Rockstar and first Easter card

This is my first Easter card made with this lovely Friday freebie from a couple of weeks ago at Pollycraft. Paula has some lovely new spring images and I just had to buy a couple more which I shall be using during the next few weeks. The challenge is Easter at Die Cut Dreams. The fab sketch comes from Sweet Sketch Wednesday and the colour scheme of green and yellow with a stamped image and 3D embellies is for the challenge at Peachy Keen. I added some Shimmerz to the Prima flowers and some glitter to the flower on the image and the stamped sentiment.

The second card is a real contrast. It's the first time I have used Rockstar Anya and certainly the first time I have ever coloured hair lilac and given an image lilac lipstick. The backing card is DCWV Rockstar. The stars are cut from glitter paper using a Cuttlebug die.

Challenges:
Anyone for Anya Something completely different
The Pink Elephant Sketch
Creative Craft Music to my Ears
CRAFT Ribbons and sparkle
Cute Card Thursday Ribbon
Sassy Designs Lilac and aqua
Fussy and Fancy Friday Movies (A Star is Born)

Sweet Squiggle

Squiggle Stamps have a new challenge on their blog and this month it is pink and a heart. I love this Daisy with flowers and used the sketch from Sketch Saturday. I decided to keep this card fairly simple. The background paper is Papermania Honey and Hugs. I used my MS heart punch on both the other papers and added some white roses from Wild Orchid. I thought making squiggles out of the stems was quite appropriate.

Wheee - I'm so excited

I feel like dancing around just like this hedgie here as I've just found out that I have won Jacqui's fantastic Birthday candy. I am still in state of shock about it. I can't believe how lucky I've been since I started blogging so I'll be offering some more of my own soon. Watch this space.

This is of course a Penny Black stamp and very appropriately giving thanks. The challenge at Penny Black this week is pink, green and yellow. Now green and yellow are my least favourite colours to use and particularly together. However with the pink they do have a nice spring look. Spring is the challenge at Stamp Something. The fab sketch, which I rotated is from Charisma.

I added a little yellow chalk around the image for definition. The papers are Papermania Honey and Hugs, flowers are K&Co and the rainbow ribbon has been in my stash for ages but was just perfect for a bit of sparkle.

Distressed again

I can't believe that I've gone from distressing making me distressed to embracing the technique. I haven't gone as far as distress inks yet, I'm too attached to my Promarkers. The lovely Lili of the Valley images also make it much more pleasurable to make cards for men and boys. I love the shape of this image which looks so good in an oval. The sketch is from Lili of the Valley. Instead of the 3 flowers I added some Sizzix leaves which echo the shape of the leaves in the image. Distressing is the challenge at Paper Sundaes so I inked and filed the edges and even tore the top edge of the K&Co paper, which reminds me of the newspaper in the image. The colour scheme of brown, blue and white is for The Crafty Pad. I don't think I have ever used this colour scheme before but I really like it. Lastly lots of spots (ribbon, swiss dots embossing folder, round buttons and sentiment) is for Totally Papercrafts.

For the second card I used this Cuddly Buddly stamp, which I won at Just Cute Bears last week. Their challenge this week is lilac so how could I resist this challenge. Papers are Papermania Capsule collection. I used my MSBP and added some Primas, charm, brads, spacers, punched fern leaves and gems. Other challenges are:
Paperplay Sketch
Cute Card Thursday Metal mania
Crafty Catz Charming Bear
Incy Wincy Touchy feely

Pink fairy

SECOND POST FOR TODAY. SCROLL DOWN FOR MY KABOODLE DOODLES FANCY FOLD DT CARD.

Another Mother's Day card this time using one of the new Sugar Nellie fairies. I just love the way her dress swirls and those cute little pixie shoes. I added lots of pink glitter to her wings and a little gold Sakura pen to make her hair sparkle. Papers are Papermania capsule and Forever Friends Pink Parfait again. These are such yummy papers. Flowers are Wild Orchid painted with a little Shimmerz, as are the punched fern leaves.

