Quietly crafting....

I've had a quiet morning crafting - the rest of the house were sleeping or out!!



The image, one of the new LOTV stamps, has been on my desk for the last few days, I just couldn't get the hair colouring right - anyone got any hints for copic colours for blonde hair, I would very much appreciate them. I'm thinking I need to buy some more shades :)

I am going to start using up more of my stash this year rather than keep stroking it and putting it away for best.... have managed to use a fair amount on this card.
Papers are DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Girl, LOTV image, I used nail gems on the skirt. Sentiments are from SU! and Whimsy Stamps and my favourite punches from SU!

I'm entering this card into the following challenges

Creative Card Crew - a card with more than 1 fold
Flutterby Wednesday - sketch
Lili of the Valley - things with wings
Stamp Something - LOTV stamp

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

My last post of 2010 - New Beginnings - 2 challenges

My last post of 2010, not managed many posts this year, 63.... must do better next year, a new beginning maybe?? Well that is the theme of 2 challenges this week that I have made this card for.



Love this cute stamp from Lili of the Valley, really looking forward to the new releases next month. The papers are from a DCWV stack I bought some time ago with a view to scrapbooking our wedding - not sure why I bought these as the colours are grey, lavender and pink, nothing like the colours we had, peach and ivory. Still practicing some tips for colouring with copic pens from the You Tube tutes....Sentiment from Scrappy Cat, SU and Martha Stewart punches. I ran a thin line of silver stickles around the edge of the paper hoping it would stick down the vellum layer of punched hearts but no such luck!

The challenges I am entering this card into are Lili of the Valley and Dutch Dare, both of which have the theme of New Beginnings.

Just realised I can also enter this into the Stamp Something challenge which is 'something with glitter', ok so the stickles may not have done what I wanted them to but it gives me entry into another challenge so all is not lost!!

Wishing you all a Happy Healthy 2011.

I'm back....

I know its been a long time - again!! but I've been sidetracked by my quilting, nearly finished a double bed quilt, hoping to have it finished by the weekend and I've been sorting out and tidying my craft room. I have decided I need some new storage as what I've got at the moment just isn't working so I don't tend to spend a lot of time out there. I went off to Staples at the weekend ready to buy some RUBS but when I got there wasn't sure what size to buy so thought I had better come back and do a recky?!

Anyway onto my card....



This image has been coloured a while, with none other than copics - is there anything else to colour with?? I used the sketch at LOTV this week and having a gander through blogland there are a couple of other challenges I can enter it into as listed below.

Lili of the Valley - sketch by Bev
Charisma Cardz - Christmas crafting
Winter Wonderland - Xmas card for a male
Stamp Something - Something to celebrate
Secret Crafter Saturday challenge - easel cards

Thats it for me, should be in bed already, gonna be tired tomorrow, still lie in and day off on Thursday yippee!!!

Girly Whiff of Joy

Here's a card I made for a couple of challenges.....



I used one of the City Girls stamps, such fun images, coloured with shades of cream and brown copics, as per the challenge at Whiff of Joy, I used some lovely paper from my paper mountain which is cream with gold splodges running through it, plain cardstock from DCWV mat stack. Raffia ribbon from Hobbycraft and liquid pearls. Sentiment and punched shapes from Stampin'Up!
I am entering this card into Simon Say Stamp and Stamp Something challenges which are 'Girly' and used the layout from Sketch Saturday.

Another new stamp....

Here's another stamp from my lil' shopping spree the other day, isn't she just adorable? I couldn't wait to get her inked up and coloured, just discovered some fab tutorials on You Tube for creating shadow effect using copics, I will post the link later, when I can find it again!!



The layout for this card is from last week's challenge at Spoon Full Of Sugar, too late for the challenge but I enjoyed making the card anyway and there are so many valentine challenges out at the moment that I can enter it into. Love the layout, will definately use this one again, will try it with snowflakes sometime.

Angel hair and cardstock from stash, hearts cut using Sissix Heart die and Cricut George & Basic Shapes heart, Martha Stewart border punch. Sentiment shapes cut with SU! punches.

I am entering this into the following challenges
Stamp Something - Love Something
Charisma Cards - I Love You
Simon Says Stamp - Photo inspiration - red
Cupcake - Red & White all over, there is only a lil' bit of silver there....
Stampin' for the Weekend - Valentines

Holiday Something

Here are a couple of cards I made for a friend's daughters. They have recently discovered scrapbooking and cardmaking so what better excuse to make a couple more cards!




I am going to enter these into the Stamp Something challenge which is 'Holiday Something'.

I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Year.

Where did the weekend go?

I may have been missing this weekend but I have been busy.... got a couple of DT cards coming up tomorrow but here's a card I managed to fit in before I went to work this morning.... yes I was up at 5.45am today! My eldest son is doing his work experience at an Army camp in Folkestone, a 3.5hr journey from here, on a good day, thank goodness its residential! Didn't think it was worth going back to bed when he'd gone, its bad enough having to get up once a day never mind twice!! So I turned the heating on and shut myself in my craft room.



