Chalkboard or Blackboard??!

Hi everyone!

I hope you're all well.  Have you all managed to avoid being nominated yet?  For the ice bucket challenge?  I think I may have an imminent nomination heading my way, my sister has just been challenged but hopefully she'll take pity and vote elsewhere!!  I don't know how my pain and aches would cope with a bucket of icy water, the dip in the temperature weather-wise has been tough enough.  I'll wait with baited breath!

We have a new challenge up today at the Creative Card Crew blog and our sponsor for this fortnight is Die R Us

 They're offering a $10 voucher to our lucky winner!

The challenge we have set for you is...

Chalkboard!

I grew up calling it a blackboard and I think it's a whatever-side-of-the-Atlantic-you're-on thing!  It's a technique I haven't tried before and I'm not sure if I did it right but here it is anyway...

I used pearly black card and ran it through my printer which I had set at high quality so as the ink would stay wet for longer as I wanted to throw some white embossing powder at it!  I also pawed all over the card before I printed on it as I wanted some stray ep this time.  The font I used for the "Happy Birthday!" is called Bleeding Cowboy.  I added a frame around the writing on Powerpoint too.  I had crocheted some hearts and flowers and I thought they'd be a nice addition to my card in their nice bright colours.  (Sorry for the blurry pic, it looked OK til I enlarged it!)

The ribbons and Prima gem/pearl swirls are from my stash and match the colours of the crocheting nicely.

I put a modern school twist on the inside and made it into a whiteboard - you don't find many black-boards in schools these days! lol!  The sentiment is a stamp from the Whimsy Stamps Film Strip Sentiments set.

So join us, do, at the Creative Card Crew (that rhymes!) and let us see your idea of a chalk/black board, and make sure you check out what the rest of our clever design team did (including a guest designer this time!).  Let me know, too, if you call it a chalk-board or a black-board, just for my own amusement!

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

Crafty Ribbons Challenge; Celebrate with ribbon
Cute Card Thursday; Back to school (I hope a black-board counts?!)
Dream Valley Challenges; Flowers
Sweet Pea Stampers; Embossing
The Pink Elephant; Anything goes

Thanks for looking!
 

Buzzing By To Say Hi!

 Hi Everyone!

One of the things I like to do is watch TV while I craft.  I bought the box set of The Sopranos ages ago and I struggled for a long time to get into it.  So many people raved about it when it was on.  But, I persevered and I have to say that now I'm quite enjoying it!  I'm just at the end of the first series, but I'm liking it now.

We have a new challenge up today at Seems A Little Sketchy and our sponsor for this week is Lacy Sunshine

 And they're offering 3 digi's to our winner.

We have a really cute sketch for you this time...

 

Here's what I did..

The image is by Lacy Sunshine called Sweet Lil Bumblebee and I coloured her with the following Copics: Skin; E21,13,00,0000,R20. Hair & Clothes; 100,C9,5. Clothes & flowers; Y17,15,13. Flowers; YG07,05,03,RV23,21. Sky; B00,0000. Blender.  I then cut the image out with Spellbinders circle dies.

The papers are Pink Petticoat - Honeycomb bees from the Isabelline set and Doodle in Goldenrod from the Spookie Doodles set.  I had little bumblebee buttons in my stash and I cut the loops off the back with pliers before attaching to ribbon from my stash.  The ribbon was black with white dots and I didn't like the white dots with the card, so here's a wee tip; I used a yellow Sharpie to colour the white dots yellow!  (They look kind of fluorescent in the pic but I think that's just from the light cos it doesn't look so bright really.) The gem stickers are also from my stash.

I used Powerpoint to make a bumblebee flight path and added a sentiment using the font AR Hermann.

So please pop over to the Seems A Little Sketchy blog to check out what the rest of the DT have done and don't forget to join in!

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

Allsorts Challenge Blog; Warm, sunshiney colours
Bunny Zoe's Challenge Blog; Summer colours
Stamp & Create Challenges; Anything goes
The Corrosive Challenge Blog; B unique - 3 B's= Bumblebees, black, bling.
Top Tip Tuesday; Anything goes

Thanks for looking!
 

