MrsBeez

Trio of eggs

Posted on April 10, 2014 by MrsBeez

Today I have a celebratory lunch to look forward to. My colleagues and I always organise an “end of term” meeting so we can plan ahead. However, we believe in mixing business with pleasure and make sure we have a nice lunch whilst we are working. This time of course we shall be celebrating the arrival of our colleague’s grandchild. As it’s the last time we will all see each other before Easter I have made sure I am organised with chocolate goodies and their Easter cards.

I only make a small number of Easter cards and decided to make these all the same. They are a variation the yellow card I shared last week.

I made a base card out of white card, using an egg shaped die to cut it. Then using the same die I cut a whole egg out of blue card, then popped it in an embossing folder.

I’ve used some fabulous brown gingham ribbon and white crochet lace across the centre. Both of these were from one of my Really Reasonable Ribbon Club assortments. I made a little bow from some more of the brown gingham. I love this ribbon and it must have been a very generous piece as I’ve used it lots and still have some left.

To finish I added a couple of little sweetheart blossoms. I dithered over whether to add a sentiment to the outside but in the end stamped it inside.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Faux Book

Posted on April 9, 2014 by MrsBeez

As you know, I live on a permanent countdown to Christmas (259 days, if you’re interested!) however this week I am also counting down the days until my Hels Sheridan workshop. Just 3 more sleeps (eek!) and I’ll be packing up my tweezers, along with the some surprise treats for Mrs S, and catching the train to Harrogate, I can’t wait. In the meantime I have the first of my makes that I will be sharing over at Sunday Stampers where the theme is nature:

This is a little faux vintage book and I saw the technique over at Polly’s Paper Studio where Ginny Nemchak has made a great video to show how it’s done. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to give it a try. I haven’t got it quite right this time, but I now know what to do next time! All the same I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out.

The book isn’t designed to fold, but is intended to decorate other projects. Check out Ginny’s Graphic 45 audition piece to see how fabulous it can look. Now I’ve had a go I want to have a go at making a miniature version. I won’t explain how to make the actual book – check out the video for that, but I’ll tell you how I made the front pages.

I’ve used a piece of ivory card and coloured it with Antique Linen distress ink. The edges have been distress and then I’ve added a little Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain. I stamped a background with a dictionary page stamp – using the third impression so it is very feint.

I stamped the bees and butterflies using Walnut Stain and then stamped on the blots and splodges using Vintage Photo.

The words were printed on the computer using an old typewriter font. The finishing touch was to add the ribbon book mark and a little key.

Once I had photographed this I wondered, as I do, what this might be like if the stamped images, which if this were a real book would be illustrations, might be like in colour. So as I hadn’t made this for anything in particular I thought I’d find out so added some colour using watercolour pencils and a water brush.

Mmm – quite like this. One piece of advice, if you do decide to make a colourful version make sure you do the colouring before you assemble the finished piece!

Thanks for buzzing by.

When a child is born

Posted on April 8, 2014 by MrsBeez

So yesterday I told you I was all set for a meeting at the city farm – well in the event I didn’t end up going. I got an early call from my work colleague to say she couldn’t make it as her daughter had given birth at the weekend. Isn’t that great news?! However, it’s not without a drama and I’ll tell you why. First, her daughter’s baby wasn’t due for another ten weeks (I know!) and second, she lives in London, but was in Manchester at the time. Now I can tell you that the baby was a good weight (just over 3 pounds) and is doing well. They will be taking her back to London in the next couple of days.

Having been taken completely by surprise I had to get a card ready for when I see my colleague on Wednesday:

This uses a lovely image from A Day for Daisies who the Gecko Galz have teamed up with for a cross promotion this month. Be sure to buzz on over and check out some of the beautiful samples made by the rest of the Design Team. There’s also a chance for you to win A Day for Daisies gift pack plus a gift voucher if you enter this month’s customer challenge.

I printed out the image, coloured it in using Promarkers then mounted it on some coordinating card. I added a strip of lace, from my Really Reasonable Ribbon club assortment, down one side.

The background is more card plus some paper from the Gecko Galz Wild Roses paper pack.

The ribbon is seam binding that I’ve coloured with the same Promarkers used to colour in the roses on the dress in the image. Thanks to my Gecko sister Heather for the idea of creating a real bow to apply over the one on the dress.

The rose is one of the vintage wild roses I’ve been making lately – I just coloured it up with Promarkers, so it matched the ribbon, and then added a pearl centre.

