Crabby Birthday

I've had to wait to post this until it was received by the receivee! It's her birthday today. Many happies, Lisa! So that means her birthday falls under Cancer, the Crab, astrologically-speaking. Obvs. Personally, I'm not into star signs and other mystical things, but I do find that the supposed characteristics of people born under certain 'signs' seem to be spookily accurate. Any road up, back to the craft stuff...

The background was made using a 'smoosh with acetate' technique that I saw on Hochanda a few weeks ago by Julie Hickey of Craftwork Cards. (TIP: Cut your smooshing acetate into a random shape, so that you don't get straight edges on your splodges. Unless you want them, of course.) 

I used Distress Oxide inks - Salty Ocean and Fossilised Amber.

The word panel is just a mocked-up dictionary definition, slightly raised on recycled cardboard (instead of foam pads). The sentiment was computer-generated, as well. Bit of gold thread wrapped around the front, and a shell from a boxful I bought some years ago. (I know better now.)

The beautiful crab image is one from a collection of images Lisa sent me for my birthday, and this one is by Art by Marlene. I coloured it with Koh-I-Noor pencils and used Zest-It oil and paper stumps to blend. I used a little bit of Stickles to add a tiny bit o' bling, and dots of white gel pen on the eyes, then fussy-cut it out. It is also raised on recycled cardboard. (It's my thing, now.)

The Tide Recedes

This is one of those cards that brings mixed feelings; it's the kind you dread having to make, but enjoy the challenge of trying to convey depth of meaning, the sadness at the passing of the person and beauty without ostentation to respect the dignity of the receiver. But you're never sure if you achieved all that.

I created the wording on my computer, using two text boxes so I could have the large letter at the beginning, and used a black fine-tip pen to fill in the parts of the 'T' that were missing because of the overlap of the other text box.

The poem is 'The Tide Recedes', as follows:

The tide recedes, but leaves behind bright seashells on the sand.

The sun goes down, but gentle warmth still lingers on the land.

The music stops, yet echoes on in sweet refrains.

For every joy that's lost, something beautiful remains.

~ Author unknown

The shells stamp was a lucky find. It's a cheap, foam-backed stamp that was part of a set of wildlife stamps from many years ago. I stamped it in black Versafine, then coloured it with diluted grey from a combination of inks and added some fine Glamour Dust from Decoart for just a touch of bling to echo the 'bright sunshells' line. I blended some 'Cool Grey' ink from Versacraft around the edges, and added some silver/grey sequins.

The rest of the poem is printed on the inside fly-leaf of the insert.

 

Inspire Create Shells

An A6 (4" x 6") card.. navy blue panel, some glitter paper and shells stamped with Kaleidocolor for the blue ombré effect. The white panel is raised on low profile 3D foam pads. The dotty circles are Fontwerks stamps, inked and embossed in silver, and the metal word embellishments were from Making Memories.

Suitable for those mysterious creatures otherwise known as men, yes?

Fishers of Men

MATTHEW 4:18-20

And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, 

Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, 

casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 

Then He said to them, 

“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 

They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

I made this some years ago, but I still love it. The scripture at the top shows what inspired it. I think the components in the design are pretty obvious. I twisted the fish out of silver beading wire, and to achieve the graduated colour on the shells, I used a Kaleidocolor ink pad. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Tropical Beach

Made for a friend a few years ago using a recycled brochure photo, mounted on some holographic silver card, just showing, then layered onto crisp, white card, raised on 3D foam pads. Gina's name was computer-generated and printed on the card before adding any embellishments. Seashells were stamped using the shades of blue from a Kaleidocolour ink pad.

Sad Christmas

Doesn't look much like Christmas, I know, but this is just me marking my own losses, and thinking of all those who are grieving the loss of loved ones which always comes into much sharper focus and hurts more at this time of year, and we miss the people we've loved who are now physically absent from our lives, even more than we might at other times.

The tide recedes, but leaves behind

bright seashells on the sand.

The sun goes down, but gentle warmth

still lingers on the land.

