March Showers, Spring Flowers

Today has been a really miserable day weather wise- began to wonder if the living room windows would stand up to the wind and rain! Good excuse to stay in the house and craft anyway...

Here is today's make:-

Another quick & simple card from me today (my favourite kind) and it is similar to a card I made ages ago but the main image is so detailed that I don't like to add too much too it.

I started by printing the image from my Walk in the Countryside cd-rom and decoupaging the flowers. I mounted it onto a piece of dusky pink card and then mounted that onto a 6x6 scalloped edge card blank. I added a pink organza bow to the spine of the card and a little bit of Stickles glitter glue to the centre of the flowers. Done!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Crafting for All Seasons 'pastel hues' 30.3
In the Pink 'lots of layers' (decoupage) 1.4
Crafty Cardmakers 'spring' 5.4
Craft your Passion 'anything goes' 29.3
Digi Choosday 'lots of layers' (decoupage) 7.4
Paper Shelter 'blooming' 31.3
That Craft Place 'Easter/Spring' 11.4

Easter Bunny

I've been asked to make some Easter cards for someone at work and she wants them to have bunnies on them. This is my first one and super cute!

I started with the A5 scallop card and added a bright yellow background which I simply rounded the corners on using a punch, helping it to match the scallop base. I then hand-cut the shape of the rabbits ears but used a circle die to cut the face and glittery nose. The whiskers are made from raffia and the eyes are Card Candi. The pink paper bow is from a Craftwork Cards pad. I then added a simple message peel-off to the top corner.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
The Paper Shelter 'animal magic' 24.2
Crafting for all Seasons 'dies/punches' 28.2
Quirky Crafts 'best friends' 2.3
Daring Cardmakers 'inspired by a child's book' (Miffy the rabbit) 27.2

Christmas in February

I've made it to month 2 in the one Christmas card per month challenge!

Here it is-

It was a really quick & simple card to make (my favourite kind)!

I started with a 6x6 card blank and a sheet of Craftwork Cards Christmas 8x8 paper. The deer is part of the paper design so I made sure that when I trimmed the paper down to fit the card, I kept him in tact. I simply added the message topper and paper bow (both from the same Craftwork Cards set) to the opposite corner and then used some red stickles glitter glue onto the baubles that are hanging from his antlers.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Christmas Card Challenges 'anything xmas' 14.2
Crafty Hazlenut Christmas 'decorated corner' 13.2
Creative Card Crew 'glitter' 15.2
Crafty Hazlenut Christmas Extra 'anything goes' 28.2

Christmas in January

Last year, I had a plan to make at least 1 Christmas card each month so I didn't have a mad December rush. I think I managed about 3 months before it went pear shaped! Maybe this year will work better!

Here is my January Christmas card-

This card was really simple to make and uses some old stash and some new goodies too. I started with a 6x6 white blank card and added a Dovecraft patterned paper to the bottom half. The paper is from a monochrome set that included papers, ribbons buttons etc. from The Range and was a great deal. The snowflake dies are also new but the mirror card I used to cut them out of has been in my stash for years(no exaggeration!)

Before attaching the die cut snowflakes, I used double sided tape and glitter to add an extra sparkle to the join between the card base and the paper. I attached the snowflakes and then used a fine black pen to draw on the strings. I finished the card with a really simple peel-off greeting.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Crafty Hazlenut's Extra 'xmas'- 31.1
Country View 'use something new'- 31.1
Crafty Cardmakers 'old and new'- 25.1
Love to Create 'snowflakes'- 18.1
Papertake Weekly 'all new'- 20.1
Penny's 'anything goes'- 20.1
Paper Shelter 'punches and/or dies'- 20.1
Creative Inspirations 'anything goes'- 20.1
CRAFT 'Xmas'- 21.1
Creatalicious 'winter'- 14.2
Crafty Catz 'new beginnings'- 22.1

Pretty Grunge!

Today's card is one that I absolutely love- this normally happens with my newest cards being my favourite, but this one more than ever. It's a mix of old & new stuff and uses some ideas that I've never done before.

Here it is..

I haven't done any colouring for quite a while so I went back to one of my favourite Saturated Canary digi stamps and coloured her using a mix of Promarkers & Spectrum Noirs. I stuck to a pallette of pinks & greys but glittered the boots with some doodlebug glitter (to make them like a pair I'm lucky enough to have!)