The sentiment is from the Darkroom Door All Occasions set. I am linking this up with the current challenge, #92, over at Really Reasonable Ribbon which is flowers or buttons and bows.

Congratulations Sue, you’ll be a fabulous, not to mention glamorous, Granny!

Thanks for buzzing by.

Golden egg and bees

Posted on April 7, 2014 by MrsBeez

Another Monday seems to have whizzed round incredibly quickly. One minute I’m kicking off my heels and relaxing on a Friday evening, next it’s the mad dash to get off to work for a meeting. I’m not entirely sure what happened in between!!

Anyway, it’s time for a new challenge word over at Every Inchie Monday and this week it is gold.

Gold and bees, in my opinion, make great companions. So that was where I started. Firstly some gold heat embossing onto gold card. Because the gold card is quite brassy in tone the stamped and embossed bee looks quite dark. Also, if you’re not careful when heat embossing metallic card it can start to bubble – I decided to let that happen as it created a variation in texture.

The next one is the same gold card, this time dry embossed, rubbed with gold ink and then topped with a little stamped bee.

Finally, something I’ve done before, but not as an inchie, simply gold heat embossing on black card. I’ve used a little gold ink around the edge.

As we are approaching Easter I thought it would be fun to also have a little golden egg. This one was punched from washi tape adhered to card. The background is some vintage newsprint paper, a little strip of washi tape and a few threads of muslin. You’ll see I managed to get the text upside down!

Today’s meeting is taking place at a City Farm and I’m hoping to pick up a clutch of eggs. So it’s out with the heels and on with the wellies!

Thanks for buzzing by.

Good Egg

Posted on April 6, 2014 by MrsBeez

A new challenge starts this week over at Anything But A Card and the theme is an open one entitled “Spring Forward.” With Easter being very late this year, even now it seems a long way off even if chocolate eggs have been in the shops since January, it almost seems too soon to share an Easter project but that’s what I have for you today:

As you know, I can never resist making a miniature scene, as a child I always made little Easter gardens, usually using bits and bobs from the garden and I did the same with my own two sons. I love it that this one here is inside a cardboard egg and, more importantly, that it has real chocolate eggs!!

I used a plain papier mache egg, gave it a coat of pink paint and a sprinkling of chunky glitter so it resembled one constructed out of sugar. On the inside, rather conveniently, it already had little printed flowers. It seemed daft not to utilise those so I simply went over it with a light coat of white gesso. I’ve mounted the egg on a small spool that I painted white and edged with gold pen.

To neaten the edge I added some gold Dresden trim and a gold pipe cleaner.

Inside I’ve arranged some green Icelandic moss and a tiny wooden picket fence. There’s also a glass toadstool.

The chick and the rabbit are both images from the Gecko Galz Beautiful March collage sheet and Hip Hop Easter ephemera set. The chocolate eggs were the perfect size for this project and what a shame that I had to buy a whole big bag just to use the few you see here!!

To top it all off I’ve added some seam binding and a paper flower.

Hope you will have time to share your projects with us at Anything But A Card this month, be sure to buzz over and see what the rest of the Design Team have been up to.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Egg shaped card

Posted on April 5, 2014 by MrsBeez

I love Easter eggs, there’s something about the snap of that shell that you just can’t beat. These days, Easter eggs don’t seem to be as expensive as they once were but I don’t think they live up those that I remember from my childhood. In those days there were surprises and treats inside the egg instead of them being packaged up on the outside sandwiched inside blown plastic. I remember once having an egg that formed the body of a cardboard swan and others that were intricately piped with iced flowers and leaves. The card I am sharing today is a nod towards those sugary confections:

I am sharing this over at City Crafter Challenge Blog for their Easter challenge and also at Really Reasonable Ribbon where the theme is flowers or button with bows.

I used an egg shaped die to cut out the base card the topped it with a piece of embossed yellow card. Across the centre is some gorgeous shimmer satin ribbon and white crochet lace, both of which were from my Really Reasonable Ribbon Club assortments.

I’ve added a bow at one side and then arranged some spring blooms – sweetheart blossoms and daffodils- and leaves.

All around the outside I’ve added some “sugary” dots of rose pink glitter.

The finishing touch is a little paper bee from Anna Griffin. I original planned to use a little bunny but the little bee was to hand so I popped him on just to see what he looked like. Somehow, he finished the card off perfectly and looked so at home I left him where he was!

Thanks for buzzing by.

