Crafty Cardmakers Challenge # 25

It's challenge #25 over at Crafty Cardmakers and the DT have been provided with a photo as inspiration.

The first thing I saw when I looked at the photo as Love Hearts sweeties which I absolutely ADORE. I really, REALLY wanted to buy a couple of packets to do the posh 'stage the photo' thing but would have eaten them and as I am trying to lose the pounds I put on whilst on the cruise (and then carry back on losing again, I've got a goal you know!!) I thought it might be a good idea to give them a miss. When I was a kid I used to open up the whole packet and read the messages. I'd eat the rubbish ones 1st and the save the best ones till last like 'I love you' and 'Be Mine'. Of course nowadays they have messages like 'Text Me' & 'Email Me' so it's nice to see they have kept up with the times.

Anyhoo, I digress...... I immediately knew I wanted to use some mega cute Quickutz dies I have had for a VERY long time. You know, you just HAD to have them and then I am ashamed to admit I have until now NEVER USED THEM!!!! I am trying so hard not to do that anymore and actually use my stash.

I made an easel cards as the overall design as I do like how they make a card look more special. I used the new Papermania Summer Blooms paper to cover the front and the inside of the card. I used my ever faithful Martha Stewart Doily punch to cut the 'ribbon' and used a small magenta ink pad to distress the edges of all the papers and elements.

The Forever Friends bear is a clear sticker. I love that image and my friend Sarn had given me some stamped images which I have used many times so I think I need to invest in the stamp, it is the perfect image for many cards.

The love hearts were cut from different shades of card and layered with 3d foam. The original die is a heart shape so I cut small circles and layered the heart messages over the top to make them look more like the sweeties. I added another heart inside to provide the stand for the easel. Last but not least I added some FF message stickers from Papermania which I coloured with a pink Promarker to the inside of the card.

This is the prefect card to give to my hubby later this month as we celebrate 22 years of love and happiness. We've been married 9 years in September but you can't forget to celebrate the fact we have been going out with one another for so many years longer.

I would love to see you join in our challenge at Crafty Cardmakers and look forward to popping by your blogs.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges :-

• Creative Craft Challenges - Summer Lovin (colourful flowers and butterflies)
• Fresh Brewed Challenge 10 - Summertime
• Cute Card Thursday 120 - Summer theme
• Allsorts Challenge #60 - July Love
• Flutterby Wednesday #112 - Open theme

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge # 24

For the latest challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers we have been encouraged to have inky finkers and uses ink in one form or another.

I have opted to used my tried and trusted Tim Holtz pad to do some distressing. I had been given a load of greetings cards to recycle and found this fabulous foiled tree and leaf border. I used the distressing pad to rub over the tree to help define the embossed texture and also on the edges of the papers and card blank. The Hampstead papers from Papermania are perfect for this as the colours are autumnal. The mat is a Nellie Snellen frame which has been edged in gold pen and last but not least I used 2 colours of ink to darken the Docrafts 'scrabble' letters as they were a bit too clean looking and didn't suit the card.

Some of the girls have done some amazing projects and I would really encourage you to go take a look at them. It would be great to see you join in our challenges and I look forward to visiting your bogs and seeing your work.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge # 23

It's challenge number 23 over at Crafty Cardmakers and we want to see a card made for a man.

The card I made for this challenge was to celebrate the 65th Birthday of a special friend. I have used the Hampstead range of papers by Papermania, cut mats using Nestabilities dies and used a new embossing folder by Indentz, distressed the text and inked over the top and around the edges with a Tim Holtz distressed ink pad.

The decoupage is a Forever Friends bear which has several layers. The chipboard numbers have stickles glue added for a bit of bling and the sentiment was recycled from an old greeting card. As the recipient is a gardener for his living I have used FF stickers inside to make it more personalised.

I don't tend to make as many cards for men as I do ladies so I'm very much looking forward to visiting your blogs and seeing your lovely creations. I hope you will join us in this challenge.

AWOL

Been a bit AWOL lately. Have been on holiday and had a fantastic time and then of course you have the post holiday blues and lots of catching up to do.

We had a fantastic time on a cruise around the Canary Islands with two fantastic people who showed us the ropes of cruise etiquette. Paul took lots and lots of photos which he is still sorting out, that'll teach him for taking so many. Hoping to get access to them soon so I can upload a few.

Have had absolutely no chance to do any crafting since before I went away, still don't feel like I have got back to 'normal' yet. Work has been totally hectic since I got back and that has taken up a lot of my time and energy. We had a container full of blinds and poles come from China yesterday and it all has to be unloaded by hand within 2 hours. I ache so much today and have got some really nasty bruises, especially on my arms.

