365 Cards Day 103, Stampin Chic, Spoonful of Sugar, Flutterby Wednesday & If The Shoe Fits

Now this is a bit more like me combining challenges into one card. I almost had withdrawal symptoms with only one challenge in my last post!

This card combines the following 5 challenges:-

• 365 Cards Day 103 - A recipe 4.25 x 5.5'' card, solid background, 2 patterned papers, stamped sentiment and 3 gems.
• Stampin Chic - Sketch for layout
• Spoonful of Sugar - #45 Butterflies
• Flutterby Wednesday - #61 Use ANY sketch and butterflies or fairies
• If the Shoe Fits - Colour Challenge Blue, Green & Yellow

The base card was cut to the correct size and I ran it through the swiss dots cuttlebug folder. I inked arounf the edges a little a it looked too stark. The green paper was a scrap in my offcuts box. The butterfly is from a sheet of paper in Clare Curd's Signature Range 'The Big One' by Papermania. I used the colours of blue, green & yellow from the colour challenge. The gems were added to the green paper in yellow to add a little more of that colour.

The stamped sentiment finishes the card off. I wasn't sure how well it would come out stamping on the embossed background but I think it's come out alright.

CPS 118, 365 Cards 93, Stampin Chic & My Time to Craft

Goodness me it has taken a long time to try and get on the tinterweb tonight. Our service has been terrible for 3 days now and Paul complained to our provider. They are apparrently doing some work and it wll be the same for the whole week. It's blinking frustrating for me but a complete pain for him as he is programming a website for a client and the tinterweb is quite important for that. They are ginving us a refund for the whole week so that's at least a sweetener :)

This is my card for today's challenge Day 93 at 365 Cards. You had to incorporate a phone or the words 'call me' in it. To me, mobile phones and teenagers go hand in had so that spawned the idea for this card.

The layout is courtesy of this week's sketch 118 at CPS. It's quite a while since I have participated in one of their challenges so it makes a nice change to be able to this week. The main paper is from a Dovecraft Smirk paper pack. It had lots of teenager type words on it and is quite sassy. The tiny butterflies and flower paper is the whole reason I bought this pack. It is very textured and has gots lots of glitter on it and is blooming gorgeous. It's also very pink so I have entered it into this weeks challenge at My Time to Craft.

The rubber stamp is from Clare Curds Signature Collection by Papermania and is from a prize that Clare sent me for winning a challenge on her blog. I have selected 2 scraps of paper to piece the clothes. This is something I have only just started to do (I'm not the best stamper!) and I love the results. The rest of the image is coloured with Marvy le Plumes and lots of Sakura clear glitter pen. I have entered this in for the challenge this week at Clare's challenge blog, Stampin Chic.

The image and circle have been matted on scraps of card. The ribbon is from a craft pack at Poundland, the mobile phone is a Doodlebug cardstock sticker and the sentiment is from my Dymo machine. A very teenage sentiment for a teenage card. I have the perfect recipient in mind for it too :)

Stampin Chic, Forever Friends & 365 Cards

Lucky me, I have made this card and managed to get it to tie up with 3 different challenges.

The challenge this week at Forever Friends was to make a card of a different than normal shape. I decided I wanted to make a flower shaped card as I haven't done one before. I used a template from Mel Stampz blog to cut the card shape from a Papermania blank and then resized it to make the 2 smaller outlines.

The challenge at Stampin' Chic this week was to include stitching of some sort, whether real or faux. I used one of the outlines to add faux stitching with a gel pen. The spotted paper is from the Papermania Clare Curd Signature range.  I used rubber stamps from the same range to make the flowers. I just stamped onto some offcuts of card and shaped the smaller flowers to add dimension. The FF bear is a clear sticker mounted onto white card which came free with a magazine. The with love sentiment has been matted onto white card and I have put little dots around the edge to add definition. The flower is from the same sticker sheet. The sister sentiment is cut from a FF decoupage sheet by Papermania.  I have added stickles glue to the flower centres and random dots on the paper. 

The challenge for day 65 at 365 Cards was to make a Mothers Day Card or to make a card to honour a woman in your life. I had intended this card to be sent to my secret sister (she doesn't ead my blog, I'm safe !!) hence the sister heading. However, when I showed it to my hubby he asked if it was for his sister's birthday later this month !!! How organised am I getting, making a card so many weeks in advance. 

Forever Friends, Stampin Chic & 365 Challenges

The Day 59 over at 365 Cards and the challenge is to make a card with a specific sentiment on it - I Miss You. Well lo and behold, what should happen to pop up in my in box today but an email from Bethany Harty at Elegant Word Art and the freebie she is giving away today is for that exact wording. Serendipity or what ? If you have never visited Bethany's blog, you seriously NEED to !! She is just so blooming clever and produces some fabby word arts. I {heart} Bethany Harty....and she got me wanting to read the Twilight books which I am currently on the second one New Moon.

