A visit from friends

Morning all and thanks for calling around.

Di, Jenny and Chris have gone home after a great time of craft, chat, laughter and some retail therapy!

It was good to have them over.

I was going to take some photos of us crafting but time flew and it was time for them to leave!

Di brought us some goodies to play with and Chris brought some Stampin Up bits and bobs, as did Jenny. Not sure why I didn't get as much done as the others but here are some of the cards we made with a pack of bits put together by Di, Jenny's didn't get finished. She made some others but all the cards will go towards a table top sale in Di's local village to raise funds for the craft group.

We all had a selection of NitWits papers and an image by Nellie Snellen to colour plus other bits and bobs. All turned out differently but great.

This is a close up of mine.

I used the sketch at Sketch n Stash so if I get a wriggle on I should be in time for their latest challenge.

I didn't finish mine until after I took the first photo as I didn't realize I had missed bits off!

I shall also enter the challenge at:-

Christmas at Sweet Stamping - Gifts Galore , well she is giving her biscuits to the squirrel!

Allsorts - Early Christmas makes

OK, thanks for stopping by and see you back soon.

Hearts n Flowers

Morning peeps.

This is a scheduled post as I am entertaining a few friends for a couple of days.

Hope all you teachers in England are ready for the new term ahead, and all parents are ready to see their little ones back at school. 

My Grandson is starting school on Tuesday, I can't believe it he's only just 4!

Anyway, it's time for another challenge at Fantasy Stampers.

This time we would like to see your projects which combine:-

HEARTS and FLOWERS

This was an easy one for me as I had to make a wedding card for Nich for her friend Maria's wedding so here it is.

Nich isn't one for lots of flowers but Maria's theme was English Country gardens so I kept it pretty plain and added touches of NitWits papers.

The stamp is from LOTV as is the sentiment and the heart shapes were cut using my NBUS Little B heart dies.

The white background was embossed using a Cuttlebug Swiss dot embossing folder after cutting the aperture. The green swirls were die cut using a Marianne die and flowers were from the stash. I used Copics to colour the bride and groom. The whole lot is on a 6 x 6 white base card.

Please pop over to see what the rest of the DT have been up to then why not join in. Just remember there must be some form of traditional stamping on your project.

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:-

Creative Inspirations - Flower Power
Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes
Penny Black and More - Anything Goes
Simply Create Too - Something new (My Little B hearts)

Red, orange and yellow

Evening folks.

After a bit of a hiccup around lunch it's been a great day here. 

I have been doing a bit of cleaning ( no tittering please) as some friends are coming around for a bit of crafty fun and girly chat tomorrow. However, I have been sitting down a doing a little bit of crafting in between the hoovering and dog walking. This card has been in the making since Saturday but for one reason or another didn't get finished until this aft.

I made it with quite a few challenges in mind and was a little bit inspired by a card by fellow teamie at ATSM the lovely Loll.

The layout is inspired by the sketch at Less is More -mirrored

and the colours by the latest challenge at

and finally the background was created by using watercolour washes of DIs in Squeezed Lemonade, Fired Brick and Dried Marigold then over stamped it with a text stamp with Tea Dye. I also used a technique called Bokeh using Versamark Canary on top it sort of intensifies the yellow, so I guess it fits with the challenge at 

Crazy for CAS. 

The panel was then die cut using a recent acquisition my Die-Namics 'Pierced Rectangles'.  I added a sprig of leaves using part of a Fresh Foliage die cut in green and added a few berries from my hole punch waste in red. The Hello and tab were from a Marianne set COL 1315.

OK that's a wrap. Thanks for stopping by and come back soon.

Steampunk

Morning all.
If you are in the UK, hope you had a good Bank Holiday and didn't get too wet.
My doesn't time fly when you are having fun, its soon comes around to another Tuesday and new challenge at Cardz4Guyz.

This week the lovely Jan has chosen
STEAMPUNK

as the topic for your inspiration.

Now when I read this on the calender I was a bit flummoxed as its definitely something I wouldn't normally look at and I don't have anything in my stash that really covers this genre. However, my wonderful friend Di mention she had some bits and pieces so last time she was over she lent them to me. and here is the result.

I even had to look up a definition of steampunk before I started so I hope I got it right!

I used some papers from a Debbie Moore CD, a sheet of Graphic 45 paper, a set of cog dies from X-Cut and a set from Sizzix by Tim Holtz to make this box card. Card and brads from the stash.

