What's Your Tipple?

A while ago, I went through my small, stamp collection and

put aside those stamps, that I thought didn't really fit my new CAS style.

I intended to sell them here on my blog, but never got round to it!

Here's one of those stamps that has had a reprieve :-)

I stamped my penguin over the edge of a card panel, dusted off my Copics and got colouring.

The sentiment was added to a die cut speech bubble and then I just

scattered a few sequins and gems.

It just goes to show that, even if you're making CAS cards,

you should take another look at your older stamps.

Challenges.

ABC Xmas - Something Festive

Addicted To Stamps - CAS

Christmas At Sweet Stampin' - Christmas Critters

Supplies.

Stamp - Wild Rose Studio 'Pickle With Tipple' coloued with Copics.

Speech Bubble Die - Clearly Besotted

Sentiment - Wplus9 'Heartfelt Holidays'   Gold Stickles     Sequins

Snowmen melt my heart

Does anyone go caroling anymore?

I remember going door to door as a kid

and being caught out, when people actually wanted us to sing!!!

I think we only knew rude words to most carols. Ha ha!

Here's a cute group of caroling snowmen.

 I went with bold, traditional colours so that my snowmen would stand out - 

a touch of bling and a strip of ribbon.

I have struggled with sentiments this year - making do with what I have.

This one had to be masked off, in order to print it in a line.

I've promised myself a whole new set for next year's cards :-)

 

Challenges.

Stamping Sensations - Free & Easy

My Mum's Craft Shop - Winter/Christmas

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes (Optional CAS)

Sentimental Sundays - Traditional Christmas Colours.

Digi Stamp 'Caroling Snowmen' from Meljen, coloured with Copics and Glamour Dust.

Sequins, Gems & Ribbon.

Sentiment Stamp, Wld Rose Studio Set 'Pickle with Tipple'.

 

Eat more cake!

Here's another of my new Uptown girls from Stamping Bella - 
isn't she adorable?
I admit - I was nervous of colouring her and almost opted to  paper-piece her dress, but I'm pretty pleased with how she turned out.

Ava, is coloured with Copics and some stickles glitter, cut out and popped up on foam pads.   
IRL she has some lovely, sparkly detail.
I also added a few random gems for extra bling :-)
I have learnt now to buy clear gems, so that I can colour them with Copics, to match my design.

Challenges.
Creative Card Crew - Birthday
City Crafter - All that Glitters
Love to Create - All that Glitters
Dream Valley - Ribbon and Bling
ABC - H for Happy Birthday

• Stamping Bella, Ava Loves To Celebrate
• Copics and Stickles Glitter
• Ribbon and Gems
• Grey DP, Papermania Mono
• Martha Stewart Lace Doily Punch
• Sentiment, Wild Rose Studio

Sweet Wishes

Top secret!
Someone, who may or may not be my best friend,
may or may not have just got their dream job!  
Eek! I am so excited for them, I may have made them a congrats card :-)

I chose this ridiculously cute Pure Innocence girl.
My image programme (PSP) and my printer have had a major fall out and refuse to talk to each other. So this girl was printed out much larger than I asked for - but I guess the printer was right, she looks fab this size.

Even the paper pad I wanted to use conspired against me - with annoying holes where it had been hung up for sale. I used it anyway, and threaded my ribbon through the hole.

Challenges.
PaperPlay - Paper Piecing
Totally Gorjuss - Plain & Simple
Dream Valley - Anything Goes
One Stitch at a Time - Use a Digi

Supplies.
Digi Stamp - Pure Innocence
DP - Echo Park, Note to Self
Congrats Stamp - Wild Rose Studio
Ribbon from my stash

Wishing you a pot of love

What a busy week it's been here. We have finally put our house on the market, so it has been scrubbed and cleaned from top to bottom. It's going to kill us to keep it this tidy :-)

Having my craft room all packed up seems to be working in my favour though. Recently my cards have been much simpler, and I think I have finally found my style (it's only taken 3 years!)

On to this week's Totally Papercrafts Challenge and our host is the super, talented Lisa, with one of her own sketches for you to follow.

I love sketches and seeing how people bring the different elements together, so I hope you will play along this week. 
I have used the gorgeous Wryn, from Tiddly Inks. Her dress is paper pieced and then she is coloured with Copics (and a little stickles glitter) cut out and attached with foam pads.

My favourite things at the moment are my super, cute cloud dies - I seem to be using them on every card!

This time I cut them in the DP too and kind of overlapped them.

What do you think?

Challenges.
Crafty Sentiments - Bingo I went for the top line Paper Piecing/Patterned Paper/ Glitter.
Tiddly Inks - Mother's Day or Gorgeously Feminine
Truly Scrumptious - Anything Goes
Moving Along With The Times - Keep It Real (No Fantasy Figures)
Cute Card Thursday - A Touch Of Sparkle

Supplies.

