ABC Christmas Challenge

I made these cards for the ABC Christmas Challenge which this week is Vintage. Well I actually wanted to try out my new stamp from Crafty Individuals and the ABC Christmas challenge just happened to fit my cards but it amounts to the same thing. :0)

The papers for both cards are by Kars which I've distressed using scissors.

As previously stated the stamp is by Crafty Individuals (fab website and they sent not one, but two free gifts with my order - lovely surprise). The image is coloured with Twinkling H2Os. The snowflakes are made using paper punches.

Thank You Card

Since I split up with my husband back in October my family have been absolutely brilliant in particular my Auntie and Uncle have really been there for me and so I made this card for them to say thank you and let them know I appreciate everything they've done and continue to do. They are fab!

As the "Less is More" Challenge this week is One layer card with a flower or tree I thought I'd enter this as it ties in quite nicely, don't you think? The card blanks I've had for ages and the pattern is already on there. I used a Cuttlebug embossing border to make the flowers and added adhesive pearls to the centre of each flower. The sentiment stamp is by Stamping Up which I just stamped in black ink on the other side to the flower.

Christmas Card. Already?!

I would like to say this is the first Christmas card I've made this year but it's not, it's about my 9th. My excuse for starting so early is that my mum bought me a set of adorable Christmas stamps for Christmas and it seems a shame to have to wait until later in the year to start using them.

I actually made this card for a sketch challenge over on Trimmies. I've not taken part in any challenges for a while so I thought it would be a nice start to the New Year to do one.
The sheep stamp is part of a set by Papermania and is coloured with Twinkling H2Os, the sentiment is by Stamping Up. The papers are by Kars. The oval and scalloped oval are Nestabilities dies.

Little Mice

I don't seem to make male cards very often so it's quite a novelty when I get to make one. I love these papers by Hot of the Press but they can be a little dark so I've used white lettering and a white gel pen to make little highlights to brighten the card up a bit. The stamp I've used is a Penny Black, I really do love their stamps. I saw this stamp at the Harrogate Papercrafts Extravaganza last year when I was looking for some more male orientated stamps to add to my collection. It really did make me laugh out loud so I just had to get it. The sentiment is a Go Kreate Die cut and the circle was cut using Nestabilites in my Cuttlebug. The ticket corner punch is by Stamping Up.

More Christmas Cards

These are some more of the ones I made while the electricity was off last week. Luckily everything is back to normal again now. Our drive no longer has a huge hole in it and the pavement to the side of our house has had new tarmac put down today. Hooray!

The papers for both these cards is from Craftwork Cards.

The "Have a Fairy Merry Christmas" is by Lavinia Stamps. I used a Ticket corner punch by Stamping Up to make the corners on the sentiment.

The fairies and reindeer are all from Lili Of The Valley.

Auntie Lyn's Card

It was my Auntie's birthday earlier on this week. I had a rummage through my stamps and thought I'd have a go at using my Penny Black Cat with Balloons stamp which I haven't used in a while. The papers are by My Mind's Eye and the ribbon is from Blonde Moments. For the inside I used My Minds Eye papers again and a Happy Birthday banner which a blogging friend gave me. I used my Stamping Up Ticket Corner punch and then created faux stitching with a green Marvey Le Plume pen.

My daughter Ellie is now home again after spending nearly a week with Grandma and Auntie Ann at the caravan. Josh went as well but he's not back until Sunday, he's going to stay with his dad for a night so we have to wait a bit longer until we get him back. I did see him for a little while yesterday when I went over to pick Ellie up. They were both telling me about the great time they'd had and all the wonderful things they'd been up to while they've been away. It sounds like they all had a brilliant time. I think Grandma may be a bit worn out now though!

Wahoooo! I'm back!!!!!! :-)

I have now finished all Ellie's invites, well the outside anyway. I am hoping to do all the insides today.

The card below I made for one of the Sugar Nellie blog challenges which was "Blue and Green." However with my computer being out of action I didn't get to post it in time and it's gone now. Never mind. That's life! :-) But what would you know? The new Colour Create Challenge is..... Blue and Green!!!! Hooray. So I can enter it for that one instead.

You can't see it very well on the photo but the green paper behind the image has been embossed with "Script" and the green piece with the ribbon on has been embossed with "Argyle". The oval behind the image I coloured with green and blue chalk as the white background stuck out like a sore thumb. The chalks helped to soften it and made it blend in with the colours of the card.

Stamps: Sugar Nellie ~ Stamping Up
Coloured With: Twinkling H2Os
Papers: Hot off The Press
Equipment: Cuttlebug ~ Nestabilities ~ Embossing Folders
Embellishments: Adhesive Pearls ~ Ribbon ~Chalks

Ellie has invited three boys to her party this year, this is a big thing as Ellie has never invited boys before. I decided rather than make fairy cards for the boys I'd use one of my Sugar Nellie stamps instead.

