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

Crafty Cardmakers 7th Challenge

Today there is a new challenge at Crafty Cardmakers and it is an introduction to stamping.

I am not the world's best rubber stamper, I love the designs and fact you can make some fabulous cards using them but would not describe myself as a 'stamper'.

I did used to have difficulty getting a clear image when I did my stamping but have recently unmounted all my wooden block ones. This has saved me a lot of space but also allowed me to stamp using the Crafters Companion Rocker Blocks and I haven't had a dodgy image since!

There are so many techniques you can use with your rubber stamps and there are so many extremely talented people who do so and could not even begin to put myself in the same category. One of my favourite ranges of rubber stamps is the Forever Friends Bears. I just love their cute little faces. The FF bears have always been popular in cards and I am just so pleased they have been licensed for crafting now.

I have made an easel card which I think could be my new favourite design. It looks really amazing but is so easy to do. In a row of cards on a shelf it would easily stand out from the others. You can see from the side view how the front of the card is propped up behind the heart so it 'displays' the card.

The size of this card is 5.5" square and it folds down to fit into a normal envelope.

To make one is very easy indeed. Just decide how big you want your finished card to be, for instance a 4" square, cut one piece of card this size for the front of the card and decorate as normal.

For the back of the card you need it to be the same width and twice as long (so 4" x 8" in this example)

Score lines at the quarterway point (2") and halfway (4") and valley fold towards you. The longest section is the base of the card and the 2 folds will come towards you.

Attach the front of the card to the 1st 2" section, you can then 'close' the card by laying it flat.

To create the easel all you need to to is attach a 3d element to the inside of the card to tuck the front behind. I used die cuts mounted on 3d foam, but it works just as well with a button or a brad.

The rubber stamp image has been coloured in using watercolour pencils with a small amount of metallic gold pen for accents on the image.

Materials used are Rubber stamp & heart brad - Papermania, Paper & White flower - HOTP, Red flower - Prima, Die cut hearts and glasses - Let's Make Cards, ribbon from my stash.

The sentiment was made on the computer using a freebie digital frame which I manipulated to fit around the text.

I have also been able to tick an older 365 Cards challenge off the list for day 88 which was to make an anniversary or engagement card

New Baby Sidestep Card

My Mother in Law has asked me to make a card for a new baby girl for a friend of her's who has moved to Canada. She asked me not to make it too big or heavy as it costs a lot to post.

My friend Sarn recently made this style of card at a cardmaking class at The Glitterpot and shared the pattern of how to make it. It uses a piece of card 6" x 12" but as I don't buy much card of that size I decided to alter the sizes slightly and make it fit a standard sheet of A4. A little tweaking later and I'd altered it to fit.

The main paper is by Doodlebug (now only got a small piece left, boo hoo) The paper on the second layer is from The English Paper Company and the spotty one at the back is by K & Co. The cardstock stickers are by Doodlebug, the baby is a photo realistic sticker from MAMBI and the welcome to the world banner is from the same pack. The New Baby sentiment is from Lets Make Cards, the epoxy bubble message is Paperchase and the silver teddy peel off is Papermania.

I really like this style of card and will definitely be making more of this shape. It looks really effective yet is quite easy to do once you know where to cut and fold.

My First Inchie

OMG, you would not believe how many times I took this photo without it blurring ! I even scanned it in but as there is a lot of gold it just din't look right at all.

Thanks to my very good friend Sarn I have made my tiniest work of art to day, and inchie (hence the ruler in the photo to prove how tiny it is!!) I thought a 3" x 3" card for a 365 Cards challenge was small, well this was titchy !

I've been able to fit 3 challenges into this little beauty and if I can find one from last week I can make that 4, they are.....

• Chocoholics Friday Challenge on our Cardmaking forum
• Stampin' B's Challenge #15 - Include a butterfly (2nd entry)
• Get Creative With Ann GCA #49 - Include something that flies (4th entry)

So, lets start with the deets. The base of the inchie is a piece of brown cardstock. The next layer is white cardstock, the next layer a piece of Craftwork Cards paper which I trimmed with zig zag scissors, the red spotty paper is HOTP. The butterfly is a metallic holographic sticker from a big sheet of assorted sizes, fortunately some were tiny :) Last but not least I wrote a B in the corner for butterfly. This could signify I may make an alphabet version and do one for each letter..... or it could be that I was trying to be a bit arty LOL

All the little scraps were on my desk so now I'm going to be looking at EVERY scrap and thinking I can make something with it now. I want to have a go at a Twinchie next as I think it will be a lot easier to work on the bigger size.

Watch this space...

