Nordic simplicity

 

My mojo seems to be missing at the moment and I can only hope that it returns when things are easier.  In the meantime though, I have been playing with my new Nordic Winter stamps from Waltzing Mouse, making regular, geometric patterns with them is something I'm enjoying.   Those of you who look at my blog will know that my favourite stamps are tree stamps, followed by more tree stamps followed by yet more...  but this set is fast overtaking them with its simplicity.  Need to break away from just read and white though.

I followed the Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge and, at first, used a freebie Craft Stamper stamp on it, but didn't like it, so I changed it for the snowflake.  Here it is with the star, what do you think?  Hope it doesn't look too different to the sketch!  I have added one tiny piece of bling to the snowflake, matted it three times, with a thin strip of card across it, and that is it.  

My card is for the following challenges:

Waltzing Mouse - sketch

Mark's Finest Papers - use a snowflake

Winter Wonderland - red & white

Creative Belli - Merry Christmas

Simon Says - anything goes

Fashionable Stamping - anything goes, new stash

Pile it On - anything goes

Stampin' for the Weekend - anything goes

Santa Tag

I'm enjoying a visit from my mother, not much time to craft but last night I sneaked a few minutes to play with new stash from the NEC and made this tag. I'm very into red and white for Christmas at present, what do you think?   The top is shaped with a new label Nestie, the white embossed Santa and sentiment are from a Butterfly Kisses stamp set, again bought at the NEC and unused till now.  The tag was a little flimsy so I added a white back, punched a border to show the white, punched a few snowflakes and gave them red gem centres and added some baker's twine.
My tag is for:
CAS-ual Friday - tag you're it
Stamptacular Sunday - punch it
Cute Card Thursday -reds for remembrance
Pile it On - traditional Christmas
Fabulous Friday - embossing
Christmas Stampin' All Year - stamp never seen ink
Shopping our Stash - never been inked
Pink elephant - embossing
Hooked on Craft - something punched
Bows'n'Berries - tags

Phindy's Place Challenge 81 - Thankful

 Welcome to this week's Phindy's Place Challenge, which is all about being thankful.  My Thank You card uses an old favourite, Mrs Comfy and Pogg.  Here Mrs Comfy is being careful to keep Pogg dry as they go for their walk:).  I really wanted my image to be a good size so I could enjoy colouring it without agonising over tiny bits of image, so I chose to make it an easel.  Image is coloured with Coics and Distress Ink.  The DP is Basic Grey Sweet Threads, I added a computer generated sentiment, some stitching, some buttons, a Martha Stewart punch and a bit of glitter for the puddles.

My card is for:
Basic Grey - anything goes
Pile it On - give thanks
Incy Wincy - stitching
iCopic - thank you
Digital Tuesday - anything goes
Creative Card Crew - thankful
Sisterhood of Crafters - giving thanks
Penny's Paper Crafty - give thanks
Digistamps4Joy - with gratitude
Paper Pretties - buttons
Aud Sentiments - thank you

The one that got away?

Another card using new stamps from Stamp Addicts, this time a  masculine one that uses the background and the boat from the On the Water set, with a tree from the new Tree set sneaked in as well.  The detail fisherman at bottom left is also from On the Water.  The scene is mounted onto brown card embossed with a Tim Holtz tree bark folder, the edges are torn.  DP is from a Joanna Sheen CD Rom, Times Gone By I think.
My card is for the following challenges:
Midnight Madness - sketch
Kenny K's - autumn colours
Pile it On - Fall is for fun - my fisherman is having fun, but it must be an early Autumn, I think salmon fishing finishes 1 October!
Sweet Stampin' - go masculine
Stamptacular Sunday - anything goes
Creatalicious - distressed edges

Birthday bike

Yesterday was DH's birthday, we had a quiet supper at home as we went out to celebrate last week while older son was still here.  He loves his old motorbikes, not sure how many we have in the garage (I don't want to know!) so this image of a Norton looked like a good choice for him, it came from Stitchybear.  It's a detailed image and I gave it minimal colouring, mostly greys. The sentiments are Joanna Sheen and the clock cogs around the base of the easel are from Stampin' Up.  MS bubble punch got an airing as it's not too feminine, DP is Basic Grey.

