Bloomin' Marvellous

Well what beautiful weather we are having. I do love this time of year. Just look at these colours.

This is my garden Saturday afternoon

and the following 3 photos are from Sheffield Park on Tuesday

I'd like to thank Wynn for choosing our previous theme of Pearls and Lace. Don't forget to check out CD Sunday Challenge Blog for our new challenge which was chosen by me this time around. Wynn will be letting you know her top three later....

So, this fortnight I have chosen 'Bloomin' Marvellous' for the CD Sunday theme and as you can see from the above photos it certainly is at the moment.

Here is my card:

I've used Winston CD by Polkadoodles for all my blooms. The main card was constructed using a Crafter' Companion accordion die and the matching overlay die.

Here is a closer shot so hopefully you will be able to see the detail.

The construction was a bit fiddly so I don't think I will be making these in bulk but it does make a very pretty card and something a little different. 

Please dust off those CDs and join us this fortnight for a 'Bloomin' Marvellous' time. As usual I will have a little prize for the winner.

Knitty Nora (Back in Time)

Recently we joined friends to visit Sheringham in Norfolk for a 1940s weekend. The weather was glorious, we had a ride on a steam train and got dressed up for the occasion.

All this nostalgia and the wonderful vintage clothes that people were wearing got me thinking. 

I used to be always knitting in my younger days so when we got home I googled 1940s knitting patterns and came across this wonderful blog by a very talented lady - 1940's Style. 

Having been inspired I decided I wanted to have a go. I purchased a copy of an original pattern from her which reminded me of a cardigan I knitted in autumnal colours years ago and then searched for some nice yarn to knit with. 

I chose four colours from a yarn which is recycled cotton so I feel there is an element of the 'make do and mend' ethos of the era. As you can see I couldn't wait to get started.

It arrived beautifully packaged.

Here are my colour choices. 

It's growing. I'm onto the pattern and colour changes now. Not bad as the yarn only arrived on Wednesday and I've been at work Thursday and Friday and out at a golf dinner Friday night so I'm very pleased with progress. 

Pearls and Lace

A new challenge at CD Sunday and Wynn has chosen our theme this time and what a great one it is. I have made this as a wedding card for a friend at work as her and her future husband belong to LARP (Live Action Role Play) and are having a hand fasting celebration in the woods next month. 

I used Flights of Fantasy CD from Crafter's Companion with artwork by Morgan Fitzsimons. The die is also from Crafter's Companion.  I just added some lace trim and a few flat back pearls in her hair.

I can't wait to visit your blogs and see all the pearls and lace.

Gorgeous Gowns

Carol has chosen a lovely theme for us this time - Gorgeous Gowns and I've used two CDs for my card: Main Image - Flights of Fantasy, Morgan Fitzsimons CD by Crafter's Companion, Backing Papers - A Touch of Magic from Linda Ravenscroft CD by Card Creations. I've used pink card by Docrafts for layering the backing papers. Just added a bit of Wink of Stella for sparkles and a die cut flower and an epoxy button from some of the backing paper.

Get those gorgeous gowns out and show us what you can do at CD Sunday Challenge Blog. 

Bear with me

Another fortnight has passed and time for Sue to choose the new theme at CD Sunday. Sue has asked us all to "bear with me", so here we go!

I used Tumble Tizzy Pastimes Collection CD Rom 2 by Cupcake Crafting for my image and backing paper. The image has been decoupaged to add some dimension. I used a Signature die for the bunting which was cut using some sparkly card that I have had for a very long time. It was just the right thing to match the ribbon. :-)

I do hope you will find time to join us again this time around and look forward to visiting your blogs. 

Don't forget to visit the CD Sunday Challenge Blog to find out how to enter and see who the top three were from our previous challenge.

Bingo!

Clarity Stamp Challenge this month is bingo and I have chosen the middle line - stencil, stamp, grunge paste.

I started with a blank white card and using the lovely feather stamp from Clarity and a Versamark ink pad I stamped randomly over the card. I then covered this with clear embossing powder and heat set it. 

I then moved to my 8 x 10 gelli plate and put some distress ink pads onto it. I used some of the new 2015 colours -  Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Fossilized Amber and Abandoned Coral. I used the brayer to spread the ink around a little and then pulled a print using the card I had stamped with the feather. 

Once this had dried I wiped the excess ink off the feathers so that they show through.

I then took a stencil. The one I used has three birds on it but I decided to use just one and spread gunge paste through it. I then removed the stencil and washed it while leaving the bird to dry. I left it overnight to make sure it was quite dry as I wanted to use my Spectrum Noir pencils to add some colour to the bird. I used Versafine black to stamp the word and mounted the whole thing onto some black card and then onto a white 8 x 8 card base. 

I'm entering this into this month's challenge at Clarity Stamp. 

Photo Inspiration at CD Sunday

We have waved goodbye to Christine and Jenny and have some exciting news to share.  Whilst we are regrouping at CD Sunday we have decided to invite Guest Designers to join us over the next 6 months.  We invited Pauline, Meg, Jane andShaz and we are thrilled that they all said yes.  Pauline and Meg will be our guests for September to November and Jane and Shaz will be our guests for December 2015 to February 2016. We are looking forward to sharing their designs and inspirations with you all.

For our new challenge this week it is my turn to choose. Here is a photo that I took in France earlier this year.

I hope you will enjoy this challenge and join us at CD Sunday Challenge Blog where you will find lots of inspiration from my fellow teamies.

You can take any ideas that you like to create your card - colours, shapes etc. and the team have come up with some wonderful interpretations. Here's mine. 

I used Sheena Douglass's A taste of India CD for the backing papers that I have woven in the aperture. The leaves and tiger are rubber stamps from a set of stamps that go with the CD. I used some cats eye ink pads to stamp the leaves and clear embossed these. The tiger is embossed using Wow gold embossing powder and coloured using spectrum noir pencils. 

I hope to see lots of inspiration from this photo when I visit your blogs.