A good book has no ending

This is a lovely image by Mo Manning, what could be better on a sunny day than a good book to read and a quilt to lie on? I based my card layout on Mercy's great sketch from Crazy4Challenges and my colour scheme on One Stop Craft Challenge, which wants to see pink and brown projects this week. DP2 has an Anything Goes Challenge (using Mo's images) and Paper Sundaes' Challenge is a birthday card.

My image is coloured with Copics and edged with Distress Ink, cut with a deckle edged Nestie and mounted onto pearlescent card. The DPs are Basic Grey Capella and I've used a Martha Stewart doliy edge punch. Sentiment is from Craftwork Cards and ribbon is from stash.

Off on an adventure

A levels finished yesterday and today older DS headed to join his friends in Lisbon for a month in Europe with a rail card... Looking a bit apprehensive here, they will all have a great time I'm sure:)

Until Further Notice...

I've come across a new-to-me digiblog called Create with TLC,that specialises in sentiments, with many generous freebies. As soon as I saw this sentiment I knew it was right for a card for a friend who has been gravely ill after heart surgery, I just needed to find the right image to go with it. You might think it's not really a "get well" type sentiment and it isn't. Frank's surgery did not go as planned and he has spent many weeks completely out of it, in intensive care and in limbo as it was uncertain whether he would recover at all. Thanks to email, we've had almost daily updates on his situation and at last, things are going the right way. He has moved hospitals to one only an hour from his home and, fingers crossed, he will be making his escape soon:). He is alive, each day another tube or drip or drain is removed and I think he is celebrating being able to continue getting older:).

Card is fairly simple: I used a Rachelle Ann Miller stamp that I bought second hand, shamefully never used (by me) until today. Image coloured with copics, edged with Distress Inks, cut with a Nellie Snellen frame and mounted on a Nestie shape. The paper is Prima, I saw it and fell for it big time, the reverse is yummy too. Twill tape is from stash. The image is straight, it is the pattern on the card that is an irregular pattern:).

I'm entering the Simon Says "You gotta have friends" challenge and the Spoonful of Sugar Animal Crackers challenge with this card.

Berry Simple

I needed a quick Thank You card and, as I'd coloured this beautiful strawberry image I decided to use it and add some computer generated text. The main image is from Isabella's Sketchbook, love it! The tiny strawberries, leaves and flourishes are tiny tapestry stamps on wooden dowel, that were all the rage a couple of years back. Main image coloured with Copics, sponged with Distress Inks, Glossy Accents added to those juicy berries.

This card is for the following challenges:
Digital Tuesday - Summertime
Crafty Cardmakers - Inky Fingers
Isabellas' Challenge - Summer Fun
Secret Crafter - Strawberries & Cream

DT - Corrosive Challenge #70- flowers galore

I'm late with my DT posting for Corrosive Challenges, been fighting with an eye infection for the last few days:(. The Challenge this week is to use lots of flowers on your project. I've been playing with my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die, I love that it cuts fabric and I simply layered up 4 different fabrics and cut. Voila! I based my card on the CPS sketch for this week, which worked well with my flowers and also my gorgeous Iris stamp that was part of my blog candy from Elusive Images. The colouring on it wasn't perfect thanks to my eye infection, but lots of lovely Distress Ink round the edges covers a multitude of sins:). I edged the image with Brilliance reinker silver ink on a sponge, but I was a bit heavy handed and it hadn't dried overnight! I now have silver ink on all kinds of surfaces... The sentiment is also from Elusive Images, another theme plate this time. The DP is My Mind's Eye. The scale between the big flowers and the delicate iris isn't quite right, but hey, it's summertime:)

Happy Birthday Mr B

Here's a card I finished yesterday, having inked the image a week ago, it's a birthday card for an old reprobate friend who at the age of 81 is planning to spend his weekend at a motorbike sprint and has a garage full of vintage bikes.