I thought I would make a man's card using the sketch from Papertake Weekly. The image is a Whimsy, coloured with copics and the papers are from the Basic Grey Archaic range, quite appropriate for the image I thought...
I am also entering this for the Stamp Something challenge this week which is to use brown on your card.

I even managed to decorate the inside of the card and all before 7.30am! Am off to cook dinner now, hope to be back later but have got a bedroom to fumigate, oops I mean decorate, this week while DS1 is out of the way.

Back with a few challenges...and some fantastic news!!!!

I finally managed to escape to my craft room today and made a couple of cards for 3 challenges.



I am entering the first one in for the following challenges :-
Stamp Something - Animal Something
Dutch Dare - sketch
The image is a Whimsy image sent to me by a blogging buddy, Sharon, coloured with copic markers, I am so loving these, need to get the last set soon...
Papers are MME, Bloom & Grow, K & Co, Antique Linen & textured one from a DCWV card stack.
I am really pleased with this card, a nice one for a male, makes a change from a football one!

Unfortunately I can't show you the second card yet as its my first card as a DESIGN TEAM MEMBER da da da....... for CREATIVE CARD CREW. I was thrilled to be asked to become a DT member, once I stopped jumping around the room with delight I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming!!

Make sure you visit the Creative Card Crew blog tomorrow to see my card.

Another late night post...

What a busy day, my eldest son was 15, only seems like yesterday he was a baby! We've had a lovely day spent with family and friends, so didn't manage to escape to my craft room until quite late. Here is my card for today (Friday).



I thought it was about time I inked up my Miss Anya stamps again, they have been neglected of late. I have combined the challenges from
Inspirational Card Sketches - sketch 30, its the first time I've joined this challenge, what a great sketch to work with.
Copic Colour Challenge - to use C3 Cool Gray, YR04 Chrome Orange (didn't have this so used YR07 & YR02) & E57
Stamp Something - make a birthday card
Dusted off some other neglected stash, my SU! papers, used ones from the Sweet Always set and Chocolate Chip patterned papers. Made flowers from SU! 5 petal & X-Cut punches, added swirls - EK Success punch. Sentiment was from a bargain stamp I got at Newbury, it has Happy Birthday on 4 side of the block in different fonts and was only about £1.
Added a bit of pale blue shading and glossy accents at Miss Anya's feet, supposed to look like a puddle but not so sure now LOL!

Am off to bed now, back with a few challenges tomorrow.

Stamp Something

Here I am with my second post of the day...... well it was getting a bit chilly out in the garden, the wind was picking up so I thought I would move back into my cosy craft room!

Thought I would have a go at the Stamp Something challenge this week which is 'Clean & Simple Thank You'



This card kind of made itself, I love the Thank You stamp from Wonderful Words set from Stampin' Up! The embossed card was on my desk from a while ago when I was playing with my embossing folders and glimmer chalks, all it needed was a little bit of ribbon et voila.

I ought to do some housework now but I can feel the pull of my craft room and my new rubba waiting to be stamped up.....

3D Something challenge

When I saw the challenge on Stamp Somthing today, I knew exactly what I was going to make - I was going to make it for last week's challenge but never got round to making it. I discovered the basket idea recently while blog hopping, sorry can't remember which blog it was on.

The challenge is :-

Are you ready for this week's challenge? Our design team member Alex is hosting this week and would like for everyone to create a 3D Something! Now, you can create anything you wish that has some 3 dimensional aspect to it. So, it can be an altered item or a box or bag you created or you can think in 3D with a fun card design or scrap book page! The possibilities are endless! Have fun!



I was looking for an idea to give little easter gifts, when I discovered this - problem solved! I used Creme Eggs, which Mum bought me last month as she knows I lurve Creme Eggs. How come they have lasted so long you may ask??? Well she bought them for me on the way back from the dentist when I had just had my tooth taken out! She told me I had to eat them all myself, as I needed fattening up, I was only having these problems because there's no fat on me!! Well didn't want to be bad and not do as I was told, so hid them until I felt more like eating them and forgot all about them, until I discovered them this week, hidden safely, not disclosing where as anyone who knows me will know where my secret sweetie stash is LOL and no Sis, it's not in the ironing pile anymore!!

Using 15cm square piece of cardstock, score at 5cm and 10cm horizontally and vertically, then diagonally, omitting the middle section. Using a bone folder, score and mountain fold the diagonal score lines and valley fold the horizontal and vertical lines. I randomly stamped the cardstock with a couple of the stamps from the Seeing Spots stamp set using a Versamark ink pad. Using my Crop-a-dile I punched holes in the folded in pieces and tied up tightly with cord to bring the points together. I used Snail adhesive to stick ribbon to the bottom section of the basket. Tissue paper was put through the paper shredder to try and make it look a bit like a nest - don't think that was very successful, I need a finer shredder and think tissue paper needs to be yellow. I tied both pieces of ribbon together and added a double layer tag that was stamped with 'A Little Yummy for your Tummy' stamp from the Yummy stamp set. I added an eyelet threaded with some green cord and tied it to the ribbon handles.

