"Everything Stops for Tea' with Joycelyn

Brrrrr Good morning from a bitterly cold Cyprus. We woke up to snow and ice this week not good when this is supposed to be sunny Cyprus. My friends tell me that we'll have wall to wall sunshine in 6 weeks which I can hardly believe at the moment. It's almost too cold to type up my blog. My hands are frozen even tho I have a gas fire next to me brrrr.

At CD Sunday we had some fab entries for 'Floral Frenzy'; which was my choice. I haven't yet decided on my top three as you've made it sooooo difficult for me with your frenzy of flowers. Keep checking out the blog to see if you're a winner and I'll be sending a little something to you from this very cold island!!

This fortnight it's Jocelyn's choice of theme, 'Everything Stops for Tea'. Now I'm sure you'll agree that this is a great choice. I am hoping to see lots of yummy cards. Please pop over to CD Sunday (link in side bar) and check out the DT's inspiration for you.......you won't be disappointed.

I was spoilt for choice when looking through my selection of CD's but finally I went with a lovely image from a CD by Joanne Sheen with artwork by Janet Kruskamp.

The main image and top background paper are from the CD. The background paper is supposed to be an insert but I loved the little image in the corner that I couldn't resist using it for the front of the card. The bottom is from some paper stock in my stash. I used a border punch and some pink paper from a Lidl's pad to create the edgings. The ribbon is some from my trusty ribbon box. Being a true crafter I never throw my ribbon bits out so there's usually a piece in there that matches my colour combo and this time it didn't let me down.....perfect match and length. The butterflies were made using a mini punch. The sentiment was also from the CD . As you can see I am going to use this card as my Mother's Day. Hope she'll like it and I don't forget I've made it early and then make another nearer the time lol.....old age is a bummer!!!

I hope you find time to pop over to CD Sunday and brush off those CD's and get crafting. I'm off to get warm now hopefully. You have no idea how difficult this has been to type with frozen fingers!!!

174 OLL 'Add Something Green'

I hope you all enjoyed making your 'Love' cards for the last challenge at Ooh La La. We had some wonderful creations and choosing the winner was a tricky one. To see if you were the lucky one pop over now and check out the challenge (link in sidebar) BUT wait before you go read on to find out what the challenge is this time.

Avril's choice this time and she's asking us to 'Add Something Green'. It can be as little or as much as you like.

I've gone for lots of green with my card using green card stock for the base. The background and topper are from Ooh La La's 'Fleur D'Imagination'. I mounted the topper on green hessian which had been in my stash for eons.....no idea where it came from but I'm sure I didn't buy it!! I added a spray of dried green leaves......where or how I acquired these is a mystery too but I found them in my flower box and thought they'd work. I added a ready made bow in pale green and created a tag using the same background paper and added a greeting 'With Love' and topped it with a handmade green bow using some of the hessian fibre.

So that's my make for this time's challenge. I hope you'll be inspired and pop over to OLL to see what the rest of the team have made (link in sidebar)

Happy crafting x

"Floral Frenzy'' with Wynn

Good morning from a sunny but still cold Cyprus. It's time for another challenge at CD Sunday. Where does the time go? Last fortnight saw Christine challenging you to make tags but sadly not many of you took up the challenge. This time it's my choice and I hope my 'Floral Frenzy' challenge gets your mojo working!!

At CD Sunday we ask you to use something from a CD when making your creation. It can be for the whole card or just a snippet, which as you will see from my card that I have only used a CD for the greeting.

The rest of the card is a kit from CUP and is a shadow box easel card with lots of decoupaged flowers.....a real floral frenzy!! The greeting 'Happy Birthday' is from Ooh La La Carnival of Colour. This is a lovely CD with lots of fab images and greetings. This card looks like a tricky make but the instructions are easy to follow. It looks bulky but does fold flat for posting .....so no problem there.

I hope you find time to pop over to CD Sunday and see the beautiful floral creations the rest of the team have made (link in sidebar)

Now who doesn't like flowers....off you go and start creating!!! Don't forget to use a CD in the making and tell us which one you've used.....cos we're nosey!!