The image was a RAK from my blogging friend Debby, sorry I can't find the name of the stamping company. It's black embossed and I used Distress Inks sponged to give it a glow. The paper is My Mind's Eye - they have a few ranges with just the perfect stripes to go with everything. Maybe it's a hangover from my quilting, but I do love to use stripes, especially for a man's card:). The sentiment is Elusive Images, embossed in Copper rather than gold, brads are from my stash. And that's it. Nothing more to add to it because it's a man card :).

I based my card on a beautiful, simple sketch at Truly Scrumptious, that to me works perfectly for a masculine card. As you can see, I didn't take up their optional strawberry & cream theme :), and I'm also entering for Charizma Cardz "one for the boys" challenge.

Happy Birthday Mr B!

DT Post - Phindy's Friday Challenge #11 - 3D it!

It's Friday and it's time for another Phindy's Place Challenge. This week the theme is 3D. You can add a simple button or you can create a whole 3D project - as long as you use a Phindy's Place image with your 3D you've nailed the challenge :). The DT has really outdone itself this week - be sure to check out the amazing 3D projects they have come up with!My card is fairly simple, it's based on the Sketch and Stash Challenge. My flower top fairy is also entered for the Sugar & Spice Challenge at Totally Gorjuss. I printed and coloured 3 of the adorable Flower Top Fairy Buttercup images and decoupaged them, using Glossy Accents on her flower and hat. I used a punch to make some little flowers and added pearls to the centres. Originally I used a larger punch and made some lovely flowers, but they were just too big and clunky, so off they came! Ribbon is from stash.

Sketch and Stash always like to know about stash: the sentiment is a never used Stampendous set that I bought last year in the sale - shame on me - the stamps have never seen ink! The DP is Papermania and is new and the image is new.

DT Posting - Twisted Thursday #62 - Something New

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue... Over at Shirleys2Girls Challenge we're still enjoying the joyful June bride images and for this week the challenge is to use something NEW on your card. We've used a wedding theme but you can make any card or proect you want to, as long as it has something new on it. I've made a very clean and simple wedding card, using the adorable Bride & Gifts image which you can buy here. I'm entering my card for the Sweet Stampin' Challenge theme this week, which is Clean & Simple and also for Cupcake Craft Challenge's Strawberries and Cream challenge. Secret Crafter's Challenge for this week is Weddings and Anniversaries, I'm entering their challenge too.The image is new to me, and I used a pretty bird and bloom new Cuttlebug folder. My pretty in pink bride is coloured with Copics and Stickles, love that pink champagne she's drinking :). Image is matted onto Bazzill Bling and added to a scalloped card with just the embossed card and a pink rosebud.
Please check out the challenge blog for full details and be sure to visit the other Ladies with Attitude, check out their amazing creations and leave them some love, here's the team: Ann, Anne (me), Carlie, Cat, Debbie, Georgia, Gina, Jane,Jeannie, Judy and Lisa.

Summer Seaside

Here's Dad's birthday card, a fairly clean and simple card. I used a new set of Hobby Art stamps called Harbour Scene that I got at Craft Barn recently, they mix and match with the seaside set that I have. I used a lovely sketch by DawnyP from the Lili of the Valley Challenge, with the scene spilling over onto the white card in the sketch. I'm also entering Stamp Something's Summer challenge. Sentiment is Papermania, I've used a My Mind's Eye stripe DP and Cuttlebugged some blue cardstock.

