Di Hickman's sketch

This is my first time using one of Di Hickman's sketches - I really liked this sketch. This card was just for fun, which was nice as I could "just play"!

I finally broke into my Making Memories vintage ribbons the other day, and have used another piece on this card today - although you can barely see the pink crushed velvet ribbon, believe me, it's beautiful!

I've used more K&Co papers and another little Penny Black image which I got for christmas and really like.

I'm off to party with the "big son" - let's see what he makes of his pirate card! bx

My blog candy challenge is still on - please scroll down for details!

PS heeellllp! Could some-one please tell me how to create a link when you are posting a comment (the control, shift and a doesn't seem to work)...thanks!! bx

Been a busy b!

I made this card last night for Kristine's blog candy challenge! I might just make it by the skin of my teeth!!!!

The challenge was to "make a card, LO or project with your favourite stamp at the moment."

I decided to use this stamp as it's my newest - my husband bought it for me for valentine's day - and I love it! I've also used Basic Grey paper (my top favourite paper line, closely followed by My mind's Eye!)

I paper pieced Simon and Lola using BG scraps - aren't their outfits funky?!! I cut out that strip of funky flowers - it wasn't ONE bit fiddly to cut...!! Then I cut a few extra flowers to mount on top of the larger flowers; I put gems in the centre of the mounted flowers - that's it, fresh and funky using all my "favourite things"!!

Be sure to stop by Kristine's blog - she is very creative...not only does she create beautiful cards, she decorates the insides (BOTH sides) AND she "creates" on the back of her cards...all very inspiring!

I've also been busy making St Patty 's Day cards (guess when I'm gonna post them?) and a few special requests - now I've the list cleared I'm going to try and do a challenge or two!

Blog candy: all entries more than welcome - scroll down a little to find the details! bx

Where does the time go..?!

This card is for my precious nephew Jack - he will be 5 on Thursday! I remember the day he was born - clearly! I was a nervous wreck...and I am only the "aul aunt"!!!

I've used a woodware plate of stamps to create this card - chosen especially as the "boy" is all into skull n crossbones!

I cut 2 circles from my cricut (major disappointment as they are NOT perfect circles...but...a 5 year old will forgive me!!); the top layer spins around, revealing little icons below, eg a dagger or as you can part see in the photo another little sailing ship! I enjoyed making this card for him and as it's his theme and it's interactive I think he'll approve!

Blog candy - scroll down for details of my blog candy challenge. Some fabulous cards have been entered - some VERY talented ladies out there! Please feel free to join in...! bx

Happy birthday Emily!!

Today is my number one fan's (on blogland) birthday! She is 12 today - happy birthday my darling girl! Here she is with her pressie from us! What's in the bag..? Craftin' goodies of course!

She celebrated yesterday by having a "craft party". She brought some friends and they each made 3 lovely cards - co-designed by Emy-Lu of course! They each received a goodie bag, and one of the items inside was a treat bag (from the Daisy D range) which Emily and her sister Maddy filled with sweeties (nut free of course!)

She loves elephants and fun flock so I wanted to try and combine the 2 for her! I mixed black and white fun flock to make this grey colour - thought it turned out a bit dull so I needed to try and brighten the card up a bit!

It is of course another Penny Black image, and gorgeous K&Co papers.

Hope you have a wonderful day Emily!xx

It's fun time!!!!!

Well...I thought I would celebrate my "2 week anniversary" in blogland with some blog candy for a little challenge!

The challenge is open to everyone - I hope you all decide to "play"!

To clarify what's being offered:

"Word Art" acrylic stamp set by Autumn Leaves
A 6x6 "Mellow" paper pad by Basic Grey
1metre of each of the 5 colours of raffia lace (lilac, light pink, dark pink, lemon and natural)

Now for the challenge! I'd like you to make a "bernie" card (a new creation please!)! That means:

(1) it has to have red on it

(2) it has to have a "cute" image

...that's it...easy!!

You all know better than me how this works, but just in case, post your card on your blog and then leave a comment here to let me know about it! My hubby wants to pick the winner (it's like having a big kid here at times!!) but I'm also going to ask my mum to help him!! We'll keep this open until wednesday 5th March (that'll be my one month anniversary!!) - I'm looking forward to some fun! bx

CPS No52 challenge...