My card is for the following challenges:

One Stop Craft - easels

Cards for Men - sports

Incy Wincy - fancy folds

Pile it On - fancy folds

Ooh la la - punches or dies

Victorine Originals - easel cards

Come and Get It - easels

One Stitch at a Time - favourites (Copics, Distress Inks, punches, Basic Grey DP)

Sticky Fingers? No, it's Baking Bedlam

 I couldn't resist this new image when it came out at Phindy's Place:  this is called Baking Bedlam
I do a lot of baking but I promise it never looks quite this messy:  if only because the dogs will clear anything that hits the floor lol!  Yesterday I made a chocolate and Guinness cake for the cricket tea, meringues for our friends visiting and then custard with the egg yolks and it was a little chaotic for a while...
My card follows the sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday and I used a piece of my treasured Nook & Pantry Basic Grey DP for the cupcake background.  Sentiment comes from Paulette at TLC Creations, from a set designed to co-ordinate with this image.  Image is coloured with Copics, mounted onto a Nestie with dimensional glue, tied with baker's twine (of course!) and a little punched scroll added to balance the sentiment.

My card is for the following challenges:

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - sketch

Pile it On - sweet treats

Craft Your Days Away - cupcakes

Simon Says Stamp - food & drink

Basic Grey - anything goes

Paper Sundaes - green & twine from the sundae bar

Summer sunshine - I wish!

I'm sneaking in a second posting today because I wanted to enter the Sweet Sketch Wednesday Challenge and I'm fast running out of time.  I knew I wanted to use some gorgeous Basic Grey Sweet Threads DPs that I bought, when I saw a card made by Debby for the Everybody Art Challenge I decided to distress my papers.  There are a lot of layers to this sketch and I worry about them all staying stuck so I decided to stitch them as well!  The good thing is that I know all my layers will stay put, the bad thing is that where I made a mistake with my layout I can't change it.  Hmm...  more haste less speed and all that:).
Image is the totally inspired Tender Tootsies from Phindy's new Plump 'Uns range, isn't it lovely sometimes to just kick off those shoes and feel the grass under your feet...  She's coloured with Copics and lots of Distress Ink, extra Copics in the corner to cool things down a bit and give an impression of some trees.  Flowers are punched from the DP.

Before I go I'd like to tell you that Phindy is about to become a grandmother and she is running a fun competition on PCP, guess the date the baby arrives and guess the weight.  Do check it out, link here, I think the granny to be is a bit sad that she's not had more entries yet and tha baby could be here any day now!
My card is for the following challenges:
Sweet Sketch Wednesday - sketch
Basic Grey - shabby chic
Everybody Art Challenge - distress
A Spoonful of Sugar - here comes summer
Corrosive Challenge - summer colours
Pile it on - summer heaven
Sweet Stampin' - playing in the summer sun
Fairy Fun Fridays - summer fun
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Wags'n'Whiskers - stitching

Steppin' into Summer - June Tiffany Doodles Challenge

Good morning and welcome to summer - I hope!  Yesterday it felt like the return of winter but at least the sun is shining today.   We have a new challenges for you at Tiffany Doodles and some new DT members to introduce to you.  They are Anette, Sally and Judy and I'll link them here because I've just removed my sidebar list of Tiff's Team by mistake and will have to put it back later - ack!  All three ladies are awesomely talented, please do check out their blogs and welcome them:).

OK now onto the challenge, which is Steppin' into Summer.  There's a great prize of a $10 shopping spree in the store and if you don't know which image to pick there is a cute crab design as the current Thursday freebie if you check out the shop.   Fishing is the sign that summer really has arrived in this household, as DH heads off to the Windrush and the Leach and other Cotswold rivers, so I decided to use the Gone Fishing set which its stunning realistic drawings.

I've coloured with Copics, my Bass has a load of Glossy Accents which have given him a very lifelike shine and DH kindly let me have some feathers from his flytying stash.  I asked for teeny tiny feathers and that is what I got at first, I'm not sure I could see them without my glasses!  In the end he handed over some more visible feathers lol and I glued them to the fly.  The sentiment is from Create with TLC, the background in Dsitress Inked with Bundled Sage and Faded Jeans and overstamped in the Sage with an Elusive Images flower stem to look like weed.  The "line" is a striped rayon embroidery thread.  If you click on the picture you can see it better:)

My card is for the following challenges:
Moving along with the times - no designer paper
Digital Tuesday - outdoors
Paper Sundaes - let's get sentimental
One Stop Craft Challenge - texture
Stamp Something - June digi day
Cute Card Thursday - embellish it
Do it with digis - all about the boys
Fussy & Fancy - card for a man
Creative Inspirations Paint - card for a male
Pile it on - summer heaven

Springtime Swing

 I was lucky enough to win an image from A Day For Daisies last month and this is the image I chose, after much dithering.  There are so many stunning images but this one is just lovely, isn't it?  She's called Springtime Swing.  I used some more paper from the Memorybox Brioche pad that I'm obsessed by at present, if you look closley you can see that the branch is the wrong way up.  Sorry but it works for the card this way up, call it artistic license lol!  I followed the sketch from this week's ADFD's Challenge but I did move the position of the 3 brads...  Sentiment is a Sheena Douglass stamp.

