Wednesday 30 March 2011

Clean and Simple FTL 133

I made this card yesterday and forgot to post it!
It's for the Sketch challenge at Clean and Simple FTL 133, where the decorated panel has to be 3D.
I used my SU 5 petal flower punch for the flowers and stamped the background strip with a script stamp in Not Quite Navy.
I had the buttons as a gift some time ago and attached a little pink floss to them.
The sentiment was a cheapy Inkadinkado stamp from Make It at Farnborough.
Done!

Just add Ink

Just Add Stamps is the challenge from Just Add Ink this week and here is the One Layer Card  which I made for my daughter-in-law's birthday this week. They have some fabulous pink cushions and a pink lampshade in their sitting room so I thought this might look rather nice on their mantelpiece.
I actually bought her some Mineral lip products and she was thrilled when she opened the package to see what I had bought, but inside the package were the wrong colour products. (Not what it said on the pack.) Such a nuisance to have to send it back to me and for me to exchange it and then send it back again!
Hey Ho!
The flower image is from Penny Black and the sentiment from Stampin' Up!
I masked the card to sponge the background for the image, and then overstamped with a Crafty Individuals crackle stamp in gold.

Tuesday 29 March 2011

My Time to Craft and NEC goodies

At My Time to Craft this week, the challenge is entitled Mum's the Word and with the approach of Mother's Day in the UK, a very appropriate theme.
I have used all SU products apart from the little 'With love' sentiment, which I believe is from Personal Impressions.
The background stamp plus the flowers and the butterfly are from The 'Bliss' Sale a Bration set and the letters are stamped with the Big Deal alphabet.
The colours are Crumb Cake and Baja Breeze, all liberally twinkled with Glamour Dust.
These are my goodies from the NEC.
I had a lovely day, travelling up with Anne (Stargroves) and meeting up with Eileen (Ikki). It was lovely to be with friends and see such lovely crafty things at the same time!
Now to play with all this stuff!

Saturday 26 March 2011

"Less is More" Sketch

This week is the first time that we have had a sketch on "Less is More" and  as you can imagine, it's a simple one!
I decided to do both masculine and feminine takes on it.
You can see details of what I used on the LIM blog.
Personally I prefer the masculine version... I had the idea of what to do and did the pink one first, but not being absolutely satisfied with it, followed up with the male version.
We went to a Wine and Tapas evening at our club restaurant last night. I think I'll spend today quietly!
2 Sisters - Make your own Embellishments

Guest Designer for March Simply Stampin' - Weather

Here we are at my final week as Guest Designer for Sweet Stampin'. The theme this week is Weather and I chose this cute Stampin' Up image of wellies!
I decided to go with a monochrome feel after I'd coloured all the wellies in county green!
There is a scrap of Pink Petticoat paper and  a double ribbon with an umbrella charm.
The sentiment was computer generated.
Sweet and Simple!
Sweet Stampin' -  Weather

Friday 25 March 2011

OLW Eggs

Just a quickie with my card for Susan's One Layer Wednesday challenge which this week is eggs!
I remembered these stamps which have been hiding away fro quite a while... I don't know the make as they are unmounted and I think I got them from eBay.
I've simply heat embossed them in gold and added a sentiment!
They really do make a great impression!
OLW46 - EGGS

Trees

This card is one of those rescue jobs.
All had gone well until I added the sentiment (it originally started out as a one layer card), and then oops! the sentiment didn't look straight, despite using my stamp positioner! So I made another on the computer and cut it out with a Spellbinder's Tag.
I've made lots of cards using this technique, whereby I masked the card front with post-its and sponged the colours for the background in the gap. I use Mellow Moss, Pretty in Pink and Bashful Blue applied with sponge daubers.
The trees are from a Kodomo stamp, using Olive Green Stazon.
Sometimes I don't feel too happy with the sponging, (not in this case in fact) but often after the images have been applied over the top the sponging looks fine!
Alphabet Challenge - Trees

Thursday 24 March 2011

Mother's Day in Spring

Here's another springlike Mother's Day card.
This one has a triple embossed gold panel imprinted with flowers from  the Stampin' Up 'Believe' set.
After it had hardened I overprinted it with a handwriting stamp.
With a simple matting and a Mother's Day sentiment stamp the card was complete.
Creative Cottage - Spring has Sprung
Paper Pretties - Spring

Wednesday 23 March 2011

Mothering Sunday - Spring

I wonder what it is about Spring flowers that seems so new and fresh?
Here I have used a digi image, which I think is from Fred She Said and gently coloured it with Distress inks. I may well have used Copics if I'd had different card, but I'm using stuff I got from my local, soon to close Paper Mill Shop, which doesn't take kindly to blending Copics.
The gingham ribbon is also fresh and springlike and the simple design is one of my favourites.
The sentiment was computer generated and printed directly onto the card. The script font is Precious and the type font is Aldine.
I'm still in Bath looking after my granddaughter, but she has an appointment at the doctor's this afternoon. Hopefully she'll bounce back soon after that!
Creative, creative - Spring
Ooh La La - Mother's Day
Stamp with Fun - Spring
Alys Sunday Challenge - Spring
Dream Valley Challenges - Mother's Day

