Truly Scrumptious Challenge 6 - Good enough to eat

I bought this little stamp a few weeks ago and haven't had cause to use it until now. I really didn't want to do a cupcake which is the only other edible thing that I have on a rubber stamp. But I think that the strawberries look yummy. The area in which I live is historically a strawberry growing area, although now all the old strawberry fields are covered with houses.

The papers are Papermania and Canon, and the twiddly bits at the end of the ribbon are from a Cuttlebug die.

Yesterday I managed to get a bit of weeding done. Not so today, it's been raining on and off all day... a good day for card-making! I've got to go out this evening to add a little ballast to the choir in a concert at a local Sixth Form College. A friend of ours is one of the lecturers and often asks us to help out!

ABC Challenge L- List & Pink Elephant #12

I always like to try to combine challenges, it makes me think a little harder and that can't be bad for the old grey cells!

This card has combined the sketch from Pink Elephant with the list of elements required from the ABC Challenge, which is 1 ribbon, 3 flowers and 6 brads.

I don't know if other people have the same problem as me when it comes to positioning brads. The prongs (if that is what you call them) are seldom in the centre of the brad and if, as in this card, I want to place them centrally on another shape, the fact that the opening pieces are off-centre means that they end up a little ski-whiff. My way of overcoming this is to cut them off with wire cutters and stick the brads onto the card with sticky dots.

The papers are Pink Petticoat, the flowers, brads, adhesive pearls and sentiment are from Papermania. The leaves have been punched with a super Leonie Em punch.

This looks blue in the picture, but in fact it has somewhat of a violet hue.

365 Challenge - 'Leaf it up to me' & Charisma Cardz - Thank You

I tried a little experiment with masking the centre of the card and adding a script background around the edge... not quite sure if it works or not.
The tree is from a Stampin Up set, which I think is fab and the sentiment is Hero Arts I believe.
Quite a simple card, which is actually more my style than complicated stuff.
What do you think?

365 Cards Day Day 60 - Sentiment - What!

This was SO tricky!
For a while I was at a total loss as to WHAT to do for this Challenge!
Then I had a text from a friend of mine to say that she had become a grandmother for the third time and this time it was a boy. What Joy!
So that is what my card became... a congratulations card for her, and what joy it is for her to have a grandson after having two gorgeous granddaughters.
I'm not sure if this fulfils the sentiment exactly, but it is a card I needed and so that is reason enough.
I had to do an 'inside' for this one, something I don't normally do, but the 'what' meant nothing without the 'joy' which follows!!
I have used my new Martha Stewart punch from Secret Crafters, plus another (the train on the inside) which I have had for a while.
I love the soft colours of this card. The paper is from Canon, a free download. The image is from Hero Arts, mounted on Nesties. The lettering is Cuttlebug 'You're not the boss of me' and the 'joy ' die is from Sizzix.
I think that's it!

Secret Crafter Win!!

I was so thrilled to have won one of the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge prizes. It was £20 to spend in the Secret Crafter online shop.
I love Martha Stewart punches and as you may know they are as scarce as hen's teeth in this country so I had a little wait for this one to arrive, but I'm delighted to have it now and can't wait to have a go! The Stazon reinker was something that I really needed too, so all in all I'm one happy bunny.
If you haven't tried their challenges maybe you should check them out. There's a new one each Saturday and you can go to the Challenge Blog here.
Thank you so much Wendy at Secret Crafter, from a very grateful .

A spoonful of sugar - Blue & Green

A friend asked me to make a card for a new baby called Rory. He is from a Scottish family and I thought that this piece of gingham paper from Canon, was a bit like baby tartan!
I have had this Stampin Up stamp for a while but this is the first occasion I've had to try it out. There are lots of really tall images in the set and I think they're yummy.
The sentiment stamp was bought second hand some time ago on eBay and I love it.
The name is made with my Cuttlebug Typewriter alphabet and I just couldn't resist the couple of daisies!
As the paper is blue and green I thought I would take the opportunity to enter it for A Spoonful of Sugar challenge this week.

