Noah's 1st Birthday!

Hi everyone!

It's been kind of a sad weekend, my neighbours of about 10 years moved away today.  I wouldn't say we were close friends but I've got to know them over the years and it was lovely to see their family grow beside me.  Hopefully we can keep in touch through Facebook.

The challenges at Eclectic Ellapu have been up since the start of the month and I shared my card for the Pink team then.  Cos I'm on the pink team!
I also included a card with the Purple teams inspiration and I've been keeping it to share later as a reminder (saying as our challenges have gone monthly!) and the time has come to share it!  There's a week left to enter and the challenges are...

The Pink teams...

Seaside or Nautical

You can see my card for this theme here.

And the Purple teams challenge is...

Anything Goes

With an option of using watercolours!

My card is one that I made for my wee nephew for when he turned 1 year old last month!

Here's my card

If you haven't guessed already, his name is Noah!  I printed the letters out - they're a font called Patchwork Letter and I coloured them with the following Copics: BV04,B95,24,G24,Y17.

I printed the papers directly onto my card-stock, on both sides.  The front is Dots paper from the Easton kit and the inside is Yellow cream dots from the A Boo-tiful Night kit - both from Summertime Designs.  I folded the card into a DL sized card and then measured and cut into a number "1".  I made paper springs and attached the letters on them so they sit out from the card base.  I also added some stick-on elements, pom-poms, buttons, charms and bells from my stash.

For the inside I used a Wild Rose Studio sentiment and made a message panel to match the patched letters.  I had another couple of stick on elements so I used them up too!  You can also see the paper springs that the letters are mounted onto the front with in this picture.

So you could say that this is a subtle reminder that there's 1 week left to enter the challenges at Eclectic Ellapu! lol!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

 4 Crafty Chicks; Lets get masculine
Crafty Girls Challenges; Anything goes
Creative Fingers Challenge Blog; Anything goes
The East Wind Challenge Blog; For the kiddies
Fab N Funky Challenges; For the kids

Thanks for looking!
 

Retro Revival!

Hi everyone!

I have been demented over the past few days because my Office 2010 programs quit working.  I use them for so much - I have everything organised in excel and it was really annoying that I couldn't get it fixed.  I think the problem happened when I was renewing my internet security program cos it was just after that when I tried to open excel and it wouldn't let me.  It told me to go to the control panel and do a repair, which I did, unsuccessfully, several times!  I then had the task of finding the box with the disk in that the program came on (which I eventually found and I have no idea why I put it where I did!).  I then tried the repair again, this time from the disk.  It still didn't work.  I ran virus scans and checks and could find no solution so I un-installed and re-installed the entire Office program.  I entered the key and did everything right and thought it was fixed but then it said it needed to verify the key.  Then the bloody pop-up came up again saying: “An unspecified error has occurred. Your request cannot be processed at this time. Please try again later. (0x8007000D)” with a little link asking if this information was helpful...well, no.  It really wasn't helpful!
So after a few more attempts at doing repairs that I knew wouldn't help I finally found a solution on google and got it fixed!  I can't tell you how relieved I am!  I keep opening excel and just keep looking at it!  I'm so grateful to the people who run blogs which are there to help people with things like that, cos it's not the first time I've had to get help with something and found the answer on a blog.  So a big cheer to everyone in blog-land for putting so much time and effort into things that help other people (for free!), even if it is just a silly story that will maybe help someone to put a smile on their face!

So back to my post which will bring you back through time to Tuesday, when this should've been posted!

We had a new challenge up on Tuesday at the Creative Card Crew and 2 fabulous sponsors...

First of all, one of our regulars, Marianne Designs

Who are offering a gorgeous set of stamps and a set of dies to one lucky winner!


Our second sponsor for this fortnight is Kenny K Designs

They're giving another lucky winner 3 digi's!

So, the challenge we have for you is a special one as it is running along with Seems A Little Sketchy and using their sketch!  It was lovely to use the same sketch for 2 cards and see how differently they turned out!  Here's the sketch:

And here is my card, I'm nice and early for my sister's birthday this year, it's not til April!

The image is by our sponsor, Kenny K Designs and is called What If.  I coloured her with the following Copics: Skin; E21,13,00,0000,R20. Hair; E49,47,44,43. Clothes; RV23,21,10. Background; Y15,13,11.

The papers I used are from the Country Drive pad by Echo Park.  It's not too often that I use all the papers in a pad but this one is nearing the end, lots of lovely papers in that one!
Not a lot going on on this card as I thought the retro look of the image suited a simple design, so I went with the bright coloured papers teamed with the black border and rounded corners instead.
The sentiment is computer generated using the font Calibri.  I usually make some dig at my sister about her age as she is older than me so I can get away with it!  A few years ago I bought her some wrinkle cream!  She was not amused, well, maybe a little!  lol!