Tuesday 22 March 2011

Ladies day

I am staying with my daughter in Bath, looking after my not too well granddaughter Daisy. She has the snuffles and intermittent high temperatures, together with a cough and general fractiousness!
I should have posted this earlier in the day but my hands were otherwise occupied.
The challenge at My Time to Craft this week is entitled Ladies Day and I made this card for a choir member whose sister is about to retire.
The stamp is a digi from  and I think it's fab.
The paper is from Pink Petticoat and the sentiment was computer generated.
Short and sweet... but duty calls!

Sunday 20 March 2011

Clean & Simple Sketch FTL 132

I bought this stamp from QVC a few weeks ago. Mandi told me about a sale which was in progress and so I took a look and really fancied this poppy pod image. It is actually quite large, this is the largest square card you can make from a sheet of A4.
I stamped it with Soft Suede ink and then embossed the image with clear embossing powder, then  over-painted with a little Green Patina Perfect Pearls. using a water brush. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up.
The paper is My Mind's Eye and a simple ribbon treatment finishes it off.
Clean & Simple  - FTL 132

Saturday 19 March 2011

A Masculine Card for "Less is More"

Goodness me, last week was our best yet at "Less is  More". We had 267 entries, which took quite a bit of time to comment on. I think I got round all of them and there were some stunners!
This week our theme is a card for a man.  I wonder why we all seem to find it so difficult?
Here I have used a Stampin' Up image and teamed it with a Pink Petticoat paper, in monochrome chocolate.
I bought this set of Nesties labels recently as I had admired them on someone else's blog. Unlike the squares, circles or ovals, there isn't a large and small set allowing you to have a small increment in size, so I went about finding a creative way of trimming the diecuts in my Cuttlebug. There's a tutorial of how I did this on the "Less is More" blog.
I've also adapted the Spellbinders tags ... I shortened the white sentiment label using the smallest die from the set and then altered the large one in the set to make a mount. There are pics of how I did this also on the challenge blog.
I have since added my son-in-law's name in die-cut letters as it is his birthday this coming week and he does love a good wine.
What would I do without my Cuttlebug? Go out and buy another straight away I think!

Slugs and Snails - Guest Designer Sweet Stampin'

Here is my third card as Guest Designer at Sweet Stampin'. This time the theme is Slugs and Snails and Puppy Dogs' Tails. I've had this clear stamp set for quite some time and sadly don't remember the make. I think it's kinda cute for a belated card I think!
I enjoyed colouring it with Distress inks.

Friday 18 March 2011

Anniversary card

I discovered a different way of dry embossing today and so decided to try it for this anniversary card for a friend's daughter.
I cut the square and the large heart with Nesties and whilst still in the die I placed them on a Spellbinders Impressabilities stencil and embossed them using my tan mat. In this way you get the pattern in the centre of the shape and the embossed edge as well. I think it's really clever!
I believe that the 10th anniversary is normally regarded as the Tin Wedding so I used this dull silver as a backdrop. The sentiments were computer generated and cut with smaller hearts.
A couple of punched flowers and a butterfly, a few gems and a sprinkling of Glamour Dust and it was done.
Charisma Cardz - Die Cuts
Fun with Shapes - No DP

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Some Green

I was asked to make a card a for a friend's 2 year old granddaughter and not to make it pink!
I decided on mainly primary colours and I'm reliably informed that all kids like to see their names on their cards! SO here's another side step card with Katy's name and her age, plus a bunch of daisies and a rocking horse. My friend was pleased so I hope Katy will be too! I thought she might like a little glitter on her name also!
The letters are Sizzix, the number is Quickutz and the flowers are Cuttlebug. The sentiment and the scallop are from SU.
Creative Card Crew - Green

Tuesday 15 March 2011

Keys

The challenge at My Time to Craft this week is entitled Keys.
I thought I would try another side step card for this using my neighbourhood wheel stamp from Stampin' Up. They key charm is mounted on a Cuttlebug Tiny tag and the sentiment and flowers are from SUs Sale a bration set So Happy For You.
I have since added another flower in the gap along the bottom row.
I am in the process of having a bridge replaced and spent about an hour and a half in the dentist's chair on Friday. Sadly on Saturday I swallowed one of my temporary crowns and had to return to the dentist yesterday for remedial treatment. Let's hope that this one doesn't end up in the same place as the last one! The nurse asked if I had looked for the errant crown , but I informed her that I had declined that opportunity!
Allsorts - Good Luck