Cuttlebug Challenges - Sketch & 365 Cards Day 59 A certain sentiment

The Tim Holtz swirl background stamp is another of my new acquisitions. I heat embossed it with clear embossing powder onto the black card which I then inked with gold, rubbing off the excess with a piece of paper towel. I complemented this by dry embossing plain black card with the Cuttlebug Divine Swirls embossing folder, inking only the edges.
The sentiment (the choice of 365 cards) is on Nesties of various kinds, using my Cuttlebug Typewriter alphabet, again using double-sided tape on the card before running through my 'bug.
Black and gold is quite dramatic isn't it!

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Spots & Stripes

I bought this violet stamp some weeks ago, but this is the first time that I have used it. I think it's such a delicate little flower and I feel that this stamp reflects that.

I coloured the image with Whispers pens and a water brush. There's just a hint of Glamour Dust in the centre of each flower.

The papers are from Clare Curd's Signature Range. The flourishes are Quickutz, the sentiment is Stampin Up and the ribbons are from off the shelf... not sure of the make, just bog-standard organza.

I'm off to the club soon for a spinning class (on a bike, not with a spinning wheel and a bunch of wool!) then I will be having my nails done this afternoon. Life's all go isn't it!

Sketch and Stash Challenge #9

I haven't decided what sentiment I want to put on this card as yet, but I can add one whenever.
There are lots of new things here. The daisy stamp arrived today. It's one of those that prints the background and then you have to colour in the blank spaces afterwards. I haven't actually had one quite like this before. I think there must be quite a knack to doing it as I had several attempts at trying to do it before I was even vaguely satisfied.
I haven't used this fabric/textured paper which is behind the image before, although it has been in the drawer for a couple of years. I quite like the effect on this card.
The 2 papers have been altered slightly. The green has been embossed with Cuttlebug flowers and inked with gold. The yellow which is a new paper from K & Co., (also in today's parcel), I overstamped with the gold script. This stamp also arrived today. It was quite exciting playing with all the goodies. I think everything was bought on sale from ArtyMiss!

Colour Create - Brown, Orange & Green & 365 Cards Day 58 Something Fishy

To have to add the fact that the card this week at Colour Create should hopefully be for a man adds an extra challenge. Why should making cards for chaps be so tricky? I think that lots of us think alike on this subject.

Anyway these stamps arrived today, so I thought I'd have a go at using them. They were very cheap at ArtyMiss and I can't resist a bargain. I thought that I would start on a few Father's Day cards as it is approaching next month.
The background paper is from Clare Curd's Signature range.
365 Cards today needs at least one fish. There's one very prominent one and there are probably more lurking in the shadows somewhere!

365 Cards - Day 57 Sketch

I have wanted to use this Laura Ashley flocked paper for quite some time. This sketch seemed perfect for it. I also was delighted to discover that some rich red card, left-over from some wedding invitations I made, was an almost exact match for the flocking. You know how difficult it is to match reds... there must be a million shades.
The layout seemed ideal for a thank you, so this is the sentiment I chose.
The scallops are part of a Fiskars border punch, I think it's called Threading Water or some such name.
I really rather like how this one turned out!

Clean & Simple Stamping Layout #39 ~ Stamp Something - Showers or Flowers & Our Creative Corner Colour Challenge ~ Daring Cardmakers Supersize Me

Whenever I'm asked what my favourite colour is, I always say blue. I love so many shades of blue and for this card, I've chosen the warmer side of the spectrum.
Stamp Something asked for flowers or showers, Daring Cardmakers asked for huge flowers... the flower certainly is that.
The Sketch from Clean and Simple Stamping, a blog I've only just discovered, gave me the suggestion of the ribboned button, together with the general layout. I must say that this one pleases me!

The sentiment is from Penny Black.

It was fun to do!

Secret Crafter Challenge #29 Shaped Cards & Dutch Dare Create a scene

This is the largest card that I can make using my Nestie Octagons. It's about 10cms across. I would have liked to make a slightly bigger card for the grandson of a friend, but I hope he will like this one. My little pirate has emerged from the drawer once more, I think he's kinda cute so I hope Granny doesn't disapprove of pirates!

I wondered after I'd finished it, whether I should have chosen coloured card for the background, but on the whole I prefer to have white cardstock for the main body of my cards. Maybe next time I do something similar, I can add more colour to the front. We'll see!

I have entered this for the create a scene challenge from Dutch Dare Challenge, something I find rather tricky. It's also for Secret Crafter's Shaped Card Challenge. It's the first time I've used my palm tree stamp, but I'm sure it won't be the last.