This is the last of the three boys cards. Stamps: Sugar Nellie ~ Stamping Up
Coloured With: Twinkling H2Os
Papers: Papermania
Equipment: Cuttlebug ~ Nestabilities
Embellishments: Adhesive Gems ~ Ribbon

Lili of the Valley Challenge

I was trying to finish off Ellie's party invites today using some of the challenges that I follow but unfortunately because I needed to use my Lili of the Valley fairies it just wasn't going to happen for one reason or another.

Then after I made one card completely on my own, something which I don't seem to do too often these days, (maybe that's a challenge I need to set myself!) I remembered that Lili of Valley have a challenge blog too. So I hopped across to have a look and they had this sketch challenge on there. Well, you know I can't resist a sketch, so I thought I'd have a go and this is the card I made.

And this is the card I made without making it to any challenge specifications.

Papers and Images: Lili Of The Valley

Stamp: "You're Invited" by Stamping Up

Equipment: Cuttlebug ~ Nestabilities ~ Embossing Folder

Embellishments: Flowers ~ Brads

Sunday Sketch and Stamp Challenge

This is the first ever Sunday Sketch and Stamp Challenge and what a lovely little sketch it is too. Yes I know it is now Tuesday but it takes me a while to get around to these things! :-) This is the card I made for it which is for my daughter's best friend. I coloured the little girl stamp in tonight while my daughter was in her dance class. I got a few funny looks from some of the other mum's who were waiting too but one little girl was absolutely fascinated and watched me intently for ages until her mum called her away - very funny!

Stamps: Sarah Kay by Stampavie ~ "Thanks So Much" by Stamping Up

Coloured With: Twinkling H2Os

Papers: S.E.I.

Equipment: Cuttlebug ~ Nestabilities

Embellishments: Prima Flowers ~ Brads

Raspberry Ribbons Sketch Challenge

Here is this fortnights Raspberry Ribbons Sketch Challenge. This is my DT card for the sketch. It is also another invitation for Ellie's party but this is one for one of the boys in her class so I thought I'd use a Sugar Nellie stamp rather than a fairy.

Papers: Daisy Bucket Designs

Stamps: Hamish by Sugar Nellie ~ Sentiment by Stamping Up

Coloured With: Twinkling H2Os

Embellishments: Velvet Brad ~ Starfish Charm ~ Ribbon ~ Adhesive Gems

A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge

This is the sketch for this weeks A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge. I had to move things around a little bit on mine to get it to work as one of my invitations for Ellie's party but I think it still qualifies?! I couldn't get the colours to come out right on this photo either. The Fairy and the papers are more green than blue in real life but on the photo the fairy looks green and the papers look blue. I'm not sure what that's about!

Image and Papers: Lili Of the Valley

Stamps: Rhonna Farrah (Swirls) ~ Stamping up (Sentiment)

Embellishments: Flowers

Equipment: Cuttlebug ~ Nestabilities

Magnolia Vs Stampavie Sketch Challenge

This is the new sketch for the Magnolia Vs Stampavie Challenge. Isn't it gorgeous?! Here is my card for it. Although I do need to add some wings to Sarah Kay as it's an invitation to my daughter's birthday party and she's asked for a fairy theme. I have already done it with one of my daughters invites and it actually looks really cute!

Stamp: Sarah Kay by Stampavie ~ "Your Invited" by Stamping Up ~ Rhonna Farrah Swirls

Coloured With: Twinkling H2Os

Papers: Hot Off The Press

Embellishments: Prima Flowers ~ Brads ~ Adhesive Gems

Truly Scrumptious Challenge

This weeks Truly Scrumptious Challenge is a sketch and I'm almost out of time as I think the new challenge starts tomorrow. Nothing like cutting it fine!!! Here is my card for the challenge. It's a party invitation for my daughter's birthday in May. One down about twelve more to go?!

The papers are by Hot Off The Press, the image is one I have swapped with a lady from Trimmies called Spyder. I've coloured the image with Twinkling H2Os. The "You're Invited" stamp is from Stamping Up

Birthday Card For Fin

I don't know about you but I really struggle with cards for men. This is one I've made for a friend of ours. It just looks a bit bare. If it was a card for a female I could add some flowers to fill the gaps but what do you add to a man's card when its lacking that extra little something? Papers and Brad: Hot off the Press (I think?!)
Stamps: Crafty Individuals ~ Stamping Up
Inks: Distress ink ~ Versa Magic

A Spoonful Of Sugar Challenge

I am so tired today. My beautiful daughter woke me up at 3am she'd been having a bad dream about gorillas and dinosaurs. Having got her settled back in to her own bed I then spent the next two hours laying awake trying to get back off to sleep. I eventually managed to get back off but didn't get many extra Zzzzz before the radio came on at 6am. Yawn!

