Valentine's Day

Another clean and simple Valentine card... Pink Petticoat Harlequin paper, Stampin' Up stamp. Easy peasy!
Still away from home, still waiting for Grandchild no. 2 ... we went for a walk down the hill to the centre of Bath this afternoon... and back, which is quite a steep climb, hoping that it would have the desired effect! I'll let you know if it does!
Charisma Cardz - Valentine / Love
Marks Finest Papers - Valentine card
Prairie Fairy Friday - For a sweetheart
Delightful Sketches Challenges - Include a heart

Granny by Daisy aged 2 and a half

There won't be a card from me today as I am away from home, but I thought I would show you a picture of me done just now by my granddaughter who is 2 and a half.
I hope you can see it clearly enough. I thought it was great, I have curly hair, fingers, pupils in my eyes... and she has included my earrings. The emergent writing at the side 'says' Granny and Daisy.

WOYWW

Today I'm a long way away from my desk and for the next who knows how many days, I'll be here in Bath in my own little room at my daughter's, ready to look after my granddaughter Daisy when my daughter goes to hospital to have her second child.
I hope she doesn't go too far beyond her due date, (which is this coming Saturday,) as I don't really want to stay away from home (and my craft desk) for too long. However, I didn't want to stay at home and then have to make a mad dash here should the occasion arise. It takes about and hour and three quarters to drive!

I can however show you the card I made for Daisy for when her little sibling arrives. Sadly it seems that I may have left it at home, what a good job I thought to take a picture of it!!
DO join Julia over at her Stamping Ground and see people's workspaces from around the world... the link is on my sidebar... and have a great WOYWW!

Stylish Blogger

The lovely Sue has honoured me with this fabby Award. I feel humbled that she finds my blog 'inspirational'... so thank you so much Sue!
In line with the terms of the award I need to tell you a bunch of things about myself and then pass the award to another bunch of inspirational bloggers, so here goes.

1. Together with my friend Mandi, we have started a new Challenge blog for Clean & Simple cards called "Less is More". The first challenge is on February 5th. (I hope lots of you will join us)
2. I had my appendix removed in France and a disc from my back removed in the USA.
3. I like to buy Christmas tree decorations from wherever I go on holiday.
4. My favourite foreign food is Italian.
5. I prefer wearing trousers to skirts.
6. I wear varifocal specs.
7. My favourite colour is blue.
8. My shoe size is 7. (41 continental)

To choose friends to pass this on to is a difficult proposition as there are so many who are truly worthy of this award... but here they are.

First and foremost.. Mandi, who has been working so hard getting our new blog up and running. Thanks so much Mandi, you're a star. Now, for my other choices... Deborah, Val, Anne, Anne, Bonnie, Heather, Paula and Lorraine.

Wonderful crafter's all, thank you so much ladies.

Emboss, emboss, emboss

I am now staying in Bath with my daughter, who is awaiting the arrival of her second child... her due date is Saturday. My husband has gone to stay with his brother who came out of hospital today following hip replacement surgery. As he lives on his own, he just may need a hand!
This is another of the 6 Golden Wedding cards I made recently. It was tricky thinking of different designs!
This one is my DT card for the embossing challenge at My Time to Craft! It's very simple, I used  an embossing folder from Papermania, a slider die from Spellbinders, with a computer generated sentiment, cut out with a Nestie and the numeral and hearts are from Cuttlebug's Babyface alphabet.
I wanted to use the gold ribbon, but it wasn't quite wide enough, so I mounted in on a slightly wider white organza one.
Now.. I wonder when this baby will make an apearance!

