Sshhh... Creations!

New Baby

2012-01-27T10:30:00.000Z

So another fortnight has flew by and it's time for another challenge at the Alphabet Challenge Blog!

It's a special week this week as we are introducing some new DT members, so I'm not a newbie anymore! lol!
It's also the week we complete another round of the alphabet which means we're up to Z and the challenge for this week is...

Z for Zoo Animals!

When I first saw the challenge I thought it was gonna be hard to find an appropriate image - until I looked through my stamps and then I was spoilt for choice!

So here's what I did...

I used a Pink Petticoat image called Baby Elephant which I coloured with my promarkers (Cerise, Pink Carnation, Baby Pink, Carmine, Yellow, Buttercup, Grass, Leaf Green and blender pen)

I made a centre step card and the papers I used are Echo Park; Country Drive. I edged it with tattered rose distress ink.

The "Bundle of joy" sentiment is also Pink Petticoat printed onto safmat and then framed with some Hodgepodge Hardware from Stampin' Up!. The rest of the sentiments are computer generated and punched out with Stampin' Up! punches.

I used some pink adhesive pearls from Wild Orchid Crafts on the front and on the inside along with some other elements from the front.

That's it. Why don't you head over to the Alphabet Challenge Blog to see what the rest of the DT have done - including all the new team members!

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

Bling It On; New beginnings
By The Cute & Girly; New beginnings
Charisma Cardz: Pretty in pink
Creative Inspirations; Anything goes
Digi Doodle Shop; Anything goes
Dream Valley Challenges; Animals
Simon Says; Anything goes
Totally Gorjuss; Welcome
Whimsey Stamps; Pearls or bling

Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments! Also a big hello to all my new followers!

WOYWW 138

2012-01-25T12:41:00.001Z

Wednesday again! These weeks are moving by too quickly and the year will be gone before we know it.

I'm a bit earlier this week than I should be cos I've taken a couple of days off work to see if some R&R will help me get rid of this (insert swear word here) cold! It doesn't seem to want to go away and just when I think it's not as bad as it was my nose starts running, my head is buzzing and I can't hear again! I suppose it doesn't help that I can't sleep.

Anyway, onto the desk...

As you can see, I've been playing a bit with Photoshop Elements which I loaded onto the computer yesterday (see the lovely frame around my picture? - that took about an hour and a half to learn how to do, I think it wasn't working right the first time I tried.) There's so much to learn about on it and I've been googling bits and pieces. I think that will just have to be work in progress. Any hints or tips gratefully recieved!

I have also managed to make a couple of cards - the one I shared last night that you can see here and the one peeking out from underneath is my DT card for Friday.

And I've also been re-watching the 3rd series of True Blood, cos the 4th series starts next week on FX and my wonderful memory needs a refresher on what happened in the last series. I got Sky installed last week so I will be able to watch it in my own house now - I was going to my brothers before and then couldn't go sometimes and ended up missing most of the series - hence buying it on blu-ray.

So that's it. I'm gonna head over to Julia's place now to see more workdesks from around the globe.

Thanks for looking and for your lovely comments!

1st Wedding Anniversary

2012-01-25T00:29:00.000Z

I've still got a horrible cold - my "m"'s still sound like "b"'s! I think it's starting to get a bit better though, so hopefully it won't last too much longer.

I managed to get my photoshop loaded onto my computer today. There's not a big lot of instructions with it on how to use it so I thinks it's gonna take a while to get to know how to use it properly.

I was asked to make a card for a 1st wedding anniversary, so I thought I'd go with a paper/printed theme as the traditional present for a 1st anniversary is paper.

Here's my card

I used my favourite "couple" image again - it's called "You & Me Baby" from Tiddly Inks. I coloured it with copics and prismacolour pencils. (colours: Skin; E13,21,11,02,00, R20. Clothes; YG97,95,93, B16,14,12, RV13,11,10. Hair; E49,44,43,41,55,37,35,33. 0)

I made it into an easel card and the papers are Basic Grey "Out of print". The sentiments are computer generated using a font that looks a bit like a typewriter font.

I made the flowers using Spellbinders Dahlia dies and for the larger one I cut a heart (also Spellbinders) and sprayed it with water and squished it up and flattened it out again to distress it. I also cut squares of some left over cross stitching fabric and held it all together with a brad which I then covered with a button threaded with some bakers twine.

I gave a piece of white paper the same treatment as the heart after I used the note-book punch along the top. Everything was distressed with Tes Dye distress ink.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday; Sketch
CRAFT Challenge; Use numbers
Craft Your Days Away; Distressing
Cupcake Craft Challenges; All you need is love
Delightful Challenges: Distressed
Fab & Funky Challenges; Bingo - Top line
Oldie But A Goodie; Have a heart (my stamp is more than 6 months old)
Stamp With Fun; Cute vintage
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays; Have a heart
Totally Papercrafts; Make your own flowers
Basic Grey Challenges; Favourite things - the stamp, copics, dies, everything really!

Thanks for looking and for your lovely comments!

WOYWW 137

2012-01-18T23:30:00.003Z

It's time for another What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (in fact, it's almost past time for it, again!). So lets see all the busy/messy/tidy/lovely workdesks all over the world at Julia's place.

I tidied my desk up today as I had to take some "proper" work home and needed space for it so my desk is actually tidy at the moment - 2012 looks like it could be the year of the tidy desk! (It probably won't last for long!)
I was glad to get home today as I'm a little poorly :( I'd gotd a sduffed node and a sore head and generady feelind a bid icky :'(

My post from last week seemed to appeal to those of you with an obsession for markers (like me!) My (non-crafty) friends and family think I'm mad that I think so much of my markers but I know you all share those feelings.
So, I thought I'd show my markers again! :) That always cheers me up!

Ahhh, that's better!

I was asked by a fellow Northern Irelander where I got my markers as they are not freely available here. I have to admit that my extremely generous mummy and daddy got most of them for me for various birthday/Christmas presents. I have added a few to my collection myself and I had to buy them over the internet. And you're right, they are so expensive, but so worth it!

Oops, a bit over-exposed there...
I also have to thank my lovely aunt who brought my copic stands over to me from America. They're also hard to get here and 3 times more expensive than they are in the states! So I got my 3 from America for the price of 1 here.

Not forgetting my beloved pro-markers. I've had these bad boys from before I got my copics and although I lost them to my brother for a while, I managed to claim them back and they're back in use again. I coloured stickers with each marker before sticking it to the flat lid of each pen to easily show their colours, then I put an elastic band around each colour group - that leaves it so handy to pick which ones I want to use.

