BF August inchies received

Just look at these fabulous inchies that arrived yesterday from the Auguust 'sun' swap on BF forum - thanks, girls, they are super.

True love

This is for Lilian's sketch on Sugar Bowl challenge 42, which also includes the theme of pearls:


and for Embellish magazine: 'quirky-cutesy-clean style colour challenge - sea foam, kraft, peach, cream'
The background paper with swirls is BG infuse, the vertical strips are BG basics kraft and lilykate. The image is Sugar Nellie 'true love', coloured with copics, with Prima pearls added. A couple of flowers with spiralled stems and a couple of bows complete the card.


It's also for:

Sunday stamper 117: 'you don't bring me flowers'
Stamp with fun 73: 'card for girl'
ECP 19: 'girly'
Going grey (Scrap-creations) 24: 'recipe - ribbon, flowers, pearls'
Papertake: 'it's recipe time - 3, 2, 1 - anything - 3 designer papers, two flowers, 1 image'
Fab n funky 37: 'sharing recipes - 3 papers, 2 embellishments, 1 image'
Crafts and me 11: 'petals and pearls'
Stampavie 105: 'swirls' (on the BG infuse paper and the spiral stems with the flowers)
Hanna and friends 59: 'pearls and swirls'
Craftalicious 6: 'pearls & swirls'
Cute card Thursday 127: 'dieing for a punch' - no die cuts or punches used
Annabelle: 'say it with a bow' - a couple on the card
Paper cutz 55: 'anything goes'
Stampin' for the weekend 45: 'anything goes'

Simply material girl

The theme this week on Daring cardmakers is 'material girl'. Jane said: '
I would love you all to design a card inspired by a design on clothing.'

Having made a card recently based on a photo of the material of a blouse - you can see it here - I chose this time to take a photo of a skirt and use a piece of this for patterned paper. This is the skirt:

I used this week's sketch 104 on Clean & simple:

All I added were the strips of textured cardstock, the stitched grosgrain ribbon and the sentiment.

This is also for:

Sarah Hurley 6: 'monochrome'
ABC: 'B is for blue
Pixie dust studio 37: 'stitch it up'

PS Lynda has asked if I cut up the skirt - no way. I took a photo of part of the skirt and printed that out.

I love getting dotty

This is for sketch 24 on Sketch & Stash, using my 'neglected' BG blush papers - I haven't used any of these for some time:

I have to confess that the middle part of this card is a recycled little card that I received - I don't usually use things in this way, but it fitted the Just add ink colour challenge 131 so well - to use real red, chocolate chip and kraft. So there is no way that I take credit for totally making this card.


I'm also linking for:

Crafty pad 85: 'recipe - 1 circle, 2 squares and 3 brads'
Aly's 23: 'get dotty'
Pixie dust studio 36: 'go crazy with polka dots'
Charisma cardz 33: 'die cuts'

Beauty under the sea

There is much beauty under the sea, as depicted on this piece of coral reef paper that has been lurking in my scraps box - a pretty big scrap actually because I had to use an A5 card to accommodate it.

This is for a couple of 'under the sea' challenges - The treehouse 63 and Cuttlebug be inspired 98 - I used a cuttlebug border embossing folder to make the zigzag pattern on the strip of waves that had been cut from a DCWV paper, which itself was embossed and glitter foiled.

This is a simple card, but it would have been a shame to have covered too much of the beautiful paper.

It's also for:

Everybody art 105: 'sea'
Sentimental Sundays 17: 'words to inspire'
Lexi 21: 'emboss it'
ABC: 'B is for blue'


The challenge on this week's Tuesday taggers is 'inspired by a poem' - the poem linked to this card is 'Annabel Lee' by Edgar Allan Poe.

WOYWW 64

It's Wednesday again - it comes round so quickly - and I missed last Wednesday's WOYWW, so a fortnight has gone by since the last one. So here are my photos today for WOYWW 64.

Someone asked if the shelves to the right of where I sit are pull-out ones - yes, they are. They were originally put there to house my craft robo and printer, but since then I've put my robo in the cupboard (need to try and sell it) because I have 'make the cut' to enable me to use my computer with the cricut. And for some time now I've had a wireless printer/scanner, which means these shelves now house other things, including my big box of scraps that never seems to get any less.