Cute somethings

I saw this idea somewhere or other and I thought that it was SO brilliant that I just had to try it!
It's a side-stepper card where the tall side becomes a chest of drawers. Isn't that clever... I can say that because it wasn't my idea!
I cut out the legs with a Nestie but had to narrow the width of  card that I originally started with in order to get it through my Cuttlebug. Probably a good reason to get a Grand Calibur!
The 'drawers' are just embossed Nestie rectangles popped onto some dimensional tape to give them some definition.
The sentiment is one of my all time favourites which I bought second hand on eBay, it says 1989 DC on the side. It may have said more but it's a little worn.
I found the digi image when trawling through my computer and if someone can tell me the source I'll be really grateful. (I just discovered that it was by Beccy Muir) I reduced the size to pop the tiny bear into the drawer with his head peeping out.
The paper is from Pink Petticoat.
I'm really pleased with this one!
Creative Inspirations Paint - Shades of your favourite colour (Blue)
I did it Creations - Card for a child
Allsorts - For a Male/boy
Ellephantastic - New Beginnings
Crafty Catz - Use a forgotten stamp
Mami Doodles - Mostly Blue
Stamp Something - Cute Somethings

Couldn't resist another OLW

The challenge at One Layer Wednesday is to simply use sentiments... no images whatsoever!
I found these sentiments in one of my little drawers and couldn't resist another bash!
I embossed the front of the card with a Nestie and then placed the cling stamps into the embossed square. When I was happy with the position of the stamps I pressed an acrylic block onto them and then lifted it to ink up the stamps.
One press and it was done.
I can't actually find the link to add this card to OLW... but I hoped you'd like to see it anyway!
OLW 37 - SentimentS

Ribbon and Lace

I liked the idea of the Sew Easy from We R Memory Keepers, but when it arrived I was a little surprised how far apart it pierced the holes. In fact, I bought a complete kit with several heads and various flosses, plus the piercing mat. It finds piercing my regular cardstock rather difficult as the head is only made of plastic, however, it just about managed with the straight stitch.
The thread I used came from The Ribbon Reel and I did the straight stitches and then added the bow made with a doubled length of thread using my bowmaker. I have devised a method of tying bows with the bowmaker, but attaching them to the ribbon or thread already on the card. It's a bit fiddly but I think it looks good that way.
The 'lace' is made with a Stampin' Up border punch and the ribbon was rescued from a Christmas gift some years ago. Waste not, want not, as my old mum used to say!
The sentiment was done on the computer and the image is from Stampin' Up.
Really Reasonable Ribbons - Heart Theme
Pink Gem - Ribbon and Lace
Craft Your Days Away - Love
Southern Girls - Totally Loved up!

Brown plus One

I love the combination of brown and pink and I love Clean & Simple cards, so I guess that has something to do with how I arrived at this card!
In fact the brown is so deep that I have to put it against a piece of black card to see that it is actually brown.
The image and sentiment are from Stampin' Up, the heart being almost mounted on a Cuttlebug embossed square.
A sort-of Valentine card I think!
Craft Your Days Away - Love
Sweet Stampin Challenge  - Clear as Mud
Fresh Brewed - Valentine Card
Totally Papercrafts - Add a heart

Another Golden Wedding card

This is the second of 6 Golden wedding cards I made recently.
I opted for a sentiment in grey for this card,as I wasn't happy with the custom  gold colour  I had tried to make in Word, however my friend Mandi gave me the RGB combo she uses to make a great shade of gold, so I shall probably be using that next time.
This is really C&S with  the numeral and embossing by Cuttlebug and the sentiment mounted on Nesties. The flowers are from a Woodware punch and for the leaves I used a Leonie Em punch.
Cute Card Thursday - Recipe 1-2-3 (1 numeral, 2 leaves 3 flowers)
Challenge Up your life - Clean & Simple
Raise the Bar - N.E.W  (Nestie, Embellishments, White)
Simply Create - Use your punches
Simon Says - Bingo (Punches, Flowers, Gems)

Another fancy fold

For the past few years I have been making cards for the son of a friend, the first of which was a congratulations card for obtaining his HGV licence. Each year since, I've made a birthday card for him with a truck on it!
This year she asked me to make cards for him from both her and her parents. So this is my card this year from his grandparents. I decided to go a little retro!
Fred She Said paper and  mounted on Spellbinders, minimal colouring and a little distressing and that's it!
Allsorts - Card for a Male
Creative Card Crew - For Men!

More than one fold

One evening at my choir, I had requests for six Golden Wedding cards. In fact they were for just 4 couples but nevertheless, it quite an achievement for quite a few people.

