My 'Little' Brother's Birthday 21/12

My 'little' brother is now over 50 and over 6ft tall but he's the youngest of the three of them and I can clearly remember the day he was born. He was born at home and although my other brothers had been put to bed I was allowed to stay up and watch ballet on (fuzzy black & white!) TV.  My Dad came downstairs just after 10pm & told me I could go up and see the new baby who was by then being bathed by the midwife (in the washbasin) - Apparently, I took one look & said "Oh Not Another Boy!" and stomped off to bed very disappointed.

Anyway, enough of the history lesson......... this is the Birthday card I made for him I had to keep it simple as I had little time to play but I quite like the clean look of it. The rugby player image is a LOTV die cut square - note the 'lumpy' grass I coloured instead of leaving well alone! The stripey paper is Papermania Secret Garden, the 'Cheers' is from my stash (fab for Male cards, I think) and all are layered with silver holographic card from Home Bargains. I layered the silver Craftwork cards sentiment with some of the 'Cheers' paper and foam bits to lift it a bit.

Sorry for the poor photo but I'd like to enter into :-

Scrapbook Sisters - It's a Man's World
PartyTime Tuesday - Anything Goes
OSAAT - Anything Goes
Craft Your Days Away - Punch it Out
Crafty Emma's Store - Anything Goes
Allsorts Blog - Anything Goes

Thank you for looking!

Margaret x

Another Nephew Another card!

I think these LOTV die cuts are perfect for me as they have covered most boys interests and I have lots of brothers & nephews. Andrew is my nephew most interested in computers so this is what I chose for him. Sorry for the poor photo.

The design is a test of my cutting and matting abilities which, even though it might not look it - are improving! I've had the spotty paper and the blue card for ages so, sorry, I can't tell you where they came from. The **star paper was a recent freebie but I need to check where from? The silver stars and sentiment are Craftwork cards. **Thank you Claire Yes, the starry paper is a freebie from Donna at Bearly Mine Designs

I'd like to enter the following challenges with this card:

Cute Card Thursday - The Blues!
Crafty Pad - Anything Goes
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
Lexi's Creations - Blue and Silver
OSSAT - Old Stash New Stash

Thank you for looking

Margaret x

Flourgirl's MSE Challenge Winter Wonderland Sketch

I first came to serious cardmaking as a hobby through MSE where we take it in turns to set the challenge and Karen set us a lovely sketch to use with the sub plot 'Winter Wonderland'. I knew what I wanted to do but events conspired against me to finish it in time. Ah well!

The image came from my SIL & I scanned it to get the right proportions for my card, the marks you can see are the skaters traces which if I use this again I will remove 'cos they now look like dirty marks. The blue snowy paper is Pink Petticoat. For the bottom paper I tried to use glitter card but it looked far too pink! So, I embossed a piece of card with my Cuttlebug dotty folder, sprayed it with spraymount and covered it in glamourdust. I gave the bottom of the image the same treatment to blend. The sentiment is Craftwork cards, ribbon from my stash and the snowflakes are table confetti.

Thank you for looking......

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
Flourgirls MSE challenge - Just in case I'm not too late!
The Crafty Pad - Snowflakes
OSAAT - Glitz it up
Craft Your Days Away - Texture
Our Daily Bread - Snowflakes
One Stop Craft - Christmas Cuties
Alphabet Challenge - e for embossing
Bah Humbug - Feeling the blues
Karber Weekly - Sparkle
A Crafty Little Place - Anything Goes

Christmas Is Coming!!! Fancy £35 To Spend At CSN?