And last but not least..

I've got some Tria markers and Flex markers stored in tins behind the other markers.

Maybe next week my desk will be back to it's usual mess.

For now though, I think I'll have a lemsip and go to my nice warm bed. Sniff sniff

Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments

Hello Kitty

2012-01-15T23:46:00.000Z

For my niece's birthday I bought her a few presents and they were all Hello Kitty themed. So I thought I'd stick with the theme for her card. I'm not even sure if she likes Hello Kitty, she's maybe being forced into it! lol

Here's what I did...

I googled the image and coloured it with my pro-markers. These sorts of images are so easy to colour as there is no shading and no blending!

I've had the paper forever and it's Princess Sky by Kraft Kuts. I used a swiss dots embossing folder on a panel of craft card and lined between the dots with a white gel pen. I also added some faux stitching to the "3" with the gel pen to correspond with the ribbon. I made the name with my sizzlets alphabet dies. I had just recently got some cute wee Hello Kitty charms so I was able to use one of them too!

The inside used the same paper, ribbon and dies by Spellbinder and the "3" is by Die-namics. The sentiment stamp is by Wild Rose Studio.

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

Charisma Cardz Challenges; Happy 3rd Birthday
CRAFT Challenges; Celebrations
Crafty Catz; Use something new - New charm and new image
Crafty Creations Challenges; Use something new - charm & image
I Love Pro-markers; Cute & Cuddly
Joanna Sheen Challenge Blog; Celebrations
Papertake Weekly; Die cute special
The ABC Challenge Blog; H for Happy Birthday
Paperplay Challenges; In stitches - on ribbon and on "3"

Thanks for looking and for all your lovely comments!

Thanks A Bunch!

2012-01-13T10:05:00.000Z

We're already a fortnight (give or take a day!) into 2012, can you believe it?!
It'll not be long til it's Christmas! lol! Just kidding!

But another fortnight means another challenge at the Alphabet Challenge Blog. We're up to Y now and the challenge this time is...

Y for You can choose!

So basically, anything goes. Here's what I did:

It's a wee thank you card. I just adore that wee LOTV stamp and I think she's perfect for a thank you card. I coloured her with Copics and prismacolour pencils and paper pieced her dress.

The papers are Prima "Alla-Prima Collection". The seam binding is from The Ribbon Girl and the lace butterfly is from Wild Orchid Crafts. I added a pearl design which I split up to go further on the card and added a few swarovski's.

The inside used the rest of the pearl design and some more of the designer paper.

So why don't you join us this fortnight at The Alphabet Challenge Blog.

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

Creative Inspirations; Swirls & pearls
Cupcake Craft Challenges; Something new (Lace butterfly and stamp)
Diva's By Design; Thanks
Moving Along With The Times; Spots and/or stripes
My Mums Craft Shop; Here come the girls
One Stop Craft Challenge; Bingo - Lace, die cuts, paper piecing
Papertake Weekly; Die Cute special
Scrappy Frogs; Lace
Simon Says Challenge; Spots and/or Stripes
Sweet Stampin Challenge Blog; Spots & dots
Lili's Little Fairies challenge; favourite LOTV stamp

Thanks for looking!

WOYWW & A New Home

2012-01-11T23:45:00.002Z

I may just make this on time - by the skin of my teeth!
I'm back to saying that I can't believe another week has passed! Time is starting to fly again. I suppose it's because I went back to work on Monday after my lovely Christmas holidays and I was trying to get back into a routine before I went back. I don't know why but I always get my routine way off when I'm on holidays - I usually end up sitting up all night and sleeping all day. It's not good.
But anyway, at the rate I'm typing this post I'll be back on my holiday routine and I'll have to find a blog that does "What's on your workdesk....Thursday"! (This, of course, is meant for Julia's "What's on your workdesk Wednesday")
So the desk is a little tidier than last week as I still haven't made a card in 2012. It's that old excuse of trying to get other things done before I start new ones.

I've moved the laptop back to it's spot so I do actually have somewhere to do some work - should the notion grab me. I just have a couple of bits of jewellery I was repairing and a cuppa to keep me company.

My other desk looks a little more different though...

I've now got my new printer in situ, but it hasn't been installed yet and that's the printhead thingy sitting on top waiting to be plugged in. I've also moved my beloved markers out into the open. They used to be where the printer is now but I much prefer them where they are now. Where I can see them. And hopefully one day, use them!

I have used them, though this card is one I made ages ago and I thought it was about time I blogged about it.
It was for my cousin who had just moved house.

The image is by the lovely Spyder and I coloured it with copics (I think, it was a while back so I'm not totally sure now) I think the paper is a Stampin' Up! one, but again, I'm not totally sure.

I used an MS punch and some ribbon from my stash and made the ribbon flowers by twisting and sticking ribbon onto a circle of card. I finished off the centre with a wee diamante flower from my stash. The sentiment was computer generated.

The sentiment on the inside is from Waltzing Mouse as are the wee shamrocks stamps. I just cut the image and inside randomly with my knife and metal ruler. I added another flower to the inside which helped to stop the card from falling over as the front was quite heavy.

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

Anything Goes; Anything Goes
Bling It On; New beginnings
By The Cute & Girly; New beginnings
CES Challenges; Anything Goes
Colour Create; Red, cream & sage green
Craft Your Days Away; New beginnings
Crafty Boots; New beginnings
Crafty Catz; A new beginning
Crafty Ribbons; New beginnings
Cupcake Craft Challenges; Something new
Diva's By Design; New beginnings
Dream Valley Challenges; Anything goes
Oh la la Challenges; New beginnings

Thanks for looking!

WOYWW 135

2012-01-04T18:27:00.000Z

One of my resolutions to myself was to be a bit more active on my blog this year (although I think I made the same resolution last year!) and a good way of doing that (apart from making more cards obviously!) was to take part in a lot of the fun weekly things that people do on their blogs. One of which being WOYWW (aka What's on you workdesk Wednesday). I did take part a few times last year but as most of my year was taken up with wedding stuff my desk was never really very interesting so I didn't bother. So my last ever wedding is officially over and I now plan to be a little more creative (I hope) and I might have a few more interesting things on my desk.

As I'm still on holiday from work (woohoo!) I have completely lost track of what day it is and was surprised to see other people taking part in woyww! Good start huh?!
My desk is also a little sad looking as I haven't actually made anything yet in 2012 so there's still remants of wedding stuff and Christmas stuff and a few things that I have to get onto the computer. I am working on it, but having nothing that you need to do doesn't half make you lazy!