The music stops, and yet it echoes on

in sweet refrains.

For every joy that passes,

something beautiful remains.

~ Author unknown ~

I love this poem, and it lends itself so beautifully to this purpose. The first two lines are printed on the front, and the rest of the poem on the inside front of the insert. It's a very quick and simple design, with the shells stamped on a piece of crisp, white card using graduated blues from a Kaleidocolor inkpad and then painted with iridescent Craft Planet glitter glue. The panel is then simply mounted on foam pads.

Sending all of you big hugs, as you remember people you've lost. xxx

Down By The Sea

The main components in this one are a Sizzix seahorse (a medium Bigz-type die, although they didn't call them Bigz back then, and they came in three sizes, small (green), medium (yellow) and large (red)), and one of my favourite stamps from Stampland Chicago.

This is the stamp. I prefer to think of her as a mermaid than a naked lady! I did try to cover her modesty in the card above, but here she is in all her splendour here...

Stampland Chicago, 'Swept Away'. Ref: swept-away-41-42-39

Is there anybody there?

Hello, you lovely lot.. That's if there is anyone out there in blogland!

My last post on here was over two years ago. Unbelievable! It is my intention to pay a bit more attention and I hereby make a new resolution to post at LEAST once a week! That feels scary to type out loud! ;-)

Old friends may notice some changes to the blog.. name, etc. Wanting to attempt to tie-up all my craft-related 'bits' on the net. I will be working on things over the coming weeks, like checking that all the links in my sidebar are still current, so please bear with me.

Quick personal update:

Once again, the hazards of working on a contract basis is that they can end without the next contract being secured, and I am again 'between contracts'. After several months looking for jobs and not getting interviews, I asked the Jobcentre about selling cards, and they said as long as I don't exceed 16 hours work a week, and declare my sales, it will be OK. We'll see. I'm going to just put a toe in the water and see if anything sells, but the jobsearch will remain my biggest focus.

Yorkshireman and I did not manage to recover things, so single again, but HAPPY that way! ;-)

Lost my lovely mum last year in February, and my precious Tigger in November.

Moved to Nottinghamshire end of March this year.

That's it in a nutshell.

Hope you are all OK and doing well. I look forward to catching up with you, bit by bit. I'm glad to be back. :-)

I hope to have some fresh cards to share with you soon. Meanwhile, here's one you won't have seen before on here...

Down By The Sea..

This was inspired by a DCM (Daring Card Makers) Challenge, but - as is often the case with only having limited time outside of work hours - I rarely get chance to complete a challenge on time! lol ~ Oh well. Still waiting to come up on the lottery! ;o)

I love all things nautical, so couldn't let this one slip by, and this is one of my favourite stamps, too, but rarely have the opportunity to use it.


Stamp by Stampland Chicago (great site.. loads of fantastic stamps! Go HERE to see for yourself).. plus Doodlebug rub-on lettering, Sizzix seahorse and part of a Sizzix scrolly border-type thing! And various embellishments and glamour dust.

This was one of those cards I started and hated for most of the time I was making it and almost scrapped it, but kept adding bits, and now I love it! I think the white dotty doodling was a mistake, though. Anyway, my lovelies.. hope you like it, too.

The tide recedes..

Sadly, I have had occasion to make a sympathy card for someone I work with who lost their mum last week. I would be in bits, I know, so my heart breaks for her.

I love this poem, and it lends itself so beautifully to this purpose. The first two lines are printed on the front, and the rest of the poem on the inside front of the insert. It's a very quick and simple design, with the shells stamped on a piece of the same crisp, white card (from http://www.madaboutcards.com/), using graduated blues from a Kaleidocolor inkpad and then painted with iridescent Craft Planet glitter glue. The panel is then simply mounted on foam pads.

The tide recedes, but leaves behind

bright seashells on the sand.

The sun goes down, but gentle warmth

still lingers on the land.

The music stops, and yet it echoes on

in sweet refrains...

For every joy that passes,

something beautiful remains.

~ Author unknown ~

Hugs,