A Real Challenge

So, the challenge at Crafty Cardmakers this time around is to do something that challenges you. To use something you've bought and then consigned to a drawer or cupboard where it hasn't seen the light of day. Well, there are a few of those - I'm thinking specifically of some collage stamps I have, but in truth I have used those - just now the way I expected to. So, what haven't I used at all?

Well, in Hobbycraft a while ago, they had reduced a thing called a 'wire designer' and I really liked the idea of making wire patterns to add to cards, so I splashed out and bought it, along with a selection of beautiful, jewel-toned wires. There were some patterns supplied with the designer, but every time I tried one it was a complete failure. It's about that time that I consigned it to my bedroom - where things I don't use so often tend to be put.

Anyway, after considering this challenge for a while, I managed to find the various bits I'd need and tried the supplied patterns again. I wasn't any more successful than before, so I had a play on my own and came up with a basic flower shape that seemed to work. Four more and some freehand writing later, I came up with this:



I've also used my trusty Wizard to cut my layers and a tag, and all have been textured using a Spellbinders Impressability. I love the way you can emboss the die shape at the same time as you get the texture with these - it looks so much more 'finished' as a result. I attached the flowers and word to the card using a few single stitches and anchored the thread on the back with standard sticky tape.

I've also come away from my comfort zone as far as colours are concerned. I looked at the colour wheel and decided that since my flowers fell into the red/red violet/violet area of the wheel, I should go for a contrast and went for a green for the background then matted that onto some very dark purple, green again, and then found some paper I've had forever which is a rose pattern with dark green and dark purple. It's not a colourscheme I've tried before - not that I've got a problem with green and purple - it's just that I'd normally stick to pastel shades and not go so dark. I was really quite pleased with the result, and can definitely see me using something similar again - especially the greeting. It looks better (to me) than hand-written, but you can basically do whatever you want to which is quite liberating!

Google Chrome

Seeing as Blogger is part of the Google empire, you'd have thought that Google Chrome would work well with it. Well, I switched to Chrome as my main browser a couple of weeks ago, and since then, I've had a major headache trying to blog. Every time I try to link something, and even when I upload a photo (and Blogger does the HTML for that) the HTML gets impossibly mangled. And when I try to fix it, it changes my fixes to something else that doesn't work. Looks like I'm back to Firefox for Blogger!

Cherry Blossom

This gorgeous image is from Fred she Said. I just love everything about it. I've coloured it with the inevitable Promarkers, and the backing paper is made using some of the FSS blossom coloured on the computer using colours chosen from my Promarker colour chart. The flowers are made using a couple of punches and the card again coloured with Promarkers, as is the 'pearl' used as a centre each time.

I'd like to enter the card for the current Fred she Said challenge which is to use pastel colours to create a Spring card.

Another White Rabbit

But a different one this time!



The image is from Mo Manning, and despite my reluctance to use animal pictures, I think it'll become a favourite for all those reasons you might want to say 'Sorry!' - whether it's a belated birthday or someone being ill or for those times when you've put your foot in it!

It's coloured with Promarkers - specifically Sunkissed Pink, Pastel Yellow and Powder Blue with a little Cool Grey 1 for shading. I've made the backing papers to match (using my trusty Promarker chart) and then used Promarkers to colour the edges of the backing card so I get a good match. (I'm going to have to stop doing that or I'll be stuck with piles of coloured card ...) I've also used my trusty nestibilites and, of course, my Wizard.

I used the sketch for this week's challenge at Sketch Saturday.