Noah's 1st Birthday!

Hi everyone!

It's been kind of a sad weekend, my neighbours of about 10 years moved away today.  I wouldn't say we were close friends but I've got to know them over the years and it was lovely to see their family grow beside me.  Hopefully we can keep in touch through Facebook.

The challenges at Eclectic Ellapu have been up since the start of the month and I shared my card for the Pink team then.  Cos I'm on the pink team!
I also included a card with the Purple teams inspiration and I've been keeping it to share later as a reminder (saying as our challenges have gone monthly!) and the time has come to share it!  There's a week left to enter and the challenges are...

The Pink teams...

Seaside or Nautical

You can see my card for this theme here.

And the Purple teams challenge is...

Anything Goes

With an option of using watercolours!

My card is one that I made for my wee nephew for when he turned 1 year old last month!

Here's my card

If you haven't guessed already, his name is Noah!  I printed the letters out - they're a font called Patchwork Letter and I coloured them with the following Copics: BV04,B95,24,G24,Y17.

I printed the papers directly onto my card-stock, on both sides.  The front is Dots paper from the Easton kit and the inside is Yellow cream dots from the A Boo-tiful Night kit - both from Summertime Designs.  I folded the card into a DL sized card and then measured and cut into a number "1".  I made paper springs and attached the letters on them so they sit out from the card base.  I also added some stick-on elements, pom-poms, buttons, charms and bells from my stash.

For the inside I used a Wild Rose Studio sentiment and made a message panel to match the patched letters.  I had another couple of stick on elements so I used them up too!  You can also see the paper springs that the letters are mounted onto the front with in this picture.

So you could say that this is a subtle reminder that there's 1 week left to enter the challenges at Eclectic Ellapu! lol!

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

 4 Crafty Chicks; Lets get masculine
Crafty Girls Challenges; Anything goes
Creative Fingers Challenge Blog; Anything goes
The East Wind Challenge Blog; For the kiddies
Fab N Funky Challenges; For the kids

Thanks for looking!
 

Blog Hop For Lisa!

 Hi everyone!

A very special post for you today!
My bloggy friend and design team mate Lisa has been having a rough time lately, she's been very poorly and in and out of hospital so a few of us have got together to try to put a smile on her lovely face by having a blog hop in her honour!

It all starts with the lady who thought it up so please go there (if you aren't already coming from there!) to start then visit everyone and don't forget to leave some love along the way!!

Maureen Scott 

Jackie Cornfield 

Vicky Fortier 

Zoe Russell 

Teresa Morgan 

Bettina Leikvoll 

PaulineMargaret Stewart 

Karen Willis 

Linda Simpson 

Kay Roche 

Erin Bentley 

Kath Muckypaws Halstead 

Kristy Deyette 

Susan Renshaw 

Kay Mowat 

Fiona Walker 

Stephanie Lukaszewski 

Kyra Eunkyo Kim 

Catherine Craftyhands Wilson Dobbs 

Then you should arrive here!

Lastly, of course, you have to go to the lady herself and leave her some love and get well wishes - Lisa Tyrell

Here's the card I made for Lisa

As it's an especially special one, I made it a twisted easel card

The image is by Stitchy Bear Designs called Hot Flush and I coloured her with the following Copics: Skin: E21,13,00,0000,R20. Hair: 100,C9,7,5. Etc: R59,37,24. W5,3,1. N5,3. C4 & Blender.

The papers are All Dressed Up by DCWV and I teamed it up with some glam ribbons and gems from my stash.  The sentiments were computer generated using the font Heleno Que Se Aprende Script.  It went over the text with a clear stardust pen to add a bit more sparkle.

Here's the inside where I left a little space for a message.

I hope you like it Lisa!!  I hope this hop goes a long way to making you feel better!  We all wish you a speedy recovery!

Don't forget to pop over to Lisa's blog to send her good wishes!

