PTW: Making Waves

Monday again, which means new batch of challenges. First one I've managed to complete is Papertake Weekly one which this week is 'making waves' - to use either scallops or zig zags in your card.

Well, I was half way through making this and it has scallops, so that was nice and easy!

Materials:

• Images: Mice and sentiment from 'Party Critters' Penny Black They've done a few of these now where they have taken some of their old wooden stamps and shrunk them into 1 acrylic set which is great space/money wise and I quite like the fact they are smaller. However, I think this set is even smaller then their last 2 so they are dinky! So great for the smaller sized cards. Actually didn't use my prismas for a change but a cheap set of pearlescent watercolours I got from 'The Works' for £2.99 and am quite impressed by the shimmer (can't tell from photo) Added pink stickles to cake.
• Card blank: is printed precut from a DCWV set I've had for a while now and am trying to use. I think I know why I haven't used them as I like my matting and layering and these last 2 cards I've made just look too flat to me but they are good for quick cards.
• Others: main image cut with oval nestabilities and the scallop edge along bottom from quickutz revolution 12" scallop border die then holes punched out using my cropodile
• Ribbon and star brads from stash.

Beyond help! . .

. .My addiction to stamps that is. I just can't resist them, especially cute ones! This one's Andrea's fault!! I have been holding out on getting the new Penny Black ones but then they all started coming into stock in the UK shops and then Andrea mentioned she got hers and that was it, the temptation was too great LOL. Especially with service like Happy Stampers, ordered Friday afternoon, arrived Saturday!

So, here's a quick card using 1 of them (yes, as if I'd only get 1 :D), been refreshing not having to do loads of layers, just a patterned card blank, the image cut with my nesties and some ribbon and gems.

Have a good Sunday, the sun is out and, dare I say, it feels a tiny bit like spring! Hope your resolve is stronger than mine, but if not, join the club!

Back to cute. . .

. . . well, ugly/cute as I've used one of my new Magnolia goblin stamps. Hubby says they are ugly but I think they're kinda cute. Think these goblin stamps are a bit like Marmite, you either love 'em or hate 'em!

Not much to say about this one really, as it was a quick folder card I needed to send some images in for one of the candy winners over on Tilda and Friends ATC blog. You'll know if it's you when you get this on Mon/Tues! Sorry, it's nothing spectacular but I had limited time last night and wanted to finish it to catch the post. Coloured with Prismas/Sansodor and a bit of Sakura stardust pens for her jewellary and ribbons (and clear glaze pen on her teeth!). Added some gems from my stash and the card is a basic folder card tied with ribbon, sentiment hand written and cut with SU word window punch. That's it really! Hope the recipient likes it, if not the card, then the images in it!

It's another foul day here, grey and tipping with rain again. perfect for me to stay in and craft until I have to go to work tonight. Hope you're all making the most of this miserable day and don't forget, for all us UK girlies, we lose an hour's sleep tonight :( , clocks 'spring' forward an hour. Well, on the plus side, at least we'll get a bit more daylight now, hopefully!

Yippeee. .

. . .I won Marlene's blog candy, how cool is that?!! Totally forgot about it. Her son chose the winner, and it's his birthday today so THANK YOU JAKE & HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

got to dash, off to work, one very happy bunny!

PTW, something a bit different

PTW challenge this week was to use a sketch set by the fabby Katharina (her creations are amazing).

Anyway, I've not gone done my usual route of 'cute' only because I had some new bits to play with and one thing led to another starting with:

1. I got 2 of the new quickcutz revolution dies, the long 12" borders ones (flourish & scallop) earlier this week. Don't know about you, but had to try it out the day I got it. So I've had sitting on my desk since Tues, a flourish strip in purple and a scallop edge in white. Decided the purple flourish would be good for the central strip in the sketch and the scallop one would be the one going across it.

2. Got the new Laura Ashley's papers this week, so looked through those for something with a bit of purple in it which would be the background. found a nice creamy yellow floral one. Only now my flourish is too bright a shade of purple so have to tone that down with an inkpad.

3. Wanted to use the stamps that I got with it too. So chose the bird as the main image then tried to put it all together as per the sketch.

