Sunday 3 July 2011

Summer's weekend!

Well this weekend it has truly felt like summer!  The sun is shining, there is a light breeze, there are the sounds of children playing outside and the smell of fresh mown grass.  Yesterday Alex and I went for an adventurous drive over Strines Moore to the village of Bolsterstone where they were holding their annual Village Fayre.  It was great fun with lots of traditional stalls (white elephant, second hand toys, clothes, cakes, sweets, pick the right dandelion, rolling penny's. skittles etc) and fun games to be had.  Alex tried his hand at fishing for ducks, scoring a total of 5 in his net.
He also got to have a go on the little traction engine, the bouncy castle and the merrygoround. It was a perfect traditional Summer's fayre and a lovely afternoon out.
Today we went to the permanent paddling pools at Rivelin Valley where we spent a happy hour or so shooting each other with water pistols while splashing through the pools.
I can't believe it is already two weeks since the last Quirky Crafts challenge and this week it was my turn to set the challenge.  We have a great sponsor Stitchy Bear stamps so do pop over and join in.  The challenge is to NOT use any patterned papers, with the idea being that you make your own. You can use embossing, inks, stamps, paints or anything else you think of.  This was my first attempt at using colour wash inks and glimmer mist to create the background. I then added Lavinia stamps (stars, grass and dragon) stamped in black and then kept the digital stamp (from Stitchy Bear stamps) in black and white to add contrast. I am entering this into Stamp somethings 'digital' challenge.
I also made a bookmark using distress inks (antique linen, walnut stain and tea dye), using Crafty individuals and dark room door stamps and the quill and ink pot from Stitchy Bear stamps. This fits with the Simon says stamp and show 'a word' and CTT 'technology' challenges.
As it is the weekend it is time for another Less is More challenge. This time the challenge was shades of blue. My first thought was to use my Adirondack dye pads and brayer to make a brayered background and to put this inside my new embossing folder (a frame).  I used three shades of blue for the brayered background and then stamped the iris and butterfly on top. As a result of the butterfly I am also entering this into the Flutterby Wednesday challenge. 
Now, I wasn't too happy with the previous card so decided to have another go at the less is more challenge using the same frame, but this time using distress inks. I have two shades of blue distress inks and used those to ink the background. I then used inkadinkado flourish stamps round the edge, added the Kanban sentiment, stamped the blue butterflies and finally added the gems.  This card therefore also fits with crafty cardmakers spotlight challenge 'focus on the sentiment',  and Delicious Doodles 'flourishes and bling' challenges. 
Finally I made this scrapbook layout following this weeks Sketchy Thursday design. I took the righthand side of the double page layout, which also fits with the 'cut your embellishments from patterned paper' challenge from Scrap Fit. The scarves, hat, gloves and boots are cut from American Traditional Designs papers and the snowflakes from Sandylion papers. That is all from me for now after a wonderful weekend.  Have a great week everyone.
Love,
Caro
x

16 comments:

Spyder said...

You've been really busy Caro! Love that scrap-book page, almost forgot all that snow we had!

(Lyn)

Dolly Daydreams said...

Wow you have been busy ! each and every creation a delight ! I just love them all, and each one so different well done you !

Marie

Kristie W. said...

I love your butterfly cards!! Especially the one you made with the brayer, I like the blues in it. Thank you for playing along with Flutter By Wednesdays!

Candy C said...

Hi Caro! Your pictures of your fun summer day looked like such a good time! Your son is darling! I really liked our bookmark that you entered in Simon Says Stamp and Show's Challenge! Love the stamped images and the colors you used to distress and colorize your piece. Thank you for sharing your bookmark with us at Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge. <3 Candy

Teri said...

Lots of fab projects hun! What a busy bee!
Thanks for playing at the Delicious Doodles Challenge this week, and good luck with the draw!
Hugs,
Teri x

Mandi said...

Lovely cards Caro
Love the brayering panel, gorgeous shades of blue
Thanks so much
Diva LIM
"Less is More"

Missy Whidden said...

Awesome layout! Love those cut-outs! Sometimes they make the best (& cheapest) embellishments :) Thank you for playing with us at ScrapFIT!

Allison said...

fab work
Thanks for joining us at Delicious Doodles this week
AllisonX

Dana said...

Very pretty card for LIM!

corrie said...

So cute! Sitting here in this heat, your snow page helps to mentally cool me down! Thanks for playing with Sketchy Thursdays!

Theresa said...

What a fun looking summer! Your shades of blue cards are beautiful. I love the embossing.

Julie Tucker-Wolek said...

Love love love love the photos and loving your creations!! Just GORGEOUS! Thanks sooooooooo much for playing along with Sketchy Thursdays! :):):):):):):):):):):):)

Lynne said...

All your creations are lovely, I especially like your blue cards. Gorgeous embossed frames.
Lynne xxx

theboelemas@aol.com said...

Hi Caro

Beautiful projects. Thanks for joining us this week over at Delicious Doodles. Good luck.

Claire x

Sara Zenger said...

Your a busy girl! Great work on your layout! Thanks for Working Out with us a ScrapFIT!

Anonymous said...

Hi Caro, lovely blog, seems like you have been busy, love the scrapbook page and the tag xx