Pop!

I've a quick posting here, been trying to finish up some of the decoupage cards from sheets cut out and bagged up.   This is Joanna Sheen House Mouse, I love the way the hummingbirds are trying to bring the mouse down to earth by popping his balloon.  The ribbon came from a bunch of flowers I was bought and all I have added is some pearlised lilac card. 

My card is for:

Crafts & Me - wings and things

Pixie Cottage - things with wings

Craft your Passion - anything goes

My Craft Spot - for the birds

Pink Elephant - lots of layers

Stampin' Sisters in Christ - wings

Allsorts Challenge - spread your wings

Papertake Weekly - anything goes

Online Dating...

Just a quick posting with another card from the Joanna Sheen Viva la Divas CD-Rom.  This follows the layout at Sketch Saturday, DP is Memory Box and K&K I think.
Oh, in case you are wondering, the only online dating going on here is in the title of this blog post lol!

Vintage Seaside

Today's card is another decoupage from Joanna Sheen, this time it's a Faye Whittaker seaside scene.  I enjoy cutting these out if I'm watching tv, but the last stage of making them into a card often gets missed out and the peices sit neglected in their bag:).  I've added some wide ric-rac, My Mind's Eye DP and based my card on this week's Sketch Saturday.  There is no stamping at all on this card, very unusual for me!
My card is for:
Sketch Saturday - sketch
Paper Sundaes - birthday
Incy Wincy - birthday

Traditional scene, non traditional colours

This is a Stampington stamp on loan from my dear friend Val.  I've gold embossed it and inked the background.  It is mounted on some scrap card that has been edged with embossing ink all round and then embossed with the same powder, which makes a perfect match.  I've moved away from traditional Christmas colours but I realised as I added some green contrast it doesn't fit some of the non-trad challenges; oh well.
This card is for:
Sketch Saturday - sketch
Sarah Hurley - Christmas
Cute Card Thursday - anything goes
Joanna Sheen - Christmas Wishes
Crimbo Crackers - embossing
ABC Christmas - anything Christmas goes
Crafty Cardmaking - heat embossing
Kraftin' Kimmie - heat embossing
Incy Wincy - non traditional Christmas colours
StampsRUs - emboss it

Father's Day Scene

I found it surprisingly hard to make this Father's Day card.  Last year Father's Day was on my Dad's birthday and we met for lunch, knowing that chances were it would be his last birthday.  Dad died in Spetember but I know my two teenage sons will still want cards without going to the shop and paying for them :) and of course DH still needs one for his Dad.  I think now I've made one the others will be easier... 

I used various Hobby Art SceneIt stamps to create a small picture which I'm quite pleased with.  I followed Sketch Saturday's layout, DP is Stampin' Up, I used a Martha Stewart punch and some garden twine.  The sentiment is Joanna Sheen.

This card is for the following challenges:
Sketch Saturday - sketch
Simon Says - Father's Day
Incy Wincy Designs - nature
Craft Your Days Away - Father's Day
Totally Gorjuss - string's the thing
Here Come the Boys - Father's Day
Crafting for all Seasons - Father's Day
Fresh Brewed Designs - for the guys
The Paper Shelter - glad for Dad
Craft Your Passion - what a guy
Lexi's Creations - Father's Day
Karen's Doodles - Father's Day
Crafty Ho's - twine

Wishing you sunshine all year through

Today we have sunshine and showers and this is a bright happy card to celebrate the sunshine, though it has been so dry that we really do need the rain too!  I've used a Joanna Sheen House Mouse Decoupage, I have the stamp for this image too, it's beautiful isn't it.  I've added a LOTV sentiment, some twine and some gems,  The DP is My Mind's Eye and I've cuttlebugged some snowflakes onto the yellow paper.  Yes I do mean snowflakes, in the yellow they look like stylised sunflowers to me.
My card is for the following challenges:
House Mouse & Friends Monday - May flowers
Moving Along With the Times - sketch
My Mum's Craft Shop - anything but square
Creative Craft World - anything but square
Delicious Doodles - let the sun shine
Fairy Knoll - flowers
Totally Papercrafts - don't be square
Paper Sundaes - pop it up

More using what I have, plus Shop Our Stash!

I've printed off a topper from another unused CD Rom, this is Enchanted Dreams, another Joanna Sheen CD.  It uses artwork from an amazing artist called Jospehine Wall, look at all the little worlds within worlds and details she paints!  I've made a card following Claire's sketch from Sunday Sketch and Stamp.  Card is a gatefold, using the matcing backing paper, a LOTV sentiment (the only stamping) and a tiny punched butterfly in mirri card.   I'm also entering Paper Sundae's Magical & Mythical Challenge as well as Gingerloft's Under The Sea Challenge.
There is a new challenge blog called SOS, or Shop Our Stash, that is a theme close to my heart at the moment.   I am lucky that I can buy nice things and I enjoy getting them, but I do feel guilt as the new things I *need* that lie unloved and gathering dust.  Their first challenge is Show Us Your Stash , show off your crafting space.  Hmm... you know that rule that anything expands to fit its space... that would be my craft room.  DH and I have the biggest room in the house for our hobbies, it used to be a shop attached to the house.  We took out the shop door and big shop window onto the street and put a sash window and the front and French windows at the back.  At the time I was doing lots of quilting and the amazing cupboard I use is purpose built for quilting and now is crammed with crafting things.  You can just see that DH is expanding his fly-tying out slowly from the corner of the room...  I've a couple more pictures but for some reason Blogger is turning them sideways, drat maybe I'll get to them later lol!


