STAMPlorations #6 & February challenge and just how kind are crafters??????

Hello everyone from a much nicer day here in Somerset........we actually have a bit of blue sky and some sunshine (in between the showers), so fingers crossed the weather is on the turn..........you realised I didn't say I was holding my breath!!!!! lol

It's a new bi-weekly sketch challenge over at STAMPlorations and here it is:

I really fancied joining in this one and here is my card:

I used my Lil'Inkers stitched circle mats to die cut  an off the edge circle and the next size up for the frame which was cut off short for the side.  I embossed the top mat with a Couture Creations Breeze e/f.  The stamp set with the cupcakes and sentiment was a freebie from a magazine, coloured with Flexmarkers and a bit of glitter on top.  The sentiment was cut out using my SU punch and a pink dotty ribbon added to the side of the frame.  This also links up with STAMPlorations February challenge Stamps & Stitches so will be entering that challenge as well.

Now, I think you all know the answer to the second part of my post title - very eh?  Last week a lovely lady called Petra in South Africa submitted a card for our Love challenge over at Addicted to CAS.  I loved the card and the stamp she'd used.  So I went on a hunt for it.  Now I just saw Great Impressions but could I find a similar stamp??? NO - so I emailed Petra asking her about it.  Turns out the shop she bought it in was called Great Impressions (duh!!!) and it was one of their own stamps but she offered there and then to go and buy one and post it off to me.  See what I mean?  Anyway I couldn't ask her to do that but she was very insistent and so after a while we came to an agreement that I would send the money to her via PayPal and she would send the stamp to me.  Anyway she had to post it first to see how much that cost and when she emailed said she had put some goodies in as well!!!  So this is what arrived today in the post:

A sachet of Cappuccino, some Redbush teabags and a bar of chocolate all contained in the most gorgeous box - oh and the stamp!!!!  How kind was that - it really made my day - and I can't begin to thank her enough.  So please pop on over to Petra's blog and check out her amazing cards.  If you scroll down the photos for her entry to the ATCAS challenge you will see someone else trying to get in on the act!!! lol  Thanks again Petra - you're a star.

So that's me for the day - should have a couple of cards to show you tomorrow.

Happy crafting.

Clearly Besotted!!!

Hi Folks - just a very quick post today as I'm packing my bags (no, I'm not leaving home....... lol) as it's our craft night tonight and I have quite a lot to take along for the two projects we are going to be completing tonight.

However I just had to have a quick play as my new goodies from Clearly Besotted arrived this morning from Stephanie's May release.  I've used the Just Fabulous stamps and die set.  I started off by embossing a piece of white cardstock using my Cuttlebug Geometric e/f but used my Darice Easy Frames to keep a clear oval at the bottom right hand side of the embossed piece (not sure you can see it on the photo very clearly).  I then stamped the stem and leaf directly into the clear oval and decided where I wanted my smaller flowers to go so I could add stems for them as well.  I then stamped up my flowers using SU Tangerine Tango and die cut them.  I inked up the larger vase and die cut that as well.  These elements were shaped with my bone folder and added to the card using Pinflair Glue Gel.  I then stamped the sentiment and punched it with my SU label punch.  I also punched the same shape on the main piece of embossed card so I could place the sentiment on the base card which could be seen through the "window".  The whole of the main image was then raised on d/s foam pads and added to the base card.


I have always admired Stephanie's ability to die cut her images perfectly so asked if she actually die cut the stamped image or die cut the shape and then stamped on top.  She directed me to a blog who gave the best solution I have seen - and perhaps you all know about this, but it was one of those "duh" moments.  Firstly you die cut each shape out of a separate piece of card.  Keep these negative pieces and then when you stamp your image place the negative card over the top and pop your die into the aperture and tape down.  Put through your machine and you have the perfect die cut!  Simples eh?   

Anyway, must get on with getting all my gear together.  Have a great evening and thanks for dropping by.

