Anyone for Cocoa....

....and Cornflower Blue
These are the 2 colours to be used for week 7 over at
Passion for Promarkers
Not colours you would naturally pick to go together, but once the card is finished it's not too bad.
Other ingredients :-
Promarkers - also Vanilla and Canary
Copics - Pinkish White and Blush
Blue card - Bazzill Basics
Image - Pink Petticoat download
Blossoms - Prima
Brown card, paper, tags, and pearls from my stash
'Nestie' Divine Swirls was used to emboss a piece of the brown card and Largest Scalloped oval to cut and emboss around the image.

Favourite Things

This card, last for today, covers 2 challenges.
Papertake Weekly Challenge - My Favourite Things
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - given sketch

The sketch by Jane was lovely and made a good base to fill the card with some of my favourite things being :-
Rubber stamps I have too many to think about and have grown to love these Magnolia Tilda, took a while to come to terms with no mouth. The lovely little PSX Pixie stamps which I have all 4 sets of are great little sentiments.
Versafine Black Onyx ink pad.
Basic Grey Papers, these being LilyKate and Urban Prairie
Pearls, gems and card candy love them all
Ribbon - this is a piece of real silk by Anna Griffin
Bazzill Card - you can't get any better in my opinion
Pink & Green - I love this colour combo and even though I keep venturing out into the big wide world of colour I come back to the delicate colours of an apple blossom tree.
So those apart from my cats are among my favourite things.

Buttons & Bows

The Next Level - 6
The challenge this week is to use Buttons & Bows on your card....the more the merrier.
Well I hope I knew when to stop.
Ingredients -
Paper and chipboard - Basic Grey 'Eva'
Rub on sentiment- Scenic Route Paper Co.
Scalloped card, buttons, thread, and ribbon from my stash.

Sunday offerings...

Today's card to cover 2 challenges.

1. 365 Cards- Super Sketchy Sunday Day 134
2. Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Wk 57 'Swirls'

Also over at 365 cards it is the start of Shortcuts Week - Shortcuts is an online store that offers pre-made card blanks that will save you time so that you can spend it embellishing your card instead of creating your card base.

Ingredients -

Paper - Basic Grey 'Marrakech'
Imaginisce Blossom Brad
Ribbon - SU 'Very Vanilla'
Chipboard swirl and bracket shapes - Papermania
Sentiment - Penny Black
Base card - from stash
Gems to add a bit of bling from my stash

Russian

Daring Cardmakers
The challenge is to do a Russian inspired card.
"It's Rein here this week and as our Russian girl Irina is here staying with us again my dare is put a matryoshka or another typical Russian element like dress, architecture, or... ..... on your card."
So here is my offering.
Ingredients:-
Both paper and images were downloaded
Sentiment stamp - Hero Arts
Ink Pad - Colorbox Chalk Wisteria
Jewels were added to the centres of some of the dolls on the background paper.
Base card and ribbon from my stash

Imagine This.........Bubbles!

365 Cards - Day 133

I've had a couple of stamps for so long unused I was so pleased to see this challenge that I could have broken out a bottle of bubbly lol!!
The Bubbles background and Sentiment stamps are by Clarity stamps.
The image stamp is a misc. um off eBay

I randomly stamped the bubbles using Versafine Onyx black, stamping three times per application to get varying shades.
Then I had fun filling in the bubbles with a variety of Stickles glues, Copics, Perfect Pearls and Marvy Le Plume pens. Unfortunatly the scan has bleached out some of the pastel colours.
I stamped the image using Colorbox Cats Eye Chalk and then mounted them both on black card.
A turquoise ribbon from my stash added the finishing touch.

Picture This......

365 Cards - Day 132
Is a picture that is to inspire our card

As it is late at night I chose not to tax my brain too much and just did the picture with my bits to hand.
Kraft card to suggest the wooden table.
The top of the cake is a scalloped oval Nestie.
Dark brown Marvy Le Plume pen to draw the looped icing.
just a few off cuts of coloured card for the candles.
Tear drop gems for the flames.
Silver ribbon
and a lovely silver metal sentiment.

Well that's me for today, night night all. xx

Thursday Catch-up!!

Due to me having a minor accident yesterday I didn't get to making any cards at all. :O
On putting my ironing board up I trapped my little finger in the legs...you probably heard the scream over there. I have never felt pain like it and cried like a baby.
So I am now catching up as it is ok just bruised.





