Pretty Flowers

Decided to be ruthless the other day and began bundling up all the craft magazines I have accumulated over the years with a view to getting rid.   Surprise, surprise! ... I came across some pretty My Mind's Eye papers tucked inside a pile of mags hiding under the bed.  So I picked out a couple of sheets of my favourite design and made a few cards. 
 
The first is a Get Well card for my daughter's school friend who is recovering from recent surgery.  I cut a panel of paper and adhered it to a DL card blank.  The cute bear image reminds me of Boofle and was recycled from a 2012 calender which I cut out before adding some sparkle and the simple greeting is from the Personal Impressions stamp set - Double Sayings.  A few adhesive gems, and flowers add a touch of additional bling. 

A really simple but effective card idea is to take a square of design paper, mat it onto a slightly larger piece of coordinating card, (leaving a small border), and place it in the centre of a square card blank.  Then I added a stamped greeting from a set by Country Companions, (another magazine freebie found under the bed!), adhesive gems and a couple of pretty butterfly embellishments - job done!  Fingers crossed that this one qualifies for entry into DCC410 over at The House That Stamps Built but they're looking for Clean and Simple so this may be a wee bit too fussy.  No matter though 'cause I still like it and it does work for the Flutter By Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes 'cause there are 2 butterflies.

Finally I took one of the offcuts, matted and layered it onto pink, then knotted some pretty satin ribbon around the panel before matting onto white linen and silver mirri card.  A 2nd panel was created from the last remaining scrap of pink card matted onto silver and white linen panels, then decorated with gorgeous wire flower embellishments. 
Following the A313 Sketch Challenge at The House That Stamps Built, both panels were then glued into place on an A5 white linen card blank before ovelapping them with a stamped greeting from the same freebie set as before.  Pink adhesive gems add a little bit of blingy balance.

Am off to explore blogland and see what everyone else has been up to this week.

WELL!

After announcing my intentions to blog more regularly and join in with some challenges again, wouldn't you just know that the 'real world' would scupper those plans.
February flew past before I could even blink ..... March stomped in boldly and then charged out again taking Easter and Mother's Day with it ..... and as for April!   It's advanced at an alarming speed and is showing no inclination of slowing down any time soon!  
Sooooo ... I've decided to make some marks here before May makes it's presence felt or I get jumped by June.

Let's get things rolling with a card for
Crafter's Companion UK April Challenge - Flowers

I had printed off one of their free Valentine downloads, but never got around to actually making anything with it, so thought I'd just see if I could make it work for this challenge. 
Simple flower embellishments were made by cutting out some of the hearts and curling the edges. They make perfect petals when glued together to form a circle.  The large flower centre was made by snipping into one of the printed border strips and then gluing it onto a small punched circle ... both flowers were then decorated with a coordinating button to finish.   The fancy flourish doubles up as a very pretty leaf don't you think?  Hero Arts stamps provide the simple greetings and the little birdy gets a wing from half a leftover heart.

Inside is simply decorated with one of the downloaded backing papers matted onto black card and finished off top and bottom with pieces of the border strip. 
So there you are ... that's how you use a Valentine themed download for a flower challenge. I'd also like to submit to the following challenges...
Ladybug Crafts - Leap Into Spring 
Brown Sugar Challenge - Spring 
Crafts and Me Challenge - Spring Flowers 
Crafting For All Seasons - Floral Delight 
Allsorts - Spring Has Sprung 
Here are a few of the other cards I was busy with in February ... it was a fairly heavy month for special landmark birthdays with numbers on.

My Nephew became a teen

My Brother celebrated being 21 ... with 29 years experience!

For Naomi's bowling pal

Fizzy Moon For My Niece

A bit of Decoupage

**SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT**

I cannot finish without telling you that after 4 cancelled bookings since September 2012 due to bad weather, my 17 year old daughter Naomi finally got to do her Skydive from 10,000 feet on 23rd February 2013, raising well over £1000 for Edinburgh Sick Kids Foundation. 

Proud doesn't even come close!

If you'd like to see the awesome footage click on the photo.  The music is muted so as not to breach copyright.

