Celebrating the Victorian Era - Daring Cardmakers DT

Happy Friday!

Oh what a wonderful week it's been.  I've been very productive and I definitely think the glorious sunshine has helped.  I spent yesterday making samples for the new product lauch of Ranger's Simon Hurley.  I've been following his journey and he's only 16!  He has a good range for the masculine cards that a lot of us struggle with so it'll be worth taking a look at his latest collections on Create & Craft tomorrow.

Over on the Daring Cardmakers, I have set the challenge this week.  It just so happens that it's Queen Victoria's birthday today so to celebrate I'd like to see something from her era on your cards be it a mode of transport, clothing, steampunk or you can pay homage to the Queen herself and do something regal!

I have chosen to use the penny farthing on my card with a frog riding it!  Did you know the penny farthing was the first machine to be called a bicyle?  I've used a stamp set from Bert & Gert to create my card together with distress inks and a die cut tag.  The main image in black is embossed in black giving a beautiful sleek shiny look.

You can see lots more wonderful insporation from my fellow team mates HERE and I hope you'll join in.

I'm at The Range in St Albans this Sunday from 11am demonstrating for Trimcraft once again.  I also need to plant my summer bedding at some point!

I hope you have a wonderful long weekend whatever you do,

Shabneez

Prodcuts Used:

Bert & Gerts Enjoy The Ride Stamp Set

Tim Holtz Distress Ink

Ranger Black Embossing Powder

Versamark Ink Pad

Everything else from my stash

MAY Letters - Daring Cardmakers DT

Happy Friday!

I've had a full on craft week with a sprinkling of house work and lots of cooking!  I need to get into the garden and sort it out but so far haven't had the time.

For the Daring Cardmakers challenge this week, Kathy has chosen something different and wants us to choose elements beginning with the letters of the month of MAY.  I have chosen Moving for the M, Aqua for the A and Yellow for the Y.

I thought I'd get a little die cutting in this week so that's what I've done apart from the sentiment!  This card is going to wing it's way to a friend of mine who has recently moved and I made it with her in mind.

I'm demonstrating at The Range in Romford this Sunday from 11am if you're in the area it would be lovely to meet you!

I hope you have a great weekend,

Shabneez

Products Used:

Sizzix Home Die #2

Sizzix Magical Unicorn Die Set

MFT Stitched Scallop Basic Edges 

Heffy Doodle Whatcha Sayin Now Stamp Set

Everything else from my stash

My Dad The Superhero! - A Set of Father's Day Cards

Happy Monday!

How was your weekend?  I had a very crafty one, spending yesterday demonstrating and meeting some lovely fellow crafters.  This Sunday I will be deminstrating at The Range in Romford from 11am.

I'm up on the CrafTangles blog today and being as Father's Day is just around the corner I thought I'd better get some cards made.  What better stamp set to use than the CrafTangles Super Boys stamp and die set?!  It was one of my very first sets I got when I joined the DT.  To this day it's a set I go back to time and time again.

I began by stamping, die cutting and colouring all the images using my Chameleon pens and colour tops.  For my first card I used a skyline stencil to make the background and added some yellow for the lights.

Next up I got out some glitter card as I felt the black needed a bit of a lift - as if I need an excuse to get out the glitter! Ha!

For my final card I opted for a bright background using die cuts.  I think this is a bright happy card, don't you?

There's a more in depth tutorial over on the CrafTangles blog HERE.  I hope to be back on Friday but no promises as I have a jam packed week ahead of me!

Have a lovely week whatever you do,

Shabneez

Products Used:

CrafTangles Super Boys Stamp and Die Set

CrafTangles Happy Father's Day Stamps

CrafTangles Skyline Stencil

Dienamics Cloud Edge Dies

Lawn Fawn Reverse Scallped Circle Dies

Tonic Nuvo Crystal Drops

MFT Sunny Skies Die

Chameleon Pens and Colour Tops

Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Darice Glitter Card

Everything else from my stash

A Moment In Time - Daring Cardmakers DT

Happy Friday!

Time really is running away at the moment especially as Ramadhan, the month of fasting, has begun for me.  Sylvia has set an apt Daring Cardmakers challenge this week!  She's gone with a time theme and you can use clocks, watches, an hour glass, or a time such as fairytale once upon a time or Victorian, swinging sixites, tea time, play time, work time or anything time related.  

You know I don't have a single clock or time piece element in my stash.  I searched high and low so I decided to opt for a fairytale themed card as who doesn't like a happy ever after?!

The card is made using the Graphic 45 Princess collection and I've gone around the edges of the various papers with my scissors to give it a shabby chic feel.

The addition of a paper doily makes the focal image pop and I added a paper rose and leaves to embellish.  Graphic 45 do the most wonderful papers and embellishments and I actually find it difficult to cut into them!  This doesn't happen very often these days as I feel life is too short to save beautiful papers!

You can see lots more inspiration from my fellow design team members HERE and I hope you'll join in with the Challenge.

