A Krafty thank you

It's Fran's first dare at Daring Card Makers here is what she has challenged us to do:

Feeling Krafty

I'd like you to use 'natural' items on your projects, ie. wood, leaves, kraft card, balsa wood, cork, burlap, rope, natural twine etc. The choice is endless, you just need a bit of imagination!
There is a catch though - you must use 3 natural items not just a bit of kraft card!

 

Background 'wood' stamp - Cornish Heritage Stamp, Thank You stamp - My Mind's Eye

 I was planning on making a thank you card anyway this weekend, so used this dare as my inspiration.  I have five natural items in total, the twig, the string, the manilla tag, a piece of kraft card which I overstamped, and the roses.

Festive Food Card Challenge

Challenge 31 at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge is 'Festive Food'  ideal for the girl with Christmas pudding stamp from Personal Impressions!

Coloured with Intense Pencils, at bit of cardstock matting and layering and a couple of ribbons and it's done!  It's not the current challenge, but I haven't been able to keep up, just doing them when the mood takes me.

Inspired by Banksy!

What a fantastic challenge the Daring Card Makers have set this week!  I really enjoyed being...

'Inspired by Banksy'

If you're not aware of who he is, then pop on by Banksy.co.uk and take a look at some of his amazing street art across the world - you could also try a Google Image search on "Banksy" to find lots of fabulous ideas for your card.

 

 This was the Banksy image I chose to be inspired by and here is my card:

Background was created with Adirondack Dye Pad 'Pebble',  the Victorian girl stamp came in a bundle of pre-owned stamps so I don't know it's origin,  the hearts were a freebie on a magazine.  I even used my own handwriting (shock!) and a bit of doodling to finish it off.

Kathy's Sketch File - In the Round

Here is my entry for Kathy's Waffle Sketch File August Challenge, In the Round.

 

Here is the sketch that Kathy created for the August challenge. Although Kathy is a card maker, the sketches can also be used for scrapbook pages whether paper or digital.  

I decided to combine the sketch with the latest kit from Designs by Mozz: Desert Flower 

My Mum took this photo in June this year a few days before our 30th Wedding Anniversary, we are standing outside the hotel where we held our wedding reception.  The colours in the photo were perfect for Maree's kit and the sketch creates the perfect frame.

Keep Calm and Sew On!

I'm not really a 'cutesy' kind of girl so the challenge at Daring Card Makers this week really made me think.  

so kawaii!

Kawaii means anything that is lovable, hug-able and basically cute! Think Hello Kitty and food with smiley faces. Most of the colours in kawaii are sugary, fun and bright so I want to see a little fun bright pop colour too.If you're totally stumped this week check out my favourite kawaii blog for some super cute inspiration, http://www.supercutekawaii.com/

I decided that the way to go was with the sugary colours rather than the japanese theme.

I was lucky enough to win this digital kit called 'Sew Cute' (see there is a cutesy element in there!) designed by  Sugarplum Paperie, Danielle Engebretson Designs and Mari Koegelenberg Creation,  from the Sugarplum Paperie blog recently and I just love the sewing themed elements and the fun sewing sentiments.  The whole of the card design is digital, printed out and stuck onto a card blank, the edges of which have been coloured with matching ink.

Daring Card Makers - Poppies

It seems I am destined only to get around to the DCM dare when it is the flower of the month!   Here is how the challenge reads:

This week it's the first challenge of the month, so that means we'd like you to use the flowers associated with the month of August as the starting point for your cards. August's flowers are
Poppies and Gladioli

You can use either flower, or both of them as the inspiration for your cards and as usual the team have got some ideas to show you which we hope will get you thinking.

 I used a photo of the poppies in my Mum's garden.  The bottom layer is the photo with a 'photocopy' filter, the second layer is the same photo with 'coloured pencil' filter and the final is the photo 'posterised'.  The sentiment tag is Cosmo Cricket, Just a Note. Thanks for a great dare, it really inspired me.

Pot Fest - part two: The Garden

As I said in yesterday's post, about the Pot Fest at Hutton in the Forest, there is a gorgeous walled garden behind the house and it is one of those gardens which looks best in July with huge drifts of flowers in deep borders.

There were fruit trees on the walls, soaking up the sun and warmth,  the number and size of the apples was quite incredible and there were pear and plum trees as well.

 

The garden is divived up by hedges, creating 'rooms',  we loved the pyramid shaped hedges in the background and the huge urn full of flowers in the middle of the lawn.

 

The arch way was made from four trees trained over a metal frame.

 Mr Farmer was amused by a text from our son, who had managed to reply to the one his Dad sent him...in French!  He used Google Translate to work out what his Dad had said and then to reply - boys eh!

Now let's get to the flowers.

 

 

 And just to show that I was there, here I am outside the walled garden with one of a row of stone urns filled with nasturtiums.  We really enjoyed our day and could thoroughly recommend it.

Pot Fest in the Park - Hutton in the Forest

We went for a day out to the Pot Fest in the Park at Hutton in the Forest, Cumbria yesterday.  My SIL visits it every year,  I went with her three years ago but Mr Farmer has never been.  It was a bit of a grey day, but not cold and the rain kept away until we had returned home.

 

These clay sculptures were favourites for both Mr Farmer and I, but like all good things they were quite expensive!

I was fascinated by this display piece which had been part of an art exhibition in a church and this exhibit is about death.  These are dead flies, the point being that although people die, even more insects die.  When you approached it looked like white leaves on the mirror, it was only when you got close you saw that they were flies!

As well as the stalls selling pottery, there is a competition which each of the exhibitors can enter. The theme of it was 'The March of Time'.  There were quite a few Dandelion references, but I liked this one best.

I thought this 'family' piece was very beautiful.

This one represented aging with the baby, adult and aged heads.  I like the way the baby looks up to the future, the adult looks straight ahead and the old person has a bowed head.

This was a fun piece of the Viking Long Ship,  not quite sure how it fitted with the theme though!

I loved this piece, the shoes and bag are all pottery and the label was from the Titanic, very clever.  I have a pottery handbag made by this designer which SIL bought me for my 50th birthday.

We then went into the lovely walled garden that belongs to the House, it has fabulous borders and lots of photo opportunities.  There also seemed to be an abundance of apples, pears and plums on the trees.  But more of that tomorrow ;)