CD Sunday this week is a sketch

Good morning and Happy mothers Day to you all whether you are a mum or not.  This week at CD Sunday there is a sketch to follow and I decided to use one of my new cd's from Crafter's Companion.

The sketch is a very easy one to follow and for this card I printed onto gloss photo paper, I must admit that I prefer the matte paper but this does make a change.  I hope you can come over and join in with us.

Mother, Mum, Mummy

Hello all, I've been neglecting my blog again but it's not because I haven't been doing anything just that I have a couple of projects on the go and they're not finished yet.

This week at CD Sunday Sue B has chosen Mother, Mum, Mummy as her theme, well I only realised yesterday that it was this week and I hadn't done anything so this card is a quicky.  I used Craft Artist and a digi kit I bought while they had a sale on French Country, it's full of very pretty things and is really easy to work with.  I also used a frame from the Lace Market digi kit which comes in black but I recoloured it with one of the colours from the kit.

I was rushing to gt it done and when I was using my Perfect Layers rulers to get a nice even edge around the topper I managed to slip and ended up with no mat down half of one side so I had to trim it all off and start again but I got there in the end and all I needed was a few gems and a ribbon.  I have taken everything off apart from the lace frame and the teapot and cups, reduced the opacity on the background, added a verse and the inside is now finished.

I hope you can come and join us and even f you don't have amum to make a card for you can still use something that shows a mum even if it is an animal.

Mothers day card

Hello again, today I'm sharing my mum's Mother's Day card.  I have used an image from the Gruffies and Happy hoppers cd from Joanna Sheen, I got it out to do my challenge card for CD Sunday and then just had to print some more out and make something else.

I recently found a challenge blog called Gruffies and guests so this card is being entered into their current challenge which is Fit for Mum or Special female.  I have used my favourite embossing folder and I think I need to hide it and move on to something else but I do think it's pretty special and perfect for lots of cards. The flowers were coloured with my Copic pens but they wouldn't colour the pearls so I had to use a Spectrum Noir to get them the right colour. I have also used some spiders web in white to cover the patterned card which has given it a bit of texture and interest. Hope you like!

Easter Parade at CD Sunday

Happy Sunday peeps, it's time for another CD Sunday challenge and this week it's the turn of our newest team member Wynn to choose her topic and she has chosen Easter Parade.

I don't make a lot of Easter cards but there is always someone who appreciates getting one in the post so this is my card.

This is from the Joanna Sheen cd, The Gruffies and Happy Hoppers, I have a box of shaped cards and to be honest some of the shapes aren't the best but this is ok and because of the cost of posting I've made this fairly simple and plain.  I have glued the backing paper onto the card and added some ribbon around, I have used a small round die cut to give it a bit of interest under the topper, this is one I bought from Oyster Stamps in the sale, it was a bargain and I did get some others at the same time one of which was a bird cage. i had always wanted a cage but thought I may not get enough use out of it but when I saw the sale prices I couldn't resist. Anyway back to the card to give it a bit of a lift I added some glue around the edge and then put glitter onto it, I have made a couple of bits a bit thicker than the rest but it shows more in the picture than it does on the card. 

I hope you'll join us and support Wynn's first time choosing the theme, we love to come over and visit you.

Kanban lady

After digging out my Kanban stamps, I decided to use the other lady to make a card, I wanted a totally different colour to the last one so had a rummage through my box and fond this patterned card which I bough a while ago on one of my many trips to Kanban when they were in Shipley.

I put the card through one of my favourite embossing folders which I think is called Tumbling Hearts and I also think it's a Sue Wilson design but I could have got that totally wrong!  I cut the flowers out of the same card and put some Ruby Treasure Gold over them, I also put the Treasure gold around the edge of the card and on the corner die at the top.  The image is coloured with Graph'it pens and Spectrum Noir pencils, I managed to get two sets of the pencils but now need the other sets to complete the set.