The lovely sketch is from Moving along with the Times where the theme is Mums. Other challenges are:
Digital Tuesday Girly
I Love Digi Think pink (A new challenge on the blog)
Secret Crafter Mother's Day
Magical Crafts Something for Mum
Cute Daisy May Flowers

I see I've lost a follower today, how careless of me! Where do they go?

Fancy folds

This week's challenge at Kaboodle Doodles is to make a fancy fold card. I was going to make an easel card coz I just love them but I haven't made a gatefold card for so long I decided to try that instead. They are so easy to make but not to photograph, lol! I decided to stick to one paper, but use the stripes both ways. The butterflies on the front are from an X cut dimension punch with some added gems. The sentiment was a freebie with a mag a couple of years ago. Inside I stamped and coloured this lovely rose and cut it out using a nellie die which I then backed with another circle using a scrap of paper. On the sides I made some swirling leaves using a Sizzix die and added some plain and patterned Primas and gems.

Please hop over to Kaboodle Doodles where there is a great prize on offer from Sunshine Stamps. They have some lovely digi images, particularly if you are looking for something different for male cards. You can see lots more fancy folds from the DT there too. It has been great to spot some of my lovely followers joining in the challenge and I'd love to see more of you there. Remember you have 2 weeks to enter the challenges and there is always a prize on offer.

Saturday afternoon crafting

I've been lucky enough to have had a free afternoon today so have just spent a lovely peaceful two and a half hours making a couple of cards. The sun is shining for a change though it it is still very cold.

This little sweetie is a Greeting Farm stamp called Snuggle. I used my label nestie for both her and the Cuttlebug flower embossed card. I then inked and stamped around her with a Field of Sky stamp. The DP is just one sheet from the Papermania Honey and Hugs range. I added a ticket from Alissa Designs, which I coloured with a cerise PM and some chalk. I also used a dressmakers wheel to create some tiny hole lines around the ticket. I added a flower charm, some punched fern leaves, a Prima hydrangea and some flowers from Wild Orchid which have all been sparkled with Shimmerz.

Challenges:
ABC O is for one paper (They also have a DT call)
Friday Sketchers sketch
Anyone for Anya Flower power
Totally Gorjuss Flower power
Creative Card Crew Get well soon
Allsorts Tag,ticket or label

The second card is a complete contrast. I'm definitely beginning to enjoy making men's card more than I used to although I still miss putting flowers onto a card. The sketch for this card came from CRAFT and the challenge at Cards for men is green. I haven't used my Sizzix grass die for months but is fitted this sketch just perfectly.

Forever Friends for Mother's Day

Now I know what yo are thinking, another purple card. Well yes it is but it is for a friend at work who asked for a purple card with a bear for her mum. What good taste she has. I added some little buttons to the flowers for a change. The lovely sketch is from Create 4 fun. Buttons and bows are for Passion for Promarkers and Quixotic want something for mum.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Manga girl

They always have such interesting sketches at The Sugar Bowl. I decided to mix purple and aqua for a change, only the second time I think I have ever sued this colour combo. Papers are Clare Curd and Papermania heather capsule collection. The glittered card is Doodlebug. The added extra with the sketch is 3 flowers, 2 brads and a button which I added to the Prima flowers. I added a crystal to the corner for added sparkle.

My buttons are in little tower containers divided into 4 and unfortunately I hadn't put the top back on the container properly and when I put it in the drawer the buttons went everywhere. That's when you realise how many buttons you have in just one section and how tiny some of them are. What a joy that was picking them all up.

Apologies for the photo but I had to use the flash, which I hate doing. The background paper looks green instead of aqua and the middle flower looks pink instead of purple.

Gaming fun

This was such a nice change from making Mother's Day cards and not a flower in sight. The theme is male at Charisma I followed the sketch at Sketch and Stash. Te new items was my lovely little boy from LOTV, the never used was my DCWV Rock stack which I bought on holiday last October and the neglected was my Sizzix corner die, which I don't think I have used since Christmas.

Just the one from me tonight. I'm off to do a bit of bloghopping.

