Friday 31 October 2008

Friday Sketchers

I love this sketch over at Friday Sketchers today - it just said Christmas tree to me! Papers are a mix of Bo Bunny, Basic Grey and K&Co. The snowflower is Imaginisce and the acrylic sentiment is Creative Acrylics.
I added a little message inside from the Bo Bunny paper.
I really enjoyed this challenge. I'm hoping Mr Postie will be calling soon with my parcel from Charmed containing my new Basic Grey Wassail and a few other things.
Have a nice Friday and I hope the sun is shining where you are.
xxx

Thursday 30 October 2008

Cute Card Thursday - Cheers!

The challenge at Cute Card Thursday today is 'Cheers!' - to feature a drink of some type on your work. This card is for a friend who is feeling a bit down at the moment, hence the message. Papers are DCWV Nana's Kids and Tilda is coloured with Prismas.
The cabinet stamp I picked up for £1 ages ago and this is it's first use. I used Diamond Glaze to give it a more authentic look after colouring with Prismas. The lace I found in Hobbycraft today - they have loads of it, so I stocked up again!
Also bought a Wi-Fit - not so sure that was a good idea - off for a play.
xxx

This Thursday - Mojo Surfing

I wish I could claim this idea as my own, but I can't - I saw something similar in Creativity Life magazine the other day and loved it. I also saw Susie's Christmas Tree tag and decided to use that as inspiration for the This Thursday challenge - pop over there to get the low down. My take on the design is made with punched circles curled at the bottom edge and arranged into the shape I wanted and I love the effect it gives. Papers are a mix of K&Co and Basic Grey - this is great for using up small scraps.
This type of construction has endless possibilities and I will be experimenting more, so watch this space!
Hope you're having a good Thursday xx

Wednesday 29 October 2008

Christmas Tags

Very quick and very simple to make. The backgrounds are created with Ranger Distress Inks and I made the ribbon tree with short offcuts. I decided to go with gold instead of the usual silver for these and I quite like it for a change.
I made a card earlier but I can't show it because it's possibly the worst one I ever made! Anyone else had any crafting disasters today?
TFL xx

Tuesday 28 October 2008

Arty Girlz Challenge

OK, I should have been packing boxes for my house move, but I got sidetracked. I've completed my 4th CJ LO in 3 days (can't show yet though), and came across the Arty Girlz Challenge which is to use fabric on your project. Well I couldn't resist could I? The backing paper is Cosmo Cricket, I made the flower and strip from Basic Grey pieces and added liquid pearls and a few pearl gems. Very different for me, but I'm pleased with the collage effect and I think it's a style I could easily get into.
I MUST go to the garage now to get some boxes.
Thanks for visiting xx

Monday 27 October 2008

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Sketch

The challenge over at Papertake Weekly is a sketch this week from Dawn and here is my interpretation. Sarah Kay stamp coloured with Ranger Distress Inks, Basic Grey Urban Prairie paper and Kaiser and Prima flowers. The embossed border was done with a Cuttlebug folder and I found some more cotton lace - Yeah! Love the colours in the Urban Prairie papers.
Thanks for visiting and I love your comments.
xx

Gift Envelopes

A couple of weeks ago a friend asked me to make her some gift envelopes and, as she is coming for them tomorrow evening, I thought I better get on with it. Anyway, here they are - the first one uses Cosmo Cricket papers, Prima Flowers, Basic Grey stamp and Heidi Grace rub-ons and is DL size.

The Christmas one uses Basic Grey paper and an Imaginisce snowflower and is 5x5 size.
I hope she likes them!
xx

Sunday 26 October 2008

A Couple of Today's Creations

This card is for the Magnolia Challenge today which is 'Over the Rainbow' - to use a rainbow or colours of the rainbow. I tried acetate again, which I love using, and Tilda and her wall are coloured with Prisma pencils. It is so difficult to photograph acetate without getting a reflection, so apologies for the odd angle.
This card is based on one I did a couple of months ago and immediately disappeared from my craft room. Papers are Heidi Grace 'A Bird's Tale', and they really do all the work for you - all I had to do was construct the house. The stamp is from a Scrapagogo kit and is placed to represent a puff of smoke from the chimney.

I just want to add a huge thank you to everyone who has congratulated me on being featured on the Inspirational blog today and to all those who have entered for the blog candy at the top of my blog.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.
xxx

Inspirational Crafting Blog!

