Friday Smiles

Happy Friday Everyone

I hope you've had a good week.   I've had a lot to make me smile this week.

It began last weekend when we went to the Golden Wedding celebration of some very special friends.  This is the card I made for them.

We went out to a local watering hole on Tuesday as usual where we meet up with friends for lunch.

Then my new toy arrived.  I decided to get a Big Shot Plus after  thinking about it for a while.

I no longer needed the Grand Calibur so gave it to a friend yesterday.  When she came round to collect it so we enjoyed a good chat a coffee and just a little crafty playtime.



I'm linking up with A Stitch In Time blog where Annie invites us all to share a smile on Friday.

Oldie for Friday

Good Morning!

Well as it's Friday again it's the day for showing cards which were made a long time ago.

Erica at Snappy Crafts blog invites us to link up with her.  If you leave a comment for Erika she'll visit you too.  It's fun to see other peoples "oldies" too.

The little kitten is a wood mounted stamp that I bought a long time ago in a bargain bin (from Hobby Craft I think)

I stamped him three times onto pages from an old dictionary then gave them a light wash of watercolour, fussy cut them and stuck them onto the background which is a linen paper.

I have  many wooden stamps that at stored on shelves in Really Useful plastic boxes.  Not the best way to store wood mounted stamps but I really have a lot.  I must try to find this little guy and bring him out again.  He really is quite sweet, isn't he?

Happy Crafting Everyone.

Pizza!

Hello and Welcome

My card today is for Freshly Made Sketches challenge blog.

As with my previous card I cut the circles from a pizza box.  The smaller circles were embossed on the back to give a dome shape to the circle resembling a pizza.

The sentiment is one from a Hero Arts set.

I ate the pizza for lunch yesterday .... then made the card in the afternoon after seeing the sketch.

The pizza was very tasty - goats cheese and squash with pine nuts.

Tall and skinny!

No I'm not talking about myself.  I only wish I was.

My card today is for the Mojo Monday Challenge where the theme this week is Tall and Skinny.

My card is A6 size, folded lengthways.  I embossed a strip of orange paper and then cut a strip of browny/gold paper and rounded two corners.

The two circles are cut from a pizza box and I put the smaller piece onto a soft mat and embossed on the back to make a dome shape to resemble a pizza.

The sentiments are both from an old and well loved Hero Arts cupcake set.

As  I've used snippets I'm going to take this over to Miss Di's at The Snippets Playground to join in with the playmates.

Yellow Flower

Happy Tuesday Everybody.

I'd like first to give a warm welcome to Donna,  Mary Anne and Marie.  I'm so pleased that you decided to join me here.

It would be so nice if you were able to pop in and visit Donna and Mary Anne.  Unfortunately, Marie I can't find you but if you leave me a comment I will visit you too.

This card was made at a workshop some time ago.  The set used is by Paper Artsy.   I added the sentiment, by Paula Pascal and the button when I got home.

We coloured the background with Distress inks.  I chose pink and yellow which is one of my favourite colour combinations.  The image was stamped directly onto the card and then just the flower was stamped again.  I painted the image and extra flower with acrylic paints.  I decided to paint my flower with  a dry brush although everyone else chose to do theirs with smooth water colouring.  The flower head was then cut out, shaped and decoupaged.

Thank you for your visit.  I do hope you will come back again soon.

Rudolph Day

As today is 25th of the month it's time again to join in at Scrappy Mo's blog for the Rudolph Day Challenge with a Christmas card.

Mo holds her Challenge on the 25th of each month and always offers a lovely prize for the lucky winner.

After embossing the background I rubbed on some gold metallic Rub Ons which unfortunately looks grey in the photo.  I added a tiny gem to the star and some Stickles around the edge for sparkle.

The tree is cut from a die which came as a freebie with a magazine last year.

My card was very quick to make so I made several using scraps of gold, silver, red green and blue card.

I'd therefore also like to join in again with the girls in Di's Snippets Playground Week 200.

Thinking of you

Good afternoon and thank you for your visit.

First I would like to say Hello and a Big Welcome to Carol.  I'm so glad to have a new  blog friend.

I'd like to join in at The Snippets Playground Week 200.

 I've used all snippets of card for this one including the little gold heart which came out of my bits jar. The ribbon is from a box of small pieces of ribbon that I keep to use, mainly for iris folding.

The stamp is "Deer" by Stamps Away.  I used the back of the stamp with Pumice  Stone Distress ink to stamp a quick background for the deer.

I would also like to enter this card in the Alphabet Challenge blog  where the theme is R for Ribbon

Happy Crafting Everyone.

An Oldie on Friday

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

My goodness how quickly they come around.

This is my "Oldie" card for Friday to be shared on Erika's blog.

Why not post one of your old cards and pop over.  Leave a comment for Erika and she'll visit you too.