Two more Mother's Day cards

SECOND POST FOR TODAY
Another flying visit to post these 2 cards I made this afternoon. The Mother's Day cards are going so well at work that I only have 2 left so here's 2 more to take in tomorrow. Luckily I leave off at 1.30 on Tuesdays so had time to play. The first card is a simple easel card. The stamp is one I haven't used for a while. The Mother's Day stamp was free with a magazine a couple of years ago. I added some glitter to the leaves and used some shiny card candy to the Prima hydrangeas. I used the sketch at Sunday sketch and stamp.

As you can see I used the sketch across the whole card, which worked really worked with an easel. Other challenges are Multifold at Secret Crafter and a glittery spring at Paper Sundaes.

The second card is Coco from Digistamp Boutique. I cut him out ad backed him onto an embossed circle. The background paper is from a 12 x 12 sheet of K & Co which I bought in a sale for 20p. The lovely little buttons and bows were from the blog candy I won at Winter Wonderland where the challenge is satsuma, gold and chocolate. The sketch is from Just Cute Bears. Cupcake want us to keep it simple which is a challenge for me but I have managed it with this card. Teddy Stampers are looking for love and check this out at Papertake who want to see checks.

Let's dance

A really quick post from me today as I have a lot of cards to make this week. Another one of the lovely WOJ City Girls. I decided to use red and gold for a change with lots of ribbon and sparkle. The sketch is from Whiff of Joy. Other challenges are bright and cheerful at Cute Daisy May, punches (MS star border and Woodware leaflet) at Incy Wincy and ribbon at The Pink Elephant.

2 Mother's Day cards

Now you may have noticed several Mother's Day cards on my blog recently. No, I only have 1 Mum but I sell them at work. These 2 couldn't be more different from each other, could they. My gorgeous City Girls arrived this week from Whiff of Joy. These girls are everywhere in blogland and I couldn't wait to use one, I just can't decide which one is my favourite but I think it might be this one.

I can't believe I have only just made a card for the challenge of lavender and lace at Cute Daisy May. Those who know me well will know that any purple challenge draws me like a magnet so why am I so late with this one? Only just in time too for using the fab sketch from Sketch and Stash, which worked so well with a tall card. As well as the new image, the little dots are made using a new stamp called Field of Sky. My good friend Lynsey told me about this stamp as I admired the effect on many of her cards. The papers are also new, Papermania Heather Capsule collection. There are some really gorgeous papers in these collections. As well as using my MS doily lace punch I also added some old lace to the horizontal strip. Some punched fern leaves and a punched and Prima flowers, brad and pearls finish off this card.

The second card uses a free digi download from Bugaboo. The orange punched strip was a sample which was included in my last order from Dies to Die For. I used a Cuttlebug embossing frill on it and used my MS floral lace punch on the red and white strip. More punched fern leaves and Prima flowers plus some larger flowers I bought at a show. I also added some faux stitching which just finishes off the image nicely.

Challenges for this card are:
Moving along with the Times Fab sketch and theme of cute companions
Crafty cardmakers Digi
CRAFT Digi colouring
Dare U 2 Digi Stamp Punches
Bee Crafty Sew cute
One Stitch at a time Stitching

Christmas cards

Well it seemed appropriate to make these this afternoon with the snow falling. Thankfully everywhere was so wet that it didn't lay, We've had everything today, snow, sleet, rain and sun, though not much of the latter.

I recently bought 2 stamps which I had seen on several blogs last Christmas and as they were reduced at Dies to Die For couldn't resist them. The first stamp is from Gillian Roberts and is just so cute and is for the following challenges:
Winter Wonderland Fantastic Sketch
Tuesday Taggers Love
Simon Says Love
Cupcake Red and White
Cute Card Thursday Love
Crazy 4 Challenges Red
Totally Gorjuss Love
Crafty Catz Buttons and bows
Totally Papercraft Buttons and bows

The second is a Kraftin' Kimme of course. Lots of glitter on this as befits such a gorgeous girl. This is for:
Allsorts 321 recipe of your choice, 3 snowflakes, 2 papers, 1 brad
Papertake sketch which fitted a tall card, thanks
Lily-bootoo 1 tag and 1 ribbon
Passion for Promarkers Agean, sky blue and cool aqua Promarkers
Quixotic Tag it

2 bouquets

Maybe that should be 3 bouquets as my lovely hubby brought me home some beautiful pink, burgundy and white flowers for Valentine's Day. Very sensible as the shops will push up the prices tomorrow and Sunday and I can now enjoy them all weekend.

