Lili of the Valley Challenge 77 – a sketch by Dena

The challenge over at Lili of the Valley is a sketch challenge.

I have used a LOTV stamp depicting a girl putting the star on top of the Christmas tree.  I embossed the image with a WOW copper glitter and then coloured with ProMarkers.  A little bling has been added using Diamond Sparkles.  The image was cut out using a nestie and matted onto a copper fabric card.  The backing paper is from my stash and I cut two pieces of copper mirri as borders and they were edged with copper peel offs.  The sentiment is also LOTV which was cut and mounted using Stampin Up punches.  I added some gems and a paper flower to finish.

As this will be my last posting for a few days I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful and healthy New Year.

See you in 2011!

Thanks for stopping by.

Purple and orange!!!

This week's challenge over at Die Cut Dreams is purple and orange.......... not something I would normally think of doing!

Close up of flowers/beads

However, here goes............. my image is a digistamp called Gilly's Tree from Prairie Fairy Designs coloured with ProMarkers.  To make her fit inside the nestie I wanted to use I made a pencil mark on each side of where the cuts would normally be and then cut out that part of her head with scissors.  Then I positioned the nestie with the cut part of her head over the top of the die (eg so it wouldn't be cut).  This was then mat and layered onto purple and orange die cuts.  The backing paper was made in My Craft Studio to get the orange/purple mix.  The sentiment is a digistamp from Sentiments4You  and punched out using Stampin Up punches.  I then added a piece of purple ribbon, a beaded pin and paper flowers and some gems.

Thanks for stopping by.

A Christmas Carol

This week's challenge over at Die Cut Dreams is "A Christmas Carol".

The main image is Gilly singing from Prairie Fairy Designs and coloured in with ProMarkers with added Stickles and Diamond Glaze on her glasses.  I've mounted her onto a nestie which, in turn, is mounted on a doily and again a nestie.  The music background is from Printable Heaven and was a free download.  Both the ticket and sentiment are from Sentiments4You.  I've used a border punched with a Martha Stewart punch with a strip of ribbon down the centre.  The fern is a punch from L-Em.com and the flowers were in my stash.

We woke this morning to about 2" of snow but it has been snowing again and we now have about 4" - this is a photo showing what it was like first thing this morning........... they have said that the South West will bear the brunt of the snow so goodness knows what's going to happen!!!  lol

Thanks for looking.

Craft room

Hi everyone

Well, as promised I have taken some photos of my "new" craft room.  The part that has been altered is where you can see all my MS and SU punches on the wall.  There used to be a sofa bed and double wardrobe situated in this area of my room but we have removed them and my DOH installed new units and worktops, shelving, towel rails for the punches, extra electrics etc.  It has made such a difference as I now have somewhere that I can leave my sewing machine and embellisher out rather than having to squirrel everything away.  Mind you, it didn't take me long to fill up every available space!!!!  lol  At the moment I've still got all my goodies out for the next Christmas fair which is on Sunday and then I can pack it all away until next year.

Thanks for looking.

Batch card making.........

Sorry I haven't been posting very often over the last couple of weeks but things have been really hectic having attended two craft fairs - I don't think people (unless you do them yourselves) really understand the amount of work involved.  Anyway they were both really successful but I was amazed that I have sold nearly all my Christmas cards.  I know my friend Anne doesn't bother taking Christmas cards to fairs as she finds people don't buy them as they can be bought very cheaply now.  Anyway most people seemed to be buying them as "specials" which was very nice.  Only problem is that it has left me seriously short of cards for myself!!!!! lol

So today I decided I needed to do some batch card making which isn't really something I enjoy, but needs must...........

I have used my village stamp from Create-a-Scene, some metal embossing, a LOTV image, a digi stamp and completed a card after Jan gave me a template (for the Christmas Tree).  So I haven't been lazing about - but just pretty busy.   After a few requests from people to take some photos of my new craft room I was going to do it today until I realised it needs a serious tidy up before I take any photos (doesn't take long eh????) so hopefully tomorrow I will get that done and post the photos.

Thanks for stopping by.

Ooh La La - Shoes in Bloom cards

I've recently made a couple of birthday cards using decoupage from my Ooh La La Shoes in Bloom CD.  I think they are really pretty and a bit different.






