I'm Hung Up........

That's the theme over at 365 Cards today.

It's Day 254 and being 'hung up' means to make an ornament of some kind

Well it just had to be Christmas didn't it.

(excuse all the marks, they are on the scanner glass :- / )

I used my trusty Fiskars Shapecutter and cut out a bauble from the Fiskars template.

The top of the bauble - the bit that hangs- has been cut in silver mirri card but does not show up well.

The bauble has been cut from red pearlised card.

a strip of HOTP paper went across the middle and either side of that I put a strip of Anita's sticky back embellished ribbon (so useful)

I stuck lots of flat backed pearls on the top and bottom of the bauble and punched out some wee snowflakes out of glitter card to go across the middle.

A satin bow finishes it off.

Job done.

I'm glad I managed to do today's challenge with my sadness today, it gave me something else to focus on.

Celebrate the Season

I had a birthday gift of 2 Whiff of Joy stamps and thought it about time I joined in the challenges over there.

So this card is for Whiff of Joy Challenge #53 - Red, Cream and one other colour

I love this cute mouse.

I paper pieced the hat and the  bow on the top of it

A flat backed pearl was added to the centre of the  bow

The image was coloured with ProMarkers

Sentiment stamp - Hero Arts

Ink - Adirondack Red Pepper

Fiskars border punch used to edge the red card

Cream base card, paper, red card and ribbon from my stash

Black, White & Silver

2 challenge combo with this card.
Kerries Challenge 4 on the forum - given sketch
Gingersnap Creations 23 - Black, White & Silver

Great sketch Kerrie.
White base card, matte silver paper, black card and silver mirri card from my stash
The giant brads are from Eyelet Outlet
Patterned paper from HOTP
Rub-ons from DCWV Daydream Doodles
Sentiment sticker from QVC
I cut the piece of black card with my new birthday present, my Fiskars border punch

Embossing adventure

I have been playing with embossing after reading somewhere that the Fiskars Texture Plates can be passed through the 'Bug'. Very successful too. So I have 6 different textured backgrounds to play with and can resist, just for a short while, buying any more Embossing Folders.
I have used a small piece of large dot embossed card in the middle of this card, such a change from Swiss Dots which I have done to death.
Ingredients:-
The papers - Basic Grey 'Sugared'.
The ribbon - SU 'More Mustard'
The lovely sentiment is a sticker by Chatterbox.
Velvet brad - Doodlebug
Flowers - Making Memories
Metal spacer under brad - Beads Direct.
Flourish Outline Sticker

This card is for these challenges
Kezza's Sketch 2 for September
Crafty Creations #32 - Embossing

Life is Sweet

Well I feel a bit better about my cardmaking today, maybe because the sun shone for a while and unseasonably warm too...lovely!!!
So today for 365 Cards Day 192 - So Sweet - the card is to have the word sweet on it and The Cuttlebug Spot 47 - 'It's for the Birds' to feature a bird.
Even though it's summery I felt autumny colours coming on.
The card base is kraft card by Lakeland.
The paper with the birdie is a great free download from DoCrafts - http://www.docrafts.co.uk/. I pierced around the edges and drew a pen along the holes to look like stitching.
I embossed a piece of lovely orange card in my Bug and cut the edge with my new Fiskars border punch 'Apron Lace' which I had for my birthday off a dear crafty buddy.
The sentiment stamp was inked with Adirondack 'Raisin' but surprisingly bled into the paper, it makes it just look more rustic.
A piece of Anita's sticky ribbon across the top and 3 buttons from my mum's tin with embroidery floss through the holes finished it off.
Job done!

Just Peachy

A card to cover 2 challenges
365 Cards Day 174 - Peach to be the dominant colour
Mojo Monday Sketch 100

I do love a vintage look and so many very arty people do some wonderful work which I am in awe of. So I dug out one of my old vintage style stamps ...another eBay find, and got to work....whether the result is vintage or arty is in the eye of the beholder...lol!!...but I've had a try at it.

