Bah! Humbug! Day ... Cards to make you giggle!

 

Ooooooooooooh this week my first two cards for our challenge at Bah! Humbug! are quite hot stuff - maybe too hot!  I do hope nobody will be offended by my fun take on our theme of 'Cards to make you smile or giggle'.  Both of my cards certainly made Max smile when she saw them and Laura has already ear marked both of them as ones to send to her friends next Christmas.   

I must come clean and say that at one stage we, the devilish duo at Humbug Hall, had it in mind to post a pretend challenge entitled 'Naked Men'.  It was to be our very own April Fool's Day joke, but in the end we decided that it might be a little bit too naughty even for us. 
My first card uses a photo taken from a newpaper article some years ago which I imported into Serif Craft Artist to add the holly in the appropriate places.  Tartan backing paper by Kanban and a computer generated sentiment 'Have a jolly holly Christmas' completes the card.

 

My second card is even more raunchy.  I think staying with Max in the Scottish wing of Humbug Hall has had a bad influence on me because I don't usually do cards like this!  Honest!!  On this card I used the same photo, but printed it on photo card and then stamped and cut out little Christmas hats to cover the parts that needed covering.  Eeeeeeeek! 

My last card for this week's challenge features another cutie with no clothes on!  Don't panic, as this time it's my favourite Christmas House Mouse and the Santa hat is firmly placed on his head and not covering any other body parts. 

This guy always makes me smile and the thought of him eating so much sherry trifle that he's got a permenant smile and very wobbly legs is such a lovely thought I had to incorporate it onto my card.  The backing paper is from the new Joanna Sheen CD which features papers and inserts to use alongside House Mouse stamps.  I imported the backing paper into Serif Craft Artist and used the tools in that programme to make my inner frame and added the words too before printing out.  As most of the layers are done in Craft Artist Programme and printed this card is flat enough to escape the cost of a large letter stamp, but having said that I do like the depth given by 'real' matting and layering and would, if I was doing the card again do it differently.

My cards are also for the challenges at...

•  For Fun Challenges - Christmas
• Christmas Card Challenges - no stamping- first two cards
• Sentimental Sunday - Cute and Cuddly - the mouse of course!!!
• Crafty Ann's Challenge - Elvis Song - 'Santa Clause is back in town'
• Rainbow Lady's Challenge - A night at the movies - 'The Full Monty'

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.  Sadly I will be heading home tomorrow after spending a whole week with my dear friend Max in Scotland.  Having looked forward to this for so long I can't believe the week has passed by so quickly.  Thank goodness she will be coming to stay in Yorkshire before the end of the year.
Ann xxx
                                          

Bah! Humbug! Day ... Apertures

A very quick post from me today as I'm off to work shortly.  This week at Bah! Humbug! sees us using apertures on our cards.  Something I don't do as often as I should as they can be quite effective.  I decided to make my aperture a mouse sized one and create a mouse hole on the front of my card using part of a nestie circle.

I tried to make the front look like wall and skirting board. I suppose if the proportions were as in real life the skirting board would be far bigger, but I think it works okay as it is.  The little sign was printed on the computer and the holly was made using a punch.

On the inside the image from a stamp set by Joanna Sheen was coloured using Promarkers with a touch of Sakura white glaze pen and some glitter.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set.

My card is also for the challenges at...

• Fab's Big Christmas Challenge - curls (will be on my next creation) or pictures (on this one)
• Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
• Christmas Sparkles - Predominantly red and green

Have a great weekend everyone.  I'm working most of it, but have a whole week off to look forward to. Yeah!

Ann xxx

Bah! Humbug! Day ... Using CDs...

Phew, just had a very busy week at work so I've had to snatch an odd hour here and there to take part in our great new challenge at Bah! Humbug!  This week we are asking everyone to be creative using CDs or even create something to hold a CD gift.  Tons of scope in this theme and I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. 

For my first project I decided to use a CD on the front of my card.  Love the reflective shine even if it is horrendous to get a good photo of. 

Materials used...

• Holly face rubber stamp by American Art Stamps - Paula Best design
• green corrugated card
• green mirri card and holly printed mirri card
• silver peel offs
• die cut spiky circle - Nellie Snellen die
• silver brads
• Promarkers

Additional challenges...

