Sunflower Smooches

There's a different challenge at House Mouse this week, to use a faux grid. I made mine on a piece of lightweight card that I'd sprayed with Glimmer Mist. I scored lines 1/2" apart and emphasized them with some Distress Ink in Scattered Straw and Peeled Paint. The image is called Sunflower Smooches, isn't it beautiful? It's another Ebay bargain stamp :), it's coloured with Copics. I've followed the sketch for this week's CPS Challenge. The background paper is Basic Grey's Nook & Pantry, I've used a punch on the Glimmer Misted paper and green card to make the flowers, ribbon, brads and little green label are from stash and the sentiment is Papermania. Phew, I think that's the lot!

Almost all the snow has gone now, it's just sticking where it was piled up or on north facing nooks and crannies. I do hope the threat of more tomorrow is wrong, though it does mean I'll get more crafting done if I can't get to the outside chores :)

My Grafico Sketch Challenge #19 - breast cancer awareness month

This week there are two Challenges at the My Grafico Challenge Blog and you can enter for either or both. On Monday the challenge was to make anything pink, today there is a fun sketch from Melissa to follow. To mark breast cancer awareness month the prize for this week's challenge you can win a set of designs highlighting it from Kelly Medina.

I've used the clip art version of Kelly's stamps to make my card. The flowers and butterfly are printed on paper that has been sprayed with Glimmer Mists in pastel shades. The flowers are mounted onto green Bazzill basics card and have a brad and Card Candy faux brads added, as well as Glamour Dust to give them a bit of sparkle. The butterfly is cut out into a circle and a larger circle of double-sided card glued over the top. The circle had a smaller circle drawn lightly onto it and I cut it into six pie segements, folding it back to expose the butterfly and show off the double sided card. The same card, from My Mind's Eye, was used on the main card, with the corners folded back and secured by more brads, with more card candy to finish it off, making a very pink, girlie card :)

Jazzy angel in mauve

It's that time of the year again; I need to try to make some Christmas cards as I take part in challenges, so it's not too daunting a task as December gets closer...

I'm only just in time, but I did want to use Coco's very pretty sketch on Sketch Saturday's Challenge. There seem to be lots of colour inspiration challenges this week; this is based on the photo inspiration from Dutch Dare's Challenge of a vase of flowers against wallpaper.

I've used my new angel stamp from Lili of the Valley and coloured her with Copics. I've christened her the jazzy angel, she looks like she's enjoying playing the trumpet :). The image is edged with lilac ribbon, the main DP is from Artylicious and the green circles are cut from free paper that came with a magazine; the green scalloped circles are from paper that I've Glimmer Misted. The tiny sentiment is from a Penny Black clear set and the snowflakes came, I think, from a supermarket. I've coloured them with pink Copic, the were a very feeble shade of pink before :)

Purple & Pink for Alice

Dutch Dare's challenge this week is one close to my heart, they are asking for cards to be created for Post Pals. Post Pals is something I already support, I send cards to Alice, who currently undergoing chemotherapy. Her favourite colours are pink and purple, so that's what I've used for my card.

I've used the gorgeous sketch from Sketch & Stash Challenge this week and I've used butterflies on my card, which is this week's challenge for A Spoonful of Sugar . I love Danni's butterfly challenges and this week she gave us the very straightforward challenge of using a challenge sketch and including butterflies (or fairies) so I've covered that one too :).

This is, of course, a stashbusting card as it's for Sketch & Stash :). I began with something new: the lovely butterfly stamp from last month's Graphicus Guild themeplate, which I hadn't used yet. It's stamped onto Glimmer Misted paper, the butterfly stamped again and coloured with Koh-i-Noor pencils then with Glossy Accents on top. The sentiment stamp is part of this month's Graphicus Guild themeplate, again I've not used it before.

The pink pearlescent card came from a box of paper that I filled at one of the first craft shows I ever went to, this is neglected stash, as are the two DPs, which are both from my Graphicus Guild membership papers. The pink background is obescured by the images, but it is a lovely large-scale flower print, and of course the butterflies had to go onto this card :). Butterflies diecut with a punch that I've had for a while and just begun using, ribbons and flower from stash.



Post Pals is a lovely organisation, please join in and send cards if you can :).

