RIBBON CHALLENGE

The challenge this week over at Scrummy Stash Cafe, is to use some ribbon on your creation! Now..... i do have a few ribbons ;-) so i decided to try and make something a little different!

Do any of you remember using squares of ribbon, folding them into triangle shapes and then fixing them with a pin onto a polystyrene shape, resulting in a Christmas decoration? ( I made several of these in the past!) It was remembering these such decorations, that led me to create the flower on this card! I cut one length of ribbon from my spool and fiddled it into a petal shape!! and then i made several more and created this flower! The centre of the flower is a Prima chipboard button, with a Maya Road chipboard flourish for the stem, which has been painted with Ranger paint dabber in 'Lettuce'. The tag is from the K&Co Baby Girl pad, onto which i used a HOTP acrylic sentiment stamped with Colorbox fluid chalk Dk Brown.
The background paper is Basic Grey from the 6 x 6 'Two Scoops' pad. The card is 144mm square.

PAPERTAKE WEEKLY 'Heart's Desire'

The challenge this week is to use hearts on your card! One heart is ok, so i came up with this :) I have made a few Valentine cards recently, which i think will be more than enough for the requests i've had from daughter's and work colleagues, and of course i will save one for hubs :)

My cricut machine has been slightly neglected lately, so i cut this heart using George/Basic Shapes @ 4" from some Prima paper Petal Poetry collection. The chipboard numbers have been painted with Ranger 'snow cap' paint dabber and are from a kit by Donna Downey, as is the @ symbol and the rub-on. The fab flower is from Sarah's Cards, accented with some Ofrray dotty ribbon and a tiny bit of fibre. The blingy bits are some gems that i've had in my stash for ages, but i think the small ones are Papermania, and are a lovely pink colour in normal light!! The card is 144mm square.

LAUREN MEADER SKETCH #32

I found Lauren's place quite a while ago but have only just decided to have a go at one of her fab sketches!I designed this card yesterday using Lauren's sketch as a base to work from. I think you could say i've turned into a bit of a 'stalker' when it comes to using sketches now, either that or i'm saving my own designing brain for something else!! I can't imagine what that will be! :)
I have been in posession of this lovely 'Dandelion' stamp by Hero Arts since Christmas, but i'm loathe to say this was it's first inking!
I also received some new goodies on Friday, most of which was my new quota of Basic Grey 'Two Scoops'. I have got two 6 x6 paper pads and also the 12 x 12 collection pack, because i'm sure by now you know how obsessed i am with all their paper collections!!

Of course this card was made using some of these 'ice creamy' new papers as well as some DCWV card onto which the Dandelion is stamped. I also got four new paint dabbers by Ranger and i've used some of the 'Aqua' to highlight small areas. I punched a hole in the large brad with my Cropadile, to allow me to add the smaller one on top, both brads are HOTP. The ribbon is Offray and the sentiment is from a K&Co kit from QVC a while back. You could say this card is a bit different to my usual 'style', i hope you like it, i think it's growing on me!!

PAPERTAKE WEEKLY & WSC#32

I created this card today using the great sketch #32 over at Fresh & Fun! Beate comes up with a new sketch on a Friday, just in time to have a play over the weekend!
I also decided to use a purple colour palette for this card to fit in with the current challenge over at Papertake Weekly.

I stamped this lovely Penny Black using Versamark, which i then embossed with detail white powder from Stampendous. Papers are HOTP from the vintage 8 x 8 pad, mounted onto some shimmery lilac cardstock and the sentiment is HOTP from an acrylic set. I added a spiral clip and a small star clip from Making Memories, and a couple of small ribbon scraps from stash!
The card size is 5 x 7

