Domino Swap

Back in February I took part in the Cardmaking Paradise Domino Swap. The only dominoes I could find measured one and half inches by three quarters of an inch - much smaller than the norm! The smaller images on the Crafty Individuals plate CI-329 were just the right size to make a domino book. I used copier paper for the pages so it wouldn't be too bulky when closed. 

The bird images were stamped on tissue paper before being glued to the alcohol inked domino covers and then Viva Gold applied to the edges.

 I decorated a matchbox for the book to go into.

Domino Book Recipe

Paper

Copier paper 90gsm

Tissue paper

Inks

Alcohol inks

Distress Inks - Faded Jeans, Broken China, Tumbled Glass

Stazon - Jet Black, Midnight Blue 

Archival Ink - Coffee

Stamps 

Crafty Individuals CI-329, CI-234

Darkroom Doors - Wildflowers

Leaves - maker unknown

Other

Spellbinders metal

Inka-Gold

Ribbon

Ronseal vanish

Box  recipe

Matchbox

Crafty Individuals "Shades of Summer" paper

Stamps - Crafty Individuals CI-329

Broken China Distress Stain 

I received in return this lovely domino fan from Heike in Germany. Thank you Heike - it's a lovely way to send a special message.

To see all the other swapped dominoes go to Cardmaking Paradise and click on Altered Domino Swap February 2012..

Beginning to catch up

Looking back over the past three months of blog posts you would think I had been twiddling my thumbs and only made three tags and watering can card. Well that's not the case, I've just been lackadaisical in posting. So without further ado and a break from watching yet more rain fall and the grass growing out of control  I will start to bring all my crafting endeavours over the past months up to date.

If you're a crafter where do you start when making a card?  I usually start with the images and let things evolve. The downside of working like that is I often finish up with cards that don't fit in any of my stock of envelopes! With this card I wanted to use some of  the elements from the Crafty Individuals plate CI-335 but after arranging and re-arranging and yet more re-arranging there was no way I could link the images into a pleasing design and finished up ditching the perfume bottles. This was the end result.

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech +
Pink Bazzill  card
Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby paper
Inks 
Versafine Imperial Purple, Worn Lipstick Distress Ink, Sugar Spun Distress Stain 
Stamps 
Framed Silhouette from Crafty Individuals plate CI-335.
Lace background by Inkadinkado
Other
Tim Holtz Elegant Flourishes die
Brad
Flat back pearls

The next card was much more straight forward (in as much as it all came together well) but it probably took as long to find the right backing paper as it did to actually make the card!

Card Recipe

Card

Anna Marie white smooth card

Xerox Colortech+

Black card

Computer copier card 

K &Co background paper

Stamps

Crafty Individuals CI-302 & CI-329

Inks

Versafine Vintage Sepia

Distress inks - Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed, Frayed Burlap, Broken China, Vintage Photo, Pumice Stone, Old Paper

Other

Lace from The Ribbon Girl

Martha Stewart punch

Flat back pearls

Tim Holtz Challenge - April

Easter has been and gone without even a sniff of a chocolate egg and here we are nearly at the close of another month. At least I have finished my Tim tag with a few days to spare.

Yet again I didn't have all the items so had to put my thinking cap on and remember what I had tucked away that I could use instead. I found a picture online for the bird on the branch and traced it onto my Grungepaper and then cut it out. Time consuming and fiddly but I think made a pretty good fist of it. The colours are lighter than the photo suggests.

Tag recipe

Card/paper

Xerox Colortech+ 

Grungepaper

Stamp - Dance Dictionary Background from The Artistic Stamper

Inks - 

Versamark Onyx Black

Background  - Wild Honey, Broken China, Iced Spruce, Vintage Photo Distress Inks

Grungepaper - Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint, Stormy Sky, Wild Honey Distress Inks 

Other 

Cuttlebug embossing folder

Broken China Distress Stain

Peeled Paint Distress Embossing Powder

Spell binders die & metal  

Sentiment computer generated and printed on Safmat

Twine & seam binding from The Ribbon Girl

Key charm

Tim Holtz Tag Challenge - March

Well I'm keeping up with Tim's tags. OK, it is only the second month and I've only just got this month's done by the skin of my teeth before March departs.