I used a Kanban die-cut mat to draw a template for the shape of the topper which I cut out by hand, inked gently with Black Soot distress ink, and then matted it onto a co-ordinating die-cut layer. It was originally black & white so I used my Picked Raspberry distress ink to tie the colour in with the digi image.

I wanted to go for a slightly grungy/distressed look, so for the background, I took a piece of grey & white striped cardstock (new 'Mambi'  (Me & My Big Ideas) cardstock pad- bargain from TK Maxx) and cut it as a mat for the topper. I then took an offcut and attached it to the bottom of the original piece of card with the stripes going in the opposite direction. I then inked around the edges with the same Picked Raspberry distress ink that I used on the topper mat. To add to the 'grunge' look, I used my ScorPal scoreboard to score & fold some lines across different parts of the card.

I then took a piece of A4 pink cardstock and again inked the edges with Black Soot distress ink before adding the cardstock & topper. I folded some of the lines I had scored on the striped cardstock so that they stood out and only put the double sided tape in the centre. I used 2 layers of 3d foam to attach the topper so that it didn't squash the edges of the cardstock.

Here's a photo to show how it stands out...

I'm really pleased with how the grungy/pretty look has worked and I think that I'll try the folded distressed background thing again!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Crafting Musketeers 'grunge' 29/1

Graph' It 'anything goes' 12/1

Cards Galore 'anything goes' 28/1

Polkadoodles 'anything goes' 12/1

Crafty Catz 'pretty in pink' 16/1

Polkadoodles 'girly, girly, girly' 19/1
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenges 'anything goes' 14/1

Crafters Cafe 'anything goes' 14/1

Papertake weekly 'anything goes' 14/1

Challenges 4 Everybody 'anything goes' 31/1

Inspired by Pinterest

Over the Summer, I may not have been doing much crafting but I have discovered the fabulous world of Pinterest. I've spent hours finding all manner of both school and crafting ideas that I'm hoping to use soon. This card is inspired by one of the first ideas I saw using a page from a book and some tippex. I tried printing a digi image straight onto the book page which worked well but when I wanted to blank out the skin colours, I didn't really have anything that would work so I've kind of cheated to make my card below...

I bought a cheap copy of Twilight from a car boot (30p) as I knew I could use it when I finally get the Visible Image 'Edward' & 'Isabella' stamps (hopefully when I go to the NEC in November), but it came in handy for this card too. I said that I'd cheated slightly and that's because I printed my digi stamp onto plain card and onto a page from the book and then I paper pieced the skirt rather than working directly onto the book page. After I had coloured my image (using promarkers & spectrum noirs), I carefully cut around it and then drew around the image on another page from the book. I then used the tippex to highlight the edge so that my image would stand out when I stuck it on top. This meant that I didn't have to be too careful with the tippex as my image would cover any mess I made. I used a ruler to create a neat torn edge on the book page and then mounted this onto some dark red glitter card and then mounted that onto a dark red base card made from an A4 sheet. I finished the card by making some paper roses from 3 circles cut from 2 other pages of the book, cutting and spiral and then twisting it around my pokey tool. I secured each flower with some glue and added a dark red gem to the centre. I then dipped each flower into some glue and then dark red glitter to give them a glittery edge.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Catch the Bug 'anything goes'

Papertake Weekly 'anything goes'

Totally Gorjuss 'anything goes'

and

The Paper Shelter 'DT Call' (to see other examples of my colouring, click on either the 'digi stamps' or 'colouring' labels)

Krafty Christmas

I went to my local 'The Range' store last weekend to look at (and buy obviously) the new ranges from DoCrafts- I always know that I'm going to love their stuff. This is the first card I've made using my purchases from the 'Forever Friends Kraft Christmas' range.

This card took minutes to make in reality but I'm really happy with it. I started with a 6x6 white card blank which I mounted a dark blue stripe paper from the 'Ultimate Paper & Die-Cut Pack' onto. I then cut a piece of kraft card to a 12cm square and embossed it with a snowflake design. The embossing didn't come out as much as I would have liked so I carefully sanded it back and then rubbed it with a white ink to make the snowflakes stand out more. The topper came straight from the die-cut pack and I mounted that onto the card too. I finished the card by adding the 'Midnight Blue' Stickles dots into the opposite corners. This isn't a colour combo I've really used before but I'm loving it and can see I'll be using it more often.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Crafty Cardmakers 'snow & ice'

Here Come the Boys 'Blue Christmas in September'

Cutie Pie Challenge Blog 'Cute Christmas in September'

Creative Inspirations 'favourite colour combo'

Soft Kitty

I've been busy in the craft room this week and my newest card is this pastel coloured beauty!!! I don't work with pastel colours very often but I think they suit this super cute Saturated Canary image.