Anyway, here's my desk which seriously needs a good tidy up and sort out

See, nothing the slightest bit interesting!
You can see a CD that I want to add to my itunes, and I got photoshop elements for my birthday just before Christmas so I need to get that onto the computer along with software for my phone and my new camera. And then there's just general mess - you really don't want to see the rest of the room!

So if you want to take part, or just have a nosey at other people's mess then head over to Julia's blog and take it from there.
Hopefully by next week I'll have made something!

Thanks for looking!

My Favourites

2012-01-04T01:32:00.002Z

I've seen a few people showcasing their top 5 cards from 2011 so I thought I'd have a go too.
It's been a hard decision to cut it down to 5 as there were some cards that I love for sentimental reasons, some cos they were fun to make and some that just turned out better than I expected!
So I went (mostly) for the better than expected ones!

They're in no particular order, so starting with this one

This was the card I made for my best friends 30th birthday. The rock theme was because I had gotten her tickets to a rock concert (which we had an absolute blast at and took a week to recover from!) and the "turned out better than expected" part is that this was the first card I used prismacolour pencils on in addition to copics.
The original posting can be found here.

This is the card I made for my da for Fathers Day. I had to make sure to put a hammer charm on it as he had blamed me on losing his "good hammer" years ago and we had recently discovered that it wasn't me who lost it after all! This was the first (and as far as I can remember, the only) time I've made a centre step card (I'll have to remedy that!)
The original posting can be found here.

I was asked to make a card by a colleague of my sister, for her sons 18th, and she wanted it to be sexy. I emailed a link to Kenny K's site to show her this image and was black-listed from their work emails! The images were deemed to be a little too risqué! Thankfully all honour has been restored and I can email my sister again.
You can see the original posting here.

This one was for another friend's 30th birthday, this time a friend from the MAC forum. I loved the summery colours on this - I think that paper pad would have to be listed as one of my favourites.
You can see the original posting here.

Last of all is one I was asked to make for another colleague of my sister (or possibly the same colleague!) I think little girls are the easiest audience for cards like these so I went all out with bright colours and texture and shapes. I was really pleased with the result and nearly didn't want to give it away even though I don't actually know any Kasies! I was told that the little girl loved it and kept it up long after her birthday was over, so that made it OK!
You can see the original posting here.

So if you want to see more people's top 5's (and why would you not?!) head over to Debby's blog and then take part.

Thanks for looking!

Photo Overload Alert!

2012-01-03T16:25:00.000Z

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all brought 2012 in with a bang!

On the MAC forum we had a Christmas card swap so I had 8 cards to make. These are my last Christmas cards as I just didn't have time to make any more.
I decided to do the cards the same, but different! I thought that stamping and colouring would take too long so I decided to do somthing similar that I did on a card last year and cut 3 different sized circles 8 times and build snowmen out of them! It still took bliming ages!

I used 2 different snowflake embossing folders on the circles and then coated the middle sized circle with glossy accents and a sprinkling of glamour dust so as you could still see the embossing under the glossy accents. I cut eight squares and small rectangles (longer than the squares) out of black card, coated them in glossy accents and black glitter. Once all was dry I assembled into snowmen and added the glitter hat, two black swarovski's for eyes and a carrot nose made out of orange card. I coloured 8 toothpicks with my burnt sienna promarker and stuck to the back of the snowman with glue and covered it with another die-cut circle to both hide the toothpick and for stability.

I cut 8 doo-hickey fences and attched them with short lengths of card to the front panel of the easel card to hold the front up. When the card is closed the fence lies flat.

The sentiment is from Waltzing Mouse stamps and cut out with a spellbinders fancy tag. The snow flurry behind the snowman is a memory box die.

Everything is distressed with various distress inks and my clear stardust pen and glamour dust have been extensively used too. The papers are from Crate Paper's Snowy Day Collection, Prima's North Country Collection, DCWV's Rose Tinted Christmas multi stack and Kaiser Craft's Christmas Carnival Collection.

I'd like to enter these in the following challenges:

Craft Your Days Away; Snowmen
Crafts And Me Challenges; Anything goes
Creative Card Crew; Snow Day
Diva's By Design; Merry Christmas
Dream Valley Challenges; Christmas
I Love Promarkers; Anything goes - I admit that my use of promarkers here was very limited so if you think I haven't used enough then please remove me from the draw. x
My Mum's Craft Shop; Anything goes
One Stop Craft Challenge; Winter Wishes
Paperplay Challenges; Christmas
Papertake Weekly; Anything goes
The Poodles Parlour; Song Titles - "Let it Snow" or "The Snowman"
Saturday Challenge; Anything goes
Simon Says; Anything goes
The Pink Elephant; Anything goes
Top Tip Tuesday; Anything goes
ABC Christmas Challenge; Z is for zingy colours
Christmas Cards All Year Round; Non traditional colours

Phew, that's quite a list!
Thanks for stopping by!

Completely Crackers!

2011-12-31T17:01:00.001Z

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

2011-12-30T17:10:00.000Z

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!

2011-12-09T16:20:00.000Z

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!

2011-11-25T11:47:00.000Z

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!

2011-11-18T23:27:00.000Z

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!

2011-11-11T10:05:00.004Z

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!

2011-10-28T10:05:00.003+01:00

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

2011-10-23T18:51:00.001+01:00

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

I'm Batty for Batty!

2011-10-14T10:05:00.002+01:00

Before I go any further I'll have to ask any of my MAC October swap buddies to look away! This is the card I'm making to swap, but I haven't finished them all yet!

I'm showing it now, however, because it is my latest DT card for Alphabet Challenge Blog. Another fortnight has passed already and the new challenge is...

S for Soon to be Halloween!

And here it is...

And it is of course an easel card!

The gorgeous image is Batty from Tiddly Inks - it's the perfect time of year to use their quirky slightly dark images - well, it's the perfect time of year every day! I've finally got my pro-markers back so I thought I'd use them for a change!
I used Pastel pink, Blush, Oatmeal &Sunkissed pink for the skintone. Burnt orange, Bright orange, Honeycomb, Olive green, Pear green & Aniseed (flexmarker) for the clothes. Black, Cool grey 5, 4 & 3 for the hair and shading and Ivory for the edges. I then finished it off with a bit of black prismacolour pencil.

The papers are from the Basic Grey Eerie paper pad. I have used a load of Doo Hickey's on this too - I've finally got myself a swirl and the flower and tag (on the inside) are also Doo Hickey's. I couldn't resist adding some swarovski's to the fabulous swirl! The sentiment and the bats around the edge of the image are from Waltzing Mouse Halloween Party set and the sentiment has been punched out with a Stampin' Up! punch.

