Doing the Docrafts - Goody Bag Done!

So...I set myself a challenge...to use a bit of everything in the September 2011 Docraft Goody Bag . The contents of the bag are here. There were 13 items in the bag-some of them not to my taste at all - so I didn't find it easy.

First up the card above -  I used the text stamp and embossed it on some of the red card. I cut out a Santa from the 'Postage Stamps' and tags and stood him on top of the text. The gold paper and patterned strip were from the paper pack and I used one of the gold brads. That was 5 out of the 13 items used - easy so far!

I'd also like to enter this card into the following challenges:
http://sparklesforumchristmaschallenge.blogspot.com/  Santa
http://christmasblogchallenge.blogspot.com/ Santa Claus is coming to town.

The 'Reason for the Season' toppers were probably my least favourite item in the bag but, strangely, this card is probably my favourite out of these items. I thought they were too brightly coloured and I wanted to get more of an antique look. I dabbed the topper with distress ink, stamped it with a crackle pattern and edged it in Krylon pen. I layered it onto black card, then an alcohol ink background I had leftover and then onto a card blank that I inked and stamped with a text. That brought the total up to 6/13!

These little die cut wreaths were a real challenge - I had not idea what to do with them. Then I decided to stick them back-to-back on a cocktail stick and write on them. They could be used as lables on a plate of sandwiches, or put into a wineglass as a name card. Just don't have any sandwiches or friends with long names! That was the 7th item of the 13.

I enjoyed making this one - my only complaint could be that it was too easy! The decoupage was already die cut and only needed layering with sticky pads. The greeting was ready to stick. I cut a jagged edge on the card and stuck some of the sticky ribbon behind it. If you had a visitor who you'd forgotten to make a Christmas card for, you could whip this up while pretending to make a cup of tea! Greeting, sticky ribbon, decoupage - that's another 3 items and 10/13.

I had a plan for the 'Outline Sticker' tags- I was going to use one as a mask. But when I peeled it off I realised the blank areas were covered with acetate. So I stuck it to some of the patterned paper , trimmed round it, made a hole and- voila- a gift tag. 11/13.

Finally I stamped and embossed the sleigh stamp in gold and used the metallic pencils to colour it in. The stars were from the other pack of outline stickers. So that was the final two items - I had used all 13 ....Docrafts:done!

My Perfect....September

A new academic year. Fresh starts. New diaries. High hopes.

A bit of flattering coverage – foundation for the skin, sleeves for the upper arms.

Free fruit – apples from our trees, blackberries from the hedges. Apple chutney and blackberry pie.

Challenged!- Love Fool

Here's a tag I made for Dragons Dream Tag it On  Roses and Metal challenge. It didn't really turn out as I'd hoped but I think I'll enter it anyway - don't know what else I'd do with it!

Doing the Docrafts - September 2011 Goody Bag

It's arrived!

It’s all about Christmas in this month’s goody bag and , as usual , there are some real hits and some ...er...misses.

Here’s the stuff I’m really pleased with :

...and here's some stuff that I think will come in handy:

...and here's the stuff that I would never normally buy and don't have a clue what to do with.

As usual, my complaint is they're a bit too 'made'.

So, once again, I'll be challenging the My perfect Life Design Team ( that's me!) to Do the Docrafts. The challenge is to use at least a bit of every item in this month's Goody Bag. Check back to see how I get on!

Challenged! - Wedding Menu

I decided to give myself a real challenge and make something for the ‘picture inspiration’ challenge at

Dreamvalley Challenges.

I made a wedding menu, pressing my big shot into service for cutting and embossing; and then coloured with chalk.

So now I’ve got the menu for the wedding, all I need is a venue, a dress....and a groom!

Challenged! - The first Christmas Card for 2011

Not just my first Christmas card this year, but my first Shaker card ever! Do you think icing sugar goes off? Maybe by Christmas the snow will have turned green!

Thank you to http://bah-humbug-christmas.blogspot.com/ for kickstarting my Christmas cardmaking. When I saw their 'sentiment/text' challenge, I remembered the 'softly fell...' stamp and the ideas fell into place.

Challenged! - Metallic Autumn

For this card, I used alcoholic inks to make a background paper, stamped a leaf with Versamark and embossed it with clear EP, with a little copper EP at the edges. I cut out the leaf and then rubbed it over with metallic rub-ons...rubbing it off again , so it was left in the veins of the leaf.

This card is for these challenges:

http://craftuscrazy.blogspot.com/ autumn colours

http://polkadoodle.blogspot.com/  autumn colours

http://thesecretcraftersaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/  clours of  autumn

http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/ metalic

Challenged! - Altered Trash

Look at this Victorian Tonic Powders box I found in Great-Granny’s trunk! The box has a secret, however. Look inside and there are no tonic powders, just the printed packaging of No7 Advanced Hydration Night Cream.

First I undid the box, turned it inside out, and inked it with Hero Vanilla ink. The image of the girl was a Printable Heaven freebie  and I rubbed this with the ink too. I made the words ‘ Tonic Powders’ on the PC and printed them onto Safmat. The flash of the camera shows them up as shiny, but you can hardly see that in real life. I put the image on the top and two sides; the bottom and the other two sides were stamped with a Stampendous stamp.

 I made this box for the following challenges:

http://sugarcreekhollow.blogspot.com/  Trash to Vintage Treasure

http://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html Alter Anything

Challenged! - Birds, Ribbon and Embossing

I think I am weird as I’m not really into ribbon. I hear lots of papercrafters go wild for it but I seem to have accumulated a tangled boxful without even trying. And I actively dislike bows!

Seeing the ‘Ribbon or Lace’ challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges, was the spur I needed to untangle some ribbon and use it up. I layered them and used two! To avoid over-frilliness, I folded the ribbon and secured it with a brad.

The ideas for the rest of the card came from other challenges: birds at Sunday Stampers and embossing  at  http://rainbowladyschallengeblog.blogspot.com/.

Doing the Docrafts - Forever Friends to the Rescue!

At 8pm, I got a text from my childminder asking if it was okay for her to take my son to the party of another child she minds, the following day. It was time for some of the Docrafts Goody Bag stuff to step up to the mark, to make a quick, emergency card.

I had some Forever Friends embossed cards and toppers, that, though cute, were just too ‘made’ for my taste. It seemed a simple case of ‘stick topper to base card and go’ – not usually what I’d want, but ideal right now.

However, I thought I’d experiment with the embossed card to make the embossing stand out. First I tried dtp inking over the whole thing; then- running Versamark pen on the embossed areas and dusting with Mica pigment; then rubbing  gold ink ove the main image : they all looked WRONG. Too ‘homemade’ to go with the topper. And I only had 2 left of the pack of five!

So I just decided to stick with the easy way and all I added was a die cut and embossed scalloped circle, edged with a touch of gold ink. My quick and easy card had taken ages!

Casualties!