Less is More - Week 72 - Theme

This week Chrissie and Mandi  at Less is More have tasked us with the following challenge:

 Third week of the month and Theme Week
We want to see

Something Shiny

It's been a bit rushed this week as we got our first challenges up and running at Addicted to Stamps so I'm running late for this challenge.  Anyway, hopefully this comes under the less is more ethos.......... I started off by stamping 3 different sized butterflies (from the Wedding Butterfly set by Wild Rose Studio) using Staz-On ink onto Clearly for Art Modeling Film, cutting them out and then heating with a heat gun til soft and you can mold them.  The sentiment, again from Wild Rose Studio, was stamped in Staz-On, punched with the scalloped square Stampin Up punch and then triple glazed with clear embossing powder.  I took a square card blank and added a piece of matching ribbon and used silicone glue to attach my butterflies.  I've popped the sentiment up, added some matching pearls on the top right and a single diamond gem to each of the butterflies.  Apologies for the quality of the photos but this was a bit difficult to capture!

Winter Wonderland - Embossing

Hello everyone - hope you're having as brilliant a day as we are in Somerset.......... blue skies and wall to wall sunshine.

The challenge over at Winter Wonderland is embossing of any type so for my card I decided to use my Santa's sleigh and reindeer stencil and Dreamweaver gold embossing paste.  When it was dry it was matted onto some gold mirri card and then onto a piece of kraft cardstock which had been run through my Joy using a Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder (unfortunately I don't think it shows up on the picture for some reason).  The main card is a DL with some gold embossed holly design vellum held in place by brads.  The sentiment is computer generated and punched using my SU word window.  I've added some punched holly leaves with red gems and a poinsettia flower.  The last touch was the ribbon from my stash.

Right, think it may be time to get out in the garden to do some work.  See you all soon.

Make My Monday - Week 45 - Men/Boys & Sports/Hobbies

Hi Everyone - well, I've dragged myself away from all the 'Tangles.......!!!  lol  I wanted to enter the challenge over at Make My Monday which is still on the theme of men and boys but this week it is sports or hobbies.

I've had this digi image for ages and unfortunately I don't know where it came from but I thought it ideal for this card.  Printed out and coloured in with Flexmarkers.  Then die cut using Spellbinders flowerpots............ weird eh but they were the perfect size turned upside down!!!  Backing papers from my stash and the die cut is a Memory Box die.  The sentiment is computer generated and I used my oval and scalloped oval SU punches.  Photo corners from my EK Success punch.

Thanks for dropping by.

It's a boy...........

Well, for those of you who check out my sister Val's blog you will know that we have a new addition to the family in the form of baby Charlie who arrived safely on Saturday weighing 7lbs 10oz.  Mother, baby and father all okay!!!!  lol

I have made two new baby cards, one of which is here - I will post the other later in the week.

I have used the gorgeous digi stamp from Sugar Nellie called Bambino.  I coloured him in using Flexmarkers and then got my sewing machine out to stitch the image onto backing card.  I then pieced the backing card together (from my stash) and stitched that as well.  Then this was put onto an 8x8 card blank.  The sentiments were computer generated on CraftArtist; the top one punched out and matted using Stampin Up punches and the bottom one used Spellbinders Ornate Frames - the cut outs from the sides I added to the top and bottom of the frame for a different look.  I've added gems, flowers, hat pins and ribbon and the last touch were two baby feet punched out using a Dovecraft punch.

Thanks for dropping by.

Teddy Bear for a 2 year old

Hello everyone - I was asked to make a birthday card for a 2 year old little boy who loves teddy bears so where better to turn than to Tatty Teddy on the Me to You CD.  I used this in conjunction with the Docrafts Digital Designer programme.  The base card is an 8" square scalloped blank.  The decoupaged image is mounted onto nestie shapes.  The backing paper was from the same CD.  I punched a small envelope out of pale blue vellum (for some reason it looks really dark in the photo but it's a pale colour) and made a miniature card saying Happy Birthday Kian.  The circle sentiment was produced in CraftArtist and punched using Stampin Up circle and scalloped circle.  The name was computer generated and I used the pennant punch from Stampin Up and threaded through some blue rickrack ribbon.  The final touch was a pretty organza ribbon and bow.

I have put the Linky Followers on the side bar just in case we lose our Google Friends Followers at the end of this month as I would hate to loose all my lovely followers so if you want to continue following me please pop your names on the Linky Followers; its free to join......  Lot of bloggers have done the same thing just to be on the safe side...