Going to an airshow tomorrow at RAF Cosford, never been to one there before so really looking forward to it.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge # 21

The brief for the latest challange at Crafty Cardmakers is to decorate the inside of the card as well as the outside. I have to admit this is something I don't normally do as I don't have much time for crafting due to work commitments, but it does make a card seem more finished and special.

The image is a rubber stamp from Wild Rose Studio. I have coloured it in using Promarkers and used paper piecing for the dress and scarf. This card is for my Sister in law's birthday on and I have personalised the hair colouring to match hers. I think this is a great image for doing that. I have also coloured the wine rose to suit her favourite tipple.

The papers are from Docrafts Rose Garden pad which also has die cut sentiments which I have used both inside and out. The blossoms are layers of cherry blossoms and assorted mulberry flowers which I have coloured with Promarkers and added glitter.

The inside of the card has been decorated with matching paper, more rubber stamping which are images which my friend Sarn gave to me (thankyou sweetie xxx) and a couple of sentiments. my SIL loves clothes and especially shoes so it was great to make her a really pretty card incorporating all the things she likes.

I'm going on holiday on Friday 21st so will be taking a look at the cards submitted for this challenge when I get back. I'm looking forward to seeing all the beautiful entries and I hope you enjoy decorating the inside of your cards just as much as the outside.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge # 20

For the latest challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers we are to use distressing techniques. I personally admire very talented peeps who can do this, however I always feel that my attempts look very amateur in comparison.

The distressing techniques I have used are inking the papers with a Tim Holtz distressing pad and also a Versafine chalk pad in green, love the soft finish the chalk gave to it. The stamped image I have distressed with the edge of a pair of scissors, I love the roughed up texture it gives and this absorbs ink really well. I also bought a distressing tool from Do Crafts and used it to scratch away at the edges of the chocolate background paper.

The linen textured green backing paper and Birdcage papers are from the Chatsworth collection by Papermania. I do not usually do vintage but was drawn to these papers and the matching rubber stamps, on of which has been used here with a small amount of glitter glue added to highlight the likkle tweetie birds.

The pink paper and letters are from the Rose Garden paper pad by Papermania which has 3 sheets of matching die cuts in it. Great idea to add them into the pad itself rather than having to pay for them as a separate item.

The swirls in the corners are Doodlebug doubles sided stickers which have been generously sprinkled with fine glitter. The flowers and gem are from stash and Stickles glitterglue has been liberally added to the Nestabilities scalloped mat for an added bit of bling.

The layout of the card is a sketch from Day 35 of 365 Cards.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge # 19

It's challenge #19 over at Crafty Cardmakers and we are challenging you to make your card from the items you would take with you on a desert island.

Ideally, of course I would NEED to take my computer but I'm guessing power could be a problem so that means digi stamps would be out so of course it would have to be rubber stamps so I could colour them in with my trusty Promarkers and Twinkling H20's.

Another absolute must is yummy papers. These ones are from My Minds Eye and the pale green is a Papermania one. I would have to take my Big Shot and Nellie Snellen dies. I have only a couple of sets so far but love them so much and they make a matted layer look so much fancier.

Ribbon, anyone who knows me knows I love ribbon and have a pretty large collection. I am lucky living in Birmingham as we have the Rag Market and it is great for buying cheap ribbons and lace trims and I love having a mooch round there from time to time.

Flowers, of any type must really feature somewhere. These larger blooms were a magazine freebie and the paper cherry blossom was from a seller on Ebay. My very good friend Lisa recommended buying cream ones and colouring Promarkers. I am very pleased with the results.

Last but not least, everyone needs a bit of bling. In this case it is in the form of glitter on the papers themselves. Quite subtle for me LOL

This card is currently winging it's way to a very special friend. Hope she likes it :)

I hope you will join on our desert island. It would be great to see what 'Must Haves' you all take and whether there is anything new I NEED to buy.

Cheers Big Ears

Last card from the crafty weekend and I've used paper from the free My Minds Eye pad that came with a magazine recently. There have been some great freebies of late and having recently been introduced to MME I love the colours they use and how bright, yet muted they are.

The eleflump is from Creative Cardmaking magazine matted onto a scrap of pinky red paper which has been inked around the edge. The MME paper has been heavily inked and I think it really suits this paper. I have added a cream loopy ribbon from my stash with a blossom, silver bead cap and Card Candy. A nice simple thank you card using a great sentiment and scrummy papers :)

May The Wind Always be at Your Back

Another card from the crafty weekend and more papers and elements from Creative Cardmaking Magazine. I have to admit when I first saw this magazine advertised I was very dubious about their claim that the papers were good quality but they REALLY ARE!!! I personally love bright happy colours and they have been perfect for me.

I matted the sentiment in a crap of patterned brown paper. The ribbon is from my stash, the flowers were from a scrapbook storage set that I got from Costco with a Card Candy centre and again some pretty butterflies left to flap freely.

