Monday 24 February 2014

A Mission Recovered

Salutations traveller. Today the recon team I had dispatched to the Floundering Reef returned. I suppose I should amend that to - what was left of the recon team that went to the Floundering Reef returned. Of the seven person team that left two days ago, only two shadow ninjas and a healing fae came back. One of the shadow ninjas was gravely injured and only survived by the magic of the healing fae, who was herself completely spent from keeping her comrade alive. The news they brought back was not optimal. The Duke of Dies captured and killed the other four members of the team, after torturing them for all pertinent intel. The Guardian of Glitter and I cast a powerful dual tech healing spell on the injured shadow ninja and healing fae and made them comfortable whilst we plotted our next move.    

This card was made for the Creative Card Crew “Get Well” challenge that is happening now. Make a get well project and come play along with us for your chance to win a prize from our sponsors!

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I started this card by printing out the bouquet image from Imagine That and matting it with some black cardstock. I decided this card need some extra kawaii points so I stamped the adorable kleenex box from the Lawn Fawn “On the Mend” set, paper piecing the box part. The sentiment was also stamped from “On the Mend”. Last I added a flower brad to finish off the front.

The inside was stamped with another sentiment from “On the Mend” as well as the cute flowers, which I paper pieced. Along the border I stamped the curvy lines from the Lawn Fawn “Gnome Sweet Gnome” set.

I stamped the envelope with the flowers from the There She Goes “Poppy” set and coloured them using Distress Markers, earning me +44 colourful XP points.


This card will spread some cheer in the following challenges:
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The Guardian of Glitter paced back and forth in the crafting chamber where we were discussing the situation far from the Lady Commander of Copics. “What are we to do, Guild Master? We obviously cannot tell your sister what we have found,” she said stopping to look at me.

“No. We cannot. That would be disastrous. The fact that this Duke of Dies murdered four members of our team is disconcerting, however his plot is perplexing,” I said.
Nikki looked at me questioningly.
“The shadow ninjas that escaped said he plots to have the whole world spell “you’re” incorrectly as y-o-u-r.”
A snicker escaped the Guardian of Glitter’s mouth. “You can’t be serious?”
“Indeed. I am. What we have here is the worst kind of fiend - a grammar eradicator. And you know how I feel about grammar.”

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Sunday 23 February 2014

The Icy Land Quest Begins

Just when we thought we could pack away our heavy fur lined armour, the icy grip of winter has once again seized the realm in its unrelenting grasp. With the return of the cold temperatures, the snowpeople have returned, relishing in the frosty air. The Guardian of Glitter and I have decided to plan a quest to the isle of Icy Land, hopefully to find the source of these bitterly cold blasts that keep hitting the realm.  

I started this snowy window card by making the background. I spritzed it using Vibrant Turquoise and London Blue Dylusions spray ink and then stamped the edges with the Stampendous “Jumbo Snowfall Pair” set, an acquisition from last fall's Guild Raid that I have yet to use (or even open the packaging). Next I used a diamond shaped die and cut out the center for the window (running it through the Cuttlebug also helped flatten the paper because it had gotten preeeeeeeetty warped using the spray ink). I die cut the banner using the “Give a Hoot” cartridge and stamped the sentiment with the Lawn Fawn “Frosty Friends” set.

On the left side of the inside I glued on the acetate (which I cut from some old packaging from a stamp set) and then die cut some patterned paper to adhere overtop so it didn’t look as messy with the edges of the acetate showing. On the right side I stamped the snowmen using the “Jumbo Snowfall Pair” set again and paper pieced their clothing and noses.

I added some ice Stickles to their hats for some added sparkle XP points.

The bottom of the envelope was stamped using the swirly snowflake pattern from the “Jumbo Snowfall Pair” set. I then added some snowflakes to the background using a cheapo Recollections set.


