Happy Birthday

This is the birthday card I made for my sister this week. Purple is her favourite colour and so I thought this colour scheme would work for her card. The image is decoupaged from Katy Sue's "Fabulous Shoes" CD-ROM. I do like the cutting out of decoupage, it's very relaxing. The only problem is that I end up with lots of little bags of cut out images and then never get around to sticking them together. I used a create and craft die, from their couture creations range I think it is from the "Enchanted Escapes" collection. The grey pearl background card is embossed with a Celtic flower embossing folder from creative expressions and was matted up with matching purple card. The sentiment is lili of the valley and again I used the enchanted escape dies to frame it. A little faux stitching and a couple of pearls to finish it off.

WOYWW

I'm joining Julia again this week for what's on you workdesk Wednesday. As you can see the usual level of mess has returned! I've been playing with the Hunkydory Fun in the Sun kit that I won at the Bolton craft festival. I've mad two cards from the one set of decoupage, although I need to add some foliage to the flowers on one, actually I got a bit carried away with the flowers but hey ho.
Hope you all have a creative Wednesday, at least the rain means I have an excuse to stay indoors and craft.

Blooming Marvellous

You may remember that I posted my desk a few weeks ago which included some flowers stamped and heat embossed in white from the Chloe stamps I brought at the Bolton craft fair and was colouring with my spectrum noir pencils. I had fun playing with the pencils, not sure if I have the technique correct, but I used blending solution to even out the pencil lines.

I used them to make a card for a swop on a forum with the theme of "blooming marvellous". I used a craft stepper card blank from craftwork cards and used white card and craft card to mat and layer up the panels. The sentiment is from tonic and I layered it up a couple of times to give it some definition. The leaves were made with a Sue Wilson die and I tucked them behind the flowers to fill in the gaps. I added some sparklers from eBay to each of the flowers for a bit of bling.

I was really pleased with the finished card and didn't want to part with it! Apart from the time involved in colouring and had cutting the flowers (I snipped down between the petals so I could curl them more to add dimension), the card was relatively cheap to make as the sparklers were inexpensive on eBay. The biggest problem was that with the overhanging leaves it wouldn't fit in an envelope so I had to make one....

Hugs

Whoops! Didn't realise it had been so long since my last post. Life has got in the way of crafting recently. My 8 year old bunny Bramble had to have her teeth done under a general anaesthetic as they were starting to grow into her tounge. She refused to eat after the surgery so we had to syringe feed her until she decided to eat again. I also had some more radio frequency nerve lesioning done in the hope that it will help reduce the chronic pain I have in my neck affecting my shoulders, arms and upper back.
Anyway, enough whittering and onto the card. I wanted a quick card to send to a friends who is having a rough time at the moment. The image is lili of the valley and I had stamped, die cut it and coloured it with copics ready to craft with some time ago. I used a decorative label die to frame the image and the same yellow to build up the layers of the card and die cut the hugs sentiment and layered it up 3 times to make it pop. I used a soft green card for the background to complement the yellow which I chose to highlight the sunflower. The ribbon was left over from the ribbons I bought to make my wedding bouquet with. I put a length of ribbon round the front of the card and stuck it down with some red liner tape inside the card. A simple white paper insert covered this up. The ribbon is wired and so I could pinch it in slightly where I attached the bow (made with a bow maker) with glue gel. I tried to keep the card reasonably flat so it would post easily, I hope it cheered my friend up a little.

WOYWW

Once again I'm joining in with What's on your work desk Wednesday. The one day of the week when we get to nose at everyone's works in progress and occasionally feel that we are not the messiest crafter ever...
Today my kitchen table, which was stripped clear due to the leak in the bathroom on Saturday had already developed a healthy layer of crafting clutter. I've been working on a card swap for the crafttelly.com forum and so have been playing with my new Chloe stamps and my spectrum noir pencils. Not sure how the end result will turn out, but I'm having fun playing!

