Calender Time - Good Wives

Well over the last few days since Christmas, now that family have gone home and the house resembles normality a little, I have been getting my calenders finished for 2015. I just have to decide which I am keeping for myself now!

Calender #1 - Dreamscene

This calender was made using a CD-Rom from Cardmaking with your PC. The image is from Dreamees 2013. I printed out the backing paper onto watercolour paper to get a crisp image. I then printed out a sheet of blue butterflies and purple flowers. I cut out two blue butterflies and overlapped two of the black butterflies on the base, for a 3D effect, using foam pads. I did the same with a black butterfly, although this is not obvious in the photograph. I then cut out two black flowers with purple veins and a purple flower and attached these to the base, again using foam pads. The calender tab was added to the bottom.

This is to be entered for the following challenges:

Allsorts Last Minute Gifts

Cute Card Thursday Anything Goes

Divas by Design Anything Goes

Calender #2 - Monochrome Flowers

For this calender I used one of my new Marianne Designs dies to cut a base of thick floral patterned card, in black and white. I then cut a floral frame, using another Marianne designs die, from white paper and adhered to the centre of the card. I got some Quickutz dies from OH for Christmas and so I used one of these to cut some flowers from a white patterned paper and attached these round the frame using 3D foam dots. The calender tab was centred in the frame. To make the calender usable on a desk I made a stand as shown.

This is to be entered for the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes

CRAFT - Anything Goes

613 avenue create - Anything Goes

abc challenge Z is for Zany (the patterns clash slightly)

Calender #3 Shaken up Cupcake

This calender is a shaker card, so I thought it would be best as a hanging calender. The image was a free stamp with one of the UK papercrafting magazines. I stamped the image twice onto watercolour paper and once onto spotty pink paper. The image on the pink paper was completely cut out, and one of the other images had the icing removed. The images on the watercolour paper were then coloured using promarkers. Clear plastic (from the packaging of craft items) was placed over the back of the image with the icing removed, and then the pink spotty paper was adhered to this image using spray glue, lining up the cut-out over the image. The second image was layered onto stripy patterned paper and foam pads stuck around the image, with no gaps between the pieces. This area was then filled with red glitter and green stars, before the initial cupcake image was lined up and layered over the top. Finally this panel was layered onto graduated orange card, a pink velvet ribbon added for hanging and the calender tab attached to the bottom.

This is based upon the following challenges:

Glitter n Sparkle Anything Goes

sweet stampin' - Anything Goes

i love promarkers - Anything Goes

papertakeweekly - Using the spots and dots theme

Calender #4 Spring Parchment

This calender was based around the technique of Parchmentcraft for my facebook group: crafting techniques. I used a border stencil and my pricking mat and tools that I have had for a while but not really used, to create the main panel for this card. As the image did not stand out very well on white card I layered it onto red mirror card. It was adhered to the card by overlapping a red gingham washi tape, rather than using tape underneath, which often shows through. Two more lines of washi tape were added to the top and bottom. This panel was then added to an easel base card, with some green washi tape and a calender tab on the base.

This is to be considered for the following challenges:

SOS #181 Red Alert

crafting by designs - Embossing

modsquad - Special Folded Card

Audio Book Review

Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott

This is a sequel to the book Little Women and follows the three sisters as they grow up and fall in love. At the beginning of the book one of the sisters has just married and is now learning to live away from her family, where her mother’s advice and example provide a good basis for her own role as housewife. One of the sisters is invited out to go abroad with an aunty and finds out what the important things in life are whilst she is out there, especially as she loses a sister whilst away from home. She also manages to find love that fits into her demanding criteria, although she would have married even if the gentleman, who has been previously met in the first book, did not meet her criteria. The fourth sister has a hard time as she has to reject advances from her best friend, whilst trying not to hurt him too much, and leaves home for a time to try and allow things to settle down. She meets many interesting people whilst she is away and has a fabulous time, but on her return she has to nurse her sister who eventually passes away. Towards the end of the book, this sister also finds a gentleman whom she can make a home with, although he is older than would usually be considered.