4. find it's a bit flat and need more purple but I don't have a coordinating piece of paper that I like so end up stamping and embossing over the white scallop diecut with a flower stamp and inking it purple and a matching bigger piece to go behind the bird. The bird which I have now masked and created a sun and sky scene with.

5.and so it goes until I end up with this and it took far longer than I planned!

Probably bored you to tears but just wondered if anyone else starts with wanting to use 1 thing and then it grows and changes until it's completely different to that vague idea you had. In this case it was supposed to be quick and easy. Not. Although it was fun to go back to basics and make my own background for a change just don't like the mess left behind afterward (desk looks like a bomb hit it), must be why I don't do it that often.

After all that, don't think I need to do my usual list of materials plus I don't have the energy to go into it all ! (unless you have any specific questions of course but it's all pretty basic stamping, masking and embossing)

Tilda & Co #12 and a bit of fluke

The latest issue of 'cardmaking & papercraft' mag had article of how to make your own crochet flowers. Well, I've seen the ones that you can buy and I did always say to myself that if you knew how to crochet they would take minutes as my big Sis crochets and I know how easy the flowers are compared to what she comes up with. Anyway, along with lots of other things that I buy to try but never get round to, I knew I had some crochet needles and yarn knocking around somewhere so I dug those out yesterday and gave it a go! Obviously not that great but if I can find some prettier colour yarns and a bit more practice I think I've cracked it. They do literally take 5mins to make 1 too.

So, the fluke bit is that having played about with this I find out that DCM's midweek challenge this week is to use flowers but not premade ones, it has to be ones you make yourself! So decided to combine that with this weeks Tilda & co Sketch Materials:

• 'Paris Tilda', fence, tulip grass and snail all Magnolia stamps. Snail stamped seperately and stuck on everything else done by masking & stamping over Tilda. Blue chalk background for sky. Used my Prismas & stardust pens as usual but whilst digging around found some pearl ex pigments which have hardly every been used and thought I could use those in lieu of twinkling H2Os. IRL it does add a sheen and sparkle which you can't see in photo (added to hat, ribbons and shoes). Added stickles to the tulips and glossy accent to snail shell.
• Paper: actually made myself use a sheet from one of my BG pads LOL. this one is from 'Boxer'.
• Rest: Image matted and layered with my rectangle nestabilities, SU 'lots of thoughts' for the sentiment punched out with SU word window punch. Then 2 of my experimental crochet flowers added with brad from stash!
  

CCT: People

Must be getting old, the weeks seem to fly by, can't believe it's Thursday already. Which means time for a new CCT theme this week is people. There's more blog candy up for grabs again this week, hop on over for details and for all the other fab DT cards.

Decided to give my Tildas a break and use one of my neglected Bella stamps. Went for a kickstand card as it's a little bit different but still nice and easy to make.

Materials:

• Images: 'huggybella' stamping bella stamp coloured my usual way (Prismas/Sansodor) Sentiment tag is a Hero Arts set which was stamped onto white card which I then coloured using chalk ink after first clear embossing a paisly pattern randomly over the backgound (part of my new Laura Ashley set)
• Paper: from old DCWV paper stack used matching colour cardstock for the scallop frame cut with my Nestabilities
• Rest: Ribbon and various gems from stash

Tilda & Fiends ATC: Blue & Yellow

ATC theme this week is colours of the swedish flag (blue & yellow), home of Magnolia. I used one of my new goblin stamps, Martha. I know some people think they are ugly but to me, they look very cute once coloured in and I find, like the Tildas they grow on you, the more you look at them!

Didn't have much space to add anything so I decided to make her 3D, by sitting her on a flap of card. Just wanted to add a bit more depth and interest to it. Added flowers and brads both along the bottom and behind her. Better view of that here That's about it really, patterned paper is just from my scrap box which fitted the colour scheme. That's why i love ATCs, doesn't take much to make one and helps me use up my mountain of scraps :D

Ismaki 12: Happy Hellos

Thought I'd try and be a bit earlier with this week's Ismaki challenge. Here's the sketch, and as always seems to be the case mine never turns out as close to the sketch as I would like. It's not intentional but for some reason I always struggle to make mine 'fit'. So anyway, mine ended up a whopper sized card (it's A4 folded in half) and not square! Materials:

