Having a bit of a play

I'm all on my own this afternoon as OH is out at rugby, so I have been having a play. I bought a brayer and a few stamps from Lavinia amongst other things when I was at the NEC so thought I'd have a play and see what I could come up with, there are several stamps used on this and although you can't tell it is done on glossy card and I've highlighted the stars with just a touch of glitter. This isn't really for anything in particular but I guess one day it will be there for someones birthday, especially if they are into fairies.

Bah! Humbug Challenge no12 - Embossing

Over on Bah! Humbug! this week the challenge is embossing so as I love a bit of bling and mirri card for Christmas I've used both on this card. I've used the cuttlebug tree and present folders, I wish the tree had a die to cut it out like the presents do it would look fab!

Once again the backing paper is from the pad I bought a few weeks ago, this one is just great all you need to do is stick it on and put your topper on and it's done greeting already in place.

While I was at the NEC I bought quite a few packs of stones and pearls from Hobby House so have been making use of them on most things I've been making, I have used them on the ribbon of the front pressie as the debossed bits were calling for them.

Bah! Humbug Challenge no11 - Peel Offs

Those lovely ladies over on the Bah! Humbug! challenge blog have really given me a challenge this week, peel offs. I used them as an easy route to a card when I first started out but very rarely use them these days apart from the odd sentiment when I'm being lazy and some times use borders to hide a wonky edge.

I have boxes of them and although I could just have used some borders I felt that it would be cheating a little so I hunted around and found some holographic sheets with small shapes on, I found the egg shaped ones were perfect for using as the lights that Mudzie is holding, he is a digi image and comes from Squigglefly, I coloured them with promarkers so they still have that sparkly look, I have used some borders too,even though I haven't got wonky edges this time!

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #96

Cynthia's challenge over on Rainbow Lady's challenge blog is "In my garden I see" well a bit of poetic licence here as we don't have a cat but there are plenty about. I have used a distress ink pad to tone down the backing paperand have used some of my new stamps bought yesterday at the NEC, the flowers were white but are coloured with promarkers.

Third card for today

I couldn't decide what to do with this image as I had made it a little larger than I had intended to, I used some of the bp from the pad I bought last week but being a bit mean decided to cut the 6" squares into four, this means I will get at least two 8" card or more if I use them on smaller cards. I have coloured the image in with - yes you've guessed it promarkers and I hope I've suceeded in getting a gentle looking picture, I've matted all the pieces onto both yellow and blue card and then added some more of the flowers again coloured with the same promarkers. I still need to add a greeting but not sure who it is for yet so will leave that bit for now.

Off to watch tv for the evening now so will see you all again very soon.

Bah! Humbug! Challenge #10

The challenge this week at Bah! Humbug! is vintage, not one of my favourite looks but thought I'd give it a go. The image is from Joanna Sheen's Victorian Christmas, it seemed a little dull once it was printed so I decided to layer it onto red silk mirri to give it a bit of a lift, basically I just added a few flowers which I coloured with promarkers as they were white to start with and embossed a few lines around the edge and I'm done.

At this rate my friends will be getting christmas cards for their birthdays as it feels like it's all I'm making at the moment but it will be worth it at the end of the year when I'm not panicking again.

Rainbow Lady's challenge #95

Over on Rainbow Lady's challenge blog this week it's acetate, which is funny because I have been using acetate quite a bit recently. Not content with one thing Cynthia then adds that maybe a Christmas card would be good because we are now in March and she hasn't asked for one yet, so here goes with my attempt.

Meet Oswalda in christmas shopping mode, this image is part of the blog candy I won quite a while ago and one bit of it was four images from Squigglefly so I chose this one because I just had to smile when I saw it. I have coloured her with promarkers and yes I know she is probably not the right colour but it seemed to suit her, I have used some lovely mirri card to mat and layer and to cut the trellis which is wrapped around the card and the acetate is fastened to this.

