Give a man a fish....

Fonts : Zag Bold, Angelina, Worstveld Sling Extra

Dies: Geometric Style II (CB), Tiny Hearts (SSS)

I needed a card for my b-i-l, a very keen fisherman.  The pun is not my own, but the design is. This is a sentiment that both my sister & I both endorse whole-heartedly! If you google "give a man a fish", there are many, many punchlines. 

I also looked for simple fishing rod pictures, which showed the narrowing diameter of the rod. I achieved the same effect with decreasing sizes of font.  I sketched the rod & line in Silhouette Studio & then dragged the text so it would follow the path of the lines.  The fish body is a bite out of a small circle, with the heart for the tail.

I am submitting this to LiM’s “this makes me happy!” challenge for 2 reasons. I love fiddle-faddling on the computer trying to bend it to my will, & I find it extremely satisfying when an idea works out as planned.  Also it is a good male card, something that I don’t think I am alone in struggling with!

Also entering for SSS Anything Goes.

Deck the halls with...

...wrapping paper.

Yup, plain old red kraft paper from Ikea.  Cuts like a dream on the Silhouette (had to cut into A4 sheets first).  The S & J are A4 size, the rest scaled to look right next to them.  The fonts are Narkism & Halohandletter. And yes, it does owe a more than a little inspiration to a PTI sentiment!  The snowflakes are basics that came with the Silhouette Studio software.

 

 

The whole lot is stuck to the wall using a temporary adhesive.  I used the one from Pritt.  It proved a little too temporary to begin with (we spent many happy hours searching for a missing letter only to find it safe & sound on the sole of my husband's slipper) but a second application took us right through the festive season last year.

 

I love this because it was quick, cheap & made a big impact on the porch wall - an area usually bare of anything other than grubby fingerprints.

Merry Muse

Dies: Small Circle Burst, Alphabet Soup (Memory Box)

Font:  Bookman Old Style Bold Italic

Inspired by Marion Vagg at Muse this week, I chose to concentrate on the large grey sentiment & the sun rays.  This MB die is the closest I possess to sun rays & I nearly lost my sanity fitting all those tiny dots; not to be undertaken lightly!

 

 The alphabet soup letters are cute but terribly hard to handle & line up - as you can see.

 

Apologies for the more-dreadfull-than-usual phot, had to use my tablet as the camera has had a nasty accident.

Scientist card

Dies: Rounded Tag, Geometric Style 2 (Clearly Besotted)

Font: Migraine Sans

Other: Anita's 3D Gloss

My brother-in-law is a chemist.  He keeps a whole wall of chemistry tomes in his spare room, along with his guests.  On a recent visit, I was inspired by the symbol on many of the spines.

 

I created & cut the ovals with my Silhouette SD, then added the electrons & nucleus from the dies listed.  A quick google of 'atom puns' gave me the finishing touch.  A geek of a card, but I know just where to send it!

 

Linking to:

CAS-ual Fridays: CFC130 ~ Good Egg

A very graphic birthday card...

Font: migraine sans

Die: Stitched Mats Square (Lil' Inkers)

OO-er.  But it is.  Indisputably graphic.  Can you guess I'm playing along with the new Card Concept challenge?

 

Inspiration came from the most unlikely source - the BBC graphics accompanying the latest UK Budget details.  Amongst the usual car / petrol / booze etc, there is a CAKE icon.  Why?  I know not.  As far as I am aware there has been no new tax on cake, but maybe the chancellor is considering that for next time!

 

Anyhoo, having got a cake & a glass, I surfed around for the presents, then morphed them into the above.  Please note the restraint in advocating only 2 drinks & a single cake!

 

I had great trouble trying to get the right blue to print out.  What I see on my screen is gorgeous, but turns to bleuch at the printer.  With much trial & error, I managed to match it to my cardstock eventually.  I think this may become a go-to quick make - just change up the colours to suit.

 

Linking to:

The Card Concept: Challenge #6 - Create a Birthday Card

Retro card & a rant.

 



Font:KG Call Me Maybe - skinny

Die: Stitched Mats Squares (Lil' Inkers)

 

New kitchens seem to be the trend around here at the moment.  It's a bandwagon I'd love to jump on, but won't be happening for a few years yet.  So I'll just have to live vicariously through other people!  Above is a card I created using Silhouette Studio software to celebrate the completion of my friend's kitchen.

 

This card was based on some kitchen art I found on a trawl around Pinterest, using colours from a Design Seeds post.

 


I love that you can just plug the hex code numbers into the colour box in Silhouette Studio to reproduce the exact same shade.

