The Little Things In Life...

So it's Thursday again and the launch of another fabulous offer card from Papermill Direct.  My brain is still in telling me to 'relax' mode.  I'm starting to feel a lot better but I try to do too much and then suddenly feel exhausted. At these times my comfy chair seems so appealing.  Now my comfy chair has seen better days and is nowhere near as stylish as the one I created for this little card.

 I used my little Cricut Mini to cut out the chair layers and the sentiment that reads "The Little Things In Life...".  It may not be immediately apparent but all the chair layers and the sentiment layers were all cut in one colour, and that is this weeks special offer card from papermill direct a 230gsm 'Ivory Lightly Embossed' card (a small box is just £5 Link Here)  which has a delicate embossing on it which is similar to the popular leather effect, the Ivory Lightly embossed has a more smaller more delicate grain and I thought it perfect for my comfy chair project.  I coloured layers in 'grey squirrel' and 'pastel blue' pro markers.  You can see the embossed card coloured perfectly evenly and really looks like I used card in those colours.  How versatile is that card then, it means I can cut all sorts of small shapes with layers all in one go and not have to worry about colouring til I'm ready to assemble the finished project. The lightly embossed detail adds depth to the surface and I think it makes the colouring neater and look more finished then it would on a flat card.

 I did however use one other card to create my contrast, I chose the fab 240gsm 'maroon' papermill card, it has a lovely dark rich tone that co-ordinates with the white and the 'grey squirrel' pro-marker and I think works well with the pale blue colours too. Again I didn't want to over-embellish this one, so kept the highlights simple and subtle by adding some self adhesive pale blue gemstones to the back of the chair and to the 'i's in the sentiment.  I thought 3 larger stones would finish off the sentiment well, giving a feeling that you could finish off the sentence in your head ...

 

Materials Used:
230gsm Light Ivory Embossed 'offer' Card - Papermill Direct
240gsm Maroon Card - Papermill Direct
Promarkers in 'Grey Squirrel' and 'Pastel Blue'
Pale Blue adhesive faux gems in 2 sizes
Cricut Mini


Challenges Entered:


Why not pop over and see what my fabulous papermill teamies have got up to this week too?:   

Barbara  glitterarti1.blogspot.co.uk

Lisa  papercraftbliss.com

Ruth  apassionforcards.blogspot.co.uk

Sylvia designsforoccasions.blogspot.co.uk

Sandie sandieshores.blogspot.co.uk

Sharon  theothersideofmerevitalised.blogspot.co.uk

Challenge Updates

Yay for Challenges!! Do you enter Challenges??  Why not try a few, there are usually lots to choose from covering all sorts of materials, techniques, products,etc. Challenges are a brilliant way to focus your crafting, there are lots of Challenge Blogs out there and not all require you to have a Blog, some like Visible Image allow you to upload to their facebook group, which is a lovely way to include those stampers that don't blog.

I recently started to enter Challenges again and I was so thrilled to see that my card was picked as a Fav in the March Challenge over at Visible Image  http://visibleimage.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/march-challenge-winners-visible-image.html

You may remember this card started out as a bit of a crafty playtime experiment, with no particular method or idea of where I wanted to end up.  So it means a lot to me that it was picked as a top 3 by the fab DT at VI.

April's challenge is a 'Tag' theme, and I was hoping to create something for that, but I had a little Operation last Monday which meant I had to rest up for a few days.  But I'm back designing and making again and so i think I'll have to wait to see what next months theme is and give it a go.

Over on the Trimcraft website, they have a Forum where they run regular Challenges too, these are a great way for people of all abilities to take part and get some feedback on their designs.  I entered my very first one of the Forum Challenges that was a 'Water Theme' with this card, which was chosen as one of the winners. ( I received some lovely craft items as a prize) I love this card too because of all the die cutting I got to play with and also the stamping and colouring, so nice to be able to combine the two in a fun playful card.

Another Challenge for March, was over at the 'Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog' and was a Birdie theme with a cricut cut. http://fantabulouscricut.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/wednesday-winners-203-bye-bye-birdie.html

I entered my little Ducky get well soon card and managed a Top 5 with that one, so I gained a 'blinkie' for my Blog.   Sometimes there are prizes to win, and sometimes you are awarded little badges or blinkies to display on your blog or website, but i think most people (myself included) just enter for the fun and satisfaction of 'rising to the Challenge'. 

These challenges are fun and a good way to play to a theme and keep your Mojo mojo-ing or whatever a mojo does :D  So why not try a few Challenges yourself?