Neither of them needed much more to finish them off - I've just added some ribbon and flowers.










Thanks for stopping by.

So blue to be saying "Adieu"...................

Can't believe it's the last challenge for this year over at Bah! Humbug!.  The challenge this week is Feeling the Blues and for this I have used a LOTV image and added some Glamour Dust.  It is mounted onto blue and silver mirri on which I have used a Martha Stewart punch.  The background paper is from my Artylicious Seasons Greetings CD.  The sentiment is computer generated matted onto SU punched ovals.  Three snowflakes were punched with my MS punch.  I've added some silver flowers and a beaded pin from Posh Pins & Charms along with a ribbon and some gems. 

I'll really miss these challenges as the ladies over at Bah Humbug are brilliant and they always take the time to hop over to everyone's blog and leave comments.  So I would like to say a big thank you to them all and wish them a very Happy and Joyous Christmas and Peaceful New Year.  Looking forward to new challenges in January.

Thanks for stopping by.

Snowflakes and Shades of Lilac

The challenge over at Die Cut Dreams this week is Snowflakes and over at Bah Humbug! their challenge is Shades of lilac so I guess this card fits them both............

I have used one of the cute squares from LOTV which has been "blinged" with Glamour Dust and mounted on a nestie.  The snowflake backing paper is from my stash and punched with a Martha Stewart Around the Page set and then mounted on silver mirri.  The sentiment is a digistamp from Sentiments 4 You which has been printed out and then die cut and mounted on nesties.  I've added some pearls to the sentiment and then punched out some snowflakes (Martha Stewart) and added pearls to them.

Thanks for looking.

Rudolph

The challenge this week over at Bah Humbug is Reindeers (though I suspect they will all want to see Rudolph.....).  I have used a digistamp from Digital Delights by Loubyloo - a great looking Rudolph if ever I saw one.

I have glittered his antlers and put Diamond Glaze on his nose and eyes.  The backing paper is from My Mind's Eye Christmas Glitter stack and I have used ribbon which I have just bought from the Sincerely Yours show in Taunton on Sunday.  Paper flower and brad from stash also glittered.  The sentiment is also from Digital Delights.

Thanks for stopping by.

Die Cut Dreams "Christmas Crackers"

This weeks challenge over at Die Cut Dreams is Christmas crackers.  I didn't have a stamp that would work for this challenge so went on a trawl of the internet and came up with this lovely old advert for Tom Smith's Christmas Crackers.

I printed it out on matt photo paper and layered it up onto green and bronze mirri which had been punched down the right hand edge with a Martha Stewart punch.  I tied a bronze ribbon around and added a computer generated sentiment matted onto Stampin Up punched layers.  The backing paper is from my stash and I added some gems.

Thanks for looking.

Bah Humbug Fancy Folds

Well, I'm not sure if this comes under the heading of fancy folds but I'll enter it into the Bah Humbug challenge this week and see what happens!!!

This is basically a slider card and I have taken red cardstock and made an open ended envelope with it, decorated the front with a Clarity Stamp sentiment mounted onto nesties.  I have watermarked the background using a Stampin Up set of snowflakes and punched gold mirri with a Martha Stewart snowflake punch.  I then made  up a card to fit inside the slider and used the SU snowflakes to watermark the card and gold embossed a snowflake onto nesties.  A red polka dot ribbon was tied around the card and gold mirri punched snowflakes with gems added.  To make the slider work you insert more ribbon into the centre of the envelope and slide in your card to the bottom.  Then tie the ribbon in a bow at the side and to open you just pull the ribbon and the card slides out.

Thanks for looking.

Special card for a special person.......................

Sorry for not posting much over the last couple of weeks but we have been up to our eyes in decorating and moving rooms round; principally my craft room which started out as a bedroom.......... I had gradually taken over until there was just a sofabed and double wardrobe in it.  We decided to move these out and my lovely hubby then put in units, worktops, shelving, electrics and towel rails for all my punches - what a sweetheart.  Anyway this has caused so much chaos that I've been tripping over boxes and bags for the last two weeks plus I'm getting ready for our Christmas Craft Fayre which is taking place on Friday 12th November from 7pm til 9pm (wine and nibbles included!!! lol) at Sparkford Village Hall.