 As promised Claire is bringing us yet another giveaway from those exceptionally generous folks over at CSN.
As many of you are aware, CSN have a number of fabulous online stores where you can find everything from unique lighting, to modern bedroom furniture, or great cookware!
This time they're offering someone the chance to win a £35 CSN gift voucher. Why not pop along to Claire's blog "What shall I make today" for full details of how you might be a winner.
Ends 8/12/2010

My First Christmas Card Make of 2010

Here is the first Chrismas card I've made this year prompted by Kelly's (KMS26) challenge over on MSE.
I coloured the lovely image with my Copic pens, added plenty of glamour dust to her fur trimmed outfit and doodled some gold on her shopping bag. The red papers are Pink Petticoat, the white card is cuttlebug dotty embossed, the vellum and ribbon are of unknown origin (I've had them so long!) all cut with my MS Doily Lace Punch. The glitter card backing is from Home Bargains and I made the sentiment myself using SU scalloped punches.

I'd like to enter this card into:
KMS26 - MSE Challenge
Pollycraft - Glttery Christmas
A Spoonful of Suger - Snow/Snowflakes
Stampin' with the Dragon - Holiday Song - White Christmas
Totally Gorguss - Traditional Christmas Colours
Paper Pretties - Embossing
Creative inspirations - Anything Christmassy

Thank you for looking

Margaret

Same Image - Different Team!

I know I run the risk of being boring 'cos I'm not very imaginative but here's another footballing card. I love  LOTV images, especially for male cards and as I have 3 brothers all with sons if I keep going long enough I will have used them all.  .
My brothers and I all support Blackpool FC so I chose Tangerine (it's not orange!) for this card  for my middle brothers birthday yesterday.  As I've done before I managed to stick BFC's badge onto the football. The green paper covers a multitude of sports - keep an eye out for it in December when my rugby fan youngest brother has his birthday! The gold sparkle card was from Home Bargains The orange paper is from the SU sweet pea range. Card candy and sentiment are from Craftwork Cards and the ribbon was from my stash.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
pixieduststudiopixiechallenge.blogspot.com/2010/11/challenge-48-its-all-about-men-boys-in.html
digiswithattitudechallenges.blogspot.com/ Digi's with Attitude! Recipe
http://liliofthevalleythursdaychallenge.blogspot.com/
thesecretcraftersaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/2010/11/challenge- Sparkle and Shine



Thank you for looking
Margaret

Choccy's Challenge - Almost Done!

I rarely, if ever, make a card unless I know exactly who it's for and there's a deadline! This card is the exception. I just loved the autumness (is that a real word?) in the colours of this backing paper. It looked so rich, pink, tawny browns, green & a touch of cream. I just had to use it. The colours were reflected in the LOTV image of a girl and her dog on the swing. Some gold mirri card added to the glow and I added a flower and a gem in similar colours. I used glitter chalk on the cushion and the flower.  I haven't included a sentiment yet as Idon't know when I'll use it but it will be placed at the top left hand side of the image and be matted in the same colours.

I would like to enter it in the following challenges:
Creative craftworld.blogspot.com Choccy's Challenge
C.ES challenges.blogspot.com/ - Forever Autumn
Ssdschallenge.blogspot.com - Fall

Thanks for looking
Margaret

Two Versions of the Same Card!

I made this card for lovely Karen (aka Flourgirl) for her birthday which was yesterday. Hope you had a wonderful day!

The pic above is not the final version of the card, that pic (which is very bad) will be below if Blogger plays ball.

I started with the very cute LOTV girl with a bouquet die cut. I die cut it again with a scalloped nestie and matted it onto a plain pink circle and a pretty doiley. I used the same pink card to make base of the butterfly, the Craftwork cards sentiment and the main backing piece. The green & pink backing paper was a gift so I can't tell you any more about it. Version 2 of the card came because I find it hard to leave a blank space! I also didn't like the bow on the side so I made a little hanging tag to decorate the bottom left corner.

I would like to enter this card in the following 

stampchallenges.blogspot.com/2010/10/stamp-something-with-some-pink.html

http://digistamps4joy.blogspot.com/

http://www.craftyourpassionchallenges.blogspot.com/

Thanks for looking
Margaret

A Blog Award!

