Loads'a'challenges!

Challenge 1: Simon Says 'Recycle' - No idea where my buttons came from, but the blue one in the bottom corner is definately a spare off a shirt from M&S !

Challenge 2: Stamp with Us: Recipe challenge - 2 papers, 1 ribbon, 4 brads. Not sure how 'strict' Stamp With Us are with their challenges, but I used buttons instead of brads (and am conveniently forgetting to count the tiny button on the flower!)

Challenge 3: sketch from The Sweet Stop #1 (I'm not sure if this challenge is only for Sweet 'n Sassy stamps or if its open to all!)

Challenge 4: A Spoon Full of Sugar #49 - colour challenge using blue and green

Challenge 5: One Stop Craft Challenge #26 - 'something new' ... I bought these gardening charms over a year ago and have NEVER used them!; this also takes in

Challenge 6: Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #4 'Charmed I'm sure'



PHEW!
Sorry it's such a dark photo, but its a damp old evening here and the light had gone by the time I took the pic (and of course my glue hasn't dried yet either!)



Supplies: Penny Black Stamp; Watercolour pencils; rectangular nestabilities; dimensionals; buttons; paper from Rubber Soul 'Hoop-La'; pale blue ribbon

Card Patterns #12

My Mum bought me these gorgeous butterflies and pretty ribbon recently - I'll have to send her shopping more often! (Ha Ha!!)

Used the sketch layout from Card Patterns and the embossing folder was a freebie from a blog hop.
Supplies: circular nestabilities; cuttlebug embossing folder; gold peel off greeting; clear dew drops; slate blue and pale pink cardstock; E-Z Stick on Embellishments 'Garden Friends'

High Hopes Blog Challenge #28

The challenge over at the High Hopes blog this week is to "think outside the card"! So basically get creative but NO cards! So I chose to make a page marker - the template for this comes from a tutorial on a posting at Splitcoaststampers. (Here is the link!)

I added Diamond Ice stickles to the ribbon and round the scalloped edge and black stickles to Ellie's eyes.

Supplies: Laura Ashley paper (a pressie from my Aunt ... Thanks Minnie!); High Hopes stamp; stickles; circular nestabilities; watercolour pencils; white gel pen

My new Penny Black stamp

This weeks Penny Black Saturday Challenge #46 is Anything Goes! I used my new stamp that came this morning from Simon Says Stamp, along with a couple other stamps which I won a few challenges back.

Coloured the little image with Copics, but I haven't quite got the hang of them yet ... more practice required me thinks!

I decided to make a little gift holder for my next image swap. The papers were a freebie download from http://funkyfairyinspirations.blogspot.com/ I also decorated the inside of the holder using these freebies.

The sketch was kept reasonably simple - from Stamps and Smiles Sketch Challenge #12

Card for a new Granny!

I was asked by a friend to make a card for a new Grandma! At the time of taking this photo I couldn't remember either the name of the Granny or the name of the baby ... but I did add both later with silver peel off letters!




Not sure if I've played this sketch right, but this is the bonus sketch from 2 Sketches for You (...should I have made the other sketch first?)

Supplies: Patterned paper from Papermania 'Sweet Nothings'; stamp Ukkies Baby from Kars; circular nestabilities; little pink themed silvery hearts at top are stickers from my stash; little pink gem on bow; peel off greeting

Thankful Thursday Challenge

My lovely Mum bought me some stash at a craft show in Belfast, and this little sheep was one of my goodies .... Thank Ewe Mum!

The sketch for this card came from Thankful Thursday. I embossed the green background and used my corner rounder punch to make the scalloped edge. The greeting is peel off silver lettering.

Supplies: stamp from The Rubber Stamp Co in Belfast; cuttlebug embossing folder; flower eyelets; chocholate ribbon; lime green, bright pink and chocolate brown cardstock; watercolour pencils; dimensionals (for main image)

Pink Sympathy

The sketch from this week's Card Positioning Systems #112 was such a hard one! I needed some sympathy cards for my stash, so came up with this. Of course, the last step in my card was to add the sentiment and I managed to stamp it wonky!

Paper pieced the large and two of the smaller flowers and popped up on dimensionals.

Hand stitched border in white embroidery thread.

The colour theme came from Colour Create #2 - Black, White and Pink

Supplies: Stampin Up stamps; Papermania 'Sweet nothings' paper; pink dew drops; sentiment from http://www.onefourzero.co.uk/

Space Travel

This is a really old stamp set that I'd almost forgotten I had, but when I saw the sketch it made me think of the moon!

Used loads of embossing on this - stars, mini dots and big circles!