Thanks for dropping by.  Have a great weekend.

70th Birthday card

Morning everyone - just a quick post today.  We are going up to Hampshire on Saturday to celebrate a friend's 70th birthday.  He has always been very keen on rowing and always used to attend Henley.  Soooooo - I managed to find some great images and decided to use a black and white photo of four rowers proudly holding their oars.  I took it into CraftArtist and with a little manipulation managed to extract Chris's head (from another photo) and place it over the seated rower.  Everything on this card was made using CraftArtist including the 70th badge (cut out using SU punches).  The sentiment on the front is continued on the insert and reads "but you are definitely on higher ground!"

Thanks for dropping by.

Bah Humbug - Challenge 47 - Cute Christmas Critters & St Luke's Charity Challenge - Let it Snow

I just can't believe that this is the last week of challenges over at Bah! Humbug! - and it's Cute Christmas Critters -  it doesn't seem like 5 minutes since we started way back in January!  Also over at St Luke's Charity Challenge   their challenge is Let it Snow.  I had already started on a card and it will match in with both challenges.  I have used the great Stamp Addicts set called Polar Bears SA-6019.  I just love using the polar bears as they're soooo cute!!  On a piece of black card I stamped the icicles and embossed with white embossing powder.  I stamped the star and embossed with silver detail e/p.  The polar bears were stamped with Memento ink onto white card and then cut out.  I have used a Letraset Fleximarker to add a blue tinge around the outside of the images.  I cut around the arms of the large polar bear so I could "sit" the baby one inside.  The sentiment is from the same set and I have used my Stampin Up oval and scalloped oval punches to cut out and mat onto silver card.  The whole thing has been mounted onto silver mirri which I embossed with a Cuttlebug dotty e/f.  I added a ribbon to the side and a snowflake die cut out of silver glitter card using my Whimsy Stamps Winter's Jewel 1 die.  I then mounted this onto a black DL card blank and added some snow.

Thanks for stopping by - have a great weekend fellow bloggers.

Anniversary card

Just a quick post today.  It's our wedding anniversary on Thursday - married for 21 years........ perhaps he'll give me the key to the door!!!  lol  Had a hard time deciding what type of card to make Tony but he normally appreciates anything I do which is great.  Unfortunately he's had a bad back for a while so I just couldn't resist this image and especially the sentiment!  They are both from a set called The Wrinklies from Dimension Fourth.  The image has been stamped onto cream card with Memento ink and coloured with Letraset Flexmarkers and Promarkers, cut out using Nesties and Diamond Glaze added to his glasses and pipe.  I've used Stampin Up backing card and a Martha Steward large edger punch.  I added a piece of gingham ribbon and some gems.  The sentiment was stamped and clear embossed and cut out using the same Nesties.  After I had made the card I realised it didn't mention anything about our anniversary - doh!!!!  So I created that on the computer using Kon Tiki Enchanted font and used a Stampin Up punch to cut it out.

Thanks for looking.

Less is More - Week 37 - Cocktails

Morning everyone - this week's challenge over at Less is More is:

COCKTAIL
You may interpret this however you wish... your favourite tipple, the colours of a cocktail or a simply cocktail of colours. Let your imagination run with this one, it will be interesting to see how imaginative you can be.
Here is a little fun... you can follow the link to see what cocktail you are... it's interesting to see that both of us are 'poised' ladies in the same proportions what's more!

What's the recipe for your personality

Blogthings: Learn something interesting about yourself

This is what they say about me!!!

You Are Made Of Understanding, Laughter, and Mischief

3 parts Understanding 2 parts Laughter 1 part Mischief And a Splash of Power Finish off with an olive

Why don't you follow the links and see what they say about you!!!  lol

Now to my card for this challenge.  I can't remember where I got this stamp set from but I've had it quite a while and it fits the bill for this challenge to a T (or perhaps that should be to a Martini.........).  I have stamped the cocktail glass three times onto white card and then stamped the cherry in each glass in red.  These were cut out and matted onto red card.  The backing paper was made up from stamping another cherry in red and matting onto red card.  The sentiment was stamped onto white card and then was punched out and matted using Stampin Up punches.  I added some Glossy Accents to the cherries in the glasses.  I must admit the sentiment makes me giggle each time I see it.