ARTY GIRLZ CHALLENGE #18 ANIMALS

This challenge is a great one for me because i am completely nuts about animals!! As a family we have several 'pets' that live here with us, and if we had more space and the time to dedicate to them, the number would be even greater i'm sure! Animals give love and pleasure and don't ask for much in return, only to be fed and loved and to live in clean and comfortable surroundings.
I love this wolf image and have used it a lot, but unfortunately i can't remember the manufacturer and there is nothing at all on the stamp itself. I bought it a couple of years ago at Alexandra Palace. It is an acrylic stamp and is mounted on a hard plastic type frame!?!, it's very easy to use, and gives a good crisp image every time. I really must try to make notes or keep packaging, so that in future i can be more informative about the things i share with you! :)

All paper here is from Crate paper 'Crush collection, which is all double sided(more options!) I have used Distress ink 'Brushed corduroy' to stamp my wolf directly onto the DP and also for the sentiment. The ribbon is Basic Grey 'Periphery' threaded through a small buckle from nunndesign.com. and i finished off with a brad which i think is either MM or K&Co!!

Inspired by the gorgeous Elephant dominoes that Julie created, I decided to search and find mine!! I haven't done any of these for ages, and this is what i came up with....I used Alcohol inks to colour the dominoe and added a tiny bit of gold mixative. When this was all dry i stamped my cats eyes with black Stazon and then edged all around with gold Krylon pen, i added a Perfect Pinback to the back so that i can wear it as a brooch! The stamp i used here is from PSX, but i think, unfortunately they no longer exist!
OK!! Here's the list... 3 Cats Juzzy, Milly and Willow- 2 Indian Runner Ducks Pepsi and Splash - 5 Bantams Smudge, Shadow, Pheobe, Camilla! and Tinksie and last but by no means least a Tortoise(currently asleep for the winter!) called Hard Nut!!...........And remembering forever our two great dogs Monty and Sam.... still miss them :)

CPS#48 & CAARDVARKS

A new challenge on the Caardvarks blog is to create a card with either blue tones or a celestial design. I decided to go for the blue tones because generally from personal choice it's not a colour i would choose. I think i'm more of an Autumnal person colourwise!
There is also a fab sketch over at CPS at the moment which i have based the design on, their sketches are always great to work from :)

The image is called 'Agapanthus Cluster' from Stampendous, inked up with Ranger Archival black, stamped onto a piece of card coloured with a stipple brush and Adirondack 'Denim' ink. I also used the 'Denim' to colour in the image with my water brush taking the colour straight from the pad. The background designer paper is K& Co from the 'Addison' 6 x 6 pad and a small piece of a Doodlebug paper frill and some Dovecraft jewel brads to complete the design!

CUTE LITTLE BOX!

This cute little box is what i've been working on this evening! I found the instructions for it over on a fab site called Capture the Moment. The lady is called Nicole, and she has loads of tutorials for similar things on her site, it's worth checking out!
I will be showing how to make this at my card club on Tuesday, as i promised we would work on some things other than cards this year, although the cards are the most popular i feel the need to branch out slightly as this is my fourth year, and many of the ladies have been with me from the start!!

Just one sheet of 81/2 x 11 card is all that's required for the box itself, which of course is A4. As i only have A4 in plain colours, and i didn't fancy stamping a design, i decided to cut down some Basic Grey to the size required. I used a couple of papers from 'Infuse', with a small amount of inking on the edges(i did forget to ink the two front flaps before i stuck them down though !!, which was slightly annoying!) I used some black ribbon from HOTP and the narrow red came as a little freebie in with an order! I made a band to go around the box, onto which i placed a small chipboard shape from American Crafts and added a 'Thanks' sticker from 7 Gypsies. I have filled my box with mint imperials, but i guess it would be good with nuts, or maybe some tiny garden bulbs, or maybe some nailcare products? Anything that is faily small and lightweight would be fine! I'm really pleased with the result and i hope you like it too! :)

ASYMMETRICAL CARD

I thought i should get away from cards that are quite basic shapes, so i designed this one yesterday and finished it off today! I would love to spend most of my days stamping and playing around with paper, but i guess i will have to make do with evenings for now :) ( I do love my 9 to 5 job really!! and it does enable me to purchase lots of goodies!)