Have a great day everyone, hope to see you Shopping your Stash:)

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

The birthday card that changed its sex...

Hmm... I wrote the title to this quick blog entry, looked again and realised that it made more sense when I added "its" lol!  Hope you're all enjoying the lovely weather and the Easter weekend.  We had our Open Day yesterday with most of the racing yards open to the public, there was a record crowd who all seemed to be enjoying themselves.  We took a quick trip up to Seven Barrows before we did our volunteering stint at the Car Parks, here's the Gold Cup Winner, Long Run, receiving his visitors:

The ribbons on his door are his racing colours.  My card is for CD Sunday's Birthday Challenge; I'd like to wish them a very Happy Birthday!  I used the Joanna Sheen House Mouse backing papers CD and began with the idea of making a masculine birthday card, adding the sentiment.  But when I added the decoupage with the pink waterlily I'm afraid I had a change of heart  and out came the ribbon to match the goldfish!  I put Glossy Accents on to the bubbles and also the fishes eye and to make them even more "bubbly" I dropped tiny crystal seed beads onto them, I hope you can see them in the photo.

I hope to link up to another challenge or two later, but we are off out for a celebratory meal soon, it's our 23rd wedding anniversary today:).

Happy Easter everyone :)

A Duo of Decoupage

 I've not got much in the way of cards to show you this week, I have been so busy at work and at home too.  When I have had a quiet moment the good weather and the garden have called me!  I have finished up another couple of decoupage cards, both use Joanna Sheen's Faye Whittaker seaside designs.  The first one has a cloud DP from Joanna's House Mouse backing papers CD, with some card candy and a ribbon.  The second one has a Stampin' Up sentiment, a shell edged tape, and some ric rac on a My Minds Eye stripy card.

Challenges to enter my cards for:
A Spoonful of Sugar - let's celebrate! (1st card)
Crafty Cardmakers - red white and blue
Cupcake Crafts  - lots of layers
Incy Wincy Designs - bright and bold
Karen's Doodles - lots of layers

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge - Thank You!

Welcome to another Top Tip Tuesday, this week Elaine has a fabulous tutorial showing you how to make a little gift box and the theme is Thank You.  I've made a card using an adorable Joanna Sheen decoupage of two little girls at the seaside.  I like to cut out decoupage when I'm watching telly, but I'm really bad about assembling them into cards!  I based my card on the sketch at Crazy for Challenges, adding some My Mind's Eye stripy cardstock, an embossed panel and a sentiment.  It's an unusual card for me, it has neither stamping nor colouring, but I hope you like it:)

My card is also for the following challenges:
Crazy for Challenges - sketch
Crafty Emma - children
Cute & Girly - cute and girly
My Partner in Crafting Crime - layer it up
Crafty Cardmakers - spotlight on decoupage

Stacks of Strawberries

I have a couple of House Mouse cards to show you today, this is the first one, a Joanna Sheen decoupage.  I've teamed it with a freebie sentiment stamp that came with the DoCrafts magazine sometime last year which is great for all those fruit/veg images.   I've put it together using the very simple sketch at CPS, which works really well for a big complex image like this.  The DP says DaisyD's, I think it was in a bargain bin at a craft show.

My card is for the following challenges:

CPS - sketch

Scrap Creations - animal antics

Cupcake Craft - seeing red

Gingerloft - use red

Craft Your Days Away - photo inspiration

Here comes the Spring - maybe!

Isn't this House Mouse adorable?  He is from a Joanna Sheen unmounted sheet that DH bought me for my birthday.  I'm sticking to my stash diet and enjoying using the things I have, so out came this lovely spring image for colouring.  I've used the sketch from Create4Fun for my card, colouring with Copics, Stickles, Glossy Accents and some Distress Ink for the background.  The dotty paper is a Bearly Mine digi download, the green DP is Prima.  I've used a Cuttlebug folder then Distress Ink on white cardstock cut our with a Marianne Creatables die.  The sentiment is computer generated, I like this one for Get Well cards.
My card is for the following challenges:
Create4Fun - sketch
Quirky Crafts - dots, embossing
Sweet Stampin' - spring flowers
Cupcake Craft Challenges - McDonald had a farm - OK this may not look like a farm animal to you, but have you ever known a farm that doesn't have mice? :)
C.R.A.F.T. - roll of a die
Cute Card Thursday - banish the blues
For Fun Challenges - spring or winter
Papertake Weekly  - anything goes + flowers
StampsRUs - animals

One Layer Wednesday - and a stash diet

I hope I've just crept in under the wire with my card for One Layer Wednesday, using the sketch.  I've been stalking this set of discontinued Stampin' Up stamps for some time now on Ebay and managed to get hold of them last month.  They finally arrived yesterday, unfortunately with the sting in the tail of customs charges due to the postage being added to the value of the stamps.  Oh well, you win some, you lose some and I am delighted to have this set at last.  The sentiment is from a Joanna Sheen House Mouse set.  Sentiment and image are stamped in Memento London Fog, the background has Distress Inks brushed on and the image is coloured with Copics.  Usually my OLW cards involve silhouettes not colouring, I'm quite pleased with this one.

