All White ... with a Dash

Today's offering is a first for me ... using white supplies ... although technically I suppose I cheated because I added a 'dash' of silver ribbon and mirri card and black ink inside for the stamped message. But hey ho ... it's nearly all white.

It could double as either a Valentine card or an Anniversary ... and I suppose at a push maybe even a birthday.

The hearts are cut from glitter card and the wire embellishment was from a Christmas Cracker, so more recycling.

I don't have a wife ... but my hubby does ... tee hee.
But then again, maybe my brother will want this one 'cos it's not too 'slushy'.

Second Hand Love

I did some craft recycling this afternoon and made a Valentine using parts 'donated' by family members to my recycle box ... which will no doubt soon be overflowing with Christmas cards ready for me to dissect, reassemble and give back to them LOL.

The gorgeous ribbon was originally used on a Christmas gift and the heart was cut with decorative scissors from an old Valentine's card which I kept hold of because I loved the glossy textured effect.

My new Purple Cow trimmer created the decorative edging on the background card ... and a gold metallic ink pen helps to highlight it just a little more.

Obviously, using 'recycled' components from shop bought cards to make new cards means that they can't then be sold, (or passed on to anyone else to sell), because of potentially breaching copywrite of the original card manufacturer.

But that's fine and dandy because I CAN give it to my hubby on 14th Feb ... and I may well do that if I can't come up with something I like better before then.

Bootiful Bunny

Throughout November 2008, Sally at Bootiful Stampz was running a daily 'Stamp Giveaway' and on Day 11, I was lucky enough to be selected as the winner of a 'Cup of Bunny' stamp.

With all the mayhem and Christmas Chaos I tucked the cute bunny stamp away and have only now managed to find time to play with it.

A DCWV Valentine Card Kit provided the paper and card used for paper piecing technique and I used a small heart punch to make extra balloons for the message.

The large pink heart was made from 2 overlapping punched ovals from a card blank.

The inside view shows the rest of the message and a small corner decoration.

**Sally is currently offering another opportunity to win a Bootiful Stamp so hop on over there and check out what you have to do.**

Special Friends

Just wanted to say a humungous 'Thank You' to 2 ladies who are very special friends of mine, Ann and Irene.

I've been having a bit of an ongoing battle with my HS since last September and was slipping nearer and nearer towards the 'black hole' ... (where no one wants to go believe me) ... when these cards dropped through the door and saved me.

Perfect timing ladies ...

Naughty Naughty !!

I'm afraid I was a naughty girl last week and did some more spending.
The TSV at QVC was just too good a bargain to miss ... (even with the addition of the dreaded P+P) ... and I needed a decent trimmer 'cos mine was just a cheapie ... so that's my defence M'lud.

This one by Purple Cow has all the decorative edges a girl could possibly need which just click into place easy peasy lemon squeazy ... and by way of a bonus, there was a pack of Coredinations card included!

Creative Inspirations Challenge#1

There's a new Challenge Blog on the block called "Creative Inspirations"

As one of my former MSN group buddies Jude is in charge of the whole 'shebang' I thought I'd show some support and join in.

There's a prize up for grabs too so all you Challenge Lovers out there get yourselves involved and have a go.

"The challenge is "Valentine" but you must use the colour "Black"somewhere on your project. So let your creative juices flow and enjoy to be in with a chance of winning this fab prize ."

The card blank is a black tri fold card and I've also used black card for mounting the embellishments and sentiment.

Sixes Photo Tag Challenge

The lovely Tasha tagged me the other day with a photo challenge that's doing the rounds ... so being curious ... I played along by following these rules.

"In the 6th folder, take the 6th picture and post it on your blog.

Write something about the picture.

Challenge 6 new people to join this challenge."

I opened up the 6th folder and this is the 6th piccie which made me smile as soon as I saw it as wonderful memories of a fun family day out, returned in a rush.

It is of my hubby and our 2 kiddlings enjoying the water flume ride at a theme park (the name of which escapes me right now) WAAAAAAY back in 2003.

You will not doubt recognise my photographic skills and note that sadly, they haven't improved any.

The 6 bloggy buddies I am targetting are ...

Ann

Jude

Queenie

Sarah

Irene

Jules

There's no pressure to join in ladies ... but if like me, you go and have a look at your snaps just out of curiosity ... then you may as well play along. It was worth doing just for the warm rush of lovely feelings ... just watch you don't get lost looking through all the folders you have like I did!.