This is the first of my cards. I just made up this fold, which is simply a double tent fold at the base with a single, larger tent fold stuck onto it. Easy peasy!

The die-cutting is from Spellbinder dies, apart from the numerals which are from Cuttlebug's Olivia alphabet. The embossing is from Cuttlebug folders.

I made the flowers from a Woodware punch and trimmed them with a few adhesive pearls.

The names were computer generated!

It's my DT contribution for One Stop Crafts challenge this week, which is More than one fold!

DO join us!

Big Deal Alphabet

My lovely friend Mandi gave me this fabulous Stampin' Up Big Deal Alphabet when I went to see her last week. I spent some time this afternoon trimming and mounting the stamps. I had to think carefully what I was doing as these were double-mounted, something I haven't previously done.
I also cut some pieces of acetate into rectangles and stamped each letter in a corner of a sheet using my Lego positioner so that I have a ready made set to use for getting the stamps where I want them each time the set is used.

You can see a tutorial here on how I use my my granddaughter's Lego to position stamps where I want them!
I got the idea to stamp 'baby' in this way from using a Heidi Swapp stamp in a previous post.
I think I shall get quite a it of mileage from these stamps! I hope Mandi doesn't regret giving them to me!
Mami Doodles - Mostly Blues

Happy Valentines

A member of my choir asked me to make a Valentine card for her husband, with this image on it. She also requested a clarinet if possible and some musical reference as he is a musician.
This is what I came up with. Scraps of Clare Curd  Signature Range and Pink Petticoat Harlequin papers, plus a musical thumbprint and a sentiment and his clarinet of course.
I made the sentiment on the computer and threw the little red heart in for luck. Considering it's an odd combo, I don't think that it turned out too badly!
Kaboodle Doodles - Black & White + 1
Oldie but Goodie - Bright and Cheerful (The spotty paper is VERY old)
Tuesday Throwdown - Valentine
Promarkers Challenge - All you need is love
Phindy's Place - Valentine
Bunny Zoe Crafts - Love is in the Air
Marks Finest Papers - Use Hearts
Fresh Brewed - Valentine

OLW 37

The challenge at One Layer Wednesday this time around is to use just sentiment stamps... no images!
I've had this sentiment for yonks and have never managed to get around to using it, but think it's literally fabulous! I believe it is a Heidi Swapp stamp.
I decided to add the age inside the card and make it visible by having an aperture made and embossed with a Nestie circle.
Looking through my supplies, it seems that these are my only numeral stamps they're from a See Dees set and are not quite what I would have chosen to go with the font of the sentiment, but as there was no other choice... that's it for now. I think I shall have to remedy that situation however.
OLW 37 SentimentS
Top Tip Tuesday - All Sentimental
Charisma Cardz - Magic Numbers

Moonlit night

Here's another one layer card, made with the masking and sponging technique. I felt that these trees (Stampin' up) were a little sparsely branched  for the overall image, but as a group are just about alright. I was quite pleased with the colouring around the moon on this one.
I haven't added a sentiment and am not sure what would be most suitable... any suggestions?
Lil' Red Wagon - One Layer Card
Scrap Creations - Winter Blast
Everybody Art - Snow

Baby Blue

A friend asked me to make a birth congratulation card for the child of a couple whose wedding card I made quite some time ago. It was nice to be asked again.
The images are from Stampin' Up, this set was a gift from my friend Mandi, and the paper from Pink Petticoat, I love this delicate Harlequin pattern. The name was die cut form my Cuttlebug Baby face alphabet.
Crafts and Me - Monochrome
Only 17 days until the first challenge from "Less is More"