Base Card - SU Kraft
Papers - My Mind's Eye 'Bloom & Grow'
Stamp - Misc. um
Ink - Tim Holtz 'Walnut Stain'
Peach Die-cut sticker - Kay & Co 'Romanza' Images
Peach satin ribbon and rub-on from my stash

Fiskars small square hand held punch to make the hole for the ribbon to go through.
I loved using these colours for a change and am pleased I found the die-cut peach sticker :)

Always & Forever.....

Hopefully this card will cover 3 challenges if I am not too late.
365 Cards Day 173 - Mixed Message - to incorporate 3 ways to create 1 sentiment
Sketch Saturday #61 - Given sketch
Daring Cardmakers - Lace
This was a great sketch and needed a bit of guidance today.
Interesting challenge on 365 Cards and was able to complete that with the word Always being a rub-on & being a mini tag and Forever I printed out using my Dymo Letra Tag
The lace used was paper lace, I forget the make.
Ribbon strip and Papers - Laura Ashley 'Contemporary
Gems - Hero Arts
Velvet Brad and flowers from my stash
Image - Penny Black
Colouring medium - PM's Sandstone, Vanilla, Satin, Ice Grey 1, Coold Grey 1 and Cool Grey 5 and Copic - Blush
The left edge was cut using a Fiskars border punch Threading Water

365 Cards - Day 141

Super Sketchy Sunday today and here is the sketch.
This was lovely and painless.
Feeling below par atm, like the golf I'm watching. lol!!

But as I type this the sun is starting to shine which makes a blessed relief from the amount of rain we have had lately, so much for our summer!!!
Anyway, I digress....the starting point for this card was the Nestie die cut scalloped oval in two sizes....the only two left in my box of spares. So that shade of pink dictated the rest of the card.
The Card stock is Bazzill Basics, not sure of the shade. The pp's are HOTP, years old, but I throw nothing away, so sometimes you may think my cards look a little dated, lol!! , but I care not a jot. :)
I trimmed the top piece of paper with my Fiskars scalloped border punch 'Threading Water' and forgot to do the bottom piece...doh!!
All pieces had their corners rounded with a corner rounder punch, no less. I added the sentiment by Clarity Stamps inking with Adirondack 'Cranberry'. 2 little flat backed jewels by Papermania were added to the dots on the 'i's'..ribbon from my stash and to finish it off I added two little mulberry flowers, pulling the stems through the knot of the ribbon.
The start of another great week at 365 Cards.

I'm in a Bind!

365 Cards - Day 137
To bind two pieces of something (card, plastic etc) to create a card.

I chose to use my Fiskars hole punch and to use spotty paper as it is easier to space the holes.
Pink Bazzill Basics card topped by misc. magazine freebie pink spotty paper, punched through and tied using metallic thread by Madeira No10 Color 0313
I used a piece of Anita's sticky backed ribbon to cover the join and added two cardboard embelishments by Making Memories to finish it off.

Red, White & Blue....

Well it's the 4th of July a day for Celebrations.
To everyone in the US and to Serena Williams...Wimbledon Champion.
I have a combo of 3 for this card.
365 Cards Day 126 - 'Show Your True Colours' mine being Red, White & Blue too
Crafty Creations Ch. #22 - Celebrations
The Next Level Issue 5 - Sketch + stitching

Well the red, white and blue included, the HB blue paper very old and had CraftCreations on the bottom. The striped paper is Doodlebug 'Boy O Boy Dotted Line' and the Red card is Stardream from Joanna Sheen
The image was an old swap in my image box.
The colouring medium used was a mix of PM's and Copic
The sentiment is a misc. rub on which gives the Celebration theme
The faux stiching is by hand in white pen

I used my Fiskars punch 'Threaded Water' to edge the piece of card.
Fabulous ribbon from my stash.

Something Tasty....

