Make it yourself!

This week on Daring Cardmakers the challenge is to create your own from scratch embellishment on your card. Here's the card I came up with:

Kathy has set this weeks dare and has asked us to post up a bit of a tutorial on how we've made our cards too so here's how I made mine.
First start out with a scrap of white card and a stack of patterned tapes. Stick the tape pieces on a ruler to measure them out. I started with the largest piece cutting it to 5cm then cut each subsequent piece 1cm smaller.

 Glue a star paper punch out on the top of the 'tree' and add another piece of tape for the trunk. Cut out the embellishment trimming it close to the edges in a rectangle shape and then trim the bottom edge with pinking scissors to make a 'tag' shape.
Cut out the backing paper piece for your card then stitch the tag embellishment to it across the top. Fold the tag around a pen, (or something else rounded) to give it some dimension.

Finish with the stamped greeting across the bottom of the card.

Head on over to Daring Cardmakers to see what the rest of the DT have come up with and how they've made their embellishments, http://www.daringcardmakers.blogspot.com
x Leo

Daring Cardmakers - Plant a tree!

Here's my Daring Cardmakers card for this week:

 

The theme this week is trees and Zuzana has as asked us to include a tree on our cards. My tree is a stamp from a stamp set of leaves and trees I've had for a long time. In fact I think it was one of my first crafty purchases so it was a very long time ago! It's a lovely wooden stamp set though and I don't really buy wood block stamps anymore so it's good to get them out every now and then and remember how lovely they are to use. The paper layers on my card are made up of my most recent crafty purchase so I guess it makes a nice balance! I've been busy using up left over bits and pieces over the last month so I treated myself to a little something new and bought two of the new Basic grey snippet pads. I've not bought any basic grey for a long time but some of their latest collections caught my eye. I picked up the Hipster and Mint Julep ones and they're great for layering and the 4x6 size makes them perfect for cardmaking too. So, well recommended :) I'm still using up patterned paper scraps but mixing in a bit of something new once in a while really helps to give me a fresh eye with them. Pop on over to daringcardmakers.blogspot.com to have a go at this weeks challenge!

x Leo

 

Couple more Daring Cardmakers Cards

I forgot to upload my card from last weeks Daring Cardmakers so here that one is first:

This one was a recipe dare and had to include:
An Aperture of some kind
Something beginning with the letter P
A Die-cut or Punchie
The colour Blue

I used lots of left over bits and pieces from the Jan/Feb Quirky Kit, the paper, the Polaroid frame the Thickers letter stickers and the bird paper which was a notelet I cut to fit the frame all came from that kit. For the something beginning with the letter P I used my new paper tape I got from Paperchase and watercolour paint that I made an ombre paint effect with on the yellow strip of card. I wasn't sure if the Polaroid diecut would also count as the aperture so I also punched out a star from the front of the card. It just looks white on the photo but that is the inside of the card. :)

On to this weeks dare and as it's the first week of a new month it's a Colour Combo challenge. The colours for this month are pink, gold and mint:

 

And here's what I came up with:

 

 

I took inspiration from the images as well as the colour combination for my card and picked out chevron and woodgrain patterns and flowers. Most of this again I made up using paper scraps from stuff I've been working on already. The gold thread is from this months' Quirky Kit as is the woodgrain paper scrap and the peg and white flower. The chevron paper and grid paper is from the Jan/Feb kit and the 'You Rock' paper bit is an Echo Park paper that was from the December kit. You can defo tell I've been using up all my leftovers this past few weeks! ;-D The flowers are Prima ones I think they were in my junk jar on my desk.

Head on over to Daring Cardmakers and have a go at this weeks challenge and see the design teams awesome creations! http://www.daringcardmakers.blogspot.com

x Leo

P.S if you want to grab a Quirky Kit subscription I've just put the new places in the store you can check out the details here, http://www.craftytemplates.co.uk/quirkykitssubscription.html
I've just been unpacking some of the new goodies that just arrived and they're mega yum!

Childs Play

Our dare on Daring Cardmakers this week has been set by Sharon who has us making cards for children from little ones to older teens.

I thought about the stuff kids would like on a card so went with wacky angles, lots of texture like the furry number 8 and the packet of sparkles and there's more sparkle with the gems and sequins dots then I added the cartoony horse, that's an old Tilda stamp. I did try to have a go at an effect and used Promarkers to try to make some watercolour effect letters using white Thickers and layers of the same colour pen. I've been trying to think up different watercolour and ombre techniques for scrapbooking this last couple of weeks so it's defo something I'll be playing more with anyway.

Pop on over to Daring Cardmakers to have a go at this weeks dare! http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/childs-play.html

Spring!

Hi!

On Daring Cardmakers this week we're making cards with a 'spring'. Head on over there to check out this weeks challenge and there's an extra incentive this week as there's a gift certificate up for grabs from Little Blue Button check out all the details here, http://www.daringcardmakers.blogspot.com

Here's my card for this week. I wanted to make a wobbly card with a spring so made a jelly or 'Jello' for my card.