52 Christmas Card Throwdown

After weeks of admiring their challenge I've finally got myself organised enough to join in at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. Their challenge this week is Christmas Elves.
It took a bit of rummaging but I knew I had an elf in a stamp set that had been a freebie with a craft magazine. Finally found it it was a nit wit freebie and it included the Christmas trees. The sentiment came from another freebie stamp set (I obviously buy too many magazines!)
I stamped the elf  and the trees on white stamping card and then coloured them in with copics and fussy cut them out. I trimmed a layer off one of the trees and added the trunk back on to make it smaller than the rest. I matted the card up on green coredinations card stock and freehand cut a white hill, which I stuck on top of the square of blue sky card. I stuck the trees in place with a mixture of flat glue and foam pads to add some dimension and added the elf on foam pads. I added glossy accents to the elf's boot and the candy cane and glossy accents and glamour dust to the stars on the trees. I stamped the sentiment in the bottom corner and job done!

Happy Fathers Day

This is that card I made for Dad today. The image and sentiment are from a Sam Poole for Creative Expressions set. I don't usually do soppy sentiments, but I liked this one. I embossed the image and sentiment on glossy white card with detail white embossing powder. I used gold gilding flakes and flake and glitter glue from Creative Expressions to show the light coming from the lighthouse. The background is white card which I stamped in versamark one of Sheena Douglass stamps of a sailing ship and map image, repeated to cover the card and heat embossed with white detail powder. I matted and layered everything up with the same black and white card and using my oval dies. I used some white bakers twine and a black anchor to embellish and a black pearl in each corner to finish.
I hadn't intended on seeing my Dad today but we had a water pipe split in the bathroom last night (so lucky we were in and got it turned off in 2 minutes or the kitchen ceiling would have come down, rather than just water dripping through the light and down the walls). Dad bless him came round this morning and helped hubby to fix it. Definitely a day to be grateful for Fathers!

Best Wishes

I got around to playing with my new card-io stamps last weekend. I had great fun rummaging through my ink pad collection and found a few that had dried out (is that an excuse to buy some more?).
The red based card was made with pigment inks and the two others with distress inks. I used a sentiment stamp from Clarity and stamped in black archival. I trimmed them down to fit on a 6x6 card base and added a mat of coredinations paper to finish.
I definitely had great fun playing, the remains of my inky fingers can still be seen on my white table. Oops,

Oldie Friday

I'm joining Erika again for oldie Friday.
This is a card I made for my Mum's birthday a couple of years ago. The stamps and papers are Lili of the Valley, and I'm pretty sure I CASE'd the layout from their inspiration gallery. I'm still doing the faux stitching on my cards!
Apparently it's going to rain over the weekend, so hopefully I can get some crafting done.

WOYWW

I'm joining Julia for WOYWW again this week. So, what is on my work desk today....
I had a lovely surprise when the postie knocked this morning. Hubby and I went to the Great British Craft Festival at Bolton a couple of weeks ago. If you handed In the stub of your ticket you got a free card making gift from Hunkdory worth roughly the same as the admission cost. You could fill in your details on the stub to be entered in a free prize draw to win some craft goodies. You've no doubt worked out by now that I won some goodies!!! All lovingly displayed on my work desk. Oddly the stamp included was one that I have been lusting after for a while now. It really made my day, been tidying the house today, but I shall be playing with it after work tomorrow. Hope you've all had a good day today and have had a share of the sun.

Have your cake...

This card was made for a card swap on one of the forums I post on. The theme was "Have your cake and eat it".
I used an art pad from Lili of the Valley for the image and the background paper is also LOTV. I used Spellbinders Radiant Rectangles to frame the image, Sue Wilson's ivy flourish die and ready made paper flowers to co-ordinate. When I cut the image with the die I chopped through a butterfly on the design and so I added some butterflies, cut with a Joanna Sheen die to hide it and added a couple of extras to give it a little more interest. Finally I got out my Quickie Glue Pen and added a little Glamour Dust to highlight the bows and cherries.

WOYWW

Whoops! I didn't realise it had been so long since I last blogged. I've been having problems with my pain management and so have pretty much been getting home from work and crawling into bed. We then had a few days up in Scotland for the Scottish and British Goldpanning Championships. Hubby won the British Open title again. I took some crafting with me to do in the evenings, but it stayed firmly in the bag.
Anyway, despite the lack of crafting I thought I'd join in with What's on your workdesk Wednesday.
The majority of what's on my desk is my haul rom last weekend's Great British Crafting Festival at Bolton. Hubby put up with being dragged around it as I went to Scotland with him. We each got the free gift from Hunkydory and I stocked up on red liner tape and glue. Unusually for me I didn't buy any dies, but bought some card-io stamps that I've been eyeing up for a while, some of Chloe's flower stamps and some fab stamposaurus stamps which might end up on cards for my Dad...