Wedding Fever

I was recently asked to make a wedding card and was given free rein with both design and colours.  GULP!  Sometimes having this much freedom can be more difficult than when customers are specific about what they want, but I decided to try a few ideas and let her choose a favourite.
Which one would you choose? 
If your selection matches the actual card chosen then your name will go into a draw for a wee crafty prize. 
Deadline midnight GMT Sunday 22nd July.
Click the photos for close-up views.

Design 1
A linen effect white card base decorated with blue and white diecut hearts layered onto diecut blue and silver mirri card, embellished with a simple bow and greeting.

Inside shows diecut panels and a simple stamped message.
 
Design 2
I created an off centre gatefold from A4 white linen card, adding a panel of textured burgundy card and a matching Kanban wedding topper.  A simple bow and stamped greeting are the only decoration. 

The slim panel shows white padded hearts and satin ribbon matted onto layers of white and burgundy card.

Inside, a panel of white linen card has been corner punched and decorated with diamante gems before being matted onto burgundy card and stamped with a greeting.
I'd like to submit this card as my first entry to
Sparkles Monthly Challenges - 34 Weddings
 
Design 3
I opened an image from my flowers folder in PSP (PaintShop Pro), and typed a greeting before printing onto white linen cardstock, which gives a look almost like canvas. Both elements were then matted onto silver mirri. 

White organza ribbon was wrapped around the fold on a landscape base card and tied in a bow with pearl gems added for decoration.

The inside message was stamped onto white linen card before being matted onto silver textured card and placed inside.
I'm hoping this card is eligible for entry into
Southern Girls Challenge 48 - Pearls
Sparkles Monthly Challenges - 34 Weddings (2nd entry)

Design 4
I created an easel card base from cream cardstock and opened another beautiful rose image in PSP, adding a greeting onto the image before printing this time.

The easel card panels were then decorated with pretty paper from Papermania Confetti pack, matted onto black and gold mirri and the main image was then adhered to the front panel with foam pads.

Wide cream organza ribbon was wrapped around the back and tied in a knot and a matching bow was added to the image panel. 

The stopper was created using more layered panels of paper and card adhered to the base with foam pads before being decorated with paper flowers, pink ribbon bows and pretty iridescent fabric butterflies.
A greeting was stamped and embossed with gold powder, then diecut and matted onto black and gold card.

A matching box completes the ensemble as this card is way too bulky for an envelope.
I'm entering this card into
The Cupboard Trilogy - Colour Palette Challenge
The Cupcake Craftroom - July: Layers
Sparkles Monthly Challenges - 34 Weddings (3rd entry)

PLEASE REMEMBER...
Don't forget to leave a comment with your favourite from the selection and you may be lucky enough to win a prize.

Sugar Nellie Sneaky Peek

Oh My Giddy Aunt!  

Just check out these adorable new soon-to-be-released beauties I've spotted over at Sugar Nellie Stamps

Bah! Humbug! Challenge 34

When I saw this week's challenge theme of A Christmas Carol or Song, it was a 'no brainer' to choose 'Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer' and give this fabulous Hampton Art stamp it's first airing of 2010.   Measuring 5" x 31/2" it is quite a large wooden stamp but I do love it despite it hogging so much space in the drawer.

I stamped him onto smooth white card with black ink and embossed with holographic powder.  The only colour added was by way of red, gold and black Stickles and this was set aside to dry whilst I prepared the card.  I love how his nose looks especially sparkly and shiny.

The papers were offcuts from my scrap box, but I'm pretty sure they're HOTP and they were placed onto an 8" x 8" white card blank leaving a border around the edge.  Spotty ribbon was stuck onto a strip of gold mirri card which had been cut with zigzag scissors and this was then placed over the join with foam pads.
Using the largest Labels Two Nestability shape as a template, I drew around it with pencil onto folded red mrri card, slightly overlapping the fold and cut it out by hand to make a mini card for the front ... wasn't keen to risk damaging the cuttlebug trying to force it through the rollers.   