My card is for the following challenges:

A Day for Daisies - sketch

Pile it On - girls and boys come out to play

Moving Along With the Times - 2 Bs (brads, birds)

Word Play Weekend - child

Scrapbook Sisters - the birds

Dutch Dare - winged things

Use what you have...

Recently I've been buying CR-Roms of images for cardmaking, I've been mesmerised by the wonderful things people are creating with them.  But it's not been happening for me and I have to accept that maybe they are not how I choose to make my cards.  Then again, it's no good just giving up so I'm trying to make a few cards this week from CDs that are lurking on my desk.  This is from Viva la Divas, a Joanna Sheen CD with vintage images and sayings, you can customise the sayings which is what I've done here.  DP is Basic Grey, panel behind image is Cuttlebugged and inked, ribbon and string lace from stash.  What do you think?
My card is for the following challenges:
Pile it On - funny sentiment or image
Divas by Design - anything goes

Crafty Catz - quote or sentiment
Digis with Attitude - make us laugh
The Crazy Challenge - anything goes
Dutch Dare - sketch

Phindy's Place Challenge #45 - Oh Baby!

Good moring, it's Friday so today is the double bonus of being nearly the weekend and also time for another Phindy's Place Challenge.  This week we are challenging you to make a card or project for a baby or small child, or use a baby or small child image on your card.  Don't forget to check out the arrival of the adorable Wee Babbies in store at Phindy's Place, they are arriving every few days, rather than all at once, just like real babies!  My little charmer isn't part of the Wee Babbie set, but he easily could be, this image is called Nap Time.

I've used Copics to colour, including the background and I decided to make a tri-fold card.  The Nestie is new stash that I treated myself to from Bunny Zoes, after being lucky enough to win a voucher, I popped it up on tape  above the green square but wish I'd added more height again:).  Sentiment is Joanna Sheen, DP is Stampin' Up and the buttons are Papermania.

My card is for the following challenges:
Pile It On - Tri-fold
Peachy Keen - sketch
Charisma Cardz - Four legged friends
Crafty Sentiments - birthdays
Meljens Challenge - U R such an animal!
Shelley's Images - lots of layers
Creative Belli - animals
Do You Stack Up - use green in it
Dutch Dare - who's who in the zoo

Phindy's Place Challenge #42 - Spring is on the way!

It's Friday and it's time for another fun challenge at Phindy's Place.  This week's challenge is a bit of wishful thinking on my part:  it is called Spring is on the way!  So many of us have had our fill of snow and ice and cold, but the days are beginning to get longer and my card is celebrating this.  I've used no less than three - count 'em - three Phindy's Place images and I have combined them in Photoshop, which was a very steep learning curve.  When I say "I", that means "We" as DH was far more patient than I am and was a great help with this card:).  Left to right, the images are Spring Dress Mei Mei, Spring Dress Emma and Spring Dress Kulla.  I wanted to ground my images using more than just Distress Inking, so I made an attempt at drawing in some paving at the edge of the grass they are dancing on.  

The sentiment is from a Joanna Sheen House Mouse set, the corner punch is Martha Stewart Pansies.  There are tiny tiny flower buttons scattered on the grass, bling in the corners and the DP is Basic Grey Sugar Rush.  I've moved the sentiment across a little on the CPs sketch..

My card is for the followng challenges:

CPS - sketch

Paper Sundaes - two or more images

Crafty Creations - 3 little words

Craft your Passion - anything goes

Pile it On - bright and breezy

Little Claire - anything goes

Less is More

Like so many people, I love C&S cards but find them hard to do.  I admire other people's cards but view mine as a bit of the "emperor's new clothers" syndrome - don't they look like 5 minutes of quick work? Isn't it cheating not to spend hours colouring, shading, punching, matting, embellishing to within an inch of the card's life?  OK this is something I need to work at:), I've been playing along with some of the OLW Challenges and now my friend Chrissie has set up Less is More with her friend Mandi.  First challenge is pink and black, not a favourite colour combi for me, I hope I'll be forgiven the touch of yellowy ink behind the butterfly!

