Deborah's Gems - Blog Candy

Over on Deborah's Gems Blog she is offering some Blog Candy...

I thought that a great way to celebrate my first anniversary would be to offer some candy which I am happy to ship world-wide.  While you don't have to be a follower - I'd love it if you decided to become my Blog Friend, and if you'd like to put a picture of my candy in your side bar - that'd be super too.

I've got together quite a selection of goodies to share with you - here are the details:

Dovecraft - 12" × 12" Christmas Papers

Papermania - Happy Birthday Peel Offs

Papermania - Skeleton Leaves

Papermania - Chipboard Letters

See-D's - Swirl Letters & Numbers Stamps & Acrylic Block

Glue Dots - Magic Motifs Snowmen 1

WHSmiths - Jewelled Sentiments - Ho Ho Ho

WHSmiths - So & Sews Cross Stitch Kit

Papermania - Metallic Ink Pads

Habico - Pearls in Gold & Silver and Black & White

Elusive Images - Creative Acrylics

My Mind's Eye - Leaf Rubber Stamp

Set of six rubber stamps wood mounted - flower designs

Set of green embellisments - ribbons, beads, buttons

This post is going to stay at the top of my blog until 8th September.  The winner will be selected randomly and announced on 9th September.

 

LiM - Metalic

It's time for the Less is More challenge for this week:

It's the first Saturday of the month and so we have a colour themed challenge once more and this time it is

METALLIC

We'd like to see CLEAN & SIMPLE cards with something that has a METALLIC finish to it... ink, embossing, card, charms, actual metal... come on people let's get creative!

I had 2 cards created for this challenge...

Embossed with my Cuttlebug, the Birds were then embossed in Silver

Image taken from the 'Making Cards Magazines' mounted on Black with a Gold Peel Off Frame

 

These 2 cards were very quick to create and I think both turned out Ok.

How To… Create a ‘Any Size’ Stepper Card

Once I had figured out the way in which to create a Stepper Card I decided that I wanted one a particular size.  After a few attempts that did not work I think I now have it cracked.

What is a Stepper Card?  Well it is a card which has a full size section and then smaller steps (usually 3).  Here is one I made earlier J

My card has a Full Size section on the left and Steps on the Right, however you could have any combination of Steps and Full Size Sections, here are a few examples.

Here is my explanation for creating my Stepper Card, I have shown my measurements in Blue.

Card Size

The card size will be determined by the size of your steps, so you will need to do a quick bit of maths first, if necessary you can then tweek the size of the steps until you get the finished card size you are after.

1st Step (Smallest ) – decide on the size of your smallest step & multiply by 2 (2cm depth x 2 = 4cm)

2nd Step (Middle) – decide on the size of your middle step & multiply by 2 (4cm depth x 2 = 8cm)

If you add both of these measurements together this will then give you the height of the card (4cm + 8cm = 12cm)

3rd Step (Tallest) – this is the height of your card divided by 2 (12cm divided by 2 = 6cm)

The size of card you will need for your Card will be the height multiplied by 2 (12cm x 2 = 24cm), the width of the card it up to you to decide (17.8cm).

The card blank I used was 5 x 7 inches (12.7cm x 17.8cm) as the height of my steps was 12cm I needed to trim 0.7cm from the height of the card. The width of the card is up to me to decided, I kept it at 17.8cm.

Now you have the size of your card and your step sizes you will now need to decide which Stepper Layout to use… On the back of the card you will be using to create your card you will need to take a pencil and draw the lines to show the border  between full size and stepper.

One half will be a full size card, the other half will be used to create my steps

I am using my Hougie Board to score as it makes life so easy, but you could also measure and then score.

For each Stepper section you will need to score each of the fold points (I will score at 2, 4, 8, 12, 18cm)… At the middle point (12cm) you will need to score across the width of the card (I have marked my score lines in pen)

Turn your card over and score again on the other side – this will ensure that you can create nice crisp folds on your steps

Next take a ruler and knife and cut along the border between Full Size & Stepper… ensure that you do not cut the first & last scored section (again I have shown this in pen on my card)

Fold the steps and create the main card fold

You are now ready to decorate your Stepper Card

I hope that is How to… is useful and you can now create stepper cards at ‘Any Size’ you want.

Visitors, MINIs & Rain

Over this weekend we have been visited by DH’s sister, her husband & son.   DH & I do not have children and as our house is not ‘child proof’ we did wonder how things would look when a 4 year old nephew (known as ‘L’ in this post) had visited.

I must say that the house is still in one piece and DH & I are going back to work for a rest as it does not feel that we have had a weekend.

