School's Out! ...

...For Summer!
Thursday was the final day of term and the children are now free to enjoy a break from their normal routines ... some warm sunshine over the next 6 weeks would be very welcome too!
I put together some simple treat gifts for my daughter's teachers, using Papermania Honey and Hugs papers and some coloured card.

Plain white card was cut into rectangles and the patterned papers were matted onto coloured card leaving a narrow border. 
The treat pouch was created by scoring and folding 6" wide card at 2" and 4"  and using a scalloped circle punch for the cutaway in the centre section, before securing at the back with strong double-sided tape.  This was then stapled at the top and bottom onto the prepared paper panel and then stuck to the white rectangle base, hiding the staples from view.  

A computer generated message was mounted onto coloured card cut with nestabilities and adhered with silicon glue to hide the securing staple at the front.

On the reverse I had attached a panel with room for a personal message and by adding ribbon to make a hanging, the teachers now have a cute keepsake for their notice boards when the chocolate is gone.
Coincidently 4 Crafty Chicks are doing a "School's Out Challenge" this week and the current Joanna Sheen Challenge is "Summer Days" so I'm submitting my wee treat hangings for consideration.

My precious mum celebrates her birthday today so we'll be popping round with her card and gift this afternoon.  I'll share her card ... and the one made for my dear friend Ann who also has her birthday today ... later, so's not to spoil the surprise.
Have a wonderful weekend, wherever you are and whatever you are doing ... and thank you for visiting.

A Manly Time

The weekend's cardmaking was predominantly male orientated as we celebrated Father's Day here in UK. 
A Dad is a girl's "first love" and will always hold a special place in her heart ... I'm lucky enough that mine lives close by and is still playing an active and important role in our family life.
Another important man in my life is, of course, my husband and the children each needed a card for him, so I was kept busy in the craft room on Saturday.
My daughter's card uses elements from a collection of Fizzy Moon goodies 'cos she likes 'cute'.

 The front of a large square card was folded back to create a z-fold card and the panels were decorated with layers of plain blue card and glittery heart patterned paper matted onto silver mirri.   A strip of blue ribbon knotted on one side helps to break up the empty space.

Fizzy Moon chipboard emellishments were matted onto silver mirri card and placed on the front panel with foam pads ... simple silver peel off letters spelling the word 'DAD'.

The sweet sentiment was computer generated on my PC and placed inside, leaving enough space for her to write her own personal message.

Something a little more grown up was needed for my son's card, so I decorated a large square card inside and out with GCD studio double-sided papers and folded an origami shirt from a matching leftover scrap.  Black Stickles glitter glue was perfect for creating shiny buttons and alphabet letters on gold mirri punched circles are arranged above it.  No ribbons this time lol!

The sentiment inside came from a little used Penny Black stamp set which I came across the other day and I thought it was ideal as a meaningful, yet non-gushy, message that a grown up son could send to his dad.

For my own dad's card, I coloured a digi image of a dog relaxing in his chair, armed with nibblies, a cuppa'  and ... most importantly ... the TV remote!  Quite appropriate really given that Euro 2012 is dominating TV at the moment ... yawn.

This image was bought ages ago to help raise awareness and funds for an Air Ambulance charity and it is an almost identical replica of a card featured previously on my blog somewhere ... but unfortunately I can't find it and I can't remember who to credit.  If anyone knows or can point me in the right direction, I'd be very grateful.  Rest assured when I do find out I will add the relevant credits and links etc.

Finally I just wanted to show the belated birthday card made for one of Naomi's ten pin bowling pals.  It was his birthday last week but as Naomi was in The Ochils hiking and camping for Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award at the time, she was a bit late.

 

Kanban came to the rescue with this cute Scottie dog image with tartan background elements and I played around with words for the computer generated belated message inside.

I am submitting entries to the following Male themed challenges ...
My Sheri Crafts - Challenge #87 Father's Day
Dream Valley Challenges #34 - For That Special Guy
CI Paints - Inspired By Father's Day
Card Makin Mamas - Challenge #47 Father's Day

Flaming June? ...

