Ruby-dooby-doo's Stampin Spot

Love Bunny

2012-01-28T22:09:00.000Z

Heee I LOVE this little TCP Valentine Bunny! And the wicked sentiment really appealed to me too! I ordered this so I could make Greg a non-soppy / funny Valentine ... don't think this one's for him, but we'll see!
Popped my bunny up on dimensionals and gave him super-glittery wings and a shiny nose. Marianne Design DP.

Sketch from Sketch Saturday #192
Allsorts - hearts
Cupcake Craft #176 - all you need is love
The Cats Pyjamas - Valentine
Simon Says ... anything goes
Crafty Catz #117 - things with wings
The Stamp Man - embellish it
Sweet Stampin - animals

Xmas card #03

2012-01-28T21:45:00.000Z

Brrr its a cold chilly day today, just right for having a play with my new TCP stamps. Poor wee bunny, looks like he's just about to get a face full of snow! Though there's nothing better than a good snowball fight!
I popped the bottom row of snowballs up on dimensionals and added a wee bit of glitter to them all, so it's nice and sparkly IRL. Echo Park DP and Paper Smooches sentiment.

Sketch from CAS-ual Friday #CFC37
Sweet Stampin - Animals
Cute Card Thursday #201 - You're a Gem
Simon Says Stamp ... anything goes
Papertake Weekly - happy highlights (glitter on my snowballs)
Creative Inspirations #147 - anything goes
House of Gilli #25 - Winter

Heads up...

2012-01-26T22:17:00.000Z

Paper Smooches are releasing some new stamps and have a blog hop on at the minute and some lucky commenters could win their new goodies ... fingers crossed it's me! LOL

Non-traditional Valentine

2012-01-24T22:09:00.000Z

Sorry, couldn't get a decent pic of this card ... it looks much better IRL! I've added loads of sparkle to the die cut stars and to the dino's markings, toenails and horns. Also a wee bit of hand stitching as Santa was a bad man and didn't bring me a new sewing machine, ah well, maybe next year!

I've been psyching myself up to make some cards for Valentine's Day ... and you know that I don't do lovey-dovey! Ha.
I thought this wee dino would be good for a non-traditional Valentine, but I think it might have been better with some hearts instead of die cut stars. Maybe it looks more like a well done card??

(Image from High Hopes and DP from Bo Bunny)

High Hopes #125 - Valentine / Love
Crafty Creations #153 - Valentine
Do you stack up #55 - patterned DP
Crafty Pad #154 - one for the boys
Sketch from Skipping Stones #112

Pucker up!

2012-01-23T21:28:00.002Z

Just a quickie post tonight. Wish I could say the same about this card ... can you believe it took 2 nights to make! Think my mojo's playing hide and seek!

This was inspired by the photo inspiration over at Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge. I used it for my colour theme, red, white and a touch of green. I also versamarked my BG with the lips stamp from their A Little Lovin set, but couldn't get it to show up in my pic.
I had a delve into my stash box and used these little clear/silver seed beads to add some texture to the bunting and also found some tiny silver hearts too!

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge 12-25 Jan
Charisma Cardz #2 - Clean and Simple
Stampin for the Weekend #24 - out with the old (my old stash is my seed beads and my googley eyes)
Paper Sundaes #104 - Paper piecing
The Corrosive Challenge #141 - i{heart}you
Crafty Cardmakers #60 - beads
Creative Card Crew #2 - seeing red

Xmas card #02

2012-01-22T12:10:00.030Z

Time for a new challenge at Dream Valley and this fortnight it's ...

Animals

Yip, we want to see your animal themed projects! Doesn't have to be a card, make whatever you want (max 3 entries). Our lovely Melly is sponsoring this challenge with a fab surprise package ... wish I could enter! Pop over to Dream Valley to upload your project and have a peek at the DT's fab creations.

I'm determined to make my Christmas cards in plenty of time this year - I've used a High Hopes stamp from a year or two ago - coloured with my pencils; clear gloss added to the bear's nose and white Flower Soft to their baubles. DP from Echo Park

Sketch from Simon Says
High Hopes #124 - Winter Wonderland
Kaboodle Doodles #102 - baby it's cold outside
House of Gilli - Winter
ABC Xmas - A for Anything Christmas
Paperplay challenges #3 - Ribbon

Hey there little froggie

2012-01-16T20:21:00.001Z

Boo. Back to work today. Ah well, nothing else for it until I get that big win on the Lottery! Its well overdue too, I don't think we've even won a tenner for over a year! Hopefully its just saving it up to give us the big one LOL!

My new Nellie Snellen stamp hasn't quite made it off my craft table (a.k.a. kitchen table!) so I had another go with my new pencils. Added clear gloss and loads of sparkle to her wings and wee highlights on her tutu. I also splurged on a new Memory Box die ... don't think my Cuttlebug was too fussed on it though, I found I had to add several shims to get it to cut through my purple BP.

Sketch inspired by Sketch Saturday #190 - though I had to move the placement of the sentiment and I couldn't add a fancy border as it looked too fussy with my fancy die - hope it still counts!
ABC Challenge - H is for Happy Birthday
Crafty Creations #152 - new goodies (my die and stamp)
My Mum's Craft Shop #39 - here come the girls
Papertake Weekly - Die Cute special
Simon Says Stamp - spots or stripes

My favourite LOTV Stamp

2012-01-15T14:29:00.002Z

Oops, I had my wonky eyes in when I took this pic!
Well I'm finally starting to feel a bit better ... thanks everyone for your get well wishes!
This wee card features my favourite Lili of the Valley stamp, coloured with pencils which I was inspired to get by my bloggy buddy Linda ... if you've never been at her blog you should pop over for a wee visit, she has the most fabulous colouring skills with her pencils! I've quite a bit of practice to go, especially with hair colouring!

I also managed to add a button to my card which is quite an achievement for a button-challenged-crafter! .

Sketch from i{heart}2stamp SFYTT January
ABC Challenge - H is for Happy Birthday
Sparkles Forum ChallengeC#28 - new crafty goodies (my die-namics notebook edge die)
Simon Says Stamp - spots and/or stripes
The Pixie Cottage #103 - stitching
Charisma Cardz - Happy Birthday
Lili's Little Fairies #02 - your favourite LOTV stamp
Catered Crop - Button Up

ETA: I won at Pixie Cottage!

Xmas card #01

2012-01-11T18:54:00.003Z

Grrr I'm getting really fed up with this head cold.... every time I blow my nose my ears pop and I go deaf for half an hour!

Anyway, yes, you did read right, this is my FIRST Christmas card for 2012. How smug do I feel! I'm determined not to be caught out like I was this Christmas. And I know, blah blah, I've probably said that before LOL!

I got my new dies out for this card, inspired by the Die Cutting Challenge in the Moxie Fab World (there's a prize of their latest mag Cool Tools up for grabs and I'd love to get my mitts on it!) There's loads of new goodies on this card ... my wee tab die and star border from Dienamics, Echo Park DP and the wee girl is from Marianne Designs. (The bigger star dies are from Taylored Expressions) Coloured her with promarkers and added some glitter to her hairband, slippers, tinsel and some clear gloss to the baubles. Looks so much nicer and sparkly IRL! I think this image would work well with that lovely skinny tinsel ribbon, but I forgot to order myself some when I was in my spending spree and the guilt has already struck. Ha.

Moxie Fab World Cool Tools Week - die cutting challenge
I flipped the sketch from Totally Gorjuss #113
Stamp Scrap and Doodle Saturday - Winter something
One Stitch at a Time #95 - use 3 embellishments (I've used twine, die cuts and stitching)
The Corrosive Challenge #140 - use new stash
Crafty Cardmakers #59 - no floral embellishments
ABC Xmas - A is for anything goes
Mums Craft Shop #39 - here come the girls

CAS Wedding

2012-01-10T22:08:00.002Z

I had a go at making a CAS Wedding card today ... I find it difficult to make lovey dovey cards so this seemed to be the best way to go!
I'd bought this wee Art Gone Wild birdie stamp aaaages ago and think they look so sweet! I liked this embossing folder as the flowers were kinda the same shape as the flower in her hair (...hair? Haha!!!) Added some clear gloss to their beaks and some silver gems.

Alota Challenge #74 - A B or C (B=Birds)
Bling it On - New Beginnings
By the Cute and Girly - new beginnings
Crafty Catz #114 - new beginning
The Cats Pyjamas TCPTUES192 - embossing

Another SPARKS Kangaroo

2012-01-09T18:50:00.000Z

Booo hoo, I'm still feeling really yeuchy and had to take the day off work, but in an effort to concentrate my mind elsewhere I had a wee go at making this card. Not easy with having to stop every 5 seconds to blow my nose!

Again I've taken inspiration from the current Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge, this time I just focused on the colour theme.
I've also used one of my new border dies from Dienamics, and then coloured the wee bits from the centres with a Copic to match the blue theme.

Paper Smooches SPARKS Dec 29 - Jan 11
Lothian Crafts #22 - die cuts
Top Tip Tuesday #67 - anything goes
Try it on Tuesday - no DP or stickers
Simon Says ... New something (my new die)
Papertake Weekly - anything goes

Dream Valley Challenge #23

2012-01-08T12:10:00.011Z

We're back with a new challenge for the New Year at Dream Valley and it couldn't be easier ....
Anything Goes!

(There's a fab prize on offer too from One Stop Card Crafts) Make anything you like, doesn't have to be a card and you've a fortnight to play along. (max 3 entries)

My card uses some wee paper-pieced flowers from Stampendous and the DP was from a Christmas pack.

Other Challenges:

Allsorts #136 - paper piecing
Ribbon Carousel RCC34 - anything goes
The Pink Elephant TPE129 - anything goes
Joanna Sheen - celebrations

ETA: Top 5 @ Allsorts

More new goodies!

2012-01-07T19:33:00.001Z

Aaahhchoooo! Yip, I've got the dreaded lurgy ... well, OK it's a head cold! But its totally stolen my energy and my mojo!

These cards are made with another of my new Nellie Snellen stamps ... I've been more than good to myself in the crafty sales and have had a wee package almost every day this week of goodies!