I just had to share this. I've been featured on Inspirational today - I can't believe it, but obviously I'm thrilled to bits.
Visited loads but never thought I'd make it there. What a great start to the day!
Thanks Christine
xxx

Sunday Challenge - Spotty Dottie

This week's challenge has been set by Karen over at Dottie's World and it is to use spots on your card. I wanted to use Birthday Dottie, as I hadn't used her before, but I decided to turn her into a Christmas Dottie by giving her a Santa hat and loads of pressies. Doesn't she look a cutie with her little birdie friends!
All the team at Dottie's World world would love to see your creations.
Thanks for looking and have a great Sunday xxx

Friday Sketchers

Here is my card for the Friday Sketchers Challenge, using a Cuddly Buddly stamp and a mish mash of papers which I thought complimented each other quite well. The Friday Sketchers DT cards this week are absolutely fab!

Saturday 25 October 2008

Basic Grey Challenge - Shapes

Didn't have chance to do the Basic Grey Challenge last week, so I was determined to take part today. The challenge is to use shapes on your work - here the main shape is the circle. I have used Infuse papers and a Basic Grey stamp as well as doodling. This is my last piece of this gorgeous cotton lace too - anyone know where I can get some more? Thanks for looking and don't forget to have a go at my blog candy giveaway here.
xxx

Friday 24 October 2008

Daring Cardmakers - Forever Autumn .....and an Award from Vikki

This week's challenge at Daring Cardmakers is 'Forever Autumn'. I love working with these colours - paper is K&Co Urban Rhapsody, flower Prima and I made the leaf by crumpling and tearing a hand cut shape, inking with Distress Inks in autumnal colours then heat embossing with copper. There's lots of stitching on this card which I ran over with a brown chalk inkpad to grunge it up a bit. This Award was given to me by the lovely Vikki - thank you so much! xx I would like to pass this on to
Sarah
Kathy
Lea
Maddy
Sian
Louise
xxx

Thursday 23 October 2008

This Thursday - Thrown a Curve

Wow!!! A fab challenge with FREEBIES from Pink Petticoat! I've had my eye on these papers for a while now and to have the chance to try them for free was too good an opportunity to miss, so here is my card for the challenge. Where are the curves? Well, they are in the paper of course (I hope this isn't cheating)! Lots of stitching using my fab new machine, the letters are cut using the Ellison Chunkadelic Alphabet, the ribbon and star are recycled from a candle box and the snowflake is a Cuttlebug die. I also promised my friend Maddy that I would have a go at her challenge to photograph more creatively - well this is my effort. What do you think? Honestly!
Finish for half term tomorrow - Woohoo!
Thank for looking, xxx

Sunday 19 October 2008

A Lovely Day Out!

Feeling a bit fed up this morning, I decided to take myself off to Harrogate to visit Art From The Heart, a shop I have seen at shows, and always promised myself I would go someday. Well, I wasn't disappointed - it is an aladdin's cave of the most gorgeous, unusual goodies. If you like altering, minibooks, 7 Gypsies and the like, as well as their own fabulous range 'Blonde Moments', you must have a look. Anyway, after a couple of hours browsing and chatting to the lovely and super-talented Dyan, I came away with three bags, a few £ less in my pocket and another promise to myself to attend one of her workshops as soon as I can fit it in. Dyan has a fab tutorial on her blog at the moment for a tag and this is my take on it - not half as good as hers, but for a first try not too bad. I used Ranger Distress inks for the background, the stamps are Paper Artsy and the charms are Colorbok, all from AFTH.

A trip to Harrogate isn't complete without a visit to Murgatroyd's Fish and Chip Restaurant (the best in the Universe!) near Leeds/Bradford Airport, so we duly stopped off and pigged out on the way home. A perfect end to a great day!

Dottie's World Sunday Challenge

It is Lou's turn to set the challege today over at Dottie's World, and it is to make something, using the downloads of course, that isn't a card! Hmmmm, well after a lot (and I mean a lot) of thought, I decided to try my hand at some Christmas tree decorations. I printed the images out the correct way and flipped so I could achieve a double sided decoration, then printed them again on to the white and silver paper to match my own Christmas decorations. A great tip is to stick them back to back after you've finished working on them - adding glitter and so on, not forgetting to add something to hang them with sandwiched between the layers, in this case ribbon.
They look so cute in real life and I think it would be so cool to have a Dottie (and George of course) themed Christmas tree!
Who's up for it then?
Have a super Sunday!
xxx

Friday 17 October 2008

Two in one ....

.....Daring Cardmakers and Cute Card Thursday. I don't usually do this, combine challenges as I feel I'm cheating, but this weekend I have so much to do.

The dare at Daring Cardmakers is to use paint on your project, which I did on the tree, using Adirondack Copper Acrylic Paint, and the theme is Autumn over at Cute Card Thursday so I used autumnal colours. Papers are K&Co Bailey, flowers Prima, ribbon Cosmo Cricket and rub-ons from Imaginisce, K&Co and Fancy Pants.