• Images: Rubber Romance stamp, love this one & only used her once before so thought she deserved another inking. Added clear glaze to the bedposts and phone to give them a sheen but can't see in photo. Her top is sparkly too. Happy Hellos is a SU set.
• Papers: from old DCWV paper pack
• Others: used my square nestabilities and circle punches. Paisley embossing folder on one of the card strips. Ribbon, flower, brad and gems from stash

Nellie with Puppy

New sketch over on My Paperworld is fab and I used it to make this card for hubby's neice who will be 9 in a few weeks so thought I'd best make it now as it has to go all the way to Australia. I used Nellie with puppy as she has one just like it. Materials:

• Image: 'Nellie with Puppy' stamp coloured with Prismas/Sansodor with stardust pens on Nellies jewellary and flowers on jeans. Her top is paperpierced.
• Papers: Papermania, creative tones pack in raspberry
• Others: Numbers cuttlebug embossing folder used for the beige strip across the card then dabbed pink chalk ink over raised bits. small Happy birthday embossing folder used in corner of card. Brads, flowers and pearl gems from stash. Added pawprint in versamark ink in top right corner as I thought it looked a bit bare and thought this was quite cute.

Hope it's been a good Easter for everyone as I think the weather's not helping with all the colds and bugs flying around at the moment. It's been snowing lightly today but nothing major, just a very cold Easter. Didn't stop me from popping out for a craft fix (well, no post today is there?!). Dovecraft's got new range of Laura Ashley papers and stamps out so some of them ended up coming home with me as they are lurvely :D. As with a lot of my papers/stamps I'll end up looking/hoarding them for a bit before I actually get round to using them!

Ismaki #11

O.K, headache finally gone so decided to try and do the Ismaki sketch before the new one's out tomorrow! I struggled to find the right image for this sketch and wasn't in the mood to dither tonight so just grabbed the top image on my pile of prestamped ones I have on my desk, which happened to be my candy off Funky kits. The bear stamp came with some papers so used them, as the optional extra on the challenge was texture and these papers are patchwork knitted fabrics. I've tried to distress the edges and added faux stitching round the bear but hard to see in photo. Materials:

• Image: bear stamp from LCR range at Funky kits. coloured with prisms/sansodor. Went over the line by accident when I was blending so rather than cut him out I tried Marlene's trick and blended the colours over the line on purpose and she's right, it does look quite good. Will do it on purpose next time, thanks Marlene! Wavy stitching round the edge of paper is a stamp from HOTP set.
• Others: blue cardstock embossed with cuttlebug folder for extra texture to the card. Also used a thin strip of the card to use through my Dymo and then went over text with silver sakura stardust pen - think it turned out quite well. Eyelets, flowers and pearl gems from stash
  

Awards but no mojo

Hope you're all having a good Easter. No cards to show I'm afraid, woke up with a headache today and just not been in the mood! Hopfully will feel like making something later. Maybe if I do my DT ATC for next week's Tilda challenge it may inspire me to make something else.

Here's an award I got given by Vicki and Jo. Thanks girls!

The "Arte Y Pico" (Art & More) is given to bloggers who share their art and creativity making their contribution to the blogger world.

I'm supposed to pass this on to 5 others but as usual I see far too many great blogs (more than I have actually got round to listing on my sidebar as most are on my pc 'favourites' and too long for me to transfer over!) so this is to everyone who I visit and to all who visit me.

Oh and Jo, re. the other thing you tagged me with, I've done that before, sort of, so I'll give it a miss if you don't mind (and yes, I was stuffing my face but not with choc - just made myself some crabmeat & sweetcorn soup :D)! Don't think I'm interesting enough to think up 7 more 'random/weird facts' LOL.

Although you have reminded me that I think my SBS8 sis, Kelly tagged all her 'sis' with this one, which I haven't done yet, so here goes;

Four jobs I have had in my life: Waitress, 'project management/admin' type job during placement year at Uni (too long ago for me to even remember my actual job title lol), Merchandiser, managing a take-away business.

Four movies I would watch over and over: Dirty Dancing, French Kiss, Must love dogs, Amelie (and any of the countless romcoms that I have)

Four places I have lived: Hong Kong (born there), Sheffield(met hubby at Uni there), London, Wirral (Hoylake, Moreton).