This book is written to the same standard as the first and is a very enjoyable read, with humorous, high-spirited moments and upsetting scenes also. The author really gets you involved in the lives of the sisters and keeps you wanting to know what happens next.

Thank you for looking

Hugz Tinz

Snowfun in the Garden

Today I have made a Christmas card and a calender.

First we will have the Christmas card:

An embossed panel was cut from a Me to You card blank and snowflake glitter vellum layered over the top. The robins on holly image was stamped onto white cardstock using black ink. This image came with Creative Stamping magazine. The image was coloured using the Hues set of promarkers. To the right side were added a snowflake, stamped greeting and a bow to finish.

This card is based on Sketch#49 from sketch and stash.

This card is also being entered into:

Allsorts 289 White Christmas

artistic inspirations #122 Merry Christmas

CASology 126 Snow

passion for promarkers BINGO (die cut, free and glitter)

papertake weekly Last Christmas...card of the year

i love promarkers #250 Anything Goes

simon says wednesday Winter Mood Board (inspired by animals, berries and snow)

suzy bee #59 Snowflakes

crafty hazelnut Urgently needed for Christmas

glitternsparkle #115 Glittery, sparkly Christmas

card mania #62 Christmas

CCM #129 Christmas

Scrapbook Stamp Society #56 Christmas

deepocean #93 Christmas is all around

fussy and fancy #129 Snowflakes and ribbon (bow)

addicted to stamps #93 Snowflakes

crafty little fairies Holly/Ivy

craftycalendar White-on-white

Now here is the calendar:

I took a blue base card and folded it into an easel card, adding green gingham patterned paper to the base. I added a foiled topper that came with DoCrafts magazine and a 3D watering can sticker. To the top I added some small diamantes. To hold the easel two plant pots were added and then the calendar tab finished the design off.

This is being entered into:

Anything Goes - A creative romance, divasbydesign, Simonsaysmonday

CRAFT 290 NEW

Calenders

Here are another two of my calendar creations - using decoupage as the main technique.

The first one is very girly and uses the new Papermania botanicals collection for the main image, which is layered onto a very bright background card.

 These are being entered into: SOS #180 Favourite Technique - Decoupage;

papertake weekly Paper Play

Simon Says Monday Anything Goes

craft-room challenge #91 Photo inspiration - elegant colours with bright 'pops' (calender #1)

a creative romance Anything Goes

ALBC Anything Goes - Not Christmas

live and love crafts With Love

The second one is for a young male and is from the Papermania 'It's a mans world' collection. Unfortunately this one had to be cut out, which I really dislike doing for decoupage as it is so fiddly, and with the new die-cutting technology unnecessary (especially when they have not done it to fit extra pieces on the sheet). I may just be complaining because the cat kept knocking my arm, or the piece I had just cut!


Audiobook Review
Walking Home by Simon Armitage
This is an account by a poet of his journey along the Pennine Way, from Scotland to his home town. He reads poetry along the way in exchange for money, lodgings and food. He also has somebody to take his suitcase between each stop in a car. Therefore, he does have a better time of it than most who would undergo this journey. He relates how things would be different doing the walk the way the guide books recommend (from south to north) and how all different types of people walk along with him along his journey. As I am from Lancashire it was interesting to hear descriptions of areas that I know reasonably well from my childhood. I did think that he does spend quite a while complaining, but at the end of the day he has chosen to do this journey - and is making money from it. Most people who do this journey for the experience are also out of pocket, so I do not have any sympathy for him. Good on him for managing it though, and making something from it!

Snoopy Christmas X

I decided that I should make use of some of the cross stitches that I have done throughout the year ready for Christmas, seeing as Christmas is almost here now lol. So I made the following card from a Snoopy free kit:

First I took a plain white square card blank and stamped a marianne designs sentiment all over the front in red prettycolour ink. I then took two triangles of Helz Cuppleditch Christmas music paper for the corners and added white glitter ribbon strips over the joins.

