Fun Halloween

Had a great afternoon today, making a few DT cards for up and coming challenges and on the way found a couple of challenges that I wanted to enter, just for fun. Here is the card I made.

These little guys were out on my table for a card I'd just finished (will be showing that one in a week or so) and I thought they would be even more fun stamped in bright colours Don't they look cheeky, peering in through the 'window'? The set is of course You Little Furball. You can see how I've popped 
them up on foam pads in the next picture

As these little cats are being a bit 'silly' peering through the window there I thought I would enter them in the current challenge at Casology

This gorgeous colour palette, perfect for a fun Halloween card is from the team at 

 The ColourQ and Make My Monday want to see cats-big and small, well, I never could resist a cat!
I just love all those funny YouTube clips of cats doing crazy things, badly timed jumps, squeezing themselves into ridiculously small boxes, ambushing unsuspecting dogs, humans and other cats. Yeah, crazy cat lady, that's me!

Hello Baby

A new year and a new challenge from The Male Room, and we kick off the year with the theme New Beginnings.

My card this morning is for a new baby, a boy of course, since we are a challenge blog for masculine inspired projects. I even managed to incorporate a ribbon on this one, breaking one of my own 'rules' of not using trimmings like ribbon on a a masculine card.
The images are stamped in Versamark onto pale blue card, heat embossed with Pearly Silver embossing powder and matted onto gorgeous, pearlised silver card. The stamps themselves are an eclectic mix of freebies and cheapies and I've given then the 9 square treatment- one of my favourite design layouts. This card kept evolving.... I then decided to make it into an easel card, using the teddy image to make the 'stand' element. I added a matching pearly silver card mat to the inside. Which is your favourite image here? I think mine are the tiny handprints, although I love the building blocks and the teddy bear.

I hope you have time to join in with the challenge. Over at Make My Monday they have the same theme challenge so I'm going to link up my card there, you could too!

A Nice Pear for Dad

A traditional male challenge at The Male Room this week: Fathers' Day, which is on Sunday, here in the UK in case you've forgotten. Actually I've spent most of the afternoon helping my son create a card for my other half, but I did find time to make this one, using a technique which I wanted to try out and entering a couple of  challenges at the same time.
I was intrigued by the challenge at Cas-ual Fridays- create a card for a male without using Kraft (easy!) and including a ribbon of some kind (which breaks all the rules for man cards having no fussy/frilly bits!). So I just had to try it. This is my card

The stamping is done by printing a background, stamping the image and then overlaying a top piece of card with an aperture cut out over the image stamped again and lining them up. This way there is no overhang, the image edges are crisp. I decided to offset my image this time.

For the ribbon I used a piece of striped DP (which you can see I used inside my card too) and overlaid a piece of Old Olive spotted and scalloped ribbon. The sentiment is from Best Dad Ever.
The second challenge is Make My Monday where they also want cards for males.

The card will be for my father, he lives in the next-door county to us- Worcestershire, and the emblem is a pear so it is quite fitting, green is also his favourite colour

Bluebells on The Malverns

This morning I have a card inspired by the challenge at Make My Monday and a photo posted by a friend on Facebook. Where I am lucky enough to live there are millions of bluebells, flowering right now, carpeting everywhere in blue, have a look 

The challenge is for seasonal flower colours, I have used three shades of blue, two shades of green and yellow

I used the acetate block print technique to make my grassy background. I added Lovely as a Tree, stamped twice and some 'sprinkles' from Create A Cupcake to add the flowers in the distance. The 

sky is sponged and the flower heads punched out, curled and a tiny yellow centre added, the greeting is also from the cupcake set.

Baby Love

I had a bit of time to play and so created a card for two challenges, Make My Monday and Addicted to CAS.  It is nice sometimes to forget yor DT work and just craft! Both of these challenges want to see
inspired by the word 'Baby' or 'Babies'. Isn't it nice to be thinking about spring and babies, instead of all that dreary weather?

 I just love this bunny image, which I've stencilled in silver.  Polka dots always say 'baby' to me. When I was rummaging in my stash for the EF I found this washi tape too, which added a bit of colour.  Mt Stamp-A-Ma-Jig allowed me to accurately stamp the sentiment banner, using two small sentiments from Pennant Parade.  I know it's CAS but I did want to put a bow on my bunny. hope you can forgive this little extravagance. Just taken the photo and it's 5pm , so there's a bit of a blue cast, might try and re-photo tomorrow. As my EF folder is very small (had to put the card base through the Big Shot 4 times to get coverage all over) and with the sentiment, my card is definitely a class in matching up- don't look too hard for the joins!

