"In the Garden"

This week onPaperplay Challenges the challenge is

"In the Garden" so here is my entry:

It is a layout featuring an old photo of my Dad and one of my parents prizewinning standard fuchsias.  I gather the photo was taken by a police photographer when he was off duty!!  (Don't ask but Dad was a Garda/policeman...).  What I remember was the effort of getting these plants into the car and off to the various flower shows.  Remember this was the 70's and long before the days of the people-carrier...  If the fuchsias didnt like what was going on then they dropped all their flower buds!..Anyway it brings back a lot of memories..

The backing paper is Basic Grey Kioshi, the twine is from my shed, I made the flower and the watering can embellies.

Geraldine

By the Cute and Girly - "Things with Wings"

Here is my final DT make for the BTC&G July "Things with Wings"  challenge.

It is an altered cork pin board (A4) size that I covered with DCWV Mariposa paper and decorated with glittery butterflies and dragonflies cut from the same paper pack.  I tried to jazz up the pins by covering them in Stickles glitter glue but that didnt really work and I hadnt the patience to fish out some paint....

I think this qualifies for this weeks Paperplay Challenges "Things with Wings"  and Flutterby Wednesday's "Open" challenge.

The BTC&G challenge runs until the end of the month so you have about 12 days to enter your winged creations (angels/fairies/birds.....) with a chance of winning some lovely crafty goodies. 

My Blog Candy is ongoing until 14 August!

Ger x

Blog Candy....and introducing 2 new Little Snippets DT members!

Hi Everybody,

Time for some summer blog candy!  Take a look at the hot, tropical colours and the delicious items up for grabs...

Candy consists of a bumper pack of Little Snippets embellies in summer colours, lots of ribbon, a Graphic 45 On the Boardwalk paper pack and a tin of candy.  You can alter/decorate the empty tin as you wish!  To enter just leave a comment naming your favourite item from my Etsy shop. It would be nice if you could post about this candy on your blog.....The winner will be drawn on August 14th.
The reason for the Candy? To introduce two new members of the Little Snippets design team - the outstandingly talented ladies Lora and Aideen.   Here is one of Lora's cards and a bookmark using a Little Snippets butterfly

To see more of her cards please visit her Blog here and enjoy some inspiration.
I am so lucky to have Aideen agree to come on board.  She is well known for her Altered Items and general crafting skills.  Just look at what she has done with a Tim Holtz configurations box:

  

Isnt it amazing?  Aideen has used one of my Little Mermaids and various shell appliques from my shop. To see more details of this Box click here.  Be sure to check out her Blog here especially her Steampunk mini-album which is incredible!

It will be great fun seeing what Dianne, Lora and Aideen produce with my snippets.  I really appreciate the time and effort they have put into their creations and they have inspired me to carry on producing and crafting.

Dont forget to pick your favourite Snippet and enter the Blog Candy!

Geraldine x

Cards n Craft combo

Usually when I'm making a card I try to use embellishments I've made myself to give a more personal feel to the card. Sometimes this might result in a slightly overdone weird card but at least its different!

This card combines several different crafts: embroidery, crochet, stamping (with chalking) and a bit of jewellery-making.
The background is made with a Hero Arts block stamp using Versamark ink and chalking.  The Lace mat is a crochet doiley I made; the lace corners are my own Snippets available here while the beautiful cameo comes from Irish Findings Etsy shop The little bead dangle is made from my recycled jewellery stash.

This card fits several challenges...
Craftyindividuals use Cream+Brown+Pink
Moving along with the Times "Favourite Things"  one of my favourite things is Lace!
Oldiebutagoldie No 23 Lace and Ribbon (ribbon flowers and the stamp is one I have had since 2008)
The Crafty Pad - "Lots of Texture"

So go on why not try making an embellie and adding it to your crafty projects?
Geraldine x

Weddings, weddings...

 Must be something in the air, 'cause July has been a great month for weddings. Here are 2 cards and some weddingy bits I made recently.

 Card made using an assortment of MS punches and featuring the Swirly Butterfly from my Etsy shop.
Close-up of Swirly Butterfly from my Etsy shop.  This butterfly is available in 2 sizes and 6 colours.

 Another wedding card made using the Evening Gown from my Etsy shop.  I would like to enter this card in the Creative Inspirations
No flowers allowed challenge No 120.  If you look closely you will see that there are no flowers just butterflies on this card!

A collection of table sprinkles that I made for a wedding recently.  I used the Tim Holtz 3 D flower die and the Marianne Chinese rose die.  The colours, ivory, gold, silver and teal might seem odd but they were the colours I was asked to make the flowers in!

Hope you are all having a good summer!

Geraldine x

ATC card holder

Today while I was blog-wandering I saw Kate's blog here with her design for an ATC (artists trading card) holder to hold 3 cards.  It is a beautiful piece of work and it got me thinking.  I hosted the June ATC swap over at Cardznscrapz and was just going to post out the cards when I decided to make a little holder for the swap cards.  Each swapper was going to get 3 or 4 cards on the theme of travel and I made up a little 4 card holder for each one:

The outside of the card holder looks just like a bag-shaped card.  The hole for your hand was cut with a long rectangle Nestability.

 The inside of the holder opened out  flat to show the pockets for the ATCs.  I sewed the card rather than gluing it.

Close up of one side of holder (inside).  This was a great way to use up bits of card and paper.  If I had more time I'd have decorated the outside a bit more.  Its not as pretty as Kate's but it will keep the Atcs together while they are travelling. The holder fitted into an A5 envelope no trouble.  If anyone would like to try this and wants to know the measurements etc just let me know in the comments section.
Ger x

July's Challenge - Wings - at By the Cute and Girly.

Well, we are now in the middle of Summer and its time for a new challenge at By the Cute and Girly.  Hanna, our July host, has chosen "Something with Wings" as the month's theme.  You can use a bird, butterfly,bee, fairy, angel, dragonfly.....anything with wings on your project.  To see the rules, prizes (from Simon Says Stamp, Joanna Sheen and Digital Delights) and the Design Team makes just click here  You have a whole month to make your winged entry and you can enter more than once with a different craft each time.

For my 1st make I used two of the sponsor, Digital Delights, images: Sitting Honeypot Larry and Bizzy Bear to make a little wallhanging for the kitchen.  The template for the beehive is in the current Magnolia magazine.
The bees, flowers and sun are my own embroidered snippets.
Combining two digis and playing around with the sizing was great fun - I removed the flowerpot that Larry was sitting on but you can see the full digi in some of the other DT makes.
I am entering this wallhanging in the
Sentimental Sundays challenge Anything Goes
Allsorts Free and Easy July

Geraldine x