LIM – OMG!

Last week I bottled out of the Less is More challenge, ‘cos none of my sentiment stamps seemed to fit and I’m no good at generating fancy ones on the computer … so this week I just had to face my demons. But acetate ?? ACETATE??

Initially I thought I needn’t concern myself with this challenge, as I was under the impression I didn’t have any of the pesky material … but then it occurred to me that actually I once bought a pack to make a shaker card with (and what a disaster that was … the quicker we draw a veil over that little episode the better!!)

Anyhow there was nothing else for it but to get stuck in! Now I don’t go much on apertures and I don’t have many inks that can stamp onto acetate, so to my mind there was only one way to  go …  I made the most of the space on the inside of the card, and produced an acetate front cover with only a sentiment stamped on it … voila! I also used this as an opportunity to have a go with a Tim Holtz distressing technique as per his video tutorial here ... so that I could also enter this card for the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.

Recipe:
Main image: various stamps from Unity set “Insightful Meadows” stamped onto a wet distressed background using Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw, Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans distress inks;
Sentiment: same set as above;
Tools: Martha Stewart “scalloped dots” edge punch.

And here’s a pic of the card open – just to prove I did actually use acetate on the front lol!!  I have to admit I had several goes before I was (vaguely) satisfied … so please Chrissie and Mandi don’t ask us to use acetate again, as I’ve not got much left now lol!!

Challenges:
Less Is More #11 – Acetate
Simon Says Stamp and Show – A Lord Tim of Holtz Technique
Pile It on #16 – Smells Like Rubber
Incy Wincy #90 – Bright and Bold
Top Tip Tuesday #30 – Open Challenge

Phew … mission accomplished! Think I need to lie down now!! 

Let Them Eat Cake!

Happy Friday everyone! I've been working such long hours recently that I have more than made up enough time for a flexi day from work ... so today I am having a rare day of r&r and playtime!! I decided to make a card using the adorable LotV "Rosie with Cake" - another stamp I'm ashamed to say I've had since last autumn and not inked up before ... all the stamps I bought back then had to wait until after the Christmas rush!! Anyhow, I decided to go ultra girly today, and here is the result. Recipe: Main image: LotV "Rosie with Cake" coloured wtih Promarkers and Copics; Sentiment: LotV Sentiment Circles; Papers: Pink Petticoat "Vintage Rose"; Supplies: all flowers from Wild orchid Crafts; pearls from Wild orchid Crafts & The Hobby House; pink raffia lace from my stash; Tools: nestabilities small circles, lacy circles and "Labels One"; martha Stewart "Valentine lace" edge punch. Challenges: I followed the sketch for this week's Wild Orchid Challenge #17 Cupcake Challenge #130 - Cake 'n' Ice Cream One Stop Craft Challenge #119 - Birthday Card - With Cake LotV #85 - Circles Ooh-La-La #74 - Pink, Pink and More Pink Stamp Something - Something With Flowers Spoon Full of Sugar #140 - Birthday Wishes Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #106 - Birthday Card Crafty Ann's #35 - Birthday Card Incy Wincy # 81 - Use Punches or Dies Crazy4Challenges #75 - Use Dies Just off now for the afternoon cardmaking session :-) Oh I wish every Friday could be like this!!

Hello baby!

I rarely have the need to make baby cards, but I made a couple last week for "New Beginnings" challenges - one for a girl and one for a boy. No sooner done than a colleague's wife had a baby girl, and next minute another colleague asked me if I could make a card for another baby girl ... I was actually quite thrilled as I don't very often get asked to make one.

So here's another card for a baby girl - my second within two weeks!


Recipe:
Main image: Penny Black "Basket of Joy (2075F), coloured with Promarkers;
Sentiment: LotV sentiment circles;
Papers: checked paper by Deja Views; glitter dots card from local craft shop;
Supplies: wild rose and cherry blossoms from Wild Orchid Crafts edged with Stickles; blossom stems from local craft shop; ribbon-threaded lace from my recent winning prize pack from An Oldie But a Goodie Challenge;
Tools: large, small and lacy circles nestabilities; Martha Stewart "eyelet lace" PATP.