This card is a real change for me and is for the challenge of no stamped or digi image at Creatalicious . I only really got into stamping in a big way about a year ago. Before that my cards were made from stickers, peel offs, die cuts etc. I used to buy a lot of my die cuts from the lovely Tracy at Dies to Die For. The vase I have used on this card is one that has been in my stash from my pre-stamping days. Paper is Pink Parfait and flowers are a mix of Primas and flowers from Wild Orchid, as is the ribbon and pearl bow. Fussy and Fancy want to be dazzled, so I hope they like this card.

The second card is one of the fab new images from Lili of the Valley called Rosie Posy. The colour challenge of red, white, chocolate and pink at Colour Create was a bit scary and not one I would naturally choose. There was also an option of hearts and silver, which I managed with punched hearts and leaves. Hearts and flowers are the theme at Sassy Designs and Polka Doodles. The last challenge is something cute at Stamp Something

I hope you all have a lovely Valentine's weekend. I'm looking forward to lunch out on Sunday followed by snuggling up on the sofa to watch a movie.

Pretty in pink Anya

Just back from Sainsbury's shopping where the film of the Time Traveller's Wife slipped into the trolley along with the shopping. If you love reading like I do and haven't read this book then rush out, not now it's freezing outside, and grab yourself a copy. I love this book and want to read it again. I know the film won't be the same but I want to see it anyway.

Now onto the card, which is of course Miss Anya looking pretty in pink and brown. I just got these flowers from Wild Orchid after seeing them on so many blogs. This sketch from I Love Promarkers with a colour scheme of pink and brown was just perfect for the challenge of anyone for leftovers at Creative Inspirations. Instead of one background paper I used 3 leftover pieces to make up the sketch. I've had the sparkly butterfly border for ages, I think it is Paper Cellar. Roses on paper also have a colour challenge of pink, brown and cream and good enough to eat is for Anyone for Anya. This last one has to be a food combi so I thought of chocolate dipped strawberries and vanilla ice cream, yum yum.

A real challenge

When I saw 3 of the challenges last Saturday I really didn't know whether I would enter them. First there is get distressed with buttons and a bow at Allsorts, then Kraftin' Kimmee wanted me to be a little ripper by tearing my paper, eek, and finally One Stop Craft have a colour challenge of apple green, chocolate and clotted cream. Now regular viewers will know that distressing distresses me, I don't tear paper and I have never used this colour combo on a female card.

So what's a girl to do but take up these 3 challenges together. After all it's good to take yourself out of your comfort zone. So I coloured Clara and her bird with my PMs, inked and distressed edges and tore (yes, that's right) tore paper, not once, not twice but three times! The backing paper is K&Co and the brown spotted paper and spotted flower are from Craftwork cards, which along with the stamped spots on the corners of the image, fits nicely with the challenge of spotted or striped at Lexi's Creations.

I can't believe how much I like this card and I really like the torn paper. Other challenges are love and friendship at the Crafty Calendar and friends at Crafty Creations. The lovely sketch is from Totally Gorjuss.

Roses

THIRD AND FINAL POST FOR TODAY.

There is a fabulous theme for the sketch at Moving along with the times. The theme is childhood memories. The DT have come up with some great ideas this week. I looked through my images and could think of so many to use. In the end I decided to go with these roses as I remember my friend and I picking rose petals and putting them into a jar of water thinking we could make some perfume! Needless to say it didn't work. Well I was only about 4 at the time.

The colour scheme of pink and cream came from Creative Inspirations and the recipe of 1 patterned paper, 1 embossing, 1 button and 1 ribbon is for A Spoonful of Sugar. I used one of my neglected Cuttlebug embossing frills for the border. The paper is another of the Papermania capsule collection. I know that the pink looks a bit purple on the photo but it is pink, I promise you.

