April Challenge at By the Cute and Girly challenge blog and sad Memories

Hi everybody,

The April challenge at By the Cute and Girly is to make a "Cute and Girly" item.  My 2nd make for this month is a tent card using a La Blanche stamp,  Prima Ballerina Blooms, Wild orchid flowers and one of my own handmade charms.  The lacy scrapbook corners are available here.

Then I continued on and made a 2nd, slightly larger version of this card with the addition of one of my vintage butterflies, available here and entered it in the March challenge at Cardznscrapz where it won me a 12 x 12 Graphic45 paper pad!  Boy was I thrilled, especially when the prize arrived just as I was heading out for another painful session with the Dentist.  He almost didnt have to sedate me..........!!!  Here is Version 2...

But...these cards have a hidden function....you can remove the central stamped section and replace it with a photo (5 minutes before Auntie Maisie arrives for tea!) of your choice.  So I have replaced it with a photo that has real memories for me.  It is the last photo taken of my parents together...my mother was a widow a few weeks later and it is the last photo of Dad that I have...the Prima bloom hides the ever-present cigarette in his hand.  It was taken at a flower show.  All the lillies in the background were grown by my mother.  Now I forget how many prizes they won....

I havent got around to scrapbooking the photo yet..its just too much personal sadness but maybe if I made a card with purple tones to display it ...it would be a start!

Now if you have made any items that would fit the "Cute and Girly" challenge theme dont forget to enter them.

Geraldine x

Beach finds and a Happy Mothers Day to all!

Yesterday we went for a walk on the beach at Malahide, Co. Dublin where I spotted a large bit of Driftwood.  You know how much we enjoy beachcombing..... "No", said Himself, "we are not looking for anything today".  I replied, "There is no such state as off duty when it comes to looking for crafty stuff!"  So, of course we found somethings - just look at these lovely pieces of beach glass that I turned into tea-light holders.  They seem to be the bottom parts of jars or glasses and one of them has a lovely fluted design.  The sharp edges have been worn away by the sand and they are safe to handle.

After a good scrub and the addition of some Tea-lights:

Not a bad bit of recycling?  I am entering my sea glass finds in the Sunday Blog Love Linky Party

Happy Mothers Day to all the Mammies out there!

Ger x

April Challenge-Cute & Girly at the Cute and Girly Blog.

Well, its April, month of showers etc etc and you should have seen and heard the lightening and thunder here in Dublin this evening.
Its also time for a new challenge at the Cute and Girly, hosted by Lora who has decided that this month's theme will be Cute and Girly.  Now how easy is that!  Great prizes as usual from Simon Says Stamp, Joanna Sheen, Little Snippets and a My Grafico digi stamp set and 20% an order in store.  Plus a chance to win a Guest DT spot   on the Cute and Girly team.

This month My Grafico gave us some lovely little ballerina digis from Zenware designs and I used them to decorate some little gift boxes which open up like butterfly wings.  I got the template and tutorial for the boxes here and adapted it slightly.

So you have 4 weeks to get your Cute and Girly entry made up and entered.
Rules as follows:
You may enter the challenge as many times as you like, but each entry must be a different craft, eg, 1 card, 1 altered item, 1 knitted item, 1 piece of jewelry, 1 layout etc and you must follow the challenge theme. No backlinking, your entry must be new and never blogged before. Please link directly to your entry, not just to your blog so it is easy for the design team to find. Finally if you don't have a blog, you can upload to an online gallery using the keyword BTCGCUTE or you may email Lora with your entry at lorascards@aol.com (this is only for people who do not have a blog).
For some inspiring makes just pop over to the Blog and see all the Design Team makes for April and get yourself in crafting mode!
Cheers
Ger x

Winner of Blog Candy.....

At long last......






The Winner is ....






Rebekah!

And the runners-up are Aggie Sue and Sabrina!   Now, ladies, I have looked at your blogs and I know all my goodies are going to good crafting homes....so Big Congratulations and Happy Crafting!
I would like to say Thank You All very much to everyone who entered and who mentioned my candy on their blogs.  I also appreciated the lovely comments about my handmade flowers and embellishments.   So watch out for the SUMMER blog candy, folks...


Geraldine x

Scarves and ATCs

A few scarves I made over the past 10 days:

 

The two scarves on the outside were made using Rico Can-Can yarn.  You get the pattern on the ball band and the scarves are really light and airy, ideal for Spring.  The two-tone pink scarf is made with Sirdar Salsa yarn and using the free pattern from the shop.  The blue mix scarf is my own crochet concoction in Sirdar Crofter chunky yarn and uses up a lot of single buttons to make the flower centers.

Now, to get away from yarn natters and back to papercrafts.  Well, I try not to be a one-trick pony!

Three ATCs I made for the March ATC swap on Cardznscrapz.  The theme was "Green" or something "Irish".  The three little frogs are supposed to be hopping over the lily pads made with my Martha Stewart lily punch.

 

Geraldine x (Dont forget the Blog Candy!)

Final make for By the Cute & Girly

Here is my final DT make for this months "Springtime" challenge at By the Cute and Girly challenge blog:

I have covered the canvas with pale green acrylic paint,used a Hero Arts stamp to decorate it.  Then I lined the 6" x 4" wooden picture frame with fabric, added a fabric-covered chipboard bird, some of my own scrappy flowers and glued the frame to the middle of the canvas.  I dont know whether you would call this an altered canvas or an altered frame!

There is still plenty of time left to enter your springtime craft projects for the By the Cute and Girly challenge this month.  For details see HERE

Dont forget to enter my Blog Candy draw - there has been so much interest and great comments on this that I'm thinking of having a runner-up/consolation prize as well....

Geraldine x

Bee Green and Chocolate Card

Happy Patrick's Day to all!   Today I'm concentrating on green makes and stuff suitable for celebrating or present giving.
Here is a little (2" or 50mm in diameter) Paddy's Day Brooch I have made.  It combines all my favourite crafts: Crochet/Jewellery making/Embroidery in the one item.

Now for a card that is a present and that also continues the green theme:   I have adapted the Tea-light card so that it "carries" a bar of Butlers Mint Truffle Chocolate.  The ribbon comes from Poundland; the card from Kanban; the insert paper and sentiment stamp from Papermania; the flowers are my own Scrappy flowers made from machine embroidery left overs!

I would like to enter this in the Tuesday Taggers  "Chocolate Therapy" challengehttp://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.com/2011/03/chocolate-therapy.html
Thats all for today -  dont forget to enter and maybe WIN my blog candy!
Happy Paddy's Day!
Geraldine x