I've mostly been making Christmas cards (again!) this last week. You can see that I've got QVC on atm - and, yes, I have ordered the TSV - will be another 45 or so cards that can be made quickly ready for my Tearfund sale.

During this last week, I sorted out my wooden stamps (I got some more for my birthday and space was running out). I must remember to get up on the stepladder and put that craft item hanging from the top shelf further along so it's centred.

The idea is to sort out the boxes with flowers, so that I can have room for more wooden stamps, but I don't know yet where I'm going to put the boxes of flowers (I've already moved about six boxes of chipboard off there).

It's all a work-in-progress!

This is the other side of the room, behind where I sit at my workspace. Under the Laura Ashley throw are two put-you-up beds - these need to be used Saturday week when John's nieces come to stay and have got to be cleared by Monday so our cleaner can move them and clean behind them. This means I need to clear them by then - not sure where I'm going to put everything - although I suppose it can be piled up on my worktop because I won't be able to get in here to craft while they are here (which is only for one night).

So now I'm not sure whether to tidy up, sort out ... or just get on with some more crafting and ignore the rest.

For those who are wondering, I have taken on the commission to make 300 Christmas cards for friends who run a local accountacy business. These will be computer generated, rather than hand crafted, so I've been busy trying to get the photo etc as I want it - spent one day recently when I nearly abandoned the project - thought I'd have to confess and say that I couldn't handle it - but I persevered and it's almost in its finished state now - hope it's going to be approved.

Totally Gorjuss prize

Postie has just brought me this lovely card from Joanna Sheen - it contains a voucher code for £10 to spend in her shop - a prize from Totally Gorjuss for my number coming up as winner of their challenge 42 sketch with this card.

Thank you for such a lovely prize - I'm going to enjoy spending my voucher - Joanna Sheen has such lovely products.

An emergency shaker card

This is a card I made quite a while ago as a commission for a friend who wanted to give a card to someone who just loves diet coke. This is a shaker card. Because I had to scan the card, shadows have been cast by the higher parts of the shaker.

'Coca cola' is the theme this week on Crazy Amigo, so I'm linking for that.

It's also for Spoon full of sugar 118: 'the choice is yours - shaker card'.

The true meaning of Christmas

For this card I've used the Tamara's sketch on Dutch dare 84:

The background papers aren't specifically 'Christmas' ones, but it seemed to go with the image from the recent QVC kit. The papers are from the PM Persimmon collection.

The scripture quotation is computer generated (you can read it better if you click on the picture to enlarge) and the stars were punched out. This is an A5 card because the image is large.



This is also for:

Creative cottage 21: 'Christmas'
Crafty Ann 21: 'Christmas in August'
Sew many challenges 21: 'Christmas in August'
Creative inspirations 41: 'Christmas in August'
Sparkle creations 38: 'vintage'
Creatalicious 13: 'vintage'
Sundays with Crissy 8: 'your favourite time of year'
ABC Christmas: 'Q is for quick and easy'
Aud sentiments 9: 'anything goes'
Paper cutz 55: 'anything goes'
Alphabet: 'P for punches' (the stars were punched) and 'Q for quotes'
Sentimental Sundays 17: 'words to inspire'
Prairie fairy designs 33: 'punch it'
Our daily bread 26: 'punches or dies'
City crafter 19: 'I see stars'
Totally Gorjuss 44: 'star'
ABC: 'B is for blue'

Animal antics prize

Postie's just been and brought me two super stamps from Little Claire designs that I won for this card on Creative craft for the 'animal antics' challenge.

Aren't they lovely? Thank you for a super prize.

Simply with love at Christmas

This is for Papertake weekly sketch 46:

It's another simple card with PM signature Christmas carol paper in the background; the sentiment and surround and the snowflake strip were from this year's QVC Christmas kit.