A vision in turquoise

I don't have a CD Sunday card for you this week so I have a bit of a play with my markers and stamps.
This card looks fairly simple but it has taken a while to get it to the stage it is now, the background card was cream and black and it's one of the Kanban range. I coloured it with my Graph'it pens, I also coloured the spiders web, the die cuts and the sentiment oh yes and of course the image itself.

The cagelike embellishment was silver but I put it into some black alcohol ink in the hope that it would change it and it worked, I'm quite pleased with it.

I wanted to use the die to cut the image out but if I had just put it straight down I would have cut her hand off so I cut around her hand and put the die under it, the lack layer underneath the image is hand cut, I just drew around the outside of the die to give me the right size border.

I've got inky fingers but have enjoyed making something that looks very simple but was fun to do.

All About Spring at CD Sunday

Hi there, I'm back with my card for this weeks challenge over at CD Sunday where Beryl has chosen All About Spring for us.

I really enjoyed doing this weeks card because I have done something a little different, my main image is a stamp from Chocolate Baroque, I coloured the paper with Distress Ink and then stamped the image, I then went over to give it some definition with ProMarkers, I took a photo of the image and took it into Craft Artist where I used a kit called A Whisper of Spring, the kit is mostly green and white but I needed something to match the stamped image so picked the colours from the background to change the paper and embellishments to tie it all together.

I do hope you like it and will come over and join us.

Love Always at CD Sunday

Hello everyone, I'm having a week off from posting the challenge over at CD Sunday. Since we decided to have two teams I now only have to post the challenge every other week and Carol has stepped up and taken on the other teams postings so not only do I get a week off I get to join in just like everyone else.

This week I was asked by one of the guys in work if I would make him a valentine card for his wife, well I have been wondering what to do as I don't really know if she is someone who likes cute or is more traditional so I have combined the two. I used Craft Artist and Docrafts Digital designer to make this card, the background is from a digi kit called Lace Market, there are a few embelishments that are all ready to go and all I did was drag the square panel onto the page, resize it and colour it the same as the backing, I then added a shadow so you could see it and it was done. I do like the effect as it does look a little like it's an extra piece on top. The bear is from the digital designer, I exported him and dropped him into CAP, I took him into the cut out studio and removed all the white around him and just resized him to fit in the centre of the card, I then printed out two more bears and cut out the layers for decoupage, the words are in the same colour grey as the bear as I used the dropper to pick up the colour.

I coloured some white ribbon to match and tied a double bow then added a heart shaped gem to finish it off, I put a dab of glue on every rose and added some red glitter, for the inside I used the same lace panel and coloured it white added a shadow and put a small bear in the bottom corner found a verse on the internet and I just hope he likes it now! Mind you if he doesn't I could have just made my own valentine card.

Ribbons and Bows at CD Sunday

Good morning all, it's time for another challenge at CD Sunday and this week it's my turn to choose the theme. For my sins I chose Ribbons and Bows, I had forgotten how hard it is to use ribbons on our cards and had to force myself with this one.

My card this week is made with backing papers from the Cupcake cd, Walk on the Wild Side. I have used some stamps I bought while at the Great British Craft Festival last year, I have to admit they were an impulse buy and I haven't really used them a lot but I do like the set and the quirkiness of them.

This card is an A4 sheet folded to make a card 7.5 x 8.5, I printed out the backing papers from the cd and then embossed the plain one. I used a piece large enough to almost fill the smaller side and then cut  strip to add to the other side. The paper under the girl with the hat on is from a Bo Bunny sheet which just seemed to fit with the design. The two girls are coloured with pencils and my original thought was the ribbons in the hair and on the hat would form the ribbons and bows element of the theme but then I used a punch to cut the slots in the large plain piece so threaded some ribbon through, not sure it's the right colour so it may end up being changed.

I hope you can come and join us and have a bit of fun with this challenge. x

I am entering this into Crafty Hazelnuts Patterned Paper challenge which this week is anything goes.

