60th Birthday card

The stamp was one I found for sale on Crafters Bring and Buy on Facebook, but is available from Joanna Sheen. I had to have it, my SIL has the same dog and a little cat so it was perfect. I was a little disappointed that there was more fine detail on the picture with the stamp than the actual stamp. I coloured the image with Promarkers and Trias. I used some Kate Knight papers that were free with a magazine. The letters and numbers were cut with Sizzix Originals Shadow Box dies, with dark pink metallic shadow and paper letters. I decided to sew the paper on the front, this turned out to be a mistake as the size of the card (c4) was too big for my little pink sewing machine, probably the "big" machine would have managed it, so the stitching is very wobbly! There is a die cut horse in the bottom corner, it is hard to see and I should have made it lighter card. Susan is also not straight! My husband thought the horse was a hippo! Happy Birthday is from a Hero Arts clear set, and was stamped in gold Brilliance and embossed with gold EP. Finally I added some blooms and a gem. I think they are all Prima, but I am not certain. Inside I added two more panels of the paper. We went out for a lovely meal at Loch Fyne to celebrate the birthday, and there was a fantastic looking cake which was made by a friend of the family who does sugarcraft.

Flippin Women - Bingo and Happy Birthday Sister in Law

Remember I said I bought some bargain Flippin Women and Men stamps? Well here is the Flippin Women bingo stamp set that I used on this Sister in Law card yesterday.
I coloured the image with Promarkers, cut out the two images and sandwiched them together with acetate in the window of the card. I cut the window with a Spellbinders Nestabilties large label die. I used the other stamps in the set to add the words and balls to the front, and stamp the message inside. I found some bingo paper that I remembered having, it is by Karen Foster, now I need to find more of it!
I cut the lining in two parts to make it easier to line up the front apetures, even doing that the lining "caught" and didn't line up perfectly but it isn't too bad. Happy Birthday and Sister in Law are both Papermania stamps, the latter is from the brilliant Relations double set which I recently purchased in Trago Mills (it has just about every relationship you could want), the former is from a Daisy and Dandelion set.

Looking round for challenges I might be able to enter and found:
Cute Card Thursday - So Transparent.
Charmed Cards Crafty goings on blog - anything with an image you coloured yourself and you can win great blog candy here - 72 Copic markers, how cool is that!

Quirky Crafts Challenge 28 - Chocolate and Cream

The challenge on Quirky Crafts this fortnight is a yummy colour combination, Chocolate and Cream. I have used a set of stamps I bought probably a year or two ago and haven't used until now, with some chocolate scented embossing powder also bought at the same time. The whole room smelt of chocolate, and I normally avoid perfumed products as they make me sneeze but I had to try this stuff.

I am going to enter this in the ABC challenge which is U for use your unused stash! I think it qualifies (well anyone that knows me knows that I have a great deal of unused stash so I could carry on creating tons for this challenge).

The stamps are Gelatines (these are little sets of stamps that come in the cutest little storage tins), stamped with Versamark brown ink and chocolate scented embossing powder, die cut the chocolates and box with Spellbinders Nestabilities, edge and lace punched with Martha Stewart punches, the sentiment, also from the Gelatines set, reads Man cannot live by chocolate alone - but woman can! Also the word bliss in the centre. I think I could get a cream die cut greeting in the bottom right corner too as this could be for a thank you, birthday or other occasion.

Quirky Crafts Challenge 23 Buttons the dog

Buttons the dog, originally uploaded by cazzytime aka bluesuedeshoes.

Challenge 23 over on Quirky Crafts Challenge blog is "buttons". It is also sponsored by Crafty Ribbons, and the paw prints ribbon is from them so it was appropriate to use it.
The little dog stamp is the cover gift on Craft Stamper magazine this month and is by Pink Gem Stamps, the papers were from the USA, sentiment is from a set by I think Basic Grey but not sure. Buttons from stash. Image coloured with Promarkers.

Come on over and join in with your projects featuring buttons and win a load of ribbons.

First Mountain and Valley card

I had the urge to try something different despite my record with sharp objects and thought I would try mountain and valley cards, I have seen these called another name but I can't recall it. I used my Fiskars finger knife which does seem easier to control than standard knives but I think I am heavy handed.

I used a set of stamps by Tanda Stamps, and papers by The English Paper Company designed by Vanessa Arbuthnott which were perfect for this card. Images were coloured with Promarkers. I added key charms and cut tags using my Spellbinders tag die set. Blooms are Prima, and dew drops are Patti Pritilicious
I have seen this type of card finished in three different ways now, and may further experiment to find which is best.