Only one more week until half term and I have promised myself some craft days, so no doubling up! All I can say is....'Thank Goodness It's Friday!'

Have a lovely restful and peaceful weekend. xxx

Tuesday 14 October 2008

Thank You Kathy xxxx

I can't believe someone would make something so exquisite just for me! Thank you sooooo much Kathy - I absolutely love it!!! I never do anything about myself, so this is my chance.
And this gorgeous card which came with a lovely message.
All Kathy's work is wonderful, and I definitely recommend you visit her blog.
Thanks again xxxx

Sunday 12 October 2008

Friday Sketchers

Here is my card for the Friday Sketchers challenge this week. Papers are a mix of Basic Grey collections, flowers are Prima and I used one of my new Tilda stamps too!
Enjoy the sunshine (hope you have it too!)
xxx

Basic Grey Challenge - Colour Combo

There was a choice of colour combinations for the challenge on Basic Grey this week and I went for brown and cream. The papers are BG of course, but I'm now sure which paper pad they came from as they were loose and I can't find any more in my stack of pads . Do you know which range they are from?
Thanks for visiting xxx

A is for Acetate - with a hint of PINK! Dottie's World Sunday Challenge

The challenge this week over at Dottie's World has been set by Nicola ..."A is for Acetate with a hit of pink!! It can be a whole acetate card, an aperture of acetate, an embellishment - as long as acetate is in there somewhere and as October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I'd like to see some pink."

I again used the gorgeous new Imaginisce papers from Charmed to make a Princess Dottie castle card. Dottie's clothes are paper pieced this time and copious amounts of Stickles have been added to her. Doesn't she look the part!!!

I really like this card and will definately make more - trouble is I used up all my new papers already!
Have a super Sunday!
xxx

Saturday 11 October 2008

Today's Project - Long Overdue!

Some friends had a baby girl two weeks ago and I've had this Bo Bunny book sitting on my desk waiting to be done. When my Imaginisce 'Fairest of Them All' order arrived from Karen this morning I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.... and here it is. These papers are so beautiful with lovely soft colours and the rub-ons and stamps in the collection are adorable.
Back tomorrow with the Sunday Challenge for Dottie's World.
Thanks for visiting xxx

Friday 10 October 2008

Daring Cardmakers - Gotta Wear Shades.

The dare over at Daring Cardmakers today is to use BRIGHT colours. I adore Blonde Moments papers and this Friends Junction collection is just gorgeous. The colours are much more vivid in real life - the green is positively lime and the pink is perfectly peuce! I mounted the house on varying depths of foam to give a curved look and created the roof from roughly hand cut hearts.

After a very hectic and trying week I am looking forward to a totally crafty weekend with no interruptions except the postie knocking at the door with a parcel of the new Imaginisce goodies from my favourite online shop Charmed!
Have a great weekend xxx

Saturday 4 October 2008

Dottie's World Sunday Challenge - Love is.....

It's my turn to set the challenge over at Dottie's World this week and I went for a love theme..... also to include a message or journalling on the front of your card made using one of the Dottie downloads. I love this image of Dottie and George on their swing - they look like they are sharing a romantic moment!

There is an extra special prize for joining the challenge this week -pop on over for a look.

Have a lovely Sunday xxx

Basic Grey Challenge - Scalloping

Another scalloping challenge this week, yippee!!! from Basic Grey Challenges. I used papers from the new Eva collection and a couple of embellies from the Sugared range, plus a Prima flower, a few gems and ribbon. It is so difficult to get reasonable photos in this weather - better get used to it!
Don't forget to pop over to Dottie's World for the Sunday Challenge - it's my turn this week.
Thanks for stopping by, xxx

Friday 3 October 2008

Basic Grey Challenges

This week it's a sketch for the Basic Grey Challenge. I used a selection of papers from the new Urban Prairie collection, my new Sarah Kay stamp, Cosmo Cricket ribbon and a Kaiser rub-on.
Be back again soon,
xxx

Daring Cardmakers - What a Load of Scallops!

Just up my street this one from Daring Cardmakers - to use scallops on your card, which I love.
I used my new TSV Cosmo Cricket papers for this, the Fiskars Threading Water punch and Prima and Kaiser flowers bought at AP last weekend. I think this challenge may just have brought my mojo back in the nick of time!

I have the luxury of a crafting day tomorrow, so hopefully will catch up on 3 CJ layouts which I have to do and five cards....just wish I didn't have to work in a cold central heatingless house due to my boiler breaking down. Why are gas repair men like gold dust and why do BG charge such a massive call out fee?
Brrrrrr
xxx