Tuesday 28 May 2013

Build It Up

Today the construction has finally finished up on the repairs to the barn that had been ruined in the attack on the Guild Hall a month ago. I was going to hire a proper builder, but my lord husband’s father insisted he could do the work himself, saving us the gold coins. After much argument I had eventually relented, allowing him to work on repairing the barn. 

I started this card by colouring the Birdie Brown image with Prismacolors and cutting him out. I chose some “wood grain” patterned paper for the background and added some screw brads to increase the masculiness by at least +78 points. The sentiment I stamped using the Unity “the Man” set. And that was pretty much it. I didn’t want to clutter it up with too much stuff because I loved the image AND the background paper so much, I thought less was more.

On the inside I stamped another sentiment from the Unity “the Man” set and added some bolts from the Unity “Nuts and Bolts” set.

Those same bolts were stamped onto the envelope making everything match all nice like.

This cute Father’s Day card will find himself in the following challenges:

It turns out he did a fabulous job with the repairs, even making some additions to the barn. Nothing will bring back the hellhounds that were slaughtered in the attack, but I finally have a lead on this group of bandits, and soon vengeance shall be brought down upon their little group.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Monday 27 May 2013

Crash Landings and Lasers

The Lady Commander of Copics and I were just about to set out on our evening campaign to the Sunken Desert when we ran into an unexpected hangup. We had just finished saddling the horses and were about to depart the Guild Hall grounds when a massive hot air balloon descended from the sky. It crashed in a cloud of smoke right in the middle of the front lawn. A woman wearing a tophat with a pink sash hopped out and looked around. Seemingly just spotting my sister and I, she removed her large goggles and strode towards us.
“Where is this?” she demanded.
“I...I’m sorry?” I stammered, not understanding her question.
“Where. Am. I?” she repeated, emphasizing each word. Before I could open my mouth to answer she drew her weapon - a silver plated laser gun.

I designed this card for Creative Card Crew’s “punches & dies” challenge that is happening now! This fortnight we are sponsored by Delicious Doodles who is offering the winner 4 digis!
 
I used the Steampunk Sally image and coloured her up with Prismacolors. I got so carried away colouring her hair beautifully purple, I didn’t realize that I accidentally coloured her arm as hair...whoopsies. 
After she was done, I set her aside to work on the background. I swiped some Distress Ink on my kraft sheet, sprayed it with water and mopped up the ink with some white paper. After drying it with my heat tool, I stamped the background with the cog image from the Tim Holtz “Industrial Blueprint” set. The gears and cogs I cut using my Cricut and the Robotz cartridge, then embossed them with my Cuttlebug. The sentiment and small gears I stamped using the “Get in Gear” set from There She Goes.

On the inside I stamped the sentiment using the My Pink Stamper “Birthday Crazy” set and the Mark’s Finest Paper “Celebrate Big” set. I added some gears from the Unity “Nuts and Bolts” set and a stamp from the Dylusions "Further Around the Edge" set.

I stamped the same gears and border stamp on the envelope to make it all matchy-match, earning me +45 coordination exp points.


This steampunk diva will downshift into the following challenges:

“You really don’t want to do that,” I said slowly.

“And why is that, friend? Those are some fine looking animals and I can clearly use some alternate transportation,” she said gesturing to her ruined balloon.
In answer an arrow whistled through the still night air, striking the woman in the hand that held her weapon. Crying out in pain, she was forced to drop her gun and grasped her bleeding hand trying to remove the arrow. In one fluid movement I dismounted Ruffles and had my sword drawn and at the miscreant’s throat. The Guardian of Glitter emerged from the shadows, notching another arrow, aiming at the purple-haired lady.
“I did try to warn you, friend,” I sneered, gesturing with my blade for her to stand, while kicking aside her laser gun. The Lady Commander of Copics bound the strange woman and we lead her to the dungeons to await a trial by the king's jury.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Teeny Bopper Tendencies

Today I was trying to find the Lady Commander of Copics, wanting her opinion on which dagger I should bring on our campaign tonight, but couldn’t locate her anywhere. I finally found her in her sleeping chambers in the midst of hanging up a poster.
“Don’t you knock?!” she squealed when she saw me standing in her doorway. As she attempted to shield the poster with her body, a smirk slowly spread across my face.
“What are you doing, dear sister,” I chided. “Is that who I think it is?”
Dejected, she stepped away from the poster. “Nicholas - lead singer of the Magical Dreamers.”
Try as I might, I couldn’t suppress the snicker that burst forth.
“I just picked up their new song stone,” she said picking up a blue stone and gently turning the top. Music began to fill the room.