First Card (coloured with promarkers)

Sketch from Mojo Monday #222
Sweet Stampin - spots and dots
Card Crafters Circle #4 - make it colourful
Fussy and Fancy #53 - Happy Birthday
Simon Says ... New something (stash)
The Pink Elephant TPE129 - anything goes

Second Card (coloured with pencils)

Sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday #135
Fab n Funky #102 - something new (my stamp and DP)
Cute Card Thursday #198 - what's new
Paper Sundaes #101 - something old (my flower punch and leaf die) something new (stamp and DP)

ETA I got Top 3 at Card Crafters Circle!

New Goodies!

2012-01-03T21:48:00.001Z

I didn't get any crafty goodies for Christmas (booo Santa!) so me and my flexible friend went shopping in the sales instead! Ha!
So what nicer than coming home from my first day back at work to find a lovely wee package from Bunny Zoe Crafts sitting waiting on me.

This gorgeous wee fairy is a Nellie Snellen stamp and new DPs too from Marianne Design. Coloured her with copic markers and added some bling and some Smooch Illuminate to her wings. Paper Smooches sentiment. (BTW, the base is a dark green colour, though it looks black here!)

Sketch from Sketch Saturday #188
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
Charisma Cardz #50 - anything goes
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #166 - anything goes
Paper Sundaes #101 - something old (my gems and butterfly punch), something new (my stamp and DP)
iCopic challenge #63 - smooth shiny hair
Top Tip Tuesday #67 - anything goes

SPARKS Kangaroo

2012-01-02T21:34:00.001Z

Boo hoo, I can't believe my 2 weeks off work are up and I'm back to the grindstone tomorrow. Feels like I've been off for ages, though I'm sure after 5 minutes at work it won't!

This card is inspired by the photo inspiration from the Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge. I didn't have a master plan when I started, it just kinda made itself!

By the way, Hazel has some candy up for grabs at her Christmas challenge blog HERE (ends 6 Jan)

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge Dec 29 - Jan 11
Creative Inspirations #143 - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
My Mum's Craft Shop #37- anything goes
Do You Stack Up #52 - a rainbow of colours
Stampavie and more #159 - hearts

Chris' Birthday Card

2012-01-01T19:50:00.000Z

Happy New Year! Hope you had a good one whatever you were doing! We just had a quiet night in with the telly and a bottle of Bailey's, yum!

This card is for my BIL, just kept it nice and simple and used one of my High Hopes stamps, coloured with Promarkers. The fish image is popped up on dimensionals and some sparkle added to the bubbles and to his eyebrows.

Sketch from Skipping Stones #108
Passion for Promarkers #129 - celebrations
Creative Inspirations #143 - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp ... anything goes
Totally Gorjuss #112 - Happy

Sick Bunnie

2011-12-29T21:47:00.002Z

I can't believe that tomorrow is Friday and that my 2 weeks off work is almost up already. I had thought that I'd maybe get a chance to get my card stash restocked, but I've been too busy!

I think I've only had ink on this Lilli of the Valley stamp once before ... coloured him with promarkers; popped my bunny and the grapes up on dimensionals and added clear gloss to the grapes too. I've also rediscovered my Sakura jelly roll starbust pen (which I used to colour the spoon) and I love and I've no idea why I ever neglected it!

Oh, by the way Paper Smooches have a blog hop on at the minute with peeks of their new release!

Sketch from Mojo Monday #221
Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge #87 "Anything Goes
Wee Memories #80 - anything goes
Sparkles 1st Birthday challenge - anything but Xmas

Gorjuss in Blue!

2011-12-28T14:32:00.002Z

Just a quickie post ... I'm taking advantage of a horrible, cold, windy and rainy day to do a bit of painting, so I'm getting this card uploaded in my 'tea break'!

I've been shopping at some of the crafty sales (oops!), but I've also resolved to use my stash more, so I was determined to get a flower and this un-loved swirl die in my card.

Sketch and theme of no designer papers from the Sugar Bowl #74
Simon Says Stamp ...anything goes
Sparkles Forum Challenge - anything but Xmas
Allsorts #134 - blue and brown
Charisma Cardz #50 - anything goes
Crafts for Eternity R#51 - embossing
Stampin for the Weekend #23 - anything goes
Daring Cardmakers - spots (my BG) and stripes (her tights)
Sarah Hurley Challenge #56 - colour an image

Fave Xmas Five

2011-12-26T19:18:00.004Z

Well, that's the Big Day over and done with for another year. We had a lovely time down in Mum's and spent all afternoon playing with my wee niece ... my nephew was glued to his new PlayStation! Ruby had a ripping good time too...

Anyway, Debbie is asking us to show our 5 favourite Christmas cards made this year - my choice is more limited than usual as I made less variety than in previous years and bought very little Christmas stash, but here they are ...

Catered Crop also want to see your favourite holiday project .... this one is my favourite of all, made for my sister.

I discovered and fell in love with Paper Smooches stamps and Baker's Twine this year!

Of course I bought this Lilli of the Valley stamp 'cause I thought it looked like wee Ruby!

I love my High Hopes stamps too...

I like the simplicity of this one...

And finally, this one combines a cute High Hopes stamp with a lovely sentiment font from Paper Smooches

Happy Christmas

2011-12-24T14:16:00.002Z

Wowee can you believe it's Christmas Eve already! No white Christmas for us this year (...not that I'm complaining as it seems like no time since all the snow we had last year!)
Just a quickie post as we still have to give poor Ruby her Christmas bath, haven't mentioned it to her yet as she'll scarper to the bottom of the garden given half a chance!
Anyway, hope you all have a fab Christmas and that Santa is good to you!
Here's a wee pic of my crazy neighbour's houses ... there's a bit of a competition every year between them to get more and more lights!!

Card details: image from The Cats Pyjamas; Paper Smooches sentiment; clear gloss and glitter added to highlights on plane; misc DPs from scraps stash; coloured with promarkers.

sketch from TCP Tuesday TCPTUES190
Paper Sundaes #100 - celebrate
Passion for Promarkers #129 - celebrations
Creative Inspirations #143 - anything goes
Simon Says stamp - bingo (I chose twine, glitter and gems)
Colour combo inspired by The Play Date Cafe PDCC112

Whale Thanks

2011-12-21T17:08:00.000Z

Ohh I'm going to have to go shopping soon, I don't have a single snippet of brown paper left ... I had to colour some white with copics for this ... and my markers are also conspiring against me again as my brown ran out just as I was finishing this!

I chalked my sky but it's really a fluke that the image panel fits in so nicely with the BG! I'm sure I couldn't have done this intentionally! I also added some sparkle to the water but it doesn't really show up in the photo.

Allsorts #134 - blue and brown
Sketch flipped from Card Patterns #146
Sweet Stampin - sparkle and bling
The Crafty Pad #152 - anything but Christmas
Crafty Creations - Gratitude/thanks
Simon Says Stamp - Bingo - I used twine / gems / glitter
My Mum's Craft Shop #37 - anything goes

Definitely my LAST Christmas card!

2011-12-21T16:29:00.000Z

Ha. You knew my 'last' Christmas card wasn't actually going to be my last one! I'd forgotten to make one for our 'Friday night' buddies who we get together with for a wee drinkie and a natter every week. AND I've just realised we haven't got Ruby a pressie for under the Christmas tree. Oops! It would never do to leave the doggy out!

Stamp TV's Free for All Friday challenge this week is to CASE Giovana from their DT ... I chose this card and changed my snowmen and embossed the BG instead of stamping.

Papertake Weekly - last Christmas card of the year
Stamp TV Free for All Friday - CASE the DT
Simon Says Stamp ... Bingo - I chose twine/gems/glitter
Little Darlings #13 - Christmas
Critter Sketch Challenge #95 - let it snow
Charisma Cardz #49 - last minute Xmas makes

SPARKS Triplet bunnies

2011-12-20T20:22:00.000Z

Oh it was nice to make a card today just for the fun of it with no pressure of a Christmas deadline!
This one's for the current Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge. I took inspiration from the photo for my colours, the googley eyes and for the same image x 3.

When I'd finished I wished I'd had the patterned bunnies looking in the direction of the other one, so I made another card just for the craic!

It was also good to get some little scraps of my hoarded Basic Grey papers used up (I think these use bits from 'Lime Rickey' and 'Cupcake') I also used the tiniest leftover scraps to pop their feet up on dimensionals. Waste not, want not!

Paper Smooches SPARKS 15-28 Dec
Basic Grey #59 - anything goes
One Stitch at a time #93 - anything goes
Sparkles 1st Birthday - anything but a Christmas card
Crafty Cardmakers #58 - use it three times
Friends of Speedy TV #12 - CAS
Try it Tuesday - anything goes

Finished!

2011-12-20T19:56:00.001Z

Hooray, that's me finished with Christmas cards for the year ... I think! There's always one I've forgotten about!
Couldn't get a decent pic of this card, its been such a dark overcast day. Though its turned quite mild again, apparently our weather at the minute is more suited to April! My daffodils are all confused and are already popping up!

Added silver border peel offs and then some clear gloss and glitter to Ruby's party hat and to the ribbon on the pressie. The sparkly turquoise snowflake was a candy win ages ago. Coloured with copics - I used a pale grey to add some shading to my doggy, but it doesn't really show up in the photo.

Sketch from Simon Says Stamp
Charisma Cards #49 - last minute Xmas makes
Crafty Creations #148 - embossing and glitter
Little Darlings #13 - Christmas
My Mum's craft shop #36 - cute and funky Christmas
iCopic challenge #61 - last minute Christmas
Do you stack Up #50 - Winter
Speedy the Cat's Friends #86 - Xmas card

Almost there...!

2011-12-18T20:21:00.000Z

I'm almost finished my Christmas cards, hurrah, just another one or two and that's me! And I'm off work now until next year (doesn't it sound great when you say it like that LOL!) so I've plenty of time to get the last few finished.

Sketch from Sketch Saturday #186
ABC Xmas - Y is for Yippee Christmas is almost here
Divas by Design #17 - Merry Christmas
Charisma Cardz #49 - last minute Christmas makes
Paperplay #50 - Christmas
Daring Cardmakers - spots and stripes
One Stop Craft #162 - Christmas sparkle
Speedy the Cat's Friends #86 - Christmas card

Greg's Christmas card

2011-12-18T19:46:00.003Z

ETA: I won at Cards for Men - 5 digis from Stamping Boutique!