This is made from one sheet of A4 card, scored into three equal parts and then cut and covered with some very pretty paper from HOTP. The stamped phrase is a personal favourite from my collection, and can be used for many occasions. It is of course from Penny Black, as are many of my stamps. You get such a good impression from them and they are cut away very well, so you don't usually get any mishaps with them. I have had to trim more rubber away from some stamps, which is always a nuisance!! The ribbon is Offray and i've used a couple of Bazzill flowers along with the white one from Papermania. The ink here is Colorbox Dk Brown chalk, used to stamp the phrase and to edge the card, and also to colour a silver heart brad and then some Platinum Stickles added for the sparkle!

This card will be used as a sample for my card club which i host every other Tuesday, and i hope Sue likes it! because she asked me to come up with something a bit different! Have a great Friday :)

AND THE WINNER IS !!!

Me!!! Yay, I,ve won a challenge over at Scrummy Stash Cafe for my scrummy scraps card. I,m so excited!!! Thank you so much :)

BRAD PITT!!!

Hi there, you may be mistaken into thinking this is a film review...but no! it's the current challenge at the Scrummy Stash Cafe!! As us cardmakers and scrappers are known to hoard stash(who me??) the challenge is to use some brads on our creations.
I, like many hundreds out there :) have loads of the things, so this challenge is a good one for me!
As you can see here, i have used five heart brads from Queen & Co, along with papers from Basic Grey(step away from BG!!!) The background striped paper and the one which i've used to cover the chipboard paisley piece are from 'Black Tie' and the pink paper is from 'Perhaps', all from the 12 x 12 collection packs.
The alpha stickers are from 'Scarlets Letter' and the ribbon is from a gift shop in Olney called 'Solo', i often nip in here where i go to Olney as they have some lovely ribbons which are meant for gift wrapping but are perfect for cardmaking also. I am afraid i don't know about the paisley piece as the packaging was discarded long ago! so i can't remember the manufacturer. Maybe one of you can help me out if you know?
I think this card would be o.k. for Valentines Day or maybe an Anniversary

DCM Me and My Shadow!!

Jane has set the Dare over at DCM this week, and she apologises for it being a hard one! But...actually i really enjoyed this one!!
The dare is to make two cards using the same papers, embellies etc etc, what is allowed is different wording. So.... i decided to make mine with French greetings on them :) don't ask me why? it just came into my head to use my Hero Arts 'Old French Writing' background stamp on the chipboard flowers!

I found a tutorial today for what is known as a one sheet wonder, whereby you cut a piece of 12 x 12 paper into lots of bits and then create as many cards as you can from all the bits! After cutting up BG Skate Shoppe 'Indy Grab' paper, i used 3 pieces to make these two cards, along with some paper frills from Doodlebug and some American Crafts ribbon. I have thrown away the packaging for the chipboard flowers, so i have no idea of the manufacturer of these but they were in sheets that you push out along with paisley type pieces and other little flowers and doo-dads!!

The sentiments were printed from the computer and then coloured to match in with the flowers with a Versamagic pad in' Sea Breeze' The background paper is BG from the 'Periphery' collection pack.

SCRUMMY SCRAPS!!!

There is a challenge set by Karen over at Scrummy Stash Cafe to 'use up your scraps!'. This is the perfect challenge for me as i can't bear to throw even the teeniest of my beloved Basic Grey in the bin!!
Those of you that have visited me here before will know how obsessed i am with Basic Grey products, especially the paper collection packs and the 6 x 6 paper pads. I created this card from the 'Blush' collection flyer sheet from the front of the pack(the bit you would normally throw away!) The paper is much thinner than the 'real' pieces :) inside the pack, but if you cut out all the little rectangles and squares you can make something with them!!! ( I really should get out more haha!)
To make this card i took some of the rectangles and wove them together till i had a decent size piece, gluing as i went along! i then stuck the whole thing to a piece of thin card. I placed a Craftwork Cards perfect petals on top and drew round the hearts with my Zig writer(chocolate) pen. I added a little more colour to the edges after i had cut them out. A 7 Gypsies roller stamp was used to stamp the sentiment onto another piece of the 'scrap' paper and a little bit of doodling to finish off!

