Blessings

Happy Easter to you all..

I'm looking forward to to having a quiet Easter.  We are half way through our four week lock-down here in NZ - it seems to be working as yesterday we had the least number of new cases.  The number has been going down over the past days.   Being home alone might not be easy, but it does save lives.

Over the past couple of evenings  I have been working on a card.  It's another one the I did following a tutorial by Paula from Craftables.   As I've said before, Paula's cards are shabby chic.  I really wanted to try out some different techniques so challenged myself to make this one.

I found some grey wood like paper to make my background.  For the brown woodgrain paper I took some kraft card and ran Vintage Photo distress ink down it.  Really happy how it turned out.  For my flowers I used two pink and and three purple flowers that I had made using Foamarin.   I die cut some green card with a Spellbinders rose leave die and sprayed them with water and scrunched them.  Once they dried, I unfolded them to add to my arrangement.  I had added muslin and thread directly to the brown card layers and then the flowers and leaves.  I stamped the sentiment from an old Stamp It! set onto some white card and trimmed it before mounting to black card.

This is my Easter card to you all..

Playing the Piano...

Hi there... well I wish I could play the piano.... I know the notes and keys but I simply can't read music smoothly... Anyway today's card I'm sharing is a Piano Card.   This came about as a NZ based craft store - Craftables has been having a bit of an online card classes and has provided the instructions for some of it's kits - not the full kit, just the instructions for around $5 each.  I have been watching some of Paula's classes and decided I wanted to try the Piano Kit - so purchased it.  As it did not have all the papers etc, I improvised with what I could find in my stash.  (Believe me I have TONS of patterned papers so wasn't hard to find something suitable)

So here it is....

I found some flocked PP from a Die Cuts With A View pad.  I used the template to cut the 5" x 5" black card to size and then added the flocking to the top panel.  I added the white and black keys below the top bit.   Next I did the inside

I printed off some vintage music paper I had in my computer and trimmed it to fit inside.  Added a white piece on the other side of the lid so you can write your message.  Then I added the little leg that held it open.  Once all that was done, it was time to decorate the top. I found some flowers in my drawer and added with some die cut stems and leaves.  Added a ribbon and the little clef trinket.   Not my usual CAS style but nice to challenge myself with something a bit different.   Paula's classes are very chabby chic - both her card classes and her scrapbook layout classes.  You'll probably see a few more of these shabby chic cards coming up. 

Thanks for stopping by.   I'm getting a few cards done for upcoming DT work, so enjoying some crafting today 

Keep Calm and Be Kind

What a place the world is now... How would have ever imagined this could happen. 

Yesterday my package from Krafters Cart arrived - I needed some new Momento Tuxedo black ink so popped in a stamp set too... by Clearly Besotted called Say Something  I manged to get the last one in stock.  When I opened the stamp set, the sentiment Keep Calm and Be Kind, jumped off the sheet at me!  I didn't even notice it was in the set when I was ordering,  I just loved the font and wanted some different sentiments.... how fortuitous it was - perfect for the times....

I've done two cards....
First one I did paired the sentiment with an Altenew flower and some of their new washi tape

 I did this one last night - using Simple Beauty in Pink Pearl, Coral Bliss for the larger flower and Coral Bliss, Heart Beat for the smaller one.  I added the sentiment and washi plus a few clear gems and added to a pink base.  I'm going to walk up the road and drop it in my elderly neighbour's letter box to give her some positive encouragement.

This afternoon, I watched a live FB class from a NZ based company called Caftables.  Paula, the owner, had made kits which were sent out earlier in the week.  I didn't get the kit but loved her design elements so did some improvising. 

I used a die to make my oval centre and then embossed the panel.  Paula used the most incredible Poppy flowers which were die cut and then layered up to give a 3D effect, but I went with something a bit simpler.  I used a Hero Arts flower that was sitting on my desk (Night and Day Flower)  I stamped the black outline and then used Altenew Alcohol markers in Crimson and Velvet to add colour to the flowers.  A couple of green Spectrum Noir markers were used for the leaves and branches.   I white embossed the sentiment on to the same red card I used to mat the centre panel. 

So how is everyone going at self isolating/quarantining/being in lock down.... First week of working from home for me has gone okay.  I managed to do my hours each day and not get too stressed out.  Our team had a MS Teams meeting every morning to talk about what the work was like, how we were coping and generally chatting to each other.   During the day we would chat on Teams, use our teams Whats App and sent each other photos of our pets, our lunches, or families... anything to stay in touch really.   All that working didn't give me much time to craft though (insert sad face) so I'll be making up for it this weekend.