Smooth Sea Never Made a Skilled Mariner

This was my card for my Dad for Father's Day, it was also his birthday yesterday so he needed multiple cards making! I'm entering this for the One Stop Craft Challenge of One for the Boys. This card is based on a great sketch at Truly Scrumptious by Beth and is heavily influenced by Beatrice Neumeister who I saw demonstrating at the Craft Barn. I've used an Elusive Images stamp and sentiment, gold embossed. I overlaid a Nellie Snellen frame and a Nestie to come up with a fairly round shape, the main image is mounted onto silicon glue to give it dimension. Both frames are sponged with Distress Inks and then edged using Brilliance gold reinker on a sponge. The bottom DP is Basic Grey and the swirly wave one says it's from Flair Designs. Candy is from Craftwork Cards and plain navy ribbon from stash. I really enjoyed making this one, will post the birthday card tomorrow:)

Have a Mice Day - House Mouse Challenge

Here's a last minute card for this week's House Mouse Challenge, which is "Sweet". I don't have any House Mouse stamps with sweets on and I thought I wouldn't be able to enter this itme round. Then I remembered that I bought some House Mouse decoupage from Joanna Sheen and sure enough, there was a chocolate box sheet in there. I now remember why I don't do decoupage much - it was hard work cutting out all those fiddly layers, I chose to amputate tails in a few layers LOL!
I still got some stamping in - the paw prints and sentiment are from Dimension Fourth.

DT - Corrosive Challenge #69- black, white and one other colour

This week at Corrosive Challenges we are using black, white and one other colour. Now I'm getting to grips with my Copics I really like black & white cards; I've opted to use pink as my extra colour, though I have cheated and used flesh and hair colours, also a touch of green on the flowers in Lula's bag. Image is Lula Shopping, a great digi from Phindy's Place, you can buy her here.
I've used a sketch from the Sketch & Stash Challenge, so I need to tell you that my DPs are neglected stash, they are called Black Market Papers, the new stash is my C7 Copic which is so helpful for blending image to look black. Card candy is from Craftwork Cards and flowers are Prima from stash. I'm also entering my card for Paper Sundae's "Pretty as a Princess" challenge, I think Lula is such a pretty, girly image :).

This Week's Challenges

For the Shirleys2Girls Bridal Hop please click here

For the Phindy's Place Friday Challenge please click here

Bearded Iris

I was lucky enough to win one of the new themeplates from Elusive Images as blog candy this week. It's always fun to win candy, but when it's something you really, really want, well that's just an amazing bonus! I had wanted to order this themeplate but a shopping trip to Craft Barn as well as a phonecall from the bank warning me that my credit card had been "compromised" - no he didn't mean too much craft shopping LOL - so I had to wait for a new card meant that I'd delayed in buying this.

I'm pretty busy doing last minute Father's Day and birthday cards for my Dad (the two days co-incide) but I took a few minutes away from ships and seashore scenes to come up with this card. It follows a lovely sketch from the Paper Sundaes Challenge blog. I've coloured my image with Copics, used Artylicious DP, a Craftwork Cards sentiment and some lace and ribbons from stash. Watch this space, I have plans for the gorgeous, larger images on the themeplate:).

Thank you so much to Glenda and the Graphicus ladies, including Judith who sent my prize at lightning speed, it was a lovely surprise in a fairly bad week:).

DT Post - Phindy's Friday Challenge #10 - Summer Sunshine

It's Friday and the sun is shining - at least it is here - so I hope you'll enjoy the latest Phindy's Friday Place Challenge, where the theme is Summer Sunshine. Be sure to use a Phnidy's Place image and that's it - simple!
I've followed the challenge at Sketch Saturday, love all those lacy layers on the bottom, I used my Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch for them. The DP is Milton & Co by Wild Rose Studio, lovely and summery. Image is called Flower Wagon, she's adorable isn't she! I've coloured with Copics and Stickles, edged with Distress Inks and used my Nesties. The flower is from stash and has more Stickles on it to give it a bit of bling. The theme at Dareu2Digistamp this week is Blooms & Butterflies and I'm entering my card for this challenge too, while Papertake Weekly has the fun challenge of ice cream colours, so I'm entering my mango and lime sorbet combi here:)

I hope the sun is shining where you are and I hope to see lots of lovely summery cards for the challenge:).

Here come the brides - S2G Bridal Blog Hop!