Anyway it's Tony's birthday on Tuesday so I have made this card for him using an image from the Thomas Kinkade CD from Joanna Sheen.  He loves watermills so I thought he would like this.  It's straight forward decoupage but the last layer which is the water has been printed onto silver inkjet film which makes it look wet - not sure if the photo does it justice on this.  It's mounted on an 8" x 8" card and I have used a deep edger punch from Martha Stewart and some gems.  The sentiment was included with the decoupage sheets.

Thanks for stopping by.

Presents and digistamps

The challenge over at Bah Humbug this week is "presents" and at Die Cut Dreams it is "digistamps".  As I am still in a total shambles in my craft room I am going to combine both challenges in one card............ luckily the digistamps are in my computer and I just about know where that is!!!  lol

I have used this cute image of a girl sitting on a heap of presents in a Christmas bauble which is from Cuddly Buddly.  I printed it out a couple of times to get the correct size for my nesties and then coloured with ProMarkers.  On the ribbons and bows I used Stickles.  The backing paper is from the Papermania Classic Christmas set and I added some red lace to the top of the bauble and across the card.  The red roses are a die cut from Little Claire and the leaves are an L-Em punch.  The ticket is also a digistamp from Cuddly Buddly.  The snowflake is Martha Stewart with a gem in the centre.

Thanks for looking.

Anniversary Card

Just a quick post today as my craft room looks like a bomb's hit it!!!  Nothing unusual there............. but we have just recently taken a sofabed and double wardrobe out of the room and my super OH is installing units and worktops for me.  Trouble is you know the phrase "it gets worse before it gets better"?????  It's definitely true!  I can't move for tripping over things so am dying to get it finished so I can start putting everything away.  I'm even going to have room to put up my sewing machine and embellisher - they are going to have their own separate section - I won't know myself.

It's our wedding anniversary tomorrow so had to make a special effort as Tony is doing all this work - plus we've been married for 20 years........ unbelievable!  I had the smaller front piece of the card hanging around in one of my boxes for ages - it was done at a Stampin Up evening - but wasn't really "me" - so though I would alter it a bit.  I cut the front part of the card off first and then matted it onto an A5 red base card which had been covered with some pearlescent paper, which had been printed out with hearts and the word love, and some silver mirri which I'd put through my Big Shot in a Crafts Too embossing folder.  I added some matching ribbon across the centre and punched out a border from red cardstock using my Martha Stewart heart border punch and added some ribbon across.  The sentiment is computer generated.  Lastly I added some red roses and a red & pearl pin from my stash and punched out some fern leaves.  Hope he likes it!

Thanks for stopping by.

The One I Love

This week's challenge over at Die Cut Dreams is "The One I Love".  I decided to use a digistamp and sentiment from Pollycraft which were both freebies.

I printed out the lovely penguins and sentiment on supersmooth white cardstock and the image was die cut, matted and layered using nesties.  I coloured the penguins with ProMarkers and added Diamond Sparkles for the snow and Arctic White Flowersoft on their hats.  The backing paper is from a Papermania set.  The snowflake borders are made using a Martha Stewart punch.  I die cut the sentiment using a Sizzix die and added some gems and ribbon as a finishing touch.

Thanks for looking.

Bah Humbug - Elegance

This week's challenge over at Bah Humbug is "Elegance".

Although I have already used the "Peace" stamp from Clarity Stamps I hadn't had a chance to use the Noel Stamp I got in the same order.  So - elegance - I suppose it is up to each person to decide what is elegant to them but I hope I have achieved it in this card.  I started off stamping the word with Versamark onto white card and embossing in silver.  From a sheet of handmade paper in my stash I then cut out four ovals that would fit inside the O of Noel.  I then folded them in half and stuck each half to the next one to make a sort of paper bauble effect.  This was then stuck on top of the letter.

The image was then inked in silver and mounted onto silver mirri with each edge notched with a SU punch.  The remainder of the handmade paper was matted onto silver mirri and placed on a square white card blank.  A strip of silver ribbon was placed near the bottom of the card with a white organza bow placed on top.  With some scraps of the handmade paper I punched out some flower shapes which I used with some Prima flowers.  Finishing touches were some gems.

Thanks for stopping by.

