Yer 'avin a giraffe!

Just had to run up a quick card today, for a 1 year old.

I don't make many cards for little ones, so I was a bit stumped.

Hope that this giraffe fits the bill  :-)

When I need to make something quickly I usually turn to a sketch for inspiration - and this fab one came from Tracy Shultz over at Card Patterns.

I am also entering this for the challenges at Papertake, who have a 'Creature Comforts' theme and Ladybug Crafts, where the theme is 'Animals'.

Ladybug Crafts has gone Digi this week, so they also have a new release and a fun blog hop.

Supplies -
Digi Stamp - Dustin Pike, Birthday Giraffe, coloured with Copics.
DP - DCWV Nana's Nursery, Baby Boy/Girl
Martha Stewart Lace Border Punch
Sentiment from Craftwork Cards.
Ribbon from my stash.

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Embelish Me More

Happy Saturday everyone. 

Time for another challenge at the CES Challenge Blog and our lovely host this week is Claire, with the theme...

Embellish Me More

We want to see AT LEAST 4 different embellies on your card/project- 

so go crazy with them :-)

Check out Crafty Emma's Store for a whole load of gorgeous embellies.

Pearls and pins, ribbon and buttons, blooms and gems... so many things to pretty up your cards.
My 4 embellies are ribbon, pearls, gems and a glittered chipboard sticker.

I coloured Teddy Bo with Copics. I wish I had made him a bit bigger, so I think I will try this layout again. 

Here's a close up of the chipboard, which is all glittery IRL.

If you join us this week you could win a £10 voucher to spend in store

(excl p&p)

Just think of the lovely embellies that could get you.

Challenges

Digital Tuesday - Celebrate the Season
Crafty Ribbons - Anything Goes

Papercraft Star - Anything Goes

Supplies from Crafty Emma's

6 x 6 On the Edge Card Blank / Catslife Press Stamp / Lg Pearls / Dovecraft Back to Basics Gems / First Edition DP Festive Treats /

Other Supplies - Making Memories Chipboard Sticker / Teddy Bo Digi Image

A Night On The Tiles

Morning everyone, we have a new challenge for you at Totally Papercrafts today,

Vicky is our lovely hostess and she has chosen the theme

Clean and Simples!

Ha ha! Don't you just love the fact that Alexandre's catch phrase has become part of our everyday language? Those ads always make me laugh.

Anyhoo... I'm waffling... back to the challenge and we would like you to keep your card/project nice and simples! So, keep those embellies to a minimum, or see if you can do without them altogether :-)

Our sponsor this week is the awesome,  Mandi, who you probably know from her challenge blog Less Is More, but she is also an Independent Stampin' Up demonstrator.

I made this card for my daughter Annabel, her 2 gorgeous kittens are doing really well, but she is stressing about the day that she will have to let them out on their own. We've never had cats before - do they really just find their way home??

Here's a picture of the partners in crime, Benga and Nero. Can you tell that Nero is the cheeky, inquisitive one? :-)

Challenges

Simon Says Stamp - Song/Film Title.
I went for the Tom Jones song 'What's New Pussycat'
which will now be stuck in my head all day.. lol*

Creative Inspirations - Anything Goes

Supplies

Stamp - Little Claire's Silhouette Cats

DP - Basic Grey, Max and Whiskers

Ribbon and black pearls from my stash.

I won an Oscar!

I'd like to thank my family...   my friends...   my agent...

oh, hang on... not that kind of Oscar,
this cute little Birthday Oscar from Digi Stamp Boutique  :-)

I kept this really simple, colouring Oscar with Copics and a touch of stickles glitter.
I was a little disappointed with my new Dovecraft Ruler. I bought it 'cos it has piercing holes in it, so my lines would be straighter, but then found out my piercing tool won't go through the holes, so I had to resort to using a pin!!!

Sketch 'n' Stash have a great challenge on right now. You can choose any sketch from their catalogue, and use your new or neglected stash.

My new stash was the digi image and I used sketch 42

I am also entering the Digi Stamp Boutique challenge - this is a monthly challenge and you can enter any new card, using one of their digis. 

Go and check them out - they have the cutest digis. I have my eye on Oscar in his Halloween outfit. :-)

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O Christmas Tree

Hello everyone... it's a bit blustery here today.

I nearly got blown away with the dog on our morning walk and is there anything worse than wearing lip gloss when it's windy? 
Arrgghhh - I was forever peeling hair from my lips.

Here's another Christmas card for the pile.