Like the first tag I didn't have all the items so improvisation had to come to the fore again including using some wood grain embossed cardstock  and swiping Walnut Stain Distress Ink over the top to emphasise the grain.

Tag Recipe
Card/Paper
Wood grain embossed card stock
Anna Marie white smooth card
Scrap booking paper offcuts
Inks/powder
Alcohol ink - Rust (Ranger), Burro Brown (Jacquard Pinata )
Versafine Onyx Black
Distress embossing powder - Peeled Paint
Stamp
Tim Holtz Collection Good Thoughts CMS085
Dies/punches
Spellbinders butterflies
Tim Holtz - Tattered Florals
Woodware flower punch
Other
Seam Binding (The Ribbon Girl)
Brads
Double sided adhesive  paper
Glossy Accents

Watering Can Template from Cardmaking Paradise

Not content with stealing February, the month thief has now stolen March as well!

I used the watering can template from Cardmaking Paradise to make a Mothering Sunday card. This template can be dressed up to the nines or embellished with restraint. 

The base card was a peachy colour with a sheen and the edges distressed with Distress Ink but the photo isn't faithful in this respect. The paper roses (cue for a song!) were made using a punch and a recycled envelope.

Card Recipe 
Card
Peachy coloured card with sheen
Green Tim Holtz ColorCore cardstock
Distress Inks - Frayed Burlap, Fired Brick
Other
Paper flowers -  recycled envelope
Marianne bird on a Branch die cut
Flat backed pearl


If your looking for templates, want to met new crafty friends by not only joining in a lovely friendly forum but taking part in lots of challenges and swaps then look no further than Cardmaking Paradise.

As an adjunct to the Cardmaking Paradise community Sara, who owns the website, has set up a new charity called Crafty Smiles and 10% of all Cardmaking Paradise membership fees will now go directly towards bringing arts and crafts to children spending long periods of time in hospital having treatment for cancer.

You can join in Cardmaking Paradise fun wherever you are in the world!

Tim Holtz Tag Challenge - February

Own up, who stole February? Another month nearly over and not much to show for it!

I never did find time pre Christmas to join in with Tim's 12 days of Christmas tags. The last two years I've started doing them after Christmas but didn't get very far before the spark was extinguished. So now that he is doing one a month I feel it much more do-able.

I didn't have all the ingredients that Tim used but that's all part of the fun being ingenious with what I have in my stash and using stuff that probably hasn't seen the light of day for some time!

Tag Ingredients

Card/paper 
Xerox Colortech +
Background paper from stash
Inks, stains, embossing powder
Versamark
Distress Ink - Frayed Burlap, Festive Berries, Worn Lipstick
Sugar Spun Distress Stain
Wow clear gloss super fine embossing powder
Stamp
Script Stamp from Tim Holtz Papillon Set CMS106
Other
Tissue Tape
Red glitter
Red acrylic paint
Glossy Accents
Beads and charms
Seam binding (from The Ribbon Girl)
Sentiment computer generated

Haute Couture

The centre panel of this card was cut out and the wording placed behind the aperture. The figure which had been water coloured with Distress Ink was raised up with silicone glue.

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech+
Inks
Distress Inks - Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Shabby Shutters
Ranger Archival Coffee
Stamps
Tim Holtz Papillon CMS 106
Crafty Individuals CI-322
Other
Pink rhinestones
Spellbinders Labels Four die

Being an inquisitive person I googled the London address on the word stamp expecting to find an interesting old building but no, this is what stands at 33 King William Street, E.C.

That's rather shattered my illusion!

Finding my mojo

My mojo went missing over the Christmas period. I came to the conclusion that the state of my craft room may well have been to blame so I embarked in a big tidy up and clean. As my blog title suggests - not a favourite pastime of mine! When I'd found my desk and the floor the fingers began to get restless. So I decided to start small and make some ATC's . In the tidy up I had found some small pieces of background card that I had previously coloured using the alcohol with water technique and limited myself to some Paperartsy stamps, a Versafine black ink pad, a couple of Copic markers, Faded Jeans Distress ink, a pot of Twinkling H2O's and a gold pen. These are the results.

 I really enjoyed the process and I hope I'm now back in the swing of things. As for the craft room well that's tidy but there is the small matter of the stuff I removed and dumped in the bedroom!

Many happy returns!