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Moon and Stars

I spent much of Sunday going through all the Christmas cards I've made this year as my husband and Mum both want cards to send to family and friends.  I must admit quite a few made it to the recycling pile - I just wasn't happy with them for all sorts of reasons. It's funny how you can like something you've made and then completely go off it. Well, I hope I won't go off this card (with only 4 weeks to go I doubt I'll have time!)
I was inspired by two challenges.  The first is Cupcake Inspirations where they have these fabulous cupcakes

Don't they look amazing?? Then, the challenge at Make My Mondayis for contemporary Christmas cards-just the sort I'm really getting into.
Here is my card

 As you can see I've taken the moon and stars theme from the cake, using gold glitter card, and combined it with some Gorgeous Grunge stamping (my fave set at the moment) A die cut 'Christmas' from Memory Box and some silver and midnight cs complete the project.
Thanks for looking!

Steampunk and Penguin

Yes, I admit it, until today I was a Steampunk virgin - I'd never attempted this style of card-making before, and I had not really thought about giving it a go.  That was until I read Suzi's midweek motivation at Make My Monday challenge blog.  She made a gorgeous card, but it was the definitions of the style that really helped to inspire me to create my first Steampunk card....

...and I had so much fun!  The words 'whimsey' and 'romance' were really helpful' There's a lot of sponging and I used two Distress ink colours, Scattered Straw and China Blue, and a combination of stamp images, including a freebie from a magazine (the globe, clockfaces and cogs), Gorgeous Grunge, Zoo Review, and a Papermanai Urban Stamps set with images of London (forget the name, sorry).
The butterfly die cut is also a freebie, and the Victoriana tag and washi tape I bought in Ikea!. Here's a closer view

Can you see the gems on the penguin's crown?. I love the layers in this card, I think next time I should try to experiment with more colours and I am definitely going to look out for more stamps in the Steampunk style, although perhaps the secret is in combining different images in a quirky way.

Best thing is I had a ball making this!

Halloween Tag

Well, I've really got into Halloween this year - it must be all the challenges and amazing inspirational projects from fellow crafters on the blogs. This time I've made a tag (yes, still avoiding the cards!) and it's for this week's challenge at Make My Monday. It's not really scary at all...take a look

I made the little ghosties using the Owl Punch and some googly eyes. I printed the background by adding inks to my craft sheet, spritzing and then dragging the tag through. Once dry I could add the black ink, sponged around the edges, and the other embellishments. Finally, I replaced the string with black and white ribbons, it looks a bit spidery, doesn't it? I thought it would be fun added to a goodie bag.

Tumbling Blossoms

A second post from me on a Saturday! Only because, as I hinted before, I was working on an idea for the CAS Flowers challenge at Make My Monday. I made my first card and had stamped and cut out a whole load of blooms from Stipples Blossoms, only to end up just using three.  Well, I couldn't throw all those others away could I?  So, I made this card with the 'rejects'

It reminds me a bit of an Art Deco style, don't know why. I embossed some white card with a Swiss Dots folder, two-step stamped some leaves in Pool Party (again - loving this shade of green at the moment) and popped up the blooms on dimensionals.  The sentiment is stamped in Basic Grey and is from the set Best Dad Ever (don't think this card will be heading my Dad's way!). I think it's more CAS than my first entry and I like the way the flowers are tumbling off the front. Hope any Dads out there have a great Fathers' Day tomorrow!

Inspired by Vicky

There's a blog which I visit almost every day because the lady there, Vicky, is so amazingly creative- she always inspires me with her fantastic stamping and brilliant ideas- if you haven't already, check out her blog  here.  Anyway, when I was over there yesterday I saw a beautiful card made for the challenge at The Paper Players and I so loved the colours that I thought I'd have a go too.

 Aren't they gorgeous! Combined with the challenge for CAS flowers at Make My Monday this is what happened

I love the idea of Pool Party to make leaves and Calypso Coral is a favourite of mine.  This two-step stamping set, Stippled Blossoms allows you to use a stamped off lighter shade of your colour for the base, adding the details in the full colour.  I've die cut two nesting ovals in the other two colours and added a button which is has So Saffron check and I dyed a piece of bakers' twine with my Early Expresso ink (very messy!).The sentiment is stamped in the same ink and comes from a set called Whacky Wishes. There are a few gems in the centres of the flowers.
I've added another flower stamped inside the card.  I am so taken with the combination of Calypso Coral and Pool Party that I think I might be back later with a slightly more CAS card for the Make My Monday challenge, depending on how much time I get later.

