Time to kick back and relax...

Don't know if you missed me (or my blogging at least!) but I'm back from a lovely week away on the Isle of Skye with DH and older son.  We were extremely lucky to have good weather for virtually all our stay on the island and it is a magical place in good weather.  I don't return to work for another week and I am planning lots of things to do this week, including some crafting, but also a bit of relaxing.  My nearest craft shop, Stamp Attic, now has a coffee shop (a bit like this one lol) just a few yards away and I am planning a coffee and shopping trip soon...

Image is called Sit and Stay Cafe and it's a Phindy's Place design, coloured with Copics, Distress Ink and Glossy Accents.  I used this week's sketch from Midnight Madness, turned it on its side and made it into an easel card.  Sentiment is from Elusive Images, DP is Basic Grey and the flowers are tiny white flowers coloured with Copics.  More cards from me tomorrow I hope:)
My card is for the following challenges:
Midnight Madness - sketch
Paper Playthings - summer
Creative Stamp - summer
Dream Valley Challenges - summer
Craft your days away - fancy folds (easel)
Just some lines - easel
Fussy & Fancy - summer
Fairy fun Fridays - on holiday
Delightful Challenges - fancy folded cards
Simon Says - anything goes 

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

Wishing Shoe A Very Happy Birthday

Good Morning, here is a card from me for this week's Ooh La La Challenge - a very easy challenge of Happy Birthday.  I spent a lot of time agonising over this image and trying to do something clever with it.  In the end I left it alone, it is so beautiful that it needs to be the star of the card and I made a very simple easel card.  Sorry the colours are much better IRL, not sure what went wrong with the photo...  The gerbera daisy shoe is from a lovely CD called Shoes in Bloom, with artwork from LS Brownlee.  Lovely, lovely designs with plenty of matching papers and inserts.  I've used a gerbera DP as well as one with the pink ribbons on it, some green ribbon and a few gems.  Most unusually for me, there is no stamped image at on on my card.
This card is also for the following challenges:
Scrappy Frogs - Happy Birthday
Little Claire - shaped cards
Daring Cardmakers - passion for fashion
Fairy Fun Fridays - more than one fold

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

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

Cooking it up With Katie #29 - Autumn embossing and folding

This week's recipe at Cooking it up With Katie is a really fun one:  your ingredients are:  a fancy fold, embossing and Autumn.  I CASED my blogging friend Sylvia and made a zig-zag card which was easier to do than I expected!  Those HobbyArt Scene-It stamps came out again and I created an Autumn scene on watercolour paper,  using a mixture of Aquamarkers and Marvy le Plume pens.  Our trees haven't really changed colour yet but apart from that it is just how Lambourn looks in September.  I used a Crafts Too embossing folder and added a bit of raffia and a tree charm, just for fun.   Here's a side shot so you can see the shape of the card better:).
 I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:
Creative Card Crew Challenge - Autumn or Fall  
A Spoonful of Sugar - Autumn into Fall    
Allsorts Challenge - Colours of Autumn
ABC Challenge - C is for Charms
Incy Wincy Designs - Autumn Colours
Mark's Finest Papers - Autumn Colours
Fairy Fun Fridays - Embossing
Charisma Cardz - Try Something New (zig-zag card)
Digi Doodle Shop - Charm Me
Paper Play Challenges - Autumn

DT Posting - Corrosive Challenges - #81- Sketchtime

Welcome to another Corrosive Challenge; this week we have a great sketch for you to follow.  I've used one of the Mrs Comfy images from Phindy's Place, you can buy her here.  I've gone with a red and green colourway but I couldn't make her into a Christmas card somehow, though I have seen some brilliant Christmas cards made from this image, including some by the very talented Annika. Sentiment is from Stampinbella, embossing folder is a Cuttlebug.
Mrs Comfy is also for the following challenges:
Fussy & Fancy Challenges - red and green but not necessarily Christmas
Fairy Fun Challenges - embossing
Cute Card Thursday - play on words

Pearls and Lace from Sarah Anderson

If you have looked at my friend Val's blog today you may think that you are seeing double:).  We both went to a workshop at Stamp Attic with Sarah Anderson and we both used the very sweet Moon Girl stamp for our second card of the day.  This one was meant to be a quick card but I think mine took the longest to put together of all the cards I made:).   It was a really fun day and I came back with suitably inky fingers.  We went straight out to a concert and I got stamped all over again at the door.  Waste of time scrubbing all the Distress Ink off really LOL!  Great concert though... the one and only Wilko Johnson.

Anyhow, back to the card:  Adirondack ink sprayed in the corner.  Shrink plastic cut out roughly, shrunk and with many layers of clear embossing added, then text from an old book glued on to it and more embossing.  Moon Girl also embossed many times, music from an old book torn and added as well as lace and pearls.

My card is for the following Challenges:
Simon Says Pearls & Lace
Stamptacular Sunday - Distress It
Crazy4Challenges - Anything to do with Books
Fairy Fun Fridays - Lace & Pearls