365 Cards Day 56 See Through Saturday & One Stop Crafts #26 Something New

This was a real challenge from 365 Cards... to use acetate for all or part of your card. I had to make a Bon Voyage card for a friend and it seemed that this might be a good one to try to use some acetate.

I embossed the blue card with Swiss Dots and used a Fiskars punch to finish the edge, which I wrapped around the acetate. The little aeroplane is a Cuttlebug die and the lettering is from Cuttlebug's Babyface alphabet, adhered as in my previous post.

The aeroplane is on the acetate and the lettering is on the blue card.

I take the pictures of my cards with a mobile phone so that transfer to my computer is easy, however, the phone is playing silly kids at the moment and wouldn't stay in camera mode, which was irritating to say the least! It's also that awkward time of day when the light is at a funny angle, making finding a place to perch the easel with my card on, problematic.

As the inside of the card has been embossed I had to add a flat bit for the sender to write on, which I put on the back of the card, as there was no-where else to put it!

So for the One Stop Crafts Challenge, this certainly was something new for me!

Penny Black Week 46 - Anything Goes & Sketch Saturday #48

Not my finest hour, this one. It's for a friend to give to her sister, who likes cats.
The sketch is from Sketch Saturday and the theme of 'Anything Goes' is from Penny Black.
The paper has been sitting in the drawer since I first started card making over two years ago, I don't like to just throw stuff away, but as I'm not too keen on the paper, I think that it has affected how I feel about the card in general. Can you identify with this feeling?
In daylight, the ribbon is a fairly close match with the balloons.
The name is spelled out using the Babyface alphabet from Cuttlebug. I always put double-sided tape on the back of the paper or card BEFORE cutting, so that all I have to do is peel off the backing and adhere the letters in position. I find it much easier than trying to glue these tiny letters. You can imagine that the dot on the 'i' is very small!! I always use a paper piercer to lift off the backing, as it is quite fiddly and I have overlays on my nails, which makes them useless at trying to do this sort of stuff without help!

Lucky Me! Karma Award

It always gives me a very warm feeling when someone decides to honour me by giving an award. This time it is June who has been so kind. Thank you so much June, I really appreciate you thinking of me!
The wording for this award is as follows:-
The Karma Award: These blogs are exceedingly charming.
These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends.
They are not interested in self-aggrandizement.
Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers.
Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.
I now need to pass this award on to 8 more bloggers. Quite a difficult job when there are so many wonderful bloggers out there. However, these are my choices.
Diana, Nancy, Victoria, Susie, Ikki, Karen, Christina and Julie.

Charisma cardz #16 & Just Magnolia Week 2 Pink & Green

I have just bought this Tilda stamp and obviously wanted to use it straight away. When I looked into the paper drawer for something pink and/or green, I found this paper from a magazine which matched both the designated colours from Just Magnolia and Tilda's tights! How lucky is that?
The sketch is from Charisma Cards and worked well with this image from Magnolia.
The shapes are Nesties... I put the scallop for the sentiment through twice. It started as a square, then I moved the card up a little to fit in with the scallops and then ran it through again to chop off a little more and make a rectangle which would fit the sentiment.
I didn't have quite enough of the green card for a complete backing after I had cut out the circle, so I made 2 rectangles instead. Waste not want not!

365 Cards Day 55 Card recipe & Cute Card Thursday #57 - Getting Edgy

This may look like simplicity itself, but was in fact quite a challenge as the recipe from 365 Cards today was very prescriptive!
5x5 card (solid colored card stock - may be smooth or textured)
4x4 patterned paper (you may alter the edges if you'd like)
1 shape (circle, square, star, heart, etc.) - must be solid color
3 jewels
alpha stickers
So, I think I have that lot sorted. I had to ink over the stickers as the pink wasn't quite the same as the heart, but in daylight it looks really close now and also matches with the ink on the distressed edges. It is for this element that it is entered for the Cute Card Thursday challenge, which stipulated that edges should be sanded, torn, distressed or sewn. We have a bit of distressing, a little roughing up and sewing, albeit faux, on the edges of this paper, which I think it was a free download from Mad about Cards, but couldn't be sure.
Job done!