Vellum & Christmas Humour

As we're still really busy decorating, moving furniture etc etc I have incorporated two challenges into my card.  Over at Bah! Humbug! their challenge is to use vellum and at Die Cut Dreams theirs is for Christmas humour.

I don't have many humorous Christmas stamps so decided to use my digistamp "Mistletoe Kisses" from Prairie Fairy as she just makes me giggle every time I look at her.  She's coloured in ProMarkers and I have added Diamond Glaze to her glasses, white Flower Soft for her bobble and edges of the jacket, Glamour Dust on the edge of her hat and pearls for the mistletoe berries.

I then used my nesties but as she was larger than the size I wanted to use I placed the nestie over the image and marked where she overlapped the die and then cut that piece out by hand and when I put the die over the image prior to cutting I made sure the handcut piece was over the top of the die so it didn't get cut.  I then trimmed this down so I could mount it on gold mirri cut with the same size die which was then mounted on red mirri.  The backing paper is from Papermania Classic Christmas.  The vellum is from my stash and I'm not sure if you can see but it has white Christmas sentiments printed on it - this was torn and the edge inked in red.  The tickets are a digistamp from Cuddly Buddly and were printed out onto cream card and inked.  The ribbon and gems are from my stash.

Thanks for stopping by.

Club Night - Shoebox Challenge

We had our club night last night and one of the projects was a "shoebox challenge" where we give the girls bags of exactly the same items and they have to make up a card using some of everything in the bag but can also add any embellishments, colours, glitters etc of their own.  We are always amazed at how different the cards turn out.  These are just a few of them.

Thanks for looking.

Cuties & a Recipe

Well I've been slaving over a hot sewing machine for the last few days so not much time to craft at all........ definitely getting withdrawal symptoms!!!  lol 

As I've been a bit pushed for time and I also have things to do for our monthly craft club on Friday I decided to make one card fit two challenges.  Over at Bah Humbug their challenge is "cuties" and over at Die Cut Dreams their challenge was a recipe of using 3 papers, 2 embelli's and 1 hand coloured image.  I have used a LOTV stamp and coloured using ProMarkers.  Her wings and the berries in her hair are Stickles.  All the papers came from the My Mind's Eye Christmas Glitter Book.  I've used nesties to die cut the image and two of the papers and then inked the edges.  The sentiment is computer generated and I've added a ribbon and a flower as the embellishments.

Thanks for stopping by.

Glitter, Ribbon & pins

Die Cut Dream's challenge this week is glitter, ribbon and pins.

I started off using a new stamp I bought at Exeter the other week - it's called NO-EL by Hobby Art and I loved the polar bears and penguins on it.  Stamped with Memento and coloured using ProMarkers.  I then took some double sided adhesive sheet, cut to size, placed over the image.  I then took the top layer off and sprinkled with Glamour Dust.  I then layered onto black and red mirri card.  The card base is a DL covered in paper from my PM Classic Christmas set.  I punched the long edge using Martha Stewart's raindrop edge punch (which I thought looked a little bit like Christmas lights) and added some red card underneath.  A piece of red card and the patterned paper were placed underneath the main image.  I used some red and white dotty ribbon and then punched out some flower layers from red and black card using SU punches and used a pin from Posh Pins & Charms to attach them.  The pin started off with black beads and a pearl inbetween but as I wanted red I thought I'd try colouring it with ProMarkers and it worked brilliantly.  The sentiment is computer generated (I could just imagine the polar bear on the right of the image saying this in a very gruff voice!!!  lol) and matted using SU punches.  The last thing I did was to put a strip of red liner tape down the right hand side of the card and sprinkle it with Glamour Dust.

Thanks for dropping by.

Trinitage

Over at Bah Humbug the challenge this week is "Across the Miles".

I have got some Trinitage sheets by La Pashe which I bought from Imag-e-nation a while ago.  They are called Trinitage as apart from the decoupage on the front of the card there are three distinct layers inside the card - so a "Trinity of Decoupage" became Trinitage.

I cut a 14cmx14cm card and covered the front with paper from PM Contemporary Christmas paper pack.  The smaller decoupage was matted and layered onto the front of the card with some ribbon and punched snowflakes.  The sentiment was computer generated and layered using SU punches.