Challenge 22 - Cute

Today is the start of Challenge 22 over on Quirky Crafts Challenge blog. The challenge is sponsored by the Cutting Cafe and you can win some digital downloads of your choice.

Also if you want to apply for the Quirky Crafts design team you have until 28th Feb.

Before this challenge I hadn't really used digital downloads much though I have quite a few saved and now I think I will use them more. The beauty of them is that they are inexpensive, don't take up storage space in the home, and you can change them in size or colour.

I have used a combination of a sentiment from the Cutting Cafe Nice sheet, and stamps from the Crafty Pad (Shelley and Twitter I think) which I think go together perfectly.
 Can anyone tell me by the way why it is that I always get sick on the weekends so I lose out on my personal time? No, I don't suppose you can. I was in bed most of yesterday, and feel like going there today I am so bunged up with cold, but at least my throat is less painful, but I will have a shower, think I need it.
So without further ado (and too much more unwanted information) here are two versions of the same card layout.

Die cut shapes are all done with Nestabilities, paper is from Pocket Full Of Posies by DCWV, glitter glue on Prima blooms is Ice Stickles and is still wet in this photo, ink is Memento, images coloured with Promarkers.

Now I am looking for challenges I can enter and I didn't make my cards with any other challenges in mind but I found the following:
I hope these qualify for the green + 1 challenge on My time to Craft.
and O is for one piece of paper on ABC challenges

Lori asked how I got my sparkly signature, well someone on UK Scrappers forum was offering a long time ago, and probably still does it, and made my sig for free to use on the forum, I didn't have the blog then but I tried copying it in a a photo and it worked. There are lots of free sites where you can do your own but none are as good as my own signature below which has no links to adverts and doesn't disappear to force you back to the site.

Raven card amended

Here is my Raven Card posted below but with a greeting added, I felt she needed something extra but didn't know if it could be used on the sketch.

A is for Angel

There is a new challenge blog: the ABC Christmas Challenge blog, and I thought maybe I could get ahead with the cards for next year (not sure how long I will keep it up). I found this image that I had stamped in white Stazon on black pearlescent card. You can see all the colours in the black picked up by the flash, I only used black and white card and a strip of red inside the card to show the cut outs. The dies used on this card were Spellbinders Fleur de Lis pendant and petite border sets, and the square is from a Nestabilities set. I am not sure if this works with such a big image, and I did consider added a greeting but decided it was better without. I added an angel charm that I got from Caz in blog candy. What do you think?

There is also a say no to word verification campaign going on, I turned verification off long ago and moderate instead, and how often I have left a comment on a blog, pressed back or closed it, only to see the verification flash up and my comment is lost, and I don't usually go back! Also sometimes the verification word is either unreadable or doesn't work at all. I have seen spammers still leave unpleasant comments on blogs with only verification but with moderation only you can choose to reject them and they do get the message.

Quirky Crafts Weekly Challenge 14

Look at this great prize which you could win if you enter Challenge 14. 

Challenge 14 over on Quirky Crafts Forum is to create a project with a Halloween or autumn theme. This is my attempt! I used Annie by Charmed Delectable Stamps (in fact this stamp is called elegant Annie), gave her a die cut witches hat and pumpkin, and the leaves, ghost eyelets, Papermania ribbon, Hero Arts Boo and spider and web stamps from the Owloween set, and the bats are sequins. Black blooms, and Making Memories swirly brad, with glitter paper in the background, and grey paper. Does Annie look spooky?

Quirky Crafts Card Challenge 8

Challenge 8 over on Quirky Craft forum is a sketch, and this sketch is really nice to work with. I need to make a birthday card for soon to be DIL so this was ideal, and she loves cows so I used Penny Black Little Moo stamp which is so cute and was a perfect size for the layout. I cut the circle and scalloped circle with Nestabilities dies. The ribbon with printed foil birthday greeting is by Crafty Ribbons.

The papers are by The English Paper Company, and they were perfect to go with little Moo and her two flowers. Large blooms are Bazzil Wings, small blooms are Primas, gem brad is Dovecraft, and zoomz in centers of small flowers are Kirsty Wiseman Patti's Pretties (glue is still a little wet and showing in this shot, which I couldn't seem to shoot straight, must load my photo editing software on).

Little Moo is coloured with Letraset Trias which I am not very good with yet and this is the second attempt (first attempt has been used as the label for the pressy, no waste here).

Graduation card

My brother graduates Tuesday, congratulations brother! He deserves something good to happen, he has had a rough couple of years.

