Addicted to CAS - Challenge #61 Showers

Hi everyone - haven't we been having some lovely weather recently?  Changed a bit today and had a couple of light showers this morning.

There's a new challenge over at Addicted to CAS and their codeword is "Showers".  

 

 Here is my card:

I decided that my Stampendous Rain Dance stamp would be perfect and stamped it with black Versafine and heat embossed using Judikins Iridescent Sparkle e/p, then coloured with my Promarkers.  I cut a mask for the stamped image and then used  my Water Droplets stamp by Designs by Ryn.  This was again heat embossed.  All the layers were die cut using Spellbinders Labels 1.  Final addition was a bow.

Thanks for dropping by - hope everyone has a fabulous weekend.

Happy crafting.

Tri-shutter and double pop-out 21st cards

Hello everyone - how are you enjoying this lovely weather......well it is down here in Somerset but looks like the country is divided on the weather front.

I was asked to make two 21st birthday cards for a chap whose 18th birthday card I made.....well, three years ago!!! lol  I was given two interests...........one was paintballing (help......) and the other was motorbikes.  I had been given plenty of notice which quite frankly I needed to come up with something for the paintballing card.  Anyway below are the photos of the two cards.  The paintballing card is a double pop-out card and the motorbike card is a tri-shutter card.  Hope you like them.

 

All was going well and finished off all the printing I needed for the paintballing card.  I was busy with other "stuff" for about 3 weeks when I started to prepare the motorbike card.........and my printer died!  Isn't it always the way.........always seems to happen on a Friday as well.  Anyway I ordered my new printer which arrived a few days later.  Installed it and everything was fine.  For the motorbike card I prepared a lot of it using CraftArtist and I printed pages onto copy paper first to make sure I'd got the sizes correct etc.  Then just as I was about to print out the final version on cardstock I got a warning beep and "paper jam" message.........once, twice, three times et al.  Tried everything I could think of, phoned the company I bought the printer from and they said they thought the roller had jammed, so ended up ringing Epson directly who were very good and said anything that goes wrong with their printers up to 30 days of receipt is called "dead on arrival" and have agreed to send a new printer so I'm totally without a printer (except for a b&w laser) and feel totally lost.  I'm just keeping my fingers crossed it arrives soon.  BTW all this happened on a Friday again!  Think I'm going to stay in bed this week.............hehe

Happy crafting.

One for two...........

Just a quick post this afternoon to show you a card I made that fits with two challenges.  The first is Freshly Made Sketches #177 and the second is Retro sketches #156.  Here are the two sketches:

                                

And here is my card:

I started off die cutting some circle scribbles, from my Papertrey Ink set, from some d/p in my stash.  I cut a small border piece from the same paper and put a piece of ribbon down the length.  The orchid is Spellbinders D-Lites Orchid coloured with Promarkers with an added touch of Wink of Stella.  The banner is Die-namics and the sentiment was one I had spare from the SU workshop on Saturday.  Final touches are sequin die cuts from Die-namics.

Thanks for dropping by.

Happy crafting.

70th Birthday card

Hi Everyone from a very sunny Somerset........makes a change but it's a lovely day today; blue skies, sunshine wall to wall and a light breeze.  Hope some of you are also enjoying this spring like weather.

I recently had a commission for a 70th birthday card for a lady who loves flowers and knitting!!!  Okaaay............well, this is what I came up with.

I found an old House Mouse image which was perfect for this card and who doesn't love House Mouse.  I started off by die-cutting the main pages for the book and embossed the lilac layers with my Sue Wilson Beaded Fanfare embossing folder.  I've used Sue Wilson's ivy die and the flowers are Heartfelt Creations Sun Kissed Fleur silver embossed onto lilac vellum and then die cut with the matching die.  The beaded pins are from my stash, as are the gems in the flowers and the ribbon.  The sentiment was computer generated.

I made the knitting needles from some wooden skewers, cut them down and made the ends from air dried clay painted with violet Wink of Stella.  I used some embroidery skein for the ball of wool.  The 70th and her name (Eira) were die cut using Spellbinders.  I've made a pocket using the smallest book page die which I've put onto the back of the card with a tag for the greeting.