I carried on with my 'snow family' theme with Greg's Christmas card and used my wee Lili of the Valley puppy along with my Paper Smooches snowdudes. Though I think the scale is slightly wrong and we ended up with a gigantic Ruby! (or else a very little me!)
It also ended up a bit pinker than it should have (how come I can't do a 'girlie' card when I'm trying to!!) but never mind, he loved it anyway!
Don't forget our Christmas challenge over at Dream Valley is ongoing until 7 Jan and there's LOADS of fabby prizes to be won.

Totally Gorjuss #111 - for someone special
Craft Your Days Away #35 - snowmen
Speedy the Cat's Friends #86 Christmas card
Paper Cutz #119 - hearts come home for Christmas
Cards 4 Men - 2 - I've got 2 snowmen, 2 DPs and 2 hearts.
Tuesday Throwdown #78 - for someone special
Use it Tuesday #21 - holidays - my 'old' stash is my DP, I was a very good girl this year and didn't buy any new Christmas CP ... so I'm desperate to get it used up so I can go shopping for next year's LOL!
ABC Xmas - Y is for Yippee Christmas is almost here
Colour combo from Creatalicious #29 - purple, pink, green, white

Mum's Christmas card

2011-12-13T21:27:00.001Z

Wowee, it's blowing an absolute gale outside today! A bit of the Bank opposite my work fell off on top of a parked car earlier! Thankfully no-one was in it at the time!

Anyway, I enjoyed making the snow-family card for my sister last week so much that I thought I'd make one for Mum with our immediate family. I've put all their names on in case they don't recognise themselves ... though my uncle has no excuse as he's the only one with a moustache IRL!
I had originally thought of adding the 4 dogs in the 'family' but I ran out of room!

Paperplay Challenges #49 - snowmen
Cute Card Thursday #194 - anything goes
Winter Wonderland - let it snow
Craft Your Days Away #35 - snowmen
Totally Gorjuss #110 - let it snow
Paper Sundaes #99 - anything Christmas
Little Claire's Designs December challenge - family christmas

Gift voucher holder

2011-12-13T20:39:00.000Z

This is a wee gift holder for part of my brother's Christmas pressie. Don't you think my Paper Smooches gnome its the perfect image for a gardening voucher! Kept it nice and simple (i.e. I'm really pushed for time LOL!)
Coloured him with promarkers and decoupaged his beard after embossing it. His nose and a cloud are popped up on dimensionals and I added some sparkle to the his 'santa' hat.

Top Tip Tuesday #64 - a gift
Creative Card Crew - Tis the Season
Paper Sundaes #99 - anything Christmas
Wee Memories #79 - holidays

Xmas card #20

2011-12-11T22:13:00.001Z

Same stamp, different sketch!
I added clear gloss and glitter to the ribbon on the pressie and his party hat, but it doesn't really show in the pic.
I also have a wee silver sentiment in the bottom corner, but it's kinda lost in the fancy DP, so I might peel it off and mount it up instead.

Sketch from Mojo Monday #218
Lili of the Valley #124 - pink, white and sliver
Creative Card Crew - tis the season
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Paper Sundaes #99 - anything Christmas
ABC Challenge - E is for Embossing

Xmas card #19

2011-12-11T21:36:00.000Z

I've had a lovely Christmassy day today ... got my tree up and it looks lovely, even if I do say so myself!!
I also managed to get another couple of Christmas cards made, I can't believe I've made so few this year - I think I had more than this made by July last year!
Anyway, I got some more ink on my wee Lily of the Valley doggy ... and yes, Brenda, I did get totally suckered into buying this 'cause I thought it was maybe what Ruby looked like as a puppy! (We got her from a shelter and she'd already passed the cute puppy stage)

Paper Sundaes #99 - anything X-mas
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #164 - all creatures great and small
Stampin for the Weekend #22 - Christmas
Sketch from Midnight Madness MMCS134
ABC Christmas - Y is for Yippee, Christmas is almost here
Cute Card Thursday #194 - anything goes

Dream Valley Challenge #22

2011-12-11T12:10:00.010Z

It's our last challenge of the year at Dream Valley, and its a good 'un if like me you've still cards to make for

Christmas!

As usual you can make anything you like, just as long as it's Christmassy (max 3 entries each)
Pop over to Dream Valley to upload your entry and see all the fab DT creations - we've some newbies joining our wee team so I can't wait to see what they've made! Ohh, and did I mention there's LOADS of prizes to be won?!
This is our last challenge of 2011 - thanks for playing along with us all year, hope to see you on 8 Jan for a new one!

Baby Butterflies!

2011-12-10T21:31:00.002Z

Did I mention how far behind I am in my cardmaking?! I'm still trying to get the cards made that I give as 'pressies' at Christmas, never mind finish my Chrissy cards! Eek!

This one uses an oldie Penny Black stamp which I haven't used for aaaaages, and the sentiment is actually a silver peel off though it looks black here!

Sketch from Penny Black Saturday Challenge #181
Sweet Stampin - things with wings
Totally Papercrafts #96 - anything but Christmas
Papertake Weekly - anything goes

My sister's snow family!

2011-12-05T21:50:00.003Z

ETA: I won at One Stop Craft - $10 Gift Cert from Digi Doodles

It's another Brrr chilly day today ... we'd a flurry of snow last night and the weather men nearly went into melt-down today, they were so excited! Maybe it's just that they're just all desperate to make some snowmen?

I had such a laugh making this card for my sister and her family with my Paper Smooches Swanky Snowdudes ... hopefully they'll all recognise themselves! I added loads of sparkle and gems, clear gloss to the snow-mum's lipstick, and some wee snowballs to the bottom (I won these ages ago in some candy and I love them 'too' much ... I can hardly bring myself to use them!) The blue sky is stamped with wee snowflakes, but doesn't really show up in the pic. Coloured with promarkers.

By the cute and girly December challenge - let it snow
I love Promarkers #94 - snowmen and snowflakes
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
Do you stack up #48 - ribbon
Speedy the Cat's challenge #84 - use your favourite embellie ... mine's definately these little snowballs, but I really LOVE my twine too!
One Stop Craft #160 - let it snow
Sarah Hurleys Challenge #55 - Christmas

Snow Monkey

2011-12-04T21:33:00.001Z

Ohhh BRRRR it's a cold one today. We'd a wee flurry of sleet this morning and of course the weathermen are getting excitable! Ah well, at least it got me in Christmas card mode ... I made 8 versions of this card today for a wee order, so there was a bit of a production line going on my kitchen table. Don't think I've ever made so many cards in one sitting! (Image from High Hopes, sentiment from Paper Smooches)

Update on last night's movie ... I was expecting The Way to be a murder/mystery (they usually are when Greg picks them LOL!) but it turned out to be a really lovely film and a bit of a tear jerker ... I had to do the secret 'no I'm not crying' wipe of the eyes a couple of times!

Simon Says Stamp ... anything goes
Paper Sundaes #98 - sundae topping choice - I used red, stitching and die cuts (my snowflake)
Sweet Stampin - is it snowing
Divas by Design #16 - anything goes
Sketch from Midnight Madness #132 ... I've just noticed that I scribbled the sketch down wrong and there should have been a different coloured panel down the side so I don't think I can enter it aarrrggghhh!
Colour Create #85 - red, white and green with optional snowflakes
Bling it on December challenge - Christmas

SPARKY Snowdudes

2011-12-03T22:06:00.005Z

Just a quickie post tonight .... movie night again, and tonight it's The Way (Greg's choice - I've no idea what it's about!)

This wee card was inspired by the photo inspiration at Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge, though I forgot to add a splash of yellow somewhere! I've embossed a couple of lines at the top of the white sentiment panel, but I don't think it shows on my pic.

Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge Dec1-14
Totally Papercrafts #95 - Let it Snow
Joanna Sheen Challenge #1 - Christmas Wishes
Paper Sundaes #97 - Winter Wonderland
Kaboodle Doodles #95 - Bundle up for Winter
My Mum's Craft Shop #34 - keeping warm
Simon Says Stamp ... anything goes

Will's 6th Birthday

2011-11-30T19:11:00.000Z

Oh brrrrrr, its such a cold night and blowing a gale and now starting to rain. I'm foundered already and I have to go out soon - think I'd rather get my PJs on and stay home!
(... if you're not from Northern Ireland 'foundered' means 'freezing' LOL!)
This card was a commissioned one ... I HATE making special order cards, but I like how it turned out! It was one of those that I wasn't sure what way it was going until it was finished!
Coloured my High Hopes alien with promarkers and coloured some stars to match. I didn't have any suitable markers for the microscope so ended up paper piecing it. Silver peel off letters and a bit of bling to finish.

High Hopes #123 - numbers
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
Sketch from Inspirational Card Sketches #142
Lexi's Creations #54 - one for the lads
Alota Rubber Stamps November challenge Alota71 - dots
Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge #83 - make it masculine

Butterfly thanks

2011-11-27T21:25:00.004Z

*Scroll down for my Dream Valley DT post*

ETA - This wee card was in the Top 3 at Monday Lunchtime Sketches!

I was rooting through my stamps earlier when I rediscovered my one and only Hanglar & Stanglar stamp, much neglected unfortunately! Coloured her with copics - though I kinda wish I hadn't given her green tights ... not sure if I'd pass any fashion awards with those!!

Catered Crop - your favourite Thank You card ... well my favourite is usually the most recent one LOL! I like the CAS style of this one, my fabulous Paper Smooches sentiment and the gorgeous bright DP
The Pink Elephant #126 - give thanks
Use it Tuesday #20 - giving thanks
Crafty Creations #145 - give thanks / gratitude
My Mum's Craft Shop #33 - things with wings
PaperPlay Challenges #47 - Being Thankful
Make it Colourful #41 - colouring white (I used C0 and C1 to add some shading to my envelope)
Sketch from Monday Lunchtime TSSC201 - though I stuck one of my horizontal panels down wonky, so I intentionally put the central panel at an angle to make it less noticable .. I think it works!

Dream Valley Challenge #21

2011-11-27T12:05:00.009Z

It's challenge time again over at Dream Valley and this week it's

Sparkle!

