Completely Crackers!

Hi everyone!
Now that the wedding is over and I'm still going to be on holiday for a few more days I thought I'd better get caught up on all the cards that I haven't had the time to blog over the past few months.
So, just to get them out of the way I thought I'd show the few Christmas cards that I made first - it won't take long, I didn't make very many!

To start with here's the one (or two?) that I made for my wee niece and nephew.  I'll show you the rest in a couple of days.
I had the idea months ago but thought I wasn't going to have time to get it made before the big day, so I got stuck in and got it made quicker than I thought I would - I suppose that's what happens on the rare occasion that you know what you're doing and what you want! lol

In the words of the great Frank Carson..."It's a cracker!"  I made it out of an A3 sheet of card and I measured and cut the zig-zig split but I didn't cut the points the whole way through at the back so it stayed together until it was opened and then they pulled it apart like a real cracker and each side was a separate card.

Here's what I did with the 2 separate cards

I used some Magnolia stamps - a mixture of new and old ones - and masked them off to stamp a seat under them.  I added facial features which I've never done before but I saw it on some other blogs and although I love Magnolia's as they are, I thought that for Ryan & Holly, they needed faces.  The one of Holly actually bears a slight resemblance to her! lol - she's so cute!
I coloured them with copics and cut them out.

I used some Tim Holtz grunge-board die-cut letters and coated them with glossy accents and then smothered them with different coloured glitters.

The papers are from the Christmas Carnival Collection from Kaisercraft.  I used a Stampin' Up! edge punch for the backing papers and curled them up from the split in the cracker.  I cut out some baubles and decorated around the figures and then I used a couple of the die-cuts from the back of the paper pad for the ends of the cracker.  A wee bit of ribbon and a few jingle bells finishes it off.

The inside is fairly plain due to time and the fact that it was hard to keep the card open to decorate it! lol

It was a fun card to make and the recipients had fun opening it so it all worked out ok!
Tip: I had to be imaginative with the envelope as I didn't have any to fit so I took 2 A5 envelopes and laid them side by side and slit down the 2 middle edges and stuck them together.

This card fits the following challenges (there's loads of them!):

4 Crafty Chicks; Something New (new style of card)
Bling It On; Christmas
Crafts & Me; Anything Goes
Creative Inspirations; Anything Goes
Daring Cardmakers; Spots & Stripes
Diva's By Design; Merry Christmas
Dream Valley Challenges; Christmas
My Mom's Craft Shop Challenges; Anything Goes
One Stop Craft Challenges; Winter Wishes
Paper Play Challenges; Christmas
Paper Sundae's; Celebrate
Saturday Challenge: Anything Goes
Simon Says; Anything Goes
Stamp, Scrap and Doodle Saturdays; Bells
Top Tip Tuesday; Anything Goes
Totally Gorjuss; Happy

So I'll take this oppurtunity to wish everyone a really happy new year.  I hope 2012 holds all you wish for and more!

See you next year with more catch-ups!

Thanks for looking! xx
 

Wonderful Winter Wedding

Hi everyone!  I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and have something nice planned to see in the new year.
Our Christmas break is over and it's time for another challenge on the Alphabet Challenge Blog.  We're back to fortnightly now and the challenge for this fortnight is...

X for Xtra Special Occasion!

We're also running a DT call so make sure you put your name down as I can't wait to see who my new teamies are!

Here's my project for the challenge..

I made this for my cousin who got married yesterday and I made their wedding stationary.  As the theme for their stationary was winter themed I went with that for their card.  Here's a close-up of the card

The image is from Tiddly Inks called "Me and you baby" which I coloured with copics.  I then spread glossy accents all over her dress and gave it a coat of glamour dust so it really sparkles!

I didn't use any design papers on this one.  Instead I cut a spellbinders wonky rectangle out of a square of card and stamped a U-Mount stamp from the Funky Floral set around the edge of the card and heat embossed some super sparkle holograph embossing powder using Versamark.
I attached some acetate to the back of the card and then used some foam tape around the shape and the edge of the card.  I put some polar white flower soft and some glamour dust into the space left over the acetate and then attached it to the card blank - making a shaker card.  A wee tip - if you give the acetate a rub with your anti static bag for heat embossing before you add the filling it will stop the glitter sticking to the acetate!
I printed out the sentiments and cut them out and attached them along with the cut out image onto the front of the card.  Everything was distressed with some iced spruce distress ink.

I used the same swirly stamp and embossing powder on the inside of the card and used a sentiment from Lili of the Valley on the left hand side and a Stampin' Up! one on the right hand side.