The inside has a couple more stamps from the Waltzing Mouse set on the tag and the ribbon is from my stash. Anything and everything has been destressed with a bit of black soot distress ink.

So that's it! I hope it hasn't scared anyone too badly - I had my scare last week when I discovered my blog had been hacked! :O But thankfully it's all better now.
Why don't you pop over to the Alphabet Challenge Blog to see the other DT's fab and spooky creations!

Edited to add...
I ran out of time on Friday to add the challenges I was entering this card into as I had to get ready to go to a ball on Friday night! la de da!
So here are the challenges I had selected:

Anything Goes; Die cuts, punches or both
Crafts 4 Eternity; Colour recipe
Creative Card Crew; Spooky fun
Cupcake Craft Challenges; Halloween
Fussy and Fancy; Halloween
One Stop Craft Challenge; Halloween
The Poodles Parlour; Spooky Halloween
Simon Says Stamp Challenge; Halloween

Thanks for looking!

That was scarey!

2011-10-05T13:53:00.000+01:00

Phew! I've got my blog back!
I came home from my holidays to find that my blog had been hacked and malware had been put on it! So anytime anyone tried to get on to my blog they got a big red message saying that it was an attack page! So I had to spend ages going through codes and script to figure out what to delete, and then get the message removed from my page. Unfortunately, I've lost a few followers, but I wouldn't blame them, I'm relieved to get it sorted out though. So a wee warning to everyone, change your password regularly and be careful about what third party widgets and apps you add. Oh and take a back-up regularly!

Apart from that it's been quite a hectic time since I came home from my holidays on Saturday night. My wee neice was in hospital cos she had a fit due to a high temperature, she's fine now though thankfully!
My elderly neighbour is in hospital too cos he collapsed at home and another neighbour happened to notice that he wasn't about, so she got some help and had to break into his house to rescue him, lucky for him that he has good neighbours! I noticed when I came home that something didn't seem right at his house and then found out what happened, I visited him last night and he seems to be in good spirits.
I also found out that the father of one of my colleagues had died, so that was sad.
Also there has been a blip between some friends that has got to me too.

So all in all, I can't decide whether to stay away on holidays or to never go away again!
It was a fantastic holiday so I think I probably will go away again! ;p

Stay safe everyone!

New House, New Card, New Challenge!

2011-09-30T10:05:00.001+01:00

I’m scheduling this card way in advance as I’m off on my holidays at the moment. I am actually due home, but just not soon enough to do this as it is for the new challenge at Alphabet Challenge Blog.

We’re up to R now and the challenge this fortnight is...

R for Recipe!

The recipe in question is 1 image, 2 patterned papers and 3 flowers. Simples!

My sister has recently moved house, so I made this card for her. I saw a tutorial for a cute pop-up card a while back, so I thought I’d give it a go.

Here it is...

And a side view

The fabby image was a freebie from the even more fabby spyder, you can purchase her digi’s here. I coloured it with my copics. The papers I used are from the Jillibean Soup “Blossom Soup” pad.

I used some cute little toadstools that I got ages ago in a garden centre! I could never find the right thing to use them on as they are quite bulky, but this card was perfect for them along with 3 cherry blossoms from Wild Orchid Crafts.

The card folds up really easily

And fits into the box which I made for it – I used a scallop edge punch on the lid and base of the box

And I tied a ribbon around it to keep it closed

And that’s it!

So why don’t you pop over the the Alphabet Challenge Blog to see the other DT’s fabby cards and then make one for me to see!

Thanks for looking!

Summer Swap

2011-09-20T23:14:00.000+01:00

Over on the MAC forum we had a wee swap set up for Summer. Now it was supposed to have happened in August, when it was supposed to be summer, but sometimes things don't go like they're supposed to! Mine were a bit late due to getting stuff ready for the 2 weddings, but I got them finished eventually and they've all been recieved now so time to blog it!

I made 7 in total, all the same (and I only made a mistake on one where I stuck the topper on sideways! Aww well, it just opens at the bottom, rather than the side! lol)

And here it is

The image is of course a LOTV as is the sentiment. I coloured the image with Copics and prisma pencils and I did the sky with distress ink.

The papers are from Pink Petticoat, they're called "One in a melon". I reduced the size of the flowery paper to a little smaller than A5 so I could get more of the gorgeous detail on the card as I lost most of it when I printed the page A4 and cut it down. The white picket fence is a Doo Hickey and I added some swarovski's. You can't see it in the picture but I glittered the writting on the sentiment with a clear stardust pen.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges;
Anything Goes: Anything Goes
By The Cute And Girly: All things bright and beautiful
Copic Creations: Colouring fur
Crafts 4 Eternity: Recipe - Leaves, birds, glitter
Cute Card Thursday: Anything goes
Moving Along With The Times: Sparkle
Paper Play Challenges: Punches and dies
Papertake Weekly: Creature Comforts
Stamp With Fun: Anything goes
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge: Just Sayin
The Pink Elephant: Photo inspiration

Thanks for looking!

Forgotten Wedding Card

2011-09-18T14:18:00.000+01:00

I forgot all about this card, I made it for my parents to give to one of the couples who got married a few weeks ago.
There's lots of pictures of this one so best get started with them!

I used this couple couple from LOTV, coloured with copics

The papers are from Basic Grey, hopscotch paper pad. I punched a strip of butterflies with my Martha Stewart punch and added a few swarovskis for interest.

The flowers are a mixture of flowers from my local craft supplier and Wild Orchid Crafts. I edged the petals with some clear stardust pen.

And it is, of course, a twisted easel card

I used my Magnolia Doo Hickey label die to cut out the computer generated sentiments.

And another one on the pocket on the inside for the gift

And a wee metal corner to finish off the bottom bit.

Lastly, I made a box to put it in with a matching big flower. I attached magnets to the ends of the ribbon to hold the box closed underneath. I didn't get a photo of the closure though.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
CES Challenges; Embellish me more (Flowers, pin, Crystals, metal corner)
Craft Your Days Away: Colour combo - Pink, Brown, Blue
Creative Craft World; New
Cute Card Thursday; Anything goes
Moving Along With The Times; Sparkle
Paper Play Challenges; Punches & Dies
Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog; Flowers
The Corrosive Challenge Blog; Punches & Dies
Trully Scrumptious; Decorate the inside

Q for Quick and Simple

2011-09-16T11:10:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone!
Yet another week has gone by and I don't know where it went to! I thought I'd be all organised now since the weddings are over but I just can't seem to get anywhere near organised!
And not only that, but another fortnight has gone by and it's time for another challenge at the Alphabet Challenge Blog. And if you haven't already guessed from my title, we're up to Q and it's for Quick and Simple - now there is a real challenge!! I usually spend hours making a card and sometimes even days!

