Miss you........(my little nest of vipers)

Hello everyone, hope all is well with you and yours.

Firstly, a warm welcome to John and Jackie who have joined our merry band. So glad to have you with us. Hope you have a lovely holiday Jackie.

Thank you also to Lydia and Gail for your kind comments.

This is just a quickie today. I hadn't intended to do a post for today but I was playing with my birthday goodies from my wonderful best friend (affectionately known as the nest of vipers), who is currently basking in sunshine in Scotland (or so she says!!!) and I realised how much I was missing her. Its not a card but more an assembly of bits so I will just list what I used, rather than go into detail.

White card

Couture Creations All a Flutter embossing folder *

Tim Holtz distress inks (Peacock Feathers and Mustard Seed)

Sizzix  Frame, Iron Gate die*

The label portion (cut out) of the M-Bossiblities Labels 18 embossing folder*

Splodgeaway Bountiful Butterflies mask

Miss you stamp

*denotes pressie from my friend.

So my dear friend (she put an x in the box on the coupon that said "no publicity") we have laughed together (lots of that) and we have cried together (too much of that) and been friends for the best part of 25 years. Here's to another 25 ........... but more laughing in the second half eh !!! Enjoy the rest of your trip and hope it doesn't get nippy around your trossachs.

I will be back on the 1st June with a card I have been unable to blog yet as the recipients birthday is on 1st June. Hope you will pop by to have a look.

TTFN

Ang x

Loving this frame !!!

Thank you so much !!!

Good morning one and all. Hope you are all fit and well. 

Thank you for your asking after my sniffles. I'm much better, thank you, but have a silly, dry, tickley cough which is driving me and Mr Duck round the twist. 

Also, thank you to Heather, my PR Manager, for her lovely post yesterday and my blog shout out. I have been running with a Field of Dreams philosophy........"build it and they will come" (which will mean diddley to anyone who hasn't seen the film and you will probably think I've had too much cough mixture!!!)

I had a lovely birthday all things considered (bloomin weather.... Grrr) so thank you so much !!!

So, on to today's offering. I made this card on the same day as the medallions card. Amongst other crafty things, I had several sets of dies for my birthday courtesy of Mr Duck and Spellbinders Botanical Swirls and Accents and A2 Bracket Borders One were amongst them. 

I should mention at this point, most of the card I use is from Papermill Direct who are a papermill making their own card and paper in the Lake District. From what I understand, they used to have shops but now only do mail order. The card comes very well packed in lovely boxes so the mail order doesn't worry me. Excellent quality and you can pick and mix from different colours.

Now then, I was being a tight wad and instead of cutting a 6x6 base card, I actually folded an A4 piece of cream card in half, then squared it off so its slightly less than 6x6.

I then cut a piece of burgundy card as a slightly smaller mat, which I was going to just top with the corners etc but I had a lightbulb moment and thought I could edge the mat with one of my Bracket Borders.

This is where a bit of jiggery pokery came in trying to line each corner up. Top right was spot on but the others are slightly out so don't look.............I said don't look !!! Awww, you looked didn't you?

I cut two of the corners, the embossed piece and its middle from the Spellbinders Botanical Swirls and Accents set out of the spare cream card. I also inked through the dies with Tim Holtz Aged Mahogany Distress Ink. I offset the middle die cut and stamped it with this sentiment as I thought it matched the piece nicely. Its just stamped with the Aged Mahogany without embossing.

I joined the two corners in the middle with double sided tape and I used red liner tape around the edges (I have some 3mm) which just fit spot on. This was stuck to the burgundy mat, which I then stuck to the base card.

I then added the embossed die cut on foam pads then the sentiment on a double layer of foam pads and it was done.

Hope you all like it but all comments, good or bad, are very welcome. Close up below.

TTFN

Ang x

The good corner !!!

Ps.....I will be posting two of my favourite cards at the beginning of June  but I have to wait until birthdays have passed until I can. Hope that you can pop by again to have a look.......First one on 1st June and next on 3rd June. x

You decide for me............

Hello to you all and hope you are well. I have scheduled this in case I feel worse with these sniffles and blog neglect sets in. I am having a lucid moment and needed to print something off so I thought I would pop on and do this.

Above is the original card that I made a couple of hours before the germs took hold. I didn't take the backing off the foam pad on the sentiment as I like to check it in situ first. 

