Apparently I collect Chickens!

Splitcoaststampers Friday Free for All challenge F4A14 is to get inspired by something you collect...non stamping/crafting related...and make a card for it.

Now I thought I couldn't play in this challenge as I don't collect anything (apart from stamps LOL!) until I actually looked round my kitchen and realised I have a penchant for chickens!

My funky chicken clock!

My chicken flower vase in the kitchen window!

A very old ceramic chicken which used to live in Greg's parents house!

There's more, but I'll finish with the chickens at the bottom of my garden (that my Uncle Derek made for me)!

And so to my Chicken themed card (and yes, I do have LOADS of chicken stamps too!) 

This one is also for The Pink Elephant #69 - "Gotta Wear Shades" - Use Bright Fun Colors!!

And The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #85 is buttons and blooms (my Happy Birthday sign is actually a button

Supplies

Stamp: Whipper Snapper

Paper: Dovecraft

Accessories: pink flower and button from stash; pink gems; copic markers; Glossy Accents on balloon, beak and feet

How come they're not so cute in real life!

D'ya like my new stamp?  I won it a week or two ago in Martine's weekly candy at the Craft Table - pop across and enter if you haven't already - this week's gorgeous goddies include some prima flowers and stickles
Sorry about the rubbish pic of my card - its been a crappy dark drizzly day today, hopin its going to improve for Bank Holiday Monday, but hey, a day off work is a day off work!
And the highlight of the evening is the Eurovision Song Contest ... its a bit like car crash TV - the songs all make you cringe but its compulsive viewing!  Though I think the UK were beat before they started calling their song "That Sounds Good to Me"!  Hmmmm... from what I've heard I don't think so!

Sketch from Sunday Sketch and Stamp #28

Stamp and Create challenge 1 is to use ribbon.  And if you like my little mouse you can find it in the shop HERE

A Spoonful of Sugar #105 is Celebrations

Little Red Wagon #30 is Birthday

Supplies
Stamp: Whiff of Joy 'Henry Celebrating Mouse'
Papers:  Daisy and Dandelion
Accessories: ribbon and eyelets from my stash; Glossy accents and pink stickles on icing; Marianne D Flower dies; silver peeloff sentiment; pink gems; copic markers; pink chalk (on bg of main image but didn't really show up in photo)

Heads up on Candy giveaways

In case you haven't entered yet, Lili of the Valley's challenge blog have some fabulous candy where they're giving away a full set of the 12 new LOTV stamps!  (It ends midnight Saturday 29 May so you'd need to be quick!)

And if you're a glitter fan Sally's Creative corner has just the candy for you!
(Ends 30 May)

Cheerleading Cutie

ETA: I was in May's top 5 at Sweet Stampin for this card

Urgh, I've had ONE OF THOSE DAYS in work, so I was glad to get home, switch off work mode and play with my new stamp ... !  Got my sewing machine out again and managed to sew a very wonky line along the punched edge, so I just sewed another wonky line and hey presto, its no longer a mistake, its design dharlink!

Sketch from Sweet Stampin Challenge blog #27

Colour combo from The Treehouse Thursday challenge #50: pink, sky blue, brown, cream

Your Next Stamp challenge #17 is to use a border punch - of course I then proceeded to cover most of my punched edge with my sentiment as I hadn't planned my card properly

Crafty Creations #69 is to use your favourite stamp. Unfortunately I'm totally fickle and my favourite stamp is always my most recent purchase!

Supplies
Stamp: Cheerleader Sugar Nellie from Funky Kits
Paper: Dovecraft 'Funky Village'
Accessories: Pink fluffy fibres from my stash; copic markers; stickles; dew drops; Martha Stewart punch; peel off sentiment; sewing machine

CAS Sympathy card

And finally for today this very simple sympathy card.  And I'm definately away now ... An Audience with Michael Buble is on and I'm missing valuable drooling time!