But this one kind of happened by accident!
My little sister was heading off on a school trip to Paris and, as us big sisters have to do, I was giving her a bit of spending money for the trip. I was just about to leave the house when a thought popped into my head (it doesn't happen very often, so it surprised me!) that I should've made her a card for going. Then I was nearly knocked off my feet when another thought popped into my already thought-filled head - I could make her one now with the bargain stamps I bought ages ago of Parisian themes!

So I took a piece of an off-cut from some DL shaped wedding invitations I made earlier in the year (I keep everything!) and scallop punched one of the short ends. I butted the other, straight edge, up on my score-board and scored a line at the tri-fold mark. I folded that line then butted the folded side and scored on the same line, leaving a short piece that I folded and secured on the inside of the card to make a pocket.

I then went over the whole thing with my Parisian themed stamps in brown versafine and also in versamark to make shadows, and this is how it turned out

Front

Inside

And with that all-important money in it!

It literally took about 5 minutes to make - including thinking time!

I'm entering this in the following challenges;
Less is More: One Layer, seeing double
Jules Craty Snippet Challenge, more of an off-cut than a snippet, so I hope it still counts!
Cute Card Thursday: Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Sing it - Parisian Walkways by Gary Moore
Totally Papercrafts Challenge: Clean and Simples
Trully Scrumptious: Decorate the inside of your card

I thought I'd finish with the fabby song - Parisian Walkways by Gary Moore, I saw him a couple of years ago in the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, totally awesome and sadly missed.

Thanks for looking!

Foto Friday 5

2011-09-09T21:32:00.000+01:00

Where did this week go??!! I can't believe it's Friday already (and even Friday is nearly over!)

I didn't get to take part last Friday as I was away at a wedding so I'm gonna be cheeky and put 2 photo's up this week! The photo's are of the 2 weddings I was at last week - both were stunningly beautiful and reflected the personality of the brides perfectly! As any good wedding should!

Why not head over to Lori's blog to see some more fab photos!

Thanks for looking!

My Second DT Post!

2011-09-02T10:05:00.001+01:00

And I’m having to schedule it cos I’ll be away at my second wedding in 2 days! Yes the weddings are finally here and I’ve got all delivered and have no more to do except enjoy the days festivities (chest infection permitting )! It’s actually Wednesday night but I’m sure I’m correct in saying that the wedding yesterday was beautiful and a great day was had by all!! Lol!

Anyway, on to my card and the new challenge on the Alphabet Challenge Blog which is...

P for Pretty Pastels!

Now, pastels aren’t my strong point as I like either dark grungy looking cards or bright and cheerful, the middle ground is hard to find in my opinion! So this is what I came up with

It’s an engagement card that I made for my friend Andria from the MAC forum, she recently got engaged so I couldn’t not send a card!

The gorgeous image is from Tiddlyinks, it’s called “You & Me Baby” and I’ve coloured it with a mixture of copics and tria markers and finished it off with prismacolour pencils. I added a gem to her finger as an engagement ring and realised just before I put it in the envelope that I put it on the wrong hand!! Lol! I didn’t get a chance to re-take the picture so you’ll just have to take my word for it that I changed it!!

The papers I used are from my favourite and most used pad – Basic Grey, Wisteria. I must see about getting another one as the one I have hasn’t got many pages left.

I used a Spellbinder square Fleur De Lis die for the background and cut a square of contrasting card to go just behind it, I heat embossed the edges of it with gold powder and the edges of the largest layer with super sparkle holographic powder. The Umount swirls around the image are also the holographic powder – it gives a lovely sparkle! Some Swarovski’s to finish.

I decorated the inside to match using a computer generated sentiment.

So why don’t you pop over to the Alphabet Challenge Blog to see the rest of the DT’s fab creations and take part and let me see some lovely pastel pictures!

Thanks for looking!

Woohoo!! I’ve Finished!

2011-08-27T19:59:00.000+01:00

Yes, I’ve finally finished all the wedding stuff! I’ve even now finished the cards I’m giving as gifts. The cards I made from myself I just made 2 the same and then another one from my parents.

So this is the card I’ve made from myself, I delivered this one last weekend and the other one that’s the same (except I gave the bride black hair to match the actual bride!) I’m delivering tonight, so I’m thinking it’s safe to post this now!

I made a round card this time for a bit of a change from my usual square and yep, you guessed it...

it’s an easel card!

I used my new circle dies from Go Kreate, they’re hum dingers and great for making big shaped cards. I’ll have to get me some more of these!

I used my favourite bridal couple digi stamp again which is “Happy Couple” from Tiddlyinks. I coloured them with copics and prismacolour pencils.

The papers are from the “Out of print” paper pad from Basic Grey, I love the colours of the papers and it has text going all through it which seems to be the in thing at the moment!

I added some black webbed lacy ribbon under some lovely green satin ribbon which I let go off the edges of the cards rather than tucked in under like I normally do. I used a spellbinder die to cut out the small hearts which I distressed and added some crystals to. I used the computer to print out the sentiments and a Stampin’ Up! punch to cut out the names. The mahoosive diamante heart came from my local craft supplier and I think it’s meant to go on a cake cos it had a big stake coming out the bottom which I removed.

I’m entering this card in the following challenges:

Basic Grey Challenges; Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations; Text me (text on backing paper)

Oldie But A Goodie; Lots of sparkle

One Stop Craft Challenge; Anything but a square

Papertake Weekly; Dies to die for

The Poodles Parlour; Anything goes

Scrappy Frogs Challenge Blog; Time for some bling

The Ribbon Girl; Ribbon challenge

Totally Gorjuss; As you like it

Thanks for looking!

Foto Friday

2011-08-26T17:30:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd take part in this weeks Foto Friday - a fab idea that Lori had and hopefully you'll be able to see more fab foto's on her blog

Two years ago today I headed off to my first ever Formula One Grand Prix!
After being a fan for 13 years and never even being at any kind of race I was so excited!
So, this is a picture I took during the race - I was actually a bit disappointed when I took the picture as the 2 Ferrari's were on the track together and I wanted to get a picture with both of them in it as I'm a big Ferrari fan! But it's not the easiest thing to get a picture of one car going past you at 200mph never mind 2!!
I was pleasantly surprised though, when I took a closer look at the photo and saw that I got Kimi Raikkonen - who went on to win the race - with a plume of sparks coming out the back of the car!
So here it is - the picture was taken just as the car was heading into the famous Eau Rouge corner.