I made the spring from rolling wire around a paint brush handle and glued it to the back of the embellishment to give it it's wobble.

Don't forget to check out this weeks dare and have a go yourself, www.daringcardmakers.blogspot.com.
x Leo

Make a 'cute' angle

This week Lythan has cooked up our Daring Cardmakers challenge and we have been set the task of creating cards with angles.
I had to scratch my head for a bit with this one but I set to it and ended up using washi tapes at an angle to create backgrounds. It's mega easy to do but I really like the effect. I mixed in some stamping and added some strips of paper along with the tape to come up with these cards:

Head on over to Daring Cardmakers to check out the rest of this weeks cards and have a go, http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.co.uk/
Don't forget to leave a link to your uploaded card so we can come and peek at what you've made :)
x Leo

Typography

Hi!
It's my turn again this week to set the challenge over on Daring Cardmakers. The challenge is to create a card using Typography. Basically arranging words/letters into a design. Here's my card for this week:

 

I started playing around with fonts on my computer and arranging them into the design. I was orginally just going to print them out on cardstock but it just didn't look right, I wanted to add more but not too much so I decided to make the front of the card a shaker card. To do this I printed out the font designs onto a piece of translucent paper then stitched it to the patterned paper, keeping the top part open to fill with glittery sprinkles, (they're the Martha Stewart ones they're awesome mega sparkley!). Once it was filled I stitched up the top to seal them in then added it to the front of the card and finished with the same paper inside and the last bit of the design with some Prima chipboard stickers.

Pop on over to http://www.daringcardmakers.blogspot.com to check out this weeks dare and have a go. I can't wait to see what you're making!
x Leo

Daring Cardmakers - March Colour Combo

Hi!

This week on Daring Cardmakers Sharon has provided our monthly colour inspiration and here are the lovely colours we have to work with:

Lovely chocolate browns and greens. I've gotta say the girls are killing me with all these chocolate themes! lol I'm blaming them for me having to have Nutella for breakfast today :p Ok here's what I came up with:

 

These colour challenges are the perfect way to use up scraps. I always start off by delving into my scraps bag and picking out colour of papers and card that work with the colour theme and got from there layering them up then fixing them together with washi tape and twine. So lots of off cut bits and pieces were used here so can't say what they were to start off with but the little hello tag I know is Pebbles and I've coloured it with ink to make it brown. The resin embellishment is from Zuzanas shop. I filled it with glossy accents and stuck the shell button into it. The leaves are from a vintage flower pick. Hop on over to Daring Cardmakers to check out the lovely inspiration and have a go, http://www.daringcardmakers.blogspot.com

x Leo

Sweet Like Chocolate!

This week Kathy has set the challenge over on Daring Cardmakers and the challenge is to create a card inspired by chocolate. Hop on over to Daring Cardmakers to see the fab DT creations and have a go yourself, http://www.daringcardmakers.blogspot.com

Here's my go at this weeks challenge:

 

The chocolate bar is unfortunately made of cardstock, less calories but defo not as tasty! I cut out squares using my paper trimmer then stacked them up to make the 'blocks'. I then wrapped the bar in foil and then peeled it back to create the effect of an open wrapper. The paper was then wrapped around the end to finish the embellishment. I added a little Glossy Accents at the end just to give it a bit more texture. There's Glossy Accents on the letters too so they look like they have a candy coating :). The papers are a mix of Crate Paper Fourteen and My Minds Eye Collectable from this months Quirky Kit Lite.

Don't forget to have a go at this weeks challenge, http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com

 

Fly Fly Butterfly

This week on Daring Cardmakers Zuz has set the challenge of making a card featuring butterflies.
Here's what I came up with for this week:

 

I started off with raiding my junk jar which is full of bits of ephemera and odd embellishments and found the buttterfly then worked the colours from the blue airmail envelope I had out on my desk. I've been packing these all last week into the new Quirky Kits. I picked more red and blue papers and embellies to match it. The stamp is a vintage one, (also from an old Quirky Kit). The papers are Echo Park and Crate Paper and the tag is a Tim Holtz one. The wood veneer 'thanks' is Studio Calico.

 

Hop on over to Daring Cardmakers and check out this weeks challenge! http://www.daringcardmakers.blogspot.com

 

Setting the Scene with the Daring Cardmakers & Docrafts

This week over on Daring Cardmakers we have a sponsored dare from Docrafts. You can learn all about their new 'Build a Scene' dies win a set of the brand new dies and see what some of the Daring cardmakers design team have made using the dies, http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/setting-scene.html
Go check it out!
Here's the card I made for this week:

I ended up making a scene card from scratch. I decided on a shop window scene and picked out the papers to use then sketched out the pieces, (window frame, canopy, window box etc) on the back of the paper before cutting them out. The card base is a 5x7 size but I made an extra folded bit on the bottom, (so cut the card to 10x9 inches then folded and folded up the bottom edge the extra 2 inches then cut it off from the back panel so it was just left at the front of the card). The panel folds up along with the chalkboard so it can fit in an envelope.
For the decoration bits I used two sets of older Docrafts stamps I had. I used that as a starting point looking through my stamps to see what I shop I could make using the stamps I had to make the scene :)

Have fun making your scene cards and don't forget to check out the Daring Cardmakers blog this week for your chance to win some fun goodies from Docrafts!
x Leo

Fun and Games!

