Monday 31 May 2010

Digital Car
















I spent a little time yesterday evening studying a few blogs and after visiting Lucys I was inspired to make a digital card.  I also found a template to make this car shaped card by checking out Vicky's blog (as recomended by Lucy.)  Its such a fun card to make. I didn't have any suitable images for the card driver so decided to adapt this baby one from squigglefly.  The monkey passenger is a stamp from Hero Arts. I am going to enter this in Lucys current "Digital"challenge.
I am also going to entre this in the new Interlinkz challenge see below.
 Just a quick post today as we are off to the garden centre as I need a few more bedding plants.
Have a great weekend.

Sunday 30 May 2010

Anniversary card


















Its been such a lovely day here in Surrey that I have only had a little time for crafting, I have spent the day planting my pots with bedding plants, it has taken a long time as I have lots of pots to fill.  I am looking forward to a lovely display of geranium's and begonia's I will post a photograph when they are out!

Its my best friends Wedding Anniversary soon so I have taken the opportunity to made her a card now so I can enter it in The Daring Cardmakers Challenge this week.  My friends favourite colour is mint green and its the colour she had for her bridesmaids so I have used green in the card.

I wanted to have a go at Joys watercolour technique, and decided to use my Hero Arts antique brocade stamp with Broken China and Bundled Sage Distress ink, I am really pleased with the effect and will definitely try it again.
Hope you are all enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend ( if you are from the UK) and to my American visitors wishing you a fun Memorial Day weekend.

Saturday 29 May 2010

A new challenge and a new stamp



















This is the current colour palette for the challenge at The Play Date Cafe and at last I have found time to craft again, after a week away with the school where I work its great to get back in the craft room.  I had a great time last week we took 80 children to the Isle of Wight for an activity holiday.  The weather was beautiful and the children were a credit to the school, all in all it was a fantastic time although I am quite tired , its lucky it is half term this week and I have time to recover.
















As you can see more paper roses, I love these, easy to make and they look so pretty.

I have just got the bird cage Tim Holtz die and I love it.  The backing paper is BasicGrey and the old sheet music is from a charity shop, perfect for cutting up as backing paper.


I was lucky enough to win this Hero Arts poppy stamp from Janet a friend I have met on the Hero Arts flickr group, I was really pleased to win this as its only available in "Michaels" an  American craft store at the moment.  This is my first card using it and I am sure there are going to be lots more as I love poppies and this image is really adaptable.

Sunday 23 May 2010

May CCC and Boyzone Challenge
























This is the beautiful card I received from Pia in Denmark for the May Card Chain Challenge organised by the lovely Deborah. Its such a beautiful design and I don't think the photograph really captures it.  It has definitely added the starburst lace stamp to my wish list. lol.  This is such a great challenge to enter, as after you make and post your card, you have an exciting wait till your own card pops through the letterbox from somewhere in the world!

I have been really busy this weekend and I have only had time to make one quick card for The Daring Cardmakers Challenge , Its to make a boys card and I have made this for a small boy with a digital image from Meljens designs. I love the giraffe image and its an easy one to colour.























Yesterday as a little wedding anniversary surprise and late birthday treat, Hubby and myself together with my best friend Gina and her husband went to London to see a show.  First we had a meal in Covent Garden ( we sat outside as the weather was glorious) then it was off to see "The Jersey Boys", if you like music its a must see show about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Now I am busy packing as I am away for a few days on a residential visit to the Isle of Wight with the school where I work.  We are taking 82 children on an activity holiday and I am going as medical person, this is my 15th year of going, you could say I am, an old hand at it now.  Its a very exciting but very tiring trip I am really looking forward to half term!

Hope you all have a great week.

Friday 21 May 2010

I am celebrating!!!!!



















I was so excited yesterday when I had a sneaky look at the Hero Arts blog at work and found I had won the digital category in this months challenge, my colleagues were amazed when I started dancing round the office , they were also really pleased for me. I am very lucky as lots of them give me orders for cards and that helps fund my habit of buying more stamps and craft goodies.  Now I can go shopping on the Hero Arts site and spend an amazing $50, thank you so much Hero Arts!!!  Also I would like to thank all my blogging and flickr friends for their lovely comments about my win!!

Tuesday 18 May 2010

Male Cards

As I said in my previous post "I love making feminine cards" so the challenge on the Hero Arts blog is quite a challenge!! In my stash I have a few of these little digital bird images all printed and ready to use and I decided that they would be perfect for my card, but as you can see I can't get away from using bright colours.  I am not sure if this card really works but I have finished it anyway.

Happy crafting.


Sunday 16 May 2010

I love making feminine cards!!!

Jennys challenge over at Wee Memories is to make a pink card or scrapbook page, no problem for me there I love making feminine cards and pink is my favourite colour to use. I also need a card for my cousins birthday so the challenge was perfectly timed.


For Jenny's inspiration she has made a scrapbook page and complimented the pink with grey, I decided to add burgundy to my card to lift the pink.


The background paper is from Vinnie Pearce and I have distressed the edges with Worn Lipstick, I am hooked on making these paper roses, they are so simple to do and are really effective. The Butterfly is from Hero Arts and I have stamped it onto some pink BoBunny paper. 
 Again I have decided to leave off the sentiment as I don't want to crowd the front of the card.
I have also managed to get my sewing machine to play ball this time, I printed the background on very thin card and it seems to prefer that to paper.
Once again I would like to thank everyone who visits and finds time to leave a comment, I appreciate all of them .