It was my birthday recently and I received these beautiful cards from follow crafters. I'm afraid my photography skills are a little lacking and I haven't done these wonderful creations justice. Sorry ladies!

 

Christa

http://craftychris.webs.com/

Pam

Linda

Netti

Heike

Marion

Chris

http://themessycraftroom.blogspot.com/

Glennis

http://creatingcards-grf.blogspot.com/

Jill

Hilda
www.hilda-aplacetoshare.blogspot.com

 Annie 

Lynn

Thank you everybody!

Bee thankful!

This thank you card was made to accompany a jar of Bedfordshire honey.
The background was Distress Inks applied with Cut-n-Dry. I put specks of gold Twinkling H2O on the dots of the honeycomb and glitter on the 3D wings of the bee.

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech+
Inks
Distress Inks - Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey
Stamps
Honeycomb and Bees - Stampotique
Thank You - Crafty Individuals
Other
Twinkling H2O - Solar Gold
Diamond Stickles

Thomas and Friends

Our grandson was three last week and is an avid Thomas the Tank Engine fan. I may have an ever growing number of stamps but I don't have any of Thomas and his friends! I had to resort to Mr Google to find me some images to use on his birthday card. I didn't feel entirely satisfied with it but Max liked it and that's all that matters in the end.

Final post of 2011

While I love stamping there are times when I don't have an appropriate stamp and I use a digital image. At the end of the day it's the outcome that's important so I don't beat myself up about it.

Card Recipe
Craft Creations brown kraft card
Xerox Colortech+
Pink Petticoat digital image
Dusty Concord Distress Ink
Copic marker
Chalks
Heart gems
Flower
Ribbon coloured with Copic marker
Stampendous Crystal Glitter

The image on this next card is a wood mounted B Line stamp (LF127E). It was in a goody bag that I bought from Linda Brown when she was closing down her shop recently. It probably isn't a stamp I would have been drawn to on the shelves but now I've used it I've warmed to her. She lends herself to black and white and luckily I had the papers and ribbon in my stash.

The butterfly easel card has to be my favourite of the templates that Sara at Cardmaking Paradise has published this year. It's so easy to make and can be dressed up or down, but whichever way it looks great.

Card Recipe
Coredinations CoreColor Cardstock - Malaysian Orchid
Crafty Individuals Springtime background papers
Worn Lipstick Distress Ink
Stamens
Flat back pearls
Pen-touch Silver pen

Card Recipe
Pink Card
Bella Press Watermelon Polka Dots background paper
Printed vellum
Brilliance Pearlescent Orchid ink
Stamen
Flat back pearls
Flower stamp - Dimension Fourth
Sentiment computer generated

I cannot believe that it's a year tomorrow since I started this blog. The year has gone faster than any I've known. Surely now I'm retired the days, weeks and months should seem endless. Well they did for the first couple of weeks and then everything gathered speed!
Thank you to everyone who has visited Avoiding the Duster and to those who have left comments. They are much appreciated.
I wish you a very happy, healthy and fun 2012.

Maggie

Christmas cards

Time seemed to catch up with me this Christmas and I made fewer cards than last year. Here are the cards I made this yuletide.

Card Recipe
Card
Anna Marie pearlescent card
Black card
Stamps
Crafty Individuals - CI-254,CI326
Ink
Versafine Onyx Black
Other
Double sided adhesive sheet
Bottle top
Black Promarker
Stampendous Crystal Glitter

Card Recipe
Card
Craft Creations - Cream Hemp Embossed, Cream Linen Embossed
Ink
Versafine Vintage Sepia
Stamp
Crafty Individuals CI-168
Other
Red organza ribbon
Glamour Dust - gold
Pen-touch Calligrapher Pen Gold

Card Recipe
Card/Paper
Anna Marie pearlescent card
Craft Creations Paper - Snowflakes On Blue SRO66P
Ink
Distress Ink Faded Jeans
Stamp
Freebie from Craft Stamper magazine
Other
Stampendous Crystal Glitter
Martha Stewart edge punch
Organza ribbon coloured with Faded Jeans Distress Ink

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech+
Inks
Memento Tuxedo Black
Distress Ink Festive Berries
Stamps
Hero Arts Merry Christmas C2850
Personal Impressions Patchwork Robin PICST001
Other
Copic markers

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech+
Inks
Distress Ink Broken China
Versafine Onyx Black
Versamark
Stamps
Anita's Snowflake
Stampendous Reindeer Swirls set
Other
Detail silver embossing powder
Pen Touch Calligrapher Pen Silver
Fibres

Grandchildren's Christmas cards

The first three of these cards used templates from Cardmaking Paradise.

