DCM 'Distressing'

I wanted to pop this one on real quick as i am off to teach my little class shortly :)
My design today is for Keryn's 'Distressing' dare over at DCM. It's been a little while since i had a go at any sketches or challenges, as i have been busy with other stuff, but i love the 'distressed' look so i had to join in with this one!
This card is 5 x 7 which is a size i seem to be using more frequently now! I had a great time messing about with my Distress inks and sandpaper, and I've used so many different elements on this design that i think it best if i just list what i have used, rather than trying to explain how i achieved it :) So here goes.... Patterned paper- Funky Hand 'Funky Seasons CD'
Cuttlebug - Swiss Dots
Maya Road - Chipboard Swirl and Oval
Scrummy Stash Cafe - Chipboard Flowers
Stickles Glitter Glue - Platinum
Marvy Giga Punch - Scalloped Oval
HOTP - Metal Flower Centres (Forgotten the proper name!)
Tim Holtz - Distress Ink 'Brushed Corduroy'
Ranger Adirondack -'Hazelnut'
Basic Grey - Precision Files
Thanks for popping in today, i hope to be back soon with more to share :) Have fun!

CHEERFUL FLOWERS......Very Funky!

Hello everyone!, nice to be back in my little crafting corner following a very relaxing week in beautiful sunny Portugal!
I have a couple of designs today using the fabulous papers that are on the CD's available at Funky Hand. I love the fact that i can just choose to print out what i need, when i need it! so easy :) and the papers and extras are soooo comprehensive! Check them out! Anice will post worldwide and it won't cost you a penny extra!
I chose papers from Very Funky the 'Spring Morning' colour collection for both cards today. I seem to have a fetish at the moment for cutting and doodling :) and i could not resist giving these little flowers a smiley face each :)
My second card was made using scraps left over from the first card, by cutting into thin strips and weaving together to create the background. I also cut out some more flowers for the little bouquet and added a tag, also on the CD. The sentiment was just printed from the computer to add to my tag. Zig pen for doodling and ribbons from stash.
As part of the design team, i have just been given a download of some fab new stuff, which of course you can also get right here!
I hope to be sharing some more new designs with you very soon! Thanks for visiting this time, and Take Care x

FIRST DESIGN FOR FUNKY HAND...

Been away from this little place for a few days, with such a hectic week i have had no time left to create! But... i'm back today with my first design for Funky Hand.
I have just been accepted onto the new design team for the fabulous Funky Hand, so you may well be seeing many more cards using Anice's wonderful paper designs. The CD's are jam packed with colour and design, which allow you to make a card for any occaision.
For my design today, i used 'Funky Seasons' the black and white collection. I decided to cut out the leafy branch from one of the papers and mount it onto another from the collection, and added some Prima flowers with Swarovski crystal centres. I used a Zig pen and the new 'Inkssentials' white opaque pen for all the dots!!! The sentiment was cut using my Cricut machine and i've inked it up with a Colorbok cats eye in 'Dark Peony' to match the flowers!
I will be missing again next week as we are off to Portugal, but thanks for popping in today, have a great week, whatever you may be doing! and i'll see you soon :)

EXCITING NEWS!!!.....

It's official....YAY....I'm soooooo excited to be able to tell you that i am now a member of the
Funky Hand Design Team :) :) I received an e-mail yesterday from Anice, and i've almost been 'bursting' since then(that would not be a pretty sight!!)
I would like to say a big thanks once again to Anice for taking me on board, and also a great big 'Hello' to the rest of my team members :)

I don't have any experience of using Funky Hand products, but i can't wait to get started with them! The funny thing is, i applied for this last Wednesday(9th) as i did'nt want to be at work on my Birthday, so i took a day's holiday and found the call whilst blog hopping!! How Funky is that!!