Bah! Humbug! Challenge #9

This week at Bah! Humbug! the challenge is a bit different to usual and those girls are making us combine somethings from the previous challenges, here's the list we have to choose at least three things from:

1 recycling
2 new stash
3 glitter
4 baubles
5 holly
6 snowmen
7 trees
8 stitching

Well my things are snowmen, glitter, new stash (backing papers) and trees (backing papers) oh yes and a bit of recycling the ribbon is from the inside of a t-shirt. Looking forward to what you dream up next week!

Crafty Ann's challenge #10

Crafty Ann's challenge this week is a colour themed one, we have to use the colours lilac, pink and yellow.

I have used a stamp I have had for years from Elusive Images which I coloured with promarkers, the backing paper is from a pad I bought today. the flowers were white but used the same promarkers to change them and then just popped a sparkly bit in the middle. It's a fairly quick card but I think it's quite pretty and it was nice to use something I've had for so long with something brand new.

An 80th card and Rainbow Lady's challenge

This weeks challenge over on Rainbow Lady's challenge blog is to make a fan, I saw the fantastic creation made by Claire and remembered that I had an 80th card to do so incorporated the two together.

The image and backing paper is from MCS art deco cd and the fan is from one of Joanna Sheen's cd's, the flowers on the fan were bright white and really stood out so I coloured them in with the almond promarker, I though it just softened it a little although it looks white in the picture. I have added an acetate front and this is attached behind the flower punched strip, finally I added a bow and some flowers and put the 80 onto the acetate, plenty of mirri card and it's finished.

Bah! Humbug! Challenge #8

The challenge this week over on the Bah! Humbug! blog is stitching/faux stitching, well you wouldn't need a crystal ball to guess which one I would chose, I have used my Cuttlebug folder to do the zigzag stich effect on the mat the mouse is sitting on and also for the wobbly strip holding the Merry Christmas. Getting the printing in the right place on the tag was a job in itself but in the end I had a eureka momnet and used one of the ones that had gone wrong as a template to put over the printed area and bingo it worked, my brain does still function at times.

The backing paper comes from The Christmas Multi Stack by DCWV that I have recently bought from Dies to Die for I have never bought from them before but will definately do so again, the service was super and so were the prices. The mat that the mouse is sitting on is done with alochol inks and it is on glossy card, must say that the little mouse is a digi stamp but he did have a coat around him which I have cut away and he is from Dulemba which has lots of free digi stamps so worth a look, this is were the snowman came from that I used on the snowman challenge card.

I have just noticed that I have taken the photo before it was finished, the fur on the hat is now glittered but you'll have to use your imagination for that bit!

Silver Wedding Card

A card I made for a friend to give her hubby for their 25th wedding anniversary, I wasn't sure how it would go down but I am pleased to say that she liked it so that was ok.

The background is an image on one of the MCS cd's and it was originally purple and gold but as she wanted blue I had a play and managed to get this colour, the words were popped on in as near as I could get to silver and then printed. I cut the other heart from the Indie Art cartridge on the Cricut and used foam pads to adhere it, finally I sprayed it with Spray and Sparkle in silver. A fairly smiple card but I was quite leased with it in the end.

Bah! Humbug! challenge #7

Last week I didn't have my pc as it wasn't very well and thought I'd missed a week with the Bah! Humbug! challenge but the ladies had been very thoughtful and decided to have a week off while they went gadding about York, I'm wondering if York has recovered yet, lol.

Anyway this week the challenge is trees so I thought it would be a good opportunity to use one of my new digi stamps a partidge in a pear tree. I have coloured it with Promarkers, what did I do before I bought these pens? I have also chalked around the edgees to make it look a little less stark and sprayed it with the Spray and Sparkle in gold, this card is made with an A4 sheet folded in half lengthways to make a lovely tall card and I've even put an insert in.

Prima has something new very soon

Prima has something really big coming your way….

We know you’re going to love it! And don’t worry-we promise to share the big news with you soon. It’s really hard not to spill the beans, but we are sworn to secrecy. So, in the meantime, we have an exciting opportunity for you to win BIG and it’s open to everyone! There are two fabulous prize baskets worth $100 up for grabs. Prima will choose one winner from the US and one International winner.