The larger images go inside the card with some card "spacers" inbetween to allow it to stand up and also fold flat.  Some more of the PM paper was put on the base and I added the sentiment which comes on the Trinitage sheet and added some more mirri snowflakes.

Thanks for stopping by.

Another 40th wedding anniversary and glass fusing

Well I think we have just been to the last 40th wedding anniversary celebrations for this year.  This time it was my sister Val and her husband Jim's 40th.

I made them a Bookatrix card using Serif Digital Scrapbook Artist for the images on the front of the card.


After my great summer school doing stained glass I went for another day with the same tutor at his studio as I wanted to try fusing glass.  This was to be the present for Val & Jim and I ended up making them a large fluted bowl and two matching candlestick holders.  It was great fun and I think I will certainly be doing more glass work - also it makes a really unique present.




Talking about the stained glass summer school here is a photo of the main piece I made.  It's an art deco tree of life lamp.

Thanks for looking.

Christmas Furry Things

Sorry I haven't been posting much over the last couple of weeks but things have been a little bit hectic......... our friends Bob & Val invited us up to Southwold in Suffolk to spend a few days with them which was brilliant, then we've been busy decorating and installing new furniture in one of our bedrooms and I've also been doing some more glass work (more of which in a couple of days time).

The challenge over at Die Cut Dreams this week is Christmas Furry Things and it's being sponsored by Prairie Fairy Digital Stamps who have some gorgeous images.  I have decided to use their lovely polar bears digital stamp which is so cute.  I printed out the image and used Nesties to mat and layer onto silver mirri.  I started off by using flock powder but it didn't look very "furry" so then went on to use Polar White Flower Soft which was much better.  I then inked the top of the card to simulate a night sky and used Glamour Dust for the snow.  Last week at the craft show in Exeter I bought some Go Kreate dies (XL Frames Frilly #2) which are much larger than the equivalent Nesties.  I used the medium die to cut a 5"x7" card blank which was covered with a sheet of Papermania Contemporary Christmas paper.  A dotty ribbon across the top of the card (tent folded) and a fabric flower were added.  The sentiment is from a free stamp set given away with Creativity magazine and I added a tab of the same ribbon at the side of the card along with some blue gems.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bah Humbug - Stars Challenge

The challenge this week over at Bah Humbug is "Stars".  Couldn't get much inspiration for this as I don't have any star stamps etc but then I remembered the parchment star card I made a while ago so I decided to do another one in a different colourway.

I took a pink 8" square card blank and embossed the sides of the card using a scoreboard.  I have copied a pattern for the main star and pricked out the shape and embossed where needed.  The main fairy image who is holding a star is from Pergamano and i coloured her on the back using ProMarkers.  I have added gems and a ribbon and corner peel-offs which were also coloured using ProMarkers.  The sentiment is a clear stamp which has been embossed.  Sorry the image isn't too clear - I think I need to change my camera settings!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Another Ruby Wedding card

This is obviously the year for Ruby Wedding anniversaries as three couples we know are celebrating theirs within a couple of months of each other.

I had some red rose decoupage which fitted the bill so I matted it onto some red card which I had gold embossed with a swirl and edged in gold.  I then created an aperture using nesties and I also gold embossed this piece with the same swirl.  I placed the decoupage on the front of a red card blank and placed the aperture over the top having first scored about 1cm in from each long edge so it would give me a domed effect.  I added a ribbon (of course!) at the side and used Pinflair glue gel to add a little posy of flowers and leaves at the bottom of the aperture.  I found a charm brad in my stash which was the right colour and placed it on the right of the aperture.  The sentiment is computer generated matted onto nesties.  I had a piece of the decoupage image left and so matted it onto gold mirri and placed it on the back of the card.

Thanks for looking.

Text

Over at Bah Humbug this week the challenge is text.  Luckily the stamps that I recently bought after watching Barbara Grey from Clarity had arrived and I'd been dying to play with them.

