Crafty Cardmakers Challenge # 16

Challenge #16 at Crafty Cardmakers was to use an image of a lady on your card. I knew immediately I wanted to use the smashing papers by Debbi Moore that came with issue 13 of Creative Cardmaking Magazine.

The Art Deco ladies are so very elegant and in particular I wanted to use the purple one in honour of Purple Day which was the 26th March. This is a day to help bring awareness to Epilepsy and all you have to do is wear the colour purple. My beloved husband has suffered with Epilepsy all his life and there is a lot of stigma attached to it due to ignorance of the condition.

All the papers and elements are from the paper pack. I have added the patterned ribbon strips to a rich purple ribbon and created a layered flower using Primas, a bead cap and glittered brad. I have created depth with 3D foam pads and added lots of bling to the frame and floral accents in the main picture.

I gave this card to a very, very special lady who is like a Mum to me. She loves Art Deco and this was the most perfect card to give her for Mother's Day.

Forum Topper Swap

Carol Ann from our forum arranged a topper swap. Each participant was to make 4 toppers and we would all get 4 different ones back.

Now, I have to admit I struggled a bit because I didn't know how big to make the toppers. We'd had a similar swap last year but I hadn't taken so didn't know what to expect.

My MIL bought me a great Kanban kit off QVC for Christmas 2008 and it has loads of elements which I though would be perfect for this sort of thing. I used die cut frames and mats from Sizzix and Nellie Snellen teamed with glitter, bling and lots of layering.

I was very fortunate to stop at a hotel down by Carol's and helped her sort them all out. There was a fabulous selection sent in by our girls and it was great to see them all together before they headed back out to their lucky recipents.

Valentine Commission

I was commissioned to make a card for one of Paul's work colleagues. I was given a very specific brief by the customer, down to the layout, the type of flowers and the writing. It was rather nice to have the decisions taken away and for a client to have such a good idea of what he wanted.

I started with Calla lilies which he wanted to be in a silver wedding bucket. I made this using silver card with a border on the top cut using the Fiskars Threading Water punch. The bucket is double sided as he wanted a window so I needed it to look nice at both sides. The flowers are sandwiched in between the 2 layers and spaced using 3d foam squares.

The aperture was cut using a Nellie Snellen die, with a red frame cut to go around it. The lettering was a combination of a Cuttlebug alphabet for the lower case and a Sizzix one for the uppercase and was cut from DCWV cardstock. Gems were added from my stash.

Luke was happy with it and I believe his good lady was too. Happy customers, just how I like it.

Sorry, I've been MIA......

I have been a very bad blogger. I've had very little enthusiasm for crafting and when I have made cards I haven't blogged them. I even missed out on making a card for Crafty Cardmakers because I went away for the weekend for an emergency chillout before I went loopy. Work has been hard on me recently and with the bad weather I was just getting more and more down and finding it hard to stay buoyant. I am hoping that I am over the worst and I am able to bounce back and be my normal cheerful self.

I'd been really looking forward to a crafty session with some of my forum buddies and then I really nosedived after that. It took me a while to realise that I'd had something nice to look forward to and that had kept me going mentally and then all of a sudden I didn't have anything to look forward to any more. Now that I have realised this I am making a more concerted effort to book things up and organise weekends and basically enjoy my life more and make it more fun.

So, I've got a lot to catch up on blogwise so there will be a flurry of new posts and I'm hoping to be back to little old me ASAP

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge # 15

We've got a new challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers based on a triadic colour scheme using a colour wheel.

For this challenge I have used the colours of Green, Purple and Orange.

I have used a download from the Pink Petticoat With Flowers collection and coloured it in with Promarkers. I have printed it out 3 times and decoupaged it in 3 layers using 3D foam

The backing paper is from the glittered Peeking Posies pad by DCWV and I altered the colours of the flowers with a Promarker so they matched the colour scheme better. The white flowers have also been coloured to match and pulled together with a spotty brad from Docrafts.

I used a Martha Stewart doily punch to make a black strip and attached self adhesive spotty ribbon from Docrafts. To finish I added a spot of bling to the flowers on the chair and a sentiment from a magazine freebie.