The inside uses the same papers and a simple happy birthday sentiment using a Wild Rose Studio stamp.

So that's my card, please pop over to the Creative Card Crew and Seems A Little Sketchy blogs to submit your entries and have a look at what the DT's have done - lot's of inspiration this time with 2 design teams!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Crafty Creations Challenges; Something to drink - I wasn't sure if mentioning a drink in the sentiment was enough to enter, if it's not then please remove my entry :)
Crafty Sentiments Designs; Anything goes
Cute Card Thursday; Warm it up
Deep Ocean Challenge Blog; Happy birthday
Lady Bug Crafts Ink Challenge Blog; Keep it clean (and simple)
Moving Along With The Times; Girly Cards
Stampin For The Weekend; Happy Birthday
Top Tip Tuesday; Clean and simple
Kenny K's Krafty Krew; Use black

Thanks for looking!
 

The Sweetest Thing!

Hi everyone!

I hope you're all keeping well - I thought I'd make it a hat-trick of song titles for post titles!  I love the U2 song and it actually came on the ipod (set on random) while I was making this card, so even more appropriate this time! lol!

I can't believe that this time 4 weeks we'll be waiting for the big man to make his way down the chimney!  Is anyone else as ready for it as me??  ie. not. at. all.!!!  That's part of the fun of it for me though, the mad panic in the run up and the first half of the day itself and then being able to relax and enjoy the rest of the time!  Did anyone notice that I managed a whole paragraph about a particular subject without actually mentioning the subject?!  But I'm sure you all know what I'm going on about!  Lol!

So another challenge for you today at the Creative Card Crew and our fabulous sponsor for this fortnight is the Scrapping Center!

with a fab $15 dollar prize voucher for one lucky winner!

The challenge we have in store for you this fortnight is...

Sweet Treats!

So make us drool over all the sweets and chocolate and lollies and... oops, I got a bit distracted there!  Here's what I did:

My image is Creepy Cake Twist by The Greeting Farm and I coloured her with the following copics: Skin;E21,13,00,0000,R20. Hair;E49,47,44,43. Dress;G24,21,20, BG01,000,0000, Y17,15,13, R22,21,20, E07,04,33,31. Shadow;W5,3,1.  I wasn't totally happy with my colouring on this one but I was in such a hurry to get it done that it had to do!

The papers I have used are Basic Grey "Nook & Pantry" and the sentiment is computer generated using the font Penshurst.  The fabby yellow skull is a bead and came from my stash along with all the diamantés, oodles of em!

The inside has been done to compliment the front.

And that's my card!  I hope you can join this sweet challenge at the Creative Card Crew - check out what the rest of the DT have done, especially all our newbies - give them a great big lovely welcome!

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

4 Crafty Chicks; Anything goes
Allsorts; Bring on the bling
Bearly Mine Challenges; Anything goes
Drunken Stampers Challenges; Diner
Moving Along With The Times; Music inspired - The Sweetest Thing by U2!
Oh La La Challenge Blog; Birthday
Paper Crafting Journey; Bling it up

Thanks for looking!
 

A Rockin' Birthday!

I always find men’s cards a pain in the backside to come up with! And as it was my brother’s birthday recently, I had a pain in the backside!! Lol

So imagine my joy when I saw the fantastic selection of stamps in the “Rock Squad” category on Kenny K Downloads?! Because my brother is a bit of a rocker ye see!!

So here’s the card I made for him...

How brilliant is that image! Stephen Tyler eat your heart out!! Coloured with my copics.

The paper (a single sheet I bought in some craft shop or other is by Glitz it now) is one I’ve had for an age, with making a card for him in mind with it, but not having the right image until now. I also embossed a piece of black card with a cuttlebug embossing folder. I added a couple of gromlets with my crop-a-dile (although I must admit that I’m not entirely sure what the correct purpose of a gromlet is! Lol) and some lengths of a fairly heavy chain, which I added some relatively rocky charms to.

The inside is fairly simple (well it is a male card!) with the sentiments from Kraftin’ Kimmie

This card fits the following challenges:

Cards for Men; Embossing

Copic Creations; Your favourite Copic technique – mine is just using them! Lol

Double Dutch; Something old (my paper), something new (the image), something borrowed (I “borrowed” the star paperclip from my siser!) and something blue (the card base)

My Partner in Crafting Crime; Layer it up

Totally Papercrafts challenge; One for the Boys

Thanks for looking!