I wanted to leave the run of medallion cut aways uninterrupted but then I moved the sentiment to the middle, see below, and now I can't decide. 

I think that I'm still veering toward the original but what do you all reckon?

It was another quickie made with an A5 white card base which I matted with gold mirror card (cut 0.5cm smaller all around than the base) that had been pierced around the edge.

I then cut another piece of white card 0.5cm smaller all around to use for the top layer.

By luck, this was just the right size to cut 3 of the Spellbinders D-lites Medallion Four in a line down the middle.

I used the That Special Touch Elegant border mask to emboss either side of the cut aways and then foam padded the layer onto the gold mat.

The sentiment was stamped and then heat embossed with gold embossing powder, matted on gold and then the quandary started as to where it should go.

Thanks for your previous comment Wilma. I did wonder if I had gone into too much detail but hopefully not.

All comments gratefully appreciated and a couple of close ups are below. Be glad to know where you think I should stick it............clean suggestions only please!!!

TTFN

Ang x

Best Wishes

Good afternoon everyone. Hope that all is well and the sun is shining on you and a very warm welcome to Wilma, who has kindly climbed aboard the Duck Wagon.

Today's card is a fairly quick one that I made having a play with the Spellbinders Elegant Labels Four dies.

The base card is A5 in size made from a piece of A4 white card Hougied in half, then scored on the Hougie to create a frame.

I cut the two largest dies from the Elegant Labels, one inside the other, out of black card so that you end up with the delicate frame (the black offcut centre portion will get used on another card).

I stuck this frame to a piece of pre-embossed gold card then cut around it leaving an edge of about 0.5cm all around.

The black, gold and white paper in the centre is from a Forever Friends Black and Gold A4 paper pad. I just cut a rectangle of it to fit under the frame and stuck it flat to the card base.

I foam padded the frame and added it over the jazzy paper.

Lastly, I cut one of the Spellbinders Decorative Labels Eight dies out of white card and heat embossed the sentiment with Versamark and gold powder. I stuck this onto another piece of gold card and trimmed around the edge before foam padding onto the centre of the card.

Hope everyone has a splendid Bank Holiday weekend. I have a cold so am sitting here with tissue up my nose...............sorry for putting that image in your heads. I was going to make a joke about a Fisherman's Friend but have thought better of it !!!

TTFN

Ang x

Golden Butterflies

 

Howdy doody everyone. Hope you are all well and being good. 

Didn't Julia have some marvellous shows? I thought that it was hilarious when she told Paul to stroke the glitter, then said "that's enough !!!" when he lingered too long.

I loved the things Julia had on the show but I didn't like the prices too much. I have only bought a couple of Spellbinders sets from C&C when they have been an absolute bargain, the rest I get elsewhere at 4 sets for £55. I nearly fainted in a shop today, selling Bitty Blossoms at £27.99 !!!

I have bought some canvases today to have a play with so watch this space for something different coming to the blog soon........or a photo of a crushed canvas in the recycle bin!

Today's card was made for Mr Duck's friend for his wife's birthday. He asked if I could make one with butterflies and I was more than happy to oblige.

The base is an A3 sheet of cream linen card cut to 8x8. I then matted this with a piece of gold linen card.

The butterfly stamp is actually a Fiskars continuous stamp that I have used flat (I don't have the tool to attach it to but I bought the stamp as it was 8 pence in a craft shop bargain bin!) Its acetate storage sheet is on the picture, in front of the card.

I stamped a piece of cream linen card with this strip stamp twice with Versamark and heat embossed with Debbi Moore's gold embossing powder. This piece of card was then cut into 3 equal sections and each was matted and layered onto cream and gold linen card. Each section was foam padded and mounted onto the base card (make sure you get them in the right order.....I speak from bitter experience!)

I took another piece of cream card and stuck a strip of red liner tape across the middle. I sprinkled this with Indigo Blu Royal Peacock gilding flakes and burnished them into the tape.

I had a spare bit of Spellbinders Fancy Lattice, which I had cut out of the gold card so I stuck the gilded strip to the card and then the piece of lattice over the top.

The sentiment was handwritten (and boy, you can tell.......shouldn't have had that pint of Creme de Menthe beforehand) with a Versamark pen and heat embossed in gold again on more cream card, matted and layered on gold and cream, then foam padded onto the base.

A cream organza bow completed the look.

Hope you like it as much as the recipient did and thanks again for popping along.

