A Time to Remember

First of all a huge thank you to all of you who took part in our Topaz Dare last week – there were some stunning creations and it was a joy to come and see them all.

This week the Team have got together for a very special Dare:-

A TIME TO REMEMBER

Remembrance Sunday, the second Sunday in November, is the day traditionally put aside to remember all those who have given their lives for the peace and freedom we enjoy today. On this day people of many nations pause to reflect on the sacrifices made by our brave Service men and women.

The poppy became the symbol of remembrance as they were the only living thing that survived the bloody battles of Flanders during the First World War.

So to mark this very special Day of Remembrance we would like to see your cards based on the Poppy – be it the flower itself or it’s vibrant Red colour.

Please come back and leave us a link to your card. Here’s a little inspiration from the Team.

Lynda

Nat

Saskia

Rein

Kathy

Keryn

Lythan
Samm

Topaz, the November Birthstone

First of all, a big thank you to everyone who shared their Halloween inspired creations with us over the last week - it was definitely a Treat to see them all!

As you know, October was our Anniversary month and the DCM is officially four years old - so what better way to celebrate the start of our FIFTH year of challenges and inspiration (we hope!) than to introduce a new member of the Design Team. If you've been following the blog over the last few weeks you'll have met her already because we're delighted to announce that our recent Guest Designer

Samm

is moving seamlessly from Guest Designer to full time DT member - and we're absolutely thrilled to have her aboard.

We're also delighted to introduce our brand new Guest Designer, who will be with us for the rest of the year. Please welcome the very talented

Saskia

we're sure you'll enjoy seeing her lovely cards on here over the next few weeks. You can see the first of those she'll be making for us just below.

Now to this week's challenge

All this year we've been using the monthly birthstones as our inspiration

for the first challenge of the month.

The birthstone for November is the

TOPAZ

Found in places such as Brazil, Nigeria and Sri Lanka, the Topaz comes in a variety of colours. Probably the most widely known are light blue and tawny-yellow but there are several other colours of topaz too. It's associated with constancy, loyalty, faithfulness and friendship.

The team have used the colours and the meanings of the stone to make their cards this week and we hope you will be joining in and sharing yours too.

Please come and leave a link so that we can see your Topaz creations

Saskia

Samm

Rein

Kathy

Nat

Asia

Lynda

Keryn

Lythan

Trick or Treat!

Thanks to everyone who took part in last week's "Autumn Leaves" dare - there certainly were some lovely projects on show!
It's Nat here with this week's Dare. This week I hope you're ready for a little....

Trick or Treating!

With Halloween just a few days away you still have time to get your spooky vibes going and make a Halloween card or you could use some ghoulish Halloween colours to make a non-Halloween card.... the choice is yours.
Here are some of the creations the design team came up with!

Remember to link us up to your cards - have a spooktacular week!

Lynda

Nat

Lythan

Keryn

Samm

Kathy

Rein

   

Autumn Leaves

Thanks to everyone who joined in with our 'Anniversary Waltz' theme last week with the emphasis on the dance part. There were some fabulous creations and we loved coming to see them all.

Hi it's Lynda here and it's my turn to set the Dare this week so I've chosen the very topical theme of:-

AUTUMN LEAVES

I absolutely adore Autumn and the colours that come with it so this week I'd like you to get creative with leaves. Create backgrounds or even flowers with them or just simply use them to embellish your cards. Don't forget the autumnal colours though!

Please come back and leave us a link to your card. We can't wait to see what you make! Here's what the Team have made this week:-

Kathy

Nat

Keryn

Rein

Lynda

The Anniversary Waltz

*The winner of the paper pack from our little extra celebration of World Cardmaking Day as chosen by Random.org was number 8, Katina. Congratulations Katina and thank you to everyone who entered*

On to this week;
Thank you to everyone who joined in with Rein's Office themed dare last week and shared such wonderful creations with us all, we really enjoyed seeing them.

As you know, October is our Anniversary month - we're 4 years old in a couple of dares time so it's definitely time to celebrate. So our theme for this week's challenge is:

Welcome to the Dance

We'd like you to take Dance and Dancing as your inspiration and do some fancy footwork on your cards this week. We can't wait to see how you shimmy along with this one. Be it Ballet, Street-dance, Flamenco or Tango, the (dance) floor is yours

Here are some cards from the team to set your feet a-tapping - if you think we're looking a bit "thin on the ground", it's because our "Other Lives" are getting in the way and throwing various obstacles in the way of our crafting atm! But do come back over the next few days when hopefully there'll be more to see :-)

Samm

Kathy

Rein

Lynda

Jo



Nat

Office Blocks

Hi, thanks to all of you that joined with us last week - both for our October Birthstone dare and the special Papercraft Inspirations Blog Party dare too

It's Rein here this week and I am daring you to use an office theme along with some item of office equipment, staples, paper-clips... on your card.

Bedankt aan iedereen voor het meedoen bij de uitdaging van vorige week. deze week is het mijn beurt de uitdaging te kiezen. 'gebruik kantoorbenodigdheden zoals nietjes, etiketten of paperclips...' op je kaart

Please come back and let us know where we can see your creations, here's what the design team have come up with to help inspire you

Nat

Lynda

Samm

Kathy

Rein

Asia

Vanessa

Lythan

Jo

World Cardmaking Day

Please note that our regular weekly dare for this week appears below this extra post!

Today is World Cardmaking Day - The first Saturday of each October, kicking off the holiday card-making season, the most popular time for creating and sharing handmade greetings.
The card-making community worldwide, including hobbyists, beginning card makers, manufacturers of card-making products, retail sellers of products, educators, and press are invited to come together to celebrate this holiday and creative passion.