Here Kitty Kitty at CD Sunday

Hello! I've been MIA for a couple of weeks and am getting withdrawal symptoms, but I'm hoping to make more time to play and will be updating my blog more frequently. This week it's the turn of my team over at CD Sunday and Sue has chosen the theme of Here Kitty Kitty, well I stamped an image from a stamp that I have had for years and although I love the stamp I can never get the kind of result that I'm happy with when I colour the cat and it's not the kind of stamp that you can just leave as black and white so it was back to the drawing board and find something else to use. I usually find that the Joanna Sheen cd's are such a useful source of images that I almost went down that route then I remembered that I had the Flowers in Bloom cd from Card Creations Plus and I was sure I'd seen a cat on there that I liked so I had a look. Sure enough there it was and I decided to go with that, I decided to change the colour a little and yes I know that Agapanthus are blue I went with green just to be different, the good thing about this cd is if you change the colour of the image then the backing papers change too so I didn't have to remember what settings I had used.

I found a sheet of black embossed paper that I used as a backdrop and then printed a sheet of backing paper from the cd, I cut the topper and two pieces of backing paper with the same die and layered them up slightly off set. I then cut some die cut leaves and a bow and popped them in the corners, finally I decided to cut a couple of small butterflies which I added to the flowers and I'm done.

I hope you can come over and join us, we do love to see the things you come up with and as usual there will be a small prize for the winner of the top three.

Pretty in Pink at CD Sunday

Good morning to you it's Sunday again so that means a new challenge over at CD Sunday, we have a brand new look and we have split the teams into two so I hope you can pop over and give us your support. We also have a new team member, Wynn from Sunshine Cards and Crafts has joined from this month.

The first challenge of the year has a topic chosen by Christine which is Pretty in Pink, I recently bought a few new cd's from C&C while they were in the sale and one of them was Mabel Lucy Attwell 2 from Katy Sue Designs, I'm not sure how much I will use it but as it was only just over £6 I thought it was worth taking a chance.

I covered the card with the backing paper and then mounted the topper which was sprayed with Spray and Sparkle onto black mirror card and attached it to the card using 3d foam. The bow is made from a little left over backing paper and I used my Envelope punch board to do it, I saw a tutorial on You tube so I won't be needing templates any more as they are so easy.

Grunge at The Crafting Musketeers

Hello there, yes I know it's unusual for me to be posting on a Thursday but I am trying to blog more and not just on a Sunday, I do make more than one project a week and this week I am GDT for the Crafting Musketeers with the theme of Grunge. When I was told what the theme was going to be I thought Oh my word, what on earth am I going to do, I don't usually do this kind of crafting so to say it's outside my comfort zone is an understatement.  Well I'd bought some sets of stamps, embossing folders and dies from C&C, they are made by Couture Creations and I think they are a great idea especially when you haven't got a clue what to do.

This card is made by using the stamps onto a patterned paper, this one has a script print on it and as the stamp has script incorporated I thought it would go pretty well, I used Pumice Stone distress ink around the edges and also the stamping on the back piece is done with the same ink but the stamp I used comes from Paper Artsy as does the sentiment.
I used the embossing folder from the set and then stamped and die cut the butterflies all of which I also added distress ink to, the ribbon was white but I coloured it with the same ink and the scrunched flower was on the back of the paper used for the main image, I cut it out coloured it with the ink and screwed it up, I added a gem to the centre but didn't have the right colour so I used a red one covered with black alcohol ink making it a browny colour, the heart is coloured with Treasure gold wax. Finally I embossed some black mirror card and sanded over the top to reveal the core.

I've really enjoyed playing and finally making something just that bit different, just hope the person who gets it likes it too.

I hope you can join in with this challenge and it is being sponsored by a company called Visible Image so you could win a little something too.

CD Sunday - We are Sailing

Hiya everyone, it seems ages since I posted but I have been busy like everyone else with Christmas and work.  It's time for another challenge over at CD Sunday and this week it's the turn of Sue T to choose her theme which this week it is We are Sailing.