So it's perfect if you haven't got all your Chrissy cards made, or if you just wanna bling up a wee birthday card like me! I added some clear gloss and Glamour Dust glitter to my little mouse's balloon and the card candy, and then I blinged up my bling by adding red stickles to some clear gems.

And what could you win?? Well, my lovely team mate Mags has kindly donated TWO Lili of the Valley stamps (times like this I wish I could play in the challenge LOL!) You've 2 weeks to play along, and don't forget that you can make anything you like, just as long as it sparkles (max. 3 entries). And if you're stuck for inspiration, pop over to Dream Valley Challenges to see the fab creations from the DT!

Oh, and the Design Team call ends on 28 November, so you'd need to be quick!

Bunny in flight!

2011-11-26T14:48:00.000Z

I haven't played with my big eared bunnies for a while, so thought I'd stamp him up for this week's sketch challenge at Sketch Saturday. Coloured him with promarkers and popped up on dimensionals. I doodled a border and then added wee 'scratch' marks on my image and clouds to match.

Sketch Saturday #183
Stamp TV Free for all Friday - cut it out
I Love Promarkers #93 - anything goes
Penny Black at Allsorts November challenge - all creatures great and small

Mad Bunny!

2011-11-26T14:27:00.001Z

ETA: I won at Do You Stack Up ... a $10 spending spree at Stitchy Bear Digis!

Oh, brrrr, its another cold wintry day here ..I've had the kitchen light on almost all day! I've been off work the past couple of days and managed to get most of my Christmas shopping done, just need to get my act together and get some Christmas cards made now!

This wee card uses the fab mad bunny from Paper Smooches ... I always seem to end up paper piecing these little dudes. I've had this gorgeous DP in my stash for YEARS and could never seem to get it used, so the inspiration pic from the Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge was just perfect for it! And I had a total Homer Simpson moment when I was punching my grass with my Martha Stewart punch and I realised (after owning it for over a year) that the sides of the punch flipped down into a proper sized punch. DOH! I did wonder why it had such a small punch area and hardly ever used it because of that!!

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge - inspiration pic ... I used the colour combo and the pretty flowers for my inspiration
Sketch from Cute Card Thursday #192
Do You Stack Up #47 - grass
Fab'n Funky #100 - Birthday

Paper Smooches new release ...

2011-11-24T22:06:00.000Z

Just giving you the heads up that Paper Smooches have a new release of SUPER CUTE stamps. There's a blog hop on at the minute with the chance to win them! Race you there....!

Go Team!

2011-11-20T22:16:00.001Z

Sorry, couldn't get a decent pic of this card, I'm very much an 'auto focus' girl and my poor wee camera didn't know what to look at first on this card!

Image from Sugar Nellie; Stampin Up sentiment; coloured with copics; clear gloss and glitter added to her pompoms and highlights on her outfit.

Don't forget you've another week to play along with our stitching challenge over at Dream Valley ... and if you fancy joining our Team, there's a mini DT call on at the minute. Pop over to the blog for more deets (you've only got till the 28th!)

Sketch from The Sugar Bowl #72
Tuesday Throwdown #75 - lots of circles
Sweet Stampin - Birthday
One Stitch at a Time #89 - anything goes
ABC Challenge - D is for Dazzle

Xmas card #15

2011-11-19T22:31:00.000Z

Oh dear, I'm sooooo behind in my Christmas cards this year! I think I might have to buy some ... gasp!

I saw a beautiful snowflake edge somewhere in blogland recently so thought I'd have a go at a DIY one! I embossed a strip of red and then some snowflakes. Coloured my little High Hopes monkey with promarkers and added clear gloss to his skis and flower soft for snow. The black dots are actually little silver pearls but couldn't get them to photograph properly. Paper Smooches sentiment.

Oh and by the way, I didn't win the Lottery ... well there's always next week!

High Hopes #122 - snowflakes
Sketch from Midnight Madness #130
Oldie but a Goodie - Let it snow
ABC Christmas W is for Winter Sports
Sarah Hurley's challenge #54 - buttons
Crafty Catz #109 - snowflakes
Winter Wonderland - awww what a cutie
JUGS #111 - red, green, white
Stamp Scrap and Doodle Saturdays - embossing

A good day!

2011-11-19T21:56:00.000Z

I've had a great day today! First our car passed it's MOT this morning (hooray!!) Then I was full of energy, got loads of housework done, had time to knock out a couple of cards, and then I found my missing Paper Smooches 'happy birthday' sentiment that mysteriously vanished last week .... and where was it? Stuck to a copic marker!!
I'm also waiting patiently on the Lottery being drawn ... 2 people have dreamt recently that I've won big money!!! So if I win I'll post a pic of me in the Bahamas!!

Image from Lili of the Valley; sentiment Paper Smooches; coloured with copics; silver gems; clear gloss; stickles

Simon Says ... thanksgiving / thanks
Creative Card Crew - thankful
Sketch from CASual Friday CFC29
Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge Week #82 - Black, white + 1 other

Bug eyed snowmen!

2011-11-16T21:27:00.002Z

(Ohhhh, if you find my mojo please post it back to me!!)
I had the bright idea of giving my snowmen little enamel eyes, but a little bubble in the mix popped so they ended up with BIG eyes instead LOL! I also blinged up the tall dude's moustache (its not every day you hear that expression!) with some black stickles. Added a fancy metal corner and some gold peel offs to finish.

Paper Smooches Christmas challenge
Sketch from Monday Lunchtime #200 (I've no idea how Mary Jo can even imagine that many different layouts, I've bother even making one single card without a pre-designed sketch!!) Play along and you could win a $25 Stampin Up spending spree!
Cards for Men #23 - it's nearly Christmas
My Time to Craft #166 - Take 2
Fab'n Funky #99 - Baby its cold outside

Sweet Stampin - Going Gorgeously Gingham

Aunt Cilla's Birthday card

2011-11-14T21:32:00.000Z

Another quickie post from me tonight ... I'm pooped and I'm a Celeb is on telly anyway. Time for a cuppa and a wee choccie bar (low fat of course!!)

Friends of Speedy TV #7 - Birthday
Do You Stack Up #45 - Inspired by a song ... What about Hangin on the telephone by Blondie!
Wee Memories #76 - Birthdays and Parties
Sketch from Sketch'n Stash #74

Blue Bunny

2011-11-13T20:04:00.002Z

* ETA: I was one of Card Patterns Super 6 with this card! *

Ohhh its a bit of a draughty day out there... got my pots and cutting back all done in the front garden, but didn't quite manage to get any of my winter planting done. Ah well, there's always next weekend! Ha, who am I kidding, 2 dry weekends in a row must be a new record for us!

Right, I'm away ... I've a stack of ironing that's threatening to topple, and I'm a Celebrity Get me out of here starts tonight, which I LOVE!

Sir Stampalot November Challenge - blue and green
Penny Black at Allsorts November challenge - all creatures great and small
Sketch from Card Patterns #141
Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge Week 81~~Your Favorite Technique (mine is stamping, embossing and paper piecing)

Dream Valley Challenge #20

2011-11-13T12:01:00.019Z

We had an amazing response to our last challenge over at Dream Valley and this fortnight it's another nice easy one ....

Stitching!

Make whatever you like, just as long as you've done some stitching. (The prize this time is a voucher for One Stop Card Crafts) If you're stuck for some inspiration, pop over to Dream Valley Challenges and see the gorgeous creations by my Teamies!

Unfortunately my sewing machine died a while ago ... I'm thinking of hinting to 'Santa' that I'd love a new one for Christmas (though it would probably be easier to buy it myself and then present him with the bill HaHa!) I love the effect of sewing on cards but there just isn't enough hours in the day to be bothered hand-stitching round the entire card - I quite often use faux stitching instead and a wee bit of real sewing just for effect.

Supplies: Old DP from Papermania; image from Lili of the Valley; sentiment from Elzybells; corner rounder punch; Marianne Creatibles snowflake die; pink stickles; white flower soft; clear gloss (on party hat and his nose); copic markers; pink pearls

Other Challenges I'd like to enter this card into..

Crazy for Challenges C4C113 - 3 DPs, 3 dies/punches, 3 embellishments
Lili of the Valley #120 - creature comforts
Stampavie and more #155 - anything goes
Creative Inspirations #137 - all stitched up
Sketch from Mojo Monday #214
Stamp TV Mix it up Monday - Got Scraps
House of Gilli #20 - monochrome

Bunny Birthday

2011-11-10T21:52:00.001Z

Wow, I can't believe its Thursday already! Nice short day in work tomorrow and then a supposed dry weekend, so I'm hoping to get my garden pots all cleared out and some winter pansies planted. Well, that's the plan anyway!

This wee card uses a fab bunny from The Cats Pyjamas, popped him up on dimensionals and paper pieced his net. I've only got a sheet or two of kraft paper left so I'm going to have to go shopping soon!
Sentiment is an oldie from Stampin Up.

CRAFT #128 - cute
Crafty Creations #143 - kraft, white + 1 other

Sketch from Card Patterns #140
Charisma Cardz #44 - cutsey
Crafty Catz #107 - anything goes
Penny Black and more at Allsorts (November) - all creatures great and small

Bloomin' Pixies!

2011-11-08T21:13:00.003Z

I had the bright idea last night that I'd knock out a couple of birthday cards and just make them the same but 'slightly' different. So out came my Paper Smooches sentiments set and I stamped Happy Birthday on one, lifted the other card over and went to stamp it .... and the pixies had nipped in and stolen my stamp! I've spent HOURS looking for it... in my scrap bag, in my stamp box, on the floor, on the dog, and its nowhere to be found. I'm gutted as it was my fave font on a Birthday stamp booo hooo!

Anyway, this wee card uses another Paper Smooches set, Swanky Snowmen. I've used the colour combo from their current challenge ...

I embossed the lower portion of the blue bg with a cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder and added some glitter and Arlenes True Snow stuff.

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge (Nov3-16)
Top Tip Tuesday #59 - anything Christmas ... my top tip is to always put your clear stamps back in the packet before the pixies run off with them LOL!
Cards for Men #23 - its nearly Christmas
Sketch from Unscripted Sketches #131
One Stop Craft #156 - 3 of anything (I've used 3 snowmen)
Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge Week 80~~Fall or Winter Theme
Sarah Hurley Challenge #53 - use 2 or more images

Frog in Boxers

2011-11-06T20:58:00.001Z

Just a quickie post tonight ... discovered that we do actually have MTV (shows how much we watch it!) so off to watch the big show from Belfast on the telly.