TAG YOU'RE IT! Week 2

I've had a lovely day today with my gorgeous Granddaughter, although we could not make a visit to the park because the weather has been so awful. Instead we watched Cinderella & Jungle Book (3 times!!) a little bit of painting and read a couple of books!
Whilst blog hopping yesterday, i found another challenge blog called Tag You're It! which is just dedicated to tag making :) So, as i like a challenge and because it's different to making a card i thought i would have go at designing a Tag!! The current challenge is to create a tag with polka dots.
I have used my newest stamp set, the Hero Arts clear design Cupcakes. I've wanted this set since the day i first saw it, so i needed to get started with it straight away :) The great thing about making a tag is that you can use up small pieces of paper to create your design! My tag consists of card scraps from DCWV and Basic Grey and the papers i've used are from an old Colorbok set called Dena's Closet. The ink is Adirondack 'Wild Plum' and i've highlighted the brown dots with some 'Platinum' Stickles, and a few fibres through the hole at the top!
I will probably use this tag on the front of a Birthday Card, not sure yet!
Thanks for popping in today, enjoy your week :) and i'll see you soon!

YOUNG NEW ARTIST!!!!

This is our beautiful Granddaughter Danielle having one of her painting sessions!! We are so lucky that we get to see her as often as we do, and most Sundays when they are here for the day, her most favourite thing to do is painting :) (She gets most of it on the paper really!!!)
We are barely cleared away from Sunday lunch before she is asking 'Nanma, do painting now?' It is so funny that she can say Granddad perfectly, but i'm still Nanma and it just sounds so adorable :)
She will be here tomorrow for the whole day and her Mummy and Daddy are off to the NEC, so we get her all to ourselves :) i can hardly wait!!! I think painting will be on the agenda :) and maybe a trip to the park if the weather is kind!
Enjoy your Sunday..... i will definately enjoy mine :) :)

CUTE CARD THURSDAY #5 'Things with Wings'

Three little critters stopping by to say Hi! :) This is my design for the current challenge over at Cute Card Thursday which of course is 'Things with Wings'
I've used stamps from several sets to create this little scene, the branch is Hero Arts, the tiny ladybirds are from Dovecraft Studio G, and the birdie is from 'Mindy's Zoo'. I have coloured the bird and the ladybugs with Adirondack inks and a water brush. The sentiment is also from an acrylic set by Printworks 'Small Tag Lines' which i bought on Wednesday with some of my Birthday money(thanks to my MIL!!) I also got the 'Swiss Dots' Cuttlebug folder as well :) The red card is Basic Grey which i've scalloped with my corner rounder punch (wings removed!)
I really enjoyed making this card today....i hope you like it too!

ARTY GIRLZ #29 Black & White....Seahorse...

Keeping it really simple for my design today using this fabulous Seahorse from Clarity Stamp.I stamped this gorgeous creature onto plain white cardstock using Archival Jet Black(Ranger) A little bit of stippling around the edges to soften it down a bit using a stencil brush.
The wording is from a very old Life's Journey set by K & Co. mounted onto a Donna Downey chipboard circle cut in half ! The background paper is Basic Grey 'Black Tie' and a piece of dotty organza from stash to complete my design which is my entry for the current challenge over at Arty Girlz!
I had a lovely day yesterday just playing around with stamps and paper, and then a little visit to my local Scrapbook store in the afternoon for some essentials :) that i needed!!! Today...back to spreadsheets,invoices, purchase orders and all those other wonderful things that await me at work :( I hope you enjoy your day today.....see you soon :)

STUNNING CREATIONS!!!!!!!!

Sometimes i am really bad! :( and i don't always have the time to visit everyone that is kind enough to leave me a comment :) I do try and go back through my blog and repay the compliment, but sometimes several days will have passed before i get around to you all!!

I am so glad i decided to do this otherwise i may have missed the chance to see such stunningly beautiful cards made by the very talented Peet, you have to go and look for yourselves to see how this lady makes every card into a complete work of art!!

This is my way of saying thanks to each and everyone of you that pops into my little corner of the crafty world :) :) Crafter's are the BEST!!!!

DCM Shrink to Fit !!

