Purple Flower

Good Morning and thank you for visiting today.

This card was made with one of my new Woodware stamps from the NEC.

I coloured it with two purple and two green Promarkers then added a touch of clear Wink of Stella to the flower.  Then I went round the outside of the image with a light grey Promarker.

I had six of these  7x5 inch scalloped cards left so as I'm still on a mission to use stuff up I made three in this colour and three in yellow.

I send a box of card to my chosen charity each month so they were posted off today.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:
Creative Inspirations #248 - Anything Goes
The Ribbon Girl Challenge - March

I hope you enjoy your day.

Easter snippets

Afternoon Everyone,

I'm back home after a few days away with friends for Easter.  In spite of the awful weather we did get out a bit, enjoyed catching up and ate choccie eggs.

It will take me a few days but I'll catch up with what everybody has been doing.  First I'd like to welcome my two new followers Yvonne and Margaret.  I hope you will be able to pay them a visit.

I made ten Easter cards this year and decided to use up some peel offs, backgrounds and scraps of paper to make them all.

This is one of the cards I made using peel offs from a sheet I've had for a number of years.  Both the tulips and the sentiment strip were stuck onto scraps of white card so I'm taking this one over to join in at Pixies Snippets Playground Week 222

I already had the background card swooshed with yellow and pink distress inks so I put it through my Cuttlebug in an embossing folder and trimmed to size.  The tulips were coloured with matching colours of Promarkers  then used pale blue for the  background.   I stuck on a few clear gems to add a bit of sparkle.

Can I just add the card isn't really wonky and I hope there's not a problem with your eyes either, I was rushing and forgot to straighten the photo before re-sizing it.

Recycled Robin

Happy Rudolph Day!

As it's 25th of the month it's time again to join in with a Christmas card with Mo on her Scraps of Life blog for her Rudolph Day Challenge.

I've decided recycle old Christmas cards to try to get ahead this year.

I embossed this dear little robin image through my Cuttlebug then rubbed over the raised areas with a sanding block.

I matted onto the red card which was die cut with a Tonic matting die, added the ribbon and a punched snowflake.

The 5 inch card was made with Centura Pearl.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to take a photo without reflection.

Cool Dude !

Hello and thanks for visiting today.

First I would like to welcome my three new followers  Lilian  Annie and Sally.  I hope you will be able to give them a visit.

This card today was made with a Woodware stamp which I  bought a couple of weeks ago and is getting it's first inking.

I had a piece of swooshed card on my desk which was yellow and orange colours with some mica spray so thought this image would fit well on it.

I stamped the Dude and the sentiment onto  white card using Blue Memento then coloured in with Promarkers then fussy cut them out.

I stamped the image again onto the background where I wanted to place him then rubbed roughly over and outside the image area with Mustards Seed and Barn Door distress inks to give a punch  of colour.  The edge of the card was inked with Black Soot distress ink.

Then I stuck the boy onto the card, added a couple of stamped stars, in blue memento and added the sentiment.  I matted onto black card and attached to a white A6 card.

I would like to enter my card into the challenge on Cardz 4 Guyz  #112 Teenage Kicks.

Birthday Bouquet

Good Evening and I hope you've had a good day.

My card today is to be taken over to join in at Pixies Snippets Playground - Week 221.

I used some lilac coloured card for the base then a piece of white card stamped randomly with a Sizzix newsprint stamp for the background and rubbed Distress ink round the edge.

Quite a few years ago my dear SIL Anne had a beautiful bouquet of roses sent to me for a special birthday.

The rose image was included with instructions for keeping the roses fresh for as long as possible.

The image was so pretty I wasn't going to throw it away and it went in with my snippets of card for using later.

Now I've been using stuff up since the beginning of the year so out it came.  I cut it up, made a tag, added distress ink to the edges  and a little glitter.  With three gems and a tiny piece of ribbon added my card was finished.

We crafters seldom throw anything away do we?

A Very Good Day

I hope you ha a good weekend.

First I would like to welcome my new follower Ghazala.  You can visit her blog here

Yesterday, after a bit of a hiccup I went off to the NEC with a couple of friends on a coach trip organised by the local craft shop.

We had a great time and here are some goodies I bought.  I also bought some basics and a much needed  new trimmer.

We had a good lunch and some sweet treats and when I got home feeling really tired my hubby made me a cuppa then we had a Chinese Takeaway dinner.

When I opened up my email later in in the evening I was very surprised and delighted to find that I was one of the lucky winners on Kath's blog.  Thank you so much Kath for your generosity.   What  an exciting end to a wonderful day!.