Awards ... Love ... and Thanks

I have been the lucky recipient of some more bloggy awards which is always a privilege and a constant surprise as I have a notorious reputation for not passing them on.

Huge thanks to Ann and Tasha for these recent additions to my collection.

I'm trying very hard to be a good girl and still continuing to use up magazine freebies so here's some more 'free' cards.

Everything including the cardblanks were magazine free gifts.

Can you spot the subtle difference between them?

My final offering shows a card I made using some of the Paper Cellar goodies which arrived yesterday.

The Spring papers are really bright and absolutely guaranteed to cheer up a grey day ... and don't you just love the funky shape of these alphabet stickies?

Sympathy and Condolences

It was a terrible shock to learn that one of my neighbours died very suddenly and unexpectedly yesterday evening.
My thoughts were very much with the family today, as they struggle to come to terms with their sad loss.



Sweet Dreams Barbara

My trusty floral silhouette stamp came to the rescue once again combined with luxury black velvet ribbon which decorates the folded edge.



Inside I double matted black and white card and then stamped a corner scroll with black Versafine ink.

Prize Arrived

The postie arrived today with my prize from Lets Make Cards ... comprising of a load of luvverly Paper Cellar products which I will no doubt have great fun playing with in the coming weeks.

The only problem's going to be deciding what to use first!

LMC Kit 20

Thought I'd just pop these cards up here as it keeps my wee space looking busy.

The first 2 were made using only the supplies from Issue 20 Lets Make Cards Kit.

I added some ribbon from my stash to the 3rd card ... it was originally wrapped around a Xmas prezzie I think.

Apologies (as usual) for the rubbish photos ... it's me at fault not the camera.

Freebies

I decided it was time to make an impression on the huge collection of 'freebies' I've acquired from various magazines over the last year or so, because they are piling up and many are really beautiful so deserve to be used.

The family 'jungle drums' passed on the announcement of my nephew's engagement at the New Year so taking my Newton with Heart stamp, (the most recent freebie), from Quick Cards Made Easy and some Simply Card and Papercraft free papers, I made an Engagement Card.

Whisper Brush Markers were used to colour this wee cutie and to add some faux stitching. I hand wrote the sentiment before adding some adhesive gems. Think I need to practice my handwriting as it's a bit squiffy ... but it all adds to the hand crafted look.

Anniversary Wishes

Today my parents celebrate 51 years of marriage ... and whilst I don't suppose for one minute their lives together have always been blissful, their commitment to their wedding vows and each other must be acknowledged.

At the risk of sounding like a fuddy duddy, I wish later generations had even a smidgeon of such staying power and then maybe there wouldn't be so much 'dysfunction' in our society.

Anyway ... I digress.

I used papers from a HOTP book of Pretty Papers to decorate a cream card blank and cut a circle and heart with scallop scissors to embellish the front pages which are only adhered at the folded edge.

Satin pink ribbon tied in a knot through punched holes, adds the finishing touch to the folded spine.

A wee peek inside reveals some layers using the offcut papers and a sentiment stamped onto pastel card has been gold embossed.

Red Roses

Today's card was made to send to my Aunt and Uncle who will be celebrating their Anniversary this week. Red roses combined with black and gold cardstock always look good. The ribbon was recycled from our Christmas crackers and the papers were taken from a HOTP card kit.

Think Pink

Had some free time this afternoon and took the opportunity to make a couple of cards for my Grab'n'Go box.

The January Challenge for CA is to use PINK so out came some pink supplies from my stash and I settled down to play. I wanted to have a go at a card folding technique I saw in Issue 53 of Simply Cards and Papercraft called the Double Diamond Fold ... presumably because the side panels are supposed to be diamond shaped.

Because I didn't measure the original piece of card, the end result is not quite the same as in the magazine and I didn't add an extra diamond to the middle top part of the card like they did, but nevertheless I quite like what I ended up with.

My 2nd card uses a cute Forever Friends stamp.

I used Whispers Brush Markers to colour the image (should've gone a few shades lighter on teddy methinks) and the embossed flowers on the card blank before adding decoration to the scallops with a white pearl pen.

Some Prima flowers and a pink ribbon across the diagonal fill up the white space nicely.

A smidgeon of chalk around the embossing helps to reduce the starkness of the white card blank too.

Now I just need to decide which one I like best for the Challenge.