May The Sun Shine Warm on Your Face

The title of this post is very appropriate considering the gorgeous weather we have had this weekend :) We went out last night to the pictures with our friends and it was so warm I didn't have to wear a coat. I've even turned the heating off today so lets hope it's the promise of things to come.....

This is the second card I made at our crafty weekend. All the papers and elements are from Creative Cardmaking magazine and I love oranges and yellows, they are such warm colours.

I have added a strip of cardstock which has been punched with the MS doily punch. Stickles glitter glue has been added to the flowers and butterfly whose wings have been left to flap freely.

Just being going through the challenges on 365 Cards and this will match in with Day 34 which was to use the colours of green, orange, white, yellow and red. Well that's one crossed off the list :)

Baby Girl Card

This is one of the cards I made at the crafty session about a month ago now (doesn't the time fly?)

I bought a QVC kit which was a themed one for a baby girl. All the papers, rub-ons stickers and ribbons co-ordinate with one another and the papers are double sided and some are glittered.

The glittery butterfly was cut from one of the papers and I used Craftwork Cards card candy for the spots on the wings. Only the body has been stuck down to allow the wings to stand out from the the card.

The centre panel is one of the cardstock stickers which is matted onto 2 layers of papers. The ribbon covering the join is from Docrafts and the flower is from my stash.

It is an A5 size card with the fold at the top.

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge # 18

The latest challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers is a challenging Challenge. This for me is a 2 part challenge. I have used a sketch from Day 155 of 365 cards which was from August 2009. As a sketch I just wasn't inspired by it so never did it.

But the main challenge was to actually USE the Flowersoft that I bought at show at the NEC almost 2 years ago. I've got 6 pots of it and have never used it because I'd heard it could go all over the place and make an awful mess. Well I did make a mess, but not as bad as I'd suspected.

The papers are all from a colour co-ordinated capsule pad from Papermania. I just love the oranges and yellows, they are so bright and cheerful and a perfect antidote for the bad weather we have been having lately.

The shaped corners and the centre panel have been cut using Nellie Snellen Dies. The Flowersoft stalks have been placed inside a real terracotta plantpot and I have attached a ribbon bow from the co-rdinated accessories with the Papermania papers. The flowers, gems and sentiment are from my stash.

So I hope that you will take up the gauntlet and join in the challenge with us. I look forward to popping by your blogs and seeing your entries.

Mother's Day Card

This is one of the cards I made recently at a crafty session my forum buddy Lisa organised in Ripple Village hall.

It is he second time we have been there and it was a fab venue once again. It was a lovely sunny Saturday and we all had a fabuous day. There was gossiping, eating, drinking and even some crafting LOL

Helen brought the travelling QVC store and I have to admit I did purchase a few items (Ok, more than a few LOL, well the prices were too good not to)

One thing that I needed to do was make a Mother's day card for my MIL. Her birthday was the 13th March and as it was only the day before Mother's day I needed to make 2 completely different cards.

I had read Simply Cards & Papercraft magazine and there was an article and all the cards used the MME papers I bought recently. I loved this particular card and knew Mom would too. It is a large card which opens on it's side so I used a sheet of A3 card and cut I lengthways to make it big enough. The central section was supposed to be a pop out but I cut it wrong. I didn't have another piece of the inside card so I made it have a centre flap instead so it still worked really well and no one else would know it wasn't right anyway. Believe me, as a previous control freak who demanded perfection it used to take a lot for me to admit I'd done something 'wrong' and bot start allover again!

Anyhoo, I cut an aperture in the card to allow the flower to show through. I covered it with the small leaves paper as I preferred this to the ones they showed in the article. I took the sheet with the large flowers and cut a couple out and applied Rangers Crystal Glaze to them. It took a good few hours to dry. Although the paper is quite strong I wished I had backed it onto card first as they warped a bit and cracked whilst they were drying. The crafty girls thought this looked ok as it gave them more texture so I think I got away with it. but that's one to learn for next time.

Liberal amounts of glitter were added for bling factor, a card candy centre and the sentiment was hand written, hand doodled and added to 3D foam with a little ribbon round it.

I love how this card turned out and MIL loved the colours and the papers so everyone was happy :)

Mom's Birthday card

My mother in law loves bears and whilst reading Papercraft Inspirations magazine I came across the templates for this Bumble Bear card.

I downloaded the online version from the magazines website as this is already sized at 100%. I cut all the bear pieces from a thick card, distressed the edges with a pair of scissors and added chalk for shading.

The tulips were cut from DCWV textured card stock in 3 different shades. I bent and curled the edges, added chalk and they are all mounted on different levels of 3d foam.

The backing paper is from My Minds Eye. The sentiment is recycled from a greetings card and the bow is Papermania. It took a fair bit of work with all the cutting out and shading but Mom loved it so it was well worth it.

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.