Bah Humbug! Challenge 26

Blimey Oh Riley!  Can it possibly be 1st July already?  Apparently so ... and that means that the school holidays will officially start at lunchtime today HOORAY!  It'll be nice to relax the routine for a few weeks ... we just need to hope for some sunshine so we can actually ENJOY lazy Summer days, rather than just dreaming of them lol!
Over at Bah! Humbug! though, there are no thoughts of sunshine as we're still concentrating on building up a decent stock of Christmas cards and for our challenge this week, we'd like to see how creative you can be with Acetate.  Now I admit that I'm not particularly confident when using this product so to keep out of trouble I opted to do an easy peasy lemon squeezy card using the simplest of ideas ... do you likee?  

Using an A5 piece of patterned card folded in half as a base card, I positioned a fancy-pantsy adhesive sticker on the front ... isn't it gorgeous? ... and then simply folded an identical sized piece of acetate to create a jacket cover over the top.   

This is held in place with narrow gold ribbon tied in a bow and a small peel off greeting was added to the bottom corner.   
TA DA!  Job done in 5 minutes!    
My fellow Humbugger Ann and our brand new July Guest Designers, Abi and Kathy K, have put a lot more effort into their projects and I recommend that you take a look ... and then if you want to play along this week, there's a super wee prize up for grabs for one lucky random entry as it's the 1st challenge of the month.   Feel free to be as creative as you like ... or you can play safe like me ... tee hee.
Enjoy your Summer ... wherever you are and whatever you are doing.  Ciao for now! xxx

Bah! Humbug! 37 - Stars

My DT example for Bah! Humbug! this week follows a wonderful Acetate Card Tutorial, which demonstrates a simple technique to ensure your background doesn't tip forward when the finished card is on display.   Not good if you've been sneaking the sherry LOL!  It was written by my very good Humbugger buddy and VERY bad influence Ann, who constantly leads me into temptation where crafting goodies are concerned and is responsible for my ever growing obsession with rubber - of the stamping kind in case you're wondering.  

I used the free downloads from the new 'Beatrix Potter - A Winter's Tale' release which is currently available for members at Crafter's Companion.   Very generous and perfect for those of us who have to be a bit more canny with their 'cally-dosh' at the moment.    I'm entering their Monthly Challenge where the prize up for grabs is the whole Winter's Tale Collection - SQUEAL! - so wish me luck.   I will try to remember to breathe until the winner's name has been announced and not be too disappointed if the random winner isn't me!
As I have mentioned before, decoupage is definitely not my favourite technique but, as the ideal choice for this kind of card, I had no choice but to get out the snips and have to confess now I see the finished result,  it was worth making the effort.   As I'd only printed 2 sheets of background scenery, I improvised for an additional layer with a piece of blue glitter card which was torn and then attacked with Icicle Stickles.   AND because I love the 'Stickles Effect' so much, the trees and snow were punished severely too.   

See what I mean?

The bunnies are also decoupaged, although it is difficult to see the layers in this photo - and yes - they were also 'stickled' within an inch of their little bunny lives.  The extra sparkle hasn't slowed them down any though.
My original intention was to add the stars randomly across the acetate front, but I was reluctant to hide the scenery so opted for arranging them across the sentiment panel at the bottom.  Acetate cards can have a tendency to topple unless heavy duty acetate is used, so doing this helps as a card stabiliser.
The other DT members Ann, Irene and our Guest Designer Anne, have some beautiful starry samples to show you so head over and check them out too.

Bah! Humbug! Challenge 28

Are you are losing track of the days because of the holidays?  Then let me tell you today is Friday ... which can mean only one thing!  
That is that Bah Humbuggers everywhere are already up to their ears in glue and paper products, joining in this week's challenge. 

Our theme this week is 

A Christmas Scene 

It was a 'no brainer' for me to head straight to last year's Christmas Patchwork Pals kit, safe in the knowledge that all the components would be readily available for me to make another easy card as I haven't got time, or the inclination, for complicated projects at the moment.
The most difficult and time-consuming decision to make was choosing which of the many super-cute die cut characters to use, eventually settling for this cute bear dragging his sled up the hill. 