I can't take any credit for this wee card ... Karen (*1 wacky woman*) is this week's featured stamper at Splitcoaststampers, so I got to case one of her fabulous cards! ... HERE's her original.

Images from High Hopes; Martha Stewart grass punch; copic markers; dimensionals; bakers twine; orange gems

Oh, and before I go, we had a beautiful day at the wedding yesterday and the sunshine was glorious, as was the beautiful bride. Isn't it nice to see everyone all dolled up too ... here's what happens to me and Greg with a bit of soap and water LOL!

Best friends!

2011-11-04T20:45:00.001Z

When I'm making a card I usually start with a sketch, then find an image and finally my papers, but I'm determined to get some of my paper stash used up so I went the total opposite way to make this one. And it's definately a more difficult way to go about things! Plus I couldn't find any markers to match my dotty dp, so I ended up almost totally paper piecing my little girl.

Image from High Hopes. Coloured with copics/promakers. Added some bling, pearls and a bit of sparkle, and some clear gloss to the doggy's nose. Distressed round my image with some blue ink.

Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Crafty Cardmakers #55 - pink, brown, cream
High Hopes #121 - anything High Hopes goes
Charisma Cardz #44 - cutsey
The Pink Elephant #123 - distressing

Harley Snoopy!

2011-11-04T20:23:00.001Z

Well it's an exciting weekend ahead ... MTV are in town and I think the whole of Northern Ireland is in a bit of a tizz! One of my workmates managed to get a ticket to the awards and she's soooo excited! Lucky duck! It looks like being a sunny and bright weekend too ... so all our international visitors will have a great {false} impression of our weather HaHa! Unfortunately we don't have MTV on our Sky package so we're not even going to see the fun!

Coloured my cool Snoopy with copics; sentiment from Practising Creativity; DP from Basic Grey 'Oliver'; star dies from Taylored Expressions; clear gems

Sketch from CPS #242
Cards for men #22 - Animals
icopic weekly challenge #54 - masculine card
Fab'n Funky #97 - planes, trains and automobiles
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Basic Grey #56 - Anything goes

Dum dum de dum

2011-11-01T21:43:00.002Z

I hate leaving cards to the last minute, and I've known about this wedding for a year, so I've no excuses for faffing about ... and of course tonight is my last chance to get this card made! We're off to my best friend's daughters wedding on Saturday, so if I remember I'll get someone to take a pic of me and Greg in our finery!

This wee card took aaaaages to make. First I couldn't decide on what sketch to use, then trying to find some papers was another challenge as I don't really have any nice 'weddingy' stuff... can you tell that lovey-dovey isn't my thing! Even the flowers took ages to get sorted, I envy you lot who can do a full flower arrangement on your cards (...though then I would have had to make a presentation box and I would have been up all night!)

Coloured with a mixture of copics and promarkers; loads of wee mini bling added to her dress and stickles to the flowers. Echo Park DP. Lili of the Valley stamp.

Sketch from Sketch Saturday #179
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
Charisma Cardz #43 - anything goes
Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge #79 - use your scraps
One Stop Craft #155 - no sentiments
Creative Card Crew - Fallin' for you

Dream Valley Challenge #19

2011-10-30T12:00:00.028Z

"Can you tell what it is yet?"

Now that you're all doing your Rolf Harris impersonations ... any ideas?

I won this wee kit aaaaages ago in a challenge and thought it was about time I put it together. Its a new technique for me ... wool felting. Basically you wrap wool round the balls and then stab them to death with needles until they all compact. ...and yes, there were quite a few times I missed my target and spiked my poor fingers ouch!

Before I show you my, ahem, 'creation', this week's Dream Valley Challenge is soooo easy ...
ANYTHING GOES!
... you could win a £10 voucher to use in your choice from Crafty Emma's delish shop OR Saturated Canary's Digi's image Esty store!! ! (You've a fortnight to play along, so no excuses! - max 3 entries per person)

So here's what that mystery pile turned into .....

I'm not sure if he looks surprised or terrified!

It's not the kit's fault ... here's what he should look like ....

Ah well, gave me and Greg a good laugh ... I think even the dog joined in LOL!

Other challenges I'd like to enter my wee snowman into ...
Charisma Cardz #43 - anything goes

One fish ... two cards!

2011-10-25T21:23:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd use up some of my wee scraps this evening and couldn't be bothered to get up and get a different stamp, so its one image and two cards! I couldn't get a decent pic either, the dark nights are definately upon us ... can't believe the clocks go back next week, where did the summer (and autumn!) go??

Coloured both with my pencils and baby oil, but I don't know if I'm using too much oil or the wrong paper but it's bleeding a bit and I hadn't realised that with the oil that dimensionals wouldn't stick to it!
Ah well, here they are anyway!

Challenges:
Both:

High Hopes #120 - ribbon, twine or lace

1st card:

Sketch from ICS #137 (though my scraps were too wee so I had to add in an additional panel on the bottom)
Wee Memories #73 - free for all

2nd Card:

Sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches #117
Fab'n Funky #95 - torn or distressed (I distressed my white edges with blue ink)

...and pretty in Pink!

2011-10-22T22:29:00.000+01:00

I promise this is the last one of the night!
I've always admired Linda's amazing colouring skills, so thought I'd have a go using pencils, baby oil and paper stumps. Bit more practice required me thinks! But it was nice to get my pencils out for a change.

Paper Cutz #114 - pink
CAS-ual Friday CFC25 - add colour to your image
Wee Memories WMC73 - free for all
Creative Inspirations #134 - monochrome

Pretty in Purple

2011-10-22T22:12:00.000+01:00

This little cutie is another of my LOTV stamps, along with the pretty swirly border stamp too. Coloured with a mixture of copics and promarkers. Couldn't get a good photo, its been a bit of a damp dark day (yes again!) and its come out more bluey than mauvey!
(Sorry, no chat in me tonight ... it's movie night and I'm rushing to get these uploaded, think its 'Source Code' on the play list)

Colour combo from Play Date Cafe #104
PaperPlay Challenge #42 - use black (I used black borders and black hair)
My Time to Craft #162 - punches / dies
One Stop Craft #154 - no designer DP
Our Creative Corner - faces

Birthay critters

2011-10-22T21:42:00.004+01:00

I've been eyeing these Lili of the Valley stamps up for ages and finally caved in and bought some! They're just a delight to colour!
I added the wee safety pins after seeing something similar done in Papercrafts magazine.

Sketch from CPS #240
Crafts 4 Eternity R#42 - metal embellishment (safety pins)
Lili of the Valley #117 - Bingo (I used gems, distressing, pins)
Wee Memories WMC73 - free for all

Dream Valley Challenge #18

2011-10-17T21:18:00.003+01:00

ETA: I won at Crafty Cardmakers!
Oh dear, its been such a horrible day today... lashing rain ALL day long, and me with a wee hole in my roof! The insurance guy is due on Wednesday so fingers crossed!

Sorry for the slight delay in getting my DT card done while I painted my living room... took my mind off our bedroom ceiling anyway! Anyway, on to this week's challenge at Dream Valley and it's a nice easy one ...

Halloween

So get out your spooky craft stash and get creating ... you could win some gorgeous digis from Robyns Fetish Digital Stamps and More. You've a fortnight to play along ... doesn't have to be a card - do a scrapbook LO, jewellery, anything! Just as long as its Halloweeney (...is that a real word?)

Unfortunately I wasn't organised enough to use one of the Robyns Fetish images that the DT were lucky enough to get ... I've no printer and its been too hectic in work to think of crafty stuff! So mine is a wee stamp from Hambo stamps and the banner from Practising Creativity. The Magnolia spooky fence was a candy win. Coloured my pumpkin with copics and then coloured my silver spider's web black to match my colour theme.

Other challenges:

Stamp and Create October Challenge - flags / bunting
Crafty Cardmakers #54 - cute with a dark twist
Sketch from Sweet Sunday #139
Paper Sundaes #91 - halloween or fall
House of Gilli #18 - colour challenge - use 3 of black, orange, green, purple, white
Sparkles challenge #22 - Halloween
Craft your Days Away #31 - Halloween colours
Simon Says Stamp ... Halloween / Goth
Creative Card Crew ... Spooky Fun
ABC - B is for Boo

Yummy Candy Corn

2011-10-11T20:49:00.002+01:00

High Hopes challenge this fortnight is to make a Party Favour, so I had a go at jazzing up this sweetie jar for my Mum's Halloween party. I only have one HH halloween image, so it was to be my spooky spider or nothing! (I'm sure I had more but they're on the missing list!)

Inside is some Candy Corn which we don't get over here and I'd never tasted before until recently (thanks Patti!) so I'm going to bring it to the party for everyone else to have a wee sample. If you've never tasted it ... I had imagined it to be a hard boiled sweet, but its more of a fudge texture and tastes of honey!

Coloured with copics and black stickles added to the stars. I also stuck on some plastic bats to help hide my paper seams on the back.

PS Bedroom ceiling update ... still nothing from the builder.... Grrrr!

High Hopes #119 - make a party favour
Creative Card Crew - Spooky Fun
Cupcake Craft #163 - Halloween
Wee Memories WMC71 - Halloween

A slight hiccup!

2011-10-10T21:09:00.003+01:00

Now I know I was supposed to be painting our living room today, but we had a slight hiccup when this happened .....

Yes, that used to be our bedroom ceiling!
Turns out that one of the roof tiles had moved and all our 'summer weather' had been coming through, soaking the extra thick insulation that we put in a year or two ago, until the ceiling just popped! So fingers crossed that our insurance company will cough up ... their builder was supposed to ring us this afternoon, but of course its now gone 9pm and we're still waiting. Grrr, makes me mad why {most} tradesmen think the normal laws of customer service don't actually apply to them!

So after that excitement I didn't feel much like getting the paintbrushes out, and had a wee crafty half hour instead ... don't know why but I ended up making a New Home card! Though I'm not sure how watertight the roof is on the tall skinny house if there's flowers growing out the top Hahaha!