I then used a smaller shape to cut out the printed lyrics and the red mirri card used for matting was trimmed with zigzag scissors.  More spotty ribbon was used to tie it shut before mounting it onto the centre of the card front.  Silicon glue was applied to the lower portion of the stamped image and stuck in place.  Circle punches and a simple stamped greeting placed on top of the ribbon tie finish things off nicely.
It's Prize Challenge week at Bah! Humbug!  so come and play along to be in with a chance of nabbing some goodies.  Both Ann and Irene have lovely cards to show you too so there's no shortage of inspiration and if you haven't already started your 2010 Christmas cards then now might be a good time.  There's only 112 SLEEPS left y'know.
I'm going to play along with the following challenges ... 
Alphabet Challenge - 'S' is for Scallops
Charisma Cardz 35 - Inspired By A Song
The Stampman 4 - Musical

Tea Party

I rediscovered this cute Sugar Nellie stamp, showing Lola having a tea party with her teddy, when I was hunting for something else, so decided to ink her up and make a card using more of the DCWV Glitter papers as they were still lying on my desk.   The Sugar Bowl Sketch Challenge 38 was used for the layout and I managed to include scallops which was an optional extra.  The theme at Totally Stampalicious is 'Food' so I'll be entering there too.

She is coloured with Promarkers and then matted onto coordinating cardstock leaving a narrow border each time.   A scalloped circle was punched from pale pink card and then embossed with dots whilst a smaller punch was used for the peel off greeting.  

A couple of turquoise gem stars provide the accents in the corners and Diampnd Stickles add a hint of sparkle to her hair, the cupcakes and teddy's tummy.

Butterfly Beauty

Just a quick post to show the card I sent to my Bah! Humbugger buddy Ann for her birthday yesterday.  The stamp is a really pretty Butterfly Fairy from a set by the well known artist Ruth Morehead, whose cutesy images are instantly recognisable worldwide.  I had no idea that any of her images were available as stamps so I just had to snap up this set and couldn't wait to get home to have a play.

She was coloured with Promarkers and sprayed with Crafter's Companion Iridescent Spray and Sparkle, before being cut with the largest size Nestablilties Labels One die.  This spray glitter gives the most gorgeous sparkle effect I have seen for minimum effort - just make sure you either go outside or spray it into an old shoebox as it is a little bit whiffy at first and would probably go everywhere if not contained.  If you click the image below for an enlarged view you will see how sparkly she really is.

I had to draw an outline onto textured blue and pink card, around the outside edge of the label one die shape,  to get the larger shapes I needed for matting and these were cut with scissors.   As you see I used scalloped scissors for the pink layer and turned it 90 degrees before adding some adhesive pearls for decoration.
The beautiful pink silk damask background card was placed onto an 8" square card blank and I matched it with some pretty blue floral paper from My Mind's Eye Pretty Please pad.  A couple of clusters of paper roses in diagonally opposite corners, along with a strip of pretty pink ribbon and a stamped sentiment, provide the finishing touches.

The decoration inside uses the last remnants of the silk cardstock matted onto blue textured card and pink ribbon conceals the joins.   
I went on to use my Bind-It-All to make a slim Birthday Book from textured cardstock in similar colours for Ann to keep a track of those all-important dates that come around so quickly.  

I did add a friendship sentiment below the ribbon before posting it as it looked a little bare but unfortunately, I didn't have time to take more photo's.
Now ... I wonder if they are eligible for any challenges.  Had a look at Challenge Mania and they seem to fit the bill for these challenges. 
Flutterby Wednesday - Fluttery Creations 
(just a taster before the official return on 7th July) 
Crafts and Me 7 - Birthdays 
Pollycraft - Pinkalicious


Tomorrow is Bah! Humbug! Challenge Day ... and we have a brand new Guest Designer for you, as well as our Monthly Prize Draw ... so make sure you don't miss it.

*****

Like many other parents of school age children, my posts may be rather infrequent during the School Summer Holidays, especially if the weather is kind, when we will hopefully be out and about having fun and spending time together as a family.   I will keep up with things at Bah! Humbug! if nothing else so I'm not disappearing completely and will be popping by to leave comments as much as possible but everything else will be 'hit'n'miss.
Hope you all understand and thank you in advance for your patience.

*****

Bah! Humbug! 23 - A Child's Christmas

Hooray!  
We have internet again which means I can now share my DT samples for Bah! Humbug's! latest challenge ...  

A Child's Christmas

I decided to make a duo of cards using this ultra cute penguin trio from Serendipity Stamps - a pink version and a blue version.

The little girly one is an easel card using lovely papers from DCWV Christmas Stack.  Both images were coloured with Promarkers and then embossed with holographic powder for added sparkle before adding some adhesive gems and stars.