I have chosen the word Peace and stamped it onto coated cardstock with VersaMark and embossed in gold.  I then created a mask by stamping the word onto copy paper and cutting out the inside of the "C".   I then stamped the star inside the "C" with Versamark and then using my brayer I picked up some Adirondack ink in Denim.  I took a lot of the ink off the brayer and then did a "wheelie" and brayered through the mask which showed up the star previously stamped.  I then added the conifer trees and Santa's sleigh.  When it was dry I used another mask (Barbara uses Post-It notes but I didn't have any the correct size) from Frisket Film to cover the image.  I then brayered the borders with Denim but I realised as soon as I started that I hadn't got rid of enough ink - it should look quite faded and pale - but having started I had to finish!!!  I then took the conifer stamp again and stamped round the border.  The final touch was a thin line of gold ink around the main image which should make it look like a postcard - which it would have if it wasn't so dark.  Still, I really enjoyed playing with these stamps and looking forward to trying out the other one which is "Noel".

Thanks for stopping by.

Lazy Afternoon

It's been a really busy week and after I finished this card I realised I had missed the Lili of the Valley Challenge deadline.............. doh!!!  Still it's another card to add to my stash so nothing's wasted.

I chose my LOTV stamp "Lazy Afternoon" and stamped in black Memento ink so I could colour in with ProMarkers.  Before colouring in I stamped the image again (with Stazon this time) onto Frisket Film and cut out to make a mask.  Frisket Film is brilliant as it's see through and you can use it again and again.  I placed the mask over the image and then took a background stamp which I had in my stash (it's a clear stamp with no name on it and I can't remember where I got it from) and stamped the background in Memento Bamboo Leaves.  I then removed the mask and coloured in the stamped image with ProMarkers.  I used the same method as yesterday when using my labels nestie - the top part of the image was too high for the die so I cut that part out with scissors.  I then matted onto matching cardstock.  The background paper is from Essence of Nature by Artylicious.  The central border is punched using Martha Stewart deep edger and the sentiment is from a Stampin Up set.  A ribbon, some flowers and a pin finished the card.

Thanks for looking.

Sweet Little Girl

This week's challenge at Die Cut Dreams is "Sweet Little Girl" and your card must be created with a digital image.

I popped over to Digital Delights by Louby Loo and got Briley & Balloons.  I printed her out onto super smooth inkjet card and coloured with ProMarkers.   Then came up against a slight problem............. isn't it annoying when you've gone to all the trouble of colouring in an image only to find it's too large for the nestie you want to use?  Well, a fairly easy way out of this is to place your nestie over the image and just draw lighly with pencil on the inside and outside of the card where your image would be chopped off.  Take a sharp pair of scissors and cut around the part of the image outside your frame and then place your nestie back on the image (cutting side down) but slip the part you have cut out over the top of the flat side of the nestie.  Put through your die cutting machine and voila - you will find that the nestie has cut out your image but the part outside is still intact.  Hope all this makes sense!!!  lol

I then matted and layered onto red and silver mirri.  The backing paper is double sided from a Stampin Up pack which I cut to fit the card blank and then cut in half - so I had the daisies on one side and the stripes on the other.  I then cut a strip of the paper and used a Martha Stewart punch and put a piece of red lace down the length of it.  I didn't have any flowers that matched so took some off white paper flowers and inked them and used a brad (this was coloured with ProMarkers as I again didn't have the right colour).  The sentiment and punches are from Stampin Up.  I added some red gems and then some Diamond Glaze on the balloons and Briley's eyes.

Thanks for stopping by.

Children's Christmas

The challenge this week over at Die Cut Dreams is children's Christmas.

I have used a snowman digistamp from Inger Harding which was a freebie.  Printed out onto super smooth printer card and coloured using ProMarkers.  I printed out three images and stacked using nesties.  They are then mounted onto blue mirri.  I have made an easel card using a square card blank, covered with 12x12" paper I bought from Lidl's a few weeks ago - it's amazing what you can find there!!  With the help of some silicone glue and Diamond Sparkles he (hopefully) looks like he's sitting on snow.  I added some ribbon and a snowman charm and finished off with a sentiment that was computer generated.

Thanks for looking.

Bah Humbug - Favourite Medium

This week's challenge over at Bah Humbug is using your favourite medium.  What a challenge to set us - how could you possibly choose your favourite thing; whether it be stamping, embossing, die cutting etc etc - the list is endless and it's just an impossible task.