The layout of the card is Gloria's sketch over at 365 Cards for Day 352. I can't believe it is almost a year ago when the challenges started. Where has that time gone?

I'm looking forward to seeing the colour schemes people have chosen. I struggled with which colours to use so would love to see what other people have made. I hope you will join in the fun with us at Crafty Cardmakers

Craft Cardmakers Challenge #14 Digital Delights

It's Challenge #14 over at Crafty Cardmakers .

Our challenge this fortnight is to use digital elements, be that digital stamps, printed papers or sentiments on your design. So long as you use a computer generated bit thats fine!

I love using digital images and elements so this is a great challenge for me.

I used an image from Pink Petticoat and printed it out 3 times so I could decoupage certain parts of the design. The image is coloured using my Promarkers to which I have added Stickles glitter glue and lots of blingy gems to the flower centres. I matted the image onto black card and used a metallic silver pen around the edges.

The layout of the card is the latest sketch #69 from Eat, Sleep, Stamp . I covered the A5 card with paper from Doodlebug. The hearts paper is from Ki Memories and I edged it with a thick black marker to make it stand out against the backing paper better. The red circle is also from Ki Memories and I used a thin black marker to doodle a dash and kiss border along the visible edges. The sentiment panel is from a magazine freebie paper pack and has been mounted onto black card and again edged with the silver pen. I love how bright this card is, but the black and silver gives it a masculine edge.

For the insert I have combined 2 freebie digi images and put the sentiment inside the heart frame. There are loads and loads of free digi images available around the net and I hope you will have a go yourself. I use a program called Xara but most images can very simply be printed from Word so you don't need to buy an expensive program to have a play with them.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the cards made from this challenge and all the digi images that are used. The other DT members have made some fabulous examples on the blog and the prize for this challenge is some gorgeous little bee images from Tasha at Dewdrop Craftz. They are just soo blooming cute :) Unfortunately the DT can't win them though......

I've incorporated the following challenges into this card

• Eat Sleep Stamp #69 - Layout of card

Happy Birthday Grandma

It's Paul's Grandma's birthday today. She's very guarded about her age but she is either 97 or 98 and still quite sprightly..... we're definitely holding out for the telegram for the Queen when she reaches 100 but she's not that bothered, she says she's been around long enough now!

She loves my cards and says they are getting better all the time. I wanted to make something a bit more unusual for her and decided on an easel card.

The staring pint was a great sketch from Friday Sketchers and I knew I wanted to put some Forever friends into it. Paul chose the decoupage and I had one of the already glittered 3D element stickers so decided to use that. The flower papers are from a FF QVC TSV and the coloured cards are from Sizzix DCWV pads which I have had for ages and never used.

After seeing some smashing examples I bought a pack of the Nellie Snellen frame dies and love the result. It is so pretty for a central panel and I can see me needing to buy loads of them. They are a good price and I think they will get a lot of use.

And for another first, please note that my flower ensemble features my very 1st crocheted flower!!! I had a go at making some and found it difficult to follow a pattern so kind of made them up as I went along. I'm sure I'll get better with practice but I'm really pleased with my 1st attempts.

Blog Challenges incorporated into this card are as follows :-

• Friday Sketchers #87 - Layout of Card
• Flutterby Wednesday #95 - Open theme must include wings
• One Stop Craft Challenge #65 - Make it personal (Grandma)
• Color Chef Challenge #36 - Light Pink, Dark pink plus white or cream
• Crafty Creations#53 - Wings
• Pollycraft #33 - Things with Wings

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #13

What a fab response to our last challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers. I couldn't believe how many entries there were and how many lovely new goodies our blog entrants had for crimble.

The challenge this week is with a romance theme. I am one soppy old romantic and love Valentines Day so this was an easy one for me to do :)

I used last week's sketch # 150 from CPS for the layout and was initially inspired to incorporate the packaging from some Papermania spotty buttons that I had bought to make a shaker card by adding some red heart confetti and silver chunky glitter.