This is a card I made yesterday for the A Spoonful Of Sugar Challenge. I just love the little cat on this stamp, he's so cute. Stamps: Sugar Nellie ~ Stamping Up
Coloured with: Twinkling H2Os
Paper: Freebie from magazine
Equipment: Cuttlebug ~ Nestibilites
Embellishments: Ribbon ~ Flowers ~ Dovecraft Jewel Brads

Get Well Soon

My poor friend Debbie has the Flu again. She's only just got over one lot of it and has now caught it again. I thought I'd make her a card to help cheer her up a bit.

The pig stamp is actually one of my Mum's that she has stamped out a few times for me. I think its fab. Stamp: Stamping Up
Coloured with: Twinkling H2Os
Papers: Papermania
Equipment: Cuttlebug ~ Nestibilities
Embellishments: Prima flowers ~ Brad

Tilda and Co Challenge

I have recently found the Tilda and Co Challenge Blog, their challenge this week is "Over the Rainbow - Now This could be Rainbow Themed, Rainbow Colours etc"

I have had this rainbow paper in my stash since I first started crafting and have never quite got around to using it but I thought it would be perfect for this challenge. You can't see on the photo but the paper has a sheen to it too. It's very pretty. The image is of course a Tilda by Magnolia although this one is one of my Mums' not mine. The big flower is a Prima and and the smaller flower is a punch. The "Thanks so much" stamp is by Stamping Up.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

I have finally managed to do one of the Penny Black Saturday Challenges. Except I kind of got carried away and did four instead of one! Lol!

The challenge this week is Seasons and you are supposed to pick one and make a card or layout or ATC etc for that season, only I couldn't decide which season to pick... so I made a card for each.

So starting with Spring... I started by embossing the card blank with my Cuttlebug embossing borders. Then I added the Penny Black bunny stamp which I coloured with Twinkling H2O's. It is matted and layered onto a freebie paper. The metal Tulip is one my Mum gave me and the Chipboard sentiment is by Making Memories.

Next comes Summer....

The papers are all by colorbok, the stamp is Penny Black coloured with Twinkling H2O's, the flowers are Primas.

On to Autumn.......

The papers are all a mix match of left over bits. The girl stamp is a Penny Black, the "Best Wishes" and ticket corner punch are by SU. The leaves are done with paper punches from Baker Ross.

And last but not least Winter.....
The papers are by Blonde Moments, the stamp is a Penny Black coloured with H2O's. The scalloped square is done using my Nestabilities and Cuttlebug.

One Sketch, Six Ideas - PCJ's EMag

The second edition of the PCJ's eMag is now available to download for free. If you would like to view it please click here.

One of my contributions this time was for the sketch challenge. This is my sketch...
...and these are my two examples.

If you would like to have a go at the sketch challenge there is an email address to send your interpretation to at the end of that section in the PCJ's eMag. If you submit a card it may be featured in the next edition of the PCJ eMag!

Bad Blogger!

I'm really sorry I have not been posting or visiting my favourite blogs very much recently. There are a few reasons for this.

1. May, June and July are my busiest months for needing to make cards.



2. We're in the middle of having an office/music room built in the garden so that Peej can work and play out there without being disturbed or disturbing anyone and it's a little disruptive.



3. Max! Having a puppy in the house is the greatest distraction there is. Not only is he so cute that I just have to keep stroking him but there is also the toileting breaks he needs, the exercising, socialising, training etc. But I tell you he is such a clever dog and is already toilet trained. He knows sit, down, wait, okay, roll over, paw, stand and Kibble (which means meal time!) and he's still only 16 weeks old. When we go out for walks he sits at nearly every curb. I still have to position him sometimes if there's a lot going on but he's doing so well, I'm so proud of my puppy!

Anyway I digress. So here is my meagre offering for today.

This is a card I made as part of an entry into a draw in the Simply Cards and Papercrafts Magazine. The brief was to design a brightly coloured card suitable for a teenager, so if it manages to make it to the feature page you will be able to say you saw it here first!! Lol!

The papers are freebies from the SC&P Magazine, I used a scallop punch and then my Cricut to make the inner circle to put the 13 on. The little girl stamp is a Penny Black coloured with Twinkling H2O's. I used my ticket corner punch from Stamping Up to invert the corners before mounting it onto Bazzil Bling card stock and adding brads to finish.