Normally when I send cards that have raised elements such as flowers, I put them in a padded envelope (top tip - Wilkinsons padded white CD mailers - decent looking and 70p for four!!) ... but in this case I didn't feel it would be appropriate to provide a padded envelope to the girl who is giving this card as it would rather spoil the ambience. So I got a bit carried away and made a box for the card :-)

I made the base from normal white linen cardstock, and the lid from the same pearlescent pink bazzill that I had used for matting the image on the card. I told myself I wasn't going to spend too long decorating it, but came up with the quick but (I hope) effective idea of plonking a fancy tag on the top ready to write the baby's name and date of birth. This also had the added advantage of allowing me to use my brand new "Magnolia vintage" tag which I have been itching to do for the past couple of days :-)


I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:

Passion for Promarkers #82 - Baby Cards
Crafty Creations #101 - New Beginnings
Crafty Pad #104 - Something New
Penny Black At Allsorts (January) - All You Need is Love
Totally Gorjuss #63 - Cuddly
Corrosive #99 - Lace and Pearls
Incy Wincy #76 - Go Dotty
The Ribbon Girl #4 - Pink & Green
Top Tip Tuesday # 17 - Anything Goes
(I have also left 2 tips linked to this post)

Paper Sundaes #52 - Favourite Challenge of the Past Year
(I really like the Paper Sundaes Challenges, and have chosen #40 "For Someone Little" - I am a bit late entering with this as I was a bit confused what was required [doesn't take much!!] but now I've looked again at the challenge i would like to enter ;-) )

I have also used (and flipped) the sketch for January's Crafters' Companion Challenge #8 for a second time - not sure if two entries are allowed but I'm giving it a go :-)

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Hats on for a green and red Christmas!

I'm back again with the second card from my craft session. I really do adore this Forever Friends teddy stamp - it is just soooo dinky and cute, and when I saw that this week's Saturday Spotlight Challenge (SSHP09) is Hats On!, it was the perfect opportunity to ink up the little fella!

I also followed the sketch from Creative inspirations #22

... and picked the colours red and green for this week's Corrosive Challenges #40, Cupcake Craft Challenge #68 and Incy Wincy #20.

Finally, Kraftin' Kimmie's Challenge #8 is Touchy-Feely ... asking us this week to use textures. I liberally sprinkled around my fave product of the moment - polar white Flowersoft mixed with glamour dust. Hopefully the following pic highlights the texture and dimension it adds to the card :-)


Recipe:
Main image: Forever Friends, coloured with watercolour pencils and Marvey "old English red" marker, and decorated wtih polar white Flowersoft and glamourdust;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards "Oh! My Words!";
Papers: BasicGrey "Eskimo Kisses";
Supplies: Flowers form Prima "Christmas bubble"; pearl brads and gold spacers from The Hobby House; Papermania gems; pearls and ribbon from my stash;
Tools: small circles, large circles and large scalloped circle nestabilities.

Teddy and robin (2)

Just a very quick post from me this evening ... here's another card I made on Saturday but haven't really had chance to post until now. it's another outing for my new darling Gillian Roberts stamp.

For this one I followed the sketch at this week's Lili of the Valley Challenge #41 - I thought I may have missed the moment with it, but thankfully I've discovered it is on for 2 weeks - phew!

I would also like to enter it for the following challenges:

Pollycraft Monday Challenge #29 - Wonderful Christmas Time
Everybody-Art-Challenge #67 - Christmas
Papertake Weekly - Christmas Crackers
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #43 - Christmas
Simon Says - Winter Love. Maybe I'm imagining it, but I think the teddy is looking very lovingly at the robin bearing the dinky gift!!
Cuttlebug "be inspired" #59 - Glitter
Fun with Shapes & More #30 - Gifts as an imprint ... I think this means a pic of a gift somewhere on the card ...and can you see what the little robin is holding??
Incy Wincy #19 - Anything Goes

Here's a closeup to try to prove there is actually some glitter on there .. not very successfully I fear lol!

Recipe:
Main image: Gillian Roberts "Bear & Robin" coloured with watercolour pencils and decorated with polar white Flowersoft & glamour dust;
Sentiment: Craftwork Cards "Oh! My Words";
Papers: Kaisercraft;
Supplies: pearls and red ribbon from my stash;
Tools: Cuttlebug "snowflakes" folder embossed onto white glitter card; Martha Stewart "Arctic Snowflake" punch used on white glitter card.