Happy Birthday to Lorraine

Today is my blogging friend Lorraine's birthday - so here is the card I made for her. I was inspired by the template of her blog and by her blogging nickname to go arty and a little Gothic, with black and silver, also by the arty Christmas (!) paper stack I bought from Anita's. This is my first go at UTE and I'm not sure how well the card has worked out, but I did my best :-)

I used: main image = Stampington "Pressed Profile" inked with Brilliance Starlight black, then emossed wtih UTEE. Papers are by Anita's, flower by Prima and large jewel brad by Making Memories.

Chrissy Marie's Friday's Fable - Midsummer's Eve

Chrissy Marie's inspirational blog contains a beautiful picture and/or poem each Friday to inspire us to create something wonderful; and she has a challenge to win blog candy open til this Friday (August 1st) based on the picture Midsummer's Eve by Edward Robert Hughes (1908) and the following poem by an unknown author ...

If you see a fairy ring
In a field of grass,
Very lightly step around,
Tip-Toe as you pass,
Last night Fairies frolicked there
And they're sleeping somewhere near.
If you see a tiny fairy
Lying fast asleep
Shut your eyes
And run away,
Do not stay to peek!
Do not tell
Or you'll break a fairy spell.

The challenge is to make anything taking inspiration form the picture, poem, or a word in the poem. I have made my first ever "flower fairy" card with a sentiment about keeping dreams in the heart. I used: main image free with craft magazine, coloured with watercolour pencils and Twinkling H2O's, and wings decoratedwith Stickles, mounted onto silver holographic card; lilac pearlescent card embossed wtih Cuttlebug "stylised flowers"; sentiment stamp by Penny Black; flowers by Prima; small charm with butterfly image and "inspire" on reverse from my stash. Hope you like it!

More Challenges - CCT #20 and Whiff of Joy Designer Call

Got on a bit of a roll this afternoon, and thought I'd enter a couple more challenges. Cute Card Thursday Challenge #20 is "Things that grow", so I found a PB stamp with hedgy holding a flower growing out of a plantpot. I am also entering this for Katharina's "Whiff of Joy" Designer call which is running until Wednesday 30th July. She is about to launch her fabulous new stamps and has asked for cards submitted using her sketch: don't know if I have the right idea as i don't have any of the existing cute little girl stamps such as Sarah Kay or Sweet Ebony, but this is my take on the sketch.

I used: main image is PB "Greetings" coloured with watercolour pencils, and the flowers with Twinkling H2O's and Cosmic Shimmers (they are actually quite twinkly!). Sentiment stamp was free with a craft magazine; papers are by Making Memories (I think!), lace from Hobbycraft and flowers by Prima. Today is my first day using my new Nestabilities so they have to be incorporated everywhere! I should mention that the green matting for the striped paper does acutally match the paper - just hasn't photographed well for some reason (I didn't enter this one for the "clashing colours" challenge LOL!!)

Three challenges in one

I'm in luck! I saw this morning that this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge is "Down on the Farm" ... I don't own any stamps of pigs, cows or geese, but this week Evelyn C from Docrafts sent me a monthly friendship card which kindly included a lot of lovely stamped images .... including a PB cow!! So I was champing at the bit (or should that be chewing the cud??) and thought I would incorporate a couple of other challenges, namely Papertake Weekly - Katharina's Sketch #7, and a non-blog challenge I do over on Docrafts entitled "C for clashing colours!!" The flowers actually look the same deep pink as the ribbon and card in real life!

Anyway ... I used: Penny Black stamp "Bundle of Wishes", matted onto matte pink metallic card (first use of my new Nestabilities!!); sentiment stamped in Brilliance copper ink from PB transparent set "Salutations"; background papers from DCWV, with semi circle cut using X-Cut Multishaper punch; flowers by Prima; brads and small crystal gems by Papermania.

A new award!

Well this is the first gold credit card I've ever had LOL - given to me by the lovely Cathy who is herself the most frequent visitor to my blog. The rules for awarding this are:

1. Only 5 people allowed.

2. 4 have to be dedicated followers of your blog

3. one has to be someone new or recently new to your blog and live in another part of the world. 4. you must link back to whoever gave you the award.

