DMC - Crikey that was quick!

I'm not usually good at quick cards - because I kind of like taking time over making a card, not hours and hours but I'd happily spend an hour playing about with ideas and putting a card together. But as the challenge is to make a quick card I figured if I was going to be quick I would be quick. This card from picking out bits to make it to putting it together took literally 10mins.

The papers are freebie ones from this months Crafts Beautiful, those were on my desk and already co-ordinated (tip #1 for quick cards find papers that are already co-ordinated!) the card size was dictated by a pink envelope I had that went with the paper. I tore out two squares of the papers, layered them up and cut the happy birthday bit out of another of the papers and used it as a greeting/boardery bit. The embellie is made from a plastic flower I had on my desk hanging around and I just added the glitter Thickers, those I'd just got through the post so those were hanging around my desk too. The buttons are out of my button sweetie jar, I just fished out ones that went with the papers. Glued it all together, bit of doodling around the edges and it's done! The slowest bit was getting those glitter Thickers off the sheet , I've not had those ones before they're a nightmare! It's annoying because the foam ones are a dream to use so I was assuming these would be the same but nope.

So anyway there we go super quick card. And like I said my top tip is defo find papers that match already and stick with them for picking out your embellies and you can't go wrong. :-)

News Just in!

I just need to make up a couple of samples and then it'll be up and ready for sale. I've had lots of fun putting it together. Lots of the embellishments I've made myself so they'll be unique to the kits, I even had a go at making some tea dyed lace. There's some yummy Japanese fabric pieces too and some mega cool trims and trinkets. Plus some lino block stamps that I made, I'll do a little demo on using them because I'm guessing some people might be stumped with it but I've used klingon on them to make them stamp easier by hand.

Anyway - I'll get the samples done and then share bigger piccys when it goes on sale.

xx Leo

Tagged by Tracy

Tracy I'm doing it on this blog instead of my CT one, hope you don't mind!

OK here goes.......

The "rules" of the game: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

Ten years ago:
I would have been at school and doing my A-levels! I did fashion design, fine art and history. I suppose I would have been doing some kind of mock exams this time of year,yep, I vaguely remember the world cup being on and an England game going on in the common room underneath where we were doing a mock history exam so yep would have been doing that. :-D

Five things in today's 'to do list':
1. Edit website 2. Get food shopping 3. do some card samples and photos 4. Message back my bro about hair cutting 5. Find out why Sky TV stopped working Project cat walk is on tonight! - nightmare. :(

Snacks I enjoy:
Anything! Ice-cream/frozen yogurt is a biggy, I love Ben&Jerry's! The yogurt one that tastes like cheesecake is mega yum!

Things I would do if I was a millionaire:
That's easy, I'd pay my debts off, spend a bit of it on craft goodies and give some to mum and dad for everything they've given me over the years and then give the rest away to the CPL. I wouldn't want to be a millionaire for long!

Places I have lived:
I'd love to say I've lived in loads of cool places but I've lived in the same place for pretty much all my life, in a village in the north of England that was founded by the Vikings and it's still got it's Viking name as far as I'm aware.

I need to tag some other people now so I'll do...
Deb, Lou, Enjay, Kathy and Pat.

:-D

DCM - Vroom!

My go at this weeks Daring Cardmakers dare! I think this is the scariest card I've ever made but it'll suit where it's going. I was going for like a punk rock tattoo look but I'm not sure where it ended up!

The wheel bit as per the dare is the embellie in the center I made it up from different diecuts and embossing with my cuttlebug. The background is one of the newer Cuttlebug embossing plates and I used Coordinations 'black magic' cardstock then rubbed it back. It's not as easy to rub back as I thought it would be, i.e it needed proper sandpaper but it's still quite cool stuff. The rest is from my drawings, printed onto patterned paper and cut out.

TFL

xx Leo

Hodge Heg Card

This is my card for this weeks Cute Card Thursday challenge! The challenge is to use 3 types of embellishments on your card so I picked out ribbon, buttons and a rub on. The hedgehog (or as I call him hodge heg, I don't know why I call them that I just do, same with hang coaters instead of coat hangers!) embellie is from a new set of downloadable images I'm working on called embellish-buddies. I just printed him out on patterned paper, cut the pieces out and reassembled him to make the embellishment. The rub on I added afterwards, that's a Bo Bunny one. I embossed the card blank too with my Cuttlebug, just to add a simple background.

Thanks for another cute challenge!

Quirky Kits

Ok so after some inquiries about me doing a quirky/mixed media style crafting kit I think I'm confusing people making up different places to look for it so I've decided it would be easier if I put the kits here. It'll make it easier for me too!

So I'll do a quick intro for them.....

The 'quirky' kits will be made up of patterned papers, cardstock, fabrics, trimmings, trinkets and found/handmade objects. The idea is they can be used for scrapbooking, art journalling, altered art, card making, well whatever you want to use them for!