Four TV shows that I watch: CSI, Strictly come dancing, good period dramas (last ones I enjoyed were Persuasion and Elizabeth Gaskell's North & South) , alot (too many according to hubby) of the American crime dramas (without a trace, the closer, bones, house, shark)

Four places I've been to: Barcelona, Italy (Rome/Venice/Sorento - honeymoon), Crete, Amsterdam.

Four of my favorite foods: Chinese (surprised?! Roast Duck & Char siu my all time favourite followed closely by crispy duck), Sushi, Roast Lamb & yorkshire pudding, smokey bbq Ribs. four's not enough!!

Four places I'd rather be: home, anywhere with my hubby, back to the Almalfi coast in Italy, all the other places I've yet to visit/go on holiday to including US (stash heaven).

Easter Boxes

No challenge cards today although these could qualify for this weeks CCT challenge too.
They are 2 boxes I made yesterday to put some easter goodies in for my niece & nephew who live across the road!
So easy to make with my Scorpal as I don't have to think too hard with the measuring and getting everything straight (which would have taken me ages). These literally took me minutes to assemble. Just printed A4 card with some Pink Petticoat papers from the doodlelicious range, scored some lines, snip and glue and that was it. Based them on guides found here

Here are the close up of the lids, again fairly quick, just some Penny Black stamps coloured my usual way but also used glossy accents with glamour dust sprinkled over it on the egss. Like I did on my previous card as I loved the effect so much. It really gives it a 3d look (which you can't tell from photo) and super sparkly look. Cut and layered images with my nestabilities. Circle sentiment from SU 'circle of friendship' set and their names printed with Dymo.

Feel really tired today due to a really blustery night which meant unsettled sleep as our house seems to magnify the wind so that it always sounds way worse than it actually is. Working tonight and tomorrow night so don't know how much crafting I'll get done so if I don't 'see you' before, have a great Easter whatever you're doing and hope the weather's not that bad. It is officially spring now, although you might not have guessed it! xx

CCT: All creatures great & small

What a fantastic response to the first challenge over on Cute Card Thursday, so many cute cards out there! Thank you to everyone who took part and hope you'll all play along this week.

The theme is 'all creatures great and small' so plenty of scope. I had a tough time deciding which of my animal stamps to use but seeing as I still had a few easter cards to do I went for this, hope you like it! See the other DT's cards here and join in (fab prize up for grabs this week too!).Materials:

• Image:'hens easter egg' Whipper Snapper stamp coloured with prismas/sansodor. Added diamond glaze and glitter dust over the egg so super sparkly IRL. yellow chalk ink applied to edges of card
• Paper: DCWV mat stack and scrap piece of green cardstock. Was going to mat it straight but decided offset looked better.
• Others: sentiment typed with my Dymo (the omega which is the classic manual one which gives the nice embossed effect, love it. Just need to find other colour refills besides blk, blue and red now). Brads and photo anchors from stash

PTW: Weather with you

PTW challenge this week is weather: So anything associated with the weather - whatever your interpretation! Under the weather, fun in the sun? Wind? Rain? Let's see what you can come up with lol!

For some reason I got this mixed up with the tilda challenge so looked for a Magnolia stamp (think it was card overload for me today LOL). I didn't want to use my windy Tilda and don't have the rainy but then inspiration struck when I picked up the hen stamp.

Materials:

• Images: 'hen' and feathers coloured with prismas with glitter on top. Turned hen into weather vane by drawing in arrow and stand, coloured with green glaze pen (hubby commented how vanes are usually metal and not live chickens perched on a stand - the cheek! suppose should look on the bright side that he thought my 'chicken' looked 3D so at least my shading skills are o.k!)
• Paper: scrap from previous card. cream pearlescent card blank embossed with cuttlebug folder to try and represent wind swirls
• Sentiment: made with my Dymo and was a eureka moment as it took a while trying to come up with a wind related phrase that wasn't too long winded (ha ha - do you like that?!)
  

Bunny Tilda again!

Had to use this tilda again otherwise she's going to be redundant for another 12 months plus she is so cute and I love colouring her in! Used Nicola's sketch over on My paperworld.