Saturday 12 March 2011

Off the Edge with "Less is More"

For the last couple of days, we've had our grandchildren staying with us. My husband was so excited to have Daisy coming to stay as they have a very special relationship... they're 'best mates' and spend much time together when she comes to stay. My daughter is always glad of a hand  to help out with meals and bathtime etc. too. Last night her husband joined us and tomorrow Daisy is being taken to a Peppa Pig show at the theatre in Winchester. I think it may be Grandpops and Daddy who accompany her! Sebastian is not yet sleeping through the night, but hopefully he'll get there soon!
On to this card, for which I used a Rollagraph wheel, stamped in Versamark and embossed with white detail embossing powder.
I then coloured the flowers with Stampin' Up inks applied with a water brush.
You can see details of how I made it on my "Less is More" blog as this is my sample card for this week.
The challenge is a One Layer Card with a theme entitled Off the Edge!
Needless to say, not a lot of crafting has been done in the last couple of days, but my daughter has asked for a wedding card for a friend in Australia, so I'll have to find time to squeeze that in before they leave tomorrow!
Have a good weekend everyone.

Guest Designer for March Simply Stampin'

This is the second week of my term as Guest Designer for Simply Stampin' and the theme this week is your Favourite Movie!
This one, in case you hadn't guessed, is PS. I love you!
Simplicity itself,  a stamped script image covered by a cut out envelope image (Penny Black) and an added computer generated sentiment.

Thursday 10 March 2011

Modern Mum

 I bought this Inkadinkado stamp at the Farnborough craft fair a couple of weeks ago. The stamps were being sold at 3 for £6, which I thought was incredibly cheap.
I inked the heart with a couple of shades of pink ink from Papermania, and used Whisper and Marvy pens to colour the stem and leaves. Once stamped the flower still looked a little uninteresting despite having used two colours,  so I stamped on some scrap, cut out a mask and stamped the script across the heart in a deeper shade still.
I had intended adding some ribbon or baker's twine beside the border, but I messed up the punching and had to do it again, making the card too narrow for any ribbon treatment. This also meant that the pink showing on the right hand side of the card was a larger area and that too looked a bit uninteresting. I decided to over stamp that with some script, so I masked the rest of the card and used my SU French Script stamp to add a little je ne sais quois! Mishap number two... I stamped it upside down. Actually as the colour is so close to the original, it doesn't really notice... I hope!
Anyway somebody's Mum might like it!
PS A couple of people have commented that they didn't think it needed anything else... I quite agree, which is why it is as it is! I was going to add something when the white part was larger.... now it can't take it because of the proportions... just thought I'd clear that one up!
To answer another query, the lettering is from Cuttlebug's Typewriter alpha dies.

Wednesday 9 March 2011

Good Luck

Here is another of the cards I made for my friend for colleagues at her school. A number will be leaving soon and so a few of the order were for Good Luck cards.
I don't remember the make of the digi paper, it may be Pink Petticoat but I couldn't be sure. I made the sentiment on the computer and mounted it on a Spellbinder slider tag. The border is from a Stampin' up punch and the little glittered butterfly is also a Stampin' Up product. It actually has a few pearls on it's back but they're rather difficult to spot amongst the twinkle.
This is one of my least favourites of the cards I made her, it was hard to think of 15 different designs!
Stamp with fun - Monochrome blue
Scrappy Frog -Good Luck!

Tuesday 8 March 2011

Jewels

I'm desperately trying to get a bunch of cards finished for this evening to take to my choir. I had a lot of orders last week and we were away visiting our kids for a long weekend, so crafting time was limited. When I did get back and had some time, I didn't have any inspiration!
Having dug out my Stampin; Up pastels to use for the card for our "Less is More" challenge I realised that I loved the effect they gave, so I got our this little Stampin' Up wheel and inked it with Versamark before adding the colours with a cotton bud. I used Bashful Blue and Mellow Moss. The flower images have a dotty texture and this shows up really well with the pastels.
I made the sentiment on the computer and matched the ink colour fairly closely to the Bashful Blue. The butterfly is also from Stampin' Up. It was inked with Bashful Blue and is cut out with the SU Butterfly punch with a little added bling. These are my Jewels for the challenge at My Time to Craft this week, for which this is my DT card.
Actually, looking at this card now, I think I may go and add a bunch more gems as the centres of the flowers in the border!

Do you think that's an improvement? It's certainly more jewelly!
Come and join us, I'm sure you'd love to get out the bling!