These snowman will chill out in the following challenges:

The journey to Icy Land will take some time and require plenty of planning to ensure we have enough supplies for the trek. The Guardian of Glitter and I decided to leave in a fortnight, giving ourselves plenty of time for preparations. As this quest will be a dangerous one, we decided we may need some extra firepower. We knew the Lady Commander of Copics would be sitting this one out, due to her unusual affliction to the cold, and asked our Lord Husbands to join us on this adventure. This will make for an interesting crafty quest…

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Love Struck

Welcome to the Guild Hall. Lately the Lady Commander of Copics as been walking around in a daze, dreaming of returning to the Floundering Reef where she had fallen in love. Unfortunately, this has caused her to become even more clumsy in her Guildy duties - forgetting key ingredients in potions, mis-aiming her spells in battle, gluing things upside down…I was beginning to think that perhaps she had some kind of spell cast upon her in an attempt to weaken the Guild Hall.

This ATC was created for the last week of our Hearts & Love theme over at Just Some Lines. Come and play along for the chance to win a digi!

I started this one by printing out the freebie for this month and colouring her with Prismacolor pencils. I inked around the edges with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink and then stamped the background with some Unity stamps. I stamped and die cut the letters using the Lawn Fawn “Quinn’s ABCs” set.

This ATC will dream of love in the following challenges:

I decided to send a recon team to the Floundering Reef to see if this “Duke of Dies Andrew” that the Lady Commander has become smitten with does in fact exist, or if this is all some kind of plot to destroy the Guild Hall from within.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Monday 17 February 2014

No Cats in the Lab!

After all the questing lately, I realized that our potion stock was running rather low. I took to the laboratory today with the Lady Commander of Copics to begin work crafting some new elixirs, tonics and mana potions for us Guildys. As usual, my sister showed up thirty minutes late and when she did finally come sauntering into the lab, she had her feline daemon, Ronin with her.
“What is that beast doing in my lab?” I demanded, pushing my safety goggles to the top of my head, smearing pink powder across my forehead in the process.
The Lady Commander looked down at Ronin, “He was lonely. Don’t worry, he won’t be any trouble,” she promised.
I pulled my goggles back down and mumbled that he was the worst behaved, most destructive creature at the Guild Hall and trouble was his middle name. 

I started this card by stamping the Stampotique “Nerd Cat” image onto kraft paper and colouring it using Prismacolor pencils. I made the glasses pink, since my own glasses are pink and this was my husband’s Valentine’s Day card. Setting that aside in a safe place, I set the work on the background. I rubbed a white piece of cardstock with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink and sprayed it with water. After drying it I used a blending tool around the edges with Picked Raspberry DI. I then used the Tim Holtz “Faded Dots” stencil and some Picket Fence Distress Paint on the background. A few circles and hearts from Unity stamps finished it off.

Next I used my brand new Lawn Fawn “Science of Love” set to stamp out the beakers and test tube and fussy cut them out after colouring them with Distress Markers. I added some glossy accents to them to make them look more glass-like, earning me +500 glossy XP points. I stamped the sentiment using that same Lawn Fawn set, mounting it on kraft paper. In my stash I had some bookmarks with the periodic table printed on them that my husband had acquired from a science conference a few years ago and given to me for crafts….well….this was the perfect opportunity to use one. I cut apart the periodic table, colouring some of the edges with DI and glued them to the background as well.

On the inside I stamped the top sentiment using the “Science of Love” set and the bottom one from the Lawn Fawn “My Silly Valentine” set.  I also used up the leftover pieces of the periodic table on the inside. After gluing them down I realized they kinda looked like Tetris blocks falling….oh well.

The envelope I spritzed with Dylusions spray ink and then used the Faded Dots stencil with Worn Lipstick DI to tie it in with the card front.

This smarty cat will experiment in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: A Cameo Appearance (Distress Paint made a cameo appearance in the background)

It only took about six minutes before Ronin had knocked over a jar of rare bulbous petals. Ignoring the Lady Commander’s cries of protest that he wouldn’t do it again, I confined her daemon to a cage in the corner of the lab before he could destroy any more precious ingredients and set to work on the potions. Cats….this is why I do not allow them in my lab…

~ Guild Master Crystal ~

Sunday 16 February 2014

Puns of Love

With the help of my fellow Guildys, we were able to flush out the traitor in the Guild Hall - a new house gnome named Krunkle. It appears I will have to vet new additions to the Guild Hall more thoroughly. Once he had been removed and was no longer sending messages to the evil wizard, Black Soot-Ture, we were able to get in touch with the ragdoll clan who had sent us the hidden message in the stitchy pig, and fell the nefarious fiend effectively saving the Festival of Love. With the holiday no longer in peril, everyone was able to enjoy the day of love, exchanging Valentines and mushy sentiments. 