Bah! Humbug! Challenge #6 Snowmen

I am still managing to keep up with the challenges on the Bah! Humbug! blog, this week it is snowmen and or women. I have used a free digi stamp but am so sorry but I hopped around so many I now cannot remember where I got him, when I do I will let you know.

The card is a 6 inch square and the backing papers are from the free disc that comes with the Creativity magazine by Do-Crafts this month. I have only just got my Martha Stewart punches so had to give them a go and I am well pleased with them, I got four punches from QVC when they were the TSV last week. I decided not to put a greeting on the front but tied a bit of ribbon around instead.

I do hope you like him as he could be on his way to one of you this year, you just never know!

80th Birthday Card using the Elegant Fans CD

I've been asked by a friend to make her MIL an 80th birthday card, the only stipulation was it had to have both the word mum and 80 on the front.

This is printed onto silk finish photopaper and just dressed up a bit with the panels of lace using my Martha Stewart punch and a panel of pink card with some embossed lines, it had been my intention to bling it up a bit with some gems but now it's done I don't think it needs it but you never know it may end up with a few on the edge of the fan before it goes to it's new home. The word and numbers are done using the Hippy Chick dies in the Cuttlebug and of course a lovely tassle.

Rainbow Lady's Challenge # 89 - Four Seasons

Over on Rainbow Lady's Challenge blog this week the theme is the four seasons, you could use one or all so I've chosen to be topical and go for winter. I took this photo about 12 months ago at a National trust garden, it was freezing cold but such a bright day, once I got home I played about with it in photoshop and changed the sky colours. I did have the intention of printing them in a larger format and putting them in a frame for my hallway but have never got around to it yet.

I imported these pictures into MCS and made a background which I reduced the colour on so it isn't too overpowering and once I'd matted the three pictures I put the middle one onto foam pads for a little bit of height.

Bah! Humbug! Challenge #5 Holly

The challenge this week from Bah! Humbug! is holly so I have used an image from Pink Petticoat and coloured with Promarkers, I have folded the card to make an off centre gatefold just for something a little different and have cut the word Christmas out of the Hippy Chick dies for my Cuttlebug from the same card as the panel on the other side.

I have added a bit of red ribbon to the green panel and used some self adhesive gems to add a bit of bling finished it off with some red corner peel offs which I found in the bottom of a drawer this morning.

More Wings of Hope

I have made a second card with this fabulous image, once again I have coloured with my Promarkers and used a backing paper which I have had for years, it is a page from one of the Hot off The Press books. I have finished it with a strip of gold pearl card put through the cuttlebug and a bit of ribbon added and a few Flora Doodles.

Sweet Award

I've been given an award from Claire who has a lovely blog and some fabulous creations so do go and visit her, now there are few rules so here goes:

1. Copy and Paste the award on my blog.

2. List who gave the award and link back to them.

3. List 10 things that make you happy.

4. Pass the award on to other bloggers and visit them to let them know.

O.K. first two rules are easy but I'm not 100% about the 10 things yet, will have to thimk about it so I'll come back and fill in later, I'll also have to think about who to give the award to so again I'll come back to it.

Thanks for the award Claire.

I have decided who I want to send my award on to and I have chosen two people, one is Doreen who hasn't been crafting for too long and the other is Sue

I will be back with my list of top ten things soon.

OK I now have my top ten list, first lot were easy just the last few needed thinking about.
1. David, we have been married for 16+ years and are still very happy.
2. My dogs, although sometimes even I would argue about this choice.
3. Family, don't spend a lot of time together as we are quite spread out but we are all there if needed.
4. Sunshine
5. Friends, both close and cyber as all have a place in my life.
6. Work - grateful I still have a job!
7. Holidays - nothing better than being away from everything either in the UK or abroad.
8. Crafting as this keeps me sane
9. My friends daughter a little ray of sunshine.
10. A glass of ice cold wine on a Saturday night while I relax in front of the tv.