365 Cards Day 130 - That Tickles Me!
To make a humourous card that will hopefully raise a smile if not a laugh.
Ingredients:-
Image - download in Pink Petticoat sale
Colouring medium - mix of Copics & PM's
Brown card - Bazzill Bling
Yellow card - Bazzill Basics
Scalloped base card and pearls from my stash.
Circles cut with Nesties and punches
Sentiments - actually found out how to make these in Word with a little trial and error and am pleased as punch. Fonts are by 2 Peas


365 Cards Day 131 - Ad Inspired
Lovely advert that we had to draw inspiration from for our card. This ad. featured Dr. Seuss shower curtains.
When my daughter was born in 1966 my sister gave me the whole set of Dr Seuss books for her and how I loved to read those stories, they lasted through having my 2 boys also, but what ever happened to them I will never know. Such wonderful books.
I drew inspiration from the colours and the fish. Having no stamps I googled images.
Ingredients :-
Images - Googled
Blue & White paper - recycled from the packing off my white card
Red & White paper - Red card with hand punched white dots added
Pale blue card - recycled from Insurance Company folder
Fishes bubbles - same punch to cut circles from irridescent blue paper
Sentiment - PSX stamp
Base card from stash

I think this card says something about the way I feel.

So there you are 2 for the price of 1 today. :-)

You Have Me In Stitches

365 Cards Day 129

My 2nd attempt at this challenge is this card.
I didn't read the 'rules' correctly and my first card only had a couple of little stitched flourishes in the corners....bad girl!!
I have to do a stitched image!
So I routed out a brass template and pierced around the flower and inside the spiral in the middle for the flower onto a large emb. Nestie 'Pinking Circle'. The embossing or texture of the card hasn't scanned.
The paper used was Basic Grey 'Offbeat'
I did a further piercing of a Bazzill In Stitch'z for a stem on top of the paper.
This was finished off with a little 'sun' tag and some Doodlebug rub-on letters along the stem to say 'flower'
A little piece of pinked bazzill sun is peaking out of the top corner lol!!

Well the card was completed through lots of tears as I watched the memorial service for dear Michael Jackson....may his soul rest in peace, God Bless him.

Just a few stitches..

This card covers 2 challenges, but should have been 3 until I realised that 365 Cards needs a stitched image as the focal point...hey!ho!!...back to the drawing board for that one lol!!
So we have these two challenge blogs to cover :-
Cute Card Thursday Ch. 67 - 'Stitch in time'
Sketch & Stash ch. 14 - 'Given sketch + Ribbon'
This was a great sketch as always and the stitching challenge made me bring out my new Bazzill In Stitch'z which my dear forum buddy Kerrie bought me last year and I haven't opened it until today...oh! the shame!..thank goodness for these challenges.
Also new is my Kay & Co. 6x6 pad 'Isabella'...new to me anyway, I am way behind anyone else. :-D
3 diff. sheets of the pad of paper were used
The pearl brads are from Eyelet Outlet
The image is from a craft buddy
Colouring medium - a mix of Copics and PM's
The flower was built up from 4 diff. sizes and actually is more like the colour of the images' boots than the pink it has come out in the photo. :/
The Base card, thread and Ribbon out of my stash.

Card Recipe

365 Cards Day 128
....is a card recipe...oh! I love these.

Ingredients
1 5x5 card
1 rub-on image
2 buttons
1 pce. patterned paper
1 pce. ribbon (NO bow)
1 sentiment inside the card

I don't buy rub-on pictures, but had this one though for about 4 years and never used as I have never had much success with rub-on pictures especially Royal and Langnickel and binned the lot of them. I kept this because it is PSX but never dared to use it for fear it would end up ruining a card.......but voila! it was successful.
The piece of paper used is by HOTP
Everything else from my stash, the stamp used for the sentiment inside was off eBay and has no make on it.

This took me longer than imagained as I was sat with the one piece of paper in my hand staring at the rub on on the card for sooooooooooo long lol!!...I then came up with the torn window.

Hope this fits the recipe okay.

Papertake Weekly Challenge 30/6

Another fabulous sketch to get my teeth into.
Ingredients :-
Paper - Kay & Co. 'Sparkly Sweet'
Image - from a craft buddy
Colouring mediuum - PM's
Corsage Pin - eBay
Base card, purple pearl paper, ribbon, pearls, flowers and charm from my stash.
I ran a piece of the cream card through my 'Bug' using the 'Swiss Dots' folder.

I just bought these corsage pins as I have noticed a few peeps using them to good effect, I'll get the general know-how soon, I'm sure. May look better with a flouncy bow.
I have taken a picture as the card is too embellished to scan....I am not David Bailey lol!!
Thanks for looking. :)

You Hoo!!