S2G DT is having a BLOG HOP! Welcome! If you've arrived from Lisa's fabulous blog then you're in the right place, if you've just happened upon the hop then you should set out from the S2G Challenge Blog. This hop is all about that Special Day in a girl's life! It's all about Weddings, Showers, Brides and LURVE! S2G has created a bunch of great new digital stamps just for the occasion and I'd like to show you my wedding day card:Digi is called simply Bride, you can buy her here . I've coloured her with Copics and Stickles and edged the image with Distress Inks and Brilliance Gold ink from a reinker bottle. I've used the reinker on the DP which is Basic Grey Capella. The swirls are cut with a punch and have more of that Brilliance ink on them, the sentiment is Hero Arts. I've followed the sketch from One Stop Craft Challenge for my card and I'm also entering it for Stamp Something's Happy Challenge - what could be happier than a wedding day?

Shirleys2Girls are giving away 2 amazing prizes for the hop and you don't want to miss out on this one! The GRAND PRIZE is: 3 of the new Bridal Digi stamps, some Bride clear stamps, lots of ribbons, inks, embellies, DP, glitter and other fab girly-blingy things. There's also a runner-up prize of your choice of two of the new Bridal digi stamps. Check out the prize:We still have a Twisted Thursday Challenge for you to enter: this week your challenge is to use something OLD on your project, mine was the sentiment stamp that I used. The DT have all used the bridal stamps but you don't need to play along with the wedding theme, as long as you use something old you're in!

Your next stop on the hop will be the very talented Jeannie, the hop runs until Weds 23 June, hope you've enjoyed your visit:).

Shirleys2Girls new bridal kits

To celebrate the release of the new babes and brides stamps, there are a few totally gorgeous kits available at the S2G shop. Here are photos of a couple of the fab colourways available - grab them while they're there! To whet your appetite, the kit at the top of this posting is a super-bright and cheerful baby kit and the kit shown below is for a very sassy red wedding theme.

Enjoy and don't forget to pop back later for the Hop!

Fairy small easel card

I saw some differently shaped easel cards at the weekend at the Craft Barn and decided to have a play with this to enter Mo Manning's DP2 easel card challenge. Digital Tuesday also has an easel card challenge this week and Cute Card Thursday's theme is "Anything but square", which also fits the different shape. Simon Says Challenge this week is a recipe: 1 image, 2 patterned papers (that green is patterned, it's a Basic Grey blotchy), 3 types of embellishment (flowers punched out, tiny flower buttons and gems). Donna's Den of Crafts is a new challenge blog with a birthday theme for its first challenge and my colour combo is from Crazy4Challenges who have light pink, light purple, light green for their colours.

My fairy is coloured with copics and Stickles, edged with Distress Ink. DPs are Basic Grey Kioshi, sentiment is computer generated. Flowers cut out with a punch, buttons and gems are from stash. Card and images are cut out with Nestie Label 3.

More Craft Barn purchases

Here's another quick card heavily influenced by my jolly to the Craft Barn :). I've made my image into a sort-of oval shape by adding a Nellie Snellen frame behind the main image, so it fits the lovely sketch by Bev at Create4Fun Challenge this week.

Stamp is Katzelcraft by Beatrice Neumeister and all backgrounds have Distress Ink on them, no patterned papers used. The two die shapes were new purchases at Craft Barn, as was the sentiment stamp (Personal Impressions). The gold edging is Brilliance Gold reinker, used from the bottle onto my craft sheet (thanks Beatrice! Another great tip). Really the only existing stash is the lovely organza ribbon with autumn leaves printed on it, which is almost completely obscured by the image and sentiment! Oh, gems are Hobby House from my stash too:).

Happy day!

