Beautiful Butterflies

Today I'm here with last weeks Create and Take.   I used the Elizabeth Craft Designs Bugs and Butterflies clear stamp set and the Marianne Designs Heart Embossing Folder. 

All items from Crafts U Love

Crazy 4 Challenges - C4C371

This February is Tammy's turn to choose the challenges and she said 

"Today my baby girl turns 20! Oh my, where has the time gone? In addition to turning 20, Kelsey will also be graduating from Vet Tech school later this month, and we're so proud of her! In honor of Kelsey today, please create a card with animals in your design."

Here is my card for the challenge and this card was made just for fun, with no-one in mind and I was just grabbing lots of different things close by and generally just having some fun.

Here is what I used :

Foxes from Hobby Art set

Grass Border is Marianne from Crafts U Love

Trees, Hello and Banner from Sizzix Sets 

Karen Burniston Lorna Label Pop It ups

Flowers Card-io

Sorry the photo is dark, its hard to take a picture at night time.

You can see all the other Crazies cards on the link TOP LEFT of my blog :)

I hope you like this card today.  Stay safe, storm Doris is blowing in tonight.  I was in my Crafty Palace earlier and the wind nearly took the door off!!  Its scary out there so I came in, sounds much safer in here that out in the wind with some giant leylandii swaying around me.  Eeek!!

Caz x

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C370

Hello is Saturday again and that means challenge time.  This is my last Saturday for hosting and I wanted to send Thanks to Lynn for playing along with me this month :)  You can see Lynn's and all the other Crazies over on the Crazy 4 Challenges blog.  The link is top left of my blog.

Today is Squirrel Appreciation Day!!  Would would have thought that eh?  I love squirrels and I wanted to celebrate with them, so I challenge the team to make a card with these fluffy creatures, or alternatively another critter of their choosing.

I used this adorable stamp from Lili of the Valley HERE

I love this design, in fact I love a lot of their designs and they are lovely to

 colour in.  I have used my watercolour pencils here.

For the inside the used the Karen Burniston 

Twist Circle Pop it Up die with a simple Happy Birthday message.

A simple but effective card :)  I do hope my Sister in Law Sue liked it.

Until next time, Happy Crafting.

Caz x

Crazy 4 Challenge - Sketch Challenge C4C369

This week on the Crazy 4 Challenges its a sketch and this is the sketch that I designed.

And here is the card that I designed around that Sketch.

I used a stamp from a Penny Black set called Hearts Aplenty.

Darren my husband has been told to "look away" as I think

this may be his Valentines Day card :)

I also used an Elizabeth Craft Designs die called 

Bubble Edgy Options

Lyn is my guest again and you can see her card over on the 

Crazy 4 Challenges blog, the link is TOP LEFT.

Until next time.  Keep on crafting!!

Caz xx

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C367 - Old Rock

Hello,
Its the First Crazy for challenges date for 2017 and this Month its my turn to choose the challenges for the month. Today is "Old Rock Day" The unofficial holiday the day that Geologists and amateur rock enthusiasts take it upon themselves to show their appreciation of all things fossilised and stony. Who would have guessed ?!

So for this challenge I said  "Create something to do with Rock. Could be a scene with mountains, Rock n Roll, Stone style Paper, A brick wall or a precious gem!"

For my card I used the Stone Paper from Elizabeth Craft Designs to create an old stone wall.  That was my starting point.  Oh, how very British I thought, so I added the Post Box from the Mouse Mail set from Reverse Confetti, again more Britishness, I thought to myself it needs some sheep to finish it off and I used SNOWBALL the sheep from KAREN BURNISTON.  Decided that Snowball wanted a friend and decided to throw in a different breed in as well :)

My good friend Lynn is my guest for this month and you can see her card on the Crazy 4 Challenges blog and on her blog.

My husband laughed when he saw this.  "Sheep" he said... I have over the Christmas period started playing with Needle Felting and since then

have been watch numerous videos about how to do it and been talking

all things Wooly!  I think he thinks I have gone mad :)

As as crafter it is fun to try other things, I will always be a Paper Crafter

Stamper and Die cutter. But this little diversion into Felt Craft is fun :)

And here, whilst I am posting about it I will share my first two attempts.

Until next time Crafters!! xx

Karen Burniston Designer challenge Part 2 - Party Animals

Firstly, Happy Christmas to you all. I hope you have had a lovely time and maybe Santa got you some new crafty goodies?  I have had a lovely couple of days with family, so much so I nearly lost a day! I thought today was Sunday and that I could make this card tomorrow!  eeeekkk!  Good job I realised with enough time to actually make it, and by the skin of my teeth I am indeed posting it on Monday.  PHEW.

Sandy Diller chose this months Challenge Theme and it was - "Party Animals" - use any of the Character dies for a card celebrating the New Year or anything else! 

