Mucky Pup!

It will soon be my grandads birthday and he is a very keen gardener. I have made this card ready for his birthday and will be entering it into the following challenges:-
Love to Create 'pick 2'- die cuts & distressing
Paper Shelter 'punches & dies'- flower punch
Polkadoodles 'distressing'- papers
Here Come the Boys 'no stamps allowed'
Kanban 'anything goes'
Cute Card Thursday 'spring fever'
Catch the Bug 'green thumb'
Basic Grey 'spring'- archaic 6x6 papers

This was a very quick card to make using some new(ish) Kanban toppers from the mens themed blockbuster kit from C&C, my xcut flower punch for the flowers, punching them from Basic Grey 'archaic' 6x6 papers and some card candi for the centre of each flower.

Simply Betty Stamps- 'pwew pwew pwew Jude'

This is my latest card for the Card Makin Mamas design team and it uses a brilliant image from 'Simply Betty Stamps'. I chose the 'pwew pwew pwew Jude' image as it reminded me so much of making things out of junk boxes which was something I always did as a kid and I am lucky enough to still get to do in a regualr basis with the children I work with (the latest being a 7ft tall dinosaur- it's fab!). The theme was 'green' and so the alien/space theme was perfect. I also chose to use my DCWV 'All About Boys' stack which has some really good space themed papers.

I inked an 8x8 scalloped edge card blank with 'chipped sapphire' distress ink and then mounted the trimmed backing paper onto it. I coloured the digi-stamp with my promarkers & spectrum noirs and then trimmed it to leave a small white border. I inked the edge of the topper with 'peeled paint' distress ink and then mounted it onto a mat also cut from the DCWV 'All About Boys' stack.

Floral wreath card

I was lucky enough to win a beautiful wreath kit from Craftwork Cards in one of their challenges recently and this is the first time I have used it. Rather than making a wreath though, I have used the components to make a card. I am entering it into the Daring Cardmakers 'colour combo' challenge and Challenges 4 Everybody 'anything goes' challenge.

I started by making up the flowers from the kit and added a little extra card candi to the centres of some of them. To make all of these flowers, I used just 2 sheets from the kit of which there are 8 in total. I attached these to one of the rings from the kit to give me a base and more stability. I then got an 8x8 scalloped edge card and used 2 different Craftwork Cards papers as mats before adding the flower wreath topper. It is my intention to put a simple peel-off sentiment in the centre of the card but have not done so yet as it may be a card for a birthday or mother's day as that is also so close by.

Spring daffodils

This is my latest card, perfect for the start of spring and the current challenges at Crafty Catz 'St Davids Day- dragons or daffodils' and Polkadoodles 'spring flowers'.

It's an incredibly simple card that very much goes back to my card making roots...

I started with a 6x6 scalloped card blank that I inked with 'Squeezed Lemonade' distress ink. The topper came from 2 copies of the 2013 'Hugs' calendar that I used to make the decoupage topper. Done.

Saturated Canary 'walker girl' zombie with skulls

Here is another new card that I've made to enter the Digital Tuesday 'birthdays' challenge and Saturated Canary 'good vs evil' challenge. I'll let you decide if it's good or evil though!

I love all things a bit gory & gothic so while this card has images some people may find 'evil', I most definitely find it 'good' and it is perfect for a friends birthday, even though it's not until October! This is the first time I have used the 'walker girl' zombie image from Saturated Canary but it was one I bought when I first discovered their wonderful designs. I have also used 'Midnight Spell' papers from DCWV which I have had for ages but not really found a suitable project for them- now I have!

I started by folding a piece of A4 black card into an A5 base and then used one of the DCWV papers as a mat. There is a hidden element to the backing that can not really be seen in the photograph but I have added some very subtle skulls to it. I did this by using some new skull shaped post-it notes that I saw in Wilkos- I cut the eyes, nose & teeth out of the post-it and than stuck it to my card, inking with 'dusty concord' distress ink. As this colour is similar to the original background,  the skulls are not obvious when you look at the card from the front, but as the light shines on the side view, they suddenly appear. It's a bit like that famous painting of Henry VIII that from the front has a blurry splodge in the corner but from the side, it's a skull.

I coloured the SC image with my spectrum noirs and then mounted it onto another paper from the DCWV stack. I mounted this onto the card and then tied some black organza ribbon around the spine. Before tying the bow, I added the metal skull charm so that it would hang from the ribbon freely.

New Gorjuss girls stamps, papers, buttons, twine... ;-)

Yesterday, I went to The Range to go and have a look at the new DoCrafts goodies because I was super excited about the launch of the new Gorjuss range. I have to say a huge thank you to the really helpful staff at The Range in Kings Lynn as they hadn't been able to put some of the new products out yet but they went to the warehouse and bought out a pallet of boxes and let me find what I wanted! I ended up with 8 fabulous stamp sets, papers, ribbons, decoupage, bakers twine & buttons (that came free with the Creativity magazine) as well as the new goodie bag and new animal urban stamps. The stamps inparticular are brilliant because they are really deep cut rubber and while that does mean they are not see-through, they stamp perfectly with excellent clarity (even though I'm not a great stamper). Here's my first card I've made using my new goodies-

This card was inspired by the packaging of the Gorjuss products (which can also be used) as it shows the stamped images left as black & white, giving a drawn look. I really liked how it looked so thought I'd use it on my card. I started with a dark purple A4 piece of card that I've had in my stash for ages which I folded into an A5 card blank. I then used 2 papers from the 8x8 and 6x6 paper packs as mats. I made the topper by stamping using a black memento ink onto one of the 6x6 papers that has a distressed lined effect. I mounted this onto the purple mat and then added the buttons (free with magazine) and a mini black bow from my crafty stash. I finished the card by wrapping the purple & cream bakers twine 3 times around the edge of the card and then knotting it before fraying the hanging part.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:-
Love to Create 'wrap it up' (bakers twine)
Cute Card Thursday 'something old' (A4 base card)
Creative Inspirations 'buttons and bows'
Paper Shelter 'animal magic' (cute pussy cat)
The Pink Elephant 'anything goes'
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenges 'favourite colours' (purple & black)

Basic Grey 'Love Owls'

Here is my latest card that I am entering into the Basic Grey 'Anything Goes' challenge and Catch the Bug 'Anything Goes' challenge.

I started this card with the fabulous 'Love Owls' image from Bugaboo. It's an image I used for a project for the Card Makin Mamas design team and I really do love it! I tried to find promarkers/spectrum noirs that matched the colour scheme of the challenge but I was really struggling to find some in my collection so instead I found out my beautiful Basic Grey 'sugared' 6x6 papers as I knew those colours matched the challenge theme and then matched my pens to that instead. I coloured the image using a mix of both promarkers & spectrum noirs but the pink colour didn't really work for me so I ended up blending in some blue & grey to try and get a better match- it really does show just how well alcohol pens will blend. When I had finished the colouring, I trimmed the design down and then inked the edges with 'Frayed Burlap' distress ink. I rounded the corners and then mounted it onto a pink distressed card from the Basic Grey 'sugared' 6x6 paper pad. I then got a floral patterned paper from the same paper pad and trimmed it down just a little to fit on the 6x6 scalloped card blank, I also rounded the corners on this too. I used 3d foam to attach the topper at an angle onto the card.

*I managed to miss the deadline for the Catch the Bug colour challenge but their new challenge is 'Anything Goes' so thankfully I can post it for that challenge instead!*