Saturday 15 May 2010

Struggling with Photography!!!


















This is the colour swatch for this weeks challenge at The PlayDate Cafe and I was really pleased with the card I made till it came to taking a photograph of it.  My card is a pastel green with some white embossing on it which in real life looks really soft and delicate but try as I might I can't get a realistic photo of it.



































Here are a couple of close ups so you can see the Hero Arts Wheat Grass stamp embosssed in white.  I have also made some paper roses after seeing the lovely ones Lin has been making.  I love making my own flowers and after making lots of the Dawn McVey "poofy flowers" these are my new favourites.


Another couple of photos of the whole card.

The background card has been distressed with Peeled Paint, Warm Green chalk ink and some Hero Arts green Shadow Ink. I also lightly stamped with  Rubber Stampede "Cosmos Flower".  The blue ribbon was a gift from the lovely Pia in Denmark.  I was the lucky recipient of a card from her for the May CCC.  I will post it later in the month.
Sorry for the long post but I have been frustrated with my lack of photographic knowledge. I think I am going to go into the garden now to take out my stress on the lawn lol.



Friday 14 May 2010

Bunting!!



















I was asked by a colleague at work to make a birthday card for her friend who had just opened a Cafe/ Tea room in Weymouth, I have made a similar card to this before but thought the cup cake theme was perfect.
The digital image of the Cakes and Bunting are from Squigglefly and they have proved to be a great purchase as I have used them lots of times. I coloured with copics and added some stickles.
As this card has bunting on it, it fits in with The Daring Cardmakers challenge this week
A-Bunting We Will Go!

"There seems to be an abundance of bunting everywhere at the moment and I expect more will appear soon in honour of the World Cup! I thought that it would be fun this week to add some bunting to our cards..."

Hope you all have a great weekend, it looks like the weather is set to get warmer so I will be able to get in the garden at last...Yipee!!

Monday 10 May 2010

Stitching on paper.























The challenge over at Wee Memories this week is for stitching, so I blew the dust of my sewing machine to have a go. The trouble is my old machine hates stitching paper, and this took me ages, the thread kept breaking, then it missed stitches and I ended up getting really cross and frustrated. Card making for me is a relaxing, stress relieving hobby and yesterday things didn't go well.  Never mind I am pleased with the finished result and I think a new machine has now been added to my never ending wish list.lol!!

I am also going to enter this in the Sir Stampalot challenge which is "Butterflies and Blossoms" check out the blog there is an amazing prize on offer of lots of Tim Holtz goodies!

Hope you all have a great week  and thank you for all your comments, I really do appreciate them.

Sunday 9 May 2010

A creative weekend!!


Made this card for the challenge over at EBTKS, the challenge item is envelopes, and I have been saving this brown evelope after buying a pair of jeans a few months ago and finding it attached, with a card in the pocket with the washing instructions on.  I knew that it would be perfect for a money envelope. I have stamped it with the  Hero Arts Flourish Trio and also used the same stamp on the little card for the pocket.

As you can see the money and the little card fit perfectly.


This is another little card I have made for a boys birthday, the image is a free digital download from Bugaboo Stamps, they do two free digital images every Friday and this was perfect for the little boy in question who loves cars.  I have coloured the image with copics and then covered the car with Glossy Accents to give it a shine, I then added the googly eyes and the gem for a headlight.
This card qualifies for the PaperPlay challenge this week which is digital and bling.  The bling is the headlight, hope it counts!





Saturday 8 May 2010

Playdate Cafe

This is the colour swatch for this weeks challenge at The Play Date Cafe and I love these colours together, I am a pink girl at heart and love everything girly!

This is my card for the challenge, the photograph is an old wills cigarette card, I love the image and have cut it with my nesties to make this cameo style pendant. The touch of grey is the hat pin and pearls.
Hope you are all enjoying the weekend and I would like to wish all  my American visitors a very Happy Mothers Day.





Tuesday 4 May 2010

Poppies again!!


This is still my favourite Hero Arts stamp at the moment and I had to ink it up for the new challenge at
Wee Memories.  This weeks challenge theme is - Writing. Any kind of writing, old letter writing, script, french script, etc. I found an old book in a charity shop and its really useful for backing paper. I coloured the poppies with Barn Door distress ink and added the seed beads.  The butterfly is a digital one from Hero Arts, these butterflies are really useful as you can produce them in any size. 





Monday 3 May 2010

Sketch challenge 62




















This is the sketch for this weeks CardPatterns challenge and the prize is these fabulous new cling stamps from Hero Arts.
This is my take on the sketch

I used an old Hero Arts stamp called Silhouette Corner and used distress ink to create the image.
 Its May Day holiday in the UK but the weather is really cold so I not going to venture far, I have a card order to fill so plenty to do.



Sunday 2 May 2010

Play Date Cafe

I got carried away this week with this challenge as I love the colours for this week, I also have a new stamp and I can't stop using it at the moment. 

This is my first attempt, its hard to get a good photograph as the colours are pastel and its such a dull day here. I have used a digital background paper from Vinnie Pearce which I recoloured then stamped with "Elegant Weeds". Added a digital butterfly.























This is my second attempt, this new stamp is a very delicate image so it calls for a delicate card.
In the UK its a holiday weekend so we have a day off  tomorrow as well, lets hope the weather cheers up!