The lovely Dawn has passed this blog award on to me - Thank you Dawn.

I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do with it but I believe I tell you three things about me and pass it on to 5 other bloggers. Oh! and if I and the folk I pass it onto do it right  we get a $5.00 Gift Certificate for Digi's With Attitude!

The picture on my sidebar links you back to their blog that tells how to claim  your $5.

Mmmm....... three things.......

1. I joined Scouts at age 17 so I could be in the Gang Show!

2. I am a pessimist 

3. Despite No 1 above I can neither dance, sing or play a musical instrument!

Now  5 lovely ladies to pass this onto......

Caroline - CT1972

Karen - Flourgirl

Debbie - Paddingtondoo

Sarah - Rainmac

Tams - Rusty

Thanks for reading this bit of fun!

 

Margaret

Want £30 to spend at CSN

Claire's got a £30 giveaway!

Want £30 to spend at CSN

Those lovely folks over at CSN have given Claire the go ahead to do another giveaway for her UK followers. Just in case you didn't know, CSN Stores has six amazing online stores where you can find everything from beautiful wardrobes to cookware to chic lighting pieces!

I've never seen such a range of aprons - I was spoilt for choice.

Follow the link above to join in on Claire's blog.

Overdue Thank You Update...........

The following cards have been on my mantlepiece for a while and I have just realised I should have blogged them ages ago. The ATC and the pink card were summer time Crafty Place swaps and the other two are Thank You cards from my MSE friends that I wanted to share with you they are all so lovely!

This is the ATC Sarah (aka rainmac) made for the Crafty Place topic 'Water'. Just check out the little umbrella charm she included. I love the aqua colours.

This was from Ruth (aka furrypig) for the Crafty Place card swap topic 'Texture'. I love it! I'd never thought of using card candy like that on a scalloped card but you can be sure I will do one day soon! Ruth, I can email you this pic if you'd like it for your records - I think you said you forgot to photograph it before you sent it to me?

Something tells me I should have rotated this first! 

I've had such a struggle to get these photo's here that you'll all just have to risk your necks. This was a thank you card from Mary (aka MaryOP) for a few bits I sent her. Once again, I love the aqua and brown colour mix & how fiddly must it have been to fix that delicate fringe and button?

And finally...........

Isn't this delightful? I've always been wary of using black on cards but this shows how to do it & do it well. It's a fab mix of aqua, brown & black with flowers & pins from Melissa (aka Melissa75). I'm embarrassed to say that I sent Melissa a !!shop bought!! card when she moved house as I was away from home unable to craft and as a 'thank you' she sent me this beauty I was humbled (and very grateful) to receive it.

Thank you also to some of my MSE friends who have sent me little gifts recently for no other reason than they are lovely thoughtful ladies.
Jennie, (aka The Wife) Karen, (aka Flourgirl) & Sarah (aka Rainmac)

Take a bow!
Margaret x

How Old?

Here is the first card I've made since I got back from my holiday and sadly, it's not a very good photo but the card is now in the post so I can't take another. Note to self - (Must ask DH what he did to the camera settings while we were away!) 

My Godson is an Arsenal fan and was the starting point for the card. The image, which now looks a bit too cute for a 28 year old is a LOTV diecut. I coloured the shirt red and covered the original football with a larger one to incorporate the Arsenal logo. The sentiment, gold star and card candy are all from craftwork cards. The gold & red card was from the papermill and the green 'cheers' was from my stash.

I'd like to enter the card in the following challenges:

onestitchatatimechallenge.- All Celebrations
cardsformen.- Anything Goes
The Stampman challenge-8-- Challenge-8-cards-for-men.
fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.com - Keeping it clean and simple
http://robynsfetishchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/challenge-26-surprise-me.html- Challenge-26-surprise-me
 
Hope I've followed all the rules correctly - Thank you for visiting.
Margaret

Thank you Card

Sadly this isn't a brilliant picture but I was in a rush to get the card posted to my friend. It's a thank you card for inviting me to share in her 60th birthday celebrations. There was an art deco theme to her party and this image was on the napkins she used. It was so striking that I wanted to use it on her card so I scanned it. The image was layered onto silver holographic card as was the sentiment which I printed off myself. I used my SU punches and just so it wasn't too flat layered it with sticky pads. 