Stamp is by House Mouse, coloured with Prismacolour pencils, shapes cut with Nestabilities dies, ribbon by Crafty Ribbons, star brads, foiled greeting was part of stash won for having a card published.

Sugar Bowl sketch

I hope I get this loaded in time. Photo is a little wonky but I didn't have time to change it, tried once for a better one and just made it to join in the Sugar Bowl challenge.

Who needs a prince?

Here is my next green and red card. I used a Sugar Nellie stamp designed by Diana Dude, they are so good.

Quirky Crafts Card Challenge 4

Challenge 4 seems to have come round so quickly, it doesn't seem like 4 weeks or 5 weeks since the new Quirky Crafts forum came into being.

I decided to use the English Paper Company papers again this week. The stamped bird is a Hero Arts stamp, the sentiment is a Rubbadubbadoo stamp. Ink is Tim Holtz Distress Ink Faded Jeans colour with matching embossing powder, and I added 3 buttons with blue elastic tied through them.


Tomorrow is the closing date for my blog candy too, so I will be analysing the answers and picking some winners some time this week, hopefully by the weekend so I can send out the goodies.
It has been a busy week, I have been suffering from migraine for a week but am feeling much better now, and it seems that I was reacting to some organic fruit cordial I bought as I felt better when I stopped drinking it! I carried on working apart from Tuesday when things were so bad I couldn't see to drive, and felt so bad I just went back to bed only emerging to take more drugs and some food, though I felt very sick the whole week.
Finally I got my wedding "hat", or fascinator, or is it a cross between? I had an M&S one size doesn't fit all hat to begin with, that had to go back. and as I was in Bath I popped in the posh hat shop. Well it is a shop where there are no prices on anything, so you can tell it was a wee bit expensive especially for something that will only have limited use but I thought what the heck, my son only gets married once (hopefully), can't see the other one getting married, so when she asked if I would like a hat box, oh and that is £5 extra I thought what is £5 after spending so much, I might as well. It is a very nice stripey hat box I must say and will keep the hat safe from being squashed.
While in Bath I visited 5 well established and well known shops and in one of them I had my card details ripped off and the card company spotted it and rang me thankfully.
Today I am aching all over after over doing things yesterday due to feeling better so I have been groaning every time I have to get up out of a chair or sit down.
I had a senior moment this morning - I left the tap running to fill the sink to do the washing up. I needed to dash to the little girl's room (well unisex really) and thought it would be fine as it was not on fully. It would have been fine if I hadn't turned left on leaving the little girl's room into the utility room where (totally forgetting about the tap and washing up) I unloaded the washing machine and reloaded then walked into the kitchen to find the floor flooded! Out with the mop!

Race for Life card

This is my DT card for Quirky Crafts forum third card challenge. The challenge was to use pink blue and white the colours of Cancer Reasearch and I gave the card to a young lady at work who completed the race yesterday.

The stamp called June Race for Life is by Debbie Moore and is for sale on The Crafty Pad for £3, and £1 of that goes to Cancer Research (the words are a seperate stamp so you can put any wording you like on the banner). I paper pieced the pink shoes and vest, and the white number, and the rest was coloured in with Letraset Trias.

Oval and scalloped oval cut with Nestabilities dies, embossed panels made using Cuttlebug embossing folder, the white panel was wiped over with pink Brilliance ink.

All this was mounted on a pink panel on a white card. All of this was done while suffering from a migraine, and I had to cook a roast dinner for 7 and have an eye test - I don't recommend the eye test when suffering like that!

I could probably do a better card without a migraine.

Son new home card - the rest

Finally I have finished the marathon new home card! Here are the rest of the pictures, and a redone panorama of the one show below as I added to the last panel.
Lets hope he likes it.

Son new home card

I thought I better post these photos up in case you come over from Quirky Crafts forum to see them! I haven't actually finished this card completely and it has been on the go for days now!
I had the card blank free with a magazine a couple of years ago and thought of it for this card, which also coincided with the Quirky Crafts card challenge 2 "One for the Boys".
The card blank was very flimsy, more like paper than card, so I cut out a panel of paper to go each side of the card using Vanessa Arbuthnott designed paper by The English Paper Company, seemed perfect for this.
I then decorated each panel or pair of panels. I will add the photos of the other side once I complete them and any updated photos of the front if I add anything extra.
The birds and branches are Hero Arts stamps. I will post up the other stamp makes if you would like to know any of them.

My son got his house keys on Friday and I had planned to give this card to him them, but he isn't moving in until he has it all done up so I am not too worried that he doesn't have it yet! It will be worth waiting for.

I can't get the photos to stay in the right order, have loaded them twice!