MrsBeez

Can you blue-ieve it!

Posted on September 6, 2013 by MrsBeez

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Apologies for that dreadful play on words in the title. Today I am sharing a card for this week’s challenge at Papercraft Star. This is the inspiration photo’

And here’s what I came up with:

My default setting wanted to go immediately to something with cupcakes but I’ve been itching to do something along these lines for a while, so decided to scratch that itch!

I used two different paint sample cards and punched out circles and butterflies from different shades of blue. In between the matching butterflies and circle I’ve popped on a punched scallop circle, I felt this replicated the cupcakes in the photo’.

Getting that far was all fine and dandy, but goodness me I faffed around for ages, more so than usual, trying to put the finished card together so I was happy. In the end, simplicity won out and I’m not entirely sure the ribbon brings anything to the party but decided to leave it where it was!

Thanks for buzzing by.

Blue and birds but not bluebirds

Posted on September 5, 2013 by MrsBeez

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Even though we live in a city suburb, and our garden is on the small side, we do get an amazing variety of visiting birdlife. This may be due in part to Mr Beez offering two varieties of bird brunch! Last year we were lucky enough to have two robins build a nest in our rockery. We became surrogate grandparents watching them hop in and out of their hidey hole and prayed they wouldn’t become prey for visiting predators. Our garden is generally bossed by the pigeon posse and a squirrel that frequently over steps the mark but owls, bats, cats and of course foxes also do the rounds.

The theme at City Crafter this week is birds and the colour blue. The Design Team have produced some amazing samples with the most gorgeous images, be sure to buzz over and take a peek. Inspired by their samples I’ve also gone with a vintage feel:

I’ve used two lovely images from The Graphics Fairy, beautiful designer papers from Tim Coffey and My Craft Studio together with plain cardstock to create lots of mats and layers. I’ve inked all the edges with Vintage Photo.

The finishing touches are some ivory crochet lace and some paper flowers.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Sweet Friend

Posted on September 4, 2013 by MrsBeez

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Today I have been recipe writing and testing for my job. Unless you’ve done it, you probably wouldn’t believe what a performance it is. Fortunately, this time I got it right more or less first time. However, when I was doing the actual writing itself, which is very laborious, I got to the last section and my lap top lost all power. It goes without saying that I hadn’t saved it so there was a frustrating half an hour where I struggled to regain power and the suspense of wondering whether my work was still intact. I’m please to tell you it was, but clearly the stress was too much as I ended up eating everything I had cooked – both portions!!

Anyway, on to today’s project which is for this week’s Sunday Stampers challenge “friend”

I realise that this is in a similar vein to many of my other bee pieces, but it’s quite difficult to invent a recipe and a craft project on the same day! I hope this is different enough to retain your interest.

I made the background using a honeycomb embossing folder and some yellow card. Once embossed I inked it with Wild Honey and a smidge of Vintage Photo distress ink, then gave it a coat of crackle paint. Once dry, I stamped on the bees using black Archival. I stamped some matching bees onto beige card, cut them out and glued them over the originals, leaving the wings free. This way, you get all the spindly bits of the bee but don’t have to fuss around cutting them out. Perfect for lazy crafter me. I quite often colour the bees with yellow, but liked the sepia effect of these so left them alone.

I made a little tag out of card and stamped on the words using individual stamps.

I took a bunch of paper roses in yellows and orange and roughed them up a bit with some Vintage Photo distress ink. I also added a bit more vintage photo around the edge of the card. I arranged the roses with some brown punched branches. I used brown, instead of green, for an end of summer/start of autumn feel.

The final touch was a pretty yellow button.

So my sweet friends, this is for you. Thank you for taking the time to buzz by and particularly for taking the trouble to leave a comment. It’s always appreciated.

Night watchman

Posted on September 3, 2013 by MrsBeez

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It’s time to go small again as there is a new word to use as inspiration over at Every Inchie Monday. This week is night watchman. Here’s my take:

Using owls was the first thought that came to mind and it was a perfect excuse to use some delightful images from The Graphics Fairy before Halloween!

The two black owls were copied directly on to card, the others collaged to the background.