I think it fits the criteria for the following challenges.

I Did it Creations - Keep it Simple
The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thank you for looking

He ain't heavy!

I made this card for my brother whose main hobby (apart from supporting Blackpool FC) is cycling. His idea of a fun day out is a bike ride and 60 miles plus isn't unusual, I'd think twice about going that far in a car!  When I saw this die cut from LOTV I knew I had to have it. The Tour of Britain cycle race starts this weekend in Rochdale with the first leg finishing in Blackpool before they move on round the country. It's an awesome sight to see the Pelaton whizz past you so if it comes near you do take the time to go & have a look. Anyway, I digress, sorry, the map that I used as backing paper shows the route of the first leg, I matted the die cut onto red card to match his jumper and used the same to back the Craftwork cards sentiment. My SIL said my brother loved the card & instantly recognised the route & why I'd done it so I'm chuffed - job done!

I'd like to enter the card in these challenges:
Lily of the Valley Thursday Challenge - One for the Boys
Crafty Creations challenges - Challenge 84 Transportation
Cards for Men - Challenge 18 Long Summer Days

Thank you for looking!

Fifi Folle's MSE Challenge

In the current MSE challenge Fifi Folle asked us all to go with a Black & White theme, the colours of Newcastle FC. So, even as a Tangerine BFC fan I decided to have a go. I have wanted to do a 9 square  card 'a la Fiddle Fart' for ages and........ Ta Da ........here it is............

Unfortunately, after I'd cut all the squares and set them on their layers it was a bit too big to allow space for a sentiment (lesson learned) so I converted it to an Easel card. Actually, you might have noticed that there isn't a sentiment but as I haven't an immediate use for this card I've left it blank  - for now.

I hope the holographic backing paper is allowed? The 9 squares are a mixture of Pink Petticoat and a freebie download I've had for about 12 months can't remember where from, the 'stops' are from Craftwork Cards.

Thank you for looking.

I've got an Award!

I would like to say a big Thank You to Jaqui (aka PepPop) and Karen (aka Flourgirl) for giving me this award. I feel very honoured that you both thought of me!

Here are the rules of this award....
1. Thank the person who gave you this award. - Thank you Jaqui & Karen.
2. Copy the award and put it on your blog - Done
3. List three things which you love about yourself. -
This is the hard part...........I am dependable - boring, but loyal & dependable,  I try to be kind and I'm modest, as in, not boastful about my acheivements I can't think of anymore.......err ........ I've got nice skin (for my age)
4. Post a picture you love. -

This photo was taken at my niece's wedding 8 years ago, and these are the most important people in my life, my husband, my brothers & my nephews & I love them all.


I am also supposed to pass this on to 5 others but as far as I can tell all the people I would pass it onto have already received it so I'll 'PASS' on that bit if you don't mind.

A Yorkshire Post!

Here is the card I made for my brother in law's birthday. Having known him for over 30 years I was a bit stuck what to do this year but my Sister in law mentioned recently that they miss a lot of good TV because of his obsession with recording cookery programmes. I knew straight away what to do! I'd bought this image in aid of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and as my SIL & BIL live in Leeds it seemed even more appropriate! I coloured it with my Copic pens. It is quite a simple card and I'm sorry I can't remember where the backing paper (a freebie download) came from and the green 'cheers' was something I've had in my stash for years. I do know that the sentiment and card candy are from Craftwork Cards.