After arriving on the Ferry Friday lunchtime they drove up to our house, on the way they got caught in traffic following an incident on the A1 and were diverted through Peterborough.  Once they had arrive and the essentials unpacked from their car we headed to a local Fish & Chip Restaurant.

Saturday was non-stop, shopping in the morning, followed by playing football & golf on the local playing field.  After lunch we drove to the place our caravan is stored to collect it and take it back home.  ‘L’ helped to wash the caravan and in the process DH & BiL both got a bit wet!!!  ‘L’ however stayed remarkably dry!

The evening was rounded off with a meal at a local Chinese Buffet before heading home.   It never ceases to amaze me with the way in which children suddenly drop off to sleep... on the drive home we had been trying to keep ‘L’ awake, as we turn the last corner his eyes closed and he was gone! We could have been hit by a tornado and he would have still been asleep.  My BiL carried him into the house and managed to get him to wake up enough to get ready for bed, then he was out for the count again.

Sunday morning started in the same way that Saturday had, with ‘L’ joining DH & I in bed to watch cartoons (‘ThunderCats’ looks nothing like the way I remembered it from my childhood!!!).  Once everyone was up and about we all ate breakfast ‘L’ had ‘Pirate Toast’ – a picture will have to follow next week.

On my way back from the local post office to collect a morning paper I spotted a MINI which had an unusual ‘paint’ design… ‘L’ has a favourite car – MINIs, it does not matter if it is the old or new design but MINIs are the best car around.  My SiL had spotted this MINI and decided that this was going to be her Favourite MINI.

The morning was then spent getting the caravan ready to take to the ‘sea side’.  DH & I would take the caravan followed by SiL & Family in their car, once we had put up the awning and had everything set up we would leave them to their holiday.

At about 11am it started raining L not a good sign, all the way to the camp site we had rain L.  When we arrived at the site and found our pitch, guess what… it was raining.  We decided to shelter from the rain and see if it was going to stop.  After about 15 minute the rain did slow down and then stop J so we stated getting the awning out and put up.  Just as I was putting in the last 3 tent pegs it started to rain again!!!! Good timing or what J.

I just hope that they enjoy their holiday despite what looks to be a very wet week.

Angel Kisses

Back on the 16th August I attempted to create a card featuring my Angel stamp (see the post here) I was trying to create an Angel who was standing in front of 2 others, the other 2 were to be almost 'ghost like' - well that was the idea.

After several more attempts I came up with this card

I don't know why this picture is on its side - Blogger does not want to play... But I hope you get the idea (and don't get a crick in your neck!)

I was really happy with the finished card and when I showed it to a friend I did not get it back again!!! So I guess it must have been good LOL.

Does anyone else find that they are over critical of their own cards? Something I might think of as just ok, friends think is amazing. 

Autunm Card

For the first time ever I have been able to plan & create a card to meet 2 challenges!  The card I created was A5 size, which is unusual for me, I prefer smaller cards.

This card was created using paper from the Making Cards Magazine, Brads (topped with Candi) and a Papermania 'Paper Flower'.

The papers met the 'Autumn Colours' required for the Craft Us Crazy challenge as well as the 'Recipe' for Ruby's Rainbow Challenge

In addition the 'Recipe' called for Brads/Buttons x 2 as my brads did not match the theme of the card, I added 'Candi' to each in keeping with the theme (I hope this is allowed).

The 'Recipe' also included 1 Flower and the Craft Us Crazy challenge was a Favorite Embellishment - at the moment I love the Papermania 'Paper Flowers' as they are in white I have used my ProMarker to colour the flowers as required (this one is Caramel).

Flower straight from the pack...

After the flower met with my ProMarker (Caramel) it was transformed.

I hope you enjoyed my card.

Weight Watchers Update & Visitors

During the last week it has been my birthday, followed the day after by DH birthday, added to that we visited my Mother-in-Law in Devon last weekend.  So although I was trying to be good it did not work completely.

Does this sound like a list of excuses... well it is, I put on 1lb last night.  When I explained the last week to our leader she said I did well to only put on 1lb!  So I felt a little bit better.

Total Weight Loss: 28lb

This weekend is going to be crazy... my Sister-in-Law, her husband & nephew (aged 4) arrive from Denmark today, we have had to clear out the spare room (for some reason they need a place to sleep LOL) which as meant I can't get to my craft desk :(

On Sunday we are due to take them down to the Lincolnshire Coast so that they can spend a week in our caravan.  Once we collect them  next weekend, they will travel down to Devon to visit MiL.

So here comes a busy weekend.