I also decorated a candle for them but I forgot to take a photograph before I covered it over - you can just make out the decoration through the organza

And here's the whole candle

As I said, the wedding was yesterday and it was absolutely gorgeous!  It started off a bit wet but brightened up a bit in the afternoon.  A great day was had by all!

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

By The Cute & Girly; Let it snow
Crafts & Me Challenges; Anything Goes
Crafty Boots Challenges; Celebrations
Creative Inspirations; Anything Goes
My Mum's Craft Shop Challenges; Anything Goes
Paper Sundae's; Celebrate
Saturday Challenge; Anything Goes
Simon Says; Anything Goes
Stampin' For The Weekend; Anything Goes
Sweet Pea Stampers; Make a Gift
Sweet Stampin; Sparkle & Bling
Top Tip Challenge; Anything Goes
Totally Gorjuss; For someone special

Thanks for stopping by - and make sure you take a look at the Alphabet Challenge Blog for details on the challenge and the DT call.

I'm a little late!

Hi all!

I'm a little bit late posting this, time just runs away from you at this time of year!
But it's been another fortnight since the Alphabet Challenge Blog's last challenge.  We're up to W now and the challenge this time is...

W for White Christmas!

This challenge is running for 3 weeks to allow for a wee Christmas break, ahhh!

So here's my card:

I used an old stamp that I've had for a while and I can't remember who made it - I'll try to find out and add it later.

I cut a piece of card slightly smaller than the card base and measured and cut a square out of the centre.  I ran the frame through my Grand Calibur with the Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder - I had to do this a couple of times to get it all over the frame as the frame was a bit bigger than the embossing folder.  I attached the stamped image to the back of the frame with foam pads to give it some dimension.  I was also able to make sure I positioned the image where I wanted it in the frame.  I then edged the frame with some Rock Candy Stickles.

I then made three triangle trees and decorated them all differently using different embossing folders and types of glitter.  I gave the smallest one a coat of glossy accents and sprinkled some glamour dust over it so there's a lovely sparkle off it!  I added some swarovski's to the middle sized one for a bit more bling.

The inside finishes off the CC Design sentiment from the front of the card and I've added a couple of triangle trees to correspond with the front.

So that's it.  Why don't you pop over to the Alphabet Challenge Blog to see the rest of the DT's projects and then share your makes with us there?!

Thanks for looking!
 

Woo! A Christmas Card!

Yes, I thought I wouldn't see one coming out of my craft room this year, but I've made a Christmas card!
And it's for the new challenge at Alphabet Challenge Blog which is....

V for Very Vibrant!

What a fab challenge and one right up my street, I love bright colours!
So this is what I've done:

Yep, another easel card, but a circle one this time so I got to use my big dies again.  I used a fabby image from Saturated Canary called Maddie which I coloured with my copics and prismacolour pencils.  I did the out of the box thing in a major way as I had to cut most of her out and only die cut around her feet!

The papers are Crate Paper from the Snow Day collection and I heat embossed some vanilla ice embossing powder around the edges of most things.  My craft room even got a bit of it! lol!  Well, maybe it'll get me more into the Christmassy feel we all need to make Christmas cards! lol

I added some cheap christmas decorations - at least I think they were, they've been in my Christmas box for ages so I'm not entirely sure where they came from - possibly off crackers?

I used a Memory Box die for the tag and a CC designs stamp for the sentiment.  I got a bit carried away with the embossing powder and you can really only read the sentiment face on!  Oops! Every time I read that I can't help singing the song!

A few swarovski's here and there to finish it off and it's done!

So why not pop over to the Alphabet Challenge Blog and see all my teamies fabulous cards and have a go yourself - it's an easy one this time!

There are lots of challenges for Christmas around no so I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

4 Crafty Chicks; Snowflakes
CES Challenges; Snowflakes
Charisma Cards Challenges; Snowflakes
Deep Ocean Challenge Blog; The letter C - Christmas and Cold!
Papertake Weekly; Christmas Crackers
The Poodles Parlour; Christmas
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays; Embossing
ABC Challenge Blog; D for Dazzle
Totally Gorjuss; Swirly Whirly
Totally Papercrafts; Christmas

Thanks for looking!

Car(d)s!

Isn't it a good thing that I'm now part of a DT or I would have no posts at all!!  I've been so busy over the past while because of more wedding invitations - And I will continue to be as busy up until Christmas I would say as the wedding is just after Christmas.
In the meantime I have a small build-up of cards that I haven't blogged yet, so I'll take a few minutes now and show the card that I made for my nephew for his birthday a few weeks ago.