I've been lucky enough to get some lovely goodies for Christmas and for my birthday.  I've had a few more things come in the post that I've ordered and decided that February is to be the month of no new stash - well almost!  We have a weekend away near the end of the month that is close to two big craft shops and I'm sure my resoloution doesn't count when I'm away from home :-).  So today is the first day of my stash diet...

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge - using up ribbon/make it girlie

Welcome to another Top Tip Tuesday Challenge!  This week Dawn has a great tutorial about using scraps of ribbon, be sure to check it out at the challenge blog.  You can either follow her tutorial or make a girlie project - oops I misread the challenge and simply used ribbon!  I've used a piece of wide lacy ribbon as well as a small piece with unusual dots on that I've been hoarding for my card.
I used a Jayne Netley Mayhew stamp from Joanna Sheen, masking it and stamping out 3 times.  The sentiment is from a Sheena Douglass stamp set.  The only colouring I've done is to use watercolour pens then Glossy Accents on the puffin's beaks, so it is virtually monochrome.  The dotty paper came from my recent Stampin' Up workshop, it was a spot prize (pun intended).
I'm entering the following challenges with my card:
Card Patterns - their 100th sketch
Stamps R Us - animals
Gingerloft - things that fly
Stamptacular Sunday - whatevah (must stamp)
Easy Craft Projects - black & white
Delicious Doodles - spots or stripes
Crafts and Me - monochrome
Simon Says - animal antics

Fishing you many happy returns

This is a quick card for DH to use next time he needs a card in a hurry for one of his fishing friends.  I saw Wendy on CD Sunday using the paper with the lovely net design, it's off the Times Gone By CD and I've teamed it with a topper from the Thomas Kincade CD, both are by Joanna Sheen.  The sentiment is gold embossed, got it from a craft show, no idea what company made it, sorry!  And that's it.
Card is for:
CD Sunday - Where waters meet
Sew Many Cards  - Green
Alphabet Challenge - M is for men
Ali Factory - for the boys

Just Walkin' the Dog

 

I couldn't resist sitting down last night and playing with some of my lovely new stash; this card is the result.  The Faye Whittaker stamp from Joanna Sheen is one I just couldn't resist when I saw the release, there are so many lovely stamps in this series and I managed to hold back and just order one (oh and a decoupage set!).  The Basic Grey Curio DP and the MS border punch were both presents from my DH, he's very good at stash shopping:).I added apunched flower and leaves and a butterfly, there is one pearl among the Stickles on her hat and more on the image and the border.  She's coloured with Copics and the background uses Distress Inks (Shabby Shutters, Victorian Velvet).

My card is for the following challenges:

Card Patterns - sketch

Truly Scrumptious - brown, pink and green

Stamps R Us - animal magic

Simon Says - animal antics

Simply Create - use your punches

Tuesday Throwdown - distressing

Paper Sundaes - distressing

Smooth sea never made a skilled mariner...

This is one of my favourite sentiments, it's from Elusive Images (sadly now defunct) and sums up life, doesn't it!  This is a fairly c&s masculine card, using my Hobby Art Scene-It stamps and coloured with Aquamarkers.  The blue map DP is from Joanna Sheen's Thomas Kincade CD and the others are My Minds Eye.  There are no embellies at all, I have some boat charms but they make it less of a masculine card to me.

My card is for the following challenges:
Sunday Sketch & Stamp - sketch
Creative Card Crew - for men
Let's Ink it Up - anything goes (no digi)
C.R.A.F.T. - martial arts/sport (yachting)
One Stop Craft - card for a male
Paper Sundaes - birthday celebration favourite theme - I always love Make A Scene challenges

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

Another "Just because" card

Here's another "just because" card.  The stamped image has been lying on my desk for ages waiting to be made into a card.  It's a Hero Arts cling stamp that was inked with 3 Distress Inks and then spritzed with water.   The flower was made with a Marianne Creatables die set (I can't tell you how hard that stamen was to extract from the die!) that was then inked with Distress Inks.  The blue tape is from stash.  The sentiment is Elusive Images and the check background was printed from Joanna Sheen Times Gone By CD for yesterday's card.  Oh, there area few tiny gems on the image.
This card will fit the following challenges:
CD Sunday - check it out
Aly's Sunday Sketch - anything goes
Craft Your Days Away - punches or die cuts
Fab'n'Funky - quick and easy does it - the card was quick and easy to make - as long as you don't count the time lag between stamping the image and assembling the card LOL!