The boy's card was dry embossed top and bottom on the Cuttlebug using a snowflake folder and I scored 2 lines to create a central panel for the snowflake paper from Anita's Christmas Blue Collection then added the cute penguins.

All I have to do now is add some greetings, but as I intend to personalise them with glittery letters I will do that prior to posting in December.
There are more lovely examples to see over on the Bah! Humbug! Challenge blog, so do pop over for a looksee - it will definitely be worth your while and may even provoke you into joining in, which would be wonderful as we love it when you share your ideas too.

Bah! Humbug! Challenge 21 - Acetate

Not sure what happened to my scheduled post ... it's disappeared! ... completely gone! ... 'vamoosh vanished!  It was there yesterday but  ... now ... it's not.  Very strange.   However ... here's another version of what I wrote ... the bits I can remember anyway.

The 1st challenge of the month is always exciting over at Bah! Humbug! because we have a wee Prize Draw for you and have recently started featuring a Monthly Special Guest Designer.  Our lady for June is ready to wow you with her creative wonderfulness  - and you'd better prepare to be 'wowed' this week let me tell you!   
Welcome to the team
Claire : Claire's Crafty Creations
This week's challenge to use acetate had me slightly concerned as it's not something I use very often.  I love to see what others do with it and promise myself to try some of the fabulous techniques I've seen, but somehow my efforts never quite make the grade.   So in light of that I decided not to get above myself and stick to basics.
I took a sheet of the gorgeous foiled acetate, which was included in the birthday box of goodies I received from Ann when we were in York - thanks big muchness Ann xxx  I trimmed and folded it to a DL size card and added panels of black card inside and outside, placing them so that the stamped image on the front hides the message panel inside when it is closed.  Are you with me?
Tied a narrow gold ribbon down the fold for decoration and black adhesive gems in the corners ... voila!  DONE!

The stamp is one of the Secret Christmas Set from Waltzing Mouse Stamps which was available for a limited time last year ... I have e-mailed Claire to ask if it is still available and will let you know if she gets back to me.

**The answer is YES!** 
Thanks for the quick response Claire.

It was simply stamped onto black card, embossed with gold embossing powder, matted to a slightly larger piece of gold mirri and then adhered to the front with double-sided tape.  

A slightly larger panel of black card was stuck directly behind this on the inside, which cleverly hides all the sticky stuff.  The same thing was done with the message panel inside.   Not very adventurous I know but quite a nice card all the same.  
If you'd prefer to see something MUCH more adventurous, then you need go no further than check out what the other Bah! Humbuggers! have been doing with their acetate - you will not be disappointed!

Think I may go and enjoy the sun for a while now that the washing is out on the line - might take the Promarkers with me.

Blooming June ...

... and it's tipping down!  Typical!
Have got loads'a' birthdays and other celebrations, including Father's Day, this month which means loads'a' cards to make so here are a couple of today's efforts to kick things off.

The first is for a special friend whose birthday is in a couple of weeks time.

An 'Elegant Ladies' Kanban kit  from QVC provided everything needed for this large A4 card except for the inside decoration, where I used some K. and Co. papers matted onto gold mirri card for the decoration and a FunStamps Happy Birthday Wish greeting.  

The smaller ... and much cuter ... card below was inspired by Crafty Cardmakers Challenge 22 which requires entrants to combine our least and most favourite colours.  Hmmmmm ... might be some unusual colour combinations for this one!
Actually, there aren't really any colours I don't like but I chose ORANGE as my least favourite option simply because I very rarely use it.  Obviously BLACK was my most favourite choice.  YES ... I know it is a contrast not a colour, but the challenge rules say it can be included ... PHEW!

The cute little characters are from Penny Black 'Hugs' set and are coloured with Promarkers ... as are the roses which started life a bland cream colour until I attacked them with vanilla and bright orange.  
The zingy orange/yellowy papers are Papermania Sunshine Collection which have been cut with Spellbinder Nestabilities and matted onto black card.  You'll just have to trust me that they are much brighter in real life as the photo doesn't show how vibrant they are - it is really dull and rainy here today and my camera skills leave a lot to be desired so probably that explains that.
The layout follows the Pixie Cottage Challenge 20 - Sketch and using buttons and flowers allows me to enter Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge 85 - Buttons and Blooms too.  Hopefully the weather will improve as the month progresses and we will experience some 'Summer Delights', which is the theme at Cupcake Craft Challenges 93 this week so am going to sneak in there too. 
So ... 'til the next time, take care and hope you have all enjoy a Terrific Tuesday, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

Pink Wedding

Had time for a quick browse after Naomi and I returned from bowling and happened to notice I'd almost missed Paperplay Challenges deadline - which simply wouldn't do at all, especially as I made this easel card especially to join in.