Then it was a simple case of cutting a section from the background design cardstock, adding some snowflake embossed mirri card strips and an acetate front panel before positioning the various character elements ... taking care to match up the front and back views either side of the acetate to hide the adhesive.  Couldn't decide whether to add a bow or a snowflake embellishment in the top corner or not, so will leave that for now but may add something at a later date.

Nothing complicated ... a really quick result ... pain and mess free ... and another addition to the Christmas Cutie section of my 2010 card collection.
You must pop over to Bah! Humbug! yourself and have a look at the super cards Ann, Irene and our July Guest Designer Debs have created in the hope of  inspiring you.  If you feel like joining in we would love to see your results so remember to leave a link in our comment box and we will do our best to pop by and leave you a message.

Bah! Humbug! Challenge 21 - Acetate

Not sure what happened to my scheduled post ... it's disappeared! ... completely gone! ... 'vamoosh vanished!  It was there yesterday but  ... now ... it's not.  Very strange.   However ... here's another version of what I wrote ... the bits I can remember anyway.

The 1st challenge of the month is always exciting over at Bah! Humbug! because we have a wee Prize Draw for you and have recently started featuring a Monthly Special Guest Designer.  Our lady for June is ready to wow you with her creative wonderfulness  - and you'd better prepare to be 'wowed' this week let me tell you!   
Welcome to the team
Claire : Claire's Crafty Creations
This week's challenge to use acetate had me slightly concerned as it's not something I use very often.  I love to see what others do with it and promise myself to try some of the fabulous techniques I've seen, but somehow my efforts never quite make the grade.   So in light of that I decided not to get above myself and stick to basics.
I took a sheet of the gorgeous foiled acetate, which was included in the birthday box of goodies I received from Ann when we were in York - thanks big muchness Ann xxx  I trimmed and folded it to a DL size card and added panels of black card inside and outside, placing them so that the stamped image on the front hides the message panel inside when it is closed.  Are you with me?
Tied a narrow gold ribbon down the fold for decoration and black adhesive gems in the corners ... voila!  DONE!

The stamp is one of the Secret Christmas Set from Waltzing Mouse Stamps which was available for a limited time last year ... I have e-mailed Claire to ask if it is still available and will let you know if she gets back to me.

**The answer is YES!** 
Thanks for the quick response Claire.

It was simply stamped onto black card, embossed with gold embossing powder, matted to a slightly larger piece of gold mirri and then adhered to the front with double-sided tape.  

A slightly larger panel of black card was stuck directly behind this on the inside, which cleverly hides all the sticky stuff.  The same thing was done with the message panel inside.   Not very adventurous I know but quite a nice card all the same.  
If you'd prefer to see something MUCH more adventurous, then you need go no further than check out what the other Bah! Humbuggers! have been doing with their acetate - you will not be disappointed!

Think I may go and enjoy the sun for a while now that the washing is out on the line - might take the Promarkers with me.

Anniversary Love

My brother and his wife celebrate their 14th Anniversary later this month and I wanted to make them a card that was romantic but not too mushy ... if you know what I mean.
I think I've managed to achieve that with this card by using this beautiful double sided cardstock from Imaginisce.
I really love the softness of these colours together and the lovely flowing lines just cried out to be cut around, giving me fabby top and bottom panels for the front and also providing an interesting panel for the message inside.
The pink centre panel cardstock was embossed on the Cuttlebug using my favourite Swiss Dots folder and pale blue ribbon was threaded through slits in an acetate greeting and secured behind with tape before attaching it to the DL blank.
A couple of Prima flowers with liquid pearl centres add some decoration.
The small silver peel off letters on the heart are their first name initials and I hope that I haven't made them so small that they will be missed. Various different sizes of letters, both peel off and chipboard, were hauled out of my stash, but these were the only ones which didn't overpower the paper too much.

The inclusion of embossing and initials on my card will hopefully mean I can enter it for both of the challenges at Bubbly Scrumptious ... their usual monthly challenge and their new weekly challenge ... IF that's allowed of course!
No doubt someone will tell me if it's not.