Quite simple really it is a way of saying thankyou to those who take time out for wonderful comments to boost your day.

Well ... as a relatively new blogger I'm not sure that I have many "dedicated" followers, so I have looked back through my comments (which in itself made me feel all warm and fuzzy!) and found who had visited me the most. Many of you have already got this award and well deserved! so I am only forwarding it on to a couple of other "regular" visitors, namely

1. Lorraine

2. Richelle

and a new person to my blog, which is Denise-Lynn from the US who is part of the "Stamp Something" challenge team.

Enjoy ladies!

Three challenges in one

At last - a couple of hours to craft!! Thought I'd better use my time wisely, so I decided to make a card that would fulfil three of this week's challenges.

First: Cute Card Thursday #19 is to make a card with ANIMALS ONLY - ie no people or characters.

Second: Stamp Something this week is "The Sweetest Thing" - to produce a card featuring candy; and

Finally: I set the card out in line with Friday Sketchers Sketch #11.

I used: a house mouse image stamped and gifted to me by Lorraine, coloured with watercolour pencils and Cosmic Shimmers; sentiments from Penny Black transparent "Salutations" set; Prima flowers, Papermania brads, and papers from the local craft shop from a "broken up" stack, so I don't know what make they are. This card also has my first attempt at faux stitching - hope you like it!

Penny Black Challenge #6 - Snow Much Fun

Well it's Saturday again already, and time for the Penny Black Challenge - this week it is to make a card featuring snow! This made me chuckle as I have already made a snowy card for the first PB challenge, plus another for the recent "Dazzle!" challenge - at this rate I'll be well ahead by December! So this week I have pulled out one that hasn't appeared on here before as I need to nip off and clean the house (groan!)

I have used the PB stamp "Royal Mail" coloured with watercolour pens and pencils and decorated with glitter glue. The background stamp is Hero Arts "Christmas script", and the very wide holly sparkly ribbon was an experiment from a cheap Chrimbo decs shop!

ABC "C" Challenge

Well it's time for the ABC "C" challenge , and this week it is to make a card using charms. I thought I would submit this card I made for my friend's birthday, as although it is simple the charm is integral to the card's design rather than being incidental. I used the PB stamp "Light the Night" coloured with pearlescent paints and watercolour pencils, and masked the handbag part of the stamp so I could replace it with a metal handbag charm. I tried to introduce a fun element with the leopardskin organza ribbon and mottled card on the matting. The "birthday" sentiment is a masked stamp from a See-D, and the die cut letters are Cuttlebug Hippie Chick alphabet.

Slideshows!

Aafter a lot of messing about I've added slideshows to the bottom of my blog to show a wider variety of my cards, and I would love some honest (though not too brutal LOL!) feedback - are these slideshows ok or are they "too much"? Are they the right sort of size and speed to be able to actually see the pics? (I found I was squinting if I made them smaller). What do you lovely crafting people reckon?
Cheers

Penny Black Saturday Challenge #5 - Sketch

I've only tried one sketch challenge before and really enjoyed it, so I decided to get stuck in with this one for PB Saturday Challenge #5 as it sent my thoughts off in different directions whilst trying to use my PB's. Here's what I used:

PB image and sentiment from the transparent set "Bubbly" - I watercoloured the image, and embossed the sentiment using Brilliance "Lightning Black" ink and holographic powder. Background papers, the largest white blossom and the sparkly brad are by Making Memories, the other flowers are Prima and the brads on the image are Papermania.

I will no doubt also be entering this card in the non-blog Docrafts alphabet challenge this week ... B is for Bubbly, bathing, bowl, bubbles, brads, blossom, black ink, background papers! It is also a birthday card for my Docrafts friend Samantha!

Hope you like it!