I made a stand for the book using a Marianne Creatables LR0266 - three layers of cardstock glued together and then the lilac card for the filigree layer front and back.  This might sound like it's quite bulky but it needs to be quite weighty to hold the card in place.  I finished off by making a box for it.

Thanks for dropping by today.  I'm off to a Stampin Up workshop tomorrow so hopefully will post some photos on Sunday.

Happy crafting.

Surprise party for Nonni - Happy Birthday!

Hello everyone

Today is Nonni's birthday - korttikarkuri - and I'm sure loads of you out in blog land know her gorgeous work.  If not then you're missing a treat - pop on over and have a look at all her inspiration.

The lovely Sandie of London Days has been kind enough to organise this surprise linky Birthday Party for Nonni so when you've finished her pop on over to Sandie's blog to see all the other cards.  The linky will be open from 5 am GMT today until 5 am on 12th September.........so if you fancy joining in please post on your blog and then link up via Sandie's blog.

Here's what I made for Nonni - and hopefully she's received it safely over in Finland!!! 

I have cased my friend Anne's card that she made for 
my birthday and another few that I've seen around blog land..........couldn't resist getting this die set as it looks stunning.  It's Spellbinders Shapeabilities Pendants Fleur De Lis.  The centre panel is made up of 9 separate die cuts on matching cardstock which is layered onto light blue embossed mirri card.  I've used dies from the same set for the corners, the sentiment is computer generated and the flowers are from my stash.  The flourish is Simon Says Stamp! Harrington Vine and I've added some liquid pearls to finish off.

Hope you have a lovely birthday Nonni.

Happy crafting.

ATCAS Challenge #40

Hello Everyone

Well, it's that time again - a new challenge at Addicted to CAS, and this challenge has been set by me. Here's what I came up with:

Our Sponsor is

http://www.whimsystamps.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=13_38

Prize is 5 free digis

We are so happy to have Karen (Snippets) joining us at Guest Designer for the month of June.

Welcome Karen!

Whilst I was looking around for suitable images for this challenge I came across a digi postcard that I really wanted to use...........I could just imagine ladies strolling along the decks with their white parasols open shading them from the sun!!! lol

Anyway I've used my Spellbinders Mystical Embrace die, cut the postcard to size so it fitted in the central aperture and backed it with some dark blue cardstock.  I've sponged around the edges of the die with Stampin Up Bashful Blue ink which makes it stand out from the white background of the base linen card.  The sentiment is computer generated and punched out with Stampin Up Modern Label.

Please pop over to the ATCAS blog to see the gorgeous creations the rest of the DT have created.  We're looking forward to come and visit you to see your lovely entries.

Happy crafting.

Christmas Card Club - Challenge # 12

Hello Everyone - apologies for not posting much these last few weeks but things have been pretty hectic here and it seems like the garden needs attention every day!!!  This warm and wet weather is brilliant for the weeds........they're growing like....well.....weeds!!! lol  Also my conservatory looked like a jungle with all the plants I have grown which definitely needed to be planted outside - Tony thought they were taking over!!!

Anyway onto my card for today's challenge over at the Christmas Card Club.  This week it's the lovely Sue who has set the challenge which is a Nativity Scene.

As soon as I had time to think about what I was going to do a little parcel slipped through my letterbox (don't you love it when that happens???) and out pops this lovely die that I'd ordered - and I got a "ding" and knew what I wanted to do.  So here is my first offering - 'cause I felt guilty not joining in the last couple of challenges I've made two cards:

I've used an Anna-Marie 7" square card blank for the base and I embossed it with my dotty Embossalicious e/f.  The nativity scene was downloaded from the internet.  I made a couple of frames using my Lil'Inkers stitched mats and layered them over the image.  I then used my gorgeous new die which is the Sweet Dixie "Star" SDD015 - isn't it lovely?  I added a thin strip of acetate and glued it behind the frames so it has movement - if you look carefully you can see that the star on the image is actually the same shape as my new die - how about that for serendipity!  The sentiment is SU Gifts of Christmas stamped using my Delicata gold ink and punched using my EK Success ticket punch.