This is my entry for CPS #52. I must say I "struggled" a little with this sketch..not sure why!

This is my lovely new Lola & Simon stamp - my hubby MADE me choose a new stamp for a valentine's pressie - thought this was the obvious choice!

The pp's, bazzill blossom, MM epoxy button and heidi grace rubon were all "investments" (heehee) from my last visit to USA - I NEED another trip soon!

Look - no red!

So...I managed to create a card without red - wow!

I made this card to demonstrate a couple of new techniques to my mum - she comes for "private lessons" every wednesday!

This covered masking, a technique I don't know the name of (using 2 colours on a background stamp to give the background colours) and the little cut-work down one side (around the palm tree) - I liked how this one turned out!

I've used the travel to india judikin's cube, K&Co paper (from the hannah range), and I love this new paper cellar paper raffia - I got it from QVC's last craft day - it came in 5 lovely shades!

Mum brought me another sugar nellie, Hamish with the sledge, so when easter and St Pat's etc is all out of the way we can get cracking on our christmas cards - won't we be the 2 organised ladies!!!!! bx

Bits n pieces...

I made this sympathy card with some bits n pieces that needed used up! I never throw anything (craft wise anyway!!) away...i LOVE to use every last piece up!

I keep a couple of these small punches handy and punch leaves or flowers from the teeniest bit left...other small left-over strips are used to decorate the front of my envelopes...that way very very little is wasted!

I like decorating my envelope in some way - always have right from the start - just to give a little taste of what's inside!

Maggie...

I know most of you know "Maggie" already - she is adorable!

I kept this card quite simple as I was just playing with M. I gave her a fun flock heart on her jumper though, and couldn't help but give her a little pair of black patent shoes (with diamond glaze)! Think I might do her whole jumper in fun flock next time! bx

The Big 4 0!

I made this card for my friend who hit the bit 4 0 recently! She was/is always up for a good girly night out....so I chose this PB stamp, as there are 3 happy chicks and one that looks a bit "lost"...the message inside was "Shirley wasn't sure if she was going to enjoy this club..." - she laughed!

I like how it turned out...(nothing like praise for your own project!!)

As you can see I'm back to the red again...let's see what I can do for tomorrow! bx

Splish splash...

More cute images - just can't help myself! My hubby suggested that I post something that wasn't "red" - that's a challenge in itself!

I was just playing with this wee woodware set - the image is simply water-coloured, the bubbles and splashes are filled with diamond glaze; the blue paper is from a provo craft etcetera pack and the pink wavy paper is a Daisy D - I love them both! bx

Exciting news....!

My mum phoned last night to say she was looking at "some very familiar looking wee cards" in a magazine (Simply Cards & Papercraft); did I know anything about it...? No....?!

Like many of you out there I would dearly love to see my "work" in a mag! Well, a few months ago it dawned on me that that was not going to happen if I didn't at least submit some cards!! So I did that...and then, when I'd gone and forgotten all about it...there they appear...as if by magic!

Now...grant it, they're small images, but never-the-less my 4 (yes 4) cards are printed in glossy paper for all crafty readers to see!!!

So I did what any self respecting crafter would do that time of night...I got in the car and raced over to see....oh my! it was sooooo exciting to see....and I needed to share here! bx

Claudia's Blog Candy Challenge...

Hi everyone..meet Dressing up Maggie! I love her! I was holding off getting some of the Sugar Nellie's and Tilda's until my birthday as I've "invested" (use that one for the hubbies girls!!) in quite a lot of stamps recently (mainly for christmas pressies), but it takes a while to get them all used - as you all know - 'cos each new one becomes a "favourite" and then you have to use it a few times...(am I alone in this??)

But...my mum went ahead and bought me a couple - thanks mum!!

So I've decided to use Maggie tonight for my entry to Claudia's blog challenge. Pop over there - she is a very talented crafter. And notice her blog banner (by Rachelle Anne Miller) it is fabulous!

Claudia's challenge is to make a new card, using your favourite colour - simple! Obviously my favourite colour is red (certainly when it comes to crafting!)...I've used fun flock on Maggie's feather boa, dimensional paint on her necklace, Bo-bunny patterned paper, lots of little embellishments - I like the finished result!

Hope you all had a wonderful valentine's day...we'll celebrate at the weekend as my love gets home tomorrow...and he was "over the moon" with his card and special post! bx

To Russia with love....