The heart paper is an old HOTP one.The red paper and letters are from a freebie paper pack from a magazine. The Forever Friends bear is a sticker mounted onto card and cut out. The flowers are various Primas layered together with a silver beadcap and a spotty brad on a Sizzix diecut corner.

I used the swiss dots Cuttlebug embossing folder to the shaker panels, both outside and sanded back and inside and added a little red ink to the dots.

I have also incorporated the following challenges into this card :-

• Color Chef Challenge #35 - Black Red, Grey & White
• CPS #150 - Sketch Layout
• Caardvarks - Use colour Red & Hearts
• Pollycraft #32 -Fire & Ice (hope black is allowed too)
• Practical Scrappers - Patterned Paper
• A Spoonful of Sugar #87 - Lots of Layering
• Crafty Creations #51 - Valentines or Love
• Creative Belli Challenge #83 - Hearts
• C.R.A.F.T. Challenge #34 - Red
• Crafty Catz #16 - Love
• Allsorts #36 - Hearts & Flowers
• One Stop Craft Challenge #64 - Love & Kisses
• Rainbow Lady #87 - Fur (on FF bear)
• 365 Cards Day 210 - Use the sanding technique on your card (black spotty panel)
• Chocoholics Forum Challenge - Twilight colour theme Red, White & Black

Truly Scrumptious #24

Another valentines card and this one is a bit bright and features me using green again!!!! The layout of the card is a sketch from Truly Scrumptious which I chose fr the starting point to fit this sentiment panel into. All the papers are from Creative cardmaking magazines and the sentiment is a vellum one from this mag which I ran through the Xyron and stuck to white card.

I have used the heart blocks embossing folder from Cuttlebug and distressed with a little black ink pad. I have used a Sizzix die to cut the file tab and added a small sentiment from the paper pack. The paper heart is from the pack anf the small red 3d one is a Paperchase sticker. Last but not least I have layered Prima flowers with some bead caps courtesy of Ebay and a couple of Papermania brads. Vix from Crafty Cardmakers uses beadcaps a lot on her cards so I had a mooch on Ebay and bought some, they do look really effective and add a lot of dimension to the flowers.

This card incorporates the following challenges :-

• Truly Scrumptious #24 - Card Layout
• Sophisticats #18 - Springtime (colours)
• A Spoonful of Sugar #87 - Lots of Layering
• Paperminutes #97 - Pink & green colours
• Crafty Creations #51 - Valentines or Love
• Creative Belli Challenge #81 - Hearts
• Crafty Catz #16 - Love
• One Stop Craft Challenge #64 - Love & Kisses
• Magical Crafts #7 - Valentine
• Practical Scrappers - Embossing

Eat Sleep Stamp #67

I'm in a loving mood at the moment and making a batch of Valentine cards for my hubby to sell at work to his colleagues (if anyone is interested anyway..) So I've gathered together some valentine and love themed supplies and using some sketches to make some cards on this wet Sunday afternoon.

This card has been made using the layout at Eat Sleep Stamp #67 which features a large heart as the main focal point.

I used my Fiskars punch to make ribbons in black card and red paper. The papers and motifs are all from various magazine freebies all layered up on one another. The heart is a vellum shape with Forever Friends Papermania stickers on the top.

This card fits in with the following challenges :-

• Eat Sleep Stamp #67 - Sketch layout
• A Spoonful of Sugar #87 - Lots of layering
• Creative card Crew #47 - Punched edges
• Crafty Creations #51 - Valentine or Love
• Creative Belli Challenges #83 - Hearts
• C.R.A.F.T. Challenge #34 - Use the colour Red
• Ildi Co #8 - Colours Pink Red and White (hope a bit of black is okay?)
• Rainbow Lady #87 - Fur or feathers (FF bear)
• One Stop Craft Challenge #64 - Love and Kisses
• Magical Crafts #7 - Valentine
• Caardvarks - Colour Red and Hearts
• Simon Says..... Punch It

Pile It On Sweet Sprinkles Award

OMG, I've just found out I've won another award for the Happy New Year card I made.

Dalis from the Pile It On challenge blog had left me a message congratulating me on winning a Sweet Sprinkles award.