WSC#29 BY BEATE

I am a bit late with this one!! A winner has already been picked, but i wanted to do it anyway :) and it's so good that creative people like Beate share their sketches with us all!
I kind of rotated it a bit to achieve the look i was after :) ! Some more yummy Basic Grey paper used here from Scarlet's Letter and Infuse to create the backdrop. The focal is made with a stamp from Paper Inspirations called Brushed Heart which i inked with Adirondack Cranberry, stamped onto white cardstock and then cut out leaving a tiny edge. The chipboard accent is from an embellishment set by Papermania, with some swirls, also in Cranberry to finish.
This would be o.k. for Valentines Day and maybe as a Wedding card? My daughter Chloe said 'That's different Mum' which could mean she doesn't really like it or she wants it for her boyfriend!!! not sure yet!

CRISS CROSS CARD

I found a tutorial for this card over on Fresh & Fun, the amazing blog of Beate Johns.She has loads of instructions for funky things to do with paper!! Check it out for yourself!
The instructions are very easy to follow with words and pictures(i need both!) and i managed to create what i think is a break from the usual, and it made a nice change!
No stamping at all on this card, as the sentiment is a rub on! Cardstock is Anna Griffin, patterned paper is from K&Co classic Mckenna 12 x 12 double sided stack, rub on is Basic Grey, flowers are Papermania and ribbon and buttons from stash. I really enjoyed making this card and i hope you like it too!

CAARDVARKS SKETCH CHALLENGE

I am sitting here now, thinking how bare my house looks after taking down all my Christmas decorations!! I suppose it's good to get back to 'normal' but it will take me a couple of days to get used to it again!
I designed this card today for the current sketch over at Caardvarks. I do enjoy having a sketch to work from and this one is no exception.I think my favourite form of card making is stamping, and unusually for me this one has only a small amount on it as i chose to use up some of my HOTP stuff. I have absolutely loads of it it the form of Carmakers Creative packs and Cardmakers Ultimate packs. Inside these books you have allsorts to work with including papers,cutouts,alphabets,vellums,little envelopes, etc and also ideas as well so excellent for a beginner!

supplies used:- HOTP 8 x 8 Vintage pack, Hero Arts Alphabet Stamps, Craftwork Cards chipboard flower, HOTP acrylic stamp(stitching) K&Co heart brad, Distress ink Brushed Corduroy, 5 x 7 card.

BIT 'A' BLING !!

I have had a very lazy day today, and it's been good to just do a bit of cardmaking and not much else really!, and my husband has cooked dinner as well, so i feel pampered.
I am back to work tomorrow so won't be able to create till the evening!
This is the card i designed today for the Papertake weekly challenge. The image is one of my favourite stamps, it's called 'Brush Lily' from Penny Black, and depending on how you stamp it, it can look quite different each time.
The challenge is to use some 'bling' on your card somewhere. I stamped the lily using Adirondack inks, and once dry i highlighted it with some PSX 'Diamond' sparkles(similar to stickles but finer particles) which i feel gave it an oriental look somehow.
The background was created with a stipple brush using two colours of green ink and then i decided that it didn't look quite right, so i punched the corners. i added a chinese coin and some fine leather twine. The 'Lucky' symbol is Hobby Art and finally some DCWV paper from the Old World 8 x 8 stack for the card front. I hope it's 'blingy' enough!

other supplies:- Adirondack inks Lettuce, Pesto, Cranberry and Raisin. Distress ink Brushed Cordury. Card is 123mm square.