CAS-tastic challenge CWC004: One Layer card

Corrosive Challenge #65: Clean and Simple

Charisma Cardz Challenge #20: 3D

Supplies: decoupage flowers from a die cut sheet I bought at the Belfast Stitch and Craft show; gold peel off border and gold peel off sentiment; dimensionals; green and pink gems

Cupcake Cutie

I was tidying my stash and found this fab image that Dotty Jo kindly stamped for me ages ago, I've no idea why I've not already used her!  I also found this gorgeous cupcake ribbon that I won in a comp way back last year, no idea why I hadn't used that either!  I had a bit of a go at distressing again (on the pink BP) but I don't really think its my forte!

Colour Combo from Colour Throwdown # 93

A Spoonful of Sugar #104: Cute and Girly

Papertake Weekly: Say it with flowers

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #84: No patterned paper

Sketch from Splitcoaststampers SC281

CRAFT #51: birthday

Good Luck

I'm making no excuses for my cards today being very CAS ... its just too hot to craft (and it's not too often your likely to hear that from Northern Ireland!)

High Hopes challenge #77 is Spring Flowers - I don't have any HH stamps with flowers on them, so used my floral DP instead

Sketch from Get Sketchy #39

Crafty Creations challenge #68 - Encouragement / Celebration

Supplies
Stamps: Ant from High Hopes; sentiment is an oldie from http://www.onefourzero.co.uk/
Paper: Dovecraft 'Retro Floral'
Accessories: Copic markers; turquoise stickles; daisy ribbon from my stash; dew drops; dimensionals; sewing machine; Martha Stewart punch

Birthday Boy

ETA: I won the High Hopes challenge with this card

I'll not confess how long it took me to make this CAS card !  My mojo went walkies ... must be the shock of having a gorgeous sunny hot day!  Even Ruby was too hot to be bothered chasing the birds from the bird bath! Suppose I shouldn't complain as this weekend is probably going to be our 'summer'!

Anyway, this was made for the High Hopes challenge #76 to make a card for a baby or young child. 

Creative Inspirations #61 is also to make a card for a child.

Sketch from Clean&Simple stamping FTL91

Splitcoaststampers Friday Free For All 13 is to use ribbon and buttons



Supplies
Stamp:  little dude from High Hopes; sentiment from CC Designs
Paper: Rubber Soul
Accessories: Martha Stewart fence punch; dimensionals; copic markers; buttons and ribbon from stash

A card for a maths-freak!

Don't you just hate some special request cards!  This one is for a school teacher who just loves her maths (strange girl!!).  I couldn't really think of anything suitable till I remembered I had this little girl and a matching stamp that says "Am I too late for cake?" - so I changed the 'cake' and wrote in Pi instead  ... hopefully she gets the pun!

Sketch from Posh Designs #15

Little red wagon #29 is Put a Window in it

Sweet Stampin Challenge #26: Get Personal

Back later with supplies list

Love is in the Air

It's my Brother and Sister-in-Law's wedding anniversary shortly, so this is my card to them!  I usually manage to get some sort of animals onto the card, and I was totally stumped this year until I remembered this cute giraffe stamp!

Sketch from Simon Says
Stamp:High Hopes 'Stretch'
Accessories: copic markers; ribbon from stash; cuttlebug embossing folder; silver peel off sentiment and heart; pink foam hearts from stash; Martha Stewart punch

And this card was one my Brother asked me to make for Andrea... he said mine were better than any he'd seen in the shop (I'm taking that as praise indeed!)  He asked me to make one with hearts on it, so hearts is what he got!

Sketch from Peachy Keen #28

Cute Card Thursday #112: Someone Special

Charisma Cards #19: Sweet treats ... I used some Love Heart sweeties on my card - the writing on the sweets didn't match my card so I just went over them with a brown copic marker (just hope Andrea doesn't lick her card!)

Stamp: I think its a Whipper Snapper stamp (?)
Supplies: ribbon and papers from some blog candy I won a while ago; copic markers; Love Heart sweeties; silver peel off sentiment; googley eyes

And a challenge which both cards fit:
Totally Papercrafts #16 is Wedding / Anniversary

Watson's Birthday

Critter Sketch challenge #13 is to make a birthday card with a critter on it!  I think 'Watson' is my favourite doggy stamp... doesn't he look like he's definately on the scent of this birthday cake button! 