Oldie Friday

Once again I'm joining Erika for Oldie Friday, sharing previous makes as there's not been a whole lot of crafting going on this week! Why does having a day off at the start of the week seem to make the week last longer? It wasn't helped in that I had to work Wednesday (my usual day off) as I had a meeting, but I had today of instead so spent most of it catching up on my sleep! Can't wait we get our new KINGSIZE bed delivered next Wednesday, our current one gives me lower back ache.
Enough waffling and back to the crafting. The pics are of a bucilia felt kit I made for my parents last year. Sorry about the rubbish pics. I can't say much as who knows who is reading, but I have another kit from them on the go, which is what I've been doing in the evenings this week, I'm not having the mad rush to get it done for Christmas like last time...

Oldie Friday

Well no card making has gone on this week, so I'm joining Erika again for oldie Friday. So glad it's the weekend, it seems to have been a very long week! Anyway back to the card. I made this for Hubby's birthday a few years ago. The image is lili of the valley, other than that, who knows! I really wish I'd moved the sentiment higher up on the card, but we live and learn.. Have a great bank holiday.

Well done

Do you ever wish you hadn't offered to do something? Our admin at work has been nominated for an award within the company and so when my boss said she was going to get her a card at the weekend, of course I offered to make one. I didn't expect the weather to be so beautiful today and so resented being indoors crafting when the garden is screaming to be tidied. Anyway, now I've made the card I might get outside for a couple of hours.

They requested an exploding box card so I started off with an A3 sheet of centura pearl and off I went. The papers are from a very old DCWV spring mat stack. I used a memory box alphabet I got for Christmas (first time out of the wrapper!) for the sentiment. I couldn't be bothered to cut and make stars or flowers so I used an even older container of K&Co scrap booking embellishments. No idea what range they are from, but the tin says Brenda Walton.  I was pleased that I managed to tone them well with the paper. I used the packaging from spellbinders dies to make the supports for the words and flowers. I used glossy accents to stick them to the packaging strips and then as I couldn't be bothered to wait for things to dry, got out my glue gun to stick it all together. Only problem now is I haven't got an envelope to fit it!

Happy Birthday

This is the card I made for my niece this year. The decoupaged image is from a Bebunni CD-rom. It's layered up on some coredinations card stock with matching leaves die cut from I think a cheery lyn corner die which I cut up and placed on one birdie lane background paper from lili of the valley. The flowers I've had forever and finally got a chance to use them, I think they came from Lakeland when they used to have a big craft section. The sentiment was craftwork cards.

Oldie Friday

I'm joining Erika again for oldie Friday. Today's card is the birthday card I made last year for my niece, it's actually her birthday today, I can't believe she's eleven already. I can still remember the phone call from my Dad saying my sister had gone into labour and the anxious long wait for news.
Anyway back to the card. I made it using a free kit that came with the Docrafts Creativity magazine.The flowers were made with a small io blossom die, haven't got a clue who made the flourish and butterfly die!
Hope you all have a relaxing weekend.

WOYWW 306

I'm joining Julia again this week for what's on your work desk Wednesday. I've actually had a tidy up of the kitchen table for once. I've been playing with my new woodware stamp "special bird" I think it is. I've used it to do some paper piecing, it is actually still roughly rectangular, not sure how the camera managed to skew the picture. I've also been playing with my spectrum noir pencils to colour it in. It was going to be a one layer card but I managed to mess up the fold, so I'll trim it down and mat and layer it onto a base card.
You can also see in the picture my Dementia Friends handbook. I'm swotting up again as I'm delivering a session as a dementia friends champion to hopefully sign some more people up to the initiative run by the Alzheimer's Society in the UK. More info here https://www.dementiafriends.org.uk

New home card

Our new neighbour moved in over the Easter weekend so I thought I'd make her a card as I really appreciated it when our neighbours on the other side gave me one when I moved in. I was supposed to make it on Saturday as Hubby was away but instead I came down with a cold and spent most of the weekend in bed instead. I cobbled this together yesterday as I thought I needed to make one pretty soon as she'll have finished unpacking by the time I got round to it. So spellbinders for the labels dies, image pad from lili of the valley as are the papers (promises and solids) Sue Wilson ivy die and punches for the flowers as it was getting too much like hard work with the die cutting. A few glittery gems from docrafts and job done. I should really have added a sentiment, but I'd run out of steam by that point.