Errrrmmm ... I don't think so!
Any hint of flames would be quickly extinguished in the abysmal weather we've had recently.
However on a more positive note ...
It was my son's birthday yesterday and obviously cards were needed so what better excuse could there be to give my crafty stash a long overdue airing?

As he is, (and always has been), a dedicated Nintendo fan, the only difficulty was in deciding which character to use.  After much deliberation, I plumped for Mario and Yoshi simply because they're in my own personal list of favourites. 
An A5 card blank was covered with star paper and Yoshi was printed a couple of times so I could decoupage him for a 3D effect, (although it isn't showing very clearly in the photos).  Once dry this was matted onto gold mirri and placed on the front panel with foam pads.  The sentiment was something that simply popped into my head while I was pootling,  so I quickly printed it, used coloured chalk to kind've match the background paper and cut it out with an oval nestie before matting onto a gold mirri scalloped oval.

Inside I used another piece of the star paper and the Teddy-Bo freebie stamp from this month's Simply Cards and Papercraft provided the perfect greeting.

One down ... one to go!
Sticking 2 DL size cards together gave me a tri-panel card, the front of which was decorated with fabulous blue glittery paper - a perfect background for Mario to fly through.  I cut some silver stars with the cuttlebug and placed an embossed panel across the bottom instead of a stamped greeting.

Red card was scored and embossed top and bottom and stars were cut with nesties for a bit of decoration on the middle section.

Another silly sentiment was matted onto a slightly larger piece of blue glittery paper and the inside was done in a jiffy!  

Cards completed and I'm pleased to say he was delighted with them.

Bunnies and Blog Hop

You can't have Easter without having bunnies and these little cuties from LOTV obviously love cupcakes ... well ... thinking about it ... who doesn't? 

They were coloured with Promarkers and cut out with Nestabilities Labels Four before being added as a topper to a 5" x 5" easel card, already decorated with gorgeous Easter papers from Paper Cellar.  A strip of multicoloured ribbon, a couple of pink pearls and some paper flowers with Stickle centres add some dimension and sparkle.

The 'stop' is provided by using a slim strip of paper, matted onto silver mirri and adhered to the base with foam pads to raise it.  The greeting is a simple silver peel off on a punched circle of paper which is attached to a silver daisy flower with silicon glue.

The card does fold flat enough to fit into an envelope although it would require a 'large' stamp for posting because of the 3D elements.

There are a gazillion Easter themed challenges on the go right now but I have chosen just a couple to play along with ...
C4E - #66 Bunnies and Chicks PLUS Blog Hop

Card Makin Mamas - #42 Easter
Crafty Sentiments - Bunnies
Incy Wincy Designs - #140 Easter 
Now I'm hippitty- hopping back over to join in the Crafts 4 Eternity blog hop. Have a super Saturday ... wherever you are and whatever you are doing. 

Meet Dudley

WELL!  This week has been a totally different story weatherwise, with hailstones, high winds, lashing rain and even snow! ... so no 'Al Fresco' crafting at all.  Much safer to stay snuggled in the craft room surrounded by loads'a' luvverly stash to keep me warm.

This cute little chap is called Dudley and he and the oversized button are Pollycraft images, (actually they're both freebies from ages ago).  This card was supposed to be my entry for their 'Chocklit Challenge - 133' ... but I missed the deadline.  Whoops!  However, I reckon he's still cute enough to be worth showing and fortunately for me, Papertake Weekly Challenge is 'Anything Goes' with the option of monotone, so my Dudley card in shades of brown should qualify as a valid entry.

 

He's been coloured with Promarkers before being cut out with deckle edged scissors and glittered up with green stickles, likewise the button.  The papers are 6" x 6" Papermania - Simply Elegant, which I've had for a very long time and only recently rediscovered while looking for something else ... a very common occurrence amongst crafters.  Strips were cut from 2 complementary sheets, matted onto dark brown card and attached to the front of the card blank and then Dino was added with foam pads to give him a little lift.

