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!
 

Christmas Cutie!

 Hi everyone!

I hope you're all well today?
I have been kept busy at work, this is a particularly busy week for me but it's OK, next week will be quieter.  I've been doing the 5-2 diet and today is one of my fasting days so it's good to be kept busy and then I don't notice that I'm hungry! lol!

We have a new challenge up today at the Creative Card Crew.
Our sponsor for this fortnight is Whiff Of Joy

 They are offering a rubber stamp to one lucky winner!

The challenge we have for you this time is a scary one!  We want you to make items with a theme of...

Christmas!

It scares me anyway!  It seems like no time at all since last Christmas and there's less time til next Christmas than there has been since the last!

But I knuckled down and this is what I did..

The image is Harry Hugging A Christmas Bauble by Whiff of Joy.  I coloured him with the following copics: E29,27,25,23,21,13,00,0000. R59,39,37,24. YG07,05,03. N5,3. Blender.  I used a metallic gold gellyroll pen on the hanger and other um, gold bits!
Again, I wasn't overly happy with my colouring on this one, I guess I just need to get back to practising again!

The papers are Helz Cuppleditch "Santa's Workshop" by Trimcraft.  The sentiment is also by Whiff of Joy from the Seasons Greetings set.  The ribbon came from Next and the kraft card, tag, pearls and button are from my stash.  The string on the tag is reused after I kept it from some clothes tags.  I used Spellbinders circle and scalloped circle to cut out the image.

The inside is much of the same with another sentiment from the same stamp set.

Please take a look at what the rest of the DT have done over at the Creative Card Crew blog and have a go at entering too!

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

Bearly Mine Challenges; Lets go digital
Crafty Ribbons; Anything goes with ribbon
Creative Fingers Challenge Blog; Anything goes
Delightful Challenges; Add ribbon
My Time To Craft; Use kraft
Sentimental Sundays; Christmas in July
Southern Girls Challenge Blog; Christmas is a coming
The Corrosive Challenge Blog; Christmas in July

Thanks for looking!