Card Recipe
Card
Tim Holtz Core'dinations ColorCore Cardstock
Red Card
Inks
Distress Inks - Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo
Other
Beads
Googly eyes
Zig Posterman white pen
Chalk
Ric-rac braid

Card Recipe
Card
Brown, white, red and black card
Tim Holtz Core'dinations ColorCore Cardstock
Other
Die cut holly leaves and berries
Glitter snow
Stampendous Crystal Glitter

Card recipe
Card
Red Card
Core'dinations Core Color - Cream of wheat
Glitter card
Ink
Vintage photo Distress Ink
Other
Wooden holly embellishment

I still needed a card for our eldest grandson. I thought I'd have a go at making a shaker card although I'd never made one before. I remembered a tutorial I had seen on Joanne Allison's blog last Christmas for a shaker ornament. I decided to leave it as an ornament but it could easily have been mounted onto a card.

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech+
Black card
Inks
Distress Inks - Forest Moss, Broken China
Versafine Vintage Sepia
Stamps
Snowflake - Anita
Snowman - Clarity
Tree and deer - Crafty Individuals plate CI-257
Other
Snow glitter
Red organza ribbon
Rub'n'Buff - Grecian Gold

Two card swaps

I took part in two Cardmaking Paradise swaps.
The first was to take a quote as a starting point, mine being -

I put the quote on the inside of the card.

Card Recipe
Card
Tim Holtz Core'dinations ColorCore Cardstock.
Xerox Colortech+ white card
Inks
Distress Inks - Crushed Olive, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Wild honey, Rusty Hinge
Archival Coffee
Stamp
Inkadinkado
Other
Rafia
Quote computer generated using Annifont

The second swap was a Christmas card.

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech+ white card
Inks
Distress Inks Broken China, Tumbled Glass
Versafine Onyx Black
Versamark
Stamps
Stampendous - Reindeer Swirls set
Anita - Snowflake
Other
Spellbinders die cut snowflake
Diamond Stickles
Rhinestone

To see all the swaps go here.

How did that happen!

My younger son was 30 recently. Not sure how, as it seems no time at all since he was a baby.

I covered one side of the embossing folder with Distress Ink before putting it through my Wizard. I love that shabby effect.

Card Recipe
Card/Paper
Xerox Colortech+
Tim Holtz Shabby Vintage Paper
Ink
Distress Inks - Faded Jeans, Broken China
Other
Font - Typewriter
Martha Stewart edge punch
Tim Holtz embossing folder

Cats!

This card is a variation of one I made back in June (here) which had been based on one I saw displayed at The Craft Barn.

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech+
Ink
Versafine Onyx Black
Black Soot Distress Ink
Stamp
Katzelkraft Mini 03
Mask
Creative Expressions Stone Wall
Sentiment
Computer generated with Typewriter font

I've had the stamp I used on the next card for some years and the image still makes me smile.

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech+
Craft Creations Hi-5 Pearl
Inks
Brilliance - Pearlescent Purple, Pearlescent Lavender
Stamps
Swirl stamp - maker unknown
Cat - Rusty Pickle
Sentiment - Personal Impressions Mix and Match set PICSA6070
Other
Fibres
Craftworkcards Candi

Summer time tag card

I used Bundled Sage Distress Ink applied with Cut'n'Dry foam for the background of this tag card and then stamped randomly over the top with Paper Artsy's Dots and Script stamps using the same colour ink.

Card Recipe
Card
Xerox Colortech+
Tim Holtz Core'dinations Colorcore Cardstock
Stamps
PaperArtsy - Dots (SM15), Script
Tim Holtz Papillion set
Flower - freebie with Craft Stamper magazine
Inks
Distress Ink - Bundled sage, Dried Marigold, Spiced marmalade
Mask
Tando - MSKlEAVES 2
Other
Cosmic Shimmer - Rich Gold
Gold Glamour Dust
Fibres