Snoopy was mounted onto a Marianne designs backing paper and attached to the base using foam pads. To finish a jingle bell and some gems were added.

This card used Sketchy Colours sketch #237

This was also inspired by the following challenges:

SOS #180 Favourite Technique (using cross stitch)

Divas by design Seeing Red

Crafty Catz #259 Last Minute Christmas

Crafty Hazelnuts 207 Desperate Christmas creations

CCM #129 Christmas

scrapbookstampsociety #56 Christmas (stamped background)

aud sentiments #121 Christmas BINGO - stitching, rubber stamp and patterned paper

crafty ribbons 108 Mono Christmas

alphabet challenge V for variety - 3 embellishments (stitched design, bell and gems)

craftingbydesigns Anything Goes Christmas

Country View #22 Nostalgic Christmas (the cartoons we used to watch Christmas morning)

Audio Book Review

Torchwood Department X

I have never watched this television series previously and would still like to, so when I saw the audio book in the library I decided to give it a go, although I was a little disappointed to see it was only two discs. Having never seen his before, so not having a brilliant idea of what was going to happen, it did take a little while to place everybody. However, this does occur regularly throughout books and so was not a problem for listening to the book – it just kept you wondering. It is a little far-fetched, but obviously so and as such makes a very captivating and sometimes humourous read. Definitely worth the couple of hours that the audio book lasts.

Thank you for looking - now to get on with some more calenders!!

Hugz Tinz

Snowy ATC collection

Here is my new ATC collection - 'Let it Snow'. They are all based on a sketch from an old magazine, but I have made the sketch in a different way for each card.

ATC #1

For this ATC I used a sparkly blue glitter base card and added diagonal strips of 'Christmas Tidings' Papermania paper. A blue circle was die-cut from a Marianne Designs patterned paper and a snowy scene topper layered onto this before adding to the base card. Finally a sentiment from a Marianne Designs ribbon was added.

simon says stamp Monday Holiday cards

CRAFT Christmas
Delightful Sketches Twinkle Twinkle
Catch the Bug #1 Sparkle
glitter n sparkle #114 Modern Christmas colours

ATC #2

This second card used a free patterned paper from Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine as the base card. The right side was cut on a diagonal and an organza ribbon made the diagonal down the left side. A snowflake was die-cut from a vellum sheet and layered onto a dark green scalloped circle. A sentiment topper was added to finish.

SOS #179 Free is Good (Free backing paper and vellum)

simon says stamp Wednesday Christmas
crafty hazelnut Bright colours
card mania #61 Favourite colour combo
Creative Moments #57 Winter

ATC #3

This Scandi-style base was cut up each edge to make the diagonals. A snowflake and sentiment were stamped onto pearlescent white card using red versamark ink and a stamp that cam free with a magazine last year. The snowflake was layered onto a red scalloped circle, and these elements were added to the card with a slight overlap on the edges.

papertake weekly Anything Goes

divas by design Feeling Festive

Art Impressions 149 Feeling Frosty
addicted-to-stamps #93 Snowflakes
crafting by designs Anything Goes

Thank you for stopping by

HugzTinz

Calender Confession

Hi everybody,

Well it stayed dry yesterday and so I eventually managed t get down to the allotment and plant the rest of the onion beds up. Leaves me about 20 sets left to plant which I will put into cell trays to plant out at the other allotment in Spring. I cannot plant them straight out down there due to the rabbits and deer. I also noticed that my brussels sprouts are looking good, ready for Christmas :D

Anyway onto my calender creation for today:

I used an image from Bugaboo stamps, with a warmer season in mind. The image was coloured with promarkers and the card cut to the correct size for the calender. A Papermania Wild Rose paper was added across the top with a threaded butterfly ribbon to hide the join. The sentiment was word processed and added to the top of the calender with three cerise gems on the edge. Finally the calender tab and hanging ribbon were added.
This calender followed the following Stella Says Sketch #220 and C4C265 colour inspiration:
                   