It is a day to connect with fellow card makers both near and far, to applaud the creativity that powers the craft, and to provide an opportunity for card makers to connect and find resources that will empower, inspire, and encourage them in their card making.

The origin of exchanging handmade greeting cards can be traced all the way back to ancient Chinese culture.
* Today, card making is a worldwide hobby, especially popular in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
* 86% of scrapbookers also create handmade cards
* 92% of paper crafters create cards more than any other type of project
* The top occasions/themes for making cards are
o Birthdays
o winter holidays (Christmas, New Year’s, etc.)
o thank you Valentine’s Day
o Mother’s Day
* Card makers prefer stamps and rub-ons for use on their holiday handmade cards
* 73% of card makers use their computer in part or all of their design

Coinciding with WCD, Papercraft Inspirations Magazine are having a Christmas blog party all weekend, celebrating Christmas and offering Christmas card making ideas, projects, competitions, money-saving offers and more, all that you'll need for the festive season.

Papercraft Inspirations Blog Party

We were thrilled when we were asked to join in with the festivities and we would like to invite you to join in too by making a Christmas card to celebrate.

We have a paper pad to giveaway too;



We will pick a card at random from all the eligible cards.

• In order to be eligible you need to add a link in the comments to a newly created Christmas themed card by midnight on Saturday 9 October.
• You may enter as many times as you wish and you may combine challenges.
• Cards must link back to the Daring Cardmakers blog.
• Have fun creating!

Lynda

To make this card I used:-

Penny Black Slapstick Stamp Set - Carolling Penguins

Stamped onto Watercolour paper with StazOn Ink

and coloured with AquaMarkers

Plenty of Stickles was added!

Mounted onto Bazzill Card Stock

Punched with Martha Stewart Crown Border Punch

and embossed the White with Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder

Tiny Snowflakes - Woodware Punch

Peel Off Gems for the centres

Kathy

To make this card I used:

C6 blank (used landscape)

Kaiser "Dear Santa" 6x6 paper pad

Wide organza ribbon

Gold thread and gold crochet thread

a few beads in matching colours

Spellbinders Nesties scallop circles die

Spellbinders Shapeabilities "Fanciful Holidays" die (tree)

scrap of gold paper

Gold ink pad or Krylon pen

Gold Stickles

1. Cut and stick 2 strips of paper (one 1.5cm wider than the other) across the card front

2. Die cut an aperture with the Nesties die, run the ink or Krylon pen around the raw edge

3. Tie a ribbon bow around as shown, tie a few strands of gold thread through the knot, Thread some beads onto another length of thread and secure the ends by knotting the end beads in place. Thread the crochet cord through the loop in the ribbon, then with some beads at either end of the bead-string, tie the crochet cord tightly around the centre so that the beads will hang down at the two ends when the card is standing up.

4. Cover the inside back of the card, Adhere the paper for the tree to a scrap of card, then cut out the tree shape, add a scrap of gold paper to the reverse to show through the little "bauble" holes.

5. Apply glue or tape to the reverse of the tree, close the card so that you can position the tree in the aperture and stick down firmly. Highlight the star with gold Stickles.and it's all done.

Lythan

To make this card I used:
Craft Creations large square card blank
Digital Papers from Funky Hand Dreams Come True CD printed at A5 size
Snowflake and sentiment are Funky Hand All I Want for Xmas Digi stamps
Fiskars Upper crest border punch
Black felt tip pen
Glue pen and Glamour Dust glitter
Nestability small rectangle and scallop dies

1: Print out your papers.

2: Using Word or equivalent, make an A5 page, insert the digi snowflake and enlarge to about half the page. Print out onto one of the pattern papers

3: Cut out the snowflake, leaving a small outline.

4: Add a line of glue and Glamour Dust inside the black line.

5: Cut a square of pattern paper 4x4" and another 4.5 x 4.5 ". Outline with black pen. Adhere together.

6: Stick a different pattern to the bottom half of a card blank. Outline with black pen

7: Using the same pattern as the snowflake, punch a border. Outline and stick to the top of the patterned paper.

8: Cut out the sentiment and a scallop using nestability dies. Outline and stick together.

9: Stick the large square of patterned papers to the card, slightly higher than the centre.

10: Add the snowflake using foam pads

11: Add the sentiment to the bottom right hand corner

Jo

To make this card, I used;
Bazzill Kraft and white cardstock
Crate Paper Snowy Day papers, chipboard and stickers
Papermania gems
Paper flowers - some coloured with Sharpies
Lace and button twine
Button and brads
Nestabilities small scallops circle die
Cuttlebug flower die
Cuttlebug embossing folder
Circle and Holly punches
Brown and white inkpads
Needle and thread

1. Cut a panel of brown patterned paper and ink and stitch around the edge, wrap lace around the panel and mat with Kraft cardstock
2. Emboss a panel of white card, tie on twine, mat with kraft cardstock, ink and stitch and adhere to the card.
3. Mat a chipboard ring with white embossed card cut into a circle and a die cut scalloped circle.
4. Add a cuttlebug flower and chipboard snowflake circle with a brad, adhere the completed circle to the card.
5. Add note label and memories sticker and adhere chipboard scallop and corner to the card.
6. Create tree from patterned paper, stitching the edges of the tree, add a snowflake and punched circle with a brad and add the tree to the card.
7. Punch holly, ink and adhere. Glue flowers to the card.
8. Add a punched yellow circle and button to the top of the tree and gems to the card.