The image is from a Debbi Moore wedding silhouette stamp set which was embossed with silver embossing powder and die cut with the cuttlebug using Nestabilities Labels One.  
I randomly stamped a leafy swirl around the edge, (whilst it was still in the die cut frame), silver embossed it and then swept over it all with a Pearlescent Pink Brilliance Dew Drop ink pad, before polishing off the excess to reveal the embossed image again.  This was then matted onto a larger die cut from silver mirri card.

Using A4 white linen effect cardstock I scored and folded an easel card before decorating with pink heart patterned paper from Papermania - Scrumptious pack, some white organza ribbon and a few feathers.  

The greeting is one of my recent purchases from Waltzing Mouse Stamps (who coincidentally are sponsoring this challenge), and as you see Claire has designed it to perfectly complement the Spellbinders Fancy Tags Shape-abilities.   Brilliant!   Can't quite make up my mind whether to add flowers or not.  Will sleep on it.  Right - off to beddy-byes now ... Sweet Dreams All.

Oriental Happy Birthday

As one of six children, there are very few months in the year that are free from birthdays and today it's the turn of my baby sister Debbie. 
The oriental card I made uses a selection of Waltzing Mouse Stamps from Claire Brennan's recently released Asian Garden collection,  which were stamped onto red card and embossed with a combination of black and gold embossing powders.    A smidgeon heavy with the gold I feel, but just check out that shine!

The panels were then matted onto black card, followed by gold mirri card, leaving narrow borders before layering onto a white DL card blank.

The sentiment was stamped onto red card,  embossed in black and then lightly rubbed over with a Brilliance Dew Drop gold ink pad before die cutting with Nestabilities - Labels One.  

I matted it onto black card, embossed the edge with gold powder and then placed it over the background strip with foam pads.   The 'Birthday Wishes' part of the sentiment is from WMS Asian Garden, but 'Sister' is one of Papermania's Relations clear stamps, which I know will become a favourite to have close at hand.
Simon Says Stamp are celebrating their 1st Blogaversary and are having an awesome party which includes a Blog Hop and you'd better believe there are loads of fabulous prizes on offer, so I'm going to gatecrash and enter this card into their Birthday/Celebrations Challenge.   Hope there's some red wine on offer as blog-hopping is thirsty work!
A few other challenges are ...
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Shiny and/or Sparkly
Stamp Something - Birthday
Rainbow Lady - Make Your Own Background Paper

Happy Birthday Waltzing Mouse

Over at Waltzing Mouse, there is a party in progress this weekend as Claire celebrates the 1st birthday of her stamp company. 
She has worked really hard during difficult economic times building her business and must be commended on the fact that, despite her success, she still manages to give her customers the personal service which is not available from many larger online companies and has never compromised on the quality of her stamps.
As part of the celebrations, she has set a sketch challenge and is offering one lucky person the opportunity to win all 8 of her new stamp collections due to be released on Saturday.  An awesome prize and one which I simply had to have a go at if only to promote her products.
The sentiment I chose is from her 'Blessed' collection and was stamped onto patterned paper and heat embossed with silver embossing powder before cutting with Nellie Snellen circle multi-die.  

Further decorative circles were cut from the patterned paper and silver mirri card, before being layered and decorated with paper roses.   

I arranged a white feather in a circle, to soften the overall look, beneath the sentiment circle which was adhered with silicon gel, before placing 2 strips of decorative gems between diagonal scored lines as a final touch.  

Inside was decorated using the remainder of the pretty paper matted onto silver mirri card and decorated with a line of adhesive gems in the corner.
I hope that Claire and Waltzing Mouse Stamps will enjoy increasing success in the months and years to come and am positive that her customers will always appreciate her efforts to keep costs down, (in spite of her accountant's efforts),  whilst still maintaining the high quality of her stamps.  It only remains for me to wish WMS a very Happy Birthday and may you enjoy many more xxx