Tag twosome

Posted on April 4, 2014 by MrsBeez

I have a couple more tags to share with you today, both of which fit very nicely with Sunday Stampers brown theme.

First up is another of my Gecko Galz DT pieces that showcases this months free paper. Be sure to buzz over and pick up yours.

I’ve teamed the paper with a fabulous Gecko Galz butterfly which has been applied to the tag with glue gel to give it some dimension.

The base tag is dark brown card and then I’ve added some stamping to the paper using Walnut Stain distress ink.

To finish it off I’ve added some yellow sweetheart blossoms.

The second tag was really just an excuse to play with inks, stamps and stencils.

Starting with some pale pink card I used Antique Linen distress ink and applied it through a harlequin stencil.

Then I used a floral flourish and used more Antique Linen plus Walnut Stain and Rusty Hinge.

The little fairy is from Tim Holtz Winged Things 1. I stamped her in Walnut stain and then added colour with distress inks – Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed and Worn Lipstick.

The butterflies were stamped and coloured in the same way.

The finishing touches are some very pretty lace trim and a few blooms of organza ribbon trim.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Down with the brown

Posted on April 3, 2014 by MrsBeez

Before I show you today’s project, let me tell you about tomorrow. The organisation I work for is holding its annual Cookathon. This is when we try, through our cooking clubs, to get as many people as possible to cook on the same day. This year, for the first time, we are opening up it up to everyone and there’s a chance to win a prize too. This year’s recipe is a healthy Easy Peasy pizza. If you fancy joining in you can find all the details here. If you decide to join in the fun then do let me know

The new challenge over at Sunday Stampers is “brown.” I got good and inky making this tag:

This tag started life as kraft card and I coloured it by spritzing on yellow, orange and brown Dylusions ink.

Once dry I added stamping and stencilling using distress inks.

The butterfly is the Swallowtail stamp from Stampin’ Up! stamped on cream card using vintage photo. To give it a bit of depth and definition I’ve used a black Stabilo All pencil. The word was printed on my computer. I’ve just downloaded some fabulous typewriter fonts from Da Font.

I’ve used a scrap of leftover music manuscript, from the Teresa Collins paper pack, across the bottom and topped it with some ivory organza rose trim.

To finish it all off I’ve added a scrap of lace and a metal brad.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Easter freebies

Posted on April 2, 2014 by MrsBeez

This month it was my turn to produce some samples using the Gecko Galz April free products. As usual there is a vintage image, a digital image and a paper. I was so excited when I received them and once again it was hard to stop myself from making more and more projects. Today I thought I’d share a couple of these with you:

Both these use the fabulous vintage rabbit image and a beautiful yellow paper that has a honeycomb pattern – just perfect for me. I love how the rabbit is juggling those eggs.

For the card, I glittered the eggs with some Stickles and then layered up the image using brown and deep pink cardstock plus the fabulous paper.

The sentiment is a Darkroom Door stamp and the finishing touch is some beautiful satin ribbon, with a touch of sparkle, from Really Reasonable Ribbon.

The little treat pot is one of my wooden canapé cups that I’ve covered with the free paper and then added some white crochet lace.

I made a little nest inside the pot using some shredded paper and then tucked the image down the back. The image has been completely covered with glitter.

In addition to the little chocolate eggs, which are compulsory, I added a couple of little daffodils.

Now, be sure to buzz over to the Gecko Galz and pick up your freebies – you can also get a sneaky peek of what else I did with them. I’d love to see how you use them too.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Game on!

Posted on April 1, 2014 by MrsBeez

This week’s theme at Every Inchie Monday is “game.” I had lots of ideas for this, including making a miniature Monopoly board and drawing some chess pieces but in the end I chose an easier option!

I used three different images of vintage bingo cards, all of which came from The Gecko Galz, and shrank them down to one inch squares. Then it was simply a question of making a little collage on each one.

This one has a stamped rose, coloured with Promarkers, a tiny punched butterfly and a punched heart. The heart has been coloured with Promarkers, decorated with white pen and I’ve written the word love.

Next up is a little stamped bee, a printed word and a touch of sparkle.

Here I’ve added light touches of stamping and then added a punched butterfly and given it a tiny rosebud for its body.

Finally just in case you are interested to see what a tiny Monopoly board looks like, here is one I reduced in size.

Be sure to buzz over to Every Inchie Monday and check out what everyone else has been up to. In particular, check out Freebird’s entry to see her inspired game board made entirely out of beads.

Thanks for buzzing by.