This is a card I made a few weeks ago for "my love"! It's using "Lizzie Ladybug" by Whipper Snapper...and I just love her!!

When I bought her I was thinking of all the occasions I could use her for...and thought I could definitely use it for valentine's (my little tag says "I'm your lady!").......maybe that's partly why I love cute stamps so much - they are soooo versatile!

As "my love" is away on business this week, I wanted to make sure and post this card for him! I think he'll love it! I'm posting tonight (13th) as he is 3 hours ahead of me and I wanted the post to be "here" when he gets up!

Enjoy darling....safe trip home!!!! bx

CPS and Suzann's sketch challenges...

This is my first time participating in the card positioning systems sketch. There are some really lovely cards already displayed by the very talented DT...I really like these vintaged papers (K&Co), but not too sure about the finished result...but...I am pleased with my next sketch entry!

Edit: I added a little Heidi Grace rub on above the lace - makes such a difference!







I made this for Suzann's sketch challenge. I REALLY liked this sketch - very easy to work with...and of course "cute" was back again with this little PB image...I thought this little sentiment went nicely with the image!

Nicola's sketch #4

Hi everyone! This is my entry for Nicola's new sketch...it was an easy sketch to work with, and a great excuse to "christen" one of my new PB stamps...I received a parcel of stamps at the weekend (lucky girl)...it will take me a while to get around to using them all!!!!!!

It is difficult to get the lighting right for the photo's especially at night, this is the best I could do!

This tent fold (I think that's the right name) shape is a first for me...I'll definitely try it again! bx

More cute...

Another Penny Black image and more "scraps" being put to good use...tiny scrap of ribbon, last of adhesive flowers (hanging on from my early crafting purchases!!) and "scraps" of pp i'd left over - turned out a cute little card i think!!

This is a short n sweet post!

Hope you enjoy my card!

bx

Mummy with a tummy....

This is a card I made for a girl going on maternity leave - (using my cricut machine)...I was quite pleased with the result and the girls who requested it were delighted also!


I took the colours from the paper (can't remember who made it!!) - it turned out quite fresh and "spring like"...and i want to add to the "good luck" wishes for Katie!

I bet she can't wait to get back into these!!!

I made this little ensemble using Alesa Baker stamps...simply water coloured and decorated with a little ribbon and tiny flower - very feminine - i'd love a set like this!!!! The paper is American Crafts - i like this colour combo!

bx

Cool Dude...

Morning everyone, it feels like summer here with that heat blasting through the window...

This card is for my nephew, i'm on-the-ball with this one as it's not his birthday til next month...(i've used junkitz papers and a woodware stamp)...a nice simple card which i think he will like!

Have a lovely day everyone!

bx

My first blog challenge..!

Happy friday everyone (my favourite day of the week)!

I made this little card for Nicola's (my paper world) sketch #3 challenge - my first ever online challenge! I actually enjoyed doing it, and shall try a few more!

bx

A little flavour of me...

I've been seriously crafting for about 5 years now...and just recently my mum has started to play along! This is one of her PB stamps I used to put together a card using more "scraps" (my scraps box was over flowing so I challenged myself to use some up!)....

Looking at my photographs I see a very obvious trend ...so much RED...I guess it must be my favourite!!

I made this little card for my "darling" - he's a Geordie (from Newcastle-upon-Tyne) and his football colours are black n white....the story behind this card is, he wants to be an "irish man", I told him he wasn't so he came up with his own little word "Girish" (a mix of Geordie/irish)...I painted this little leprechaun (whipper snapper) his colours - he was delighted with the results!

I still have so much to learn with blogging...but rome wasn't built in a day...bx

Dippin' my toe in the water...

For the first time ever I'm lost for words...ooooh this is a nerve wrecking business!! All you bloggers out there make it look so easy...! But I suppose in time it will come naturally to me too (at least I hope so!)

I have enjoyed "blurfing" for a while now, and have been inspired by the creativity out there...so now I am going to join in the fun for real!

Here's my first "share" with the world...I'm a big fan of "cute" - this is a little whipper snapper image I watercoloured and assembled using "scraps" for a valentine card....i was pleased with the result (nuthin' like patting yourself on the back, ehh?!!)

So...i guess that wasn't soooo bad....thanks for stopping by!