This calender is also being entered for the following challenges:

SOS #179 Free is Good (Image was free from Bugaboo)

papertake weekly, ALBC and A Creative Romance Anything Goes

allsorts 288 Animal Magic

sweet stamping Things with wings (the image is a bird)

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW

The Confession by John Grisham

A young man is about to be executed for a crime he was forced into confessing to, even though he had nothing to do with it. Five/six hours away the real murderer has recently been released from prison and is just finishing his sentence at a half-way house when he hears that they are going ahead with the execution. He finds a minister and confesses to him, but is reluctant to risk going back to prison himself. It becomes a race against time as the minister attempts to convince the real killer to own up to his crime and prevent the wrong man being executed. A long-drive and plenty of frustrations later he ends up with the defendants lawyer trying to prevent the execution and find the body of the murder victim. This is a very good book with various twists and turns, and the story manages to get you frustrated and then feeling pity for the characters. A very good book to listen to on long car journeys.

I also made two cards for today for the catch the bug daily challenge, using the sketch:

 Both were made using the DoCrafts digital designer using a free Forever Friends CD-Rom for the squared base. Bday and Yule are made from the base squares, and a suitable image topper was added to each for the central square of the sketch.

 This is also to be entered into:

Crafting by designs Christmas Anything Goes

open-minded crafting fun #25 Unusual Christmas (design and colours)

CRAFT 288 Christmas

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Festive

divas by design Feeling Festive

Santa and 2015

I have made two different creations tonight, for two sets of challenges. The first of these is this Santa based Christmas card:

I used a Papermania base card, with a music scale design. The patterned paper is from the Papermania 12 days of Christmas set - used because I thought it looked very Nordic. Santa was stamped onto pearlescent card and die-cut into a scalloped circle. Santa was also stamped onto a patterned paper I got with an ATC exchange and a red paper. The suit was cut from the red paper and layered over the circle image, and the sack was cut from the green paper. The rest of the image was finished with Promarkers. I added two tag shapes from the patterned paper behind the image and then die-cut fur glittery snowflakes from another patterned paper to finish the card.
The card was based around this sketch from Sketch and Stash 
I would also like to enter this card into the following challenges:

abcchristmas X for Xmas music

polkadoodle Nordic Christmas

Quirky crafts Going round in quirky circles

abc-challenge Y for Yuletide

vs sweet ideas #29 Holiday theme

craftyhazelnuts Santa is on his way

Completely Christmas Something beginning with S (Santa)

Winter Wonderland Dies and Punches

The second creation is a desk calender as I thought I really ought to start making these now lol.

 The main image is a Helz Cuppleditch stamped onto a blue patterned paper (for a water effect), heat embossed with white and silver glitter embossing powder, and paper pieced using three different papers.

The calender uses an easel card base. The balloons were paper pieced and then a strip of fairytale ribbon was added along the bottom to hold the easel, with the calender tab on top of this.

This was made for the following challenges:

CASology - OLD - most of the papers are old ones as are the stamps.

Stamping Boutique - Sparkle (glitter on papers and embossing powder)

613 avenue create #100 make a calender

scrapbook stamp society - Use glitter

ALBC Anything not related to Christmas

Thank you for looking

Hugz Tinz

Bugs and other Creatures

Hi again,

Here is another Christmas ATC collection! This collection is 'cute and cozy' and were inspired by the artistic inspirations #119 Cozy and Warm challenge.

ATC #1

This ATC was layered on a purple glitter base card, and was based around this sketch:

from catch the bug. The bauble topper came free with a magazine a few years ago, and a pepper and friends glitter sticker was layered over the top of this. The sentiment for the top was difficult to find as all the better ones were sideways rather than downwards, so I eventually decided on the NOEL sentiment.

I am entering this for these challenges:

2cute ink #120 Pets

simonsayswednesday Anything Goes

creative moments #56 Make it sparkle

ATC #2

The image was stamped from a Boofle at Christmas clear stamp, and coloured with promarkers (he is snuggled up warm in his christmas hat). The sentiment is a peel off, and the jingle bells were free with a magazine a few years ago and were added to the card using 3D foam pads.