The 'quirky' bit just means unusual themes or items etc. Just something a little bit different.

I'm starting it off with a one off kit that will be available in the next couple of weeks then depending on how well that goes down I might start quarterly subscriptions for the kits. Otherwise I might just do them when I find something cool that inspires me!

The first one off kit will be called 'Natureific' (Nature+ific) and here's a sneak peek!

If you want to know when I've done and they're on sale email me (use the button at the side) and I'll email you back when they're ready.

xx Leo

Matryoshka girl

OK so I'm a bit of a shaped card impresario so I had to come up with something mega cute for this weeks DCM shaped card dare. I had a Russian doll shaped card template design already which I liked so I just tweaked it a little bit. I felt the need to play with my new GoGo Greetings kit so that dictated the papers I used but I think the two worked together pretty well.

P.S I'm not into pushing stuff at you on my normal non businessy blog but if you do enjoy your shaped cards I'm kinda thinking you will like Crafty Templates so do pop in a have a peek. I've got literally hundreds of shaped card templates if you subscribe and there's kits to play with and dances you can learn and cake too! Well maybe not dancing and cake but there is everything else, in fact for next months kit I will be making cake, just for pictures but you're welcome to join in with the baking if you like!

xx Leo

Merci! CCT

Hi!

Well it was a complete suprise to win the draw on Cute Card Thursday and this morning the little Tilda stamp arrived! Seemed apt that I use it for a CCT challenge this week so I got stuck in and made a little thank you card or seeing as it's a Paris Tilda a merci card!

The challenge is to use patterned paper so I picked out some Making Memories noteworthy ones, chopped them up to fit the little card blank and did some wetting and rolling of the edges to add some texture. Tilda is also made up of little bits of patterned paper and some water colouring too.

Finished off with a bit of ribbon tied around the middle and a handwritten tag.

So, merci everyone!

xx Leo

Animal Crackers!

I love making animal cards so I loved the sound of this weeks DMC challenge - to make cards with animals on them!

It worked out pretty well too because I was trying to think of an idea for a special card I needed to make this weekend and it got an idea in my head and then I just started sketching...

I copied and printed my sketch out on some Basic Grey paper and cut out to decorate the dress and then printed it on plain card to colour in the rest with pencils and paints. The letters are Basic Grey too.

I made another animal card at the weekend with one of the Debs Designs images Debbie has on my site. They're v-cute.

I printed the yo yo doggy on some Scenic Route, Dream Street and then Bazzill card - cut out the bits I wanted and then stuck it all back together again over another of the images that I printed on a half sheet of Bazzill card then folded it to make the base card. I popped some brads on to decorate his collar and there's some glossy accents on his nose too.

Thanks for another fabby challenge DMCers!

xx Leo

Pen Princess in Paris

I've been making these drawings for the last couple of weeks for my Crafty Templates site and I'm telling you it's addictive! I did a series of bird cards with hand drawings on last year and I got a bit carried away then but these are even funner because they're a bit easier to dress up than a bird! lolThis is Pen Princess, so called because she's just like the little princess icon I sketched years ago for my craftyprincess site and because she came out of a pen! I suppose she could be a Penelope too if you like but I prefer pen :-D. I used goodies from my GoGo Greetings kit to cut out the shapes from after printing her on to patterned paper and Bazzill, then coloured in the rest.

I always draw people like I learned when I did fashion design with triangle bodies and she kind of just stayed stuck with a triangle body! Then I've dressed her up in pretty and funky outfits, the kind I'd wear if I didn't always end up shoving on my jeans. I think I'll have to do a special dress up fashion series to make up like paper dolls - I love paper dolls! Defo have to do that! Anyway I digress so I started sketching this out the other night while watching the Apprentice (why did he not get fired!!!) and weirdly it fitted in perfectly with the cute card Thursday challenge for this week to make a travel themed card! Plus because the peeps on there always give away a freebie it's only fair that I give my Pen away too. :-D

Click here to download Princess Pen in Paris

xx Leo

Going Dottie!

I've been playing around with Lou's Dottie images again and decided to have a go at the challenge on the Dottie blog which was.........

"Right the first challenge is set by me (Louise). I want you to make a card or layout using paper piecing on any Dottie or George image, but that's not all! I want you then to use the same paper as part of your card's background." ......... so this is the card I came up with....

I picked out a scrap of Sassafras Lass polka dot red paper and used it for Dottie's dress (it's the cheerleader Dottie from the dress up Dottie collection) and socks then I cut out little circles of it to decorate the background. Her little shoes are Bazzill card and the rest I coloured in with watercolour pencils and gel pens. I made some finger pom poms from fibers too - just thought it looked more fun - then added the message.
xx

Recycled

Wow look at me nothing for a month and then two posts in two days! lol
I needed to get into making some cards today so I jumped in with the DCM dare and this is what I've come up with.