This weekend I'll be demonstrating with the latest Trimcraft collections at The Range in Luton on Sunday from 11am to 4pm.  If you are in the area or know someone who would like to come along please spread the word!

See you again next week,
Shabneez

Products Used:
Graphic 45 Princess Collection
Dovecraft Mini Doilies
Everything else from my stash

May Elemental Challenge - Daring Cardmakers DT

Happy May!

Today is a very special day as my eldest son comes back after a week away with his class on a PGL (Parents Get Lost) trip.  He couldn't contain is excitement at the prospect of a week away with his friends doing lots of outdoor activities.  Thankfully the weather has stayed dry for the most part - I hope!  I'll have his favourite dinner ready and I can't wait to give him a big hug - I do love him and have missed him more than he'll ever know!!!

As it's the first Friday in May, it's an Elemental Challenge over on the Daring Cardmakers.  It's a bit of a fairy and butterfly themed one which ties in so well with the Dovecraft FairyTales collection that I've used on my creation.

I've made an easel card using one of the elements from the decoupage pack as a topper.  Fussy cut butterflies finish it off and I've added glitter glue to give the butterflies extra sprakle.

This is the board that I've chosen and you need to pick 3 elements from it for your creation - colour counts as one.  You can see lots more inspiration HERE and I hope that you'll join in.

I will have more of the Fairytale collection together with other new Trimcraft collections during May and June at free demos that I'm doing at The Range Stores.  My calendar for May is as follows:

Sunday 5 May - The Range Aylesbury

Sunday 12 May - The Range Luton

Sunday 19 May - The Range Romford

Sunday 26 May - The Range St Albans

Have a lovely weekend,

Shabneez

Products Used:

Dovecraft Fairytales Collection

Everything else from my stash

99 Balloons - Daring Card Makers DT

Happy Friday!

Not one but two blog posts in a week - not sure what happened there?!!!  I'm up on the Daring Cardmakers blog today where the theme is '99 Balloons'.  Now even I couldn't manage that many but with a little masking I managed to add some extra balloons to my stamped image.

I've used a favourite Time for Tea Designs Stamp set that has an adorable array of cats on it and one just happened to be holding balloons.  I coloured in the image using my Chameleon pens.  Being as the cat was going to hold a fair few balloons, I decided to do a sky background using a stencil and distress inks to show the cat floating in the air.

For the balloons I decided to use my new Nuvo Jewel drops as they dry transculent and give a realistic look to them.  It was a little challenging to take a decent photo but you can see the raised effect created above.

I heat embossed the sentiment from the same stamp set in white and matted and layered on black card to finish.

You can see a lot more inspiration for the challenge by my fellow DT HERE so I hope you'll join in and we look forward to seeing all your balloon themed cards!

I'm teaching tomorrow and on Sunday I can look forward to my son's birthday party.  He's ever so excited!

Enjoy your weekend and see you again next week,

Shabneez

Products Used:

Time for Tea Mew Are Pawsome Stamp set

Chamelon Markers 

CrafTangles Create A Scene Stencil

Nuvo Jewel Drops

Ranger Distress Ink

Momento Black Ink

Ranger White Embossing Powder

Everything else from my stash

How To Use Stencils with Liquid Watercolours - CrafTangles DT

Happy Wednesday!

The boys have gone back to school and it's so quiet in the house.  I do miss them.  We had a really good break, taking the opportunity to recharge our batteries whilst catching up wth friends and family.

I'm up on the CrafTangles blog today using liquid watercolours with stencils.  I'd never thought to use this combination before, probably because I tend to rely on inks with my stencils! 

I truly enjoyed creating these cards as when I first started out I didn't know what I'd accomplish.  It was exciting lifting the stencil to see the creation - doesn't take a lot does it?!

First up, I used the Dream Big stencil and a few colours of inks.  I managed to create a slight ombre effect with the lettering from dark to light blue then added splashes of yellow and pink. 

I finished the card by adding Tonic Nuvo drops which I treated myself to from the Create & Craft Birthday event.  I absolutely love the shades and the texture you can create with them.

Next I used just 2 colours of liquid watercolours and painted through a corner of the Net Lace stencil.

The effect that was created reminded me of tie and dye.  I spattered egglant watercolour to finish and die cut a part of it to stick on my card.  I added some washi tape and a sentiment to finish.

For my final creation I remembered to take a photo of my creation before I took the stencil off!

From this you can see how I've taped down the watercolour card onto my glass mat and used the left over colours on my mat to make this creation.

Being such a fan of rainbow colours, I couldn't bear to cut this one up other than to matt it on to black card to make it pop.  I added a die cut sentiment to finish.  It's definitely my favourite of the three.  So tell me, which do you like the most?

Enjoy the rest of your week,
Shabneez

Products Used:
CrafTangles Liquid Watercolours
CrafTangles Dream Big Stencil
CrafTangles Net Lace Stencil
CrafTangles Geometric Bursts Stencil
Tonic Nuvo Crystal Drops
CrafTangles Cardstock
Everything else from my stash