These Designer Challenges are such fun to do.  Karen chooses the best themes and its been fun to mix up the Challenges with one of my fellow Designers picking a theme for the second part of the month and when thinking about these challenges and these wonderful woman that I have joined for month after month and I cant help but think "It's been AMAZING"  and that is where the inspiration for my card came.  

The fact that there are 10 characters are on the card and there are 10 of us is incidental, and I will let you all choose who is who :) 

So onto my card.  

The card had to be BIG to accommodate all the animals so I used a 12 x 8 card piece of cardstock and folded it in half.

I then used the Lots of Pops die and cut this 3 times into then card to createan array of platforms.  Then onto the fun part of cutting and decorating the characters.  First up we have Whiskers the cat, Honey Bear, Dutch the Fox, Hoppy the frog, Poppy the Owl, Buster the Dog, Snowball the Sheep, Lucky the Rabbit, Baker the Beaver and in top place Jinks the Monkey.

I used the pole and flags from the Lots of Pops set to hang some colourful flags.

You can see from the side how much dimension there is.  But it will still fold flat!

Please check out the links to the top left, where all my fellow Designers will show you their cards.  Tomorrow Karen will be posting her card to her blog so don't forget to hop on over there too.

Caz x

Elizabeth Craft Designs - Wednesday With Post

I made a gift card holder over on the Elizabeth Craft Designs Blog.  You can read all about it HERE.

There are full instructions for how I made it ;)

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge November Part 2 - Charmed

Hi Friends
I am back with the second Designer Challenges for November and this time its Karen A who has chosen the theme and it is :

"Charmed, I'm sure!" - use any of the charm dies for a card of any theme.

I wanted to use the main Hanging Charm Pull Tab card but I wanted to use it more as a mechanism
to make my Jinks the monkey stand up.  And I have used the Coffee Cup that comes with that same Hanging Charm Pull Tab die as a decorator die for Jinks.   Now a cup of coffee is lovely, but Jinks thinks Coffee and cake even better! and I have used the cake from the Props 8 die set and the Strawberry from the Cake Pop it Ups die set too. 

As well as the dies listed above I used the 

Coffee Stencil, Coffee & Tea stamps and the Labels & Circles Die set.

Here you can see I added a extra tab to the pull tab by folding the 

part that came out of the centre of the panel Jinks is standing in front of and stapling

this to the original pull tab.  Adding some decoration with the Coffe Bean Stamp.

I also used the Coffee Stencil pattern with some metallic rub on the sides of the 

Hanging Pull Tab Pop it ups die set.

You can see Karen Burnistons instructional video for the 

Hanging Charm Pull Tab card HERE

The rest of the team will be posting their cards over the day (monday) and Karen Burnistons Post will be Tuesday so be sure to check the links to the left on the blog.

Right... card made, I just need to choose who to send it to :)  Someone who likes cake!

Caz x

.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge NOVEMBER Part 1

Hello Crafters and today I am here with the first November Challenge for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge Team and today's challenge brought to you by Karen is....

NOV 8TH - "Hat Attack" - there are 8 different hat choices in the Props/Charms/Anita sets - use one (or more) on a card. 

I chosen the Santa Hat from Props 5 to make Jolly the Mouse into "Father Christmouse"  I do believe he is singing  "When Santa got stuck up the chimney".  Not to worry, maybe Bert will come and save him if that happens with his trust Chimney Brushes.  :)

Jolly looks rather fetching in Santa's hat, glasses and Mustache, but he left the beard at

home, said tickled his tummy.

The front is very understated, I do like to keep them simple, you'd really have no clue to the 

card inside and makes it more of a surprise.

And here is the centre of the card, I have used the 

Through the Lens Paper

stack "Stone" from Elizabeth Craft Designs

Flower Pot Pop it Ups for the Chimney

Jolly the Mouse

Props 5

Upper Case Alphabet

Merry Christmas Pop it Ups

Agatha Edges

Parcels from Evergreen

Where possible I have linked Crafts U Love in the UK

otherwise I have linked directly to Elizabeth Craft Designs

Remember you can see all the other cards (and there are some amazing makes)

from the other ladies on Karens team on the link to the left of my blog.

Thanks for stopping by

Caz x

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C359

Hello its another week at the Crazy 4 challenges blog and this weeks theme is Bees and Bugs.  And here is my creation and this week I decided to decorate a wooden crate that I had and use it for my Crafty Tools.

Here you can see the Karen Burniston Flowers and leaves from

her Flower Pot Pop It ups die set and the Elizabeth Craft Designs Bee.