Twisted Thursday #13 - bring a friend

This week's Twisted Thursday Challenge has a great sketch to use, with the twist that paper piecing must be used. There's a further fun twist though: "BONUS OPPORTUNITY TO WIN: If you play this week's Twisted Thursday challenge, AND you bring a NEW friend to play along, AND you both leave Kristine and Deidre some love on the Shirley's 2 Girls Challenge Blog, then you are eligible to win another FREE stamp!" Well that sounds fun, Shirleys2Girls also has a brilliant new release of dog stamps, that I LOVE, so I contacted my blogging "Sister" Vanja who is always up for a challenge :) and she agreed to play along too.

My Chairman at work and his wife are due to move back into their rebuilt home just as soon as the floors have dried out and I decided to make a card for them. I used my S2G stamp Home Sweet Home, stamping it onto Glimmer Misted paper and paper piecing the birdhouses. There's a little glitter on the centre star too. The wording with the stamp is "Home Sweet Home" but I couldn't fit that onto the card; I just inked up one word and centred it beneath the image.

The papers came with a magazine; I mounted a piece of the house paper onto Bazzill card, and did the same for the stamped image. I cut out another house from a greeting on the free papers and silicon glued it on instead of a flower; the "new home" strip across the bottom comes from the papers too. It's quite a simple card, I feel sometimes that cards for non-cardmakers look better without everything but the kitchen sink added to them :)

Summer Garden - The Next Level

The Next Level is a new Challenge Blog with lots on interesting articles and tutorials. It's first challenge is to create an aperture card, which must have a lollipop flower on it. I hadn't come across lollipop flowers before but there's a full tutorial provided on the blog so that was no excuse not to take part :).



I bought some sumptuous Basic Grey papers earlier this week in the Stamp Attic and was keen to use them, so that set my colour scheme as pinks, greens, browns and apricot. I chose papers for the flower and made it first, leaving it to dry, then I went on to make the card. I haven't made an aperture card before so I kept it simple and chose to cut a circle. I wanted the circle to be off-centre to make room for the flower and other embellishments, so I used a Nestie to cut a scalloped circle and stuck that in the right spot, then cut into that with a smaller circle.



The sitting Gorjuss Girl from Sugar Nellie works really well sitting at the edge of a circle, so I coloured her with watercolour pencils and a little bit of opaque white pen and placed her on the card, with some ribbon behind to make a stem for the flower. I filled the RH corners of the cards with flourishes from Elusive Images, stamped in green, and added a die-cut butterfly to the edge of the circle to balance out the sitting girl.



Then I moved on to the inner of the card. I used some lovely blotchy green paper and began with some grass, using a Stamps by Judith stamp and with a Penny Black tree. I gave the tree leaves and flowers with Tapestry stamps and added some flowers with Craftwork Cards clear stamps.

So far so good... until I decided to spray some iridiscent Glimmer Mist over the scene, to match the lollipop flower. The non-waterproof inks all began to run and I hastily dried it with a heat gun! I also learnt that I should have cut a large square of background, not cut the circle as of course it was a pain to line up and the white around it spoilt its look. I mounted it onto a dark square of paper, only to find that it wasn't quite parallel with the card edges and looked crooked. I solved this by cutting some lace borders from the papers and covering the top and bottom of the square.



I really enjoyed making the card even if the aperture was a steep learning curve :).

Ismaki Challenge 25/05

I've taken a bit of a liberty with the sketch for Ismaki's challenge this week, which I hope they will forgive. I was sad to read on their blog this week that they will not be continuing for much longer with their challenges. I was lucky enough to win a voucher to use at the Craft Barn from one of their recent challenges and I bought octagonal Nestabilities with it. I wanted to use them in a card to show off the Nesties and to appreciate the prize.

The challenge is follow the sketch and not to use patterned paper. The bright blue was made by spraying Glimmer Mist onto paper and then putting bubble wrap on the top of it to form a pattern. I used a set of small flower stamps by Inkadinkado that I bought on holiday last year. In the main image I gave them stems using a Pigma Pen. The vase for the flowers is a stamp from Clarity Designs, I've used silison glue on it. The sentiment and scrolls are both Elusive Images stamps.

Inspirational Cards Sketches #11 & Flutterby Wednesday Week 52

I got out my Elusive Images butterfly daisy and poppy collage stamps for this week's Inspirational Card Sketches Challenge. I coloured some glossy card with Distress Inks. The colours are Tea Dye and Weathered Wood. I stamped the lovely text and scrolled background onto it and cut an oval from it with Nestabilities dies. Then I stamped a large butterfly onto the glossy card and cut round it. I've chopped off its antennae as too fiddly to cut round though, and can't decide whether to try to draw some in on the background... The butterfly is attached so as to be 3D, sorry it doesn't show up well here.