Thanks for dropping by.

Less is More - Week 24 Circles

This week Lady LIM Chrissie and Diva Mandi at LIM Towers have challenged the LIMettes to make a CAS card using circles.  For my card I've used an A5 white pearlised card blank.  I've used a piece of circle backing paper and used a variety of punches to cut circles out of the paper.  I then cut a piece of acetate the same size as the backing paper and ran it through my Xyron.  I then placed the circle paper on top of the acetate and sprinkled Diamond Dust on top which stuck wherever I had punched the holes.  I tied a ribbon (dotty pink and black of course) to the left side of this and mounted it on a piece of co-ordinating card.  The sentiment is from a Stampin Up set called Congrats and I stamped the main message in pink and embossed in clear e/p and stamped the remainder in black Versafine.

Thanks for dropping by.

Do It With Digis - Fairies, Pixies and Elves

The latest challenge over at Do it with Digis is Fairies, Pixies and Elves.  I had to hunt around all my digi images to come up with something nice for this card and I found a lovely mushroom house and a baby which I think looks remarkably like a pixie.  Unfortunately I don't know where either of them came from and I do wish that artists would actually include their name on the downloadable images.

I first copied and pasted the two images into Word and then printed them out.  I have used a set of nesties to die cut the image leaving the little pixie outside the frame.  I left the images inside the die and sponged some Shabby Shutters Distress Ink around the edge.  This was then coloured in using Promarkers and matted onto the larger size die cut.  I printed out the mushroom house again and cut out the image leaving the negative space which I then sprayed Crafters Companion Spray and Sparkle Iridescent through.  Unfortunately when I looked at the photo this spray doesn't show up very well at all which is a shame.  The backing papers and border strip are from NitWit Collections Cotton Candy Kisses which was a free giveaway with a magazine and I joined the two pieces with a border strip of bazzill card punched with Martha Stewart Wild Flowers deep edger punch.  I added a button and ribbon bow.  The sentiment comes from Crafts4fun.nl and I used my Stampin Up oval and scalloped oval punches.

Bah Humbug Challenge 14 - Candy Canes

I must admit to having a mini panic when I saw that this week's challenge over at Bah Humbug was Candy Canes............ now this is something I absolutely knew I didn't have as I have always thought it was an American thing and not really my scene.

Anyway, I took up the challenge and started to trawl the internet and came upon this piece of clupart which was a gingerbread man swinging on a candy cane.  I printed the image out and coloured in with Promarkers and then cut out using nesties and matted onto green card.  The backing paper is another piece of clipart which I took into My Craft Studio to tile to make a background.  The base card was a 5" x 7" blank which I put through my die cut machine with a Go Kreate XL Frilly Frame and the backing paper was cut out using the next size die down.  The sentiment is computer generated and mat and layered using my Stampin Up punches.  I added some ribbon to finish off.

Thanks for looking.

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.

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.

Snowman Challenge at Bah Humbug!!

The latest challenge at Bah Humbug is to make a card with the theme of a snowman. I was scratching my head a bit as I don't own any snowmen stamps and then I hit upon the idea of downloading a digi stamp.

The one I have used here is a free digi stamp from Cuddly Buddly which has been coloured using Promarkers with some Diamond Glaze and Stickles adding the finishing touches. The image is mounted onto copper mirri and green SU card using my nesties. There is a border across the card which I edged with my SU eyelet border on each side, cut a piece of the backing paper to go down the middle and finished it with some ribbon. The sentiment is computer generated and cut out and mounted using SU oval and scalloped oval punches. The brad was made with the Papermania brad maker where you get empty brads in different sizes, three punches and clear domes to place over the top.

Thanks for looking.

Second medallion sample card

Hurray!!!! I've just managed to finish off my second sample for club night on Wednesday. Again I have used a medallion stamp from Creative Stamping. This time I stuck to monotones of black and white; so black embossing powder on white card and white embossing powder on the black card. Again I raided my stash of Graphicus papers and found a matching black and white sheet. The sentiment is one I got from C&C and I used a ticket punch from Stampin Up for all the corners. Gems were then added as a final embellishment. Now - off to start on my animal card!!! LOL