I'd like to enter it in the following challenges
ynschallenges - Birthdays
dutchdare-cardchallenges - Anything Goes
donnasdenofcrafts challenge - Green

Thank you for looking
Marg x

Craft Your Days Away

Brand new multicraft challenge blog arriving on 7th August 2010

What a wonderful name for this new challenge blog - wouldn't we all like to do that?

This new blog has been set up following the closure of Magical Crafts and many of the same people are involved so I'm sure it'll be good. Why not go & have a look now so that you are ready for the first fortnightly challenge on 7th August, there's already candy on display to tempt you to follow!

Thank you for your interest.

Pink

Here is a card I have made for my friends birthday. I just love this cute image and what better colour to dress her in than PINK! I used a sakura pen to colour her shoes, the edge of the brim of her hat and the bow on her hat so that they glisten and added a papermania clear gem to the centre of her bow.The backing paper is Pink Petticoat black & white gingham, I added a plain white and a pink stylised flower frill cut with my MS doily lace punch and edged it with ribbon from my stash. The sentiment is from craftwork and is also pink.
I hope my friend likes it !

I would like to enter it in the following challenges -

Crafts and me Challenges - Black Pink & White
Craftaliciouschallenges - Cute
Pollycraft challenge - Bold & Bright
Anyone for Anya - Black White and Pink

Cake, Ribbons & a Cat!

Here is a card I made for the lovely Sue's (Skiergirl) birthday. I started with the LOTV die cut image Thomas with cake surrounded by ribbons and balloons. I layered it onto pink bazzil. the backing papers are both Papermania 'Sweet Nothings' with another separating layer of pink bazzil. The card candy & sentiment are from Craftwork cards. Thank you for looking!

I'd like to enter it into the following challenges:
Crafty Angel - Circles or squares - I've used squares

Quirkycrafts - Ribbons - they are on the image

Creative card crew - Die Cuts - The image is a die cut

Trimmiescraftchallenge - Cake

If you Look Here you too can have the chance to win some stamped images from Katies blog. Runs until 18 July. Good Luck!

Ducktacular Candy!

Just look at this divine Duckie kit which is on offer HERE for a week only. The colours are gorgeous & who could fail to like the cute ducks? Don't worry if you miss out 'cos you will be able to buy the separate bits later if you don't win. If you look carefully you will also spot that there are also some great freebies on offer. Thanks for visiting & Good Luck!

Lilac & Lemon

Over on MSE the lovely Melissa challenged us to make a card using lilac and/or purple and this is my entry.

I started with the pretty lemon & lilac paper that I received in a swap and then tried to match it up, you wouldn't believe how many shades of lilac I found that didn't match! but eventually I settled on the reverse of some whitewashed core'dinations. The stamped image is a LOTV one and I coloured it using my Copic pens.  The sentiment is from craftwork cards. As the format is A5 and the backing paper quite busy I decided to leave well alone.........

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Just cute bears Open Theme

Magical crafts Flower Power

Craftalicious Challenge 'Cute'

I hope I've done this right - Thank you for looking

At Last! June ATC's

Well I've finally 'found' a bit of time to blog the fantastic ATC Gemma sent me for the June Crafty Place swap. The topic was 'Embossing'. I've no idea just how Gemma achieved it but, as she said in the lovely card that came with it, it looked like a Dairy Milk wrapper. Two reasons to love it.

It's not very clear in my photo but the card is a lovely glimmering bronze colour shot through with very very delicate purple feathery threads and each swirl has a tiny gem in it. The edges are faux stitched in silver. The lovely card that came with  the ATC is also fabulous and I can't tell how Gemma achieved this either! The cups, and green & yellow bands are glittered with very fine glitter, there is pink faux stitching at the edges but I don't know if the cups have been stamped & glittered individually or if it's a paper but I love it! Can you tell me please Gemma?

Below is the ATC I made for Gemma. Looking now I wonder if it's embossed or debossed? Ah well...........!

