Hazel - Girl Spy

Hazel - Girl Spy
Hazel - Girl Spy

Friday 7 January 2011

Family Visitor

I have just returned from mine and my mum's normal visit to Fir Tree Farm but this time we were accompanied by my sister Morag and my cousin Philip. Phil and his wife Joy live on a small farm near Cleveland and the last time we met up was at our Auntie Beatrice's funeral so it was nice to see him and to have a long natter. He loved the food at Fir Tree and couldn't believe he had eaten so well so cheaply. I think we have another convert! It was not busy due to the snow (1 to 2 inches in places) which has since melted. It was a bu**er  for me to drive to Mums in but Phil has a 4 wheel drive Estate car so he drove to Fir Tree, thank heavens!


For this card for a new home I used 2 patterned paper sheets from Caroles Crafts, one blue and the other floral. The main image is a digi stamp from Kate Prothero Davies called 'Cottage Door' and the sentiment is from Lynne Salmon.


I used my new Punch Anywhere Flower Garden Punch from Debbie Moore to create the corners, the border and the panel from the floral paper and I matted these pieces onto a 6" square piece of the blue paper. The edges of the square were inked with Memento Dew Drop Bamboo Leaves ink.

The image and sentiment were coloured up with the following Promarkers; Leaf, Soft, Pear, Lime and Forest Greens, Bluebell, Peach, Pastel Yellow, Oatmeal, Shale, Cool Grey 1, Violet, Sky Blue and Carnation Pink.




The sentiment panel was decorated with 2 die cut tiny card circles which I covered with the floral paper plus flowers which remained after the panels were punched. I also added 5 more of the covered tiny round die cuts to the top right corner.

I then embellished with some yellow flowers from my stash and a funky piece of thin green ribbon which reminded me of wispy weeds!


I would like to enter this card into the New Beginnings Challenge at Do it with Digis. I cannot believe that I have found a site which celebrates digis - I'm home and it's thanks to Lynne Salmon!

Still no word about my new cooker but I have decided not to get into state about it because I am the only one getting upset - I did manage to exact a promise of some compensation from the manager but even he has not got back to me as promised so I will go in person tomorrow!

Cheerio for now, Hazel x

Thursday 6 January 2011

Sunshine

We all need a bit of sunshine even in the depths of winter and this little digi stamp is such a cutie that I wanted to use it in another blog challenge.


Unfortunately I got this digi a while ago before I thought to record the designer, so, if you happen by and know the originator please let me know and I can give credit where it is due. I coloured up with Promarkers and used Dovecraft papers to matt and layer. I only had a small piece of yellow which I punched with my Martha Stewart Doily lace punch. I added the orange paper die cut parenthesis just to add interest and the yellow buttons to mitigate the dearth of yellow in my stash! The digi sentiment is from Becs and says it all.

I am entering this card in the Paper Romance Challenge # 32 even though the brief is for the main colour to be yellow - I tried guys! Trouble is I started with the image and coloured the tiger's soft toy yellow before realising that yellow was distinctly lacking elsewhere.

Cheerio, Hazel x



Wednesday 5 January 2011

Technophool overcomes!

I managed to enter the two challenges! Sorry to all those for whom this is just a walk in the park but it's new to me and I always manage to muck thinks up where technology is involved. Hence the term 'Technophool' - I have a go but usually end up scuppered or asking for help. I want to be proficient but am not correctly genetically programmed to succeed,

Anyway I have another two cards to post which I have entered in Docrafts challenges which are well inside my comfort zone.

The first is my favourite challenge, the Digi challenge; I like hunting out a suitable digi stamp and then colouring up (big kid really). Skated (Kate) asked us to use an animal digi, bold colours and to follow her layout.

The digi and sentiment are by Sliekje, who gives out lovely free digi stamps. They were coloured with Promarkers and matted onto red, yellow and blue coredinations cardstock. I embossed the blue and yellow card just to add a bit of texture and then added a button to comply with the circle shape on Kate's layout template. I think this would be considered as a CAS card (clean and simple) but I'm not sure.








