Dancers

 Today's card is pretty and feminine, it uses the ballerina from Stamp Addict's set Ballet Shoes.  I saw a gorgeous card on my friend Viv's blog that uses a button with a shank on and I've pinched her idea here.  The ballerina was masked and stamped in Sepia Versafine onto a textured peach cardstock.  I watercoloured the images with pink and skintone and matted it, adding a MS punch border.

I'm entering my card for:
Paper Sundaes - anything goes
Stamptacular Sundays - freebie week
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays - pastels
Little Darlings - pastels
Crazy4Challenges - buttons
Card Makin' Mamas - getting girlie
Prairie Fairy - anything goes
Polka Doodles - pretty in pink

Fair Isle and Bling

 

It was time that I inked up my Nordic Winter stamps with something other than red, so I decided to follow this week's Waltzing Mouse Sketch and make an icy blue card for it.  The vertical stripes are some paper I won from Paper Temptress, a lovely satiny paper.  I just meant to put the larger bling in the corners and maybe a scattering on the snowflakes, but the card told me it needed more and I used up my small bling:).  There's a lot of sparkle in real life...

My card is for:

Waltzing Mouse - sketch

Shopping our Stash - glitters, sparkles or shines

Stamptacular Sunday - texture (twine, gems)

Use it Tuesday - all about winter (used up gems)

Tuesday Throwdown - baby it's cold outside

Sweet Stamps - hearts (middle border)

I Brake for Stamps - clean & simple

Secret Crafter - anything goes with blue

Simon Says - spots and/or stripes this one is stripes:)

Less is more - a bit of bling

Sorry to be MIA a while, I am dealing with some unpleasant stuff just now and finding anything creative a struggle.  This card is a variation on one I made before for Christmas and it's for Less is More's a bit of bling challenge.  The Stampin' Up tree is embossed with dark green, the sentiment is also embossed.  A narrow strip of red on the inside highlights the border of the card and the bling is on top of the tree.
My card is also for:
StampsRUs - emboss it
Incy Wincy - trees ,trees and more trees!
Stamptacular Sunday - anything Christmas
Crafty Cardmakers - heat embossing

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

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

National Chocolate Week

Did you know this is National Chocolate Week?  I shall of course be attempting to eat my own weight in chocolate this week but nothing new there:).  I have a suitably chocolately card to show you today, which was started months ago but didn't look right as it was.  I had die cut a scroll that was too large for the space below the image and trimmed it down which ended up with it looking unbalanced.  Last night I rescued the card by gently prising off the scroll and adding card candi, also I decided to add a little colour to my image with Copics.  Darkroom Door stamps were used with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink, sentiment is torn and distressed a little, DP is Basic Grey I think.  I'm much happier with the card now:)

My card is for the following challenges:
Tuesday Throwdown - think pink
Woodware USA - anything goes
Truly Scrumptious - distressing
Cute Card Thursday - time for cake
Stamptacular Sunday - so distressing
Paper Sundaes - favourite colour combi - LOVE pink and brown together

Indian Summer

  We've been enjoying lovely hot sunny weather and a beautiful end to summer, something that certainly keeps going into autumn is the weeding, everything is growing like mad!  With this in mind, I've made an autumn card using Flowertop Fairy Dandelion Puff from Phindy's Place, I've seen a lot of gorgeous cards made with this image but not used it before myself.  I was aiming for deep, saturate colours after reading some of the links from this week's Copic Colour Challenge, but I'm not sure if I've achieved it - or not - what do you think?  The DP is Basic Grey Indian Summer, sentiment from Stampin' Up and punch is EK Success.
My card is for the following challenges:
Sketch Saturday - sketch
Stamps RUs - autumn/fall
Stamptacular Sunday - photo inspiration
Copic Creations - saturated colour - I think I got it for the hair, not sure about the dress?
Simon Says - anything goes - trying for 1,000 entries
Rainbow Lady - autumn flowers
Crafty Catz - things with wings
Basic Grey - nursery rhymes and fairy tales - anyone remember the rhyme when you blow the seeds from a dandelion clock?
Woodware USA - anything goes
iCopic - all about Fall
Daisy Doodles - fall colours
Creative Stamp Friends - autumn colours

Less Is More sketch

We're home from delivering older son to University and, of course, I had to check out LIM and the 1,000 card challenge.  Well we didn't quite get there for the 1,00 entries on Less is More but it wasn't far off:).  This week there is a sketch to follow and my card is almost a CASE of Mandi's inked square.  I used an Inkylicious tree stamp and sentiment, with a Clarity maple leaf.  The backgrounds are Distress Inked (spiced marmalade, mustard seed, barn door) and I used Sepia Versafine for the stamping.  After several goes at stamping the sentiment perfectly level and not stamping it too hard (it's a clear stamp) I can only refer to the wording on it lol!  Incidentally the square is flat on the card, the shadow in the picture taken after dark makes it look like it stands out proud of the surface...