I used whitewashed core'dinations card, and embossed it twice with a cuttlebug 'edge' folder to achieve the flowers and then sanded it to make them stand out a bit, coloured the stems and added a gem to the centre of the flowers. I then cut out the planter, added some tiny gems and put it on raised sticky pads to give a bit of dimension. A tiny yellow butterfly completed it.........until I realised the ATC was a bit undersized so rather than re-do it all over again I added a plain white deckle edged frame to the back. Phew!  

Gruffie & Nippy

Here is the fabulous card I received from Jennie {The Wife} in the Crafty Place June swap. Thank you Jennie! I love the blissful relaxation of Gruffie and the way you have linked your card to the song, Lazy Crazy Days of Summer. Can you tell me what you used to tie on the buttons please? It's so fine compared to the stuff I've got.

Here's a photo of the 'Animal' themed card I made for Jennie in the Crafty Place June Swap. The images are the lovely 'Nippy' from Little Musings. She does the most delightful drawings and I fell in love with this little chap as soon as I saw him. My original plan was to use some of my stash of animal related goodies and papers with paw prints but they were far too busy and colourful to enhance the images.

So, I had another think & came up with this, silver holographic mirri card as a base, with Pink Petticoat black & white gingham strips. The images were layered on to the black reverse of dark grey gemstones card stock, as was the craftwork cards sentiment. All were raised with sticky pads. A flower fashioned from black & silver card candy completes the look. ( I did try to put glossy accents on the dogs noses but instead of making them look wet & healthy as a dogs nose should they just looked a mess so took it off ) So sorry, Jennie if I left traces......thought I'd better get the card in the post before I did any more damage.........

I'd like to enter my card in this challenge  craftaliciouschallenges 'Monotone'
And  Seeing Double at One stitch at a time

Glitter

This is the card I made for Niki's {Glittermum on MSE} birthday.

The paper is Pink Petticoat pistachio (sp?) dots layered onto green dotty bazill which I also used for the scalloped circle. The image is also Pink Petticoat coloured on the pc. The butterflies punched with my MS punch looked too plain so I added gold peel offs to brighten them. I used a craftwork sentiment & tried to make it look as if the butterflies were carrying it like a banner. I had the ribbon in my stash and added a couple of flowers punched from gold mirri - card. 

And I've just remembered another card, I haven't blogged it before I think it was Alison's birthday{Ali B123} so thought I'd share it now. 

It's a to a sketch I like so there may be more.....

The backing paper is the negative of the one I used on the card above with the corners punched, and the two matching patterned papers came to me in a stash swap. The bear is another of my favourites layered on silver mirri card. The dots and swirl are peel offs and where would I be without my craftwork card sentiments? The bow was a pre made one from an MSE prize sent to me by Toni {OAP}. Thank you!

Thanks for looking..........

About Time I Blogged Again!

I love this image, these little girls look so cosy engrossed in their book. I made the card for Julie's birthday, using blue gemstones card stock, Pink Petticoat gingham backing paper, metalic silver layer, the LOTV image with craftwork card candy and sentiment. Think with hindsight I should have put the image on straight but hey!

At the same time as I was making this card I also made an ATC for the Crafty Place May Swap, the theme was Fantasy, not in my comfort zone at all. I eventually found a lovely image with a heartwarming sentiment and kept it very simple, with a digital starry border and some stickles on the stars and glitter on the fairy's wings. I hope you liked it Lynda.

The sentiment says "The stars exist that we might know how high our dreams can soar" 

I made this card for my friend Tams's little girl's birthday. I kept it simple, the picture of the dog was on the backing paper complete, so I concentrated on making a raised scalloped circle to fit within the flowers already on the backing paper. I think it worked and I can see I may use it again for a child's card.

Thank you for looking..........

A chance to win Blog Candy

Here is a chance to win blog candy 3 digital kits
 - Be in it to win it!

A New Challenge Blogspot

Here is a new challenge blogspot to follow and a chance to win a super prize. Why not check it out & sign up to follow?