I suppose when it comes down to the nitty gritty my favourite medium is stamping and so I have made a very simple card using the Papermania holly & berries which I stamped onto white card and coloured using AquaMarkers.  I then used a VersaMark pen over the berries and embossed with Red Tinsel powder.  The image was cut and matted using nesties.  I have used a square white linen card as the base and it's a tent fold.  I have stamped Clarity clever corners on the base card.  The sentiment is from the free set of stamps in the Creativity magazine which has been stamped and embossed and then layered using my SU punches.  I have used a pin from Posh Pins & Charms and added some ribbon and three gems.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bevs Fabulous Sketches

Over at Lilli of the Valley Thursday Challenge they have asked you to follow a sketch plan set by Bev.

I have taken a square navy card blank and matted and layered silver mirri and some card from a Stampin Up Pattern Pack.  I have used a lovely LOTV die cut as my central image.  It was originally square but with a little work with some nesties and my Big Shot we turned them into circles.  The border at the bottom has been punched with a Martha Stewart edger and a strip of paper laid down the centre.  The sentiment is from a Stampin Up set.  A final touch was adding three flowers with buttons in the centre.

Thanks for looking.

Pearls & Pins

Die Cut Dreams challenge this week is Pearls and Pins. 

I have used a square white card blank and folded back the front half and taking some cardstock from the DCWV Luxury Stack covered both sides of the card.  The image is another one from Lilli of the Valley which has been die cut with nesties and mounted on silver mirri and pink card.  I have added some Prima flowers held together with brads and topped with a pearl, some ribbon and a flower from my stash on the right hand side with some pearl pins.  The DCWV card has been punched using a Martha Stewart corner punch.  The sentiment is a peel off matted onto card using my SU punches.  A small amount of Stickles was added to the main image.

Thanks for looking.

Rustic Beauty

The September challenge over at Flourishes is:  Rustic Beauty: As the leaves start to change colors to usher in fall, we want to see your rustic beauty! Interpret this challenge however you like – want to use a little distressing? Want to use shades of rust? Want to use things that look aged or antiqued? You choose!  


I have just made a card which is the homework card, the theme of which was Autumn, for our club night on Wednesday and it seems to fit the bill.  On a square cream card blank I used some backing paper from the new Artylicious Essence of Nature CD 

This is in lovely autumnal colours.  I then die cut some leaves, using my Spellbinders leaf dies, in varying colours and, leaving the die still on the card, inked each one with chalk inks.  I then stamped the pheasant (from SU Autumn Days set) using Big & Juicy Spice and clear embossed.  I also stamped the sentiment which is from the SU Sincere Salutations using the same recipe as above.  I then cut this out using my nesties Lacy Circles and mounted it on co-ordinating card which had been stamped and embossed using SU Large Medallion stamp.  A ribbon down the side of the card, some gems and Stickles copper glitter glue completed the card.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tilda in Pink

The challenge over at Die Cut Dreams is Tilda in Pink.  Luckily after their recent challenge of Tilda in Red I still had an image that my friend Anne over at Stamps & Paper had stamped for me so was able to join in this challenge.

The image has been coloured in using ProMarkers and die cut using my new beaded ovals nesties.  The backing paper is from a Peerless Designs CD matted onto pink Bazzill card.  The border has been punched with a Martha Stewart Snowflake edge punch with Bazzill card underneath and a strip of white lace over the top.  The sentiment has been stamped and embossed in silver and matted and layered using my SU punches.  The snowflakes and stars are die cuts using silver mirri and then I added some flowers and a ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Angels, From the Realms of Glory

Bah Humbug's challenge this week is Christmas Carols.  On a cream square card blank I mat and layered some sheet music paper (which was downloaded free from the internet) onto black card.  I have taken the first verse from Angels, From the Realms of Glory, which I suppose is more of a Christmas Hymn than a Carol, and printed it out onto pearlised cream card.  If you are quick you can then emboss it with clear embossing powder (printer ink doesn't dry so quickly on coated card) which I did.  I then cut it out with my nesties and matted it onto a larger gold mirri die cut.  I then used a stamp from Stamps Away called Large Angel of Peace and embossed it in gold onto cream pearlescent card.  I then stamped and embossed a second image onto vellum.  I cut out the original image and just the wings from the vellum which were added using Pinflair Gel.  I then added a small ribbon bow and some pearls.

Thanks for looking.