My card is for the following challenges:

Less is More - sketch

Stamptacular Sunday - just sayin'

Allsorts Challenge - keep it simple

CAS-ual Fridays - mostly monochromatic plus brown

Crafty Catz - autumn

Ooh La La - Guest Designer - Challenge #82 - Father's Day/ someone special

Welcome to this week's Ooh La La Challenge, which is to make a card for Father's Day or for someone special.  This card is for my father-in-law who has had several holidays to the Yorkshire Coast, so when I saw this scene on the Ooh La La Watercolour Memories CD I had to make it for him.  I printed it onto heavyweight watercolour paper which makes it look even better.  My printer doesn't like such heavy card so I printed the scene out a little way down a sheet of thin copy paper, then I used spray glue to attach cardstock cut to size.  Somehow this kids the printer into co-operating:).  I extended the picture using my Hobby Art Scene-It stamps, computer generated a sentiment and used a backing sheet from the same CD that goes with a different scene, Aldborough I think.
My card is for the following challenges:
Mark's Finest Papers - Father's Day
Delicious Doodles - Father's Day
One Stop Craft- Father's Day
Secret Crafter - masculine card
Stamp Scrap & Doodle - Father's Day
Polkadoodles - something for Dad
Simply Create - all about you Dad
Fussy & Fancy - man cards
Crazy 4 Challenges - masculine cards
Stamptacular Sunday - Dads or Grads

Phindy's Place Challenge #58 - Sketchtime!

Good Morning and welcome to a new Phindy's Place Challenge.  This week we have a lovely sketch by Anne-Marije for you to interpret.  I've gone with a vintage/shabby chic version that started out with a new DP pad called Butterfly Collection, by Pink Paislee.  My month's stash diet has finished and I just *happened* to be in my local craft shop that day when I saw the papers lol!  The Little Swinger image was perfect for my papers, I paper pieced her dress and used soft colours in my Copics.  I stamped some random text in grey around the image and then burshed Distress Inks on.  The lace, printed tape and flowers all happened to find their way into my basket when I was shopping too...  I've added lots of stitching, distressing of edges and cut outs of some of the images from the DP, which have Glossy Accents to stiffen them.

My card is also for:
Paper Sundaes - vintage/shabby chic
Copic Creations - Distressing with Copics (though I have also used DI on the background, hope that's ok)
Spoonful of Sugar - flower power
Stamptacular Sunday - bugs or boys (plenty of bugs!)
Bunny Zoe - lace
Bearly Mine - diecuts and lace
Anita Be Stampin - lots of layers
Paper Creations - ribbon or lace
Ai Factory - distressing
Crafty Purple Frog - things of beauty
Wags'n'Whiskers - stitching

Phindy's Place Challenge #53 - Glitter, Glamour and Glitz

Good Morning and welcome to this week's Phindy's Place Challenge.  This week we're putting on the glamour, with a Glitter, glamour and glitz challenge.  You don't have to use one of Phindy's images, but we love it when you do - and you get a second entry into the prize draw!  You may think that I've slightly lost it by making a gardening card for this challenge, but all I can say is that the Phindy's Place digi image Pretty Blooms is an amazingly glamorous gardener without a speck of dirt anywhere on her and high heels too lol!  I've made a step card and added in some Gardening Lil Gems .  All are coloured with Copics, I've added a bit more glitz with Glossy Accents, Stickles and gems as well as some Bazzil Bling grass cut with a Martha Stewart punch.  The sentiment is computer generated; I have the perfect stamp that says this, but it's too big for my card.  The DP is Memory Box Brioche.

My card is also for the following challenges:

Amber's Craft & Stuff - use a digi

My Mum's Craft Shop - flowers

Simon Says - anything goes

Charisma Cardz - April showers/May flowers

Paper Sundaes - sundae bar (yellow, sparkle)

Magic in the Air - multi-fold cards

Stamptacular Sunday - at least 5 layers

Phindy's Place Challenge #51 - purple & teal

 Good Morning and welcome to a new Phindy's Place Challenge:  this week we are challenging you to use purple and teal.  I will admit that I found this a challenge at first, but once I got my DP picked I really enjoyed it and I'm pleased with the results!  I used the image Connected Girl, colouring her with Copics and Stickles.  Sometimes I have a hard time lining up mats, I'd just like to say that I *did* intend this one to be off-centre lol!  The sentiment is Joanna Sheen, the DPs are Bearly Mine, flower is Prima and the scrolls cut with a punch.

My card is for the following challenges:

Sweet Sketch Wednesday - sketch

Fab'n'Funky - all spotty and dotty

Simon Says - card for a child (Post Pals, will send this to my PostPal who loves purple!)

Digital Tuesday - little women

Papertake Weekly - truly dimensional (image raised on Pinflair, flower and sentiment also dimensional)

Card Cupids - two colours only

Stamptacular Sunday - girls and swirls

Oh Deer!

