Texture Challenges!

Both The Lily Pad Blog and Moxie Fab World are running a texture challenge at the moment so this is my entry for both challenges.
 My poinsettia flowers are cut using a Sizzix die and then I have run them through a herringbone  embossing folder before shaping and sticking together adding some seed beads to the center with Glossy Accents. The leaves are made with the leaf stamp from the Blossom Art set from Hero Arts.

For the background I have stamped my new Flower Dots stamp and embossed in white, its then distressed with Fired Brick and Barn Door distress inks.

I have been busy this morning  making more Piccallili so I can give some away as presents, its back to work for me  tomorrow!!

CAS-ual Fridays and a sketch this time!!

 Well its the weekend and the end of my half term holidays, I have got a lot done but there was still more I wanted to do, never mind back to school on Monday.  I have made this card for the CAS-ual Friday challenge which this week is a sketch!

This Santa stamp I have had in my stash for years but every Christmas out it comes to make some cards, I really love the cute design and can always think of a different way to use it.  This time I have stamped it twice and coloured with copics, I have then cut out Santa's head and pop dotted it to the other image.
The little bells on the ribbon were silver and I have coloured with my copics to match the gems.

 Hope you are having a great weekend the weather here is still beautiful, sunny but with a chill in the air, we are lucky as we haven't had much rain lately.
I am now off to play, I treated myself to a couple of new stamps and they arrived in the mail this morning.

Another card for the Lily Pad!

 I have had time to have another play with the Sketch challenge over at The Lily Pad, this time I have turned the sketch on its side to make this card.  I am really pleased with the vintage feel to this card as it is for an old Aunt who is going to be 94 next month.   The beautiful ribbon is part of my prize for winning the 90min scramble last month organised by the lovely Latrice. She sent me an amazing package of May Arts ribbons.
I am alos entering this in the "Anything Goes" challenge over at the Simon Says Blog!

I have been really busy today making Piccalilli ready for the winter.  So yummy with crusty bread and cheese.

Lily Pad Sketch

 Although I am still decorating the kitchen, every girl needs a break to craft!!  I had time to make another card for the Lily Pad Sketch challenge.  I found this quite an easy sketch to work with and decided to make a birthday card this time.

I have used the Hero Arts simple frame as the central square stamping it onto some Kraft coloured card after first distressing and stamping with Old letter writing..  The central panel is a piece of Prima paper that I have stamped with flowers and then added a couple of dragonflies raised on pop dots.
The top section is another piece of the same Prima paper.  I really love this Botanical paper  pack but I am fast running out of it as it is so versatile!

Oh well must get back to the kitchen,  have a great day.

CAS-ual Fridays!!

 Just a quick post with my card for this weeks CAS challenge "Just add Colour". This is a really simple Christmas card with the stamped images coloured with Copis.  I have just added a touch of bling for some sparkle.

I am busy painting the kitchen at the moment I just had time for a little break so popped into ther craft room for a while, must get back to it!!!

Sketch challenge and a card in the mail!!

The Lily Pad Blog has a new sketch challenge running so I decided to have a go, this is my finished card but I am not sure if I really like it, I think its a bit busy, perhaps I should have chosen a different background for the shaker Santa!!

Here is a close up, the Santa is a digital Hero Arts image which I have cut  out and adhered to a blue

piece of card stamped and embossed with the circle snowflake background.  For the background paper I have used my new Flower Dot stamp which I have stamped and embossed and then distressed with Broken China and Chipped Sapphire.  I have then spritzed with Shimmer mist.

Now this beauty is the card I received from Donna as part of the Hero Arts Flickr groups Christmas card exchange. Isn't it gorgeous, that little house stamp is one that I don't have but seeing this card has made me think that I may just need it.!!

Hope you are all having a great weekend, I am now on half term holiday from school, so I hope to get lots of things done this week, including lots of crafting!

Guest Designer at the Lily Pad !!

 I am thrilled to be a guest designer at The Lily Pad blog today, I was asked by Deborah to make three cards to showcase and here are the three I came up with. 
The first one is a CAS card, just using the Blossom art flowers from Hero Arts plus some Basic Grey PP.

The second is a little more intricate, the background is emboss resist (One of my favourite techniques) using the Classic Fabric stamp with Scattered Straw and Victorian Velvet distress inks.  The flowers are again from the Blossom Art set and are paper pieced.  I have coloured some gems with a black copic marker and applied loads to the flower centers.  The second panel is from the Dictionary Greetings set and is also made using the emboss resist technique.

The last card is using a digital image from the  Heather Ellis Pure Innocence collection and is coloured with copic markers.  I have added glossy accents to the wellingtons and then just backed it with some BasicGrey paper.


I had fun making these cards so thank you Deborah and Vicky for letting me join the team for a day.

Red, Brown and Kraft.

I have just got this new stamp from The English Stamp Company and was desperate to ink it up.  As

soon as I saw the stamp on the shelf in my local stamp store I had to buy it, what a great image for simple Christmas cards.