Passion for ProMarkers Week 6
The lovely colours to be used for this challenge are
Moss and Poppy
And an extra challenge is to add something tasty to the card.
I have these lovely stamps from Kars Ollyfant and the picnic image with the picnic basket was ideal.
ProMarkers used :-
Moss
Poppy
Cool Grey 2
Vanilla
Apricot
Sandstone
Apple Green
Rose Pink
Pumpkin
Raw Sienna
For the skin tones I used :-
Copic Skin White, Blush & Pale Grape
The papers are Basic Grey Cupckae and Urban Prairie
I cut the cream piece of card with my Fiskars Wide Scallop scissors.
Both pieces of white card were smooshed over with pale yellow chalk to tone it down.
The gems are by Doodlebug
The ribbon was off a box of chocs...I do love to recycle. :)

The scan has tended to highlight the basket more than it really is due to it being raised on dimensionals

Super Sketch Sunday 120

And the start of another week over at 365 Cards. I never thought I would manage another full week, but I have excelled myself. There again these challenges are so inspiring I'm not surprised really.
With hindsight this card would have been better for the 'frame' challenge, but hey ho! my brain didn't conjure it up then.
This was a super sketch and it made be bring out my old Fiskars oval cutter and I must say it does do perfect ovals. The 'Bug' (for me anyway) has a lot to answer for with us having neglected tools in our cupboards. LOL!!
The papers used were Basic Grey 'Sugared' and the the chipboard frame is off a sheet of Basic Grey 'Eva'.
The base card, flat backed mocha pearls, ribbon and sentiment tag are from my stash.

OT
Well it looks like we are in for hot, hot, hot weather here, so if it get's too bad I may be missing, lying under a fan with hands toooooo sticky to make cards....let's hope for the good weather anyway..WooHoo!!

I've been framed....

365 Cards - Day 118

Create a frame on your card, is the general idea for todays challenge and this card I have had to do today to get in the post for a wedding I'm going to in August.
The frame on the card is a loose interpretation as I have created a frame using my scalloped oval Nesties to enhance the word 'Acceptance'. One frame cut out of vellum with white hearts on and the backing frame in silver which has glitter embedded.
The papers are oddments out of my box, the blue one edged using my Fiskars punch 'Threading Water'.
The word I created in Word using the font Jane Austin (28)
I married up the colours of the papers with oddments of ribbon and a flat backed pearl by Basic Grey and 2 gems by Doodlebug.
The base card is a heavyweight hammered white which I keep for specials.
Hope this is not a cheat for this challenge ;-) LOL!!

Wedding

I am able to combine 2 challenges for this theme. Both The Pink Elephant and 365 Cards 112 wanted a wedding card and the addition of the word 'Love' in the sentiment was required on 365 Cards also.
I don't have any wedding rubber stamps so printed off a great little picture out of my file of Vintage ephemera and pictures. With my love of cats this is adorable.
I am the world's worst at tying bows, so forgive my mangled effort. My mum tied beautiful bows the art of which she learned when she worked for Nestle's and tied the bows on the Easter eggs, she was first class, bless her. I inherited her arthritis but not her bow tying abilities..LOL!!
Anyway, I digress..........
Ingredients :-
Paper - Basic Grey 'Marrakech'
Nestie label to mount picture onto
Vellum Quote - DCWV
Flat backed pearls, ribbon and base card from my stash
Fiskars 'Threading Water' punch used to edge piece of blue card

Rainbow Connection

Day 105 over on 365 Cards is Singalong Saturday and is a challenge to do a card which springs to mind on hearing the song 'Rainbow Connection'.
I had real fun doing this and I am honestly loving this blog as for some reason it is bringing out things from the depths..lol!! of Me and my stash!
The paper, would you believe, is a download from Kraft Cardz with the date 2005 :-O
How perfect is that for this challenge.
I am not an artist, but I love to play, so I swooshed rainbow coloured misc. pigment ink stamps across a piece of white card and heat embossed it with clear emb. powder, then cut it into an arc with my Fiskars hand cutter.
The stamped images of the pot and the flower were in my stash of swapped images, which I appear to have coloured using Sakura Gel Gloss pens. The stem and leaves are leftover pieces of Anitas sticky ribbon, I waste nothing.
The sentiment is by Hero Arts and I matted & layered it on colours of the rainbow bits of card, that was hard, I'm not the best cutter in the world either.
So there you are my take on 'Rainbow Connection'....a rather fun, naive sort of card which I thoroughly enjoyed making.