OK, why not challenge yourself to have a go, you never know what you can create unless you try!

Pop over to the main site to see what the rest of the DT have been up to for your inspiration.

If you feel you would like to join us on the DT or if you fancy a spot as GD then also pop along to see how to enter, can't wait to see what you come up with.

I shall be joining in with the following challenges:-

Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes - option of a sketch

Moving along with the times - A little bit vintage

Digitally Sweet Challenge - Guys Only

4 Crafty Chicks -  Let's get Masculine

Thanks for looking and come back soon.

Bank Holiday Monday

Evening all.

What a grotty day its been today, typical BHM. The wind has been from the east so we have a large damp patch on the snug ceiling again. Must get it sorted, a full roof strip looks on the cards as we have tried all the obvious things.

Anyway, Al has been catching up on indoor jobs as fencing in the rain is not his favourite pastime and I have been playing in the craftroom after a visit from little Ben at the weekend.

I've had my eye on the challenge at The Cutting Edge for a while. Its a relatively new challenge but I like using die cuts so thought I would give it a go.

This is my take on the inspiration photo.

As usual I saw this die in the shop and fell in love, then didn't know what to do with it! Its called Wild Flower Corner from Memory Box. I cut it in white card then coloured the stems and leaves and the cut outs from the flowers with Copics . The centers of the poppies are part of the outline but I coloured then carefully in black leaving the edge white. The sentiment is from Spellbinders, Sentiments One.

I shall also enter the following -

Allsorts - Warm sunshine colours

Thanks for visiting, see you again sometime.

Java

Good Morning bloggers.

This week the cue word at CAS-ology is 

JAVA.

OK, what springs to mind when you see that word. For hubby it would be a computer programming language, me it brings to mind a volcanic island in the Indonesian archipelago. So what did I come up with? Well this -

I know, what has this got to do with Java? Well I looked through my stamps and couldn't find much that I could use, then thought of this one of the girls drinking- coffee (Java blend)? OK it could be tea but I went with coffee and then I decided to use kraft card to stamp the image in brown keeping the coffee thing going. I used Copics to colour this 'mochachrome' image with a little bit of white pencil for hi lights. The panel was then mounted on Mocha card then a white base card. Have I made enough allusions to the cue word yet? I left the image at that without a sentiment as a) I thought it looked fine with out and b) I couldn't find a suitable one! 

I shall join in with the following challenges -

Simply Create Too - Monochromatic

OK, that's it folks, come back soon and thanks for visiting.

Time Out

Morning all. 

Today is a bit different, as I am celebrating the birthday of a fabulous crafter:-

 Nonni of Runaway Cards.

Sandie of London Days is hosting a linky Birthday Party for her.

Happy Birthday Nonni!

Here is my birthday card for her.

I have made it with reference to the challenge at Nonni's Challenge Blog Time Out

Where it is 

Challenge #12 CASE With Your Own Twist

This the card by Anita that I cased.

And the latest challenges at;-

Simply Create Too - Monochrome.

Addicted to CAS - Geometric

Loves Rubberstamps - Wings

I used Anita's ideas of heat embossed geometric panel, water colour, dew drops, colours and layered sentiment.

My twist was the addition of the butterfly using the same card as the sentiment.

I heat embossed the top panel with a Kaisercraft 'Honeycomb' stamp the used DIs in Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean to colour. The sentiment was cut in two matching colours and white using a Spellbinders Sentiments One die. The butterflies are cut using Memory Box Pippi and Isabella dies in the same card.

OK, the linky over at Sandie's blog is open for awhile so why not join us in celebrating Nonni's birthday.

CAS @ASTM

Morning all.

Well its time for a new challenge over at ATSM and this week we would like to see your

CAS creations.

I definitely veer on the side of CAS these days, I'm not the sort of person who throws everything at a card even if I am using DPs, so the clean lines certainly appeal.
This is my card for your inspiration.

It uses an image from our sponsors for this week,

who are offering a prize of three digis to the winner.

This little chap is called Kitty Peeker and I used him to create a baby card for the stash as well as enter a few challenges including:-

CAS on Sunday - Rock a bye Baby

Less is More - Animal

Cute Card Thursday - CAS

I used my Little B Squares to cut an aperture for the kitty which I coloured with Copics then fussy cut. The background DP was a scrap from some NitWits paper from the bits box, stuck to the base card before popping up the top layer and kitty on pads. Job done, simples.

