Quick and simple!!

Hello All!!

I'm snatching time here and there to make a few cards - so here's another fairly quick and simple card. No fancy Spellbinders in sight anywhere!! The image and sentiment are Kanban - I love the lilac and green combination!! 

I used a piece of My Mind's Eye Lost and Found card (Portobello Road if my memory serves me) for the dark green background. On top of that, I used lilac and green gingham card from my local market, and a piece of the gorgeous green silk ribbon I go from Pinks!! All the corners are rounded with a Papermania Corner Rounder.

There really isn't much more to say - except hope to have more to show you soon!! 

I would like to enter this into:

Ribbon Carousel Challenge - Anything Goes

There's Magic In The Air - Less Is More

Cxxx

Happy Aniversary!!

The last couple of weeks have been very busy! Nearly two full weeks of supply teaching - some days more stressful than others!! But it was broken up by a great visit to The Wild Garlic in Beaminster - owned and run by Masterchef 2009 winner, Mat Follas!! Incredibly good food and wine, in a great atmosphere. My favourites were the lamb with wild garlic pesto, and the scrummy bitter chocolate fondant!! Well worth a visit if you're over that way!!  Check out his new venture with Dorset Wildlife Trust here!!

Onto a recent make!! This card was made specially for my lovely Brother-in-law and Sister-in-law for their recent Wedding Anniversary!! Congratulations Fred and Tina - glad you liked it!!!

I started with a Craftwork Cards white 'top notch' size 6 card. The sentiment was stamped onto Neenah card using Coffee Archival Ink, and my Forever Friends Hand Script Alphabet clear stamp set. I rounded the corners with an X-Cut punch, and inked the edges with Mustard Seed DI. The yellow card is Bazzil, the edges of which I cut using Spellbinders Classic Bracket Edgeability. The decorative patterns were cut using inserts from both the Bracket and Postage stamp sets. The sentiment was mounted on a brown scalloped oval, and I also stuck the same brown card behind the decorative patterns. I also inked the edges of the yellow card with Walnut Stain DI.

The finishing touches include a length of yellow satin ribbon wrapped around the middle, a yellow fabric flower (WH Smith I think), topped with a white fabric daisy. And of course, a sprinkling of white flat backed pearls.

I have been making a few cards for my website just recently. They will be loaded there soon, and I will be sharing them over the next week or two. Feel free to pop over to have look to see what's there so far!!

I would like to enter this card into the following challenge:

CCEE Stampers - CCEE1212 - Focus on the sentiment

Cxxx

Cupcake Heaven!!

Finally found some time to make a few cards, so reached into my big box of plastic wallets - all prepared with base cards and toppers! And this time I pulled out these gorgeous Hunkydory Cupcakes (from the 'Treat Yourself' and 'Oh, go on then' sheets)!

So, these are what I came up with!! I also decided to try out (some of) my new Spellbinder purchases!! I know - I have finally broken my New Year's Resolution of only buying things for specific projects!! Well - everyone has their weaknesses - and Spellbinders are one of mine!!  

And here they are in a little more detail - the base card for each one came from a large Brenda Pinnick Kit I bought a long time ago:

This was the first outing of my new Romantic Rectangles die which was used to cut the gorgeous pink Craftwork Cards paper (from a Warren Rabbit kit). This was mounted onto blue pearl card. I also cut the swirls from this card - one from the Floral Flourishes set and the other from the Flourish Accent set. The sentiment I think is a magazine freebie!!

For this one, the yellow dotty paper is, again, Craftwork Cards, cut using Romantic Rectangles. I wrapped a wide plum coloured ribbon around the paper before mounting onto the card. The cupcake was mounted on dark plum card that I cut using the largest Splendid Circles die. This one proved tricky to release from the die - and had load of pieces to poke out!! This is not one to use if you are in any hurry to get your card made. This is the second attempt!! The sentiment came from a Redhot Bed sheet.

This time round, I mounted the large Lace Doily motif cut from orangey-gold pearl card onto pink card which I embossed with That Special Touch Dotty mask. This, in turn, was mounted onto Brown Bazzil card. I wrapped a piece of wide ribbon from top to bottom, and used one of the small lace doily motifs which I cut in half and stuck to the back of the sentiment.

