MrsBeez

Moon gazing hare

Posted on April 23, 2014 by MrsBeez

Today I have a card that uses another of those fabulous images from The Gecko Galz Charming Silhouettes collection.

What I particularly love about this one is all the stars that are nestled amongst the leaves of the tree. I’ve printed the image and then coloured the background using distress inks.

I’ve added highlights using a white pen and then layered the image onto some silver glitter card.

I’ve added some seam binding that has been coloured with the same distress inks.

A little cluster of punched stars and the stamped sentiment are the finishing touches.

Don’t forget, if you’re using sparkle in your projects you still have time to share them with us over at Crafty Boots Challenges.

Thanks for buzzing by.

So today sees me back in the routine having thoroughly enjoyed the four day weekend. How about you? Most of my working weeks are hectic and sometimes they are full of things that I’m not looking forward to. This week sees a combination of both! When I find I have one of those weeks ahead it’s important to have something fun to focus on to help see me through. This week I have just the thing:

Yep, one of my favourite sweet treats – macaroons from Betty’s. Aren’t they pretty? Almost too good to eat, but that is definitely not an option. These landed unexpectedly on my doorstep yesterday, courtesy of my cousin. I’ve decided to treat myself to a couple each day (well of course I’m not sharing them!!!) that way I have something to look forward to and they will last a little longer, which has to be better for my waistline.

I may not be willing to share my macaroons but I will share one of my Gecko Galz projects with you:

This is an old preserving jar that I’ve turned into a fairy lantern using paper and a silhouette image from the Gecko Galz. The paper is from By the Shore and the image from Silhouette Stamps. This is the same combination that I used for the card I shared last week.

See how these two sets were born to go together?

I used Microsoft Word to combine the image and the paper, first removing the background so that the coloured paper would show through. I actually used three images so they go all around the jar. I’ve used double sided tape to stick the paper to the jar. Then added some of my favourite organza rose trim around the top.

I used distress stains and inks to colour some seam binding and tied it around the neck of the jar.

This gives a lovely warm glow when it is lit, but it’s hard to capture that on film!

I quite fancy making a set of these in different colours. Just need to get my hands on some more jars!

Thanks for buzzing by.

Hot, hot, hot!

Posted on April 21, 2014 by MrsBeez

Hope you are enjoying your long weekend and with Easter being late this year here in the UK we don’t have to wait too long until the next one! In fact I realised that I am not working a full week for the next three weeks Anyway, it is Monday and so, of course, it’s time for a new word over at Every Inchie Monday. As you can probably guess from the title of this post the word is “hot,” and as you will see my mind went two ways for this one!

First up is the sun. I’ve used a vintage digital image and coloured it with Promarkers and then made a little tropical scene which has also been coloured with Promarkers.

Of late I have had a yearning to go somewhere with palm trees, clear blue skies and plenty of sunshine. As that’s not happening any time soon I will have to make do with my inchie!

My second pair of inchies reflect my love of food.

Because of the time of year, hot cross bun came to mind.

My other inchie is possibly a little difficult to see but it is in fact a Hot Dog.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Happy Easter

Posted on April 20, 2014 by MrsBeez

A very Happy Easter to you all. Just a quick post today as obviously there is some serious chocolate eating to be done! Appropriately I have two final Easter cards to share, both of which were made using papers and images from The Gecko Galz.

First is this adorable bunny who, to me, looks like he might be made of chocolate! Add to that the glittered sweetheart blossoms, which remind me of crystallised violets, and the whole thing seems very edible!

I’ve used some vibrant yellow ribbon to complete the look.

The papers are from the Solarium Paper pack and the image from Hip Hop Easter.

Next up is the card I made for Mr Beez.

Guess who this romantic couple are meant to be?!

I’ve used layers of paper from the Solarium paper pack, inked the edges and topped it all off with the cute image from Hip Hop Easter. Digitally, working in Microsoft Word, I layered the image on to some more of the paper and added in a shadow before printing off.

I used brown gingham ribbon, from Really Reasonable Ribbon, some twine and a button to complete the look.

I hope you have a lovely day and thanks for buzzing by.

Easter balloon ride

Posted on April 19, 2014 by MrsBeez

Good morning and how are you enjoying your long weekend? I finally managed to get my house cleaned up and decorated for the Easter weekend plus I also had a little baking session. Chocolate nest cakes are an essential requirement in my household! Today, appropriately, I have an Easter card to share with you:

I am sharing this over at City Crafter Challenge Blog where the theme is to use a hot air balloon or balloon. I just happened to find these cute vintage image over at The Graphics Fairy and couldn’t believe my luck that it happened to be an Easter one!

I’ve used lots of layers on this card – coordinating blue cardstock, music manuscript, and three different designer papers plus a doily.

The pretty primrose ribbon is from my Really Reasonable Ribbon Club selection for this month and picks up the colour of the chicks beautifully.

I’ve added some sweetheart blossoms and some glitter to finish it all off. I am also sharing this card over at really Reasonable Ribbon for Challenge #93 which is monochromatic colour and ribbon – one main colour (blue), a touch of another colour (yellow) plus neutrals.

Once I’d finished this I loved the colours so much I decided to make a coordinating tag.

I die cut the card and embossed it using a dots folder. I used additional images from The Graphics Fairy, a gorgeous vintage egg and a cute little chick, plus some blue ribbon with a silver trim, from Really Reasonable Ribbon.