After inking the image with versamark ink I coloured in the Partridge with a red Tombow marker and then stamped onto my paper, I covered the image with gold powder, brushed off the powder on the bird and then heated.   Next I stamped again and cut out the bird to make a mask before stamping over with the HA Music Background stamp and Old Paper distress ink.

Its been a while since I had time to take part in the CR84FN challenge but the colours this week tied in perfectly with the card I had in mind for this stamp.

Just a short post today, hope you are having a good week.



Christmas.

Here is another Christmas card for this months Hero Arts challenge,  I wanted to try and make another card using a non Christmas stamp.  The bauble is just a circle of PP cut with a spellbinders die I then cut freehand the bauble top and coloured with copics. I stamped the circle with the Dandelion Frame and embossed in white,  then added some glittery stickles, I thought that the dandelion heads gave a frosty look and a wintery feel.

Here is a close up to show the glittery effect.

Hope you are all having a good week, I am looking forward to next week as its half term in the UK so more time to craft.  I also have some cooking and some shopping trips planned, Oh how I love working in a school!!

Scramble challenge!

This afternoon there was a 90 minute scramble challenge over at The Hero Arts flickr site hosted by the very talented Suzanne .

Her challenge was to make a card using exactly the same stamps that you had used on the last card uploaded to  the flickr group.  Above is my card for the challenge, I almost didn't finish it as my friend popped in from over the road and we started chatting.  Luckily I did managed to finish in time.

Below is the card that I uploaded to the flickr group on Thursday and the card I had to base my scramble card on!

Have a great weekend.

Two new cards.

This first card is for the current Hero Arts Challenge, I have used one of the sketches for this design and made a grid card using up lots of scraps from my basket.

My second card was for this weeks Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab but I couldn't get a decent photo last night as it was dark once I had finished it and of course I was too late to submit it for the challenge but I shall add it to the Moxie texture challenge and as the flower is handmade so I shall enter it in the Shabby Tea room challenge "Fall Flowers" .

I have a day off tomorrow so I am hoping the weather will stay bright.  Have a good week.

Two posts in a day!!

I think this is a first for me and I have two posts in a day!!

I found some fabulous digital images at The Pink Petticoat and they are all such good prices that I had to have this Flirty Tree image and make another card for The Lily Pad Bling challenge and The Simon Says Challenge.

This was a really simple card to make the image is coloured with copics and then I have added lots of glitter and some snow.  The background paper is from My Minds Eye . I have just added a white scalloped border and the twine and ribbon, finishing off with some small bells to compliment the bells on the tree.

October CCC

For the first time in a few months I have found time to join in the Lily Pads Card Chain Challenge.  This is such a fun challenge as you have to make a card following either a sketch, colour palette or theme and then send it to someone else in the list of entrants.  I have received cards from crafters all over the world , its so good to be in contact with like minded crafters and share our love of all things handmade.

This is my card for this month, it loosely follows the colour palette and also the sketch.  Can't wait to see where I will be sending it!!

Yipee its the weekend and my DD is visiting, lets hope the weather stays fine. Hope you have a fun weekend.

CAS-ual Friday Challenge #22

The CAS-ual Friday challenge is becoming one of my favourites because, once you have thought of a design the cards are usually quite quick to make.  The challenge this week is to include some loops of ribbon on your card.  A great way to use up ribbon scraps that are too short for bows. (I am so bad I can never throw scraps of ribbon away).

This is my CAS card and its also a mini card only 4 x 4, the loopy background is made using my lacy circles spellbinders die. 

Just a quick post tonight as I have lots to do.

Have a fun week.



Supplies. Spellbinders die.  Hero Arts stamps.CL364, CL459.  Gold embossing powder. Burgandy ribbon scraps.

Inspired by Mel!!

 What I love about being part of the blogging community is that everyone is so friendly and also happy to share different techniques they have discovered with other crafters.  Yesterday was World Cardmaking Day and I was visiting my DD in Taunton, (we had so much fun catching up and doing a bit of shopping together.) so unable to make a card.
Well this morning I have been busy trying to catch up with peoples blogs from yesterday and came across this stunning card by the very talented Mel ( I have been watching her blog for a while now).
I love the background effect she has created to look like its snowing so of course had to give it a try.

I love this effect, it looks so pretty in real life. 

Thanks Mel!

Well  its another beautiful day here so I am off to the garden to relax.  Hope you are enjoying your Sunday.



Supplies : Hero Arts Stamp E5245 small snowman.  Clear and white embossing powder.

World Card Making Day

Hi everyone, Happy World Card Making Day, unfortunately I can't make a card today as I am visiting my Daughter in Taunton. ( So excited about this as I haven't seen her for a month)  I have set this post to come live on Saturday as I still want to be part of this great event.
I have made this card for all you lovely ladies who visit my blog regularly, I really appreciate all your comments THANK YOU !!!!!

This is a digital image from Tiffany Doodles called "Daisy", it is printed onto water colour paper and I have coloured it with distress inks.  I have then brushed on some perfect pearls to give the flower a shimmer.  Unfortunately the photograph doesn't do it justice.

Hope you are all having fun making your cards today.