This was inspired by:

simply less is Moore - Jingle Bells

crafty catz Anything Goes
divas by design Jingle bells

ATC #3

A red gossamer ribbon was adhered down the side of a pink glitter card base, and the Country Companions topper layered with foam pads.

This was created for:

vs sweet ideas Anything Goes

crafty calendar Christmas

crafty ribbons 107 Animals at Christmas

I also made this simple bracelet from brads and silver chain.

For the Country View Crafts Bees, bugs and butterflies challenge.

Thank you for looking,

Hugz Tinz

Uncle Snow

This is one of my newly created Christmas ATC sets, entitled Snowman Fun, with the theme obviously being Snowmen. This collection was inspired by the Card Concept Snowman Tag challenge - based on the Clean and Elegant style (although #1 is more collage style!) and also glitter n sparkle #112 Tag It.

ATC #1

A base card was layered with red snowflake patterned paper - from Papermania. I used a free patterned paper to make the contrasting squares. I then layered a free Snowman sticker over the top of these layers (he had been hiding in my stash for a while so I thought it was about time he came out to play). Finally I added a sentiment tag with a silver bow, and a snowflake embellishment.

The layout was based around this sketch from sweet sketch wednesday 2 (including a bow).

I would also like to enter this into the following challenge:

SOS #179 Free is good

ATC #2

For the base of this ATC I layered a vellum sheet of white glitter snowflakes onto a white card. I then used a free topper from a magazine, which had a hint of elegance about it. Finally the sentiment tag was added.

I wish to add this to the following challenges:

crafty calendar Christmas

creative moments #56 Make it sparkle

ooh-la-la creations #170 Christmas

simon says Wednesday Anything Goes

ATC #3

This ATC was made using a peel-off of a winter scene, with a prominent snowman, which was coloured with promarkers. A tag sentiment finished this quick and easy ATC.

This is to be entered for the following challenges:

craft your passion 241 baby it's cold outside

i love promarkers #247 Frosty the snowman

allsorts 286 No design papers

aud sentiments #120 Sentiment for December holiday

simply create too #75 Snow, snow, snow

Audiobook review

Uncle Silas by J.S. Le Fanu

This is another from the Victorian Collection, and although I did not get on with the last one, I decided to give a different genre a try, so this is a suspense novel. When Maud’s father dies, she is made the ward of her mysterious uncle, around whom there is a lot of suspicion and intrigue. It is to clear his name that she is made his ward, as if she dies before reaching her majority, uncle Silas will inherit everything.

This story begins at Maud’s home and provides the background for her upbringing and ideas. It also introduces the mystery of Uncle Silas, whom her father has forbidden to be spoken about. For part of this story there is a French governess who is very intimidating and vulgar, and who often threatens poor Maud – who is a typical Victorian girl with very little steel in her spine. This first part of the story also introduces her cousin, who supports Maud throughout the book.

Once her father dies there are quite a few people who do not agree with her going to live with her uncle, however she insists and finds their way of life very different to what she is used to, but actually quite pleasant. That is until her young cousin Millie is sent away to France and her uncles tone towards her changes somewhat. A this point the French governess re-enters the story, and Maud becomes more and more nervous.

This is a very good suspense novel as you are always waiting for something to happen to Maud, who is incredibly annoying in the way she reacts. She shys away from everything and is very naïve – just as the Victorians thought women should be and I found this very annoying whilst listening to the book. However the good plot and ability of the author to keep you on the edge of your seat definitely makes up for this. I would recommend this book to anybody who enjoys guessing what is going to happen – just don’t read the blurb first as it gives too much away!!

Thanks for looking,

Hugz Tinz

Welcome Home

The challenge this time was to do a one layer card with some reference to home. So this is what I came up with:

I took a white base card and cut the corners. I then stamped the frog and mouse (Helz Cuppledich - riverbank revels) and coloured the image using promarkers. Finally I used silver peel-off letters to add the sentiment.