My second card again uses an image from the internet mounted behind a frame from Spellbinders Card Creator Mystical Embrace.  This is then mounted on some dark blue mirri and then onto an embossed mat gold base.  The sentiment is from a polymer stamp set but it's got no name.  That is mounted on a banner from the Spellbinders Card Creator Tranquil Moments set.

Thanks for dropping by.  Please pop on over to see the offerings by the rest of the girls in the Christmas Card Club (links on my sidebar) - if you fancy joining in with us send an email to Margaret.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Happy crafting.

Less is More - Week 164 Recipe

Hello All

The latest challenge over at Less is More is a Recipe which consists of:

Our recipe this week has two parts!

Firstly we'd like to see 

THREE

of something on your cards 

PLUS

We'd like you to visit and comment on three other participants, hopefully ones you haven't visited before!

My card is a pretty simple one.  I have stamped the THREE flowers  (Stampin Up Organic Grace) in THREE colours of Stampin Up inks.  I then die cut them using Spellbinders scalloped circle dies and mounted them on THREE die cut mats - again Spellbinders, but this time Lacey Circles.  I embossed two lines vertically down a DL card and stamped my sentiment (Personal Impressions P488 E) using the same THREE ink colours.  Finishing touches were to use THREE colours of Liquid Pearls in the centre of the flowers and three "pearls" above and below the sentiment.

Thanks for dropping by.  I'm off to visit THREE other participants in this challenge...........hehe.

Happy crafting.

Anita's Birthday Surprise and LIM Week 163

Hello Peeps

A few of us found out, too late, that our friend Anita R. from My Papercraft World had a birthday on February 18th, the stinker!

Bev of Happy Dance has suggested that we surprise Anita with a birthday card hop on March 18th and Darnell has offered to host it for us all.

Now those of you who know Anita will realise she has a real style on all her cards so I decided to case one that caught my eye last month.  Here is Anita's card:

And here is my take on her lovely card.  

Now I know Anita used plasterboard mesh tape and jointing medium but I had been wanting to use this That Special Touch - Distressed Dots mask.  I masked off the area I wanted the embossing paste to be and then used three colours of Sparkle Medium from Imagination Crafts (Black Stars, Jade and Silver).  When it was dry I matted it onto some dotty embossed card in complimentary colours and onto the card base.  I had used a Spellbinders border die at the bottom of the card and placed in a layer of vellum.  I then heat embossed in white the sentiment from Stampin Up Vintage Verses which, in turn was die cut using Spellbinders fancy tags.  This was then added to the card using some matching brads.

As this ties in nicely with the current challenge over at Less is More I am entering my card there.

So, although we are a month late I hope Anita feels it's worth it!!!  Happy Belated Birthday Anita. 

New Home, Peppa Pig and Deer.............

Hello everyone - thought I'd pop by to share some cards I've recently finished.  The first one is for good friends of ours who are moving to West Sussex next week - we have been friends and neighbours for 17 years and we will be really sorry to see them go.

I used Britannia Dies Lattice Edge and Open Window for the front of the card.  I cut the Open Window twice so I could sandwich acetate inbetween to act as the "glass".  I stamped the house which is from Chocolate Baroque on the base card and coloured with Flexmarkers.  I then shaped the front to give the appearance of a bow-fronted window.  The sentiment is computer generated and printed on my laser printer, then foiled and die cut with a Spellbinders Labels die.  Flowers and butterflies from my stash.

The next two cards are commissions from a friend.  The first is for her granddaughter who will be three and loves Peppa Pig and the second is for Darren who has started running his own deer herd.  Maria had seen a card I'd made earlier using my Taylored Expressions Birch Tree and accessory dies and thought it would be perfect for him.

So the first one is Peppa Pig - not something I had in my stash so had to go hunting to find some colouring pages etc.  Luckily I found a few so took them into CraftArtist and used them along with a digikit which had zoo animals in it. I decoupaged up the bunting and the characters to give a bit of dimension, added Diamond Glaze to the "sausage shaped" balloon and then made up a circle sentiment which was die cut with circle nesties and popped up on a scalloped circle.

