The boring bits

I've just spent some time putting inserts into cards I've made recently - about 50 of them. They now need to be labelled and bagged.

I need to get this done before I make anything else, but I'm tempted now to put them aside in favour of making something.

I need to do some notebooks and post-it note folders before next Saturday - also want to put together some little gift boxes and bags, but, as usual, I could stray and make a few cards in between - need to check where my gaps are.

So, nothing to show you today (yet, anyway). I could also do with feeling better - my back is so painful it feels as if I haven't taken any painkillers.

Hoppy Birthday card

Day 3 on 365 cards was 'Tuesday trio' - use a button, a flower and a ribbon on a card.

I used Sue's sketch 10 on Pollycraft Monday to make the card:

I flipped it on it's side and used the Pollycraft download 'hoppy Birthday'. I added a ribbon at the bottom for the scalloped part of the sketch and a button and a flower, so it qualifies for the 365 challenge.

And on CBC Clare set CBCC090 'child's play': 'For today's challenge we want you to make something CHILDISH', so I think it fits the bill for that.

Ad inspired card

When I looked at challenge 4 on 365 cards 'ad inspired card' I was confused (yes, it doesn't take much!) and wasn't sure whether we needed to make a card inspired by the ad chosen by Kristie or one of our own choice. In the end I went with the one chosen by Kristie:

And this is what she said about it:

'I instantly love the boldness of this image. I am a big black and white fan, but also the addition of orange, pink and yellow really adds spunk. They are great colors you wouldn't originally think would go together, but they create a dramatic combination. I also really love how the table and wall graphic are offset from each other, it takes a simple room (or in our case, card) and adds more interest. I used this as the basic inspiration of my card by sliding things over to one side. Over all, this is definitely a party I would LOVE to go to! I think using ads for inspiration is such a great way to try new colors and learn that what "looks good" may be different than what you would expect. I hope this inspires you as much as it did me.Happy crafting.'

The card is also based on Kazan's 21 sketch on 2 sketches 4 you:


I used a kanban base card and offcuts of Ethan Kate Evening Wear 'tile check' and 'brush stripe':

Sorry that the card looks so crooked, but it was the only way to get a photo without the flash rebounding off the satin sheen of the sentiment panel.

365 cards day 5: thankful it's Thursday

Day 5 on 365 cards was 'thankful it's Thursday' - the idea is to make a thank you card that can easily be reproduced: 'create a thank you note that you could make a lot of.'

So I went to my cricut wild card cart yet again and this time produced a flower card. The cricut cuts the flower and the background of the card. I added a piece of card behind the flower, so that I could then add the 'thanks', which was also generated with the cricut.

The double sided paper was Fancy Pants Celebrate Jubilate.

The inside and back of the card:

Welcome baby boy card

Today's challenge on 365 cards is 'shape up!' - 'card should be shaped like a circle, or a circle must be the dominating shape.'

So I've made another 'doiley' card using the wild card cart with my cricut.

I'm linking this for The Pink Elephant challenge 4: 'ribbons and die cuts' - I know there is only one die cut on the card, but the whole card itself is one big die cut!

I used a piece of American Crafts the goods 'giggle', which, being double sided, gives a nice matching blue lining to the card. The card is 6" in diameter (in future I'm going to choose 5.5" so that I can easily get two out of a 12" x 12" paper - found out just now that you can't get another one the same size, obviously, because of the bit of a margin that the cricut leaves):

The Eyes have it

Nearly everything I've been making recently has been in preparation for my sale for Tearfund.

This time, I've done this ATC 'just because'.

I'm officially too late for these challenges, but on Think Monday think ATC last week the subject was 'the letter E', on Lots to Do challenge 8 was 'the eyes have it' and on Created by hand a couple of weeks ago the topic was 'letter of the alphabet'.

Even if it is too late, I still enjoyed doing this. The face image is a Judikins stamp coloured with copics. I'm not sure what the background paper is (it was in my offcuts box).

Blue and yellow card

This is my first card for Inspirational Card Sketches. This week is sketch 6:

As I used blue and yellow, I've combined this with this week's Arty Girlz challenge 75.

The check background is a Making Memories paper, but I can't remember what the blue and yellow paper is. The Tilda image has been coloured with copics.