WOYWW

Just look at this pile of booty on my desk today!
I have a new friend whom I met via my blog and whom I have now met in person. She is called Mandi and she lives on the Isle of Wight, just a short boat trip away from me. You may know her as she frequently joins WOYWW!
Well.... I hope you've got a cuppa and can settle down to listen... she had the idea of us starting a New Challenge Blog together, specifically for Clean & Simple Cards. You may know how much I love them... well Mandi does too.
So I popped over to the island last week to meet with Mandi and between us, started to put our new blog together!
You can see it, it's called "Less is More".
We have been overwhelmed with the amount of support our venture has received so far and can't wait for the challenges to begin.
The first one will start on February 5th and I hope that some of you who love C&S can join us!
What is on my desk is a by-product of my visit. Mandi and I had a wonderful day and she GAVE me all these sets of stamps which she no longer requires. I couldn't believe my luck, she is SO kind!
I woke late this morning and have only just got around to doing my posting, hence the reason for being so far down the list!
Still no baby as yet, but my daughter is hoping it won't be too much longer before it arrives.
Hop over to Julia's ( the link is on my sidebar) and see the workdesks of the world.

Stampin' Up

I have always loved Stampin' Up products from the moment I first saw them, and then my bloggy friend Victoria became a Stampin' Up Demonstrator and... Bingo, I had my source for SU products at the end of an email!
In fact I belong to one of Victoria's Stamping Clubs, whereby I buy a few things each month and one month in 10, I get to be the 'Virtual Hostess' and get some free goodies. I've also received a few bonus items from Victoria along the way... How cool is that!
There is a link to her blog on my sidebar, maybe you'd like to check it out. She is a prolific stamper and is full of great ideas. She can supply you with the products you need to try out some of her suggestions.
I can't wait for my parcel to arrive each month.
If you fancy being a Demonstrator yourself, or just to buy products... simply contact Victoria for details.
Thanks Victoria!

Spotty and Dotty

I have used the technique of using a DP as the image for a card before and the idea jumped into my mind for the Spots and Dots challenge at My Time to Craft this week. I think I could have chosen more subtle colours, but I thought of combining it with another challenge which asked for these shades, but as  didn't write it in my notebook, I can't remember which that challenge was. Such are my powers of recall.
These papers are a mix of Cuddly Buddly and Pink Petticoat.
I decided to make another card with a more muted paper... no spots and dots, to see the difference in effect it would have. It's quite marked isn't it!

There are endless effects possible, simply by cutting pieces of Designer Paper into different shapes and mounting them on card. I like the symmetry of this one. I'm not sure but I think this paper may be a Laura Ashley.
Only 18 Days to go until the launch of "Less is More"!

White Wedding

I enjoy making both wedding cards and wedding stationery, this was commissioned by a friend.
I love white on white and veer towards it very often, and here is yet another example.
The Cuttlebug embossing  was extended by by using it from both edges of the background card and where the two sections of embossing didn't quite match, this was covered with the central band and ribbon.
The sentiment was written on the computer and mounted on Nestie Hearts, with a few punched Woodware flowers added.
Clean and Simple!
Cupcake Craft  - Wedding
Lexi's Creations - Say it with Love
Shabby Tea Room - White with 1 other colour(Silver)
Sketchy Colours - White

Bare tree

Since discovering One Layer cards, I have really enjoyed trying the different techniques which can be employed  to make them, and using masking and sponging to create a background has become a firm favourite of mine.
For this, I cut a square from a piece of scrap paper with a Nestie and positioned it over the card front securing it  with some low tack tape.
I tore one edge of a Post-it and added that at the bottom to create the ground and added a circle to mask the area for the moon.
After sponging with SU Bashful Blue and adding a little yellow around the moon, I removed the masks and stamped the Darkroom Door trees in black Stazon. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up.
Challenge up your life - Clean & Simple
One Layer Wednesday - Barely there
Only 19 days before the launch of "Less is More"!

Wax resist flower

I love the colours in this card. Those of you who visited my blog last Wednesday may have seen the stash which had just arrived. This image is from the Darkroom Door set, used together with the Adirondack inks which I showed you then.
I stamped the image, tore the edges and then coloured in the petals with a yellow crayon (pinched from my granddaughter's crayon box). I scratched at the wax with a pokey tool and then began to sponge on the ink, starting with cranberry at the top and then with caramel at the bottom. When I had finished inking I rubbed the waxed part with a paper towel to remove any surplus ink!
I tore the background paper and then stamped it with a Crafty Individuals crackle stamp and then my SU spotty wheel.
A length of raffia was attached with the ribbon and it was done!
2 Sisters - Flowers
Craft Your Days Away - Anything Goes
Crafty Emma - NO designer Papers
Fairy Tale Challenge - Flowers
The Stamp Man - Distressing
Only 20 days to the launch of "Less is More".

