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

I'm Batty for Batty!

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!

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!

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

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

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

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!