It was good to get back to something other than Christmas cards but that is mostly my own fault as I left things very late again so ended up rushing things, next year will have to be different or I'll be buying cards not making them.

Anyway onto this week and my card is made from the Thomas Kinkade cd from Joanna Sheen, this is a go to cd for me especially when it's cards for the men, I have folded an A4 card in half length ways to make a large DL, I printed a sky background and covered the whole of the card with it, I tried to find one with a similar colour to the sky in the topper. The corners are cut from a favourite die from Joy which I coloured with some Treasure Gold wax, to make sure the matts matched I used the same wax on the edges. The sentiments are stamped and then I added a little of the metallic pan pastels to them.

I know we are still out and about visiting family or doing the sales but I do hope you find time to join us for our latest challenge.
I'll be back soon with another creation and another challenge so come back soon. xx

A Prima Doll

I'm back again and it's only 10.30am, I had a bit of a tidy up yesterday as there was so much stuff on my desk I didn't have room to craft, while I was busy sorting I came across some small bits of paper that came from a Crafty Individuals pad, these were quite small and I was going to bin them when I realised that I had a Prima Doll stamp as yet unused and I bought it at Port Sunlight so she has been with me long enough. I decided that I could use my snippets of paper to do a bit of paper piecing so this morning I have had a little play.
I painted a tag with some Paper Artsy Guacamole coloured paint and then used some texture gel through a stencil, if I had used my brain I could have done it the other way around and then wouldn't have had to repaint over the design. Once it was repainted I used a small amount of Moon Light paint to add a bit of contrast, I wanted to use some stamps so went on the hunt for something suitable and found a corner flourish and a few other things so stamped them randomly.  I then used some Treasure Gold to highlight the pattern, this time I used Aquamarine and Olive Bronze, I also found some buttons and charms which got the Treasure Gold treatment and this is the result.

When I coloured her in I decided to give her lilac/purple tones for her hair as I thought this went with the colours in the bits of paper.  I am quite pleased with her as this is something I don't do a lot of but will have to keep practising as I can only get better.

I'm entering this by the skin of my teeth into the Pixie's Crafty Workshop challenge which is to use snippets.

CD Sunday challenge - Home Sweet Home

Hello everyone, it's Sunday!  That means two things in this house, one we don't have to work and two it's a new challenge over at CD Sunday. This week Beryl has chosen her topic and it's Home Sweet Home, lots of things for this one and as I don't need any new home cards I decided to go with a Christmas card, can't believe how far behind I am and need to push myself to get them done.

This is done with the fabulous Thomas Kinkade cd from Joanna Sheen, now I don't know about you but looking at this kind of picture is how I imagine Christmas to be in a perfect world and I'd love to live somewhere like that so it would be Home Sweet Home. I used a dark blue mirror card and then put a piece of 160gsm paper through the Grand Caliber  in a Crafter's Companion folder it's called Picnic Plaid

I printed the image onto 200gsm matte photo paper and this particular one printed over two pages, again this was put on a blue mirror matte, there is a lot of glitter but it is very fine and doesn't really show in the picture, this time I used a Cosmic Shimmer one called Glitter Jewels which I bought from the local garden centre.
The bow is a Tattered Lace die which I bought from C&C when they had free postage on, it cuts really well and I think it's really pretty so it will be making an appearance quite a lot on different projects. Finally the sentiment came from a set of stamps that came free with a magazine, it's embossed with a Sprinkle N Sparkle powder called Blueberry which I bought from Joanna Sheen but she no longer sells this brand. Finally I've added a few gems in the corner and one on the bow.

I'm entering this into the following challenges;
1. Simply Create Too - Snow or All White
2. Crafty Hands - Sparkle and bling
3. Jelly Park Challenges - Christmas
4. Totally Paper Crafts - Ho Ho Holidays
5. QKR Stampede - It's starting to look a lot like Christmas
6 4 Craft Chicks - Christmas
7 Joanna Sheen - Make it sparkle

CD Sunday - F is For....... with Caz

Good morning all, I really don't know what has happened to last week it's flown by so fast. I haven't been around for much of the week as apart from work I have spent most of my time sleeping! It's very unusual for me as I'm not a great sleeper but I've been in bed before ten most days and have slept really well.