I'm off to my craft club this morning and to see a friend this afternoon so may be a little bit late catching up and visiting.

An Oldie on Friday

Happy Friday Again!

And don't they seem to come round quickly.

As it's Friday I'm linking up with Erika on her Snappy Crafts blog where she invites us to show our old craft projects.

This card was made about four years ago.  I don't know the make of the embossing folder as I've lost the packaging.  After putting it through my Cuttlebug I inked it  with distress inks and added a little Sakura pen to the rose to give some shimmer.

The stamps were from a set of freebies that came with a magazine and the everything else was from my stash.

I'm off to the NEC for the Hobbycraft show this weekend and I'm really looking forward to it.  I've not been for the past couple of years.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Old Typewriter!

Good Morning and I hope the sun is also shining where you are.

Here are a two of  a batch of cards I made two weeks ago to boost my charity box.

The stamps I used were from an old Hero Arts  set that I have had for a number of years that hadn't seen the light of day for several years.  I also used papers from my stash that were bought from QVC when they used to do weekly craft programmes.  They are from a large 12 x 12 pad and I cut the butterflies out from one of the sheets.  I just added a little light grey Promarker to areas of the stamped image.

Thank you for your visit today.

Inspired by Pink

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

For the background of my card I used a strip of sequin waste as a stencil.

I rubbed the same pink ink roughly over a scrap of white card the place a Stamps Away mask on top and spritzed through with a fine spray of water.

After drying the piece I heat embossed with a single stamp then flicked  on yellow paint with a small paintbrush.

I rounded a couple of the corners and added  the glittery heart from my stash.

I would like to enter my card into
The Alphabet Challenge - A For Anything Pink

Busy Butterflies

Thank you for your visit.  I hope you enjoyed your weekend.

On the card I'm sharing today I used the positive butterfly from the card I made yesterday.  I cut off his antennae and made some with craft wire.

 I cut a second with the same die from a scrap of parchment and embossed it with one of four corresponding embossing folders.

I cut a selection of flowers, using Sue Wilson dies from a scrap of card that was lying on my table from yesterday.  Some of the dies came out complete and the petals dropped out of others.   I used all of  them and just as they came away from the dies.

The single card  candy, on the vellum butterfly I made using the same card  and it actually covers the glue dot that I used to attach the butterfly to the card.  The sentiment is one by Lyndsey Mason.  I added some sparkly Papermania dewdrops.

I do think this card may be a bit to busy, hence the title - never mind.  I'm off to join in at Pixies Snippets Playground  Week 220 
Artistic Inspiration Challenge  #15
613 Avenue #167
The Butterfly Challenge #50

The 3 B's!

Happy Sunday and thank you for dropping by.

Now this card was a challenge.  I wanted to join in at Mrs. A's Buttterfly Challenge  #50 - B for Bronze and Buttons.

 I've certainly got lots of buttons but the bronze was the problem.  I had to really think about this one.

I painted copper using my Starglazer palette over a piece of white card.  I tried adding other colours from the palette and although the colour wasn't right I left it  overnight while I gave it some thought.

This morning I embossed the card with a basket weave embossing folder which was so kindly sent to me with other lovely candy  a few days ago by a craft buddy.

After embossing I trimmed the card to size and rubbed Black Soot all over it and I'm now really pleased with my bronze colour.

The butterfly was diecut using a Cuttlebug set of die and four small embossing folders.  I drew the rough shape of the butterfly on the black base card and covered the area with buttons then attached my basket weave card using foam tape.

Yippee -  The 3 B's , Butterfly, Bronze and Buttons.  Now I'm fluttering off to join in with the Challenge.
I'd also like to enter The Artistic Inspirations Challenge # 152
                                Crafting  From The Heart # 103

An Oldie on Friday

As it's Friday again it's time to link up with Erika on her Snappy Crafts blog to share an "oldie"  which doesn't have to be a card.  Any old craft item is fine.

Leave a comment for Erika and she'll visit you too.

My card was made about four years ago using a stamp bought from Create and Craft.  It's a grey rubber stamp by Glenda Waterman before Chocolate Baroque came into being and I believe the company has since been sold on.

I swooshed distress inks onto the white card before stamping then water coloured the image.  I added a little glossy accents on the stamens of the tulips.

I do like the colours on this one.  Yellow and pink are one of my favourite combinations.

A bit of inking with Black Soot distress round the outside and I didn't even think to matt it.

Enjoy your weekend Everyone!

Smiles on Friday #161

Morning Everybody,

Hubby is out today.  He's gone to Aylesbury to visit a friend who has recently had an operation.