365 day 83, Chocoholic, 2S4U & Flutterby Wednesday

The challenge for today Day 83 at 365 Cards was to make a card with a matching envelope. I didn't really know what I was going to do and was thinking about it whilst I was doing the grocery shopping. Whilst in Poundland I spotted a fab gift bag which had lots of lovely glittery flowers on one side and the same, but unglittered on the other. I bought it thinking they would be great decoupaged. Then this afternoon when I went onto the forum I am a member of the challenge set by Chocoholic was decoupage, well I had to use my pretty bag didn't I ?

The closeup photo shows the layers. The glitter was already on there except for the little Stickles dots that I added. I have found a new blog this week which has a challenge called Flutterby Wednesday.  You have to use either a butterfly or fairy and this week the challenge is to use 2 patterned papers. The layout is Laura's Sketch 26 at 2 Sketches 4 You. The butterfly paper is from a Papermania Forever Friends pad, the mottled paper is Basic Grey and the purple glimmer paper is HOTP with a bit of Martha Stewart punching.

The sentiment is a foiled one from my stash layered onto some bright pink card. The brad in the centre of the flower is by Papermania.

For the envelope I have just used the same elements and decorated it accordingly. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I have made a matching envelope for a card. I know there are many people who do that for each card they make but as the envelope gets thrown away I don't think it's something I'd do often - but it does make it look really special so would consider doing it for more cards in the future.

365 Day 69, Tamara 95, A Spoonful of Sugar 52 & Forum Challenge

This card was made using this weeks sketch # 95 over at Sketches! by Tamara. It combines the congratulations theme on our card making forum this week, a celebration theme at A Spoonful of Sugar (another new to me blog) and Day 69 at 365 Cards which was to make a card suitable for a graduation.

The little owl is an image that was sent to me by a forum buddie. There were lots of different owl images and die cuts and this one is a Pink Petticoat Image. He is coloured in with Marvy le Plume pens and layered onto a pice of card which has been embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.

The paper is a vellum which I have layered onto white card. I used an offcut and cut out 2 of the mortar boards and a diploma and decoupaged with 3D foam. A scrap of card was inked and rolled up with a small pice of thin ribbon tied around it to make a 3D diploma. The sentiment is a die cut from a Brenda Pinnick kit from QVC.

I've had a night off from the hospital tonight as Paul went up with his Dad so I had a few hours to myself (bliss....) We've got a heavy day tomorrow as Grandad has an appointment at another hospital tomorrow to see a Urologist about his prostate operation. His appointment is at 4.40pm but the hospital transport is taking him at 2pm - goodness knows why they are taking him that early... I'm sure they must arrange it with themselves so they get more car parking charges from you GRRRR we're hoping he will be given a date for his op tomorrow, here's keeping fingers crossed :)

365 Cards Day 64 & Forum Challenge

Day 64 at 365 Cards is a sketch to work from.

Sarn had set our forum challenge to use chickens on your card. I had a look through my stamped images folder and this is my only chicken image from a swap we did on the forum. Fortunately one of them was coloured in already using Twinkling H20's so it made it much quicker to put the card together.

I used a sheet of A4 card for the base and cut it down to a square. The patterned paper is from a DCWV glitterstack, love how colourful it is. I used a stitched Docrafts ribbon across the join to mimic the stitches in the sketch.

I matted the stamped image on orange card and raised it using 3D foam pads. The sentiment ribbon slide is a glittered chipboard from a craft pack at Poundland.

Right got to go wake my hubby from his lie in as we are going out to lunch with friends in Birmingham. This is the 1st time we have eaten out since starting the GI diet so it will be a challenge to eat as heathily and GI friendly as possible. Wish me luck !!

Pink Elephant 12 & Chocoholic Forum Challenges

Whilst I was rifling through the floral box to make the last card I came across this tulip die cut and thought I ought to use it with the paper pack that came with an issue of Making Cards magazine. It seemed such a perfect match it would be a shame not to.

I have used the sketch from challenge 12 over at The Pink Elephant for the layout. 

The main card is white and I have matted the tulip paper onto it leaving a border. I have used my Martha Stewart punch on some thin white card and layered another of the papers from the pack. I cut a small panel of white card and doodled around the edges with a Sakura clear glitter pen. The floral embellishment is glittered and came from Lets Make Cards. the sentiment panel is from the Making Cards paper pack.

I didn't get chance to make a card for a forum challenge that my friend Sarn ran a few weeks ago so will be adding this there too.