Have a good crafty week x

#173 'Love' with Anne

It's February already and time to get your thinking cap on to create those Valentine cards. I'm sure Anne had this in mind when she set us our challenge this time. We had some love entries last time for 'Once Upon a Time' challenge, thank you, don't for get to pop over to see if you're a winner.

My card is an early Christmas card for my OH. It's good to be early and I never have enough cards and usually end up rushing to make my OH's but not this time.

The main card is gold card stock and I mounted the machine cut heart on top. It was a gift from a crafty friend so I'm not sure where she got it from. All those cut out prancing reindeer led me to the wonderful OLL CD using Shawn Jenkins artwork. I knew I'd seen a reindeer on there somewhere and it was perfect to go with the background and the prancing reindeer carrying a heart.

I put gold trim along the top and bottom and added tiny gold hearts. A 'With Love' gold peel off was added but on reflection I'm not happy with this as it doesn't stand out in the piccie (it does in 'real' life tho) I may have to rethink this and probably mount it on red card. I added a gold 'Happy Christmas' sentiment to red card stock and two glittered hearts which I bought in a pack from Lidls.

A simple but effective card I think you'll agree. Now it's your turn to let 'Love' inspire you. It doesn't have to be a Valentine card but could be 'Love' for anyone in your life even your pet pooch!! So over you go to OLL challenges (link in sidebar) and be inspired by the LOVE my fellow teamies have for you.

Have a crafty week and keep warm (our cool if you're from the Southern Hemisphere).

Unstampabelles #44 National Symbols

A new month and time for a new monthly challenge at Unstampabelles. We saw some fab 'Thank You' cards from you all last month and the DT have a task choosing their fave so better pop over and see if you're a winner.

This month Susan has given us yet again a real challenge. Susan always stretches us, which is good, as it means our creativity is always challenged. She is asking you to think about a National Symbols that represent your country and to use the colours of your national flag in your design. There are many things that represent the country of Cyprus, my adopted country, where I now live. I have chosen the Cyprus Mouflon  which is native to the island and lives in the mountain region. It is a very shy creature and sightings of it are rarely seen. The National Airline carrier uses it as a symbol also. I have chosen this together with the olive branch which is depicted on the National Flag. I wrote about the olive in my blog last month.

The Cyprus Mouflon:

The Cyprus mouflon is a kind of wild sheep and is found only in Cyprus. Other kinds of mouflon can be found in various Mediterranean countries such as Turkey, Syria, the island of Sardinia etc.
The mouflons are very shy and agile; they move very fast on the steep slopes of the Paphos forest and are very difficult to approach, especially when they are frightened. The mature male mouflon is a strong, well-built and beautiful animal. It has a thick and plentiful hide which in winter is of a light brown colour, with light grey on the back and an elongated black patch round the neck. In summer its hide becomes short and smooth, with a uniform brown colour and white underparts.The male mouflons have heavy horns in the shape of a sickle.

Susan is sponsoring the challenge again this month and the goodies she has kindly donated are to the value of approx. $20 (Aus.)

Wow!! How generous is this.....thank you Susan.

This is my take on the challenge.

 

I must say this is not the card I had in my head when I set about making it. I found the perfect colour card stock in my stash as the base card. It matches the colour on the Cyprus flag perfectly. It's embossed card and felt so lovely that I didn't want to cut it!! If you are a crazy crafter like me you'll know what I mean. So I folded it lengthwise to make a long card. If you've ever designed a card like this you'll know it's not the easiest to get your head around. I used a white strip of stash card across the centre. Then I asked Google for some Mouflon images and came across some Cyprus stamps so I used those mounted on card stock. I then began looking for something green and found some hessian which I'd been using for another card. The white circle with the green spray was also in my scrap box. I then cut out some leaves from some LOTV paper and placed them at the sides to represent olive branches. Finally two sentiments were randomly added 'Summer Sunshine' and ' Remember This'. We get a lot of sunshine here in the Summer but at the moment it's being a bit shy like the Mouflon. The narrow green ribbon finished it off.

 

So what are you waiting for it's time to get your creative juices fired up with this Unstampabelles challenge (link in side bar). As usual the Design Team have come up with some amazing creations. So off you pop and see what they have made.......you won't be disappointed I promise.