Sketch from Creative Card Crew #50

Little Red Wagon #28: Brads (I used brads as flower centres)

Quixotic Challenge #25: Let your garden grow - make hand made flowers.  My flowers are punched with the Marianne D Creatible dies, but I can never get anything to emboss right on my Bug.

Stamp: 'Watson' from High Hopes
Papers: Flowery DP from Milton and Co; green from DCWV Dog Stack
Accessories: Birthday cake button from stash; yellow brads; gold peeloff greeting and stars; Marianne D flower dies; nestabilities; Stampin Up ticket corner punch; watercolours; blue chalk

On the high seas...

When I saw the sketch from 2 Sketches for You #52 I immediately thought of the sea (I've missed the deadline for the challenge but here it is anyway!)  Coloured the ship with copic markers and then added Glossy Accents to make it pop a bit.  Not sure where I got the little fishies from - stamped with white ink (I'd love a decent white ink pad if anyone can recommend one?) and added clear gems for their eyes.  Sponged the sky with blue chalk, added a couple of eyelets ... and that's about it really!  Wish I could have gotten a better photo as the colours are slightly different and brigher IRL

My colour combo is from Colour Create #44 : KHAKI, AQUA, BROWN and CREAM though I kinda got the shade of blue wrong .... its not going very well tonight!  The added option for this challenge was Circles, so I embossed the BG with 'bubbles'

Our Creative Corner:  Lets hear it for the Boys

Stamp: ship from onefourzero; not sure where fish is from
Accessories: Ellison embossing folder; Martha Stewart punch; copic markers; Glossy Accents; silver gems; ribbon from stash; stapler

One Layer Card

Oops almost forgot about uploading this one!  I found a new challenge blog for Clean and Simple lovers ... Susan has a One-layer-Wednesday challenge over at Simplicity.  If you haven't had a go at one layer cards, you should .... but it's sooooooo difficult!
Anyway this is my go at this week's challenge OLW4 to make a one-layer card and incorporate ribbon.  I used my bow easy to tie the bow and then I nipped in the ribbon with a wee stitch so that it looks like the bow is actually tied.
Stamps: duck from Woodware 'Peeking Over'; sentiment from onefourzero
Accessories: copic markers; Glossy Accents (on beak and feet); white ribbon

A cutie in Purple

Oh I'm totally in love with my new Lili of the Valley stamps, how cute is she!   The pretty purple ribbon was a pressie from my Aunt Minnie after our shopping spree at the Belfast Stitch and Craft show a few weeks ago.  I'd stamped the sentiment with white ink but it didn't come out very well so I just went over it with a white gel pen

Right I'm away now to put my feet up and watch another week of loonies on the Britain's Got Talent show!

Sketch from Lili of the Valley challenge #53

Sir Stampalot's May challenge is Butterflies and Blossoms

Allsorts Challenge #52 are celebrating their blogaversary (there's a birthday blog hop too) so their theme is of course Birthday!

Stamps: Lili of the Valley image; sentiment from Simon Says
Paper: an oldie from my stash - possibly from the English Heritage Co?
Accessories: dimensionals; copic markers; purple liquid pearls; purple chalk; purple gems; red butterfly gems

Birdie's new Home

ETA: I won the S2G Twisted Thursday with this card (2 free digis)

I've been trying to use up some of my old stash - can't remember who made this pretty dotty paper (...might be Papermania?)  Coloured my little birdie image with watercolours and added a little key charm with a sticky dot.  My stitching went a tad wonky so I just stitched another wonky line to match so that it looks 'intentional' (rather than just letting my sewing machine get away from me!)

Sketch from Sunday Sketch and Stamp #27

Shirleys 2 Girls Twisted Thursday challenge #56 is to make a Home Sweet Home card and add some ribbon.

