Crafting @ Eighty

 Hello everyone! How are you all during this very variable weather we are having. I hope you are all well. Today I have a photo of another of the tangle designs I have been working on.  This one is of my own designs which I suspect is inspired by the many designs & patterns that I have looked at on the Internet. My hand is rather shaky which shows on some lines, but I seem to be smoother when working on my own ideas rather than when copying others. I suppose I am a little more relaxed then. Thank you for visiting me - do come again & I am always pleased to receive comments or its nice if you just say "Hi".

Good afternoon on a very hot day where it is difficult to know what to do with yourself.  I hope everyone is fine is this weather. Recently I spoke of the challenge of a birthday card for our grandsons fourth birthday. Well, his birthday was yesterday & I did manage to come up with a colourful idea built around an interest he has at the moment.  Aeroplanes & helicopters.  He is so fascinated by them that his parents took him to a nearby airport yesterday for him to watch the landing & leaving as part of his birthday treat. Here is my card; This is the front inside left inside right I Googled for royalty free papers & images.  Having selected the images I wanted I put them into a photo management software & resized them, then printed them & cut into small photos.  I took one of the helicopters & through the same software managed to insert our grandsons face as if he was riding in it. All the images were then laminated. I was pleased with the outcome, I hope h

...... that one of my challenge cards was chosen in top 3.  The challenge blog was Addicted to Clean & Simple  & the challenge was for a Christmas Card  This was the card I submitted. I haven't been myself for a couple of days, a combination of state of health & this hot weather - but this has cheered  me up no end, & hopefully kick start my mojo.

 Good afternoon on a beautifully sunny warm day. As I am not allowed to sit out in the sun due to adverse reaction of sun with my medication I have been in my craft room this afternoon having a little tangle fun. This design I have seen somewhere in my travels around Google & You Tube looking at Zentangling ideas. So I have produced it pretty much from memory. My hand was very shaky this afternoon so some of the smaller shapes I found a bit tricky to do & I can see through the photo that the colouring in, particularly in black, there are some white patches.  It is the first time I have attempted to make a gem on a piece, & I am actually quite happy with that. Like everything new it is practice & more practice that helps improve work. So must set aside time for more practice. I hope you are having a good weekend, enjoy the sunshine & thank you for stopping by.

Good afternoon everyone.  I have another Challenge blog card for you today & once again the theme is Christmas. The blog this time is Addicted To Clean and Simple , & here is my card; Oops! it looks like I had a slight tremble when I took the photo. Apologies for the blur. Last Christmas I made a Christmas Wreath to hang in the lounge window & had quite a few poinsettias left over along with some foliage.  So I thought this would be a good way to use some of them up.  They are from John Next Door dies & the Merry Christmas stamp has been around for ages. Why not pop over to the blog, you can do so by clicking on the name above, & have a look at other entries.  In fact - why not have a go yourself. Thank you for stopping by, see you again.

 Over on the Simply Less is More  blog the challenge this time is for "Christmas in July". Here is my offering for this challenge; The stamp & the Christmas greetings are little stamps I have had around for some time & cannot remember where they came from.  I stamped in archive black ink & coloured with felt & gel pens. Do you agree that sometimes a more simple design is harder to create than a full on image? Why not pop across to the blog, by clicking on the link above,  & take a look at all the lovely cards that will be entered in the challenge. Perhaps you will be inspired to make a card yourself & join in the challenge. Thank you for stopping by, please call again.

 Well. It's been a little quiet on the crafting scene the last couple of days.  I haven't actually made anything, but have prepared some bits & pieces for a birthday card for our grandson who has a birthday later in the month. I spent quite a bit of time in Pinterest trying to discover inspiration for his card. Whether from that searching or not I have now made a decision on what to do & as I said earlier have started to gather items together to make the card. Now to decide exactly what the card will look like.  It is, & always has been harder to make cards for males. Our grandson will be 4, & it is still hard without doing anything too babyish. I thought I would give you something to look at so I am posting a photo of one of my earlier tangle cards; Its a very simple design as it is one the early one of my own designs. Thank you for stopping by, do call again when you have time.

I almost missed the closing date for this challenge.  Time doesn't have much meaning currently where days run into more days & the time whizzes by.  So the challenge this time is over at Tuesday Morning Sketches , & as the name implies we work from sketches. Here is the sketch and here is my entry for the challenge I cut the squares from white card & coloured them with Distress Ink. The sketch shows a black border & rather than layer them onto black card I drew a border with a black Promarker pen.  The largest of the squares I raised on double-sided sticky pads.  The stamps I used are from AALL&Create "Botanicals modified" set. As I hadn't coloured the background or used DSP I drew a black line border just to relieve the white space. Thank you for stopping by I do hope you enjoyed your visit & will call again.

Yesterday I thought I would have another try at creating a tangle tile of my own design.   My creative mojo has been hiding from me for a few days & I was getting frustrated.  😖  Here is what I managed to create;- I had a vision in my head & the swirly part is right. The general idea is what I wanted but I think I drew the flowers too small, needed to fill the space more. Never mind I am now once more somewhat relaxed & think my next piece will be much better.  Possibly have to use one of Sandra Rushton's videos for inspiration, or use stamps as the basis.  We will see - I think my brain is ticking over already!  😏 Thank you for stopping by do call again.