I found a simple spatula shape on line & used the trace function to get the outline.  Having filled one with colour, I copied it, filled with grey, moved the copy slightly down & to the left & put it behind the original to give a shadow. 

The retro background is a freebie paper from Mel Stampz altered to suit this palette.

 

And now for the rant.  Please feel free to stop reading here.

 

I have finally purchased some Lil' Inkers Stitched Mat dies.  I have been lusting after these for many months now & finally manged to justify the expense (to myself if no one else...).  They weren't cheap, but no matter, I'll get a lot of use from them.  P&P was reasonable from the US, even got a slight refund from the company.  Great service.  Had to pay customs charges.  A bit of a bind, but the law IS the law.  What I object to, dear listener (I say listener, because in my head I am talking at you, possibly quite loudly, & jabbing my finger around a lot to emphasise my indignation), is the whopping £8, yes £8, international handling charge from our own dear Royal Mail. 

 

And what do I get for this enormous sum? 
Does my postman don a footman's uniform & present my purchase to me on a silver salver?  No he does not. 
Does a slightly more buff postman appear, wearing slightly less (& I'm not talking about the regulation shorts...)?  No he does not.
Does he rush around with the parcel at my earliest convenience?  No he does not. 
Having tracked the order, I know the Royal Mail got their sticky mitts on it on Saturday.  I had a delivery, nay, ransom note (can you tell, I'm warming to my theme?) through my door informing me on Tuesday.  And having sold a child & a kidney to pay the charges, I was then informed that they couldn't deliver until Thursday.  I guess they had to toss it around the office & handle it a lot to make sure I got value for money.  In short, what did the handling charge provide to me, the customer?  Sweet Fanny Adams as far as I can tell.

 

Phewww.  Thank you.  I feel better for that.

It's safe to come out from behind the sofa.  I'm sorry for shouting & pointing.

Pink elephants for Fusion

Fonts: Cherry Swash (number), 2 Peas Mr Giggles (Sentiment)

This weeks' Fusion sketch was calling out to me today:

The elephant is from the Silhoutte shop, & I've filled it with Crystal Wilkerson digital designs.  I tried googly eyes on the elephants, but they looked a bit sinister, so went with enamel accents in the end.  A tricky few minutes trying to make sure they went on evenly, but (luckily) no mishaps this time.

 

Linking to:

Fusion Card Challenge: Fusion #5

Fantastic Day

Fonts: Sunshine Poppy, Narkism, Cleanvertising, Trocchi

Now it's nice & quiet here, I can break out my Silhouette again.  It hasn't seen the light of day for a wee while, but I have re-furbished it with new mats & blade & it's now armed & ready to craft.

 

A very simple card inspired by CAS-ual Fridays & all the project life stuff I have seen on line lately.  I'm NOT a scrapbooker & probably never will be (in some part due to my terrible photography...), but I love the look of all the embellishments that are available.

 

 

I took a few different swatches from a book of Lidl cardstock that I have been hoarding saving for just such an occasion & cut them all out together, before layering up on the card.

I'm now looking longingly at the large pile of discarded letters, but they will have to wait for another time!

 

Linking to:
CAS-ual Fridays: CFC125 ~ In a Word
Less is More: Week 153 ~ Winter Blues
Addicted to CAS: Challenge #29 ~ Die Cuts  (thanks Kimberley for the heads up on this one!)

New Year, new (ish) challenge

Hello folks (if there is anyone still out there) & a happy new year to you.  Not quite sure what happened to December, things sort of ran away with me.  It didn't help that my craft room is used as a dumping ground for all the last-minute-tidying-away-before-the visitors-arrive.  That's going to take a while to excavate.

 

Which is why this post is purely digital.  These cards were created using Silhouette Studio (free to download - you don't have to buy a Silhouette machine), along with Pink Petticoat papers.  The reindeer is a freebie, here. I used the trace feature to get the deer outline, then subtracted it from a square & used the result to crop the papers.  Any simple outline or font could be used.

 

Using dottie paper in crimson from the Fairy Lights collection

Using berries paper in willow.

 

 

Using vintage stars paper in soft silver.

The cards are sized so I can print 3 out on one sheet of A4,  all one layer, easy to send.  I also used this image for some of my Xmas decor this year - printed on photo paper & hung in simple frames from Ikea that usually carry other pictures:

 

 

If you know the your friends' colour schemes, you could send a card to match!

