Cuddly

The challenge at Addicted to CAS this time had the code word 

CUDDLY

Isn't that sweet, I can think of a lot of things which are cuddly, including my son's new puppy Minerva, Mini for short, whom I am to meet for the first time on Tuesday.

Here she is

Cuddly or what!

Anyway I don't have a puppy for you I have a couple of bunnies from A Day for Daisies. Their challenge this time is Anything Goes

I think they're quite cuddly too! These have been coloured with Mirage pens

The Hello die is from Mama Elephant.

Mostly Words

I had a wonderful time in Guernsey last week. We stayed at a lovely hotel called the Old Government House in St Peter Port just a stone's throw from the town and the harbour.

Among other things we managed to go to a concert of a French group of Musicians, playing early music on original instruments... viols, lutes, baroque guitar and violin, plus one chap who played every size of recorder. It was terrific!

The weather was very kind... we had sun most days. Here I am on a beach, not quite warm enough to sit but splendid for a walk along the sand. I'm not exactly sure where this was... road signs in Guernsey seem a little sparce!

Here are my cards for this week's Less is More challenge which is entitled Mostly Words.

This card has a huge distressed sentiment from Lili of the Valley, heat embossed with Verdigris embossing powder and over stamped with an Inkylicious floral stamp in Encore Gold ink. The corners were shomped with We R Memory Keepers corner chompers.

This one was cased (plagiarised) from a card my son had sent to him... it appealed to me so I made one like it!

 The die-cut letters are from Memory Box and the rest is computer generated.

This last one is simply some Scrabble letters downloaded from the internet and cut out, then mounted on a black background. Once more the rest of the sentiment was computer generated.

Now to get back to normality and hopefully losing the pounds I must have put on in the last week. We had some amazing food!

Face the Music and Dance

The title of this week's challenge at "Less is More" takes me back to Sunday afternoons when I was a kid watching movies with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers... I loved them. Such elegance!

Anyway, enough of that, the challenge is to have a card with some reference to music or dancing!

I love this little bird from A Day for Daisies, with his bit of music on his wing and tummy. I coloured him with Mirage pens and cut his mount from a Dienamic pierced circle die. The sentiment is computer generated in Sunshine Poppy font.

This is a Technique Tuesday image stamped in Antique Linen Distress Ink and watercoloured  also with Distress Inks. I overstamped it with SU Gorgeous Grunge dots. The manuscript in the background panel is from Artemio and the sentiment from Simon Says Stamp.

Here isa gorgeous Quentin Blake image from Docrafts. Wily Wonka really looks as though he's dancing to me.

The sentiment is computer generated.

I am in Guernsey for a week's holiday. We have never been here before and have been looking forward to it enormously. I'll let you know all about it when I get back!

I see the moon (just)

The challenge at AAA Cards is to include the moon.

Here is a one layer card using a stamp from Penny Black called 'Before the snow'.

I masked off an area of the card with Post it notes and cut a circle for the moon. It's kinda subtle!

I stamped a few trees with Versamark and then gently applied pastels to the ink. The sky was done without any ink, but merely rubbed with a little colour. I then removed the moon mask and stamped some more trees with Versamark adding a slightly darker shade. After stamping off the edges  of the panel with Peeled Paint Distress Ink, I then removed all the masks and stamped one tree in the foreground, adding the sentiment from Memory Box.

Look what the postman brought today!

My first long suffering Cuttlebug has cracked in several vital places, it almost exploded at one time and the handle keeps coming off , so before it gave up the ghost completely I treated myself to another. I couldn't bear the thought of being without one even though I have an EBosser.(It doesn't go backwards like the new versions do apparently). I need that feature to be able to adapt dies to different lengths. So here's my new baby.
I got 15% off from Hobbycraft by joining their craft club or something like that!
Happy Days!

Oriental

Addicted to CAS has the theme Oriental this week. It's not a genre that I tend to favour but I thought I might have a few bits and bobs which would do.