Tiddly Inks Digi Stamp, Wryn - coloured with Copics, stickles glitter and a paper pieced dress.

DP - Prima Botanical + Sweet Fairy

Memory Box Clouds Dies.     Sentiment Stamp, Wild Rose Studios.

Ribbon and Pearls from my stash.

Baby's Got Blue Eyes

Can you tell this is my favourite image right now? Here I am using it again for this week's Totally Papercrafts challenge, which is hosted by the lovely and talented Victoria.

She has come up with a great Bingo board for you to follow - details are on the challenge blog.

I chose the bottom line of the Bingo board - Blue, Ribbon, Pearls.

I'd also like to welcome Kim to the Totally Papercrafts team - if you get chance please pop by her blog and say hello. :-)

I have a lemon of a printer - you know, the one that was last out of the factory on a Friday afternoon - hence all those horrible lines that are definitely not on the downloads. BUT last week hubby sold some amp thingy (boy's toy) and yesterday he came home with a brand, spanking new printer - to be honest I think my moaning had worn him down :o) 

So, can't wait to print a good copy of this image to play with.

 

Don't forget to check out the fab work of my fellow teamies and if you join us this week you could be in with the chance of winning an amazing $25 gift certificate from Simon Says Stamp

Challenges

Divas by Design - Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp - Favourite Tool -  Gotta love my Big Shot - it's simple and easy to use and no techy bits to go wrong :-))

Papercrafts Star - Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes



Supplies.
Crafts and Me Digi Image - Cali Girl, coloured with Copics.
DP - GCD Ella Blue.
I coloured the pearls with a Copic to match the blue DP
Sentiment Stamp - Wild Rose Studios.
The little hinge type things were cut from the end of a Spellbinders Elegant Posts die cut.
Ribbon and lace from my stash.

We belong together

Hello there, hope those that celebrated Mother's Day this weekend had a lovely time. I managed to escape to my craft room for a while and here is one of the cards I made. It's for my Mum & Dad's Anniversary.

I am still waiting to make that 'perfect' card. I don't think it exists for me - I always make a few mistakes, but hey! I guess it all adds to the handmade look :-)

You can see here that I forgot to add the lace before stitching the card down - duh! - hence the ugly staples showing !!

I also tried a bit of embossing in the top right hand corner - it's something I rarely do and I think I over-heated it. I need more practice.
 

The House Mouse image is coloured with Copics and I decoupaged parts of the flower, adding it with foam pads - to give a little dimension.

Challenges.

Simon Says Stamp - A Bit 'O Green

Crafting for all Seasons - Green and Yellow

Do You Stack Up? - Favourite Colour (Green, of course :-) )

Sweet Stampin' - Lots of Green

Crafter's Companion - Spring

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Supplies

House Mouse Love Sunflower Stamp, coloured with Copics and Stickles glitter.

DP - Prima, Sweet Fairy.     Wild Rose Studio, Text Stamp.

LOTV Corner Stamp

Lace, Ribbon, Button, Gems from my stash.

Born To Cycle

Have you been busy making Mother's Day cards this week?  

Over at Totally Papercrafts we want you to put away all those girly things!! The lovely Sarah has chosen the theme of Male Cards.

Did I hear a groan?? :-)

I don't know how these cute images have escaped me for so long. This one is from the 'swings and slides' collection over at Pollycraft and they are perfect for boys' cards.
This chap is coloured with Copics, cut out and mounted with foam tape.

I know that little froggy is completely the wrong colour for this card - but I don't care :-) When I came across him at the bottom of my brad box, I had to add him.

Challenges

My Craft Spot - Manly Man Cards

Cards For Men - Cheeky Chappies

Ladybug Crafts Ink - Anything Goes. Check out their fab, new 'teenagers' digis.

Anything Goes - Boyz to Men

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Supplies - Pollycraft Digi Stamp.    DP Basic Grey, Max & Whiskers.    Wild Rose Studios Postmark Sentiment Stamp.  Doodlebug Swirl And Frog Brad.  Papermania 'Birthday Boy' Stamp.

Spellbinders Ovals, Scallloped Ovals, Pennants.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Ok - hands up who wants snow this Christmas - everyone, right? :-)
According to the latest report, here in the north, we have a 35% chance of snow. If you're in the UK give santa a shake here, and see what your chances are :-))
So,  it's time for another challenge at the CES Challenge Blog.

Our lovely host this week is Kaylou 
  
and she has chosen the theme **Snowflakes**

This is the first time I've used Pickle with Tipple, isn't he just the cutest? I've kept the colouring really light and sprinkled him with  glamour dust.

Here's a close up of those snowflakes. 