That brings back some fantastic memories! The Belgian GP is on this weekend and it'll be the first one I've watched live on TV in 3 years as I was at the last 2 races there, I'm kind of sad that I'm not there again, but I don't think the credit card could take it again!

Thanks for looking!

Music Saves My Soul Saturday

2011-08-20T19:33:00.000+01:00

This is my first time taking part in Marcea's Music Saves My Soul Saturday, but then I need to start somewhere!

I'm making a great effort to try try to get most of whats left to do for the weddings finished this weekend, and I'm making some headway! So thought I'd take a few minutes to post this and have a cup of tea.

I wanted to make sure I picked a good and appropriate song for my first entry, and as I'm trying to get all this stuff finished I thought of the perfect song - The Final Countdown, by Europe! What a classic, I'll be singing it for the rest of the day now! lol

Enjoy!

Why not pop over to Marcea's blog and join in with the fun - we can never have enough music in our lives!

A Rockin’ 30th!! And some news!

2011-08-19T10:05:00.005+01:00

I’ve been a busy girl since my last post, the weddings are looming ever closer and I have the stationary for one of them officially finished and the other one should hopefully be finished very soon – I’m just waiting on the last bit of information to get them finished.

I have lots of other projects on the go though including the greetings cards for the 2 weddings and some cards for a swap on the MAC forum – I’d better get a move on to get them done as they’re supposed to follow a summer theme and it’s not looking overly summery out there! Lol

The other thing I’ve got going on now that I’m very excited about and is the news I was referring to, is that I’ve joined my very first design team!! I’m now part of the fabulous design team on the Alphabet Challenge Blog! I’m so looking forward to the challenge of being on a DT and meeting so many fabulous people. So, the challenge is up to the letter O and the challenge this fortnight is Only 3 embellishments.

My best friend recently celebrated her 30^th birthday. I bought her some rock concert tickets for her birthday, so in honour of the tickets, I thought I’d make her a suitably rock chick card!

My 3 embellishments are the Diamante “30”, the diamante strip and the swirl.

And guess what?... I made a twisted easel card!...again!

But then they are fab, so I’m letting myself off with it! Lol

I used the fantastically rock chickesque Kenny K digi “Star”, which I coloured with copics and shaded with prismacolour pencils.

I used a couple of Whimsey Stamps tickets – cos I got her tickets, see!!

The papers I used are Basic Grey, Scarlet’s Letter. I got the diamante 30 and the blingy strip from a local craft supplier, and I added a few Swarovski crystals to the Marianne design swirl, cos I thought there just wasn’t enough bling!

So why not pop over to the Alphabet Challenge Blog and have a peek at the other DT’s fab projects, and have a wee go yourself! You know you want to!

My card fits the following challenges;

Anything Goes Challenge Blog: Happy Birthday

A Spoon Full of Sugar: Happy Birthday

Crafts 4 Eternity: My card has tickets

Craft Us Crazy: Anything Goes

Kenny K's Challenge: Summer Sparkle

The Poodles Parlour: Anything Goes

Scrappy Frogs Challenge Blog: Time for some bling!

The Shabby Tea Room: Polka dots

Thanks for looking!

Welcome Baby

2011-08-06T18:59:00.000+01:00

Ahh, a weekend to relax! Hardly!

I was away last weekend on my friends hen party in Cardiff. We had an absolute blast, but I must admit that it took a wee while to recover!

So the last hen party means that I’m getting ever closer to the 2 weddings that I’ve been working on – both at the very start of September. I’m working on orders of service and placenames, and I’m getting there, slowly but surely.

I was delighted to learn that my neighbours just had their wee baby last week too, and even more delighted to be able to make a card that has nothing to do with weddings!!

So here it is

I used a Motivet stamp that I’ve had for ages but had never used, it’s called Doraline with Baby Carriage. I coloured her up with my copics and prisma-pencils.

The papers are Echo Park, Blossoms and Gingham Gaby.

I used an edge punch along the bottom of the card before I cut the base card for a bit of interest. I used a cuttlebug embossing folder for one of the panels which I then roughly painted the edges with some Tim Holtz distress crackle paint.

The lettering is a sizzix die set called Tina Thinks You’re Cute. I dug out my sewing machine and went around the edges in a very arty way (only because I can’t sew in a straight line! Lol) and added a few Swarovski crystals to finish.

I used the same layout on the inside and used the sewing machine again.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges

Craft Us Crazy – Anything Goes in August

Delightful Challenges – Stitching

Papertake Weekly Challenge – Anything Goes

Sweet Sketch Wednesday – Sketch

The ABC Challenge – A is for Auburn

The Shabby Tea Room – Mix & Match (I’m hoping my embossed layer counts as a third paper, if not I’ll delete my entry)

Thanks for looking!

Floral Wedding

2011-07-22T20:53:00.001+01:00

Wow! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve blogged. I’ve been so busy getting invitations done for 2 weddings that I’ve been spending every spare minute on them. I’m delighted to say that all but 3 invitations are finished and sent off to their respective brides – I’m waiting on some info before I can get the last 3 finished.

Just the Orders of Service and place-names to do now.

I did take a little time off last weekend to go to Donegal in the wild west of Ireland for the weekend with my family.

I forgot my camera – shocking! So I pinched a few pics off my sister to show what I mean by wild!

We hired a house for the weekend and it was absolutely beautiful! I want to live there! Here it is

And here’s our back yard!

There were some really stunning views, it’s just a pity the weather wasn’t on our side

We didn’t get that lost, but we did pass this on our travels around the area!

Anyway, another wedding card from me.

I used the ever-so-cute bride and groom from LOTV, so I stuck with the cute theme.

Very little colouring to do on this image, but what colouring I did, I did it with my copics.

And I made it into a twisted easel card

I used papers from the Basic Grey Sugar Rush pad and I teamed it up with a big leaf vine that I cut with a sizzix die in my wee bug. I also used some very handy “Just the Edge” card strips – the pink scalloped edge, which I added some pearls to.

And a nice big pink bow to finish it off along with some florally bits and pieces.