Elf challenge

The challenge this week over at Die Cut Dreams is ELF............ not sure how common it is to have an elf stamp etc but I hunted around and found this cute image of an elf holding a present (mind you he doesn't look at all pleased to be giving it away........ lol).  It's from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs and it's a paper piecing design. 

I covered a 6" square card blank with paper from Papermania Silent Night and then got to work with my new nesties............... these are beautiful and the set I've used here is the Beaded Ovals.  I think you will be able to see from the photo that you can actually use an embossing tool and emboss the design from the back of the die which gives an additional element to them.  I have threaded some red ribbon through the main oval - all the papers used are from the Silent Night collection.  I have used a Martha Stewart punch for the central border, added some red lace, gems and photo corners which were cut with my EK Success punch.  The sentiment is computer generated - a bit cheesy but gave me a giggle!!  I added some cotton wool on the elf's hat and Stickles and ribbon on the parcel.  The final touch was some Diamond Glaze on his boots and eyes.

Thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Charms

Charms is the theme over at Bah Humbug this week so I set about hunting through my stash for a Christmas charm but couldn't find anything suitable so I thought I'd turn my hand to using some shrink plastic.

The main card is a square cream blank covered with paper from Papermania Silent Night pack.  I then stamped and embossed the bauble image onto gold glitter card (stamp is from Papermania).  This was then cut and matted onto some matching cardstock.  For the earrings I stamped the bauble image twice onto clear shrink plastic, cut out and remembered to make a hole for the jump rings, and then used my heat gun to shrink them down.  I added some jump rings and ear wires.  These were mounted onto the same gold glitter and matching card after I'd punched small holes for the ear wires to go through.  I used a double layer of sticky pads at the back so the ear wires didn't get squashed.  I stamped and embossed the sentiment and used my SU oval and scalloped oval punches.  The finishing touch was a matching ribbon.  For some reason although I've used the same ink throughout the earrings look a slightly different colour to the main image but that might just be down to my ability to take photos!!!  lol

Thanks for looking.

Tilda in Red

Die Cut Dreams challenge this week is "Tilda in Red".  So I was stumped......... I don't actually own any Tilda stamps; but luckily I knew a woman who did!!!  My great friend Anne over at Stamps & Paper has a some and she kindly stamped a couple of images for me so I could join in this challenge.

This image is Dinner Tilda and I have cut her out and coloured in ProMarkers.  On top of a square card base I have used some Christmas paper from a K&Co pack which I've had for ages.  The border has been punched with a Martha Stewart snowflake edge punch with a strip of matching paper from the same pack which I put through my Big Shot in an embossing folder.  I then added a strip of red lace.  I've used nesties ovals and added some red lace for Tilda to sit on - I used my bone folder to shape her and then used Pinflair Glue Gel.  The sentiment is computer generated and I used Stampin Up punches.  The holly berries and gold ribbon were snaffled from some Christmas crackers a few years ago - knew they'd come in handy for something!!!!  lol  As a finishing touch Tilda is wearing a necklace and bracelet of tiny gems and I've added red Stickles to the holly berries on the backing paper.

Thanks for popping over.

Winter Wonderland

Thjis week's challenge over at Bah Humbug is "Winter Wonderland".  I immediately thought of an unmounted rubber stamp that I've had for ages (and so can't remember where it comes from.......... senior moment!!) that shows a house set in some trees with the sentiment "Winter Wonderland" underneath the image.  Unfortunately this stamp is more of a photo stamp and so doesn't lend itself to being embossed.

So in the end I hunted out my Creative Expressions build a scene Village stamp set and stamped it onto brown cardstock with Versamark and then embossed with Ranger Stream embossing powder.  I masked off the rest of my unmounted rubber stamp so I could stamp the sentiment only.  Again I used Versamark and the Stream embossing powder on brown cardstock.  Both images were matted and layered onto light and darker cardstock and the sentiment added to the top of the village scene.  I took a DL card and a piece of patterned paper from My Mind's Eye Christmas Glitter Book.  The edge of the patterned paper was punched using a MS deep edger and then stuck using d/s tape to the main card with a piece of matching cardstock underneath the punched edge.  I found a matching piece of ribbon and some gems and added Mint Ice Stickles to the main image.

Thanks for dropping by.