I used distress inks – Chipped Sapphire, Seedless Preserves and Broken China for the background, spritzing them with water for a mottled effect.

The moons were punched from cream card and applied to the background. The image below already came with its own moon. This is one of my favourite Graphics Fairy images.

The finishing touch was to add highlights using holographic silver glue pen.

I’m not the only person to have used owls on their inchies, do buzz over to Every Inchie Monday and take a look at what everyone else has been up to.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Last Days of Summer

Posted on September 2, 2013 by MrsBeez

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There’s a new challenge over at Crafty Boots and the theme for the fortnight is Last Days of Summer. Here’s my Design Team card P1050576 :I’ve used a lovely stamp from Chocolate Baroque and coloured it with Promarkers. I then created the background by blending in distress inks – Wild Honey, Worn Lipstick, Scattered Straw and Squeezed Lemonade. Once applied I gave them a spritz of water – this removes some of the ink giving a slightly mottled effect.

I’ve used layers of pink card and some paper from the Gecko Galz Butterfly Meadow collection. In one there’s an arrangement of punched branches and pink sweetheart blossoms.

The finishing touches were a nice pink satin bow and a little butterfly.

Well actually, if you take scale into account, it’s an enormous great giant of butterfly but hey, it looks pretty!

Be sure to buzz on over to Crafty Boots and see what the rest of the Design Team have been up to and we’d love you to share your project with us.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Little Miss Autumn

Posted on September 1, 2013 by MrsBeez

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Pinch and Punch! So September begins and there is already a little autumnal feel in the air. Unusually, given that I live in England, I have been going about my business this summer without coat, waterproof or umbrella for the majority of the time. As my taxi driver in Barnsley commented the other day ” at least it feels like we had a summer,” and I’d have to agree. That said, I don’t mind the approach of Autumn and I even enjoy the nights drawing in!

Today I am sharing a little shadow box to celebrate the start of the meteorological autumn. As soon as I saw this image over at The Graphics Fairy I knew I wanted to use it. This wasn’t originally what I had in mind, but I hope you like it:

This is an altered matchbox. I covered the outside with some seam binding which I had dyed in autumnal colours. I placed a copy of the image in the base of the box and then used some Autumn Flowersoft on the inside edges.

On the bottom I used, surprise, surprise, some moss and added a piece of driftwood. Tucked in amongst the moss are some little golden stamens – they could be berries, nut, acorns or toadstools, you decide! The “miss Autumn” is from the original image.

I made four additional copies of the image and cut out 3 of the tree tops and four of the little girl then used glue gel to decoupage them on top of the original.

I added some Tando chipboard shapes, coloured with distress inks, to frame the box.

On the top I’ve added more ribbon, a bow and a gorgeous sun daisy.

I love this image and you may well see it again, possibly in the project I first thought of!

Thanks for buzzing by.

Buttons

Posted on August 31, 2013 by MrsBeez

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When I was younger, a lot younger, I had a collection of buttons that were kept in a faux porcelain container that once contained Avon body stuff. Family friends would donate buttons and I remember once buying a mixed bag from a junk shop. I used to spend many a happy hour (remember there were no computers in those days) sorting buttons in different ways. There was also something very comforting about running your fingers through a pile of buttons and the noise they make shuffling against each other. Simple pleasures and, happy days!

I was reminded of that collection when making this card:

This is one of my Design Team pieces for the Gecko Galz. The image is a digital stamp from the Sew Cute digi stamp set which I simple printed out and coloured in with Promarkers. I picked out one button, cut it out and then gave it a coat of Diamond Glaze before decoupaging over the original.

The image is layered on black cardstock and then onto a white card. I’ve added some faux stitching around the edge.

I stamped happy birthday on a piece of white card and added more stitching.