I've just bought this little tree stamp - it's so pretty, I couldn't resist it. 

I have paper-pieced it and then used a silver pen to highlight parts of the pattern.

IRL this card is very glittery and sparkly - I scattered glamour dust everywhere! I think I am going to have to order a case of this stuff. :-)

Challenges

Sketch Satduay - I followed their great sketch.Those stripes had me stumped for a while, but I quite like the way the glittered DP turned out.

Challenge Up Your Life - Paper Piecing.

Supplies.

Stamp - Red Gingham Designs - Cold Crisp Kisses

DP - Hot Off The Press, Forever Christmas (magazine freebies)

Sentiment - Craftwork Cards.

Glamour Dust and Pearls from Crafty Emmas

St Luke's Challenge

Ooh, I had a lovely win this week and I just want to tell you a little about the challenge blog, incase you haven't come across it.

St Luke's Charity Cards Challenge

This is a monthly challenge and not only do they have a wonderful DT and fab sponsors, but they also have a great cause.

The blog was set up to help promote the good work of St Luke's Charity.

St Luke's is a hospice, which cares for people aged 18 and above, around the Sheffield area, who have an incurable illness.

If you enter the challenge and can spare the card, 

they would be happy to receive it,  so they can sell it to raise funds.

Maybe you even have a few other cards that you could send along with it :-)

Check out their blog for full details.

This month's challenge is a Buffet.

We all love a good buffet, don't we?

xxx

It's A Kind Of Magic

Happy Saturday everyone. 

Time for another challenge at the CES Challenge Blog.

Our lovely host this week is Carrie  
and she has chosen the theme

Make it Magical or Spooky 

I admit, the theme threw me this week - several cards ended up in the bin and I'm still not entirely happy with this one.

So, I need you to enter the challenge and give me some inspiration :-)

I used an 'On the Edge, Petal Point card blank, - isn't this shape great for halloween cards?

The DP is Fancy Pants, It's the Little Things

I really don't have any Halloween images, so I googled and found this owl freebie. I used purple chalk for the night sky and a touch of yellow for the moon and finished off by running my white gel pen along some branches.

The image was then mounted onto black card with stickles silver glitter for the dots.
 

I love Glamour Dust, and I found a great new way to add it

 - new to me that is - you've probably all been doing this for years :-)

I used my glue pen to add a line of glue all around my DP and then just sprinkled the glamour dust on.

I sooo love having a nice big bottle of it, instead of one of those tiny, fiddly pots.

Finally I added some black pearls to the petal points. Job done :-)

Join us this week for your chance to win a £10 gift voucher 
to spend in the store (excl p&p).

If you haven't popped over to Crafty Emma's recently - why not? lol**
There's still a fabulous SALE on, plus some gorgeous new papers have arrived.

GIVE AWAY

We all like to be in with a chance of winning something, right?

So head on over to Emma's own blog and see what she's offering :-)

Challenges -  
Crafty Sentiments Designs - Halloween.
Pals Paper Arts - Halloween
Stamp Insanity - Black and Purple

Tag, you're it!

How is everyone getting on with the new blogger interface?

Have you been brave enough to try it?

I am starting to get used to where everything is and I like the much larger post editor page.

Hopefully, they've corrected the timing bug, and this scheduled post will go out ok.

This week at Totally Papercrafts the lovely Marion is our host and she has chosen the theme,

 Cute with Buttons

Everyone has buttons, right? And if you can't find something to match your project, you could always try making your own.

How adorable are these Teddy Bo & Co's - I couldn't resist them any longer.

I think they are going to be really versatile too.

Here's a close up of one of the tags - it's my first time colouring them, so I haven't  got them quite right yet.
 

Challenges -
Papertake - Anything Goes

Crafty Ribbons Challenge - Festive Cheer in September. This is a new challenge blog, so check it out if your haven't seen it yet. The DT work is awesome.

Supplies.

Digi Stamps - Teddy Bo & Co, coloured with Copics.

DP - Dovecraft, Christmas Fancy

Button and ribbon from my stash

Bakers Twine from Crafty Emmas

110 Days To Go

Yep - that's right folks - just 110 days til Christmas!   Eek!

I always like to have some little thankyou cards on hand at Christmas,

they come in very useful and this little box is cute enough to leave out on display.

I used these gorgeous Prima - North Country papers from Crafty Emmas

The 3" x 3" box is very quick and easy to make following Laurie Schmidlin's tutorial at Splitcoaststampers.