Inside, is simply decorated with a a strip of patterned paper, matted onto brown and finished with a stamped greeting.
I'd also like to enter my Dudley card into the following challenges ...
Just Keep On Creating - #1 Anything Goes
Papercraft Star - #91 Anything Goes
Make It Monday - #83 Anything Goes

Spring Has Sprung!

We have been enjoying some beautiful sunny weather for the last week or so, which is not unusual for March EVEN here in Fife! It has been unseasonally warm, with temperatures up in the high teens and even tickling the twenties so it's been
March Madness INDEED!
Taking advantage of this, I decided to indulge in a couple of hours worth of 'Al Fresco' creativity,  armed with my trusty Promarkers and a selection of stamped images.
Using one of the completed LOTV cuties, I created this pretty easel card for a lovely fellow crafting friend whose birthday is today ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATALIE xx

Once coloured, she was cut out using Nestabilities Labels One, (as were the other topper layers), and once assembled together,  the whole thing was adhered with foam pads to the folded front panel which had been previously decorated with embossed mirri card.

A touch of stickles provide plenty of sparkle to her outfit and paper roses dabbed with pearlescent ink and finished off with a ribbon bow are a perfect embellishment for the corner.

On the base I used the negative section previously cut with the nestabilities and added some pretty patterned paper behind ... waste not want not! ... before using a white gel pen to add some 'faux stitching' around the edge.   The greeting was stamped in black onto a smaller matching shape which was also outlined with 'faux stitching'.  Two simple flat backed pearl beads are all that's needed to keep the folded front panel supported.
The flowers made this card a bit bulky for an envelope so I made a box instead and as it was hand delivered this morning, (along with a wee surprise gift), postage costs were not an issue.
Talking of postage ... with the impending huge price hike on stamps due next week, (1st class jumps from 46p to 60p!), I will be bulk buying as many as I can reasonably afford in an effort to postpone the pain.  Like many others there will be a serious culling of the Christmas card list later this year too ... a sad but necessary evil.
I will be entering this card into
Week 4 - LOTV National Craft Month Competition.
Tomorrow marks the last day of the school term and hopefully we can look forward to continued lovely weather. Wishful thinking?  Well ... possibly ...  but on the other hand,  maybe Spring really has sprung!

**Happy Mother's Day**

There is no greater gift than the gift of Motherhood ... treasure it ladies and enjoy your special day, whatever it may bring.

These two cards were each created using the same ingredients consisting of pretty papers from the Flowery Papermania Collossal Paper pad, a strip of gorgeous shimmery ribbon and the inevitable diamante adhesive gems that have proved to be an absolute 'must have and must use' when it comes to butterflies.

This is my first post of 2012 so as a tentative step back into blogland I'll be entering these cards into the following challenges ...

Joanna Sheen Challenge - Spring Is In The Air
The Pink Elephant - Photo Inspiration

Papertake Weekly Challenge - For The Girls or Mum

***FESTIVE FUN FOR EVERYONE***

May Your Hearts and Homes Be Filled

With Love and Laughter For Christmas and Throughout 2012

Luv'n'Stuff

Bah Humbug! Challenge 45

For our challenge at Bah! Humbug! this week, we're looking for you to share some gift wrapping ideas, and we'd like to see how creative you can be making your presents look extra specially pretty.
I decided to keep things cheap'n'cheerful by recycling a card sent to us last year to make a gift box.   It's a really simple idea that works with virtually any card size but more importantly in these cash-strapped times ... it's "cheap as chips!"

Firstly remove the front portion of the card with the image you want to use and then cut a matching piece of plain card for the base, which you need to trim so it's slightly smaller all round ... just trim a smigeon so it will fit snugly together when assembled.

Score a line on all four sides of both card pieces, making sure your score line is the same distance from each edge, and then trim the corners to make tabs.

Glue the four corner tabs in place, allow to dry and VOILA ... you have a cheap yet pretty little gift box which has cost nothing! 
This is a great way of using up all those beautiful images on cards that you've received but can't bear to throw away ... OH YES!  I know you have them too!
Recycling at it's best.
Our Guest Designer Colleen and Humbugger Ann have their own cool projects to show you so hop over to Humbug Hall for a quick peek before you get to work on your own ideas.