May CP swap

The May card swap challenge on Crafty Place was set by Sarah and entitled 'Here comes the sun'. My partner was the lovely Jacqui who sent me a delightful card and matching bookmark with a vintage image. I love it Jacqui - Thank you!

I really struggled to come up with a fresh idea that I could 'do' as my colouring leaves a lot to be desired. I eventually settled on this busy Penny Black? gardener hedgehog watering his giant sunflower and matched it with a giant sunny prima flower of my own centred by a glassy gem. I used pistachio Pink Petticoat polka dots paper (I'm glad I don't have to say that) and bridged the join with ribbon coloured with Copic New Leaf green. Flowers from I can't remember where? once again cover my wonky layering and a little 'Hello' just stops it all looking a bit bare. Oh! and I edged the bottom with my MS doily punch. I do hope Jacqui has received it otherwise I may have spoilt the surprise.

Red Birthday Card

Here is a card that I think is one of my better efforts, they are few & far between!!. Those who follow my blog will recognise the image as one I have used before, a digi image coloured in Paint shop pro. The papers are Pink Petticoat polka dots positive & negative in crimson. I used my MS doily punch on each layer and the base card. The scalloped oval, circle and butterfly were red mirri card and the leaves were part of a very generous gift from the lovely Sonia. The roses were white ones from 'The Works' that I coloured with my crimson Copic pen and had to be put there to disguise that I still haven't mastered layering things central! Any suggestions?  

Thank you for looking.

Birthday Goodies

Here is a picture of all the beautiful hand crafted cards I received for my birthday on 1st May.

Where has the time gone?

The cards were on the mantle piece for a couple of weeks but I've only just found time to blog them, and I'm sorry to see that one or two that are laid down and some gifts I received can't be seen properly.

Top step L to R Melissa, Jenny, Aimee, Oona, Karen, Caroline, Sue (not an MSE girl) Sarah. Lying down cards from Debbie and Alison.

Bottom step L to R Christine, Claire (Mad Frog), Jane, Susan, Sally and Jacqui. At front Claire (Wanna B) and Gemma.

Thank you all very much for taking the time & trouble to make my birthday so very special.

Follow this link to see the new LOTV stamps due to be released on 1st June 2010.
http://ideastoinspire.blogspot.com/2010/05/dont-miss-chance-to-win-full-set-of-our.html

It was Kirsty's {Sylphraven} birthday today and now I am sure she has received the card I made for her I can show it to you. I chose red for the card as I had an idea Kirsty liked red. I followed a sketch from Magical Crafts. The papers are all printed from Pink Petticoat, Crimson plain, big and small dots. As the plain backing paper looked a bit bare I stamped a silver corner to lighten it slightly and added a couple of gems. I can't recall where the vase of flowers digi image came from but I coloured it using Paint Shop Pro - (Thank you Caroline {CT} for explaining how to do it.) I layered the image with a red miri card scalloped circle and added the roses (CP stash swap from Oona {Choccy}). The sentiment is Craftworks, the swirls were also cut from the red miri card and the gems were from my stash. i would like to enter this card in the Magical crafts fortnightly challengehttp://magicalcraftsfortnightlychallenge.blogspot.com/ though I'm not sure this is the right way to do it!!!

I really liked following this sketch so I used it again to make a get well card for Tams {Rusty} as she has been in great pain and been in hospital this week.

I chose blue for this card as forlorn looking Tatty Ted has a blue nose, I tried to keep to the same tones of blue. The bird backing paper and the check one are Papermania Sweet Nothings. I have no idea where the other two came from though as I had printed them out some time ago.  I stamped some silver swirls to stop the bare look on them. Tatty Ted was layered onto silver holograph card and I hand wrote my own sentiment as I hadn't got anything else suitable. Dark Blue card candy completed 'the look'. I do hope that this card and all the others from her friends on MSE help cheer Tams up as she has had a bad time lately.