• Rainbow Lady - Use and old CD
• Cute Card Thursday - Shiny Happy Cards
• Fab's Big Christmas Card Challenge - Use Peel offs

My second project has been a nightmare to complete and I'm not very happy with it at all.  It just went so astray from my original idea, but oh well these things happen.

I bought an CD clock with 80s graphics on it's face from one of the Pound shops in Leeds some time back intending to alter it.  I thought it would be a relatively easy task - hmmm think again!  My original plan was to have a pink and silver theme so off came the red second hand, which is a bit of a shame seeing as I ended up using red in my design.

Another sad thing was that as the face of the clock was already so patterned I couldn't use take advantage of the mirror quality of a CD.  I did try to dismantle the clock with the aim of adding a blank CD, but I hadn't got the right tools.  Sigh, the only thing I could do was use the CD as a base and cover it with papers. 

Materials used...

• Joanna Sheen House Mouse stamps
• Nellie Snellen dies
• white card, silver and red card
• Promarkers
• self adhesive gems
• computer generated sentiment

I'm not happy with the finished clock at all and if I were starting again I would do the whole thing completely differently, but we learn by our mistakes and I do think that part of the fun of crafting is trying new things and experimenting. 

Additional challenges...

• My Time to Craft - Going round in circles
• Papertake Weekly - Putting on the glitz
• City Crafter - Cute Stuff
• A Spoonful of Sugar - Anything but a card.
• Totally Stampalicious - use some glitter or bling on your card

Have a wonderful Friday everyone and do pop over to Bah! Humbug! to check out the challenge for yourselves.  Max has found some fantastic links to tutorials for making all kinds of things using CDs.  I think I'm going to try some of them out myself this weekend. 

Ann xxx

House Mouse Valentine Present...

Phew just made it in time even though Poundland let me down this morning by not opening till after I started work and closing before I finished.  Sheesh did they not realise how important it was that I got my mitts on a PINK sticky note pad to replace the yellow?  Ah well yellow will have to do as I want to give this to my daughter tomorrow as a little Valentine gift plus this is the last day for the House Mouse and Friends Challenge of Hearts and I don't want to miss entering that!  It's one of my favourite challenges.

A little while ago I saw these great sticky note sets at Poundland or one of the many other similar shops.  I just knew they would be great to play around with and make that little bit more special.  I know you could do the same thing (with a lot of measuring and a ton of patience) with card, but these sets are a really nice finish and being plain black mock leather they are easy to transform.

To create the top I used one of the new House Mouse stamp sets from Joanna Sheen coloured it with Promarkers and then mat and layered it on to black card.  I decided to attach a layer of acetate over the top using brads.  I thought that as it would be in use all the time it would protect the image from getting dirty.

On the inside I used the calender that was already in the pack but cut it down and matted it on to pink card and after colouring and cutting out the little meece with the paperclip I tucked in behind the calender a little.  I also added some glittery black peel off numbers for the year.

As I said at the beginning of the post I would have loved to have been able to add pink sticky notes rather than the yellow.  Laura is a pink fanatic.  They will have to do for now though and in case you're wondering yes I am daft enough to try to stamp the pointing Maxwell on every sheet.  I lost the will to live about half way down the stack!  

After a massive search I found some paper clips that I knew I'd saved for scrapbooking somewhere and couldn't believe my luck that some of them were not only pink, but heart shaped too.  Don't you just love it when things go right for once.

My sticky note holder gift was also made with the following challenges in mind...

• Sir Stampalot - All Creatures Great and Small
• Promarker Challenge - Let there be love
• Simon Says Challenge Blog - Anything but a card

Thank you for looking everyone and for the wonderfully kind comments.  I love reading them.  It really makes my day.

Love and hugs

Ann xxx

Bah! Humbug! Day ... Doilies...

Hmmmmmmmmm Doilies are the theme this week at Bah! Humbug! and when a certain crafter went to the cupboard in search of traditional paper doilies she found none.  Poundland weren't their usual helpful selves either.  Not to worry after quite a bit of head scratching and a little bit of thinking outside of the box I improvised and came up with two designs which I hope fit the bill.

For my first card I used a Marianne die and nesties to create what I hoped would give a doilie look behind the mat and layered image.  

Materials used...