Usually I glitter the snowflakes and keep the leaves plain, but this time I did it the other way round. The leaves and card candi are covered in glamour dust and the snowflakes were die cut from the DP.

I'm looking forward to seeing all your pretty snowflakes this week, and if you need some inspiration check out the challenge blog and the amazing work of my teamies.

The winner gets to spend £10 at Crafty Emma's and if you haven't snagged a bargain yet, get yourself over there whilst the sale is still on.

Challenges -

ABC Challenge - D is for Dazzle

Do You Stack Up? - Dash of Blue

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Anything Christmas with Pearls

The Paper Shelter - Snowflakes
Winter Wonderland - Awww, what a cutie!

Supplies from Crafty Emma's
6 x 6 On the Edge Card Blank / Glamour Dust / Card Candi / Pearls
Other Supplies
Wild Rose Studio, Pickle with Tipple / DP GCD Ella Blue /
Martha Stewart Leaf Border Punch / Marianne Snowflake Die
Copics/ Ribbon

Spread A Little Sparkle.

Hello everyone,

this week at Totally Papercrafts we want you to put a little sparkle back into your crafting.

Our lovely teamie Anne has chosen then theme of

Bling It Up

So get out your glitters, pearls, beads and shimmer
and come and join us.

Ok - I admit my 'bling' is a little on the subtle side, but it is there :-)

I used a glue pen on parts of the background paper and scattered it with fine red glitter.

Flowers are really not my thing. I never know how to group them or how many to add, or where to put them, so, can you believe I made these little felt blooms MYSELF!     :-)

I used a small scalloped nestie to cut the felt and  cut a spiral into it.

Then I rolled it up, starting on the inside.

I did have trouble with glue, everything I used just soaked into the felt and didn't stick.

So, if anyone knows what would work please let me know.

I ended up putting a few little stitches in, to hold the bloom in place.

 Don't forget to visit my teamies on the challenge blog and check out their fabulous work.

This week we have two great sponsors - Simon Says Stamp and the StampFairy.

Challenges -
Cupcake Craft - Shabby Sparkle. Not sure this qualifies, as I haven't distressed the papers, but I thought the vintage style script and lace gave it that shabby feel. If not, just delete it cupcakes - no worries! :-)
Paper Shelter - Anything Goes
Top Tip - Make It Girlie

Party Time - Anything Goes

Supplies 

DP - Prima, Madeline.    Fine Red Glitter

'Enjoy your day' stamp - Wild Rose Studios, Girly Greetings.

Ribbon, Lace and felt from my stash.

Adhesive Pearls

XCut Botanical Leaf Punch.

To die for !!

What do you have lurking at the back of your kitchen cupboards? This week I found a Magimix ice-cream maker, that I had completely forgotten about. Shame that some of the bits had gone AWOL, but thanks to the internet, my replacement parts arrived today!! Watch this space :-))

Now, on to this week's Totally Papercrafts Challenge.

Our host is the lovely Marion, with the theme

Say it with dies/punches

 I made this little gift bag from label nesties and started out following the tutorial from Mona Pendleton .
Then I realised that my nesties were a completely different size,
so quite a bit of swearing went on, as I tried to make the box piece fit.

 I cannot tell you the number of times I have tried to make my own flowers - 

they always end up looking like something the dog has chewed up.

So I was thrilled when this one, 

made with different punches, turned out ok - ish! :-)

 

We're looking forward to seeing what you come up with this week,

and if you want some inspiration 

check out the fab work of my teamies over on the challenge blog.

Challenges

Top Tip Tuesday - Open Challenge

Simon Says - Bingo - I went for the bottom row - Shape/ribbon/sentiment

Supplies

Nestie labels and scalloped circles.

DP - Prima, Moulin Rouge

Various flower punches.     Ruffled ribbon.

'For you' sentiment - Wild Rose Studio

On yer bike!

LIM card - version 4.0    -    Photograph  - version 35 !!!  

Thank God for digital cameras!

This card took several attempts before I was happy with it. The bicycle is from the Graphics Fairy, printed onto cream card (that's hard to see in the photo). I chopped a bit off the image, so that it would fit the 'square' better and decided I liked it more like that anyway. Then it was mounted onto a white card base. The 'Happy Birthday' is a Wild Rose Studio stamp.

I really love how this turned out, so I am going to search out some similar images and make a series of these.

Challenges

Less Is More - Pick a Square. 

Secret Crafter - Clean & Simple

and a challenge that is new to me  Paper Sundaes - Vintage or Shabby Chic.

I've used the vintage bicycle clip art.

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A little birdy

A few days ago I was asked for a 'get well' card for a male and all I had in my pile were 'girly' cards.  I racked my brains trying to think of what to use and decided on these nitwit stamps, which came free with the Simply Homemade magazine.
I'm not convinced though - is this still too girly??