I started by choosing my striped backing paper so that I could match all of the other colours to it. It's a paper from a Papermania 6x6 'spots & stripes' paper pack. I then had some Create & Craft pastel glitter card that was a bargain from Wilko's a few months/years ago and has never been used so I matched this to the colours of the striped paper. I cut the glitter card into 9cm squares and attached this into the corners of an 8x8 white base card using rulers to try and get them as straight as possible. I put 3d foam into the white spaces between the glitter card to attach the backing paper so that I didn't have to worry about it not sticking to the glitter. I then chose my Promarker colours to again match the papers, using Buttercup, Orchid, Pastel Pink & Mint Green as the main colours to colour the fabulous Saturated Canary image (I love every image on that site). After colouring the image, I trimmed it leaving a small white border and attached it to the card. I then added the double layered Prima flower into the mint green corner. I finished the card by stamping the bunting from Little Claire stamps onto some scrap card and then colouring with the same 4 promarkers. I glued it onto some thin white string and then hung it from the card, sticking it behind the pink glitter card.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Saturated Canary 'set your creativity free'

Creatilicious 'I love my pet'

Polkadoodles 'birthday girl'

Crafty Catz 'pastel colours'

Challenges 4 Everybody 'anything goes'

Creative Card Crew 'banner/pennant'

Papertake Weekly 'anything goes'

Creative Inspirations 'something old & something new' (new bunting stamps, old glitter card)

Baby x2

I always try to have cards for every occasion when I go to a craft fair so that I can pretty much cater for anything anyone asks for (it still doesn't happen though!). I was really pleased to get some lovely 'twins' themed toppers in a recent Kanban blockbuster from C&C. I like this toppers slightly funny take on the twins theme- baby x2!

The backing paper comes from the same kit as the toppers and I simply mounted it onto an 8x8 square card. I decoupaged the main circle topper and attached this over the join of the 2 colours on the backing paper. I then addded the 2 other toppers in the corners to complete this CAS card.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Totally Gorjuss 'baby'

Shoe Tree

I recently saw a really fab idea on Pinterest that was aimed at Wedding receptions. It was a simple tree outline that guests would put their fingerprint on instead of the traditional guest book. I thought it was a really cool idea but I wanted to use it for my cards. The idea included a download of the tree design in A4 size so I printed 2-to-a-page so that they would fit on an A5 card. I didn't just make a normal tree though...

(apologies for the not so great photo- not sure what happened there!)

I decided to make a shoe & bag tree which, if we're honest, most of us girls would love to have in our back gardens- if mine would grow Converse then I'd be in heaven! As I said, I had printed the tree outline to an A5 size but I trimmed it just smaller than this so that I could mat and layer it with some FAB pink glitter paper and a slightly dirty green base card. I used my distress inks to colour the sky (tumbled glass) and grass (mown lawn- I think that's the right name) and then used various shades of brown promarkers to colour the tree. I then used peel-offs, some straight onto the card and some paper pieced, to decorate the tree. A fun card for a fun lady!

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Creatalicious 'for the girls'

Papertake Weekly 'paper piecing'

Daring Cardmakers 'let's plant a tree'

strawberry layer cake

It's a really good job it's a Bank Holiday here in England today as I had no time to craft over the weekend as I was at a craft fair. It was a successful weekend so definitely worth it but it means that today has felt like a Sunday and I'm going to be messed up all week! Here's one of the cards I made today using a lovely Forever Friends decoupage topper that has been in my stash for years!

I started with a 6x6 white card blank which I rounded the corners of. I layered this with a glittery paper from the Dovecraft 'London Line' range. I mounted the decoupaged topper onto a die-cut circle, that I inked the edges of with Spun Sugar distress ink, and then mounted this onto a die-cut, silver mirror card, mat. The final touch was the 3 strawberries in the corner which were an extra element from the decoupage sheet. I used different thicknesses of foam pads to layer them up and then accented them with some glossy accents.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-

Docrafts photo inspiration challenge

Songbird 'truly scrumptious'

Cutie Pie 'lots of layers' (of cake & decoupage)

Creative Inspirations 'birthdays'

Twilight forever

I've recently found a new love for digi-stamps and there are some really fab websites out there full of amazing artwork that I am certainly not able to create- thank god for printing! There's also lots of 'fan art' out there for various tv shows & films. I found this 'twilight' themed image online and had to use it for a card that will be perfect for a friends birthday.

