Retirement Exploding Box

I must get back to posting more frequently.  At least I have a backlog of makes to include in future posts! I suppose it has been the garden that has occupied most of my time of late.



I made this exploding box for a friend and ex colleague who retired this summer.  She is moving to Spain so she is making huge changes to her life.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the Rennie Mackintosh Rose designs ( files purchased from Silhouette America)

 
 


I have long admired the designs of Mackintosh and own a couple of his style in stamps.  I also own the computer font.  I used this include some quotes that I felt that were relevant to her situation.
 







I used white card to cut the files and then used Promarkers to colour - so much quicker than using different colours of card. The base card is textured with a gold sheen.

 Since I took these photos, I have added a thin strip of black card to the sides of the lid. This made a much neater finish.

 

Favourite Stamp - Sweet Stampin Challenge

I came across the "new to me" Sweet Stampin Challenge blog a couple of days ago and the challenge this week is to chose a favourite stamp.  Well, I just had to join in and I make no apologies for using my favourite of the moment - Daisy.  Three post in a row....in danger of becoming boring I know....but I will lay it aside for a while before using it to post again.  I had wondered about linking my most recent post but thought that it might break the rules.  It also gave me the excuse to use it again.

I decided to make a gift bag similar to the one that I made at a class a couple of weeks ago with Erika Gunter.  (I posted this previously) I used a rectangular shaped die for the basic bag shape and then another square shaped die for the image and mount.

The image was coloured using Promarkers and I added accents of glitter to the flowers with Stickles. Dies - Labels Eight, Labels One and Standard Circles - (for the handle cutout)

Promarker Class with Debbi

 My Friend Susy and I attended a class at The Papeterie in Aberdeen today with Debbi Glennie. She is such a master of all things Letraset and we had decided that we needed a little more confidence when putting pen to paper with our Promarkers.

We were not disappointed.  What a lovely way to spend a couple of hours.  Tuition, great company, a sharing of knowledge with a little crafty gossip thrown in.  Who could ask for more on a Saturday afternoon?

Here are my efforts. 

The first image was stamped in  a light (forgotten colour) shade of Momento inkpad and the second was stamped in black. I found it quite tricky to keep with in the lines of the light coloured stamping.  Debbi says that success is due to practice (something that I have said thousands of times as a teacher) but I was a little annoyed with myself for not achieving perfection at the first attempt!

This close up view tells me that I need to go back over this to blend the bottom of the fringe.  Confession time - The second image was meant to be wholly coloured with greys.  I absentmindedly picked up the browns - told you we were chatting a lot!  However, I embraced my mistake and added a little accent of red on the heart hairslide. See - another one of those "mistakes" that  turn out to be "happy accidents".

So, for me, the class was a great success because I am now determined to "practise" to achieve "perfection". 

Craft Class

Went to the monthly craft class at friend, Susy's, tonight. Lots of conversation as well as crafting! Most of us are employed in education and as I work with schools in the area of ICT, I was told of a number of problems that they are presently experiencing with computers in their schools. I was happy to take notes (in between glueing, sticking and colouring) so that I could try and get their issues resolved. I really don't mind working after hours!! No... honestly I don't. It reminded me that those working in education eat, sleep and craft their job!


Anyway, here are two of the three cards that we made. I usually photograph in daylight but, as it was dark when I got home, I used my craft light to take the pictures.

I just love the masking technique.

The second card used a stamp from Sheila Douglass. I almost squealed when I saw it as I have been coveting it for ages.

I used Promarkers to colour. There was a third rhinestone but it fell off on the journey home. It might be in the car.

OLW 39 Challenge

I struggled a bit with this week's One Layer Wednesday Challenge. The requirements are to use a border stamp, an image, some bling and no sentiment.


I chose the the monkey image first then couldn't find a border stamp to match. My solution was to create one myself with a single leaf and using masking to give a continuous line.


I coloured using Promarkers but had a wobble when I couldn't see where to fit the "bling" ( an unusual problem for me!!) I added the butterfly purely so that I could use some acrylic gems for the body.

Resources:
Stamps- Stampabilities, lil' Monkey ; butterfly - Dawn Bibby Designs.
Promarkers

Sugarbowl challenge 39

I have made changes to yesterday's card and I am much happier with it now. I toyed with the idea of adding a flower or two or a sentiment but didn't want to lose the symmetry of the background. I will submit it to the Sugarbowl Challenge 39.

Feeling my way

Have spent a lot of today playing with the blog - trying things out and generally feeling my way around this part of Blogland. I thought that I should stop and upload some more pictures of my cards.




I purchased the digistamp from Mo's Digital Pencil Shop. The image is called Rae with Journal and I bought it because of her boots. These are my earliest attempts at using Promarkers. I think that hair is going to be my biggest challenge. I used Martha Stewart's Punch Around the Page punches to define the background paper on the first two cards.