Well another week has flown by and it's unbelievable that we are at
Super Sketchy Sunday Day 127 on 365 Cards which means I have done another full week over at 365 Cards :O !! I am so pleased, this wonderful blog has resurrected my mojo. The link is down on the right if you want to go have a peep.
This was a fabulous sketch, so different and couldn't wait to have a play.
I stepped right out of my comfort zone with the colour and because the weather has been so hot and sunny which certainly makes a change for the UK I chose orange for it's sunny disposition.
The super papers are Basic Grey 'Offbeat'
The stamped image and sentiment stamps are Hero Arts, I just love these little owls. One is from 'Hello Tree' and the other from 'You Hoo Owl'
I hand cut around the sentiment, I would dearly love the SU punch that would do it for me. lol!!
The scrap of ribbon and metal slider are from my stash. I remember the slider coming from my forum buddy Becky :-x
I embossed the misc. orange card in my 'Bug' with the swirls folder.
So after a very Red, White and Blue weekend I am quite pleased with my orange theme.

Patriotic

This has been a great weekend for all things Red, White & Blue in the blog world.
I have a combo of 4 challenges to cover this card as follows:-
Sketch Saturday #58 - a brilliant sketch & to feature Red, White & Blue
Penny Black Saturday wk 56 - Also Red, White & Blue
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #39 - 3 Ribbons
Charysma Cardz Thursday - Buttons

As you can see I acheived the R, W & B with the base card, Doodlebug striped paper, downloaded red & white check paper and various blooms.
The 3 pieces of R, W & B ribbon were out of my bits box
The Penny Black stamp is 'Burst of Stars' which is very appropriate and I used Adirondack Red Pepper ink pad.
The brads and 2 buttons were out of my stash.
The Best Wishes sentiment was a freebie with a magazine years ago.

I have enjoyed making these last 2 cards as it is so good to get away from pink and green.
And the Union Jack flag being Red, White & Blue I feel very patriotic too.

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.

It's a Snap!

325 Cards Day 125
'It's a snap' refers to the cards' closure so anything other than the ordinary for this one.
I will also combine this with
Daring Cardmakers - 'Blue & Green....shouldn't be seen', but these are so subtle and lovely.

This got my thinking cap on as I haven't done a card with a different kind of closure for ages.
So I went back through my file and found the template and idea for this one.
It is a sort of gate fold card with the fold to one side instead of in the middle.
The papers used are from Basic Grey 'Lilykate' pad, I also coverd a slide mount with a piece of the stripy paper.
I used my Silent Setter to punch holes on each side through both thicknesses and threaded the ribbon through. A jelly sentiment which reads 'Best Bud' was added to the centre of the slide mount, only one I had so not entirely happy with that, it may come off and something else will be added.

May I take this opportunity to wish everyone across the pond A Very Happy 4th of July xxxx...enjoy!!!

Happiness looks like.....

365 Cards Day 124
Todays challenge is to make a computer generated card.
I was rather stumped as I have only ever done sentiments on the computer. But on looking through my dozens of fonts I whizzed them up to size 76 and there were some great little pictures that could be made into a piece of backing paper.
The one used for this was
DB Girly Flowers
and the font I used for the sentiments was
2 Peas GG Love Me....both I think from 2 Peas in a Bucket
I used a mix of PM's and Copics for colouring.
The ribbon was from my stash and the card is Bazzill Bling. So I am rather pleased that after all the worry I was able to complete the challenge.

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

Colour Create Wk 21

Oh! these colours made me think of ice cream, and it is so hot I would really love one. Never seen blue ice cream lol!
So this week the colours are :-
Pistachio Green
Aqua
Powder Pink
With the addition of - Buttons
My ingredients for this ice cream are :-
Base card - Bazzill Bling, not sure of the shade
Aqua paper, which is edged with green - Kay & Co 'Hopscotch Boy'
Patterned pink paper - Basic Grey
Floral Stamp - Hero Arts
Sentiment Stamp - PSX
Ink - Versamagic Chalk and Colorbox Chalk
Buttons - Hero Arts

White Space.....

365 Cards...Day 123

Well a real challenge here as the space HAS to be left white. Hard for us crafters to do, I know.
I chose a white hammered card so there was interest in the white, I also turned the sketch as I felt the paper fitted better somehow...crafter's licence :D
I chose a piece of paper from the Kay & Co pad 'Sparkly Sweet' that had patterned corners, and for one corner I cut around the pattern to add interest...hope this isn't a cheat :/
The embellishments were the Kay & Co Grand Adhesions which match the paper fortunately, I just added a piece of ribbon to the tag.
I also cut out a butterfly from another paper out of the same pad and added it with some flat backed pearls for the body
Shadow caused by the bulkiness in my scanner