Treading Water

Since I went to the Isle of Wight on Thursday, I seem to have been in a whirl!
I met Mandi for the first time and we spent the day getting to know each other and starting to think about  getting everything sorted for the launch of our new Challenge Blog "Less is More"! Since then we have hardly had a break in the emails between us.
We have both been overwhelmed by the fantastic support that the blog is receiving and to date has 118 Followers... a number which seems to grow each time we look. We will be so delighted to see everyone participate even if only from time to time, and look forward to our first challenge with great anticipation!
For now, I can't seem to get anything finished, I keep flitting from task to task, but it is very exciting!
Anyway here is a card for a few challenges.
Allsorts - Teal Blue & Brown
Charisma  Cards - Good Luck
Clean & Simple - Sketch 123

A New Blog!

A new blog challenge is starting on February 5th dedicated to the promotion of Clean and Simple Cards.
It's called "Less is More"  and my friend Mandi and I have taken the leap of faith to bring it to you!
We really hope you'll join in and share your talent with us!
If you pop over and follow the blog you won't miss a thing!

Red!

Some time ago I bought the tab punch from Stampin' Up and intended getting the stamps which went with it. Somehow the time went by and before I knew it the stamp set had disappeared from the catalogue. However, I managed to get a set second hand, which arrived today and this is my first play with them. I really like them.
For this card, after heat embossing in gold, I used half a tab to make each handbag, the capital letter C from my Cuttlebug Olivia Alphabet dies for the handles and some commas from my Cuttlebug  Hippie Chick Alphabet dies for the clasps.
Apparently there are loads of things that you can do with this particular punch, but I've yet to exploit more projects. The sentiment is also from Stampin' Up.
Crafty Cardmakers - Use red and a die-cut

WOYWW #?

Doesn't look much like my desk, which is probably because it isn't my desk.. it's the pile of things at the ready for me to throw into my car and head off to Bath when I get the call to say that my daughter has gone into labour. She is due to have her second baby on 29th, but she feels that it will be sooner, and I am delegated to look after my granddaughter
What you can see is the new 'travel system' (apparently they're not prams anymore) which we have bought for them. They needed a double buggy and chose a Phil & Ted model, so that's what Mr John Lewis delivered to us. She's a little superstitious about having the pram in the house before the birth, which is why we bought it and had it delivered here.
The pink overnight bag is waiting for me to pop in my laptop and head off. The perfume is a little gift for my daughter after she has delivered... I hope it will make her feel good.
Just to look a little crafty, here is the stash which I found on the doorstep when we got home from choir last night. I don't know when it was delivered but I'll be having a play later!

Head over to Julia's Stamping Ground if you'd like to snoop at the workspaces of the world. There's a permanent link on my sidebar... and enjoy!

Chocolate

The challenge this week at My Time to Craft is Chocolate... either to eat or the colour!
Here I have used an image and sentiment from Whimsie Doodles, coloured with Distress Inks. The papers are digis from Cuddly Buddly.
I got the days muddled and thought that I should be posting this tomorrow and then realised that the challenge began today... that's the thing about retirement, lots of the days seem similar! What it is to be getting old!
I could just fancy a chocolate!
I used the sketch from Card Patterns #97
Top Tip Tuesday - Anything Goes
Stamp Something - Use a  Digi
Kaboodle Doodles - Do it with Digis

Joy Fold New Beginning

I'm always delighted to see signs of Spring, although I guess it will be a while before we see any at anytime soon, after this hard winter we've had so far. I always love to see the snowdrops peeping through just outside my kitchen window.

Here I have used a snowdrop image, I'm not sure of the make, it's an unmounted grey rubber one which I bought on eBay quite some time ago and is a nice size, about 6.5 cms tall. I coloured it with distress inks and added a few highlights with a Gelly Roll Pen.