Oldie Friday

I'm joining Erika for oldie Friday this week. This was a card I made for a colleague who was becoming a Nana for the first time. She now has 3 grandchildren! The image is lili of the valley and the papers are  I think from an old kanban kit I bought from QVC, patchwork pals maybe? The sentiment was using an alphabet stamp set, I seem to remember it took several attempts to stamp it correctly. Still doing the faux stitching now... Well somethings never change.

50th birthday

Another commissioned card today, a colleague asked for a man's card for a guy who likes motorbikes and the Lake District. I used a Sheena Douglass set of stamps and stamped them in black archival and then triple heat embossed them to give a glazed look. The motorbike is either a Britannia or oll occasion die, but it was from the Joanna Sheen website. It was super fiddly to piece together as the bits are so tiny, but it gives a great effect. The sentiment was all occasion dies, again from Joanna Sheen and it was matted and layered up with blue and black card.

Members gift - craftwork cards

A couple of quick cards made from the create and craft members gift. I used glossy accents on some of the card candi and a mix of gems and cosmic shimmer coloured pva. Some of the cards I stamped a sentiment on from lili of the valley. Matted and layered with mirri card and coredinations cardstock to finish them off and hey presto a simple card to boost the stash of emergency cards.

Oldie Friday

I'm joining Mrs Duck this week with an oldie Friday. A colleague last year requested I make a fortieth card for her friend who is a ranger at a nature reserve and who's favourite bird is the bittern. I started off by finding a copyright free image of the bird which was in black and white, so I printed it off and coloured it in with co pics. The centre panel is a Sheena Douglass stamp, again coloured in with copics and I added some foliage to the tree. The side panels are another Sheena Douglass stamp which I cut in two. The leaves and twigs were from a Tim Holtz die and I used coredinations card-stock to mat and layer, and to cut the numbers. The base stepper card was from craftwork cards. Apparently the recipient loved it. Yay!

Thank you

This is a reasonably quick thank you card. The dies are MFT and spellbinders cherry blossom. Coredinations cardstock and some soft gold mirri card. The sentiment is clarity stamp. I used cosmic shimmer pva for the centre of the flowers. I originally made this card as a very special thank you for a wedding gift and used tiny gems in the centre of the flowers. My only regret about having a very small wedding was that I didn't get to make any wedding invites as there were only seven of us. I made up for it by making my own bouquet and button holes from copier paper though!
A quick snap of my bouquet as modelled by my niece and bridesmaid.

House mouse and friends Monday challenge 190

Thought I'd join in with the House-mouse and friends Monday challenge again this week. I'm afraid I've opted for the anything goes aspect of the challenge again as time was short, the design team have made some amazing cards. This is a leaving card for my student at work. The image is from a Joanna Sheen Cd-Romans the papers are I think papermania. Spellbinders for the rectangles and I think it's my Joanna Sheen ivy flourish die. Yet more faux stitching, my favourite way to define edges at the minute, and some flowers from a couple if old punches and a few flat backed pearls to finish it off. Really must work on my photography skills!

WOYWW

Yes, it's What's on your work desk Wednesday time again. Not much going on this week, but I have had a bit of a tidy up! Trying to clear some space to get my mojo back again. Lots of part completed projects, more of the craftwork cards toppers to be made into cards, some mdf Easter shapes and a part covered coffee tin holding the brushes. Wet wipes were on offer this week, one day I'll clean my stamps properly. Crafting is on hold a little at the moment as I had treatment at the pain clinic earlier this week for my chronic neck problem, so I need to be a little careful that I don't get too engrossed in crafting and make my neck seize up whilst the treatment takes effect.