I saw this idea on another blog where they made Thomas the Tank Engine, but I can't remember where it was that I saw it, so if anyone knows let me know and I'll give credit.

Here's what I did...

It is an easel card of Lightening McQueen from the Disney film "Cars" - one of Ryans favourite films!

I googled the line drawing of Lightening and then printed it out 3 times - onto red card, yellow card and white card.  I used the red one as the base card and then cut out the yellow bits from the yellow card (including the Rustese logo on the bonnet!) and the rest from the white card, I used Copics for the shading, the eyes and the black bits.

I then mounted the card onto an easel base that I made to look like a road.  I attached a little tab behind Lightening with a magnet on it and attached the other magnet under the road to hold it up.

The sentiment stamp is Wild Rose Studio and the dotty stamps are Waltzing Mouse.
I coloured a chipboard 4 and coated it with some fab red glitter.

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:
4 Crafty Chicks; Paper Piecing
My Partner in Crafting Crime; Use a freebie
Paper Play Challenges; Shaped card
Paper Sundaes; Digital images

Thanks for looking!
 

Mermaid and Bright!

Morning everyone!
Yet another fortnight has passed too quickly!  But it does mean that there's another challenge over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog.

This fortnight our challenge is up to U and the challenge is...

U for Under the sea!

So here's my card

The stamp is called Mermaid Emma from CC Designs which I've coloured her with pro-markers and prismacolour pencils and I've cut her out and mounted her onto a ribbon background.  I just cut lengths of ribbon to correspond with my backing paper and stuck it around a square of card, twisting a few ribbons as I went.  I then added a few lengths of pearl on a string (or whatever it's called!) and I think it gives the Mermaid a great feel of movement like the sea!

The papers are Basic Grey from the Kioshi paper pad and I added a Bazzill die cut edge strip across the middle as a wave, although I've ended up covering most of it!  I stuck a few glass domes to the card to act as little bubbles.  I haven't added a sentiment yet as I'm not sure who or what the card it for.

The inside is fairly plain but generally matches the front, again, I've not added a sentiment yet.

So that's it, why not head over to the Alphabet Challenge Blog and see the other DT's fabulous work!

I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Charisma Cardz; Cutesy
CRAFT Challenge; Cute
Crafty Boots Challenges; Young at heart - This reminds me of one of my favourite childhood films - The Little Mermaid
DreamValley Challenges; Anything Goes
Magical Monday Challenges; Magical stripes and circles - Stripy ribbon and circle bubbles
Moving Along With The Times; Fairy Tale Cards - The Little Mermaid
My Mums Craft Shop Challenges; Sugar And Spice

Thanks for looking

You're Tea-rific!

Morning everyone!
Another fortnight has passed and it's time for another challenge at the Alphabet Challenge Blog!
We're up to T in the alphabet now and the challenge is....

T for Tea Time!

So anything to do with food and/or drink.

Here's my card

I used the fabby digi "Twisted Tea" from The Greeting Farm and coloured it with copics and Prismacolour pencils.

The papers are from Basic Grey's Kioshi paper pad.  The sentiment is from Kraftin' Kimmie and punched out with Stampin' Up! punches.  The ribbon is from my stash.  I added a few swarovski crystals to the image and a couple to the eyes on the skull charm.

I've carried the gist of the sketch through to the inside, using up the scraps of the papers that were left and the sentiment is a Wild Rose Studio stamp.

So why not scoot over the the Alphabet Challenge Blog and see the rest of the DT's Tea-sers! lol

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Card Positioning System; Sketch
By The Cute And Girly; Anything goes
Charisma Cardz Challenge; Anything goes
Creative Craft World; Add a sentiment
Deep Ocean Challenge; Sweet - Yum!  Sweet cakes and buns!
Simon Says Challenge; Anything goes
Southern Girls Challenge Blog; Stripes and polka dots

Thanks for looking!

A Sad Day

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a big motorsport fan, especially Formula one and over the past few years I've become a big fan of Moto GP.
This mornings race in Malaysia will go down in history for all the wrong reasons.
I couldn't believe it this morning, as I watched the race, the horrific crash which occured on the second lap.  I felt sick to my stomach and knew that it didn't look good.
Unfortunately, within the hour it was confirmed that Marco Simoncelli had passed away from his injuries.  I've been in shock all day.
At only 24 years old he had a great future ahead of him and in 2 short years in moto GP he had caused quite a stir.  He will be sadly missed

RIP Marco Simoncelli, #58