 

Linking to:

One-Layer Simplicity Challenge: #1 ~Re-stocking the shelves

 

 

Shades of grey

Stamps: none

Ink: none

Other: Silhouette SD

The inspiration for this came from a Hollister T-shirt I saw someone wearing last night, & since then I've been itching to get into the craft room.

I can't believe I've never created an ombre background on the PC before.  Doh!So simple in Silhouette Studio to fill a rectangle with graduated colour.  For the rest, I found a seabird image online & 'traced' around it, then added lines to follow on with the bird's natural curves. 

I like to think it looks as if the gull is just dipping over the waves.

 

Linking to:

Less is More: Week 127~ Shades of Grey

Addicted to CAS: ATCAS 17 ~ Water

 

Casology Guest Designer - Fireworks

 

 

Stamps: Artemio

Ink: Tangelo (Memento); Tumbled Glass (DI)

Font: Sunshine Poppy

Other: Aqua Promarker; Diamond Stickles

 

I found it hard to come up with something this week.  In the UK, fireworks are generally confined to Bonfire Night & New Year - not what I want to think about in the summer!

 

I started off by playing around with a couple of the standard shape in Silhouette Studio.  Having printed the sentiment & stamped the 'firework' circles, it still looked a bit bare.  I tried various colours of ink splatter on scrap paper, before committing to the card.  The centre of the aqua starburst is stuck directly on the orange backing, with just a few foam dots under random stars to make some pop out more than others.

Papertrey June Blog Hop Challenge

 

Stamps: Lovely Layers, Boxes Bags & Tags, Tin Types (PTI); It's Your Day (HA); Basic Borders (ME)

Ink: Tangelo, Morocco, Rose Bud (Memento); Versamark (Tsukineko)

Other: 2" circle punch; white & gold e.p. (WOW)

This card is for PTI's June bloghop "A Touch of Gold".  To make the medallion, I scanned in my Lovely Layers set, then used Silhouette Studio to trace, replicate & rotate a particular image 3 times.  I then welded these together  & added an offset outline.  I cut it out, stamped & embossed it, then wound gold thread around to create the 'net' pattern.



 

My favourite part of the card, however, is the glossy faux brads.  The small ring stamp from Boxes, Bags & Tags was stamped in versamark & embossed with gold.  I coloured it using a blender pen with the same inks as the medallion, then punched it out with a 1/4" hole punch.  After sticking in place on the card I added glossy accents for the final touch.  The embossed rim enabled me to spread the gloss around with a pin without going over the edge.

 

Am also entering this for Less is More this week, although I'm not entirely sure it's quite 'less' enough!

 

Linking to:

Less is More: Week 125 ~ Happy Birthday Jen

Papertrey Ink: June Blog Hop ~ A Touch of Gold 

What do you see?

Stamps: It's Your Day (HA)

Ink: Aqua (Ranger Adirondack); Blue Danube, Lulu Lavender, Lilac Posies, Espresso Truffle (Memento)

What pattern do you see in the above?  Stars?  Stacked boxes?  Hexagons?  Mostly I see the boxes.

 

I have made a great discovery this morning.  Tracing paper makes the best stencils.  I created an overlapping hexagon pattern with Silhouette Studio, & cut it out of tracing paper.  I then sponged over the stencil with a variety of inks.  The stencil gave nice crisp lines, no bleeding & no soggy bits - I'll be able to use this one again.  I also like the effect of the sponging on the linen textured card stock.

 

Linking to:

Less is More: Week 124 ~ Hexagons

CAS(E) This Sketch #28

Stamps: Tiny Treasures (Pink Petticoat); Elzybells

Ink: Versamark (Tsukineko)

Other: Silhouette SD; glitter; white e.p.; promarkers

When I saw this week's CAS(E) This Sketch, all I could think of was snowballs.  Hence the penguin card was born.

 

 I copied the sketch into Silhouette Studio & traced the circles (although I can now see I appear to have missed one...), then added & traced the penguin digital stamp.

 

I cut the front piece out, then printed the design again on white paper so I could colour & add glitter. The top is popped up on foam squares.

 

Linking to:
CAS(E) This Sketch: CTS#28

Celebrate some more

Font: Migraine Sans MS

Other: Silhouette SD; Cuttlebug Snowflake die (Provocraft); Diamond Stickles (Ranger)

If you've visited this blog a few times, you may have got the hint that I LOVE words on cards.  Not just as a passing sentiment, but as the main event.  So imagine my joy to see that CASology have WORD as their cue card this week.  Amongst the words I use most frequently is celebrate.  It is so multi-functional (if it were a stamp set, it would be Teeny Trees!).  You're not confined to just a birthday, it fits so many occasions.  And today, I am celebrating my 1 year blogversary.  Hurrah.  Also I found a very small stamp that I thought was lost & gone forever, so now a set is complete again.  And that makes me happy.  See - you can celebrate anything!