New Home

Apologies for the even more rubbish than usual photo -  I grabbed a shot of it on my desk at work before I gave it to the recipient. A colleague had just bought her first house and so I needed a quick card as it completed sooner than we expected. This was my second attempt at a white on white card. I used Centura pearl and the spellbinders painted lady die. I raised the frame and die with foam tape to add some dimension.The sentiment is lili of the valley, I think it's from their handwritten sentiment set. In reality I swear the banner was straight!

Congratulations again!

This is the other card I made for my colleague. I used the die and template from Joanna Sheen. As you've probably gathered she's a pink kind of girl! The flowers were from a Sue Wilson die and I glazed them with glossy accents. Orginally I made the flowers for a Mother's Day card idea, but they were just crying out to be used (and saved me a bit of time). The butterfly dies are all occasion ones, again from the Joanna Sheen website. I'm still tidying up pink and gold diamonds from the kitchen floor, think that might go on for a while yet...

Congratulations!

A congratulations card today. A colleague has been offered a secondment and so I needed to whip up a quick card for the team to sign. I'm sure I stole the design from somewhere -probably Sue Wilson's blog as it's her Italian background die. I slightly offset a deeper pink die cut to give a shadow and then used some pinflair glue gel to raise it slightly from the matching light pink background. I would have used foam tape, but when I finally found the roll, it only had about 2 inches left on it! Some creative expressions silky crush ribbon and a sentiment from LOTV and a whole lot of bling and it was finished. I also decided to make her a card from just me, will post that later, got to go and tidy up all the crafting stash that has exploded over the kitchen now.

Moving along with the times - show us your bunnys!

Well Mrs Duck pointed me in the direction of the Moving along with the times challenge and with that title how could I not join in! I made this card for a friend who loves bunnies more than me (yes, apparently it is possible!) and I always forget her birthday I just know it's normally near Easter, so the LOTV sentiment is a perfect catch all. The stamp is LOTV too and I think the papers were a freebie from a magazine ages ago as were the doilies. I think I might have gone a bit OTT with the faux stitching.

And finally a pic of my 2 beautiful bunnies Bramble and Parsley. We sadly had to have Bramble's friend of 7 years Flop pts in January and so we adopted Parsley who was from a rescue having been found as a stray. Bramble is a third smaller than him and is on the right of the picture. They're still settling in together and we have the odd bit of nipping and fur pulling, but I can't tell who the fur belongs to! I suppose that was the advantage of having a black rabbit and a white rabbit before, must remember that for the future...

WOYWW

Okay, brace yourself. This is actually the kitchen table, don't think we're going to be eating in there this week! Even the crafting has jumped ship - hence the lap tray holding yesterday's crafting. Create and craft club members my recognise the toppers from the Craftwork Cards members gift. I spent a happy couple of hours yesterday sticking on card candi and a stupid amount of gems and pearls from my stash to decorate them, even got out the pva glue that dries like pearls...can't think of the brand name and I'm not rummaging in that pile looking for it! The reason I'm showing you my table of shame is of course to join in the wonderful What's on your work desk Wednesday  I'm off there to have a nosey and see if anyone else is as untidy as me.

Bebunni birthday

A quick birthday card today. The decoupaged image is from a Crafters Companion Bebunni DVD that I cut out a while ago and was in the pile waiting to be made into a card. I've got to confess I do enjoy sitting down in the evening with the telly on cutting things out. The bow is made using Sue Wilson's small bow die and coredinations card stock. The patterned paper is LOTV, one birdie lane and the sentiment is from craftwork cards. Not a colour scheme I usually use, but I think it works. Really must start taking better photos, but using the ipad is so easy.

House-mouse and Friends Monday Challenge

 

Thought I'd try and join in the House-Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge
This week it's HMFMC189 - spring is in the air, although my card is much more in the anything goes category!
It's a terrible photo as I was rushing to get the card in the post to a friend of mine who has rabbits and is going through a tough time at the minute. The image is from a decoupage set from Joanna Sheen, the papers are lotv, and a sue wilson flourish die and a couple of old  flower punches. You may spot a rabbit theme in the future ...

Finally....

Yes, I've finally given in and created a google account to host a blog to allow me to join in with some of the great challenges out there. A few bunny references might slip in too...