This card was made several years ago.  The couple and sentiment re from a Woodware set and the Eiffel Tower is Hero Arts cut out with the matching Sizzix die.

Card, paper, ribbon and punched flowers from my stash.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Bundle of Joy

Good afternoon everyone.  I hope you're having a good day.

I went to craft club this morning and a cross stitch circle this afternoon so I've had fun.

This card will have arrived now so I'm able to show it.

It's a parchment card made for friends in the USA on the birth of their new Baby Boy.

Isn't it handy for us card makers now as we often know ahead of time whether the baby is going to be a girl or a boy.

The sentiment reads "A New Baby Boy Your Bundle of Joy"



I would like to enter this card into the  Mojo Monday Challenge #420

Tomorrow I have to make a start on another parchment card for a  Golden  Wedding  party we're going to on Friday Evening.

Snippets Jar

Good morning everyone and I hope you're enjoying your weekend.

We did a similar card to this at a card club a few months ago.

So using up scraps of white paper and the green gingham and green flowery paper I've had for ages I made this card.

The bee is an old Judikins stamp, fussy cut with glitter added to his wings and bits of raffia that have been in my stash for ever.

I'm off to join in with the girls at Di's Snippets Playground Week 199.

I'd also like to join in with The Alphabet Challenge blog where the theme is R for Ribbon

Wishing you all a 'Happy Day'

An Oldie on Friday

This is my 'Oldie for Friday'

If you fancy showing one of your old cards link up with Erika's blog.  If you leave her a comment  she'll pop in and pay you a visit too.

I made this card a long time ago with a wooden stamp I bought from QVC.  I don't know what it is.

I coloured the image with watercolour markers, a gold gel pen and a little black chalk on parts of her hair.  I outlined the geisha with a grey Zig pen.

I wound some Twilley's  gold thread on some black card then mounted my image.

I'd like to say hello and welcome to Jean who has just joined me here.  Perhaps you would like to have a look at her blog here.

Friday Smiles Week 141

Happy Friday Everyone!

Today it's quite cold and very overcast here and I think we'll have rain before long.  However we have a friend coming for lunch today so I'm doing a roast and we'll enjoy a good chat and a glass of red no doubt.

Tonight I'm going to a card class which I'm looking forward to and there are lots of footie matches to watch on television over the weekend so I've lots to look forward to.

I got a brochure in the post this week (see pics) for a retirement home.  Some of the junk mail we all get but it was addressed to me.  Although I'm retired I'm certainly not ready to leave my little cottage yet.

I think I would feel very out of place in a place like this.  I'd feel I had to dress for dinner each night and that's not me at all.  I don't enjoy dressing up and feel much more comfortable with informality.  That's just me now I'm older I suppose.

I'm linking this post up with Annie's blog where we share Smiles on Friday

Whatever your plans for the weekend I hope you enjoy yourself.

Thank You

Happy Thursday Everyone!

I'd like to start by giving a very warm welcome to both Meg and April who have recently joined me.  They both do lovely work so do pop in and say hello.

My card today was for a friend who last week dropped by with a delicious cake she'd made for us.  It wasn't for any special occasion she said it was 'just because'.  What a lovely thing to do.

I wanted to make a card quickly and this is it.

Using Peacock feathers and Stormy sky distress inks on my craft mat I spritzed with water and iped up with white card.

The birds came with a magazine and I embossed them in gold then made holes round the edge.  After stamping the sentiment and adding the hearts something was needed at the bottom so I stamped with a small corner foam stamp that lays on my desk, at hand, all the time.  Although it's small it's very useful.

I'm taking this over to The Snippets Playground where Eve is on duty this week while Di has a little rest.

WOYWW - Week 332

Good Morning Deskers,

It's Wednesday again!

So,  I'm linking up with our lovely hostess Julia for another "What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday".  It really is fun as we have a trip round the world to see what other crafters have on their desks today.

We have a club in our village chapel once a month and it's tonight.  I got an email from Susan who was going to do our demo tonight.  She is ill and unable to come.

As it was too late to ask anyone else to put something together.  I send the emails each month to tell everyone (12 of us) if they need to bring anything special  -well it's just a card and envelope.

Three of us are taking various stamped images, Christmas paper. punched bits and die cuts and everyone can choose their stuff to make a Christmas card.

Here's some of what I managed to do yesterday so I've got to rush off to get more done for tonight, plus make two late birthday cards.  A busy crafting day ahead for me.

It may take a couple of days for me to visit you all but I will get round to you all if I possibly can.

Happy Crafting Everyone!

Zentangled Sunflower

Happy Tuesday Everyone and thank you for popping by.

My card today was made using a Woodware clear  stamp.

I used Promarkers to colour my image, two shades of yellow for the petals, two shades of green for the leaves and an orange for the centre.