I started this little ATC by cutting out the base and using some of my precious music note paper *gaaaaaaaaaaaaaasp* I know, I know. You may be familiar with how I hoard music note paper and don’t like cutting it up, but never fear, this was a just a scrap that was leftover from making this card! No new paper was harmed in the creation of this ATC! *PHEW* Everyone can relax.

For the image I decided to use “Tyler” from The Greeting Farm’s Creeper Crew Collection. It seemed appropriate since they are sponsoring the challenge at Wicked Wednesday AND he has a guitar :) Instead of colouring him, I wanted to keep the ATC monochromatic and stamped the “Worn Music” Unity stamp right over his cute creeper face *BLAM!* I really liked how it looked and decided to take it a step further and distress the edges, earning me +593 shready distressy exp points. I originally wanted to add a sentiment from the Creeper Crew Collection, but Tyler took up almost the entire space! I already had to chop off his feet! I instead opted for some blue buttons that matched the colour scheme nicely.

This ATC will play its way into the following challenges:

“I’ll leave you to it then,” I called over my shoulder, leaving her sleeping chambers.  Once in the hallway there was no stopping the laughter; I’m fairly certain she heard me. What are sisters for if not to mock the other’s guilty pleasures?

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Sunday 26 May 2013

Paper Aircraft Quest Request

Salutations traveller. Thank you for stopping by the Guild Hall today. This morning I received a rather unconventional message. The message itself was not unconventional, rather the manner in which it arrived was. I was sitting down to enjoy a fresh cup of coffee with a raspberry danish and a slice of fried dragon’s hide when through the open window came more than just the warm spring breeze. I was about to cut into the dragon’s hide when a paper airplane landed right on my plate! At first I thought it was the Lady Commander of Copics, up to her usual japes. I plucked the paper airplane from my plate and noticed there was script on it. Carefully unfolding the aircraft I read the message inside. It was from Madame Lornel! Seems she was in need of more thank you minis to fill her box I made her last autumn. At last! A proper crafting quest. I rushed to the crafting chambers after gulping down my breakfast. 

For this mini I cut the base out using the Art Philosophy cartridge. I then used my precious cloud patterned My Little Shoebox paper for the background, again cutting the shape with Art Philosophy. I used the Lawn Fawn “Flying By” set for the sentiment and the paper airplane. I then used my new Lawn Fawn “Good Fortune” set to make the “banner” from the airplane and stamp the thanks onto the banner. This earned me +66 dual tech exp points.
Because these are mini (2.75” x 2.75”) I kept the inside pretty plain to maximize writing space. I stamped the smaller paper airplane onto the envelope, because nothing pleases a Guild Master more than matching envelopes.


This paper airplane will glide into the following challenges:

I do enjoy creating these little minis to fill Madame Lornel’s box. It is strange to think that these are going to strangers purchasing new wagons and carriages from Madame Lornel and I will never meet them, nor they I. A little bit of anonymous happy.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Skip to the Beat, Run From the Fray

Today the Guardian of Glitter and I set off on a quest to locate some topaz gems. The gems are getting harder and harder to find in the land, and we use them at the Guild Hall when mixing our battle inks and water spell powders. We travelled far in search of the sparkling stones, finding ourselves deep in fae territory. Normally this would be cause for concern as the fae tend to get very aggressive when entering their court. Today however they were in the midst of the Festival of Seasons. All the creatures were singing, dancing and indulging in food and drink. Nikki and I cast a stealth spell and snuck through the party, hoping no one would take notice.

I started this ATC by stamping the Make it Crafty “Fifi” image using my trusty ‘ol Archival Jet Black. I then water coloured the image using Distress Markers and my fabled Hydra Brush of +111 wetness. For the base of the ATC I printed a music note pattern off my computer and simply cut it to size. The sentiment I stamped using the Dylusions “Say What You Mean” set. I used some scraps from my bin to make the frame around the ATC. HA! I just noticed that there is a piece of dog hair on the ATC in the pic - lol. Ah well...it is known that a craft with direwolf hair adds +104 exp points to ye who receives said craft.