So why not pop over to see what the rest of the girls have been up to for your inspiration and then get making.
Thanks for stopping by if you came from the main site or other places.

Stepper Card

Morning again. As I said earlier it's a double post Tuesday as today there is a new challenge over at Cardz4Guyz.

This week we would like to see your -

STEPPER CARDS

So any theme you like so long as the card is a stepper and MALE ORIENTED. For those of you who are not sure of the construction, here are a couple of You Tube tutorials to get you going. There are lots of others out there if you want to explore further.

 Here is my inspiration for the DT.

The image is 'In the Country' by LOTV and I coloured it using Copics. It looked a little plain so I added some extra fencing and burlap in the foreground along with some vegetation and a banner hanging on the fence. The backing paper was some Basic Grey from the stash.

Here is a close up to show the construction a little better.

OK the construction can be a little tricky but once you have mastered it, away you go, try it out, its only card! 

If you are inspired please check out the main site to see what the rest of the girls have come up with to tempt you.

Cheers for stopping by.

I shall enter the following challenges:-

The Mod Squad - Masculine Birthday

Crafty Calender - Anything Goes
Alphabet Challenge - N for Natural (Hessian)

Pimp it Up

Morning, double post Tuesday so that means its a new challenge at Cards und More.

This time we would like you to -

PIMP IT UP

So take an ordinary object and make it extraordinary.

I took a boring tissue cube and made it match my bedroom colour scheme.

I made a cover out of cream card then decorated each side with an image stamped with a Woodware 'Burst into Bloom' stamp which I coloured with Copics, then mounted on some NitWits paper and some lime green card.

I added a little bit of sparkle to the anthers on the flowers with some silver Stickles.

OK, why not pop over to the main site and check out what the girls have 'Pimped' for your inspiration.

I shall join in the following challenges -

The Crafters Cafe - Anything but a card

Clear it out Challenge - Anything Goes

I will be back in an hour with the latest challenge over at Cards4Guyz.

Muse #81

Evening all.

Its been a pretty mixed day here weather wise, torrential rain, hot sun, strong winds and a chilly evening. Looking around at some of the trees you would be forgiven for thinking it was autumn already!

When I saw this week's Muse card by Marion Vagg I just fell in love with it and had to have a go. I've not played the last couple of weeks so here goes.

It follows Marion's card pretty well but it was so good I didn't feel I could alter much.

However as I didn't have any chevron stamps I used my Die- Namics chevron dies in glorious ice cream shades of glitter card. All accept the green which I had to make using some pale green glitter on a white chevron.

I used plain old copy paper for the Memory Box butterfly, cutting four layers and added three tiny iridescent  sequins for it's body. The chevrons were glued to a panel and then popped up on pads. The sentiment was heat embossed on some black card.

I should also like to enter the Tic Tac Toe challenge at CAS-ual Fridays before it closes!

I went straight across the top with Chevrons, black and sequins.

OK thanks for popping around, see you back again soon.

By The Sea

Morning all.

Another week has flown by so that means its time for a new challenge at Fantasy Stampers.

The latest challenge is to create a project with the theme:-

BY THE SEA

Well again lots of ideas about this topic and I couldn't decide so ended up with two cards.

The first is one using Stamping Up's 'Wetlands' stamp set. We made a similar one at a friends party but this one is on a larger scale. I used an off cut of card from an A4 sheet that I used to make a square card. I know people say you should use w/c paper but I've never bothered when doing small scale work.

First I scribbled some markers onto a long acrylic block then spritzed with water and laid it onto the white panel to print the background. I used a damp paper towel to bleach out some of the sky to create sky and added some darker ink to the bottom of the strip using the block method. I stamped the grasses,birds and sentiment in Momento black ink, mounted on black then popped up on pads. I added a little white gel pen to suggest light catching the water.

Not sure if they are classed as animals but I will enter the latest challenge at 

Less is More - Animals

as well as

The second was made using a Michael Powell stamp 'Harbourside'

The main inspiration for this was the challenge over at The Male Room. This time they want you to:-

MAKE PINK MALE

This was a challenge and a half, use paper, pink shirt and then I thought of the colour washed houses at the seaside, so ended up with this busy scene on a simple square base card. I didn't use exclusively all pink but inter-dispersed other pastel colours on the houses. These scenes are great but are very busy so always tricky to make a card, so I went with a mount of black and then popped up on pads on a square base card. I left the sentiment off as I thought it looked better without. I coloured the scene (with difficulty) with Copics.