Recipe
Cardstock - stash
Versamark ink pad
Seeing Spots stamp set, Yummy stamp set, Tag punch, small tag punch and Snail adhesive - Stampin Up!
Tissue paper, put through paper shredder - stash
Ribbon - stash.

Got a feeling these eggs won't be hanging around for long now. You could also use Mini Creme Eggs or Mini Eggs in these baskets, not that they would last any longer....

Stamp Something sketch challenge

Here is the my entry for this weeks challenge over at Stamp Something which is a sketch by Katharina, the fabby prize up for grabs is a gorgeous stamp from Katharina's online shop Whiff of Joy.
The stamp is from Funky Kits, coloured with watercolour pencils, not too happy with the finished result, it was quite late when I finished this, don't remember it looking this patchy then! This was my second attempt, the first I tried colouring with Promarkers and the ink from the stamping bled into the colouring - what ink pads should I use with Promarkers, anyone out there know? I would appreciate your help, am trying to resist the urge to buy copics as they are so expensive but my birthday is coming up soon - have to drop some not so subtle hints!!
How does everyone colour the cheeks so they have a healthy glow, when I try to do it they end up looking like they have 'slapped cheek' LOL.
Papers from a Dovecraft pack, ribbon and star embellishment from Poppicrafts.

4 challenges in one!

At last the drought is over...... this is the first card I have made for over a week!! Its such a grotty day, so have decided to lift my spirits by shutting myself in my craft room to create! Here is what I have come up with - a 4 in 1 challenge. It meets the challenges set on My Time To Craft which is 'Seasons', uses the sketch set on Friday Sketchers, loved using this layout, will defo use it again, the Stamp Something challenge which is to use something that sparkles, shines, glimmers or glitters and finally the DCM challenge to create something that reminds you of winter or makes you feel cold, phew......
Disaster nearly struck when I stuck the stamped image directly onto the green paper, stood back to admire my work and then realised I had forgotten the gold mount :-O, I just about managed to prise the image off with minimal damage, thank goodness the mount was that bit larger!
I enjoyed making this card, my first Christmas card of the year, somehow it doesn't seem right making Xmas cards when the sun is shining, so I was OK today, as it felt more like the middle of winter, with tumble dryer on in the background, wind howling outside, only thing missing was the heating being on, but even I resisted the urge to press that switch!
The image and green bp are from the DoCrafts goody bag for July/August, which I treated myself to yesterday while at a demo.
Am off for dinner now, back later hopefully, with some more cards....

Lilac Medallion, Stamp Something Challenge, Friday Sketchers Monochrome Challenge

Not very good photos I'm afraid but I'm getting tired now and ought to be in bed, but have to upload these first This is my entry for the Stamp Something Challenge this week which is a monochrome challenge, I have chosen silver for my neutral colour and used 2 other shades of purple. I have used this weeks sketch from Friday Sketchers for the layout of this card. I stamped and heat embossed 6 images of the stamp on alternating colours, cut out the various layers, glittered and assembled with 3d foam pads. The card in the middle was dry embossed using the cuttlebug divine swirls embossing folder. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from Cuddly Buddly.
I had forgotten how much I enjoy making medallions, must do some more soon.

Stamp Something challenge, Thank You card

I thought I would use do some medallion stamping for this week's challenge on Stamp Something, which is ' create a little something to say thank you'. I really enjoy using this technique, although it is time consuming, and can be quite messy, I usually end up covered in glitter! I stamped 7 images using the Expressions stamp from Creative Expressions, on 3 different coloured pearlescent card and heat embossed with silver powder. I cut each layer, removing different elements, to reduce the size of the layers. I glued 3 different colour glitters on the layers and when this had dried used 3D foam pads to make up the medallion, which was then glued to the base card. 'Thanks' was cut using Cricut Beyond Birthdays cartridge. The picture below shows a close up of the layers, which is not very clear in the top image.

Busy day - another 2 challenges!!

I have had a great day, crafting... Here is my entry for Stamp Something's challenge of 'firsts'. The firsts on this card are, the first time I have used these stamps, which I bought ages ago, they are from Banana Frog, the set is called Build A Bloom. I stamped 24 petals on pink and lilac card, I then stamped a base of 8 petals and built the flower up from there, finishing off with a large brad which I embossed with holographic powder. The other first on this card is the doodling around the edge of the white card, something I have been meaning to try for a while and actually got round to it today!!

In my bid to catch up on challenges, here is the third one I have completed today, for Daring Cardmakers, 'we have been looking at Recycling once again. BUT there is a tiny twist! (you'd expect no less eh?) We want you to have a look at old shop bought greetings cards, wrapping paper or gift bags which you have received in the past and recycle any elements to make a card of your own.You could use them to make backgrounds, cut small focus pieces out, or use the flowers, ribbon and other interesting bits and pieces that are often attached to the cards'.
I have used the background of an old card to form part of the base card. Stamped image from Paper Nation, coloured using watercolour pencils, edged with some more doodling then mounted onto silver mirri card.