This is being entered into the following challenges:

modsquad - one layer timed 14 mins (due to fighting with the letters!).

allsorts - no design papers

crafty little fairies - Nov: Not a square

OLS #11 Home Sweet Home

ALBC - CAS

Thank you for taking the time to look at my creations.

Hugz Tinz

High Thank You

Today I decided to make a silver and red thank you card, which was to incorporate butterflies. I used a square silver base card and layered a red mirror panel onto this. Then I split the panel using a silver holograph card and a red swirls patterned paper. To the top of these I added the silver butterfly image. On the silver side red diamante butterflies were used for the finish, on the red side silver gems with a crafted for you charm. A thank you peel-off was used to finish.

This card is being entered for the following challenges:
sweet sketch wednesday 2 with this sketch 
CCM #127 A touch of charm
sketchy colours Red and silver
delightful sketches - you're a gem
Simon Says Wednesday - Thanks/Thanksgiving
SOS #178 Thankful (nothing used on this card was new)
Creative Moments #56 make it sparkle
fussy and fancy #127 Pairs or two of a kind (two butterflies on centre panel)
open-minded crafting fun #24 Grateful
a creative romance - something old (everything has been in my stash for at least a year)
crafting by designs - Anything Goes
country view - Bugs, bees and butterflies


Audio Book Review

High Profile by Robert B. Parker

A high profile celebrity, and his lover, is killed in a small village causing the police chief to have to deal with heavy media and high ranking officials, whilst he also tries to find out who raped his ex-wife. The case hits many brick walls before finally coming together, although the ending is a little disappointing. This is a fast paced crime novel and has a very enjoyable plot. However, I personally think this is a book that is better on paper than CD as there is a lot of he said…., she said…., then he said…, which really stands out more when listening to somebody else read it. When you read it yourself you tend to just glance over the he said, she said parts of the sentences. Overall, a good story though.

Thank you for looking

Hugz Tinz

Traditional Red and Green

This is my Card creation for this evening. I went for traditional colours of green, red and gold (although mainly green). I used a traditional image of Santa that I won from ilovepromarkers in a previous challenge. The image was coloured with Promarkers (obviously) and made into a bauble using green mirror card. This was layered onto a green base card with a green and gold ribbon and an ivy Christmas paper which came free with a magazine. A tag with the sentiment added, and a red&gold ribbon, finishes the card.

The card used sketch#38 from Completely Christmas.

Inspiration for this card also came from:

I love promarkers #245 A male Christmas

Winterwonderland Christmas Decorations

Crafty Hazelnnuts Christmas #203 Go Green

aud sentiments #119 Sentiment on a tag

crafty ribbons 106 Christmas with a ribbon

alphabet challenge T for Traditional Christmas

abc-challenge X for Xtra Special

live and love crafts Favourite Christmas colours

cute card thursday 347 Red and Green

Thank you for looking

Hugz Tinz

White Christmas

Tonight I have made both a Christmas Tag and a Christmas card. My Christmas card uses a white on white approach, but unfortunately my camera is not the best and the picture is not brilliant,so I have added three to try and give an idea of what the tag actually looks like.

So I took a white tag blank and added a white sheer ribbon to the top. A Flourish Christmas tree stamp was stamped onto a sheet of vellum with white Daisy and Dandelion ink. HiPuff and Holographic embossing powders were added to each tree in varying amounts and heat embossed. Three trees were stamped in total, two along the bottom and the third has its tip in the centre of the bottom two. The vellum layer was adhered to the card and a self-adhesive Christmas tree ribbon was placed along the seam.

This was inspired by:

MIM challenge Glitter

ABC Christmas Challenge W is for White

modsquad Christmas Tag

Simply Less is Moore Use more than one tree

addicted to stamps challenge #91 Bling Bling

Thank you for taking the time to look at my Tag creation.