It's also for:

PaperPlay 33: 'pink to make the boys wink'
Creative cottage 21: 'Christmas'
Crafty Ann 21: 'Christmas in August'
Sew many challenges 21: 'Christmas in August'
Creative inspirations 41: 'Christmas in August'
Sundays with Crissy 8: 'your favourite time of year'
ABC Christmas: 'Q is for quick and easy'
Aud sentiments 9: 'anything goes'
Paper cutz 55: 'anything goes'
Christmas cards all year round August: 'snowflakes'
Creatalicious 13: 'vintage'

Simply Happy Christmas

This simply Happy Christmas card is for Inspirational card sketches 79:

The card background is a cross between a matt and a shiny foiled finish. The pink paper is BG eskimo kisses and the snowflakes strips and the Happy Christmas and surround were in my recent QVC Christmas kit.

It's also for:

PaperPlay 33: 'pink to make the boys wink'
Creative cottage 21: 'Christmas'
Crafty Ann 21: 'Christmas in August'
Sew many challenges 21: 'Christmas in August'
Creative inspirations 41: 'Christmas in August'
Sundays with Crissy 8: 'your favourite time of year'
ABC Christmas: 'Q is for quick and easy'
Aud sentiments 9: 'anything goes'
Paper cutz 55: 'anything goes'
Crazy amigo: 'free theme'
Christmas cards all year round August: 'snowflakes'
Andrea: 'simply squared'

Elegant Christmas lady

This Christmas card uses a similar image to the one I used for the birthday card in the previous post.

The background paper is from the PM signature Christmas carol range.

It's for these challenges:

City crafter 18: 'isn't she lovely'
Ooh-la-la 61: 'elegant ladies'
PaperPlay 33: 'pink to make the boys wink'
Creative cottage 21: 'Christmas'
Crafty Ann 21: 'Christmas in August'
Sew many challenges 21: 'Christmas in August'
Creative inspirations 41: 'Christmas in August'
Crazy challenge: 'never too early for Christmas cards'
Sundays with Crissy 8: 'your favourite time of year'
ABC Christmas: 'Q is for quick and easy'
Aud sentiments 9: 'anything goes'
Paper cutz 55: 'anything goes'
Crazy amigo: 'free theme'
Simple doodles 24: 'come on, let's celebrate' - Christmas is a big celebration
Digi doodle 21: 'anything goes'
Creatalicious 13: 'vintage'

Elegant birthday lady

The image I've used for this birthday card was actually in a Christmas kit (I'm going to make a Christmas card with another of these images soon). I think it would be suitable for a winter birthday.

Anyway, I've made this for Party time Tuesdays challenge 12: 'pink, brown and white'. The base card is pearlised pink and I've cut the corners with Fiskars celestial corner edges scissors.

It's also for:

City crafter 18: 'isn't she lovely'
Ooh-la-la 61: 'elegant ladies'
Create4fun 34: 'birthday card'
Stamp magic 17: 'birthday'
PaperPlay 33: 'pink to make the boys wink'
Aud sentiments 9: 'anything goes'
Polka doodles 33: 'vintage style'
Bunny Zoe 3: 'vintage'
Creatalicious 13: 'vintage'

Gatefold Christmas card

Three or four years ago I bought a Brenda Pinnick Christmas kit and used most of it, but recently found that I'd got some pieces that I hadn't used. So here's a gatefold card with BP papers, some sticky ribbon and a few circle images that came in a Christmas kit from QVC last year.



It's for these challenges:

Tuesday throwdown 13: 'more than one fold'
Creative cottage 21: 'Christmas'
Crafty Ann 21: 'Christmas in August'
Sew many challenges 21: 'Christmas in August'
Creative inspirations 41: 'Christmas in August
Crazy challenge: 'never too early for Christmas cards'
Sundays with Crissy 8: 'your favourite time of year'
ABC Christmas: 'Q is for quick and easy'
Aud sentiments 9: 'anything goes'
Paper cutz 55: 'anything goes'
Crazy amigo: 'free theme'
Simple doodles 24: 'come on, let's celebrate' - Christmas is a big celebration
Digi doodle 21: 'anything goes'

Baubles galore

I haven't done much crafting this past week - various things took up time - we had to have an engineer come to mend a leaking pipe and service the boiler, our washer/drier had gone wrong again, so someone had to come back- a part has had to be ordered, so there will another visit - every day seemed to have been taken up with all sorts of 'domestic' things ... and, of course, Friday was a day out.