The two sentiments come from Graphicus Guild stamps, they are stamped onto Glimmer Misted paper that has had cling film crumpled onto it while the ink was wet. The design paper is from the Graphicus Guild membership pack and I've stamped the smaller corner scroll from the butterfly daisy collage set onto the paper. All stamping was done with black Versafine ink.




I've changed the proportions around a bit to fit my ideas to Dawn's sketch but I'm quite pleased with the end result. I'm also submitting it for Danni's Flutterby Wednesday challenge - Danni has been challenging crafters for a year now! Congratulations Danni, hope you like my butterfly card :)

Twisted Thursday #6

This week's challenge at Twisted Thursday uses a sketch, with the added twist that the challenge must use purple, lime/olive and rose/pink for the colourscheme. This fits really well with some more of the magazine papers I have, this set comes from
Simply Cards & Papercraft, apart from the purple which is Glimmer
Misted paper with clingfilm scrunched across it while it was still wet.

The scroll and the corners were part of the paper pack, the faux brads are from Craftwork Cards.

The image is a Leanne Ellis stamp from Sugar Nellie, coloured with watercolour pencils. I love the colours, what a great twist :).

Twisted Thursday #5 & Flutterby Weds #51

This is the sketch for Twisted Thursday's #5 challenge. The twist is to add embossing. Danni's Flutterby Challenge this week was not to use design paper. I decided that the two challenges go really well together and I combined them, using the sketch for Twisted Thursday.

I began by stamping a butterfly and "Happy Birthday" onto textured pale blue paper, using blue Stazon. Both are Elusive Images stamps. The butterfly is coloured in with Inktense pencils and has a line added with an embossing pen that is heat embossed with silver powder.

The gold coloured background is glimmer-misted paper. It's dry embossed with a Cuttlebug folder with a leaf design, rubbed over with an embossing ink pad and silver embossed. The main piece of paper is treated much the same way, it's a very dark glimmer misted paper that I've rubbed over with white embossing ink to lighten it a bit and then with the silver embossing powder added.

The ribbon was a friend from my SBS25 "sister" Vanja and I've folded a Prima flower to one side. It's been fun avoiding printed papers, I've certainly used lots of embossing, dry and heat! There seems to be a lot going on in this card, hope you like it:)

Cupcakes Crafts Challenge #33

Cupcake Craft Challenges has a nice sketch to work with this week. Here's my take on it. I've used a Leanne Ellis image from Sugar Nellie and covered it with thick embossing powder multiple times to give it a glaze. I put it in the freezer and cracked the glaze when it was rigid. I'm pleased with the crackle effect but a little disappointed in the embossing ink I used. I was sold it to do this technique with, as being cheaper than Versamark and more sticky. It has a slight tint to it though, which I thought would disappear when it was heated. As you can see it's still there though luckily it tones with the card.


Circle is cut from paper that was glimmer misted, dry embossed and then inked. The background paper is from Graphicus Guild's paper pack. The ribbons are from a pack in the bargain box at the Stamp Attic; they inspired the colourscheme.

Corrosive Challenges - #5 - Christmas Cards with Animals

This week's remit for Corrosive Challenge's Blog is to make a Christmas card with animals on it. I've used Foxy, one of the Gorjuss Girls stamps, masked her and added Snow Loved behind. Both stamps are from Sugar Nellie. Coloured with watercolour pencils, mounted onto Graphicus Guild paper, then onto a kind of matt metallic gold card that I bought at Stamp Addicts. The sentiment (from Imagepac) is black embossed onto the card. Last paper is red and gold glimmer misted paper.

I think she looks quite festive, what do you think? At any rate, one card down, ??? still to make :)

Corrosive Challenges #3

This week's challenge on the Corrosive Challenges Blog is to make a green card to celebrate St Patrick's Day. I've started with a Gorjuss Girl who is coloured with watercolor pencils. The background is Glimmer Misted paper with an Elusive Images tree and Craftwork Cards flower stems stamped onto it for some interest. There's a Good Luck sentiment written onto a label to finish off my St Patrick's Day card.

Good Luck to you all, don't forget to enter the Challenge. The prize includes a great set of stamps - but you've got to be in to win :)

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Dawny's Sketch

I've used Dawny's sketch from Papertake's Weekly Challenge to make a very simple With Sympathy card.