• LOTV angels and baby Jesus stamp coloured with Promarkers and glittered
• Nestie scalloped and plain circles (one circle cut on Cricut at 3.25 inches to get the finest of borders around the central image), Marianne scalloped circle die - oh I love these Marianne dies - just bought the rectangle one too.
• Dovecraft patterned paper 
• silver ribbon layed in stripes across patterned paper and used for bow
• tags cut using Cuttlebug tag die
• blue card and silver mirri 

Additional challenges...

• Crafty Creations - Three Little Words - mine are Love Peace and Joy on the tag.
• Kaboodles Doodles - Break out the ribbon
• Ooh La La Creations - for someone special - this is a 8.5 by 8.5 card and is intended to be for Gran to send my daughter next Christmas - oh boy am I organised or what?
• Woodware USA Challenge - Use ribbon

My second card with the main theme of Doilies was made using a real lace doilie bought as part of a very cheap set from Poundland some time ago.  I originally had the intention of using them on some vintage style birthday cards, but like so many other things just didn't get round to it.  Actually I now wish I had bought more as they are very light and work perfectly as a mat on a card.

Additional materials...

• Santa tag image and backing paper from one of vintage Christmas CDs by Joanna Sheen (not sure which one as this one was from a sheet printed out some time ago - yeah only another 6 images to use now - so pleased I no longer print the whole sheet when I want an image)
• Martha Stewart lace doilie punch
• green card and gold mirri card
• gold eyelet and cream organza ribbon
• gold corner peel offs

Challenges...

• Die Cut Dreams Christmas Club Challenge - The Gift of Love
• Charisma Cardz Challenge - mythical/fantasy - hmmmm not sure whether Santa qualifies here as my voice is one of the loudest shouting 'I believe' when 'Miracle on 34th Street' is shown each Christmas.

Have a great weekend everyone.  

Love and hugs 

Ann xxx

Christmas Birthdays...

or birthdays very near to Christmas.  When I started this card it was going to be another Christmas card, but it sort of changed along the way.  The image and backing papers are taken from Joanna Sheen's Fashion Boutique CD and printed on to glossy photo paper.  The image was mat and layered on to two shades of brown card and gold mirri card to add more glitz.  I've added border and corner peel offs to both the image and the outside of the card and a gold leaf with berries that has been in my stash for ages.  The gold peel off sentiment looks a bit wonky in the photo, but it was straight on the card I'm sure.

My card is for the challenges at ...

• Crafty Ann's Challenge - Christmas and a sketch (spooky how I started this card yesterday and yet it is so close to Ann's sketch that I just had to enter it)
• Alphabet Challenge - Foliage (think the lady sitting on the branch holding her bunch of mistletoe should count)
• Tanda Teaser - Ladies Only
• CD Sunday - White Christimas ( I do hope this card is okay even though it is a birthday card - I did print the image originally with this challenge in mind - honest!)
• Allsorts Challenge - Monochrome

Well I'm back to work tomorrow providing the snow doesn't get any worse.  Have a great weekend everyone.

Whoops ...

Forgot to show the card I made for Mum's birthday a little while ago.  Shame on me for leaving things till the last minute and having to put together a quick card for someone so important.  Thank goodness for CD art where you can flick through till you find someone's favourite flower - print it - stick it and Bob's your Uncle or in the words of a famous friend of mine 'Bish, Bash, Bosh - job's done'.

This image with the script and rolled up paper effect was taken from Joanna Sheen's CD Floral Fantasy as was the backing paper.  I overlayed the backing paper with vellum as I love the soft effect that brings.  

Beautiful CD and even better when purchased in the Special Offers section of Joanna's website.  Love that section.

Another great thing about CDs and printing papers out is that you can easily make the inside of the card special too.

There are complete inners ready to print out on the CD, but I do like to do things my own way so I just printed out the panel of roses and a verse from Hallmark Card Studio as to my mum a card is not a good card if the it doesn't have a soppy verse inside.

I know I haven't made this card especially for a certain challenge, but it does fit some of them rather well so I'm going to enter it for the following...

• Sentimental Sundays - birthdays plus a sentiment - if you haven't looked at this challenge blog please do - the free quotes/ sentiments this week are just lovely.
• Crafty Calendar Challenges - Birthdays

Have a great start to the week everyone.