Condensing

I suppose I could, (or possibly even should), apologise yet again for my recent lack of blogging prowess ... for not visiting all the beautiful blogs on my favourites list ... for not being able to admire and drool over the eye candy on show ... for not leaving as many comments as I wanted to ... BUT to be honest, the simple fact is that I just haven't got the same time to devote to blogging as I used to and that's just how it is!   
So rather than apologising for circumstances beyond my control ... for being too busy and my general lack of spare time, (which would be a waste of both my limited time and yours), I shall just condense my recent Bah! Humbug! DT examples into one single post, hope that someone will pop by to read what I've hurriedly written and leave it at that.  Take a deep breath and run with me.
READY?  LET'S GO!
Challenge 38 asked for a familiar favourite of crafters worldwide, in the form of Rudolph/Reindeer.   I opted for a simple gatefold card decorated with a lovely paper from my stash, (which I think was a Dovecraft pack from a couple of years ago), and tied with a length of silver ribbon.

Challenge 39 involved incorporating Nativity into our projects and surprisingly, the DT came up with similar ideas, but the end results were all completely different.  Take a look HERE and you'll see what I mean.
I stamped a silhouette image and mounted it onto a larger panel of black card, tied a wide satin ribbon and diamante clasp on the right and then adhered the whole thing to a white DL card blank.

Challenge 40  which is our current challenge, has been extremely popular, with oodles of entries sprinkling Christmas sparkle everywhere after we asked for Glitz and Glitter ... although I suspect the super prize on offer spurred many into joining in.   Whatever the reason for the extra numbers this week, my DT example is beginning to look rather insipid by comparison to some of the fabulous creations I've seen so far. 

But despite this, I stand by my decision to use pink teamed with black and silver on the basis that it has a fairly modern look, coupled with plenty of sparkle which is almost considered essential for Christmas by most of us crafty critters.

Hmmmmm ... looking back there's not a lot of condensing happening is there lol? ... but it's time for me to cut'n'run as there's the small matter of work to get up for tomorrow morning and sleeping in is NOT an option!
Nighty-night ... sleep tight ... and enjoy the rest of your week, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

PS: Thanks for visiting ... and please don't worry or feel guilty if you haven't got time to leave a message ... I absolutely understand. xxx

Bah Humbug! Challenge 37

Don't know why I always seem to be chasing my tail these days, but here at last, is my DT offering for our Bah! Humbug! Challenge 37 - Flourishes and Swirls.

Although it's another simple design using panels of Kanban mirrored foiled card adhered to a black tri-fold card blank, with an embossed panel matted onto black overlapping the fold, the finished result looks kind've good ... in fact I would even go so far as to say they're verging on elegant.

Last year I remember using this same design idea for my Mother-in-Law's personalised Xmas cards, making a batch of gold designs and a batch of silver and they proved to be quite popular, so I may be making some for myself to send this year.

Gold Collection 2010

Silver Collection 2010

Our Guest Designer Barb has Flourishes and Swirls galore on her project this week, so I suggest you take a peek before heading off to make your own fantastic flourishy creation for our challenge HERE. 
Go on now - run along and see for yourself if you don't believe me and enjoy the remainder of your weekend ... wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

Sweet Dreams David xxx

Please spare a kind thought today for the parents, family and friends of
David Christie
whose funeral we are attending this morning. 
He was far too young to be taken at only 21 but unfortunately he lost his battle with cancer last Saturday.
Our sincere condolences go out to all who knew him and loved him.
R.I.P.  David

xxxx

9/11 - We Will Never Forget

Thinking of all those who have suffered 
and remembering the heroes of that terrible event.

Bah! Humbug Challenge 36

Whoops ... forgot to take this post out of draft - silly me!
Our challenge at Humbug Hall this week is to use Paper Weaving in our projects, so armed with 2 complimentary sheets of paper from Dovecraft Fancy Pants pack, I cut narrow strips and wove them together.  
Taking a DL card blank and one of the Shapeabilities Nested Pine Trees, I ran them through the Cuttlebug to create an aperture and then placed some of my paper weaving behind it. 