I'm always fond of recycling and using unconventional materials so I was up for this one.

I cut the cake and the polka dot paper bit from an old birthday card and I also used packaging for the background, it's corrugated card that I've put though the Cuttlebug with the swiss dots folder. It actually made a really cool pattern on the reverse where it embossed and squashed down the corrugated bits so I want to make some more and use the other side.

For the boarder I stitched ribbon around the edge and then tied the ends together in a bow then to finish off added a couple of blossoms and buttons and that's it really.

Thanks for another fab dare!

xx Leo

Silver & Summer

So here is my go at this weeks Daring Cardmakers challenge - to use something inspired by the wood and/or silverware anniversary I also let the mega turn up in sunshiny weather as inspiration! So I thought well silver obviously - I'll make something that looks like metal and then wood - well paper comes from wood right? This is a real kitchen cupboard card, I used silver kitchen foil glued onto card and then embossed with my Cuttlebug to create a metal effect then the paper is from a Lush present that I saved because it was pretty and smells of Lush! I scrunched up the paper and sanded it then stamped a message onto a Scenic Route journaling label and attached it to the card with a cute brad.

So I just remembered this is my first blog post in an age so I'll supplement it with some of the crafty things I've been up to this last month!

Well I've been making lots of jewellery in preparation for the summer, this is one of my faves it's apple howlite and labradorite I strung 3 bracelets and then fixed them together with a pretty flower shell bead.
I've been mega busy putting kits together for Crafty Templates, the latest one is online now and it's got lots of yummy new Scenic Route stuff in (May Kit). The next one coming up (June Kit) is my favoriteist one so far I've called it Long Lost Letters and I've been enjoying collecting goodies for it for the last couple of months from far and wide, it's defo one to keep an eye out for if like me you love vintagey polka dotty turquoisey lushness! :-D

K what else well, I was playing along with the UKScrappers cybercrop and won two prizes one from Craft At Home and one from The Altered Element. I'd defo recommend a visit to The Altered Element because there's some mega yummy goodies including tons of buttons like these that Lynne sent me as my prize!!! I know there some more exciting goodies going up there soon that you can buy by weight, I can't wait! Just imagine a pick and mix but with buttons and bling and beady goodies mega yum!

I've also been busy making the first Crafty Project work sheet. This is the finished book. It's a mini book that is supposed to be displayed like a picture frame on a shelf.

The project pack guides you through how to make up each page and includes sheets of templates to print off and use to make cool embellishments like fancy labels, shabby chic flowers, a cute birdie and some mega giant brackets you can make your own chipboard shapes with. It took me about 2hrs to make up this one following the project so it'll make a perfect little crop take away pack or something to do on a rainy afternoon - not that I'm wishing rain on anyone! Nope we defo need to keep the sunshine coming! Ok so how about something to do on a sunny afternoon in the garden! I actually do love scrapping outside, you can just fill up a tote with what you need and sit out enjoy the weather and have a crafty play! Sorted.

Well I'm going to leave it there because there are a zillion things I need to do today!

Happy crafting! xx Leo

Tea and Blossoms!

OK so it's been ages since I've made a post, it's just been too frantic in Leo land! I have been good this week and made a card for the DMC little extra challenge....

I made some coin flowers. I call them coin flowers because I use different sized coins, place them on some paper and hold them down while I tear the paper into different sized rounds. You can then scrundle the edges up with a ruler too if you want. Stitch on a button in the center to hold all the bits together and you're done. It's something I used to do on scrapbook LO's, in fact it's a fab way of displaying coins if you've collected them from your trip, stick them in the middles of the blossoms. I'll have a pic of that somewhere to dig up....

So that's one card anyway, I have another one that got finished and then never photographed till today. The DMC challenge for this card was to use a teabag on your card. I made a teacup shaped card from one of my Crafty Templates designs (it's in the subscribers area if you're a subscriber, in set 2 I think) some Love Elsie stickers, Bazzill card, Dream Street papers and one of my mums relaxing tea bags. Mum has a cupboard full of weird and wonderful herbal teas but I've only ever seen her drink coffee, so I figured she wouldn't miss this one.

TFL & happy crafting!
xx Leo

P.S Found the coin flowers.....

Happy Mothers Day!

Had a lovely afternoon yesterday playing with my GoGo greetings kit and making my card for mum. I used the Fancy Pants and KI paper and tags from the kit. The letters I added from my stash, they're Bazzill chipboard ones that I've inked to match the papers. The angel wing diecuts I added some clear plastic behind that I embossed first with my Cuttlebug to give them like a glowy look I guess!

I also made one for dad to give to gran, using the Cutlebug build a flower die and another Fancy Pants diecut. Not as good a photo as I had to take it last night so I could give it him early this morning to take.