This is one of High Hopes older stamps - coloured with a mixture of promarkers and copics and some stickles added to the pink bits. DP is also oldie stuff from Papermania.

The Corrosive challenge #134 - purple passion
Totally Papercrafts #87 - animals
Sketch flipped from Sweet Sketch Wednesday #122
Simon Says ... Sparkle and Bling
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Fab'n Funky #93 - dies/punches (I used a Woodware flower punch)

BTW, you should check out Charmed Cards and Crafts for an amazing candy!

Lucy's Birthday card

2011-10-09T19:56:00.003+01:00

I promise to get these stamps off my table! I've a couple of days off and am planning to paint my living room over the next couple of days, so you might get some peace from me anyway!

This card was made for my Aunt's Aunt! I think she she's in her late 80's, but I don't see why she can't have a fun card!
I must admit that I bought these stamps after seeing how Jen used them on her blog - I{heart}2stamp - if you've never visited her, you should pop over, she makes the most gorgeous creations! (The way I've used my stamps on this card was directly inspired by Jen's card Here)

Popped my wee bunny up on dimensionals and added some clear gloss and glitter to his nose and tail. Whimsey 'wish list' stamp. Martha Stewart butterfly punch. White embroidery thread. Green gems. Silver peel off sentiment and letters.

I took loads of inspiration for this card from this week's Catered Crop Challenge FTR22: Colours (yellow, green); Medium (distress inks - I distressed round my yellow DP but it doesn't really show up in the photo); Embellies (gems, glitter, thread); Technique (tie a bow); Tools (rounded corner)
Sketch from Sketch Saturday #176
Sweet Stampin - stitching
Totally Papercrafts #87 - anmials
Papertake Weekly - anything goes (plus added option of something punched)
Crafty Cardmakers #53 - anything goes
By the Cute and Girly (October) - anything goes

Bunnies and Butterflies

2011-10-09T19:19:00.002+01:00

ETA: Top 3 at Unscripted Sketches!

I must admit I was a bit stumped by Color Throwdown's challenge this week - blues and browns are my favourite colour combo but I've no dark brown paper so, after spending aaaaages trying to find some in my stash, I gave up and just coloured in a border round my image with a copic marker. I also couldn't find any of this bright blue, so had to go with a more duck egg blue tint. Then I couldn't figure out how to get the pale yellow in, until I remembered this wee High Hopes sun. So in the end, this simple wee card took such a long time to make, way more faffing about than crafting!

Colour combo from Color Throwdown #162
My Mum's Craft Shop - all creatures great and small
One Stop Craft #152 - anything goes
One Stitch at a Time #83 - anything goes
Paper Sundaes #90 - favourite colour combo (blues and browns)
Speedy the Cat's challenge #76 - no designer DP
Sketch from Unscripted Sketches #127

Way to Go!

2011-10-09T18:20:00.000+01:00

I had a lovely wee afternoon playing with my new stamps from The Cats Pyjamas, so apologies in advance for the usual Sunday blogger overload.

This wee card is nice and simple ... all I had to do was colour in my little aeroplane and pop it up on dimensionals. Added some glitter to the white bits on the plane and clear gloss to his goggles. Sentiment from Paper Smooches.

Bling it On (October) - no patterened DPs
Try it On Tuesday - make it minimal
Simon Says ... Sparkle and bling
Stamp TV Free for All Friday - Get Krafty and Red
Totally Papercrafts #87 - animals

Ryan's Birthday card #02!

2011-10-08T21:41:00.000+01:00

This is the second card I've made for my nephew ... I made one weeks ago (for my Mum) and then faffed around and left it to the last minute to make my own! But luckily the postie delivered these new stamps from The Cats Pyjamas this morning so it was the perfect excuse to get some ink on them!

Coloured with promarkers and then lots of paper piecing done for the little plane. DP from My Minds Eye (I think). Clear gloss added to his goggles and nose, and orange stickles to the plane. Orange button and brown Baker's twine.

Sketch from Mojo Monday #209
Paper Sundaes #89 - lots of layers
Divas by Design #12 - Button Up
Simon Says ... sparkle and bling
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Totally papercrafts #87 -animals

Uncle Derek's birthday card

2011-10-04T21:46:00.000+01:00

Made this for my Uncle's birthday, but I wish I'd done a bit more planning as I would have paperpieced my wee truck in a slightly darker paper.

This is one of the first Stampin Up sets I ever bought, not sure where cupcake is from. Added clear gloss to the windows and glitter to the cupcake icing. Taylored Expressions stars dies. Echo Park DP (I think! ... too tired to get up and go look!) Silver peel off letters and some mini-bling to finish.

Sketch from Card Positioning Systems CPS#238
Friends of Speedy TV #01 - masculine card
Simon Says Stamp ... anything goes
Paper Sundaes #89 - lots of layers
The Crafty Pad #141 - one for the boys

Krafty chickens!

2011-10-02T20:18:00.002+01:00

When I was at the craft show in Belfast last spring I saw this grid stamp and thought it looked like wire and would be good to use with my misc. chicken stamps ... and have never had ink on it till now!

Another rubbish dark photo I'm afraid ... my green embossed paper is a lovely lime green and sparkly. Sponged some clouds using Bev's cloud stencil which I love (here's the link to her template). Coloured with promarkers and orange stickles added to their beaks and some flowersoft for the grass. Also added a ribbon loop to the side with the wee scrap that was left over from making my bow.

Right that's me away now for a cuppa and settle down for the rest of X-Factor and then Downton Abbey, perfect Sunday evening viewing!

Flipped the sketch from I{heart}2stamp - October
Simon Says Stamp ... anything goes
CAS-ual Fridays CFC22 - loop a ribbon
Took my Autumnal colour theme from Easy Craft Project's last challenge #48 - autumn

For the Love birds

2011-10-02T19:59:00.001+01:00

Sorry, couldn't get a decent pic of this wee Wedding Acceptance card - while the rest of the UK were bathed in sunshine, we were covered in rain clouds, so its been a bit of a dark day! You'll have to trust me when I say its not as drab looking IRL!
Though there was a fabulous bright spot this morning when Ireland won their world cup rugby game and are through to the 1/4 finals for the first time!

I've never made a wedding acceptance card and was a bit stumped until I saw the inspiration card over at Case Study challenge #59. The bride had quite a non-traditional invitation, so I felt justified in not covering my card in hearts and soppiness!

Stamp from Art Gone Wild; Papermania DP; copic markers; diamonds; orange stickles; silver peel off border and lettering.

Other challenges:

Charisma Cardz #39 - Love
Simon Says Stamp ... anything goes
Stampavie #152 - Love

Dream Valley Challenge #17

2011-10-02T12:00:00.016+01:00

Our new challenge at Dream Valley is

Monochrome

Jodie very kindly sent me this Witchy Tilda recently, so I thought I'd try to go with a monochrome black theme (though a smidgen of green did creep in!)

Popped some wee plastic bats up on dimensionals, and a wee silver web in the corner. Also added some gems which I coloured black with my copic marker. Sentiment is from an oldie Stampin Up set.

Don't forget you've a fortnight to play along - make anything you like, doesn't have to be a card, just as long as it's monochrome ... you could win yourself a voucher from One Stop Card Crafts!

Challenges I'd like to enter this card in:

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #154 - Halloween
Crafts 4 Eternity #r39 - anything goes
Crafty Catz #102 - things with wings
Simon Says Stamp ... anything goes

Cake and ice cream!

2011-10-01T20:59:00.003+01:00

Well our 'Indian Summer' held true to form ... its been a gorgeous sunny and warm week - I finish work at 2pm on a Friday, and the rain started at 1.30pm and hasn't stopped since! Ah well, at least it gave me a chance to play with my crafty stash, and it is International Card Making Day after all!
(Pop back on Sunday if you get a chance for the next Dream Valley challenge)

I won a wee voucher to the Stamp Man recently and blew some of it on a Tim Holtz distressing sponge thingy, wish I'd bought one of these ages ago, I think I now like distressing! So much easier when you have the right tools, but I think I'll have to practice and get a bit braver with laying on the colour!

I haven't tidied my stash for ages, so my little Henry Mouse was close to hand, as was my Echo Park DP! Sentiment from Paper Smooches. Clear gloss and glitter for icing.

Coloured with promarkers.

Sketch from Clean and Simple #160
Paper Sundaes #88 - anything goes
Sparkles Forum Challenge #21 - something that sparkles (my icing and gems)
Critter Challenge #84 - anything goes
I love Promarkers #85 - Get Distressing
Simon Says ... Anything Goes

ribbit, ribbit!

2011-09-27T21:54:00.000+01:00

We're having the most beautiful weather this week, a real Indian Summer! Typical ... every child in the country is back to school and every adult is back to work (well judging by the rush hour traffic anyway!)

This wee card uses some bright happy Echo Park DP and my wee High Hopes froggy. Coloured with a green promarker and Smooch Illuminate added to his 'spots'.

Sketch from Sketch Saturday #174
Lexi's Creations #49 - card for a child
Critter challenge #84 - anything goes
Wee Memories WMC69 - use patterned DP

An orange flowery whale

2011-09-25T19:47:00.000+01:00

An orange flowery whale, well why not! It's blogland and I'll have my whale whatever colour I like!

Ingredients: Whale from High Hopes; Echo Park DP; sentiment from Elzybells; Taylored Expressions wave die; yellow bling; orange ribbon; clear gloss and glitter; chalked sky; corner rounder punch

Creatalicious challenge #26- anything goes
Colour combo from The Play Date Cafe PDCC100
Wee Memories #69 - use patterned DP
Simon Says Stamp - use dies and/or punches

Xmas card #11

2011-09-24T22:07:00.003+01:00

Ohhh I'm way behind in my Christmas cards this year, I had more than twice as many made this time last year! I love this little High Hopes Ski Bum Monkey from last year ... have you seen this year's new releases yet?, they're soooo cute!

Coloured with copics and clear gloss added to his eyes and skis, stickles for a bit of sparkle and some Arlene's True Snow. Also dotted some white enamel accents round the edge of my DP. Sentiment from Paper Smooches.