OK, that's it. Why not pop over and see what the rest of the fabulous DT have created for your inspiration and join in.

Gold

Morning all.

My friend Di says I've been quiet in blogland but I have been busy in my craftroom. 

I made a card based on a card I saw on someone's Pinterest board but I cannot find it again as I am not on Pinterest, I just followed a link to a pin of one of my cards and did a bit of browsing. I think it was by a lady called Birgit, so apologies again to her for not being able to locate the exact post and link, just her fantastic blog.
19/10/17 here is the link to a pin of her fab card.

I was aiming to cover a couple of challenges with this card, 

and 

 one layer -foliage

The lay out is the same as the card I saw, but this is just on one layer.

I die cut my MB Fresh Foliage die then used the leftover as a mask to ink the card with Versamark and then heat embossed with gold. I then added a few dots using an embossing pen and used silver pearl powder to emboss. The circles of golden colours were made using a circle stencil cut out of scrap then inked with DIs. The sentiment was stamped in brown.

OK, that's it for today. See you again soon.

Lights camera action

Good morning, how quick is August going, nearly half way already.

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Cardz4Guyz. This week Janice has chosen:-

CAMERAS/PHOTOS

OK, quite a lot to get your teeth into here, a good topic for the males in your life.

A few weeks ago I won at Clear it Out Challenge and the prize was some digi's from Digital Delights. 

So I thought I would us one of my newly acquired images in my DT card this week.

This little guy is called 'Say Cheese Paul', he's sweet isn't he? The layout is based on the current challenge over at Sketch Saturday using backing paper by Nitwits and card makers cord from Marianne. The sentiment is from a Woodware set and Paul was coloured using Copics.

So that's about that, pop over to check out what the rest of the team have made for your inspiration and then join in.

I shall join in at the following challenges:-

Delightful Challenges - Anything Goes
Without Words - A previous challenge ( Gentlemen Only -Birthdays for the Boys)
Just a quick thanks to those lovely new followers who enjoyed my work enough to press the button.
I really do appreciate all of you all.

Just to Say

Afternoon folks.

My is it humid out there today, rain forecast but at the moment there is no sign of it.

My card today was inspired by my teamie Carol over at ATSM.

She's been experimenting with a stamping with stencils technique over on the Tim Holtz web site so I thought I would pop along to have a look. I had a play and came up with a couple of sheets that worked but weren't the right colour so had another play and came up with the colours that are the focus of the latest challenge over at Crazy for CAS.

Here is my card using, you've guessed it Glorious Gardenia!

I used DI in Weathered Wood, Pumice Stone, and Evergreen Bough to print the stripe pattern using the Tim Holtz stencil -'Stripes' The sentiment is also stamped in Pumice Stone. All in all it creates a very tranquil looking card, don't you think? So thanks Carol for the inspiration. 

I cut the gardenia out of a leftover piece of print and mounted it on a white fussy cut background, I decided to leave off any more embellishments as the background although soft, is quite busy. 

I shall also enter the following challenges:-

Crazy for CAS - #50 

CASology - Stripes

Loves Rubberstamps - Anything goes with the option of stripes

STAMPlorations August Challenge - Stamps and die cuts

OK, the sun is still shining so may take the dog for a walk if I can find his lead!

Blended Bloom

Morning all.

Looks like another fine day here, just a little bit of cloud but could get a litt windy and wet later in the week as we get the remnants of a tropical storm, they think!

I've just come across a new challenge thanks to a few teamies over at ATSM, over at STAMPlorations.

This is a bi weekly challenge and this time its a sketch and here is my take.

I've used a recent purchase from my friends SU party that was just crying out to be coloured, 'Blended Bloom' I've be looking for a large flower to use with my W/C and Copics for some time. This time I used my Copics with matching squares of card to complete the sketch.

I did start this on Monday but for one reason or another I didn't finish so I had an eye on the Colour Me challenge but that's finished but they are very summery colours and the blousey bloom is just reminiscent of summer gardens, I think it might be a peony of some kind.  I doodled a border around the white square to frame the bloom and popped the front panel up on pads. To complete I added a few glossy black dots, made by colouring the base of some dried blobs of glossy accents I dried on a sheet of plastic then popped off when dry. I've seen lots of this style in blogland but never seen any in the shops. The hello is die cut from a Spellbiders Celebration 2 set.