Imagine This : Grass

This is today's theme - Day 104 - over at 365 Cards.
I remember doing this sort of card about 18 months ago, so delved into the dusty corners of my mind to retrieve as many bits as I could remember.
The card stock is from my stash...yes! blue & green should be seen :-)....and I cut the green piece with my Fiskars cutting wheel, not very cleverly.
The rubber stamp I used for the grass is a flourish by Dawn Bibby which I stamped in Adirondack 'Meadow'
The butterfly is by Funstamps which I stamped in Adirondack 'Red Pepper' and 'Ginger' adding misc. pearls in brown to the body and red to the centre of the wings.
The sentiment by Stampabilities was stamped in 'Meadow' too.
I added the flight path of the butterfly by hand with an 03 drawing pen and topped the edge of the grass bank with a green Marvy Le Plume pen.
Job done...:-)
That's enough for today, methinks, off for a cuppa and bed and read my book [Harry Potter]...Night-Night!!

Let's Get In Shape.....

 
...which happily didn't mean I had to do any exercise at all other than make a shaped card for Just Magnolia Wk 6 .....phew!!!!
You know my despair of getting circles right. The largest Nestie circle is too small for a fair sized card and my circle cutter somehow never meets when I get to the end of the circle...the blade moves too much and my conquering of a pair of compasses is laughable.
So...I used my Fiskars Circle Punch which I have forgotten the name of the design, sorry, and the template that comes with it for either 4" or 6" circle had to suffice for hand cutting the remaining circles with scissors. The inner circle of paper that Tilda stands on is die cut using my largest Nestie.
The lovely Tilda image which I had in my collection of swapped images was coloured using Marvy Le Plume pens. The papers were Basic Grey 'Two Scoops' and 'Lilykate' Everything else from my stash.
And yes, girls, I used peel-off gold hinges to highlight the fold of the card.
I, once again, apologise for the terrible picture. I do not do well with a camera I'm afraid, it's either dull or bleached out. But with the abundance of embelies on the card I could not squash it in my scanner now, could I? :-)

Do I need a Reason?.........

.......For being late with this challenge over at Mojo Monday.....wk 82. Tried it a couple of times and this was the best I could come up with, come back MOJO all is forgiven!
I lurve these cute little images from Pink Petticoat and haven't made enough use of them.
I didn't do much adorning of this card as I think the paper is too lovely to cover up.
Ingredients :-
Image - Pink Petticoat download
Papers - Basic Grey 'Sugared'
Colorbox Chalk ink pad in 'Chestnut Roan'
Rik Rak - Bazzill
Heart embellie, leather-look cream card and sentiment from my stash
Tools used :-
Fiskars scallop punch
Sakura Gelly Roll pens

Card for a Child....

....is the theme at Truly Scrumptiousbeing their challenge 5 with a sketch which got the old grey matter twitching.
All the papers used were from the 6 x 6 pad of Basic Grey 'Cupcake' they are gorgeous.
The cream card across the card was cut using my Fiskars wide scallop scissors
A Penny Black sticker was used for the image.
Everything else from my stash. It all seems a bit busy for me but I'm sure a child will love it. LOL!!

Chocolate Orange........

Oh! yummy what a delicious theme over at Secret Crafters Saturday Challenge #27. Great to get away from purple which I have been doing all week for the forum April competition....watch this space ;-)
The sketch for this challenge was great too, not too many elements, which get me in a right old tizz.
Ingredents used :-
Scalloped cards - The Glitter Pot
Orange card - Bazzill Basics
Orange paper with bird print - free download from DoCrafts
Image - Tranparency by Chatter Box
Sentiment - stamp by Prima
Ribbon, gems, flowers, flat backed pearls from my stash
Tools used :-
Fiskars scalloped border punch
Versafine Vintage Sepia
DST
Foam sticky pads