Spring has sprung...

Well it has over at the Secret Crafter where the theme this week is Spring and all the images and colours that brings to mind. I thought my anniversary card with its 'twitterpated' birds on fitted the bill perfectly.

The space bottom right will be perfect for adding the names of the couple when I know who I am sending the card to.

Materials used:

• Cuttlebug Birds and Swirls embossing folder
• Covermount free stamp from recent monthly craft magazine
• pearlescent pink card
• aqua card
• Cool aqua Promarker
• small heart punch
• Peel off sentiment, gems and organza ribbon from stash

Anniversary Card...

Just a very simple anniversary card to have in my box of cards ready for when I need a card fast. The paper I've used is one from the Laura Ashley collection and I have overlaid it with vellum to soften the centre of the design.

The heart is a gold peel off stuck on to vellum and attached to the card with tiny sticky pads hidden under larger sections of gold on the peel off.

My card is for the ABC Challenge where they are starting the alphabet again from the very begining. This week we are on A for Anniversaries.

This challenge is great fun and if you haven't joined in before do have a look. Each week the team choose a theme to accompany the next letter of the alphabet. Last time I missed the beginning of the alphabet and odd ones in between, but this time I'm setting myself a personal challenge to try and take part in the whole alphabet.

Hope I don't regret saying this !!! Knowing my luck the theme for B next week will be something really tricky like errrrrrrrrrrrr bondage or battleships!! Wish me luck.

Peach and Aqua Birthday Card...

I have been waiting all day for good light to try and catch the true colours on this card, but when it got to 3 o'clock I decided to go with the daylight lamp and do the best I could.

Matching colours does not come easily to me so I am quite proud of this my first entry for the challenge at Colour Create where this week the colours to use are Peach and Aqua. I ransacked my stash and found both pearlescent card in both these colours and a matching lighter shade of the aqua.

As you can see I decided to make a step card and out came my new stamp by Pollycraft again. I really love her - I think it's because she reminds me of my daughter when she had her hair in a very similar style a little while ago.

Hmm she wouldn't listen to me when I said it would take ages to grow out and guess what process we are going through now!!! Yep you're right growing it out!!

The challenge at Wednesday Stamper this week is use hearts in a different way.

I used my large and small heart punch to create a flower. The large hearts were run through the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder to give them texture.

The stamen in the centre is a small snowflake punch topped with a gem from my stash.

I think this flower is going to become my favourite embellishment alongside gemstones which means that I can enter it for the challenge at Our Creative Corner where the team want people to use and show work using their favourite embellishments.

The last step of my card contains the verse which is computer generated and originally sourced from a website called Imag-e-nation .

All the steps in my card have been decorated with gems and punched hearts.

At Tanda Teasers this week the theme is Hearts and Flowers so my card is also suitable for that challenge. There are certainly plenty of hearts - think I needed someone at the side of me chanting 'less is more' - lol!

Hope you like my card and I wonder how many of you will notice something really silly that I've done in one of the photos!

Answers on a postcard please or in the comments box - lol!

Penny Black Romance...

Just a very simple card for the challenge at http://pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/ where this week the theme is Romance. I've used one of the free papers from a recent craft magazine for the background.

The ribbon is threaded through ribbon slots made using my new Sizzix Paddle Punch - hmmmmm I'm not too keen on the size of the hole (looks like it needs Pollifiller!). Will have to have a rethink on using that methinks!!

Materials used:

• aubergine card
• free hearts design paper
• Penny Black mice stamp
• Sizzix Paddle Punch - ribbon slots (or craters)
• organza ribbon from stash

Love...

This is a card my daughter asked me to make for her to give to her boyfriend. She wanted a similar card to the one I showed yesterday but no pink and no cute girls!

The stamp I've used is a Magenta one and was part of a collection I bought very cheaply on ebay ( I love ebay).


On this card to do the charm I decided to try out die cut words and shrink plastic. This is one of the words from the Cuttlebug Love Combo set and as you can see it worked a treat.

At http://thecuttlebugspot.blogspot.com/ this week they are celebrating love and the challenge is to use the word 'love' on your card. Mine may be tiny but it's extra cute - well I think so!

Materials used:

• Red pearlescent card


• Black base card


• Magenta stamp


• Cuttlebug Love Combo Set


• Wizard heart die


• Shrink plastic


• black organza ribbon and pearls from stash.

My card is also perfect for the challenge at http://caardvarks.blogspot.com/ where the theme is 'Hearts'.

The Pink Elephant Challenge...

Well today is the official start of The Pink Elephant - our new Challenge Blog at http://thepinkelephantchallenge.blogspot.com/. Some of you may have noticed that the challenge actually appeared yesterday due to Lori getting so excited that she couldn't tell the difference between Sunday and Monday!!!

Having said that all the Design Team are really excited about our new venture and we're hoping that lots of people will join in. This week our challenge is based on our blog colour theme - PINK, WHITE AND BLACK. How great is that? There's also a super prize donated by Debbie's Die Cuts and the winner gets their card in the hall of fame slide show for 6 months.


My pink, black and white card is based around my new stamp from Pollycraft. I've used a very striking pink pearlescent card and embossed it using the small hearts Cuttlebug folder from the Love Combo set. The dress and hearts have also been stamped on to this card and paper pieced on to the image.

My favourite part of the card is the heart charm made using the die from the Cuttlebug Love Combo set. I hadn't tried die cutting shrink plastic before, but it's certainly something I will do more in the future.

Do pop over to the Pink Elephant and have a look at the other DT work. They are a super talented bunch. It would be fantastic if you could find the time to join in the challenge too - I'd love to see loads of pink this week.

A quote for my daughter...

This is my card for my oldest daughter for Valentine's Day. She doesn't like cute images much, but really loves quotations.

The quote is one from a set by Cloud 9 designs and has been stamped onto one of the new Nestability labels. To soften the white background I applied a swirly peel off, chalked over the top of it and then removed it leaving a subtle white image.

My card is also for the challenge at http://createdbyhandchallenge.wordpress.com/ where the challenge is to be creative using a love quote.

Materials used:

• black card
• Dovecraft Vintage Papers
• Cloud Nine Clear Stamp
• Nestability Label die cuts
• cream organza ribbon from stash