I don’t know what happened to my button collection, but I’m sure it would come in handy.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Vintage bling

Posted on August 30, 2013 by MrsBeez

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For those of you who followed my butterfly project to try and raise awareness of (and some money for) Amy and Friends you may interested to see a little video of the adorable little Knox who made the news over in the USA. You can watch it here. If you do, I think you’ll agree he is the cutest little chap. And, if you feel inclined. you can still help me raise money for Amy and Friends without it costing you a penny! All you need to do is simply email geckogalz@yahoo.com and place a vote for my butterfly bottle project which you can see here. The winning entry will receive a donation for their chosen charity, mine being Amy and Friends. There are just two days left to vote and I’d be so pleased if you were able to find the time and so would little Knox.

There is a gorgeous inspiration photo’ his week’s challenge over at Papercraft Star;

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love bling so I’ve been looking forward to participating in this challenge. Here’s what I came up with:

The pink paper, which picks up the deep pink of the cushion, is by Tim Coffey for K and Company. The complimentary paper is by Anna Griffin. I’ve layered them up and then used a beautiful image of a lady with a crown and lot of jewels from The Graphics Fairy.

The camera hasn’t picked up that I have glittered the crown, necklace and dress, using a gel pen.

The top of the card is decorated with an arrangement of coordinating ribbon and flowers.

I didn’t have matching ribbon so ran some Victorian Velvet distress stain over the top of some pink ribbon and it came out a perfect match!

At the bottom of the card I used a strip of ivory crochet lace, some more ribbon and another bow. The finishing touch was, of course, to add some bling.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Gingham and roses

Posted on August 29, 2013 by MrsBeez

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Last week I happened to mention what great partners gingham and strawberries are. Well this week I have discovered another new winning partnership – roses and gingham, which also happens to be the theme over at City Crafter Challenge Blog this week.

I had a long dither over what colour gingham to use, eventually settling on pink. I’ve used some pretty papers from the Gecko Galz Wild Roses paper pack and some leafy green cardstock for contrast. All the papers were edged with some Vintage Photo distress ink. I popped on some white crochet lace and a tucked in a little doily for good measure.

I made a little cluster of ribbon and roses in one corner, popping in some punched green branches. The ribbon is seam binding coloured with Shabby Shutters distress stain and crunched up to give it a vintage feel.

The finishing touches were to make a tiny bouquet from some miniature roses, add a little pink button and the sentiment which was stamped on to a tiny tag.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Being Lazy

Posted on August 28, 2013 by MrsBeez

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Today’s project is one I shall be sharing over at Sunday Stampers where the theme is metal.

You can probably tell that this started life as a scrap piece of corrugated card. I tore off some of the flat covering and then gave it a coat of black acrylic paint. Why black you may wonder? Well, pure laziness as I have a black paint dabber so didn’t need to mess around with a brush. Yes, shameful behaviour! Once dry I added a coat of pink metallic acrylic paint, wiping it off in places to allow the black to show through. Because of the black undercoat the pink ended up looking more purple than pink, but I didn’t mind that. Next, I stencilled some silver texture paste using a distressed diamond stencil from Dylusions. To tone the whole thing down I wiped on some more black paint over the top.

The flowers were created using one of Tim Holtz’ metallic sheets. I used a matching stamp and die set from Heartfelt Creations/Spellbinders. I first stamped the flowers, embossed the sheet, using an M’Bossabilities folder, then using the die to cut out the stamped flowers. It turned out I needn’t have stamped the flowers first as this became lost once the sheet was, but hey if you don’t try, you don’t learn. I have to say flowers were stunning, but very bright and shiny. I decided to colour them with some Vintaj alcohol inks in pink and purple then immediately wished I hadn’t! To try and correct my mistake, and again because I was being lazy and didn’t want to start all over again, I sanded the top of the flowers to reveal some of the silver and also added a touch of black paint. Now I like how these ended up, but I don’t love them as much as the original silver.

The bee was stamped onto some white muslin which I had frayed. I used watered down PVA to apply, adding a coat over the top. I couldn’t resist giving the bee a little crown.

The words were cut from a digital image that I have.The finishing touches were to add a couple of matching buttons and some seam binding.

I do like how this turned out but equally I would like to go back to the beginning and make one that was almost all silver, or as they would say in Sheffield, “I’d like to mek it reet shiny!” But do you know what? Today, I’m feeling just too lazy Thanks for buzzing by.