The dare this week over at DCM is to make a card with only a 5 x 5 cm embellished portion! (less than 2"OMG!!) Thankfully a sentiment was allowed.This is what i came up with....
The black chipboard square is from a Donna Downey kit and is exactly 5 x 5 cms. The smaller square is 47 mm which is kind of thin white chipboard( got them in a pack from Stamp Addicts)
I covered the white piece with' Bikini Pink' Sea Brights ink from Ranger, when this was dry i smoothed a thin layer of glue over the top and then sprinkled on some Glamour Dust from DecoArt(very very fine glitter) The sentiment and 'bride & groom' are rub-ons from Making Memories, the ampersand is also from the Donna Downey kit, and the card base is a standard A6.
It sort of brings back memories for me of the type of cards i used to make when i first embarked on this fantastic hobby of cardmaking!! Sometimes less is more, as they say :)
Thanks for popping in today, see you soon :)

DI HICKMAN APRIL #1

I absolutely love Whipper Snapper rubber stamps and this one is my newest little cutie! I used Di's fab sketch as the starting point for my design, although i do always stamp and colour my image first and then i decide what papers to use to compliment the colours i've used. When this is done i then choose whether or not to use a sketch to inspire me :) Do you start with the sketch? how do you do yours?
My cute Turtle with Frog has been stamped with Archival Jet Black onto some watercolour paper, then i've coloured it in using several Adirondack colours. I squeeze my inkpads to get the colour onto the inside of the lid and then pick my colour up from there with my water brush. This method will work with good quality cardstock, but i find watercolour paper will always give a more pleasing result! ( i use Cotman 90lb cold pressed)
Some more gorgeous papers from Basic Grey 'Sugared' paired up with some DCWV, a few embellies from stash and a sentiment from HOTP.
Thanks for popping in! Have a great day, and wherever you are i hope you have not had too much snow!!! (only a little here in Bedford!)

P.I.F. CANDY!!!

I received some PIF goodies in the post this morning from the lovely Jilli(thank you :) i will make good use of them!) Now, as it's my Birthday next week(9th) i have decided to PIF the first nine people to leave a comment here, and as you know you then offer some goodies to more people, and so it keeps rolling on!! Great idea, whoever came up with it don't you think? and so good to get something in the post other than bills!!!! Good Luck all :)

Edited to add:- I think 3 people is the 'norm' for PIF, and i'm giving some stamped images,ribbon, and a few flowers and brads. It's up to you how many and how much you decide to give! Hope this helps :) Oh..and you need to have a blog of your own as well!

PAPERTAKE MEETS THEME THURSDAY !!

I don't know about you, but when i think of orange and black together i always think Halloween, but however i also think April is a tad early for Witches and Ghosties!! So... i decided to use this little guy :)
The challenge over at Papertake is Making Waves! (scallops or zig-zags) and Theme Thursday this week is Orange & Black, so i decided when i designed this card i wanted it to fit in with both challenges :)
I started with some white glossy cardstock and taking ink onto a cotton wool ball, using circular motions to get the lovely orangey colour. I then added some black ink with a stipple brush to tone it down a bit ! The very cute Giraffe image is from 'Stamps Away' which i've stamped also with black ink. The grosgrain ribbon and buttons are HOTP. The chipboard panel is American Crafts, scalloped card is from Bazzill and the background paper is Basic Grey. The inks used for this card were Adirondack 'Terra Cotta' and Archival Ink 'Jet Black' both by Ranger.
Thanks for popping in today :) see you soon!

CUTTLEBUG & INK......

Cuttlebug & Ink...... sounds like a new double act!!! Just me playing around again with my little green machine! I wanted to try some more cards using my Cuttlebug, just to see what i can come up with, and also at the classes i host a couple of my ladies have recently decided to purchase one as well, so i want to give them some more ideas for their cardmaking :)

For this card i embossed one piece without any ink and the two end panels were first inked and then embossed. I used Adirondack ink in 'Denim' smoothed all over the inside of the printed panel(i must get myself a little brayer, because this gives a much better effect apparently!) and then run through as normal. The image panel was cut using my Nestabilities which i've edged with a little ink from a cat's eye. The stamps used are Hero Arts 'Dandelion' and the letters from 'Good Alphabet' ribbon is from stash!
I hope the girls will have a try with this technique at my class tonight! That's the good thing about the Cuttlebug being very portable, it means i can take him along as well!!
Thank you for popping in today, must go now or i'll be late for work!!!!