I've not done a lot of zentangling although I do find it very relaxing and will do more.  I used a fine Micron pen.

After colouring the flower I did the doodling then coloured the black areas with a Promarker.

I rounded the corners and coloured the outside with yellow Distress ink.

The sentiment is from a Woodware 'retirement' set of stamps.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-
Passion for Promarkers - Week 318
Crafting from the Heart #81

Another Butterfly

Hello Everyone!

First of all I'd like to give a warm welcome to my two new followers Kate and Lesley.  It would be really nice if you popped in to their blogs to see their lovely makes.

After making my previous butterfly card it occured to me that if I had done some embossing my card would have qualified for Mrs A's Butterfly Challenge.  So I made this card the following morning.

Although the colours are similar I used a different gelli plate print for the background. For this one I'd used some pearl acrylic paint.  I embossed the background with my Cuttlebug and rubbed some Black Soot distress ink over the raised areas.  It doesn't show as I then put on some mica powder which adhered to the wet Distress ink.

I used the same dies for the butterfly  and ovals.  The sentiment is another by Paula Pascal.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:-
The Butterfly Challenge where the theme this time is E for embossing
Crafting From The Heart #81

Happy Crafting to you all.

Forget Me Not

Hello Everyone and thank you for your visit.

I recently got out my gelli plate again and spent an afternoon pulling prints.  This is a card I made a couple of days ago.

The butterfly base was diecut from a piece of the same card as the background and the decorative top of the butterfly from a scrap of parchment.  Both are Memory Box dies.

I punched out the hearts and added some glossy accents to them and also the butterfly body.

The two ovals were diecut with Tonic layering dies from scraps of card.

The sentiment came with the Curly Sue stamp that I recently posted.   After I had stuck on the hearts my card looked slightly top heavy so I stamped the sentiment again at the bottom to give balance.

I'd like to enter this card into Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 198
and also The Allsorts Challenge - Week 332

A Friday Oldie

Hello and welcome to my little place in blogland.

Today I'm showing a card I made quite a few years ago now which unfortunately wasn't photographed very well.

I used an old wood mounted set which consisted of the two birds, a nest and an egg, which I used to stamp for the background.

I tore a piece of watercolour card from the block, cut off a strip and stamped the two birds in black then added a little watercolour pink to colour them.

For the strip on the left I used the "caught in crystal" technique which I've not used for a long time.

Inks were put onto some acetate then spritzed with water. Then I put glossy accents on top and sprinkled on a little glitter.  To finish I covered it all with tissue paper that had been screwed up then opened out and left it for a few hours to dry.

I added the dragonfly brad after colouring his body with a black permanent marker.

I'm going to link up on Erika's blog where she asks us to share an old card each Friday.

Have a lovely weekend.

Friday Smile - Week 140

Happy Friday to you again everyone.  Gosh how quickly they come round.

I'm linking up with Annie's A Stitch in Time blog for Friday Smiles.

This wasn't the photo I'd planned to show but when my hubby sent down this photo of this dear little chap I knew I had to post it.

A juvenile greenfinch who had been feasting on berries.  Look at the juice all over his beak and down his throat.  Isn't he adorable.

I've had a lovely week.  Yesterday a friend brought us a cake she'd made for us - just because!  Isn't that lovely.

 In the evening we went out for dinner with six friends.  We all lost children, many years ago now, and we meet regularly for a meal together.  We enjoy happy times together now.

I have a friend coming to craft this morning and tomorrow I'm off to a card making class with two other friends.

Have a lovely weekend Everyone!

Curly Sue

Good Morning and Happy Thursday everyone.

It's a beautiful sunny day here today.  My hubby has gone out to do some photography with a friend and I'm going to spend the day crafting.

On Saturday I went to Coleman's Craft Warehouse with friends to the Demo Day.

This is one of the stamps I bought.  It's by Woodware and called curly Sue.  Michelle Johnson used this stamp to make a card the same shape as this.  It's so quick and simple so ideal for filling up my monthly charity box.

As I'd been playing with my gelli plate last week I decided to use pieces of two gelli prints to make this card.

I stamped 'Curly Sue' with Archival black ink and painted the leaves with green acrylic paint.  Then I put on the glitter stickers (also by Woodware).


The base of the card is a two inch strip cut the length of an A4 sheet of another gelli print.  I backed it with black card to add strength to the base and stuck a piece of white card inside for writing a greeting on.

The card was so quick and easy to make and stands up beautifully.  It fits perfectly into a 6"x6" square envelope and I'll certainly be making more cards like this when I'm in a hurry.

Green is my favourite colour and so I would like to enter this card into the Creative Craft Cottage Challenge #49

I'm off to play now.  Have a lovely day!

"Lollipop, Lollipop oh ..."

Hello and thank you for popping in.

The weather has been awful here today but I've enjoyed an afternoon of crafting.