I've boxes and bags of stamped out images, some mine, some traded with friends and when I looked through them last night trying to find some general inspiration, I found 2 or 3 of this stamp, just plain black on white.  I'm pretty sure it's a Hero Arts stamp, it may belong to my friend Anne, who lives in the village, but in truth I can't remember.  I've used my ink duster brushes and Worn Lipstick Distress Ink, sneaking in a touch of Wild Honey.  Matted onto black and just added a tiny punched butterfly where I thought about bling or a ribbon.

My card is for the following challenges:
Delightful Sketches - come fly with me
Digi Doodles Best - nature
Pile it On - bright & breezy
Less Is More - pink, black & white
Totally Papercrafts - clean & simple

Phindy's Place Challenge #41 - Embossing

 It's Friday, thank goodness, nearly the weekend and time for another Phindy's Place Challenge.  This week we welcome 3 new Design Team members, their work is just gorgeous, do have a look and leave them some love.  This week we have a very simple theme:  embossing.  You can dry or heat emboss, or even do both as I did!  I used Pretty Blooms, a lovely digi that has me hoping for spring:)

I saw an interesting new tutorial on Splitcoaststampers this week, called Pressed Flowers.  Anne Haralda shows how dry embossing flower embellishments can press them into a project, they lose their 3D element and look like pressed flowers.  This is a new look to me and also means the card doesn't end up needing extra postage on it!  The DP was quite thin and I liked the almost distressed look I got on it when it was embossed, not sure how well it shows in the photos...

The card is based on this week's Sketch Saturday layout, rotated around a bit.  I've paper pieced her top from the DP I used for the little border, which is Basic Grey Marjolaine.  Her hat and scarf are popped up on gel glue and there is Glossy Accents on the scarf and the watering can, as well as Stickles on the flowers, butterflies and rain and of course she is coloured with Copics.  The gold embossed sentiment is from Stampin' Up and I edged the die cut with PVA glue and embossed the edge too.  MS punch is String Lace and the Nestie is a Labels die.

My card is for the following challenges:
Sketch Saturday - sketch
CCEE Stampers - punches
Delightful Sketches - come fly with me (butterflies)
Southern Girls - dry embossing
For Fun  - spring or winter
Anything Goes - butterflies
Papertake Weekly - anything goes + flowers
Totally Papercrafts - friendship - perfect sentiment for this one!
Pile it On - punch it
BasicGrey - flower power
Copic Challenges - we're cool!

Abso-Bloomin-Lutely Love You

Here's another card from the excellent Sheena Douglass workshop I did at the weekend, this was learning how to get shading with only one colour of Distress Ink.  The background paper with the embossing isn't black; we inked it heavily with Black Soot Distress Ink, it also has a double stamped flower swirl that is then embossed.  The flowers have Cosmic Shimmers on top of PVA glue.  The original version shown to us had a pristine white sentiment that stood out nicely on the card.  Unfortunately I got a big black fingerprint on mine so it ended up being inked LOL!

This card is for the following challenges:

Crafts & Me - monochrome
Crafty Creations - heat embossing
A Spoonful of Sugar - Valentine
My Time to Craft - embossing
Crafty Cardmakers - floral
Pile it on - love is in the air
Sugar Creek Hollow - black, white and a splash of colour
Alphabet Challenge - L is for Lady

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge - Use a sentiment

Good morning and welcome to this week's Top Tip Tuesday Challenge!  Over on the main blog we have a fab tutorial on making a WordArt book from the talented Carol and the challenge is to use a sentiment on your project, or of course play along using Carol's tutorial.
I've made an easel card with no less than 4 sentiments on it!  Yes, I'm still playing with the Fred She Said empty pocket shruggers set, you can buy them here.  This set just makes me smile every time I reach for it.  I've coloured with Copics and used Distress Inks for the background, the DP is Basic Grey Sugar Rush, ribbon is from stash and I used Card Candy on a ribbon raised on foam tape to prop up my easel. Oh, there are red and orange Stickles on the exploding cake!  A birthday just isn't a birthday without an exploding cake...

I'm entering my card for the following challenges:
Pile it on - anything goes
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle - anything goes
Totally Papercrafts - birthday
Fairy Fun Fridays - Happy Birthday
Sew Many Challenges - birthday
Craft Your Days Away - anything goes
Basic Grey - dots and spots
Stamp Insanity - let it all hang out!
Delightful Challenges - easel card
Paperplay Challenges - cutie patootie

I missed your birthday...