Popped out the spacecraft on dimensionals and added stickles for a bit of bling

The square brads are from the blog candy I won recently from Hanna Stamps.

Ideas: Sketch from Sketch Saturday #47 and the colour theme from Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #3 - black, white + 1

Supplies: Stamp from http://www.onefourzero.co.uk/ , Ellison embossing folders; stickles; pewter square brads; silver peel off greeting and stars; watercolour pencils

Where'd those butterflies go?

For this weeks Penny Black Saturday Challenge #45.

I flipped the sketch slightly as I thought it was a shame to cover up my lovely paper! And I've just noticed from my photo that my main image is slightly wonky (just for a change!).

Added pink stickles to the butterflies. Used a chalked up dauber to give a hint of blue to the sky.

Supplies: Penny Black stamp; dovecraft paper; pale blue, deep pink and lime green card stock; watercolour pencils; pink and blue dew drops

Here chickie, chickie, chickie...!

3 challenges in 1:


Colour theme from Stamp with Fun's challenge #2: Brown & Pink
Layout from Weekend Sketch Challenge #77
One Stop Craft Challenge #25 is to use decorative cuts - I used my rectangular nestabilities as I don't have many die cuts.



Added pink stickles to the spots on the chicks and pink dew drops to the centre of my flower - I used loads of glue so that when (or should I say 'if'!) the glue dries the centre of the flower will have a sheen.


Supplies: Whipper snapper stamp; Anita's greeting stamp (I think); watercolour pencils; pink stickles; floradoodle flower; pink dew drops; cuttlebug embossing folder

Grrrreat!

I love using this fun set - used my versamark pad to stamp the star on the blue bg, skeeter spray on the green and the mosquito on the pink. The gold metal stars were 'table confetti' from my local supermarket a couple of years ago. (I only meant to add 2 stars and ended up with 6!)

The sktch is from Friday Sketchers.

I thought it would also fit the 3 Clovers Designs challenge, but I misread it! I *thought* it said to use your favourite technique, but what it actually said was to use a new technique! Duh!

Supplies: Stampin Up 'Under the Stars' stamps; chocolate, bright blue, lime green and bright pink paper; white embroidery thread; white gel pen; google eyes; circular nestabilities; watercolour pencils

A first birthday card

Still on the baby theme! This was made for a friend of my Mum who loves giraffes!



I've been off work over Easter so I've had a gret time playing in all the challenges. This sketch is from 2 Sketches 4 You. Coloured with watercolour pencils and added google eyes to the giraffe.



Supplies: Ukkies Baby set from Kars; cuttlebug folder; rectangular nestabilities; buttons; silver peel off greeting and letters; google eyes

Simple Baby Card

Just a really simple baby card. Do you like my new stamp - part of a set called Ukkies Baby from Kars. Coloured her with watercolour pencils and added accents with a white gel pen.

Sketch from Stamps and Smiles Challenge #11.


Colour scheme from Papertake Weekly challenge: PASTELS



Supplies: pink, pale yellow and pale blue paper; watercolour pencils; cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder; Ellison X and O embossing folder; circular nestabilities; silver heart brads

Gorjuss Girl!

I've been eyeing up these Gorjuss Girls for ages and finally caved in and bought one! I've mounted her on dimensionals but it doesn't really show in the photo. The sketch is from Stamps and Smiles sketch challenge #10 and the colour theme from The Pink Elephant - pink, green and yellow.

Supplies: 'A little birdie told me' Gorjuss Girl from Sugar Nellie; paper Dovecraft; cuttlebug embossing folder; gold peeloff greeting; primas; pink and yellow flower gems; flower eyelets; green stickles; dimensionals

Mojo Monday #82

I won one of the Hanna stamps blog hops recently and got this fab stamp in the post today ... along with a cuttlebug folder and some lovely brads!

Coloured with watercolour pencils and pink stickles added to cake.

The sketch for this card came from Mojo Monday and also incorporates The Spoonful of Sugar challenge to use PUNCHES - I used my Stampin Up corner rounder punch to make the scalloped edge.
Supplies: Riley stamp; cuttlebug folder; stickles; gold peel off greeting; white gel pen; purple ribbon; Dovecraft patterned paper; corner rounder punch

Weekend Sketch Challenge #76

I promised myself last year that I would make a couple of Christmas cards every week to avoid the last minute rush ... Bwahaha! This is the first one I've made so I'm only 3 1/2 months late at starting!