I started with the image which I trimmed to a small border and then coloured mainly using my promarkers. I rounded the corners of the image as it didn't look right with square corners. I then cut a small red mirror card mat to trim the main digi-stamp image. The backing paper comes from the DCWV 'Immortal Love' stack which is also twilight inspired and has this beautiful paper with a heat embossed & glittered tree design. I finished the card with the 3 handmade flowers, using the colours to represent the good vs evil theme of many of the twilight saga books and also the red for the bloodshed between the two. the finished card is 8x8 in size.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Creative Card Crew 'handmade flowers'
Paper Shelter 'make it bloom'
Catch the Bug 'bingo' (I chose embossing, glitter & paper)
Papertake Weekly 'one patterned paper'

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore!

Many people who have seen my blog posts will know that I love Harry Potter so when I found the Har Repotter digi stamps on the Bugaboo site, I had to get them all! I am slowly getting round to making cards with each of them but I'm also making some shopping bags using the same designs. Here's my first card & bag using the Dumbledore image.

The card was made with an 8x8 square base card, a paper printed from 'Wishing on a Star' cd-rom (Katy Sue Designs), some stickles glitter glue, 'Hog Castle' stencil with black stencil paint and then the 2 Har Repotter digi stamps coloured using both Promarkers & Spectrum Noirs.

The bag uses the 2 digi stamps transfered onto heat'n'bond- iron on adhesive for fabric and a load of fabric scraps. The details of the images are hand sewn.

I am entering this card and/or bag into the following challenges:-
Crafty Cardmakers 'card with matching bag'
Creative Inspirations 'anything but a card'

Teddy with a BIG flower!

Been busy this afternoon making a few more cards before my holiday runs out! It's starting to look a bit more like spring (even though I am still wearing a hoodie!) so I thought I'd make a nice bright springy card.

As always, it was pretty quick & simple to make. I started with the topper which is a new one (for me anyway) from Lili of the Valley. I then chose 2 papers from the Forver Friends kraft range which matched it nicely. I mounted the topper onto the lilac mat and then wonkily put this onto the turquoise backing paper- all on top of a 6x6 card blank. I then used my black promarker (with the fine tip nib) to add the stitching detail around each piece. The 3 buttons were 'borrowed' from my sewing stash and then I adding some extra sparkle using my stardust stickles.

I am entering this card into the following challenges-
Mayzyart 'sparkle'
Clear it Out 'spring flowers'
Cute Card Thursday 'something borrowed'
Lili's Little Fairies 'all stitched up'
Totally Gorjuss 'anything goes with sparkle'
The Pink Elephant 'spring colours'

You're Number 1!

Here's a cute card perfect for many occasions where you need a card for someone special- as it's March though, I expect it will become a card for my mum's birthday which is at the end of the month. It uses a 6x6 scalloped edge card blank, Lily of the Valley die-cut topper embellished with silver stickles glitter glue and faux stitching and 2 different papers from the new Forever Friends Kraft range. I also edged the star design paper with some pink pearlescent brilliance ink.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Papertake Weekly 'anything goes'
Creative Inspirations 'mother's day'
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenges 'stitching'
Crafty Catz 'all stitched up'
Lili's Little Fairies 'for mum'
Songbird 'mother's day (mama)'
MayzyArt 'stars'

Knight Bus

I love most things fantasy based but particularly LOVE Harry Potter (especially Ron!)- so I make lots of HP themed cards. I was lucky enough to go to the Studio Tour not long ago and took about a million photos that I thought I might use in some of my cards. I've not got round to that yet but when I was lucky enough to win the new XCut 'Create A Scene' dies in the Daring Cardmakers challenge, I chose the London set so that I could hopefully use it to make some HP cards. I particularly wanted to make a triple decker purple Knight Bus. I have tried to do this with stamps in the past but, even with masking, it didn't work very well. I was hoping that the double decker die would be a better bet. It did take me a couple of attempts but I'm pretty happy with the results. So much so that I found myself jumping up and down (literally) with a huge grin on my face!