Ann xxx

Keeping busy...

A very special aunt of mine died this weekend so as you can imagine everyone has been really upset. I don't know about anyone else, but when I'm feeling low I find that crafting takes my mind off things and helps enormously.

Last week Joanna Sheen added some gorgeous House Mouse canvas bags to her online shop.  I couldn't resist and at the time of ordering I thought I might as well throw the matching stamp set into the basket too.  I was thinking that I might be able to do a bag charm or something like that to make the bag extra special.

Well somebody has stolen my shrink plastic or it could be that it's just been put in a safe place somewhere.  I haven't checked the fridge yet, but I've looked in most other places and have not tracked it down.  However, during the search I found some plastic badges that I bought ages ago from WH Smiths so I decided to use one of those to make an addition to my new bag.

The mouse was stamped on to a nestie circle along with the matching sentiment.  I coloured the image with Promarkers and touched up the edges with brown chalk to give a softer effect.  Then I mounted the circle on a scalloped red nestie and sprayed with Crafter's Companion glitter before putting inside the badge holder.  My daughter suggested the addition of the brown ribbon.

Hope you like it and if you see my shrink plastic anywhere around please let me know!!

Ann xxx

Bah! Humbug! Day ... A card for a child...

Shattered after having an amazing day in York yesterday so just a quick post today.

Our theme this week at Bah! Humbug! is to make a card for a child.  I decided to use a scene from one of the Joanna Sheen backing paper pads as the base for my design.  I must admit Messy Rabbit in his baggy jumper was supposed to be on here.  I even had him coloured and cut out, but at the last minute decided to use one of the bears from a Daisy and Dandelion kit I bought from QVC in one of my mad moments.  

The character is a die cut decoupage and has polar white flower soft added to his hat and cuffs to add interest.  As Santa Bear was standing quite a way off the page I added an extra layer of the snow infront of him to give depth.  It meant cutting into another sheet, but I will be able to use the top half on another card hopefully.

Do pop over to Bah! Humbug! to take a look at Max and Irene's creations and of course the work of our guest DT member Claire, who is just blowing everyone's socks off with her stunning cards.  Have a great day everyone.

Ann xxx

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr...

I really wanted to support friends on the DT at CD Sunday, but oh my goodness I'm really not so keen on using CDs anymore and this card is sadly a 'bugging me' one.  It nearly hit the bin several times and may do yet!

The theme this week at CD Sunday is 'Country Charm' so I chose this image from Joanna Sheen's Card Makers Year CD.  I didn't feel in the mood for a country cottage and thought the dog taking a stroll and finding a new friend was a fun take on the theme.

Sadly fun it was not as I could not get the sketch from Stamptacular quite as it should be and of course now I've realised that I can't enter it for their challenge anyway as there is nothing 'stamptacular' about my card.  Ho hum don't think the brain was working yesterday.  Putting it down to the lack of brain cells after the meal out I had with Laura.   She's a very bad influence!!

Bah! Humbug! Day and it's Food glorious food...

Oh dear me - which silly person left doing her DT card till the very last minute and then got home from work after doing a long shift and sleep over to find I had a card to create with my eyes only half open and brain fully asleep.  The latter being fairly normal for me these days.  Anyway all that waffling is my excuse for there being no glitter on Messy Rabbit's Christmas pudding or his tail.  There will be when the card gets sent out, but at the moment a touch of imagination is required.
For this week's theme I decided to do a tag shaped card and used the large traditional scallop tag die by Sizzix to cut out my card.  Messy Rabbit with his Christmas pudding is on the front fold of the tags and on the other two tags there is a 'real' recipe for Christmas Carrot Pudding.  I've not tried this yet, but I love carrot cake so I'm sure it will be gorgeous.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone.  Do remember to check out Bah! Humbug! and hopefully join in.  Whoops - nearly forgot to mention that as it's the 1st week of the new month of challenges there's a fantastic prize been pulled out of Santa's sack and is just waiting to be won by one of our entrants.  

Hmmmmmmmmm wonder if I could get away with entering - nah think Max and Irene would spot me!!
Ann xxx

The Pink Elephant ...Sketch Time...

Monday morning and time for a sketch at The Pink Elephant.  This week our sketch is one by the extremely talented Lori and is a real fun one to work with.  Do pop over to The Pink Elephant to see the amazing creations by the rest of the team and hopefully join in too.