The sketch for this card came from Weekend Sketch Challenge - hosted this week by Laurie over at Just Give Me Stamps

The little snowflake is a button I bought in the January sales and I also added loads of gems, stickles (on the bear's nose and on his hat) and snow writer so there's loads of sparkle on this card.

My lovely Easter Card

From my favourite sister-in-law, Andrea!

Card Patterns #10

I received this image from a friend - not sure, but I think she might be a Tilda. Coloured her with watercolour pencils, added some stickles to highlight the lacy bits and popped her up on dimensionals.

Sketch from Card Patterns - just turned it on its side.

I don't know whether to add a sentiment or not - what do you think ... is she a birthday card, or 'with love' ...?

Supplies: watercolour pencils; brown/yellow primas; pink gmes; Basic Grey 'Sugared' paper; stickles; round nestabilities; brown marker and white gel pens (for borders)

Sketch Saturday #46

When I first looked at this sketch I couldn't think what to do with it ... so this is what I ended up with! The papers are from one of the first stacks I bought. Used the yellow to paper piece the zebra (who says zebras can't be yellow!!) and added a googley eye. Hand stitched border.

Supplies: Stampin Up 'Zoofari'; Papermania paper; yellow embroidery thread; gold peel off greeting; blue primas; green dew drops

CPS #111

I love this little monkey stamp ... I'm not sure but I think its from CC Designs, and I've no idea where the little cake is from! Coloured with watercolour pencils and added stickles to the candle flame, icing and the party hat, as well as dotted on the sides.

The sketch is from CPS card sketches

Supplies: bright pink paper; patterned paper from Dovecraft; silver stickles; diamond ice stickles; turquoise stickles; white gel pen; pink marker for border doodles; blue button

High Hopes Challenge #26

This week's challenge over at the High Hopes blog is to paper pierce ... I think I got a bit carried away!

I also combined it with the ABC challenge: I is for Inside. I almost never put anything inside a card, so I enjoyed this one!

Supplies: all stamps from High Hopes; not sure about paper, bought it ages ago; stickles (for brew in pot); watercolour pencils; blue and pink dew drops and gems; blue ribbon

Simple Sympathy Card

I love this Stampin up set and always seem to turn to it when I need a sympathy card. The colour combo came from Cute Card Thursday #55 - marshmallows and chocolate. The sketch is from Fiday Sketchers - you'll have to trust me that there is a swirl in the bottom L-H corner - I stamped it with versamark but it doesn't really show up in the photo. I didn't have any brown dew drops, so I coloured a plain one with a dark brown Copic.

Supplies: SU Flowers in Bloom; brown paper; pink paper; white gel pen; brown ribbon; peel off greeting; copic pen; dew drops

Friday Sketchers Challenge #46

Yippee... I've finally finished my Easter Cards! This sketch was courtesy of the Friday Sketchers challenge. Added loads of stickles and gems for some bling.

Supplies: Whipper Snapper stamp; multi coloured gems; Diamond Ice stickles

High Hopes Blog Challenge #25

This week's High Hopes challenge is a sketch - see below. This little seal was part of a monthly special a while back - coloured with watercolour pencils and diamond stickles added to his collar and nose for some bling! Not sure where the fish in the background came from ... might be a Cornish Heritage Farms stamp but I'm not sure. The bp is also embossed for a bit of dimension.

The colour combo was from Colour Create Challenge #10 - Duck Egg blue and Rose. I don't have any duck egg blue paper so this was the closest I could get. (The extra option on the challenge was for some stitching.)


Supplies: High Hopes Seal and greeting; Ellison dots embossing folder; diamond ice stickles; white thread; white ribbon; pink eyelets; watercolour pencils; stazon black ink; versamark ink; rectangular nestabilities; dimensionals (for sentiment)

My one-and-only Sugar Nellie!

I bought this Sugar Nellie quite a while ago and never seem to use it very much! I think its because I find it so hard to colour the face (and I've just noticed I didn't give her any rosy cheeks, so I'll have to fix that tomorrow)

The colour theme came from Simon Says first challenge - use yellow and green, and the lovely layout from Sketch Saturday #45. And it fits the 3 Clovers Designs challenge #7: Eat it!

Supplies: Sugar Nellie stamp; watercolour pencils; stickles; Floradoodle flower; green dew drops; Papermania paper; white gel pen

Get your sunglasses out!

I took the colour theme for this from Cute Card Thursday and wow did it turn out bright! (the challenge is to use citrus colours - hot pink, lime, lemon and orange)


The layout is from Stamp With Us first sketch challenge.


Supplies: Embossing folders - Swiss dots and also Ellison flower folder; yellow, green and white embroidery thread; Floradoodle flower; white ribbon