 version!

While I was queueing for my ice cream I managed to get another shot of the fabulously retro Sunset Ices ice-cream van:

(The composition isn't brilliant on this one, but I was limited as I was in the queue!)

Thanks for looking,

Ruthie x

Cameras, Chester and a Card

***Warning, picture heavy post***

Last Sunday was my birthday and as a present Mr Crafty Blogger paid for me to do a 1:1 photo course with the photographer and crafter extraordinaire the wonderful Kirsty Wiseman.

So last Friday I headed off to meet Kirsty.  I had a fantastic day and learnt loads about portrait photography and editing which enhances rather than destroys photos.  Although I could already shoot semi-auto and manual Kirsty managed to increase my confidence and prove that with a few tweaks I can get some great shots from my camera.  Here's a couple of shots from the day:

First this is me taken by Kirsty with my camera (pic from Kirsty's blog):

and here's one I took of Kirsty:

If you have a DSLR camera I cannot recommend the course highly enough!  If you are a beginner to DSLR photography it will save you months of reading manuals, tutorials and books.  If you know a bit more about it like I did it will increase your confidence and teach you lots of invaluable tips and tricks.

On Saturday I celebrated my birthday with friends and a trip to Chester Races.  A while ago I blogged about my intention to make a dress and I am pleased to report that I did make one and wore it to the races.  (It nearly didn't make it as I was still hemming it at 12.30am on Friday morning).

Here's a pic of me (on the left) and a friend waiting for the train to Liverpool.  It has to be said we got some funny looks when we boarded.

Once we got to Lime Street station there were a lot more race-goers knocking about so we blended in a bit more.  By the time we got to Chester we looked normal and after a lovely pub lunch we joined the hoardes of people heading to the course:

I had never been to the races before and my previous betting experience was limited to an annual flutter on the Grand National.   However I did manage to pick one winner (out of 8 races) and I did finish 'up' by £2.50.  Mr Crafty Blogger did significantly better, backing 4 of the 8 winners.    Here he is "studying the form" or whatever you do when you don't pick horses by their name or the jockey's silks:

(photo was taken on my mobile.  If you have an Android phone download Vignette, it's great fun)

Fortunately Mr Crafty Blogger's success meant the drinks were on him!

Finally as this is a craft blog I thought I had better share a card.  This is the thank you I made for Kirsty following the photo course:

Ingredients:  Basic Grey Offbeat paper, Quickutz and Cuttlebug alphabet dies, mini bulldog clip from Paperchase, Fiskars threading water punch.

Thanks for looking,

Ruthie x

Sculpted Paper Roses

You will have probably noticed that sculpted paper roses are everywhere at the moment.  Prima do them and YouTube is full of tutorials on how to make them.

I started having a go at making them a couple of weeks ago with very limited success (by "limited" I actually mean NO success).  However, yesterday I had a bit of a breakthrough and managed to make this:

Most tutorials rely on using a 6 petal flower punch or die which I didn't own so my early (failed) attempts involved hand cutting the flowers.  This works well if you are very good with scissors, but unfortunately mine looked like I done them blindfolded with blunt scissors!

After trying and failing with the scissors I went punch/die hunting.  I ruled out getting a punch as they cost about £10 and I find their use quite limited.  A die seemed a more sensible option as I have a Cuttlebug so next stop was the Sizzix range.

I decided that the new Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Florals die was what I needed.  Unfortunately these dies seem to be in pretty short supply and are going for silly money on Ebay so no luck there.

Luckily during my Sizzix hunt I stumbled across this die set from Marianne D:

Not only is it perfect for making paper roses but I will also get loads of other uses out of it as a normal die. 

Anyway, enough of my shopping, back to the paper roses.  As you may have gathered I cut the petals and leaves using the die.  Both are cut from My Minds Eye paper which I stuck together to make double sided.  The method for assembling the rose was based on a hybrid the following tutorials:

Splitcoast Stampers Tutorial  (this one uses the elusive Tim Holtz Die)

YouTube Video

To finish the leaves I curled them round a pencil like the flower petals.

Thanks for looking and sorry for the slightly arty pics. Can you tell my latest obsession is my new Android phone and the Vignette app!

Ruthie x

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

An Autumn Walk

I have been neglecting my camera a bit recently so I decided I needed to get out today and get a few photos. Here's a sample of them:

I had a little play in photoshop to a fake lomo effect on this one:

It makes me realise how lucky I am to have such beautiful countryside right on my doorstep.

Thanks for looking,

Ruthie x

Getting Ahead of Myself

This morning I've managed to make a card in plenty of time, wonders will never cease. I think it may be some kind of subconscious New Year's resolution! It's a birthday card for a friend. Her birthday is not until the end of the month but I can post it here as she doesn't read my blog.

It also fits in nicely with this week's dare over on Daring Card Makers:

We'd like you to do your bit for the planet and make a card using some recycled items.Yes, we know we've done similar challenges in the past, but some things are good to revisit and this is one of them - it gets us looking at stuff we might be throwing away and asking ourselves if there's some card-making mileage to be had from it.And besides, it's FREE! If you can use something rescued from Christmas rubbish (scraps from cards, decorations etc) - then you get double points! lol

Here is a couple of shots of the finished card:

As you may now from previous posts I am an avid collector of coffee cup sleeves, so they quite often find there way onto my cards. In addition to this I printed the greeting onto a scrap of card which was lying on my craft desk, and the chipboard flower was made using a scrap of mount board which was also lying around.

Non-recycled items on the card are K and Co Amy Butler papers, Dovecraft brad, and Papermania felt ribbon, felt flower cut using a cuttlebug die, with inking and pen stitching to finish.

Yesterday morning I ventured out in the freezing cold with my camera hoping to get some nice frosty shots in the garden. I didn't find anything frosty worth shooting, but I did find some fungus on a tree stump:

After seeing these shots Mr Crafty Blogger declined my offer of a mushroom risotto for tea. I can't think why!

In the afternoon I ventured out with Mr Crafty Blogger to the East Lancashire Railway to take photos of trains and ride on them. (It's a Mr Crafty Blogger thing, although he has said if I come along then he doesn't need to worry about the photo bit as I take care of that, and he can presumably concentrate on riding on the train, which obviously takes a lot of concentration.)

It wasn't a brilliant afternoon for photographing, but we still stood in a field in temperatures hovering around zero and I did get one shot of the afore mentioned train:

There was method in my madness for venturing to the East Lancashire Railway as there is a craft shop right opposite the train station at Ramsbottom. So on the return journey I left Mr Crafty Blogger and his friend on the train so I could have a look round the craft shop. Everyone's a winner - he gets to stay on the train for another 15 mins and I get a peaceful mooch round the craft shop.

I did make some purchases, the felt ribbon used on the card above, and some friendly plastic. I have to say the friendly plastic seems to be harder than it looks and we are not quite getting on at the moment! More practise needed I think.

Cheers

Ruthie x