Maria's blog candy

Maria is celebrating 5000 hits with some yummy candy over on her blog ... all you have to do is pop over there before July 19th and let her know what's next on your wish list .. oh and while you're there have a peek at her shopping spree pics!! :-)

Friday Sketchers Week 10

I needed to make a card today for a non-blog challenge - ABC stamping challenge over on Docrafts - so decided to tie it in to a sketch. The sketch I chose is Friday Sketchers, and here it is.

I made a card using pale grey cardstock and the Stampendous stamp "Agapanthus Cluster", stamped with Brilliance Starlight black ink and embossed with holographic powder, edged with Versamark chalk ink. I matted the image onto black and patterned silver cardstock, and then layered onto paper from the new Anita's Classic Christmas (!) black paper , tied with silver and black swirly ribbon from my stash. The sentiment is from the PB transparent set "Salutations", finished off with Papermania adhesive stones. I have also entered this card in the ABC challenge on Docrafts - A is for Agapanthus cluster, Anita's paper and adhesive stones.

Magnolia Blog Candy

Andrea has some fantastic blog candy on offer including several Magnolia stamps, flowers and other bits and pieces. Pop over to her blog before July 20th and let her know what is your favourite Magnolia stamp if youw ant to be in with a chance to win.

Cute Card Thursday #18 - card for a child

This week's CCT Challenge is to make a card for a child. This is a hard one for me as I have no children in the family, so v few opportunities to make this kind of card....so I hope you don't mind me saying "here is one I prepared earlier" - this was an order for my boss's 1 year old grandson Charlie. it was a 7-piece waterfall so I was pretty chuffed with it!

I used: PB stamps "Imagine" and "Bear Blanks" 1-4 coloured with watercolour pencils; background paper from "Deja Views", and computer generated text. Thanks for looking!

Fran's blog candy

Fran has not one but two amazing sets of blog candy up for grabs to celebrate her reaching 25000 hits! (wow!). Visit her blog before 17th July to look at her lovely cards and check out the prize draw.

Shaz's blog candy competition

Shaz has got some stunning blog candy on offer over on her blog; and in order to win it she has set a competition for peeps to make any paper project in her favourite colours - pink, blue and green.

As a new blogger I only just spotted this in the nick of time, so rushed off this evening to make my entry, and here it is! It is also a birthday card for my Docrafts friend Squirrel as I thought she would love this fun look :-). I used:

- Penny Black stamp "Partying", coloured with watercolour pencils, and the balloons decoupaged and coloured with Cosmic Shimmers and Sakura stardust pens.

- Greeting stamp from Penny Black transparent set "Salutations".

- Papers by Making Memories and Sandylion.

- Flowers by Prima

- Sparkly brads by Making Memories

- Sparkly gems and butterfly by Papermania.

Just to prove that I really do love these colours, here's a picture of another card I made earlier but haven't published on my blog before. Main stamp is PB "Dream a Dream", background stamp is PB "butterfly border", and greeting is by Hampton art ge studio. paper is by K&Co, and large daisy by WH Smith.

Ila's High Hopes blog candy

Ila is offering some gorgeous blog candy - a sheet of rubber stamps that are part of the new release from High Hopes. The images are just soooo cute! Please pop along to her lovely blog here before 11th July to check it out and be in with a chance to win!

Happy 50th birthday to Gail

My friend and colleague Gail is 50 today, so I made her this card and gave it to her during the week. I believe she likes fairly traditional colours such as red, gold and green so tried to incorporate them into the design.

I used:

Main Image - Inkadinkado "Tulip Collage" coloured with Cosmic Shimmer paints and twinkling H2O's

Greeting - Hero Arts

Flowers - Prima

Jewel brads - Making Memories

Die cut numbers - Cuttlebug "Hippie Chick" alphabet.

Hope she has a lovely day!

PS. I have also noticed that this card falls in perfectly with 2 challenges that are on the go this week: Daring Cardmakers and My Time to Craft Challenge (# 22) are both for "numbers" cards - so here we are :-)

Old School Reunion

A few weeks ago a lady I used to go to school with over 30 years ago contacted me through Friends Reunited, reminded of our schooldays when she looked out her teenage party photos to show her own teenage daughter; and last Saturday we had lunch together. We recognised each other straight away, and the time flew by in conversation so it was really great that she had got in touch.