Gorjuss sugar bowl

SECOND POST FOR TODAY
I haven't used one of these Gorjuss girls for a while now. There is a really interesting sketch at The Sugar Bowl which I finally got around to using last night.

The sketch has been used in a variety of ways by the DT. In addition to the sketch you also have to use lace. I threaded some ribbon through the lace and attached it to the middle paper. I rotated the sketch and placed 3 flowers and the sentiment in place of the 4 images.

Kraftin Kimmee's Birthday

Kimmee is celebrating her birthday and the third anniversary of her blog with a sketch challenge. I used the lovely Francesca and went with a colour scheme of pink and brown for a change. If you would like the chance to win some KK stamps pop over to Kimmee's blog. They are such cute and quirky stamps, I definitely need more of these girls.

These sentiments from Craftwork cards are so lovely and shiny but unfortunately they don't show up well on a photo. I think you can just about see that it says Happy Birthday.

Popcorn and tulips

SECOND POST FOR TODAY.
I can't believe how many challenges have love or hearts for their theme so this card is for a lot of challenges. I thought a Mother's Day card was suitable as we all love our Mums and it makes a change from the Valentine's cards. Someone's Mum is going to love this Popcorn bear with a beautiful bunch of tulips. The image is so large that I added some punched and gem hearts to match the heart border rather than adding some flowers. Papers are K&Co and Papermania and the ribbon is Laura Ashley.

Challenges
Paper Sundaes Sketch
La La Land Hearts
CRAFT Love
Charisma I Love you
Paperplay Love notes
Crafty Catz Lilac and lemon
Totally Papercrafts 3 embellishments, 2 DPs, 1 image
Stamp something Love something
Just cute bears Hearts
Die Cut Dreams Have a heart
Stamp with fun Hearts

Kaboodle Daisy

I love this Sugar Nellie image called Daisy and haven't used her for much too long a time. This fortnight's challenge at Kaboodle Doodles is spots and stripes and this is my DT card.. I love using these two patterns together but decided to use a variety of spots on my cards. The papers are DCWV from their Christmas pack. The lovely swirl paper does have some spots on it. I also added a brad and some gems for more spots and doodled around the scalloped circle.

There's a great prize of the latest kit from Kaboodle Doodles up for grabs so hop over and join in the fun.

Moon fairy

I have kept a record of the number of cards I have made since I started in May 2006 and realised that I have just reached 2,000. I keep a record of the cards I make to send and the number of cards I make for special occasions and the number I sell. I also keep a record of my expenditure, but we'll just gloss over that I think! It is really interesting to look back and compare years. Besides, I am just compulsively organised.

This is another Pollycraft image and the card is for 2 challenges, I believe in fairies at Quixotic and monochromatic (tones of 1 colour) and white at Secret Crafter.

Pretty in pink and purple

SECOND POST FOR TODAY. PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR MY LITTLE TURTLE CARD.
There is a fab sketch at Allsorts where they also have a DT call. I love this little beauty, , and went for my fave colours with this one as it meant I could use my new papers. These new Papermania capsule papers are so scrummy that it is hard to cut into them. Isn't that silly, after all I bought them to use, not just to admire. I decided to try making a flower using my Peony Nestie as I knew it would match the flower in her hat. I used some plain purple paper and the offcut from the backing paper.

Image - Madelynne from the Greeting Farm

Medium - Letraset Promarkers, Black fineliner and white gel pens
Papers - Papermania Capsule Heather and Red Hot pink collections

Tools - Nestabilities labels and peony, MS flower border punch

Flowers - Handmade

Embellishments - bows, gems and brad from stash

Birthdays are good for you

This fun little card is for a friend's birthday next week. He will be 71 and I'm sure will be amused by this little turtle. I bought a set of clear Inkadinkadoo stamps in America, all with amusing sentiments as I didn't have anything like this. The sketch is from Sketch Saturday and there is a challenge of spots and dots at Cute Card Thursday. I needed something to finish off the card in place of the sentiment on the sketch and turned my rarely used sticker folder where I found these little epoxy presents which matched the colour scheme perfectly.