Yesterday I had a wonderful day out, I travelled to my friend Val's house and then we went on to Lingfield, to the Craft Barn for their Open Day. It was a long way but the journey was really worthwhile, I had a wonderful time and I learnt so much from the demos that I watched. My only regret was that there were not enough hours in the day to see everything:). The first demo that I watched was by Beatrice Neumeister who creates the beautiful Katzelcraft stamps. Beatrice was really helpful and friendly (as were all the demonstrators) and between her English and my French I enjoyed wathcing her creating fabulous backgrounds with Distress Inks to showcase her gorgeous stamps. One of the things I picked up from her is to mix and match Nestie frames, I am going to ty to be more adventurous, instead of framing an oval with a scalloped oval. Of course this is a great justification to buy more Nesties... LOL!

Here I used a Nellie Snellen frame that I've owned for a while, and used foam pads to pop it up above the layer behind it. Also picked up from another crafter: add another layer of card when using the Nellies to get them to cut more cleanly - yes it worked!

The cute stamp is Charlotte Ketto, a Stampinbella, Emily had come all the way from Canada and was demo-ing her stamps. I like the Stampinbellas but they didn't call my name - until I saw the cards and samples that Emily had and also another of the demonstrators that is! I now have a long wish list for these:). I've coloured Charlotte with watercolour pencils and Copic on her face as well as some Stickles in her hair.

The DP is Basic Grey Kioshi, which is great for Papertake's Challenge this week. As ever, Dawny P's sketch is a lovely one to use, they have an optional theme of using lilac and lemon this week. Sentiment is Papermania. I'm also entering this for Stamp Something's Happy Challenge.

DT - Corrosive Challenge #68 - sketchtime

I hope this scheduled posting publishes ok, I'm off at the crack of dawn to visit the Craft Barn in Lingfield with my crafting friend Val, we always have a good time when we go out, this looks like an amazing day of all things crafty and I think we might just do some shopping too;).

OK, this week we have a great sketch for you to use at Corrosive Challenges, I've used a Penny Black stamp for my image, coloured with Copics. It's a big image, larger than my largest Nestie, so my image is outside the box, as it were:). The DP is My Mind's Eye, came as a freebie with a magazine, the stripy ribbon is from stash.

I'm also entering my card for Totally Papercraft's Animal Magic Challenge and Charisma Cardz Spots & Stripes Challenge.

DT Post - Phindy's Friday Challenge #8 - One for the Girls!

This week at Phindy's Friday Challenge we've got a fun challenge for you, to make a girly, feminine card using one of Phindy's lovely images.

There are some changes to the prizes on the challenge:the winner each week, chosen by Random.org will receive an $8 Gift Certificate to Phindy's Place store. We will have an additional weekly prize for the card (or project) chosen as "Pick of the Week", they win a 10% off voucher for Phindy's Place store. Once a month we will choose an overall winner from the weekly winners and they will be offered a Guest position on the DT - and of course a free image from Phindy's Place to use for that week's challenge!

Back to this week's challenge, more exciting news for you: Phindy has generously made one of her gorgeous digis available from the Challenge Blog for you to download. Beary Beautiful, check out the blog for more info.

Now, on to the fun part, the card:). I used Paulas' sketch from Sketch Saturday for my card layout. I loved this as soon as I saw it and I've come across quite a few gorgeous cards using it as I've hopped around blogdom - definitely one to keep and use again:). My image is the totally adorable Belle of the Ball and I've tried to be bold and given her a glowing orange dress. Sentiment is Papermania, DP is Basic Grey Sugar Rush. I bought the orangey-brown rosebuds and the eyelets at Flutterbys the other day, I've added Stickles to the flowers and to Belle, leaves are from a punch. Yes, I know Belle is off-centre, I wanted to add the flowers and they wouldn't fit otherwise - honest:). Can't get the colours right in this gloomy weather, the scalloped circles are hot pink... will have another go when it's sunny again - whenever that is LOL!

I'm also entering my card for Cupcake Craft Challenge's Dazzle Us theme (lots of Stickles), Stampin' for the Weekend's summer/travel theme, Paper Sundae's Summertime Fun and A Spoonful of Sugar's Floral Delight challenge.

DT Posting - Twisted Thursday #60 - Tickled Pink!