High Hopes #118 - Home for the Holidays
The Corrosive Challenge #133 - punches and / or dies - I used a Marianne Designe snowflake die
Critter challenge #83 - 1 image, 2 DPs, 3 embellies (I used a snowflake, twine and gem), 1 sentiment
Sketch from ICS #132
Craft Your Days Away #29 - pink, brown and blue

Frogtastic!

2011-09-24T21:31:00.000+01:00

We've had a beautiful sunny day today, got all my paving power hosed today, so cutting out these little froggies wasn't easy with wee tired hands! But it was good to get it done, hoping tomorrow for another sunny day and get my borders all sorted out. We've a corner filled with marigolds that are threatening to drop all their seeds and take over the entire garden!

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge is to use the picture of the onsie as the inspiration... I took the pink as my main colour and the green as a highlight, and then added some texture and scallops to reflect the ruffle.
Allsorts #122 - Keep it simple
Sketch from Card Patterns #134
Simon Says Stamp .. use dies and/or punches - I used a Taylored Expressions scalloped edge die and a small circular nestabilities die
House of Gilli #16 - embossing

Very Busy Birthday card

2011-09-23T18:21:00.003+01:00

Whoo Hoo its Friday! We usually have a few wee drinkies with a couple of friends tonight and I can't wait ... its been 'one of those' weeks, so it will be nice just to chill out!

By the way, I hate to say it but winter is definately on the way booo hooo! ... all the Canadian geese have been arriving all week for their winter holidays! There was a big 'M' flew across the sky above our house the other night and I counted 54 geese before they disappeared from view!

My birthday card stash is very low, so I had a root through my stamps and came across this wee Henry Mouse that I haven't used in a while. The card ended up VERY busy, but I think I like it!

Coloured with promarkers; paper pieced cupcake wrapper and added clear gloss and glitter to the icing; Martha Stewart butterflies; Marianne Design swirl dies; sentiment from Paper Smooches.

Crafty Catz #101 - Autumn (I used the darker colours of Autumn)
By the Cute and Girly September challenge 'All things bright and beautiful' ... so I went for all creatures great and small
Simon Says Stamp ... Dies to Die for

Sketch inspired by #6 from Sketch'n Stash (their challenge #70 this week is to use an old sketch, though I ended up tilting the scalloped panel) - my old unloved stash on this card is my flowers and swirls

Hops....

2011-09-22T21:35:00.000+01:00

Sorry, no cards to show you, but thought I'd let you know that my two favourite stamp makers - High Hopes AND Paper Smooches - both have separate blog hops on with their new releases and you can hop and win new stamps! Too good to resist in my book, I'm off to so some hopping and fingers crossed to win some new goodies ... see you there!

Crafty Cardmakers DT call...

2011-09-21T19:06:00.001+01:00

Crafty Cardmakers is now under new management, by none other than the lovely Lin (my team mate on Dream Valley Challenges DT) She's looking for a diverse range of skills and talents, so go on give it a go, you might surprise yourself! Click HERE for more details on how to apply (the DT call ends on 2nd October, so you still have a bit of time to get your sample card made!)

I love Roo!

2011-09-18T18:58:00.000+01:00

I do love little Roo from Winnie the Pooh, but if I'm honest Tigger is my favourite!
I thought I'd give my High Hopes stamps a break and out came my Paper Smooches ones instead ... you'd think I haven't got any other stamps than these but for some reason these two brands just really speak to me.

I took my colour combo from the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge which was to use this pic as the inspiration:

Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday challenge #68- no patterned DP
Sketch from Sweet Sunday #135
Creatalicious challenge #26 - anything goes

Dream Valley Challenge #16

2011-09-18T12:00:00.063+01:00

Time for a new challenge over at Dream Valley and this week it's ....

Buttons

Now I know that sounds easy, but I think I'm 'button-challenged' and find it really hard to use them on my cards! In the end after a LOT of faffing about, I just used one as a wee accent in the bottom corner! Upload your card to Dream Valley and have a wee look at some of the fab cards from the DT (... this week's sponsor is Digis with Attitude)

The image in my card is an older High Hopes image ... 'Dad's Catch'. I don't normally do anything on the inside of my card, but I'd coloured up Pelican's Post and had no room on the front for him! And I've Jodie from Oz to thank for introducing me to raffia lace as she sent me the most beautiful card and it had some on it, so of course I couldn't resist getting some of my own! (You should pop over to Jodie's blog to see her gorgeous cards when you get the chance, they're absolute stunners)

Other challenges:

Cute Card Thursday #182 - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp ... inspired by a song - what about 'Gone Fishin' by Louis Armstrong for this one!
Fab'n Funky #90 - Bingo - I chose the top line ... embellishment (bling), button and stamp
Creative Inspirations #129 - anything goes
The Crafty Pad #139 - diamonds

Ryan's Birthday card

2011-09-17T22:24:00.003+01:00

It's my wee nephew's birthday next month, so thought I'd get a head start as I've a couple of cards to make for him.

This one uses a wee High Hopes robot ... and an as yet uninked stamp, Robot in Rocket. Coloured both with promarkers and added some clear gloss and glitter to the little cupcake, and red stickles to his party hat. I found this silver peel off corner embellie in my stash and then added some grey pearls. Echo Park DP.

Oh by the way, there's a new Christmas release on the way from High Hopes ... pop over to their blog for some sneak peeks before the release and blog hop on Thursday. Plus find out how you can win some of the new stamps on THIS post.

Sketch ispired by Sunday Sketch and Stamp #72 - though I had to flip it as my rocket would only fit into the bottom corner
Top Tip Tuesday #51 - Birthday Time
Tuesday Throwdown #66 - pearls
Use it Tuesday #15 - use an uninked stamp
I love Promarkers #83 - travel / transport
Simon Says Stamp .. inspired by a song or film, so this one could be "I Robot"

Jacqui's Birthday card

2011-09-13T21:49:00.000+01:00

This wee card is for my 'old' boss in work. Its another rubbish pic as its such a dark night, can't believe how quickly the nights are already drawing in! And we did get some quite windy weather, but sometimes I think the weathermen get a tad bit over-excited as our weather is usually so boring!

My colour theme kinda chose itself as I wanted to play along in the icopic challenge which is to colour a full range from light to dark and my sadly depleted copics meant that I had no choice but to choose green!

iCopic Lover #47 - high contrast
Papertake Weekly- things with wings
The Crafty Pad #138 - Goodbye summer (use autumal colours)
Critter Challenge #82 - photo inspiration (I used the colours and have trees on my DP)
Lexi's Creations #48 - Autumn
Sketch n'stash #70 - free choice of sketch - I chose #32. I haven't bought any new stash for a while, so my 'old' stash on this card are the big gems, just coloured them with my copics to match the colour theme.

Xmas Card #10

2011-09-11T21:00:00.000+01:00

Couldn't get a decent pic of this card ... its been a dull windy day and we're supposed to be bracing ourselves tonight and tomorrow for some gale force winds when the tail end of Hurricane Katia skirts by!

This card uses another High Hopes stamp from their release for last Christmas ... Beary Good Friends. Coloured with promarkers and some sparkle added to their hats, scarves and gloves. I found some Arlenes True Snow stuff at the back of my cupboard and sprinkled some glitter on that too. Silver stars and pink pearls to finish.

I love Promarkers #82 - metal embellishment
Papertake Weekly - anything goes
Sketch from Sketch Saturday #172
Oldie but a Goodie - Christmas

I'm Back!

2011-09-10T21:30:00.003+01:00

Well we had a lovely time in Donegal with every variation of weather there could be... sunshine, showers, blinding rain, gales, and then back to sunshine! Do you want to see where we were?

Click on the pic for a larger view - We stayed in one of the wee white houses on the far penninsula. And yes, we did walk the length of the beach and back, though the tide nearly caught us on the hop at one point and caused a bit of excitement! Ruby had a blast and loved the beach, she's done nothing but sleep since she came home!

Usually the only other visitors on the beach were ....

And I found the perfect little house for WHEN I win the Lottery ...

You can keep your big fancy houses, all I want is a wee cosy one with whitewashed walls and a stable door!

It was a tad windy when this pic was taken, but I always have 'holiday' hair when I go away anywhere and it takes on a mind of its own (not in a good way LOL!)

I had a whole week with no crafting, so it was a bit hit and miss to get my mojo going again! So I had a play with the Paper Smooches stamps I won recently and made this baby card ...

I paper pieced my little ellies and there's also a wee heart versamarked on the BG but doesn't really show up in the pic.

Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge Week 72~~Use a Punch (I used a corner rounder punch)
Stamp Something (their final challenge) - anything goes
CAS-ual Fridays CFC19- paper piecing
Sketch from i{heart}2stamp September

Dream Valley Challenge #15

2011-09-04T12:00:00.020+01:00

I've pre-scheduled this post as I'm on my jollydays, so I'm hoping that when this posts I'll be dandering along a sunny beach in Donegal! Though the 'sunny' bit is a tad unlikely ... apparently we've had the least sunny summer for over 20 years! (ETA Oops ... wrote this post and forgot to set the date for posting doh!)

Our new challenge over at Dream Valley is to use this photo as your inspiration ...

We've 2 prizes up for grabs this fortnight from One Stop Card Crafts and Sassy Studio Designs, so play along and you never know your luck!

For my card I've used some old decoupage papers that I found in my stash and some silver peel off letters. I thought the flowers were so pretty that it didn't really need any fancy DP and just kept it nice and simple.

(Oh, don't forget that you've a fortnight to play along in our challenge)

Crazy Bunny!

2011-08-31T21:23:00.000+01:00

I was lucky enough to recently win a set of stamps from Paper Smooches and they arrived in the post today ... I've been doing a bit of painting round the house, but of course this evening my new stamps took priority!

I paper pieced my crazy bunny using some Echo Park DP scraps and then paperpieced his teeth and eyes too.
Sentiment is an oldie from Stampin Up.

Sketch from Papertake Weekly
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes (they have a fab hop on this week with an AMAZING stash of goodies for the winner!)
The Pink Elephant TPE114 - paper piecing

Xmas Card #09

2011-08-28T21:46:00.000+01:00

(Last post of the evening.. I promise!)
This is another wee High Hopes image ... 'South Pole Pals' and it certainly didn't use up too much ink! Though I wish I'd used a bigger nestie for the panel behind these pals, but I'd stuck it down before I thought, and once its stuck, its stuck for good!! No re-positionable glue for me!