I made another card to this sketch today but until it reaches its destination it wouldn't  be fair to show it, would it?

However, in the best Blue Peter tradition here is one I prepared earlier - in April in fact......I don't think I've blogged it before. I made it for the lovely Melissa's birthday. The paper was papermania from the prize Toni {OAP}sent me, the scalloped circle is lovely green dotty bazzill, the plain backing beige gemstones (I think). The flowers and the (already coloured) image were from my stash, as was the craftwork sentiment. I added some glossy accents to the flowers on the image.

Thank you for looking at my efforts  - I do hope you like them.

Crafty Place Cards & ATC Swaps

The card swap challenge topic for April on Crafty Place was for a green and/or lilac card. I was lucky to be paired with Jenny (aka Dragonllew) and above you can see the super card she made for me. The colours she has used are very delicate and the wings are glittery. I don't think you can tell from the photo but the flowerheads are tiny gems. Thank you Jenny!

Below is the card I made for Jenny. I couldn't find a lilac shade to tone so my card was entirely shades of green, using paper from the prize Toni sent me for the MSE challenge. The fairy is a lily of the valley one set at an angle, not because she was drunk! but so that you can see more of the flowers on which I had used glossy accents. The sentiment was stamped, mounted on a scalloped circle, coloured with a copic pen & stickles added. The base card was a cardcraft one.

 

My good fortune also applied to the ATC swap 'cos I was paired up with Sarah (aka rainmac) The theme was Touchy Feely. Sarah made me a delightful scene of owls and a delicate tree all cut out so neatly and raised on 3D pads. There was also an owl charm at the top rt which isn't clear from the photo. Sarah also sent me this vibrant pocket card which I love. Thank you Sarah!

As regular readers here will know there is almost always a tale to tell about anything I concoct and this was no exception! My original idea was to make a spongy felt ATC,  with brads, ribbon and buttons giving different textures to feel. The felt 'thing' came to me as soon as the topic was announced because one of my late Mum's 'jokes' was to show you a piece of felt, say, a beret & say "just feel that........" and as you reached out your hand to touch she's whip it away "Too late - it's felt!

Anyway suffice to say my idea didn't work (probably the wrong sort of felt!) or with the sponge just too bulky for the size of an ATC.

Plan B worked a bit better, It was some rather thick stitching of a pansy with a pretty flower bead sewn into the centre, and lightly ribbed green ribbon for grass with a couple of sticker butterflies all on some very pale green card with a sheen. I backed the ATC with swiss dotted card to hide the stitching and add just a bit more texture. 

Thank you for visiting and reading so far........

I am sailing.........

Well not really - I don't even like boats!
But my friend's DH love them and pictures of them too. When we were on holiday in Tenerife he took us into a neighbouring hotel to show us a painting he'd noticed by Roy Cross, the man who designed the artwork for a lot of the original Airfix kit boxes. So when his birthday was approaching I hit on the idea of finding a Roy Cross picture and making it into a birthday card for him, this was the result and I'm pleased to say he was delighted with it. It was fairly easy to do I just had to match the blue/grey from the picture to the backing gemstone cardstock and sentiment that I printed directly onto the card.

 This card looks fairly simple to make too but it caused me a bit of problem. My best friend & I have always looked out for special cards for each other's birthdays and I was torn between shopping for a really nice one or having a go at making one that looked good enough. I opted to make.

As ever, the harder I tried the worse it got, I lost count of the number of pieces of paper that I cut and then stuck wrong but eventually, just as time was running out, this was IT. The image is a Lily of the Valley die cut, (wasn't going to risk my own colouring!), the papers Pink Petticoat and some lovely green dotty bazill. I used a MS corner punch and some papermania glimmer dots and flowers to trim. The sentiment is a stamp the lovely Melissa sent me as a gift and I think it works well with the scalloped circle.

Thank you for reading this far.......