Make a Meadow

There seems to be a lot of green challenges around - may be everyone in the Northern hemisphere is feeling that spring is really here. At Make My Monday this week the green is paired with yellow. I have also used white as my neutral, not much of it so I hope it's OK

 Today, whilst checking on my two horses, Rio and Buttons, I had the time to sit with them in the field and, in the (fairly) warm afternoon sun I noticed the flowers in the meadow. I started to plan this card - a green field filled with white daisies and yellow buttercups, so when I came home I started straight away.

My grass is sponged in Lucky Limeade, and the daisies were made with a white gel pen, whilst the buttercups are tiny dots of yellow paint.

My big daisy flower ( yes, I know it's not white, but through trial and error I liked this combination best) is from SU Decorate a Daisy stamp set.  My friend showed me a trick to stamp two in different colours and then cut out and layer them up.  I just love the sentiment from this set, which I've used in the centre of the flower. I've added a little butterfly, just cruising through the meadow.

  Not sure what Rio and Buttons would make of this interpretation of their field - I've got a feeling that they just like to munch on the daisies!

Fancy Folds

Fancy Folds - that's the challenge at Make My Monday this week. I love cards that are made this way, paper engineering, I call it, and there are so many different types of fold. At the monthly craft club I go to we are always making cards with crafty folds, thanks to our very talented leader, and this is one that I made a couple of weeks ago. It's called a folded frame card and you can find the tutorial here.

It's a great way to use double sided DPs as you get to see both sides.  The stamps I used are from a set called Madison Avenue, and I fussy cut them out before adding a few colour coordinating gems. This card is so dimensional and yet still folds flat to go through the post.  The sentiment is from Friendly Phrases and was perfect for the recipient of this card - My Mum! It was her birthday last Friday and we got to celebrate on Saturday, with a lovely lunch in the garden of a local pub - the sun was shining, it was a perfect spring day. Hope to have a  little more time to craft tomorrow too.

Let's Get Inky With It

So I did it! I rose to the challenge at Make My Monday and created my own background. I used three colours of distress inks, straw, denim and sage and a piece of tin foil.  I inked the foil, spritzed the white cs with water and rubbed it in! The foil gave some interesting texture to the inking and was the next best thing to a craft mat I reckon...

After leaving all that to dry, I stamped the large butterfly image in Versamark before dusting with purple mica powder. I used a peel off glitter frame to highlight the image, added some gems and a couple of layers. This is a kind of clean and simple inky background card, I'm useless at vintage, which is, I guess, what this background really cries out for, but I have to say I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. I'm not saying that I will be doing this again in a hurry, but it was fun.

Rose, Turquoise and Sand

Hello! I have two cards for you today and that's because they were both inspired by the colour challenge at Addicted To Stamps and More

combined with the CAS one layer challenge at Make My Monday. Why two? Well, I made the first one and added a small piece of turquoise twine , then I actually read the post at MMM and found that they want not only no layers but no embellishments either! I tried remaking the first card without the twine but then another quite different card popped out!
Here they are

I really like this colour combo.  For the first card I used Perfectly Preserved stamp set and for the second a set called Charming, both from Stampin' Up. The sentiment on the second card is from Friendly Phrases, a really useful sentiment set, the sentiments being just a little bit different.

Monochrome Madison Avenue

A new stamp and a new colour ( well, not new, in my stash, but I don't think I've used it before) for the Monochrome clean and simple challenge at Make My Monday.  This card was made with Madison Avenue and Calypso Coral with a little bit of help from some nestabilties dies. I wanted a lovely warm,spring colour and I think this hits the spot.

I used a sentiment from Friendly Phrases, inking  up the part I wanted with my marker, and I also used the same  marker to colour the three little heart gems.
We are all spending the day at home as it is snowing here (it's supposed to be spring!) so you may be seeing a card or two more from me this weekend.  Happy crafting!

Inspired By Nature Walk

Lucky me! I've been crafting all morning! I do love those days when there's really nothing else that has to be done so you can craft to your heart's content.  I made two cards but I'm only going to show you one today.  It's for the Inspired by Nature challenge at Make My Monday.

I used Nature Walk and stamped the bird, before masking and stamping the eggs.  I used Promarkers to colour some of the eggs in very pale shades.  The technique I've used is called faux tile, I think.  You cut up your image into tiles and sponge the edges and reassemble the image on another piece of cs.  I've used two complimentary DSPs and added a small blue bow.  I guess it could be for Easter, a birthday or Mother's Day so I have left the sentiment off. I will have a very similar card for you and some exciting news later!