The second is for Clares Challenge 4 Jan and although it looks like a Tilda challenge I entered it because Clares Inspiration photo was of some beautiful pinky-cream orchids which reminded me of a recycled item I had  saved from a Christmas present. I couldn't just throw it away but had no idea of how to use it as it was a scalloped card circle stuck to the most beautiful flowery paper. I could not separate the two without ruining both.

I used Tilda because I like her and I wanted a contrast colour so I used light blue Promarkers to tie in the other colours. The paper and card panel is matted onto coredinations cardstock and a 14cm square cardblank. I considered going larger but it didn't work. The whole thing had to be fairly simple or it would get too fussy so I used a bit of red and pink card candy to give a little 'lift'. I mucked up Tilda's skin by using Ivory and Putty - I think it makes her face look grubby and I should have tested it first rather than let myself be carried away by enthusiasm.






Having spent my waking hours till now (three hours) messing about on line I have to shower and change and get down to Curry's to complain. Who thinks I have been prevaricating all morning trying to avoid this inevitable confrontation - Mr H? We have ordered a new stove and they were meant to confirm delivery and installation last Friday and despite assurances we have heard nothing! I'm the one who gets to deal with it - Mr H doesn't do confrontation with strangers!

That'll teach me, cheerio for now, Hazel x

Entering Blog Challenges

I thought I would try to enter a couple of challenges outside the usual Docrafts challenge even though it is well outside my comfort zone, technologically, of course, as I am more than likely to get this totally muddled up.


I would like to enter two challenges with this card;
 Just Magnolia: Anything Goes 
 and Totally Tilda; Ribbons and Roses.
I'm not so sure how to link to the sites but as ever, I am prepared to have a go!

I even made notes about what I've used to make the card:
Magnolia Tilda with Gingerbread (thanks, Kimmi)
Lasting Impressions Guava and Blushing Daisy Cardstock
Pink ribbon and pink roses from Crafts 4 U 2 Do, St Helens.
Habico Autumn leaves clearstamps, embossed and coloured with Forest Promarker
Embossed clear stamp sentiment freebie from Do Crafts
Promarkers; Ivory, Satin, Blush, Caramel, Cinnamon, Tan, Antique Pink, Cocktail Pink, Rose Pink, Pastel Pink, Cool Grey 2

Now to try to link to the challenges, fingers crossed!

Cheerio, Hazel x

Tuesday 4 January 2011

As If I Needed an Excuse

So daughter gets engaged and I reach for the Promarkers! In my defense, I also made up a wee verse for the inside of the card.

I was satisfied with most of the card apart from the sentiment which is computer generated. I thought it looked a bit wan so I reached for the Stickles, big mistake, it just went everywhere. I get more of it on me than the card and it is directly in proportion to the importance of the card - the more careful I try to be the more clumsy I become! The ring is an emerald-cut diamond and my daughter is so happy she can almost not speak. If you are wondering about the cards theme - Sian loves giraffes and her middle name is Rose; it's a very personal card especially to them!

I made a couple more cards for Docraft challenges. The first was the Tilda challenge where you had to use something new you got for Christmas.
I used some handmade Japanese papers which Sian gave me for Christmas as well as the Japanese ribbon and stickers which she also included. Tilda with Amaryllis is coloured with Promarkers and I tried doing black hair with my new grey pens but I need more practise.

The final card I made is for the launch of the new Creativity Club Members Challenge hosted by GloriaW on Docrafts. Her brief was to use the first in the series of the downloadable templates created by Katy Godbeer.



The sketch just lent itself to using the Japanese papers again - once I found six that matched. They are only 6cm square and come in a lovely wee box but apart from this design, the papers come in twos and fours. They are really sweet and so I took a picture of some of my favourite ones.



Tiny, shiny, cute and cunningly designed, as well as being from Japan - they tick all my boxes. I cannot tell you the maker as there is no writing on the box and the string and stickers packaging was all in Japanese so if you want a set you might just have to google them. I am entering more challenges so the results will be posted as and when, so cheerio for now, Hazel.