This card was made a couple of weeks ago.

I am on a mission to use stuff up and so the papers on this card have all been hanging around for some time and came free with magazines.

The image was already stamped and cut out but I coloured her to match the papers I'd used.

I punched out the flowers from scraps of paper and card and the swirls were die cut from scraps of white card.

  The strip of kraft card just had to be trimmed a little and the two birds were from my bits pot and filled a space nicely.  I added a little perfect pearls to the centres of the flowers and I added some glitter glue to her lollipop.

So now I'm just going to pop this over to Pixie's Snippets Playground before the gates close.

A Black Flower!

Hello and thank you for visiting me

First I'd like to give a warm welcome to Carole who has just joined me here.   She makes some lovely cards and has also done some silk painting.

The card I'm showing today started off as a piece of scrap on my desktop.  I'd got some distress ink left on my mat and spritzed with water and wiped it up with a piece of white card.  It looked quite pale and boring.  I rubbed some Black Soot distress ink through a mask but still didn't like it.

I put it to one side until I had a bit of a sort out when I decided to cut it in half to make a couple of DL cards.

I used Paper Artsy stamps for the stem and flower which I stamped with Black Archival straight onto the background.  Then I stamped the flower again onto some yellow paper, cut it out, separating the petals and stuck onto the card.  The centre is a circle of black card that I cut out, stuck on and then I added some white enamel dots.

I stamped a little grass in black at the bottom, inked round the edge with yellow then matted onto black card and added the three small brads in matching colours.  I used two sentiments for balance.

It was pretty quick to make and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

I'd like enter my card into the following challenges:-

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 197
Alphabet Challenge blog "Quick and Simple"

Their Golden Weddding

Good Morning to you all.

I made this parchment card to celebrate the Golden Wedding Anniversary of my friend Jacky and her husband last Friday.

My hubby and I had been really looking forward to celebrating this special day with them but as many of you know I was ill last week and so we were unable to go.  We didn't miss out on the cake however as Jacky kindly brought some along for us on Monday morning.

As you can imagine this card took quite a long time to make and it wasn't until I had almost finished that I realised, to my horror, that I'd had a senior moment and coloured with pink instead of yellow.

Unfortunately I didn't have time to make another one because as usual I'd left myself short of time.   So after a bit of thought and a few choice words I decided to use a gold glitter card behind the parchment.  You can see some of it behind the cut outs in the corners.

Fortunately I'd given the card to Jacky a few days before the Big Day so she did have it in time although we weren't able to be there.

I hope you enjoy your weekend.

Special Bird

Good Morning.

It's a lovely day here again today so just a quick post before I go out for a walk with hubby then we're going for lunch.

I'm linking this up with Erika's blog where she invites us to Share and Oldie on Fridays.

I've only been blogging since February so I suppose it's not so old really.  I posted this in April.  It was from new stash I'd just bought on a day out at Ally Pally with friends.

The stamp is called "Special Bird" and is a clear Woodware stamp.  It comes with two sentiments.

I coloured with Promarkers, added a dot of black enamel to his eye and some blue Papermania dewdrops as embellishment.  The sentiment is from a packet of loads of sentiments from Poundland.

I've not used this stamp since.  I think he might look quite good paper pieced ... ummm

I hope you enjoy your Friday.

Smile on Friday

Happy Friday to you all.

I had expected to post this last Friday as I spent a few days away with my best friend during which we went on the Coronation Street studio tour.  You can see by the number of people that it was very popular.

 For those outside the UK who have not heard about "Corrie" it's a soap which has been running here for about 50 years now.  I remember watching the first episode - as a child !!!!!!

We had a great few days away but unfortunately as soon as I got home I went down with one of those miserable virus's that knocks you for six.  I didn't open my laptop for days and didn't feel much like smiling when last Friday came around.

Anyway I'm fine again now and having a good week with much to smile about.  I've crafted with friends,  looked after our neighbour's dear little puppy Peggy and tomorrow I'm going to the demo day at Coleman's Craft Warehouse.

I'm linking up with Annie's A Stitch in Time blog where we Share a Smile each Friday.  It's a happy place to visit.

Hope you are all having a good day and wish you a happy week to come.

Thanks a bunch

Good Evening Everyone.

I would like to enter this card into the Cute Card Thursday Challenge  where this time the theme is masculine.

I don't know if my card will qualify but you have to admit he is a very masculine bear ....

The stamp is one of my old favourites.  It's a Hobby Arts wooden stamp  which was stamped onto brown card and fussy cut.  I added Glossy accents to his eyes and nose, cut around his arm and put in some punched flowers that were stuck onto craft wire.

The background is  Peacock Feather distress ink which was smooched onto a piece of white card and I stamped with aDeNami stamp and added a couple of tiny punched flowers.  The sentiment is a De Nami stamp too.