I shall also enter the following challenges:-

Creative Inspirations - Here comes Summer

Love Rubberstamps - Anything Goes option of stripes

Inkspirational - Use Markers or Pencils

Don't forget there is still time to enter the latest challenge at Fantasy Stampers - Buttons and Bows

Not fantasy just plain old fashioned stamping required.

Thanks for stopping by, see you again soon. :)

Make your mark at ATSM

Morning all, today marks the start of a new challenge at ATSM.

This week we are asking for you to create a project by

Making your Mark

So any project that includes inks, markers, pencils etc as the main focus.

This week we are sponsored by

who are offering a prize of 5 digis

Here is my card for the DT inspiration.

I made it with a couple of challenges in mind.

Less is More - colour challenge

Allsorts -  Favourite things

I so love this die from Memory Box, I don't get fed up using it. I looked to get another similar but the one I got doesn't have the same appeal when I tried to use it. This Glorious Gardenia is just so versatile. 

I used DIs to watercolour the base then put a silver die cut on top with a few spots of colour.

The end result is never very precise using this method but the overlay of the die cut sharpens up the result. I used a few sequins and some lime bling as well as a sentiment die cut from Spellbinders 'Celebration 2' in black. The colour in the photo is a little bluer than the original for some reason.

OK that's about it, so why not pop over to see what the rest of the glorious DT have created for your inspiration, then join in, simples.

Song Title

Morning all.

Tuesday dawns again and so does a new challenge over at Cardz4Guyz.

This week Kim has chosen 

A SONG TITLE

So think of a song that inspires you and off you go. Here is my card which I made for the challenge which was inspired by :-

DRIVING IN MY CAR - MADNESS

This definitely isn't a jaguar but reminds me of the open top Moggy Minor in the video.

The stamp is actually from LOTV - Mini Bear which I coloured using Copics. The layout is based on this weeks sketch at Sketch Saturday and the papers are again from my favourite NitWits collections.

OK so why not pop over to the main site and check out what the other DT members have been up to and join in. 

Also entering - 

Alphabet Challenge -  M for Men only

 

Buttons and Bows

Morning all.
Another weekend so another chance to play at Fantasy Stampers . This time we would like to see your stamped creations based on -

Buttons and Bows

Here is my DT inspiration card.

A bit different for me but its good to stretch yourself.  

I used DIs in Scattered Straw and Worn Lipstick to create the background then over stamped with Scattered Straw with a hessian texture stamp from Kaisercraft and a script stamp from a Hobby Art set. The greeting is SU Sassy Salutations.

The flowers were cut using some Sizzix thinlet dies then given the same treatment as the background without the stamping. I added buttons with jute string bows, some corrugated card, extra buttons, a scrap of muslin and a string of pearls complete. The background was mounted on a piece of kraft then a white 6 x 6 white base card.

I made it with a few challenges in mind 

Simply Create Too - Old/ Vintage

Cute Card Thursday - Vintage

Loves Rubber Stamps - Buttons and Bows

PS - Thanks for the heads up Loll I shall also enter

The Mixed Media Card Challenge - #2 Summer

OK that's it, why not pop over and investigate what the other DT have been upto, then have a go.

Muse

Evening all.

The weather has finally broken with a heavy downpour earlier and now the rain is steady if not heavy.

I managed to get Max out while it was drier but Al has just taken him out in the rain, so towels at the ready.

Thought I would share a photo of the little monster, he's in the wars at the mo having got too close to a rabbit which kicked him in the chest, it being bigger than Max!

He's a 2 year old Chihuahua Jack Russell cross who thinks he's a sheepdog!

Any way enough of that, a new card for you.

I made this for the latest challenge over at Muse. This week the Muse is Bev Buenker and this is her card.

I loved the contrast between the shiny primary blue and the secondary orange background. Well if I was going with a direct link it would have been yellow and purple  or green and red but I went with one of my fave colour ways lime green and purple. The only large word die I have is this new Avery Elle 'Love ' die which I picked up on my spree, so the card ended up a more feminine design than the muse. I used a piece of NitWits  lime green striped paper and some pretty floral paper from them that I had left over for the center of the panel. The striped paper along the edge was from the stash. I love NitWits papers they are my favourite, love how they co ordinate and being digital you can access them at a click of a button!. I hadn't got any sequins that matched so I improvised with some dots from the shiny purple from the stash.

I shall also enter the challenge at As you like it - Your favourite papers

OK, Max and Al are back so I suppose its a wrap for tonight, see you.