TTFN

Mrs Duck (Ang) x

Hello, Apa Khabar, Hola, Bonjour etc

Hope everyone is funky on this bright and sunny evening.......sorry if it's not where you are.

I have done a post with a card but I'm testing the schedule function to see if it works for me as it may be a useful tool.

If all goes well, it should appear at 6am tomorrow morning (this seems to be the prefered blogging hour by those in the know) I was going to go for 5.59 to be a rebel but it wouldn't let me!!! If it doesn't appear, apologies in advance and I shall be limbering up my frisbee arm again.

Take care all.

Ang x

Butterfly Magic

Good afternoon everyone. Hope this finds you in fine fettle. I had hoped to post yesterday but real life interfered, as it has a nasty habit of doing at the best of times. I was trying to get some cards finished for friends who had "ordered" them, housework and make quiche and triple choc chunk cookies as promised for Mr Duck and then pick him up after work, then plan his travel arrangements for today......phew!!! A good job I can multitask.

Today, I have featured very easy cards, using the same die in a different way. As well as flowers, I also love butterflies so when I saw the Spellbinders Butterfly Magic die, I had to have it.

I took these pics before the blog was an embryo so please excuse any blurryness. Funnily, after saying to Heather that I should use my burgundy card more often, I did use it on one of these.

This was a A4 burgundy card Hougied in half to make an A5 card base. I then used the Hougie to score a frame, of sorts, to accommodate the die cut. I cut the whole Butterfly Magic out of off white card and just the butterfly out of matt gold card.

I nipped the loose bits away with a craft knife (anyone who has used this die will know what I mean by "loose bits") and foam padded it onto the base card. I then shaped and glued the gold butterfly on top of its white friend.

The following card was done using a white 5x7 card blank, which I inked with red, orange and yellow to make it look like a sunrise/sunset effect. 

I then cut the Butterfly Magic out of a 5x7 piece of black card and nipped the loose bits again and stuck it to the base card.

Hopefully, you get the silhouette against a sunrise/sunset effect.

I hadn't decided what the cards were for at the time of photographing but they did get sent as birthday cards, with sentiments added.

Now then, a big thank you to Patricia for pointing out about that weird word verification thing. I hadn't even realised that was switched on. Hopefully it isn't now. I have also managed to add a followers gadget........hurrah.......in an optimistic mind that there may have been a queue of people awaiting this momentous development (LOL) Thank you also for your kind comments Patricia.

Another thank you to Hazel, sister of Patricia (I do offer a family discount you see) for your kind comments and for becoming follower number two........I shall be like Sue Wilson and offer a prize when I get to 4000........hahahahahahaha.

And lastly, thank you to Heather for all the encouragement /advice. The email thing is next on my list and the 28th is the day that the stork dropped me on my head.

I will continue to refine and tweak so I hope that you can stay with me for the ride. As the gynocologist said, the only way is up !!!

TTFN

Mrs Duck xxx

Happy Birthday Heather !!!

Good morning and hope this finds you well.

I didn't think I would have time to post today but having found out that my one and only follower is celebrating her 21st (ahem) birthday today, the least I could do was pop on a birthday card and dedicate it to the lady in question.

It's an 8X8 white linen card base to start.
I then took a smaller square of lilac card and did squiggly swirls (that's a technical term) on it with a VersaMark pen, which I then heat embossed with Stampendous fine detail white powder.

I ran the card through the Grand Calibur with the Craft Concepts Spring Flowers embossing folder. Had to do this a couple of times to extend the pattern. 
This layer was then cut into 4 equal strips and each strip matted onto some silver linen effect card.

I then foam padded the strips onto the base card.........make sure you get them the right way up and in the right order for your squiggly swirls to match up.

Topped it all off with some white flowers and flourishes from the Spellbinders Jewels and Flourishes set and purple (sorry they look blue on my screen) flowers from the Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms set. The tag and its layers were just cut "by eye" stamped in purple and Cosmic Shimmer clear embossed and a bit of lilac organza ribbon to finish.

Hope I haven't missed anything and also that I have sussed how to put a proper title on this post..........bring back the abacus, all is forgiven!!!

Happy Birthday to anyone who has a birthday today but especially Heather (go and look at her fantastic blog folks at heatherscreationsandhappenings.blogspot.co.uk)

Hurrah for May Babies !!!!!!! (yes I am one)

TTFN

Mrs Duck. X

Flower Power

Good morning all (there's optimism that more than one person may stumble by).