It's time for another Twisted Thursday Challenge from Shirleys2Girls. This week the twist is simply to use some PINK on your card or project, yes it's as simple as that. The new images this month are all about babies and weddings and the DT has some fabulous baby cards for you to check out this week, but you don't need to make a baby card, just so long as there's a piece of pink somewhere:).

I've based my card on a sketch from Card Positioning Systems that I thought worked well with the pink lace and the embossed scalloped border that I wanted to use. The adorable image I've used is called Puppy Love, you can buy it here. It's coloured with Copics, the DP is an old Basic Grey (possibly Two Scoops?). The hearts were cut with a Sizzlits die and then dry embossed with the Swiss Dots folder. Scalloped border (and card) are from Craftwork Cards, ribbon from my sewing stash.

Please check out the challenge blog for full details and be sure to visit the other Ladies with Attitude, check out their amazing creations and leave them some love, here's the team: Ann, Anne (me), Carlie, Cat, Debbie, Georgia, Gina, Jane,Jeannie, Judy and Lisa.

Nearly black and white

I was lucky enough to win at Isabella's Sketchbook Challenge last week and I wanted to join in again with one of the lovely images that I won. This week's challenge is to make a black and white card where the only colour used is on the image. When I saw this week's Card Patterns Sketch I knew just how I wanted to do my card! I'm also entering it for A Spoonful of Sugar's Floral Delight challenge.

The card is put together directly onto the white card, the dotty embossed borders are matted onto black card and have dotty ribbon added. The centre of the card uses some more of the mesh ribbon that I bought recently. The dotty flowers and the sentiment are from also Craftwork Cards. When I put it together I realised that the dots are silver rather than white, hopefully they still give a b&w impression:). Image is called Beyond the Garden Gate and it's cut out with a Nestie and set at an angle on its frame.

Dance Yourself Dizzy

I treated myself to a couple of Mo Manning images the other day and finally got round to printing them out, here's my first card from them, using the imcomparable Mummu.

My card is based around Jane's lovely sketch at Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge, I'm also entering it for Stamp Something's Digi Challenge and this week's Charisma Cardz Challengewhich is flowers. Pile It On's theme is Quirky, which I think is Mummu to a T and Digital Tuesday Challenge has Trendy, again I think she's right on trend:).

Image is coloured with Copics, sentiment is computer generated. The DP is Basic Grey Capella. The flowers are cut with my gorgeous new Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers die, top layer is from wide mesh ribbon. I've stitched with straight and zig-zag stitch to add interest and texture.

DT Posting - Corrosive Challenges - #67 - Diecuts

Good morning! It's feeling like it's going to be another hot day here, though it's cloudy and feeling very humid. I've a lovely summery card to show off today, at least I think it's lovely:).
The Challenge this week at Corrosive Challenges is a super easy one: to use diecuts. These days I don't make many cards without reaching for my trusy Nesties, if I don't then chances are there will be a die-cut flower or two... this time I've simply used Nestabilities circles and scalloped circles for my card, as well as the Martha Stewart picket fence punch.
This month there are great prizes on offer at Corrosive Challenges: 3 digis from Phindy's Place, 2 packages of stickers, 1 packet of brads and a GDT position for August. With this in mind I chose my images from Phindy's Place, I used some of the Lil Garden Gems, you can buy them here.

I based my card around a great sketch from Fussy & Fancy, and the colour combo of pink and green comes from Creative Craft Crew's colour challenge. Images are coloured with Copics and edged with Distress Inks. Background gingham DP is Papermania, pink has been in my stash for ages, no name left on the scraps, sorry. Ribbon and white flowers from stash, rosebuds were bought at the NEC, possibly Hobby House?

It also fits the Stamp Something Challenge - Stamp something digi, Charisma Cardz Challenge theme of flowers, Cupcake Craft Challenge's Summer Delights and Stampin' for the Weekend's Summer/travel theme.