To create my card I used one of the silhouette images from the 'Dancing With Shadows' CD by Joanna Sheen.  I haven't used this CD for ages, but was inspired to do so by the new challenge blog...

CD Sunday, where their very first theme is 'Things with Wings'.

As many of my friends are on the DT I'm hoping that Wendy's brilliant idea of a challenge site using Craft CDs as the starting point for each project will prove very popular.  I'm sure it will as we all have CDs on our shelves that sometimes gather more dust than use.

Other materials used on my card include a Cuttlebug embossing folder, Nellie Snellen flower and leaf punches.  I've also added glitter and tons of tiny gems to make the frame that bit special.

Other challenges...

• One Stop Craft Challenge - also have the theme 'Things with Wings'
• Creative Card Crew - Happy Birthday
• ABC Challenge - Sparkle - not sure how much the gemstones and glitter show on photo but in real life lots

Have a great start to the week everyone.

Ann xxx

Bah! Humbug! Vintage Theme...

This week the theme at Bah! Humbug! was chosen by Irene, who is a great fan of the vintage look on cards and projects.  I must admit than when I first thought about this I wanted to go wild with pearls and lace and flowers, etc, but that 'going to work' element came into it and I only had time to do a fairly simple card.

I did get chance to use my Nellie Snellen die though and infact this is the shape I cut out the other day when I used the left over bit to make a frame for the stamped tree.  I really do like these dies as there is so much you can do with them. 

The paper is from one of Joanna Sheen's backing paper pads and is one of the sheets a friend gave me.  Thank you Irene.  I used part of the backing paper to created the central image.

Additional Challenges...

• Winter Wonderland - Victorian Christmas

Have a fantastic weekend everyone and see you on Monday for The Pink Elephant challenge.

Ann xxx

Celebrating Mother's Day...

All the ironing - the mess - the worry (the sleepless nights and I don't mean crying babies I mean teenagers coming in wobbling up the stairs crashing into stuff) all forgotten this weekend as Mummies everywhere in the UK get a great big cuddle and thank you.

I'm having tea at my youngest daughter's house this afternoon and taking this card I've made for her to give her boyfriend's mum.  I hope she likes it as no way have I had time to do more than one to give her a choice - infact I still have one to do for Laura to give her Gran.  Sheesh maybe I should start for next year next week!!

The image and floral paper are from Joanna Sheen's CD 'In other words' which a friend has lent me.  Love the gentleness of these floral designs.

Materials used...

• 'In other words' CD by Joanna Sheen
• silver mirri board and lilac card
• vellum with a strange sheen which happened to be the same shade of lilac as the floral paper
• lace, organza ribbon, silver peel offs and pearls from stash

Challenges...

• Rainbow Lady - Mother's Day
• Cute Card Thursday - Celebrations
• Cup Cake Craft Challenge - Flower Power
• Creative Card Crew - Celebrate 

Hope everyone enjoys their Mother's Day celebrations and love to those who are simply remembering their mums.

Floral card...

My first card using my new Royal Horticultural Society CD by Joanna Sheen.  I wanted a floral birthday card and somehow ended up with an everyday card for my box.  Ah well the birthday card can be made another day.  I used the sketch from Friday Sketchers for my layout.  Had to tweek it a little as I haven't got an oval die or punch for the sentiment.
My card is also for the challenges at ...

• Cute Card Thursday - Blooming Gorgeous.
• Alphabet Challenge - New - my CD is new
• Dutch Dare - Summer in Winter

Another free day today - bliss - can't decide how to spend the day, but whatever I do I'm sure it will be great.  Hope your day is fantastic too.

Last sample card...

Another Joanna Sheen Country Life sample that wasn't actually shown on the TV programme, but one that I'm quite fond of.  I've saved some of my Christmas card images to do this with.  I think cutting up the images and reassembling could be an effective way of recycling them.  I just haven't had time or been warm enough (heating now on but for how long) to do it.

Dare I enter Crafty Ann's challenge again?  Yeah why not - I've entered nearly everyday it would be a shame to miss the last one!!

At Creative Inspirations they too have just started the theme of new so my card also fits their challenge.