Firstly, a big thank you to Heather for becoming my first follower. I only noticed this morning so thought that I had better pop another card on the blog sharpish..........oooh, the responsibility!

Secondly, I apologise for my lack of David Baileyesque photo skills on some of my pics as some were just quick snapshots before blog creation was a twinkle in my eye (or a pain in my............laptop!)

My friend asked me to make this for her relative's birthday a couple of months ago. She wanted it fairly flat (we are all more postage conscious, I guess, these days) and covered in flowers.

I started with an 8x8 card base cut from an A3 sheet of white hammered card, then rounded the corners. The next layer is also white card with rounded corners and on the top portion, I have cut out the Spellbinders Fancy Lattice to make it look like a trellis. On the base card, I inked the bit that will be seen under the trellis with a pale pink ink.

Next, I cut a job lot of flowers from the Spellbinders Jewels and Flourishes set, in different coloured card along with two of the large flourish in white. Also, I cut the leaves from the Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms set.

I glued the flowers, leaves and flourishes to the trellis layer, added a little bling to the flower centres and corner, foam padded the layer then added it to the base card.

The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed onto a label from the Spellbinders Labels Eight set. I then "nipped" a bit of the lattice so that I could seat the foam pad on the sentiment on the base card rather than flattening the lattice (Hope that makes sense)

That's todays hurried offering as I have just got back from the dentist (booooooo) and I have some washing to hang out before the next instalment of rain/hail/snow/locusts (delete as applicable in your area). I also need to feed Mr & Mrs B, our resident blackbirds, who have nested in our garden for about 4 years now. They have beautiful babies and they come for their chopped up grapes and strawberries, at least 3 times a day.........in fact, Mr Duck thinks the Bs get better and more frequent feeding than he does lol !!!

TTFN

Mrs Duck x

Butterflies and Buddleijas

Good morning everyone. Hope this finds you well and with some sunshine.

Today's card is one of my favourites. It's time consuming but not in a tricksy way.

I have matted and layered a 8x8 white linen card base (cut from an A3 sheet) and rounded the corners with a punch.

For the buddleijas, I inked an A4 sheet of white 160 gsm card with purple ink then used a Tonic small daisy punch to punch out all the little flowers that make up a large flower. I did this whilst watching TV so I didn't go completely mad (though I think I drove Mr Duck around the bend with the "click" every 2 seconds for half an hour as obviously I did this during one of his programmes rather than mine!!!)

I then used a yellow felt tip to mark the centre of each flower and if you do this on a sheet of foam, it also shapes the flowers.

I pencilled an outline of the buddleijas and then used double sided foam tape and pads to make a domed shape down the centres of each one. I used tweezers to apply each little flower over the whole "foamed" area. For the flat area of the buddleijas, I just used PVA glue to apply the little flowers.

To complete the card, I just added some strips of green card, cut into stalky/leafy shapes and some butterflies from the Spellbinders Jewels and Flourishes set. 

The sentiment was cut form the Spellbinders Butterfly Circles set and mounted on foam pads. The black butterflies are the waste from the largest die from this set.

I hope that you like it as much as I do and also that I haven't bored the proverbials off you.

I'm new to exposing myself (steady on now!!!) in the cyberworld so please be gentle with me and let me know what you think good, bad or indifferent. I have a ready supply of tissues and chocolate in preparation so if you're going to be brutal do it big style so I can justify a whole bar!!!

Thank you to those who have already left kind comments on my previous ramblings.

TTFN

Mrs Duck xxx

Thinking of You

Good afternoon. Not sure that I have entirely "cracked" this blogging mularky but having changed my web browser, something seems to be happening......although I have yet to press the publish button so it still may go pear shaped!!!
Hopefully, this will appear on my blog or my laptop will be launched into orbit with the aid of my size 6 boots!!!
The card was made for a dear friend whose Mum passed away at Christmas.
I started with a 5x7 white card blank.
The next layer is Docrafts Spring Chic paper and I have topped this with a piece of card that has been die cut with the Spellbinders Fancy Lattice.
The flowers and leaves are from Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms and Jewel Flowers and Flourishes.
Sentiment stamped in purple and heat embossed with clear powder and cut out with pinking shears.

If I have now sussed what I'm doing on here, I shall return with more. If not, I will use the laptop as  a frisby and emigrate to Borneo.

TTFN and thanks for not having fallen asleep by this point.

Mrs Duck.