Wake up and smell the flowers

It's pouring down.  
The lawn is littered with leaves and branches and
the thermometer, on the back door, is reading 4C.
Are we really half-way through May ?
I hope you're keeping warm :-)
  
It's no secret that I am 'florally challenged', 
so I was excited to discover a new product from LOTV - Wild Flowers Art Pads

I flicked through the pad a hundred times, wondering what to do and finally found inspiration, 
after a visit to Katina's blog. 
I love how she used the art pad to make simple, but totally gorgeous cards.

All I added to the images was a liberal sprinkling of glamour dust, which is so difficult to photograph,
but you can just make it out below. IRL it's very sparkly!

 Challenges.
Make it Monday - Any Papercraft
Love to Create - Many Pretty Flowers
Tuesday Throwdown - Smell the Roses
Simon Says Stamp -   Flower Power
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes

• Lili of the Valley, Wild Flowers Art Pad
• Glamour Dust
• Pink Petticoat Digi Paper, Stripes
• Grosgrain and Satin Ribbon
• Bloom

Turn around and touch your toes

Hope you're all enjoying the long weekend.
It's nice here - not sunny - but pleasant enough to sit outside, 
with a good book and a glass of wine :-)

Here's the birthday card I made for my SIL.
She has a brilliant sense of humour and always finds funny cards for us - so I needed to get her back ;-)

I found a piece of this gorgeous, bright ribbon a few days ago and knew that I wanted to use it. I didn't have enough to wrap around the card and do the usual bow - so I opted for these little tags instead. 
A cute way to use up any little scraps of ribbon you have.

I used digi papers from Pink Petticoat, teaming the orange up with my favourite smoke grey.

I never usually decorate the inside of my cards - can you tell???
These pennants aren't good - but it's all I could come up with.
It's definitely something I need to practice.
  

Challenges.
Wags 'n Whiskers - Girl Birthday
Mad for Markers - Mother's Day (for a female)
Love to Create - For Mum or Special Lady
Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes
Make it Monday - Any Papercraft

• Digi Stamp, Mashi's Muffins Mom
• Copics E00/E11  YR04/YR07  C1/C3/C5  B23/B26  E31/E33/E35
• Pink Petticoat Digi Papers, Brocade, Stripes 
• Spellbinders Small Triangle Die and Nested Pennant Die
• Gems, coloured with Copic
• Satin Polka Dot Ribbon
• Sentiment Made On My Comp

Dogs Of Anarchy

Mr Kiss is celebrating his birthday this week.
The girls are coming up on Friday - and, if we are allowed back in, 
we will be visiting the local hostelry to partake of some refreshment - eg: shots all round!

Here's the birthday card I made him - no prizes for guessing his favourite TV show.

I made the text on my computer, using the font Carnevelee Freakshow . 
I'm not sure if it's exactly the same as the one used in the TV series, 
but it looks good to me.

I made a little scene with my new cityscape die, cut out 'Snoopy and his Sidekick' and stuck them to the 'road' with foam pads.
Snoopy is coloured with Copics and I added a few touches of glossy accents to him and the bike. 

 

Challenges.
Make it Monday - Any Papercraft Project
Cards for Men - Animals
Love to Create - Punches and/or Dies
My Mum's Craft Shop - Spots or Stripes

• Stamp, Snoopy and his Sidekick
• Copics and Glossy Accents
• Memory Box, Cityscape Die
• DP, My Mind's Eye Fine & Dandy(I think!)
• Baker's Twine  

Sometimes you just need a hug.

Just  a quick post from me today...
my time seems to be running away from me right now.
Here is a card I made for a crafty friend, who needs a big {hug}

You can't tell from the picture, but that  DP is gorgeous. 
The pink stripe is flocked, so it has a lovely, soft, furry texture.
I kept everything else really simple - colouring lightly with my Copics and adding die cut 'hugs'.

I wanted to make the 'hugs' letters more 3D, but they are so tiny I couldn't cut the foam pads small enough. I ended up just using a dab of glue on each letter.
 

Challenges.
Dilly Bean Designers - Think Pink
Digi Stamp Boutique - April Challenge, use a DSB image
Crafty Creations - Pink + 1    (Pink and Green)
Sweet Stamping - Anything but Birthday
Simon Says - Anything Goes

• Digi Stamp Boutique, Mac
• Copics
• Adhesive Pearls
• DP Kaiser Kraft, La-Di-Da
• Memory Box Parker Alphabet Dies

I just called to say hello

The sun is shining - again!
That means going out into the garden for the big tidy up.
Hmmm... maybe I can leave it just a few more days ;-)

On the net last week, working hard hardly working, I came across this adorable image from Mashi's Muffins. 
Why have I not seen these before?
I used this cutie for my SIL's birthday card.
Her birthday's not til the end of May, so I'm ahead of the game :-)  

I played along with the sketch at Seize the Birthday.
My card seemed to lack something at the bottom, so I added those little corners, that I found in my 'bits & pieces' box.
Hmmm... I'm not sure about them now, but they are stuck down, so there's no going back!
 