I covered the crate with some decorative paper that I have had for a few years now, hording it as I liked it so much, so in making something for myself it means I get to look at it more ;)

You can see all the other creations from the Crazy 4 Challenges HERE

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - September Part 2

Hi Crafters
I am back today with the second part of the September Designer Challenge and this time it was me that could choose the theme and I chose  "INSPIRED BY"  with so much inspiration on the Designer Challenge Team you can not fail to look a others cards and think WOW  So I have chosen a few part of inspiration for my card this week.  It was hard to stop at just these parts.

Firstly I chose what type of card I wanted to make and I was INSPIRED by Karen Burnistons Tutorial for the STAGGERED ACCORDION card.  HERE is her post.  

And here is my card

As you can see I used a Halloween theme with this card

I was also Inspired by Kelly Booths Owl on one of her creations

HERE hers it  I love the way she styled it by cutting from

the paper she did and sponging around the edges

just gave it a ghostly glowing feel.

I was also inspired by Sandy's Fabulous clock creation, and although

I have not done it the same it certainly was the inspiration to use the clock again.

HERE is SANDYS Creation

And lastly but not least I love the "Hills have eyes" on 

Karen Aikens card

HERE

Righto, here is a round up of what I used on this card :

All Karen Burniston Dies

Midnight the Bat

Poppy the Owl

Clock & Gears Set

Halloween Scene

Props 9 set

Fancy Label Accordion 

Halloween Charms Set

As usual items from Crafts U Love 

or Elizabeth Craft Designs.

I challenge YOU to have a go at this staggered Accordion.  It was a fun new way to use

your Accordion dies and was not hard either, just follow Karen's Youtube and you

will be all set.

Until next time.... and remember check out all my follow DT members on the LEFT

and Karen Burniston will be posting her INSPIRED BY on Tuesday.

Caz

Eye of newt and Toe of Frog. September Karen Burniston Designer Challenge

Hi friends

I am back with Septembers first challenge card and the first challenge is always picked by Karen Burniston and this time she has chosen :

            "Halloween" - Cute or creepy - you decide! 

I went for cute/creepy I think!

Here Poppy Witch is cooking up a creepy Halloween cake

complete with eyeballs and frogs legs.

For the front I used :

Poppy - Owl

Labels and Circles

Halloween Stamps

Props 9

and Props 8

For the inside of the card I have used :

Cake Pop Up

Halloween Charms

Hoppy the frog

Props 9

Halloween Greetings

I love cake but not sure I would like a slice of this one!  But it was great fun to create.

I hope this has inspired you to have a go at creating a Halloween card.

You can see the rest of the teams creations links top left

And Karen Burniston will be posting to her blog tomorrow

All items from Crafts U Love/ Elizabeth Craft Designs

I hope this post makes sense, I had very little sleep last night but figured

this afternoon I would be even more tired.  Kids!!

Crazy 4 Challenges - 10 Things C4C353

It's Raquel 's Month for challenges and here is her second challenge

Let's make this really easy or it could be hard.  Put ANY 10 things on your card, it can be buttons, brads, die cuts, layers of card stock, flowers, rhinestones, etc.  The items could also be a stamped image that has 10 things on it.

And here is my card.

I chose "10 Mushrooms" and I used the Elizabeth Craft Designs Mushroom die

for 2 of them and the other 8 and the hedgehog image are from the cute 

Newtons Nook design from Seven Hills Crafts.  I could not resist this set :)

I used the clouds from Karen Burniston's ALL SEASONS TREE

and the SPIRAL CIRCLE PULL CARD

I coloured the Hedgehog with some new Paints from Prima

The come out gorgeous!  These were from Crafts U Love

Hedgehog Happiness

I am back with the second of the 2 cards I was asked to make.  This time I was itching to use the new designs by Joset from Elizabeth Craft Designs new Hedgehog and Mushroom dies.  I placed these on the LORNA Label Pop up from Karen Burniston and they can both be purchased from Crafts U Love on the same page HERE

I love the soft finish card stock and I have used it for the Mushrooms, cutting just in white and use sponge Daubers and Distress Inks to colour these die cut pieces in.  It make die cutting much quicker when you cut all from white and then colour with ink pads.

On the front of the card I printed the words and foiled in HOT PINK using my Minc Machine.

Die cut some white flowers and inked and shaped, added a bit of bling in the middles with Paper Mania Shimmer Domes.

On the inside as you can see I used as well as the Hedgehog and Mushroom an older Balloon die set  from Elizabeth Craft Designs.

I added a fun Party hat to the hedgehog from Props 1 set from Karen Burniston

and all layered onto the LORNA LABEL pop it up.  Added the eye and mouth detail with a pen

and a little rosey pink cheek with watercolour pencil.

Crazy 4 Challenges -

Its Raquel who is hosting the challenges this month and her Guest is Fran Sabad.

Here's the challenge-

Labor Day is here!  When I was growing up in the North, there was a saying "Don't wear white after Labor Day".  Make an all-white card.  You can add black, tan or another color as long as white is the predominant color.