I like these cards to stay closed when required and so added a photo anchor; I don't like to see the back of brads, so I added  the green strip of card by way of both accent and camouflage.

The Spring sentiment is a Debbi Moore stamp.
Crafty Calendar - New Beginnings
Daring Cardmakers - Snowdrops & Carnations
Allsorts - Fancy Fold
Creative Card Crew - New Beginnings
Cupcake Challenges - Something New - Spring - New beginning (My Gelly Roll pens are a new acquisition too)

Valentines

I thought I would try to be prepared for Valentine's Day this year and start making them for my Choir right now. Everyone seems to wait until the last minute to buy one and then I get rushed off my feet, so this year I thought I would try to get ahead of the game. This I hope will be the first of many.
Again I have used the 'kissing technique'  and think it makes a plain stamp much more interesting. I'll have to experiment with different background stamps to 'kiss the image'.
Hero Arts Heart stamp,
Stampabilities Manuscript stamp
Inca stamp Sentiment
There She Goes - TSG89 - Colour Challenge - Red, Black, Grey, Pink.
The Paper Players PP29 - Happy Valentines
One Stitch at a Time - Valentines

Look what I did!

Following on from the card I made yesterday using the 'kissing technique', I was wondering what other stamps I had which I could utilise for this method of stamping. With a little lateral thought I remembered a piece of scrap rubber and attached EZ mount that I had saved from my latest set of stamps from Stampin' Up. My daughter had bought me the Broadsheet alphabet set for Christmas and there was quite a lot of wastage after I had popped the stamps out of the sheet. Being a squirrel I decided to save it. Then I thought of my Sizzix Bigz tag die and so I cut out the smallest tag from the wastage.

So I inked up the tag in lilac, inked a SU floral spray stamp in black, stamped the tag firstly onto the floral stamp and then onto the card.
I think this one will be quite useful!
Has it given you food for thought?
I hope so!

Kissing Technique

On Split Coast Stampers there is a CAS challenge using the 'kissing technique'. Although I had heard of this, I'd never actually tried it so I thought I'd have a go.
The little Hero Arts  heart stamp is perfectly plain and so ideal for this kind of stamping. The stamp which 'kissed' it was a Stampabilities music manuscript stamp.
I tried a variety of types and colours of ink on the manuscript stamp to tie in with the pink Papermania ink I'd chosen for the heart. Finally I decided on SU Ruby Red.
So the heart was inked with the pink ink, the manuscript stamp was inked with the red ink and I then stamped the heart first on the manuscript stamp and then on the card. Hey Presto!
Because the image is an impression of an impression it turns out backwards, but as the music is handwritten it doesn't look too wrong!
The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Whimsical Words.
Since taking the picture I have stuck the right hand side of the border down properly!
Sweet Stampin' - Try something different

Holly, Holly, Holly!

Heather Telford in Canada is such a huge inspiration to me. I just love the way she approaches card-making and  here is another card which I made under her influence!
The image is from Tim Holtz and this morning I was playing around with different mediums to see what I could come up with after looking at Heather's blog.
In fact these tiles were made from some of my experiments, which I decided were good enough to use.
From Left to right

• Alcohol Ink background pounced in Bottle, Oregano and Lettuce, the image stamped in Stazon Olive Green
• Image stamped with Versamark and clear embossed, then sponged with SU Sage Shadow and a little Stazon Olive Green (I wanted this darker colour, but had to clean off the embossing with a little stamp cleaner on a Q tip to remove the ink from the leaves to make them pop a little more )
• Image stamped in Versamark and embossed in Evergreen, then sponged with SU Mellow Moss.

All three were then double embossed with clear UTEE.

The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

I'm quite pleased with this one!

Bah Humbug - Holly and Fairies (Needless to say this is the holly!)