Dad is rubbish at giving cards though so it might still be in his car driving around for another year like the last one I made, which eventually he found and gave it to her for her birthday. Great idea dad, except that it had happy mothers day on the inside so she kind of found out!

Happy mothers day!

Busy Busy Busy

Busy making cards!

February is pretty packed with birthdays for me to make cards for so I've had to be. Cause it also helps when you've treated yourself to some new stash to play with too!

First up are a couple with a love theme for the Daring Cardmakers challenge...

Used: Cuttlebug 'textile' embossing plate, build a flower die and heart die, Making Memories Lace and tape, Dream Street paper and random buttons from my stash.

Used: Making Memories floss, Autumn Leaves star stamp, Cuttlebug 'swiss dot' embossing folder, Doodlebug and DCWV papers.

Then a couple more, another pin wheel one made with this months GoGo Greetings goodies,

and then this one is for my cousins birthday, made with the new Dream street Hugs-n-Kisses papers (adoreable!) and a couple of Cuttlebug dies again.


Not much time for chatting today, got to dash to the Post Office, about 15 mins ago!
TFL xx

Happy Valentines Day!

Here's the cute Bind it All project I was on about in my previous post using the stamps from DewDropz Crafts. I used my heart journal stamp and stamped it to the back of some scraps of patterned paper then cut them out. Then I cut two small pieces of wire from a 1/2 O wire and measured them up to the top of one of the hearts and marked where the holes needed to go. The BIA won't punch them in exactly the right places on the heart so using a hole punch or a crop-o-dile is miles easier. Once you've marked one you can do a few at a time and mark the position of the holes through the punched holes. Once all the holes are in place thread through the two pieces of wire and use the BIA to bind. If you don't have a Bind it all tool you could squish the wires with your fingers as they are quite squishable enough but you won't get as good a bind.
Finish it off with a title, I used rub ons on a piece of ribbon. Tie some decorative ribbons and bits of fabric through the wire at the top and make a hanging piece by threading a long piece of ribbon through the 'o' part of the wire and tying at one end. You can add journaling and little photos inside or maybe secret romantic messages!

Have a fab day!
xx Leo

DMC Sketch Challenge

So here's my card for the DMC sketch dare this week I went way OTT as normal for me :-D.

I love making pin wheels and I saw some in a Topshop window display this weekend so I figured a cute mini one would look cool on a card so I made one........ (well I made two actually!)

I turned the sketch on it's side and used it that way round to build up the embellishments on my card.

I used Glitz design, Doodlebug and love Elsie papers with a bit of KI Memories lace cardstock too. The ribbons are MayArts and Love Elsie. The round embellishment I made with my Cuttlebug layering up two circles with embossed acetate and a heart. There's also a little PhraseMaker tag in the corner, another cool tool I love at the mo! I fixed the pin wheel with a brad on to the card so it will spin around.

Thanks for another cool dare DMCers!

xx Leo

68th Blog Post

Sorry I've not been around for a while, not like I haven't wanted to spend time making cards, just more like zillions of other things have had to come first. But the last week or so I've got crafty again, had a clear out of old stash, brought in some new bits and waiting with childlike giddiness for all the new goodies to come floating down from CHA to stock up some more!

So this is what I've been working on this week........

DMC Jo's doodley challenge

I copied Jo's circle boarder doodling technique for the scallop edges. Used layered paper and crocheted flowers with a cuttlebug embossy bit in between and a cute heart pin. I used my cuttlebug for the background too, some teal cardstock with the birthday embossing plate. The dragonfly is punched out and layered up then glossy accented all over as is the chipboard heart bit at the top. The lace is from my great grandmas collection of stuff from her sewing box, I've inherited a load of lovely lacy bits and buttons and old jewellery to play with!

And... I did the red and white DMC challenge!

I used the heart blocks cuttlebug embossing folder for the background and dry brushed over some red paint. The muffin and wording are my stamps from dewdropz crafts, the muffin is stamped on chipboard covered with red card then cut out and coloured. Then I've inked in white a heart chipboard shape and added some felt flowers with layered up buttons in the centers.

This challenge was so difficult because I really hate monochromatic colourways, multi colour funness all the way I say! :-D

I've done more stuff with the stamps I need to photograph but it's too dark now, hate that about winter I need light!!! There's a little heart shaped minibook I made with the heart journaling stamp and a Bind it All. So will come back with those v soon!

xx Leo

DMC - Tweet Tweet!

I love the birdy trend so I had lots to go on for this DMC dare. In the end I went with my Sassafras Lass owl stamps and made them into little Christmas carol singers! I used Fancy Pants papers, felt, fibres and pompoms for the santa hats, bit of doodling and glitter glue and then the greeting is printed on some acetate and stuck on with teeny brads.

Great fun! Thanks for the dare DMCers :-D