 Challenges
Seize the Birthday - Sketch 
All that Scraps - Spring Fling  The dreaded 'spring cleaning' came to mind when I saw this cutie in her apron, so I matched her with pretty spring colours.
Digi Galore - One for the Girls 
A Little Bit Crafty - Anything Goes  This is their very first challenge and they are open to any style crafts, so pop over and check them out.
Copic Marker Europe - Only Girls Allowed 

• Digi Image, Mashi's Muffins Mom, from All That Scraps 
• Coloured with Copics
• Digi Papers, Echo Park Sweet Girl
• Do Crafts Smallest Nested Heart Die
• Spellbinders Nested Oval Die
• White Gems
• Grosgrain Spotted Ribbon  
• 'Hello' Stamp, Wild Rose Studios, Girly Greetings

Hey, I'm swingin' here!

**Please scroll down for my card**

Having a white dog, with little legs, is not a good idea in the winter!

And Suzie is a real muck magnet.

This morning we decided to give her a good old bath - 

not just the dip in the sink that she usually has after a walk.

It took 2 of us to keep her in the bath and there was water everywhere. 

Now she's ignoring me  :-)  Can you tell she's annoyed!

Anyhoo - enough of my ramblings and on to my card.

I played along at CAS(E) this Sketch

I need some more 'guy' cards for my pile and came across this Spider Henry, in my digi stamps collection. 

I don't know why I haven't used him before, he's super easy to colour and great for guys.

Challenges.
CAS(E) this Sketch - Chrissy's Sketch
Moving Along With The Times - Song or Film   No prizes for guessing 'Spiderman' :-)
Digi Tuesday  - Boys

• Whiff of Joy Digi Stamp, Spider Henry
• Copics
• DP Echo Park, Note To Self
• Sentiment Stamp, Penny Black Critter Party

Hugs and kisses and get well wishes

My BFF was whisked into hospital on Monday and,
because I now lives miles away, we had to make do with long phone conversations.
She's a 'frequent flyer' when it comes to hospital stays, but I still wish I had been there.
Here's the card I made for her, now she's home.

It was a quick make, so the design is very simple.
I thought I would make it even quicker by filling Wryn's dress with a digi paper and then printing her out - and then I spent an absolute age trying to colour her hair 'just right'  :-)

Challenges.
Papertake - Bingo (Glitter/Free/Gems)
Sentimental Sundays - Get Well
Bunny Zoe - Favourite Colour Combo - At the moment it's 'Lemon and Grey'.
Marker POP - Anything Goes. Wryn's dress and shoes are paper pieced, but the rest of her is coloured with Copics, and a touch of glitter!

• Digi Stamp - Tiddly Inks, Wryn Grow a Little Love
• Digi Papers - Pink Petticoat, Dots and Apples
• Copics and Gold Stickles Glitter
• Martha Stewart Lace Doily Punch
• Sparkly Gems
•  Get Well Soon Stamp - Papermania Scrolls & Sentiments

It's 5 o'clock somewhere

Finally - the last of the snow has gone from the garden and today we have - sunshine!!!
I don't want to jinx it, but I think Spring may have arrived.

It got me in the mood for some pretty, spring colours.
For my card I followed the sketch at Seize the Birrthday - just changing the oval (I'm allergiK to ovals)  
to a photo frame.

I know it's hard to make out the frame in the picture, but it's there. 
I printed out my sentiment and used a rectangle nestie for the opening, then cut the frame like a polaroid.
I'm sure somebody makes a die for this, but this way you can make your frame any size you like.

Challenges.
Seize the Birthday - Sketch and feminine birthday
Totally Papercrafts - Birthday girl in pink. One of my birthday girls is in pink, hope that counts :-)
Simon Says Stamp - Congrats on their 4th Birthday. Happy Birthday/Celebration
Totally Gorjuss - Anything Goes with Sparkle
Really Reasonable Ribbon - Buttons and Bows.

• Stamping Bellas, Victoria and Juliette's night out - coloured with Copics
• Glamour Dust
• Spellbinders nested rectangle and circle. 
• Edgability Die, Classic Bracket
• Ribbon, Button, Bakers Twine
• Echo Park, Country Drive digi paper

Born To Shop - Forced To Work

It's Tuesday -  back to work day!!   Hope you all had a lovely Easter break.
My eldest dd, Maria, came home for the weekend and we had fun.
This year we decided to have the Easter Bunny for dinner - literally!!!
We defrosted the little guy and set about jointing him, only to discover - 
to lots of screams and shrieks and giggles - that he had all his insides intact!!! Eeeewww.
I can honestly say - despite the fact that he was delicious - we won't be doing that again!!