The last card is the deer card.  I started off layering up the trees - there are actually about four layers starting with light trees and coming to the fore with darker ones sponged with DI's.  The deer are a combination of the Taylored Expressions deer and my Memory Box deer trio die.  They have been weaved in and out of the trees, again with some in the background.  They were all diecut from kraft cardstock and sponged with DI's. The signpost is part of the TE accessories set, as is the birdhouse, owl and bird.  I diecut Darren's name using Die-Versions Editor in Chief font.  I finished off using Clearly Besotted's grass die and Poppy Stamps Leafy Tree Border.

Thanks for popping by.  Hope you all have a great weekend.

Happy crafting.

Christmas Card Club - Challenge # 4

It's time for another challenge over at the Christmas Card Club where a group of lovely ladies set each other challenges every two weeks to make sure we don't have a mad dash to make them in December!!!  If you are interested in joining us email Margaret (link on my right hand bar).  This challenge has been set by Hazel and the challenge is Snowflakes and/or all white.

Couldn't resist using this huge snowflake from Spellbinders which is a cut and fold shapeability. I didn't have any white glitter card so after I'd folded it I sprayed with Stick & Spray and then added Glamour Dust. Not sure you can see that much glitter in the photos.  I used some white linen card for the card base, added the snowflake to a mat on the same white linen card and then popped it up onto the base.  The sentiment is My Sentiments Exactly! Q252-10 and is supposed to be an Innie and Outie but I decided to use both on the front. I heat embossed in silver, shaped them and used Pinflair Glue Gel to add to the card. 

Thanks for dropping by.

Happy crafting.

Addicted to CAS - Challenge #32

Hello to everyone on this Saturday morning - can you believe we are halfway through February already? And it's time again for another challenge which, this week, is being hosted by the lovely Deepti.  Here's what she's chosen:

Our Sponsor is:

and we have the lovely Anni joining in as Guest Designer

I ummed and ahhed about this challenge......since I didn't have any stamps that would fit the challenge should I go for coffee tones/colours?????

Anyway I went and had a look through my digi folders to see if I had anything that would be suitable and came across this fab little image from Deary Dolls.  It was already coloured so printed it out twice so I could decoupage up some elements.  I then die cut it with a Spellbinders die and matted onto a pink bazzill cardstock and added some Diamond Glaze.  The sentiment was also a free digi but I don't know where from - just loved the wording as it went so well with the image.




Hope you haven't been too affected by this awful weather. Don't forget to hop over to the ATCAS blog to see the fab cards made by the rest of the DT. We're looking forward to seeing what you come up with for this challenge.

Thanks for popping in.

Happy crafting.

Less is More Happy 3rd Birthday and STAMPlorations Sketch Challenge #5

Hello All - well the weather has quietened down a bit today.  Yesterday was absolutely horrendous with storm force winds of about 70mph and horizontal rain!  We've still got the rain but the wind has died down thankfully.

I wanted to play along with these two challenges as it's Less is More's 3rd Birthday - can you believe it!! How time flies.  It was great that Mandi came back to take part and what amazing photos of her gorgeous shop.  Here's what they want:

Our colour challenge for this week is 

RAINBOW

And over at STAMPlorations this is their criteria:

It’s open to interpretation. Feel free to change the orientation of the sketch, use different shapes, add other elements to suit the type of paper craft you’re making, and so on — just make sure the sketch is recognizable in your submission(s). You can use stamps by other companies to create projects that you enter to our challenges, although if you have STAMPlorations stamps in your stash, we'd be tickled if you use them!

I knew I didn't want to change the sketch about too much but also wanted to include the colours of the rainbow into it and those stripes gave me an idea....... so I got out my Spellbinders A2 Bracket Borders and started cutting.  This is what happened:

 

The sentiment is from my Stampin Up Apothecary Art set, stamped using Kaleidacolour Royal Satin inkpad and I used my SU ticket punch on the corners.

Pop on  over to both challenges and look at the great cards that the DT's have given us.

Happy crafting.