Materials:

• Image: 'bunny tilda' coloured with prismas/sansodor and sakura glitter pens
• Paper: DCWV mat stack
• Others: Sentiment stamp from a Pink Cat studio set, punched out with my SU word window punch. ribbon, flowers, brad and gems fom stash

Sweet Sugar Challenge: Easter

Been very productive cardwise as my internet connection's been playing up all day so gave up trying in the end (so I may be a bit behind in my blog visits). Hmm, think it may be telling me that I spend far too much time at my pc rather than creating :). Anyway, this one is for the Sweet Sugar Challenge. Theme is Easter which is good as I've still got a few to send (luckily only local)

Materials:

• Image: 'ballerina bunny' from LCR kit. coloured with prismas and stickles added to her skirt. Matted and layered with petite scallop oval Nestabilities
• Others: Pearlescent card blank embossed with cuttlebug folder. Sentiment made with my Dymo and added few gems to finish.

Magnolia & Friends ATC: Chocolate

This week's Magnolia ATC theme is chocolate, be it just the colour or the edible variety. Seeing as it's Easter this weekend, chocolate eggs just came to mind and it was just the excuse I needed to use my Bunny Tilda :). Alphabet stickers, scrap PP and brad from stash. Tilda just cut out and coloured with Prismas and stuck on top!

Hop on over here to see all the other fab DT ATCs and join in with us! All entries this week will go into a draw for some fab Magnolia Images (not just Tildas/Edwins but their accessories too)

Tilda & Co: Hidden Secrets

This weeks theme over on the Magnolia challenge is ' hidden secrets' Must have a hidden message on your project ,perhaps pull out journaling maybe? A hidden flap? A slider , something where a message can be hidden away from the public eye.

Need a couple of easter cards seeing as it's this weekend(!) so opted for a quick card, hidden message behind the swinging tag. It's a bit bright but I didn't fancy another pink card so grabbed an orange card base and some spotty ribbon and coloured Bunnykins to match - only he now looks like a little green alien LOL, oh well

Materials:

• Image: 'Bunnykins' magnolia stamp on a cuttlebug 'tagalicious' diecut tag cut out twice. Attached with brad. Sentiment from Pink Cat Studio's Easter set.
• Others: orange precut card embossed with cuttlebug folder and 2 strips of ribbon added to the sides.

Teen Spirit

Materials:

• Image: 'Maxit skateboad' rakle stamp coloured with prismas/sansodor and a splash of glaze pens on his skateboard and pads
• Papers: mixture of Papermania Masculine pack and DCWV Rockstar mat stack
• Others: brown and green cardstock embossed with cuttlebug folders. Happy Birthday is a sizzix die. Ribbon, chipboard, brads and giant eyelet from stash

Finally finished a card for Marlene's 'green & ribbon' Challenge (you should go look here, fabulous candy prize on offer) and also fits into this weeks Daring Cardmakers 'teen spirit' theme. It's a slider card which I thought was perfect for this image, corner photo shows it shut and the main one when open.

Inspirational Blog & another Award!

Just wanted to thank Andrea for featuring my frame card on the Inspirational Blog. This is what it says on there . .This blog has been created to showcase creations from around the world that myself and the team find inspirational.


You should go and have a look as there are loads of amazing creations on there, it sure made me happy to be there amongst such lovely pieces of work.

Also got this award off Deb for being on her DT team and our first piece of work for CCT (Cute Card Thursday) which I thought was so sweet of her
So I would like to give this right back to her and Andrea and to everyone who visits my blog and leaves me such lovely comments all the time :)

Hopefully will have some cards to show you later tonight or tomorrow as weekends are busier for me and my mojo's deserted me at the moment. Hopefully will get inspired again soon :) x

PTW: Frame Card

This week's papertake weekly challenge was a fab frame card tutorial by Claudia. The frame itself is easy to make (thanks to Claudia's clear photo instructions!) but what does take time is decorating it! That's because I decided to do a scene picture with all my Magnolia stamps which I haven't really done yet (apart from my nephew's door hanger) and now I know why - it takes me so long!! Anyway, I made it for me just as a picture to sit on my desk so at least I know I'll appreciate the effort :)