This week over on Daring Cardmakers it's Rein who's in charge and has set the challenge to create a card that features some kind of game to play. What a fun idea! Here's the card I came up with:

I was pondering doing a picture match up game with stamps and tiles of cardstock but ended up doing a spot the difference. I made up the picture with stamps on a clear block then stamped it twice on squares of cardstock to make the same picture. Stamps are a mix up of Hero Arts and My Cute Stamps. All colouring with Promarkers and a little bit of patterned paper, I think they're Echo Park but they're scraps so I'm not 100% sure.
There are 5 differences in total, can you find them all? :)
Pop on over to Daring Cardmakers to see what other games the DT have come up with, http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com


x Leo

December Daily 2012

Well it's that time of year again! Can't believe it's come around again so quickly. It almost caught me off guard this year but I managed to put my book together over a couple of evenings.
I started off putting a kit of goodies together. I've been reading the Homemaker magazine last week and it had a book of vintage pattern fabric papers in along with Christmas make ideas and it gave me the idea to mix up everyday patterned papers with Christmas themed ones so I mixed up some Crate Paper Sleigh Ride, Paper Party and On Trend papers that all had a vintage look to them. I also added some papers I had in my stash from Quirky Kits, mostly from the 'Tell me more' kit. The numbers I used are from that kit, the sheet of My Minds Eye paper.

 

I think it's the easiest way to make a quick album, to start with a kit first and then work with it till there's not much left over. The bits I have got left I'm putting to one side for extra decorating once I've added the photos. The hardest bit was getting started and deciding on a size to go with. I did the 6x4 size last year so wanted to change it up this year. I ended up with 8x6" as the size for the basic book, it'll be a nice size to add Christmas cards in the back that I want to keep.

 

I started with the front and back covers which is just a two layers of paper stitched together with the sewing machine. I used a mask with mist on the back and lots of layers of papers and embellishments on the front. I'll add a piece of thick acetate over the cover to protect it once it's finished.

The pages I made up with layers of cardstock, along with some mixed up pages like an envelope, canvas, paper bag and tags stitched together.

Everything I'm just fixing together with bookrings so I can add lots to it. This is the finished book before I decorated the foundation pages.

Then these are the foundation pages done:

 

 

Lots of the embellished bits on the pages I stitched in place with my sewing machine so the edges can be lifted up and photos tucked behind them. There are pages with pockets or open parts too so I can add in bits and pieces I want to keep.

At the back I've got some journalling cards I made.

 I've added a few in the book and I've got some for spares to add after as it's filled or if I need them.

Book finished:

 

 

Looking forward to another fun December filling it up! :)

 

x Leo

Happy Birthday to Daring Cardmakers!

Big happy birthday to the Daring Cardmakers this week it's been 7 whole years since it started, can you believe that? My card for this weeks dare is above. This week it's a colour challenge set by Zuz pop on over to check out the details, http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/colour-challenge-november.html
Seven years is a whole lot of cards and a lot of fun cardmaking :)
Since I've been uploading cards to the blog for the design team I've ended up with a nice jam packed folder on my PC with all my cards I've made for Daring Cardmakers and I've just been browsing though them and remembering past dares through the cards. It's amazing how much the dares/challenges can make you think up ideas you totally wouldn't have on your own. They help to stretch boundaries of the content of your cards and the materials you're using, well for me they do anyway ;-)
I've picked out my favourite cards from my Daring Cardmakers folder and as I'm currently trying to put together some Christmas holiday cards I'm going to use them as inspiration for the cards I'm currently making. How about you, do you have a favourite set or 'top ten' fave cards you've made for the Daring Cardmakers?
x Leo

In no particular order, (well alphabetical since they're in the PC folder that way) Top 10 Favourite Daring Cardmakers Cards, (well from the last couple of years anyway).

10

Dare to make a 'rocking' card.

9

Dare was to make a card that wasn't Christmas themed but used Christmas stash

8

Dare to make a card featuring another language.

 

7

Dare to make a card inspired by an image on Pinterest

6

Dare to make a card featuring something to do with camping, (I think).

 

5

Dare to make a card featuring goodies from Tea House Bridge.

4

Dare to make a card inspired by Marie Antoinette

 

3

Dare to make a card inspired by Damien Hirst

 

2

Dare was to make a card with at least three natural materials, (feather, wool felt and wood).

 

1

Dare was to use washi tape on a card.