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #83: Metal

Supplies: Stamps from Shirley's 2 Girls; key charm from my stash; red stickles; Glossy Accents; watercolour paints; dimensionals

It's all Jo's fault..! (again!)

I've been in love with Jo's (aka Dotty Jo) gorgeous Lily of the Valley cards for ages, so I finally caved in and got a couple of their stamps. (There's free shipping at the minute from LOTV, so that was even more of a good excuse!)  I thought this one would be perect for younger boys. 

Hope you've had a good Friday - I had a wee day off work and had a good old lazy day (too many showers about to be outside), so just made a couple of cards and watched some old movies.  Lovely!

Sketch from Sketch Saturday #102 (I flipped it to suit the shape of my image)

ABC challenge is U is for Unused Stash (my little wooden car was one of the first embellishments I ever bought; in fact I also think my 'rediscovered' paper was from a pack I bought about 2 years ago)

The Treehouse Thursday challenge #49 is to have a masculine theme

Supplies: Lily of the Valley stamp coloured with copic markers and the screen of the TV covered in Glossy Accents. Blue gems added to the bottom corner and to the little wooden car's wheels

A Birthday Fish

This week's Etsy Inspired Challenge #87 is to take inspiration from Lindsay Brackeen's etsy shop.

I chose this little fishy print and changed it into a birthday card.  I cut off the W in Wishes and put an F in instead, and then coloured the F with a blue copic marker to highlight it.

I also used the colour combo from Stamp with us

Stamp: Stampin Up - Fishy Friends

Accessories: Copic markers; Martha Stewart punch; dotty embossing folder from Ellison; yellow, blue and red gems; yellow ribbon from stash; small googley eyes

Simon Says ... Birthday

Its Simon Says first blogaversary and the challenge this week is to make a birthday / celebration card.

I combined it with the colour combo from The Play Date Cafe PDCC28 (though I'm a bit off the mark with my pink) and Amanda's sketch at Allsorts #51
And Rosie-D's challenge #70 is Soo Yummy (cupcakes / fruit / etc)

Supplies: purple paper is an oldie from my stash; clear gloss with added glitter for the cupcake icing; cake stamp from Art Gone Wild, sentiment from Simon Says; pale purple gems; Martha Stewart border punch; dimensionals

A Thankful Ant !

I've used this ant quite a bit, but it always seems to be for thank you cards ... I'll have to diversify!

Sketch from this week's High Hopes challenge #75

The super bright colour combo was inspired by Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger

Supplies: Stamp from High Hopes; Martha Stewart punch; silver gems; sentiment from onefourzero.co.uk
Coloured with copic markers - and also coloured the prima flower and the ribbon to match with copic grey marker.  Added some pink stickles to his socks, the centre of the flower brad and to the little hearts on his antennae.

PBSC 100th challenge

We had another bright sunny day today, got loads of planting in the garden sorted and Ruby is exhausted with all her sunbathing!  On the down-side there's a gazillion midges out this evening and we got ate alive when we were out for our walk!

Penny Black Saturday Challlenge is on their 100th week and have loads of goodies up for grabs so I'm definately playing along! 

I used the colour combo from Creative Inspirations #59 - orange, hot pink and purple.  Luckily I found this pink and orange DCWV paper in my stash which was perfect!   I paper pieced my welly boot, flower and snail shell with leftovers to match.  Added some bling and a purple ribbon to finish.

And Totally Papercrafts #15 is stitching, so it was a good excuse to get my wee sewing machine out for a play!

CAS Engagement card

I wish I could have got this card to photograph properly - the brown (not black!) DP has the most beautiful shimmer and the image is stamped in Rich Cocoa and looks darker than on here.

Sketch from Monday Lunchtime challenge #120

Charisma Cardz challenge #20: Its all about weddings (hopefully an Engagement card counts!)

SP Colour Challenge #46:

Supplies: Stamp is an oldie from Stampin Up; added diamond ice stickles for some bling; and the little heart brad is one of the bargains I got from the craft show a few weeks ago; silver peel off letters; dimensionals; pink gems