Chocoholics Challenge & 365 Cards Day 55

On our cardmaking forum the challenge this week is to make a Thankyou card. It is something that I rarely have ready to go, I have general cards without a message but not usually Thank you cards. This is something I think I should remedy and will endeavour to make more of in the future. Thanks for the kick up the cardmaking bum Sarn :)

I utilised Day 55's recipe challenge on 365 Cards to use the following

5x5 card (solid colored card stock - may be smooth or textured)

4x4 patterned paper (you may alter the edges if you'd like)
1 shape (circle, square, star, heart, etc.) - must be solid color
3 jewels
alpha stickers

I embossed the base card using the paisley Cuttlebug folder and added a little pink ink to highlight the design. The paper is from a Diary of an Edwardian Lady pack from a magazine. The solid shape is a glitter butterfly which I have decorated with the 3 gems and the alpha stickers are by MAMBI.

This is the first card that I have used this Cuttlebug folder on. I am not a fan of traditional paisley designs but I do like the more modern ones and love the really crisp embossed results this has produced.

Chocoholic's Challenge

This is the last card I made at the Glitterpot and it was a challenge set by Sarn. She had provided a choice of pink or blue and pre cut and measured all the elements to make this shaped card. There was paper included but we could substitute with our own if we wished.

The stamped image of the butterfly was in blue so I decided that I would cut into my very 1st Basic Grey paper. This is not my normal style of paper but I loved the delicate colours and swirls and thought it would be perfect to go with the stamped image which I coloured in using Sakura glitter pens. The paper also matched perfectly with the plain one that Sarn had already included so I used this to matt the stamped image.

The sentiment is another of the vellum ones that I took with me and the stamped hearts are coloured in with Marvy Le Plume pens in toning shades of pink.

I have to be honest, when I looked at the distructions I thought it was an intriguing style of card. I am so pleased this was the project Sarn chose for us as I think this is the best card I made over the weekend.

Crystallady's Challenge Card

Whilst we were at the Glitterpot one of our forum members Crystallady had brought a bad of bits for each of us and we were to make a card and try to incorporate something fom each item into it and we could also add one item from our own stash.  Now Lynn makes the most gorgeous cards and has a very unique style which is usually instantly recogniseable. She just manages to make very sophisticated designs from lots of materials. I usually have to keep it a bit more simple as I am not so clever mixing lots of different elements together. This was a real challenge as there were so many papers. It took me ages to decide what I wanted to do with them all!

I started off by adding some detail to the central motif with my south west corner punch and matted onto pink card, embellishing with tabs of ribbon and the pearls. Then it was a question of layering the papers together and my Martha Stewart punch came out to play again. Lynne absolutely loved this and I think she would have smuggled it home if she could have got away with it LOL

The sentiment at the bottom is a vellum one from Lakeland and I double matted it onto the diagonal striped paper.

It was really nice to see the different designs that we all made with the same materials though.

365 Cards Day 20 & Forum Challenges

Todays challenge, Day 20 on 365 cards was to make a card that was hardly decorated on the outside and the sentiment etc was to be inside. Sarn's challenge on the forum is to make a Baby Girl card. As ever I have combined the two challenges.

In terms of not decorating the front I had a massive booboo on as I had cut an aperture in the card front using the stamp Cuttlebug die and then used the swiss dots folder to emboss the card. I matched the pattern up and there was one line of dots in the middle that had been squashed so I used an embossing tool to push them back out, then promptly PUSHED the tool all the way through one of them. I was absolutely gutted! I inked over the top lightly but it still showed up and all the rest of the card had been done so I put some ribbon over the top. Pam, I am sorry I failed at this one but feel happier that I was able to rescue it. 

 A Papermania button completes the ribbon as it looked daft without anything on it.

The inside has an embossed image from the same Cuttlebug pack that the stamp die comes from and is raised on 3d pads so it pokes through the window on the front. The sentiments are rub ons from DCWV and Poundland. 

I wasn't sure about doing a card like this and was happy with it until I poked the embossing tool through the hole. I wish the Cuttlebug folders would fit an A6 sized card blank in properly and then we wouldn't have this problem.

Mother in Law's Double Challenge Card

It's my MIL's birthday on Friday 13th (argggh) and totally unlike me I haven't left it till the last minute to make her card.

The forum challenge this week is to make a card using a Penny Black animal. I have used a Stickeroo and picked the colour from the daisies for the papers and embellishments.

This card was also made using Sketch # 21 from Just Christmas & Birthday Cards. I have been lurking there for a while but this is the first card I have made for it.

The paper is DCWV, the flowers are Prima, Papermania brad, gorgeous bobbly trim, chipboard circles Paper Cellar with DCWV cardstock sticker letters. The sentiment is a seal I made using the seal generator site. 

Well that's the card done, just need to sort a pressie out for her now!

Anyone for an Easter Egg ?

The last card I submitted for the Spring Forum Challenge was this Easter Egg shaped card. I made a template and the card measures A5.

I used Making Memories Cosmopolitan paper for the bottom half. The reverse of it was the pale pink that I used to make the Marths Stewart punched trim which has been lighly inked on the edges.