One Easter, one of my uncles decided to buy some chicks. He bought enough so that each cousin had one that they could name. There were six of us at the time (we later became 11!) and I called mine Mary which was my mother’s middle name. I can remember how cute they all were and how they were kept in the boiler room, where we could go and stroke them, until they were hardy enough to go outside. I also remember being slightly disappointed when, on the next visit, they had turned into proper hens even if we did get to have the eggs for tea!

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Thanks for buzzing by.

Flame colours take 2

Posted on April 18, 2014 by MrsBeez

Another double act today and a variation on yesterday’s post using flame colours. Once again I will be sharing both of these over at Sunday Stampers for this week’s challenge.

Once again I’ve used distress inks for the background – Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Festive Berries. I used the script stamp and Rusty Hinge to add some detail to the background.

The butterfly (Swallowtail from Stampin’ Up!) and the flowery branches were stamped in black Archival.

And yes, they’re back, I’ve used one of my favourite Darkroom Door String Inspiration stamps!

The next card is a little stamped composition:

I’ve used the same inks as before but substituted Festive Berries for Shabby Shutters. The toadstools, house and leaves are all Dylusions. I’ve paper pieced the house and leaves and coloured them, and the caps of the toadstools, with Promarkers.

The coils and daisies are Stampotique stamps and the grass is from a Hero Arts clear set. White gel pen was used to colour in the daisies and the toadstools’ spots.

The sentiment…well, what can I say – but it has been a while! As well as sharing this particular card over at Sunday Stampers I am also linking it up, right at the wire, for the That’s Crafty! “You spin me round” challenge and at Craft Hoarders Anonymous for challenge #5 which is to use a stamp.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Flaming dragonflies

Posted on April 17, 2014 by MrsBeez

I have two cards to share with you today which are both variations on a theme:

Both were made more or less in the same way. to the background.

On the second card I used then used a small dots stencil and added applied more ink through it.

The images were stamped using black Archival and I added a spot of clear glitter glue to the dragonflies’ wings.

On the square card I added white highlights with a gel pen – I can’t help myself.

I used the same sentiment stamp, from Stampin’ Up! on both cards.

I am sharing both these cards over at Sunday Stampers where the theme is to use flame colours also over at That’s Crafty for their challenge which requires you to use circles.

Here’s to the long weekend

Eggs, eggs and more eggs!

Posted on April 16, 2014 by MrsBeez

Having spent all day at a crafting workshop on Saturday I decided it would be mean to do any at all on Sunday. However, I went upstairs to print some bits and bobs and whilst I was there I thought, I’ll just cut a few more Easter cards. Do you ever do that? Think you’ll just do one more job so that you’ve made a start? Well after I had cut the base cards I thought I’ll just cut the card fronts…and emboss them.. and whilst the Big Shot is out I’ll cut the bunnies…and so it continued until, before I knew it all the cards were completed!! So here is my final batch of Easter cards for this year:

The advantage of making them all very similar is that you do get a production line going and it does mean that they get made more quickly.

For me, the disadvantage is that as these are all slightly different I still have that dilemma of who to give each card to. Although each one was made with a specific person in mind, as they were completed I started to change my mind.

Each card was cut from a regular A6 card using an egg shaped die, making sure that on the right-hand side a hinge was left. This is done by making sure the edge of the die is over the edge of the folded card and not inside it. Next, I used the same die to cut a complete egg shape out of pastel coloured card and then ran the cut shape through an embossing folder. I applied the strip of ribbon across the centre, folding it around the back and then adhered the whole thing to the base card. Then it was just a question of making a matching bow and adding flowers, punched leaves and a die cut bunny.

For this card I die cut some crosses and decorated with punched blossoms and gold glitter glue.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Getting ahead

Posted on April 15, 2014 by MrsBeez

“Head” is the new challenge word over at Every Inchie Monday. I would have loved to have done something with a phrenology head but instead opted to do these instead:

I was inspired by my friend Dionne who did two beautiful sets of ATCs using the Prima Doll stamps by Julie Nutting, one with heads and the other “tails.” I decided to take her idea one step further, and smaller, for these. I wasn’t sure if the head would be the right size but it’s almost perfect.

I’ve used book pages and paper piecing plus some words that were printed on my computer.

In addition I’ve popped some embellishments just to finish them off.

These are much cuter than phrenology heads and as I have had this stamp sitting in my stash since before Christmas I’m very happy to have finally had the chance to break open the packaging!

Thanks for buzzing by.

Twighlight fairies

Posted on April 14, 2014 by MrsBeez

Time for a new challenge over at Crafty Boots and the theme for the next fortnight, chosen by my lovely friend Dionne, is sparkle. Be sure to pay her a visit and check out the stunning box card she has made.

I am sharing a card that I made as on of my DT samples for The Gecko Galz using one of the fabulous new releases for April.

This fabulous fairy image is from the Charming Silhouettes stamp set. I had to stop myself from using every image in this collection as they are all stunning.

I manipulated the image in Microsoft Word so the background was transparent and then layered it on to some paper, from the By the Shore paper collection, before printing it off . By the Shore is the perfect partner the silhouette stamp set.. I’ve used some more of the same paper to create a mat.

The sparkly ribbon is shimmer satin from Really Reasonable Ribbon and I’ve topped off the bow with a sweetheart blossom.

The glitter is Icicle Stickles which I dabbed on with my finger. It’s a clear glitter glue so it picks up some of the colour from underneath.

I hope you’ll have time to share your sparkly creations with us all at Crafty Boots Challenges over the next fortnight and do buzz over and take a look at what the rest of the DT have created.

Thanks for buzzing by.