This is a card for a good friend and I really have no excuse for its lateness, life has been a bit frantic lately.  I've used an image from Tiffany's Doodles called Sleeping Fawn, this is such an adorable Spring baby!  I've followed Card Pattern's sketch and kept things fairly simple, I've recycled some ribbed brown card for the Cuttlebugged circle and to mount the computer generated sentiment.  The DP is a My Mind's Eye Christmas one from a few year's back, there are snowflakes in the background of that neutral stripe.  Colouring is Copics and Distress Inks, twine came from Stamp Attic.
My card is for the following challenges:
Card Patterns - sketch
Stamptacular Sunday - no kids allowed - birthday! 
Totally Gorjuss - spring is sprung - here's a spring baby!
Totally Papercrafts - cuddly & cute
Stamp Something - spring
Creative Cowgirls - spring/Easter

Time for Teddy

When I was deciding what image to use for this week's Phindy's Place Challenge, Oh Baby, I was spolit for choice and coloured up several images, including this one, Time for Teddy.  Isn't this adorable, look at that well-loved teddy:).  I've used my Basic Grey Marjolaine DP pad again, and I've paper pieced the cushion she's sitting on.  The sketch is from this week's Sweet Stop, I really like this one, will save it for future use.  The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards, I punched the flowers from green and white cardstock, colouring the centres with my Copics, the border punch is Martha Stewart.

My card is for the following challenges:
The Sweet Stop - sketch
Stamptacular Sunday - Best Wishes card
Fairytale - something for a child
Fussy & Fancy - paper piecing and/or embossing
Floweret - play/birthday
Stamp Something - digi
Crafty Creations - birthday in blues & greens

Cafe au lait

 OK the Simon Says Challenge this week is Coffee & Cream but I like the sound of cafe au lait:).  The additional option is to use a Whiff of Joy stamp.  I've not got any of these inky for a while and it was good to use Willow with her recipe book, a much loved stamp.  Willow is coloured with Copics and the image sponged with Distress Ink and Memento Ink.  The DP is Basic Grey Capella.  I've made flowers with punches and added in a large Prima flower from a pack I got from Simon Says.  The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards and the lacy ribbon from Stamp Attic.

I'm entering the following challenges with my card:
Simon Says Challenge - coffee and cream
Corrosive Challenge - distressing
Stamptacular Sunday - you've been framed
Crafty Catz - for a friend - I'm sending this to my Mum
Ali Factory - monochromatic

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

Autumn Skies - part 1

We have had a mad busy few days with different visitors on different nights, needing taking and collecting from different railway stations, culminating in me managing to lock myself out of the house when the plumber needed to sort out the leak from the work he did last week and the electrics for the whole house fusing multiple times thanks to a cold weather problem to the garage supply... !  Today I escaped into my craft room for a very welcome hour playing:).

I saw the theme for this week's Papertake Challenge, Autumn Skies and it inspired me to play with my new duster brushes and Distress Inks.  I am so pleased with these brushes, love the effect I'm getting.  This is the first card I made inspired by the theme.  I used Scattered Straw, Worn Lipstick and Spiced Marmalade and the stamps are from Inkylicious, the people I bought the duster brushes from.  The sketch is from Stamptacular Sunday, the DP is Memory Box and I've Cuttlebugged a piece of bronze card with leaves.  This is a sympathy card for a friend whose Dad died at the weekend.
I'm also entering the followng challenges:
Crafty Hos - fall colours
Charisma Cardz - sympathy/sorry
A Spoonful of Sugar  - distressing

PS Don't forget to enter my candy:)

Autumn Landscape

I made this scene a few weeks back, using the Hobbyart Scene-It stamps.  It is very heavily based on a class sample that Jenny Mayes showed us when I took the class with her.  I've been looking for a sketch to fit it to but have decided that it's too big and won't work on a busy sketch, so I've simply matted it onto cardstock that I've embossed with a grid using my scoring board.  The ribbon is gorgeous silk ribbon, can't think why I bought it but it is a lovely Autumn shade:).  I've coloured it with Aquamarkers and Marvy le Plume pens.

My card is for the following challenges:
Stamptacular Sunday - grid challenge
Crafty Creations - falling leaves
Charisma Cardz Challenges - anything goes
Creative Inspirations - use 2 or more stamped images (I think I've used 7 stamps in here, some multiple times!)
Paper Sundaes - fabulous Fall
Pile It On - red, yellow, green and brown (are all in there!)

Life's just beachy

I love this image from Isabella's Sketchbook, I have a couple of these vintage-style beach ladies, this is how a trip to the seaside should be:). It's for Isabella's Challenge this week, which is based around Memorial Day for those who celebrate it and patriotic colours for those who don't. I've used the red, white and blue theme and, instead of Memorial Day, we have the Spring Bank Holiday which should be glorious sunshine and picnics. You'll note that I said should, LOL, it's grey and chilly here and all that you can say is that it's not raining - yet!

I've used a sketch from the Pixie Cottage Challenge for my card, haven't come across their site before. Charisma Cardz has a Going in Circles Challenge, Stamptacular Sunday has Life's a Beach as their theme this week, Cupcake Craft Challenges' theme is Summer Delights and Cute Card Thursday wants us to use no designer papers.

Image is coloured with Copics and cut out. The backgound is made from paper that has been Glimmer Misted. Sentiment is Elusive Images. I've set eyelets into the red circle - woo hoo - finally worked out how to use the setting tool, the white card is dry embossed with a CB folder.