He's taking Dave out for lunch so he bought this for me yesterday.

My Hubby certainly knows the way to my heart.  I love Macaroni Cheese.   This is my favourite make of ready meal.  They are always tastey and there's always a  cartoon to enjoy too.

They come in a balsa wood box which will be stamped on and made into a card or some ATCs.

Well into the oven for 25 minutes, a large glass of red and I'm a happy bunny.

I'll spend the afternoon crafting and no dinner to cook this evening.  I'm linking up with Annie on her Stitch in Time blog where we share events from the week.

Have a lovely day everyone.

Just Playing!

Good Afternoon and Welcome

Last evening at our craft club when we'd finished our demo there was a bit of time left so we decided to have a little play with some paper weaving.

When I emptied my bag out this morning I decided to make what I had done into a card.

I just trimmed the sides of the paper and decided to leave the bottom unstuck to give some movement to the card.

I painted scraps of white card with clear Wink of Stella then cut out the bow, using a plastic template.

I also diecut the Lawn Fawn sentiment three times to give a bit of height.

The heart was first punched from the pink flowery card but I felt I needed contrast so punched out a scrap of envelope instead.  Finally I added a few glittery dewdrops to add a bit more sparkle.

Ooops - didn't realise the bottom pink strip has slipped a bit!

I would like to enter my card into Craft Hazel's Patterned Paper Challenge for March

Patchy Elephant

Good Morning on this wet and windy Wednesday!

This is a card I made a couple of weeks ago when I bought this dear elephant stamp by Woodware.

I really enjoy doing paper piecing and it's also a great opportunity for using up scraps of pretty papers.

I'm afraid I don't know what these papers are as they were in my scrap box but I think they are from the same set.  The backing paper is actually well "gutted".

After paper piecing the elephant I put the card through my Cuttlebug in an embossing folder then lightly inked the raised areas.

I pricked round the edges and added faux stitching and that's where I think I should have finished.  But no - I had to go on and stamp the little black flowers and put orange dots in the centres.

I would like to enter my card into the Fab n Funky Challenge  #295 which this week is Paper Piecing.

My Sewing Room!

I'd like to start by welcoming my new follower Karen and do hope you will pay her a visit.

I'm afraid this is about as near as I'll get to a sewing room.  It's not sadly a skill I have.

I've brought together different sets of stamps for this card.  The body form and sentiment are by Hero Arts, and the basket  is an Anna Griffin stamp with the lace and little pink bow added.

I used Inky Doodles for stamping the background then coloured it all with Pro Markers.

The button was cut from an old shirt of hubby's and I added tape measure washi tape at the bottom.  Unfortunately it's a bit shiny and didn't photograph well.

I'd like to enter my card into the following challenges:
Crafty Cardmakers #159  Go Green and
Allsorts Challenge  #353
Double D Challenge  Feeling Green

Flutterby

Good afternoon.  I hope you're enjoying your day.

Yesterday I went out with friends and came home with a few goodies.  So this morning I had a play with a couple of sprays I'd bought and the side strip is the piece I smooshed up with the left over ink.  Then I embossed the card and cut off this strip.

After I'd gold embossed and cut out the butterfly - minus antennae I tried to mix up a grape colour with a few marker pens.  I painted the butterfly roughly as I didn't want a solid colour on the wings. I gave him some gold craft wire antennae and added glitter to the wings.

I put strips of red tape near the bottom to hold the glitter, added the sentiment and the glittery dew drops.

I'd like to enter my card into :
The Butterfly Challenge #49 G is for Grape and Glitter and also
Pixies Snippets Playground - Week 219

Home Sweet Home

Good Morning!

A quick post today as I'm going  out with friends to Coleman's Warehouse Demo Day.  I expect I'll NEED to buy something!

These are some ATCs I made for Jo's recent ATC swap "Home Sweet Home"

I painted white gesso onto some pieces of cut up cardbord box then stamped the little houses using a Sizzix set .  The houses were cut out, the doors coloured in and the windows paper pieced with glossy accents added.

The rooves  were painted with Distress ink and I added some sparkle to the sun with yellow Sakura pen.

Enjoy your day!

Bubbles or Dragon Skin!

Happy Friday!

First, I'd like to give a very warm welcome to Val at Aquarius blog.  I hope you'll pop over to pay her a visit

It's time again to link up with Erika on her Snappy Crafts blog to share an "Oldie on Friday".

It doesn't need to be a card.  Any craft item you made a while ago. Link to Erika, leave her a comment and she'll visit you in return.