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

A Step In The Dark: Anything goes
Craft Your Passion: Use at least 3 patterned papers
Crafty Creations Challenges: Use something old - I've had these papers for years!
Crafty Girls Challenges: Anything goes
Oh La La Challenges Blog: Fancy folds
Papertake Weekly, To die for
The Sisterhood of Crafters: Favourite colour - Red, I especially like it teamed with black and white!

Thanks for looking!
 

Thanks

 Hi everyone!

I can't get over how cold it has gotten this week - a few weeks ago I thought I'd never feel cold again, now I can't get warmed!  There's no pleasing me, I tell ye!  A happy medium would be nice - I don't think we should be turning the heating back on in the middle of August!  It's meant to still be summer!  Ah well, not long now til the long dark nights with the rain beating off the windows and the wind howling through the trees - I must admit, I do enjoy sitting in the house, warm and cosy, listening to that.  I think it's because I'm a winter baby.

I'm back with another one that's a few days late, we have a challenge running on the Alphabet Challenge Blog and we're up to the letter N and it was my turn to choose the theme so I chose...

Natural

Use things that are natural like wood, feathers, real flowers (not paper ones) things like that.

Here's what I did

The natural things on my card are all bunched together, I've got feathers, skeleton leaves, dried flowers and leaves and raffia.

The papers I have used are First Edition, Desert Blooms and the sentiment is a stamp from My Sentiments Exactly.  I stamped it onto cream hammered card which I also punched the edge with a Martha Stewart border punch.  The paper has glittered elements on it and the cream feather is also glittered so there's a lovely sparkle off it!

For the inside I repeated the layout from the front but I only used one skeleton leaf this time.

So that's it, I hope you can join us over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog!

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

Bearly Mine Challenges; Anything goes
Crafts 4 Eternity; Something old - the dried flowers are one of the first things I bought when I started crafting and this is the first time I've used them!
Craft For The Craic; Something not used before - the dried flowers
Crafty Creations Challenges; Something old - the dried flowers
Crafty Girls Challenges; Anything goes
Creative Fingers Challenges; Anything goes
Delightful Challenges ; 1,2,Punch
Moving Along With The Times; Vintage

Thanks for looking!
 

Feel Better Soon

 Hi Everyone!

I have come to the conclusion that I need to have at least 28 - 30 hours in a day, cos 24 just ain't enough!  I don't know how others fit so much into their days and some of them have children to deal with too!  It's now 2:30am but I couldn't leave this any longer, so here's one of the cards that I should've blogged last week but completely forgot about - sorry, too much goin' on in my mind!

There's a challenge running on the Creative Card Crew blog and it's got just under a week left on it so there's still time to enter.

We are being sponsored by Imagine That!  and they're offering 3 digi's as a prize

 

We also have our regular sponsors, Marianne Designs, who are offering a fab prize of dies and/or stamps.

 

Our challenge this time is...

Embossing - wet or dry.

Here's what I did:

My image is called Nurse Ashley and was provided by our sponsors Imagine That!  (They have now added this card to their shop gallery for the Nurse Ashley image!)  I coloured her with the following Copics: Skin: E21,13,00,0000,R20.  Hair; E27,Y26,24,21. Clothes; R59,37,24. 100,C9,7,5,2,1. Clipboard; E35,33,31. Eyes; YG07,05,03.  I then fussy-cut around the image before adhering to the card with foam pads.

I shaped the card by making my usual square card and then cutting 3.5cm squares out of each corner to make a cross, which would later become a red cross!
I didn't use patterned papers, instead I used a Cuttlebug swirly embossing folder - thereby fulfilling the challenge!  The swirly gems, ribbon and charms are from my stash.

The inside has not been decorated this time, instead I used a lovely wee verse stamp from LOTV.

So that's my belated card for the Creative Card Crew Challenge, I hope you can join us during the remainder of our challenge.

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

Crafty Girls Challenges: Anything goes
Creative Fingers Challenges Blog; Anything goes
Patties Creations Challenge; Monochromatic
Sentimental Sundays; Monochromatic
The Sisterhood Of Crafters; Favourite colour - Mine is definitely red and I don't get to use it often enough!
Southern Girls Challenge Blog; Texture
Sweet Pea Stampers; Embossing

Thanks for looking!
 