Hold On Tight!

I was asked to make a card for a 6 year old girl – that has to be the easiest age group and gender to make a card for, so it didn’t take long to come up with this

Which is an easel card

I used this fabby image from Mo’s Digital Pencil which I coloured with copics and I gave her some shiny shoes and accessories with a clear stardust pen.

The papers are DCWV Nana’s kids. I glittered a chipboard 6 with some soft pink glitter and attached it with foam pads to lift it out a bit. I used a sizzix die to cut the lettering for the name, which I also used the stardust pen on. The circles were cut with nesties.

On the inside, I used the piece of dp that I cut the circle out of for the front to make a panel, and then made a flower out of some Stampin’ Up! ribbon. I used a cute wee button from Crafty Ribbons. I attached a tag with some purple wire. The Happy Birthday is a Wild Rose Studio sentiment stamp.

This card fits the following challenges:

Alphabet Challenge Blog; U for Up in the air

Totally Papercrafts Challenge; Cute and cuddly

Mo’s Digital Challenge; Buttons and Bows

Thanks for dropping by!

Holly's Happy Birthday!

I'm still catching up on cards from before Christmas and it was my nieces 2nd birthday in november.

When I saw this image on Mo's web-shop I thought it was absolutely perfect for Holly as she's a real wee madam!!

She has a habit of shouting to anyone about anything and finishing off by shouting "Alright!!" It's so cute and again, I thought suited the image so well.

I added a pin with a couple of beads and a princess crown charm.

I printed out the sentiment for the inside, but it needed to be adjusted a little bit!

I hope you like it, thanks for looking.

Ahoy There Matey...

It's my little nephew's 3rd birthday tomorrow and after our team lost the All Ireland final on Sunday, I decided to steer clear of the gaelic football theme...

So I decided to go with a hearty pirate theme!

Here's my card:

I used the fabulous "Captain Scurvy" from Kraftin' Kimmie and I coloured him with my copics. The die cut letters are from a Sizzix set called "Tina thinks you're cute" - strange name, but that's what it's called!

The papers I used are My Mind's Eye - The Spiders Web, Cauldron Bubbles and Witch's Lace. The wee bit of map is from Crafty Bitz. I wrapped some thin leather for making jewellery around it.

I used the papers again on the inside

I also made a tag to match

Again, I used stamps from Kraftin' Kimmie, coloured with Copics.

And here's the set

I'm entering this into the following challenges;
2 Sketches 4 You, A great sketch
Copic Creations, Shading on and around images - not sure if there's a limit to how often you can enter...
Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps, Mostly black and white
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge, Anything goes
The ABC Challenge, D for distressing

I hope you like it, thanks for dropping by!

Up Down!!

We have a big weekend this weekend - It's the All Ireland Final, the senior gaelic football championship final and our county is in it for the first time in 16 years! I remember being at the final the last time we won it in 1994 and the excitement was electric!
County Down's colours are red and black - my 2 favourite colours - and the whole county is covered with flags and banners and paint - lots of buildings have been decorated especially - it's brilliant to see everyone with All Ireland Fever!
I just got my ticket last night for Croke Park and I can't wait to see Down beat Cork! Fingers crossed anyway!

It's also my Da's birthday today, so I made a card appropriate for the weekend!

Of course I used our county colours!

I used a download from Mo's digital pencil and I blanked the football out of the main image so as I could place it like it has just been kicked. I coloured it with my copics.

I didn't use any design papers as such, but the holey paper is from Creative Imaginations. The die cut swirl is a Tim Holtz/Sizzix die. I used a cuttlebug embossing folder on the red block to tie in with the circles from the rest of the card.

The inside is just red and black again!

It's also my nephews 3rd birthday on wednesday, but he's having his party today (which I'm now late for! :P) So I thought I'd stick with the theme and make a tag for the part of his present that I'm giving him today - it's a wee mini Down football strip! so cute!

Another image from Mo and also coloured with copics. The ribbons are from a collections of ribbons I bought ages ago and never use cos they're so narrow, but they're perfect for a tag.

These two projects fit a few challenges:
Alphabet Challenge Blog; U for unused stash (the ribbon on the tag)
Copic Creations; Shading on and around images
Creative Inspirations; Tag It
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge; Anything goes (I actually followed the sketch from last weeks challenge but didn't get it blogged on time, so lucky that I can still enter this week!)
Simon Says; Move it (that ball won't move by itself!)
Stampin' For The Weekend; Tag it

That's it, I hope you like it. Thanks for dropping by!

Oh, and..... UP DOWN!!!!