My card was made about four years ago with this stamp which I borrowed stamp from a friend.

When Wendy went off to live in Spain she sold off lots of her stuff.  Sadly I couldn't persuade her to sell this beauty.  I thought she needed a bow in her hair and of cause the bubbles cried out to be glittered.

I don't know what the stamp is but the sentiment is by Printworks and part of an old sentiment set.

The embossing folder is the same one I used for 'dragon skin' on my card on Monday.

Smiles on Friday - 160

Happy Friday Everybody.

It's time to share smiles from the week with Annie at her blog,  A Stitch in Time.

This is the blackboard in our kitchen which we find invaluable these days.

As you see I'm off to the NEC Hobbycrafts show.  coach booked and ticket paid for.  I noticed this morning hubby had drawn a grumpy looking dog at the top.

It's not meant as a grumpy message he assures me - it was just a doodle while he was waiting for the kettle to boil to make our morning 'cuppa'.

The little teddy was one of Maggy's doggie toys and that's a pizza oops! I meant paella dish hanging on the right .  I couldn't  live without one and I've used it twice!

I've had a happy week.  I did my first Guest Design Team spot ever on Monday which was very exciting and my card is here.  Then I won some lovely blog candy on Wednesday and yesterday evening we went  out to dinner with six friends and had a lovely time.

So a good week for me.  I hope you've enjoyed your week.  However, I am aware that it has been a sad time for you, Annie, losing your little dog.  They are so important in our lives.  We lost our Maggy Wagtail two years ago and still miss her very much,

Green Butterflies

Hello and Welcome,

I'd like to start by welcoming  my two new followers
Jules from Always With a Heart  and Karen from Karen's Kreative Kards .  I hope you will be able pop over to visit them both.

I wanted to join in at the new Double D Challenge blog and this time the theme is Feeling Green.  I think I have just the thing.

I recently won one of the super little bags that Mrs A gives as prizes for her Butterfly Challenge.  As green is my favourite colour I chose the green option.

I don't know how Mrs A managed to cram so much into that lovely hessian bag but I was keen to use some of it.

I got out an old set of Hero Arts stamps and stamped and cut out the typewriter.

Everything else came in the bag.   I coloured in the green butterflies on the background paper with watered down orange from a Sakura Starlight pen then attached it to the front of my card and rounded one corner with a punch.

I shaped the little butterfly and stuck it on top with glue gel.  Isn't that ribbon lovely!

We're going out to dinner with six friends very soon.  I hope you enjoy your evening too.

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #6

Hello and Welcome,

I don't seem to make a lot of cards for males but here's one I made today.

I used a stamp that I bought two weeks ago and an embossing folder I've probably had for two years.

Neither have been used before so will be just right to join in with  Darnell's  NBUS  #6 challenge.

Darnell came up with the idea of NBUS (Never Before Used Shtuff) and I think you'll agree we all have lots of that !!!

I used the Couture Creations embossing folder "Drink Me" on blue core card then rubbed it back with a sanding block.


The stamp is by Woodware and called "Ship and Compass".  I stamped with Nautical blue Memento ink then watercoloured with the same ink and a few distrss inks.   I put some Sakura pen on the sea for a bit of sparkle which doesn't show in the picture and added one small brad.

The sentiment circle looked a bit plane so I stamped off with a small swirly corner stamp that is always out on my desk for these odd little finishing jobs.  Thank you for your visit.

WOYWW - #352

Good Morning Deskers.

As it's Wednesday again it's time to link in with our hostess Julia on her Stamping Ground blog to show what is on our desks today.

Then it's a lot of fun to travel the globe to see what others have out on their desks and what they're working on.

My photo was taken on Tuesday evening and nothing has changed yet today as I'm on duty down in the house waiting for hubby's parcel to arrive - every Wednesday he goes out for lunch with a friend!

I will be doing the demo at our little club next month so I'm putting the kits together.

On the left is my Spellbinder Sapphire  machine which is very handy for cutting small dies as it doesn't require much handle turning and I can lift and move it about on my desk easily with one hand.

I'm using a couple of cupcakes and the sentiment from a Hero Arts set.  I've used both Archival and Memento to stamp the cupcakes for each person so they can decide which they want to use depending on what they are using for colouring in.

We are making a teepee card.  It's the first time I have made  one and I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out.

I paper pieced mine and haven't decorated the sides.  The idea is just to show the girls how the card is made.

I'm not usually so way ahead like this but I have to make a parchment card for this month and as my eyes are feeling a bit tired decided not to tackle very close work.

I'll start that tomorrow.

Wishing you all a happy week.