I paper-pieced the stamps and added buttons to the tree. It took me longer to choose these buttons than it did to make the whole card!!

Challenges

Crafty Creations - Get Well

Charisma Cardz - Boy oh Boy ( male cards )

Aud Sentiments - A sentiment/card for a male

Allsorts - Things with Wings

DP is My Mind's Eye, True Blue

Stamps - Nitwit Collection. I haven't come across these before, but they have a fab collection of digi papers/kits, digi stamps etc.

Get well Soon Stamp - Wild Rose Studio.

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Totally Papercrafts #68 Pink and Girly

Can it really be Friday already? This week has just flown by.

We have another challenge for you at Totally Papercrafts, hosted by the very talented Carol,

                    with the theme...

Pink and Girly

A good excuse (like we need one!) to get out all those pretty papers and gorgeous embellies.

 I'm not supposed to be buying any new craft goodies right now, but this Docrafts Westie stamp reminded me of my little Suzie, so I HAD to have it!

I started with the idea of making a tent card, but somewhere along the way it turned into a bag, to hold a gift card or cash!

Here is the tutorial for the tent card, by Beate Johns.

I took a 6 x 6 card and cut it along the score line, so I had a front and back piece.

The tent piece is 6" x 4", scored at 1", 2" and 3",

on the 4" side.

Folded mountain/valley style and attached to the front and back pieces.

To make the handles, I used 2 oval nestie dies to make a frame and cut it in half.

I couldn't find my velcro fasteners, so I just used a piece of bakers twine to keep the handles together.

For the inside pocket I cut a piece of card approx 6 1/2" x 3 3/4

scored at 3 1/4 and folded up.

I used a nestie to cut a little piece out of the top of one edge, so you can get to the gift card.

I decorated it with my DP and stitched the sides,

then attached it to the inside of my bag with DS tape.

Challenges

Do You Stack Up - Animals

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Lace

and a couple of challenges that are new to me...

Party Time Tuesdays - Animals

My Mum's Craft Shop - Favourite colours/combos.  My fav. combo at the moment is this pink and grey. To me it says 'girly' but not too fluffy??!! Does that make sense?

Supplies.

Stamp - Docrafts, Pampered Pets Highland Terrier

DP - Papermania Capsule Collection, Red Hot

Dovecraft Heart Punch 

Wild Rose Studio - 'For You' Stamp.

Gems, Baker's Twine, Lace, Ribbon, Button from my stash. 

Lots of Love

Did everyone have a lovely Easter? We had a full house here and a brilliant time - AND we get to do it all again this weekend! I have a lovely 'English Tea' planned for Friday and a big family BBQ for hubby's birthday on Saturday  - Sunday can be spent nursing the hangover!!! :D)

It's my first time inking up these little mice - aren't they just adorable? I coloured them with Copics and added a little glitter to the flowers.
I found some embroidery thread the same colour as my background card, so I used it to stitch along the edge.

Hmmm... I have just noticed a little grey smudge. It's not on the card - I think it's on the inside of the camera lens, so hubby's first job tonight will be to take it apart and clean it!!   :-)


Challenges
Less is More - Off Centre.   I tried to balance the stamp being on the bottom left, by adding the sentiment to the top right. I hope it works!
Simon Says - Anything Goes and 2nd Anniversary Blog Hop
CES - Spring Colours/Images - I think the green and lemon are a pretty, spring combination.

Stamp - from the House Mouse Love, Sunflower set.

Sentiment - Wild Rose Studio, Everyday Greetings

Relax ... it's your special day.

Have you joined in with the Christmas Blog Hop, over at Wild Rose Studio? There are lots of fabulous prizes up for grabs along the way, and an awesome GRAND prize too. All you have to do is make a card using Dawny's sketch ( you can use any image you like) and collect a phrase from the hop. Simples!

Here's my card using Dawny's fab sketch.

I have used the wonderful Ronnie Relaxing image from Pollycraft. You can find him in Pollycraft's sidebar and all money raised from his sale goes to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

I paper-pieced the chair and then added Ronnie on top, coloured with Copics. The background was distressed with inks. I also added a little glossy accents to the biscuit packets and his cup.

Challenges...

Wild Rose Studio - Dawny's Sketch and Blog Hop

Pollycraft - Blue

Crafty Emma - If you have donated to the Yorkshire Air Amabulance you can get an extra entry to Emma's Fundraising Candy, by making a card with one of the 'Ronnie images'. See Emma's blog for the full details.

Top Tip Tuesday - Layer on Layer - Check out Anne's great tutorial on how to paper-piece digi images.

Digi Stamp - Ronnie Relaxing from Pollycraft.    DP Daisy & Dandelion, A Winter's Tale.   Papermania 'Scrolls and Sentiments' stamp set.   Glossy Accents.    Card Candy.

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