I am really chuffed as again this was another card that had been chosen as opposed to a random number generator thing.

I can't even begin to tell you how much confidence this has given me and I am so pleased that I have tried to do something different and my hard work has paid off.

Practical Scrappers Challenge Winner

I've had some fabulous news this morning.

I've just been to visit the Practical Scrappers blog and have found out I am one of the winners of the bling challenge and I get a blinky to display on my blog.

Although there is no prize, this is really special to me as it's not a random generator thing, it has actually been chosen and for someone like me who never thinks that my cards are as good as other people make this is a major confidence boost.

Woohoo, it's made my day :)

Just For You

Tis the season for amour and I love making valentine cards because I am a really soppy and romantic person.

This card is made from a lovely freebie paper pack that came from the latest issue of Simply Cards & Papercraft. It's all tweety birds and love hearts and in bright funky colours so suits me down to the ground.

I used the latest sketch at Inspirational Card Sketches for the layout. The backing paper is a red on red swirly design. The wavy heart strip was cut from another piece of the paper. The white card was embossed using the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. I edged it with a black inkpad and distressed the edges with scissors. This is a technique that I have seen many people do but haven't had a go at myself. I like the fluffy edges it gave to the piece and can see me doing this again.

The central image is also from the free papers. I stuck it onto card to make it stronger so I could mount it on 3D foam. The little hearts are some great dimensional stickers I got from Paperchase on Saturday. I got oodles of really funky hearts for a £1. Last but not least the sentiment was added from the same paper pack.

I have incorporated the following challenges into this card :-

• Inspirational Card Sketches #49 - Layout of Card
• 365 Cards Day 280 - Put red & white stripes somewhere on your card (heart embellishment)
• Creative Card Crew #42 - Distressing
• Corrosive Challenge #46 - Distressing
• Creative Inspirations #43 - Use something New received in the New Year
• Flourishes - Feel the Love
• Get Creative With Ann GCA #73 - Love Is In The Air
• ABC Challenge - L is for Layering

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge # 12

Happy New Year!!

It's challenge #12 over at Crafty Cardmakers and we have been challenged to use new items that we perhaps got for Christmas, or just new in general.

I have used my new Sizzix scalloped die to cut the base sheets of card and linked them all together using eyelets and jump rings.The papers I used are mainly from a pack called Bloom & Grow from My Minds Eye. I found myself succumbing to this gorgeous pack of papers whilst shopping on Saturday! (this is despite telling myself not to buy any more papers a I have loads already)

I have embellished the pages using chipboard numbers from Poundland which I coloured in black. The butterflies, scalloped circles and journalling tag on the last page are from a freebie pack of papers from a magazine as the colours all matched so well. The rest of the flowers and leaves were cut from the MME paper pack and have been mounted using 3D foam squares.I have covered the leaves with Rangers Glossy Accents and added a few buttons. A couple of glittered brads, a liberal sprinkling of Stickles glitter glue and as Gordon Ramsey says DONE!

I have also been able to incorporate the following challenges into this 'card'

• 365 Cards Day 290 - Use a trio of at least 1 each of a flower, chipboard & button
• Crafty Calendar Challenge #4 - Warm colours
• Creative Card Crew #42 - Distressing
• Papertake Weekly - New Year & new items
• ABC Challenges - L is for Layering
• Creative Belli Challenge #82 - Glitter
• Flutterby Wednesday #91 - Theme of 'New'
• 3 Clovers Thursday #46 - project that represents your goals for 2010 (to create beauty and to stretch my creativity by making items I haven't done before. To get out of my crafty comfort zone)
• Cute Card Thursday #94 - Theme of New (New Year & new stash)
• Crazy 4 Challenges #18 - Polka Dots
• Our Creative Corner - 3D Item
• Practical Scrappers - Glitter/Bling
• 2 Red Bananas - Something with Curves (scalloped edges on pages)
• Pile it On - New Year
• There She Goes TSG#37 - Use at least 3 different embellishments
• Corrosive Challenge # 46 - Distressing
• Crafty Catz #14 - Bright & Sparkly

There was a fantastic response to the last challenge at Crafty Cardmakers and many fabulous entries. I look forward to visiting your blogs and seeing what new things you have been using. I hope you'll join us in the challenge.