I said I would send her a "sample" of my cardmaking so have made this fairly simple card which I think has a lovely sentiment appropriate to the occasion. I have used a Penny Black sentiment stamp, papers by Heidi Grace designs for Fiskars, Prima flowers and Papermania pearl brads. The shape and size of the card was heavily influenced by a card I recently received from Lorraine, reworked in my own colour scheme. Hopefully we will keep in touch so she will be on my Christmas card list from now on .. just goes to show its enver too late to revive old friendships :-)

Penny Black Saturday Challenge 4 - Buttons and Brads

I made this card this afternoon for the PB Saturday challenge, which this week specifies that the card should use buttons and brads. It is also my Docrafts July friendship card for Evelyn C. This was certainly a challenge as I rarely use buttons so had to actually raid my sewing box!

The main stamp is by Inkadinkado, coloured with Cosmic Shimmer paints and Twinkling H2O's, and the sentiment is PB "..second self". Round metallic brads are by Papermania, the dragonfly brad is by Lakeland, and the flowers are by Prima. Papers, ribbon and buttons are all from my stash. Hope you like it!

More blog candy

Nikki is celebrating 10,000 hits on her blog by giving away some gorgeous candy - pop over and check out her great blog before July 7th.

Meanwhile Jennifer is also offering a lovely set of stamped images along with some other crafty bits'n'bobs until 13th July... don't forget to look at her lovely cards whilst you're there!

Stamp Something Challenge - Dazzle!

I found the Stamp Something Challenge for the first time this evening, asking crafters to "dazzle us with something that sparkles, shines, shimmers, or glitters!!" As they are celebrating official summer over there with the 4th July, I couldn't resist sharing my most recent sparkly shiny card that is ... wait for it .. an early CHRISTMAS card!! Hope you like it!

The main stamp is Penny Black "Xmouse ornament!" coloured with watercolour pencils then matted and layered onto pale blue sparkle card and then silver holographic card embossed with Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder. The snowflake is glittered using a Stickle; and the background paper, ribbon and rub-on greeting are from my stash. Snowflake buttons are by Doodlebug.

Cute Card Thursday - Outdoors; and Docrafts PB Challenge

Having only just started blogging last week, my first ever non-blog challenge was the Docrafts PB alphabet challenge set by Samantha, which is just finishing this week. I'm also now wanting to join in some new blog challenges and have gotten a bit behind, so I have made a card that I hope fits both the PB "Y" challenge (for yellow) and this week's Cute Card Thursday "Outdoors" challenge.

Now I hear you say that the outdoors link is a little tenuous, but I hope you'll agree it's obvious on closer inspection: hedgy has obviously just picked "a pocketful of posies" from the "flower garden border" LOL!

The main image stamp is Penny Black "A Tender Hug" coloured with watercolour pencils and decorated with papermania adhesive stones; the background paper is from the DCWV "Pocketful of Posies" stack punched into a circle using the Papermania "Flower Garden" multishaper punch. The sentiment stamp was free with a craft mag; flowers are by Prima, sticky ribbon by Anita's, and the sparkly yellow and gem brads are by Making Memories.

New ABC Weekly Challenge: A is for ...

A couple of friends highlighted to me the existence of the new ABC weekly challenge where each week there will be themed challenge based on the letters of the alphabet. The first week's challenge is "A is for Animals".

Now I've been a bit bizzy this week as I spent all last evening making a 50th birthday card (which I can't upload 'til Sunday!) but as I am new to blogging I thought I'd cheat a little with a card I made earlier and which therefore hasn't appeared on here before.

The image stamps I have used are Penny Black "Dream a Dream", "Polka Wings" and "Imagine"; coloured with watercolour pencils and pink& green Twinkling H2O's. The sentiment is Hampton Art Stamp "Dream a little..."; paper is by Deja Views "Sharon Ann" collection; and the sparkly flowers were die cut using the Cuttlebug "Hippie Chick" alphabet.

Hope you like it!