Happy Birthday High Hopes!

It's High Hopes challenge blog's birthday and this week's challenge #46 is to make a birthday card of course! Coloured mine with copic markers and popped the flames up on dimensionals.
Sketch from Unscripted Sketches #25

The Secret Crafter Saturday challenge #51 is Animal Antics (well a dragon is an animal isn't it!)

ETA: Thanks Lorraine ... into the Simon Says 'Stitching' challenge it goes!

Simon Says ...It's a stitch up!

Another really simple wedding card. I won this Riley stamp a while back and I think this is only his second inking! Coloured with watercolour pencils and popped up on dimensionals.

Simon Says challenge this week is to use stitching on your card.

And if you play along with the Simon Says challenge, you are then eligible to enter Lorraine's candy... which this week is your choice of Magnolia stamp - how fabulous is that! Once you've uploaded your Simon Says challenge card pop over to Lorraine at Lorraine's Loft and link your card there too!

The layout is an oldie from the Clean & Simple Fall-to-layouts

FTL#61 Simple Wedding Card

ETA: ~I came 2nd at PolkaDoodle with this card!

I've been in wedding mode and made this one nice and simple. Image is a digi download from Bee Crafty - coloured with copic markers and stickles added for a bit of glitz. The 'kiss hug' background is an Ellison embossing folder. Dewdrops and silver peel off greeting and lines added to finish.

Sketch from Clean and Simple Fall-to-layout #61

CRAFT Challenge #18 is No backing paper

And Polka Doodles #19 is to colour a digital image

SSSC37 Blue Christmas

I bought some of the new Daisy & Dandelion Christmas papers and they're lovely - there's always a few sheets in a pack that you think 'yeuch', but I think I'll be using all of them! Then I went delving into Greg's watercolours and found one that matched this blue perfectly! (Have just remembered that I meant to put some glitter in his hat, so I'll have to do that later.)


Sketch from Sweet Sunday #37

Daring Cardmakers challenge this week is Tartan it up - so my new BP was just perfect for it!

Whipper snapper stamp.

What I did today ...!

I've always fancied throwing myself off a tall building...! And today I did it (well from a crane anyway!) 150ft high and down the zip wire at 40 miles/hr! It was brilliant! And I raised a few quid for Action for Children at the same time. Very dodgy camera work courtesy of Greg (...at least he missed the scream at the start of the slide!)

Ryan's 6th Birthday

ETA: I give up - I can't get the colours of this card to photograph anywhere near their real life colour!

Oh dear, I didn't realise this was such a rubbish photo till I uploaded it. I'll try and remember to take a better pic tomorrow before the light goes, its getting dark so early now!

Made this card for my nephew with yet another of the High Hopes stamps that came with my win. The fence is part of a Messy Rabbit set and the dog is from Cornish Heritage Farm (I think!) Sponged the sky - it is a much darker blue IRL and watercoloured the images and the grass. The boy and dog are popped up on dimensionals. Finished off with silver peel off greeting and chipboard number and stars.

Die Cut Dreams challenge #15 is to make a male themed card

Fancy a slice of melon?

This stamp is one of the extra surprises that came with my High Hopes candy - I coloured her with copic markers and slightly decoupaged the slice of melon.

Sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You #35

Creatlicious Challenge #2 is a colour challenge - pink or plum,with burgundy and green. Also add some sort of lace,ribbon or fibre etc. I almost forgot about the burgundy, and then remembered I had burgundy dew drops!

The Corrosive Challenge #30 is to make a birthday card for a child

And The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge is One for the Girls

Strange Sympathy!

I was asked to make a sympathy card by a colleague in work and to put the recipients name on it ... now is it just me, or is that a bit odd? I've never been asked to do it before!

Colour theme from Our Creative Corner

Stamp with Us has a recipe challenge this week - no patterned paper, 2 ribbons and 2 stamps. I versamarked a swirl in each corner, but its hard to see in the photo. Flower coloured with copic markers and pink dew drop added.

My favourite stamp

High Hopes challenge this week is to use your favourite High Hopes stamp - well I think this is the most loved and most used stamp out of my entire stash!

I coloured 'Stretch' with my copic markers and popped up on dimensionals. Stapled the little offcuts from my ribbon to the main image and added silver peel off letters.

Sketch from Technostamper's Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge #87

Huffy Cat !

This is another of my new Eat Cake Graphics stamps - isn't it just hilarious! Coloured the cat with copic markers and also decoupaged it. Flower coloured with matching copic marker.