The stamps that AALL&Create produce are mostly outside my particular interest, but they are very clever.  I do have a couple & today I decided it was time I started using them. For my first attempt I used the Iris. I started by putting 2 different colours of Distress Inks on my mat & spritzing them with water & finally dipping the card in the resulting ink.  I haven't done this technique for ages & was worried it would just be a mess, but no, it looks quite good.  Next I stamped the image in archival black ink & coloured in with felt pens.  After adding the word "Iris" I used a black fine-liner pen to add some little triple dot groups randomly around the card.  When placing it over the white base card it looked a little strange so I ran a fine pen around the 3 edges to create a faux layer before adhering it to the card. I am rather pleased with the outcome & think I will try it again & be a little more adventurous in what I do with it.  The

Hello again - another challenge for me today.  This time from Sunday Stamps  the challenge is a sketch titled "Triple the Fun". This is the sketch; and here is my card The background layer has a spray of leaves embossed in clear ink & embossing powder, under a very light layer of pink Distress Ink. The sprays do not show up all that much although one can just be made out in the lower right corner, & another under the greeting. The 3 flowers are from dies by John Next Door. Why not visit the Sunday Stamps Blog & have a look at the other entries & other challenges they have had.   Thank you for stopping by & please leave a comment so that I know you have been here.  Remember to click on the "publish" word in order for your comment to be accepted.

Yes! I have been poking around in the bit box again.   Fairly near the top was some rather pretty Christmas papers, so I thought I would join the "Christmas in July" party.  The idea of the card shape came from another video I had watched by Paul Ford where he used an acetate front. Here is my card;   The papers were from another freebie set off a magazine that I had bits left over from.  There wasn't actually a topper left but one of the design sheets had these larger lovely blue poinsettia style flowers. To create the topper I die cut the paper into an oval shape & layered onto black card similarly die cut. This is the back of the card awaiting a verse or sentiment & a smaller version of the topper in the corner. The design didn't take long to put together & is rather pretty - I think I might make some more like this, especially as there seems to be quite a bit of Christmas papers in that box. 😃

 Hello folks! Well I have had a better day today & feel happier with my work. I decided to try another tangle topper this time with my own ideas. I wondered if things would flow better if it was coming from my head & not copying.  I don't think so. My problem at the moment is a shaky hand so it is difficult to get nice smooth lines.  But perseverance pays off & I enjoyed being in my own little bubble whilst I created it. I started by stamping a flower in black archive ink then adding the tangles around it. So! the trick is to stay calm, don't get frustrated & cross when it doesn't go quite right, & work a little more slowly. Consequently I feel much more relaxed today. I hope your weekend is going well. Thank you for stopping by I hope to "see" you again.

 Hello! My creativity seemed to dessert me some what in the last day or two, plus anything I tried doing seem to fall apart.  I guess we all have days like this from time to time but I get so frustrated & downhearted. I am trying to take part in another card challenge & even though it involves a sketch with some of the thinking done for me, my brain just won't switch on. Also I have just spent some time watching a Sanntangle video for a particular tile in order to draw it - took me 3 goes & I am still not happy with it.  They say that a poor workman blames their tools but my hands are one of my tools & they have been a bit twitchy.  Ah well! Such is life.  I have put everything away & will give it a fresh go again tomorrow. Need my brain to work though as I have the challenge of making a card for our grandsons 4th birthday later in July. The challenge?  He is into helicopters & aeroplanes - so some research to do. I hope you all have a good weekend planned.

Hi everyone how are you all doing?  Still staying safe I hope. A long time ago when I had a blog before, I used to join in with the various challenge blogs that were around.  I thought it would be nice to do that again. So today I am going to show you the card I have made for Perfectly CAS blog where the current challenge, which ends on 12 July, is titled "One Corner".   CAS stands for Clean and Simple & for this blog the definition is "rule of thirds" - you will see clearer when you see the card I have made.  Clicking on the blog name will take you to their page where you will be able to see about their challenges & also all the cards that have been entered. Here is my card; In the corner I have inked through a stencil in 2 colours to give the flowers a background. The flowers I stamped with black archival ink & then coloured with felt pens.  The little sentiment was just the right size to fit in the corner. Do pop over to Perfectly CAS & have a lo

Hello!  I don't so much have a bit box as a bit drawer. So this morning I thought I would open it up grab a few things & see what I could make. I wish I could be as random as that & just get on with it. No, I have to have a poke around deciding what will go with what.  Changing my mind & looking again, several times. Anyway I did find a few things & the outcome was 4 cards which will go in my box of cards for charity.  The fairy toppers & background papers came from a pad that must have been a freebie with a magazine. The small square card was made with the left over pieces from the double z-fold card I showed yesterday. I think I will have to have another raid tomorrow. Thank you for joining me for a few moments, do call again. Stay safe & well.