Old DPs from Dovecraft and sentiment from Paper Smooches.

Creative Inspirations #126 - text me (there's Christmassy text on my pink panel behing the pals)
Divas by Design #09 - Christmas in August

Sketch from Midnight Madness #118
Stampavie and More #150 - Christmas in summer
Crafts 4 Eternity R#34 - Christmas

Flowery Doggy card

2011-08-28T21:22:00.000+01:00

What do you think? Too many colours and patterns? I'm not sure yet!
Stamp is an oldie from Penny Black and Echo Park DPs.
Popped my purple panel up on dimensionals and then the doggy popped up again.

Sketch from Penny Black Saturday Challenge #166
A Spoon Full of Sugar #162 - Happy Birthday
Penny Black at Allsorts (August) - free and easy

Quickest card EVER!

2011-08-28T20:56:00.000+01:00

Apologies in advance for blogger overload tonight ... other than Sunday lunch and taking Ruby to the park, I've done diddly-squat all day! Hee hee, its been great!

This wee card was one of those that kinda made itself! CAS-ual Friday challenge #17 is to use stickers on your project (I used silver peel offs), and once I combined it with the Square Sketch Challenge in the Moxie Fab World that was it basically done!

Though I later changed my mind about the yellow bits in the flower and added some clear and purple bling instead.

Party robot

2011-08-28T16:43:00.000+01:00

I'm on a mission to get ink on all the stamps that I already have, and hadn't quite got round to this little High Hopes robot. Coloured him with promarkers and added these wee metallic silver stars from last year's Christmas stash. Basic Grey 'Oliver' DP.

BTW, haven't made it to the Balloon Festival yet, its a bit wild and windy this afternoon, but the forecast is better for tomorrow. So we're just having a nice lazy Sunday afternoon instead, and hoping to get to see the balloons tomorrow!

Sketch from Fussy and Fancy Friday #44
Paper Cutz #106 - stars
Basic Grey #51 - anything goes
Crazy 4 Challenges C4C102 - male
Top Tip Tuesday #48 - masculine. .... my top tip is to keep your 6x6 paper pads in a resealable sandwich bag, that way you can also keep your little tiny scraps with the matching papers, and it keeps them nice and tidy too!
Cards for Men #17 - anything goes

Hey There!

2011-08-27T21:41:00.000+01:00

Yippee, its a nice long weekend here as we've a Bank Holiday on Monday, and we're hoping to get along to the International Balloon Festival tomorrow ... I've always wanted to see a hot air balloon up close, so I can't wait. Fingers crossed for a bit of calm weather, but no, I won't be going up in one ... not at £195 a pop! (Think of all the crafty goodies you could buy with that!)

CASE Study challenge #54 is to make a card in your own signature style with your favourite supplies. So it was good to get a wee bit of time to play along .. I think my signature style is mostly CAS and cutsie, and I've used my favourite goodies here too ... die cuts, copic markers, gorgeous Echo Park DPs, flower punch and card candy.

Sketch from Simon Says Stamp
Papertake Weekly - use dies (I used a Taylored Expressions scallop border die)
icopic lover #44 - colour an embellishment - I coloured my card candy pink to match the horse's noseband

High Hopes Challenge #116

2011-08-23T13:00:00.057+01:00

Time for a new challenge over at High Hopes, and this is my last one as GDT :o(
But I've had a lovely summer colouring all of their gorgeous images, so thanks for having me on the team!

Anyway our new theme this fortnight is
Autumn colours
... play along and you could win some new High Hopes stamps of your choice! (Don't have any HH stamps? ... check their website for your local supplier!)

I think maybe I've gone a wee bit dark in my colour choice and I should have had a bit of orange or something in there to lift it. Plus my copics conspired against me (again) and my light grey markers decided to run out just as I started colouring my little ellie. Popped her head/trunk up on dimensionals, added clear gloss to her pretty nails and Smooch Illuminate to her bow.

I also had a wee go at making a frame for my image and popped it up on dimensionals too.

Other Challenges:

One Stitch at a Time #76 - bling it up
Allsorts #117 - you've been framed
Sketch from A Gem of a Challenge #28

Stripe overload!

2011-08-22T21:56:00.002+01:00

Quick post tonight ... I'm knackered after a long day at work and then spent this evening down in Mum's with the family and my 7yr old nephew. We had a very interesting chat when I learnt that apparently Croatia is just down the coast of Northern Ireland (we then got the atlas out!) and he baked us some 'delicious' cookies with the help of my SIL (...anyone got an indigestion tablet LOL!)

Anyway, this wee card stars a fab digi that Paula at Pjay Scrap-Art designed a while back .... coloured her with promarkers to match my dp and popped her up on dimensionals. The purple strips at the bottom are ribbons. Birthday Wish List stamp from Whimsy Stamps.

The Ribbon Girl - use ribbon
The Corrosive Challenge #130 - Girlie

Colour combo inspired by Color Throwdown #155, though I added in some purple too
Sketch from Sketch Saturday #169

Happy Flowers and Happy Roses!

2011-08-21T22:18:00.000+01:00

This is just a wee CAS card ... paper pieced some flowers from the Stampendous 'Happy Flowers' set, added some card candy, bling and googly eyes and that was it done!
(scroll down for challenges I'd like to enter this card into...)

We had a very mixed bag of weather today, but the rain mostly stopped while we went for a visit to our local agricultural college's garden open day this afternoon....

Here's my Mum among the roses, which unfortunately have been beaten down a bit by the rain!

And there were loads of stunningly beautiful dhalias too ....

Really Reasonably Ribbon August Challenge - CAS + ribbon
Creative Card Crew - hand made flowers
Try it on Tuesday - anything goes
Fussy and Fancy Friday #43 - use at least 3 of your favourite embellishments ... I've used bling, bakers twine and card candy

Dream Valley Challenge #14

2011-08-21T12:00:00.037+01:00

Our new challenge at Dream Valley is this gorgeous zingy colour combo .... Beautiful hot summery colours, but I thought these colours would also work well as autumn colours, so I inked up this wee image from Hambo stamps .... I hadn't even realised until I went to colour it that there was a wee boy hiding in the middle!

You've a fortnight to play along, pop over to Dream Valley Challenges to upload your card and have a wee look at the fab creations from the rest of the DTwhile you're there! Oh and you could win $10 to spend at Stitchy Bear Stamps just for playing along.

Popped my image up on dimensionals, and coloured with a mixture of copics and promarkers.

I used the cloud template from Bev's blog and loved the effect when I chalked it up, much better than the one I was using before!

Echo Park DPs.

Other Challenges:
Make it Colourful #31 - 'ground' your subject
Wee Memories #64 - masculine
Sketch from Cupcake Craft

Amy's mega givaway ....

2011-08-20T22:04:00.000+01:00

If you love your DP as much as I love mine, then you need to pop over to Amy's blog as she's got a THOUSAND sheets of paper to split between 5 lucky winners and some gorgeous stamps are in the pot too! Wow!

Scrapbook Page #2

2011-08-15T21:41:00.003+01:00

This is my second effort at a scrapbook page - how anyone manages to make one of the big 12x12" pages is beyond me, these wee 6x6" ones are scary enough! Sorry for the really rubbish pic but its pouring with rain and a horrible dark old evening. Oh yes ..... Summer!

I had imagined to get the whole song title in the pic, but ran out of room! (You'll be singing Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken, lay a little egg for me the rest of the night now LOL!)

The star of the photo is my gorgeous wee niece Alex in my Uncle's garden with his stone chicken - it used to live in my Granda's garden and I loved it when I was a kid too! I'd used this chicken stamp just recently and it hadn't quite made it off my table, but I thought it would be good to use with the photo. Popped my chick up on dimensionals and added clear gloss and glitter to the balloon.

The Crafty Pad #134 - cute and girly

Sketch inspired by Midnight Madness MMSC116 (I flipped the sketch and had my chicken to the bottom corner instead of the top)
Stampavie and more #149 - girly
Sweet Stampin - down on the farm
Bling it on #6 - A (Alex), B (Balloon), C (Chicken)

Xmas card #08

2011-08-14T19:43:00.000+01:00

Ohhh, how can it be Sunday evening already! not fair!
I'ts been a funny old day, some very heavy showers and inbetween gorgeous sunshine. I thought I would power hose my front driveway this morning, got a couple of feet done and then the blasted thing sprung a leak, and that was the end of that! So back to my crafty table I went, my mojo's been MIA all week, so it was good to turn out something that I actually liked!

This one uses another fab High Hopes image ... Ski Bum Monkey - coloured him with promarkers and copics, added glitter to the trim of his hat, and white flower soft to his bauble. Sentiment from Paper Smooches. Tied my double bow using my Bow Easy. Marianne Creatibles snowflake die and Taylored Expressions scalloped edge die. Very old DP from DCWV (I think). Purple bling from stash.

i{heart}2stamp August sketch
One Stitch at a Time #75 - anything goes
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #147 - Christmas

High Hopes Challenge #115

2011-08-09T13:00:00.026+01:00

Our new challenge over at High Hopes Stamps is an easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy one ...

Anything Goes!

... so you've no excuses not to play along! (You must use a High Hopes image to be eligible to win the fabby prize of some new High Hopes new stamps of your choice - check the blog for your local suplier)
Upload your card at High Hopes, and see the fabulous creations from the rest of the DT. (If you get a chance you should scroll down the posts as there's some great tutorials between challenges too)

For my card I used this cute Couples Cruise, and thought it would be perfect for a new baby card. Coloured with a mixture of Promarkers and Copics, and popped a few layers up on dimensionals. Echo Park DP. Added stickles to the giraffes and to the wave, and clear gloss on their eyes - I very nearly gave them googley eyes, but I was one short! Chalked clouds in the BG.

Thanks cherry much!

2011-08-07T19:51:00.002+01:00

(Sorry, couldn't resist it!)
I won some of these glittery chipboard fruits aaaages ago and had no idea what to do with them ... but when I saw the sketch from CPS they immediately came to mind. Wish I could get a better pic, they're fabulously sparkly!

Sketch from CPS #230
The Crafty Pad #133 - gone fruity
Stampin for the Weekend - spots and dots