Anyhoo, the wordart I printed onto white card and used as the main backing of my card. The cardblank is Papermania and really nice quality. I incorporated this week's challenge at Forever Friends which is a sketch and to top it all off I used the colour challenge of Turquoise and Yellow over at Clare Curd's blog Stampin' Chic. I am the queen of combining challenges !!! LOL

The backing papers are from Clare's Papermania pad 'The Big One' and I coloured in the white dots yellow with a Marvy le Plume pen and also used it for topical colouring in the floral paper. Quite pleased with how they turned out, they certainly don't look like I've been colouring in for ages, I was a bit worried they would TBH. I stamped the flowers using the matching doodle stamps from the range and highlighted the centres with assorted gems.

The Forever Friends image is a rubber stamp. I have coloured the bear and the vase with watercolour pencils and the flowers are metallic Sakura pens with a little bit of Glamour Dust in the flower centres. I don't think I am very good at watercolouring, can't seem to do it right like so many talented people do but I am quite pleased with this one. I did some when I went camping at Easter and tried to practice getting the shading right. It's hard as I only have a pack of 10 pencils, I would love to have one of those lovely tins with loads of colours to choose from as I am no good at mixing them. 

Pennies are tight though and that will have to be on my wish list for when I get a job. Having been made redundant twice in the last 6 months the money we had saved up is dwindling. Paul can't get any work in IT and my Blood Pressure is sky high at the moment and the drugs don't seem to be helping to get it down. Crafting is my sanctuary at the moment and my blog is my contact with the outside world (except for hospital visits to Paul's Grandad).

I can't begin to thank you all enough for leaving comments for me and I appreciate each and every one for the validation I receive for my projects.

365 Cards, Stampin Chic & Tamara Challenges

Woohoo, I've finally made a card :) This is the first I have made since the Glitterpot weekend and I've used some of my rubber stamps I bought from there too.

This card was inspired by todays 365 Cards Challenge, Day 39 is to make a card using Purple, Green and Orange. Obviously not a combination one would normally use so I started with a sketch. Sketch 89 from Sketches! By Tamara is a nice simple one.

The card blank is from Let's Make Cards, the papers and sentiment are from Hot off The Press. I added some corner detailing using a pair of Fiskars scissors. The ribbon and the flocked brad are from Papermania.

The flower is made using my new Clare Curd Signature Collection rubber stamps. I stamped the 2 different sizes on the HOTP paper, curled slightly and used a foam paid to raise the layers. I used a Sakura Glitter pen to add a bit of sparkle to the dots. This DIY flower makes it elligible to submit for this weeks challenge at Stampin Chic too.

I received my prize yesterday from Clare for winning a challenge which was a set of Party rubber stamps. There are loads of cute images on there and I am looking forward to playing with those.

365 Cards day 12 & Stampin Chic Sketch

I am loving black and white at the moment, mainly because of the new papers from Clare Curd at Papermania. There are just so many to choose from in the big pad and there are the positive and negative too.

I have used the sketch # 2 on Clare's challenge site Stampin Chic which I have rotated to suit the word art that I had already printed. The theme is from Day 12 at 365 Cards to make a card for the big move.

The wordart is by Bethany Harty. I think this may have been one that she designed for Scrap Orchard as I can't see it on her blog. It is a fabulous resource and Bethany is always producing great WA to use. She has a great blog and a really chatty style, I subscribe to it and never miss a post. Big up respect Bethany, you are wonderful :) I did a bit of doodling around the edge as it looked a bit stark, do you like my little question marks ?

The 'ribbon' is just a scrap of paper with some penmanship around the edge. The house is a die cut that I drew around on glossy black card. I only wanted a basic outline so this was perfect for me. I added some white gel pen and a heart from my stash, if you cherish your home it should have a heart in it I think. I was in 2 minds about whether I should make this heart red or not, I wasn't sure if it would be too bright. If you leave a comment I would ne grateful to know what you would do, I'm never sure and went for the safe option I think. Maybe the red would have been a bit more daring ?

The cute little key I am most proud of. It is a little printed key with Rangers Glossy Accents on it and a little silver jump ring. I was going to add a tag but I think it would have overpowered it so left it without.

365 Cards Day 15 & Cuttlebug Challenge 22 & Clare Curds Limited Supply Challenge

This card was made using the sketch from Day 15 over at 365 Cards and Challenge 22 at Cuttlebug Challenge to use glitter with a rubber stamp.

The backing paper is another of Clare Curds Signature Range by Papermania. I love the swirly ones in there and there are loads of black & white ones. The swirls are a rubber stamp which was inked with Versamark and ultrafine glitter was poured on. I am absolutely covered with glitter, oh what fun :) I have entered this card into a challenge on the blog to only use 1 sheet of patterned paper. That's 3 challenges in 1 Card, an all time world record for me!

The flowers are from shop bought silk flowers that I have dismantled, sometimes you get absolutely loads and they work out far cheaper than the craft ones. The buttons are from my stash as is the sentiment. The 'ribbon' is a piece of white core black card which has been embossed using the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and sanded back to highlight the dots better.