For the final card of the four, I used red textured card to pick up the red on the cupcake. The yellow is something that has been in my stash for ages - and the blue is Craftwork Cards. This time I used the Parisian Motifs to cut the mount for the cupcake - and for mounting the sentiment which is from a Forever Friends Spring/Easter set.

All of these cards will be available soon to buy from my website - please feel free to have a look!!

Be back soon!!

Cxx

For My Mum!!

What a week!! Such a rollercoaster of emotions with things going on at home and and in my work life!! Suffice to say there has been little time to craft. The card I'm sharing with you today was started over a week ago - but I found time today to finish it off. It's my Mother's Day card for my Mum - she's a bit of a technophobe - so no worries about her seeing this before the day.

I loved the Butterfly and Thistle image I used for the last Crafty Cardmakers Challenge, and decided to use it for this card too - even to the point of painting it in the same colours!!

This time, I decided to leave out the design paper, and used Hunkydory silk art card so I could make a feature of the scroll stamped in the corner. The edge at the bottom is cut using a Spellbinders Classic Triple Scallop Edgeability, with an insert from the Classic Petal set. The black background and the green mats are both cut from Bazzil cardstock.

The wording was stamped using my Forever Friends Alphabet set, and inked (liked the main image) with Dusty Concord and Bundled Sage DI's.

The finishing touch on the outside of the card is the organza ribbon in lilac and green. And on the inside 'Happy Mother's Day!!'

Hopefully the next few weeks will be a little more settled and I will get time for more crafting!! Here's hoping!!

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges.

Dream Valley Challenges - Mother's Day

Craft Your Days Away - Mother's Day

One Stop Craft Challenge - Mother's Day with Ribbon

Be back soon (hopefully)!

Cxxxx

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 63 - Sketch

This week's challenge is from Susie, and she has given us a sketch to work from. But before we get to the sketch, this week we are sponsored by One Stop Card Crafts who are offering a £10 voucher for their store

And also by Digi Doodle Shop, who have a $10 Gift Certificate for their store!!

This is the sketch that Susie has given us to work from:

I have to admit that I've never worked from a sketch before, so didn't have the bottle to put my 'interpretation' onto it as I have seen other people do with sketches. So, I decided to just follow it as it is - and this is what I came up with.

I have used the 'Butterfly & Thistle' digi stamp from Digi Doodle shop. I printed the image onto watercolour card, left it overnight and gave it a blast with my heat gun for good measure!! I then turned to my trusty watercolour tin to paint the image. I decided to go for black for the butterfly to give a better contrast against the pastel colours of the thistle - and I also wanted a colour that I could use in the matting and layering, with the purple and green.

I wanted the butterfly to be slightly outside of the oval shape, so cut round the necessary part with scissors so it would sit outside the die.  I then cut it out with a nestie. Whilst still in the die, I inked the edges with Distress Ink - the top with Dusty Concord, and the bottom with Bundled Sage. Strangely enough, the colours I had mixed for painting the thistle were pretty much the same. I must have been subconciously thinking of them while I was painting. Or more likely, just a co-incidence!! It did, however, satisfy my need for things to match!!

I mounted some Bazzil black card onto a white 8" square card. The purple card, bought from my local market, has a shimmer to it - not easy to pick up from the photos. Before mounting this onto the black, I stamped two of the corners using a large, foam-backed swirl stamp and black stazon. The white and green cardstocks are also Bazzil - while the patterned paper was a free download (not sure where I got it from - sorry!) I really love the marble effect!

The purple mats for both the sentiment and image were cut using  nesties - with the green cut from the corresponding scalloped nestie. The green band across the middle was edged with Spellbinders Classic Scallop Edgeabilities Set, and the circles through the centre cut with one of the inserts from the Classic Postage Set. This was wrapped with lilac organza ribbon and finished with a bow and two hatpins.

The sentiment is an old stamp - no idea where from - but was definately a cheapie. I cut it out with a nestie, and inked whilst still in the die. The flowers are made from circles of the patterned paper. And it's all finished off with a few flat backed pearls.

I'm very happy with the result of this - I think it looks quite striking!!

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog - Happy Birthday

DYSU Challenge Blog - Things with Wings

PaperCrafting Journey - Anything Goes with Paper

Alphabet Challenge Blog - B for Busy Bugs

Crafts for Eternity - Digital  (the image and the patterned paper)

The Poodles Parlour - Birthday

Hotshot Crafts - Ribbon

Cxx