Here is my completed card

I started by choosing 3 different shades of grey card and used the xcut dies and my grand calibur to cut the 3 different layers of London skyline. I attached them together with 3d foam pads and then used my trimmer to even up the edges. I then cut a thin piece of black card (for the road) and used double sided tape to attach it to the base of the design. I then used a thinner origami paper to cut the buses, taxi, lamp-posts, post box & telephone box. It took me a few attempts to arrange them where I wanted them so I did not glue them straight away. When I was happy with the composition, I attached everything with my quickie glue pen which can be used on really detailed elements. I then got a piece of A4 dark blue card which I folded into an A5 card blank using my ScorPal score board. The card was slightly wider than my London scene so I trimmed the base card down as it would have looked strange if the scene did not go right to the edge of the card. I finished the card by stamping the dragon in the sky using black Memento ink and then used my Stardust Stickles to create some stars- being a proper geek for things like that I even did proper constellations (Orion, the Plough and Cassiopeia).

In case anyone else wants to make a Knight Bus, all you need to do is cut 2 of the double deckers in a nice purple paper and then cut one of them just below the bottom windows. You can then layer the 2 pieces together, overlapping the central windows- you will need to cut out part of the door barrier too.

I am entering this card into the Polkadoodles 'fantasy' challenge.

Kanban 'Baby Girl'

I recently made a Baby Boy card using some beautiful new Kanban toppers I bought recently so I thought that it was probably a good idea to make a Baby Girl one too. Here it is...

I am entering this card into the Cute Card Thursday 'Simplify' challenge.

I made it in exactly the same way as the Baby Boy card with an 8x8 scalloped card, Kanban patterned paper & toppers from the Baby kit and some 3d foam pads!

Kanban 'Baby Boy'

Here is another new card that I am entering into Here Come the Boys 'lots of layers' challenge, Cutie Pie Challenge 'Pretty Pastels' challenge & Love to Create 'All that Glitters' challenge. It's another quick & simple card but also beautiful (I think so anyway!).

This card uses just 3 products- an 8x8 white scalloped card blank, Kanban 'Baby Boy' die-cut topper sheet & Kanban patterned paper from baby themed A4 paper pad (and of course 3d foam pads & double sided tape- but that's a given!). I trimmed the A4 paper down to an 18.5cm square and mounted it onto the card using double sided tape. I then used 3d foam to attach the large circle glittered die-cut piece & then the decoupage letters. I finished the card by adding the rabbit die-cut, which also came from the topper sheet, to the bottom corner. Done!

Butterfly Tree

Here is the card that I have made for the Daring Cardmakers 'Fly Fly Butterfly' challenge. I am also entering this card into Creative Card Crew 'Birthday' challenge, Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge 'Anything Goes' and Digital Tuesday 'Pink & White' challenge (for the base card & glitter paper colours & the digi-image tree).

I started by printing the tree digi image to A5 size and then trimming to slightly smaller than A5 so that I could mat & layer it. I used distress ink 'mowed lawn' & 'salty ocean' to ink the background & then used 3 different shades of brown promarkers (walnut, cocoa & burnt sienna I think) to colour the tree. I then used some small butterfly stickers that I got from Lakeland when they still did craft stuff- I've not used them for ages but I really love them. I got 3 of each same butterfly and folded them in half so that I could stick them together to create a 3d butterfly. I stuck them all over the tree and the surrounding area. I then mounted my tree image onto a mat of white glitter paper & then put that onto my 'dusky pink' base card.

SC Purple & Black

My latest card is my absolute favourite- EVER! (I usually do like my newest card best but this is my MOST favourite...)- the reason is, I have used my 2 favourite colours so this card is perfect for me- Would it be a bit weird to send myself a birthday card?

This card also fits with lots of challenge themes this week so I am entering it into the following challenges:-
Saturated Canary 'Love' (as I love the digi image & the colours)
Creatalicious 'L'Amour' (for the reasons above)
Basic Grey 'Favourite' (as I've used my favourite 'eerie' papers)
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog 'favourite colour combo' (purple & black)
Challenges 4 Everybody 'Anything Goes'
Crafty Catz 'bingo' (embossing, flowers & punches)
Polkadoodles 'shabby chic' (distressed edge papers- this is as shabby as I'll ever get!)
Stampin' for the Weekend 'distressed' (sanding of the embossed star cardstock)
Cute Card Thursday 'an eye for detail'

I started with an 8x8 scalloped edge card, which I matted with Craftwork Cards purple star embossed cardstock (from a prize pack!) that I distressed slightly and Basic Grey 'eerie' 6x6 paper (that I punched a star corner into). The main image is a digi stamp from Satuarted Canary (Honey) which I coloured with both Promarkers & Spectrum Noirs. The 3 flowers came from a pack that I picked up cheaply after Christmas so I didn't mind putting 3 on the one card!