The Dawn Chorus is an Elusive Images stamp, the sentiment is from Hero Arts. They are both stamped onto Glimmer Misted paper which is then matted with a bronze paper I bought ages ago at a Fill-Your-Box stand at a show. The final yellow paper is from Stamp Attic, the flowery bits hopefully don't show too much as it's a card for a man....

Can't see the wood for the trees

A set of ATCs for the UKATC group's swap. The theme is Trees, which just leaves me with the tricky problem of which of my (too many) tree images to use :)

This is an Art Impressions stamp, used on a Glimmer Misted background, with some snow added to the branches with a white opaque pen. I've tried to add some hill/landscape detail with chalk inks. The ginger card used to mount the trees was part of the packaging for my Sugar Nellie stamp order the other day - waste not want not!

The Corrosive Challenge Blog - Week 1

Today is the grand opening of Janet's new Challenge Blog - the Corrosive Challenges Blog ! Here is my first Design Team card for her. The first week has a very straightforward, usable sketch. I chose to use my Elzybells stamps with it. The dog is stamped onto cream paper and mounted onto Glimmer Misted paper. The golden frame is also Glimmer Misted. Both sentiments came from Elzybells, as does the bee. The design paper and the bee ribbon are both from the Stamp Attic, the green ribbon behind was from some chocloate truffles I was given at Christmas. The chocloates are long gone, but there's still some ribbon left :)



Looking forward to seeing lots of entries on the Corrosive Challenges Blog :)

ATC Time Again

March is going to be very busy; I'm committed to several ATC swaps and want to get them ready without too much panic. So, still on an ATC theme, here is my monthly UKATC swap: three ATCs using Sugar Nellie's Leanne Ellis images.

All use the same Glimmer Misted background. Tweet has a printed paper scrap hill, the birdhouse stamped onto it from the image, a flower in her hair and a bird from Lisa's Altered Images perching on the skewed birdhouse.

Rosey is stamped onto glossy paper and coloured with Copics and with Jelly Roll pens. The flowers have Glossy Acents on them, the background circles are coloured with a white gel pen.

Luvvy has an Elusive Images heart stamped onto the background. Again, she's been stamped onto glossy paper and coloured with Copics. Her skirt is paper pieced. Ribbon came from my blogging "sister" Vanja and the heart that she's holding is made from gold card with alcohol inks used on it.

So there they are: blonde, brunette and almost black haired :)

Dogs, dogs, dogs - and a birthday

Dogs, dogs, dogs is a swap at ATCsForAll.com. I've used Glimmer Misted backgrounds and images from

Lisa's Altered Images. Encourage uses Inkadinkado inchies in the background, Smile has an Elzybells sentiment, Art Impressions tree and Stamps by Judith flowers. True Friends has a metal charm wired on and background stamps from Craftwork Cards. Puppy Love has the tree, grass stamp from Stamps by Judith and a Dovecraft sentiment stamp.

The final ATC is for a UKATC birthday and uses Lisa's images again.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge #37

This week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge is to make a Get Well Soon card. I've used a very pretty PB stamp that my older son bought me for Christmas from the Stamp Attic of an iris. I've coloured it with Marvy le Plume pens and blended them a little with a wet brush. It's mounted onto Glimmer Misted papers, first mauve, then a goldy colour. The main paper is from a Graphicus Guild paper pack. I found the perfect co-ordinating colour to go with this paper - and then realised that it matched so well that it was invisible!

So the second paper was left out and I used the gold paper to give contrast :). The Get Well Soon stamp and the Prima flowers are, again, from Stamp Attic. The ribbon came from some Christmas chocolates and the "brads" on the flowers and the image are Card Candy from Craftwork Cards.

One Stop Craft Challenge 16 - Sharon's sketch

I've made a card using Sharon's sketch for http://onestopcraftchallenge.blogspot.com/ , which I found quite a challenge to work with :).

The sketch looks great, but I struggled to get everything in without making my card huge! I started with a lovely Crate Paper from the Stamp Attic, a soft almost Japanese style with branches. I had a co-ordinating paper that I stamped my image on, an Inkandinkado bird on a branch. I used tapestry stamps round the edge and mounted it on a piece of Glimmer Misted card.

The reverse of the paper went across the card with some lace behind it, more glimmer misted paper, a co-ordinating paper and a goldy-yellow paper are set at an angle. I've inked up some small white paper flowers for the bottom corner and stamped the sentiment directly onto the card using brown Stazon.