I cut the word out 4 times with the  Silhouette, keeping the white negative.  Then I layered up the colours with a tiny off-set, fitting the bottom layer back into the negative.  A sprinkling of stars & sparkle & there you have it!

 

I also snapped the card without the stickles (just on the very small off-chance that something might go wrong...),

 

but nothing did (this time). Another reason to celebrate.

Linking to:

CASology: Week #40 ~  Word
CAS-ual Fridays: CFC98 ~ All That Glitters

 

 

 

UR awesome

Stamps: Headline Alpha (SU); Fanciful Flowers (Elzybells)

Ink: Pale Tomato (HA); Lilac Posies (Memento)

Paper: Citrus Stack (DCWV)

Other: Spotted e.f. (Provocraft); Aharoni font; Silhouette SD; tracing paper

Well this is one design I won't be repeating in a hurry!  All those stamped flowers, never mind coaxing the letters out of the chevrons where my Silhouette blade is going blunt.

I've had the idea for the 'awesome' chevrons for a wee while now, but never had the opportunity to use them.  Initially I was going to try to make them with the Parker Alphabet, but the letters were just too big, so I dusted off my Silhouette.  The tag was inspired by this week's CASE This Sketch, & the tracing paper prevents the background making the letters look too busy.  I like the contrast of the flowers against the grey masculine chevrons - they soften the whole effect.

 

Linking to:

CAS-ual Fridays: CFC97 ~ Chevrons & Flowers

CAS(E) This Sketch: Sketch #22

CASology 34 ~ Bunny

 

 

no stamps, no ink, just my trusty Silhouette SD

YAY, I'm Guest Designer over on CASology this week.  The cue word is BUNNY.  Have to admit, I didn't exactly jump for joy when I found out.  The first thing that came to mind was a telephone (because of the Chas 'n' Dave song 'Rabbit'), but I didn't think that would translate into other countries very well - just a bit too obscure.

Then I remembered the book 'Guess How Much I Love You'.  From there, it was simple.  I surfed around for rabbit silhouettes &, with a little jiggery pokery on the digital cutter, VOILA!  The heart is from a pack of confetti.

Celebrate

Dies: Parker Alphabet (Memory Box)

Other: Silhouette SD

I am so excited about this card.  I have had the best time today playing about with fonts in Silhouette Studio.  I just love fonts & typography.  Has anyone else noticed the growing trend for 'holey' (as opposed to holy) lettering?  I have seen a couple of stamps from Hero Arts & noticed that there are new larger Parker Alphabets available with holes in.  I don't have either of those, so decided to make my own.

I cut out a whole series of graduated rings in various colours for the circular parts, & used Aharoni font with full-stops to cut out the holes in the straight pieces.

All inspired by CASology this week - CIRCLE.  Hope there are enough here!

 

Linking to:

CASology: Week 33 ~ Circle

Epic Eleven

Stamps: Polka Dot Basics II (PTI)

Ink: Versamark (Tsukineko)

Dies: Parker Alphabet (Memory Box); Snowflakes (Cuttlebug)

Other: unknown ribbon; clear e.p.; silver card

The more I look at this card, the less CAS it becomes.  The thing is, it looked a little too stark in its original incarnation, so I added the embossed dots.  Then there was too much space over the 11, so I put in some bling.  Having tried to balance it, I think it is now certainly teetering on the brink, if not tumbling over the edge of the cliff...

 

The 11 was cut out using my Silhouette, & the bling was cut from silver card then coloured with Sharpies.

 

Linking to:
CAS-ual Fridays: CFC91 ~ Hi Ho Silver
CASology: Week 32 ~ FlameAddicted to CAS: Challenge#7 ~ Masculine
CAS(E) This Sketch: Sketch #16

 

 

 

 

Blackboard thank you

Stamps: Gingham & Co (WM)

Ink: Tangelo: Memento

Font: DK Crayon Crumble; DB Fruit Bowl

Other: chalk, white gel pen, yellow corner chomper

It's B&W+1 at Cas-ual Fridays this week, so here's my offering.  The apple & text were done using the Print & Cut facility on my Silhouette SD, then brushed over with some chalky fingers.  Not sure if you can tell, but the blackboard is popped up on sticky pads.

 

Linking to:

CAS-ual Fridays: CFC90 ~ B&W+1