Just Saying Hello

Apologies for the poor photo. I have taken it at night and the artificial lighting has played havoc with the colouring. The blue is a bit richer in real life but at least you can see how dimensional it is.

I have made this card using a new die I have had from Sizzix which is a scalloped square. I have only used part of this shape to fall in with the layout of the card which was from Kazan's sketch # 43 over at 2 Sketches 4 You. It is ages since I have been able to participate in one of their sketches so it's nice to be back in the fold :)

The brown patterned paper is a magazine freebie from my scraps with a white gel pen faux stitching border around the edges. The blue sentiment panel is a Hero Arts rubber stamp printed onto a scrap of paper which turned out to be self adhesive.

The spotty ribbon was a gift from my Secret Sister Mags and I have attached a little butterfly charm to it with a jump ring. The chipboard spotty butterfly is one I had in a Colorbok Kit from QVC last year. I have embellished it with wire antennae and Kanban self adhesive crystals.

I have been able to incorporate the following challenges into this card :-

• 2 Sketches 4 You Kazan #43 - Sketch for layout
• Incy Wincy Designs #24 - Bling
• My Time To Craft #73 - Blue & Brown colour scheme
• Creative Belli Challenge #82 - Rhinestones
• La La Land #19 - Use a Charm
• Ildi Co's Creative Challenge #7 - Only use scraps and something metal
• Paper Play 1 Week 1 - Metallic Element
• If The Shoe Fits Fashionista Friday #17 - Chipboard
• Pile It On #30 Crystal Clear - Bling
• Crazy 4 Challenges - Polka Dots
• One Stop Craft Challenge #61 - Something beginning with B (Butterfly & bling)
• Get Creative With Ann GCA#72 - New Sizzix Die and rubber stamp
• 365 Cards Day 312 - Metallic Element (Charm)
• Sunflowers & Dragonflies #23 - Faux Stitching
• Just Us Girls #15 - Stitching
• Crafty Catz #14 - Bright & Sparkly

Woohoo, I've won a prize :)

I've just been mooching around the blogs and updating my challenge list and I've just found out I've won a prize!

I've got no idea what it will be, but I've won a bonus prize from the Blog hop that Charisma Cardz challenges ran last week where I entered my baby card in for their Celebration theme.

I'm really chuffed and doing a happy dance right now :)

Thankyou

This is the season for the need to have lots of Thank You cards and I have cracked open a new pack of Anita's vinyl butterflies. They are very detailed and have a glitter covered film at the back so you can see it through the wings of the butterfly.

The papers are more freebies and scraps (tick a box there) and I have used a new unmounted rubber stamp set from Hero Arts and added glitter to it with the use of a Zig 2 way glue pen.

I have also added some Prima flowers, bling and a baby button from Docrafts.

This card fulfils the following challenges

• 365 Cards Day 271 - Giving Thanks
• Crazy 4 Challenges #18 - Polka Dots
• One Stop Craft Challenge #61 - Something Beginning with B (butterfly, blossoms, bling & button)
• The Crafty Pad #52 - Buttons
• Practical Scrappers - Buttons
• Pile it On #30 - Crystal Clear (bling)
• Sophisticats #16 - Fancy Borders (punched edge)
• Incy Wincy Designs #24 - Bling It Up
• Everybody Art #72 - Fave Colour Combo (Pink & Black)
• Creative Inspirations #41 - Thank You
• Stamp Simply #120 - Use New Things (new stamp & vinyls)
• Stamp Something - New Somethings (New stamp & Vinyls)
• Our Creative Corner - Clean & Simple (colour choice)
• Get Creative With Ann GCA #72 - Use Something New (Stamp & Vinyl)
• Helen's Crafting Friends Forum Challenge

Hello

Hello and welcome to a very bright card. I don't normally 'do' green but I am really starting to like using it, even brighter lime greens like this one. Very strange indeed for me.