Here is a Spellbinders die frame over a Cuttlebug flourish, both cut from gold mirri card with the panda, which is a letter from a Panda font. I don't know which letter it is I just pressed a whole bunch of letters and removed the ones I didn't want.

I used the frame die as a template to cut out the picture. I decided against colouring the image as the black and white seems quite striking.

My back still isn't too good, I shall be off for an appointment with an osteopath on Monday!

Beverages

It's time for another one layer challenge at Less is More and the theme this week is 

Beverages.

I have made a few cards this week and here they are.

I saw these sentiments attached to this Art Impression image online somewhere and they really amused me. I also love these girls, they really look as though they know how to party!

Whilst I was waiting for this stamp to arrive, I wondered if I had any other image which would work in the same way and I came up with this one.

I stamped the image onto a piece of copy paper, then using Microsoft Word set to 105% which makes the screen size match with an actual A4 sheet, I drew the callouts and added the sentiments.

To get the position of them lining up with the image, I held the paper over the screen and moved the direction and orientation of the callouts appropriately. I printed the card and then stamped the image using a stamp positioner to get it placed accurately.

When the AI Girlfriends stamp arrived I realised that the same arrangement of sentiments worked for this one too!

I love chickens!

Bugaboo and a computer generated sentiment.

This is another Art Impression stamp that I've had for some time, I love the sketchy nature of it. I don't remember the make of the sentiment.

This one has an old Stampin' Up image, heat embossed in silver. It says CLINK at the top. I thought that the snowy embossing folder from Sheena Douglass was rather redolent of champagne bubbles.

I feel as though there should be some cups of coffee to balance out all the hooch, but I've been struggling with a bad back this week and the thought of  a little of the glass that cheers seemed more appealing!

I'm sorry the pictures are dreadful, but I've tried a different arrangement in my craft room and haven't found the right spot for photos yet!

Always too late!

I always intend to get cards posted in time for various challenges, but it seems I have failed yet again.

Here is a card made from the sketch from the last challenge at CAS(e) this Sketch

 

Sadly it's too late for that challenge but it is hopefully in time for a couple of others!

The indomitable Darnell, has the second of her challenges to use some schtuff which has been bought but not christened ie never used  before.

For my card I have a couple a new things. The Sheena Douglass embossing folder of a snowy effect was purchased recently when I bombed up to see my friend Anne in Berkshire. A trip to the craft shop couldn't be avoided and I kinda came out with a couple of things.

The snowflake die from Simon Says Stamp is on its first outing too. I have used the 'joy' before but not many times. So I'm adhering to the Christmassy bit of Darnell's challenge.

CAS.ology has a challenge to use three things and I have three die-cuts on my card so this is for that too!

Chocolate Mint!

I must confess that I am quite partial to a chocolate mint, although I am on a Slimming World regime at the moment... so any choccies have to be Synned! 

I do feel better for having lost a few pounds however, so I don't want to undo any good work!

Here are my cards for the Chocolate Mint challenge at Less is More this week!

The green from the watercolour maker I used for this Impression Obsession stamp changed colour somewhat after adding Glossy Accents... it started off the same colour as the ribbon, but turned slightly more yellow... which is a little odd!

Anyway, the sentiment is from Memory Box, the die from Avery Elle and the Embossing folder from Sizzix.

This is a simple card using a die and stamp combo from Poppy Stamps. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

This is the card I put on the Less is More blog, you can see details there, but I love these trees from Impression Obsession.

This little card features a couple of  flower dies from Simon Says Stamp, sequins from a Dienamics die and a sentiment from Paper Smooches. As the flower dies leave the flower attached to the card stock, I added a sheet of mint card behind the card front, to show through beneath the petals.

My grandchildren have been delivered back to their mummy,,, and returning via the shoe shop for new shoes for school and pre-school respectively went back to the new term with enthusiasm.

It was lovely having them and my heart melted when my little three year old said when he realised that I was returning to my home without them, that he would miss me! Bless!