Christmas Card Challenges - Embossing

ABC Christmas Challenge - A - Anything Christmas

Just Us Girls - Envy of the Envies...Make a matching envelope!
Cute Card Thursday - Out with the old (The stamp is over a year old)

A card for a child

It was my turn to choose the challenge at One Stop Crafts Challenge this week and I decided to use this charming image from Robyn's Fetish, our sponsor this week, to make my card for the Card for a Child challenge.
The paper is also a digi download from the same source.
Once more it's a simple design, which I have used in many mutations over time. The border punch is Fiskars Upper Crest and is one of my favourites. I had quite a job to find it, but after scouring the internet, I was lucky enough to get one.
The tiny tag is from a Cuttlebug die.
Tonight there is a 'Come and Sing' concert at my choir. We will be doing Mozart's Requiem and my husband and I will be singing the bass and alto solo parts respectively. I might just have to have a glass of port before we start... it helps to lubricate the vocals!

Silver, Green and Gold

I love these simple sketch stamps from Stampin' Up. I love the unfussy look they have. This is a first inking for this particular one, but I'm sure it will get lots of use in the future.
An any occasion card, but whenever I make a card using greens, a lady from my choir always springs to mind as she makes a bee-line for my green cards every time! I wonder if this will appeal to her!
The Playdate Cafe - Colour Challenge - Green, Gold & Silver
If the Shoe Fits - Ribbons & Bows

Another card for a Chap

Here is another card for a chap... those strange creatures we all find it so difficult to design cards for!
This one has a distressed newsprint background (I actually used the sports page and if you zoom in you may be able to see a few scores.)
The image is one I've had for yonks and is by Personal Impressions. I think I got it second hand on eBay when I was first trying to build up my stash. The rather fabby ribbon was part of a birthday gift from the very lovely Julia of WOYWW fame. I think it looks wonderful in this setting.
To make the background, I swiped ink randomly across the paper, then I screwed it up, flattened it out again and then gently added a slightly darker shade of ink to highlight the top of the crinkles. Job done!
Alphabet Challenge - J- Journey
Sweet Stampin' - Favourite song - I am Sailing (I love Rod Stewart)
Southern Girls Challenge - Anything Goes

Masculine card

Cards for men always seem to be in demand and I think that this image from Stampin' Up is a perfect subject for a masculine card.
I distressed the image with Ranger Weathered Wood ink, which matched really well with this piece of Core'dinations card. I embossed it with a Cuttlebug folder before lightly sanding it.
I was really sad to hear that my local Paper Mill Shop will be closing in March! Where am I going to get my card from I wonder? I'm really sad about it... but not half as sad as the people who have worked there for many years!

Crafty Catz Challenge - Food and Drink
Aud's Sentiments - 2 Word Sentiment
Anything Challenge - Anything 'C' Clean & Simple and Chaps(this is the label I use for all my masculine cards)
Off the Wall Craftiness - Colour Challenge

Butterfly birthday

This is the first time I have inked this hounds-tooth Stampin' Up butterfly and I rather like what I see. I'm really pleased that I bought this Butterfly Prints set. The sentiment is also a fairly new acquisition from the SU Happy Everything set.  The check ribbon was rescued from some Christmas presents given to me by my daughter either last year or the year previously.The robust punch used for the border is also from SU and can chomp its way through fairly heavyweight card.
Clean & Simple yet again!
Stamping Vacation - Pick 3 things (Actually I have about 4 from the list... White background, red paper, punches, buttons,
Aly's Sunday challenge - Anything Goes
Creative Inspirations - Use Something New
Craft Your Days Away - Punch it Out
Lil' Red Wagon - Leftovers
Mark's Finest Papers - Use Something New
Really Reasonable Ribbons - Something new plus ribbon

Baby Greetings

I bought these Stampin' Up stamps long ago on eBay, from the States I believe, and they were second hand at the time, but I don't think I've actually used this one before. I can't imagine why not as I love it!
There is a tall Christmas tree, a tall flower and this tall pram in the set together with a few tiny sentiments and shapes. I think they may just get an airing round about now.
One Layer Wednesday 35 - Use yellow
Alphabet challenge - I - Infants
Creative Inspirations - Something New (I haven't used the stamp or sentiment previously although they are rather dated)
Pile it on - Brand New
Sew Many Challenges - New things
Card Making Mamas - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - New Beginnings