I've got loads of papers and scraps freebies from magazines and I would like to try and use more in my cards this year. My little craft room is heaving with stuff so other than tools like dies and embossing folders I want try and limit how many papers I buy this year as I really do have an awful lot. I'm sure I'm not going to be the only crafter that says that though.... LOL

Card was made primarily with the Day 307 challenge from 365 Cards where you were to use 5 items 5 times. There are 5 individual papers, 5 chipboard letters, 5 brads, 5 Prima blossoms and 5 bling rhinestones. I used a black inkpad to distress the edge of the squares, the yellow mat and the edge of the card.

I used a Fiskars punch to create a 'ribbon' from paper and then layered a strip of green paper on top before fixing the flower/brad/bling combo in place.

Anyhoo, this card satisfies the following challenges:-

• 365 Cards Day 307 - Five for Friday (use 5 items, 5 times)
• Colour Create #35 - Lemon & Lime plus optional Spring or Summer Flowers
• Crazy 4 Challenges #18 - Polka Dots
• One Stop Craft Challenge #61 - Something beginning with B (blossoms, bling and bright)
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #48 - Colour Combo of Black, yellow plus another colour of your choice (green)
• Pile It On #30 - Crystal Clear (bling)
• Sophisticats #16 - Fancy Borders or Punched Edges
• Creative Card Crew #42 - Distressing
• Helen's Crafting Friends Forum Challenge

Happy New Year!

Woohoo, Happy 2010 folks :)

I've started the new year off with a bang and I've made a card already....yippee.

This card fulfils the challenges as below

• The Pink Elephant #47 - Choice of 2 sketches
• Cards for Men #2 - Use the theme 'New'
• Little Paper Shop #48 - Colours of light blue, Navy and silver
• 365 Cards Day 188 - Use a flock texture
• Fussy & Fancy Friday Challenge #1 - New
• Daring Cardmakers - New beginnings
• Paperplay #46 - New Beginnings
• 3 Clovers Thursday #45 - Celebration
• Cupcake Craft Challenge #71 - Celebration
• Charisma Cardz - Celebration
• Secret Crafter #64 - New Beginnings
• Rosie Dee's #61 - Open Theme
• Creative card Crew #41 - Anything Goes
• My Time To Craft #72 - Anything Goes
• By The Cute & Girly - New
• Rainbow Lady's Challenge #84 - New

The base card is a metallic silver and I have cut a mat in a navy blue sparkle cardstock. The papers are from Heidi Swapp and it is the first time I have brought myself to cut into it. The birdie ribbon in the centre was cut from a flocked sheet, it feels lovely just like Fuzzy Felt when I was a kid :) The circular pram is a cardstock sticker with the addition of a birdie rub-on. This is matted onto more of the navy card and mounted on 3D foam. The sentiment are stickers from a co-ordinated sticker set.

I've gone off the boil in combining challenges for the last few months and I'm going to try and make a concerted effort to do more challenges again. I really enjoyed doing this for some months last year and I felt it gave me more focus in making cards for specific reasons. I start level 2 of my college course next week so hopefully I'll be able to fit more crafting into my schedule and be more disciplined with myself instead of vegging out in front of the TV when I'm tired.

Last Card of 2009

Well this is the last card I have made this year for the challenge for today Day 306 at 365 Cards which was to delve into your stash and use something that you've had for a long while.

The wire word is from a Papermania pack that I have had for about 18 months or so. It comes with small silver brads and I have swopped them for some Queen & Co spotty brads that I have also hoarded and not used.

The base card is pale pink and I used an offcut of metallic pink card that I had previously cut a Nestabilities mat from so made it like a frame for the card. The cake is a glittered diecut, the flowers are various Primas with a sequin flower, K& Co self adhesive pearl and a Papermani glittered brad. Last but not least I have finished the corners off with a little glue and glitter.

The use of glitter and bling entitles me to enter it into challenge #48 for Crafty Creations too :)

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my followers and all my blog friends a wonderful New Year. I hope it will bring you all you wish for and more.

As for me, 2009 has had more than it's fair share of troubles, but I am grateful to have a wonderful man by my side and we are stronger than ever. With the help of some very special friends I have got through it all and I am looking forward to a much brighter 2010.