Dream Home

Hi everyone,

I'm a few days late getting my post done as one of my work colleagues died very unexpectedly at the weekend.  I work at my families business and everyone there feels a bit like family whether I'm related to them or not!  So it was such a shock to hear about Charlie.  He will be missed.

We have a new challenge over at Seems A Little Sketchy and our sponsor for this fortnight is QKR Stampede

Our sketch this time looks a little something like this...

Rotate it, flip it, stretch it, squash it, as long as we can see the sketch!

Here's what I did:

My image is by QKR Stampede and I used the following Copics: BV04,0000,RV23,21,10, Blender.  I then cut it out with a Spellbinders circle die and mounted it on a big scallop circle die-cut.

For a change I made it into an A5 card and I made the background by placing strips of double sided tape onto a pre-cut square and then coated the tape with some lovely clear glamour dust.  The sentiment was computer generated using the font Cardinal Alternative and then I cut the banners out by hand.  The ribbon and gems are from my stash, the corners are by Prima.

For the inside I copied the sketch again and for some reason I could not get a decent picture of the inside!  This is the best of a bad lot!

So please pop over to Seems A Little Sketchy to check out what the rest of our lovely DT have made and have a go at it yourself!

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

Bearly Mine Challenges; Anything goes
Crafty Girls Challenges: Anything goes
Creative Fingers Challenge Blog; Anything goes
Cute Card Thursday; Clean & simple
Stamp & Create: Anything goes
The Squirrel & The Fox: Anything goes

Thanks for looking!
 

Life's A Beach

Hi everyone!

We have 2 new challenges up today at Eclectic Ellapu.  We also still have our last challenges running until the 10th.  So that's 4 challenges all running at the same time!  That has to be a record! lol!

So a reminder of the already-running challenges are:

The Pink team: Reis - Country, Travel, Holiday etc.

The Purple team: Anything goes

They are running til the 10th and are overlapping the new challenges to allow for our new monthly challenges which now start on the 1st of each month.

The new challenges are...

The Pink team: Seaside/Nautical

and

The Purple team: Anything goes/Water colour

So I took the opportunity to use my new Magnolia stamps and dies and this is what I did:

The stamps are Magnolia - Vintage Swedish Coast Cottage and Playing On Beach Tilda.  I coloured them with the following Copics: Huts; E27,25,23. Y17,15,13. RV25,23,21. YG07,05,03. Sand; E35,33,31,blender. Sky; B01,00,0000. Tilda; Same colours as on huts + Skin; E21,13,00,0000,R20. Hair; E39,Y26,23,21. Frame; E49,27,25,08.
I fussy cut around Tilda and attached her to the frame with foam pads.

I used some sand paper for the sand, seemed like a good idea!  I also used some blue cellophane for the sea - and if you look closely you will see a jellyfish under the water, it's one of the Doohickey's that came with volume one of the Doohickey Club Magazine.
I cut the frame from kraft card and doodled some wood-y looking lines on it.  I then added the shells and a couple more of the club Doohickeys.  I stamped a sentiment from the Fancy Phrases set by Waltzing Mouse onto a scrap of kraft card and cut around it and drew lines to make it look like a piece of driftwood, and I added some string.

I used a bit more sand paper and a few more die cuts to the inside and another Fancy Phrases sentiment.

So pop over to Eclectic Ellapu to check out the rest of the DT's inspiration, and there's bound to be a challenge you'd like to enter!

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

Craft Challenge: Wish you were here
Craft For The Craic: Use a craft item not used before - cellophane.
Crafty Boots Challenges; Summer holidays
Creative Inspirations; Here comes summer
The East Wind Challenges; Beach
Love To Create Challenge Blog; Summer Lovin'
My Time To Craft: Use kraft
Ruby's Rainbow; On the beach
Whimsy Stamps; Summertime
Totally Tilda; Anything goes

Thanks for looking!