Last day of ....

.... freedom, we're back to school tomorrow, sigh.  It's been a lovely long relaxing three weeks off - now the house is clean, the laundry is done and tomorrow it'll all be a distant memory!!!

I went to a crop yesterday, had a lovely day chatting and laughing (and eating!), and making one card!!  Here's what I made:

I used the sketch from this week's Friday Sketchers.  I'm also entering this into the following challenges: Mo's Digital Challenge ("Going Retro"), Creative Cottage ("Something New") and Stamp Something ("Use a Digi").

I used papers from October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket.  I used a gorgeous digi image from Mo Manning and coloured with distress inks yet again. Here's a close-up:

Recipe:

Papers: October Afternoon "Thrift Shop" and Cosmo Cricket "Circa 1934"

Image: Mo Manning "Angelina with Balloons"

Colouring Medium: Distress Inks

Other: MS Punch, ribbon and buttons from stash, needle + thread

 
Thanks for looking!
 

Aaaaah, it's the ....

.... weekend!!  Thank goodness, that was an intense three days back on the chain gang - our acting principal turned to me at the end of Wednesday and said, with all seriousness "Are you always this busy?"  Welcome to my world, bud!!!!  Got some happy news yesterday and today - my card from my last post won Sketch Saturday and got Top 5 on Stamp Something.  I am so chuffed - a voucher from one and a blinkie from the other, happy days!!  I have to apologise for the lack of commenting I've done this week, I've missed seeing everyone's work, and intend to get a good look over the weekend.

I was talking in my last post about having to make a card for a 19 year old, well it's taken a few days but I finished it this morning.  Here's what I made:

I used the sketch from this week's Truly Scrumptious and also the optional extra to use a knot somewhere on the card.  I'm also entering it into Double Dutch (favourite challenge - mine is #38 - Boys only), Creative Cottage ("celebrations") and SFTW ("shabby or vintage").

I laughed when I first saw the Mo Manning digi that I got for this card, it's the living image of the birthday boy, right down to skateboard, hat and all!!! I used a lot of orange on the card, both in colouring and the papers, as it's his favourite colour.  I made the numbers from chipboard, covered with orange paper, inked and crackle glazed.  Here's a close-up of the image:

And I thought I'd pop in a side-shot of the layers and dimension too:

Recipe:

Image: "Simon" by Mo Manning

Papers: Basic Grey "Archaic"

Colouring Medium: Distress Inks

Other: Cuttlebug Embossing folder, hairy string, WRMK eyelets, glossy accents, crackle accents, needle + thread

Thanks for looking!

Dusting off ....

.... the desktop, after a week and a half of no crafting.  The weather has been beautiful for the start of the holidays - we've been out in the garden, went to the beach (where we saw a school of dolphins right in by the shore), daughter went to a festival in Belfast and had a blast, and I've caught up on the ironing too!!

I had to make a sad sad card, for an old friend whose beautiful wife died recently at the absurdly young age of 36.  She was an avid gardener (and cook, and decorator - her friends used to joke that she was the Irish Martha Stewart!), so I thought I'd base the card around her favourite hobby.  Here it is:

Recipe:

Papers: October Afternoon "Weathervane" and Basic Grey "Nook & Pantry"

Stamp: Hero Arts "Jamaican Forget-me-not"

Other: Distress Inks, Perfect Pearls, needle + thread

I used the sketch from this week's Mojo Monday, and am also entering it into Simon Says Stamp (check it out), Creative Card Crew (die-cuts) and Creative Cottage (summer).  The photo is very dark, 'cos summer is over again, it might be back next week though!  The card is not as "muddy" looking in real life.

I am about to start knitting again, haven't done any in about 10 years, but my fingers have had a funny itch lately that I reckon can only be fixed with two steel needles and a ball of wool!!!  I went on line for inspiration, and before I knew what had happened, the postman brought this mad stuff:

It's silk thread with a steel core, and it knits into a kind of strong mesh (allegedly).  I found a pattern for a nice sort of cable/lace jumper so that's my aim.  Hmmmmm. Will see how it goes.

