It's a boy!

Hello, crafty friends. I don't know about you, but I can't believe it's July already. June was quite a crafty month with the Daily Marker 30 Day 2. I'm sad it's over, because I had so much fun learning new things, but all good things must come to an end, and it's time I started turning all that colouring into cards! 

Over on Instagram (it's lovely, really lovely, so much inspiration and friendly crafters!) I shared some colouring linked to a baby a friend was expecting. I hedged my bets and did two lots, one in pink and one in blue. I'm not usually quite so generic, but sometimes inspiration is lacking! Anyway, it turned out to be a boy, by the name of George, so blue it is!

I stuck with simple and decided to make a shaker too - any chance to get those Lucy Abram's shaker mixes out!

Supplies: White Card Blank (14.75x14.75cm); ME Up And Away Stamps and Dies; Papermania 6x6 Papers Capsule Collection; Memento Tuxedo Black; VersaMagic Dew Drop Night Sky; Derwent Artists Pencils; Caran D'Ache Metallic Pencils; LF Large Stitched Square Lawn Cuts; Acetate; Double-sided Tape; Red tape; Adhesive backed Fun Foam; CB Sweet Little Sentiments; Lucy's Little Things Shaker Sequin selection Glacier; Joe and Flo Baker's Twine; Sellotape Double Sided Sticky Foam Pads; Ranger Multi Medium Matte; Bazzill Cardshoppe - blue; VersaMagic Dew Drop Aspen Mist

I started by die cutting a square of blue Bazzill Cardshoppe using two of the LF large stitched square lawn cuts to make a frame. I then attached a piece of acetate to the back of the square aperture to start the shaker section. I then hand cut a piece of adhesive backed fun foam to match the size of the frame, and stuck it down on the back of my blue card. Face down on my craft mat I then filled the shaker section with lots of Lucy's lovely sequins and things. 

I then attached some very sticky red tape to the back of the fun foam, positioned it face down on my craft mat and attached the card base on the top. I'm getting better at this the more I do and this one is not too squint!

I then attached some baker's twine to the back of the balloons and then to the monkey's hand. Then, with double sided sticky foam pads, attached them to the card front as shown.

The sentiment is stamped in Aspen Mist and attached with sticky foam pads. The additional sequins started by covering a slight smudge, but I added a few more so it wasn't quite so obvious! They are stuck on with the Multe Medium Matte.

Hope you survived the mid week heat wave - that'll be summer over now in the UK, we've already had torrential rain today!

Do enjoy your weekend, whatever the weather. Thanks, as always, for reading :)

Hooray - You're Engaged!

Honestly, all these lovely people I know getting engaged, and I've got the trials of having to make a card ;). Of course, this latest lovely couple are just lucky enough to get one made with my new Hooray shaker die from Clearly Besotted - it is just yummy and fantabulous in one fell swoop....

I got some inspiration from the fabulous Clearly Besotted design team and gave another shaker card a go and am really happy with the results!

I took a basic card blank - C6 I think it is! - and trimmed another piece of white card stock to fit in the middle. I took some time to line up the Hooray die to make sure it was centred and level (not entirely convinced, but it's close enough!) and cut it from the card stock. I then cut it twice more, once from spare white card and once from some nice light turquoise, having put some Stick It! on the back before cutting. I then cut out the Hooray from each of these and put them to one side to make the shaker section.

I put some acetate on the back using strong red tape to cover the Hooray and adhesive fun foam to give depth and contain the sequins. I used some of Lucy Abrams Glacier selection - these are so beautiful! - and they obviously go well with the shaker dies she designed. With some strong red tape I contained the shaker part with another piece of white card stock, the same size as the shaker piece making it easier to attach to the card. I then attached the extra 'Hooray' words, one on top of each other, to give it depth and colour. I also then stamped the sentiment (should have done this first really!) from the Clearly Besotted Mr & Mrs set in Memento Tuxedo Black.

I then attached two thin pieces of Lawn Fawn Let's Polka paper to either side of the card before attaching the shaker section, to frame it.

Thanks as always for reading :)

CAS-ual Fridays CFC139 - Happy 4th Birthday!

I've decided to try my hand at another challenge, this time CAS-ual Fridays. I love popping along to their blog during the weeks the challenge is on and seeing what people create. The colours appealed to me this time, so I've given it a go. Honestly, my creations are nothing compared to the beautiful cards some people come up with, but it's all about practice, so here you are. I've come up with two because I always like to use the negative from a die cut where I can - waste not want not!

I started with some white card blanks and chose my turquoise and orange from my Papermania Capsule collection. I die cut the circles using my Spellbinders Nestabilities standard circles (large) and the dragonflies using the free die from Simply Cards and Papercraft issue 134. I adhered a dragonfly to its opposite colour circle before attaching as seen. The sentiment dies are from Clearly Besotted - happy and birthday - and die cut from my Papermania collection. I used some Stick It! I got from Make the Day Special - it's great stuff for intricate dies. I fussy cut the happy birthday from some white cardstock before adhering with foam tape to add a bit of lift. I've added a few sequins from the Lucy Abrams sequin mixes I bought with my last purchase from Clearly Besotted Stamps - this one is Glacier. They really are beautiful. 

This card is made from the negative of the happy birthday with a dragonfly and sequins as above. It's a tent fold this time. I tell you, getting all the little extra bits of paper from the die for the 'a' and 'h' etc was rather fiddly! 

So there you are, another challenge - that makes three this month. I'm getting carried away!

Thanks for reading, hope you've all had a good Monday!