Cuttlebug Challenge #28 Welcome home & 365 Cards Recycled elements & Pink Elephant - Recycle reuse

Whilst I was looking after my granddaughter Daisy the other day in Bath, we took a walk into town and I managed to buy all sorts of useful things that I had needed for some time. These included fish bone tweezers, a knife sharpener and some more handwash for the downstairs loo. I like to use Molton Brown handwash, but do they ever do it up like a dog's dinner when they wrap it...even when it's not a for a gift. So I couldn't waste that fab bag.
I used it for the lovely background of this card. I embossed it as it was a little bent from hanging on the stroller handle. I would have loved to have used the cord from the bag, but it was really too thick to go on a card. I did however, use the Molton Brown logo which I made into the little medallion on the ribbon.

The sentiment is from one which reads, 'welcome little one', but I masked the lower half before inking it with white ink which I then heat embossed with clear embossing powder.
Everything else on the card is made using Cuttlebug dies, apart from the Nestie squares and tag.

As we have Mother's Day in March in the UK and as my mother is no longer with us, I decided to choose the recycle option from Pink Elephant this week, rather than the card for Mum.

First card with my candy win

I thought that I would share my first card using my Sizzix embossing folders, which I won from Susie's Blog candy.

It looks a little hectic, but the sentiment of the folder seemed to call for something a little spectacular.

This is NOT the same dress stamp that I used on my previous couple of cards...it's smaller! I told you I really liked it!. This is from a set which hasn't been exploited to its full potential as yet, but give me time.

I embossed the card then popped the brass stencil out of the folder so that I could use it as a mask to ink the image.

I also used my new leaf punch from Leonie Em... love it too!

Quickie 365 Cards - Fruit & ABC Challenge K - Keep it simple

This is an absolute quickie , before I bustle off to Bath to babysit my granddaughter whilst my daughter sorts out the decorators, who should be arriving today.

I love this stamp and have simply heat embossed it and coloured it with Perfect Pearls.

The recessed embossing on the card is with a Nestie.

I didn't know what sentiment to put on so I'll leave that until the occasion arises.

As it is really simple, I thought that I would enter it for the ABC Challenge too, as the theme this week is K for Keep it simple! it's certainly that!

That's it!

Oh my goodness!

Look what I have won!

Well, I don't quite know what to say.
This is the first candy that I have ever won and I am delighted to say the least.

Thank you so much Susie!

This candy is to celebrate to opening of her Online Shop, Die cut Dreams. Do check it out.

Lucky me!

Chrissie

OCC - Recycle, Mojo Monday #83 & 365 Cards Tuesday Trio

I hadn't come across 365 Cards Challenge until today, so I thought that I would give it a go. I was sadly surprisingly bereft of ideas, but wanted to use this second sentiment which I printed from the computer yesterday. I used the Sketch from Mojo Monday and included the required Brad, Circle and Blossom from the Tuesday Trio challenge. The recycled element for OCC is the ribbon which was from some gift wrapping, and I couldn't throw it away now could I!

The sentiment again reads 'Music is what feelings sound like'.

The image is another from Stampin Up. I have lots of musicky friends, so hopefully someone will like it!

Papertake Weekly Challenge Dawny's Sketch #13

Just a quick post!

I wanted to use this sentiment after I'd read it somewhere. So I printed it out on the computer and looked for something to go with it! These are the stamps that I found in the drawer and I used Dawny's sketch to assemble the various components. I think that there may be some people in my choir who might appreciate it.

The papers are Pink Petticoat and I think that they are a lovely delicate shade, but this doesn't show too well in the picture.

PS The sentiment reads 'Music is what feelings sound like'.

Penny Black Sketch and Caardvarks -Trees

It seems that if I've dug out a stamp for a challenge recently, I have managed to use it for a second time very quickly thereafter.

Here is the Penny Black tree again. It is lovely isn't it! I love the sentiment, which was computer generated and reads, 'There are but two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots, the other, wings.' If we do this we can't go too far wrong can we! I like to think that this is what we did for our kids. We are certainly very proud of them both. One is a doctor and the other a superb HR manager and fabulous mum!

The papers are mainly Clare Curd's signature range, with a little scrap of Pink Petticoat I believe. The flower is Prima and the butterfly, Cuttlebug.

Thanks so much for your comments, I truly appreciate your visits!