The sentiment on the base is computer generated

And I added a pocket to the inside, which you can just see here

I’m entering this card into the following challenges;

All Sorts Challenge Blog: Free and easy July

Anything Goes Challenge Blog: More than one fold

Charisma Cardz Challenge: Sunshine colours

Craft Us Crazy: Anything goes

My Time To Craft Challenge: Citrus colours

Papertake Weekly: Getting cute

Stamp Something: Embellished

Thanks for looking!

Silhouette

2011-06-28T23:03:00.000+01:00

On the Mad About Cards forum, we have started doing a bi-monthly card swap. The theme is picked by a different member each month and for this month Anne chose the theme Silhouette.

Because I’ve been so busy doing wedding invitations and heading off to rock concerts :P I decided not to take part in this one – it felt so weird not taking part in it, so I came up with an idea and made one card that fits the theme. Well, I think it does anyway! Lol

Here it is...

When I thought of silhouette’s I immediately thought of those oriental type shadow puppetry things, so I thought I’d like to try to get the feel of that.

So I got a small branch stamp with little blossoms on it that I’ve had for ages and always thought it looks oriental and stamped it a few times onto white tissue to make a larger branch.

I then cut an aperture out of my card base and stuck some acetate over the aperture before I positioned the stamped tissue paper over it, the acetate is to make sure I didn’t make a big hole through the tissue!

I then got some bamboo skewers and cut them down with a saw to make a frame around the aperture. I used a hot glue gun to keep the sticks in shape and then tied some button twine from the Ribbon Girl around the joins. I also made a frame around the outer edge of the card to hide the mess in between the layers!

I used the branch stamp again on the inside of the card which carries the theme from the picture in the aperture.

I took a photo of the card with the light behind it, to try to get the effect of the silhouette that I wanted.

I’m entering this card into the following challenges;

Charisma Cardz Challenge: White and one other colour

Mojo Monday: Sketch

Moving Along With The Times: Clean and Simple

Oldie But A Goodie: Anything goes

Pear Tree Designs: Stamp something

Tip Top Tuesday: T is for....Tissue – my tip is to put acetate over the aperture before attaching the tissue for strength.

Thanks for looking!

Sepia Wedding

2011-06-26T21:40:00.001+01:00

I was running out of time (as usual) so I had to get a wedding card made really fast and I was delighted when I saw the cute wedding couple on the Teddy Bo website and it came in sepia, so it didn’t even need to be coloured!!

This is my card

Isn’t the image so cute!

I made a tri-fold DL card and stuck the inside closed and made a tag to put inside it

The papers are from the Jillibean Soup “Dutch Mustard Soup” pad.

I’m entering this card in the following challenges;

Craft Your Days Away: Vintage

Creative Belli Blog: The Letter G – Gift tag, old – the ricrac, new – the image

Daring Cardmakers: Something old (ricrac), something new (image)

Top Tip Tuesday: Cross it

Thanks for looking!

Er, Happy Fathers Day!

2011-06-25T14:27:00.001+01:00

A little late you may think, but the card was made and given on time! Lol

Here it is...

I saw a tutorial for the centre step card on the Split-Coast Stamper site, so I thought I’d do one of those. Here’s a side view

The oh-so-cute image is from LOTV called Dad’s the word. Coloured with copics and prismacolour pencils.

The paper’s I used are from the Basic Grey Archaic pad. The sentiments are a whimsy ticket stamp and “Happy Father’s Day” was computer generated using the font Boomerang.

The buttons are from a Basic Grey pack and the twine is from The Ribbon Girl. When I saw the wee hammer charm I just had to use it – when I was young and still living at home, I decided to build a stud wall partition in my bedroom. I borrowed my da’s hammer and some time after I had finished, the hammer was not to be found. My da said that I had enclosed the hammer inside my wall, but I couldn’t understand how I could’ve done so when I needed the hammer to finish the wall!! It eventually turned up somewhere unexpected – not inside the wall! Lol

He picked up on that when he saw the card!

Here’s the inside with a LOTV sentiment.

I’m entering this card in the following challenges;

Alphabet Challenge Blog: H for Half a dozen – I’ve got 6 buttons (5 on front and 1 inside)

Crafty Catz: Add a charm

Oh La La Creations Challenge: Father’s Day

Our Creative Corner: Your Style

Stampin’ For the Weekend: Your Favourite Things – I used my copics on this card which I love

Sweet Stampin’ Challenge Blog: Something old, something new. Old, I’ve had these papers for years! New, the stamp and the twine.

Thanks for looking!

Ruffled Wedding

2011-06-22T23:24:00.002+01:00

I’m slowly but surely getting through all I need to get through – the problem is I keep adding things to my list, so it’s not getting any shorter!!

Time to mark another thing off my list by posting something on my blog and trying to get caught up...again!

So, a card!...

Two of my current favourite things on this card! It’s a twisted easel (again! I’ll soon get sick of them!) and I love the technique used with the ribbon – even if the ribbon on this card is a little dark.

Here’s the card

The image was a freebie from Imag-e-nation. I coloured it with my usual copics. I then went over the swirls on the handbag with a gluepen and added some glamour dust. I also painted on some Stampin’ Up! champagne mist ink to some of the flowers – it gives a lovely shimmer to the image.

The papers are from the Basic Grey Nook & Pantry paper pad. I added a pocket to the inside for the gift. A mixture of Waltzing Mouse and computer generated sentiments.

I’m not sure what happened the light when I took this picture.

I’m entering this in the following challenges;

Crafts 4 Eternity: Embellishments beginning with R (Ribbon)

Crafty Catz: Fancy Folds - more than 1 fold on your card (2 folds on a twisted easel)

Delightful Challenges: Anything Goes (anything went!)

Paper Sundaes: Easel or twisted easel (ta-daa!!)

Thanks for looking!

AWOL

2011-06-15T13:05:00.002+01:00

Phew!

That has to be one of the busiest 3 weeks of my life!!
I had so many places to go and things to do, it feels like 6 months since I've had a bit of down-time!
But I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel - I just need to finish my friends wedding invitations, and then I can start blogging again.

So, sorry for the break, but I should hopefully be back within a week.

Rainbow Wedding

2011-05-23T21:54:00.003+01:00

I was invited to my cousins civil partnership and wanted to make a fitting card for the occasion. So taking the rainbow as my theme, I made this

The image is from Sassy Cheryl’s which I coloured with copics. I would’ve liked to have put some glossy accents on the heart flowers but I ran out of time for it to dry.

The sentiment is computer generated using a font called “I’m Bored” which I downloaded from here.

The papers are from s.e.i. Joselyn pad which I carried through to the inside. The sentiment is a Waltzing Mouse stamp from the Fancy Phrases set.