Wings of Hope

SECOND POST FOR TODAY
When I saw this beautiful digi image used on Bev's blog I was so inspired that I just had to rush over to Whimsy Stamps to buy it. It is called Wings of Hope and all the money raised from the sale will go to the victims of Haiti. It is such a lovely image to colour and only cost $4. Although I am generally pleased with all the cards I make there are always some I like much better than others. I have to say I absolutely love this card. I shall be sad to see it go but it is the last card for my friend's order and this one is for her daughter. It is just a shame that A5 cards don't show as much detail as square cards on the blog.

The image is coloured with Promarkers and Sakura clearstar pen, highlighted with glitter. Flower papers are my new Pink Parfait and flowers are K & Co.

Challenges
Colour Create Soft pink, soft blue, silver and white
Cupcake Four legged and furry (I know horses aren't really furry but as some of the DT had dogs on their cards I think this counts)
Passion for Promarkers All creatures great and small
ABC N is for new (stash) (image and paper)
Crafty Creations Wings

2 Christmas cards, 4 challenges

As I didn't make a Christmas card last week I decided to make 2 last night. The first one is for the challenge of candy and pink at ABC Christmas. Baubles are for Bah Humbug and non traditional Christmas is at Susie and Vikki's Christmas Club. The digi image is from Pollycraft, papers are DCWV rose tinted Christmas.



The second card was made using some cute little toppers from Lili of the Valley for the blog hop challenge at Winter Wonderland. The challenge is candy cane red and white. I used the striped paper to represent candy canes. A couple of snowflakes and gems and I am pleased with the result even though there is no stamped image for a change.

Up, up and away

Another A5 order for my friend, this time for her hubby. They have been wanting to return to Florida for a holiday for a few years and I'm so pleased that they have booked to go in September. I decided to go with a holiday themed card for him. This fun plane image is a digi image which I won from Sunshine Stamps. He is coloured red and white as they are travelling with Virgin. He is mounted on a Nellie cut card embossed with Cuttlebug D'vine swirls. Papers are Papermania and DCWV and the sentiment is another from Alissa Designs. I bought the glittery foam stars in America and had forgotten I had them. They were just perfect to finish off the card.

The fab sketch is from Create 4 Fun and the color combo of red, white and blue is for the challenge at Sassy Designs. Lastly boys is the challenge at The Craft Garden.

Love to read

This card is for an order for one of my friend's granddaughters She like me, just loves to read, so I thought this image was just perfect. I have been resisting buying any new papers lately but as we all know resistance is futile when it comes to crafting and I gave in yesterday and bought 3 packs and just had to use some of them on this card. You won't be surprised to know the 3rd pack was purple.

I have a few cards I must get made this week so not much time for visiting I'm afraid. Don't forget you still have a week to enter the challenge at Kaboodle Doodle. Hope to see you there.

Challenges
Whiff of Joy Sketch
Passion for Promarkers Pastel green and blossom Promarkers
Cute Card Thursday Blooming gorgeous
Fussy and Fancy Hearts
One Stop Craft Make it Personal
The Pink Elephant Pink
By the cute and girly Love (love for somebody, something you love, however you want to interpret it)

Image - Whiff of Joy
Medium - Letraset Promarkers, Sakura clearstar and white gel pens,
Papers - Papermania Capsule collection and Forever Friends Pink Parfait
Tools - Nestabilities, MSBP hearts, MS fern punch
Flowers - Prima and sequins
Embellishments - Papermania sticky ribbon, brads
Other - glitter on wings

Sentiment - Alissa designs

Pollycraft GDT card 2 and another sneak peek

This is my second and last GDT card for Pollycraft and it is a sneak peek at another of the fabulous Lilybean fairies called Primrose - carefree. This fortnight's challenge is Things with wings.

If you hop over to Tales from Pollycraft you'll see more cards and have the chance to win this fabulous digi image for yourself.

Medium - Letraset Promarkers, Sakura clearstar, bright pink and white gel pens
Papers - Papermania
Tools - Nestabilities, Cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder, MSBP doily lace, Sizzix branch die
Embellishments - spacer from the Hobby House, brad and gem from stash
Flowers - Prima
Sentiment - PC