 Here's another card I made using Fred She Said's Empty Pocket Shrugger Set, this card uses the girl image, you can buy the set here.  They colour like a dream and I do love the sentiments that come with them :).  I followed the Friday Sketchers layout, used Basic Grey Sugar Rush DP and stickers and added stitching to my card.  The embossing is good old Swiss Dots folder.  This is for a friend's little girl, we never did get to meet up to exchange gifts (she has a Christmas Eve birthday) due to all the bugs and sickness that we had and they had!

My card is for the following challenges: 

Friday Sketchers - sketch

Basic Grey  - spots and dots

Incy Wincy - go dotty

One Stop Crafts - card for a child

The Crafty Pad - happy birthday

Pile it On - cute children

Kaboodle Doodles - do it with digis

Charisma Cardz - birthdays and celebrations

House Mouse Card - new beginnings

There are several "New beginnings" challenges around, as well as "new" and what could be more appropriate than a Spring card with baby birds - or at least House Meeces maquerading as baby birds LOL!  My DH bought me some lovely crafty goodies for Christmas, including a Joanna Sheen decoupage set - my "something new". Once I completed the decoupage I based my card on this week's Midnight Madness sketch.
The background card has random stampings of music on it, using Distress Ink.  I used a clear Prima stamp and didn't mount it onto a block, I just held it and inked a bit of it, which is something Sarah Anderson showed us on a workshop at Stamp Attic.  The white panel behind the decoupage is embossed with a Paisley CB folder, another present from DH.  The flower border at the top is MS and the flowers are a Woodware punch, some have button centres and some Liquid pearls.
My card is for the following challenges:
Midnight Madness - sketch
Simon Says - new beginnings
Creative Card Crew -  new beginnings
Secret Crafter - buttons and bows
House Mouse & Friends - new beginnings
Paper Sundaes - something new
One Stop Craft Challenge - something new
Dutch Dare Cards - new beginnings
Pile it on - brand spanking new
Craft Your Days Away - punch it out

Christmas Colt

Yesterday I was looking through my digis and decided to have a Phindy's Place weekend, I have so many gorgeous images to choose from and I settled down and printed a few off.  Here's the first card I've made:  Christmas Colt was a favourite image of mine last Christmas (he's available as a non-Christmassy version too) and I was surprised to realise that I've not used him yet this year.  He is a Phindy's Place image, you can buy him here.  Isn't he adorable!
I based my card on the sketch at Simon Says Challenge, coloured him with Copics and with Distress Inks for the background, adding some snow with a Viva pen.  The DP is Basic Grey Jovial, sadly I'm coming to the end of this lovely pad of paper:(.  Embellies are velvet ric-rac, Craftwork Cards candy and sentiment and Prima flowers.
My card is for the following challenges:
Simon Says - sketch
Rainbow Lady - Christmas animals
Digital Tuesday -animals at Christmas time
Pile it on - feathers 'n'n fur
Stamp Something - Christmas colour combo
Dutch Dare - Christmas card, tag or ornament
 Fairy Fun Fridays - use a star - my colt has a star on his face!
Ellephantastic - red and green
Stempel-traume - red and green
Stamp and Create - 'tis the season

Top Tip Tuesday open challenge AND Fred, She Said Digi of the Week

I've made one card to fit two postings this week:  first of all we have an open challenge on Top Tip Tuesday and we'd love you to join in.  Check out the blog for the details and the rules, my card fits the open challenge ;).

Secondly, Tracey at Fred, She Said, has an offer of 30% off the digi of the week.  This week I got to choose - hooray - and I picked the Christmas Robins which are available in both digi and precoloured version.  Tracey has gone one better though - the offer is on all the Christmas bird series - if you don't already have them then this is a great time to get them! You can buy them in the Fred Shop, here , if you look through my blog you will see more cards made using the robins as well as the other Christmas birds in the collection:  chickadees and cardinals.

 I used traditional colours for my card, printing the digi onto heavyweight watercolour card and using Aquamarkers to colour it in.  The DP is Papermania, the sentiment is Craftwork Cards and I've used two Martha Stewart punches together.

My card is for the following challenges:
Friday Sketchers - sketch

One Stop Craft Challenges - Christmas Cuties - I think the robins are cute:)

Sew Many Challenges - red & green

Stampin' B's - holiday card

Pile it On - feathers 'n' fur