This card fits the following challenges;

Anything Goes Challenge Blog: Bingo – Punches, Flowers, Ribbon

Crafts 4 Eternity: Recipe – Flower, Ribbon, Bling

Crafty Catz Challenge: Anything goes

Crafty Creations Challenge: May flowers

Papertake Weekly: Bloom & Grow

Totally Paper Crafts: Don’t be square

Trully Scrumptious: Anything goes

Thanks for looking!

I’ve Been Black-Listed!!!

2011-05-22T23:07:00.003+01:00

A colleague of my sister asked for a card for her sons 18^th birthday and she asked for it to be sexy. So I immediately thought of a Kenny K image and sent her a link to his site to have a look and see if the image would suit (it is from his mother!!). Well the IT department at her work obviously thought it was a little too raunchy and black-listed me from sending any more emails!!!

Here the card with the offending image

As I said the image is Bodacious Bev from Kenny K Designs and I’ve coloured her with my copics. I cut her out with a nestie using the out-of-the-box technique.

The papers are DCWV from the All Dressed Up stack. I cut the card base using a mega nestie in my grand calibur. I coloured a chip-board 18 black and then glittered it with black glitter. The sentiment is computer generated.

The inside with some matching DCWV paper and a Wild Rose Studio sentiment.

I’m sure you’ll be pleased to hear that my good reputation has been restored and my email address removed from the black-list!

This card fits the following challenges;

A Spoon Full of Sugar: Anything goes

Crafty Catz: Anything goes

Creative Belli Blog: The letter S – for Sexy! My old stash is the paper which I’ve had for ages!

Paper Play Challenges: Sparkle galore

Simon Says: Sparkle & shine

Sketchy Colours: Blue, green & black

Totally Paper Crafts: Don’t be square

Trully Scrumptious: Anything goes

Thanks for looking!

The best is yet to be

2011-05-21T22:54:00.001+01:00

I made this a while ago cos needed to make a card for my friend whose birthday is next week, “why?” I hear you say. Well I bought her a ticket for a concert/festival which is two days after the big day, and I thought she’d need a bit of time to get used to the idea and build up the excitement!!

I used a Sugar Nellie/Leanne Ellis stamp “Dreamer” coloured with...copics! I gave her nice red hair cos my friend has nice red hair! I blinged up her wings with some glamour dust.

I cut out some scalloped circles to make flowers and put a jewel cluster in the centre. The sentiment is from Stampin’ Up! and is on a Tim Holtz ticket.

Now for the inside!!! I took a gold envelope and adjusted it to fit the card and attached another scalloped circle flower to hold the envelope closed.

And what is in the mystery envelope?? (much excitement!!!)

This card fits the following challenges;

Anything Goes Challenge Blog: Bingo – Die cuts, Flowers, Ribbon

A Spoon Full of Sugar: Anything goes

Crafts 4 Eternity: Recipe – Flower, Ribbon, Bling

Crafty Catz: Anything goes

Crafty Creations: May Flowers

Paper Play Challenges: Sparkle Galore

Papertake Weekly: Bloom & Grow

Simon Says: Sparkle & Shine

Truly Scrumptious: Anything goes

Thanks for looking!

Fency a Party?

2011-05-19T20:20:00.001+01:00

No, it’s not a typo, it’s my attempt at a clever title. I’m not sure how well my cleverness fairs out there! Lol

Here’s a card I made for my sisters birthday

See! There’s a fence! Is my cleverness looking any better? No, I didn’t think so!

I used a lovely Tilda coloured with copics and the fence stamp is a CC designs stamp.

The papers are MME Tickled pink – I love these papers, they’re so bright and lovely! I edge punched some velum and sort of pleated it along the bottom and a Whimsey ticket stamp which I triple embossed with UTE powder. Lastly I attached a charm to a fancy pin along with a couple of equally fancy beads.

This card fits the following challenges;

A Spoon Full Of Sugar: Anything goes

CLP Challenges: Sketch (Rotated)

Cupcake Craft Challenges: In the garden

Delightful Challenges: Masking

Magnolia Down Under: Your favourite things

Paper Sundaes: Happy Birthday

Pear Tree Designs: Stamped images

Scrappy Frogs: Anything goes

The Corrosive Challenge Blog: Birthdays

Truly Scrumptious: Anything goes

Thanks for looking!

My First ATC

2011-05-19T08:51:00.001+01:00

I never really 'got' ATC’s for a long time, I couldn’t really see what the point was. But during our Easter swap on the MAC forum I received an ATC which matched the card it accompanied. It was then that I thought what a great idea they are – I’m going to get a photo album to keep ATC’s in and when I look through the album and see each ATC I’ll remember the beautiful card that it came with which by then will probably be tucked safely away in a box!

So I thought I’d make an ATC to return – that being the whole idea of “swapping” ATC’s! But, as I had already sent off my card, I didn’t make it to match the card. Another reason for making it different to the card is because I found this gorgeous Easter image from Sketching Stamper called Easter Egg Fairy.

I coloured her with copics and added a few pearls from Wild Orchid Crafts. A ruffled ribbon around the edge and it’s done! Simples!

Thanks for looking!

Yee-haw!!

2011-05-17T08:09:00.002+01:00

Howdy folks! Up and at it early for me this morning! I’m putting it down to the fact that I’ve recently started drinking tea, but I seem to have a lot more energy lately which is no bad thing!!! Even the smoke alarm that needs a new battery and started tweeting last night didn’t annoy me – and it’s on the ceiling downstairs, right under the floor of my bedroom! I must remember to get a new battery today.

Anyway, I went for a cowgirl theme with this one.

I used a Greeting Farm stamp “Cheeky Shooter” coloured with copics (What else?!) and cut out with a nestie.

I embossed a panel with a starry CB embossing folder which I went over lightly with sand paper to soften a little. Then I cut out some stars, glittered them and triple embossed them with UTE – cos I didn’t have time to wait on glossy accents to dry, but it worked out quite well. The papers are Tim Holtz Retro Grunge. A Whimsey Stamps ticket to finish.

A simple inside with a nestie shape to match the front and another star. The sentiment is a Wild Rose studio stamp.

This card fits the following challenges;

Crafts For Eternity: Colour Recipe

Crafty Creations: Anything goes

Creative Belli Blog: The letter S – Stars

Paper Play Challenges: Anything goes

Paper Sundaes: Happy Birthday

Pear Tree Designs: Stamped image

Scrappy Frogs Challenge: Anything goes

The Corrosive Challenge Blog: Birthdays

Thanks for looking!