Christmas Zoo Review

This card came about as I played with my new Zoo Review stamp set for something I need  next month and it was so nice that I have decided to enter it into a couple of challenges, Make My Monday, where they are asking for ribbon AND buttons and  Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge, for which you need to have made a Christmas card with snow.

I stamped the bear onto a Top Note die, masked it and then added dots of versamark, which I heat embossed with clear powder.  I then brushed the ink over the top and the resist technique makes it look like snow. I added a bow and some matching buttons, all 'icy' blue colours.  The sentiment at the bottom is new too, from SU -Friendly Phrases, but the little Christmas greeting is a freebie (I found it in my stamp drawer, no idea where it came from, but I think I might be using it a lot from now on).  Finally, I sponged the edges. Do you think the polar bear looks like he's lost in a snowstorm? Just remembered I can enter this  card into Crafty Hazelnuts Extra Christmas Challenge for February - if you've made a Christmas card and posted it this month why not link up - lots of prizes for the lucky winners!

Two Birdy Cards

Hello.  I have two cards to share with you today.
The first one I am entering in a few challenges but it started out being inspired by this sketch from Make My Monday

 This is such a CAS sketch -I loved it instantly and I think I'll be using it again! This is what I did with it

I was intrigued by the theme from this week's challenge at Less Is More, which is Friends, not usually a subject for my cards but I thought of a friend that I really out to make contact with. I used the three little bird images from an SU set called Flock Together., even the name of this set puts me in mind of friendship.I had to make a sentiment as I didn't have one suitable and I used a a mask to get the two little red birds together, but other than that it was quite straight forward.. I am also entering my card into the challenge at Addicted To Stamps and More #5 for a CAS card.
As you will notice from the title of this post there are two bird cards.  Here's the second one - it's for The Merry Monday Challenge, where they want Christmas cards with birds.  If you're expecting a robin take another look!

This time I used another SU set, Nature Walk,and a little freebie hollysprig stamp. So, I can also enter this card in the Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge, where you need to use something recycled or free.  I triple time stamped this card and it's actually a case from my friend Jacqueline's Craft Club blog, you can look at her card here.

I've even decorated the inside this time.
Wow, that was a marathon post! Hope you like my cards.
February Update - just found out my 3 little birds card was chosen for top 3 at the Make My Monday , Challenge - which makes this Monday a little bit special!

A Snowy Scene

Today I have a card for you that was the result of an impulse purchase from the bargain bucket in the January sales. The stamp, from Papermania Urban Stamps, designed by Michael Powell, is not my usual style, but I've seen lots of lovely cards made using his stamps.

The stamp does produce a very crisp image, perfect for colouring with markers, as I did. I then used my circle die cuts to cut out the image and a mat from gorgeous and sparkly black cs. I used some paper with snowflakes as a background , I think it's also from Papermania a range called 'Deck The Halls' from a couple of years back. The banner is  cut out from matching paper, layered onto the same cs and I have punched out one of the black circles, popped it up on dimensionals and added some glossy accents to make it stand out. I love how the night sky complements the cs and the colors from the papers are picked up in the houses but most of all I love the image.
I used this sketch from The Merry Monday Challenge

and as I have used circle dies and punches I am entering my card in the challenge over at Make My Monday. No sentiment on the front, I have stamped the inside with a Christmas greeting. I am going to pop it into crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge  too as there are some fab prizes up for grabs!
Just got home from the cinema, I took my Mum to see Les Miserables - needless to say we are both emotionally drained!

Fish

It's really nice to see Make My Monday challenge blog back again after their break for the Christmas holidays.  Their first challenge for 2013 asks for  work featuring dry embossing and I was stuck thinking what embossing folder to use.  Then I had a bit of a brainwave and decided to make my own! I used the die cut I wanted to feature and cut it out of cereal box card several times.  I stuck all of these down onto another piece of card from the cereal box, layering up one or two to get different thicknesses,  and made my own folder! In case you don't believe me, here it is!

homemade embossing folder

 This little chap is a Cuttlebug die, simply called Fish. I then used it in the normal way through my BigShot machine. I matted and layered the embossed panel onto two colours of CS and then cut out more fish in the same colours, sticking them over the embossed ones. It's difficult to make fish look cute but I think the addition of the little one helps.The ABC Challenge is also featuring E for Embossing so I have popped it in the challenge there too

The other fish have little pale green pearl eyes and I thought it was an appropriate sentiment (it's from Pennant Parade)! I couldn't wait to take the photo in day light so the embossing is kind of hard to see. It is, I am sure you will agree, very CAS, possibly LIM so I am going to enter it in the  challenge at 'abc' challenge for a clean and simple card.