• All Images are Magnolia stamps (apart from 'home sweet home' which was printed off pc) coloured with prismas. Used sakura glaze pens on all the windows and doors of the houses so they reflect IRL, stickles glue in centre of flowers and all over sun (find 'stardust' is fab for a more clear silvery sparkle- the flowers, but 'rhinestone' stickles is fab for when you want a more golden sparkle like for the sun here and for the centre of the sunflower for my Ismaki card this week). Tried stippling my own cloud and grass background with chalk ink and a paper mask and it turned out o.k I think. Birdie stuck and dangled off a bit of metallic thread. Only patterned paper used was for the inside edges of frame and is what I based my colour palette around. The thing that took the longest besides deciding where everything should go was cutting around the fence!

Some Cards!

Here are some cards I've made and sent out to people over the past month or so but forgot to post after they were received. All fairly simple, coloured with my faves, Prisma pencils and sansodor.

• Images: 'choc box' Magnolia stamp, bear with rose is Penny Black stamp, bird in topiary tree is Whipper Snapper and girl boxer is a Rakle stamp. Sentiments mainly all from Studio G's clear mini stamp sets

Funky Kits Customer RAK

Look what I got this morning,

a surprise RAK of sugar candy off Funky Kits! Thank you Karen and all at Funky Kits, it's a fab start to the day especially as the the little bear was the next on my wishlist of LCR stamps :). Just need get fox and monkey to keep him company now LOL. . . .They are in stock now along with the other fab Nellies (some new ones too!) so run quick :D

Will have to try him out later but I'm halfway through my PTW challenge and want to finish that first - it sure is a challenge! Hopefully be able to show you later. Have a fab Friday x

Ismaki Sketch #10

Ismaki sketch this week is fab

but I still didn't quite follow it 100% as the picture I chose was more square and the 2nd ribbon across it just didn't look right, but it's close enough I think!

Materials:

• Image: Precious moments stamp from Stampendous (these are an old discontinued range but some are on Ebay I think) coloured as usual plus some stickles in centre of sunflowers.
• Papers: from DCWV Floral Prints stack
• Others: 'Happy' from Making Memories magnetic stamp set cut out with SU word window punch. Ribbon, ric rac & gems from stash

New Challenge Blog : 'new beginnings'

It's Thursday so that means it's time for the first ever challenge over on Cute Card Thursday!

The theme is new beginnings or 1st's. This could be new baby, new home,new job, wedding or anything else 'new' or any other 1st you can think of.

I didn't really need any new baby or new home cards but then I saw this stamp of mine and just to show you how my brain works I thought 'fat cat on scales = diet time = new year'!! So made this (obviously for someone NOT sensitive about their figure/weight)!


Materials:

• Image:'Fluffy' Penny Black Stamp coloured with prismas/sansodor
• Background: black patterned paper (dovecraft pack) corners punched with 'bubbles' corner punch from EK Success. Really love this punch so need to try and use it more! Blue cardstock embossed with cuttlebug numbers folder.
• Others: sentiment printed off pc and punched out with SU word window punch

If you like cute cards why don't you enter, all entries will be put into draw for some fab blog candy too this week, so pop on over here, check out all the other DT's interpretation of the theme and join in the fun.

Boy's boy part 2

Spent most of this afternoon printing, cutting (amazing how useful my crafty stuff is! used nesties to cut circles else don't know how I'd off done them!) and ironing on logos onto some new work uniform. My bright idea of saving money but at least it's out of the way now!

So after that needed to do something fun so went back to my door sign and finished the reverse side. Ended up colouring a few more Magnolias (the cuter ones!) just can't help myself! Was going to sit Edwin on 2 piles of books but got bored of colouring the books and looked for something else - sitting on a teddy would be something my nephew would! Again, should be able to click on photo for close up.

Materials:

• Images: 'sittande edwin', pile of books and sitting teddy magnolia stamps coloured as usual with prismas/sansodor plus some sakura stardust pens. Also paper pierced the patches on teddy with left over bits from the background stripey paper
• Papers: stripey one is from K & Co 'Kazoo kids' paper pad and the stars is papermania masculine pack
• Others: wording printed off pc and cut out star using free stencil off mag. Chipboard alpha circles from papermania 'masculine' tin set. Cut out some stars from the paper and added stickles for glitter.