This little fae will dance her way into the following challenges:
The Corrosive Challenge #175: I’ve Been Framed

As we were nearing the edge of the fairy border, our stealth spell wore off, leaving the Guardian of Glitter and I woefully exposed. One of the fae spotted us and cried out, alerting the guard. Nikki and I tore off through the field, casting a spell of swiftness as we ran, hoping to make it to the Cobalt Caves where the fae could not pursue us.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Saturday 25 May 2013

Spear-Head the Season

The cold gloomy weather has persisted, forcing us all to remain indoors once again. The direwolves, on the other hand, are as happy as can be in the cooler weather, mistakenly thinking that winter is making a third?...fourth?...fifth? return (I’ve lost count now how many times it has snowed since “spring” arrived). I did begin to worry though when I spotted a spearow bird flying around sporting a Winter Festival hat. The spearows are known for being an accurate indication of the upcoming weather...that and they brandish spears to fend off attacks from prey - hence their name.  

This card was created for the Just Some Lines reminder post about our Anything Goes (using a JSL image) challenge happening now! It’s never too early to start on Christmas cards, so I used the anything goes theme to do just that.

I started by colouring the cute birdy using Prismacolor pencils and adding some ice Stickles to his hat to make it all glittery. The sentiment I stamped using the Unity “Warmth and Winter Wishes” itty bitty set. I then got out my old elementary school dictionary (which has been demoted to “craft paper”) and tore out a section from “W”. I picked this section because it had winter and wish on the page. I used some ribbon on the bottom to cover up the witch entry, since it has ZERO to do with Christmas and I found it distracting. This move earned me +391 shadow exp points, which will help with my ninja sneaking skillz. 

On the inside I stamped the sentiment using The Greeting Farm’s “Sparkling Season” set. I stamped the banner portion on the leftover dictionary page and cut it out so it matched the front of the card.

The envelope I simply stamped with some holly using the Dylusions “Christmas Borders” set.

This little birdy will flutter into the following challenges:

As I observed the little brown spearow from the warmth of the Guild Hall, I was lucky enough to see a hawk try to eat the poor thing. The spearow whipped out a large spear and threw it right at the hawk’s neck, bringing the potential killer down. Perhaps we could learn some fighting skills from this mysterious feathered creature.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Friday 24 May 2013

This Spot is "Booked"

Greetings and welcome to the Guild Hall. Today was a rather chilly day in the realm, the winds outside blowing ice cold rain against the shutters. As such, the Lady Commander of Copics, who is perpetually cold, decided to light a nice cozy fire. As the flame began to melt the chill off my bones, I went to retrieve the novel I was reading, hoping to curl up next to the roaring fire. When I returned to the parlor I was surprised to find the Lady Commander already snuggled up in front of the fireplace with one of her monster friends curled up beside her. “Hi, Lady,” it said, peeking out from under the furs. Annoyed my reading place was occupied, I instead retreated to the crafting chamber.

I started this bookmark by stamping the “Whisker Monster With Sign” Stampotique image using my trusty Archival Jet Black ink and colouring him with Prismacolors. The sentiment on his sign I stamped using the Lawn Fawn “Cozy Christmas” set. I love being snuggly and cozy when I read, so I thought it the perfect sentiment for a bookmark :) I also used the super cute fire from that set and paper pieced him in my makeshift fireplace, earning me +194 cut-and-paste exp points. The background I made using a stencil and some Distress Ink. After laminating it, I punched a hole and tied some twine and a button to the top.

This bookmark will cozy up to the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp and Show: Favourite Ink (Archival Jet Black - use it for everything! Don’t think I could work without it!)

Although I didn’t get to read curled up in front of the fire, I am pleased that my sister heeded my request about not letting all the monster pals run amok in the Guild Hall and only invited one over. That is until I returned to the parlor to see the whole lot of them had come over and were deep into a game of Mario Party. *siiiiiiigh* Good thing we are well stocked on crisps.


~ Guild Master Crystal ~