Even without the thank you cards, this box would be great for packaging a little gift.

I kept the cards very simple, to show off the DPs - just adding the sentiment and a little gem.

Challenges - 

Make it Monday - Linky Party + Birthday Blog Hop

Crafter's Companion - Xmas Wishes

St Luke's Charity Cards - Card Buffet (Patterned Paper, Gems, Ribbon, Punches).

Ta Very Muchly

At CES this week , our lovely challenge host, Donna, would like you to

Raise Your Glasses

we want to see your drink related card/projects.

Ahhhh drink - another of my favourite subjects :-) 

Actually I'm a total lightweight - not like my girls, who can drink any guy they know under the table - glad that their expensive University education wasn't wasted!! ;-)

I have gone for a little wine and chocolate thank you set.

 I just LOVE this Prima, Printery paper and I had to take a deep breath before I cut into it. Even then, I really didn't want to cover it up too much, so for my card I used a patchwork design.

Emma has some gorgeous papers in store right now - but be quick - they are selling out FAST!

I used a Letraset Fineliner pen to add some faux stitching and distressed the edges with black chalk.

 

The Prima flowers and card candy centres were sprinkled with Glamour Dust.

I stamped the 'Thanks' onto a piece of cream card, cut it into a ribbon shape at one end and added a couple of black pearls.
 

The treat holder was made following Christina Fischer's tutorial at Splitcoaststampers

I kept this pretty plain too - using my nesties to create a frame for the 'just for you' stamp, adding a little more glamour dust, some ribbon and a fancy corner.

 

I know it's back to school week for a lot of you, so hopefully you will have a little time to join in the challenge.

Don't forget you could win a £10 voucher (excl p&p) to spend at Crafty Emma's.

Check out Emma's MASSIVE CLEARANCE SALE  - UP TO 80% OFF

and grab yourself a bargain.

Challenge - 

Die Cut Dreams - make a gift box/bag.

Supplies -

DP - Prima Printery. Prima Blooms. Card Candy. Glamour Dust.

Black Pearls. Ribbon.   Sizzix Corner Die 'Architectrual Accents'

'Thanks' stamp Wild Rose Studios.

'Just for you' stamp Catslife Press.

A Nice Cup Of Chai!

Morning everyone.

I have a cute little project to show you today and...

drum roll please...    a mini tutorial!

I made this for our new challenge at Totally Papercrafts, where the lovely Sarah is hosting this week's theme of...

Not A Card

My favourite challenge and I can't wait to see what you come up with.

We have 2 fabulous sponsors for you this week 

Crafty Emma's Store and Di's Digi Downloads.

I bought this new drink a few weeks ago and, when my DD said she'd like to try it, I remembered I had some paper cups in the cupboard and came up with this little gift for her. 

I also wanted to play with this lush Bo Bunny paper. This is out of stock at Crafty Emmas right now, but check out all her other gorgeous new papers - Prima, Fancy Pants, My Mind's Eye... don't hang around though,  these lovelies go quickly!

This is really easy to make and if you give it a try I would love to know how you get on.

Supplies - 

1 piece card for the box 270mm x 185mm

1 piece card for the cup holder insert  205mm x 122mm

1 piece card for the handle 168mm x 152mm

2 paper cups (the base of my cups had a diameter of approx 55mm)

Box - score at 50mm on all sides. 
Snip into corners as shown, tape or glue and fold up into box.

Tip - I use DS tape and run a pritt stick over it. This not only makes it stick better but also makes it slide a little,so it can be lined up perfectly.

Cup holder insert -    score at 20mm all the way round.

Cut 2 circles for the cups - I used a 60mm diameter nestie die.

Snip into sides as shown, tape/glue and fold up as box.

 

 Handle -  cut an oval shape, in the top, for the handle - I used a small nestie.
And these are the pieces you should have.
 I decorated the handle piece with my DP before putting it into the box and stapling them together at the bottom.

Then you can decorate as you like. 
I placed the tea in small cello bags, inside the cups.

I'm already planning another one of these - 

I'm thinking Christmas papers, hot chocolate, and marshmallows!!

:-)

Challenges
Party Time - Anything Goes
Make It Monday - Linky Party
Paper Shelter - Anything Goes
Charisma Cardz - Anything Goes

Supplies - 

DP - Bo Bunny, Timepiece Collection.

Martha Stewart Border Punch

Circle and scalloped circle nesties

Buttons and black pearls from Crafty Emmas

Ribbon and twine from my stash.