Challenge 2 on 365 cards is to make a card using only two embellishments, so I added a flower (well, two together to be precise, but counting it as one) and a paisley shaped brad in the centre.


I got this image in with some others from a win on ABC recently - I think I need to get hold of this stamp.

Baby cards for 365 sketch 1

Having made a start earlier in the day on challenge 6 on the new 365 card blog, I'm now going back to challenge 1, which is a sketch: I've made two simple baby cards to help replenish my stock for next Saturday:

Birthday Box

You can see a birthday box that I made last year here.

The reason I'm showing it again now is because on the new 365 cards blog we were invited to make a card box or show one that we'd already made.

I'll just show the finished box, but if you follow the link above you can see how the box started off (laundry tablet box) and how it finished up, including the card inserts for inside.

Copics and Penny Black

This is the sketch on Copics Colour Challenge 3:

I flipped it to the left and made this card, incorporating challenge 38 on Penny Black Saturday blog 'something to eat'.

This is the first time I've taken part on either of these challenge blogs.

These are the copics I used:

0, E00, E02, E11, E21, E35, E37, R29, R59, RV04, RV23, RV29, Y08 and YR07:

Pink, orange and brown, hot chocolate

This card is for Mojo Monday 76 sketch: It's also for Dottie's World, where this week's 'Inspire me' is this picture:

I was going to make a card with cupcakes on it, but in the end I decided to use the colour scheme, which also fitted the 'pink, orange and brown, hot chocolate' on this week's Papertake weeky.

There is a similar colour combo on Kwernerdesign's colour inspiration 44 (a challenge I found on someone else's blog):

The papers I used are Ethan Kate Evening Wear 'tile check' and 'brush stripe' and the image is 'Juliet', a Charmed download:

I coloured the image with copics:

Bright and cheerful Easter card

This card is for Sketch Saturday 40:

I flipped the sketch on its side and made a few adjustments to fit the stamped image size.

I stamped the image quite a long time ago and couldn't remember whether I did it with Stazon - think I did - so didn't dare try to use copics on it, so I went back to Sakura glaze for the flower part and karisma colour for the leaves etc.

The theme on lili of the valley this week is 'bright and beautiful', so I'm linking for that - and also for March 1 challenge on JB set by Bex 'gems'. I have to confess that the gems on the edge of the image panel came about because I smudged a bit of yellow and had to cover it up!

I could find a matching 'Happy Easter', so I ran an orange pad over a cream one.


I found a new challenge blog site - 365 cards - and bookmarked it, but the days have gone by and I hadn't yet done anything for it. However, today (day 6) is 'flashy Friday': the idea is to make the card sparkle - I hope my gems make it sufficiently sparkly!

Pink Easter card

This Easter card is based on the sketch challenge this week on Our Creative Corner:


I flipped the sketch on it's side. I used two different sizes of oval perspex templates to tear round the edges for the Easter 'egg', using Papermania papers. The background check paper and stripey paper are also PM. I'm hoping that the 'egg' shape qualifies this for the challenge on Theme Thursday: 'eggs, nests or birds (I know it's stretching a point a bit!).

This card is good for a number of challenges.

Deanne's challenge 24 on Rosiedee is to make something pink.

ABC this week is on to D for distressing, so I've torn around the oval shapes, which is also appropriate for challenge 41 on A Spoon full of sugar 'torn edges'.

The topic atm on Caardvarks is 'critter caards', so there are butterflies and dragonflies.

And, last but not least, challenge CBCC087 set by Carlolyn on CBC is a recipe:

'So you must make a project with the following: 2 different ribbons checks flowers (more than 3) the colour green somewhere in your card' - I think everything's there for that!


That's another Easter card done for next Saturday.

The small world of inchies and moos!