I created this set of card to distribute to the girls in my office, cutting the base for them out using the Art Philosophy cartridge. I made a little envelope for each one using the hearts from the Unity “Loads of Love” set and left them on the girls’ desks along with a little chocolate :)

The sheep was cut using the Create-a-Critter cartridge and embossed with a swirly embossing folder and my Cuttlebug. I stamped the banner using the Lawn Fawn “Bannerific” set. The sentiment is from the Unity “Love Ewe” itty bitty. (Hooray for puns).
On the inside I stamped the sentiment and the adorable sheep using the There She Goes “Poultry in Motion” set. The Happy Valentine’s is from the Lawn Fawn “My Silly Valentine” set. It is actually the only stamp I have that says Happy Valentine’s Day, so you will see it inside all these cards.
This sheep card will be herded into the following challenges:
Craft Your Passions Challenge #200 (challenge #158: Adorable Animals)

Next I cut this cute owl out using Create-a-Critter 2. The banner is again stamped with “Bannerific”. The sentiment is from the Unity “You Always” itty bitty. 
On the inside I stamped an owl using the Lawn Fawn “Critters in the Forest” set. The top sentiment is from the Lawn Fawn mini “You’re a Hoot” set.
This owl will fly into the following challenges:

The bunny for this card was cut using Create-a-Critter 2 again. Another banner stamped and cut out using “Bannerific” and a sentiment from the Lawn Fawn “My Silly Valentine” set finished off this punny front.
The inside sentiment was stamped using the There She Goes “Poultry in Motion” set. The little bunny on the bottom was from the “My Silly Valentine” set.
This rabbit will hop into the following challenges:


The snake on this card was cut using Create-a-Critter. He actually has a birthday hat on, but I trimmed that part off, since it really wasn’t applicable to this card. Another banner again from “Bannerific” was stamped with a couple sentiments from the There She Goes “Zoo-Pendous” set. 
On the inside I stamped the snake from the “Zoo-Pendous” set and “hi” using a Unity stamp.
This reptile will slither into the following challenge:

Next up was this tree that I cut using Create-a-Critter 2. It’s actually supposed to have snow on it, but I just left that layer off and instead cut some hearts to make it more Valentines-y, earning myself +88 transmogrification XP points. The sentiment was stamped on a banner from “Bannerific” using the Lawn Fawn “Critters in the Forest” set.
On the inside I stamped the sentiment using a Unity stamp and added the pine tree on the side with the “Critters in the Forest” set.
This tree will lose its needles in the following challenges:


This giant apple was cut using Create-a-Critter and embossed with the swiss dots folder and my Cuttlebug. The sentiment was stamped using “My Silly Valentine”.
The sentiment on the inside is from the Unity “Nicest Place to Be” itty bitty. The apples on the bottom are also from the Lawn Fawn “My Silly Valentine” set.
This apple will roll into the following challenge:


On the last card I cut the banana using the Create-a-Critter cartridge and embossed him with the swiss dots folder. The sentiment was stamped using the “My Silly Valentine” set and it baaaaaarely fit on that banner, which is the largest one in the “Bannerific” set. 
On the inside I stamped the sentiment using the Lawn Fawn “Love ‘n Breakfast” and “Smitty’s ABCs” sets. The banana on the bottom was also from “My Silly Valentine”.
This banana will apeel to the following challenge:

I am glad we were able to save the Festival of Love and rid the Guild Hall of its traitor. [QUEST COMPLETE]. Hopefully we will be able to have a few days rest until the realm once again needed saving….but I doubt it.

~ Guild Master Crystal ~