The parcel above the peel off greeting was another section of the woven paper, placed onto the card front with double sided tape with a pretty matching ribbon bow glued on top.  

That left a touch too much white space for my liking, so using up the last remnants of woven paper, I cut the ends at an angle and filled the gap.    JOB DONE and another card for the Christmas box.
Hop over to Humbug Hall to take a gander at the lovely card our Guest Designer Barb created for this challenge where she mastered a new technique beautifully.

Enjoy your weekend ... wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

Bah! Humbug! Challenge 35

This time last week my daughter was in Dublin competing as part of the U.19's Scotland Squad in her first Junior Ten Pin Bowling Triple Crown.  I'm delighted to say that the team did themselves proud, returning home to Scotland with 35 medals in all!  WHOO HOO!

CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE.  

Naomi is now the proud owner of a silver and a bronze medal - not bad "at all ... at all!" ... and is looking forward to Triple Crown 2012 when Wales will be the host nation and she will hopefully be there with her teammates if selected to join the squad again of course.  Thank you for all the kind messages of support and positive thoughts which helped tremendously I'm sure.
In the meantime ... back to reality and Bah! Humbug! Challenges.  This week we have a brand new Guest Designer in the spotlight at Humbug Hall who has created a beautiful card to tickle your arty-farty tastebuds for our Christmas Sentiment/ Text Challenge.  My offering is somewhat less detailed ... actually it's embarrassingly so ... but hopefully will provide a teeny touch of inspiration for those who're short of time and 'crafting on the run' as I always seem to be these days.
It needs no explanation as there's nothing complicated about sticking stickers onto a blank card which is basically all I did.

It doesn't even qualify as a 'Bish ... Bash ... Bosh!' effort ... but if I get a chance over the weekend then I may make something a little more interesting ... maybe using stamps, ink and paper.   Oooooo'errrrr missus!  That'll be exciting ... well for me anyway LOL!
If you skip over to Humbug Hall then you can check out the other DT ideas and also get a wee peek at this week's crafty prize.  
WHOA! ... steady ... there's no need to push lol!   See you there xxx

**Good Luck Scottish Juniors**

By the time you read this, my daughter Naomi and I will be in Dublin - hopefully having an absolute blast!   She was selected to compete at the Triple Crown being held there, as a member of U.19 Ten Pin Bowling Scotland Squad and to say we are proud of her doesn't even touch on how chuffed we feel.  Whoop Whoop!  She's always wanted to play for her country and it just shows that with hard work and commitment, dreams really do come true.
So just before you tootle off to play, please take a minute over the weekend to concentrate some of your positive energy to wish her and the whole
Scottish Junior Ten Pin Bowling Squad good luck this weekend. 
Thanksky Versky Muchsky
Now just because I'm not here doesn't mean you have permission to slack off, so go check out this week's  Bah! Humbug! Challenge to see for yourself the super DT inspiration from my fellow Humbugger Ann and our Guest Designers, Donna and Tracy who will sadly be leaving us this week.  Can't believe their month is up already!  
Luv'n'Stuff
Max
xxx

Congratulations Naomi

I know it's Friday ...
... and I KNOW that means I should be showing my Bah! Humbug! Challenge card, especially as I forgot to do so last week - WHOOPSY 
BUT sorry you'll have to wait 'cos I have to share some good ... 
NAY ...
GREAT ... 
NAH ...
FANTASTIC NEWS!

Naomi has passed all of her 8 Standard Grades - WHOOHOO!

Well done sweetheart ... we are so very proud of you xxx
All of your hard work paid off.

**Our Naomi - Sweet 16 **

The Birthday Girl 

... enjoying a laugh

Family Celebration Meal 

The Wok'n'Spice - Glenrothes

(31st July)

The Birthday Treat - Edinburgh 23rd July

There was birthday cake but no photo 'cos
the greedy gannets ate it 

before we could get the camera out.

Early Birthday Cake No.2

The Official Birthday Cake - 2nd August created by Susan Clunie - The Beautiful Cake Company

An amazing 2 tier chocolatey-licious creation.

Now for the cards ....

 Close up of Our Card

More ...