Here's the card I made for Maria's birthday - she will be 24 on Friday.
 

I had 2 definite ideas for this card. I knew I wanted to use this Stamping Bella girl and my blue stripe ribbon.
I went through my whole stack of papers trying to find a match to the blue, but couldn't find a thing. 
As a last resort I checked my comp and found this pretty, echo park digi paper. Perfect - especially considering that hexagons are so popular right now.

Challenges.
Totally Gorjuss - Something Blue
Papertake Weekly - Anyting Goes (Kraft is the Optional Extra)
Digi Tuesday - New Crafting Trends. Chevrons are out and Hexagons are IN   :-)
Pretty Little Ribbon - Spring Is In the Air
Sweet Stampin' - Girly
Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes with Ribbon

•  6 x 6 On the Edge Card Base
• Stamping Bella, Uptown Girl, Posh has a present
• coloured with Copics and Glamour Dust
• Echo Park, Country Drive Digi Paper 
• Martha Stewart Lace Doily Punch 
• Spellbinders Pennant Die
• Sentiment made on my comp.  

 

Home is the nicest word there is.

I commiserate with anyone trying to move house right now.
Our move last year was fraught - to say the least.  
So, I am happy that my brother and his family, have just moved into their new home.
Here's the card I made for them.

I started with a panel of my favourite woodgrain paper from Pink Petticoat. It looks kinda grey in the picture, but it's really a very pretty, duck egg blue.

For the house I used a freebie sentiment from Birds Cards  and placed a little punched heart in the middle.

I finished off with some die cut clouds (Memory Box) and bakers twine.
It's a shame I didn't  have any twine in lemon yellow - it would have looked so pretty (sigh*)
So, top of my wish list is bakers twine in EVERY colour...  lol**

Challenges.
My Craft Spot - Strings and Things
The Pink Elephant - Clean & Simple
Love to Create - Pastels
ABC Challenge - Just as you like it.

What Are Little Girls Made Of ?

My weekend starts NOW!
I have just done a big shop; my fridge is stocked up with goodies (including alcohol) and I have a stack of DVD's to watch.  So, bring on the snow - again!!
I don't care - I will be all snug and warm under the duvet until Monday :-)

I better dash out to the postbox and mail this card to my friend's daughter
before I batten down the hatches!

I played along with the 'Muse' challenge again this week.
Marion created a lovely effect, o her project,  with strips of blue and green card. I took this as my inspiration, but as I wanted a more girly look,  I used  strips of a pretty, paper pack.
I adhered the strips to a white card panel and then attached them to my card base.

You can't get much cuter than this Pure Innocence girl. She's coloured with Copics, cut out and stuck on with foam pads. I also added some pearls to her shoes and one on her dress.
I almost added a button with a twine bow to the sentiment banner, and then I remembereed that they have a toddler in the house - you know how little fingers always find things like that - so I opted for a simple, card candi instead.

Challenges.
Muse - Inspirational Card
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Girly
Tuesday Alchemy - Anything Goes
Southern Girls - The Kids Are Alright
Aud Sentiments - Girl Power

• DP, GCD Studios Tea Time
• Pure Innocence Girl with Balloon, coloured with Copics
• 'Happy Birthday' Stamp, Papermania Stamping For Him Set.
• Adhesive Pearls, Card Candi

Is It Spring Yet?

My daughters, Maria and Annabel came up to visit at the weekend - and we have just about recovered.
We did lots of eating, drinking and laughing and I think we may be barred from the local pub!!! 
So a good time was had by all :-)

The little men have finally stopped pounding their hammers on the inside of my skull, 
long enough for me to make a card. 
This is for my Mum & Dad's Anniversary.

I dug around in my flower box and found a couple of purple blooms, which I hope will remind my Mum of spring Violets; she loves those.

Have you ever tried to add random gems to a project. These crystals refused to be random!!
Every time I moved them around they ended up in a line, or in a uniform pattern  - does that even make sense to anyone - or am I still drunk!! :-)

Challenges.
City Crafter - Woodgrain
Crafty Sentiments - Flowers Galore
Love to Create - Anything Goes
Sentimental Sundays - Anything Goes
2 Sisters - Flowers for Spring

• Pink Petticoat, Woodgrain Digi Paper
• Crystal Gems, Lace, Blooms
• Martha Stewart Leaf Border Punch