Thanks for looking!

Safely back where I belong, in ....

.... my comfort zone.  I spent several happy hours last night with distress tool, inks, needle and thread and it felt good!!!

My card is for a retiring Sunday School teacher called Rosie.  I immediately thought of using BG "Sugared" paper, with its lovely blousy roses, but am branching off in other botanical directions too by using a Mary Hall for Sugar Nellie stamp called "Miss Sweet Pea"!!

My card is for this week's challenge on The Sugar Bowl, a lovely sketch (and an option to use pink/black/white, what can I say, I'm a rebel, I only used 33.3% of that option - pink/green/cream!!).  I changed the sketch very slightly by putting the "three elements" on the left hand side, I needed the right for the tag which has quite a bit of info that the customer wanted "on the front" - I love making tags for getting all the text on, but not in a way that clutters the card.

I'm also entering this on Crafty Angels ("My favourite stamp"), A Spoon Full of Sugar ("Floral Delight"), and Creative Cottage ("Pink").

I coloured this stamp using Distress Inks, love the dusky pink and olive green colours.  I have lots of the ink pads, but only a few reinkers and I am definitely going to build that collection.  Here's a close-up of the image, it's such a sweet stamp:

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey Sugared

Stamp: Mary Hall "Miss Sweet Pea" for Sugar Nellie

Colouring Medium: Distress Inks

Other: BG "Sugared" brads, ribbon from stash, needle + thread.

My daughter started her exams today, talk about cool as a cucumber - I don't want her to be panicking, but I wouldn't mind if she was a teeeeny weeeeny bit less laid-back either!!!!  And the next few weeks are bonkers, parish fete, boss's retirement events, car-boot sale, it's all go - and I have a long list of cards to make too.  EEEK!

Thanks for looking!

It's been a while ....

.... I was so so tired for the whole of last week - did very little of anything at all, no blog-hopping even, never mind crafting!

But as it was my brother's birthday on Friday, and he was coming round for dinner this evening, I had to shift into gear and make a card for him.  He's not someone I would make anything cute or sparkly for, so it's quite plain - the only personalising element is the font I've used - "Simpsons" - little bruv is a long-time Simpsons fan!

I'm entering it in the following challenges: Quixotic Challenges (use sentiment as focus), Creative Cottage (One for the Boys), Basic Grey Challenges (Punch it - I've used MS zig-zag punch and new Max + Whiskers papers - nice colours) and Practical Scrappers (use Patterned Paper).

Thanks for looking!

My first ....

.... Tilda card - what took me so long?!!!

This week's challenge on PaperPlay was set by Mandy and it's called "Pretty Pastels".  We are sponsored this week by Card Mad Fairy, who are offering a prize of some of their digi images, and also our old DT member, Kate, has put together a lovely prize package.

This was another challenging one for me, I'm not really a pastel-kinda girl!  But one of the images I coloured at Mina's workshop last week has a pretty pastel blue dress, so I decided to use it on my card.

I'm also entering this in the following challenges: A Spoon Full of Sugar (3D something - I've popped up the image), Creative Cottage (circles), Quixotic Challenges (distressing - I always do!), and, for the first time Just Magnolia (anything goes).

As far as I can remember, I don't think I liked Tildas very much when they first came out.  But I think I've got used to them, 'cos now I do like them, and have recently even bought a few!!!  I really enjoyed colouring them, it's very easy to decide where to put shading, as all the lines are already there in the stamped image!  Here's a close-up of the image - this is the one without the bruised face!!  I put stickles on her lacy underskirt, very cute in real life, invisible on the photo!!

Recipe:

Papers: Basic Grey "Dasher"

Stamp: Magnolia "Tilda Writing Diary"

Colouring Medium: Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Other: Nestabilities, MS Doily Lace punch, ribbon from stash, needle + thread

Thanks for looking!