Hmmmmmm NEW that reminds me - today is the last day of our recycling challenge at Bah! Humbug! so do hurry if you want to be included in the draw.  Tomorrow sees the start of our new challenge - lol - wonder what the theme will be!

Christening Card...

This card was another of the samples I did for Joanna Sheen.  Very tricky to take a photo of because not only is is mirri but it's embossed mirri card!  This card was the first I did of the samples and a favourite as it has beautiful words inside and was stamped with the small heart from the set of stamps.   

Yet again my card fits the challenges at...

• Cute Card Thursday - all new
• Crafty Ann's - New

I do hope they don't regret the theme 'New' or are toooooooooooooo fed up with my barage of cards.  Just one more sample to show and then it will be Bah! Humbug! day.  Yeah - new challenge starts Friday!  If you haven't managed to get your recycled card done yet then please hurry as the closing time for the draw is 12.00 GMT tomorrow (Thursday).  

As to the next challenge should I give out clues -ooooooooh better not Max and Irene might throw me off the team!!

Have a good day everyone and may your heating never ever break down, unlike mine which went again yesterday and I have been so cold all night even under the duvet!

Ann xxx

New Home...

Another new home card using my favourite cottage stamp from the new stamp series 'Country Life' by Joanna Sheen.  Oh who wouldn't want to live there?  I love the words that go with this one too.

Not quite so keen on the card though - it started life with the intention of being an impressive 8" x 8" with a pocket and tag with the words on, but at around midnight it shrunk to a 6" x 6" with no tag.  Could have been worse - it may have ended up in the bin!

My New Home card once again fits the challenges at...

• Cute Card Thursday - All New
• Crafty Ann's - New
• Stamping for the Weekend - New Home

My heating is working again today thanks to British Gas Service engineers - having said that I've paid a monthly service fee out for 9 years and the first time they have to do something the guy tells me I'm ready for a new boiler.  Not happy with them. I always suspected that the minute it needed repairing that's what would happen.

Ah well c'est la vie - keep warm everyone - Spring is on the way - I hope!

Ann xxx

Another Joanna sample and a huge moan!...

It's cold with no heating!!!

Okay moan over and on to my card which of all the samples I've done was one of the easiest to make.  I picked up the original idea on the Sheena Douglas course I went on and then adapted it to suit.  It works really well for cute images too and on the plus side you don't need extra thick acetate as the concertinered card at the base supports the weight.

As you can see in the photo the base is made by folding card of the correct width up to make hills and valleys. I used a piece of A4 card cut down to 6" along the length and then scored to make a 1" hill, a 1.5" hill, a 2" hill and lastly a 1" hill to attach the acetate to at the rear of the card.

I thought the card would a fun one for Dad's out there, but actually I think little boys would love it too.  I must admit I wanted to stamp birds onto the acetate - you know how you get birds following the tracter as it works.  Unfortunately the stamps I had of the right size were flying geese (not seen them following many tractors recently) and the birds I had were too small.  Must invest in some bigger birds cause they would have looked great. 

My card is for the following challenges...

• Crafty Ann's - New (sorry Ann you must be fed up of seeing my stuff)
• Cute Card Thursday - All New
• Crazy4Challenges - Birthday

Have a fabulous day everyone and don't forget The Pink Elephant this week - the challenge is BIRTHDAYS.  I've had some time out this week but what a great fun theme it is and it's being sponsored by Kraftin Kimmie so do check out what's on offer over there and the work by my amazing team mates.
Ann xxx

New stamps - new home ...

Today see's the release of a new range of stamps by Joanna Sheen.  The series of stamps are called Country Life and you can see a video of Joanna showing many of the sample cards (including mine) here. 

For any Sheenies reading this - yep I was responsible for the very tongue in cheek ATC and what Joanna didn't own up to was that on the back in very large capital letters it says 'BUY MORE STORAGE'.  Problem solved!

I used Promarkers to colour the image, but added texture for the hedge and thatched roof using Derwent Inktense pencil crayons.  The sentiment is part of the same set of stamps and papers, lace and card are all from my stash.

My card is also for the challenges at...

• Papertake Weekly - New Beginnings
• Cute Card Thursday - All New
• Crafty Ann's - New
• Stampin' for the Weekend - New Beginnings

Happy Sunday everyone.

Ann xxx