Hugz Tinz

Christmas Tree

Here I am again, with another Christmas card. I was looking through an old magazine and saw a card using elements that were torn from paper, and they looked really good. So I thought I would give it a go! Mine does not look quite as good as those in the magazine - but they were just single shapes!

So I placed double sided tape onto a base card and sat a piece of designer Christmas paper over the top. I then tore the excess paper away to give the vintage style background. Next I took the backing card from a free gift, which is red with snowflake on it, and tore four heart shapes. I also tore two heart shapes from green snowflake patterned paper, using a black heart outline as a guide. These hearts were layered to make a Christmas tree. The pot and trunk were drawn in using promarkers. Peel-off's were used to finish the card.

This card is to be entered into the following challenges:

Crafty Calender - All about Christmas

polkadoodle - CAS

Creative Moments #55 Celebration

love to create #141 Anything Goes

CASology - Festive

CRAFT #285 Christmas

crafty catz #255 Christmas is coming

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW

Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy

This is a book from the Victorian Collection, and so is rather old fashioned. There is a new parson and a new school mistress in the little village, and both make waves where-ever they go. The parson has upset the choir by bringing in an organ, for the new girl to play to the congregation, which the choir are not too keen about as they have passed down the choir going through their generations. Furthermore, one of the younger members of the choir has taken a fancy to the new girl and now has to figure out how to win her hand in marriage.

Although this book claims to be humourous in the depiction of the choir and the parson, I found that there was actually very little interaction between these two areas of the book, and most of the book was quite dreary and my mind wandered. Therefore, I would not rate this as a good book for a long commute, although the last CD or two picked up interest a little.

Thank you for looking

Hugz Tinz

Queen Bee

Hiya everybody,

I have another ATC collection to share with you today. For this collection I have used an all dressed up image, with different sketches. The collection is to be entered into the ADU Anything Goes challenge as well as the Stamping Boutique Use three embellishments challenge.

ATC #1

For this ATC I used a patterned base card in silver with glitter dots (only one is obvious in this poor photograph). I used a sizzix border die on a watery blue card and layered this with a papermania card strip in Lincoln Linen to create a wave effect. The ADU image was coloured using aquamarkers to give an even greater watery effect to the ATC, and was mounted onto a blue scalloped circle. Three blue 3D circles were added along with the sentiment to finish.

This is to be entered into:

Card Mania #59 Use your dies

Scrapbook Stamp Society #54 Anything Goes

Catch the bug SSS #218

abc challenge W is for water

crafting by designs Anything Goes

ATC #2

For this ATC I used a patterned paper of little brown flowers on the base card. A rainbow paper was layered on the top half and an orange glitter card on the bottom, with corner embellishments added. The ADU image was layered over these after being coloured with promarkers. A diamante butterfly was added to the left top corner and the sentiment 'With Love' to the right of the image.
This ATC followed these challenges:
Sketch and stash #47 
Delightful Sketches - Patterns
Papertake weekly - 2 or 4 legs
love to create #141 Anything Goes

ATC #3

For this final ATC I used the cardboard backing from paper stack as the base. The image was printed onto basic paper and coloured using promarkers before tearing around the image and adhering to the base. A heart 'bubble' embellishment and two butterflies finish the card off.

This was inspired by:

Craft your passion Something beginning with B (Butterfly)

2cuteink #119 Orange, yellow and Brown

polkadoodle Recycle it (backing card)

Country View #21 Bugs, bees and butterflies.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW
The Hive by Gill Hornby
This book revolves around the social lives of the mothers, and occasionally the fathers, whilst the children are at school, and the social structure that the 'in-crowd' of parents have. A committee is formed to try and raise money for the school, at the new headmasters urging. The 'in-crowd' are chosen by the main mother and the lady who was her 'best friend' before the new school term, who has just gone through a break-up with her husband and father of her two children, is left wondering what happened as she is completely left out of the group.
This humourous account of what goes on whilst the children are at school was very catchy reading and was brilliant for my commute to work. The various different personalities are very realistic and there is somebody for everybody to relate to. A brilliant light-hearted story.