Sketch from Clean & Simple Fall-to-layout 60


The Treehouse Thursday challenge 15 is Just around the corner

Creative Inspirations challenge #27 is Animals

Batty Halloween

Colour Create challenge #27 is Neon Green and Black, and that's just perfect Halloween colours! I don't have any Neon papers, so this is as close as I could get.

My gorgeous mad bats and the little pumpkin dude were part of my new goodies from Eat Cake Graphics. Coloured with copic markers and the bats eyes coloured with a white glaze gel pen. I also coloured a few dew drops with a black marker to match. Sentiment from Stampin Up.

Sketch from Peachy Keen #11

Simon Says Recipe

Simon Says challenge this week is a recipe: Use 3 embellishments, 2 papers, and 1 image on your creation!!!

I won one of the High Hopes challenges a while back and this was one of the stamps that arrived - coloured with watercolour pencils and then popped the leafy bit up on dimensionals. Added some red glitter to his antennae and to his socks.


Sketch was from last week's Unscripted Sketches #23

Mmmmm...cake!

I was blog-hopping recently and came across a card made with Eat Cake Graphics stamps, and, ..... well, you know the rest! So this is one of my new acquisitions! Oops!

This is an emergency card - I'd forgotten about my boss' birthday and that would never do!!! She likes cake almost as much as I do, so this little stamp is just perfect!

Sketch from the Sweetest Thing Sweet Sunday Sketch #35

Papertake Weekly challenge this week is faking it - I used faux stitching

Colour combo from Splitcoaststampers Colour Challenge CC236:

Pretty in Pink

Soft Suede (close to cocoa)

Whisper White

I don't have any of the soft pink or suede colours, so I just went with the colour inspiration and used rich pink papers and chocolate BP!

Elephants Never Forget (...not like us!)

I bought a couple of these little notebooks from Tesco's a few weeks ago, think they were 2 for £1. There had been a thick bit of elastic attached to the back panel to hold the pen and when I took the pen out it fell off ... but hey, what do you want for 50p!

Elephant from High Hopes stamps and papers courtesy of my Aunty Minnie! Paper pieced Nellie's bow to match the DP and added some glitzy nail polish and googly eyes. Pen covered in matching DP.

High Hopes challenge #44 this week is wrap it up

Polka Doodles challenge #17 is anything but a card

CPS 133 Birthday Fishies

I saw the layout on Card Positioning Systems #133 and it reminded me of these wiggly peel off lines I had in my stash. Fishies from Stampin Up Fishy Friends - all coloured with copic markers, loads of sitckles added for bling and then all popped up on dimensionals.

Also for Kaboodle Doodle #13 - use a charm. I got this lovely turtle from Bunny Zoe's Crafts

Daring Cardmakers challenge this week is Down by the Sea

Newcastle United Birthday

I made this card for a friend in work who's from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and who loves his football team! The little red monster looks a deeper red IRL, but it was too sunny (!!!) to get a decent pic.


I flipped the Sketch from Clean & Simple Fall-to-layout #59

Colour combo from Pile it On #15 - white, black + one other (I'm choosing to ignore my green tongue!)

Frosty the Snowgirl!

Thank goodness for Winter Wonderland as its helping keep me on track with my Chrissy cards!

Just kept this one quite simple and added loads of diamond ice stickles for bling. Hand stitched border. Sentiment is popped up on dimensionals but doesn't really show in pic.

Winter Wonderland challenge #15 Frosty the Snowman (+ sketch)

One Stop Craft Challenge #46 is another winter theme - Let it Snow

Christmas Reindeer

This image is almost too big for the sketch, but thought I'd try it anyway! Coloured with copic markers and loads of stickles added for some bling - added to his hat, lights, nose and holly. I've still got loads of the silver snowflakes left from last year, so I'm afraid you'll be seeing them for a while yet!

Sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You #34

Banana Split Sunday challenge is Stripes and Dots

Paper Blooms challenge is Bling

Happy Bird-day

I won Chris' Fabulous Friday Freebie over at Catt's Scratching Post a few weeks ago, so when my lovely birdie set arrived I couldn't wait to get a bit of ink on it! All you have to do to enter her freebie giveaways is to take part in the Simon Says challenges - go visit her site for directions.

Sketch from Monday Lunchtime Challenge #86

The Cuttlebug Spot #47 is One for the Birds

And Crafty Creations #32 is embossing

High Hopes challenges are back!