So here is my card for this challenge, mostly used white with a smidge of colour on the House Mouse Design.  I do love these mice and I have many many stamps so I though I would dust one off to use.  

I used the Elizabeth Craft Designs 

FITTED FRAME CURVY OVALS and use with an embossing mat to emboss

the design into the card as opposed to cut it from card.

The Sprigs are also Elizabeth Craft Designs and is called 

LEAF and BERRY BRANCHES

The hanging hearts are called PRECIOUS HEARTS from Memory Box

And the mouse is a very old House Mouse stamp

Check out all the other cards the DT have made HERE

C4C341

Hi Bloggers

I am back this Saturday with the Crazy 4 Challenges blog post and today the challenge is

HOLIDAYS.  All my favorite holidays are coming up, so why not get a jump on one of them!! Make a card for one of the many holidays coming up, be it Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, or Hanukkah!!

So here is my card for Christmas.  I wanted to play with a Lili of Valley stamp and the Karen Burniston Twist Circle Pop up die.

As well as the Lili of the Valley stamp I used a Hero Arts Holly Leaf and the Elizabeth Crafts

Beaded Circle Frame.

Inside you can see how the  Twist Circle Pop up works.

You can see the other cards over on the Crazy 4 Challenges blog HERE

And why not play along and post your card on their blog too.

Karen Burniston August Challenge Part 2 - Girly or Ghouly

Hi Crafting friends
I am back with part 2 of the August Challenge and this one is GIRLY OR GHOULY as chosen by Shelley Hickox.

I went for Ghouly as I wanted to use some of the new Karen Burniston Halloween Release. I do love Halloween and although it is not huge over in the UK like the USA I decorate the front of my house and enjoy giving out sweets to the trick or treaters.

Here is the front of the card and I am showcasing MIDNIGHT THE BAT

and the LABELS AND CIRCLES die sets. 

Oh and see that funky Plaid?  I made that using a couple

of Distress ink pads and Karens new STRIPES/PLAID stencil.

Here is the inside and what a WOW this die set produces.  You would not expect

a card that comes flat inside an envelope could contain something so dimensional

and it really is not hard to made either.  As you hopefully know by now Karen

Burniston always makes the best instructional videos which you can search

for on her BLOG or her YOU TUBE CHANNEL

For the inside I used

FLOWER POT POP STAND

HOPPY THE FROG

HALLOWEEN CHARMS

HALLOWEEN SCENE

and the purple goo dripping from top of pot

and top of card is GRASS from the OUTDOOR EDGES

All these items card be purchased from 

CRAFTS U LOVE - UK Based

Elizabeth Craft Designs - USA Based

both offer worldwide shipping.

Karen Burniston will be posting her card idea/Video

or her blog on Tuesday and the rest of the team along with me post Monday.

Check out all the links to the DT Below

• Fran Sabad
• Frances Byrne
• Karen Aicken
• Kelly Booth
• Raquel Mason
• Sandy Diller
• Shelly Hickox
• Summer Hills-Painter
• 
  

Karen Burniston New Release - Anita Frames

I'm back today with another wonderful die set from Karen Burniston.  These dies will start shipping  Middle  August from U S A and I'm sure Crafts  U Love will stock these just as soon as they can.  So if you can hold your excitement for a few more week, it will be here before you know it and give you time to save those pennies for all these amazing new die cutting dies.  You will not find dies that are as innovative and interactive as these.

Decorated  in my favourite colour combo and I used a  cutie Penny Black Hedgehog  for the image.  This is the ANITA FRAME die set that comes complete with the banners.

I'm sure you'll agree from what you've see its a great  release!  Gave to checked out the other dt cards? Links top left of blog.

Until next time.

Cazx

Bee-autiful Friend

I made this card using Joset from Elizabeth Craft Designs Bees, Honeycomb dies and bee words stamps for todays Create and Take at Crafts U Love.

I hand trimmef the card to create  shape and used fossilised Amber distress ink around the edge.

A lovely summery card.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge Part 2 July

Here is my card for the second part of the challenge this month and this tern is is Kelly Booth who has chosen the theme of STRETCH IT OUT.  use any of the Accordion dies for a project of any theme.

I needed to make a teachers card so I set about making this for Caiden's teacher using the Accordion Star die set.  I decorated with Poppy the Owl holding a few little hand made props.

I used the barn star included on the last panel to add detail.

Here you can see the detail of Poppy a bit better.

Be sure to check out the links to the LEFT for the other

ladies cards for this challenge and check out Karen Burnistons blog

Tuesday for her creation and video.

Poppy and the Star Accordion can be purchased from Crafts U Love UK based worldwide shipping or Elizabeth Craft Designs USA based worldwide shipping.