This week's challenge on Small World of Inchies is 'dolls' and I have chosen to make an inchie featuring a Spanish doll. The background is a BG paper inked on the edges and the doll is a clipart photo:


I've then used this with the Spanish flag to make a moo for the Make a moo challenge: 'Spain':

Mother's day card

This card is based on Friday Sketchers 41: and also inspired by challenge 29 on Cupcake craft (this is the picture given there):



The technique on Saturday's Workout this week is: 44: faux leather with masking tape. I'd never tried this before, but thought I would have a go for this card. This is how my piece of card looked when I'd stuck pieces of masking tape all over it:

And here it is after inking it:

And here it is used as the main background on my card. The paper in the left panel is K & Co, with gold pen outline and Anna Griffin rub on MUM letters. The panel on the right is an acetate one - the flowers and leaves has been coloured in with Sakura Glaze pens. These have been neglected in favour of copics and other colouring media in recent times, so it was quite nice to use them once again. The swirl was cut on the cricut and I resorted to the addition of a peel off sentiment. A bit of inky round the edges and it was finished:

This card is good for quite a few other challenges:

Crafty Muse 'mums and girlfriends', Charisma Cardz 'pretty cards for mums', CBCC089 'Mother's Day', Scrapstars 'springtime' and February 6: 'keep it the same' on JB.

And now that's one Mother's Day card made - must make some more ready for the Tearfund sale next Saturday, although I don't usually sell many, but like to have some available.

Salt: New life in Christ

It was Lythan's turn to choose the topic for the Salt challenge launched this morning - you can read what she said here. You can also, of course, see the beautiful crafting of the rest of the team, including Lythan's moving LO of her daughter's baptism.

My LO is based around the song:

I am a new creation

No more in condemnation

Here in the grace of God I stand

My heart is overflowing

My love just keeps on growing

Here in the grace of God I stand

And I will praise You Lord

Yes, I will praise You Lord

And I will sing of all that You have done

A joy that knows no limit

A lightness in my spirit

Here in the grace of God I stand

I feel this really sums up 'new life in Christ'.

As we come up towards Easter, this is a thought that comes to the forefront of my mind - God's grace in giving His Son, Jesus.

I used Craft House papers, with the flowers and leaves cut out from various sheets:


Please have a look at Salt and see the wonderful creations of the team - and perhaps you would like to create something for this theme - a LO, or an Easter card perhaps.

Simply nautical

Another quick card - this time using the sketch on Sketches by Tamara 84: The papers are English Paper Company All Aboard, the die cut has been in my box for ages - has like a holographic sheen - and the sentiment has a satin sheen - both very hard to photograph without flash reflection.

The nautical element is for the challenge on Theme Thursday:

Easy peasy card

This is one of those 'put together' cards that requires no imagination and very little time and effort - just right for when you want to make something, but have run out of time and energy. Today has been a busy one, not helped by my back pain. It involved me joining mum on her home assessment visit (she's still in intermediate care following a fall over five weeks ago) and various other things that have taken up time today.

Anyway, the theme last week on Inspire me Thursday was silver and I never did get round to doing anything for it. This week it's moon - so I thought the two could come together in this quick card - it's part of a concept kit that's ideal for making some more cards for my Tearfund sale - I need to put together a few more tomorrow. I'd rather be stamping and creating from scratch, but sometimes some quick cards are needed to balance the time some of the others take.

The dancing couple are raised up a bit with 3d foam to give the card a bit of depth and variation:

Child's Easter card

The theme on ABC this week is C for child's card, so I thought I would start making some Easter cards for children (will need some for Saturday week). I used PM papers from last year, sticky ribbons, Poundland 3D shaker stickers and a couple of gems.

I followed the sketch on the new Truly Scrumptious challenge blog - their first challenge:


On Scrapstars forum we are also being asked to show a Springtime card, so this is appropriate for that.

Cuttlebug sketch

Just scraping in at the last minute with a card for this lovely sketch by Valerie, which is the inspiration this week on Cuttlebug:

The papers and chipboard pieces are all BG Boxer and the sentiments are rub ons. The strip with the scalloped edge has been embossed with a Cuttlebug folder:

Winter blues

'Winter blues' - no, I'm not referring to the way I feel, but to my ATCs for the February Tanda swap: 'blue'[.

I apologise to Tasha and the group that these are late.

I used the winter tree stamp from the Whispers four seasons stamps, with blue iris chalk ink on to DCWV textured card. The background paper is a stripey one from HOTP - I embossed with Cuttlebug swiss dots (still one of my favourites) and distressed with one of my BG files.



I'm linking these too for this week's challenge on Stamp Something - something with cold, winter wind.