Sunday 6 March 2011

New Job

A friend of mine is responsible for organising greetings cards for members of staff at her school and for some time has been asking me to make them. She ordered 15 cards the other day and this is one of them.
I took my inspiration from last week's 3 Squares challenge at "Less is More" and used my Baroque Border SU Stampin wheel, which I stamped in Versamark and heat embossed in gold. I then cut out three squares from the strip with square Nesties.
Mounted on white then black, the edges being punched with my Fiskars Upper Crest border punch... I love this punch!
The sentiment was made on the computer.
We've been away since Friday, so I've been blogging on the hoof as it were, but we'll soon be home again so I can get back to my desk!
One Stop Crafts - Black, White  plus one other colour (Gold)
CES Challenges - Good Luck/St Patrick's Day (Obviously this is the Good Luck version)

Saturday 5 March 2011

March Guest Designer Sweet Stampin'




Some time ago I received an email from Faye at the Sweet Stampin' challenge, with a request that I become a Guest Designer with them for the month of March.
What an honour to be asked! Daring Cardmakers last month and Sweet Stampin' this one.  I shall start to get a Big Head!
This week as you can see is a sketch challenge and I chose to make a wedding card.
I used a heart from the SU Polka Dot Punches set, embossed in silver and mounted on Nesties. Other layers are embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. The scalloped edge was made with a SU border punch which is great at punching through fairly heavyweight card. The flowers were made with a Woodware punch, gently shaped with an embossing tool.
I haven't done a sketch challenge for a while so it made a pleasant change for me!
Check them out... there are some great DT examples!
Craft Your Days Away - Black & White

Pastel Colours

Some time ago, I won a box of Stampin' Up pastels in a challenge. I really haven't exploited them very much and with the Pastel Colours theme this week at our challenge, "Less is More", I thought that this was the perfect time to try.
I stamped the SU image with Versamark and then used a cotton bud (Q tip) to add the colour. I used Almost Amethyst, and Mellow Moss with a hint of Sage Shadow.
The paper is from Fred She Said and I coloured the ribbon with a Copic marker as I didn't have any that even approached the correct shade.
The sentiment is from a recent SU Sale a Bration  set, stamped in Almost Amethyst ink.
We had the most amazing week at "Less is More" last week, with 231 entires. Wonderful!
If you haven't ventured over there and you fancy the idea of Clean and Simple cards... do pop over and join us... we'll look forward to seeing you there.
Stamping Vacation - Picture Inspiration Challenge

Thursday 3 March 2011

Petits Pieds

I've had this sentiment stamp for ages and somehow it never looked right whenever I tried to use it on a card. I have several stamps with baby feet on and bought the stamp to use with them, but it always seemed too large. On this CAS card though I think the proportion is OK.
I used the SU French script background stamp which is in-keeping with the sentiment. All stamping is in SU Bashful Blue.
A double ribbon and a charm and that's it!
Paper Sundaes - How Charming!
My partner in crafting crime - Baby

Wednesday 2 March 2011

WOYWW

This is a real quickie.
The last thing I was doing at my desk was making envelopes.
I really like this particular size of card... not really sure of the dimensions, but it's about 6" x 5" or thereabout and I don't know if you can buy that shaped envelopes, so I make them.
I'm sorry I didn;t get around to too many people last week, but "Less is More" has 199 entries last week, and that takes a bit of time to comment on!
I'll try harder this week.
Pop over to Julia to see the desks of the world. Link on the sidebar!.
Happy WOYWW

Tuesday 1 March 2011

Mothering Sunday

This card is very similar to one I made for our challenge "Less is More" last week, the only difference being in the addition of the ribbon and a different sentiment.
Lots of people at my choir ask for cards to say Mothering Sunday, rather than on Mother's Day.
The sentiment was made on the computer and you can see a tutorial on how I did this on our "Less is More" blog.
The image is a digi from Fred she Said, coloured with Distress Inks and a little Perfect Pearls. The ribbon is from my stash. I find this type of card very satisfying both to make and to look at!
Bunny Zoe - Spring Flowers everywhere!
Crazy Challenge - Here comes Spring
Incy Wincy - Spring is in the air
House of Gilli - Use Green
KB Challenges - Anything using a digi
One Stop Crafts - Spring Flowers

Infants

At Farnborough last week, one stand had a deal of 3 rubber stamps for £6 and they were quality wooden backed stamps from Inkadinkado. I bought three super sentiments and three images of which this is one. When I got it home I sort of regretted buying it, but once I'd started to colour it with Distress Inks, I realised that I'd made no mistake, I think it's cute.
It took me ages going through my ribbons and trimmings, to find sometinng to tone with the colours I'd used for the image, but finally I found this scrap of lace which tones perfectly. It was one of those eureka moments!
Simplicity itself, mounted with Nesties, popped up on dimensionals, with a panel at the bottom embossed with Swiss Dots and edged with a  Stampin' Up border punch, it's my DT card for My Time to Craft this week, where the challenge is entitled Infants!
Since starting our challenge at "Less is More", I'm finding doing any  kind of card other than Clean and Simple quite difficult!