High Hopes challenge blog has had a break for summer but they're back this week with a new one #43 - Use Fall Colours. Its a beautiful bright sunny Autumnal morning here - blue sky, leaves just starting to change colour, and my hanging baskets still in full bloom - all colours reflected in my card!

Sketch from Papertake Weekly #23

Scrappy Frogs challenge is 3-d - I popped my elephant's head up on dimensionals.

The Treehouse Thursday challenge #14 is also to make a fall-themed card

One for the boys?

Allsorts Challenge #17 is One for the Boys - I find cards for boys really hard to make, as I'm always drawn to girlie stamps and pretty papers. Anyway, I found this paper in my stash and thought it looked a bit more boyish.

Sketch from Sunday Sketch & Stamp #10


Also for Pile It On #14 - Birthday

Hazel's card

I made this bright happy card for a friend of my Mum. Image from Penny Black and added loads of turquoise stickles for some bling.
Sketch from Friday Sketchers #68

Lucky Cow!

Its such a horrible dark drizzly morning here, so this photo had no chance of coming out any brighter!

Layout from Sweet Sunday #34 and colour theme from a blog I've only just discovered - SPCC (Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Combos) #13.

Little cow from Penny Black - coloured with watercolour pencils and sentiment from http://www.onefourzero.co.uk/. Coloured flower with copic marker to match the olive BG.

Another Dustin Pike freebie...

This cheeky monkey is another freebie download from Dustin Pike - I coloured his teeth with a white gel pen, so they're really dazzling in real life!

The leaves are left overs from a project I did earlier in the week - coloured them in and then decided not to use them, but I think they look grand on this one.

Sketch from Sketch Girl #4

Clean & Simple Sympathy

I made this for the Clean & Simple Fall-to Layout challenge #58.

Stamps from Stampin Up 'Nice & Narrow'.

Hand stitched border - I usually use a double thread, but this is just a single length and I think it looks a bit more 'delicate'. Popped flowers up on dimensionals and added gold gems.

My floral inspiration came from the Etsy inspired blog hop - to choose any shop on Etsy.com and use something from that shop as inspiration for a card! I chose these blue flowers ; here

Dyno Birthday

Used the sketch over at Splitcoaststampers for this one and a freebie download from Dustin Pike. Sponged 'clouds' for sky and popped kite up on dimensionals. Dyno coloured with copic markers.

Colour theme from Three Clovers Thursday challenge #29 - to use primary colours

Accordion File

I found the link to this really cool accordion file on the Magnolia-licious yahoo group - its just perfect for storing pre-stamped images or for swaps. My top tip though is to check you've stuck the inside envelopes in with the opening at the top - don' ask how I discovered that one, but I nearly ruined an entire mornings work! LOL!

Took a pic of the back to let you see my new Handmade By stamp that I got recently from Bunny Zoe's shop.

It also fits this week's CRAFT Challenge #15- anything but a card.

My Mummy!

Kaboodle Doodle's challenge # 12 is to use black, purple and white, and to me this just says Halloween! I love this little mummy - got him a while back in a swap, so I've no idea who made it. The Boo and Bats are from a pack of foam toppers. Added black stickles to corners and to bats as eyes.

Sketch from Monday Lunchtime sketch challenge #85

Hang in there

Changito monkey stamp & greeting. Leaves from High Hopes.

Sketch from Midnight Madness #17

Party Time!

It's the Cuttlebug Challenge Blogspot's first birthday and their challenge this week is party invitations.

I made this one as a possible birthday invite for my nephew who will be 6 this year. The text is a chocolate brown, as is the border, so its not too girly!

Bear from Stampin Up and popped up on dimensionals. Used my cuttlebug to cut the letters.

Hey Mr Postman!

Oh I wish the Postie would call at my door with something nice ! I've been waiting for AGES for some challenge winner goodies and some blog candy that I won to arrive, and Mr Postie just keeps delivering rubbish and bills! The delivery from America is really pants!

I got this little Penny Black stamp a while back - coloured with watercolour pencils and made my own little extra envelopes in co-ordinating paper.

Sketch from Sketch and Stash Challenge #18. My 'unloved' stash is my ticket corner punch - I'd hankered after one for ages and when I eventually won one on ebay I hardly ever use it! I must have more money than sense eh?

My favourite colours!

Challenge #11 over at Copic Creations is Your favourite copic colour combinations - mine are blue, pink and green











Sketch from Unscripted Sketches #21

And challenge 67 at A Spoon Full of Sugar is Distressing - I distressed the edges of my DP with a pair of scissors.