So, at last, I've done some crafting - I know they are simple cards, but that's another 15 Christmas cards done.

Today I've used one of the stamps that mum bought me for my birthday (it was one on my list that I compiled). It's the PM Christmas carol 'bauble decoration' stamp. For a while it seemed to disappear from the market and some were fetching quite large sums selling on ebay. This one though was bought at the normal retail price - I'm very pleased to get it. I hadn't actually realised what a large stamp it is. I used 7" x 5" cards.

The first group of five were stamped and heat embossed with copper detail (they look more coppery irl - on here it's hard to tell the difference from the gold embossing):

The next were heat embossed with gold detail:

And these five were heat embossed with gold detail and then cut and mounted on to matt gold base cards.

When I sell Christmas cards to raise money for Tearfund, as well as selling individual Christmas cards, I also usually make cards up into packs of 5 and sell them cheaper, so these are ideal.

I think I might be making more of these - perhaps some silver on white - watch this space.

The theme on the 25th club on BF forum this month is an inspiration photo which inspired me to use the copper and gold.


I'm also linking for these challenges:

Spoon full of sugar 117: 'Christmas in August'
Creative cottage 21: 'Christmas'
Stampavie and more 104: 'Christmas in summer'
Crafty Ann 21: 'Christmas in August'
Sew many challenges 21: 'Christmas in August'
Sundays with Crissy 8: 'your favourite time of year'
Creatalicious 13: 'vintage'
ABC Christmas: 'Q is for quick and easy'
Craft your passion 19: 'anything goes'
Aud sentiments 9: 'anything goes'
Paper cutz 55: 'anything goes'
Stampin' for the weekend 45: 'anything goes'
Crazy amigo: 'free theme'
Artful inkables think ink Tuesday 27: 'bling it on baby!'
Simple doodles 24: 'come on, let's celebrate' - Christmas is a big celebration
Digi doodle 21: 'anything goes'

Nothing much happening here today

After yesterday, I feel very tired today. I had thought I'd get some crafting done, but so far, nothing.

I've just updated yesterday's birthday card pictures here because there were more in the post today.

I hope I might get back on here later with some crafting, but I wouldn't count on it. I think I might sort out my stamps instead.

What a lovely day

Firstly, thank you for all the birthday wishes that I've received, a well as cards and presents.

I had 39 cards (updated - got some more in the post Saturday).


These are from BF forum crafting friends:


including this virtual card:

These are from CBC forum crafting friends:

John gave me some lovely earrings:

and a couple of Funky Hand CD-roms:

I had some lovely stamps from mum:

Some toiletries:

Some M & S gift cards - they have been spent today - bought two skirts.

During this week I've also had RAK/birthday presents from crafting friends:

We had a lovely lunch at Cafe du Village (I was very good and had chicken and salad - and a glass of wine).

After we'd had lunch I had a bit of retail therapy (and John had necessary sit downs). I did happen to wander into Thorntons and bought a bag of their dark chocolate selection ... and ate them one by one until they were gone - well, I hadn't had any dessert in the restaurant, so I think I did well.

I visited the craft shop:

and HMV:

Thank you to everyone who has made my day such a special one, including, of course, John. We are both tired now.

Salt: Celebration of marriage

For today's Salt challenge, Stacy chose the theme of 'celebration of marriage' - you can read what she wrote here.

My LO is simple, using PM double sided Wedding march papers, cutting squares from one side to use on the other - the main background is very pastel with the wedding march music on it (can see this a little better if you click on the picture to enlarge).

I stamped the hearts with tattered rose distress ink and added some flowers that were in the package I received the other day as a prize.

Hidden journalling (with the ribbon pull):

My CJ has come home

There was lots of post this morning (some that I'm not allowed to have until Friday) and among it was my CJ from the group on CBC forum. Thank you, ladies, for such a lovely response to my CJ theme 'Where I grew up' - so enjoyable to get to know you all a bit better in this way.

The front cover:

Welcome and rules:

My pages:

Steph's pages:

Carole's pages:

Nick's pages:

Barbara's pages:

Net's pages:

Sign in:


This is another precious CJ book to add to my collection - thank you to everyone involved.