Now onto the challenge over at CD Sunday, Caz has chosen F is For.... and I couldn't think what to do that hadn't been done by another member of the team until I came across this image from Angelica and Friends cd from Crafters Companion so my choice is First.

The image is printed onto my favourite matte photo paper and matted onto mirror card from Creata, now if you are thinking of using this particular mirror card I have to warn you that it is very difficult to stick down, I have used double sided tape and Collal All Purpose and although it seems to stick it peels away once it's dry so I have had to resort to Pinflair or the Collal Tacky Glue which as we know will stick anything. Now I'm not sure if it's the combination of photo paper and this particular mirror card but I'll try with different paper or card and let you know.

I hope you can join us again this week as always we love to visit and see what you've all been up to. x

Simply Square

Good morning and it's Sunday again so that means another challenge over on CD Sunday which this week is Simply Square as chosen by me, I think I was looking for an easy week,lol.

My card is made from a little used cd from Creative Crafting World  called A Touch of Elegance which you can find here if you're interested, it's full of elegant ladies.

As we are on the run up to Christmas I am trying to get my cards done and to be honest not getting too far with them so I decided to go with a Christmas theme this week  and although this is a simple card I am quite pleased with it as it is fairly flat so will be easy tp post.

I have printed the background and topper onto matte photo paper which I think gives a really vibrant look, I have used a dark green mirror card for the mats and for once was very frugal and cut the middle out of the base one for the topper. The swirly die is from Joanna Sheen and the flower is from the Heartfelt Creations range it's called Sunkissed Fleur. I was searching for a black gem of the right size and couldn't find one so I popped a bit of Pinflair glue on and covered it with black glitter, I haven't added a sentiment because I don't feel it needs one so it could be a birthday card if I wanted it to be.

Come over and join us, I will have a little prize for the winner of the top three. xx

Pennant Parade - CD Sunday

It's time for a new challenge over at CD Sunday and this week it's Pennant Parade as chosen by Sue B, for my card I used the new Bebunni cd from Crafters Companion. I needed a couple of birthday cards so this cd arrived just at the right time, this one has gone off to my sister.
I printed it onto mat photo paper and the flowers are Heartfelt Creations from their Sunkissed Fleur range, the corners are from Joanna Sheen.

I hope you can come over and join us, we have some great cards for your inspiration.

A little fairy

Well I'm sitting in my craft room and the task for today is make some Christmas cards, I do this every year and end up driving myself daft in December because I don't have enough. So how many have I done you may ask and the answer is a great whole one! I had to tidy my desk and of course found a few things that had been pushed to one side to carry on with something else and I also found a brand new die that didn't get put away when it came, so I just had to use it.

This is a 6x6 card and the embossing is done with another new buy the Cascading Hearts embossing folder by Sue Wilson, I think this is lush and will get lots of use. At the same time I bought the folder I bought the die which I think looks a little like a fern, it's quite delicate and again will get lots of use.

I'm afraid I did cheat with the image as it isn't stamped but a preprinted one, this is cut out with a Spellbinders gold die as is the mat. I have added glitter to the fairy wings, bouquet and tiara but not sure it shows in the picture. The whole thing is finished off with a white bow and some gems.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:
Totally Papercrafts - Use Glitter
Jo's Scrap Shack- Things with Wings
Cas-ual Fridays - Embossing
Brown Sugar - Anything Goes

See you tomorrow! x

Ali-Craft Challenge White on White

Over on the Ali-Craft challenge blog this time it's White on White, so I've used some dies and embossing folders with Centura Pearl card.
The embossing folders used are from Crafters Companion andthe dies are from Spellbinders for the mats and Cheery Lynn for the butterflies.