The top is DCWV textured card which has been run through a Cuttlebug folder. The ribbon is Papermania, the textured foil eggs are from The Early Learning Centre, the glittered chipboard one is from the DCWV drawers from QVC and the bunny was recycled from a Joanna Sheen catalogue.

This is the favourite of my 3 cards. The photograph doesn't reflect the colours very well as the lighting is a bit 'yellow'. Taking photos is the UK at the moment is a bit hit and miss due to the dull lighting most of the time.

2 Sketches 4 You - Julie Campbell Bonus Sketch

This is the 2nd card I submitted for the Spring competition. I used one of the sketches that I'd not been anble to submit a card for by Julie Campbell who is a DT member over at 2 Sketches 4 You.

The papers are a double sided wrapping paper from Paperchase, the gems are also from there. The glittered egg and sentiment are from a Lets Make Cards pack. 

CPS 103 & Forum Spring Challenge

This is one of the 3 cards that I submitted into the Easter/Spring forum challenge with bonus points awarded for bunnies.

I used the CPS sketch 103 as I hadn't been able to submit a card in time for the blog.

The glittery paper is from the DCWV Spring drawer set from QVC. The glitter bunny is from a Lets Make Cards pack and the paper daffodil is from my stash and was bought from Ebay yonks and yonks ago.

I inked the edges of the card as it looked a little stark. I don't usually make Easter cards so it is a breaw away from the norm for me.

Get Well Soon Forum Challenge

The challenge this week is to make a Get Well Card but it must feature circles. There are loads in this one so I think I've filled the brief and made a nice bright card that would cheer anyone up who was feeling poorly. 

The patterned papers are from DCWV. The flowers are Prima daisies with Papermania gem centres. I used my Nestabilities to cut the scalloped circle, all the rest are cut using a Fiskars template, a DST roll and a little tin! I have a sert of compasses somewhere, do you think I could find them??? Nah of course not.

The rubber stamped butterfly is coloured using Sakura Souffle and glaze pens for the flowers and Marvy Le Plume for the main wing.

The sentiment tag has been adorned with peel off stickers and a small piece of ribbon from a Brenda Pinnick QVC kit.

All the coloured cards used for the mats have been from my scraps. I recently sorted them into colour families and put them into a Papermania concertina organiser and have found I am able to utilize them much more easily as I can now find the colours I need. It's amazing how much more productive I have been as a result of doing this and whilst it was the most boring and tedious of jobs to sort a huge carrier bag full it is really paying dividends now.

Mojo Monday # 73

On the forum we are as a group making a load of cards to be sent to the Docrafts Marie Curie Cancer Appeal.

I have used the latest sketch # 73 over at Mojo Monday to make my first card (I will be making 5 in total)

The heart paper is from the Papermania Scrumptious pack. I have run some brown cardstock through the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder for the mat and distressed it with a bit of white Brilliance ink pad. The bright pink dotty card is from the DCWV Blossoms & Butterflies pad. The glitter brad is Papermania. The tag is a chipboard one from a QVC Brenda Pinnick kit. I have added chipboard corners from DCWV. The little owl has been cut from a Paperchase wrapping paper. I have decoupaged another layer for the eyes and added Glossy Accents to the eyes and nose. The peel off sentiment is from a Forever Friends cardmaking kit.

Card Sketch A Day # 159 Friday Friends

Sketch # 159 over at Card Sketch a Day is Friday Friends again. YAY !!!

Owing to the unfortunate demise of my camera I have had to take this with my mobile phone. Great camera, but is is dark and the light has cast a yellow hue over the card. This card was also made for a forum challenge to make a white card. I have also scanned it in, but you lose all the detail. I wish I was better at photography!!


The base card is white hammered to which I have matted some white card which has been embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. The organza ribbon is from my stash. The flowers are Primas and the big brad is HOTP. The gems are from Poundland.

The vellum strip was cut using my Martha Stewart border punch and the sentiment has been cut from the Cuttlebug birthday folder.

Coffee Anyone ?

One of the challenges set on our forum was to make a card using Coffee & Cream as a theme.

I used this template from WS Designs to make a coffee pot shaped card and used HOTP papers and cards scraps to piece it together.

The mug is a template from the By Donovan website that I resized. This is mounted with 3d foam to create a gap that the teaspoon can slide into. The liquid is a scrap of card which I used a metallic pencil to draw ripple lines.

The rub ons on the mug are from a Let's Make Cards pack and have been coloured using Sakura glitter pens. The label and the brads on the coffee pot is HOTP and the rub on lettering is a magazine freebie.

I really enjoyed making this card. Totally different from anythaing I have made before and stretched my creativity.